Wednesday May 9th, 2007: Issue #799
I hope that you have had a good weekend. Monday was a holiday here, hence the absence of Kickstart, but that means I’m back with batteries recharged!
One of the projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes is a complete update of the Kickstart Recommends site. The original one (which is still up, after a fashion) was never finished so I’ve gone back to write it all again from scratch.
In doing that I’m having to reassess all the software, ebooks and services that I’ve recommended in Kickstart - which I can tell you is quite a job!
Some of it is now out of date. Some suggest strategies that no longer work. Some things that were great when they came out are now surpassed by other products. Some things I now look at and wonder why I liked them.
But there are some - a few - that have stood the test of time. There is one book that I recommended three years ago (and it wasn’t brand new even then) that is every bit as fresh and relevant today as it was then. In fact, probably more so!
Altogether, since Kickstart launched, I’ve recommended just under 200 different products. Out of that list, only 40 or so have made it to my new Recommends website. Out of that shortlist I’m nominating a far shorter list of ‘Kickstart Essentials’ - things that I consider every serious Internet marketer should own whether they are experienced or a complete newbie.
None of it is up on the server yet, so don’t bother to go looking. I’ll let you know when it is all ready to go live.
#~#~#
My utility company operates a set-and-forget system for paying gas and electricity bills. The idea is that you give them permission to take payments from your bank account each month and they adjust those payments automatically so that they always take one twelfth of your projected years bill.
Sounds fine in principle, but I’ve just been hit by the harsh reality of incompetence. Theirs and mine.
My latest statement came in the other day. Normally I’d just file it and forget it. After all, I don’t need to know how much power I’m using because the company is dealing with the payments. That’s what set-and-forget means, right?
Wrong. I’ve learned a big lesson about trusting big companies to do their job properly.
For some reason, I did look at this statement and to my horror saw that it said that I owe the utility company over £2000 ($4000). How can that be?
I called them up and a very unapologetic lady explained that the computer had been taking only a minimum payment each month and had never been set up to adjust the payments according to my energy usage.
“So what would have happened if I hadn’t called?”
“Oh, it would have been noticed eventually.”
That’s helpful. Now they want their money back, which is bad enough, but what if I hadn’t noticed? What if the debt had continued to build up for another year or two? How would they have expected me to pay them back then?
I can’t really complain. I have used the power and do owe the money. But the whole point of a set-and-forget system is to spread the load AND to be able to forget about it. Now I have the luxury of neither.
The only advice I can give you is to check your statements. Trust nobody - especially if they are a big company.
#~#~#
There has been a gap of several hours between me writing the start of today’s Kickstart and carrying on now. I had to travel up to London to spend a very pleasant hour or so in the lounge of a 5-star-plus hotel, drinking some of the most expensive coffee I’ve ever had. The coffee was nice, but not that nice. 
The occasion was my daughter Lauren going for an interview to get a work experience position. She plans to study hotel management at university and on her own initiative decided to apply to a top hotel to get some hands-on experience.
She got the job and will start two weeks of unpaid work (I think it might be called an internship in America) in a couple of months. Well done Lauren!
While I was waiting for her, I took the opportunity to meet up with an old friend who is managing director of a company based quite near to the hotel. It was great to catch up.
Altogether an interesting and fruitful interlude!
#~#~#
I spent yesterday almost blind.
As diabetic I have to have a special eye test once a year where they put a chemical in your eyes to lock the iris open as wide as it can go in order to take a photograph of the back of the eye. The test was fine, and everything checked out okay, but I was left virtually unable to see for a few hours. Not only was everything blurred, but my eyes were so sensitive to light that even with dark glasses on I found it very painful to open them.
As we were walking back to the car, with me holding on to Delia’s arm to guide me, I commented that she was like a guide dog.
That got me a slap a threat to leave me to my own devises.
Funny things women.
#~#~#
Recommending products that I personally like and use has several positive points.
In the first place I get pleasure out of knowing that I’m spreading the word about quality items.
In the second place I get the financial reward from affiliate commission.
And in the third place I get immense satisfaction from the emails sent to me thanking me for my recommendations. That last one is priceless.
My good friend John Falkinder emailed me the other day after having bought David Watson’s superb Website Header Wizard - the simple program that makes superb professional graphical headers for your websites.
John is a man of few words, and being an Aussie, few of those are repeatable, but when he wrote: “Bought that header wizard you had on this morning. How simple is that! Best little tool I have ever bought I think. Thanks.” I felt a warm glow.
______________________________________________________
An Inspirational Thought
_______________________________________________________
‘Come to the edge.’
‘We might fall.’
‘Come to the edge.’
‘It’s too high!’
‘COME TO THE EDGE!’
And they came,
and he pushed,
and they flew.
Christopher Logue
English poet (1926- )
This tiny but powerful poem is often misattributed.
Read it. Read it again. Then think how long you have
stood at the edge waiting for a push.
###############################################
Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
###############################################
_______________________________________________________
The Quote of the Day
_______________________________________________________
Mary Kay Ash said,
“Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
_______________________________________________________
Today’s Power Thought
_______________________________________________________
Different people read Kickstart for different reasons.
* Some are in business and want to do it better.
* Some are looking to work for themselves.
* Some want to be inspired.
* Some want to be motivated.
* Some have all those reasons and more.
What is YOUR reason?
I was glancing through a book on presentation techniques and came across a quote by John Rockefeller:
“Don’t work so hard. Put your feet up on the desk and look for ideas that will help your company make more money.”
(I don’t know what that has to do with presentation skills, but I guess associations can come from anywhere!)
The truth in Rockefeller’s words struck me. We are all usually so busy working that we don’t stop to think about how we could make more money.
Maybe Kickstart is the pause that we need to reflect on things. Maybe this very moment, when you are reading today’s edition is the very moment that a fleeting association will be made in your mind. The very instant that some spark will occur in your thinking that will change your whole life.
How exciting is that thought!
Or maybe today isn’t the day that your associations will be made. Perhaps your time will come tomorrow or the day after. Or maybe it happened yesterday.
My point is that we all need to take a little time out where our whole attention can be given over to NOT giving our whole attention.
Just as when you lose your keys, the only way you can find them is to stop thinking about where you left them, so it is with work. The harder you focus the less efficient you become.
And you know why?
You can’t have an ‘aha! moment’ unless you actually HAVE a moment.
So for just a moment today, take a little time out. Put your feet up on the desk and think bigger thoughts.
Tell you boss I said it’s okay.
_______________________________________________________
Fascinating Facts
_______________________________________________________
When you start to look too hard at coincidences, things
can get pretty spooky. The the assassinations of
Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy for example:
1. Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.
2. Both were killed on a Friday.
3. Both died in front of their wife.
4. The successor of both presidents was named Johnson.
5. Andrew Johnson was born 1808, Lyndon Johnson 1908.
6. Both assassins were killed before standing trial.
7. Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.
8. Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln.
9. Both secretaries warned their President not to
attend the fatal event.
10. Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and ran to a
warehouse.
11. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and ran to a
theater.
12. Both President’s surnames have seven letters.
13. Both assassin’s names have 15 letters.