I’m going to start today with something very sad, but very important.
A 4-year old British girl was abducted from her bedroom while on vacation in Portugal with her parents.
The details are all over the news, so I’m not going to go into them more here.
Suffice it to say that after nearly two weeks she has not been found and there appear to be few clues as to what happened to her. As a parent I can’t begin to imagine what little Madeleine’s family are going through.
There seems to be a good possibility that she was abducted to order and may have had her appearance changed. She could, by now, be almost anywhere in the world.
Little Madeleine has one very distinctive feature that is extremely rare, and would be very difficult to disguise. She has what is known as a ‘flash’ in her right eye – the black part of her pupil extends out into the color of her iris.
You can read more about the story and see a picture of Madeleine at the BBC news site here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6652611.stm
Whoever has Madeleine can change her hair length and color and do other things to disguise her, but they can’t change that very rare flash in her eye. So if you see a child with such a distinctive marking, please don’t hesitate. Contact your local police immediately.
Better to risk a few false alarms if they might help reunite Madeleine with her family.
Thank you.
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As I mentioned the other day I am working on a complete revamp of my site ‘Kickstart Recommends’. To do that I’m revisiting every single product, ebook and course that I’ve ever recommended in Kickstart. It is an eye-opening task and one that I’m really enjoying.
It is interesting to see how some ideas have dated and how some, that may be several years old now, are as fresh as a daisy. There is a pattern. Generally the books and products that focus on making a quick buck are the ones that have a limited shelf life whereas the ones that teach or work within sound, established principles remain evergreen.
That’s not to say that the quick buck books are bad. Quite the opposite in fact. Most of the ones that have appeared in Kickstart had great potential for the time that their methods worked. But the lesson is that with books like that you have to act on their messages fast and be prepared to move on when the marketplace changes.
One section that I’m working on in Kickstart Recommends is called ‘Kickstart Classics’. It is a very short list of the very few timeless ebooks that I own that I consider to be absolutely essential reading for anyone.
Surprisingly, there are only three such books on my list at the moment.
You’ll have to wait for the Kickstart Recommends site to be finished to find out what is in there, but today I will tell you about my number one choice from that very select group of three.
It is a book that you may already own – many Kickstart readers bought it when I first recommended it. If you do, do yourself a big favor and dig it out. This is a book you should re-read.
If you don’t already own it, then what can I tell you? Simply this – it is very cheap (under $20) but completely life-changing.
The book is called Success Engineering and is written by an ex nuclear scientist called Phil Gosling.
Phil is one of those rare people who can see to the heart of things clearer than most folks. But what really sets him apart are his AMAzing powers of communication. Reading what he writes is an exciting series of ‘aha’ moments as everything falls into place.
Let me give you an example of how powerful this man’s ability to communicate is.
Last year Yanik Silver put on one of his intensive Underground seminars in London. It was a glittering high-ticket event with a dozen top speakers flying in from all over. One of the speakers was Phil Gosling.
At the end of the seminar, Yanik asked the 250-strong audience to vote for the best speaker of the event – the winner would get a check for $10,000 for the charity of their choice.
You are ahead of me. Yes, Phil Gosling won easily. Out of all those great speakers, Phil stood out.
And his book, Success Engineering, does the same.
Phil, as I said, used to be a nuclear physicist, but his life took several turns (like most of us) and he ended up being a very successful direct marketer. Later he found even more success online.
But Phil wondered what this thing called success was all about – so the scientist in him set about researching what makes people successful and how that elusive quality can be harnessed.
What he found, and what he writes in his book, turns a lot of conventional thinking on its head.
It’ll turn you on your head too! It did me.
Some of Phil’s ideas at first glance seem so far out of the box that they may as well be on the moon. And yet, as you let them sink in, something deep down inside you knows that they are spot on.
As I read each page, so many lightbulbs went off in my head that I felt I’d glow in the dark!
If you want to see what all the fuss is about, read this book.
If you want to enjoy one of the most entertaining, amusing and insightful books on personal development ever written, read this book.
If you want to know how your own success can be ‘engineered’, read this book.
And if that doesn’t convince you to grab a copy of Success Engineering for yourself, I don’t know what else to say!
http://www.urlnex.us/success-engineering/
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How nice. My ‘dearest friend’ has just written to offer me the chance to share in a fortune that he has somehow managed to put into the wrong bank and needs my help (and money) to get out again.
I seem to have a lot of dearest friends like him. I didn’t realize I move in such wealthy circles!
What puzzles me so much about these emails is that anyone would ever fall for them. They are all written to a formula and all are written using a bizarre form of English that stands out like a sore thumb.
Yet we hear of greedy people being taken in all the time. And certainly the writers of such junk wouldn’t bother if nobody responded at all.
Is it that people are really that naive, or does greed over-ride common-sense?
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The London Lunch is on Friday and I’m really looking forward to it. We have 23 people down to come at the moment – a great mix of beginners and experienced, writers, programmers, online and offline marketers.
And after my comments about how few ladies attend, I’m delighted to see that we have more women on the list than ever before!
There are still a few seats available, so if you fancy a great afternoon of food and chat in the company of your fellow Internet marketers, and London is within traveling distance, drop me an email. We’ll be delighted to see you there.
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In the last few days I’ve had several emails from people who bought Niche Inspector and received my bonus wordpacks.
Coincidentally, they all asked the same question – “Where can I buy the full set of word packs?”
As you may remember, the bonus word packs contained a random selection of 15 files – each file containing around 1000 dictionary words – to be used to ’seed’ keyword generators like Niche Inspector.
Each list has the potential to uncover an array of profitable niches.
Currently I have about 90 such lists, and my dictionary work is increasing the number of lists all the time.
Frankly, I use the lists for my own research and apart from the lists I released as the Niche Inspector bonus, had no intention of selling them as a complete entity.
But now I come to think of it, I can’t see too much of a downside.
Give me a few days to put the offer together – along with instructions on how to get the best from the lists – and I’ll see what kind of a deal I can work out.
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An Inspirational Thought
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A modern poem from Susan J. Kievitt:
There have been many times
In my own life
When I have wanted to give up
But I wouldn’t let myself
And nor should you.
There is nothing you can’t do
You can be anything you want to be
Believe in yourself
Like others believe in you.
If you try ten times and you fail
Then do it eleven times
Never believe in the words “I can’t”
You can … and you will.
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself – send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Asa Bushnell Zu Tavern said:
“Each person has his own idea of what success would mean … to some persons, success means fame; to some, it means fortune in money; to others it means only love and happiness.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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An own goal is the only one that counts.
In football (soccer for those of you who have come to the game a bit late) the worst thing a player can do is to score an own goal. Putting the ball into the back of your own team’s net is a ghastly mistake and one that all players dread ever making.
But in self improvement and personal development, an own goal is the only one that has any chance of being successful!
Let me explain.
If you’ve been reading Kickstart for any length of time you’ll know that goal setting is vital to success. It is like buying a ticket to a destination. Without the ticket, you’ll have a very difficult journey, but once you’ve bought it, the process of getting from ‘here’ to ‘there’ is pretty much automated for you.
The difference is that the goals we set can only apply to ourselves. Goal-setting is about setting in motion a succession of small changes in our own lives and personalities. It is about making changes within ourselves.
So, for example, you can set yourself goals to be a better parent, but you cannot set YOURSELF goals to make your children study harder. You can teach them the process of goal setting and show them how studying harder can be a great goal for them to work towards, but you cannot make them follow the plan.
You can lead a horse to water …
Similarly, business people often make the mistake of setting goals that require input from other people to be successful.
But let’s be very clear – a goal is NOT a goal if any part of it demands actions that are outside of your own control.
Having established the goal posts (ouch) take a look at today’s action point for a simple method to make your own goals even more effective.
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Fascinating Facts
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Q. How can you tell an Arabian horse from any other?
A. Arabians have one less vertebra in their backbone.