Wake Up Cloud

How to Overcome the Fear of Writing

Henri — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:46:34 +0000

Do you want to be fearless with your writing? Do you want to be able to get into the flow and produce article after article?

Sometimes it feels like I’m allergic to writing. It seems like I’ll never fill that blank paper staring back at me with killer content.

But does your writing really have to be awesome all of the time? I’m beginning to think that maybe it doesn’t.

All this talk of being remarkable, standing out and making a difference can be extremely constipating, because you become so self-conscious of what you’re doing.

The simple act of being yourself and doing your best IS being remarkable. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

It’s YOUR journey. You decide what you want to do. I’ve found myself looking at others many times, but I’ve found it counter-productive.

In the end, you have to find your own groove and do your own thing. There are people out there that want to consume what you feel inspired to write about.

When you look at other successful entrepreneurs, writers and creative men and women, you’ll often see that they’ve spent years working on what they love.

This doesn’t happen overnight, but the more you do the things you like doing, the closer you will get to your true voice and who you really are. That’s what matters.

Dealing with the Fear

There will always be fear in whatever you do, if it’s worth doing that is. The difference between the great and the merely good is that the great feel the fear, acknowledge it and keep moving forward.

This is something Seth Godin talks a lot about in his book Linchpin. If you haven’t read it yet, you probably should. I put off reading it for a long time, but I just bought it and it’s great.

When I started writing on the Wake Up Cloud, everything was easy. It was as if I was floating downstream. As my audience has grown, I’ve started to hit more bumps and twists. The ride is not all smooth anymore.

For me, one of the main reasons is fear. I have a larger audience, so I feel pressured to produce better and better content.

Accepting Imperfection

But I’ve realized that perfection isn’t necessary to write a good blog. Just look at other bloggers who’ve been around for a long time.

They have a lot of readers, and they are nowhere near perfect. The important key is to get your stuff out there. There’s no need to spend hours rewriting your article to make it perfect.

Because what is perfect? Perfect for you is merely in your head. You have no idea what someone else likes or dislikes.

What if you wrote an article that could change someone’s life, but then you rewrote it. Let yourself be imperfect, it’s easier and enjoyable.

Authenticity is Key

There’s something about a person that doesn’t get bogged down in the details. They know they didn’t write that sentence perfectly, but they also know that it is enough to get the point across.

I’ve always believed that the more you show people who you really are, the more you will attract the right people into your life.

If you try to be perfect, how can people relate to you? Perfection blocks creativity and spontaneity. Everyone talks about being authentic, of being an artist, but in order to be those things, we have to let go of the fear and the perfection that has been programmed into us.

Your readers won’t care if you’re perfect. In fact, if there’s anything I’ve learned it is that the more you are able to be who you truly are, the more you’ll draw the right people to you.

Now, we could argue that we’re all perfect in our imperfection, but that’s not my point here. I am not here for that. I am here to get a point across.

You are perfect as you are. I like you as imperfect. Just words. Be yourself, with quirks and all.

You Are Not Psychic

Let’s face it, most of us aren’t psychic. We can’t possibly know what our readers want. Sure, we can know some of it, but most of the time we’re just guessing.

I have felt horrible about many posts I have written, but after hitting publish, I’ve come to realize that what I think doesn’t really matter.

As long as I do my best and put my thoughts out there, it will take care of itself. You see, most of the time when I feel like my articles aren’t worth the virtual paper they were written on, my readers will still like it and I will even get e-mails from people thanking me.

Realizing that your writing doesn’t have to be magical to make a difference will take a huge weight off your shoulders.

Do your best and get your thoughts, experiences and gifts out to the world.

Image by Marco Murray

Related posts:

How to Write Effective Presell Copy and Make More Affiliate Sales

Henri — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:50:17 +0000

Have you ever thrown up a website, managed to get some traffic, but failed to make any affiliate sales?

That was me in the beginning. I had no clue what I was doing. I only knew that I was angry because I had worked so hard just to see $0 in my affiliate account.

An extremely large part in getting affiliate sales is writing effective presell copy, which essentially warms up your reader to the product you are recommending.

The more you love the product you’re selling, the higher your chances of making a sale. People can sense if you’re genuine and honest, so please don’t try any shortcuts.

I promise you, it will come back and bite you, hard. There are a lot of potential problems if you’re not making sales, but in this article we’ll focus on writing awesome presell copy.

If you have something that could improve someone’s life, you owe it to them to learn this stuff and to get them excited enough to buy.

5 Ways to Make Your Presell Copy Rock

This is by no means a complete list, but if you’re completely new at this, it’s a good start. I don’t want to overwhelm you by throwing all sorts of unnecessary details at you.

I’m by no means an expert in copywriting, but I do think I’m somewhat okay at writing presell copy. I could be wrong of course.

1. Underlying Emotion. What do your visitors really want? If you’re recommending a skin care product, the underlying emotion might be the potential to attract a soul mate, feeling accepted and getting validation. Now, everyone is different, so you can’t nail them all, but at the same time, you can’t generalize because it simply doesn’t work.

2. Objections. What objections do people usually have? Sticking with the skin care creams, they might be something like how there are so many skin creams out there, why should they buy this one? Is it another product that will be a waste of their money? Address the objections right away. Ignoring them will only make things worse.

3. Proof. What proof do you have that the recommendation you’re making will help your reader? Have you had any results with it yourself? The most powerful proof is if you make a video telling how you benefited from the product. Think about what you yourself would want to see. I personally love seeing genuine recommendations on video and hearing about someone’s story.

4. Personality. The more you can add your personality and your story into the recommendation, the more powerful your presell copy will be and the higher your conversions will be (i.e. you will sell more). This might mean before and after pictures, video and whatever else you can come up with.

5. Disqualify. You might be afraid of telling who the product is not for. After all, you want as many to buy as possible, right? Well not really. When you disqualify people that it is not right for, you are helping them and making the people who really need it more excited, because they are getting further confirmation that it will help them.

Our Twisted Way of Looking at Selling

I’ve always thought selling something was distasteful. Recently I figured out that this was completely backwards.

I think inaccurate beliefs like this are very dangerous. Once I noticed it, I realized what was wrong and changed to something like this: selling something that doesn’t improve or help the customer is distasteful.

Sounds a bit better, doesn’t it? If I have something amazing for you that could change your life, wouldn’t you want me to write at least okay sales or presell copy to get you interested?

Somehow we learn that selling and money is bad, so we get caught up in this loop of wanting money, but thinking that it’s bad.

Suspend that little voice in your head and just move forward. Promote good products that improve lives and you’ll be well on your way.

Image by Markus Rödder

Related posts:

Ebook and Product Creation: How to Eliminate the Problems You Will Run Into

Henri — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:23:45 +0000

Have you ever bought an ebook or product online? If you haven’t you probably have seen them all over the place, right?

For the longest time people kept telling me to create my own ebooks or products, but I haven’t been confident in producing anything until now.

I’ve discovered some interesting things as I’ve gone through this product creation process. One of the big things is that you don’t have to be groundbreaking.

I’ve seen this over and over again as I have analyzed the competition and other product creators in different markets.

If you’re solving a problem, especially if you have personal experience solving a pressing need, there’s a good chance you can create something and sell it.

Now, I’m not saying that you will automatically succeed, but if you don’t try you’ll never learn. Like I said, I have waited a long time to produce my first product. I wanted to be sure that I could deliver something awesome.

How Did I Decide What to Product to Create?

It pretty much fell in my lap. I’ve been talking a lot about article marketing and how I taught it to my girlfriend, who is now making over $300/month.

I started getting questions about how I did it and how I was able to create an income stream with it, so I decided to just make a product and show it to you. It would have been too difficult to start explaining this individually through e-mails and what not.

I’m excited about this, because you’ll get an ebook with my personal strategies that have worked for me, around 4-5 videos showing you cool stuff and other helpful content I know you will love.

Anyway, I’ve been writing and working on this product every morning for a while now, and I’ve noticed some resistance coming up when I’ve started coming closer to the finish line.

The Resistance

I know you’ve read personal development books and are well aware of what goes on in our minds. We bump into resistance now and then, or to be completely honest, we bump into it a lot, at least I do.

There are a lot of fears going around in my head as I’m finishing this ebook, such as:

Will people buy my stuff?
What if no one likes my product?
What if people point and laugh?
Is it perfect enough?

I won’t go through the whole list, because I know you know what I’m talking about. Let’s get to the juicy part instead: how I overcame the resistance and kept moving forward.

Moving Forward and Getting Things Done

There comes a point where you have to kick yourself in the ass and realize that you just have to get it done. If you do your best and it fails, so be it, you can always try again.

We’re all beginners at some point. Remember when you started this whole self-improvement stuff and you didn’t really know what you were doing?

Now you suddenly know a few things, you may even have helped your friends or done other things. It doesn’t really matter.

The point I am trying to make is this: there will always be resistance. You will be afraid. By keeping your eyes on your goal and knowing that your product will genuinely help people, you can kick yourself into motion again.

I genuinely believe that what I create will help you. I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. That helps me stay motivated and moving forward.

You probably have multiple product ideas in your head, but you haven’t taken action on them, because you don’t think people will buy anything from you.

That’s completely normal. I am pretty sure everyone feels like that, so don’t worry. Relax and let it come naturally to you. I sincerely believe we all have something to offer.

Image by Mike Stimpson

Related posts:

A Bizarre Meeting with a Messenger of God (With a Dash of Whiskey)

Henri — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:44:47 +0000

Since moving to Spain, strange things have started to happen.

It all started when Ingela and I were walking at the beach when we walked past a couple whose phone started ringing.

Normally this isn’t weird at all, but their ringtone was Sweet Child o’ Mine with Guns N’ Roses.

The exact same ringtone I have on my cellphone. Ingela and I looked at each other and started laughing.

These sort of coincidences are weird, confusing and fascinating at the same time.

Then one night when we were out taking an evening stroll with our dog, we walked past one of those open restaurants.

It’s very similar to a regular restaurant, but they also serve people on the street. Almost like a drive thru, but with more class.

As we walked past this restaurant a female customer walked up and the guy behind the counter yelled “HENRI!”

Now, I didn’t know any of the people that worked in this restaurant, nor the customers that were eating there. Again, Ingela and I looked at each other and laughed.

The Messenger

Today we decided to find a small park with a bench where we could sit and enjoy the sun. About 40 minutes passed until a guy came to us and said he was going to tell us something.

At first we thought he was going to ask for money, but then he asked if I believed in God. I could smell whiskey in his breath, so I thought going along with him was the wisest choice.

The most honest answer I could come up with while still going along with him was “maybe, it depends on your definition of God” at which point he started muttering and becoming irritated.

He started saying that he knew all about me. God was working through him as he was telling me to appreciate my girlfriend and not take her for granted.

At this point I was confused and somewhat annoyed. I am not a fan of being lectured, and I can’t say I like drunken people either. I noticed my irritation, and to my surprise he said “if you want to punch me in the face, go right ahead” which surprised me.

I told him I’m not in the punching people in the face business. At that moment I took a deep breath and relaxed. I reminded myself that there’s no reason to get upset, which made me a bit more playful.

The Death Threat

He told me to look after Ingela and marry her, that we were some day going to have children and have a nice house.

He then started talking about the fact that he could kill me right then and there to help me see that God exists. I didn’t get the feeling that he was going to hurt me, so I wasn’t alarmed, but it was somewhat uncomfortable.

At this point I started getting angry, so I took another deep breath. I realized that the best way to get rid of this guy was to play along and not encourage him, at least not too much .

I started wondering why exactly this was happening. I’m not a big believer in coincidences, so naturally I thought that there had to be a reason.

When I can’t find a reason to something, I leave it alone, because if there is something there that I should learn it usually comes to me sooner or later.

The Escape

After about 15 minutes he started wrapping up. He shook my hand and said “God loves you.”

He started walking away and that was that. Ingela and I looked at each other and laughed. As we started walking back to our apartment, I noticed a lingering irritation in my body.

I can’t stand feeling like crap, so I went into our bedroom and began meditating on what happened. The conclusion I reached was that my anger and irritation was caused by a lack of control of the situation.

I think this has to be very common in men. I felt the urge to be aggressive and take “control” over the situation, but I realized that was the wrong way to go about things.

Besides, I’m a pretty small guy, so my chances were probably not that great in a fight. On top of that, fighting is always a lose-lose proposition.

Instead of getting serious and angry, I was able to relax and look at it more playfully. I’ve noticed a theme since I moved to Spain and that theme is letting go of needing control over everything.

It started with not having control over the situation when we first arrived here and other small events keep emerging, but I feel more and more relaxed about everything.

I have the desire to resolve any issues that are going on in my own body, so I usually meditate and use EFT to clear up irritations, fears and other blocks.

Life can throw weird experiences at you, but I believe there’s always something you can learn from each and every one of them. In this instance I needed to let go of needing control.

Image by Trey Ratcliff

Related posts:

7 Great Ways to Be Average and Absolutely Useless

Henri — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:31:40 +0000

What does it take to be average? Are you average? Do you want to be average?

Being remarkable, unique and successful is your birthright. I am not just saying this to motivate you, but because I believe it to be true.

You don’t have to become something to do what you want. You only have to strip away the layers of fear, programming and beliefs that do not serve you.

This is done step by step, slowly. All my life I’ve been in a rush. I wanted to get to the end. Sure, I read a lot of books that told me the journey is what’s important, but I never really understood.

I don’t even understand it now, but I have my moments, here and there. In order for you to be average and absolutely useless, you have to try. You have to follow the rules.

All of this takes a massive amount of energy. It’s easier to be yourself and speak your mind. Being your own, true weird self is easy, and it’s fun.

1. Obey the Imaginary Rules

From the time you were born, you have been taught that there are some things that are right, and some that are wrong. Who decides these things? Why are the rules as they are? What purpose do they serve and for whom?

When I was in school, I was constantly bewildered by the fact that everything I was learning would be completely useless in what I wanted to do. I was too afraid to drop out of school, because those were the rules.

In the end, it was a good learning experience and I made a lot of friends, so it wasn’t all that bad. I almost went to a university to study computer science, but I gave that up when I realized I didn’t have to do it.

What rules are holding you back from your dreams? Do you realize that most of the rules that you think are stopping you are completely imaginary? If you’re conscious and aware, you’re already following the law, so the only rules stopping you are the rules in your head.

2. Be Comfortable

Being comfortable is all well and good, but it usually doesn’t lead to growth, plus it’s absolutely boring and useless. I know I’ve had many phases in my life where I was what you could call comfortable for a while, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about making the conscious decision of being comfortable for the rest of your life. I’m talking about avoiding going after your dreams because you’re scared. We’re all scared, and there’s nothing special about the people that get what they want in life.

They are scared just as everyone else. The difference is they acknowledge the fear and move forward. Fear is a part of our being. It’s going to be here for a long time, so it’s probably best to accept it.

3. Be Perfect

Being perfect is something you’ve been taught in school. Your teacher never saw all the words you spelled right, she zoomed right in on the ones you spelled wrong. The school system is severely flawed. It is great for pumping out drones, but for anything meaningful it’s absolutely useless.

I’ve been a huge perfectionist all my life. Luckily, I’ve started being able to let it go. It has been a huge relief to be able to do that. My writing doesn’t have to be perfect. My English accent is what it is. I can accept things and move forward.

Once you can accept the fact that making mistakes is healthy and part of success, you’ll learn much faster. You will become confident enough to try out your ideas. You will be more spontaneous. You will have more fun and you will get more done.

4. Make Easy Decisions

If you want to live an average life, you probably want to stick to the easy decisions. Hard decisions hurts the brain and make you second guess yourself. What if you make a mistake? What if everything goes wrong?

Mistakes and problems are another part of life that you probably won’t be able to avoid, no matter how much you try, so it might be better you accept them. If you’re constantly afraid of what might happen, you will be blocking your intuition and your heart.

There are many times I’ve come to a crossroads where my heart tells me to go left, while my logical mind tells me to go right. In the past I was more likely to go right, but nowadays I’m probably going left, because that’s where the adventure is.

5. Be Cynical

Being aware and able to think for yourself is all well and good, but when you cross into the territory of being cynical, that’s when you’re closing off your mind to new opportunities.

I’ve known a lot of overly cynical and negative people. It’s funny how you can say no to opportunity after opportunity and then blame life for being so hard. If you really want to do something, no one is going to deliver it to you.

No one is going to hold your hand and show you exactly what to do. You have to grab life by the balls, go out there, make mistakes, have fun and relax a little bit. There’s no rule that says that you have to take life so seriously.

6. Be Logical

I’m all for using my brain, but when it comes to being overly logical and trying to analyze everything, count me out. I don’t like mental masturbation. I have no interest in arguments, debates and anything related.

I have no obligation to explain my viewpoint to you. Most arguments are a complete waste of time. Often both parties are in agreement, but they are arguing over irrelevant semantics. Let’s focus on what’s important instead, shall we?

I’m logical all the time. I make decisions logically, but I also use my gut feeling to feel things out. Combining both has been proven to work for me. Find your own way, but remember: trying to analyze, dissect and disassemble everything will make you insane.

7. Make Excuses

I keep hearing excuse after excuse for why someone can’t do something. Do you really want to give yourself a false sense of comfort by making excuses? Do you want to lie on your deathbed knowing that you failed to live your life to the fullest?

I know I don’t. I’m nowhere near living my life to the fullest, but every day I move forward and improve my life. I’m in no rush. As long as I’m moving in the right direction, all is well. If you want to be a perfectionist and wait for your circumstances to be just right, you’ll probably be waiting until you die.

You can’t follow your passion, because only special people can do that. You don’t have talent. You can’t write. You can’t make videos or speak, because you have an accent. You’re shy. These are all meaningless excuses for the average.

But you’re not average. You’re a conscious human being. You’re reading this article for a reason. There’s someone somewhere that wants to remind you that you can do the things you want.

We’re all unique, remarkable and awesome. It takes effort to be average. You have to conform and fit in. If you have the courage to be your true, weird self, you are already remarkable.

Image by Jef Safi

Related posts:

How to Overcome Arbitrary Rules (or How I Made My First Video and Survived)

Henri — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:50:54 +0000

We all have arbitrary rules that we impose on ourselves. Today I overcame one of them by shooting the video above and uploading it. The video is nowhere near perfect, but that’s okay. I’m okay with being a beginner.

I personally don’t like the video at all, but I’m throwing it out there anyway, if for no other reason, at least I am showing you that you don’t have to be afraid of being yourself.

When you start taking action and doing the things you’re afraid of, you’ll notice that you start moving towards your goals much faster.

For example, I learned a lot of things by shooting my first video. One of the main lessons learned was that I need to have a glass of water nearby if I intend to make a video longer than three minutes.

I also forgot to edit out the ending where I grab the camera and turn it off, but I figured that out once I had already edited the beginning and uploaded it to YouTube, which took forever. In the end it doesn’t matter what’s holding you back if you focus on what you want to accomplish.

When I got interviewed for Blog Cast FM, it was my first real audio interview. Sure, I was a bit worried about how I might sound and how everything would work out, but once we got going, my worries melted away.

You’re probably not going to sound like a pro right away. The sooner you realize that you have to deal with being uncomfortable and feeling fear, the faster you’ll move towards your goals. The only thing it takes is the willingness to move forward and take action.

See

Before you can overcome any self-imposed rules, you have to acknowledge that they are there in the first place. If you’re constantly making excuses and believing in them, you’re probably not going to make progress as fast as someone who is willing to face their fears head on.

I’m usually pretty good at knowing what’s going on inside my head, so when I first got contacted to do an audio interview, I instantly noticed my own fears and how they affected me.

But I also knew that if I didn’t do the audio interview, I would be severely limiting the spread of my message.

If my goal is to help and connect with people, then why would I let my petty fears get in the way? Once you get your audio or video out there, you’ll notice that it really isn’t as bad as you thought. I’m still alive and well, aren’t I?

Focus

Something that has helped me a lot in overcoming fear is having a goal and purpose. When I started the Wake Up Cloud, I was afraid and I’ve been afraid on and off ever since.

The reason fear keeps popping up is because I am trying to push my boundaries and grow. You can’t grow without entering unknown territory, and you can’t enter unknown territory without being at least a little bit afraid.

From the beginning my goal has been to help others, which means that in a sense, I am putting my readers concerns before my own.

This then translates to me not taking my fears so seriously, because if I want to be able to help you, I have to overcome my own fears first.

I know a lot of people are afraid of putting themselves out there, but it really isn’t that bad. You will only get better by practicing, and you have to start somewhere.

Take Action

Sometimes it pays off not to think so much. When I started shooting my video, I did maybe 3-4 re-takes because I wanted it to be perfect.

After a while I got sick of it and decided to just get it done. I didn’t care how I looked, I trusted the fact that if I am myself, things will fall into place.

I have no idea if I am being delusional or not, but what I do know is that my strategy helps me take action and move towards my goals. Everything doesn’t have to be logical or even make sense if it’s helping you change the world and do what matters.

We all have arbitrary rules in our lives. Overcoming them isn’t hard. Realize that you do not have to make excuses. Think about what scares you the most when it comes to reaching your goals, then do them.

The most successful people in the world are afraid too, the only difference is they get things done anyway. The feeling you get by staring fear straight in the face and walking right through it is amazing. You should try it.

Related posts:

How to Generate Ideas Out of Thin Air

Henri — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:00:45 +0000

Coming up with ideas can be tough, sometimes impossible, or so it seems. I’ve never had a problem with generating ideas, but I’ve discovered that they often do not manifest themselves in the way I expect them to.

Whenever I feel like I’m stuck, I move onto something else, because if I try to force things, it never goes well.

I learned this the hard way during the days when I was a professional poker player. As a poker player you have to be focused at all times, you have to tune into the flow of the game and, most of the time, you cannot force things.

I learned that when I let things unfold naturally, everything went smoother and the end results were better.

In the end, you have to find your own way of doing things. I’ve never had a real job, so I’ve been using my brain ever since I got out of school.

I’ve had a lot of time to get familiar with how my body, mind and soul conjure up ideas. I suggest you do the same!

Where Do Ideas Come From Anyway?

This is the part where I get all esoteric on you. If you’re allergic to this kind of stuff, jump over to the next section.

I think ideas come from a place we don’t see, but we know is there, we kind of feel it. Ideas aren’t something that belong to us, they float around until someone grabs them.

How often have you had an idea that you didn’t act on and then a few months later you discovered that someone had “stolen” your idea?

That’s what happens when you don’t use the inspiration you get. If you aren’t putting the ideas you get to good use, what is the point of sending you more?

A Note on Brainstorming

I recently re-discovered brainstorming thanks to Jordan. He’s a stand-up comedian and apparently those guys use a lot of brainstorming to come up with their material.

At the moment my favorite way of brainstorming is to take a topic and start writing keywords about anything that comes to mind.

The best way to do this is to use a voice recorder, because the last thing you want to do is censor yourself, which happens a lot if you’re writing.

Let everything come out. Don’t worry if you’re straying off-topic. I’ve found a lot of good ideas that started on-topic but quickly got out of hand.

My 7 Secrets to Generating Unlimited Ideas

Yesterday I watched a movie. It was a thriller, mystery, basically one of those cop movies. When the main character found himself in a quandary and needed to think, you know what he did? He said “I need to think, I’m going for a ride.”

We all have at least one thing we can do to allow ideas and solutions to appear. For the detective it was taking a drive.

The more you use your brain and solve problems, the better you get at these things. Here are a few of the ways I generate ideas:

1. Washing the Dishes. It’s amazing how many ideas I’ve gotten while washing the dishes. I’ve never been a fan of using a dishwasher. Why do I need one when I can wash everything by hand so much more quickly? Anyway . . . using the dishes helps me focus my mind on one thing. In that sense, it is kind of like meditation. Whenever I need an idea or a problem solved and if there’s dishes around, I go do them. Often it doesn’t help to think more, but to think less.

2. Befriend Your Bed. It’s not what you think. What I mean by befriending your bed is taking a break and lying there, relaxing. If you’ve been trying to come up with a great idea or solution all day, give yourself some time to cool off and take a nap or lie there thinking about whatever you want, but I do recommend making it something positive. If I go to bed, lie down and think about my problem, it doesn’t really work that well.

3. Allowing. Sometimes ideas come when the time is right. I view ideas and inspiration as something that comes naturally, so when I’m not receiving a solution to a problem, it’s me blocking it. When nothing else works, I meditate and release any resistance I might have in my body. I also like to use tools, such as EFT and the Sedona Method, which I talk a lot about on this blog.

4. Observing. I like to take walks with Ingela and our dog, Cleo. It helps me clear my mind. If you decide to go for a walk, stay as present as possible and remember to bring something to record your ideas on. I’ve noticed that once the flood gates open, I want to be ready to capture whatever is coming through. Don’t wait, jot everything down right away.

5. Being Present. I almost hate saying be present, be in the now and focus on what is, because they have been so overused in the last few years. But they have been repeated so many times for a good reason: they work. When you stop worrying and get your ass back to the present moment, you’ll improve your idea generation greatly.

6. Brainstorming. Like I said above, I’ve fallen back in love with brainstorming. Sometimes I use mind mapping software, sometimes I use notepad and sometimes I use good old pen and paper. The only reason I don’t use an audio recorder is because I like to see my ideas, so if I record everything, I’d have to transcribe it all and that takes time.

7. Exercising. Have you ever noticed how clear your mind is after you’ve exercised? I have too, it’s pretty cool. This again goes back to the theme of doing something completely unrelated to what you were doing and letting your unconscious come up with a great idea or solution to a problem you’re having. Our conscious mind is nothing compared to our unconscious.

An Example From My Life

I was listening to an interview, while sipping my freshly-squeezed orange juice and that’s when it hit me. I just received inspiration for this post.

When inspiration hits me, it’s almost like there’s a rope attached to my heart pulling me to my computer to write.

After I’ve written a post that really came from my heart, I feel phenomenally awesome.

Generating ideas out of thin air is something that you get better at. But remember, it’s about peeling off the layers that are preventing the ideas from coming to you in the first place.

This is done by following your passion and purpose. The more you’re doing what you’re called to do, and feel good about doing, the more inspired you’ll be.

It’s funny how my articles always end on the same note. It’s always about passion and purpose, but that’s how things are in my life at the moment.

Image by Rachel K

Related posts:

Is THIS Really the Secret to Happiness?

Henri — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:03 +0000

Today I woke up with a headache, which is funny, because this is the second day in a row I’ve woken up with a headache and in general felt pretty weak.

Maybe it’s the WiFi we use. They aren’t healthy at all, so I intend to get a few cables for Ingela and myself, but it’s not a priority at the moment.

Headaches don’t bother me at all. I used to worry about them a lot, but now I allow them to be there and after a while they kind of fade away.

If I feel like I really want to get rid of a headache I use Emotional Freedom Techniques and it works like a charm, at least for me, and I know many people have used it to get rid of their migraine headaches.

The Consulting Conundrum

As the day went on, I had a call with a consulting client, which at first I had apprehensions of, because I never like to have appointments or set times for anything.

But then I remembered and reminded myself that my main goal here is to help people. That’s my goal for this year, and that is exactly what I’m doing by coaching and consulting people.

I have actually not officially told my non-newsletter subscribers about my consulting services, because it hasn’t felt like the right time, but I guess I’m sort of telling you now.

My consulting service is all about helping you get clarity on what you have to do to be successful. I’ve already worked with a handful of people and it has been a lot of fun. If you’re interested, send me an e-mail and I’ll get in touch.

I Used to Charge A Lot

I’ve actually had some experience coaching and consulting people back in my poker playing days. Back then I charged between $150-300/hour, because that’s what I thought it was worth and my clients were always happy.

Before I did my secret-consulting-launch for my subscribers here on the Wake Up Cloud, I was a bit afraid. I didn’t think I had any value to offer people.

It’s easy to think that you have to be a master before you can teach others, but I’ve come realize that there’s almost always something you can do to help.

It’s weird that I had to go through this realization since I have done some poker consulting, but I guess the mind forgets quickly and is quick to accept new doubts.

I Never Relax, But…

After I finished my coaching call, I felt excellent and the client was so happy he was going to get in touch with me for another call. That’s always cool to hear!

I’ve found that when I go in with an open mind and open heart, things tend to work out well, especially when I focus on deliver value.

After my call I was feeling pretty good about myself, so I gave myself some time off to relax, at which point I remembered that I had signed-up for Jonathan Field’s Career Renegade Profiles where he interviews cool people.

The interview that stood out to me was Naomi Dunford, who runs IttyBiz. Oh and by the way, you have to sign-up to get access, but it’s completely free otherwise.

Is THIS the Secret to Happiness?

After the interview was done, my mind had changed a bit and I could feel the wheels turning. It has been raining non-stop here in Southern Spain for the last few days, but it had stopped, so Ingela and I decided to take the dog for its evening walk.

That’s when Ingela said to me that sometimes she feels like everything’s kind of boring. And this is where it gets cool, because sometimes we go on walks, but they’re really talks, because we share what’s going on in our heads and then the other one says whatever comes to mind.

So it got me thinking about the fact that here she was, she had quit her job, left icy cold Sweden to basically live the dream life in Spain, but she was still unhappy.

I’m not saying she’s always unhappy, because she’s like 95% super happy, but in this case she had one of those down days that we all have from time to time.

As I was saying, it got me thinking about the fact that no matter what we do, what goals we achieve or how well we live, our minds will still try to find problems and things that are wrong.

After we’d strolled through the wet, narrow, streets, we finally came back to the uphill stretch to our 8-story apartment building, and that’s when I remembered the people that are really the happiest.

The people that love what they do and seem happy no matter what, those people are always focusing on what they are grateful for and what’s good in their life.

If their business failed, they appreciate the fact that they are free to start a new one, they have their health and they have loving people all around them.

What if happiness is really about focusing on the good stuff? You could have millions of dollars in the bank but still be completely miserable if you’re focusing on the fact that you don’t have a billion.

Image by Ségozyme

Related posts:

7 Deadly Niche Website and Blogging Mistakes

Henri — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:00:18 +0000

I’ve done a lot of stupid things when it comes to making money online. When I started trying to make money in early 2007, I had no idea what I was doing.

I thought I’d be up and running within 6 months making a full-time income.

I can now see how delusional I was. I see this a lot though. If you’re new to this scene and want to start making money on the internet, please realize that it isn’t something that happens overnight.

Look at it as a brick & mortar business, only with the internet, you don’t have to invest a lot of money.

All you need is money for a domain, hosting and a paid course or mentor to help speed up the process and minimize mistakes.

I started out with a coach, but I still screwed everything up. Sometimes you’re just not ready. I certainly wasn’t at that time, but I kept going at it and here I am.

1. Research

The first mistake I did was in the area of research. When you’re beginning with all this internet stuff, research is the last thing you want to do. You already have your great idea and you want to jump right in and get started.

I felt exactly like this, but let me tell you, research is the foundation of your future empire. If you neglect your research, you might strike gold, but often you’ll end up being one of those people who claim that making money online is a scam.

Research can involve many different things, depending on what your goals are. For example, with my niche websites, I did a lot of keyword research because I was going to optimize them for the search engines.

But with this blog, I thought mostly about branding, my personality and how I could stand out from the crowd. This is why I recommend everyone join a paid course, because you get a mentor for an affordable price who can point out any mistakes you make and steer you in the right direction.

I personally an a member of Authority Blogger (aff link), which is run by Chris Garrett. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Chris and when I saw that he was offering a course, and that he offered comprehensive e-mail support, I was sold.

2. Design

I used a free CSS template for my first website, which was fine in the beginning, but as time went on, I kept adding to it and it started looking messy.

I never got the motivation to clean it up, so now it just sits there collecting cyber dust. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need a super fancy design when you start, but something simple and clean will make a professional impression on your website visitors.

For example, when I launched the Wake Up Cloud in December 2009, many people after a few weeks were telling me that they thought my blog was a lot older than it was. I made sure to get a good designer to make a simple customization of the Thesis theme for me.

It cost me $300, excluding the price for Thesis. There are great designers out there that are very affordable if you know what you want. I’ve found it helpful to sketch down what I want, scan it and send it to my designer. Works like a charm.

3. Links

I was naïve enough to think that I didn’t need to build links to my website. I guess we’re all retarded sometimes and I’ve learned a lot since then, but this was definitely one of my biggest mistakes.

If you want traffic, especially from the search engines, you have to build links. You can do this by being friendly, writing guest posts or asking nicely.

With this blog, I’ve done a lot of guest posting and connecting with people. It has helped a tremendous amount, because not only have I made a lot of friends, but many of them link to me from their blogs because they like what I’m doing.

I also get high-quality links and traffic by guest posting regularly on other blogs. Guest posting is a great way to get your name out there and meet new people.

If you have a blog and are wondering why you aren’t getting traffic, you’re probably not doing the right kind of stuff.

4. Connections

I’ve noticed that actually putting your face behind your website or blog gives you more credibility and allows people to get to know you, which is essential if you plan to make your own products and offer services.

My first website was almost completely anonymous. On second thought, I did have an about page, so I guess I had a face there.

My point is that I didn’t actively go out there and engage fellow bloggers and website owners. I was sitting and waiting for something magical to happen.

If you’re starting a blog around your passion, you should connect with anyone and everyone that you can. Networking can do huge things for you.

This doesn’t mean that you go out and tell people about your website and/or products, because no one wants to listen to that guy.

It means that you hang out with like-minded people and have fun. That’s how you make solid connections. At least that is how I do it.

5. Search Engine Optimization

I completely neglected search engine optimization with my first niche website. I think search engine optimization is not as important for blogs, but it definitely doesn’t hurt.

My first website was meant to get search traffic, so it lived or died on how well I did my research, optimized my pages and built links.

The bad news was that I didn’t pick my keywords well, because the niche that I chose had no good keywords.

It was a highly saturated market with companies spending millions on getting their websites ranked high in the search engines. Suffice it to say, I had no chance.

I was lucky though, because I went to the Site Build It! forums and asked for help. That’s when someone told me honestly and bluntly that my website was never going to make it with the keywords I was working on.

I could’ve gotten mad at him, but instead I chose to leave a broken website behind and start a new one.

My new website is more in line with my passions. It’s also a Site Build It! website. I’m glad I chose to move on, because I am now making close to $1,500 passively from this new website each and every month.

There are times when you have to realize that quitting is the only option.

6. Shortcuts

A few other lessons I learned the hard way was to look for shortcuts. I bought links, I outsourced a bunch of bad stuff and it didn’t help me one bit.

All it did was lighten my bank account. I don’t regret making those mistakes at all, because without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.

If you’re actively looking for shortcuts and how you can become an overnight success, chances are that you will fail miserably.

When I realized that working hard is the only thing that will bring me closer to my goals, everything started working much smoother.

When I started the Wake Up Cloud, I realized that guest posting was a great strategy for me. I’m a fast writer, so I have no problem churning out content for my blog and for other blogs.

This has helped me build links, connections and traffic. It isn’t a shortcut, but it’s a strategy to works extremely well.

7. No Plan

Last, but not least, I had no plan. My grand plan was to start a website and hope that everything would work out.

You have to have a plan if you want to make money. With my second, and successful niche website, I knew how I was going to monetize it.

With this blog, I had a vision in mind before I started. I am open to my vision changing, because that happens a lot.

I am not saying that you should make a plan and stick to it no matter what. I’ve found that the best results in my life have come from me being open to new and surprising possibilities.

Have a plan, but also be ready to modify and adapt it to what is happening around you. As you go through your journey, you will learn new things, your perspective will change and so will your plans.

In order to calibrate and head in the right direction, there is one thing you must do, and that is to take action. Don’t put off going after your dreams.

Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, it is better to start, because you will learn a lot in the process, which will equip you for future success.

Image by Éole Wind

Related posts:

The 5 Phases of Personal Growth

Henri — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:42:37 +0000

My journey started when I was 16, I was watching TV one day, and they were talking about experimenting with lucid dreaming.

It fascinated me, so I started learning all about it. I did have some initial success with it, but after a while my interest waned.

Lucid dreaming led me to meditation and one thing led to another. It was all a path to where I am now. I’m happy I bumped into lucid dreaming, because without it, I don’t know who I would be.

If there’s something I’ve learned during the few years I’ve been alive, it’s that we all go through our life in different ways.

You can never force anything on anyone. You can only accept them as they are. We all have different purposes and passions in life, so it is only natural that we go about living our life differently from everyone else.

This is why it is so important that you listen to yourself and find your own game. Whenever I’ve tried to copy someone else, the result has been failure and unhappiness.

With all that said, I’ve identified a few phases that I’ve gone through in my own life that are particularly interesting, check them out:

Phase #1 – Denial

Denial is the time when you want to think that everything is fine, but you secretly wonder why everyone and everything seems to be working against you.

It’s the time when you feel like shit, but feel hopeless to do anything about it, so you keep living the life you think you deserve.

You see everyone around you struggling and working in soul killing jobs, so why should you have anything better? After all, only the luckiest of people get to do what they want and love life, right?

Denial is that guy at work who blames everything and everyone for making his life miserable. He’s that guy who doesn’t have the guts to face his problems and deal with them.

I used to be that guy. I never worked at a job, but I used to whine and blame plenty. I tried being miserable and negative in as many ways as I could, but it didn’t get me anywhere, so I figured I had to do something else.

Phase #2 – Acceptance

This is starting to sound like one of those rehabilitation programs, but I guess they work for a reason.

Once I realized I was giving my power away by blaming, whining and making excuses, I had to accept it all.

This phase is really about realization and acceptance together. You realize what you’ve been doing and then accept it.

It has always been easy for me to get caught in a thought loop where you go round and round with scenarios of how everything could have been better if you changed this one thing about your past.

Let that stuff go and start focusing on what you can do now to improve your life. Realization and acceptance has always happened gradually for me.

For example, moving to Spain made me realize how afraid I am of losing control. When you move, it can easily feel like everything is in the air, and you have no clue how the landing is going to be.

Instead of dwelling on this or giving into my pattern of wanting control, I accepted it, meditated and released it, as best I could.

This helped me turn a seemingly negative event to a positive one. This is one of the reasons why traveling is so beneficial. It completely disrupts your old patterns and rewires your brain, if you let it. It’s a growth experience.

Phase #3 – Gathering

The gathering phase can be mindbogglingly fun. I have tons of books back home in Sweden. They are the result of one of my gathering phases.

I devoured everything that was even mildly interesting and relevant to improving my life, making money and whatever else I found interesting.

When I started playing poker I probably read close to 40 books on the subject, which is a bit obsessive, I know, but that’s how I worked at the time.

There does come a point in time where you’ve gathered all the information you need. At this point you really should start taking action and figuring out what works for you.

As I’ve refined this process, I have realized that taking action as soon as you know the first step is a lot more efficient than reading all that material.

Phase #4 – Experimentation

Phase 4 is when you begin to take everything you’ve learned and incorporate it into your life. An example from my life is that I’ve been to an NLP Practitioner Seminar with Richard Bandler, I’ve learned and experimented with EFT and the Sedona Method.

I now use all of them together in my own way. The first time I bumped into EFT was when I was around 16 years old, so it has taken a few years since I’ve found what really works for me, and I have a feeling that I’m nowhere close to done. We never are.

If you allow it, then you will notice that you constantly have new realizations and ideas on how you can improve your life and use tools that work for you.

The important part for me has always been to follow my own feelings. Whenever I follow my mind and not my heart, I usually run into a lot of obstacles.

Our hearts are sneaky bastards. They know what’s going on, while our minds do not. I’ve learned this the hard way.

Phase #5 – Creation

It helps to look at these phases not as a sequence of chronological events, but as areas that you pop in and out of constantly.

I feel like I’ve reached the last few phases more and more as I’ve started to uncover my passion and purpose, which led me to start the Wake Up Cloud.

Creating your own, personal stuff is an amazing, liberating and uplifting experience that I want to help you experience. That is one of the reasons why I keep writing every single week.

We all have something within us that we truly want to express and share with the world. It’s easy to give in to the fear that people don’t really care what you have to say, but to be honest, that’s bullshit.

You have something to share. Even if you don’t know what it is, it’s there, trust me on that one. Enjoy the process and most of all, be grateful for what you have.

Image by Éole Wind

Related posts:

You Deserve to Make Money Online (or Offline)

Henri — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:50:10 +0000

If you’re anything like me, then you were brought up with the belief that making money was bad, but at the same time it was something to strive for.

Do you see the conflict? When you realize that your beliefs aren’t really working for you, you can let them go.

I realize that it may not be that easy, which is why I’m a big believer in taking everything in small steps. There’s no need force things.

Start working on helping others and following your passion to the best of your ability. You may not even know what your passion is, but if you’re taking action, it will come to you sooner or later.

Sometimes it’s helpful to do the things that don’t work in order to find what does work, which brings me to the point of this article, making money.

Express Your Creativity

I love making money. It’s challenging and it’s fun. If you’re skeptical about whether or not you can make money online, that’s too bad, because I’m living proof that it is possible.

Take a look around, and you’ll discover that there are millions of websites and blogs out there making money every single day.

The sheer creativity involved in delivering value and helping people is amazing. You can practically create whatever you want and sell it to people.

You may fall flat on your face a few times until you figure things out, but that’s part of the game. When you get too serious or try to force things, that’s when you’ll feel the resistance and frustration.

I Give Value, You Give Money

Most people get a bit too serious when it comes to the topic of money. I view it more as a playground, as a game.

I create something that gives you value and in exchange you give me money. It doesn’t even have to be money, it can be anything. In essence, all we are doing is exchanging energy.

Money doesn’t have to control you. It doesn’t have to be this evil thing. It can be used as a tool for getting what you want and living the life you desire.

There are a lot of people that condemn, judge and spread negativity when their life isn’t the way they want it to be.

Who cares about them? I have no problem ignoring people that do not add anything to my life. I’d rather focus on doing what I enjoy.

It’s much more constructive to realize where you are and start improving your situation instead of blaming something external.

Focus on helping people and you will go a very, very long way. When you have something of value to offer (and everyone does, no excuses accepted), the money will follow.

Image by Toby Keller

Related posts:

You and I, We Will Lead the Way

Henri — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:03:30 +0000

Working for someone else is easy. They tell you what to do, when to do it and sometimes how to do it.

You know that if you spend 8 hours working every day for a month, you’ll get a paycheck. It’s instant gratification.

Being self-employed and working online, there’s no certainty and you never know what might happen next.

A move by Google could make your whole business obsolete, or at least that is the fear many have.

This is one of the fears that keeps haunting me, day in and day out. Sure, I make money from my websites, but what if something happens? What if the company I promote goes out of business? What if, what if, what if?

If I give in to this fear, I quickly find myself looking for new opportunities. I want to find something that is bullet-proof. I want something that can replicate the feeling of working for someone else.

Embrace Uncertainty

Even though the security of working for someone else is an illusion, many people still feel like it’s the best thing. We self-employed have to stick together and we have to be okay with having fear knocking at our door.

These fears are what keep many from attaining their dream life, but not us. We are the ones that will lead the way and show future world-changers that this can be done. Yes, it’s hard work and yes, you may be afraid, but in the end, it’s what makes life worth living.

A World Without Fear is No World At All

Imagine a world without fear. A perfect world where there are no problems. There are no challenges. It’s like playing a video-game on god-mode. You know you can’t die. It’s fun at first, but it quickly becomes boring and pointless.

Thinking like this always calms me down. Fear is what pokes us into growth, but only if you can stare it in the face and work with it. Sometimes I want to crawl into a ball and hide, but there’s always that thought or feeling that keeps reminding me to move forward.

A world without fear is no world at all. Without fear, you and I would not be the individuals we are today. When I played poker, I learned the most when things weren’t going well. It helped not only to take my poker game to the next level, but also improve my awareness, discipline and life in general.

Imperfection is Perfection

We’re always striving. We want more money, friends, connections and more validation. I’ve realized that striving for something is essential, but it isn’t the end goal.

During the short amount of time I’ve been alive, I’ve realized that reaching the end destination is nowhere near as fun as participating in the journey to get there.

It’s easy to dream that once you have a certain amount of money in your bank account you can do what you want, or if the stars and planets align just right, you’ll start that business that you’ve always wanted.

There is No Right Time

There is no right time to start. When I started the Wake Up Cloud, I didn’t know what I was doing. I took everything one step at a time. I came up with a domain name, I set-up hosting, I set-up wordpress and I wrote my first post.

It’s all about taking one step at a time and being present. I’m by no means perfect. I often fall into the pattern of forcing things and wanting to reach the end goal and that’s okay.

Once you realize what you’re doing, you can take a deep breath and focus on what truly matters. It’s easy to lose sight of what is important to you.

There are many distractions. But ultimately it is you and I who will lead the way for future generations. We are the ones that will set the standard.

The world is changed by one person at a time. I’m doing my best, are you?

Image by Woodley

Related posts:

How to Create Lifetime Passive Income with Affiliate Marketing

Henri — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:17:08 +0000

When most people think about affiliate marketing, they think about getting a one-time commission. About one year ago, I thought so too, until I discovered that there are better alternatives.

You can create recurring, passive income from affiliate marketing, if you can find the right companies.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t promote companies or products that only give you a one-time sale.

If that product helps your readers, by all means promote it. Your priority should always be towards helping your readers and making their lives better.

If you can position yourself and work on growing passive income, while at the same time helping people, wouldn’t you want to do that? I know I would.

I think every company should offer lifetime commissions to their affiliates. You should be getting a piece of every customer you recruit for the rest of that customer’s life.

It took me a few years to even realize that these kind of affiliate programs existed. I hope I can spare you that by writing this article.

One-Time vs. Lifetime

All in all, one-time and lifetime affiliate programs work in the same way, except when customers come back, the lifetime affiliate programs give you more money.

This is a long-term strategy and if you work hard, lifetime income opportunities can really start to snowball. I’m already seeing this in my article marketing and my affiliate commissions. They are growing by themselves without me having to do anything.

Imagine if you were making one sale a day with a commission of $20. That means you’d be making somewhere around $600 a month, which is a nice sum, but that income never grows, unless you make an effort to increase your sales.

With a lifetime affiliate program you might start off at $600, but after a year that number might’ve doubled or even tripled. This, of course, depends widely on how many new customers you bring in, but I think you see my point?

Even if you left everything and were making one sale a day, your income would keep growing.

This Isn’t Rocket Science

This doesn’t have to be hard. The reason I like article marketing is because it’s easy and you start getting sales almost instantly after you start submitting articles. This is assuming that everything else is working, such as your presell, the product you’re promoting and so on.

You don’t have to have a lot of traffic to grow a nice income stream with a lifetime affiliate program. It all builds up. But what you do need is patience and persistence. If you’re writing and submitting a few articles a day, it can feel discouraging to not see huge checks coming your way in the first 6-12 months, but that’s how things are.

You have to work hard to make things happen. Most people give up and claim that making money online is impossible. I sincerely believe I can teach anyone to make money online if they are willing to work hard.

Lifetime Income Programs

With all that said, how can you actually find these affiliate programs? Well, sometimes they are hard to spot and require some detective work.

You should also try out the products you’re promoting and preferably love them. Don’t start promoting something because of the money. It will usually back-fire on you. Believe me, I’ve been there and done that.

To get you started, below are four companies that offer a lifetime affiliate program. I am an affiliate most of these companies, so if you sign-up through my link, I make some money as well. Just thought I’d let you know. This in no way affects your commissions. It just gives me some money to support my rent and food habit

1. Xtend-Life is a New Zealand Company that focuses on making the best natural supplements and skin care products. This is the company that I promote the most at this moment in time. I use their supplements myself on a daily basis. Ingela uses their skin care products and supplements. I have even recommended them to my mother, who also uses them now. She likes them so much she’s raving about them to her friends. The only bad thing is that their affiliate program is invite only. If you’re serious and want in, contact me and I’ll see what I can do.

2. DreamHost is a hosting company that offers hosting at a very competitive price. I used them for almost two years before I moved onto a more expensive company. They are a good starting point and a lot of people love them. They offer 10% revenue share on people you recommend and 5% revenue share on people your people recommend.

3. Market Health is a company that sells health related products. They have very aggressive sales pages, which can put off many people, but they do convert. They offer big recurring commissions on their products, so if people come back for more, you’ll get paid. The only thing I’d say is to test their products out for yourself before you start promoting them, if you don’t like them, don’t recommend them.

4. Aquasana is a company that produces water filters. They are very affordable. I have used their water filters myself and they are excellent, so I can recommend them from personal experience. I think they offer 20-30% commission on their sales and 10% on second tier sales. Their affiliate program can be tricky to find, so I got the link for you, clicking here takes you directly to their sign-up page.

As you can see, I’m a huge believer in knowing what you’re promoting. The more you believe in the product you’re recommending, the better you’ll do.

This is just a taste of the affiliate programs I am involved in at the moment. I’m sure there are plenty more great affiliate programs out there. I am going to keep an eye out for them and see if I can find enough to create a big list for you to pick from.

Image by Ed Schipul

Related posts:

How to Use Article Marketing to Increase Your Blog Subscribers

Henri — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:48:36 +0000

Today I’m going to give you a simple strategy for increasing your blog subscribers. You might not have summoned up the courage to guest post on other blogs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use article marketing to boost your blog subscribers.

When I started the Wake Up Cloud, I was hesitant at first to guest post, so I started with commenting.

To be honest, I haven’t used article marketing to build my subscribers on the Wake Up Cloud, unless you count guest posting as article marketing, which I guess it is.

It does work though. I have used article marketing to build an e-mail list, make more sales and get more traffic.

I’ve talked to a few bloggers, and guest posting is something people don’t get around to doing, which is when it hit me: article marketing is the perfect stepping stone to guest posting.

You hone your writing skills, you get used to putting your articles out there and you get traffic to your blog or website.

Start writing a few articles a day and submitting them and I think you’ll be surprised at the results over time.

Here’s how you can start increasing your subscribers today:

1. Keep It Simple

You don’t have to submit your articles to 500 different article directories. To be honest, I mostly submit my articles to EzineArticles. They are an awesome company who take care of their writers and I have a great deal of respect for them.

They also give you the most direct traffic (I’ve tested this). Sure, other directories might give you a link, but the link isn’t worth much since Google already knows that almost anyone can get their article published.

I like to keep things as simple as possible. When I’m doing article marketing, I only write for EzineArticles, because they give me the most traffic, and that’s what I’m after.

2. Short and Sweet

You don’t have to write award-winning articles. Your articles don’t have to be anywhere near the quality of your blog posts.

These articles do not have to cover everything on a topic, just pick one thing and write. Think of it as one piece of your delicious, homemade pie. They get one piece at EzineArticles and you give another on your blog or website, then another as a paid ebook or coaching, or whatever you want to do.

This doesn’t mean that your articles should be crap. Proper grammar and proper English blended with some coherence will take you a long way. You have to find your own balance between quality and quantity.

Remember, we want to get as many articles out there as possible, but we also want people to like reading them, go to your website and subscribe.

Your articles should be a minimum of 250 words, but I like to stick to 300-400. In the beginning it’ll take you longer to write these, but once you start to realize that it isn’t that hard, you’ll be churning out an article in 15-30 minutes.

3. Answer the Why

If you really want to boost your sign-up rate, you should give people an incentive to sign-up. My incentive at the moment is my e-course: discover your passion in 5 days. Can you put together something for people that they’d want to have?

It doesn’t have to be big, as long as it’s something that people like. Write something and get it out there. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

I also recommend you start building an e-mail list. It will come in handy in the future when you want to interact with your readers and even recommend things you really like and think they would find useful.

I use Aweber (aff link, they rock) for my e-mail list, but I’ve also heard good things about MailChimp, who offer their services for free as long as your e-mail list is under 500 subscribers.

4. Hit Your Target

Article directories almost always give you a resource box, which is basically your place to shine. You get to say what you do and why people should click your link.

Let’s say I’ve written an article about finding your passion, which is highly relevant to my sign-up incentive, then at the end I could write “Do you want to discover your passion in 5 days? Come on over to my website and learn more.”

You’ll have to experiment with what works. You get click-through statistics on many article directories so you can easily test difference resource boxes.

The main point I want to get across is to write articles and link them to your sign-up page. If you don’t have a sign-up page, get one and tell people WHY they should listen to you.

5. Create Success

If you thought about writing 1,000 articles, you’d probably feel overwhelmed and frustrated. But what if I told you to write one article a day?

That’s a lot easier. Get into a routine where you start writing one short article a day and then increase it from there.

This isn’t rocket science and you don’t have to make it harder than it is. Use article directories to explore your ideas and then link back to your blog.

I’m going to be honest here and tell you that you will most likely suck at the beginning, I know I did, but when you keep going you’ll get better.

Image by Ibrahim Iujaz

Related posts:

Making $300/Month Online with Ingela Johansson

Henri — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:47:34 +0000

Today I’m interviewing the lovely and always beautiful, Ingela Johansson, who also happens to be my girlfriend.

You wanted to know how my girlfriend is making money online, so here it is.

I’ve always enjoyed examples. It’s helpful to see how someone got started, how they overcame obstacles and where they’re at.

Sometimes it’s easier to relate to someone who makes $300/month instead of someone that makes $10,000/month.

It really isn’t hard to make money online, but you have to be persistent and focus on one thing at a time.

Your goal and purpose has to be clear. It has to be single-minded. Constantly jumping from goal to goal will get you nowhere.

You will run into obstacles, challenges and plenty of frustrations. Learn to enjoy them and look upon them as signs that you’re making headway.

With all that said, enjoy!

The Interview

Henri: I know a lot about you, but most of the people that are reading this don’t, so tell us a little about yourself and your story.

Ingela: I have lived in a small city in northern Sweden all my life and was brought up by my mom with two older sisters and a younger brother. When I graduated from high school I had no idea what to do, but I was kind of sick of studying so I started working at a local restaurant.

A couple of years later I was fed up with my job as I found it both boring and stressful. Around that time I met you and a year after that, in the beginning of 2009, I started looking into making money online.

Henri: How did you choose a method to making money online?

Ingela: At first I started with Site Build It! and started on a website about dogs. I didn’t have the discipline and persistence to stay with that one though, I guess I felt it took too long to get results and I didn’t believe enough in that I could make it work.

I was still working on my site when you started with affiliate article marketing and told me about it. It sounded like a simpler way for me and I wanted to try it out.

Henri: Building authority websites takes a lot of time and effort. My Site Build It! sites took over 6 months until they started taking off. It’s tough in the beginning but the payoff can be big.

I’m sure many don’t know what affiliate article marketing is, so can you tell us a little more about what you do and how you make money?

Ingela: I have a small website about natural skin care, which is made up of one page that is about how to find the best skin care products. On it I promote a line of natural skin care products and have affiliate links to a company.

I write articles about natural skin care with links to my website that I submit to mainly an article directory called EzineArticles. When people read my article of course some will want to know more and click through to my site, and some of the people who read my site will click through to the skin care company and buy something.

That is when I get paid. The articles at EzineArticles get indexed by Google and keep generating traffic over the years, so more and more people will end up on my website.

Henri: A lot of people believe that products that are promoted by affiliates are scams, which keeps them away from making money as an affiliate.

Why do you recommend these skin care products and the company that makes them? Is it just because of the commission, or are they actually good?

Ingela: First I read about the products on the website, they seemed really good so I bought the line and tried them out. I really like them and use them myself since I’m very much into all things natural.

There is also a large percentage of people that come back and order more products from them, so they seem to work for others too. I would find it hard to write so many articles promoting those products if I was uncertain of their quality or thought they were useless. It really is the best company I know, so I’m happy to promote them.

Henri: How much money are you making right now?

Ingela: Almost $300 / month as of January, 2010. The good thing about the company I promote is that their affiliate program offers lifetime commissions, so I get paid when a customer comes back and buys more.

Henri: How many articles have you written to this point?

Ingela: Almost 800. I honestly didn’t think I’d get this many articles done, but there they are and more are to come. It sounded a lot when I had only written my first 10 articles, but it’s really only a few articles a day.

Henri: How long did it take you to reach this point?

Ingela: I started in September 2009, so it has been around 5 months. I had only written the content for my website before that, which taught me about using keywords right.

I didn’t know exactly how to write the articles in the beginning, but I looked at your articles for examples and got tips for improving my writing from you regularly.

I worked consistently, although some days I didn’t get anything done. Mainly because I procrastinated because I felt unmotivated and rather did things that I felt gave me instant gratification… like going on Facebook, surfing or reading about my interests.

Sometimes I avoided writing because I felt I wasn’t a good enough writer, and even because of the feeling of not writing enough articles.

So I wrote even less, which is kind of backwards . I also got side-tracked sometimes thinking about possible career options and other opportunities.

Henri: Many struggle with the fear of not being good enough sometimes, myself included. Can you tell us a little more about how you overcame the fear of not being good enough?

Ingela: Well it is something I keep working on, the important thing is not to let it get in my way of productivity. I try to accept the feeling instead of avoiding it and work through it instead of procrastinate. Sometimes I still procrastinate but I think it is getting less and less.

Henri: What is your strategy for writing so many articles? Many people are put off by the amount of articles you have written.

Ingela: First of all I don’t think it’s an extreme amount, comparing to how many you and other successful article marketers have written. And it has taken me some time to get this far.

I have had to work on my discipline and on motivating myself. I don’t have a job anymore, so I’m motivated to make this work so I can keep the freedom of being my own boss and live on passive income.

I don’t know if I have a strategy, but I make small improvements as I go, both in how I write and how many I write a day. It’s hard sometimes as there’s no instant gratification, but I look at how well you are doing and get more confidence in that it really works.

Henri: Being your own boss is awesome, but it also has it’s downsides, because you have to learn how to get things done. Tell us a little more about how you made the transition from working to making money online.

Ingela: I actually quit my permanent position at the restaurant before I even started with anything online and went traveling a few months. But when I came back I went back to working a couple of jobs as a temp.

So that is what I did when I started with article marketing. Sometimes I worked five days a week and sometimes I didn’t get called for a couple of weeks. This allowed me to write while earning enough living from my jobs, and save up a little for our move to Spain.

Since the beginning of January I have transitioned completely from working to writing full-time, although I am still living off the money I made from working, my online income is growing nicely and I should be making enough this year to live on it.

Henri: What have been your biggest challenges when it comes to making the transition?

Ingela: It is always hard to let go of what feels secure, even if it is a false security that will prevent you from living your life the way you want.

Sometimes I found it hard to have many different workplaces as it made me feel like I couldn’t focus fully on the writing, but sometimes it was the opposite and I liked the variation and getting away from writing a bit.

It is a challenge to trust that things work just through hard work. My single biggest challenge has been improving my self-discipline though, as it never was very strong. It is getting better but I still have a long way to go.

Henri: You’re definitely on the right track! Building your discipline and learning what works for you is key. What do you like the most about article marketing and making your living online?

Ingela: I like that article marketing is simple as it doesn’t require me to research new topics every day, and I can write about things I know but in different ways and be a little creative.

I love being able to live wherever I want. I like that I can decide myself when I work and when I do other things. I like the thought of passive, lifetime commissions as it will allow me to live more like I truly want to and do what I’m passionate about even if it doesn’t pay.

Henri: Do you think anyone can make a living online, or does it require something special? I know many reading this are probably going “I couldn’t do that”. In my opinion, the only things that are required are hard work and persistence. What is your take on this?

Ingela: I think anyone who really, really wants to, can do it. If you take it slowly you don’t even have to work that hard, for example you can write one article every evening after work. It might take a few years but you can still succeed that way.

It’s not a race. It does require a willingness to change and improve, unless you are perfect already

Henri: And lastly, what would you say to people just starting out on their path to making a living online and increasing the freedom in their lives?

Ingela: How many hours you put into it determines how long it will take until you are able to make a living. Get help with things you don’t know how to do. Be patient.

You don’t have to believe it will work for you (although that helps), just keep doing the things that have been proven to work for others. Let go of or accept the feeling that it goes painfully slow in the beginning and just do it anyway.

Henri: I completely agree! Take action and just get things done. The results will follow. I’ve run out of questions, so thanks for doing this!

Ingela: You’re most welcome. Is it time for lunch now?

Henri: Lunch? Definitely!

If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to voice them in the comments below. I’ll make sure Ingela is here to answer them .

Related posts:

What is Success?

Henri — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:15:43 +0000

Three years ago my definition of success was having more money, a blue BMW and a big house.

I tried using the Law of Attraction. I visualized the blue BMW. I saw myself in it. I felt it. I smelled it. But nothing happened. Why?

I wasn’t going after what really mattered to me. All of my friends wanted these things, so I thought I should want them to.

After all, driving a nice car feels good, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t I want one? After things never manifested, I started to explore what mattered to me.

As I started creating my own definition of success, that’s when everything started falling into place.

My Definition of Success

Look at the universe as a computer terminal waiting for your command. It’s just sitting there waiting. If you forget to put anything in, it will use the most common definition for success, which you don’t want.

When I took responsibility for making my own rules, I became happier and more relaxed. We have too many shoulds in our life, it’s time we got rid of them, don’t you agree?

My definition for success is when I am following my heart and purpose, which basically encapsulates doing what I love, having fulfilling relationships and being happy. I like to keep it simple.

What’s Your Definition?

When you follow your heart, good things happen to you. I recently got asked to join a cool project started by Jonny.

He gathered 30 bloggers from around the globe and asked them each to contribute one page on what success is and how you can achieve it. The result? An amazing ebook.

With all that said, what’s your definition of success and how has it changed over the years?

Image by Richard

Related posts:

My Journey to Making Money Online

Henri — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:05:05 +0000

Becoming good at something takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears, which is one of the reasons why I recommend that you only pursue the things you are passionate about.

You do not have to be 100% passionate, but as long as you’re even somewhat passionate, it’s going to help you down the road.

Most people tell me they don’t know what their passion is. Is this the real problem? I think the core issue here is being afraid of missing out.

We all have many passions, and we don’t want any of them to slip away.

So the problem isn’t that you don’t have a passion, it’s that you have too many. I am here to tell you that choosing one doesn’t mean you’re abandoning the others.

Pick one passion and give it all of your focus. You can always work on the others later when you’ve made your current endeavor successful.

If you try to make them all work, you will most likely fail. I’m not saying that it’s impossible, just improbable.

I struggled with this for several years. But the lessons I learned were priceless. They are the reason I am here today. They are the reason I am location independent and able to live in Spain.

$8,000 Up in Flames

Back in 2006, I was still playing poker and enjoying it for the most part. But I had an itch to do something else. It started to dawn on me that I didn’t want to keep playing poker for the rest of my life.

At this time I knew nothing about SEO, affiliate programs or adsense. The first thing I did, since I knew mentoring was essential in my poker success, was to jump on a mentoring program.

The mentoring program lasted for about 6 months and cost me $8,000. There were a lot of unanswered questions during this period. It might have been bad coaching, or just me neglecting to ask the right questions. Either way, it’s in the past and something I don’t regret, even though it cost me a lot of money.

What happened was I built up a website, wrote a pretty fluffy e-book and wrote a salespage. I never gave it a chance. I just deleted the whole thing within a few months. I was confused and had no idea what to do.

The coaching had ended, so I had no one to turn to. I felt like more coaching wasn’t worth the money, so I stopped and jumped on board another opportunity.

Niche Websites

Site Build It! (aff link) spoke to me. It was simple. It was reasonably priced and the community was awesome, so in 2007 I joined.

I know Site Build It! receives a lot of bad PR, but it is an excellent choice for beginners to get started. I wouldn’t recommend it to you if I didn’t think it was worth your money.

My two Site Build It! sites bring in about $2,000/month. The first site was a poker site, which was a horrible failure, but I managed to monetize it somewhat, which helps me pay for the hosting and then some.

The biggest reason my first site was a failure was because I neglected to follow the instructions. I think this happens to a lot of people; they join a course, don’t follow the instructions and then blame the course.

It’s all part of a learning process I had to go through. After 2 years I realized that my poker site wasn’t going to cut it. I received help from the Site Build It! forums and started a new site in the health nice.

This time I got in touch with another SBIer called Tomaz from Freedom Ideas. He was kind enough to help me for free.

I followed the instructions in the Site Build It! Action Guide to a tee. I also followed Tomaz’s advice and today my second site is making the large majority of my income, completely on auto-pilot.

Article Marketing

One of my favorite ways to make money to date is through article marketing. Article marketing is extremely versatile because you can use it to promote your own stuff, affiliate products, build your e-mail list or just get more traffic to your website or blog.

It is one of the reasons I am able to write so many guest posts and be “everywhere” at the same time. I’ve gotten a lot of practice. Last year I submitted over 3,000 articles to article directories, which all bring traffic to my affiliate websites.

The reason I say submitted is because I outsourced some of it. However, I did write over 2,000 articles myself. You have to put in some hard work in the beginning to get the ball rolling.

I will go in much more detail on all of this in future articles.

The Shift

Everything changed for me when I realized, in early 2009, that my poker website wasn’t going to help me make a living.

I had to stop fooling myself. It’s easy to believe that you’re perfect and the fault lies in the course, program, ebook or even Google.

When you’re honest with yourself, you learn to let go of what doesn’t work. Now, I am not talking about trying something for 3 months and buying each new course that comes out.

I went on for 2 years until I realized my mistakes. We all have to make mistakes until we learn enough about ourselves to actually take in what people are saying and apply it correctly.

If you aren’t already subscribed to the Wake Up Cloud, I recommend you subscribe now. I feel extremely good about the content that is about to be published and I think you will too.

Image by Wolfgang Staudt

Related posts:

I Need Your Help

Henri — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:11:03 +0000

My last few posts have felt forced. Although they may have been okay, they haven’t felt right for me, so I am going to refine my approach.

From now on, I am going to start sharing the experiences I am going through in my life. I am going to share both the good and the bad.

This allows me to write in much greater detail. I have also noticed that there’s a big demand for succeeding online and making money. If you’re like most people, you’re confused and don’t know what to do.

All you see are people making money and telling you that you can do it, but nothing makes sense.

That’s the place I was in just a year ago. I am now making close to $3,000 a month passively.

I am not saying this to brag. I just want to show you that it can be done if you really want it. This passive income allows me to focus all my attention on the Wake Up Cloud.

Granted, $3,000 a month is not a lot, but my girlfriend and I live on about $1,500 a month at the moment and we have everything we need.

We have an apartment (with air-conditioning of course), we have food, we are healthy and best of all, we are free to do what we want. None of us has a regular job (and I’ve never had one).

I have shown my girlfriend how to make money online. As I write this, she is working on her own stuff. She is not making a lot, but it is growing.

Using Your Passion

If you want to make money online, you have to be single-minded and patient. You have to pick something you’re at least somewhat passionate about.

The websites that make me money are almost all in the health niche, which is a topic I am extremely passionate about. If you’re trying to make money building websites about insurance, assuming you aren’t interested in insurance, you will most likely fail.

You don’t have to be 100% passionate about what you do. Taking small steps and going from a job you hate to working on a website that you’re 10% passionate about is progress. As long as you’re heading in the right direction, you’re rocking it.

I Need Your Help

As you may already know, my goals are to connect and help. But I need some feedback. I want to know what topics you want me to cover.

If you don’t like commenting, feel free to e-mail me.

Image by joiseyshowaa

Related posts:

9 Powerful Reasons to Kill Your TV

Henri — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:56 +0000

I grew up with television. It was my dear friend. It taught me English (through Cartoon Network) and it comforted me in times of stress.

Most people grow up with television. It’s easy to use it as an escape from the world, and from your feelings.

It can feel good to switch on and switch off, but is it what you want to be doing for the rest of your life?

TV can be useful, but it has the tendency to take over your life and push you into a pool of procrastination.

Nothing moves. Nothing gets done. Your dreams fade away.

Of course, the same can be said about sitting in front of your computer.

I do think that computer clicking is a bit more active, but if you’re watching cats on YouTube, you might want to reconsider your approach.

With all that said, enjoy!

1. Time

How many hours a day do you spend watching the TV? If you spend just 2 hours a day watching TV, that amounts to 730 hours per year, which is around 30 days. In other words, you’re spending 1 month per year watching TV. Imagine what you could do with that time if TV didn’t exist in your life. Start an online business? Write a book? Do cool stuff?

You may already be living a TV-free lifestyle. In that case, use this article as confirmation that you’re heading in the right direction!

2. Discipline

Let’s face it, most of us can’t help ourselves if we have the TV right in front of us. It’s almost like having a twitter tab in your browser up while you’re “supposed” to be doing something productive.

You can’t help but click that tab and see if something new is going on. The simple solution is to eliminate TV from your life entirely. The more accessible you make TV, the more you’ll watch it, because it’s so easy to turn on.

If you don’t want to throw out your TV, you can always cancel all the cable or whatever you have giving you your entertainment. That’s what I did when I had a TV. I sold mine a month before I moved to Spain.

Getting rid of your TV gives you momentum to build your discipline, so take advantage of it!

3. Relationships

Everyone has a compulsion to interact and be social. After all, we’re social people that need interaction. When you kill your TV, you may notice an empty feeling. It’s almost as if something is missing from your life.

For me this feeling happens when I am without internet, especially if I have no friends or family around. It makes me want to call someone and hang out.

4. Energy

When I stopped watching TV, I suddenly noticed more energy. I have no idea how this happened. If TV was a life-form, it would be a vampire. It makes you feel good while sucking you dry.

Try eliminating TV from your life even for a few weeks and write down the improvements in your life. I think you’ll be surprised at what you find. Once you’ve made the jump, you most likely will never want to go back to being a TV-slave again.

5. Focus

Many people that I’ve talked to say that they’ve experienced heightened clarity when they eliminated TV from their life. When I stopped watching, clarity wasn’t something I was tuned into, so I can’t say that I noticed anything.

Although in hindsight it does feel like something happened. My mind became sharper, clearer and more powerful. There are a lot of things going on when watching TV that we don’t know about. I’m not even going to start speculating what they are, but one thing is for sure—they do affect our minds.

6. Creativity

When you watch TV, you’re in receive-mode, but when you stop and reduce TV, news and unnecessary entertainment in general, you go into creation mode. Just look at what your mind does when you’re lying in a field on a hot, summer day—it starts to day dream and imagine.

If nothing else, I’ve found that I have a lot more time to indulge in other more meaningful things. Inspiration strikes me often when I’m doing something that occupies my mind, but still keeps the channels open, so to speak. A few good examples are walking, meditating and washing the dishes. No dishwasher needed!

7. Uniqueness

Whether you like it or not, you are affected by what you watch. You start to second guess yourself on what you wear. What will people think of you if you deviate from the norms?

By decreasing outside pressure and programming, you’ll start to see your own uniqueness. Everyone talks about being remarkable. Being remarkable to me means being your true, authentic self.

8. Reality

Your map of reality gets distorted by TV. Your brain cannot differentiate between what’s real and what’s imagined. When I stopped watching, I felt freer to express myself. I was no longer bombarded with the standards TV forced on me.

The less input you have to base your beliefs on, the more you’ll create them from your own experiences and feelings. It also gives you the possibility to listen for guidance from other mystical places .

9. Advanced Civilizations

Let’s try an exercise in creative imagination, if you will. Imagine if we had the technology to fly to other civilizations on other planets. What if we landed and saw all of them staring at a screen? What would your first reaction be? You’d probably think that they weren’t the brighest race in the universe, at least I would.

Now imagine an advanced civilization. What do you think they would be doing? Do you think they would spend a large chunk of their time watching unnecessary entertainment on an electronic screen? Or do you think they would be doing what they love while benefiting their whole race? Who knows.

Image by Regan Walsh

Related posts:

The News, Fear and Addiction

Henri — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:30:09 +0000

When I was younger, I saw my parents and some of my friends watching, reading and listening to the news, all the time. I thought it was important.

As I started noticing my feelings more and more in my late teens, I realized that the news had an extremely negative effect on me. I’m sure you’ve noticed this too?

I know across the pond you guys have all kinds of alerts on T.V that are meant to induce fear and get you, well, on alert. Most of the news are something you can’t do anything about.

For me, most of the news is useless. It’s garbage. Why do you feel the need to read about people dying in Africa? It doesn’t change anything. It only makes you feel bad.

Keeping these dying people in your mind and feeling bad doesn’t have a positive impact on humanity. In fact, it probably has a negative one, since we’re all affected by each others thoughts.

Instead of reading about the news, feeling like you’re doing something and feeling bad–take action, donate or volunteer.

Throwing Out the News

If you’ve been consuming the news your whole life, you’re probably not entirely open to what I am saying. But you’re still reading, so some part of you wants to know more.

When I first realized how the news was affecting me, I tested it out. I wanted to see what the difference was in not consuming any news at all for 30 days.

For the first few days, I felt this urge to learn what was going on in the world. I wanted to stay updated. Have you experienced this? What is the need for it? Why do we need to know everything going on?

It’s almost as if I was looking for a fix. The news gives you a rush because it’s dripping in fear. Drinking your morning coffee and reading the news, is there a better way to wake up in the morning?

You feel the caffeine and adrenaline surging in your body. That could get addictive after a while, don’t you think? It kind of reminds you of checking your e-mail, blog traffic stats or adsense earnings every few minutes, doesn’t it?

Although I don’t drink coffee, this is the pattern I noticed within myself. As time went on, the urge subsided and I started feeling happier. When you on a 30-day fast from the news, you’ll see how much you can improve your life by eliminating unnecessary information.

Recycling Fear

Fear sells. Look at the headlines in the news. They’re all about fear. They make you feel like something bad is about to happen if you don’t buy the newspaper or tune in on the 6 o’ clock news.

If you buy the newspaper, they try to keep you subscribed, because tomorrow something even more horrible will happen, and you have to know how to avoid it.

It’s a ridiculous circle of fear. As more and more people realize that they don’t have to put up with this, the newspapers will die, which is exactly what is happening now (oh and also a bit because of the internet).

I have eliminated all irrelevant news from my life, which is about 99%. If something happens that requires my attention, my intuition will let me know. A good example is the Haiti disaster.

I don’t follow the news, so I had no idea what was going on. I just knew that it was something big, but I ignored it, because it didn’t attract my attention.

After about a week I ended up on Hope for Haiti’s website through Jordan’s blog. At which point I donated what I could to the cause. As you can see, if you’re needed, you will be directed to where you need to be, but you have to listen to yourself first.

Intuition

Reading the news and swimming in fear is not going to help enhance your intuition. I’ve started going from an analytical approach to a more intuitive one when making my decisions.

Sometimes I’m wrong, but often I’m right and everything works out well. I have built up trust for my intuition over the years. Mainly through feeling something and then reading about it and seeing that I was right.

You don’t have to follow your intuition if you don’t want to, but you can always pay attention to what it is telling you. Look at your intuition as a light. Most people are surrounded by heavy fog, which symbolizes your feelings, beliefs and thoughts.

As you start changing your beliefs, eliminating the clutter and trusting yourself, the fog slowly disappears and the light shines through. Your intuition is always there, you just have to clear the way.

The Positive Skew

The news doesn’t report on all the good stuff that happens in the world. Imagine if there had to be a 50/50 split on everything in the news. Every other day the front page would be positive.

Instead of “500 killed in car accident” it would say “500 lives saved” or “squirrel befriends cat”. The news automatically imply that the world is negative, because most of the news is negative. And that is how your mind interprets it.

If you’re an avid news consumer, ask yourself this: how different would your day be if you started by reading something positive, instead of something negative?

I’m not saying to ignore all the negative and live in airy fairy land. I’m talking about being practical. When you take a good look at most of the news you read, can you really do anything about it? What is your purpose for consuming it? Is it just to pass time?

I’ve discovered that in my own life, I function a lot better without reading the news, because it isn’t relevant to my life at all. Your mileage may vary, but the concepts stay the same.

How to Stop the Addiction

A low information lifestyle brings freedom into your life. Instead of your thoughts being dictated by the news, you now have complete control (unless you’re on twitter).

In my life it has helped me raise my vibration, or to put in non new agey terms, it has helped me be more positive and solve problems with more clarity.

I’m not going to try to force a list on you, because stopping a news addiction is so simple. I personally went cold-turkey. No more news. Instant freedom.

I was able to see the change immediately. If you like taking it gradually, then go for it. You can easily start reducing your news-time by a few minutes a day and you’ll be completely free within a matter of weeks.

***

Now I’m curious about your experiences. How has the news affected your life? Or if you’re already news-free, how and why did you make the decision?

Image by Hunter Williams

Related posts: