Just like the popular cartoon character, Shrek, we are like onions.

“Ogres are like onions, we have layers.”

Our personalities, our inner selves, are made up of layers, like an onion has layers.

As we work on our personal growth, we focus on different issues, major and minor, as they surface in our layers.

Our issues are not settled in our psyches in a chronological fashion.

We deal with old feelings, events, insecurities and hurts…what we call our baggage…on a very personal level.

It is all about our readiness.

Personal development (or self help) is just that, personal.  As you, the individual, work on your self and overcoming your old baggage, you will work on your issues as you are ready to at the time.

How do you know you are ready to work on something?

You will see it for yourself!  Whatever you are not ready to deal with, will remain invisible to you.

Then, as you keep working on your personal growth, different layers of your onion will be peeled away, and you will begin seeing issues you didn’t realize were there.

One of the best actions I have taken in my personal growth is in joining the Mental Cleanse.  I know I promote this group a lot, but it is with good reason!

I have been through the mental cleanse about 3 or 4 times.

I came to the place where I felt I worked as far as I could with the mental cleanse, so I stopped participating.

I still did activities to work on my personal growth.  I read motivation and self help books and I participate in other trainings.

These actions have all contributed to helping me peel back more of my layers until I was ready to see the next major issue holding me back in my success.

As I spoke to one of my mentors about my revelation, she told me to do the mental cleanse again!

Well, of course, I thought it would be a waste of time, after all I have participated so many times before!

But after talking with my mentor a bit, I knew the wisdom in her advise. 

So, today I will be on the mental cleanse call and I will speak up and participate.

I want to invite YOU to join me!

It’s easy, just go to http://www.30daycleanse.com/ 

• sign up for the free program

• download your free copy of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”

• read 1 chapter each week, you can start at any time anywhere in the book, so do the chapter we are currently on

• write your personal thoughts from the chapter, your “lesson”

• submit your lesson to the email address provided; if you do not want Michael to share your lesson with the others, include that in your lesson.

• also, when you are ready, send me a copy as your personal mentor to mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com 

• read the weekly email Michael sends out and read the selected lessons

• join in on the mental cleanse group calls, every Wednesday at 3 pm and 5 pm EST @ 1.218.936.3890, PIN 300300#

• participate in the conversations when you are ready to crack open your personal change 

I look forward to seeing you there and sharing the experience of peeling away the layers of our personal growth!

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com

Everybody says that Network Marketing is the best self development business to get into.

Most people who have no business background yet start a home based business, usually have a lot of work to do on their personal development and self belief.

One of the first steps a newbie in MLM (or any other kind of home based business) does is create a positive self talk or self affirmation.

The purpose of self talk is to convince oneself that he/she is successful, confident, healthy, wealthy, etc.

It is a daily exercise in changing your belief system.  If you believe in your ability to be successful in growing your business, then you will be successful.

Many people want to be successful and go forth with starting a business, but subconsciously they do not believe they can be successful.

We must understand the law of nature in that our subconscious mind rules our conscious mind!  This includes our emotions. 

Only the dominant thoughts, beliefs and emotions in our subconscious mind will prevail.  Our success, wealth and happiness depend on our subconscious.

The only way to control our subconscious mind is through constant daily self talk (self affirmations) and mental exercises and habits.

• You must say your self talk every single day from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night.
• Say it at least 100 times a day.
• When you go to bed, focus on your self talk and your goals.
• Actively visualize yourself having what you want.

Many newbies to MLM continue to have a lack of success with their self talk and business building.

If a person’s belief is extremely damaged he has to start his personal road to recovery with very small baby steps.

Self talk will not work if you are constantly creating opposition in your mind!

If a person says:

• I am healthy.
• I am wealthy.
• I am successful.

but has so much negative subconscious programming that they cannot truly believe they are healthy, wealthy, and successful, it will never happen!

It is like the kitten in the mirror being told by her sponsors to “Believe you are a lion!” or say “I am a lion!”  But the kitten’s belief is so opposite to those statements, becoming the lion will never happen.

What if the kitten can’t get the subconscious image out of her head that she is stuck in a fishbowl?

For a person having trouble getting around their negative programming, they can say simply

• health
• wealth
• success

And that is it!
Get the belief in the words into the subconscious first.

Eventually, if followed through with, the person will feel more confidence and belief in their ability to be healthy, wealthy, and successful.

Then it will be time to use statements with “I am…” in them for self talk.

The road to personal development can be a long and winding road for some people.  It can also feel scary and treacherous.

You don’t have to do this alone!

Your success also depends on having mentors who will believe in you until you can believe in yourself!

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen
mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com
www.preparetoachievesuccess.com

I am so inspired and touched by MY American Idol favorite, Crytal Bowersox’s performance of “People Get Ready”, I had to look up the lyrics.

Music and poetry so often touch our souls on such an emotional and spiritual level, that no other message can make such an impact.

In Network Marketing/MLM, average people enter the entrepreneurial dream land of starting our own home based businesses. 

We are a tribe of amateurs. 

If we are committed to succeed and stick with the business, we need training in every aspect of business from lead generation to personal development.

We often come to the arena loaded with doubts and preconceived notions of how we should go about growing our businesses.

The best way to overcome our doubts is through personal development.  This not only includes reading from the standard library of self improvement business gurus.  We also need to saturate our lives with positive and inspiring stories, music, art, whatever touches us.

So, as part of my own inspirational library, I will share with you the lyrics to

“People Get Ready”
by Curtis Mayfield

” People get ready
There’s a train a-coming
You don’t need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don’t need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There’s room for all
among the loved the most

There ain’t no room
for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just
To save his own
Have pity on those
whose chances are thinner
Cause there’s no hiding place
From the Kingdom’s Throne

So people get ready
for the train a-comin’
You don’t need no baggage
you just get on board !
All you need is faith
to hear the diesels humming
Don’t need no ticket
you just thank, you just thank the Lord

Yeah
Ooh

Yeah
Ooh

I’m getting ready
I’m getting ready
this time I’m ready
this time I’m ready”

Believe In Your Success, I Do!
Karen

http://www.complete-network-marketers-desk-reference.com

An important part of your business success includes personal development.

One of the books I have enjoyed immensely is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. 

The great thing about investing your time into personal development is that it impacts your entire life, not just your business.

Over on Facebook, I have a group called  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for MLM & Network Marketing.

Several times a month, I host discussions on the book.  I decided to make double use of my efforts and share those discussions here.

The next step in the lessons about our paradigms, or our perceptions or assumptions, is the Paradigm shift.

Often in life we are faced with circumstances that challenge the way we view the world and interact with it.

Covey gives several examples of paradigm shifts in our history…

• Ptolemy believed the earth was the center of the universe,
• Copernicus created a paradigm shift by proving the sun is th ecenter of the Universe.
• Sir Isaac Newton shited paradigms in Physics
• Albert Einstein shifted paradigms in Relativity.

About Paradigms Shifting, Covey says,

 “…whether they shift us in positive or negative directions, whether they are instantaneous or developmental, paradigm shifts move us from one way of seeing the world to another. And those shifts create powerful change. Our paradigms, correct or incorrect, are the sources of our attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately our relationships with others.”

On a more personal level, we often experience Paradigm Shifts when we…

• face a life-threatening crisis
• suddenly step into a new role (spouse, parent, manager, etc.)
• come face to face with a stranger undergoing a hardship and find ourselves involved in some way.
  

All of these events and more, minor to major, cause us to almost immediately to reorganize our priorities.

Anyone of you remember the total avalanche of feelings that came over you the first time you held your newborn child in your arms?

Talk about some Paradigm Shifting!

Seeing is Being.

Some Paradigms shift quickly and some shift over time. In order to SEE something differently, we need to BE differently.

This requires investing in the growth and development of our own characters.

Believe in Your Success, I Do!
Karen

It’s official…Today…September 23rd…is 100 days to the end of the calendar year.

So what?

This is your chance to take part in a world-wide countdown to achieve your dream goal(s) by the end of this year!

Are you up for the challenge?
Are you up to dusting off some of those New Year’s Resolutions?
Are you up for seeing your goals become reality?

Good.  So am I.

So let’s start by writing down exactly what you want to achieve by the end of this year.

• Define the “what”…weight loss, building your business, making a change in your environment.
• Be realistic.  I need to lose 100 pounds, but that is not a realistic goal for the next 100 days.
• Look back at what you have historically been doing successfully, then raise the bar enough so you have to jump to reach it, but don’t need to shoot yourself out of a cannon to get to it.
• Be very specific, like “I will lose 15 pounds”, “I will organize the stuff in the garage and give things I haven’t used in 6 months to charity”, or “I will sign up 1 new affiliate and 2 new customers into my business”.  Your goals have to be measureable.
• Write down the date you will accomplish your goals.  “By Thursday, December 31, 2009 at midnight.”

This is going to be fantastic!

Can you imagine how great your New Year’s Eve Celebration is going to be knowing that you set goals, worked towards accomplishing them, and actually achieved them?

Once done, setting your bigger goals, those for the year, will be much easier.

You will also be able to envision setting smaller goals….those with quarterly deadlines, monthly deadlines, or weekly deadlines.

Let’s get started now!
If you need any help, I’m a phone call away!
1-541-484-5455
Skype ID: karen.j.miller
k.j.miller.777@gmail.com

Your Friend and Mentor,
Karen

Of all the MLM business training programs out there on the internet, many people think Mentoring For Free is a big fat lie.

You see, Mentoring For Free offers a FREE education and training program to anyone in any company. 

The training is always free. 
The Mentors always offer their help for free. 
The Mentors at Mentoring For Free are a volunteer army.
The Mentors never get paid.

Many people are skeptics and aren’t ready to believe that something so valuable could actually be offered for free with no strings attached.

So is the Mentoring really for Free?  Or is it a Big Lie?

What is taught at Mentoring For Free?  Is it really of any value?  Afterall, how much value can there be in something for free?

1. Personal Development
2. Leadership Skills
3. How to Advertise…for free or low cost

Who exactly is behind Mentoring For Free?
Michael Dlouhy?
Who the heck is he?  Another lying MLM Mega Guru?

1. Over 30 years working experience building his own MLM business.
2. A distributor who got ripped off by his own sponsor.
3. Went on a mission and joined 100 companies to study how the businesses, contracts and pay plans worked
4. Wanted to take what he learned and put it together in a program to teach people skills so they never get scammed again.
5. Knowing most people who enter MLM have little or no money, so he chose to GIFT everyone his training program.

So, Michael Dlouhy just wants to help people.

What a lie.

Why would he do all that training and mentoring for free?  Everybody has heard him talk about his huge house in Florida that he built…heard him talk about his new Corvette he just paid 100K in cash for.

He’s not doing this for FREE!

Well, yes he is.  And so are all the other Mentors at Mentoring For Free.

You see, this is about a Philosophy Michael teaches…

• that you have to be a Giver,
• that you have to be a Servant with a Mentor’s Heart,
• that you have to get rid of your agenda,
• that Network Marketing is about building relationships,
• that if you build people they will build your business…and they will become your devoted friends to boot.

A bunch of feel good hype?  Another part of the big lie?

What does Michael and his posse of Mentors really get out of this?  Where do they make their money?

What’s this $19.95 a month deal then?

What about those CDs and the other ebooks he sells?

What’s so FREE about that?

Aha!

More on the Big Lie in the Next Post!

Your Friend and Mentor,
Karen

A longtime Mentor and Successful MLM Business Man, Tom “Big Al” Schreiter, often teaches of the power of using Storytelling to help build your MLM Success.

When Networking with people you wish to make connections with, either as customers or business associates, telling a story helps break the ice.

A story…

1. takes the focus off of the high pressure sales pitch,
2. puts everyone on a more relaxed, personal level, and
3. often helps to drive home an important point.

Let’s say, for instance, I was coaching you in an area of your personal development. 

You are having trouble focusing on your success. Many people important to you in your life have been nay-sayers, made negative remarks about your business venture, or simply have given you no support what-so-ever.

Discouraging, isn’t it?

To help boost you through these issues, I might tell you the following story…

A Bucket of Crabs
Who’s pulling you down?

{author unknown}

{photo source: flickr)

Have you ever seen a bucket full of crabs? They pinch and pull as they struggle to climb over one another to reach the top of the bucket – to freedom.

Ask any fisherman and they’ll tell you that a bucket full of crabs doesn’t need a lid – they simply won’t escape.

Why? Well, it’s not impossible for a crab to climb to the top, and really if they worked together it would be quite easy. But crabs don’t work together…

Instinctively crabs pull each other down-literally.

When one crab breaks away from the pack, reaching its pinchers toward the top of the bucket, the others promptly grab onto the escapee’s leg, pulling him back down. That crab is then pushed to the bottom of the pile and his dream of freedom is crushed. This is what we call the “crab mentality”.

People have a way of acting just like a bucket of crabs. Have you ever decided on a personal goal only to have someone in your life talk you out of it?

Do you have crabs in your life? A crab is…

• The person who discourages you from going to trainings;
• The person who scoffs when you mention your weight loss goals;
• The person who snickers when you say you are going to work from home and make $5000/month or even $10,000/month and more.

The crab mentality says “If I can’t have it, then neither can you.” When you decide to do something different, to reach for a goal and to improve yourself, the crabs in your life will do their best to hold you back.

Keep Crabs at Bay: When crabs come snapping, remember the following:

1. Ignore them: When someone in your life begins to pull you down with discouraging words, remember that you don’t have to listen. Don’t let them get into your head. Mentally tune them out or politely remove yourself from the situation. Who are they to tell you what you can or can’t achieve?
2. Understand them: Ouch! Insults and put-downs hurt, especially when they come from people that we care about. So what is the deal? Why do your friends, co-workers and even your spouse turn into crabs when you decide to improve your life? Do they really hope that you don’t succeed? The truth is that crabs are thinking about themselves-not about you. They see you attempting to better yourself and to change your life. Whether they realize it or not, this scares them. If you better yourself will you still like them? Or will you leave them behind?
3. You hold the power: Even the most persuasive crab doesn’t hold a candle to your iron will. When you are ready to change, and you’ve made up your mind without an inkling of doubt, then 90% of the work is done. Your mind is the most powerful tool at your disposal-don’t let a wimpy crab rob it from you.

Are you ready to make a positive change in your life? Don’t wait any longer. And don’t let a single crab talk you out of it!

Your Friend and Mentor,
Karen

Those of us who work from home, often face the challenge of being able to efficiently manage our time.

This holds true for people who are working full time from home, stay-at-home moms creating a second income from home, and part-timers who are working around a full-time outside job and family responsibilities.

Wherever you fall in this spectrum, you only have 24 hours a day to spend on your activities, just like everybody else.
How you budget these hours is critical to how successful you will be in your business.

There is one thing you need to do first before we move forward…

In order to effectively know how to budget your time, you need to have a clear idea of how you are currently spending your time.

Step One: Create a Time Expenditure Table.

• Get a sheet of paper, and divide it into 7 columns.
• Label the top of each column with the days of the week.
• Along the left side of the paper, write times in 30 minute increments, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed.
• Start by writing in all of your fixed activities: wake-up, shower, meals, kids off to school, go to work, business training calls, etc.
• Place your Time Expenditure Table where it is handy to write on at anytime…on the fridge, a clipboard, the wall, etc.
• Now, every day, you must commit yourself to writing down everything you do in the time slots for each day. No time slot should be empty, even if you take a nap…write it down!
• This point is important! When you are doing business related activities, like computer time, be specific about what activities you are doing!

Step Two: Study Your Time Expenditure Table
 
At the end of the seven days, you will need to study your Time Expenditure Table closely.
You will be able to see how much time you spent with family, daily living activities, recreation, your job, on the computer, personal development, etc.

When you examine business related activities, take note of how much time you are spending on emails, following links elsewhere, surfing, reading/watching/commenting on other people’s blogs, lenses, profiles, & videos, etc.

You need to answer to yourself, how much time are you getting distracted by non-productive activities, non-business related emails, links, & websites, and family & friend interuptions.

Step Three: Your final analysis
 
This is the time you need to be clear about your priorities.
You need to know what you want out of your business and how important these things are to you.

You also need to decide what activities you are spending your limit of 24 hours a day on that you are willing to sacrifice.
This won’t be easy, but you must do it if you are serious about building a successful home-based business.

Once you decide where you can trim away time, condense activities, and eliminate waste, you will need to make another Time Expenditure Table.

Only this time, we will call it Time Expenditure of Daily Activities.

• Write in your fixed activities.
• Write in times you will devote to uninterrupted business activities.
• Write in times you are leaving open for family, friends, personal development, & leisure activities.
• Remember to include ordinarily “dead” time, like breaks at work, waiting for appointments, commute, etc. You can pack these spare minutes with reading or connecting with business associates.

There you have it!
You are on your way to more efficiently managing your time!
As always, if you need any help, please don’t hesitate to call me at (541) 484-5455 or email me at mentor.karen.j.miller@gmail.com.

Karen