Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

It's been quite a while since I have placed a post in this place. For those of you who have been wondering why, I've been on a crash course in learning the internet for the past year. I've tried many things, discarded most, and hopefully, kept the best.

In the process I have also learned a lot more about WordPress blogs and having my own domain and doing a bit more internet marketing, and with all that combined I have moved up to a WordPress blog and business.

Now don't get me wrong -- Blogger is a great learning platform and it is easy, but I have found that WordPress can be a lot more flexible since I control the majority of its aspect. Now I'm talking about the self-hosting WordPress that I pay for the domain name and setup and not the Free service they offer.

For this reason, and many others, I have copied all of my posts from this site to my new blog at:

http:/www.BlindBizWorld.com/ or just click Blind Biz World

My goal is to then delete this blog totally and hopefully those of you who would like to know what's going on with the Blind Biz Guy will join me there. I suspect I will keep it up until the end of the year and then all will be new with the new year.

Thanks for all your support and patience and hopefully I will see you on the other side.

Rick
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GOALS 2010 - THIS Time's the Charm!

It was around the middle of this past December, I was checking my email and I came across one from Vic Johnson. Now, I was introduced to Vic early last year by a friend who gave me some of Vic’s CDs which eventually led me to Vic’s website www.AsAManThinketh.net. It was through his mailing list that I received the invitation to join him on a webinar about setting goals for 2010.

Less than a week later I found myself in front of my computer waiting for the webinar to start. I figured it would be pretty much more of the same that I have heard in the past, and so I made no effort to have either pencil or paper around.

It started with the general welcome and opening statements, and then a brief overview of what would be covered. So far so good I was right with Vic’s presentation and then Vic went into the "meat" of his goal-setting lesson.

He said to think of 10 things that I would like to accomplish in 2010 and write them down. I had heard “write them down” before but had not seen much success in the past. By this time I believe I had a small need to prove Vic wrong (after all, goals don't work) and so I quickly got up and found a pad of paper to write my goals on. Once my goals were listed he said to put them in order as to when I would like to accomplish them.

Now that was new! I reviewed my list and, with a little more effort, scattered the numbers one through ten throughout my choices. Vic then said to put a date on my goals. He was starting to lose me again because I had heard that one before, but somewhat reluctantly I put a date on each of the ten items.

Vic continued with a few other things but by this time I was only half listening as I began to believe this webinar was going to be the same as so many others I have already viewed.

It was then Vic said something that got my immediate attention. He stated that my only job was to set the goals, and then every day follow through with a predetermined Action Step to move the goal forward. He stated that a person is either moving forward with action or moving backwards with lack of action. There was no standing still! Although I Knew I had heard all this before, this time, somehow, it was different. I quickly found myself riveted to every word he was saying.

Vic continued, saying, that if I did something every day to make my goals a reality the goals would be realized. He continued with if I did everything I could, every day to move my goal forward and the date I set arrives and the goal was not realized, just reset the date.

Most people in similar situations who work hard towards a goal and haven’t reached it by the date set would believe the goal was wrong not the date, but Vic says that couldn’t be further from the truth. When I set my goals for 2010 and I put action behind those goals on a consistent daily basis, then the solution is not to give up my goal but simply to reset the date and keep steadily moving towards my goals.

I felt like I had been knocked down by a prize fighter. During the many years I have struggled with goals I had never heard anyone, I mean anyone tell me to reset the date. I felt like the skies had opened up and the angels had started in with the Hallelujah chorus!

A wise person once said, “man does the sowing, but God does the growing”. Well, Vic pointed out to me that by setting my goals and doing daily action towards those goals was the “sowing” part. The “growing” or accomplishing of those goal is not in my hands and so I need not worry about day to day progress. I am in this for the long haul. My job - just keep planting seeds through my day to day actions and the results would take care of themselves.

I have to admit that I got excited. I mean truly excited!

At present, my goals are written down, posted, dated, and I review them every day. This is a new process for me, and I am sure as I get closer to my desires I will need to tweak things now and then but the overall plan is rock solid.

I used to hear people talk about when you truly have a dream backed up by a goal, backed up by an action plan that you will find yourself getting up early in the morning and staying up late at night and time will cease to have meaning. You’ll just be excited all the time. I didn’t use to know what they meant...but I do now.

It's only February 1, 2010, and there’s still plenty of time left to set up your goals and action plan. (There's no rule that says they have to be done on January 1st.)

Sit down right now and decide the 10 most important things you would like to see accomplish between now and New Year’s Eve 2010. Put together an action plan and put that action plan into Action! If you get stuck, go to Vic Johnson’s website and look into the resources he has to offer to get you unstuck. He has plenty of them and I assure you, that if you are serious about moving on with your life, the small investment at Vic’s site will pay back lots of large dividends. Try it, I mean really try it and you’ll see that once you get started you’ll be so glad you did!

(Or would you rather be a fish.)

Vic Johnson’s website: http://www.AsAManThinketh.net

It's Not Too Expensive...I Just Don't Make Enough!

It seems that all I heard last year is how bad the economy had become. It seemed that everyone was scrambling--not so much to get more, but just to keep holding onto what they already have. It was like the frantic fever I see in the local grocery stores when it is announced that there is a "possibility" of a severe storm in my area. The shelves start emptying and the checkout lines get longer as a sea of people ruthlessly grasp for that last gallon of milk like the last lifeboat on the Titanic. I have to admit that there are days I would like to be a fly on the wall of those homes when the occupants realize that the "storm of the century" turns out to be nothing but a spring shower.

There was a time I would have had to ask myself what was the source of all of the great anxiety, but no more, I have found in the majority of cases the source tends to be the same place--our television.

Now don't get me wrong, I like television. But I learned years ago that the vast majority of the things I see on that box (and now on the internet) are not there because of being news worthy but because it makes good business sense. After all, mass media is a business and business can only continue to be fueled by the money it generates.

No, I don't have anything against business, after all, I'm a business person. But let me put it this way, when I go to see a horror movie I expect to be scared. That's why I choose the genre to begin with, and that's what sells. Same thing about mass media, I expect to see "doom and gloom" because that's what sells. A simple equation.

Okay, my point.

In all honesty I cannot say that our economic situation is the same as it was, let's say, 5 years ago. Frankly, I wish my situation was doing as well as it was then, but what i want to be cautious about is the fact that our present economic issues didn't just spring forth out of the blue unexpectedly. There have been signs for years. Most people were either chose to ignore them, were too ignorant of them, or believed that the government would solve any problems that came up for them. Is there any surprise that most of us are in the spot we are? As a friend once reminded me: No, things are not too expensive, I just don't make enough money! And he right.

So what is to be done?

In general, there's only two choices. Make the little you have stretch or make more money. Now, I don't know about you but my "belt" can only be tightened so far, and beans and rice can only sustain so long. My choice for the year 2010 is to make more money. And the best way I've found to do this is by being in business for myself, because I am visually handicapped, I choose to do that from home.

Over the next 12 months I plan on doing just that and documenting it as I go. If you are interested in joining me in the journey then come along. You can even do as I do if you would like. I choose to succeed in 2010 but even if it takes a little longer, at least I know that I will deserve everything I get because I am willing to work for it.

Happy New Year!

Now Where Did I Put Those Instructions?

Many years ago before our technological revolution the most complicated present any self respecting parents/Santa’s helpers had to deal with was the assembly of that most prized child’s present – the bike! There’s many a story of anxious children being whisked off to bed so that a Mom & Pop Assembly Shop could be opened up in hopes of a quick construction of the project with enough hours of sleep left-over to regain strength to enjoy the next day’s festivities. I’ve also heard of many mom’s who shook their head’s in dismay as Pop would remove a good sized instruction manual from the box and tossed it aside with a cavalier, “Hey, I know what I’m doing. I don’t need instructions.”

Early the next day, the happy child would be greeted with a brand-new gleaming and (barely) assembled bike, and fortunately, was too excited to notice that pop seemed not to get enough sleep last night.

When those children became parents they found that their schedules were too hectic to “help” Santa out and so they just had the bike store assemble them and stash them at a neighbor’s house.

I remember it was in the 80s that, at least in my town, pedaling around the neighborhood with your friends was not nearly as interesting as watching your parents unpack the new Personal Computer! I don’t remember whose mouth fell open the farthest, the children at the fascinating new technology or the father when he unpacked one boxed that housed several thick books (with tiny writing) on how to assemble And run this new “toy”. Most kids were headed back to school before pop could get through what seemed like a college course of reading to get the computer running.

I personally remember years later when individual software packages were created, how each box cam with a disk and an only one instruction manual on how to install and operate the program. Instead of taking a week to get up and running it was possible to do it (with a bit of concentration) in a day.

Fast forward a year or two, and I remember the first software program I bought that seemed to only have a disk with it. I just knew all I had to do is pop the disk in the computer and she would run, and, for the most part, although this was true, this would also be the first time I was introduced to what became a PDF file, or simply, a manual on the disk. In the beginning, I thought PDFs were the greatest thing. It took me a little while to realize that, unless I wished to print out a several hundred page manual, I was pretty much stuck at my computer screen reading to learn. It also didn’t help much that I used to earmark the pages and notate important packages. If there’s a way to do that with a PDF file, I’ve not learned how to do so to this day.

Well, it took several years for me to get used to that after all once you’ve reduced the manuals from many volumes to one, and then from paper to PDF there’s nothing else left to do with it, right? Wrong?

I would love to get my hands on the person or persons who Then Decided, why go to the trouble to even put out a disk we’ll just let people buy the program right offline and let them download it. (If you think it’s hard to find a manual on a disk try finding one without the disk.) Okay, now I download the program, I install it, and I sort through even more files looking for a PDF instruction manual and when I finally find it, then, I can learn how to use the program.

Okay, so we’re done now, there’s nothing else that can be done? Not quite yet.

A couple of year’s ago I noticed that the new software downloads that I received didn’t have PDF instruction manuals with them. Instead (and maybe this was a ploy to get me to look at more of their stuff) you had to go to their website and register the software (they were only suggesting it before) in order to get access to an “online” manual. The manufacturer’s reasoning being that by doing it this way the software and manual could be updated in a timely manner. Okay, whatever you say. Just give me my instruction manual.

That’s it. There’s nothing else left to do with it right? I wish.

I short time ago, I joined Facebook. My first impulse (of course0 was to be directed to the instructions on line. Fat chance! To sign up was simple but instead of leading me to a simple set of instructions they dumped me right smack into the middle of the program. Now don’t get me wrong they did have an instruction page, but when I went to it the page had what seemed like a hundred links and even more FAQ (frequently asked questions) in what seemed like a mish-mash order. When I asked about this, everyone I know seemed to have taken the stand of “learn as you go”. I wanted to scream!

So let’s recap.

I’ve gone from bike instruction manuals that, in the day, no self-respecting man would read (much to their regret), to instruction manuals that came in volumes, reduced to one manual, reduced to a PDF file, reduced to an online file, and now we’re back to a multi-volume file online, and, at least for this guy, I’m right back to my parents’ day then, although I would love to read it, I’m just “virtually” tossed it aside and plunged in with the assembly of my Facebook. The irony of it all is it only took me a little time before I realized that I’m not the only person out there on Facebook stumbling around as well.

A couple of month’s ago I joined Twitter and I found a similar thing happening, but I also had to smile when I found this out as well. If you go into Twitter’s instruction forum some (if not a lot) of their instructions have been contributed by its users! Can you imagine that? A programmer writes a program and then has the users write the manual! Oh, but it doesn’t stop there. You only have to be on Twitter for a short time and you will find that there is a growing lucrative market by other Twitter users who have written PDF “ebooks” on how to use Twitter in various ways and will be glad to sell them to you, or with just a little searching, you can find a slew of people to follow who will give you their ebooks for free!

So, where did I put my instruction manual? Just look on my hard drive in my ebook section. It’ in there with the dozens of other volumes of ebooks I have downloaded, some moderately priced but most of them free. Now if I just could find time to read them all.

If you would excuse me, I need to get a "virtual" cup of coffee … I’ve got some reading to do.

A New Mission . . . Statement.

Hi, Guys -

Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to find a new footing with this blog. As a legally blind business owner I realize that building a business (any business) can be very challenging with a disability. I cannot tell you (nor would I try) how many times I wanted to quit opportunities ready to pull out the explanation"of "poor vision" being the culprit. Right or wrong, the results still didn't pay the rent. And so i realized that I had to stop looking at where I was and start to concentrate more on where I was going. It was through this one thought that I believe led me to a man named Chris Farrell (a new mentor for me) and a new vision for this blog. Hopefully you will believe it to be as good as I do.

In the past, there have been many times that I have needed information for one project or another dealing with disabilities. And while Wikipedia has always helped, I have found myself still having to jump from one web page to another to get all of the information I may need. A fact sometimes compounded by poor vision.

Recently, I came upon a business site created by Chris Farrell and in it he explained how he decided to start an online business in February 2008 to help his family improve their financial situation, but how difficult it was since he either had to go to multiple places to get information all the time, or the information he received was so complicated that it was hard to grasp basic internet concepts as fast a she liked.

Well, it has been said that the "seeds" of difficulties can lead a person to great ideas. Otherwise known as "necessity is the mother of inventions". Well, Chris's invention was his new website where, not only does he teach a multitude of online business concepts on video, but he does it in a wonderful step by step process that is both easy to understand and to follow. I had only to review ONE of his FREE courses to know that I would be a member of his site forever.

Now, why did I tell you this?

Basically, the same reason. In the world of disabilities, there is a lot of information that visually handicapped (as well as many others) need as quick as possible. Well, I decided today that my new "mission statement" if you will was to place on this site through posts, links, and references to other blogs. Things that i know will help anyone with disabilities (and a lot without) to improve their lives. Not just on a financial basis but physically and spiritually as well.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't claim to know any of those things in great debt, but I have always had a knack for organizing things, and so I will not only be posting my ideas on the site, but be referencing (and crediting) any of you out there who come across any good information that can help the community at large, but those of us who are disable in particular.

And so, from this point on. If you come to this blog, I promise I will do my best to post on it items of use and I also will strive, just like Chris, to put it in a way that anyone can understand. The only thing I ask is that whether you like it or not, please comment. I don't promise to change my personal opinions about things (I'll try to keep that to a minimum) but if I have a posting or link that there's a problem with I will do my best to correct it or move it.

Anyway, as we slowly come to the end of a great year I just want to wish all of you the best in 2010, and I am looking forward to working with you as well.

Thanks for being a part of my blog and my life.

Rick

A Blogger with . . . Attitude!

It's that time of year when I reach into the closet and pull out that box of Holiday movies I love so much. There was a time when I would add a new one to my collection every year but lately I've not seen a lot that I feel has just the right touch. You know, like this scene from one of my favorites:

It's Christmas Eve and a lone police officer munches on a powdered doughnut as a sound catches his ear. He glances over the tall counter next to his desk to see the squad room door open for a few seconds and then close without, apparently, no one coming in.

Curious, he puts down the doughnut, stands, and glances over the counter into the faces of (what appears to be) several small children, all but one dressed in a military-like uniform that he didn't recognize.

"Vising hours are over, kids. Go home"

"We're not kids." One of the ones up front says. "We're Elves with . . . Attitude!"

The next thing the officer knows he's pushed into his swivel chair while it was being spun at a very fast speed, while the surrounding laughing elves wrapped him up in, what appeared to be, miles of colorful ribbons.

At the time, I am sure the officer in question believed that the "attitude" the elves were displaying was very bad, although the elves believed it to be good, after all, they were on a mission to save Santa.

For most, you probably recognized this scene from one of my favorite Christmas classics - The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen.

So, what's my point? Simple, building a business is all about attitude. Building it successfully requires a good one. So, what type of attitude do you have? Are you a "half-full" or "half-empty" kind of person? Do you look at problems as disasters with no end or challenges waiting to be solved? I've been on both sides of that equation and I assure you I understand no matter how you feel right now. The key, however, is to always be working to improve your attitude no matter where it is at present. Why? Because, believe it or not, a great attitude brings great results.

So, how do you go about improving your attitude? Well, there are several ways but here's a few of my favorites:

Get around people with good attitudes - and more important - stay away from those with bad attitudes. There's been times in my life when I believed that once I got a good attitude I could "help" those with bad ones.

Unfortunately, no matter how good my attitude has been, I've found out that when I get around those with bad attitudes they do more to pull me down to their level then I can possible do to lift them up to mine. So stay away from bad attitude people at all cost (dare I say it) like they have the flu! A bad attitude is a lot easier to catch and can last a whole lot longer.

Another great way I've found to improve my attitude is to read good books. Especially books about good self-image or inspirational books. Like Skip Ross's, "Say, YES, to Your Potential" or even "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. If self-help books don't catch your fancy at first then reread one of your favorite novels. Be careful to pick one that has a positive ending.

The third way I've found to improve my attitude is to listen to fun and uplifting audios. Sometimes just hearing another person's perspectives on your current situation can do worlds of good for your attitude. I suggest that when you come across audios that inspire and/or make you happy that you keep them in a place you can reach quickly when a quick jolt of positive attitude is necessary.

One of the benefits of this time of the year is the wonderful holiday music that swirls around. You have to be a Scrooge not to have it lift your spirits. I have a lot of old "chestnuts" that I keep on standby in my computer for just such an occasion. And for anyone looking to start a collection of holiday favorites may I suggest you start with a wonderful artist that my sister-in-law, LaVerne, suggested to me.

His name is Andrea Bocelli (pronounced An-drey-a Bow-chel-lee). His new album is called, "My Christmas" and he has a wonderful classical Italian voice that can brighten anyone's attitude. For those of you who haven't heard of him (I hadn't either), He's has been on Oprah, and he sings on the album with, Natalie Cole, Mary J. Blige, Reba McEntire, and many more. Now how's that for a resume!

The last way I have found to perk up the old attitude is to watch uplifting and fun things, both out in the world, on your computer, and on television as well. Again, during this time of the year there shouldn't be much problem finding a lot of things to keep a cheerful attitude going. (I sometimes go just go to YouTube and look up old Hallmark Christmas commercials) There are holiday parades and family parties to attend, as well as a boat load of holiday favorites just a remote or mouse click away.

But be warned, unlike the ghosts in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", these good attitude-shifters are not going to "haunt" you down. You'll have to go looking for them. But I assure you, if all you want for Christmas is a great attitude, you'll find it.

So get up and get going - before those "Attitude Elves" come looking for you!

Survival Is Not Mandatory!

"If you always think what you've always thought, you'll always get what you've always got!"

This was a very powerful statement that a good friend once said to me and although it is not original (nor grammatically correct) it is often true.

I also heard a very wise person say something once that I've never been able to shake: "Change is not necessary because survival is not mandatory! However, if you wish to survive then you'll have to change!."

From my personal experience, a truer word could not have been said. And the same can be said for a new online business owner.

I wish I could tell you that change is easy, but for most of us, it isn't. Frankly there were times when I thought I was the President of the "I'm perfect the way I am" club but all I had to do is look around at my life to realize that I must be doing something wrong.

I finally had to accept the fact that if my way worked I'd be successful. So after dragging my feet (for years) and getting minimum business results, I decided to change.

After I made that decision, I began to honestly access what needed to change about myself. Up to that point my life was the result of what I've done in the past which was the results of my habits which were the results of how I thought. And so the answer became clear - if I just changed the way I thought, I would change my life!

Yes, I know, easier said then done, right? Right!

But I can say this, once I made the decision to change the way I thought, the "how" came very quickly.

Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, a very successful motivational and inspirational speaker and writer is famous for saying something like: "The difference between the person you are now and the one you will be five years from now depends on the people you meet and the books you read."

I realized that the best way to change the way I was living was to change my thoughts, and since Charlie "Tremendous" Jones stated it started with the books I read and the people I associated with, that's where I choose to start.

But we'll pick this up on the next post.

Rick
A Blind Leader