I’ve always been a strong believer that your mental attitude to your online business is more important than anything you actually do online.

Which is a great and noble thing to write on my blog.

I’m also a right lazy sod at times.

If it’s a decision between writing a broadcast email and watching that bear on a trampoline video on Youtube that made wine come down my nose when I first watched it….well who’s gonna win in the real world?

I try to stay away from my computer as much as possible when I’m not actually doing anything that isn’t actual computer work. Checking emails and browsing forums is NOT work.

You want to scare yourself half to death? Try this:

Get a cheap $20 webcam and position it so it looks down on you and your desk.

Record yourself for a few days.

I’ll bet you twenty quid that the main thing you see is your left arm on the desk, with your chin resting on your hand….

And your right hand ocassionally clicking a mouse button.

(Other way round if you’re left-handed)

But that’s not the scary thing.

The scary thing is the expression on your face. You’ll be staring, open mouthed at your monitor screen, perhaps even drooling from time to time without noticing.

In England we call this ‘The B&Q face’

‘B&Q’ is a home DIY store where you can buy everything you need to improve or make repairs to your home. Anything.

Unfortunately they seem to recruit staff by putting something shiny on the floor in front of the building and then throwing a net over anyone who stares at it for longer than 20 minutes.

(Can you tell I’ve had bad experiences in B&Q yet?)

So the ‘B&Q face’ is the expression you’ll see when you go up to one of their staff and ask ‘do you sell wood’?

If you work there I apologise unreservedly (even though you’ll have to look up that last word)

So I did the webcam thing and found myself wasting TONS of time fannying about doing absolutely NOTHING except browse, check emails, and other highly un-productive stuff.

Not a single productive thing emerged. Nada.

But it was the look on my own face that really freaked me out. It’s probably the same when I’m watching TV or cutting my toenails.

It’s the look of WASTED TIME, which in our line of work means of course, wasted money.

So I fell back on a technique I read about somewhere. I wish I could remember where because I’d give them full credit because it’s been working like CRAZY for me this past week.

Let me give you an example.

I had promised to put together some new graphics for two minisites owned by me and my partner in our plugin business.

I reckoned there was about an hour’s work to do.

So I found myself sitting at my computer the other night, knowing that my wife was going to be calling me for dinner in about half an hour.

Now normally I’d put off the website design I needed to do until later or the following day.

But armed with my new technique, which is simply this:

START IT RIGHT NOW!

I got stuck into the site.

Bugger me but I pressed the ‘save’ button at the exact same time my lovely wife asked me to open some wine because the food was ready.

I did the job in 30 minutes of time I would otherwise have just wasted with aimless browsing or endless email checking!

It was half an hour of pure unadulterated productivity!

A fluke I thought….

So the next day I found myself putting off researching a new project idea because I thought it would take me more than the 15 minutes I had before I was due to go out.

The same happened. I got stuck in rather than putting it off until later, and lo and behold….I finished it in one go.

And the SAME happened AGAIN this morning with a job I’ve been putting off for WEEKS.

This blog has been hosted for a while on what used to be a decent hosting company. A shared host I agree, and one I’ve been using for a lot of years but until recently it was always reliable.

Not so lately.

The load times for my blog have gotten STUPIDLY slow, and I think the support team who answer my tickets asking why this is used to work for the Clintons because they just deny everything.

‘Nope, not our fault’

‘Everything seems OK from our end’

Prunes. The lot of them.

Anyhow this morning I was on a Skype call with a business partner and I mentioned my blog, and knowing that he’s also great with techy stuff as well as a businessman, I sort of cajoled him into transferring the whole thing over to our dedicated server.

The whole thing was done in – dunno – 45 minutes tops.

So I’m a convert to ‘START IT RIGHT NOW’ which is why I’m preaching to you. Don’t put stuff off, do it RIGHT NOW. Even if you don’t finish it (but a lot of the time you will) at least you’ll have made inroads into the task.

As internet marketers, we are MASTERS of procrastination. If we put as much effort into our IM as we do putting OFF doing stuff we’d be a Hell of a lot richer.

I know it’s nothing new – it’s nothing new for me – but I’ve sort of let it slide a bit and now I’m starting to remember how effective this used to be for me.

Give it a go and see what you think. See if you get the same results. Whatever you’ve been putting off, make a start on it right NOW.

I’ll leave you with a supposedly true extract from an application form from a real B&Q employee:

He was asked to explain his criminal record and wrote: ‘We stole a pig, but it was a really small pig.’

And then he was asked to sum up his attitude to work, he wrote (my favourite):

‘I am a wedge with a sponge taped to it. My purpose is to wedge myself into someone’s door to absorb as much as possible.

I hope he got the job.

Comments welcome as always.

It’ll be a LOOOOOOONG time before you exhaust this method.

This has made it’s made me tens of thousands of dollars. You can do the same…

Like me. It’s very simple but it makes you smile. It works too, of that there is no doubt.

Once you’ve got the basics set up – the ‘cover all’ training as I call it, you’ll be able to create a totally unique PLR product in around the length of time it takes you to find and download a suitable package. Time after time after time.

All in about 15 minutes.

Well that’s what it takes me even though I work at home and keep getting distracted by the kids running into my office to show me a frog they found in the garden or asking me to fill up their water pistols.

Sure the bits and pieces that you’ll need to do to get it ready for sale will maybe take an hour or so, but the actual product creation will take about 15 minutes.

THIS is my favourite PLR tactic of all.

Here’s how I do it:

I buy a series of PLR products on the basics of a subject. The ‘cover all’ training. A series that shows people how to do the foundations.

So if it’s internet marketing I’d be looking for a course that includes stuff like how to set up a blog, how to set up an Aweber account, how to build a basic squeeze page etc.

This package basically gets people started with the technical aspects of internet marketing.

Then I’ll go hunting for a more advanced PLR course (video works best for all these) in the same niche.

So for example if I buy a PLR course about list-building, I’ll package this up with the ‘cover all’ training and call it ‘List Building For Newbies’ or ‘List Building Expert In 7 Days’. It’s acomplete training system in a box that can be run frm scratch.

Then I’ll buy another package – a different one, maybe about how to write and profit from newsletters, and package THAT one up with my ‘cover all’ training, and call it something like ‘The complete 48 hour Newsletter expert’.

It’s like having a basic cake mixture. You just have to put the icing, or cream or strawberries on top and BOOM you’ve got a Victoria Sponge or a Strawberry Cake or a Christmas Cake or a Gateau.

Can you tell I’m hungry as I write this?

Please don’t underestimate this method. It’s HUGELY powerful and extremely simple to do.

Once you’ve got your main video series it’s just a matter of going looking for a suitable PLR course to place on top. You just bundle them together to make a complete course. Like a pizza – ready to go, just needs a different topping to make it a unique meal.

I really should go and eat

Click HERE for an example of the sort of ‘cover all’ package I use for my PLR packages.

Comments always welcome.

So this is me with my foot in a huge pile of Shag crap.

A Shag, as you probably know is a large seabird. It’s also Brit-slang for sexual intercourse.

So when we approached the Farne Islands our Skipper greatly enjoyed asking my wife

‘Do you know the difference between a Shag and a Cormorant?’

‘No’ she replied.

‘In that case I’ll see you tonight’ he replied, laughing.

It’s an old joke but he was a crusty old sea dog and I found it funny anyhow.

He had a face like a leather handbag and hands like five pounds of sausages but he obviously loved his job.

Who wouldn’t? If I hadn’t already found my perfect job I’d be happy to potter around a sea port in England or France catching lobsters for dinner or doing the occasional fishing trip for rich tourists.

He certainly knew his way around the various channels and currents around the Islands though. I wouldn’t have dared take a boat anywhere near them.

Totally gorgeous part of the world too. Off the Northumbrian coast on the North East tip of England. Edinburgh’s just a bit futher up the road.

I’m writing this from a pub on the mainland overlooking the bay, with a great pint of Farne Island real ale in front of me by the way.

As usual we bring the office with us. This is by choice of course because the support staff easily run things while we’re away.

So this is the office equipment list:

2 x laptops
2 x iphones
some wires

And as always a fat notebook and pen for me, because I don’t do idea generating on the computer – I always scribble by hand.

The other thing that has changed is the offline side of the business. We now divert our personal phone line and business phone line to the iphones.

So while I’m making sales in the usual way while I’m away, this time my wife took a big order while we were on inner Farne. The boat had left us, returning later that afternoon, so there was no way on or off the island, but we were still able to conduct business. How cool is that eh?

Technology is a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it I suppose, but the order we secured (to be honest the groundwork was done a month earlier) paid for the whole trip 5 times over.

We asked the confirmation to be emailed over, and the whole thing was done and dusted in less than 5 minutes, including checking the order and providing details of how they could pay.

All done from an uninhabited island using an iphone. Bloody marvellous. Although I admit to realising as soon as it happened that it would make a fabulous blog post too.

I’m not really into birdwatching but it was incredible to see Puffins, Terns, Gannets, and another dozen species I couldn’t identify nesting literally feet away from where we were standing. The kids were blown away by the whole experience.

(But Gawd, when you’re getting close to the islands and the winds blows off them, the stench of bird shite brings tears to your eyes.)

I was more interested to chat to some of the people we met on the island and en route though. One good photograph of a seabird, can make a lot of money if the photographer licenses it cleverly I was told.

And among the hardcore birdwatchers there were professional artists and photographers who sat on the moonlike rocks for hours preparing products that would generate a lot of money for them. I liked this – I’m really interested in how other people make their living.

I’m always amazed at how some people adapt their lives so they can be in a situation they want to be in. I’ve mentioned before about meeting successful business people who have sold up and opened little coffee bars in places they’ve visited and just wanted to stay. In our village we have an American who fell in love with the Yorkshire countryside (and then a local shopkeeper) and simpy found a way to stay. They now run a successful business.

The formula is the same for anyone who wants to change their life.

Stop walking with the herd, start looking around you and start thinking for yourself.

Having time to ‘stand and stare’ is not only a major part of life, it’s absolutely essential if you want to change your situation for the better.

You NEED to stand and stare for a while to see the opportunities that are in front of ALL our noses.

Like taking a boat across the sea to a rugged, beautiful island, spending all day photographing the most amazing wild birds. Doing this maybe three times a year and earning your full-time living from it.

Or the skipper who took us across. Decides he loves being out on the ocean so buys a retired fishing vessel with a partner, fits her out for passengers and spends the summer ferrying bird enthusiasts, artists, photographers and wandering internet marketers safely through hidden rocks and rip tides to the islands, past Atlantic seals, dolphins and Arctic Terns.

How do I find all this out?

Easy. I’m naturally a nosey bugger so I simply ask. Start chatting away to them. Their passion does the rest. They’ll tell you about the funny things that have happened, the close calls, the wildlife and the long winters when they can’t get out onto the water. They’ll tell you about the photograph they took that featured on the cover of National Geographic, or the time they waited 11 hours to photograph the season’s first Puffin chicks.

So I said to my missus – ‘quick take a pic of me for my blog’ and she commented that every picture she takes shows me in walking boots, a rucksack on my back, going ‘somewhere’.

Well that’s what we do, that’s why.

I figure I can sit round a pool on a cruise ship when my legs are too knackered to take me anywhere any more. Luckily my family are even more adamant about this than I am.

Of course we do relax too when we take a break. A fair amount of wine and good grub is consumed, but sometimes you have to accept that we’ve only got the one life (Buddhists excluded) so we should do interesting stuff with it.

We take quite a few breaks and I forget to blog about most of them – too busy doing stuff – but I’d like to leave you with this thought.

Internet Marketing is a means to an end. That doesn’t mean I don’t love doing it of course, but it’s easy to see it as ‘what I do’

In reality it isn’t. What I do is LIVE. What Internet Marketing allows me to do is to run my business from anywhere, spend time with my family and to be totally FREE of any kind of boss or job restrictions.

I KNOW you’ve heard this from me and other marketers before but Internet Marketing is YOUR way to do this.

And IM is also the easiest way to do this that I know. But you have to know what you want first. The skipper and the photographer – they simply KNEW that they wanted to do that stuff and found a way to make it happen.

If you know what you want to do it gets easier. Having lots of money isn’t a goal. It’s not – honestly.

Having enough money to travel the world, or set up a charitable foundation or just to be able to spend your days learning to paint….well that IS a goal.

Hippy Marketing is about just one thing: using your online business to free you up, so you can enjoy life.

You’re in an enviable position guys – most people on the planet have never even heard of Internet Marketing. You’re already doing it.

Use the advantage.

Comments welcome as usual.