Sounds like a strange title I know but let’s break them down so we can see a lesson here in success thinking.

THE CHEESEBURGER – not the healthiest choice.
The Fries- clog your arteries

Since it’s Jan its also the season of resolutions and one of the biggest is usually a new diet. The gyms are packed ( still early in the year)

But think about the title for a minute…  Go into any fast food place and you will see people eating all sorts of artery clogging food and then using sweet and low or having a diet soda.

Here’s what  I want you to think about…

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
ARE YOUR ACTIONS CONSISTENT WITH YOUR GOALS?

Really put some time into this. It doesn’t only deal with food.

If you are selling a service or product are you doing what needs to be done marketing wise to achieve that goal?

If you “want” to be healthier are you doing things that will help or hurt your health?

Don’t dare disregard this because it sounds so simple.
IT IS A CRITICAL PIECE OF THE SUCCESS PUZZLE!

Dedicated To Increasing Your Profits and Wealth,

Brian Sacks

PS- what are your goals for the year? what are you doing to get there?

leave your comments below and please rate this article by hitting the stars above.

NOW GO GRAB A SALAD AND WATER !

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers that are still pouring in.
If for some reason you missed that post look for scary picture post on
the right side of the page.

Wanted to give you an update – I just came back from a neck specialist
and he wants whatever this is out .. he is NOT sure what it is and
will not rule out the BIG C word..

Well that got me thinking. He tells me I may be out of action
for up to 2 weeks…
Could be sooner– Could be later — all depends on what they find.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU COULD NOT WORK ?????

Would you still be able to earn a living?

Would money still come into your account?

The sad answwer for most people is NO! So let’s talk about that. oK?

In 2003 I was still originating loans, running an office and finally
gettting some traction in an information marketing business I had just
started. Then I had a sinus surgery- talk about a miserable recovery-
and I was out of it for about 5 days.

NO- INCOME from my mortgagebusiness. But I was still earning money
from my marketing business. I did – What you might label a SICK Experiment.
I sent out a prescheduled e-mail right before I went into surgery.

It was for one of my programs and I offered a “I”m being operated on”
Discount..

AND GUESS WHAT?

It generated 26,721 dollars ( while I was asleep-actually unconscious)

So before you go ahead saying WHAT A POMPUS )$(&#)$}+

let me share with you how.

1. First I built a list of people who liked and trusted me ( just like you I hope)
you can do that with a wordpress blog — cost -ZERO !

2. Next you gotta get traffic to that blog. There are a ton of ways to do that
but here is 1 place I found that will submit your blog to all the social networks
http://www.socialmarker.com/

You can also check out the course I recommend ( best one out there on this topic)
at the resources page above…on the tabs up top
3.Then you need a product- One of the best places I have found to learn infomarketing is from Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer– the A-Z blueprint would be the place to start here if you are intereted but there are a to of other great programs ..

http://gkicwebstore.com/cmd.php?af=787486

You can also check out their newsletter – It’s the one I wait for
each and every month –
If you want to take it for a test drive ( no risk)

www.freegiftfrom.com/briansacks

4. Next – create your own product or become an affiliate of a product.
WARNING – you must make sure the product does what it says it will do or you will
lose credibility with your list.

Here are a few programs I promote — I personally use them and I believe in them

1. Audio Generator for easily adding audio to your site – i also use it
to collect testimonials- People prefer to call in the testimonial than sit down and write one out
So they call this line and I have my staff transcribe it.

www.loanofficerformula.com/ag

2. Business Book Summaries I can read and act on quickly

http://www.readthemquickly.com
   
Check them out because you could also become an affiliate

You could also go to clickbank.com and amazon and become affiliates.

NEXT– You need to capture your visitors e-mail info and set up
an auto-responder that will send them messages even when you can’t
Another way I use this is to write a post now and have the system
send it next tuesday at 2:05.. or whenever

See once you are able to put your marketing on auto-pilot
you can still have money pouring in –even while you are in surgery !!!

HERE’s the link for the service I use to send those e-mails and collect
those names so I am building a database

http://www.aweber.com/?302018
Hope you enjoyed this post and I will keep you posted
on any updates.. Now go ahead and check these things out
because you just might want to create your own “dependable”
income stream that shoots out money even when you are
not able to “physically” be there…
Dedicated To Increasing YOur PRofits and Wealth,
Brian Sacks

PS- THOUGHTS???  I’d love to hear them just hit the comments button below

PPS- Feel free to pass this along and offer people the 2 Classics
at www.profitandwealth.com/free

I have recently been experiencing what you would call a “medical scare” Something is happening and we are not sure if it is very serious or just something that can scare the living daylights out of you.

I’ll keep you posted on that as it progressess but so far– lot’s of needles and I am a REAL BIG BABY when it comes to needles.

This morning I had to go for a physical and blood work before a test procedure I am going for at the end of next week. Spent time with the doctor, did an ekg etc. etc.

Then it came time for me to get my blood test and it got me thinking of all the people in this office.

The receptionist who took my $10.00 co-pay -

The Technician who weighed me– I’m not even going to go into that one but let’s just say I am CONVINCED that the scale is broken even though she said it’s fine.

The nurse

The Doctor

The technician who took my blood

Who makes the most?  Guess you need to understand how obesessed I am with money and success to even understand why I would be thinking of that when the needle goes in my arm– But that’s who I am.

You need to become obessessed to achieve your goals.. You can’t just go at it willy nilly and hope. You must LIVE AND BREATHE IT!

So back to the story— Who makes more?

In this case I have to assume it’s the doctor- He literally spent 4 minutes with me and will charge well over 100.00 — If you’ve got a calculator figure out his hourly rate.

Why does the doctor make more?

Simple- He has spent the most amount of time on his education!

Now some of you may know that I barely graduated high school. BUT- I am self -educated in marketing ,salesmanship, persuasion , time management and wealth creation.

Not to brag but between my home and office library I have well over 200,000 dollars worth of systems and courses.
AND Guess what- I am in the top 1 % of earners in this country

THERE IS A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP !

For 2009 I promised myself I would go thru at least 1 book /course a week.
By the way — I also receive almost 12 newsletters each month on these topics not counting the e-mails and e-zines – YES- I SAID OBSSESSED !

But often times these courses and books spend alot of time just trying to make a point which could be made much quicker.

Last month I joined Go Brevity

 http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1987771

It is a 3-4 page summary of an important business book that can be read and acted on within 30 minutes. I have really been enjoying them and wanted to share this tool with you.

It ’s really pretty inexpensive — but what’s more important it saves you time

See education is important – it determines your income just like it does in my doctors office.

BUT YOU ALSO MUST TAKE ACTION !

This allows me to get right to the important points and lessons of these books

without needing to spend a week on it.. The rest of the time is yours to put what you just learned into action.

So give it a try

http://goBrevity.com/SmallBusiness/?x=1987771

Dedicted To Increasing Your Profits and Wealth,

Brian Sacks

PS- If you are an originator ( actually even if you aren’t ) go check out the special report at www.loanofficerformula.com

It is jam packed with lessons  – over 14 in all that you can use to grow your profits in 2009

PPS– Want to get 2009 off to the right start – Go check out the PHENOMENON and see the tools and tactics I used to achieve success and you will too.

www.brian.in12months.com

WHAT DO YOU THINK??? LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW

What a year Huh? Got a lot to say so you might want to either print this one or grab a pad and coffee. Ready?

First let me start by saying the obvious– This year SUCKED! But some actually had a good year. Actually staying even is probably considered a good year. Here’s what I learned this year.

1. I’ve got a great wife and two great kids. This year has been a challangeing one and if you don’t have a spouse and family who are supportive than you are in BIG TROUBLE! See its the bad times and challanges that really show you how strong ( or weak) your relationships are. Anyone can support you when you are doing well… In fact that’s usually the time that you find all of your friends coming out of the woodwork.

2. YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE TO BE A VICTIM – There is so much going on right now that you need to stake your position and focus on the goals and going forward. While I am writing this I am looking at 3 stones I have had on my desk for the last 20 plus years and have always guided me well!

” WHETHER YOU THINK YOU CAN OR THINK YOU CAN’T — YOU ARE RIGHT”

“REAL LEADERS ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE WITH EXTRAORIDINARY DETERMINATION”

“SOME PEOPLE MAKE THINGS HAPPEN- SOME PEOPLE WATCH THINGS HAPPEN- SOME PEOPLE WONDER WHAT JUST HAPPENED”

You might want to re-read those and put them somewhere that is visible to you each day like I do!

3. I SHOULD NOT HAVE PARTNERS- You may know that I have multiple businesses , many exceeding several million dollars in gross receipts. Some I own , some I am partners in. They are in different fields and most have been grown with very little investment into HUGE BUSINESSES.

My wife pointed out to me that I have always worked best when I control my destiny. She’s right!  What about you? Have you asked yourself serious questions like that?

One of the businesses I sold a few years ago is now coming back to me! So you can never ever get tooooo comfortable– The one thing I know is that you should always expect the best to happen but be prepared for the worst to happen.. In other words always have a plan B. At some point you will need it.

5. I AM UNEMPLOYABLE this is another thing I know about myself. I don’t take orders or direction well from people I don’t respect. This is actually tied into BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LISTEN TO! Only listen to positive people who are making more than you and have the qualities you aspire to.

One of my partners in one of my businesses that I always had a tremendous amount of respect for has shown me a very negative side. You just really never ever know so the  lesson here it to always know your exit before you enter– Good thing to keep in mind with your investments as well.

6. Things can go south quick and you need to be prepared! Enough said!

7. DON’T INVEST IN THINGS YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT—This is actually what made Warren Buffet the richest man in the world. My childrens college funds have been crushed and my 401 k is now a  101k. The good news is that I wasn’t invested with Bernie Madoff- but it looks like the same devastation when I look at my statements…

I always invested with what I thought to be “smart” money managers. They tell me everyone has lost a ton of money and of course I know that’s true. But it is still insulting to not only lose money but pay someone for the privilege of losing money. Guess its still better than keeping it all in cash…?????

8.  I had ( in the process of still having ) a BIG MEDICAL SCARE… To be honest I haven’t lead the most healthy lifestyle. — a bit overweight- type triple A personality and a heavy smoker — and oh , did I mention I belong to gym but have only been there 3 times this past year.

Well I just got a BIG wake up call! and am finally aware of the fact that I am not as invincible as I thought. Guess some of that comes with age( mid -forties)  but if you are young you really do feel invincible.

9. ONE OF THE BIGGEST “AHA’s” OF THE YEAR for me as a marketer is that you need to provide value before you ask anyone for anything!

– So there are some of the things I learned — As you can see I have learned most of them the hard way. That’s always been the way I learn– from doing — not studying !

HERE’S WHAT 2009 LOOKS LIKE

– I have a target of losing 20 pounds and improving my health.

- I will be starting a community of serious originators and providing them with a “formulaic” way of generating income regardless of the market or the economy — more info at www.loanofficerformula.com

It’s actually a good site for anyone in any business…

- I will be getting out of some of those bad partnerships I mentioned

- I will continue studying and using the skills I feel are some of the most important to have if you want to be a success in anything ( business/personally)
They are salesmanship- persuasion- marketing- wealth creation and preservation

So what are you going to do ? Leave your comments below.

One of the rituals I perform every December 31st is to write out my plans ( goals) for the coming year. But I don’t stop there! I actually write down every specific of what it looks like having attained them. Then I go on to think about the resources I have and the resources I will need.

Finally I create an exact MAP of everything I need to do in order to get from where I am now to the written goal.

Try it! There is tremendous power in doing this. Then I review this overall plan daily and weekly to see how I ‘m doing. BY THE WAY– It’s totally ok to amend the route or even the plan. Sometimes you achieve a goal only to be let down that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. That’s actually exactly how I am feeling in one of my partnerships.. It’s a goal thousands have and now that I have attained it I am actually very much let down to know this person’s public persona is not their real one…. Oh well – live and learn!

Now go ahead and let me know what your challanges and goals are…

OOOPS– I almost forgot — I have committed to reading a book or course a week on the topics I mentioned above– salesmanship- wealth creation- persuasion – marketing.

I’ll keep you posted on what I ‘ve been reading in case you want to grab a copy yourself.

Here’s to a healthy , happy and of course prosperous 2009.

Brian Sacks

PS– One of the best items you “should” get your hands on right now is THE PHENOMENON(tm)
It is a very formulaic strategy for acheiveing more in the next 12 months. Learning these proven tactics really “changes the game” It did for me and I know it will for you too..

www.brian.in12months.com

Of course you can calso check out the resources on the resources page above too.. Hope you enjoyed this post and I would love your feedback!

PPS– This thought really should (and probably will be its own post) but since this year was so crappy it’s worth mentioning in closing.
How you handle failures DETERMINES your success!!!!  Please re-read that!

First I guess I might need to explain what an “AHA” means. It is the opposite of a “DUH” which means you know what to do and when you hear it mentioned again somewhere you go “DUH” .. I knew I was supposed to do that .. and when I did it I actually got good results but for some reason I stopped.

It amazes me when I have a DUH or see many of my coaching and consulting clients have one.. BUt let’s move on for the purposes of this post and talk about the opposite of a “DUH” which is an “AHA”

“AHA” is a revelation… Like a baby taking those first steps or uttering those first words. When you get an “AHA” real breakthroughs happen for you and your business. Of course there are really only 2 ways to have an “AHA” First is to discover it by being open to new ideas while trying to find solutions to your everyday problems and you then just stumble upon it.The other way is to learn about it and then implement it.

Sounds simple — BUT STOP- How many times do you “learn” something but never implement it? Probably alot I am guessing if you are like most people. So an immediate “take away” here is to always implement and do it quickly..

SO WHAT WAS MY BIG LIFE CHANGING “AHA”? AND WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM IT?

For over 30 of my 44 years I worked hard… and I mean really hard. Mostly 7 days a week and 12-14 hours a day. I always designed my personal life around what was happening in my business.  As an example I usually only took small 2-3 day vacations and only once or twice a year. Didn’t think I had time for relaxation and certainly no time for exercise or just “hanging out”

I missed being able to watch my 2 kids grow up in their early years.  MAN — it hurts just writing all this stuff down. I was burnt out and mostly lived in a constant state of grumpiness. In my mind I justified all of this by saying I am working really hard for my family , to be  a good provider, so my kids can have more than I had, so my wife can have nice things…  Do you feel that way?

During all of this I had dreams of having the great lifestyle that the money I would earn could provide. I figured I would save enough and then one day when I was old I would just retire and relax. But do you know what the reality is? Most people retire poor meaning they can’t really retire. Go to any grocery store these days or even McDonalds and you will see these ” reitrees ” in their  late 60’s 70’s and even 80’s still working. Doing menial, low paying jobs because they HAVE TO !

The other scenario I see are those who really can retire financially but cannot enjoy it due to their physical issues.. No GOLF ! No Travel ! just getting around is an issue and the money doesn’t change the situation!

HERE IS WHAT I DISCOVERED !

You might want to stop right here and brace yourself. It certainly took me a while to embrace and finally implenet this ! READY????

_______________> YOU CAN DESIGN YOUR IDEAL LIFE AND MAKE YOUR BUSINESS WORK TOO <___________

Don’t know how you feel about this but it was a HUGE SHIFT for me. In fact it really changed everything for me mentally and finacially. When I finally I realized I could control my life and not be a ping pong ball that was controlled by my work I became happy.. No Not at first because I didn’t really believe it.

I saw other successful people leading “ideal lifestyles”  I invested in Dan Kennedy’s Renegade Millionaire system and read everything I could get my hands on that related to money and wealth. I knew it could be done but didn’t think I could do it.

Remember as a mortgage banker I was taught you need to be accessible 24/7/365/  .. that you were only as good as your last deal. That working evenings and weekends was normal.. etc.etc.

Thru many of the marketing ideas I learned from Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer I was able to put my marketing on auto -pilot and even create several multi- million dollar businesses that I could run from remote places and that didn’t require my daily involvement.

RESULT: I became a better father, a better husband, a much much happier guy and of course I became a multi – millionaire.

For those of you who don’t me  I am not telling you things to boast.. Just not my style .. Nor have i ever felt the need to impress anyone. In fact I really couldn’t give a flying )#$($&* what anyone thinks of me. The reason for mentioning it all is to let you know that it can ( and should) be done.

YOU CAN BUILD YOUR IDEAL LIFESTYLE AND CREATE YOUR BUSINESS TO ACCOMODATE IT !

To Your Next 12 Months,

Brian Sacks

PS- If you would like to hear my “phenomenon” story go to  http://www.brian.in12months.com

If you would like to learn from the same “masters” I learned from go to http://whatiused.com

— Leave me your story and thoughts by clicking on the comments button now—-

What a title huh? Well sometimes I think I have taken some..
WHAT EXACTLY IS INFOAGRA?

It means having the stamina to get the job done… It means getting up early and staying up late… Especially when you are first starting an information business or any business for that matter. The idea that you do NO WORK AND MAKE ALOT OF MONEY actually does work– IF YOU ARE BORN INTO A RICH FAMILY….

If that is your case the rest of this article will be a waste of time for you so you can leave now….. But if you are like many who are reading this.. You maynot have been fortunate to have been a member of what I call the “lucky sperm” club.. ( sorry if I have offended you but i think you know what i mean here)

Most of us have to work and please stay with me here because I want to explode some myths and I know you will get some BIG IDEAS here.

First- Working hard is NOT a virtue – It is indeed stupid and harmful to feel you have to work hard all of your life and then you will retire. I can tell you just from my own family experiences and from the experience of those I have coached and consulted with. They all worked hard.. and died old and unhappy.
Some had money and now can’t enjoy it because they are old and broken down from all the hard work. Others worked hard but not smart and have no money and are also old and broken down.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ?

Work smart– By that I mean work once on something that will create a continuous stream of income for you for years to come. One great business is real-estate investments . I  spent a year putting together a self storage facility and I have been receiving  BIG CHECKS every month for the past 3years. Another is the information marketing business. I have built and sold several multi- million dollar info businesses. Do the work once and than just manage it.  I learned how to do this at http://www.whatIused.com

Second- Decide what your F- U number is .. What is an F-U # ? It is the number that will allow you to wake up and go to work because you WANT to not because you HAVE to. As an example if you need 250,000 to live comfortably each year than you have 2 choices.
A. Get 5,000,000 dollars and put it in an account earning 5% which should be easy to do.

B.  Work hard.. take some Info-agra and put in the hours and effort to build businesses or investments that are run by others that will produce this income for you … Hire the best people to run your business. Make sure they know what is expected of them and then inspect it .  Get regular reports and pay very very close attention to your numbers ..and patterns
Is income going up or down? Are expenses going up or down? Is your profit margin headed up or down. There are many other things you can /must manage and it can all be done in a report sent to you wherever you might be.
When I am in Israel or The Caribbean or on a cruise or at the beach — I can  receive this report and spend about 30 minutes checking these stats and figures and metrics and know exactly where we stand.

BOTTOM LINE— You MUST work hard.. don’t listen to anyone who tells you its easy.. they are either really stupid or they are simply LIARS trying to sell you something..

You Will need to have the stamina to build the business and put the systems in place… THE SECRET is that you should only being building it so that it can be run by someone else , not require your day to day involvement and WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A CONTINUSOUS STREAM OF INCOME FOR YEARS TO COME

Even better if it is built from the beginning to be a “saleable ” business like mine are.

To Your Next 12 Months,

Brian Sacks

Want to accomplish more in your next 12 months?  go to http://www.brian.in12months.com

Want to see where I learned how to really create wealth and grow profits? http://www.whatiused.com

———–> what do you think? leave your comments below<————-

I am writing this post on Memorial Day Sunday 2008 and have really been enjoying the past few days with my wife, 15 year old daughter and 11 year old son. So what you might ask?

Let me give you a little backround. For 23 years I was a mortgage banker, regional vp of a big company ,branch manager and eventually a company owner… Then back in 2002 -2003 I caught the “infomarketing bug” and went on to launch 4 multi-million dollar info-businesses.

Don’t worry — I am not telling you this to brag-that’s not my style– but at that time I was working my tail off. I was traveling alot to do speaking engagements , which I truly enjoyed, and then coming back to create more products, work on newsletters, coaching etc.etc.

My wife and kids were on my case because I wasn’t spending enough time with them… How could I between running 4 info businesses and a mortgage company. For those not familiar with the life of a mortgage banker — I was working 24/7/365 and took my pager , cell phone and calculator with me EVERYWHERE… see in this business most people need you during the evenings and weekends.. and you spend your days working on getting new business and taking care of the deals you just brought in.

I did finally figure out how to only work about 20-30 hours a week and make 5 times more money but I will share that with you in a future post. For now though I just wanted you to get a sense of what life was like…

So I made a real effort to be home more … but there was a real BIG PROBLEM that I didn’t even realize was going on. See in my mind I WAS HOME . But they quickly pointed out to me that even though I was physically home I was not mentally home. I was simply working out of a different location. In fact my home office was set up with all the equipment of my real office and with gotomypc.com it really was just as if I was at work .

Yes my ass was in the chair at home ( in my home office of course) but mentally I was elsewhere….

So ask yourself.. “AM I REALLY HERE?” Here are a few solutions I found you might want to try.

1. Plan this time in your planner

2. Turn off all communication devices while you are home with family.

3. Allow ZERO interupptions. If you allow yourself to be distracted it is your own fault

4. Set expectations with all business contacts of when you will and won’t communicate. This is really important- People will be fine if they know what your parameters are. The problem comes in when you try to portray yourself as accessible when you really aren’t. In fact what Iearned is that the less available I am the more money I make and the happier the clients are when they finally do get me.

5. Stop being so e-mail or blackberry obesessed. Unless you are a physician no one will die if they speak with you a few hours later or the next day.

6. BE THERE– Be fully engaged not just physically but also mentally..

I can never get back the years I missed while my kids were growing up but I can make it a habit ( and do) to be fully engaged NOW during the few years I have left with them before they go off to college.

OOOPS ! I almost forgot number 7- Create streams of income from work you do one time that will continue to pay you automatically ( with little effort on your part) for years to come… I will talk more about that in a future post but it sure is a hell of a lot easier to be “MENTALLY THERE” when you know you have money coming in consistently without doing anything additional for it.

Hope you enjoyed this post and I welcome your feedback.

Brian Sacks

http://www.brian.in12months.com

I have decided to start a blog to share some of my thoughts, successes and failures as a salesperson, marketer of services , info – marketer and serial entrepeneur. Like most ADHD successful entrepeneurs I often have thoughts or bursts of genius that are worth sharing.

Not only can they be inspirational but they are usually profitable as well. So the bottom line is that since I never know what I will be writing about it may be worth checking back often..

My latest project is called “The Phenomenon(tm) and it is all about acheiving more in the next 12 months.  If you want to check it out go to http://www.brian.in12months.com

Now to be honest I would not have believed most of what is taught here had I not personally experienced The Phenomenon(tm) myself. I also know the majority of the other practioners personally and know their stories as well. Anyway — go check it out.

If you have a topic or question about marketing, success, or info marketing let me know.

IN my next post I guess the logical thing to tell you would be the reasons you should be listening to what I say.
See— one of the BIG LESSONS I learned and have always taught is that you need to be very careful who you listen to. If you want to earn 100,000 why would you ever listen to the knucklehead earning 23,000 sitting next to you?

OR the “GURU” who has never done what they teach. In fact , that is one of the main reasons i dropped out of college ( it was actually more like grade 13 at a community college) I had a teacher who only knew how to teach what was in the text book.

Being the Ball buster that I am sometimes I asked a “Real World” question that the teacher not only could not answer but actually got angry at me for even asking…

That was it for my college days !

Hope you enjoyed this first post and I will post some other real world tactics you can use soon…

To Your Next 12 Months,

Brian Sacks

www.brian.in12months.com