Saturday, July 29, 2006

gurus again !!!!

a man blessed by God, who is born enlightened, without needing to learn how to be holy. Gu translates as 'evil darkness' and Ru as 'divine light'; a guru is a man perfectly poised above good and evil, who has already transcended to another level. The name is commonly used for a religious teacher.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Triple Test

In ancient Greece, scholar and intellectual, Dr. Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,

"Do you know what I just heard about one of your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Dr. Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?" asked the man.

"That's right," Dr. Socrates continued.

"Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and wanted to tell it to you"

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary, it is bad "

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, Because there's one filter left: the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really." Replied the man.

"Well," concluded Dr. Socrates, if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, and nor even useful to me, why tell it to me at all ."

-- Author Unknown

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

A letter to the Internet Marketing "Gurus"

This is outside the scope of self help but I feel compelled to write this, I am p"£d off with "gurus" ripping people off.

Dear Gurus,

This is a letter from a very frustrated and angry customer who probably represent 95% of the Internet Marketing Population, I want to ask few questions and suggest some changes.

Whether you listen to me or not i honestly don't care because i know there is an underground revolution coming your way, This revolution is a group of %95 of the frustrated intermediate and newbies.


First let me emphasize about one very important thing: Treat your customers as they should be treated with respect and don't think for one second that treating one person badly is going to go unnoticed, this is the superhighway we are talking about, one bad mouthing and your business is in trouble unless you can prove that the person was at fault and even then you can not stop the propagation of the bad message, not unless you are a God which i highly doubt since you are not even a real Gurus.

There's a recent event where a “guru” has a Private Label Rights membership and allows his customers to sell the master resell rights, but as soon as one of his customers created a Master resell right membership to sell his products in line with the terms and conditions of his membership website, he went mad and threatened to sue the Customer for doing so. This is not ethical in my books

He is stupid because he doesn't think outside the box, his customer would remain a loyal customer if he treated her well. She may even bring more customers to his membership site through affiliates, which in turn increases his bottom line profits.

Gurus, If you say something and someone used your terms and conditions as you stated you have no right to change your TOC once everyone accepted them at the time of purchase.

Second let me ask this : Would you please cut the BS and go straight to the point with your sales letters, what's the matter with you, a sales page if printed would be 4 to 8 pages of fluff. Enough of the sizzle give us the steak.

All I want to know about your product is this:

What is it? Where and how can i use it?

How is it going to benefit me?

What are the features?

Give me an example? It is an ebook give me a chapter, if it is a script show me where do you use it?

How much? Not expensive unless you come up with something very very original that nobody has done in the past.

Here is an idea, take someone from the newbies and teach them for free and tape it or document it when they do succeed then you can sell it by giving away the film, of course you can hide your secrets but at least give your readers a general idea.


That's it.

I don't need the fluff, you know why? I don't have time, This is my process when i read any of your letters:

I read the title and the first paragraph if i am interested i jump to the bullets to see what's in it for me, after that I go straight to the bottom of the page looking for the price. if you hide the price from me hoping that i would go through your page and i may like your product, you are wrong, I give your page about a second, if i don't find the price right in front of me, bye bye, ciao, see you. Never come back to it.

3rd thing: here is something your tracking software can't tell you:

When you spend your money on adwords and i click on your advert because it was interesting,

I go to your page and if i see that i have to give you my email address to let me into your sales letter? I simply click the X on the top right corner of my screen. This tactic would work if you are giving me value for my time. If you promise me something and you don't deliver after i gave you my email address i can assure that i will unsubscribe from your list. In your terms you call this squeeze page, landing page etc (you are good at coming up with fancy names)

4th Look after your existing customers before you look for more, follow up with them, ask them how are they doing with your product, is there anything they want to ask you about, insist that they use it. Don't just send them another automated email asking them to buy more products from you, because you call these people a qualified customer. You seem to have a very bad idea i don't know where did you get it from: “if a customer buys from you once he/she will buy from you again” This is totally wrong. If I personally buy from you and your product is crap that's the last thing you will see from me and i will be asking for a refund because it is my right. When you assume, you make an ass of u and me. And we don't want that assumption.

Just listen, how many people have your product still zipped in their hard drives?

5th If you see one of your customer climbing the ladder don't push them down because you are afraid of loosing money, in doing so you will lose them, help them instead and you gained a friend and loyal customer forever.

6th Stop conspiring against people, don't think just because we need to get out of the tick tock we are willing to max our credit cards, I am working on waking up people and teaching them that unless you use a product from a marketer don't buy from them again until you use it.

7th always always remember that you were a newbie one day and you went through hell to get to the top, have the newbies in your mind when you price your products and when you create them.

8th When there is a firesale organize it among yourselves and don't send me 1000's of emails about the same thing, this devalue yourselves and you become like sheeps all i hear when i open my inbox is bah bah, this translated to “Please buy from me! I will give you my other products for free, or 50% of my next product, or i can only give two kidneys so hurry” I will buy when i am ready to buy, firesale or not.

Even if i don't buy from you at the time, i can still get the product some other time from someone else much cheaper than the price you are selling for at the time of the firesale.

This is what the Gurus know about customer behavior, NOTHING. That's why Google introduced Google analytics to give you a glimpse of what your customer is doing when they get to your page.


Aziz meknassi

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Aziz Meknassi is a motivator, martial arts instructor, internet Marketer, multi-lingual and a webmaster, Free Marketing Info at http://www.wakeuptocash.co.uk and Free self Help Online reading at http://www.azmek.co.uk

You may reproduce this article provided that you leave this source box intact and make sure the live link stays live.

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Saturday, July 22, 2006

How Self Development Can Help You Achieve Celebrity Status?

Nowadays, we live in the midst of a celebrity culture. Pictures of nearly perfect looking people, who are leading lives that we could only dream of, constantly bombard us. We are just seating back absorbing these pictures and comparing the way these people look and live with the way that we look and live. We decide that we come up short and we end up loosing our sense of self-esteem and self-confidence. We wrap ourselves in our doubts, fears and insecurities and we start thinking, “I wish I was someone else”. We see people around us that seem to have what we would like to have and instantly we wish that we were them. We never stop to question whether these people are truly happy though. We just presume they are, simply because they have something that we want.

For example, we look at a young business entrepreneur and think, “he must be a happy man; what else could he possible ask for?” What we cannot see though is what this man is thinking when he is looking in the mirror. It is very likely that he might be thinking, “I wonder why my friends are not talking to me; I hate the way I look; my marriage if falling apart and I am not sure what to do about it.”

Isn’t it funny that we look at other people envying what they appear to have and wishing that we traded places with them, while at the same time they could be looking at us thinking exactly the same thing? The bottom line is that it is important to accept ourselves the way we are and to learn to love who we truly are.
Through self-reflection, we can get to know ourselves much better. If then we find some parts of ourselves that we are not happy with, we can change them through self-improvement and self-development. This might sound like hard work that requires a lot of time and effort. However, is it better to spend the rest of our lives with the heartache that we are not good enough, rather than try to love the good parts of ourselves and change the parts we do not like?

Here are some suggestions on how you can start your journey of self-improvement today.

You should find your purpose in life. Do not wonder aimlessly through your days without knowing where you are going and hoping that somewhere along the way you will be able to find happiness, health and prosperity. Make it happen today by choosing the direction that you want your life to take.

You should learn how to live from the inside out. This relates to a point I already made above. You should exercise daily self-reflection, in order to get to know yourself. You should reflect in silence. If you live in a city and you find it hard to find a quiet place, then playing some calming music, such as classical music, will help. While you are reflecting, you should breathe deeply to quieten your distracted mind.

Reflection will help you find your inner wisdom and it will also help you become increasingly aware of the following things, all of which are important to your self-development.

1)Your values: what do you value most in your life? Is it freedom, safety, family, education? Whatever it is, you should always make sure that your values are in accordance with your lifestyle, purpose and targets in life. Otherwise, you will constantly by tormented by internal conflict.

2)Your needs: it is not selfish to take care of your needs first, because when your needs are met, you become more centred and strong and thus you will be better equipped to help others. Find out what are your needs and make sure that they are met, in order to be able to fulfil your dreams.

3)Your passions: you should know who you truly are and what you truly enjoy. Doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder and put obstacles to your development. Express yourself without fear, honour who you are and the people that inspired you and become the person that you always wanted to be.

4)Your strengths: what gifts or talents do you possess? Are you witty, creative, good with your hands? Express who you are through those strengths. Sharing what you are good at with others will increase your self-confidence and your sense of purpose.

Family, friends and generally all the people you associate with on a daily basis are important for your self-development. They can help you with getting to know yourself. Talk to the people you trust the most and you know that they only wish what is best for you. Ask them questions about the parts of yourself that you are unsure of and listen to what they have to say to you. Do not be defensive, because they are not trying to hurt you even if their comments are not what you expected.
Stop repeating to yourself the soul-destroying phrase “if only…” Learn to accept the real and authentic you. This is the first step to self-improvement. Nobody is perfect and everybody has some sort of insecurity or another. Self-improvement is not the ability to demonstrate to the world that you are perfect. Self-improvement is the ability of acceptance and contentment. When we begin to improve ourselves, we learn to feel happy and content with what we have.

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More about self development Roula Lazari is a writer, product creator and proof reader. you can download the 1st chapter of "you Are the Time" free when you go to www.azmek.co.uk the home of free self help information. Webmasters: you can reproduce this article as long as the life link and this resource box stays intact.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Effective Tips to Conquer Depression


No one is safe from being affected by depression because it affects everyone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a male or female, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. Once a person starts becoming depressed, he or she usually behaves in a manner that intensifies the illness.
Being lonely is a normal part of our everyday lives. Weget sad when we fail in our exams, when we're rejected bythe person we love, or when someone very close to uspasses away. Depression, however, could be more fatalthan just plain loneliness. It could render life-longconsequences that could ruin your self-esteem, health,and well-being.
Here are some superb tips to conquer the melancholy moodand get the most bliss out of your daily activities.

1) Get Enough Light and Sunshine.

Lack of exposure to sunlight is responsible for thesecretion of the hormone melatonin, which could triggera dispirited mood and a lethargic condition.

Melatonin is only produced in the dark. It lowers thebody temperature and makes you feel sluggish. If youare always cooped up in your room (with the curtainsclosed), it would be difficult to restrain yourselffrom staying in bed.

This is the reason why many people are suffering fromdepression much more often in winter than in the otherseasons. It's because the nights are longer.

If you can't afford to get some sunshine, you canalways lighten up your room with brighter lights.Have lunch outside the office. Take frequent walksinstead of driving your car over short distances.

2) Get Busy. Get Inspired.

You'll be more likely to overcome any feeling ofdepression if you are too busy to notice it. Live a life full of inspired activities.

Do the things you love. If you're a little shorton cash, you could engage in simple stuffs liketaking a leisurely stroll in the park, playingsports, reading books, or engaging in any activitythat you have passion for and would love to pursue.

Set a goal - a meaningful purpose in life. Nomatter how difficult or discouraging life can be,remain firm and have an unshakable belief that youare capable of doing anything you desire. Withthis kind of positive attitude, you will attaina cheerful disposition to beat the blues.

3) Take a Break.I mean it.

Listen to soothing music. Soak in a nice warmbath. Ask one of your close friends to massageyou. Take a break from your stressful workloadand spend the day just goofing around. In otherwords, have fun.

4) Eat Right and Stay Fit.

Avoid foods with lots of sugar, caffeine, oralcohol. Sugar and caffeine may give you abrief moment of energy; but they would laterbring about anxiety , tension, and internalproblems. Alcohol is a depressant. Many peoplewould drink alcohol to "forget their problems."They're just aggravating their conditions in theprocess.

Exercising regularly is a vital depression buster because it allows your body to produce moreendorphins than usual. Endorphins are sometimescalled "the happy chemicals" because of theirstress-reducing and happiness-inducing properties.

5) Get a Social Life.

No man is an island. Your circle of friends arethere to give you moral support. Spending timeand engaging in worthwhile activities with them could give you a very satisfying feeling. Nothingfeels better than having group support.

Never underestimate the power of touch. Doesn'tit feel so good when someone pats you on the backand gives you words of encouragement during yourmost challenging times? Hug or embrace someonetoday. You'll never know when you have saved another life.
Get intimate. Establish close ties with yourfamily and friends. The love and care expressedby others could tremendously boost your immunesystem and fend off illnesses. Best of all, you'lllive a more secured and happy life.

6) Practice Yoga or Aikido

Yoga is one of the best deciplines one can practice, why?Besides the fact that it is physical it is also mental, and thebreathing exercises conducted in Yoga are the best for anyone.first aspect is the sitting still and focus on the part that we are exercisingsecond is breathing which is cleansing in itself of the bodyand last but not least after the above is accomplished a sense of calmness and serinity is achieved which get's rid of allfeeling of anxiety.

Aikido on the other hand is similar to Yoga in the breathing exercisesand focus but it also introduce a social part where people practicetogether the art to achieving harmony, there is so much I can say about Aikido which will not fit in this short article. Aikido is a Martial arts but it is purely self defence and the only competition is against oneself. When harmony is seeked through Aikido, self esteem increases and againleaving no chances for depression to manifest.
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For more infomration about depression visit: www.azmek.co.uk/depressionAziz Meknassi is a motivator, martial arts instructor, multi-lingualGraphics designer and a webmaster of http://www.azmek.co.uk/ the Home ofFree Self Help Online reading information. Webmasters: you may reproducethis article as long as the live links and this resource box remain with it.
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Saturday, July 15, 2006

You Are The Time

Time is money! Now, I have personally heard this phrase many times. What about you? Have you ever noticed though that we mostly hear this phrase when we want some time off for ourselves? We mostly hear it when we decide to leave the rat race behind for a bit and do something that we actually enjoy. What does this phrase mean anyway! Does it mean that we should devote all of our available time in some consistent pursue of making money? This is definitely the most popular interpretation! However, is it the correct one?

Let us think about it for a second! Could it also mean that time is so important and valuable to us as in fact is the commodity we value the most in our lives, money? In fact, time is the most valuable commodity we shall ever have. I mean, is it possible for anything to exist, let alone money, if there is no time? The answer is no! Time is the prerequisite for everything. So, what do we do to this valuable possession we have? We spend it and waste it without a second thought.
We have been taught since early childhood that we should be careful with money, that we should spend it wisely and that we should save for the rainy day. We were never taught, however, how to budget our time. At the end of the day, if we do not have enough money, then we can do something about it. We can find ways to earn some more, or we can find ways to budget the existing money we have available in a better and more efficient way. What can we do when we do not have enough time though? We can do absolutely nothing! We cannot earn more time. Twenty-four hours a day is all the time we shall ever have! The only thing we can do is to budget the hours we do have wiser.

One way of doing this is by dividing our day into two smaller parts. The first part will consist of eight hours and it will represent the time we spend at work everyday. The second part will consist of the remaining sixteen hours. This part will include the time we spend commuting to and from work, the time we spend doing household chores and cooking and eating dinner, the time that we spend sleeping and the hours that we will spend in activities that we love doing and that improve and develop our body, mind and soul.

This way we will have to budget for sixteen hours instead of twenty-four. We can then subtract the seven hours of sleep that we have on average. This will leave us with nine hours. Let us then subtract two more hours that we consume on average for commuting to and from work. Finally, let us subtract few more hours for household chores, shopping, cooking and having dinner. Let us say that we have the clear expanse of three hours every day to devote to ourselves and to the activities that we love.

There are not enough you say? Well, do you have more available time now? Do not worry if you feel like three hours are not enough for you to do all the amazing and wonderful things you have dreamed about doing. This is only the beginning. Let us learn how to budget for three hours first, a task that is much simpler than trying to budget for twenty-four hours is it not? Soon enough, you will grow accustomed to budgeting your time and the three hour will become four, five, until you will be able to sufficiently manage the whole of your day.

I am not going to tell you that it is going to be an easy thing to do. Far from it! It is going to be hard and it will require a lot of effort and sacrifice. It will all be worth it in the end though when the days spent running around like headless chicken will be all forgotten. You will have to find a balance where you will be strict enough with the programme not to let anything interfere with it, but not too strict, on the other hand, so that you do not feel like a slave to the programme. Once you put aside the three hours a day for yourself, then you have to decide how you can use those hours in the most effective way. Make a list of all the things that you would like to do and to achieve for yourself. Then prioritise the items on your list and start devoting the three hours a day to the item/s that have the highest priority for you.

It sounds natural when we hear someone say that by spending 10 minutes a day training our body, we will very soon see results in our health and appearance. Yet we question when we hear someone say that by spending an hour every day to a form of mental activity, we will soon see results in the power of our mind. Why is that?

Finally, do not forget the most important point of all! The key to success is attitude. Ordinarily, when we finish work we feel exhausted and drained from the day’s work. We feel like we have no more energy left. However, do we feel the same when we have organised to do something special after work, something we love doing, like for example go to the theatre? No, we do not. We do not feel tired. Instead, we feel enthusiastic and energetic and we keep going non-stop until it is time to go to bed. This is the attitude that we should employ in every single one of our days. Remember to leave work back in the office. When you leave work, you should get excited for the next part of the day. Your part of the day!
=============================================================================== Roula Lazari is a writer, product creator and proof reader. you can download the 1st chapter of "you Are the Time" free when you go tohttp://www.azmek.co.uk the home of free self help information. Webmasters: you can reproduce this article as long as the live link and this resource box stays intact.===============================================================================