They both said - Be who you are - and Do what you love - and you will Have what you need! And that is what brings happiness.

Well I have been saying that for 10 years - and wrote the book five years ago.

Now I am teaching how to do that at our new website at http://www.Self-Improvement-Lounge.com

There is a lot if cool stuff there - but one thing  that is REALLY cool is the free self improvement evaluation quiz.

You have to check this out.

Plus we have put up a couple of videos on the blog you won’t believe!

I’m working over there. Come on over!

We all understand happiness ebbs and flows, but some people are definitely more happy on average than others. This is fascinating and worth a look.

Another interesting question to ask is: What is the happiness level you would want to be averaging?

Once you have decided what is your optimum number, congratulations! You have now set a goal. How do you go about achieving it?

The most simple method is to look what one thing you could change that would make the most difference in your attitude. Work on that one thing.  If you believe you are unhappy because of a relationship, a job, where you live, your lifestyle… then pick one area that you feel could change you most and begin to do the things you know you have to do to change it!

I know you know what to do - because if there is something in your life that affects your happiness that much most likely you have spent a lot of time thinking about it. True or true?

If you have spent so much time thinking about it - why have you not begun to change it? The reason probably is that most of us dislike change, and it always seems to be easier to maintain current condition than face the unknown world of change.

That in itself can add to your frustration - and being less happy!

A couple of things to remember about happiness:

1. Happiness is feeling ‘good’ opposite feeling ‘bad’. One way to increase happiness is to follow the ‘good’ feelings and avoid the ‘bad feelings’. This is not rocket science but many overlook this simple technique. We tend to do things based on incorrect motivations. Instead of doing what you think others want you to do - do what you feel is good or right. Learn to smile when you are angry. Learn to laugh when you are sad.

2. Happiness is a choice. Unfortunately, there are no happiness stores no matter what the advertising leads you to believe. A new car will not make you happy for very long! Learn to choose to be happy.

3. Happiness is tied very closely to gratitude. Being grateful for everything we have opens the door to joy and happiness. Funny enough it also opens the door to plenty!

4. Let it go. We all tend to hold frustrations, anger, sadness, and other anti-happiness emotions for way too long. Realize the choice to hold these emotions are destructive to your happiness and learn to let them go.

So now, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being deliriously happy) - just how happy are you?

I am happy for you!

Actually much of the tasks he lays out for you are the same things I do to build several of my businesses.

If you are a locally owned service or store - you can get people to your store fairly easily with this process.

Click here to read the article.

And - if you have trouble doing this and need help - let me know.

Too often people believe that finding happiness is as simple as finding something else they want. In my experience, no one has ever found long term happiness by achieving another goal. Ultimately, to find happiness is to invest the effort look within yourself.

In other words, happiness is completely an inside job. The most important piece to finding happiness is to comprehend happiness is a personal choice and not the result of an experience. If all happiness could be found as the result of an acquisition, meeting a goal, or having anything, then a person’s happiness would always be subject to something else.

Remember this: one definition of happiness is simply the absence of an opposite emotion whether it is pain, sadness or something else. If the opposite emotions are never experienced then happiness can never be experienced either. Think about it like this: bad times allow you to appreciate good times; hunger allows you to appreciate food; and sadness allows you to appreciate and experience happiness.

The dictionary defines happiness as enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction or joy.

"I’ll be happy when" is statement commonly heard when discussing happiness.

• When I get a nice house, I’ll be happy.
• I’ll be happy when I retire.
• If I had more money, I’d be happy.

‘If I had’ scenarios all follow the same flawed reasoning; that is happiness is based on external circumstances.
If you base your happiness on external circumstances, you will continuously fail to find happiness. Will there not always be another external circumstance? Another dollar, another job, another house, or another partner"?

We must find our happiness somewhere else. Find happiness within yourself. We have been given everything we need to be happy.

Allow yourself to choose happiness. If life was perfect would you be happy?

Life is perfect because we create it with our choices. Since we can create life, we can create
happiness - and how much better can it get?

If you can accept that life is perfect as it is and that our lives are the sum total of everything that has happened to this instant, then you can accept the joy and happiness
you deserve and they work toward creating the life you want - and be happy in the doing of that task.

I realize that this concept is very difficult for some to accept. However, the alternative to bein g happy now is to spend the rest of our lives seeking happiness as if
happiness was an item to be bought or found.

It’s not. Just remember the famous saying: Don’t worry - be happy!

From blogging to copywriting, managing workloads to free online utility software - this site is truly valuable and certainly worth bookmarking.

 Click here to visit this resource.

- and please let us know how you liked it.

Organization and focus.

This is what I mean.

Almost ten years of coaching and consulting with small business owners and executives has helped me define a few major areas of business to which every owner should pay close attention. If these areas are constantly monitored and improved, amazing progress can be made. Your business can operate much more smoothly, more efficiently, and with much less headaches than it does today by understanding of few key principles.

#1 A great vision is the starting point for every great company. What is your vision? How often do you communicate your vision to your staff? If I asked your staff (or you) to tell me the vision of their company would they be able to do that? I find in many companies a serious discrepancy between an owner’s vision and the vision as defined by individuals within that business. Without a common vision, there are no common goals, and since every one is working towards their vision it is quite possible people are working towards different results and even against each other.

#2 The second crucial piece is your processes. What are you and your staff doing on an ongoing basis to reach the vision? How are these tasks measured, refined, documented and rewarded? Without properly documented and agreed upon processes and procedures accountability and responsibility are placed in the hands of the people doing the work; when in fact responsibility should be to the process with accountability for following the process. (You might want to read that again!)

#3 Let’s not forget about people. Owners understand that without people business is limited in its capacity to grow. Why is it than most owner’s biggest complaints are about people? Problems hiring, firing, training, motivating and managing staff and their activities often are the biggest source of challenges for any owner.

#4 Most owners of small businesses work too hard in their business and spend too little time on their business. Working on your business is the primary job and the main responsibility of the owner. The reason you spend so much time working in your business? You have yet to focus on steps 1, 2 and 3 as outlined above. This becomes much more of a challenge when you are the owner AND the staff!

I created an online video to cover these subjects and give it to business coaching clients as a preliminary sales tool. In this immediately available online video course I have done my best to distill into easily understandable and implementable strategies the steps any owner or executive can use to take control of almost any business.

In this video you will learn:

Why you should have a vision and how you go about the finding and communicating a vision.

Process and procedures are thoroughly covered with simple examples and clear steps to creating the processes and procedures you need in your business.

Management of people and how to solve challenges related to staffing as well as the function of management are covered in detail.

Special emphasis on the role of the CEO with the three major responsibilities of every owner are also included.

Overall this video is a must see for any owner feeling caught in a challenging situation and looking for the steps necessary to move any business up a notch or three.

Now if you have read this far - I am looking for feedback on this article as well as the video product itself. These are some of the questions I have.

Is this article helpful?

Does this article touch any of the challenges you face?

If not - what challenges ARE you facing in your business?

Leave a comment on the blog with your answers, or send them via email.

Then if you like, buy this video product for only $10. Review the product, and the sales  process and send me a testimonial and/or suggestions for improvement  - I will refund all $10 to you as payment for your work.

So you get a product that has been selling for $79 free for a testimonial/suggestions for improvement.

Here is what one buyer wrote to me:

" This video will be a revelation to many entrepreneurs. Any entrepreneur, business owner, or manager who is feeling overwhelmed, overrun, and out of control will find the answers they are looking for in your video course. You reveal the exact methods for getting control of our mountainous (and impossible) to-do lists, solving employee problems (by doing something counter-intuitive), and being more productive by working less. Wake up and change your life — get this course from Coach Miami! "

Ray Edwards, Copywriter and Marketing Consultant

Click here to buy at $10

Techsmith is running a couple of promotions in PC magazines such as PC Plus (December edition) where they are giving away Camtasia Studio 3 completely for free.

Don’t worry though, if you don’t upgrade to version 5, your Camtasia Studio 3 will still continue to work.

Grab it now while it is free - you can do some pretty cool stuff with it!

If you are in the US I hope you are thankful for what you have - and that you enjoy the day!

Four years ago in February, we purchased a house and ten acres of land with the intention of fulfilling a goal to build a working horse ranch.

At that time our long term goal was to use the 10 acre project as a pilot project - a test sort of to see if horse ranching was
a) something we liked to do and
b) financially feasible as a business

Our long term vision was to find some property in southern Colorado to build a much larger ‘dude’ ranch.

We know now it is feasible - and we can do it. We built the farm from ’scratch’ (you can see pictures here)  and made it a profitable working farm with a very loyal, stable and growing client base.

But the long term plans have changed somewhat. We have inserted a new phase into the plan. We want as a family to find a catamaran sailboat, sell the farm and the business and live and travel on the boat for a while. A ’short break’ you might say.

To accomplish this, we must move our income streams from horses and face to face business coaching clients to some form of recurring, passive income.

This is why - if you have been here long - you have seen the changes coming.  I have been working hard to create an Internet presence and then created products based on my expertise- (like the one here)  - which is coaching and consulting small business owners.

It has been, and continues to be, fascinating, challenging and invigorating to expand into a new field. Marketing on the internet is huge business and will continue to grow exponentially into the future.

Along the way I have been asked repeatedly how this internet marketing thing works.

To answer those questions I am creating a free program to help anyone who wants to learn about internet marketing including blogs, Web 2.0, auto responders, email newsletters, html, social bookmarking, and all the things that are changing so fast we either have to keep up - or let it go on by us. This program will allow anyone to learn at their own pace - no pressure, no tests, no cost. Teaching others will help me be a better learner as well.

Some people I know are saying they don’t want to learn this new stuff and they are going let it go. I refuse to let it ‘go on by us’.

If my 9 year old can understand it  - so can you and I.

The difference is that we can use that understanding to help provide a lifestyle when the 9 year old will use it for entertainment.

I can use it to allow the next change - drifting on the last of the day’s tropical breezes in beautiful azure blue water to come to anchor at a deserted crystal white sand beach somewhere in the Caribbean.

Like personal development training.

Robert Allen said:

"The serious money in the future is not just in providing information or raw data. We are already drowning in information. We are on information overload. We are data drunk. The problem is not a lack of information or ideas but a lack of information that is packaged properly. Your job in the future is to convert the mountains of raw data into specialized knowledge presented in a way the consumer can assimilate and use quickly"

Well that is all well and good, but the key is to hone in on exactly what it is your clients want!

For years I have written books and articles, developed products and seminars based on MY wants and needs which have revolved around self actualization and happiness. In fact I wrote a book about personal development training called BeDoHave Find Happiness Now.

This has been a great interest of mine for at least the last ten years and I have spent a LOT of time in this field.

As the Internet became mainstream, and more and more people turned to their computers for answers, it actually became more difficult to reach out and find those with the same needs unless you knew the exact words the computer users were typing into the search fields.

Over the last several years, some of the bigger companies like Google, Overture and others have steadily gathered information through better organization of the massive data and come up with fairly accurate reporting to help people like me find people like you.

For instance I have targeted the term "Find Happiness Now" for years. Go ahead and search Google for "Find Happiness Now".  See were I am?

Whoopdedoo. It turns out no one searches for "Find Happiness Now".

When I started researching this lately I found the word "happiness" is not really searched at all.

I think people I am looking for are typing in "Personal Development Training". If I am to get to these people I have to appear on the first page of "Personal Development Training" on a Google search.

Let’s see how long to takes me to do that!

BTW - I have other terms I know people search for - and I have products for those people. And I am implementing the process to rank on those terms on Google as well.

All part of my own personal development training!

There is a great post here  on three simple ways (depending on how you define simple!) to live a great life,
and more posts here on personal development subjects.

Alex Blackwell does a nice job on his "The Next 45 Years" blog with some great posts on personal development and happiness.

It is all too easy to spend too much time looking, searching and learning and not enough time actually doing! Do you best not to fall into that trap!