Here you are trying to earn more income.  You are trying to do something that is not average.  You are investing your time… energy… money and resources towards starting or running your own business.  There are ups and there are downs… there are frustrations, obstacles, challenges, adversities, set-backs and anxiety along the journey.  You sacrifice television watching… your favorite shows… sports games… and more!  Here you are trying to do something special, something above average, something challenging… and then here comes all the minions!

What’s a minion?

Well, I call minions all those people we come across in our lives who are naysayers… who tell you, “you are wasting your time”. These are the folks who chastise you for chasing your dreams… who complain, moan and cut-you-down.  These are the negative, toxic, complainers… who ‘long-ago’ gave up on their dreams and God forbid you continue chasing yours.

These minions are the dream killers, the buzz killers, the antagonists in our lives who knock us down, laugh at us and call us names.  These are the people who are NOT ambitious at all.  These minions will rub salt on your wounds… plant seeds of doubt in your brain… wreck havoc on your goals and severely weaken your confidence!  Minions will destroy your “action-taking-abilities” and they will frustrate the daylights out of you.

Now, they may love you… might be friends or family… co-workers or associates… and they might think to themselves they are doing you some good, but they are usually causing more damage than good… and they are bringing their own shortcomings front-and-center into your world.  It’s hard to battle these minions because they outpopulate the ambitious people on this planet.  There’s like 1,271 minions to every 1 ambitious go-getter. (not a fact, I made that stat up).

Minions… love them or hate them, they are everywhere… in every nook and cranny… under every rock, around every corner and even on your cell phone contact list.  They are abundant… an army… and they are here to squash your dreams and keep you down to Earth (average).  They certainly do NOT want you to go-off getting all successful on them… because that will just make them feel even worse about themselves.

[minion]

Minion speaking to another minion:  “Hey, did you hear about Danny Boy?  He went on and made a hundred thousand dollars on the Interwebs, can you believe that?”

Minion response:  “Is that right?  Well, Danny Boy is probably doing something illegal and will end up in jail by the end of the year.  He aint’ to smart ya know and I’m sure he’ll blow all that money in a week.” [/minion]

So, here’s to all those snapper-heads who said we’d never get back up!  To all those naysayers who said we better stop setting ourselves up for disappointment.  To all the negative-spitting, pessimistic-vomiting, dream-stabbing, toxic-aura-wearing and stink-infested-goal-squashing-know-it-all’s… to all the countless people who have zero faith in YOU!  I’d like to say here’s my goal for 2012:

By the end of 2012, I want to be earning ONE MILLION DOLLARS PER MONTH!  I believe my partners and I can do it!  We will do it!

How you like them apples minions?

Let that goal be an INSPIRATION for you ambitious folks.  Let that resonate with you because I’m an average guy.  Let that sink in because ANYONE with a dream and a goal and the courage to attack those goals can do it too.  Let that stand as a measuring stick for “anything is possible for someone with a goal, a dream and an idea”.

Let that be a beacon for those who want more life… more freedom… abundance… wealth and more.  Let that goal be an empowerment for those who strive for a unique lifestyle.  Let it be encouragement for those who’ve seen me go from newbie to millions in a blink of an eye.  Let it be positivity for you — in a world jam-loaded with negativity.

Because listen my friend, all millionaires have insecurities too.  They have challenges, personal problems and adversities too.  We all do!  All millionaires have minions around them too.  Millionaires are normal people too.  Heck, I can’t even spell right or even design a website!  I can barely put together the bench-furniture my wife bought today.  Successful people have problems and challenges too… they have that little voice in the back of their head that says, “Hmm… maybe I am not good enough for that”… or “maybe that’s not going to work”. It’s no different.

Millionaires struggled to figure their businesses out… they bounced checks and had negative bank balances… they worry too.  They get frustrated too.  They are insecure about the same sorts of things as the rest are.  Millionaires are human.  Some cannot write… some cannot add… some cannot even talk.  There are blind millionaires, death millionaires… millionaires who cannot speak English… millionaires who suffer from depression or panic attacks… millionaires who have ADD, bad addictions, bad health habits, inferiority complexes, diseases, handicaps and major-major problems.  They are human too!!

There are teenagers who make six and seven figures now.  There are folks who were homeless and now rich!  There are senior citizens who have just now finally made it!  There are people from all walks of life who have made it too.  You can.  Anyone can.  The only difference between the millionaires and the rest of the ambitious people here is the millionaires kept getting back up!  They kept taking action despite all those fears and challenges and insecurities.  They kept faith even with personal problems.  They kept on with their dreams and kept believing in themselves despite the minions, nor the problems in their lives.  They just did it anyway!

That’s it my friend.  That’s the difference.  So, when minions or even your own personal challenges present themselves to you… keep faith.  Hold strong.  Be tough.  Be bold.  Get back up and try again, and again, and again.  And when you have given it your everything, do it again.  Then, when you have finally-finally reached a point of giving up, do it again.  And even after all that time, energy and frustration, when enough is enough, do it again.

Never, ever, ever, ever quit.  Do not let the minions win.  Get back up.  Keep trucking along with faith.  Keep pushing yourself out of the comfort zones.  Keep increasing your knowledge and skills.  Keep gaining experience.  Keep getting back up!  Keep learning, learning and learning.  Keep failing.  Keep getting back up.  Keep educating yourself, keep trying, keep learning, keep your faith.  Your faith is everything and do not let anyone, especially minions kill your faith.  Be strong, be honest, tell the truth, even to yourself, keep learning, keep getting back up!  Keep freaking trying!  Keep loving everyone, even minions.  Keep getting back up!  Keep believing in yourself.  Grow!

And when the money comes… and I mean when it comes by the truckload… when you achieve those goals… celebrate!  Then set new ones.

Happy New Year!

Eric Louviere

If you’d like to earn a lot more money, then what you need is a new, shiny, valuable, skill set or expertise.  For example, if you are an ambitious Internet Marketer and you want to start earning a real income, all you need to do is acquire a new skill set… or a new valuable expertise in one specific thing.  More specifically, you could focus on becoming real good at “social media” (Facebook and all that)… and then you would be WORTH more.  You could focus on getting good at writing, creating and shooting “sales videos” and become WORTH more very quickly.  You could focus on becoming good at writing, distributing and utilizing “Press Releases” and you’d be WORTH more quite quickly.

You could focus on becoming good at “YouTube and video marketing” and become WORTH more quite quickly.  You could focus on becoming good at CPA offers and CPA (cost per action) marketing and be WORTH more quite quickly.  You could focus on becoming good at driving traffic with PPC with Bing and become WORTH more quite quickly.  You could focus on becoming good at WordPress Blogs and Plugins and become WORTH more quite quickly.

Or, if you have a day job, you can focus on becoming good at something (like graphic art for example) and become WORTH more quite quickly (or bookkeeping, sales, spreadsheets, whatever).  You could add one specific skill set or expertise and quickly be worth more than YOUR BOSS!  You can add one skill or expertise and price yourself out of that job and into a higher paying (more demand) job.

If you own a small business, and want to earn more profits, you could be one skill or expertise away from doing just that — very quickly.  For example, any time or energy you put into YOURSELF can pay huge dividends.  Imagine you own a small business and you have 5 sales people who work for you.  You take my recommendation and purchase “How to master the art of selling anything” by Tom Hopkins.  You go through that program, study what is taught and poof!  Your salespeople will not know what hit them.  Their sales skyrocket, your income skyrockets and you send me Christmas cards every year from that point forward.

Anyone can get good at something worthy.  Anyone can get good at a new skill set, or expertise.  There is an abundance of information everywhere.  I mean, there’s that Internet thing that exists now (Information Super Highway anyone?)… and there’s a bookstore on every corner.  This is the information revolution… the information boom… the information bubble… and there’s no excuses for NOT increasing your skills, knowledge and expertise.  Anyone with a pulse can do so.  quickly too

But, the truth is… most people are “receivers” in life.  They just take and accept what life gives them.  They coast through life and take the path of least resistance.  Most are lazy… too lazy to focus.  The number one challenge I’ve listened to over the past 5 years… or excuse… from thousands of ambitious wanna-be Internet Marketers is a lack of “focus”.  By FAR, the number one challenge people have in this market is a “lack of focus”.  They say things like:

• I have information overload
• I am paralyzed with analysis
• I dont have enough time
• I dont have enough money
• I dont have the skills
• I dont know how to get started
• I’m lost
• I dont know how to do ____(blank) yet
• and so on

All are excuses.  Here’s what is really being said:

• I’m lazy
• I dont apply myself
• I dont try
• I dont put in effort
• I dont like to think
• I dont like to think for myself
• I dont want to have to figure anything out by myself
• I dont want to learn or educate myself
• I’m full of fears
• I’m just bored and this Internet Marketing thing is kinda entertaining
• I want someone to do it for me.
• I want someone to show me everything, then do it for me too.  yeah
• I dont WANT to invest the money, I’d rather buy pizza and video games
• Take care of me

But, really, although I’m being hardcore here, it’s on purpose… because it opens the eyes to the possibilities of creating new thoughts… new beliefs… and then new habits.  If you want to make more money, make yourself more valuable.  More money is first found on the inside with a new skill set or new expertise in something that is in DEMAND.  Many small businesses and business people MUST recreate themselves every two years or so just to stay on top.  this is a must in a fast moving, ever changing world we live in.  If you do not recreate yourself ongoing… with new skills or expertise… then everything starts to die… shrivel up… and rot away.

Even gurus must recreate themselves.  I mean, when Adsense does not work as well as it did, and you were the Adsense King, then guess what?  Time to become the Facebook King or Google Plus King!  All a guru or maven must do is master a new skill set or expertise.  For example, if I immersed myself into “Social Media”… it would not take long before I had a full blown course on Social Media.  If I mastered “How To Earn Quick Money With Amazon Kindle”… it would not be long before I had an Amazon Kindle Club Membership for $47 per month!

As the world turns, so should you.

You are one new skill set or expertise away from a windfall of new income!  But can you focus?

~Eric Louviere

We recently took a family vacation to Aspen, Colorado for almost two weeks.  Initially, it was one week, but we loved Aspen so much we extended the fun.  I’d have to say that Aspen is one of my favorite places in America.  It’s so beautiful there, it’s almost unbelieveable.

Well…. if you like moutanins, rivers, wildlife, excellent food, cool people, shopping, etc etc then Aspen is tremendous.  We spent our time dining at fine restaurants, shopping and snowboarding in Snow Mass (about 10 minutes from Aspen).

I’m not as in shape as I used to be, but I still managed to zip down the blue runs and avoid breaking any bones.  My wife was a beginner, but I have to admit, she picked it up quicker than I ever did.

As far as celebrities, everyone said they were everywhere to be seen, but I did not see anyone recognizable.  Well, I thought I saw a couple celebrities, but my wife told me I was “wrong”.  That happens from time to time you know…

While in Aspen, we decided to look up a professional photographer to snap some family pictures.  Boy was that ever a great idea!  We were as lucky as could be too.  We landed a super cool guy who was nothing short of spectacular.

If you are ever in the Aspen area, be sure and get in contact with Jim Paussa and get him to do his magic.  We had a blast taking pictures and Jim and his assistant were very nice and extremely good with my son Julian.  The pictures were fantastic and the experience was tremendous!

(Thanks Jim!)

Also, while in Aspen, you’ll quickly realize just how much money people make out there.  I mean, it’s one thing to bring in a million dollars, but it’s quite another thing to see the money in Aspen.  There are houses there that reach into the twenty million dollar range (and plenty of them!)

I checked out the Real Estate market and it just blew me away how expensive it is there.  We took pictures in a townhouse that was priced at 6 million.  The shops downtown had furs and art, paintings and clothes that were so expensive, I began feeling an uncontrollable sense of “I-Need-To-Make-Even-More-Money!”

There are always different levels of income to strive for!

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