Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Judy Murdoch
I hope the article heading got your attention.
When a mentor said this to me a couple years ago he got my attention: I felt angry and insulted!
Actually what he said was this: "Until you have products you what I consider a have a successful practice...nothing wrong with a successful practice...but you do not have a business."
I argued, "Look at everything I've accomplished. Look at everything I've learned. I actually made a profit last year. The IRS certainly thinks I have a business!"
"Those are all amazing accomplishments," my mentor said "but if, God forbid, you got hit by a bus and couldn't do any work for six months or longer what would happen to your business?"
"I'm the business," I replied, "If I can't work there is no business."
Exactly
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A Practice Begins and Ends with You
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Even if you have an amazing assistant. Even if you have clients who LOVE you and sing your praises: no you, no business.
One year later, two years later, there isn't even a vapor trail.
Now for a lot of people, this is completely cool. You may be reading this article and thinking "Hey its enough that I take good care of my clients and my business pays the bills for me and my family."
You have a successful practice and that is something to be very proud of.
And the success of your practice depends entirely on your ability to show up and be present. If you can't show up, there is no business.
My dad was a dentist for over 40 years. He was a very good at his work and his patients adored him. When he retired he sold his practice to another dentist.
When my dad is at the grocery store or running errands people still come up to him and tell him how much they appreciated him and that they miss having him as their dentist.
I'm always impressed by the warm feelings my dad's former patients still express to him. You can't buy that kind of good will.
But the practice itself winked out of existence when my dad took his name off the door. Any special processes my dad knew, the things he said to calm nervous patients, the skills and knowledge he honed over the years; that's all gone.
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It's About Influence and Making a Difference
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This is not to belittle my dad's accomplishments. He taught me a lot about working hard and with integrity. I'm proud of my dad.
At the same time, when I close shop for my business, in addition to having contributed to my clients success, I want to have products: books, classes, software, and tools that hundreds of thousands of people can use and benefit from my skills and knowledge.
When you create products, your business no longer depends on you because in a sense, you have replicated yourself. You've duplicated what made your business yours. The reason you got customers to begin with.
With products you can influence thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people. That's a LOT bigger than what any practice can do.
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Not that the Money isn't Nice too
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Most small business owners are attracted to creating information products because they love the idea of earning passive income from multiple sources.
It's a great reason to sell products. Not such a great reason for creating products.
Seriously. If you're into products primarily because you want multiple streams of revenue, I've got one word for you: Affiliates. Sell other people's products and make commission.
It's easy. Most of the e-commerce products I use: my web host, my email and list management, and my shopping cart all pay me a percentage when people find them through me.
And I'm an affiliate for several businesses whose programs I've used and gotten good results from including Amazon.com.
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Bottom Line
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Having a successful practice is huge accomplishment and you can make a huge difference--as long as you're around.
If you want a profitable BUSINESS whose influence goes well beyond the clients and customers you serve: then you want to create and sell information products.
It's the best way I know to take what you know and make money making a difference in the world.
About the Author:
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com
Read more Articles written by Judy Murdoch.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Understanding Compulsive Gambling
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2009 Skyler Ace
People gamble for many reasons. Some do it for the pure thrill and fun of it, and others just because they're feeling lucky, and many do it out of habit. There are some people who gamble as a way to relax, socialize or just escape from everyday lives. Whatever the reason may be, gambling becomes a problem when it is done in excess. In fact, people often don't realize that it's become an addiction, until they are in so deep and affects normal life.
An uncontrollable urge to continue gambling, irrespective of the consequences it has on your life is known as compulsive gambling. Compulsive gambling is an extremely serious condition and can cause vast destruction.
The internet is filled with sites dedicated to the art of gambling, but not all of them are built to encourage gambling. There are sites that are built to help gamblers who have come to realize they have developed a problem - they have become an addict of the profession.
Gambling anonymous is just one of many forums that are springing up to help people who have become obsessed with gambling (also called compulsive gambling). With the relative ease by which online gambling can be begun, and the wide variety of options the internet presents, stumbling on sites promoting gambling is very easy. Even easier is finding a niche in the vast gambling world that will appeal to the individual.
As an art, gambling has always had high addictive properties. It is why people are advised to decide on a betting limit, before they begin and urged to resist from borrowing or chasing their losses. But despite the warnings most people fall prey to these mistakes and over time, develop a slow pattern that soon spirals into the destructive spin of compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers are people who have allowed the art to take over, thus their lives resulting in far reaching social and psychological effects.
How Do You Know If You Are A Compulsive Gambler?
There are many ways of determining if a person is a compulsive gambler. Gamblers anonymous, offers the following questions to help in deciding if a person is suffering from compulsive gambling. They will usually answer yes, to any 7 of the following.
1. Does gambling cause you to skip work?
2. Is your home life a mess due to gambling?
3. Is your reputation spoiled due to gambling?
4. Do you ever regret gambling after you've done so?
5. Are you gambling in the hope of ending your financial troubles?
6. Is your efficiency or ambition affected due to gambling?
7. Do you lose time from work due to gambling?
8. After you lose a game, do you have this need that you must return to try and win back what you lost?
9. After winning, do you want to go back and try and win some more?
10. Do you keep gambling till you don't have any money left?
11. Do you borrow so that you can gamble?
12. Do you sell stuff so that you have money to gamble?
13. Have you considered doing something illegal so that you have money to gamble?
14. Do you spend sleepless nights thinking about gambling?
15. Do you think twice about spending money on other things besides gambling?
16. Do you often gamble more than you planned to?
17. Are you gambling to forget your troubles?
Compulsive gamblers like alcoholics are in need of help. If untreated, the effects are far reaching. They become distant and detach themselves from their families. It is difficult for them to break the habit on their own. If you have a friend or relative who is suffering, it is prudent to get them help.
Compulsive gambling can be treated, and one just needs to have the right approach and direction. As mentioned earlier, there are many websites, blogs, online forums that have great trips and suggestions on how to get out of it. If this doesn't help, one can always seek professional assistance. Always know, that you have plenty of options, so do not give up and find out ways that can help you kick you off your habit of gambling, for good!
About the Author:
This article was written by gambling pro Skyler Ace. Warning: Do Not Gamble Another Dollar Online Until You Read This. Free Consumer Awareness Guide Reveals The Seven Deadly Mistakes All Gamblers Make: http://www.jobsource20-23.com/casclok.html Also feel free to visit our gambling blog for tons of winning tips: http://onlinegambling23.blogspot.com/
Read more Articles written by Skyler Ace.
Copyright © 2009 Skyler Ace
People gamble for many reasons. Some do it for the pure thrill and fun of it, and others just because they're feeling lucky, and many do it out of habit. There are some people who gamble as a way to relax, socialize or just escape from everyday lives. Whatever the reason may be, gambling becomes a problem when it is done in excess. In fact, people often don't realize that it's become an addiction, until they are in so deep and affects normal life.
An uncontrollable urge to continue gambling, irrespective of the consequences it has on your life is known as compulsive gambling. Compulsive gambling is an extremely serious condition and can cause vast destruction.
The internet is filled with sites dedicated to the art of gambling, but not all of them are built to encourage gambling. There are sites that are built to help gamblers who have come to realize they have developed a problem - they have become an addict of the profession.
Gambling anonymous is just one of many forums that are springing up to help people who have become obsessed with gambling (also called compulsive gambling). With the relative ease by which online gambling can be begun, and the wide variety of options the internet presents, stumbling on sites promoting gambling is very easy. Even easier is finding a niche in the vast gambling world that will appeal to the individual.
As an art, gambling has always had high addictive properties. It is why people are advised to decide on a betting limit, before they begin and urged to resist from borrowing or chasing their losses. But despite the warnings most people fall prey to these mistakes and over time, develop a slow pattern that soon spirals into the destructive spin of compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers are people who have allowed the art to take over, thus their lives resulting in far reaching social and psychological effects.
How Do You Know If You Are A Compulsive Gambler?
There are many ways of determining if a person is a compulsive gambler. Gamblers anonymous, offers the following questions to help in deciding if a person is suffering from compulsive gambling. They will usually answer yes, to any 7 of the following.
1. Does gambling cause you to skip work?
2. Is your home life a mess due to gambling?
3. Is your reputation spoiled due to gambling?
4. Do you ever regret gambling after you've done so?
5. Are you gambling in the hope of ending your financial troubles?
6. Is your efficiency or ambition affected due to gambling?
7. Do you lose time from work due to gambling?
8. After you lose a game, do you have this need that you must return to try and win back what you lost?
9. After winning, do you want to go back and try and win some more?
10. Do you keep gambling till you don't have any money left?
11. Do you borrow so that you can gamble?
12. Do you sell stuff so that you have money to gamble?
13. Have you considered doing something illegal so that you have money to gamble?
14. Do you spend sleepless nights thinking about gambling?
15. Do you think twice about spending money on other things besides gambling?
16. Do you often gamble more than you planned to?
17. Are you gambling to forget your troubles?
Compulsive gamblers like alcoholics are in need of help. If untreated, the effects are far reaching. They become distant and detach themselves from their families. It is difficult for them to break the habit on their own. If you have a friend or relative who is suffering, it is prudent to get them help.
Compulsive gambling can be treated, and one just needs to have the right approach and direction. As mentioned earlier, there are many websites, blogs, online forums that have great trips and suggestions on how to get out of it. If this doesn't help, one can always seek professional assistance. Always know, that you have plenty of options, so do not give up and find out ways that can help you kick you off your habit of gambling, for good!
About the Author:
This article was written by gambling pro Skyler Ace. Warning: Do Not Gamble Another Dollar Online Until You Read This. Free Consumer Awareness Guide Reveals The Seven Deadly Mistakes All Gamblers Make: http://www.jobsource20-23.com/casclok.html Also feel free to visit our gambling blog for tons of winning tips: http://onlinegambling23.blogspot.com/
Read more Articles written by Skyler Ace.
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