A lot of people are trying to earn more revenue online based on their expertise, but have you ever wondered simple questions like what to put on your homepage?

I mean, how do you communicate that you’re an expert, create value for your visitors, and actually make money?

Brendon Burchard has a simple and effective approach called “The Home Page ATM.”

Check it out:

This video is awesome. I can’t believe he’s sharing his best online marketing strategies so openly.

I also like how Brendon explains his 1-Page Membership Site – it’s one of the easiest and straightforward strategies I’ve seen to monetize your content online.

These two approaches helped Brendon go from broke to over $4 million in sales in 24 months. Such a great story.

Click here for the video

This all proves that sharing and monetizing your knowledge and advice online doesn’t have to be that complicated. It’s totally worth the optin. Enjoy – and take notes!

Gerber

In other words, if you wanted to become a highly-paid expert in a matter of months, how would you? How are all these authors, speakers, coaches, seminar leaders, and online info marketers monetizing their life’s story, advice, and experience?

This incredible video from Brendon Burchard has the answers:

You’ll learn:

• 10 essentials that will help you build an “expert” brand
• 3 ways to position yourself as a high-value, highly-paid expert
• 4 products that add to a million-dollars in 12 months

This all sounds high-strung, but the video nails it.

At some point, every “guru” or expert decides they want to use their life’s story or their how-to advice for helping other people to earn a real income and make a real difference. This video exemplifies that.

Btw, if you haven’t met Brendon Burchard, the guy who did the video, I think you’ll find his story inspiring.

Brendon went from bankruptcy to $4.6 million in the how-to space in just 18 months. He really get results:

• #1 New York Times Best-selling author with books in 20 languages and over 200k ebooks downloaded
• Spoken onstage with Tony Robbins, Sir Richard Branson, Dalia Lama, Wayne Dyer, Paula Abdul, Frank Kern, Jeff Walker
• Seminars pulling 800 people at $2000-$10,000/ticket from 42+ countries
• 100+ coaching clients paying $10,000-$35,000 a year
• $4 million-plus online product launches and brilliant continuity programs
• #1, #2 and #3 ranked affiliate for some of the largest online marketing campaigns in the last 12 months

You might have also seen Brendon recently on Anderson Cooper and ABC News.

What’s WAY more impressive is the results he gets for his STUDENTS.

You can see why in his video. The guy cares, he does it himself, and he really breaks it down for you.

I have talked about Experts Academy and Brendon Burchard before (see Free Brendon Burchard Videos). About a year ago I went through his whole Experts Academy course and absolutely loved it. And in March, 2011 I went to his live seminar, learned a lot more and met lots of great people. I still use a lot of what I’ve picked up from the course and from the seminar. But what really inspired me to purchase the whole course was the quality of the free videos he offers. Just one of the many strategies, tactics and tips he gives in these videos can help you make 2012 your best year yet.

Watch the video here

Enjoy the video.

And take notes. Trust me, it’s worth the optin.

Gerber

Ps. Brendon says he’s taking questions on the blog, so watch and comment. Here’s what people are saying:

• Tony Robbins thinks Brendon is “smarter than hell”
• Brian Tracy says Brendon is the “smartest, nicest, most creative marketers I’ve ever met”
• Paula Abdul says he’s “captivating, present, magnetic and awesome”
• NY-Times best-seller Dr. Daniel Amen “wishes I would have met him 20 years ago; it would have put my business and myself as an expert in hyperspeed”

The video was a TED-talk by Graham Hill about how less stuff could actually make you happier. You can watch it below.

What are some of the ways that you can simplify your life? How much stuff do you have stored around your house or apartment that you never use?

Getting Rid of Things

Recently I sold a lot of stuff, including my PS3 and Wii and also a lot of my books.  That was partly because I needed the money to invest in my new business. I moved some of the bookcases from the living room to my office. Because of that the living room feels larger and less cluttered. It actually makes it easier to relax. Another thing I noticed was that it’s much easier to pick a book to read if you don’t have literally more than a thousand books to choose from. Does that mean that I don’t have enough books to choose from or that I can’t find a book that I would enjoy to read. Of course not. So do I need all this stuff to make me happy. Again, of course not.

Three years ago I wrote a blog post about making room for more energy. In that post I mentioned that when you sell or throw away stuff, you make room for new things. But those new things don’t necessarily have to mean new physical objects. It could also mean that give yourself more energy, more peace, more freedom.

More Ideas

If you need more ideas about how you can simplify your life, go through some of the articles on Zen Habits. Leo Babauta shares some inspiring ideas in articles like Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life and 13 Small Things to Simplify Your Workday. Or go to Amazon.com for his book The Power of Less. You can of course buy the Kindle edition, if you don’t want to get more physical books into your house.

What do you really need to be happy? Get rid of things you do not need anymore and look for more ways to simplify your life. I’m sure it will make you feel better. You will spend less money and it can even make you some money when you sell things. And it is better for the environment. So less can definitely be more.

Take care,

Gerber

When you start out, you quickly find out that not everything goes exactly according to plan. Some things that look easy to implement when you read about it on websites or in books, can be a bit more difficult in real life. When you start your own business, especially when you have quit your day job, you will have to step out of your comfort zone quite a bit. That is not always a fun experience, but I have definitely learned and grown a lot the last few months. I still feel that I have made the right choice and I’m still having a lot of fun doing this. It would of course be a bit more satisfying if I had more paying clients and would not have to worry that much about the upcoming monthly bills.

So what do I do to stay inspired and motivated? Well, one thing is to review my goals – why did I want to start this business and does this still give me energy. That always helps. Another way is to read a chapter from an inspiring book. In this blog post I share some books with you that have helped me in the last few months.

Autobiographies of British Entrepreneurs

The first books I read were all books from successful British entrepreneurs. I bought the books a while ago, but had not read them yet.

The first book I read was Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson. This is a very quick read and gives some insight into why Branson does what he does. Having fun, challenging yourself, family and giving back or some of the things he talks about with great passion.  I’m also going to read.

The next two books are from entrepreneurs known from the British version of the TV series Dragons’ Den. I had never heard of James Caan or Duncan Bannatyne before coming across their books on Amazon, but they were great finds. The Real Deal by James Caan was the first one I read. Some of the lessons from this book are “always look for opportunities where both parties benefit” and “observe the masses and do the exact opposite”. He is not only a very successful entrepreneur, but also comes across as a real likable guy. My favorite autobiography so far.

In Anyone Can Do It Duncan Bannatyne shows us how he became a successful entrepreneur. Compared to others he started rather late at age 30. This book is really fun and inspiring.

The following books by entrepreneurs are on my “to-read” list:

• Losing My Virginity (How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way) and Business Stripped Bare (Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur) by Richard Branson
• How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis
• What You See Is What You Get by Alan Sugar

Working ON Your Business, Not IN It

The following books are absolutely must-reads for everyone who is starting or running a business.

The first one is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber. In this book he explains how a lot of business owners spend more time working IN their business than ON their business. It is about balance between the entrepreneur, manager and technician in yourself.

And last but not least: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. This is an absolute must-have, not only for business owners. This book is all about lifestyle design – not living to work, but working to live. He gives a lot of tips on how to increase your productivity so you can work fewer hours to get the same things done. And then he shows you some examples of what you can do with all the free time you got now.

Next one on my “to-read” list is Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Timeless Classics

And here I some books I’ve already read, but am going to read again and again. I have already mentioned these in my list of favorite personal development books, but will list them here again.

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (you can download this book for free if you sign up for my newsletter)
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
• The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Share Your Favorite Books

What are books that have inspired or motivated you? Share them below.

Gerber

I’ve been a member of his Experts Academy Elite Coaching Program for nearly 4 months now and have learned a lot from him. In this program and also at his seminar he teaches the students about how to become an expert as an author, speaker, seminar leader, life/business coach and online marketer. And he also invites experts in these areas to speak about their journey toward success. In the past people like John Gray, Frank Kern and T. Harv Eker have spoken at his seminars. In his mails he mentioned that Wayne Dyer and Daniel Amen will be there this year. Don’t know who the other speakers will be, so that’s going to be a surprise.

Brendon’s a great teacher. He presents with such an enthusiasm and seems to have a system for every complex thing you can think of in terms of positioning yourself as an expert.

To give you an idea of the free information he shares, I have included videos from some of his programs in this blog post.

Life’s Golden Ticket
Brendon was inspired to write Life’s Golden Ticket after he was in accident. He tells about this in the following video.

Experts Academy
Experts Academy is one of his main programs. I have already told you a bit about this – it’s about how to become an expert (and position yourself as one) as an author, speaker, seminar leader, life/business coach and online marketer. In the video below he talks about how to give advice. This video is not part of the Experts Academy program, but it gives an idea of what is taught there.

For more free videos go to Experts Academy. These videos let me to joining his Experts Academy Elite Coaching Program. I don’t think it is available through the whole year, but I think you can still view the videos.

High Performance Academy
Another one of his programs is High Performance Academy. This program is about achieving high levels of productivity and performance.

You can see the rest of the videos in this series at High Performance Academy.

The Millionaire Messenger
In next video Brendon shares the idea of his new book, The Millionaire Messenger. This book has just come out and it is already a bestseller on Amazon.com. I already learned some of this in Experts Academy, but it sure is a great reminder.

Even if you don’t buy any of his books or go to any of his seminars, he still gives away great information in his videos on YouTube and Facebook.

Just wanted to share this great information with you.

Enjoy!

Gerber

So what will I doing then from the 1st of May onward? In short, focusing on my own business – coaching and online marketing in the personal development niche. I’ll go into this in a bit more detail in a moment.

I’m stepping way out of my comfort zone right now and that is very exciting and also a bit scary. It feels so good to finally have made this choice. On the other hand, I still have to pay the monthly bills. I know I can do it and I know that I’m doing the right thing for me.

Why Now?

I have been planning to start my own business since 2006, when I started this website (the original version, not this blog). I have always been a bit of a personal development junkie. And I have fallen into the trap of learning, but not doing, often over the last few years. Now it is time to put all I’ve learned into action.

Completing the NLP Master Practitioner and Life Coach Training in October last year gave me the confidence that I could go out and be a life coach now (not in a few years, with more life experience, more knowledge, …fill in random other reason for procrastinating…). Attending the Practical Profits internet marketing seminar in Orlando a few weeks ago gave the confidence to do the online marketing part of my business. I already knew how I should do it, but have never met anyone face-to-face that had already done this successfully. And then in one weekend I met dozens of them.

For the last few months, every Sunday night I would be thinking of the work week that lay ahead. Spending 40 hours a week on something that feels like a dead end street to me (career-wise) and spending the few hours that remain after working, cleaning the house, shopping, socializing, etc. on what I really want to do – this just doesn’t feel right to me. You hear those stories all the time about people who only started doing what they truly loved doing after someone else made the decision for them (they got laid off at work or got into an accident or something). I just want to make this decision myself.

I have worked for more than 10 years at the company where I now work (the first 7 years I was hired by them and the last 3 years I was directly employed by them). I have had a great time there and learned a lot, but now it is time to move on and do my own thing.

If I didn’t quit my job, I think I would be procrastinating on this for several months and probably years. Oh sure, I would have done something to build my own business. But it would not be anywhere as effective as what I’m going to do in the next couple of months. I really need that sense of urgency. There is no guaranteed income in a few months time and I do have to pay the monthly bills. No more reasons to delay taking focused action.

What Will I Be Doing?

So what will I be doing in my own business? You will hear a lot about this on this blog in the months and years to come, but here is a short overview of what I’m planning on doing in my own business.

Basically, there are two parts:

• Offline – being a life coach (helping people one-on-one), organizing and giving workshops (helping a group people), and maybe do Quantum Touch/Reiki healings (one-on-one).
• Online – creating, selling and promoting information products in the personal development niche (helping lots of people).

And here’s a small list of the things I plan to do before May, 1st.

• Current Job – I still have to go work on my day job for the next 2 months. Now that I know when I will be leaving, I can focus on finishing my work or transferring it to others. The focus will be on describing what my successor must do and helping the organization to find someone to replace me.
• Networking – I have already attended the Practical Profits seminar in Orlando, FL a few weeks ago (this was an internet marketing seminar). In a few weeks time I’m going to the Experts Academy seminar in San Jose, CA. Sure I will learn a lot of good stuff from the speakers, but I’m mostly going to these events to meet new people.
• Creating Info Products – I will begin with doing some interviews with experts on a certain topic and packaging the recordings (and maybe the transcripts) into a product I can sell. After that I will be creating some products with more of my own material.
• Business Plan – I’m working on my business plan for the offline (coach/workshops) and online (info products) part of my business. My main problem is that I like so many different things. I really need to focus on one thing at a time. Who is my customer? What will I focus on first?

I’m already working on something, but I will not reveal what that is right now. You will notice soon enough.

As I said, you will hear a lot from me over the coming months and years. It is time for me to deliver some amazing value to you all.

I’ll keep you posted.

Gerber

Are You Programmed to Fail?
Just a few years ago, the U.S. housing market was on fire and the economy in the U.S. and abroad seemed to be chugging along. Now, foreclosures and bankruptcies litter the news, jobless rates are climbing, and the economy isn’t quite what it used to be.

It’s almost as if the whole world reprogrammed themselves to fail!

Fortunately, you don’t have to do what everybody else is doing. You can “opt out” by watching this video right now…

Click here to watch the video

Is Success Harder in 2011?
“Is success harder in 2011?”

That’s the question personal development expert Igor Ledochowski tackles in this brand new video. In case you don’t know Igor, he is a former lawyer turned peak performance trainer who has coached thousands of people worldwide, and even been hired to coach Fortune 500 companies. Igor is also the creator of one of my favorite courses ever, The Power of Conversational Hypnosis.

When you watch Igor’s new video, you’ll discover things like…

• What the “spillover effect” is — and how to avoid it.
• How to get a pay raise. (Most people will NEVER do this. But if you do, a pay raise is almost certain.)
• A simple mindset shift to help you stay cool, confident, and collected no matter what is happening in the world around you.
• And much more.

Go ahead and watch the video right here.

Go ahead and watch the video right here

Gerber

P.S. After you watch the video, please let Igor know what you think by leaving a comment. Or better yet, help spread the word by sharing this video with anybody you know who could use a little “straight talk” about success in 2011.

P.P.S. In addition to the video, Igor is also giving away a PDF report called, “The New Science That Unlocks Your Genius.” Make sure you download a copy when you watch the video here:

Click here to watch the video

It is winter time here in The Netherlands. Trains here have the tendency to break down when there is just a minor hint of snow or ice. That means you sometimes have to wait for a very long time in the freezing cold, hoping a train will arrive soon. You see a lot of irritated people around you and it doesn’t help if you are feeling cold right then. If you focus on all the things that are not going the way you think it should go, you only feel stress. That will not improve your mood.

I know our body gives us signals to protect ourselves. If you stay outside in the freezing cold for too long, that will probably not be very healthy. But sometimes you want to tune those signals down a bit, so they don’t bother you that much. I found a way to do just that.

How NOT to Feel Cold
If I notice that I’m feeling cold, I tell myself that I accept that I’m feeling cold (while taking a deep breath in), and that I’m letting it go (while slowly breathing out).

I immediately feel better. If I then notice that my feet are still feeling cold, I just repeat the procedure but make it more specific. “I accept that my feet are feeling cold, and I’m letting it go.” After you acknowledge a certain issue, it doesn’t seem to bother you that much anymore. Try it out for yourself.

It doesn’t mean your feet are warm all of a sudden, but it doesn’t bother you anymore. And that is what really matters. This can help you not to focus on those many minor nuisances you face throughout the day.

Procedure
This is the procedure in a nutshell:

1. Notice what you are feeling and where you are feeling it in your body.
2. While taking a deep breath in, say to yourself: “I accept that I’m feeling _____ in my _____ …”
3. While slowly breathing out: “…and I’m letting it go.”
4. Notice how you are feeling now. Repeat steps 1 to 3 if something still bothers you. Adjust the sentences to acknowledge what you are feeling and where exactly.

This whole procedure resembles the way you approach EFT. First focus on what is bothering you and then deal with what aspects come up after that.

Try It on Everything
This will probably work for more than just feeling cold. Just try it out and let me know what your experiences are with this.

Gerber

In her life she has been sexually abused, run over by a jeep, and was diagnosed with cancer before the age of thirty. It’s amazing to see how she has dealt with that and has gone on living life the way she wanted to. Next time you come across a minor setback, think of her story and how she has lived through all this.

Here’s a short inspiring video of her:

Have fun watching the video and a happy “most wonderful time of the year” to you and your loved ones!

Gerber

One of the things I worked on this training was getting rid of anxiety. Anxiety basically means worrying about something that has not yet happened. For me that was the moment I had to decide which direction to take in my current job. A fellow student helped me when we practiced a certain NLP technique. This only took 5 minutes and the anxiety was gone.

NLP
This NLP technique uses the idea that anxiety is a fabrication of the mind. Just by thinking about how this future event takes place, you now feel anxious. What we basically do with this technique is go into the future, 15 minutes after the successful completion of the event, and then look back. The anxiety is gone, because you can’t be anxious about something that is already in the past. It might help if you have someone to guide you in this exercise, so you can experience this without your conscious mind getting in the way all the time. For this reason I used YouTube to find some videos to help you along.

Videos
Here are some videos by Mark Shepard from Clear the Fear Fast to help you along. The actual technique is in Part 6, but watching the other parts might help you understand anxiety a little bit better.

Part 1: What is Anxiety?

Part 2: Why is Anxiety So Nasty?

Part 3: Anxiety or Phobia?

Part 4: Talk Therapy vs. NLP for Anxiety

Part 5: Stop Anxious Thoughts & Worry

Part 6: NLP Technique to Stop Anxiety

Part 7: Tweaking the Technique

Part 8: Real Life Example

Part 9: The Next Step

Some Final Thoughts
If the anxiety does not disappear, this could be because a part of you thinks that it is important for you to have some anxiety to motivate you. Because you feel this anxiety, you might prepare better for this future event. That might be true, but feeling this anxiety will not help you while you are preparing. It is much better to get rid of the anxiety and then focus on the goal you want to reach – your ideal outcome for this event. Then work on the steps to achieve this goal. Anxiety just gets in the way of focusing on the job at hand. Ask yourself if there are other ways that would be OK for you to motivate yourself and let the anxiety go.

Anxiety may be the result of fear which has not been released. If you feel anxious because you have to speak in public, it is best to release the fear of public speaking first.

Getting rid of anxiety can open the way for something else to come up. If you experience serious issues with this, seek help from a trained professional.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

With love,
Gerber