Create a Happy 'Tude - monthly ezine by Becky Waters

Here in the states, we just celebrated Independence Day - July 4. My husband and I spent most of last week recuperating from my 50th birthday celebration. We had a live band and everything!! But to get ready for the band, we had to build a pavilion.

We'd been talking about building some kind of gazebo or something out in our back yard anyway... so this made a good excuse to go ahead and do it! Some friends of Kent's helped build it, and at the party I gave them all certificates of appreciation. Check out pictures from the party here .

So.... since I've spend most of my time in party prep, partying, and party recoup :) I thought I'd share an interesting article from a fellow coach's newsletter about NOT getting caught up in all the recession talk. I agree with her points 100%.

P.S. The audio will not be available this month. Check out the Happy Seeds Podcast in the meantime.

Money Magnet Affirmation Song & Meditation - Affirmation Songs are ideal to use as "commercials" between favorite songs you've downloaded to your iPod or transferred to a CD. Think of them like "radio commercials" that speak directly to YOU giving you positive, self-affirming motivational thoughts to carry with you throughout the day. The Meditation uses melodies from the Affirmation Song so that you can associate the words from the song as you listen.

Extreme Self-Confidence - *NEW* Having confidence in yourself is critical to living a happy, successful life! It's practically impossible for anyone to move forward in life or to achieve their goals and desires without an underlying sense of self assuredness. This Affirmation Meditation will help you begin to change your thinking positively about yourself and your abilities. It's also available as a subliminal meditation to speak directly to the sub-conscious mind and by-pass the conscious mind's "yeah, but..." mind chatter that often comes up when working to make changes in our life.

Baby Boomer Survey
What's your greatest challenge? your biggest dream? I'm gathering research so that I can write articles and create products or services related to your needs and desires. Please help me out by filing out the survey.

Monthly New Moon Telegathering - ON HOLD this Summer
With the daylight hours being longer and family and vacation activities going on, I've decided to put our Telegatherings on hold for July and August. We'll get back together after Labor Day. Have a fun summer!

I was catching up recently on the phone with an acquaintance of mine, and her talk turned to the coming recession. "Oh no," I thought. "She's really buying into this."

She went on to complain about the price of gas, how everything's getting so expensive, how she's worried about her husband's job, and how the country's going to hell in a handbasket. And she knows all this of course because she watches the news.

Then, as our conversation took another turn, she told me about the fancy new home entertainment system her hubby just installed in their family room. And how her daughter now is taking both ballet and piano lessons.

I don't know about you, but as I look around I still see people jammed into shopping malls and spending, spending, spending. Compared with the rest of the world, we really have nothing to complain about. And for you reading this article, this recession will only be what YOU make of it.

Now listen, I know prices are going up for many things. You may have lost some equity in real estate. And it may cost $75 to fill your gas tank. The family grocery bill may be higher than before.

But it's especially important as entrepreneurs that we do NOT follow the thinking of the herd. If you let the news get to you and become mousey with your marketing or waffle back and forth on firm business decisions, you WILL feel the "recession". So it's important more than ever to simply refuse to participate in all the worry.

Here are three steps to turning this "lemon" of a recession into some entrepreneurial lemonade...

1. Stop listening to all the media's B.S.

Mainstream news would make no money if it stopped preying on people's fear. (You realize the news networks are not a public service, right? They are in the business of getting ratings to sell advertising. Period.)

Have you ever noticed that after watching just 20 minutes of CNN Headline News you usually want to go curl up in a ball and die? I mean, you may as well because the world's going to blow up, right?

Everything is going to pot. You'll find negative stories on the environment, war, disease, crime, and of course... the economy. It's laughable what they'll come up with just to broadcast some bad news. A few weeks ago at the gym I spotted this "headline" story on the tube along with some sad-faced puppies: "PETS: Feeling the Foreclosure Boom!"

Everyone is selling crisis! From the news and politicians. So stop watching CNN all day, refuse to participate in this circus, and instead start planning your first (or next) million.

2. Look for the good news.

If you actually look around you in real life right now you won't see people holed up at home, huddled around a fire and eating rice and beans. Yes folks may be cutting back their budgets a bit, but it's pretty much life as usual.

I am told that just this past May the U.S. enjoyed the fourth straight week of a declining number of people filing for unemployment. And while the media keeps harping on the disappearance of the middle class, guess where most everyone is apparently moving? The TOP. Yes, that's right. Two-thirds of the middle class are movin' on up - just like George and Weezie.

A recent issue of Time Magazine stated that according to federal income-tax data, "...the pie is [still] getting bigger for everyone." And a June 18 article in the Los Angeles Times says, "...there still won't be an actual recession, UCLA forecasters say."

You can always find doom and gloom if you want to. So turn off your TV and use your brain.

And even if you think this recession is going to be a big deal, see what it brings with it: A huge opportunity for entrepreneurs, along with less competition from those throwing in the towel because they aren't made for the game.

3. Go where the profits are.

Those two-thirds who have moved up are what many are now calling the "mass affluent". These folks are a BIG opportunity for we business owners to re-engineer our offerings for large potential rewards.

My marketing mentor Dan Kennedy -- whose "no B.S." attitude on the recession I adore -- reported in a recent article that there has never been more discretionary income and spending on a broader and more diverse range of premium priced goods and services than ever before.

Dan was the first one to teach me that in normal conditions less than 10% of consumers truly buy only based on price. He surmises that number will go up in a recession, perhaps even double or triple, but it will still be the minority.

(By the way, Dan has an excellent new book on this precise topic, The No B.S. Guide to Marketing to the Affluent. Everyone in business right now should get a copy.)

So it's funny that many of us are so worried about what we charge. What we should be doing instead is looking at ways to make what we offer more valuable, more experiential, more unique, more indispensable. AND what we all should be doing is looking for ways to take what we already do and target it to the wealthy and soon-to-be wealthy.

For example, can you offer a premium version of what you already provide? Something that includes more 'hand holding', more services, or a more dynamic experience with you? Do a quick brainstorm on your own.

It's Time to Step Up, More Than Ever Before

NOW is the time to be bold, dear ones!

While your competition sits around and complains that toilet paper has gone up $1, you unleash an amazing new marketing campaign that blows 'em away. While they hem and haw their investments have dropped, you snap up real estate deals on the side. While they are convinced they should charge less and cutting their profits to survive, you choose to reengineer, raise your prices, and thrive -- growing your business faster than ever before.

Look for the silver lining... it's right in front of you.

© 2008 Alexandria Brown International Inc.
Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown publishes the award-winning 'Highlights on Marketing & Success' weekly ezine with 28,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.AlexandriaBrown.com

We all have a "story"- a life story, a relationship story, a career story - a money story. It's sometimes hard to see it because we're in the middle of it. But every statement we make about money has its own voice and is part of our personal money story.

Our money's story lines show up in our internal conversations about money, our personal history about money, and in the hidden assumptions and emotional meanings we have attached to money.

Money is really just a form of energy. It is not good or bad. It has no meaning until we give it one, no power until we bestow it.

Looking at our beliefs and assumptions about money is the first step to uncovering our money story. We each are the sole authors of our story. And we can always change it - once we're aware of what it is!

These questions are taken from the "Write a New Money Story" section of the Wellness Training I took recently. I am in the process of developing this information into a teleclass series and possibly a live workshop in the Huntsville AL area. If you are interested in learning more, please let me know.

About My Practice

Create a Happy 'Tude is published monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Its purpose is to inspire and motivate readers to keep a happy, healthy, prosperous attitude by providing articles, exercises, tips and resources.

Spiritual Coaching Center offers products created and blessed with the intent that you reconnect with your Divine Essence and with your Personal Power, and that you be motivated and inspired to use this reconnection to grow and to move into the direction of what you truly want in life.

The focus of our coaching is the same. YOU are a magnificent creation with unique talents, gifts, and skills. And you are here to share them with others. You are worthy of great things! When you tap into your Divine Essence (the TRUTH of who you really are) and reconnect with your Personal Power, your life will blossom and miracles begin to happen.

My personal mission is to tell the truth, to live with integrity, to be my real, authentic self, and to inspire others to do the same. If I can help bring a smile to someone's face, offer a different perspective, or inspire just one person to get a move on, then I will have taken one more step toward fulfilling my purpose in life.

- Becky Waters, Inner Life Wellness Coach/Composer

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