Unleash Your Hidden Millionaire with These 5 Tips

Posted: 18 Jan 2017 05:20 AM PST

Being a millionaire is a highly coveted status for many entrepreneurs who are constantly striving to be the best in their industry. If you've got your eye on this prize, you're not alone. And while there is no magic pill for success, here are five practical tips you can use to move closer to your goal:

1. Stop judging your success or failure

At first glance, it appears that success and failure are absolute; success is when you get what you want and failure is when you don't. You may want to consider that these definitions of success and failure are exactly what cause you to fail. Not because you've done something wrong, but because the words you use have the power to create what you experience.

What you aren't aware of is that success and failure do not exist independently of how you perceive them. In other words, the way you define success and failure is exactly what creates your experience of success and failure. And, if you can suspend your current definitions (which likely don't support success), you'll make room for a new definition that will support your success.

Your brain is wired to judge

When you want to create something with a specific goal in mind and you don't reach that goal, the first thing your brain does is tell you that you've failed. But defining an unmet goal as failure only does one thing—it makes you feel bad and discourages you from moving forward.

Finding something that doesn't work is often more valuable than finding something that does work, simply because it prevents you (and others) from making the same mistake and having to reinvent the wheel.

On the subject of failure, Thomas Edison shared his wisdom with the world, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

And failure, no matter how you define it, isn't a bad thing. Many great successes have been preceded by great failures. Take entrepreneur Sam Ovens for example, who quit his job to build a job recruitment website that ultimately failed. Ovens told the Epoch times, "The big lesson is that you have to sell something that the market actually wants."

If his business had not completely failed, giving him just a hint of success, he could have easily stuck with it and struggled for years to make it happen. However, the wisdom he gained from his total failure turned out to be more valuable than gold. Not long after his business failed, Ovens created two successful businesses, becoming a millionaire in just a few years.

Millionaires don't like lemonade

Even the famous statement that says to "make lemonade out of lemons" is misleading. A successful person has no need to make lemonade; they can appreciate a lemon for being a lemon, and if they don't like the lemon, they'll adjust their plan and move forward. They don't need to add sugar just to feel good.

2. Don't be a whiner

According to Entrepreneur.com, research has shown that people complain once per minute. That's a lot of complaining.

Because many people don't have the patience or interest to listen to others complain for very long, chances are, when you share your emotionally negative experiences with others, they'll start inserting their opinion uninvited and won't really be listening to you. This can be a frustrating experience.

If you want to share your negative experiences with someone, the best way to do it is by prefacing the conversation with a simple request. Ask the person if you can share your experience with them and make a request that you just want to be heard. The idea is that by creating the context in which your conversation is about to take place, you're actually getting the other person to switch gears into listening mode.

Change the context of your conversations

Habitually complaining hurts you more than your friends. When you constantly complain, you are actually wiring your brain for negativity. You've probably noticed that whenever you complain, your mood tends to go downhill and collects more negative thoughts. The more you allow yourself to think negative thoughts, the worse you will feel. And when you feel really bad, you're more likely to make poor decisions.

If you change the context of your conversations with people, however, you can quickly change your mood. Doing this requires not giving in when you want to complain, and seeking out friends who will support you by encouraging you, rather than providing you with sympathy.

3. Don't be afraid to accept responsibility

When you were younger, you may have heard your parents or teachers tell you that you must accept responsibility for something you've done wrong. Because of this, you probably grew up with a negative view of responsibility. But responsibility is a powerful component of success that goes beyond the concept of right and wrong.

Responsibility is literally the ability to respond; to be answerable to someone or something within your control. It has nothing to do with blame or fault. In fact, you can be responsible for something you didn't cause—and being able to do that is what actually makes you successful.

For example, when a website development company is late delivering a project to their client, the CEO of the company is not the person who caused the delay; they're not writing the code or managing deadlines. Despite their lack of hands on involvement in the project, they can still be fully responsible and accountable to the client for the resolution of any problems. They didn't cause the problems, but they're accountable for fixing them.

The mindset of success

The mindset that says "that wasn't my job, I didn't do it, I'm not responsible" doesn't create millionaires. You're not likely to find any successful entrepreneurs with this mindset. Success comes to those who can look at a situation and accept responsibility, not for what happened in the past, but for creating a resolution in the future.

4. Stop comparing yourself to others

With all of the successful people appearing in magazines and on TV, it's no wonder entrepreneurs are comparing themselves to what they see. If you're doing this, although it's not inherently wrong to look to others as a model of success, don't allow it to define you.

Someone else's success is not always going to be indicative of the kind of success you will create. Everyone has unique gifts and talents to share with the world, and if you compare your success to someone who derives their success from a talent you don't have, you're going to be disappointed. For example, you may love composing music, but if you compare your success to Mozart, you're going to be disappointed.

It sounds simple, but the best way to be successful in business is to create and run your own business, and model only what can be applied to your business. Don't try to stick a round peg in a square hole. Do what you love to do and what you're great at. Make your success your own. Don't chase other people's dreams while sacrificing your own. Forge your own path to greatness.

5. Don't fake it 'til you make it

While there can be some benefits to the famous phrase, "fake it 'til you make it," that's not always the case. If you find yourself engaging in this behavior for long periods of time without results, you're probably just spinning your wheels. The most likely reason you're spinning your wheels is because you're modeling the external behavior of someone who derives their success from their inner world.

According to TheIntrovertEntrepreneur.com, when you "fake it 'til you make it," you're not honoring or acknowledging your truth. And studies have shown that when people fake being happy, their mood actually deteriorates faster.

This makes sense when you realize that mindset, not actions, are at the root of success. If you find yourself particularly drawn to someone whose success you want to emulate, you need to discover what their inner thoughts are and find ways to develop that mindset.

Your thoughts determine your results in life

Mahatma Gandhi said:

"Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny."

No matter what business you're in, the best thing you can do to improve your success and feel good about what you do is to work on your inner game—starting with your thoughts.

Original post: Unleash Your Hidden Millionaire with These 5 Tips

ProBlogger: 5 Ridiculous SEO Myths Every Blogger Should Ignore

5 Ridiculous SEO Myths Every Blogger Should Ignore

Posted: 17 Jan 2017 05:00 AM PST

SEO scares or confuses most bloggers and for very good reason.

Google makes it a challenge for you to understand what they are doing, and they keep changing the rules. If that were not enough, there is also a lot of half-baked information out there and blog posts filled with the wrong information.

So, in this post I want to highlight five ridiculous SEO myths you should ignore and, what you should do instead.

Only The Big Blogs Can Get Traffic From Google

It is true that bigger (more authoritative) websites often rank higher on Google. And naturally, you might take that as a sign that it is impossible to a piece of the Google pie.

Believe it or not, everyone has a chance to get lots of traffic from Google. In fact, most of my clients get the majority of their traffic from search because they understand how to play the game.

Now you are probably wondering:

“Ashley, how can I also get boat-loads of traffic from Google?”

There are two big things you need to do:

Target keywords that are quite specific (ie. long tail keywords) instead of going for the high competition phrases
Check how competitive the top 10 in Google are before you target a specific keyword term (just do a search and see who ranks)

In short, pick your battles before you create your content.

SEO Is Too Hard, Google Always Changes The Rules

Sure, Google does tweak their algorithm countless times a year. And, they introduce bigger changes all the time knocking many off their perch.

Do you want me to let you in on a little SEO secret?

If you are doing SEO the right way, none of that really matters!

Every time Google makes a change to their search engine, it’s the people who do the “wrong” thing that suffer.

That might be you if you trying to trick Google with:

too many links from spammy sites
too many keywords in your posts
blog posts that are just not worth anyone’s time

However, if you stick to the following simple rules, you are always good to go:

Only use your keywords 4-5 times (only)
Write the best piece of content you can on your chosen topic
Get links from quality websites in your niche

If you are keen for some more in-depth information on exactly how to write SEO optimized content, you can this more detailed post on the topic.

Keywords Are No Longer Relevant

A few years ago you could stuff your keywords into your blog posts dozens of times. That ensured Google understood the point of your post.

Today, that is no longer a good idea. And because of this, many people are claiming:

Keywords are no longer relevant

The truth is always more complicated that simple quotes.

Search engines still need to be given some hints to truly understand what your post is about. And those are your keywords.

Today, instead of sprinkling them all over your content like confetti, you only need to put them in a few key places.

Do you want to know what those places are?

Let me list them out for you:

The URL
The title of the post (SEO Title – ie. Yoast)
The main heading
The first paragraph (or 100 words)
Once more in the content (a variation if possible)

That is all you need to get your content ranked for a particular keyword.

Guest Blogging Is Dead

It’s funny how Google always tells us to stop doing what works. And guest blogging is no exception.

Back in 2014, Matt Cutts scared everyone by stating that guest blogging was dead.

This stopped a lot of people in their tracks, and lead to a big decline in guest blogging.

But don’t let it stop you!

Matt was really saying that if you use guest blogging the wrong way (like anything in SEO) Google will punish or ignore you.

What is the right way to guest blog?

Write a relevant, helpful blog post for a fellow blogger in your niche.

That’s it.

Take this post as an example. I wrote this like I would any content on my own blog.

And the great news is, many top blogs are still accepting guest posts and it’s a great way to do SEO.

You also get a link to your website, exposure to a new audience and a chance to network with new people.

All great ideas in my book.

Google Will Automagically Find My New Post

For bigger and more well known websites, that is certainly true.

However, if you have a newer site or have not published something in a long time Google might ignore you for a while.

There are a range of ways you can solve this, however I want to bring only the best one to your attention.

Use Google Search Console.

Google has created Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) to help us connect to them, and monitor our websites from a search perspective.

There are so many advantages to setting this up, but one of the biggest is informing Google of each and every page and post you have. Including the brand new ones, when they are created.

There are a few steps involved in this process, but the basics go like this:

Sign up for Search Console (with a gmail account)
Connect your website (by adding a special code)
Add an XML site map (use Yoast plugin on WordPress)

There are some nuances to it, but that is the basics.

Once you have it set up, not only will you be able to get your new content on Google faster, but they will keep you informed of all sorts of other useful things too!

This one is a must!

Ignore The Myths And Thrive With SEO

By doing a few simple things, and ignoring all the bad advice out there, you can quickly gain traffic from Google.

Take one or a few of the tips above, and you will soon be wondering how you ever lived with SEO in your life!

Ashley is an SEO and WordPress specialist, and founder of Mad Lemmings, who helps bloggers, solopreneurs and small business get more traffic from Google.

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