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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd"xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0"xmlns:rawvoice="https://blubrry.com/developer/rawvoice-rss/"> <channel> <title>WilliamShaker.com – A Personal Development Blog For Smart People</title> <atom:link href="https://williamshaker.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://williamshaker.com</link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2018 18:51:22 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5</generator> <atom:link rel="hub" href="https://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /> <itunes:summary>Endless Possibilities is a podcast for anyone who wants to make it big in life. William Shaker shares his wins and his loses so you can learn what mistakes to avoid in life.</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:image href="https://williamshaker.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/Williamshakerco_Podcast-4.jpg" /> <itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type> <itunes:owner> <itunes:name>William Shaker</itunes:name> <itunes:email>willshaker@nyc.rr.com</itunes:email> </itunes:owner> <podcast:medium>podcast</podcast:medium> <itunes:subtitle>Endless Possibilities Podcast</itunes:subtitle> <image> <title>WilliamShaker.com – A Personal Development Blog For Smart People</title> <url>https://williamshaker.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/Williamshakerco_Podcast-4.jpg</url> <link>https://williamshaker.com</link> </image> <itunes:category text="Business" /> <itunes:category text="Business"> <itunes:category text="Entrepreneurship" /> </itunes:category> <itunes:category text="Business"> <itunes:category text="Careers" /> </itunes:category> <podcast:podping usesPodping="true" /> <item> <title>EP033: How To Pick The Right Niche For Ecommerce Drop Shipping</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2014/02/28/how-to-pick-the-right-niche-for-ecommerce-drop-shipping/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 28 Feb 2014 20:46:47 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1493</guid> <description><![CDATA[]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="et_pb_section et_pb_section_0 et_section_regular" > <div class="et_pb_row et_pb_row_0"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_0 et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child"> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light"> <div class="et_pb_text_inner"><p>Since I launched episode number 5 on building a <a href="http://backup.williamshaker.com/ep005-how-i-built-an-online-drop-ship-business-created-my-niche-and-found-wholesalers-online/">drop ship business</a> and finding the wholesalers online, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about just how to pick the right products or the niche to get into.</p><p>Well, todays podcast addresses two specific needs most of my audience has had since listening to that introduction podcast. As a result, I’ve thought a lot about this and think it’s best that I create a podcast centered around how to narrow down your products to sell with drop shipping and also give a few tips on how to measure the demand.</p><h2>Step One: Measure Market Demand</h2><p>Let’s be realistic, without measuring market demand, you won’t really be selling much. While these days, anything and everything on the Internet sells like hot cakes, there are probably way too many people selling the same widget you’re and only a certain number of searches are being done for that product per month.</p><p>Therefore, in order to sell and become profitable, we need to measure market demand and figure out the supply and demand equation. For now, lets start off with eBay and Amazon:</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.Ebay.com">Ebay</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com">Amazon</a> Categories: </strong>eBay is a great place to get inspiration from and also check out what people are selling. They have hundreds of categories but if you look closely, the most viewed categories are at the very top which includes Fashion & Electronics as the most prominently displayed categories.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.compete.com">Compete.com</a>: </strong>Although a bit pricey, compete.com can provide you with a plethora of information about any web site that is on the web. You will find such information such as how they get their traffic, regardless if it is being paid or organic. You can also search by demographics which is very necessary when you want to find out who best to target.</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.google.com/trends/">Google trends</a>: </strong>Google trends is a great little tool you can use to find out a lot of information about a product or a thing. For example, with trends, you can measure demographics, search volume, seasonality of the product and if the product has seen an increase in searches over a period of time.</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.watchcount.com">Watchcount.com</a>: </strong>Alongside eBay, watchcount.com is a great web site to find out how many watchers a particular product is getting. The best thing about this free online app is that you will be able to find out exactly what products are selling the most. From there, things get a lot easier in building a list of niches to get into.</p><h2>Step Two: Analyze Your Niche</h2><p><strong>Selling price: </strong>The selling price is very important. For this reason, you want to pick a product that is somewhere around $100-200 in price. While I have sold sunglasses in the past that were a lot less expensive, my profit margins were astronomical. The only place you will find a lot of profit on inexpensive items is in the fashion and accessories niches which we will talk about later. However, to be on the same side since you’re just starting out, it’s best you stay around $100-200 so there is a lot of room for profit. Also, the less expensive the item, the less calls you will get but the more expensive an item is, the more customer service calls and inquiries you will have.</p><p><strong> Market Size: </strong>if your market is big, then great. However, if your market size is small, you may have a problem getting visitors to convert as there is a lot of competition and higher PPC fees.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Market Age:</strong> Is your product geared towards seniors or kids under 18? I bring up these two inverse situations because although most people are web savvy, there are seniors out there that still lack great experience shopping online or let alone trust anyone with their credit cards. As for kids younger than 18, they might not have a credit card.</p><p><strong>Product rarity: </strong>Is your niche something that is easily available in local malls or department stores? If so, it may be hard to sell online because who wants to pay shipping and wait for an order to arrive when they can buy it at the local store?</p><p><strong> Product Obsolescence: </strong>Ideally, you want to sell a product that won’t go out of fashion or become obsolete. As an example, if you sold an iPhone case and a newly designed iPhone replaces the old one, the case will become obsolete in a short period of time. Ideally, you want to get into a niche where you can build a web site with products that are here to stay and then build a lot of great wonderful content around.</p><p><strong> Product Seasonality: </strong>I love sessional products because when the time is ripe, the customers just want a whole lot of it. For example, I sold sunglasses for a long time and during the months of Feb-Aug, that’s when I was rock-n-rolling. However, not everyone is comfortable with that.</p><p><strong> Product Size & Weight: </strong>Ideally, you want to pick a product that doesn’t cost a lot of money to ship. One of two things will happen – either you will over inflate your prices to make up the loss in shipping or you will charge a lot for shipping which will then turn off most customers. This is one of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment.</p><p><strong> Profit: </strong>This is the reason why you’re in business in the first place. In an ideal world, you want to shoot for 75-100% profit for your products. This can easily be done with selling accessories and fashion products. However, most products are not this way. Therefore, you want to pick a niche that you can make at least 20-30% profit. With this much profit, you will at least have wiggle room to advertise if you needed to and still make some money.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Is this Your Passion?</strong> – this will get you in trouble – why? Following your passion is great but it also makes you ignore everything I just talked to you about. If you’re passionate about candles and you have a dozen of them laying around your home and want to start selling them online, you can and thats great but have you done your due diligence about everything we’ve talked about? When I started selling sunglasses back in 2001, I became passionate about sunglasses when it started making money for me, not the other way around.</span></p><h2>I have my niche and my products picked out – now what?</h2><p>Woo-hoo, you made it! Congratulations, this is the toughest part! My advice for you now is to go find the manufacturers. Sure, there is a list of drop ship companies out there but most of them are a waste of time and I wouldn’t bother. A lot of them are middle men to begin with anyway. Settle with calling the manufacturers directly and ask them if they drop ship. You may refer to podcast episode #5 where I talk about this in more detail.</p><h2>Good Markets To Get Into:</h2><ul><li>Cosmetics</li><li>Greeting cards</li><li>Mattresses and furniture</li><li>Clothing</li><li>Jewelry (diamonds, watches, etc)</li><li>Sunglasses or eyeglasses</li></ul><h2>5-Star Reviews This week on iTunes</h2><ul><li>Nicholas Graham</li><li>Jessie</li><li>Rav3ns Fan</li><li>Ewaldsreef</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p></div> </div> <!-- .et_pb_text --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_column --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_row --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_section -->]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP033.mp3" length="29839931" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>30:21</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP032: 4 Steps To Creating An Extraordinary Life Of Fulfillment</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2014/01/08/4-steps-to-creating-an-extraordinary-life-of-fullfillment/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jan 2014 23:58:11 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1480</guid> <description><![CDATA[]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="et_pb_section et_pb_section_1 et_section_regular" > <div class="et_pb_row et_pb_row_1"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_1 et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child"> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light"> <div class="et_pb_text_inner"><p>In the last part of 2013, I attended Unleash The Power Within and learned a great deal. While there, I signed up for Date With Destiny as well — needless to say, you should have seen the smile on my face! After, I felt a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect.</p><p>When I got back home after having attended all 4-days and reflected on my life, I released episode number 31, “9 Cardinal Rules For Life” and in it, I shared my experience but I also mentioned that on a future episode I will be discussing what I have learned.</p><p>Well, It’s been a few weeks now and I’ve been away for some time. First I went to Date With Destiny in California, then came back and had to deal with Bronchitis for a week and a half. Once I recovered, it was tackling on the holidays which included Christmas and then, New Years. The days, months and weeks have gone by VERY quickly and now we’re in 2014 – the start of the new year, new beginnings and new goals.</p><p><span id="more-1480"></span></p><p>I’m really excited for my life and for yours this year. I’ve made some lofty goals for myself with one of them being that I will be getting back into eCommerce. This year, aside from making a lot of money, I am really excited about what this money will do for my family and everyone around me. As you will learn from listening to this podcast, my mission in life is that “I will put on this earth to be successful in life, love and business so that I can contribute to those around me.”</p><p>I’ve always realized that contribution is important and since the beginning of last year, I’ve made it so with my podcast and this web site. As a result, I get thank you emails almost every day and to date, my podcast is being listened to in 124 countries worldwide! However, I’ve gotten wiser and more intelligent since last year and I’m learning that a balanced life is just as important as contribution. Therefore, I have made a few changes to the format of this podcast that will allow me to grow and help you grow at the same time. More on the podcast so please listen to it if you haven’t already.</p><p>Here is a summery of what I will be covering in “4 Steps To Creating An Extraordinary Life Of Fulfillment.”</p><h2>Step 1: Making money is easy, fulfillment is hard</h2><ul><li>Statistics based on New Years resolutions:</li><li>The difference between goal setters and visionaries is that goal setters usually forget their goals very quickly.</li><li>Can I give you my opinion? Here is what I think — amateurs call it “new years resolutions”, veterans call it “goals” and successful people call it “a vision” and a vision is something that is far more powerful than a to-do list most people call goals. I’ll explain further in a little bit but now lets look at what most peoples “new years resolutions” are</li><li>Lost weight, get organized, sped less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest, lear something new, stay fit and healthy, help others, quit smoking, more daily time or find the love of your life — these are the top 10.</li><li>Now, did you know that only 45% of Americans make New Years resolutions? of the 45% who do, only 64% of that keep it till the end of the month and only 46% maintain till the 6th month.</li><li>Success without fulfillment is failure.</li><li>Create a compelling vision for the future.</li><li>How would my life be (dream it, using incantations)</li><li>How can I help those around me?</li><li>When you become wealthy, others will become wealthy as a result of being around you. Oftentimes, wealth is a result. Wealth is not just money but all of the abundance you can share with your family as well.</li><li>“<em>Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall unveil.</em>” – James Allen</li></ul><h2>Step 2: Managing Your State</h2><ul><li>Tony Robbins says that time is emotion. When you’re having a good time, time flies and when you’re not, one hour can feel like five.</li><li>Your state is what you feel in the moment.</li><li>A good life constitutes good emotions</li><li>The key to success is managing how you feel in the moment.</li><li>Be certain, have clarity and the courage that success is inevitable and that it is not a matter of if but a matter of when.</li><li>Reading affirmations does nothing and it is a complete waste of time. Incantations once or twice a day is really effective compared to people who write goals and read them silently, sitting down with their head down and their chest compressed.</li><li>Strategies for managing your state: stretching, breathing, a long walk, jumping up and down, visualizing and gratitude just to name a few.</li></ul><h2><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Step 3: Crush your limiting beliefs</span></h2><ul><li>Limiting beliefs are like governors on super car. The super car’s speedometer can read 225 MPH but the car will max out at 190 MPH. Once you remove the limiter or governor, the car is the capability to reach its full maximum speed of 225 MPH with enough road/tarmac.</li><li>You must be unreasonable — every extraordinary person who exists today is unreasonable. “<em>The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.</em>” -George Bernard Shaw</li><li>Unreasonable people don’t have limiting beliefs – they defy odds, they go against what most think is not possible. The moment one commits, providence moves too.</li><li>Your capability may be 225 MPH but if your governor is limited to only 30 MPH, you will always live life in the slow lane and don’t you dare go into the highway that slow because everyone will be honking at you from behind and giving you the middle finger.</li><li>People in the fast lane eat well, live well, have money saved up, don’t live in poverty or constantly worry about the future. People in the fast lane who don’t have any limiting beliefs are successful because they know that it’s not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN they will realize their vision for the future.</li><li><strong>Downward cycle:</strong> You believe you have limited potential so you take a little bit of action, get limited results and reinforce your belief. “See! I knew I couldn’t do it!”</li><li><strong>Upward cycle:</strong> You believe beyond the shadow of the doubt that you can get the result you want. You may not know how but you believe the potential is there, so you tape into it with massive action and potential. You tend to get pretty outstanding results, reinforcing your belief. “See! I knew I could do it!” Now you’re even more inspired, you believe even more in your potential, you take even more action and you get even greater results! The cycle continues.</li></ul><h2>Step 4: Create a strategy for success</h2><ul><li>Become focused and crystal clear about what your vision and your purpose in life should be about.</li><li>Create rules about what you love, what excites you, what you’re committed to and what you hate or won’t tolerate.</li><li>Take a notebook and write down EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you want to do in life. The types of things could be traveling, buying a home, finding the love of your life or even as far as moving to another country – regardless of what it is, just keep writing. Once you finish writing, next to each item, put a 1, 3 and 5. Each number stands for how long you feel these goals would take to achieve.</li><li>Follow your goals by taking “massive” action!</li><li>Episode #4 is about <a href="http://backup.williamshaker.com/ep-004-the-complete-overview-of-how-to-create-smart-goals-more-effectively/">goal setting</a> in case you need direction and the “how-to”</li><li>Visualize with incantations.</li></ul><h2>Reviews This Week</h2><ul><li><strong>Mjayaz:</strong> Thank you for your information. It is delivered in understandable terms. Learning about your personal trials and experiences should give everyone hope that they can achieve anything they desire. THANK YOU</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p></div> </div> <!-- .et_pb_text --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_column --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_row --> </div> <!-- .et_pb_section -->]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP032.mp3" length="51123249" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>52:31</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP031: 9 Cardinal Rules For Life</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/12/03/9-cardinal-rules-for-life/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 03 Dec 2013 23:59:47 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1463</guid> <description><![CDATA[The idea behind coming up with the 8 cardinal rules for life came from an info graphic I found and posted on my Facebook fan page wall. Till this day, the info graphic had over 109 shares and 54 likes likes which blew my mind! In coming up with today’s podcast, I thought that I […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The idea behind coming up with the 8 cardinal rules for life came from an info graphic I found and posted on my Facebook fan page wall. Till this day, the info graphic had over 109 shares and 54 likes likes which blew my mind!</p><p>In coming up with today’s podcast, I thought that I can expand on the quote and talk about it through my own lens with a few compelling examples and reasons why these rules do make sense and should be applied.</p><p>However, the original info graphic was only 7 cardinal rules but the last two rules are my own because I learned something very important while attending the Tony Robbins seminar a few weeks ago and it is worth talking about.</p><p>I hope you like the “9 Cardinal Rules For Life” podcast. I would love your feedback below!</p><p><span id="more-1463"></span></p><h2>1. Make peace with your past so it won’t disturb your present.</h2><ul><li>I can resonate with this one myself — I often talk about the past in my podcasts but it’s time to let all of that go.</li><li>Emotional baggage is real — fill your closet full of old cloth and you won’t have room for new cloth. Our hearts are our closets and the emotions are the cloth we put into them.</li><li>For a lot of us, our hearts are full of negative emotions and baggage that we carry everywhere. This is why we’re not as happy or as successful as we want to become.</li><li>Emotional blocks can be found in all areas of our lives – relationships, careers, family and everything in between.</li><li>Don’t cling to negative feelings — anger is nothing more than an outward sign of hurt, fear, guilt or frustration.</li><li>Making peace with your past is never easy or simple but it is possible but only if you’re intentional about removing baggage from your heart that no longer belongs there.</li></ul><h2>2. What other people think of you is none of your business.</h2><ul><li>How people perceive you reveals more about them than it does about you.</li><li>Everyone grows up through a different lens and perspective of how life is and how it should be.</li><li>People will judge you, talk about you and project their stuff on you. It is what it is.</li><li>Seeking validation is one way for others to judge you because a confident, self-assured person doesn’t need validation.</li><li>Sometimes we invite others to judge us based on how we act around them because there is an old saying “tell me who you spend your time with and I’ll tell you who you’re”</li><li>While most of the time, like I said before — everyone lives life through their own unique lens.</li><li>Regardless, “This too shall pass.”</li></ul><h2>3. Time heals almost everything. Give it time.</h2><ul><li>There is a great quote by Regina Brett — regina says “If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.” — This is why I believe that it’s very important to feel grateful — you have problems because you’re living life. I feel sorry for the man or woman who doesn’t have problems.</li><li>We need to make peace with the present so that it won’t screw up the past.</li><li>It takes time to heal</li><li>It takes time to recover</li><li>It takes time to reconnect and recharge</li><li>Give yourself time and don’t beat yourself up — its all a process.</li><li>I’ve been through it many times and every struggle I had in life was for a reason.</li><li>What’s that old saying? “f it doesn’t kills you, it will make you stronger?”</li></ul><h2>4. No one is in charge of your happiness. Except you.</h2><ul><li>This one is huge — it really is. Trust me!</li><li>No person or material possession will ever make us happy. Your partner in life is not responsible for your happiness or for your boredom.</li><li>I believe that success in all walks of all comes from the inside out — if this statement is true, then how come we always blame others for our downfalls and unhappiness?</li><li>I guess it is a lot easier to blame and point fingers but a lot harder to sit quietly and point the finger at our own selves.</li><li>I always say that business is simple but people are complicated. Now, I may also add that life is simple but we’re complicated.</li><li>We really are — humans have evolved a whole lot but we have not reached our full human potential.</li><li>The next time you’re around animals or if you have a dog – notice how he shakes himself off after a conflict or a situation that is tense — animals are the only creatures that shake off negativity.</li><li>Humans on the other hand carry negative emotions and the thoughts in our mind the entire day and sometimes for our entire lives.</li><li>Is it necessary? In some way, our dogs are more superior than we’re.</li><li>I guess I am trying to make the point that no one is in charge of our happiness, except for our own selves.</li></ul><h2>5. Don’t compare your life to others and don’t judge them, you have no idea what their journey is all about.</h2><ul><li>Once again, everyone views life through a different lens. No one grew up the exact same way as you did.</li><li>In fact, I will go so far as saying that we’re all born unique, our brains are wired completely different from one another and everyone has a unique personality with separate likes, dislikes and life ambitions.</li><li>So knowing this – how can you compare your life to someone else or judge yourself against them?</li><li>Some people are passive spectators of life, while others are active and fully in charge of their destiny.</li><li>Instead of comparing yourself to others – look really inward and self reflect on why you’re where you’re right now — is it because of neglect or because of things completely out of your control?</li><li>The man who we call a bum on the street has a story – he has a soul just like you do and a story just like you do as well. You have no idea how he got there or what his circumstances were prior to that event. He may be begging for food but his journey is something you will never know about.</li></ul><h2>6. Stop thinking too much, It’s alright not to know the answers; they will come to you when you least expect it.</h2><ul><li>I get most of my answers when I plan for the answers to come to me. I actually make time to gain clarity.</li><li>Every week, I plan my week.</li><li>Once a month I think about the prior month and every quarter, I think about the last quarter that just ended.</li><li>From time-to-time, I sit to think with a set of questions I already know I will ask myself.</li><li>When I am done, this provides me with all the clarity I need. All of the sudden, I feel better and I stop thinking too much.</li></ul><h2>7. Smile. You don’t own all the problems in the world.</h2><ul><li>You really don’t — every day you’re awake, that is another chance to be happy and smile out of bed.</li><li>Seriously — what is there not to like about sleeping at night and waking up every morning for another chance at greatness?</li><li>One great way to sleep happy and wake up happy is to read something positive 1 hour before bed and then sleep right away.</li><li>To start the morning off right — read something positive again and then start your day.</li><li>You don’t have to constantly smile all day – that would be weird but you’re alive and you have your health – isn’t that enough reason to smile and be happy?</li><li>You don’t own all the problems in the world — control what you can in your own life and leave everything else deal with itself.</li></ul><h2>8. A good life constitutes good emotions.</h2><ul><li>After reviewing all of my notes from the Tony Robbins seminar, I remembered him talking about emotions and how our quality of life determines what kind of emotions we’re having.</li><li>As an example — when you buy a Porsche, the Porsche is not what you’re buying – instead, you’re buying the Porsche because of the emotions it gives you.</li><li>Coincidentally — I actually had a Porsche – it was a 2007 GT3 – for those familiar – it was 415 horse power, rear wheel drive with an 8500 RPM deadline — boy did that thing scream!</li><li>I often took it to the racetrack and to this day, I miss it very much. When my business fell apart many years ago, I had to sell it but I miss the emotions I felt when driving that car.</li><li>While a car is one thing that brings good emotions — other things that bring good emotions in our life are progress, contribution and growth — at least this does for me.</li><li>When I am seeing progress in my business, not only do I become excited but the excitement leads to feeling fulfilled. The feelings of fulfillment allows me to contribute because inside, I feel fuller and when I feel fuller, I can give more.</li><li>Why do we go to amusement parks? To feel good emotions. When we come back home – its back to where we were once again — feeling dreary and bored.</li><li>However, in order to keep up the good emotions, I am constantly seeking progress in my life, contributing to society and growing as much as I can.</li><li>These are long-term solutions — short term solutions are expensive cars, toys and vacations. Those don’t last too long.</li></ul><h2>9. Never neglect yourself for others.</h2><ul><li>I know I mentioned contribution in #8 but in explaining this one, I don’t want to seem like I am contradicting myself.</li><li>As you may, I mentioned that when I give myself enough, I become filled up and then I contribute which makes me feel even better and happier, therefore, smiling becomes easier and more natural –you can’t fake a smile, no matter how hard.</li><li>As you may know — I was sick all last week — I couldn’t give anymore because it was time for me to heal and repair.</li><li>Last week was all mine and I wanted to make sure I was health – this is the reason why I missed last weeks episode.</li><li>In trying to help others, we often neglect our own selves and this is never a good solution — the better solution is win-win and not lose-win as Stephen Covey said in his book “the 7 habits of highly successful people”</li><li>In the last 6 months, I’ve gone really overboard with podcasts — don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret doing these, in fact, because I missed last week, I really missed doing it and couldn’t wait to get behind the mic again.</li><li>I guess the point I am trying to make is, make sure the cup is full before you let others drink out of it and never let others drink the whole cup. Once it is depleted, unlike water, emotional and physical energy does not come as easily as water does from a faucet.</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP031.mp3" length="30196322" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>The idea behind coming up with the 8 cardinal rules for life came from an info graphic I found and posted on my Facebook fan page wall. Till this day, the info graphic had over 109 shares and 54 likes likes which blew my mind!</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>The idea behind coming up with the 8 cardinal rules for life came from an info graphic I found and posted on my Facebook fan page wall. Till this day, the info graphic had over 109 shares and 54 likes likes which blew my mind! In coming up with today’s podcast, I thought that I […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>30:43</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP030: Why Discomfort Is Good For You & How To Become Mentally Strong</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/11/19/why-discomfort-is-good-for-you-how-to-become-mentally-strong/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 19 Nov 2013 23:59:23 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1458</guid> <description><![CDATA[Why Discomfort Is Good For You: “when it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near!” – Tony Robbins Tony Robbins hit it out of the ball park when he said this. If I look back at all the years, all I had were a series of challenges and these challenges made […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Why Discomfort Is Good For You:</h2><p>“<em><strong>when it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near</strong></em>!” – Tony Robbins</p><p>Tony Robbins hit it out of the ball park when he said this. If I look back at all the years, all I had were a series of challenges and these challenges made me who I am today. This quote is so powerful because there is always a point in our lives when all we want to do is quit and that’s the defining moment in which we change our lives either for the better or for worse and once we get too used to comfort, laziness sets in.</p><p>To make practical sense out of this quote and to put it into perspective — There will come a time when your mind will prefer comfort and this usually happens when something is really difficult or nearly impossible.</p><p>Should I quit my awful job or find another one?</p><p>Should I keep the high paying job or open up that business I always wanted so that I could improve my life and my families regardless of how much work or effort is involved?</p><p>The most ironic thing is that the limitation of what’s possible is in your own mind but across the world, someone will do what you’re afraid of doing without much thought or effort. For some it’s self-sabotage and for other’s its plain laziness.</p><p>The solution to choose discomfort and put the fear and the anxieties away is to keep reminding yourself that “this too, shall pass” — every moment in your life that was an emergency, a catastrophe or a severe challenge has passed and this too, shall pass.</p><p>Let’s face it, no one likes a lazy person but lazy people are often the ones who seek comfort over achievements. Always putting to the side important matters leads to mediocrity and mediocrity is the stepping stone to unhappiness and discontent.</p><p>Discomfort is good for you because it makes you yearn for something more. It forces you to make changes in your life or career and to adapt to your circumstances instead of giving up.</p><p>In a previous podcast episode, I talked about Mr. Pain and Ms. Experience as my #1 teachers. Mr. Pain has been my discomfort and Ms. Experience is the result of having Mr. Pain in my life. This is why discomfort is good for you because without pain & discomfort, your personal and professional life will never improve.</p><h2>5 Things mentally strong people don’t do:</h2><p><strong>Mentally strong people don’t shy away from change: </strong>Mentally strong people understand that change is inevitable and believe in their abilities to adapt. They also realize that change is constant and nothing lasts forever.</p><p>No career or business lasts forever. Humans and everything humans create has an expiration date associated with them. Therefore, mentally strong people welcome positive change and are willing to be flexible and adapt to their environments.</p><p><strong>They don’t fear taking calculated risk:</strong> Mentally strong people are resilient because they realize the importance of taking continued calculated risk. Why do you ride the roller coaster or go on daring adventures? You do it to feel alive. Much like roller coasters, white rapids and doing other dangerous activities such as sky diving gives us a feeling of being alive, taking calculated, measured risks are just as important in our daily lives.</p><p>All risk can be downsized by making calculated decisions. If you’ve done enough research and have a plan, there is no reason why you should fail.</p><p><strong>They don’t dwell in the past: </strong>One thing to admire about mentally strong people is that they don’t constantly relive bad experiences or fantasize about the glory days. Instead, they live in the present and plan for the future. Dwelling in the past is probably the number one contributor towards comfort and mediocrity. Dwelling in the past is why some people don’t take risks — calculated or not.</p><p>The problem with some people is that they never get passed the moments of discomfort early on in their lives and as a result, this becomes a habit of always reliving the past so that they can avoid future pain and struggle. This is not a good way to live.</p><p><strong>They don’t make the same mistakes over-and-over again: </strong> Another reason why people force themselves into a pampered and comfortable lifestyle is because they don’t learn from their mistakes. Mentally strong people accept responsibility for their behavior and learnt rom their past mistakes.</p><p>As a result, they don’t keep repeating these mistakes over and over. Instead, they move on and make better decisions in the future.</p><p><strong>They don’t give up after the first failure:</strong> Mentally strong people realize that failure is a huge part of success. They don’t see failure as a reason to give up but as a reason to dissect the situation and figure out what went wrong so that the same mistakes are not repeated. Instead, they use the failure as an opportunity to grow and improve. They are willing to keep trying until they get it right.</p><p>So now you have some really compelling reasons why why discomfort is good for you and a bunch of reasons why mentally strong people succeed. As I had previously mentioned — mentally strong people are not only happier but also more successful in life because they don’t give in comfort very easily. Instead, they always push themselves to be and do better in life and in their careers. Mentally strong people are people we usually admire and want to be like but the good news is, you too can be mentally strong starting today.</p><p><em><strong>Question for you: In what area of your life as you most comfortable in that is holding you back? Write your answers in the comment section. Thank you!</strong></em></p><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP030.mp3" length="17238043" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>Why Discomfort Is Good For You: “when it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near!” – Tony Robbins Tony Robbins hit it out of the ball park when he said this. If I look back at all the years,</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>Why Discomfort Is Good For You: “when it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near!” – Tony Robbins Tony Robbins hit it out of the ball park when he said this. If I look back at all the years, all I had were a series of challenges and these challenges made […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>17:13</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP029: Why Growth & Contribution Are The Most Important Basic Human Needs</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/11/14/why-growth-contribution-are-the-most-important-basic-human-needs/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:15:44 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1449</guid> <description><![CDATA[Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to Unleash The Power Within and saw Tony Robbins live and wow, what an experience! The last time I went to UPW was in Orlando sometime in 2009 I believe — since then, the program has changed a whole lot and I got so much out of it. […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to Unleash The Power Within and saw Tony Robbins live and wow, what an experience!</p><p>The last time I went to UPW was in Orlando sometime in 2009 I believe — since then, the program has changed a whole lot and I got so much out of it. My experience at UPW was profound and completely life changing.</p><p>In this podcast, I will talk to you about my experience as well as the video below which Tony has you going through what he calls “The Dickens Process”. Enjoy!</p><p><iframe width="1080" height="608" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E1dE1t70n4o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p><span id="more-1449"></span></p><h2>The Six basic Human Needs Explained:</h2><ol><li>Certainty: avoid pain and gain pleasure or comfort. Some strive to control all aspects of their lives while others get it by giving up all control and adopting a philosophy of faith & religion.</li><li>Variety: This is why we love roller coasters. Variety in our lives provide a need for the unknown, change and new stimuli.</li><li>Significance: is usually a belief that ones life has meaning or importance. Some people with this human need will go to great lengths and compete with others or by destroying or tearing those around them. If you want to take a closer look at people who put significance at the top of the list, check out some of hollywoods most colorful lifestyle, looks, language and behavior and you’ll see what I mean.</li><li>Connection: A strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something</li><li>Growth: The need to continuously grow and an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding</li><li>Contribution: A sense of service and focus on helping others through giving and support.</li></ol><h2>Why growth is important:</h2><ul><li>I know I’ve beaten this subject over the head many times but the reason why my business failed is because I stopped growing</li><li>If you stop growing, you start dying — everything in the universe is either expanding or contracting, there is no alternative.</li><li>Growth is about mastering and understanding yourself.</li><li>When we continuously grow, we don’t grow just for our own selves, we grow for others</li><li>Learning just for ourselves is foolish and immature but learning for others is the first step to contribution.</li></ul><h2>How to grow as an individual:</h2><ul><li>Attend seminars on a regular basis</li><li>Find <a href="http://www.meetup.com">meetups</a> and <a href="http://www.eventbrite.com">eventbrite</a> conferences and networking opportunities</li><li>Meet as many like-minded people as you can, preferably 5-10 years ahead of where you want to be both personally and professionally.</li><li>Read as much as you can, take a speed reading class if you have to.</li><li>Listen to audio books and podcasts as often as you can.</li><li>Create structure, routine and order – not to the point of rigidity but to a level where you have control over your life so that when 10 years go by you’re not regretting what you didn’t do -vs- what you could have done.</li></ul><h2>Why contribution is important:</h2><ul><li>Just as you can’t survive without others contributing in some way to your welfare, you will live an unfulfilled life not contributing to others. As an example, no baby can grow up on its own, you can’t be spiritually fulfilled unless you’re contributing to others as well.</li><li>As an example — when I got my Mom’s house, she always insists I take food home and she is still till this day, tries to baby me — why? #1 because she is a Mother but more importantly, she wants to contribute.</li><li>The older you become, the more you will realize that contribution to others is very important.</li><li>In fact, out of the 6-basic human needs, I believe this one is probably the most important.</li></ul><h2>How to Contribute To Something Bigger Than Yourself:</h2><ul><li>There are two types of growth: “personal and spiritual” – when you put contribution at the top of your 6 basic human needs, you have grown spiritually.</li><li>Create a business centered around giving and contribution. So many are doing it such as non-profits, web sites around accumulating niche sites with vast amounts of knowledge delivered via podcasts, written articles, videos, etc.</li><li>Mentor someone in need – you may not be giving yourself enough credit for what you know but you know a lot.</li><li>Give to charity — things like clothing and food work really well.</li><li>Your biggest asset is your time, if you offer it to someone else, that may be your biggest contribution.</li><li>Take better care of your family, call friends you haven’t seen in weeks or months and invite them to dinner and show them the absolute best time.</li></ul><p>To tie all of this together, i strongly believe that personal growth and contribution is a great combination to have. All human beings are consistently seeking to meet the 6 basic human needs but we all tend to value two more than the rest as I learned from this weekend.</p><p>For example: Someone who values certainty will live a radically different life than someone who values uncertainty/variety.</p><p>Similarly, someone who focuses on significance will interact with others very differently than someone who’s number one need is for connection/love. When you know which needs you value the most, you can better understand the choices you make, as well as your emotional patters.</p><p>Which two human needs are your most dominant need and why? I would love to carry this conversation over below — please write what your 2 most primal needs are and lets chat. Shall we?</p><h2>5-Star Reviews This week</h2><ul><li><b>Marcus Brooks: </b>I love this podcast show by Mr. Shaker, the show has helped me to think about the life I want. My dream is to use my gifts to enrich peoples lives and have a freedom business. I’m going to keep listening to the Endless Possibilities show and one day I will get there!</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP029.mp3" length="25488558" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to Unleash The Power Within and saw Tony Robbins live and wow, what an experience! The last time I went to UPW was in Orlando sometime in 2009 I believe — since then, the program has changed a whole lot and I got ...</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to Unleash The Power Within and saw Tony Robbins live and wow, what an experience! The last time I went to UPW was in Orlando sometime in 2009 I believe — since then, the program has changed a whole lot and I got so much out of it. […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>25:49</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP028: Why Business Is Simple But People Are Complicated</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/11/06/why-business-is-simple-but-people-are-complicated/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2013 18:42:30 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1441</guid> <description><![CDATA[After last weeks episode, I thought to myself in frustration – why aren’t people taking massive action? In all fairness, I am not there to see you and I don’t want to judge what you do with your time after listening to an instructional video, a course you may have taken or a podcast you […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>After last weeks episode, I thought to myself in frustration – why aren’t people taking massive action? In all fairness, I am not there to see you and I don’t want to judge what you do with your time after listening to an instructional video, a course you may have taken or a podcast you have listened to.</p><p>However, from what I’ve learned about business psychology and more importantly, human psychology, over 95% of us will not take action with the knowledge we have learned. Why? For all sorts of reasons but the reasons are more internal than anything else.</p><p>You see — business is like a computer program — all there are is 1s and 0s. In other words, business is a completely rational and logical process. However, some people are irrational and illogical and this is why business is simple but people are complicated.</p><p><span id="more-1441"></span></p><p>Let me elaborate some more by giving you a few examples:</p><h2>You don’t validate your business idea</h2><ul><li>All new business ideas that have not been invented yet must be validated first.</li><li>There are a ton of ways to validate your business idea.</li><li>You can validate your business on Reddit, on forums, by using a survey or using survey monkey</li></ul><h2>You Jump from one idea to the next</h2><ul><li>As a result of not validating your business idea, you jump from one idea to the next and as a result, your self esteem and your confidence begin to take a hit.</li><li>As Entrepreneurs, we’re problem solvers by nature. By validating your idea, you’re simply solving a problem that exists but has not been solved yet.</li><li>Take any business that is viable and profitable and you will notice that in some way, it solves a problem someone or a group of people are having.</li><li>The reason why you’re jumping from one idea to the next is not because your idea sucks but because not enough people are ready and willing to pay for your product or service before you release it.</li></ul><h2>You don’t believe in yourself and you have low self-esteem</h2><ul><li>What is one way to increase your confidence in something? Its to do something you’re terrified of doing and surviving it.</li><li>When you constantly challenge and push yourself to do things you’re afraid of, you not only realize your potential but you also gain a few points of confidence and if it continues, your self esteem will rise with it.</li><li>The trick is to start something — whatever it may be that you’re afraid of doing, then do it again and again.</li></ul><h2>There is not a strong enough why</h2><ul><li>If you put money first, you will ultimately fail.</li><li>Your why must be very strong — is it to solve a problem or help out as many people as possible?</li><li>Or is it to make a lot of money? As long as your reason is more than just yourself, then your why is strong enough.</li><li>Finally — how thirsty and hungry are you for success? Its all about the drive, the madness that we have when starting a venture. If you don’t wake up every day feeling excited about that new business idea or the business you’re currently in, it may not last too long.</li><li>Chances are, you’ve been in business for 4-5 years — in that case, you may be bored but one way of alleviating boredom is to continuously innovate and make things better.</li><li>Never become comfortable — always stay thirsty for more.</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP028.mp3" length="16408812" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>After last weeks episode, I thought to myself in frustration – why aren’t people taking massive action? In all fairness, I am not there to see you and I don’t want to judge what you do with your time after listening to an instructional video,</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>After last weeks episode, I thought to myself in frustration – why aren’t people taking massive action? In all fairness, I am not there to see you and I don’t want to judge what you do with your time after listening to an instructional video, a course you may have taken or a podcast you […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>16:21</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP027: What Is Holding You Back & What Are Your Excuses?</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/10/30/what-is-holding-you-back-what-are-your-excuses/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 30 Oct 2013 02:09:33 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1431</guid> <description><![CDATA[This week, instead of yet another content rich episode of Endless Possibilities, I thought you and I had a one-on-one chit-chat about what is keeping you stuck where you’re and what challenges you might be facing? You see – over the last 6-months, I have put a lot of effort and energy into creating these […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This week, instead of yet another content rich episode of Endless Possibilities, I thought you and I had a one-on-one chit-chat about what is keeping you stuck where you’re and what challenges you might be facing?</p><p>You see – over the last 6-months, I have put a lot of effort and energy into creating these podcasts for you and by now, I expect that any serious Entrepreneur listening and applying my wisdom and knowledge would be on their way to becoming pretty successful if not making tons of money online or elsewhere.</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Here is all that I’ve taught you — be specific with me and let me know what is holding you back? I want to help you and I want you to succeed.</span></p><p>You may have your own business or you’re just starting out. Regardless, why are you not doing better in your business or why have you not started being your own boss?</p><p><span id="more-1431"></span></p><p><strong>Podcast #2 : how to become successful at anything yo attempt:</strong><br />. psychology of success<br />. how to define success for yourself<br />. Lessons from some really powerful influential people<br />. traits of successful people<br />. Questions to ask yourself</p><p><strong>Podcast #4: How to create smart goals</strong><br />. types of smart goals — short, medium and long term types of goals<br />. developing urgency<br />. specific<br />. measurable<br />. attainable<br />. realistic<br />. time bound<br />. resources and an article write-up so you can create your own</p><p><strong>Podcast #5: build a drop-ship business, find a niche and the wholesalers</strong><br />. showed you how the drop ship business model works<br />. showed you where to find wholesalers<br />. negotiate with wholesalers to drop ship<br />. negotiate with vendors for payment terms<br />. taught you how to use singlefeed to get your products to many web sites.</p><p><strong>Podcast #6. How to outsource on elance and odesk</strong><br />. Gave you compelling reasons to outsource<br />. showed you how to post jobs one step at a time.<br />. Taught you how to cooperate with contractors</p><p><strong>Podcast #11 Find your life purpose, become motivated and build mental toughness</strong><br />. taught you about finding your unique personality type<br />. taught you how to find your passions by identifying what you naturally love to do best.<br />. taught you that doing things you don’t like leads to mediocrity and failure.</p><p><strong>Podcast #16: how to avoid failure & succeed as an online entrepreneur</strong><br />. finding the best types of businesses to get involved in.<br />. taught you types of businesses that are likely to fail.<br />. Gave you a 10-step process for avoiding failure as an online entrepreneur</p><p><strong>podcast #17: 10 ridiculously obvious signs you should be an online entrepreneur</strong><br />. gave you 10 compelling reasons and a great video of a kid entrepreneur who did what he loved and made tons of money and got lots of fame — by mistake!</p><p><strong>Podcast #18: how to make millions and market yourself as an expert</strong><br />. If eCommerce isn’t for you — I’ve demonstrated how you can leverage from your knowledge and enter the online expert business<br />. I showed you how to demonstrate your expertise<br />. how to monetize it</p><p><strong>Podcast #23: 8 ways to bust procrastination and become more productive</strong><br />. showed you how to eliminate distractions<br />. how to optimize your study environment<br />. how to have better time management<br />. how to break projects down into chunks<br />. How to visualize and treat your goals like pets</p><p><strong>Podcast #26: how to reinvent yourself in one year</strong><br />. Showed you why you live in such an amazing time in history to become filthy rich<br />. how to create your own brand and find your own niche<br />. Find mentors, the easy way<br />. Meet the connectors — the people who will help you make millions<br />. and most of all, how to do it in 1 year or less.</p><h2>What Is Holding You Back & What Are Your Excuses?</h2><p>I want you to answer the following questions for me so that I can address your problems and provide you with clarity. I can easily create 27 more podcasts over the next 6-months and you will be where you’re today — just another Entrepreneur Wannabe.</p><p>Instead, I want you to make take the big leap forward and become an actual Entrepreneur. Here are some questions you can ask me directly by writing below in the comments section. If you want to be private about it, you can send me an email through my contact form and I will be happy to respond to you right away.</p><p>The choice is yours, however, please make sure to either write your question below or shoot me an email through my contact form.</p><ol><li>You don’t have any money to begin?</li><li>You have a hard time picking your niche?</li><li>You can’t decide on information/Internet marketing or eCommerce?</li><li>Do you feel you’re too old/too young?</li><li>Do you need someone to guide you every step of the way?</li><li>Do you lack direction in life?</li><li>Do you believe your family/spouse is holding you back?</li><li>Have you tried everything and failed and are now sitting on the sidelines because you’re sad/depressed/angry?</li><li>You don’t believe in yourself/your potential/your abilities?</li></ol><p>Please ask your questions below and I will answer them for you personally. Or like I said, send me an email through my contact form.</p><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP027.mp3" length="22374054" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>This week, instead of yet another content rich episode of Endless Possibilities, I thought you and I had a one-on-one chit-chat about what is keeping you stuck where you’re and what challenges you might be facing? You see – over the last 6-months,</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>This week, instead of yet another content rich episode of Endless Possibilities, I thought you and I had a one-on-one chit-chat about what is keeping you stuck where you’re and what challenges you might be facing? You see – over the last 6-months, I have put a lot of effort and energy into creating these […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>22:34</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP026: How To Reinvent Yourself In One Year!</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/10/22/how-to-reinvent-yourself-in-one-year/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:00:58 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1425</guid> <description><![CDATA[I recently read an article by James Altucher called “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself” on Techcrunch. In all fairness, I have read a few of his blog posts and listened to a few podcasts he’s been on and I have to admit, they were all very inspiring and most of all, very amusing […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I recently read an article by James Altucher called “<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/19/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself/">The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself</a>” on Techcrunch. In all fairness, I have read a few of his blog posts and listened to a few podcasts he’s been on and I have to admit, they were all very inspiring and most of all, very amusing to read.</p><p>n However, his latest article in Techcrunch made me a little concerned that the thousands of people reading his article will now be completely disillusioned into thinking that reinventing yourself is a long arduous 5-year endeavor as James quite humbly put it.</p><p>The problem with James Altucher as he puts it is that early in his career he has made tens of millions of dollars and has lost it all, MULTIPLE times and has done it over and over again. Along the way, he has pissed off many big names and many big industries completely burning all bridges to the ground and this is doing it over and over again. What’s that quote by Albert Einstein? — “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”</p><p>I understand that failures are a big part of success – for 10 years, I’ve had my own businesses on the web making millions along the way and BAM, I got smashed to pieces by Google and lost it all. However, being a critical and accurate thinker, I can analyze and figure out what went wrong, put the pieces together and try again more intelligently.</p><p>This is where I show you – the functional logical thinker who is at a point where he/she needs to reinvent himself to do it in much less time.</p><div role="article"><div><div><h3>“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.” -Richard Branson</h3></div></div></div><h2>Make a decision to reinvent and ask why?</h2><ul><li>Over the years, you will always reinvent yourself until you find your true best self.</li><li>Are you out of college, out of work (got laid off, fired) or are you sick and tired of what you’re currently doing?</li><li>Are you ready for the long road ahead?</li></ul><h2>Learn your new endeavor</h2><ul><li>Reinventing will require you to learn many new skills.</li><li>The books you read and the people you meet will be the foundation for who you end up becoming</li><li>You will be required to learn as many as 5-10 new habits and 5-10 new skills</li><li>Several of your basic skills such as communication, will be tested.</li><li>Skills required: strong communication skills, being a connector and connecting with others, ability to plan and execute, creating a timeline / goal and having determination to plow through.</li></ul><h2>Creating your brand, Finding your niche / passion</h2><ul><li>Your passion / niche is only a validation step away.</li><li>Whoever you choose to reinvent yourself as, start telling people today.</li><li>Everyone has a story – perhaps you had a long career in sunglasses like I did and failed or you had a great job and got fired and now look at you.</li><li>Your story may be similar to everyone else but your experiences and wisdom are unique to you.</li></ul><h2>Your mentors</h2><ul><li>Without mentors, you’re dead in the water.</li><li>Luckily, you’re in luck because every book that you read is your mentor.</li><li>If you read 20 books a year, you now have 20 mentors</li><li>Listen to podcasts through iTunes – podcasting is exploding and there are new podcasts on iTunes every day.</li></ul><h2>Meet the connectors and make the connections</h2><ul><li>The best way to build authority for your brand is to get interviewed on podcasts and well known web sites.</li><li>Gone are the days of TV interviews as they are no longer effective.</li><li>Go to meet ups and conferences and meet the people in your niche</li></ul><h2>A timeline:</h2><ul><li>1-2 months to figure out your new niche</li><li>3-6 months to learn and implement your brand (Your platform which consists of a web site, podcast, blog, email lists, etc)</li><li>1-5 months to create your first product, service or establish your niche.</li><li>6-12 months to become profitable.</li><li>In total about 1-2 years to reinvent yourself and build wealth.</li></ul><h2>Links talked on the podcast:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/19/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself/">The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself</a></li><li><a href="http://backup.williamshaker.com/kevin-wilke-talks-about-how-he-made-over-30-million-in-sales-in-less-than-5-years/">Kevin Wilke Talks About How He Made Over 30 Million in Sales in Less Than 5 Years!</a></li><li><a href="http://backup.williamshaker.com/ep018-make-millions-market-expert/">How To Make Millions and Market Yourself as an Expert</a></li><li><a href="http://backup.williamshaker.com/ep011-find-your-life-purpose-become-motivated-and-build-mental-toughness/">Find your Life Purpose, Become Motivated and Build Mental Toughness</a></li></ul><h2>5-Star Reviews This week</h2><ul><li><strong>JulienASA:</strong> I am listening to your podcast while running. Very inspirational. I haven’t found or built my own business yet but continuing to listen to your podcast will help me find the right one to do.</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP026.mp3" length="25964195" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>I recently read an article by James Altucher called “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself” on Techcrunch. In all fairness, I have read a few of his blog posts and listened to a few podcasts he’s been on and I have to admit,</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>I recently read an article by James Altucher called “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself” on Techcrunch. In all fairness, I have read a few of his blog posts and listened to a few podcasts he’s been on and I have to admit, they were all very inspiring and most of all, very amusing […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>26:18</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP025: 8 Critical Lessons For Life & Business To Live By</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/10/16/8-critical-lessos-for-life-business-to-live-by/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2013 17:57:20 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1415</guid> <description><![CDATA[When it comes to success, there is a never-ending cycle of learning and growth. I truly believe that when you stop learning, you start dying. Human beings are capable of learning from mistakes, adapting and evolving a lot faster than any other creature on earth. However, just because we have the capacity to learn, doesn’t […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When it comes to success, there is a never-ending cycle of learning and growth. I truly believe that when you stop learning, you start dying. Human beings are capable of learning from mistakes, adapting and evolving a lot faster than any other creature on earth. However, just because we have the capacity to learn, doesn’t mean we always do.</p><p>In this podcast, I want to teach you 10 Critical Lessons For Life & Business To Live By. Depending on where you’re in your personal development and how much work you have put in, some of these might be pretty obvious to you and while to others, it may be completely new.</p><p>Regardless, I hope you learn something today. Please respond by commenting below and let me know what you think.</p><p><span id="more-1415"></span></p><h2>1. To double your income, triple your rate of learning.</h2><p>Always make learning a priority – get out of bed early if you have to. If you’re not learning, you’re obsolete. Success is inward out — The level of success you want to achieve is commensurate with the level of your education. Food & water is to the body as education & personal development is to the mind.</p><h2>2. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results.</h2><p>Make improving your life and your business never ending. Always up your standards of living — your health, your diet, your body should improve as you get older, not deteriorate Your body will naturally deteriorate as you get older but counter balance it by eating health and exercising. For business — continue to make improvements — regardless if its your web site, your communication with your clients or your customer service.</p><h2>3. Be a master of your craft and practice, practice and practice.</h2><p>You already know too much — you’ve read every read and every article – now its time to practice, practice and practice what you learned. Practice doesn’t perfect – perfect practice makes perfect. Deliberate practice is X amount per day, every day.</p><h2>4. Read magazines you don’t usually read. Talk to people who you don’t usually speak to. Go to places you don’t commonly visit. Disrupt your thinking so that it stays fresh + hungry + brilliant.</h2><p>My friend Kevin Wilke left his small-town home from rural Iowa more than a decade ago only to find himself. Today, he grosses over 5 million dollars per year. When we hang out with people who’re much different than us, we usually open the floodgates to new ideas and facts about business and the world. Everyone has a unique opinion and if we continue to only spend time with those around us, we will never get an outside perspective. This is one of the reasons why I love going to live seminars and networking events where I get to meet new people all the time.</p><h2>5. The bigger the dream, the more important the team.</h2><p>This one is kind of obvious because the team that built the 100,000 business may not be the right fit to build the 1 million dollar business. Money is a mindset and the team you surround yourself with can either make you or break – as cliché’ as it may sound!</p><h2>6. Critics are dreamers gone scared.</h2><p>This is one of the reasons why I like to keep hush about new projects I am working on. There is always someone out there that will want to bring you and your idea down. People are often the average of the people they spend their time with. If you’re on the same level as them today and tomorrow you go off to do something better, they may not be comfortable with that and thus, criticize you and tell you its a bad idea or risky or just plain dumb. Instead, keep quiet. Success is rarely something you should tell people – if you’re successful, they would see it.</p><h2>7. Those who talk to you about them will talk to them about you.</h2><p>If someone treated you wrongly, it is usually because you taught it to him or her. What do I mean by that? You either let them get away with things that go over your level of comfort and there are times where you spend your time with the wrong types of people – it is in their character and this is the way they’ve come to realize that friendships and relationships are formed. These types of people should be avoided at all costs. Be careful about spending time with the unlucky ones – luck is not something that is made of fairy dust – it is something that we create for ourselves.</p><p>The second thing I want to mention is to be careful about the types of people who speak negatively about someone you may or may not know. Its OK to talk to a friend and ask for a listening ear but when its wrong of them when every time you see them and they are spilling the beans to you about someone they know — that is not a friend — that is someone who has a lot of negativity surrounding them – stay away at all costs.</p><p>What usually happens in this type of situation is that this person usually ends up talking trash about you too — you may or may not have done anything wrong to this person. This is the kind of character this person has. It is habitual to them.</p><h2>8. What gets scheduled is what gets done.</h2><p>If you don’t have a calendar, you should consider getting one. If you’re in business for yourself, it is probably one of the best investments you can make. Having a calendar is great because when you schedule in your calendar, you can be sure it will get done. There is usually this type of connection with our brain and our calendars — it’s almost like holding ourselves accountable. It always works. Try it.</p><h2>5-Star Reviews This week</h2><ul><li><strong>Kseneff:</strong> If you lead people or are running a company, this is a must-listen-to podcast. William is a great host and is very contentious of your time. You won’t find a bunch of filler and wasted time in this podcast.</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP025.mp3" length="20138680" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>When it comes to success, there is a never-ending cycle of learning and growth. I truly believe that when you stop learning, you start dying. Human beings are capable of learning from mistakes, adapting and evolving a lot faster than any other creature...</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>When it comes to success, there is a never-ending cycle of learning and growth. I truly believe that when you stop learning, you start dying. Human beings are capable of learning from mistakes, adapting and evolving a lot faster than any other creature on earth. However, just because we have the capacity to learn, doesn’t […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>20:14</itunes:duration> </item> <item> <title>EP024: 10 Things To Remember On Your Entrepreneurial Journey</title> <link>https://williamshaker.com/2013/10/08/10-things-to-remember-on-your-entrepreneurial-journey/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[William Shaker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Oct 2013 22:00:38 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Podcast]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://backup.williamshaker.com/?p=1412</guid> <description><![CDATA[As Entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget what our purpose is and distractions often take us away from the big picture. In 10 things to remember on your Entrepreneurial journey, I will talk to you about a few key principles to help you stay on track and get a lot done. 1. Surround yourself with like-minded people […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As Entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget what our purpose is and distractions often take us away from the big picture. In 10 things to remember on your Entrepreneurial journey, I will talk to you about a few key principles to help you stay on track and get a lot done.</p><h2>1. Surround yourself with like-minded people</h2><ul><li>Masterminds</li><li>Conferences</li><li>Seminars</li><li>Birds of a feather, flock together</li><li>You’re the average of the 5 people you spend your time with.</li></ul><h2>2. Be honest with yourself – if theres a problem or somethings not working, admit it to yourself and take responsibility so you can move past it.</h2><ul><li>The worse thing to do is to do something that doesn’t work over and over again.</li><li>Take notes with a pen and paper – ask yourself questions.</li><li>Bring more self-awareness by diagnosing yourself and your situation.</li></ul><h2><span id="more-1412"></span></h2><h2>3. Don’t let old patterns dictate how things are done. You have the power to change.</h2><ul><li>Form new habits that will put you on the right path.</li><li>You have to become adaptable.</li><li>Change is often difficult because we love consistency. Change often spells out danger or risk and this is why we don’t like it.</li><li>Whats hard today will be easy tomorrow. Whats easy today will be hard.</li></ul><h2>4. Believe that what you want to achieve is a done deal.</h2><ul><li>Regardless of what it is — “cars, money, a house, losing weight, etc” you have to believe that you have already achieved it.</li><li>Visualize yourself having it in your possession.</li></ul><h2>5. Evaluate your daily routine – are you happy? If not, do something about it.</h2><ul><li>As Entrepreneurs, we are usually unhappy when things are not working organized or there is disorder.</li><li>Evaluate your daily routines and get better organized.</li></ul><h2>6. Get a timer and use it to make sure you get the most out of your day.</h2><ul><li>Find a timer that has a lot of bells and whistles. Use a timer that has a vibrating feature and one that will scare you if you don’t finish your work in time.</li><li>Work in time blocks and make sure you time all tasks or it will eventually take too much time to finish.</li></ul><h2>7. Think about what you could delegate and systematize so that you can spend more time with family and friends.</h2><ul><li>Evaluate how much time you’re worth and you will see that some things are just not worth your time.</li><li>Your time as an Entrepreneur is worth more, therefore, you need to spend it on doing things to take advantage of your talents and skills.</li><li>Things that are mundane and that wi ll stress you out should be delegated to a virtual assistant.</li></ul><h2>8. Identify a few businesses you love and admire and investigate how you can model their success.</h2><ul><li>Finding other businesses in your niche or any business that is great and modeling them is a speedy way of advancing in your own business.</li><li>Leverage the success of other businesses so that it takes the learning curve away from your daily duties and gives you a fast track to success.</li></ul><h2>9. Value yourself – learn to say no if it doesn’t work for you.</h2><ul><li>In the beginning of your business, you will most likely say yes to a lot of things.</li><li>Later in your business, you must become picky and choosy about what you accept and say yes to.</li><li>Its all a matter of wisdom and experience.</li></ul><h2>10. Remember that you are the CEO of YOU – so take control of your destiny and make amazing things happen!</h2><ul><li>Everything is a choice.</li></ul><h2>5-Star Reviews This week</h2><ul><li><strong>Wsarver:</strong> Thank you for the great advice. I like your helpful hints each week. It really helps me stay on track.</li><li><strong>Hajigomez:</strong> This is my new go to podcast while commuting to work. The quality and content are both excellent. There are many projects, ideas and pursuits that I want to do and keep making excuses. William is genuine and motivating and the podcasts are loaded with great ideas, resources and concepts. Keep up the good work. Thank you for the valuable podcast… I know it takes a lot of time and effort to produce the shows.</li></ul><h2>Did You Enjoy This Podcast?</h2><p>Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/endless-possibilities-podcast/id653219837">review, rate and subscribe</a> on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!</p>]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/williamshakercom/EP024.mp3" length="34191432" type="audio/mpeg" /> <itunes:subtitle>As Entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget what our purpose is and distractions often take us away from the big picture. In 10 things to remember on your Entrepreneurial journey, I will talk to you about a few key principles to help you stay on track and ge...</itunes:subtitle> <itunes:summary>As Entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget what our purpose is and distractions often take us away from the big picture. In 10 things to remember on your Entrepreneurial journey, I will talk to you about a few key principles to help you stay on track and get a lot done. 1. Surround yourself with like-minded people […]</itunes:summary> <itunes:author>William Shaker</itunes:author> <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType> <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit> <itunes:duration>34:52</itunes:duration> </item> </channel></rss> 
