I just finished watching CFO-In-A-Box, a 13 video series by Mark J. Kohler on the best tax and legal strategies for 2011.

Firstly, I want to say that I was really excited about the course when I first heard about it. This is my first year filing a real tax return with significant income from my business. I’ve operated as a few different entities in 2011, have had expenses, contractors, employees, and multiple streams of income… so I was in the perfect frame of mind to learn this stuff.

In fact, before I watched the course, I was super stressed out about doing my taxes for 2011. I wasn’t sure about how proper book keeping worked, what I could and couldn’t write off, how I should pay myself, etc.

After watching the video series, I am not only excited to do my taxes this year (and keep more money in my pocket!) but am even more excited about my future as a business owner and all of the tax advantages I have.

I just feel like I have a much stronger grasp on the financial and legal elements in my business and the economy overall. I feel excited, educated, and empowered.

Before I go into more detail on the course and how to get your hands on it, I want to make it clear that I was very lucky. I was lucky that I just happened to visit my good friends Cory Shanes and Marcelle Allen in Orange County, CA while they were starting to work with a team of internet marketers to get Mark Kohler’s material into the hands of thousands. I watched the content and got so excited that I found a way to get involved with the project through my web design company Purpose Inspired Marketing, helping to build the membership site and product informational pages.

I think the initial plan was to sell the course for $197… and I have no doubt that it will be sold for that sometime soon. And I have no doubt that a lot of people will buy at that price.

But right now that’s not the case. They are making the course available to a niche community of internet marketers called the Warrior Forum first… for a tiny fraction of the retail price. It’s kind of a special Holiday thing.

It ranges from $27 – $47, depending on when you buy. The sooner you buy, the cheaper the course.

But I’m not here to sell you on it. Just to share my own review: I can say with confidence this material empowered me to save an extra couple thousand dollars this year, and a lot more than that in coming 2012 and beyond. I’m now buying Mark’s published books and look forward to reading them.

The bottom line is that if you currently are or plan on becoming a small business owner (network marketing, blogging, affiliate marketing all included!) then this video series is a must have.

Even if you already have a great CPA doing your tax returns, this course will make you aware of strategies and concepts that can still save you thousands while creating a long term wealth formula for yourself.

The best thing is, this course doesn’t even cost anything. If you apply it, it will pay for itself many times over. Plus the purchase itself is entirely tax deductible.

You can get the course here, only available for the next few days at this price, with the price going up by 10 cents for every ten purchases.

purposeinspiredmarketing.com/cfo

And yes that’s an affiliate link. I am proudly making a commission promoting this awesome offer

On another note, OC is absolutely beautiful this time of year compared to Boston… can’t wait to move here next year!

Had a nice Mustang Rental in OC!

Toastmasters Speech #4 – Life is What You Make It

This is a brief update from Coronado Beach in California, and a message that you can create any kind of life you want. I’ll have another update video coming soon after this exciting Youngevity Leadership Retreat.

NO!

Let me explain – only you can change your own life for the better with the decision that you make. BUT having a business coach can have a dramatic impact on the direction that you take your life in, and the results that you get from your business and your life.

I was inspired to write this post because I have been working with a business coach, Garry Carlson, since late March, and the past three months for me have been transformational, to say the least.

What you can gain from a business coach:

• Accountability. It is a literally coach’s job to care about your business and ensure that you keep the promises you make to yourself. Having weekly coaching calls helps you stay on top of your goal list. You will report back every week with an overview of what you have and haven’t accomplished based on your long term goals and your action items for the previous week. This alone change dramatically improve your personal productivity.
• Experience and wisdom. A business coach works and has worked with many other business owners, and understands the financial, psychological, and emotional struggles that entrepreneurs face. He or she has dealt with them many times, and has helped many of his or her clients get over them. A coach’s wisdom can also stop you from wasting months or years (or thousands of dollars) working in the wrong direction, and can provide incredible guidance when setting your goals and developing your strategy.
• Bigger and clearer goals. Having a coach by your side will empower you to set bigger and more defined goals for yourself and your business, because you know you will have someone to help guide you towards those goals. Additionally, a coach may often believe in you more than you believe in yourself in the early stages, and will encourage you to set greater goals for yourself.
• A process to the madness. Entrepreneurship can be tough, crazy, and disorganized, especially when you are primarily working solo. Having a coach helps you add a structured, guided process to ensure success in your venture, not to mention overall better organization in your life and business, especially when it comes to time management.
• Balance. I don’t know about other coaches, but my coach Garry has helped me find greater balance in my life, helping me not only grow my business financially, but also develop it in such a way that it helps me attain the lifestyle that I want to create for myself. He encourages the business FUNdamentals, teaching that it is difficult to succeed at something that you can’t have fun at!
• Encouragement. If you struggle with self-doubt, as many entrepreneurs do especially in the early stages (I know I did), a good great will help you replace that self-doubt with a rock solid self-confidence. This confidence will be the result of not only a changed emotional state, but also assurance in the fact that you have a plan, are achieving improved results, and have greater clarity in everything you do.

For me personally, working with Garry has been a significant factor in my ability to start my business on a full-time basis after graduation. Not only is my business profitable now and has incredible prospects for the near future, I have also been able to significantly improve my lifestyle and general happiness. I take more time for what I love, like playing tennis with my friends, spending quality time with my girlfriend Ally, learning new things (currently teaching myself Spanish), and traveling to new places (just came back from Aruba two weeks ago, currently writing this post in Vermont, and have a lot of travel plans in the coming months).

If you are a business owner looking to grow your current business, or an entrepreneur looking to start a business, I strongly encourage you to get in touch with a coach. Some offer a 15 minute free coaching session… I know Garry does so, you can fill out his form here to get your free session.

If you are a business owner (including network marketing or any other home business!), I hope this post gave you insight into growing your business. If you have had any experience with a coach, please comment below!

I was very inspired by John C. Maxwell’s article in the most recent issue of Success Magazine. I want to share his mentor’s (John Wooden) secret to success and happiness here. According to John Wooden, you can find happiness in your life by making and keeping these nine promises:

1. Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness, and prosperity as often as possible.
2. Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special that you value.
3. Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best in yourself and others.
4. Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
5. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
6. Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.
7. Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.
8. Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
9. Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on you.

I am personally printing out these nine promises and putting them on my office wall where I can see and read them daily. I hope these inspire you and improve your life.

I was rereading the Four Hour Work Week for probably the tenth time today, and this poem really hit me. Just sharing. Enjoy! Take every word in.

This reminds me that life is short, and that I should live in the moment every day, every moment, and value each of my experiences and all the people in my life today, not just sacrifice for some elusive future.

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say “Hi”?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Often times in my discussions and debates with people about creating change in the world (or in their personal lives), we run across the topic of inner-work and meditation as action in itself. The concept presented to me is this: with our positive thought patterns, we are co-creating a new and more positive reality for ourselves and for the world; recognizing negative circumstances only perpetuates them, so we should focus our minds on the positive.

While this approach may sound appealing and even virtuous, it is actually somewhat selfish and short-sighted. To stand by and close your eyes to evils will not eliminate them; and to open your awareness and raise others’ awareness will do anything but perpetuate the evils. Recognizing an issue is required to be able to act on that recognition. And while thoughts are important (thoughts are the basis for all actions and decisions), it is the actions and decisions that change the world, not just the thoughts that stimulated them.

I was reading Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh this morning and came across a very powerful passage that touches on this very concept:

Mindfullness

Must Be Engaged

“When I was in Vietnam, so many of our villages were being bombed. Along with my monastic brothers and sisters, I had to decide what to do. Should we continue to practice in our monasteries, or should we leave the meditation halls in order to help the people who were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both – to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?

We must be aware of the real problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do and what not to do to be of help. If we maintain awareness of our breathing and continue to practice smiling, even in difficult situations, many people, animals, and plants will benefit from our way of doing things.”

Neither I nor Thich Nhat Hanh suggest that meditation might not be useful. On the contrary, meditation and mindfulness is necessary to become fully aware of an issue, to better understand the suffering of the issue’s victims; only then can appropriate action be taken. But you cannot meditate away a real problem… not in your personal life, and not in the world around us. We certainly are co-creators of our collective reality, but creation on our end takes more than just meditation and the proper thoughts, it also takes appropriate decision making and actions in the physical world.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke, Philosopher and Politician, 1729 – 1797

I encourage you to read Peace Is Every step … it is actually free as an ebook on Amazon. Just click on the image on the Amazon page.

(Reposted from FreedomPassionPurpose.com)
The concept of a Triple Bottom Line is relatively new to the business world. It means measuring business (and societal) success in more than just economic profits (the bottom line), but rather with the 3 E’s: Equity, Environment, and Economics… also known as the 3 P’s: People, Planet, and  Profits.

Many people (especially entrepreneurs), like many businesses, seem to live their lives with a single bottom line: a concept of success measured by the accumulation of finances… of material wealth and socioeconomic status. When I first started in business for myself, I had a similar paradigm. I wanted to achieve financial success so badly. I believed that financial success would bring me all the other treasures of life. As a result, I focused my efforts on learning how to earn, but not learning how to live.

While I have been slowly shifting this paradigm over the last couple of years, it made a dramatic turn for the better after I met with Robert Staub and read his book 7 Acts of Courage. He and I spoke about the concept of a Triple Bottom Line in business… and the Vision Development Exercises in his book allowed me to develop my own personal Triple Bottom Line.

The Triple Bottom Line that I have developed and discovered for myself is the name of this blog: Freedom, Passion, and Purpose. I know look at every activity and pursuit in my life through this new lens.

If I join this business, work on this project, study this subject, will it…

Bring me closer to personal Freedom?

Fuel my fire? (Can I be passionate about it?)

And will it help fulfill my Purpose? (To empower others to improve their own lives and the world).

If an activity, business, or project doesn’t match these three criteria, I try to keep it out of my life. That simple. I can’t begin to explain how much more rich and fulfilling my life has been since I started applying this principle.

I encourage you do the same. Figure out your Triple Bottom Line (it doesn’t have to be “triple” … you can have more or less central values). If you’re struggling, check out my post on creating your personal vision and complete the entire exercise. It takes some discipline at first to break the old habits, but once you start experiencing a more enriched and meaningful life, you’ll never want to go back. Decisions become lighter, and life becomes fuller.

For inspiration, check out my friend Ben Dixon’s post on why success almost cost him his life. Ben has accomplished so much at such a young age and is a huge inspiration to me – and there is a lot to learn from his perspective on life.

I hope this post inspires you to find your own Triple Bottom Line in life… to find your central values and aspirations. I look forward to hearing your results in the comments below.

As always, if you have any questions or need any help, contact me directly!

P.S. – If you liked this post, you may enjoy my future ones… Subscribe to my Blog and Newsletter below:

Thank you for reading!

This post just summarizes the 25 Lessons that are discussed in detail in Mark Kurlansky’s book Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea … these are not my own ideas, but the reading certainly stimulated me to think deeply about the concept of dealing with conflicts nonviolently, and gave me a enlightening new perspective on human history, especially within the scope of war, peace, religion, and politics.

Below are the 25 Lessons … I encourage you to pick up the book if you are at all stimulated by these concepts. Also, I welcome all comments, especially debate and controversy!

The lessons:

1. There is no proactive word for nonviolence.
2. Nations that build military forces as deterrents, will eventually use them.
3. Practitioners of nonviolence are seen as enemies of the state.
4. Once a state takes over a religion, the religion loses its nonviolent teachings.
5. A rebel can be defamed and co-opted, by making him a saint after he is dead (e.g. Gandhi)
6. Somewhere behind every war, there are always a few founding lies.
7. A propaganda machine promoting hatred always has a war awaiting in the wings.
8. People who go to war start to resemble their enemy.
9. A conflict between a violent and a nonviolent force is a moral argument. If the violent side can provoke the nonviolent side into violence, the violent side has won.
10. The problem lies not in the nature of man, but in the nature of power.
11. The longer a war lasts, the less popular it becomes.
12. The state imagines it is impotent without a military because it cannot conceive of power without force.
13. It is often not the largest, but the best organized and most articulate group that wins.
14. All debate momentarily ends with an enforced silence once the first shots are fired.
15. A shooting war is not necessary to overthrow an established power, but is used to consolidate the revolution itself.
16. Violence does not resolve, it always leads to more violence.
17. Warfare produces peace activists. A group of veterans is a likely place to find peace activists.
18. People motivated by fear do not act well.
19. While it is perfectly feasible to convince a people faced with brutal repression to raise up in a suicidal attack on their oppressor, it is almost impossible to convince them to meet deadly violence with nonviolent resistance.
20. Wars do not have to be sold to the general public if they can be carried out by an all-voluteer professional military.
21. Once you start the business of killing, you just get deeper and deeper without limits.
22. Violence always comes with a supposedly rational explanation, which is only dismissed as irrational if the violence fails.
23. Violence is a virus that infects and takes over.
24. The miracle is, that despite all of society’s promotion of warfare, most soldiers find warfare to be a wrenching departure from their own moral values.
25. The hard work of beginning a movement to end war has already been done.

Again… I look forward to comments, either supporting or refuting these points, and I that some of are inspired to pick up the book, as it might be like nothing you’ve ever read before.

Also, if you liked this post, please subscribe to my blog and newsletter:

Caution: Valuable FREE Information and Bonuses Ahead…

So last week I (and Cory Shanes, 24/7 Entrepreneur) recruited Branding Expert Ben Dixon to do private training class for us and our personally invited contacts. The people who attended got a TON of valuable education… and it has been great hearing the stories about their results since. Those who missed it… missed it. I have had dozens of people ask me if it was recorded and available. Fortunately, I recorded it for myself … but since so many sincerely asked me for it, I am more than happy to share it.

Also, the FREE bonuses that the lucky people who attended this webinar got are worth several hundred dollars alone…

We gave away a ton of free training products and free custom WordPress Blogs to 15 people.

I have gotten them to extend the special offer and give away more blogs and bonus trainings … as you will see in the recorded webinar. (I’m not sure how long they will last – so don’t procrastinate).

However, to make sure that you are serious about educating yourself about Social Media Marketing for your business, I want you to get on my update list before I give you access to the webinar and the free bonuses. This way, you will stay updated on upcoming webinars and you will be the first to know about our FREE private classes. And you’ll have no excuse to miss it next time

Enter your name and email below to gain access to the webinar and free bonuses on the other side:

(Obviously, you can unsubscribe at any time)

Here is just a brief overview of the webinar:

Would you like to learn how to…

• Attract quality like -minded leads to your Business, even when you’re Sleeping?
• Save money on Marketing expenses?
• Stop wasting your time speaking to the Wrong People?
• Fully integrate your Business with Web 2.0?
• Build a Database of Customers waiting to do Business with you?
• Have your Customers Suggesting your Business to all their Friends?
• Use Social Media to Grow your business?
• Ensure that your social media program Does Not look like Spam?

Learn:

• The Psychology behind identifying your perfect customer.
• How to utilize Facebook to connect with 30 PERFECT CUSTOMERS a day
• The secret strategy to brand yourself so you ATTRACT and CONVERT the perfect customers

We have figured out how to implement these strategies within our businesses…

And here’s the best part, we did this webinar at NO Cost.

The economy has shifted, and people are not doing business they way they used to.

The good news is people are still buying, and spending their money.

So what has changed?

With a smaller budget, individuals are now being more economical with their spending.

They would rather spend their money with someone they “know, like and trust.”

Luckily, with the economical shift, has come a new platform for marketing; Social Media.

Why Social Media?

Let’s face is, nearly everyone, including your Perfect Customers is checking in daily with some form of a social media website.

And let’s not forget browsing the web on their brand new mobile phones.

Social Media allows you to put a system in place in order to attract your ideal customers, and network with them at any time of day.

That’s why we’re bringing in Social Media Branding Expert Ben Dixon, to explain and show you how your business could bring in an endless amount of Your Perfect Customer.

Ben has literally made tens of thousands of dollars from customer’s he connected with right on facebook.

Using these strategies to brand YOU makes all of the difference.