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There are a lot of identity theft cases being reported today and many millions of dollars are being lost as a consequence. It will therefore pay to take a closer look at what is identity theft because the more knowledgeable you are about this particular form of theft, the better equipped you will be to prevent it from happening to you.

The first thing that strikes most people when they wonder exactly what is identity theft is that it involves someone hacking into a bank account (online) or is about using your credit card or your ATM in an illegal manner.

More Than Financial Losses

If you don’t know what identity theft is you will not be able to take preventive measures and you will also not be able to know when and how to look for instances of identity theft. What’s more, identity theft is not confined only to financial losses and there are in fact five different areas that you will need to learn about.

When learning more about what is identity theft, you need to also check to see whether it does not involve your driving license. Identity thieves are known to use stolen identities to create driving licenses in the names of their victims and will then go ahead and commit crimes or do other illegal things in your name - leaving you to face the consequences.

Another aspect to identity theft is the one that relates to stolen Social Security numbers. So, your search for an answer to what is identity theft should also take into account that your Social Security number is a prime target for identity thieves. By stealing your Social Security number, thieves can get 1099 jobs and even cash paychecks while conveniently forgetting to pay their taxes and then leaving you to shoulder the responsibility of correcting their erroneous ways.

Yet another area in which identity thieves strike is by stealing your medical insurance. It means that the next time that you enquire about what is identity theft makes sure to also check whether a thief has not illegally used your health care insurance by having made off with your health insurance card.

In fact, identity theft can also affect your character and this is an area in which you will need to be well informed about because this form of identity theft can be especially hurtful for you. Once your character has been compromised you will find it very difficult indeed to restore your damaged reputation. Finally, you also need to ask questions related to what is identity theft with regard to your finances.

By understanding what identity theft is, particularly in the five areas mentioned above, you will be able to protect you a lot better. Today, there are also credit monitoring services that can help consumers learn to deal with credit fraud and therefore you need to also become better acquainted with this aspect to credit fraud as well. It is never a good idea to wait till identity theft strikes you; rather, you need to find out as much as is possible about what is identity theft and then take remedial steps so that you enjoy a life free from different forms of identity theft.

Bill Protresi is an online security providing tips and advice. Visit Bill at his general security site.

There are not many people who have not heard of hypnosis. However, some of the information out there that people pick up may not be completely accurate. Hypnosis has been used for years to improve the quality of life and because of this we wanted to give everyone a clear image to what Hypnosis really is and various aspects of it. There are many people in the world that want to change one thing or another about themselves or their lives. Hypnosis is one of those great tools to help a person change the things they dislike about their lives.

If you think that hypnosis is the way to make a few positive changes in your life you will want to continue reading through the rest of this article. We are sure that by reading what we have to say you will have all your questions about hypnosis answered and be able to move on to a better life. Hypnosis has been used all over the world for centuries, of course it was not the same every where but it was used in many different forms. In one place people would use what were called Sleep Chambers to help the body and mind relax and in another place they would use repetitive dancing, chanting and singing to change the person’s state of mind.

Many people think of hypnosis as something that can be done to you by a professional hypnotist or something that can be done to one’s self through self-hypnosis videos. Although this is how it is normally done, there is so much more to hypnosis than listening to a hypnotist or tape until you are in a deep trance. For hypnosis to even work correctly the subject has to be in the right frame of mind, so to speak. You see there are four different types of waves that your brain sends out, each type of wave coincides with the state of mind you are in.

If your brain is giving off beta waves this means that your mind is in the waking state. If your brain is giving off Alpha wave this means that your mind is in the Concentration State. If Theta waves are being given off by your brain this means you are in a state of relaxation or mediation and if Delta waves are coming from your brain you are in the Dream State. The best times for hypnosis is when the brain is in the concentration and Meditation State giving off either Alpha or Theta brain waves. The mind is easily influenced during the delta and theta states in which voice can be a very powerful tool.

The subconscious mind is very powerful; in fact it is the connection between the conscious mind and the nervous system. Everything you have seen, experienced and felt is locked away in your subconscious. However, the conscious mind is much different, it is thinking about the here and now and is, in a way, trapped in the moment but it is also influenced by the subconscious. When a person has a bad habit it is because the conscious mind is often caught up in things that could have unhealthy consequences.

The subconscious is aware that the conscious mind is repeating what we know as bad habits. Therefore if certain suggestions are made during a state of hypnosis to the subconscious all kinds of behaviors can be influenced and bad habits can be broken. For example: if a person is a heavy smoker and they go to a hypnotist or hypnotherapist for help quitting the professional would offer suggestions to the subconscious mind of the patient that smoking is bad. Therefore when the person comes to they will not have a desire to smoke anymore.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development.

Upon the diagnosis of an illness everyone, including your doctor, likely tells you to go to a support group. Research has shown that support groups can be extremely helpful in how one copes with disease. And yet, not everyone finds a group to be the answer to the kind of support for which they are searching. Like any kind of group, there are some support groups you will “click” with and others you will not. So don’t rule out all support groups just because one doesn’t seem like a good fit.

But the question still arises. Regardless of whether you are looking for a colon cancer support group or a endometriosis support group, the real question may be, do you really need a support group at this time in your life? Many changes occur while we live decades with illness and there are seasons in our life when an illness support group may hold our very best of friends, and other times when we have no need to attend whatsoever.

Here are eight signs that you may not need a support group right now:

1. You are coping well with the day-to-day aspects of living with illness. You don’t think about your illness non-stop because you’re simply too busy living life.

2. You have a trustworthy group of people who influence you in positive ways. Friends or family members appreciate the magnitude of the choice you make to live your best life possible, despite your daily pain.

3. You don’t feel resentment, anger, or bitterness toward people who don’t deal with chronic conditions. Your relationships with others aren’t tainted by you comparing your abilities (or lack of) with others entering your thoughts.

4. You can have conversations with people without your illness ever entering into it. You understand that your illness is not such a vital part of who you are that you need to explain your medical history to every stranger you meet.

5. You don’t watch others with envy. You feel you have overcome any annoyances you may have previously felt toward people who have their health, but who do not seem to be appreciating it.

6. You have found that when you sit around at support group meetings talking about the highs and lows of living with illness, you rarely leave the meeting feel better. The support group you are in is more depressing than refreshing and talking about your illness doesn’t seem to be helpful.

7. You feel comfortable researching symptoms or making calls to find the information you need in order to be a good advocate for your health and illness.

8. You have formed a friendship with at least one other person who has an illness. It’s important for you to have someone with whom you can vent openly and share your vulnerabilities with in regard to how you live and cope with illness. And contributing your own ideas with another person who understands the details and “language” of illness will be helpful too.

If some of the examples above sounded like a description of where you are at with support groups, it’s likely you don’t really need a support group right now in order to live emotionally healthy with a chronic illness. However, you may be surprised to find that you could be an excellent leader of an illness support group. All of the statements above can be an easy way to create a proposal for starting up a support group.

The most thriving support groups are those which are led by people who have conquered the daily exasperation and bitterness that arise during the first years of a diagnosis. Since you have dealt with all of the emotional ups and downs, a support group of individuals still feeling under attack would benefit from your knowledge and understanding.

If the idea of leading a support group doesn’t sound appealing right now, that’s fine too! Go have fun with any activity you feel passionate about. Just remember, there are remarkable people in support groups who will be there to offer comfort when you find you need it.

Receive 200 tips from “Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend” by Lisa Copen when you sign up for HopeNotes chronic illness ezine at Rest Ministries. Lisa is the founder of Invisible Illness Awareness Week

“It’s not my fault.”

That’s what Ellen, a client of mine, told me. She believed it, too. Her mother and boyfriend caused all her problems. If only they would behave differently, her life would be perfect.

As a counselor, I hear this all the time. “If only my husband/wife/mother/father/boss/employees would do things differently.”

Sadly, even after several sessions, I couldn’t get Ellen to see how she caused all her problems. It was as if there was a vast conspiracy against her, and nobody understood.

Ellen’s situation, while severe, is not unique. Many of us, rather than facing up to our responsibilities, choose to blame almost anything for our failures.

You’re too old. You’re black. You’re white. You were abused as a kid. Your parents were poor role models. You were raised in poverty. You have some physical handicap.

According to Barbara Tuchman, “The number one need we have in our society today are people who accept responsibility.”

Let me just ask you a question: Do you believe that you could take action in the next 2 weeks that would make your life significantly worse?

Could you, then, take certain actions in the next 2 weeks that would make your life better?

If you answered “Yes” to these questions, then you’re admitting that you’re responsible for your own life. Yesterday ended last night. You can’t change it. All you can do is deal with it.

You have admitted that, no matter how good or bad your current situation is, there is a specific action you can take to make it better or worse.

Regardless of how many people argue to the contrary, everything is a choice.

Everything.

If I choose to eat too much, then I have chosen to weigh too much. And, if I choose to dwell on depressing thoughts, I have chosen to be depressed.

The outside events that happen to us only have as much power as we choose to give them. It’s never the events themselves that are important. Rather, it’s how we choose to perceive them.

Shakespeare said that “Nothing is either good nor bad, but thinking it makes it so.”

I read about a study that was done on 300 world class leaders. These were people like Gandhi, FDR, and Mother Theresa. A full 75% of those were raised in poverty, were abused as children, or had a severe physical problem to deal with.

And deal with it they did.

Even during the Great Depression, some people flourished. Conversely, even during times when the economy is magnificent, some people go broke.

If you constantly blame others for your failures, you rob yourself. By believing you’ve done no wrong, you doom yourself to repeat the same mistakes. Only by accepting full responsibility can you learn and move on.

The true responsibility for your life lies within you. A very wise man once told me that underneath every rock, you can find a demon.

He also told me that under that very same rock, you
can find an angel.

I encourage you to look for that angel in yourself. If you ignore the demons long enough, eventually they go away.

Gregory McGuire is a successful network marketer and hypnotherapist living in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Discover why our team is the fastest growing team in Success University.”

If you live with an invisible illness, you may find the emotions of coping with people’s doubts about it can be harder to manage than the disease itself. Most of us with a chronic illness must eventually accept our condition. In order to live our best life, we need to educate ourselves about the disease and make well-researched decisions about treatment.

Those with illness, however, have no ability to make others except the illness or even acknowledge it. We are loved ones are skeptical about the existence or seriousness of her disease, it can be devastating. It can wound our self-worth and cause problems in our relationships.

So what is the best way to respond when someone you care about refuses to accept that you really are ill and that your life is changing dramatically because of it? Here are four steps to best cope:

1. Go with it. Though the seriousness of your illness is significant under your roof, it isn’t that important to others. And there’s no magical conversation you can have with the person that will make him change his mind. The most likely way your friend will accept that your illness is real, is by observing you. For example, your invisible illness may begin to have some visible side effects. When he sees you struggle to get up out of a chair, don’t comment; just let him take it all in.

2. Grow with it. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on how you perceive other people and what you assume about their abilities. For example, when you’re standing in line at the store and feeling wiped out, it is easy to assume “No one else knows how hard this is for me!” Surprisingly, nearly 1 in two people live with an illness and about 96% of the painful diseases are invisible. So the odds are that there are people who do actually understand how you feel. Also, think about what situations your friends are experiencing that you don’t really understand. Is a friend suffering from a spouse who has had an affair? Do they have a parent who has Alzheimer’s? Or have they recently lost a job? All of these events dramatically change one’s life and your friends can use your empathy and understanding.

3. Get over it. You may find yourself thinking “No one understands!” so frequently that you are missing out on new friendships. Save yourself the grief and don’t obsess over how much people sympathize or if they do it appropriately. Though we would all like a loved one to be able to experience what it would be like to slip inside our skin for twenty-four hours, it’s never going to happen. If people around you feel like they can never please you, soon you won’t have any relationships left. You cannot change how someone else thinks; you only have control over your own behavior. So make sure your conversations are full of grace.

4. Get on with it. Life is precious and short and no material things in your life can replace friends and family. It is true that the intimacy level in your relationship will not ever be high if your illness is not at least believed to exist. But if you still want a relationship, and it’s a healthy one in other ways, it can happen.

The odds are that in time your friend will eventually have his own health crisis, and have some level of understanding about what you have faced on a daily basis. He may even turn to you for advice. Be supportive and encouraging. Don’t say “I told you so.”

Go with it. Grow with it. Get over it. Get on with it.

Relationships with those who don’t understand the seriousness of your illness can exist. Be positive, accepting him for what he’s able to give to the relationship, and have reasonable expectations. Someday, this may prove to be one of your most special friendships.

Receive 200 tips from “Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend” by Lisa Copen when you sign up for HopeNotes chronic illness ezine at Rest Ministries. Lisa is the founder of Invisible Illness Awareness Week

There are books and courses out there professing to teach the amazing ability to hypnotize with the written word. I can tell you from personal experience that Hypnotic Writing does indeed work, and that even though I don’t call what I do Hypnotic Writing, it is in fact what I am teaching in all of my courses.

As a matter of fact, if you have read my book “Manipulation”, you have just about everything you need to start the process to do Hypnotic Writing. The keys to Hypnotic Writing are as Follows.

The central theme to being able to write in a Hypnotic way is to learn the concepts and methods of persuasion, subliminal phrasing and direct and indirect commands. These concepts are all easy to learn, but will take many years for you to master.

So, how then do you write something that would be considered Hypnotic? Very simply, you would need to write in a way where the words jump off the page and cause you to want to take action immediately.

Let’s take a look at that last sentence. If you look at the phrase “cause you”, it is a phrase that prepares the mind for what is coming next, which is “take action immediately”. When you use the word “cause”, it instills a yearning for the next sentence.

What happens is the subconscious mind recognizes the “cause you” and starts to reference that phrase from the past and begins the preparation for what is to come. The next phrase is a direct command stating “take action immediately”. The only thing we would need to understand is what we meant by take action immediately in the context of the Hypnotic Writing.

The key to all of this is very simply working to influence the subconscious portion of the mind. When you do that, you will begin to see the value of speaking directly to you’re unconscious.
Ok, so I did it again, I spoke directly to your subconscious mind in the context of the last sentence as well.

Again, when you are trying to get certain words to stand out you can use different methods to bring those words to the forefront to alert the subconscious mind to heed them.

You will notice I used the phrases “you will begin” and “see the value”. These are both considered hypnotic phrasing depending on how you manipulate the words around them. See the value is a direct command. The other big on is “You’re Unconscious”, in which this case I am commanding to your subconscious mind “YOU ARE UNCONSCIOUS”.

These are but a few of the many ways to do Hypnotic Writing. If you have been able to see the value in this limited article of how Hypnotic Writing works, you will be even more intrigued as you begin to study and learn this topic even more in detail.

And if you notice on the last sentence, I got you again. This is the essence of Hypnotic Writing.

A.Thomas Perhacs, is an Expert on Covert Persuasion & Hypnotic Influence. Author of several books
and courses covering hypnosis, meditation, and esoteric powers of the mind. He has just re-released his best selling book, Manipulation, The Master Secrets of Covert Persuasion & Hypnotic Influence.
For a FREE 1 hour audio seminar and report http://hypnosis.advancedmindpower.com

Stress and panic seem to come with everyday life for many of us and learning to control and cope with this can mean less time in the doctor’s office being sick. Stress is not something to turn your nose up at because if it is not treated it can lead to serious illnesses and possibly diseases. What happens is when we let our stress build and build and not control it our bodies become more prone to illnesses because prolonged stress leads to a chemical imbalance in the body. Therefore, if left unchecked stress can lead to many more problems than most people have realized.

Now is the time to learn to cope and manage stress before it is too late to stop some sort of illness affecting you for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, stress is a part of everyday life and it can come from many different places. Stress is caused mostly by worrying about something or feeling nervous about something. If you learn to stop worrying and being nervous so much you can stop stress before it gets too bad. It’s human nature to make a big deal out of the little things because in our minds those little things are not just little things to us.

Sometimes things just seem so much worse than they really are and it can be very difficult to cope when things get to be what we would consider “really bad”. Changes are a part of everyday life, which can be a big reason why stress is such a big part of our lives. The thing you need to learn if you have a problem with stress is to cope with the changes in everyday life and not stress over them so much. You need to figure out what is making us worry so much, reduce your bills if your are stressing of your financial situation or change whatever needs to be changed.

You need to consider changing any unhealthy habits you may have that could also be causing you stress. Without making a few good changes in your life you may continue to stress out and panic, which will eventually cause you to be sick when you did not need to be. Once you make the necessary changes to your life to reduce your stress you may notice how much better your life quality is. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to see if you have made positive changes in your life to calm the stress.

1. How is you working environment? Has is become better since you made the changes?
2. How have you been sleeping, have you been getting more sleep since you made the positive changes?
3. Have your eating habits changed? Are you eating more or less that you used to and is this a direct result of the changes you made?
4. How do you dress, do you dress to meet the latest trends or do you dress to suit yourself and your needs?
5. How is your current financial situation? Did it get worse or did it get better after changing your life for the better?
6. Are you having any kind of problems with the law?
7. Do you have a good family life, is your family supportive of you?
8. Do you have friends that you socialize with on a regular basis?

After you have answered all of the questions you should consider what the changes were that you made in your life. If everything in your life seems to be improving, that means that you have probably made all the changes necessary to lead a healthier life. However, there are times when we do not make the right changes to our lives and they are not improving. This is when we need to repeat the cycle and figure out what is make our lives so stressful and make more changes if need be.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of My-Personal-Growth.com, a site that provides information and articles for self improvement and personal growth and development.

In the mid-1960s, Motown great Smokey Robinson (backed up by his group The Miracles) topped the R&B charts with “You Betta Shop Around!” Goes something like this:

‘There’s some things that I want you to know now
Just as sure as the winds gonna blow now
The women come and the women gonna go now
Before you tell ‘em that you love ‘em so now
My mama told me…’you better shop around’

Don’t Settle for the First Thing That Comes Along

“Well the best thing my mother has told me is watch out for fast women!” said Steve, a 39 year old bachelor with a wry smile. “She told me that long ago. Said they often turn out to be women you basically would not want in the long run. But wow, fast women sure are fun!”

Krystal, now 55, was raised in a home with adultery quite a bit of physical abuse. She and her sisters witnessed her mother being hit many times over the years under her parents divorced when she was 16.

“Divorce wasn’t common in those days, and my mom changed after that. She told me to never settle, ever. She said that while she was raised at a time where women weren’t free to do a lot of dating and getting to know different men, that she didn’t want any of her daughters to be caught in that stale pool. She told me to respect myself, never let anyone (including men) disrespect me… but to enjoy myself and enjoy life.”

Her youngest sister Katherine added: “Mom advised that I should get to know ME first and what I liked/disliked because I could never express to someone else what was right or wrong with the way our relationship was if I didn’t know what it took for me to be happy and satisfied. She reminded me that I had a whole lifetime to fall in love, and encouraged me not to rush into love because I felt it was what I was expected to do or had to do (ya know how some young women will talk themselves into being in love when they become intimate with a man?). Then she told me not to wear too much “rouge” (blush)… because men would never marry a woman that looked loose! LOL!”

At 27 Antonio is hot on the hip hop music scene in Los Angeles. His parents immigrated from Bolivia in the 1970s. “Look, 80 percent of the things my mother says I don’t agree with. Maybe it’s because she’s a woman, but when it comes to relationships she is the judge, jury and executioner! Bring yo gurl or potential gurl around and I’ll be damned if Mom doesn’t expose her for the Princess she is or the tramp she is within 30 seconds flat!

The point I’m tryin’ to make is that parents know the game because they seen it all. A father will read yo man like a book and a mother will give you the 411 on the so called woman of yo dreams. You might not want to hear it but hey, that’s how it is.”

Fathers stepped in to fill in the blanks when Mom didn’t have relationship advice for her offspring. “My mom didn’t specifically give me any advice on love, I’m more so a product of my father’s training” wrote Dionne, a 30 year old marketing rep from Dallas.

“When I was about 9 or 10, I remembered my Dad telling me that when I grew up, I mustn’t allow any man to treat me badly…and I haven’t so far. My father also always allowed me to have the best of anything he had to give or share with me. For example, if he had some fruits, and I wanted any…he would pick out the best looking ones or pieces and offer them to me, and keep the lesser ones for himself. For better or worst, I think I grew up to subconsciously use that standard to judge any man I become involved with. If I don’t see/believe that they consistently take the initiative to always offer me the best…then I know that their time is limited, because I won’t really trust their alleged love for me.”

Don’t Make My Mistakes!

Not all the advice received from Mom was positive. Sherilyn sent an email to share the dating tips learned from her mother. “From my mother I heard: ‘Don’t use me as an example in love, I make horrible choices and have suffered in love.’ She is very, very correct in that statement. Though I’m an accomplished person in my professional life, sadly I modeled a lot of my dating behavior after her and make horrible choices in men too.”

Carmen’s mother focused on self-esteem and acceptance. “From my mother I learned ‘A man will treat you as well as you INSIST, and as badly as you ALLOW.’ And from my father ‘everyone you meet can teach you SOMETHING, even if it’s only whom to AVOID!’

The Dirty Dozen Top 12 List

Many of the tips that came in were very popular, as they were provided by dozens of Moms to their sons and daughters. Here, in no particular order, are the most commonly quoted 12 pieces of advice:

1) Don’t play yourself short. It’s better to be the Mrs. than the Mistress!
2) Don’t love him…but like him. Romance is for weaklings…it clouds your thinking.
3) Pick your battles…don’t be a nag to your man.
4) Men pay for sex one way or another. It’s always better to be the Mrs. than the Mistress!
5) Don’t tell a man everything… they can’t handle it. Don’t reveal everything unless you wanna deal with b.s. all the time.
6) Learn the art of forgiveness. Don’t bring up the past…unless you wanna deal with b.s. all the time.
7) Always keep “car fare” when going out on a date.
Always have a stash of your own money. Keep a savings account in your own name (even when you get married).
9) Never give out personal vital information on the first date.
10) Trust and Respect are EARNED not a GIVEN.
11) If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with!
12) It’s just as easy to love a rich man/woman as it is to love a poor one!

Mothers are very influential over their children. Some of us take the lessons and use them, some of us discard every one of Mom’s words as being bogus and choose our own path.

Without courage and risk of heartache, you cannot achieve the glory and wonders of love. Use Mom’s teachings as a guideline on when and how to give of yourself, maintain personal boundaries of respect, and keep in your life only men and women that give as good as they get.

(c)2008 Deborrah Cooper. Deborrah has authored dozens of relationship articles and advice columns on Ask HeartBeat!, which focuses on modern relationships for teens and adults. Her dating guide Sucka Free Love! provides street-smart, hilarious insight into the toughest issues facing singles today. Check out The Sucka Free Dating Radio Talk Show on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm PST.

A fatwah is a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar. Osama bin Laden issued three fatwahs calling upon Muslims “. . . to take up arms against the United States,” which apparently resulted in the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The term first came to the attention of Westerners more than a dozen years earlier when Ayatollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, called for author Salman Rushdie to be killed for writing a book that was seen to be critical of Islam, “The Satanic Verses” (1988). Rushdie spent nearly a decade hiding underground in fear for his life.

Being a self-help, personal growth & development “scholar”, I am issuing a fatwah of my own: A Fatwah on FADWAS.

FADWA is an acronym or initialism with the capitalized letters standing for F-ear A-nger D-oubt W-orry A-nxiety and S-adness.

FADWAS are the emotional manifestation of negative thoughts and beliefs. FADWAS are the greatest enemies to health, wealth and joy that exist. They are the killers of success and achievement in all forms and all domains of life.

And. . . I am calling for their death. I am issuing a Fatwah on FADWAS.

FADWAS are memories and beliefs (habits of thought) that go far beyond simply dis-empowering. They are the cold-blooded killers of living and working in 3D– as you Desire, Dream and Deserve. They are criminals and they are terminally and mentally insane; hence they are irreconcilable, irredeemable and incapable of rehabilitation. However, they are NOT indelible. They can be erased, removed, washed-away. That requires “Releasing.” “Let go let God,” is one way. There are others.

FADWAS are pervasive worldwide. They exist in everyone.

What is mandatory is for each and every human being to accept complete personal responsibility for ALL the FADWAS of the world. I know. . . I know. . . It’s not your fault. You are not to blame. BUT, you are responsible.

FADWAS are NOT someone else’s problem.

FADWAS are NOT outside forces.

FADWAS are WITHIN US. . . always.

HOW you execute (no pun intended, just a truth) your Fatwah on FADWAS is, of course, up to you. And I am happy to explore all the different approaches with you. . .

My own current modus operandi is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts (heart-felt) command, “Off with their heads!”

Or, in this case. . . off with mine.

Of course, when throwing out the trash it is a smart move to keep the can itself, but that’s another matter for another time.

What your mind believes you will achieve– always and in all ways.

Thanks.

I appreciate you!

John Milton Fogg is an acclaimed writer, editor, speaker, coach and author of the million-selling book, “The Greatest Networker in the World.” His free BeliefBusters Report shows you how to Build Self-Esteem, Stop Negative Thinking and Become Healthy, Wealthy and Happy at: BeliefBusters.com>.

Today we shall look into what kind of unique qualities you have that can improve your chances in your work or in your business. We all have a number of unique qualities which we often are not aware of. This is often referred to as your USB or Unique Selling Proposition. To really appear as unique in what you do, makes it easier for a potential customer or manager to judge if they want what you offer them or not.

Let us take an example: We have John, 38 years old, who run his own business as a specialist in web design. As you might be aware of, there are plenty of companies offering web design which makes it difficult for the customer to choose who to hire. John contacts me since his business does not perform according to his intentions and plans.

John knows that he is really good at what he does, but he has mediocre sales results. We discuss the problem and I ask John what he does. After a while it is clear for me that John does not differ himself from the rest when he has meetings with potential clients. John does not market himself in a way that differentiates him from his competitors, which makes it impossible for the client to understand why they should choose John instead of any other web design company.

I ask John what makes him so good, what he is really good at within his niche. He says: I am quite good at everything but there is nothing special with me. However, I know that this is not true since I have seen Johns web design work and it is really good.

After a lot of discussion and digging into Johns work, we find three things that differentiate John from the rest. These unique things, also called the Unique Selling Proposition (USP), are;

1. John is reliable above the usual. He delivers what he promises and he makes sure the customer is happy with the result.
2. John offers web solutions that the customer himself can administrate, which makes his products very flexible.
3. John has a competence level within his niche that is second to none. All this is offered to a very competitive price.

When John presents his services with these unique qualities it is much easier for the customer to compare Johns offer with the competitors offers, and choose John.
This is a rather simple way to increase your turn around when you know what you are good at, i.e. to market and present your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

So, my question to you my friend is;
- What kind of unique qualites do you have that differentiates you from the rest in your work or in you business?
- Make a list of at least three things that differentiates you from the rest.
- This is your Unique Selling Proposition/your USP.

Do your customers or your boss know what your USP is? If not, make sure you communicate this when you are marketing and selling your product or service.

At the Olympic Games in Montreal Canada 1976, the difference between the winner of 100 meter and the guy who came last, was 1/10 of a second. The winner had certain unique qualities that differentiated him from the rest. He became famous and his name was printed in the history books for ever, while the other names were forgotten only a couple of weeks after the competition. It is on people with these kinds of values the companies choose to sponsor with millions of dollars. The same apply for customers; they bet their money on the people or companies that stands out from the rest and offers unique values.

Good luck with these exercises and do not forget that you are unique. Use your Unique Selling Proposition (your USP) and improve your chances.

Hans Thorn has over 20 years of experience in personal development. He has helped hundreds of clients with success in areas like economy, health and relationships. Get his Personal
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