Coaching | Randy's Blogs

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020

What Is the Cumulative Effect? Encouragement?

What is the cumulative that causes encouragement. I had accomplished much more than I realized.

I have been involved in a writing project that has taken far longer than I anticipated. I have written snippets, research items, whole paragraphs, and rough-drafted chapters. My discouragement has slowed me down at times. Most of those items have been collected in a writing application known as Scrivener. What is the cumulative effect of all this effort?

Besides items saved in Scrivener, several of the chapters were already saved in a Word document.

I was discouraged because of the difficulty of collaborating with extremely busy co-authors (through nobody’s fault), the struggle with producing “good-enough” writing, and working within my own busy schedule. Finally I came to the end of what some writing coaches call, “the vomit draft.” I decided to print out the whole thing and put it in a notebook.

What is the cumulative effect of scattered writing? Encouragement when it is all put together.

This is not the actual title or cover art for the book.

The encouraging thing that happened when I printed this out is that it came to 450 pages. It is double-spaced, but it would probably be 300-350 pages even single-spaced.

When it comes to writing a rough draft, you just need to keep plugging away. Part of the reason I was discouraged on this project is because I teach on the topic of How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less – Without Stressing Yourself to Death. I have accomplished that task more than once, but this was a different kind of project.

Since I had the writing scattered in different places, I really didn’t know how much had been accomplished.

By having this volume of material, It will be a matter of tightening the writing. Many editors actually describe editing as cutting out much of the material. That will certainly be necessary here, but it is encouraging to know that I can be ruthless in that cutting process.

What is the cumulative effect of the scattered writing? The sheer volume means I can be ruthless in editing.

If I had not printed the paper copy, I would not have realized what had been accomplished up to the point.

There is still a ton of work to do, but at least a rough draft is done.

This experience has shown the importance of perseverance in writing.

Have you had similar experiences in hitting roadblocks in writing or in reaching business goals? We would really be glad to hear from you. You could ask a question, or, better yet, give us some helpful tips in the comments section below.

February 2, 2020February 2, 2020

Success When Preparation Meets Opportunity – Our Unplanned Day

Success when preparation meets opportunity can be illustrated when what seems to be luck manifests itself.

Yesterday, Rhonda and I just took a day off. We had plenty of things we could have done, but we just recently came into a position of a little increased cash flow.

We both were in the mood to act on impulse. We had seen TV commercials of steak and lobster deals at a well-known restaurant featuring a country, recently known for outbreaks of fires. We decided to go to that restaurant..

We like where we live, but we would have to drive 60 miles to get to that restaurant for the TV deal.

Our Great Unplanned Day

We just took off.

Working from home and being your own boss is great!

The sky was overcast. We could have taken the fastest route, which would have been Interstate 57 and Interstate 24. We were headed to Paducah, Ky.

We decided, rather, to take the scenic route. In fact we just drove in the general direction of our destination. There is no shortage of deer in Southern Illinois. Speaking of the steakhouse we were going to, we previously visited the country it is known for. That was several years ago, but we were surprised to see that kangaroos were just as plentiful there as the deer are here.

We did see some deer. We saw some parts of our countryside that made us feel a little like Daniel Boone when he said, “No, I was never lost, but I was a might bewildered once for three days.” I kept singing, “Three-hour tour” (If you know about Gilligan’s Island, you will get that.)” Finally, we turned on the GPS and confirmed that we were going to end up on a familiar road again.

We did have some general ideas of what we wanted to accomplish. I needed a new suit, and we remembered a clothing store there where I had bought one abut 20 years ago. We knew it was still there because it had advertised on TV too.

I went there and found one. They held it for us while we went to eat lunch.

Then we went to a couple of home improvement stores and found some new stick-on plank flooring. We are going to use it in our bathroom.

We did have a good meal, but, most of all, we just enjoyed the day together. We checked prices on suits and went to the Kentucky Oaks Mall. We went back and bought that first suit I tried on. We even did something exciting like grocery shopping.

Vacation Unplanned Days

Unplanned days can be really great. In fact, when we go on vacation, we usually try to plan to have an unplanned day. Lot’s of times we end up playing miniature golf, but it is not necessarily planned. Sometimes, many times, those are the highlights of the trip.

I have a friend who tells about the time he and his wife just started driving west. They had a several-day vacation without any planning at all. I’m not sure they recommend that all the time or for everyone, but they said they had a wonderful time on that particular occasion.

One year, when our children were small, I had a trip planned for work. The week before it was supposed to take place, the organizers cancelled the business event. It just happened to be during the spring break for school. The kids were off. I was scheduled to be off. I suddenly turned to Rhonda and said, “Let’s go to Disney World!” Rhonda looked a little surprised, but she agreed. We packed and left. At that time we lived only 8 hours away. It tuned out to be a fabulous vacation.

The Value of Rest

Unplanned days can be great for rest and relaxation. What is the value of working so hard toward your goals (which are extremely important) if you don’t get to enjoy life along the way?

Rest and getting way from stress can also be great rebuilders for increased productivity when you get back in the swing of things.

Success When Preparation Meets Opportunity

Sometimes it looks like “luck” when we obtain success.

Rhonda and I went to the Kentucky Opry two or three years ago. It featured some young musicians. The MC of most of their programs teaches some music, and several of his students were on the stage. He, on more than one occasion, called on some of them to jump in on some of the songs unrehearsed. They did very well. He made the statement, “Success comes when preparation meets opportunity.”

Sometimes opportunity presents itself when you don’t really expect it. That is why you need to be ready at all times.

When you learn new techniques, you may not be very good at using them at first, but when you keep trying, you improve. If you continue long enough, you get to where you are actually good at utilizing those techniques.

Rodney Miller and Jann Carl are the co-hosts of a great TV program called, Small Town Big Deal. They tell of going into many meetings trying to gain sponsors or investors. They were turned down many times, but their attitude is, “No meeting is a bad meeting.” They say they always learn something. They learn new ways to pitch their ideas. They get smoother at making their presentations. Every meeting is an opportunity to improve, to prepare more. Eventually, they had more positive results with many of their meetings.

The point is, in your business, you just need to keep preparing. Many successful business coaches have evaluated other businesses. While no one can predict the future, these experienced entrepreneurs observed the failing business, and they were convinced that the failed businesses were very close to success. Because of their own experience of staying with it until things turned around, these evaluators have a reason for thinking others were very close to reaching their goals.

Conclusion

Prepare, and you will be ready when opportunity comes.

On the way to success, though, take some time to enjoy yourself. You can get to the place where you can enjoy some unplanned days.

If you would like know more about some more business tips like these, click here. If you interested in some great training that would help you to be prepared to meet opportunity, check this out.

I would like to know your ideas about this. Have you had some good unplanned days? Have you had unexpected opportunities come your way? Please let me know in the comments section below.

January 26, 2020January 28, 2020

Learning Through Trial and Error – Upwards Basketball and Success

Learning through trial and error is important when entering any new venture.

Today, my wife and I went to see an “Upwards Basketball” game. Our grandson, Jameson, has played for a few years.

You might say that their team, Kindergarten through first or second grade, I think it its, is a “peewee” team. They have varying levels of abilities, but this experience is especially designed for them to have positive experiences while learning the game.

At this level, there is a lot of stopping and picking up the basketball while they are supposed to be dribbling.

When the possession changes, the coaches constantly just tell the teams which direction to go.

They learn to keep their hands up on defense, but they are encouraged not to steal the ball unless it just falls into their possession.

They also are encouraged to shoot when they have the ball. They try to get each one to have a shot at the basket. When a basket is made, there is a lot of cheering from the fans, regardless of whether it is made by their child’s team.

So it is with business sometimes. When you are trying to learn the skills for a new business, sometimes you may feel like some of those players. Sometimes they don’t even know which direction to go. Sometimes they make mistakes, or should I say, lots of times they make mistakes. The coaches keep the action going. They see the value of keeping on until their skills improve.

My daughter tells me that the teams that are much older, look a whole lot more like the competitive basketball we might be used to watching. Still, sportsmanship and positivity is emphasized. I think it is a great program.

In our online businesses, our speaking experiences, and our writing projects, we cannot stress enough the value of continuing.

When you make mistakes, and you often will in those early days, learn from them and go on.

If you don’t know which direction to go, learn from more experienced people, if you can. If that opportunity is not there, sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it.

Then, keep taking your best shots. Eventually, more of them go through the hoop. In business, eventually you will approach and obtain success. Actually Jameson made several of his shots today.

Learning through trial and error is important in both basketball and business.

It seems like I am on a basketball kick right now. Who knows what a life in the day may bring next?

How have you benefitted from trial and error in your business experiences? Who has been a good coach for you? When has someone with a positive attitude encouraged you to keep going?

A very positive business community can encourage you in your journey to success. One of them is mentioned at the end of this other basketball article.

I would like to hear from you. If you have any questions, please ask them or give your own experiences in the comments below.

Until next time,

Randy

January 22, 2020January 22, 2020

Persistence in Business — Basketball Memories

Basketball Memories Remind Us the Importance of Persistence — It takes persistence to consistently win!

Persistence in business sometimes has some unusual parallels.

Last night, my granddaughter invited me to take her to our local high-school men’s basketball game.

I had one student in particular I wanted to watch play. His grandfather and I were in the same class at this local high-school.

This student is a freshman; however, I remembered seeing him play last year at the junior-high games. I thought I might get to see him play in both games. When I got there, though, about a minute after the JV game started, he was not on the floor. Then I spotted him in dress clothes sitting behind our bench.

Finally, I realized he was not playing for the JV game because he was a starter for the varsity.

Last year, our school had a nearly undefeated season. They lost one game in a winter tournament, and then they lost again, having advanced to the regional tournament.

At least four regular players from that team were seniors, so the makeup of this year’s team is quite different. They had a senior and another boy who was either a junior or a senior. I don’t remember what grade the middle starter was in. Then they had two freshmen.

To make matters worse, we played a school that happened to be our arch rivals when my friend and I were in high school. We lost quite handily, although I did get to see the freshman I came to watch make some very good plays.

When we were in high school, we always wanted to beat this rival team. Many times we would get close, but we just never could get over the hump … Except … One time we played them on their home court. It was their homecoming game, and on that particular night, we did win — by one point!

Persistence does pay off. Even when an athlete does not play on a team with a winning season, he or she often learns the importance of integrity, fair play, good exercise, coordination, and contributing to the work of a team.

I even joked to a college coach with whom I became good friends. I told him a joke I often used. I said, “I was one of the ones who made the first five great!” meaning that I was faithful in practice, but I was never one of the starters on the team.

I thought he would get a kick out of that. Instead, he very seriously replied, “A good practice player is worth his weight in gold.”

Persistence in business pays off. You may not hit the top of the sales in your particular niche. Yet, you may do well enough that you reach the point to where you can quit your “day job.” You may reach the point to where you have freedom of schedule. You will still work hard as you work for yourself, but it will be a very rewarding journey.

Let’s just remember that persistence pays off. Who knows, by the time my friend’s grandson is a senior, they may have an almost undefeated season again.

Persistence in home-based businesses coupled with good information pays off greatly. A program called “Wealthy Affiliate” is one of the best places I know to get the good information and training a person would need to succeed in an online business.

January 21, 2020January 22, 2020

Mort Fertel’s Marriage Fitness Review: An Alternative to Marriage Counseling

Marriage Fitness Review — Fix Your Marriage Now

My Ratings: 9.9 out of 10

Product: Three Options, Audio Files, Tele-Boot Camp, Private Sessions
Price: $69.95 Audio, $179/mo. for 3 months, or $875+ private sesseions
Review Focus: The Marriage Fitness Tele-Boot Camp, $179/mo 3 times
My Rating: 9.9 out of 10

Mort Fertel’s Marriage Fitness Program – Product Overview

This Marriage Fitness review features Mort Fertel’s Marriage Fitness Program.

The Tele-Boot camp includes 7 Teleconference calls. These are the heart of the customization of this program to your situation. During each hour-long call Mort conducts an open-mic Q and A teleconference. You can listen for answers if you wish. Better yet, you can ask your own specific questions. If you can’t make the scheduled, you can listen to the recorded sessions.

In addition to the tele-conferences, you will have access to a solutions library of audio files. This is the most comprehensive marriage-crisis audio library in the world. Whatever your problem, the solution is here. Got a question? You’ll find the answer here too. There are 162 audio files searchable by topic. Just click, listen, and you’ll go from confused and frustrated to clear and calm. User feedback indicates that the most compelling and solution-oriented content is here. Many users listen to these audio files multiple times.

Then there is a 15-part audio learning system in a designated sequence rather than wide array of topic in the solutions library. Choose between CDs or instant digital online access. This audio series will answer every question you have about how to transform your marriage. And you’ll get step-by-step instructions on how to turn your marriage around.

Accompanying the 15-part audio learning system is a 200 page workbook and personal journal.

Further, you receive an autographed copy of Mort’s book, Marriage Fitness: 4 Steps to Building and Maintaining Phenomenal Love.

You will receive 7 key Homework Assignments, an Implementation Schedule, and 5 Marriage Assessments.

All of the materials can be accessed through a special members-only website.

Benefits of Identification

Concerning Your Marriage, Have You Ever Heard or Felt the Following:

Have you wondered how you can fix the “I love you, but I’m not in love with you” declaration?
We’ve tried counseling, but all we do is fight about the past
I really wish there was a way to wipe the slate clean
We need to find a way to rekindle “Desire” in our marriage
My spouse doesn’t trust me anymore. How can I fix that?
How do I know if I married the right person
How can I get my spouse to change?

Benefits of Practical Solutions

The Marriage Fitness Program has 90% success rate. Instead of spending hours dealing with the past, you will find practical techniques that will bring hope in the following areas:

How to increase the effectiveness of your marriage
How to forgive and be forgiven
How to get over the past
How to reconnect with your spouse
How to work on your marriage even if your spouse is resistant by using “The Lone Ranger Track”
How to ruin their affair if your spouse is involved in one
How avoid a separation or stop a divorce

Mort Fertel - Founder of the Marriage Max Marriage Fitness Program — Mort Fertel – Founder of Marriage Max and the Marriage Fitness Program

Pros and Cons

Pros

Focuses on Present Solutions, not dwelling on past mistakes
Author and wife discovered the techniques while rescuing their own marriage
There is a track for one spouse when the other will not participate
Except for the one-on-one in-person counseling, the cost is relatively low compare to long periods of traditional counseling
Is an alternative to traditional marriage counseling
Has three different levels of participation to meet differing budgets
Has a 90% success rate

Cons

Is not traditional counseling — Some may feel the need for the traditional route
The in-person meetings are quite expensive
When the other spouse is not on board, the program will likely take longer
The least expensive option does not have the interactive features that the recommended option has
Those who are not “teachable” are likely to fail because of not giving the techniques a fair chance
Not everyone will have the technology to receive the full benefits of the Tele-Boot Camp Option

It’s Conclusive For Me: Marriage Fitness Is an Outstanding Product

I certainly like this product. The principles are common-sense items. The cost is truly low enough that it would be worth the try for anyone who strongly desires improve or restore his or her marriage.

If this sounds appealing to you, I highly recommend you get Mort’s Free Report on 7 Secrets to Fixing Your Marriage, and that you enroll in one of his subsequent programs.

I hope you enjoyed this review, and if you have any questions about The Marriage Fitness Program or want to leave your own personal review, please leave a comment below.

January 6, 2020January 6, 2020

Avery’s Money Pizza

Would You Like to Have Money So Plentiful That Getting More Would be Like Picking up a Pizza?

Yesterday, we went to my grandson’s, Avery’s, seventeenth birthday party. Here is a picture of him with Rhonda and me. He has passed both of us in height!

Avery with Randy and Rhonda — He Doesn’t Even Have His Shoes On!

We wanted to give some money for a gift, but Rhonda got a little creative after seeing a post on Facebook or Pinterest.

She had been in Marion for a ladies’ seminar planning meeting, and on the way home she went through the drive-through of a local pizza place. She told the girl helping her what she was planning because she had asked if she could jut buy a box with nothing in it. After she told the young lady what she was going to do, the girl grinned and blurted out,

“Oh, Will you be my Grandma!”

Here is a picture of the present we gave Avery.

Admittedly, they were just all $1 bills, but I think he liked it very much.

Wouldn’t it be great if making money were as easy as investing 65 cents in a pizza box and then receiving 15 times that in return.

In our case, the love of family is greater than finances, but finances do help!

Several years ago, I started experimenting with making money online through internet marketing. One of the ways to do that is through affiliate marketing, and the best place I found to learn how to do that is a site called, “Wealthy Affiliate.”

I started taking the training and working with the program. Before long, I had enough coming in from affiliates to cover the cost of my program.

I was still working my “Day Jobs” and doing my other ventures of writing books and doing some public speaking. I also continued as a bivocational minister. Each time the revenue from those online ventures increased, my “day jobs” picked up. For instance I started as a part-time adjunct professor at the start of a new college and moved through the ranks to become the provost before I left. Those claims on my time caused me to be work less on my online ventures, but I kept learning.

Since I “retired,” I am getting back into the swing of things and am enjoying it vary much. During that time with the college, I finished books nine and ten of my writing projects, and am currently working on a collaborative book.

I am offering coaching for those who would like to be writers, and in the next few weeks, I will be offering a course on writing. For those of you interested in the personal coaching options, you can click here.

My your days be prosperous and your times with family filled with joy.

Wishing you the best in 2020,

Randy

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018

Welcome to Randy’s Blogs

Welcome to Randy’s Blogs where you will see awesome opportunities in writing, speaking, and coaching!

Afraid you can’t write? Check out Randy’s signature encouragement: How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less, Without Stressing Yourself to Death.

Afraid you can’t speak? See what Randy learned after his dismal failure of presenting his seventh-grade oral book report.

Have skills that you would like to share with others? You might just be the life coach or success coach who will change a person’s life.

Along with all of this, grab some of Randy’s tips for having a sparklingmarriage, most of which come from his six-book series on The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

If you are a bi-vocational or retired minister, you likely have all three of these skills for writing, speaking, and life coaching. If you would like to focus your second vocation or continued ministry in this area, this is the place for you.

However, this opportunity is not limited just to ministers. if you want to develop these skills and scale them to the point of a full-time income, we have the info that can help you get started today.

Putting these skills together to develop an online business is a life changer, and it is something that even beginners in each of these areas can accomplish.

I look forward to spending some time with you, and hearing about your success stories in the days to come.

Learn more.

June 30, 2018May 3, 2019

5 Writing Tips for Beginners (Part 1)

5 writing tips for beginners will be featured in this and the next few posts in this blog.

Utilizing these writing tips has helped me to finish three books in the last few years.

The first tip will inspire you if you think you are too busy to write a book.
The second tip will give you a great verbal technique to overcome “writer’s block.”
The third tip will build on the second and make things even easier.
The fourth tip will describe an inexpensive tool that will help you reach your word-count goals for your rough draft.
The fifth tip is essential to get your book started.

Today, we are dealing with tip number one of five writing tips for beginners, which is:

Realize the value of five minutes

First Key — Time Management–Realizing the Value of Five Minutes

As we progress though these posts, we will see there are five major tips to being able to get a book done.

The first one deals with a major hurdle we must jump in order to get the book from our heads to paper. This is very important for any project. That simply is the area of what we call “time management.”

Actually, “Time management” is sort of a misnomer. We can’t really manage time.

Time is time. We can’t change it, but we can manage what we do in relation to our time.

Benjamin Franklin said that “time is the stuff of which life is made.” That is very true.

What you can’t put into a time, you cannot put into life.

We all have the same amount of time. We all have 24 hours each day. That figures out to 168 hours per week. That also means that each of us has 1,440 minutes every day. Then we have 10,080 minutes every week.

It is what we do in those minutes that makes the deciding difference in our lives. Will we squander those minutes, or will we use them for something productive?

Here is one secret of using your time in relation to the process of writing: Write in 5-minute segments. How is that a major breakthrough? You can get a tremendous amount done by writing in small segments, such as five-minute segments. You can accomplish such a tremendous amount because you have more than 10,000 minutes every week.

Let’s say you go to the dentist’s office. You could sit there waiting. You could get one of their magazines and try to find something interesting to read. You might even take your own book with you. That would probably be a little more purposeful than just looking at their magazines.

Of, you could have your writing materials with you: maybe a pen and paper, or maybe even your laptop computer.

Maybe you determine to use your waiting time to your best advantage. You have planned your book in five-minute projects. You begin to write. You keep your eye on your watch. After five minutes, no one has called you back yet. You start on the next project. Still, no one has called you back. You even finish it, and you get another five-minute project completed …

More than likely you will not get your book done by just using waiting time, but you could get a lot of it done even then.

Aside from that, you may have to carve out a time. If you work from home, as most of us writers do, you may have to designate a special room for writing. You might have to put a little sign on the door that says, “I’m working.” That will just be a gentle reminder that you should not be disturbed unless the need to talk to you is extremely important.

You also may have to find good times for solitude. You may get up earlier or later than the rest of the family. You might do both—get up a half-hour earlier and go to bed a half-hour later than the rest of the family. If you do that, you would just have to find an extra fifteen to thirty minutes during the day in order to get your rough draft done in less than a month.

An hour-and-a-half a day will allow you to get your first draft done in less than four weeks for most books.

I am just trying to encourage you to understand that you can write a book.

The first tip to getting our books done deals with that major hurdle we must jump in order to get the book from our heads to paper. That key has do with managing our use of time effectively. We call it “time management.”

Go here to get a free report that will further help with time management.

We will look at two more writing tips that involve verbal techniques to get our books rolling. Then we will look at a device that we can use to help us meet our deadlines. Then, finally the fifth tip will deal with perhaps a surprising but major contributor to procrastination.

You can get a free report on Time Management for Writers at http://DrRandyCarney.com The principles for professional speakers who would be writers are completely applicable to all beginning writers.