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Imagine for a second that you bought two computers. These are two identical pieces of hardware. They have the same amount of memory, the same central processing chips, and they have the same amount of storage. In fact, they are completely identical in terms of hardware.

Now, imagine for a moment that you decided to install an operating system on one computer that is dedicated to spreadsheets. This operating system can only handle spreadsheet software. For the other computer, you install a word processing operating system. This software will only let people type and handle text or similar content.

After the installation process is done, do you think you can run a spreadsheet on the word processing computer? Similarly, do you think you can do extensive word processing on the spreadsheet computer? Of course, not. They have different software installed, which impacts what they do. In other words, your operating system dictates your machine's actions, capabilities and potential.

Seems pretty simple, right? Pretty straightforward, correct? Well, what if I told you people are the same? That's right. What you wear, how much money you make, where you live, how educated you are, and pretty much everything else around you are products of what you choose to install in your mind.

What you choose to believe about yourself, your place in the world, what you're capable of, what your limits are, and what your past is about impacts your results today. In other words, you're not much different from identical pieces of hardware programmed to do different things because of their different operating systems.

If you are, in any way, unhappy with anything in your life, please understand that this is a product of your mental operating system. Unfortunately, a lot of people are unaware that this is happening. They think that their personal challenges are just products of bad luck.

Maybe they were just born to the wrong family. Maybe they were born at the wrong time. Maybe they just joined the wrong company. Whatever the case may be, the problem, as well as the solution, lies outside of them.

What if I told you that the answer is always internal? Whatever challenge you're facing, you can solve it by changing your mental operating system. You can either create dramatic changes or, by changing your response to external stimuli, you can position yourself to achieve better results.

Make no mistake about it, whatever is challenging is not caused by people who want to harm you or who have formed a conspiracy against you. Whatever is holding you back is not the product of forces beyond your control. In fact, the reality is the precise opposite: you are always in control.

When you choose to become aware of your mental operating system and swap it out or reformat your mental drives with a better operating system, you will achieve better results. Sounds good so far? Great. But here's the problem: most people don't know how to do this right.

This is why they fill their minds will all sorts of slogans that don't really change their behaviors. Let me tell you, you can fill your mind will all sorts of ideas, but none of those solutions will change your personal reality until and unless you act on them the right way.

Click the image to read this book on how to effectively change your mental operating system. I'm going to step you through the process that would enable you to adopt the right internal beliefs that can take your personal results to a much higher level.

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Do you have a lot of hopes and dreams? Do you wish that you had certain things in your life? Do you wish that you achieved certain things in the past? Do you have big plans for your future? Do you have a distinct sense of your own personal destiny?

Most people have these ideas. Even a person who has been crushed by one disappointment after another still has big ideas for his or her life. The problem is, hoping and wishing is one thing, actually achieving those hopes and dreams is another thing entirely.

The reason why most people cannot achieve their big goals in life is not because they are dumb, okay? Let's just get that out of the way. It's not because they're somehow mentally, emotionally, or even physically incapable of achieving their dreams.

Believe it or not, it also doesn't involve money. What if I told you that a lot of billionaires, who have a lot more money than most people can figure out what to do with, started out with zero? In fact, in the case of Sam Walton, he started out with less than zero – he was buried in debt. But that did not get in the way of him becoming one of the world's richest people.

It's not lack of resources that keeps you from achieving your hopes and dreams. What's getting in the way? Well, it's your mindset.

Now, you're probably rolling your eyes and thinking very dismissively of this article. Hear me out. Let me tell you, the only person that can prevent you from living the kind of life you have dreamt of for yourself is you.

There's nobody pointing a gun at your head right now forcing you to live far below your potential. You're doing it to yourself.

Somehow, some way, you started believing in things that dragged you down and held you back from the kind of mindset that will take you to ultimate success. Nobody did it to you. You did it to yourself voluntarily. You're not trapped in some system that actively prevents you from achieving success.

I know this sounds harsh, it may even seem like I'm blaming the victim, but hey, let's be clear here. Once you start thinking that you are a victim, it's too easy to fail. In fact, you've already failed at some level or another because you feel that you're a victim; that the world owes you something.

At some level or another, you're a person who thinks that things just happen to you instead of you having the power, ability and mindset to make things happen. Instead of being a victor, you are the victim. Things happen to you instead of you causing things to happen.

You're kind of like this piece of plastic that's just floating around on the surface the sea in the middle of a storm. There's really no direction. There's definitely no control. You're just there for the ride and it's anybody's guess where you end up.

Sounds hopeless, right? Well, you just need to fix this one habit that you have for you to turn things around. I know it sounds crazy, but it's not too late to turn things around.

If you feel that you've spent all this time, and regardless of how hard you try and what you try you only fail, you can still turn things around. If you feel that your life has been a massive disappointment and you don't know what your life means, you can still turn things around. How? Very simple: start turning your shoulds into musts.

Let me be clear, everybody knows what they should be doing because if we stuck to what we should be doing and follow through, we would be in better shape. We would have better health, we would have amazing jobs, we would be happier, and we would feel more content and fulfilled.

We know the answer. We know full well what we should be doing. But the problem is, human beings instinctively do not focus on what they should do. To them, these are options. They'll get to them when they have the time, money and resources. In other words, they don't get to them.

Why? They're focused on what they must do. These are things that ensure we stay alive and we get to the next day. And believe me, most people focus so much time and energy into what they must do that they have very little left for what they should be doing. In reality, it's the things that you should do that takes your life to the next level.

So what is the secret? Turn your shoulds into musts. You have to look at the things that you should be doing and see the urgency there. Allow yourself to get so emotionally engaged so you actually put one foot in front of the other to do those things. Accordingly, you end up at a much better place.

Is this easy? Absolutely not. Is it necessary? Of course. Thankfully, there is one thing you can do to more easily and more manageably turn your shoulds into musts.

Click the image to read this book to fully unleash your personal potential. I'm going to walk you through the process of changing your mindset as well as your daily practices so you would be able to turn more of your shoulds into musts.

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Do you feel that you could be achieving more things with your life? Have you made certain decisions that you constantly regret? Do you think about one or a few people who you feel are to blame for whatever is missing, broken or inadequate in your life? Do you feel that you are capable of so much more, but for some reason or another, you just can't achieve the kind of life you would like for yourself?

If you have these feelings, it's very easy to stay emotionally down. It's easy to feel that regardless of what you do, your life is not going to improve because, at the back of your mind, your life just sucks. It may not be the absolute worst, but it's far from ideal.

Well, you might be engaged in a habit that constantly makes you feel lousy about your life. The more you do this, the more you get down on yourself. You beat yourself up emotionally and psychologically. You feel that whatever it is that you have achieved, it's never enough. You never run out of reasons to feel unhappy about whatever it is you have.

What if I told you that, to possibly billions of people on this planet, you have an ideal life? You might find this laughable because in your mind, you're living in this box, working a job you hate, not making the kind of money you feel you should be making, and looking far below the standard of beauty you set for yourself. You might even have many other reasons why your life is far from perfect or is even downright horrible.

Well, what if I told you that hundreds of millions of people all over the world don't even have $2 to rub together every single day? That's right, they are forced to live on less than $2 a day.

Since they don't have that money, they don't have enough calories. They're malnourished. Even the simplest luxuries of life slips through their fingers. And here you are, thinking about how miserable your life is, refusing to feel content when you are living the life hundreds of millions of people would kill for.

I share this with you to give you a sense of perspective because if you constantly feel lousy, it's because you are comparing yourself to others. I'm telling you, this is the most efficient way to feel lousy about your life. It doesn't matter what you've achieved in the past, it doesn't how talented, skilled and powerful you are as a person, you will always come up short.

If you don't believe me, imagine this scenario. Warren Buffet, a person who is consistently in the top ten list of richest people on the planet, can easily make himself feel lousy and worthless. How? He only needs to compare himself to Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan is a basketball legend, so if Warren Buffet compares his basketball skills to Michael Jordan, he will lose each and every time. Guaranteed. See how powerful this technique is in making yourself feel lousy?

Now, most of us engage in this by simply checking our Facebook accounts. You'd see all sorts of awesome videos of people living life to the fullest, and here you are, struggling with putting food on the table and making sure the rent is paid at the end of the month. You focus on the worst things in your life while checking out pictures and videos of people sharing the best in their life. Do you see the disconnect? Do you see how this leads to you feeling lousy each and every time?

So what is the solution? Very simple: stop comparing yourself to other people. Instead, adopt this one practice that would enable you to focus on the things that are going right and use them as building blocks for the kind of life you want for yourself.

If you are sick and tired of comparing yourself to others and feeling lousy each and every time, read this book to solve this problem once and for all. Not only will this book enable you to pick up the right mental and emotional skills to always be inspired and motivated, it will also change your attitude regarding certain elements of your life so you can position yourself to become a more effective person.

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Did you know that you're constantly programming your mind? In fact, chances are quite good that you're programming your mind right now.

I know, you're reading this article, but that won't stand in the way of you programming your mind to look at reality a certain way and to respond to it a certain way. In fact, most people constantly reprogram their minds and are perfectly unaware that this is going on.

Sounds crazy? Well, this is called self talk. All of us have this script that we are silently playing in the background of our minds. While we may not hear this script with our ears, our minds pick them up loud and clear.

I wish I could tell you that these scripts are just random mentally spoken words that you play in the background in your mind. I wish I could tell you that they're as harmless as the music you hear in a typical shopping center as you pick stuff off the shelf. Unfortunately, if you are not aware of your mental self programming, you will continue to engage in behavior that you're not all that happy with.

Whatever you're frustrated with in your life, maybe it's your career, maybe it's your relationships, maybe it's your weight, physical appearance, or whatever else, these are products of your self talk.

A lot of people don't want to own up to this responsibility. A lot of people would even be offended by this idea. They would blurt out, "Why would I want to consciously be miserable? Who would want all these painful memories in my life? Who would want to consciously screw themselves up? I didn't want this. I didn't want these failures in my life. I didn't want these traumatic experiences. How can you say that I programmed myself to live out these things?"

I understand the resistance. It's perfectly natural. But at the end of the day, the only person that's responsible for your life is yourself. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. It doesn't matter that people would rather not accept this reality, but it's true.

Nobody can force you to live your life except yourself. For some reason or another, you have accepted to live your life. And that's why regardless of how frustrated you are, regardless of how you struggle with certain things in your life, that's the kind of life you live because, at the end of the day, you chose to be there.

If you understand this and you are willing to accept that this is the reality of your life instead of constantly imagining all sorts of excuses, you will get out from under your problems. Seriously.

Have you ever noticed that people who remain frustrated and who continue to struggle for long stretches of their life are all too eager to point the finger to their bad childhood, other people's mistakes or, worse yet, people who just have it in for them? There's this group of bad people in their lives that are just hell bent on making their lives a living hell.

These are convenient excuses. Now, don't get me wrong. There may be people who would love to spit in your face and harm you. Those people do exist. But at the end of the day, you choose your life. You choose to respond to those people a certain way that drags you down further and further into that hole that you're in. This all leads back to how you choose to program your mind.

Understand how self talk works and train yourself to recognize negative affirmations. These are statements that you say to yourself over and over again that define you in such a way that you're less effective, less happy and less content.

Thankfully, there is a way to get out of this. And it's actually much simpler than you think. It doesn't have to involve drugs, it doesn't have to involve expensive psychological counselling, it doesn't have to involve some sort of intervention by people who love you. Instead, it involves one simple decision that can have a profound impact in your life.

Click the image to read my book on this one effective solution. It can easily be one of the best things you have ever done in your life.

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Here’s where 99% of unsuccessful brands are going wrong: they are too cynical.

What do I mean by this?

I mean that they are getting into online marketing and creating a brand for all the wrong reasons. Most often, this means that they’re getting into it because they want to make a quick buck and they want to promote their product to as many people as possible.

But what does this do? Simple: it turns their brand into one that people will come to associate with spam. It demonstrates a complete lack of interest when it comes to providing value and quality. And it sends signals that this is the case.

I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to make the same mistakes. I want you to realize that in order to have a highly successful brand and build a big audience, you need to choose a niche that you are passionate about. You need to build a brand that you are proud of and that you love. And you need to keep at it out of love, even when it’s not growing as fast as you hoped.

Reasons Why Cynical Doesn’t Work

Take a look at the biggest sites in your niche – the ones that you yourself probably signed up to. These are the sites that have unique logos, stunningly designed websites and an interesting hook that sets them apart from the competition. They provide excellent content and they clearly are invested emotionally in the subject of their blog.

This makes a huge difference because it means that when you land on their site, you know what they’re all about and you trust them. The site looks professional and their writing is eloquent and well informed.

Compare this to a site that has clearly been knocked together and that is only interested in selling to you.

I encounter lots of clients who are attempting to build the latter kind of site. They order generic content, they have bland web designs and they clearly have no interest in the niche and no understanding. And guess what? You never see those sites again. They never make it big. And why would they? They are offering no value to their prospective audiences. They are writing about a subject of which they are ill informed and they selling a product without demonstrating any capability to make something worthwhile.

Building a passion project takes longer. But it is the only way to build an audience. Trust me.

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I was recently inspired by the story of a brand that recently made it big. That brand is Charisma On Command, which is all about ways you can present yourself more engagingly and persuade others. The channel is doing very well now on YouTube and in one video, the presenter explained how this success came only once they decided to focus on YouTube and stop concentrating purely on their blog.

The difference was immediately apparent. YouTube gave the creators a way to convey their personalities and thereby to build much closer relationships with their audience. At the same time, they were able to stand out with high quality production values and with a channel that looked and sounded instantly engaging.

And this is something that you should DEFINITELY consider as well if you are currently trying to grow an audience. Here is why:

It’s Not as Hard As You Think

You might be thinking that you don’t have what it takes to create a successful YouTube camera. Maybe you’re reluctant to go in front of the camera or maybe you don’t believe you have the necessary skills.

Firstly, note that a lot of successful YouTube channels like ASAPScience and Mr. Sunday Movies don’t ever go in front of the camera either. As for editing etc., this can often be accomplished through outsourcing.

You Can Stand Out

When head onto YouTube, you can immediately stand out in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. You know those reservations we just addressed? Those are the same reservations held by countless other creators and as such, fewer brands are on YouTube than have blogs.

SEO Actually Works

Because of this lower competition, SEO on YouTube is much simpler and more effective. If you want to become the top video for a popular search term, it’s a simple matter of creating something great, adding the right keywords and then thinking about how you can link it with other popular videos so it will be a suggested video.

It’s Highly Engaging

Finally, video give you the opportunity to get your personality across, to convey emotion and to generally engage your audience in a manner that simply isn’t possible with the written word alone. This means people will be much more likely to subscribe and you can even ask them to follow you on social media, or to sign up to your mailing list.

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If you want to create a big audience for your website, business or brand, then social media is likely one of the first platforms you considered. Social networks are all about finding people, brands, products and services we like and then following them. It opens up a line of communication between a company and its fans and this creates a lot of opportunity.

But it’s not easy to stand out in such a crowded space. And it’s not easy to encourage action. So with that in mind, let’s look at some top tips for building your audience on social media…

Add a Twitter Feed for Your Blog

This is a pretty simple and specific tip but it works wonders. If your site uses WordPress (and it should), then look up a widget that will allow you to show your Twitter feed right in the sidebar. Do the same for your Instagram.

Now, when someone lands on your page, they will not only see your social media channel and have the option to sign up but they will also see what it’s like and what they can expect if they do sign up!

Communicate

Remember, social media is first and foremost a communication tool. That means that you should not only post ‘at’ people but also ask them questions, create competitions and generally get the community involved.

This engagement will mean your page is shown on more homefeeds but it will also build more trust with your audience.

Sell the Dream

This one is particularly important on Instagram but here the tip is to make sure that you are portraying the lifestyle you wish to promote through your social media. Learn who your channel is targeting and think about the kinds of things that get them motivated. Try to inspire them or to fascinate them because ultimately it is emotion that drives decision.

Post Regularly

This one is the most important of all: post regularly. This is especially true on Facebook where only a small percentage of your followers see each post. Find ways to make it easier to post more content by using scheduled posting tools, by using apps that post automatically and by linking your various accounts.

Whatever you do, just make sure that you don’t have periods of radio silence on your social media because attention spans are short and momentum is everything!

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If you know your niche and you want to build a massive following, then one of the very best things you can do is to engage actively in the community.

So, let’s say you have a well designed site and brand and you just posted a fascinating article on free running. You now have to go about sharing that article in order to get readers and to hopefully gain a few more followers in the process.

One tip you’ll get often is to head to a forum or another online community such as Reddit or Google Plus and then to post there. In doing this, you’ll be gaining exposure for your creation and getting lots of new eyes on it.

Problem: if you head over to r/FreeRunning and post your article, it will probably get downvoted and possibly deleted. And only one person will see it.

Why? Because you’re engaging in blatant self-promotion and close-knit, supportive online communities don’t take kindly to that. Even if the content is good. Not only that, but they don’t know you from Adam and they likely have a number of views and policies, several of which you probably violated.

The Other Approach

Now consider the other approach. You spend time in that community actively taking part. You comment on other people’s posts, you helpfully answer questions and you make friends with several of the members.

Then when you post your article, people see it is written by you. They know you and they trust you and so they click it. And because many people in the community will feel obligated to you and indebted to you for helping them out, they’ll be far more likely to share what you’ve posted in other places.

You now have the force of a whole community behind you. These people are practically guaranteed fans and backers and because you understand this audience so well, you can keep writing content you know is going to be a massive hit with them.

So, the bottom line is this: if you want to grow your audience then you should absolutely spend time in the community making yourself known. This can be transformative in the eventual success of what you release and it’s something that very few creators have used to the fullest of their capability.

And then you can find more communities and repeat the process!

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Think about the type of brands that you follow online and the sites you’ve subscribed to. What do they all have in common?

Chances are high that all of them have great production values and a high-quality presentation. They probably have beautiful logos, modern websites that are mobile friendly and active social media channels.

And when you land on a site that doesn’t have these things – that looks like a kid built it in the 90s – you will be instantly put off from following.

So, what does that mean? To grow your audience, you need to invest money. And not necessarily in marketing or other ‘obvious’ methods for increasing an audience. I’m talking about investing in designers, artists and writers.

Imagine Your New Site

Many people who start online businesses don’t have huge budgets to spend on design and other factors. They might also wonder if it’s really necessary for building their audience.

Well the first thing to recognize is that yes, spending that money on good design is 100% necessary. What’s more, is that it probably isn’t quite as expensive as you think it will be. Instead of struggling to make your own logo which will likely look grainy and which will put people off of your website, instead head over to 99Designs and get one made for you for a decent amount of money. It might cost you a hundred or two hundred dollars but the result will be something that informs your audience what you’re all about and that demonstrates your brand has the resources and skill to build something great.

Imagine these same higher production values for your website, for your writing and for every other aspect of your business. Suddenly your site comes alive with youthful energy and it starts to look like the top competitors in your niche.

Why This Really Matters

This matters because if your site looks amateurish, people will assume your information, your products or your services are amateurish too. As such, they’ll be less likely to sign up and less likely to invest time and money into engaging with your brand.

A good place to start is with a PayPal loan. This is a flexible and simple loan for small businesses that places no pressure on rapid repayments. It’s a good way to give your business a little nudge in the right direction with zero risk.

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Unless you are a celebrity like Katy Perry or Barack Obama, you’re going to have to work hard to build your initial following on Twitter. Rather than making slow-and-steady progress, you need to treat your Twitter account as a priority for a couple of months and create lots of content. Studies have shown that the more you tweet, the quicker you can build your followers. To help you dramatically increase your twitter following, here are five methods you can try.

Utilize Your LinkedIn and Email Connections

Studies have shown that you are more likely to be followed by someone that you already know. One easy way to do this is by finding your LinkedIn connections on Twitter and following them. While Twitter doesn’t have a way to do this, you can export your contacts into a .CSV file and upload them to your email account contacts. From there you can import your email contact into Twitter.