Joe Vitale

I’m about to write the largest check of my life.

I’ve bought large houses. And expensive cars. And built my own gym. And Catarium. And an entire library for books.

I’m comfortable spending money.

But today I’m faced with spending more than ever before — for a giant publicity event to help bring global attention to my forthcoming books.

Truth is, I’m nervous.

I’m nervous because I’m afraid of what people will think.

What if they don’t like this PR stunt?

I was nervous when I released The Attractor Factor.

But it went on to become a #1 bestseller on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I was nervous when I began to lose weight.

But now I’m 80 pounds lighter and considered the Charles Atlas of the Internet.

Despite all the successes I can draw on from my past to remind me that everything works out in the end, I’m still sweating.

Why?

I think it’s because I want people to like me.

I remember hearing Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone TV series (who I met when I was a teenager), once say that he was as sensitive as anyone else to people’s comments and criticisms.

I can relate.

Just a few days ago someone who I considered a friend wrote me a fiery email, so hateful that it shot chills up my spine.

He mis-read, mis-interpreted, and missed the point of one of my blog entries, and in a website mention in my recent newsletter, and he shot through the roof with anger. He wanted nothing to do with me ever again. He condemned me, my experience, and my education.

It was not pleasant.

And that was from a friend.

Then there are the emails I get from complete strangers who don’t like one thing or another that I do.

Some liked me better fat. (It’s true.)

Some liked me better with a beard. (I looked “hip.”)

Some are blunt in telling me what they think, oblivious to how I may feel afterwards.

So here I sit, about to write a check that would make Donald Trump think twice, and I’m nervous.

But here’s the lesson:

In order to be outrageously successful, you can’t let yourself be affected by others.

You can hear what they say. Sometimes they have a point. But you can’t let yourself be stopped by what they say. You have to have an iron will.

Yes, I still care what people think. But in my heart I know I am being true to me.

My mission is to help people go for and achieve their dreams. I’m doing everything I can do make that happen. If people complain about that, then they’ll complain about anything.

Truth is, complaining is easy.

Creating is the challenge…and the joy.

I’m a creator.

And now I’m going to write that check.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Consider: What positive thing would you do if you weren’t afraid of what people thought?

PPS – The above picture is of me and persuasion expert Kevin Hogan of www.kevinHogan.com We were hamming it up while my beautiful Nerissa www.thevideoqueen.com took pictures. We didn’t care what people thought. It was a fun time with a good friend. Check him out. His books are excellent.

My post titled “Hypnotic SEO Strategy Finally Revealed by Jack Bauer on 24” http://mrfire.blogspot.com/2006/01/hypnotic-seo-strategy-finally-revealed.html got more people reading this blog than anything I’ve ever written — including my three posts on meeting actor James Caan or my post about Lindsay Lohan’s secret lust for me.

In that “Hypnotic SEO” post I explained how I seeded my blog entries with current hotly searched key words, such as Lindsay Lohan. As I explained in that post…

I went to Zeitgeist at Google www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html There I found a list of the latest search terms, 1. mta strike2. john spencer3. jibjab4. king kong5. dr. phil6. ny17. naomi watts8. howard stern9. rachel mcadams10. west wing11. 40 year old virgin12. uma thurman13. winter solstice14. scarlett johansson15. intelligent design From there I wrote a blog entry that used those key words.

Since then, I have done my best to write blog entries that logically utilize a current hot search term, usually a famous person.

So the natural question arises:

Does this method work?

Answer: Yes!

I’ve been watching the stats on this blog for weeks now. Hundreds of people visit here every day. They usually spend 2 to 3 minutes reading blog entries.

Most come expecting to be here for a few seconds (so they’ve personally told me) but quickly find themselves sucked into a “hypnotic” post. They just keep reading. (See, Hypnotic Writing does work. www.HypnoticWritingWizard.com)

But where are these people coming here from?

• The vast majority are jumping over here after visiting my main site at www.mrfire.com That’s natural and to be expected.
• The next large group come here by searching for “Agatha Christie writing” or “The Agatha Code.” Of course, I wrote about her hypnotic writing style on this blog, too.
• The next group come here from the oddest search entries on Google, everything from “Lindsay Lohan weight loss” to “Lindsay Lohan before and after” to “Lindsay Lohan health.”
• Others are searching for information on Chartreuse, the French herbal liquor I wrote about at one point (and spent $166 on a bottle of private stock).
• Many are searching for information on the movie The Secret and end up at my post where I answer questions about it.
• There are random arrivals of newbies, too. One person searched Google for “handshake hypnosis” and came to my blog entry about that.
• A few typed in “mental toughness” and came to my entry about the best books of 2005.
• Of course, many search for “Joe Vitale” or “Mr. Fire” and land here.

And so it goes.

It appears that using hot search terms in my blog entries gets the search engines to spider and rank this blog very fast.

It also appears that people are typing in all kinds of word-strings in their attempt to search out something on their mind.

I find this fascinating. Trying to guess what people will search for, and supply it on your site, seems like a receipe for insanity.

My advice: Write what you are passionate about. Be sincere. Be yourself.

Then, when people find you, it will be a match.

And yes, I’m passionate about Lindsay Lohan. So writing about her is natural for me, as well as a smart SEO thing to do.

If I wanted to turn this observation into a money-maker, I might create an e-book about “Lindsay Lohan’s Weight-Loss Secrets.”

I’d have some legalities to deal with, of course (like getting her permission), but you get the idea: You can let the searches determine what product you create, but you also should balance that with your own passion and interests.

When you find that match of your passion and searchers’ quest, you can make a very nice living.
Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — My next book, Life’s Missing Instruction Manual (pictured above), will be for sale on March 7. I’ll do a giant promotion that day, complete with many bonuses, so go ahead and mark your calendar: March 7th. Tell Lindsay Lohan, too. She’ll love it.

Because I’m in the movie The Secret, I just received and watched an advance copy of it.

It’s riveting.

Hypnotic.

Inspiring.

Beautiful.

A true masterpiece.

Stories bring it alive.

Music and acting make it vivid.

Hearing about remarkable people like “the miracle man” — who only had his mind to work with to heal himself — made me want to stand up and cheer.

Seeing friends Bob Proctor, Esther Hicks, Jack Canfield (seen above with me), Bob Doyle, and John Assaraf, were all highlights.

Seeing myself in it didn’t hurt, either.

Can’t wait for this to be seen by the world (on Feb. 15th). It’s heavy on Abraham www.abraham-hicks.com and Bob Proctor has a lot to say in it, but god, what a timely message of hope and practicality in a world stuffed to the ears with fear.

Whew!

Ao Akua,

joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Get details at www.whatisthesecret.tv

PPS – WHEW!

I’ve been trying to figure out how the world works since I was old enough to read children’s books and then comic books.

Superman and The Flash were pretty easy to understand. Today I have to deal with science, religion, psychology and philosophy as well as my own mental wanderings.

Just when I think I have a handle on things, along comes another book to disturb my view of the world. This time I was reading Consciousness Speaks by Balsekar www.advaita.org when I started to get a headache.

IfI had to sum up its message in words from a man confused by reading the book, I’d say that nothing we do comes from free will. It’s all being prompted through us. We think we are the conscious actors. We’re wrong. That’s our egos talking. In some respect, we’re puppets with the divine as the energy up our butts pulling our strings.

Now imagine this —

I’m the guy who wrote the book, The Attractor Factor. It explains a 5-step process for having, doing, or being anything you want. I and others have used the method to attract everything from wealth to cars to spouses to health to jobs to, well, you name it. It’s all about declaring your intention and then acting on what comes your way or bubbles up from within to make it manifest. In short, you’re the puppeteer and the world is your puppet.

So how do I fit these two apparently conflicting philosophies in my head without going bonkers?

I think it works like this —

First, we are living in a belief driven world. Whatever you believe, will work. It’ll get you through the day, at any rate. It will frame your experiences into perceptions that make sense to you. And when something comes your way that doesn’t seem to match your world view/belief system, you’ll find a way to rationalize it and force it to fit. Or you’ll take valium.

Second, I can’t help but wonder if both philosophies are right: We’re the puppet and the puppeteer. But that only works when we get out of our own way. It’s our minds that drive us to over drink, over eat, frolic, steal, lie, and even spend too much time worrying about how the world works. Our minds get in the way of the natural flow of things. Our minds know it’s doomed and it can’t stand the thought of it, so it constructs feel good addictions to help it survive. In reality (whatever that is), your mind is the interference to experiencing the bliss of this moment.

If this is so, then all the techniques to get clear — whichI talk about as step three in The Attractor Factor — are there to help you take the interference out of the divine plan.

For example, when you use a method like EFT — the tapping your troubles away approach to life –you dissolve the issues troubling you.

But then what happens?

Then you take a positive action.

Well, weren’t you going to take that positive action anyway?

Isn’t that why you knew there was a problem to begin with?

In other words, the nudge to take action was sent to you from the divine, and your anxiety over it was the interference. Take away the interference and you’re back to being one with the divine, which means you’re puppet and puppeteer again.

So let me try to sum up what at least makes sense to me tonight:

You came into this world with a gift within yourself. You may know it right away or not. You may not even know it right now. At some point you’ll sense it within you. Now, your mind is going to judge it. If your mind judges it as bad, you’ll seek therapy or methods or drugs or addictions to handle it, hide it, resolve it, release it, or accept it. But once you have removed that interference preventing you from acting on your gift, you’ll act on that gift. In short, you’ll be the puppet of the divine but you’ll be puppeteer of your life.

Your choice is to go with the flow or not.

That’s free will.

Even the great showman and marketer P.T. Barnum, who I wrote about in my book, There’s A Customer Born Every Minute, knew this. He took action. He did things on a grand scale. But he was always obeying some higher order. His gravestone marker reads, “Not my will but thine be done.”

He acted on his ideas….without interference from his mind….and he allowed the results to be what they were, trusting that it was all part of the universe’s bigger picture. He was able to let go while taking action.

And that’s step five in my book, The Attractor Factor.

Tonight I have the world figured out. (I think.)

Tomorrow I’m not so sure.

I long for comic books again.

Expect miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — What does any of this have to do with marketing? Everything. As you are trying your hand at selling online, you are having experiences. Are you learning from them or beating yourself up over them? Also, you are getting ideas all the time. Are you acting on them or questioning them? Your mind can help you achieve your dreams (which are ideas coming from the divine) by agreeing with them; your mind can also destroy your dreams and take you out of the happiness and flow of life. I know this is all “Beyond Marketing” but hey, that’s the title of this blog, isn’t it?

PPS – The movie The Secret will be released this month, on the 15th. Three people somehow managed to see the premier and said I was “AWESOME” in it and that my appearance “lit up the screen.” Well, I can’t wait till I see it. If you still don’t know what this film is about, ask yourself where you’ve been for the last six months and then get over to http://www.WhatIsTheSecret.tv Hey, maybe it will explain how the world really works.

What a day!

I love receiving snail mail. It brings letters, postcards, packages, catalogs, books, CD’s, software, music, checks and more.

It also brings what others call “junk mail,” which I call a free education in marketing.

Today the snail mail surprised me by (a) being incredibly late to get here and (b) containing several autographed photos of one of the living legends of bodybuilding — Dave Draper. www.davedraper.com

Dave has been Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World. He’s also been in movies. He’s alive and well, still pumping iron and writing inspiring articles. He’s the Pied Piper of Bodybuilding.

As it turns out, Dave’s wife is a student of my marketing. She wrote me and said she first heard of me more than ten years ago. Then she stumbled across an article by or about me recently. Then she wrote me. Small world.

I’m a fan of Dave Draper. I’ve trained with Frank Zane www.FrankZane.com and I idolize Steve Reeves www.SteveReeves.com, but Dave Draper is the living gladiator of classic physique bodybuilding.

I have Dave’s books, from Your Body Revival to Brother Iron, Sister Steel to the recent Iron On My Mind. He’s the most literate of the living legends and I hear a nice guy, as well.

I didn’t know he had autographed photos for sale until I asked his wife if I could have one. She told me to pick what I wanted from www.DaveDraper.com I bought a few. She then sent me a couple extra autographed pictures of the blond bomber himself, signed to me, as gifts. They arrived today.

I’ve been smiling ever since.

I’m pretty pumped up now. 🙂

Yep, you never know what your snail mail will bring.

Expect miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Heads up: The February 2006 edition of News You Can Use is now online at https://www.mrfire.com/a/february-06.html