The following arrived in my email yesterday via a subscription I have to Darren Hardy of Success Magazine. I thought it made some valuable points to be taken into consideration and thought I’d pass it on.

No more whining, bitching, moaning, griping and complaining.

At a social function recently, 90 percent of the chitchat I heard were whimpers about the economy, how bad Obama is doing and how much the health care plan sucks, ad nauseam.

Finally, I had heard enough and I blurted out, “In the ‘80’s when the economy was booming, did you get rich?”

“Uh, well, no” answered the small crowd’s speaker.

“But Reagan was president and still you didn’t? What about when Clinton was President? He created a big national surplus, certainly you got rich then?”

“If you were standing in the healthcare haven of France right now, as you describe, would you be any healthier than you are now?”

Silence was his answer.

“Look”, I said, “stop worrying about the national economy and focus on your own economy. Don’t worry about who’s running the White House and concern yourself with running your house better. The only health care plan that matters is your health care plan…  for you.”

In my observation, it is just as easy to fail in a good economy as it is in a bad one. And it is just as easy to get rich in a bad economy as it is in a good one. Why? Because the economy has nothing to do with it.

I know many good, capable, smart and hardworking people who have been whacked by unexpected consequences of the economic winter we are in. It happens to the best of people even in the best of times.

Instead, start focusing on what you can control, what you can do, what’s possible and what’s great. Note the abundance and opportunity all around you…  no matter the national economic report. Just focus on your report… and your life.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, depressed, stressed, defeated or even just uninspired, try this exercise:

1. Make a three-column list.

2. Write down things that are affecting our world, our nation, your state or your business. (Ex.: war in Afghanistan, Toyota and GM recalls, car bombings in Iraq, healthcare reform, etc.)

3. Write down all the news that you or your friends have discussed this week. (Ex.: unemployment figures, who won an Oscar, who shouldn’t have gotten booted off American Idol, 911 terrorist trial location, etc.)

4. Write down all the things you are worried about in your life. (Ex.: finding a job, survivability of your business, kids having difficulty in school, arguing with spouse, health condition of family member, your own health condition, etc.)

5. Next, write down if you have any control affecting the outcome of that situation.

a. If you don’t, stop worrying (and paying attention!) because you can’t do anything about it. It has no immediate impact on your life, so wipe it from your mental plate.

b. If you do, write down what you can do to take control, improve the situation, and most important, what is the next step to take.

6. Lastly, write down your top three goals for the year and write down the next single step you can take to move closer.

Remember, stop giving attention to the things you can’t control and have no bearing on your personal life. If you can do something about it, decide what part of it you can control and affect. Then take positive action.

Don’t get stuck standing still. Contemplating and, certainly, complaining about things you don’t have control over is simply lunacy.

Don’t stop here – there’s more…

NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek is digging into the affiliate marketing business and has launched ad-sponsored fan site, FrontRowJoe.com, to help support his 2010 NASCAR racing season

Joe Nemechek is both resourcefulness and dedicated to racing. Nemechek is the owner of NEMCO Motorsports and has launched a new ad-sponsored web site, www.FrontRowJoe.com, to allow fans to support him and his team as they compete during the 2010 NASCAR racing season.

Nemechek has partnered with MediaTrust, the country’s 9th fastest growing company according to Inc. Magazine, and will earn commissions on sales of products sold through the site to help offset the operating cost of his team.

Backed by an unsponsored, small but hard working team, Joe qualified third fastest of the "go or go home" drivers in the Saturday, Feb. 6 time trials, locking in his 16th starting position in the upcoming Daytona 500.

Joe’s #87 car will prominently display his sponsorship – www.FrontRowJoe.com. Joe earned the name early in his career for his unfaltering ability to qualify near the front row in pole positions.

Fans who visit the site will be able to support the team by taking advantage of "Joe’s picks," a number of national brands and products endorsed by Joe. A portion of every sale will go directly to NEMCO to help offset the cost of keeping his team on the racetrack.

Full Article @ PRWeb

A study I read recently concludes that most small businesses do not track the success rate of their email marketing campaigns.

The report analyzed feedback from 2,219 small businesses that use email to communicate with their customers and found that 52.8 percent of companies didn’t track their email campaign results. This comes as a surprise following the projection from JupiterResearch for email marketing spending to increase to $950 million in 2006 from $885 million in 2005.

"Of those small businesses that measured their email marketing efforts, the majority tracked only the outdated and unaccountable email open rate statistic," said Simon Grabowski, CEO of GetResponse. "The open rate is the number of subscribers who open the email message divided by the total number of all successfully delivered emails. For increased security against virus outbreaks and malware, major email software and web-based email services are now firewalled from accessing online content. As a side effect, this has significantly impaired the accuracy of the open rate, as it requires downloading of online elements."

"Despite these technology constraints, small business owners have tools at their disposal to determine the effectiveness of their email marketing. It is relatively simple to check the percentage of subscribers who visit their websites and purchase their products, as the result of a specific email campaign."

"We were surprised to find that less than 11 percent of respondents tracked their campaign conversions. The vast majority of small business owners are in the dark regarding the efficiency of their email promotions, and when the sales or leads pour in, they cannot attribute these conversions to a specific campaign. This is regrettable, because with careful testing of email subject, content and formatting, businesses are often able to generate dramatic increases in their Internet marketing results."

As a fan of SUCCESS Magazine, I believe anyone with an entrepreneurial dream can benefit from this publication. I was recently made aware of a program that I will be participating in and hope you will too.

Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, is releasing a program on www.success.com called Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life–Your Strategic Plan for Achieving Lifelong Goals.

Over 8 weeks Mr. Hardy will guide people through the development of a comprehensive life plan complete with all of his proprietary documents, worksheets, video and audio material–everything provided in his previous $1,500 single-day workshop. The program and complete system with all the support materials will be given away for free.

The program kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, January 5th, but anyone can join at any time.

This program promises to be jam-packed with information to help you unearth your greatest dreams, desires and inner potential.

You’ll learn how to accelerate your life faster, go farther and live grander than you ever dared imagine.

Simply register with your e-mail address in the upper right corner of this page (http://DarrenHardy.SUCCESS.com) and the 16 installments and all the supporting resources will be sent to you over the eight-week series.

I look forward to participating and engaging in conversation with others who do. Are you ready to make a change?