Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

Fear, uncertainty and doubt. I call them the FUD Factor.

Fear of failure causes more procrastination than any other single influence. That is why taking the first step in some new venture is the hardest thing for someone to do. It is the uncertainty– what is the outcome. Will this work? Will I fall flat on my rump? Will I look like a total loser?

Doubt– that’s your imagination running wild. Well, take control of your imagination and stop picturing defeat. Start picturing wild success.

My father used to say “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” He never ventured. My father was a hard worker, but he was a very slow thinker. Funny, he had a quick wit. He never talked about it, but I have a feeling that he was so insecure that he had to mill things over in his head and rethink every variable before he actually made a decision. Time slipped through his fingers.

My mother was the opposite. Mom was sharp as a tack. In many ways, she still is. She was also quick witted and she was smart. She could solve problems better than the best engineers I’ve known. She was also a great communicator. In addition to her deductive reasoning, she had great reading comprehension. But, she was cynical about most things. For her, the safe route was always the best choice in every situation. Which reminded me of my father saying “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

And so it was that I grew up in a home where change came slowly if it came at all. No, we weren’t hobbits, but I could really relate to them.

I guess I was the Bilbo Baggins of my family. I was forever going on one of my adventures. It was that confounded Wizard’s fault.

In reality, I discovered things about risk and the potential reward for stepping outside the house and following my feet. There were always things to discover. There were places to see, things to do, and people to meet. Today, I have fond memories of friends I’ve met along the way. I’ve enjoyed lots of great music, art, and artistry. I’ve seen some of the most beautiful terrain ever put on a map. I’ve followed the sunset and soared through the Milky Way at midnight.


It’s all because I followed my passions.

Lower Falls, Old Man's Cave - Hocking State Forest, Ohio - Mickey Maguire Photo

If You Don't Know Where You're Going... Any Road Will Take You There

Seasons come, seasons go. We have been enjoying a prolonged autumn this year. It is late October and it is just now getting colder at night. Right now, it is forty-three degrees. We have had one night of very light frost. I confess, it does not disappoint me in the least.

Fear mongers cry about climate change– which is the latest term used to describe global warming. Doom-sayers speak of ice caps melting and seas rising to swallow-up Florida and Manhattan. I’d like to remind people that in the time of Europe’s greatest development, when most of the great cathedrals were built, the greatest advancements in architecture, art, music, and science, the earth was much warmer than it is now.

In the EARLY COLONIAL PERIOD, Europe experienced a “mini ice age” and the river Thames was frozen. People were ice skating in the shadow of the Tower of London and the London bridge. That was after two centuries of unprecedented warming.

But, I remind you, seasons come and seasons go.

Life is just like the weather and global climate changes. Humanity has always grown. Although it seems we occasionally take one step forward and two steps back– we find our direction and start moving again.

The important thing in life is to create a goal and work toward achieving it. We are at our best when we are working on our goals. Finding your path cannot happen if you have not chosen a destination. So, where do you want to be tomorrow, a week from now, a month, or a year? How about twenty years from today?

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

Do You Love Your Job?

If you don’t love your job, it’s not the right job for you.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “That’s easier said than done.”

I have met very few people in my career that truly loved what they were doing for a living. Those that did pursued their dreams. Those that were simply working for a living, and that was the vast majority, made career choices for “practical” or monetary reasons with no regard to long-term satisfaction.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I worked in the fly fishing business for many years. No, I did not make millions of dollars, but, I had the joy of waking up every morning to gaze at the best wild trout fishery east of the Rocky Mountains. I had the pleasure of fishing some of the most beautiful lakes, rivers, and streams in North America. I was surrounded by scenic beauty and wildlife while most of my clientele were pent-up in their concrete towers. Their view was the hustle and bustle of city streets far below– the honking of horns, the grumbling and griping of over-stressed employees, political discussions at the water cooler, and meetings, endless meetings.

Give me a golden sunrise and the sipping of salmonids in the tail of a pool as they pick an occasional stonefly off the surface– one that emerged the night before. Give me the evening spinner-fall when trout sip spent mayflies as they drift, prone, downstream. They feast into the darkness.

Afterward, I have spent many a night playing guitar and singing songs with friends and associates. We talked fishing off and on. We enjoyed fine dining. We played music. We did it all again the next day. Yeah, believe me, it was a tough way to make a living.

My point is this: You really work for yourself. You can choose what it is that you WANT to do. All you have to do is figure out what that is.

I will leave you with this one question: If you could take money out of the picture and you could do whatever it is you wanted to do, what would it be?

Now, all you have to do is figure out how to monetize it.

Kill the Marketing Geek-Speak, Go Sell Something

My wife and I have had countless “marketing” discussions over her decade in marketing and copywriting. The topic emerged again in an online forum. This time, the tables are turned and Mary Rose and I seem to now agree.
I have always been on the side of not using geek-speak when it comes to information technology (IT) or information marketing (IM). Before I go any further, let me just define IM.

Information marketing is providing written materials, and sometimes video, for a fee. Small businesses in niche markets with few staff members may buy whitepapers from a copywriter that can be “branded” as their own. Major corporations will buy research papers that support their products and value-added services. Company blogs are often written by outside parties or content mills rather than have an internal team of people writing their own content. Independent contractors and freelancers will sell “content” for corporate blogs to increase website traffic. The idea is to build a loyal customer base by providing information as a service to the consumer.

All of those wannabee marketing people who are trying to sell themselves as copy or content writers need to realize that marketing speak, like “funnels” and “squeeze pages”, “landing pages” and “lead pages” really don’t mean anything to a business owner. If corporations already have a marketing department, then you are typically preaching to the choir.

The BIG question really can be summed up in this one sentence: What’s in it for me?

What they are asking you is this: Will this get me more business?

If the answer is that there are no guarantees, you are not thinking straight. How about this instead: It has worked for me in the past.

People want to know if they will get a return on their investment. If you lack the experience to know whether or not it will work, you’d better start practicing your song and dance routine. You’re gonna need it. If it doesn’t work and you’ve been paid a lot of money, be prepared to shuffle off to Buffalo.

There is another phenomenon that goes hand-in-hand with the so-called copywriting expert these days. Copywriters that ARE making a lot of money really don’t need to sell information products because they are constantly working on projects for paying customers. But those who are struggling are looking at developing information products to save themselves from bankruptcy.
Seriously, if you cannot market yourself, what makes you think that you can market someone else’s business? It’s a fair question when you think about it.

My friendly advice to copywriters at large– become so good they can’t ignore you. Learn to SELL. Get some experience in your own town before striking out in cyberspace. Build relationships rather than constantly looking for the get-rich-quick scenario. You’re not Dan Kennedy. The Miracle Ear was a 7.5 million dollar deal for good old Dan, but, he had the goods. He had the experience. And those days are gone.

Like everything, the rules change. Tides rise and fall. You have to adapt.
Forget the marketing geek-speak and write in simple direct terms. WASTE NO WORDS! Make every word carry weight or omit it. Plain and simple– it ain’t the Great American Novel. It’s copywriting.

Now, go sell something.

A Health Body, A Healthy Mind

There is a direct link between thinking you feel great and physically feeling great.

Lots of fitness gurus talk about aerobics or weight training, running, cycling, swimming, or other exercise programs; but, few talk about how you feel emotionally. My contention is that in order to feel good physically, you have to feel good emotionally. For some, it is a spiritual thing. For others, it is psychological.

Whether you look for spiritual understanding for inner peace, or some sort of meditation or philosophy like Buddhism, your body responds to what your mind tells it. When you feel bad on the inside, you cannot possibly maintain a healthy body on the outside.

In order to have long-lasting fitness, you have to cultivate a positive, healthy mindset while you start tuning up your body. It’s the same for losing weight. You must begin with a positive mental attitude and an attainable goal.

If you want to lose one-hundred pounds, for example, you have to clearly state that as your goal– then, break that goal into attainable interim goals of twenty pounds at a time. Each twenty pounds you drop is one more positive step toward the ultimate goal of losing one-hundred pounds.

I set a goal to be in fabulous shape for my sixtieth birthday. I am well on the way. I am working out with dumbbells and seeing really fantastic results in just a couple of months. I’ve gained five inches in my lats. I have gained a lot in my arms, too. The rate I am going, I will not only meet my goal, I will exceed it.

I have always loved cycling and I have kept in shape over the years on my bicycles, but, being a road-bike enthusiast, I have not had the upper body workout that mountain bikers get. Thus, I started weight training to build up my arms, chest, and back muscles.

Over all fitness starts with a good mental attitude. Find a source of recreation that keeps you fit, like swimming or cycling, that will burn away calories and give you a good cardio workout. You can also do stretches to warm up and cool down in order to prevent injury.

What I like about lifting with dumbbells is that it is typically lower weight, relatively inexpensive, and you can easily isolate certain muscle groups and work specifically on those seeing almost immediate results. And it doesn’t feel so much like work. That’s important if you want to continue working out. Most people get tired and quit before they start to see results.

When you get up tomorrow morning tell yourself that it’s going to be a great day. Make a plan to get fit by finding something you can do that will, above all, be FUN and keep you in good shape. Then, if you want to have a muscular body, incorporate a bit of exercise with dumbbells in your overall strategy and stick with it at least until you start to feel the results. That will help you keep going.

Check out the book “Living Room Weight Training: Dumbbell-based exercises and routines for building strength, getting toned, and achieving the body you want at home!” by A.K. Davidson.


In the future, I plan to write more about a total fitness plan for people over fifty-five years old. For now, Just concentrate on fun and fitness.

Get Noticed, Get the Job

If you think the job market is tough, try your hand at freelance work. Competition is fierce.

More than ever before, it’s the person who looks the most polished and professional that gets the job opportunities ahead of all the others. That’s why I am a huge advocate for the concept of creating a personal brand. You want a carefully crafted image and you want to make sure that it is one people will always remember.

Being memorable will transform you from one of the crowd into the go-to guy. You will be the one they call when they have a job to do and need your services.
So what IS a personal brand?

Your personal brand is an image that you create in order to market your services. It might be influenced by market conditions. It might be influenced by the services you offer. It might be influenced by the competition. It MUST be something that sets you apart from the rest of the wannabees out there in the freelance world.

While people don’t think much about it these days, your business “look” used to include the right logo design, stationary, business card, flyers, brochures, or other marketing collateral. It used to be that you would never want to leave home without a business card. I, for one, still use business cards to help people remember me.

You need a professional appearance, so get well-groomed. You need a professional demeanor. You want to enter an office or meeting to discuss your services with enthusiasm and absolute confidence. You should not have any fear, uncertainty or doubt at all (I call that the FUD Factor). Be confident, have a firm handshake. Make eye contact. Be interested in the people or the business with whom you are prospecting.

When you leave the meeting, they should have your business card in hand. If you have a brochure, leave it with them. Make sure that they have a compelling reason to go online and check out your website. That is where you can feature more information, including samples of your work, testimonials, and an offer that will have them submitting their e-mail address in exchange for some bribe (a free report, mini e-book, discounts to help save them money). You want them in your prospect file.

Follow-up with a little thank you note in the mail. Yes, the mail. I don’t mean an e-mail, I mean snail mail– the old-fashioned way. A note to say thanks for meeting with me, delivered by the United States Postal Service will be long remembered and will definitely be something that your competition will not think to do.

Now, put your best foot forward. Look smart. Look confident. Look professional. Get the gig.

Your success is a foregone conclusion.

When the Going Gets Tough

There’s an old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
I like to think of challenges, whether they are along a career path or in personal endeavors, as opportunities to get stronger, better, or grow in some way or another. When you set goals and figure out a way to accomplish them you can draw strength from your mind by visualizing yourself enjoying the fruits of your labor. Imagine yourself succeeding every step of the way to completion.
The first step is understanding what you REALLY want.

Whatever you’re looking for must first be found within you, whether it be peace, happiness, riches, or great accomplishments. ~Earl Nightingale

Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in the development and use of his imagination and subsequent motivation to action. ~Earl Nightingale
Now, ask yourself, what do you really want? Then, think about the possible ways of getting it.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. ~Napoleon Hill

If you can imagine yourself accomplishing your goal you can turn your dreams into realities. It all starts with actually setting goals. Then, you MUST realize that “the universe” is not going to fabricate anything and drop it in your lap. By maintaining a positive attitude, and surrounding yourself with people of like mind, you will “attract” opportunities and circumstances that enable you to achieve success. All of your limitations are self-imposed.

Set your goals and make an action plan. Don’t delay. Without clear goals there can be no clear results.

There is one more thing to remember. Do not measure success by money or the acquisition of things. Measure success by accomplishment.

Start the Day with Music

I have been a musician for over five decades. My favorite way to begin a new day is softly playing music on my guitar. It sets the mood for the rest of my day.

Music has always been an important part of my life. It will likely remain that way.

I grew up in a musical family. Every gathering would be an occasion to make music. We sang classic old Irving Berlin tunes in close harmony. It was listening to my father’s family that really taught me how to harmonize to any melody. Boy, could those folks sing.

My mother’s family had musical talent, too. Mom was a songwriter with a Nashville contract. Her brother, my Uncle Bob, and my father would sing old songs in harmony. I loved when Uncle Bob came to visit us when he was home on leave from the US Navy. He and dad would sing and I’d listen closely. My Uncle had a gift for finding harmonies out of thin air and I inherited it, too.

At five years old I was singing with my two brothers and pulling harmonies out of thin air myself. It was a real turn-on for me to hear us hit a perfect chord. I just loved it.

By the time I was teaching fly fishing in the Catskill Mountains, I had written a bunch of songs and played guitar for twenty years. The other fly fishing instructors were all musicians, too. We sat around in the evening and played guitar. One of us would start a song and everyone would fall right in. Most of those guys could not harmonize, so, I would when I was not the one leading the song.
On those crisp mornings on the river, I got the coffee pot brewing and then grabbed my guitar and started playing something light, finger-picking style. I’d just enjoy the mood and sip coffee until it was time to head for breakfast.

Now, it’s time for me to get the guitar and recreate one of those river mornings. I’m in the mood for music.

Start your day on a positive note. No pun intended. Do something you love first thing in the morning and you’ll set the mood for the whole day.

Cheers.