I tell all authors and budding writers that they need to blog. Some listen to me, some don’t and some have every good intention but simply cannot find the time. I believe that blogging has made a big difference to my business because it:
When I first started out blogging, it was really more of an accident. Friends, colleagues and other contacts had been emailing me with questions about doing business in Mexico for years. I saw blogging as a great way to compile the information that I had gathered over the years and put it in one place. I knew from the get-go that my expertise lay in the business arena and more specifically in doing business in Mexico as an expat. Originally from San Diego, California, I have lived, worked, and studied in Mexico for over 9 years. During that time, I have learned a lot of things the hard way, but I’ve also been fortunate enough to create a great network of contacts that have helped me tremendously. Thinking about the combination of entrepreneurship and my love for Mexico, I came up with the name “Mexipreneur”. This weekend I was invited back to Stavanger by a new friend of mine. I have to admit to being a little reticent. We’d lived in Stavanger in 1996 and 97 and it had not been a happy time for a number of reasons. Rather than ‘pining for the fjords’ as the Norwegian blue parrot did so famously in Monty Python’s Dead Parrot Sketch, we were pining for the wadis of Oman. Maybe. Going back was difficult. Not because it brought back bad memories but because, this time I saw the place with new eyes and felt sad for not noticing and guilty for my betrayal. This poem is one step towards putting right that wrong. It was videoed spontaneously on my iphone against a dry stone wall on the property of Maggie Myklebust, author of the American-Norwegian memoir Fly Away Home. Stavanger, I am sorry
I never felt your sun, nor saw the way it licked the rooves and white-washed walls until they shone like stars. I’m sorry that I never heard the scalloped fjords scuff their shores while in silence they would sigh and stretch until their fingertips touched land. My bones ache with regret that my veiled eyes were blinded then by memories – of brighter sun, a warmer shore, a bluer sky – so strong, like clouds, they hid your technicolour beauty. To me, back then, younger and more foolish, my jaw was clenched against sweet sentences, eyes narrowed into bitter slits that refused to see the light, as a toddler’s tantrum lingers, though the ball’s now in his hands. It’s fifteen years since I gladly waved goodbye to a cold, damp year that had left my soul screaming for sustenance while a groaning table had lain there all along. I had never looked beyond the window of my home-made prison. Today, renewed and wiser, I see the gift of blossom that’s lingering in June, of clematis thick with pastels and white peonies with a thicker scent than I have ever known and so I must record these thoughts – and drag my eyes from waving trees, plump lambs that trot on tussocked hills strewn with rocks painted in lichen’s rich Tuscan hues, the buttercupped fields, the dips and folds, the soaring fells that cluster shoulder to shoulder round the fjords – but I cannot bear to tear my eyes from this, down to the page, lest I miss a morsel of this Norwegian feast. ![]() The Soul Millionaire When he was 28, the author was alone, broke, and homeless. Thanks to chance introductions to mentors and new friends, he turned his life around, repaid more than $100,000 of debt, and became a respected financial adviser and business coach. Today, he inspires others to become Soul Millionaires. A modern-day parable that I wish I had read 20 years ago and been clever enough to understand. — Chris Barrow, The Million Dollar Coach In this autobiographical novel and guide David J Scarlett reveals the astonishing lessons that experience and visionary mentors have taught him. Some of the lessons include:
From the depths of despair, Scarlett rose to become a respected Financial Planner in the City of London, mastering his craft to such an extent that he created revenue streams enjoyed by only the top 1% of Financial Planners in the UK. Now, through his business school ‘The Ultimate Adviser’ he is engaged to coach, train and mentor entrepreneurs, professional advisers and corporate executives, gives money advice on BBC Radio, and travels internationally as a professional speaker for conferences, conventions, seminars and workshops. Amongst his greatest milestones as a writer was the invitation to co-author a book by business and financial giants Brian Tracy, Robert G Allen and Mark Victor Hansen – who between them have sold 150 million books. Yet, it is his role as a work-in-progress husband and a father of four children, which he sees as his greatest adventure of all! A must-read for anyone who’s ever been frustrated by the ‘you-can-have-it-all’ blockbusters. — Jonathan Jay, Founder, The Coaching Academy Key lessons are conveniently captured at the end of each chapter. A must-have volume. — Tony Burgess, Director, Academy of High Achievers Ltd (Aha!) |
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