Reflections on life and Internet marketing experiences
This particular post is on more of a personal level. It’s actually an expanded version of an email that was sent to subscribers of my list. Since the email received many personal responses, I felt it was worthy of posting here.
Time to reflect on the year we just experienced, both business and personal levels. My hope for you is that you had a great year and that you accomplished everything you set out to do. Did you?
I didn’t, that’s for sure. What a year it was though, full of experiences that are forever etched on my mind. My grandmother once told me that it’s all of your life experiences that make you who you are. Pretty profound statement coming from grandma, guess that’s why our grandparents have so much wisdom. Grandparents have lived a life full of experiences that made them who they are.
Life happens exactly as planned, sometimes…
Some things did happen exactly as planned. If you remember from reading my little PPC Solutions report. The objective was to make some profits, then outsource for further growth. Making profits with paid traffic worked using techniques learned from Gauher Chaudhry. It took a great deal of persistence, a bit of brutal blind faith and solid focus. Profits can be made with persistence and focus.
Outsourcing is a big part of the growth of my business these days. A product is in the works, along with multiple sites and businesses being created. Outsourcing can be pretty exciting once you implement it in the business building process. Imagine having your business grow while you are off doing other stuff.
How about you? Is life going as planned?
Not all things went exactly as planned for our family. We gained our fourth granddaughter and I lost my mom!
One experience was very cool, the other just plain sucked. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while your busy making other plans”. It sure does! As grandma said, it’s part of what makes us who we are. Like it or not, if we live long enough, we out live our parents and grandparents. Hopefully we all live long and prosperous lives, long beyond our grandparents and parents too.
Passing the torch of wisdom
With no one left above us in the family tree, it seems that me and my better half have been passed the torch of wisdom. We are now looked upon through the bright fresh eyes of four grandchildren. We have become the beacon of wisdom in their lives, even if they don’t know it yet.
As I write this, in many ways I still feel like a kid inside! Damn, now I have to pass on wisdom to our grandkids, seems like such a huge responsibility. My preference would be to just play games with them and freeze time. Freezing time would stop all those great experiences that have yet to play out. So lets just keep moving forward, shall we?
Influences of Life
We all get influenced by many people in our lives. Take a little time to reflect on your great influences. Cherish your influences while they are still here, once gone, etch them in your brain and never forget their words of wisdom.
My greatest influences are my grandmother, mother, my wife of course, she was my strength through the tough parts of the year. Without my wifes shoulder to lean on, these recent events would have been far tougher to deal with. Living through all this with my wife, she has become an integral part of who I am.
For the business side of influence, Mark Hendricks, Gauher Chaudhry and Rich Schefren have had the greatest impact on my growth as a person and in business. It’s difficult to put into words just how much Mark, Gauher and Rich have meant to my growth in business. I owe a great deal of gratitude to these guys, as the commercial says, these guys are good.
Learning from life and business mistakes
We all make mistakes along the way, God knows I’ve made my share of mistakes. The key is to gain experience from everything, good or bad. Learn from the experience, grow as a person and add the lessons learned as part of who we are.
In business, I’ve promoted a few things over the past year or more. Don’t worry, nothing to promote here except perhaps a little good will to you and the world.
Some of the things I promoted were quite good and went way beyond expectations. Some others fell way short of the mark and I sincerely apologize for that.
As the future unfolds, my objective is to always improve and do better than before. Learn from the mistakes and grow from the experiences of life.
A simple thank you
I wish to thank those that have had the most influence in molding my life. Thanks to Mark Hendricks, Gauher Chaudhry and Rich Schefren, your influence on my business goes beyond words.
This wouldn’t be complete without saying thanks to Al, Marcia and Alan. Our little mastermind group has also grown stronger through all our experiences in life.
Special thanks and goodbye to mom and grandma, while I could be a total shit growing up, your wisdom will be carried forward. Correction on the could be a shit part, since we are laying it out here. Mom and grandma know that I “was” a shit growing up. At least they both were able to see me grow up to become a grandpa, they know their influence finally got through!
Without mom and grandma to lean on, my wife, Monica is now the center of influence who helps me keep my head on straight. Monica has become my anchor in the ocean of life, helping me to stay on track. My love and thanks to Monica for being by my side in this journey we call life.
To life, success and the wisdom we share with others!
John Stiles
PS – This was a tough one, the version sent out to my email list was also quite tough. Posting this to the world was important to me, a way to complete this part of growth as a person. One thing quite cool about Internet marketing is that you have these sites where you can pass on a little experience and wisdom to everyone who stops by to read it.
Feel free to toss out comment about this post or to pass along some of your own life experience. We all learn and grow through our own experiences and through the influence of everyone around us. Pass along a little wisdom, as Paul McCartney says “Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be”.
