Internet Marketing opportunities and challenges

Selasa, 17 Januari 2017

hi, this is ralph zuranski. i'm on the phonewith jason potash. he's one of the leading marketers on the internet, specializing inhow to market e-zine articles. he's created a product called e-zine announcer which iown and use. this is a phenomenal product, and he justrecently came out with a product that teaches people how to use articles as a great wayof driving people to their web sites. jason, how are you doing today?i'm doing great, ralph. thanks for having me. how are you doing?i'm doing good. perhaps you could just tell me a little about yourself and your new projectsthat you are working on. i'd be happy to. in case folks don't knowme, i got started online about five years

ago. i had a background in corporate sales,marketing and business development. i worked in the high-tech sector, mainly in softwarestart up companies, so i was no stranger to the high tech environment.obviously, i have been working online within various companies for many years. when i startedto make the transition from working in a more stable corporate environment to getting outon my own, i really had a bit of a head start than perhaps some people listening today.i had some of the fundamentals in areas of copywriting and networking, business developmentand even basic technical skills to help me put some sites together and that kind of thing.it took off from there. i launched a product, my first product was e-zine announcer thatralph referred to. i did a ton of research

on the product, released it, and low and behold,if you play your cards right and you do the proper research and test market your product,your chances of succeeding are much greater than just guessing and throwing caution tothe wind, diving into something and finding out if it might not be a success.since that product launch, i've had several other info product launches through my site,picktheirbrains.com. i've done online webinar and seminars, i've networked with literallydozens and dozens of top business leaders and marketers in various sectors, and i'vehad a lot of fun doing it. recently, i've put together a project called article announcerwhich is just another extension of my travels, if you will, of working online.going back to some of the things i've done

for the past five years, creating articlesand quality content, distributing those articles across the internet to get more people learningabout me, more people linking to my sites, hopefully hitting a link to visit my siteand hopefully getting a little more credibility in getting my name out there, by using articlesto do that. it's worked very well for myself and thousandsof others. i just recently packaged all that system up with some software to bring it tothe marketplace a few months ago. didn't you just come out with a recent exposã©on the industry on the stuff that doesn't work? could you maybe share a little bit aboutthat? definitely. what i did actually, is i releaseda series of, as i call them, "shocking reports".

what i wanted to do was really give peoplean unsalted dose of reality without the padding, sugar coating or whatever.really, it boils down to this. there are many ways to make income online. many people areled to believe that by buying some new whiz-bang piece of software or buying into some newtactic or trick that somebody discovered in the basement, that you can win the searchengine war, get some of the traffic, make money in your underwear, all that stuff thatwe'd love to do. but in many cases it doesn't happen that easily.many people have been following the golden path to buying the software products and expectinginstant traffic by creating a few pages or pressing a few buttons.what the report did was basically just put

my cards on the table and explain to peoplewhat is happening with the search engines, and what is happening with online businesses.how actually sites are getting blacklisted, getting the lights shut out and bad thingsactually happening to a lot of these businesses by following the latest trends and tricksand not really playing by the rules, if you will.of course, that's been my whole philosophy from day one, ralph, is to take the higherroad and try to do things ethically and morally, not try to put a bunch of garbage up online,trying to trick people and trick the search engines.ultimately, as you know, anybody who tries to play games or do things deceptively, usuallythat comes back to haunt you. if not immediately,

it might take a little bit of time but asyou kind of dodge bullets and work under the radar. somebody comes knocking at your frontdoor and before you know it, its pay time. that's been my philosophy from day one.the report just puts some facts out there based upon what google's telling us on howthey weigh the legitimacy and relevancy of your sites, and that sort of thing. just givingpeople some real advice on what to look out for and how to structure their business forthe long term and not the short term. that's the least i would expect of somebodythat looks like clark kent! i've heard that before.that's what impressed me, that clean, shiny look. you reminded me of superman in disguise.so i would expect nothing less from you in

trying to steer people in the right direction.i know your products are just great because i use them myself. that leads us into thefirst question; what is your definition of heroism?that's a good question. i think you can look at it in two different ways. from a businessperspective, or from just a social perspective of someone who is in the community who youidolize as a "hero". let's look at things from a business perspective.heroes can be many things, but i think in terms of people that i see that in my mindare heroes, are people that are role models. people that you can look at that are reallyleaders in their field, people who are a prime example of how you should conduct businessand how you should behave on an individual

basis in terms of how you treat people, theway you look at the world, how you balance personal life, family life, how you are contributingback to society. really, the road they've gone through to travelto get to that point, whatever their measure of success is, if it's financial success,if it's that they are the chairman of the board for a certain charity, whatever thatmight be. really, i think it's also important to lookat the path it's taken to get there. that, in my mind, really determines a hero. a personthat's willing to stick through it, to get back on the saddle and get kicked off again,overcome adversity, challenges and everything else that goes along with it, and to finallyrise up and actually experience that wonderful

feeling of success.having gone down that bumpy road, in my mind, puts somebody up there as a hero, having accomplishedthat and having gone through all those things as well.did you ever create a secret hero in your mind when you were growing up to deal withlife's difficulties? when i was a young boy, not so much. obviously,we all had superman and batman and everything else. then you get into your teenage yearsand sort of things change. as i began to get into my mid-teens, one fellow, to tell youthe truth, this is before he became famous, before he became governor, before he had thenotoriety he has today. a fellow by the name of arnold schwarzeneggerhonestly was an idol and a hero in my life,

primarily because when i was a teenager iwas attracted to body building, to be in good shape. i was playing football, being physicallyactive and being strong was something that i aspired to be, especially in light of meplaying sports and so forth. as i began to learn more about the man, theaustrian oak, the man from austria who was infamous for winning body building contests,i really started to do some research on him and his autobiography and learn about hisstory. the more i learned about him, and read abouthis life, and where he had come from, and what he aspired to, it really made my respectfor him grow tremendously. he became sort of a hero in my mind. a fellowthat could basically come from poverty, not

speak two words of english, fly to the u.s.a.with ten dollars in his pocket, and go through the physical and the mental toughness, ifyou will, of going through 2â½ hour workouts every day which is grueling enough, in thehopes that you can achieve some success through a sport that was not even developed at thattime. back in the 1970's in bodybuilding, you werelaughed at and shunned upon. it was nowhere near what it is today. it was an underdoggroup of folks doing it and that was it. he overcame all that and put himself throughuniversity or college, going part-time and going from being a bricklayer to taking allthese different jobs. we know the end story, now it's no secret,and what he's accomplished through his acting

career and through real estate investment,and now of course, being the governor. all throughout my teenage years, he reallybecame my hero. that if i can achieve even 10% of the success he's achieved in all balancesof his life, that would be an amazing thing. yes, arnold was one of my heroes too, alongwith steven seagal. i always was impressed with what they did with their lives, and howthey stood for what was clear, is good, and what was clear, is evil.that brings us to the next question. what is your perspective on goodness, ethics andmoral behavior? i'm a big believer in karma and what goesaround comes around. all throughout my business career and even just my personal life, i'vebeen a big believer in laying your cards on

the table and being ethical and being honest,not trying to be deceptive or try to do something that can bite you in the butt.i've worked for individuals and i've worked beside individuals who have tried to be deceptive,sneaky and tricky. the kind of people where you shake their hand they will give you agood smile and a wink, and you turn your back and they've got a knife raised, ready to jabyou right in the spine, so to speak. i really do think, and i've seen it happenagain and again where it does come around to haunt you, if not today, then tomorrow.but if you keep growing your business and conducting business, it being a shady dealer,or being unethical or misleading people, or just scamming people outright, that does comeback to haunt you.

from day one it's based upon my morals ofmy family. from day one, i've been totally upfront and ethical with people, tried toprovide good service to people, good value to people without taking their money and closingdown a business and opening up a new business two weeks later, which as you know, happensmore often than not. i've always been solidly grounded, if youwill, in terms of being ethical and upfront with people. the bottom line is, ralph, doingunto others as i'd like to have them to do unto me, treating my customers and associatesthe way that i would like to be treated as well.if you do that, and you have a clean nose, you have nothing to worry about and you don'thave to look over your shoulder wondering

who is trying to either issue a lawsuit orwho is trying to slander you or is trying to come knock at your door to collect money,or whatever. you don't have those worries. and i thinkit's a great feeling when you don't always have to sit behind your desk and live in fearthat somebody or someone is going to come knocking at your door because you did somethingtwo weeks ago, two months ago or two years ago that really aggravated people, and nowits payback time. it's coming back to haunt you.boy, isn't that true. what are the principles that you are willing to sacrifice your lifefor? i know there's been a real question of a person that runs into a burning buildingto save somebody's life in contrast to people

who choose a path like taking care of somebodywho is sick in their family. what do you think that is worth sacrificing somebody's lifefor? that's a very good question, and i think thatobviously it depends on the circumstance. i think many people are willing to help outin a moment of need, especially if the circumstances require it.i mean, a perfect example is, i remember reading an article in the paper about somebody whodid a test. they are on the street in downtown new york and they were crying for help andsaying, "please help me" and they are limping around or something. they said a ton of peoplejust walked right by them and didn't even give them the time of day.i'm not saying that's anything against new

yorkers, but i think it's just a sign of thetimes in terms of society, and we are so desensitized, and everyone is so busy and has their ownagenda. we are all disconnected when we see somebody lying on the street needing help.we automatically assume that the "other guy" is going to step up and make things rightor that it's not your problem to be the good samaritan and help out. i think that reallydepends on the individual. who is to say if there is a burning buildingand i heard a baby crying and a mother screaming for help that her child was in danger, i thinkunder those circumstances that you really just react upon impulse. i think i would,if that were the situation, do whatever it took to save that life and offer my help ina moment of need.

in terms of actually it being worth it? ithink that all through life you're thrown challenges and curve balls and you reallyhave to have a balance between business and personal life. i've known people as well throughoutmy professional career that that balance is totally out of whack. when family issues happen,unfortunately there are health issues in the family or you are thrown a sudden blow andeverything crumbles and you think, "how are we going to survive this?certain people will roll up their sleeves and do what they have to do to step in andtake care of mom or take off work for the next three weeks and sacrifice pay to takecare of their daughter or son. i've been in that situation as well. i thinkit depends on the individual. i'm the kind

of person where you can't put a price on family.you can't put a price on a life. personally, if i'm given the choice to jump in and tomake things right, it would be by the bedside of a needy family member whoever it mightbe, due to health issues or what have you. i would definitely drop anything, no matterwhat the cost or the price, because you really cannot put a price on life.as i've also learned, ralph, especially with three kids under the age of four, you reallycannot roll back the clock. that applies to anybody in your life. you can't just say,"well, you know, i'll get to it, i'll get to it, i'll spend more time with mom nextyear" or, "i'm busy, i'll call dad next week." you really have to make that a touchstonein your life. that as you are going through

life you are taking time to enjoy these momentsand be in touch with family, because as i said, you can't roll the clock back. unfortunately,once that time passes on, it's too late. do you believe people are more important thanmaterial possessions, power and wealth? i believe so, yes. i mean, it's no secret.we've heard it again and again where you have rich celebrities, athletes or if it's actorswho all of a sudden go from living in a trailer eating ketchup sandwiches and drinking tapwater from month to month and year to year. finally, they strike it and they get the momentin the spotlight and are making millions of dollars. they are buying these huge homesand also they are getting divorced every second year. there is a scandal throughout theirentire life.

many of them you see on tv are just not happypeople. they have everything you can imagine. you think they have all the material possessionsin the world and they never have to worry about anything. they have the finest restaurants,the finest clothes, going on trips around the world and you think, "my goodness, wouldn'tyou love to be in their shoes?" yet, they are the most lonely, unhappy people,in many cases, that you can see. as opposed to people sometimes you see who are livingin some of the slums of the earth. you see kids playing on the street with a stick anda tennis ball, they are laughing, smiling and having a great time and hanging out onporches and just enjoying family. i think that yes, you cannot put a price onfamily. if given the choice, you can take

away all my possessions today and take allmy material possessions, take away my business and say, "it's family or everything else".without a doubt, i would say that family is more important than anything else in thisworld. i can't emphasize that enough. yeah, i believe that, too. when was the lowestpoint in your life, and how did you change your path to one of victory over obstacles?i know that you had quite a few problems just recently when you went on vacation and putyour family ahead of your business, and had some problems with the filming for your newproduct that you are selling. was there any lower point in your life than that?yeah, that was definitely a bump on the road, but trivial compared to some the things thati've experienced. i always say that the good

lord has always thrown enough curve ballsand putting us through the test. if you pass the test, he will raise the bar and give youanother test. that's just part of life. every time you overcome an obstacle, a challengeor a curve ball thrown your way, you are obviously a stronger and better person because of it.you learn things in life and it helps you to grow as a person spiritually and oftenas well, financially. it's a business, but what sticks out in mymind is one of the most difficult challenges i've had. it would be going back just afteri got married, about ten years ago now. i was working in a deadbeat job and not makingvery much money. i basically decided to send my wife back tocollege to fulfill her life long dream of

becoming a teacher. she'd held that dreamfor years and years. when we got married i said, "you know what? we're young, now isthe time. let's just sacrifice it and get a line of credit, send you back to schooland of course, have a big fat loan, a student loan on our bank record."we had just gotten married and were looking to buy furniture so it was not a good situation.i moved into a small, basically one bedroom apartment. the joke was that you could takea marble and drop it on the floor in the kitchen. it would roll real fast to the other sideof the kitchen. the floors were slanted, we had raccoons livingin the rafters. i'm not making this stuff up, there were raccoons living in our raftersand they were fighting at night. it was just

a run down place. you get to that point inyour life where you are like, "i just hope to god that it's only going to go up fromhere because how much lower can we go here." driving a beat up car and my wife wasn't therefor support and at that point in my life, my parents had been split up for many yearsand my mom decided to go back with my brother to live in germany where her family was.my family was gone and my wife was away, i had huge debt piled up, i was barely makingends meet, i had this crappy car that i was driving, and living in this run down apartment.that was basically rock bottom. you know, i think that basically through myattitude and perseverance and knowing, believing in myself and just studying like crazy aboutall the things that would help me to succeed

in business, and having a goal and some focus,that really helped me just to never lose sight of my goal, to know that this is a temporarysituation. if i was 85 years old and this had been mylife for the past 85 years, you might want to get depressed and upset because you'vedone nothing. you haven't changed anything, you've lived the same life you had when youwere 20, 30 or 40. that can be pretty sad. but the fact thati was young, intelligent, had a lot of motivation, able bodied, able minded, what could standin my way and stop me? my driving persistence and desire to wantto succeed was what really kept me going. it's hard to give yourself a kick in the buttto keep going and to constantly tell yourself

that things will get better. i'm going tosucceed some day and this is just a test, it's just temporary and i can change thesecircumstances with the power of will that i have.that really kept me going. it didn't take me a year to get me out of that situation,it took me several years, probably at least three years. as i slowly built things up,each new month became a little bit better, and i knew i was just stoking my mental firewith information and knowledge to help me break the shackles of poverty and succeed.i did, i faced the brink of bankruptcy. at one point i was willing to throw in the towel.a lot of my friends did who were in similar situations and i said, "no, i'm not goingto give in." i know i can just hang on to

this bowl, and even though it's throwing mearound and i'm getting kicked back and forth, i know i can ride this thing out. i'm goingto be a better person having gone through this again, "test" that i'm being put throughhere. obviously, there is a happy ending to thisstory and my wife is still with me and she has been a driving force in my life and hasreally been one of my coaches to get me back on the saddle and give me a kick in the buttand say, "keep going. you can do this, keep plugging away."it's easy to give up, to crash and burn and throw my hands in the air and say, "this isnot worth it, i can't take it any more." there have been a lot of life lessons learned inthat process as well.

i guess you've heard this before, but anybodylistening today who is in that situation today, i'm here to tell you that it's all up to you.it all depends on how badly you want to get out of that situation.i remember even having jobs where i just hated, hated the environment i was in. my boss wasa jerk, i hated the way i was treated, and the money was just garbage. i was being takenadvantage of and it wasn't a good feeling. many people go through that in life and theyare not willing to make the change. they just go through that for 30 or 40 years and it'ssad. as opposed to people who say, "you know what? i hate this job so bad, i'm going todo whatever it takes to get myself the heck out of here. i don't care what it takes. ifit means i have to stay up five hours a night

studying marketing or studying real estateor studying investment planning, i don't care. i'm going to do whatever it takes to get myselfout of this hellhole. that's exactly what i did. you have to reachthat point in life, i think, ralph, where you say to yourself, "am i willing to do whateverit takes to get myself out of this situation?" whatever that situation might be.when you come to that point, and you've really just entirely had it, i think that's whenamazing things happen and breakthroughs happen. it happened for me because at that point ijust said, "that's it. there is no turning back. i'm just going to rock and roll, buckledown, do what i have to do. keep my nose to the grindstone, not complain, not whine andnot moan but just do this and make it happen

and not finish until i'm done and i'm satisfiedand i'm living the life that i want to live." that's what happened to me, as i said, wheni sort of was in financial ruins and so forth. it became the driving force to achieving thesuccess that i have today. how important is it to have a dream or a visionthat sets a course of your life? it's very important. i think, as i mentionedbefore, just me having a goal and just something that i could strive towards and knowing thati was moving towards something bigger and greater.i think it's so important, because if you just say to yourself, "i want to make a milliondollars," well, don't we all? i mean, you can make a million dollars byspending a hundred dollars on lottery tickets

every week. the chances are slim to none thatyou actually make a million dollars, or you just dream and say, "i want the lifestylethat a millionaire could have. i want to have fancy cars and all kinds of parties and abig house and travel to mexico every second month on vacation."i think without that goal, without having something to reach towards, you are sort oflike a ship at sea without having a direct clear direction of what the end result willbe, and that kind of guides you and steers you. i think it's important to have largegoals that might even be unattainable right now.and also to have mini-goals along the way, and a mini goal might be that i'm going toget my first product together, i'm going to

buy my first house, i'm going to flip it intwo months and i'm going to make some money so i can go and buy myself another house.it might be i'm going to open up a restaurant. whatever your goals might be in business,i think you have to have a big picture goal and also several milestones along the way.obviously, like myself, it might take you five or six years to reach those big goalsbut along the way, if you are setting small goals to achieve, it gives you a great feelingof accomplishment when you say, "you know what? i told myself that within three months,i'm going to, whatever it might be, i'm going to get my real estate license, or i'm goingto study everything i can about franchising, so i'm fully prepared when i jump into thisgame about franchises."

just put those goals up there as well, andas you do that, you cross them off your list. at least you can see that you are moving forward.the car is not in neutral, you are not stagnant, the engine is running and you are plowingahead and moving faster and quicker every day. i think it's very important to have boththose goals, and they become the blueprint, if you will, and the roadmap to your ultimatesuccess. how important is it to take a positive viewof setbacks, misfortunes and mistakes? well i say that every misfortune is a lessonlearned. not too many entrepreneurs i know that have achieved great success who haven'thad failures, who haven't had bumps in the road, who haven't been to the point wherethey are throwing their hands in the air and

thinking," is this all worth it?"i've been there too, i can give you a ton of stories about projects that were just totaldisasters, where i lost money or i lost hundreds of hours of time. it's very emotionally drainingand i think those lessons, they are lessons in business, lessons in life that lead tobigger and better things. many people say, you talk to the wise manon the mountain. he said if i only knew today, if i had the same knowledge today that i didwhen i was 30, i could be a 30 year old with the mind of a 70 year old. it would just beunbelievable. i think that can't happen unfortunately, butas you learn more lessons and you have more failures, you overcome challenges and adversityin business and life, i think it really helps

you to become stronger, tougher and to havethe knowledge you need to eventually put the pieces together to make things work and understandwhat it takes. to understand the mechanics and ingredients of what it takes to be successful,having gone through and learned those life lessons along the way.does it take courage to pursue new ideas and make changes in your life that affects everybodyelse around you? it definitely takes courage. as we know ashuman beings, we are complacent, even often lazy. we do not like change. we like stayingin the same house, eating at the same restaurants, ordering the same food, eating the same brand,doing the same things, watching the same tv shows.we like that constant comfy feeling of knowing

what's going to happen next, and just surroundingourselves with things that we know, like and so forth. any time you take yourself out ofthat element and put change into the mix and that kind of stuff, it makes people feel uncomfortableand uneasy. even starting a business, the big thing isthat people are often more afraid of success than they are of failure. i felt the sameway with my first product launch. i was so on the edge, i was like, "should i releasethis thing? but what happens if all of a sudden i have 100 orders and i can't handle it, orall of a sudden i've got too much business?" all these problems you are making that magnifythese small little molehills and make them into mountains. the same with failure, youare afraid of failure, you are afraid of diving

in and putting yourself out there. "what ifpeople don't like this, if they don't buy into this, what if i just totally have wastedthe past year of my life investing in this product and putting it together and then isell one copy?" what happens then? but of course the processyou took to get there, the road you took to get there, is equally as important, if notmore important, than any financial gain you can get by actually getting a product or gettinga service to market it. it's just the learning process you have gonethrough to get to that point and going to the next level. change is inevitable. youneed to put yourself out there. you need to get out of your comfort zone, do somethingwhere you totally feel like you are standing

naked in the cold wind, shivering, you don'tfeel comfortable and you want to go home by the fire.i think if you do that on a monthly basis as much as possible, it's going to help youto develop those street skills you need to be successful in business and also in life.so when you are going through all that discomfort of doing things and stretching yourself beyondwhat you are at this time when you are doing it, do you think that it's important to havea rock solid belief that your dreams will actually become reality?i think that you do, definitely. because if you are going through all this hardship, ifyou are putting yourself out there, if you've got scars, bruises and broken legs becauseyou've tried things, been beaten up and you've

gotten back on the horse.i keep using the horse analogy but it's a good one. you get kicked off and you get backon again. i think you basically still have to maintain that positive attitude and knowthere is a reason that you are doing this. you want to accomplish those goals so badlythat these are all worthwhile sacrifices. i used this analogy in an article i wrotea couple of years ago and people really resonated with it. i spoke before about actors, yousee these actors and actresses, and you think "it must be nice making millions of dollarsa year and what an easy job. they date tons of girls, date tons of guys, they are livingthe life and they've got the fancy cars." you hear stories about people who get discovered.for some reason they're eating in a restaurant

and somebody eyes them and says,"hey, you have a unique look, you want to be a supermodel or you want to be an actor?"that very rarely happens. for the most part, there are years and yearsof sacrifice you don't hear about. for example, you hear them eating ketchup soup and goingto auditions and dealing with rejection and taking acting classes and not being able toafford classes and working as a waiter. all these things happen, and a very small10% of those people that go through that and follow that dream, actually succeed. if youhave ever been to any major centers, especially l.a., you know exactly what i'm talking about,because you have a ton of good looking waiters and waitresses serving you meals who all haveaspirations of becoming an actor, actress

or a model of some sort.a lot of them do not make it. i think you have to have a clear goal that drives youon a daily basis to know that you want something so bad that you can taste it. you can shakeoff rejection, you can shake off fear, shake off disappointment and failure and just keepmoving forward and it doesn't affect you. if you don't do that, then really, the gaswill run out of the car very quickly after you deal with two or three points of rejectionor failure. at that point, you may just give up. whereif you are firmly grounded and have that belief system and have that goal, i think you willpersevere to the end, having those foundations in place ahead of time.in business and in life, there are a lot of

people that upset, offend and oppose you.how important is forgiveness in those situations? i'm sorry, repeat that again ralph?in life, there are a lot of people that oppose, offend and upset you. how important is forgiveness?it's very important, and i know that it's often difficult in business, even in lifewhen people do offend you, maybe insult you, attack you, do something to damage your credibilityor what have you. i'm a big believer that you have to forgive people.my wife actually has commented to me many times and says, "i'm amazed at how calm youare and you how don't let things get to you." inside, you may be frustrated, you may feeldisappointed, and you may feel anger, you may feel resentment.but i think you really have to hold those

feelings back and not lash out at people basedupon human impulse or instincts to pick up a phone or send an e-mail to somebody andjust immediately react based upon emotion alone, because that can come back to hauntyou. an example i had was, a few months ago a fellowordered one of my products. he had problems getting the product, then he got the productand it was the wrong version. anyway, long story short, it was going a downwardspiral for whatever reason and it's one of these things that happen once in awhile. it'salways this one customer that has all these things happen to them. i guess it's calledmurphy's law, whatever you want to call it. it happens once in awhile.and this fellow, i mean aside from me getting

on a plane and visiting him personally, nothingwould keep him happy. he kept on coming back to me and coming back to me. of course, iwas getting frustrated along the way. i'm trying to appease him as best i can andi'm trying to get him everything he needs and to keep him happy, and not just send himto my support staff and have them deal with him. i wanted to personally resolve this andlet him know that i do care about my customers and am not hiding behind my staff.anyway, a long story short, i found out that he was a well respected interviewer. he doestons of interviews. interviews business leaders and experts and so forth. he was actuallylooking at my product to do a review on the product and wanted to include it on his siteand have a review about the product.

had i jumped the gun and as he was attackingme and questioning my business because he didn't get the right product, all these things,i could have easily just either issued him a refund, told him to take a hike, and saystop bothering me. i didn't do that luckily, and as a resultwe did an interview, he reviewed the product, it got a very favorable review and obviouslygot a ton of exposure and traffic as a result of that. by not lashing out and using my emotionsto guide my responses in business, that very negative situation turned out to be somethingvery positive. do you experience service to others as a sourceof joy? i do. i think that in business, obviouslywe are all in business for the most part to

derive financial gain and to make money. buti think if you focus your business on fooling people, on tricking people, on just beinga snake oil salesman, pulling the wool over someone's eyes, to trick them, take theirmoney and run away, that doesn't become very fulfilling in the long run.or if you are dealing with complaints from customers who are complaining about your product,complaining about you, complaining about whatever it is that you do, and clearly you are notdoing the best you can to service them, again, i don't think that is going to be a greatsource of accomplishment or satisfaction in your life moving forward.i believe that in providing good customer service, doing the best you can do, providingthe best products and services, whatever it

is you offer and truly stand behind that andto know inside that you've done the best you can do, and have produced the best productpossible, i find a great deal of satisfaction getting feedback from people who appreciatethe time and effort i put into my business and my products, can appreciate that and realizethat. then they send me back comments that say,"wow, i am totally impressed, this has been a great experience or your product has gonewell above and beyond the call of duty" or, "i've bought other products before and yourstuff is just incredible thanks for going the extra mile." stuff like that gets me pumpedand motivated. the problem, too, is that as an entrepreneur,i don't have a staff of 100 people. i don't

have a board of directors, i don't have superiorsworking over me to say, "hey, jason, great job." or give me a pat on the back, or giveme a raise, or sending me on a trip to hawaii with my wife because i happen to win employeeof the month or perhaps i won a contest of some sort.we don't have those little elements in our life in the business world to give us a patin the back, especially when you are self employed. so i find my customers provide thatsense of satisfaction, give me a pat on the back and you know, giving me a "pay raise"through their comments. otherwise, you are not getting that feedback; you are not gettingthat gratification from your co-workers because they don't exist. i find it's a tremendoussource of satisfaction in business.

do you maintain a sense of humor in the faceof serious problems? you know, i think you have to laugh at someof the issues that come your way. you mentioned some challenges i had recently with goingon a family vacation and coming back and having a bomb dropped in my lap after having threeor two great days with my family in the sun. at first, you panic, your heart races andyou get frustrated. you can feel it, your breathing starting to get really shallow andyou are panicking. i think that you have to take it with a grain of salt and you haveto laugh at it. if you look at things, and i truly believethat the lord just throws you curve balls just to test you as an individual in everyelement of life. to see if you can pass the

test, or if you are just going to lie downand cry, or roll over and play dead, or just throw your hands in the air and give up.every challenge becomes a little bit greater. you grow as an individual, you grow spiritually,and you grow financially. you grow in any degree of success you have in your businessand in life. i think that you have to sometimes laugh it off and say, "can anything worsehappen?" or let's put it in perspective, this may havehappened, but at least this didn't happen. or, this happened to a friend of mine twoyears ago imagine if that happened to me as opposed to this small little problem thati'm dealing with today. i've got a little coffee mug on my desk thati don't use to drink coffee, but it's holding

a bunch of pens and markers and it's by anauthor, i forget his name now, but it just says "don't sweat the small stuff," and youturn it around the mug as i am now and the other side says, "will this matter a yearfrom now?" my wife gave that to me a couple of yearsago and it's so true. because some of the things i've been through that seemed likethese huge catastrophes in my life, i look back now and i'm like, "heck, that was nothing.that was like getting a mosquito bite and complaining that your arm is going to falloff." it was just a small little bump in the road, compared with some of the stuff thati've dealt with recently. a year down the road i'll look back and say"you know what? those issues were nothing

because i'm down to bigger and more pressingchallenges now." that basically describes sort of my outlook on the situation in general.what place does the power of prayer in your life?jason potash:it's a very important part of my life, in family life and also in businessand i'm a big believer that you have to give thanks that every day is a blessing, and everysuccess in business is a blessing. i think often in life we get so caught up in tryingto chase the almighty dollar and succeed in business and trying to develop a master planthat basically, you forget about faith and prayer.obviously, if things go bad in your life, if it's a tragedy with family or a financialsituation you're dealing with, that's really

just like a bomb going off in your lap, weoften turn to prayer. at those points in our life, because we are looking for guidance,we are looking for answers, we are looking for the lord to come around to help us getthrough this situation, whatever it might be, we turn to prayer.i find in many cases, even many of my friends, the same doesn't happen when you achieve success.any amount of success that you achieve in life, do give thanks for what you have, whatyou've accomplished, for the blessings you have been given and the fact that you areable enough to achieve the success in your life.the fact that you live in a country, thank god, where you can achieve the success, unlikesome things you've seen on tv recently with

people in africa and things of that nature,where there is no way they can achieve the same things we can achieve in all levels livinghere in north america and the u.s.a. i think that prayer has definitely been withme, it's something that i was brought up with. i've always had faith. my family and my children,we are introducing them to all the same morals and principles, and the religious beliefsthat we do. it's a point of particular importance, especiallywhen you are dealing with all the challenges and adversity. i've found i've had a tremendoussource of inspiration and strength just relying on prayer and knowing that, "yes, things willget better." i have faith in myself and faith in god that he will pull me through this.as they say, my wife used to say all the time

and i will probably get this wrong, but if,oh gosh, what is this thing? "if he brings you to it, he will get you through it." somethinglike that. if the lord brings you to it and puts the situation in your hands, he's goingto bring you through it if you have faith and are willing to get through it.that gives you an idea of my belief in terms of prayer and how it fits into my businesslife and personal life as well. who are the heroes in your life?that's a very good question. i mean, again, depending on people you look up to who areleaders in the community, obviously, even people in the church who you look at, theyare heroes for different reasons. they are not the most successful people in a businesssense.

obviously, they are balanced people and wantto give back to society. they want to do good to others. they believe in a spirit of sharing,giving, openness, trying to do good, and contribute to society. those are heroes that i thinka lot of us have. in the business world, a lot of those thingscan blend. people like dave thomas, may he rest in peace, the founder of wendy's. i readhis autobiography several years ago when i was in the restaurant business. he was a heroof mine earlier in life, especially when i was involved in the restaurant business becauseobviously, he'd been down the same road i'd been down and i could relate to him.there is a man, again extremely driven, persistent, had basically been selling colonel sander'schicken recipe off the back of a pick up truck

to restaurants, and he had been rock bottomand obviously bounced his way back in the restaurant business.but here is a man who is always grounded spiritually, always kept his faith, always gave thanksand then moving forwards obviously, achieved great success in business. in the communityhe was a respected leader. he always was giving back to charities. he was an orphan as welland developed a dave thomas foundation and was always generously giving back to charities.and on the speaking circuit, delivering free speeches to other organizations or other socialgroups. just really a hero, a role model that we canall follow, a person who had achieved all the elements of success. take a scorecardin life and what defines a hero, what defines

success? i think dave thomas has come prettydarn close to checking off all these elements. you look at the matrix of areas, from businessand financial success, giving back to society, donating to charities, having faith, a leaderin the community, being a good father as well as a husband, all of those elements, the manhas accomplished it. and i think that is something i look for in terms of any hero that i see,is somebody that i want to aspire to be like. i think he's a great role model in that respect.who are the heroes in our society today that aren't getting the recognition that they deserve?i think the heroes that aren't being recognized are people that don't do the work becausethey want to be recognized as a hero. they are the people, even nurses, even people whoare working overseas with the situation, helping

in africa and the relief efforts happeningafter the tsunami tragedy happened. people of that nature you don't see or hearabout a lot of them. they are kind of unrecognized heroes that are heroes every day of the week.how many people do you know that would do what they do and often for the pay that theyget or the pay that they don't get? even risk your own life, put their life on the lineevery day of the week to help others. even people back at home here who are workingwith children, working with children with disabilities in rehab centers and things ofthat nature. they are extremely gratifying roles, positions and occupations.the gratification is not financial, obviously. financial reward is the last thing on theirmind. i mean, those are really the unrecognized

heroes. people that are doing that sort ofwork, like the mother theresa's of the world. obviously, she was very well recognized andwas recognized. there are many others in that same role that are doing so many good thingsfor so many people, sort of our guardian angels. i think they don't get the recognition thatthey deserve for doing that work. actually, this was brought in perspective with me. mydaughter, a few months ago, was in the hospital. it really opened my eyes in terms of seeingwhat these nurses actually do. you go in for blood work or you have a broken leg, no bigdeal. but when you are dealing with nurses, especially in the infant care unit who aredealing with all kinds of issues and infants who have all kinds of challenges and healthproblems, it breaks your heart and they deal

with this day in and day out. knowing thatsome of them will never get better, and some of them will unfortunately pass away beforethey even reach their second birthday. knowing that, dealing with it and connectingwith children and with parents and then six months later, hopefully the child can moveon to something else, you have to separate yourself emotionally. they are the heroesin my eyes, doing the lord's work and doing things that most people would not want todo under those circumstances, and they deserve huge credit for doing so.why are heroes so important in the lives of young people?i think that young people are so impressionable. my wife is a teacher. she has explained tome better than anybody how their minds are

like sponges and everything you do, everythingyou say, they observe it all. you think they are not paying attention, and they have nointerest in what you are doing. they are observing everything, and all theinfluences around them, good or bad. if it's tv, or if it's things they do, the fun they'vehad, the games they play, the lessons they learn, and the people that interact aroundthem and the role models they have, primarily the parents, that becomes the fabric of whothey are and who they aspire to be to move forward.it really changes you, you become a father and i've been a father now for four years.with my children, it just opens my eyes in terms of the way they learn and the way theyview the world and just little things that

i do that may seem insignificant to me justto see how it impacts them. little things that i've said in the past,where all of a sudden my son will say to me, he'll make a comment and i'll be like "wow,i said that two months ago." sort of like a little comment i made to him on the side.it's almost like the hard disk on the computer. you throw that text file on the hard driveand it stays there. you may forget about it, or you may not even realize it's still there.one day you are searching your hard drive and go, "wow, there's that file. i forgotit was even there. i could probably use that or something." it's just amazing how childrenhave this photographic memory, little things you do and say just stick in their minds.yes, they are totally impressionable and i

think that it's so important to be surroundedby heroes and good people that keep instilling in them the right morals, ethics, beliefs,values and behaviors, so hopefully they can follow your footsteps and be better peoplebecause of it. how does it feel to be recognized as an internethero? it feels great, obviously. when you get inthe business as i said before, the primary goal is really financial gain. most of uswho have thrown our hat in the ring, if you will, you do it not because you like playingwith computers all day long, it's because you want to achieve some degree of success.usually, financial success is the ultimate measure of you, "making it." it's a good feelingto know that i can help others and there are

things i've learned in business and in life,things i should have done differently, and mistakes that i have made and also to knowthat i weathered the storm. i like to think i'm the list of "good guys"as opposed to some people. even people today may have come across some who are deceptive,or just don't run a business that is 100% above board, so to speak.that's totally fine, that's totally their call and all power to them. obviously, you'veheard countless stories about people online who have gotten burned; ordered product andnever received it, or went to the site and it got shut down forever and no one knowswhere it even went. that happens unfortunately, every day.to be recognized as a hero, it's great to

sort of know that again that's another littlenotch on my success belt that keeps getting better and better as i move forward here andexpand my business and aspire to bigger and better things and just to branch out and takemy business to the next level. how are you making the world a better place?that's a very deep question. i could talk about this for an hour, but i'm trying tomake the world a better place in several different areas. obviously, if i talk about my family,we've already been through a lot of my beliefs, morals and faiths and so forth in trying tobe a strong role model to my children. one of my main reasons, quite honestly, forwanting to work for myself and to create a business full time was, after the birth ofmy first child i realized that you can't roll

back the clock. time is so precious. theyare growing so quickly and i was putting in twelve hours a day working downtown and hardlygetting to see my newborn son. that became such a motivator for me to wantto get out of the rat race and want to give back to him. in terms of giving back to myfamily, i want to be there for him. i want to give back to my child and let them knowdaddy growing up, as opposed to being me this ghost that rolls in at 7:30 every night andleaves at 6:00 in the morning before he gets up.to me, giving back to my family is really one of the most important things that i wantto do and give back to out of anything i accomplish in this world because i think it's so important.i've talked about family and the importance

of family, and so forth.overall, i'm not a millionaire. i'd love to be able to write checks for $50,000 and giveback to charities. it's hugely important. i do that now on a smaller level but i thinkit would be really exciting and fulfilling for me to be able to raise the bar and giveback to people with my time as well as with the success that i've achieved in business,and to spread that wealth. i really do feel that when you do that, itdoes come back as well to you. not that that is the primary reason, but if you have a benevolentattitude and a very giving attitude, which i have in the past as well, i find it alwayshas a way of making itself come back to you in some way, shape or form.not necessarily from a financial perspective.

it could be other ways that you are blessedand surprises happen in your life and you say, "wow, that's pretty amazing this happenedat this point in time." i think there is no coincidence that that happened, that you arerewarded for what you do and what you don't do in many cases.from a business standpoint in terms of giving back, i am always trying to enhance thosethat cross my path. if i can enhance them through education, if i can enhance them throughusing my product, if i can enhance them through any way making their life easier, throughsaving them time and somehow enriching their life as a result of doing business with me,that's primarily my goal. many people in business look at it as a transaction.you go into a grocery store, buy a quart of

milk and leave, end of story. if you nevercome back, nobody cares. if you buy your milk from somebody else, the owner of the grocerystore doesn't really care. it's a transaction by transaction sort ofdeal. i'm looking at creating more of a relationship with my customers where there is one on onecommunication, they believe in me. hopefully i enriched their life, hopefully i add valueto their life, hopefully it's a relationship that they derive pleasure from and they feelthere is definite benefit there by being a member of my "community".i do my best to provide value and to give back to them as well. if they believe in meand they trust me, i feel it's my job and my duty to do what i can to give back to themand to help enrich their lives, because they've

invested in me. i know they are spending adollar or spending a hundred dollars and it is often difficult for people who are on fixedincomes. by them raising their wallets and saying,"hey i'm investing in you." and believing in me, i do what i can to give back to themany way that i can to hopefully enrich their lives and help them to achieve their goalseven more. we talked about goal setting throughout this call. that's really important.do you have any good solutions to the problems facing society, especially racism, child andspousal abuse and violence among young people? again, very deep questions. i think that educationand awareness can only break down the walls over time. we can talk about it in closedrooms, we can talk about it during fireside

chats, in the schools. we talked about howimpressionable young children are. i really think a lot of those problems stem from adolescence.it depends on who your peers are, who is influencing you in your life and if mommy and daddy havecertain beliefs. if daddy is abusing mommy or if daddy is a racist and a bigot, whetheryou like it or not, those children are seeing that day in and day out. they become exposedto it, and it becomes a part of them whether they like it or not.they may resist it, they may fight it, but it's ingrained in the subconscious mind becausethey've seen it happen over a series of years and years and years.i think that is where education and awareness, it all comes down to stamping out the problemat the roots, not when somebody is 30 years

old but when they are actually three yearsold and how can we spread awareness and education to get those problems resolved.in many cases, it's also in the school system because, let's be honest, many children spendmore time in school than they do at home with mommy and daddy. especially as i mentioned,most people are working eight, nine, ten hours a day. and they get home, are exhausted andthey don't even want to play with the kids because they want to just relax and have somedinner or something. it's even more important to make sure theteachers are influencing, especially the youth of today. i think that really, it's not somethingthat's going to go away overnight. it's been a problem that we've had for several years.i think as we keep increasing the intensity,

and keep again, getting to the children andfinding the source of the problem before it becomes this massive issue, the schools andthe churches and counselors and those who influence children are the best ones to spreadthat message and correct the problem over time.if you had three wishes for your life, the world, that would easily come true, what wouldthey be? i would say, we can go in left field hereand have these high high in the sky dreams which will never come true, like we are allgoing to love each other and be friendly to one another and stamp out anger and violenceand everything else. we all know that unfortunately, that day willnever come. i just think that basically, if

everybody had a positive attitude, if everybodywas connected and had faith and really believed in, and just being happy with what they'vebeen given in life. so many people that i deal with as well arejust so angry and felt they have they have been given a raw deal, and "woe is me, andmy life sucks, and this is terrible what i'm dealing with, and nobody deals with my problems.i'm making bad money and my kids are totally out of control."you just really have to give thanks, and i think so many people do not really count theirblessings. i'm not just talking from a spiritual/religious standpoint. i'm talking about looking aroundsaying, "you know what, i've got a roof over my head and food on the table. i'm makingmoney. i may not have a car but i have enough

to take the bus to work. i'm not walking fivemiles to get to work every day in snow and so forth."we all heard the stories about our parents who say they walked to school back and forthin five feet of snow. my dad had these stories and my grandfather had these stories as well.there is probably one point in my life where i walked to school up the hill both ways,as they say, when i was a young lad. but other than that, i've been blessed withso many things. and i think so many people let that negativity just totally, it's likea cancer that eats you from the inside out. obviously, as we know, being positive, beingmotivated and having goals and always trying to lift up above your current situation andcircumstances, that's going to help you to

rise up and conquer your goals.i think if everybody had that attitude of wanting to work together, an attitude of cooperation,an attitude of giving before receiving, an attitude of being positive, an attitude ofthankfulness and forgiveness and not just letting it fester inside that you have itso bad and things are terrible. i know it's hard to do that when you are dealingwith $10,000 in credit card charges and everything else because i've been there, and it's hardto believe that gospel when you are dealing with all the crap that is happening in yourlife. but i think if people had that attitude, itwould definitely change things. i think what is also missing with many people is just havingthat rock solid foundation. if it's being

grounded with faith, a higher power, or justbeing grounded with morals and values, having a purpose in life.again, just having an attitude of giving and being thankful, i think that can become somethingthat can have a huge impact on an individual's life. if everybody in society would followthose same principles in life, i think you would have a huge impact in society as weknow it. i really agree that people seem to have forgottenthe value of gratefulness and being grateful for what they have, and being optimistic andlooking at the future in a way that is positive. it seems that negativism and fear seem torule people's lives and destroy their future. it's also this me, me, me, me attitude. yousee it most, i think ralph, when you hop behind

the wheel if you live in any major city. youhop behind the wheel of a car, you go for a drive during rush hour and you are like,"oh my gosh, it's like a war out here." you can see the look on their faces. their faceis all tensed up, they are squinting their eyes and sipping their coffee and it's just,"me, out of my way, i'm going to work. let me cut in front of you, let me get ahead ofyou." not even putting a turn signal on to showyou they are going to cut lanes and if you don't hit your brakes, you'd ram their carright in the rear tail light. i think that's just a real physical proof of just some ofthe attitudes that people have out there and not to say it's necessarily their fault. it'sjust a series of events, a series of environments,

it's the world we live in, it's the fact thatwe are working harder and longer hours perhaps making even less pay, and we've got more billsbecause often you want to buy more things. everything kind of comes to a snowball.i agree with what you are saying, it's just sad that a lot of those important elementshave fallen off the map, if you will, especially over the past few years.what do you think about the in search of heroes program and its impact on youth, parents andbusiness people? i think it's a great idea and i commend youfor putting together the program, because no one has tried to make that blend betweenbusiness, youth and also family and tying it all together, and having role models thatchildren can follow.

i was fortunate enough early in life thatmy father was an entrepreneur. he had his own company for many many years and i wasexposed to that environment. strangely enough, i still decided to become an entrepreneur.i'm just joking! because my dad was never home, he worked weekends, he worked duringthe summer. when all the kids were out playing basketball, he was at the office.obviously, he had to sacrifice. i learned that you have to sacrifice to come ahead.he did very well and was very successful and got to a point in his life, i remember onepoint where my dad was on the couch in the afternoon for most of the summer.i was like, "dad aren't you working?" he was like, "i'm just going to watch a ball gameon t.v. and take it easy." he didn't do much

at all but he put in the effort to make ithappen. again, i was fortunate i had a role model and a hero in my life who was an entrepreneur.i think that in the school system, they don't teach entrepreneurialism, they don't teachpeople to have the desire to want to be a creator, be a visionary, to want to go outon their own. you usually just learn the 1-2-3s of beinginvolved in a business or accounting, history or geography, whatever it might be. even inhigh school and grade school, i know that no one really struck me as a hero. even inthe academic system that inspired me to want to become self employed or an entrepreneur,or to let me know there were options out there. i don't have to work for the man, punch atime clock and like everybody, go to grade

school, graduate high school, go and get ajob. you work for that job about 10 years, get another job and that's it. you are therefor 20 or 30 years and you retire and whatever. then it's moving down to florida to enjoyyour retirement. that does happen. but as you know ralph, smallbusiness fuels the economy. most of the jobs created right now are created through smallbusinesses. entrepreneurs, they fuel and drive the economy as well because they are the visionaries,creating the ideas. they are creating companies today with one employee that become the companiesthat have 5,000 people tomorrow. without those entrepreneurs and those visionariesand those people that are willing to take the chance and risk it all to make it happen,no matter what negative circumstances and

consequences may lie ahead of them, thoseare the ones that are making a difference. i think it's great you are getting to thesource, as we talked about changing society as a whole, it all begins with the children,it all begins with those that are impressionable, those that are young, those that are goingthrough the school system. i think it's great you are trying to appealto them, to get them to share some of the views and the beliefs that you have as itapplies to being an entrepreneur. i think that a lot of good will come of it, by givingpeople those heroes they can latch onto to hopefully aspire to bigger and better thingsin business and their careers. that's funny that you say that, because mostof the other heroes that i have interviewed,

they all considered that it was the entrepreneurs,the people that made a choice to follow a different path, to strive to be the best theycould be, to provide services that would be so valuable that people would actually paythem money for that, they are the real people that would transform the world basically ina good way. most of the school systems are geared justto turn people into employees. it suppresses their creativity, their ability to think.all they come out are people that are dependent upon the system. do you think that's true?i think it's very true. again, my wife is a teacher so i have to watch what i say.she agrees too. the school system, academia, is not geared toward grooming and moldingentrepreneurs. it's grooming you to hopefully

find a skill, an area that you would thinkyou would enjoy working within and basically take you down the path so you can become agood and effective employee. i've been through university, dropped outof university, been to college, luckily made it through college. in terms of what i learnedin college and university, i think one of my bosses early in life said it best. he said,"you go through grade school and then once you go through college/university, all itreally becomes is an exercise in stress management." you look at business. there are constantlycurve balls thrown at you. i don't care if you are self employed or work for somebodyelse. you've got projects, deadlines, you've got things to do in an amounts of time youthink that can't be done. you are juggling

multiple projects. companies are downsizing,they are outsourcing. you've got more stuff on your plate than ever before, and in manycases, you are making the same money, if not less than you were several years ago.it too, is an exercise in stress management. i really think that getting essays in on time,your thesis, working on projects, presentations and studying every night that just reallydevelops the foundation for you having the skills and the stress management skills tosurvive in the business world. but it is not teaching you how to survive as an entrepreneur.in many cases, it's totally doing the opposite. it's grooming you to become a cog, a wheelin the machine, a spoke in the hub of an organization to do your role and that's about it. it'sa totally different world when you basically

cut the apron strings.you cut the parachute off and you survive without a net as an entrepreneur, knowingthat there is no paycheck, no benefits, there's nothing. and obviously you have a gun to yourhead every day of the week because if you don't produce, you don't eat, you don't paythe mortgage, you don't pay the car payments and everything falls down like a house ofcards. i totally agree that the school systems havereally not done anything to address this, to encourage it. it's kind of a shame, becauseas i said, we all know that small business is really what fuels the economy. it fuelsjob growth, and that starts with entrepreneurs. it's developing that fertile soil in the schoolsystem and planting those seeds at such a

young age. people who do venture off intoentrepreneurialism are doing that by accident or stumbling on it by mistake, or they happento aspire towards or have an influence in their life.but there are probably so many other people, if exposed to even heroes early in their highschool years, would maybe take a shining to some of the things you and i talked aboutand hopefully looking at being an entrepreneur as a "career choice," just like being a doctor,nurse, fireman or firewoman, whatever it might be. it's very important.what do you think are the things parents can do that will help their children realize thatthey too can be heroes and make a positive impact on the lives of others, and potentiallymaybe even be entrepreneurs and change their

world?i think that it's just open communication with our children, and being open with themand constantly instilling in them the same values and morals that you have and how you'dlike them to shape, mold and become. i think it helps, obviously if you have ahousehold where one of the parent figures or even a grandparent, uncle or aunt who arealready in that environment of being an entrepreneur, and they can reflect that back to the family.an uncle of mine was very successful in real estate. he used to come over some times andi used to be enamored with his stories. he bought these buildings for $1.2 million andhe flipped them and made himself $40,000 in a week.all these stories, i just became so gaga over

him just getting in there, rolling up hissleeves, hammering out some deals and buying these massive commercial properties and flippingthem around. it's just amazing. you could see his passion and feed off his energy.that became very impressionable to me, because he was exciting. he didn't come home and say,"my boss is such a loser. i can't believe they are going to be closing down the mississippioperation. what is he doing? i've got to get out of this job."once again, that negativity is directly being absorbed by your kids whether you like itor not, and programming them in a negative way. it's hugely important to have a spiritof entrepreneurialism within the household, even if you work for the government or ifyou have a 9-5 job working in the private

sector, public sector, whatever it may be.just to let your children know there is nothing stopping them from opening a lemonade stand,opening a lawn care business and having a paper route, maybe washing windows. they canbasically set their own game plan to make money and to be entrepreneurial and it reallyjust depends on their willingness to do it or not, and their creativity.if you can foster that environment, encourage them and give them a bit of a push on thebum to hopefully get them off their training wheels to make it happen. some may just totallyhave no interest, but at least if you could try as a parent to do that, and to give themsome options. just like you send them to hockey practice,basketball practice, soccer practice, they

may hit everything but baseball, but at leastyou've given them the option and say, "you know what? we've tried everything. we've giventhem the options, and encouraged them to try different things."if they don't like it and they fail, ultimately they are going to be on the wrong course,but at least you've done everything you can as a parent to put the options out there infront of them and hopefully, encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit within the householdaround the dinner table is something that people can get more involved in to help fosterthat environment. that's so true. there is a real controversynowadays about parents being their kids' best friend rather than being the parent and settingup the parameters of discipline to help that

child become the best that they an be. whatdo you think about that? that's a good point, and it's true. i've seeneven many people that i've come across in my life, not to say that i'm the best parentor i'm dr. phil or anything because i'm not. but i do always try to keep my nose in whatis happening in some of the discipline books that are out there. even dr. phil, i admitonce in awhile, has a good point. i think a lot of parents try to be their kids'buddies, their friends and so forth. i want my kids to think of me as a friend but notin the true sense of the word where you are friends and you can go and steal liquor fromdad's cabinet and he won't tell anybody. or you can go behind the house and light firecrackersoff and nobody's going to know about it. those

friends are obviously different and not thefriend i want to be. i want to be a friend to my kids where we can have fun, they knowi respect them, love them and we can do all kinds of things.they can talk to me openly, they can share things with me openly, i'll give them my adviceand try to be as honest and open as i can. however, i'm not the kind of friend wherethey can walk all over me, they can beg and plead and whine at me and i'm going to cavein and give in because i'm their friend. i think you are right, ralph. there is a veryfine line between a friend who has the backbone of a wet noodle, versus the friend and parentwho is also an authority figure who knows when to put their foot down, and knows whento reprimand their children if need be.

that doesn't mean spanking, it means settingdown the law and letting them know they've done wrong, sent to their room, grounded orpunished as a result of that. i really think you have to have that solid,authoritarian figure in their life as well, so they know that somebody is there to guidethem and to basically set them on the right path.studies have been done again and again that children like discipline, they like orderand they like somebody to have control, and to show them right from wrong. to know thateven though you love them, you are still willing to go and possibly upset them, because youtell them, "this is wrong, this is bad. why don't you go and sit in the corner for twominutes?"

a lot of parents are not willing to do that,because this whole attitude, like you said, being your child's best friend, being therefor them, and being their buddy, "we can't reprimand our children because they are goingto be upset, we don't want to upset them." it may have gone from extreme in terms ofactually pulling out the belt, like often our parents did (not my parents, luckily),but, you know, i had friends where the belt came out every second week if you misbehaved.i think that's one extreme. the other extreme is being the, "betty crockercan do no wrong, my children are wonderful and i can't smack them, i can only hug themand love them" and your children just walk all over you because they know there is norepercussion for their action. they know there

is no end result of them aggravating you ornot behaving. i think if you can find a happy balance ofsomewhere without whipping the belt out, and without being again, like a wet noodle withyour children. in my mind anyway, that's probably being the best of both worlds and the bestfor your kids, in terms of helping them growing up and being the best people they can be.boy jason, that's great advice. i really appreciate your time. i know how busy you are just havingall those problems with your big product launch and selling a ton more than you ever imaginedyou would, just to try and fulfill those orders. is there a parting piece of advice for thoseyoung people that you'd like to leave the listeners with?i'd just reiterate some of the points i've

brought up before, ralph. and yes, i've hadchallenges recently, but obviously as i call them, they are "good problems." bad problemswould be if i was making $1,000 a month and my car just blew up and i needed $1,000 worthof repairs. that would be a bad problem to have.the problems i'm dealing with now, yes they are big problems and they are problems a lotof my friends would want to have but it comes with the territory. obviously, they are goodproblems when you are succeeding, you are doing well and you have too much businesson your plate that you can't handle it often. i welcome those kinds of problems any dayof the week and obviously, as i said, i've been through enough of a roller coaster rideover the past ten years or so where those

problems now actually are welcomed more sothan the other problems i had when i was trying to rub two pennies together to make a dollar.in terms of parting advice. to tell people again that kids and children who may be listeningto this is to maintain your positive attitude, keep focus with your dreams and i know wheni first got started studying marketing material, i knew that i would be involved in marketing.i had a passion for it. i would leave some of my books and newsletterson the coffee table and my brother and my friends would come over and go, "what's this?what are you trying to be a professor something? why are you reading this crap for?"now, they make smart remarks at me. you know, it kind of takes a shock to your ego, givesyou a little bit of a punch in the stomach

because they don't believe in you and theyare laughing at you. we deal with this all through life as well. if it's in the playground,somebody is teasing you because you have curly hair or you have freckles, or you are toofat or too thin, whatever it might be. well ,l the same happens down the road whenyou are trying to start your own business. your parents think you are crazy, your friendslaugh at you and aunt becky tells you that this doesn't make sense, you are really makinga mistake. but you need to believe in your goals, beintelligent about it. don't just foolishly throw money at something or throw time atsomething, try to evaluate it and make sure it will be a success as much as possible.as we said throughout the call, ralph, have

those dreams. have those goals. have thosemini-goals as well and have so much belief in yourself that nothing can set you off yourcourse. not your parents, not your friends or peers because you are driven from the inside.you are totally immune to the negativity on the outside.just you believing in yourself sets the course for your life. if you believe in something,never give up until you make it happen. until you feel fulfilled inside just say, "hey,i've succeeded or i can succeed. or make the decision that says, i've tried this for xamount of time, maybe it's time to back up a step and move in a different direction."if you have that attitude, then nothing can set you off your course. you will achieveyour goals if you spend the time and have

the tenacity. eventually you will see successhappen. but as we know ralph, probably 95% of peopledon't have those skills and don't have the tenacity and persistence and end up failingand giving up. your goal and your challenge should be among the 5% who really sees thingsthrough to the end, and as a result there is nothing stopping you from becoming successful,much like many of the heroes you've had involved in this program over the past few months.that's about it. that's great! that is just super advice. again,i just really appreciate your time. thanks again.you are very welcome ralph, my pleasure. bye.