I Must Be Crazy 6

Crazy no More

After some months of driving myself crazy trying to keep up with all of the videos, homework, online projects, blogs, article writing, website creating, book reading, webinar watching, and everything else I have to do to keep up with Mind Protein and live my other, normally crazy life, I've finally made a decision.  

I need to focus on the original idea: teaching people what I know about being a happy earthling.  I don't know everything, which is why I'm including the advice and teachings of the experts that I have found to be legitimate and interesting, but I've learned enough over the years to know the difference between truth and bull.  I plan on focusing on the truth.  I hope to be able to turn skeptics into followers of a positive way of life.  I hope to create other happy earthlings. 


During my internet travels I've found a small number of groups already following a positive path.  The interesting thing to me is how many thousands of people there are that belong to these few groups.  I can see a need for more groups and support systems for people who want to change their lives.  People want to be happy, but are confused about how to get there. 

So this is my plan:  using Happy 2 be Earthbound as a mother company, I'm creating daughter websites that relate to learning about a positive lifestyle and high vibration living.  


Little Earthlings focuses on helping parents raise positive children.  We talk about the law of attraction, staying healthy physically, mentally and emotionally, and recommendations of products that enhance the well-being of our future adult happy earthlings.

Happy Earthlings is now a sounding board about the products and programs that I've tried and find not only to be legitimate, but good.  I base my opinions on what I've learned from my own experiences over the years, and will do everything I can to promote the teachers, counselors, experts and products that will enhance the lives of any who are interested.  The thing I like about most of these teachers is that they offer free samplings of what they teach.  If you find their program is not right for you, you don't have to buy anything. 

We can't leave out our other loved ones: our pets.  I'm calling that site Furry Earthlings.  I'll be including information on the health and well being of our not so furry friends, mainly because I have a bird and have become pretty attached to her, but the main focus will be on dogs and cats and a few rodent-types.  Who hasn't tried their hand at parenting with a guinea pig or hamster?  I'll leave the veterinary advice to the experts, but there will be links available to the best I can find.  

Another site I'm creating will be about life-enhancing traveling.  Worldly Earthlings will focus on the travel groups and eco-tour companies that I've taken vacations with that have proven to not only be earth promoting, but are focused on the well-being and satisfaction of their customers.  I've had some pretty good adventures and will LOVE talking about them.  I've been to some beautiful places and have had some profoundly life changing experiences, and I believe everyone should have at least one adventure that they can carry with them and talk about for the rest of their lives.

I also hope to spark a revolution.  The vibration of the planet and it's people is speeding up.  In the past few years, while trying to keep our heads above the financial waters and take care of our families, we somehow came together to improve our world.  You might feel like you're doing it alone, but the energy being created by everyone's effort is combining to push us over the frequency edge, and the planet is feeling the love.  If we can turn our focus from looking at what's wrong with the world to seeing what's really working for us, if we can learn to tap into the power that is at our fingertips--the high frequencies of love, acceptance, beauty, and abundance--we can preserve the beauty of our planet and move into the next level of our evolution.  We are the light.  We just need to flick the switch to shine.

Every day I see a news story or read something on the Internet that proves to me that we are doing it--we are changing the world.  All of our worries about our future should now be turned into expectations of a great improvement in humanity, and that should translate into saving our planet.

This is all new to me.  I haven't got the slightest idea how to make it all work, but I refuse to stop now.  I'm going to continue to create the websites and look to you, the students, and the teachers of the light to help me with the revolution.  I'll make bad decisions and do dumb things, but that is what living is all about.  You learn from your mistakes and become better for it.  You look for a way to improve yourself and never stop.

Being a happy earthling may take a little work, but there is a lot of help to be found for those who want to put in the effort.  I'm finding that out right now. 

From now on my blogs will be production reports.  I want to let everybody know what I'm up to and talk about all of my adventures into the world of marketing.  Maybe I can inspire some people to live their best lives, and hopefully help some find their passion.

I'm on Facebook as Valorie Maya, have a twitter account as Valoriemaya, and have started two Facebook fan pages, one for Little Earthlings and one for Happy 2 be Earthbound.  Friend, Like or follow me if you're up to it.  I promise to share everything positive.


Check out the websites: http://www.Happy2beEarthbound.com, http://www.LittleEarthlings.net, and http://www.Happy-Earthling.com.  My book, Raise Your Vibration, be Happy to be Earthbound,  is on sale on Amazon.com.  My HiVibe newsletter is available to all, sign in on Facebook, Happy-Earthling, or Happy2beEarthbound. It will be a continuing educational tool that expands on everything I talk about in my book and more. 

Everything is a work in progress, and I'm always open to suggestions if you want something I haven't provided.  please feel free to contact me in any forum. My email address is Happy2beEarthbound@gmail.com.

I look forward to my next blog.  Maybe I'll talk more about what I plan on doing next. Or maybe I'll just ramble on about how busy I am.

I Must Be Crazy 5

Crazy to go on

Now I was a member of Mind Protein.  And the work really began.

They gave me access to a site filled with video tutorials, e-products to buy, and tools to use as I build my empire.  With each video came a week's worth of homework.  I had to write blogs and articles, have a product to sell, create videos of my own, research the competition, strategize to beat the competition, and watch other videos.

Remember, all I wanted was to create a website and write a book to tell my story.

The very first week's tutorials were about hiring help.  I was already over my head.  I didn't know what I'd be hiring help for.  They gave me websites and e-companies to use to find my help.  I put that on the back-burner and moved on.

Then Mind Protein gave me access to their research and website builder tools.  I needed to research keywords and build sites that would expand on my original idea and ultimately lead people to my main website.  In the meantime I needed to learn about why I needed keywords, how the internet worked and how people would ultimately find me.

I had to create a newsletter, learn how to copy and edit other peoples websites - a tool I've yet to use -  define my niche and find affiliate products related to my niche, understand and create accounts with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and any other social networking site I wanted.  I had to write articles and submit them to several ezine sites, write blogs, publish my book, create an ad for it, write other articles.  I was supposed to hire other people to write my articles for me, but when I tried, I found it easier to write them myself than wait for an article to come back to me, edit and make changes, send it back for rewriting, and still not get the message that I was trying to relay in the article. 

One of the things that was, and still is, required of me is to set up an account with Google Optimizer to compare different versions of my websites to see which people went to the most.  It took so much time and energy to create one website, I couldn't imagine coming up with different versions just for the fun of it, so that is something else on the back burner.

Oy.  And that was the first month.  And I had to do all of this while working to pay the bills. 

I have to make contacts, study my competition, study other websites, watch more videos and create more websites.  By now I'm supposed to have ten sites that are optimized to attract thousands of people. I actually have 3 websites and four domain names still unpublished.  I've written articles and had them accepted on four different ezine sites, and a fifth is under consideration.  I'm creating Facebook pages for two of my sites, and yes, I did have to hire help for that.  He's a nice kid in London, the Facebook capital of the world.  We are working on the contacts.  I've made a video to go with the free e-book that I also hired someone to write for me to advertise my newsletter.  My first week's lesson actually came in handy.  The book,  How to Live a Rewarding and Positive Life, is pretty good.  I wish I could write as well.

I've got 24 weeks of training modules to go through, and three months into this venture I'm proud to announce I've finished 7 of them. 

And I finally published my book!  It's called, Raise Your Vibration, Be Happy to be Earthbound.  After some fruitless effort trying to publish it with Clickbank.com, a highly respected but complicated source of e-products, I finally gave up and went to Amazon.  I've written a sales page for the book and posted it on two of my sites, started a pretty good newsletter, if I say so myself, and have lots of ideas for more articles.  It turns out I'm chock-full of usable information. 

Was the price of the project worth it?  Will all of my work pay off?

We'll see.  I'm still creating, working my pants off, and learning how to do more.  I'm still waiting for my first sales.  I'm still waiting to see if anyone likes what I've been doing.  I'm still waiting to see if I can become a good marketer.

In the meantime I hope I'm doing some good, helping some people out, showing them a way to improve their lives.  But no matter what happens in the future, I'll be toiling away at my vision: teaching people that it's possible to be positive and happy in a world full of negativity.

My next blog will reveal my constantly evolving already established projects, and some ideas I have for new projects.  It's exciting!  At least for me. 

I must be Crazy 4

Crazy stuff



One day Mind Movies sent me an email that proved to be the big turning point in my internet career. They invited me to register for a webinar that was being held by two real estate moguls that had a program designed to help people build internet businesses.  I thought about it for a minute, checked my work schedule to see if I'd be free during the webinar and decided it might be worth watching, so I signed up.

The company is MindProtein.com; they have a blog page that looks pretty interesting and can be very educational.  It was a company started by Ralph and Matt, who had a successful real estate business and were branching out to other web-based ventures.     
  
It looked like they had some insider information to sell that could be useful.  I'd seen a lot of get rich quick schemes on line and was completely prepared  for this webinar to be the same thing, but I'd learned all sorts of things watching and reading the free stuff and figured a little more information wouldn't hurt.  I work in television and am bombarded eight hours a day by commercials and half hour ads that sell everything and anything, so I was immune to sales pitches.  At least most of them.  I do have an exercise machine and a Magic Bullet, but at least I use them on a regular basis.
 
I was hoping I'd be immune to this sales pitch.


I was not.


The video started innocently enough.  The facilitators, Natalie and Ryan, talked calmly about who we, the audience, were going to meet, how successful they were, and how they had a fantastic opportunity to offer only 15 people.  The scene started out with Natalie and Ryan sitting in a SUV, driving down a street in San Diego, on their way to a meeting with Than and Paul.  "We" get out of the car, head into a building, meet Than and Paul, then head to a conference room.  "We" sit at one end of a conference table and they sit at the other, where they start a conversation about why we are there.  Than and Paul talk a little about themselves, how they started their business and why they were now talking to us.  


They were looking for people who wanted to start their own businesses or grow what they already have on line.  They promised that they could teach us everything we needed to know to be successful.  They said that they learned so much through their own growth, that they had a so much information to share, they now wanted to teach.  By the end of the video, they had me convinced that they could help anybody who was willing to work, learn, and had a good product to sell, and they were only going to help 15 of the most promising businesses.


I thought, what the heck.  I'll send them my idea.  Surely there'll be 15 better ideas coming across their table than mine.  


Surprisingly they called me back.  They liked my idea.  All I had to do was "invest" in myself.  


I don't know what it was about this sales pitch, but I bit.  I gave them my credit card number and started my venture.  In the back of my mind I was aware of what trouble I was setting myself up for, but for some reason I felt this was what I should do.  My television job was evolving into a computerized business, one where people will no longer be needed before I get to retire, I had no debt, and I had the money to "invest" in myself.  If I were to start a new career, this would be the time to try.  All I needed was some guidance and a good push.  My credit card bill was the good push.  Plus, I figured, if I failed, I could still pay off my credit card and life would go on as usual.  


Now, after a few months working with these guys and their coaching team, I've decided that I might be able to pay off my credit card, but my life will never go back to the usual.  I not only can't believe what I'm doing, I can't imagine myself not doing it.  It's too late to go back. 
  



Next, I'll tell you what I've learned and if it's worth it.

I Must be Crazy 3

Crazy enough

So, I stopped automatically deleting my e-mail spam and looked at some of them.  It seemed a harmless act.  Most of it of it was deletable, but some of it was interesting.  I thought, what would it hurt to see what these people were selling?

Okay, so I started to buy into what I was seeing.  Part of that was the desire to change my life.  I was tired of working at the same job, 30 years and counting, and part of it was that I wanted to lead a more positive lifestyle.  Not to mention that I've lived in the same house for over 20 years, a duplex that was originally meant to be a transition home to a bigger house after about 5 years.  Ahh, the best laid plans.

One of the e-mails I was getting was from an Australian couple selling a pre-fab movie program to create a visual tool for positive affirmations.  They call it Mind Movies.  They were offering access to their program at a "sale" price, and they had preproduced movies I could download for free.  So I did.  And I liked them.  Then I decided I'd like to make my own, so I bought their package.

                      It turned out I liked making my own movies.  I now have three.  
                                                          This was the first.
 

The movie kit included choices of music, topics, graphics and text, then you could use their picture library or upload your own pictures.  I had a ball!

Then there was a free download of advice on finding your perfect mate.  The Soulmate Secret by Arielle Ford.  She was interesting, but my interest level on this subject was minimal.

I downloaded a "tool kit" for raising your personal vibration level, Love or Above, by Christie Marie Sheldon, which included a meditation audio and a couple of e-books.  Her product was really interesting, but I haven't bought the whole program yet.  I found her voice a little grating, but she has a good product. I'm recommending her to other people.

Then there was Margaret Lynch.  She sells an EFT (emotional freedom technique) program that involved clearing your chakras by tapping some energy points and voicing your problems.  I downloaded and followed a few videos that had me tapping my financial troubles away.  I still like to watch them.

There was Christine Arylo, Bob Doyle, Chris and Janet Attwood, Maestropath, David and Kristin Morelli, Bob Proctor, and a few more people, all who had programs to sell after you signed up for their free newsletters or downloaded their free videos and e-books.  I was pretty picky about what I bought, but I enjoyed all of the free material.  I signed up for webinars, e-conferences and radio shows, avoiding the ones I had to pay for, and found myself glued to my computer.  I was not only learning about the law of attraction, EFT, positive affirmations and personal frequency vibrations, I was finding out that web technology had advanced much farther and faster than I'd been aware of.  My tech-brain was drinking it all in and I wondered how I could use some of it.

I also learned that I really believed what these people were saying, particularly because I was already  aware of what they were selling.  It's just more profitable now to package the old stuff into new technological versions.  What was once "new age," "hippy dippy," and  "way out there," 20 years ago, is now popular as a way to save the earth and improve our lives.

All of this made me more determined to get my book out there, because I had information that wasn't being shared: more old stuff that's been around forever, but not talked about much.  So I worked my book over, rewriting some of it, adding to what I already had.  Then I tucked it away again, because I still didn't know what to do with it.

Next chapter I will start my adventures with the final webinar, which turned out to be the most expensive "free" information I ever bought into.

Until then, check these guys out:  www.LoveorAbove.com and www.mindmovies.com

I Must be Crazy 2

 Crazy 2 be here

When I first started buying things over the internet I found out that once someone has your name and interests on record, everyone has your name and interests on record.  No matter how hard your email provider tries to weed out the unwanted stuff from your wanted emails, you're still stuck with the task of cramping your deleting finger while narrowing your incoming list down to your friends and family.

I did that a lot, cramped my deleting finger, but every once in a while I found myself stopping and thinking, "Hmm, this looks interesting, I think I'll take a look."  And a new list had my name on record.

I believe that was how I found Kareem Hajee.  When I bought the e-book about starting the affiliate website, I ended up on two different mailing lists:  one for making fast money on the internet, and one for changing your life in a positive way.  There were plenty of sales pitches for both, and both were of interest to me, so every once in a while I'd click on one and sign up for a newsletter.

On the fast money lists I found two guys that seemed interesting and had some free information that I thought I could use.  Mack Micheals had some entertaining videos with just enough information to get you started with email marketing and wanting to know more.  He had a club you had to join to really get involved in his program and maybe make some money but it was more than I was interested in spending.  Mike Litman shared some webinars and free e-books that talked about writing e-books and creating newsletters for affiliate marketing, never concluding his topics and always teasing you at the end that you had to buy a book or video or class from him to continue your education.  I did buy a few things from him at his "sale" prices, but I soon learned his tactic was to never finish anything so that you had to buy the next kit or book or recorded webinar to learn the rest of what he was teaching.  I have to say that I did learn some valuable things from these guys, and I don't regret the few bucks I spent on them and their products, but it seemed like a never-ending roller coaster of buying their products.  So I got off.

The self improvement lists were sending me lots of emails with different products and programs that looked interesting, but only a few tickled my buying bone.  Most of the emails were from people I'd never heard of, but some were well known names and products, like the Passion Test and the Secret.  I can't quite remember what sparked my interest when I received Kareem's sales pitch, but I bit.  Maybe it was the weekly newsletter he promised or the way he worded his sales pitch, but whatever he said got me to buy his books and CD set.  I think mostly it was that it wasn't very expensive and I decided it might be good for me.  At the time I was down in the dumps about work problems and financial worries, and this program looked like it would help.  Kareem Hajee talked about reprogramming your subconscious to work for you instead of against you.  It was a four week program of listening to his CD's and practicing daily visualization exercises, and by the end of it I was half-convinced that my subconscious mind is, "my partner in success."

I have to admit, though, his program worked.  Not only was I able to pull myself out of my dump, but  Kareem's newsletter also opened more lists to include my name and more "opportunities" came my way.  I eventually figured out that most of Kareem's newsletters were about selling some other people's books and programs, so I opted (cancelled) out of the newsletter, but he had led me down some interesting paths.

Soon I was reading other newsletters from life coaches and gurus.  Soon I was buying other people's life improvement products.  I even bought into a program that teaches you how to become a certified life coach, but I found I really didn't want be a life coach, and that program is now lying dormant on my computer.  It has become one of those projects I put aside with the idea that some day I'll get back to it.

Probably not.

Stay tuned for the next excerpt of, "I Must be Crazy," to get an earful of what I learned from the other gurus and where their newsletters led me.

I Must Be Crazy 1

Crazy me

I decided now was a good time to go back a little in time to explain myself and recount what has led me here, so you, the readers, can enjoy the mess I've gotten myself into.

It's really not a mess, just a wild ride of seemingly unrelated circumstances that are coming together to become a huge deal.  They are projects that I've started for fun but ended up being being more serious yet more rewarding than I could ever have imagined.  I am worn out and feel overworked, and I find myself asking the question, "Am I crazy to be doing this?" at least twice a week.  When my brain feels like exploding I ask this of myself almost daily.

The answer is always, "Maybe, but stopping apparently is not an option," because trying to imagine myself not doing all of this is impossible.  I started on a path where the journey is leading me who-knows-where, and there is no getting off.

So, I'll start at the beginning.   

In the Fall of 2009 I was working late nights at the television station, the shift was 7:30 pm to 4 am, and I found myself trying to stay awake.  I turned to You Tube.  Even though I started with cute animal videos (singing parrots are my weakness),  I found a cache of animated short films, (another weakness of mine) which I started sharing with my friends and family.

Night after night, when I found myself powering down, usually by 2am, I looked for another video to entertain myself with.  When I ran out of animals and animations, I started on exercise videos, thinking that a little workout would get the blood flowing.  This eventually led me to meditation videos because I figured I could use a little mind expansion, which led me to other mind expansion and life improvement videos. There is a lot of stuff to see.  I found myself totally impressed with the power of You Tube.

One night I saw a link to a website that promised to help me make a little money while helping other people.  It included a little e-book and access to an affiliate website filled with other people's e-books and videos that focused on educating and improving your life in some form or another, and I thought, why not?  I went home and bought it and set the website in motion.

The book was short, but suggested that writing your own e-book was a good thing to do.  The author also suggested that creating your own website was easy and fun and a helpful way to sell the affiliate website.  My worn out brain decided, again, why not?  I could use a little exercise in internet creation.  What would it hurt to educate myself?  It could be fun.

The next thing I knew I was writing a book.  I had some information in my head that I thought would make a good subject.  I had lived a pretty decent life and accomplished some interesting things, so I wrote it all down, organized it and did a little research.  Fast forward a few months and my first draft was born.  With the intention of saving up to hire an editor and figure out how to e-publish it, I piddled around with the book, tried to think up a good title and wondered about creating a book cover.  In other words, I threw it in the back seat.   As of this writing, the book is still not published, but stick with me, it's coming!

In the meantime I ordered a DVD/book set that talked about changing your subconscious programming so you could get past your blocks and make your life go the way you want it.   During the summer of 2010 I spent some down time reading and listening to the audio recordings, doing the exercises (it was a 4 week course), and telling myself , "my subconscious mind is my partner is success."  The course, if you're wondering, is Creating Power  by Kareem Hajee.  I didn't think I was accomplishing anything, but look at me now!

During all of this I never made one cent from the affiliate website.  I decided to take the next step.

I found a web site company that would help me set up my own site for a pretty small fee. I thought up a domain name, picked template and a website was born.  Soon I was making plans to sell my e-book, create a blog, feature some of my favorite videos and websites and tell some friends.  I spent the next month or so using up all of my free time playing with my new and exciting web site.  Woo, hoo, I could add a picture here!  Looky, I created a link to this web address, and created buttons that work, and found a way to include some You Tube videos!  I was in right brain heaven.

By the end of 2010 I had all of these new fun things to do, but didn't know what to do with them.  This was where I started to question myself.  I wondered if it was time to quit and get back to dealing with real life.

Then I stopped deleting all of the sales emails I was getting in my inbox and looked at some of them.

Big mistake?  Maybe.

Stick with me for future posts, where I'll continue the saga of Crazy Valorie.

Sun Burst

    The air was crisp, the sun was warm, yellow and crimson leaves floated down from the maple tree at the end of my driveway, and two patrol cars pulled up across the street behind my car.  Mmm, interesting.

     I watched from my side porch, pretending to brush my dog, as a police officer got out of each car, put on his gloves and walked down the street.  They split up when they got to the house they were searching for;  one officer went up the driveway and stood guard over the back yard, the other climbed the stairs and knocked on the front door.  No one answered.

    The little drama that never unfolded became boring, and my attention wandered to a glint of light reflecting off of the hood of my car.  It's not unusual for the sun to bathe my car at that time of the morning, but the glare was different this morning. I saw a full spectrum of color radiating from a sunburst;  rays of blue, green, red and yellow exploded from a white, bright core.  I gawked at it for a minute then ran into the house to get my camera.  I knew the sun was about to change position and the colorful sunburst would soon disappear.
   
    By the time I came back out, camera on and ready, the police officers had given up on rousting anybody from their target house and were heading back to their cars.  I had to hurry.  I didn't want to attract any undue attention.  I mean, what's more suspicious than a woman pointing her camera in the direction of  police cars and clicking away?  Unfortunately, time was of the essence and I had none to waste.  I had to risk discovery.

   
    I think I got the picture I wanted, and even from here you can see the colors.  Luckily for me the officers were too preoccupied to notice me and my camera, either that or they saw and decided I wasn't worth further attention.  I went back inside, and they got back in their cars and drove away, and I spent the rest of my morning watching the sun.

    When I first saw the sunburst, the rays of color were longer and more defined.  The sun had moved while I was in the house, and I missed the best photo opportunity.  Still, I was happy with my results.

    I found out that later that night there was an aurora radiating over much of the northeast, and some people had even seen some red light dancing over Maryland.  Apparently the Sun was very active that day.  Extra solar activity equals extra color. 

     I like that.