Matthew Detrick is President Heart Massager of Inner Gold, helping you grow your business by opening your heart and mind. Find Matthew at http://MineMyInnerGold.com/blog and on Twitter

Hi, how YOU doin?

Matthew Detrick here with MineMyInnerGold.com
holding it down on SuccessFool.com to share
with you, a gift on the day of my birth.

Today brought me back to a conversation Alejandro
and I had about what it means to be a success fool.
My first response:

“Success fool to me means remaining foolish in
our lives and in our businesses, having fun, and
when things go the opposite of what we might have
expected, taking ourselves a little less
seriously whilst letting it go”

As I went to Starbucks this morning, and
reflected on life, it hit me that at times
we forget what we have to be grateful for.

Being grateful is also a humongous part of
what it means to be a success fool.

Listen, if you’re not grateful for what you have
right now in your business, then what makes
you think that you will get any more business
then what you have right now in your internet
business?

Sure, the economy according to the tv is horrible.

You can choose to buy into it, which injects
the very same greed into our hearts that got
us here in the first place.

Take your ego out of the equation for a minute
whilst looking at it from an objective viewpoint
and you will see what I mean.

If not, just ask

OR…

… you can CHOOSE to be grateful for what you
have in the first place whilst finding new
ways to reach your target customers/clients.

So what if you didn’t have a record year in
sales

but look at the lives you DID change with
your products and/or services!

Figure out what worked and DO more of THAT!

Be grateful for that one life you did change

And yes, I know that things go wrong in our
business, or more along the lines of:

not the way we wanted them to go.

Instead of crying woe is me

Speak blessings over your internet business because
you know the hard time WILL come to pass

In business and in life, especially
right now, you BETTER come with your A
game or risk standing stagnant whilst
watching your business wither away and
die from choosing not to grow.

What did we learn today

1. Be grateful for what you already have

2. Speak blessings over your business in
rough times to GROW your business.

3. Do more of what worked

What does being a success fool mean to you
as it relates to your business?

Please leave your thoughts/comments/observations
below. We thank you

Yisel Guajardo is an entrepreneur who writes about internet marketing, social media, and blogging. She authors the blog Advanced Income. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Last month I read about a study that really disturbed me. It was based on a survey of stealing, lying, and cheating of nearly 30,000 students in high schools across the United States.

THE RESULTS

A total of 30 percent admitted to stealing from a store in the past year. And although students who attend private secular and religious schools were less likely to take something they didn’t intend to pay for, still more than one in five (21 percent) admitted to stealing something!

But hold on.  The lying and cheating results only get worse.

More than two of five (42 percent) said that they sometimes lie to save money while more than 8 in 10 students (83 percent) confessed they lied to a parent about something significant.  As far as cheating, a substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the past year.

What’s interesting is that more than one in four (26 percent) confessed they lied on at least one or two questions on the survey.  So the figures could actually be worse since experts agree that dishonesty on surveys is usually an attempt to hide misconduct.

On a positive note, it appears American youth have a high self-image since a whopping 93 percent said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character and 77 percent said that when it comes to doing what is right, they are better than most people they know.  Well, it’s either a positive self-image or delusional thinking if you ask me.  So while they admit to cheating, lying, and stealing, most think there is nothing wrong with it.  That’s the real disturbing part.  And these are going to be our future leaders and business owners?

I’ve personally always believed that your reputation and integrity is your greatest asset and that honesty is still the best policy.  These teenagers will be in for a rude awakening since one of the greatest characteristics of new or social media is its transparency.  It’s no longer static where you can hide behind a website and not have to answer to the crap or the treasure that you produce online.  If you try to lie about your business or product results, you’re bound to be found out.  Other people will stand up to defend you or denounce you.  So isn’t better to just be truthful, authentic, and honest upfront?

And secondly, what can we do to reverse the trend of acceptance of dishonesty, not just in our youth, but in ourselves and our businesses?  How far will you go (or not) in the name of making more money?

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback.