I thought long and hard about putting this out in the public domain. But then I thought that success in any activity is all about reaching out beyond your comfort zone.
The comfort zone in this case is that this is family. This is about my eldest son, Simon and his efforts to raise money for a charity to which he is giving a real commitment by his time and involvement. That's him on the left – and he has no idea that I'm about to try to send everyone I know to read this post about him!
The quick story is that Simon has committed himself to working as a volunteer at the Samaritans. Those in the UK will know this is a charity that provides telephone support for those who feel so desperate about their situation that they are thinking of taking their own life. The purpose is first to persuade them to think again and then to support as they try to find a way out of the situation that is making them feel so bad in the first place.
The Samaritans receives no Government money and is funded 96% by voluntary donations. Volunteers who work there have to commit themselves firstly to the training and then to giving a specific number of working shifts every week to man the telephones – so working for the Samaritans is a serious commitment by anyone and I'm seriously proud of my son.
That takes us to the next part. Simon started off running to keep fit, (he's a big lad, I wonder where he got it from?) inevitably got the bug and decided he wanted to run the London Marathon, all 26 miles and some yards of it. Demand for places in the London Marathon is so high that places are allocated by lottery – and he didn't get a place. Ironically, his partner, Jon, that he wanted to run with, did get a place through his running club.
Next shot is that the Samaritans have some places for people who run to raise money for the Samaritans – but the places were all taken and you have to commit to raising £1,800 before you can guarantee the place. So some time ago he put his name on the waiting list, resigned himself to watching from the sidelines then went off on holiday.
If you are still with me then we are getting to the point. Yes, he was told he had a place in the 
Samaritans team while he was on holiday. Yes he's in a panic of insufficient training and inadequate sponsorship. And yes, I would really appreciate it if you would go and take a look at their sponsorship page at www.justgiving.com/simonandjonmarathon
You may never have met me, you may barely know me from online forums etc, you certainly don't know my son and you may have no real reason to give. But please do so anyway. He's already running out of friends, family and acquaintances to ask, he's only half way so far to meeting the requirement and with only a few weeks to go has no time to work up a big sponsorship campaign.
Any amount will do. Just know that your gift, however small, is for absolutely the best cause – to help fund the Samaritans who work to protect life when it is at its most vulnerable.
Please go here now and give whatever you are comfortable with: www.justgiving.com/simonandjonmarathon
Many thanks.
Bruce
PS I have to mention No 2 son just so I don't provoke a fight! This is him – and I'm seriously proud of him too.
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I've just emerged from a snowstorm of emails after subscribing to the JVAlert event charity product where the delegates gave themselves 90 minutes to put together a product from which they would give the proceeds to charity.
Needless to say, for a peanut price you got a welter of giveaway products similar to the Christmas giveaways. Frankly, this usually irritates the hell out of me because the whole process is so convoluted as you sign up for seemingly millions of lists and then have to try to clean up your In box for weeks afterwards.
Anyway, the point is that somewhere among the snowstorm I came across ResourceCashmaps. which offers a FREE summary of key online resources in the form of process maps.
I have to tell you – I was glad I signed up to the whole package to come across this one diamond. The package consists of a set of process maps – called Cashmaps – that show you the steps necessary to setting up and growing an online business. That's easy to say but when I downloaded it and saw the content I knew this was worth it's weight in gold.
At each step, there are one or more online resources that are referenced so that you can see exactly when and where to use the resource.
You can read more about it here.
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I've just been reading Rich Schefren's post about how disappointed he is in seeing so many short term 'get rich quick' products being sold by internet marketers. Having been in this game for more than 2 years now and still trying to fight my way through the undergrowth I very much see his point. Of course, I have bought lots of the offers, lots of the quick fixes and it takes time to realise that it is the fundamentals that matter. Just the same as in any other business.
I'm now adopting my own catch phrase; 'Never Mind the Technicalities, Feel the Fundamentals'.
See Rich's post at I Don't Think We Can Be Friends Anymore
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One of the very best ways of developing your internet business is by attending events. Not necessarily to learn new things, though that almost invariably happens, but also to stand in the way of good fortune so that it can run you over.
By that I mean that this is where the product developers, gurus, mentors and lots of successful people hang out – for exactly the same reason. Events are an opportunity to get together with successful people to try to ensure that some of that success rubs off on you.
Make sure you take your camera and a recorder with you because this is where you will have the opportunity to have pictures taken with your favourite guru – a proven way of building your own credibility by association. There is also the possibility of grabbing a short interview on your recorder that you can use as a bonus or even sell if it carries enough content.
Now read my lips (metaphorically speaking, of course).
Do What I Say – Not What I Do!
Why – because last Friday I was with Stephen and Alicia Pierce at the Ultimate Business Seminar in London and I did not have my camera with me. But for some kind help from fellow SMCC member TK who took this photo of me with Alicia I would have nothing at all.
My shot with Stephen is still sitting on Alicia's camera somewhere in Australia right now. I'm planning to send her this link as a public request so if she's real nice she will send it back to me.
Please, Alicia…
..and not 3 hours later -Alicia comes up trumps.
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