Dr. Joe Vitale’s Blog

 Diane Watson moved from Pennsylvania to Texas when her husband transferred to a new job. 

She became depressed.

She didn’t know anyone. Didn’t have a job. Missed her family and friends and familiar surroundings.

She found my book The Attractor Factor, read it, applied it, and began to do things that made her happy.

She smiled more. She became a realtor. She made friends.

And then she discovered that the author of The Attractor Factor lived down the street from her.

You might imagine her surprise.

She wanted to meet me but was nervous. She saw my bright yellow Steven Tyler Panoz AIV Roadster outside a coffee shop and knew I was inside. She got out of her car, took a picture of my car, and left.

She saw me walking to my mail box one day as she drove past, and instead of saying hello, she ducked behind the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

She wrote me a long letter, sent it by snail mail to me, and I read it and replied to it. But she never wrote back.

We finally met at a party. I liked her instantly and we arranged to have lunch.

Over lunch Nerissa and I learned she was a realtor. We told her our plans for a green mansion. Diane took on the project. She’s been helping us find the right property ever since.

But something else happened at that lunch.

Diane told me she had been studying my marketing material, too, and loved my book on P.T. Barnum, There’s a Customer Born Every Minute.

She told us she had a dream of opening a site that would be a one-stop clearing spot for people wanting to buy or sale land or homes anywhere in the country.

But she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, or if she could do it.

I saw the diamond in the rough and encouraged her to take action.

“But where do I start?” she protested. “There are rules and regulations for each state. And I don’t know how to make a website. Or how to get traffic to it. Or what to call the site. Or –”

Her list of objections went on and on.

Both Nerissa and myself encouraged Diane to start now, and to start with something. As she took action, I explained, the next steps would become clear.

I wasn’t sure if Diane would take action or not. I hoped she would. But you never know what people will do. Will they step forward, or step back? It’s up to them.

Well, the other night Diane came by to pick us up in her new car (which she says she attracted with my attract a new car program) and with new business cards proudly displaying her new website: www.propertyhugger.com

She is going for it.

This is how dreams become realities: you start with whatever you can do, learn what you need to know for the next steps, and just keep moving forward.

It helps to have encouragement, of course. That’s why I have a Miracles Coaching program. But maybe you, like Diane, don’t need it. (Actually, Diane had me has her neighborhood Miracles Coach.)

Whatever the case, begin and begin now.

Go for your dreams.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — In my next post I’ll answer the question, “When did I start encouraging people, and why?” It’s an eye-opener.

 Mandy Evans is the first Miracles Coach. She knew me when I was poor and desperate, and helped me. She knew me when I was unpublished and struggling, and encouraged me. She knew me when my wife died, and helped heal me. She recently came to visit me, and we had a blast. Her version of the story is on her blog here http://beliefbreakout.blogspot.com/2008/06/best-thing-about-abundance.html And you can see me interacting with her on a short video clip here www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v8nM2PAacw or by clicking the below image. Don’t bother trying to hire her, though, as she’s retired from miracles coaching. That’s why I set up www.miraclescoaching.com You can get her books at Amazon or off her site www.mandyevans.com Enjoy. 🙂

I wrote one of the first books on Internet marketing long, long ago. It was called CyberWriting. It became a quick bestseller due to one secret – a secret revealed in the following brief video clip. At the recent World Wellness event in Austin, I met a comedy writer who once worked for one of the greatest magicians of all time. Click the below image to see it (or go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ayqloL1YA) and learn about magic, marketing, and more, as my co-author (of Inspired Marketing) Craig Perrine looks on.

 I entered and completed seven fitness contests and lost eighty pounds because of one man — a man I finally got to meet a week or so ago.

I was a featured speaker at the World Wellness Weekend event in Austin, along with Marianne Williamson, Marci Shimoff, and Bill Phillips.

Bill Phillips created the Body for Life challenge over a decade ago. It was a brilliant movement to get people to transform their bodies and their lives in only twelve weeks.

His book became a six million copy bestseller and the movement captured the imagination of an estimated two million people.

I still remember reading his magazine, Muscle Media, and seeing all those before and after pictures of average people who were now stunning looking.

I got the bug and the dream, and went for it. I couldn’t complete the first two challenges. Working out and dieting for twelve weeks was too much for my mind and body at that time.

But when I combined the Body for Life system with the Mental Toughness Institute for Weight Control‘s support and education, I got results.

As I mentioned above, I entered and completed seven contests. I lost 80 pounds. And I received an honorable mention for one contest.

So you can imagine how much I wanted to meet the man behind all this: Bill Phillips.

My friend Mark Ryan and I went to the event on Friday night to set up my booth. I didn’t know it but Bill was speaking that night. We figured we’d go see the room where I’d be speaking on Sunday. As we wandered around, I thought I saw Bill Phillips over in the corner.

But the guy I saw looked too young. This might be Bill’s son, or younger brother. But not Bill. He looked like a California surfer dude. Was that Bill?

I tried not to stare but my eyes kept wandering back to the guy. I wanted to know if it was Bill. If so, he sure seemed unassuming, humble, and natural.

After a while he went on stage to have a sound check. That’s when I knew the young fella I had been watching was in fact my hero: the legend himself, Bill Phillips.

He wasn’t ready to speak yet so I felt this was my moment. I took a deep breath, looked at Mark, and said, “I’m going in.”

I took two steps up the stairs to the stage, looked at Bill and said, “My Phillips, I’m –”

“Hi Joe,” he said, smiling.

I almost fell down the steps.

“You know me?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m well aware of who you are.”

He was smiling a little sheepish, shy smile but his eyes glowed.

“How do you know me?” I asked, baffled that this fitness inspiration would know my name. “From the movie The Secret?”

“No, I knew you before that,” he said. “From your marketing books and methods.”

Now THAT was flattering.

The man behind one of the most legendary movements to get people in the gym, who’s marketing is brilliant, knew me from my marketing.

“I saw you in the movie, too” he said. “We call that movie the Joe and Michael show, since you and Michael Beckwith are the stand-outs in it.”

I was stunned.

But I also wanted Bill to know how he helped me.

“Bill, I want you to know you transformed my life. I entered your contest seven times and dropped eighty pounds.”

“No!” he exclaimed, truly impressed.

We made some small talk for a while, had our photos taken together, and exchanged information so we could stay in touch.

It was a historic moment for me: meeting one of the heroes of my life.

Thank you, Bill Phillips.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Bill has another movement in the works and another book coming out. He wants to transform the nation’s youth from childhood obesity to healthy and fit. See www.transformation.com 

Brian Clark just ran an interesting contest.

The idea behind his Twitter Writing Contest was simple: compose a story in exactly 140 characters and post it on Twitter. That’s it.

But notice the story had to be exactly 140 characters. No more. No less.

I loved the idea and told Brian I’d offer a signed copy of my book, Hypnotic Writing, to the winner. He agreed.

I just learned the winner was Derek Dysat.

His winning Twitter was:

The priest at the funeral home asked if she had been a loving mother. The children all stared at each other. The silence spoke volumes.

I wrote to Derek, congratulated him, and asked for his address.

He gave it. He then surprised me by saying, “I have to be honest and say I’m not familiar with any of your work, so I’m actually looking forward to the book.”

Not familiar with any of my work?

After writing about thirty books, being in five movies, appearing on national television, in countless newspapers and magazines, and running hundreds of websites and international publicity campaigns and writing hundreds of articles and blog posts, he never heard of me?

Never?

I’m not really surprised.

It’s a wake up call to all of us: you must keep marketing.

There’s an entire world of people who never heard of you (or me) who would probably like you, love you, or even buy from you.

But they never heard of you.

And they never heard of you because you’re not marketing enough.

Most people have a bad attitude toward marketing. But I’ve redefined it:

Marketing is sharing your love for what you do with the people who will most celebrate hearing about it.

Think about it.

Marketing to people who don’t care about your product or service is where marketing becomes tainted. People don’t like it. You can feel it. So you don’t like it, either.

But marketing to people who want to hear about your product or service, when you love your product or service, is true passion. It’s divine. And it’s a win-win you can celebrate.

I wrote back to Derek and said, “I’ll work harder on my marketing in the future.” 🙂

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Brian Clark is at www.copyblogger.com He posts numerous wise ideas and insights about copywriting there. Well worth repeated visiting. Go see.

PPS – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mrfire