All of us at some point in our life have sat and watched sand flow through an hourglass. The sand falls slowly at first, then as the top of the hourglass clears out a bit, it starts to flow faster, until eventually the last few grains finally trickle through.

What if you were anxious about how fast the sand was flowing and you tried to help it along by pushing down on the top of the sand? Adding pressure to the top of the sand causes it to compact and flow slower. The slower it flows, the more anxious you get, and the harder you push until almost no sand is flowing at all. Then you would have to shake things up to get it flowing again!

That’s often what happens when we’re anxious about our goals. We may be taking the right actions, but because it’s moving slowly we push too hard and frantically try other activities. Powerful, graceful success is not frantic but relaxed and smooth.

The hourglass is already set up for success. There is sand in the top, an opening in the middle, and gravity will do the rest of the work. (Of course, if the hourglass were lying on its side or had glue in the middle, it would not work, just like 95% of the websites in the world never make any money because they were not set up for success to start with.) As long as we’re taking the right steps and things are moving, patience is very useful. We can relax into our success rather than forcing it to happen.

If you’d like some help setting up your business for success, send me an email and let’s schedule a time to talk.

Steve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.

John had been selling vacuum cleaners door to door for the past three weeks. It was very discouraging. No one had bought one yet, so John spent most of his time sitting in the car wishing that someone would buy.

He finally made himself get out of the car and carry the vacuum up to the nearest door. After ringing the bell, he stood there for a long time thinking to himself.

“There’s probably no one at home. And if she is home, she’s probably not interested in vacuum cleaners. In fact, I’ll bet she has wood floors and never uses a vacuum cleaner. She probably a slob who likes to keep her floors dirty. What’s more, she probably hates sales people. When I try to sell her something, she’s going to call me all kinds of names, and then I’ll be embarrassed. I’ll be so embarrassed I’ll be too upset to eat. And then because I don’t eat, I’ll start to get sick. And then I won’t be able to go door to door, so my career as a salesman will be over. All because of this nasty woman yelling at me.”

Mrs. Smith had been repotting her plant that morning when it spilled dirt all over the carpet in the living room. And when she pulled out the vacuum cleaner to clean up, it made a loud crackling noise and stopped working. Mrs. Smith was just wondering when on earth she would find the time to go out and shop for vacuum cleaners when she heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Smith debated whether or not to open the door. She was mortified that someone might see dirt all over her carpet. But eventually she decided to open the door. To her surprise, there stood a vacuum cleaner salesman!

John saw Mrs. Smith opening the door and decided then and there that he would not allow her to embarrass him into being sick and jobless. “Fine!” he shouted at her. “Go ahead and keep your dirty floors! I’ll just take my vacuum cleaner somewhere else!” And he walked back to his car.

So many times we misuse our imagination, our God-given creative gift, to fantasize about all kinds of horrible scenarios. That’s our ego, a scared little child, wanting to protect us from getting hurt by preventing anything from happening in the first place.

Have you ever imagined something bad that might happen and then found yourself actually upset about it? About something that never really happened and was only in your imagination? I do that sometimes, but only every time I’m facing a big opportunity. I’ve learned that the more I can stay out of the future in my mind (which isn’t real) and stay in the present moment (which is real), the better the outcomes are. And, the more I will enjoy the ride.

Steve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.

The Gallup Corporation developed a strengths assessment that ranks people’s strengths out of 34 factors. When I finished the test and got my results, I was really disappointed that they didn’t tell me what to do with the info. What all the people exactly like me were doing with their careers.

Then I did the math. Looking at only the top 5 out of 34 strengths, there are 33,390,720 possible combinations, and only 8 or 9 people in the United States who might share my same top-5 strengths profile. If we look at all 34 strengths in order, there are 295,232,799,039,604,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations and a 0% chance that anyone in the entire world has the same strengths profile that I do. Even of the handful of people who share my top-5 strengths profile, none of them have the same 22 years of education that I do, the same investment in ongoing coaching and training after school, the same business and life experience that I have, or the same creative talents that I possess. What the Strengths Finder shows us is that there is only one of me in the world. And there is only one of you.

There is also a limited amount of your time. So if you want your life to make the most possible difference in the world, it makes sense to spend your time serving those who value it highly. Serving those who value your ideas enough to take action on them. For maximum impact, you can spend this limited, unique, extremely valuable resource (you) on those who will get a huge benefit because they value what you do.

Steve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.

I just returned from a 3-week vacation. The middle week I was in a cabin in the mountains with no Internet access, and I was (almost) completely unplugged. Wow! What a change of pace!

I’ve always heard about how people’s best ideas come when they are on vacation, whether for their writing or for their business. I didn’t seem to have any. But here’s what did happen. Since coming back, I’ve been much more relaxed. I’ve had lots of energy. And I’ve been getting all kinds of new ideas.

The reality is, by unplugging for a while and letting my creative powers recharge, I’ve come back from my vacation a different person from when I left. And that’s good for my health, my relationships and my business. I definitely want to do that again!

One of my ideas is to create a fantastic new program for people who want to upgrade to a professional website and be seen in a bigger way online. If this strikes a chord with you and you’d like to talk about the details, just contact me and we’ll schedule a time.

Steve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.

“When I open my eyes in the morning,” said Colin Wilson, “I am not confronted by the world, but by a million possible worlds.”

There is a theory in quantum physics which tells that that it is observation that makes things real. Right now this minute I am surrounded by a million possible outcomes, even a million possible worlds. It is the one that I choose to observe that becomes real to me.

We see what we want to see, or what we expect to see. I spent five minutes searching the fridge for the ketchup bottle, but I could not see it because it was in front, on the top shelf, right in front of my nose. Exactly where I did not expect to see it. (I needed my wife to point it out to me.)

Quantum theory doesn’t tell us that what we’re experiencing isn’t real. It IS real. But at the same time, there’s another whole world that we can step into, right now, just by observing it.

I recall the two shoe salesmen that were sent to eastern Africa. One of them called the office and said, “I want to come home on the next flight out. There is no opportunity here, because no one wears shoes.” The other called the office and said, “Send me everything we have in inventory! There is unlimited opportunity here, because no one wears shoes!”

There is opportunity all around us, if only we will slow down enough to observe it. Of the two show salesmen, which one do you think had more sales at the end of the year?

As a sales person, sometimes I don’t like what I’m experiencing. No one is buying. I’ve run out of leads in my pipeline. Bob just rejected me.

I can shift that. I’m building a huge pipeline of prospects who are getting ready to buy. There are dozens of people I haven’t made an offer to yet. Bob just told me when his budget cycle is so I know when to go back to him.

One of our coaches, Steve Chandler, says that if you slow down and look at the last 10 people who emailed you and really think about how you can serve them, you’ll find lots of opportunities.

We’re familiar with the adage that our best prospects are our current and past customers. But how often do we take advantage of that? Who have you not talked to in a long time?

Get creative. Frustrated by the long line at the store? What does that indicate about what’s going on in their world that there might be a need you can solve.

A lot of people say that their best ideas come to them in the shower. Or while they’re sitting on the beach, and supposed to be relaxing. It may seem to be the water that’s the common factor. But the truth is that there are good ideas all around us, but we’re too busy running around to see them. Where else can you create space in your life to allow the good ideas to float in? One habit that can greatly increase productivity (and opportunity) is to go for a long walk every day.

When you catch yourself looking at a limited universe, slow down and see what else you can see.

Steve Johnsen is a marketing strategist, a business coach, and the Founder of Cloud Mountain Marketing. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 best-seller, 5 Easy Steps to Make Your Website Your #1 Employee.