There is no shortage of hype floating around the internet about what kind of money is possible.  You see it from network marketing distributors to so-called "gurus" flashing their earnings and dropping names.  It can get a little nauseating after a while.

One guy that I have followed for a while is above all that hype.  His name is Mike Johnson.  He is several things:

1. A good teacher
2. Shows his real stuff
3. Is making the money and not just talking about it
4. Has been doing it for a sustained period of time

All of these things are important because I have seen and bought several programs where the person was not a good teacher, they dropped the ball, they bailed out before the teaching was done, they never really showed what they were doing - only talking in theory - and it was something that they either did long ago or it is something trendy.

The product I am referring to that Mike is getting ready to release is Auto Blog Blueprint 2.0.  The nice thing about it being the second edition is that it is a proven system over time.

Click on either the banner or the link below to check out his video and to be put on his notification list.  It is getting ready to be released next week.  I will provide more information about it over the next several days.  I encourage you to check it out.  It is one of the primary streams of income that I plan to develop in the second half of 2010.  In fact, I anticipate the income from auto blogging to exceed any other stream of revenue I am receiving right now.

Auto Blog Blueprint 2.0

It's amazing how weeks and months can slip by without so much as a post or replying to a comment.  I thought I was busier than I actually was I guess.

I just returned from an 8-day trip to Washington, DC. It had been 34 years since I was there last.  I was a chaperone on a Junior Class trip at my daughter's school. Without going into all of the details and personal insights (which would bore you beyond belief), there is one thing I did find out - I can work a lot less than I already am and enjoy life.

The past 4 months I have been working to try and build my business.  It has been a tough 4 months as I have tried to build up a new area of business, while trying to maintain the National-Leads.com business that I have owned for the last several years.  It has been quite a challenge, and at times it has been very stressful.  This last week I would get back to my hotel room and work for about 2-3 hours each evening.  I found that business went well and that I could probably begin slowing down from these 10-12 hour work days.

It is pretty arrogant to believe that working 12 hours a day will bring you to your goal faster.  I am now convinced that I can reduce that to 6 - 8 hours and enjoy life more, and actually be more productive during that time.  From there, if I follow what I have been learning about outsourcing more of my work, I can reduce that further and increase my business at the same time.

Running a customer service related business requires a lot of time.  The goal is to begin to shift to less of this and outsourcing much of the work that needs to be done.  One of the greatest businesses that still remains is building a Google Adsense business.  It is much harder than most people realize.

It is like the leads business.  Many people are told to buy a list of leads, give the leads a call or send them an email, and some will join your business.  If that is what you have been told, you have cruel and poorly informed upline members in your company. Using leads to build your business is hard work and requires time and training to become an expert, and even then it is still hard work.

Growing an affiliate business and using Google Adsense as one of your main sources of revenue requires you to put up thousands of web pages, whether from a few sites or many different sites.  In order to get the clicks on your ads on a consistent, daily basis, it requires a commitment to putting up thousands of quality pages on your sites.  But, it doesn't stop there.  You must also write hundreds, if not thousands of articles to submit to article directories, writing hundreds and thousands of blog posts to the many different pages you have on your sites to provide the backlinks to them. 

Primarily, running an affiliate business is a commitment to write, to publish, and to promote.  However, it is much like the steam locomotive.  It takes a while to get the momentum built up, but once it is running, it can provide a fabulous residual income.

With all of that said, I still believe that having your own business is worth the price.  In the end, I will have spent the time building up my own experience and my own asset instead of building up someone else's dream.  Never believe that working from home or having your own business is easy.  It is hard work, but the reward and price you pay are worth it many times over.

You need to check out this YouTube video of my daughter.  She wrote and composed this song.  She has others that she has done, but this is the first one we have put to video.

Go watch it directly on YouTube by clicking Play, and then clicking the video again to go to the YouTube site.  Once you are there, rate it with 5 stars and leave a comment if you like.  I'd appreciate it.

I have not completed 2 weeks into my low carbohydrate diet.  I've lost 17 pounds now, due to a combination of working on my Bowflex every other day, and cutting back the sugars and carbs in my diet.

Two weeks marks the end of the induction phase of the diet, although I am going to carry it for another 5 days so I can begin next Monday moving out of the induction phase and to begin to gradually add more carbs into my diet.

Along with dropping 17 pounds, I am now wearing my old jeans, down one size.  That's pretty cool.  17 pounds is a lot, but yet it's not.  The main thing I notice is that I don't look "swollen" when I look in the mirror, I'm more flexible, it's easier to get around, and clothes that were tight fitting are now hanging much looser.

It's been pretty good so far.  Not much temptation so far with any other food.  I did find a website that is very good.  I did their skillet pizza a couple nights ago, and I'm gonna keep on trying new recipies.  I believe that variety is a great way to keep strong in this diet.  If you only have a small section of foods to eat, sooner or later the eggs and cheese is really going to get old.

http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html

Pretty excited!  Stepping on the scale today showed that I dropped 12 pounds in one week!  Pretty good! I feel much better.  It's amazing how one week can comletely change how you feel.

Some might say, "12 pounds is too much in one week."  The answer to that - It depends.

If I was 5'5" and weighed 140, losing 12 pounds in one week would be way too much.  However, if I was 6'0" and weighed 350 pounds, then 12 pounds is really nothing.

(Neither of those are my real height and weight :-o  )

Overall, I'm very pleased.  I know much of it was water weight… but all that excess fluid in your body is not good either.  It puts pressure on your internal organs.  Once all the excess water weight is gone, I'm expecting to drop about 2-3 pounds per week.

Here is what I have done:

1) I have been following the Atkins 2-week induction phase.  I am eating 20 net carbs per day, mostly meat, cheese, eggs, green veggies.  I've had a couple of Atkins bars as well.

2) I'm drinking a lot of water and tea.  I had a Diet Coke a few days ago, but I've been trying to just keep it to water, with some tea for dinner.

3) I've been working out on my new Bowflex every other day, for about 45 minutes at a time. 

I will continue all three of these for another week, and then I will leave the induction phase at that point.

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I'm not sure how many grams of carbohydrates I had been taking in on a daily average, but I do know that about 18-48 hours after you begin the Atkins diet, you can go through, what I call, a "Carb Crash."  Here is how I define it:

Carbohydrate Crash - when your body reacts to a significant decrease in daily carbohydrates.  Symptoms may include a sharp decrease in energy, headaches, migranes, and a dullness in thought processes.

For example, if your body had been taking in an average of 150 - 200 grams of carbs per day, and you shut that down to 20 grams, your body is going to react.  Especially, if the vast majority of those carboyhdrates were simple carbs from sugar, processed white flour, etc.

Your body was used to a continual feed of simple carbohydrates, which it easily converted into energy in your body.  When you cut back your carbs during the induction phase of the Atkins diet, your body can react. 

Mine did. 

About 18 hours into the first day, I noticed my energy level dropping and a slight headache.  The second day I had migranes, very lethargic, and it seemed to take me a while to process my thoughts.

I'm in the 3rd day now.  My energy is beginning to rise.  I just finished a Bowflex workout.  I have a very slight headache, but no big deal.  I have survived the big carb crash, and the next few days are going to feel better as my body continues to make the adjustments.

That's one of the great things about the body.  After a day or two, your body realizes the simple carbs are not coming.  So, it needs to manufacture the energy in order to bring everything back to 100%.  Your body begins to convert stored fat into energy. 

As I complete the induction, I'll begin adding complex carbohydrates back into my diet and my body will continue to burn fat as I restrict the simple carbs and continue by exercising.

My opinion - a carb crash is not fun, but it isn't bad for you either.  It is simply your body reacting to the changes you are making, and then making adjustments.  If you can survive day 2 and 3 of the Atkins diet, it's smooth sailing from there.

After too long, it's time to start exercising and eating better.

I started my 6-week challenge on the Bowflex.  Just got the Bowflex before Christmas and took a few weeks to try out several different exercises.  But, I started their six week challenge today.

I also went back to the Atkins diet.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  The low carb diet is what works for me.  Had a ham and cheese omlet for breakfast and a grilled chicken caesar salad for lunch.

The main thing that has kept me from success in the past has been my inability to set a schedule, and plan for what I'm doing.  So, rather than just trying to eat whatever, however much, and wherever, I'm setting myself up much like you would if you were doing Medifast or Nutrisystem… you have a so many meals and so many snacks… to control what you're doing throughout the day.

I'm also cutting out soda for at least the first two weeks.  That's gonna be the tough part.  I drink too much of it, and I'm not sure the last time I went 2 weeks without a soda… maybe since grade school.

My goal… 100 pounds.

I will keep things updated here on the blog as I go along, so check back and see how things are going.  Much of my motivation comes from the story of Kent Altena.  You can check out his video below.  I've some other stuff about him later.

Today Mark McGwire admitted to his use of steriods.  We all knew that, and in many ways McGwire already admitted to much of that when he was a player, and were not banned substances at the time anyway.  They may have been hush-hush, but not banned.

Anyway, whether you confess and apologize on the spot, or down the road, it's always the right time.  I support him in what he is doing.  None of us are perfect or without faults in our past.  Some of us have a past that demands a lot more confession that what Mark McGwire did today.

With that said, I have to take a HUGE exception to Yahoo Sports writer, Tim Brown.  Here is what I wrote to Tim Brown:

This is one of the most arrogant, self-righteous pieces of journalism I have ever read regarding your take on Mark McGwire's admission, confession, or whatever you wish to call it.

It is also one of the most subjective, opinionated, and slanted pieces as well.

I live in Dallas, so I don't have any ties to the Oakland A's or St. Louis Cardinals.  However, whether Mark McGwire confessed today or 10 years ago does not put you in the seat as judge to either grant or withhold forgiveness, or whether his confession was self-serving, genuine, or otherwise.

When someone apologizes, you lose the ability to control them, and I believe that is what you are struggling with.  You can no longer hold this over Mark's head, point the finger, remember Washington D.C., or hold your self as a superior human compared to the likes of McGwire, Rodriquez, Sosa, or whomever.

Tim, this was a sad article… and in your own words, "You know what would have been nice, though?" If Tim Brown had not wasted our time.

You can find a copy of Tim's article here, McGwire's Feckless Admission Is Too Late:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-mcgwirenew011110&prov=yhoo&type=lgns