Some weeks the same topic keeps coming up in a number of different coaching sessions. Last week it was leaders learning, sometimes the hard way, how to meet opposition from a colleague.

The key word here is “meet.” Most people get into trouble by failing to meet what the person is actually bringing to them. Instead they avoid the person’s energy by trying to pacify, correct or fix it. Often that just makes things worse. What works for me is to recognize the emotion the person is experiencing, see where the challenge is coming from, and meet them there.

Most of us are hesitant to meet people with a strong pushback. Understandably so; as leaders or experts, we are careful with the power differential derived from our position and, if the person is coming from pain, low esteem or self-protection, coming on strong clearly doesn’t help. There are different ways to meet each of those three types creatively, which we may touch on in future postings. The coaching in these recent sessions, however, was about meeting people who were bringing their challenge in a feisty, aggressive way.

It is easy enough to recognize when opposition is coming from this kind of energy. The language will be clean and direct, not veiled or pained. You will probably feel some feistiness rising in yourself. Under the issue the person is bringing, you will often notice it is really about them finding their place. They want to play, to contribute more in some way, and they’re looking for a way in.

Typically such people got told along the way that they don’t really matter. They are used to being dismissed or overpowered and are wrestling this demon right now with the current authority figure in their life: you. What a golden opportunity. You can let them know, finally, how much they do matter. Avoiding their energy, even meeting it with all the gentle kindness of a saint, won’t give them that. You have to be willing to fight a little, to engage but in a way that leaves them getting a win, so they end up honored for the truth they are seeking to bring and feel they have a place to give their gift.

The more willing we are to meet opposition, the more we will find ourselves surrounded by strong people engaging in a genuinely loyal and creative way.

Some of the most attractive spots for a California family vacation are Long Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Catalina Island, Hermosa Beach, Laguna Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla, San Diego’s Beach, Oxnard, San Pedro and Torrance Beach. You won’t have one moment of boredom during your vacation. During the day you can go surfing, fishing, swimming, skateboarding or play tennis, golf, or beach volleyball with the kids.

There are several city parks that are extremely appealing to children, featuring adventure playgrounds, sports facilities, equestrian centers, golf courts, barbecues and picnic tables. You can spend a whole day at a city park without getting bored. California cities offer a variety of nightlife activities as well, including sophisticated dining, and theater.

One of the most beautiful parts of a California family vacation is that the weather is great throughout the entire year. The summer months are July through October, and the winter months are November through June. The water temperature is around 70 degrees during summer, and it dosen’t drop below 57 degrees in winter. The air temperature is about 76 degrees during daytime and 68 degrees during night time in summer and 69 degrees during daytime and 56 degrees at night during winter. However, the temperature can go above 100 degrees, or fall below freezing on occasion.

You will meet a beautiful mix of people during your California family vacation, but the most noticeable tourists during summer are teens and students. This is the time when they take their school break, so they are free to go socialize and have fun on the Southern California beaches. You’ll also have the chance to meet people from all over the world that visiting the beautiful California Beaches. California is one of the top destinations for foreign tourists. Los Angeles, with its Hollywood studios and several theme parks, is one of the most visited city in the U.S.

A very popular tourist attraction during a California family vacation is definitely Disneyland, and it is only 15 miles from the Southern California beaches. Despite the fact that the population of Southern California is over 15 millions, there are times when you can have a long stroll on the beach and find it to be serene, almost desert, and quite simply beautiful.

Ever heard of Randonneuring? Sounds French, doesn’t it? Well, the sport originated in France, but is becoming more and more popular in the United States.

Randonneuring is “long-distance unsupported endurance cycling.” You may have heard of it as “Ultra Long Distance Cycling.”

The joy of this sport is that it is non-competitive. Riders indulge in friendly camraderie, not trying to drive each other into the ground. And because the rides are “unsupported” – the idea is to be self sufficient.

There are many events held for Randonneur riding, but the names of winners are not posted. Rather, the names of the riders who have finished the course are posted in alphabetical order. It’s not about beating anyone, it’s about challenging yourself.

These events consist of rides of 200, 300, 400, 600, and 1000 KM for individual riders. Each of these distances is called a “brevet.” There are probably events being held in your area, even if you’ve never heard of them before. Search the web under “randoneuring” or “ultra long distance cycling” and you’ll find any local clubs.

Now, it’s when road riders want to participate in racers and ultra long distance cycling that they’ll want a custom-built road bike rather than one purchased just off the rack.

It’s not that bikes purchased just off the rack aren’t perfectly serviceable for most riders, but serious athletes – professionals, and those just below the professoinal level – will certainly want a custom-built bike – one that is precisely fitted to their body. (Customized bikes, and custom-built bikes, are two different things. Customized bikes swap out various pieces for better fitting pieces, whereas custom-built bikes are built to certain specifications from the ground up.)

Triathletes are another group of people who need custom-built bikes. In a triathlon, the participants have to swim, cycle and then run for certain distances. It’s an incredibly grueling sport and so the cycle has to be the lightest, the most sturdiest, and the best fitted piece of equipment they have.

Many bike companies offer customized road bikes, and while they are expensive, they’re not as expensive as they used to be because with new technology always comes lower prices. It’s possible to purchase your customized bike from a local dealer, but for a custom-built bike, most likely you’ll have to go online.

Companies that offer custom-builds include Guru, Waterford, and Titus. Do a search on the web to find them, and they’ll tell you all the information you need to know to get a custom-built bike.

“This is a great first step for the fashion industry here in L.A.,” said Smashbox Studios co-founder Davis Factor. “California is on the forefront of green initiatives, and we are excited that we will be taking the lead here.”

The event is entering its third season and has grown to five days with 15 shows. The shows producer, global sports, entertainment and media giant IMG, is also welcoming Mercedes-Benz as title sponsor. “We are so excited to be coming back to Miami with such a fabulous group of designers,” said the svp of IMG Fashion, Fern Mallis. “To have grown so quickly in three years is really rewarding and we continue to see more and more interest in this category as we become a destination for internationally recognized brands and designers. Also, having Mercedes-Benz as a partner across all of our events here in the U.S. continues to solidify and enhance our fashion platform.”

Mallis noted, “We are exploring many different options from production to the runway. We will encourage the designers who have consistently shown with us to include some garments that promote sustainability and eco-friendly fibers, and hope to also bring to Los Angeles designers from around the world who are committed to this movement.”

“Society is increasingly aware about its impact on the environment, from the clothes we wear to the vehicles we drive, and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios is the ideal time and place to continue driving this discussion forward,” said Carol Goll, the general manager of the brand event marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, along with its designers and sponsors, will announce further details on this initiative in August and September. The much-awaited fashion event is scheduled to happen on October 14 to 18.

Earlier, IMG Fashion announced the final lineup of designers for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami Swim, which will include shows by Bella Mar Swim by Jacquelyne Love, Badgley Mischka, Cia.Maritima, Xtra Life LYCRA, DE et DR, True Religion, Red Carter, Ashley Paige, ANK by Mirla Sabino, BECCA, Shay Todd, Rosa Cha, Zimmerman, Parke & Ronen and Jessica Simpson.

Joining Mercedes-Benz in sponsoring the shows this season will be LYCRA, Smashbox Cosmetics, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, DHL, The Raleigh, The new AT&T, Havaianas, Nivea, Continental Airlines, Sunsilk, Peroni, Vida Tequila, Ocean Drive, California Apparel News, The Swim Journal and ULTRA HD.

In addition to working with designers and sponsors on a number of initiatives, the fashion event will seek to lessen its impact on the environment, including adjustments to the production of the shows and materials used throughout. Title sponsor Mercedes-Benz will strengthen this point by stressing Bluetec.

According to DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche, “As a powerful, economical and clean drive system, BLUETEC can significantly help American drivers continue to enjoy large, powerful cars for many years to come – whether you are looking at large sedans, vans, light trucks or SUVs. BLUETEC diesel vehicles have the potential to meet the world’s most stringent exhaust emissions standards, including those of all 50 US States.”

“BLUETEC is the new blueprint for the cleanest diesels in the world,” said Zetsche. “And while BLUETEC was developed by Mercedes-Benz, it won’t be exclusive to Mercedes-Benz. Of course, we’ll share this technology with the Chrysler Group.” BLUETEC will soon be mated to Mercedes Benz hubcaps, stylish body parts, comfy amenities, and other auto parts to produce cutting-edge vehicles.

The reality is that infidelity is most often a symptom of internal conflict within the cheating spouse which has little to with non-cheating partner. In fact, my experience as a couples and marriage therapist indicates that cheating husbands are most often running away from themselves.

Sadly, while the cheating husband may appear to be enjoying himself, by not facing his problems he is condemning himself to repeating them. In short, he’s emotionally stuck. How do I know this? They tell me!

Take this following example: The husband didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly choose to commit adultery. Rather the husband, doubting his self-worth and possibly tired of routine married life, becomes flattered by the attention of another, often younger, woman. Not only is the appeal of something new very exciting, but this new woman tends to have a “sympathetic ear” that he thinks his wife lacks. As a result, he often takes the path of least resistance and finds it easier to be with this more “fun” or “understanding” woman. Eventually, he may get divorced and even marry the new woman. Then, after a year or two, he begins to feel similarly negative about his new relationship. At which point, he begins to realize that his current relationship is not much different than his previous relationship.

A joint venture is where you contact a marketer in your niche market who has an email list of subscribers who may have an interest in your product. They can be the lifeblood of your business. Just five decent joint venture partners who promote your ebook to their email list in exchange for a commission can put your current income through the roof. Read this newsletter and go out and take action. I assure you your results can be life changing.

Know Your Conversion Rate

Don’t make the common mistake of many newbies and start contacting JV partners here, there and everywhere before you have even made a sale of your ebook. This is very, very wrong. You must be able to tell a possible JV partner how well your site is converting.

Site conversion is simple. It’s the amount of visitors to the amount of visitors who buy. So for example if one hundred people visited your site and two bought your conversion is two percent. You want to get at least one thousand visitors before you know your conversion.

To work out how your sites converting download the software from www.statcounter.com. Don’t worry it won’t cost you a penny.

Offer Large Commissions

Once you know how well your sites converting (if no one’s buying don’t even bother contacting marketers. Improve your sales letter, change your headline, whatever it takes) you can start contacting JV partners. Offer them more than your regular affiliates. If you offer your affiliates fifty percent commission, offer your JV partners seventy five percent.

You may be thinking “wait a sec those commissions are huge? I won’t make any money myself”. This is where so many go wrong. If people are sending you tons of visitors you can build your email list and offer them other products in email promotions, and you can also make money selling back end products.

Return The Favour

Offering high commissions is not enough. Tell them that you’ll add a message into your auto responder set up so that you’ll market their products via an affiliate link in your back end. Explain that you’ll be setting up joint ventures with other marketers in the niche so that they’ll get visitors to their site without spending a dime.

Using Clickbank

The first thing to understand is that you are ONLY contacting marketers who sell products aimed at your niche market and therefore have an email list or customer list of people who may have an interest in your ebook. If you are selling an ebook on snowboarding then don’t start contacting marketers who sell diving products.

Bearing this in mind start at www.clickbank.com. Click on “promote products” on the home page and then search the marketplace for products in your niche. Contact the product owners and try setting up a JV.

Google “Ezine” Trick

This is a great way to find marketers with ready made email lists they can send a promotion to and sell tons of copies of your ebook virtually overnight.

Go to google and type in “(niche) ezine”. So for example if you were selling a bass fishing related ebook you’d type in “bass fishing ezine”. What you’ll get is a huge list of results of web sites in which people have a bass fishing email newsletter (or ezine). Obviously they won’t all have one, often you’ll get millions of results, but you can spend a few hours going through the results and get more JV contacts than you could ever hope for!

Google “Allintitle” Trick

Here’s another cracker. Do you think web sites that have your niche market keyword in their domain name might be great potential JV partners? Of course! Go to google and type in “allintitle: (niche)”

So for example if you were selling an ebook on song writing you’d type “allintitle:song writing” into google.

Go through the results contacting marketers and setting up hugely profitable joint ventures.

Leverage Results

Setting up just one profitable JV allows you the opportunity to use the results to start setting up even more joint ventures. You can say things like “Joseph Bloggs from domain.com made X amount of sales and earned Y from just one mailing to his list”. This is really powerful as it shows marketers that you know what you are doing.

Now get out there and take action. You really can set up joint ventures with the top guns in any niche market if you actually go and give it a try!

The state remains largely rural out of the greater Boston area. Cranberries are grown in the area on the way to Cape Cod in Southeast Massachusetts, and there is a substantial fishing industry. Other agricultural products are fruits, nuts, berries, dairy and animal cattle raising. Cape Cod and the miles of sand dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore have become a major tourist attraction, along with the upscale island of Martha’s Vineyard. Summers in the cool Berkshire Mountains in the western part of the state are a regional favorite, as well as winters going skiing. Massachusetts has a flat-rate personal income tax of 5.3-percent a year, over a certain income, and a 5-percent sales tax.

Boston is known as a college town, including top schools in nearby Cambridge, such as Harvard, and in Boston, Boston University and Northeastern University. Companies in the Boston include biotechnology companies like Merck & Co., Millipore, Genzyme, and Biogen.

Tourism is another large part of the economy. In Boston there are the historic sites going back to the American Revolution, including Paul Revere’s House, and houses, churches and graveyards of the North End. Downtown there is still the pre-revolution Old State House, and other sites are popular in Concord and Lexington, scenes of the first battles of the American Revolution.

Financial and investment companies are important to the city, from State St. Bank, to the Boston-based Fidelity Investments. There also are the regional offices of Bank of America and a considerable amount of publishing companies. The city contains four convention centers, including the Hynes Convention Center, which is directly connected to shops and fine hotels by above street corridors.

The city is home to four major convention centers: the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, the Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester, and the World Trade Center Boston and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront. Because of its status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government is another major component of the city’s economy. And then of course, there are still the substantial facilities for shipping of the port of Boston.

Springfield in Massachusetts’ second largest city with 150,000 people, and is located on the Connecticut River in the western part of the state. Like Hartford, Connecticut, 100 miles south it has a substantial insurance and banking sector. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company is a large Fortune 500 company that is headquartered in Springfield. Likewise the office of the Toronto Canada-based TD Banknorth has its Massachusetts headquarters in Springfield. Then there is Smith & Wesson, the famous producer of handguns. The Indian Manufacturing Company has its headquarters in Springfield too, a produces motorcycles.

Where To Go Urban Mountain Biking

One place where urban mountain biking fans can develop their skills is at their local skateboarding parks. Almost every city of more than a few thousand people has at least one skateboarding park, and biking in them is a lot more convenient that finding ways to do urban mountain biking on public streets or in parking lots and parking garages.

Skateboarding parks will let urban mountain biking riders perform many different stunts, by tackling the ramps, rails, ledges, and bowls the skateboarders use. Vertical riding on a half pipe doing twists and air spins will require urban mountain biking skills as advanced as any needed in freeriding, and will also require full protective gear including a full face helmet. The risks that you could fall on concrete from seven or with feet above a ten foot vertical ramp are not to be taken lightly.

Skateboarding parks are ready and waiting for those ready to do some urban mountain riding and best of all, the bikers don’t have to send time digging or building obstacles. But for those bikers who don’t have a local skateboard park, or those who live in cities where skateboard parks have banned urban mountain biking, street urban mountain biking is an option.

Street urban mountain biking is great for those who like to explore and take on whatever challenges they find. Those who have been lucky enough to hone their skills in skateboard parks can try them out on the city streets, going with the flow of downtown traffic, jumping gaps and grinding ledges or rails, and even tackling stair sets–but only if they are very, very good, and have someone spotting for them so that they are in no danger of landing on someone. Street urban mountain biking is the type of mountain biking most likely to cause controversy, and those who engage in it have an obligation to ride with the safety of people and property as their first priorities.

Urban Mountain Bikes

Urban mountain bikes are solidly built to a very basic design, with 20-inch wheels and intended to make their riders do the work. They do not have accessories like pegs and suspension forks to make them more maneuverable so that less experienced riders can look good riding them.

Urban mountain biking is gradually gaining in popularity, but until it has enough support so that every major urban area boasts a number of quality singletracks, urban mountain biking will remain limited to those daredevils willing to perform their stunts on public thoroughfares, in public parks, and while ascending or descending public stairways.

Term Life Insurance for those with Hazardous Occupations

For some people, regular participation in hazardous activities is not a matter of hobby but is their livelihood. Many people count extreme activities as their primary source of income, such as pilots, aviation or scuba diving instructors or mountain climbing guides. Top professional surfers, race car drivers and motocross riders depend on their thrilling professions to make a living. Unfortunately, all these people can expect higher life insurance premiums.

These professions, however, do not necessarily mean unreasonable term life insurance rates. You can still get affordable coverage if you obtain necessary licenses and take all the classes you can to make you experienced and prove that you are safe. For example, commercial airline pilots are not subject to extra fees. It is best to inquire about a carrier’s necessary requirements so that you can meet them before applying for coverage.

Participants of Extreme Sports

Many thrill seekers like to engage in extreme sports. Some common extreme sports include, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, dirt biking, hang gliding, mountain climbing and scuba diving. Other more extreme sports are bungee jumping, parachuting, and hang gliding.

Insurance companies are not “all or nothing” in their regulations. For example, most people do not regularly participate in the more novel extreme activities like bungee jumping and parachuting. Those activities are generally reserved for milestone events such as birthdays or anniversaries. In other words, premiums are not going to be affected by trying something once.

To be fair, most life insurance companies will charge a flat “extra” on your premium to cover the risks incurred for regularly participating in extreme sports and activities. This flat extra will usually double the average rate. As you get older, however, your rates could nearly triple – as age is always a factor in underwriting policies anyway. As you age, most people start slowing down in any regular extreme sport participation. In that case, immediately contact your provider and your rate will drop effective immediately.

Another possibility of obtaining cheaper term life insurance is if you asked to be covered for everything except the extreme sport in which you regularly participate. For example, if you regularly scuba dive, you would be covered for any death occurrence except in the case that you die while scuba diving. It seems extremely fair to be covered and paid for everything except the excluded activity you list.

The best way to find the best possible coverage if you regularly participate in extreme sports or activities is to shop around for insurance. Premiums that cover adrenaline junkies can vary significantly between carriers. If you are involved in a relatively new high-risk sport, many companies may not have developed their rate policies for that specific activity. On the other hand, other carriers may be charging way too much since they are one of the few to cover it.

If you love extreme sports or your profession involves putting your life at risk more frequently than most, be sure you shop around and compare rates before buying a life insurance policy. Educate yourself as much as possible about your sport or activity. For instance, if there are licenses you can get, it is wise to obtain them. Take any class you can that will make you more experienced in that activity.

1. You have to know what you want – this is the most basic question to ask yourself. You could say at the start that you want to be successful or you want money but what does that mean? The point is that you should be quite specific about what you are going after.

If you are looking for higher profits for your business, just how high are we talking about? You could say ‘I would like to boost my net profits by 20%’ instead of just saying ‘I want bigger profits.’

2. Maintain a clear purpose. You have to understand the reason that an action is being undertaken. Otherwise you will wind up muddled.

3. Be aware of and utilize intent. This concept of intent remains a very underrated component of success. Your actions should contain a great deal of intent (meaning your mind is focused with a firm resolve towards a purpose.)

Once you have intent, will follows suit. This process requires you to tone your mind with mental exercises that involve a conscious intention to pursue a certain action.

For example, you could set your goal, visualize it completed, then go after the goal.

4. Set a commitment. This means that you will have to dedicate yourself to a definite course of action. It means that your commitment is binding.

You may not be aware of what you have to do yet if you are committed to reaping success, you will exert the effort to discover how.

5. You must be able to ‘know your story’. In other words, you have to be able to clearly define the way your product, service, or experience is advantageous to you, other people, as well as the world.

Without this, you will find it hard to get the confidence of other people, regardless of what you are presenting (i.e. healthcare, software, cars, or financial services.) This is because you have to be convincing at articulating the value of your work.

You can even opt to apply these methods in other areas of your life such as social, community, family or business. To check if it works, try taking a self test.

First, select which context this will be used for (such as family, for instance.)

Then, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you aware of what you specifically want? 2. Can you identify the reason or purpose for pursuing this? 3. Do you have a clear intention of action? 4. Do you have a definite commitment to it? 5. Can you clearly define the advantages to yourself as well as to other people?

If you find that your questions turn up something missing in that aspect of your life, or if you seem to be running around aimlessly, then perhaps you need someone to coach you.

In the arena of sales, a good coach can lend his trained eyes and ears to guide you on your journey. He or she can define your direction, set the route, help you pursue intentional action, and even assist you in removing blocks in your path.

To truly succeed in sales, it is important to have a clear purpose for what you want to gain so that you will receive the outcomes, values, and benefits of your goal.

But you also have to be disciplined and tenacious so you will not get blown off course by the temptations, setbacks, and obstacles that get in your way.

Another difficulty is that you might make a decision or decisions that distract you from your goal and prevent you from keeping up with the pace. It could be a lapse in judgment or an action that circumstance has forced upon you.

You might occasionally wonder if the way you articulated your purpose is realistic, if you can actually achieve it. Be careful during these times not to self-destruct, thereby destroying your career and long-term goals.

Your life mission is solely your prerogative. No one can dictate this to you but yourself. What you have to bear in mind is that thinking for the long term will help you survive the long course of a career in sales with conviction and drive to spare.

Once you venture into sales, you will encounter a steady stream of challenges. At times like these, at the end of the day, what will keep you going is that drive within you, cultivated and nourished by yourself on a daily basis. Not some trite phrase that someone else has spouted through a tape or piece of paper, but the clearness of purpose that you developed at the start of your career.

This means that you have to believe in that clarity of purpose wholeheartedly and with all your soul. Not only will it invigorate you but you will be rejuvenated by it continuously, allowing you to recharge daily and keep up reserves of strength during the toughest times.

Remember, by knowing your purpose to be in sales, you will survive what can be a demanding, unforgiving and downright cruel profession.