(Encore) Turn Up the BASE - My Entrepreneurial Journal

[eternity]

awesome vision! seems like stage 1 is doing a lot of inner preparation work, including what looks like developing your vision. Now that you mention it, I felt similar in my stage 1 as well.

[heavysm]

Stage 1 day 20

It's been a rough couple days.

I've felt tense, frustrated, and very much off track due to a lot of small errors popping up in different areas.

The last bit of frustration came from my copy coach, who gave me his take on how to pick up my first customers. I'm actually pretty sure his advice comes from around 2010, which is when he first started his coaching, because some of the concepts are so loosely applicable right now it's a bit ridiculous.

Then it came to me that not every mechanic who's good at fixing cars is great at marketing and picking up clients. VERY different things are at play here, and it's very much apparent that my coach is good at creating converting copy but is lazy when it comes to client attraction.

So, opposites attract lol

I know how to muscle my way into various groups and show off my chops (obviously I have to develop some chops - ie. sales samples that converts well - in order for me to show anything off). My coach is also apparently a very minimal effort kind of guy.

What doe that mean?

He relies on backend sales from his other products to pull in copy clients as his primary mode of getting copywriting work.

Don't get me wrong, i know a bunch of others who more or less do the same BUT as a secondary method of client attraction.

This is why my coach hasn't really been able to pull in much 5-figure work (i had to read between the lines to figure that one out). I get it now, and I think he sort of hides that aspect of his biz from his students. But I'm not the average student *evil laugh*

In all seriousness though, I'll be listening to him for his copywriting ability, but definitely NOT for client attraction.

Some of his methods for client-getting include putting an uncomfortable amount of power in the hands of the customer, which is like kryptonite to us copywriters.

Yeah...not gonna happen, sorry.

But everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and I get what his are now.

Other then that things are literally a grind right now. New paypal account still hasn't been made yet due a lot of small but unforeseen errors, but I'm still slowly inching my way toward the goal line.

[heavysm]

Stage 1 day 24

It's always nice to have friends with similar vision.

One of my close biz friends has been helping me cement the mindset of using the next 12 months or so to develop myself (meaning my rep and connections) in the copy world. I'm doing the same for him in his own new ventures, so it's more of a mutually benefiting kind of thing.

The great thing about all that - and I won't be taking this for granted - is that the motivational BS we say to each other is kinda just part of our natural dialogue.

I have other friends who are only loosely "kind of, but not really" vision oriented people who i can bounce ideas off of, but not nearly as much as my main buddy.

These are the people who talk a lot, but don't have lives that reflect their dialogue. My friend and I are in the same straight-shooting boat, and the bottom line is the results we produce. We don't f#$k around.

That's sort of the upside to this week, which i was longing for so dearly when the slump first hit last weekend.

I really had to adjust my emotional subconscious focus to hammer in the fact that large success in my copy biz might not come for a little while.

Considering how hard hitting and action oriented I am, this was hard to chew on. But the emotional integration of that idea, to go from incredible discomfort to resilient "alright, let's do this" attitude...well, let's just say that can make all the difference in the world.

Knowing consciously and rationally (logically) that it will take a while to develop yourself is NOT the same thing as having your subconscious accept your current journey and be congruent with your actions in making things happen.

I had to do a special manifestation experiment to really assimilate this, but it should be sliding into gear over these 11 days (that's how long the ritual lasts).

Ohhhh, and one last thing. Copywriters might be good at producing sales copy that induces action, but many of them (almost said 'most' there, but that might not be true) just aren't good at teaching it.

I'm seeing more and more as I get advice and nuggets from successful writers, and often they tend to not be conscious enough to understand how they're doing what they're doing.

It's like knowing how to disassemble a car and being the master at that. But teaching others how to do it? Many try, but few will really excel at coherently expressing what they do to others.

What's a bit crazy, though understandable, is the fact that it's so PROFITABLE to be successful and release products 'revealing' how you did what you did. This literally separates the men from the boys in who can actually teach a single coherent thought. It's pretty remarkable.

Though things are technically slow right now in developing the copy stuff, that's okay.

I'm preparing myself for a longer haul type situation where the skills i build today will create a (hopefully) stampede-like momentum later that will benefit me 100x.

Now, back to the grind.

[heavysm]

Stage 1 day 28

Good lord, this has been a challenging week.

Never mind that both learning copy and sales for the traffic biz have been slow. Over the weekend I had a small discussion with my mom and had to endure a nice little lecture about how much potential I'm wasting...if only I had a normal day job, it could be so different.

Not gonna f$#king happen lol

I made the mistake of telling her that my traffic biz was slow and that learning copy has been a grind so far. To me: so what? To her: oh God, the world is ending.

She's one of those who naturally gravitates to the worst possible outcome of any situation, then cooks in the misery of the thought. She denies that she does it, but enough poking and prodding to inquire why tears run down her face reveal exactly that.

While this is a natural motherly thing, it's annoying as shit. Here she is thinking I've failed at life, when really, I'm just evolving to become the man i want to be who has quite a bit more $$ stowed away than she realizes. It's hard to argue with someone who has a cemented belief, so I just let her rant and tell me about the open jobs at the hospital she works at that I would be a 'perfect fit' for.

So, that sort of ruined my weekend, though it wasn't going well anyway (this type of shit just makes me laugh out loud). Like opening a cut wider with a nice rugged blade. How much can you really bleed? No, that was a serious question *fingers blade menacingly*

And oddly enough, I'm used to all of this already. All of it. From the first time I started pursuing business instead of getting another job (last job 6+ years ago I had been laid off), to grinding and getting my biz into shape, to having massive ups and downs in past relationships that both defined my life and gave me the most exhaustible low points I had ever experienced.

Something tells me the next year or so will be a lot of character building for me. Life lessons, business lessons - all that goodness shoved down my throat.

Either run to keep up with the train or slow down and get mangled so horribly not even your dental records can identify your remains. Which would you prefer? Hmmm *thinks deeply*

I'm not even sure I would call this resistance, really. It just feels like life getting a bit rough around the edges. Nothing horrible or traumatizing, but enough zing to wake you up and really make you feel the sting of your mistakes.

So, unless this week ends up drastically different, that's where I'm at right now.

The upside is that my copy coach is getting a tiny bit more aggressive with editing my sales pages and pointing out my errors.

You see, I enjoy when I'm corrected like that. I don't like when people just say it's great. You don't grow with constant praise; the real growth comes from failing and having your mistakes bite you in the ass.

That's how smart resilient people grow from what I have observed, anyway. I actually know a few in the biz world who always take the path of least resistance so the mistakes can be minimal and their achievements as grand as brushing their teeth everyday.

I don't know. I know my path has a rough road with pot holes and road ragers armed with machine guns, but what's life without a bit of excitement, huh?

[heavysm]

Stage 1 day 29

As a businessman I have to be very practical about pretty much everything I do.

But i consider myself a bit more open minded than a lot of my peers when it comes to experimenting with things that might give me an edge or "enhance" the way I live and do business.

Today I had a 180 degree shift that ripped me right out of the funk I had been stuck in since the weekend.

ncbeareatingman previously recommended healing sessions from the same company that does the rejuvenizers. I didn't think I needed that since it's something like $60 a month, and I might not even feel anything.

Well, just for kicks I took a dive and holy shit. I literally just sent in the email detailing what i needed and i felt a shift within an hour.

I had the healing session target money, success and business; removing any blockages that might be preventing them in my life.

I felt the success programming hit first. While driving and talking to others while i was out I just felt empowered and amped up, like nothing could get in my way.

I don't attribute this change necessarily to BASE because I hadn't yet listened to the masked tracks while working. But i did listen at night while i slept, but only as part of my normal routine.

The effect on my brain was also very unlike how the subs affect me.

There was no overwhelm or noticeable sensation that my brain was subconsciously being over loaded. It was all very clean and smooth.

Though the healing session I'm doing is more passive (just send an email or voice message and the work starts immediately) when you're in a funk like I was you'll try things you never considered before.

The healing is supposed to last something like 3 months, so I'll be extra conscious of other shifts that might happen. If the overall shift that comes about from this session is significant enough I'll redo the sessions targeting love and relationships going into the new year (it's so damned easy, just sent an email around problematic issues then *boom* wait for the effects to slowly unravel).

For the record I didn't expect much, if anything, never mind how fast and hard hitting it all was.

If i can keep this up as a normal growth cycle going forward targeting different issues, I really don't mind spending the $57 a month so that I can finally let go of a lot of the shit I've been clinging onto for years subconsciously. It's time to let go and I'm sooo ready to let go.

Always learning, always pushing, always growing and evolving. I swear this journey seems to always have something new just around the corner.

[ncbeareatingman]

Great Testimony HeavySM...now you SEE WHY Ive been doing the clearings for 25 1/2 years now and why the subminals are so much more effective for me and have such a deeper effect & impact on my being-ness??? doing what works is well worth it and finding the value there of is the deal...in this case NOW YA KNOW you;ve taken the first step in trust and WHAM...smooth n' easy 'clearing' out da cob webs. I Have a damn good friend who's on the same "program', he'a week into it and it will last into october/november for him....'he's changed and is 'emerging ' in remarkable ways,empowering ways,I've lent him one of my personal rejuvenizer's,he's also listening to E2,usng intrasound powder & panel and more. Sooo glad ja 'felt' the clearing work....now do ya believe me when I say your place will be like a temple,if ya get the indoor & circuit panel rejuvenizer's???
ya aint seen nothing yet Pal.Rock it HeaySM. Keith.

[heavysm]

Stage 1 day 32

Starting up a new biz is always the hardest.

I've finally found a creative angle to wiggle my way into certain groups so I can get my name out there and be part of small / medium sized product launches.

The idea here is to connect myself with as many product developers / owners as I can so they can slowly spread the word of my work and what i can do.

One of my business friends mentioned this as an off hand comment and though he couldn't see it (we were on voice chat via skype) my eyes lit up at the potential of the idea.

And that's all it takes, really. The tiniest spark - a sort of "Whoa, wait. What if...?" is all i need to get the gears turning.

I also had a mini revelation about BASE.

Stages 1 & 2 are largely devoted to establishing the entrepreneur mindset. They don't really aim to maintain, rather they are there to help form the foundation for the mindset.

When i get to my 3rd and possible final run of BASE I might just remove stages 1 & 2 from my routine and go with stages 3 - 6.

As I reflect back on my first run, that's where the real fun begin. I had the most momentum during stages 3 - 6, and something tells me i should just keep my focus there.

There will be plenty of time for me to reflect and change my mind, but this appears to be a solid idea. The point is to keep the high performance modules of BASE (TLAM, strive to be the best i can be etc) and set aside the entrepreneur building stuff.

I don't want to sound arrogant (though this might have accidentally come across from previous posts lol) but my copy biz will literally be my 4th online business. I don't necessarily need to establish an entrepreneur mindset; creating and sustaining a high results / performance mindset has been the goal for a while now, not simply to think like a businessman.

I already am an entrepreneur and it doesn't feel like that's much of a mindset issue yet.

I also have a new analogy for building my new biz.

Think of a car that can barely reach a speed of 50 mph. I need to tune the engine and get new parts in (new learning, networking - new connections) in order to get past that barrier. Over time, with the proper effort, I should be able to raise my max speed to 60, 70...all the way up to 100+ mph.

The speed is my income, 50 mph being $50k. Over time I might be able to reach 150+ mph, but we're talking about cars here. I might not be able to push much higher since I am limited by things like the tires exploding (not likely, but you get the idea) and soon I'll be reaching the limit of what I can do with the equipment I have.

The only way to break past 200+ mph is to switch over to a plane.

I would have to reinvent myself using completely different learning, new connections and possibly a separate but tangent industry.

Now, a plane can do crazy speeds, so that's irrelevant to specific income now. But I do eventually want to get into real estate, motels, strip malls and ultimately - the big gun - my own hotel. So the analogy still holds up in terms of high income potential.

It also (hopefully) helps solidify my idea of not wanting to use stage 1 & 2 so much now. Those are the stages for sub $100k income. I mean, technically they're not, but they don't have TLAM, so to me they're not higher performance modules.

I could be totally wrong on that last part, but we'll see. Even for sub usage there has to be some degree of experimentation to find out what works best *for us* as I know some of you have already experienced.

Now more than ever, though, I definitely feel as if I'll be a reinvented man by this same time next year. And if all goes well, that will be a welcomed change.

[heavysm]

Stage 2 day 5

Well, as I've said previously in my other BASE journal, switching to another stage can seriously suck.

I made some obvious attempts to help others during the first few days of stage 2, and each attempt failed incredibly in some unforeseen way.

This is just the folly of switching from one stage to another. I'm not even sure I would call it resistance; it's more like moving someone out of a house and trying to move someone else in quickly. Old stuff is coming out and new coming in, so there's likely to be a lot of discomfort, tension, a free floating unjustified sense of being hurried, and just a general sense of misalignment.

So I have this feeling to look forward to at least 4 more times lol Oh, what fun.

The upside is that just yesterday I connected with a high earning freelancer who works primarily on Upwork.

He was a bit affronted when i told him my views of working within a system like Upwork, but our conversation actually turned into an incredible information exchange.

I had a crap ton of knowledge he needed, and I got my mindset readjusted with the right focus on using Upwork properly to start out. Now that's an incredible win-win situation.

Now I no longer feel anxious about reeling in those first few clients. I know what to do and generally what to say. All this coming from a dude making clear over $20k a month from Upwork (he's not a copywriter, but whatever - I generally know what to do now).

I also had to readjust my focus for my actual copywriting. My coach still hasn't cleared me to pull in a client yet, and I'm guessing now it will be into October when that time comes.

I'm not willing to put myself out there when i obviously need to fix my mindset about creating copy. That's the whole point of paying for coaching; i need to crank up my skills as much as possible while I have an expert mentor guiding me. But the timing for things seems about right for now.

I'm slowly switching gears from what i call "unconscious incompetence" to "conscious incompetence".

This is the difference between being a borderline idiot in terms of knowing proper copy and discovering what I didn't realized I needed to know (hence being 'consciously incompetent').

The next levels here are "conscious competence", where I understand how to create decent copy but with much effort and sweat, and "unconscious competence", where creating exceptional copy is second nature to me.

At the final level you are the master of your craft and can do it without nearly as much effort as when you first started.

Framing my path of becoming a copywriter in this way feels useful, anyway

Even though it's simple info, you can easily locate where you're at and refresh your focus to align with where you want to go.

Though this system only contains 4 steps, it does simplify what could be years and years of grueling grind, lots of trial and error, and a crap ton of challenges.

But that's why i chose this industry, because it's not easy but the rewards are high. And that's really the way i like it

[heavysm]

Stage 2 day 11

I'm beginning to see more of a rebirth cycle right now. It's spiritual in a dejavu sort of way.

It feels like a scaled up version of exactly where i was a year ago. I was strategizing and restructuring myself, but for entirely different reasons back then. But I was still trying to get back on track, much like I am now.

There's quite a lot of resistance right now that's not even necessarily sub related. It's more like life related. I want to push and reach a higher level; namely more energy, resonating with higher goals and people.

I see though that every time I push to get back on track, I meet tiny blockages which end up ruining my mood, and that's all very odd to me.

I've always seen myself as someone who's above the small crap, but I'm noticing how small things have been getting to me over the past few months (not just now on BASE).

One thing that's certain is that any point in my life where I've felt similar - disoriented though working hard to make everything right - it's because I was right behind a new level of achievement, so I'm pretty sure everything is on track though it feels like the opposite.

It's a bit hard to explain, in a way. Sort of like knowing everything will be okay even though present circumstances might say otherwise.

The feeling likely comes because I'm not where I want to be, and I might not get there for a little while, but I'm slowly "getting that" now more than ever. It's a deep discomfort which makes reality feel really really weird, but it's okay because the intuitive map says I'm right on course.

It's almost like following directions while driving. You know you're going the right way, but something doesn't feel right. It might be because of emotional crap related to where you're going and what you're leaving behind. Indirectly it's making the trip feel a bit disorienting. But the map says you're only x miles away, so you keep trudging on.

I would call this a free floating tension, but it feels more specific than that. As I leave behind who i was and slowly become who i wish to be, things will all get very different, and initially I might question that. But it's the tethers my subconscious has to the old me, and all that needs to be let go.

Everything is a purposeful grind right now. The only way is onward. The next breakthrough right around the corner.

**I'm also putting together material for the financial education thread which I hope proves useful to many of you here.

[heavysm]

Stage 2 day 11 continued...

As a minor update, I know any psychic related sub will probably only be released in 2017 and beyond in 5.5/6G so a few of my latest manifestation experiments now target increasing intuition and psychic ability.

That was a mouthful, but one of my current rituals is aimed at enhancing my connection with other dimensions (might sound wacky, but stay with me) with the overall aim of asking my intuition questions and producing accurate / reliable answers in my reality.

I've already sort of been doing a variation of this already, but think of this as sort of like tarot cards without the cards. I'm asking myself these questions with the expectation that somehow, some way, I'll be shown / have the answer revealed to me.

After that much of my effort will be pushed toward redeveloping and amping up my traffic biz, so always lots of cool stuff to look forward to!

**Could this be the psychic module of BASE pushing me to develop myself intuitively / psychically...?

[Ivaylo]

Have you tried David Hawkins' applied kinesiology? It's not exactly based on psychic abilities though. (which in my mind is an advantage actually)
Never really managed to get results consistently myself, but every 1-2 years I try to give it another shot and see if I can get out of my head enough this time. The guy himself is more than legit in my opinion, it's just that the technique is... not the best fit for my personality type. Still, I've been thinking of trying again since yesterday actually.

Anyway, I've done some psychic stuff involving different dimensions (for a different purpose) and what you're doing sounds to me like a practice that needs to be done with care. I'm not going to elaborate because of Rule 4, but I hope you know what you're doing. You've said before that you're not a novice in this area, but I thought I should mention this anyway.

[heavysm]

Have you tried David Hawkins' applied kinesiology? It's not exactly based on psychic abilities though. (which in my mind is an advantage actually)
Never really managed to get results consistently myself, but every 1-2 years I try to give it another shot and see if I can get out of my head enough this time. The guy himself is more than legit in my opinion, it's just that the technique is... not the best fit for my personality type. Still, I've been thinking of trying again since yesterday actually.

Anyway, I've done some psychic stuff involving different dimensions (for a different purpose) and what you're doing sounds to me like a practice that needs to be done with care. I'm not going to elaborate because of Rule 4, but I hope you know what you're doing. You've said before that you're not a novice in this area, but I thought I should mention this anyway.

Though I haven't read that book in particular, I know about the muscle test and asking the subconscious questions through that method.

I tried that back in late 2014 but have gravitated toward my own systems since they appear more reliable for me right now.

It also appears to be a highly subjective thing; you'll be attracted to whatever resonates with where you're at right now. So even if some systems might help you, it could be that you're just not ready for it at this time (Shannon has spoken of this loosely, and I have dubbed it "cosmic timing" where everything just happens to fall into place just right)

If I were introduced to my current systems a decade ago, I would have tossed it aside because my beliefs were 100% different back then (i was too religious and had no aggressive business mind yet).

I've developed my systems from late 2014 till now, and it appears things will only get bolder and more refined over time. Thankfully this is something that I can get better at because I know of other systems where it either works for you or it doesn't, and there's no clear instructions anywhere on how to get better besides doing a crap load of trial and error.

Perhaps I'm attracted to my systems because they take a large amount of experimenting and trial work to get them running well. Most people just want clear instructions so they can expect a firm and obvious results. Though some of my work did come with a bit of guidance, most of the work came from feeling my way into the process and adding my own nuances to get it working the way I want.

My systems have also been constructed with safety first, which is why it's taken so long for everything to develop. I have dabbled with the darker stuff for a bit, but it just wasn't worth it for the results i was getting. The sacrifice with the darker stuff usually meant had lower energy, and tended to feel negative emotions like fear and paranoia for no reason.

Almost by definition, anyway, the dark stuff is lower energy, so it makes sense that it would bring about the lower energy states of being. Not defending it, just saying what i experienced makes complete sense. Like playing with fire and getting burned. Logically it just makes sense. There's no need to attribute fear and mystery to that ecosystem of stuff because I now understand it, but I also have no urge to dive deeper into it, because i have my own path now that works for me. And a safe one at that

[heavysm]

Stage 3 day 2

A lot of things happened in the past few days, so I'll just give the general summary...

I had an intuitive hit when i was planning out the would-be psychic enhancing ritual that I should instead target wisdom and eliminating foolish thinking. Over the past few months I've made a lot of small but dumb mistakes, and I guess it's the right time to resolve this.

The ritual to improve my wisdom and reduce foolish thinking lasts 11 days, but on the first day i got two huge intuitive hits. The first was to change the way i was doing something in my finances. Upon reflection it makes complete sense, and I'm not sure what I was thinking before, the the new change, although small, makes a big difference for my budget over the next month. So that was the first significant shift.

The second was related to BASE. I was wondering if there would be a way to avoid the crap I'm dealing with on stage 2, and then it hit me. There's no real reason for me to stay on stage 2, and I was planning on doing an extended run on stage 3 anyway, so now I'm just doing stages 3 - 6 on 'extra long' runs right now.

When those intuitive hits strike I'm telling you they're like lightening flashes of insight that are unmistakable.

They can be simple questions that turn into amazing insights, like "Wait, but why not do X this other way..." or "Wouldn't this work better instead...?"

These are one of those intangible things where once it hits you know you've struck gold. Like finding the simplest of solutions to crazy complex problems; the insights might be simple as can be, but their power cannot be under estimated.

For the record my rituals are a sort of meditative process i do to contact other dimensional beings for guidance for whatever i need. I'm already sort of pushing against the limits of rule 4 here, so i can't elaborate much here.

Let's just say though that my 'manifestation experiments / rituals' are on fire and I'm excited as hell to plow through the rest of this month

[heavysm]

Stage 3 day 4

The tension and resistance I'm feeling right now is a culmination of several things...

For one, I'm not where I'd like to be in my traffic biz and that'll have to change soon.

Second (and this is the more aggravating of the two issues), I almost feel like I don't have a copy coach anymore simply because it takes him weeks now to respond.

I know, generally, things will be okay in the long run because from past experience I know every slow period is followed by flourishing times.

It just sucks beyond belief to be sitting in such low energy.

Another development that rocked my world within the past week (I'm just now feeling the anguish of it) is that two close relations in my life have been diagnosed with cancer: my father and another close friend.

My dad is being a warrior about the whole thing, with a sort of "Screw it, if it's my time, it's my time" carefree sort of attitude. If he hadn't told me what the doctor told him I'd have never known the diagnosis. I'm the only one reacting emotionally to the whole thing. He just carries on like it's business as usual.

So, I think it's fair to say there's a lot on my mind.

I can already kind of feel Stage 3 pushing and prodding me to think bigger and to feel uneasy about being average. Not that I am average, just that the mindset of settling down and being content is not an option right now, which is a pretty strong ideological shift considering that I appear to be in a low energy cycle (lots of bad crap happening).

I do still feel as if I'm walking through mud. But I also still think that I'm on the right track.

I was pulled to read "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. I enjoyed that so i also picked up his "Turning Pro" and "Do The Work!" which all turned out to be relatively congruent to my situation.

The themes are about plowing through regardless of what happens, which is pretty much what i have to do.

Lots and lots and lots of resistance coming my way BUT there's no other way except forward.