Hello from New York!

Michelle (my fiance) and I arrived in New York City last night. I love New York... It's such a lively place with so much happening. The weather could be better... it's a little murky but we’re making the most of it. We're off to a Broadway show tonight. That's such an exciting thing to be able to say when you're from New Zealand... "Off to see a show on Broadway... as you do..." I'm sure we'll have a blast!

We’re here in New York to interview Marie Forleo of www.thegoodlife-inc.com. Marie is my life-coach and the life-coach of a number of successful entrepreneurs, fortune 500 execs and other high-flyers. Plus she's an accomplished dancer/choreographer, sought-after fitness professional, she's worked with MTV, VH1, Nike and Self Magazine and has appeared on TV numerous times (here’s a snippet from her recently on FOX.) She's certainly got a few strings to her bow!

Just like you don't have to be sick before you start thinking about your health, you don't need to be completely down and out before you start receiving life coaching. When I first started working with Marie a year ago I thought I knew it all, but in the last 12 months she has had a profound influence on my life; both in a business sense and also in my relationships and outlook on life as a whole.

This interview with Marie is going to be an extremely important one about the mindset of success. Mindset of success, you say? Yes -- I know it's not going to immediately help you increase your earnings from AdSense or anything like that, but in a way your mindset is the most important factor to dictate your success. More important than SEO, more important than building your "list" -- if you don't have the right mindset, you're not going anywhere.

I could even go so far as to say that mindset is probably THE most important factor separating really successful people from what you would unflatteringly call "The Masses". It's also the thing that separates happy successful people from miserable successful people: That is, people who know how to enjoy their success as opposed to people who are financially well-off, but too stressed to enjoy it.

What I've found is that quite a few of my Affilorama members don't seem to posess the right mindset for success when they first join Affilorama. They're not happy enough or positive enough to get where they want to go. What we're hoping to achieve in the interview is to give you an insight into how I think, how other successful entrepreneurs think, how Marie herself thinks, and (most importantly) how to ditch your own "daily tape of destructive, repetitive thoughts" and replace it with a new pattern of uncluttered, successful thinking.

I know it sounds a little new-agey, don't worry. We're not going to make everyone stand in a circle and hold hands!

Here's Marie's first tip, snatched from one of her books:

"When something doesn’t work in your life, assume you are operating on false information. Don’t worry - this isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s a blessing. It means you’ve become aware that you are off track and have already taken the first step to correct course. With an open mind and willingness to lead an irresistible lifestyle, you’re about to discover a whole new I-can’t-believe-it-could-be-this-good world of success, love, relationship and authentic partnership that is available and waiting for you."

My own first tip is to make sure you set aside a minimum of one hour of pure, unadulterated fun every day. Even better if this can be with your family or "significant other" One hour! Absolute minimum! I used to feel so guilty about just having fun, it's absolutely amazing to think about now. And it's such a common way of thinking -- we always feel like we should be working towards our goals and that "fun" is just a distraction. It's not a distraction! It's essential! Without the fun in your life you'll end up depressed and hating what you're doing. And aren't we all doing this so that we can have more control in our lives and love our jobs?

The ability to see it all in perspective like this is an absolutely necessary trait of success. But that's just my opinion. Marie Forleo is the real expert when it comes to mindset, so I'm really looking forward to being able to share this video with Affilorama members. For those of you who aren't members yet... I'll be posting some snippets in this blog as well.

But for now, we're off to see a show on Broadway. You know, as you do...

All the best!

Mark Ling