****Read and Win:  Be one of the first two people to comment on this post and receive a six-month membership to Andrew Morrison’s Small Business Camp Network!! ***

SWR is pleased to bring you Andrew Morrison. Founder of a multi-million dollar business that serviced Fortune 500 companies, and Small Business Camp, an entrepreneurial training and marketing services firm, Morrison’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Advertising Age and Oprah.  Yes.  Oprah.  On Thursday, Februrary 11, he’s giving a free teleseminar on how to pick your best business concept and turn it into cash. — Keysha

My Biggest Confession
By Andrew Morrison

I have a confession to make. Money does not really motivate me! I know some of you may be shocked but it’s true. I’ve helped thousands of people to make more money in their business, non-profit or career. But, money just doesn’t do it for me.

I’ve never really desired fine cars, clothes, jewelry and homes. I’m just real simple when it comes to material things. Several people have told me that, “Andrew you don’t dress to your power!” I know that I should be wearing custom suits with a pocket square but that’s really not me.

I came to this confession by having to state my own 16 Week Challenge goal.  (February 24th is the last day to join at http://16weekchallenge.com . After that date the group will become private.)

My 16 week goal is to generate $5,000 per month from a small business membership website.  As I pondered the goal, it just did not feel right.

Make sure your goals feel right.

For some reason. I was not motivated to make an extra $5,000 per month.  Sounds crazy, but I’m being honest.

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Tele-Seminar: How to Pick One Thing!
Date: Thursday, February 11th
Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm EST
Phone: 718-290-9983 pin 149924
Webcast: http://attendthisevent.com/?eventID=11276967
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What’s your goal? When you say it, does it really motivate you? If not, then we have to re-examine the goal and maybe say it a different way.

Hmmm…. how else could I say $5,000 per month?

Oh, I know …  how about inspiring and supporting 200 entrepreneurs a month with the Small Business Camp Network. You can join at http://smallbusinesscamp.com/small-business-camp-network/

Now, we are talking. This new goal really motivates me!

I value service over money. The goal began to make sense to me once I clarified my values and then re-stated the goal within my value. This small SHIFT is critical if you want to place your goals on automatic pilot.

Let me say that again …

Clarify your values and then re-state your goals within your values. (That’s some good stuff!)

Take a few minutes with me and participate in a values clarification exercise. Read more »

Almost every year until this one, I’d dedicate an entire day to scribbling pages of life-altering resolutions. I managed to keep a few of of them (I stopped smoking in 1993, lost weight in 1997, wrote novels in 2000 and 2008), but I blew others (I didn’t find an agent, publish a novel, or double my income).

A few weeks ago, I sat down with my notebook to write out 2010’s slew of goals, which included — once again — find an agent, publish a novel, double my income, and then on Saturday morning, as I got ready for my aunt’s annual Epiphany party, I had an epiphany:

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.

I have to admit, this revelation came to me after checking out a site called 43things.com that my friend, V, loves and swears by. The idea is to list 43 things you want to accomplish and tick them off as you do. Well, this year I don’t have the ambition to tackle 10 things, let alone 43 (history shows that I’m easily overwhelmed), but the cool thing about this site is that some of the people who’ve actually done the things I want to do offer tips on how they did it.

So, I want to publish a novel, but I’m an unknown (the award I won in college for a bunch of short stories doesn’t count). One of the published novelists on 43things recommends doing what he did: Writing and publishing short stories in small markets.

Which led me to the first of my two resolutions for 2010:

Before I get out of bed every weekday morning, I will write for one half hour with the goal of having one short story worthy of submission at the end of the month. (Then I’ll follow through by actually submitting it.)

My second resolution is to become a good salesperson. Even as I write this, I feel a little ashamed to admit it. My mother always distrusted salespeople, but the truth is we’re all selling something, whether it’s refrigerators or short stories or ourselves (for a dream job or a dream date). If you work for a corporation, you’ll notice that the sales force is better compensated than the folks in Human Resources. The key, for me, is to sell things honestly, for the benefit of the buyer as well as myself. I’ve found the product, now I just have to get out of my own way and do it.

To that end, I’ve come up with a list of prospects and a not-too-daunting schedule to call them. I’ve also committed to maintaining enthusiasm by attending sales meetings and watching the seminars the company offers online.

That’s it for me, but if you’re more ambitious (or you just want ideas on how other people did what you want to do), take a look at 43things. And if you’re not ambitious at all, you’ll probably enjoy this essay by Mary Elizabeth Williams about an easy way to change your life for the better in less than an hour.

I’m a big fan of Karen Salmansohn, author of The Prince Harming Syndrome and Even God is Single So Stop Giving Me a Hard Time, and her method for taking life by the horns and being happy no matter what. (Read my review of her book, Enough Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Finally Getting What You Want Out of Life here.)

Salmansohn is no dreamer. She writes:

…my techniques/ theories are a hybrid of modern cognitive psychology, Aristotle’s timeless happiness philosophies, brain science, and energy theories on thought from quantum physics - all delivered with feisty humor.”

For 30 days, Salmansohn will post updates to purposefully strengthen your brain’s positive neural pathways on love, happiness, and achievement, along with free excerpts from her latest release, Prince Harming Syndrome.

Take control of your life with Karen’s free workshop on her blog (starting with yesterday’s post of September 14th). I have used the method she describes in this particular post. I assure you it works.

Yesterday, a Single Women Rule member landed in Costa Rica.  She’s taken a month leave from work to take a certification class to teach English in foreign countries - a goal she had when she joined several years ago.

When she returns she’ll have a full report on her experience including what she learned about pushing past your comfort zone to achieve your goals.  She has envisioned herself traveling the world and teaching children, and her choices are leading her to that goal.

This month at SWR, we want you to identify a short-term or long-term goal, and one action that will lead to accomplishing it.  Then, take that action.

Who we are today, is nothing more than a culmination of the choices that we’ve made in the past - either subconscious or conscious.  Who we are tomorrow depends on choices we make each minute of every day, not just in the beginning of the year.

Feel free to post your short-term or long term goal and what action you plan to take this month to help make it happen.