With so much emphasis on list building and building social media networks, it may seem counter-intuitive to suggest purging a list and losing your bottom 10%.

The philosophy is this: lose your bottom 10% and you’ll feel an incredible surge in your business.

It’s scary to think about, but I just experienced this and wanted to share honestly about what’s happening, what freaked me out, and what the gifts are.

What’s Happening

I have a wonderful new program coming up, Discover Your Profitable Essence, which teaches heart based service professionals (coaches, healers, consultants, et al) how to break out of anonymity and place their mark on the world with a successful business.

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When I was 14, my weekends were taken away, and I was put to work. No, I wasn’t tossed into a juvenile chain gang…. I was born into a family business and my time had come.

I worked at my Dad’s Flea Market all through high school, and the place was interesting to say the least. From a product perspective, there were collectibles, antiques and things from people’s garages. You had bikers, cholos, eclectics, artists, thrift shoppers, collectors, antiquers, and a host of others filling the place every Saturday and Sunday. Regular folks (and this was decades before eBay) would drive in each weekend to set up and sell their wares, others simply wandered around enjoying the atmosphere.

The Flea Market was a very colorful place, which is putting it lightly. If I were to pitch it as a movie, I’d say it would be a cross between “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Northern Exposure” and “The Apprentice”. Irreverence was part of the brand.

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Bubbles are bursting left and right as the voices of frustrated entrepreneurs air their grievances against solutions that may or may not work as well as the sales pages promise.

There’s a lot of “truth” going around, but is it really truth or is it hidden anger? I’m not a psychologist, I’m simply a student of human nature, but the amount of criticism and guru bashing going on is making me wonder.

I started seeing it in November when a big buzz around Ali Brown’s Shine event erupted. I didn’t attend the event, but a lot of people weren’t crazy about her new direction and took their issues very publicly. I think it was brave and courageous for the people who spoke up, but after a while it started to sound like a barrage of negativity. I got the message that it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, but after the 25th rant, it started to get old.

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Forget climbing to 6 digits on Twitter, and ditch the “approve anyone and everyone” policy on Facebook.

If you’re like most people who’ve followed that advice, you’re probably looking at a bunch of strangers who crowd your Facebook wall with Blingee postcards and spam you with Mafia Wars invites.

Resist the urge to go for the numbers.

The word for this year: Micro

Of course you need to build a network, so don’t misunderstand this as an invitation to have a network of 3.

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In the early 20th century, my mom’s parents settled in Oakland, California to start a new life. Prior to that, they lived through the tumultuous times of the Mexican Revolution. My mom and her siblings were born at home in Oakland’s Fruitvale district (home birth way before it was cool), and my grandmother stayed at that same house until she was 95 years old.

Oakland has always had a place in my heart, but when you talk about the city people react strongly. You see, Oakland has an “image problem”.

Starting with Gertrude Stein who proclaimed “there’s no THERE there”, and up to the  decades of high crime rates, Oakland was loved by its residents but not by the rest of the world.

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Ever taken a class, gone to a workshop, or enrolled in a program hoping it would be the magic pill to cure all your business woes?

The thinking is this: if you just apply this one strategy, follow this simple system, learn an easy to follow blueprint … then you too shall experience the same type of wealth and success as the person teaching the course.

I’m not knocking the possibility, because I’ve personally had incredible breakthroughs and success following strategies I’ve learned from others. But there’s a catch… my success had a direct correlation to my prior experience, my mindset, and natural skills.

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Thank my stars, it looks like the copycat bubble may be finally ready to burst.

I don’t want to say I told you so… but (ahem!) I told you so… like 100 years ago.

Here’s what happens – and this happens just about anywhere but I’m going to use internet marketing as a point of reference.

Somebody creates a formula for success. This formula is given a cool name like a blueprint and is then touted as a fool-proof, just follow what I do exactly and you’ll enjoy my success kind of solution.

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Hip hop artist 50 Cent  just sent me a direct message on Twitter

50cent let’s keep #beforeiselfdestruct a trending topic.. what keeps you from destructing? I stay on the move #beforeiselfdestruct

12:50 AM Nov 8th

He’s on a big promo for his new album, Before I Self Destruct. I am one of his over 1 million followers, so I’m betting this message didn’t just go out to me. But it’s not about celeb baiting, my observations have to do with social media marketing and leveraging the enthusiasm of fans.

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Ballet dancers- from the littlest bunhead to the prima ballerina- all practice the same barre exercises. Master musicians still practice their scales, and writers write letter by letter.

Whether you’re a novice or at mastery level, staying sharp is essential if you want to stay on top of your game. And in this highly competitive world, add “stay relevant” to the top of your list for things to strive for.

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Guess what?

I completely vanished from Facebook all this past week. It was totally bizarre and random so I wanted to share my tale with you in case this happens to you or anyone you know.

OK, I didn’t vanish COMPLETELY. Just my profile page. It said “page not found” when anyone tried to visit my profile page or try to post on my wall.

But the odd thing is I could log in, see the main feed, post status updates, post on other people’s walls, even check my inbox.

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