Some days are definitely better than others. Especially yesterday, I got a nice surprise bill from the IRS for several thousand dollars with large penalties, then another hefty bill from one of my accountants, come to turn out the task I hired the accountant for was related to those taxes and the enormous penalties which may have been prevented had the accountant done her job. It wasn’t a nice surprise.

In addition to this, I decided to upgrade my XP machine to Windows Service Pack 3. What a mistake that was! To make a long story short, it corrupted Windows so badly my only option is to reformat. I’m losing several days of productivity without it.

I can’t complain however, these are minor setbacks compared to many I’ve encountered over the years, and I can afford to pay the taxes, as well as buy a new computer. However, it reminds me that no matter what setbacks you have in business, frustrations are going to happen, it’s a guarantee. Things will not always go like you want them to. Campaigns may get slapped by Google, someone will steal your online content, and you could easily be falsely accused of spamming or something else. Nonetheless, you have to realize it’s all a part of doing business.

I see people complain on forums, bitch and moan about a refund, or something that isn’t going their way. Many times I see people even quit and give up when they encounter obstacles. What they don’t realize is that’s all a part of this game. You have to continue or you lose, period. 99% of obstacles in business can be overcome with a commitment to succeed with time and elbow grease. Trust me, I’ve been there. When I started I didn’t have a credit card, a bank account, and hardly any money. My credit was so bad I had to seek out a bank that didn’t run a credit check. On top of that I didn’t even have my own computer. I didn’t make excuses, I just made it happen!

I’ve been over $50,000 in debt with the IRS and negotiated and struggled, and worked my way through it over several years. I’ve had my share of obstacles, as anyone in business will have. Yet, when I see someone on a forum say “this is too hard” or “that’s a lot of work”, well, it makes me want to puke!

No matter what comes against you today, this week, or this year, stay committed and focused, and realize that truly, it’s all a part of doing business. The only thing that really separates the successful from the failures and the quitters is the commitment and dedication to succeed. People can come up with all kinds of excuses for why things didn’t work out, but in the end someone is going to make it to the top, and that person won’t have an excuse for why they didn’t get there.

The video below illustrates this point exactly. How many people do you think would say “I can’t play guitar because I don’t have any arms”? As you can see, most limits are in our minds.

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I can’t believe how many fake testimonials I see online these days. In fact, I’ve even seen some testimonials with images of people that are images you can purchase from online stock photography sites! The trouble is sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between real testimonials and fake ones, and with the cloak of the Internet you don’t really know if you’re dealing with someone legit or not and if their testimonials are all fake.

I’ve written extensively about the power of real customer testimonials, and I strongly urge anyone who is selling something online to use them.

Now there’s a service that will give your real testimonials the extra proof and validation they need to assure your visitors that your testimonials are the real deal. The site is called AuthenticatedTestimonials.com and they will verify your testimonials and then allow you to use their authenticated logos underneath your testimonial. It’s a really ingenuous idea, and only lends extra credibility to your site and especially your testimonials. Here’s an example of one of their testimonial logos you can use on your site…

The pricing is very affordable. To use the service it’s $34.99 the first year, then $24.99 every year thereafter. That will include two testimonial validations. For additional testimonials you’re looking at one-time $12.99 fee. So for a handful of quality testimonials I think this pricing is very reasonable.

Using the service is also fairly straight forward. Once you have a testimonial you send it over to Authenticated Testimonials along with the contact information for that person. Authenticated Testimonials will contact the person by phone, then email them a form to be signed and faxed back to them which verifies the testimonial.

This site is fairly new, about 4 months old as of this writing, but has some backing as it’s part of a much larger company and the 7search network. I called them this morning to get some details before sharing their service with you and they were quick to answer the phone and very helpful with my questions.

Having your testimonials verified by a third-party really is a very smart idea if you’re using them to help sell your product. I for one, will certainly be using them as I’m always looking for any extra advantage to help lend my site credibility and increase sales.

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