Obviously, the series is meant for mature audiences and may not appeal to many. But Snoop’s performance is fantastic in the series.  I did some research on Ms. Pearson and discovered that she would make an excellent subject of a Successful Failures feature.

Dead On Arrival….almost

According to her bio, Snoop was born premature weighing only 3 pounds at birth. Her chances of survival were low. Her parents were both drug addicts and were incarcerated at the time of her birth so she was raised in a foster home. If things weren’t bad enough, she was raised in one of the poorest parts Baltimore.  If you watch the Wire, which is set in Baltimore, you will understand how growing up in type of environment can impact your chances of having a successful life.  And Snoop was not immune to the affects of her environment. She worked as drug dealer at a very young age and at age 14 she was convicted of second degree murder for the shooting death of a young woman. Snoop served six years in a Maryland penitentiary for her crime. Given everything that she endured during the first twenty years of her life, it would be understandable if Snoop went the way so many people in similar circumstances have gone. It would have been easy for her to end up another statistic; doing more crimes, doing drugs, or simply another victim of streets.  But after prison Snoop decided to change things up and a chance meeting with one of the stars of the Wire led to an audition and eventually a part on the show. 

Sky’s the Limit

Snoop has expanded her success into other areas:

• She published her memoir in a book titled Grace After Midnight
• She has started a music career and has been featured on several hip hop songs and has starred in a few music videos.
• She reportedly has an album in the works.
• She runs a youth drama organization called Moving Mountains, which is aimed at stopping youth violence and keeping kids off the streets.
• She volunteers at prisons and works for anti violence as well as literacy campaigns.

5 Things You Can Learn from Felicia "Snoop" Pearson

• It’s not where you start out, its where you end up.  Life’s not fair.  For every person that’s born into a well adjusted, normal family there’s hundreds (probably thousands) that are born into similar circumstances that Snopp was.  The more able you are to let go of the past and focus on the future, the more likely you are to be successful. 
• Be open to what the Universe has in store for you.  I’m not sure if Ms. Pearson ever had any aspirations of becoming an actress or hip hop artist but when the opportunity presented itself she made the most of it. She didn’t let her past stop her. And she didn’t let the fact that she didn’t have any formal training stop her.  Seek out what you want in your life and chances are good that you will find it…if it doesn’t find you first!
• Stay true to yourself. Ms Pearson was successful in The Wire because she was essentially playing herself. She was able to take all of her experiences growing up in the streets and use them to her advantage. We are the sum total of our life’s experiences.  We can choose to use those experiences to our benefit or be victim to them and use them as an excuse for achieving our goals.  Successful people choose the former of the two. 
• Give back. It’s good karma!!
• Don’t mess with a Baltimore chick! I think this self explanatory! LOL!!
   

For most people, recessions are times when they tend to cut back on their spending on promotions. Or perhaps they hold off on expanding their operations until ‘better’ times. But there are some who see these slow periods as opportunities to expand their businesses and their revenues. Home Business magazine’s August issue profiles 10 home based millionaires that grew their business in bad economic times as well as good ones. Here’s a list of the people they profiled and the businesses they’re in:

1. Matt Morris- Personal Coaching, Mentor, and Author
2. Melissa Evans- Mentor and Author
3. Frank Mckinney-Real Estate, Author, and Philanthro-Capitalist (??)
4. Leisa and
5.  Mark Bates- Hotel/B&B owners, Entertainment, and Inventors
6. Jordan Wirsz- Serial Entrepreneur, Author, and Motivational Speaker
7. Mario Barth-Celebrity Tattoo Artist, Manufacturer of Tattoo Supplies, E-Commerce
8. Lisa Harrington and
9. Kimberly Martinez-Decorative designs for work apparel, E-commerce
10. Robert Shrob-Publishing, Coaching, and Seminars

Common Bonds

As you read through the profiles of these millionaires you pick up on few common themes.

• Each one of them followed their passions.
• Each one took risks.
• They all decided where they wanted to be, figured out a way to get there, TOOK ACTION, and never looked back.
• They all have multiple streams of income.
• All of them came from humble backgrounds and really worked hard to get where they are today. And they still continue to work hard.
• None of them are really that much different from you or me.

Original article written by Priscilla Y. Huff.

1. Sell it

If other people love your handcrafted articles, you may consider selling them locally or online. Local outlets include home sales or demonstrations, fairs, shows and conventions, or retail businesses that accept articles on consignment. There are also a number of websites that sell handmade articles; they generally charge a small fee for posting the article, and/or a percentage of the selling price. For these, good photography is necessary.

2. Teach it

It is often more profitable to teach other people how to make things than to sell the things themselves. You can hold classes at your home or at a local community center. You can also look through the catalogs of community colleges and high school districts to see if they offer courses in your field of interest. If no instructor’s name is given, it is possible that the organization has not yet hired someone to teach the subject and there is a job opening for you. You may be able to demonstrate your passion at a special event and teach a short introductory lesson to encourage people to sign up, or have your products available for sale.

3. Write about it

If you’re good with words, writing about your passion may be profitable. Magazines and websites like to publish well-written, lively pieces that demonstrate how to make attractive or useful articles, or get started in a leisure activity. Professional-quality photos will enhance your written work and make it more likely to sell. Another way to use the written word to make money from your passion is through blogging. This is a long-term strategy, as it takes time and persistence to build up blog traffic. The key to successful blogging is clear, authoritative writing, authenticity, consistency (posting frequently at regular times) and being responsive to people who comment on your blog posts or ask questions. Money can be made through blogs either by selling your own products or by attracting advertising revenue.

4. Team up

Finding a business partner whose passions complement yours can be the start of a whole new synergy. This could be someone who offers similar products or services to your own, so that you can effectively double your output and share administrative tasks. Or it could be someone whose product or service can be used in conjunction with yours. Look out for possible partners online, at trade shows and at your local retail outlets, and take your time to find the right fit.

Louise Baker writes about online degrees for Zen College Life. She most recently wrote about getting an online criminal justice degree.

How To Stay Motivated to Reach your Goals

How to Stay Motivated or Inspired to Reach any Goal

How to get Motivated and Stay Motivated

Jonathan Sprinkles-Getting and Staying Motivated Pt.1

And then there’s all the offline stuff that goes on around you. Family issues, job issues, personal issues—just issues, issues, issues! Who has the time work on your business and work out, or hang out with friends, or just relax and chill out?  And all of these ‘distractions’ serve to sap your motivation from your project because you may feel, like I do from time to time, that you’re not getting anything accomplished with respect to your business project. From time to time that quite voice of doubt that whispers in the back of your brain gets louder. And unlike other times you actually to start to wonder, “what am I doing this for? I’ll never make big doing this?” Or, “why am I wasting my time?” Sometimes the things you tell yourself to keep motivated just don’t work.

1. Realizing that this is only temporary.
2. Realizing that I can make through if I continue to believe in myself.
3. Finding a way to channel positive energy.

1. Entrepreneurs’ Simple Ideas Can Mean Big Success: Think small, grow big. 
2. Optimistic entrepreneurs offer tips on besting recession:Words of wisdom for surviving a recession from some the country’s top women entrepreneurs.
3. Young entrepreneur opens her second Beauty Loft downtown: At 20 years old the owner of The Beauty Loft, Jessica Lhota , is opening her second retail store. Makes me really regret my mis-spent youth.
4. 10 unordinary tips for entrepreneur women: A great list of tips for every entrepreneur (in my opinion), My favorites: 1,3,6, 7, and10
5. Mint.com Founder Tells Entrepreneurs To Stick To The Basics:When someone can take a company from $0 to $170 million in three years, you should really want to hear what he has to say.
6. Entrepreneur sees future – on his iPhone: I have recommended creating iPhone apps as a good home business before. Its seems like the gentleman featured in this article agrees with me.

 Bonus LoLVideo:

This was the runner up for the Funny Fridays video selected this week. This is YouTube at its best.

1. Have you got the moxie? Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Forget startup capital, forget years of experience, forget having a huge network of contacts.  This article wants you to look deep inside of yourself and ask some pretty tough questions.
2. Finding Money For Your Business.  Not having enough money to fund your business is one of the biggest killer of the entrepreneurial dream.  This post outlines a couple of places to look for additional funding.
3. MLM Business- How to Make Money Online Selling Other Peoples’s Product. MLM’s are still very popular. And there are many legitimate MLM companies out there. The trick is knowing how to pick out the good ones. 
4. Books For Entrepreneurs. I read The Prince years ago. It might be a good time for a re-read. Never heard of the other 2. Can anyone share a few books that they think are good for entrepreneurs?
5. Your JOB (Just Over Broke) is Killing Your Spirit. This one is kind of wordy but I agree that nothing can kill your dreams of freedom and happiness quicker than a job.  That’s why its important to stay focused on your goals and take immediate and consistent ACTION towards acheiving your goals.

After years of researching various ways to make money from home I have become convinced that the high rate of failure for home businesses has more to do with the types of busunesses people choose rather than the businesses themselves. What I mean by this is many people choose a home business for reasons like how much money they think that can make or how easy it might to run that business while maintaining their full time job. While these are valid considerations they have nothing to do with whether or not they will be successful in that business.  Every theory on being successful in life has at leadst one common theme: Build your business around your passions and success will come to you. Your passions are who you are. They help to make up your personality. So all of those people that fall for the marketing hype and go after whichever home businessses are popular for moment, are setting themselves up for failure. If you want to avoid making the same mistakes thousands of people make each year then you have to find businesses that match your passions and are suited to your personality. I can help you find those businesses. Let me you a little bit about myself.  

 Are There Any Legit Home Businesses?

A few years ago I decided that I wanted out of corporate life. It just wasn’t for me anymore.  I wanted to make a living doing something that I was passionate about, which was helping people.  But like many of the other ‘wage slaves’ I still needed a steady income to support my family. So I started looking for something that I could do part time to bring in additional income.  I’m sure you can image what I was confronted with; hundreds of sites promising to make help me GET RICH QUICK WITHOUT ANY KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, OR MONEY TO INVEST. All of this while I sat back in a beach chair and waited for the mailman to bring me checks.  I knew these were scams and  I paid little attention to them. But I was amazed at how many sites were dedicated to these types of marketing scams. What was even more amazing was the number of "legitimate, unbiased" review sites that promised to give fair and balanced information and they turned out to be another marketing ploy.  

The AHA Moment

But even staying away from the scams I still found little success with the ‘legit’ part time ventures I tried.  Things like eBay, Network Marketing products, and one on one computer coaching. I even tried being a real estate investor at the height of the real estate boom. And although I had some successes (I made some money) I never felt like a success. It was frustrating because I saw other people not as talented as myself making money doing the same things I was struggling with and I couldn’t understand why.  And then I had my AHA moment! I was still trying to do things I was not passionate about  and I did not suit my personality.  I realized that in order to be successful I had to find something that felt right to me. Something that I was so passionate about that I would do it for free. Shortly after that realization I started my blog, the Home Business Private Eye. And I stated helping people to find and start their own home businesses.  And now I ready to take it a step further. 

I’ve This Heard It All Before

Right now I’m going to stop because I can image what you might be thinking. "Yeah, Dakim, remember those hundreds of Get Rich Quick sites you mentioned earlier? Well, I’ve visited them too. And I’ve heard all of the promises that they make. And right now, you’re starting to sound alot like them!" Let me tell you what I am NOT trying to do here:

• Make you rich overnight
• Give you a secret formula that only the richest of people know
• Sell you a product, real or electronic, that you have to then turn around and sell to other people.
• Get you to join my team and then have you go out and get others to join your team. And so on, and so on.

No, what I am offering is much more simple.  I’m offering to help you find the types of business opportunities that your personality is suited for. Why is it important to find a business opportunity that matches you personality? Think about your life. I’m sure there are things that you can do well but you have no real interest in them.  It could be a sport or an activity like cooking. It could even be the job that you hate but it pays the bills.  Now really think about these activities.  Do you excel at them? The answer may very well be yes.  But I bet that it takes effort to accomplish this.  Probably more effort than you really care to give. And I also bet that you get bored or frustrated with these activities quickly.  The reason this happens is simple, they don’t suit you personally. Now there are people you may know that can do the same activities from sun up to sun down and love every minute of it.  They make it look effortless. These people are not abnormal.  Everyone has some skill or interest that they possess that they are passionate about.  The ’secret’ to being successful is to match these interests with the ability to make money doing them. And that’s where I can help you.

The Home Business Private Eye Business Matching Service.

Like I stated before the Home Business Private Eye site is about helping people find and start their own businesses.  The site gives truly unbiased reviews of business opportunities and a host of other resources to motivate and educate a would be entrepreneur.  The Business Matching service I am introducing takes it to the next level. I have developed a questionnaire that will help me to find the type of business opportunities that match YOUR  personality and interests. And when you are truly passionate about what you are doing you have a much better chance at excelling at it. Now, you may have come across other services that seem similar to what I am offering. Let me point few unique benefits of my service:

• This is not ‘feeder’ program for a particular service or product. I am not trying to steer you to one service or another. I do not benefit financially from any of the matches I provide to you.
• This is not a computer generated match service. Just don’t match you with whatever businesses are in your zip code. I handle all of the matches personally.  So it’s an organic match
• Each match is based on your unique responses.   

And probably the best feature of this service is that I’m introducing it at a very low price,  $49.95 $25.00 (Limited Introductory Offer for the 1st 100 customers) for 5 matches.  Why only $25? Because I am trying to gauge the market demand for this service. Believe it or not, there aren’t many services like the one I offering. In fact, I couldn’t find one the does it exactly like I am doing it. If you know of one please let me know about it. I want to offer the best service that I can so I would like see if there is something that someone is offering that I am not. So until I can get a better handle on the market, I’m offering to match you for a very nominal amount. To take advantage of this great offer all you have to do is click on this link to the Questionnaire Page and fill it out.  Once I receive your questionnaire I will analyze it and begin searching my database of businesses to find your matches.  You should receive your matches in your email inbox with in 3 business days. That’s it.  The rest will be up to you.

1) Where to be an Etntrepreneur: Entrepreneur.com posted this article profiling 10 start-up friendly cities and success stories from each city. Biggest suprises: Portland Oregon,  Chapel Hill North Carolina, and Madison Wisconsin.

2) Entrepreneur Thrives in Difficult Economy: Chris Hume combines his passion for design with his love for children into a growing company.

3) Entrepreneur Survival Guide: 10 Apps the every entrepreneur should use daily 

4) Mortgage Bake Sale Becomes a Runaway Success: New Jersery woman started selling cakes to raise money to stop foreclouse and it turns into a huge business opportunity.

5) 15 Ways to Take Action NOW!:   15 steps to world domination. If world domination isn’t your thing, then you could use them to help you get control of your life and move you closer to your obtaining your goals.

Choose to be Positive

Just like you made the choice to start your business you can choose your outlook on life.  Every morning the first thing I think about is something that brings me joy.  Usually it’s my son but sometimes it can be something simple like a joke or funny story. This puts me in a positive state of mind at the beginning of the day. Of course, throughout the day things come up that challenge that outlook but each time I try to make the choice to stay positive. I find it easier to do this when I start off that way.

Act the Part

Every actor that plays a mental patient isn’t crazy (some might be but not all). The same goes for actors that play villains or heroes.  Actors get paid to convine people that they’re something that they aren’t. The really good actors get paid really well.  Sometimes you might have to cast yourself in the lead role of “Mr. Positivity”. You might not be able to feel positive but your clients (or potential clients) should never know it.

Look Outside Yourself

Along with having the power to choose to be positive you have the power to choose what surround yourself with.  All of my friends love to laugh and joke and enjoy themselves. I generally listen to fast pace, upbeat music.  I choose sitcoms over the news and when I read the paper I always read the comics first. These things keep me in a happy place. So when I interact with clients its easy for me to stay positive.

I know plenty of people that can’t seem to function unless they are complaining about someone or some thing.  You probably know some one like that.  Now imagine yourself as one of your customers trying to do business with that individual. After all is said and done how would you feel about dong more business with that individual?  That’s what your customers may feel about you.

Hope It helps.  Leave a comment and let me know if does.