I study animals a lot, mostly because I was raised in the sticks in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. It was just a part of life living among them because for the most part, we were in their territory. The folks that helped Mom and Dad with their house simply cleared a place out of the jungle and put up the mud and plaster walls.

And when you first arrive in a place like that, you notice things. Now you’re probably thinking from the title of this article that I’m going to talk about me being braver, and I’ll get to that in a sec, but I want to first focus on how most of the jungle animals were designed to survive by being brave.

Most of them won’t give up on anything they do.

Boldness is such a necessary part of being courageous, but you just can’t be bold and hope for the best. That gets even the best jungle animal killed. I watched these critters assess their surroundings and make some pretty intelligent choices. And studies have shown that this boldness over time builds a wonderful habit of courage.

A few animals will sit and wait it out, but most of them take action and try to find a quick route to escape or a better path to capture their lunch. This SO applies to you and me you won’t believe it.

When I counsel anyone who is in a downward spiral, nine times out of ten they have been pretty much motionless for the past month or so. That leads to depression and hopelessness. But with action, almost any action taken, turns into great results. We’re wired to keep moving!

Take any nature – persistence, love, courtesy, courage, integrity – and if you act boldly with them, unseen forces will come to your aid. Try it.

Do jungle animals know the score every time. You already know the answer to that one. But they do take a huge leap of faith when they decide to move. This develops courage. Listen – every great venture in the history of man has begun with faith and a giant leap into the unknown.

Who said – There is no security in life, only opportunity – ?

Babson College conducted a study of successful entrepreneurs over 12 years. Have you heard about this? The conclusion was that they all had in common the willingness to launch, step out in faith. Once they started, they took time to learn the lessons they needed to succeed. Almost all of them ended up successful – but in different businesses than where they started.

Are you going to be bold today? Are you going to stretch yourself? Maybe call that person who has been on your mind?

Remember that the animals face failure and fear but they must move to survive. They act with audacity. And yes – it normally gets them into trouble – but they use more audacity to get out! What are your thoughts? Gonna go for it and be bold?

This has become such a growing thing on the Internet and we’ve been using it with our groups here in Naples, that I’m surprised there aren’t more people and groups using this for distributing information or simply rallying the troups.  And what I’m talking about is a nifty technology called live streaming video.

Did you know that almost all of the companies providing this service are doing it for free?

It’s true!  And we’ve been using it for over a year with good success.  The two most popular services are Ustream and Justin TV.  Ustream is geared more toward a serious crowd, although if you scan through their channels, you’re sure to find goofy people on there.  In fact, last week I hopped on and on the main page was that fellow that sings “Chocolate Rain” on YouTube.

A handful of churches are using this technology to broadcast their services live, too.  It’s very cool and there are endless applications for it.

So what I challenge you to do is create an account at Ustream and using a webcam and your Internet connection, tell your group and broadcast your conference and updates.  There’s even a feature to record your broadcast, and as I said, it’s all totally free.

Justin TV is more for life casters – people who have a camera on all the time and need that significance.  You can stream there as well, but Ustream is my first choice.

Ustream is at http://www.ustream.tv/ and Justin TV is at http://www.justin.tv/

What do you think of this cool way to do your meetings?

We decided this year to go to the Naples 4th of July parade held on 5th Avenue to show our support for our country.  And it was fun and full of everything you’d expect from a small town on the Gulf of Mexico.  But what snagged my attention was the challenge our daughter was having getting any candy thrown from the floats.

It’s a tradition in many parades here in US that the people on the floats throw hard candy to the kids lined up along the parade route.

Rachel, our seven year old, wanted to get strategically positioned to get as much as she could as the parade passed by in all its glory.  She wriggled her way through a couple of families and got right out on the front line.  Perfect.

However, after a bit she returned and we both asked why?  The position seemed perfect, but Rachel said that there was big competition.  A couple of older girls and a younger girl were there at the same place.  It would be impossible to get anything.

We coached her a bit saying that there will be plenty and so she returned to her position.  But it didn’t last long.  After about 5 minutes, she returned saying she really didn’t want candy anyway and that candy wasn’t good for you and she just wanted to find somewhere to sit.

I thought of how much what she was going through was like many of the people I see in Network Marketing, or any marketing for that matter.

They go out and position themselves for maximum exposure, but then find out that’s where the big dogs hang out, too.  And then after a little coaching, they return but give up saying they just aren’t cut out for that, or that they really didn’t want that anyway.

But then, the dad and coach that I am, I showed Rachel that she needed to ask for the candy and people would go out of their way to give it to her.  So, reluctantly she returned to the front lines.

Then it happened.  When a big float full of people with bags of candy went by she looked up and held out her hand as if asking for the candy.  Two people threw a handful at her!  The other “dogs” or girls there waiting for candy were not doing this, so people were drawn to the open hand first.

Then something unexpected happened that really was fun to watch.

Rachel had turned the open hand into something else.  She would wave at the floats as they passed by – and that would catch their attention.  And once she had their attention, she then turned that wave into an open hand asking for candy.

Wow!  It worked SO well!  And I thought this is just what we need to do everyday.  Get their attention, and then not forget to ask for the sale.  Ask – it opens so many doors.

Rachel still has a big bag of candy at home and is proud to tell you the story of how she got it.

Hey gang – have a very happy 4th of July.  Bond with family and friends and let me know what you did and how you spent the holiday.

Thanks for being a part of the group here.  We’re growing SO fast and I count you all as friends.

Kind regards,
Dave

They’re called vanity license plates, or custom plates, and in most places you can get them for under a hundred bucks.  But I couldn’t believe the games they are playing in the UAE with these things.  And for a minute we were discussing here in the Jackson household how much a million dollars must mean to them.

In Abu Dhabi, one of the places where we get our oil in this country, they are having fun bidding against each other for custom license plates.  Ferrari S.p.A. says sales are brisk in this area of the world, as does Rolls Royce.  Did you know that one of the guys over there paid $14 million for the license plate with just the letter “L”?

And the guy’s cousin bought the number “5″ for $9 million!

You’re probably thinking what the normal price for a tag here is.  It’s $95 according to the Wall Street Journal.  And since these guys are into craziness, the low numbers, such as the same number as their car model, are considered prestigious.

For example, the brother of the cousin (I know, gets complicated) who paid $9 million for the number “5″, paid just over $120,000 for the numbers “430″ which look classy on his Ferrari F430.  Funny thing is, the Ferrari is listed at $180,000!

A guy that spent $14 million on the number “1″ said it was a coup for his family.  25 year old Saeed’s family has the money.  His brother is trying to get the number “494″ which is included in his Hotmail address.  His cousin already has “149″, for the Ferrari F149 set to come out next year.

And Ahmad Al-Ketbi showed up at the auction dead set on getting the number “29″ which would match one his father has only in a different color.  “I gotta have a plate,” he said.  Ahmad is only 15 years old, three years away from the legal driving age.  But he stuck to it, amidst guys twice his age, lifting his bidding flag time and again until he won… for $530,000.  Go figure.