Ben Neumann

Change is good… and sometimes very necessary.

Welcome to my very first blog post in 2012. I wish you all a very happy, healthy and successful new year!

Life belongs to the living and he who lives must be prepared for changes.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I’ve looked at the above quote by one of my favorite members of my very personal “Dead Poet Society” many times over the past month because of the changes I personally went through lately and it rings now more true to me than ever. “Life belongs to the living…” what an interesting concept! To me that meant that I had to take charge of my life and take massive action to fundamentally change the things in my life I didn’t like.

I have always wanted to find a way to lose my excess weight and regain my incredible vitality I used to have most of my life. I tried all kinds of diets, programs, pills, etc. and yo-yo’ed up and down about 100 pounds. Whenever I thought I had “it” beat “it” caught up with me again – slowly and silently – and the weight started to come back on with a vengeance.

Then in 2010 and throughout 2011 I began to read and study anything I could get my hands on about weightloss, health, vitality, nutrition, diets, micro-nutrients, macro-nutrients, metabolism, glycemic index, etc.

I also compared and in part tested many popular diets and weightloss programs such as Weightwatchers, the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, Slim-Fast, Jenny Craig, the Baby Food Diet, the Hollywood Diet, the Junk Food Diet (boy, did I wish this one would work on me), Nutrisystem as well as bariatic surgery and lap-band surgery.

I was determined to figure out what similarities these programs had and why some worked better than others. I also spoke to people that had successfully tried these programs years ago to find out how well the participants did in keeping their weight off (not good, unfortunately).

I spent an extra long time researching and testing the concept of a raw food diet, juicing, juice fasting, fasting and the impact this has on the body’s ability to heal itself. I am a very lucky guy because my sweetheart Tam is a true self-made expert in the raw food and juicing area. Tam was a vegetarian for many years and also had made the raw food diet part of her daily life. She knows juicing and how different juices and juice recipes can affect the body and different organs. I personally had lost nearly 100 pounds in 2009 after I made juicing part of my daily lifestyle. So I knew that juicing would have to definitely play a major part in my journey to vitality, health and permanent weightloss.

To make a long story (I could go on for quite some time, but I’ll save the details for my book), I didn’t leave any stone unturned in my quest for the perfect and absolute last weightloss program I would ever need to be on in order to meet my weight and health goal. I realized that things weren’t as easy as willpower + less calories in vs. calories out + exercise = Ben version 2.0. I mean, I realized that would in all likelihood work, but since I had done this before I knew that by using this age-old formula my chances of long-term success were slim. So, I decided to take elements from the many things I had learned and build my very own custom health and wellness program. This was a big step for me in my own mind since a look in the mirror always made me question if a guy who’s as overweight as I am can really know as much about health and weightloss as I do. Well, I ultimately came to the conclusion that it’s possible, but I would have to prove to myself that I can put my knowledge to good use and that my program actually works. I realized that I need to help myself, before I can help ofhers. That’s when I decided to test my program on myself. Just like that, Ben, the biggest guinea pig in the world, was born!

That brings us to today, January 2, 2012. The officially Day 1 of my self-test. I’m about to step on the scale, measure whatever body circumference I can get my measure tape around, get my blood numbers/lipid profile and will put it all into a spreadsheet I specifically developed for this (I’m also going to put this part online soon to make it easier).

If you are interested in following my self-test and weightloss journey just click in the Weightloss Journey link on top of my website. I will be posting numbers, results and some videos there. I encourage you to put your name and email address in the little box to the right of my posts and I’ll update you whenever I publish a new blog post.

Oh, I didn’t want to forget to mention that Tam, Pete and my mom have rather spontaneously decided to join me in testing my program. Assuming they give me permission, I will post some of their results and experiences here as well.

Ok, off to my first weigh-in now. Wish us success. Talk soon.

How to make 2012 Your Best Year EVER!

Do you like the week between Christmas day (Dec 25) and New Years day (Jan 1)? I can say with dedication and passion that this week is one of my favorite weeks of the whole year. I always consider it, “The last moment of silence before the storm”.

I, like so many other people, use this week to reflect on the year that has nearly past, relive some of the things which happened and even briefly feel some of the emotions I felt. I look at all the good things I experienced and how I can do more of that in the coming year, but I also remember the not so good and the bad things that happened and how I can do better next year.

I can state with confidence that 2011 was a pretty turbulent year for me personally. My relationship with my love Tam and our four sweet boys allowed me the incredible opportunity to experience love in a dimension I never thought possible before. My companies NetDNA.com and MaxCDN.com started to really take off. I moved my family into a new and beautiful home and embraced new challenges and opportunities. I launched my new InspireMoreHeroes.com project and finally completed the research and development on my Powerful Vitality™ Wellness, Weighloss and Fitness program (I’m going to test the entire program on myself starting Jan 2, 2012, and post all updates on my website, so stay tuned).

Along the way I met many incredible and inspirational people such as Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Mike Koenigs, Pam & Chris Hendrickson, Jeff Walker, Rick Frishman, Grace Jamra, Mike Hanasab, Charles Sophy, Rich Segal, Max Contadino, Phil Staples and also reconnected with many old friends such as Humberto Gray, Robbie Blumenfeld, John Walker and Theo Agranat, just to name a few. On the flip-side, my long time relationship with some of my dearest friends, business partners and protégés was put to the strongest test yet due to mistakes we’ve made in the past, especially how we communicated with each other. I’m still hoping we will be able to salvage our friendship(s) once everything else is settled, as they mean a lot to me, but only time will tell.

One of our awesome kids was diagnosed with ADHD in 2011 and a few other learning challenges, which caused Tam and me to learn more about the human brain and its functions and how nutrition affects these functions than we ever thought we would know. In addition, my seemingly never ending divorce story took way to much of my valuable mind-share, which unfortunately caused me to stress-eat and gain more weight (as if I needed any more of that). Toward the end of the year I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the incredible Tony Robbins, who brought out the “King of Health” in me and lastly I needed to be strong for my mom, who I love very much, who unexpectedly lost her mother (my grandmother) a few days before Christmas.

The absolute most important lesson I learned in 2011 is that life truly is way too short to dwell on the negative things. I now embrace the notions that life is happening for me instead of to me and that whatever you resist, will persist.

As a successful serial entrepreneur I naturally want to be in control of all the things around me, but I finally accepted the fact that certain things are simply not within my control, no matter how much I want them to be. At the same time, other things (i.e. what I put into my mouth) definitely are very much within my control and should be controlled.

My vast experiences of 2011 combined with my 45 minutes on stage with Tony Robbins at his Date with Destiny seminar and the incredibly positive impact my loving family has had on me profoundly changed the way I look at myself and the world around me going forward.

2012 will be dedicated to my health, my family and finally to 100% embrace what I am truly passionate about: helping and mentoring others to reach their full potential in their business, their relationships, their physical and emotional vitality as well as their very own life goals. I am convinced, the many people who’s life I will touch in 2012 will in return help me to finally find the same happiness and fulfillment in my professional life that so far I have only found in my relationship with Tam and my family.

One of my most important goals for 2012 is to be much better in touch with you personally and to be a truly great resource for your success in 2012.

So, let me begin 2012 by sharing one of the the most important pieces of advice I can give you,  before 2012 even started!

Whenever I am asked what the most important skills I have that I would attribute to any unusual success I have achieved in the past is, my answer has always been the same: value and build my relationships and stick to my Goal-Action-Success system, which I have used and continue to use to strategically plan and achieve all my bigger goals.

The very week I am writing this article during  is also the first week I use to go through my process. This is one of the most important weeks of my goal-achieving year. Right now!

If you want to know all the intricate details of my Goal-Action-Success system I’m giving the entire system away to my InspireMoreHeroes.com members. Visit www.InspireMoreHeroes.com before this week is over and simply put in your name and email. It really is that easy.

I wish you all a very healthy and incredible 2012, filled with love, gratitude and success!

Ben

PS: Please connect with me anytime right here or on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Working hard on launching my newest and biggest project yet…

All of my friends know that I am an entrepreneur through and through. Building businesses is and always has been my absolute passion. My other passion has been to mentor young entrepreneurs to become successful and seasoned business leaders. However, it was not until some unexpected events that happened this past Summer opened my eyes to what seemed to be an incredible opportunity for me to combine both of my passions into something that could ultimate become my biggest and most ambitious project to date.

After lots of soul searching, countless meetings, significant encouragement by my amazing spouse Tam, my 4 boys Devin, Ben Jr, Justin & Dominic as well as my many incredible friends (you know who you are) that I finally made the decision to embark on a mission that will most certainly push me to my limits, test my strengths, my will to succeed and my desire to make a difference in this world. I decided to:

Put America Back To Work – One Small Business Hero at a Time!

See, to me entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business owners have always been heroes. They create jobs, goodwill, products, tax revenue, provide amazing services, invent, innovate and make a huge difference in their own and countless other people’s lives. Based on that philosophy and my core belief that many people want to build something for themselves and others I met with thought leaders and master marketeers such as Brendon Burchard, Jeff Walker, Joe Polish, Darren Hardy, Mike Koenigs, Chris and Pam Hendrickson and many others. I started to put together and I am in the process of building a truly inspirational, very goal oriented, completely hands-on and success attracting program to help anybody who has the desire to make a difference and create an online business to make it happen. My declared goal is to inspire, motivate, assist and guide willing entrepreneurs to become highly successful online business owners with a minimum of $5,000m to $10,000+ per month in revenue and, of course, growing from there.

It is well documented that since 1994 I have founded, built and ultimate sold several well know multi-million dollar Internet businesses. Over the years I have developed an online business blueprint that I used and that is replicable and something that can be taught and learned by anybody who is willing to invest the time and energy. All of this and much more will be part of my new program. The rewards will be nothing short of amazing.

For anybody interested in finding out more about this new project of mine I invite you to check out my exciting pre-launch website at:

www.InspireMoreHeroes.com™

and get on the early bird pre-launch list. Can’t wait to hear what you guys think.

Here’s to all of your Heroes out there! See you on the other side.

BREAKING NEWS: Jeff Walker just opened PLS3 registration

OK, I gotta make this one super quick… Jeff Walker just opened the doors on his Product Launch Formula 3 Coaching Program. PLF always (and I mean ALWAYS) sells out quickly – usually within 24 hrs (so I got in early). Don’t miss out… here’s the link: http://bit.ly/srEdZu

10 Steps to SURVIVE and even GROW Your Business during a RECESSION

Considering the most recent recession we find ourselves in, one question I am being asked more and more is how business owners can survive during a recession. To me these are very interesting questions, especially since they are mostly born out of a feeling of understandable insecurity and uncertainty. Insecurity and uncertainty, however, are two of the main drivers that push an economy into a recession. Hence, on the flip side, a generous spread of positive attitude and confidence are some of the most important elements to a recovering economy. (more…)

It’s not about WHAT, but WHO you know!

I’m using LinkedIn.com to organize my professional contacts because I believe in the power of connections and who hasn’t heard about the famous “six degrees of separation“. Many times, things in my personal and professional life happened because of opportunities that I was offered or found through people I was somehow connected to. No matter where you are in your career, most of the time, relationships are the secret to ultimate success in business or otherwise. Success starts with building and maintaining these relationships! (more…)

The History of Thanksgiving

Given that I was born and raised in Germany I have always looked at our American Holidays with curiosity and respect. Now that I have kids myself I do my best to instill into my 2 little guys a beginning sense of respect for such Holidays as Thanksgiving by telling them stories about why we celebrate this as a Holiday and what it really means. I did, of course, do “my history homework” and brushed up on some of the numbers and dates to not spread common wisdom half-truth and to make sure that my boys get a good idea of where, when, and what it was that made Thanksgiving the special Holiday my family – and most other American families – loves so much. (more…)

Six Sigma or the Jack Welch Way of Kicking Butt

Ok, I’ve posted my thoughts on service, quality and what a lack thereof can do to an organization here on my blog several times over the past year and a half. For the record, I AM A QUALITY ADVOCATE! So are the majority of the people who work for me and/or with me. I am, and always have been, fully committed to found, fund, and run only quality companies and release only quality products that provide a true benefit and value to the people using them. I hate that sometimes I have to face an unhappy customer, yet the fact that we at Globat at times do fall short of customer’s as well as our own expectations does not change my mindset about quality at all. I will keep leading the charge to change a status quo and iron out any issues that may come up. I am a big Six Sigma enthusiast and am behind the principles and the tremendous benefits this methodology can bring to virtually any organization. (more…)

Customer Service with a Personal Touch?

When it comes to delivering quality customer service, one thing I’ve learned as an entrepreneur is that no matter the nature of the business, customer service is the most important factor influencing your success, and yet, it’s the hardest thing to perfect.

Customer service is the most personal aspect of running a business, and as it is with all things personal, there are so many little details that can affect the outcome of the situation. Think of other personal relationships in our everyday lives, such as romantic relationships or maintaining friendships and you’ll realize that one little mishap can throw everything out of step. As much as we would like to think that we are the kings of the jungles, humans are very emotional and sensitive, especially when it comes to our interactions with one another. (more…)

Your Credit – To Protect and To Serve

I have always been very protective of my credit. A perfect credit history along with a high FICO score translates into dollars saved whenever you are in need of financing. When you are an entrepreneur no bank will give you any form of even somewhat attractive financing unless you have good credit (along with some other assets). I’ve spead my “protect your credit” gospel to a bunch of people and over the years have compiled a list of interesting and helpful links. (more…)