It's time to say good-bye to 2016.  Yeeeeeeesssss!!!

The year is over.  And it couldn't come quick enough for me.

I have this rock on my desk.  It says BEGIN AGAIN.  I look at it everyday.  It's a reminder that, at ANY time during our lives, we can simply BEGIN AGAIN whenever it feels right or time to do so.  But for many of us, we identify the hard and obvious new beginning as a date and there's no better date to start over with anything in your life than January 1st.

And that's tomorrow!

Do you have your list of New Year's Resolutions written down yet?  If not, there's still time...like right now.

But I have a feeling that I already know what's on your list.  It's probably relatively the same every year as it's the same for most people:  MAKE A LOT MORE MONEY!

Am I right?

I have a solution for you.  But I'm not going to tell you what it is.  I want you to CLICK HERE and listen to a 10-minute audio seminar I put together for you today.

In the meantime, stay safe tonight.  And don't do anything I wouldn't do (which isn't much).

See you at the top!

Your mentor,

Monica Main
 

Last week I let everyone know about finally graduating from graduate school with my M.F.A. in Screenwriting.  And while I got A LOT of emails of congratulations from many of my students (thank you!), I had this one email that kind of pissed me off, even though I'm pretty sure the sender of the email didn't mean it the way I initially thought he did.

The email went like this:

"I would never have figured that you would have had an interest in screenwriting. You can find plenty of viable storylines just by going to the library and reading up on historical figures, preferably in older volumes. University libraries are best for this, because they retain such works, while public libraries are always rotating out their older stocks."

Everything's always so easy.  But we all know that it's not.  Right?

Screenwriting, for instance, is NOT just about "story lines" otherwise everyone would be writing a blockbuster movie on their laptop as we speak...yet we all know that ain't happening.  Story lines are only ONE of MANY ELEMENTS that go into screenwriting.  In fact, the story line itself is actually a smaller part of a screenplay.  Your characters, dialogue and plot points are the most important elements...in that order.  Also, what a lot of people don't know about me was that my genre is comedy.  (Yes, you read that correctly.) And I'm pretty sure that digging through a dusty old library looking for historic stories will do nothing to service MY vision for MY stories on the ridiculous funny-ass comedy scripts that I write.

Pertaining to life in general though, there's ALWAYS a know-it-all in the crowd, isn't there?  These are the same people who don't represent, in any way, how you'd want to live your own life (because they have NOTHING you'd want to emulate) yet they always want to drop in their opinion about how "easy" it is to do something.

So...if it's so f***** easy, why haven't you done it already then?

Usually they'll reply like, "Oh, I've never been interested in that but I could do that if I wanted to..." or some other such dense response to protect their empty dead-end know-it-all-ism.

But I started thinking about it.  This kind of applies to everything, doesn't it?  There's always the broke ass family member who sits around at family holiday parties, telling everyone advice about starting a multi-million-dollar business or becoming an Olympic swimmer or becoming a bestselling author...or writing a screenplay.  It's always so EASY because you merely have to do this or that to get it done.  And that's it.  Just this or that, you moron, and how dare you not know this or that?!  Because it's just so EASY.

So EASY, in fact, that they themselves have never done the things they seem to know everything about.  (What a coincidence, right?)  They've never been successful at all using any of these easy-to-do bits of advice that they seem to have no problem, without solicitation, dispensing like PEZ candy at the drop of a hat.

For starting a multi-million-dollar Internet-based business...?  Just merely do THIS OR THAT and you'll simply become a millionaire online.  EASY.  Except they haven't done it...and never will.

For investing in passive income real estate that generates tens of thousands of dollars per month in net income...?  Just merely do THIS OR THAT and you'll simply become a real estate millionaire.  EASY.  Except they haven't done it...and never will.

Because it's NEVER just simply "this or that" and then you'll be successful.  Never.  There's always much more to it.

Now, to be clear, there ARE much shorter ways between Point A and Point B in most cases.  There are options as to AVOID the pitfalls, mistakes, time-wasting and bumbling through to figure things out on your own.  In fact, it's always recommended that you get educated in the best possible way before embarking on any journey.  There are people who have gone on the same journeys that you choose to embark upon so why not learn from what they did successfully so that you can become as successful as quickly as possible while minimizing the mistakes?  That's the smart way in doing things.  Learn, educate yourself and then embark on the journey.

Over the last 2 years during my journey in graduate school I've felt that I've had too many irons in the fire.  Now that I'm done with graduate school, I can now focus on the things I want to do.  My main focus are my students and being able to bring them (you) the very best possible education in making money that you can possibly get.  This includes having the most cutting-edge strategies AND telling you what NOT to do right at the moment (as I did with what's going on with our upcoming recession).  And as I mentioned before, this also includes upping the ante with my own marketing and sales education by becoming part of a very elite top marketing Mastermind Group that costs A LOT of money.  And the cool thing about this is that I can GUARANTEE you, my dear student, that I will be divulging ALL of my new learned success information to you.  And I think it's pretty awesome that you can be part of that without you having to pay that kind of money for this top-notch once-in-a-lifetime education curve.

We ALL have to keep moving forward with learning from others whether it be graduate school or marketing seminars or reading business books.  KEEP LEARNING.  KEEP GROWING.  There's no better way to learn how to do something than to learn from someone who has successfully done it and can teach you the best way to do it from scratch with the least amount of pain and mistake-making on your part.  I love learning.  At any given time you'll see a slew of new business, sales, and marketing books that I just ordered and am in the process of reading.  Even if you get one small "golden nugget" of information from each book -- even if it's something you thought you knew before but it reminded you to maybe...I don't know, IMPLEMENT the information? -- then it's WORTH it.

I get irritated when I buy a new book and I look at the Amazon reviews.  There are know-it-alls there too.  You'll get these reviews complaining about some books having "no new information" and stuff in them that they've "read before in other books."  Blah, blah, blah...

But yet...you didn't implement any of these techniques and strategies yet?  You know it all but...you're not DOING any of it?  Instead...just looking for the next miracle book with the magic pill formula in it that goes something like: open this book, magic fairy dust will immediately come flurrying out, your life will change instantly from pauper to king, and you'll be freaking happy beyond your wildest dreams?  All from merely buying then opening a book?  

But we all know there is no book remotely like that, although I think that book in The NeverEnding Story is a close second.  In case nobody told you, though.  That book in the movie wasn't real.  The movie isn't part of real life that I'm aware of.  It was part of the amazing imagination of...a screenwriter...who coincidentally didn't go digging through a library to find the easy-to write historic story line.

My point for Bob and anyone who is like Bob in any way is this: NOTHING worthwhile is EASY.  Nothing!  There are many steps, much hard work, lots of stress, and times when you fall on your ass because you didn't make the cut. What sets apart the winners from the losers is tenacity or continuing to move forward with it despite the dark times, despite wanting to throw in the towel every 5 minutes, despite the going getting rough.  And keeping going until you make it to the finish line.  Ask anyone -- Michael Phelps, Lebron James, Oprah, Stephen Spielberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or anyone who's made it big -- it's NEVER "just this or that" and it's that EASY.  Never!

At least my student told me "congratulations," though.  At least THAT is something.

See you at the top!

Your mentor,

Monica Main!

On my way back from Palm Springs I saw a man almost die on the 10 freeway.  The whole thing happened in slow motion.  There was a guy driving an older burgundy Ford Explorer and somebody cut him off.  The guy in the Explorer jerked the wheel to the right then tried to over-correct by jerking the wheel to the left.  He spun around in a donut several times starting from the slow lane then bouncing like a ping-pong ball across the freeway into the center guard rail, face instantly thrust into his exploded air bag.  His vehicle was facing traffic and my vehicle was right in front of his...nearly missing being swept up into the potentially fatal accident.

I pulled over after passing his vehicle, wanting to make sure the guy was okay.  I noticed a few vehicles laying on their horns due to the "inconvenience" of having to slow down because of this accident. WTF?  I wanted to make sure the guy wasn't bleeding to death.  Two others stopped as well.  One of the guys who stopped unbuckled the stunned guy's seat belt, getting him out of the Explorer since there was fuel and oil leaking everywhere.  More ass****s were honking their horns...again, because they were "inconvenienced" for having to slow down.

I called 9-1-1 and told them to come out because the guy needed medical attention quickly.  Apparently I was the only one who called for help for this guy.  After the 9-1-1 call, I saw the police coming up so I exited the scene.  They later called me on my cell phone for their police report.  I was their only witness on record of the accident.

On my way home, I was haunted by the accident.  My daughter was quiet too.  She had never seen anything like it in her young life.  It's hard to process on so many levels.

It's hard to realize how fragile life is and how quickly it can end at the worst stroke of fate.

It's hard to think that if we were even 2 seconds faster in our driving, that the Explorer would have spun into the passenger side of my vehicle, possibly killing my daughter who was sitting on that side of my Navigator.

And it's hard to process how shitty people can be when there's someone who needs medical attention and they, in their own selfish little worlds, are honking their horns because they are being slowed down due to this "inconvenience" in their schedule.  (This makes me hope like hell that if any of those horn-honking screwballs are ever bleeding to death on the side of the road, I hope they all bleed out without a single person stopping or calling for help on their behalf because that's exactly what they deserve.  Nothing.  Freaking jerk offs!)

So many emotions were running across the board for me in the remaining hour I had driving back from Palm Springs this past Sunday.

But leaving out the part about getting angry at the losers honking their horns while others (like me) were trying to render assistance to this poor guy who desperately needed help, when things like this happen, it makes us realize that the end can literally come at any time without any warning.

It made me wonder...am I living the life I want NOW?  If not...WHY NOT?  Life can end at any time.  And it's a waste of time to keep putting things off for "someday" or "when this happens I will [FILL IN THE BLANK]" or "when this is over with I will [FILL IN THE BLANK]."

And this is EXACTLY what I had been doing during my graduate schooling...putting too many things on hold until I finished it.  It was an interesting irony for me to come upon this accident only hours after my graduate ceremony.  Maybe it was a reminder that I should never put anything on hold and to live life to its fullest doing everything I want to do...NOW.  Not later, not next year...but RIGHT NOW.

This applies to you too.  You see, it's easy to see your life roll in from one year to the next, still talking about what you "will do someday" as the years keep moving forward.  Then you wake up 30 years older, look around, and wonder where the hell the time went.

Or you end up in that split-second accident that ends your life.  And not only did you never get to do any of the stuff you dreamed about, but now it becomes impossible to ever do any of it because you're now dead.

Pretty depressing, isn't it?

In the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, there was an interesting line in the movie that kind of says everything:

Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) says, "Forty-five years goes by pretty fast."

And Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) says, "Like smoke through a keyhole."

Yes...like smoke through a keyhole.  That's how fast life goes.

Knowing how fast it's going, as you're reading this, what are YOU doing with your life that is bringing you to where you always dreamed you'd be by now?  And if you don't have a damn good answer then you're not doing good enough for yourself.

Of course, it helps to have some kind of vision of what your perfect life masterpiece looks like.  When you get that vision, you can THEN move toward that idea of your masterpiece.

And it may be as simple as sipping lemonade from your beach cottage porch and looking at the ocean as the sun sets every afternoon.  Or spending more time with your kids or grand kids.  Or traveling 1/3 of each year, seeing every wonder of the world possible and more.

Only you know what that vision is.

I used to think a vision needed to have something to do with making money.  Then I eventually realized that the money making part is what's supposed to service your dreams for yourself.  The dream isn't making the money (even though that helps to get to that dream).  The vision IS the dream.  The end-goal.  The sunset-watching, lemonade-sipping, kid-playing part of the vision.  THAT is the vision.  Not how you get there.  That's not the vision.

But here comes the clincher.  You have to DO something else in between you (now) and the vision (future end-goal/dream) that BRINGS you to the dream that you have for yourself.  Otherwise sitting around dreaming away and doing nothing about it will get you exactly nowhere except more of what you have now which may not be that great.

And the only way to get to where you dream is to push the envelope on yourself.  You have to do things that are uncomfortable, beyond your "safety" zone, and that may scare the crap out of you in the beginning.  If you're not willing to take these risks then learn to be happy with where you are now in your life because you'll never have or be anything more than where you're at right now.

Remember, you can have everything you want in life.  But you do have to find the right path to get there and just go for it.  Nobody is going to do it for you.  Only YOU can do it for you.  Only YOU can live your dreams...for YOU.

See you at the top!

Your mentor,

​​​​​​​Monica Main

I had to give up doing so much for this ending trimester of 2016 because of this damn degree thing which is why I've been relatively M.I.A. to many of my students for the past month or so, even missing my typical end-of-the-year seminar event for this.  Many of you know that I've been in a graduate program to earn an MFA in Screenwriting since October 2014.