There were a few reasons I made the trip:

1. Latin America is an extremely pleasant place (if you know where to go)

2. It has a dynamic, growing economy (Many Fortune 500 corporations are getting the majority of their growth from regions like Latin America and Asia as opportunities for growth in North America and Europe diminish.)

3. The US itself is becoming “Latinized.” (One of of five Americans is now of Hispanic origin. Not only that, but the Latin population in the US is growing rapidly. For example, one of my colleagues who has a substantial business selling satellite dishes in the US makes 10% of his sales in Spanish to US residents.)

One of my most surprising experiences on the trip was the discovery that I’m a Libertarian.

Let me explain…

• I’ve always been highly suspicious of big organizations – Big Business, Big Government, Big Media – and the more experience I have, the more convinced I am that these are the most dangerous and destructive elements of our society.
• I’ve always believed in and been an active champion of free enterprise. Real free enterprise. People risking their time and money to provide services, not big banks and big corporations getting massive tax-payer funded handouts to subsidize their inefficiency, incompetence and inherent corruption.
• I’ve always been against any war that is not immediately and absolutely necessary in the service of real (not manufactured) self defense. Having family and friends who’ve suffered through the real horror of combat, I have no illusions about what it means to put men in harm’s way. In my opinion, people who cheerlead for war are idiots at best and demons at worst.

It turns out all these things add up to me being a Libertarian. The funny thing is I had to discover this in Guatemala of all places at a fascinating institution of higher learning called the Universidad Francisco Marroquin (UFM) where I had the pleasure of meeting many faculty members, administrators, and even the Executive President, a remarkable individual named Giancarlo Ibárgüen.

UFM, which just turned 40 years old last year, was the brainchild of young Guatemalans who went to study in the US and came back inflamed with a passion for free markets, liberty, and personal responsibility and the thinking behind these philosophies.

They wanted to create a home for pro free market, pro liberty thinking in education in Guatemala as a way to leverage their country into a better economic position. Actually, I’m understating it a bit. Their long term goal is to lead Guatemala to becoming “the next Hong Kong.”

There are few things more inspiring (to me at least) than a huge and worthy goal. Back when UFM was founded, Guatemala was infused with Leftist propaganda. According to Cuban and Soviet-funded thought leaders, Guatemala’s salvation lay in the direction of Socialism (i.e. Big Government, Big Centrally Controlled Businesses, and a Big Media to keep everyone in line.)

Here’s the strange thing about all this…

When I think of all the colleges and universities I’ve had dealings with (I attended one of the Ivies and have lectured at the business schools of Columbia University, MIT, and NYU), I can’t think of one – not one anywhere in the US – that puts the issues of free markets, liberty and personal responsibility front and center.

Instead, from Day One, students receive an indoctrination in whatever the political correctness of the day happens to be. No values, no search for truth, just systematized conformity with whatever is expedient at the present moment.

Interesting, huh? And in exchange for that “service” countless American students and their families are voluntarily (and I say inadvisedly) shouldering student loan commitments that can hardly fail to become anything less than financially crippling.

Now that I’m back home…

I’m still running businesses (including developing a virtual System Seminar that will cost attendees only a fraction of the live one), but by design I have a lot more free time than I used to.

One of the things I’ve been doing with this free time is sharing a lot of information with my System Club members about topics outside the strict confines of Internet marketing “how to.”  It seems to be working for them.

One of the Big Topics of our day is medical “care.”

50% of all the personal bankruptcies that occur in the US are caused by medical problems and, shockingly, 50% of these cases are individuals and families who had medical insurance. I’ve seen more than one friend financially destroyed by the Medical Industrial Complex. Who can calculate the extent of the financial damage this “industry” has caused the US?

Medical costs have been rising at an annual rate of 9% a year (not unlike college costs). Does the average person get a 9% raise every year? I don’t think so. Meanwhile, the quality of medical service in the US is pathetically bad even for people paying full fees for everything, something I experienced over and over again when I had my knee problem two years ago.

Is there any sign of it getting better? No and government “solutions” threaten to make an already bad situation much worse.

One possible source of a solution, free enterprise, has been studiously ignored by – you guessed it – Big Government, Big Business and Big Media. You know, “free enterprise” that thing that America is supposedly based on?

Here’s an intriguing interview conducted by Lew Rockwell who for my money has one of the most useful and interesting web sites on the Internet.

In this interview, Rockwell interviews a doctor who has returned to free market principles in medicine, thereby lowering his charges to patients and improving service, and is inspiring a quiet revolution among physicians in his home city.

Food for thought about an issue that effects every person and small business in this country (and there’s an important Internet marketing angle to the story too!):

Lew Rockwell’s interview with G. Keith Smith MD about free market medicine.

More info about the Surgery Center of Oklahoma and its unique business model.

Note: Why discussion on this blog is closed

This analyst is loud and brash, but hang on. He’s got the goods on these crooks and all the evidence needed to stop them in their tracks. Watch and share. (Audio volume alert.)

And if the illness didn’t kill her, the treatment might.

Not the kind of news a young woman wants to hear.

She and her husband Jeff, a filmaker, embarked on a massive research program to find out what alternatives there were to…death.

Surprisingly, the solution in Sabrina’s case turned out to be pretty simple: get off the Great American Death Diet, the diet that 90% of all Americans eat every day and think nothing.

The illness reversed and has never returned.

Sabrina and Jeff now have three wonderful – and healthy – kids: Miranda, Nina and Willie.

Sabrina and Jeff shared their experience on a little web site VegSource .com which over time has grown to the biggest info clearing house on medically proven healthy eating.

That’s how I discovered them.

My own health was not great. Not bad, but not great.

I was overweight, tired often, and stressed out. I got sick a lot and my energy was all over the place.

I read the material on the Nelson’s web site and watched their film “Processed People” and decided to give this new – too me – approach to eating a try.

Two and half years later, I’m 20 pounds lighter, far more energetic, more resistant to colds and flus, and just all around enjoying life a whole lot more.

The cost?

Just paying attention to what I ate and eating delicious healthy food instead of the junk most Americans think is normal. And I spend LESS on food now, not more.

Two years ago, John Robbins, who helped popularize this better way of eating with his book “Diet for a New America” started a program to bring this knowledge to low income people.

No one needs help and options with their food choices more than people on low incomes – and no one has less access to this help.

The pilot program which ran in Sacramento through a community food bank generated results that exceeded all of our expectations.

If you’re interested in learning more for yourself and perhaps supporting this very worthy project, here’s a video showing the results this way of eating has had for people.

Note – This program, supervised by MDs, is given away to families in need for free:

http://www.earthsave.org/mfh_gift.htm

More about the Earth Save, the organizer of the project:

http://www.earthsave.org

The Veg Source web site:

http://www.VegSource.com

Note: I’m a proud member of the Board of the EarthSave foundation.

If you’ve ever been wondering “Gee, how do I thank Ken for all the help he’s given me over the years?” , supporting this worthy work would be a good way to do it.

These are good people doing good and important work that has the potential to benefit millions. It might even help you or someone you love.

Here’s the pertinent link: http://www.earthsave.org/mfh_gift.htm

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy, and holy Holiday Season,

- Ken McCarthy

Left to right: Bo Dollis, Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias (lead singer of what may be the funkiest funk band of all time); rhythm and blues artist Al “Carnival Time” Johnson; singer Michelle Davis; poet Chuck Perkins; composer and arranger Wardell Quezergue (seated); Ken McCarthy

This past Sunday I was at the 80th birthday party for Wardell Quezergue “the Creole Beethoven,” a musical genius who applied his gifts behind-the-scenes to countless hits over the last fifty plus years.

A party like this is bound to bring out some interesting folks and it did: musicians, publishers, music writers, radio DJs. It was a “Who’s Who” of the New Orleans music scene.

It was a very happy occasion, but also a sobering one.

It’s fourth and long…

The three year emergency federal grant that kept the New Orleans Musicians Clinic open after the post-Katrina failure of the US Army Corps of Engineers levee system ends August 1, 2010.

What this means is that hundreds of New Orleans musicians and their families including many who are still struggling to deal with the personally catastrophic impact of the flooding – the second biggest engineering failure in human history – will be without medical care.

No success without a plan

We’ve worked up a plan for the Clinic to permanently replace this funding with funding from individual donors.

How?

As with all things Internet-related, it all boils down to THE LIST.

That being said, I was horrified to learn that this pillar of the New Orleans (and world) music community has only collected less than 400 e-mail addresses over its 12 year history.

How many people on this planet love the music that comes out of New Orleans and would be willing to lend their moral support?

Millions.

I trust you see the opportunity.

It’s just arithmetic

How big a list of supporters could be created?

The number 1 million comes to me, a big number to be sure, but in the near term – as in the next four months – I think 100,000 to 200,000 is an attainable goal.

What do we need?

List owners willing to do solo mailings on behalf of the clinic. Two to four million e-mails to reasonably well-targeted lists should be enough to generate a six figure opt-in list. Then, of course, we work the list.

Having generated many millions of dollars over the years from much, much, much smaller lists, I know what’s possible.

The challenge: The client is mired in the “we don’t like to send e-mail” mindset.

Let’s hope necessity is the mother of evolution. This one is winnable. All we need to do is suit up and get on the playing field.

UPDATE: The clients “gets” it and the game is on!

Got a list? Mail the story and we can save this Clinic.

Details: http://www.SaveTheClinic.org

- Ken McCarthy

You can’t control the outcome of anything 100%.

But what you can control 100% is to have heart. And dedication. And loyalty. And that sums up New Orleans people to a “t.”

Four and a half years ago, their city was nearly obliterated by the biggest engineering failure in American history. Scorned by the ignorant and bigoted, they were blamed for their own misfortune.

Media pundits and Congressmen alike had the gall to suggest the city be bulldozed. Government promises of help didn’t come when they were needed and all this time later, few have been fulfilled.

But New Orleans people came back and amidst frightening, gut-churning wreckage rebuilt their homes and neighborhoods and businesses one nail at a time.

You can’t always control the outcome of things, but you can control what you do.

Finish strong.

As long as you’re alive, there is always hope.

Go Saints! Go New Orleans!

And God bless all the brave people in this world who fight to the end against all odds.

The last day of the seminar, we were all following the news of a hurricane heading towards New Orleans, but it seemed Gary and I were the only ones there who were aware of what it would mean if the levees were topped.

Gary made a point of mentioning the situation as part of his talk and encouraged people to be prepared to pitch in and help.

This year, I spent several months in New Orleans advising various groups there and learned a lot about what the city needs to recover.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about New Orleans and you can actually help the city a lot by educating yourself and others. It’s a great town with great people and it deserves a lot better than its gotten.

How you can help

One of the things New Orleans needs is for people to understand what really happened there and how it could have been prevented.

Two of the groups I work with there just launched this short video on YouTube. When we were working on it, we had no idea another hurricane would be heading towards the city just days after we released it.

I encourage you to watch it and share it with others who you think might be interested. Thanks.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/wln_iq5bc8k" width="425" height="350"/]

You can click through to the video on YouTube here and comment and rate it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln_iq5bc8k

Every attendee got their money’s worth (it was $1,000 a head for the day.) At least one guy got advice that I know when he executes on it – and he will – will be at worth 1,000 times his investment.

Life’s not always a straight line. Not everyone gets dealt the same hand.

The purpose of entrepreneurship is to strengthen your own position and lend a hand where a hand is needed.

This small church which has lost 80% of its members still manages to provide material help to church members and neighbors alike; runs an after school homework center; and a home for teenage mothers and their children, so the mothers can get job training while their kids are cared for during the day.

I think that individuals like Bruce Davenport who is keeping this community going are the most impressive entrepreneurs there are.

Some home movies of what we saw:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y5rK6M6HU1U" width="425" height="350"/]

It doesn’t compel frantic gift giving (like the commercialized version of Christmas).

It doesn’t promote excessive alcohol consumption and forced gaiety (like New Year’s Day).

In fact Thanksgiving is so laid back, it doesn’t even require that folks exchange cards.

Instead, Thanksgiving celebrates the basics: food, family, and friends and the deep fun that accompanies taking the time to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.

As icing on the cake, Thanksgiving encourages us – in its characteristically quiet and understated way – to take note of the things in our lives that are positive.

— Gratitude is power

It’s easy for entrepreneurs to fall into the trap of feeling that life is a never-ending struggle, where letting your guard down for a moment can mean ruin and every day is another day that the ever-growing “Must Do” list fails to get done.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you are a very fortunate person indeed, but I have a feeling you may know a little about the outlook I’m describing.

How do we get ourselves out of this particular no-win’ trap?

— Thanksgiving is the answer.

Robert Emmons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, demonstrated through an elegant set of experiments not long ago that if you want to sleep better, feel better, and motivate yourself to take better care of your health, regular Thanksgiving’ sessions work magic.

Once a month, once a week, once a day

Right now we celebrate Thanksgiving once a year and, truth be told; it can be somewhat of a production’ and actually be a bit stressful for some people.

But what if we had a Thanksgiving Day once a month?

And what if we defined “Thanksgiving Day” to mean spending a whole day with the people you really want to be with just living: eating, talking, playing, resting, and being militantly free from worries (and ambition) of any kind.

One day per month.

Is there anyone so busy that they can’t arrange at least one day per month for Thanksgiving?

Notice, by the way, that I said “arrange” not “find the time for” In my experience, trying to “find the time” rarely works. In contrast, arranging life to make the time for things has a nearly 100% success rate.

If it’s a good idea to have Thanksgiving once a month, why not have it once a week?

I’m talking about consistently carving out one day each week where you avoid the “busyness” of life and sit back to enjoy a good meal and revel in the pleasure of spending time with people you love the most.

That’s what weekends used to be for. Remember?

Finally, if Thanksgiving makes sense once a week, why not once a day? A good meal, good company, peace and quiet, and attention not on the things that aren’t working, that need to be improved, that are still undone, but dedicated to enjoying and appreciating the many things good in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Ken McCarthy

Excerpt from the book “The System Club Letters” to be published in 2008

In the early 1990s, Buffett personally stepped in to straighten out a huge mess at Salomon Brothers, a major investment bank that had seriously lost its way and was about to get shut down.

Buffett stepped off the plane from Omaha and headed straight to the company’s New York City offices for his first face-to-face meeting with its board members.

When he arrived took one look around the room and said…“You guys look exhausted. Why don’t you go home and get a good night’s rest and we’ll meet again tomorrow.”

Sleep ranks very low on the priority list of most hard driving entrepreneurs…but that may be a mistake. A BIG mistake.

I used to think that that story about Buffett and the Salomon board (a true one by the way) was just a sign of his eccentricity and independence, but now after reading a joint study by Harvard Medical School and the University of Berkeley, I realize there’s a lot more to it.

In a nutshell, here’s what they found:

Lack sleep can drive you crazy!

Maybe not permanently, but without proper sleep, the study says, your brain dramatically overreacts to negative experiences.

“Dramatically overreacts”…that’s pretty strong language for a scientific study.

The researchers admit to being surprised at the massively disruptive effect lack of sleep can have on people’s moods and mental health. Going into the study, they intuitively knew – as we all do – that not sleeping well makes you cranky, but they weren’t prepared for what they found.

Lack of sleep, researches say, causes people to act as if they have psychiatric disorders.

Think about the potential significance of this…

It may be that the current epidemic of mood disorders like depression, anxiety and just plain unhappiness may be come from the fact that people just aren’t sleeping enough.

What to do?

Somewhere a long time ago I read (and I wish I could cite the source), that if you want to get a good night’s sleep, make sure you start winding down and are in bed before 11 PM.

If you don’t, your body gets a natural “second wind” that will keep wide awake well past midnight. I’ve tried winding down by 11 PM and I’ve found it works. I’ve also found if I don’t, I’ll probably be up for hours.

Also, avoid things like drinking coffee or soda or eating big meals late in the day. Watching TV too late at night can also keep you up.

On the pro-active side, you might even try some of the tried-and-true natural sleep aids like chamomile tea to help you relax at the end of the day.

I have to confess I’ve often been a major violator of the “get a good night sleep” rule. Somehow there always seems to be something more interesting or important to do than sleep.

But now I plan to take my cue from Warren Buffett and Harvard Medical School.

Sleep…it may be the best productivity (and satisfaction) aid there is – and it’s free!

Ken McCarthy
P.S. If you live on the west coast and want to drive to the next live System training (and maybe even get a good night sleep in your own bed), I’m bringing my one-day System Intensive to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver.

So far, I’ve taught this program in Chicago, New York City, and Toronto.

What is the System Intensive?

It’s me, and you and a small group of people focuses intensely for a day on the things that really matter in business and Internet marketing. No fads, no guru BS, just the things that I’ve seen reliably work over and over again in my now fourteen years of Internet marketing.

Details: http://www.TheSystemIntensive.com

It was quite a ride, but to be honest, I’ve been so busy in the last nine years, I’ve rarely looked back and have only visited a few times since.

This video reminds me of what a unique and admirable bunch of people live in San Francisco. There really is no place like it and it’s no accident that San Francisco was the first city in the world to “get” the Internet. Enjoy!

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