"REAL Creativity For The REAL World"

Creative Pops Newsletter
June 15, 2004

Dear Fellow Creator-

This week I have two very informative guest articles for you. One will show you a new technique to increase your creativity (which is what we're all about here, anyway) and another article which will PROTECT you and your identity.

The internet has become a den for thieves, and as artists we must learn what the latest scams are and how best to protect ourselves.

I hope you find this issue helpful!

Victor K. Pryles
http://www.authorsden.com/victorkpryles

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Be-Do-Have: The Three-Step Success Formula

Last year I read the book "The One Minute Millionaire" by Mark Victor Hanson and Robert Allen. One of the book's prosperity principles is stated simply as "Be-Do-Have" -- an approach to life that too few people take.

The best way to explain this formula is to show you how most creative people (and humans in general) do things: backwards. They set a material goal, such as "I want to write a best-selling book." Then they think, "If I could only HAVE a best-selling book, then I could DO the things a best-selling author does, then I would BE the successful author I want to be." You can easily insert "in-demand artist," "Grammy-winning songwriter" and more into this misguided Have-Do-Be equation.

Unfortunately, these people are working contrary to the laws of success and prosperity. First, you must BE the "successful artist" you want to be. And you must believe it and "know" it to the core. Success is not something you go and get; it's not a destination you reach. It's something that resides inside of you -- a quality you bring to everything you do.

If you want to be a songwriter, BE a songwriter. If you want to be an actor, BE an actor ... first. Then with that inner compass as a guide, DO the things that a successful songwriter (or artist, actor, etc.) does. BE and DO those things long enough and you will eventually HAVE (or manifest) the material symbols of success you desire.

This might sound like New Age babble to some, but I believe it's a solid philosophy -- one that's helped propel most of my accomplishments in life.

Try this: Close your eyes and project yourself five years into the future. Imagine that your ideal artistic career has unfolded and that you've reached a stage that you consider extremely successful. Really visualize that you've arrived at this point.

If this high level of success was your reality, how would you act? How would you carry yourself? How would you treat others? How much energy would you pour into creating more art and satisfying your large and growing fan base? How confident would you be contacting other successful artists, producers, etc.? How much would you go out of your way to help good up-and-coming creative people? How content would you feel?

Now let me ask you: How does that vision compare to the way you act, feel and carry yourself now? If there's a drastic difference, look inward and realize that you're made of the same stuff as every successful person. You have as much right as anyone to embrace your own dreams.

So take that feeling of success you would feel five years from now and bring it to the present. Start having that sense of success now. Play the part, develop that all-important sense of knowing, BE who you are.

And ... before you DO any more, and certainly before you HAVE what you want, focus on BEing the type of successful creative person you know you're destined to be!

-Bob
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"Reprinted from Bob Baker's 'Quick Tips for Creative
People,' featuring inspiration and low-cost marketing
ideas for artists, writers, performers and more. Visit
http://PromoteYourCreativity.com/ for details."
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Cyber Crooks Go "Phishing"

- by Jim Edwards


http://www.thenetreporter.com
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"Phishing," the latest craze among online evil-doers, hasnothing to do with sitting at the end of a dock on a sunnyafternoon dangling a worm to entice hungry catfish.

But, if you take their bait, this new breed of online conartist will hook you, reel you in, and take you for everydollar you have... or worse.

"Phishing" describes a combination of techniques used by
cyber crooks to bait people into giving up sensitive
personal data such as credit card numbers, social securitynumbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth and more.

Their techniques work so well that, according to
FraudWatchInternational.com, "phishing" rates as the
fastest growing scam on the Internet.

Here's the basic pattern for a "phishing" scam...

You receive a very official email that appears to originatefrom a legitimate source, such as a bank, eBay, PayPal,a major retailer, or some other well known entity.

In the email it tells you that something bad is about to
happen unless you act quickly.

Typically it tells you that your account is about to get
closed, that someone appears to have stolen your identity,or even that someone opened a fraudulent account using your name.

In order to help straighten everything out, you need to
click a link in the email and provide some basic account
information so they can verify your identity and then give you additional details so you can help get everything cleared up.

Once you give up your information... it's all over but thecrying!

After getting your information, these cyber-bandits can
empty your bank accounts, deplete your PayPal accounts, runup your credit card balances, open new credit accounts, assume your identity and much worse.

An especially disturbing new variation of this scam
specifically targets online business owners and affiliate marketers.

In this con, the scammer's email informs you that they've just sent $1,219.43 (or a similar big but believable amount) in affiliate commissions to you via PayPal.

They need you to log into your PayPal account to verify
receipt of the money and then email them back to confirm
you got it.

Since you're so excited at the possibility of an unexpected pay day, you click the link to go to PayPal, log in, and BANG! They have your PayPal login information and can empty your account.

This new "phishing" style scam works extremely well for 2 basic reasons.

First, by exploiting your sense of urgency created by fear or greed, crooks get you to click the link and give them your information without thinking.

Second, the scammers use a variety of cloaking and spoofing techniques to make their emails and websites appear totally legitimate, making it extremely hard to spot a fake website, especially when they've first whipped you into an emotional frenzy.

The good news, however, is that you can protect yourself
relatively easily against this type of cyber-crime with
basic software and common sense.

Most of these scams get delivered to you via Spam
(unsolicited email), so a good spam blocker will cut down on many of them even making it to your inbox.

If you receive an email that looks legitimate and you want to respond, Stop - Wait - Think!

Verify all phone numbers with a physical phone book or
online phone directory like www.Verizon.com or
www.ATT.com/directory/ before calling.

Look for spelling and grammatical errors that make it look like someone who doesn't speak English or your native language very well wrote it.

Never click the link provided in the email, but go directly to the website by typing in the main address of the site yourself (example: www.paypal.com or www.ebay.com).

Forward the email to the main email address of the website (example: support@paypal.com) or call the customer service number on the main website you typed in yourself and ask if it is in fact legitimate.

Above all remember this:

Your bank, credit card company, PayPal, eBay and anyone
else you deal with online already knows your account
number, username, password or any other account specific
information.

They don't need to email you for ANY reason to ask you to confirm your information -- so NEVER respond to email
requests for your account or personal details.

-- Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr-e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...

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Hope you nejoyed this issue of The Creative Pops Newsletter. One final thing: You might want to visit our exclusive shopping center, especially designed with Creators like you in mind.

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Make it a wonderfully creative week!

Victor K. Pryles
http://www.authorsden.com/victorkpryles
http://www.creativepops.com