2. They consider joining a fitness center (which assures them that with the commitment they currently display, getting in shape will surely come in short order — as long as they join RIGHT NOW).

3. They join the fitness center, and get “put on” a standard cardio and resistance program that will “ensure” their rapid success.

4. They stop exercising within several months.

5. They blame everything, including a too busy lifestyle, work “getting a bit hectic right now” and not gettinga close enough parking space at the gym.

6. After some passage of time, the need to exercise is again realized, and steps onethroughfive are repeated (this cycle often plays itself out many times).

A recent statistic reveals that there are now more former fitness center members than current members.11 Clearly, people are motivated — initially. Clearly, they are getting adequate information about carrying out exercises with the correct technique at their fitness sites.

Clearly, facilities meet high standards for equipment and programming. Why then, has attrition remained essentially unchanged during the last 20 years?

Unfortunately, making a commitment to begin a regular exercise program, and thensticking to it, are two very different issues. Study after study demonstrates that knowledge about the benefits of regular exercise motivates people to start a program, but is generally unrelated to an ability to maintain that same program.15,17Because of this, it is important that your services go beyond providing “technically correct” programming to clients if it only results in the vast majority of them quitting within several weeks or, at best, months.

Maty Berkowitz wheels his office chair behind a screen and warms to his pitch: “We’re building a portal that really empowers people in their daily lives, by combining the freedom to reach the Web with the power to control it…”

Berkowitz is the new general manager of the Go Network, the Disney-backed portal launched in mid-January by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Infoseek. Mouse in hand, he glides the cursor over what he extols as one of the new site’s most novel features-”follow-me” tabs that will allow millions of new users worldwide to roam for news or shop for products within a site without losing their place inside the network.

“With Go, we’re taking the promise of the Internet, which is to turn information into action…”

Click, beep. Click, beep. No go: Only error messages are following the follow-me tabs on this day.

But by now-just a few weeks into a much-awaited public launch-those tabs better be working. Berkowitz isn’t just another vice president at a fourth- or fifth-ranked search engine; he’s responsible for the day-to-day operations of this new “brand powerhouse” portal, backed by Michael Eisner’s Walt Disney Company, which has designs on leapfrogging the Internet’s media elite-Yahoo!, America Online, Microsoft, and Excite.
Search engine
Among pure search portals (excluding AOL and Netscape), Infoseek ranks third in daily page views with 14 million, behind Yahoo! (74 million) and Excite (23 million), based on RevelantKnowledge data for October 1998.

That’s the impression you get, anyway, when you listen to Jake Winebaum and Harry Motro, the cool and confident executive duo running the new Go Network, talk about the future of their new multimillion-dollar toy. The network, what now might be considered Hollywood’s biggest beachhead on the Web, is the offspring of a blockbuster deal consummated last June, when Disney Online chief Winebaum negotiated Disney’s 43 percent acquisition of Infoseek and hammered out an agreement to combine resources to build a next-generation, top-tier Internet portal.

There’s no mistaking what’s on the line with the launch of Go. “The entire fate of this company is tied to the alliance with Disney and the long-term success of this network,” says Motro in his southern drawl, thumping the table in his office at Infoseek’s corporate headquarters. As president and CEO of a struggling middle-ranked portal since mid-1997, he’s hitching the company’s wagon-and much of its roughly $1.5 billion in stock-to Disney’s star and hoping for the best.

On paper at least, the new site looks to have major-portal potential. Go includes Infoseek’s search engine and navigation services; Disney-owned ABC, ABC News, and ESPN, and each of their corresponding online channels; major sports and entertainment sites NFL.com, NBA.com, and Mr. Showbiz; and all the rest of Disney Online’s properties, including leading online shopping channel and kids’ site Disney.com, and established family channel Family.com.

“Thank you for being generous and sharing this information.”

Why are people so shocked that a fellow writer will write informative articles to aid other freelance authors? This puzzles me. I know that I have encountered many types of writers. Some of these authors are rather selfish with giving away their trade “secrets”. Other writers are very helpful to the writing community. I have found that most of the really good writers are more generous. Perhaps this is for the simple fact that a mediocre writer is rather insecure about his or her ability, so this author is particularly careful about letting others know those tips that really work. Who knows! As unique as each person is, so too are the temperaments of writers. Writers come in many shades and hues.

Many writers think that they should write a book about the topic instead of helping other writers. Well there is never an overstock of writing guides that are top notch. One great thing about freelance authors is the fact that they read an awful lot! No, I am a journalist, so I am going to do my job- inform people about what I know. I am going to write marketing and writing tips for other writers. This is what I know, and as you know, writers must write what they know.

These secretive and elusive writers annoy me. Hell, they downright turn me off about as fast as the elevator music playing at the doctor’s office does. I am sure it turns many other authors off as well. I have never been a selfish person, and I am not about to become a selfish writer. Maybe that means I won’t make my first million by the age of thirty. That’s ok, I am 33 now. Instead I took the opposite direction. I started a web site that will help writers become successful online freelancers. No matter what their writing skill level is, these authors can learn to prosper. Do you know what makes a writer successful?

Is it their giftedness or talent?

NO! It does help, but persistence helps more.

Is it their education level?

No, but education always helps.

What make writers successful are the following facts: their hard work, motivation, and determination are what set them apart from the rest. Just like in any other profession, the motivated individuals succeed. There is no magic formula. There is no smart pill. There is just hard work. The sprinter that runs the fastest is the one that finishes first. I work, on average, around 10-14 hours per day six or seven days a week. But remember I love my job.

Another great tip that I can give you is to subscribe to writers’ market newsletters. These are written by writers for writers, and these weekly periodicals are your best bet for becoming a successful writer.