I love how unexpected joy and connection pops up on a regular basis as I go through my Million Dollar Life!
A simple trip to Home Depot to return a glass light globe turned into a moment of delight. I was heading home after visiting with my Mom. Check out my previous post about that emotional visit.
I noticed a small sign near the doorway that they would be closing early for the 4th of July. It reminded me that this was a day for celebrations. I have to admit I was not feeling particularly festive as I hadn't made any great plans other than visiting Mom and catching up on work...and some of the world wasn't on holiday. My business, as my name of Suzanne Holman International is worldwide.
The young man at the returns counter was very helpful with the return, asking just the right person for the information needed to complete the transaction. In asking how he was doing, he replied dejectedly, "...have to close...." I started to ask how late he worked and then recalled the little sign on the door... and mentioned it. He was so ecstatic to hear that he would be able to leave at 8 pm instead of 9:30 or 10!
All of his family was getting together for a celebration out at their home in Surprise and they would be able to see the fireworks at a nearby stadium.
It was such a joy for me to see his face light up!
If I had buried myself in my less than joyful mood, I wouldn't have struck up the conversation and would have missed that moment of joy!
What conversation did you miss today that might have been that delightful for you?
Friday, July 4, 2008
I never could have imagined my Mom being at a loss for words...
Mom was always quite the talker...a thousand questions about anything I would bring up with her...
Times have changed...two years ago my siblings and I made the decision along with Mom's physician that she would need to give up her independent living.
Mom is 93 and she is in the Alzheimers section of her life care facility where she and my dad moved into a beautiful garden home in 1990. Dad died of cancer in 1998.
I visited her today and it was one of my most teary eyed times with her. Her words are formed with more and more difficulty.
I tried calling my sister in Ohio so that she and mom could have a little conversation.....didn't happen this time....Mom barely made a tiny sound during the course of the conversation.
She still knows me, thankfully, and most everything else seems to be very foggy for her. She prefers to be lying down most of the time.
My tears dripped down on her as I was looking down on her at close range so she could see my eyes. She has extreme macular degeneration and sees very little now.
Before I left, Mom did give me several I loves you and expression appreciation for my coming to see her.
What I've had to come to terms with in these two years is that life has its seasons and even though it seems very sad for Mom to have Alzheimer's, it means that she was healthy enough to live a long life into her 90's, a decade where Alzheimer's and dementia are way too common.
Mom's life was a full one...I'd have to say she has definitely led a Million Dollar Life! Lots of travel from an early age when travel wasn't nearly as common as it is today, wonderful family, an amazing husband, lots of interests, a love of learning.
Times have changed...two years ago my siblings and I made the decision along with Mom's physician that she would need to give up her independent living.
Mom is 93 and she is in the Alzheimers section of her life care facility where she and my dad moved into a beautiful garden home in 1990. Dad died of cancer in 1998.
I visited her today and it was one of my most teary eyed times with her. Her words are formed with more and more difficulty.
I tried calling my sister in Ohio so that she and mom could have a little conversation.....didn't happen this time....Mom barely made a tiny sound during the course of the conversation.
She still knows me, thankfully, and most everything else seems to be very foggy for her. She prefers to be lying down most of the time.
My tears dripped down on her as I was looking down on her at close range so she could see my eyes. She has extreme macular degeneration and sees very little now.
Before I left, Mom did give me several I loves you and expression appreciation for my coming to see her.
What I've had to come to terms with in these two years is that life has its seasons and even though it seems very sad for Mom to have Alzheimer's, it means that she was healthy enough to live a long life into her 90's, a decade where Alzheimer's and dementia are way too common.
Mom's life was a full one...I'd have to say she has definitely led a Million Dollar Life! Lots of travel from an early age when travel wasn't nearly as common as it is today, wonderful family, an amazing husband, lots of interests, a love of learning.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Blogathon: Take 2
For the month of July, a group of my speaker friends from NSA Arizona have decided to have a Blogathon!
What is a Blogathon?
During July, we plan to post at least once a day on our individual blogs. Jackie Dishner spearheaded this project after being part of a Blogathon in May with a group of writer friends from Freeland Success.
Here's a list of my fellow bloggers and a little about what each of them do:
Jackie Dishner has a blog, BIKE WITH JACKIE This blog promotes a spiritual life navigation system she calls "BIKE -- It's mental, not metal!"(TM) It's a metaphor for something uniquely yours that can help you overcome life's obstacles.
And this week she's launched a new travel blog, The Phoenix Traveler.
Susan Ratliff is a trade show expert and a great motivator to others. She's got great ideas for increasing your visibility at Bling My Booth.
Andrea Beaulieu is a highly creative woman who teaches you how to find your authentic voice. She also encourages you to live your life at its best at Conspiracy of Love.
Mimi Meredith inspires you to create better lives, workplaces and communities. The Blooming Blog helps spread her message.
Beth Terry shares her commonsense solutions to everyday work and life issues at Corporate Cowgirl. She's also an inspiration to her fellow friends and colleagues.
Vickie Mullins creates things: your office collateral, your newsletters, and really special books. She talks about it all at her two blogs: Mullins Creative and Vickie Mullins.
Michelle May, a physician and author helps you eat for the right reason--because you're hungry. She talks about diet and food and how consumed we are about all it at her blog in the East Valley Tribune newspaper.
Arlene Rosenberg helps her clients achieve personal and professional rewards. Her blog, Leading Achievers, shares inspirational stories behind her work.
Stanley Bronstein is a motivational speaker who helps businesses perform at their best. Click on his name to check out his words of wisdom.
Visit regularly!
Should be an interesting month with interviews and guest blogs also part of the project.
What is a Blogathon?
During July, we plan to post at least once a day on our individual blogs. Jackie Dishner spearheaded this project after being part of a Blogathon in May with a group of writer friends from Freeland Success.
Here's a list of my fellow bloggers and a little about what each of them do:
Jackie Dishner has a blog, BIKE WITH JACKIE This blog promotes a spiritual life navigation system she calls "BIKE -- It's mental, not metal!"(TM) It's a metaphor for something uniquely yours that can help you overcome life's obstacles.
And this week she's launched a new travel blog, The Phoenix Traveler.
Susan Ratliff is a trade show expert and a great motivator to others. She's got great ideas for increasing your visibility at Bling My Booth.
Andrea Beaulieu is a highly creative woman who teaches you how to find your authentic voice. She also encourages you to live your life at its best at Conspiracy of Love.
Mimi Meredith inspires you to create better lives, workplaces and communities. The Blooming Blog helps spread her message.
Beth Terry shares her commonsense solutions to everyday work and life issues at Corporate Cowgirl. She's also an inspiration to her fellow friends and colleagues.
Vickie Mullins creates things: your office collateral, your newsletters, and really special books. She talks about it all at her two blogs: Mullins Creative and Vickie Mullins.
Michelle May, a physician and author helps you eat for the right reason--because you're hungry. She talks about diet and food and how consumed we are about all it at her blog in the East Valley Tribune newspaper.
Arlene Rosenberg helps her clients achieve personal and professional rewards. Her blog, Leading Achievers, shares inspirational stories behind her work.
Stanley Bronstein is a motivational speaker who helps businesses perform at their best. Click on his name to check out his words of wisdom.
Visit regularly!
Should be an interesting month with interviews and guest blogs also part of the project.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Calendar for some of that social networking stuff!!
Love this article I received today from Donna!
....simplifying the many tasks including social networking!
Marketing Plan: How to Create an Internet Marketing Action Plan That Gets Results
by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)
There's no doubt about it -- keeping up with your marketing tasks can be overwhelming, whether you choose to market via networking, print advertising, or through a strategic set of online techniques. As I have a virtual company and can work with clients from around the globe, I don't like to limit my marketing to local efforts. Having a viable presence online is more important to me and seems to work best for my company. Therefore, I primarily concentrate on things I can do to bring visitors to my website and demonstrate my expertise to them while they are on the site.
Recently inspired by a blog post that I had read, I decided to create a regular daily, weekly, month, and quarterly marketing to-do list. First, I brainstormed a list of ideas of marketing tasks that I perform regularly, and others that have remained on my to-do list for awhile, as I've never gotten around to them. Then I categorized them into either a quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily task. On the third examination of these tasks, I went through and culled all but those to which I thought I could realistically commit on a regular basis.
Below are the tasks that comprise my online marketing action plan. Add them to your own online marketing to-do list as appropriate, or substitute other tasks that are a better fit for your business.
Quarterly Tasks
1. Send out post card campaign to targeted national media list promoting myself as an expert. Prior to mailing, have VA call contacts to update list.
2. Request testimonials from new coaching clients, membership site members, product purchasers, and speaking gig hosts and update appropriate pages on my sites.
Monthly Tasks
1. Update my blog with new reading lists, recommended resources, products, etc.
2. Update the media page on my site with links to new press coverage I've received, press releases I've submitted, and story ideas I can offer to the media.
3. Write promotional copy for free list building teleclass and have VA submit teleclass to major event promotion sites
4. Create handout for free teleclass and conduct teleclass.
5. Send out at least three feelers for potential online collaborations/strategic alliances or joint ventures with other sites, speakers, etc.
6. Create one new information product and upload it to my sites for sale.
7. Check click-through and conversions with ezine and banner ads and determine whether to renew for another month.
8. Research and find one new online advertising resource to try.
9. Write a press release based on one of my articles and submit through PRWeb.com.
Weekly Tasks
1. Check on my Google, MSN, and ClickRiver PPC ad campaigns to ensure they are still current and relevant and update any bids for any keywords on my list where I have been outbid.
2. Write an article for my email newsletter.
3. Find a great resource to recommend in my newsletter and write a personal article for email newsletter.
4. Send out the email newsletter to list.
5. Publish the article on my website.
6. Archive the ezine to my site.
7. Have VA publish the ezine content on my business blog and on my social networking blogs at MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Ning.
8. Have VA submit the main newsletter article to articles banks and distribution lists.
9. Create a podcast from my article and distribute to podcast sites.
10. Answer a reader-submitted question and post response in blog.
11. Create one additional blog post on Monday and set it up to publish on Tuesday.
12. Review my Google Alerts and find a new blog with a respectable Google Page Rank and comment on a post.
13. Do a Google search for keywords that best describe my business and see where my site shows up in organic search. As needed, conduct SEO tweaks on my sites for betting rankings
Daily Tasks
1. Read the blogs to which I subscribe and post comments as appropriate.
2. Review the emails from the discussion lists/forums to which I belong and post comments/questions as appropriate.
3. Log into my social networking profiles at Facebook, Linked In, SelfGrowth.com, Twitter, and Ning and approve friend requests.
4. Spend about 15 minutes each at Facebook and SelfGrowth.com making friend requests, commenting on pictures or videos, or responding to emails.
5. Send 1-2 updates to Twitter and Facebook profiles about what I'm doing at the moment.
When you have your Internet marketing action plan outlined with quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, your prospecting well never runs dry. Many online business owners are so wrapped up in working on their business that they don't make time to work in the business, like performing regular marketing tasks. Consequently, they often experience slow times in their business because they begin to market themselves only when the prospect pool has dried up. If you create and follow an Internet marketing action plan, you'll never be hungry for clients again!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.
....simplifying the many tasks including social networking!
Marketing Plan: How to Create an Internet Marketing Action Plan That Gets Results
by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)
There's no doubt about it -- keeping up with your marketing tasks can be overwhelming, whether you choose to market via networking, print advertising, or through a strategic set of online techniques. As I have a virtual company and can work with clients from around the globe, I don't like to limit my marketing to local efforts. Having a viable presence online is more important to me and seems to work best for my company. Therefore, I primarily concentrate on things I can do to bring visitors to my website and demonstrate my expertise to them while they are on the site.
Recently inspired by a blog post that I had read, I decided to create a regular daily, weekly, month, and quarterly marketing to-do list. First, I brainstormed a list of ideas of marketing tasks that I perform regularly, and others that have remained on my to-do list for awhile, as I've never gotten around to them. Then I categorized them into either a quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily task. On the third examination of these tasks, I went through and culled all but those to which I thought I could realistically commit on a regular basis.
Below are the tasks that comprise my online marketing action plan. Add them to your own online marketing to-do list as appropriate, or substitute other tasks that are a better fit for your business.
Quarterly Tasks
1. Send out post card campaign to targeted national media list promoting myself as an expert. Prior to mailing, have VA call contacts to update list.
2. Request testimonials from new coaching clients, membership site members, product purchasers, and speaking gig hosts and update appropriate pages on my sites.
Monthly Tasks
1. Update my blog with new reading lists, recommended resources, products, etc.
2. Update the media page on my site with links to new press coverage I've received, press releases I've submitted, and story ideas I can offer to the media.
3. Write promotional copy for free list building teleclass and have VA submit teleclass to major event promotion sites
4. Create handout for free teleclass and conduct teleclass.
5. Send out at least three feelers for potential online collaborations/strategic alliances or joint ventures with other sites, speakers, etc.
6. Create one new information product and upload it to my sites for sale.
7. Check click-through and conversions with ezine and banner ads and determine whether to renew for another month.
8. Research and find one new online advertising resource to try.
9. Write a press release based on one of my articles and submit through PRWeb.com.
Weekly Tasks
1. Check on my Google, MSN, and ClickRiver PPC ad campaigns to ensure they are still current and relevant and update any bids for any keywords on my list where I have been outbid.
2. Write an article for my email newsletter.
3. Find a great resource to recommend in my newsletter and write a personal article for email newsletter.
4. Send out the email newsletter to list.
5. Publish the article on my website.
6. Archive the ezine to my site.
7. Have VA publish the ezine content on my business blog and on my social networking blogs at MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Ning.
8. Have VA submit the main newsletter article to articles banks and distribution lists.
9. Create a podcast from my article and distribute to podcast sites.
10. Answer a reader-submitted question and post response in blog.
11. Create one additional blog post on Monday and set it up to publish on Tuesday.
12. Review my Google Alerts and find a new blog with a respectable Google Page Rank and comment on a post.
13. Do a Google search for keywords that best describe my business and see where my site shows up in organic search. As needed, conduct SEO tweaks on my sites for betting rankings
Daily Tasks
1. Read the blogs to which I subscribe and post comments as appropriate.
2. Review the emails from the discussion lists/forums to which I belong and post comments/questions as appropriate.
3. Log into my social networking profiles at Facebook, Linked In, SelfGrowth.com, Twitter, and Ning and approve friend requests.
4. Spend about 15 minutes each at Facebook and SelfGrowth.com making friend requests, commenting on pictures or videos, or responding to emails.
5. Send 1-2 updates to Twitter and Facebook profiles about what I'm doing at the moment.
When you have your Internet marketing action plan outlined with quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, your prospecting well never runs dry. Many online business owners are so wrapped up in working on their business that they don't make time to work in the business, like performing regular marketing tasks. Consequently, they often experience slow times in their business because they begin to market themselves only when the prospect pool has dried up. If you create and follow an Internet marketing action plan, you'll never be hungry for clients again!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.
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