Living In Left Field - the Blog

I know I said we were going monthly, but the scales have tipped to the twice a month side with the final results of the survey: SO BE IT! POOF! LLF is now bi-monthly! Watch your mailboxes.

Now that LLF has morphed to a bi-monthly ezine, I just want you all to know that you will be seeing some changes in this blog and your email inbox.

For 2009 I promise a much meatier ezine, with all sorts of interesting things for you to interact with as you journey towards building your dreams.

Please tell your friends to take a look at the archives and/or this blog to see the types of articles I’ve included. In 2009 they will be much more tip-oriented and much more content laden.

I will probably continue to include the best articles here, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of good stuff that will be ONLY available in the newsletter including my new monthly freebie. Don’t miss out - sign up today if you haven’t already.

The last piece is that, without a weekly newsletter, you’ll be receiving more email notices from me for activities I run across I recommend you participate in, offers and opportunities and just a way to check in.

So take care and in the inimitable words of news writers everywhere - Watch This Space!

Tags: calendar, ezines, freebies, news

from Conscious Business Connection by Christine Kloser “The Conscious Business Coach”

Nothing endures but change.
-Heraclitus

Yesterday, I had the honor of participating in two of my spiritual masterminds. One was with a group of fellow spiritually-oriented women entrepreneurs and the other was a one-on-on visioning session with a long-time friend.

The theme through both of these calls was change; deep, profound change. We listened to each other speak and could sense the emergence of someone new… someone who has evolved, grown and transformed. It was a glorious experience to be conscious of the change that had occurred in others, as well as ourselves.

These conversations, caused me to contemplate what change really looks like. If you’re like me, you may sometimes find yourself going through a personal transformation (also known as an AFGO - Another Faithful Growth Opportunity) without being fully aware of what exactly is evolving. Change without consciousness leads to fear. And, fear leads to a whole slew of other negative experiences.

The purpose of sharing these top 3 signs of positive change is to raise your awareness of what’s occurring within you. So as you transform (and grow) you’re conscious of what’s evolving… and have the ability to navigate through fear and welcome change with grace and ease.

1. Heightened Frustration - Who ever thought frustration would be a good thing?! Well, in this case it is. Because, if you’re frustrated with something in your life or your business, you’re experiencing it because something that used to work isn’t working anymore, or something that never worked is becoming totally intolerable. Bless your frustration and ask it to show you what’s changing? Frustration is a fantastic teacher to help you notice where your change is occurring and what you can do to move through it more easily. Adjust your relationship to that which is frustrating you, and you’ll see the gift of change waiting inside.

2. Highs and Lows - Change brings out a range of emotions that can be felt practically simultaneously. For example, you may find yourself being ecstatically happy one moment, and crying the next. This is a tell-tale sign of great change because as you come closer and closer to experiencing an inner shift, everything gets compressed. Emotions become stronger, they swing from lows to highs more quickly than usual, and you may be wondering what in the world is going on! And the answer is… change is going on! So, if you find yourself experiencing opposing emotions relatively close together in time, embrace them and let them remind you that you are going through a great change… and all is unfolding exactly as it’s meant to.

3. Seeking Solitude - Change requires a certain level of energy. Whether or not you are aware of the change you’re going through, your BEING knows what’s going on. And, as you expend energy in evolving and growing, a very natural response is to seek solitude. Just like the butterfly that goes through it’s most profound change in a cocoon of solitude, you may find your soul craving solitude as well. Keep in mind that solitude is not the same as isolation… if you’re isolating it’s because you don’t want to deal with anything, whereas if you’re seeking solitude it’s because you’re want to BE with yourself, in silence, in quiet, in peace. Solitude is a gift any time, but especially when you’re experiencing change the urge for solitude shows up to remind you to pay attention and nurture yourself as you grow.

Now that you’re aware of these three signs, I encourage you to notice them when they show up in your life, and acknowledge them for what they are. Give thanks for the change you are experiencing and allow yourself space to surrender, trust and embrace your next evolution. It is all good…

© 2008 Christine Kloser
Christine Kloser, best-selling author of The Freedom Formula, helps small business owners put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to discover how to integrate more spirit into YOUR business, then you’ll want to get my F-R-E-E_ CD, “The Top 3 Ways to Tap Into the Biggest Trend in Business Ever.” You can request this special CD by visiting www.FreeedomFormulaExperience.com.

dimdim logo

DimDim.com

If you haven’t heard of these folks, you’d better buckle in. What they do is deliver on their promise, again and again.

Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees. They have three versions; a downloadable open source version, and enterprise version and the browser version. And did I mention it’s free?

With almost no learning curve, you can be holding your very own webinars utilizing your own presentations in about 5 minutes (providing you have the attendees, of course). No trial expiration, just good service.

PROS

* It’s Free, Easy & Open!
* No Install to Start/Join meetings
* Easily Share your Desktop
* Audio & Video Conferencing
* Present PowerPoint and PDFs
* Private & Public Chat
* Whiteboard & Annotations
* Record and Playback Meetings
* Open Source and APIs
* 3 versions for customization
* New version supports teleconferencing and even Macs

CONS

* No custom branding available in the free version
* LImited to 20 people at a time
* No two-way video in free version
* No uptime guarantee in free version

Check them out for yourself. It’s a great way to dabble in the webinar arena to see if there’s interest before sinking a fortune in a paid membership.

Tags: How-to, online events, teleseminar, webinar

Based on the responses to my survey, after this issue, LLF will be moving to a monthly newsletter.  I realize that the sheer bulk of mail we each get each and every day can be overwhelming and I want my newsletter to be something you look forward to each and every time.

As my personal schedule also gets busier, I’m having to cut back on some of the peripheral activities in favor of tightening my focus.

What I hope to create is a much more in depth, on target and useful ezine that you will want to keep and refer to again and again.

I will continue to publish quality articles and product reviews as well as soliciting joint ventures with other writers for your enjoyment.

Tags: ezines, frequency change

7 Blogging Tips From David Ogilvy

Filed as Guides on November 3, 2008 7:56 am

by Jonathan Bailey

I’d like to join the crowd congratulating our new President-Elect Obama. I feel hopeful that the economy in this country will change simply be virtue of a change of leadership. What Mr. Obama has in mind for small business is explained here, and it’s an ambitious undertaking at best. I wish him, Vice-President Elect Biden and their respective families good health and best wishes.

Tags: Biden, election 2008, Obama, Reign of Terror, Small Business

Just the other day I was on a telecall with Ronni Noize, who had some excellent things to say, by the way. Part of the call was about building your business and I took a lot of notes, but the piece that hit me the hardest was probably the simplest and the one I have been taking for advantage each and every day!

Shame on me!

Ronnie was saying that she shifted her business from one form to another and when she did, she had no clients in her pipeline. (You should go to her site and sign up for her Zero2Full teleclass. I’m not sure when the next one of those is, but she has several others planned). Anyway, It had me thinking that soon I’ll be moving to the Portland, OR area and I won’t know a soul yet. What a great way once I get down there to ease into the business community. I’m making contacts gradually that are down in the area I want to be in and am creating a contact list ahead of time. Once we move down there and get settled, I can make appointments to introduce myself and get to know them.

Here’s the plan and I believe it would be maleable into any new marketing situation.

1. Investigate organizations and groups that live and work in the area you are concentrating on penetrating
2. Join the ones that you find interesting and which you can participate in from afar
3. Collect names, email addresses and phone numbers for the members of those groups you strike up relationships with
4. When you get where you’re going or are ready to start your new campaign, call on those people and interview them

* What do they do?
* How do they do it?
* Who do they do it with?
* How can you be of service to THEM?
Now, since they already know you’re new to the area, ask if there are any other groups or people you should seek out

Before you know it, you’re on your way.

Joe Girard talks about the Law of 250; that every person knows 250 other people and that every person out of that 250 that you know knows another 250. There may be some overlap in the 250, especially with a family member or close friend. But the exponential multiplying factor of the additional contacts is what makes networking so potentially valuable in your search.

And, although you may not find your next client within your 250, it is very likely that it may exist within someone else’s 250.

Have the rest of you observed the meteoric rise in popularity of Twitter? And, of all the adjunct programs to go with it? Wow! So many other newsletter articles and blog posts talk about the awesome marketing that can be done with it, but to date, not that many actually share how you do it (at least not the ones I’ve found).

What is Twitter, exactly? I get this question all the time.  Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you doing?”. You have 140 characters to answer the question and you can include a shortened URL for people to see what you’re talking about. For instance, as soon as the newsletter is finished, I’ll be tweeting that it’s out.

How do I follow someone on Twitter? Another oft-asked question. While the Twitter search capabiilty still leaves an awful lot to be desired. If you know someone’s Twitter ID (mine is deborahb), just type in www.twitter.com/userid.  You’ll be taken to their page and then under the image, there will be a small box with the word Follow.  Click on that and bingo! You’re following them. It’s that simple. Many times you can find people’s twitter ID on their webpages or once you’ve signed up with Twitter, you can get an email notification when someone starts following you. Then, if you want to, you can follow them back.  To stop following someone, do the same process but the word will say Following.  Click on that and you’ll see a drop down menu to allow you to stop following that person.

There are a number of Twitter following programs to keep you in the loop. These range from desktop applications to see everytime someone submits an update to online updates within the social networks you belong to. Personally, I really like Tweetdeck and Twhirl for PCs and Twitterific for Macs. Tweetdeck lives on your desktop and is a sortable, multicolumn tracking platform for all your tweets.  It can get pretty large, however, so if you prefer a smaller update method, you can download Twhirl. I don’t know a lot about Twitterific, since I don’t have a Mac at the moment so if anyone has any comments to share about this service, please do so on the blog.  I do know that the application is not free, but a lot of my Mac user pals like it a lot. Twhirl and Tweedeck are free and Twhirl will work on Mac as well.

Now, the thing that bothers me the most about using this is a lack of space (I can rarely say what I want in 140 characters) and the pain of having to type Twitter-like updates on every social network I belong to.  Hah hah! I found a way around it - I use Ping.fm to update multiple social networks at once (you just add the networks you want to update and you type your status once) and Twitwall for lengthier posts. Twitwall is sort of a blog option for Twitter.  As it says, every twitter gets a twitwall.  Mine is here.

So go play and learn how it works to just update family and friends, then, in my Marketing Issue (coming out November 6) I’ll share how I have discovered ways to use it for marketing!

Tags: @deborahb, ping.fm, tweetdeck, Twitter

Sir Cooper copy services

Sircooper.com

This company is one of the best kept secrets on the web. Somebody needs to grab hold of their Marketing Director. They print what you send them, just as you send it and they do it cheap! Can you believe two-sided trifold brochures for $0.26 a piece?!?!?! Really. And the quality is great!

As an ex-print broker who has worked with many trade-only printers, this even beats the great connections I used to have. I use them to print my 11 x 17 posters as well as just about everything else I need printed. I have not sent them business cards yet, as I’m still partial to Overnight Prints for those, but I may just give them a try next time I need cards. After all, how can you go wrong for 2 cents a piece? They do all sorts of things.

These are the pros and cons as I see them. You can make up your own mind.

PROS

* Consistent service
* Consistent uptime
* Easy for novices to use immediately
* Minimum time investment
* Items ship in 24 hours or less
* Painless
* Free shipping on orders over $100
* Booklets, brochures, pamphlets, one-sheets, flyers, business cards and more
* Accept PayPal as well as credit cards

CONS

* No editing done by staff unless you pay extra
* No full-bleed color business cards
* Cannot cancel once order is placed

Let me know your thoughts?

Tags: printing, resource, review, Sir Cooper

I had a very interesting experience last week. I hit my wall. I suddenly came to a complete stop and could not go any further. My life had become a gray blur. I didn’t know what day it was, what time it was, what I was supposed to be doing, or who I wanted to talk with. Nothing meant anything, I was strictly going through the motions of getting up each day and working at my computer until I could no longer see then falling into bed to do it again the next. This was not the life I have chosen. This was not the life anyone would choose!

So, I ran away from home. I closed my laptop, I packed my bag, I kissed my husband and my 4-legged son and ran away for a week. As you know, my daughter lives in Beaverton, OR. She’s been in school for the last 11 months to become a Certified Medical Assistant with Radiology Specialty but had the week off before her externship. I called her and warned her I was on my way and that I needed to play for awhile.

Well, it was exactly what I needed. We had great fun re-connecting and exploring. I gave the business very little thought during the days I was in Portland unless it came naturally. No stress, no pressure. I returned home, kissed my husband and my 4-legged son and got back to work. My mind is so much clearer, so much more positive. I’ve discovered a new direction and a new drive. I’m trimming the excess, streamlining my involvement in groups and bearing down to bring my business to life.

So here is my question to you all - what do you do when you hit YOUR wall? Do you go for a walk? Watch a “Saturday Stupid” movie (think something like Ice Pirates - no grey matter required)? Do you shut down and turn off? Do you curl up in fetal position on the couch and cry? Or all of the above?

I’d be interested to see your responses. Remember, you can leave comments on the Living in Left Field Blog. Please let me hear from you.

Tags: personal, psychology, reclaim, solopreneur, starting over