My mother often said, “The older you get, the faster the time.” As with most things, Mom was right. As you read this, do you find it hard to believe that its 9 years have passed since Y2K? Remember the crisis mentality that hadhalf the population stockpiling food and water and hoarding cash? All this just in case a computer glitch wiped out our electronics-dependent society. As it turned out, like continued as normal.

As with every New Year, people are pompelled to review and reflect on their accomplishments, unmet goals and the blessings and challenges they experienced. Personally speaking, I can remember being determined to make every year in the new millennium more memorable, productive and better than the last. What about you?

Where are you right now in the plans, resolutions and commitments you made for 2008? Did you enroll in a class that you have postponed until now? Have you announced to yourself and to everyone who cares about you that this year your health is your top priority.  Will you join a gym? Have you jotted down your goals? What about the book you have been meaning to write? Maybe this is the year you leave an unrewarding job to venture out on your own? Make plans to update your will. Do you have one? Is one of your goals to add more balance to your life, creating more time for family, friends and yourself?

The bottom line is that every day we make choices, deciding on the direction we want for our lives. A year from now we will be revisiting the outcomes of our choices; I encourage you to choose carefully. Say “Yes” to your health, to personal and professional development and to spending more time with family and friends. Engage in meaningful work – make a difference in your community – volunteer. If you need someone to help you be accountable, I welcome hearing from you. Together, we can make 2009 the best year ever. I welcome your comments. Bonnie Ross-Parker www.BonnieRossParker.com

Did you procrastinate?

Didn’t send Holiday Cards? Need to send Thank You cards? Actually, sending cards now can get you noticed (and in a positive way). Instead of your card getting lost in the shuffle of the busy Holiday season, sending a heartfelt personal card for the New Year is surely to make your greeting ‘stand out from the rest.’

Are you making your resolutions for the New Year? Is getting organized and simplifying your life at the top of your list? It seems to make my Resolution list every year. What I find with organizing that has helped me the most over time, is putting systems and tools in place that not only remind me but help make the task easier and saves time and money. Here are to testimonials from two professional organizers who endorse as well as use SendOutCards:

Sending Christmas cards to all my clients was a breeze, using SOC with “custom shared” greeting cards.  SOC saved me lots of time this holiday season:  my client list is already loaded so I  was able to hand-select who to send cards to, I had the cards “done” in November but had the campaign sent in December, and, of course, I didn’t have to address envelopes or slap on stamps – what a time-saving service!

Dawn McCloskey
Ultra Organized, LLC
770-844-1049
www.ultraorganized.com
Member:  National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the NAPO Georgia Chapter
“From chaos comes order”

Send Out Cards is the perfect service to help any company or individual stay organized.  I consider Send Out Cards essential when organizing a client’s home or office.  I organize both residentially and commercially and Send Out Cards is perfect for families and businesses alike.  With Send Out Cards you can easily upload all your contacts, set reminders, even make cards ahead of time and set them to send on a certain date.  With a feature like this, even the busiest of clients can find the time to sit down once a month and send cards for all birthdays, anniversaries and other needs.  Send Out Cards also allows you to create your own handwriting font so your cards even have your personal touch.  Businesses can upload logos and other marketing pieces, making it the perfect tool to promote your business in a cost effective manner.  Save time and money and become more organized in 2009 by using Send Out Cards.

Sharon L. Hess

Mommy Management, Inc.

2260 Rushmore Drive   Suite P

Marietta, Ga. 30062

770-826-3864 – Cell and Office

770-993-4449 – Home

770-454-0143 – Fax

www.MommyManagementInc.com

So whether you want to send Happy New Year greetings or send Thank you cards or both, SendOutCards offers lots of great cards with New Year’s greetings and 1000s of great cards for every other occasion. Ring in 2009 with beautiful and thoughtful Happy New Year Cards for your family, friends, clients, and prospects. You can get very creative by customizing with colors, fonts, and images/photos to create wonderfully personalized cards that are unique and different. Wish your loved ones and clients joy and happiness in the coming year with an exceptional card from SendOutCards today!

Being one who has always been a card sender, SendOutCards provided that system for me and so much more. It provides the tools within the system that helps me to save time all year long. No more driving to the store, post office, stocking cards, (not to mention still not having just the right card when I needed it) and then trying to remember to mail it at the appropriate time. SendOutCards has solved all these issues for me.

I invite you to try the system yourself. Experience a demonstration and send a couple of cards with my compliments. Log onto www.CardsByPaintedLady.com or www.SendOutCards.com/12466.

I will be glad answer your questions and/or send you additional information. Get started today saving time and money. Find out how to set up your starter account for less than $15 with no monthly fees or contracts. Oh and ask me how you can also make money with SendOutCards.

Happy New Year and Happy Organizing!

In gratitude,

Annette

Resolve to Simplify Your Card Sending this year.  Log on and find out how to create, personalize, and mail your cards with just a few mouse clicks. Send them a REAL greeting card with my compliments @ www.CardsByPaintedLady.com or http://www.SendOutCards.com/12466

Gifts, Greeting Cards, and Promotional Products

www.PaintedLadyEnterprises.com

“Helping You and Your Business Look Good”

It is time for the Entrepreneurial World to wake up.

Entrepreneurship is something that was always considered to be for someone else. In a lot of ways it often still is. Many parents will tell their children that they should find a nice steady job, with good pay and great benefits. Well, guess what, the world has changed a lot from those days that you were able to join a company at 20 and leave them at 65.

Joining a company no longer offers the security that many people still look for. Ofcourse, we do need people that want to be employees, or we would never be able to build OUR businesses, but I seriously believe that we should stop telling the next generation that this well trodden path is the only one there is.

In fact – let’s look at the facts. Many people do go straight into working for a (big) company when they finish their education. So they make some nice money, they start spending it on a nice car, and when they are a few years older, they may think of buying their first home. Along comes Love – so now there’s two incomes and so let’s buy a bigger home – because we can all afford it right? And maybe, tiny family member number three is on the way so more space is needed.
Pause right there and take a long look at this picture and think about what could be wrong here. After all, both parents have had a few promotions in the company and are well on their career path, making more money with each step they take.

Except …. there is no freedom in having a big mortgage, or an expensive lifestyle. You are always dependent on someone paying you a big enough salary to cover it, and whilst you may be living in a nice house – it is actually paid for with someone else’s money. Next – a recession hits the world – like it is doing right now and those parents may loose their jobs or have to face longer hours/less pay – and the banks still want their money. And of course, with all the growing and promoting and career planning going on, they may not have saved as much as they originally set out.

This is what happens today. In our current lives – you will very likely have a number of periods between 20 and 65 where no-one is looking to employ you and give you the security you might think you’d gain by being employed. So this is a GREAT time to start thinking about all the things that you have to offer and dedicate those skills to building something much more secure than what any other company can give you: your own company!!

Running your own company is by no means any easier then working for someone else – in fact, it’ll prove much harder and you’ll definitely have times you wish you never had (mind you, I never looked back – it’s been the best thing I’ve done in my life!). But you are able if you do it well – to build up capital instead of debts, and to invest that capital in the one investment that you should always trust in – YOU! Added benefits are that you control your own pension, and of course – you are always in control of your own time and money.  Now is definitely the right time to start – despite the fact that the financial institutions may not lend you any money. There are enough people in your direct environment that are looking for a better place to invest their money then in the stock markets… and you may just be that which they feel they can trust.

If you are still not sure whether you have what it takes, take the great new test on efactor.com: the Entrepreneur’s Mind Challenge® (efactor.com/p/emchallenge) and find out exactly how good you would be as an Entrepreneur!

by Marion Freijsen

Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams by David Bach

A common myth in our culture is, “It takes money to make money.” This is an excuse we often make to ourselves so we’ll feel better about not taking responsibility for our finances. Smart Women Finish Rich author David Bach understands that many of us THINK we don’t have money to invest.

Bach learned all he knows from his grandmother. His grandmother had great financial wisdom and he is moved to share this with women today that want to get their financial lives in order. He realized that “people rarely know what is truly driving them emotionally when it comes to money.”

There are three key Bach mentions right in the beginning of this world renowned how-to book. These keys will help women everywhere to smart money management that will enable a woman to gain control over her financial future. And yes, as David says; finish rich!

These three keys are:

• How to use both your head and heart for financial judgments.
• How the “Latte Factor” can make a modest wage owner into a noteworthy investor.
• How Bach’s “Three-Basket” approach to financial planning can assure you not only long-term security but the ability to realize your lifelong dreams.

Bach’s approach to money management is ingrained in years of investment seminars for women and his work as senior vice president of investments at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Smart Women Finish Rich is the perfect book for any woman who has their own business or just dreams to have financial freedom.

As a businesswoman, it’s very important to have a good support network.  You need fellow businesswomen to share experiences and tips with.  You need women who are in fields related to yours to ask questions.  The sense of community provided by a group of businesswomen can help see you through the tough times.

But finding a group in your area isn’t always practical.  Maybe there are networking groups that you could join (like the Joy of Connecting!), but they might meet at times that are not convenient for you.  Or if you’re not in a metropolitan area, there may not be any groups that are especially for women in your area.  That doesn’t mean that you’re left out in the cold, though.

There are plenty of online communities designed for businesswomen and female entrepreneurs.  These communities offer mentoring and learning as well as networking opportunities.  They give women a place to connect with like-minded women from their own homes and offices.

With all of the online communities for businesswomen out there, it can be tempting to join and participate in them all.  But by doing so, you limit your opportunity for meaningful connections.  Keeping up with so many different communities takes a lot of time, and there’s less possibility for reward.  By finding one or two good communities and sticking with them, you can better reap the benefits they have to offer.

Here are some tips for finding the right online business community for you.

* Keep your objectives in mind.  If you are looking for referrals, a group that consists completely of women in your field is probably not the best choice for you.  That doesn’t mean you can’t join for the opportunity to learn from others in your business, but if referrals are what you want, you may not want to limit yourself.

* Ask colleagues for recommendations.  Those who are experienced in online networking often know the best places to do so. My recommendation is Mom Masterminds, a group for serious minded female work at home professionals. I’ve been a member of this community for about 4 years now and my business has benefited tremendously as a result.

* Take the groups that interest you for a test drive.  Many communities offer a free trial, and some are always free to join.  So if you find one you like, join up and network with the members for a week or so.  This will give you a feel for how everything works and how supportive the other members are.  If you decide it’s not for you, move on and find something else.

Using this link, you can sign up for a free 7 day trial membership in Mom Masterminds to get a feel for it.

* Read the rules of the community carefully.  Most have restrictions on blatant advertising.  While it is rarely banned outright, there is often a designated time or place for it.  Disobeying these rules could get you booted, and at the very least it will turn off the other members.

Online networking is a great way to find business partners, learn more about how to market online, and generate referrals.  Communities designed specifically for women are valuable sources of business advice, and can result in lasting friendships.  Even if you have the opportunity to network locally, networking with fellow businesswomen online offers lots of rewards.

Billions of dollars are spent each year by a certain group of people… and that group is everywhere we look, and you’re probably one of them!

I’m talking about moms. Mothers are responsible for much of the household spending and influence the buying decisions of family members across generations.

If you’re looking to market more effectively to this group of savvy online consumers, download this free 9-page report:

“Quick & Easy Ways to Market to the Powerful Multi-Billion Dollar Market of Mothers Online”

This report shows you:

- Just how big and influential the mom market is
- Why moms use the Internet & what they do there
- How to reach moms and gain their confidence – all on a shoestring budget.

Your download is completely free and comes without any type of obligation.

Click here to get yours

(Click on the link to open, or right-click to save to your desktop.)

If your blog is set up on a subdomain like yourname.wordpress.com or yourname.blogspot.com, I’m sorry to tell you, but you don’t really own your blog.

At any time your blog could be deleted.

Google (who owns Blogger/Blogspot) deletes blogs all the time. It happened to a good friend of mine whose blog got massive traffic and delivered massive value. I read her blog daily and it had fantastic advice. She had thousands of loyal readers who looked to her blog for sound personal finance wisdom.

One day she logged in and found that her blog had disappeared.

Did you know that Google somehow deleted their OWN blog?

How would you feel if you had devoted hundreds of hours to publishing a blog over a year or two and found that it had simply disappeared off the internet?

The lesson here: Make sure YOU own your blog. Publish your blog to your OWN domain on your OWN website hosting.

I get all my domains from Internet Based Moms, but you can use GoDaddy or whatever else you like. For about $8 a year, there is no excuse not to own your own domain name. Plus, it’s far more attractive, easier to remember and professional than a subdomain (like yourname.blogspot.com).

Send a message that you are serious about your business and buy a domain name.

Once you buy your domain you will need some hosting so that you can host your blog. This is the only way to really own your blog and all the files contained within!

I use ReliableWebs.com – they have great prices and stellar customer service.

You can still use the software at Blogspot or WordPress (I love WordPress!), you just need to tweak the settings in your account so that your blog posts are published to your domain.

The Joy of Connecting blog is a great example!

If you need help setting any of this up or learning how to really leverage your blog for more sales, traffic and publicity, I offer coaching.

Until the end of the month you get a free copy of my email marketing guide called Mini Course Money when you reserve an hour of coaching! That’s a $27 value, free. Get started now before this offer expires.

If you’re like most small business owners, your business journey will resemble a roller coaster ride long before it looks like a leisurely Sunday drive (in fact, it may never look like that at all!).

But if you’re thinking about giving it all up because you still haven’t reached your goal after months (years!) of sweat, tears and a sore behind, think of Winston Churchill’s words:

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

If you feel like giving up, don’t! Here is the funny thing about life: A year will pass regardless of what you do today to build your business. But the things you do today to build your business will keep paying off over and over in a year’s time. If you don’t believe me, then just keep reading.

Since I started working from home, I’ve changed directions completely a couple of times, undergone major life changes, even felt the rug come out from under my feet a time or two (divorce papers and raising four kids on your own will do that!).

But, I keep plugging along.

My business has taught me some important things about life in general. Here are a couple of things I’ve learned.

1) They Keep Moving The Cheese

Have you read Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life?

Highly recommended reading for anyone in business. It’s a slim little volume that you can devour at bedtime.

Things are going to constantly change: your life, the nature of business. What worked last year isn’t going to cut it this year. You have to keep changing if you want to survive and thrive in the online business arena.

Do your best to try out new technologies and see if they will improve your bottom line. Ask others who are doing it for help. Remember that just 5 years ago, nobody was blogging? Now if you don’t have a blog, you’re likely to lose visitors.

Lots of folks are stepping into audio, video and podcasting. These technologies don’t have to be a stumbling block. You can always hire or joint venture with someone who can do the techie stuff and just create your message.

Your family life is dynamic also and just when you think you’ve gotten into a comfortable routine, bam! A separation, a miscarriage, a new baby, somebody retires or gets laid off, etc. Life happens.
Anticipate that the cheese will be moving. Constantly monitor the state of your old cheese. If it’s dwindling or getting smelly, watch out!

2) Don’t Put All Your Marketing Eggs Into One Basket

While it’s good to learn one marketing method well before starting to do another, but just don’t focus on one thing entirely to the exclusion of others. For instance, search engine optimization might be your “thing”, which is great, but make sure you’re also writing articles and press releases too.

3) Lesson 3: Give It Time

It’s so hard to be patient, isn’t it? If you find yourself wondering when you will ever meet your goal, there are a couple of things that might make the wait easier while you keep plugging away at your business.

a) Celebrate small successes
Sometimes we get so caught up in humongous goals and forget to celebrate the little achievements. That first small affiliate check, that first autodraft customer, 5 new pages added to a web site, an unsolicited, glowing testimonial about your product, etc.

Keep a log of all the little successes that happen in your business and review them when you need to get motivated again. Keep a “done” list next to your “to do” list.

b) Start a Feel Good Folder
Start a little word document on your desktop. Anytime someone says something nice about you on a message forum, anytime you get a subscriber thanking you for your newsletter, copy and paste that into a text document. Review it when you’re feeling down and impatient.

Another thing that helps is to hang out with other successful women in business, not just wannabes. I’m not knocking the wannabe, because we all started there! But spend some time each week talking to people who are where you want to be. Seeing them share success stories, seeing their triumphs and growth makes it clear that you WILL get there. It’s them today, but it will be you tomorrow.

For a few years now I’ve been a member at Mom Masterminds, an online networking and business resource center for serious work at home mom professionals. I wouldn’t do without it!

Just don’t give up ladies. Remember Winston Churchill.

Carrie Lauth is a work at home Mom of 4 who keeps on truckin’, and wants to encourage you to do the same. Sign up for her free marketing tips at her blog.