January 21st, 2009
Building links doesn’t always have to be so stressful. Many sites tell you that they’ll increase your links by 1000 overnight if you spend $39.99! I’m here to tell you, it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality.
Although quality does help, it’s hard to judge what is quality and what isn’t. The first comes first, reciprocal links aren’t all that great, so don’t spend hours upon hours of sending hopeless spam mails to sites who, if you had good content, would link to you for free.
The best way to gain links quickly is article submission. One article, if well written and of high quality, can generate 10-15 links. Think of the possibilities! Write one article a day for a week and you may end up with 100 links. And that is, 100 non-reciprocal links.
Why are non-reciprocal links so important? Well, I will tell you. Search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, are now counting reciprocal links for less. There is even speculation of the recent update that Yahoo! is penalizing sites which have links pages.
Even if this were not the case, non-reciprocal links are more important for one reason, visitors. Visitors don’t like to see sites with worthless links to websites they don’t want. Why have a link to a travel website if you are in entertainment (besides the obvious, but you get the point)? Even if you do have a reciprocal link to a site which is your competitor you may lose visitors by giving them a higher link popularity.
Should I not link to anyone then? No. In fact, you should link to as many authoritative sites as possible (authoritative sites are sites which are ranked 1 or 2 throughout your genre).
Links are very important on every site. Don’t just give them away, choose carefully. Link to authoritative sites with great content you know your visitors will appreciate. Just ask yourself, “If the links are not for the visitors use, what use are they then?”
So, I’ve done the whole article submission thing, what other ways can I gain link popularity? Directories and great content. Content is king and is becoming more-so with the evolution of Search Engines. When a site owner finds an article useful he or she generally places a link to it, even if it is just a blog, it’s still a link. But whatever you do, don’t do the silly thing and spam blogs, that will only get you banned.
Directories are also a major part. If you can write a great description and have an editor in your field at DMOZ.org, submit it and forget it. Either you will get in or you won’t. If there isn’t an editor, try becoming one. It will only take a few hours of your time, just don’t get too hopeful.
If you can’t get in DMOZ, don’t worry, there are tons of other useful directories out there. Tons of FREE directories. Don’t spend $10-$20 on a directory submission unless you know they are worth it and can generate quality traffic. Google and others are starting to crack down on directories who require a fee in order to get listed.
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January 19th, 2009
Graduation Gowns
Graduation Regalia
Gordon International
200 William Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
Phone: 800-352-6121
Graduation Products
Graduations are an important period to a graduate, the family members and friends. It is an occasion worthy of celebration to signify the importance. Graduation products play as major roll in ensuring that a graduation ceremony is a success. Graduation products may include unique invitation cards to the graduation, personalized or custom invitation cards, black or white shirt, lapel pins and keepsake tassels. There are online sites that offer inexpensive party supplies for graduations with cheap clearance. Graduation products are usually customized according to the needs of the client and may include class names and signatures as well as the graduation year.
Gordon International
200 William Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
Phone: 800-352-6121
Email: info@gordon-intl.com
Gordon International has been outfitting the world’s graduates since 1960. Customer Service, High Quality Products and Guaranteed Low Prices. Visit us on the web and see why we’re considered the #1 graduation company.
Graduation Information On The Internet
Graduation information is available all over the internet. You’ll find multiple links which can assist you in your research. Gordon International offers a lot of information which can be useful to anyone ordering graduation regalia but if you’re looking for specific history please see the link provided below.
The Following Site Offers Great Information About Graduation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dress wikipedia provides the searcher with a great information source for any type of search. You can go to their search wiki and place an random search in the engine and you’ll come across a few useful sources & articles.
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January 19th, 2009
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If you are one of the millions of parents who receive sporadic child support payments, here are three strategies you can use to improve the untimely receipt of child support payments.
Caution: These strategies will not work for everyone, but remember nothing from nothing leaves nothing.
1. If you are to receive child support payments, insist the paying parent buy a life insurance policy covering the term of the payments, naming you as the owner and beneficiary. Your “ex” will be unable to change the beneficiary without your agreement. Try to have this court ordered at the time the child support order is established.
2. Take action if delinquent parents are consistently late or refuse to pay child support altogether. You may need an attorney or intervention from your local child support enforcement agency.
A measure you may want to take before seeking legal assistance is offering to renegotiate the amount of the child support order. This may sound unfair, even unheard of, but understand that if the amount set by the court does not realistically allow the paying parent to maintain a decent standard of living, the parent is more opt to stop working or leave the state. The question you must ask: Is it better to receive a slightly less amount consistently or a larger amount inconsistently or not at all. You and the paying parent are the only ones who will know if this option would work.
3. Allow the paying parent to use a variety of methods to pay child support. Child support for some parents is more than money. It may be food, clothing, recreational activities, daycare. If the paying parent is willing to provide pre-paid credit cards, gift cards from movie theaters, clothing stores, grocery stores, gas stations etc. all of these items provided, in addition to the court-ordered child support may assist in reducing arrears or assisting when the child support payments have been reduced.
Both parents should understand that together it is their responsibility to care for the well-being of their child, and both are responsible for keeping a record of all contributions made above and beyond the court-ordered child support payments. Court ordered child support payments are only necessary when one or both parents refuse to take responsibility for the financial welfare of their child. So…do the right thing.
About the Author
Detra D. Davis is a Consultant, and technical writer with over 20 years of experience. She writes technical and operational manuals, and works as Parent Educator teaching workshops on the importance of establishing paternity and paying child support. Detra may be reached at 313-446-0896, at www.supportingourchildren.com or by mail at J. Davis & Associates Publishing, P. O. Box 44782, Detroit, MI 48244-0782, Attention: Detra D. Davis.
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January 16th, 2009
The biggest security threat to your company is you and your staff - not the internet.
The internet is merely a communications channel for data - it’s how you manage that channel and that data that is important.
With computing, shared networking, and internet connections, it means that information can flow more easily between PCs.
But that also brings with it added security risks - it’s easier for people to find your logins and try and force them, and opportunists will try and steal your passwords where they can.
Ultimately, it’s not up to the internet or existing software to reactively protect you against every instance of a security threat - you need to take proactive action in the first place to minimise those threats.
This really needs underlining, because even the most sophisticated security equipment will not protect you as required if it is poorly used.
Ultimately, protecting your business can be as easy as using common sense and following very basic steps.
Here are a few basic tips on how to protect against these user access threats:
- Don’t use the passwords manager on Internet Explorer to save passwords. If your PC is infected with a trojan or virus, this is often one of the first places they check.
- If you save your passwords to a file - a text or Word document - don’t name it something obvious like “passwords”. If an unauthorised user got into your PC, you want to make it hard for them to locate your passwords.
- Again, if you save passwords in a file, don’t use the word “password” in such a file either. Otherwise an unauthorised user could simply use your computer’s “search” facility for that word, and go straight to them. Simply use the initials “U” and “P” for “username” and “password” - that will be much harder to search out.
- Only provide password information to people who need to use them - and if someone needs to use a password protected feature temporarily, then change the password afterwards. After all, you cannot be certain how well third-parties will protect your important security details.
- Have different levels of passwords for different operations. For example, have a different password for accessing your e-mail, and a different password for accessing your website. That way, if someone somehow finds out one of your passwords, they cannot access all of your business operations.
- Create really secure passwords by mixing up letters, numbers, and using upper and lower case, and even punctuation marks. Make passwords memorable by basing them on acronyms - ie, this is an article called “Online Security for Business: User access threats” and is written in 2006 - so an acronym from that could be: OS4Buat2006. That’s a strong password, and it’s much easier to remember as an acronym.
- Don’t install desktop search applications, even by reputable vendors such as Google or Yahoo!, as they will not only help you find information quickly, but will also be invaluable to a hacker looking for sensitive information on your computer system. Instead, keep your files organised on your PC so you don’t need to resort to a desktop search tool in the first place.
- Ensure you install anti-virus, a firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware - and keep them up to date. This will make it far harder for anyone to access your machine without authorisation, The best of these software types will also keep checking the internet for updates.
- You should ensure you make regular hard-copy back-ups of your computer data. And store them safely and securely, in a restricted place - such as a safe. You can make these backups to computer tape, DVD or CD media, or even just save everything to a USB stick at the end of the day.
- Ensure you have off-site back-ups of all physical and electronic data essential to your business. In the event of catastrophic damage to your premises, you can at least restore basic business operations.
Conclusion
You are never going to be clear of security risks - but you can certainly minimise them. Keeping a security-conscious office is neither expense nor time-consuming. Considering the costs of losing essential data and equipment, can it really be that hard?
Brian Turner runs Security Watch, a site that keeps up to date with exploits and security discussions. He also runs the online security resources Trojan Library and Worm Library.
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January 16th, 2009
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General Order No. 3: Delivered by General Gordon Granger and the Union Army, Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865.
“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Ready to celebrate?
Q: What’s the only state to have declared Juneteenth a state holiday?
A: The Great State of Texas.
1. Get the supplies you need - here - http://www.juneteenth.com/juneteenthstore.htm and here - http://www.19thofjune.com/shopping/index.html . Party supplies, t-shirts, hats, buttons, stickers, posters, and more!
2. Learn the History.
“Every morning, perhaps, more instances than one are found of the living and the dead fastened together,” wrote John Newton, a Slave Ship Captain. Did you know that after several voyages, Newton quit the slave trade, became a minister, and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” with its autobiographical line “…that saved a wretch like me.”‘
3. Check out what’s happening worldwide here www.juneteenth.com/worldwide.htm .
And add your own list the celebration here: http://www.juneteenth.com/submit.htm .
4. A big day for my hometown, San Antonio, Texas. Y’all come!
On May 31, a traveling exhibition of documents dating from 1683 to 1969 is set to open at San Antonio’s Witte Museum that’s expected to attracts tens of thousands of visitors. The highlight of “American Originals: Treasures from the National Archives,” will be the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
“Because it’s fragile,” says the press release, “the original proclamation will be on display only for a total of 48 hours over four days beginning June 19, or Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day in 1865 when word reached slaves in Texas that they were free.” [Source:www.juneteenth.com/worldwide.htm] .
5. Texas leads the nation in proclaiming Juneteenth an official state holiday.
On January 1, 1980, Juneteenth became an official Texas state holiday through the efforts of Al Edwards, an African American state legislator. Juneteenth is the first emancipation celebration granted official state recognition.
6. Sign the petition to make Juneteenth a National Holiday.
Go here: http://www.19thofjune.com/petition.html .
7. Take a family trip to Tyler, Texas (or get some ideas). These folks know how to celebrate. “Please come and be a part of the celebration!” they add - a bit of Texas hospitality.
The Juneteenth Association of Tyler sponsors the celebration which includes:
Teen Dance on Friday, June 20, 2003; Annual Juneteenth parade starting at 10 am on Saturday, with floats, car clubs, motorcycles, drill teams, and grand marshal; Celebration in the Park-FREE food, drinks, and entertainment and activities for the kids, praise dancers, and gospel and R&B singers; Annual Juneteenth Ball for the adults. Closing on Sunday with a Gospel Extravaganza with more FREE food and entertainment.
8. Read, listen and learn.
FOR THE FAMILY:
1. Freedom’s Gifts: A Juneteenth Story, by Sharon Wilson (Illustrator), Valerie Wilson Wesley.
2. Juneteenth Jamboree, by Carole Weatherford.
3. Juneteenth Freedom Day, by Muriel Branch.
FOR YOU: Did you know Ralph Ellison (author of “Invisible Man”)died leaving the manuscript for a novel called “Juneteenth,” available as uncorrected proof on amazon.com.
MUSIC: Check out William Ropert’s CD “June Teenth” - available here. It has great cover art!
9. Watch a video.
“A Time to Be Remembered: A Juneteenth Story” is a 57-minute VHS videotape, with Teacher’s Guide, Student’s Time Line, and Activity Ideas. Go here to order it.
10. Put up the flag!
Beautiful Juneteenth flag, 3′ by 5′, $55. Order here.
About the Author
Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, GLOBAL EQ. Emotional intelligence coaching to enhance all areas of your life - career, relationships, midlife transition, resilience, self-esteem, parenting. EQ Alive! - excellent, accelerated, affordable EQ coach certification. Susan is the author of numerous ebooks, is widely published on the Internet, and a regular speaker for cruise lines. For marketing services go here.
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January 15th, 2009
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Some of my clients have come to me feeling like their worlds were not under their own control. They felt as though everyone else ran their lives and had some aspect of control in everything that they did. I asked them to note some specific situations in which they felt this way and how they felt “out of control” of the situation. It’s interesting to note that in every circumstance, there was some aspect of “guilt” or “second-guessing” involved. Indeed, these are the purest signs of self-relinquished control.
There are many ways that people can feel “loss of control” in their lives. We can lose control through frustration and burn-out, living in a rut, stagnation, illness, change, and trauma. However, one of the most common is unconsciously giving up control to others. This is an unconscious act involving two or more parties where party “A” literally hands over the reins to party “B”.
At one time, “parental voices” controlled and molded our lives. These are the voices and rules provided by authority, family, and friends from whom our core belief systems evolved. However, some external influences and people can re-engage that basic instinct for seeking parental acceptance simply by imposing doubt into your world. By accepting the guilt or self-doubt imposed by others, you begin to live in someone else’s “context”. You surrender your own belief systems and adopt those of the other party. In doing so, you begin to live by the rules and controls of the other person.
One of the more common areas in which this occurs is in a professional or group setting where power and control are part of the environment. Many politically savvy individuals (”A”) will take control of others (”B”) simply by learning their ways, gaining their trust, and then embedding doubt or a feeling of non-acceptance. In this way, “A” is now subconsciously seen as the parental figure and “B” requires acceptance from “A”. “A” is now in control of “B”. Over time, “B” grows to feel animosity towards “A”, but is usually unsure why except for the fact that “B” doesn’t like the way that “A” treats them.
Once you fall into this situation, it is difficult to break free. You have to go through and undo the web of emotions and doubt that now clouds your thinking. However, you have to realize that it’s not so much how “A” treats you as it is how you feel about your view of their treatment. By separating your ego and emotions from the situation, you are better able to break free from the reins of self-relinquished control. But, it’s not so much that they have explicit control over you as it is that you are merely seeking their acceptance. It’s an interesting situation to observe!
The best way to prevent such situations from occurring is to go through your own psyche and find out which “parental voices” are still present and dislodge them. You need to replace the old, worn out parental triggers with your own rules for your evolving belief systems. Of course, we usually just leave these voices where they are out of comfort and because they seem to work. However, these are triggers that can be tripped to cause us to fall into this loss-of-control scenario.
I recall one young man who, once he finished college, simply hung out in a local pub. He could not figure out what to do with his life. His parents had passed on, he had no other relatives around, so he just “waited” for anyone and anything that tripped his triggers. Because of this, he ended up in trouble from time to time because he was easily misled by people who gave him what he wanted — acceptance and direction. After much work and planning, he began to move forward in his life and is slowly becoming a success in his own right. But, as you can see, these types of situations are very common and can occur just about anytime to anyone. I’ve also seen such issues occur with abused women, corporations, and myriad other inter-personal situations. People tend to sit and wait for acceptance and guidance from others because they relinquished control.
Live your own life by replacing these triggers with your own rules for living. You will never obtain acceptance from everyone as the rest of the world is out seeking acceptance as well. It’s a never-ending cycle! Learn to accept yourself as, in the long run, you are the only person who has a stake in your own decisions and endeavors for a self-fulfilling life.
About the Author
Edward B. Toupin is an author, publisher, life-strategy coach, counselor, Reiki Master, technical writer, and PhD Candidate living in Las Vegas, NV. Among other things, he authors books, articles, and screenplays on topics ranging from career success through life organization and fulfillment. Check out some of his recent print and electronic books as well as his articles covering various life-changing topics! For more information, and to find out about his upcoming title on book publishing, e-mail Edward at etoupin@toupin.com or visit his site at http://www.toupin.com!
Copyright (c) 2004 Edward B. Toupin
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January 15th, 2009
The best way to appreciate the immense beauty of the Caribbean islands is sailing. It can be said that the Caribbean islands were made expressly for the purpose of sailing vacations. The tiny Caribbean islands are within miles of each other. As you leave each island on your yacht, boat or catamaran, you can see the other island in the distance. The island grows from a speck on the horizon to a whole landmass as you approach it.
Caribbean islands have plenty of coves and small islands on which you can anchor during your sailing vacation. Hence, a sailing vacation in the Caribbean is not just about sailing; it is about discovering a whole new land. There are myriad possibilities on the islands - sailing, snorkeling, scuba-diving, sunbathing on its pristine beaches, reading with the sun overhead, etc. The list could go on.
Sailing also is the chief economy of the natives of the Caribbean islands. Local natives provide sailing packages such as boats and yachts. Catamarans and even the trimarans are available in good number. The natives also provide sailing instructions to those who wish to know. They also may work as skipper or crew on board.
The most popular destination in the Caribbean for a sailing vacation is the British Virgin Islands. These islands have good marine life as well as advanced facilities on their beaches. Tortola is the largest island in the British Virgin Islands and it also has a small airport. The British Virgin Islands are always crowded throughout the year and the population of sailors has increased here in the past decade.
The Grenadines are also extremely popular. These islands are inhabited by French-speaking people for whom boating is a way of life. In fact there is no other mode of transport among the Grenadines except boats. The Grenadines are also very crowded almost throughout the year.
People also throng other islands of the Caribbean like St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, etc. It is difficult to even find a mooring on most of these islands in the peak season. The best period to go to the Caribbean is before the onset of the winter, i.e. in November or in the season between March and May. The Caribbean Islands are relatively less crowded then.
Sailing vacations have become a big business along Caribbean beaches. Most resorts and hotels provide stay-sail facilities. There are many other attractions like folk dances, native food, etc. which becomes a part of the entire sailing package.
Sailing Vacations provides detailed information on Bahamas Sailing Vacations, Caribbean Sailing Vacations, Catamaran Sailing Vacations, Family Sailing Vacations and more. Sailing Vacations is affiliated with Caribbean Sailing.
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January 11th, 2009
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Originally this was going to be a list for my two teenagers but some of these ideas are better suited to adults with a valid driver’s license and a bit of know-how. Some of these take a bit of planning and organizing, but most of them could be done on a fairly spur of the moment case by case basis. The great thing about a lot of these ideas is that you’re spreading holiday cheer by helping to make someone else’s otherwise stressful and overwhelming to-do list a little bit easier. Who wouldn’t pay to have someone come do a few of these things for you? Mostly, what’s important is that you remember to provide a quality item or service to the buyer with a smile on your face and in your heart. Have fun with these!
1. Baby-sit for people who need to do some Christmas shopping without their little ones tagging along. Anyone trustworthy who is over the age of about thirteen or fourteen can do this one. It’s hectic enough to get in and out of the malls and shopping centers without having to drag toddlers along. Contact friends, family, coworkers, and members of your spiritual community to let them know that you’re available for holiday babysitting. This can include time that the parents need to get away for office parties, charity events, and volunteering to help the elderly and less fortunate members of their community.
2. Grab a ladder and offer to clean leaves out of your neighbors’ gutters. Many people are so busy during the summer months that they completely forget to clean all of the debris from their gutters when the sun is out and it’s dry outside. It’s cold and yucky outside now and many people are too busy to get to it themselves. They’ll probably be glad that you offered and they can check it off of their to-do lists. This isn’t one for the younger kids. However, they can offer to rake up the leaves in their neighbors’ yards. Adults could offer to do both the gutters and the yard as one big project for a nice reasonable price. It could also be a father & son side business that you do together - while dad cleans the neighbors gutters, junior rakes up the leaves in the lawn.
3. Bake something amazing and offer to sell it to your friends and coworkers so they won’t have to do their own holiday baking. You probably have to be careful about selling your baked goods to professional organizations and such, but you could do some sideline baking to help out your friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are going to be entertaining guests over the holidays and simply won’t have the time to do their own baking. Have you got an awesome recipe that stands out as everyone’s absolute favorite? It’s the hit of every potluck? Make up some tiny sample sizes or bring it in to the office break room and serve up samples to your potential clients. Then while their mouths are watering, tell them that for a fee you’ll bring them one to their home the day before their guests are to arrive. You’ll have to work out the scheduling and cost of ingredients and such, but this could be a fun way to make some money and spread some serious joy. The hostess will be so pleased when she pulls your work of art out of the fridge and her guests ooh and ah over the scrumptious homemade dessert she didn’t even have to bake herself.
4. Offer to collect people’s empty soda cans and cash them in. My son raised almost $300 last spring doing this so that he could go to a training course to become a camp counselor for the little kids at our church. He went door to door offering to do yard work and most people just handed him bags and bags of pop cans they didn’t want to take the time to cash in. He collected most of them over one weekend and then cashed them all in the following weekend. We live really close to a grocery store where he could walk to cash them in, so I didn’t even have to get my car dirty with sticky soda drippings! This is a really good one for the younger kids to do.
5. Sell something on eBay. I know a number of people who make a decent second income all year round by digging around for antiques and such from the Goodwill and then fixing them, cleaning them up, and selling them for a much higher price on eBay. You have to know what to look for, but these folks will pick up an old pair of stereo speakers for $10 or $15 and then sell them on eBay for $200. The customer pays for shipping. You can also do this through garage sales, flea markets, and estate sells too. Most of the time and work goes into hunting for the cool treasures that someone will want to purchase.
6. Hang up people’s outdoor Holiday lights for them. As a single mom, I would have loved it if someone had come to my house and hung the Christmas lights on my house for me. My children always wanted us to decorate the outside of the house and I hated not being able to do that for them. I didn’t know the first thing about how to go about hanging them up. I didn’t even own a ladder! So, I would think that you could go around offering to hang up people’s outdoor holiday lights for a fee. It they are like me and don’t even have lights but want to get some, you could offer your expertise as to which kind to buy and where to get the best prices and such.
7. Grab a broom or a shovel and offer to clean the neighborhood sidewalks. This is another good one for the younger teens. There’s always sidewalks that need swept or shoveled. And there’s always someone too busy or too tired to do it themselves.
8. Work a second job as seasonal help at one of the department stores in the mall. Most of the major department stores hire extra help in October or November so they can have them fully trained by the time the really busy holiday shopping season kicks in. They are kept on until after the inventory counts are done in January. Then most are let go if they haven’t quit already. Those who have proven themselves to be quality employees will often be asked to stay on longer.
9. Sell something at holiday bazaars. I suspect that you have to get these kinds of events lined up ahead of time with a bit of preplanning and such, but plenty of folks make a decent seasonal income by selling cool arts and crafts type items at those holiday bazaars. Often a percentage of the sales goes towards a fundraiser, but you still make enough to make it worth your time and energy to create the art and to hang out at the art shows.
10. Sell your plasma. We all know how important it is to donate blood during the holidays, but many people don’t know that you can get paid for sitting through a procedure quite similar to the donation process. The difference is that they run your blood through a machine that separates the plasma from the red blood cells and puts the red blood cells back into your body. It take longer and I guess that’s why they are willing to pay you for your time. Years ago, I used to do this when my kids were really little and we needed some extra money for upcoming birthdays and such. They wouldn’t let you do it more than once a week or so and they only paid about $25 each time, so you had to plan ahead if you were going to raise $100 or $200 for something you wanted to purchase. Contact your local Red Cross or other blood donation centers for help finding the plasma centers.
11. Clean houses for others who have holiday guests coming. Typically, if someone has out of town guests coming for the holidays, they have a lot more on their to-do list then just cleaning their toilets and shampooing the carpets. You could become a real lifesaver for those in a crunch who are too busy, too old, or too tired to do a thorough deep cleaning before the guests arrive. Some might even hire you again to clean up after the guests leave too! Teens can do this just as easily as the adults can.
12. Run errands and do odd holiday jobs like wrapping gifts or delivering packages to the post office. You could start a little side business where all you do is run other people’s errands for them. Drop off and pick up the dry cleaning. Take their pet to the vet. Deliver cupcakes to the charity fundraiser. Pick up a handful of gift certificates from national department stores that will later be mailed out. Address and stamp their Christmas cards for them. Do their grocery shopping. Pick up new printer cartridge and some desk calendars for them. It’s all of those tiny little errands that make for frazzled schedules and crazy timelines. For a fee, you could do it for them.
13. Decorate the inside of people’s homes or offices for the holidays. You don’t have to be a professional interior decorator to be helpful. If you’ve got a reputation as having a good eye for attractive and festive decorating, you can help others to set up their trees, hang garland, and place some nice poinsettia here and there. You can help make people’s homes and their office space a warm inviting environment and also include coming back after the holidays to break it all down into to storage containers as part of the deal. I hate tearing down the decorations and would love to pay someone to put it all back away!
14. Cater some dinners for the extremely busy shoppers or for Holiday parties. Those who are not awesome cooks need not apply for this one! Let’s say that your boss is having the annual company Christmas party at his house and his wife is swamped with running kids back and forth to choir concerts and peewee football camp while shopping and planning for her in-laws who will be flying in to visit only three days after her husband’s company party at her house!!! You could offer to cook and cater the event for her. You’d once again be making someone else’s holiday season so much easier while earning extra money for yourself. Decide in advance on a menu and who’s purchasing the ingredients needed. Then all you have to come up with is a dollar figure for your time and grandma’s secret recipe for those little mini-cakes that everyone loves so much.
15. Chauffer someone’s children to and from school and other activities so the parents have some free time. This isn’t quite the same as babysitting. You’d be amazed at how much time a person can spend picking up and driving two or three kids to different events and hauling musical instruments and sporting gear from one event to the next. You could simply run a taxi service for children and teenagers who need rides from point A to B. You don’t have to hang out and watch them once they get there. Just make sure they arrive on time. Even just having an afternoon at home to cook and clean house while someone else gathers up all of the kids and brings them all home could make a world of difference for someone.
As you can see, some of these services could easily be turned into a year-round side job or they could be dropped as soon as the holidays are over. Perhaps you’ll find that you love catering people’s meals, you love refurbishing antiques, or you love running errands and taxiing others around from place to place. You could go into business for yourself and by next year, you could quit your ‘real job’ and be happily self-employed. Then again, your teenager could discover how much time and work it takes just to raise enough money for some generous Christmas shopping. After learning the value of a dollar earned, they might decide that college is a good idea after all!
Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow’s Edge
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow’s Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps of faith. She became a writer in 1999 after twenty years of studying spirituality, metaphysics, astrology, personal growth, motivation, soulmates, and parenting. Her books, articles, and astrological forecasts have inspired people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of happiness. To read more of her articles and to sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter, go to www.TomorrowsEdge.net. To download free previews of her books, go to www.SkyeThomas.com.
Skye@TomorrowsEdge.net
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January 11th, 2009
As with any good web developer, the ability to time the changes Google will update your website and refresh the content for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is in your favor. Welcome to the world of “Google Dance”. The Google Dance is simply that the predetermination of when the actual update will commence.
What really happens is Google sends out spiders to crawl the Internet, usually done to DNS (Domain Name Servers), upon spidering all of the available tables it begins to go through each individual site and updates the content on to Google.com. Thus if you watch your rank on the Google Toolbar, you can tell when your overall page rank has changed.
Understanding SEO and what is necessary to improve your overall ranking. Webmasters have been looking for ways to increase the odds of guessing when the next spidering would commence. There are various versions and servers that go out and crawl thousands of servers at a time, it takes time to relay and decipher this information back to the web server that Google.com pulls its information from.
Some vendors have created programs that actually go out to the data centers themselves to find out approximately when the last index was kicked off. Depending on the information returned from the trace the exact time and date are pinpointed. Is there really that much of an advantage to doing it this way? It depends, if you have a vital update that you want to optimize your site, you may want to know when the last time Google visited your site for content to keep information fresh and relevant.
There are many data centers that Google uses to spider across the world. Each center has a specific region it covers and all the information is gathered in aggregate and returned back to populate Google.com. With this many data centers the chances for continuous indexing is good, but not guaranteed.
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.
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January 9th, 2009
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Connecting with someone, establishing rapport, does not have
to be a difficult thing, although many people find it so.
Here are ten key points to remember whenever you set off to
meet new people…
1. Be happy with yourself.
Much of the insecurity we feel in meeting new people has to
do with how we feel about ourselves as opposed to the other
person. Work hard and develop positive self-esteem.
2. Act Confident…
…..even if you’re not! Chances are the other person is as
nervous as you are.
3. Expect to connect.
Think positive. Tell yourself that you *will* connect with
people… and you will.
4. Smile!
It’s hard NOT to connect with somebody who’s cheerful and
smiling.
5. Notice others.
Maybe *they* are smiling and cheerful. Maybe you are
attracted to something they are saying or discussing,
whatever. Just look for reasons to connect with people
instead of excuses NOT to.
6. Listen.
One of the greatest gifts you can give another person is to
listen to them. Instead of jumping in to say something,
listen a bit longer instead.
7. Ask questions.
Go one step further and truly take an interest in what they
are talking about. Ask thoughtful questions that draw them
out and focus the conversation on them.
8. Connect with individuals.
You can speak to, present to, teach, or train large groups,
but you can only really connect with the individuals in that
group. Emphasize this aspect of your communication and build
those one-on-one connections.
9. Be willing to compromise.
Meeting new people or working with new people invariably
means running into positions, opinions, and practices you
don’t agree with. If you want to build the relationship,
expect to compromise from time to time.
10. Treat others as you’d like to be treated.
Just to start. As you get to know each other work hard to
treat them like they want to be treated (which may be very
different way, indeed).
Jim Allen is a professional life & business coach. For more ideas, subscribe to his free bi-weekly ezine, THE BIG IDEA, by sending a blank email to: SubscribeGA@CoachJim.com
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