Aspire to Inspire

I'm a Certifiable Twit - and You Should Be Too!

Dang this Twitter thing is addictive!

I am writing a very quick post to tell you that if you don't - you should be.  Tweeting that is.

Six months ago I kept hearing about Twitter from Carrie Wilkerson - the Barefoot Executive and I looked at it, but could not understand what she was talking about.  It seemed to be like standing at the top of the stairs at a big party (realllllly big party) and just overhearing snippets of conversation.

Then, because I am a big proponent of actually listening to the people I actually respect and actually doing what they are doing, I joined.  And at first, I just watched.  (That by the way is how I have approached a lot of life - watching).

But then, I decided that I have spent too much time watching and not enough participating.  So I began to join in.

I was shocked that I got responses from some of the very people I highly respect and had been "watching" and reading about from a distance.  They were now at fingertip distance and were willing to communicate with me.  This was eye-opening and changed my view forever of the role social media can play and WILL play in business in the future.

Warren Whitlock (http://TwitterHandbook.com Author, Publisher, Blogger and Social Media Guy) describes the 3 stages of Twitter Acceptance in this blog post.  So very true!  If you are in stages 1 or 2, you probably don't yet see the big picture, but hang on.

Because though I cannot even do the topic of Twitter justice, Michael Stelzner's blog post does a fantastic job of explaining How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business - an absolute must read!

Are you Inspired to try?  Follow me on Twitter - HBlackwell

WOW

Truly all I can say is WOW!

For those of you who don't know who Yanik Silver is, you need to find out. And, if you are at all interested in writing (see last post), you need to learn from him as well. Because he is an amazing resource for learning copywriting.

And now he has outdone himself. Check it out Here.

He is offering killer information and all you pay for is the s/h fee.

First, he's giving away a special, $15k closed-door presentation entitled "Instant Leverage Points in Your Business That Bring You Surges of Cash". It's a presentation Yanik did last January to 26 top-gun entrepreneurs and business leaders, who paid about $15k in membership fees and trip fees to come together in Baja, Mexico.

This information gives you the little 'tweaks' to apply to your current business that immediately surge the bottom line. All with a few quick fixes. And the best part is once they are set-up, they keep paying you over and over again.

OR, if you don't have a business, you will get tons of ideas for starting one and be able to kick it off in the right direction!

Plus, he's bundled up this DVD, the MindMap he handed out, his newest book called "34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs", a 2 CD-Audio program and MORE - the only thing you pay for is s/h.

You really can't afford to miss out on this information! Yanik is one of those people you must learn all you can from - so learn more by clicking here.

Could Your Words Be Turned to Ca$h?

I think it is so "simple" that many of us wouldn't think you could make money at it!

Or, we think High School English and run screaming from the room!

But, can you write? Even a little bit?

Well, maybe writing is what you need to do to start making money from home. If you break out into cold sweat just thinking about term papers, research and your masters thesis, OR because you believe you cannot write, it might help you to know that this type of writing is the kind that would make your English teacher break out into cold sweats! But, if you love to write, well ........ Bonus!

There is a wide market out there for making money with writing skills. You can blog (for yourself or others), You can write articles, ebooks or proposals. You might enjoy copywriting and can write copy for print media, and for the Web, everything from advertisements to press campaigns and Web sales pages.

And, the best part is, you can easily learn. Here is a great resource for learning to write and turn your words into cold, hard CA$H - FabFreelanceWriting

Angela has a blog and ezine dedicated to helping others develop a freelance writing career. In addition, she has a range of materials for freelancers. She has ebooks as well as a new range of Special Reports for writers to help them be able to take advantage of new opportunies - and of course, to make more money as a writer.

Check her out Here. You will be glad you did!

Now, be Inspired and a Fabulous Freelancer!

Are You A Procrastinator

Do you know what it is like to miss one more deadline?

Or are you one of those people that works right up to the deadline because you work best under pressure?

Have you told yourself that that is just the way you are and you cannot change it?

As a certifiable procrastinator who has found the secret to changing her ways, I am offering my most sincere help to you. You CAN change your procrastinating ways.

Receive a FREE copy of my article about how to Give Procrastination The Boot when you sign up to receive my newsletter - Simple Inspirations.

This is a newsletter designed to give you the inspiration (or kick in the pants -whichever you might need) to get going. Whether you are already in business for yourself, or you are thinking about starting a home based business, this newsletter will provide Simple, Quick, Easy to Read and Inspiring Ideas to get you started making money working from home.

Each week you will receive a complimentary copy of a newsletter that inspires with ideas to get you started or get you moving. Ideas about what to do and not do to attract customers. Places to go for great training. And success stories to inspire you with what works!

We all get a lot of e-mail and I hope you are getting some really good content in the ones you are already subscribed to.

Let me promise to make mine brief and useful. If I don't, please let me know how I can fix it.

Now, Have an Inspired Day.

Articles Today, New York Times Bestseller List Tomorrow

Ha - well, maybe not tomorrow!

But, I did it, I actually posted my article!  It took me longer to do than I intended, because the computer glitch caused me to loose a few things. 

Yeah, for me!  It is still in editorial review, so I will give the link tomorrow, but for today, one article down and I have learned a few things.

1.  Keywords.  I just started writing and didn't think about key words that would be searched.  And actually, this probably worked for me, because if I was trying to fit certain words in, I would not have been able to think of a thing to write.  BUT, you should target key words and keyword phrases that the audience you are writing to will use to search for your information.  See my Resources page for a couple of websites to use.

I did it backwards, however, and wrote the article first.  I then searched for keywords and phrases and went through my article and made changes with these suggestions in mind.

2.  Why would they read it?  I was asked to type a 2-5 sentence summary that entices people to click and read.  This also entices e-zine publishers to click and read!  If it is flat and dull, no one will believe that my article will be lively and entertaining.   So it helps to think through these questions before you even start to write:  What benefit to the reader is there in reading what I have to say?  What will they know or what skill will they have at the end that they do not have right now?

3.  About ME?  Then at the end, you write a little clip about yourself.  Now, I did not have to do this, but I noticed that the authors that I would go and search out more articles from, would have these little synopsis at the end.  So, I thought about why I am writing and what would make someone look for more of my articles.  I think this is uncomfortable, because it feels a little like tooting my own horn.

Hmmmm, Toot - Toot.  I might get used to it!

Having trouble with time management?  Look back here for the link to my article tomorrow!

Who Needs a Stinky Sponge?

I have to admit, the idea of blogging, twitting, oops, I meet twittering. tweeting, digging, stumbling...... etc., all seemed so, well, useless.

I read Liz Strauss' post about "What Possible Benefit Could Anyone Possibly Get From a Blog?" (see my blog link at the right) and really identified with the audience she is describing! Mention the word blogging and my eyes began glassing over. I saw the internet as a tool to gather information FOR ME! I never looked at it as a tool to give information. I was just busy getting, soaking, gathering and gleaning!

Well, all that information going IN is like a sponge that just sits in water. It soaks it up and eventually begins to mildew.

Whew, I was beginning to be a stinky sponge.

Now, I don't have aspirations of becoming a world-wide known blogger, or an in demand speaker for sold-out conventions. But, the information needed to come out and I just wanted a way to share what I have learned.

Bingo, self! What a brilliant idea - use the internet. Document what you are doing. Forge a path. And, of course leave giant chocolate cookie crumbs for others to follow along the way, should they so choose.

My first goal: I set the goal of writing and submitting at least one article. So, what did I do?

First Step was to I research some free sights to submit articles (take a look at my Resource page for sites).
- I looked at the articles under the topics I would be interested in and read the most frequently read
articles. I read several of the same authors articles.
- I made note of what titles interested me and made me click on them.
- I read the guidelines for submitting articles to each of the sites.

Second Step was to determine what I am going to write. I have the goal of inspiring others to take action, so I want to write articles along that line.
- I brainstormed on the reasons (or more appropriately excuses) we have for not taking action
- I came up with 3 ideas for article topics
- I wrote bullet points the first one
- I wrote for 20 min straight without editing, rereading or changing anything.
- I then edited and looked at the word count
- I repeated the above 3 steps for the remaining 2 topics.

Doing this, I was able to get 3 articles written in less than 2 hours (well, research took a little longer, but I still have ideas for even more articles). These were not dissertations for my master's degree. Just little, content-rich, blurbs really! So fun. I really can do this.

Now, I am going to submit them. Stay tuned. Hopefully it will be a totally undisastrous, un-"story-worthy" event. But with great results!!

You know, to get water out of that sponge, you have to squeeze. And a lot of us are scared of pain.

But, I am here to report - the squeeze really felt more like a massage. And I felt excellent when it was over with!

Let me Inspire YOU! Tell me how I can in my 3 question survey: Inspire Me, Please!