“Someone hacked my server and is selling bogus items under my name to an auction house.”

“I got a collections letter for something I never bought!”

“A tenant burned down my house and now I’m getting a letter from the tenant’s insurance company suing me for $100,000!”

“The city wanted to take an acre of my property but they were not offering me fair market value. I know they can take my land through eminent domain, but I just want them to pay me fair market value.”

These are real stories from members of Pre-Paid Legal Services who have used the legal service to solve their problems. Just like them, you need legal help for lease agreements, large purchases, a living will, contract review, an attorney who will answer your questions, DMV issues, IRS audits, and law suits against you.

Part One features real life success stories from Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. members with Mike Moore, former Attorney General of Mississippi, narrating.

To get legal help in San Diego or California, contact Deborah at Pre-Paid Legal Services.

1. Go to Gravatar.com.

2. Sign up for a free account at Gravatar.

3. Upload a profile picture.

4. Add as many email accounts that you would like to be associated to that profile picture. Any time you make a comment with one of your email accounts listed on Gravatar, your profile picture will appear on the blog comments page.

Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you comment or post on a blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums. A photo is a good idea as people relate more to a picture than a blank box next to your comment. If you want to stand out among the crowd of bloggers, a photo will do that for you.

If you are the shy type who guards your privacy like Kristen Stewart guards her rumored romance with Robert Pattinson from the paparazzi, you don’t need to buy a armored truck as your new form of transportation. Consider using a picture of a favorite vacation spot or a favorite hobby or even a colorful abstract.

Just one final word of advice. To the people who just can’t resist using pictures of their children as their profile picture, consider how it looks when you make a strongly worded comment with your child’s smiling face right next to all those f-bombs. Not too good. Be nice to your kids and leave them out of it. In fact, leave the f-bombs to Howard Stern.

Sarah has become a Cancer Survivor Activist. She formed her own team “Chemo Burnz” for The Light the Night Walk on November 20, 2009 5pm at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. She is requesting people to donate and to join her walking team. Funds raised through Light The Night Walk support the work of hundreds of the world’s best and brightest researchers in their search for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Here is Sarah’s story.

Me: You were diagnosed with AML Leukemia at the age of 16. How did you know you were sick?

Sarah: Well I was always getting sick and my hair was thinning but I was just a regular teenage person in water polo and marching band so I just thought it was stress. I didn’t have any of the typical symptoms of leukemia. I didn’t have any bruising and I was able to exercise every day. The night everything happened it hurt really bad to breath so I went to urgent care, they did a test and there was a possible blood clot so they sent me to the emergency room at Children’s hospital. More blood clot tests proved negative, and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so they were going to send me home. But my mom, with her intuition, refused to leave until they had a diagnosis. I went through more tests, none of them resulting in any answers, but then they wanted to do a bone marrow aspiration, which involves sticking a HUGE needle into your hip to pull out bone marrow and test for cancer. They told me they were 90% sure it wasn’t any kind of cancer but they were going to do the test just to make sure. To the doctors’ surprise, the results indicated that my bone marrow was 50% leukemic, and they told us that if we didn’t start chemo therapy right away I would be dead in four months.

Me: Describe your initial feelings upon being diagnosed. Were you always optimistic?

Sarah: When they first told me I had cancer the first thing I thought about was my family and how it would affect them. It was a very sad day, I couldn’t sleep that night I just stared at the wall. I was in denial for a long time and I kept telling myself that what I had was nothing compared to a lot of people. If you have ever been in the cancer ward you would know how much of a loving community there is there. God is very close to all of those sick kids. I felt him there with me every day and I knew that He knew the whole picture of my life. The conclusion that I came to was that God gave me cancer for a reason and even though it was really hard right then, I had hope that it would get better. Thinking about what I wanted in my future helped me to not focus on the pain.

Me: What treatment did you take? For how long? What were the side effects?

Sarah: Initially they started me on three different chemo agents. I was put on a study for a drug that they had previously used on kids with Down Syndrome who had cancer, so this made a total of four chemo agents used. The first round of chemo was 10 days, the second round of chemo was 7 days, the third round of chemo was 5 days and then I went up to City of Hope for another round of chemo and a bone marrow transplant. Within the first two weeks after I was diagnosed my hair fell out. I was very nauseated most of the time, experienced headaches, stomach aches (due to intestinal infections), and severe joint pains in my back, shoulders and neck. I was in the hospital for a month for each round of chemo and would go home for about 3-5 days and then go back up to the hospital for another round. I transferred to the City of Hope where my little sister was a perfect match for a Bone Marrow donation. I had to stay in LA after the transplant for 100 days because they needed to check for graft vs. host disease. My treatments took about 7 months.

From right to left: Sarah, Angela (sister), Clark (dad), and Kimberly (sister)

Sarah: The pain and nausea were pretty bad. After the bone marrow transplant I felt like a 16 year old trapped in a 100 year old body. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t lift myself up. I had chemo burns on my hands, elbows, knees, and feet so it hurt to put pressure on my body and to move around. My mouth swelled up so I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva without excruciating pain. I couldn’t bathe myself and my mom had to do everything for me. It was very difficult for me to accept that I couldn’t do things that people my age could do.

Me: What was the best experience with having Leukemia?

Sarah: There were so many good experiences with having the leukemia. I have grown as an individual because of it and I have been given so many blessings because of it. I was able to meet so many strong individuals who were battling cancer with me and I had understanding doctors and nurses. I became very close with my family. I was also able to get into contact with the Make-a-Wish foundation and last summer was able to go on a Mediterranean cruise.

Me: How did your family deal with your diagnosis?

Sarah: My family had a lot to deal with. My Dad went home the day of the diagnosis and told my little sister I had cancer. Her first question was “will she die? My mom and dad did a lot of crying, and they were all very scared for me. They had a hard time sleeping at the hospital but were scared to leave me alone in the hospital so they took turns staying with me so that they weren’t both exhausted at the same time. Mom organized care for my younger sister, with the help of many of our church members, and she and Dad both did a lot of studying and praying so that they were aware of what was happening and able to make some real hard decisions in an incredibly short amount of time. My older sister felt shock, sadness, and guilt because she was soon to return to Idaho to continue her education. Before she left, she spent several nights with me in the hospital and put on a “happy face” so that I could forget the seriousness of what I was experiencing for small periods of time. She helped me to laugh and smile in spite of everything that was happening. When she went away to Idaho she felt separated from everything because so much of my parents’ energy and time had to go into the care of my little sister and me.

Me: How did you mentally and emotionally get through this ordeal?

Sarah: I prayed a lot and received comfort from friends who came to visit me. I was able to look at it as a blessing that God would love me so much that He knew I would be able to get through cancer and all of the hard things that come with it. There were times when sleeping was a good escape from the pain, nausea, etc. but during my waking hours I used art and journaling as a way of expressing my feelings and forgetting how sick I was. I watched a lot of TV and funny movies. Because I was in isolation on several occasions, I wasn’t able to leave my room, but people from the hospital would bring games, movies, etc. to my room and I would enjoy the time they would spend with me. The massage therapist, Lisa, had magical hands that would help me relax and feel better.

Me: The cancer is in remission. How do you feel about life, yourself, your friends, and your future?

Sarah: I feel that I have had so many opportunities to help people because of the cancer. I am able to have a better understanding for people who are sick. I am excited for my future. I am thinking of going to med school and becoming an oncologist so that I can help cure and share my experience with my future patients and bring hope to them. Because I spent so much time in the hospital (and basically missed out on that year of going to school and being with my friends) I am finding the transition sometimes challenging. It’s as though they went on with their lives and I was “stuck” in that time. On occasion I find myself in situations where the cancer is the topic I relate to most but they don’t, so it makes it awkward to know how to navigate through the conversation without drawing a lot of attention to myself or alienating myself from them. When I first came home from the hospital, I was very susceptible to infections, or so tired or in so much pain that I was not able to be around people much. This caused awkwardness for them at times and loneliness for me. I’m grateful that that phase is in the past now.

Me: How is your health currently? Were there any side effects from chemotherapy?

Sarah: It was hard for me right after I was in remission to realize that it would take a long time for me to regain my energy. It has taken a while but looking back to how I was even four months ago gives me hope. My kidneys and my liver were affected by the chemotherapy, but they have pretty much recovered. Perhaps the toughest realization of adverse side effects has been that I may not be able to have children because I’m basically like a menopausal woman, requiring hormone replacement therapy so that I don’t have hot flashes or decreased bone density.

Me: Do you feel you had adequate care and information from the nurses and doctors while you stayed at the hospital?

Sarah: The doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital and City of Hope were great. Most of them were very compassionate, understanding, and able to talk to me at my level. The Art therapist, psychologist, and child life specialists were all great at their jobs and they made the hospital a less boring place.

Me: What school are you currently attending? What do you want to study or be someday?

Angela and Sarah

Me: You mentioned that The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helped your family with travel and medication funds. Is this typical for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society? What else do they do?

Sarah: The Leukemia and Lymphoma society or LLS offers the most comprehensive array of services to blood cancer patients and their families. Only LLS provides individualized information to patients and their caregivers about their blood cancers, resources, treatments, and other critical issues. They have also created an implemented and innovative program, The Trish Greene Back to School Program for Children with Cancer, to help smooth the way for children returning to school after cancer treatment, with education and tools for teachers and school personnel. LLS also provides financial support and co-pay assistance to patients with blood cancers, helping them access treatments and drugs they otherwise might not be able to afford. LLS is a leader in encouraging all patients to consider clinical trials, which offer enhanced care and, for some, the only hope for a positive outcome.

Me: What made you want to get involved in Light the Night Walk?

Kimberly, Sarah, Angela, and Diana (mom)

Help Sarah raise money for Light the Night Walk by donating to her team. http://pages.lightthenight.org/sd/SanDiego09/chemoburns

According to the National Institutes of Health, child emergencies are far more likely to occur during the first year of life often due to lack of information. In many cases, emergencies can be prevented. And if your baby is cronically crying at 2 a.m., how are you going to prevent your baby’s symptoms from getting worse?

What if your baby has a rash, fever, or cough? Do you ever need answers during the holidays and your only option is to go to the hospital? The average wait time in an emergency room is 3.3 hours and 55% of visits are unnecessary. You need immediate and accurate advice that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

My Bear Cub is a service provider for parents of newborn babies, toddlers, and disabled children. My Bear Cub, a division of Instant Care, provides medical answers instantly with a 24-hour nurse help line and 24-hour emergency response service. With a low monthly service fee, you are provided a 2-button remote and console system. The remote has a button for medical questions and medical emergencies.

So how does the console work?

There are two buttons on the console and remote. Wear the remote around your wrist or neck as it works outside your home. If you have a medical question, press the white nurse button. You are immediately connected to Bear Cub’s 24-hour nurse line center through the console. Bear Cub’s Specialist will begin answering your medical questions or assessing your medical needs.

If your need is an emergency, touch the red emergency button. Your emergency response system is activated and much faster than a 911 call. Bear Cub’s specialist will talk to you through the console to assess the situation and take appropriate actions. If you have an emergency or you are unable to respond, Emergency Medical Teams are dispatched immediately to your home. Bear Cub’s Specialists will stay on the line until help arrives. Your loved ones and others you choose will be immediately contacted.

Just as OnStar provides you with an in-vehicle safety and security system to protect you and your family on the road, Bear Cub provides you with 24-hour access at home or on the road. As an added feature to your monthly service fee, you can call a nurse from your cellular phone for advice. Think of it as OnStar for babies.

You get twice the care with My Bear Cub.

To get the right audience, I suggest you do the following steps:

1. Make a list of the top five gurus in your industry. Use Twellow.com to search for your gurus. Twellow is a directory of public Twitter accounts with hundreds of categories and search features to help you find people. While you’re on Twellow, register yourself for free.

2. Once you find one of your gurus, start a conversation with that guru first before following him or her as this increases the chance that he or she will follow you back. An easy way to start a conversation is re-tweet (RT) something the guru wrote on their page. Include the ‘at symbol’ (@) with their Twitter name along with their tweet. This encourages good will as you are promoting the guru to all of your followers, bringing positive attention to the guru. The guru would know his or her name was mentioned by using the search feature in Twitter (search.twitter.com). You will also want to use the Twitter search feature to find tweets about yourself!

3. While on the gurus page, open his or her list of followers then follow everyone in the first five pages. Take a break after five pages otherwise Twitter will temporarily suspend your account on the assumption that you are a spammer. I encourage you to read Twitter’s rules so that you keep your account live at all times. After your break, follow another five pages. Make sure you avoid following duplicate Twitter accounts as those are spammers. It always amazes me when someone takes the time to create 10 Twitter accounts with 10 different names but makes the mistake of using the same photo. Dead give-away that this person is a spammer and will not be a live person on the other end. Don’t waste your time with them as they certainly won’t be looking at your tweets. Wash, rinse, and repeat daily.

4. The best times to follow people in the United States and Europe is between 1:30pm-3pm and 7pm-11pm. The weekends is a great time to add new followers as a lot more people are online. As long as you follow Twitter’s rules, you can use software to add or delete friends. Tweetelitepro is the best program for adding or removing Twitter followers automatically. Tweet Elite Pro is roughly $97 per year and Tweet Elite Lite is as low as $17.94.

5. Build familiarity and trust with all your followers. You add value by posting tweets that educate your followers. Share your best tips and lessons. Post 3 to 5 times every day. Out of the 5 posts, three posts should be about your business, product, or service and two posts should be a story or educating. You can find interesting stories on Digg.com, HowToDoThings.com, EHow.com, or Ezinearticles.com and post the link to the article in your tweet. Copy the link for the story and the headline into your post. If the link is too long for your post, use a link shortener. I use Bit.ly because it is free and tracks how many people have actually clicked on my links. The point of sharing stories is to be real, fun, and informative. You don’t want to come across as a selfish sales person only trying to get your message across to the world. Who wants to follow that?

6. Send direct messages to your new followers. Save yourself some time by automating the direct messages using Tweetlater’s free service. Direct messages are a perfect opportunity to cross promote yourself. For example, I automatically send out an invitation to all my followers to add me as a friend on Facebook.com. Facebook is a great way to build a follower into a trusted friend. You could also use the direct message feature to have private conversations with your new follower.

7. Brand yourself. Become unforgettable in the eyes of your prospects. A good way to brand yourself is create a background that shows your personality. At a minimum, include a picture of yourself and your domain name. If you can squeeze anything else, include your social media addresses. If you don’t know how to use PhotoShop, you can hire a graphic designer like Hugh Briss at Twitterimage.com. His branded backgrounds are affordable at $99.

Getting Twitter followers should be easy, fun, and profitable as long as you stick to the above suggestions. I wish you massive success in Twittersphere!

Are you wondering how people make money on their blogs? Deborah Bravandt coaches people from ground zero to profitably using affiliate programs. Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/deborahbravandt. My article was originally published on Ezinearticles website at: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Deborah_Bravandt

Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and filling out quizzes — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing gigs and connecting with your customers.

Here are 32 ways to use Facebook in your business.

Manage Your Profile

1. Fill out your profile completely to earn trust.
2. Establish a business account if you don’t already have one.
3. Stay out of trouble by reading the Facebook rules regarding business accounts.
4. Install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from your blog and other social media accounts into your Facebook profile. (Although you should be careful before integrating your Twitter feed into your Faceboook profile, as a stream of tweets can seem overwhelming to your contacts.)
5. Keep any personal parts of your profile private through Settings.
6. Create friends lists such as “Work,” “Family” and “Limited Profile” for finer-grained control over your profile privacy.
7. Post a professional or business casual photos of yourself to reinforce your brand.
8. Limit business contacts’ access to personal photos.
9. Post your newsletter subscription information and archives somewhere in your profile.

Connect and share with others

10. Obtain a Facebook vanity URL so that people can find you easily.
11. Add your Facebook URL to your email signature and any marketing collateral (business cards, etc.) so prospects can learn more about you.
12. Post business updates on your wall. Focus on business activities, such as “Working with ABC Company on web site redesign.”
13. Share useful articles and links to presentation and valuable resources that interest customers and prospects on your wall, to establish credibility.
14. Combine Facebook with other social media tools like Twitter. For example, when someone asks question on Twitter, you can respond in detail in a blog post and link to it from Facebook.
15. Before traveling, check contacts locations so you can meet with those in the city where you’re heading.
16. Research prospects before meeting or contacting them.
17. Upload your contacts from your email client to find more connections.
18. Use Find Friends for suggestions of other people you may know to expand your network even further.
19. Look for mutual contacts on your contacts’ friends lists.
20. Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blog or speaker at your event.
21. Market your products by posting discounts and package deals.
22. Share survey or research data to gain credibility.
23. Use Facebook Connect to add social networking features to your web site.
24. Suggest Friends to clients and colleagues — by helping them, you establish trust.
25. Buy Facebook ads to target your exact audience.
26. Read up on Facebook Beacon to see if it might be useful for you.

Use Network, Group and Fan Pages

27. Start a group or fan page for product, brand or business. Unless you or your business is already a household name, a group is usually the better choice.
28. Add basic information to the group or fan page such as links to company site, newsletter subscription information and newsletter archives.
29. Post upcoming events including webinars, conferences and other programs where you or someone from your company will be present.
30. Update your group or fan page on a regular basis with helpful information and answers to questions.
31. Join network, industry and alumni groups related to your business.
32. Use search to find groups and fan pages related to your business by industry, location and career.

How do you use Facebook for business?

This young man was receiving 100+ emails per day from a web development mailing list. He had never subscribed to this list nor was he able to unsubscribe after multiple attempts. It was not your normal spam as the messages had no intent to sell a product or service. The bully had targeted my client’s email account knowing that my client’s email account lacked a proper spam filter. The intent of the spam email was meant to choke off my client’s supply of sales leads for his business by overwhelming his inbox with emails that looked legitimate, forcing my client to view each email individually before determining if he should keep or erase the message.

He contacted the list moderator for the web development website who told my client to check the source of the email by clicking on “show original.” The source email was a Gmail address and the cyber bully who was spamming my client was using a Gmail account as his “ghost account” to permanently forward to my client’s email account. He contacted the list moderator to remove the ghost email address from the list, but oddly, the moderator ignored his request.

Since my client was not the owner of the Gmail address, he had no way to unsubscribe from the list. He reported the harassment to Google online but Google responded with a computer generated email response that they would investigate. He could not find a phone number for Google that was answered by a live human being. Months continued to go by without any solution from the List Moderator or Google.

I suggested to my friend that he end his troubles in two simple steps. First, look up the owner of the domain using Network Solutions. Once at Network Solutions, click on WHOIS Search under Resources. In the “Enter a search term” box, type the complete domain address. It will list website owner’s name, an address, phone number, fax number, and email address.

Second, since my client was a member of Pre-Paid Legal Services, he was entitled to a free letter from his provider law firm. His provider law firm wrote a cease and desist letter then mailed, faxed, and emailed the letter to the adminstrative contact of the list. Upon receiving the letter, the adminstrator immediately deleted the Gmail address from the list and the young man’s harassment stopped as quickly as you can say free.

Deborah Bravandt is a business owner and independent associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services in San Diego. To get or sell Pre-Paid Legal Services, check it out at www.bravandt.com.

One of the least expensive and easiest ways to achieve expert status is to write a book. No, I don’t mean finding a publisher and writing a book to be physically published! After all, you don’t want to wait years for something to hit the book store. If you want to establish yourself – and make money – in the easiest way possible, consider writing an ebook.

While this article talks about ebooks, the same benefits pertain to other types of information products. For example:

* Reports
* Manuals
* Tutorials
* Instructions
* Article Collections
* Courses
* Swipe Files
* Journals
* and much more!

Here are the ten reasons you should consider producing ebooks:

1. Lead generation. Imagine that you are about to list your house for sale and you are searching for a listing agent. One web site offers a report entitled, “How to Sell Your House for Top Dollar in Under a Month.” Wow! That would be great information to have.

In exchange, you only need to fill out a short form and include your contact information. After you submit it, you’ll receive the report. This is a targeted lead which was almost free to obtain. The only cost is any promotion cost to bring you to the site.

2. Automatic Distribution 24/7. Your “salesman” sells and delivers your ebook around the clock. And, since it is delivered over the Internet, you can sell worldwide with no worries about the cost or time of delivery.

3. Easy to Update. If your industry or company changes frequently, printed material becomes obsolete quickly. When you provide information through an ebook, it’s easy and inexpensive to send updates to your customers. That’s a definite advantage for your customers – and your bottom line.

4. Search Within the Document. If you are providing a long document, like technical instructions or a large book, your ebook allows people to search within the document and easily find a particular word or phrase. This adds extra value.

5. Hot Link to Affiliate Accounts or Other Web Sites. Your ebook allows you to create hot links, so your readers are automatically sent to your web pages or affiliate products through your web link. By connecting within the document, you’ll have more people visiting – and buying – on those sites.

6. Submit to Ebook Directories and Download Sites. Another way to build your list is to write an ebook and submit to numerous ebook directories. Within the ebook, make an additional offer so readers will visit your web site and sign up for your bonus.

7. Brand Your Ebook and Make it Viral. If you operate an affiliate program, you can use your affiliates to promote it as well. Viral marketing is a great word-of-mouth way to promote a business that can snowball and take on a life of its own. It works especially well if your free ebook uncovers a problem and your web site (or the product linked from your ebook) solves it!

8. Make Money. Once you’ve created your ebook, it’s easy to list it for sale. You can even take it further and sign up at sites like Clickbank, which is a great place to acquire new affiliates to market your products for you.

9. Use as a Bonus. If you created an ebook for sale, you can develop 1-3 additional books on the same or complementary subject, and add them to the sales letter as bonuses. Some people buy a web site for the bonuses over the primary product… so bonuses get attention!

10. First Step in the Sales Funnel. If you’ve ever taken a sales class, you‘ve probably learned about the sales funnel. Prospects become customers usually by buying a low-cost, valuable product that over-delivers. They are then “stepped” through the funnel with ever-increasing price points.

An ebook is an excellent way to start people on your sales funnel. Plan this out on paper and develop your first 2-3 products at least, before selling your first ebook, so you are prepared.

For those adult children who are caring for their ailing parents, there are legal options available to avoid the pitfalls of depleting your own retirement. For example, one family in Kansas City created a legal care contract to avoid putting their mother in a nursing home. According to Paula Span, the daughter was a nurse at a local hospital and was willing to bare the responsibility for her mother’s care as long as she did not lose income substantially. The daughter scaled back her work schedule and agreed to help her mother a certain number of hours each week attending to particular duties. In exchange, the mother paid her daughter the same hourly wage the daughter would have earned at the hospital.

The family hired an attorney who specialized in Elder Law to draw up a care contract. The contract specified the hours, schedule, specific duties, and pay so that all family members would feel they were dealt with fairly.

Interest in Elder Law has picked up since 2006 due to the tightening of Medicaid eligibility requirements. Without a caregiving contract, parents must sell their assets and give away cash to family members in order to qualify for Medicaid-paid nursing home care. With a caregiving contract, however, elders can show that they are paying for services rendered and still retain their assets. According to Richard Kaplan, a University of Illinois law professor who has studied care contracts, “Money can be transferred to younger relatives without triggering a penalty.”

Caregiver contracts also provide clarification so that no misunderstandings occur between siblings. Without a caregiver contract, a sibling might see the parent treating the children unequally, which could lead to bitter family disputes. With a caregiver contract, it is necessary to get all siblings involved with the specifics so that everyone feels the solution is fair.

If you need help with your own Caregiver contract, consider paying a monthly fee to have access to attornies who deal in Elder Law. The monthly fee includes free consultations per topic, free letters per topic, a free will, and a variety of other services. Check out the rates here.