As an adult I became aware of a unique opportunity known as Therapeutic Riding – otherwise known as Equine Assisted Therapy.  These programs focus on children and adults challenged by a range of disabilities including, but not limited to: Parkinson’s Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Down Syndrome, Stroke, Depression, Multiple Sclerosis, as well as victims of physical, mental, or emotional abuse. The kindness and patience of the horses, instructors, and volunteers in Therapeutic Riding Programs combine to produce incredible healing benefits.

Through volunteering with Avalon Therapeutic Equestrian Center and LifeStriders I’ve seen firsthand what a huge impact these programs can have on  everyone involved. Magic happens.

One Therapeutic Riding Center, based in the UK, Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) is using it’s web page, Facebook, and Twitter to unite riders worldwide for the World’s Biggest Riding Lesson on September 28, 2011.  The worldwide lesson is a fundraiser for the RDA and is open to any rider at any level.  Although the RDA is based in the UK, they have riding centers throughout the world.

The riding lesson to be held on Sept. 28th has 3 lesson plans to choose from – riding, driving, and vaulting. Everyone participating will follow one of these 3 lesson plans as a way to increase awareness about how equine assisted lessons are conducted.

More information on the RDA can be found here RDA .

In the US,  PATH International, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, (formerly NAHRA, North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) offers certification and accreditation programs for therapeutic riding instructors and facilities.

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to click on the links!

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Prosperity!

“You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings.”

There are a number of companies that are arguing that since the content and information is owned by the person or company that posts it, that they have the right to download and back up that information, and so are creating products to do just that. Some have been successful and some have not.

Here are a few of the resources I have found that will allow you to back up your Facebook data.

Facebook Profile Backups

There are a number of tools available for backing up your profile information:

Facebook’s Own Download Option

The recent updates to Facebook now provide an option that will allow you to download the following profile information:

• Your profile information (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)
• Wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile
• Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account
• Your friend list
• Notes you have created
• Events to which you have RSVP’d
• Your sent and received messages
• Any comments that you and your friends have made on your Wall posts, photos, and other profile content

In order to get this information  – log in to your Facebook account, then

1. Click on Account
2. Select Account Settings
3. Select Download Your Information
4. Click on Learn More
5. Click on Download

Facebook will then generate a zip file with your results. They will send you an email when it is ready. For security reasons, in order to retrieve your file – they have a verification system in place that you must go through in order to retrieve that file. They show you randomly selected photos from people in your friends list and ask you to identify the friends.  I am not sure if they are using profile pics or any pics that may be in your friends’ photo albums – but I think they need to rethink this option. Some of the photos I was asked to identify were of flowers and outdoor shots, some were group shots that had more than one of my friends in them – so I didn’t know which friend to pick for those. I flunked Facebook’s photo verification system and wasn’t able to retrieve my file . Therefore, I don’t recommend this option

Give Me My Data

Give Me My Data is a Facebook Application written by Owen Mundy that allows you to back up different aspects of your Facebook profile data. With the application you can download the following:

• Personal Information
• Status Updates
• Photos Tagged
• Photo Albums
• Links
• Pages that you have Liked
• Notes
• Notifications
• Friends
• Mutual Friends
• Groups
• Events

You will need to download each of these items one at a time. You have  choice of saving each file as a plain text, CSV, XML, DOT or Nodebox.  The information shows up in a box on your screen which you must then copy and paste into the appropriate program in order to view . For example, if you copy and paste the text you receive into Notepad++ and save it as an XML file – you can then view the file in Firefox.

Here’s the Step-By-Step:

1. Click on http://givememydata.com/
2. Click on Go To Application
3. Allow Facebook Access
4. Select the Data from the list above that you would like to save
5. Select the Format you would like to save it in
6. Click on Give Me My Data
7. Copy the data that is displayed in the large window
8. Paste it into your application of choice and Save it.
9. Open the file with your program of choice in order to view it.

Social Safe

Social Safe is an application that currently allows you to save Facebook profile information in a very user-friendly format. It has a free version which allows you to download certain information, however if you want to be able to view or export all of it, you will need to get the paid version. It is only $6.99 though, so if you are not comfortable with the Give Me My Data option and want a very user-friendly interface, it’s well worth the cost.

The Free Version Includes:
Photo Albums
Friends
Status Updates
Profile

The Paid version includes:
Wall Posts
Tagged Photos
And the following items for your Your Twitter Account:
Tweets
Direct Messages
Mentions
Followers
Following
Bio

Facebook Fan Page Backups

I have only been able to find one site that offers Fan/Like page backups. This site is Backupify.com.  This site  allows you to do a full backup of 5 social media services for free. Information is stored on their site. They have a full menu of options that you can choose from for each account, letting you specify exactly which items you would like to save.

Backups are performed automatically once a week. If you would like a copy of your backups – click on Archives, then click on Export to Zip and a file will be emailed to you. Note: This zip file will contain ALL of the accounts that you have set to back up – not just the Facebook Fan Page. It may take a few hours for the file to arrive once you request it. I requested a zip file earlier today – as soon as I receive it I will let you know how it looks as far as readability and usability.

And as with all backups, I recommend that you keep one copy on your computer, and one copy off-site. I like to use Adrive.com for off-site backups.

For information on backing up your Twitter account – see my previous post Is Your Twitter Account Protected?

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Prosperity!

This first amazing video was created by an incredible composer and conductor who created a world-wide virtual choir.

Take a look: Inspiring Ideas

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Prosperity!

What is a Social Media site?

Social media sites are places on the internet where users create the content that changes continuously, as opposed to industrial media, which is static. Examples of Social Media include Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, while industrial media includes things like television, magazines and newspapers, books, and internet websites that have fixed content that does not change.

Social media sites were originally created for the use of individual users who wished to share information quickly and easily. As people discovered new ways to use social media, different types of sites were developed that allow users to both contribute to and search for information in different ways. Businesses have discovered that social media is a great way to interact with their customers one-on-one, providing them with immediate feedback on their products, services, and ideas.

Social Networking Sites

By far the most widely used social media sites are Social Networking sites. These include sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. One of the greatest advantages of social networking sites is that they provide a platform that can be used by anyone to create and establish their own personal brand. This is a process that takes time. It can not be accomplished overnight. However, once accomplished, one becomes a recognized expert in his/her field and has a much improved chance of success at any online endeavor.

Social Bookmarking Sites

We have all, at one time or another, found a website that was particularly useful and bookmarked it in our web browsers. Social bookmarking works in a similar fashion, but instead of saving the link to the site in a web browser, it is saved on the web. This makes it possible to share the link with family and friends who might also benefit from the information provided on the site.

Most social bookmarking sites are designed for sharing links and all sorts of topics, allowing users to browse all categories to find topics of interest.

Social News Sites

Social News sites are a specialized form of Social Bookmarking Sites. Most of the bookmarks that are saved to these sites are focused on news-related topics like sports, politics, technology. Users then are allowed to vote on stories they like the best. Stories are then ranked according to the votes, providing a way to rate the value of information provided by a website. Examples of social news sites include Digg and Reddit. These sites are rapidly becoming more popular for researching current news than the search engines. This is due to the fact that the content is rated by the users of the site instead of by a search engine algorithm. They have evolved into a form of social search engine, providing more specific and current content than organic search engines.

Professional Networking Sites

These sites have a specific focus for people that want to network in a certain niche. By far the most popular of these is LinkedIn, which is business-oriented. It allows business professionals to network, providing opportunities for joint ventures, information sharing, and referral business.

Other New Sites

As interaction on the Internet continues to grow – more and more social media sites are being developed to meet the needs of expanding interest. As an example, my fellow TSA Mastery colleague Karin Boode, couldn’t find a social bookmarking site to meet her needs, so she created her own, based on her idea of what an ideal social bookmarking site would be. Take a look:

Do-Follow Social Bookmarking Site

For more information on “Do-Follow” check out my previous post How to Implement Do-Follow on Your Blog – Get Your Links Noticed.

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Success!

Have you ever figured what it cost to get a customer? For example: If you spend $200 on an ad in a newspaper and it brings you 10 customers then each of those customers cost you $20 just to get them in the door. If you sell swimming pools, that’s great! If you sell hot fudge sundaes, you’ll be broke in a month.

The problem with most advertising is that you are paying money to reach people who will never be your customer for any number of reasons… distance, cost, need, etc. Not to mention the fact that your ad has to be noticed and remembered when the customer needs you. Those are very long odds you have to overcome for your advertising to make you money.

THERE IS A BETTER WAY

Question: As you think about your market area, who is most likely to spend money with you? Answer: People who have already spent money with you. It’s pretty logical. You draw customers from a limited geographic area so why not focus your marketing efforts on those people who have already proven a willingness and ability to give you money? Assuming you treated them well and they enjoyed the experience, they are very likely to do business with you again.

SO SIMPLE TO DO

If you were to collect the name and contact information (email address) of all your customers, in a few months you’d have an incredibly valuable asset. Imagine being able to contact hundreds or thousands of people who have already given you money, at the touch of a button, minutes after having an idea. Any special offers you’ve advertised anywhere else (newspaper, radio, TV) will do exponentially better when sent directly to former customers. It’s as simple as putting a name collection box on your counter and having your customers drop in their business cards.

WHO HAS THE TIME?

Of course, the name collection box doesn’t know how to send email so that’s where I come in. I specialize in helping small businesses set up and run their Email Loyalty Clubs. Here’s what you get from loritisot.com…

1) A lead collection box on your counter.

2) Weekly name collection.

3) The names will be entered into a database.

4) On a regular basis an email will be sent to your customers.

The content is entirely up to you and will be approved by you. The emails can be sent weekly or monthly based on what makes sense. A seller of food could email weekly but it wouldn’t make sense for a chimney sweep to email that often.

You get all this for a monthly price lower than most one shot advertising you might do.  You can read all about my pricing plans by clicking here. When you are ready to get started, click here and say “Send Me a Lead Box!”

To Your Success!

of your potential customers?

EMAIL SLASHES YOUR AD COSTS

Stop wasting your advertising dollars! If you are a business owner and you are NOT currently keeping in touch with your current customers through permission-based email, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Most of your customers have email and most would come back if you gave them a reason. Email is the most cost-effective way to get them to come back more often.

For a fraction of the cost of one print ad that may or may not be seen by your potential customers, you can send unlimited emails to existing customers who are MUCH more likely to spend money with you again.

THE FORMULA IS SIMPLE

• Collect customer emails.
• Put the emails into a database.
• Email them with special offers on a regular basis.

You will have a huge advantage over your competition.

THE CHALLENGE?

TIME and RULES

You don’t have the time to do all this. Even if you had the time, do you know the rules? You need to know how to make sure your email campaigns meet the CAN-SPAM Act set forth by the Federal Trade Commission. According to the FTC …

“Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly.”

THE SOLUTION?

FIND AN EXPERT TO DO IT

That’s where I come in. Say the word and I will provide you with a personalized display box so customers can give you their email addresses. I’ll  collect the names weekly and enter them into a database. Then I’ll send them any offer/information you’d like. If you need some suggestions, I’ll be able to help.

The same offer you make in a print ad can be made in an email. Not only that, it can contain more detail, and it costs much less.

Rewarding your current customers makes great business sense as it encourages them to visit more often and therefore buy your products and services more frequently. It also fosters goodwill, which motivates them to refer friends and family to you, who in turn are likely to become new customers! Everyone wins!

Simply Click Here and say “Send Me a Display Box!”

• No long term commitments
• Cancel anytime.

Click Here for Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About This Service.

To Your Success!

Eventually you come to the conclusion that having your own business is the way to go – being an entrepreneur is the path to getting all of those wants. You begin to look for business opportunities and may even start to study some books on business. Or you may already have an idea regarding the kind of business you would like to have and start to search for ways to get that business set up. You may start and fail at a number of businesses, but you keep searching, knowing that this is the right way to go – you just haven’t found the “right” business yet.

What you need to discover is that in order to become a successful entrepreneur, you must change – on many levels – to ultimately be successful. It’s much more than simply learning about business, and then doing it. When you decide to go in to business for yourself, you must face all of the many facets to your being, some that were never addressed before as an employee. You must face the entire, YOU.

The journey of entrepreneurship encompasses an entire spectrum of personal growth. The many areas in which you will need to grow and change include:

1. Mental – this includes things such as education in many areas, business vision, systems development, and computer skills.
2. Spiritual – you need to examine what’s in your heart and discover what truly is important to you – discover what you are passionate about and then find a business model that supports bringing your true passion to the world. This is the basis of the “why” for your business.
3. Emotional – you need to create the emotional mindset of the entrepreneur, which is vastly different than that of an employee – you need to learn the think the way a successful entrepreneur thinks and adopt a positive emotional mindset that will propel you to success.
4. Social – your interpersonal skills will need to be honed, as the entrepreneur, even in a single-person business, never succeeds alone. It is vitally important to develop the communication skills that will allow you to make the connections that will help lead to your success.
5. Physical – In order to ensure that you are on top of your game in the first 4 areas, you need to take care of yourself through nutrition, exercise, and proper rest. Taking care of your body helps you to feel great and contributes to positive results in all of the above areas.

Change is the Prelude to Growth

Click here to view the embedded video.

“You’ll never know what you don’t know until you get there.” –Lori Tisot
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” –Wayne Gretzky
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” –Gail Sheehy
“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” –Confucius
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” –Mohandas Gandhi
“The key to change… is to let go of fear.” –Rosanne Cash
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” –Maria Robinson
“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” –Chinese Proverb
“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.” –Robert C. Gallagher

It’s the Journey of a Lifetime. Are You Ready For the Change?

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Success!

I like to think of July 2 as a checkpoint, to see where I’ve come since the beginning of the year, and to get myself oriented to finish out the rest of the year in high gear. So take out your list of goals that you made on January 1 and see where you are with them now.

List of goals…..hmmmm, it’s here somewhere:
Image by Budda

What? You can’t find yours either? OK – time to get ourselves organized .

Goal Setting

Here’s a review of the basic rules of good goal writing – S.M.A.R.T :

S – Specific – Your goal needs to be clearly defined. Having a clear goal will make it much easier to break it down into the individual steps you need to take to make it happen. Also, make it a bold goal, something you will feel really proud of accomplishing.

M – Measurable - Your goal needs to have parameters that you can measure so you can track your progress. You need to track your successes so that your feeling of achievement continues to move your forward. You need to track your failures so you can see what you need to change, allowing you to grow and improve.

A – Attainable – You need to believe that your goals are attainable – if you feel they are impossible, you won’t have the drive to pursue them in the first place. Part of your motivation comes from seeing small successes along the way.

R – Relevant – Make sure it is going to contribute to the bigger picture of what you want to achieve. Each goal you set is usually part of a larger goal – so make sure your goal is part of the big picture.

T – Time Bound – Set a deadline for the accomplishment of the goal. We seem to work harder as we get closer to a deadline and manage to finish in time, whereas if there is no deadline, we have a tendency to drift and it takes longer to get things accomplished. A time deadline with help you to get it done! Hold yourself accountable – or get an accountability partner – and make it happen!

Goal Accomplishment

OK, now that we have reviewed the basics of goal-setting, how do you go about accomplishing them?

1. Write them down – Write your goal in the format listed above using the S.M.A.R.T. system. An example of a well-written goal is “Increase sales 25% by the end of the fiscal year without increasing advertising spending”, whereas “Lose some weight” is not.
2. Break your goal down into manageable steps. This will give both a plan of action and a set of measures you can use to track your progress.
3. Read your goals OUT LOUD when you first wake up, before you go to sleep, and several times throughout the day. Reading them aloud gives you more resolve and helps you create the feeling of having accomplished the goal. Visualize yourself accomplishing it and feel the satisfaction of your accomplishment.
4. Track your progress. Every day check your list of measurables and record them. Once a week, review your progress, congratulate yourself for your successes and enjoy what you have accomplished. For those items that you didn’t achieve, determine why and come up with a new plan for the upcoming week. Beating yourself up about them is not allowed.
5. Celebrate when you have reached your goal!

Here’s to a highly successful second half of 2010!!

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Success!

First of all…Welcome to the Journey…

“Hey, Ma, I Can Eat This!”

Image Credit: cindy47452

So You Share Your Dream With Your Friends and Family, and They Say…

You Want To Do WHAT????…

“Don’t you know that most businesses fail..blah, blah, blah…the economy…blah, blah, blah…”

“Stop picking on me!”

Image Credit: Milestoned

And You Feel Like You Want To:

“Plate”

Image Credit: Eddi 07

Don’t Let Them Tell You:

“That Will Do Pig”

Image Credit: Sue Star Grace !

Instead, Look Them in the Eye and:

“Tiger Attack”

Image Credit: claudiogennari

Find some friends that are headed in the same direction:

“Nosey”

Image Credit: johnb/uk

Find a Good Mentor:

“Big Bird”

Image Credit: dicktay2000

Take the High Road…

“Free Stock”

Image Credit: rubyblossom

Study Hard…

“book”

Image Credit: Eddi 07- Free Stock

Have Faith:

“Place of Worship”

Image Credit: chiaralily

Rest When You Need To:

“Too Tired to Run”

Image Credit: chiaralily

Besides, you never know what you might do…

“Brisbane Unicycle Silhouette”

Image Credit: emmettanderson

or create…

“Iskra”

Image Credit: ONT Design

along the way.

And Remember to Stop and Smell the Flowers…

“Reflected water lily”

Image Credit: Alesa Dam

And You’ll Discover Your Treasure:

“Lazer beam from outer space”

Image Credit: Greg Kruk

All images gratefully used under Creative Commons license from Flickr

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Success!

It allows you to automatically feed your blog posts directly to your profile and page walls, and display post previews on a separate Blog tab. It allows all of your friends and fans to see your latest updates by sending post previews and links to their News Feed. They have also designed a widget that you can place on your blog so that people can connect to your blog through Facebook without leaving your blog.

The main page of the Networked Blogs application allows you to see posts from all blogs you are following, edit your profile, see your friends’ blogs and allow you to follow them, and search blogs by topic and popularity. You can also register your blog there and begin the process of getting everything set up. The browse section is great for finding blogs that are similar to yours so you can connect with those bloggers and help each other promote content. Click on +Add New Blog to begin the registration process.

Your blog content can be added to your Profile Wall Tag, or to a Box or Blog tab. On your Page it can be added to a Blog Tab. You can also configure your blog content to automatically be posted to Twitter.

For help with the configuration process, Network Blogs has a great tutorial page here:

Make the Best of Networked Blogs

This will get the application set up on your Facebook Profile. Once that is working properly you can get it set up on your Facebook Page. Here’s a tutorial on how to do that:

NetworkedBlogs for Facebook Pages

Once that is done, add the widget to your blog to make it easy for others to connect with you!

Don’t have a blog? You can still join Networked Blogs and Follow your favorite bloggers. Networked Blogs is also working on making blogs available outside of Facebook for even wider blog exposure.

Hey – I would love to connect with you on Networked Blogs! Click on my widget on the right and join me!

Feel free to leave any questions, ideas, and feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons, or if you have other bookmark accounts, please click on the any of the sharing icons below and share! I deeply appreciate it!! Thanks so much for your time and attention!

To Your Success!