YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!

Walk into a totally dark room. What do you see? “Absolutely nothing,” you say. Now, turn on the light. Where did the darkness go? Really – where is it now? Hopefully you will agree that darkness cannot exist in the face of light.

During a lifetime, we experience many types of “darkness.” It may appear in the form of discouragement, fear, hopelessness, grief, ignorance, or poverty. Yet, in every case, there is a “light” in which such darkness cannot exist.

Fear, for example, cannot exist in the face of courage. Education denies ignorance any chance of survival. Grief disappears in the presence of peace-of-mind. Discouragement ceases when hope prevails. Wealth denies poverty its chance.

No matter what form darkness takes, it cannot exist when faced with its opposite. That also means we have the ability to send darkness on its way at any point in time. No matter how overwhelming the darkness appears, it is our thoughts and our minds that ultimately control the outcome. How powerful is that?

In the words of several favorite authors: “Think you can, think you can’t, either way you’re right.” “Your life is what your thoughts make of it.” “We are what we think about all day long.” Finally, in the words of Tom Bodett, from one of his Motel 6 commercials: “We’ll leave the light on for you!”

Make this a great week!

Sweet Tea and Straight Talk
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REPLACEMENT THERAPY!

Ever received one of those emails that contains a touching message, then suggests that if you forward it to ten more people you’ll receive a “special blessing” or “ten million dollars in three days”? It usually also warns that the last person who didn’t forward it met some terrible fate at the hands of unknown evil-doers. Remember how that last part – the veiled threat – made you feel? You didn’t think something awful would really happen, but you resented being put in the position of wondering.

We’ve been told many times that our worst fears are of the “unknown.” An unidentified fear sends our imagination into high gear, conjuring up vivid mental pictures of dastardly plots against us. We ruminate endlessly over the possibilities. Such fear is disruptive to our well-being, and leaves us tired and wrung-out.

So, how do you handle fear? One method is to identify the fear, so that once you do, it is no longer “unknown.” That also means it is measurable, and can be logically quantified. Once you know what it is, your imagination can no longer dream up worse things that it is not. Once identified, it is possible to determine possible outcomes.

Most fears will never come to fruition. Those that do are divided into two categories: those we can control, and those we can’t. If we have control, we also have the ability to survive our fears, and change their outcomes. Most fall into that category.

One mother’s lifelong advice to her daughter who worried too much was to replace the worry thought with another more pleasant thought. The opposite of fear is hope, which also gives us courage. The next time you experience fear of the unknown, try replacement therapy. Think positive, hopeful thoughts when fear knocks at the door. Then, when you open the door – no one is there!

Make this a great week!

Sweet Tea and Straight Talk
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Money Saving Technology Tip #21

Track the Effectiveness of Your Marketing with Analytics

“Have metrics tracking in place. If my web hosting service doesn’t provide a stats system, or provides an inadequate one, I’d sign up for Google Analytics. It offers more data than some small businesses need, but you can’t beat the price. You need metrics in place at the beginning so you can track all your upcoming marketing efforts.  Cost = Free.”

Matt McGee, Small Business Search Marketing, @mattmcgee

Source: Small Business Trends

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HOW’S YOUR CREDIT?

Ever hear someone say, “I have good credit”? They are probably referring to their credit “rating” – a score bestowed upon them by creditors, banks or rating agencies. Simply stating, “I have good credit” changes nothing, nor does the statement merit the attention of creditors. Credit can only be given by others for service to them, i.e. paying them on time.

So, credit is the result of serving others – in many ways. You cannot claim education, victory, experience, success, reputation, or a suave demeanor. Each of these is a gift from others, as a result of your service to them. Friends recognize your courage as a result of your being cool under pressure. Your success is recognized by others only once you have served them well. Knowledge of your career field is recognized by others only after it’s been applied to situations in the form of more service.

In the accounting world of income and expense, a debit is something paid out, while a credit is something received. Thus all credits are received from others – not by our own making. The debits – what we pay out – are our efforts, persistence, and service. How they are rated is not under our control, but is determined by those served.

Without service, there are few rewards. Yet, you’ve seen those who insist on getting more attention than they deserve. They feel they’re being short-changed, that they are not appreciated, that they are always the victim. If you look more closely at their contributions, you are also likely to see the dearth of service they are offering.

With service, credit follows. It may be subtle or quite visible – but it always follows. Concentrate on what you have to offer and forget the rewards. Those who are served will pick up the tab!

Make this a great week!

Sweet Tea and Straight Talk
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Money Saving Technology Tip #20

Use ExpertClick for Public Relations

ExpertClick makes it easy and affordable to get news releases out into the market with its NewsReleaseWire.com service. This feature alone makes the service worth the cost: 52 news releases a year are included, without per-release charges, which is a substantial savings over traditional press release distribution services. ExpertClick could pay for itself in 2 or 3 news releases.

TJ McCue, Q4 Sales, @tjmccue

Source: Small Business Trends

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THINK YOU CAN!

Regardless of your age, you were probably introduced as a child to a wonderful book entitled “The Little Engine That Could.” If you will recall, it was the story of a small red locomotive personality who believed it was possible to pull a very heavy load uphill – a task that was shunned by other larger locomotives. The little engine huffed and puffed up the hill, all the while repeating the mantra, “I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!”

It was a cute story that contained a very powerful message about persistence and the ability to overcome adversity. Now there’s a sequel entitled “I Knew I Could!” A quick ten-minute read, it clearly outlines our ability to make our own choices in life. Using illustrations of train tracks and those cute little locomotives, you are easily led to the understanding that we choose the life “tracks” upon which we travel.

The book suggests that before picking one of those tracks, we should determine the direction it might take us, and the destination we might reach by so choosing. Sounds like real life, doesn’t it? How many times, and in how many ways, must we be taught this lesson? If we fail to make our choices wisely, we have consciously made the choice to live at the mercy of happenstance – as did Alice in the following excerpt from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”:

“Cheshire-Puss…,” said Alice, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where -” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “… so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Life – it’s your choice. Toot! Toot

Make this a great week!

Sweet Tea and Straight Talk
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Money Saving Technology Tip #19

Set Up an Easy Website Using Dreamhost’s Automated Systems

“Easy way to set up a website…. Sign up for Dreamhost.  They offer a one click install for WordPress.  You get a free domain name and lots of themes to choose from already installed for only $8.95 a month.”

Tim Grahl, Out:think Web Development and Design, @timgrahl

Source: Small Business Trends

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This morning I shared in our Team Meeting, “reading is a great inspiration for blogging.”

• A catchy headline here.
• A top 10 list there.
• Perhaps a sign on a butcher shop.
• Thumbing through magazines in the checkout line.
• Bumper stickers during your commute.

Inspiration is free floating. We need only become aware.

Tonight, after everyone else went home; when the chaos and hubbub of the day was washed away by quiet solitude, I read.

A blog post by Chris Garrett caught my attention. The post explored the personas and pseudonyms we often create when developing online connections for the first time. There are certainly good reasons to maintain privacy, and yet blogging demands your writing to be real.

By being an authentic you there is much more potential for creating real connections with people, and through these connections opportunities and friendships. If you are faking it then you will either be found out at worst, or at best be unable to have great face to face meetings and successful joint projects.

Real people rock. If anything, I would always rather meet an imperfect human being than a fake robot. Be proud to be you, mistakes and all.

It is our “realness” that forms bridges between people.

What do you think? Do you feel you have to hold back on your personality? Does comparing yourself to others hold you back? Please share your thoughts… I’m listening.

Photo Credit: Tiago Ribeiro

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It does work, but not always perfectly.  If you have a problem, let me know.

To turn an email list into Twitter contacts, you need:

1. An email list in an Excel Spreadsheet format
2. A temporary Gmail or Yahoo! email account
3. Access to your Twitter account

When you get an email list, open it in Excel.  If you can’t open it in Excel, this procedure won’t work for you.

Save the file as a CSV (Comma Separated File) to a location where you can find it again.

Open your internet browser

In Gmail or Yahoo! mail, create a new account just for importing contacts.  If you import into your personal email, you’ll find getting rid of these temporary contacts to be difficult.  You will be able to use this account over and over to find Twitter users, so make sure you remember the password.

Once the account is created, go into the contacts panel and select Import.

Browse to the CSV file you saved from Excel and select it, then Import.

If all goes well, the email addresses will be imported into the account.

Now, switch to Twitter.com and login.

From the top menu, click on Find People.

Click on Find Friends.

Select the email provider from your temporary account.

Enter the login and password for the email account.  Twitter will search for email addresses of its users, and present you with a list of those that match.  Click on the Follow All button to have your  Twitter account follow everyone that has Twitter accounts.

Thanks to Michael Bay (@sherpambay) for the tip!

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DON’T LISTEN!

Someone once said, “When I was in my twenties, I worried about what others thought of me. When I was in my forties, I didn’t care what they thought of me, and when I was in my sixties, I realized they weren’t thinking about me at all.” Who hasn’t had a parent or friend tell us “What will people think?”

How easy it is to let the influence of others govern our actions. By listening to others, then carrying out our lives to the tune they wish us to play, we are but puppets. One of “Aesop’s Fables” addressed the same issue.

It told of an old man, a boy, and a donkey making their way down a hill. As the boy rode, while the old man led the donkey, they overheard a neighbor comment about the shame of making the old man walk. The next turn in the road saw both man and boy astride the donkey, and the next passer-by shook his head at the shame of putting such a load on the poor donkey. By the time the two reached the final turn in the road, they were seen carrying the donkey on a pole.

The message, of course, was that we should not live our lives to satisfy the expectations of others. It is up to us to set a clear direction for our own lives, and then follow that path to the exclusion of others.

It’s really about choices, isn’t it? We get to make our own choices in life. When we fail to do so, we have still made a choice – that being to let others make our choices for us. It’s an excellent time to let your vision take hold, to set a bold new direction for your life. Make some choices – no matter what “they” think!

Make this a great week!

Sweet Tea and Straight Talk
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