Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Update For This Week-Blogging Challenge Day 8

Well if you're reading my blog you know that I'm doing a 30 day challenge. 30 blog posts in 30 days.  I wanted to quit a few days in because it feels like I'm talking to myself, but I love a good challenge and will continue on. 

I'm still taking classes online with CreativeLive and Skillshare.  I really enjoy the photography classes.  I've been attempting to take more photos of just about everything.  Here are a few I've taken this week.

This is a tree in the back of our new house

Blog post picture for one of my other blogs
My son with his hands shaped like a heart
My workout area in my bedroom. It's a little messy, but I think this is my favorite.

Monday, March 23, 2015

What is Your Theme Song?! Blogging Challenge Day 7




It's a manic Monday so this blog post will be a quick one. Still counts though! LOL  I love the little quizzes on Facebook.  I have had theme songs in my life. Basically my theme song is the song I feel describes me best at that time in my life. When  I was a teenager it was Left of Center by Suzanne Vega. The song is from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack.  For years my theme song has been Overkill by Men At Work. Yes, I love 80s music. 

So I completed a quiz on Facebook recently. It was called What Song Sums Up Your Entire Life? Not just a particular point in your life. And the answer was!

Your song is:

"Hey Jude"

You're a smart, cultured, unconventional individual, but you're also humble. You're highly respected in your circle and people genuinely love you for your quirks and all. You can be very playful but your brain is full of knowledge and wit. You're fascinating in every way possible and people feel really lucky to be considered your friend!


I think this describes me perfectly. How about you?! Take the quiz here and tell me what song sums up your entire life? Or is there a song you've always considered your theme song?!

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Manifesting True Success-Blogging Challenge Day 6

Heart
Love

 

Yes, it can be scary to do what you love. 

When I first typed this sentence, I stared at it for a long time. I have that feeling every day. Every day when I sit down to write a blog post, take a picture, review a product and connect with others on social media, I think to myself I'm doing what I love, but will I ever make a career of it?! Am I wasting my time doing what makes me happy?! Will I ever be a success?!


Manifesting True Success Through Meditation 

I'm doing a meditation program with Deepak Chopra and Oprah.  It's a 21 day meditation program called Manifesting True Success. Doing these meditations every day will give me the power to  stop doubting myself and discover the greatness within me. I started late with the program, so I'm only on day 3. Here's what people are saying about the meditation program.





 Let me know if you are taking the meditation program. What do you think of it?! Does meditation help you in your daily life?!  Please let me know in the comments below.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Blogging Challenge Day 5: The Beauty Outside Our New Home

Today we visited our new home to take some measurements and just to remind us what we are buying.  I think we will be happy in the new home. I took a couple of pictures of the trees outside our home.  I'm trying to take more pictures of things that catch my eye.


tree
This tree is going to be so beautiful when it blooms!

The tree is over our deck and the sellers told us that it provides some great shade during the summer.




tree with a frog
Someone besides the sellers was there to greet us!

The sellers told us that the frog comes with the house;-) We are looking forward to moving into our new home. The last home we bought was in Chicago. When we left Chicago we said we wouldn't buy another home until we are officially settled in a city.  I guess Toronto is it!











Friday, March 20, 2015

Blogging Challenge Day 4: Failure Is An Option


Failure is an option


"Failure is a stepping-stone to greatness."-Oprah Winfrey

I don't know when I subscribed to her email list, but I've been getting emails from Oprah every day for the past couple of weeks.  These emails contain some thoughts of the day and self improvement tips.  I have heard Oprah say many times to listen to the tiny whispers and that failure are God's little whispers.

Failure Is A Prerequisite To Success

Life Coach Erica Diamond Editor-In-Chief of Women on the Fence was interviewed in an OWNShow video called Tiny Invisible Signs You Are On the Wrong Path. Here are some of her tips.  Listen to your instincts. They are the tiny whispers Oprah talks about. Use your gut along with the intellect. So many times people ignore that gut reaction when they shouldn't. And my favorite, failure is a prerequisite to success. So many of the most successful people in the world have failed many times and that just makes them stronger and more determined.

“Failure is an option, fear is not." -James Cameron

A second video that comes on immediately after the Tiny Invisible Signs Your On The Wrong Path is called Reasons People Keep Failing At Resolutions. Interviewed during this video are  TV Host Leeza Gibbons, Olympian Carmelita Jeter and Comedian Erin Darling. Each of them had some great tips for approaches to setting goals.

Writing them down month by month.

Visualize your success. Another way to say this is "Claim it!" Whenever I told my mother I wanted something, she would always say "Claim it!" Make it yours and it will happen.

Have fun and just let it go.  Don't beat yourself up when something doesn't go the way you wanted it to. I have trouble with this one.

Some tips on how to reach your goals are:

Take them week by week or day by day. Slow and steady wins the race,

Have small and realistic goals. Don't try to do too much at one time. You will be overwhelmed and will then give up.

Be patient because sometimes it will take longer than you want to get to your goal.  Another one I have a problem with. 

Failing isn't permission to give up.


I'm so glad I watched these videos.  Accomplishing your goals is definitely a process.  I have to learn how not to beat myself up, be more patient and just let go and have fun. You can watch the videos here.

Do you believe that you have to fail to succeed? Do you believe failure is an option? What steps do you take in achieving your goals? Are any of them listed here? Please leave me a comment below.  I would love to here your story.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Blogging Challenge Day 3: Is This My "Aha Moment?"

I think I this is my "Aha moment!"

I can't believe it actually happened but I submitted my first article to Midlife Boulevard. When I read the email from them saying they approved my application, I read it several times and then did the Snoopy dance. I'm already looking forward to submitting more of my work.   And then I realized that this is what I have to do to build up my brand and make myself more visible.. My "Aha moment!"





The article I submitted is from my other blog Beauty, Fitness & Health Oh My! called Living In A Decaffeinated World.  BFH was originally a blog about my weight loss journey.  Now it's about my journey through menopause and also I talk about some of my favorite products I have found along the way.  I plan to also submit post from this blog too.

Hoping that this is the beginning of a new career.  I'm liking the path I'm on now with my writing and photography.  I have been looking for more ways to express myself creatively and I think I have found it.

Have you had an "Aha moment?"  I would love to hear about it. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Blogging Challenge Day 2: Good Morning!

Good morning
Woke up this morning and saw this image on my wall.  I just had to take a picture.


I'm really enjoying taking pictures again.  I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up. It's nice to show my creative side. Have a great day!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Blogging Challenge! Getting More Blog Traffic!

I'm always up for a blogging challenge.  I read a good way to get more blog traffic to your website is to write more content. So the challenge is to write 30 blog posts in 30 days.  Starting today until April 16th, I will try to do my best to post everyday!


I'm starting to get into photography.  I took a great class today from Skillshare called Mastering Mobile Photography: A Practical Guide. Check out the class here. It was short, but just enough to give me some good tips. Today was the second day of spring break with the kids and we made a cake! I took some pictures of us making the cake using the VSCO Cam app. I'm just starting out, but I really would like to take my own pictures for my blogs.  Here are the pictures I took down below.


Cake batter
My son trying to make an action shot with the batter

batter and spoon
The first time my daughter spooned the batter out like this I didn't have the tablet available and it looked like an amazing shot with the shadows and light. Tried to replicate it, but I don't think I was successful. 

My son said "We need a shot of someone stirring the batter!" Here it is!

frosting the cake
Tried to get a good shot, but too much sun. I still like it though!


chocolate cake
Aaaand here's the finished product!

I really like spending time cooking with my kids in the kitchen.  Here is my first post for the blogging challenge! I'm already thinking of what to post for tomorrow.  It's fun getting the creative juices flowing, right?!

Monday, March 16, 2015

My World Revolves Around SEO and My Head Is Spinning!

The Basics of SEO

 

Learning SEO basics remains supreme in my world! 

 

I've been dreaming about long tail keywords!  I remember reading about SEO a few years ago and didn't pay any attention to it.  I didn't think I needed it. Now every time I see an article or a class on it, I'm interested.

 

This week in SEO education began with a great course from Skillshare.  

 

The class is called SEO Mastery. The instructor Vladimir Raykov is very thorough and explained things well.  He's so thorough that I felt overwhelmed and decided I can't do every thing he suggested, but I will do a few.  Including making sure my photos on my blog posts have alt tags, using subheading in my blog posts and to be smart when link building. If you're interested in the class you can find it here.

 

Renae Christine's SEO webinar had similar tips. 

 

It wasn't as lengthy as the SEO class from Skillshare. She introduced me to SEOBook and showed us her strategy of getting more traffic to her blog by using SEOBook and Google Adwords.  She also suggested using Google Trends as well. 


Let me just stop right here! If you have an Etsy business or any type of handmade business and you need help with getting traffic to your website or just marketing the business, Renae Christine is for you!  She has a Rich Mom University which is a lot cheaper than Market Impact Academy or Marie Forleo's program, but her focus is definitely Etsy and other handmade businesses.  Renae Christine has opened up registration for her Rich Mom University.  You can find out more here.

 
I wrote her to ask if she ever thought of expanding her brand to moms who don't want to sell homemade items, but would just like to learn about how to market any type of business. Never heard back from her.  And that's ok. She has her niche and is sticking to it.

 
I have learned so much about SEO and keywords in the past month.  At this time last year I didn't have a clue.  What about you?! Do you have any good tips for learning SEO basics?!  Let me know in the comments section below.

Monday, March 9, 2015

It's Hard Out Here!


THIS!!!

This is the first official update of my new career journey.  This was the first week of the Handmade Business Online training with Renae Christine. I was so excited to get started.  The first video was released on March 3 and then we had to wait a couple of days for the next one. The videos are about 19 minutes long each and she has some good stories and information. One thing she talked about in her second video was how she brought all of this traffic to her mom's website. She said she would tell us how she did it in a webinar next week. This is a webinar that we have to sign up for and may not get in because of such high demand.  That's what I need! I need to know how to get traffic! I need to know now! Gimme! UGH! *weeps*

So I will continue with this training, but I have other places to go too. I guess because I don't have any money to spend on education right now, I will do my best to get it from wherever I can.  I did attend a good webinar on SEO for Etsy. I don't have an Etsy shop and probably will never have an Etsy shop, but I have partnered with some handmade businesses before who asked me to review their products. Some didn't have any social media presence at all.  I would like to help market companies like that.  So it was good information to learn.

I'm looking into more courses on Alison Online. Signed up for a couple of interesting classes on Creativelive and thinking about trying out Skillshare.  Skillshare has a deal where the first month is .99 and after that it's about $10 a month.  I could possibly do that. I would like to take better pictures for my blogs and Skillshare has a photography course that looks great.

This week I signed up to write for some publications, hoping to get writing jobs. I read an article called 51 Tips & Tricks for Bloggers. Tip number 20 was to write for Beyond Your Blog. I didn't submit there, but they have listings for other opportunities in dozens of other categories with various other magazines and websites. Check it out here! It would be nice to get some more exposure and earn some money!

Sigh, it's hard out here for a poor stay-at-home mom, but I am determined to do this! Are you trying to change careers?! Are you taking online courses?! What has worked best for you?! Please respond below in the comments section! Thank you!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Which Online Program?!



I've been taking free online courses for the past month.  I've learned a lot, but it's been kind of scattered. I'm like that dog in the movie Up when he sees a squirrel.  Oh there's a class in copywriting, oh a class in getting more traffic to my blog,Facebook marketing class and SEO. Oh boy, SEO is going to be the death of me for sure!



I want to take a structured online program. I've been taking the online program with Alison for social media marketing. I've learned about branding, auto-responders, landing pages and the dreaded SEO.  The courses seem to be a little dated.

I started searching online for another program. I found Marie Forleo. Her website looks perfect, she looks perfect, happy and successful. Her program looks great and exactly what I'm looking for, but it's $2000.00. It's the same thing with Chalene Johnson, you know the Turbo Jam lady.  I just thought she was a workout instructor, I didn't know she had online courses. Her program is called Marketing Impact Academy  (MIA) and it's also $2000.00.

I talked it over with my husband and he wants me to go back to school, but to spend $2000.00 he wants it to be an accredited program.

So I kept searching and I found Renae Christine. She seems to be the anti-Mario Forleo. The first thing I saw of her online was a video of her spoofing Marie.  I like her videos even though they are a little silly, but she seems to know her stuff. The program is free and is starting in March. She has a book called the Home Business Startup Bible and she gives great advice.  Some things concern me though, Renae's niche seems to be helping people build an Etsy business. Now I could still use it to help others build their businesses, but what I'm looking for is learning how to promote businesses through social media marketing. I'm sure that will be an important part of the course.





I am going to give it a try and I will update this blog every week. Let me know what you think!  Have you tried any of these online programs?! Did any of them help you?! Do you know of a great online program?! Please feel free to leave comment below. Thanks!

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