Do weight loss and marketing have anything in common?

Absolutely!

How is that?

Well, they both require commitment, they both require a system that must be followed and they both take time. This year, my plan is to go full tilt on both.

But it’s not all about weight loss, really. It’s more about a lifestyle change – exercise, healthy eating, mental clarity – they all play a part. So, to document what I’m doing for health, I’ve created a new blog called The Weight Loss Papers. You’ll find it at http://theweightlosspapers.com. And I’ll continue to track my marketing progress here at internet marketing & more.

I’ve just secured an internship to learn more about internet marketing. I’ll be able to implement what I’m learning there into my own businesses. It’s not a paid internship but I think it’s going to work out well nonetheless, especially as things really get cooking with my own business efforts.

This year in addition to marketing, I’m focusing on my writing business. I’m just now beginning a new marketing campaign that promises some good results. My mentor is sure I can make upwards of $10k per month very soon. And I’m so excited about that!

What are your goals for 2008? Feel free to post in the comments or post on your own blog with a link back here. Whatever you do in 2008, remember to HAVE FUN!

~ Annie

Many of the tools I’ve shared with you in the past are available on both Windows and Mac machines but today, I’ll be sharing some Mac only programs. I apologize to all you Windows users out there and if I knew of Windows comparable apps, I’d share those. Unfortunately, I don’t. But if you do, please post them in the comments.

StickyWindows. This is a cool little program. It makes the edges of your screen “sticky” – and you “dock” open programs there when you aren’t using them so they’re not taking up space on your desktop. Now, you can basically hide open apps with the dock, but this takes a bit further so they’re open and very easily accessible. I love this program and I use it everyday.

Skim. If you read or use a lot of PDF docs, this app is a must-have. It allows you to make notes, comments, and much more on your PDF’s for future reference. It also has a bookmark feature, snapshots feature and even allows copying and pasting quite easily. Skim is like Preview on steroids.

PTHPasteboard. Where Skim is Preview on steroids, PTHPasteboard is your clipboard on steroids. It will remember 100’s of items you’ve copied and allow you to insert any of them with just a few simple clicks nearly anywhere you want to paste them. I copy and paste A LOT in my writing and design work and this little app speeds up that process so much, it’s not even funny. It doesn’t have a lot of fancy bells and whistles but it powerful nonetheless and like the other tools I share, I use it daily.

So, there you have it! Another segment of the cool tools series. I hope you find these useful. And please do post any Windows apps you use that are similar to these. I’ll be back soon with another Product Creation post, though I am still feeling under the weather so it might be late today or possibly not until tomorrow. We’ll see what the day brings!

~Annie
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This has nothing to do with the 30 Day Challenge, but . . . it’s exciting!

Just found out my brand new book has finished the last of the publishing process and will be available on Amazon.com and other major retailers within 2 weeks! Yay!

Just thought I’d share

Actually, it’s not a “new” book – I’ve had on my website as an eBook for about a year and a half but it is now officially a paperback book! It’s so cool!

I’m very happy!

Front Cover of Real Estate Research Basics

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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A few years ago on one of my other blogs I wrote a post about what was appropriate content for a “business” blog. This was in response to a then colleague spouting off that I should not be so “personal” sounding on my business blog.

Well, for those of you who don’t know me – I’m fairly outspoken when necessary and quite opinionated most of the time. And while I am not afraid to speak my mind, that’s not to say I just go off or that I am impolite about it. In fact, many people have told me they’ve never heard someone put another person in their place so kindly or efficiently before or with such grace. But, really, that’s beside the point. I just wanted to tell you this up front so this will make better sense to you.

Anyway – back to the topic – here, in a nutshell, is what I think about keeping personal stuff out of your business blog or website.

Don’t.

Why, you ask? That’s a great question!

Well, because you don’t really want to sound like a stuffy 5,000 employee company that doesn’t give a rip, do you?

No, I didn’t think so. But that is what you will sound like if you keep it strictly business. It turns many a customer off. Some of us more than others.

When I go to someone’s website, unless they are a major corporation like Amazon.com, Wal Mart, or Macy’s, I want to know there’s a real person behind that business mask. A real person who cares, who is involved with their company, who appreciates the customer and genuinely wants your patronage.

I want to know when I land on someones blog, that they are a human with emotions just like me. And they’ll have a better chance of getting my business if they speak to me like they think I’m a thinking, feeling, intelligent human being too. Nothing turns me off more than corporate sounding bunk on the blog or website of mom and pop operation. If I want that, I’ll go shop with the “big boys” at Nike or Old Navy or whatever.

Just be real and people will follow you.

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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I recently had the opportunity to take part in a new program offered through Mark Joyner’s Simple•ology course called “The 7 Day Business Turn-Around” and after completing it, I noticed a big difference so I thought I’d share it with you.

In this course, you learn:

Read this carefully. I’m going to actually give you the formula for a business turnaround.

And whether you are a Fortune 500 company or a one man (or woman) show, these are the precise 4 steps in any turnaround situation.

1. Stop The Bleeding. Both time and money are precious commodities in the world of business. It’s like “found money” when you actually get serious about plugging the holes. Just about every business on Earth has this problem… it’s that sinister.
2. Stop The Stress. You can’t experience a turnaround with the stress of overdue bills, tax payments and creditors making those humiliating calls. And as I stated before, uncertainty is a major stressor. So getting clarity on where you are and where you need to go is vital. Because, until you do, greatness will always elude you.
3. Inject The Business With Cash. This step is all about breathing room. The formula for your Cash Injection Target is (Monthly Operating Expenses) x (2). With all of the businesses that fail due to under-capitalization, it’s critical to get this buffer as swiftly as possible. That gives you the resources for step 4…
4. Refocus The Business. Albert Einstein once said “ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” How true. Fresh new marketing, beefed up management skills and dependable cash flow will set the stage for long term growth and stability.

That’s it. Pretty simple… at least on the outside.

Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

And you know the best part? You don’t have to pay anything for the first week! You can try it out, use all the tools for 7 days FREE.

You know, it’s not just for businesses that need a “quick turnaround” either – it’s for even those newbies out there who are just starting out.

I was impressed with the quality of the course and I’m sure you will be too.

Just head right over here and sign up. There’s nothing to lose.

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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Did you know . . . ?

Twitter can now send you reminders!

Yep, just direct message the timer user on Twitter: something like “d timer 45 Call mom” and you’ll get a private message back in 45 minutes that reads “call mom.”

If you direct messages to your cell phone, this is a really nice way to set up reminders on the fly. Twitter is quickly transforming from a way to broadcast what you had for lunch to a robust personal mobile command line with Remember the Milk and GCal integration.

Original article on Lifehacker here.

PS > Here’s the help section for this on Twitter’s site – http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=15

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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Tools Ed Dale uses for The 30 Day Challenge, simplified, all in one location.

A new slideshare presentation is available for viewing and download . . .

Hope you enjoy it! Feel free to download if you like it and please digg, stumble and share away!

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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A couple of days ago, I wrote a post about some of the tools I use daily that I am also using during the 30 Day Challenge and I promised I’d add more later.

Well, it’s now later! Here are some additional tools you might find useful -

Basecamp – the ultimate collaboration and project management tool! I use it to help my clients and I keep track of all our projects and to keep everyone on track. Both free and paid accounts available.

Highrise – from the same folks as Basecamp and Backpack, Highrise helps you remember who said what, when, what to do next, who to call back, when to follow up and more. Both free and paid accounts available.

Neooffice – an alternative to Microsoft Office for Mac users, it includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, and graphics program. It’s also free.

This is all I’ll list for now – don’t want to overwhelm you. There are many more tools that will be beneficial to you and yes, I *do* actually use these programs. I won’t share any with you that I don’t use myself. However, since I am on a Mac, some of these tools may be Mac programs and I’ll try to note that if that’s the case.

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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I’m sorry, everyone! It’s been a couple of days since I’ve been over here. Got lots going on with the 30 Day Challenge and my “regular” stuff but I’ve taken lots of notes that I’ll be posting up here very soon.

Right now, though, I’m going to kind of start in the middle of what I’ve gleaned from the training so far. And that’s about Wordtracker and Google Trends.

For those who don’t know me well, you may not know that in my “normal” life, I’m a researcher, one of the many hats I wear. It’s something I’ve been doing for years, something I’m good at and I actually enjoy it. So, doing all the niche and market research for 30dc has been relatively painless for me. (I work in the real estate industry, if you’re curious.)

And what I’ve learned here, and seems to be working for me, is that we use Wordtracker to find and evaluate keywords and phrases for our topics that are competitive and yet not over-saturated. Then once we find those strings we think might be good candidates, we take them over to Google Trends and see what’s really happening, how searches fluctuate, where those phrases are most used and use that data to determine whether or not our niche will provide the punch we’re looking for.

That punch, obviously, is a niche that’s competitive, not over-saturated and wherein we can actually make some money. For the purposes of the 30dc, we’re just trying to get to $10 but I know for many of us, we want to find something that will provide enough income to replace what we make at our regular employment.

So — that’s my take on Wordtracker and Google Trends. I’ll admit it was lost on me at first and I wanted to skip Wordtracker, but I think now that I’ve seen Day 8’s videos and especially Dan’s Product Creation PDF’s, it fits well together and I’ll likely use them in conjunction with each other from here on out.

If you have not yet seen Dan’s PDF’s, go now and read them. Very nice and informative. If you’re using iTunes, they should be there. (Yes, iTunes can download PDF doc feeds!! One of the several reasons I’m a Mac addict. In fact, one of my nicknames is MacMommy.)

I’m going to have a little treat for you in a day or two unless I can get it done today so don’t go too far! I hope you like it! (Another hat I wear is that I’m a graphic designer – that’s what I went to college for.)

Ok – on to Day 9 . . .

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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I don’t normally do stuff like this but I wanted to do something to help out my fellow 30 Day Challengers . . .

I will create a FREE desktop background, twitter background or blog header for the first 15 people who request one. Just tell me what you want, what you like and send me any pics you want included along with any details I should know (such as your desktop size or blog header size) etc and I’ll get it done for you ASAP.

You can check out a sampling of some my designs here – ASAdesign on .Mac.

~Annie (lsandrsn on the forum)
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