CashMaps - Systems That Help You Make More Money Online

I have been swamped this week with the Olympics, but I wanted to let you know about something REALLY cool that Rich Schefren recently released. It’s called “CashMaps“.

Bascially, CashMaps is a monthly newsletter that reveals the systems that Rich uses to build his online business. If you want to build an online business, Rich’s CashMaps is something you should take a look at.

Click here to check it out for yourself.

7 Causes Of Procrastination Exposed!

Procrastination is like venomous poison for anybody who owns and runs a business. Sometimes it can get so bad, all we do is stare at the computer screen for hours on end while we mentally beat ourselves up to will a clever idea into our brain.

If you fight against this monster from time to time you know exactly what I mean. You might even have felt the urge to throw your computer out of the window because you got so frustrated at your lack of ideas.

I know how this feels and I can tell you, it’s not a good feeling. But over time I have come to recognize certain procrastination causes and I’m going to expose them to you one by one.

By knowing what could be the reason behind your inability to produce kick a** content on time, every time, you might be better armed next time around.

Procrastination cause #1: pressure

Pressure is hardly ever a good thing. Ok, some of you might actually get off on stress, but for the rest of us, we rather have a time and a place for every task we do. Plus, multitasking has been said to be quite ineffective anyway.

By limiting pressure, you will clear the mental head space and make room for the more important aspects of your business.

Procrastination cause #2: clutter

That nasty word! Office clutter is perhaps one of the biggest reasons we procrastinate. I’m sure you can remember times when your office desk was neat, kind of like a Zen style advert for organized media gurus.

This is the situation you want to experience every single day. If you currently struggle with clutter, get organized. Use apps, employ a secretary, or even a virtual VA. It will be worth your time or money; since working in a clean environment is beneficial for our creative juices.

Procrastination cause #3: hunger & thirst

You might be laughing at this, but I have come to learn that on many occasions when I felt lethargic and couldn’t be bothered to work, it was due to not being hungry. I often find myself totally lost in my work and before I remember to eat or drink, some 5 hours have gone by in a microsecond.

Thirst is another major cause for procrastination. If you don’t drink enough, your brain will become sluggish and procrastination will settle in.

Maybe you want to get into the habit of keeping a glass of water at your desk (safely of course) to remind you to drink often.

Procrastination cause #4: loss of interest

If you find yourself consistently procrastinating over the same issues or topic it might be a sign of underlying issues. Perhaps you lost the drive for the subject, or you feel inadequate to fulfill the required job.

Either way, it might be time to look closer at the why and then go about finding a solution.

Procrastination cause #5: lack of quality sleep

While some of us can function perfectly with about 5 hours sleep every night, most people can’t. I’m taking a wild guess here, but I would think that most of you fall into the 7-8 range.

The point is, unless you sleep enough for your body’s needs, you will find yourself consistently tired, moody and hard to motivate.

Procrastination cause #6: lack of adequate rest

You can’t just keep working like a robot. Every one of us needs time off. Time off work, preferably in a total different environment.

Sometimes I get into my extreme mode. I work and work and work….. and guess what? Work some more. While this is great for a while I soon find myself totally and utterly burned out. I do need my time away from the computer (my office) as much as anybody else.

If you think you are superhuman, think again. You too need a break.

Procrastination cause #7: interruptions

These are by far the worst causes of procrastination because they are often outside our control. We don’t know that hubby is wanting to discuss his latest recipe right when you are in the zone. neither can you possibly know that aunt Mary is calling you just as you entered a very creative working spell.

It’s true, we can’t know these things, let alone foresee them.

But what you could do is eliminate the possibilities of distractions while you work. Switch the phone to the answering machine. Tell your family you are working and for gods sake close your email client and chat.

Making small changes and taking control

Rome wasn’t built in a single day and neither will you manage to go from procrastination victim to Zen warrior of GTD. All it takes is small steps, one at the time.

Procrastination mustn’t be something you “just experience“. You can beat it.

Objection Your Honour I was Looking For A Bargain

Bargain Hunters are all around us. They stand next to us in the supermarket, at the bus stop, in IKEA and they shop on eBay. If we are totally honest with ourselves, we all love a bargain.

After all, it makes financial sense to save money. Money saved while we shop will last a lot longer when we plan our next vacation. Therefore it is no wonder that the Internet is full of bargain hunters too.

You know, the get rich quick type stalker. They seek, stalk and pounce on their prey – or so they think – only to end up bankrupt, stripped of their money and in front of a judge if the worst fears become reality.

Did you know that by participating in a pyramid or unlawful business scheme you could end up paying thousands of dollars in court cases, let alone in funds for those who got cheated.

While the fast money might be tempting, it is hardly ever reality. Often those so called “bullet proof” opportunities are actually riddled with holes. Holes that will pull you down super fast if you are green enough to believe everything they force feed you.

Being ignorant or “blue eyed” doesn’t protect you from the law these days. This is why you can’t tell the police officer that you didn’t see the red light.

So what can you do to protect yourself against this eventuality? Well, for starters you can use common sense when you suss out a business opportunity.

If it sounds too god to be true, it is.

Also, before you enroll into any opportunity that offers unbelievable remuneration do the following:

• visit Google and search for reviews on that company
• ask to see proof from existing business owners within that company
• get in touch with the company directly. If they are professional and willing to show you their goodwill before you join, they might be proper
• ask other people in the same industry about feedback on the company
• check with BBB (the better business bureau)
• use your common sense and look for over used hype (a company that is good doesn’t need to use excessive hype)

To avoid ending up before a judge do your research first, before you join the wrong company. Many people get burned with these scams every year and millions are lost to them.

Being gullible won’t safe you from the judge. You need to be aware of these dangers when traveling the Internet.

In the end, bargains are great if they are obtained legally, without hurting anybody in the process.

What do you think? Have you been burned before?

Think Your Customer Support Doesn’t Matter?

Do you think that because you are selling something on a mini-site that your customer support doesn’t matter? If you do, you really need to correct that misunderstanding right now. I guarantee you that your customer support and desire to answer their inquiries will directly affect whether or not they buy from you again, and I’ll give you a recent offline example.

In the past few months, I spent a couple of thousand dollars with a company I won’t name, believing they could help me. In truth, it all started out quite well. Then, they sent me a false notice that they couldn’t continue with their service because I hadn’t done something I had, and it all started going downhill. Not good when it costs a customer thousands of dollars for you to perform that service.

Now granted, your product or subscription site probably isn’t going to cost someone thousands of dollars, unless you sell training programs. However, if you’re apathetic to customer emails, or your computer does something screwy and starts throwing out false panic attacks like the one I received from the company above, chances are you’re going to create negative publicity. That means you can forget things like referral sales or testimonials. In short, your customer service, however simple it may be, makes a difference.

Here are just a few tips on customer service:

• If you get an email or other communication from a customer, answer it.


• If you have a lot of different services/sales sites/subscription sites, set up a central ticket site (http://www.askjonleger.com is a good example of this), then point all the support links on all of your sites at that one site. Customers can fill out and track tickets, and you only have to go one place to support them.


• Support your customers after they purchase from you.


• Find out what your customers think after they sign up, buy, or leave. This will help improve your service and keep future customers happier.

It only take a little bit of bad to annoy a customer, and you’ve probably experienced it for yourself as a customer facing bad service. So don’t deliver it in your online business.

Purposeful Blogging - A Must For Business Owners

Blogging with a purpose. What does it mean and how can we get the most out of it if that is our aim? I ponder this question quite often to be honest. When I first came online I didn’t have a purpose except to make money. Little did I know what it actually takes to make money.

Well, fast forward 4 years and I have learned a lot. So much so that I could easily write 20 ebooks. No, scrap that, hundreds of them. I’m consistently surprised and amazed at how much information I can cram into my brains on a daily basis.
Sometimes I feel my brain has to burst for sure.
But no, it just keeps working, soaking up usable scraps of info and reminding me about them when I need something fast.

If we look at it closely, our mind is like a huge machine. Quietly filing away information bytes until we need them. Storing them on hidden shelves.
Getting back to the blogging with purpose idea though I noticed it helps to know what we really want out of life. Admittedly most of us are consistently re-inventing ourselves. There is nothing wrong with that since we learn and adapt throughout a lifetime.

The best thing about writing a blog is that we can always change direction. After all, it is ours. We make it our own and stamp our own distinctive character onto it. While this kind of helps (since we don’t have to worry), it does still make sense to blog with a purpose since it is saving us huge chunks of time.

Just imagine what would happen if you were to change directions on your blog all the time. Chaos! Plus you’d also loose most of your readers for sure. Blogs have that distinctive trait to attract a certain readership, depending on the topic of course.

While most bloggers change their direction at some stage, many wouldn’t dare to do this too often, me included. Unless of course we start a new blog.
But doing this will only cause us to waste a lot of time. Time we could use to actually grow our blog with a purpose. Whether this time is utilized with link building, adding more posts or using other means to further blog traffic is irrelevant.

Purpose blogging is in my humble eyes a must if you want to build a corner stone blog for your business. For many business owners blogs are the number one means to connect with the world. Their blog is the window to their shop, their business.

For these business owners purposeful blogging is more important than for a diary blogger who simply wants to have some fun. To blog with purpose could include any of the following:

• keyword focused posts
• driven advertising
• networking in the right circles
• blogging on topic
• blogging to a strict schedule
• using prizes, give away’s and competitions to attract more readers

Whatever your purpose, you need a structure. Whether you focus on any or all of the examples before, you need to know what your blogging purpose is.

When I first started my blog, I did it with the intention to journal my journey as a freelance writer. My aim hasn’t wavered much, although I did eventually stop blogging on wider topic group and started to narrow my focus on freelance writers (both new and established), writers and entrepreneurs instead.

This change of focus has paid off with regards to help brand myself as an established and knowledgeable freelance writer, which of course I am by now. To further sweeten my decision, I am fortunate enough to be able to help many aspiring freelancers with my advice. This in fact has always been my blogging purpose too, I just needed to narrow my blog’s focus some more to move further in this direction.

As you can see by what it has done for me, a blogging purpose could make a huge difference to your blog, your business and ultimately your life.

So, tell us, what is your blogging purpose?

The Frugal Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs come in all sizes and shapes. They approach their business with a goal, something that works for them and while some manage to work to a strict schedule, others explore and learn along the way. The frugal entrepreneur however has one thing in mind.

His main objection is to run his business frugally to ensure faster success. But what exactly does this mean?

Wikipedia says frugality in philosophy can have several meanings. For starters, it could be considered a virtue, or a spiritual discipline by some cultures or even environmentalists, while others see frugal living as a result of mistrust.

In business, frugality equals the usage of available resources and making them last longer. Entrepreneurs, especially young ones need all help they can get in the beginning stages of their business. What better way to become pro-active and choose the do-it-yourself approach.

While I was thinking about this concept, I wondered whether business frugality can indeed help us attain success faster or not? Join me on my mind trip to see what conclusions I have reached.

Being an entrepreneur myself I can only look at this from my own perspective. While this might be similar to some of you, others might not agree with my views, which is fine. I think we have to do what is right for us, regardless of ideas, options or desire.

My journey to business frugality

When I first started out online I was a total greenhorn. I think it’s safe to say this. Since I was born in the flowering 60s, I never learned how to use a computer at school, let alone did I realize there was an Internet available to me in the 90s. To say I’m a late starter is quite accurate.

So in some ways I can be forgiven to be blinded by this massive online world and all the opportunities that lie at my finger tips when I finally saw the bigger picture.

To be honest, while everything seemed rather exciting it soon became massive overload. And after soaking up everything I learned, saw and heard on the net I soon found myself burnt out, close to financial melt down and disheartened with my lack of advancement.

Spending myself out of pocket

The major problem for me was my desire to know everything. I soon realized that it is impossible. On my quest to find online riches I bought every dozens of eBooks, courses, plus memberships. Every time I did I felt a little closer to my goal which of course I so wasn’t.

In reality I was kidding myself while spending my hard earned money on a lot of useless stuff. Then when I failed my MLM business I had no other options than to either go back to a job I hated (which I did for about 7 months) or get really serious and make it happen.

The dawn of frugality

That moment was the beginning of my business frugality. I stopped buying into every new product launch. I also stopped buying into all the hype I saw online.

I started to knuckle down, look very hard at what I REALLY wanted from a home business and went about doing it, step by step.

My frugal mind helped me since I went from spending between $2000- $3000/month to spending about $150 for my business costs. Mind you, the massive difference was mainly due to me quitting my MLM business. Company tools, events, lead management systems and phone bills kept those expenses astronomically high.

When I look back now I’m still shocked at having spend so much of our savings. Despite this shock, I also know that if it wasn’t for my MLM business I wouldn’t be doing what I do now. You could say I made peace with myself and learned from my mistakes along the way. Was it costly? Hell yes it was as you can see quite easily. But I’m thankful I made the switch when I did, otherwise I might be living in a rented house rather than my own today.

On being frugal

In short, my decision to become business frugal has meant the difference between my business success and my earlier failure. Maybe I needed to be learning this very hard lesson in order to become 100% dedicated and serious. In retrospect, I probably did.

From where I stand, it certainly does help to have a frugal mind as an entrepreneur. There is no room for wastage and much error as every single one will cost us dearly.

Does this make sense to you too? Do you employ a frugal mind set in your business or couldn’t you care less about this? Let us know please.

Business Success vs Friendship

Yesterday I had a really worrying conversation with a friend of mine. He voiced a concern about another mutual friend who he feels has been avoiding him for quite some time. The trouble is, this second friend is actually quite successful in her business ventures. Naturally the question arose whether she was actually putting her success before her friends needs to keep the friendship going.

While I don’t know their history and it isn’t my business to worry about them, I certainly started to ponder the question in general terms.

How do we as a business person value friendship, once success has taken hold in our business?

I could bet most people would answer this saying they certainly value their friends, regardless of their business success. However, while this is certainly true for myself, I wonder what really happens to some people once their reach the pinnacle of their respective business.

For starters, people might become so involved in their business affairs they simply forget to make time for their friends. They could also be so bombarded from other not so successful people asking for help which of course takes a huge chunk of time out of their working day.

So many possible scenarios come to mind which all negatively affect our friendships.

My friend also mentioned some people’s need for even more money once they are on top of their business, regardless of their friends.

This leads me to believe that most “common” people actually believe the following to be true – that once we become wealthy, we don’t really care about our old friends anymore and simply concentrate on earning even more money.

I suppose this belief of mine has further been fueled by many conversations I had in the past with a wide range of people. Most of us grow up thinking being equals nastiness. You know, we feel rich people have no character, they simply don’t care about “us” the “common” people anymore, since they have so much money to burn they hardly have time to foster their old relationships.

While I personally think this to be utter rubbish, I actually know many people who belief just that. Most of these people are children of middle class families, having grown up with this common “hate” for rich and successful people.

I’m also a middle class child and I know this to be true because my parents instilled this belief into me when I was younger. I know they didn’t mean it out of spite, they simply believed this to be true without trying to understand while some people might react like this but most never would, because a lot of people feel the same way, hence a common belief is born. When I started to involve myself with a lot of personal development I learned to understand that this wasn’t true.

But, regardless of my own belief in this matter I still wonder how people actually react once they become financially rich and how do others who previously knew them perceive them to be in their new found wealth.

See, it could also be the “common” people’s jealousy kicking in. They are upset, jealous, angry, etc. because they are still stuck in their 9-5s while the rich person has created a new reality.

I suppose I could offer a lot more thought on this scenario, but I really wanted to hear your thoughts on this matter. How do you feel about the business success vs friendship situation?

More importantly, where are you right now in this regard? What is your reaction, your experience with this. 

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener On The Other Side

A common attribute many people share is the belief that the other side is more fun, hence the saying “the grass is always greener on the other side.” While this might be true for certain aspects of life, it doesn’t always ring true for business.

In fact, I beg to differ and throw a total different viewpoint out here. I believe that the reason most people never succeed online is because of their beliefs. See, most budding entrepreneurs start out by following a dream. Often that dream isn’t strong enough and as a result they fail.

This is nothing out of the ordinary and should always be expected. Not all of us are made from the same resilience and depending whether we can sustain ourselves through our beliefs, our abilities and our actionable activities is down to the individual.

But the majority of online business seekers are those who start off by following a certain principle. That might be a book they read, a person who teaches them a certain way, or an idea they find really cool and suitable for themselves.

In the beginning stages of all businesses we have the building blocks. Once we get over that initial hurdle and really start going we experience major setbacks and smaller hurdles that need to be stepped over in order to get ahead.

And here is where the problems begin for most.

While some few with a mighty vision and plenty of passion keep powering on, the rest will start looking over the neighbors fence when things start to toughen up. We start to admire the color of his grass and wonder how in the world we can’t get our grass to be as green and healthy, all the while forgetting the fact that our neighbor has been tending to his grass for a good while longer than us.

This will quickly lead to frustration and self doubt. We start to question our abilities, our motivation and the why? I can tell you right now, unless your why is big enough, this will be a tough nut to crack.

Looking over the fence to compare ourselves with others is a very bad idea. Comparison can never be fair as the other person will always have a different mind set, ability and will power than us. No two humans are exactly the same and we also don’t come from the same background.

So how in the world can you expect to be as good as the new kid on the block who grew up with entrepreneurial parents, powering on past you to success, while you stem from a middle class home and never knew what personal development was before you read an online article.

Comparing ourselves in such ways is a sure fire way to failure and throwing the towel. Don’t do it. You are destined for greatness if you only believe so. We all are.

Another problem is the start – stop mechanism in which many “would be” business owners run their business. They start – look over the fence to find a quicker way to become successful – and stop. Then they start with the quicker way to become successful and find that it isn’t so easy after all and guess what – they stop. This destructive cycle will continue to spin until you learn to focus your energies and your vision.

Once you clarify your vision and keep your focus, your business will improve – guaranteed. I think that is proof enough that the grass is certainly not greener on the other side, even if we tend to believe so.

A Few Simplified Thoughts on Branding

image by jbarreiros
Have you ever wondered why actor and actress names are what they are?

Actress names in particular once boggled me to no end. Take for example, Elizabeth Taylor. She must hold a world record in remarriages, but what’s her name, no matter what? Elizabeth Taylor. Why on Earth does it work that way? Because with actors and actresses, their stage names are their brand.

All the fame and star power they earn is represented in their stage names. If those stage names change, they’ve damaged a huge part of their branding and the sellability of any movie or show in which they star thereafter. If you’re an actor or actress, the size of your paycheck depends greatly on whether or not you can get viewers to movies or television shows, so this damage is grievously undesirable. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what their real names really are, or if they change once they marry. They never change their stage names because it would be dumb and costly to them if they did.

Your business can be branded the same way. While your business model may not be dodging paparazzi or walking down the red carpet in a million dollars of jewelery, the end result is the same. A brand can pad your future paydays because it’s recognized and actively sought by customers in your niche.

Branding yourself isn’t hard to do. Find out what you are, then brand it. There are a few things that can help, and possibly have that brand do some of your selling for you.

• Your company name: Take some time in choosing it, because if it’s catchy (like ‘Google.com’, which I mentioned last week), the fact it’s memorable can help put your cash flow in the black.


• A logo: These are helpful, but not enormously necessary. There are plenty of examples of people who grow wealthy without one (particularly the one-man entrepreneurs working on the Net), but if you have the money, consider getting one designed.


• A tagline: These usually appear under the company names, and is a catchy sentence you want to represent you. They are usually repeated by the big companies over and over, and if you can think of a company name and hear the ring of the sentence they use to describe themselves, you know what a tagline is.

Once you get them, and they start selling for you, look into trademarking them immediately. You don’t want someone to come along, realize that tagline, logo, or company name that’s making you so much money after all your hard work isn’t trademarked and take them from you or abuse them.

And last but not least, remember branding works both ways. You can become branded to something awful, like Microsoft to its oversized and cantankerous software, if you fail with such consistency it becomes the general perception that you fall short. This is not desirable, so be sure to have your product or service in order before you begin.

I’m not the world’s biggest branding expert, but the basics of branding aren’t hard to understand. Your brand is the something recognizable about your business that can help you sell or make money. It can also chase potential customers away if it become associated with something bad, so don’t let that happen.

The Importance Of Business Branding

Branding is all around us in many forms and faces. Whether you are shopping, watching TV or browsing the Internet, everywhere we go these days we are directly influenced in our decision making process by the effects of branding.

Most people aren’t even aware that their minds are gently (or in some instances aggressively) influenced by clever marketing. They end up buying this and that because something they heard or saw stuck with them. It could be a tingle that keeps playing every time you switch on the radio, or that huge electrical store who annoys you with their repetitive ads.

I’m sure you’ve had your own fair share of getting annoyed at some of these ads, but when you think about it, we often tend to drift toward exactly those businesses we always get annoyed about when we need something in particular.

This is due to a combination of smart marketing and business branding.

It starts with the look

We too can achieve this by branding our name or business name all over the Internet. So how do we do this without spending thousands of dollars like the big corporations do?

It’s easy. We use a blog. My preferred choice is the WordPress platform because it is the perfect content management software (CMS) to design a WordPress blog that actually looks like a website.

This site can be your very own branding tool and with a bit of money invested ($100-$500+) you will be able to get a unique site that is your face for the world to see.

First impressions always count, whether we meet someone in person or see their works on the Internet and those initial seconds can be the difference between a long term contract or no work at all.

Regardless of the business you own, you need a proper portal (portfolio) in which to represent yourself. While this might be a given for some, many business owners oversee this most important point.

Your vision counts

Try to find a designer who can take your vision and put this into reality with a custom made theme. I recently did a total make over on my Portfolio site and ended up paying under $300. This was well worth the investment because since the changeover I already gained 3 new clients!

In effect the theme has already paid for itself several times over.

Regardless whether you are working for yourself in a one man/woman show, or are the CEO of a huge corporation, if you have a web presence, you need branding!

Here is what you’ll need to consider before contacting your designer:

• What color scheme do I want for my site (a mixture of 2-3 main colors work best)
• What kind of navigation do I need (traditional blog design, newspaper design, simple page with no sidebars)
• How do I portray myself? Is it more with a direct approach, or more subtle with occasional hints at who I really am?
• Do I want my photograph, a logo, a slogan or all of these combined on the site
• What is my maximum budget?
• Is the site going to be stationary (set) or will I actually use it to blog on too?

The more you can work with your designer in regards to the final result, the better he/she can work with you. It really pays to contemplate these things before you rush into any decision as your site/blog will be your online business portal (portfolio) for a long time to come.

Make it last.

Conclusion

Branding my name from early on into my business has helped me to gain recognition from top Internet marketers. Using a professional design has furthered this to catapult me into a bigger league now and this is being reflected by the new clients I attract.

In my next post I will actually go into the second stage of branding and what you can do as a blogger, business owner to draw traffic to your site. This is something that can be done by anybody, irrespective of money or time.

As long as you are aware that one of these commodities will need to be invested, you will be fine.

If you have questions, or like to know how you can get your own theme, feel free to comment below.

Do Not Let Your Stresses Get The Best Of You In The Business World

Guest post by Stanley Popovich

Do not let your anxieties get the best of you in the business world. It is important to know how to handle your anxieties and stresses. As a result, here is a list of techniques and suggestions on what to do in managing your business related stresses and anxieties.

Take it one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or coming month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your problems. Focus on the present and stop trying to predict what may happen next week. Next week will take care of itself.

Learn how to manage your fearful thoughts that may be difficult to manage. When experiencing a negative thought, read some positive statements and affirmations that help lift your spirits and make you feel better. Remember that your fearful thoughts may be exaggerated so balance these thoughts with realistic thinking and common sense.

Sometimes, we get stressed when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things.

When managing your fears and anxieties do not try to tackle everything at once. The best solution is to break your fears or problems into a series of smaller steps. Completing these smaller tasks one at a time will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

Remember that no one can predict the future with one hundred percent certainty. Even if the thing that you feared does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage. For instance, let’s say at your place of work that you miss the deadline for a project you have been working on for the last few months. Everything you feared is coming true. Suddenly, your boss comes to your office and tells you that the deadline is extended and that he forgot to tell you the day before. This unknown factor changes everything. Remember: we may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your fears and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem. By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future. Managing your fears and anxieties takes practice. The more you practice, the better you will become.

Take a vacation day to relax. Many people work two jobs nowadays. Sooner or later, the long work hours will catch up with you and take a toll on your health. Take the day off and do something you enjoy. The better you can manage your stresses and anxieties the better off you will be in the long run.

About The Author:

Stanley Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” which is located at http://www.managingfear.com/

Bells and Whistles

I’m as big a fan of bells and whistles in the things I buy or find as anyone else. I like shiny web sites with gradient images, video games with great sound and graphics, and flashy casings on tech toys that appeal to a geek like me. They contribute to the ‘wow’ factor, and truthfully, a few well-considered bells and whistles can make a product better.

The problem is, they don’t make the product, and I’ve seen quite a few examples of shiny, glitzy products that have plenty of ‘wow’ factor, but no real use. A few examples:

• High budget blockbuster movies that neglect the ‘movie’ part of the movie. They have excellent sound, special effects, and ‘A-list’ actors or actresses, but they’re still miserable as entertainment.
  


• Web sites with plenty of cool features, but nothing of any real substance or fun.
  


• Ebooks and software that are visually beautiful, but don’t serve any real function or give you any information. One of my old anti-virus programs was this way, and all it did was take up too many resources and look shiny while the viruses made it through undetected.

All of this leads me to my point. When you’re promoting a product or service online, you’re selling something substantive. Adding the bells and whistles is great for causing word-of-mouth sales or a reduction in returns, but if what you’re selling doesn’t do what you said it would do, you’ll still have a bad product or service. A flashy, fancy failure of a product or service is a failure nonetheless.

Add bells and whistles, of course, but make sure your product or service works as advertised. Trying to hide the fact it’s miserable behind fancy features is a good way for someone to notice and mention it, probably to friends and family, and possibly on a blog or forum. Make sure it does what you say it does first, and then give it the ‘wow’ factor to take it over the top. Preferably with gradients, because I like them.

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