by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh
We found this at the beach the night after last new full moon- giving a new perspective to the beach.
Sometimes just one thing can change our picture.
Here is a good place for a call to action.
by Guest Author
We found this at the beach the night after last new full moon- giving a new perspective to the beach.
Sometimes just one thing can change our picture.
by Liz
Successful and Outstanding Bloggers
Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,
They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.
I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.
Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.
If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
by Liz
An email marketing campaign is one prong in an effective marketing strategy. Email marketing lets you get the word out to clients and potential clients. The email format is especially conducive to sharing and referrals. It allows you to have a conversational interaction with your target market.
Making your email marketing campaign effective relies on a good email marketing list. The quality and size of your list directly impacts how effective the campaign is going to be. Building your email list, however, isnât necessarily easy or intuitive. You might put up a sign-up form on your website, for example, and the find yourself discouraged when no one has signed up after several weeks.
If you want to build your email marketing list, there are some specific things you can do to speed up and increase your success:
Email marketing can be one of the most effective types of marketing for your business. Making an email marketing list work for you means putting these methods into practice and doing so with both integrity and diligence.
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Author’s Bio:
Dominique Molina is President of the American Institute of Certified Tax Coaches, an organization of tax professionals who are trained to help their clients rescue thousands of dollars in wasted tax. In addition to her blogging and speaking engagements, Dominique provides tax training and accounting marketing as a registered educator with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
by Rosemary
One of my favorite summer jobs in college was working for Tourmobile, giving tours of Washington, DC. History, politics, and my latent ham gene all combined to make it the perfect job. Â
One sweltering summer day, at the end of a tour, a passenger stopped on the way out of the bus. I thought the tour went fantastically, and was ready for a compliment or a tip. Instead, the person said, âyou know, Iâm a Native American, and I object to your use of the term Indian-giver.â Indeed, in part of my patter about a particular slice of land on the other side of the Potomac, I had used that term. I had probably used it a million times. But this personâs statement struck me, and as I apologized profusely, it became a life lesson.
Your most potent skill as a business person or entrepreneur is the ability to see things through another personâs eyes. Â
Take a moment now, and imagine how others view these aspects of your business:
Customer service
New offerings or product features
Design for accessibility
Business partnerships
Marketing message
Contracts and deals
Pricing
Hiring and firing process
Employee benefit
Great leaders are usually empathy practitioners. Here are some ways you can build your empathetic reflex:
*Practice active listening, keep eye contact and lean in
*Visualize yourself above the conversation, watching
*Do secret shopping on your business
*Donât configure your customers from Liz, circa 2006
*Use outside tools to evaluate your user experience (user interfaces, accessibility
*Before responding, hesitate a moment to project yourself into the other personâs shoes
*Donât ever use the phrase, âour policy is…â
*At a large business gathering, proactively reach out to the person who is obviously solo
*If itâs practical, try doing someone elseâs job at your business for a day
You have a thousand chances a day to connect with other human beings. How can you practice empathy today?
âEmpathy is the most revolutionary emotion.â Gloria Steinem
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Author’s Bio: Rosemary OâNeill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Thank you, Rosemary!
You’re irresistible!
ME “Liz” Strauss
by Thomas
While the stock market seems to have settled down, many individuals canât help but question whether it is best to invest while there are some good stocks available or should they pay off debts, especially credit cards?
Even though there is no set answer, individuals need to realistically look at their own situation to see which financial decision is more prudent for their case.
Issues to Confront
In the event you are weighing which road to travel, you need to determine the larger number, the return on investment or the interest you are currently paying for your credit cards. For those people who are paying greater interest than they could earn, they are advised to pay down their debt first.
When it comes to paying down debts, some financial experts will advise you to place your debts in order, from those charging the largest interest rates to ones charging the least.
On the flip side, others will advise placing them from smallest to biggest, paying off the smallest one first and making at least minimum payments on the others. Some view this as not only getting a debt paid off, but giving a consumer something to feel good about when the debt is removed.
Know the Tax Implications
With tax season here for the next few months, another factor for individuals to consider is what tax implications will befall them.
Individuals should look at whether the interest on their investment is taxable, along with if the interest on their debt is tax-deductible. When investing in items like traditional IRAs and 401 (k) plans, you can decrease your taxable income, so those investments can assist you.
Individuals should also take into consideration that investing is best done when finding returns that significantly top the interest on their debts.
Over time, individuals will be able to pay off high-interest obligations, while likely tracking down save investments that offer a better return on their money as opposed to paying more on their lower-rate debts.
Preparing for the Future
Finally, while credit card and other debts are something you canât run and hide from, remember that your future financial picture is even more important today, given the questions about the strength of Social Security when you retire down the road.
If youâre able to eliminate high-interest consumer debt, start saving as much as possible. The best place to kick things off is a 401(k). The next best choice is an IRA.
Along with placing money in a retirement account, you will need to have a ârainy dayâ fund that’s readily available in an emergency so you do not rely on credit cards.
You should put aside enough funds to hold you over for three months if your paycheck suddenly ceased. If you have less-than-steady income, think about putting aside six months of income, potentially through a high-yield savings account or money market fund monthly basis until reaching a desired amount.
As noted earlier, each situation will warrant its own analysis, but paying down debts and investing in your future are both win-win scenarios.
Do the Math
If youâre still not sure about the best avenue to take regarding your financial situation, consider this example:
Letâs say youâre behind $15,000 on a credit card and your savings account contains some $15,000. Throw in a credit card interest rate that is at 10 percent and the bank is compensating you less than 2 percent on your account.
While your first inclination is to pay off the credit card and move that debt behind you, make sure there are no investment opportunities that could arise. Yes, investing in pretty much any product or brand is a risk, but the rewards can be great.
Should you come across an investment option or find some stocks or bonds that are providing good returns, you may think twice about putting all that money towards the debt, rather doing some investing. Perhaps you should do both?
As someone who has had to deal with debt due to a divorce and job layoff, I can tell you from firsthand experience that paying down a debt is a great feeling, even if it takes some time to do it.
In the event youâre still having questions as to which road to take (debt or investments), consider a few questions:
As you can see, there are a number of roads to travel when deciding on paying down debt or investing those dollars.
Whichever road you head down, map out your plans ahead of time so you donât get lost.
Dave Thomas, who covers topics such as starting a small business, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.
by Liz
On Valentine’s Day, 2008, I wrote How to Write Intelligently from the Heart. It explored how to create the dynamic tension between structure and expression that makes our writing live on.
We can think and write. We can craft our sentences to be clever. We can make sure that each part is factually, structurally, grammatically correct. But clever and accurate only go so far in satisfying readers. If we want our writing to resonate long after, our words need to come from the heart.
As I read that post today, it leads me to think about the dynamic tension between head and heart that are part of any successful business and any successful life.
In the same way, our work needs to come from the heart.
We can think and plan life. We can think and plan a business. We can build brilliant business strategy and savvy life design. We can make sure we’re on budget, we manage our time, and delivering high ROI that sees to the needs of work, friends, and family. But savvy and brilliant only go so far. If we want build a lasting business inside a meaningful life we need our head hardwired to our heart.
Here are 25 secrets I’ve learned about living and working intelligently from the heart.
People who live and work intelligently from the heart share the humanity of who they are. It’s the in the humanity that we connect to them with our minds and with our hearts. They have boundaries to structure their work and their lives but their hearts touch other people. And it shows in the way that their lives and their work are art. You see the intelligence from the heart in the thoughtful unexpected gesture at the moment it’s needed most, in the compassion and forgiveness offered by a human with strong sense of self, in the way they seem to breathe an intelligent heartfelt belief that people are meant to be all they are. Head and heart together make meaning in a way that intelligence alone cannot.
It’s the style, the color, and the light — the playful feeling that took skill and thought to express — that makes this photo more than a heart in a frame.
How do you recognize someone who lives and works intelligently from the heart?
Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!