Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 11-09-07

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Dosh Dosh wants you to know that “The other bloggers in your niche are attention assets you can exploit. Don’t treat them as competitors, even if they promote a similar affiliate program. The internet is big enough for everyone.”

Your Fellow Blogger is Not a Competitor

chrisg offers “Here below are my 5-star daily reads, exported, unedited, exactly as they are in my feed reader of choice, BlogBridge.”

Dave Olson observes “Today I had a full day off where I didn’t have to travel anywhere or go into the office or meet with anyone. WEIRD!”

Name Wire explains “Some domain name specialists argue that if you don’t choose a generic name, one that describes the nature of your business, for an Internet-based company, you are leaving money on the table.”

Related ala carte selections include

phocks explains that A brand new store has just opened in New York City that sells Husbands.
When women go to choose a husband, they have to follow the instructions at the entrance:

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Hear Phil Gerbyshak at A Brand You World

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He’s Also Got Great Things to Say

A Brand You Summit

No doubt that Phil was fun last night at Open Comments. The man has an imaginative brain. Put that same brain to work on a problem or an idea, and you’ll find he has exciting and profound things to say. You’ll get your chance tomorrow in a teleseminar that’s part of A Brand You World, the celebration of the 10th Year of Personal Branding.

Phil’s speaking on line 2 at 6pm ET/11pm UK — his topic is Identity You: Creating a Personal 5×5 Branding Strategy.

So tune in. Those of us who heard Phil’s keynote at SOBCon07 know the high value of listening in when Phil is speaking.

The A Brand You World teleseminar schedule lasts 12 hours with two parallel tracks. The list of SOBs on the venue include:

Listen in. Finding an answer you’ve been searching for is winning. Hearing someone say a truth you know is inspiring. How can you lose?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

SOB Business Cafe 11-02-07

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Chrisg says “… Social Media is a popularity contest. It’s a lot like high school really. Being nice is great, but being popular and having lots of friends is far more important.”

StartUp Princess says, “Instead of getting depressed today about how far I have to go to get organized and establish much needed systems to run my life, family, and business better, I decided to look at what systems ARE working and then see how I can tweak them up for other areas.”

Dosh Dosh says, ” By examining your intentions or goals, you can reverse-engineer your entire blog and easily determine what type of content you should create in order to have the best chances of achieving your aims.”

Smart, Wealthy, Rich says “Well, the goal was to get 1000 subscribers in the first month. Which would have been quite awesome, but it didn’t happen. Instead, it took 3 months to get 1261 RSS readers. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is pretty nice! 🙂

Sometimes you gotta aim high, and then re-adjust. That’s what I did.”

Steve Olson asks, “Some common headlines I see are about how the poor are getting poorer, the middle class is losing ground, and that there is less opportunity today than in the past. But is it true?”

the Artsy Asylum says, “Truth be told not many people can afford the time to spend hours helping us create our Second Life presences for goodwill alone – so many of us do it ourselves and go through multiple incarnations before we get it even close to what we want. It’s not a pretty process.”

Related ala carte selections include

Orbit Now! says, “Here is my spin. It is perhaps NOT as sticky, but that should come as a surprise to no one.”

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Comments 441- 680+: 34 Links from Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

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Indescribable! — Part 3 birthday balloon

thank you

On October 24, 2007, Successful Blog celebrated our 2nd birthday since my first post here. YEA!! It was a wonderful time.

Every person who came was a gift to me. Every voice that spoke was heard. I went back and read every word. Thank you for all coming around.

My dad wasn’t here, but this is the kind of birthday that would have happened in his saloon. I know. I know. I was there.

Thank you for the successful and outstanding links that you shared.

To end this I’d like to take a quote from the post at the CustServ blog. Meikah said it in such lovely words.

The road is long and bumpy at times, but with everyone’s help, I know we can make a difference.

Don’t forget the Good Blogs made an SOB widget!! Get the code for the SOB widget here.

I’m one lucky blogger to know all of you!
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
The Mic Is On: Happy 2nd Birthday to SOBs Everywhere!

Great Find: Tax Girl

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Fourth Quarter Freelancer

If you’re a solo, a freelancer, or a small business owner, you know the words estimated taxes. You might have an accountant. You might not. Either way. Our accountant isn’t responsible for our taxes we are. It helps to know a little bit about what they’re supposed to say.

I know you might think the idea, the topic of taxes is boring. I, myself, have actually said the following words many times in the past. We all reluctant readers, if you don’t believe me, pick up the tax code.

Lucky for us, Kelly Phillips Erb started a blog called TAXGIRL. . . .

Great Find: TAXGIRL
Permalink: http://www.taxgirl.com/
Target Audience: Everyone who pays taxes in the US
Content: In the About Box, it says tax news, tax info and tax policy – and it’s not as boring as you think! That’s an understatement.

When I saw Kelly speak at BlogHer, she started by saying that she like the law so much she went back for her master’s degree in tax law. There’s something to that saying “Blog Your Passion.” I would have never believed someone could make tax information so compelling. I feel smarter and more interesting every time I go there.

Here’s an example of her refreshing style of tax writing.

It’s the Most Ring-a-Ding Time Of the Year
by Kelly on October 31st, 2007
You probably think that I’m talking about the fact that for some disturbing reason, retailers have packed the stores with Christmas goodies – and Halloween isn’t even over yet (who buys stuff this early anyway?).

But I’m not.

I’m talking about solicitations. It’s the time of the year when charitable organizations come calling. So far this month, I’ve received more than ten charitable solicitations from tax exempt organizations: my daughter’s school, college, law school, the arboretum, PHS, the zoo, the art museum, public radio, public television and more. We’re sorting through all of them, trying to decide which ones to support. In addition, we’re plowing through piles of summer clothes since fall has finally decided to pay us a visit in the northeast… and putting them into piles: save, toss and donate.

Why the rush? Why now? Because you only have 62 days to incur additional charitable deductions for the calendar year 2007. Tax professionals know this. Charitable organizations know this. And now you do, too.

Charitable donations are a good way for many taxpayers to increase deductions and get a warm fuzzy or two in the process. Whether you donate cash or goods (like our used clothes and toys), you can take these deductions on your tax return – but only if you itemize.

Remember, cash deductions, regardless of the amount, must be substantiated by a bank record (such as a canceled check or credit card receipt) or in writing from the organization. The writing must include the date, the amount and the organization that received the donation. In other words, loose change in the offering plate doesn’t count.

My advice when making a financial donation?

  • 1. Get a receipt. Just ask. If the organization is taking your money, they ought to be able to produce a receipt.
  • 2. Consider using a check or credit card.
  • 3. And finally, don’t let the tax tail wag the dog. Those kids in the neighborhood who are collecting for UNICEF? C’mon, be charitable. It is, after all, the spirit of giving that should really matter and not the deduction.

When it comes to donations of items, and not money, the rule is that you can generally take a deduction for the current FMV of the items donated to charity – not the purchase price but rather what the item would sell for in its current condition. So if you can’t give that tiki bar away because it’s practically worthless, you may not attempt to take a deduction for $25 when you donate it to the qualified charity of your choice.

You can get to her blog by clicking the logo below.

Wanna know why I did this review today? Well, we all need to be reminded that the end of the year is coming — 90% of our taxes need to be in.

And I’m hoping this glowing report will convince Kelly to consider doing my taxes for me. . . . yeah, I didn’t think so either.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

SOB Business Cafe 10-26-07

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

The Idea Dude considers cues, rules, and the people we influence daily.

Creative Think considers an unusual anatomical “what if.”

Logic + Emotion considers a burning question.

Make It Great! considers how to improve our social skills.

All Things Workplace considers how things are changing.

Manage to Change considers another side of the story.

Related ala carte selections include

Pick the Brain considers any and everything.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss