As a spiritually-minded home business woman I am aware that we create our own reality and that everything that we see in the material world had its genesis first in the mind as a thought. I understand that intellectually, but lately I have been going back and forth with a client of mine who is a spiritual teacher about getting things done. She is an intuitive who reads energy with startling accuracy. Her approach to life and business is that she only wants to do those things that are all ease, joy and glory for her.

Conversely, I come from a long line of nose-to-the-grindstone, hard working, high-achieving women. I have so many ideas, I’ve got a ton of energy and enthusiasm and I enjoy my work. Because I work at home, lately the lines between work and home life have become blurred and I admit to have been overdoing it a bit in the work department.

So she and I have been going back and forth essentially about doing verses being. She revels in being the space and channeling source energy and all of that ‘woo woo’ stuff, while I figure if I sit around all day in the lotus position being the space they will come and take my car and my furniture away!

But there is a happy medium, and it’s called taking inspired action. Inspired action flows from an open, receptive mind that is centered and grounded and tuned in to Source energy. Inspired action flows from a mind that is open to all of the infinite possibilities.

When you are taking inspired action you feel good–almost orgasmic and you get into ‘the zone’ or you feel like you’re in ‘the flow’ of life and your true greatness is really able to shine through.

Inspired action is not plowing ahead, to-do list in hand, with a furrowed brow and sleeves rolled up. It’s not doing what you think you should do, have to do, or need to do. Many of those things are simply things that we have been trained into believing that we should do in order to get results. Well, don’t ’should’ on yourself any longer.

Working hard, plowing ahead and burning the midnight oil puts you in a place of stress and gives you a knot in the pit of your tummy. Success does not come at the price of ulcers and exhaustion.

Now I am learning to lighten up. I have discovered that taking time out to meditate in the middle of the day actually gives me more energy and brings clarity to my day. Being open and remaining in question about all of the infinite possibilities available to me on a given day helps to keep my perspective as broad as possible.

When I see what’s ahead with my ego-centered, finite eyes, my instinct is to attack the obstacles that stand between where I am and where I want to be with an axe. But when I take a moment and open myself up to the infinite possibilities, the Universe, which sees all, can guide me and inspire me to maybe make one phone call or respond to one email that will crumble those obstacles with minimal effort.

I am a control-freak perfectionist, so the thought of not marching forth to “git ‘er done,” each day makes me break out in hives, but I am learning now to slow it down, breathe and be open to the infinite possibilities. You should try it. Inspired action feels absolutely yummy, and you’ll accomplish far more almost effortlessly.

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An important key to successful online marketing is to keep in mind that, despite what your mother always told you, it really is all about you. In order to rise above the sheer volume, and the noise of the marketplace, you must find an effective way to communicate to the world–or at least to your target market–what valuable solution you provide.

But in order for the world or your market to get how valuable and just plain awesome you are, you’ve got to believe it yourself. You’ve heard it said countless times that everything is energy. You radiate energy that vibrates at a particular level. If you are confident, secure and full of joy you are radiating at a higher level, and as that famous Law of Attraction states, you will attract others to you who are vibrating at a compatible level.

Everything you do, and everyting you create and put out into the world is totally infused with your energy. Therefore, your clients and customers are either drawn to your energy or they are not drawn to it. This is important to keep in mind when you are doing Internet marketing online because if you are not getting the results you desire, you might take a step back and look at your energy and your vibration.

Are you up and eager and excited, or are you feeling down, desperate and frustrated? You can have the most beautiful, visually appealing website with fabulous copy, but if you are not coming from a place of being confident in your value, your contribution and your unique gifts that energy will keep your ideal clients away.

Remember that you are the sparkle that draws traffic, customers and clients to you. What are you doing to make your visitors enjoy their visit to your website or blog? How are you making it fun for your customers and clients to do business with you?

Successful online marketing begins and ends with you. Be radiant. Be passionate, heck, be freaking awesome and take the necessary, consistent, bold action steps and watch your website begin to sizzle.

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I created this slide-show video for one of my clients using http://www.animoto.com. If you have not yet tried this website for creating beautiful slide-show presentation videos you’re totally missing out.

Please take a second and watch this video and leave a comment if you would. Thank you!

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Many of us go through an annual ritual of setting personal goals, or setting business goals at the beginning of the year. We call then New Year’s resolutions and we have every intention of realizing these goals, but somehow they end up falling off the radar screen and before you know it you’re back to your old, familiar habits.

This is nothing new, but as we begin this New Year and new decade maybe you want to try something new. Maybe this year you would actually like to achieve your goals.

The great painter, Pablo Picasso once said, “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and
upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

With that being said, let’s look at some tips and strategies for taking those goals off of the paper and into your life where you can vigorously act upon them.

You can find goal setting workshops in most personal development programs; you can find free goal setting software and websites online. It does not really matter what kind of goal setting strategy you use. Once you have compiled a list of personal, spiritual and financial goals, your next step is going to be writing out why it is crucial that you achieve those goals within the specified time frame.

If you don’t convince yourself of why you must achieve those goals you will not have enough of an emotional investment in accomplishing them. Simply making a list on paper is easy to do and also easy to discard when things get challenging.

Now we are going to bring those goals into your daily life by breaking them up into small chunks and adding them to your daily to-do list or task list.

Take one of your goals that you would like to accomplish within the next six months. Let’s say you’d like to lose that last ten pounds. You will now backwards engineer your goal and break it up into tasks that you can add to your daily calendar. Here are some of the things that you might want to do in order to lose weight:

• Clear the junk foods out of your house

• Choose a weight loss program that fits your lifestyle

• Hire a weight loss coach or counselor

• Buy a weight loss journal

• Re-new your gym membership

You would make a list such as this for each of your goals and then take the time to add them to your calendar. If you’ve got an iphone or another smart phone you can download apps that will support your setting and achieving your goals. At the end of each day you will be able to tick off the things you completed and move forward those things that you were unable to complete. Keep track of your victories and celebrate when you achieve them. This will cause you to want to continue to strive towards your goals even more.

• Keep your goals where you can see them every day.

• Create a vision board

• Create a slideshow video using images that represent the achievement of your goals

• Build in rewards for when you achieve minor and major milestones.

• Be accountable to someone for your goals.

• Listen to motivational and educational programs that will encourage you to achieve your goals.

• Believe in yourself and your ability to get from where you are to where you’d like to be.

• Encourage someone else who is struggling.

So, now you have some ideas for taking your goals and putting legs on them. Pick one of these ideas and implement it right now. Interact with your goals every day until you achieve them. Focus your laser-targeted attention on your goals and they will become a reality.

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2009 was a fantastic year for me in my business. As I end this year I am taking the time to create a deliberate intention for how I plan to move my business forward in 2010. I have been using a variety of tools to accomplish this task including one of Tony Robbins’ goal setting workshops to set some global goals that cover all aspects of my life, I am using Khama Anku’s DVD program, How to Build Your Business from the Ground Up, to put the finishing touches on my new business plan, and I am using La Shanda Henry’s, Create Your 2010 Action Plan to reflect on how my business went last year and how I would like to see it grow and move to the next level in the year to come.

It’s been fascinating to look at the numbers and really see where my business saw growth and where things could use some help. I’m also updating my marketing plan to include more of the marketing strategies that worked for me and some new ideas that I’d like to try in an effort to expand my reach and my visibility online.

If you have not yet created your 2010 action plan there’s still time. You can visit, to download your free copy of Create Your 2010 Action Plan. Because I have an affiliate relationship with La Shanda Henry, if you follow this link I’ve provided and you purchase any of the other excellent products that she has available, I will receive a commission. This is just one of the ways that I generate revenue in my business.

I believe that if you want to achieve a goal, the first step is to create a plan for how you will achieve it. I applaud you on taking the first step. So, here’s to an even more exciting 2010!

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The word resilience is defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary as, “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” Is resilience a skill that you were called upon in the year 2009 to display? I think of resilience as the ability to bounce back, to get back up again when you fall, to call upon strengths that you never knew you had and use them to carry you through.

As we come to the end of 2009 I am pleased to say that I have indeed been more than a conqueror. I have shown resilience in the face of a lot of adversity and I have come through. I am pleased to say that my business not only survived, but it is thriving and growing despite a recessionary economy. Most of all I am pleased to report that despite the passing of my beloved father and grandfather barely six months apart this year I am happy and blessed and thriving in my spirit.

2009 has been an amzing year full of challenges, but also full of joy. I learned many valuable lessons this year about business and about life. I thought that I’d take a moment nad share a few of them here.

Lesson #1: Be Me
There is tremendous value in presenting your true, authentic self. I make a difference in this world just by being myself and presenting my gifts, strengths, skills and talents to the world who is waiting to receive them.

Lesson #2: Value
The more value you create for others in this world the more value comes back to you exponentially. (pressed down, shaken together running over. . .)

Lesson #3: Energy
Everything is energy. Everything I write, say and do is infused with my energy. No one else on earth possess my energy. It is what makes me unique. My energy is what draws my clients, my friends–my good into my life.

As I stride confidently towards this new year and shiny new decade I wish nothing but the best of everything to all of those who I am privileged to come into contact with. It is my desire that you find a way to share your unique value with the world and that you are richly rewarded for it as I have been.

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I purposefully used the term mindful productivity to distinguish between being insanely busy and being thoughtful and deliberate about the work that I do and the projects that I take on. As a bustling solo-preneur, I wear a lot all of the hats in my company. I am a freelance writer creating website content for several clients, I am a blogger who manages a portfolio of blogs in different niche topics, and I’m also a marketer, an artist, a mom to three daughters and a woman who supports several non-profit causes.

With all of these things on my ‘plate,’ I must be deliberate and mindful about everything that I do. I am quickly approaching the point where I will no longer be able to do everything myself and still maintain this pace. What is the solution? The solution for me is going to be to hire someone so that I can regain some of the time that I spend doing tasks that must be done, but can easily be done by someone other than me. This will free me up to focus my time and talent on my core strengths.

Since I am not quite to the point of being able to hire an assistant, what I have begun to do is to carefully consider every item that gets added to my ‘to-do’ list. After prioritizing the order in which the tasks need to be completed, I mark down whether that is a task that I could hand off to someone else. Then as I do those tasks, I write a quick procedure guide for it if necessary. I may even start recording quick instructional videos to make this process quicker. So, by the time I am in the position to hire someone, I will be able to use the instructions that I have written up to get them started and save me the time of explaining it each time.

My plan is to first hire out the obvious time-sucking chores that don’t require any specialized knowledge such as laundry and housework (some of it). Then I would find a good VA to handle some of the marketing tasks, and website maintenance tasks. As a recovering perfectionist, I will have to learn to let some things go and have confidence in the fact that I don’t have to do it all myself.

So, if you’re a solo-preneur who has almost reached the limit of your capacity, consider the tasks that you do each day and start designating which ones could potentially be outsourced to free up your time and energy for more important tasks. Mindful productivity is all about balancing time–which is your most precious resource–and energy. Do what you love, love what you do and find someone else to do the rest.

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The first thing I need to do is to make a confession to you, dear reader. I am an unabashed fan of Dr. Joe Vitale’s work. He is an author who writes on business topics from a spiritual point of view. Some of my favorite titles of his include, Hypnotic Writing, The Attractor Factor, and Zero Limits. Many of you know of him from a little movie that came out a few years back called, The Secret.

Anyway, Joe Vitale has gone and done it again. He has written another book, but this time he is giving it away. Yes, you read that correctly. He is going to give away his new book called, Attract Money Now. Here’s what Dr. Vitale has to say about the release of his upcoming book:

“I need a favor.

I want to help people out of the hole and
into peace and prosperity.

To do that I’ve written a new book called
“Attract Money Now.”

It reveals a seven-step formula that will
help anyone who uses it.

The formula is entirely new.

It’s completely different from my book,
“The Attractor Factor,” or from anything
else I’ve ever published.

In fact, one of the steps in my breakthrough
new seven-step formula will probably shock
you (in a good way, as it’s so easy to do).

I’m going to give away the book, too.

That’s right.

Gratis.

Why?

Because I know what it’s like to struggle.

I was homeless once, and in poverty for
almost a decade. As they say, I’ve been
rich and I’ve been poor, and rich is better.

I want to help you and everyone else break
free.”

Visit the website for the book,

http://www.attractmoneynow.com

Just go there, click it, and enter the names
of people you’d love to see read his new book.

You can also tell your lists, twitter and blog it,
and anything else you think will help get the
word out. Just send people to that site.

I am sharing this information because Dr. Vitale’s work has blessed my life and I would love for as many people as possible to be able to get their hands on his new book, Attract Money Now.

So, join me and let’s thumb our noses at this recession and begin to attract money, happiness and joy into our lives. Your joy will be magnified when you share it with others.

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Today we have a guest blog appearance by Mrs. Robin Tramble, ‘The Empowerment Diva.’ I am on Robin’s email list and she is just a fountain of good news, positive energy, wisdom and inspiration. I thought I’d re-publish this article so that you can get a taste of her style. Please enjoy.

Developing the Social Skills for Self Empowerment

I’m sure you have been influenced by an individual that was so naturally friendly that when put in a room of strangers, they’ll be friends with almost everyone in no time.

This person is referred to as a people-person, someone unbelievably nice and charismatic that he can charm anyone into doing anything.

A socially-empowered person achieves so much greatness, basically because of the people that catapult him to success. He earns the trust and all-out support of the people, whom he had helped before. He never runs out of help. He can do anything with the plethora of people behind him. All because he knows he maximizes his social potential!

Knowing your social skills and making use of them will allow you to reach self-empowerment.
Self-empowerment is making a general overhaul in your life and turning yourself into a happier and more successful person. The key is knowing where to start. Below you will find a few keys.

1. Be genuine.

Hypocrisy will just bring you all the way down. Be genuinely nice and interested to people. Once they perceive that you are Mr. Hypocrite with selfish intentions, you might as well say goodbye to self-empowerment.

2. Actively listen

To earn the love and trust of the people, listen to their problems and empathize with them. Do not just hear them out, listen to them with your heart. Make eye contact when the person talks to you. Listen as if every word matters, and it does. Brownie points when they find out that there is a confidante in you.

3. Have a sense of humor

Be authentic. Don’t force yourself to laugh for every joke cracked by someone, albeit you do not find it funny at all.This means finding humor in things and not being too serious. A person oozing with an awesome sense of humor attracts crowds and eventually, attracts success.

4. Don’t forget the importance of self care

In the process of fluttering around like a social butterfly, you might forget yourself, allowing everyone to push you over. Remember, love and value yourself before anyone else. If you deem yourself respectable and worthy of affection, people will flock to you and not trample on you.

5. Do random acts of kindness.

You don’t have to do a John Rockefeller and blow your savings to charity. Little acts of kindness matters the most, and this can be as simple as giving someone a surprise you-take-care card or helping an elderly cross the street. When we were kindergarten students, kindness was taught to us and greatly practiced. Now is the time to revive the good deeds and this time, let them stay for good.

6. Restore healthy old relationships

Sad how some friendships are destined to goodbye, but thanks to technology, you can do something about it. Relive the good old days by flipping your yearbook and look for the great people whom you want to communicate with again. Adding these old friends to your roster of support peers will surely make you feel good all over.

7. Develop your personality.

Are you grouchy, grumpy and generally morose? Whoa, you can’t go through life with those. Get rid of the bad traits and habits that perpetually hamper your growth. And really, who wants a grouchy friend anyway?

8. Be confident.

Be able to stride to the other corner of the room and introduce yourself to people with that winning smile of yours. Just remember: be confident, not arrogant.

9. Manage your temperament

When angry, don’t snap at anyone. Never throw a tantrum. Stay calm and collected. Be adult enough to take control of situation and transform your anger into something more productive and passive. As soon as people think your anger goes to volcanic proportions easily, they will find it hard to come to you.

10. Continue to nurture and cherish your relationships.

Your relationship with your family, friends and significant others is too precious that you must not neglect it whatever happens. Go out and have fun with them. Do things together. Happiness will never fly from your side as long as the people who matter the most are close to you.

In the end, using people for self-empowerment means becoming a better and more lovable person. It’s a win-win situation: the people know they can turn to you anytime and vice versa.

God in you = Empowerment!

Robin Tramble

Request your fre.e access to my ezine for savvy entrepreneurial women “Highlights of Empowerment and Total Wellness.”
http://budurl.com/qqwt. Robin Tramble a Life/Marriage Empowerment Mentor/Trainer/Coach is passionate about empowering women to live their best empowered life “Spirit, Soul and Body.”

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For those who are looking for a way to use their writing talents to make money writing online, ghostwriting articles and ebooks and short reports is a great way to get started. I have been ghostwriting online for about three years now, and I have found it to be a good way to put my writing skills to work and earn some cash.

By way of explanation, ghostwriting is simply the practice of writing content along with the publication rights to it. Although the ghostwriter writes the article, ebook, report, etc., the client who hires them puts their name on the piece and can claim authorship of that work.

Writing is something that I enjoy, and whether I am writing for myself for one of my own sites or for a client I always put forth my very best effort. I have been doing some article marketing for myself, and I write a metric ton of articles for clients each week, so I try to keep up on what’s happening in the world of article marketing. I was listening to Dan Ho’s interview with Christ Knight of ezinearticles.com last evening and I could feel my hackles being raised by the way they were talking about ghostwriters. I guess I should not let it bother me so much because I know that my work is always original, but I sort of felt like they were not presenting ghostwriters in a very favorable light by saying that you should never trust them, etc.

Articles are no magnum opus. They are pretty simple and straightforward to write. I like writing articles because they are quick to write, and I enjoy learning about new topics and finding creative ways to get the client’s message across using their keywords and creating value for the reader. With my education, training and years of practice I know that I am always improving the level of my writing. I agree with Dan and Chris that PLR should be used on your web site and not submitted to ezinearticles as if it were your own original content.

Here are some things that I took away from that interview:

The need to create a ‘work for hire’ agreement to give to new clients when I begin working with them. I have only been asked once to sign a notarized NDA for a client who was paranoid beyond belief about their keywords. For the most part I have not used work for hire agreements, but I will going forward.

It became clear that I need to write and submit far more articles than I have been writing. Although I joined the 100 Articles in 100 Days marathon, I had to drop out because almost as soon as I joined I got a flood of new client writing assignments and I was not able to keep up with my personal articles along with my client work. I am working daily to keep up a healthy volume of writing.

Re-purposing existing content into new articles is a great way to come up with more articles without needing to write them from scratch.

In closing I will just say that ghostwriters provide a valuable service, and there are plenty of honest ghostwriters out there who have integrity and operate in an ethical manner. (Dare I ask if you have hugged your ghostwriter today?

If you are a writer looking to make money writing online, be sure to write lots and lots of articles and submit them to the main article directories with links back to your blog. You’ll get a nice stream of targeted traffic and all the work you can handle.

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