Monday, November 26

Great singer, GREAT WEDDING SONG!

Years ago I hear this song in a movie "High Crimes" (2002) named "I'm Not the Enemy" sung by Lina (wiki page) which I just loved and ever since I've followed her the best I could since she is now on her own independent label Moodstar Recordings.  Lina has put out some great music that has a vintage jazzy soul sound and touch of R & B.  I have come to many of her songs because they really speak to me and my experiences.  But one her sew CD 'Vintage' there is a wonderful song that immediately made me picture two people singing it to each other at their wedding.  You should check it out! You can listen to a sample on CDBaby.com, which is an independent music site.The name of the song is "By The Way"  I am not even close to getting married but I love it and I think you will enjoy it as well as many of her other songs.

Support Independence!


Wednesday, November 21

Selling around the world

Are you a crafter, a seller of smaller light weight items or tangible goods on line? Do you sell around the world? If not, you should probably give it lots of thought. It may not be as hard as you think it is.

What I am specifically talking about things are that weigh less than 4 pounds. Did you know that you can ship to a lot of countries via USPS first class international mail parcel for a reasonable rate because the international limit for first class is 4 pounds, not 13 ounces.  Check out the USPS Postal Calculator.  There are some size limits but, they're still pretty decent. Don't forget that there maybe some other restrictions that differ from country to country. Make sure you state on your product listings that the buyer is responsible for any import taxes or duties.

Did you know that shipping to Alaska, Hawai'i, most APOs/FPOs/DPOs and US territories is the same as shipping to the contiguous states for smaller and lightweight items?  You can go to USPS.com and on line create the forms/labels needed.

Don't cut off some potential customers who easily may become regulars simply because YOU are willing to ship to them and the next seller is not.

Just a thought!

Saturday, November 3

Help for a very small business, please!

FedEx is sponsoring a grant contest in which I have entered. If you would be so kind to vote for my business it would greatly be appreciated and every little bit helps as I am starting out.

Vote here

How it works...
People vote for a business and the top 100 vote getters get judged by folks at FedEx. There is a $25,000 grant and five other $5000 winners. You can vote for one small business per day until November 24 2012.

Vote here


You can also join me on Facebook here.

I forgot to mention that you need to have a face book account to vote.


Tuesday, October 9

Free Fax - Online Fax Service




Send Free Fax Online to the U.S. and Canada!

Free Fax - Online Fax Service


I had to fax the IRS something and I was using the phone line I would have used for a conventional fax.  So I Googled real quick and found them.  They are perfect for sending the one or two faxes you have to one in a blue moon!

Tuesday, March 13

Encouraging words & a cousin

I'd like to give a shutout to my cousin, Nikita, for doing her thing and invite you to take a look/listen to her show "Life without limits"; http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20985991

Maybe this will help is allowing us to have a better view on things and give us ideas to live a full and wonderful life.

Good job, Nikki!!

Monday, March 5

A few posts back I mentioned Evernote, which is the best thing since sliced bread to me.  Evernote is a software that you install on your smart phone, all of your computers and your friends, too, if you can and you create and keep your notes, voice memos, pictures, and ideas in notebooks and access then from wherever you have internet access.  You can also have your drawings in there as well!!  You can install Skitch on your smartphone and DRAW your ideas and have them synced in Evernote.  You can draw on existing pix or from scratch.  check it out at Evernote.com or skitch.com and in your phone's app market place.

Even if Evernote is not installed they still have a web interface so you just need internet access.  And yes, it's FREE!

Just thought I'd share!!

Thursday, February 9

The power of prayer...my personal observation

This is not me preaching at you about going to church or anything like that.  This is just my realization the things and since this is my blog I can voice it here...

Humans are funny creatures.  You have heard the sayings; "Humans are creatures of habit" or "Mind over matter"? Well, let's look at our lives, when we go to work day in and day out then something changes that routine we feel a little uncomfortable.  It because we are out of our regular routine, out daily habits but then most of us shake the uncomfortable feeling quickly.

Think about the times that we may have been asked to do something that we have never done, attempted or even thought of doing.  In the beginning we think "There's no way I can do this!"  Then we try either because ours jobs depend on it or someone important is depending on us to get it done.  We do it, it maybe hard at first but, in the end we've done it and as it turns out it really wasn't as hard as we thought.  It was just our mind telling us that we couldn't do it because we hadn't before...whatever 'it' maybe.

It's like not being about to get going without your morning coffee or juice or exercise...we just don't feel right until we can get back to what we are used to -- starting our routine again.

Well, whether you believe in God or not, no matter how religious you are or not, prayer works.  Prayer works because in order to break a habit we first must decide to break that habit.  If we never make that decision then we just continue in our habit because it's easy.  Payer helps us embed the idea of breaking a habit or starting new better habit (like not smoking or loosing weight) to the point where the decision is make in our minds.  The more you pray the more your mind steers you toward what you need to do. You see, praying isn't just speaking to God and J.C. to ask for something you are also telling yourself, you mind to prepare you for this new habit.  Once you mind is on board most things are possible.

It is important to pray and pray often. It is important to put those good words out there and not just mere thoughts in back of your mind of the good you should be doing.  Prayer allows you to put those words in the air for your conscience and unconscious to hear and know at the same time so you can break those bad habits.  The more you pray, the more you think about changing those habits.

The best part of prayer is that they will never fall on deaf ears, someone will always be listing.

Monday, January 2

Start Now!

Every year millions make new years resolutions only to fail later.  My question is "Why not start when now? "  'Now' being whatever time of year.  Why would we put off what we really want to do or need to do?  Avoidance through procrastination and distraction. But what we fail to realize is that by doing this we are putting off our happiness.   And who wants to do that?   So, next time you have an idea to improve yourself or your circumstances (legally & ethically of course), take inventory of where you are at the time, note where you want to be, figure what it will take to get there and the first step, THEN START!  Even if only in little tiny steps, at least you will be making a move towards your goal.

Sunday, January 1

Distractions

I have already blogged about "Focus on Focusing" just a couple of bogs ago but about two and half months ago.  But I found that it is important to expand on that and think about distractions.

I have always tried to think about what is truly important in my life and keep it first, to focus on it and make sure I take care of the things or people that are truly important.  I even have figured out why things are important to me and that has enabled me to better prioritize important things.  But recently I have also figured out that I must think about those hated and not so hated (sometimes very much loved) distractions. If I didn't actively think about them to mark them as a distraction and why I was doing them instead of what I should be doing then I was doomed to repeat.  So yes, I will give those activities I do to avoid the real (hard) tasks in order to recognize better that I am just trying to avoid something.  Sometimes the distractions is something we need to do just not as urgently as others.

Doing this has helped me get the important things done first and I feel better because they are done.  The not so important things they'll be there or I figure out they aren't as important as I once thought.

So keep the important things at the top of you list.  KNOW why they are important.  KNOW what your distractions are so you know when they come up.  This has made my life easier because I don't have things to do hanging over my head.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!