The Thing?

hIn the back corner of a giant souvenir shop in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, is a door with a sign:  "See the Thing!"  What is the thing?  I have no idea!  But billboards for miles created curiosity, and even though we didn't pay $1 each to see this mysterious Thing, we're left wondering...what monstrosity exists in that back room?  Did we miss out on something really cool?  And who came up with this great advertising ploy?

By creating curiosity, he/she attracts customers, which, of course, generates revenue!  This place was hopping--and people were buying more than snacks for the road.  So, how can we create this kind of curiosity in our businesses?  Putting up a billboard on the road to your house is probably not the best way to do it...although I did recently hear an interesting tip about running for a local office so you can put signs in everyone's yards...

How about being your success story?  If your business is in the health & wellness field, be the healthiest, most well person you can be.  People will wonder...how does she always feel so great?  If your business is makeup--you'd better look amazing all the time.  Kitchen products?  Show off your amazing culinary skills with your company recipes in your cool cookware!  YOU are a walking billboard for your product.  If you represent it well, people will want to try it, too.  They'll tell you how great you look, ask for your secrets, etc.  Create curiosity...you'll attract customers and generate income.

Waiting for Jack--Review

While in California at an Author 101 workshop, I had the opportunity to hear Kristin Moeller speak and meet her in person.  Kirsten speaks from her heart, with a genuine, but authoritative tone.  Her book, Waiting for Jack, reflects her life experiences dealing with addiction and an eating disorder, as well as her professional expertise as a counselor and coach. 

Waiting for Jack calls readers out, in a conversational way, showing us all how we are impeding our own progress in life.  Whether we are waiting for someone (or something) else to bring us happiness or blaming our problems on something outside of ourselves, Moeller reminds us that our happiness and our success are in our hands--not someone else's.  Every day we make choices about what we believe about ourselves and our lives and about what actions we will take. 

Because she speaks from personal experience, the advice is a little easier to take.  Overall, this is a well-written wake up call to all of us--a call to start living our lives and stop waiting for life to happen to us. 

The Myth of "Mom-Time"

"Two girlfriends and I are going to a spa overnight. We have already scheduled our massages and facials, manicures and pedicures. We will enjoy meals that somebody else has cooked and not have to wash the dishes or worry about cleaning up the spilled milk. We'll drink a little wine, soak in a hot tub, catch up on girl talk and stay up late if we want because we can sleep in the next morning!" says Melissa from the ivillage. 

Wow.  That sounds amazing, right, moms?  How many times in the last few days have you thought to yourself, "I just need some time to myself."  You want to read your book or chat with your friends or just go out.  And society says we deserve to have that time for ourselves.  I've even heard mom-time compared to the oxygen masks on airplanes--if you don't take time for yourself, how can you be there for your kids? 

I wonder, though, how many moms who have lost a child or who have an empty nest look back and say, "Man, I wish I had taken more me-time."  I look at how fast my children are growing up, and I'm overcome thinking that I don't have enough time with them.  What if today is the last day I'll have with my kids--do I really want to spend my day wishing for more ME time?  After all, isn't that desire for me time really rooted in selfishness?  We don't want to serve others--we want to serve ourselves.  Or, better yet, have others serve us! 

What if our kids or our husband or our friends couldn't wait to get away from us?  What if God needed Me-time?  The Bible says that we should "take every thought into captivity."  I'm going to start taking my selfish thoughts into captivity.  I'm going to start thinking about how much I love to spend time with my kids--how I can't get enough of my kids! 

Need some quiet time?  Wake up an hour or two earlier--like a friend of mine.  She spends a quiet morning with her coffee and her Bible every morning to prepare herself for the day.  If you're a night owl, put your work away when the kids go to bed.  Instead of watching tv or checking facebook, take a bath and read a book.  Your time is in your hands--and you only have so much of it.  Spend your time wisely, giving of yourself so that you don't regret the moments you missed when it's too late.

School Board President Can't Write?

I'm not sure what I find more interesting--the fact that the school board president (and former substitute teacher!) can't write, or the fact that people in the community don't seem to care!  Take a look at the e-mails quoted in this article.  It's not just that the e-mails are full of grammatical errors and vernacular English.  The e-mails just don't make sense!   (Remember that these e-mails were sent out to constituents--they are NOT personal e-mails!) A school board president ought to be a well-educated person who knows what he/she is talking about and can express his/her ideas in an exemplary fashion.  According to the NSBA and the Center for Public Education, the job of a school board includes making sure that students are meeting educational standards and preparing those students for college.  How can someone who does not meet the standards himself understand how to help students meet them? 

What is Mathis' example telling the children in his district about education?  That if they want to just slide by, they can simply claim poor self esteem and get their diplomas anyway?  Sadly, I think it's telling children that the adults in the community have given up on them.  Like Mathis, they've all decided that it's not worth it to emulate excellence for the children in their school district.  Sadly, this is a legacy that will impact these kids for the rest of their lives. 

Time with the Kids...

If you're like me, you're always busy!  If I'm not working, there's always something that needs to be cleaned or cooked or laundered!  Whether you're a working mom, or a stay at home mom, or a mom working from home, you may be looking for ways to spend more time with your kids.  Sometimes it seems impossible, but I'm so tired of always saying things like "In a minute" "Not right now" and "I'm working, hon."  So, I've been thinking about ways to spend time with my kids--without stopping what I'm doing! 

My kids always ask me to play with them--because that's how they relate to other people right now.  But they are happy just to be with me, even if we're not doing the exact same thing.  For example, the other day I was working on making a new family schedule.  Rather than sitting at my desk, I brought my posterboard, pencil, ruler & markers into the schoolroom.  Tristan wanted to do a math page, and Megan and Josyan wanted to do a craft.  So I set them up with their activities while I worked on my schedule.  We had a great time taking a look at each others' work and chatting about life. 

Just as we create comraderie by working together as adults, we can do the same thing with our kids.  My kiddos didn't need me to sit beside them and do what they were doing--they just wanted my presence in the room with them.  The great thing about this concept is that I feel better as a mom because I'm spending actual time with my kids (and I'm still getting things done!), and my kids feel great because I'm hanging out with them! 

More ideas to come...

Author 101 University

I just got back from LA, where I spent 3 days at the Author 101 University workshop.  WOW!  What an amazing experience!  I came home with an amazing amount of information on writing, marketing, and building an internet presence from some awesome trainers--Tom Antion, Craig Duswalt, Rick Frishman, Ann Evanson, Barbara De Angelis, Mark Victor Hansen, and Steve Harrison, just to name a few!  Not only that, but I met some wonderful women with hearts of gold that I'm looking forward to keeping in contact with.

Besides all the information on SEO and blogs and writing...the most important thing I learned is that if you can be yourself, you'll find gold in the most unexpected places. 

I'm looking forward to sharing some of my new knowledge with you...but for now, I'll simply say keep an eye out for new content on worryfreemom.com. 

My Political Statement for the Day

We all know what we should do financially, right?  We all know that we shouldn't go into debt--we should buy our cars with cash, our houses with cash.  No credit cards.  Save 6 months worth of expenses, just in case.  We all know this is sound financial advice. YET we have mortgages, car payments, and credit card bills--and precious little savings.  Why?  Because we 'have' to have things.  No, we 'need' them.  Since when are potato chips and cable tv necessities? 

Another thing we all know is that there are consequences to our actions.  When we didn't study for a test in school, we failed.  The teacher didn't just have pity on us because we wanted to spend time with our friends and give us the average score other people got on the test.  When you don't show up for a job interview, you don't get the job.  This is life.

Yet, somehow, when it comes to finances, we feel entitled to be bailed out of our own poor decisions.  Yes, a lot of people are unemployed right now, including my husband.  But, what if we'd had those 6 months of savings?  What if we hadn't bought a house we couldn't afford?  (If you need a mortgage, you can't afford the house!)  What if we didn't have car payments?  What if we didn't have credit card bills?  Our expenses would be minimal.  And, guess what?  We wouldn't be upside down on our mortgages!  And we'd be ok.  We wouldn't need government intervention.  Don't have the extra money to save?  Really...try adding up the car payments and the credit card payments you've paid in your adult life.  If you hadn't bought the first car you couldn't afford or signed the first credit card agreement--all that money would be in the bank right now.  Times like these show that we can't afford NOT to save.

But now we have the government patting us on the head and telling us we 'need' them.  We are just poor little people who didn't have the sense to make smart financial decisions, and now the big strong government (ha!) wants to help us out.  How?  By taking money from all the people who DID make those smart decisions--by all the people who DO have a job right now.  So now the average American only brings home 1/2 of what they'd earned.  The other half goes to those people who made bad decisions! 

I mentioned that my husband is unemployed.  He has been since December of 2008.  Yes--that's over a year!  Guess what?  He's never taken a penny of unemployment, even though he rightfully could have.  Fortunately, we did save a few months of expenses and used our extra money while Ryan was working to build a garden and plant fruit trees and invest in a side of beef-which has helped cut down on grocery bills.  We put in a woodstove and a whole house fan to eliminate heating and cooling costs.  And we stocked up on necessities like toilet paper.  Still, those things only last so long.  But we haven't asked for government assistance.  Instead, I went back to work.  We started a network marketing business.  We traded in those new cars for less expensive ones with 1/2 the payments.  We turned off the cable and cut out other unnecessary expenses.  Has it been rough?  YES!  But we're making it on our own.  We are dealing with the consequences of our own actions WITHOUT help from the government. 

Several of our friends have done the same.  In fact, people all over the country are going back to school, learning new professions, working more than one job.  Because Americans are hard working.  Americans are innovative.  Americans are strong.  

And those of us who are taking responsibility for our actions will come out of this on top.  (One instance where survival of the fittest actually makes sense!)  Not only that, but we will have learned our lessons well. 

As a whole, Americans need to learn to take responsibility for our own actions.  Deal with the consequences.  Instead of expecting a free ride from the government, go out and do something about your situation.  Go back to school.  Get a job at McDonalds.  Quit asking your neighbors to pay for your mistakes.  Those of us who are working (3 jobs for me) would like to keep more than 50% of our paychecks, thank you very much.  

Isaiah 40:31 

“But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.”