Yeah, I’m having one of “those” days…
Earlier this week, I got wind of something that really tripped my trigger. I didn’t bother to read the whole e-mail as I knew they guy who sent it to me was really on top of things.
I mentioned it to Cindy and then went on my own “little search” to see if I could figure out what my favorite “guru” was up to. Wouldn’t you know it… within a day, Cindy had found the product right inside her favorite online program.
Well, needless to say, we grabbed that sucker faster than you could say “download”. We both began working our way through the whole thing, and have come to the conclusion we’ve simply got to share it with you.
So, here’s where the frustration sets in…
We’ve both followed all the instructions (I have 9 blogs to do) and now, we’re uploading the whole kitten-kaboodle to our server. I think I could run faster than this upload.
Sometime in the next two days, everything will be all uploaded and I’ll be able to share the whole thing with you.
Now, if you just can’t wait… you can get on my list by grabbing your copy of Email Buzz. Just check out the previous post. I’ve been using Email Buzz and it’s really slick. My emails get formatted with only a couple of clicks. Oh, did I mention the download is free?
Now, back to watching my FTP program upload at less than 8k per second. Don’t snails crawl faster than that?
One of those things that’s incredibly important when you are working from home, is your ability to both build a mailing list, and then communicate with your list in a timely, professional manner.
Cindy (my roommate) belongs to a really neat site where the owner is constantly on the prowl for software that is “must have” for work from home professionals.
Every once in a while, I find one that I believe is “just right”… and this one is no exception.
I downloaded this software and am now using it to format my email messages.
Boy, am I impressed! It’s a couple of clicks and it’s done!
So, here’s the deal. I believe you should use it, too. It was free to me, and it’s free to you… Grab your copy here!
Oh, and you can disregard the previous post. I discovered I was in violation of Entrecard’s posting policy with the popup.
See that new thingy sliding up from the bottom?
With the new year, comes new focus on rebuilding my client list. When I retired 3 years ago, I trashed all my very responsive lists, just knowing I would never be marketing on the Internet again.
Boy was I surprised!
You see, once a marketer, always a marketer. But, with age comes restraint, and a much more discerning eye as to what works and what doesn’t.
My roommate and I have been very quietly evaluating a ton of stuff over the past few years. We’ve distilled our favorites to just a few little known programs.
Little known is good… One of our very favorites is a private site that is closing it’s membership at 1000 members. As of a month ago, there were about 700 members. Guess you know if you want to be part of it… get on the list by filling in the details on that thingy that slides up on this site.
Here’s my promise to you. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW YOU’RE ON MY LIST. Unless threatened at gunpoint, your name and/or e-mail address remains yours and my business.
So, now you know why I put that thingy on the site… Tell me, should it stay or go? If it should go, how about some ideas on how else to let you know all my marketing secrets?
For the past couple weeks, we (Cindy and I) have been working nearly ’round the clock moving all our sites to our brand spanking new server (new web host, too).
You’d think the process would be pretty easy… backup your site, download it to your desktop, create your new account, upload your site, do the same with the databases, adjust the config file, change the DNS and you’re done, right?
Well, I don’t know about you… but downloading and uploading was VERY time-consuming. I had a couple sites that took over 12 hours to come down and then over 48 hours to go back up… what a pain!
For the most part, things are working pretty well. I’ve managed to catch up on updates, including Entrecard “Featured Advertisers”. The things that aren’t working well are the photo galleries, and I may just ditch them in favor of a different program.
Here’s the really big news…
After the first of the year, we’ll be offering web-hosting at very reasonable prices. We’ve established a solid support team, and feel confident in the entire stream including the datacenter.
Be sure to check back often as I”ll be putting together some special ad packages to celebrate our “next step” in this work-from-home adventure.
I think this is look I’ve wanted for some time. But you, the reader will tell me what you think of it.
To help things a long, I have one 125×125 spot on the left sidebar that I’ll award to a random commenter on 12/31/08.
I’ve added some new advertising called Adgitizer… pretty interesting concept and built by a blogger. If you’ve read anything by Ken Brown at You Can Learn Series, you’ll appreciate his new creation.
With several new opportunities coming along that require “side bar” space, I’m working to create the most optimal theme possible.
For advertisers, I’m working to place your ads in optimal positions, while still not interferring with the content. After all, without good original content, the value of your advertising is diminished.
Things may look a little goofy for the next few hours, but bear with me and I’ll get it all sorted out.
Working from home is really fun. You can stay in your bathrobe if you choose, work when you want, play when you want, ya-da-ya-da-ya-da.
However, when you’re serious about working from home, you’d better have a “disaster plan”. You know a plan for when the electricity goes out, your computer is down, you’re isolated from the rest of the world… How are your going to survive?
My roomies and I have been establishing a plan. Two of us actually do “internet stuff”, making a little money to help with the bills. Another of my roomies is fully retired, and the last is semi-retired (100% disabled due to cancer) but able to work part-time. I personally get my SS.
So, knowing we have some income that pays our bills, and it’s all direct deposited, unless our bank goes belly up, we’re secure in that department. Between the retirement money, and the two SS checks, we can take care of our “day to day” expenses.
We’ve created a large food storage area, where we have established “par stock” levels of canned and dry foods. We rotate those stocks on a regular basis and replenish them as necessary. Included in that pantry are enough food supplies for four of us to eat for about 6 months. We’d really like to have 9 months worth, but until we get done framing the basement, it’s just not possible.
Also, we’re still working on a plan to add a large upright freezer for meat storage. In two years, we expect to have a steer to butcher. That will provide meat for a year. We also butcher a couple dozen chickens each year. In time, our new neighbors expect to raise a few pigs and we’ll buy a half from them.
We have a generator that needs to be wired into our panel, so all we have to do is flip a switch. That’s critical as we have a well and need to pump water for the animals as well as for ourselves. That item is on our “critical” list and is expected to cost $150 or so.
One roomie is studying to be an amateur radio operator aka “Ham”. She had begun this process many years ago, but had to give it up due to expense. Now, the costs have come down considerably. Also, for the technician level, there’s no longer any “Morse Code” requirement.
We have become “part of the neighborhood”. Our neighborhood is basically about 3 miles square. Most of live on at least 10 acres and some live on 160 acres. We all know there’s safety in numbers, so we’ve learned to work together for our common good.
Some of our neighbors have heavy equipment in case we get severly snowed in or there’s the threat of flood. Yes, even the desert floods from time to time. They can also help us when we have to dig new water/electrical lines.
A couple of our neighbors work closely with the LDS Deseret Industries and make sure items are available for us, too.
We help out by doing chores when neighbors want to get away from their farms for a week or week-end.
So, what would I work at if we had a disaster?
We have eggs, and at times we have lambs (meat and wool). I would sell or trade for beef, or milk as our cow isn’t a milker. If the problem occured during the summer, I would help establish a local (within our valley) farmers’ market where folks could buy/sell/trade their items.
If we have continuing electrical power for the computers, I’ll continue working on the affiliate programs I support. I’ll also expand my SW Utah news service, working to generate enough traffic to support a little paid advertising.
admin on January 7, 2009 Comments (0)