Author Archive

I posted a while back that I was having issues with my precious Dell computer.It turns out that it was a bad install of Windows XP Pro.

My techie, Reg Kitchen of APlus Solutions came in – yes he does house calls – and did a fresh install of Windows 7 and updated my Office from 2007 to 2010. Thank you Reg you are the best!

Anyway, I thought I would share how delightful this computer has been for the past couple of weeks since Reg did the upgrade. It is runner cleaner and smoother and faster than it has ever been.

Office 2010 wasn’t too much of change from 2007 generally speaking just a few minor things that were a little different. Outlook on the other hand  is quite a bit different but after playing with it for a day or two I really loves it.

With all the upgrades this machine is much better to work with – but – I still love my Mac and can’t wait until Office 2011 for Mac gets released! I’m saving up all my pennies for it now.

I am just finishing reading Create Stunning HTML Email that Just Works! by Mathew Patterson from Sitepoint.

I am almost ready to add this to my arsenal of services for clients. I’ve been playing around in Dreamweaver and putting all the different elements together and I  feel very comfortable about offering this new service in time for the September marketing blitz.

Although I have been creating some HTML Email, I have a much better understanding of the different email clients now than I ever did before.

Thank you Sitepoint, you never disappoint!

I came across this awesome ebook how-to-present-with-twitterthat I really wanted to share with you, no strings attached.

There is quite a bit of  valuable information in here and certainly worth the share! I really love Twitter!

I included this little story in the last issue of the CVAC (Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection) Newsletter and thought I would share it here as well. The Author is unknown, but the story certainly should not be…

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside where an eagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain, causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain to a chicken farm located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.

Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. “Oh,” the eagle cried, “I wish I could soar like those birds.” The chickens roared with laughter, “You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken, and chickens do not soar.”

The eagle continued staring at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn’t be done. That is what the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after a time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

The moral of the story: You become what you believe you are. So if you ever dream of becoming an eagle, follow your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

I was asked the other day about the value of email marketing and if in fact it was really worthwhile. My reply was an resounding Yes! Email marketing is indeed valuable and every business should be looking at adding this valuable tool to their arsenal, if they haven’t done so already.

Social Media marketing is wonderful and I frequent Twitter and LinkedIn as much as I can. I try to keep up with the latest information coming in through these mediums. The fact is that there just isn’t enough hours in a day to jump in and keep up with  the hundreds and hundreds of Tweets that fly in every day and the all the responses to LinkedIn questions posted.

Ask yourself how much time do you really take to jump in and check out all the latest on your Social Media networks?

Now fast forward to email. How often do you read your email in a day? I would be willing to bet that you at least scan every piece that drops into your inbox, right? If there is a valuable piece of information, something simple and to the point you would take the time to read this, wouldn’t you. Maybe you would file it away to return to it a little later in the day where you could really focus and absorb what information was there.

Try sifting through all the Tweets to find that piece of information that you really wanted to go back to when you had the time. You know it is there, but the time and energy sifting through everything to find it again can be really time consuming.

If you are using Social Media to get information out fast, why not think about using that piece of valuable information in conjunction with an email newsletter. Chances are you will really get noticed and build your network at the same time.

I just heard the devastating news that Melissa Ingold’s (The Internet Marketing Sweetie)   baby passed away in his sleep. He was 1 week shy of his 2nd birthday.

Needless to say, the shock and sadness of this loss is difficult enough to bear, but having to cope with the financial burden of  funeral costs on top of this loss  is not an easy burden to bear. To add to the financial stress, the Ingold’s were in the midst of buying a new home when Kyle passed away.

Melissa is a contributing member of WAHM (Work at home moms) and they are running a fundraiser to help Melissa during this time.
Please head over to WAHM and take advantage of some great deals while at the same time helping out a colleague and talented entrepreneur.

I came across this video today and was so intrigued and inspired by this young man that I had to share it.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Do you need help changing the URL of a WordPress blog without moving it?

Feel free to share this on your blog, No strings attached. This link goes directly to the down loadable PDF Printable Checklist

This seems to be another year of PC woes in our household. First my husbands ten month old HP had a major crash and even after all my prompting to back up (which he kept putting off), he lost pretty much all of his files.

Being without a backup computer, he took that huge plunge and bought a MacBook Pro. He has the iPhone, which he loves and thought this might be a better solution for him. He was forced to learn the simplicity of it and unlearn the complexities of PC that he had been used to for years.

When he bought the HP machine, he had the foresight to add the additional service warranty to it. That being said, it still took 3 weeks to get it back after repairs and it still is causing headaches. So it sits there taking up all this space on his desk and now doesn’t even get a second glance. He is now a confirmed Mac junkie!

My precious Dell that I bought for my business just over a year ago (with next day on site service) has been having crashes and freezes and it is at the point that I just can’t trust it anymore. Dear Dell, doesn’t seem to know why this is going on and have changed memory, etc., to no avail. Yes, I do have multiple backups – Windows Home Server, external hard drive and Carbonite – maybe overkill but I’ve had too many crashes with PC’s over the years to trust them.

This past weekend I decided to take the Mac plunge too and bought a Mac Mini. I wanted to be able to transition slowly away from PC and beat the learning or unlearning curve. I’ve had it just under a week and I have to tell you, I LOVE this little machine! The graphic interface is beautiful for working on presentations and websites. I have to tell you this is pure pleasure!

Move over PC – Mac is my new love now!!!

Women are Angels.

When someone breaks our wings…

We simply continue to fly… on a broomstick…

We’re flexible like that…