Out of the Blog, Into the Light

It's A Small World After All

Change Our Working Vocabulary, Changes Our Beliefs
Change Our Beliefs, Changes Our Actions
Changing Our Actions, Changes Our Results

Linguists say an average person’s working dictionary is between 2,000 and 10,000 words. That is about ½ of 1% of what is available. They also say that there are over 3,000 words in an English dictionary that relate to human emotion. A tad over 2,000 of these is negative and the remainder positive. When I first read these statistics, I could understandably see how it is so much easier for me to speak and write using more negative words, than positive.

Studying this process over the past several years, shows me that we are aware of our language when it comes to writing, yet we aren’t very aware of our language when it comes to our verbal use in general conversations.

Words describe our experiences and even heighten or lower our emotions. They are even our trial and jury at times. One word can even mark us for life. Words determine our destiny, culturally, spiritually, physically and mentally. What I think I found was that we mentally want to use a larger working dictionary but there are several things that curtail the pattern. It isn’t the fact that can’t expand our vocabulary, most of us do – learn a new word a day is very popular. Learn a word, apply once or twice, place into storage, it’s gone and we’re onto the next word of the day. It never truly makes it into our working dictionary.

What does hold us back from expanding our working language? It could be laziness of language use. It is easier to say “cool” then to explain what we really like about it. Society teaches us to be short, sweet, write tight -- to use the least number of words.

Our hesitancy to expand our working vocabulary could be in consideration for not wanting to say the inappropriate words or to offend. I don’t think so though.

I think it’s something more. I think it’s because in order to expand our working vocabulary we’re going to need to think. Yes, I said, “think”. Who wants to put that much effort into a normal conversation. Is that lazy, yes and no. Is that a habit, definitely yes.

In order to enhance our movement to change our results, it is important to change our working language. Below is a list to help you begin your journey. Whether the words are personally, a brief moment in front of the mirror, or said between friends over lunch or the phone, it begins with intention. You will find immediate results when you change words that are pulling you back into words that turbo-charge your energy. They will change your emotional state and the states of others. Be careful with the word-a-day learning. The dictionary has more negative words than positive ones. Don’t get into the rhythm of using the negative, there are adverse consequences in the results that occur.

Here's a new list to post your articles

Promote yourself by writing articles list by Catherine Franz

Every quarter, I provide a list of web sites writer's can post their free articles they use to attract business. Hyperlinks not activated. Use cut and paste, or copy the list into your email software or MS Word document and they become active and you can access easily from there one after the other.

ezinearticles.com/add_url.html Free involved
www.webprofession.com/editorial/submitarticles.html Article must be posted already on the web. You are submitting a summary and the article’s location.

http://www.ezinelocater.com/

http://www.freezineweb.com/

You can also submit them to content web sites like:

http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine/ezine-add.html

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://top7business.com/submit/ Only accepts Top 7 articles.

pannelllaverne@ameritech.net Poetry, articles/features, and teens. Send email. For guidelines:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/5456/innervoice/submit.html

All about moms: http://www.allaboutmoms.com/submissions.htm
All About Moms is currently seeking articles about preconception, preschoolers and parenting humor. Length per article is 500-1,500 words max.

http://www.thefamilycorner.com/services/submit.shtml FamilyCorner.com
700-1,100 words, includes recipes and other family matters.

Inner Self Magazine http://www.innerself.com/admin_is/submissions.htm

http://www.microbes.info/general/articles_guidelines.html
Career Development · Environmental Microbiology ·Food Microbiology · Industrial Microbiology · Medical Microbiology · Microbiology Education · Microbiology Employment · Policy

Active Trader http://www.activetradermag.com/submissions.htm
trading or market ideas

New Therapist http://www.newtherapist.com/submissions.html

http://www.boomercafe.com/ Articles submitted by email. See web site for address.
Audience: Baby boomers Less than 1,000 words.

Ten Ways to Help You Improve Your Customer Service

1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Just as it is bad news to send out too many emails to customers, it is just as bad to not stay in contact with them. Customers don't want to feel abandoned. So don't.

Here are three things to help you stay in touch.

(1) Offer them your ezine subscription at least once a month.
(2) Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site.
(3) Follow-up after each sale to see if they are satisfied with their purchase. Send an e-mail out a few days after their purchase, another in a week or two, and then another in a month.

2. Create a customer focus group by inviting 10 to 20 loyal customers to meet regularly. Alternatively, send out a monthly survey to this group asking for ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. Give them a reward. Pay them, give them a gift certificate, or send them free
product.

3. Have a web site that is easy to navigate. Add a frequently asked question's "FAQ" page and explain anything that might confuse your customers or visitors. Follow-up with an electronic survey with questions on how to increase your site's user-friendliness.

4. Resolve customer complaints quickly and completely. Answer all e-mail and phone calls within a few hours. This will show your customers you really care about them.

5. Don't make your customers or visitors hunt for your contact information. Make it easy for them to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Hyperlink all your e-mail addresses so they don't have to find or type it. Offer a toll free number.

The Internet Marketing Pie: Slice It Up Right or Lose

By Marketing Master, Catherine Fran

The number one concern for Internet sales is your marketing
list -- in other words, your audience.

But...but...but...you're saying, products for sales is a
must too, however, if your list is nonexistent, small or
loosely targeted, having a product isn't going to help much.
There just will not be any success.

Yes, I know this is confusing. You need a product to
attract. By the way, I am using product interchangeably to
mean services too.

This almost feels like the chicken and the egg story - which
came first. So, what do you do first?

You can't create or increase a mailing list without a
"what's in it for them to be attracted to you for."

Now I'm not talking about buying lists but about opt-in
focused lists.

Six-figure Professionals: Their Seven Secrets

By Business Coach, Catherine Franz

In my work with hundreds of coaches, consultants, and small
business owners, I have found that there are specific
actions that have created their success. Here are seven
success elements that they use effectively to earn $100,000
plus a year. By focusing on these important elements, you
too can grow your business to reach this goal.

Six-Figure Professionals Focus and Target their Efforts
Professionals who narrow their market earn more and have
less stress. They operate in a market that can afford their
service and one that has future potential to keep it up.

They know how to say "no" to anything that detracts from
their plans and their goals. They go after their goals with
tenacity and never listen to others telling them how hard or
impossible whatever they are working towards is. They ask
questions to the right sources and listen to those higher
than they are on the "food chain."

They know their target markets well; what they like and do
not like. They stay current with the economic conditions of
those industries and watch for shifts that can affect their
affiliation or revenue. They speak the lingo of their
markets and know their problems and challenges like they
know the back of their own hand.

Six-figure service professionals act fast when an idea
occurs and have a professional support team available that
responds quickly and plays full out with them. They have the
"adapt and adopt" principle down pat.

28 Reasons Why Publishers Will Buy Your Book

By Writing Coach, Catherine Franz

Editors will buy a book for one or more of the following
reasons. By knowing what these reasons are, you can then
design a marketing plan with those features in mind.

1. The author's previous books have sold well.

2. They love a book and think it will sell.

3. They think a book will sell.

4. They love it enough to publish, regardless of its
commercial potential.

5. It's a book that deserves to be published because of its
value to a cause or the country.

6. An editor is passionate enough about it to overcome any
doubts the house may have about the book.

7. A new editor has arrived from another house and its
building a list.

8. The publisher has the opportunity to reflag a successful
author from another house.

9. The book will be the first in a series with strong
growth potential.

10. The idea for the book is brilliant.

11. The idea for the book is timely.

12. The writing is superb.

13. The title alone will sell books.

14. An author's promotion plan guarantees a book's success.

15. The author is a media magnet who can guarantee enough
publicity to make a book successful.

16. The author has a national platform such as a column or
a radio or television show that will guarantee continuing
exposure for the book.

17. The publisher thinks that a book will back list and
become an evergreen (like evergreen tree -- sells for long
long time).

18. The book has subsidiary rights potential including book
clubs, audio cassettes or foreign, electronic or movie
rights.

19. The book has adoption potential in schools or
universities.

20. The house has published similar books with success.

21. The book is on a subject that the house has or wants to
build a list in.

22. Overcome by auction fever, publishers convince
themselves that, despite the profit-and-loss statement rated
to determine a book's value, they pay whatever it takes to
outbid their rivals.

23. The author wants to switch houses.

24. The editor discovers a book on a trip to a book fair
and thinks it will sell, or is caught up in the excitement
surrounding a book, or wants to justify the trip.

25. The publisher is sending the industry the message that
because of new management or despite changes in the house,
the houses a player.

26. The book being sold may not be a big one, but future
books will have bestseller potential.

27. The author has a personal connection with someone in
the house with the power to buy the book.

28. Publishing the book will enhance the house's prestige.

This is not a definitive list. John Saul, a novelist,
observed if publishers don't want to buy a book, they say
"It's been done to death." If they do want to buy that
book, they'll say, "Always works."

(c) Copyright 2003, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.

15 Website Elements That Attract Visitors

Here is a quick list of components that make a website attractive. They are listed in layers of attractiveness beginning with the “must” haves, to “nice to haves.”

1. State the websites purpose upfront and clearly of the site. Do this as quickly as possible. The visitor needs to know immediately if they have landed on the right site. They also need to know “what’s in it for me to stay here.” If you don’t provide this, they are gone. 90% of the sites on the Net don’t do this.
2. Give visitors the ability to search for exactly what they are looking for, if they have something exactly in mind. A “site search feature” satisfies this best. Allow the search feature to be prominently displayed and not hidden away somewhere. It is best place in the navigational system so that it shows up on every page. Sales letter only websites are an exception to this rule. Return visitors and visitors that have something specifically in mind, want the option and ability to find what they want fast. So give it to them.
3. Photos allow connection. Especially to people who process visually. Clip art gets them to pay attention, however, it doesn’t create much of a connection. Personal photos connect within reason. Keep them less than three to a page. One photo always needs to be in the top portion of the screen on the first page. It doesn’t need to be large, but attractive.
4. Ways to capture visitors information wherever possible.
5. Place items on the site that keep them lingering. Audio and video are one of these, yet there are other less time consuming and inexpensive ways to keep them entertained.
6. Articles. For solopreneur sites, your own written articles. For other sites, articles with various authors yet on focus.
7. Interactive elements. For example: response forms, quizzes
8. If you use a shopping cart, it must be fluid, no hiccups. PayPal is not a shopping cart, it’s a hiccup. All autoresponders must be well written and positive. If someone purchased something, they need the energy of “thank you.”
9. Give offers that are of value.
10. Clear path of where a newcomer can start if it is their first visit.
11. Newsletter that is consistent with the 80/20 rule. 80% value and 20% marketing.
12. E-courses of value.
13. Well-written e-books: 50-75 pages, plus valuable information (info not found anywhere else). Length doesn’t do more than provide perceptive value. Once purchased and the vastness is only fluff, then your credibility is shot. Complimentary e-books meet the same requirements.
14. Other ways to receive more on the focus. If the focus is you as a solopreneur, they need more of you.
15. Automated referral system. If you want referrals for your products or services, make it easy for you to get them. Set it up so it’s as automatic as possible, and clear and easy for someone to send you a referral. Be clear in what is your thank you for that referral.

Media Kit: 25 Component Possibilities

******************

Summary description:

Marketing Master, Catherine Franz, presents a complete list of components with unique tips to help you create a dynamic, attention-getting, media kit.

*******************

Media Kit: 25 Component Possibilities

Media kits include a combination of information whether created for electronic delivery or print. The number of components depends on the kit’s focus and intention. For instance, an author’s kit would include a different combination of information than a service business, or a multifaceted company or speaker.

Here is a list of component elements to pull from and tips to bring a media kit together. No single kit will need all components. Choose the components that match your or the receiver’s needs.

1. Table of Contents (TOC). Kit receivers always appreciate this feature, it respects their time. I recommend this rule: five or less pages, include the TOC in a personalized letter, using design elements such as bold, larger font or centering to set itself off from the rest of the letter. Six and more, use a single sheet. And place the page before all other pages, including the letter. For electronic delivery, use color, to help gain attention.

2. Company Information. An “About Us” page includes contact information. It is also an accumulation of other aspects about that company, however, in summary format. When founded but not how founded, vision and mission, simple list of services or product or just an overall view.

3. About Our Departments. If you have several different departments in your company, you can include a page with a summary of each departments responsibility.

******************

To read the rest of this article, click here. You will jump to the Abundance Center's web site, and the article directly.

Tell me how you liked this article. Use the comment link below for feedback.

Fuel for Thought

[Note: This is not written to provide answers but to expand ones thinking on the topic of consciousness. Whether you agree or disagree, it doesn't matter, the fact that you expanded your horizons, and stoked the fire of your thinking does.]

Consciousness isn’t explainable either through science, math, physics, matter, space or time. It is an anomaly – an observation that cannot be explained as of yet by our views.

Professionals clamor to correlate consciousness and with frustration open more and more doorways. Is consciousness just an internal experience, is it something outside oneself, or a combination? All sciences agree though that consciousness is absolutely there. And that there are only three absolutes that they agree with: consciousness, thinking and doubt.

Up to now scientists choose to ignore consciousness as a value because we couldn’t place their finger on it with certainty. Now that we all agree that consciousness cannot be observed in the way that material objects can. It cannot be weighted on a scale, measured in yards, miles or speed. It has also been chased for its truths and falsehoods without any concrete results.

Does consciousness reside in our neuropeptides? Do we look for it through quantum physics? Are these just pieces in the puzzle of consciousness? Is it the way our brain processes or chaos theory? Or are we just on the wrong track – or is the ladder on the wrong wall? We are now believing that it is just that.

Consciousness is currently based on assumptions. Just as Columbus assumed the world was round in his mind and set out to provide his theory on a ship through uncharted waters. Yes, I believe this yet only based on assumptions, intuitive knowingness, as you may be experiencing as well. Is it important to understand the journey or to discover the answer? Do we need to know how to sail the ship or what to bring on the journey? Is our quest to provide 2 plus 2 equals 4? Or just that 4 is all that is needed. When will it be our time to see land? Or maybe we haven't even hoisted the sails yet.

So many questions, so much doubt. Yet, is it so important to know how the gerbil spins in his wheel or just know that it can?

Fuel for thought…what is it that you believe on all this? Does it matter? You bet it does, your life is based on it. Or are you just content knowing the ship is under foot?

Found a great web site -- for writers

Are you a writer?

Then you will not want to miss the opportunity to visit the web site named: Writers Unbound
To access this website home page, click here, or visit through my article...

This site has the coolest stuff I've seen for writers, including some very interesting contests. Don't miss out, go and check it out!

They also posted an article of mine called, "My Passion, My Life." The article cannot be found
any where else.

Click here to access the article...