What are your writing and grammar pet peeves?

Have you ever started to read a book, article or blog post only to sigh in disgust? Quite likely the author has struck a writing pet peeve of yours.

For example, I have an aversion to adverbs. …she said quietly …he walked quickly …she waited anxiously. ..

You get the picture, those dreaded ly words. Instead of talking quietly, why can’t she whisper? Why can’t he jog instead of walking quickly? Instead of waiting anxiously, why can’t she show her anxiety by tapping her toes? Yes, I understand adjectives have their place and time, however an overuse of them makes for passive writing.

Some other examples of potential writing pet peeves include redundancies.

For example, shrugged her shoulders, blinked her eyes, waved his hand. The question is…what else would they have shrugged, blinked or waved?

Of course grammar is a huge source of peeves for many. The fun and entertaining Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is full of funny anecdotes and the correct way to use grammar to get your point across.

When writing content, we want to engage our reader, not tick them off by triggering a pet peeve, right? It’s important to be concise and learn what we can about the craft of writing and grammar to convey our message.

So…what are your pet peeves?

Uploading With cPanel

The very first time I encountered cPanel was in 1998. After working 10 years on it, it is so easy to forget that for others it is a challenge. Recently, it came to my attention, some of my friends were having a really tough time understanding how to upload a file on cPanel and then find the URL for this file. This usually happens when they are publishing a new image or PDF book they want to offer for sale or free download.

As such, here’s is a quick tutorial on this matter. Just so you know, the process is the same be it images, PDF’s or even an MP3.

Log in to your cPanel, find File Manager, click to open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the new window, click public_html.
This is your web folder. Anything you put in here is viewable on the Internet. Anything outside of this folder is not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decide where you want to upload the file to.
You can create a new folder and upload it in there or upload directly into the public_html folder itself. For simplicity’s sake, we’re uploading into the public_html folder.
Click Upload file(s).

 

 

 

 

 

Click Browse [1], select the file you want to upload [2], OK [3], then upload [4]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll be returned to the file list screen. From here there are two ways you can determine the URL of the file you just uploaded.

1. Anything that is inside your web folder (public_html) is accessible by typing your domain name in the browser, followed by a slash followed by the file name. In this case, the file name I just uploaded is inside002.gif so I would enter this in my browser http://websitename.com/inside002.gif

That’s it. Easy. But what happens if you uploaded it into a folder you named ‘pictures’? Then, you simply add the name of the folder into your URL like this.
http://websitename.com/pictures/inside002.gif

2. Get cPanel to tell you. When you are back in your file list screen, find the file you just uploaded. Then click on the name.

 

 

 

 

Look to the right side of the window, you will see the information about that file and the file URL. Simply copy and paste that URL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problems?

I see strange characters in the URL.
That’s normal when you upload files with dashes in them. Modern browsers and web servers put that in there so the image or file will load even with the special characters but as a rule, it’s best not to upload files with spaces in them. Either remove them or use dashes and underscores for easier reading. Keep in mind though that dashes and especially underscores can be really difficult for people to remember or type in.

20 Billing Solutions For VAs

Being a service provider is a lot of hard work, challenging but also fabulously exciting at the same time. This is especially true when working with a good client on a stimulating task. The only thing that kinda sucks is billing. An oxymoron don’t you think? After all, that’s why we are in business right? To earn money.

Over the years, I’ve seen, used and tried many applications / methods. Lately, there seems to be an even larger smorgasbord of options billing systems to choose from. Likely because the Internet has made it so much easier to freelance. This is good news for us freelancers and VA’s.

If you’re one of those looking for a solution that will fit your work style here’s a list for you to start with. These are not recommendations but rather a list of solutions I’ve come across.

Freshbooks - This is more established. Good reviews.

Citrusbill - Looks like a pretty new system, a bunch of features are still in development. UK based.

Invoice Place - Not as pretty but if it works, who cares right? Supports multiple currencies which is handy for clients overseas. Other than invoicing it also helps you manage supplier billing and inventory.

Simply Invoices - What’s nice about this is that it works with time / project tracking tools like Basecamp, More Honey, Tick and Harvest.

Xero - This is not just a billing system it’s a whole web based accounting system. It is built by a company based in New Zealand and supports accounting / banking practices in New Zealand and Australia.

Blinksale - One of the winners of Webware 100 in 2007. Says you can import from Basecamp but how exactly this integration works is not explained.

Zoho Invoice - Ah! One of my favorite web wares other than Google. I’m excited to check this out as I’ve only recently found out about them. Multiple currency support, recurring invoices, freely import and export your own data makes this quite interesting to check out.

BillMyClients - It’s nice that like Freshbooks, you can send physical invoices.

OpenAir - Manage your staff’s billable hours as well as invoicing. One of the people I work with uses this to bill me. As a client I only wish for one thing. That I can click a link to pay the bill instead of having to log in to PayPal, copy and paste the amount, type in the reason for payment etc.

Cashboard - This actually looks promising. You can track time as well. They even have a desktop time tracker so you don’t have to log in to track time. Works with Basecamp and has a quote/estimate feature.

SimplyBill - What it says on the box. Simple, uncluttered, straight forward.

Invoice Journal - Gotta throw in a free solution somewhere :) No fancy eye candy but it looks like it can do the job just as well.

BambooInvoice - Did I ever tell you I love open source software? It’s no wonder that I just have to seek out an open source billing system. BambooInvoice is interesting indeed. Free and you know at all times you are in control - the problem with hosted software is you never know who is really looking at your data. The down side is of course, now it is your responsibility to take care of that data and secure it.

Others that I have not took the time to tour, review their features.

• FreeAgent
• AcuInvoice
• Simple Invoices - Another open source solution.
• Ajax Invoice
• Intuit’s Billing Manager - free
• InvoicesOnTheRun
• CurdBee - free

Now the only bad part… you gotta choose one :) Enjoy and hope one of them works out for you.

The Bullseye for Your Direct Sales Business

I was leading a call for a group of direct selling leaders and we were talking about designing the target for your direct sales business this year.  These leaders wanted so many things for their business that they didn’t really know how to aim their efforts in an effective way.

If this sounds like you, I would like to offer up the idea of choosing your “bullseye”.  What one singular thing do you want most of all for your business?

-Do you want a particular honor or prize?

-Do you want to sell a particular dollar amount?

-Do you want to rise to a particular rank?

-Do you want a specific paycheck from your business?

It is important to make your bullseye extremely narrow and specific - just like on a target.  This way, you know exactly where and how to focus the majority of your efforts.  If a choice has to be made or an opportunity comes your way, ask yourself - “Does this bring me closer to my bullseye?” 

And here is the thing about a bullseye - there is only one.  Granted there are lots of other circles around the bullseye - but there is only one white circle in the middle of the target.  It is small and it is specific.  The more tightly focused your bullseye is, the better your aim and more fruitful your efforts will be.

We will be talking about bullseyes and strategies to help you hit your mark on a complimentary call I am leading called “Make the Most of Your Convention Experience” On July 22 at 1:30 pm EST.  You can register for this call (and receive a downloadable recording) by going here: www.directsellingleaders.com/conventioncall.html.

I so hope you will join us!

Love & Success-
Sarah 

 

Help for Kinesthetic Learners

The most important thing you can know about your child, (and we ARE supposed to know them) is how they learn.

Some are naturally visual.

Some learn best by listening auditorially.

And some are kinesthetic, which means they get way more out of life experiences than out of books or audio CDs.

If you have visual kids, surround them with books, art, beauty of all kinds and give them a great real life.

If your kids are auditory, make sure each one has his or her own CD player and a library of teaching tapes and quality music.

And if you are blessed to have a very active kinesthetic learner, engage them in lots of meaningful activities and real life events.

That’s what I am still doing with Drew, even though the boy is married, has a baby and is almost 27 years old!

A few weeks ago, we went to eBay Live in Chicago together. While we were there, we ran into an old friend of ours, Jim Cockrum, who has become quite a respected expert on eBay.

We went to dinner with him and his assistant and Jimmy Z and his girlfriend.

We laughed for hours at each others’ crazy stories and Jim was fascinated by the way Drew sells houses in just 7 days on eBay.

This past week, I got a note from Jim.

Listen to this:

“Rhea, I thought I’d seen it all when it comes to selling creatively on eBay…after all I’ve got a best selling book that is all about just that, but when I talked to Drew about what he was doing on eBay with old ugly houses, a light bulb went off. I thought “that really could work!””So, I tried it out myself. I spent about one hour reviewing the excellent tools and examples that Drew had put together, I took a few pics of one of the old rental houses that I’ve been dying to get rid of for years, and I put it all on eBay.The end result is this:Thanks to Drew, A PAIN IN THE BUTT UGLY house of mine that has sat empty for about 8 months SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME is now going to be making me $200 per month positive cash flow with a VERY HAPPY buyer that doesn’t have to worry about dealing with a bank and I’m locked in for a minimum profit of $10,000 if he ever goes on to buy the house.

“If he doesn’t buy it (or even if he just trashes it) I just do it all again with a different buyer/tenant. Did I mention that I now have $3,500 in my pocket that goes toward the eventual purchase of the home (although we all know that 80% of the time these buyers don’t go on to buy so odds are I’ll just do it over and over again).”Some stats on my very first eBay “down payment” auction:1,500 visitors10 biddersclosing bid of $610 but the buyer asked to “buy down” the interest rate for $3500 and I happily agreed to his terms!”As soon as I sell the other two ugly houses this way I’m going to buy more. I finally know where to find excited handyman buyers for ugly homes!”

Jim Cockrum

Now this if from a guy who literally wrote the book on eBay YEARS ago!

Because all six of us understand the value of good networking and spent some quality time together at a pretty mediocre event, Jim has gotten rid of a huge burden and Drew feels pretty good about making another real estate investor happy.

That’s what happens when you really learn how to network at live events.

So many books, so little time…

Rhea!
who believes the earlier you start attending real events, the sooner you’ll develop the right mindset about life… and the sooner you’ll meet worhtwhile friends like Jim Cockrum

Learn more about our one-of-a-kind event here:
http://www.EntrepreneurDays.com

 

 

Writing a product comparison review

In my last blog post I posed a simple structure for writing a book review.  Reviews, whether for books or products, are an excellent tool to pre-sell for affiliate income.

When writing a review it is always imperative to keep your readers in mind.  Answer the question they’re always thinking - What’s in it for me?

This question can be easily and subtly answered by writing a product comparison type review.  Presumably at least one of the products being compared is a product you’re affiliated with.  Product comparisons work well to pre-sell because they are an easy structure to read (and write) and when readers can compare benefits it’s easier to make a buying decision.

The structure

Like most every type of content an introductory paragraph is required.  Keep it short because your readers want to get to the good stuff.

The body of the review will be a comparison of at least two products but no more than five.  Comparing too many products and the content becomes jumbled and difficult for readers to remember.

Compare benefits not features.  Your readers don’t care that a candy bar has 30 calories, they care that it makes for an easy snack which won’t add to their wasteline.

Compare relevant benefits.  If you talk about the nutrition benefits of one candy bar be sure to talk about the nutrition benefits of the others.  One caveat to this is if one product offers different features than the other.  For example, you’re comparing word processing software and one offers spell check and the other does not.  To give reader’s ample information be sure to let them know that the software products offer different features.

Wrapping it all up…The final paragraph is a summary of your opinion and a conclusion.

The majority of internet users, myself included, use the internet to research products before making a purchase.  Offering reviews on your website not only helps people make a buying decision which results in affiliate profits for you, it also drives traffic to your business website.

Happy Writing!

I Want Guests!

We podcasters receive a healthy number of requests from people who want to be a guest on our shows.  To help potential guest make a good pitch, I provide some information and tips right on my website.

Because I have taken the time to tell someone exactly how to approach me with a show topic idea and I have given clear information on just what sort of topics I am open to, I get annoyed when someone makes contact to pitch something that is completely outside of the scope of my show.

Annoyed may equal me hitting the delete key.

I don’t get delete happy with everything.  If the person writing me is a work at home mom, I’ll always take a moment to reply and let them know the topic isn’t a good fit.  If I know of a podcaster who would be interested in their topic I will forward their email to them.

It’s sad that most of the guest requests I get aren’t appropriate because I WANT guests.  I want interesting people with good topics to contact me.  I want to interview moms who are doing well with a home business.

Should you send me a shop topic idea?

How to write a profitable book review

Books are great products to add a little passive income to your bottom line each month. The benefit is that there almost always a number of quality books written on the subject and depending on what books you decide to promote for affiliate profits, the prices can range anywhere from ten dollars on Amazon.com to a hundred for a digital e-book from a niche expert.

The trick, typically, is to promote a book in a manner in which it doesn’t seem like you’re making a sales pitch. Enter…the book review.

Reviews are wonderful little tools to pre-sell any range of topics. In future posts I’ll talk about how to write other types of reviews however since I have the tremendous pleasure of being a professional book reviewer for a national magazine (a job I pinch myself for the good fortune to have every day) I thought I’d start with how to write book reviews.

Book reviews typically come in two main sections, contrary to how most content is written. Most content has an introductory paragraph, the body content with at least three main points supporting the intro paragraph and then the conclusion. Book reviews on the other hand have a summary paragraph and then an opinion paragraph, or vice versa. It’s perfectly acceptable to reverse the two however most people reading online want to get to the details of the product before they hear your opinion of it.

A typical review for a print publication ranges from 250-350 words. Online you can add a bit more content particularly if you’ve had a personal experience with the book.

For example, you’re reviewing a book for marathon runners and Chapter Three on nutrition really helped you improve your performance. That personal experience is fine to add to a blog type review. However if you’re structuring your content as a non-biased third party review then personal stories are best left out. Your audience and industry will determine the formality of your writing style.

Sitting down to write. Summaries are often the most difficult part of a book review to write. I typically write a first draft without thinking too much about it. I’ll then ponder the review for a day or two and then re-write it a couple times until I’m satisfied. It’s important to give both a comprehensive picture of what the book is about while still covering the important points your audience wants to know. Practice. Read a few online reviews and give it a shot. There’s still plenty of profits to be made in affiliate marketing and plenty of books to sell.

Happy writing!

Want to REALLY become independent?

Listen, my son, and you will hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…

What a great poem to memorialize about one of the first acts of courage that began the 6-year war that led to America gaining her independence as a nation.

Becoming a free nation didn’t happen overnight; it took planning, organization, financing, blood, sweat, tears and time.

Gaining independence for our country was a big deal. For you to gain financial independence may also be a big deal.

Most of us haven’t been trained to be financially independent. Instead, we’ve been educated to be financially dependent on an employer.

To learn how to live financially free, we have to renew our minds and get a different perspective that most of us don’t have. It takes vision, specialized education, planning, organization, financing and a lot of work, but most of all, it takes time.

So many people write to me and say they want to be financially free. They think it can happen overnight. They hear the stories of the Internet millionaires and they realize that’s what they want.

But they don’t know that those overnight success stories often took years to write. All they see is the results.

So if financial free is something you desire, realize the cost, then create a plan to make it happen. Figure out what you are here on earth to accomplish. Don’t just try to figure out how to “make money.”

Too often, we get that backwards and end up handcuffed to a job that meets our basic needs (and maybe more) but steals our time, our energy and even sucks the life out of us. It also prevents us from doing what we should be doing, what we are called to do.

This Independence Day, declare your independence!

Go for it!

So many books, so little time…

Rhea!
who wants to help you learn how to live an inspired life

P.S. Get vision for your life at our 8th annual home business conference this August: http://www.EntrepreneurDays.com