Wayne Dyer draws much of his beliefs and advice from the Tao spiritual force, often quoting Lao-tzu. He repeatedly tells the reader “You have the ability to change your beliefs and change who you are.”  Thus, Dyer’s guidance directs one to the more peaceful side to solve a dilemma. He frequently tells the reader : “Act from the Divine spirit within you.” This book can mostly be characterized as a self-help book, aimed at coaching the reader to analyze her actions of excuse-making and the payoffs from each one. It is well-agreed that awareness is half the battle.

One section is devoted to various kinds of excuses and some discussions of each. Another section discusses seven life –changing principles. The last section of the book is devoted to “payoffs” and actions to “reverse these payoffs.”

Wayne Dyer catches almost all the known excuses within his list of eighteen: the problem is too different, too risky, takes too long, can’t afford it, no help, not strong enough, too old, no energy, too busy, too scared, etc..  He discusses each excuse and dismisses each with a guiding word to the reader to find the Divine Godlike person within herself.  Peace comes when one “ignores the worry of something with risk” and places the focus on more positive thoughts.  Easier said than done.

The Seven Life- Changing Principles include: Awareness of how we are stuck and the infinite potential within each of us that can make us recover,  Alignment or adjusting our energy with that of the Divine energy, Being  fully in the present Now and not wasting thought on the past or on worries of the future, Contemplation or creating the life you desire by concentrating on the life you want as an expression of the Spirit, Willingness to surrender to something greater than your ego and admitting that you are a product of the choices you have made in life,  Passion or enthusiasm for something that enables you to stay in-spired or in the Spirit,  and Compassion which is in the act of serving others and affirming ones purpose to be here and be God-like.

Dyer quotes Lao-tzu, saying:  “If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” Wayne Dyer believes our mind is constantly contemplating something throughout our waking day. He admonishes us not to waste valuable time giving attention to thoughts that are self-defeating, non-productive, or untrue.

One of the most intriguing concepts I found in the book is the statement that “Our most important problems cannot be solved; they must be outgrown.”  Quite thought-provoking if you let it sink in.    I understood this to mean that we must learn to look at a problem from a different perspective. We must grow in confidence and knowledge in order to change our response, which in time, has the potential to solve the problem.

The last section of the book is devoted to pay-offs and reversals.  A pay-off is the psychological reward we receive for our excuses, whether it be avoiding inconvenience, avoiding any emotional risk, taking the easy way out, manipulating others to do what we want, feeling superior, removing responsibility for ourselves and putting the blame on someone else, or retreating to a feeling of security we felt as a child.  So when we find ourselves making an excuse in a situation, we should use this opportunity to look under the surface to find what the pay off is.  With some effort we can discover the reward that causes our ego to continue this self-defeating pattern.

There’s hope and practicality at the end of the book! Dyer discusses several suggestions to reverse this negative pattern of rewarding payoffs.

He suggests: Act on something we have always avoided in the past, Think of an occasion to take a trip without an itinerary, Let others be right, Fully realize that no one can make us feel anything without our consent,  Ask ourselves in times of dejection if we want to waste this moment with this lost thought,  and Align ourselves by connecting our energy to the Divine realm.

I found it an interesting exercise to be made aware of the various psychological games we play in our daily lives.  Wayne Dyer has uncovered the mystery and revealed our strategy, though we may not have realized the exact cause of our actions ourselves.  I felt some of his suggestions to change our thinking lacked depth and practicality, being easier said than done.  However, if one tries ANY of the last chapter reversal suggestions, there may possibly be a corresponding positive pay off.  I think I’ll give it a try, starting with “Letting others be right” – some of the time.

One final note:  I shared the points in this book with my husband, emphasizing the point “Don’t complain, don’t explain.”  A few days ago I was caught in an effort to explain some action of mine that he didn’t agree with or wasn’t interested in, and he mirrored: “So, are you trying to explain?”  His words brought an immediate awareness of an habitual behavior that I was unaware I was doing.  In light of this revelation,  I would like to add a suggestion to the ones in the book.  Enlist the assistance of  a trusted friend (an external mirror) by mutual-agreement, to flag your behaviors when they reflect a specific self-defeating action described in this book.  The result might be a hidden benefit of a message from the book.

To purchase this book click here:
Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits

My husband and I have been using barter for a number of years and for the most part it has been a pretty good arrangement. We belong to one of the many organized barter companies in this country and have used it for close to fifteen years. Overall, barter has served us well and enabled us to purchase and do things that we might not have been able to do otherwise.

This his how it works: my husband’s design business is listed in the online  directory of the barter company we belong to under the Advertising and Design Category. If someone hires him through the barter company, instead of paying him cash, they pay him with their own barter dollars that get transferred into our account. As we accumulate our barter dollars we are then free to purchase products and services from other participating members. The barter company gets a commission and members do need to pay tax on their earned dollars (that might be considered one of the drawbacks).

For us barter has evolved and in many instances, relationships that began through the barter company have grown into long term arrangements, where we were able to barter directly. One in particular was with our family dentist. He found he needed ongoing design services as his business grew and he updated his practice, so we were able to barter our family’s dental care for a number of years. When my daughter needed braces, my husband approached a local orthodontist and offered to give him a new logo and identity.

Over the years we have gone on some great ski vacations, had our house painted, spent thousands of barter dollars in restaurants and rented a summer house on Shelter Island. All in all, not a bad thing.

I would say that the only draw back is when the cash reserves are low and people keep calling you for barter jobs. So far I haven’t figured out how to pay the electric bill or buy groceries on barter (although I do hit a local bakery every week and stock up on bagels and a few goodies).

If you’ve got a product or service that you think you can barter, I would definitely encourage you to consider barter. Barter can fill some major expenses or bring some nice added perks into your life. It can even help to build your business, if you use it wisely. If you decide to sign on with one of the many barter companies out there, just be sure to do your homework. Talk to people who have been members for at least a couple of years, make sure they offer some goods and services that you would want to purchase and see how their fees stack up to the industry standards.

Alternatively I would strongly encourage you to look for opportunities to strike up a direct barter arrangement whenever the situation presents itself. I recently went to a friend of ours who coaches Keynote speakers to inquire about some coaching for myself and we struck a deal for me to provide her with some internet marketing and SEO services for her new website.

I have to admit I was more than a little skeptical about Amazon’s Kindle. I have had a lifelong love affair with books. I love books and I love to read. Crawling into bed on a cold winter night with a good book is one of life’s simple pleasures.

So I really had no interest in even checking out the Kindle when it first arrived on the scene. It just seemed to go against everything I associated with the pleasures of reading. It felt like I would be cheating on my love of books to even look at or think about using a Kindle.

Then it happened, Kindle and I just kind of accidentally bumped into each other. I was staying with a friend for a weekend this summer and he had gone into town to run some errands. His Kindle, so sleek and sexy, was innocently sitting on the coffee table. I was sitting on the couch reading Oprah, secretly checking out the Kindle.

I’m not really sure what came over me, but the next thing I knew, the Kindle was in my hands. I was touching it, examining every inch of it and then… I turned it on.

Well, there was no going back.

I started shopping at the Kindle store and within 60 seconds, I had actually done the deed and purchased Lush Life by Richard Price. I had been meaning to pick up this book for months and here it was in my hot little hands, almost instantly.

After an unforgettable weekend, I knew I would have to have my very own Kindle, so I went to Amazon and purchased Kindle 2. I have to admit that having my own Kindle has been an empowering and enriching experience.

It is so much more than a portable library. I can view my favorite magazines and newspapers with my Kindle. And there is not doubt that I will be saving money. I am an avid reader, the kind that likes to buy, not borrow her books and I devour three to six books a month.

Honestly I feel like a new woman. I’ve been exploring new genres, reading titles I’d never even considered before and going to places I’d only dreamed about. Kindle 2 has truly liberated me, in more ways than one.

Kindle is such a great little companion; it reads to me when I’m tired or when we take long drives together. And interacting with Kindle 2 is just so easy: scrolling the cursor, highlighting or typing text and looking up words for me (I really love this feature). I can even put Kindle to sleep and wake it up with the simple push of button. For a somewhat non-techie and slightly impatient gal, Kindle is practically ready to go right out of the box.

I know I should feel a little guilty, but I just don’t. Kindle simply fulfills my every reading need. Once you go Kindle you’ll never go back.

Find a local establishment that has room to host a decent size group, one with a large banquet room or bar. And preferably one that is friendly and customer focused. Schedule a meeting with the owner or manager and pitch him your plan to help him increase his business by hosting networking nights.

Here is your pitch (loosley) to make money by helping people network:

You will take care of placing the advertising and doing the promotion for the networking groups and the restaurant will provide the cheap drinks and appetizers. You make money by helping people network by charging the restaurant a fee for each group. This fee would include any advertising and promotional expenses, plus your fee. Too keep you promotional cost down, take advantage of places to advertise for free, such as Craigslist, social networking sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) and local bulletin boards. Also, word of mouth is a great way to spread the word for a local event. You could also charge each person attending a small cover fee, like $5. However I would keep this low.

You could organize a Financial Planners Night, an Artists Night, a Moms Who Work at Home Night. You get the idea, be creative and see were it takes you. You could even try hosting a night for specific Astrological signs; can you imagine a room full of Leos?

The restaurant wins by gaining more exposure and potential new customers, especially as the economy improves (and it is improving). It is undeniable that those establishments that cater to their clientele, especially during an economic downturn, are more likely to survive and thrive. And the group wins by being able to host their venue in a nice establishment with minimal expense. You can obviously structure the financial fees however you like. Be fair and reasonable, and know that you are benefiting both parties. No, you will not become a millionaire with this idea, however you can definitely generate some cash for yourself, meet new people and hopefully have some fun. You never know what connections you might make that could lead to something else.

I wish I could take credit for this idea to make money by helping people network, but the truth is, a friend came up with it. I thought it was such a simple win-win idea and any mom with a little PR-savvy could run with it.

Good luck and think green
Evalee

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and at its most basic level it means creating a website that makes it easy for the search engines to index (list) your site correctly, so your target audience can find you. SEO is pretty encompassing and the rules do change, so you’ve got to stay on top of what is current. While there are plenty of services out there that can handle SEO for you, they are not necessarily cheap. And it can be difficult to know who is reputable. If someone promises to get you a page one ranking with Google, wants to charge you $1,000 per month, and oh, by the way your site won’t appear on page one for four months, run the other way.

There is a tremendous amount of free and quality information about SEO in books and on the internet. Spend a little time and educate yourself. Then if you do decide to hire a professional SEO firm, you will at least be a bit more savvy about what you are getting for your money.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at one of the first and one of the most important aspect of creating your website – choosing an SEO friendly domain.

The process of choosing the right domain name needs careful consideration and deliberation, when you are the process of creating a new website. And this is especially important if search engine optimization is going to be the main tool for directing traffic to your website. An SEO friendly domain name is one of the key factors that contribute to the success of the website.

The following are some pointers to keep in mind when choosing an SEO friendly domain name:

Shorter Is Better

It is best to have a domain name that is short and catchy. It is easier for visitors to recall and remember these. And you definitely don’t want a website that loses out on traffic because the domain name is too long, tricky or complicated to remember. Make sure that your domain name is easy to remember and easy to type.

Keywords in the Domain Name

Pick the one keyword that best describes what your site is about and then use it in your domain. DottysDeals.com is personal and nice, however AntiqueDealsByDottie.com incorporates two searchable keywords into the domain. You could even shorten this to AntiqueDeals.com to make it even more SEO friendly.

Stick with the Dot Com

It can be disappointing when you go searching for your perfect domain name, only to find that it has been taken. “Oh, I’ll just take a .net” you may think. Wrong, think again. Dot Com is the most accepted extension and worth trying to get. It gives your site credibility and it will be easier for people to remember when they hear it.

No Hyphens or Numbers

Why should you avoid using hyphens or numbers? They are simply not as easy to remember. I can actually vouch for this as friend told me about a great site and I thought it was easy to remember, so I didn’t write it down. It had a hyphen in it, but do you think I could remember where that darn hyphen went. A hyphen also says, “Alright I couldn’t get the domain of my choice, so I’m cheating a bit.” Numbers, well, do try and avoid them (you can see that I didn’t follow my own advice here).

Type-In Traffic

Have you ever been typing in a URL and suddenly you arrive at a different site that is similar to the one you were shooting for? Well that is what is known as type-in traffic and another reason to have a strong keyword as part of your domain. Enough said.

So get that domain right. Don’t rush it! An SEO friendly domain can make a world of difference in helping to further your quest for good search results, decent traffic and ultimately getting more of that green stuff in you pocket.

Good luck and think green

If you’ve got a subject that you feel you own, writing an eBook is a great way to capitalize on your knowledge. Don’t think you know enough about a particular subject to write an eBook? Think again. The more you examine your life and experiences, chances are you will find that you know quite a bit about a number of subjects. Have you ever started a group? It could be an investing, networking or book group. Maybe you’re a great gourmet cook with some original recipes or a mom who has years of experience homeschooling your children. I’ve never met a mom who wasn’t something of an authority on at least one subject.

Okay, so you’ve got something to write about. This is a great first step. Now there are two key components you must look at to determine if writing an eBook is something you should pursue.

First, do you have a solid grasp on a topic that people are willing to pay to read about? You may be an expert on growing a rare tropical plant, but if there is not a large enough audience looking for this information, your sales are going to be disappointing. To see what the current trends are, go to Googletrends to see what subjects are a match to your area of interest and knowledge. Don’t make this harder for yourself than it has to be, pick a topic that people are searching for information on.

The second key component is marketing. You can write an amazing eBook, but without aggressive and decent marketing nobody is going to find you. It is important to be realistic about this next phase. Marketing any product on the internet takes a lot of hard work and persistence. Which is not to say that you cannot do this, you can, you simply need to be prepared to put the time in.

If you’re a decent writer, you’ve got somewhat of an edge. If not, don’t worry there are plenty of resources out there to help you get your ideas organized and down on paper. One of the best eBook resources that I have found on the internet is “How to Create Your Own Information eBooks” by Monika Mundell. This a free, downloadable PDF and it is chock full of essential information on writing a successful eBook. Monika covers:

• The research process
• Essential tools for writing an eBook
• Getting your ideas down on paper and assembling your notes
• Creating your eBook
• Converting your eBook in to a PDF
• Marketing your eBook

This is a valuable resource for anyone interested in taking a stab at writing their own eBook. If you do write an eBook be sure to send me a copy so I can review it here on MoneyMoms.

It’s true, the number of bloggers on the world wide web has hit the stratosphere. And the numbers just keep on growing with new bloggers joining the ranks every day. So you may be thinking, “Does the internet world really need another blog, will anybody even find or read my blog?”

Well, here are my two cents on the subject. Blogs pretty much fall into two categories and the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The first are people who simply love to write and feel compelled to share their opinions, knowledge or insights with the virtual world. They are not really blogging to make money. While they might end up doing so, their primary objective is to write. The second, are blogs that exist solely to make money, either directly on their blog or by providing content to drive traffic to another site. Blogs are a great way to participate in Affiliate Marketing. This is when the blogger reviews a product and then has link for the reader to purchase the products. For instance if you read my review of Wayne Dyer’s book “Exuses Be Gone” and then click on the link on my site that takes you to this book on Amazon and purchase this book, I would make a percentage of the the sale.

That being said, it is a good idea to identify what goals you have set for yourself in creating a blog. There is wide menu of choices out there for bloggers and knowing what you want to achieve is important when you choose a blogging platform and template.

If you fall into the first category that I mentioned above, there are some incredibly quick and easy solutions out there and you can be up in running in no time. Google’s Blogger and WordPress both offer user friendly, quick start blogging software. If you have a computer, can read and follow some simple instructions, you can blogging in less than an hour.

However if you are seriously looking to set up a blog to make money, WordPress is probably the way to go (IMHO). It allows the user more in-depth functionality, the ability to have your own domain, and some great plugins that will really enhance your blog. The All-In-SEO Plugin makes it simple to optimize each entry and page with key word information. You will need to install WordPress on the server of your hosting company and then upload the files for the theme you choose. If you already have a hosting company, check with them and see what kind of support they offer. This option also allows you to have your own domain, without the WordPress or Blogspot extension.

My advice is to spend some time and do your research before jumping into this option. Be sure to read my article on  Choosing an SEO Friendly Domain. The biggest investment will be your time, however once you have gone through the process once, you will feel like a seasoned pro.

If you’ve got some money to spend on a theme, I strongly recommend the Thesis Theme: Thesis Demo Site — See the Thesis Theme in action! This theme is easy to customize and you don’t need to know CSS or HTML (although a little knowledge never hurts). When I’m ready to plunk down some money on a theme, this is the one I will buy. Right now I am using the Caribou Theme which is a free download. If you feel hopelessly lost, feel free to contact me, Eva Lee for support, I’d be happy to walk you through it or set up a blog for you. And my hourly fee is pretty reasonable.