Change The System?

Date: May 23, 2013

Author: Holly

Change the system? It is not always easy. It takes tenancy, willpower and spunk (as my father used to say.) Could you change the system? Anyone who knows me would tell you right off that when it comes to politics, they are not my thing. I have a passive personality and try to avoid conflict at all costs, sometimes to my own determent. Being raised in Kentucky I learned early on that the good ole’ boy network of politics was hard to infiltrate much less challenge and change. My idea of a fair fight is one that I can hopefully win. – or at least loose gracefully.

Sometimes it takes a simple statement to ignite a fire under this passive backside and that has happen today – for the second time in the past 20-years. The first was when a friend/client was denied insurance coverage for her only option to continue life – a bone marrow transplant. Her husband and I decided it was time to change the system and headed to the state capital to see what could be done to change the house-bill that deemed the procedure impossible. I came home feeling like I had found out about the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa, all in the same day. Fire number one was ignited.

We worked the capital and media for three months and our new bill was passed on the last day of the session. It was signed into law and seven women were admitted to U of L the same week for their transplants. Did I play nice? No, but I did play professionally and with class (well most of the time.) All seven of those women are still alive, living and working in main stream society and of course, paying their Kentucky taxes. They could have so easily been written off as collateral damage of the system. I am very proud to say they were not.

Today another statement reared it’s hungry and ugly head in advance of the 2014 political season. This time the system decided to take on Heather French Henry. And so soon after having Ashley Judd for lunch just a few weeks ago. The sad part about this attack is that it was launched by a woman, Kelsey Cooper, a spokeswoman for the state GOP. Party issues aside, until today I was naive enough to believe a person could run for office based on their beliefs, do their best job and fight a fair battle and then hopefully change the system.

Not many political spars are done with class, professionalism and class. The contempt in Cooper’s statement is nothing but mean spirited and hardly in the voice of a Southern woman. I truly want to believe that she was just the spokeswoman messenger in this case, but I have my doubts.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know and work with Mrs. Henry in a professional capacity through my TV and magazine production work over the past several years. I have met her husband and two beautiful daughters during photo shoots. I have witnessed her running non stop from appointment to appointment without breaking a single bead of glisten (southern for perspiration. ) She drives herself and carries her own props. She gives her best plus some in the time allotted, but make no mistake, family comes first. There is no entourage for this woman – only her cell phone, of which she actually puts down when she is on a photo shoot or TV production clock.

It is no surprise that Mrs. Henry has stated her response so eloquently in her blog post for the day. If you are interested you can read that response (and the attack) by going to http://heatherfrenchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-tragedy-of-politics.

You may be asking yourself what does this post have to do with writing. publishing, beauty and Internet Marketing. My answer? Everything. It is a lesson in standing up for what you believe in, making a change in the system and being the best person you can be.

A Massive WordPress Attack Is In Progress

Date: April 18, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: Blogging, Technology, WordPress

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Alert: This week a 90,000 Botnet is Hacking Your Website.

The BBC, ZDNet, WordPress and all of the IT Press have announced that a massive attack is in progress against every WordPress installation.

They are specifically targetting sites with the admin account still active and cross checking that with password lists.

Go Here to protect your site right now

There are a number checks, fixes and guides you can use but the simplest is to install a solid security plugin.

Most of the free ones are poorly implemented and usually are not supported plus – they can get you locked out.

The most efficient plugin that is easiest to use is SecureScanPRO. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to set it up – and you can have a safe and secure website in minutes.

- It scans your sites for weaknesses.
- Provides instant 1 click fixes for 12 of the most serious issues.
- Automatically checks core wordpress files against wordpress.org for attacked files.
- Scans and Emails you if anything has changed.
- Emails you if anyone tries to hack your site.
- Automatically bans repeated logins.
- Presents a captcha to the login interface to stop bruteforce bots.

Grab it now and get get safe.

Link Notice: The links in this email are not affiliate links. I believe in this product so much I just could not wait to share it with you.

Five Coaching And Mentoring Red Flags

Date: April 15, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: Coaching/Mentoring, Your Business

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Nothing is more frustrating than losing trust in your coaching and mentoring choice. “During my 30+ years of coaching and mentoring clients through their image changes and needs…”, OOPS – Flag #1

Flag #1 – When the interactions become all about the coach or mentor.
Being the important one should not be the basis on which coaching or mentoring are built. If your coach or mentor are all about themselves, then it is time to pack up and think about moving on at the end of your agreement or contract. A customer’s needs should always come first – no matter what.

Flag#2 – Fudging the truth.
Nothing should wave red flags any quicker than the statement “I make five figures (or more) a month so you need to listen to me.” Stop and think about it for a few minutes and do the math. Five figures a month can be anywhere from $10,001.00 to $99,999.00 a month. Sprinkle in some well place descriptive adjectives (summer home, boat, house man/woman, luxury car and four-hour-work-weeks) and our minds have jumped to that last figure with all the nines in it. Pepper a Facebook page with huge panoramic graphics that are seldom seen much less experienced by you or me and we end up with a suddenly unimaginable and unachievable measure of success – at least for us.

Flag #3 – Has your mentor/coach suddenly become too professional?Gone are the days of dropping them a quick email about something relating to their last webinar or class – or even a personal email offering them a helping hand with something. Now, it is crystal clear that it is has become the show me the money card. Are they no longer human to you? Are they just a daily (if you are lucky) email hawking three to four items for you to buy? Do they know your business history, your goals, your kids, husbands or pet-child’s names?

Flag #4 – Do they know everything there is to know about business to the point of having zero respect for what you already know?
Granted, you most likely choose them to guide you along because you assumed they knew more than you do. Let’s hope they do, especially in the areas you are wanting help with. There is never an excuse for the lack of respect of another human being. no matter who they are or how long have they have been in the business. They need to know who you are, what you have accomplished and what you want to accomplish.

Flag #5 – Have they already forgotten what you give comes back ten-fold?Nothing builds a business like word-of-mouth. It doesn’t matter who one has studied with, whose program they have purchased, or what the last big mega conference they attended was. What does matter is the really small things they offer you along the way that endears you to their method of coaching/mentoring.

Advice From A Coach Or Mentor?

Date: April 13, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: Coaching/Mentoring, Productivity, Your Business

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Are You Able To Take Advice From A Coach Or Mentor?encouraging and explain what they are asking from you in detail? Do they seem to follow their own advice when it comes to their business.

When you work for a company advice usually comes from your managers and/or boss. That is the kind of advice you need to pay close attention to, follow through on and show no reaction to it, except gratitude. We have all been there, and agree with the advice or not, one has to accept it, follow through and make it work.

Move forward a few years and hopefully you have moved up through the ranks to management. Once again, the peeking order is the same, you receive your advice from your managers and/or boss. At least at this point, you have become part of the peeking order and get to give advice to those you manage.

Depending on your personality and work ethic, the third stage of this advice triangle analogy can be either nicely rounded or the sharp point at the top of the triangle. If it is rounded, you are most likely a company person and will continue moving through the ranks and remain comfortable. If you are a self-starter and impatient person, you have most likely branched out and started your own business. And, just in case you have not noticed yet, you are sitting at the very top of that pointed triangle peak. Uncomfortable? You bet it is.

There will be many a day you ask yourself, how did I ever wind up here and why. On other days you will marvel at your ingenious ability to make everything work to the best of your ability and with relative ease. Don’t get comfortable, it won’t last long. There will always be trials and tribulations just around the corner. Doubts will move in and out by the dozens – usually several times each day. You will put out more fires than you care to admit to and yet, you will once again be astounded at what you have accomplished.

Will you make mistakes and regret them? Of course you will. You will also learn extremely valuable lessons from each one of those mistakes. You can also be sure you will never forget the mistake nor the lesson learned from it. Even though mistakes can take their toll mentally, make you sad, carve up your self-confidence in a heartbeat and make you doubt even the simplest move forward, there is always a light to guide you away from dark IF you allow it to shine through and nudge you in a direction.

Overwhelm – The Tornados of Life

Date: April 2, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO, Publishing, Technology

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Overwhelm is like an F5 tornado hanging on the horizon. You see, hear and feel it coming yet you just stand there transfixed on the power of nature and the destruction that it is guaranteed to leave in it’s path. Living in Kentucky I have photographed and experienced my fair share of tornado’s. I can truthfully say, once is more than enough, but this region of the country does not seem to know that.

Sometimes a tornado is a thin funnel of energy picking and choosing what to destroy along its surgical path. Other times, a tornado can be a huge black wall of energy that slams into your world taking down everything in it’s path, a path that can be mile or more wide.

Personal Overwhelm Tornado’s

Personal overwhelm tornado’s are an odd breed of energy. They seem to come wrapped in layers of our tolerances, procrastination, lack of knowledge, frustrations, lack of organization, unrealistic expectations, excuses and poor time management. They peel away your reserve and strength layer by layer, in a split second. What was once a life full of Band-aid* fixes is left The energy core is the same, as is the destruction it can and will cause. These overwhelm tornado’s are a bit sneaky. Like the photo to the left (when will I ever learn to stop taking pictures of these monsters?), you can see the variations in colors and usually bright sunny skies afterwards.

So, if your business is heading for a personal overwhelm tornado, get out of it’s way – it is going to happen even if you don’t – and simply let it happen. When it is over cherish the fact that you survived and enjoy the bright blue skies ahead. Give yourself permission and the time to step aside and recover.

The Trend – Are You Part Of It?

Date: March 30, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO

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There seems to be a trend surfacing that only ruffled my feathers a bit when it started. Then it became a tolerance that had the potential to ruin an hour or two of my day. Now it has matured into a huge annoyance. So much so, I click away from the offending site the second I notice it.

It is times like this that it is great being a very little fish in the big sea of Internet Marketing. I can still share my opinions without fear of reprisal. My goal here is to point out these annoyances to those of you just beginning your Internet business or reforming your Internet Marketing business – hopefully into a real entrepreneurial Internet Marketing business. In the real business world, making a potential customer jump through hoops for information there were expecting to be up front and noticeable would guarantee only one thing. They would never stay in your store, nor return.

In today’s world of information overload, withholding key information is the kiss of death. We are 190 words into this post and I would like for you to answer the following questions honestly.

How many times have you asked yourself what the trend is?

Have you noticed impatience and frustration slipping into your emotions?

Has the self talk started with the simple question, “doesn’t she know I am a busy person?”

or worse yet…

“Does she not respect my time?” YES, I do know you are busy and I do respect your time. That is why I am pointing out this trend.

The avoidance of the key information is a simple experiment so you could experience the emotions I am writing about in this post.

The trend in question is omitting key information.

The price, the topic, the time and last but not least, the name of the product I purchased on all the receipts, and auto-responder emails that pertain to it.

When I am helping someone style their sales letter page and how it is going to read to their consumers I am always hear the same thing. Make a simple mention about the need to insert the actual price the consumer is going to pay for the product, I am immediately cut off mid-sentence with one or more of the following statements;

Write A Book In 28-Days – Is It Possible?

Date: February 4, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO, Life, Productivity, Publishing, Writing

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Do you think it is possible to write a book in 28-days? If you had asked me that question a few months ago I would have simply said you are insane. Yet here I am on day 4 and things are moving along ahead of schedule. Truthfully, that scares me more than the challenge of writing a book in 28-days.

To make things more interesting on this book writing project I have opened my newest website, http://tobeawriter.com, where you can follow along with my progress and hopefully try writing along with me on a project of your own.

I am not asking you to write a book in 28-days. This challenge is all about the work ethic, how to do it and discipline of writing a book. I fully intend to finish on time and publish my book to Kindle on the February 26th. with a book launch scheduled for March 1, 2013.

You are free to just follow along the process. Or you can just check in every few days. Making notes along the way will give you a working knowledge when you are ready to write your book. When time allows I will be adding additional publishing content to the website and I will have a few freebies for you to enjoy.

I look forward to you joining me.

Disappearing Acts II

Date: January 19, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO, Life, Productivity, Technology, Writing

Comments: 1 Reply

Yesterday I was talking about all the things that seem to be disappearing since the new year has begun. Windows 8 seems to be chalking up the most when it comes to disappearances and changes.

Programs have given way to Apps (why not, it works for Apple). Finding the control panel takes an act from a higher power and figuring out how and where to save a file is simply mind boggling. Oh, and lets not forget those cute (?) little “Charms” off to the right of your screen. Finding a documents file or attempting a file to the start screen or task bar can be a bit overwhelming. So, before you murder your computer, invest in a Windows 8 reference book. It will save you a lot of time until you get used to your new system. I’m at least on speaking terms

Disappearing Acts

Date: January 17, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO, Life, Productivity, Technology, Writing

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When times get tough or I am overwhelmed with everything I can pull a disappearing act with the best of them. Unfortunately, I have pulled these disappearing acts more than my fair share of times during my life. These past few weeks, I have been gently reminded that pay-backs can be, well you know the answer to that one. All of a sudden it seems my world is disappearing, file by file, word by word and mouse click by mouse click, not to mention something so simple as peace and quiet.

It started when I upgraded my iPad and gave my old one to my husband (my apologies to those of you out there in FB land). I should have known better. Right from the moment he turned it on, I knew I was in trouble. He didn’t know how to turn a computer on prior to this 8 1/2 x 11 power source being placed in this hands. My days became an ongoing and unstoppable litany of questions. Then the questions gave way to an eerie silence (you know the kind, when the kids and pets are just too quiet for comfort). After a few days he turned into a cat, bringing me two thousand treasures a day along with the statements, “look at this or did you know you could do this? ” We have have settled down into an peaceful coexistence and a clear understanding that I do not need to know everything he finds out about on the Internet. That has given me the time to realize what else is disappearing from my life at a rapid pace.

Disappearing again this year – a computer. I murdered yet another computer in December, which meant my never-scheduled but always needed annual visit to Office Depot for a new computer was meet with a rousing round of clapping, cheers and a standing ovation when we walked in. We walked out with my new laptop, sporting the jazzy and fashionable Windows 8, of course and yet another round of jovial cheers, sneers and laughter erupted. The only one not cheering, smiling or laughing was Titan (SirTitan.com), my ten-month old puppy. He had a totally disgusted look on his face that clearly said, “really – you think you can learn to use this when rumor has it you never mastered Windows 7 or below? That was rich coming from a puppy that I found out later in the day had been snacking on computer cords and wires from one end of my office to the other.

Another year, another new computer – how difficult could it be to get used to?

Bank Of Experience

Date: January 15, 2013

Author: Holly

Categories: HRO, Life, Writing

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Do you have a bank of experience? Captain Sullenberger and his co-pilot both had ones, full of experience and technique. Today is the 4-year anniversary of what is now known as The Miracle On The Hudson. Captain Scully Sullenberger landed his flight safely and expertly on (not in) the Hudson River, saving all souls aboard. When asked how he manage such a monumental feat his answer was quick and simple. “I depended on my “bank of experience” to land the plane safely.” Photo Credit: CBS News

While ground control was trying to find alternative airports and going through flight emergency manuals, Captain Sullenberger simply and quietly relied on his internal bank of experience from his early flying days until that day when the geese rendered his flight powerless. He never once doubted he could glide the plane onto the river. He had the knowledge to do so. He also had an equally experienced co-pilot he could count on. There was no communication between them during the landing phase, they both already knew what had to be done and when. There was zero time for talking or finding an answer.

Do You Have A Bank of Experience?

Now there is a question that begs to be answered, 365 days a year. Before you jump at the chance to say “of course I do”, let’s look at and answer some additional questions.