Get Your Head Out Of the Sand!

I realize that the title of this post may be insulting to some but I used it to get your attention. I hope it does.

This blog is all about Life & Business so I don't apologize at all for doing this post about the most important life sustainable commodity: FOOD. And for making a plug for the company that I am associated with MPB Today. Now don't think that this post is all about MPB. It is not. This post is about the current and predictable future of our food cost in this country. (Not to mention around the world.)

I am prompted to do this post after a trip to the grocery store yesterday. After not going to my local grocery store for about a month I was appalled at the increase in prices. Here is an example: a 2 liter bottle of soda is now $1.79 per bottle. It was $1.25 just a month ago. On special I could buy it for $0.99 a bottle.

The most depressing thing I noticed while at the store was that no one was friendly. I witnessed not one smile on anyone's face. Being my usual self I would say hi and pass on a smile. No one acknowledged my speaking to them. No, I didn't have on some freaky outfit nor was I somehow different than at any other time. All I saw was stress and turned down lips on the faces of the people I came into contact with. After leaving the store I was more upset about what I saw than the price I had to pay.

I quickly cut my shopping list but still ended up paying close to $150 for a small amount of groceries.

You do the math. Next time you are in your grocery store pay close attention to your cost compared to a few days ago. CAN YOU AFFORD THIS? Yes, I am yelling and for good reason. We are being pushed out of living. We have to eat to survive!

2011 US Food Prices to Increase Over 700%

Prepare For What Is Coming

Maybe you have plenty of money and can well afford this. God bless you and I hope your circumstances don't change. 

Maybe you are on some program that pays for your food - how long do you think this is going to last? This is why I say, "Get Your Head Out of the Sand." Tax payers are footing your food bill and they are losing their jobs.

Food prices along with gas prices are on the rise. Food prices are showing the most increase than in the past 36 years. Federal data suggest that US food prices will continue to increase and tend to accelerate higher this year.  That's right, I did my research before writing this. In case you want to check anything I have written here do a search for yourself. But then again maybe you shouldn't. It will spoil your holiday weekend.

This is one of the reasons that I joined MPB Today. Living on Social Security I can't afford the high cost of living in today's bed of economic turmoil. Since MPB Today offers me a way to drastically cut and mostly eliminate my gas and grocery bills if I didn't take advantage of it I would be just like most people today - my head would be buried in the sand.

We have to look out for our self by doing whatever it takes to stay alive. We can do without a lot of things but we can't live without food. That is a fact.

Elaine

This Doesn't Work! Oh!, But It Does.

It seems like no matter what we do life hands us a bail of manure from time to time. I know it has me and I am sure the same is true for you. So, what do you do?

Hang on and ride it through. Don't allow the down times to take control. They are going to happen. Trust me on this. I know.

Life was never meant to be totally free of fences and bears. The same applies to business. You try and try and nothing seems to work. Has this happened to you with your business? I bet it has. If not it will. It happens to me in my business more often than I care to remember.

I call people. I talk to people. I hand out cards. I place ads all over the internet. Etc.... Etc.... Etc.... I do what I read to do. I do what I am told to do.  NOTHING. A BIG FAT NOTHING!!!!!!  Spinning wheels just keep on spinning producing ZERO!

Do I throw my hands up and say, "This doesn't work." Absolutely not. I continue doing what I am suppose too. Market.

Also this is when I work on myself. My inner self to build more understanding about my inner thinking and why I am doing what I am doing. The way I am doing it. That is building a home business. I go back to the core of my reasons. This gives me my motivation and inspiration to continue.

All of us trying to live life must take the time to be energized from time to time. I use the Bible, other books, quotes, friends, whatever it takes and along with all these a lot of positive thinking.

Here is some good advice for all of us:
Start each day with a motivating thought to inspire you throughout your day and encourage others to start each new day with a positive outlook! Zig Ziglar is a legend when it comes to motivation. This movie is some of Zig's favorite life quotes. Take a few minutes to watch this movie and be inspired!



“Wherever you go…go there with all your heart.” - Anonymous

Are You An Entrepreneur?

Interesting question. Don't you think?

The reason I pose this question to you is because I came across a post on another website that mentioned this entrepreneur, Barry Moltz. I found the entry about being lucky in business interesting. It gave seven areas for you to think about to see if your business is lucky. That is if you believe luck has anything to do with your business. To be honest I do.

Barry Moltz

So, I looked up Barry Moltz. Found a lot of stuff but the following about being an entrepreneur really did come close to home.

There are millions of people on the internet and off trying to fulfill a dream or necessity of having their own business. But, does having your own business make you an entrepreneur? I don't think so.

We call people and ask them questions. Some of the questions that we might ask is "Have you ever had a home business?"; "Do you want to make a lot of money?"; "Do you want to be your own boss?" "Do you have some reason to start your own home business?" etc....


Let's review Barry's test questions to see if  you really are an entrepreneur:
  1. Are you resilent?
  2. Can you ask for help?
  3. Can you get people to follow you?
  4. Do you like to network and meet people?
  5. Do you like to sell?
  6. Do you do well in ever-changing choas?
  7. Can you live on a variable monthly compensation?
  8. Do you have a good personal support system?
  9. Are you flexible with your goal setting?
10. Can you hold a real job and work for someone else?
Source: http://bit.ly/haJCMj

Barry says that if you answered yes to at least 8 of the 10 then you are ready. If you didn't then you need to keep your day job and start educating yourself about entrepreneurship before taking that step.

Maybe we are posing the wrong questions right out of the gate to our prospects. You have to decide this on your own.

Being an entrepreneur is tough even on the best of us. So maybe, just maybe we need to be asking tougher questions and following Barry's list.

Let me know what you think.

You all have a nice day now, you hear?

Blessings to you...

Elaine

Bet You Are Missing This Opportunity

A mostly missed way of getting links to your site.

Increasing traffic to your website!

We all want visitors to come to our websites. The question is how to get them there?

I am only going to mention one in this post because I see so many people missing this great opportunity. You just bypass it all the time. Of course, if you don't have a website that is a different thing. But, if you do have a website I assume you want people visiting it. Right?

Then why are you reading someone's blog post and never leaving a comment? I know, sometimes we just don't take the time to think about writing something.

You should be thinking about it and doing it. Why? LINKS

This is a great way to get links back to your website and the more links you have going back to your website the better the search engines will pick it up as being a relevant site worth indexing. And, someone else reading the same blog that you did just might decide to see what you have to offer them unless you leave a stupid comment.

When leaving a comment on someone's blog be sure to follow some etiquette:
If you can think of some more, please leave it in the comments box. 
1. Fill out the form completely - name, email and your site complete with http://
    No, your email and website address will not show but guess what - your name will be hyperlinked to your site. If you leave out your site address your name might not show up as a hyperlink.
2. Don't just write, "Nice post." Good grief, write something pertaining to the blog post you are commenting about. 
3. Be honest. Don't be afraid to be open with your thoughts.
4. You don't have to agree with the author but don't be overly critical. This may get your comment deleted and make you look like a moron.
5. Don't put your link in the comment box unless the instructions state that this is okay.
6. Use a picture that you use all over the internet. If you need to get a Google account to do this then go to Google and setup an account. This way your picture will show automatically when you comment unless the blog uses gravatars*.

I know that there are some people that say that links like this are no longer relevant to search engines. That their spiders don't pick them up. That this is not an important way of increasing traffic. That it might hurt your standing with Google.

This is not a link exchange system which in some instances has been frowned upon by Google and I might add for good reason. You and the blog author have not entered into an agreement to exchange links. You are just adding your link to your comment.

So, before you leave a blog after reading it think about leaving a comment with your website link hyperlinked through your name. You just might get someone to click it and visit your site.


Okay, get out there and take some time reading other blogs and making relevant comments to the post.



* Gravatars are actually pictures of you located in a central database such as WordPress. Actually if you have a WordPress account, you also have a gravatar.com account. (I just found this out because I was commenting on a blog post that required a gravatar.)

Do You "Walk the Talk"

Practice what we preach: having principles may be natural for us but practicing them is something of a different story. This is probably one of our biggest challenges each and every day we breath not only in our lives but in our businesses.

This reminds me of a TV commercial about a young basketball player that announces while in a huddle to his coach that he touched the basketball before it went out of bounds. It was not called by the referee. It's a championship game and the other players don't like it that he tells the truth and they come down on him. The coach on the other hand shows great character by respecting the players honesty and tells him he did the right thing.

If you were this player, what would you have done?

It is not easy to always do what we know to be right and good. That is what makes it a challenge. None of us are perfect human beings. But we know the difference between what is right and what is wrong and inappropriate behavior.

Whether it be in our personal lives or our businesses this is what it takes:

Commitment
Honesty
Accountability
Respect
Attitude
Courage
Trust
Integrity
Responsibility








Believe it matters...

Make sure that your values are consistent with your dreams.

Having values is very important, but it's much more important to live them. "Walking the talk" is always one of our greatest challenges.

Bestselling authors, Eric Harvey and Steve Ventura have written an enlightening book that is filled with inspirational and life changing insights. The book is organized around 5 principles:

1. Words to live by are just words unless you actually live by them.
2. You are what you do.
3. Everything you do counts.
4. The "Golden Rule" is still pure gold.
5. Character is the key.

Are your values consistent with your dreams? What do you need to do to make them consistent?

Having values are important in our lives, but we must learn to LIVE our values, not just keep them hidden in our thoughts afraid to step up to the mound and take a swing. As with the basketball player, others might try to influence you to do something that is not right. You may be criticized by your peers. But, you must walk to the sideline and take the position you know to be right and correct for you according to your values.

In other words, we must learn to "Walk the Talk" in every aspect of our lives. Be it on the job, with our families, in sports, with our faith and in our businesses. Our values cannot be separated into the different segments of our daily lives. Our values are the same no matter what we are doing, where we are or where we are going with our dreams.


Are you Walking the Talk?