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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Lady Of Lesuire - 3rd week update

Well, the past 3weeks have been very different from my 9-5.

There have been some ups and downs so far. A lot of my focus has been forced into areas that I may have otherwise not wanted to go or maybe it was from pure arrogance that there wasn't anything wrong. However, the family challenges that have come forth have ensured a response in regards to the main factor of living a balanced life, COMMUNICATION.

My family is the reason I am doing this so I am evaluating my actions and reactions at home and adjusting them to ensure I am not the cause of any more issues. We are taking our home lives one day at a time at the moment, feeling our way through.

Since my last post there have been some changes. So where am I currently.
Websites
The website date has been moved up to Jan. Im looking to source a web designer who may be willing give of their time and expertise to my site for FREE (Yes I said FREE) in return for some delayed gratification when I am able to pay them.

Ebay
This project is on hold. The time and effort needed to do this does not equal the amount of profit that would come from it.

ABN Registration
This is one of the frustrating parts so far. Ive decided to just ask around online for anyone who has started their online business here in Aus and what legal stuff they had to do.

Art
Due to all of the above I have neglected my artistic pursuits. Ive only put in a couple of hours over the last 3weeks to my artwork which I hope to increase due to the significant calmness drawing gives me.

Competitions
Dedicated 1hr per night. Its a small every day habit now and a lot of fun when you have to give a 25words or less entry. You really have to use your imagination.

surveys. I tried this for a week and found it cost me a lot of time, not only filling in the surveys but the amount of spam you get. No doubt there are people making good money off this, but I doubt they are doing it randomly. I suggest if this is an avenue you wish to go down, try to find forums where you can ensure you start out the best way possible and where they have a SCAM section. I found a few, one who rang saying because i filled out a survey I won a holiday but they needed credit card details. Uhhh, NO! So my advise, be carefull!!

Online Business Portfolio
This has been the most interesting part of the last 3 weeks and one I want to dedicate an entire blog to. What I will say here is that I have been able to cut back on a lot of research due to 2 great sites. http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/ this site was set up by a guy named Pat Flyn. This guy puts it all out there. What hes doing/done and how much hes making each month. If your curious about how he did or even how you could do it please visit his site. Hes very down to earth, shares his life both business and personal and has answered all the questions I have emailed to him. He takes you month by month through his journey to his passion, his family and is very transparent about it. He is a big inspiration for me.

Ill stop here because I want to do justice to the work Pat is doing and the other resources I am currently using.

Please, if you have any questions don't hesitate to leave me a comment or send me through an email.

Live your life with passion!!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Mind Mapping experiment

Well with so much to do and so much information out there I obviously needed a way to gauge and list what steps I needed to take and when. This is something that I know I have not been consistent with however, because of the "Why" I am doing this, I feel that I may be more successful this time around.

So one of the tools I am going to be using is the Mind Map. Its like a brainstorming illustration. You put your goal or your project in the middle and all the steps that need to be taken branch off from this.

When I first tried this out, a couple of days ago, I thought it was fantastic. I used it to list the steps I needed to take to work on my Affiliates business. I brain stormed all the things I thought I would need to do and it was a real help to see it all set up like that, much more interesting on the eye then the normal To Do List for me. However, I then decided to do one for all the other things I had planned and in one day I had 5 Mind Maps. Ok, for me, this is overload, lol, I looked at all that paper and went, OMG how on earth is this all going to get done!

I then thought about maybe putting them all onto one mind map, but of course an A4 piece of paper is not big enough for that many smaller maps. I have therefore decided to get a large sheet of paper and will transfer it all onto to that and put it somewhere that little hands and pens wont be able to reach it yet where I could see it.

I know there are computer programs out there that you can use to make these mind maps, I run linux on my comp, not by choice however that's just how it is, and any app I have tried to download has fallen by the wayside. So paper it is for me. Although, I suggest that if you can use one of these apps, then try it and let me know how it goes.

So for the next two weeks I am going to use my big mind map as a tool to set my "To do" schedule. At the end of the first week I will blog how its progressing for me, and at the end of the second week I will blog any tips or tricks I have managed to find during the process. I will also upload the map when I have completed it, a goal that I have set for the weekend.

I have more blogs for the day, I made a choice to use Friday as my assessment day. I have logged my journey thus far in my new role at home as a "Lady of Leisure" and will sum up each week here in my blog.

My first blog shows a lot of what I have had in mind and I will relate how each, if any, are progressing Friday nights.

It is now 9.30am and I am already behind on my schedule so I will move from this to my next planned task and see how many of today's, and yesterdays goals I can achieve.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Blogging - A new learnng

Well, when I first decided to blog I thought it would be a good idea to blog online, then atleast im saving on paper and I it wont get lost, drawn on or thrown out by mistake.

I wrote my first blog with no ideas in mind except to keep it as a to do list, random thoughts and a place to let off some steam.

However, I am quickly learning that there is alot more to blogging. Blogging can actualy generate an income if done right. This is the line of my current research and experience will prove which works for me and which does not.

Ive signed up to an associates programe, which is another work for affliates, and I am still trying to work out how it works. Go figure, jump in and dont research and you are soon stuck with something you have no idea how to run. However, in saying this I am determind to find out how I can make it work for me.

I also signed up to a competitions website for a year, should have my subscription details through by end of next week. I will blog any winnings we have and how I am finding the experience.

Also, my blogging is going to start taking a different line. Im looking at writing about balance and harmony and how its working for me, but I am also going to use these experiences as a source for an ebook. I am still looking at other ways to generate an income online that are more service related instead of product based but if I have to do both then so be it. At this point in time I am realy ready to do whatever it takes to get to my course next year. Like my job, its a means to an end, however, this time I am more aware that the choices I make about where my money is going will impact the future of my business and therefore I am going into everything questioning if my actions are moving me towards my goal or taking me further away.

A spending spree on books for personal enjoyment would be taking money away from my goal, I can always borrow them from someone. I just googled book swaps online and there are some in Australia that im going to look at, how cool is that.

Well, due to the hot weather this week I have planned to clean up a very cluttered corner of my lounge in the morning and doing something fun with my 3yr old. Then we will go do our shopping, clean up the bbq so that we can have that for dinner tomorrow rather than having to cook inside. With this many jobs on the go tomorrow, I may actualy take my son to daycare instead.

I want to also put together a survey online to ask people what their ideal of a balanced life is for them. So keep an eye out on Face Book, any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Lady of Leisure week 1

06/11/2009 - Lady of Leisure week 1.

As of the 30th Oct 2009 my skills were no longer needed in the position I was working in. This was expected and I was very ready to leave.

As a working mother of 3 with a fairly dramatic family, full time work and home commitments were getting harder and harder to juggle.

I also had my own dreams and goals that I wanted to pursue but found that all of life's little ups and downs were really getting a bit much.

So now here I am, unemployed but extremely happy about it. I have been able to sit down in this last week and work out some areas in life that I feel a need to focus.

First step to bringing balance into my own life was figuring out where my priorities lay. For me, it was my purpose and my family.

With this information, help from a fantastic life coach and a new sense of focus, I will be working towards each goal, each project step by step and laying it all out here for you all to view.

In doing this, I will see where I may have made some wrong choices, where I may have made some mistakes and where I have been the most success full in my journey.

I also hope that visitors to my site will be able to take a little something away and maybe apply it to their own lives successfully.

So, in this first week I have

Cleaned my bedroom
- Still need to do some major clutter clearing.

Gotten up after 8.30 every day for the past week - this has been bliss for not only myself but for my 3yr old who is NOT a morning person, just like his mummy.

Contact Success and You about my Life coaching course - Found out they no longer allow the course to be paid of after you have sat it, instead I now have to come up with $3500 witin the next 4-5 months. I am concentrating on the HOW for this. I also take responsibility for my procrastination during the past year. I had the funds to pay off the course while i was working, but used it instead for other things. Lesson from this, dont sit on your hands or the time will come when someone cuts them off, hahahaaha.

Domain/Web site started
- I now have a domain name and working on the website for "Living Your Balance" and will look into learning how to create my own site from scratch. But in the meantime I am using a generic one and tweaking it to suit. Hope to have this up and running fully by Feb 2009.

Competition Player
- I have registered on a competition site where you are given links to all the comps being run online, in stores etc. Any goods that may come our way from this venture will either be kept in our home or sold on ebay.

Ebay - As I clear out my house I am going to sell the stuff I find on EBAY to get some funds running. I will also look into affiliate programs to put onto my site as well.

ABN registration
- Need to get myself registered as a sole trader so when I do my course up in Sydney its all tax deductable. As well as my website and marketing tools.

Art - I will be posting shots of my sketching as it grows from stick figures to recognizable people, hahaha, hope to move from pencil to chalk by Feb-March next year.

Heres a great quote that describes my thoughts on Balance
"Most people struggle with life balance simply because they haven't paid the price to decide what is really important to them."Stephen Covey