If you enjoy active, independent shore excursions, you have something in common with the growing number of cruise passengers who don’t want to be herded onto one of a long line of busses at each port.

“In the past three to four years, independent arrangements have grown because a younger audience wants something more than sitting on a bus,” said Joe L’Episcopo, Holland America’s Shore Excursion manager on the Maasdam,. “Some are well-prepared with all the maps and literature and ready to go when they come aboard.”

As a “young” 60+ year-old cruiser, I prefer to arrange my own excursions and find it usually costs less. While many passengers focus on the “good life” aboard ship, for me, the ship serves as a comfortable hotel that also provides the most convenient and affordable transportation to where I want to travel.

Last month, I chose the Maasdam to visit five of the most popular ports on Canada/New England cruises: Bar Harbor, Maine; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Quebec; and Boston, where the cruise began.

Here are a few tips to help you plan independent activities to make the most of each day ashore on a Canada/New England cruise. The “If You Go” sidebar includes contact information and prices.

BEGIN PLANNING AT HOME

o Check www.towd.com (Tourist Office World Directory) for information about each port. With a google search you are likely to get anybody, but the official tourist bureaus’ resources are endorsed.

o “Research carefully to know the entire area and the port’s limitations. Don’t try to do too much,” advises L’Episcopo.

o After studying the information, compare what interests you with what is available aboard ship.

o Be sure to bring all contact information from home - names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

ON THE SHIP

o If you run out of research time at home, your cell phone and the ship’s internet connection are invaluable.

o While sipping a tall hot frothy cup of cafe latte in the Maasdam’s new Explorations Cafe, a cyber-coffee house/ library, it’s fun to surf the net and browse through travel guides for more information.

o Before arriving at each port, call to confirm the time, place, and price of your shore excursion.
-
o Whenever you make your own arrangements, always be sure the operator has the proper insurance and equipment.

BAR HARBOR

The ship’s biking tour turned out to be my best choice. There were only eight of us (not 25 - 30!) who wanted to ride along the gravel carriage trails of Acadia National Park .

Fortunately, our guide was an expert resident naturalist who also fixed my chain on a particular steep incline near Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the eastern seaboard.

Afterwards, there was just enough time to chat with a few locals over a cold beer and sandwich at Gaylyns, a popular hang-out on Main Street.

HALIFAX

My local contact recommended the “Big Three” things to do: Pier 21; the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic; and the Deluxe Halifax City Tour of the Victorian Public Gardens, Titanic Grave Sites, and Citadel.

Pier 21’s interactive museum exhibits recreated the poignant stories of the million Canadian immigrants who had arrived at the same dock where the Maasdam anchored. It was a shame that most of the ship’s passengers walked right past it, not knowing what a wonderful experience they had missed.

CHARLOTTETOWN

Sea kayaking was an option, but for some unknown reason, the ship no longer offered a biking tour through the island’s peaceful countryside on the Confederation Trail. But it was easy to take a taxi to the Trailside Cafe at Mount Stewart, where my friend and I rented well-maintained bicycles and helmets.

Careful not to risk missing the ship’s departure at 1:30 p.m, we didn’t go too far afield on the trail’s excellent stone dust surface. Had we experienced a mishap and could not contact the ship, we’d probably be left behind. If a ship-sponsored tour were delayed, however, the ship would wait.

ROMANTIC QUEBEC

Quebec is almost entirely French in feeling. The Old City’s lower town is across the street from the ship, so you can easily wander through the narrow cobbled lanes of Petit Champlain’s charming bistros and sidewalk cafes. Afterwards, a 12-minute funicular ride whisks you up to visit the fairytale castle hotel, Chateau Frontenac. Nearby, at a huge urban park called the Plains of Abraham, there are more opportunities for appreciating culture, history and sporting pursuits. Horseback riding, rafting, and bicycling are other appealing outdoor adventures in Quebec. To explore the countryside , arrange for a private minivan to meet you at the dock. Certainly, the price is right.

BOSTON AND CAPE COD

After disembarking the ship at Montreal , I returned to Boston to meet my sister for the long Memorial Day weekend.

Our hotel was conveniently close to Boston Commons and the Public Gardens, perfect places for a brisk morning stroll. Later, we walked to Boston’s Long Wharf to board the 90-minute fast ferry to Provincetown, Cape Cod. The tourist office at the end of Provincetown’s dock gave us directions to the island’s trolley trip, bike rental shop, and Art’s Sand Dune tour of the national seashore.

Back in Boston, we decided against taking the city’s popular Duck Tour in a World War II landing craft painted to look like a garish carnival ride. As it drove right into the Charles River, the guide encouraged passengers to continue their “quack-quack-quack-ing.

Instead, a private guide met us at the hotel for “Boston Your Way”, a tour more appealing to a National Public Radio audience. While Maryglen Vincen’s tours don’t have a lot of dazzle, she really knows her “stuff” and can take a car into the narrow streets of North End and Beacon Hill where the long line of tourist busses do not go.

Judy Zimmerman is a 20-year-experienced professional travel writer with specialties in cruising, western U.S. destinations, soft adventure travel, spas and service articles.

Management membership software allows for a well-organized and expert handling of your organization and its members. This software program is perfect tool which membership websites should not go without as it will keep everything about the website completely effective. It does not need for a programming-skilled staff to let it run with the website so even you can handle it. You only have to install after purchasing and then let it take most of the wide spectrum activities that membership sites usually entail.

Management membership software programs are the most popular tool to those online money-making businesses, specifically membership websites. They are designed to meet every need of the site by handling their tens of thousands subscribers. In that way, members were religiously kept updated with the website not giving you any chance to lose significant numbers of them. With the software, you keep these memberships and not lose them, a dire consequence of most membership websites by the mistake of not allowing a management membership software take control of organizing their members.

The management membership software has features that would be most ideal to all kinds of membership site subscription. For the most part, it allows you to have traffic keep coming at your website, which only means a steady flow of recurring cash flow. The best thing about this is you keep generating cash flow, but without the hard work. That is because by simply installing it with your system; a little installation process; a little configuration there; and setting up default email contents, the management membership software will work on its own. And while you are doing the core of your business, you let that system function to take care of the needs of your members.

Automated features

The software is packed will all necessary features to do all those work of maintaining memberships. Everything is also automated and all a member needs to get access to his subscription is to click some buttons, links, and instantly enables him to utilize the website.

The feature lets your organization accumulate new members by attracting potential subscribers. The automation works first once a person has subscribed. After the subscription the system instantly works by automating their membership activation. If the member cancels the subscription, the program will also automatically remove it from the list. Canceling can be done by allowing the subscriber to click a link normally located at the bottom of the default email content by the website.

If the subscriber chose not to cancel his account with the website, automation of the system will again work on its own. Username and password are stored in the database of the membership software program; thus, they will be ready all the time or when the subscriber requests for them. If the member happens to forget his account password, he is just to request by clicking a request link, and then the website automatically retrieves the information; then e-mails it.

The management membership software is fully-automated system, in which it handles most of the maintenance to ensure better relationship with the members. With this feature, it leaves you little work of maintaining so you have plenty of time to focus on other essential needs of your membership websites. It also avoids you from encountering a complex maze of databases because the software also automates the storage of all pertinent details supplied by the members.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information on membership software or for membership management software checkout his website.

Here you are, your career is finally on track and going great! You feel like you are making the right choices and even enjoy working really hard, most of the time. You even make it to the gym a couple of times a week and remember to stay away from carbohydrates at most meals. And then comes that moment when you feel that breeze ruffle your hair a little bit, a slight tease before you get hit by the gale force. Suddenly you are flipping and flying around the whirlwind tunnel trying to figure out which end is up - aggravated that you missed a great opportunity to pitch a new client, realizing that (yet again) if you don’t leave right now you’ll be late for your next meeting and geez, you spaced out on your sister’s birthday!

All that stress training, let alone working out, is out the window and you find yourself running to simply stay in place. You are asking yourself, “How do people do this? Is there such a thing as career life balance? Where is the equilibrium!!!!!!?”

If spinning around out of control isn’t your definition of success, nor how you define a fulfilling life, perhaps these steps will help you make the escape from the whirlwind tunnel!

7 Tips for Taming the Whirlwind Tunnel 1. Eliminate and Delegate - Make a list of what could you eliminate or delegate. Just because your mother cleaned the window sills weekly, doesn’t mean you do. And there are probably many other tasks that you do because they are habit or somehow you started doing them. Take a good look and get rid of the unnecessary activity.

2. Plan - Plan the month in advance to the best of your ability. Then review your calendar and set your goals each Sunday evening and again before closing down at work each day.

Look at your calendar before booking something new. Categorize re-occurring events, daily habits, calls, appointments, kid’s activities and exercise. Studies show those 15 minutes of planning time saves up to two hours of wasted activity.

3. Schedule time for you - Make appointments with yourself to do the things that are important to you, in Stephen Covey’s words, those things that are important and not urgent. For you this may mean 30 minutes of reading by yourself, working out, time alone with your spouse, or lunch with a good friend.

4. Create accountability and celebrate success! For each project and large task, tie in an outcome and deadline to create leverage and helps ensure your success.

5. Design it, Live it! Imagine and play with what your perfect week would be like. Write it down, schedule it and then begin to live it. What time do you want to go to bed? How much time do you want to have to get ready in the morning? What do you intend you create? I’ll bet if you believe that you can’t do it - you’re right!

6. Breathe. Yup, it sounds simple and most of us forget to do it when the going gets tough. When you feel that breeze hit your bangs - stop. That’s right, stop. Remember that the thing protruding from your face is called a nose. Pull air in through it, feel it go down and fill up your lungs, keep pulling it in. Hold it, hold it a little longer. Now, release that breathe slowly, feeling your lungs deflate, pulling in those fabulous ab muscles, keep blowing until your lungs are empty. Now repeat twice more.

7. Givers Gain! Recognize the opportunities you have each day to make someone else’s day just a little easier, whether it is slowing down to let a fellow motorist into your lane, or picking up a piece of litter on the road. As Myrtle Reed says, “If we all tried to make other people’s paths easy, our own feet would have a smooth even place to walk on.” It sounds a little counterintuitive, but giving something of ourselves allows us to realize that time and space are really about connection to one another. The wind stops blowing so hard when we reach out a hand to connect.

While work and life run at a crazy pace these days, these tips let you take control of the storm and help stop the whirlwind tunnel from spinning out of control. This is the first of a series of columns about how to gain career life balance. I look forward to hearing how these work for you and what career life balance issues you are facing. Feel free to contact me with your challenges, suggestions or tips at CoachDQ@CareerLifeBalance.net.

Adobe Photoshop is an editing tool for images, which can run on various operating systems. Developed by Adobe Systems, Photoshop was initially launched in 1988, and is currently is on version 10. During the early 2000s, Adobe integrated Photoshop with Creative Suite, another Adobe product. The combination created the software’s CS series, starting with the program’s version 8, also known as Adobe Photoshop CS. Since then, Adobe has released Photoshop CS2 and the beta version of Photoshop CS3. Because of the continuing evolution of software for image manipulation, it is necessary to constantly learn about the new tools and features of the program. This is where Photoshop CS tutorials come in.

There are different sources of information on Photoshop CS. The simplest source of knowledge is the Photoshop CS manual. You can also look at the software’s installation program, as it contains various Photoshop CS tutorials in PDF format. If the program is already running, you can also opt to click on the “Help” tab, and click on “Photoshop Help.” This will allow you to select from a list of topics on Photoshop CS or perform a search on the software’s help database.

Adobe Press also offers numerous books providing instructions for different Adobe software, including Photoshop. The “Adobe Photoshop CS Classroom in a Book” by the Adobe Creative Team, the book includes step-by-step tutorials on many Photoshop CS functions, including working with layers, slicing images and constructing webpages. There are also books written by other authors that are also helpful, such as “How to Use Photoshop CS” by Daniel Giordan.

You can also use the Internet to look for resources on Photoshop CS. Adobe Online offers updated information on Adobe products. Adobe Online can be accessed at the www.adobe.com, the Adobe website. From the Adobe Worldwide menu, you can choose the location nearest you.

The website contains step-by-step tutorials and how-to topics both for beginners and more advanced designers. The online help also provides techniques on using Photoshop CS with other applications. There are also tips on troubleshooting basic problems you can encounter when using the program. The website also contains a support page dealing with hot topics, which focuses on effective practices that you can perform when creating Photoshop CS projects.

Adobe Online Forums can likewise help you with Photoshop CS. These forums allow peer-to-peer discussions regarding the software tools and various techniques which you can use. You can search the forum for useful topics or, if you have a specific question, you can also opt to post it on the forum, and have other users answer it for you.

Adobe also offers training and certification programs for beginners and advanced users. These include interactive self-paced courses and instructor-led courses, via online sessions and offline classes. You can also attend Adobe online events or review their database of eSeminars by registering on the Adobe website.

There are also countless other sources of Photoshop CS tutorials and downloads online, which may either be free or may require you to pay a certain fee. Search the Web using your regular search engine and choose from among hundreds of text, audio and video Photoshop CS resources online. A helpful online resource is a PDF of Chapter One of the Photoshop CS for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide, which deals with the basics of the program and detailed explanations of the different toolboxes.

If you still need more information, Adobe Systems also offers excellent technical support and customer service. Adobe has both a paid support program and a complimentary product support for users who are registered. Adobe’s contact information can be viewed on their website.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For a free photo shop tutorial and or to purchase a video photo shop tutorial checkout his website.

“Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire? ” - Dale Carnegie

Have you come to think the above quote is also applicable in network marketing?

It is.

Why not do what Dale Carnegie advised?

I mean, something like:

“Instead of worrying about what people (co-workers, family members, friends, etc.) may think about us, we just work hard and do something which will create admiration comments from all of them, and create big numbers

that way will prove to them what we are made of.

“Yeah, let’s show them our real MLM character!”

Of course we can. If we work hard at it, that is.

But here’s a problem right away.

A big problem.

We don’t want to be dependent on people and their approval for us to feel good about MLM.

This is not a good thing for us, network marketers/MLMers.

Having other people’s approval on a MLM game they don’t even know how to play well -otherwise they’d be playing it , I can assure you - is not a good way of conducting our MLM business.

Relying on other people’s opinions to see if this mlm deal is good for us or not, is putting these other people at cause point, and us, at effect.

Kind of waiting for their final approval seal, as if they were our business mentors.

Well, they’re not.

Listen, a network marketer is made of a different marketing quality.

Different skin, if you like.

We are not made of bo-peep (regular) mentality.

We’re playing a different game.

We play other rules.

There’s not much choice anyway: either we play by our rules or we don’t survive.

Think hard about I just said.

Be yourself, please.

Be yourself.

Depend on NO ONE for your network marketing company decisions.

You rule.

I hope this can help you.

Serge is a person always looking for the best MLM leads processes and companies available. He is a heavy promoter of the idea of Funded Proposals, that is, you get paid even if the prospect says no to your opportunity.

A vision quest is a Native American ceremony that in the Lakota language is called hanblecha, which means, crying for a vision. It is a calling out to Spirit, to God, to Great Spirit with a request and questing for an answer. The vision quest is traditionally done for four days and four nights. The person on the quest sits isolated with no food or water connected through prayer to Spirit. Different cultures with similar intents conduct the quest with variations in time and practice. In all cases, the person on the vision quest places himself/herself in a precarious position and trusts and calls out to Spirit in a ceremonial way. Additionally, other participants remain in camp and offer support to the persons on the quest. These supporters check in on questers periodically and pray for them during their vision quest.

It took one year to prepare for my hanblecha. Traditionally, there is a year of preparation, the actual vision quest, and then a year of unfolding. I reference this story to underscore that God is continually teaching me about love. Unconditional love is the basis of the universe and spirituality. Too many humans have no experience of love without conditions. In our society, love often has strings attached. Punishments, judgments, overpowering demands, and competition are all marionette strings that control human behavior. If you have not experienced unconditional love, it is almost impossible to understand or to hold its wisdom. I hardly have words to explain the phenomenon in general terms, and it is even more difficult to describe it in the way that I experienced it.

I had many mystical experiences during my vision quest. I would like to focus on one in particular. I feel that this experience was not only meaningful for me but also contains a message for all beings. Let me preface the story with a ritual that I did the morning before I left my house. I have a little bag of terra cotta hearts that I often give as gifts to my clients after I do a soul retrieval. Each heart has a word inscribed on its face to impart some sort of inspiration or message. I usually meditate with the bag in my lap or in my hands, asking the spirits which divine message I should give. I then reach in with my hand and pull a heart. On the morning of my quest I did this for myself. The heart message that I drew was willingness. I took it to place on the altar I had created at my vision quest spot.

On the first night of my quest the August moon was full. Nature had provided me with wonderful weather conditions and surrounding beauty. The moon was big, beautiful, and in full glory as I viewed her from my sacred spot. I held a prayer stick that I had made for the event-a sacred stick with white leather prayer bundles containing tobacco hanging from it. Tobacco is often used as an offering to the spirits. If you place your prayer, through intention, into the tobacco, then wrap the tobacco up in a piece of cloth, it becomes a prayer bundle. I had chosen beautiful white leather for my bundles, and had treated the stick as a work of art for I had put much creativity and intention into creating this sacred item. In fact, my whole year of preparation had involved this level of intensity. I took the entire process extremely seriously and went the extra mile to insure that I prepared appropriately. I had no doubt in my mind that when I entered my sacred spot for my vision quest, Spirit knew I was serious. The spirits had asked me to do this sacred ceremony in a previous shamanic journey, so here I was.

Even though I had gone through all of this preparation, there was one thing for which I was not prepared. I was ill when I began the quest. I had developed a severe sore throat and cold days before the ceremony was to start. By the time I was to go to my spot, I was extremely ill. It took every bit of energy I could muster to go through with it. I also had no idea how uncomfortable I would be sitting on the ground with an aching body. My senses were dulled and whatever natural abilities I possessed were hampered by the oppressive aches and discomforts of the sickness. I felt very distant from Spirit. I found myself staring at the terra cotta heart willingness. Even though I felt completely disconnected and discouraged, I had the willingness to continue and to trust Spirit.

It was about 2:00 a.m. and I was sitting with my back against a tree. I had been sitting for hours taking in the solitude of the night. It was during this quiet time that I distinctly heard someone say Jan. I looked around, expecting to see that my support person had come to check on me. No one was there. I again heard my name, Jan. I looked around again. This time I stood up and turned. I heard it a third time and realized that the sound was coming from above. I looked to the moon. Could the moon be calling my name? I was seized by emotion. My legs started to tremble, my eyes filled with tears. Because of my weakened condition, I had no energy to doubt or to second-guess what was happening. I just followed the direction of my heart. I raised my prayer stick to the moon and held it up and out, as if offering it to this mighty sacred one of the sky. I began crying out my prayers of intention. I knew that the moon was hearing me and communicating directly with me on this sacred night.

The next thing I knew I was traveling through space. I traveled up and up with the speed of light, all the way to the moon. I magically became the moon. As I merged with it, I could see myself standing down on Earth: This little person, holding her prayer stick into the sky, crying, and trembling both with emotion and weakness. Her heart filled with love, dedication, willingness; asking to be heard and noticed. I was overwhelmed with compassion, with unconditional love, with emotions that no words can describe. I had become the moon. I had become Great Spirit, the universe. On an emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual level, I experienced a love that was greater than anything I had ever imagined or humanly experienced. My cells throbbed as they absorbed and responded to this experience. I had no bodily connection to this little person I was watching below, but I had an overwhelming heart connection. I loved her beyond what I had ever experienced in the human realm. I understood what it means when God says to love unconditionally, not only others but oneself as well.

I do not know how long I spent on this sky adventure. When my spirit reentered my body, it slammed me into the ground and I remember hitting my head hard. I also heard a thud, a sound like that of someone hitting you square on the chest with a flat hand. The experience was like none I had ever had. Even with all of the journeying I had done, I was not prepared for this encounter. The experience was not induced by drumming or intention. I physically and audibly heard my name called and I responded by making myself available. Spirit then took me on a journey to learn about love-the kind of love that Creator holds for us, and the love of which the universe is made. It awakened in me a deep understanding of what Spirit means when it refers to love. This love is of the magnitude contained in the light so often referred to in near-death experiences. It is the love on which enlightenment is based. It is beyond what many of us know, but it is within reach of all of us.

When unconditional love is revealed, it serves as an example of what life can be like here on earth. Spirit does not wave such promise in front of us and then say, Sorry you cannot have any. Spirit allows us such remarkable experiences so that we can have a tangible event stored in our cellular memory to call upon when the time is right. This memory compels us to keep sight of what we strive for-peace, unconditional love, and freedom from judgment of others and of self. Spirit works in miraculous ways if you just provide the willingness.

Jan promotes self-healing, empowerment, better communities, a healthier world and conducts workshops for shamanism and journeying. Her book, Becoming Yourself is at http://www.janengelssmith.com. A Shaman, Jan has done two thousand soul retrievals. She is a water pourer, a pipe carrier, a minister, a shamanic Practitioner, a Reiki Master, a Licensed Counselor, a Chemical Dependency Specialist, and an MFT.

The next basic to building a list is to act intellectually. This means that most of the web site have context that allows the users to know the company better. For example, there are “Products”, “About us”, “Contact us” options. You can provide the full pdf content under these links but make them accessible only when the visitor enters his or her email address. In the products page, you can provide a free trial of software but make it accessible only when the user enters a valid email address. Hence the key is one should not offer the material for free that can be exchanged for an email address.

Another way of list building is by the aid of search engines. You actually do have to begin with the fundamentals, and that means building the web site with an observation in the direction of promotion and functionality. The eminence of your web site, in the extensive run, is as significant as any other feature when it comes to constructing your e-mail list. On the matter of making your Web site an attraction for prospective affiliates of your e-mail list, content still is ruler. What you write about your merchandise, and the photographs or graphics of your merchandise on the Web site are the initial chances to unlock the door to a deal. By contributing the expertise on the creations or service kind, marketers right away can increase the value of their Web site content, and insert worth for both the possible and recurring customer. And this eminence gives the ideal support for convincing site visitors to sign up to get more of this important information from you via e-mail.

You can indirectly increase list building by using an option of “send to a friend” and new subscriber invitations on your web site. This will help you in list building via the present clients

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide’

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Are you trying to lose weight? Are you engaged in a never ending battle with food? You should evaluate the role food plays in your life!

It is common for most people to become frustrated with their attempts to lose weight and gain better health. This article will lead you through steps to establish a lifestyle of better health in your life.

The first thing to do is to stop thinking in terms of losing weight. Think in terms of better health and always, always, always correct yourself to thinking in those terms. Say to yourself “I will be in better health”.

Second, examine what role food plays in your life. In most cases, when people struggle with weight loss, it is because their eating patterns are not conducive to better health. To correct this situation, write down what food means to you. You should write at least 10 lines. This is an effective way to get a handle on your attitude towards food.

Often people rely on food to help them feel better. It is not a permanent solution however and they end up running to food many times in a few hours. Instead, establish a better attitude towards food and its role. Snacking is a definite sign that food is taking over your life. Snacking is a nervous reaction to stress. In order to establish a healthier lifestyle, you need another outlet for stress relief. A good half hour walk outside will be better for you. Over time, this will reduce your need for food during stress. You will truly be amazed at how much better you will feel!

For the past 20 years Hema has worked with many individuals, including executives at large corporations, to reduce stress, improve general health and workplace productivity. A variety of personal interests and professional paths have led Hema to her current role as a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor and nutrition and wellness specialist. Hema is listed in Who’s Who in the World and is an author, lecturer and Can-Fit-Pro certified personal trainer who specializes in body-mind-spirit consulting and training women.

Hema offers keynote speeches, group workshops, and sees clients one-on-one in the Ottawa/Toronto area. Sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.getshanti.com

Although boasting traffic and guests to your web site is vital, incarcerating and preserving a contact catalog of guests is still more important. When a surfer leaves your web site and does not order anything from your web site, you are not left with anything. When a guest gets off your web site and you have an email address, you have one more possibility, perhaps more, to make them your client. So it is really important to build email lists of the people visiting your web site. Hence list building is an important tool that helps you to capture the customers even if they leave your web site without buying anything from your web site for the first time.

There are some basic tactics that will help you to build large lists. The first step to list building is to make sign up present everywhere on your web site. Your web site should invite the visitors to join the email list no matter where they enter in your web site. The visitors should not strive to get an option to enter the sign up list.

The second link building basic is that make the process of signing up easy. It is always advisable that there is only one single box to enter the email address. The more information you demand, the lesser is the possibility of a consumer of signing up. You can make an OPT IN box so that at least you gather the primary information.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide’

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Because I’m worth it

- L’Oreal

In coaching, we go through a process of re-evaluating our life. Cleaning out old beliefs, throwing away disempowering ones and polishing the beautiful, empowering ones.

Recently, I had a session with one of my clients, in which we discussed how much she should charge for her services. I think we all wonder about that when we interview for a new job, or when we meet a new client. How much will I be paid? How much am I worth?

My answer for this is always the same: You’re worth whatever you think you’re worth.

With most of our clients, we talk about money. Most of us (90%, to be exact) read too many fairy tales during childhood and grow up believing that being good and wanting money cannot go hand in hand. Do you remember those tales, saying that “Sharing your last piece of bread with animals and being poor and kind-hearted brings you the treasure.”

I learned a powerful lesson about worth 19 years ago. I was studying Special Education and was lucky to have some very inspiring mentors. One of them was a psychology teacher. Our first meeting with her was most challenging. She scared us half to death. During roll call, she skipped names. After calling someone’s name, she’d tell them, “That’s not a good name for you. In my class, I’m going to call you a different name.” By the second lesson, the number of students had dropped from 80 to 25. She came in, looked at us and said, “This is great. I see it worked. Now we can learn something.” She was so strange, yet so inspiring. I was so excited to have her as my teacher. I learned a lot from her.

In one of her courses, called “case studies,” she gave us 60 case studies and we analyzed them for 6 months. She was so unique in her testing techniques, that for a exam she asked us all to choose one case study, learn it well and come to her house to discuss it with her.

Well, I was a very good student and she had already given me an “A+” in two of her other courses, so I did my homework and went over to her house. She asked me some questions and after 15 minutes, she asked, “Ronit, what do you think I should give you?” I looked at her surprised just for a second. Because she was so unique, every meeting with her was a growing experience for me, I knew I was going to learn something from this. I smiled and said, “A+.” She smiled back and said “You’ve got an ‘A+’.”

Then, I left her house and joined a group of students who were standing outside, revising their notes before their exam. One of them approached me and asked me if I didn’t mind giving her my notes. She hadn’t really chosen a case study and since mine was good, she wanted to use it too. I showed her the main things we talked about and she went in. 15 minutes later, she came out looking sad.

I was surprised at her expression so I asked, “What did you get?”

“C,” she answered.

I asked her about each of the points in the case, to check if she had covered them well and she had. I couldn’t understand. She had all the notes. She could have used them.

“What did the teacher say while you were talking?” I asked.

“She said, ‘Very good. Good point. I’m happy you brought up this problem.’” my friend replied.

“Are you sure you covered the whole case study?” I asked, trying to understand.

“Yes, I did. I talked about the same things you talked about,” she answered in disappointment.

I looked at the whole thing, puzzled. Why would she do that? What was the difference? I went over my own exam in my head and than it flashed.

“Did she ask you what you thought she should give you?” I asked and she said, “Yes, she did!” I took a deep breath. I knew what I was supposed to learn from this. “And what did you say?” I asked. I wasn’t surprised when she said “C.”

Since then, I always ask my students at the end of every course what mark they think they got. In the last 19 years, with hundreds of students around the world, I never failed to match my marks with the student’s self-evaluation. Try it, you’ll be amazed!

In life coaching and education we teach that each of us knows our own worth. No one can determine your worth but you. So if you think that others do not value you, your input or your beliefs, remember that this is because you don’t value yourself in the first place. In all the tests life puts you through - when you get a new job, when you face a difficulty, when you charge someone for your service - remember Ronit’s weird psychology teacher asking, “What do you think I should give you?” Then, turn to the only person who can tell you how much you’re worth - you!

Why?

Because you’re worth it!

Ronit

To view the original article and/or subscribe to the Be Happy in LIFE newsletter, visit http://www.behappyinlife.com/inspiration.

Ronit Baras is an educator, a journalist and a life coach, specializing in relationships and emotional intelligence. She has 21 years of education experience, working with children, teenagers and parents. She’s the author of the book “Be Special, Be Yourself for Teenagers”. Ronit has lived and worked in America, Asia and Australia and now lives in Brisbane.

Ronit’s purpose in life is to spread love and acceptance all over the world through article writing, book publishing, public speaking, education and coaching.