Dale King runs and interesting site called GuruKnowledge.com, with plenty of articles and interviews to enhance your understanding of Internet marketing. This week he interviewed The Blog Squad.
To read our story, go to this page and read our answers to such questions as our one piece of advice, favorite books, and who influenced us the most.
It’s American Heart Month in February. I normally don’t post about such things here, but being aware of how fragile the heart can be is crucial. Here’s why…
In April 2005 I just got back from a trip with my husband to Singapore. The return trip was grueling and took 22 hours. I noticed I couldn’t sleep but marked it off to insomnia. The next day at home I woke up with a severe headache and vomiting. Thinking I had picked up some sort of Asian bug, I took a taxi to the doctor’s.
The doctor put a stethoscope to my heart and immediately called an ambulance. My heart had gone into fibrillation, a kind of spasm. I spent 18 hours in the Emergency room at the hospital.
Here I was a healthy, athletic woman with low to average blood pressure and no weight problem or history of heart problems. I never had a clue that this was a serious sign of heart failure. I thought I had just eaten something funny.
Women experience different heart symptoms than men when having a heart attack. If I had just waited it out at home, it could have been a very different story.
Be sure your heart is healthy with regular check ups, a healthy diet and good exercise! Mama Patsi says so…;-)
If you’d like to contribute to the American Heart Association, here’s a cute red dress pin they’ve created to celebrate the 5th year of their Heart Awareness program for women… The Heart Truth for Women Campaign…
I have an expatriate’s heart. When I moved to Paris in the early 70s I had no idea I would stay until 1989. I moved back to San Diego long enough to get my doctorate and meet my husband. Then we took off to live in Ajijic, in Jalisco, Mexico in 2002.
I’m leaving tomorrow to check on our house down there, and to reconnect with friends in the village. I tell you this because it has everything to do with writing better.
You must read Brian Clark’s recent post The Content Crossroads: Supernatural Success at the Intersection of Ideas . It’s one of those, you know… wish I had written this! posts you want to keep for inspiration.
It weaves a story of Robert Johnson, the blues guitarist, the Medici Family in Florence Italy, and Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist who coined the term "meme" for the natural selection process of speading ideas. Here’s one of the suggestions Brian makes for improving your writing:
Travel: One of the great benefits of online business is freedom from the tyranny of geography. And the more we see of the world and different cultures, the more our minds open up and see limitless connections and possibilities. One of the worst things we do to ourselves in terms of creativity is to stay within the realm of the familiar.
So that’s my story, and a good excuse for sneaking away to Mexico for a week… If you’d like to see our house, please visit this photo tour here.
I’m driven, that’s for sure. It’s such a great feeling to get up each day with new stuff to write and create. It’s exciting. And as one colleague said, "It sure beats working for a living!" I love my business and love what I do, so it doesn’t feel like work. Not always, of course, there’s the routine stuff too.
In our Pathway to Profits series of how to make money online, we tell clients to start with clarity of purpose. And of course that means a little introspection on what drives you. Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s not this way for most other people, but I have a heck of a time putting my finger on any one particular "driver."
Why is it I get up at 4 or 5 in the morning to do my work? Why do I care so deeply? I know I’m not driven by money. I’ve had plenty of it at times, and that doesn’t in itself make me happy.
Des Walsh of Thinking Home Business inspired me to write 5 things I love about working from home.
(In fact, I’m thinking about making Fridays a day for posting more personal things. Hey, it’s my blog! While I’ve always focused on keeping this a business blog about writing, part of smart blogging includes being real so people can get to know you. Besides, I like writing about me, me, me…)
1. If I wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. with an idea, I don’t have to take notes til I get to an office. I can start writing at my computer whenever I want. In fact, I often start my day at 4 a.m. and then I don’t feel guilty when I take a few hours off in the middle of the day to enjoy the sunshine or a tennis match.
2. The view from my home office window includes palm trees, a swimming pool, and not many cars.
3. I can snack on healthy foods from the fridge instead of using a vending machine in some cafeteria.
4. I don’t have to get in a car and sit in traffic to get to work, although some days the walk downstairs to the coffee pot seems long and far away. Hmmm, maybe put the coffee pot upstairs…?
5. Obviously, not having to wear panty hose and real shoes is a plus, although I only work in my p.j.s when I first get up. I get dressed appropriately around 9 a.m., even put on a little makeup and pretend I’m facing real people. Of course "dressed appropriately" means in tennis clothes and tennis shoes, ready for a match at all times.
Des mentions not having a boss is another good thing, although we answer to a higher boss: the client! And of course, then I have Denise, but we’re each other’s bosses or co-bosses!
I share my desk and work space with Huey and Dewey, the kitty owners of my house who reign supreme over all things.
Love to hear what you love about your work space and life…please share.
I’ve been back from Mexico a week now, and am just getting these pics posted! Time flies, and I’m still having fun, only work and fun get a little mixed together these days.
Denise and I spent a week doing a one-page biz plan (one page? not really!), and just want to share these great pictures she took of my home south of the border, down Guadalajara way…
It is really important to work in a calm environment, surrounded by plants and beauty, don’t you think?
I truly believe that work should be fun, mostly. When it’s not, then think about how you can make it fun, or truly significant. 
Hola! Just a note to say I’m down in Ajijic, Mexico playing tennis this week with the Hubby and friends. That’s near Guadalajara, on Lake Chapala.
Lucky for me, my trusty Blog Squad partner, Denise Wakeman is covering biz things, another good reason to have a partner.
With DSL and satelite TV, this is a far cry from an Adobe casa…it’s more like the best of both worlds. So I’ll be back in a week. Keep connected, be healthy, and share some love today.
Wishing all my readers the best for the holiday season, as we round the corner of 2005 and into 2006.
For me, it’s a time to catch up on reading, play some tennis, and reconnect with the lovely people in our other home town of Ajijic, Mexico, near Guadalajara. There won’t be any snow or winter decorations, as the weather is similar to San Diego. There will be lots of festivities in our little town for sure.
Here’s wishing you all the best!
This is way off target, so my serious readers searching for good content on writing better ezines and blogs will have to forgive me.
I’ve just spent 10 days in Mexico, and there’s no way I can jump back into work mode without telling you about this. There’s just something so relaxing and magical when you are in the central parts of Mexico. It is really quite stimulating for the mind and rejuvenating for the body.
I’m not talking about the hot beaches of Puerto Vallarta. That’s another story. Actually the beaches are not my favorite at all. Too many vendors bothering you all the time, too many hotels, too much loud music and people drinking, yuck.
Ah, but if you go into the interior of Mexico, now that’s magic. We have a home in Ajijic, (pronounced "ahhh-hee-heek!"), on Lake Chapala about a half-hour out of Guadalajara. Up 5000 feet among pine trees mixed with palm trees, the little village has about the finest climate world-wide.
There’s a community of Americans and Canadians, with a few Europeans. Lots of artistic activities, tennis, charities, and little theatre provide plenty of action for retirees.
It’s perfect for reading, thinking, conversing…and writing. There’s a club for just about any hobby or activity. The Lake Chapala Society is an old homestead nestled in gardens to support the growing community of expatriates.
I didn’t blog while I was away, but I could have easily, with DSL and wireless connections available in several of the village cafes. Packet 8, Skype, and Vonage also make telecommunications easy.
So now, I am refreshed and ready to take care of my clients’ newsletter and blogging needs. But stay tuned, I shall soon be returning to Mexico and posting to you from there.
