Personal Plan for 2013

This morning I woke up and was browsing Pinterest (I'm definitely obsessed!) and had an epiphany. There was a delicious looking recipe that I wanted to try by Cooking Classy - Teriyaki Chicken. I love teriyaki chicken! So I decided to make it for dinner tonight and realized something.

My life is incredibly boring!


All I have the energy for is sleeping and working with occasionally social networking in between. What makes my life interesting? What can I tell people that is unique about it? Nothing! I keep saying 'I want to do this' or "Someday I will be better at that', but the truth is the intention to do these things is not going to get me anywhere.

Which all leads me to my New Year's resolutions:

1) Cooking more than grilled cheese - I'm going to dedicate myself, that no matter how little sleep I've had or (soon-to-be) the stacks of work on my desk, I will cook a meal for my family at least once a week trying a new recipe each time. There are so many to choose from and beautiful webpages dedicated solely to cooking and baking that I should have no trouble (or excuse) finding different recipes to try weekly. 

 


2) Playing the acoustic guitar - I bought one for myself this past year and my parents got me a self-learning book so as long as I make the time to teach myself, say maybe two hours or so a week, I believe I can do it.

 

3) Become a healthier version of myself - I purchased gym memberships for myself as a Christmas present and I can't wait to get back to exercising! I've actually been itching to get going again and this is the perfect time to join with all of the holiday discounts offered. This can tie into the cooking resolution in that the meals I plan can be healthy options. With health being a top priority for all of my family (especially this year) we're all in the right mindset to get this resolution ticked off our lists.

4) Enjoy life more - during the holidays work hours are definitely more intense so it's only been work and sleep for me, but now that they are passed  I want to enjoy living life. I'm going to better my cooking skills. I'm going to work harder on my blog. I'm going to learn all about cameras and become a better photographer. And lastly, I'm going to get in shape and love the way I look and feel.

 So what's your plan for the "New Year"? 

 ""We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."" Ralph Waldo Emerson

"And Forward We GO!"

Jody O-

Small Business, Start 2013 Off Right

1. Trying to take care of everything yourself can be harmful to both your well being and your business. With only one person in charge of the whole show, there’s only so far you can scale.However, small business owners are also notorious for having trouble handing over the reigns.

This year, consider tasks that you can delegate down, such as the countless tasks that are easy to do and don’t require specific expertise. If you’re worried about costs, just remember how much of your valuable, revenue-generating time you’ll be freeing up.  Your business can’t grow when you’re focused on busy work.

In addition to delegating down, think about areas of your business that you should delegate up. These are the tasks that require special knowledge and skills and ones not related to the core wheelhouse of your business.

While DIY may seem easier on the wallet in the short term, it’s typically better in the long run to hire a specialist to handle complex issues, such as an accountant for bookkeeping or taxes or an expert for handling your legal paperwork like incorporation.

2. Get Your Books Ready for Tax Time Early This Year

Are you guilty of waiting until the last minute to organize and file your taxes? Do you find yourself wading through emails, drawers, and your car to find any stray business receipts you can expense? Do you need to try to remember a full year’s mileage expenses on April 13th?

Don’t wait until April to start on your tax forms this year. Start fresh by organizing your books from day one of the new year and start gathering what you need for your prior year’s taxes now (even if that means outsourcing your accounting or signing up for a new cloud-based application).

3. Protect Your Assets with an LLC or Corporation While legal fine print isn’t the most exciting part of running a business, forming an LLC or Corporation can be critical to your business and personal financial health. These business structures protect your personal assets from any liabilities of the company.

This means that if your business can’t pay its debts or happens to be sued, your own personal property may be shielded from any judgment. In addition, these formal business structures can improve your tax situation and carry other benefits that you may want to discuss with your CPA or tax adviser.

If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge to incorporate, you should at least register your business name with the state. This simple step is known as filing a DBA (Doing Business As or Fictitious Business Name) and it does two things:

  A. It makes sure that you’re legally able to use a business name.
  B. Ensures that no one else can use your business name in your state.

4. Put Your Customer First. As a small business owner, you know you wouldn’t be anywhere if not for your customers. As you move into the new year, put your customers first in all that you do. A small business can stand out in a crowded market by offering impeccable, personal, and customer-centric service.

Treat your customers as people, not numbers or sales figures. Listen to your customer’s needs and bend over backwards to make them happy.

5. Set Aside Time for Yourself. As an entrepreneur, you probably suffer from little separation between your personal and work life. This year, make a point to set aside time for yourself each and every day. Go to the gym, do something you enjoy or just turn off your phone and other devices for a half hour each day.

It’s important to recharge your batteries in order to stay focused and motivated throughout the year. A change of scenery can stoke your creativity. Who knows what brilliant plan you’ll dream up when you step outside your daily grind.

Sticking to a goal is tough for anyone. The most important thing is to create realistic ones that make sense for you and your business. What are the goals you’ve set for your business in the new year?


“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

"And Forward We Go!"

Jody O-

Backlinks for Your Blog

 

Everyone knows the importance of " backlinks" for their blog. The main objective behind making backlinks is to get a good page ranking. It is wise to always try to get good "backlinks" for your blog. Good page rank will help in getting more traffic to your site.

Here are the better ways of getting good solid "backlinks" the right way. Also known as White-hat backlinks.

Guest Posting 

This is a good way to make "backlinks" for your blog. Of course this has to worked out with the blog host ahead of time. If you know someone who will allow you to guest post on their site, definitely post a guest post. You would want to be able to use your blog URL some place in your post. Again, it would be a good idea to OK this with whomever blog you are guest posting on. And besides getting yourself "backlinks," I hope your intentions would be to bring your host some value also.

  Hopefully the host blog will have the same niche as you, that would be a big plus. In most cases the host blogs readers will take a look at whats going on at your blog as well. Here's more help with backlinks.

Blog Commenting

This is an easy and fast way to make more "backlinks," and more bloggers are adopting this way to make "backlinks."  Read other blogs in your niche and leave a comment. Pretty simple....Sometimes by reading other blogs you can pick up on some of your short comings and improve upon your writing skills.

 

Social Networking Sites 

Today, there are many social networking sites on the Internet. So you can make "backlinks" to your blog by signing up on social networking sites. Most of these sites are top ranked sites. So getting links from these sites will improve your blogs backlinks to get better SEO page ranking. 

  Forums

Another highly successful way of building links, forum posting requires you to register on a few forums related to your blog and post or start new threads on them. Most forums allow users to use signatures which include links to your blog. The more often you post and reply on the forum, the more backlinks and traffic it leads to. Posting on a few forums a day is a good way to ensure your link building efforts stay on the right track.

And Forward We Go! 

Jody O-