Control your own destiny

I would like to thank Gwendolyn Bounds of the WSJ for her diligent effort in writing about, “How Your Home May Qualify For Bailout Cash” in today’s Personal Journal section. My one takeaway of many, is that I wish it were not so complicated to figure out how it works for the common Joe who may not have the best accountant to speak with or the savvy to understand how the IRS works. The common Joe may not even have a huge tax liability to begin with or does that matter? I’m still little confused, not from Ms Bounds, but from complicated tax codes. Granted her audience is much more savvy that the common Joe, I wonder how the Government will communicate the credits and benefits of energy efficiency investments? There are companies like Enigin that have developed some specific check points that can help businesses control their energy costs through what they are calling EnergyMaps.  It may not be easy to understand. I do enjoy her her example of the man from NY who will get 10,500 back from his 35k system. It appears that there is a 30% tax credit for renewable energy like solar and wind power. She also makes it clear that updating your home windows and insulation is tax credit as well, which is huge because if your house is a sieve what is the use of renewable energy? Check out her article!

Summer is the time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors especially for those of us that are fortunate to live the Pacific Northwest. There are so many lakes, rivers, and mountain camp grounds that you could literally spend the entire summer going from one location to the next and still not see all the beauty. You will see folks pulling their campers and ATV’s or motorcycles up to the various camp sites and even the newer 4 wheel all terrain vehicles that allow you to reach more isolated terrain where you might not want ot hike up on foot. We just found a great site that can help help you locate motorcycle and ATV dealers in your local area and even find  motorcycle financing that will help you in your purchase. At Powersportstv.com they have their own forum with over 145K members that contribute and chat about the newest gear and sites that they frequent. There are also a host of other great resources’ that you can find if you have owned your bike or outdoor gear for a long time or you are just thinking about getting a new toy for the summer.

To expand your reach you need to make sure that once your customers find your site they need to have a reason to stay and place an order. Once they have made a purchase then you can send them a catalog of your special offers that can be customized to their type of purchase. So lets say that you are an electronics company that offers PC’s, computer hardware, and peripherals. If a customer purchases a mother board then you could send along a catalog that features various memory options, processors, and hard drives that can help enhance their purchase. Any size company can have on demand catalog printing in short runs that are more cost effective and more targeted to your customers. You can find vendors like inthepaint.com a Utah screen-printing company that also offer various branding opportunties that are handled in house with one provider. There are also companies that you can enlist that will handle the direct mailing where they have resources to manage mailing lists so when you have a special they can do a short run color catalog to be shipped to those customers who fit the criteria. If you are able to create a unique experience for your customer you will be ahead of your competition and your sales and profits will benefit. Successful advertising is achievable by the small internet business person and careful planning.

A couple of key items you need to keep in mind as the Social Search marketing is growing is:
1) Blog about what you know and are passionate. Become an expert in that field to help your customers find information.

2) Share your blog with others and get your content syndicated through sites such as FeedBurner, and ezinearticles.com.

3) Create your own friendly network of like minded blogs and create links and posts. This will help you create your SEO and also additional customers.

4) Search the internet weekly to find the sites that are growing like Twitter which just recently got an additional $35 million in venture capital

Remember to use these sites wisely and not to spam your contacts. These sites can help create valuable contacts and create a a new and wider audience to come to your blog or website. Use offline medium as well such as shirts and hats that you hand out that have your brand and website on them. Finding a screen-printing company online like inthepaint.com can help you customize your layout and make sure that it aligns with your brand message. How cool would it be to have a shirt with your website and a big bird stating ” So Tweet” It would create the curiosity to go the web and find your site or your profile on Twitter.

Whether your vacation plans include hiking in the mountains, rafting down the rapids, or enjoying local festivals the beautiful mountainous of Telluride, Colorado may be your destination of choice. Right now in partnership with Telluride Tourism they are offering a great deal where you can fly for free. The details are listed below and time is running out to plan and book your travel. In the town of Telluride they offer over 20 festivals over the summer with access to the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado , Animas, and Gunnison rivers. There are several golf course to choose from as well as guided fly fishing tours for any level of angler. This breathtaking destination let’s you take control of your vacation and you can do as much or as little as you want. One of the bigger festivals that take place is the Blues and Brews festival that takes place in mid September and features over 50 micro brews and world class music from some of the big names in the industry.

So this year make your vacation plans early and treat yourself and the family to a great vacation destination. They wide variety of activities are there for kids and adults and they have kids camps where they can go off and enjoy various activities like horse back riding and skateboarding while mom and dad slip away to a romantic picnic up in the mountains.

Here are the details:

Receive one free airline ticket when you purchase three or more. This special promotion is valid on summer season non-stop and connecting flights on American Airlines, Continental or Delta into Montrose Airport (MTJ). Montrose Airport is a scenic hour and 15 minute drive away from the Telluride region, along the northwest section of the San Juan Skyway. You can choose from a variety of ground transportation options including shuttle service, limo, or rental vehicle. Offer valid thru June 15, 2009 or while supplies last.

With the rise of the Social Network sites such as MySpace, FaceBook , and others searches now for more specific topics and people are beginning to rise. While the traditional search engines are looking of ways to incorporate this new way of thinking. The concern is that how do you ultimately protect the consumer, while not giving out their personal info. The traditional online marketer will need to consider this when marketing their sites. While receiving 100K hits per day is good, if they are not converting to sales, it is money wasted.

One great way to increase your Social appeal to your intended audience is by posting and getting seen on high profile blogs. Also, getting your customers to search and write about your product is priceless. As we have on our site, Swicki is a great example of a Social Search. It will actually learn the behaviors and search patterns of your customers.

It must be an interesting life for a dolphin swimming around in the large oceans of the world. Its estimated that around 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water and leaving us about 30% for land. I have only seen a small percentage of each but the vast ocean life that is out there is really hard to imagine. I can’t picture dolphins using up much of this space but they probably travel roads through the oceans they have never been on before. We travel a lot of the same roads in life and this isn’t true for dolphins or other animals that call the ocean home.

Dolphins have an amazing ability to communicate with each other and they can send out sounds that is the loudest sound of any of the other animals under the sea. You would think a blue whale or a killer whale would have a sound louder than a dolphin, but they don’t. Dolphins are really smart and they are interesting to study and read about. I also find it strange that they will cover more ground in their lifetimes than most humans will. I’m not really sure any human will cover the territory a dolphin does; since they do travel all the time and have to come up for air. A dolphin can’t stay submerged under the water like other animals in the ocean can. They have underwater swimming abilities like a human and they have to surface for air. They can stay under much longer than us and I’m sure they are not grasping for air like we do when we surface above the water line.

If you’re looking to get the kids involved with something they can learn from, be sure to let them know all of the amazing things dolphins can do. I think children and adults will find them very interesting as they learn more about this intelligent creature. Dolphins do use more of their brain capacity than a human does and it’s another interesting tid bit that people find fascinating. If we as humans could use just half of our brain capacity we might all be Albert Einsteins by the age of 10.

The latest reports today from the World Health Organization is that the swine flue has reached a level 5 status meaning that there is human to human passing of the virus. According to latest press releases this is the first time that this threat level has been issued which is only one level short of the Level 6 which is a pandemic outbreak. What is of most concern is that there are swine flu kits and vaccines that are being made in order to help slow down the spread of this virus. Originating in Mexico the flu has now reached over 8 countries and killed at least 160 people and sickened at least 3500. Here in the US some areas that are at higher risk have been shutting down schools and canceling after school sports in order to contain the spread of the virus. There are simple swine flu protection steps that people can take such as covering their cough, washing their hands regularly and staying away from those that you may suspect may be sick or have flu like symptoms.
Health care providers here in the US are on the outlook for potential cases but since the symptoms are like those of common strains of flu’s it is difficult to diagnose and many of the local labs are not yet setup to do the blood tests or swab tests to identify this strain of the virus. This is making control and prevention that much more difficult. Many experts have said that the strain that appears to have entered the US is not as viral and deadly as a few of the strains that have shown up in other countries. Now there are companies that are making available a swine flu kit that contain many of the essential items to help protect those that may have to work in higher risk areas or may have the potential to come in contact with those carrying the flu. There are some of the prescription medications that are approved to treat influenza Type A that are being stockpiled at local levels to help slow or stop the spread of this flu. It is important to see your HCP as soon as possible if you have the symptoms associated with the flu since most of the medications are only effective if given within the first few days.

If you truly want to make your engagement special the you may want to consider build your own diamond engagement ring. Couple will spend hours shopping online or at the local jewelry store trying to find that perfect diamond and setting. Keeping in mind that this is something that you will be wearing everyday for the rest of you life it should not be taken lightly. This is why when we read about bluenile.com having the ability to select and build among their large selection of diamond rings I was intrigued. I am a customer of Bluenile.com and actually purchased a silver eternity ring for my wife for our 15 year wedding anniversary. She still wears it today and shows it off to all of her friends. So now we are getting closer to our 20 year wedding anniversary and she has been hinting at possibly updating her wedding band. I am not attached to the ring that I proposed to her with since we were both in college with no job at the time and this was the best I could afford.
Now with the option to build her own ring I thought this was something to write about and look into. The steps are quite simple and once you make your selection in some cases you can actually have your ring built and shipped within the next day. This is not even possible with any brick and mortar store. Once you select your stone you will be presented with various options and stone quality options. They show you exactly how many selections they may have with a particular stone and then you select the actual setting. You will then see a list of diamonds that you have chosen listed in order by price. You can then shop by various other factors that make up a diamond such as clarity, cut, and color. Once you are finished you will see what the actual ring will look like and then can purchase via their secure online shop. So why settle for anything less than your perfect ring when you can build your own.

When developing your marketing message and product offering keep these items in mind to help you create a brand and expand the market. Trying to launch into a crowded market and become a me-too will almost result in failure unless you have the capital to compete with the big boys. Even the online casinos have found creative ways to increase their page rank to compete in this very crowded market.

1) Find a need and fill it: Find a dissatisfaction with the current offerings and fill that need

2) Engineer a new way to think about the product; Think about other ways your services could be used, and what potential market may not even be aware that service like what you offer even exist.

3) Tie your equity in your brand to an emotional element: Focus your creation brand on the problem is solves and how it can make life easier, more productive.

You know the story already, the huge ship that was said to be unsinkable, and it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic causing it to sink. The human loss was great and some of the valuable jewels such as diamond wedding bands on the ship would be priceless today. It was estimated back in 1912 that there was about $600 million dollars lost in fortunes on that horrible night in April. It is just unthinkable to imagine what $600 million dollars in 1912 would be worth in 2007?

There have been several movies on the Titanic, but none more famous than the blockbuster in 1997 that featured Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet. Maybe you remember this line in the move “It’s been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.”

In that movie they featured a diamond that was called “The Heart of the Ocean”, it was a beautiful blue diamond necklace that was based on the famous Hope Diamond. Now the actual Hope Diamond was never on the Titanic. The diamond in the movie was later worn by Celine Dion at the Oscar Ceremonies as she sang My Heart Will Go On. That necklace would later be auctioned off for charity, and it brought a staggering 2.2 million dollars! There was a jeweler that created a “Heart of the Ocean” blue diamond necklace, that was worn by Rose (the older version) portrayed by Gloria Stuart. That necklace at last count was estimated at $20,000,000 million dollars!

Now I get to bring in another diamond that can be tied to the Titanic. It wasn’t found no where near the North Atlantic Ocean, but instead it was hiding down in Mexico.  That was just two days before the Titanic would hit the iceberg at around 11:40 PM that night. The Titanic set voyage on April 10th and April 12th would have been right in the middle of the Titanic’s last journey.

More companies are looking to control costs in these economic times and one way that they can do this without reducing headcount is to look at their capital expenses and technology upgrades that may be coming up this year. This is where software as a service or Saas may be a huge advantage. It is basically using software as you need it without the upfront costs of purchasing the software, installation, and the depreciation that happens to technology driven applications. This can result in lower overhead costs due to intensive support that is required when you launch a new software application and reduced hardware costs. The deployment can happen in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks since you are not having to do the manual installs. Companies like phase2 can provide solutions like their visual studio team foundation server that hosts the software and your employees have access to the platform to use the tools with ease of use. You can rent the software and server for a fraction of the cost that it might actually cost you to purchase and have installed.
You can even check out there online savings calculator that will help see how much you can actually save by using Saas. They also offer software platforms like project server hosting which enable your project mangers to collaborate and share across teams with efficiency.Their  team foundation server workgroup hosting will enable you to save money on support, IT costs, and application where you can share your Visual Projects with little investment.  They offer such popular applications like Microsoft CRM and Microsoft SharePoint which can enhance your bottom line by having your software up to date and your hardware top of the line. At Phase2.com they can help you save thousands over your current application costs no matter whether you have 50 users or 500 users.

If you are considering spending your vacation outdoors this year then make sure to check out a new site that we just became aware of where you will find a lot of great information and expert reviews on various outdoor activities. You can search through their blog or forums to find multiple outdoor review articles that can help you get expert opinions on various activities then check them out at outdoorbasecamp.com. There are hundreds of sites that you will find when searching online, but I found this site very simple and easy to navigate. Their forum is laid in simple terms to help you find a multitude of conversations that are kept current from people all across the country sharing their opinions and experience.

They even feature articles on activities like Spelunking here in the US and other countries like Poland. Spelunking for those that are not familiar with the term is bascially exploring caves. This activity can be a great vacation idea since many of the top caves that are located near major parks have great tour guides that can show the history of the caves and provide you with views that you will never see above ground. I remember back when I was young we would visit Carlsbad caverns and tour the caves and view the massive rock formations that are still forming today. Then in the evening during the summer months you could view the bats exit from the cave as the left to find food. These are great activities that are inexpensive and create a lot of memories.

Every year there are millions of Americans that have to file insurance claims and the process can be quite intimidating if your do not have a good agent and are unsure what to do. In many cases when people file a  Property insurance claim they may underestimate the damage or take at face value what the insurance company says that they will pay out. People are afraid to file a claim that might be higher thinking that they may be denied or have their rates increase. There are now companies like mysmartclaims.com that can help you in this process. With a simple questionnaire you can submit your information and get a response back on what you might actually file for.

Here is an example of what they can help you recoever:

Keeping in mind that each claim will vary you can see by the example to the left what can be achieved if you know what to include in your claim and understand the claim process. This is not a way to defraud insurance companies and have them pay out more than than FMV of the property item being claimed but this is a way to help those that are less knowledgeable in the process to have an expert work on your behalf. They do charge a small fee which they back by 100% guarantee that you will recover this fee by using their service or your money will be refunded. They can help expedite the process by providing all the necessary documents and quotes in one package that is then sent to your insurer. This will help you receive your funds faster to get started on the repairs or rebuilding your home in the event of a disaster.

The secret to doing anything well is to practice. It is true in billiards that the more you practice, the better you will be. I know when I get a lot of practice in, I shoot pool a lot better than if I didn’t practice any. There is no such thing as practicing too much. It can get boring if you practice by yourself all the time. It’s great if you can find a friend that likes billiards as much as you do.

One way that I have found that really gets me in the zone is to burn out from playing. Spend a day where you have at least 8 hours to just play pool all day long. Have someone that is playing against you and maybe race to 100. Keep score and really try to focus on every shot. Even if you have a big lead on your opponent, try to beat them as bad as you can. Maybe the score will end up being something like 100 to 41 in your favor. Do it again some other day and try to improve on your mark. If you spend a full day, just burning yourself out on the table, you will see a big difference in your game the next day. You will know what it feels like to be in the zone and you will be able to make a lot of shots, just one day after burning yourself out.

Now the key thing is to concentrate on every shot. Once you start to burn out, you will have trouble making simple shots. This is what you want to achieve when you burn yourself out. It’s all the shots you take after you’re burned out, that will make you play like a pro the next day. Try this method and be sure to let me know how you did. I’m sure you will see a big difference in your game, if you can find a full day just to knock the pool balls around. This strategy will work in 8 ball or 9 ball, so play the game you like best or mix it up!