motivation

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Committed to make it work
+++++++++++++++++++

Do you hesitate to take action because you're not sure if
you'll be effective? Remember that achievement is built on
efforts that work as well as efforts that don't work.

Some of your individual efforts may not bring the desired
results. Yet when you are committed to keep doing whatever
is necessary, you are sure to find a way.

The important thing is to focus on the goal, and put your
energy into doing your best to reach that goal. Accept that
you may not get the result you desire, then step forward
anyway, and do everything within your power to achieve that
result.

At the very least, you'll gain valuable experience. And with
enough experience, you'll eventually be able to get it
right.

It's true that there are no guarantees. After all, if it
were a sure thing, someone else, far less capable than you,
would have already claimed the prize.

Go ahead and make the effort. It will work when you're
committed to make it work.

Ralph Marston

............................................................................
This is the Daily Motivator email edition.
Copyright (C) 2009 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.
Visit The Daily Motivator web site at http://greatday.com for an archive
of more than 3,000 daily messages, inspirational photos and more.

Lunching alone

Ok - I am a freelance business professional with 12 years invested in both contract and freelance work. I am also a photographer. And I work alone a lot of the time.
Recently, I've come to need to get out of the house. I need to just pack up and go. Thus, there are days when no matter what, I eat alone while I work.

Some still stare at the woman eating alone. I wear my wedding ring always. I'm not trying to meet anyone. I don't want to be a hanger outer in the local dive.

I'm sitting here eating a not so good salad. The chicken is chopped up into little itsy bitsy pieces and the iceburg lettuce is boring. But I needed food and I needed to get away from the house.

So here I sit and some bar fly is seated at the counter. He's already loud enough I hear every word he speaks. As I felt his gaze, I looked up and he gave me that smile....that questioning " are you available" smile. Dammit, I came here to be away but to also be alone. Clearly he is a well liked regular. But still....
I didn't plan on this kind of distraction.

When is alone isolating? Because I'm not isolating. I am just alone today. And that does not mean lonely. I could have gone to a more expensive lunch spot....but this has a nice view of the river.
Hmph.

From Hobby to Profession

Photography as a business brings on all kinds of different avenues. I so admire my friend Mary Miller. She's doing a great job of marketing. She shoots all different kinds of images, from the scenic to high school portraits to weddings and events. And she is so excited to do this.

We are building our business slowly. It's fun but it's challenging. I know my limits. To shoot sports photography or wildlife photography, you really need large glass. You need a 500 mm fast lense in order to really capture the moments. And I don't want to haul that kind of glass around.

You need to get up before sunrise to capture the best shots of the day. I can get much better scenes by doing a sunrise, when the air is still and the day barely born. In summer, that often means rising at 2 AM to get to our destination.

How to market your new business? Well, first get a copy of the Photographer's Market. This invaluable guide shares the ins and outs of selling your art. But it's not enough. You can submit, submit, submit. Not knowing the person who receives your email submittal, you risk losing the opportunity because the art director has a strong junk filter. Now that sucks, doesn't it.

I recommend using a variety of means to promote yourself. Social networking online is but one part of this. In our high tech / high touch world, there is still nothing like networking. Personal networking is what I mean. Most of our business has come from word of OUR mouths. People whom we meet pretty quickly learn that we are photographers. When they think of needing photography for their web sites, they remember our team. They come to us. And it was not necessarily within a month of our first meeting. We gave them a business card and sometimes 2 years later, they need our help.

Placing ads can work, but you really need to know your lighting to do serious indoor work. So be careful what you advertise. Build a catalog of images. Show everyone your work, but make some prints, cards, or calendars, and take them to stores. A friend suggested creating a calendar and selling an entire rack to stores. Let them buy the full rack and then resell. Sell prints. Sell Cards.
Sell Calendars. Sell varied sizes or styles. Talk to local restaurateurs and see about a show in their store.

We have friends who like to work the art fair circuit. We don't, but that is a time constraint we do not have right now. Some day, we may enjoy working every weekend away from home, but right now it sounds like too much work.

Whatever you do, the one thing we always have to remember is we got into this for fun, creative outlets and we are not going to win unless we retain the fun.

I love photography

We shot a 75th birthday extravaganza last weekend. It was so much fun to do this. What was best was helping my dear friend celebrate her birthday. I loved chatting with her family, meeting her extended family and looking to capture those special moments. Working the room as a team with my partner, husband, best friend, and co conspirator, we made the event fun.
Some partygoers got it: We loved doing what we were doing and that was the party for us.
Others wanted us to stop working and start playing, but we were playing the whole time.

I toasted Nancy Tsu with a loving mention of how dear she is to me. The images will be on our website tomorrow. Take a look: www.ramblinlamb.com

What I think is the best part of the party was the family ambiance. This event gathered friends and family together for the first time in maybe 10 years. We were honored to be a part of it.

TurboTax Live Community

TurboTax Live Community

Finally, the answer to a question I've pondered for the past year. How can they know whether i'm living on profits or savings.....RIGHT ON

You can click the link, but my query was about how long a business can remain unprofitable, especially when you are living on something. You just have to prove that what you are living on is not income or profits from the business....duh!

Turbo Tax answered as follows:
"You can claim a loss in 2008 but claiming a business loss is always an audit risk be sure to have all the receipts for the expenses you are claiming and business logs for auto and other business activities. Also be able to show the IRS where the money is coming from to live on. Money that is used for living expenses may be considered income by the IRS if you can not show the source was from loans, savings or gifts from family"

ramblin on

it seems to me that all these social networking sites should be more productive. I can waste hours on facebook. I can browse all kinds of groups on LinkedIn. And if I read all my friends blogs, the day would go away.

What I really want to know is what is my next step. What do I really need to do to make it happen. Do I waste time chasing down jobs that seem self defeating or Do I focus on freelance writing gigs where I can at least have more fun if not more money?

I can't read the stock market these days. I can't sit around and resent decisions other people made about me! It does nothing.

So I can focus on what to do to grow and improve. With a job search pending, i feel like an idiot. My fear of yet more education is that I'll spend money on nothing. Maybe I can teach myself, but then how do I sell that?

I have faith in a power greater than me...but that power needs to step up to the plate and help me now. Not next year. NOW.

A work avoidance gene?

Yeah, it is now being spread about like a bad rumor. But if CEO's have an innate arrogance and narcissist gene, then the rest of us may have the potential for a procrastination gene.
I don't know, but here is an interesting article:
http://www.weddles.com/workstrong/

I can't vouch for the author. It was sent to me by another economic casualty of this war on jobs.
Nancy

The Vultures are out there

Friends,
It amazes me just how much more spam I've filtered because I updated a resume on one or more job boards. Some of it is actually interesting. But I'm telling you, the vultures are out there and we truly need to guard ourselves.
What ever do I mean? Well, last week I said to be cautious with whom you share your dreams, needs or ideas. I meant it.
As soon as you say: I'm looking for a new job you will get:
MLM attacks: A variety of multi level marketing operations, all of which promise freedom, wealth and a way to help friends too. And of course, they make claims of backing by Joe Bloe (or should we say Joe Six Pack, nowadays?) and NYSE traded and they'll even claim they have not debt.

They sell vitamins, herbs, water filters, Prepaid legal. They may sell jewelry.

Home parties: Geez --- these things take after the old Avon calling. The first one I went to was a Basket party. The second was a Pampered Chef. A friend from a past job sold jewelry from Park Place, but eventually stopped doing in home parties and just brought her catalog to work.
I don't know if you can make money, but you will lose your social life. I happen to love my social life, and don't want to prey on friends.

Countless WorkAtHome schemes pop up on the job boards, but if that's what you want to do, you need to find an employer and get him to ok you virtualizing your job. Or create your own company.

I may be cynical after falling for some foolish stuff. I've sold running shoes, vitamins, herbs and you know, it does teach you sales. It does get you out of the doldrums. But for me, it makes no sense.

As proven by all the Ponzi schemes being revealed, mlms just don't really create a living.
So watch out, trust your hunch, and be proud of your choices. If you are reluctant to tell your spouse of this grand idea, then it's probably not so grand.

Job Search Advice

Or how to stay sane.
Some of what I learned over the years makes sense. Some doesn't. The insanity of losing a job and losing yourself because it start to wear on you just is what it is.

Here are some random thoughts on
Surviving a Job Loss
Things to think about now

People want to help if they can and it doesn’t put them at risk.
People will say strange things.
People are not always able to help.
There is no failure, ONLY FEEDBACK --- do not take it personally.
You might have to step backwards a bit and see where you could turn a corner.
You can’t look all day, but you have to look every day.

Job Hunting in the New Old Economy

I was asked the other day if I would help a friend with her resume. If she needs it, she said. IF --- more like it WHEN.

I've decided to start blogging about job search topics --- I've gone through this too many times. This morning I read that the Fortune 500 executives are an arrogant and narcissistic breed. Well most of us, fortunately, are not that arrogant and not that focused only on ourselves. Thus, we can and will find ways to work together.

I've been exchanging emails with a Seattle PI reporter who had written something that touched my core. He's not only been writing for the PI some 20 years, but he grew up here int he PNW and recalls the PI delivery daily. Well, I do too. And I suddenly realized that with the PI closing shop, my writing competition just got a bit stiffer. Well, I can fight it or I can step up and offer help, I said. So I did.

Here's what I've done so far:
Shared a couple transition ideas: Move from journalism to technical writing, or copywriting, or perhaps be a freelance journalist.
Shared compassion about how hard the 60 day notice is.
Shared stories about how some people just don't really help, whether they know it or not.
Shared stories about why I say it's crucial to be cautious about with whom you share or try to network.
Shared links to resources online.
Shared my insight about how hard it is to deal with people who just don't know what to say --- or say hurtful things.

Friends, there is no gain in keeping things secret. We must share our coping tactics, ideas, and leads. It is what makes our world work. There is no gain in isolating or hiding.
I'm in a strange spot of having gone through this a few times -- so I know it's a self esteem destroyer, but it's also a time to redefine who we want to become.

I just heard that someone jumped off a buildling in Bellevue 2 days ago. Not even in the news.
Let's not let ourselves fall into that death trap thought process. Let's help each other.

Madoff made off ...but how many other knew

Ok, for weeks we've been reading about Madoff and his 30 year Ponzi scheme. I just don't believe that no one else knew about this. Every other Ponzi scheme out there is built on a handful of people at the top. Every one of them. So how is it that this one scheister can steal BILLIONS, bypass all the regulatory organizations, fool sharp, successful people all over the WORLD,and be acting alone?

There is NO WAY. Well, maybe. He rode on the laurels of past success. He knew how to bilk people. He was blue coat enough that people bought his bs.
But I can not believe he was acting totally alone. Someone else had to know.

But he also had something invested. His trust and his integrity were the main reason people invested with him. But why didn't they bother to do some of their own research? Why didn't they do the basic checks to review statements or review portfolios? What was stopping them? Trust?
Or was it that they just didn't want to bother?
Investing isn't magic.

Copywriting for job hunters

Copywriting for job hunters

January 12, 2009 by nancylamb | Edit

It is with a groan that I read some of the latest direct marketing pitches towards job seekers. I sent a resume out for a copywriting gig last week. Since then, I receive thrice daily email from some source called DayJobFinder.com. What a joke. The author, a Mark Jenson, has a GREAT subject line for his email. That is why I opened it. To my dismay, he enticed me with a good title and nice lead: “The 2 most important things to our users”. It’s a nice lead in to his promise to send out job resource information. He even says that what he intends to do is send out information daily. What throws me is the rest of the email. He has made a promise, but then he didn’t provide anything unique or urgent. What he did is list 4 government sources, links to government websites, that post jobs.
He says they are legitimate. They might be. But they are all government jobs, both federal and state.
So what is good about his email promotion? He reaches out to all in his contact list. That is a nice touch and many recruiters could do the same. He must be counting on the notion that providing these emails will be a win win situation. He may really be able to help others find jobs this way, but his service will bring back some customers or clients. Not bad. What he is doing is causing people to remember the name of his website for later searches. And he has an easy name to remember.
He is showing some creativity here, but the content is what bothers me. He is an agency staffing specialist. I want a recruiter to do more than sendi out links to job boards. Where is the value in that? He got my attention, but he lost it quickly. Why?
I sent a resume on Friday. In 3 days, I’ve already received emails 2 or 3 times a day, none of which say a thing I want to know about. I can opt out, fortunately. And I might. But I might save these in my “What Not To Do” file.
What this tells me is I best make sure that my newsletters or information bulletins contain unique, useful, urgent information that my readers can actually use. And I better make sure my timing is appropriate. I don’t want to do to my clients what I don’t want done to me.
There is no USEFUL in these emails. There is nothing here that I can really do anything with to help me find a job. If I was writing the email, I would offer tactical advice, specific strategy, or even motivational strategy. I would provide some links, but I would offer more than that. What good is a job board if I don’t know how to maneuver through it to get to the hiring manager?
In fact, the internet has totally changed how people look for jobs. For years, it’s always been — oh you are looking for a job: go to company C’s website and look through the job postings…
It’s not enough. People need education on how to create a marketing program for their job search. Maybe the first step is a job board, but what do you do after 300 people apply for the same job via a website link? There has to be more.
And this guy offers nothing beyond the first hello.

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