What did I eat: The North Market Edition

No Goals report for July 2019

This is a short post, I promise!!!!!

Disclaimer: P. Lynne Designs is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

For the past two months, I have been sharing my goals for the month. Now to put up a warning; I am not reporting one this month.

Why?

• Because I want to see if my goals will happen naturally and authentic?
• Because it is summer, and I am lazy
• Because it is my birthday month
• All the above

I have one, I am not publicizing it.

Photo by Elle

It is all the above.  Let me explain….

Since April 2019, I have been on a mission to improve my ultimate goal of being an entrepreneur and writer.  Really, it has been my goal from the very beginning, but I have been sort of lax from the beginning.  If you take a look at my previous post, one of the goals was to take my business seriously, and I while I have been working at it, I sometimes feel like I am spinning my wheels.  I feel like I was not going anywhere fast, and not making any money.

Starting today is the start of a new day and a new fiscal year for me (July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020), and while it may not mean much to some people, it means a lot to me.  June is usually the time where I look back at the last 12 months and clean some things up in my business.  I may add some things, take away some things, and redo some things that may not be working while keeping the things that are working the way they are.  The past 12 months, I have been doing it each month.  Well, not every month.  There are some months that I skipped because it was really not needed for that month.

            Tip:  take time out to look at your situation and change it if it is not working.

This is not just a tip for business but a life as well.  No one is expected to stay the same for the rest of their life.  For one, it is boring, and another, it looks weird if, for example, a six-year-old who still learning the same set of skills they did as a four-year-old. There are some exceptions, such as the child may be autistic or they may not have learned it as a four-year-old, but under normal circumstances, it looks weird.  Same as an adult or any type of situation.  You learn and grow from it as well as new things.

One of the things I have learned from a long time ago is that Blogger is not the best platform for me.  If you have been following me for a while, you know this has been a struggle for me.  Another struggle for me has been to keep a consistent schedule.  

One of the things I talk about a lot is being careful.  I do not fully come out and say it, but I dropped little hints on how to be careful.  Being careful includes;

• Watching your back
• Watching your time
• Watching your writing (or whatever business you are into-passion)
• Watching the money

It is watching the money that I want to briefly touch on for the rest of this post (which is growing longer by the second, LOL).  It is a touchy subject for many and most people do not like to talk about money situations.

The first part of watching your money is careful about who you talk to.

When we first start a business, we (and I include me in this as well) want to tell everyone.  If we could tell our first-grade teacher we would do it, but not everyone needs to know that you are going into business for yourself, especially when you first get started.  Your boss does not need to know about any situation that you are facing unless it affects your job, and your business should not be one of them.  Your co-workers most definitely do not need to know this. 

Here is why: 

Most people are jealous.  Sure tell your family, unless they run the business you are working at.  What will happen if you have this new business idea at your job, but your supervisor poo-poos the idea.  So, instead of sitting on it, you decide to make it a business venture.  Heck, that idea may be working your paintings or photography as a side hustle.  Whatever it is, you decide that this going to be your second income instead of getting a second or third job.  It now tells your employer that you are no longer available for certain hours, the weekend, that holiday shift that no one wants because they want the two weeks in Cancun instead.  Not only that but, now you have done something that they should have done, leave.

When I first thought of going into business for myself, I was working at Archiver’s, which was a scrapbook store. I kept getting requests from customers who wanted someone to have one of the associates make something for them, but that was not a service that the store offered.  It was a Do It Yourself store, that offered supplies to make a project. This happened especially around the holiday season and even though the store offered to show them how to make a project, the people who asked were not creative, and they told me that the moment their mouth opened.  I wanted to offer it as an extra income for me, separate from the store, without the managers knowing about it.  One employee was already offering those services on her own.  As soon as I got my ideas together, a new employee handbook came out that November 2009, and apparently, the company was made aware of this to the point where they stated that no employee can work for themselves or for a direct selling company.  I was also a Longaberger consultant at the time.  Since I was down to one day a week, and making $8.15 an hour for 4 hours, I had a decision to make.  Talk about your punishment.  I thought, “they might as well fire me”, but I quit instead.  This was my mistake, now that I think about it.

            Tip: do not quit until you can make 10 times more than your current paycheck.

Now, I am sort of struggling to keep up, and even though my parents have been gracious by helping me, still I should have gotten another job until I am able to peacefully quit to run P. Lynne Designs full-time.  I have a friend who owns his own photography studio, but he also has a job that does not take up his weekends, so, he does photography shoots on the weekends, and works during the week at his regular job. Which reminds me to schedule for a new headshot with him soon.

OK, I lost track of time, and this is starting to become my normal post length

Other excuses on why there is no July report…

It is my birthday month.  If I use that excuse for the reason why I am not writing is that my birthday month is here, I would not be working at all.  Every year, I keep saying that I am going to have a giveaway, and my month is gone before I could get started, so to roll everything in one package, I will be working on a giveaway that combines my birthday with my anniversary of 10 years of blogging.  I am not sure what the giveaway is as of yet, but it is coming.  I would say around Christmas, but I am traveling that month, so it will be around November.  It is in the midst of the holiday season. Anyway, look for it.

OK, that about does it, I am no longer announcing that I will have a short blog post.  If you like this post, please comment and share it.  I hope you enjoyed it.  God Bless You.

I Am Looking Back and Remembering My First Blog Post as a Blogger

Photo byPixabay 

My very first post on my P. Lynne Designs blog.  My Ambiance Life is not the first blog I started.  The evolution of my blogs goes like this:  MDN Creates.  This started as a hodge-podge like a blog that covered topics such as “What heck am I doing” to “I got this, but it is time to split the blog because there are too many different topics on here”. That last topic I owe to my friend, who told me that I was covering too many topics on the blog.  The first post was an introduction to me and the blog itself, so I will not reminisce on that topic.  Nothing much to reflect on.  The next post, the one I will be commenting on was dated January 5, 2009, was titled Resolutions, and again, it was before I separated and divided the blog into the three blogs you know of today. 

Reflecting on Resolutions

As I am reading, I am first reflecting on how much I have grown as a writer in the past 10 years (January 1, was my anniversary).  In order to get anywhere, you need a starting point.  The only things I knew at the time in regard to blogging was;

1)      This blog had to be interesting to grab a reader’s attention to the point where the reader cannot wait until the writer puts in a new post. This means that I needed an interesting topic and the content of that topic is not of your typical, boring textbook variety

2)    Consistency is the key to all, even though I have not always reflected that consistency.  I am getting better.

I also had a moment or two, where I reflected:

·        I started the blog (now called P. Lynne Designs) at a time when Oprah was still on the air.  In fact, I referred to something she said on her show.

·        I mentioned that I had goals in 2009.  They were: 

o   To organize

o   To stop beating myself up

o   To love me more

o   To do more of what God asked of me

o   To scrapbook more

o   To take my business more seriously

o   To take time for me, to learn, and to grow.

·        I mentioned each goal and how I would do it.  Now I am finally going to give you an update on those goals in a moment.

·        Joel Olsteen came up in the conversation about never be still.

·        I submitted an article to Associated Content.  I am not sure what the results of that were, I am a terrible person in the art of follow-up.

Some of those moments made me cry.  Why?  I get extremely emotional at times or there is something in my eye?  I love gushy moments like this, and this is one of the reasons why I started blogging and journaling in the first place, to not hold it in.  I have gotten better on where to channel my anger, but that does not mean I do not get angry anymore.  That is like taking an emotion away from someone.  For someone like Abby Lee Miller to tell a dancer to save their tears for their pillow or to tell a boy that men do not cry does not do it for me.  Yes, there is a time and place to cry, but if you must cry, do it right there and get it over with.

So, back to my reflections on resolutions….

I mentioned that the post was long.  Why did I say that when the average post is supposed to be at least between 1,000-2,000 words?  Yes, back in 2009, “Resolutions” would be considered a long post.  No one knew exactly how long a blog post had to be at that time. Experts used to mention that anything blog post beyond 500-800 words is a fairly long post.  Another reason for that statement is back then the experts thought that such a lengthy post would give way to repeat phrases and ideas, and you cannot and should not repeat what you said 5 minutes ago unless you are summarizing.  

Summarizing a post

When I summarize, I call them TAKEAWAY MOMENTS.  During this time, I am telling you again what I said throughout the piece, or I am giving you little nuggets of information that should help you should you be going through what I have been through. I start out by reminding the reader of my topic then I sprinkle in the repeated information that was mentioned in my blog post.  When I repeat, I often remind the reader what is important, and I try not to sprinkle in the fluff.  Finally, I concluding with on a bit of advice to carry through.

What has changed since Resolutions?

This is an update to the goals I mentioned in “Resolutions”. Not only has my writing changed from that post, but the goals as well.  The most noticeable change is the blog name.  It is now P. Lynne Designs and it reflects that on the blog when you first click on the blog post.  It is about the change again soon because I am working on my website, P. Lynne Designs, and new posts will be going in the blog section on the website. It has been a good ride on Blogger, but I have grown, and my writing has grown. At the moment, I have a coming soon on the website, but you are welcome to signup to be on my mailing list to be notified when the website is coming.

Also, the niche has changed.  It is no longer a hodge-podge collection of what I feel like writing.  I own that splitting the blog up into bite-size pieces.  My Blessed Life (now known as My Ambiance Life) is part of the split.  So is At Home with Tricia's Baskets, a combo of former blogs Simply Organized Crafts (which is now ONLY a Facebook page), Traveling to the Mouse’s House, and Tricia’s Baskets.  These two blogs will also leave the Blogger Home for WordPress.  The foundation of the blogs are there, I need to start the final setup and launch.

Updating my goals since that date

Since I wrote that entry, here is what has transpired:

•         To Organize:  well, I am not totally organized to that point.  I can receive company now, even though I was always able to receive company.  When you are in possession of things, even things that people agree you should have or not have, you want to make them presentable and so not messy.  I was on the side of messy, and even though people had places to sit, hold a conversation and eat my food without feeling ill to the pit of their stomachs, I did not feel comfortable without someone saying something.  That may have been my OCD kicking in at the time.  As my pastor puts it quite eloquently, I am an extrovert introvert.  More on that in another post.  If you do not understand, try not to overthink it for now.
•          The next three I will tackle together; To not beat myself up, To love me more, To take time for me.  This does not mean I was harming myself.  When I do something that was a mistake, I am harder on myself more than anyone.  I am constantly saying why did you do that.  To love yourself means, do not get upset because you are not married, you do not have children, or you are not a certain status in life.  Just because you see someone who has those things that you desire does not mean you do not have to say things like, “I wish”, “Why did this happen”, “why was I not more intensive”, or “if only”.  That ship has sailed, or it has not come to you.
•            Scrapbooking More.  Actually, that has slowed down a lot.  Since that time, I have created one scrapbook album for someone in 2018, a lady at church. The reason was around October 6, 2010, a little company called Instagram got started and paved the way for scrapbooking the traditional way obsolete.  Instead of sharing scrapbook pages you have made with the photos you took, you share them on an account.  No one was asking for an album to be made because they can make them on the phone and in an online account. Not only that, there were people who asked me at work why to make albums when all you are doing is wasting paper and making the world a bad place to live.  Please do not get me started for there are worst things a person can do to desecrate this world than making a project out of paper.  I shifted my focus more to making cards and learning how to turn my skills into freelance writing, graphic design, and projects.  This lead to;
•          Taking my business more seriously.  No explanation there, except I am still learning.  This also leads to-



Photo by Pixabay

•           I am still learning and growing to better myself and to teach others.  I keep mentioning that in a former career move, I was once a preschool teacher.  While I may never find myself teaching anyone (children or adults) full-time again, I enjoy learning more so I can teach.  Last month (June), I was thrown into being a teacher’s assistant for my church’s Vacation Bible School.  I actually had double-duty.  I was the assistant director and a teacher’s aide.  One of the teachers ended up in the hospital before VBS got started, and since no one volunteered to be a helper and substitute for her, I volunteered.  Even though it was for one week, I enjoyed listening to the children (ages 4-11), and it reminded me of why I chose to be a preschool teacher in the first place.  Every once in a while, take in the small moments on why you started something in the first place. For me, it was the love of children, and watching how they process things and ideas. I will have a whole blog post on why I quit my teaching job later

Conclusion and takeaways

If you are a blogger, I suggest that you take a look at your first blog post to see how much you have grown as a writer.  Even if your blog is only a few months old you will discover in that few months’ time how much you have grown as a writer.

If you are not a writer but do not know where to begin, start with journaling.  Once you are in your comfort zone, try to expand your writing.  It does not have to be a blog, but I can tell you right now that sharing in some compacity helps you to grow.  Also, sharing helps you to be mindful on your writing skills.  If it a journaling post you do not have to share every detail of your life. 

If you do start blogging, use a program like Grammarly (a program I use and love).  Grammarly is a free spell checker and grammar checker.  Grammarly also comes in a premium subscription too.

Finally, if you share things like goals, it makes you more accountable than to say them and forget them.  Work on those goals and update your readers.

Until next time, take care of those things that matter to you, which include those persons in your life that matter to you.  You matter to me, so, take care, and God Bless you and your week.

July 15, 2019:  PS- Please share this post

My planning system setup with Erin Condren

Tech Wars: Time to get an upgrade Part 2

Disclaimer: P. Lynne Designs is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This is the camera edition of “Tablet Wars: Time to get an upgrade”.  In the last “Time to Get an Upgrade”, dated June 13, 2015, I talked about upgrading my Ipad and my phone.  What had happened at that time:  I was grocery shopping.  Grocery delivery had not come to my area and I needed some vittles (southern talk for food-trying to be funny, bear with me, people).  Anyway, I knew it was about to storm, but it looked like it was so far away. 

Photo by: NDTV Gadgets

If you know anything about Ohio weather, you know that it could be sunny one minute, raining the next, followed by snow, sleet, and hail, topped off by a tornado warning in a split second.  I can see some of you from other states nodding your heads as well. Anyway, I thought I was safe.

The purse I was carrying at the time had pockets on the side and for convenience,   I went into the store, grabbed a cart, and started shopping.  In the middle of my grocery shopping, down came the rain.  I was not too worried because I thought that the rain would stop by the time I checked out, but I started to hurry.

I carried my Samsung Galaxy SIII in one of the pockets.

I paid for the groceries and started outside, but stopped because the rain was harder than before.  My car was too far away to do a full sprint to it, but I attempted when it lightens up.  Running to the car I go, popped the truck, grabbed my purse to toss inside to the passenger side of the car, not thinking that the USB hole on my phone was exposed to all that water.  I tossed the groceries in and left.  No worries (at least I thought).

I got home, put the groceries in the house, then put them away.  I thought that I had to turn off my phone, but it died from all that water going inside.  I took the battery out, put it in rice, and let the rest of the phone air out.  I could not believe it, my precious phone, gone.  The rest of the story is on that blog post, and even though it is an old post, it is still a good read.  I even upgraded my Ipad the day I upgraded the phone.  The bad side of the story was getting the bill, which Verizon charged more than I was willing to pay when the rep told me another price. 

For today’s Post

I am interested in another phone.  The one that replaced the SIII phone is dying a slow, painful death.  It is slow, and it is painful for me to watch as I decide to take a picture, video, or add a new app, and the memory isn’t there to support my forever growing social media presence.  I want the new Galaxy 9 phone, but the money does not support it, and not only that, my dad is the owner of the account and told me to forget about getting a phone anytime soon.  Same goes if I decide to switch up and get an Iphone.

I also need a new Ipad. The current one is still ok, and I still can do all the things, except drawing.  I can draw on it, but I do not have the proper stylus.  Plus, I would love to hook it up to the new laptop or the desktop, then I can see what I am drawing.  Enter the New Apple Mini Ipad 5, which I played with today at the Apple Store.  I was asking about a stylus that I could draw with my current mini Ipad, and the rep pointed me to another person who showed me the Ipad 5.  I love the price, $389, which is the same price as my Cricut Maker, and actually, come to think of it, the current Mini Ipad.  I also love that I do not have to pay for the Procreate software that I would have to get for my current Ipad. ($9.99, yikes!!!)

Last, I need a new camera.  The last camera, which was a baby camera (I will call Pocket), is lost somewhere in the condo.  This is how tiny it is or was, I cannot decide which is which, and it depends on if I can find it or not.  If I can, then it will be a backup camera, but if not, Oh well, I am not crying over a lost tiny camera.

I have been thinking about getting the Canon G7x, Mark II camera or the Canon Powershot Camera.  I tend to get cameras that I am familiar with or have heard good reviews on.  The Cannon G7x, Mark II camera is currently being used by one of my favorite YouTube families, Gabe and Chad Rader, and have been using it for a couple of years with success.  The only problem has been for them was Chad accidentally leaving the camera on the top of the family car and driving off.  The camera immediately fell off, and the screen broke.  Yep, sounds like me, but lucky for them, they have a warranty, and Gabe (as is Gabrielle) seen off the camera this week for a replacement.   I would also choose the Powershot Camera because at $369 it is a cheaper version than the Mark II’s $669.  I am not sure I will be taking that many pictures between now and my trip to Disney later in the year.

 Yes, I did it….

Photo by: www.wdwsecrets.com

I am creating a new series over on my At Home with Tricia's Baskets blog and it is properly (I think) says, “I’m Going to Disney World”.  The story starts like this:  Have you ever wanted something so bad until you can taste it? Well, that has been me for the past 8.5 years.  (as long as my youngest nephew has been alive, he will be 9 in August.) This trip was actually 16 years in the making.  I started planning my next trip (in my head) at the end of our last trip in 2004.  We went in 2007 to Disneyland, but it was part of the California trip.  If you are a true Disney fan, you know that any trip to Disney is not a proper trip if you add on going outside of the park, but while me, my oldest nephew (then 11), and my mom were at Disneyland, my dad took in a Dodgers game.  It worked out for all of us.  My sister was at home tending to my middle nephew, who was 2 months old at the time, and not able to travel.  Tip: ladies, your little one can get on the plane at 3 months.  He was so cute in the Disneyland onesie I bought him.  Now at 12, I think he is a little bit too big for it, LOL.  We flew out on one of the now-defunct airlines, which I forgot the name of.

Anyway, sidetrack moment, and a good lead-in.

I do not give out full trip details for privacy reasons (See protect yourself from Unwanted viewers-July 23, 2018). I will say that I and the family, minus three dogs (Strype, Chewy, and Duchess) and a cat (Gizmo) will be staying in a 3-bedroom Grand Villa at Bay Lake Towers at Disney World.  It is part of a package deal that includes the deluxe dining plan. 

To get details on the series, go to At Home with Tricia's Baskets soon.

My only takeaway tip for today is to research what you need and watch your camera budget. Sometimes suggestions are just that…. suggestions.  It could be that these cameras are out of your price range.  That is ok.  There are plenty of camera choices out there but go in knowing what your price range is, what you plan on doing with the camera.  Is it for photography?  For videos? What about both? For this, my plan is for all of it, but I need a phone that allows me to do Instagram and Pinterest posts as well.

As for trips, the same thing.  You do not have to go to Disney, nor have my package.  I will give more details on how I got my package in the first place, and how you can get it cheaper at a later time on both this blog and on At Home with Tricia's Baskets.

Until then, I will have to clean out my phone.  Goodbye and God Bless.

Goals For June 2019

Last month was a very trying month for me.  There are some things that I did not expect (like the electric going out in two of the rooms and leaving me without wifi for 3 days on Mother’s Day weekend).  I am humbled that in this country, power is a freely given, even though we must pay for it.  There are some luxuries that we as Americans do to order to afford them, and sadly this administration does not get it.  OK, that is it for my rant.  I am supposed to be talking about my goals for the month of June and that is what we are going to talk about.

What did I get done in May?

In May, on the social media side, the following happened:

Instagram:  Last month: 750 This month: 557

I have no doubt it is the photos I publish, but I have one slight problem.  While people like my photos, and it seems that I keep posting the same type of photos, I have received maybe one or two comments on them.  So, if you comment, it helps me a lot.  I am also commenting more on other people’s photos.  Generally, I am a shy, quiet person, so introverted, but as my pastor says, I have extrovert tendencies.  Interaction is the key.  Also, a tip:  to constantly get followers to interact with you, Kittens and puppies work.  I am just kidding.  My last photo of the boss cat got a lot of likes because she was sitting in her usual spot overseeing her “parents” making dinner.  No, the real tip is to follow the person who follows you.  You may not be interested in what they do, but it helps to support them.  It also does help to turn your personal account into a business account. You can see insights and see what works for your IG account.

Facebook: I am not tackling that as of yet.  I did get a chance to look at it from a non-grabbing traffic aspect (is Non-Grabbing a term?) and I will admit that if I want to grab a follower’s attention, I need to:

·         Get rid of the drama.  In other words, curb my issues, don’t react too much to Trump’s and other political antics, and get rid of my gaming (although that has been restricted to my Ipad).

·         Promote more of my business, but not too much.  Remember, Facebook execs do not want you to spam your readers, and I am on of those people who do not want to see an ad for ½ of Paparazzi Jewelry. I love the pieces (who can beat $5 jewelry), but I do not want the same ad popping up every 5 minutes or more.  Even Jesus took a rest, and you should too.  If I know how I feel about the same ad, then I need to rest about my business as well.

o   Tip: Talk about something related to your business that can be a takeaway tip.  For instance, talk about what types of jewelry goes with each other.  In my case, I would be talking about types of invitations to help when inviting guests to the wedding or a good size number of guest to invite when your venue is small.  This may turn viewers into buyers.  Do not always offer a product.  Let the post bring in the buyers.

This is something that I want to tackle starting next month.  This does not mean I am friending anyone it means I am adding followers.

Pinterest

I can always use more followers, but what I have notice is what I am not posting enough of, my blogs.  Just like Instagram, this is something that I need to work on, and this case, it brings more people to my blog posts and my Etsy site.  I have been mostly repining other people’s pins.  While that is a good thing for them, it is not good for me.  I am finding better photos by taking some of my own or using the ones that I purchased with a commercial license or free and the original photographer said I can use them.

Twitter: 1,679 (May) added 2 more for June (1,680).  I am going to work on posting my blog posts on Twitter and hopefully I have the same results as I did with Instagram.  At one time, Twitter was my go to, until the a few years ago, mojo when “No Go”.  Now that I am building up traffic again, I do need to work on all of them in some compacity and Twitter is no exception

YouTube:  I gained 5 new followers, with no new videos for the whole month of May.  I did put out a video on Instagram stories to see how I liked it.  It is good for short bursts of video, but for long ones, it is YouTube. I have a Vimeo account, but I have not made any videos on it in the 5+ years I had the account.

In June, the goal is at least two videos. 

Finally LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is the business Facebook, even though Facebook now has a legitimate Facebook business area, this is the first social media made for business people.  I do not talk about it much because it is supposed to be more professional than Facebook.  I have 363 connections.  LinkedIn does not call them followers or friends. Each connection is supposed to allow you to ask for business, sell your product, or apply for a job.  If that connection does not have a need for you business or product, or hiring in your expertise, they may know of someone who does or have a need.  LinkedIn is supposed to be a place to network.

I have been mostly lurking on LinkedIn.  When I first got the account, I was engaging so much.  Now I barely get on because the way I have this account setup, anything I do not Twitter or Facebook, reflects back on LinkedIn.  Lately, I have noticed that the dynamics have changed.  It seems that LinkedIn does not allow it anymore. So, I am looking into my account and changing things up a bit. 

OK, I am off of social media for now.

Other Goals

You may think that this is all I talk about.  No Sir/Madame.  These are my other goals:

1. P. Lynne Designs Website.  For some reason, I took a month off.  Not my usual depressive state, but I had things to do, people to see.  Also, I have been getting house stuff done.  When you only have so many hours of the day, and/or people and things give you limitations beyond your control, you have to take them. So, the website was put on the backburner for a bit.  So, the new goal is to have things running by the new year. (new fiscal year, that is, which starts in July).
2. Bedroom organization:  I am almost finished clearing my bedroom.  I cleared out my 3-tier long shelf for something that only holds my router/modem, my long basket with my rolls of vinyl, and my planner supplies, which are temporary until I get my craftroom set up. The new goal for this area:
1. Change out the final phase of Fall/winter/spring bed clothing (sheets and spread/comforter/blanket) for summer stuff. I have not decided what I want on my bed, but I want the ugly green comforter to get out of here.  I had it for 3 years, so it is bye-bye.
2. Clear off my dresser.
3. Get rid of the shoe rack and basket table.
4. Start hunting for bedroom furniture.  This is a purchase planned for 2020, and I need to start looking now, even though I am looking to move in the next 1-2 years.  Why?  I had this furniture since I moved out of my parent’s house in 1998, and this furniture was built in 1968 (at least that was what the previous owners of the furniture said). I want something that is a little more up-to-date.  Heck I have changed computers since this furniture was bought.  I need a budget for this purchase.
3. Product creation.  I think I have a handle on my Etsy store.  I had 2 sales in the month of May, but June needs to double the amount.  This means 4 sales.  I also need to renew one of the listings, the “Smile” in white lettering composition notebook.  I need to make some products for my website that may or may not be a product on my website who is to tell on that until I create it.  I need to do pricing for some product as well.  This means the introduction to change some placement products and finish my website.

Well, that is it for right now.  I had great response to the May 2019 goals.  My reason is not to brag that I can do this.  I am not perfect.  There are some goals that I did not meet in the month of May that I am not happy with, but you move on, you do what you can to meet and exceed those goals.  If you do not meet them, do not beat yourself up over it.  Things happen and life happens.  I am very proud of things such as meeting some social media goals, mad that I did not complete my craftroom and master bedroom, but things have not fallen around me, and if not, I will pray, ask for forgiveness, and move on.  This is the takeaway I want to give to you.

Blogging is hard-Chapter 2: Making a schedule

Hello, and welcome to My Ambiance Life.

In today’s post, I want to take about blogging in general, not how to get started, not how to win at increasing traffic, but blogging in general.

Myths in blogging…

One of the myths I get when I am reading post from Pinterest, searching on Google, or anywhere else on the interwebs (Internet), is “blogging is dead”, “no one is interested in blogs anymore”, and phrases like that.

I am here to tell you that the way blogs got started might be dead, but the overall concept of blogs is not.  In fact, blogging is very much alive.  This is how blogging works for me….

You can do the following with a blog:

·         Use it as a follow up to a video

·         Offer products with the blog:  Talk about your subject, offer a free product (say a free guide), then if you are able, offer a course to further talk about your subject.  I have seen it a lot and it is something I am thinking about doing in 2020.

o   An alternative is to offer a service like freelance writing or graphic design service.  This also works if you are an organizer or party planner.

If you feel that your blog is dying a slow death, these ideas and many more can help bring new life into your blogging experience.  I not necessary say bring in traffic but help spruce up your blog.  Perhaps you are on a server that is limited, like Blogger.  Now I like Blogger and it is good for those who want to get their feet wet into blogging.  I have outgrown Blogger, as I have mentioned many times before.  I am also not a programmer, so Joomla, which is a website language that I would love to learn how to do, but WordPress is my go to language for the moment.  Maybe one day.  It is very easy to learn, and it takes no time to build up a website.

Scheduling a blog post, Part 1

I have learned something new in the past few weeks.  Schedule out your posts. There is a way for to do it on Blogger: 

1.       On the right side, you will see Post Settings

2.      Go down to schedule and click on it

3.      If you want the blog to post when you click on Publish, leave as it.  If not, click on Set date and Time.

4.      A calendar will pop up and you can click on a day of the current month or use two little arrows on the right side to advance a month ahead.  You can also click in the box for the current time or type in the time that you want.  Remember to highlight AM or PM.  Make sure you have the right time zone.

5.      Click Done when finished,

For WordPress:

This comes from WP Optimus (2014), but it still hold true today:

1.       Once you are finished writing your post, go to the right side of the panel of your post where the Meta-publish box is located. Click on Edit

2.      Set the date and time for when you want the post to publish.  The time will be listed as a 24-hour clock format, not 12-hours.  This is also called Military Time.  Ex. 1 PM is 13:00

3.      Click on schedule when finished.

Now you are able to schedule times for when you are on vacation, or too busy to write.

Scheduling a blog post, part 2

OK, the following was how to schedule when you blog post will publish to your blog.  Another thing I found out about scheduling is the art of writing when you feel the need to say something.  Christians call it, “God told me to tell you something that has been on my heart”.  Others say, “I have something to say, and I am not going to back down until I say it”.  Trust me, I do not have nothing to get “off my chest” (another saying).

We all have complaints.  In most Facebook groups I am in, it is having a rant, but there are tactful ways of complaining without getting chewed out by other.  I have learned the following.

1.       Do not say something just to get an audience.  In fact, do not expect for someone to respond with a “me too”, “I agree”, or “I feel the same way”.  Speak your peace and move on.

2.      If you journal, write the rant there.  You have gotten off your chest and you have left it in a place for you to see.

3.      Ask questions before you rant, especially if you are in a group setting. It is best to ask questions than to assume and get kicked out of the group.  You may still get kicked out, but at least you are not ranting blindly without all the answers.  Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question.

4.      Calm down before typing

5.      If you are in a group setting and you are still angry, do not announce that you are leaving the group.  Just leave and let go.

When situations are treated with kindness, you will have a better result.

Scheduling a blog post, part 3: know when to write

OK, confession time:

I have set up all these day the type of themes I want to put in this blog.  Some weeks it works out great, while others, not so much.  It is embarrassing, and I do not have any hard copies to remind me of what I am supposed to write about.  For example:  I write my journaling prompts posts on Wednesday instead of Thursday, Motivational Monday becomes motivational any day, and so on.  The only thing that has been constant lately is that I do not write and post on Saturdays and Sundays.  I have a solution for that.  I am picking two days out of the week to write, posting them on the days that I pick (probably Monday and Wednesday or Thursday) Friday may be a bonus day, and I am scheduling them so that they automatically post.  Everything has been edited complete with pictures.

Why am I saying this:

My schedule is full, and I need to take time to do things carefully. 

My takeaway for this is simple:  take time for you.  I know I have mentioned some portion of that to you in the past few posts, but I am serious as always. 

Yes, I need an audience, clients, and viewers, but I also need me, and I need to continue my spiritual journey with God.

If you do not have that, then what is life.  I am not saying that life is meaningless, but your life has meaning and a purpose.  We all need to find that purpose and it is not always about making money.  I know I push making money, but you are not going to die if you do not make a 6-figure salary.  Make enough to allow you to save and to live on the daily.  This means if you need toothpaste, make enough to buy it.  Same with your home.  Make enough to afford a decent home for you and your family.  It does not have to be a 5-room mansion with a 3-car garage, it can be an apartment with a parking space, but not a one-room boarding house where all 6 of your family members sleep in it.  If this means you have stay in that one -room for a moment, fine, but aim higher.

In other words, you can change your situation.

Have a good day.