I am often asked what books I read. Frankly, I am a voracious reader and read darn near anything, but since you ask I will be posting my top business book recommendations here on a regular basis.

I am interviewing Dondi Scumaci tomorrow on Your Partner In Success Radio and I am hugely excited about that. Her book “Ready, Set…Grow!: How to Rediscover Your Passion, Overcome your Fears, and Create the Life You’ve Always Wanted” is what I am reading right now. I highly recommend it!

Next on my “to read” list is “Designed for Success: The 10 Commandments for Women in the Workplace empowers women to be more effective, successful and satisfied at work.”

Not so long ago I  read a post called “The Mystery of Writing,” posted on 12/14/10 by Michael Hyatt, President of the publishing company Thomas Nelson, Inc. Here’s what he wrote:

“A few nights ago, I sat down with the intention to write a blog post. I had been mulling a specific idea over for several days. I thought it was a slam dunk. I should be done in 30 minutes, I thought, 45 minutes — max.

“Not so much.

“The first paragraph came quickly. But then I got stuck. I wrote another one, didn’t like it, and deleted it. I spiraled through that same loop ten times. Nothing seemed to work.

“About that time, distraction set in. But distraction wasn’t really my problem. At least not initially. I was intent on writing — I just couldn’t.

“After writing four books and almost one thousand blog posts, I have learned two things about writing:

1. “Sometimes, I just need to park myself in my chair, fire up my laptop, and force myself to start. Nine times out of ten, this works for me.
2. “When that doesn’t work — after a concerted effort — I just need to quit. I have to get up and do something else.

“This is all part of the mystery of writing. It’s a balancing act, isn’t it?

“You want to exercise self-discipline and force yourself to write, even when you don’t feel like it. But you also have to trust the process and recognize when that won’t work. If you are patient — with yourself and with the process — the Muse will eventually speak.”

Good advice!

New Content Shortcuts

You must get traffic to your website to thrive and prosper and you do this with great, and consistent content. However, there are times that you simply do not have the hours or even the will to write. And write you must if you want to continue to engage your audience. You probably have a very important “to do” list that gets pushed aside daily as you work on client projects instead of your own.

Think about this: “The cobbler’s children have no shoes” refers to the phenomena where people who are very successful at doing something but don’t demonstrate that in their own personal lives and or business. Even though this is a very old parable, it feels very current to me. And to you, I am willing to bet!

The Benefits of PLR to Your Virtual Assistance/ OBM  or Coaching Clients

Marketing and technology is moving faster than you can keep up. How many times have you had a client who is desperate to save money without giving up more of their own time in their business? Whether they are an online business owner or run a brick and mortar shop, saving money on business costs is usually at the top of every business owner’s list, followed by having more time to do what they want versus spending it working in order to cut their costs.

One way your clients can save money on their content creation is by using private label rights articles in their business. No need to hire a ghostwriter (or you!) to write everything for them and they can say goodbye to spending countless hours writing their own sales letters, articles, blog posts, newsletters and more.

You probably already understand the benefits of PLR in your own business, but imagine how your clients would feel if they too could experience the freedom PLR can give them. Not to mention the savings.

Your online business needs a constant supply of engaging and informative content to post on your blog, to send in your newsletter, to create your infoproducts, even to publish in your first best-selling print book.  Check out this eCourse that you can use to show your clients how to use PLR in their own business. They’ll love you for it!

I recommend

If you are looking for top quality PLR reports and article packs at a affordable price on a huge variety of subjects I use and recommend Nicole Dean’s Easy PLR. I use Nicole Dean’s great content as a jumping off point for myself and my clients, and heavily edit or re-write them so they are written in our own voices, but because the basic idea is already there it is very easy to user her ideas and run with them. Oftentimes I use them as inspiration for “tip of the day” or for a quick Tweet. BTW, I always recommend that you re-write PLR in your own voice!

Check out Nicole Dean’s video on why you should re-write PLR content.

Melissa Ingold’s Special Report Club

In Melissa’s own voice: “I also believe that in a time when overseas outsourcing, content spinners, and $1 article writers are popular choices among the many PLR site owners, that it’s my penchant for quality over money that sets me apart. I’m not willing to sacrifice quality just to save a few bucks or put more money in my pocket, that’s not the way I do business. Instead, I only work with experienced and professional people; people who I’ve been working with for many years and I pay thousands of dollars each and every month to ensure that my high standards for quality content are met.” ~ Melissa Ingold

I would love to hear how you use PLR content. Please drop back by and share links to some of the content that you have used.

Thanks!

My friend Todd Durkin shared this with me a couple of days ago. He read it somewhere and shared it with his “tribe” and I wanted to share with mine!

Our lives are determined by how we choose to live our 525,000 minutes each year. Minutes spent stressed or worrying are wasted. Fear not only kills our dreams, it also diminishes our minutes without providing productive results. None of our unused minutes can be saved as “rollover” minutes for the next year. None can be given to others and unused ones will be lost forever. When we look at our minutes from this perspective, it helps us realize the gift we’ve been given.

Therefore, here are some words to remember as you enter into the New Year and start spending your 525,000 minutes.

Spend time with people you love. Cherish family and friends. When we look back at a year, the things that usually stand out are times spent with loved ones, and the moments of connection with one another.

If you’re not having fun, go do something that IS fun!!! Spend your time doing what you love and what brings joy into your life.

Let go of the past. Don’t waste a good minute worrying about a bad one. Know that everything is perfect exactly as it is. Trust that there is a reason, even when you can’t see it.

Be positive. Realize you do have a choice, and choose to be positive in your thoughts and your actions.

Take baby steps and don’t give up! Keep moving in the right direction. Trust yourself and your abilities. Just because something didn’t yet work out as planned, doesn’t mean it won’t work out. There is always a way and you can’t lose unless you give up.

Embrace change. Resisting change is like trying to swim upstream. Instead, embrace it and go with the flow.

Connect with Nature. Watch sunsets. Talk to a tree. Listen to the wind. Taste the sweetness of a fresh apple. Study a leaf. Play with a dog. In all things, find your connection to something bigger than you.

Love life! Do what you love and love what you do. Happiness comes from spending minutes doing things that bring you joy.

Laugh! Relax, be playful and remember, life is meant to be fun!

Expand your world. Learn about other cultures, celebrate our differences and find common ground.

Create a vision. Write down 100 things you want to accomplish this year and share it with someone you love. Create a vision board to keep your dream alive!

Dream BIG! Dream big dreams and trust that you’re on the right path to make them happen. You deserve the very best in life- claim it!

Listen to your inner voice. Many times, wisdom comes to us in silence.

Spread kindness. Connect with one another. Share a smile. Perform random acts of kindness. Choose love. Be love. In all things, love now.

Exercise your mind and your body. We only grow old when we’re stagnant. Move and grow.

Pause. Breathe. Take time for yourself. Know that you matter and remember, you must first fill your own cup before you can give to others.

Pass it on. Give. Share. Give away things you don’t need. Share love and resources with others, remembering that blessing flows more easily through a stream without a dam.

Pay attention to serendipity. Live connected to something greater than yourself. Open unto and into the possibility of life. Live with faith and hope as a part of your life instead of apart from them.

Be grateful. No matter where you are, express gratitude, knowing that what you focus on grows. If you’re going to create more of something, let it be gratitude.

Be conscious of your thoughts. Know that your thoughts hold the power to create tomorrow’s reality. So think good thoughts. Dream big dreams. Celebrate the moments of your life.

Be YOU! You are so very beautiful; so let your light shine. You are an unlimited being with infinite potential. You have no limitations except those that you place on yourself.

Today, in this very moment, you have the chance to start anew. Embrace the moment, be grateful for the opportunities and truly celebrate the moments of your life. A new year filled with more than 525,000 minutes is waiting for you. Invest them well. Make each one of them count, and have a blessed and very Happy New Year!

Many blessings—Happy New Year.  Let’s CREATE the BEST year YET!!!!

WordPress.org just released WordPress 3.3 named “Sonny”which is dedicated to the great Jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt. WordPress 3.3 offers a number of new updates and tweaked features. The first of these is a redesigned dashboard, which features menus and toolbars that are more cohesive and easier to maneuver on smaller screens such as iOS devices like the iPad tablet.

According to WordPress, “Experienced users will appreciate”:

• The new drop-and-drag uploader
• Hover menus for the navigation
• New toolbar
• Improved co-editing support
• Tumblr importer
• Pointer tips for new features included in each new update
• Friendly welcome message for first-time users
• Revamped help tabs throughout the interface
• Improved dashboard experience on the iPad and other tablet computers with better touch support.

I’ve already updated most of my personal sites to WordPress 3.3 and enjoy the new admin toolbar and the layout of the side navigation menus.  Once I am fully familiar with this version we will begin moving all clients to 3.3. That won’t happen right away though. It is one thing to experiment on your own domains, but something else entirely to risk your client’s websites by not being entirely sure that this is the best version of WordPress for their particular site.  One thing that I do love already is the drag and drop interface for images and other media. Since I use two monitors it saves a lot of time hunting through files looking for the correct image and then going through the steps necessary to upload it. Now I just have to find it and drag it. Love it!

You can download it from WordPress or update inside your existing dashboard. Be sure to backup your WordPress website before updating and check to see if there are any plugins that need to be updated at the same time. If they are not compatible with “Sonny” don’t update them. And if you are running Shareaholic (Sexy Bookmarks) be certain to update your preferences after updating that plugin or you will lose them and have to start over.

I will be writing more about “Sonny” as we work with it and please let us know your thoughts of WordPress 3.3 in the comments.

Somebody sent this to me in an email today and I wanted to share it.

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material.  But along with that, it served as a potholder for  removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.  When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.

Remember,  Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.  Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron – but love.

Did you know that Verisign will be increasing prices in the New Year? My account manager at Godaddy sent me a reminder email this morning and I wanted to give you a quick”heads up” on the upcoming Verisign price increase before the New Year so you can plan for renewals in 2011 or first thing in 2012.

On January 15, 2012, VeriSign, the registry for .COM and .NET, will increase prices: 7% for dot COM and 10% for dot NET . As a result GoDaddy, as well as other registrars, may be forced to raise prices for registration, transfer, or renewal.

This is a good time to go through your domain names, determine which are keepers and which can be let go and renew for multiple years to lock in savings at today’s prices.

I just read today that the number one holiday cooking headache is synchronizing the meal so that all dishes are ready at the same time.

I absolutely love cooking Thanksgiving dinner and being a passionate and creative home cook I have never had any problems with that but I do love to hear the stories from family and friends who hit this wall every year. Some of the stories are quite frankly, too funny not to share, but in the interest of remaining on various Christmas card lists I will keep mum.

In my home on Thanksgiving day, we gather early in the morning for breakfast in our jammies, drink pumpkin spice coffee, watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and play a board game or two. The women join me in the kitchen to help with the dinner prep and then everybody goes home to relax and comes back later for dinner. Or, they stay all day…. there are no set rules.

I just discovered this recipe for Cinnamon Coffee Cake from Michael and Bryan Voltaggio, of Bravo’s “Top Chef and will be serving it as part of Thanksgiving breakfast. Their recipe also calls for Bay Leaf ice cream which I will not be making but you can find the entire recipe here.

Enjoy!

This week I welcome to Your Partner In Success Radio Carla Lundblade, Clinical Therapist Specializing in Sports & Celebrity Psychologies.

Carla received her BS in psychology and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southern Oregon University. She received her MS in Applied Psychology with a Concentration in Mental Health Counseling from Southern Oregon University.

Carla has been consulting with athletes, jury trial attorneys and performers since 2006. Athletes, teams, and coaches of all ages, ability levels, and sports have sought Carla’s services. She has also worked with performing artists. Carla has given numerous regional presentations at professional conferences and has been a guest speaker at several coaching clinics throughout the U.S.

She is currently the Subject Matter Expert and Chief Lecturer for The Successful Interplay Between Professional Sports Careers and Sports Psychology: A Clinical Perspective of a Winning Combination and Psychodrama, Creativity and the Training of Jury Trial Attorneys.

In addition, she has worked as a Co-Presenter for the Mental Skills and Mental Strategies Lead to Maximum Performance training workshops and has been a dedicated fundraising volunteer for TACA (Talking about Curing Autism) through her work with celebrity charity events. Her professional affiliations include the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA).

This week we are talking about the Michael Jackson wrongful death case and surviving celebrity.

Your Partner In Success™ Radio Show

When: Friday, November 11, 2011

Time: 9 am PST, 10 am MST, 11 am CST, 12 pm EST (Check time zone here)

Where: Your home office telephone or computer.

Website: Your Partner In Success™ Radio

Call-in Number: 347-843-4988

We look forward to “seeing” you!

Statement from Apple’s Board of Directors:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.