eAction

My favourite web business building program, SBI, has jumped into social media with both feet. They are now teaching the rest of us how to really use it effectively and profitably. In fact, SiteSell Facebook (SSFB) has just about got 10,000 fans on Facebook. They are getting ready to celebrate!

They’ve got a contest going with some big mystery surprise planned for the moment the 10,000th Facebook person simply “LIKES” their page.

Those of us connected with SBI and using the suite of creme de la creme services have been busy guessing what the surprise will be from hints dropped at the forum and in the newsletters and blogs.

Personally, I think the most crucial clue is that “…it will feel like Christmas.”

Ah-ha! We SBI-ers know that means a 2 for 1 sale at the very least! Maybe more freebies and gifts and our hero Ken is a generous man!

He says the celebratory event will not last long, so you need to hurry over there and quickly “LIKE” their page,
Go to SSFB

Only those who have “LIKED” the SSFB page get in on the good stuff thata happens or is given away at that time.

Quick, Go LIKE SSFB right now!

Tags: SBI, Sitesell, SSFB's Facebook Milestone will "Feel Like Christmas!"

I’ve deleted the enthusiastic post I had here. After being a member for one month I’ve cancelled my membership. If you need to know why, you can read my review of the program here.

Wow! It’s been nearly three years that I’ve left this blog to lie dormant. A lot has happened in that time, but now I believe I’m ready to revive the eAction, in a slightly modified form, and bring it back to present day activity.

Since I have not deleted the old posts, I guess it has not technically died. The old posts were – and still are – available here, but you have to drill down by month or category to find what you might be looking for.

In case you are wondering what happened, here is a bit of history.

My Dad got a galloping kind of lung cancer in January of 2007, and died 4 days after his 91st birthday on February 24. I had been his live-in caregiver, and as eldest of my siblings it fell to me to clean up the estate, prepare for the auction, and find myself a place to live and a means of support – more or less all at the same time! Yes, I recall 2007 as very stressful and loaded with physical work!

God blessed and I did get a small tiny house in Saskatoon, and was adopted as a part-time missionary with Western Tract Mission, so that I could continue my work with them, and gain support gifts from friends (so they could be receipted). But I also got requests to build websites for some organizations and found myself running a little business, which I called, and officially registered with the Saskatchewan Government as Azaleas Virtual Assistants. In fact, I’ve become a small business owner and am up to my eyeballs in work, though I still have to learn to charge more for my time and services, and maybe not to  take on so many charity or pro-bono cases.

At this point I’m looking forward to my business growing profit-wise to the place where I can hire employees because I cannot find more hours in the day to take on more work myself.

All this while I’ve been trying to learn to discipline myself and my schedule as effectively as possible to make the most of every hour and minute.

Seeing the need to get this blog and some from my other sites rolling too, I’ve decided to save a slot on Monday mornings, for one short blog entry and alternating between two sites. That only means something will appear here every second Monday morning, however, that’s better than nothing at all. With time this will become a routine little ‘duty’ that I can do in a matter of minutes and move on to other work.

I plan to use it mainly to report on helpful discoveries for other small business owners, (or wannabes) and give advice concerning things to watch out for or to avoid as dangerous. Friends who want to see how I am doing with my business may find it smart to keep an eye on this blog. Here is where I’m most likely to confide such news.

I do have a new Opportunity to review in my next post. I’ll include how to tell if it is right for you. It is NOT for everyone!

I am certainly most pleased with my website hosting that I have with SBI as part of my annual package deal for two sites. However, I do host my other sites, (and those of some clients) on Hostgator and am very satisfied with their excellent service too.

I’ve just learned that HostGator did so well with offering Fantastic Black Friday DEALS on November 26 that they are extending the 50% off sale today, on Cyber Monday. These go ONLY from midnight Monday morning until the last minute before midnight that starts Tuesday. I can’t resist gasping and passing this on to you!

This is for NEW customers only!
- Shared Hosting – ONLY $2.48/month
– Reseller Hosting – ONLY $12.48/month
– VPS Hosting – ONLY $9.98/month (first month)
– Dedicated Servers – ONLY $87/month (first month)

Just sign up from the links on this page, and the 50% off coupon will be automatically applied to your invoice. If you want to make sure you are getting the coupon, look for, or insert CYBERMONDAY2010 as the coupon code.

Note: This will apply to your first invoice (first term length you sign up for, whether that be 1 month or for 3 years for shared and reseller hosting plans, and for the first month only on VPS and dedicated servers.

What exactly is on sale at HostGator?

This applies to all hosting accounts, and all term lengths, including shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and even Dedicated Servers.

Just in case those words are new to you, here’s some quick definitions;
shared hosting – is when you rent just a space on one of their many servers to host your site.
reseller hosting – is when you rent a larger plot and you can rent out to others at whatever price you charge.
VPS hosting – is very customizable hosting, allowing you to grow up quickly to Dedicated server level.
Dedicated server – is when you rent a whole server (->Terabyte) for your own site(s) or to rent out spaces.
term length – is the amount of time you pay for each time you pay. Like, monthly, yearly, or 3 year contract.

So, look! If you signed up for a shared hosting package you’d get it for as low as .99/month. A Dedicated server package is worth $174/month, but now you could get it for as low as $34.80 your first month.

Back in about 2001, when I understood that there was a difference between webhosts and the support services you could get with it, I began to shop around for the best bargains. I did a lot of comparison shopping and finally decided that HostGator had the best reputation, the best deals and the best support. Sure enough, I’ve found that to be so. Therefore, if you are looking for a CRAZY, Fantastic deal this Black Friday, you can’t go wrong here!

Quick! Check the date and the hour (CST) – is it still Black Friday? Jump on this banner and go to HostGator!.

I want to thank all of you for not beating me on the head with wet noodles for forgetting to send out an issue last week, and also yesterday.

My business start up is still eating up a lot of time, and the tension of trying to keep up with previous commitments, as well as spend time getting computers set up for the courses I plan to offer is wearing some days.

Just like a baby learning to walk, we have to allow time to get stable feet under us. We have patience with a toddler – guess we need to show that kind of grace to one another too, don’t we?

You have very likely heard of, and probably even own, these new books and videos with ‘THE Secret’ to success in life and in business. I just learned about another one this week, called the Jackrabbit Principle. It was promoted by a Christian so I thought it might be worth checking out.

It was a disappointment. The analogy in the video was not even clear, but they implied that it was all about goal-setting. Well, I appreciate the value of goal-setting and try to practice it, but I don’t think that’s the ultimate secret to success.

So I’ve done a little thinking.

As a Christian we are not to have other gods (this can be anything we think has power to help us) besides God Himself. The true success He promises us lies in trusting Him, and living by His principles. It has been when I’m in utter submission to God’s will and ways, that I’ve had my greatest successes.

So then, there is no point in chasing these ‘secrets’ that others purport to offer for a price. All the success advice we need is accessible to us for free in the Bible. You probably have one already too.

To build our faith muscles we just need to spend time reading it and discovering promises to inspire faith and forward-thinking.

As Jesus said to His disciples, these gem-truths are hidden in little parables and stories, so that those who should not defame them cannot find them. With humility and a teachable heart willing to obey however, we can mine these great truths and enjoy successes that will last forever.

Some of the best spiritual truths that lead to success are found in the parables Jesus told. Study them and see if you can spot the truth that you can apply to your life.

Secondly, we all should be taking daily vitamins. The pity short proverbs in the book of Proverbs can be spiritual vitamins for us. Try reading one chapter a day for a month. Match the chapter number to the date. Next month, start over with the first chapter. You need to take these proverb-vitamins for a few months to notice the effect they will have on you.

Are you out of the January Blues yet? I have come out of mine. The secret? I went back to the Lord Jesus, and said, “I’ve drifted away from You with all my busyness. I want to get back to trusting You for everything.” This week a number of good things have come.

On Sunday I got a lovely white cat given to me (meant to be a mouser), who is becoming quite the loving and entertaining companion. I’ve got two mice in my traps! Yesterday I was invited out to lunch and got a good support check and a bit of extra, and learned that more has come in for my missionary support from a new source – I’ll get that money today, and a check that seemed to be lost on it’s way to me arrived in the mail this morning!

It’s like suddenly the sun has come up on my life.

A lesson I’m learning from my cat, Snowflake, is to be more direct and bold when asking my superior for love and food. I think I’ve been too shy to ask sometimes.

We may not all be great animal lovers, but there are lessons we can apply from the common traits that we observe in them. It is as though God wants to plant visual object lessons all around us in such a way that even the most illiterate person can by observing and thinking apply key principles to their life and work.

Since I have just become a pet owner, I’m picking up some of those principles in a fresh way. However, others have done quite intricate and scientific studies comparing instinctive animal habits with character traits that would be good for us to adopt as well.

Would you like to follow me as I mull over some examples? Let’s try to focus our thoughts on those that show how to succeed with our business, since that’s our slant here already.

Ah, the humble but industrious little ant comes to mind quickly. Starting and running a business means work, and more work. You have to commit to keeping at it over the long haul, but in the end you can accomplish a lot.

There are many others, of course. Now you can draw up your own list and see how long it grows.

If you create a really long and exceptional list, I’d be glad to see it.

Pick one trait that you know you are weak in and set aside a month to develop it. Look for articles on that skill or trait, and read them. Plan small learning experiences, and put yourself into situations where you will be required to exercise that trait. Those may be a bit stressful, but at the end of a month you will have grown some in that trait, and gained some advances in it.