Blogging: Not Just a Hobby Anymore

Blogging is a great way to express yourself, keep in touch with family and friends. Blogging is not just something you do for fun anymore. It is a great tool to also increase traffic to your website and your business. While we have had a tough economy, it's also one of the best avenues for free advertising. There are many ways you can blog and make money. I see blogging as one of the best Marketing tools to help boost my business, and any leads I get from it I see as a bonus to what I am already doing.

Blogging has been very successful for many people, but don't count on it to be a stable income. What you want to do is build multiple streams of income. Most successful bloggers have been doing it for several years. I have been now blogging for one year, and I am happy when I do get the occasional paid blogging job.

Here's a great post:
13 Tips to Recession Proof Your Blog

Some of my friends have great blogs:
http://doubledeej.blogspot.com/
http://www.joelcomm.com/


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Direct Selling Home Decor Business Review

Last month I wrote an article on "Questions You Should Ask an MLM Company Before You Join". The same kinds of questions apply if your thinking of starting up your own business in direct selling. I recently had the opportunity to review several companies all with similar products. All of the companies I reviewed are all MLM companies but are all structured differently. With this review I have listed the companies that are the best to work with, all others that I didn't care for I left off this list. They were graded on several factors; Cost of startup, Consultant Benefits, Customer Service, Ease of Selling, Quality of Products, Tech Support and Training.

Home Decor Direct / Cuadros Y Cosas A+
Startup Cost - $0 if you sell $150 (supplies are free with this method) or $59 for products and a supply kit ($150 value). A
Consultant Benefits - The very best income opportunity over any other company I reviewed plus you are rewarded for everyone you recruit and get cash bonuses for extra sales. A
Quality of Products - Excellent quality, most products are hand crafted in the USA and reasonably priced. A+
Ease of Selling - I signed up with $0 and got $268 in orders my first month. A
Customer Service - Most items are received within 1-2 weeks after you place your order. Customer service is excellent. A
Tech Support and Training - I had the opportunity to attend two training seminars before I started, with excellent one on one support. I was able to meet personally with the Vice President of the company. A

Southern Living At Home B+
Startup Cost - $199 for a $400+ value of products and supply kit A-
Consultant Benefits - Consultants get discounts one item one time per year and 25% commission, plus you are rewarded for every recruit. B+
Quality of Products - Excellent quality, not a big variety of home decor items, lots of dishes. A-
Ease of Selling - Not too hard to sell, but some items are pricey. B+
Customer Service - Can't contact customer service via phone, email took 4-5 days to respond. Items shipped slow, took more than 2 weeks. B
Tech Support and Training - Training was over the phone and audio CD's. B+

Celebrating Home / Home & Garden Party B-
Startup Cost - $99 for $200 in product or $149 for $300 in product. B+
Consultant Benefits - Consultants get 30% commission, plus you are rewarded for every recruit. A-
Quality of Products - Some items are not very high quality. Products range from reasonably priced to pricey. B-
Ease of Selling - Good variety of products, some quality issues. B
Customer Service - Can't contact customer service via phone, email took over a week to respond. Most items received within 2 weeks. C+
Tech Support and Training - No one offered any one on one support, I did find some videos on You Tube. C

For your convenience links to company websites have been posted in this blog.

Bailouts: First the Banks, now the Auto Industry?

Over this past year many national banks have been in trouble. This happened because of bad investments and bad judgments of people that worked for these banks that did unethical loans. Because of the giant loss of banks across the country, the Federal Government decided to step in to bail out these banks in an effort to save the economy. Unfortunately it wasn’t a very well thought out plan. There were banks that used the money to pay themselves big bonuses and pay for luxury vacations, instead of using the money for what it was intended for. Then there were banks that used the money to pay for new investments, some of these banks didn’t even need the bailout money. Now the auto industry is seeking bailout money from the Government. Should these companies be bailed out? Or should they be held accountable for their actions, and file a Chapter 11 while they clean up their act.

The Government I think is going to go about this in a smarter way this time. Some things to consider are what will happen to the economy if they give the money to the auto industry? What type of stipulations will be enforced? We as tax payers do not have a choice. When ever the Federal Government gives a large sum of money to anyone, we pay for it, and usually the money comes from one of two sources, they raise taxes to pay for it or it comes out of social security.

Here are some additional articles related to this post.

How the Feds will Govern GM and Chrysler

Potential GM Bankruptcy Catastrophic for Economy

Wallstrip: Does the Auto Industry Deserve a Bailout?

Money saving tips in today's economy.

With the the stock market down and the unemployment rate rising, we are now in a recession. There are many things in our future that could be uncertain, and there are many different things we can do to tighten our budget without giving up our way of living.

I have decided to share a few small things that I do that are ways you can save money. You may not all agree with these things but when you implement these things into your daily living habits, the pennies will add up and can make a big difference in the way you spend money.

• Cleaning - Over this past year I have discovered I can make my own cleaning products much cheaper than buying them. My home made cleaners I have found that there are many other benefits as well to using them. The cleaners are organic which means less fumes and I think they work better than what I buy in the store. Some basic household products you might need are; Baking Soda, Borax, Vinegar. To make your own cleaners here is a website that has a few recipes.
  

• Meal Planning - I haven't always practiced this, but when I do I find that I don't spend nearly as much at the grocery store. By making a list of the ingredients you need for meals ahead of time this will eliminate the unnecessary things that you throw into the shopping cart that you don't need. When grocery shopping I try to do enough shopping to last for a minimum of 2 weeks to eliminate the need to go to the grocery store more than 2-3 times per month.

• Shopping - When doing any type of shopping make a list of the things you need to get and plan a budget for your trip so you don't overspend. When your shopping take a look at different brands of items and choose what is the most economically correct thing for you to buy. Most store brand items it doesn't make a difference when you compare to that name brand product. By purchasing more generic items you can often save money, but you should always do what's right for you.
  

Making Money with Photography

There are many ways to make money with your Photography. I am going to share with you some things to help give you some ideas on different ways you can sell your work.

You could do an online shopping cart. This can be an effective way to sell your products, but will require more work on your part because you will have to ship the items you sell. You may find that this may be an excellent solution for some products, while it may not be worth the effort for other types of products because you may have to have some inventory to sell your products. For ecommerce solutions this is what I recommend. Vstore

If you only have a few things to sell or a whole bunch of things to sell, I recommend opening an Etsy Store. This is a much better alternative to eBay. Keep in mind that Etsy is limited to the types of items you can sell.

The the most popular is online stores. You can create your own products and sell them in a variety of online stores that give you the versatility of creating multiple different products. Some of these stores offer everything from T-shirts to posters and books.

1. Cafe Press
2. Zazzle
   
3. Spreadshirt
4. LuLu

If you only want to sell your photos as prints or in a digital format, you can submit your photos to stock photography websites. These sites will pay you every time someone wants to use your photo. Some of these sites will only except specific types of photographs at specific times of the year. If you would like LayZ Daisy to use your any of your photos, this is the easiest way you can submit your work and get money. Please read Call for Entries for more info.

Banks in Trouble

In this troubling time in our economy, we have many uncertain things going on right now. Our real estate market is down, and the stock market has crashed. We are now in a recession that may take years to recover from. I am not writing this article so you will panic. I am writing this article to keep you informed in what is going on in the Banks today. This is a follow-up article to the the last article I wrote on September 30, 2008. This is part of the "Is your money safe?" series. With any article I write, I do extensive research, and usually provide some web links to verify my information. This is to ensure that you get the most accurate information that I can give you.

Most Banks are insured by the FDIC, Credit Unions are also insured by the NCUA. What this means is, your money that you have in your bank account located at each Bank and Credit Union is required to insure your money for up to $100,000. Bank watch list as published by The Bank Implode Meter, these are banks that have all been audited and written up for something. More information can be found on each individual bank FDIC, NCUA.

Level 3 watch Bank List.

1. Fifth Third Bankcorp 11-06-08 (crashed, waiting on implosion)
2. UBS Bank 11-04-08 (crashing)
3. Mitsubishi Financial 10-27-08
   
4. Citigroup 10-16-08
5. Merryl Lynch 10-13-08 (may still come out alive)
6. Bank of America 10-07-08 (settlement, not in the clear yet)

Failed Banks/ Credit Unions List.

1. Security Pacific Bank, CA 11-07-08
   
2. Franklin Bank, SBB, TX 11-07-08
   
3. Freedom Bank, FL 10-31-08
   
4. Alpha Bank & Trust, GA 10-24-08
5. National City 10-24-08
   
6. High Desert Federal Credit Union 10-17-08
7. Meridian Bank, IL 10-10-08
   
8. Main Street Bank, MI 10-10-08
9. HBOS PLC 10-09-08
10. N & W Poca Division Credit Union 10-03-08
    
11. Watchovia Bank 9-29-08
12. Washington Mutual (WaMu) 9-24-08
13. Ameribank, Inc., WV 9-19-08
14. Interfaith Federal Credit Union 9-17-08
15. Lehman Brothers 9-11-08
16. Silver State Bank 9-5-08
17. Integrity Bank, GA 8-29-08
18. Columbian Bank and Trust, KS 8-24-08
19. First Priority Bank, KS 8-1-08
20. First National Bank of Nevada 7-26-08
21. First Heritage Bank N.A. 7-26-08
22. Indy Mac Bank Corp 7-11-08
23. First Integrity Bank 5-31-08
24. ANB Financial 5-09-08
25. Carnation Bank 5-09-08
26. St. Luke Baptist Federal Credit Union 5-07-08
27. Hume Bank of Hume, MO 3-10-08
28. Douglas National Bank 1-28-08
29. Huron River Credit Union 1-19-08
30. Green Tree Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
31. Metropolitan Savings Bank 1-19-08
32. Miami Valley Bank 1-19-08
33. Net Bank 1-19-08
34. Sharebuilders Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
35. Freemont General
36. Bear Stearns
37. Northern Rock PLC
38. Coast Bank

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 11:27 AM Posted by LayZDaisy.

Bank Watch List

This is a follow-up article on the the last article I wrote on July 28, 2008. This is part of the "Is your money safe?" series. With the crash of the stock market, as everyone knows there are even more banks introuble.

Banks are supposed to be (FDIC) insured by the federal government, Credit Unions are also insure (NCUA). 90 bank watch list as published by The Bank Implode Meter, these are banks that have all been audited and written up for something. This list keeps getting longer. The government with the current bailout plan proposed will not be able to save all of these banks in trouble.

Level 3 watch Bank List.

1. Fifth Third Bankcorp 9-30-08 (crashing)
2. National City 9-29-08 (crashing, waiting on implosion)
3. Morgan Stanley 9-26-08
4. Bank of America 8-14-08
5. Merryl Lynch 9-15-08
6. HBOS PLC 9-19-08
7. National City 9-04-08
8. Bank of America 8-14-08
9. Citigroup 8-07-08
10. Sun Trust 7-22-08
11. JP Morgan Chase (near level 3)
12. Goldman Sachs (near level 3, may still come out alive)

Failed Banks/ Credit Unions List.

1. Watchovia Bank 9-29-08
2. Washington Mutual (WaMu) 9-24-08
3. Ameribank, Inc., WV 9-19-08
4. Interfaith Federal Credit Union 9-17-08
5. Lehman Brothers 9-11-08
6. Silver State Bank 9-5-08
7. Integrity Bank, GA 8-29-08
8. Columbian Bank and Trust, KS 8-24-08
9. First Priority Bank, KS 8-1-08
10. First National Bank of Nevada 7-26-08
11. First Heritage Bank N.A. 7-26-08
12. Indy Mac Bank Corp 7-11-08
13. First Integrity Bank 5-31-08
14. ANB Financial 5-09-08
15. Carnation Bank 5-09-08
16. St. Luke Baptist Federal Credit Union 5-07-08
17. Hume Bank of Hume, MO 3-10-08
18. Douglas National Bank 1-28-08
19. Huron River Credit Union 1-19-08
20. Green Tree Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
21. Metropolitan Savings Bank 1-19-08
22. Miami Valley Bank 1-19-08
23. Net Bank 1-19-08
24. Sharebuilders Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
25. Freemont General
26. Bear Stearns
27. Northern Rock PLC
28. Coast Bank

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 10:47 AM Posted by LayZDaisy.

Stock Market meltdown, planning for the future.

I have been writing about the banks in trouble. I wrote my first article "Is your money safe?" On Monday, Wall Street had a huge market crash of over 500 points. This hasn't happened since the Stock Market Crashed on 9-11. This should be a wake up call that our economy is in trouble. One of the major losses was AIG. AIG has been one of the leading companies for retirement funds. They are going to be bailed out. What does this mean for you and me? This means that ultimately we will be paying for this through our taxes. Why should we have to pay for this? It is not our fault. Between bad investments and bad judgments of other parties that work for these companies that lose your money, they should be held accountable. A loss of this scale the Federal Government has decided to step in to bail out all of these companies that have made bad investment choices. We as tax payers do not have a choice. If your wondering where the Government gets this kind of money, it usually comes from one of two sources, they raise taxes to pay for it or it comes out of social security. At this point my Dad is at retirement age, his retirement has already been lost by bad investment choices of others, he cannot live on social security when it has already been cut. More and more senior citizens these days are looking for work just to make ends meet. The cost of living has forced many people out of retirement.

Today you can’t count on the Stock Market as a reliable way to invest your money. This is why it is so important to plan for the future. Many American’s live from pay check to pay check, it’s hard to put any money away. Saving money and having a reserve supply of food storage that will feed your entire family for a year, can be done. Looking at your budget you can cut back things you don’t really need and put away that money you would normally spend and use it towards a savings plan. You can cook more and go out less, stay in and rent movies instead of going to the theater. To save for food storage it’s not as hard as it seems. When you go the grocery store, you can buy one extra item a month to add to your food storage. When you need to use items from your food storage before it expires, replace it with the same item that is newer. Eventually you have enough items saved up for your family to live on for an entire year. It is very important now more than ever to stick to a monthly budget and set limits for yourself. This is one of the keys to becoming financially independent.

Bank Watch

This is a follow-up article on the original article I wrote on July 16, 2008 "Is your money safe?" This is an update of whats happening with banks. Many of these banks were not previously on the list.

Banks are supposed to be (FDIC) insured by the federal government. 90 bank watch list as published by The Bank Implode Meter, these are banks that have all been audited and written up for something. After doing a little research I found most of the banks on the watch list, many of the banks on this list are still in good standing. The ones that you will need to keep an eye on are the banks on a "Level 3". These are the banks that are in serious trouble.

Level 3 watch Bank List.

1. Washington Mutual 7-27-08 (waiting on implosion)
2. National City 7-24-08
3. Fifth Third Bankcorp 7-22-08
4. Watchovia 7-22-08 (waiting on implosion)
5. Bank of America 7-21-08
6. Merryl Lynch 7-11-08
7. Lehman Brothers 7-11-08
8. Bank of America 7-08-08
   
9. Citigroup 6-28-08
10. US Bancorp (near level 3)
11. National City (near level 3)
12. JP Morgan Chase (near level 3)
13. Wells Fargo (near level 3, may still come out alive but not in the clear)
    

FDIC Failed Bank List.

1. First National Bank of Nevada 7-26-08
2. First Heritage Bank N.A. 7-26-08
3. Indy Mac Bank Corp 7-11-08
4. First Integrity Bank 5-31-08
5. ANB Financial 5-09-08
6. Carnation Bank 5-09-08
7. St. Luke Baptist Federal Credit Union 5-07-08
   
8. Hume Bank of Hume, MO 3-10-08
9. Douglas National Bank 1-28-08
10. Huron River Credit Union 1-19-08
11. Green Tree Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
    
12. Metropolitan Savings Bank 1-19-08
    
13. Miami Valley Bank 1-19-08
14. Net Bank 1-19-08
15. Sharebuilders Federal Credit Union 1-19-08
16. Freemont General
17. Bear Stearns
18. Northern Rock PLC
19. Coast Bank

The Power of Positive Thinking

We have lots of bad news going on in the world today. How you deal with that information is completely up to you. We may not be able to change the world, but we can always make the best of the situation by having a positive outlook and finding out how you can make your life or someone elses better. Positive thinking is one of the greatest powers that a human has. Negative thinking can only bring you more misery. With the power of positive thinking when things look hopeless to someone else, you have the power to think outside the box to find a solution. To create something better and to think of a better way of doing things. I firmly believe that the power of positive thinking can get you through anything. It's that one small thing you do for someone else that can change someones life.

The key to making money is Advertising.

As my ongoing campaign to help people make money, I really want to help everyone make money. I feel by doing this it will give people some hope and a way for everyone to make some money in our downed economy. I have blogged about different types of advertising. I thought I would take a slightly different approach to get the message out. The key to making money on the internet and getting noticed is advertising. This does NOT have to be PAID advertising. You just need to get the word out to get your site noticed. To key is to get on as many sites as possible with the most exposure possible. The second thing you need of course on your site is content. It has to be interesting enough that people will want to read it. The third thing you need is the correct key words to get noticed when plugging in your site. This can be the most difficult in generating the best key words to get you noticed that won't produce allot of junk. Here are a few FREE websites you can get signed up with that will help you to get noticed. I recommend signing up with all of them. Of course there are many other ways and sites to get noticed.

1. Twitter
2. Technorati
3. Compete
4. Alexa
5. Google
6. Blogz
7. RSS
8. Zimbio
9. Blog Explosion
10. ISEdb
    
11. YouTube

Is your money safe?

I have never been the type of person that got involved in politics before. I feel the widespread panic going on in our nation is caused by our economy along with the monopoly being played with oil. I have a very big and new concern. Is your money safe? Banks are already in trouble. Are we headed for a recession as big as the 1920's? This is what I read on the front page of the morning paper. Look at today's headlines.

Stemming a Bank Crisis: Regulators, Banks Try to Calm Nation

Seeing Bad Loans, Investors Flee From Bank Shares

Economic angst: Could your bank be the next to fail?

Recession Watch: 5 Reasons Banks Face More Trouble

Banks are supposed to be (FDIC) insured by the federal government. 90 bank watch list as published by The Bank Implode Meter, these are banks that have all been audited and written up for something. After doing a little research I found most of the banks on the watch list, many of the banks on this list are still in good standing. The ones that you will need to keep an eye on are the banks on a "Level 3". These are the banks that could be headed for serious trouble.

Level 3 watch Bank List.

1. Merryl Lynch 7-11-08
2. Lehman Brothers 7-11-08
3. Bank of America 7-08-08
   
4. Citigroup 6-28-08
5. Watchovia (near level 3)
   
6. US Bancorp (near level 3)
7. Washington Mutual (near level 3)
8. National City (near level 3)
   

List of Failed Banks.

1. IndyMac BankCorp
2. Carnation Bank
   
3. First Integrity Bank
4. ANB Financial
5. Hume Bank of Hume, MO
6. Douglas National Bank
7. Miami Valley Bank
8. Net Bank
9. Metropolitan Savings Bank
10. St. Luke Baptist Credit Union
11. Huron River Credit Union
12. Green Tree Federal Credit Union
13. Sharebuilders Federal Credit Union
14. Freemont General
15. Bear Stearns
16. Northern Rock PLC
17. Coast Bank

Budgeting your money.

Sticking to a monthly budget is very important in keeping yourself out of debt. I have developed some spreadsheets that are designed to keep you on task. I look at them every Monday morning. These spreadsheets were designed to help you keep track of every penny going in and coming out. They can be easily customized to fit your specific financial situation. In addition if will help you keep track of interest rates and rebates you may receive.

Balance your monthly statements. Are you afraid to open the envelope? Do you hate doing it and put it off until its time to file your taxes? I have found by using my spreadsheet I don't hate accounting so much. I actually enjoy knowing where all of my money is going. This is a simple and easy organization method of budgeting your money. You use this in conjunction with your accounting software such as Quicken, Quickbooks, Microsoft Money. If you would like a copy of my FREE financial budget sheet, please send and email. This will be in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format. If you need another format please specify.

Making Money With Affiliate Advertising

Have you ever wondered how affiliate advertising works? Here is some information I am going to tell you about, it's FREE ADVERTISING. Affiliate advertising is one of the FREE ways you can start making income on your site.

You can sign up for affiliate programs to sell things on your site. These programs that you apply to will give you a commission for every sale or lead. I Love Commission Junction because they do direct deposit in my account every month for affiliate advertising, and it is one of the most user friendly sites out there. How it works is you place a link such as a banner or text ad anywhere on your site. I recommend applying to programs that would be relevant to your site as well as places you would shop. There is now law that you can 't earn commission for your own sales unless otherwise specified by the program.

What is AdSense?

If you notice here on my blogs I have Google ads. If you don't know what AdSense is, you should start using it. You could be missing out on a big opportunity to make some money with your blog. Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis. Google is also currently beta-testing a cost-per-action based service. This is one of Google's free advertising programs you can join that will specifically target text or banner ads that are relevant to your site. I found it is also a complex program to use. I am still learning it and it may take me a couple of years to master it. There are also many other programs that Google also offers, such as Google AdWords, for those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted ad system.

I want to introduce you to my friend Joel Comm. He is the author of The New York Times Best seller, The AdSense Code" and the Host & Executive Producer of "The Next Internet Millionaire" reality show, Joel continues to produce top-quality resources and training materials that have helped thousands of people increase their online income. Well, Joel is thankful for the support he has received over the years, and he is doing something truly amazing to say "thank you".

It's been over two years since Joel last released an pdated version of his best selling "Google AdSense secrets" ebook. This book is the definitive guide to making money with AdSense and it is the only book you ever need to master AdSense. Joel regularly sells this book for $97.00. It's worth every penny. But what is doing now is going to send shockwaves through the industry! Joel has completely revised and extended AdSense Secrets 4.0 for 2008 to include all the latest AdSense cash-sucking strategies and techniques that allow him to continue earning over $500/day in passive AdSense income! So how is Joel saying "thank you" by offering this book? It's the price! Are you sitting down? You are going to think I am toying with you, but this is the honest truth...For a limited time, Joel is offering AdSense Secrets v4.0 to you for just $9.95! Yes, you heard me right! That's just $9.95!

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=2474771

Ok, I don't need to go on and on about this. Welcome to the biggest no-brainer of the year. Go pick up a copy of AdSense Secrets 4.0 right NOW while it is still priced at this amazing bargain of $9.95. You'll be able to instantly download your copy and begin implementing the same strategies and techniques that Joel and his customers have used to generate incredible passive income! Honestly, I don't know how long Joel will make the book available at this price, so I recommend you hurry and download it NOW! http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=2474771

I hope you have great success with this. This is a great opportunity to train you how you can start making some real money with AdSense.