Las Vegas

Tomorrow I’ll drive myself to Las Vegas to hear John C. Maxwell speak on the subject of Leadership. I’m not looking forward to the 4-hour drive but I think it will be worth it.

I invited a friend to join me but I guess she won’t be able to make it. She might still show up but I haven’t heard from her so I’m going to assume she won’t make it.

I’ve been getting my Internet marketing campaign with my business. Telling people I know hasn’t helped drive traffic to my e-commerce Web site.

I actually have plenty to blog about but at the moment, I’m beat. Will try to blog this weekend. Hopefully my hotel room in LV will have Internet. For some reason I don’t think so. Bummer.

My week

I’ve been too busy to update my blog. Starting a home-based business is not easy. I’m still trying to think of ways to drive traffic to my e-commerce website.

I started a blog for by e-commerce site. All I need to do now is generate a couple articles on the products every week. So, if I don’t update this blog regularly, you’ll know why.

I’ve decided on getting myself an iPhone. I won’t be getting the phone until the new ones come out in June, so I will have to make due with my Motorola Razr. I don’t really like my Razr but since my other cell phone has been falling to pieces, I’m glad I bought my $20 Razr almost two years ago.

Anyway, it was hard to resist not buying the iPhone when I went to AT&T to pay my bill. I made my decision to buy the phone in June when I showed up for my meetup group and was the only person there. The meetup had been cancelled but I didn’t know that because I didn’t have access to the Internet to check my email.

I’ve been trying out more of the products I sell through my business and I’m very pleased to say that the chips and snack bars are really good.

I’ve got some really good news to announce. I gave my first speech with Toastmasters 4 Writers and I won for best speech! I’m so proud of myself. I can’t wait to give more speeches.

I’ve been reading everything I can on investing and building a business. My two favorite authors are Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump. Who better to learn from a billionaire and a millionaire.

Designing business cards

I must be slow or something because I’m trying to figure out Photoshop CS2 and I’m not having any luck. I tell you, Comic Life Magiq is a much easier program to use than Photoshop, and it’s only $49.99, which makes it a bargain. I just don’t what I’m doing with Photoshop. It’s not user friendly. There’s no wonder I’ve had the software for years and haven’t bothered to use it. I don’t mean to sound like an advertisement, but I produce all my graphics for my blog with Comic Life in 20 minutes or less. That’s how user friendly the Comic Life is.

As for Photoshop, I’m glad I didn’t fork over the dough to upgrade to Photoshop CS4 as I would have spent a large sum of money (even with an education discount) for a program I’ll mostly likely never use.

I’m searching help in Photoshop because I want to add an Image to a stinking layer but apparently this is a complicated task and HELP has no idea what I’m talking about. I’m just frustrated because I’ve been at this for hours. HOURS!!!! And I can’t figure this out.

Anyways. It was just easier to order my business cards than it was to design it myself. Though the design isn’t much different from what I order. The only thing I wanted to add to my business card was the logo that appears on my website. **Bad news, I discovered a typo on the cards I ordered so I had to put in a new order. It's a good thing I can write this off on my taxes. I'd be ready to shoot myself. I can't believe I didn't see it the first time.**

I also purchased some domain names. I still haven’t heard on whether my offer had been accepted but I do know that it hasn’t been rejected. I just wish the person would reject the offer already if that’s what he’s going to do. I hate waiting. I hate rejection.

I’ve been reading a book my sponsor gave me a week ago. I’ve been meaning to finish it this weekend but I’ve been busy attending meetups and getting the training I need to successfully promote my business.

I joined a Toastmaster’s Club. I didn’t know what a Toastmaster’s Club was at first, but I’m happy I went because what I learn with this group, I can use to promote my business. So, what’s a Toastmaster’s Club? Well, it helps you become better at public speaking, which is something I’ll need to be able to do when the time comes to pitch a script or motivate the people I sponsor into my business.

My business

Okay, I’m officially ready to write more about the business I just started a few days ago. I’m calling it the name you see to the right (for now).

I still haven’t heard back on that domain name I would like to buy. I guess no answer is a good thing as my offer could have been rejected. I sent an email to the owner and didn’t receive a response. If my bid is too low, you’d think that person would email me to let me know I should go higher.

I so hate shopping for domain names. I think I’m going to let a few domain names go. I have a couple that I don’t need. I just purchased them because I didn’t want anyone else to have them.

I went to a meetup tonight and only two of us showed. The organizer was kind of pissed. I think she’s going to make a stipulation that if anyone RSVP’s yes and don’t show up, they’ll get kicked out. That’s a smart rule because this is the second meetup scheduled and folks didn’t show up.

I have a meetup tomorrow at 9:30 am in Burbank. I wanted to cancel so I could spend the weekend learning about my business but since I RSVP’d I should go.

Networking

I already blogged about how I joined meetup.com to link up with people who have similar interests as myself. So far so good.

I’ve been contacted by a producer about screenplays though I don’t have any screenplays to show him, but knowing he’s interested in anything I will write is a start. I just need to write some scripts.

Found some folks to hang with on the weekends. My next two weekends are booked. Yay! It feels good to hang out with adults without a whole lot of responsibilities. It makes me feel younger.

Now, I’m going into my next venture. When I was in school, I did a little research on network marketing. Learned a couple of things, too. For example, Avon, Tupperware, Tastefully Simple and other network marketing companies experienced increased profits during recessions. The downside is most network marketing companies don’t last. As soon as the founders make enough money, the companies are sold off.

I’ve been introduced to a network marketing company with some real potential. The products are things I would use, like water! Who doesn’t need water? Pure water? The water is awesome, too. And there’s an e-commerce to help increase my earnings.

Anyway, I’ll be posting more information about it as I go through the process of learning more and starting my home business. I’ll be signing up on Monday. I feel really good about this.

For other issues, I’m gaining weight again. I’ve eating so much food, like tonight I went to have all-you-can-eat sushi. It was dang good, too. I’m still within my ideal weight range but I want to stop it before it gets out of control. If you could see a lot of the people I work with you’d understand why I’m paranoid about my weight.

Now, more about the sushi I consumed. I tried some things I never had before like Salmon Roe (it smells fishy) and Ono (white tuna-very good), and Eel (very good). I almost didn’t eat the Salmon Roe (eggs) because my mom, the drama queen, acted like Salmon Roe is the most disgusting thing you can put in your mouth. She doesn’t like the texture of the eggs. Well, I wouldn’t go that far with it-try cinnamon spaghetti-but I do have to say the fishy smell and salty taste is something that can keep me away from Salmon eggs. I’ll stick with my smelt eggs.

Well, I should be watching my movies I got through Netflix. I really like Netflix. I’ve gotten seven movies for $16 and I can still order more before the month is over. Talk about saving some money and gas, but I feel like I’m cheating on Movie Gallery. Whoever came up with Netflix is a genius.