photo credit: LOLren

As many blogs become less pastime and more money making venture, there is often quite a bit of pressure that may come with the task. Finding ways to reduce and manage this stress can benefit you and your blog in numerous ways. By decreasing stress, your writing may become less rigid, productivity could rise, and your energy levels could increase, which could leave you finding your work more enjoyable.

1. Break Times – Breaks can be a fantastic way to reduce stress when you’re blogging. While you obviously don’t want to overdo it when it comes to taking breaks, a brief stoppage to your work can be refreshing and allow you to recoup and regroup.
2. Networking – By utilizing those in your network, you may reduce stress by communicating with those you enjoy and find interesting. These people may also offer tips, techniques, and helpful information to assist you in your work that can help reduce stress.
3. Look at Other Blogs and Website – While you probably don’t want to spend the majority of your time on frivolous websites, you may find that you can correlate a little work with your breaks or downtime by checking out other websites. This may allow you to find inspiration and new ideas in fun and interesting places while networking and reducing your stress levels at the same time.
4. Put it in Perspective – Blogging can be a ton of work and certainly have its stressful moments. However, many bloggers often have the ability to work from home, and there is the opportunity to make money from your blog as well, maybe even turn it into a full time job. This could be a much more attractive option than having to sit in an office all day at the typical 9-5 job.
5. Step Back From it All – Sometimes you might just need to step back from it all. Consider taking a walk, getting some exercise, calling a friend, or playing with the kids or dog. Remember, you’re working on a blog here, not sewing garments in a sweatshop, or hacking meat in a slaughterhouse – all things considered, it could probably be much worse.
6. Workspace – Sometimes our workplace or space adds to our stress. While a home environment can be a wonderfully stress-free place to work on your blog, it might also incorporate many aspects you may not even realize are stressful. The barking dog, screaming children, ringing phone, the need to do laundry, wash dishes, make dinner, etc., can all add stress to your life. Consider finding a spot where you can work on your blog while attempting to avoid more of these stress-inducing factors.
7. Make a List – Sometimes, seeing everything down on paper can make things feel just a little better. Having your tasks written down or typed so that they won’t be forgotten, may take a little extra strain off your brain, and leave you feeling like at least one small burden has been lifted from your shoulders.
8. Organize and Prioritize – Just having a list or knowing what needs to be done, often isn’t enough. You may want to take a moment and organize your list into categories or even sub-categories based upon what items are most important, what needs to be taken care of first, and other pertinent aspects of your to-do list.
9. Stay Within Your Pace – When you become flustered or fall behind in your work, you may be more apt to pick the pace, possibly making more mistakes in the process. Sometimes quicker isn’t always better and it is important to recognize that staying within your work pace may not only help you reduce stress when working on your blog but eliminate the number of errors you make as well.
10. Rest Your Eyes – Resting your eyes, especially after working in front of a computer for extended periods, may help you come back refreshed and re-focused. Sometimes, with your eyes closed and brain free from processing outside information, you may better process thoughts and organize your ideas.

Whatever techniques you use to help keep your blogging stress free, it’s important that you find what works for you. Tips and advice can prove helpful, but as the saying goes, “different strokes for different folks”. Just because you’ve read that something works for others, it doesn’t mean it will work for you, and you may still have to attempt a variety of de-stressing techniques to find what suits you best.

James Adams is a blogger and designer who works with an ecommerce store offering HP 351 ink and supplies. Much of his time is spend editing and writing posts on the CreativeCloud, a blog about design and advertising.

A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked his students if the jar was full…they all agreed that it was full.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked again if the jar was full. Again, they all agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else in the jar. He then asked once more if the jar was full to which the students responded with a resounding..YES!

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under his table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students started to laugh.

Now, said the professor as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things…your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions…and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else…the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the golf balls or the pebbles. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents, visit with your grandparents. Take time to get regular medical checkups. Take your parents out to dinner, play another round of 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house or fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first…the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled and said…I’m glad you asked.

The coffee shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

The Gazzman, Gary Simpson

Rod Macbeth

1) Was Born in 1955 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

2) Has lived here all of my life save for ten years spent in Richmond, BC when the job market took a nose dive.

3) is a Gemini.

4) Has spent 34 years as an electrician. Due to a repetitive rotator cuff injury, arthritis and a small tendon tear in my right shoulder I’m no longer really able to work in my trade any longer. This is largely behind my decision to pursue Internet Marketing full time. Although, after 34 years, I’m ready for a change.

5) Used to smoke but quit eight years ago.

6) Used to be a heavy drinker. Quit that nonsense twenty-two years ago. The single best thing I’ve ever done.

7) Has had Type II diabetes for six years.  It’s the type controlled by pills and diet, not insulin. Thank goodness for that. I may have got it due to my drinking as none of the usual factors like being overweight or having a family history of diabetes applies to me.

8 ) Used to play the bagpipes and was the pipe major of a Pipe and Drums band. No, I won’t tell you what a Scotsman wears under his kilt. That’s for you to find out at your own risk… which is considerably less risky for the ladies.

9) Used to play the drums in a heavy rock and roll band.

10) Is a headbanger.

11) Enjoys all types of music with a few exceptions.

12) Doesn’t watch TV…hasn’t for fifteen years.

13) Is not into sports. Used to be but got tired of listening to inane colour commentators and supporting huge salaries for playing a game.

14) Has been a computer addict since getting his first one.

15) Has been surfing the internet since before most people knew it existed or what it was.

16) Plays “World of Warcraft” extensively and is the Guildmaster of a successful guild and moderator of probably the largest WoW related forums save for Blizzard’s official forums.

17) Has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour.

18) Loves animals of all types…well snakes maybe not so much.

19) Has no real desire for material things beyond the necessities. Excluding the best computer I can afford.

20) Has no driving desire to be wealthy but does buy lottery tickets.

21) Has a very low tolerance for having to repeat himself.

22) Loves the old Clint Eastwood and James Bond movies.

23) Has read “Lord of the Rings” several times…so many I’ve lost count.

24) Favourite song is Led Zeppelins’ “Stairway to Heaven”. Do you know how they got their name? Eric Clapton remarked to the band members that they’d go over like a lead balloon.

25) Dislikes traveling. Would like to have his own “Scotty” to beam him to exotic locales and beam him home again…along with his own bed and computer system.

I tag:

Anne Marie Dennis

Gigi Messina

Gary Simpson to come up with another 25 …<Evil Cackle>

A project I`ve been working on is coming to completion. At least I hope so. I was hoping to have it out some time ago but ran into some hurdles. It`s become even more important as the benefits I`ve been receiving for my bad shoulder are about to run out so an income stream from all this is becoming much more important. I haven`t mentioned my shoulder, and how it`s largely behind me entering the Internet Marketing field, as it was going to be brought up in my “About” page which I have yet to get around to doing. (see above about planning going out the window ) Anyways, I’m an electrician by trade, have been for over thirty years, and I’m no longer able to raise my right arm above my shoulder for extended periods of times. This is due to a combination of chronic bursitis and a small tendon tear. Needless to say, I’m not of much use as an electrician with that kind of a limitation so here I am trying to do this Internet Marketing thing.

Being that I’ve fallen behind in my posting and things have kind of got out of sync in terms of what Alex has taught us, and when, I’ll be trying to do a post on each module in the near future. I’m going to give each one another listen then post on it. They may become a little spread out as there’s other things I want to post on also and projects that need my attention but I hope to get caught up fairly quickly.

I think this quote is appropriate for how things have gone in the past couple of weeks.

“The best plans of men and mice often go awry” Robert Burns

So why did I balk at using it in the online world until seeing it discussed by Alex Jeffreys when I was used to using it in the offline world? I suppose it was largely because I felt I could do the tasks cheaper myself but, as I have learned, I was fooling myself to a large extent. The biggest mistake was not viewing my online business the same as I did my offline one even though the same principles apply. Every business, be it online or not, requires a certain amount of investment both in time and money. The trick is knowing when your time is better spent doing something else.

What do you feel your time is worth? Do you feel you’re worth $10 an hour? $20? I found that to be a hard number to determine initially as I was basing it to a large extent on what I made as an electrician, more accurately, what the going rate was for one. That, of course, wasn’t going about it right as Internet Marketing is not Electrical Contracting. What I finally did was figure out my monthly expenses and base what my time is worth on that.

Once I arrived at that figure it was far easier to see where I could use outsourcing to my benefit. While outsourcing copywriting and graphics work was pretty apparent to me from the start I had a little lesson in how Web Hosting could also be something to consider. I’m pretty good at the techie stuff. I can set-up a blog in no time and am comfortable digging around in the code to make changes but is it cost beneficial for me to be doing so? I’ve come to find that putting up my own blogs makes sense but digging around in the code maybe not so much. This became apparent when I noticed that the link text was being hidden on my comments page due to the colour of my headers. After mucking around for an hour or so and not finding a solution I sent an email off to Sheryl at ProHost Management asking her if she could fix it for me. This was at midnight or so and the following morning I woke up to find that she’d found a solution and the text was now visible. Needles to say, Sheryl will be hearing from in the future should stuff like that crop up and I’ll be spending my time doing something more beneficial…or fun.

The reason I brought the trouble with my links up is to illustrate that sometimes you have to look a little deeper into where outsourcing can prove to be more beneficial. I also have hosting with Hostmonster who have provided me with quality hosting for some time, and still do. They are cheaper then ProHost but don’t provide the same level of support and there’s where I started to look at Web Hosting as a form of outsourcing. While I initially opened up an account with ProHost for their Social Traffic Hosting package I’ve come to realize that the extra support…outsourcing…will also be of great benefit to me.

So look a little deeper at the tasks you’re doing. You may find that you’re far better off to have someone else do them while you concentrate on doing things you’re more proficient at. Also look past the price and more at the services and features offered. Don’t just concentrate on the present, look to the future. While some features may not be beneficial to you at this time they may in the future. Changing services later can prove to be costly and/or inconvenient.

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Vince Lombardi

There’s several things to consider in choosing an AutoResponder but the biggest is deliverability. If your mailings aren’t getting through to your subscribers then your not going to be making any sales. One of the biggest causes of mail not getting through is spam traps. With so much spam out there Internet Providers all have tools in place to filter out spam. If your AutoResponder company does not have a good name and reputation your chances of having your mailings fail to reach your subscribers increases substantially. On the other hand if your AutoResponder company does have a good reputation your chance are increased dramatically. Even the use of simple words like free can cause your mail to get trapped if you choose the wrong company. It may happen anyways but the chances are far less. This is where the bigger names like AWeber and GetResponse become so important. Their reputation is so high among Internet Providers that mail delivery is almost guaranteed unless you ARE a spammer.

What’s that I hear? Other companies are cheaper you say? Well, what price do you put on the success of your business? Is it worth losing everything you’ve put hours of effort into through the choice of a bad AutoResponder company. It can happen. Spam complaints can see your host closing down your site, you can even lose your domain. All for saving a few dollars a month. Let’s have a closer look at pricing. You’ll be hard pressed to find an AutoResponder company that charges less then $20 a month give or take a few dollars. Where the increased prices come into play is that companies like AWeber and GetResponse have tiered pricing. So while some will charge $20 a month for 10,000 subscribers AWeber and GetResponse prices increase after you exceed 500 subscribers, to around $30, and again after passing 2,500 to around $50. At a glance that may seem like a big increase, especially the second one, but is it really? If you’ve been building your mailing list properly you’ve been targeting people interested in your product or niche not going after huge numbers. After all, wouldn’t you sooner have a list of 100 buyers then 1,000 tire kickers? That being the case, by the time you reach 500 subscribers you should be seeing a return from your mailing list and a $10 increase in your monthly AutoResponder should not be of any great concern. By the time you reach 2,500 you could be making a comfortable living off of your mailing list and what’s $50 a month for the service that provides you your living to a large extent?

When I was in the process of choosing an AutoResponder I did a lot of research as I knew how important it is. Among other things, I posted on as many forums related to Internet Marleting as I could asking what AutoResponder people felt was the best. The overwhelming response was that AWeber and GetResponse are the best. The responses mentioning other ones were almost non-existent. So which of the two is the best? In terms of price and features they are pretty much identical but AWeber enjoys the support of a lot of the industry and a lot of things like templates and the like default to AWeber. Whichever you choose, or if you elect to go elsewhere, just remember that choosing an AutoResponder is a big choice in the future plans for your business. PLAN FOR SUCCESS!

“Success often comes to those who dare to act. It seldom goes to the timid who
are ever afraid of the consequences.” Jawaharlal Nehru

“Forward to Basics“. This module focuses on the basics of running a business and having it run smoothly. The core of it is planning and organization. Short term, mid-term and long term planning or, put another way, daily, weekly, monthly, quartly and yearly. By planning your tasks you enable yourself to focus more and you greatly improve your productivity. It hasn’t even been a week since the first module and I’ve seen my productivity go up greatly. This in itself may not be a new concept to some of you, although I’m guessing most of you don’t do it, but one element that’s discussed is breaking your tasks up into priorities and labeling them A, B or C. By doing this you’re focusing on the tasks that need to be done and leaving the lesser ones for later. I started with talking of putting up a new site as it illustrates how well this can work. You may plan to spend four hours to put up your new blog but easily use up the whole day and still not finish. However, by planning your tasks you have them written down and can just move everything forward until such time that you can complete them. You may even find that some of the B’s and C’s weren’t even necessary. Longer term planning helps to make sure you don’t pass over other important A tasks that can so easily be forgotten.

You may find it hard to plan far ahead, I know I certainly do, but as you progress it should become easier. Reading the forums I get the sense that some people take some things too literally, which may not be the best way to approach things. I feel you need to adapt courses like this to your own needs, abilities, goals, etc. Personally, I’m not in this business to try and make millions of dollars but to make a comfortable living with the least amount of effort. That’s not to say I’ll turn away the opportunity to make millions but I’m obviously going to approach things differently then someone who is after that kind of money. I’m also single and have no family so my plans are going to differ from those with a family. All these factors can affect the way you plan and the ease with which you can do it. I am finding that by always doing a “did sheet“, keeping track of tasks completed, and making a daily and weekly plan that I find myself thinking of things that can be done next week. I’m guessing that as I progress further that it will advance into thinking of things months ahead. The main thing is to make sure you plan at some level. At a minimum plan tomorrow today. If you can plan farther ahead all the better. “Forward to Basics” is much more then just planning and delves into other areas to prepare us for building our businesses and to say I was impressed is an understatement. I’m looking forward in anticipation to the next module.

“Attitude is everything, shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll be amongst the stars.” Authour unknown