Welcome to My Imagination!

Web Optimization

2010-10-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Yesterday I attended a lunch and learn on how to make your website appear first in line, when searched for. I often get this question from clients: "How do I get to the top of the Google list?" The answer was reiterated to me, yesterday.

Simply the five steps (and you can read more about them at: http://www.bluetraffic.com/local-marketing/5-steps-improve-online-visibility):

1. Start by learning how your potential customers are searching for you.
I often am asked how to come up with the best keywords? Bluetraffic.com has a great tidbit on this, but also I honestly sit at my google screen and say to myself, "if I were hunting for a local dress maker, what words would I use to google search them?" Then I do just that and see what comes up. That way I can decide if that's the location I want my website to come up in.

2. Look for ways to work your keyword phrases into your website.
Now I know, that without spellcheck I would not function very well. I'm reliant on spellcheck to do the spelling work for me, but I also know there are others out there that are just as bad at spelling and grammar as I am, hence use that as a tool. Think about how you may misspell something or use the jargon term instead of the actual term to find something? For example, it's not common that one searches for "incorporated" when searching for a company they are interested in. Most likely they search for the abbreviated term "inc." Keep that in mind when your choosing your keyword phrases or keywords.

3. Promote your website with social media
Has anyone seen the new movie, called The Social Network? It's a very powerful tool to advancing your business. People now a days spend a tremendous amount of time on such things as Facebook, Twitter, and My Space. As a business owner, you should use that knowledge to your advantage. Check out ping.com that will also help you post all at once, rather than trying to hire your teenage son/daughter to do such things for you. If your very serious about this sort of advertising, there are companies out there to assist you in that en devour, such as Bluetraffic.com or lavarow.com.

4. Open Google Places acct: www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
Very good advice! This is a powerful tool to help people find you, not only in your own "website city address" but your local physical location.

5. Start a Google Adwords campaign at https://adwords.google.com/
I've talked about Google Adwords in the past. I have even had pretty good luck with landing customers out of Adword campaigns. I do think it's a matter of what your willing to do to get customer's though. If this is your lively hood and advertising is a must for you, then I'd agree that Google Adwords is probably one of the best tools out there for advertising. Other than Facebook Ads.

Well folks, this is just my opinion. I hope everyone has learned, what I think is the most important lesson, pay attention. Pay attention to your website, your content, your links, your life!

Peace,
Misty

The Artist's Way Challenge

2010-03-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings Fellow Artists,
Julia Cameron has said it best with her book "The Artist's Way!" In this 12-week program she details a lesson plan that involves morning writings (3-pages daily of written thoughts!), sense of identity, power and integrity, a long with many other lessons. Julia's program is a challenging one that has most assuredly opened my artist block. Her program has helped me step outside of the box and into what I thought was impossible.

Working with many life coaches I've done the wheel of life exercise, that has you draw a circle and divide it into six pieces of pie, then label each one areas like spirituality, exercise, play, work, friends, romance, etc.. You are to draw a dot at the degree which are fulfilled in that area (outer rim indicates great, inner circle not so great). Then connect the dots to show where your pie is uneven. This is a very useful map in finding out the areas of which you need to improve in your life.

Julia furthers this by suggesting you create a map to help you protect your most sacred imagination! She suggests you draw a circle on a piece of paper. Inside the circle place the topics that you feel you should protect. Outside the circle place the names of those things and people that you must self protect your ideas from. Add names as appropriate to the inner and outer circle. I find this most intriguing, to write down the things that are important to you Sometimes without writing things down, we all forget what is important and what we should and shouldn't protect.

Maybe we all should try both of these exercises to find out what areas of our life we need to adjust to become more balanced, and what areas need to be protected.

Another challenge is the morning writings of thoughts. You are suggested to write 3 pages every morning with your thoughts, or maybe doing the book's homework. I've decided that writing on my blog is more useful to me and so expect to see more writings as it is my challenge for the year!

Ciao!
Misty

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and how they work for you.

2010-03-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Hello World!
With so many things to keep track of this day and age, how is one to keep up with the task of updating all the things that the Internet creates. Updating your Facebook, My Space, Twitter, and even Blogger accounts can be daunting.

When researching this and carefully considering hiring a teenager to do such tasks for me, I came across http://ping.fm which will allow you to post to all sorts of networks with one post, instead of the dreaded logging in to each account and updating things one by one.

I think everyone needs to know about this! It's a free service and is incredibly user friendly! Check it out, sign up, and make this year's posts the most valuable of your business career!

Good Luck!
Misty

What does a vision board look like?

2009-06-16T18:54:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!
Recently I co-hosted a teleclass with a client of mine, Heidi Michaels. In the class I focused on converting our garage into an art studio for my ever-talented husband (http://www.lincolnhover.com/) and I was asked a few questions about my personal vision board.

The first question I asked myself is how famous would l like for my husband to be with his wonderful artistic talents? In the vision board teleclass we have the ability to browse 10million photos through http://www.clipart.com/ and I typed in the word "famous." Of course, about 3000 pictures came up relating to that word, but the one that caught my vision was the Golden Gate Bridge. I copied the royalty free image and pasted it on my vision board. I want my husband to be as famous as the Golden Gate Bridge!

There were other questions, like why in the world do I have a air conditioner posted on there or why did I put a picture of a father teaching his child to paint? I simply answered with, we need an air conditioner for the garage and I want my husband to teach our son to paint. This is the simple logic behind the laws of attraction. You have to start manifesting your visions so your wants will have the right direction to find you!

The vision board teleclass is also an incredible fun journey. We spent time learning about ourselves and also learning some new technology too.

I hope you enjoy looking at my vibrant vision board and that you'll join us for the next teleclass on July 22, 2009 7pm CST! Email me at misty@mistylinc.com for more information!

Cheers!
Misty
http://www.mistylinc.com/

Join the fun!!!

2009-05-05T19:34:00.001-07:00

I am the technical guru for Heidi Michaels and together we are offering a one-of-a-kind Girl's Night In! Vision Boards are incredibly powerful and we hope you'll plan on attending our tele-class on May 14, 2009!
Here are the details:

Attn: Life Coaches Out There!

2009-02-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,
Many of our coaching clients have been offering the dreamboard creation series in their offices. It is a fantastic way to create goals for your future and focus in on what your heart and mind desire.

We've had a few inquiries about how to do a teleclass on dreamboard creation, so we have come up with the dream board teleclass details:

Most people who have been to a dreamboard creation class know that you spend a lot of time finding your pictures in magazine's and from various other places and then you spend time with the coach or moderator to help you design your dreamboard so it will use the laws of attraction to achieve your dreams, goals, and talents.

You may ask, how would doing a dreamboard teleclass benefit you and your life coaching business?
1. Your goal audience just expanded to be national and international.
2. You don't have to provide scissors to the participants.
3. You don't have to have a location rented or invite people to your office to participate.
4. And of course the cost of hosting such a party can be pricey.

We've all spent time in teleclasses and most of us know how to run a teleclass, so why not teleclass the dreamboard creation?

What does the teleclass cost and what are the processes involved?
1. You can host a teleclass with full digital technical support for $99, and that even includes the endless supply of online clipart for you and all of your teleclass participants.
2. The $99 fee includes:
a. Online clipart for all of the teleclass participants.
b. 15 minutes of on-line training from our design staff for all of the teleclass participants.
c. Meeting hosting for 2 hours so that all of you can view the instructors dreamboard, and your coaching instruction via audio and via your home office or office.

Email us for more details at misty@mistylinc.com

Warm Regards and Here's to Dreamboard Creation!
Misty Hover
Branding Architect
www.mistylinc.com
515.229.4767
Vibrant Branding for Your Life & Business.

Self Website Maintenance

2008-03-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
A common question among clients of ours is "Can I log in and change my own website content?" First let's start with YES you can and secondly let's talk about how this works. Paying a website developer (such as myself) can become very costly. If you need to change a sentence or two a website developer is going to charge you at least a 1/2 an hour of their time. If you have more extensive pages that need updated often, that could potentially run into a lot of money!

Our software allows you to log in, change whatever you would like with the content, and then publish it back to your own website, all by yourself! It also allows you to log in as often as you need or want to and at any time of any day. How does it work? It is called content management and what happens is it allows you to edit your live html documents, then publish them back to the same location they were before you edited them.

Our software also allows you to use a familiar format to edit your content. It is similar to a notepad format, or even blogger for a good example. It will allow you to add text, links, photos, even video, all of your own choice.

Now, your asking yourself how does this save me money? Because we charge $35/month for the content management, with all of the above featured benefits. You could easily spend that with your developer changing your content for you. So, what are you waiting for? Contact me today, call me direct at 515.229.4767 or email me at misty@mistylinc.com. Let's get started on your website today!

Self sufficient,
Misty

Best Widgets

2008-03-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I have been pondering lately, what are the best widgets to get from companies who want your business? In the past I've done coasters and magnets and brochures, oh my, but in your opinion, what are the best goodies to receive? Are they pens; are they rulers; are they post it notes?

Please take the poll to the left and tell me, what goodies are worthy of creating and also if you have any ideas of great marketing goodies, please send me an email (misty@mistylinc.com) and tell me all about it!

Cheers!
Misty
http://www.mistylinc.com/

Flash vs. HTML

2008-02-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
I have been asked in the past, do I create flash websites, and are they better then standard HTML? Well to answer that question, let's talk shop for a minute. What is Flash? Flash is a program made by (or bought out by) Adobe. It is part the Macromedia Suite, which is used to develop the really fancy websites you see out there today. Flash in my definition is a computerized flip book. When we were little kids, we'd make animations by creating a flip book: the same image, but doing different things on different pages, so that when you put them together and flip the edges it became animated. Just as Mr. Walt Disney did way back when... Flash does this electronically.

And although Flash is awesome for fade in and fade out words, and slideshows, I prefer standard HTML. Why? Because Flash can sometimes take a long time to load and I don't think your customers will want to wait around to see what's in store, even if it's only for 15 seconds, they won't be willing to wait. That's probably my biggest hesitation for not using Flash, of course that is just my humble opinion.

Standard HTML is what my site is built on (www.mistylinc.com), it's simple tables and rows, and some fancy placement coding, but just simple HTML. There are various (too many) types of HTML, such as Dynamic, Static, XHTML, etc... They all have their disadvantages and advantages. They are all useful in their own way.

I hope this was somewhat helpful to all of you out there!

Happy Building,
Misty

And the Winner Is!

2008-01-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

Howdy Everyone!
Aren't you dying to know who the winner of the Pay It Forward Contest is? His name is Norm Michaels from New York.

Norm is the husband of one of my clients, and his name was entered by his lovely wife, Heidi Michaels (www.nowsthetime4u.com). His deeds were simple, yet mighty. Here's what Heidi had to say regarding Norm:

My husband, Norm, is one of the most giving, selfless people I know. When I saw Misty's contest, I knew I had to enter for my husband. Norm is a father of five, ages 12-30. He owns his own Employee Benefits firm and is the Commissioner of the Girls Softball league for our town. (We don't even have kids in the league anymore) He volunteers his time to a Mental Health organization and serves as an Elder at our church. Along with his volunteering, owning his own business requires him to work many hours each week. He never complains, has tons of energy and is just the type of person that comes across people in need. If there is someone on the side of the road with a flat, Norm will stop. If a child needs a new softball mitt, he gives her one. The list is endless...as are his good deeds. Misty, the right man won this prize.

All the best, Heidi Michaels,
Certified Life CoachLife and Sports Performance Coach
Now's The Time
www.nowsthetime4u.com
(914) 232-7004/(914) 263-8659

If anyone would like to know what Norm's deeds were, please drop me a line at misty@mistylinc.com and I will gladly share them with you.

I will be hosting future contests, so get your RSS feeds off of my blog and be watching!

Happy Winnings Norm!
Misty

Pay It Forward Contest

2008-01-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Salutations Fellow Bloggers!
I am not sure if my audience has seen the movie (based on the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde) called "Pay It Forward?" It is a brilliant movie about a young boy who is assigned a social studies assignment, which leads to social changes that spread from city-to-city. He is assigned to come up with some idea that will improve mankind, this young boy decides that if he can do three good deeds for someone and they in turn can "pay it forward" and so forth, positive changes can occur.

As you all know I am very into the laws of attraction and believe this universe could use a little human element... so this is the basis of my first online contest! Here are the rules:

1. Email me (misty@mistylinc.com) three great (not just good, but great) deeds you've done in the past month. I will get to judge which ones I think are the best. Of course, the best group of three WINS!

2. I will award $100 off of my already cheap website design (3 page), which would make the winning price $299! I am only awarding this discount to one lucky individual, so you had better get busy and email me your deeds!

3. Contest entry deadline is 2 weeks from now. Entries must be sent in no later than January 22nd, 2008.

4. Simple rules, but please do be honest and these must be true deeds, as well as it will be at my discretion of which ones are true Pay It Forward deeds!

Best of luck to all of you and by golly, let's Pay it Forward!

Misty
http://www.mistylinc.com/

AdWords Campaign

2007-12-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Everything, Everyone!
I am just jotting down a few notes before finishing up my last minute shopping, probably like the rest of the US of A! Any way... one of my clients recently asked me if I knew anything about launching an adwords campaign. At the time, nope, didn't know a thing, but after reading up on it; I did know something after all. And after that wonderful introduction, here's what I know!

Adwords campaign is in my definition, buying search words from google. Whatever do I mean by this? When a user goes to google and types in "web design" there is a listing of websites in a block form at the top of the search results and at the side of the search results. Adwords campaign means buying those spots, when people search for whatever keywords your buying time for. So if I were to buy/bid on time for the words "web design" (top bidder $ wise, gets the top spot) and anyone who typed in web design, would see my listing in either of those boxes. This is a way to generate more traffic to your site.

Google's (I should really get commission for using their name so much, but I don't!) adwords campaign url is http://adwords.google.com. Yahoo also has their own version of this as well.

Now the drum roll, please! Do I think it's worth it? I guess it depends on your company. If you feel like you need more people directed to your site, then by all means, go for it! Again, as I've said before in other posts, there are other "free" ways of getting traffic to your site, but I don't think google's adword campaign is useless either. I guess the room is divided, and you'll have to go with your gut on this one!

Enjoy your Christmas and make sure to make it count!

Merrily yours,
Misty

Blog, Blog, Blog...

2007-12-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Blogging Everyone!
Recently I have been asked "What exactly is a blog?" A blog is by definition A frequently updated journal or diary usually, often hosted by a third party. It seems to me that everyone and almost all of their brothers have a blog for all sorts of reasons. I have two, this one which is my more professional stuff and then I have my personal one that I get to post the thoughts and feelings of a passionate graphic mind... The fun thing about the blog is you can post nearly anything you want up there. I get to post and people get to subscribe!

That brings me to my next topic, how does one subscribe to a blog? There are RSS Feed Readers out there. These RSS Feed Readers will allow you to collect your favorite blog in a very plain format, so when you receive the email from your reader it will not have a lot of other information besides the text from the chosen blog. You can check it out more at http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlereader/tour.html. The googlreader is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing!

I hope you will all get to subscribe to my crazy blog and be watching for an updated website of mine: www.mistylinc.com. I am hoping to launch for the New Year!

Happily Blogging,
Misty

Searchable?

2007-11-02T19:10:00.001-07:00

Howdy Entire Web Community,
Today I really want to focus on: are you searchable? Does your website use the right words to promote you to your customers? I get asked my trade secret on this one, constantly, so I am going to let it all hang out here. Most simply, because (again) knowledge is nothing without sharing it.

So let's talk shop for a minute. There are a few things you should know about a website. Within the code of the website there are "meta-tags," and this is where you supposedly put your words like "inspiration branding" and a few others that are within my code on my website (www.mistylinc.com) I believe the theory to be that this is what some search engines use for their "creepers." These creepers go out and find sites and log them based on their keywords.

Although the theory is great, from my research a lot of creepers don't use the meta tags at all, they use the actual page content. This means we all have to do a few things to make the creepers find us more easily.

First of all, do still use the meta tags, just in case technology decides to prove us all wrong! My trick is I google the exact words I'd use to find a particular service/person/part and then I look at their meta tags (IE - View Source, usually the first few lines and it will say Meta Tag Keywords) and then I decide what is useful and I use similiar words on my own meta tags.

Secondly, put in blind data. Your pages don't need to be so overwhelmed with text to make sure you have absolutely covered every single aspect of your business. Just add some blind or hidden text behind your graphics, in the same color as the background. This will give the creepers something to find on your site without going through your meta tags.

And last but not least, my recent agent in this dirty deed of keywords is Google Analyatics. Brilliant, by google once again! The link for this is https://www.google.com/analytics/home/ This web based software allows you to track your website. You simply put a snibit of text at the bottom of your code and ta-da you have a tracking device! Then once signed up with google analytics, you can go in and view who's been watching, viewing, returning, what keywords their using, everything but whom they are. I can't rave enough about this FREE service! If you use this service correctly you will be able to modify your website's content to reflect what people are searching for. This has been my biggest advocate for keywords.

I hope these tips have been helpful to the general public out there. Best of luck to you!

Intenet Sincerely,
Misty

Domain Names & Hosting (Parking Managers)

2007-10-25T18:23:00.001-07:00

Greetings Fellow Citizens!
In this day and age it's pretty hard to keep up with technology, but we do have to at least try, right? Does everyone know what it takes to run a website?

Running a website is a residual thing. There are two areas of thought here. One is hosting, which is a parking manager, and the other is domain registration, which is your parking spot's name.

A company will charge you (on a monthly or yearly basis) to park your website on their server. So think of hosting as your parking manager. Pretend your website is a car. You need a place to park your car, and there are some of us out there that are lucky enough to have free parking, but for the most part we all have to pay in some way to park our cars. Now apply that knowledge to hosting your website.

There are a ton of hosting companies out there, and often I get asked what's the best one or what package is right for my site. Honestly, I am hooked on Ihoststudio.com. they are professional, always on-line and reliable, so in other words they always have parking spots available in the shade, but close to the elevator. Now they don't pay me to post on my blog about them, so no brownie points for sharing my opinion, but knowledge is nothing without sharing it with others.

Now as far as which package suits you, well that is based on how big of a parking spot you want. Do you have a 24 seat van that takes up three spaces, or do you have a mini coupe that only takes up 1/2 a space? It depends on how big your site is going to be as to which package will suit you best. Most people get away with the bare minimum of packages, which will run you on average $15-$20 a month, but there are tons of other options for shopping carts, ezine management, and hoards of other stuff.

What about the domain registration you ask? Domain registration is your website's (or parking space if you will) name. It could be from employeeofthemonth.com to geeksrus.com and everything in between. This is what people will type in the URL of a browser to get to your site. Like mine for instance is www.mistylinc.com, that's my domain name. Most companies (I use Ihoststudio) charge from $7 to $40 a year for domain registration. Most will offer some phishing software to go along with your domain and I highly recommend you buy it. It keeps the predators off your site. Tips for choosing a domain name:

Stick to .com instead of .net or even .org. People are stuck on .com and if you have to tell them .net then they won't remember you site..
Choose something short, sweet, and simple.
Acronyms work great, but stay away from abbreviated words as everyone abbreviates differently and you will have to explain yourself a lot.
It doesn't have to be your company's name, but it is preferred.
If you have spent enough time branding then your name will be unique enough to find the domain name you want.
Domains.com will give you other options to choose from, sort of like synonyms for your first choice.

Now go out there and sign up for your electronic parking spot! In other words, your website!

Peacefully yours,
Misty

Today in History!

2007-10-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well folks, let's talk about a big day yesterday, in history. I know this may sound strange, but Drew Carry took over for Bob Barker on the Price is Right! I think that is a very interesting tactic. For those of you who are familiar with the Price is Right, you know that Bob has been the host for more than 30 years... Drew Carry, in my humble opinion is an interesting person of choice. Drew has had many sitcoms on TV and seems to be likable, but I still think he will have a hard time taking up such big shoes. With Bob's charm and tiny microphone, how will Drew prevail? It's like watching a political campaign? It will be very interesting to see how it comes out!

This brings me to my blog topic for today. American History. If you really consider how far we have come in just the past 50 years it would knock your socks off! We have accomplished so much in our society that's it amazes me every day.

When I was a child (this really dates me...) I had a pen pal in Russia and I remember writing her telling her I couldn't imagine anyone being president other than Regan, as he had been president most of my childhood and at the time of writing my pen pal it was time for a new president. Now I am not a true political person, and I know so many people are really funny about discussing their beliefs on political topics, but I do got to say would we be anywhere but in the dark if our founding father's had not created the constitution and the American Brand? I don't think so...

Do you think that they sat around and debated whether or not the American Brand should it have a song, should it have colors associated with it, or should we just let it happen how it is supposed to? Nope! They took charge, made it happen with colors and a song and a belief that any dream was possible and without that brand, we would not be the American people we are today.

We are not afraid of change, however you cannot effectively change if you don't have a foundation to stand on? That American Brand has brought us to the chance that there may be a woman as president, very soon. Now I am not discussing the political party of Hillary Clinton, I am discussing the realization of how far we have come? And in comparison to other countries, American women are so well respected and have knocked every one's socks off, including their own! This is the day we should say wow what a country and I HAVE to say, I am proud to be part of it!

That's all the opinion I have for today, other than Go Drew! :) Have an inspirational day on me!

Misty

Prosperity Game

2007-10-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attracted a new client, and she has posted on her blogger (http://lorraine-x-pectmiracles.blogspot.com/) a link to this game called the prosperity game! I would love for everyone to visit this site and try it out! It is so much fun to imagine having all the money in the world and being able to do whatever it is your heart desires....

The greatest thing is that once you begin to play you begin to imagine, you begin to attract. You start to think hard about all the things you want in life, material, or non-material and you begin to attract them into your life. There is a serious gravity pull here, it lies within each and everyone of us. We just have to tap into it, believe it and overcome the obstacles that get in our way.

I hope everyone gets to play this game! I am! http://www.choosingprosperity.com/game/index.php

Enjoy!

People are Watching!

2007-10-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

This week I was told that people do read your blog, so update often and make it count! As a true believer in talent, I am posting to my newly remodeled blog and hope all of you out there are listening. I haven't any complaints to write about, which is remarkable, not because I am a person who complains (those of you who know me well...) a lot, but because I cherish every single second I can!

What do you do for relaxation, to take time for you? Here I am taking my own time posting to the blog, and you might ask why? Because writing is a gift that most of us possess and hopefully it is as universal as the movies? Or maybe it's a lost art, either way I love it! It flows from me like inspiration for a new site or a change that I want to make to mine, it just simply flows. Here I am with writing diarrhea again, and I am not ashamed to say I love to converse. It's an art and I truly appreciate others who can do the same.

In my relaxing moments, when not in knee deep in work, I love to watch movies, and I thought I would post up here the latest movie I was fortunate to watch. It is called the Ultimate Gift. My husband, even, was unsure what he had got himself into, but after watching it, said it was worth the few tears shed. It was a tear jerker, no doubt, but it was also one that touched my soul. It looked me right in the eyes, reached down, grabbed my heart as it lay limp and electrified me back to my savoring life! It was really a neat story about a guy who had to receive many "gifts" from his passed grandfather before he could receive his huge inheritance. One of the gifts was about learning the value of money, and another was to find one true friend even when the money is gone... All great life lessons!

The value of money is an interesting one for me, personally. I would definitely say that there has always been this burning fire in me to do better then my parent's could provide for me, do better because it (whatever "it" is) was/is all going to be mine someday. This notion had nothing to do with greed or feeling sorry for myself, it was more of a challenge; a motivational thing for me to push myself harder and harder and harder until I feel like I have reached what I desired. I still believe that if you want it, it's there, you just have to want it bad enough, and know how to ask for it! You can't quit because it's hard or it's not EXACTLY what you wished for, you have to be smart enough to know the difference between these two and figure out what you have to do to get past the barriers and into the next realm. I do have to say that a close friend gave me an article regarding treating your relationships with immaterial things as people instead of just material things. This has drastically changed my life! I had a dream (as Dr. MLK would say so himself!) that my "money person" was Jack Nicholson and I needed him to be Harrison Ford. If you think about it, what's the first impression you have in your imagination about Jack? He's ruthless? Maybe he careless and carefree? Surely doesn't appear to be mild mannered or civil, more like wild and crazy? How about Harrison Ford? He's more refined, distinguished and more responsible? He's trustworthy and decent? That's the relationship I have to have with my money. I was never to wild and crazy, but my opinion of me was that I was truly that! Now that I have my head around the idea of Harrison and not Jack, I understand more, I make better decisions because I care for my money as if it were a person, not just a thing. You should try it sometime, you might be surprised how it can change your life?

Well until next time, dear readers.. I hope I have been fluent in your heart language and enjoy your moment of sanity doing whatever it is you enjoy!

Inspirationally yours,
Misty

Life Laws

2007-09-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Good rules of the game. YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK!

Life Law #1: You either get it, or you don't.
Strategy: Become one of those who gets it.
Life Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life.
Life Law #3: People do what works.
Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others.
Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about your life and everybody in it.
Life Law #5: Life rewards action.
Strategy: Make careful decisions and then pull the trigger.
Life Law #6: There is no reality; only perception.
Strategy: Identify the filters through which you view the world.
Life Law #7: Life is managed; it is not cured.
Strategy: Learn to take charge of your life.
Life Law #8: We teach people how to treat us.
Strategy: Own, rather than complain about, how people treat you.
Life Law #9: There is power in forgiveness.
Strategy: Open your eyes to what anger and resentment are doing to you.
Life Law #10: You have to name it before you can claim it.
Strategy: Get clear about what you want and take your turn.

Understanding a Brand!

2007-09-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have always known exactly what a brand is, however recently I have been so enlightened to know the "science" behind it. Marketing is a vast world of magic and smoke, that's for sure. There is so much more to a brand then just the logo, the website, the color, the experience, there is substance beyond belief there! It's like the foundation for a building. If the concrete is not square, or if there are pivots caused by nature, then there is a chance that the building will one day fail because of it. Same goes for a brand! I look at the world of marketing in a whole new light, I see it fuller and richer, and almost as if I were a detective of sorts. Now it is a puzzle for me to solve, what is that company's core values, what does their logo represent, who is their audience?

I find this process rather exciting and had to share it with the rest of the world. There are tons of examples I could give, but the best for me, is Wal-Mart. Everyone has been to a wal-mart, or at least seen a commercial for them on TV. Their motto is We sell for Less, period! Wal-mart, has been beaten to death by some people who don't believe that their bulling is fair to the little guy, but most of those people who have beaten, are almost guaranteed to have bought something from Wal-mart because it's cheaper then the competition? But let's get back to their brand here, Wal-mart has been very effective in achieving their brand that has recognition. When we all think of Wal-mart we think of cheap, hence their "We sell for Less," motto. This is their brand, it's not just that they color their stores blue, or the fact that their stores are almost all identical, or that they offer decent insurance to their workers, it's that you know just by thinking of Wal-mart, they sell for less. You know when you go there, that the store will most likely look like any other Wal-mart you have been in, and that they will offer a multitude of items for less, without even seeing their store, you KNOW this. That, my friends, is brand recognition!

I am engulfing in this process myself and I hope that all of you get from brand, that my core values are: integrity, intuition, and creativity.

My core value statement is: A vibrant brand is similar to a picture being worth a 1000 words.

Misty

Not the Desitnation, but the Journey

2007-08-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have heard these few words in a lot of conversations lately, and I have to say they resonate with me. Lately I have attracted so many amazing things, I am not always sure of how to process them. I am talking life altering changes, from my husband's chance of renewal with a new job banging at his door, to my website design business growing and being part of the inspiration I am part of; to my son growing and counting to 10 before he's two. These are all life altering and roller coaster rails in my journey and boy what a journey!

I have to share what one of my clients put on her page because it just simply brought tears to my eyes. Inspiration is not a thing that should be taken lightly. http://www.nowsthetime4u.blogspot.com/

Every step, every rail, everything will come around and fall right into place where it belongs.

I am a magnet!

2007-07-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

This universe is a really strange place. Have you ever really just thought of something, and then it happens? There is a lot of buzz out there on the "law of attraction," and after careful (okay not really) consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I AM A MAGNET! I get to wake up each wonderful day and say this is what will happen today. Guess what it actually works!

What about the statement "be careful what you wish for?" There is also truth to this. Your subconscious mind will wander and you have to learn to focus and take out the trash. There are so many comments, good and bad, that go through one's wandering mind. How can you really be here in the moment if your mind is thinking about how to pay the bills, or how to get from here to there? Focusing in on your gremlins and realizing that you can separate yourself from them, has been my biggest hurdle. What can I say, I have a wandering mind! I try to focus and realize it isn't working, but then something resonates with me. A friend let me borrow a movie, called "the peaceful warrior." And in this movie the guy says "Paradox, Life is a mystery, don't try to figure it out!" This is what resonates with me. Let me be a magnet and let me attract the type of life I want instead of me standing on the cliff trying to figure out how, why or when I got here, and most of all, what am I doing here! Let me just be here, in the moment, focused on the importance of this moment!

This is today's lesson, I am a magnet, no matter what!

Today I am a magnet!

What's my story?

2007-07-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Really I want to see a show of hands, who wants more? Whether it be money, time, family, life, who wants more?

The entrepreneurial mind is a terrible thing to waste and here's the reality of my business! Truly, when my two year old son recognizes the Geico Car Insurance Lizard and calls him "Bucka," because he cannot say the word "lizard," this tells me a few things. First of all, Geico has done their homework, they are pulling a marketing stunt so to speak. Second of all this tells me that Geico has achieved a higher rate of excellence: association by brand! Thirdly, my son watches too much TV!

No really, the point I am trying to get across is wanting more for your business and your life is a real expectation, a real desire. Otherwise why would you have started your business in the first place?

The biggest card that I have to play and what makes my services different then all the rest, is that I am a wee bit crazy! I don't know what the box looks like so I am unable to think inside of it. I want people to succeed, and knowing who they are and what brand they want to be associated with is a talent of mine! I want to share my talent and help you discover who you really are, who is your ultra ego business personality, and what does the rest of the world see?

I wish I could say that people don't judge a book by its cover, but I can almost guarantee that 90% of the population base their spending habits and life on the "cover of the book." If you can't peak their interests in the first 5 seconds, your probably not going to. This is where I feel I can help you. Let's make this life more interesting! Check out my website, my portfolio, and let me help you put your mark on the world!