Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon
Ye cannot serve God and mammon…that may sound too religious for an internet blog, but I would propose to you that it is not necessarily a religious statement. So how does it apply to internet marketing?
Mammon is generally considered to be money, or the love of money, and stories abound of people who seek money only, who come up dissatisified. After they achieve all, they are still searching.
So how does serving God apply to internet marketing? Incorporate your God-given talents into what you are doing, your God-given dreams. Don’t pursue money for money’s sake alone.
As anyone who has been online for any length of time will tell you, an internet business IS an internet business. It is not an internet lottery. It is not an internet slot machine. It is a business that will require your time, talent, interest, and effort. So make it something along the lines of your talents.
Are you an English major? Maybe have a tutoring site. Or sell books you have authored. Are you an artist? Learn internet marketing to sell your paintings online. Or maybe make an online course teaching people the rudiments of drawing or painting. Learn how to make videos to create a course you can sell. Are you an architect? Draw plans that people can implement for simple buildings…maybe that missionaries can use in underdeveloped countries. Take your talent and turn it into an online business.
Don’t try to be something you are not, making money the way you see someone else do it. It may work for a while, you may have limited success. But if your heart is not in it, if it is not really “you”, you would be better off reflecting on your true abilities that only you know, combine them with internet training, and come out with a business.
That is why I started this with the quote, ye cannot serve God and mammon. If you are serving mammon only, you most likely are ignoring your gifts and talents chasing after dollars or whatever currency you are chasing. I suggest taking the internet knowledge you are learning and turning it into a business that is fulfilling not only monetarily, but also in other ways as well because you are doing what you are best suited to do and only you can do. No one can replace your unique talents and abilities, no one can mimic them, and no one can do what only you can do best.
Need A Computer Tech?
A while back I had a bit of a problem with my computer. Computers are great until they don’t work and that’s when you need a good computer technician.
I knew of one and he did help me and I wanted to recommend him to you. His name is Ken Harthun and he actually quite a bit more than technical support. In his words…
I do everything related to Internet Marketing and websites as well as remote technical support. I run a hosting company and can offer very inexpensive hosting for internet marketers, including a free page for those just starting out. If a person has a technical problem on their computer, I can help them as long as they still have a connection to the internet. I am also a security expert and can help people out in that way so they stay safe on the internet.
If you want to contact him, email Ken (at) kenharthun.com
You might want to save this information. You may not need have any computer problems today, but you might want to know where to hire a good tech in the future.
Update WordPress, Update Plugins
I had hoped to take a bit of day off. I had gone to the store and gotten some potting soil and fertilizer and had hoped to start a vegetable garden today. Not so fast.
I came home and found a rather extensive email from my hosting company that started like this:
We have received complaints of malware on your site as referenced below, and upon inspection we found that malware had indeed been injected into your account. Upon further investigation we found that your account is running outdated scripts or plugins which have been exploited. This allowed a PHP shell to be injected to your account, which then lead to malware being inserted into your site(s). The vast majority of injections are done by malicious users who have found exploits in scripts previously (and legitimately) installed on the account. We have taken the below actions to prevent further malicious activities. Please make sure to update your password, and to update all the scripts/plugins on your account to the latest version….
I’m glad to know they were watching, however, that did necessitate me getting on a live chat with a technical representative and finding out what to do.
Basically, the two suggestions were to update my passwords, both my general hosting password, as well as individual blog passwords, and to update my WordPress blogs and plugins. I found out that updates were sitting there, I could see them at the top of the admin area saying to update to the latest WordPress version, “WordPress 3.3.1 is available! Please update now.”
When I clicked on that it said that an updated version of WordPress was available and there was a button to “Update now”.
Then I had to update all plugins. I clicked on the Plugin area. At the top of the page, it said “Updates available”. When I clicked on that, it showed which plugin needed to be updated and I clicked the “Update now” button to do so.
It took me a bit of time as I have more than one blog. While I was at it, I took the time to look over each blog and do a bit of tweeking.
It was a bit like having to go to the gym when one expects to be able to take the day off, but it all worked out. I did find a really good article to link to for one of my blogs, so there was a payoff.
I decided to post about the updating experience here and give some clues on how to do so, so you don’t have to go through the same experience.
Synchronicity
Synchronicity. This is the computer definition when I look it up in the resource section in Microsoft Office. [A]situation when separate events seem connected. [A] situation in which two or more things happen at the same time and seem to be connected even if they are not.
In terms of building a business, I believe synchronicity is an important concept. No matter what niche you are involved in, or what you are trying to accomplish on the internet, it is important to be aware when people/connections/events happen that can help propel your business forward. You may meet the right graphic artist, the right editor, the right “whomever” who has the skill and talent to help take you to the next step or the next level. And it may be possible for you to swap your talent in exchange.
I want to talk about an synchronistic event that just happened to me. It really has nothing to do with marketing, it just shows that a Higher Power can arrange things.
I recently had to take a trip and did not have a cell phone. I personally have avoided getting one. I just didn’t want to deal with more technology. I have been told to get one; people who told me to get one were right, I should have done it before this trip.
So wouldn’t you know it, several hundred miles from home (it takes a good distance to get anywhere in Texas), my car overheated. I saw the gauge rising. I pulled off and shut off the engine.
There I was, stranded with no phone. Not only that, I was by some kind of what looked like an industrial park. There were businesses behind chain link fences. Dogs were barking. It was not a residential area where I could walk up to a house and ask to borrow a phone.
I was parked on the shoulder of a highway, and there was a service road running parallel to the highway so I walked there and just observed if there was any way I could find a phone. I did notice some cars getting on this service road and in a few minutes a red truck drove slowly to me, so I knew this person was willing to help. I waved him down and asked if he had a cell phone where I could call for some help with the car. He did.
While waiting for the help to arrive we got to talking. He happened to be a retired mechanic so he looked at the car and gave his opinion. Meanwhile, I found out that his son had a certain health problem and it so happened that before the trip I threw some herbs in a bag and took them with me and I happened to have the exact herbal combination his son needed.
Synchronicity?
I thought about it afterwards (the car was fixed, I did make it back home).
Texas is a big state. What are the chances, out of all the roads and highways in Texas, that I would break down one one particular part of one particular highway, walk to a side road just moments before a retired mechanic would drive down the road? As a mechanic, which is what was needed at that exact moment, he had some thoughts about the car problem. He in turn had a son that needed the bottle of herbs that I had thrown in the car at the last minute as I walked out the door.
When you think of the odds of that happening, it’s really remarkable, mind-boggling actually.
Synchronicity. Does it happen?
Yes. Be open to it. Walk through it.
Christmas Greetings – Military Wives Choir
As Christmas nears, I have put a few Christmas related posts, one of them honoring the US soldiers serving in the military, on my other blog.
This was sent to me. Since my other blog is primary a US blog, and since I know I have some visiters from the UK here, I decided to post this UK originated video here. Merry Christmas.
Text Messages For Seniors
This is nothing about anything related to internet marketing.
I just posted it because it is very funny and was too good to let it pass by without capturing it. If you need a good laugh, read on.
Since the young folk seem to communicate exclusively by texting, perhaps we
seniors should develop and use our own texting codes. For example:* ATD – At the Doctor’s
* BFF – Best Friends Funeral
* BTW – Bring the Wheelchair
* BYOT – Bring Your Own Teeth
* CBM – Covered by Medicare
* CUATSC – See You at the Senior Center
* DWI – Driving While Incontinent
* FWBB – Friend with Beta Blockers
* FWIW – Forgot Where I Was
* FYI – Found Your Insulin
* GGPBL – Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low
* GHA – Got Heartburn Again
* HGBM – Had Good Bowel Movement
* IMHO – Is My Hearing-Aid On?
* LMDO – Laughing My Dentures Out
* LOL – Living on Lipitor
* LWO – Lawrence Welk’s On
* OMMR – On My Massage Recliner
* OMSG – Oh My! Sorry, Gas
* ROFL..CGU – Rolling on the Floor Laughing…Can’t get Up!
* TOT – Texting on Toilet
* TTYL – Talk to You Louder
* WAITT – Who Am I Talking To?
* WTFA – Wet the Furniture Again
* WTP – Where’re the Prunes
* WWNO – Walker Wheels Need Oil
The “Me Syndrome”
I just got off the phone with a person from the “Health Center”. Well, that is what came up on the caller ID and I didn’t really get off the phone, rather, she hung up.
Let me explain.
She was calling trying to find people to do a clinical trial of a health supplement. She said, “We are looking for people who fall into these categories: people with a low energy level, people who need to lose a significant amount of weight or people on prescription drugs.”
I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t really fall into those categories.” Do you know what, she hung up on me! She didn’t even say, “Good-bye”. I would say the company she was representing had a “Me Syndrome”. If I couldn’t benefit them right then, the relationship was instantly terminated.
And that is what prompted this post. Listen, if you are going to run an online business, your people have to matter a bit more to you than if they don’t offer you anything right at that moment in time, you instantly hang up on them. People may need to learn more about you, what kind of person you are, or about your product.
If you instantly hang up on them, you can guarantee they will never buy from you.
If she calls back and decides I would work within the framework of their study, I will say “No”. I personally don’t want to work with them any more because I don’t know that they really care about people and if a company is working in the health industry, it should care about the people it is trying to help.
Actually, the only reason I answered the phone was because I saw “Health Center” and I order herbs from Health Center for Better Living and I thought it might be them calling about an order. It was not. Incidentally, if you take herbs, I recommend the above company and I get no commission for doing so. They have good products at a reasonable price.
But back to the point of this post. If you want customers to buy from you, you have to build more of a relationship than a quick “click” when they don’t perform the way you want them to the first time.
That is why it is recommended that you offer people who visit your sites a free product, and get them on your autoresponder list. From there, you can email them at regular intervals through your autoresponder and build a relationship with them. Give them value; give them information that will benefit them.
Don’t be part of the “Me Syndrome”. Develop an interest in your customers and consider how you can help them through your product or service.
Will That Be Edit or Delete?
I’ve spent a lot of time proofreading, so my natural mode when something needs to be corrected is to begin to edit it.
It would be well to say for those who want to get it right the first time…don’t worry about that. Just start on whatever your project is, get your thoughts out, your words on paper, or on the computer screen as the case may be, and then go back and edit, edit, edit.
I never worry about getting it right the first time. Just get started. Then go back and improve it.
If you do any amount of editing or proofreading, you will find that every time you go through something you will find a new improvement. There are some things, such as the book on my other website that I went over and over and yet still could find errors. The reason is, when we read, we grow accustomed to small words such as “the” and may not notice “teh” the first edit around because we pass over those small details quickly.
That takes us to the title of this post…should we always edit?
I say, “No”. There is a place to simply hit the delete button. Sometimes the effort to edit is not worth it, it’s simply best to just delete and start over.
I don’t have a problem with that either. Whatever you are doing, it brought you to a place of learning, of improved skills, and if you find the pathway or project becomes unproductive or uninspiring, just take the level of growth you have achieved and start a new post…project…direction.
Just hit delete and grow on.
Controlling the Internet
Normally I post stories like this on a different blog. And while I have posted it there, I am repeating it here because it is relevant to visitors to this blog.
I should have known that while this crazy story of Herman Cain and his accusers was in the news, Obama and liberals were busy behind the scenes to steal more freedom. It is the classic magician’s trick…watch this while we do something else…we’ll put this story out just while we are taking a vote so no one will notice and the sexual harrassment story will pre-empt the more important news of how our freedoms are being stolen.
I guess when these “human interest” stories take over the media for days at a time, we better go check what they are voting on in Congress to see what is being covered up.
The Issue
President Obama and his liberal cohorts are set to takeover the Internet beginning November 20, adding yet another troubling chapter to his illegal assault on Free Speech in America.On November 10, the democrat-controlled Senate voted 46-52 to retain the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) power grab through strict Net Neutrality regulations set to illegally impose strict, job-killing restrictions on the Internet beginning on November 20, 2011. Through this move, the Obama administration has also muzzled the greatest mechanism of growth in our history (under the guise of promoting “freedom” for all), and taken one giant step closer to controlling the unfettered access to news and information that we read.
Many believe the move was fueled, in part to Tea Party successes, and a growing fear among liberals that conservatives needed to be silenced.
The Action
This unconstitutional power grab must be opposed. Grassfire Nation is calling on grassroots Americans mobilizing at least 200,000 citizen petitions opposing this last assault on our freedom through Net Neutrality regulations.Sign the petition here.
http://www.grassfire.com/141/petition.asp?Ref_ID=8728&PID=33159611
