Hi there!

Yesterday was my birthday- yes, 39 again, can you believe it? Funny, but since I turned 39 I have seemed to stop getting older- strange, isn’t it?

Anyway, my point in bringing it up here on the blog is I spent a good part of my day with my family. My sister came over, my bestest girlfriends got in touch, my kids and grandkids came over and in the evening, my two daughters and I spent a couple hours together watching a movie and having some laughs. To top it all off, I found a dear old friend via Facebook that I haven’t been in touch with for 15 years!!

When my head hit the pillow last night, I felt so filled with gratitude and love, realizing yet again, I had had the perfect birthday! Why was it perfect? Because it was filled with love and support from every direction. Even though I really didn’t discuss my business or any future plans, didn’t bring up any problems or frustrations and didn’t share any new ideas with anyone, I knew I had all the personal, real life support I needed.

I have a lot of online mentors, partners and friends – and without them, I wouldn’t even have had the courage to start my business. But I know how important it is to spend time with real physical people who come into the living room, sit down and share themselves with me as well. Most of our conversations are about personal things – family, kids, husbands and exes, bills and groceries and farmer’s markets and Bible studies, sickness and wellness, food, fun and all the other things under the sun that make life full and fulfilling. Sometimes we talk about business, but usually not in a lot of detail. (I save that for the online peeps who mentor and befriend me!!)

The personal kind of support and networking is just as important as the business kind though. It’s so easy to get caught up in social media networking, JV ventures, clients, lists and all of those goodies that we can begin to think that is the only kind of support we need. It isn’t though. Not by a long shot.

Being able to shut off the business mind and move into the family and friends and personal mind is a critical part of making it all work. We need to take time – every day – to spend with our loved ones and our Creator to refresh, revive and rejuvenate.

It really is the only way we stand a chance of succeeding!

So, THANK YOU, to my family and my friends in the real world. THANK YOU to my God who gives me the strength and the courage to do what I do. I would never EVER make it from one birthday to the next without all of you!

Teresa

P.S. Thanks to you my readers too! Business or not, I get so much personal energy, joy and strength from all of you as well!!

There are a lot of great books available for freelance writers. Personally, I own a shelf full or two. I am so excited to announce the release of my favorite one on Amazon!  “Working Writer, Happy Writer: How to Build a Freelance Writing Business From Practically Nothing” by Sue LaPointe has just been released as a paperback – and you can get it for $20! Previously available only as an e-book, this easy to read, step-by-step manual is the book that took me from writing articles for three bucks a piece to opening my own freelance writing business is seven months time.

Sue writes in such an easy-to-read, conversational style, you will feel like she is right there at your side as she shows you how to create a thriving writing business – without spending a fortune! Sue tells it how it is, sharing the exact steps she took to become the number one rated writer on Guru.com last year. She shows you what you need to have, what you can do without and where to find the clients to build your own home business- even if you’ve never written professionally before in your life.

If you’ve been wondering how to get started in this lucrative business, do yourself a favor – buy the book! For 20 bucks,  you can’t go wrong. Instead, you can go from wondering if you could be a writer to acutally becoming one – with greater ease and less stress (not to mention far less money) than you ever thought possible!

Here’s the link: Working Writer Happy Writer: How to Build a Thriving Writing Business from NOTHING

Go get it! You’re gonna love it- I promise!

If You Have a WordPress Blog- You NEED This Course!

If you’re writing for the Internet in any capacity, SEO is a technique you just need to learn- or spend your hard earned money having someone else do it for you!  And if you have a WordPress blog- or write for a client with one- the resource you must have to learn SEO for your WordPress blog is launching tomorrow.

If you read my blog with any regularity, you know that I don’t just jump on the bandwagon and promote every product that comes down the pike. I don’t believe in asking you to spend your money on something  just because it’s the latest launch by a guru. I recommend products that I personally use and trust. WordPress SEO is a brand new teaching product from Michael Martine, aka the Remarkablogger. Michael is one of the absolute BEST sources to learn all about blogging from, hands down. He’s smart, he’s real and he shares so damn much valuable information for free that when he creates a product for sale, well, what can I say- it’s worth the money a hundred times over.

So where do you need SEO help on your WordPress blog? The short answer is everywhere, but in the spirit of a little more clarification, you need to look at some of these elements:

Your Title

Do you have your keywords in your title? Your title is what shows up in the browser window and if you don’t have a special plug-in, your headline will become your title. Is that to your best advantage?

Your Post Slug Name

If you’re asking what a post slug name is, you need to get your hands on WordPress SEO! The post slug name is the virtual file name of your post and it becomes part of the permalink. You need your keywords here to if you want the search engine spiders to find your post.

Headings

Do you use the Kitchen Sink feature in your WordPress toolbar to format the headings in your blog? It’s a slick little feature and when your headings are jazzed for SEO, it’s another way to draw attention from the spiders

Text Content

Of course, content really is still king. Every freelance writer needs to make sure their content is informative, entertaining and readable- otherwise all the SEO in the world won’t do you a lick of good.

Tomorrow is Launch Day For WordPress SEO

WordPress SEO is a homestudy course that includes audio, viedo and an ebook all created by the Remarkablogger. It’s kind of like having Michael stop in and share his wealth of knowlege right on your own computer screen!

If you’re still wondering if WordPress SEO is going to give you the boost you need to learn how to use SEO on your WordPress blog, Remarkablogger has created a little sample for you! Check this out:

Word Press SEO Secrets Sample