Every time I read one, I’m inspired and end up thinking about things in a completely different way which helps me continue to grow – both personally and in my business.

A few newsletters back, when talking about Internet Marketing “Gurus”, he said this:

These folks are not smarter than you, they’re not better than you, and they don’t have mystic Kung Fu powers. At most, they’re a few blocks further down the sidewalk.

So jog a little.

Think about that. Doesn’t that give you a surge of motivation and make you want to work hard? That’s one of the main reasons why I enjoy Paul’s newsletters so much.

You want to join the big leagues? Pick up the pace a little. Work a few extra hours. Go above and beyond. Kick some ass!

If you need a nudge in the right direction, read his report “Why Johnny Can’t Sell”. I read it as soon as he emailed his list about it and I’ve read it a few times since. It’s that good.

If you can read at least 10 pages of it and put any of the ideas you get from it into action today, you’re leaps and bounds ahead of the masses.

If you sign up for the free newsletter, you’ll also get “Need to Know” which is another great report I’ve read more than once. That puppy is stuffed to the nines with useful nuggets that any Internet Marketer can use.

Chris from AB Web Design says the best tool he has found for color sampling is Pixie. It’s a tiny little program that tells you what the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values are for a particular color. You simply hold your mouse over the color you want.

I do this a lot of times when I see a color in a photo or on a website that I love. Now, instead of opening up Fireworks (which takes an eternity on my piece of crap machine) to find out what the hex value is, I can open up Pixie instantly and find out. Very handy.

Jack from ZedProMarketing.com uses Treepad. I haven’t used it too much yet but I can see it’s like Notepad (for keeping text files) but with a lot more features. Plus it is a much smaller program than OpenOffice or MS Office so it’s much easier to load and keep running while you’re working on other things.

For bloggers and/or web designers who have computers that are lacking in speed and memory (like mine!), these two programs are great options. Thanks for the recommendations guys!

Alice Seba and Mila Sidman have recently launched All Green Content and they’re giving away a free 5-pack of articles about all things green. Grab your copy here.

You can put these articles on your website, break them up into smaller “tips” and mail them out to your subscribers, or you can turn them into a short report and sell it! It’s up to you. Here’s what you get:

• Easy Ways to Make your Home More Eco-Friendly
• Organic Chemical Free Gardening
• Natural Homemade Beauty Recipes
• Getting Started with Homeopathy
• Nature – The Ultimate Playground for Kids

These are definitely topics that a lot of people are really interested in right now.

Hell to the yes!

I was just thinking back on the period in my life when I didn’t give two sharts about my appearance. I also realized that it was most definitely one of the most depressing times in my life.

I didn’t care about myself. I wasn’t happy with my life. I had absolutely no self-esteem. So why bother trying to make myself look a little better when I really didn’t care?

I’m not sure what it was, but something inside me eventually snapped. I was an unhappy person and it was reflecting on the people I loved most. I needed to change that. And I did.

I’m certainly not saying that I’m perfect now. I still have my bad days. But I’m doing much better. I care about how I look and feel and I believe that this directly affects my children.

I also believe a small part of that is due to having a few handy beauty tips in my arsenal. I won’t be winning any beauty pageants, but it’s a great feeling to go out in public and not look like you just spent the weekend in a soggy cardboard box in a dirty alley.

Positive changes like the ones I’ve gone through are achieved by working on both inside and out, physically and mentally. I’m not a therapist so I won’t attempt to fix your insides or your brain, but I can help you out with a few beauty tips.

I just added a report to my Freebies page that I forgot I had. I wrote it for my subscribers for another website, but I wanted to share it with you as well. A little really can go a long way, so if you’re stuck in the same slump I was in, give this report a read. Even better than that, act on it! Especially the first tip. You’ll be glad you did.

Download the free beauty tips report here.

I change my desktop wallpaper more than I change my underwear, but I think I’ll leave this one up for a little while. My daughter doesn’t get that the snowman is peeing his pants (or would you say “peeing his snowball?”) but she really likes it so she won’t let me change it.

I love these wallpapers that SM puts out every month. As well as being a to-do list freak, I also love calenders. I also spend a lot of time on my computer, as most bloggers do, so it only makes sense to stick a calender right on to my desktop.

There are plenty to choose from and most of them have a holiday theme to them. Check them out.

If you happen to be on the lookout for a fresh new design for your blog, I found a free Wordpress theme over at TopTut.com that would be perfect for a “work at home mom” blog. It’s a vector-based theme which is really popular.

Here’s what it looks like.

A widget like this is a fun way to make your blog a little more interactive. Your readers can see how many other people are reading your blog at that very moment, and they can get an idea of where your visitors are from.

You can download the “Online Now” Wordpress widget here.

I’ve been using Twitter for a couple months now and soon after I first signed up I downloaded Twhirl which is an application that allows you to use Twitter without using your web browser. A week ago I decided to try TweetDeck, which is essentially the same application but with a few more features. In the end, I weighed the pros and cons and came to the conclusion that Twhirl won the battle of the two.

Here’s why I think Thwirl kicks ass:

Twhirl

• Small unobtrusive notices pop up in the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen each time Thwirl refreshes and new tweets are posted.
• When you receive replies or direct messages, Thwirl will ding at you. This might annoy some people but it’s handy for me when I’m puttering around the house. When I hear the ding I’ll quickly check it out. Otherwise, replies or direct messages may not be replied to for a long time if I’m not sitting at the computer.
• You can set the options to make the Thwirl program opaque. I like this feature so that when I’m not using it I can see right through it and view my desktop wallpaper. Dumb, but I like it anyway.
• Thwirl has a refresh button. I have it set to refresh every 5 minutes but if I want to, I can refresh any time.
• Thwirl is extremely easy to use. I figured it out in no time with no confusion whatsoever. And that’s saying a lot (for me).
• You can shorten your URLs from within the Thwirl application.
• Everything you can view with Twitter on the web can also be viewed in Twhirl, such as Replies, Direct Messages, Followers, Favorites, etc. This is really handy.

Why I don’t like TweetDeck

• TweetDeck doesn’t “ding” at you when you receive direct messages or replies.
• There are no popup notices each time new tweets are posted.
• From what I could see, there was no refresh button. You had to wait for TweetDeck to “Auto-update”.
• While it was nice to see replies and direct messages in their own column next to regular tweets, the application took up a lot of room on my computer screen.
• I couldn’t find any “Options” to change any settings. The first thing I do when I download a new program is mess with the options so this was a point lost for TweetDeck as well.

Now, TweetDeck is in Beta mode so they’re still working out bugs and adding new features. Both Thwirl and TweetDeck also have other cool features in addition to the ones I’ve listed above, but I just stuck to the ones I use.

Ultimately, we all have our own preferences and reasons why we use Twitter. While Twhirl might work better for people like me, TweetDeck may be a better option for others. These are just some reasons why I personally prefer Twhirl over TweetDeck.

TopTut.com has some “glossy balls” you can download for free.

Giving credit is not necessary but if you do use any of these RSS icons it’s appreciated if you do acknowledge the designer for her work. She has some amazing designs, including lots of Wordpress themes that are free as well.

Even if you don’t use any of her themes, they’re great for inspiring some cool design ideas of your own. Take a boo, you shan’t be disappointed.

This is not a paid post, just so you are aware. I’m a regular reader at TopTut.com and I just wanted to share it with you.

I tried it a year ago and quickly switched back to using my trusty paper organizer and post-it notes.

Then I read a post over at WAHM 2.0 by Kelly McCausey and figured I would give it another try since she was liking it so much.

I’m not sure how much Google Calendar has changed in the past year, but I’m sure loving it now!

I’m saving trees since I cut down my paper use by at least 75%. I’m also saving time because I’m not searching all over the place for things I’ve written down and then forgotten about. My kids aren’t ruining my lists and notes with their own crayon and marker masterpieces. And best of all, my crap is all in one place!

I’ve been trying for months to get more organized with my work, on my computer and my desk and I can honestly say that Google Calendar is the perfect solution. It’s really handy for those of us who work online because you can set a reminder to pop up each time an event is about to happen.

Here are some things I really love about it:

• Instead of bookmarking links to check out later, I copy and paste it into my calendar.
• You can create an “event” and choose how often you’d like it repeated. Once a day, once a week, etc.
• You can have multiple calendars and view them all at once or chose which ones you don’t want to see – all within one window. Super cool.
• You can share your calendars with others. Works great for projects you’re working on with a partner or Virtual Assistant.
• You can easily drag an event to a different time or day, or edit the settings of that event with one click.
• You can chose to view your calendar by day, week, month, next 4 days, or agenda view – or you can print the whole thing.

If you’re in need of a better way to organize yourself, Google Calendar could be a great option for you – especially if you’re a list-making freak like me.