Monica O. Krause

Do you have a desire to do something big and cannot see how to accomplish it? Have you been visualizing a dream for some time and getting no where?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you are a candidate to start making your dream a reality.

Why is your desired lifestyle not a reality for you yet? You are most likely thinking of reasons why you are not where you want to be, such as, not enough funds, no team, or don’t know where to start. Note, I gave the keyword, reasons. Right now, those “reasons” are what is keeping you from making your dream a reality. I am going to go ahead here and call those “reasons” excuses, and here’s some thinkers on why:

•There is always something that you can do in the moment of now to start living your dream.

•Ask yourself, what am I doing right now that gets me closer to my vision?

•If you have an idea, start designing or building a proto-type.

•Write down your ideas in a journal. This would be taking action to keep track of your thoughts. You can then turn them into goals.

•Take action!

The power is in now. You may have heard that before and it is absolutely true. Time to wake up and do what you love to do.

“Power of Now” Challenge: Today & everyday, wake up with your vision in mind, write down your ideas in your journal, make and complete goals.

Please submit your feedback below, I would love to hear about your dreams and where you may be stuck in moving forward. Thank you.

You are a busy business person and you just don’t have time to post on that blog! Or you are simply afraid to expand your skills to using the computer. I understand that you may have fears or doubts and never decided to take the time expanded your business online and that may be why you have a brick and mortar business.

How do you spend your time?

In my previous post, I go over how to set up your blog. Now we stop making excuses and get it going. Here I am going to point out that you do have time for this simple task which will ultimately bring in more customers to your storefront (in the online business world, this means your website).

Let’s first start by acknowledging how you currently spend your time. Do you tend to be chatty and social or are you a keenly aware of your time spent with others? If you are the latter, then skip this part. If you tend to be more on the social butterfly side, start taking note on how much of your human interaction is actually beneficial to producing income for your business.

Content Time Saver

When you are helping your customers, pay attention to the questions they ask. Do they ask questions that you could answer in a 300-600 word post on your blog? If so, I have a time saving solution for you.

Start carrying around a hand held voice recording device and simply record your valuable daily conversations. Once you do, you can then play back the questions and the answers to dictate a rough draft for a valuable blog post. This method will save you the head ache of going home tired, and unable to use your brain to think up a whole topic and then write it down.

When you hear yourself share the information, you will not have any problem being able to come up with 300-600 words per topic. As you begin to publish more blog posts, you will discover that you spend less and less time to complete.

I encourage you to go ahead and get started.

Blog writing tip on formatting:  Begin your post with the question, present the answer then offer a solution they can use right away. Try to include an original (make your own) image that relates to or enhances the topic discussed.

Happy Blogging!

As a small business owner, one of the most important and basic things you can to market online is to set up a Blog. Having a blog as your website will increase traffic and return rate increasing your online presence.

Blog vs. Stagnant Webpages

You immediately open yourself up to more opportunities for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) when having a blog for your business.  Instead of just telling about your product or service on a stagnant website, (a website that rarely changes info or appearance), you can consistently be delivering value that will show up organically in search engines, which will attract more customers to your site.

Depending on what your business offers, your posts can contain instructional info, tips and tricks, announcements, a breakthrough you just had, etc. When writing your blog, always keep in mind how your article can benefit those reading: your existing and potential customers.  Include your keywords at least 4 to 5 times in the text and include the title. Each post should be 300 words minimum and no more than 600 words.

Blog Set Up

You want to brand your business with a domain name, same as, or similar to, your business name. Always go for the “.com” version when possible. If “.com” is unavailable, one might consider “.org”, “.co” or “.net”.  The reason you want “.com” is because it is easy to remember as the average person thinks of “.com” first.  Alternatively, try putting a hyphen in between the words.  For example: “www.your-business-name.com.”  This will continue to allow your website to come up in an organic search using keywords in your business name.  Try to keep your domain name short, simple and easy to remember.

Reliable Blog Hosting

Start with going to Godaddy.com and pick out a domain name that best represents the name of your business, then order the WordPress hosting during the checkout phase. If you already have a Godaddy.com account and domain name, simply log in and order WordPress hosting.

In the case that you have your domain name registered elsewhere, check to see if they have WordPress hosting available. In my opinion Godaddy.com is by far the most reliable, cost efficient and easy to use company for managing your websites.

Once you get your domain name and hosting ordered, you can then log into your account and assign the hosting service to the domain name you just purchased. It may take up to 48 hours before your website will be available to work on after set up. Then you’re set to go.

HAPPY BLOGGING!

If you are an at home business owner, this is a must read if you are struggling with sticking to your Daily Mode of Operation.

It is time for you to get serious about your business and how you want to live your life. Here I want you to look at your business and your life schedule from a different point of view.

Imagine your perfect day? What activities would bring you to a state of joy? I want to share with you how I created the days of my dreams.

I was inspired to write this post as I dedicated most of my day to mapping out my weekly schedule. My focus was to allow time for 5 aspects of my life:
• Family time
• Horse time
• Business time
• Health time/Me time
• Creative/Art

Get your notepad:

Think of four areas of your life that allows you to experience the most joy and you cannot live without. Write them down. To continuously be experiencing joy in every one of these aspects, I made sure time was allowed for them every day; however, not always the same amount of time for each aspect.

DMO Mapping

The tool I used to map out my schedule was Google Calendar. Do you think it as amazing as I do that you can access your schedule from anywhere using the internet? This virtual schedule beats my paper and pencil schedule as it offers many more visual and interactive benefits. It was also easy to learn from the video tutorials.

I suggest you try out the Google Calendar tool. Begin to enter activities that include all five of your joyous aspects. Do this on each day for at least one week. If you still like the paper version you can use that or you can print your Google Calendar out after you have mapped out your week.

Whether you are using the Google Calendar or hand writing it in your paper date book, be careful to consider what times are best for each activity. Maybe you prefer to work out or run with your dog in the morning and do call appointments in the early afternoon. Whatever the case, it’s important to be in tune with oneself. Know when the optimal time is for you to experience each aspect throughout the day.

Evaluate

Once you have completed mapping out at least one week, take note of how your time has filled up. Did you allow time for all five of your joyous aspects? If any days are incomplete, fix them now.

The 5 aspects are primary and naturally you will want to divide them into sub-categories. For example, “Business time” I will split up and dedicate time to marketing, writing reports, working with clients, etc. Your 5 primary aspects are a general weekly layout. Sub-categories will allow more focus on your actual DMO that will benfit your true desires and guide on the path to your ultimate life style.

Result

Soon you will realize that in order to live the life you want, it’s as simple as just doing the things you want to do. Your only true goal in life should be to experience joy. If you are in a consistent state of joy, then only more joyous aspects will come to you. When mapping out your daily mode of operation, your DMO, have your personal 5 aspects in mind and your week will go by with out a hitch.

Please leave your comments below and tell me how this post has helped you. I look forward to hearing form you and I wish you much success.

As we begin our journey as Entrepreneurs, we may find that we lose touch with your long time friends and or family. This problem is very real for me as I have grown apart from some of my friends and family due to not being able to relate to them in so many ways as before.

Limiting stories.

For some time now, I have been working on self development. It hasn’t been easy, but it became easier as I have practiced changing my limiting stories that I would tell myself of fear and doubt into better feeling stories of courage and belief in myself. In this ever continuing process, I have found it difficult to share my new discoveries with my friends and family. They would deliberately choose to tell me of their limiting stories and beliefs as I shared my un-limiting stories and stories. These conversations of course, I found frustrating.

It came to a point with one family member in particular, who I held in high regard, where it seems that the Universe will just not allow for a connection. I have always loved sharing all my new self discoveries and developments with this person and I gave this person the opportunity to develop the business with me. My family member agreed at first, but soon declined when it came time to get busy. I must point out that this family member thought self-development wisdom was obvious and unnecessary to develop any further; however, they were stuck in a state of unhappiness.

Separation.

If this sounds similar to what you are going through, please know it’s not your fault. You are on a path to a better wellbeing and those who choose otherwise will stay stuck in their rut. It is not your job to change them; you can only lead by example and hope they will come around as you will always care for them. However, you cannot beat yourself up over it. Just know that you are doing the best for yourself, and when you do, you can then help others.

What is keeping you apart from your old friends and family? It is this one law, The Law of Attraction. Self development is a form of spirituality. In the spirit world, like attracts like. In the physical world, opposites attract. With this in mind, you can understand why your spirits have grown apart, or why you find yourself spending less time with them.

You will always love your friends and family. If it becomes easier to have them in your life experience, then that means they are developing. If it continues to be difficult to bring them into your life, then they are stuck in their rut.

Exercise.

Be open to new possibilities and relationships and welcome like minded people into your life. You will be able to grow and mastermind together, making it a mutually beneficial relationship, instead of a limiting one. I wish you much happiness in your relationships.

Have you been wondering how some sites have the little icon next to the site name on the page tab? I have. So I researched the answer and found out that they are called Favicon’s, learned how to create one and have it show up on your website’s tab.

It took me hours of poking around the internet and trying various keywords and phrases to find out how to add an image to the heading in the zDark free WordPress theme. I was determined to find a simple answer, and eureka I did! Now, I would like to share with you what I discovered!

Prerequisite: These exact instructions will only work if you have purchased a custom URL and hosting. Below are step by step instructions on how to do this specifically using the Godaddy.com WordPress hosting.

Note: If you have any trouble seeing any images below, you may click on them to view in full size.

STEP 1: Create Your Image

1. Open the image you want to use in the Paintbrush program in Windows 7.  The size the image shows up on your screen is the exact size that it will show up on your blog.

2. Resize the image by clicking on the “Home” tab and then “Resize.”

3. In the “Resize and Skew” window, make sure that “Percentage” is chosen.

4. Enter the percentage you would like to resize your photo to.

5. You may click the “Undo” arrow if you need to try a few times to get the actual size you want it to be.

STEP 2: Upload Your Image to GoDaddy.com

1. Log into your Godaddy.com account.

2. Click on “Hosting” located in the left side bar.

3. Locate the Domain you want to add your picture to and click the green “Launch” button.

4. Click on the “Content” tab which will reveal the “FTP Client” button, click it.

5. Locate the image file you want to upload from the “Local System” directory.

6. Select the file and press the “>>” button to upload it to wp-content/themes/zdark/images folder. The trick here is that you will have to create a new folder, inside of the zdark theme folder, and label it images. The “Create New Folder” button is located just underneath the remote system directory to the left.

STEP 3: Add “The Code” in WordPress

1. Log into your WordPress dashboard.  You can always find your login screen by entering http://yoursite.com/wp-admin in the browser.

2. Select “Editor” under “Appearance” on the left side bar.

3. Select “Header.php” on the right side of your screen.

4. This is the key step that makes or breaks everything. You will place your code depending on where you want your image to show up in your heading. I personally chose it to sit between the “||||” as it shows in the print screen image below. If you want it to show up above your text heading, enter the code directly above the line that starts with <h1>, which means heading one. The amazing code is as follows: (just use your actual domain and image names).

<img src=”http://yourwebsite.com/wp-content/themes/zdark/images/yourimage.jpg”></a>

5. Click “Update File.”

6. Go to your blog site and refresh the page. Make sure that the image shows up on the page how you intended it to. You may find that the image is too big or too small or not exactly where you would like it to be. If that is the case you can work through the steps again until you get it just right.

Thank You!

I hope you are successful at adding an image to your zDark WordPress theme heading. Please let me know if this helped you save time and trouble?

To Your Success,

Introduction to the 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook

Have you been wondering how successful people become successful?

If you have, I would like to introduce to you a format for keeping a notebook that records and helps you be accountable to the goals you set for your business. I came up with the 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook that was inspired by one of the Co-Founders of CarbonCopyPRO, Jay Kubessak, as he shared during one of his more recent weekly Master Mind Calls.

Why Set Goals?

In order to make sure that you and your business move forward, you must set goals. If you are able to set 5 goals per month, 5 goals per week, and 5 goals per day and work through them, you will have a much greater chance at the success of your business.

Challenges…

On the first of this month, I decided to dedicate a notebook for the sole purpose of recording my 5 x 5 x 5 Goals per month. In its creation I came upon challenges, as one does, having never worked on a goal book quite like this before. My challenges included: unable to set 5 goals for everyday of the month (I was able to forecast goals 2-3 days tops), trying to pinpoint exactly what goals will move my business forward, and only able to set 5 goals for just one week ahead.

The fact that I discovered these challenges either shows me how far behind I am or that I need to focus more on the development of my business, or both. It may very well be that it is only possible to plan so far ahead at a time for the more divided goals.

Walk With Me

Upon accepting this new challenge of maintaining a 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook in this fashion, I have decided to be completely transparent with you and share my actual 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook and accomplishments, as well as, the challenges that I face. I will write a new post at the beginning of every month dedicated to my personal progress and new insights with the 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook.

Pen to Paper

I must add that one of the biggest points Jay Kubessak stressed about keeping a notebook in this fashion, is that it must be done pen to paper. He claims that there is an importance of putting pen to paper rather than done by an electronic medium. I believe that he has a point, and that writing out your ideas triggers a place in the brain that allows a certain constructive thinking and memory to occur.

Format Used to Make Your 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook

I invite you to dedicate yourself to a 5 x 5 x 5 Goals Notebook of your own and take that journey along with me. If you have PDF reader on your computer, I have created sample worksheets that I am using: 5 Monthly Goals, 5 Weekly Goals and 5 Daily Goals.

The format is simple:

1. Start with one page dedicated to your 5 main business goals for the month.

2. Next 4 pages are dedicated to your top 5 business goals for each week. Include a range of dates that make up your week as part of your heading.

3. On the back of each weekly page, construct a graph to record your 5 goals per day. Below is a photo of the crude chart that I had created for myself. I have also made a printable example of this chart in PDF form here.

Setting Goals

It is important that you know that goals do not to include your daily mode of operation type activities. Your goals book should be reserved for those bigger accomplishments, the things that get you and your business moving forward. What will take you to the next level?

Dedication

Keep your notebook somewhere you can tend to it daily. Personally, I keep it on my desk with a pen handy or with me during travels. I believe that it is important to keep it with you at all times just in case you come up with a new goal, at the end of the day, it can be hard to remember all of your fantastic ideas. It is also a good idea to keep it with you to help you stay on track with goals that you already recorded.

Good luck! If you like this post and have any insight or experiences on this topic to share, please do so below.

Your Success Coach,

Developing a Habit of Feeling Good

Are you feeling negative emotion and cannot find anything positive about unpleasant situations or circumstances? If this sounds like you, then I would like to share with you a brilliant exercise that I discovered in the book, “Money, and the Law of Attraction,” by Esther and Jerry Hicks the Teachings of Abraham.

Are you aware that you are attracting the things that you do not want simply by thinking of them?  Like many, I find myself in a tailspin of negative thoughts and feelings about a given subject, which of course feels unpleasant. This makes it impossible to find a way to feeling good or think positive thoughts.

To illustrate; A year and five months ago my beloved pet, (an 11 year old tortoise shell colored feline named Pumpkin), was diagnosed with heart failure and at that time was given an estimate of 3-6 months to live. For the first two months since discovering this news, I literally sat by her side in tears, or on the verge of, soaking in every second that I had with her. My tears indicated that I was thinking the worst. My fear led me to believe that I wouldn’t have much time left to be with her. I was worried at her every fluctuation of breath and every pulse of her heart that I could shockingly see beating in her jugular. Simply, I was depressed and upset when I thought about my feline friend.

I knew at that time that I was very powerful. I knew that my thoughts can influence the people, living creatures and things around me. I knew that I had to start thinking and vibrating more positively about Pumpkin and her condition or I might attract that which I feared the most: her departure from this life.  At that time, I did not know how to turn my thoughts and feelings to positive thoughts and vibrations. I was stuck in a negative train of thought and emotion.

To find the answer, I began reading Esther and Jerry Hicks book about the Law of Attraction and decided to create a “Positive Aspects” book as they had mentioned. I fell in love with the idea of only focusing on the positive aspects of my life experience. So I created a book to help me monitor and generate more positive thoughts, which would then attract more of those wanted things to me.

In my book, I titled a page, “The Positive Aspects of Pumpkin.” On that page I dedicated to the positive thoughts of my feline friend, I wrote for example: “I love to see her every day. I enjoy exploring the garden with her. I love snuggling on the couch with her while watching a movie. I love playing with toys, cat nip bubbles, and running around the house with her. I love seeing her happy and full of energy!”

All of these aspects are positive and all of these aspects I still enjoy with her today, and amazingly, more than I ever have before! Can you see how this exercise helped me bring that which I do want closer to me and an ill fate nowhere to be seen?

To create a book like this for yourself, you must first understand that you cannot be thinking about that which you do not want and then expect the opposite to show up. The positive aspects book is to help you create a habit of good-feeling thoughts.

Find a notebook or journal that you fancy and title it “My Positive Aspects.” Dedicate a page to a subject that you find yourself thinking and feeling negatively about.  On that page, write down only the positive aspects of that subject. Doing this allows you to feel good. As a result, you will be attracting what you do want and what you do not want will no longer be part of your life experience. You deserve to feel good, you were meant to feel good and feeling bad is just an indicator that you are attracting something that you do not want.

Now go and make your life a Positive Aspects Experience!

Continue reading →

Have you been trying to figure out why your link remains inactive in your YouTube video description? If so, I am revealing the answer!

The answer is very simple in fact. Just add “http://” to the web address. Yep, that is it!

To make this change to your video descriptions that you have already created, log into your YouTube account. Click your channel name in the upper right hand corner and select “My Video’s.” Find the video you wish to change, then click “Edit.” In the description box, type the full link address including the “http://”. Example, http://www.YourSite.com.

Tip: It is a good idea to put your link at the beginning of the description to make it more available to your viewers.

Once you have made these changes, click the “Save Changes” button. Now go back to your channel and find the video you just edited. Make sure your link is click-able in the description.

Below I have prepared a short video on how to do this process. I hope this helps!

Continue reading →