Monday, August 29, 2005
Pandemic Self Help
The Pandemic of 1918 was apparently an awful, awful time. A simple flu - and millions worldwide died.
Locally, a television show is about to start. It's designed to show that that was just chicken-feed. And worse is to come.
Then a band of respected scientists popped up in the newspaper the same week proclaiming a new strain of bird flu could make that pandemic a modern-day memory.
And I and my entire family went down - for the first and last time! - all together, with some wretched hard-to-shake cough and splutter.
And I realised just how weak and and useless we would all be in such pandemic circumstances. Absolutely debilitated.
Enough to kick in the self-help juices with a vengeance. And realize just how valueable is good health. And how vital it is to eat healthy, exercise, and smile.
Our future is in our hands!
Locally, a television show is about to start. It's designed to show that that was just chicken-feed. And worse is to come.
Then a band of respected scientists popped up in the newspaper the same week proclaiming a new strain of bird flu could make that pandemic a modern-day memory.
And I and my entire family went down - for the first and last time! - all together, with some wretched hard-to-shake cough and splutter.
And I realised just how weak and and useless we would all be in such pandemic circumstances. Absolutely debilitated.
Enough to kick in the self-help juices with a vengeance. And realize just how valueable is good health. And how vital it is to eat healthy, exercise, and smile.
Our future is in our hands!
Friday, August 19, 2005
Positive Self Help - Or Scare-Mongering?
The notion of self help is amazingly broad.
And made vastly more broad by the advertising industry.
A quick surf around some self help sites recently produced so much paranoeia a lesser mortal could easily turn to serious help!
For instance, the Self Help Law Center leads with a calculator so that you can calculate the correct amount of child support you should be receiving. And its major ad tells you to check your credit rating regularly before scammers shoot holes in your credit rating.
The Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada naturally enough highlights how to respond to the stress of terrorism and armed conflicts.
Self Help for the Elderly leads with "Come join us for a weekend of world class dragon boat racing". Just what the elderly must be looking forward to!
Thank goodness there are sites like self-help.ie, which explains that Self Help is an Irish development agency engaged in promoting and implementing integrated sustainable rural development programmes in Africa.
"Self Help has assisted close to two million people in eastern Africa to achieve food self sufficiency since being established 20 years ago," it says.
What sort of self help do you consider positive?
And made vastly more broad by the advertising industry.
A quick surf around some self help sites recently produced so much paranoeia a lesser mortal could easily turn to serious help!
For instance, the Self Help Law Center leads with a calculator so that you can calculate the correct amount of child support you should be receiving. And its major ad tells you to check your credit rating regularly before scammers shoot holes in your credit rating.
The Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada naturally enough highlights how to respond to the stress of terrorism and armed conflicts.
Self Help for the Elderly leads with "Come join us for a weekend of world class dragon boat racing". Just what the elderly must be looking forward to!
Thank goodness there are sites like self-help.ie, which explains that Self Help is an Irish development agency engaged in promoting and implementing integrated sustainable rural development programmes in Africa.
"Self Help has assisted close to two million people in eastern Africa to achieve food self sufficiency since being established 20 years ago," it says.
What sort of self help do you consider positive?
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Your Own Self Help Business?
A recent Harris poll found that 72% of households are thinking about starting a home-based business. 72%! Here's what that means...
These people are your friends, relatives, local businesses, even your spouses, parents, and children...
o Stay-at-home spouses can become work-from-home successes.
o Recently downsized friends can master their own destinies.
o Young adult children can build businesses based on passion.
o Senior citizen parents? Ditto!
o Friends or family in Network marketing (MLM) can generate their own warm leads.
o Real estate, local services, etc. can all take it to a whole new level.
o ANY family can build a strong second or third income.
And one of the fastest-growing fields is the self help industry.
The fact that you're reading this suggests an interest in both self help and creating your own independence. But the mere thought of the learning curve involved in creating a successful web site can be daunting. And unfortunately, that's true.
The more complicated it gets to do business online, the more overwhelmed people feel about building a successful web site.
One way around that is to use the SBI system that Beauty Fitness Lifestyles is built on.
It's the only system I know of that removes all the tehnical requirements and many of the marketing challenges, and leaves you to get on with the enjoyable part of it all - creating an interesting web site about something you know and love.
A fact that few people are aware of is that the vast majority of web sites never cover the costs of their hosting, let alone make a profit. Yet 61% of the 10,000+ SBI! web sites rank in the 3% most-visited sites in the world. And visitors mean revenue.
So if you've even a passing interesting, skip on over to SBI and have a poke around. There are mountains of case studies, charts to help you choose the business model that's right for you, and a host of other helpful material. All free.
A few hours there could save years of frustration.
There's a summary here, a quick tour slide show here, and a brainstormer here. Enjoy!
These people are your friends, relatives, local businesses, even your spouses, parents, and children...
o Stay-at-home spouses can become work-from-home successes.
o Recently downsized friends can master their own destinies.
o Young adult children can build businesses based on passion.
o Senior citizen parents? Ditto!
o Friends or family in Network marketing (MLM) can generate their own warm leads.
o Real estate, local services, etc. can all take it to a whole new level.
o ANY family can build a strong second or third income.
And one of the fastest-growing fields is the self help industry.
The fact that you're reading this suggests an interest in both self help and creating your own independence. But the mere thought of the learning curve involved in creating a successful web site can be daunting. And unfortunately, that's true.
The more complicated it gets to do business online, the more overwhelmed people feel about building a successful web site.
One way around that is to use the SBI system that Beauty Fitness Lifestyles is built on.
It's the only system I know of that removes all the tehnical requirements and many of the marketing challenges, and leaves you to get on with the enjoyable part of it all - creating an interesting web site about something you know and love.
A fact that few people are aware of is that the vast majority of web sites never cover the costs of their hosting, let alone make a profit. Yet 61% of the 10,000+ SBI! web sites rank in the 3% most-visited sites in the world. And visitors mean revenue.
So if you've even a passing interesting, skip on over to SBI and have a poke around. There are mountains of case studies, charts to help you choose the business model that's right for you, and a host of other helpful material. All free.
A few hours there could save years of frustration.
There's a summary here, a quick tour slide show here, and a brainstormer here. Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Ingenuity May Be Needed
Sometimes you need to look beyond the obvious if you want to solve a pressing problem. Sometimes, way beyond.
For the last week or two we've had a Japanese student staying with us. Our Japanese language skills are non-existent; her English language skills are basic.
And with all the best will in the world, sometimes communications get tricky.
At such times, ingenuity comes into play.
Speaking louder makes no difference to understanding.
Speaking slower sometimes helps.
Using different words helps.
Hand-signals and other visual aids definitely help.
And sometimes, approaching things from a totally different perspective can pay real dividends.
Who would ever have connected beaches and tinea?
I'll leave you to ponder :)
For the last week or two we've had a Japanese student staying with us. Our Japanese language skills are non-existent; her English language skills are basic.
And with all the best will in the world, sometimes communications get tricky.
At such times, ingenuity comes into play.
Speaking louder makes no difference to understanding.
Speaking slower sometimes helps.
Using different words helps.
Hand-signals and other visual aids definitely help.
And sometimes, approaching things from a totally different perspective can pay real dividends.
Who would ever have connected beaches and tinea?
I'll leave you to ponder :)
