Thought for the Day

"The world is a dangerous place to live,
not because of all the people who are evil,
but because of the people
who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

Miscellanea

Random thoughts:

• I said to RJ: "I'm thinking that I should have more friends my age. Maybe I'll join the Legion." And he replied: "Foreign?"


• I used to have a cat that would wait until I had just fallen asleep, then drop a marble down the hardwood staircase. Klunk, klunk, klunk. Woke me up every time. ... That's how I lost my marbles.


• I often find it expedient to appoint myself as Karma's assistant. Let me help you get the Karma you deserve.
• Klingons do not procrastinate. It is a "tactical delay".


• A short while ago I reunited with some friends from college. Marie said, "Before I left, I made a prediction that Nancy would have a cell phone, with the bank on speed-dial, and Beth will have a Blackberry strapped to her hip." Haven't seen Marie in years, yet she was 2 for 2 correct. How well she knows us!


• A friend who worked as an EMT in a remote northern community once told me that fur is great for stopping bleeding. I hope I never have to use that knowledge.


• That same friend said he once attended to an accident victim whose down jacket had ripped open during the crash. The down feathers had scattered, blown about in the wind, and landed on the victim, sticking to him wherever he was covered in blood. As my friend loaded him into the ambulance, he thought it looked like his patient had been tarred and feathered. Weird. Just bled a lot but was not seriously injured.


• Here's my opinion of Management's imposed offer for our new contract. You can dress it up, but...

Remembrance Day 2009

November 11, at 11:00 a.m., we take a few moments to reflect on the soldiers who have given their lives in service to their country. As you know, I served in the Canadian Armed Forces. My tour of duty included postings to Europe and the Middle East, as well as out west. My son Devon served in the Canadian Forces, and was deployed to Afghanistan with his unit while in 3 PPCLI. Because I was also married to a serving soldier, the military played a huge part in much of my adult life.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Remembrance Day is a hard one for me. I have friends in the US military who are in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Korea at the moment. I will always feel a connection to those in uniform; I am familiar with the pressures they are under, and I empathize with the problems doing one's duty can often bring about. I experienced some of them myself.

Most of all, I often think of what it really means to volunteer to serve in the Armed Forces. In Canada, we are not at war with anyone, but are involved in peacekeeping -- and increasingly, peaceMAKING -- activities abroad. While building much-needed roads and schools and hospitals, our soldiers risk attack from insurgents, death or injury from land mines and IEDs, and as the British recently experienced, even assault by those who could benefit most from military assistance.

We mourn the loss of each one of our servicemen and servicewomen.

What is rarely publicized are the peacetime deaths of military personnel who are lost in training accidents, vehicle accidents, airplane crashes, suicides, murders, and terminal illnesses. I have lost friends and comrades in all of these ways during my years of service.

For me, Remembrance Day is not only about remembering the sacrifices of all our military personnel in all of the wars, but also about remembering those in uniform who died doing their duty in whatever capacity they were assigned, and remembering all those who have served regardless of time or place.

Today, I remember Claire, Rod, Wayne, Dave S., Jane, Marty, Jerry, Les, Doug C., Alex, Andy, David W., Ron, John A., Derek, Myrna, Don, Laurent, Mike, Dennis, Bud, Greg P., Mick, David G., Pierre, Sybille, Art, Charlie, Marcel, Loretta, Donnie, Ken, Doug W., George L., Andre, Joe G., Geoff, Doug A., Gord K., Val, and others...

Je me souviens. I remember. Then. Now. Forever.

Convocation

I attended Seneca's convocation ceremony today to celebrate our 2009 graduates, including our Tech Comm grad certificate students. It was great seeing them, and the computer studies students I teach in EAC397 and other courses as well. There is the usual pomp and circumstance one would expect from a college graduation ceremony. It's an energizing day.

One of the things we do at convocation is confer Honorary Degrees on notable personages who merit such recognition. This year's recipients were brothers Craig and Mark Kielburger. You may know about them from their work with Free the Children, a foundation that seeks to educate children and keep them from slavery and sweat shops. This foundation is based on the premise that every child deserves a happy, healthy and safe childhood.

The origins of this foundation came from then-12-year-old Craig`s outrage on reading about a young Pakistani boy named Iqbal Masih who was forced into bonded labour in a carpet factory at the age of four, became an international figurehead for the fight against child labor by 10 years of age, and was brutally murdered in 1995 when he was 12.

Research into child labour, then sharing his findings with schoolmates, family and friends led Craig and his older brother Mark into social activism and contact with many public figures as they fought for rights for children.

Craig`s address to our convocation ceremony was uplifting and meaningful. He spoke about the time that he and his brother worked alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta some years ago. He shared some advice she had given them. She took their hands into her rough ones ``like sandpaper from her years of service`` and said to them, ``If you cannot do great things, do small things with great love.``

My sons RJ and Devon are about the same age as Craig Kielburger. They didn`t grow up in Thornhill, as he did; they grew up in Fernwood and on armed forces bases, and attended inner city schools. Their parents didn`t have the money to send them to Harvard or to Thailand and India. Their parents barely had the money to keep them housed and clothed most of the time.

Their father overcame an abusive childhood to excel in his profession and rise to the top rank in his specialty, throughout the years influencing many young soldiers and providing an example of leadership and personal triumph. He continues to demonstrate his personal courage day to day, and offers his time to counsel addicts in making positive life changes.

Their mother is known for little except encouraging and inspiring her students, often sharing a kind word and a smile with a beleaguered store clerk, coaching others to get jobs and sort out their lives, leading laughter sessions, and reaching out through her writing and other activities to those who need to be reminded that they are unique, capable, and so very precious.

It was not our branch of the Agnew family that produced David Agnew, formerly head of UNICEF and currently the President of Seneca College.

Still, my Agnews are doing okay. I am not in the least disappointed that neither of my sons has yet achieved the international recognition that Craig Keilburger has deserved. When I think of my sons, I notice their average day-to-day activities just diligently going to work, getting there on time, and giving full value to their employer. They are honest, loyal friends to those who know them. They are compassionate, honourable men who treat women with respect, all people with kindness, and animals with mercy. They each have a good sense of fair play, good sportsmanship, and generosity. They act and speak with integrity. They clearly know right from wrong, and operate on principles of justice, equality, and respect. They can be counted on when times get tough, and they don't take themselves too seriously.

All in all, RJ and Devon may not do the great things that some others do. But I know that the small things they do, they do with great love. I couldn't ask for more, and of that I am very proud indeed.

Cracking ourselves up...

This is how my son RJ and I crack ourselves up from time to time. It usually starts with an innocent conversation...

So the other night we were just shooting the breeze during dinner. He said something about factoids, and I said I have so much interesting but largely useless knowledge in my head, that it is just full of factoids.

For example, I said, they did a study on sheep that found that because they spend all their lives in a flock, they don't ever like to be alone. And they found that if you have to separate a sheep from the flock, it gets very nervous, so one way to ease its fright is to put a large mirror beside it. That way, the sheep sees another sheep in the mirror and thinks it's not alone. I said, the same thing works for Alpacas (which I owned a few years ago). So if you have to transport a single alpaca, to a show, or when it's sold perhaps, if you put a large mirror in the truck or trailer, it calms down because it thinks it has company.

And what works even better is two mirrors so that the alpacas sees a multitude of alpacas on either side of him and feels he's in a herd again.

RJ said, you know, sheep can actually recognize each other by their faces. There was a Youtube video of where they put a Halloween mask on a sheep and all the other sheep in the flock ran away from it because they didn't know who it was.

I said, well, if sheep can recognize faces, wouldn't they look in the mirror and recognize their own face and think, Hey, that's me?

RJ said, Not in a Halloween mask.

And THAT is when we both started laughing.

See, now, don't you wish you could come to dinner at my house? :-)

Blast from the Past

Just came across this and thought I'd resurrect it and share it with you. It was posted to a forum in response to comments about the standards of writing we're seeing on web pages and in the popular media. I wrote it in March 2008:

I think it's very much a "you get what you pay for"
situation. Better pay = better writing. As long as
the market continues to accept poor quality
writing, purveyors will provide it at the lowest
possible cost.

We're already victims of the sleeper effect --
you see enough bad writing, you unconsciously
start to write that way yourself and your tolerance
for what is "bad" lowers, unless you maintain
constant vigilance. There are few gatekeepers
anymore. Those print editors who tormented
writers until the prose was perfect aren't around
anymore. Publishers who refused to sacrifice
quality for revenue have been eliminated by their
corporate masters in favor of increased sales.

The gap between the truly literate, meaning those
who have studied literature enough to know
what good writing looks like, and the illiterate is
widening. We're seeing this in our students whose
text messaging style permeates their academic essays.

I choose to believe that good writing and good
communication will always prevail, though fewer
will be able to recognize it.

The "sleeper effect" I'm talking about is the persistence and persuasiveness of something we see even when we give the source no credibility whatsoever. I've even found myself doing it -- typing "they're" instead of "their", and "your" or "it's" instead of the more correct "you're" and "its" in their proper context.

As a professional writer -- and a nit-picky one at that -- I know full well the difference in when to use "they're" versus "their", and so on. But because I've seen the wrong one used so very often, it has lodged in my brain, and unless I'm truly paying attention when I write, I'm just as likely to use the incorrect homonym.

Well, at least I haven't sunk to using "ur" yet...

Best Lecturer?

Finally some news to report! I have just been nominated for TVO's 2010 Best Lecturer Competition. Woot! This is fun and very rewarding because it means my students think my classes are at least somewhat interesting and worthy of sharing with the rest of the world.

I like to think that I make the crushingly boring topic of Technical Communication compelling, at least for our Tech Comm students. Of course, if you were a technical communicator, you'd see, as I do, the many exciting facets of this broad profession. Techwriters as a group are pretty interesting people. We have often had variegated careers and because the nature of our work requires the ability to grasp other topics quickly, most technical communicators are sharp, well-read, and able to discuss thoughtfully and cogently on a variety of subjects. Our profession is about relationships as well as business, information, technology and communication, so we cover the gamut of things that are important to people day to day.

The competition requires submission of video from one or more of my classes. It won't be the first time a camera has captured me doing what I do, and just about any class could make compelling viewing, even if you don't have a background in the subject matter. I don't say that out of ego, but as a practical reality -- if you don't have something that engages your students each class, how do you expect them to show up, pay attention, and learn anything? It's Teaching 101, really.

Mind you, there are some aspects of technical communication that are a LOT more fun than others. And coupled with my quirky sense of humour, you can imagine -- those of you who know me -- how some of those go...design, usability, dealing with SMEs, overcoming communication challenges and just making life easier for the user are all fodder for my own particular take.

Get me talking about the Segway and you'll see!

Boundaries

I was talking to a young friend yesterday about relationships. In my position as a college professor, and as an, um, experienced woman who is also a mother and a life coach, I am often asked to share some hard-won wisdom with my friends. The crux of our conversation yesterday was boundaries.

Boundaries are important in any relationship. Boundaries represent the lines each one of us draws to communicate to others what things are acceptable, and what things are not. Mushy or vague boundaries, or the absence of them altogether, spells disaster for any relationship. There are NO relationships where boundaries are unnecessary.

Respecting someone else's boundaries shows care and concern for them.
Disrespecting boundaries, continually crossing the lines that have been drawn, shows contempt and belies any affection or love one might profess.

Relaxing your own boundaries, dropping them completely, or ignoring when they have been crossed takes away your personal power, and leaves you open to being treated in disrespectful fashion by others.

Boundaries can be major: "No drinking alcohol" or minor: "Breaking the spines of our shared paperback books drives me crazy!"

Some examples of boundaries:

• I will not date someone who smokes.
• I'm not picking up after you; you have to keep your own room neat.
• It is not acceptable for you to hit me, EVER.
• It's rude to talk on your cell phone during dinner.
  
• I expect you to call me and let me know if you are going to be late or won't be showing up.
• I don't like it when you call me "monkey-face".

Crossing of boundaries should result in a talking point. That means, if someone has stepped across the boundary you have drawn, you both need to talk about it.

Mistakes happen. In relationships, they usually happen because the parties involved have never discussed that particular situation or established boundaries around that issue. "You never said you had a problem with me watching the Sunday afternoon football game every week, why are you mad at me?" The crossed boundary? Sunday afternoons are together time for us as a couple.

Boundaries represent values and expected behaviors. Most relationships develop in a way that makes a frank discussion of boundaries an artificial occurrence, something that has to be planned and carried out. However, this formal approach is not necessary. It may not occur to you that you have a boundary in a certain area until you see evidence of it being breached. You react by feeling disrespected or by getting angry. That's the time to talk to the offending party and clear the air.

A helpful approach is to say something like "When you didn't call me to tell me you were working late, I felt worried. I would like you to call me whenever you are going to be later than I expect." Notice the colored words. When you structure your conversation as suggested, you keep the focus neutral, neither accusing nor defending. You state the person's behavior that you didn't like, and state how you felt when that happened. Follow that with the behavior you would like to see instead.

The other person may counter that with words that seek to explain the breach and clarify the boundary. "I'm sorry I didn't call. I wasn't aware of time passing and that client meeting was very important. Sometimes when I'm in afternoon meetings they run long and I can't get away to call you. What if I call you as soon as I get out of the meeting to tell you I'm on my way home?"

This opens the door for negotiating the boundary and making it clear to both sides where it is and what it represents. We don't have time to go into the additional meanings behind boundaries and breaches; that may be the subject of a post some other time. But suffice to say that it is fair for each person in a relationship to establish boundaries around things that are important to them.

Too many boundaries, or boundaries you disagree with, indicate potential trouble spots in the relationship and should be given a serious look.

You can make boundaries for yourself as well: I don't shop on Sundays. In this way, they delineate your own behavior, standards and values. The old saying "Good fences make good neighbours" had to do with physical boundaries around property lines and how they contributed to relationships between people living close together. Intangible, behavioural boundaries are just as good for contributing to good interpersonal relationships.

It is said that we teach people how to treat us. One of the ways we do that is by making our boundaries clear to those with whom we interact.

What are your boundaries?

Why am I here?

They are the age-old questions that each of us asks at some point as we grow up:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?

I tend to believe that the first question is answered by the second. If we know why we are where we are, we can usually figure out what qualities we have as individuals that have brought us to that location at that point in time.

Deep philosophical stuff for a blog that is usually lighter in tone.

This pondering has been prompted by my introductory remarks to our first class of TCN701 -- The Technical Communicator this year. Seneca's 2009/2010 academic year started today, and I'm energized by the new class. They represent not only people from all types of backgrounds but people with all sorts of talents, abilities and experiences. By way of letting them know who they're getting as an instructor (me), I tell them a little about what brought me to Seneca and why I think I have something to offer them.

It behooves each of us to question -- from time to time, not continuously -- who and what we are all about. Often given to introspection, I perhaps question more than most. Of course, asking the question is not what matters; answering it is.

I told the class today that teaching at Seneca is my dream job, and it is. I get to share what I know with up and coming practitioners in my field, and help them navigate the rushing waters that flow around choosing a career direction. On behalf of Seneca I get to reach out into the broader community and network with employers, industry experts, people in related fields and industries, and the general public. And I still get enough free time to enjoy my own company and recreate as I feel inclined.

Why am I here?
Because the universe chose me to stand in this exact spot and do what it is I do.

Tally ho!

I Knew That!

Beth took the quiz "What's Your Personality Type?" and got the result: ENFJ: (Extraersion, iNtuition, Feeling, Judgment)!

ENFJ
You are warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. You are highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. You find potential in everyone, and want to help others fulfill their potential. You may act as a catalyst for individual and group growth. You are loyal, and are responsive to praise and criticism. You are sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership. Famous people with your same ENFJ personality include: Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Dick Van Dyke, Diane Sawyer, Peyton Manning, Pete Sampras, Johnny Depp, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Get Smarter - Play Video Games!

Guy Kawasaki quoted Dr. Richard Restak on ten tips for improving your brain. See http://adjix.com/35yg. I like the first one, myself:

Take up video-gaming. Action video games improve eye-hand coordination, improve spatial visualization skills, and increase the number of things that you can visually attend to simultaneously.

In my view, video games, especially the immersive MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, should be standard in every seniors facility. Not only do they provide the brain stimulation as mentioned by Restak above, but they are opportunities for social interaction, personal challenge and achievement, and provide a rich virtual environment in which to play and learn.

Players in WoW and other similar games interact with others of all ages, cultures and nationalities through the course of the game. They are continually given problems to solve (quests) and confronted with situations that require collaboration (dungeons) or research (what gear should I choose?). These activities tie into #2 and #8 in the article quoted above.

We didn't really need excuses to play video games, but it's good to have expert support for this fun activity. And if you can't visit great-grandma as often as you like, at least make sure her subscription to WoW is up to date.

Heroic Effort

Here's something I wrote to help a young man get a job at a very prominent gaming company:

HERO CLASS: Customer Service Rep

• Increased strength, stamina, agility and intellect
• Arsenal of powers and spells including inspired trouble-shooting, with greater effect against undead technologies such as unliving CPUs, routers and modems
• Equipped with unique weapons of mitigation, designed to cleave through service issues, pacify targets, and deal high levels of satisfaction per second (SPS)
• Skilled in dual-wielding monitors for greater visibility of issues
• Core ability to summon and control electrical energy over wireless and land-based lines
• Innate ability to communicate effectively with all factions, races, classes and levels
• Intuitive Presence: invoked whenever the CSR encounters mind-numbing issues or immobilizing hardware/software effects – grants the ability to quickly discern solutions and bring swift resolution.

Yeah, it was successful in getting him some attention. He's been working there for a few weeks now. Without his own abilities, he never would have landed this dream job. This blurb simply helped float his resume to the top of the pile of thousands of competitors.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the company copied it and passed it around, or hung it on the wall.

Memorial Day

This is Memorial Day for the US. A similar day for us in Canada is November 11, Remembrance Day, always a hard day for me. Because many of the people I've been talking to in the last few weeks, both for social and business, have been in the US, Memorial Day is at the front of my mind. So today I choose to remember all those I care about who are currently serving in the military. I'm reaching out to each of them to remind them of my love and support.

Perhaps no one knows better what military life is like than someone who has gone through it. While the public sees a portion of it, and our families -- if they want to -- see a little more, only those on the inside know what it's really all about. I have to say that the time I served was one of the best experiences of my life. That's a net gain, because there were parts of it that were simply horrible. But overall, taken as a body of experience and knowledge increase, it was a period of time that I would not trade for anything. I learned lessons about people, organizations, leadership, other countries, cultures, and the world that I could never have learned in any other way. Mostly, I learned a lot about myself, and that was an education that money just can't buy.

I excelled in certain areas of the military, and was abysmally poor at others, but it was a defining period in my life where I learned my limits, and how far I could go in wildly surpassing those limits. I learned that I could take just about anything, and survive just about anything -- and what was needed from within myself to do that. I learned that I had more strength inside me than anyone would have believed -- even me. I learned that there is always a solution to every problem -- sometimes not the solution we would like, but there is one. I learned not to sweat the small stuff, and how to look at big things to realize that they really are just small stuff. I learned that people matter more than anything else, and how we treat other people is the only real goal of our existence.

Sometimes I forget those lessons. I get caught up in day to day life among people whose depth of character resembles a toddler's plastic wading pool, one that is only half full at that. I get distracted by the minutiae that others use to structure their time and their lives, and I get roped into trying to help those who don't want to be helped. I get sidetracked believing that most of the people I encounter day to day have the same level of experience as I do, and when I finally realize that they barely know what life is all about, I feel a sense of loss on their behalf. There is so much more that they don't know!! And still I hope, I believe, and I try -- as futile as that sometimes is. Because that's what we learn in the military -- we learn to deal with all kinds of people to get the job done. We learn to care about our comrades. And we learn to never, NEVER give up.

Thinking of never giving up, my thoughts turn to my serving friends, and I admire them for their courage, their compassion, their persistence in the face of crass stupidity, overwhelming selfishness, and sometimes even collective insanity. I think of my friends in the military and I am grateful to know them, because they are pieces of this crazy quilt that is my life -- integral pieces that remind me that I do have a purpose, and that purpose is to touch the lives of others and to give them whatever I can give. Because, like in the military, we are all in this together, and no one can do it alone.

I think about my friends in uniform, and I send up a prayer to whatever force in the universe handles such things, and I ask for protection and love to always be with those I care about.
To my many friends in the military, wherever you are, be well on this Memorial Day and always. You have a place in my heart where you are always safe, and very much loved.

Where did the Time Go?

I cannot believe it has been almost two years since I updated this blog! Life certainly has a way of derailing you when you had planned to do other things. A lot has happened in those two years, some of which I'll speak about as I catch up.

Some good. Some bad. Some great! Some utterly devastating.

So my life is a lot like yours then.

Beyond just the passage of time in those two years has been the immense personal growth I've experienced. I'd like to share some of that with you as we go along. Remember, this blog is not just so you can see what I'm up to (as long as I reveal it here!) but what I'm thinking and feeling about it as it unfolds. Never at a loss for an opinion, and freely willing to share it even if no one asks for it, I may occasionally have something valuable for you to take away.

They say that it is worthwhile to learn from your own experience; it is even more worthwhile to learn from the experiences of others. Let's continue to do both.

And to summarize the past two years -- truly, there were multiple projects, always a new idea, and never a dull moment!

Day 31 30DC - Now What?

Whew! It's over! Or it will be very shortly. Making sure that all participants get every possible in order to qualify for the grand prize trip to Australia, Ed and Co. have determined that the official deadline is midnight Hawaii time.

I think it's so the goddess Kummonayewantmymunni can bless the last efforts of everyone who has been diligently working the plan, mining their niches, and promoting their sites.

My grand total, as of this writing, is $46.45 which I think is pretty fair for what constitutes only a few days of my sites being in operation. Of course, there's a whole MONTH of work behind all that.

The question is, now what? I have tons of work to do for the upcoming semester and a few things happening in my life as well. I want to keep going, using the new skills I've learned. And I know the value of momentum, that forward motion that helps you continue moving in the right direction. It's a lot harder to get started again after a stop. The next few days will dictate how I proceed. Here's hoping that I will have the time and energy to add this to my routine and keep working on my sites. The promise of additional $$ is there; I just have to keep them up to date or at least fresh enough for a respectable showing in the search engines.

In the meantime, I'm taking a bit of a break! Blogging about the challenge has been fun, but I don't want to succumb to the tyranny of the daily blog. When it becomes a grind, and a job, it's no longer fun.

Stay tuned. I am committed to "always a new idea, never a dull moment", and will report back on that shortly.

Day 30 30DC - SO Tempting!

I am REALLY tempted to haul out one of the other niches I've discovered and put up Site #3. I've got the process down pat -- I think -- and things are working. Neither of the niches so far are the oil wells I thought they could be, but it is early yet. Some continued drilling is obviously necessary.

Knowing that, however, it is still tempting to throw a few more irons into the fire. After all, the gospel according to my friend Robert Allen is to have multiple streams of income. If one or two sites are starting to bear fruit, then why not have a few more?

In practical terms, I cannot maintain that many sites. Not at the moment. And they're not generating enough income yet that I can justify hiring someone to help with the maintenance.

But it is a great idea, and I'll let it incubate a little longer...

Day 29 30DC - Site #2 Rings In!

I am more than thrilled to report that I have now made some money from the second niche, the one that was put on the back burner when I made the choice of which one to launch first. With a few spare moments, I managed to get Site #2 up and running, posted and ranked.

It has now reciprocated with a small sale that nets me some profit. (Although not a lot if you consider the amount of time I've spent on it, but still...)

So that reinforces for me that the process does indeed work, and more importantly, that **I** can work it. That makes all the difference.

It's fine watching someone else do these activities and make their $$ on the internet, but until you master the process yourself, you don't really become converted to it. Nice to know that what I did with Site #1 has been replicated with Site #2 and it too can generate income for me.

Day 28 30DC - Winding Down in a Way

With a new semester starting shortly, and the Challenge coming to an end, I definitely need to look at my workload and perhaps start to wind down. I don't want to. Now that I've built up some momentum and started a successful site (or 2) I want to keep going.

But reality is quickly descending. I have more responsibilities this semester, with new courses and plenty of challenges in the academic sector not just on the internet. So I'm going to have to look at how I can keep working on my sites while not neglecting any of my students. In fact, the students are the priority so it will be the other way around -- how to best serve my students while still being able to dabble in the internet marketing.

Now THAT's a challenge!

Day 27 30DC - Not Just a Fluke

There have been two more sales on my site, so this new niche is working out nicely. As with most internet marketers, I'm being close-mouthed about the niches and key phrases I am using. This is a competitive business and the waters are full of sharks. Especially the kind of sharks who prefer to get something easy than do the work themselves.

As I said yesterday, it IS work. I have been swamped this weekend but still managed to update my content a little. That daily attention is what is necessary to keep the sites lively and interesting.

But at this point, four days days from the end of the Challenge, I am pleased that I've been able to make those first few dollars.

Now, it's just "rinse and repeat".

Day 26 30DC - No Blips Today

Can't realistically expect every day to be a money maker, but that is the ultimate goal. There were no $$ drops today. :-(

As long as I keep up the momentum, though, I am sure that there will be additional sales. The key is to maintain the work on the sites and the niches, and keep the content fresh. That will keep them being crawled and ranked by the search engines and therefore easily accessible to people who want to buy.

Remember, it's easy to sell someone something if it provides a solution to their problem. They will only know it's their solution when they come across your site. That's why having a top ranking gives you a greater chance in snagging the buyers.

Of course it's work! Like most money-making activities.

Day 25 30DC - Eureka!

I no sooner posted my new site, completed my social media postings, and checked my rankings in Google and voila! My first $10.00!! So now my name goes into the draw for the trip to Australia. Yay!

To be specific, it was a $24.95 item sale price of which I get 60%, which is $14.97. So I've hit the goal and can now relax. Whew! Did I say "relax"? Not a chance! The point is to keep doing what I've been doing, and keep following the instructions until the challenge ends. Sort of like taking all of the antibiotics your doctor prescribes. When there is a specific route to follow, don't go off track unless you are absolutely sure where you are going. Good advice any time, but especially useful when the goal is to achieve something that very few people have managed to do.

You might think that there are scores of people making money on the internet, thanks to all the spam of which you are aware. Unfortunately, those are just people TRYING, often unsuccessfully, to make money. Most of them are spending much more than they are making, and annoying people in the process.

That's why Ed & Co.'s 30 Day Challenge is so valuable. Not only does it teach correct principles that avoid spam, but it is possible for anyone who follows the instructions to achieve a successful result.

I've just proved it! Thanks, Ed!

Day 24 30DC - Conversion and a New Challenge!

Here we are, a week from the end of the challenge, and by Gosh, we are starting again! We are now concentrating on conversion, making sure that we have a product that converts visitors into sales. That's really minor compared to the gauntlet Ed just threw down.

Offering a prize of a flight to Australia to attend the next Immediate Edge conference, the challenge is to start from zero on Friday and make that first $10.00 by 9 am. Monday morning. If you succeed, your name goes into a draw for the free flight. (I believe it is a return flight.)

So, what better time to launch another niche than that? I began from a standing start at 6:29 p.m. today, Friday. As of writing this at about 10 pm. I have secured a brand new niche and keyphrase, obtained a platform, created the first few posts, installed my tracking codes, and begun the social posting process. Whew!

I rather wish I didn't have such a busy weekend coming up with other things that have nothing to do with the Thirty Day Challenge.

Day 23 30DC - The Waiting Game

Well, no, I'm not sitting around waiting. I'm actually working on a second niche and spending quite a bit of time doing the social media thing, generally and for some of my team members. I haven't seen any movement yet on my first site. I have seen competition -- it turns out that key phrase was a little more popular than I thought.

Personally, I think my rendition of the pages about the niche are far better than those of my competitors, but perhaps they are more aggressive at getting the rankings and social bookmarking. I prefer to have it happen a little more naturally, as Ed has suggested.

I think you can also tell who can write, and who cannot. And who knows anything about their subject matter, and who does not. I think readers can tell as well.

So I have every expectation that my site(s) will rise to the top of the quality ladder, but perhaps not in time for completing this challenge within the 30 days.

Still, it is an amazing learning experience. Ed has let us know that it is indeed the largest, by far, online Internet Marketing training ever given. There are some interesting stats as well. In previous years' Thirty Day Challenges, there was an initial boost in traffic as people signed up, but over the course of the month, the number of users dropped off, making a distinct downhill line on the graph.

With this year's Thirty Day Challenge, it has been the opposite. As word spreads about the training and the results we are having, more people are showing up to see what's going on.

In the world of Web 2.0, you can expect people to gather wherever something interesting is occurring. That's a good marketing message any time.

End of Semester

After the pressure of exams (on both students and professors) it is nice to have a chance to conclude the semester's business and look forward to the next semester, which is imminent. It's enough of a break to allow for some catching of breath, and to take care of some housekeeping to prepare for the new school year.

I just got this from one of my students:

I would like to thank you for what was easily one of the most thought-provoking classes that I've had throughout both college programs that I have been in. I really hope to apply a lot of the ideologies in my future projects.

It's always nice to know that students get something out of the courses I teach. It's even better when they apply what they've learned in their future endeavours and it makes their lives richer for the educational experience they have received.

That's why I do what I do, in the way that I do it. FIGJAM!

Day 22 30DC - Playing in Traffic

Part two of Ed's magnificent symphony in four parts is all about traffic -- getting it, keeping it, watching what it does. To that end, the folks at Thirty Day Challenge have provided us with a statistics tracker. We know the now-old business adage that you can't manage what you don't measure. Tracking statistics with any business venture, whether online or offline, is vitally important.

The other aspect to tracking -- which is really testing and observing results -- is to make changes only under controlled conditions. Think of it in the same way as doing a laboratory experiment. In order to know for certain which factors affect the outcome of the experiment, you must set up your test design (your experiment design) in such a way that you can control as many of the variables as possible.

Then as you run your test or conduct the experiment, you observe and record -- record -- results. If the outcome is not what you expected (or hypothesized), or to explore the results further, you then make a change in one (only one, if you please) variable and run the experiment again. Observing and recording once more. In this way you build up a body of empirical data that informs your decision-making about what has been going on in your test or experiment, and why these results might be occurring. This is the nature of scientific inquiry.

Remember, too, that you must run the test over a statistically-significant sample, over a reasonable time frame to obtain accurate data, and continually be vigilant for other factors or variables you hadn't accounted for which may be affecting the outcome.

Many marketers skimp on the market research phase of their projects, and suffer the consequences. Even more marketers do not conduct adequate testing of their campaigns and therefore make poorly-informed decisions (guesses, really) and also cannot prove to their clients what works and why, and what doesn't. Many marketers would be flat out of business if they billed based on results.

Once you know how and why you are getting the results you are getting, you can duplicate the test -- it's repeatable. More than that, it's predictable. That is the key for experiments as well, and the crux of the scientific method. Given the same controlled situation and variables, any other researcher should be able to replicate the experiment and get the same results. In business, it means that you can achieve the same successes over and over again, and even predict the outcomes. It doesn't get much better than that.

Day 21 30DC - Regaining Momentum

Now that we're over Tumblrgate and have regrouped enough to put up our niche pages once again, we can begin to move forward in earnest. Due to end of term and some other concurrent projects needing my attention, I have chosen to focus on just the one niche to get it up and running before working on the second one.

As Ed reminds us, all of this is still market testing. We are testing to see if the visitors to our pages will like what they see enough to convert to sales. Hence the emphasis on quality content.

And just an aside, if you are doing ANYTHING on the internet that does not involve quality content, what are you thinking? Don't we have enough dreck out there without you adding to it? That's not what I taught you at Seneca!!!

I get to say that because it's my job at college to turn out skilled content providers. So they had all better uphold the values I teach about that. And remember, light and fluffy content intended for fun can still be quality content -- and had better be, in a Web 2.0 world.

So, to get back on track, the rules of the game are the same. The venue may have changed, but the core players have not. The goal is still the same -- to generate at least $10.00 from one or more of our niche webpages. Some people are already claiming victory. Good for them. Early success is indeed wonderful -- but so is longevity. I want not only that first $10.00, I want it to be followed by many, many, many of its friends.

Day 20 30DC - Regroup and Go Again

Okay, the Tumblr thing was unfortunate, but that's life on the Internet. Time to regroup and go again. I have already secured another platform and begun to publish quality content (as I always do) on my niche topic. Let's see how this one fares.

I believe that it will have the same spectacular results if I use the same techniques to get it ranked in the search engines and drawing traffic. We are getting the opportunity to refine the process, and of course, as with anything else, repetition is a good way to ensure you learn what is being taught.

I'll keep you posted.

Day 19 30DC - Tumbled!!

I suppose it had to happen. When you have thousands of people doing the same thing at the same time, it is going to get someone's attention, even on the Internet. Tumblr has shut down any page created on August 18. This is a knee-jerk reaction to the mass creation of pages on their site. Frankly, it could also be a server problem, and I think all the action scared them.

They may have a legitimate reason from a content standpoint. As we know, the internet marketing field is glutted with scum-sucking bottom-feeding spammers who, instead of following ethical teachings such as in the Thirty Day Challenge, voraciously grasp onto any new technique and pervert it for their own selfish purposes. There were quite a few Tumblr pages that were blatant hard sells instead of providing good quality content. The Tumblr folks didn't want their platform abased and their credibility ruined by hosting illegitimate content. It would very quickly turn off their audience, and drive away their visitors. They have every right to run their shop the way they see fit, since they are footing the bill.

Unfortunately, a fair number of good pages with high quality content, including mine, were axed in the mass suspensions.

The bottom-feeders have always given internet marketing a bad name, and it looks like they are continuing to do so. This is why you must be SO CAREFUL when trying to do business on the Internet.

What is good, however, is that in a Web 2.0 world, social pressure has huge clout. It is the only defence against these kinds of people. If you come across a site that is a blatant sales-only selfish attempt to grab money, Stumble it with a thumbs down, give it a bad review, and if necessary, report it to the hosting provider. Speak loudly and clearly that we don't want this crap on the internet. Google, Squidoo, and other major entities already slap down any offenders, and most platforms have Terms of Service agreements that contain clauses allowing them to do the same.

If you provide quality content, your gentle and organic sales message will be accepted and even welcomed. Bottom line: Give before you get.

Day 18 30DC - Ranked and Glad of it

I probably wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't seen it. Within a day of launching my page, I am ranked position #6 in Google search results for that keyword phrase! Here's the proof:








That's pretty amazing, and proof that the strategies and techniques that we are learning on the Thirty Day Challenge work a treat, as my friends from Oz would say.

Now it just remains to be seen how the traffic shakes out. I have Google Analytics embedded to capture those results.

Day 17 30DC - Time for Launch

I have been disciplined enough to keep pace with the training rather than running ahead, thinking I knew where I was going. For a go-getter like me, that is difficult. But it's just as well -- learning to follow a process or workflow is one way to ensure you learn exactly what is required. Wish my students realized this sometimes.

Today we've received the go ahead to launch our pages. The intent is to put some quality content on a page, utilize our keyword phrase, and include our affiliate link in case anyone wants to buy product. The key is to have a good site that will attract attention, and gratify the visitors who discover it.

Since mine is about a reasonably popular topic, and I have my own spin on it, this should work very well. The platform we are using for the pages is Tumblr, though any page would do. It will be interesting to see how this actually works.

Day 16 30DC - Start Your Engines!

Now it's time to rev up the engines that will propel us toward that first $10.00 made online, and perhaps much more. In addition to making sure we have a good niche -- low competition, adequate number of searches per day, a market that pays for product -- we find an affiliate program with a ready-made product to promote on our website as a test.

You might think that we should sell our own products on our sites. Well, yes. But that will come. Right now, before a product is even developed, it's important to crank up the traffic engine and ensure that people with an interest in the topic are finding the web page all right. The gauge of this is in the number of visitors you get, and whether any of them are interested enough in the topic to open their wallets and pay for a product in that niche.

Remember, we still haven't laid out one single penny on any of this so far. And we're not investing development time yet, either. We're taking something that is already successfully selling elsewhere, and offering it on our page as well. In effect, using a proven product, that already converts visitors into buyers. Through affiliate programs, you can begin to make money with other peoples' products before you have any of your own.

It's akin to selling on consignment. You showcase someone's product, and if it's bought, you get a percentage of that sale. You don't have to do anything other than display it and promote it. Since we are using free display and promotion mechanisms, it's a no-risk, no-cost option. My favorite kind.