6 Year Olds & Their Incredible Determination - What We Can Learn from Them

On Friday, I had the pleasure of helping out at my son's grade 1 class field trip to a local skating rink. For most of the little ones, this was their first time skating. My son included - he'd never skated before. Here he is with his grade 7 "Buddy" that stood by him the whole time:



At first, my son could barely move without falling down. By the end of the hour, he was taking little baby steps around the rink, moving very slowly...all with the very serious face you see in the picture above.

Many other kids were experiencing the same thing. I was helping one girl who fell like every 5 seconds and she just didn't look very happy.

I asked her, "Would you like to take a break?"

To which she simply responded, "No."

She just wanted to keep going and so did all these kids even though they were possibly doing one of the hardest things they'd ever done.

The pure determination on that rink was amazing - and not only were they determined, they were IMPROVING. As the hour ended, I asked my son if he'd skate to the end of the rink with me since he'd been busy with his Buddy the whole time. He obliged and then fell down. I tried to help him and he said, "No Mommy! I have to do it myself!"

Now...what if every Internet Marketer had the same determination to succeed as these little skaters did? It'd be AMAZING!

The 12 Sweet Gifts of Christmas Go To...

I guess it did go pretty fast, didn't it? I was stuck in bed and got out just to post the giveaway, I'd promised. My apologies for being about 9 hours late!

Thanks to everyone who entered and for the great feedback from people who have already enjoyed some of my courses...I REALLY appreciate that.

Without further ado, here were the first 12 that included all the necessary info:

1. Jennifer McVey - Copywriting Sweetie
2. Erin Clark - 3 Months Outsourcing Sweetie
3. Kristy Zucarelli - Press Release Profits
4. Kelly Ling - Copywriting Sweetie
5. Kenneth Fox - Copywriting Sweetie
6. Sarah Zeldman - 3 Months Outsourcing Sweetie
7. Joely Sue Burkhart - Copywriting Sweetie
8. Adam Lok - Internet Marketing Sweetie
9. Sandy Naidu - Affiliate Marketing Sweetie
10. Regina Baker - Copywriting Sweetie
11. Mindy Benker - 3 Months Outsourcing Sweetie Gold
12. Marie-Josee Bettez - 3 Months Outsourcing Sweetie Gold

To claim your prize: Email Mel at news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com with the subject line "Sweetie Saturday Winner" and tell her your name and the prize you won.

PLEASE NOTE: Please give her until Thursday or Friday to award your prize as it's the weekend now and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Thanks for your patience and enjoy your gifts!

The 12 Sweet Gifts of Christmas - Hurry Before They're Gone

I sat and wondered what I could do for a holiday-style Sweetie Saturday and thought of the good ol' song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Of course, there are just a handful of days before Christmas and I wanted to do it in one big BANG!

Now I could have come up with one of those giveaways where you get a ton of (or in this case 12) "freebies" which may or may not hold much value and I could collect a gazillion email addresses. It's not quite my style and I'd rather give you something that YOU want.

Now obviously, if I'm letting you choose from just about anything you want...I can't give it away to everyone. That's why I've written "Hurry Before They're Gone" in the subject line. It's not just a ploy. I'm pretty sure you'll have to move pretty quickly to get this.

So, what's the deal with these 12 Sweet Gifts of Christmas?

The deal is, I am going to give you a chance to get YOUR CHOICE of one product, absolutely free. Here are the choices:

• 3 Months Free to Outsourcing Sweetie Gold ($53.85 Value)
• Internet Marketing Sweetie Course ($37.95 Value)
• Affiliate Manager Sweetie Course ($47.95 Value)
• Copywriting Sweetie Course + Software ($77.95 Value)
• Press Release Profits Course ($47.95 Value)
• Affiliate Marketing Sweetie Course ($37.95 Value)
• Information Product Sweetie ($37.95 Value)

How to Enter:

I am giving away 1 product to each of the first 12 people to post a comment in the comments area below with the following complete information:

1. Full Name
2. State/Prov Country
3. Product You Want
4. 1 Sentence Saying Why You Want It.

The first 12 people to complete those steps win what they wanted. It's as simple as that. I'll post how to claim your prize later tonight or on Sunday...so don't worry, I WILL be back. I love giving out free stuff!

Never Forget Again - Talking Alarm Clock: Freebie Friday

This Friday's Freebie has been kindly contributed to you by Darina Loakman of IAmAWahm.com. Here's her favorite freebie for staying on top of what she needs to do and for avoiding the glued to the computer trap.

Here's what Darina says about her "Talking Alarm Clock" and a video that shows how she uses it.

I have limited working hours each day and in order to make the most of them I do have to be very disciplined about what I actually do when I'm working

Sometimes I'm good at it, other times I'm not. Sad

One of my biggest time stealers was answering emails and checking message forums. I also had a problem staying up too late at the computer and being wrecked the next day ! I would sit down supposedly for 5 minutes just on my way to bed, and 2 or 3 hours would pass before I knew it (can you relate to that?)

So earlier this year I took a few simple steps that have helped me to put more structure on my day and get the most out of my limited work time:

Here's a short video on how it works and how to set it up. You can download the talking alarm clock by clicking here.



1. I outsourced most of my emails except those to my personal email address.

2. I put an autoresponder on my personal email address letting people know the times that I check my email and when I would get back to them.

3. I installed the free talking alarm clock from cinnamon software. I use it in a number of ways. Twice a day a little guy jumps up and tells me to answer my emails and check whatever message forums I use. Then later at night he jumps up again and tells me it's bed time :) I also use him to restrict my kids time on the computer, but it's not actually foolproof ! but so far when he jumps up and says "Hey your time is up, give your brother a go !" they seem to obey him.

I like the fact that it's not just visual, the talking bit is what makes it work for me. We do tend to respond more to voice rather than just the written word and even if all I have to do is click the close button and he's gone it still sticks in my mind what I have to do.

Enjoy :) I hope it's useful to you.

Darina Loakman
I Am A Wahm

How Do I Find a Good Housekeeper?: Three Thoughts Thursday

Hmmm...what does this have to do with Internet Marketing? If you work from your home, it means EVERYTHING.

Today's Three Thoughts have been inspired by a subscriber of my Outsourcing Tips...and her question was in response to this email from the tips sequence:

"Today I want to talk to you about my favorite task to outsource - cleaning house. I don't know about you, but vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom, aren't on my list of favorite things to do. I'd much rather spend the afternoon writing to you or adding some new resources to my website than scrubbing the bathtub.

So, one of the first things I outsourced was keeping my house 'somewhat' clean (If you have small kids you know keeping it completely clean for more than 10 minutes is impossible).

Think about it, how much time do you spend cleaning house each week? If you (like me) don't particularly enjoy it, it probably takes you quite some time. Hiring a housekeep to come in even just once a week to clean the house for a few hours could easily give you an extra 5 to6 hours of time to work on your business, or even better spend with your family or friends.

How much more would you make each week, if you devoted just 2 of those hours to building your business? If you can bring in as much money (or even more) as you are paying your housekeeper, it would definitely be worth your while to hire one.

To your success, Alice Seba"

And then Heidi wrote back to ask:

"Hi Alice!

So do you have any suggestions on HOW to find a good 'housekeeper'??? That's
definitely an area of my life that I just can't seem to keep up with & I get
overly stressed out when my house is a mess.

How do you find someone you can trust? Any ideas or advice would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks Alice! You're awesome!

Heidi =0) "

So, let's get into the three thoughts on finding a good housekeeper:

1. Just like with any other outsourcing you do, referrals are best. Ask your friends or other parents at school...just start asking. I used a "reputable" service with bonded employees once, but they didn't do a very thorough job and they were overpriced. Thankfully, my best friend's mom returned to her cleaning business about a year and a half ago and I scooped her up because I knew what a thorough housekeeper she is and I've known her for a long time.

2. If you don't know the person, stay near. You mentioned trust issues and that is certainly understandable. There is no reason that you have to leave the house while they do the cleaning, especially as you're getting to know each other. Just be accommodating and get out of the way when they work in a certain area.

3. Make sure you get your money's worth. As I mentioned, I wasn't happy with the service I used. They didn't move anything on the floor to clean underneath, no matter how light it was. This included plants, baskets, etc...and forget about even moving or attempting to vacuum under a couch. I assume this might be due to employee or worker's compensation regulations, but to me - it was lame. I'd come home and feel like I could have done a better job...and that's saying a lot.

The lady I have now, does it all. She even moves the fridge and the stove on a regular basis...and while she cleans, she washes and folds our laundry without "taking me out to the cleaners", so to speak. ;-) So, before you take someone on, be sure you ask what they do and don't do...and how much time they'd need to keep your house sparkly clean.