Archive for the ‘Free Speech’ Category

The Shadow Over Obama’s Address
As President Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, he acknowledged his predecessor and revealed he had phoned him before the speech. Mark McKinnon on why Obama would do well to learn more from Bush.

Court: University of Wis. must fund prayer activities
A federal appeals court in Chicago has upheld a lower court’s ruling that the University of Wisconsin-Madison must pay for student activities involving prayer, worship and proselytizing. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision today that the university’s policy of turning down funding requests from student groups for such activities violates their First Amendment right to …

The many different phone applications today have turned the mobile phone into a veritable multifunction tool that can be very handy in a home office. The Apple iPhone, especially, has proven to be an excellent home office assistant because of the many different free iPhone apps available on the Internet today.

But because there are hundreds of applications being created each year, it can take a while for you to sift through the best one that can help in the productivity of your business. We’ll make choosing applications easier for you by listing down the five best free iphone apps that you can use for your home office. So get your Apple iPhone ready, look for a Wi-Fi spot and look up the following applications.

1. The PageOnce Personal Assitant. This free Apple iPhone application is the best virtual assistant you’ll ever need. PageOnce manages all your online accounts—from flight trackers to Internet banking—in one simple application. With PageOnce you can track your flights, read Twitter feeds, monitor your credit card transactions, check your phone bills and even look at your Netflix account. It can also remind you of upcoming bills and payables.

2. Fring. Is telecommuting taking up most of your work hours in your home office? Download this nifty free application on your Apple iPhone and take telecommuting to a totally different level. Fring lets you talk and chat with anyone anywhere in the world for free! Simply connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you’re all set to close deals and meet with partners abroad. All calls are free, as long as the one you’re talking to is on Fring as well. You can also make calls to landlines via the Internet and enjoy low-cost airtime minutes.

3. ReQall. ReQall is one of the best free iPhone apps out today. It is a handy to-do program that makes keeping tasks and managing priorities simple and easy. Simply type your tasks or reminders onto your Apple iPhone and ReQall organizes everything for you by date, time and keywords. Are you driving when all of a sudden, you need to input an important reminder on your Apple iPhone? No problem. Just speak into your phone and ReQall will convert your speech into text. You can also get reminders of important tasks via your phone, email, or IM.

4. Evernote. Turn your Apple iPhone into an ultra-modern Post-It or a high-tech doodle pad. Evernote lets you take down notes, reminders, snap photos and even record voice memos. You can then access all these anywhere, at any time from your phone, the Web or your computer. Evernote is a great tool for your home office, since it also convert images into text. You can use this to take photos of white board memos, business cards or even labels and use Evernote to convert the writing into easy-to-read text. You can even look for your notes based on location.

5. Mint. This personal finance application is a good way to keep track of your money and your home office budget through your Apple iPhone. You can even link Mint to your Internet banking accounts so that it automatically balances your savings. In addition, you can categorize accounts, payables and receivables so you can keep better track of your money. Mint also features colorful charts and graphs to make understanding your budget easier and more fun.

Turn your Apple iPhone into a productive tool to help you keep your home office organized. Download the five free iPhone apps listed above to keep track of your budget and money, help you manage tasks and make telecommuting easier and more affordable.

Do you know what your gifts are, your special talent? Is there something you love to do so much, you would do it for free? Whatever that gift is, you are the only one doing it. There might be other’s who do similar things, but no one is doing it quite the way you are. Your perceptions and your experience, makes your way of providing that service unique.

Getting to the point where you are ready to share your talents and gifts with others is a journey. Maybe you always had a strong vision. Or you continued to refine your gifts over time. Are you committed to doing whatever it takes to build your practice?

Choosing to help others by being of service is valuable and rewarding. Do not underestimate the value you bring to others. Just because you are doing something which comes naturally and is so easy for you to do, does not decrease its value. Actually it increases the value. You have years of experience, knowledge and intuition which allows you to easily find solutions for your clients.

There is a difference between the technical part of your practice and the benefit you provide. The technical part is the approach you use, the location and tools of your trade. You understand what you are talking about, but your prospect is not very concerned about those details.

Think about it. Step into the shoes of your prospect and look at it from her eyes. You want to know how you will benefit by working with this person. Craft everything you do to let your prospect know how much better things will be by working with you. Reflect on the question about being a problem solver and what specific problems you know how to resolve.

When networking or at social events, so often you are asked “What do you do?” Stop for a moment and hold back from your usual response. Instead really get their attention by talking about your ideal client, what their struggle is and the solution you provide.

“I work with solo business owners who are really good at what they do, but have difficulty with marketing themselves and telling others about their services. As a result, there is always a struggle to grow their practice. I help to develop a winning mindset for them to grow their practice with confidence. By turning a negative into a positive they have more clients, more money and more free time.”

The service you provide and the actual benefit your clients might receive from working with you are two different things. This is valuable information for you to have. If you are not sure how your clients benefit, ask them. The response might be an eye-opener, giving you additional insights for your practice. More than likely, they will be happy to share this information with you.

When I first started my practice, I expected clients to be flocking to me. In my naiveté I believed if I opened my doors for business, clients would magically appear. Envisioning my business would be like the “Field of Dreams”, build it and they would come. This is the same as using Law of Attraction to manifest a goal, but never taking action. There is a one, two process for success. Create a clear intention and purpose. Next take action for transforming your goals into a reality.

Know what service you are offering. Don’t get caught up with the words and trying to make it perfect. Avoid spending a lot of time in your head, looking for the right formula. When you over-think something, you are procrastinating. This is not very client attractive.

In the beginning I made this same mistake. I focused on the technical aspects of my practice, the nuts and bolts of what I do. Basically, no one really cares. What my clients really wanted to know was how they would benefit from working with me.

“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” Theodore Roosevelt

Stepping out of the box of how I viewed myself, I began to look at the results. I had a huge “aha” moment. It was significant. What I did was start at the end with the results and then work my way back. By focusing on the results, I changed everything about my presentation, my elevator speech and my pricing. Instead of talking about me, I began talking about you. By focusing on what a potential client received from working with me, created an emotional connection. I became the problem solver and the solution for the pain they were experiencing.

Choose to get out of your head and connect with your heart. If you were to begin talking from your heart about your talents and how you have been of service to others, what would you say? Really think about your passions and the way you are being of service. At the end of the day, how do your clients benefit from working with you?

What you do is special and you have an obligation to let others know how you can be of service to them. I firmly believe this is an obligation. When you are talking with someone who is your ideal client, educate them about the benefits from working with you.

I am not talking about being “salesy” or pushy. Selling yourself like a used car salesman is not very client attractive. When you are connecting with your ideal client, the best approach to take is one of service. Be genuine. Tell a story of how your clients benefit from your gifts.

What do you offer and how do you provide solutions to their biggest problems? If you don’t let others know what you are doing, then those people will suffer. Suffer is a strong term. Consider the fact they will continue to be struggling with a problem; one where you have the solution.

If you have the solution, let them know. Realize you have a responsibility to educate your potential client about the services you provide and how you can solve her problem. How else would she know you might have the special talents or gifts which could help solve her problem? It is your responsibility to let her know about your skills and services in order to help her.

Activity: 1. Describe the client you work with the best.

2. What service do you provide for your client?

3. Describe the main problem you help your client solve? What do they receive when working with you?

4. Now let’s put it all together for your elevator speech:

”I work with _______________________ (mention your ideal client) often struggle with______________________ (client’’s problem) I _________ (how do you help your clients) so that they ______________________________.” (what are the results they receive from working with you)

5. Play with this, try several variations. Practice this and see how it sounds. Try it out with someone you know and ask them for feedback. You want to be able to do this easily and naturally.

6. Be open to change. This is a work in progress.

EDITORIAL: Support federal shield law adoption
“Congress shall make no law … abridging freedom of speech, or of the press …” This simple passage in the Bill of Rights allows for citizen oversight of our government and holds our elected and appointed representatives accountable through th

Snyder picks Calley, stresses unity
There has never been a better, and more crucial time, for Republicans to unite for the good of Michigan, gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder told a couple thousand to more than 4,000 delegates and alternates at the state convention in East Lansing.

I have got this from a friend and asking for wider opinion. Why do we need to pay the phone bills when constitution guarantees Free speech. We may be charged for overseas, but not internally. A relevant quota may be applied beyond which Internal calls should also be charged, but basic system should be free.

YouTube reports, You decide! As this latest phase of the VenomFangX saga begins the long process of fading away, we are left with an even more damaged and pathetic image of this poor deluded person. Who is really to blame? The VenomFangX phenomenon and the hoards of misguided and blind followers, who excuse every lie, insult and illegal action are in reality a symptom of what is wrong with the modern day fundamentalist churches of the western world. It is symptomatic of a cult mentality where people place a perceived religious leader up on a pedestal, ignore all the warning signs that something is wrong and gladly reach out towards the cup of cyanide laced Kool-Aid. Shawn, as you are now flagging videos on my channel from your known sock accounts as a means to limit my free speech, hope you appreciate this added attention. Segments of this video compiled from the following users VenomFangX LiberateEXinfernus dprjones C0ct0pusPrime thunderf00t

In other words, lets say I printed a news article calling you a Nazi and saying that your views were comparable to Nazi policies. Isn’t that considered libel and defamatory?

So then, why is it considered free speech to do the same thing to political figures?

With a blog, it’s easy to stay in contact with people who are (or might become) customers; it’s also great for expressing your personal or business vision to the world. It’s often repeated how important it is for online marketers to blog, but how exactly do you create a successful blog? There are actually quite a few ways to build up your blog and gain a wider readership. How do you decide what to do with so many possible actions to take? First of all, you don’t have to choose one single method and rule out the others; you can do several at once. Here are some hints to help you out.

Interact with your blogging community. One of the most important things that people notice is if the blog’s creator is participating. Why would someone leave a comment on your site if they stand no chance of hearing from you? Taking the time to answer the most important questions can be very beneficial for you and your image so it is always a good idea to interact with your members. Regular participation will show even the quickest passer-by that you are involved in your site and that you care about the people who take the time to contribute.

Communicate with them other than through the blog. You can set this up to be an automatic reply with a simple “thanks for commenting” message. A better option, however, is to send a quick and personal note to your commenters. Personalizing a message is far simpler than you may think; all you have to do is include the person’s name and briefly discuss something that they might have mentioned in their previous comment. People will appreciate that you value them enough to take the time to respond to them individually. This is only one of the simple methods that will make visitors loyal to your blog.

People should not be afraid to make comments on your site that people will disagree with. This won’t be a major problem when you first launch your blog but you must keep it in mind later. Although, it will soon seem like disallowing the ability to comment on your blog or to approve ones that you think are appropriate and reject the others is your only solution to stop them. Allowing people to publish comments that disagree with you will show that you are open to more opinions than your own. Your readers will stick around a lot longer and contribute much more when you let them post what they want.

There are far more methods you have at your disposal to become a better blogger. We already mentioned a few of these simple methods: responding to comments, freedom-of-speech in comments, and the ability to contact you and expect a response are all factors that will determine your success or failure.

The best thing about blogging is that you have many options to include different forms of advertising on your blogs and keep the ones that are most profitable. Thankfully, blogging is simpler than most other methods of creating an online income. And what’s more is that if you love your topic then everyday will be a pleasure to you instead of another day of work!