I recently joined Empire Avenue, a unique kind of social networking game where the players can buy and sell stock in each other.
Of course, no discussion about social media would be complete without adding my own profile. If you want to connect with me on Empire Avenue, just go to my Empire Avenue profile and leave me a "shout out". Make sure to mention "Kathy Foust Writing Services" in the shout out and I'll "invest" in your profile as thanks. Since I just started out here, I don't have a wealth of tips for using Empire Avenue, but I do have a few for you.
Invest in "new" people. Their stock is going to rise quickly, and with it your dividends. Several people have said not to invest in profiles that have less than 5 social media connection listed, but we all know it might take a day or two to set up a profile when you're just starting out somewhere.
Do Missions! Simply click on the "mission" tab at the top and see what there is to do. You can quickly earn "money" and make new social connections. Here's another tip: If you want to establish a presence on the Internet, try to do missions that relate to your current work. Google notices what you do.
Use the chat feature. The chats at the bottom of your window are a great way to start making real time connections with people. You can trade "likes" and swap promotions. If you're trying to get a blog endorsed, this is a great tool to use!
If you're wondering about the strange code at the top of this post, it's just a code that I have to keep there for 24 hours to verify my blog. I know it's hideous, but it's only temporary. Happy writing and I hope to see you on Empire Avenue!
Financial books aren't normally anything I enjoy reading. If I'm going to sit down and read a book, it's going to be for pleasure. I have to say that pleasure is just what I got from this book.
I was expecting to be bored to tears, but glean some useful financial information from Piggy Banks to Paychecks by Angie Mohr. To be fair, I did get an education and found the glossary in the back to be an especially useful tool, but I was also entertained. She somehow turned finances into something I could stand to read about because she included her own voice and real life situations.
Piggy Banks to Paychecks is a sort of guide to help parents educate their children in the world of finances. It does just that, but does it in such a way that the parent isn't wishing they were watching a good movie instead of reading the book.
Angie Mohr has packed this book with more information that a first year Econ class. It's written in the voice of a parent rather than a dry accounting perspective. Well organized and easy to read, Piggy Banks to Paychecks may just be the best financial book I've read yet. A huge thumbs up to Angie Mohr for a job well done!
Tax season is here and that means you're either cringing or celebrating. Either way, I thought I would try to make things a bit easier by sharing some tax resources that can make your 2011 tax preparation a bit easier.
Do not go to HR Block. You'll pay hundreds of dollars for someone else to prepare your taxes and you won't get them any sooner than you will if you do them at home. As a freelance writer you are obviously capable of your own data entry and have access to the Internet. Use it wisely.
Learn from a seasoned CA (equivalent of a CPA) and freelance writer. In fact, read this book
before you even start your taxes so you have an idea of what you're working with. Angie Leamen Mohr shows you how to save on your taxes by letting you know about deductions and rules you may not be aware of. Seriously...self-employment tax isn't cheap so use very advantage you can get!
File for free. The government does have some mercy on us during tax season, or maybe they just wanted to make everything easier on themselves. Either way, they've created a list of places where you can file your taxes for free. It's called FreeFile and you have a wide variety of options to choose from. The government doesn't generally offer up a lot of free things, so take it while you can!
Keep an eye on your taxes. The IRS refund schedule makes it easy to find out when you can expect your refund back. Again, please note that HR Block no longer has refund anticipation loans, so there is absolutely no reason to spend your money there. As you can see, you can get your refund back all on our own within 1-2 weeks.
If you're an online freelance writer, you've more than likely had to write some articles that had to have SEO work into them. Sometimes the phrase seems almost impossible to incorporate into a normal sentence, but knowing how Google reads text can be a big help.
Google doesn't currently recognize punctuation or capitalization. Big deal, right? Actually, it is kind of a big deal when you consider how you can use this to your advantage. Let's take a look at a phrase that might be used when writing for SEO.
"south beach diet how"
Just try and fit that in one sentence and see if any native English readers will return to see what else you've written. But, since Google doesn't look at capitalization or punctuation this one is fairly easy to get into content that makes sense. Using that information you can write sentences like the ones below and actually look like you know something about the English language.
"You're going to live in South Beach? Diet how you want to but know that you're going to be scrutinized!"
"So, you want to try the South Beach diet. How do you know what to eat?"
As you can see, the keyword phrase exists in just the right order and the sentences actually make sense!
Being a work at home mom isn't for everyone. But, if you're going to do it, you're going to have to take a few steps to make sure that you do it well. Below are some work at home tips that work well for me.
Create an office space. You might think that working at home means you can sit with your laptop o your couch in front of the television. That might work for some, but for most of us, work has to be separated from the rest of life's events. Even if you don't have a separate room for your office, try to make an area in your house that is devoted just to your work.
Set a schedule. One of the great things about working at home is that you get to set your own schedule. You need to take that schedule seriously if you expect others to take it seriously. After all, if you don't respect your work time, why would anyone else?
Break your work down into manageable time slots. Recognize that part of working at home means you have to do it all. You'll be the accountant, the public relations and even the labor force. Don't forget to schedule time slots for all of these functions. Whether you do a bit every day or have specific days for each function, scheduling them in time chunks means that you can get into a routine, which leads to better performance and higher levels of organization.