Posts Tagged ‘freedom’
Does It Really Take Money To Make Money (Online or Offline)? A Reality-Check of 2 Case Studies
The short and simple answer to this question is NO!
Now, before you start screaming that I am crazy, out of my mind, have lost my marbles and all the other things that generally get tossed around when someone has the nerve to state something like that, let me clear a few things up.
It does not take a monetary investment to get your business off the ground (aside from the everyday items you already have around your house).
It does take time, effort, drive and determination on your part to do it though, a good dose of imagination, sprinkle in some luck for good measure and most importantly, it takes a dream. Now I am not going to go into any of the usual dream-building, nor will I tell you exactly what to do, or how hard you have to work to do it. You already know the answers to these things.
NOW, to make it big (and trust me, what you consider to be ‘big’ may differ greatly from every other reader of this article) it will at some point take monetary investments. There, I said it. At some point, if you really want to break out and make some serious money, you will have to invest some money in your business.
But that does not mean you can’t get started for free, work hard, and see your cashflow begin to roll in. At that point, reward yourself, you’ve earned it, maybe take your loved one out for a dinner, because he/she probably had to put up with quite a bit already.
Being an entrepreneur is not hard, but the dedication it demands can be hard on any relationship, so take a night off.
Ok, now we’re back, had a great and wonderful evening, time to get back to work. The next step is to take some of the money you are making and if at all possible, invest it all in growing your business (after all, you probably still have a job that pays your bills at this point).
If you reinvest at least a healthy part of what you earn from your new venture, you can achieve the success you dreamed of, but beware, it can be an pretty strong temptation to start tossing your money out the window, but I know you are strong enough, deep inside (go ahead, grab yourself by the collar and shake a little) to overcome it.
Let me give you two examples from my own experience that I hope will inspire you to take your dream, embrace it and get you rolling with your own vision.
Case Scenario 1: Offline Food Delivery Service
While still living in San Antonio, I was working part time at a Pizza joint delivering pizzas a few nights a week. I had a full time job as a dispatcher, but with a wife (now ex-wife), two kids, a dog and a cat, and all the bills that come with a family, things can get tight. The team that managed this little franchise was doing a pretty poor job at marketing, and an even worse job at managing. Well, enough of the ugly picture, it just gets worse. Time to talk shop…
I wanted to do something a little different, help my colleagues (who were just as fed up as I was), so I happened to notice that most of the deliveries (and probably the only thing really keeping that pizza shop going) was the local Air Force training facility.
So I sat down one weekend, with my ex-wife and laid out the plan (You have to have a plan. Let it start as a vision and a dream, but make sure you write it out step by step).
The plan was simple, take orders from the Airmen, pick up food, take the food to them, and get paid. Easy, huh?
Ok, here’s what I did, I made some flyers on my beat up old computer, used a freeware contact management software to keep track of customers and an old tin lockbox I had in the garage for a change drawer. Bingo, N.E. Deliveries was born.
We would take calls from the local servicemen and my ex-wife would jot down their order. She then paged me, since I normally hung out (if I wasn’t on a run) near Fast Food Central (a little corner where a bunch of the main chains all had a shop). I called her back from the payphone (I didn’t have a cell phone at the time), took the order, grabbed it from the store and took it to the Airbase. Cost to the Airmen? Price of the food, plus a $5 delivery charge and whatever they wanted to tip me. Understand the scenario please, these men and women, come out of basic training and haven’t even seen a Big Mac in ages. Now they are at a technical school, which still doesn’t give them the freedom to run down the street and grab a taco.
It only took one weekend and I had made more money with this venture than I had during the whole week of delivering pizzas every night.
But here’s the kicker. Word spread real fast, I got too busy and I was even getting orders to go pick up pizzas at my old shop (they couldn’t deliver fast enough and people were willing to pay the delivery charge for good and fast service). We even started getting calls from the local neighborhoods, were our fliers had spread to, or other personnel, who were not in training at the airbase, lived.
Uhoh, we ran into a big problem, too much business. (What a wonderful problem to have). It happened that I kept running into some of my former colleagues, and boy I tell you, the first few times they saw me show up at their shop to grab a pizza and then a little while later some others saw me deliver their pizza to the airbase, wow, what a rush that was and it was the turning point for my company. 4 of the drivers that I was pretty close to and that I had great respect for came on board with me instead.
The end scenario was that we delivered a lot of food to hungry people and made everyone happy in the process. And the drivers were able to make more money as well.
Scenario 2: Online and offline Telecommunications Brokerage
Unfortunately, N.E. Deliveries had to stop when we were transferred to Japan (thinking back, I know I could have sold the concept and kept it going, but I was still new to business thinking).
So, here we were, overseas in a new country, not a lot of jobs to even start with, what to do.
I happened to notice that a lot of the phone services for calls back to the States were very expensive and even more so in my case, since most of my family lives in Germany.
I also happened to have noticed this online company, which was giving away free dealerships for long distance calls, callback programs and a few other telecommunications services. And who doesn’t like free? Not only that, but their rates were pretty good, they offered not just one service from one company, but a lot of them together. So I sat down at that old beat up computer again, cleared out all the contacts from N.E. Deliveries out of the same old freeware contact manager, and created some new flyers. I was able to hang them up in a lot of areas at no charge and started to get some calls in. Now, part of my online business meant, I could literally just send them to a website, let them pick the service they wanted and just wait for my check. The problem I saw though was that a lot of military people overseas at the time were not familiar with what a callback service is, so I decided to help. I put my phone number on the flier, and when someone called, I explained to them briefly the cost, how it works and what makes it better for them than using, say a calling card. I would even go visit them to show them how and even set up an account I used for myself as a demo account and would allow them to call home to the United States for 5 minutes for free, just so they could say hi to someone special in their life.
Just doing something simple like that (and it really didn’t cost me much on my phone bill) generated a lot of extra sign ups, since I went out of my way to give them more information than any of the other companies that were trying to push their services.
Ultimately, this lead to a steady, monthly stream of income and several other opportunities to work with other companies as a telecommunications consultant. The best part? I learned everything I needed to know from the online company I signed on with, I still learn a lot even now. I am still receiving paychecks from clients that signed up with me all those years ago, who now have services through me in either the United States or in some of the other countries they are now stationed in. And once I took some of that income and placed a small display ad in the local military paper, wow, things really started to take off.
The overall thing I want you to leave with after taking the time to read all of this is plain and simple: YOU CAN MAKE MONEY OFF-LINE AND/OR ON-LINE, without investing any additional money (I only gave you two examples, but your imagination will guide you well, as long as you think outside of the box). And you can grow your business even more by reinvesting some of your earnings (if not all) into your new venture.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before, but I have to say it anyway. If I can do it, so can you. I have no special education (aside from the school of hard knocks), no degree, none of those things. I am just an average guy, with a computer, an internet connection, a printer and most importantly the dream, desire, vision and determination to succeed.
Here’s to your success,
Xavier Nelson is the publisher of eBusinessCornerNews, your source for reviews, articles, free resources and more. Get your free subscription at http://blog.makemoneymarketingonline.com right now.
Don’t forget to grab your free copy of the new, rebrandable ebook “Time to laugh” at http://freestuffbazaar.com/timetolaugh and promote your website and grow your list further. My gift to you.
Is Time Really Easier to Sell than Products? Generate Extra Revenue by Packaging Up What You Know
Over the years I’ve worked with very many coaches and consultants who make their money by selling blocks of time.
This is great but anyone who’s done it – also knows that when they stop working (and selling time) the money soon dries up too. This predicament is not only potentially dangerous, especially for smaller firms, but can leave you feeling trapped by your own success. There’s often never any rest without that guilty, sinking, feeling that while you’re not working you’re not earning.
So, on top of selling time, I encourage people to turn their knowledge into an information product so they can earn additional money even while they’re sleeping or having a well-earned rest, enjoying a hobby or reading a book.
Strangely though, many of these people who are so good at selling time come completely unstuck when it comes to doing the same with products. In fact, one high-earning coach I spoke to recently said, “I think you will find that selling products takes a lot more time and effort than selling services.”
Well does he have a point?
If you’re interested in turning what you know into a book, e-book, e-course or audio programme to add kudos to your main business and to bring in a bit more money each month then today’s article will come in handy.
Selling products doesn’t necessarily take a lot more time and effort than selling services – though the rules are very different…
If you have an appropriate plan (and a good target) it’s very likely they’ll be just as difficult/easy as each other – though making a lot of money quickly from products is very often harder than people think.
Making lots of money out of products does take a bit longer and it’s unlikely that a handful of CDs and books will make you into an overnight millionaire as many of these “turn your knowledge into a million quid” internet marketing “gurus” would have you believe.
An Example… We sell information products for £15 each on average (though we’ve successfully sold some for £100+) whereas I can sell time for £650-£1000 a day (excluding speaking engagements where this rate can be hourly). Therefore the ‘quantity-quality’ ratio is very different between the two. You need much bigger numbers to make products pay off.
With products of a comparatively low price you have to play a big numbers game (where the quality of the relationship is basically transactional). So it’s the high quantity of people you need to reach that can make selling products seem harder.
Now with high value services, you may only need to sell a handful of days (where the quality of the relationship is way beyond a mere transaction) a month, to earn a decent income – which makes selling time seem easier.
Now, if you didn’t already know, I stopped selling time (and taking on new clients) early in 2004 to focus on producing and selling information products instead.
So, why did I choose to stop selling time to focus 100% on products if I can make plenty of money selling time?
Because you can only effectively maintain a set number of high-quality (high-time-demand) clients without having to take on more people. This sets a limit (based on hours you’re willing to work) on your own personal earning potential. Transactional clients (people who buy a product) don’t need the same time/resource (ie personal attention, accountability – beyond a product guarantee or high skill level) which vastly increases your overall earning potential from products. You can even earn money while you’re playing ping-pong, flying a kite, or anything else you like to do with your spare time.
But the key distinction here is “earning potential”. Intellectually, selling products seems a nice and easy way to earn income – but realising the “potential” is flippin’ difficult as I’ve found out.
After focusing on products for a few years now we’re finally earning as much selling products as we were when we were just selling time – but now there are only 2 full time people to share the money with rather than 11!
So anyone thinking that giving up your consulting or coaching business and just doing products is an easy way to get rich – it isn’t – but when you’ve got the revenue coming in from almost passive sources then the ceiling on your overall earning potential can increase beyond the number of hours you are willing to exchange for cash.
And for me, time (and the freedom to spend it however you wish) is far more important than overall income.
If you’re keen to write the next business bestseller – here are a few resources that might come in handy…
* Get Yourself Published – Suzan St Maur
* Release The Book Within – Jo Parfitt
* Lean Marketing Press – Our 50-50 Publishing Deal
‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com
(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com
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Credit Counseling: Could it Work for Me?
In the face of financial hardship, many seeking a responsible solution turn to credit counseling. Credit counseling is, all too often, the last stop before bankruptcy. That is, of course, not to say that credit counseling prevents bankruptcy altogether. There are more cases than one might think that end up in bankruptcy court after credit counseling has failed to remedy the financial woes of the debtor.
It is doubtful that the failure of credit counseling for some consumers can be blamed on the credit counseling company. Sure there are some cases but, more often than not, credit counseling fails to end financial problems because the person who ran up the debt in the first place continues to run up the debt or doesn’t stick to the budgeting that they were taught through credit counseling.
If you are thinking of pursuing credit counseling, it’s important to remember that, as with any counseling, you get back what you put into credit counseling. You can’t expect miracles from your credit counseling company. Credit counseling is all about working with you, not working for you. Credit counseling is not going to solve your financial problems, but rather teach you to solve your own financial problems and avoid getting back into them.
Even if you relapse into debt after successful credit counseling, it is still, most likely, going to be a better option for you than bankruptcy. Credit counseling can be a wealth of knowledge, even if you have a hard time putting it into, or keeping it in, action. Sometimes there are more complexities behind financial problems that just can’t be solved through credit counseling. Once you have dealt with all of the issues surrounding your debt appropriately, the education you have gotten in credit counseling can ultimately lend to your financial success and freedom from debt for good.
Timothy Gorman is a successful webmaster and publisher of Debt-Relief-Solutions.com. He provides more debt relief, bankruptcy and free credit counseling information that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
Lets Not Forget About The Little Guy
Every business has to start somewhere. What truly makes this country great is the freedom of enterprenuership that every one of its citizens have. Capitalism at its best signifies the power of a single person to reach monumental goals and turning a simple idea into a huge corporation. But in our pursuit of this glorified state, have we snubbed the little guy?
Corporate earnings are billions of dollars a year for executives and shareholders. Online companies such as eBay, PayPal, Google, and Blockbuster have crushed the little guy beneath the giant wheels of change. What would have been important to the small companies as they used to be is a far cry from the values that these corporations embrace today. Will it always be this way? Change is inevitable, but does it really take stepping all on the individuals that got them there in order to succeed? It’s as if once a certain dollar amount is reached in net revenue, the blinders go on, and the company loses touch with the little guy.
EBay, Inc. began in 1995 with one little guy’s idea on a better way to garage sale, as a way for his girlfriend (now his wife) to trade Pez dispensers online. By 2001, more than $9 billion in merchandise was sold via the auction monster. Now, eBay Inc. is the biggest internet marketplace, reporting a gross profit of $2,656,894 for 2004.
In an interview with eBay’s founder Pierre Omidyar in BusinessWeek Magazine, Senior Correspondent Robert D. Hoff asks a pertinent question:
Hof: “It seems ironic that eBay started out intending to level the playing field for small businesses and individuals, and now eBay is a big corporation. How do you make those jibe these days?” Omidyar: “It sure is ironic. I like to think we’re a different kind of big company, because of the way we interact with our community. If we lose that, we’ve pretty much lost everything. If you’re starting a revolution and you succeed, then are you still a revolutionary? It’s a little bit weird, but I think we still have a long way to go, bringing the level playing field to the rest of the world.”
Interestingly, earlier in the interview, Omidyar touts his original ideals of listening to his customers, and shaping the software based on their suggestions, sometimes even the same night he received an email from a customer. But increasingly, as of late, eBay’s customers are reporting a greater dissatisfaction with the way the conglomerate is handling their marketplace. After all, it is eBay sellers that are the actual customers, because they pay all the fees, and therefore are the source of eBay’s revenue. And unless you are a Power Seller, forget about calling eBay. Their number is reserved for only the elite few who can meet their standards of maintaining so many thousands of dollars in sales per month. You’ll be lucky if they respond to your email within a week. So I wonder what makes a level playing field, as Omidyar so aptly puts it. Can eBay truly claim to not have reached it yet? Come on?
Since the company raised its prices to sellers earlier this year, though, there are defections to Overstock, Yahoo, Amazon, and other smaller auction sites. Is eBay in that much financial distress that it has to rob the sellers of their hard earned auction profits only to pay higher fees? By the looks of the profits listed earlier, we can all see they’re not struggling. According to BusinessWeek’s David Kiley:
“Ebay’s stock is trading at almost half its 52-week high despite continuing to make money. One wonders if eBay has simply become as complacent as General Motors became in the 1980s, figuring that Toyota and Honda would never amount to much, and that people would prefer a used Buick to a new Hyundai. Ebay is still a market share leader by a big margin. But investors and Wall Street tend to value a stock based on what they think future performance will be. Looks pretty bleak.”
Tiffany & Co., which has filed a lawsuit against the Internet auction giant for facilitating counterfeits, claims that eBay has a responsibility to police its auctions. Gucci, Prada, and other big names are closely watching the suit, as the ramifications will affect them as well. Originally clinging to the values of Omidyar himself, policing auctions was indeed something that they did. Now, the complacency of eBay and it’s “hands off” attitude is almost disgusting. Big mistake; the stakes are high for eBay. Other firms are watching and legal experts predict a flood of similar copyright lawsuits if Tiffany prevails. Lawyers salivate at the thought of getting a piece of the eBay pie.
“Everybody wants to see where this is going,” said Lou Ederer, an intellectual property rights expert. “How much longer can eBay hide behind their bigness? They are taking the position that they can’t monitor thousands of auctions going on all at once. But where do you draw the line? Firearms, alcohol? There are certain industries where the line has to be drawn.”
Another giant, Google, is seemingly only a bit better. Google’s search engine does not generate revenue, as there are no paid inclusions to be listed in the search engine. Rather, Google relies upon its infamous PageRank to rate the importance of sites, and how they get listed. Factors such as keyword density and placement, aging, and link popularity all figure in to the secret algorithm, called PageRank. So where does Google make its money? Google’s pay-per-click advertising, AdWords, is the major source of Google’s income. Google’s concept started in 1996 with two little guys, Larry Page and Sergy Brin. While students at Stanford University, the pair collaborated on a search engine called BackRub, named for its unique ability to analyze the “back links” pointing to a given website. Housed with low end computers in a meager dorm room, the two college students originally sought a buyer for their technology, but no one was interested, so they decided to give it a go themselves. They got a few investors, and Google, Inc. was born. What had been a college research project was now a real company offering a service that was in great demand. The rest is history.
Now, with Google’s enormous impact on the internet, considering that 85% of all website traffic comes from search engines, people cannot fail to take notice. If your website doesn’t appear in Google, chances are you’re not getting good quality traffic. Google ranks #3, surpassed only by Yahoo and MSN, #1 and #2 respectively. Further, the corporation seeks to match its closest competitors by moving away from search engine technology and into the fields of web-based email, shopping, local searching, blogging, and even home pages, in order to steal that market share as well. When is it enough? That’s the funny thing about greed–it engenders more greed, and procreates like a bunch of rabbits.
But the search engine giant is in trouble in the courts, having lost one lawsuit already to Louis Vuitton, Inc. for trademark infringement in October, 2003, and another that the Versailles Court of Appeals, upholding the Vuitton decision, published in March, 2005. The court ordered Google to stop allowing the linking of advertisements to search terms trademarked by two travel companies by Google’s AdWords and to pay damages to the trademarked companies. According to CNN.com, “?The 20-page October 13 ruling by the court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre called into question the legality of the search system at the heart of Google’s business model.” The lawsuit will have ramifications on the validity of the pay per click advertisements, calling Google’s main source of revenue onto the carpet as more court cases ensue.
Google is in the process of removing French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) from its Google News service, which aggregates links to online articles and accompanying photos from about 4500 news outlets. AFP sued Mountain View, California-based Google in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in March, 2005. The news agency is seeking to recover damages of at least $17.5 million from Google. AFP also asks the court to forbid Google from including its content in Google News. And the greed continues.
In other news, Blockbuster’s CEO John Antioco was ousted at the May 11th, 2005, shareholder meeting, only to reinstated to CEO two weeks later by the board when the dissident financier and corporate raider Carl Icahn voted himself onto the board, with voting rights of 10% of Blockbuster’s Class A shares, and 8% of Class B shares, only to find out that outing the chairman would cost the corporation $51 million dollars. The two other board members voted in actually had extensive media experience. The only experience Icahn has is buying shares and then being loudmouthed at shareholder meetings. So keeping Antioco on the board, and thus voiding the compensation package, seems like more of an afterthought, or even a fast recovery from what could have been a very costly second quarter. The way corporate America is set up seems to be a good way to be accountable (i.e. to the FCC and stockholders), but is a good idea for the ones with the most money making all the decisions? What’s laughable in the Blockbuster drama is that Icahn wasn’t privy to the executive contract that Antioco had, and once Icahn was informed after his election to the board, he quickly changed his tune.
Blockbuster, Inc. was founded by Wayne Huizenga, who was named Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year for 2004 and 2005. He is the only man to have created six NYSE companies, and three Fortune 500 companies: Waste Management, Inc., Blockbuster, Inc., and AutoNation. He started as a door to door salesman for a trash hauling company. From meager beginnings into the world of multi-billionaires, Huizenga’s is truly a Cinderella story, although his character wasn’t always pretty. And now Blockbuster stock is half of what it was a year ago, and keeps dropping. It seems for every mountain peak, there is the downhill slide.
What I hope to accomplish by this article is not stir up anger towards corporate America; quite to the contrary! What I actually hope to do is give each and every little guy out there the hope and light the fires of passion that you can be a success story as well. But there is a clear warning that growing beyond the bounds of reason has its consequences as well. If your goal is to gain enough wealth to be comfortable, then by all means, go for it. But if your design is to be the best, or to be all things to all people, there is fair risk to you of replacement.
Are American corporations getting too big for their britches and forgetting their roots? You bet. So hey, America, stop forgetting the little guys that made you great in the first place! The little guys like you and me, enterpreneurs with one goal in mind: to make a living, can make a difference. After all, it only takes one to rock the boat.
Jennifer E. Sullivan is an Internet Business Consultant who specializes in search engine optimization and web marketing. Her emphasis is on small to medium business marketing. She has written several web marketing articles, including “Hiring an SEO Consultant: 10 Reasons Why You Should”, “PageRank for Websites: Is There More to the Web?” and “Success for the Early Entrepreneur”. You can find more information on her services at http://www.firstclass-seo.com
7 Branding Secrets: Ready or Not?
Every company has a brand (how people think of them) whether they created it through design or accident. By creating your brand through design, you shape the way you wish your company to be viewed by customers and potential customers. This will remove some of the uncertainty concerning what others will expect from you and say about you. The power of a brand can’t be over-estimated. The Golden Arches are known worldwide.
However, many people confuse a logo with a brand. The logo is a very small portion of the brand effort, especially during the startup phases. Later, once your brand has been repeatedly communicated, in multiple ways, with consistency, the logo can begin to embody the overall brand. But, it will never be the brand.
Do you know what makes your company or its products unique? If you don’t you can’t begin to establish a brand identity by design. There are seven elements to remember when designing your brand.
One: Know Your Customers Better Than You Know Yourself
Customers buy for their reasons, not yours. If you want to sell them your product, you MUST sell to their concerns, not your own. Every piece of marketing copy must FOCUS upon them. If you don’t speak their language, you don’t get their money. With branding as with selling, if you don’t understand your customers, you won’t build a brand of which they want to be a part.
Let’s say you were trying to sell a snowboard. To effectively sell a snowboard to a fifteen year old requires an entirely different conversation than selling the same item to his mother. How you brand your product in these two different customer bases is entirely different if you wish to be successful. If your product could be sold to a fifteen year old or a 40 year old, you’d better decide who you are going to focus your branding efforts upon for the greatest success.
Crawl within your targeted customer’s mindset. Understand what they think about the product, what they want from the product, and the alternatives they have to the product. Now that you know what the customer wants, you need to understand your competitive environment and your competitors.
Two: Understand Your Competitive Environment & Competitors
Your competitive environment has a major impact on how you brand your products or your company. For instance, retail is a highly competitive environment. There are companies that deal in the high end of the market and those who don’t. WalMart has chosen to compete in the low price arena of retailing. They work hard to build a brand of “low price, friendly company”. They obviously do it well. All one has to do is look at their financials to draw that conclusion.
You need to understand your competitive environment as well as WalMart understands theirs. But how can you do that effectively, without WalMart’s budget?
Start by asking your existing customers, “If you weren’t working with us, with whom would you be working?” Identify the companies to whom you most often lose business. Learn as much as you can about these competitors, including how customers perceive them, what makes them unique, and why they win the business they do.
Three: Define Your Brand Personality
Brands are like people. They have personalities too. People choose brands based upon whether or not the characteristics of the product or company brand fit them. My mother wouldn’t be caught dead in a WalMart. I love a bargain, so I love WalMart. Two customers. Two different perspectives regarding the same business.
If you have defined your ideal customer well and understand your competitive environment, you can select a brand personality which will appeal to your audience. Think of your brand personality just like any personality. It will have traits. Choose two or three personality traits to develop for your business. Will your business be youthful, fun and irreverent? Will it be conservative, sophisticated and elite? Once you have defined the two to three personality traits that define your business, they must be visible in everything you do. All advertising, your website, your emails, everything must be consistent with your brand personality. This also includes your collateral materials, the people you hire, and even the way you answer the phone.
Your brand must come through loud and clear at all times. With a brand also comes a promise. WalMart promises the lowest prices and friendly people. Your brand will have a promise too.
Four: Make A Brand Promise
Talk with your customers. Understand how they see your business, and what your brand means to them. Find out what is important to them about choosing a business like yours and what benefits they get from doing so. Make sure your brand promise is important and valuable to the customers you want most. Once you understand your customers, you can create a brand promise. Serta, the mattress company, has a promise of “We Make The World’s Best Mattress”. Maytag has the lonely repairman, reinforcing the promise of dependable service and called the “Dependability People” with the headquarters located at #1 Dependability Way.
Your brand promise should be stated clearly, in concise language so everyone in your organization and your customers understand the promise, just like Maytag’s and Serta’s promises. Then, you must bring the brand to life through a brand strategy and action plan.
Five: Define Your Brand Strategy
Think of a brand strategy as defining the limits of your approach and the outline of your methods. Later, we will design the tactics to make it happen.
You now understand your customer and your competitive environment. Your strategy comes out of that information. Where will you position yourself? Just as WalMart uses stand-alone stores rather than join established malls, you must decide how to approach your environment in order to successfully brand your company or your products.
You need to develop a brand that is distinct from your competitors. Many people mistakenly think that by emulating a dominant brand, they will succeed. In reality, you don’t have the resources necessary to duplicate their strategy. Seek out a niche of the dominant business’ market. You can successfully determine that niche by asking yourself, “Where are they vulnerable?”
If your business specializes in a specific product area, such as sports equipment, build a brand of energy, strength, competition, and youth. If your advantage is consulting or ideas, make sure your brand is innovative, exciting, and cutting-edge. If you are the lowest price option, make sure to look conservative with money. If your products are more robust, like a John Deere tractor, build a no-nonsense, industrial-strength feeling into the brand.
Your branding strategy will set the overall limits of your branding “playing field”, now it’s time to design the game plan.
Six: Identify Your Branding Game Plan
Moving to action, you need to define the specific actions you will take to create your brand. They must be the tangible demonstration of your company’s values and beliefs. They come directly from your brand personality, brand promise, and brand strategy.
Southwest Airlines is a great example. Employees dress casually and have some fun in the way they greet passengers. The company’s symbol on the NYSE is LUV and the name of their in-flight magazine is Spirit. These actions reinforce Southwest Airlines’ brand personality and brand promise every day. Think hard about every planned action and its possible ramifications in your competitive environment. Many companies make the mistake of taking actions inconsistent with their brand personality. Don’t make that mistake.
If you focus on women, then focus on activities that women support like breast cancer research and childhood disease. If your focus is on young males, then make your actions bold and worthy of bragging. The hardest part of your branding process will not be designing your tactics. The hardest part is being consistent in supporting your brand.
Seven: Be Consistent in Action
A brand builds over time. A brand becomes successful after years and years of consistent action. My grandmother used to say, “The proof is in the pudding”. This is a very descriptive way of saying “in the end, it’s the result that matters”. Keep that in mind as you move forward in building your brand. An excellent method for helping you maintain consistency in your branding efforts is to pick a brand personality indistinct from your own personality. In that way, it won’t take as much acting or thought to be successful. Your brand will become a natural extension of yourself.
A Final Thought
In today’s business climate, the world is highly competitive. It is important to differentiate your brand. A sound investment is defining and communicating what is truly special about your business. Your brand will bring you financial results through loyal and happy customers. Your brand will tell the world why they would be crazy not to do business with you.
Michele Schermerhorn calls herself a “Corporate Freedom Fighter” dedicated to freeing cubicle prisoners to experience their own successful online business. She has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com), authors a sassy marketing blog (http://www.imarketblog.com), and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to “Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time”.
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
Justin was a typical ten year old boy. He liked Leggos, trains, and watching TV. He had red hair, freckles, and a huge smile. Justin was a great kid and everybody loved him. Because of cancer, he didn’t live to see his eleventh birthday. His mom Mary, who had watched him suffer for months, held her son in her arms when he died. Every day, for the last two years, she has lived with the grief of her loss and the memories of Justin’s suffering.
This issue of suffering is the most common argument against religion. People often ask, “If there is a loving God, why does He make people suffer?”
I firmly believe that God does not cause sickness or pain. He doesn’t make people hurt, and He doesn’t want them to suffer. The life of Jesus proved this. He cured people; He did not make them sick. Why, then, are so many in pain?
There is no easy answer. To try and understand, I step back and look at the big picture. God made everything perfect. Then man sinned and that perfection was spoiled. Now we live in a world where evil abounds. We are subject to the evil actions of sinful people and to the natural consequences of those actions. This is not at all what God intended for the world He created.
God can and does intervene in some events, but why not others? Only He knows that answer, but the Bible teaches that there will be a time when He will put an end to ALL death, sadness, pain, sickness, and suffering.
Below are some possible reasons that people suffer.
1) We do things ourselves that cause us pain. We don’t eat right, so we have heart attacks. We drive fast, so we have accidents. We smoke, so we get cancer. We start wars, we break laws, we don’t show love to our fellow man. Much of the sorrow in this world, we bring upon ourselves by our own actions.
2) But what about innocent children who are not responsible for their suffering? Why do they get sick? This is a tough question. What I know for sure is that when God created this world, He intended for us to have strong, healthy bodies and freedom from pain and suffering. When evil entered the picture, it brought with it suffering. That is not to say people suffer because of their own personal sins, necessarily, but the world is changed, due to sin being part of the world. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have tribulation.”
Just as in the case with Job, I believe that evil forces attack us and cause much suffering in an attempt to get people to blame God and turn away from Him. (Job 2:3-9)
3) God gives us rights as individuals. Because He allows us to choose for ourselves how we’ll live, He had to also allow us the freedom to sin. This means He had to allow the consequences of our behaviors, too. Some of those consequences are diseases caused by toxins, accidents caused by risky behaviors, and natural disasters caused by things like changes in the ozone layer, which we have brought about.
4) Though some people think God punishes us by making us suffer, Jesus said that a blind man He healed was born blind, not because of his sin or his parents’ sin, but “that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (John 9:3) God didn’t cause the blindness, but He used it to show His power to all who saw Jesus heal the man.
5) Another possible reason God allows suffering is so that our faith in Him will grow, our compassion for others will increase, and we’ll be better able to encourage other hurting people (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
6) Romans 1:22 says that God gives rebellious people over to their own foolishness. He lets us go, hoping that we will return to Him after we hit bottom and see the error of our ways. Giving His permission is not the same as causing the problem. God doesn’t cause people to stubbornly refuse to follow His way. He doesn’t want us to go ever deeper into degradation, but He does permit us to have our way when we are determined to choose our own path.
BUT WE ARE NOT WITHOUT HOPE:
Though this world is no longer perfect, God will create a perfect world some day in heaven. He will get rid of everything that is not HIS. Suffering, sin, pain, tears and death are not HIS. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” (1 Corinthians 15:54)
We have HOPE that all suffering will be relieved when we go to spend eternity with God. But this promise of eternal bliss is only for those who know, serve, and love Him.
God doesn’t cause suffering; Satan does. When we get angry at God, it’s exactly what Satan wants. By blaming God for evil, we’re actually following the one who IS responsible.
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (1 Peter 5:8-11)
Our souls are of greater importance to God than our bodies are. Though He cares about our physical suffering, healing our soul is more urgent because it is the soul that lives forever. Our relationship with God is what determines where that soul spends eternity. If only those who suffer here on earth would seek God and the true healing (of the soul) that He offers!
In this world, bad things happen to good people. Those who have a personal relationship with God are better able to cope. We can live without fear, even though we do not know what the future holds, if we know the one who holds the future in His hands. When we discover the great love God has for us, we can let go of fear.
Psalm 27:1 says “The Lord is my salvation. Whom shall I fear?” Jesus triumphed over death, and He alone can save us from eternal death. He can also see us through all the trials of life and bring us safely to heaven.
I don’t have all the answers. I just hope that, in sharing what I’ve learned through my own experience, I’ve helped you to feel more at peace knowing God has ultimate control in every circumstance. He is GOOD, no matter what evil befalls us. We can trust in the one who is full of compassion and loves us more than we can imagine. Without that knowledge, I don’t know how anyone could cope with the trials of life.
No one can comfort the depths of our sorrows except God. I’m convinced that if you read His promises in the Bible, your heart will be encouraged.
Author Marsha Jordan is founder of a nonprofit charity called Hugs and Hope for Sick Children (http://www.hugsandhope.org). More of her articles on depression are in her book, Hugs, Hope, and Peanut Butter, a compilation of thought-provoking essays illustrated with drawings by critically ill children.
In this book, the author combines hope with humor, drawing upon her own experience of living with chronic pain and depression for thirty years. She opens her life and her heart to share everyday experiences and the lessons God has taught her from them.
A wonderful mix of the serious and the humorous, this book warms the heart and lifts the spirit. PROCEEDS BENEFIT SICK KIDS! This book was written to encourage anyone who faces disappointment — which is EVERYone! Some essays in the book include “What Did I Do To Deserve This?” “What Was God Thinking?” “More Than I Can Handle,” and “Ten Tips For Beating Depression” Order the book or learn more at http://www.hugsandhope.org/book.htm
The Distance Learning Explosion!
A generation ago few would have given much thought to educating themselves apart from a ‘brick and mortar’ educational institution. Certainly, for several generations, correspondence courses allowed people to gain knowledge while studying in the comfort of their homes, but these schools pale in comparison to entire universities dedicated to instructing students remotely. Let’s take a look at this growing phenomenon.
Claiming to be the nation’s leading online university, the University of Phoenix was among the first accredited universities to provide college degree programs via the Internet. Founded in 1976, the University of Phoenix began offering internet degree programs in 1989. The program has exploded in popularity to where nearly 150,000 students are in the process of pursuing degrees on the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level. Degreed programs in Business, Education, Management, Nursing, and Technology are available online through the university which claims to be the largest private university in the US.
So, why are degreed programs like those offered at the University of Phoenix so popular? In one word: convenience. You can study at home, at work while on break, on vacation, while traveling on business, etc. Because everything is accomplished online you simply log on, click into class, and go.
Yes, you need a computer, but that is what gives students the freedom that they have vs. traditional route students. Many online universities allow students to take courses at their own speed, usually one course at a time. Disciplined students can finish a course in as little as five weeks and start another course the following week. Indeed, it is not unheard of that students can receive their degrees in as little as 2-3 years after beginning the program.
Most employers recognize online educational options the same as traditional route options, therefore students find themselves available for financial reimbursement. Tuition costs are comparable to that of the “brick and mortar” institutions.
Other online giants include: DeVry University, Westwood College, Walden University, and Kaplan University. At the same time, there are “degree mills” that offer degrees with little or no studying required in exchange for a fee. The reputable schools are accredited, while the “degree mills” are not.
All in all, online schooling is booming as Americans explore an option that is convenient and effective for them.
Matt writes regularly on a variety of business, health, and web management issues as well as managing popular websites. The Aviation Employment Board at http://www.aviationemploymentboard.com is Matt’s busiest site.
Woodworking Tools: Right Selection And Care Will Save You Money, Part 3
Woodworking: Tools Of The Trade, Part 3 – Tools For Measuring & Marking
A civilization’s maturity and intelligence is judged, in part, by the diversity and sophistication of its tools. When it comes to woodworking, the human race is quite advanced. There are general tools that work well in many situations, and there are specialty tools made for one specific purpose. There are tools that require only manpower and a rudimentary knowledge, and others that utilize computer programs, a wide range of knowledge, and a powerful motor. We have even learned how to harness power for our tools and package it in a small battery component, giving us the freedom to take our tools wherever we need them.
It is truly amazing and wonderful to contemplate the vast number of tools and all that woodworkers are capable of doing and creating with the help of these tools. And for many people, working with tools is one of the thrills, or even obsessions, of woodworking.
Woodworking and related tools have become so popular that there are numerous companies that manufacture these tools and thousands of places to purchase them. Combine that with the vast numbers of different types of tools and it can get overwhelming, especially if you are new to woodworking. Our experts helped us focus on the basics to develop an overview of those tools needed to get a good start in woodworking.
In the most basic terms, a woodworker needs four kinds of tools. They need a place to work, tools for cutting and shaping, tools for assembly, and finishing equipment. This simple statement provides the basis for the following discussion of woodworking tools.
The tools listed and described here represent just the tip of the iceberg. In keeping with the philosophy that it is best to learn the basics first, and to not invest large sums of money until a person is certain that they have an ongoing interest in woodworking, the emphasis is on hand tools, with a few basic power tools thrown in. These tools should prepare you for a variety of beginner projects and give you a solid foundation of equipment and knowledge to build upon.
Tools For Measuring & Marking
Most basic measuring tools are not complicated instruments that require special care. Yet making proper cuts is a key component of basic woodworking skills. It is important to have an accurate rule, a means of marking angles, and something to mark with.
Rulers
There are several types of rulers, but the most common are a metal tape measure, a 24-inch wooden folding rule and a wooden zigzag rule, which can be as long as eight feet. Tape measures have a long tape wound up inside the case and are especially handy for jobs with long pieces of wood. They also have a lock to hold the tape at the desired length.
Selection Tips
When buying wooden rulers, look for sturdy material with both standard and metric markings and a catch or pin for holding the rule closed when folded. Tape measures should also have both types of measurements and a sturdy tape. You should be able to find quality rulers for under $10. If buying used, be sure that all the numbers and markings are legible and that the spring to retract the tape measure and the lock to hold the tape are in working order.
Care & Maintenance
Most rulers simply need to be wiped down from time to time, especially the metal rulers that are susceptible to rust. Also with a metal tape measure, it is a good idea to hold the blade and let it return slowly back into the case. Simply releasing the lock and letting the blade whiz back inside can result in the tape coming unsprung.
Squares
A square is used to make angles and check for true and square joinings. It also has measurement markings. There are many different types and as with other tools, certain squares work best for certain types of tasks.
A miter square is for marking 45-degree angles. A try square is shaped like an “L” for marking 90-degree angles and checking for true squareness, and a sliding bevel is adjustable and is used with a protractor to mark angles up to 180 degrees. A combination square has settings for both 45 and 90-degree angles.
Selection Tips
Generally these three items will provide what you need for marking angles with reasonable accuracy. Those made from wood and metal are usually less expensive and slightly less accurate, but are fine for most general projects. You can purchase wood and metal squares at hardware stores or home centers for $10 to $15, although a good combination square may be quite a bit more.
Care & Maintenance
Squares are low maintenance tools. They need to be wiped down after use and the material should be checked periodically for rust or rot. The rivets or locking nuts should be checked for tightness and function. Beyond that, they don’t require much additional maintenance.
Marking Tools
A sharp pencil can be used for marking, however many woodworkers feel that a marking knife is a better choice due to its superior accuracy. Unlike a pocketknife, a marking knife is beveled on one side and flat on the other to allow for a thin, straight mark. In addition, the small cut can help guide the cutting tool. A marking knife is one of the most inexpensive tools to purchase.
An awl, which is a sharp, pointed piece of metal attached to a round wooden handle, looks similar to an ice pick. It is typically used to mark or start nails and screws. Its sharp point can also be used to scratch a marking in a softer wood. Awls typically sell for under $10.
Some woodworkers use a marking gauge, which has a fence to keep it flush to the board and a writing tool on the other end to mark the cut as the tool slides along the edge of the board. Other measuring tools include a compass or divider for drawing circles and marking increments and plane gauges or other tools used to determine if a piece of wood is flat and true. A quality woodworking compass can be expensive to purchase, often costing over $30. Most gauges are under $20.
Care & Maintenance
The care and maintenance for these marking tools depends on the tool and the material from which it’s made. The main consideration is that the tool be sharp. Most can be sharpened with regular sharpening methods, either by you or the hardware store.
Accurate measurements, correct angles and true joins are the basic elements of good woodworking projects. In addition to the items listed above, there are many gadgets and specialty tools for measuring and marking. Beware of fad gadgets and stick to the essential tools you will need to get started. As you gain a better understanding of different measuring and marking situations, you will be able to determine which tools you need to add.
Tool Summary
This completes part 3 of the condensed overview of some of the tools that are commonly used in beginning woodworking projects. As you can see, this topic could and has provided the content for entire volumes of books and in order to fully understand the possibilities in woodworking and create quality projects, it is critical that you develop a more in-depth knowledge of the tools you plan to use.
It is also important to note again that each type of tool has its own care and maintenance needs that are often more specific than what has been touched on here. The details have been left out of this book to avoid overwhelming someone who is brand new to woodworking. However, their omission does not mean they aren’t important.
“Failing to care for your tools is ridiculous from a financial standpoint,” stated shop teacher, Kevin Warner. “Why spend $20 on a good quality handsaw or clamp and then allow it to go dull or rust? Not only will you loose money, your work will suffer because your tools won’t perform as intended. And it will take you more time in the long run. Taking good care of your tools is one of the first steps in becoming a serious woodworker.”
Copyright © 2005 by Ferhat Gul. All rights reserved. You may redistribute this article in its unedited entirety, including this resource box, with all hyperlinked URLs kept intact.
Ferhat Gul is the publisher of the brand-new “Woodworking Beginner’s Guide – Tips From Experienced Woodworkers to Help You Get Started”, made just for people who love woodworking. This comprehensive, yet compact woodworking introduction for beginners is easy to read and helps to save time, money and effort.
Divine Food for Divine Beauty
Excerpted from the book “Your Right to Be Beautiful: How to Halt the Train of Aging and Meet the Most Beautiful You” by Tonya Zavasta. The book is available at: http://www.beautifulonraw.com/html/righttobe.html
The phrase “natural beauty” has been abused and misused beyond restoration. The modern use is almost never associated with its true meaning. Someone said there should be a portrait of a healthy person in a museum so people would know what they are talking about. If we don’t know what a healthy person looks like, how do we know what natural beauty is?
In our unnatural world, the word “natural” no longer means without effort, at least not in the realm of obtaining your best look. One thing is a must in defining natural beauty: its achievement must not involve any sacrifice of health. None, period. If health is compromised in any way beauty is not natural.
Our body was created in the image of God, the Supreme Beauty. When our actions are in opposition to nature, the results are different types of bodily ills, deformities, and ugliness. Since there can be no natural beauty without eating 100 percent natural food, most of you have never seen the natural you.
There is an urgent need for another word. The contemporary meaning of natural is too far from the divine. I suggest filling this void with “rawsome”, a new word circulating in the raw food community. It is a combination of two words:” raw” and “awesome” with the meaning being something between natural and divine. The diet of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds also needs to be renamed. I have often been told that the phrase “the raw food diet”, sounds like eating raw meat, particularly sushi, which is misleading. The raw food diet is so awesome that it should be called the very name it inspired- the Rawsome Diet.
Most of us feel our appearance lacks something. In reality, ugliness is more about excess. Toxic accumulations in our bodies are responsible for stealing our health and attractiveness. Beauty lies latent under cushions of retained fluids, deposits of fat, and sick tissues. Your beauty is buried alive, but in most cases it can be revived in a version that will be satisfactory to you. You must take immediate action to revitalize it. When you do, your uncovered beauty will surprise and delight you.
Eating cooked food will leave residues the body cannot utilize, and they will be deposited in places our Creator never intended. Everything not fully digested and properly eliminated, the body will treat as an abnormal substance. It will pocket these toxins as far away from the vital organs as possible–on the peripheries of the body–where it will invariably be reflected in our outward appearance. If the body cannot use it inside, it will deposit it on the outside. Nutrients from the food you eat spiral upward to the epidermis, and their quality will determine whether you will have a glowing clear complexion or skin spotted with growths, such as moles and skin sores.
Some physical characteristics of our face and body we cannot change–they were determined prior to our birth. But the consumption of the raw plant diet as an adult will make a difference in the texture of skin and hair, the health of nails, weight and complexion. All of these traits and more are determined by daily choices, with food being one of the most important and, luckily, the one we can fully control.
The Rawsome diet is the most suitable one for human physiology. It is salubrious to the body’s health and salutary to its beauty. The ability to renew cells is built into your body, and the body itself is capable of making you look more attractive. After all, we were designed to bloom continuously as old cells get replaced by new ones. The Rawsome diet makes the most of this rejuvenating ability of our bodies.
Rawsome beauty is not manufactured from the outside but cultivated from the inside by nutritionally charged food. Whole raw food restores the integrity of every cell and facilitates the optimal operation of every organ inside and out. The body, having been awakened by the improved diet, in its wisdom, will reach out to the places where health was lacking, and you will gradually see your beauty surfacing. The Rawsome diet will eliminate all the toxins on a deeper level and bring amazing changes to your appearance.
Only the body sustained on raw food will host natural beauty, or should we say Rawsome beauty. The landscape of the body will change. The surface of the skin will become soft and smooth but still firm and supple. Visible pores will diminish. A sallow skin with a yellow pallor will turn into a porcelain-like complexion. The whites of eyes, once red, will become bright with a bluish tinge. As natural collagen production improves, it will fill in the places where it is needed as in hollow cheeks. Raw food eating will clarify and refine your features and bring delicacy to your face.
On the Rawsome Diet, you will marvel at how the Master Artist will make the most of your individual features and bring balance to the entire face. Texture, hues, and shape will be harmoniously arranged into a genteel whole. Perfection and imperfection will be tied together into a unique original version of beauty.
Each time I see a woman, I study her appearance, and I see not just the way she looks but the way she could look. What I see is how far her image falls short of her potential beauty. I perceive her beauty as it would stand out after the body has cleansed itself from toxins and excesses.
From age 15 until recently, I wore my hair permed, only to discover at 45 that straight hair in my natural color was the best possible frame for my face. Did my preference change? Not at all. My face did. So let me give you a hint, if you need a camouflaging hairdo, you are not looking your best. The changes in your face brought about by raw foods will bring the freedom to arrange your hair in any way you want. When your peer group is thinking: “I am losing my looks”, you will be finding yours. At 45, I enjoy looking in the mirror while before I detested my reflection.
As the cleansing initiated by this diet is completed, you will be very pleased to see how you were meant to look. Your body will exhibit beauty and dignity. You will become satisfied, even fascinated, with your appearance. When you look your very best, you look perfect, in a sense that you are as close to the divine image for yourself as you could ever be. You accept yourself completely. Natural beauty is above conformity; it doesn’t demand to be accepted by the dictates of the beauty norm.
People who have been on the raw food lifestyle for several years begin to have a glow, the kind not often seen in middle-aged people. Optimal health is recognized by an emerging radiance. Glow is hard to fake because it is internal. It comes from an abundance of clear, pink, almost transparent cells that light up the face. Only superior blood circulation can bring this transfiguring glow. Several years on the raw food diet will make you look as though you just stepped out of a painting by Renoir–the impressionist best known for his preoccupation with light.
I have come to believe if you do not embrace the 100 percent raw food diet, you will never meet The Most Beautiful You. The best proof that the Rawsome diet is optimal for the body is it makes you beautiful. Slim face, slender waist, and clear skin with smooth coloration-these subtle changes will convince you the raw plant diet is the best for good health and graceful beauty. No woman knows her true beauty until she cleanses her body completely of all waste.
You can say there are people who are beautiful, and they are not on this diet. That is true. It is hard to believe, but even they haven’t seen the best of themselves. Dissatisfaction with one’s appearance arises not from perceiving our bodies inaccurately but because subconsciously we are aware we haven’t achieved our optimal look. The Rawsome diet gives a feeling of authenticity, an assurance we have become what we were meant to be.
Raw food not only corrects beauty’s shortcomings but also lifts the limitations of one’s spirit and releases strains and tensions in both your mind and body. People on the raw food diet have an aura about them, a transcendent nobility and complacent dignity. Sickness is goodness lost, and our unhappiness is a longing for goodness. One takes in the goodness in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables and feels its purifying process on the inside. Goodness in one’s food summons up goodness in one’s appearance and character.
Do you think it is hard to follow this life style? Women have done so many outrageous and dangerous things to themselves in the pursuit of beauty, I believe they should at least try the Rawsome lifestyle, which promises to transform them into beautiful people. What a woman won’t do for health, she will do for beauty. This is the first time beauty asks no sacrifice from health.
©2003Tonya Zavasta
This article may be freely reprinted in its entirety as long as the entire article, byline and URL are included.
About The Author
Tonya Zavasta is the author of the book “Your Right to Be Beautiful: How to Halt the Train of Aging and Meet the Most Beautiful You” and of the soon to be published its sequel “Beautiful on Raw”. In these books Tonya comes across as an ambassador for plain looking women in their quest for physical beauty. Tonya knows firsthand what it is to be humiliated, face adversity and meet the complex obstacles of daily living with a congenital disability. Facing several reconstructive hip surgeries to enable her to walk, she sought a way to offset the devastating effects of anesthetics on her health and appearance. She became more and more convinced that the solution to her quest for health and beauty was to be found in the raw food lifestyle or the Rawsome Diet as she calls it. The Rawsome Diet not only helped her to sail courageously through troublesome times, brought her general health and appearance to an all time best, but also opened a new chapter of her life. Firmly believing that the roots of under-performing and under-achieving lie in feeling and looking less than your personal best, she is on a mission: she wants every woman to look and feel beautiful. Tonya is convinced that by eating as God intended everyone can look uniquely beautiful as God envisioned.
To learn more about how you can uncover your Rawsome beauty, visit: www.beautifulonraw.com
