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Do you like the Chicken Soup for the Soul books?
I have to admit, I don’t really.
There’s not enough story for me; not enough depth.
To me they are more like chicken broth for the soul, than chicken soup for the soul.
I like stories with a little more detail. I want names, places. I want to know why someone made a specific choice, a decision. I want more depth than the Chicken Soup series offers.
That’s why I love BJ Gallagher’s book “It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been”
This book is filled with stories with lots of details. Most of the stories are interviews and reveal the stories within the stories.
The book is broken down into several sections with two-three stories/interviews in each.
It’s Never Too Late to…
Make Your Dreams Come True
Start a New Career
Go Back to School
Express Your Creativity
Gather Wealth
Become Athletic
Find True Love
I enjoyed this book immensely and want to pass it on. And, even though I’ve read it, it is in mint condition. I never (rarely) write in my books and I don’t break the binding or dog ear the pages.
If you’d like to read this book, I’d like to pass it on to you.
If you are subscriber to The Dreaming Cafe’s newsletter you are already entered to win.
If you are NOT a subscriber, sign up here:
The Dreaming Cafe’s weekly newsletter is designed to inspire, inform and empower you as you travel your own creative journey to self discovery.
I will select a random winner from all subscribers on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and the winner will be announced in the Dreaming Cafe’s Sunday, March 7, 2010 newsletter.
Related Posts (free book giveaways):
Today The Dreaming Cafe is one-year-old.
The Dreaming Cafe started out as a free Wordpress.com blog on Monday, February 23, 2009.
My first post was called “What is The Dreaming Cafe?” If you are curious, it is still a public post and you can read it here: http://thedreamingcafe.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/what-is-the-dreaming-cafe/
A year later and my vision and mission remain, although much clearer, like a picture coming into focus.
I know I am on the right path.
I know The Dreaming Cafe is headed in the right direction.
My mission is to use the written word to share stories, ideas, and resources in ways that inspire, motivate, inform and empower others to embrace their own creative journey to self discovery.
Self-knowledge, self-care, self-expression and self-employment are all topics The Dreaming Cafe explores.
It sounds selfish, but it’s not.
To be the change you want to see in the world, you must first know who you are and what you want. Peace, love, change…they all flow from the inside out.
The Dreaming Cafe is a safe place to start.
The Dreaming Cafe is about…
Exploring who we are now and who we can become in the future.
Embracing the moment, while dreaming of better tomorrow.
Taking responsibility for ourselves, our hopes, our fears and our dreams.
Moving forward despite our fears, self doubt and insecurities.
Putting one foot in front of the other, and taking one step at a time.
Leaning into the vision we hold for ourselves, our family, our community and our world.
Exploring from the inside out and discovering who we are and why we are here.
Dreaming, learning, exploring, creating and taking action.
Leading by example in both word and in deed.
Kindness and compassion.
Love and peace.
Hope and inspiration.
And, using the written word to communicate, to teach, to share, and to help heal the world, one word, one idea, one person at a time.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for hanging out with me over the last year and making this one of the most rewarding adventures of my life.
In The Dreaming Cafe’s newsletter today I made a big mistake.
The feature article, “Making a Difference” was written by Julie Jordan from A Place for Writers. Julie is a fascinating and inspiring woman who introduced me to the equally fascinating and inspiring 16-year-old Riley Carney.
When Julie agreed to allow me to publish her profile of Riley I was very excited to share both of their stories with my readers.
But, in the very first sentence in the very first paragraph I introduced Riley Carney as Riley Jordan instead.
I proofread and proofread, but something always, always slips past me.
Today, I would like to publicly apologize to both Julie Jordan and Riley Carney for my mistake.
Please read today’s newsletter and visit both Julie’s website and Riley’s.
If you just ignore my mistake I think you will be both amazed and inspired at the accomplishments of both of these highly motivated and talent women.
If you live in my neck of the woods…South Jersey…I will be presenting at the NJAWBO March Breakfast Meeting.
Get out of the house, hang out, have fun and learn some cool stuff. And, afterward, if you want to hang out a little longer, we’ll head down to the Harrison House Diner and I’ll answer any additional questions you might have.
When: Thursday, March 4, 2010. 830am – 1030am
Location: Gloucester County Library
Cost: $10 (and you do not have to be a member to attend)
TOPIC: Increasing Your Internet Presence – Starting with Twitter
Using the many free online tools (and almost free tools) is about working smarter not harder. Social media tools like Twitter allow you to meet prospects from all over the world, begin to build authentic relationships based on mutual interests and goals plus increase the reach of your business beyond your physical geography.
Session Objectives:
• What is Twitter?
• Why should I join?
• How do I get started?
• How much time will it take?
• Social media etiquette.
• Brief overview of other free, and almost free, online tools to help build your business and make more money.
Please Note: Although it is not a necessity, we encourage you to bring a laptop (and use the library’s free wifi) to make this a hands on experience.
For more information and to register go to:
http://www.whoscoming.com/njawbo-tri/Mar10Breakfast.html?trig=new
If you prefer a more personalized approach and want to set up a private session email me at: Sandy@TheDreamingCafe.com
Well, I didn’t exactly change my name, but I did change my mind about what I was naming my business.
I am in love with The Dreaming Café, and thought I had decided to just go with that name and make it official, but something kept holding me back.
I really wanted a name to convey a variety of activities, some of which I haven’t had time to develop.
Last year when I was considering partnering with a friend to form a business we came up with the name ‘Brown Dog Ventures, LLC’. It wasn’t a very descriptive name, but it had a whimsical ring to it. We never did partner or roll out a business together, but the time we spent brainstorming ideas is one of the things that eventually gave me the courage to go out on my own.
I wanted the name of my own business to sound fun, roll of the tongue and convey multiple projects and endeavors. ‘The Dreaming Café, LLC’ fit two of the three criteria, but not the last one.
In my mind I saw a wooden lettered plaque hanging on my office door that said “Home of ****, LLC” and underneath several smaller signs with other business names, all falling under the LLC.
I first wrote about my business naming dilemma on December 7th, ”What’s in a Name?”
Then after a few day I thought I had figured it all out and wrote the post ”Why Was it so Hard?”
But, in reality it still didn’t feel right. I knew I was falling into the ‘perfectionist’ mindset, and procrastinating. Part off it was due to some old attitudes and beliefs still hanging that I had been exposed to growing up, about not trusting the government and all business owners were liars, cheaters and thieves. I don’t believe in them now, but in times of stress and anxiety they come up and wash over me.
Then Wednesday night I went to sleep dreaming about the Dreaming Café and woke up with the just the right name. Interestingly this was one of my original choices months ago. It sounded whimsical and fun, rolled of my tongue and conveyed the possibility of multiple projects and endeavors.
All the paperwork is complete. Now it’s official. I’m official. The Dreaming Café is official. We are now officially…
Dreaming Café Ventures, LLC
D.B.A. The Dreaming Cafe
Providing educational products and services related to personal growth and development.
Sandra M. Dempsey, Owner
Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
All the experts proclaim that if you are in business, in a band, if you are an author, speaker, or lead an organization, that you need a Facebook Fan Page.
Well, I have one, http://www.facebook.com/TheDreamingCafe, but if I knew what I know now I would have never started one, at least not this early in the evolution of The Dreaming Café.
There are only two reasons why you SHOULD have a Facebook Fan Page:
1. You are near, or at the max, of the 5000 friend limit on your personal profile page.
2. Your business, band, book, or organization ‘fans’ and ‘friends’ are two completely different groups and there is no crossover.
Now, personally, I know very few people who fall into either of these two categories. And, according to TechCrunch.com nearly 77% of all Facebook fan pages have less then 1000 fans.
Why did I jump on the band wagon and create a Facebook Fan Page for The Dreaming Café?
1. One of my links was reported as ‘spam’. I was not only hurt that a friend would report me as spam, but I was also worried that other people felt the same way and that soon I would be unfriended by everyone. (Over reaction, I know.)
2. I participated in several ‘Social Media’ teleseminars and all the experts said I had to have a Fan Page. My mistake was listening to them without doing my own research like I normally would. Being reported as spam caused me to react versus to think and to research why I was reported as spam and how to avoid it going forward. (Lesson learned, I hope.)
There are two big benefits of a Facebook Fan Page has over your personal profile page:
1. Fan pages are public. People do not have to join Facebook to view your posts, events, notes, etc.
2. They are searchable. This means that the major search engines like Google and Yahoo will ‘crawl’ them and index them like regular web pages so they can be included in search results.
One BIG disadvantage of Facebook Fan Pages: No posting updates.
This is it’s biggest downfall and is very disappointing to me.
You receive a notification or update when someone ‘likes’, comments on your posts or writes on your Wall on your Facebook personal profile. This does NOT happen, at least yet, when someone ‘likes’, comments on your posts or writes on your Fan Page wall.
This means that unless you are babysitting your Facebook Fan Page all day, every day, your fans can be posting, making comments and asking questions and you won’t even know it and neither will any of your other Fans.
You want to interact with your Fans and you want them to interact with each other. Without the notification process basically the whole thing turns into a one way conversation. And, you do not want one way conversations with your friends, fans and supporters.
The point of social media is that it’s social, it’s about conversations and community. Right now Facebook Fan Pages do not provide this opportunity.
These are my opinions, based on my experience.
I do believe that Facebook Fan Pages play a role in your ‘get-noticed’ strategy, I just don’t believe that they are right for everybody, all the time.
What do you think?
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