Spread the Word About The Amazing Celebrity Creators Contest

Spread the Word About The Amazing Celebrity Creators Contest
I've won 2 great prize packages with this contest by entering my email information. Paul Keetch's "Make My Marketing Work Success Package" worth $697 which includes his 5 CD home study course, his best selling book and a 2 hour personal coaching call with him. The other prize is John Limbocker's SEO Domination 1 year membership package worth over $850.

Are you ready to win? What are you waiting for?

Spread the Word About The Amazing Celebrity Creators Contest

Spread the Word About The Amazing Celebrity Creators Contest
This is an absolutely AMAZING contest to help Create Celebrities in their business niche.
If you haven't heard about it, there's still time. It's only been open for a few days, but there are some of
us taking it VERY SERIOUSLY! Want to know why? Because there are over $19,000 worth of prize packages
up for grabs. And it's FREE to participate. The odds are in your favor as only a few people have actually
heard about it. So, it's fair game for everyone. Now, this is NOT A HOAX or I wouldn't be doing it myself.
You see, I have personally met two of these outstanding business people and can attest
they are truly who they say they are, and more. So, if you want to get in, now is the time.
They haven't given out any prizes yet, but who knows when they'll start.
So, let's go. You have nothing to lose, and something wonderful to gain just by entering.
Click this link, and check it out for yourself: http://celebritycreators.com/contests/c/cchristiano

Come join the fun!

Hurricane Tips to Safely Get Through the Storm

Hurricane Preparation and Survival Tips

Before any hurricane, you want to prepare as much as you can well in advance of the storm. Unfortunately, most people wait until the last minute and this can create a lot of stress and fatigue. So, I am going to give you some hurricane preparation tips that will help you whether you have days to prepare or a few hours.

Secure your home

• Board up windows with ply-wood or hurricane shutters. Depending on how many windows you have, this can take hours to days. Wood must be cut and holes drilled before securing them. It is best to put them up on the outside, but you can put them on the inside. Holes can be repaired afterwards.
• Do not tape windows. It does not do any good and only creates a sticky mess.
• Use curtains, shades, towels, plastic, tablecloths or other covering over the inside window to help protect you from any glass that may shatter if something hits the window.
• Bring in all objects outside that could become flying missiles. This includes flags, decorations, flower pots, wind-chimes, plaques, toys, and outdoor furniture.
• Close and lock all windows during the storm. Keep them shut until after the storm is over.

Ice and Water Supplies

• Have at least 7-10 days worth of water per person. It may take that long for help to arrive, especially if a large number of people are affected by the storm or if there is a lot of damage or flooding to deal with.
• If you cannot buy bottled water or ice bags, make your own before the storm. Use capped soda, juice or milk bottles but make sure you clean them first with soapy, hot water.
• Use plastic containers and zip bags to make ice.
• Have unscented, plain bleach on hand to purify contaminated water. Use 2 drops for a quart of water, 8 drops for a gallon water, and a 1/2 teaspoon for 5 gallons of water.
• Fill bathtub or pail with water to help flush the toilet manually. Toilets may not flush if there is flooding due to overflowing drainage or pipe breakage.

  

Food and food preparation

• Have canned or jarred food that is ready to eat or simple to prepare.
• Make sure you have a manual can opener and bottle opener.
• If the electric and gas go out, you will need to have a grill with a propane tank or Sterno fuel cans for heating small cans and pots.
• Have matches (keep them dry) or lighter available.
• Use disposable plates and utensils to conserve water.
• Have sanitizing hand gel available to use before and after food preparation.
• If food smells bad, do not eat it.
• Use refrigerated and thawed food within 1-2 days to prevent sickness.

Protect your valuables

• Place important documents, such as check books, drivers license, birth certificate, passport, and insurance papers in a plastic bag.
• Place photographs, video tapes, DVDs, CDs, flash drives and memory sticks in plastic waterproof bags or containers.

Health care needs

• Make sure you have 14 days of medication before the storm hits. Pharmacies may not be able to open or have your medication before you run out.
• If your pets are on medication, make sure they have enough too.
• Purchase a first aid kit or make one. Have bandages, tape, antibiotic ointment, sunburn treatment ointment, scissors, tweezers as a minimum.
• Do not overexert yourself and get overheated while preparing or cleaning up. Go slow in the heat.
• Do not go outside during the storm or immediately afterwards. Flying and hidden debris can be hazardous and deadly.
• Do not let children play in standing water. There may be downed electric lines, broken or overflowing sewage lines, snakes, or hidden debris which can hurt and kill people.

Safety

• If your windows or door becomes damaged during the storm, go to a central part of your home away from windows and flying debris. This may be the bathroom or even a closet. Stay there until the storm is over.
• Do not drive during the storm or immediately afterwards. In addition to the flooding and debris, the landscape may be completely changed and your landmarks gone. Traffic lights, street lights, and street signs may be misplaced or missing. Fatigue and stress severely affect your ability to drive after a storm. Slow down, have patience and be careful.
• Injuries post storm are frequent and can be deadly. Take your time to assess your area before doing anything. Check for downed electric lines, especially near standing water and hanging tree limbs. Wear proper shoes outside while cleaning up. Have utility gloves and plastic garbage bags available.
• Do not use candles in your home, especially during the storm and if you have any propane or gasoline stored in the house. I would recommend not storing fuel in the home due to the possibility of being overcome by fumes. Have battery operated lanterns and flashlights ready.
• If you have to evacuate, leave a message in a plastic bag taped in your refrigerator stating where you will be. Emergency personnel are familiar with looking there for medical information. Please tell someone in advance your evacuation plan just in case you have to leave your home.

 

 

Miscellaneous 

 

• Cellphones will most likely not work during or after the storm due to satellite interruptions and downed network towers. Internet access may also be affected. The old-fashioned land lines with a cord are the best to have in an emergency since most telephone lines are under ground and protected. Also, write down important phone numbers on paper in case your phone battery dies or you cannot access your stored information.
• Back up your computer hard-drive. Consider using downloadable software for files to be stored, such as with Dropbox.com which is free.
• Take care of your pets. They will be very frightened and disoriented. Keep them on a leash and make sure you have identification tags on them in case they run away. Give them plenty of shade and water to prevent overheating after the storm.
• Pick one person outside the storm area to contact so they can notify everyone else. Having one contact person makes it easier and is less stressful.
• Expect delays in stores, banks and other conveniences being reopened. Their owners have probably had their homes affected and their businesses may have had flooding or power outages too. Having things back to normal may take days, weeks or even months depending on the damage.
• Create a community with your neighbors. Team work is so important and makes it more tolerable for everyone. Share the work and everyone wins.
• Check on your elderly neighbors since they may need more help with basic things.
• Patience and tolerance are very important as every one's life around you has been affected and stress levels are high.

Hurricane Resources

For more information about hurricane preparation, go to the following links:

 

http://www.noaa.gov/

 

www.nhc.noaa.gov/

 

www.hurricane.com/hurricane-preparation.php


Photos by Palmer W. Cook

 

 

 

Financialitis: Your Plan of Action

So, financialitis has gotten a grip on you? You are feeling stressed out, cannot sleep, money is tight, the bills keep coming in higher and higher, and now the global economy is tanking. You realize there is a problem and you are not prepared or even know what to do. Well, do not panic for there is a plan of action for you to take.

8 Steps to Financial Freedom                   

As with any challenge in life, there are certain things you need to do to correct the problem:

1.     Recognize the problem exists. Accept reality and meet it head on. Believe me, it does not just disappear because you ignore it or wish it would go away.

2.     If you are married or in a partnership, open communication about the situation free from placing blame, guilt or expressing anger towards the other person is very important. It is a joint problem that is best resolved with teamwork.

3.     Get all of your data together in one place. Organization and developing a system of evaluating and tracking are keys to getting you onto the right path.

4.     Create lists of expenses going out and income coming in. Here is where you get to see exactly what your situation is: the numbers do not lie.

5.     Use a software tool, like the Wealth Accelerator, which automatically helps you pay down your debt and create wealth at the same time. Using this type of tool helps you stay committed to your plan and allows you to see progress in a relatively short period of time.

Click for Free Analysis

6.     Commit to using credit cards only for emergencies. This should be common sense, but often is one of the last things people stop doing which often caused the problems in the first place.

7.     Learn to spend less money. Do you really need that 10th pair of black heels? How about that new electronic toy? It is amazing what we can live without when necessary.

8.     Consider starting a home based business. There are literally thousands of ways to make money at home, and I am not talking about stuffing envelopes. It will provide extra income, become a tax write-off (if done properly, not as a hobby), and help you pay down that debt faster. In fact, it may replace your current income and provide more wealth than you have ever dreamed.

Financialitis is a serious problem but it can be reversed and cured. If you take the proper steps and stay committed to resolving the problem, you will be successful.

Contact me for more information on how you can get your free Wealth Accelerator software.

http://wmiwaonline.com

The Impact of Financialitis on Your Health

After reading my last post, you may have realized that you are suffering from financialitis, the dis-ease of your personal finances. Along with that, you may start to recognize the connection with how well you are feeling to the state of your financial security. If your financial status is stable, you may not be having any symptoms of financialitis at all except for a possible fleeting thought about your employment or business. However, if your status is unstable, you may now recognize some of the symptoms you have to be related to your finances.

Assessment of Symptoms

When diagnosing any medical problem, a health care practitioner has to assess the person holistically in order to obtain an accurate picture of the impact on health, to correctly diagnose the problem, and find a solution to the problem. This is not at all different from diagnosing the symptoms of financialitis since the same process is used.

Symptoms are assessed within different categories, each of which can individually or collectively affect overall health. They can be simple or complex, can have short or long term consequences, and can be local or have far reaching effects. Each particular case must be assessed individually as each case has its own unique solutions.

Categories of Symptoms

There are four main areas of an individual to assess when it comes to symptoms: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. There can be one area under stress or any combination of them. Usually, the more intense the crisis and the longer it lasts, the more categories are involved.

1. Physical – these are the things that are felt in almost any area or system of the body, for example headaches, muscle aches, back pain, stomach upsets, and fatigue are some of the most common. They can progress to more serious health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stomach ulcers and autoimmune disorders.

2. Emotional – this can be a wide range of feelings which can be mild to severe, from “feeling down” to depression, anxiety and worry, to harboring anger and expressions of rage. Being easily irritated and frustrated often lead to problems in family and work relationships.

3. Mental – these symptoms can include a lack of focus, difficulty retaining information, indecisiveness, confusion, and recurrent thoughts are just a few of them.

4. Spiritual – the symptoms are not based on religious beliefs, but more from the standpoint of one’s relationship with themselves, the meaning of life, basic values, connectedness or relationship to their own defined aspect of God or higher power.

By looking at the whole person, one can see the potentially devastating effects that short and long term stress of financialitis can have on an individual’s health and wellbeing as well as to those around them. It is important to recognize the symptoms and take action to resolve the underlying problem as quickly as possible and have support structures in place during the process. Early recognition and intervention are the key to preventing long term problems.

Photos:
Words on paper by Tom Shmucker
© Tom Schmucker
Money with stethoscope by Rsooll
© Rsooll | Dreamstime.com

Symptoms of Financialitis: Do you have them?

One day, you wake up feeling exhausted, realizing you had been having a really bad dream about money which caused tossing and turning all night long. Now you are wondering how you will get through the day. Your body aches from head to toe with neck and shoulder pain, low back ache and your feet hurt when they hit the floor. It feels like you have been hit by a truck.

You stumble to the bathroom as your mind starts to clear and become more focused, then it hits you and you realize your dream was actually your reality. Now your breathing may become shallow, your heart rate increases and you may begin to sweat. Does this sound like you? If so, you have joined millions of people worldwide who are suffering from the same kind of symptoms.

The Stress Response and Financialitis

The stress response is a primitive built in bodily system that gets triggered when the person perceives a threat which in turn signals the body to begin a cascade of events, similar to that described above.  The body naturally wants to escape the impending danger. The problem for modern day citizens is most times there is no physical threat present.

We have reprogrammed our minds and bodies to now include non-physical perceived threats which evoke the same response, such as worrying over finances. And, in our high paced, pressure laden society, the revved up body has become a constant means to get through the day which in the long run ruins our health, relationships and ultimately our finances. It becomes a vicious cycle unless steps are taken to break it.

When comparing the symptoms of stress to the symptoms of financialitis, they are in fact very similar because stress is stress no matter where it originates. The effects of stress can be mild to severe, and can have short or long term consequences. Actually, stress can prove fatal by increasing blood pressure, and induce a heart attack or a stroke without any underlying cardiovascular disease. For women, the statistics are even worse because the first heart attack is often the last due to the high death rate.

Controlling the Symptoms of Financialitis

Perhaps the one thing you can do is get control of your finances. Here are some ways to accomplish that:

1.  Make a list of all your fixed expenses that you need to cover on a regular basis.

2.  Compare what your expenses are to how much income you need to pay the bills.

 

3.  Eliminate wasteful spending on unnecessary items, such as the daily coffee purchase at the big priced specialty shop.

4.  Stop using your credit cards for non-emergency items and commit to paying them off starting with the highest interest rate card.

 

5.  Recognize it will take time to reverse the problem since it probably did not occur over night and habits need to change.

If you continue to deny the problem and not deal with it, the symptoms of stress and financialitis will continue to the detriment of your health and your family. By taking these first small steps, you are gaining control over a monster which haunts you day and night. As you see success, you will feel and sleep much better.

Photos courtesy of: Dollars Funnel by Leonardini at stockxch; Stressed woman from Carl Dwyer at www.mediagroup-leroux.de 

The Cry of Financialitis: Please, Help me! There is Something Wrong with my Wallet.

Every day the news vacillates between how good or bad the US and global economies are doing. If you listen to the major financial networks or read the top news feeds, it is hard to tell what is really happening (at least to the financially uneducated.) Either they all know and just want to confuse everyone into further apathy, or they are just as ill-informed as the rest of the population, maybe even including you.

One day, you open your wallet and gasp. Where did my money go? When did all these credit cards get in here? Your head starts to spin and questions begin to race through mind:  How much debt am I in? Can I afford to eat and feed my family? What happens if I lose my job? Do I have any savings for retirement? Then, suddenly you go blank and a feeling of anxiety or nervousness starts. You have financialitis.

This did not happen overnight. Really look at your wallet. It is floppy and gasping for breath each time it is opened and closed, it appears thinner in the cash section and has aged tremendously. The edges are frayed and worn and there may be nicks or scratches noted. The pockets may be stretching and lax from overuse or bursting with too many plastic cards and paper receipts. Both of these reflect weakness and are one of the signs of financialitis. You just could not see it until now.

But, What Happened?

Financialitis is a pervasive, invasive and often destructive dis-ease of your personal finances.  As I have written previously, it can occur quite suddenly with a natural or catastrophic event, but most often it is due to long standing abuse, negligence or apathy regarding financial health. For example, most people in the US during the 1980s experienced a time of growth and increased spending. As a society, we became much more materialistic as depicted by a popular Madonna song, “Material Girl”. A whole generation grew up thinking that money was no object and spending can occur without any repercussion. Just charge it.

During this same time, we were sold on the idea of saving for retirement in mutual funds and saw the explosion of an entirely new market for Wall Street and the financial world. Many people just handed over their money without really understanding all the ramifications of having other “experts” manage their money. If the money was taken right from our paychecks, we would not miss it. Well, that is for sure. The problem is we lost control of what happens to it and took no responsibility as to where the money was invested. It was a “too hard to learn, let someone else do it” mentality.

Then in the 1990s and early 2000s, we saw the boom on real estate. The rush was on in housing and the country went crazy, some areas more than others. New housing developments were going up in many parts of the country. Creative financing was started allowing more buyers than ever purchase homes, many above their means. But, everyone was happy – the financial firms, the banks, the builders, and the homebuyers.

When the bubble broke and the financial bloodshed began, that is when everyone asked the question “how did this happen?” No one took responsibility. Not the financial market, not the banks, not the government regulators and not the general public. Everyone was guilty. Apathy, greed, money, power all contributed to this current state and created widespread financialitis starting at the top and crashing on the bottom.

Who Received the Special Treatment?

When the market had its mini-crash in 2008, everyone lost. Well, not everyone… Seems the major banking firms received an enormous amount of money which was to be used to stimulate confidence in the market and provide loans to the public. The problem was they did not use it for what it was intended. There were no restrictions placed on it and these institutions were free to do whatever they wanted. Some were brazen enough to use this money to provide huge bonuses to employees, one planned a large party-atmosphere conference which was cancelled after public outrage, and the rest clamped down on mortgages and loans further adding to the real estate collapse already in progress.  Government bailed out the banking industry with our tax money and we did not see a dime, but they received millions.

Why Me?

Someone has to pay the bill. What we are seeing now is the trickle-down effect of a complex, multi-layer fiasco void of any sense of responsibility or accountability on the parts of all the participants. Rising unemployment, increase cost in utilities and commodities, elimination of services, municipalities and states going bankrupt, and so on.  In hopes to continue the charade and prevent massive public outrage, the Federal Reserve is printing paper money with dropping value in hopes to fool the world that all is well. They are fooling some, but not all. Those who are getting educated are seeing this for exactly what it is: a set up for the next big crash.

What Can I Do Now?

The best thing people can do to lessen or eliminate the painful experiences of financialitis is to become educated and take responsibility for your money and actions. Determine how you arrived at your current financial state (be honest with yourself), seriously look at your spending habits, learn how to eliminate your debt, and obtain knowledge on creating wealth. There is hope but you have to take action now and be unwavering in resolving the problem. Commitment, responsibility and wealth education are the keys to success.