Lip-Sticking

Can You Retrain Your Brain For Positivity?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Studies have long shown that individuals have about 40% control over their mindset. If you feel you're not in control or if your 40% isn't positive, there may be ways to retrain your brain, through your actions, to enhance a more positive attitude. Here are a few steps to take toward a sunnier outlook on life:

Twitter Feeds Business Women Should Be Following

From The Editor's Desk: This came across our desks and we just had to share. If you're a woman in business, these influential women who tweet should be on your to-be-followed list. 

Twitter is a great place to get connected with influential people all over the world, but it’s especially useful for women in business. We can’t think of anywhere else you can connect with influential women, businesses, groups, and stay on top of the latest news, all in one place. This is all great of course, but where do you start? We’ve got a game plan all mapped out for you, highlighting Twitter feeds from influential women, news, groups, and resources that are essential for any woman serious about business on Twitter. Read the rest here.

Who are your favorites on Twitter? We'd love to hear! 

Marketing firm offers a win-win solution for local high school athletics and merchants with the Safe Driving Sweepstakes

By Guest Blogger Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

It's now officially Fall, so we can talk about the beautiful fall foilage and of course sports! It's the one time of year that we have so many different ones going on during the same season. Ooops, except for NHL Hockey!!!! Us football fans think things are really, really bad with the NFL's replacement refs. At least we still have a season. Between the two leagues it's looking really, really ugly! I think we need to throw some women in the mix to negotiate. Where's Hillary when we really need her?

Anyhow, we do have college teams along with our local high school and little league teams to keep us interested. Some of my friends with younger kids have been traveling all over the region to attend their kids' hockey, soccer, and volleyball games as well as tennis and swim meets. My husband and I have been there.

This season I am working with a company called Foxwood Sports that offers a marketing solution designed exclusively for high school athletics. They develop marketing programs that offer merchants an opportunity to promote their business locally while also supporting the high school athletic programs. According to Foxwood Sports, most athletic directors claim that they just don't have enough hours in the day to focus on major fundraising. This is where the marketing programs from Foxwood Sports help them to be more productive while raising funds.

We are assisting Foxwood Sports with a new marketing program that they just launched in northwest Arkansas called the NWA Buick GMC Safe Driving Program. Students from the high schools are enlisted to pass out these "Don't Text and Drive Cards" at the weekly sporting events. Participants then must agree to the accept the Don't Text and Drive pledge in order to be eligible for a chance to win one of six weekly gift cards in the Safe Driving Sweepstakes. They do this by texting a keyword provided on the card that is specific to that school to a short code. They then receive a reply message confirming that they have entered and inviting them to stay opt-ed in to the program for a chance to win the grand prize of $2,500 at the end of the season.

All participants will then receive a weekly safe driving message from the sponsor, NWA Buick GMC Dealers, along with a second message that informs them that the week's winners have been posted along with link to the online landing page that lists them. Here's the link that includes the latest winners, www.hstext.com/nwa. The program follows the guidelines issued by the Mobile Marketing Association and all participants are given the opportunity to opt-out of the text messages at any time.

This program already appears to be a win-win for both the high school athletic departments and the local merchants. Participants must be 14 years old or older to enter and local residents, so it does target high school students along with their families. If it helps to raise awareness of the texting and driving issue, then that's an added benefit as well. Here's another safe driving promotion that I came a cross that OnStar is running on their Facebook page. The  Rules of the Road Sweepstakes invites participants to create their own "Rule of the Road" and share it on their timeline.

So get out there and support some of your local high school teams while enjoying the fall season.

William Roos is 91 Years Old

shared by Yvonne DiVita

A small attempt to show the voter fraud issue in its reality - there is no issue. Please read on and then click over to the entire post, which is quite enlightening. From the times-tribune, by Chris Kelly.

"William Roos is 91 years old.

He is a World War II veteran, a husband of 63 years, a father of three and a grandfather of six. His family was among the first to settle Honesdale, and their business employed generations of Americans. He has been a leader in his synagogue and numerous civic organizations and charities, has always paid his taxes and has voted in every election since 1941.

Veteran. Family man. Religious. Community leader, job creator, lifelong voter and taxpayer.

It's hardly the résumé of A Clear and Present Danger to Democracy and the American Way of Life, but there is a detail I left out, one that Pennsylvania Republicans apparently weigh above all else as they labor to bully a reliably blue state red in favor of a comically inept presidential candidate who supported the Vietnam War but passed on fighting it, made his fortune destroying American jobs and jealously guards his tax returns because he thinks how many millions he has tucked away in offshore accounts is none of the American people's business.

William Roos is a Democrat. He has voted for Republicans over the years, but never for a GOP candidate for president. That's exactly the kind of voting record the architects of the state's sham voter ID law want to break."

The rest of the story is important beyond words. I urge you to read it and share on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you. <check out the comments, also; people with an agenda refuse to give an inch - a sad state of affairs for this country, in my opinion>

How much is a picture really worth?

by Yvonne DiVita
What does this picture tell you? We see a small group of children playing a game, perhaps it's ring-around-the-rosie, a children's game made popular during the black plague, so some say. Or, perhaps they're just regular, 21st century kids having a good time in the park, while their Moms (obviously off camera) are chatting about the Emmys.

We don't really know, do we? We could create 1000 words to explain the picture, but without context from the actual photographer, our 1000 words could be totally off base.

Make Working As Part Of A Team Work

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

As a self employed business and pet blogger I have the luxury of working from home and the only other member of my "team" is the Diva Poodle Henrietta. I remember, though back when I was working in the corporate environment and I wish my former supervisors had understood a few of these C's for propelling the team toward excellence. 

When you're spending eight (or more) hours a day in a corporate environment you need to have a team that actually works well together, or one that at least can cooperate toward the completion of a project.

Four Ways to Make Working from Home Work

by guest blogger, Katie Parsons

One of the benefits of technology is that it has allowed people to work from just about anywhere. Even classroom settings can now be simulated through web cams and other online student-teacher interactions. While freelance writers and small business owners tend to be associated with work-from-home scenarios, the truth is that more and more corporate employees are finding the benefits of working from a home office.

For people who have spent years in the office grind, the opportunity to ditch it (even just a few days per week) may sound like a dream come true. The realities of working in the same space where you eat, sleep and relax are not actually as rosy as they first seem.

Friday Musings on a Saturday

by Yvonne DiVita

In just a few weeks the election will be over. I, personally, can't wait. While I am on pins and needles hoping for a good outcome (lots of voting - and of course, more votes for Obama), I'm distressed over the increased anger and hatred being spewed forth by the citizens of each side.

The candidates are doing what candidates do - they're working to get the vote. Not everything they say is true - each on has his own way of twisting or turning a phrase to make the other candidate look bad. I find Romney's ads insulting - as if I don't know he's lying. Perhaps his followers feel the same about Obama.

Let them be as they are. We can't change that.

Are You Inspired Or Obligated?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

I was thinking the other day -- as I was going through my To-Do list -- of how many things I do because they inspire me or because I am obligated to do them. Truly, most everything on my list is an obligation because, well, if I don't do them my clients won't pay me. Am I inspired to do these items? Maybe not. Should I be? Yes. 

Looking at my list let me realize just how much writing I do for clients on a daily and weekly basis but it also showed me how little I do for myself. I haven't penned a confession story in ages, I haven't worked on my book in weeks and my paranormal romance remains firmly planted inside my brain. The more I looked at the list the more disheartened I became until I realized something... if I didn't have the skills that I have honed I wouldn't be able to work from home, with my Diva Poodle Henrietta at my side. I'd have to buy a "work wardrobe." I'd have to battle traffic and deal with office politics. When I put my obligations into that spotlight, I felt better about what I do, what I am obligated to do. 

Another NFL season kicks off along with the Time with Tebow Sweepstakes

By Guest Blogger Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

We are now full swing into the new NFL Football season. My two teams, the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants, got off to a very rough start in Week 1. But they both bounced back looking like different teams in Week 2 to take home a "W". There are 14 more games now to go, so we'll see which team will take the field this week.

The New York Jets were the team that made an embarrassment out of the Buffalo Bills in week 1. They brought out Tim Tebow for the first time as a New York Jet. The Tebow Wildcat play has been receiving quite a bit of hype and it appears that the Jets will continue to use him in this formation. So I'm obviously not a Jets fan, but I am interested to see how Tebow does this season especially since we have just launched one of our biggest sweepstakes for a client that just so happens to feature Tim Tebow.

The FRS Time with Tebow Sweepstakes is offering people the chance to "Win Time with Tebow" and over 1,500 other prizes. FRS has a team of athletes that champion the products that includes Tim Tebow as well as Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, and Captain of the US Women’s National Soccer Team Christie Rampone. The products can be purchased online at their website, www.FRS.com, or in various retail locations throughout the country.

The way to enter the sweepstakes is to purchase a specialty marked bottle or package of FRS and look for a promotion code that is either under the cap or printed inside the packaging. We generated over 3 million codes for FRS to use on their products and created this special sweepstakes landing page located here at www.frsfuelstebow.com.

Participants gain an entry into the sweepstakes with every code that they submit. So the more codes they get, the more chances they have to win. The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip for two to meet Tim Tebow plus thousands of other prizes will be awarded including autographed jerseys, footballs and helmets. Plus, everyone who enters will receive a coupon by mail for a free bottle or can of FRS.

Because people have to purchase the product to get the code we have included an AMOE (Alternate Means of Entry) which is detailed in the rules. People can write to us to receive a code by mail. So we are complying with the sweepstakes "No Purchase Necessary" mandate.

I am curious to see how well this promotion does and if it fluctuates according to how hot or not Tebow and the Jets are. As a fan, I hope they're not. But as a marketer, I hope the program is a success.

Let's Go Bills and see if we can make it back to the play-offs for the first time in 12 seasons!