Well it’s been too long since I last posted. Damn it’s hard to find time for everything I need to do. Although I totally understand and appreciate the benefits of outsourcing I am not yet at a point where I feel I can dive in. Funds are limited right now.

What I’m doing:

1. 1. MaryCarpenterDesigns.com is continuing to grow and evolve. Mary is working on new copy for the home page and I am working on a new page for silk embroidery which will be up later this week.
2. 2. LadybugWreaths.com is being updated and a new them is being configured. Did you know you can activate a theme and work on it for a few hours then activate your old theme again? It can be inconvenient if you have huge amounts of traffic but since most adjustments will not affect your content, visitors can still locate what they need on your WordPress site. We’re going to be using my favorite theme which is Flexx Professional. It is highly customizable and easy to use. Although it doesn’t have all the great options available in Socrates, it is very competitively priced.
3. 3. I’m going back to work for the Illinois Railway Museum magazine with a new assignment. My goal is to get the scoop from the IRM Steam Team about their progress, directives, governing rules and all the rest that has prevented any of the operational steam locomotive from being in operation for the past several years. Museum visitors need to understand why steam isn’t there and what it takes to bring it back and keep it operational. There are many valid reasons why steam is no longer the master of the rails and why these locomotives are a labor of love from dedicated preservation groups. I hope to meet with the Steam Team this coming Saturday but haven’t yet connected with them.
4. 4. I’m working on my own new site and first real product offerings about making an ebook. I have some strong feelings about this subject and feel there are many valid reasons to make an ebook part of your marketing strategy. More about this real soon.
5. 5. My first mastermind group has been live for nearly 6 weeks. We are a very small group and do not intend to ever have more than 6 members because we all need to have time to speak within an hour. We are now using the time divided equally among the members so that each person has a chance to talk about their current projects, and set goals for weekly accountability. The best parts for me are the sense of community and the accountability for getting things done. We are all very dedicated business people and we all have similar success goals so that adds to the spirit of the thing.
6. 6. I’ll soon be converting a Blogger blog to WordPress for a client and am looking forward to that experience. It just came up on the radar today so that will be happening next week.  Changes at Blogger in May caused a lot of problems for a longtime user and she’s had enough. WordPress is SO much better for business applications anyway, IMHO.
7. 7. Just returned Sunday from Wausau, WI where the 38th annual convention of the Milwaukee Road Historical Association took place at the Holiday Inn, 17th-20th. No train excursions this year but those may be harder and harder to come by with only 5 mainline railroads to work with and very small windows of opportunity for track, along with the ever increasing costs of liability insurance. This is a subject I will be exploring in more detail very soon.  Steve Sandberg was our main speaker this year and just did a wonderful job.
8. 8. Building a business. This is the real time consuming thing right now as I mind map and outline the basics of my business plan.
9. 9. Five funerals and a wedding so far this year. Not a good average but I’m at that age where I am becoming the older generation on both sides of the family. We buried my last uncle just two weeks ago and only have my 92 year old mother and one 88 year old aunt left from that generation. My husband has no aunts, uncles, or parents remaining. We are indeed the geezer generation now.

Getting to the point where I am able to outsource some of the more time consuming tasks is very high on my priority list. In the meantime I will post as frequently as possible.

Here’s something I haven’t seen before today but thought you might like to see it too:

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