Apartment Therapy

And now for something a little different...I've covered blogs about blogging, blogs about fashion, blogs about self-actualization...all that great interior/exterior stuff. How about something that focuses on our surroundings? It's a reflection of who we are on the inside, right?

Personally, I can't stand clutter. I've been living in a small apartment for the past almost-two years with a clutter-attracting man and two innocently-destructive young cats. We have old, mismatched furniture and there is always clutter! It drives me nuts.

I just got a great new job, and one thing I want to do with the extra income is a. MOVE and b. really work with my budget to make the place look as nice as possible. Ooh, project, how exciting!

I'm going to need some help, though. Enter sites like:

Apartment Therapy

This well-designed interior design site's mission is to "help people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online."

Fabulous! That's EXACTLY what I need! They tend to focus on working with small spaces...again, good for someone like me. They post lots of yummy shots of people's artful interiors via "house tours," have shopping guides organized by major city, and even a store with well-edited items for the home, from housewares to artwork to books.

I can't wait to use this site for inspiration when it comes time to move into my soon-to-be new place. Home is where the heart is, after all.

Just Do It

Lately, I've been pretty stressed out and overwhelmed. We all go through times like this, when it seems that difficult situations are hitting us from many different angles at once. For me, it's been stress on the friends, family, relationship, home, and work front. Lovely, eh? When the stress is more emotional than anything else, the detrimental effects are way more widespread. My health suffers, I can't sleep, and I do stupid things like lock myself out of my apartment, or leave my lights on all day and kill my car battery (like last Thursday). Ugh.

Worst of all, it affects my job performance. I get spacey, scattered, and find it hard to focus. I've been missing important things at work and not working on things I enjoy, like this blog and other writing projects. After my boss talked to me today for the second time about missing various detail-oriented things (and my job is VERY much about detail), I realized I needed help.

How does a creative personality type, who finds difficulty with things like organization and focus, keep herself on track and avoid getting fired while the stress works itself out?

Organizational software and websites are a foggy mind's saving grace and bff! I recently installed Lightning in my Mozilla Firefox-based work email program, which is a calendar add-on where you can type in your weekly meetings and get reminders up to an hour ahead of time. Very much needed, since I was also forgetting meetings, doh!

But I also want to tell you about perhaps the simplest, most user-friendly Web-based To Do list I've ever seen! NowDoThis.com is an ingenious application that allows you to type up your daily to-do list, in order of task. Once you've finished a task, all you do is click on the "done" button, and your next task pops up! So no more worrying about forgetting to do something that needs to get done that day. You can edit the list as you go, or save it if you have the same tasks on more than one day.

No more space-case FUBARs on the workfront! So I can keep my boss off my back while I search for a new job I'll actually like while continuing to work on my writing/blogging passion on the side.

It's all about finding some balance while maintaining your sanity. That, and getting a lot more sleep. ;)

All You, All New

Steve Pavilina's Personal Development for Smart People blog is already well-known, but since I mentioned him as an example of a professional blogger in my last article, "Go Pro, Go Blog," I thought I'd talk about his website a bit more. Which brings us to #3 on Heidi's Hit List.

3. stevepavlina.com

This self-actualization guru publishes daily articles on topics that I am personally very interested in at the present: the law of attraction, money and how it relates to this, personal fulfillment and happiness, goal setting, and general ways to be a fully-realized person!

What I like about his articles (besides the great life advice), is that he always includes personal stories and tidbits, and uses himself and his loved ones as examples to help illustrate whichever life lesson he's teaching. I read these and think "Wow! He pulled that off and he says I can too! I think I believe him!"

There's a wealth of information here, and he's organized it really well in the sidebar. There's a "Best of Steve Pavlina" section, as well as a list of Categories underneath that where you can look for articles on specific topics. You can also subscribe to his blog via RSS feeds, or by getting his email newsletter.

Whenever I feel stymied or stuck, I go read one of his articles. This man sells inspiration for a living, how cool is that?

Manifesto for Manifestations

I'm very much a believer in the concept of "if you are ready for it, the universe will bring it to you." Right now I'm all about pursuing my passions, loving what I do, putting purpose and meaning into everything I devote energy to...all with the aim of one day making a living by making myself happy. Isn't that the common goal of most all humans? I think so!

So, to that end, even what I choose to read on the Internet are soul-feeding blogs and ezines. Without further ado, #2 on my blog hit list is thinkArete.com, a website all about big ideas for the self-actualizer. What does this mean? First of all, the word arete is a Greek word that means (according to the site's manifesto) "virtue or excellence but has a deeper meaning...something closer to 'constantly striving to reach your highest potential.'" All the articles on the site are designed to help you do just that...whether the author is writing about the Golden rule, how to be more like Buddha, or the condensed lessons of Tony Robbins.

If you're interested in this sort of thing, but have a short attention span or are just too busy to ready long, philosophical articles on the Internet, these lessons are condensed into quick sound-bytes, and distilled down to just the essential message. I recommend subscribing to the newsletter. Yes, you will get them in your Inbox everyday, but they never take more than a minute to read.

What are you waiting for? Start manifesting your own Big Ideas!

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Heidi's Hit List

If you're anything like me, which is a touch schizophrenic mixed with large dollops of mania and ADD (not really), then you probably help manage your  Internet addiction by having a whole bunch of your favorite websites bookmarked. And if you're somewhat anal-retentive, or just really, really organized, you probably also have these bookmarks organized into folders.

I have a folder called "Blogs/Ezines" on my home computer, and one called "Personal" (that'll keep 'em out!) on my work computer, just for websites I like to read on a weekly basis. Sometimes they're purely frivolous, like gossip or fashion sites, and sometimes they're a little more highbrow. I plan to do a regular feature on here where I profile my faves, perhaps on a weekly basis.

So, without further ado, here is the first entry of Heidi's Hit List! Hit, as in "it's a hit and I want to go here" rather than hit as in "I want to kill it!"

#1. iCING - galadarling.com

This is a recent discovery, and it's equal parts fashion blog and equal parts advice on how to win at life! It's as if this spritely little creature called Gala Darling (her real name!) took the best parts of all those Power of Now-ish books and distilled them into a very simple message: be happy in life, be the best you you can be, and look cute while doing it! What's not to love about that?

She has lots of great weekly features, including Carousel, her weekly summary of all things she's finding fantastic, with links, Daily Outfit (photos of her own personal creative couture), Things I Love Thursday (self-explanatory), and iCING Infatuations, her version of beauty product recommendations.

Mixed in with all of this is lots of great fashion advice, like "How To Make a T-Shirt More Interesting" and useful life advice, like how to deal with "Negative People."

iCING is entertaining, informative, visually nice to look at, and best of all: overwhelmingly positive. I'm here to promote the Best of the Net, and for me that means considering the overall message as well as quality content. Enjoy!

Killer Blog Titles Contest Results!

Argh! I'd just typed up most of this and then my computer crashed! But I won't let that stop me from posting today, darnit! Especially since I've been so busy and stressed, I didn't even follow my own advice and enter this contest. Doh! At least my bad stress has now been replaced by good stress of the "in the running to get a killer job" variety, so you will see a lot more content here soon.

I was kinda surprised that the blog titles weren't wackier, but after checking out a few, I realized it was because most of the entrants have professional blogs, most of which have a work-minded or educational tone. So not much room for wackitude there. But here's the top 5 that caught MY eye:

1. The 10 Scariest Hobbies on the Planet

If you're anything like me, reading this will make you cringe, especially if you watch the accompanying videos too! It's amazing how stupid/daring some people can be.

2. Begger or A List Celebrity - What Type of Blogger are You?

Yes, the title is somewhat amusing, but it's really the content that grabs me here. The author covers a lot of newbie blogger mistakes. I intend to heed his advice, and save myself some time.

3. Women Queue At The Morgue to Get The Pick of Freshest Faces

OK, this is just gross! It's actually an article about face transplants by an Irish Plastic Surgery site. Can you say random?

4. 9 Success Secrets from a Part-time Blogger Earning a Full-time Income

Another topic dear to my heart. Who wouldn't want to bring in thousands a month while you work form home in your pajamas? I know that's MY personal goal.

5. How Stories Add Value to a Pick Up Artist

Ok, I have to admit that this one got my attention because I have personal experience with pick-up artists and the whole "PUA" culture. I dated one of these guys a few years back...someone who used to regularly visit the Project Hollywood inhabited by Mystery, Style, and all the others who ended up in the book "The Game." The dude in question was also briefly mentioned in the book, as a bit of a cautionary tale, in fact. He was CRAZY.

Anyway, the point I want to make is that these guys are more than just the common perception of sleazy dudes who manipulate women into sleeping with them. Yes, some of them are just gross and shady and in it for all the wrong reasons. Others genuinely want to improve their relationships, and on the path to pick-up artistry, discovered things like self-actualization, the law of attraction, manifesting your own reality, etc, etc. It's all connected. This guy's blog, Matt Savage, will no doubt have some interesting stories and useful life advice.

Blog Title Contest!

ProBlogger is doing a contest, and it's pretty simple. Just write the best blog title (with engaging accompanying blog post, of course) and submit it to the contest. The rules are all laid out on the site, see here for more details.

I'm excited about this as a fairly new blogger because this contest is a GREAT way to get more exposure for your blog, and find other blogs that you like. The prize is pretty sweet too: a $2000 identity design (logo) from logo designer David Airey. Hurry though...the deadline is this Thursday, August 28th.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of your submissions. If I see enough of them floating around on PNN, I'll probably do some Top Five lists like they suggest on ProBlogger. Yay, let's show the world what we can do!

Go Blog, Go Pro!

Yes, you too, can become a professional blogger! And there are more ways to do it than just writing on this here site, although my brief tenure on here tells me this is a darn good way too! It's all about casting a wide net, after all, and blogging networks where tricky things like SEO, online advertising, and promotion are already figured out for you is a very helpful thing.

So...we already know that there really is a job title called "blogger." A professional blogger is someone who gets paid to blog, perhaps for a company website, or for blogging about specific products and services as a way of advertising them via the Web. Others might be making a good living off their personal blog that started out as a journal or information resource about a certain topic. Once a blog becomes popular enough and has a solid audience, its owner can support the blog through affiliate ads, product sales, and/or donations in order to generate a steady stream of revenue.

So you've found your niche topic and found a domain for your website (or you found your preferred blogging platform, like Tumblr, and set up your page), now how do you turn your blog from hobby into full-time paying job? First off, time investment is key. You will have to spend a lot of time writing content, since a blog is only as fresh as its latest post. But you will also need to invest time interacting with other bloggers, perhaps through a blogging resource, social bookmarking site, or search engine, such as Delicious, Digg, Technorati, and Slashdot. Getting your blog listed and featured on one of these sites can increase traffic to your site by the thousands.

You will also need to have the writing chops to engage your audience and keep them coming back for more. Having passion for your subject as well as extensive knowledge of it, will give you the necessary credibility and build your following. Whether your subject is celebrity gossip (like the wildly popular Gawker.com, TheSuperficial.com, and Defamer.com) or technology news (Metafilter.com, Techcrunch.com, Engadget.com), you must be able to offer readers something they can't find elsewhere. Bringing innovation and creativity to your subject matter is the fun and challenging part of writing a blog, and seems to be the key to success.

Lastly, you must have some technical knowledge to keep your blog running. Although it is easy enough to get started by using a blog hosting service such as Tumblr or Wordpress, these sites can have the disadvantage of not being completely customizable. It is also valuable to have some knowledge of how to get your blog noticed and read. There are many ways to do this including search engine optimization (SEO), trackbacks, ping services, and social bookmarking sites. Read up on these tactics and use them.

Now we get down to the nitty-gritty: how does one monetize a blog? The simple answer is there's no way to do this without commercializing it. Some bloggers are reluctant to do this, reasoning that it takes away from the integrity of sharing information with people. But if you're committed to the idea that your blog provides value to people, then it follows that it's perfectly acceptable to be compensated for this value. Some of the most common ways to do this are putting up affiliate ads through ad programs such as Google AdSense and Chitika, or asking readers for donations. You can also sell products through your blog, such as downloadable ebooks about your area of expertise. There is an art to writing ebooks, but anyone can research how to write one and offer it for sale. Your monetization strategy will also have to work in tandem with your design principles. So if you are selling a product, you will have to decide if you will direct your readers to an order form, or have ads for that product all over the site. There are excellent tips and explanations for how to do all this on sites like Problogger.net.

It may take time and experimentation to find a monetization strategy that works, but once you do you will be joining the ranks of professional blogging. Here's some statistics for inspiration: personal development guru Steve Pavlina makes over $1000/month from his blog stevepavlina.com. It only took him two years to reach this goal.