Diane Stafford On Focus

Small Business Development Award

The Small Business Development Award 2009 is now open for entrants who are members of the ethical network,  Pledging for Change

If you're not yet a member, you can join for free. 

The network is open to any ethical business, whether you are an individual working from home or a larger SME.  As long as you are operating an 'ethical', Green or environmentally friendly business, you can submit your entry and have your chance to win this valuable award.

Entries are open until December 11th.

Good Luck.

Diane

Health & Safety Executive Awareness Day Down the Drain

Health and Safety Executive Awareness Day Down the Drain.

Obviously, I'm very sorry for the poor woman who was unfortunately injured after she fell into an uncovered drain at an HSE workshop at Churton, advising 200 agricultural workers how to avoid accidents, and I do hope she recovers quickly, but I couldn't stop myself from having a cynical smile when I read about this incident.

In years gone by my experience of health and safety in respect of public and employee health and safety issues was often a mixed blessing. 

Yes of course everyone's health and safety needs to be protected, but the HSE, the rules, can go over the top somewhat to the point of being ridiculous.

Yet here they are, the HSE themselves, flouting their own rules under the guise of it being OK because:

"The drainage hole is a common feature of working farms and as such, preventative action was not considered necessary for an event designed for farmers, farm workers and farming families."

Hmm... A drainage hole is a 'common feature' in many premises, commercial and domestic.  So is the HSE saying it's not considered necessary for any of these operators to cover their drainage holes... because 'users' or 'visitors' to such premises should already be aware of that potential risk?

Whilst the HSE don't admit any liability, I doubt they would accept such a line of reasoning from operators under their enforcement.

There are 'common features' in all industries that are subject to HSE enforcement.

Do you think the HSE will be a little more lenient in the future when an operator says ...

"preventative action was not considered necessary for an event designed for ....." (fill in the blank)?

Somehow I doubt it!

Let's hope this isn't another case of one rule for us and one rule for them!

Source: Chester Chronicle

How to build a niche biz in 4 days!

A frustrated blog reader told this Internet marketing Guru to "put his money where his mouth is" to
PROVE that it is really possible to build a niche website from scratch in ONE WEEK or less.

... And guess what! He's actually agreed to do it!

Not only that -- he's going to videotape the whole process!

These videos will be released over a 4-day period (April 21-24th) -- so YOU can use the strategies Derek's demonstrating to create your OWN money-making website in just a matter of days!

You can register for these free "hands-on" instructional videos NOW at:

how to build a niche biz in 4 days

I've talked to a lot of people who are very skeptical that a "Guru" like Derek could actually build a new niche business from just an idea. 

(He tells us that the niche he's targeting has NOTHING to do with Internet marketing!)

A massive amount of people have already signed up for a "front-row" seat to see if Derek can practice what he preaches. 

To be honest, a lot of people are not sure if he's going to pull this off. 

So whether you want to join him out of morbid curiosity or you want to see how to build a successful niche business "from scratch" you cannot miss the action.

These free videos are going to be a fantastic learning experience!

To sign up for YOUR "front-row" seat, go to:

How to Build a Niche Biz in 4 Days.

regards,
Diane

P.S. People are saying Derek must have some trick up his sleeve to be able to pull this off -- or that he must have some sort of crazy new tool to build a money-making website so FAST.   

As an insider, I know he DOES have something in his corner... Something that's about to take the Internet marketing world by STORM.   

To discover what this "mystery tool" is, sign up for Derek's FREE videos at:

how to build a niche business in 4 days.

Will he or won't he?

Building backlinks & edu. links to your site

New post on success without stress relating to building backlinks to your site and your invitation from me to join a new invitation only site  that looks like a promising addition to the backlinking sites list.

This affordable report shows you How to Get Edu. Backlinks

Read on.... building backlinks to your site

ipaper and paper clay

I'm testing out ipaper which was brought to my attention by Ed Dale and Dan Raine of the Immediate Edge (that's a rare link for a $1 trial of the immediate edge for 14 days by the way, but don't tell everyone, it's not for everyone).

So far with ipaper, I have dashed up a simple web page to test this, it has a link to my free art hobby craft guide, related to how to make paper clay , a little snippet of code on the page and the 'How to Make Guide' is displayed right there on the website.

If you look at the menu bar inside ipaper, you can view the document by the page, change the view to multiple pages, zoom in and out.  (correction, now its been posted, I can see that here the blog isn't wide enough for it to have multiple page display - but it does over on the website page - very clever)

On the menu bar where it says 'ipaper' you can click it and see a drop down menu where you can email the document, print it, upload it to scribd and more.

In fact its quite amazing.  What do you think of it?

    

paperclay-worm-snail

Micro Business Start up

Micro business start up happening at the kitchen table!

Very possibly....

I have set a deadline for Monday to have a clients website completed for review and final adjustment before uploading it to her server, so I am busy getting the "nitty gritty" bits and pieces in place, browser testing, SEO checks, pdfs looking good etc etc etc.

Being a mum working from home you just have to juggle those plates, after all you can only ignore the laundry for so long .... then you really do have to get those five washer loads in and out.  I'm starting to wonder if the kids are bringing their friends laundry home with them, surely we don't have this many clothes!

So with a couple of loads under my belt, attention to the kids given, a reminder to feed them later set as well, I set to work at the kitchen table. 

After a short while, a little one, ok, not so little at 14, slid onto the chair next to me, placed her lap top on the table and set about designing a website of her own.  she had downloaded NVU a FREE website authoring tool, last week and she was exploring what she could do with it.  There were of course several questions of "how do I", "how can I" ... do this or that, and yes, my work was put to one side whilst I attended to her needs.

Highly probable......

We explored what she wanted to do and why, what her motivation and ideas are.  She's actually really interested in photography and art as well as fashion, wonder who she takes after!   In the process, we talked about squdoo lenses as well and took a peek at one of my lenses, "how to make paper clay".  She liked the idea of a lens, so she opened her account - I had to laugh when she got to the "what do you want to do with the money" part and I suppose there are no surprises that she should tick the "I just want the cash"  box!!

Now motivated by the prospect of earning money from writing about something she is really interested in, she completed her little bio, edited and uploaded an image and completed her first section of her lens, pressed save, then made a list of the research she now wants to do in order to make her lens as good as she can.  All her own work! 

The only thing she wants my help with now is to sort out her paypal account so she can receive all the money she anticipates making from her squidoo lens.

Yes... looks like a micro business start up has indeed taken its first steps.....

Have you chosen your specialist knowledge squidoo lens yet?

Need a Paypal account to receive your "squidoo lens payments" - easy to set up and start earning, click the paypal banner below and get started today!

If you have something to say about what interests you and that will interest others, find your voice with squidoo, share what you know today, no matter what your age.

regards

Diane

micro business "expert" - to my daughter that is!

Don't Mention Setting Target Goals & Resolutions

Setting Target Goals & Resolutions for business and a focus on making personal resolutions is the theme of blogs and articles virtually wherever you look.

I planned on being a little bit different as the New Year started. I decided it would be interesting to see how far I could get into the year without mentioning: setting goals, target, resolutions, whether relating to business or personal aspirations.

Well, I really didn't get very far. In fact I felt almost compelled to give the New Year planning process a mention with a little bit of stressless success.

So in one sense I failed as I did mention planning for 2008 if not the specific words of "setting target" or "resolutions". I did use the word "goals", so i can't excuse my overall failure.

Now having noted that I have failed, I really don't mind too much as one of my goals, and I don't mind whether in business or personally, is to fail at something, anything, at least once per month! Yes, I know it might sound a little bonkers but I find I learn a lot from having failed to do something.

Whether I will ever achieve that something next time I try to do, or achieve it, I can't say. What I do know is that I will indeed 'try'!

"To never try, is to never learn, and to always fail."

Diane Stafford
Stressless Success

I'm a celebrity get me out of here, Lynne Franks

Lynne Franks, PR Guru, is in the Jungle, appearing in I'm a celebrity get me out of here.  Yes, you know that wonderfully irritating reality TV show that we all hate to love and love to hate.

Well, like it or not, Lynne is braving the 'celebrity challenge' of the jungle.  Lynne says:

"I am away in the jungle in Oz appearing in ITV's Reality Show, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

You can tune in and watch me, get your family and friends to vote for me and enjoy the experience of what is probably my life's biggest challenge."

No doubt Lynne will have lots of jungle adventures to share when she returns from the outback.

Keep up to date with the Seed Network and Lynne Franks.

Proofreading Proof Reading

Proofreading "Proof Reading"

The Right Words

Yesterday was my day for making mistakes for the week, well at least I hope it doesn't last, but I forgive myself because I'm human, I was last time I looked in the mirror at least :>)

My 'right words' mistakes were:

1) using the 'wrong words' in a response to someone which didn't reflect my positive and action focused self to people who don't know me, long story I won't bore you with, but needless to say I was kicking myself afterwards.

2) spelling proofreading as "proof reading" which someone felt compelled to highlight, don't you just love 'nice' people!

Once you make a mistake, or yes even two within half an hour of each other,  there is little you can do about it apart from learn the lesson(s) and make a positive mental note not to repeat it/them.

Ok, a forum post error isn't the end of the world, and often your brain will be working ahead of your fingers, or is it the other way round, therefore, typos and mistakes happen.  In these instances, it's usually fine, unless you have an eagle eyed member dying to point out the error of your words to you and the world, ignore and move on is my motto. 

Where all words, the right words, do matter is in your direct written communications with your prospective and actual clients and customers, whether that be in your advertising literature, your  press releases, articles, on your website etc etc. 

To present your words well and error free a jolly good proofreader is a valuable investment.  For a usually very affordable fee you can benefit from a professional proofreading your proof reading to ensure that all your words correctly convey your message.

Nicola of AllWords does some fantastic proofreading and editing projects for my clients and myself so please do check out her articles and services if you want to make sure your words are the right words!

If yew cant raed or udnerstnad tihs yew wlil konw why I nead Nicloas profreednig sklils :>)

Why use a proofreader or editor?

When you write an article, ebook, book or press release for example, you are too close to your own words.  It is highly probable that you will overlook the same error on each proofreading run through and therefore waste a lot of your valuable time.  You could use that time for something more constructive, like writing another chapter or a new article.

A fresh pair of professionally trained and experienced eyes takes away all your hassles and frees up your time. Spend it wisely on your next important project.

Have fun with your words and find the right words.

Diane Stafford

• proofreading proof reading not done on this post,

• guaranteed, as always, not to be 100% accurate

 

Diane Stafford On Focus

Diane Stafford - On Focus
Name Change

For several reasons, I have changed this weblogs name.  Due to configuration changes, some of the older  post links or photo links will be broken.

Hopefully this will not cause too much inconvenience. My apologies to my regular readers.  If you have any difficulties, please do drop me a note.

You can still find me in the following places:

Reiki

Focused Support