David S. Finch

The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

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How Startups Can Use PR Successfully: One of the biggest challenges for startups is keeping in the public eye - getting the word out on a consistent basis to drive an audience, customers, buzz, etc. There are lots of marketing techniques for startups but one that I think is under used and under appreciated is PR. (Instigator Blog)

10 Laws Of Real World Social Networking Success: Marketing success in the world of online social networking is not easy. Whether you're trying to build a group or fan page in Facebook or wiggling your way through LinkedIn for more business contacts. The lack of personal connection adds a barrier, while the quantity quotient (how many connections do you have?) is still part of the game (for some). I spend of lot of time "networking" (whatever that means) in the real (physical) world too. I like meeting people, connecting and identifying what their needs are. For a long while, I was giving many public presentations on how to network effectively. (Mitch Joel at Twist Image)

Marketing Your Website on a Tight Budget: Let’s face it, marketing your website is one of the biggest barriers between you and success (whatever it’s size). Don’t forget that the best content in the world is seldom discovered naturally - it’s being deliberately pushed under your nose so that you’re aware of it, but how can you do this without spending a fortune? (John Chow. com)

12 Essential Rules to Live More Like a Zen Monk: I’m not a Zen monk, nor will I ever become one. However, I find great inspiration in the way they try to live their lives: the simplicity of their lives, the concentration and mindfulness of every activity, the calm and peace they find in their days. (Zen Habits)

Overhaul Your Image for Better Results: Content is King, but an Emperor needs great clothes. If you have a blog or a website, your image instantly conveys to site visitors your marketing position, where you stand and what your business represents. Miss the mark, and you could be losing business. Get it right, and your site could become the biggest thing going. (Men with Pens)

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My Latest Opportunity

As of 1 March 2008, I added BusinessPundit, a leading website that provides business solutions, to my list of writing initiatives. BusinessPundit has a track record of providing premium resources for entrepreneurs as well as commentary on latest business trends. Here is a sampling of some of the posts.

How to Start Working from Anywhere
4 Components to Increase Your Luck Value
No Risk, No Reward
How to Successfully Launch Your Business Idea
Do You Have What it Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?

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Happy St. Patrick's Day

We join our fellow Irishman with great food, drink and music to celebrate one of my favorite holidays. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

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The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

Do You have the Guts to Quit Your Day Job and Start a Business?: Don’t you wish you could ditch your day job and start a multi-million dollar business? Whether we work for ourselves or for organizations, the world of work is changing rapidly. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, success stories are about leveraging intellectual capital for commercial benefit. That means, we need to be good not just at doing the job but also at coming up with innovate ideas and fresh perspectives for new ways of doing things.

Practical Blogging Tips: Finding Information For Resource Articles: One constant problem I have, despite having extensive search engine experience, is finding the "right" information online. When I write on a topic I know well, it's not always necessary. But as a freelancer, I tend to write about a variety of subjects when I'm working on comprehensive content and resource articles.

11 Steps to Becoming Addicted to Running: While long-distance running is a test of perseverance, actually running on regular intervals can be an even bigger test of persistence. I’ve found that actually getting my lazy butt off the couch is usually harder than the runs themselves. Sound familiar to anyone else?

Productive Finances Checklist: Here is a checklist for your financial productivity. Most of these things seem minor but taken together they really add up and can make a big difference in how efficiently you are using your time and money.

How to Get the Right Attention: Attraction is just one step in a process. If you think of your blog as being a system then attention brings people in to the system but the rest of your system is where the actual magic happens.

How to Successfully Launch Your Business Idea: To be able to see your idea evolve from thoughts to reality you have to draft out a blueprint that details each phase of the developmental process. The more detailed your plan, the greater opportunity you’ll have to succeed.

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Technorati Tags: contextless links

The New Success Magazine

Have you had a chance to read the all new SUCCESS magazine? It launched on March 4th. In any case, the editors of SUCCESS magazine have chosen their ultimate list of the 25 must-read books for achievers. SUCCESS chose books that take a comprehensive approach to money, life and personal development, firmly believing that one-dimensional success really isn’t success at all.

THE Must-Read Books for Achievers
1. "Think and Grow Rich:, Napoleon Hill (Aventine Press, 2004): This is the book most often cited as the source for life change.

2. "How to Win Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie (Pocket Books, 1998): Carnegie’s methods are the foundation for many of today’s personal-development and business-management books.

3. "The Richest Man in Babylon", George S. Clason (BNP Books, 2007): The book jacket says it all—The most inspiring book on wealth ever written. Don’t miss it!

4. "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical & Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying", Suze Orman (Crown, 1997): This book focuses on the total approach to financial success. Your beliefs about money, yourself and the world around you have as much to do with wealth as do the riches you acquire.

5. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", Stephen R. Covey (Free Press, 1989): This book takes a total approach to success and encourages growth and maturity beginning with self, which leads to stronger relationships and greater success at home and at work.

Check out the new Success Magazine... You won't be disappointed.

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Technorati Tags: personal development, success magazine, success

4 Ways to Avoid Short-Cutting your Dreams

photo by:andrewcurrie

One of the quickest ways to abort your dreams is to fall into the trap of cutting corners. It may seem like you've reached a level of success, but in the long run there always is a price to pay. I'm always amazed at individuals and small businesses that buy into this way of thinking. Here are four ways to avoid short-cutting your dreams.

Review your personal mission statement
Your personal mission statement is the base of all your dreams. It's the foundation of your ethics and character that motivates you to dream and go after your goals. It reminds you of how you wanted to "change the world" and not generate large sums of money.

Stay on Course
One of the ways you can be tempted to take short cuts is when you've lost your sense of direction. Lack of direction can lead to loss of time and money. That being said, it's never fun to have to back track because what looked like the short cut actually became the long way.

Focus on Quality
If your committed to quality, you'll never have to worry about short-cutting your dreams. Quality always communicates respect to your customers and yourself. The only way to garauntee any level of success is to produce quality products and quality customer service. Dreams have little shelf life if quality is not a standard that you live by.

Trust Your Community
Be open with family, friends, and mentors. Being accountable to others always serves great reality checks. Usually this group of individuals have no problem letting you know when they see you selling out. The more your open with them, the more they'll be honest with you.

I've been tempted many times to take short cuts. Many times as I've methodically worked toward my goals, I've compared myself to others and wondered if taking a short cut was worth it. However, as I've tried to stay on course I've noticed that those that sold out by taking short cuts often times are now no where to be found.

If your going to build, build to last!

Related Article: The Iceberg Principle

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Technorati Tags: dreams, goals, personal development, self-development

The Missing Links: Your Weekend Reader

Do You Have What it Takes to be an Entrepreneur?: Unfortunately, many businesses are started and then dissolved, not because they didn’t have a workable idea, but because the entrepreneur lacked certain skills. Often times many hardships must be experienced before this reality can be seen.

10 Curiously Strong Ways To Declutter Your Car: For years my car has looked like a cross between a mobile dorm room and a pile of trash. Between piles of books, papers, pizza boxes, and random things that belong in a garbage disposal my car was becoming a less and less friendly place to be.

Financial Planning for Self-Employment: What’s Different?: As I move away from the standard paycheck-based income and into a self-employment status, I’ve begun to think seriously about how I need to plan things throughout the month to make sure all of the bills are covered. I’m not worried about paying them - we have plenty of income and a good emergency fund - but I am worried about what sorts of choices will change as a result of my career shift.

How To Triple Your Week Without Anyone Noticing: Balance is a lot about simplifying: deciding what is worth your effort and cutting out what just eats your time and gives nothing in return. But there is only so much you can cut out - you’ve got to do something. That’s why balance is also about finding the time for doing the things you want to do.

How to Find Good Ideas for Business and Life: Finding ideas is not easy, but finding good ideas is even more difficult. So how can we find good ideas? There is a lesson about it I learned from the book On Writing Well.

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What is Twitter?

Probably one of the most successful social media tools to catch fire in 2007 was Twitter. Twitter has been used as a micro-blogging tool that many use instead of a blog post or email. Twitter in a nutshell is to answer the question, "What am I doing?" in 140 characters or less.

If you haven't added Twitter to your social media toolbox you need to try it. In the meantime, thanks to the awesome team at CommonCraft check out this video Twitter in Plain English.

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Technorati Tags: social media, twitter

21 Ways to Know It's Time to Leave Your Job

photo by:ribenawrath

Let's face it leaving your job is never easy. Not to mention, no one likes to be tagged a quitter. However, the pressure of responsibilities and relationships you've made within the company can cause you to hold on even when the signs have been there for a long time.

You don't have to be a physic to recognize the common denominators that it's time to move on. Here are a few signs that could mean it's your time.

1. You dread the thought of having to go to work.
2. You become physically sick as get closer to work.
3. Your attitude changes about your employer and your job responsibilities.
4. You're no longer challenged.
5. Your suggestions continue to fall on deaf ears.
6. You're not respected or celebrated.
7. You suffer with headaches and other stress related symptoms while at work.
8. You think your being punished by a higher power.
9. You are being verbally abused by your boss.
10. You no longer are having fun.
11. You are constantly agitated while at work.
12. You take out your job frustrations on family and friends.
13. You no longer care about the quality of your work or how much you produce.
14. You've outgrown your job.
15. Your boss is slowly taking away your responsibilities.
16. The company is having trouble
17. When you seek out confrontation
18. Your job is dominating every area of your life
19. You are only happy when your not at work.
20. Negativity is effecting every area of your life.
21. You've found a better offer.

In all honesty, most individuals have known for a long time that it's time to move on, but out of fear they hang on. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown seem to dominate miserable people with miserable jobs. If this is you, maybe it's time to move on.

If you do choose to leave, don't look back. Be grateful of the relationships and good times, but leave with no regrets.

Have you left a job after hanging on for an extended period of time? What were your fears or challenges? Leave a comment! Let's learn together.

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Technorati Tags: self-development, self-help

The 4 Step Social Media Diet

photo by:leftcoastbound

Social media is everywhere! Literally, there are new services being unveiled on a daily basis. Not only are they being unveiled, but all of them are wanting our attention. If you don't believe me, check your email inbox right now, I bet you'll have an invitation to join the latest tool to connect and explore. I'm sure you've at times asked yourself, "How many more friend requests can I agree to."

However, with all of this innovation, there also is developing a issue of social media obesity. I have become so fat on "the latest" that there are some sites and applications that I can't even remember my log in name. I even have social media apps. bookmarked that I've forgotten why I saved them. It's ugly, and I think it's time to go on a diet.

Here is what I'm doing to stay current, stay lean and productive in this social media craze.

Try Everything!
The only way to stay current is that you have to try everything. Experiment with the new toys. Ask around and get opinions from others who are currently using the latest and greatest. It never hurts to try it. You may be surprised that it's not what you thought and that you have a use for it. Learn to try everything without letting others know your on a diet. Can any one person really be using it all... I don't think so.

Focus
Staying focused can also pay great dividends when your trying to decide what to stay with. There are some things I'll never use not because their not cool, but often times they're either a duplicate or don't serve the community that I'm a part of.

Prioritize
There are many applications and sites that I know I'll never be the beta tester. Prioritizing what I need and what best serves the industry that I'm in can be very helpful. Prioritizing what apps and sites best work for me and that give me the most opportunity to connect with others must be at the top of the list.

Trim
It's OK to unsubscribed, end a service, leave a community. Eliminate those things that are out of your focus and line of priorities. Another way to stay lean is be willing to upgrade, let go and move on. Staying trim is never easy, especially when you feel your missing something. However, you'll be surprised how much more productive you'll be when your not trying to consume it all.

How are you staying fit? How do you decide on the "must have's" and the "maybe later?" Leave a comment and be part of the conversation.

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Technorati Tags: productivity, social media