Self-Reflection, Giveaways, and Turning 31

So, tomorrow, August 29th, I'll be 31. At exactly 11a.m. - and as my mom says, I've been prompt ever since! There are a couple of things I want to do to celebrate, including a few giveaways! :)

First though, as I always do each birthday, some self-reflection:

I recently learned what kind of entreprenuer I am: A Tenacity Jane.

Here'e what that means:
Roughly one in three women entrepreneurs is the type Tenacity Jane.

As a Tenacity Jane¸ you may be struggling with cash flow or other concerns in your business right now, but your passion is undeniable. You believe in what you are building and are working hard to help it turn the corner. As a result, you may be feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or worried -- specifically when it comes to business finances and cash flow.

You may also be working more than you care to right now, but you're determined to do what you need to do to make your business a success. It's important to realize you're not alone, because Tenacity Jane is the most common of the five types. Equally important, the challenges you are facing right now can be overcome. Many of the women we've interviewed have told us that they've been a Tenacity Jane in the past, but ultimately they brought their dreams to reality and created highly profitable businesses.

Well, that sums it up a bit - but I feel like I'm moving out of that stage and into another Jane stage, which they say can happen. What kind of Jane are you? Go here to find out: Jane Out of the Box.

Now, for the birthday gifts - for YOU. :) I've got some giveaways running on my Facebook and Twitter accounts too, so make sure to become a fan or follower because you can win something different everywhere!

Grand Prize: Win a $31 gift card to shop at alwaysBdesigns!
Runner Up: Win a 31% off coupon code to shop at alwaysBdesigns!
Everyone: Win a shopping discount code (random amount) to shop at alwaysBdesigns!
 
Ways to enter (do one or all):

1. I'd like to know what kind of Jane you are. If you're not in business, then tell me what you'd do if you could start your own business. Comment below.
2. Preview alwaysBdesigns and tell me what you'd want to use your winnings on in the comments below.
3. Become a fan of my Facebook page and leave a comment below.
4. Become a follower of @alwaysBdesigns on Twitter and leave a comment below.
5. Sign up for my newsletter and leave a comment below.
6. Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment below.
7. Tweet or FB post about this giveaway and leave a comment below.

Thanks for helping me celebrate my birthday! Winners will be announced (and codes emailed) on 9/1. :)

The Winner Is...

So, I haven't posted in awhile, and no, Darren (aka @problogger), I'm not apologizing. :) I have a fully painted inside of the house because I've taken the last week off to paint! Yay!

Here's a photo - see all the paint cans? Yeah, I'm sore....

Anyhow, my main reason for posting today, before I get back to the regularly scheduled program, is to announce the winner of the 'Generating Post Ideas' giveaway. You all gave some great ideas and you'll be seeing them eventually, maybe with a shout out or link to your site...

But, without further ado... Cate from Real Life With Kids is our winner! She gets her choice of a prize too, pretty sweet huh? :)

Thanks everyone!

Generating Post Ideas - HELP!

I'll admit it.

It's easy for me to talk about myself. I'm an open book, always have been. And, I really like helping others with getting their business off the ground or answered 'how did you do that' questions. But, when it comes to producing business topics to blog about, I'm at a loss.

When the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge I'm doing asked me to do an editorial calendar, I stopped in my tracks. I can't plan what I want to talk about - I'm more the spontanious type. Even in all my formal writing, I have never been a good 'pre-writer', I write the entire thing first to get it all out, and then go back and 'edit'.

So, here's your chance to help me decide what I write about next. If you're not that familiar with me or what I do, read my about page. You'll see I'm a 'Jill of all trades' and that I really need to 'focus' more. LOL.

I'm offering a giveaway too - for each topic idea or question you'd like answered that you put in the comments, that's an entry. *Entries close when I feel I have enough ideas (yeah, not a solid deadline, I know). Now, it has to be a topic I haven't covered (so do your research) and it can't be a silly idea/question just to get an entry. This is serious business peeps. :)

Because I know everyone has different needs, giveaway will be winners choice of one of the following:
* 250 free business cards ($25+ value)
* Free editing/writing consult ($50 value, one hour)
* Free product of your choice from my design stash (with approval) (up to $25 value, including tax/s&h)

Alright, let the comments roll! And - thank you!

My Top Resources for Working from Home

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm struggling here. I started a new job, added some freelance projects, celebrated my wedding anniversary, welcomed a new nephew into the world, and have fallen behind in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenges - and that's only in the first 8 days!

For Day 7, the link post, I'd like to offer my readers some of my favorite resources for working at home. As a business owner (always B designs) and a freelance writer/editor/marketer, I stay pretty busy. I'm always trying to find the next best resource to help me manage my time, find freelance jobs, connect with other moms in business, or build my following for always B designs. It's kind of another full-time job. :) If you're interested in starting a business, I write about one of the most important things when working from home or starting a business - Finding Your Niche - in an earlier blog post (Yay Day 8!).

One of my favorite sites to visit is The Work at Home Woman. Holly does a fantabulous (my new fave word) job of highlighting strategies to make working from home work for you, and I always check her blog for the latest and greatest articles. Here's one I actually contributed to: Giving Good Customer Service - I'm tip #7.

I also really enjoy Market Mommies, Living My MoMent, and Market Mommy. Each of these sites has special and useful ways to help market your small biz. Not only that, but the women are great! There's also a magazine that the Association of Work at Home Women puts out called Making it Work at Home. I did a review post about this magazine if you'd like to learn more.

To help me become an even better writer, I am involved a lot with AWAI, and online writer's heaven full of courses, job postings, and useful articles to make the writer's life a bit easier. In addition to the job postings there, I often do freelance job searching through Virtual Vocations, a paid (but reasonable) site that is all work-from-home jobs (that pay more than $1 per hour or a penny per word).

Now, if you're working from home and looking for opportunities to bring more income in, I've created an Opportunites page at the top of my blog that you can click on anytime. I'll try to post new ones as I come across them, but I will say, these are all women/organizations I trust and highly recommend. :)

I hope this post has been useful, that you find lots of great new peeps to check out, and that your work-at-home life is everything you want it to be. :) If you have any suggestions, please share!

10 Things I've Done (That I Bet You Haven't...)

So, day 2 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge, and so far so good. Today's challenge is to create a list post. I've done these before, and they're usually tips on design or business, but I wanted to make today's list post a TON of fun.

So, here we go - the Ten Things I've Done (That I Bet You Haven't):

10. Started a Business: A lot of you have probably done this, but hey, it's something I'm proud of!

9.   Given a Cat a Bath: Okay, so maybe if you have a cat, you've done this too. But, if you have a cat, you also know this is something you totally shouldn't do!

8.   Shook Hands with the President: In high school, I was at a convention and shook President Bill Clinton's hand. And then proceeded to wash them.

7.   Interviewed for a Reality Show: Yeah, I did, for real. Back in college I thought it would be cool to be on the Real World or Road Rules. So glad I dodged that bullet!

6.   Been to China: Yep. For 2 weeks. And all I ate was white rice and Oreos. Best. Diet. Ever.  

5.   Sung on Stage with Someone Famous/Got on YouTube: This was the funnest Vegas trip ever. And, he's a very nice guy! (Kris Allen) If you don't believe me, watch the YouTube video. :)

4.   Hosted an Exchange Student: This was probably one of the highlights of my past few years - what a blessing to show someone else around our nation.

3.   Been Skydiving: Totally the time of my life, and if you haven't done it, you SOOO need to. It was my way of letting go of my infertility struggles and giving it to God.

2.   Gone White-Water Rafting: I did this one summer when I was nannying in CO, and although I fell out of the raft twice and was throwing up water all the rest of the day and would never do it again, I do have to admit it was fun. ;)

1.   Been Struck by Lightning: Uh, yeah, if you made it all the way through this post, you deserve to know about #1. And, if you have too, I SOOO want to know! Do tell!

So, I'd love to know what you've done that's on this list - come on, prove me wrong!

I'm on a Journey of 31 Days!

Okay SITS gals and BlogFrog friends, I'm ready to go on this 31 Days to Building a Better Blog challenge with you!

I've already done day one...

Here's what I did - if you've been here before you will definitely notice the changes!

1. I changed my blog header so that it said THE BLOG instead of 'Custom Stationery & Gifts', which is what my website says. That way, people would actually know this was my blog and not my website, which has actually been an issue before.
2. I added my elevator pitch below the header - what do you think? I wanted something short and sweet, but that conveyed that I'm not all business. Did I miss the mark or hit the nail on the head?
3. I updated the overall look of my blog - cleaned it up, added better 'Ways to Connect' buttons, and added share buttons at the bottom of each post for easy sharing. I also installed Google Analytics for tracking purposes.

Hopefully, day one was a success for me and for you! Any other tips or tricks I should know about?

Review of CreationConversations.com

*Disclaimer: Every now and then I review books/magazines/websites others ask my opinion of. In no way am I receiving compensation and my review is not an automatic approval or agreement with their philosophies. I share my opinions with you so that you too, may go on to form your own opinion and maybe find something new to read.

A new friend of mine, knowing that I too am a Christian, asked my opinion of a new website she was involved with - Creation Conversations. I decided to review the site, trying to review it from a Christian standpoint, and not a denominational standpoint - meaning, I may or may not agree with the site's viewpoints, but what do I think of the site overall...

Basic Design:
I like how the site has muted colors, blue, like the earth, and that you can see the bible - the original book, in the background. Very elegant and understated. It is very well laid out and easy to navigate - a major plus!

Basic Layout:
Like I said, easy to navigate. Another big plus is that it has the major important things on the right hand side, easy to find, like the Resources and Sign in link. You can tell where their links go to, and everything has a heading. The only thing I would change (because I'm easily distracted) is to have divider lines seperating their 3 main columns.

Oops, sorry, I got lost in their photos page...

Back to it...

Content:

This is a great sight overall for those who want to learn about this viewpoint (see more on the site for their viewpoint, but it's basically creation over evolution). It is very informative and doesn't scream at you or talk down to you. It explains things simply, and in fact, my favorite page is their 'FAQ' page. That answered some questions I had for sure! The best part - they give you biblical proof of each point they make, which I think validates a stance because it shows 'proof'. The only thing that could have made it a more solid case was to put actual verse in there, so that people could go look it up in the bible. Overall, I think it's a great place for people who would like some answers.

I love the forum too - for this site to take on the task of talking about such a controversial topic is brave, but necessary, and I think they've done a good job at representing people's opinions and need to talk about it.

Another great page on their site is the resources page. I like how they share other places to get more info on their viewpoint. This is important to secure trust in readers, so kudos!

Lastly, I also like that they have a groups section. This lets readers at different stages explore the site on their level. I do however, think they could benefit from adding a 'moms' group. I didn't see one, although I did see one for grandparents, kids, men, etc. Moms are a huge audience, and targeting them would be important.

So, what do you think? Visit the site, share your opinions! I'd love to hear your thoughts (but keep it clean).