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Support your local farmers market!
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Had a great morning of bargains today… My sister and I took the kids to The Flint Farmers Market & we got some great deals on fresh, local produce. If you have a local farmer’s market, I definitely encourage you to go and pick up some fresh fruit and veggies. Your local produce growers are in business for themselves, and they deserve a helping hand : )
Then we went bargain hunting at some second hand stores. I got a shirt, a jacket, and a pair of pants for under $7 and my sister found 3 pairs of pants and several shirst, all for under $20. The best deal of the day was a BRAND NEW pair of shoes for my nephew at the bargain cost of $1.98
P.S. My friend Carrie Lauth of Natural Moms Talk Radio recently released a Smoothie Recipe Ebook. There are 44 recipes in all, some of which include:
* Sweet and Sour Smoothie
* No Need for Pancakes Smoothie
* Cheesecake in A Glass
* You Could’ve Had a Smoothie
* Greener Side of Fruit Smoothie
* Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie
* Green Pineapple Paradise
* Raspberry Cream Smoothie
* Pineapple Banana Mama
You can purchase just the smoothie recipes for only $5 OR you can purchase the smoothie recipes PLUS her 365 Salads cookbook for only $11.65 Click Here for more info
By the way - since these come in Ebook format, you can download them immediately after purchase, so there is no waiting for shipping, AND they save trees. This post is all about being green today, huh???
This is very important to me:
I sent this out as an email to the readers of my Weekly Biz Tips today - just in case some of you missed it, I wanted to post it on the blog, too:
I know that I usually come to you with information on growing your business, but I hope you will hear me out on something a little bit off topic.
As you know, I am a big supporter of indie businesses. I am not against “Corporate America,” but one of my biggest “pet peeves” happens to be the companies who make products found in the household cleaning section.
They put out commercials and ads that make people think their home has to be cleaned with bleach and other chemicals in order to be “clean.”
That’s a lie. Using bleach and other chemicals actually puts your health at risk.
The company that I choose to buy products from is an Indie Business. They’ve been routinely chased by big corporations and investors who want to buy them out, but they stand their ground.
The reason you’ve never heard of them is because they don’t believe in traditional advertising methods.
Their belief is “why should we pay for big ad campaigns when we can pass the savings to our customers?” For example, if you use Tide, you are paying around 19 cents per load of laundry. I pay only 4 cents per load. Big difference, huh?
As you know, I don’t have kids yet, but I am the “world’s greatest aunt.” My youngest nephew is 4 and that is the age where they want to help with everything.
We were cleaning the bathroom the other day, and I didn’t have to worry about him getting any cleaners on his skin as he was spraying away like a madman.
If you have kids, you know that there is nothing more frightening than a child making his or her way into your household cleaning supplies. Over five million household poisonings are reported each year! VERY SCARY.
I think it is important to find alternative ways to clean a home without jeopardizing our health or polluting our environment.
At a time when pollutants are contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer; while gas and oil fumes are literally killing our natural resources; it is time to take a hard look at what we can do as individuals to decrease the toxins from our air and water.
Perhaps if we begin to use alternative methods to using brand named household cleaners, we can send a clear and definitive message to these companies that toxins are no longer an acceptable form to be used in any capacity. It all begins with our taking a stand; it all begins at home.
To learn more about the company I buy all of my household cleaners, personal care products (shampoo, cosmetics, etc) and just about everything else from, visit: http://www.livetotalwellness.com/more_info
You’ll be saving money, your health, and the environment!
Okay, okay - I’ll get off my soapbox for now.
Those Michigan Adventures Keep On Coming
I’ve been in Michigan for a little over three weeks now and I must say … “those Michigan Adventures keep on coming!”
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, that is a reference to my MySpace blog. My sister and I have a running count of all our adventures / misadventures in our various travels. Visit it at www.myspace.com/clever_crissy
Okay - so far, I accidentally sped backwards through a long and rambunctious water slide, flipped, and had worries about drowning in 3 foot of water, got lost twice in Pontiac, lived through several thunderstorms and near tornadoes, made it through weather that reached 98 degrees with 80% humidity (hey - I’ve been acclimated to Alaskan weather!), and watched my stepsister graduate high school. Oh yeah, and my sister’s car, my step-mom’s blazer, and my dad’s truck all broke down the same day.
Did I mention that you cannot get scripted comedy this good????
We had an unexpected - but very awesome - adventure last night. My sister’s boss gave her 4 VIP passes to what he said was “the B-52’s.” I looked it up online and it turns out that it was The True Colors Tour. I had watched Cyndi Lauper on some talk shows in the past and knew she had done this type of tour in the past, but I wasn’t exactly lining up to buy tickets.
We were a bit late getting to the venue, so we missed a couple acts, but we got there in time to see Rosie O’Donnell, who I love, the aforementioned B-52’s and, of course, Cyndi Lauper.
According to the tour’s website, ” The goal of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) equality is at the heart of True Colors.”
Well, my sister and I are both straight and white, so we’re in the “groups” that have faced the least amount of discrimination - ever. So I’m not even going to theorize on what it feels like to be discriminated against based on your orientation.
All I can say is that it was a pretty good show. It was great to see so many people just having a good time and getting along.
And who knew Rosie O’Donnell could play the drums like that??
Lots to blog about today!!
I’ve been pretty busy these past few days… I left for a red eye on Friday and landed in Michigan on Saturday. I had seen my sister just a couple months ago when she came out to see me, but this was the first time I had seen the rest of my family in about 6 months. I spent Memorial Day catching up with everyone and giving my nephews a lot of hugs and kisses.
Today was the Indie Biz Chicks Conference in Flint, MI. We had a really good turn out and it was awesome to meet some of my readers & MySpace Friends face to face. I’m so used to doing stuff online - I really hope to do more in person events with people soon! Don’t get me wrong - I do enjoy the flexibility the internet provides and hope to always be internet based. It was just really neat to have someone who reads your blog posts look you in the face and say “thanks for doing what you do.”
And then I was also featured in an interview on Sparkplugging.com - a very cool site for work at home moms. If you’ve been turned off by the work at home sites of the past, you’ll love this one. It’s very fresh & modern! (just click the Sparkplugging link to read the interview and check out the site!)
A lot has changed in 4 months!
Just a little over 4 months ago (on Dec 21 to be exact) I blogged about winter solstice and how it applies to your business (http://indiebizchicks.com/blog/winter-solstice-how-it-applies-to-your-business/)
For those of you who don’t know what winter solstice is (and don’t want to read the referenced post), it is the shortest day of the year. During that time of year, the part of Alaska that I live in gets about 6 1/2 hours of daylight. Well, in the post, I had mentioned that starting the next day, we would be gaining a little bit of light each day, and before long, it would be light out almost 24 hours a day (some parts of Alaska do have 24 hour daylight in the summer, but not the part I live in).
So - I ended up relating this story to the fact that your business works the same way. There’s going to be high points and there’s going to be some low points, too. When you are having a low point, you just have to keep working through it and know that things will get better.
And when you are experiencing the high points, try to remember that the pendulum will swing back around. You may want to rest on those proverbial laurels, but taking a walk on Easy Street may not be the best decision.
A lot can change in just a few months. For example, it now gets light out well before 6am here (I don’t really want to get up before that just to see what time the sun actually rises) and it is still light out past 10pm.
If your business is not performing the way you want it to, commit to working hard for the next four months. That’s only 120 days. You can do this. And then in September you can tell me how much your profits have increased.
Remember - no one is going to hand you the life you want on a silver platter. If you want something to change, you have to do it yourself!