Keeping the Faith

So Saturday our show was about keeping the faith. The faith in yourself and the faith in your business. You've got to have it it you truely plan to succeed. Friday night was a night for me that ended very late. For the most part Jason wrote the script and I worked in my kitchen on the charms for the ladies' faith bracelets. Due to the clay that I used it had to be baked slowly for 2 hours. So while Jason and I skyped to discuss what all would be going into the script and what we felt was important to discuss for the show on Saturday I rolled out the silver clay, used my clay cutter to make the flowers and then scooped the clay off the counter where it got stuck. It was an exhausting Friday night and considering I needed to test how the screen press would need to work that I built myself  for the t-shirts my night didn't end until late.
I was not about to try to put bracelets together so late. It would be best to do that in the morning. And well as we know Saturday morning.has come and with it came not hearing the alarm. I was hoping to get up at 8:30 but got up at about 9:30. Time for another crunch. Worked on how the bracelets should be put together, the type of wire to use, etc. etc. Once that was figured out and the first bracelet created, it was time to get the pictures together so that we can sell the survival bracelets that I created several weeks ago, the new women's bracelet and the t-shirts.
I can't believe that we managed to get the pictures created and posted and then after the show Jason put together the section of the website where all the products would be sold. I really am surprised that we managed to get everything done today. But we did it. Another day another show in the books.

So on Saturday's show titled Getting your business off the ground we talked about a form of branding yourself that was inexpensive using clear pens and a pin that I saw on pinterest. So here is the breakdown on the pens and how to create it using your information or like us, even your pictures.
The pens that we used for the Something Building brand is R.S.V.P. by Pentel, a nice clear pen that can easily be taken apart add your paper and then put back together with no problems. The pens cost us $9.49 for a pack of 12. As an e-publisher I'm pretty good with photoshop but if photoshop is not something that you can afford you can do a google search and find free versions of photoshop knock off's that work just as well. And if you have a regular color printer that works just fine. You don't need to have anything super expensive or mind blowing out of this world for a printer, just make sure that you don't have any jumps or skips when you print. When I measured out the inside of the clear pens I used cm's and roughly got 8 cm's wide and 2 cm's in height.
When you create your page to be that size in photoshop or even the photoshop knock off it makes it easy to go wild with creating how you want your information displayed regarding your business and yes if you prefer to have your face in your pen have at it! It's not hard at all. From there print it out and cut, roll the paper with a round chop stick or a super small pencil, this will make it easier to add the rolled paper right to the tube and put the pen back together. And to prove how easy it really was here is the proof. And it only took less then an hour to "fix up" all 12 of the pens that I purchased at office depot.

And as you can see I have added our picture from our radio show and somethingbuilding.com web adress.

Entrepreneur Evaluation

So today on the radio we talked about evaluating yourself as an entrepreneur. It's always best to evaluate where you stand for the simple fact that you can eleminate time wasters and find where to strengthen your business. For those who catch the show but did happen upon this blog, check out the show. We were live and yes I did have a blunder but no big deal for me, I love to laugh at my mistakes and own my mistakes proudly cause it's another lesson learned. www.blogtalkradio.com/somethingbuilding

Here's your evaluation for your small business!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1nolifQjMkcZ0NzSjZhNGRYV2M

Fall crafts to make the kids happy

So it's fall and halloween is about a week and a half away. Little ones are begining to become excited. So I figured I would take time out of my busy schedule of juggling 3 jobs to do a craft for my youngest daughters' class. It's time to create a pumpkin for each child to enjoy of their very own. Here's my step by step instrauctions. Enjoy!



This is the pumpkin's humble beginings!

I had the mixing bowl, scissors, masking tape, the water to mix my paper mache mix, (which I purchased at Michael's craft store to save me some time with messing up how to mix the stuff from scratch) string, a balloon and last but not least what happens to be missing in the picture a paper towel roll.

 

This is the only time that you will use your masking tape. To tape a base together for your balloon. You don't need to tape the base to the balloon because your mache solution will hold the base to your balloon very well.

I cut the paper towel roll down to create the stem for the pumpkin. I mean what pumpkin doesn't have a stem that little ones don't make a bee line for in the pumpkin patch? Here is the time that you just go to town covering your balloon. And I recommend that you give it at least 3 layers cause when you pop the balloon you have a lot of stability after your re-inforcement is removed. And it's okay to go all around the base cause this is suppose to be a pumpkin so it should stand up when kids put them on the table or floor of their chooseing.

Yes, here I did cover the entire thing and left no place for the candy to go in, but there is a method to my mind! Place your pumpkin's in front of a fan. I recommend this because as thick as these things are it will take a week or more to dry them. In front of a box fan it takes only a day to dry them.

Cut the top of the stem and here, I placed a string around the bolloon tie off and popped the balloon. I used the string to remove the balloon. Made it easier. Now that I have the empty cavity in the pumpkin I took this opportunity to fill the pumpkin with goodies. For these balloons I filled them with lots of candy, 2 different types of books and small boxes of stickers, a pencil, flashing ring and lots of little bottles of bubbles.

The string I had to make it thicker I braided it. I poked holes in the side of the stems and ran the string through to ad a handle and then I triple knoted the ends so that the handles won't come out cause we all know that kids like to swing things. And this is why it's so important to make sure that you have at least 3 layers or more on the balloons. From there I sealed the top of the stem with what I had left over from my mache mix.

This is what you should have before you paint your pumpkin. I chose regular colors for my pumpkin and even painted the stem brown and the handle green, like a vine. The paint didn't take that long to dry at all. I had a blast creating 10 pumpkins, 7 for my daughters' class and the rest for a select few neighbors and friends. If I made for everyone I would still be working on this project in my kitchen.

Getting your mind and body fit for work

As I have mentioned on the radio show I used to be a girl over 200 pounds. Today I showed up at the gym. Hadn't been there in months and yes I'm still under 200 pounds, but today I needed extra energy to work and that only comes from exercise. Some of you might say how on earth can you get energy when your tired from working out? Well I usually stay at the gym for 2 hours. I always go in and walk the track for 30-45 minutes. Afterwards I head to the weight room and work my arms, thighs and stomach. I do different exercises throughout the week when I am at the gym and try not to do the same thing every single day. After that I hit the bike for an hour. At 9 am I'm a little tired when I head home to work in my office for my job but by the time I do get home I have a lot more energy to work. My mind is refreshed because I've spend the entire time listening to my Freddie Mercury and Queen music and thinking. Thinking about how to make something better and how to best stay out of the box.
I'm a firm believer if I can find time to get to the gym I'm there and it's got to be in the morning. If you work from home like I do you know there are a lot of things in your home that are so demanding and family is the worst especially if you home school your children. But the gym is my secret getaway. I feel like it's my dirty little secret because I don't have children knocking on the office door or a mother in law demanding all the errands that you have to go run for her. And will work get done, not so much. But my dirty little secret that I'm happy about getting time for myself helps to recharge me. I can face anything when I face my body first.
So just remember to stay healthy in your job stay healthy with your body too. Even if you can only squeeze in an afternoon walk or possibly take the family for hike as a routine. If you join the YMCA they have child care and if you have teenagers they can swim, practice tennis, racket ball and all other sorts of fun stuff. It's really worth the money.

Another day another blog

Saturday's show was the hardest show to write. Finding information for the radio show is sometimes easy. We planned that our show last Saturday would be is the American dream dead? We picked that one because of an article that was found written by Rick Newman that was orginally posted in US Weekly and published on Yahoo. What Rick was trying to say was that if you do not live in america you can achieve the american dream of starting your business. That hard work and dedication were not needed. I do not believe that. Everyone works hard, you have to inorder to start and run a business. You can't just start up a business and sit back and doing nothing to bring income in. You have to work at it, you have to advertise and get the word out about your business. That's the only way to do it.
And then there was the interview from LaDerrick. He gave praise to God because gave him his business and with the help of the Lord his business is flourishing. He takes every opportunity to pray to God, to minister God's word to those he works with. It's not just LaDerrick that works hard on his fitness business but it's also the Lord, shaping and molding LaDerrick's business.
One of the people that I like to refer to for inspiration for my business models is Jim Henson. Why? Because he was a man of God. Prayed to God and gave thanks to God for his blessings. God used Jim Henson to bring his message to the world. Be kind, never give up, forgiveness. Just about everything I learned I learned from the Frog. Yes you read that correctly. A Frog. I learned leadership skills, I learned it's best to treat others kindly and I learned team work. Any child who grew up watching the muppets learned this at an early age. And still do if they watch Sesame Street. Most parents let their children was Sesame Street to learn the fundamentals of early education, from A, B, C's to 1, 2, 3. Your children are also being taught how to be kind and share. Treat others as you would want to be treated. All of this is God's message from the begining.
Is there anything wrong with sitting back and letting someone else have the wheel? No, because God will work your business the way that he wants it to go. He will lead and direct it and tell you what he wants you to do. As I have said before it's best to know who to hand your stuff off to. And the Lord is the only one that I trust for my business. He will direct those to me for helping me grow and getting things done right.
I do have a retraction though. I said on Saturday that we were doing as Jesus asks, Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. This is not true. This is a Chinese proverb not the preachings of Christ. The Gospels tell us that Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. (2 Thessalonians 3: 12-14)

Well I'm outta here. See you another time in the big blog world.

Beth Elliott

Get Motivated!

We had a REALLY Great show today! Seems like the 60 mins just flys by in a matter of seconds!  We discussed varies ways that we get motivated!  The right side of the brain is your determination and the left side of the brain is your "I need to do this and I need to do that" distraction! Listen to the show now and find out what we said about it.  You can listen to the show here at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/somethingbuilding.

We're always looking for business owners and entrepreneurs to be on our show!  If you would like to be on 'Something Building' please send us a message through our show page at www.blogtalkradio.com/somethingbuilding or through our contact us page on our website www.somethingbuilding.com we'll love to hear from each and every one of you! 

Until next time!

Jason Steward