Blending

 One of the biggest challenge we faced as a family was blending it. I was an only child however I grew up in a large family. I was used to sharing every thing. My children didn't grow up like that. I had 2 boys and 1 girl at the time when this took place. 

My daughter was extremely upset that she had to share her room. She didn't want them around and she had no problem letting them know that. She ended up going into a deep state of depression and she started to consider suicide because of what happened. I put her in therapy because I didn't want to lose my daughter because I decided to keep the feeling together. 

Then the shut down happened and that didn't make things any better. In fact it made things worst and I began to feel like taking the 4 little ones was the biggest mistake I had made in my life. 

That was another reason I ended up in therapy. I felt like a failure. I've since learned that I most definitely am not. I am a winner in every way. Yes we all have challenges to face. If everything was easy would it be worth it. I'm glad I didn't give up because now I see the fruits of my labor. 

My daughter is now 14 (she was 11 at the time) and she plays volleyball. Within the last month she actually goes outside and plays with the 4 little ones. It brings joy to my heart to see them getting along. 

Especially since this past May the adoption was final. So what's next? 

September 20, 2018

 She pretty much stated that dad had fathered his own grand daughter. It was at that point that it was confirmed that I didn't know him as well as I had thought. 

He and I started dating when I was in high school. So I thought I knew him really well but I guess not. I guess you never really know what anyone is capable of when enough pressure is put on you. Everyone has different breaking points and I guess he reached his. 

So how do I move on from there? All of my friends and family knew him. It was in our local news paper. It made the local news. My kids were teased at school and on the bus. There was so much pain at that time that it was hard to even find a reason to go on.

But I did go on because now I have 7 kids that need me to. It was no longer about me. I put myself in my foster children's shoes. They went to school that day hugged and kissed their dad goodbye and did not know that would be the last time they would go back to the place they called home. As for my kids they would have to share their rooms, their home and their mom for the rest of their lives. All because one person made a bad decision all of our lives, all 8 of our lives were forever changed. 

For about two and a half years I forgot about me. I went into automatic mode and just did what needed to be done because there was no one else that would. I forgot to take care of me and I almost burned out. I had a hard time loving my foster children. I had no problem taking care of them but because of my personality type I don't show emotions really well. I have a hard time feeling things. It doesn't limit me performing and doing what I have to but I come across as cold if you don't know me very well. 

When I realized I was having that problem I went to see a therapist because I didn't want any of my children to feel that I don't love them. Thankfully I am proud to report therapy has been working and I can say that I can easily give and receive love. But as usual there are always other challenges to face. One of the biggest ones was the blending of the family...

4 days after my son's birthday

It was about 3:41 on September 18th, 2018 when my life changed forever. I was walking to the bus stop to get my children when my phone rang. The number looked like a state number from DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services). I have a sister that works there so I thought it was her so I answered it. 

I did not recognize the voice on the other end so I quickly put on my professional voice. This unfamiliar voice asked for me by my full name. That sent a million questions running through my mind. Mainly because no one and I mean NO ONE at all calls me my government name. I know I'm a good mom, at least I thought I was. Was this going to be bad news? Had something happened to one of my children? When I get phone calls from certain people or agencies it has a way of shaking me up. So I proceeded to confirm that she had indeed reached Yolanda.

Next she identified who she was and why she was calling. I let her continue. Then she asked me if I would take in the 4 children that were living with my ex. Now let me give you a little background. He and I broke up at that time over 10 years ago. We broke up before my youngest son by him turned one. We have 3 children together and he never helped me with any of them.  He had 4 children by another woman who unfortunately passed away way to soon. 

The crazy thing was I had just seen him that same morning. So naturally I began to wonder what happened. Did he die? Was he in an accident? He looked fine when I saw him that morning. She couldn't give me details but I really didn't care. I just wanted to know if he was dead or alive and I told her I have the right to know that much because he is the father of my kids to and I need to know if I have to tell my kids bad news. She confirmed he was alive and that was good enough for me. 

So I told her I would take the kids. I thought it would be temporary especially since I had no clue what was going on.

 So I finally made it to the bus stop and waited for my kids to get home. When they arrived I told my daughter and my youngest son I don't know what's going on but the kids that live with your dad are coming to stay with us for the night. 

I believe in coping ahead in most situations. So I always let my kids know what's going on to the best of my knowledge. 

Anyway, my daughter couldn't accept not knowing the full story so she texted her older sister. 

Neither one of us were prepared for what her sister texted back...

I'm Back

Life is full of ups and downs so lets focus on the good so we can attract more of the good things into out lives. 

I never thought I would be a blogger but I've been doing a lot learning lately and one thing that seems to be a common thread throughout every book that I have read and listened to is "What do have to offer to the world?"

If you think about it, it really does make sense. We were all born for a reason and I've wondered what was my reason for being born for such a time as this. Will my role be grand or will it be small. I guess in the end it doesn't matter as long as what you do helps someone else. It because of me wanting to help someone that I've decided to share my story. 

Build Better Websites and Funnels

 In this day and age, any business that wants to thrive must go online.

With so many things going on around the world, and global changes that will forever impact the way people live and do business, going online is no longer just an option.

Not only to maintain their success, but even just to survive.

Sure, there are tools that are already available that any business can use to run their entire company and processes digitally.

However, any minimum amount of research will tell you that most of these products are expensive, complicated and limited in customization.

In other words, not very user-friendly, and definitely not suitable for all business owners, especially those who are less tech-savvy and might even be on a budget.

I mean, who can afford to invest thousands of dollars a month into a bunch of complicated tools, and on top of that, hire employees to manage the systems, right?

Well, if this sounds familiar in any way, I have some good news for you.

As an online marketer and blogger myself, I am always looking for new solutions for these everyday challenges we face as business owners.

Today, I am very excited to introduce you to my latest discovery.

GrooveFunnels is, by far, the best way I have found to be able to build websites, sales funnels and sell digital products online.

The best part? It’s FREE.

But the free value does not end there…

You see, GrooveFunnels is not just a website and sales funnel builder.

The co-founder of GrooveFunnels, Mike Filsaime, is actually a veteran in the Internet marketing space, and has put all his experience and expertise into one of the best suite of marketing tools I have ever seen.

I’ve also signed myself up for an account (it’s free), and for the past few days, I’ve had the chance to play around with it.

And you know what?

I can definitely tell you that this 100% free tool is perfectly capable of running your entire business, maybe even better than some of the expensive complicated tools out there.

I’m not exaggerating by any means…

From what I’ve seen so far, GrooveFunnels includes everything that I need to run my online business, all for absolutely free.

Here’s just a quick list of what I’ve gathered so far:

FREE sales, page and funnel building platform

Possible to build my own branded websites with full navigation

Can integrate with my own custom domain name

Able to sell my products with what they call a 1-click upsell

Capability to integrate upsells, downsells, and order bumps

Even has a way to create my own powerful affiliate program for my products!

And that’s just for starters, because there is so much more for me to explore!

I’m not even joking when I say that I am planning to change my ENTIRE online business over to GrooveFunnels!

I mean, why wouldn’t I?

It’s FREE, and it’s probably the BEST suite of marketing tools I have ever seen in my life.

By the way, there’s more…

I didn’t even mention some of my favorite benefits of GrooveFunnels.

As a member, I’ve also received a TON of community benefits.

I’ve been able to join their private Facebook group, connect with marketing experts inside, get help with all my problems, access private training within their own academy, ask questions through their helpdesk, and meet other like-minded entrepreneurs just like me to make the best use of these tools.

So, if you’re like me… Striving to grow your business, looking to learn more about marketing and getting to know some of the best in the industry at a more personal level, then you won’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

Sounds great, right?

But you might be asking… what’s the catch?

The catch is that GrooveFunnels is free, but for a limited time only.

GrooveFunnels is in its pre-launch phase, which means that many of the products have still yet to fully launch.

When they do, and as the products continue to get upgraded, GrooveFunnels may no longer be free anymore.

This means that now is the time to sign up for your free account, which would also qualify you for the additional software upgrades that they make as time goes on.

Awesome deal, right?

It’s called being at the right place, at the right time.

And that’s where we’re at right now :)

Don’t wait any longer, because I’m honestly not sure when this free offer is going to go away.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for your free GrooveFunnels account right now, and I will see you inside of the Facebook group.

Five Fabulous Reasons to Choose Facebook Ads for Your Small Businesses

Facebook Ads - an online advertising platform from the social media giant Facebook, Inc. provides a reliable, robust and returning online advertising platform that can help your business transform your online audience into your customers in a much convenient and faster way than other traditional and online marketing channels. 

There are many valid and proven reasons on why your small or local business should focus on Facebook Ads. Let's see some of the most convincing and sound reasons: 

Reason # 1 Facebook is a social platform and people love being social 

Your business can get customers by being professional, but if you want to retain your customers, you have to become social with them and that's what Facebook is all about - being social! People connects with people on Facebook and share with them what they love and what other may also love and that's the key for your business' promotion. Facebook has opened up a new dimension in business marketing - SHARE. When your customer likes your product or service content that you have put on Facebook, s/he is compelled to share it with others and this way you get what it is also known as 'Words of Mouth' publicity. So choosing Facebook ads can surely help you get lasting words of mouth publicity for your business. 

Reason # 2 Facebook is the biggest social media platform among all 

Admit it, there are other social media platforms such as Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest but Facebook is the biggest of them and have largest active user base that your business can turn into customers. As of late October 2013, there were around 728 million active users on Facebook versus that of 200 million users on Twitter and that's not the end! Facebook is reporting a smart and impressive continuous growth in terms of user base over the quarters. So advertising your business on Facebook will surely get paid off. 

Reason # 3 Facebook Ads offer more customized, personalized and social features 

Facebook Ads offers more customized and personalized ad features that enables businesses to publish social ads that their customers (in this case Facebook users) love to see. Facebook's some of the most stunning ads features are: CPC vs CPM model: CPC stands for Cost Per Click that means you will only pay when people clicks on your ad. CPM means Cost Per 1,000 impressions that means that you will pay when people see your ad. Target Audience: This is Facebook's most useful ad tool. You can target your audience based on many criteria such as country, state/region, city, age, gender, ethnicity, interest etc. which would give you very niche and targeted audience especially for local businesses. 

Reason # 4 Flexible bid options for ads

Facebook offers very flexible and custom bid options for your ads. You can choose the bid value for your ad at your own or you can also choose from Facebook's suggestions that it gives you when you are setting up your ads. While Facebook allows you to choose as low bid value as you want to set, it also recommends you an average and optimum bid value that it believes will be best for your ads. And what's more, you can anytime change the bid value during your ads lifetime.

Reason # 5 Facebook support and free ad coupon 

While you can independently set and run your Facebook ad at your own budget, Facebook can also help you create and run your ads in a more personalized and perfect manner. It's program called 'Start to Success' is intended at small businesses that want to use Facebook ads to gain local customers. Facebook's marketing expert team can help you setup your ad and will do so on your behalf and will also offer you some credit that you can redeem for your Facebook ad budget provided you meet their terms and conditions and guidelines. 

And here is one more! 

While all of the above reasons seem to be convincing to any business to choose Facebook ads for online marketing, there is one more reason to choose Facebook Ads and it is the Facebook Insight and Conversion Tracking. While Facebook Insights give you detailed and actionable overview of how your ad is performing and how people are responding to your ad on Facebook, Conversion Tracking allows you to measure the conversion rate or lead generation rate in other words. Jack Bhanshali is a social media marketing expert and an internet marketing strategist helping small and mid sized businesses in Australia leverage potential of social media and other internet tools to grow their business. 

By Jack Bhanshali 

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jack_Bhanshali/1634827

Facebook Ads Guide - How to Market With Facebook Ads

 Facebook is the Internet's largest traffic source in the US, and growing worldwide. In fact, it just took over the #1 spot - from GOOGLE!

 I wanted to show you a good system you can use to get into Facebook marketing quickly and easily. That system is Jonathan Volk's Facebook Ads Guide. Before I tell you about it though - I want to let you in on a secret... 

If you get into Facebook marketing, you will crush it. It doesn't matter whether you try and figure it out yourself or you find someone to teach it to you - I strongly urge you to learn about Facebook marketing. Right now, everyone is trying to figure out Google AdWords and SEO. 

Big business is playing with banner ads. Facebook hasn't even come up on their radar. Why? It's an unproven platform. Google AdWords has been around forever. Media buys and banner ads have been there too. But Facebook? With their own ad platform? There's only 'kids' there, right? Ummm... no. It doesn't matter what market you're in, you can find your target market on Google if you approach it right. That's what Facebook marketing is going to give you.... 

Targeting! Facebook Ads Guide Review - What You Can Expect The Facebook Ads Guide is a 40 page ebook, broken down into 6 parts: Finding and Structuring Products/Services To Promote A How To On Demographic Targeting Creating High Click Through Ads How To Crack Facebook's Bidding Strategy Making Your First Campaign How To Maximize That Campaign's Potential Plus lots of other stuff! Facebook Ads Guide Review - The Positives The cool thing about Facebook Ads Guide is that it's easy to follow and very actionable. You'll be getting your first Facebook Ad up this afternoon, no matter how much experience you have. Secondly, the approach that Jonathan takes is very intuitive and straightforward. The book is packed with some awesome strategies for getting high ROI from Facebook.

 Facebook Ads Guide Review - The Negatives For me, the guide was relatively basic... but I had to lose about $3K before I figured the RIGHT way to do Facebook marketing! Am I bitter about that? Not at all. For you to get that education in the form of an eBook - that's awesome... I live and breathe ROI and performance advertising, so I understand the Facebook marketing model that Jon lays out. If you're just getting into Facebook marketing, Facebook Ads Guide is the way to go. It'll teach you how to build and scale a campaign as high as you want to go. And with the rapid adoption of Facebook, it gives you limitless marketing potential.

 Facebook Ads Guide - Final Thoughts Overall, I liked Facebook Ads Guide. I wish I had it before I dumped about $3K into Facebook Marketing testing stuff out! I relearned a lot of stuff that will be useful in the near future. The part I liked the best was the in depth info on how to target specific customers using books, TV shows, magazine, etc. That info was awesome! Get free instant access to Jason's Internet marketing blueprint that'll walk you through some secret strategies he uses to crush it in niche markets and for top paying clients. Also, make sure you visit his Facebook Ads Guide Review for more information on Facebook marketing and to get the bonus he's offering! 

By Jason Drohn |

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jason_Drohn/389671

Enjoy what the new year has to offer

 I won't have another post until the 4th of January. Enjoy your family and friends and lets welcome what 2021 has to offer us. 2020 was a true test. We all had good and bad times from the BLM movement to the world wide shut down due to Covid-19. Lets take a moment during this time to remember those that we have lost along the way and Lord willing we will do better in the upcoming year.

I'll just leave you with a quote that will hopefully get you to see things differently.

“Be a reflection of what you’d like to receive. If you want love, give love. If you want truth, be truthful. What you give out will always return.” Kristen Butler

Ten Ways to Make Money Online and Earn Good Income

 The Internet offers great moneymaking opportunities for Individuals with computer knowledge and skills required to thrive in this online medium. There are a number of ways to earn money online but the ten best possible ways to earn money online are: 

Try selling things on the Internet. That is the simplest way of making money online using the Internet. Selling products on the internet through online shopping portals, virtual auction sites, or setting up a web store in your own website provides a great income opportunity to everyone who has something nice to sell to potential customers online. This is ideal for generating the required amount of revenue on a long-term basis and is the simplest of moneymaking options available online.

 For all those who believe that their photography skills can impress anyone, there is a great option to sell photos online and earn money. There are numerous stock photography agencies present online, which help you in selling your photos online. These agencies offer great incentives and income opportunities to budding photographers. The amount is paid on a per-download basis to these photographers after getting the royalty payment rights from them. This is a very useful way to earn money online if you have the required skill set. 

Several message boards have many visitors to their sites. These message boards are dependent on regular contributions from the forum members to keep the community alive and the conversation growing. As the message boards get popular, there are chances that more members that are new will join the forum and get their queries solved or contribute towards the discussion. These message boards get the sufficient advertisements to pay to their most active members, who have been posting on a regular basis, thereby giving them a chance to earn some money. 

Through various social networking sites, it is actually possible to earn money while going through different profile of people who are members of these sites. Some social networking sites pay its users money to improve page impressions in their profile to attract more visitors. These sites also offer money for uploading and sharing pictures and referring new members to the social networking site. The money given to an Individual depends on a proportionate payment structure setup by the site that distributes almost half of its advertising revenues to its members. 

Filling up surveys is another way to earn money online. Filling up market research survey may look like a very boring activity but the opportunities to earn money in this type of work are endless. There are thousands of research groups online, which would like to take your opinion about various things and in that process, pay you for presenting your opinion. For each survey completed, there are certain points or money given out to the users. Once the money-earning limit is hit, the survey team allows the user the opportunity to take the money or exchange the points for a certain amount of money.

Another great way to earn money online is through blogs. The process of blogging can help users earn lot of money online by putting in creative content in their blogs. There are two ways of going about this blogging activity: one is to create your own blog and write all the content on your own. This is a painful process where you need to do all the hard work to earn money. The second one is to setup a sponsored blog where you write reviews about products for companies wanting to promote their business. These blog sites pay you money for providing favorable opinion about a certain product. This is one of the best income opportunities present online. 

The internet provides the perfect platform for freelancers to earn money by providing services based on their skill sets. These may include talent such as writing, programming, graphic designing, and training. There are many websites where buyer posts their requirements for a particular assignment and freelancers can bid for that assignment. The buyer then selects the service provider for the assignment and assigns the task to them. This is one of the safest ways to earn money online and the website takes a certain cut from your payment as the intermediary to have got you the job. It is more or less a win-win proposition for everyone involved. 

The three other ways to earn money online is by betting, setting up an online business, or by playing computer games. Each of these options provides different sort of earning potential and requires different amount of effort to set the ball rolling and generate the required amount of income for you. 

In A cut throat online world of marketing you need certain tools to make your business a successful one. I have learn't from some of the very best big earners on the internet today and I am rapidly creating a name for my self and my business. Let me show you the route I took to a better life and financial freedom [http://www.bankonadam.info].

By Adam Woods |

 Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Adam_Woods/298886 

Just my 2 cents again... Let's change things up a bit...

 We have covered a few different topics here at 2nd Chances 2 Shine. Over the next few post lets talk about ways to make money online. 

Let's be honest with the way things keep changing with Covid-19 who knows when things will get back to normal. We don't even know if things will ever be normal again. This might be our new "Norm".

Have you had that talk with your children about how they feel about only being able to do school through distance learning? Or for those parents that are brave enough to send their children back to in person school or you don't have a choice because of work have you asked your children about how they feel about having to wear a face covering all day? 

How do you feel about having to wear a face covering all day? I only have to wear mine when I leave the house to go shopping or walk my dog and in the warmer months I feel like I'm suffocating but honestly in the winter it's not so bad. It keeps my face warm. 

So since it might never be business as usual again we need to come up with ways to support our families from home. So that's what we will discuss going forward. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to reach out to me. I may not always know the answer but I will always do my best to find for you. until next time...

Stay Safe,

Yolanda 

Need a Safe Space to Write a Book? 5 Great Tips to Create a Haven to Write a Book

Safety plus writing are two words that don't go together when you think about writing a book. Writing a book is about taking risks, trashing the comfort zone, escaping boundaries and letting out the words that need releasing. Writing goes against the very nature we have to survive at all costs, to protect ourselves, to feel comfortable, to find our safe spot in what often seems like an unsafe world. And yet, when you let go and stop resisting the free-fall into the book writing process, the creative flow feels like the safest haven on the planet. 

Why? Because you know when you write the book you want to write, you are in the truest place you can be, the place of grace in your life. In this moment, space, place of creativity, you sense nothing can truly harm you. You live the truth where you can touch everything and give it expression, a name, a face, a form, a story, a description. But how can you get to the point where you feel safe enough to plunge from resisting writing in order to stay safe into the zone where you feel safe enough to write the book you are called to write? Here are five easy tips to carve out your safe haven to write a book: 

1. Create a safe space to write a book. This will be different for everyone. For some, a.k.a. J. K. Rowling, a safe space to write a book will be in a cafe, surrounded by people and activity - anything but being alone with the blank page. The bustle of activity and background sounds, you discover, supports you to tap your creative flow. For others, a.k.a. Virginia Wolf, you need a room of your own to write a book - at the very least a space of your own, a place you can close the door, turn off the phone, shut down email, give yourself a set time where writing is your number one priority (and you will not even peak at an email). Put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, or wherever you write your book at home, and stick to it. Clearly define for your family and friends what "Do not disturb" means - that this is important for you and you will not be talking to them, answering questions, responding to text messages or emails during your book writing time, except for emergencies. Define emergency, i.e., "You have broken a leg" is an emergency while "you cannot find the mustard in the fridge" is not. 

2. Perform a writing ritual each time you sit down to create. I do a process where I call in my muse and the writing guides and ancestors who come to support a particular book I am writing. I light a candle and ask that the book I write serve the highest good of all, that it serve love. I imagine a circle of love and light surrounding me as I write. 

3. Ground yourself before you write. First, take a few deep breaths. Next, feel your connection to your heart and reach from your heart into the earth. Draw the grounding of the earth energy into your heart. Then, imagine reaching with that heart to the sky and bringing the expansiveness of the sky to join with the earth in your physical heart. Feel those energies of earth, sky and heart intermingling and expanding to fill and surround your entire being. 

4. Before you dive into writing a book, write free-form for 5 minutes. The point is to keep pen moving on the paper (or fingers on keyboard) and write anything without censorship and without stopping. Words and sentences can be disjointed and out of any coherent order. Letting go to write like this frees you from the "need to be safe" and in control and drops you into the book writing zone of truth-telling and creative expression. 

5. Stretch your risk-taking muscles daily. Once a day, do something out of the ordinary. Break your routines. Drive to work or to shop via a different route for five days in a row. Howl at the moon. Dance naked in your living room. Walk in the spring rain without an umbrella. Skip down the street or hiking trail. The point is to do something out of character, that's not controlled or protected or limited or safe. Nurture your safe haven. Then, Write a Book -- Transform Your Life now. Sign up for your free writing ecourse with Alissa Lukara to discover 7 key steps to write a book. Plus visit www.transformationalwriters.com for lots more writing resources. Alissa Lukara, author of the memoir, Riding Grace: A Triumph of the Soul, works with writers and authors who want to make a positive difference. She is an editor, writing coach, book whisperer, and online and in person writing workshop leader and presenter. 

By Alissa Lukara |

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alissa_Lukara/974642