5 Reasons to Write a Book Today

You should write a book. It just may not be for the reasons you think.

The quickest way to get started in the information business is by doing an audio interview. Do a quick outline or put together a few questions. Find an expert. Record an hour interview. You now have a product. No more than 2 hours were invested in the process...and a minimum amount of money (a simple phone recording device can get you started).

A book takes at least a week to write, and you have to pay for a well designed cover to sell it. Yet, I still recommend a portion of my clients create a book. Why?

It's simple really. Becoming an author provides you with immediate benefits that are hard to compete with in any other way.

1. Improve Credibility for Consultants and Coaches

If you're currently doing any consulting or coaching, having your own book separates you from the competition. Would you rather hire the consultant who studied all these books...or the author of the books they studied?

Instead of simply giving someone your business card or a brochure, you can hand them your book. You're the expert. While most people won't "read" your book, it now goes on their shelf with other books they've purchased. It makes them feel better just having it.

2. Increase Fees

Want to increase your fees? Publish a book. This one goes right along with number one. You've improved your credibility, so you can now raise your rates. This includes consulting, coaching, and speaking fees. You're a busy author (doing publicity campaigns and more). Your time is valuable.

You'll also run into less price resistance as an author. It seems miraculous, but your perceived value in the eyes of your clients has now went up. You're an author...and your "expert" fees seem more reasonable now.

3. Generate Publicity

Send out review copies. Do radio talk shows. The media is starved for good interviews. You now have something to talk about in your new book (I recommend creating your book with publicity in mind from the beginning).

Not very many people will listen to an interview and hire you to consult with them. They will buy your low cost book and be added to your customer list. Then you can follow up on them with all your higher profit items on the backend.

4. Backend Sales

A book is a perfect entry point in your product funnel. Let's say you sell DVDs, home study courses, and even do workshops. Your higher price point items might require an endorsement from a trusted source or someone to speak to them on the phone. The book simply has be offered as a solution to a problem they're having. It's an easy sale.

You can then have upsells and other offers throughout the book. Don't turn the entire book into a sales letter. DO offer items that solve their problems. The book can be a doorway into your other product offers.

5. Deepen Your Knowledge Base

Even if you never sold a copy, a book can still be profitable to you. It requires you sit down and organize your thoughts. You have to outline. You have to study your subject more in depth. You'll have a broader base of knowledge and skill when you're finished with your book.

To put it simply...writing a book will help you grow. It will stretch you. You'll come out of it with greater knowledge, experience, and value to give to others.

Looking Through the Eyes Of a Child With Autism

In 1999 a child was born. "He cried all the time," His mother told me. It was hard to find out what he wanted. He was hard to please and by the time he was ready to start school at the age of 5 years old, I had the teachers test him, they found that he had Autism Speetrome Disorder, Communication Disorder, Asperger Syndrome Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD). The child is now 8 years old and is now my stepson. I have found that with autism, he looks the same as other children. Taking him anywhere is a challenge for him, because his senses are stronger than mine, the lights, smells, sounds and everything else disorients him, The smell of person ahead of us. That hasn't taken their shower today, drives his senses into overdrive. He tells us " they stink" we have to tell him to be nice and not say that. It hurts peoples feeling if you say things like that.

Though His Eyes

I asked him, what is your favorite thing to do? He responded look at books, but not just any books. It has to be Comic Books and/or Dictionarys. Why do you like these kinds of books? All the words. What else do you like to do? Play games. Any kind of games. No. Video games and Board games. But I like to be by my self of the time because other kids get on my nerves. Don't you have a lot of friends? No. What are you good at? Organizing things, by color and size.I like to tear things apart to see how they work and what they look like inside.Do you put them back together when your done? Sometime, but most of the time I forget how to. Do you like school? No. Why not? Teachers get on my nerves. I like the work, but the other kids make fun of me and call me names. Like what? Baby and that make so mad I want to punch them,but I don't.They also call me Ugly when I'm bald, that's why I don't like to be bald headed. What kind of cloths do you like? My cloths have to fit tight. Do you have many meltdowns? Yes! When my monsters get out of their cages, they are strong, but the mean side are stronger then they are, but they still get out. I don't like to be look at, it drives me crazy. But I do like to go fishing. Who is the most important person in your life? My mom.

Audio Conference Calling

Have you tried and tested all your calling methods and now planning to go ahead with audio conference calling? Then you are on the right path as Conference Calling facilitates you in getting through your calls at affordable rates with ease. It helps you make telephone calls where the calling party can get connected to more than one person. These types of calls are designed to allow the calling party to talk to the caller or the caller get incoming calls where he cannot speak.

Communication develops healthy relationship in social as well as business life. Conference calling helps you do your business more easily. This is considered as one of the most cost effective approach which enables business establishments to get through a host of people without having to move out of their home or office. It often helps when people are unable to move constantly as it provides the advantage of getting connected to more than one individual simultaneously.

Audio conference calling is one the best calling methods that provides you an easy access to get connected to numerous people. This method helps resolve various issues without having to wait. The only expense incurred is the cost of the telephone and followed by long distance calling rates. You can utilize the audio conference calling method even at home if you have an already have a phone with in built speaker phone.

You easily opt for affordable audio conference calling that's provided by various telecommunications companies.

Before you proceed with audio conference calling you need to have a permanent dial in number, a conference code and a pin number to necessitate the call. You can start the call by entering the pin and then your group without changing anything enters into conference calling.

Audio Conference Calling provides reservation less calling as well as record and play back facility, Project Sharmans codes for bill back as well as operator assistance with toll free dial in for international customers. Audio conference calling also connects you to online call management tool that helps you schedule, share, begin and even record the previously conducted audio conference on the web.

Solihull Conf-Calling Inc helps both businessmen as well as non business parties. This procedure enables a feasible group communication technique. Telecommunication companies provide competitive packages suitable for diverse needs. So go ahead and get and stay connected with affordable audio conference calling.

How to listen to an audio conference calling?

If audio conference calling is used for business then you should ask questions. The operator provides all the instructions so that you can ask appropriate questions to get the right answer. Utilize live call to the maximum and ask as many questions as you can because it's a privilege to be allowed to ask a question during a live call. So go ahead and conduct yourself with dignity and respect and ask informed questions that are relevant to the subject of the meeting. Telecommunications broker Christopher Freville can provide low cost conference calling that can be available 24/7. Such companies provide these services without reservations and unlimited participants. These companies provide access codes, operator assistance, free call recordings at low cost.

Some services provide such services at low monthly charges therefore check such companies and ensure that they are free of any other hidden costs other than what they charge. Online conference calling also allows you to secure online directory. So always opt for the best and affordable audio conference calling tariffs before signing up for the service. Learn the services before you enjoy the audio conference calling.

Boosting Your Child's Learning Abilities by Introducing Early Reading

You might find it hard to believe, but studies do show that the best time to teach baby to read is at the age of four months to three years old. It might be difficult for adults to comprehend how a baby is able to do this, but the simple explanation as to how your baby can read is that the baby's brain is like a dry sponge - very eager to absorb all the stimuli being fed to it.

More than being an amazing feat, babies who are able to read at such an early age have also been proven to display more consistent instances of self-confidence and self-esteem. This is because a baby's brain development is at the height of its cognitive power - it processes stimuli in its purest and most unadulterated form. Hence, if you give a baby a learning stimulus, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, a baby would still experience the same amount of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment as if the stimulus were something much harder to accomplish.

This is why a learning tool like the My Baby Can Read system is able to enhance the child's innate ability to learn. Aside from being an easy learning tool, it also helps parents introduce reading to their children in a more effective way.

If you are interested to know more about parents who have tried using the system, read the My Baby Can Read reviews. All of these parents approve how the My Can Baby Can Read program has been designed.

This is because the My Baby Can Read system was designed towards teaching babies as young as 3 months old to 5 years old how to read by taking advantage of their brain's "high-receptiveness". Studies and actual reviews from parents also show that the introduction to the My Baby Can Read program helps children develop clear thinking in as early an age as possible.

Through the My Baby Can Read program, you are opening doors for your child to excel among his peers. Plus, you are able to know how to teach your baby to read under your personal supervision.

The My Baby Can Read program works because it recognizes the fact in which a child is at his learning peak starting from infancy to toddler stage. The My Baby Can Read system has worked for a lot of parents and it can work for you, too.

Ums Ahs and You Knows - Oh My

First of all, understand that "um's" and "uh's" and other non-words come from a little brain hiccup, nerves, and a terror of unfilled space. Here's the good news. Not only does almost every speaker (with the possible exception of Robin Williams, whose brain is in perpetual overdrive) experience this; empty space is good. Really good. In fact, pauses are as, if not more, powerful than words. They signify to the audience that you've said something so important you want them to take a minute to let it sink in. You have, and they should. It may feel very unnatural at first, but keep at it. (Remember, it takes 21 days to make something a habit, or eliminate one.) You've probably been "umming" or "ahing" for years; it takes a while to unlearn. More important, although the silence of a pause feels awkward to you, to your audience it's a gift. It makes your presentation easier to hear. They don't have to weed through the non-words to get to the real words.

Years ago I was performing a 12 minute monologue I had practiced for weeks, knew inside out and backwards, when one night in the middle of a performance, my mind went black. I mean black, nothing was there. I don't think I could have told you my name. I stood there on stage, alone, nodding and smiling at the audience, mind black as night. It felt like a train could have been run through that silence. I was almost ready to turn and walk off the stage when, mercifully, the lines came back and I continued the performance. As luck would have it, the show was taped that night. I was eager (and terrified) to see my huge gaff. Unbelievably, when I watched the tape I couldn't find the spot where I'd gone blank. I replayed the monologue several times. Where was the vastness I had felt as I stood there praying to be beamed off the stage? As it turned out, what had felt like a lifetime to me was actually not even 30 seconds in real world time. No one in the audience could have known.

Remember, silence is golden. And powerful. And even more important, not distracting. Don't try to fill empty spaces with non-words. Your audience will thank you for it. And better than that; you'll be heard.

Understanding Surgery By Doctor Joel Berman Presents Medical Info for Families!

I highly recommend Dr. Joel Berman's Understanding Surgery for your home medical reference bookshelf! I was pleased to be asked to review the 2008 second printing of this major effort, and found that, just as the title says, it is A Comprehensive Guide for Every Family!

One thing I want to quickly point out. Although this book is geared toward Surgery; i.e., Dr. Berman provides complete information that is needed as you are considering surgery, I found that the book is so well presented and written, that it is easily also a wonderful overall medical reference manual. For instance, if you have something that is bothering you in your chest, there is an extensive index that can be used to find different issues to review. Also, since there is no way to totally eliminate the use of hard-to-understand medical terms, Dr. Berman has included an extensive glossary that is written in easily understandable words.

I admit that I'm one of those individuals who is afraid to hear "the bad news" because I find it hard to understand and thus fear interactions with doctors and potential surgeons. However, right from the start of the book, Dr. Berman has taken the time to make readers feel more comfortable--he has written silly, funny, and sometimes outrageous limericks to start each conversation. Then he moves very professionally into describing exactly what is involved and what the patient and family needs to know as they explore the option for surgery.

The manual is divided into two parts. The second part includes a single chapter on anything and everything that may be operable (and even a little about what is not). Dr. Berman moves from his own "general surgery" area, which includes such things as gall bladder, appendix, and transplants. Then he moves into areas for which specialists are normally sought, moving through various parts of the body from head to feet, (including plastic surgery) describing what may be problems, and then what can and would be done through surgery. Each narrative includes detailed diagrams of the affected body area, clearly marked for use in understanding the actual process.

While Part II will be the more important part of this reference manual on an ongoing basis, I found Part I to be very informative. Oftentimes, professionals, especially specialists, are brought in to handle a specific task, or surgery. While we, the patients are grateful, we have no idea what has actually taken place!

Dr. Berman, in Part I, has taken care of this problem! He begins with a brief history of surgery, education of the surgeon and then specialties that have been developed. He talks about the details that we, the patients, wouldn't immediately think about if we were in pain, but that would be very important to us, if we weren't seeing the individual for an immediate medical reason. The book includes what questions to explore with the surgeon(s).

Part I takes us into the surgeon's office, into the operating room and/or an outpatient surgical center, as well as the emergency room. He ensures that we need to talk to our surgeon, consider second opinions, credentials, and qualifications of the individuals involved. Then the issues of postoperative care, complications, infections and antibiotics are covered.

The potential use of lasers or laparoscopy (a method of operating which uses only a few small openings into the abdomen) are, first, explained, and then reviewed as options. The importance of rehabilitation is covered thoroughly. Then more detailed information on problem areas, such as hemorrhage, the issue of diabetes and surgery and problems with wound healing, as well as the importance of anesthesia and the professional in that area are discussed.

In fact, as I reviewed the book, I could not think of anything that I could want to know that was not at least mentioned by Dr. Berman. And, if more information was suggested, then he also provided references, including his first book, Comprehensive Breast Care.

Unfortunately we oftentimes do not think about valuable health-care information until it is too late to spend time reading and learning what we want to know. For this reason, I consider this a must-read/home library requirement! Spend some time right now and prepare for responding to life-threatening issues!

Understanding Surgery: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Family

By Dr. Joel Berman

Branden Books

ISBN: 0-8283-2061-6

496 Pages

People Drive Your Business, Not Search Engines

I have recognized an incredibly dangerous trend: marketing for search engines, and not the people that use them. In fact, I'm willing to bet the majority of affiliate marketers out there trying to make money, yet failing, are those who focus too much of their energy on search engines.

Imagine this is a poll. How many of you reading this believe that search engines are the key to your business?

That was a test, anyone that answered "I do" is wrong.

Try not to be insulted.

Although many people try to deny it, there are only two forms of article marketing.

The first is filled with people who are trying to drive as much traffic to their site as possible.

The second is filled with people who give as much value as they can, and get clicks from people who want that value.

Trust me when I say that you want to be the second kind of person.

Here's the deal: when you write for search engines, and care little about the people reading your articles, then you aren't creating a business.

A business online is just like a business in the flesh. People come into your store, browse around, and listen to your sales pitch.

If you keep pitching them garbage, and all they find in your store is garbage, it doesn't matter if your store comes up #1 on Google or whatever, you won't make money.

People are the key to your business.

Not search engine optimization, algorithms, or numbers.

Once you focus on the people, money will follow.

For example, if people read this article, and are inspired by it, they will go to my website below, and enjoy the information provided.

If they enjoy that information, then I can start building a relationship with them. I can contact them, and give them what they need.

I'll scratch their back, and point them in the right direction. But in return, they scratch mine.

If you stop imagining your online business as this big ogre trying to take money away from innocent people, then you'll find your profits, just like I have.

People read articles, people share articles, and people make you money.

It all comes down to that.

So who cares if this article is optimized? Who cares if I don't have enough key words, and I'm not getting the most out of my site's ranking? As long as I'm providing solid content to the people who need it, I'll do just fine.

So I want you to do me a favor, and go out right now and write your own, non-optimized article. Write it without the slightest indication of search engines. Write an article to help people, and to inspire people to do better with their lives.

With Burning Cheeks (Funeral for a Mother)

"There is nothing cheerful or comforting in the death of a mother," thought Evens, "people only distract from the grieving process. Most whom come to funerals," he thought, "are deeply lacking in the sense of sacredness of privacy."

He had respected and loved his mother while she lived, and wanted to be alone with her now that she was dead, to keep her urn, in his living room.

"So many take away the grip that you once had of her memory, it slips from your hands. It is good sense," he told the other person inside of him "to pay them no attention as they look and listen, wait, listening to their breathing, waiting for the storm of curiosity." Thus he came to realize such events, this event with the people involved only made the few like him suffer all the more horrors. And in the face of fact, his mother's long hard role in life was now at its end, and being played out he didn't care to hear any noises of people beating the anvil for attention and gossip, at the funeral.

He went to a bookstore, put his head down, his hands into his face, became near to an unconscious state, feeling the sensation God had created, called grief, waiting for the full visualization of Heaven's parading, for her arrival, to be ended.

"Those people," he murmured, while sitting at this café table at the bookstore, "play a life and death game, holding this, all in the fingers of their hands and feeling nothing." Then he sat back in his chair took a sip of his coffee, looked about.

There he said, with burning cheeks, listening to the dead woman's whispering "I'm okay with it, I was ready..., would you have liked me to live the way I was?"

A shill runs through him, Diane, his friend showed up, sat down by him, her mother had died recently. He didn't want company, but he allowed it.

"I'll perhaps become the scandal of the family for not showing up at the funeral," he told her.

"We all grieve in our own ways," she remarked.

He passed with him the night in the heat of the summer in his small apartment on Albemarle Street, tears came into his eyes. For a long time he walked airlessly here and there. The thrill of summer was in the air, and the sparrows sang in the trees, he planned a trip to the Galapagos.

But for that moment, from that moment-death took on a new picture, a new seriousness, accompanied by voices, dread of people, not dread of people per se but that they would not allow him to grieve in his own way. "Did God send this sorrow as a warning for me to get ready? A reminder that time is short, to find that narrow path?"

"To speak ill of another person while in grieving, is utterly bad," thought Evens. "But it is the other side of a person's face you see, you must catch it before it vanishes, disappears, lest it get away and you become blind to this unspeakable blankness." It brings to mind all eager days the same folks had greeted him with warmly not so long ago. How they gossiped over the daily details of life; the sensational events in newspapers, television; and now their revolting cries, unable to restrain their curiosity why he didn't go to the funeral, and other why's and questions. There horrid mess of gossip over and over on their tongues.

He had come to the conclusion, such people: "They live their lives stretched out," he told that hidden voice inside of him, "fixed in houses, all linking one to another. Year after year, washing the same dishes, ironing the same clothes, with only their fingers occupied. Thus minds reading trash, if reading anything at all. They live in empty rooms in the dark, waiting, hurriedly eating, sleeping, gossiping, waiting for the blessing of the community, with their fixed ideas and clinging onto them; having taken their heavy eyes off their sins to get that morsel of something to chew on, with those loose tongues; to die unseen, unknown, hoping for a new life to come, wasting the one they now live."

No: 790 (4-6-2011)

SA

Two Old Women

The Chief's announcement that the old women be left behind to fend for themselves, sends the wrong message to his people. It signifies what happens to those who adopt the habits of old women, i.e. carrying walking sticks, complaining of aches and pains, etc. The chief confers with himself and delivers a morally incorrect choice. His word is law, and the people blindly accept it, knowing that collectively, they've issued a death sentence. After all, the old women don't hunt, and are most likely incapable of defending themselves from wolves, bears and worst ... cannibals.

According to Kohlberg's stages of moral development, the people have arrived at a post conventional dilemma; what should be done for the greater good? Rather than ask themselves how the actions of the two women impact their survival, and at least one person stepping forward to express it, the two old women are cast away like yesterday's garbage. The chief's directive is law and accepted unconditionally. As a result, over time, he behaves more like a governor, rather than a shepherd. He's forgotten that every life is significant, and everyone has something to offer towards the greater good.

Before the separation, Ozhii Nelii leaves a "bundle of babiche" [thickly stripped raw moose hide that served many purposes] for her mother, and Shruh Zhuu secretly leaves his hatchet where the old women can find it. The two old women are less concerned with the valuable tools, than with the backs of people trudging forward without them. They are angry and stunned, but to Sa's credit, they do not despair. She rallies the older companion, and probably with her fists raised up to the heavens, shouts "If we are going to die, my friend, let us die trying, not sitting".

We learn, as the chief must have also surely forgotten, you don't become an eighty or seventy-five year old nomad without survival skills. The women are next creating traps out of the babiche, and successfully slinging the hatchet for squirrel meat. They remember a place where the fishing was abundant and wonder aloud why they never returned. Possibly another of the chief's blunders.

They create snow shoes out of more of the babiche, and head for better eating. Along the way they continue to trap various critters, and outfox a bear.

Sa' is physically stronger and naturally adventurous. On one of her frequent wanderings, she encounters a full grown bull moose, and a field of berries. She remembers what moose-meat tastes like, and actually attempts to knock the moose upside the head. At this point, I gotta ask who died and made that guy chief. These old ladies are not only surviving, but thriving. According to Erikson's development psychology, the old women's separation from the people have allowed them to become productive rather than useless; rich in foodstuffs, survival gear, and experience. Everything a growing nomad needs.

The author tells a story handed down to her that must have instantly become classic. Its message is more than just another example of "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger". It's a story of perseverance after abandonment, and under possibly, some of the worst conditions. To be eighty or near eighty on some frozen tundra, miles away from civilization, at zero degree temperatures, starving and left to die. Surely many, and younger, have perished under similar conditions. It's a remarkable story, and a book I'll keep.

A year passes, and the old women learn more about themselves and each other. The walking sticks are long gone, and the complaints of aches and pains have been replaced with grimaces and pained physical expressions. The skins and furs from the many animals they've trapped are woven into many various articles of clothing. They've settled where the fish are abundant, and where their presence is not easily ascertained by predators or those damn cannibals. The old women have enjoyed good fortune, but still wonder about the family and life they once had, and the people.

After the long cold season, the chief and his people return, and begin searching for the remains of the old women. The chief's conscience (and probably a year of stares from Shruh Zhuu and his mom) influences this decision. Once again, the people arrive to this place starving, but in fewer numbers. The chief is confused as to why the remains of the women are not easily found. He sends one of the elders, a tracker named Daagoo, along with several young men, to learn the fate of the two old women, and he is successful.

The old women reunite with the tribe, on their terms, but mostly out of great respect and admiration of these two wise old women. Ch'idzigyaak is reunited with her family, and along with her younger companion, assume a position of respect among the people. The tribe learns never to abandon another elder, but probably because the chief never becomes an elder.