Beverley Writes

Happy New Year everyone!

Just a thought:

When Covid was locking us down all around the world I started posting regular positive quotes in order to encourage us when we were getting tired of it all. The page was called Be Encouraged and at one point had thousands of readers.

I thought that given the well-received reception of that page; it might be of value to people if I incorporated the idea here. So from now on, I’m going to begin each blog post with a positive quote.

The first one is from one of my favourite authors, C S Lewis. He says, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”   

The week in general:

Here we are finding our way back into routine, some of us willingly and some not so much. Glad to say I am one of the willing ones…I missed you all.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. Festivities over, but still fresh in our minds and time to be getting on with 2023.

Did you have a good break? For Christmas I spent the day with my daughter and her family in their new house. It was a quiet day with good company and of course, plenty of food.

Quite a special day for us as my granddaughter has just finished her final exams and is ready to dive into adulthood with enthusiasm and abandon. Who knows where she’ll be next year. So this Christmas just gone was the last one where we could guarantee both kids would be with us. Next year…who knows?

I am not a fan of New Years Eve celebrations. Because I have pets in my care I always stay at home with them to help them cope with the noises and sudden lights of all the fireworks. Many animals go missing because of their fear of the strange noises, sights, and smells so I figure it is much less stressful for my lot if I just stay at home with them. Only one of the cats seemed worried, the rest just slept through it all.

The garden is looking a bit wilted at t he moment. South Australian summers are hot and dry with any good rainfall months away. So the wonderful green jungle I was enjoying is daily growing dryer and dryer. I water what I can but it’s a very uphill task without regular rain.

Sometimes the humidity builds up to a level where I am sure we are going to get a storm but it just doesn’t happen. Makes me long to be at home in Batemans Bay where you could count on regular storms with plenty of rain to keep the garden going.

The animal family:

Over the Christmas period we had a visit from hundreds of wild cockatoos. They stole all my vegie seedlings except for the tomatoes and silver beet. Then they raided the wattle trees.

I have two old wattle trees in the front garden and around this time of the year they are full of seeds. The cockatoos love them. They came every day for a week and stripped both trees completely bare of wattle seeds. They did the same last year and the trees recovered quickly. This year the trees a looking pretty sad, in fact they may not survive. Not sure if the cocky onslaught was in greater numbers than last year or it’s because there has been no reviving rain, but the trees are definitely looking very unhappy.

The cockatoos also attempted to steal the chickens’ breakfast but they failed at that. Connor stood guard every morning and would not let even one cocky sample the chicken breakfast. Well done Connor!

Connor has been having a break from training for a few weeks but I don’t think she is enjoying it all that much. She prefers to be working so we’ve been using up some of that Irish Setter energy with extra trips to the beach to run and swim. So many people ask me if she ever stops running and my answer is that she only stops running when it’s time to sleep. She’s fit and lean and so shiny, I’m sure it’s an ideal life for her.

Riley and Cadi join us every now and then for a beach visit but they don’t even try to keep up with Connor. Cadi likes to find a shady spot and just watch the world go by but Riley worries about Connor. He wants her to stay by his side where he can protect her (from what I don’t know!) but she’s having none of it! So he gets cross with everyone and has to stay on his lead to keep him safe from his own emotions.

Riley is 13 years old now and I’m sad to say, is starting to fade. But I keep reminding myself that he was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was 9 so he has had a good many more years than we expected. He is not growing old gracefully, he is still very much a puppy in spirit.

My book:

This coming Saturday is The Day. Our first day at the markets. We’ve booked a stall, organized our table and seating, and packed up a supply of books. Hoping for some sales. Turns out writing a novel is the easy part. It’s the marketing that I find so hard.

My novel “The Other Side of the Ocean” is available on my page Beverley Writes. Just message me if you’d like a copy. It’s also available in our local bookstore.

My business:

So… Who listens to advice anyway?

I recently read that “To succeed in life you must become a lifelong learner.” I think that quote is particularly relevant when you are setting up a business in a field that is completely new to you. Like I am.

Thank fully Internet Profits has an expert mentoring team based on their own experiences. I’ve learned that offering advice is one of the chief roles of a mentor and a really valuable resource to those of us with much less experience. 

Another relevant quote which I have found valuable. “If you’re not teachable your future is already decided. The more you think you know the less likely you are to place yourself under the influence of those who really do know and can help you.”

Sorry I am not able to name the author of these quotes, I just don’t have that information.

Anyway, the thing about advice as I see it is that it is a two-way street.

1. The person offering the advice needs to be careful not to sound judgmental. To advise in a way that is useful you need to ask questions first in order to gain a true perspective on what is happening.

Internet Profits it good at that. They have regular sessions where you can get advice on your business and the sessions always start with the mentor asking detailed questions. Very handy when you’re dealing with international clients!

• The person needing the advice needs to be teachable and ready to share as much as possible about their situation. A mentor cannot give accurate advice without all the necessary information.

I’m finding my most effective way to seek answers is to actually write down my problem and as much information as I can think of. That way I can be confident that I can move forward sooner rather than later. I often get stuck on details and feel very grateful that the help is there when I need it.

Review:

Affiliate Marketers Playbook:

I started these reviews with The Iceberg Effect which is the guidebook extraordinaire for anyone wanting to get into affiliate marketing. Then I moved on to The Quick Start Challenge which is a short course on affiliate marketing. It’s a carefully guided “how to” for those who want to test the affiliate marketing waters for themselves.

My next review is about another Internet Profits product called the Affiliate Marketers Playbook. It’s yet another freebie, introducing affiliate marketing.

If you would like to order a copy just click here.

This product is another one that is so suitable for anyone who wants to learn all they can about affiliate marketing before making any real commitment.

 I confidently recommend it.

Wrapping up the week:

So that’s it for another week. I hope you are all safe and well and looking forward to a prosperous and fulfilling year in 2023. WoW! I’m going to take some getting used to writing 2023. I guess if it’s like recent years it will go so fast it will be December before we know it!