With the new year,  I’ve made a personal vow to improve my efforts in getting things done in a timely manner and to put more energy into making money outside my day job. Today I was introduced to two blog posts that do a great job in explaining motivation/procrastination and getting out of ruts.

First we have The Social Reformer, a blog written by Ruben Harris ( @redstarvip ) with a post titled “I’ll Give You A Million Dollars” which defines motivations and responses to better undertand why we procrastinate - with understanding comes the ability to change, yes?

Next I want to introduce you to Mywifequitherjob.com, a blog written by a couple  (@mywifequit ) who are entrepreneurs and run a successful eCommerce site. Their post today, titled “Are You Stuck In A Mental Rut With Your Small Business? Learn How We Got Out” goes into detail of the rut they found themselves in while building their business and how they got out of it.

Lastly, you may think it odd to see a pic/reference here to a roller derby queen, but this is a lady who is never stuck in a rut and really knows how to whip a problem - Katarina Whip:

When a problem comes around, you must whip it! When Katarina Whip #6.0 whips a problem jammer, she stays whipped! After ten years as a professional figure skater, she was banned from the sport for biting off Nancy Kerrigan’s kneecap. Her cold, black heart and sadistic brain were never welcome on the ice, but those same traits have made her fearsome presence in the world of Roller Derby. She was named Best Pivot 2006 for Grave Danger, and has bludgeoned her way into a spot on the 2007 RCRG Travel Team.

I hope you’ll find both of these posts as inspiring and educational as I did! Please come back and let me know if they’ve helped you in any way

I noticed today that our company’s internal developer’s blog had a post on Jan 16th promoting Hug a Developer Day. I’ve not heard of this holiday before now, but think it’s a great idea and any day would be a good one for hugging a developer…

So, go on…hug a developer today! Ya know ya wanna

“I Last Tweeted is a simple Twitter service that lets you embed images with your twitter information, all nicely displayed with a link to your Twitter page, allowing you to get more Twitter fame with minimal trouble.”
 Above is the I Last Tweeted tool in action and the blurb from their homepage. I really like this tool: its super-simple to use and functionality is instant to display your most recent tweet. There are three color options to select from for the layout and then the simple one line of code needed is displayed for pasting into your application.Go on, give it a try…ya know ya wanna

When it comes to shopping, online is my favorite avenue…and I much prefer to support Mom & Pop businesses rather than big box types, because I don’t feel comfortable with big companies having so much power and I would rather help raise the common man. For selecting the products I use, I give preference to US made and really like buying products made locally to me…basically, I try to support my local community with my dollars where I can. I also give preference to the eco-friendly, green, tree hugger, natural side of things whenever it makes sense…supporting measures that lessen our toll on the environment are important to me, helping the natural community we all share on this planet.

My best friend had a baby five months ago, which has led to me doing a bit of online shopping for baby products…which brings us to the site I want to share with you today:

At Unique Baby’s Boutique, the two types of products that most interested me were the eco-friendly bamboo fabric baby clothes and the rubber tree baby furniture.

For the eco-friendly furniture, you will find hardwood cribs, changing tables, hutches and dressers made from the rubber tree. The cribs are really well made and can be converted later into regular toddler beds…and with a convertible kit, they can move up to full size, meaning this crib will grow with your child so you don’t have to replace it with a bigger bed. In the past, felled rubber trees used for their “rubber” were either burnt on the spot or used as fuel for locomotive engines, brick firing or latex curing after processing. The wood is now used in the manufacture of high-end furniture, being greatly valued for its dense grain, stability, attractive color and acceptance of different finishes. It is also prized as an “environmentally friendly” wood, since it makes use of trees that have been cut down at the end of their latex-producing life cycle and are always replaced with new seedlings.

For the eco-friendly clothes, you will find really cute onesies, sleeping gowns, rompers and separates all made from naturally organic bamboo. Bamboo clothing is something really special:

• It feels as soft and good as silk, but it is more practical because it is durable and much less expensive and versatile.
• Bamboo is more antibacterial than [other fabrics like] cotton or wool, which are very absorbent and hold moisture in.
• Bamboo fiber is softer than the softest cotton, has a natural sheen to the surface and feels similar to silk or cashmere. But, it has a very high soil release value and is so durable; you can throw it in the washer and drier.
• Due to bamboo fiber’s cross section which is composed of a matrix with various microscopic gaps, organic bamboo fiber is more breathable, comfortable and thermal regulating than cotton, wool or any other synthetic fiber thereby keeping you cooler, drier and more comfortable all day.
• Unlike other antimicrobial fabrics, which require a chemical treatment (and are often irritating and hyper allergenic to the skin), bamboo fiber fabric and yarn are naturally organic and bacteriostatic and require no harmful chemicals.
• Organic Bamboo clothing is hypoallergenic. Bamboo’s organic and natural fiber properties make it non-irritating to the skin making it a pleasant alternative for anyone with skin sensitivities or other allergies and dermatitis.
• Organic Bamboo clothes are good for our ecosystems because Bamboo does not require pesticides, insecticides, or fertilizers, and does not involve the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
• Organic Bamboo fibers are biodegradable, unlike synthetic textile fibers.

Unique Baby’s Boutique is currently running a promotion for their complete line of Organic Bamboo Baby Clothing - shop and save $10 off your order of $50 or more with this special coupon code: Buy$50Bamboo

Marketing Experiments is a wonderful resource for learning the best “tactics” for improving your marketing results, whether they be through your website, PPC or email marketing. They use real data from real websites who have paid to be the subject of their research. I’ve attended many of their webinars and value not only the information they present, but the manner in which it is presented: Clear, concise explanation of what works and what doesn’t… and they offer plenty of time during the webinar for you to ask questions.

Below is the content of the follow-up email I received from Marketing Experiments after attending their most recent webinar - I urge you to click on the links and soak up the knowledge. Furthermore, check out their site and sign up for their journal and future webinars!

Optimizing Offer Pages: Steps that increased conversion 148% SYNOPSIS: One of the greatest hurdles your offer pages have is proving to jaded prospects that the rewards outweigh the risks. How can you tip the balance in your favor? The key is creating offer pages that minimize Friction and Anxiety and emphasize Value Proposition and Incentive. In our January 7, 2009 clinic, we used a pervasive case study to illustrate a step-by-step process for optimizing offer pages. These optimization strategies can be applied to lead generation, subscription or ecommerce sites. You can now access the clinic in the format of your choice: Click here for Flash format (slides with audio) Click here for HTML brief with separate MP3 audio Upcoming MarketingExperiments Webinar: Email Optimization: How to improve ROI from capture to conversion Wednesday, January 21, 2009 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EST (9:00 p.m. GMT) Presenters: - Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Director, MarketingExperiments - Jimmy Ellis, Director of Optimization Research - Aaron Rosenthal, Director of Channels Research Despite all the buzz about social media, email is still the top channel for most marketers. The challenge? Growing your lists and conversions year after year. Since email is such a low-cost yet powerful way to drive response, now is an ideal time to grow your list and strengthen your brand. Our next clinic will show how you can maximize the impact of your email capture pages and messaging. Our team will: - Review tests that yielded conversion gains of 49% or more - Discuss ideas that did and didn’t work, and - Optimize a participant’s email sign-up path live. Join us for this interactive clinic and you’ll come away with tactics and strategies that can dramatically improve your ROI from email. Don’t delay — this clinic is limited to 1,000 attendees. Reserve your spot for this special Webinar

If you attend any of Marketing Experiments webinars, come back and have your say: Did you find their webinars helpful?