A couple of friends recently had an experience that I wrote about at Before you hire a website designer. It’s important to know that all of us involved are friends and run in the same circles.  So it’s to everyone’s advantage to keep everything in the open.  We may be ticked at what Domino did creating the websites, but we remember it’s just a situation to be resolved and not a person to hate or gossip about or avoid.  I wrote to Domino just now: I just wanted you to know that even though yes I know Josie is unsatisfied with how the job is going, and even though I made the blog post at Before you hire a website designer,  this is just a bump in the road between us all and not the big loss of friendship or business for all time.

I have to remember you’re young and don’t have lots of life experience, so you may take things personally.  Don’t.  It’s no big deal. You have lots of time to suss things out with Josie so she doesn’t feel taken advantage of by the time the whole thing is over with. Continue reading →

Excitement in the hood last night! I was driving out and saw a half dozen cars on the next street over, plainclothes 5-0 stepping out, guns drawn and going into a home on Vantage. I turned my car around and an unmarked car is instantly at my side, officer out, gun drawn, asking me to show my hands. “Why’d you turn around?” he asked.  Because I just want to go to the store, not a gunfight at the O.K. Corrall.

I posted it on Facebook and got some hilarious comments. Continue reading →

A man was found on a desert island alone and had three huts.  The folks who found him asked, why three huts?  He said the first hut is my home, a man needs someplace to call his own.  The second hut is my church. I’m very religious. I don’t go to bars or nightclubs.  When church is open, I’m there.  So they asked, what is third hut?  That’s my old church, he said, we had trouble there and had to leave.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror,
And noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
“Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”
So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
And saw that she had only two hairs on her head.
“H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed
That she had only one hair on her head.
“Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.”
So she did, and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and
Noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.
“YAY!” she exclaimed. “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

Attitude is everything.

They way you know whether you are part of a problem or part of the solution of a problem is how you feel about it.   If you feel hopeful, if you feel things are under control, if you feel God/the Universe has a handle on what’s going on and is even now formulating solutions, then you are part of the solution.  If you find others feeling angry, sad, desperate, hopeless and vulnerable, and you try to point them in the direction of better feeling thoughts and useful activity, then you are part of the solution.  If you feel upset or angry or anxious over “bad news,” if you pass on bad news links on Facebook and forward them by email, you’re simply adding your friends to a chain of pain they may not otherwise be involved in.  So, when you think about, well, anything, how do you feel?  Are you part of the solution? Or do you need to change your focus to become part of the solution?  As Louise Hay says, “As hopeless as any situation feels, it’s really only your thoughts that you’re dealing with.  And you have the power to change those.”

I just got a typical email that I often get from speakers and teachers. They send me a press release about an event and they want me to interview them to let Horizons readers know all about the amazing, life transforming work they do.  The problem with this is that some of them are really wonderful teachers with valuable info to share.  Some are not.  I don’t know everyone’s work.  As a publisher, what I need them to know is that if they want to be promoted in Horizons Magazine, they purchase a listing.  Other publications will run their press release for free, but I don’t do that for editorial content.  I have years worth of articles waiting to go in, articles that give valuable info and techniques for life changing transformation, without trying to convince someone they need yet another workshop.  One friend is even convinced he has met Jesus who is currently teaching under another name.  What would Jesus do?  He’d pay for his ad.

A client just emailed me her horror story with a web designer who took many months, charged her thousands and left her with no notes and a lot of unanswered questions. I referred the designer to her and was promised he knew what he was doing. He’s a friend I love but cannot refer anyone else to him. If anyone asks me for a reference about him, I have to tell them my experience.

The bottom line is, do not over commit yourself. Do not take on the karma of charging someone for something you are just learning yourself. I could have done her a site for about $300. This is a client on disability with very little income. Don’t take on the karma of that. It will come back to you 20 years down the road when you can least afford it.   No, I am not suggesting you hire me to design your website, I’m saying get it in writing what they will do for you and what it will cost before you begin.  Have a schedule of what will be paid upon completion of what stage of the work.  Make sure you ALSO get all instructions in writing, so when this person disappears, you can do the work yourself.  Make sure the site is fully operational before you pay the last payment. I have had a dozen well meaning friends over the past 10 years advertise to be website designers because they paired up with someone who told them they’d do the work, and it was a horror each time – overcharging – not getting work done – friendships lost.  It’s not worth it.  You either do what you know or you do something else.  Please.

RELATED:  Don’t Burn Bridges. It’s not a big blowup, it’s just a bump in the road

When I woke up Sunday morning, I took a drive south of US1, then est across the Wabasso Causeway (US hwy 510) and then north on AIA along the beaches.  I left early and I wasn’t sure what i was going to do, so I brought beach gear and had my swimsuit on under black jeans and my favorite oversized black Walmart man’s shirt.  As I drove east across Valkyria Road to get to US 1, I saw about a dozen bikers cycling in the road.  I thought what a beautiful bike ride Valkyria Road is.  I gave them each a wide berth, since there was no one else on the road but us each time.  As I came across the Wabasso Causeway and the bridge over Orchid Island, I looked down into the Indian River Lagoon and saw the morning boaters coming out.  As I got to AIA, I stopped for a quick look at Wabasso Beach at the end of Hwy 510, then headed north. Continue reading →