Physio, Ponds, Pigs, Pillows & Paris

My neck is better!  Yes, after 10 days of sheer & utter hell, it’s suddenly decided to stop hurting at night and I have had the first good night’s sleep for ages.  My physio lady says it must have been a trapped nerve as they often fix themselves suddenly like that.  Still a bit stiff round the shoulder area but today’s massage and acupuncture helped a lot with that.

So it’s back to Dunelm Mills with the memory foam pillow which was the wrong thing totally and swapped for a GOLD quilted throw just to “bling up me bedroom” a bit more.  And back to the supplier with the small contoured pillow so that I can order a bigger deeper one from the supplier recommended by the physio – that will involve a trip to the post office – gawd help us.  Our local post office is very old school and full of old ladies who don’t know the meaning of “hurry” bless them.

I met old friends Rona & Adrian for dinner last week before the Let’s Talk Money workshop, and a great evening in Tas by the Globe Theatre was had by all. How can you not see old friends for six years and then it’s like not a month has passed?

Their holiday home blog/website is coming along nicely, with an availability list and the news that the Volvo World Match Play Championship is going to be just up the road from the house in Casares, at the most luxurious Finca Cortesin, in October/November 2009.

Now, if you have a holiday cottage, or holiday home abroad, watch and learn how I’m doing it and we will see how long it takes to get their first booking from a standing start last week. It’s cost just £99 so far, for a domain name and hosting for two years (better for SEO than buying one year at a time).

Key elements are a great key word URL, a wordpress blog, SEO friendly plugins, a Twitter account @CasaresSpain, keyword rich content, key word labelling on the pictures, constantly updated with links to useful sites locally…..and when I get out there and take more photos and videos…rock ‘n’ roll.

If you do have a holiday cottage or home abroad, and you are not 80-100% let, why not have a look and see what you can improve about your marketing.  Did you know that agents in Spain, Portugal and Cyprus think they are doing well if they get you a 30-40% occupancy?

Talking of overseas, I’ve just spent a happy half hour deciding which micro-preneurs to invest in at Kiva.org.  Decided it was time to do a bit of systematic tithing (titheing?) and I have written in an outgoings line on my spreadsheet to make sure I do it.  I want to work up to tithing an amount based on profits in the previous month.  Then I’ll work up to tithing an amount based on revenue.  Easy does it though.

This is in addition to Money Gym coach Marion Ryan’s FANTASTIC idea to just leave a £1 coin per day somewhere where folks will find it and know it was left on purpose (what fun!) I wanted to do something where I could stay involved.

I was randomly following a tweet, about how the recession was making graduates more entrepreneurial in the dearth of jobs, and eventually ended up on Kiva.org, which I rembered that I had written about on our blog previously.

Kiva.org say “You choose who to lend to – whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq – and as they repay their loan, you get your money back.  It’s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty”.  Cool!  why not check it out – you can invest as little as $25 in someone but that might make all the difference to someone trying to start a business in difficult circumstances.

I found myself drawn to the chicken farmers which will come as no surprise to my family as I love chickens.  Might have to keep some myself some day.

You can see my first investments here >>>

and if you want to join in the fun…I’ve created a Money Gym team, so that we can all lend individually but our loans get credited to the team.  There’s no financial benefit of doing that to us, but I thought it might be fun. My first loans were made before I made the team so they won’t show till I make next month’s loans.

http://www.kiva.org/team/themoneygym

And here is a picture of one of my investments, Thor in Cambodia, who has a business raising pigs.  And very happy they look too!  My $25 was the last on in the pot, so she’s raised her loan to buy more sows to grow her …..herd?

You can read more about the history of Kiva.org here and a follow up article here

And don’t be surprised if, instead of a Christmas Present, you get a gift certificate from me to invest in someone yourself!

Interviewed Martin Avis today, asking some searching questions about how he got started in internet marketing, and what one or two things made the difference to him, taking him from someone making $200 a month online, to someone who makes a VERY nice living online.  Nice man, and he has a lovely pond too which I’m very envious of (see below)

So this weekend is a biggie at Money Gym Towers, there is a big poker game tomorrow night, and next week  it’s a whole weekend of X-Factor, where they are changing the format to have live audiences for the auditions, like they do on Britain’s Got Talent. Andy Harrington has just let me know by Facebook that he’s going to the Live Show on Thursday so I’m deeply jealous, or would be if I were not trying to fix up a dinner with Jennie Armato and her partner Paul, who are in London for Mark Anastasi’s Traffic Generation Summit.  Claim your free Money Gym tickets for that here

My next speaking gig is for Triumphant Events, at the Topher Morrison “Inner Game of Money” weekend at the beginning of July.  There are some great preview evenings coming up for that and you can book your seat at one of them here and also Daniel Priestley, who knows a thing or two about Social Media & Affiliate Marketing is doing a lovely evening on just that topic on Thursday 17th July – if you are not going to the X-Factor live show, that is!  Get your seat for that here

Daniel Priestley…………Simon Cowell…………….Daniel Priestley………….Simon Cowell………………difficult one!

LOL

And Sunday I’m going to clear out the pond and sort my rockery out.  Gardening is the new rock’n'roll remember?  I like a nice job of a weekend away from the ‘puter and I have a little gardening sidekick to help…haven’t I, Sarah?

Then I’ll be twittering from Paris next weekend where we have a private box, dress circle for “Carmen”.  The pictures Heather’s been posting on Facebook from behind the scenes look AMAZING….I just can’t wait.

Have fun, we always do!

Nicola