Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. – Proverbs 15:22

This is great advice for a spiritual life and for business. Surround yourself with wise counsel; people that will tell you when you have a good idea, and more importantly, when you have a bad idea.

Just got owned by my 8 year old in Wii “Just Dance.” I had no idea it was that hard.

You’d think I had a fighting chance because we were going challenging on MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” My score was 2500. I decide that after the 6500+ score by my eight year old and the 3500+ score by my six year old it was time to quit. Not to mention I was out of breath and were hardly breathing. My eight year old told me I needed to loosen up to dance. It might be a great workout late at night after everyone else is in bed asleep.

When my six-year-old asked me if I was going to make money today at first I thought, “Man, I hope so.” But as I pondered the question and the answer I realized what I was going to do was make money for my clients today; when it comes right down to it that is my job. When companies hire me as an internet marketer and give me their trust, I take on a responsibility to help increase their business. I can’t force prospects to call, fill out a form, or buy something from a site, but I can increase viable and valuable traffic.

I know, not all search engine optimization people look at their clients the way but I do. I believe each of us should look at our jobs this way; we should be helping our clients make money. When I was working in sales and marketing for another company I felt this way. When I worked in technical support I felt this way. When I worked as an engineer I felt this way. I guess I feel this way partly because my parents were entrepreneurs and I was brought up in a family business.

I think that everyone in the workforce has an obligation to make their company or client money. We should all be giving our best and giving the best return on investment (ROI) possible. In most circumstances, if you give your best to your company or client, you will gain. People have a natural tendency to favor a great ROI. I’m going to get busy and make my clients money today so I can tell my little one that yes, I’m going to make money today.

We bought our daughter a Kindle for Christmas. We also bought a cover. The Kindle kept freezing up. You had to do a hard reset to get it going only to have it freeze up again. To do a hard reset just hold the power switch in the on position for more than 15 seconds. It will reset after about 5 seconds of the switch moving back.

Turns out the cover is causing the problem. It seems to be well documented on various blogs. Check out here and here.

What I want to say is that the Amazon support was awesome. Calling the day after Christmas they not only know what the problem was but handled it in a way that will keep me coming back. They asked her to use it for a few hours without the cover to verify it was the cover. They called back later in the day and we told them it was working fine without the cover. They refunded the cost, told us to keep the cover, and applied a $25 credit to our Amazon account. Turns out the more expensive lighted cover works fine so we are buying it tonight.

Great job Amazon.

There are times when you have to contact an attorney. Recently a friend had a bad car accident. Luckily he wasn’t hurt too bad, at least as far as we know right now. His car was totaled though. Luckily insurance has taken car of the cost to date. In many not so fortunate cases you may need to find an accident attorney. Finding a great lawyer/attorney is a necessity for making sure that you come out on the winning end.

When searching for an accident attorney or any other specialized attorney, make sure to search Google for possibilities and then ask around. Ask your friends if they know of a lawyer who is the best in their field. Asking people you know is one of the most effective things you can do because you can receive firsthand advice from someone who knows. Keep a record of who your friends recommend.

Make sure to research the lawyers you are considering. You don’t want a lawyer who doesn’t know what they are doing or lack experience. Meet with several lawyers to discuss your claim before you decide to hire. Keep in mind that many lawyers do not take cases if they fall below a certain potential recovery amount, or if the claim is not crystal clear.

CD Aces is a small site that provides information on the compact disc business,  cd/dvd packaging, and cd repair.

Go there now. Really.

I just want to say that Matt over at onetakemedia.net rocks. I have a client that uses ProStores and I’ve been reviewing the data collected by analytics and adwords. Needless to say, we need to bolster the Google analytics and adwords functionality on the site. I did a lot of research and found One Take Media. Matt was the only one I could find on the web that not only had solutions but solutions that made sense to me. Now here’s the best part: I called him up out of the blue and he spent ten minutes on the phone helping me out. He has some great modules that you absolutely have to look at if you are on a ProStores platform. Thanks again Matt.

Christopher Penn’s post on the obligation of the content creator is great. How many minutes do you spend a day reading blog posts, forums, etc. Is it worth your valuable time to read my posts? We as content creators have an obligation to write good stuff. It’s time to step up the game and give the people something of value.

I have a huge pet peeve; people riding down the road won a motorcycle with no helmet. Hello, are you stupid? Do you know how many people get killed each year in motorcycle accidents? It’s just not that hard to put on your helmet. In many states, it’s the law. If you are in to racing it’s also imperative that you wear protective gear including gloves, boots, suits, and helmets. Need some gear or a Helmet? Sportbike Track Gear sells just about everything you need for riding. The have a special on Bell Vortex Helmets and they have a ton of video reviews that are easy to follow and understand.

A few facts: In 2006 the number of deaths on motorcycles in 2006 was about 35 times the number in cars. In 2007, there were more deaths in motorcycle accidents than in any year since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began collecting fatal crash data. Helmets decrease death related head injuries and the severity of head injuries. According to the NHTSA, helmets alone can reduce the likelihood of a fatal crash by 37%.