Aviation of Business

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Dec 21

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Dec 19

Step 1: Read this blog post: www.wpthemesgallery.com/dont-make-the-same-web-design-mistake-i-did/

Step 2: Comment on whether or not you think links should open new browser windows (keeping your blog open but possibly cluttering up your reader’s screen) or whether clicking the link should take them to the next site in the same window (forcing them to leave your blog).

I’ve been using the “open link in new window” option for the most part on my blogs, but if I get an overwhelming response otherwise, I’m willing to change my evil ways…

Let me know what you think!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Dec 18

I am entering Thor Schrock’s Secret Classroom Blog Contest.

I’ve been reading Thor’s blog (www.thorschrock.com) for awhile now, and he’s got some really great content! I highly recommend subcribing to RSS feed (I did!). If you are looking for an RSS aggregator, I suggest NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) - it’s got an online version which is very easy to use and update.

In addition to the obvious monetary value of the potential prize, I’m also entering the contest because the Secret Classroom information sounds like it has some real substance to it, unlike many other offers out there on the web these days. Some of the infomation that is available on the Secret Classroom DVD set includes:

One of the benefts of having this information on DVD is that you can rewind and watch portions over (instead of missing the information like you might in a live seminar), as well as being able to see it happen (instead of having to interpret what it should look like, like in a book or e-book). Additionally, you get a workbook to make the learning stick even better!

Sounds like being back in school - taking notes, doing assignments in a workbook - but I’d rather have the information and take notes and work at something to get what I want.

What’s the alternative?

Doing the same thing every day - and getting the same thing I already have. And that may not be bad, but I have goals and dreams… and the day-to-day won’t allow me to reach them.

So here’s to learning and doing and building something new!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Dec 4

Aviationofbusiness.com just joined RSShugger - a new web-based program to help bring more readers to your blog. They have a top 100 list of blogs that resets every month, giving you the opportunity to grow your reader base even more quickly!

Currently, RSSHugger only has 269 feeds, so your chances of getting on the top 100 are more than 33%! Also, listing your blog on their site is completely free, provided you are willing to do a review of the site on your blog (such as this one). If you don’t want to do a review, you can also pay a flat fee of $20, or $2/month. This would be a good option for blogs whose readers wouldn’t appreciate a service that will attract more people to their blog.

I will probably be listing my new blog - www.environmentastic.com - on the RSShugger site as well, but since my readers on that site are looking for information on becoming more environmentally-conscious (and not necessarily looking to attract traffic to a blog), I’ll probably pay the $20 for that blog.

On THIS site, however, you are here to learn how to take your business to the next flight-level, so this kind of post is more appropriate for you!

Check out RSSHugger - it might be worth getting registered and listing your info with them!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Sep 17

The following is a paid review, but is completely my own opinion and is not at all influenced by being paid.

I recently signed up for Pay Per Post, a blog marketing site which has been gaining and gaining in popularity with bloggers as a way to use a blog to make a little (or a lot) of money. It’s also very popular with internet marketers as a way to drive traffic to their sites! If you’re already writing, and you already use products and surf the web, why not make a little money while doing so, right? I’ve been experimenting and learning about online business for a little while now, and have not had much success. To be fair, I’ve also had a lack of focus and not spent my time where it might make the most impact. I’m trying to change that, because - as you see from my last post - I am edging my way back to my original career goal (since high school or college) of becoming a professional pilot.

Since flying isn’t cheap (my first flight in nearly four years lasted nine-tenths of an hour - that’s .9 hours or 54 minutes - and cost $115.64!), I’ve newly refocused my online ambitions to help me pay for the cost of flight training. I figure that if I can make $30 per day, every day, from my online businesses, my flight training will be nearly paid for! With that in mind, I am refreshing my interest in Pay Per Post, starting with this post. I hope to be able to use it to get a good start on my goal of $30 per day. If I am able to make more than that through Pay Per Post (and/or other advertising, donations, etc.), I will increase my flight time commensurately.

Up to now, I have found Pay Per Post to be pretty easy to use. It was very easy to add this blog to my account and get started. I actually got an offer for $30 to review a site - which I was pretty excited about, but then I got distracted and forgot to actually post about the site. The offer was susequently rescinded - unfortunately it happened on the day I remembered and was going to post about it! I ultimately would like to add some of my other blogs to my account at Pay Per Post (blogs like environmentastic! and Teacher’s Forum, but Pay Per Post requires that you have 10 approved posts before you can add any more blogs to your account. I wasn’t aware of this (or I had forgotten), and I was a little frustrated trying to find out how to add another blog to my account… you actually have to do that under the “my posts” tab. That was a little confusing to me, and then frustrating that once I found out where and how to add another blog, I wasn’t able to until I did more posts.

Other than that I think Pay Per Post is a really nice site to work with. It’s easy to learn, use, and navigate, and it has already given lots of people another stream of income! I know Tyler Cruz (visit his blog) has had some success with it… I hope I can make enough to start subsidizing my flight training soon! If you’re interested in making some money with your blog (even if only a little), check out Pay Per Post.

Have you used Pay Per Post? What did you think about it? Let us know - leave a comment!

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 24

Ben Casnocha wrote an interesting post at his blog. It asks a question from a perspective that I have never thought of - Do only Negative Emotions count for Depth?

It’s a good excuse to reflect on your life and your reactions to the events that have shaped it.

Enjoy!

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jul 16

Hooray! My first tag! I must be a real blogger!

Now that that’s over, on to the game:

Rosa Say, from Joyful Jubilant Learning, challenged several bloggers to come up with one song that makes their hearts sing.

Difficult? For me, yes. But not impossible. So I racked my brain and came up with a song that could be used both as one that tugs on my heart AND that expresses some business wisdom in the vein of my earlier post on Finding Business Wisdom Anywhere.

The rules of this tag-game are simple:

1. Post about the one song that makes your heart sing, and uplifts your spirit every time you hear it.
If you can provide a link to lyrics and/or audio that would be fabulous. But it’s not essential, so don’t worry about it if you can’t.

2. Include a trackback to this post

3. Tag three others and ask them to include a trackback to your post and this one when they post.

Rosa’s post was brought on by Rich Griffith’s. Rosa chose the song My Front Porch Looking In, by Lonestar. I’ve never heard the song, but the lyrics she posted were beautiful. Rich chose I’m Walking on Sunshine, which, he admits, may not be the world’s “deepest” song. It certainly cannot be argued that it is a downer, though.

I picked a song that many will think is a little odd, I think. Change by Blind Melon (find the lyrics here). This section of the song epitomizes the feeling of it for me:

When you feel your life ain’t worth living, you’ve got to stand up and
take a look around you then a look way up to the sky
And when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreamin boy cause
when you stop dreamin its time to die
And as we all play parts of tomorrow
Some ways we’ll work and other ways we’ll play
But I know we can’t all stay here forever
So I want to write my words on the face of today

While I have not heard a live version of the song I like quite as well as the album version, you can find a YouTube acoustic video of the song here. In every live version of the song I’ve heard, Shannon Hoon changed the lyrics to “’cause when you stop dreamin’ you know you’re gonna die / and I don’t wanna die….” If you know anything about Blind Melon, you know that these lyrics are pretty ironic, since Shannon Hoon died of a drug overdose only a few years after releasing this first album, on which you’ll find the song. Most people remember the “bee girl” from the video of “No Rain,” but I suggest buying this whole album, as every song on it is worth your time.

I love this song because it reminds me that no matter where you are in life, no matter what your circumstances, you have a place in this world - we all “play parts of tomorrow.” And as long as you have dreams and goals, your life is worth living…

The business link is that dreams and goals are absolutely required to build a business, and each business and each person affects the world and the future, for better or worse. And often the only thing standing in the way of building that business and changing the world is a fear of change. This song starts with Shannon Hoon singing that people say “hey look at him; I’ll never live that way / and that’s okay… they’re just afraid to change.” And then it ends with people saying, “hey look at him, and where he is these days / when life is hard, you have to change.”

And that’s exactly how it is with business - people think you’re crazy when you start, but they envy you when you start to reach your goals. They seem to forget all the work in-between…

Now I’m supposed to tag three other bloggers, so here goes (I picked some of my most admired):

Verna Wilder @ Out of the Cube
David Askaripour @ Mind Petals
and
Tara Hunt @ HorsePigCow

Have fun - I did!

Fair Winds,
Andrew