No Limits Ladies.com

Working with spouses is tough. So tough that Donald Trump insists that it helped break up his first marriage.

Working with editors is tough. Their entire job is to pick up (and make better) your precious writing.

So when I heard that Carol McPhee, author of Something About That Lady and Alaskan Magic, had her husband do the pre-edit of her novels, I knew I had to interview her.

I remember reading that your hubby gives you first feedback on your
novels. What advice can you give writers and businesspeople working with their
spouses?

Great question and one I've not been asked before. If the spouse is interested enough to read your work expect he/she will be your most vocal critic and your most honest one. Be open to any comments and suggestions because the spouse is looking at the story from a different point of view... one that wants you to be the best you can be. Willing spouses are worth their weight in gold.

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking. Could you share with us your time management tips?

I firmly believe in writing something everyday. The length doesn't matter, nor even the quality. What does matter is that you set yourself in another mindset fully prepared to let your imagination run rampant for the length of time you have available. I start writing at 4am anywhere I happen to be and try to get in at least an hour of fresh writing while there are no interruptions. That accomplished, the rest of my day is generally spent on critiquing other writers' works, promoting my novels and taking workshops to improve my skills.

4am? Yowsers, I thought I was good with my 6am start.

With Carol being a dietitian, I couldn't resist a question on health.

If you could give one piece of advice on diet and nutrition, what would it be?

Haha! Eat lean and mean, then go treat yourself to extra dark chocolate.

Hear that? Eat chocolate. Carol says so.

For more info on Carol's fab romances, hop on over to http://www.geocities.com/carolmcphee2003/

I was talking to my Mom about my about to be eight year old niece's upcoming birthday. It turns out that much to the dismay of her very artistic, anti-establishment parents (my brother is a goth-like poet and my sister-in-law is a hippy painter), she wants business cards for her birthday.

Yes, you read that right. Business cards.

She's been collecting them and would like to offer her own in exchange.

My first thought was to simply order her a bunch.

But then I recalled the boxes of unused business cards I, myself, have collected over the years. I didn't know what I'd do with them (I changed jobs every year) but I didn't want to simply recycle them.

So I've reused them instead. I designed the business card on 2"x4" white labels, using clipart, and printed them out on the laser printer (black and white was fine). I then labeled over my old contact information. The result looked half decent (good for casual cards but not if you're running a business) and it was pretty close to free.

A bonus was that I could make a variety of cards for all her different moods. Cards with dragon clipart for those dragon riding days (she's big into Eragon), white queen chess piece clipart complete with title for her chess themed birthday party (she is an unusual child), etc.

This was a great reminder that the first solution to any problem is not necessarily the most frugal or the best.

Okay, I wanted to do a post with content from The MavHERick Mind.

I considered talking about leadership. "A leader is someone that is willing to do what others won't and do so with empathy and understanding."

Or talking about different success terrain. "A corporate battleground and an entrepreneurial battleground possess different soil, different conditions."

Or how to deal with resource zappers. "In your life, when presented with individuals who wish to have you battle them, think of them as children that just don't know better."

Or how yapping about other people (a mistake I often make) keeps us stuck in the past. "If I had continued to talk about the situation, repeating all the details, I would have kept myself caught up in a past event reliving my frustration."

But my fave section in The MavHERick Mind is Liz's discussion about how money, having it, making it, is not crass but a beautiful thing. "She understands that to affect the world in the way she wishes - the way she has imagined in her vision - requires some cash! Well wishes alone won't change the world."

I never thought that was true, that the more money or success we have, the easier or bigger a difference we could make. It seemed so... materialistic or crass as Liz calls it. But it is true. One reason is because I can allocate time to making a difference (rather than paying the bills). Another is because I have the contacts and money to obtain the resources to make a difference.

Of course, my highlights (which I really had to narrow down) from The MavHERick Mind might not be your highlights. I'd love to hear your fave bits.

We, women, have talents we don't even know of. Heck, I've talked to stay at home Moms who claim to not have any talents. Ex-squeeze me? I've babysat. I consider simply keeping a 3 year old alive a talent.

So what would Liz Pabon, author of The MavHERick Mind, pick as our top unmined talent?

"There are so many it’s difficult to choose just one. In business, and life, women are naturally good leaders yet so few know this and don’t reap from the confidence that comes by standing fully in your power as a persuasive, influential woman.

I’m so passionate about this myself that I’m leading a cause to unite with two organizations that support the empowerment of women – the eWomen Network and Women for Hire foundations. With every purchase of my book, “The MavHERick™ Mind,” during the month of March I will donate 100% of the net proceeds to both organizations. When we unite to support one another, we not only empower others but we discover our own power in the process…that’s when the magic of her power happens. I recently read a quote by Vera Wang that struck a cord with me, “If you can give back as a woman to other women, that’s one of the greatest things you can do.”"

Is there any wonder that I love this author? Liz quotes Vera Wang, La Vera. Not to mention, she relates marketing principals to chocolate (her post on M&M's).

Fellow No Limits Ladies know I'm an executive summary type of girl. I'm too busy for the long drawn out story (ironic for a novel writer). Give me the facts, short and sweet, and let me go get started. That's one of the things I like about The MavHERick Mind. It doesn't have any filler. It is 133 pages of information author Liz Pabon feels we need to tackle success.

So me being me, I wanted to know what her top piece of advice would be.

"Leverage your strengths. Far too many entrepreneurs try to model or mold themselves, and their business, into someone else’s ideal of success. This is why marketing or other strategies end up being so costly. When you take the time to get clear on your individual strengths, skills and talents use those to make your brand unique, your marketing remarkable and create a stir in your market.

I recently wrote a book, “The MavHERick™ Mind: How to Win the Battle for Success by Using What You’ve Got to Get What You Want” and in it I explain the tools you need to propel your business forward you already possess. In the battle to create success, entrepreneurs copy strategy and tactics that worked beautifully for someone else – because they leveraged their strengths – and wonder why it doesn’t work for them. One of my natural strengths is that I absorb information quickly and pinpoint what it means in the short and long term. I leverage this ability in my business by providing women with of the moment information that affect their success today and look for the trend(s) predicting what it will mean for their future. This also happens to be an advantage I have over my competition. My advice is to make the time to conduct a personal strengths assessment and then leverage them in the design and communication of your brand and business."

Too true. That's why I don't give specific investing advice here. We all have different strengths, interests, passions. I'm not going to force my views on you.

Want more Liz? Tomorrow I'll be asking her about our most secret asset but until then, there's always her smokin' blog http://www.mavherickmindblog.com/ (I LOVE that it is full of marketing tips too, yippee for me!).

I recently devoured my copy of The MavHERick Mind, one of the only books out there addressing the right mindset for success from a female perspective (and a female entrepreneurial perspective at that). So I knew I must interview the author Liz Pabon.

First I wanted to know why a book from a female perspective was needed. Are female entrepreneurs THAT different?

"Having worked with female entrepreneurs for the past five years I can tell you the biggest difference is the way we view business. For many female entrepreneurs their business is an extension of who they are, which means they treat their business and those that support them like family. Relationships are of the utmost importance and while we’re in business to reap the monetary rewards we honor and value our support structures. Female entrepreneurs tend to march to the beat of a different drum not necessarily following the “traditional” model of business building. Collaboration, and inclusion are as much a part of the business model as strategy."

Guilty as charged. I call my businesses, my product launches, even my blog sites, my babies. If that isn't making the business part of the family, I don't know what is.

And what, does Liz Pabon feel, is our biggest mistake?

"I don’t view it as a mistake so much as a challenge and that is striking a balance between the heart and the mind. Many female entrepreneurs are motivated and led to help others and do so at the risk of compromising the growth potential of their business. It’s an interesting, and sometimes maddening, catch-22. On the one hand, female entrepreneurs treat their business like a home-away-from-home yet when all the signs point to trouble making the switch to business owner and cutting losses immediately (if necessary) is a challenge. Female entrepreneurs often use a “lets wait and see what happens” approach with high hopes and good intentions that a bleak situation will turn around. Sadly, this only makes matters worse (in most cases) when a swift and clean break was the best tact."

Oh dear, yep, wait and see is my approach also.

All this week, we'll be talking with Liz. Can't wait until tomorrow to read more? Check out her blog http://www.mavherickmindblog.com/ .

Coming from the farm, you can imagine the challenges of keeping a home clean. My Mom and her neighbors didn't have those fancy cleaning supplies filling Wal-mart shelves (Lavender scented? My aunties would say "Go pick the blossoms yourself"). They had a few rules and a few basics. Today, even being city folks, I still apply them.

When I see people wearing outdoor shoes in the house, my stomach turns. Do that on a farm and, well, yuck. Farmers spend their day knee deep in sh** (to put it bluntly). Sometimes I didn't even want to wear those shoes OUTSIDE. Wear them inside and the place would end up smelling and looking like a barn.

Plus one rock in the tread of a shoe and your hardwood is a goner. I saw that at a house party. Not a good scene.

We also didn't eat on carpeted areas, not every day (for special occasions, sure). Spills are easier to mop up on tile and even hardwood. One of the upsides to this rule is that it "forces" families to eat together, usually at the table. The hubby and I have some of our best conversations there.

As for cleaning supplies, I mostly use two basics, vinegar and bleach. Bleach with water (dilution pending on the surface) is used on floors, bathroom surfaces, tile, etc. Vinegar, again with water, cleans glass like a dream (50/50 split). Streak free and wonderful. It also is a good sub for that jetdry stuff in the dishwasher.

For antique wood and other fragile surfaces, I'll spring for the fancy cleaners but for the large surfaces, bleach and vinegar (not together), that's it.

Now, as with the investing techniques I talk about, you gotta do your own research on the basic cleaners. Makes no sense wrecking up thousands of dollars in hardwood to save a couple dollars on cleaners.

Just finished What Men Don't Tell Women About Business – Opening Up The Heavily Guarded Alpha Male Playbook by Christopher V. Flett on the weekend. I got this book for Christmas and was thinking to save it for my summer off (as a reward for getting through this never ending contract).

Then I made a beta male cry (the guy made me look like a jack a$$ and I, in a moment of weakness, squashed him). Forget waiting for summer. I needed to feel better immediately (I'm trying to reduce my chocolate intake).

This is the only book I've read where the author actually understands alphas (it is about the alpha male but the goal focused thinking is the same for the alpha female). It tells the good, the bad, and the nasty. That bit about not caring about excuses? Sing it, mister. I don't give a beep what the excuses are. And please don't waste my time giving me that laundry list. Just get the job done.

I love how Flett insists that women don't have to act like one of the guys to gain power. I don't golf. I've joined one football pool in my entire career (that was because I was playing with odds, not out of interest in the actual sport, surprisingly I did okay). It hasn't hurt me (it helps that eating is universal where I do my best bonding).

He talks about not mixing business with pleasure. Too true. Co-workers are not friends. In a downsizing or even a promotion situation, it is every man or woman for him/herself. Like Flett, I don't have work people over to my house for entertaining. I learned that lesson early on in my career. Work is work. Personal is personal. Mixing the two opens yourself up to gossip and criticism.

If you are an alpha (and I suspect that many of my readers are), this book will reassure you that you're not alone in your thinking. If you know (and perhaps love) an alpha, this book will help you understand them better.

I love reading stories about natural disasters featuring average, everyday people like you and me rolling up their sleeves and making a difference. The thing is that I often can't think of ways to help, other than the usual giving of cash.

So I asked Jacqueline Lloyd, author of The Thief Of The Sacred for some creative ideas.

"Often, there are local rescue and rehab non-profits that are helping out their community in a very effective way. They're usually small, nimble organizations, and knowledgeable about what is truly needed.

For example, for a special family that lost everything in our October 2007 wildfires, I put together www.boothsfamilyfund.com and a petition asking the TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition to put the Booths on their show. We've received web visitors and petition signers from as far away as Australia and Europe!"

See that's what I mean. A lady (though Jacqueline Lloyd isn't exactly average) making a big difference in the world.

You know we're all about girl power (yes, I'm a Spice Girls fan) here at No Limits Ladies so when I heard about Jacqueline Lloyd's The Thief Of Sacred featuring a female President making the tough decisions (one job I wouldn't want to have), my ears perked up.

Then I read about Jacqueline being savvy on all things natural disaster related. Wow, I thought, that would be something every woman should know a bit (or more) about.

So blatantly abusing my blogger status, I contacted her and asked what we could do to prepare for a natural disaster.

"To best prepare for a natural disaster, people should be aware of the long-term history of their area, and be equally prepared for isolation or quarantine. Know what will happen to your school age children in the event you cannot get to them because of the disaster. For insurance
purposes, videotape your home and its contents and keep that DVD in a safe deposit box or at a faraway friend's house. That video could be worth a lot if you suffer damage and/or loss- being able to easily show what you had will not only help you create your insurance loss list easily, it can help convince the insurance company if there's a coverage or contents issue."

That is a brilliant idea. Videotaping the house. Much quicker than taking separate photographs (though for high value ideas, that might be a good idea too) or listing everything.

And having a plan in case we can't get to school age kids or elderly Moms is something I didn't even think of. I had assumed I would be able to get to them but what if that disaster separated us?

“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” - Thomas Jefferson

I love St. Patty's Day. Not only because I'm part Irish or because of the green beer (and the gangs of drunkards that go with the green beer) but because when we talk about St. Patrick's Day or the Irish, we talk about luck.

I'm a big believer in luck. I've been very lucky, and I love being reminded that luck is a part of everyone's success (a reason why I refuse to hurt the ladybugs wintering in our home - ladybugs, as any farm gal knows, are lucky - they eat the "bad" bugs like aphids).

Yes, I believe in upping the odds and hard work "helping" out luck.

15 years ago (we celebrated our first meeting anniversary last week), I met and fell in love with the hubby (love at first sight, it does happen).

Was I lucky? Very much so.

Did I help luck out by meeting thousands of people? Yes, I did.

But luck was still a part of it. It wasn't all me. I didn't find this man on my own. I needed help.

Luck holds true in the investing world too.

Yes, I can do all the research in the world on a stock. I can know it up and down. But I still need luck to make a profit. A thousand things can go wrong (like an antitrust investigation into your aggressive ice company - sigh). I can buy 5 such stocks. That will increase the chances of a profit even more. But all 5 stocks could go south. It happens.

And for business start ups?

If I had a dollar for every entrepreneur that said "I was at the right place at the right time", I'd have seed money for a dozen start ups.

So yes, I celebrate my successes but I keep in mind... it wasn't all me.

Last year, in preparation for my May 2008 book launch, I ordered 2,500 promo pens (a natural promotion idea as readers are often writers). As writer buddies organize conferences (perfectly targeted audiences), I've been sending them packages of pens for them to stuff in the giveaway bags.

My very frugal hubby, at first, had a fit. No, no, he'd protest, save these pens for "later." He only stopped making a fuss when I mentioned that a certain big conference charges authors $200 for the privilege of giving away their stuff (yet my buddies were kindly letting me give my pens away for free).

Here's the thing. Promotion, marketing, advertising, whatever you call it, when properly done is NOT an expense, it is an investment. Just as I wouldn't consider investing in the ice stock (btw… sold the cemetery and funeral home stock, I think they're going to have to cut distributions, will likely repurchase after that happens) as throwing money away, neither is investing in our own business (because that is exactly what marketing is, investing in our own company).

Does that mean I spend willy nilly on marketing? Nope. I only invest where I figure I'll get the best return. And when I invest, I track those returns (easier to do with internet promotions directed to our own website – I can see where the traffic is coming from and when the book is for sale, if that traffic is clicking through to the purchase link).

In October, the always Fab Single Ma posted about DonorsChose.org, an organization matching donors to needy schools. The personal finance blogging community was supporting some money management courses, giving back to future Warren Buffetts. I was happy to be included.

Well, I recently received my thank you package and wow, simply wow. There were thank you letters from not only the grateful teacher but also her grade two students (including some nifty pictures). They touched my heart so much that I immediately funded another project.

There are many financial gurus who talk about tithing regularly (usually around 10%). I'm not one of those. To do it automatically, without thinking, loses some of the feeling of gratitude for me.

I believe in saving up and making larger donations, donations like funding one of these school programs, donations where I can touch and feel the impact of my giving.

I do it for others, sure, but mostly I do it for me (I am truly selfish). It is a reminder of why I have been given the gifts I have (making money grow is a talent, like creating art or discovering cures, to squander it is to squander a gift). It drives me to continue building, continue learning.

And sometimes like when I read those letters, it drives me to tears.

As you know, No Limits Ladies readers are some of the best in the world. They not only look out for opps for themselves but for the people they care about too.

Well, one such reader, Miss C is showing us all some love. She sent me an email about a great little contest DebtKid is hosting. DebtKid is giving away a Nintendo DS Lite to a commenter with a dumb purchase story.

Frankly, I need a Nintendo DS Lite like I need a hole in the head. I'm already addicted to Spider Solitaire (which I'm convinced is spyware yet I can't stop playing anyway) and Poppit, a free game at Pogo.com. I don't need any other time wasters.

But it did get me to thinking about my dumbest purchase ever.

There is a lot of competition for that title. There are the scams (Read Books For Money, Stuff Envelopes For Money), the home improvement and craft projects I'll never do (light fixtures that haven't been fixtured, the cloth diaper instructions for the babies we can never have), the aspirational clothes that I'd need surgery to fit into.

I need a week of entries to talk about the bad investments I've purchased. Before I developed discipline, I gambled away money on fads (dot coms, anyone?), I bought on rumor (mining stocks with no mines in production), and other fun stuff.

But then I got to thinking... are these really dumb purchases? If I learned something, if I didn't repeat the purchase, were they really a bad idea? Yeah, I could have learned from other's mistakes but sometimes you need to learn these things myself.

And since I've lived to tell about them (and have even prospered), they weren't life threatening dumb mistakes. They sure weren't brilliant moves though.

So where did Jason get the idea for Docstoc.com?

“While I was completing my JD/MBA, I started a consulting company in Los Angeles with some alums of my MBA program. Between our need to share documents in graduate school, and the amount of time I personally spent on Google looking for docs for my clients, I realized there could/should be something like YouTube for Professional Documents. I wanted to create the most robust repository of free professional content for a wide variety of purposes.”

And what will be the future of Docstoc?

“I’m a big fan of linkedin.com and consider is (as most do) the premier online community to share professional contacts. It’s where most folks go online to find professional contacts. Similarly, docstoc will be the premier online community to share professional content. Anytime, anyone needs a business or legal document their first thought will be to go to docstoc. With this as the foundation of the company, we’ll add the ability to connect users with additional information, resources, and services to serve their professional needs. Looking for a document is just a starting point; WHY do you need that document. Those are the problems that we’ll help solve over time.”

But why would professionals give away their beloved templates (my precious)?

“Professionals upload their content for three main reasons. 1.) Its Free Marketing – it’s an avenue to attract business by sharing stock templates, forms, and documents that may be difficult to find. It’s no cost lead generation for professionals. 2.) Feedback and Viewership on your Professional Portfolio of Content – users upload their documents because they can get thousands of people seeing their work, leaving comments, ratings and feedback that is valuable to the content creator. 3) Reciprocity – there is a large ethos of reciprocity on the internet and many times we share because we want to add to the community and help it grow. Like most User Generated Content sites, only a very small percent of user typically ever share content, but for example in the case of YouTube, that <1% has contributed hundreds of millions of pieces of content – and documents are much easier to share than videos because we ALL have them.”

Yeah, yeah (looking down at my feet), those are great reasons. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Docstoc.com as it grows.

I am a document freak. I love having my templates and my checklists. I fill binders full of hard copies and directories full of versions.

So when I ran across Docstoc.com, I glimpsed a little bit of heaven (yes, I am that sick). How can I use Docstoc.com ?

I’ll let Founder and CEO Jason Lawrence Nazar explain…

“You can easily find high quality, free legal and business documents.

You can get thousands of people viewing your documents and giving you feedback about the content that you have created.”

Tomorrow, I’ll “talk” with Jason about how he came up with Docstoc.com and where the company is headed.

Recently I had an issue with a company (I wanted to apply a discount code to a purchase but the billing form wouldn't recognize it). Being an internet gal, I contacted their customer service via email. They responded back, telling me to talk to the billing department. They gave me a phone number. That phone number was long distance.

Heck no. This was a $10 dispute. If I got put on perma-hold (highly likely), the charges would quickly eat any savings.

I pushed back, asking for an email address. Voila, no charge.

The alternative (a buddy uses this one all the time) is to call the company collect. Very, very rarely will a company refuse to pick up the charges (I've never heard of a case where the company said no but I never say never – you never know).

Costly? Yes and no. For a smaller company, this could be less expensive than the 1-800 number. The toll free numbers cost a company a base amount whether people use it or not.

One of the signs of an interesting stock price for me is a discount (or low multiple) to book value. Book value is (in simple terms) the value of everything the company owns minus anything the company owes.

Currently I'm looking at a REIT (real estate investment trust). Real estate, overall, has taken a beating but this REIT is also in the unpopular hotel industry. The thing is, unpopular or not, the vacancy rates at this specific company are low. The debt is low. The cash flow, quite sexy.

And it is trading at book value. So if the company wound up business today, investors would get some money. What's not to like?

Christopher H. Browne, in The Little Book Of Value Investing, says…

"I examined stocks in the period from 1970 to 1981. I analyzed all 7,000 companies that were in the Compustat database during that period. I looked for companies that had at least $1 million in market capitalization and sold at no more than 140 percent of their book value. I sorted them into groups based on their price-to-book value and computed their six-mnonth, and one-, two-, and three-year performance. I found that all these groupings beat the overall market over the one-, two-, and three-year periods although in many instances they lagged for the first six months."

(Note: my results are also sucky for the first six months or so. This strategy is not for the day trader.)

Yesterday, Kara Lennox shared how she got the idea for Memo-Pause, a wearable notepad (don’t you love those “creation” stories?). But did she always have entrepreneurial tendencies?

“I was born wanting to be an entrepreneur. When I was about ten, my dad planted some tomatoes, and he ended up with so many seedlings he was going to throw a lot away. Instead, I put them in my wagon and dragged them around the neighborhood door-to-door, selling them for fifty cents apiece. I cleaned up.

I knew pretty soon after college graduation that I did not want to "work for the man." I hated punching a time clock and wanted to be in charge of my own fortunes. So I've been a self-employed writer since then, writing everything from advertising copy to magazine articles to romance novels. (My latest novels are published by Harlequin American Romance.) But because writing income is sometimes sketchy, I've done other things over the years to earn money. I was an antiques dealer and I ran a clipping service. I've always thought that if I could just come up with the right idea I could make millions. I'm hoping Memo-Pause is that idea.”

What have been her greatest challenges?

"I've never actually manufactured anything before. Working out the bugs in the process has been a long and arduous education (and I still don't have it totally worked out!). I've lost some sleep over the stupidest stuff, like figuring out where to buy the correct size of eyelets, and what kind of paper cutter to use, But Memo-Pause is such a new business that I'm sure I'll have lots more lessons to learn as I go along. The cool thing is that I'm having so much fun! I have an artistic side, and creating all the different covers and the beaded necklaces feeds that side of me."

To check out Kara’s latest novels, visit http://www.karalennox.com/ .
Those lovely notepads are at http://www.memo-pause.com/ (I like the green one).

There are two groups of people I find interesting, actually three groups, writers, entrepreneurs, and everyone else so when I “met” Kara Lennox, Harlequin Author and Inventor of Memo-Pause, a functional yet fashionable notepad, I knew I’d have to drain her brain.

How did she get the idea for Memo-Pause?

“Whenever I'm under a lot of stress, I can't seem to remember anything without writing it down. So I tied a notebook around my neck. That way I can jot down a phone number or an item for my shopping list, and later can actually find it.

The notebook was functional, but ugly. At lunch one day, my stylish friend Becky told me I should "tart it up." "Make it pretty," she said. "You could hang it from a beaded necklace, and even have a different color notebook for every outfit. I might even wear one if it was pretty enough." She even suggested I could make the notebook/necklaces and sell them to other forgetful women. We decided to call this mythical product Memo-Pause, and we laughed until iced tea came out our noses. (If you're a woman of a certain age, you probably get the joke.)

I blogged about this incident simply because it was amusing, but I received an outpouring of interest from my blog readers--lots of comments and e-mails from people I didn't even know, saying that if such a product were available, they would buy it. That is what pushed me from the "thinking about it" stage to actually building a prototype. Once I started wearing it around, everyone wanted one. So I decided, what the heck, and I went into production. The venture just mushroomed from there.”

Yeah for grassroots marketing! Build a good enough product, show it off, and the sales will come.

To take a peek at samples (gorgeous), go to http://www.memo-pause.com/ . Note: If you have your eye on one, order sooner rather than later. The designs switch up with available material.

I ran into an interesting business model as I was surfing around. Much has been made about the power of blogging and how coverage on blogs of your new business/product can boost sales.

The issue is that these relationships are often one-to-one. You know me. You've commented on my blog before. So when you contact me, I'm more likely to pay attention to what you have to promote (As I’m interested in just about anything, I'm one of the easier bloggers to "sell" to). But to stay in contact with all these bloggers can be a full time job.

So some creative folks have made it a full time job.

Yep, for a fee, they will help you promote your product/business via the connection of bloggers they regularly interact with. They are like publicity agents for blogs.

I think that's brilliant. The company I found focused on the romance community but there are thousands of other blogging communities out there. A lot of opportunities for promoters.