Latest Event Updates
i have moved…lifeofkaren.com
As you can see I haven’t posted it in a very long time, it’s not that I have given up, it’s that I am kind of going in a new direction.
I now have a new blog lifeofkaren.com it’s a self hosted WordPress site that literally has taken me weeks to get up and going and I am still learning something new everyday. Please contact me before you decided to self host..it is so much harder than I ever thought it would be however I am hoping the flexibility of the site will make it worth it.
Bottom line, I am back to building a new blog and new followers, though I loved this one, I felt it limited me to one subject. So this new blog is more all encompassing and the Amway Experiment will only be one small part of it. I have yet to add it but hopefully will have that done this weekend.
I would love for you to come and follow my new blog. You can subscribe at the bottom of the blog and I have new and fresh content.
Thank you for all your support here! and hopefully you will join me at lifeofkaren.com
Karen
Empty Nest Syndrome
wwww.amway.ca/karenulmanis
Here is what Google has to say about Empty Nest Syndrome – It can include depression, a sense of loss of purpose, feelings of rejection, or worry, stress, and anxiety over the child’s welfare. Parents who experience empty nest syndrome often question whether or not they have adequately prepared their child to live independently
I know this topic is not in line with the spirit of my blog..but hey it’s my blog and since I am about to experience this I wanted to write about it.
If you follow my blog at all, you know I have two children, one is in med school and has been out the home for 7 years now and my youngest son just turned 18 today. Not only has he turned 18, we are moving him to university tomorrow, insert deep breath here! You may feel sympathy for me right now, either you have been at this point in your life or you dread the day when your own children will go off on their own.
I am going to share a secret, shhhhhh, I am actually very excited about it!
lol I know I am not suppose to be happy about this but I am and truth be told I am tired. I am tired of making lunches, making sure their homework is done, are their favourite jeans clean, can they have a sleep over, can they drink, can their boy/girlfriend sleep over, can they have the car??…you get the picture.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my children, both of them are wonderful beyond talented human beings and have been very successful academically, played very high levels of sports and one of them plays and writes music. I am very close to both of them.
I started motherhood relatively early in life, having my daughter early in my 20’s and with a 7 year gap between my children I have been at this for what feels like a long time. I am sure many of you are reading this in shock and disbelief, your children are number one in your life and you are devastated with them leaving but I am here to tell you from experience the next evolution in your relationship with your children is about to get better and actually a lot more fun!!
If you are struggling with this up coming enviable bitter sweet time in your life, here is what I have learned over the last 7 years since my daughter left home to go off to university.
- No matter where they live in the world, they are still your children.
- No matter how old they get, they are still your children.
- It’s not over it’s just beginning. You now get to have a whole new relationship, one based on friendship.
- They are nicer to you. Being out on their own gives them some appreciation for everything you did for them
- You have more to talk about, instead of nagging at them about cleaning their room, they now have this new exciting life they want to share with you.
- They actually want your advice . Hard to believe I know but now they call to ask you what you think, instead of telling to mind your own business.
- You start to learn from them instead of the other way around. The world is changing so quickly and they are surrounded by new and exciting ideas that we tend to miss out on.
I must confess you will still miss them. As I think about my son leaving, no more high school Friday night football games to watch, no more loud music, not seeing his face everyday makes my heart hurt and even after 7 years I still have days where I miss my daughter terribly.
But even with this I am looking forward to this next chapter in my life, the new independence not only that my children have but I will now have. This is a time in my life where I get to explore new opportunities, new hobbies, more free time, like to write this blog.
And oh ya, don’t do anything crazy like go adopt not one cat but two, like I just did.
Honest this had nothing to do with my empty nest 🙂
Have a great long weekend everyone!
Karen
Again thanks to all my followers and my new ones, we are making progress.
Please share my blog with anyone you think may enjoy it.
Can a Naturopathic Doctor treat me for infections that I usually take antibiotics for?
My brilliant daughter is entering her 3rd year of med school studying to be a doctor of Naturopathic medicine and has a great blog with great information.
Please have a look and follow her site.
They most definitely can and here is why: in addition to counselling and treating chronic conditions, we are trained to effectively treat acute conditions such as: ear and throat infections, the common cold, bronchitis, and the flu (just to name a few).
How is this possible?
We treat these infections with medicine extracted from plants using alcohol – they are often referred to as tinctures. The word tincture itself doesn’t help Naturopaths move away from the stigmas of ‘using magical “concoctions”’ so I will refer to them simply as medicine because that is truly what they are.
The medicine comes in bottles, they are taken orally, they need to be timed with or without meals, and most importantly they are prescribed and cannot be bought over the counter* – this is all similar to the way in-which antibiotics are prescribed. However, unlike synthetically made antibiotics the active ingredients extracted from the…
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Supporting Entrepreneurs around the World, $25 at a time.
I was literally staring at my computer trying to figure out what to write about today when I got an email pop up showing I had a new message, the subject line was “$66.50”
This email was a friendly reminder from Kiva, reminding me that I have repayments from the loans I have made and now have excess money to lend to entrepreneurs featured on their site. A few years ago my boss gave me a Kiva account with money in it and I have continued to use and grow this account in the last 3 years later.
The premise of Kiva is very simple;
- Chose a borrower
- Make a loan
- Get repaid
- Repeat
Kiva is a non profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and worldwide network of micro finance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.
What I personally love about Kiva is that it empowers individuals who wouldn’t normally have access to loans and gives them a chance to build a future for themselves.
Another feature of Kiva that I just discovered is the ability to build teams in support of Kiva. I am now part of Team Canada, here a few other of the top teams:
As always I have simplified Kiva down into my own words, it really is worth checking out their site for more details at Kiva.org, you won’t regret it!
Have a great day everyone!
Karen
If you know anyone else that maybe interested in supporting Kiva, please share this post with them.
my home province :) New Brunswick
If you are ever on the East Coast of Canada, visit Hopewell Rocks and see the highest tides in the world!!
Bonjour, il joue a nouveau en français a la fin. Amusez-vous!
Top Amway Products
http://www.amway.ca/karenulmanis
I know I blog about a lot of different topics and all very relevant to this challenge, however I don’t want to lose site of the high quality products Amway has to offer.
So check them out, contact me if you are interested in buying any of these or other Amway products at a discount.
Have a great night everyone!
Karen
Would love to read your feedback. 🙂 and if you know anyone who maybe interested in extra income, please share my blog with them.
Info graphs..
http://www.amway.ca/karenulmanis Easily view products.
“A picture is worth a thousand words”
This could explain the increase in popularity of information graphs. After reading yet another great site on how to generate more traffic to your blog, they suggested using them…here is my first attempt. These could get fun 🙂
Ask me how to buy this product at a discount….
Whether you’re at home or on the go, great skin is just three steps away with the essentials balancing skincare system. Each oil-free product boosts the performance of the next one, intuitively adjusting for continuous oil control throughout the day for your combination-to-oily skin. And with the purchase of an essentials system, you’ll receive an essentials travel bag – free!
The Debate on Guest Blogging…
www.amway.ca/karenulmanis Easily view great products
I was planning on writing on the topic of “guest blogging” and how great it is, now I am not so sure how great it real
ly is.
I mentioned in an earlier post that in my search to finds ways to generate more traffic to my blog, I came across the concept of guest blogging, and it seemed great! They highly recommended it.
I have finally had enough time to go back and do further investigation on this “guest blogging” idea and what I found was a whole lot of controversy. So much controversy that even Google is involved.
Here is how I saw guest blogging working;
- You would look for high traffic quality websites that allow guest bloggers.
- You would apply with a well written piece.
- They accept! Let’s be positive here J
- They post your piece and it is now exposed to their much larger following than your own blog.
- Those followers fall in love with what you wrote click through to your site from the host site and start following you!! Yay!!
Love it, so simple! Not so fast…
Here is what Matt Cutts – Head of Google’s Webspam team had to say about Guest Blogging, February, 2014.
“Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.”
As you imagine this statement stopped me in my tracks, I needed to go back and do further investigation. I have no idea what “gaining links” is and how does guest blocking lead to spamming?
Here is what Wikipedia says about Blog Spamming –
“Spam in blogs is done by posting (usually automatically) random comments, copying material from elsewhere that is not original, or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis, guestbooks, or other publicly accessible online discussion boards.
Adding links that point to the spammer’s web site artificially increases the site’s search engine ranking on those where the popularity of the URL contributes to its implied value, an example algorithm would be the PageRank algorithm as used by Google Search. An increased ranking often results in the spammer’s commercial site being listed ahead of other sites for certain searches, increasing the number of potential visitors and paying customers.”
So how do you stay out of trouble with Google?
- Write high quality guest posts.
- If you write for more then one website use unique posts for each one.
- Pick sites that relate to your blog, this will allow natural and appropriate linking.
- Most importantly, build relationships not links.
Am I discouraged from trying Guest Blogging? Believe it or not, I am still going to give it a try.
For one thing, I have no desire to trick anyone into following my blog or joining my challenge. Secondly and most accurately, I wouldn’t even know where or how to start to game Google or any other search engine. And for the effort it would take me or anyone else to learn these skills, we can instead be building real connections in support of our business efforts.
After all Google wants us to be successful on the internet, they just want us to do it an honest ethical manner, I think that is what we all want.
Happy Friday Night everyone! Have a great weekend!
Karen
If you know anyone who would find this blog useful, helpful or interesting please share.
Would love to hear any of your thoughts on Guest Blogging!! Feel free to leave a comment.
the amway experiment 
Things to keep in mind when selecting a “Theme”
Video Posted on Updated on
http://www.amway.ca/karenulmanis Easily view products
For those of you who follow my blog you may notice I have changed themes, again.
I am really starting to see good traffic flow through to the site, I am now up to 79 followers! Thank you so much for following my blog, I am beyond grateful.
For those with a blog, like me you probably review your stats page. What I am noticing is though I am getting a lot of traffic to my posts, I am not getting a lot of people going to the other pages, and specifically the products page. This page is obviously important as I am trying to sell a product.
So I needed to find ways to show case the Amway products. I tried posting them to the blog as you would have noticed a few blogs ago, the gallery feature is pretty cool. However I don’t find it fits in the blog section. I feel it takes away from the content I am posting. By changing the theme, I was able to find a free one that positions the titles of my other pages in a more visible area.
I am already seeing results, far more repeat visitors today and they are clicking on the other pages. Perfect!
This actually was a little bit of work, here are a few mistakes I made, hopefully this will help you avoid them;
Hopefully this will be the last theme I have, well at least for a while. I actually think freshening up our blogs is a great idea. Maybe just not 3 themes in 1 month!
Have a great evening everyone! and again thank you for following.
Karen
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