To learn even more about how to use Triberr read Ana’s latest post: Triberr: Your Step by Step Guide to Being Heard. Even if you already use Triberr, you’re sure to learn something new from her comprehensive post!

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I will be releasing my newest novel soon! About Chasing Mercy…

The summer after graduation should have been the most exciting time of Mercy’s life.

Instead, on the way to an exciting overseas trip, she barely survives an accident that kills the rest of her family. As soon as she’s released from the hospital, a creepy hooded figure with black skinny jeans begins to chase her. 

At home, Mercy experiences other ghostly encounters. Kit, her neighbor who happens to run a paranormal blog, thinks that her brush with death has made her more sensitive to life on the other side. She discovers that the creepy hooded figure is holding her dad’s ghost captive so she enlists the help of Kit to rescue her dad from the ghost who’s chasing her.

Read an excerpt here.

You can get a pre-release copy in exchange for an honest review on Amazon!

[Request your copy here]

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I’ve had that account since I started this blog three years ago. I’ve always done my best to follow their rules and have never had any problems.

When I requested to find out the reason behind my account being suspended, they haven’t responded nor have they resolved the issue. As soon as I made that request, my follower and following lists were promptly deleted from my account. I still have access to my account, but can’t tweet.

The timing actually couldn’t be better for this to happen. As I announced last month, I’m closing down this blog to focus on my fiction writing. So it only makes sense to have a twitter account that isn’t @growwithstacy. That most likely makes no sense to my fiction fans.

So…although I’m going to focus more on writing, fiction, and self publishing I’d love to have you follow my brand-spanking-new twitter account! Click the button below and follow! I’d love to stay connected with you!

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In case you aren’t a hardcore fan like myself, let me fill you in on the epic levels of awesome you’re missing out on, before we get down to the business of what it can teach us about self publishing. Supernatural is about two brothers who hunt monsters that everyone else thinks are imaginary.

They live a life without the typical attachments: homes, long term relationships, or kids. They travel the country in an Impala, in search of creatures that need to be destroyed, staying in hotels along the way. There’s a lot of action, mystery, and fun. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry.

Supernatural is more than just a good show, it’s chock full of ideas for paranormal authors. In fact one episode sparked an idea for my novel Chasing Mercy, which is coming out later this month! It’s given me more ideas for other books too.

What can Sam and Dean Winchester teach us about self publishing? There are four things that I’ve found they can show us. [Continue Reading]

Image Source: CW Network

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In the years following 2001 bipolar breakdown, I worked as a sales person for a medical device company. It was a fast-paced, stressful job that I really loved. I didn’t tell anyone about my bout with mental illness because I didn’t want people questioning my ability to handle responsibility.

I knew I was stable and sane, and I’d made peace with having spent time in a mental institution. It wasn’t as if I kept the secret through all parts of my life; my close friends and family all knew.

Mental illness wasn’t only issue in play. As an infant, I had been given up for adoption. In the State of New Jersey in the late 1970s, adoptions were closed, records were sealed. Birth moms were told to hide their pregnancies and after relinquishment, to get on with their lives.

When I did reunite with my birth mother and her family in 2001 (a few months before the delusions began), I didn’t feel 100% accepted in my biological family. In fact, my biological father wanted nothing to do with me. It took ten years for me to feel comfortable revealing these very personal details. Nevertheless, I always knew I wanted to write a memoir about these reunion experiences, along with the story of my recovery.

In doing, so, I’ve learned something unexpected: How to stand in my truth.

Standing in my truth

Being honest meant acknowledging how I hurt myself and others. It meant not putting my head in the sand, not living in denial, not ignoring or otherwise avoiding uncomfortable realities. [I admit I’m not 100% there yet.]

The difficult task is worth it. In endeavoring to stand in my truth, I’ve freed myself from guilt, and the overwhelming weight of outside expectations. It’s a continuous process and is by no means a one-time event. I’m no expert, I offer only the steps that I found helped me with living a more open, free life.

1. Let go.

Get over the personal shame: face it, own it. Whether you have to say it to yourself in the mirror, or write it down, acknowledge the secret.

2. Make a plan.

Figure out something you believe may solve the issue, or at least bring the secret out into the light-of-day. This can be something as small as admitting your perceived bad behavior, sin or secret to a trusted loved one.

It can be as large as announcing it on your blog (been there, done that!). But the very action of making a plan … even if it never ever sees the light of day, can be freeing. Having something in your pocket that you know you can do is empowering.

With an action plan, you defeat the impotence of inaction.

3. Think about fall-out.

It’s all fine, well and good to dream of sky-writing the secret. But there are always consequences. What’s the worst case scenario? What might happen? What are the concrete positives–in addition to clearing the air and standing in truth (positives which are not to be taken lightly)?

4. Make peace.

You may stand in your own truth, but you can’t force others to do the same. Sometimes telling your secret shows others in a negative light. Sometimes it’s not worth a ruined relationship, a ruined reputation. Sometimes it is.

But, you can’t change others’ reactions to your truth, so you have to be ready to face the possible consequences. You may have to accept that someone you wish would change … may never be willing or able to do so. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you have to live in secrecy and lies.

Give yourself time to decide whether or not you will take action.

This is a waiting period, in which you let everything simmer and cook. A day, week or even a month won’t make a huge impact on a secret you may have been carrying for years. The benefit of a good night’s sleep, some mental and psychological distance from your plan can make a huge difference in giving you the strength to move forward and stand in your truth.

5. Follow through.

Even if you decide not to go through with it; you have still made forward progress. You weighed the pros-and-cons and made an informed decision. Eyes open, feet firmly planted on the ground. That’s huge. Even if you don’t shout it from the rooftops, standing in your own personal truth is amazing and freeing.

For me, it’s the only way to find a peaceful, happy life.

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This is because I’ve arrived at a bittersweet decision.

I started this blog almost three years ago and I’ve had a lot of fun – and challenges – growing it and meeting wonderful people like you.

As you’re probably aware, if you’ve been following for any length of time or if you’ve glanced at the sidebar, I’m now writing novels.

A year ago this month was actually when I rediscovered my dream of publishing novels. Now I have two published and one due next month!

If you would have told me that a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.

A Difficult Decision

I’m a very busy person, running a home preschool and educating my two kids from home, running two blogs, and writing novels.  I’m also one of those people who likes to do the best that I can at everything I do. I can’t do all of the things listed above and do them all well.

Something had to go, and after about six months spent struggling over the decision, I have decided to take this blog down. It was a very difficult choice and I went back and forth a lot, going over many options.

As much as I am going to miss the community that the blog has brought, I’m excited to move forth and focus on writing fiction.

This Isn’t Goodbye

Just because I’m letting this blog go, I’m not leaving the internet! I would love to stay connected with you!  I’m going to keep the Grow With Stacy Facebook Page and I will continue to post inspiration/motivational stuff. You can find my other social media links on the sidebar too.

Also, if you’re interested in fiction, I’d love to connect with you on my author blog or author page on FB.

Links and Guest Posts

When this blog disappears from the blogosphere, there will be a lot of bad links on sites that have linked here and/or where I have left comments.

There’s almost a full month left, so I’ve given you that much time to check your blog. (As a side note, please leave the links to my author page StacyClaflin.com because I plan on having that site up for many years to come.)

Also, if you have written a guest post here, I welcome you to remove it and post it to your own blog.

Thank you!

Many thanks to all of you for everything! Don’t completely abandon ship just yet. I have some more posts lined up, including a great guest post in a couple of weeks. You won’t want to miss it!

To YOUR Success,

Image by Patrick Doheny

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If you type keywords like ‘making money online’ or ‘ways of making money online’, over Google, Yahoo or Bing you could find thousands of results showcasing the best ways of making money online. In fact, making money online by sitting at home or at some other place seems to have become a fad among the youngsters and other age group of people. However, despite having a number of opportunities to make money online, you could find ironies in this world. There are people who haven’t have tried making a single buck online. If this is your case then you need to check the problem and most of the time the issues remain inside the person who tend to remain away from making money online despite the quest of having extra bucks in his or her income. Let’s check the reasons that keep you and other people away from making online money.

You are too confused

If you are not able to make money online, you could be suffering from a digital disease. In order to check this disease, you are supposed to check a few symptoms of the same. The basic symptom is confusion, which you could be having about the choice of making money from any online business. You may be confused, which business to choose to make money that kept you away from making money. You have no idea about online business; you are completely a novice you do not want to put efforts to take risk to make money online. You simply do not want to explore and try the options available for making online. In other words, you live in utter confusion, ignorance and simply remain away to explore the ideas of making money online and put your efforts for the same.

Focusing on the wrong thing

One of the biggest reason why people are not able to make money online or other traditional way is to keep focusing on the wrong activities. You are supposed to carry out a lot of things to keep the business running a few could be major and others could be minor. If you targeting for minor things by ignoring the bigger ones, you are simply treading on the wrong path. For instance, you could trying some option over Facebook to make money online, however, you are seen spending lots of your time chatting with your friends and updating your statues over it. In other words, you are simply getting distracted from your main focus of making money then you can never make money this way.

You consider internet a platform for fun and not for business

Unlike many people you could be considering internet as a place to play games, chat with friends, listen music and watch movies. You never consider this place where you could find business opportunities to make money online. So if you have such a mindset you are bound to reject the idea that the web could help you in making money online and has a number of opportunities for your extra income. Whenever you come on the internet, you simply waste time, talking to weird people over social media or simply watching meaningless movies. In other words, you consider web as a source of entertainment and not business. This could be the biggest hurdle that keeps you away from the opportunities of making money online.

Not learning from successful people making money online

People who are seen with a success in making money online always have someone as mentor to guide them. This means, you are supposed to learn a lot from people who have successful stories of making money online. If you still not are able to make money online, you may not be in the position of affording anyone to call as your mentor who can guide in this domain. But you still have options, if you see someone good in making money in your friend circle or among your colleagues ask them to mentor you. You could find a number of success stories online, who have shared huge amount of information over the web. Make sure you keep on reading their blogs on a daily basis, try their tips and tricks to make money. Yet, if you remain to be a self centered person who simply want to create your own success story of making money online without any help or a mentor and trying wrong things, you will not be able to earn additional bucks over the web.

Not willing to invest anything

In order to earn online, you are supposed to invest good amount of your time and some amount of your money. However, if you fail to do both of these things and simply look for the ways to make money online without putting your efforts and money then your dream can never become a reality.

Final word

You have now checked few of the possible reasons of not making money, hence it’s time to introspect yourself and get rid of these things to start earning additional bucks from the web. Keep putting your efforts and money with consistency and patience and soon you would realize you have started making money online.

Image by dorena-wm

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In order to keep those readers you will need to keep them excited about your blog so that they want to keep coming back.

There are many things that you can do to help that happen, and quite a  few are automated so once you set them up you don’t have to think about them anymore!

Apply as many of the following to your blog and watch many more visitors return to your blog! I’ve seen it happen with my blog so I know that it works!

Appealing design

The first thing that a new visitor will notice the design of your blog. Are your colors easy on the eye? Are there designs that are distracting? Is the layout appealing to the eye? First impressions are important if you want to be given the chance to give second and third impressions.

Valuable content

You’ve heard it more times than you can count: content is king – or queen! You may have the most appealing blog in cyberspace but if you are not offering your readers something that they value then they won’t come back. Do they want to be entertained? Do they want tips on something? Do they want advice? Be sure that you are providing what they want or they will find it somewhere else.

Reply to comments

When you have someone who likes your design and content they will likely leave a comment in response to your post. You need to reply to their comments, otherwise it’s no different than ignoring someone who responds to you in person.

Email your replies

Most people won’t come back to see if you’ve replied, who has time for that? You want them to know that you replied to their comment so you want your reply to be emailed to them. There are plugins which will do this for you, the one that I prefer is CommentLuv Premium. One thing that is nice about it is that you can reply to specific blog posts from either your dashboard or your blog itself.

Comment on their blogs

In addition to replying to their comments on your blog it’s a good idea to visit their blog and leave a comment for them. You can learn a lot from what they are posting on their blogs, especially if they are in the same or a similar niche as you are. This is one that I am working on for my blog but I do want to grow in showing my readers appreciation in this way.

Have desirable opt-in

Offer an opt-in that your readers will be interested in. In my case currently I have an ebook that I wrote that covers a topic that is valuable to any range of my niche: personal growth, blogging, entrepreneurship. The book is called Powerful Thinking, Successful Living – something that would help anyone out!

You can have an ebook that you wrote, a series of emails that are a training series or boot camp, an audio that you create, or even something that you didn’t create that has free distribution rights. I recommend creating your own product though, use another product only for a short time until you get your own product because the other products will point your readers to the product author’s products.

Have a list

An opt-in is pretty pointless if you aren’t creating a list for yourself. You will need some auto-responder service to collect the list for you to send out emails and newsletters to. There are plenty to choose from, most are paid but there are a few free ones out there too for anyone beginning their list. You will probably have ads but they shouldn’t be overwhelming. I use MailChimp for my free autoresponder and it’s working well for me.

Facebook page

Your blog should work to create a sense of community but a Facebook page is a great way to not only update people on your new blog posts but also a completely different way to interact with your readers. I’ve had a fanpage for a short while and have found it be a fun and useful experience in many ways!

Social media buttons

Have social media buttons above the fold (where readers can see them without needing to scroll down) so that they can connect to you on facebook, twitter, etc. and receive your posts letting your followers know about your new blog posts.

There are many ways to bring readers back, share your ideas in the comments!

To your success,

(Image Source)

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Here are some of the ways you can make more money from your site using WordPress plugins.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a kind of marketing which involves promoting other people’s products and services. Any time you generate a lead or make a sale, you get paid a commission. WordPress has a wide range of plugins which can help customize your site. For instance, you use plugins to position your ads prominently on your pages, thus making them more visible to visitors. This increases your chances of making more sales, and thus earning higher commissions.

2. Search engine optimization

People use specific keywords and phrases when looking for information online. For instance, someone looking for an interior designer in Las Vegas might type ‘Las Vegas interior designer’ in the search box of a search engine. Search engine optimization will make it easy for people to find your business when they search using relevant keywords. WordPress offers a wide range of plugins which can be useful for optimizing your site. The more visitors you receive on your site, the more money you are likely to make.

3. Subscription forms

Having a subscription form on your site makes it easy to gather contact details from your visitors. You can use one of the many WordPress plugins to create a subscription form. The contact details collected can be used to send subscribers information products, email newsletters and free gifts. As you build strong relationships with your prospects, it will be easier to convert them into actual customers.

4. Social media

Social media has become an increasingly popular marketing tool for many business owners. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ can be very effective channels for interacting with people and promoting your business. WordPress has several plugins which allow your visitors to share information on your site with others in their social networks. You can use these plugins to add social media widgets such as Google+ share buttons on your site. When your information is easily sharable, you are likely to generate more income.

5. Ecommerce products

WordPress has several plugins which can help add products to an ecommerce site. These plugins are usually compatible with merchant processing services such as PayPal, as well as shopping cart software. In addition, there are advanced plugins which can be used to customize tax and shipping details, thus enabling you to transact with customers from all over the world.

6. Forum creation

Having forums on your site is another way of generating income. You could charge people a small membership fee to access the resources available in the forum. Alternatively, you could allow people to join the forum at no cost, and then make charge a fee for advertisements. WordPress has a number of plugins which can be used to build forums where people can interact with each other.

7. Membership sites

You can easily convert your site into a membership site using WordPress plug-ins. Usually, membership sites are divided into different levels, each with a varying price. Members at each level will have access to different reports, videos, eBooks and audio files, among other products. WordPress plugins allow you to create each tier of membership and make an income from regular subscription fees.

Zubin Kutar is the founder of an internet marketing blog where accomplished writers and bloggers share their tips, strategies and stories. Click here to read some of his inspiring articles.

PS: Would you like to win one of Stacy’s novels? Enter for your chance!

*

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What’s your story?

I’m not talking about what you read before going to bed. I mean the story that you tell yourself and may not even aware that you are telling yourself about yourself.

Is your story a story of success or failure? Greatness or mediocrity? I hope it’s a story of success and greatness!

If it’s not, don’t despair. You can put down your current story and pick up a new one and make that your story. Even if you don’t believe your new story just yet, keep reading it to yourself and you will begin to believe it – and live it!

Your Story Matters

As you go through your day, listen carefully to your inner dialogue. You don’t need to do anything about it just yet, simply listen to it and pay attention to the type of story it is.

I suggest that you write as many down as you can. It can really help to see it in writing and to take it a step further to say it aloud. Then you will find out for certain if you are telling yourself the story that you want to tell yourself or the story that you think you truly deserve to hear.

How to Rewrite Your Story

If you are telling yourself a story that you don’t want you can change it! I used to tell myself a very negative story, it was common for me to say things like: I can’t do it. Why even try? I’m so stupid. I’ll never…

I’m so glad that is not my story now and that I made the effort to change it! I was not doing myself any favors thinking like that. Now I choose to think positive thoughts and tell myself an encouraging story about myself. I know I can handle challenges, I can react well in stressful situations, I can have success, I am intelligent, etc.

If you would like a place to start begin using affirmations or download my free ebook Powerful Thinking, Successful Living.

Remember: whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t – you’re right!

What is your story? Is it where you want it? If you have changed it, please share about it. It could help someone!

To your success,

PS: If you liked this post please share!

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