Todd's Blog

Ok, so I've got a little ritual going for the past few months ...

Sometime between the 15th and the 20th, I get my eBay commissions deposited to paypal. A couple of my stores have actually done quite well leading up to Christmas. Since my main source of additional income is still my candle business, I try to use the eBay money to "reinvest" in my business by purchasing useful tools.

This month, I purchased a product called WP-Spinner.

Over the past year or so, I've been fortunate to gain access to quite a bit of PLR article content. However, being on a Mac, none of the "spinning" programs out there will work on my machine (which may actually be a good thing, as I've heard the articles come out pretty mangled). That's why I got WpSpinner. Since it's a word press plug-in, it really doesn't matter what type of machine I'm on.

What the program does, is when I write a post, I just provide alternative words, sentences, paragraphs, or even ent…

Actually, at the moment it will be mommy's new blog. JaidenMorris.com will be all about baby Jaiden (imagine that), with pictures and stories about her life as a baby in the Morris household.


photo by alohateam

I started this blog for several reasons:

I have not been very good lately about getting out my camera and taking pictures. Ana (mommy) will be much more likely to get pictures almost every day
I wanted to find a good excuse to get mommy to start a blog of her own ... this is obviously a topic that she's interested in.
I thought it might be cool for Jaiden to have her very own domain name. And if she decides that she wants her own website when she gets older, she'll have a great big head start.


Not too much over there just yet, but if we get the chance this afternoon, I'll be (trying) to teach Ana how to upload pictures and videos to her new blog. Once she gets a few posts up, I'd very much appreciate if you'd stop by and say hello (you know, encourage the …

Almost from the moment we become aware of the idea of being a "blogger", we are told that Content is King.

The problem is, most of us have no idea exactly what that really means.

Way too many of us set out into the world with a goal of becoming a "professional" writer. We strive to write quality content so that our readers will come back again and again ... and more importantly, recommend our brilliant writing to others.

Most of us fall flat on our face in this endeavor.

The biggest problem isn't that quality content isn't worth striving for, or that it's necessarily hard to write. No, the thing that leads many of us down the road to mediocrity is that the pursuit of "quality" is a perfect recipe for writer's block.

We all have many many great ideas in our heads; but most never see the light of day, because they never make it out of our heads ... What if my article isn't "good enough"? What if nobody reads it? Or even worse, w…

Ok be honest, how many of you made New Year's resolutions to get in better shape?

I didn't really make a resolution. However, despite the fact that we do a fairly intense workout up at work a couple of days a week, I've pretty much always struggled when it comes running. I'm slow, and to be perfectly honest I never really enjoyed it.

Well, I'm finally getting to the point where even though running is still not "fun" for me, I do actually look forward to getting out and just relaxing my mind for 45 minutes or so. Obviously I'm not any kind of an expert when it comes to running, so take the following advise for what it's worth. I just wanted to share a couple of things that have helped me improve my endurance and speed, and even lose body fat, over the past couple of months.


photo credit: Holton Gallery


Get a good pair of shoes - In addition to giving your feet better support and cushion, a quality pair of shoes is also likely to have a psychologica…

My step-son Johnathan loves to go around telling his friends that we "have a lot of money".

Now, to an 11 year old, I suppose that could very well feel true. And in a way, he does have a point.

However ...

The more money you make, the more money you spend

As illogical as that statement may seem to some, I honestly don't think a more true sentence has ever been uttered.

I got a first hand view of this concept just last night when Justin (my 16 year old), had a school assignment to make a budget. It was suggested that he ask his parents to estimate their own expenses.

At first, he was utterly amazed by how much money we make each month.

Then, just a few minutes later, he was equally stunned by the relatively small percentage that was actually left after savings, taxes and paying all the bills.

... unfortunately, I wasn't as surprised as Justin.

I think I actually have a pretty good handle on bringing in additional income.

However, much like our own US Government, it's the …