Harley-Davidson, Please Tell Me It's Not So….

Lately Harley-Davidson has been getting some sad press saying the bike is over the hill , with articles saying it’s the motorcycle of the past.  Once considered a luxury bike, it now is becoming in some eyes a bike your “grandfather” would ride.  Well it is true that many of us “active boomers ” are grandparents, but please don’t tell me that HD will be a company statistic because of it.  Although their stock is down and sales might be slumping, I’m still behind them 100 percent!

In fact, we just went on the first ride of the season this past weekend, now that the weather is warming up.  In my opinion, there is no better way to travel and see the sights.  You not only see the sights, but feel them (whether warm or cold) you can smell them (whether the salt air at the ocean, the pines in the mountains, or sweet oranges like this past weekend in the groves).  It is true ladies that it is tough on the complexion – but I’d rather look ten years older than I am, and be ten years younger in my mental health.  Did I mention the wildflowers were spectacular this past weekend?

While many people love to exercise to clear their head, my ZEN time is on the back of a bike .  We have a number of ladies who ride their own bike with us, but I’d rather be a passenger so I don’t need to concentrate!  I can put a question in my mind when we start, and without realizing it I have formulated an answer or approach to that question by the end of the day.  Some things I reflect on might be:

• What’s the best use of my marketing dollars this month?
• How will I schedule my time to fit in social networking ?
• What will our household be like in a couple of months when our two college graduates move back home?
• What new skills should I learn this month?
• What new plants do I want to try in the garden this year?
• Can I add more volunteer hours to my week or not?

One of the other great benefits of riding is to just get out and clear the cobwebs in my mind.  My husband and I have some of our best talks then too, while we’re relaxed, just the two of us taking in the sights – plus we always meet some incredible people on the road!

So as long as Harley is around, as long as our bike runs, and as long as I can swing my leg over the seat, I plan to keep on riding!

What activities allow you to clear your head and feel “Zen like” to you? 

Until next time,  J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

Would You Use a Kindle for Business?

My last post talked about my introduction to the Livescribe Pulse Pen at my Mastermind meeting.  In addition to that cool little “tool”, I was able to play with the Amazon Kindle 2 .  I hadn’t paid too much attention to the first version when it came out, because I’m a fan of actually holding a book when I want to read.  Also, I’m not sure whether I’d use it more for personal than business. Admittedly though, some of the features really impressed me:

• There are several sizes of fonts to choose from. It’s easy to change the size and the color tones used are easy on the eyes.  (I think they should add an option for a “backlit” screen so you could read at night without a light)

• There is access to an on-line dictionary and Wikipedia for those occasions you are needing more information on a word, term or topic

• You can also do some Internet searches (it’s not as powerful as a computer) but it did pull up a number of blogs we searched!

• This is one of my favorite features – the speech-to-text . While it is still somewhat robotic, it’s really not too bad.  So when you are driving you can still make progress on the book you’re “reading” by listening to it.  The next version of “books on tape”! (Did I mention you can speed it up or slow it down, change the volume and listen with headphones?)   Publishers have a choice to offer this feature

• Huge selection of books, magazines and daily newspapers to download.  Many are free, but most have a charge that seems reasonable

• I still like to have the ability to highlight parts of books I want to come back to for reference.  While they do have a feature to do this, it only underlines the parts to “highlight”.  It would be nice if they could add a color to it.  One plus though, you can choose to email the designated highlights (so you can set up documents on your computer with just the items you want to save for reference)

• Here’s a short video that will explain more of the features to you – note the size, battery life and other tips

Does this type of product have personal or business interest to you?  Let me know if you use one and what your experiences have been. 

If you’d like more information here’s a convenient link for you:

Kindle 2: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

Until next time,  J.
“Take control of your destiny or someone else will”

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Your Home-Based Business & Selling With Integrity

If you’ve been watching the news then you see how the media grabs something, hangs on like a pit-bull, and sometimes doesn’t report as objectively as their training has taught them. (My opinion anyway). Not that we aren’t experiencing a time like no other, and that we should be cautious…. If you’ve been looking for a home-based business you’re probably frightened away by some of the "hype" you read as well.

My colleagues, Dr. Bob Clarke and his wife Rosemary address this continue reading »