The Apprentice Marketer Gazette » your life

Life After Sixty! Are New Beginnings Possible?

Fran Civile — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:23:53 +0000

This is a guest post contributed by Betty Jameson

Life after sixty marks some turning points for most people … after all, by sixty many of life’s irreversible choices are already made! You’ve already either had children or not, you’ve either had the career you wanted or you haven’t, you’ve either paid into a mortgage or you haven’t…isn’t it all a bit too late to start to think about new beginnings?

It doesn’t have to be. It is precisely because you have already lived a good proportion of your life that at sixty, you can start to really be yourself. The kids have left home, you’re either retired or gearing up to it, and a whole new world of possibilities is there to be opened.

Because you don’t have to worry any more about getting the kids to school on time or slogging out late nights at work to try and get that promotion, you’re more able to follow your dreams.

What is it that you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t had the chance to? Sixty might be just the right time to think about doing it.

There is a much celebrated poem, Warning, by the British poet Jenny Joseph, in which she describes the freedom she’ll have as she gets older:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.

Later, in the poem, she says:

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

Does that sound familiar? Joseph speaks for many when she describes how she has lived, always having to be sensible and to do the ‘expected’ things. There is a great pressure, when younger, to always be pushing forward on a particular trajectory. At sixty, that pressure is lifted.

After sixty you might be in a better position to enjoy your life

Get out and enjoy doing the things you’ve always wanted to do. It may be difficult to feel that the years are passing, or that you’ve lost your old life, but you cannot do anything about your age. What you can change, is how you use the remaining years of life after sixty you have left!

These days, you’re likely to have quite a few of them. Average life expectancy at birth in the US is now 78, but if you’ve already made it to sixty in relatively good shape, you can expect to live longer than that. These are just some of the things you could do with the ‘extra’ two decades that you’ll have, which those born a couple of generations earlier would not have been able to do.

Start a business

Retirement provides an opportunity to work without needing to worry about making enough to pay the bills. The internet means anyone can be an entrepreneur. If you have a hobby — making jewelry, baking cakes, sculpture — then why not use it to make some money? Very little investment is needed to set up a website and have a home business.

Live abroad

Most of us have unfulfilled travel dreams, and taking lots of long holidays when you retire is great, if you can afford it. It can be more fulfilling and much more affordable to actually live abroad. Some people choose to spend their whole retirement abroad, but that’s not for everyone (especially if you want to be around for the grandchildren).

Spending six months or a year enjoying another culture can be a fantastic experience, and your social security check will go much further in many places than it will in the US.

Write a book

It’s often said that ‘everyone’s got a book in them’. What’s yours? You don’t have to write a novel or even look for a publisher. A book about your life, family and experiences might be just as fun to write, or you might enjoy researching something related to local history or a particular interest. Print on demand publishers can bring it to life for you without much outlay.

Learn a skill

Use your time to do something you’ve always wanted to do, or challenge yourself with something you’d never thought of, from yoga to metalwork!

Betty Jameson is just back from a Caribbean Cruise where she met a couple in their 60′s who were staying in the beautiful Dominican Republic for a month after the cruise finished. Betty, on the other hand, is back to work.

Image by Wikipedia: World Map showing world life expectancy in 2007

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Vibration of the Nation Continues – Do You Recall May 1968?

Fran Civile — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:28:52 +0000

Carl Hoffman, self-appointed historian with a solid knowledge of the 60s era says:

“This month I am looking back at the month and year of May 1968. Do you recall what was going on in your life during that month and year? It is very difficult to pinpoint exactly unless there was an event that was very memorable and you stored it away in your memory bank to be recalled whenever you like.

I do recall the music and events that happened during that period. The Vietnam War was at its highest point as more and more Americans disapproved of our involvement and protests continued across the country.

On May 10, Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the U.S. and North Vietnam and we know how that went and the number one song across the nation was Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey.” The day following that Richard Harris released a song written by Jim Webb, “McArthur’s Park.” To me that was a real dumb song but with a nice melody.

On May 14, the Beatles …”

Listen to some songs and read much more at The 60s Official Site Blog …

Image by kevindooley via Flickr

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Retirement:Are You Getting The Life you Wished For?

Fran Civile — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:03:17 +0000

What’s that saying? Be careful what you wish for?

Retirement, the beacon of hope that winked at you for the past four or five years? Well, it finally was more like blinking and getting dimmer amidst more pressing signals: emails, telephone calls, 401k after shocks, official forms to fill out, and then finally goodbyes, laughter and tears, well-wishers envious or gloating in their youthful and blissful ignorance.

After a long and fulfilling work life, this is it … you’re free!

No alarm clock, no deadlines, no demands on your time! Is that great or what? Yes it is, at least for a few weeks or months, especially if you have a partner to share this new independence.

Times when you miss your busy life?

There are days though when you’re feeling lonely, lost and at odds with the perspective of having twenty or more years to look forward to … You do look forward, don’t you? Well yeah and when you do, you realize that a social security check does not meet all your needs – you’re eligible for Medicare but a Supplemental Policy is needed in order to have full coverage benefits.

Boomers who follow healthy eating and exercising guidelines, can expect to live until at least age 85!

If you’re the kind person who enjoys shopping with friends, playing a little golf, visiting the gym, there is plenty to fill your days but they take money! On the other hand you might be one of the boomers who contribute to children’s or grandchildren’s education … you’re involved in sports, you like to travel … you like nice clothes, you want to enjoy this wonderful new phase of your life, but how long can you afford it all?

You realize that having a part-time job might be the answer

For the 65-yr old boomer who would like to get out of the house and spend a few hours a week interacting with other people, it’s good to know that many companies these days only need part time help and they usually value the work ethics and experience a mature person brings to a company.

Seeking a part-time income could be a sweet experience devoid of all the urgency and pressing worries of earlier years when being able to pay the next month’s rent or mortgage interfered with the freedom to wait for a better opportunity.

What if you’re one of the boomers who doesn’t want to commute?

Not ever again, not for money, friendship, companionship or personal satisfaction! You’ve looked forward to this time of your life and you’re darn well going to make the best of it! You’re in luck, there are many ways to make money from home on the Internet.

You can have it all, retirement plus extra income and the freedom to be your own boss … finally!

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Freelance Writing and Job Sites Supplement Your Retirement Income

Fran Civile — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:04:49 +0000

Although it is sometimes thought that these jobs don’t pay as well, getting a freelance writing gig from a Job Site bid will give you experience and the opportunity to get a good rating from a satisfied client.

ELance

I want to share information about how to navigate the Elance Job Site.

My thoughts here are slanted toward a write-for-pay business because that is what I do but Elance has many, many work categories listed besides writing.

It’s a fact that you need some client feedback to help you get writing gigs and if you don’t have that or some work to show a prospective client it might take you longer to get a freelance writing order; besides it’s not unusual to have a mutually satisfactory client/worker relationship continue outside of Elance, and save the fees!

I have checked around the internet for opinions about Elance and found contradictory opinions:

It takes too much time to submit bids … answered by ‘they’re trying to get results with a free account’. The cost of the Professional category is $10 a month … that allows for:

Submit Proposals to Clients: up to 25

Profile Keywords: 10 (appear in more search results)

Hosted Portfolio

Add More Categories and Proposals

Preferred Placement in Search Results

I think it’s worth investing the $10 for one month membership to check the ins and outs of this freelance job site,and find out if this is the path to enhancing your life with some extra income.

You could also get up to 40 proposals to clients with 15 profile keywords for $20/month.

One comment was that it takes up to 20 bids to get an job awarded! I wonder if in those cases,it could mean that the job seeker didn’t:

Use adequate criteria in picking jobs to bid on?
Or was the submission missing important information, based on the assumption that the client would take the time to read the bidder’s profile
Or was the information in the proposal relevant to the job, without any superfluous details?

If you decide to try Elance out make sure you are not making these common mistakes:

Assuming the buyer is going to read your profile. They might, but they might not, so always include pertinent information in your proposal!

Not responding to specific points in the job description!

Not reading the entire job posting so you can address the buyer’s specific requirements!

Not providing relevant samples of your work with your bid, although you have already included those in your portfolio!

You cannot be sure buyers will check out your Elance portfolio so it’s a good idea to include one or two great samples with your proposal. This saves the buyer time, and reflects well on you!

If you want more, I highly recommend a home study course on how to make money on Elance. The course features Trish Lambert, a 6-figure Elancer who won $20,000 worth of projects on her first six weeks on Elance.

Trish spills the beans on her strategies, such as:

How to find quality projects in Elance (they’re not all junk!)
How to make prospects want to hire you, even if you bid higher than others
How to get feedback even if you’ve never won a bid before
A formula for determining your professional rates

And much more. You’ll find that the same principles Lexi and Trish
teach will work in other bidding sites as well, such as
ODesk and Rentacoder.

You’ll be a few jumps ahead of most newbie bidders when
you’ve read:How to Make Money on Elance … Just check it out
and decide!

Fran

PS. I will be glad to answer any questions you leave in a comment … don’t hesitate to ask!

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Taking Your Home Business Inventory for Clarity

Fran Civile — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:33:28 +0000

Today, I have something very special to share with you! I can’t explain it any better way than to quote Melissa Ingold (Internet Marketing Sweetie)

“Last week I shared a video with you about a 6-week program
that I would be giving you access to at no-cost, to help you get
your business into shape for 2011 (which is only 2 1/2 months away)

This 6 week self-study program will show your readers how to find
out what’s really working in their business, clear out the things
that might be keeping them from greater success and remodel their business for long-term success.”

Week 1: Taking Your Business Inventory
Week 2: Operation Clean Out
Week 3: Maximizing Efficiency
Week 4: Time for Remodeling
Week 5: Add-Ons & Construction
Week 6: Long-Term Planning

But naturally, not everyone is going to be able to take part in this program. If you’re interested in participating simply visit the Internet Marketing Sweetie’s blog where a private page with a video explains this program, and where you’ll be able to download each week’s lesson.

You can download Week 1:Taking Your Business Inventory right there.

You’ll get a chance to read the comments from readers who have previously followed this course successfully. I also have gone through it in 2008 and I’m doing it again! It’s nice to get some direction from an experienced marketer to help clear some of the confusion or overwhelm feeling that busy people experience sometimes!

Everything Melissa Ingold produces is professional and well-written and heartily endorse this course. Better not delay, get it soon … it might make your business life easier!

Fran

Melissa Ingold is the CEO of Internet Marketing Sweetie, and she is a full-time entrepreneur with over 8 years of experience working online. She has built a successful online business through information product marketing, affiliate marketing & management, membership sites, and content marketing.

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Can Reading a Story Inspire Almost Immediate Good Fortune?-part 5

Fran Civile — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:53:38 +0000

Yesterday’s last words Sturtevant stared at me in wild surprise

“All right,” he said. “The others will excuse me for a few moments, I think. Sit down here, and you shall have it. I found it pasted in an old scrapbook I purchased in Ann Street, for three cents and there isn’t a thing about it by which one can get any idea in what publication it originally appeared, or who wrote it.

When I discovered it, I began casually to read it, and in a moment I was interested. Before I left it, I had read it through many times, so that I could repeat it almost word for word. It affected me strangely, -as if I had come in contact with some strong personality.

There seems to be in the story a personal element that applies to every one who reads it. Well, after I had read it several times, I began to think it over. I couldn’t stay in the house, so I seized my coat and hat and went out. I must have walked several miles, buoyantly, without realizing that I was the same man, who, in only a short time before, had been in the depths of despondency.

That was the day I met you here, -you remember.” We were interrupted at that instant by a uniformed messenger, who handed Sturtevant a telegram. It was from his chief, and demanded his instant attendance at the office. The sender had already been delayed an hour, and there was no help for it; he must go at once. “Too bad!” said Sturtevant, rising and extending his hand.

“Tell you what I’ll do, old chap. I’m not likely to be gone any more than an hour or two. You take my key and wait for me in my room. In the escritoire near the window you will find an old scrapbook bound in rawhide. It was manufactured, I have no doubt, by the author of the magic story. Wait for me in my room until I return.”

I found the book without difficulty. It was a quaint, home-made affair, covered, as Sturtevant had said, with rawhide, and bound with leather thongs. The pages formed an odd combination of yellow paper, vellum and homemade parchment. I found the story, curiously printed on the last named material. It was quaint and strange.

Evidently, the printer had “set” it under the supervision of the writer. The phraseology was an unusual combination of seventeenth and eighteenth century mannerisms, and the interpolation of italics and capitals could have originated in no other brain than that of its author.

In reproducing the following story, the peculiarities of type, etc. are eliminated, but in other respects it remains unchanged.

The Magic Story
By Author Unknown

Inasmuch as I have evolved from my experience the one great secret of success for all worldly undertakings, I deem it wise, now that the number of my days is nearly counted, to give to the generations that are to follow me the benefit of whatsoever knowledge I possess. I do not apologize for the manner of my expression, nor for the lack of literary merit, the latter being, I wot, its own apology.

Tools much heavier than the pen have been my portion, and moreover, the weight of years has somewhat palsied the hand and brain; nevertheless, the fact I can tell, and what I deem the meat within the nut.

What mattereth it, in what manner the shell be broken, so that the meat be obtained and rendered useful? I doubt not that I shall use, in the telling, expressions that have clung to my memory since childhood; for, when men attain the number of my years, happenings of youth are like to be clearer to their perceptions than are events of recent date; nor doth it matter much how a thought is expressed, if it be wholesome and helpful, and findeth the understanding.

Much have I wearied my brain anent the question, how best to describe this recipe for success that I have discovered, and it seemeth advisable to give it as it came to me; that is, if I relate somewhat of the story of my life, the directions for agglomerating the substances, and supplying the seasoning for the accomplishment of the dish, will plainly be perceived.

Happen they may; and that men may be born generations after I am dust, who will live to bless me for the words I write.

* * *
read more to-morrow >>>> cont’d 6

I’m posting this 25-page ebook in serial form. I hope you enjoy this quaint story as much as I did!

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Working for Yourself… Could you Truly Cut it? part 1

Fran Civile — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:30:46 +0000

The well-known infopreneur Kevin Riley has written many ebooks and reports about publishing information products and being a succcessful entrepreneur.

In Working for Yourself.pdf a 14 page pdf report, Kevin lists 19 questions you could ask yourself if you’re thinking of making a change in your life. He suggests that you consider each statement in this checklist, and then check off to what degree it applies to you:

Y = “Yes, this is what I’m like.”
S = “Somewhat, and I feel I could develop this trait.”
N = “No, I’m not like this at all.”

I’m listing 6 of Kevin’s questions here and you can decide if it fits your purpose. This is a
free report and you can download it by clicking here:

Working for Yourself.pdf

1. You are a hard worker
When you first start a home business, you must be ready to sometimes work
longer hours than the regular 9-5. There’s no fellow employee or boss to
take up the slack. You are the one who has to put in the extra hours.
If you are still working a 9-5 job while starting your business, are you
willing and able to sacrifice some of your leisure time? Can you invest
an extra 2-3 hours per day into building your business?
The time you invest in your business during the building phase will pay
off with big dividends later, when you can take long vacations and have
a flexible schedule.

2. You like to take charge
You don’t wait for others to make the decision or take the lead.
Successful entrepreneurs see an opportunity, seize it, and take full
responsibility to see it through.
When a task or challenge comes up at work, do you seize the
opportunity and take charge? Or do you wait for someone else to take
the initiative?

3. You are a decision maker
As an entrepreneur, you often have to make important decisions, and
make them quickly. You cannot agonize over decisions, or keep putting
them off.
In business, the old adage “You snooze, you lose!” has a lot of merit to
it. Often, opportunities will present themselves, and you must decide
quickly if they are advantageous for your business.
As the boss, you must make important decisions on a regular basis.

4. You are persistent
Success usually does not come overnight, and quite often it’s only those
who persist and push past obstacles that succeed. If you easily give up,
it will be difficult for you to be successful running your own business.
Successful entrepreneurs carry on and do not let minor obstacles stop
them. They keep their eye on the goal and keep moving towards that
goal, even if they have to take detours to get there.

5. You can weather criticism and rejection
Running your own business is not always smooth sailing. There will
always be those who criticize your decisions or reject your ideas. While
you should always be open to bounce back from criticism and carry on,
you can’t let it stop you.
Successful entrepreneurs don’t take criticism personally. Instead, they
learn and improve from the feedback.

6. You desire to create your own destiny
For successful entrepreneurs, it’s not just about making lots of money.
It’s about being your own boss and enjoying the freedom to run your
business as you see fit. Money is not the only reward.

Y = “Yes, this is what I’m like.”
S = “Somewhat, and I feel I could develop this trait.”
N = “No, I’m not like this at all.”

to be continued…

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The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work

Fran Civile — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:19:27 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this book… I had recently watched an episode of
C-Span Book TV (http://www.booktv.org/) where two authors discussed Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and I was amazed at finding out how this man writing a couple centuries ago about what really makes people happy (he was a moral philosopher before being a political economist ) got it right for us today! My review is coming next…

Starting with a list of 101 items it was instructive to see how `business-like’ Ted started with a list of 101 items he thought would make him happy on his life-journey… he points that buying a Ferrari (which was on the list) was
like an empty calorie and didn’t have much meaning afterwards. But other items on the list had a tremendous impact on his happiness.

List of 6 tenets of happiness as identified by Ted:
1) Life list.
2) Multiple Communities of Interest.
3) Finding Outlets for Self-Expression.
4) Gratitude.
5) Giving Back.
6) Higher Calling.

The author warns readers against over-focusing on one area of life. This is a
problem in many families, when one parent neglects the other parent or if the
family’s children don’t get the attention and love they deserve.

He believes that happiness results from balance between necessary attention to the business of making a living while living a full family life. This book is well worth reading… it’s a good roadmap for anybody trying to create or
maintain that balance.

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