How To Find The Right Virtual Assistant For Your Needs

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Your startup or business has gotten big enough that you’re stretched every which way—congratulations on the success. When the weight of your career rests itself as the world did on the shoulders of Atlas, you find yourself turning away work, or you’re just too tired to continue and burn the midnight oil. This is what success feels like, but you don’t have to go it alone. Wheather you're at a physical location or not, if you are spinning your wheels to get everything done and it’s too much for you to handle by yourself—you need a virtual assistant (VA).

How To Find Your Best Fit

Most VA’s have come from an office setting cognizant of how they setup their office; they take the best parts of their work experience, and culminate it into their personal package. Without corporate regulations and standards, a freelancing VA is able to bring their unique services to you. That’s something that a company just can’t do.

If you’re looking to take a load off of your shoulders and hire a VA, here’s how you should go about doing so:

  • Interview Like There’s No Tomorrow: Even if you interview a dozen excellent candidates for your personal or business VA, there’s a certain understanding that some VA’s are more experienced than others. This can come down to previous industry experience meshing with your current requirements, or anything in between. Schedule an online interview via webcam, and get a feel for how your potential VA is going to perform for you.
  • Assemble Your Top Requirements: If you’re picky when it comes to employing anyone, that’s okay—most of us are. Your potential VA may have the personality, persistence, and dedication that you need, but may not hit every single requirement you have. Make a detailed list of your absolute, do-or-die, cannot-live-without requirements for a VA, and secondary, wish-list type requirements. If they hit each of your dire marks, they’re in the running. The rest are just perks.
  • Compare Schedules and Time Zones: Is your VA willing to stay up until 1:00 AM in Florida, while it’s 7:00 AM for you in London? If you need someone who’s on-camera for the duration, you may want to consider just what time zone changes apply. If your VA is willing and able to stretch their schedule to meet yours, that shows promise. A good VA is always willing to go the extra mile.

Freelancing Platforms: Third-Rate Virtual Assistant Candidates

Thanks to numerous freelancing platforms, most notably, Freelancer, Upwork, and Fiverr, freelance services have plummeted to all-time lows. Everyone is in constant competition with one another to provide the lowest prices and garner the most work. You came here for a reason, right? Too much work equals a lack in quality, exhaustion, and more. Those low-hanging fruit freelancers are running themselves ragged to secure sales. Here’s the problem: they need ten times as many clients to make the amount of money they need, and they lose steam very quickly.

A good VA will be able to schedule his or her work week, and put quality above quantity. Through those platforms and others, people sell themselves short. In any line of work, you have to know one thing before you get started: how much you’re worth. Any self-respecting professional understands that they need to reach a certain level to break even, and make enough profit that they are happy with their tasks, and bring excellence to their clients.

Skillset

Personalities and schedule flexibility definitely matter, but when it comes down to it, you need someone who possesses the skills that you need. You need a VA that is self-motivated, knows what to do, and how to do it properly. If you’re going to hire a self-employed VA, make sure they have a website that lists their prices and a detailed outline of their skills.  Also, make sure they are readily available to answer your questions and should have a chat feature.

The Final Note

When you hire a VA, you save a ton of money viruses hiring an employee. The benefits of hiring a VA are pretty extensive.

  • No Space: The beauty of a virtual assistant is, well, the virtual element. You don’t need to purchase or assign them a desk or rent an office space.
  • No Equipment Costs: A VA has his or her own computer, office supplies, and software programs, so you don’t have to worry about renewing subscriptions, paying for extra electricity to run lights or equipment, or anything else in between.
  • No Benefits: Part of the deal when hiring a VA is they're a freelancer: which means you don't have to worry about a retirement plan, health care program, vacation or sick leave. Better yet you aren't responsible for Medicare or Social Security taxes. When you hire a Virtual Assistant, it might cost you more per hour initially, but in the long run, the savings will add up quickly. The huge percentage of payments that you pay for employees gets to stay in your pocket. You can expect to put back 20-30% back into your payroll not having to pay for all those employee benefits.

You get what you pay for: in the world of freelancing, that is practically gospel. Those who are serious about their careers will make that fact apparent, dissolving your worry. Take some weight off, or a day off—your VA has it covered.

Why Use Gmail

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With all the different fee email services out there why should you use Gmail?  Gmail isn’t just an email account. There are so many other features that come with a Gmail account that makes life easier.   Below are the top nine reasons why you should use Gmail.

 

  1. Gmail uses labels and filters to help you organize email easier. An email can have several labels. Filters and labels allows you to forget about putting email in certain folders.  It automatically sends the email to the appropriate assigned folder.
  2. You can use Google SEARCH within Gmail to find the exact message you want – no matter when it was sent or received.
  3. There is a cool chat feature within the Gmail interface you can chat to friends or colleges right on you Gmail account page. You can also do a video chat.
  4. Google Voice is also another cool feature. You can sign up for a free phone number and call people from your computer or cell phone using that number.
  5. Google Docs is also available to you free, which has a word processor, along with Google sheets, which is like Microsoft Excel, and Google slides, which is similar to Microsoft’s PowerPoint.
  6. Google Drive is another feature where you can store documents and share for others to read or edit in real time.
  7. There are many extensions that you can add to your Gmail account to make it more powerful, such as Gmail with Boomerang lets you send emails in the future. You don’t want to forget a birthday or a meeting reminder? Or you want to send an email at a specific time? Boomerang lets you do it!
  8. Fetch your other mail: Gmail feature is Mail Fetcher, which can check up to five other email accounts and download all that mail into your Gmail. To help keep things organized, Mail Fetcher can automatically label and archive all this incoming mail.
  9. Gmail restricts downloads from automatically starting, just in case you open an infected email, and blocks images until you allow them to be seen.

 

With all these features and much more, why wouldn’t you want to use Gmail?

Karen Beth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protecting your online accounts using two-factor authentication

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Protecting your accounts online is a must in this day and age. Having only a password to login to your accounts isn’t enough anymore with all the hackers trying to steal your identification.  You need to have a two-factor authentication set up on your accounts.  You bank probably already has a two-factor authentication set up.  Upon Logging into your bank, you most likely have to provide a password and then they ask you to provide an email address or phone number so they can send you a code to enter in order to access your account information.  If you want to bypass this step, make sure you check the box asking if this is a personal computer, and the server will remember your device and ip address the next time you login.

 

Other accounts other than just financial also needs two-factor authentication to protect your information. Some that come to mind are Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Basically, any account that has your personal information you login to, needs a two-factor authentication.

 

How hard is it to set up a two-factor authentication on accounts?

Well it just depends upon the account. So how does two-factor authentication work? Basically, it requires not one but two pieces of privileged information before granting access to an online account. For Example, if you already have set up two-factor authentication for your Google account, and a hacker is trying to break into your Gmail he would need your email address, password and the code set up for the two-factor authentication.  It makes it much harder for them to figure out all the elements needed to login to your account. In the case of Google accounts, the second element is a unique security code that’s sent directly to your cell phone via text messaging.

Getting started takes a little bit of time on your part. Most major sites and services offer two-factor authentication as an optional security feature, so you need to log into your various accounts and locate the security settings to find it.

Two-factor authentication might seem like a hassle to set up, however, think about how much of a hassle it will be when your accounts does get hacked.

Karen Beth

How To Use Technology To Keep You Organized

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home-office-336377__340Technology Is Your Best Friend When It Comes To Getting Organized. I can remember when I had to balance my checkbook using paper and pen. And carried a paper calendar in my purse everywhere I went to make sure I didn’t forget anything. The aggravation alone, of pulling out my calendar, and trying to find a pen, was enough to make me what to pull out my hair when I had to update something or add a new appointment. I would cringe every time I had to scratch something out and change the date. My calendar looked like a two-year-old had colored all over the pages.

I embraced the technology age with open arms. My life has become a lot less stressful and easier to manage since the invention of all the gadgets we have available to us now. I don’t have to worry about checking if I am missing an appointment, my Google Calendar sends an automated reminder of upcoming appointments to jog my memory. Instead of pulling out pen and paper, I just pull out my phone and enter the information I need to remember, and voilà, I can forget about it. My trusty little calendar has all the information stored and won’t let me forget a thing.

There are several apps out there that can do just about anything you can imagine as far as keeping you organized. My favorite online tool for organization and keeping me sane is Google.

Calendar

With Google’s calendar, you can quickly access it from your computer, phone or tablet; they sync together, so any changes you make, on any one of your devices, automatically updates to your to all of your devices. You can color code any event, so when you quickly glance at it, you can tell if there are any appointments, birthdays, or chores you have to remember. It truly is an amazing tool to keep you organized and all of your appointments in check.
In addition to the features I’ve already mentioned, you can share your calendar(s) with others! This is extremely helpful when you have to keep your family informed of coming up events.

Email

Email isn’t just tied to your computer anymore; you can also sync email to your smartphone. Don’t have time to sit down in front of your computer and go through all your emails? Not a problem! Download an email app that handles all of your email accounts in one location. Then when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to be called back, you can catch up on all those emails. In today’s world, it’s all about multi-tasking and staying organized. The more tools you use, the less stressed and hectic your life becomes.

Other great tools

In order to stay organized, you must use tools that you like, or you will never use them. So before you start downloading a million apps, ask your friends which ones they use, or read the reviews. A few of my favorite that I can’t live without are:

1. Evernote – Evernote is amazing, it can store photos, spreadsheets, emails, notes, anything you can imagine. It even has notebooks to help keep you organized, along with tags so you can quickly find that note you wrote two years ago. Instead of having everything saved in folders all over your computer, use Evernote to keep you organized. And the best thing about Evernote is it syncs to all of your devices. So if you need to access something while you’re away from your computer, you have it on your smartphone or tablet. Don’t get caught without valuable information again just because it’s only on your computer at the office or at home.

2. To-Do-Lists – To-Do-Lists are a must, there are several out there that help you remember what’s on the agenda that you have to complete. Personally, I use To-Do-List. It is simple, and straight forward. You can add people to the app and share items with them, so everyone is on the same page about what needs to be accomplished. When someone completes a task, they mark it finished, and it updates the list of what needs to be done and notifies everyone the statuses of each task.

3. Full Contact – Full Contact is an awesome tool to keep all of your contacts in one place. It syncs with your email accounts. When you bring up a contact, you can add notes about the person, invite them to a meeting, and it links all of the social media accounts they belong to so you can follow each of their accounts if you choose.

Organizational tools are meant to help you stay focused and informed about daily tasks that need to be completed, along with helping you remember what you forgot. And all information is synced across all of your devices, so you have all the information you need at your fingertips at all times, which can make you look like a rock star.

Karen Beth

Protecting your computer

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PROTECTING YOUR COMPUTER & KEEPING THE BAD GUYS AWAY

Keeping up with security for your computer can be a very daunting task. Every time you think your computer is secure, hackers can find another hole, or write new code to get into your system and steal information. Even if you’re diligent in keeping up with the security patches and avoiding certain websites you still are vulnerable to an attack. However, securing your computer is an essential part in protecting your privacy, reducing the risk of identity theft, and preventing hackers from taking over your computer.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t leave the front door to your house wide open for thief’s to find so they could wipe you clean. So why leave your computer wide open for Hackers?
There are many potential risks to your computer. Some are more serious than others. They include:

• Malware stealing your passwords and login information
• Ransomware that prevents you from using your computer
• A hacker using your computer to attack others
• Someone breaking into your system and altering files
• Someone stealing your computer and accessing your personal information

There's no guarantee that even with the best precautions some of these things won't happen. However, you can take steps to protect the risks to your computer and your sensitive information just like you take steps to protect you home. Ultimately, the security of your computer is dependent upon you.

Which Operating System Is More Secure?

Your computer's operating system is the main program on your computer. It performs a variety of functions, including determining what types of software you can install, coordinating the applications running on the computer at any given time, and allowing your software applications (web browsers, word processors, and email clients) to operate. Depending on what brand of computer you purchase, will determine which operating system is installed on your computer.

PCs have the Windows operating system. The current Windows operating system is Windows 10. Apple computers use the Mac OS X. Windows operating systems traditionally have been targeted with malware more often than other operating systems. This may be due to the larger base of Windows installations, which makes it a more attractive target. Apple products usually have fewer attacks than Windows computers. However, Apple's Mac OS X is not immune to security flaws. In fact, as more consumers purchase Apple products, malware makers have begun to target Mac OS X.

So the question is, which operating system is more secure?

There's nothing about Apple’s OS X operating system that makes it inherently more secure than Windows. In fact, the only secure operating system is one that isn’t connected to the World Wide Web. However, what’s the purpose of purchasing a computer that won’t be used online? So now the next question comes into play.

Which Internet Browser Is More Secure?

There are many browsers out there that you can choose from. The main three for computers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Fire Fox, and Chrome. Mozilla tends to patch Firefox security vulnerabilities more quickly than Microsoft patches Explorer. One advantage of Firefox is that it is an “open source” program. This allows security professionals to become involved in fixing bugs and building stronger security features. One of the most innovative features of Google Chrome is the sandboxing functionality. Internet Explorer and Firefox run one instance of the browser engine with multiple associated processes. That means that if one or more browser windows or tabs crash or run into issues, it will most likely crash the web browser engine and take down every other instance with it.

No matter which browser you use, it's important that you update it as newer versions come out which address security vulnerabilities. Firefox automatically deliver updates on a fairly frequent schedule, usually every few weeks. Other browsers may not update as frequently and may not update automatically.

What Are Firewalls, Anti-virus Programs, and Anti-malware Programs?

Every user of a personal computer should be familiar with firewalls, anti-virus programs, and anti-malware programs. These programs complement one another and must be used together to provide the highest level of protection to your computer. They are necessary to protect you from threats designed to damage, disrupt, or inflict illegitimate activity on your computer. Make sure your security software is up to date and runs automatically. A firewall helps to prevent data from entering or leaving your computer without your permission. It helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks communications from unauthorized sources.

Anti-virus programs protects you from a computer virus. A virus is a computer program that can do anything that any other program you run on your computer can do. A virus spreads by first infecting files or the system areas of a computer and then makes copies of itself. While some viruses are harmless, others may damage data files, some may destroy files, and others may just spread to other computers. Viruses can destroy your data, slow your computer's performance, or cause your computer to crash.

Anti-malware (anti-spyware) programs protect you from threats including spyware, adware, Trojan horses, and other unwanted programs that may be installed without your knowledge. Once spyware is installed, it may deploy numerous files onto your system. Some of these files are so well hidden that they are difficult to find and remove.

When spyware is running on a computer system, there is almost no data outside of its reach. Commonly targeted data includes your Internet activity, email and contact information, and your keystrokes. Spyware can track your online activity, looking for websites visited, and financial data such as credit card numbers or financial account numbers on your screen, browsing and online purchasing habits, and passwords.

How To Use Your Computer Safely

1. Keep your software up-to-date – Turn on Automatic updates.
2. Use strong passwords – Passwords should always contain at least 8 characters including an upper case and lower case letter, one number, and a special symbol (!@#&).
3. Avoid Spam – Never open an attachment in an email unless you know someone, and even then be careful, they could have been hacked and the hackers are sending email to everyone in their address book.
4. Be skeptical - When in doubt don’t click.
5. Back up all your data – Make a backup of your computer frequently.
6. Make sure you are on the correct website. – Scammers create look-a-like sites that have common misspellings of popular URLs, making you think you are giving your information to someone you trust, when in fact they are collecting your data.
7. Protect sensitive information – Never reveal personal or financial information in an email, and especially don’t click on links to a website. Scammers often send emails that look like they are coming from legitimate businesses that includes a link to a website. If you click on the link it will take you to a spoof site.
8. Turn off your computer or disconnect it from the internet - When you’re done for the day and won’t be using your computer for a long period of time, turn off or disconnect from the internet. Hackers search for unattended computers that they can compromise.
In conclusion, in order to stay safe on the net you must take precautions to keep the bad guys out, just like you do to protect your home. Always be safe and happy surfing.

Click on the image to check out AVG

Karen Beth

How to See Auras and What Their Colors Mean – Lesson 3

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Aura'sThe Colors of our Auras

My last post was on how to see auras and energy. This post I’m going to explain about the colors of our aura, and what they mean. Along with how to see another persons aura.
Everyone has an aura it is our life force. Knowing this and being able to look at someone and see the color of their aura can help us determine what state of mind they are in; for instance, If someone has a muddy red color around them, usually they’re angry and are going to fly off the handle if confronted. Blue usually is a peaceful color, connection to one’s higherself. Below are instructions on how to see Auras.
How to see another person’s Aura
The best way to be able to see someone’s aura is to look directly above the top of someone’s head and look beyond, sort of like daydreaming. Try to unfocused your eyes, as if you’re not looking at anything at all. You will start to see an energy outline around the person. This is their aura. When you’re first starting out trying to see another persons aura, it is best to have a very soft illuminated background with no shadows. A blue sky or a white wall works best.
How to see your own Aura
Stand in front of a good size mirror, make sure the background behind you is plain white or a light color and there are no shadows. Then follow the same instructions on how to see another person’s aura.
PRACTICE, the techniques above for at least ten to fifteen minutes a day, and before long, you will be able to see aura’s around anyone at will.
Below is a small chart of the basic aura colors and their meanings.
Red – Powerful, energetic, competitive, sexual, passionate
Deep Red – Grounded, realistic, active, strong will power, survival-oriented.
Muddy red – Anger, anxiety or nervousness; danger stay away
Pink – Loving, tender, sensitive, sensual, affection, romantic relationship.
Dark Pink – Immaturity and or dishonest nature
Orange – Confidence or creative abilities.
Orange-yellow – Creative, intelligent, detail oriented, perfectionist, scientific.
Light yellow – Emerging psychic and spiritual awareness, optimism and hopefulness.
Bright yellow – Struggling to maintain power and control in a personal or business relationship, fear of losing control, prestige, respect, or power.
Gold/shiny and bright – Spiritual energy activated and awakened. Connected to one’s higher-self.
Dark brownish yellow – A student, or one who is studying trying to make up for lost time by learning everything all at once.
Green – Represents growth and balance
Bright emerald green – A healer, someone who enjoys helping people
Dark forest green – Jealousy, resentment, feeling like a victim of the world. Blaming self or others, insecurity and low self-esteem, lack of understanding personal responsibility.
Soft Blue – Peacefulness, clarity, truthful, intuitive, connected to one’s higher-self.
Bright royal blue – Clairvoyant, highly spiritual nature.
Dark or muddy blue – Fear of the future, fear of self expression, fear of facing or speaking the truth.
Violet – Psychic power of atonement with self, intuitive, visionary, futuristic ideas, artistic.
Lavender – Imagination, visionary, daydreamer
Silver – Abundance, both spiritual and physical, and or awakening to one’s higher-self
Gray – Health problems
Black – Draws or pulls energy of others into themselves. Causes chaos, anger, resentment.
White – Purity and truth, angelic qualities. Usually seen around newborns.
These are just some of the colors you can see in auras. If you want to learn more about the colors of Auras, I suggest the book The Awakened Aura: Experiencing the Evolution of Your Energy Body. You can find the book on the second page of the recommended books below.
Until next time, stay safe, think positive, and share the wonders of connecting to your higher-self.
Karen Beth

 

How To See Energy And Your Aura – Lesson 2

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3760552_f260Seeing Energy

This week we are going to explore energy some more, but this time instead of feeling it we are going to actually see it. Wow, something you can feel and see it must be real. If you are the type of person that has to see or feel things in order to believe something is real this is for you.
Energy is your life force you can feel it and see it if you know how. This is what keeps us alive, other than our body system of course. You have heard of people dying right after a loved one has passed and nothing physical was wrong with them. The reason this happens sometimes is because the soul, or energy of the being so to speak has given up and no longer wishes to exist on this earth plane, and the energy life force of the body stops vibrating, which in turn causes death to the physical body.
Energy can also be seen around trees, rocks, animals, anything that is living, or has been made from something that was living at some point and time. Let me explain this a little more. Let’s take a wooden box, this box was made from a tree, which at one point was alive. The energy of that tree still exists in the box. Energy vibrates, even after something has died, it still exists in the universe.
Last lesson we felt the energy between our hands, this lesson we are going to see it. Are you ready? Here we go.
The easiest way to see energy at first is looking at a tree. It is better if you are sitting in a comfortable position, and try to completely relax. Now look above the tree top, not at the tree top, but just about a ½ to 1 inch above the tree top, clear your mind and take your eyes out of focus, sort of like your day dreaming, look beyond the tree top. What you should be seeing is a white hue around the tree top. At first it might be a small hue, but the longer you look at it the white hue will grow and become larger. This is the tree’s energy field. After a while you will be able to look at the tree’s trunk and see the energy around the trunk also.
You can also see your own energy field which is called an Aura. Aura’s have different colors depending on the mood someone is in, or how spiritual, (closer to their higher-self) they are. If someone is sick, the color of their Aura will change also. At first you will probably only see a white Aura around yourself and others. After you get the hang of it you will be able to see the colors of the Aura.
There are different ways that you can see your Aura easily for the first time. The two ways I’m going to show you are the easiest. The first one you will need a light colored background, such as light blue, tan, white, any light color will do fine.You will also need a mirror. You can do this sitting down or standing up it doesn’t matter just as long as you feel comfortable.
Just like the tree, you are going to look about ½ to 1 inch above your head, stand in front of the mirror and look at the wall not your head. You might need to take your eyes out of focus at first.
Do you see it? What you should be seeing at this moment is a white hue just like the hue around the trees. This is your energy field. Your energy field is all around your body, in-between your fingers, toes, everywhere.
The second way to see your Aura is looking in between your fingers. Hold your hand up and spread your fingers. Now look between your fingers, look beyond the space between your fingers, you might also have to take your eyes out of focus. There should be an outline of your fingers, sometimes the color is not white or any color for that matter, it is just an outline of your fingers.
This does take practice. Some of you might see it on your first try while others it might take a few times to get this down. Now that you can see and feel energy you are on your way to connecting to your higher-self.
There are several books available that are wonderful and will help explain the process of connecting to your higher-self, and how our energy can affect others. Below are some books I personally have read and truly enjoyed. They have helped me on my path to connect to my higher-self. In my opinion the first book anyone should read, if they truly want to take the path to high-self is The Celestine Prophecy. I have listed this book and others for you to consider reading.
Next time I will be writing about the colors of your Aura, and Crystals.
I wish all the best for you, if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I am here for you in your journey to your higher-self.

Karen Beth

How To Get In Touch With Your Higher-self – Lesson1

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7094728_f260 Connect to your higher-self

Have you ever thought, there just has to be more to life than this? Is there something I’m missing? Is there a void in your life, and you just can’t figure out what it is? If you have, you’re not alone. Millions of people ask these questions every day. The only difference between you and them is that you are trying to figure out what is missing, and not shrug off the feelings.
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I’m fifty years old, and have always known there was more to life than meets the eye. However, up until I was thirty-five all I was living for was to make payments on things I thought I needed, I was surviving month to month, trying to keeping my family happy. I thought as long as we had “things” we would be happy. Until one day I realized things are just things and they don’t make us happy, they just create the illusion that we are happy. If I have my dream house I must be happy. If I have my dream car, then I must be happy. Oh look at me, I have an 80 inch T.V., I must be going places. The illusion that we are happy because of the stuff we have accumulated over our lifetime is keeping us form listening to our inner voice.
When you start wondering if you’re missing something and there must be more to life than this. Don’t shrug the feeling/thought off. It’s actually your higher-self telling you it’s time to connect, time to grow up spiritually.
The higher-self is your soul that is connected to the Universe, God, Buddha, or whatever one power you believe in. All of the religions are connected, they are the same so to speak. Yes, they have different belief systems, however, they all basically believe in a one Supreme Being that watches over us, and helps us in our time of need, or rejoices with us in our time of joy. Most of us are not “connected” to our higher-self, sure we pray, or ask for help, but we have not reached the full communion with the Supreme Being as it’s meant to be.
If you want to learn how to become connected to your higher-self, and feel love, peace, and pure joy like you never have felt before, I will teach you week by week how to connect to the universe. Why week to week, and not all at once? The reason why I am giving this to you one week at a time, is because you have to grow slowly in order to really get the benefits of the exercises I am going to show you.
If you’re ready, take a deep breath, and know that you’re where you are meant to be at this moment in your life.
Lesson 1
In order for you to connect to your higher-self , you first must realize everyone has an energy field around them, this is our life force, and it is called an aura. Later on I will teach you how to see aura’s, but for now I just want you to get comfortable feeling your energy.
The first thing I want you to do is take your hands and place them out in front of you, now bring them together as if you are going to pray, and rub them together as fast as you can in an up and down motion, do this for about 20 seconds. Okay now stop, and slowly pull your hands apart about 2 inches, now slowly push your hands back together. Repeat this over and over until you can feel the energy between your hands. You can move your hands back and forth and play with the energy if you want to. It’s pretty amazing when can actually feel and see the energy.
The next thing I want you to do is visualize the energy in your hands as a white light, see it in your mind as being a white ball of energy. If you can’t imagine it in your mind for now that’s okay, keep practicing and you will eventually get there.
That’s all for this week, keep practicing, by next week you will have this down and you will be ready for the next lesson. Let me know if you have any questions, I look forward to hearing from you.
When you connect to higher-self scientist have found that when a person enters the mediation state their brainwaves change. In mediation, we do not use the same normal beta waves that are associated with ordinary consciousness, but instead use the theta and delta waves associated with sleep. This is when we are connecting to our higher-self. It’s not hard to learn how to reach this level but it is hard to do it at will. It takes time and practice, but it is so worth the effort.
I wish you all the happiness in the world. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Until next time,
Karen Beth
Budget

Finally a realistic way to budget your money!

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No-one likes to hear the word budget. However, budgeting is the only way you can really get a good picture of how much money you have coming in and going out. If you want to finally take control of your finances, I have created some fun ideas that will help you stay on track and finally save for the future.
If you follow these tips and apply them every day, you will soon become the master over your money, instead of money being the master of you.
1. Gather all of your bills and calculate how much money has to go out every month. Don’t calculate in groceries, or gas just yet, that will come later. Once you get a good idea of how much money you need every month just to pay your bills, you will have a foundation you can work with and you will see how much money you need every month to keep a roof over your head, and a car to drive, if you have a car payment. Once you establish that figure, subtract it from your total monthly bring home pay.
2. Now, two scenarios can come into play here.
a. Either you have more money left over than you thought, and you are wondering where in the heck all of your money is going.
b. Or, you don’t have money left over to buy groceries and gas.
If you have more money than you thought, you are good and a budget can get you back on track to saving money and paying down some of the credit card bills. (Go to step 3) However, if you don’t have enough money to buy groceries or gas, then you need to assess the bills you owe and see if you can consolidate or cut down on your cable or phone bill. Still, just cutting down on you utilities probably won’t leave you much money to save for a rainy day. In order to get you back on track you might want to consider a debit consolidation service such as National Debit Relief. After you sign up to consolidate your credit cards and have extra money to save, follow the steps below to become the master of your money.

3. Now that you have a figure you can work with, subtract the amount you need for gas, and groceries. The amount left over is what you need to pay very close attention to, this is what you will use to budget entertainment, savings, gifts, etc.
4. Now here comes the fun part! Decide how much money you absolutely have to have for entertainment and the little extras that come along each month. If you like to go to the movies, budget going to the movies once a month. Make that your reward for sticking to the budget. If you have birthday gifts you have to purchase, put a limit of $25.00 on each gift, or less. Stop buying coffee, and sodas at the convenient stores every time you stop to fill up. You will be amazed at how much money you can save.
5. Next, decide how much money you can save each month. Then multiply that amount by 12. This is the amount you will have in savings at the end of twelve months. Make it a realistic amount, but also challenge yourself to save as much as you can. Get excited about the amount of money you are going to save! Multiply it by five years, and see how much money you could have if you stick to the budget. Example: If you save $300.00 a month for twelve months you will have $3,600.00 at the end of the year. That doesn’t sound like much, but if you multiply $3,600.00 X 5 years, you could have $18,000.00, which is a substantial amount of money in savings. Play around with the math, and see how much you can save without putting a strain on your family.
6. Once you have a figure that you want to save every month in mind write it down, along with the amount you will have at the end of the year and put it on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, and on the dashboard of your car. This way you will always be reminded of how much money you will have if you stick to the budget. Every morning when you wake start dreaming of what you’re going to do with all of that money, give yourself a pep talk, and get excited!
7. When you get paid, take the amount that you have calculated for savings and immediately put it into a savings account, CD account, or whatever you deem fit for your needs. (I will discuss the best saving accounts later in another blog.) If you need to split up the amount between paydays that’s fine. If you plan on saving $300.00 a month, you can put $150.00 into savings at the first of the month, and then another $150.00 on the 15th of the month. Or you can take out the amount that totals $300.00 weekly, whichever way works with you pay schedule.
8. There’s a lot of way to help you stay on top of your money, one way is to down load a free money app on your phone or computer. There are several out there; just read about each one and decided which one will work best for you.

If you finally want to take control of your finances make a budget and stick to it, dream big and believe. Your future is in your hands!

Karen Beth

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Helpful Tips On How To Hire A Virtual Assistant

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Here are some helpful tips to help you hire the best virtual assistant for your needs.

1. Never pay for a service up front! If someone is asking you to pay for a service before it’s delivered it’s probably a scam. You should always verify the work delivered before submitting payment. Some virtual Assistants  require a contract in place before work is started, that is a normal practice, to ensure payment will be received once the work is delivered.

2. If someone is charging you a very low rate to complete a task, think twice. You get what you pay for; sometimes the work is not up to par and full of errors. Make sure the virtual assistant you hire has a guarantee policy in place.

3. Don’t hire a virtual assistant without an interview! Make sure they can handle the task at hand, and will be available when you need them. Some virtual assistants work with only one client, while others have several different clients they work for. If you need a full time virtual assistant let them know so they can take that into consideration before accepting the position you have available. Also, just because you don’t see them in person everyday doesn’t mean you don’t have to make sure your personalities don’t clash. There’s nothing worse than having a virtual assistant that has an attitude. Suggest doing an interview through Skype, or at the very least, conduct a phone interview.

If you have any questions about hiring a virtual assistant let me know. I will be more than happy to assist you in finding your perfect assistant, even if you don’t hire me.