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'elf Expressions Ezine

Get Hold of Your Elf!

“Get hold of your ‘elf!”


Your weekly collection of marketing tips, hints, and advice interspersed with humor, inspiration, and other goodies to spice things up a bit. Guidance, tutoring, advice, mentoring, coaching, inspiration, English lessons, editing, proofreading services for entrepreneurs and online marketers.

The publisher’s philosophy is that most learn faster by taking small bites, rather than large gulps. Small bites are chewed more thoroughly, swallowed, and digested more readily. Keeping that in mind, many features will be solo items. That way, you will not be bombarded or overwhelmed.



Publisher: Mary Wilkey
Volume 1 - Issue 45 - January 29, 2002
Published every Tuesday evening


This is for all those who regularly advertise with the 'elf: Effective immediately, multiple ad submissions from the same advertiser in one week will be deleted. So, while I appreciate your faithfulness and continued patronage, please keep track of when you submitted, as the flood of ads coming in is mushrooming, and elves are easily crushed by too many mushrooms!

Secondly, we have a new addition: Donna Sweat has been selected to be our weekly guest columnist. Enjoy her first article under "Marketing Mania."



In Remembrance of
September 11, 2001


Smile!

If you enjoy this ezine, you can help it grow faster by introducing 'elf Expressions to just one other person—because the faster we grow, the more everyone benefits from the ads. Thank you!

If you've missed any issues, you still can see them. Just go to:

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Signature


 

Pluperfect Paragon:

Plan purposefully.
Prepare prayerfully.
Proceed positively.
Pursue persistently.



CONTENTS:

Feature Article
Today’s Chuckle
Today's English lesson
NEW! Marketing Mania
Internet Tips & Hints
Guest Article
Inspiration
Etcetera



ONE DROP ENDS PAIN


My neck was injured in '50 or '51 when a chiropractor grabbed my head and twisted it to the side. My muscles wouldn't relax, and he put pressure on to force it. There was a lot of pain, but I was able to mostly forget about it until the last two years. I'm a woman 84 years old, and very active—I started taking karate at age 70 (after being mugged) and have a second-degree black belt. During the last two years, though, I've been in pain every day and have trouble with cataracts.

Saturday morning I attended a lecture on new products from Healing America, and got one drop of Pain Away to rub on my neck. It tingled a little, and the pain left in one or two minutes. When I came back Sunday afternoon to hear more, I was still pain free!

My diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and occasionally some fish hasn't included supplements, but I'm a distributor now because of Pain Away, and what I expect for the cataracts with AlkaMin minerals and the AGE-less. I'll let you know.

—Mrs. Estes Taylor, Paducah KY

If you would like to see what has worked miracles in Mrs. Taylor's life, go to:

http://goodbody.healingamerica.com
The only company in the world with scalar enhanced products!





 

We all know that water is important but I've never seen it written down like this before.

WATER ...

  • 75% of North Americans are chronically dehydrated.
  • In 37% of North Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
  • Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
  • One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pains for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
  • Lack of water is the #1 trigger of day time fatigue.
  • Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
  • A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short- term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focussing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
  • Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?

COKE ...

  • In many states in the USA the highway patrol carries along two gallons of Coke to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
  • You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke, and it will be gone in two days.
  • To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
  • To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
  • To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
  • To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
  • To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
  • For Your Info

  • The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
  • To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate), the commercial truck must use the hazardous material placards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
  • The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about twenty years! Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or a Coke?
  • Interesting stuff, huh?



FEATURE ARTICLE


IMPRESS YOUR PROSPECTS

Okay, you've got a live one—a real go-getter with an entrepreneurial mindset.

Now what do you do?

You absolutely MUST do something to IMPRESS him—or risk losing him to someone who will.

How? Be different!

Example: A few years back I had inquired about an income opportunity and had spoken to the man by telephone. Was I ever impressed just a couple of days later when I received extensive information from him—by CERTIFIED MAIL!

This man was not afraid to invest a little money in someone he recognized to have the entrepreneurial spirit, and who had expressed a real interest in his program.

Another example? Send your prospect a gift. A nice one. You can do this for less than $10. Perhaps a pen (I recently bought one myself) that has a special red light in it so that it lights up a writing pad, to provide a convenient way to record those instances of pure genius that come to you in the middle of the night without having to turn on a lamp. Cost: about $5.00

So make your contacts, online or off, but as soon as you find a person who exhibits this particular mindset—and you're sure that he does indeed have an entrepreneurial mindset, go OUT OF YOUR WAY to stand out in his mind so that he "leans" toward what you have.

At the very least, he won't forget you, and he MAY just join your program!

****************

Feel free to reprint the above article with this info intact:
Article penned by Mary Wilkey, publisher of 'elf Expressions Ezine: http://elfexpressionsezine.com

To subscribe, email me at subscribe@elfexpressionsezine.com




A BIBLE RIDDLE

Who made fun of the armies of Israel for forty days?

ANSWER: The giant Goliath. 1st Samuel 17:10 "And the Philistine (Goliath) said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together." (1st Samuel 17:16) "And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days."






The royal road to a man's heart is to talk to him
about the things he treasures most.

—Dale Carnegie




TODAY'S CHUCKLE


SAD BUT TRUE! THE PERKS OF BEING OVER 60

  • Kidnappers are not interested in you.
  • In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
  • No one expects you to run into a burning building.
  • People call at 9pm and ask "Did I wake you?".
  • People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
  • There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
  • Things you buy now won't wear out.
  • You can eat dinner at 4PM.
  • You can live without sex but not without glasses.
  • You enjoy hearing about other peoples operations.
  • You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
  • You have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it.
  • You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
  • You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
  • You sing along with the elevator music.
  • Your eyes won't get much worse.
  • Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
  • Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.
  • Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
  • Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.
  • You can't remember who sent you this list.




She Fell Off

Chances are, you'll embarrass yourself from time to time. But if you respond well to an embarrassing incident, it can work to your favor.

"Some time ago," writes bestselling author John C. Maxwell, "I watched Ronald and Nancy Reagan on Good Morning America. Nancy was close to the edge of the stage, and she fell off. Immediately people rushed to help her while the President watched. Knowing she was all right, he looked at her and said, 'Nancy, I told you not to fall off the platform unless I wasn't getting any applause.'"

The audience roared with laughter, and the mood turned in Reagan's favor. Without saying so directly, "he communicated to the audience that he was in control, that he had a quick wit, and that he trusted his relationship with his wife enough to joke about her mishap."

Even in a difficult situation, Reagan radiated confidence and never stepped out of character. His example stirred the confidence of an entire nation.



TODAY'S ENGLISH LESSON


Seeing the same elementary mistakes over and over again has prompted this publisher to write an English lesson each issue.

"Access" or "excess"?

"Access" gives admittance to, the right to enter or to use.

"Excess" is an excessive amount of something; more than is required; overindulgence.

Reminder: We offer a reasonably priced editing/proofreading service for articles or even entire ezines. Just email: editingservice@elfexpressionsezine.com





Countless souls stand on the edge
Of the waters deep and wide,
Watching the floudering ships go down
In the rough and treacherous tide.

How does one cross deep waters
When hearts are filled with fears?
How can the other side be reached
When eyes overflow with tears?

There's a ship in the harbor waiting
With a Captain who knows the way.
He's calling to you to "get on board."
His call you must obey.

He who hesitates could well be lost ...
Can you afford to pay that price?
Deep waters need hold no fear for you;
This ship's Captain is Jesus Christ.

—M. Elaine Fowsher



NEW! — MARKETING MANIA — NEW!


Please welcome a new weekly column by Donna Sweat, who will be offering her marketing expertise here. To learn more about Donna, please visit her site, which you will find just below her first article:

Bouncing Emails—A Pain in the Neck or Maybe Not!

Like other publishers, I've had my share of bouncing email addresses. Hotmail and Zwallet accounts are not the only culprits, as many claim. Email addresses are of all makes and sizes.

I have had subscribers that have been on my list for eons it seems, and suddenly their email bounces two or three times. What is the cause of this scenario? Perhaps their ISP is not working or they are away and forgot to put the mail on hold, or even forgot to pay their bill. Even forgetting to check the inbox may cause an email to bounce.

Patience is a virtue for those loyal friends. Keeping a log of bouncing emails may solve the problem. Just recording the dates and times and what email they coincide with may just keep you from deleting a loyal subscriber with a slight problem. It probably is just that!

Solo ads have a way of driving subscribers away, as do classified editions. But the subscriber fails to see that these emails are a part of publishing, and they had their ad listed in those classifieds once, too. Solo ads are "paid" advertising and deserve their place in the limelight as well.

But on the flip side there are those fake email addresses that really get under your skin, and trying to track them literally wears you out. This is a sneaky attempt to subscribe with a free ad, over and over again, until you happen to get caught ... maybe!

I immediately reply to my new subscribers either personally or through my host, Topica. Topica does a great job of handling bouncing emails, whether they are a soft bounce (temporary) or a hard bounce (cannot be delivered at all). I always re-enable a soft bounce, keeping track, of course, and immediately delete the hard bounces. I don't need the harassment, yet I give those soft bounces another try.

If I send a personal reply and it bounces, forget it, deleted, ad and all. No shame! Get a "real" email address or do not subscribe. Case closed!

I publish my newsletter three times a week and send several solo ads, and I offer free ads to my subscribers through an ad code. I include a classified edition of subscriber ads and always provide an article to balance it out. I am generous and care about my list.

I do my best to remove anyone who wishes to unsubscribe, even though each email has an unsubscribe link enclosed. My list is 100% optin—and double opt-in for most. The latter may be a hassle, but it sorts out the serious subscriber from the greedy one. I do not care to have someone come along and try to get more then what is offered. Take it or leave it alone.

I receive hundreds of emails a day. Probably 2/3 of them are junk. I did not ask for them, but I look all my email over. That means 1/3 of them are either subscribers or ezines I subscribed to, or business.

I spend a lot of time reading and sorting email. I find many good ideas and resources, and many emails that go nowhere but in the trash ... Why? Because of a bounce and possibly a sale if only they had provided a reachable email address.

Nuf Said!

@Copyright 2002 by Donna Sweat, Publisher of Dee's Helpful Info. http://www.homebizandmore.homestead.com
mailto:donna@sosbbs.com



INTERNET HINTS & TIPS


"How to cure long and hard-to-remember URL blues using a redirecting service"

Is your web page URL too long to type, hard to remember, or just not the name you want?

You could get your own domain name, or you could use a web URL redirecting service for free or for a small fee.

http://www.resource-a-day.com/resources/service.html





Nothing stands against repeated effort.
If you doubt that, just consider how water wears away rock!





"Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea
and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts
find that new worlds open for them.
As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities."

—Norman Vincent Peale



GUEST ARTICLE


CRACKPOTS

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across hls neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full twp years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load,because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of tile trail, it still felt bad, because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on YOUR side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day when we walk back from the stream, you water them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots.

Some of us don't grow old gracefully, some are not so smart, some are tall, large and big, some bald, some physically challenged, but it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what he is and look for the good in them. There is a lot of good out there. There is a lot of good in you!

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life! Or—as I like to think of it—if it wasn't for the crackpots in my life, it would be pretty boring.

Thank you for being my crackpot friends!

Sent in by Christian Godefrey



INSPIRATION


The ABC's of Being a Friend ...

A Friend ...

  • (A)ccepts you as you are
  • (B)elieves in "you"
  • (C)alls you just to say "Hi"
  • (D)oesn't give up on you
  • (E)nvisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts)
  • (F)orgives your mistakes
  • (G)ives unconditionally
  • (H)elps you
  • (I)nvites you over
  • (J)ust "is" with you
  • (K)eeps you close at heart
  • (L)oves you for who you are
  • (M)akes a difference in your life
  • (N)ever Judges
  • (O)ffers support
  • (P)icks you up
  • (Q)uiets your fears
  • (R)aises your spirits
  • (S)ays nice things about you
  • (T)ells you the truth when you need to hear it
  • (U)nderstands you
  • (V)alues you
  • (W)alks beside you
  • (X)-rays you without any film
  • (Y)ells when you won't listen
  • (Z)aps you back to reality.



ETCETERA

Contact publisher at:
elfbutter@erinet.com

To advertise, please send your 7-line, 65-character classified (including URL or email address) 20-lines for sponsor ads, up to 50 for SOLO ads—pay thru PayPal by check or credit card or send money order or cashier's check to PO Box 854, Franklin OH 45005. Email ads to: advertising@elfexpressionsezine.com
All classified ads are free for right now and are for subscribers only. The top sponsor ad is $10/issue. SOLO ads are $25/issue.

To subscribe, send email to: subscribe@elfexpressionsezine.com. To unsubscribe, send email to:unsubscribe@elfexpressionsezine.com

To submit an article for publication or to make suggestions or comments, just email me at readermail@elfexpressionsezine.com

To use our editing/proofreading service, send a blank email to: editingservice@elfexpressionsezine.com

"DISCLAIMER: We disclaim any liability for the use of any contributed information contained herein. We also claim no responsibility for the legality or accuracy of advertisements or articles submitted and reprinted by permission. It is the contributor's and/or advertiser's responsibility to abide by all pertinent jurisdictional laws and regulations pertaining to that person's business."


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Mary Wilkey
PO Box 854
Franklin OH 450051
937-746-4086
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