Link Love 2011 - A Site for People Who Love Blogging - #love2011

I'm very excited about The Love Project 2011... I've been faithfully repeating my affirmations:

The Love Project will be a great success!

I will spread love throughout the world!

I will give and receive love openly and abundantly!

I will get RICH!

....uh.. wait a minute? Get RICH? That seems like one of those... "which of these things is not like the other" kind of statements. (Unless, of course, we are talking about our latest heart-throb named Rich...) Wishing to get rich seems selfish, not loving...

But, hey, I'm human. It would be great to make money, too, while I'm spreading around the love. I don't expect to get rich, but I do hope to get another book out of this project, and let's face it, to sell a book, you have to promote it. And to promote your book, you have to get publicity.. and that's where blogging comes in. (Sef-Promotion Side note: if you're looking for a quick read about a woman who makes a lot of embarrassing blunders in dating, check out The Laptop Dancer Diaries.)

Now I don't expect to get rich from selling my books or blogging, but some people are very successful at it, so this year I am working on getting more serious about increasing my blog traffic.

Well, one of the sites I stumbled across while looking for love websites (it turns out I'm not the only one using the #love2011 on Twitter) was GatherSuccess Link Love 2011. Though this isn't a site about love, it's a site that will help bloggers out by spreading the "link love." The site looks like it has some useful information about how bloggers can really monetize their blogs.

So, if you are a blogger, or a blogger wannabe, first of all... join the Love Project by subscribing to my site and watching for weekly prompts. I will add a link on my blog roll for you. And then check out GatherSuccess for some additional ideas for monetization.

This is going to be the year we are going to love and GET RICH! YAY!

Book Club: Money - Buy Some Happiness

In the seventh chapter of The Happiness Journal, Gretchen Rubin describes the relationship between money and happiness. Though money can't buy happiness, it can buy things that will lead to happiness. And, speaking from personal experience, when we aren't bringing in income, it can lead to major stress!

I have thought a lot about the relationship between money and happiness recently. Most of my life, I haven't had to worry at all about finances. Both my husband and I had great jobs in high tech. In 1999, if you looked at all our stock options, we were downright rich. Then came the dot bomb era and all our stock options were worth nothing. No big deal. I only thought of it as "funny money." Next was the divorce. I lost a husband and my financial security. I bought him out of the house and still had all the bills with a third of the income. But I still had a good job. I tried not to panic. Then the stock market dropped and I lost a major chunk of retirement savings, along with the rest of the world. The final kicker was last summer when I lost my job. This time I started to panic. I couldn't even get low paying jobs because the employers figured I'd keep looking. I did end up getting a job that is half the salary of my old job so I'm no longer panicked, but I'm definitely a lot less wealthy than I once was.

While I was unemployed, I did some serious thinking about what it was like to have no money. Every time I turned around there was an expense and a finite amount of cash. Food, housing, utilities, transportation. I became obsessed with spending as little money as possible. Of course, I could have survived for quite a long time... I had savings and even a severance. But I got a little taste of how scary this is for people that don't have those resources! This wasn't about happiness, it was about basic security!

While I was unemployed, I had a goal to find something that didn't cost money that made me happy each day and I found a lot: hikes, picnics, time with friends, playing, learning, biking. There was a huge world to enjoy. But I was always worried about money. I never had a sense of security so it was hard to feel completely happy.

Now that I'm working again, it's much easier to be happy. I don't spend as much on "stuff" but more on experiences. Even though I'm making a lot less than I used to, I'm making a whole lot more than nothing, so I often feel rich. I have more compassion for the unemployed and I don't take financial security for granted any more. In many ways, I'd say I'm happier now, making a lot less money, than I was when I was "rich." Sometimes it takes losing something to realize it's worth. It's not the money as much as the security.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. (I'd spend more, but I've become very cheap!)

What do others have to say?

It just so happens, in my Google Alerts for Happiness today, I found two articles about money and happiness: Money Doesn't Buy Happiness, But a Trip Might and Finding Happiness Along the Way to Long-Term Financial Goals.

How about you? What are your thoughts about money and happiness?

Who Needs Money? - Bowel Cancer Research

Last November I met Ian Usher, this guy that's traveling the world accomplishing 100 goals in 100 weeks. He's really quite a fascinating character and I've been following his blog with interest. When I told my 14-year-son about him...all the cool places he's going and things he's doing...my son's first comment was a very matter-of-fact: "He's going to run out of money." Note to self: Stop worrying about money...or at least stop talking about worrying about it...in front of Scotty!

My son's not the only one that mentions the little issue of money when I rave about Ian's adventures. People want to know if he's independently wealthy. How in the world does one afford to take off for 2 years and travel the world? I'm sure it's a question that Ian gets asked a lot...in fact, I asked him that myself when I talked to him.

His budget approximately averages out to $100/day, he told me. And a lot of what he's been able to do has been due to the generosity of people he meets. Reading through his blog, I saw that it's often through serendipity that he's met just the contacts to help him fulfill some very unique goals that often require very specialized talents!

One of the most incredible of these meetings happened 2 days after I'd met Ian on Thanksgiving Day. He told me he was meeting a juggler that would help him accomplish his "juggle with fire" goal. I had pictured a street vendor who was probably just making ends meet. "Juggler" doesn't sound like the kind of job that pays well. I pictured Ian and the juggler sitting around with a can of spam on Thanksgiving Day, maybe throwing around some burning turkey legs. I read his blog the next day and saw that the juggler was world famous! Thanksgiving was spent at this outrageously gorgeous mansion in the Santa Monica mountains!

But my surprise and awe at the stories I read on Ian's blog aren't about wealth in the monetary sense. They are about the generosity and spirit of all of those that are helping him to accomplish these goals! I admit to feeling a tad guilty after I read about it all that I met him purely for selfish reasons. I didn't help him accomplish any goal...he helped me with one of mine! And, he bought me a drink at a very posh LA bar to celebrate afterwards.. Undoubtedly out-of-budget when one is traveling around the world on $100/day. It struck me that Ian neither boasted of his fame nor complained about any disappointments or worries of money.

There is one goal I thought maybe I could help him with. (Well...two, if you count the "Mile High Club" but... I wouldn't really call myself experienced in that area unless he's talking about a hike...) I have some experience with fund-raising (as anyone that knows me can attest.) Ian's Goal #81: is to raise $50K for Bowel Cancer Research. (Put Ian Usher in the "Name of Event" field.) His father died of Bowel Cancer and today, Jan.22, is the Anniversary of his death.

I know that these days most of us are worried about money. We're worried about the economy, the value of our houses and investments, and our jobs. But isn't it heart-warming to see people reaching out to someone they don't know, either to give or receive? It can even be as simple as a smile (but even better to donate money to a worthy cause.)

I hope you'll consider it!