Playing with Light? I LOVE Photons!

According to Willkipedia, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Because the photon has no rest mass; this allows for interactions at long distances...

So naturally, I'd be starry-eyed from the get-go...

But the Photon$ I'm talking about are the free little currency packets of ka-ching-real-cash spendable tidbits on the cool selling venue, yardsellr. You'll get $10 worth just for signing up and if you are like me, with a gazillion seller friends, you'll get $5 more each time a facebook friend joins.  Photon$ can be thought of as reward points for yardsellr members. If you go on a treasure hunt on Yardsellr, you can win Photon$ just by commenting on listings and buying things on yardsellr.com. Yes, you get more when you buy stuff!!! And you can earn up to a million per day LOL!

So, last week when I logged onto yardsellr I discovered this pile of Photon$ I never knew I had.  I spent about $200 in FREE Photon$ and I only paid about $20 in buyer fees called the yardsellr slice (sellers don't pay listing fees) but shipping was free on everything so that was the deal of the century...

There's no minimum purchase or percentage you must use, so if you've got the Photon$ to spend... you don't have to add any cash except the (10%+-) buyer slice.  You do need to use paypal or a major credit card to shop on yardsellr. Photon$ really is a great promotion, and I'm sure it won't last forever...

but there are some really great sellers there and some very cool goodies...

PLUS

If you've got Photon$ to spend, and love Oshun Spirit products and services, just make your wish list from either http://www.oshunspirit.net or http://www.oshunspirit.com  (or combine goodies from both sites) send it to me, and I'll make you a custom listing on yardsellr. Yardsellr pays me with cash, but it's all free for you! And FREE is good!

Seller friends, are you selling on yardsellr? Feel free to drop your user name here in the comments and some links to your goodies. What cool things have you picked up with your Photon$?

Goodwill to All: Reflections on a kinder, gentler Entrepreneur

"... in times when we may be having trouble making our own dreams come true, the best way to transform our energy is to help another. An act of creation with the universe is the same whether we intend it for ourselves or someone else..."

This little snippet came across my Facebook news feed the other day and I've been really thinking about how this attitude is becoming the "new normal." It could in fact, even be a happy byproduct of social media marketing and networking, transparency and real-time interactions however virtual they may be. It takes the The Law of Attraction out of the abstract and Golden Rule out of religion and into the small business marketplace. And that might just be a very good thing, and not just for Entrepreneurs.


I’ve noticed a sea change in the mindset of many of the people I work and interact with every day. No longer are they grasping for success in an opportunistic, parasitic, greed-is-good sort of way. Rather, they’re seeking the good life in a kinder, gentler, more holistic way, working to become better human beings and help others do likewise. It’s interesting. As the economy worsened, the floods ravaged, and Mother Earth shook, and blew, and stormed, more of us reflected on what really matters in life. As many were forced to put away the expensive toys and distractions, they began noticing their inner lives.

...and that it’s just not cool to be a jerk anymore, anywhere.

As a society we’re realizing that we really are all in this together—and we need to be kind to one another. For both individuals, and organizations and societies, the journey to goodness will surely take time—but the process itself is energizing and joyful. When you make the decision to become a better person, two things happen. First, you get an immediate surge of happiness and validation. Second, others will respond to the change in your behavior by changing their own. Goodness begets goodness, so to speak.

The holidays are almost here with them comes our yearly dose of “goodwill toward men.” At Thanksgiving we celebrate gratitude. At Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa we honor the Higher Power and draw our families and friends close. All this positive energy culminates in a collective fever of self-improvement as we make New Year’s Resolutions. But as 2010 gives way to 2011, many of us won’t return to our self-centered, apathetic, ego-centric, materialistic ways. Instead, we’ll seek to keep the goodwill going.

Why? Like I said, it’s just not cool to be a jerk anymore.

The cultural momentum which labeled everything, including people, as a means to one’s own happiness, had become almost overwhelming. One engaged in relationships, and participated in groups, aiming only to find happiness for oneself (instead of intending the good of the other). But relationships based on either utility or pleasure are not very satisfying. These are inherently fragile relationships, since the time can come when the other person is no longer useful to us, or no longer serves as a source of pleasure.

So, think about this: Take a close look at your own motives. In all relationships ask yourself, Am I intending the good of the other, or seeking to serve myself? Awareness is the first step toward change. People are starting to realize that life can and should be rich and full and that this state of being doesn’t have much to do with money. It has to do with goodness. Yes, prosperity often flows from goodness, but it’s a byproduct, not a goal in and of itself. More and more of us are asking, What kind of person do I really want to be? And how can I BE that person?

Love. Practice it. Our culture has perpetuated tragically immature views on what love is. We believe it’s a “feeling”; that it’s conditional; or that it’s synonymous with good sex. Of course, all of these misunderstandings result in misery instead of fulfillment. Whether it’s practiced in the context of marriage, friendship, or even work relationships, love actually means “intending the good of the other.” Unfortunately, our culture of individualism tends to work against practicing love in its true form. At home and in the workplace, always, always, always treat others with dignity. Protecting human dignity is at the very heart of being a good person (and not a jerk).

Hope. Cultivate it. To squelch hope doesn’t just cause momentary unhappiness, it influences people not to do the things they need to do. The cancer patient who doesn’t have hope won’t work toward his own recovery. The child who’s told he’ll never go to college won’t do his homework. The budding entrepreneur won’t chase her dream. So you see, taking away hope from others harms them in a very real way. And it harms you as well.

Gratitude. Awaken it. Are you grateful for all that you have? I'm committed to paying attention to all that I have: friends and family who love me, clients, customer-friends, and business associates who help me earn my income, the beautiful world in which I live. I am grateful. I am mindful to say “thank you” to others, the simplest form of courtesy. We have all felt annoyance when people fail to verbalize gratitude for something significant we have done for them. This is not only ingratitude, but also rudeness. It is being a jerk.

Goodness, gratitude, enhances the good reputation of those who do good deeds. When you speak a kind word about them to others there is a magnetism, expressions of gratitude bring further rewards. It's more than a social networking business strategy.

Its about really connecting to become better human beings. Two way conversations in which I take time to listen, and you do. Its about gratitude, dignity, hope and love. It's about Goodwill to All! It's about time!

May you be blessed!

Oshun Spirit has a New Facebook Fan Page and Storefront... and Contest!

Oshun Spirit Earth Friendly Goods has a new face on Facebook! 

As many of you know, I accidentally deleted the old fan page a few months ago while working on the Journey Beads Netcarnation storefront. I never quite got around to setting up a new page until yesterday, when Highwire announced their new Highwire Commerce application for Facebook that allowed me to embed my store directly on my Facebook profile and fan pages.

The storefront functions exactly as the http://www.oshunspirit.net website does, and uses the same easy-to-navigate and secure shopping cart you all are familiar with, but also offers you the convenience of shopping Oshun Spirit without leaving Facebook.

I hope that you will take a moment and become a fan of the new page. By doing so, you'll always be among the first to know of Oshun Spirit sales and promotions, special events, and new programs or services.

And if you're not yet a fan of Journey Beads, I hope you'll join our Facebook Fan Page there, too!

As an added incentive, when you become a fan of Oshun Spirit Earth Friendly Goods   you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to win this beautiful 16-bead Tachyon Chakra Balancing Bracelet from Journey Beads!

All fans registering today, August 25 thru Tuesday August 31 will be automatically entered. The drawing will be held on September 1, and the winner will be announced on Facebook! Good luck, and thank you!

Musings on Growing the Money Tree: Bonanzle, Facebook and Twitter

I have a little storefront on Bonanzle, and you can check it out if you've never visited before. I thought it would be nice to be involved in a community marketplace in addition to seling from my website, so about a year ago I set up my shop there. Bonanzle is a hybrid venue, a social marketplace. There are some great sellers there, wonderful, trustworthy merchants. And, there has been a year-long ongoing debate among them as to whether Bonanzle is a serious selling site, or chat and gamers lounge, or both, or neither.

Many of you have visited me there, and I know that some have experienced first-hand the cart that does not always function, the quirky search, and server glitches. And, I thank you all for your patience and willingness to find a creative, alternative way to make your purchases when necessary. Management has made many, many wonderful site improvements, and things do run smoother there today, although for me, with a large international clientelle, Bonanzle's checkout remains problematic. I've spoken with several savvy, vetran sellers just this week who still cannot lead a new international buyer thru the checkout process with 100% certainty. Ummm, lets think about that.

So I got to thinking, musing actually... why would a shopping venue not prioritize checkout, and shipping? The bells, whistles, hip and trendy trinkets that – cool as they are – don't make my customer's experience any easier, add no real value to my buyer. And, Bonanzle continues to applaud and encourage games in which members buy each other's wares rather than assist the business people who do most of their selling off site, to many seller's dismay. Google base, google anaylitics aside, and the seller tools and marketing tips, all common sense, thanx. I'm talking checkout issues. Always coming back to the debate as to whether Bonanzle is a serious selling site, social site, or both, or neither.

The latest set of Bonanzle improvements are links to Facebook and Twitter (yes, I use them both), and the directive is to use these tools to advertise the site, the perk being you will get a little bump in visibility on site in a prominently displayed panel of web communicators. Ummm, lets think about that, too. I'll let someone else blog about that...

This morning, as I paid my $10 fee for selling there last month I got to thinking... although my $10 is chump change, if I multiply that by the roughly 22,oo0 booths listed on the site, there'd be a revenue of $220,000 in final value fees for the month. Add in Plus and Premium memberships at $10 and $24 /month respectively and I would think that throwing a little money at the checkout glitches would be possible. Probable. A priority? Part of the plan for growing the Money Tree?

And, there might be enough left over so that the site could do some advertising of its own during the Holiday shopping season, now in full swing (on other venues at least). The natives are getting restless, some trees have born no fruit even in this Harvest Season. Again, fodder for someone else's blog, I'm not going there either. But here is where I am going:

Mark Zuckerberg, 23, is the founder of Facebook. His social networking site is at about 60 million users, with a projection of 200 million by the end of this year. It's estimated to be worth $15 billion. Yahoo! offered to buy Facebook in 2006 for $1 billion in cash. (Zuckerberg declined their offer). In 2007, Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of the company for $240 million.

But Facebook has yet to figure out how to make money off its huge audience. Facebook needs to find a way to generate revenue...

On Facebook, members get a dose of social interraction by playing imaginary games such as Mafia Wars, Castle Wars, members give gifts of crystals, flowers and cocktails while they chat. Then they tweet that did, and do, they announce it to the world. Sometimes I wake up to tens of gifts and offers to come play. I don't, but that's me. I'm not all that drawn to imaginary enemies or cyber trinkets and such.

Now here is my aha moment: On Bonanzle, members play games and the site takes a final value fee from each little happy social interraction, and members tweet to the world that the game is about to begin or end, oh my! The game is called "Shopping!" And, now they've created unique interface so that we can access Facebook and Twitter and never leave Bonanzle. Sticky isn't it?

Bonanzle has already figured out how to make money off its growing audience. Imagine if all the Mafia Wars players tuned in to "Tickle me Tuesday" or "Finding Friends on Friday"? There is a seemingly endless list of games to choose from. Why send your friends each an imaginary crystal from Facebook, when you can send them each a real one from Bonanzle for just a few dollars in the how-low-will-you-go LIMBO game?

Well, there you go. No crystal ball needed. A hybrid indeed, and the game is shopping. If Bonanzle can pull this one off, it will be the next best thing! The new big thing. The thing. The Money Tree. Tweet that, Facebook!

When you're chasing $15 billion, what's losing a few sales in Canada or the UK this holiday season? Unless you are a Canadian wanting multiple varieties of my Chinese Blooming Tea? If you are, just email me, together we'll figure it out.

We always do.

May you be blessed!