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As we all know, most colleges have very limited seats and not everyone gets admissions. Distance learning courses are coming up as a great option for students who fail to get admissions in regular colleges. You can choose from various distance learning colleges which offer a large number of courses and degrees.

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The AP is saying that it may end up costing between 150 and 160 million dollars to showcase Barack Obama’s historic inauguration. Wow! Really? Who is paying for it?

Did you know that’s over 10 times what it cost Bush or Clinton to be brought into office?

I understand this is going to be huge. There are literally millions of people making a journey to Washington DC to see the events taking place tomorrow. Needless to say, we’re going to be witnessing the first black man being sworn into the American presidency and that’s a big deal, so I would imagine the costs would be higher.

I still have a hard time with it.

Now- apparently, the AP didn’t exactly have a source that mapped out the exact costs, so we can’t be sure exactly what it’s going to be like.

But still- 150 million dollars?! I feel like the Fed’s money printing press must be tired. What do you think?

After bailing out the financial markets and the auto industries, I would think we’d be running low on funds at this point. I’m sickened by the money that’s being spent if that’s really what this inauguration is going to cost. I won’t pass judgment until I see where this money is being spent, but it’s still bothering me.

Does it bother you?

Again- I get it. It’s a big deal. I can’t wait to watch it happen! Living in a time where we get to witness the first black president is truly a privilege. Apparently they’re looking at about 40,000 people working to secure the area during the event. Can you believe that? I know there’s a cost involved when it comes to that type of security.

But still- 150 million dollars? Really?

Our federal income statements and balance sheets aren’t too healthy right now. After bailouts and a slowing economy, are we really in a position to fund something like this?

Think of it this way- you just close on a home that is way out of your league. The monthly mortgage is so much that your neck is barely sticking up out of the water. At the same time, you’ve just been informed that you’re taking a 30% pay-cut for 2009. You wonder how you’ll ever be able to make it under such financial conditions.

So to celebrate your new financial anxieties, you and your wife go out and drop $150 on dinner.

Doubt it.

Look- that’s just how I feel about the cost of the inauguration; if, in fact, it’s actually going to cost that much.

Your thoughts?

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5 Reasons To Keep Your Budget Updated

Since not doing such a good job living this principle of good personal budgeting, I’ve come up with a list of 5 reasons to do it. They go as follows:

1. Your Budget Stays Accurate- One of the main purposes of a personal budget is to find trends in spending. As we discover where our money is going consistently, we can make changes in our lives to increase our wealth. I have found that when I don’t look at my budget daily or at least every other day, I find that I forget about my trip to Subway for lunch (for example); subsequently, it doesn’t get added in and my numbers aren’t correct. Though I try to get receipts with each expenditure, sometimes it doesn’t always work that way. For a more accurate budget, update daily!

2. You See Your Goals Regularly- There’s a reason why we’ve all been told to write our goals down and put them where you can see them every single day. In “The Shipp Family Budget” we have our goals listed right next to our budgeting calculations. Each time my wife and I make updates, we’re reminded of where we are and where we’re trying to get. It acts as a great reminder!

3. You Become Less Likely To Miss Bills- Time and time again I’ll notice an expenditure that gets over looked in our budget. As we regularly check our bugeting accounts, we’re constantly reminded of what bills we have and haven’t paid. As busy as life is, it’s not easy to just keep all the dates in your head that bills need to be paid. Having them in your budget makes for a solid deterrant to late bill paying.

4. You Stay Money Concious- Yes, this is a good thing! Much like number 2 and 3, the budget acts as a reminder of what your goals are. Often when tempted to spend $10 on lunch that day, I am reminded of the fact that I only have x-amount more in my account for those types of expenditures. When I haven’t looked for awhile, it’s easier to spend!

5. Financial Peace of Mind- Is there anything greater? Life presents all kinds of problems, and the least of which should be our money! When you check your budget on a daily basis, you know where you’re at financially and that alone provides some level of peace of mind. You may not be where you’d like to be financially, but if you know where you’re going and where you’re at, you can still have a level of peace that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

——————–

I haven’t had those aforementioned benefits in the past few weeks. I hope to redeem myself tonight and stay on top of it from here on out.

Do you find yourself with budget inaccuracies as a result of not updating regularly? How have you stayed consistent? What advice do you have?

As an excuse, it’s about on a par with “the dog ate my homework” but the main reason I haven’t been posting here about the Social Media Telesummit has been a pressing business project that had an absolute deadline as of yesterday. Good news is that I met the deadline and can now re-focus on this blog and a few other items that were effectively put to one side (I know, all the experts say you should have posts pre-written to cover contingencies such as this, but for me that is still a counsel of perfection not yet an established practice - but soon!).

Anyhow, as I say the Social Media Telesummit, orchestrated by and delivered under the consummate leadership of Leesa Barnes, is underway. It runs till the end of January. And it’s not too late to join in.

I posted about it yesterday, on my Des Walsh dot Com site, under the title: Telesummit Shows How to Use Social Media for Business. That post includes a list of topics to be covered over the ten days and nights of the telesummit.

As I commented there, it’s not false modesty for me to say that I am honoured to be in the company of the other people Leesa has assembled as speakers for this telesummit.

I’m all for going to live conferences when I can and I love being able to work with a group in a live environment, but I can’t help thinking that, with the economy in most places a bit wobbly or worse, there is a case to be made right now for participating in a virtual conference. No airfares, no waiting in airport lounges, no hotel bills - and no carbon footprint to speak of. What’s not to like? And if you can’t log in or call in live, you can listen online later, provided you are registered.

And if you work from home, for yourself, and don’t have a fancy corporate travel/conference budget you can access,  or if you are working for someone else and the budget just got shrunk, then a virtual conference, provided there is quality in the speakers and content, surely makes sense.

This telesummit is a well-designed, professionally delivered event, across the spectrum of social media, in a business context.

Oh, and my session will be on Monday January 26, 8 pm Eastern time (US), which for anyone in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China … will be on Tuesday morning. My session is on how to become a leader in your niche, using social media. Tip: I find the most reliable way for me to coordinate over different timezones is the free, online service, World Clock Meeting Planner (amazingly, you don’t even need a login).

You can check out the event in more detail - and register if you choose, as I hope you will - at the Social Media Telesummit site.

Source: Des Walsh

Exciting New Toolbar from SEO Wizard Arron Wall

The Seo Toolbar is a toolbar that I can see is going to help me get a much better understanding of how SEO works . The toolbar only works with Firefox, so if you don’t use firefox, the features this toolbar offers might persuade you to switch.

Want to know why Google or Yahoo! ranks pages? If so this is the Firefox extension is for you. The SEO Toolbar pulls in many useful marketing data points to make it easy get a holistic view of the competitive landscape of a market directly in the search results.

Aaron says that the  SEO game is becoming more complex and he has designed the toolbar to help evaluate your competition.

Watch the video here to see how this can help you and your sites.

I know for me this will help me understand more about SEO, something I tended to neglect, until now

Source: Suzie Cheel

I admit it. Keeping email under control is not my long suit. I know it’s important and I have listened attentively while experts told me how to manage it, but I have not had great success in applying the theory.

Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that I am not one of those people who always has everything in order. Every now and again I blitz my intray and general desk area so that I know where things are and am able to work more effectively. But as for following a really ordered system, I don’t score highly.

I’ve given up envying the naturally - or trained to be - orderly people who, if you believe them, never have a piece of paper or any other item out of place.

And the days when I had a secretary to do this sort of thing for me are long gone.

But I still need to do something about the email “pile”.

Which was why I was very pleased to see in my RSS feed today a link to the post by Matt Cutts from Google on how to Start the Year with an Empty Inbox.

This is in the “not necessarily the most efficient in the long term, but fast and painless” category. Basically, Matt shows us how, in three easy steps, we can archive our current Gmail inbox contents (for me it was mostly stuff I know I will never get around to reading) but archiving it in such a way as to be able to find it all again in an “oldinbox”, work on individual items as we choose - and even, if the loss of our inbox contents grieves us, to undo the whole process.

I’ve used a similar process with my Outlook mailbox, for quite a while now.

Sneaky trick it may be and I’m sure it’s not in any “How to Manage Your Email” course, but it works for me.

And re-visiting my Gmail inbox just now, a couple of hours after clearing it, I saw just one item, which I did not need, and got great satisfaction from deleting it. Now the game will be to keep the inbox clear. I know that I will have to check out and deal with a number of items in the “oldinbox”, but I can’t see that being a problem.

Feels good.

Source: Des Walsh

One of the most common concerns raised when the subject of business blogging is under discussion is what to do about critical or hostile comments. I’ve been explaining the theory for a few years now in various forums and in various countries. But an experience this week showed me I still had (have) some learning to do.

What happened was that I had a critical comment on one of my blog posts here the other morning. It wasn’t a nasty comment, in fact very mild and I wasn’t completely sure the comment was about this blog or about another, the subject of the blog post being commented on. And on re-reading the post I realise I may have implicitly invited some criticism.

But to be frank, it annoyed me. And I felt aggrieved.

Which was a perfectly human response.

Just not a very helpful one.

After all, I talk to people about how to respond to this sort of thing. I include reference to it in presentations. I write about it.

So this was where the rubber hit the road, so to speak.

What’s the advice I give others?

Like others who specialisz in consulting or coaching in the field of blogging and other social media, my response to questions and concerns about critical comments on business blogs has been along the lines of:

• it goes with being part of the conversation
• people are talking about you and your company anyway (or you hope they are!) so you are just hearing what is already being said
• by dealing with criticism openly,  you help your clients, your market get a sense of what you stand for, your principles
• you also get the opportunity to put your side of the conversation, not letting it go by default

I believe those points are all valid. But they are just principles, guides. Dealing with the actual experience means that I and other business bloggers need to take account not just of the theory - our logical response -  but of our emotional response. A test of our emotional intelligence (EQ) if you will.

So after these reflections, I left a response to the comment, seeking clarification. There has been no reply yet and somehow I feel there will not be one.

I’m actually grateful to the commenter. His comment argued (if I understood it correctly) that my posts should offer more value for readers. Working on that can’t be a bad thing, just as getting over the dent to my pride can’t be a bad thing.

And on the bigger picture of offering my services to help businesses understand and manage the blog-enabled conversations, I believe what I’m learning from this experience will help me be more genuinely and helpfully sympathetic the next time the issue of critical comments is raised.

Picture credit: kretyen, via Flicker - Creative Commons licence

Source: Des Walsh

My friend and colleague Lonnie B. Hodge and I have launched a web site for Social Media Consultants and PR 2.0 Specialists.

Elsewhere I’ve posted a bit about how the site came about and what it is intended to achieve.

From a Thinking Home Business perspective - i.e. that of the usually solo entrepreneur working from a home base - and considering a few comments we’ve had already, I’ve started to think the site could get quite big, even a bit overwhelming.

Are Lonnie and I prepared for that?

Yes and no. We are open to the idea and we are confident we can find a way to deal with growth.

But do we have a detailed plan? No.

I know some people would find that idea quite daunting, irresponsible even.

But we are being as open as we can be with people. Anyone who reads what we have put on the site will see that we are not hiding the fact that we are making it up as we go along.

We’re not risking financial capital - it’s a (free) WordPress site we are using to get started and maybe to continue. We are investing some time, certainly, and if it all finishes up looking like a bit of a pipe dream we could have some egg on our faces. But we can live with that.

Basically, neither of us can resist the opportunity to play a bigger game, risky as it may be. Boldness + a modicum of risk management should see us through. Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t be bold and dream big.

Are you playing a big enough game for your talents? We’d love to hear about it.

If you aren’t, would 2009 be a good year to test out one or more of your dreams and play big?

Source: Des Walsh

Rainbow Bay, Queensland, Australia, early this morning

I said “I have to get a picture for my blog!”

He smiled and posed.

“What’s the name?” I asked

“Santa”

Of course.

Between the usual demands of the festive season and the lure of the beach, I doubt that I’ll be doing a lot of blog posting over the next few days.

Wishing you a very happy Hanukkah, very happy Christmas, and very happy whatever other greetings of your preference, dear readers.

Source: Des Walsh