DIY Ministry

Free Webinar and Other Great Blogging Resources!

December 21, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

Problogger currently has an AH-MA-ZING sale going on. If you’ve ever wanted to buy his ebooks then now is the time. He’s calling it the Three-For-Three-At-A-Half Sale (cheesy I know, but the deals are cool!)

For three days you can save 50% on these three great blogging eBooks, and there’s something for everyone. I HIGHLY recommend them all. I purchased them myself and refer to them often.

Deal #1: If you’re just getting started ….

First Week Of Blogging – $9.99 and it’s yours!

Making great early choices is vital to the long-term success of your blog. This ebook guides you, day by day, through your first week of blogging so you can make the most of those critical first few days. It will ensure you’re blog is build on a rock solid foundation — a Probloggerdation.

Pick up a copy now

Deal #2: If your plans are to turn your blog into a page view power house next year …

31 Days To Build A Better Blog (2012 edition) just $14.99!

New and updated for 2012, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable ebook designed to help you revitalize your blog. One step at a time, it will transform your blog into the page view powerhouse you’ve always dreamed of — because we all love seven digit numbers on google analytics!

Pick up a copy now

Deal #3: If your plans are to start earning real money from your blog in 2012 …

The Bloggers Guide To Online Marketing (normally $99) now $49.99.

A comprehensive, 31 chapter blueprint for your blog’s ongoing profitability – right from the ground up (AKA more cash!). Backed by an extensive library of practical templates, printable worksheets, and in-practice example documents, this kit delivers all you need to make your blog turn a profit now, and over the long term.

Pick up a copy now

These 3 deals are good for 3 days only, so make sure you don’t miss your chance to pick up a last minute Christmas bargain.

Get the name of the sale now, three books for thee days at half price

PS: All 3 eBooks are backed by their no questions asked 60-day money back guarantee. It’s there to give you some piece of mind, but the 10s of thousands that own these products, and the teeny-tiny number that have requested one, should be all the confidence you need!

Free Facebook Webinar

This webinar is available for a limited time so watch it soon. Put it on while your baking cookies or chopping veggies. It is well worth it! The speakers are Amy Porterfield, Lewis Howes and Darren Rowse. You can watch it here: Facebook Influence.

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Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

December 19, 2011 By Lisa B

In order to give appropriate consideration to the birth of our savior, the Lord, Jesus Christ, we will be celebrating this holiday time with our family. That means that we will not be actively answering questions in the forum or sent to our email starting Wednesday, December 21, 2011 until we return on January 2nd, 2012.

We would like to take this time to wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Five Workshop Bundle: Limited Time Only 40% OFF

December 16, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

For Two Days Only

EXPIRED: We are sorry but this deal has expired. You can purchase the workshops individually from this link: Blogging Workshops Online

You can get the following online workshops, all five of them, for only $14.95. PLUS you get ebooks, guides, and other printables. Their value exceeds $300. This is a small investment with great reward.

The workshops include:

Growing Your Online Presence

This workshop will address heart issues as well as focus on the skills, tools, and techniques needed to grow your presence online. Amy will help you discover your perspective, your “niche”. She will also teach you how to plan for success and purpose to achieve great things with your blog.

Amy Bayliss will give you the “secrets” to growing your online presence that are widely known but often overlooked and unpracticed. You will see results within weeks. This workshop will offer you a comprehensive step-by-step approach to growing your presence online.

SEO Basics and Strategies

Search Engine Optimization is not a scary process. It isn’t just for professionals and you don’t need a degree or certification to implement it. All you need is to have it explained in a way that you can relate to. Amy can do that for you.

SEO can improve the volume and quality of the traffic driven to your website from search engines. I can help you define a targeted list of keywords relevant to your site and it’s perspective or “niche”. Amy will also teach you how to add those keywords your website in the places where they matter most.

Amy Bayliss will walk you through the process of optimizing your blog or web platform and give you tools and techniques that you can implement immediately. You will see results within days.

From Blogger to Entrepreneur

If you need to know how to transition your blog from a personal memoir to a source of income then this workshop is for you. You will learn the following: how to prepare for monetization by increasing traffic, readership and influence; what revenue sources are out there and how to maximize their income; and how to find companies to pitch, what to pitch them and how much to charge.

Amy Bayliss will walk you through the process of transitioning, developing, and maximizing income potential with your blog. Through case studies and practical application, From Blogger to Entrepreneur will offer you a comprehensive step-by-step approach to earning money with your blog. This workshop includes a pre-recorded two hour workshop including a Q & A session and a full copy of Amy’s mini ebook, How to Create an Effective Media Kit.

Crafting an Effective and Captivating Post

This workshop will focus on the art of crafting an effective and captivating blog post. Amy will teach you techniques for writing strong headlines, engaging readers, encouraging discussion, and ……. We’ll also discuss how to promote your post once you’ve written it.

Amy Bayliss teaches you what’s important to your current and potential readers when it comes to your content. You will learn about perspective, writing, structure, editing, photography, promotion, and interaction. This workshop will offer you a comprehensive step-by-step approach to crafting a post that connects with your audience.

Embracing Online Media (and What to do With It!)

Christians in internet based ministry, media, business, and marketing is a growing concept and it is catching on at an alarming rate. Thousands of people log on to social networking sites, write or read blogs, and participate in forums on a daily basis. They enjoy being a part of an encouraging and uplifting group but some long to do more. They long to lead. The problem is that they don’t know where to begin.

Amy Bayliss will teach you how to approach building an online platform from a biblical perspective. You want to know where to start and step by step what to do. She will give you that information.

Testimonials:

I am so thankful for DIY ministry! I am a “newbie” when it comes to blogging and running a site and to be honest, it can be very overwhelming to learn it all! But I have no need to worry because Amy has taken me by the hand and started from Step 1, to show me everything I need to know to be a successful site owner. Both ladies at DIY Ministry are ready and willing, with incredible knowledge to answer any question I have and help me every step of the way! ~ Ruth Schwenk, The Better Mom

I talked with Amy for an hour, and within a week my search engine traffic had doubled. She pointed me to easy things I could fix on my website that I would never have thought of, and I saw the differences almost immediately. Definitely money well spent! ~ Sheila Wray Gregoire, To Love, Honor, and Vacuum

Recently I had the incredible opportunity to hire consulting time with Amy Bayliss. The only negative thing I can say is that I wish I had done it SOONER! Amy was chock full of wisdom and information. Not only that, but Amy truly cares. I felt like I was having a cup of coffee with an old friend. She was so personable and just down right friendly. She gave me the much needed direction I needed to help take my blog to a whole new level. Honestly, I just can’t say enough about her and the services she offers. In the vast internet it is hard to find where you fit in, but with Amy’s help, talent, wisdom and experience, I have found my place in the cyberworld! ~ Chelsey Hall, Chelsey’s Journey and At the Well

When I started blogging it was to keep my out-of-state family in the loop but 3 years ago, my blogging became more purposeful. I knew I needed to get serious about blogging – more focused on my content – more goal-oriented. So I looked to Amy and she shared her knowledge with me! I immediately implemented the quick changes and am steadily working on the others to bring my blog to the place that it will not only be a blessing to those who visit, but bless my family as well as a source of income. If you need any direction, any guidance on how to do that, the money you spend with Amy will be INVALUABLE! She will give you direction and share all of her insider knowledge about blogging, SEO and income generation. Hurry! You won’t regret it! ~ Mary Hess, MaryHess.com

Amy has such a gift in helping people see their vision. She shares tips that are so valuable throughout her sessions. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to get more out of their blogging, whether it is to have a business or ministry or both. It is more than worth it! ~ Angela Richter, Mom with Heart

Amy Bayliss, then Amy Grant, began blogging in 2005. Since that time she has trailblazed through the blog scene co-founding and propelling online retreats like Homemaker’s Challenge, Heart of the Matter Online, Internet Cafe Devotions, and her personal website: Cajun Joie de Vivre. She also brought to the table an innovative way for bloggers and their readers to connect by establishing online conferences and workshops through A Woman Inspired, HOTM Conferences, DIY Ministry and DIY Online Events. She has been featured Woman’s Day Magazine, Inside Out Programming, and was the feature story and cover girl for CWO Magazine in August of 2008.

Amy is the author of Pursuit of Proverbs 31 and Do It Yourself Online Ministry. She is a regular writer for RooMag by Candace Cameron Bure, The Better Mom, and several other online publications. She has been wife to Ryan since 2007 and she is mom to four rambunctious boys that range in age from 18 months to 15 years. They reside in Cajun Country where they worship and serve under Healing Place Church.

Amy Bayliss.com — Stepping stones to a fulfilled life.

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Writing a Blog Post People Want to Read – and Come Back for More Of

November 14, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

Crafting a compelling post takes some time and effort. You don’t want to just throw something up and hope for the best. If you aren’t putting out quality material people won’t want to read it. Seems harsh but that’s the reality of it.

Think about what you look for when you read blogs. Do you enjoy reading posts that are extremely long with no space between paragraphs, contain run-on sentences, grammatical errors and overall a weak message? No, typically we seek out to read well written work — and we go back to read more.

Writing Technique

There are many things to consider when preparing to write a blog post. Here are some basics to get you started and pique reader interest.

Keep your posts relatively short: 500-700 words. Your goal is to keep the reader’s attention and as well as value their time.

Keep your paragraphs short. No more than 4 sentences per paragraph. This is easy on the eyes when reading on the computer.

Keep your sentences short. Ideas need to remain simple, yet captivating. Absolutely no run-on sentences.

Use bold, italics, bullet points and lists freely. Reading on the internet is different than reading a book. People need to be able to scan your post and have the important parts jump out at them.

Mary DeMuth greatly encourages the use of strong verbs. State of being verbs such as am, be, is, was, were, become, feel, and seem are considered weak verbs. Mary gives these examples {used with permission}:

He was tired. Change to: His eyelids drooped. Or: She is old. Change to: The arthritis made it hard to grip the pencil. See how your writing becomes stronger and more visual when you change out weak verbs? Usually when you write with be-verbs like this, you are telling. Eliminating them helps you to SHOW instead.

Once you have it written, let your article sit for 24 hours and come back to it in order to edit it with fresh eyes.

I encourage you to always be in a place where you want to learn more and be better in your writing. There is always more to learn and if we hope to move forward, we shouldn’t be content to remain where we are.

Images

Good photos are the eye candy of a post. It helps to illustrate what you are trying to say and also helps to make the post easily manageable for the reader.

There are some guidelines that should be followed when using images in your post.

Use clear images. Inserting a fuzzy, dark, or blurry picture is quite bothersome on the eyes and actually a turn off for the reader. You want to be careful to use pictures that are focused and not dark.

Use relevant images. Use a photo that relates to the content of your post. Don’t just insert any photo in there, because it will throw the post off balance.
Use images legally. Contrary to popular practice, you cannot simply Google an image, lift it, and give it credit. This is copyright infringement. Any image you use [other than yours] must be used with permission. In other words, unless you personally ask the owner to borrow it, or are borrowing images from a credible website, you are not at liberty to post that photo on your blog. It’s harsh, but it’s law.
There are sites that do give you permission to borrow images, pending their terms. Such sites include Pix-o-shere, Flickr/creative commons, and Free Digital Photos. And The latest craze: Pinterest

Structure

When you sit down to write a post, you should have a structure planned out. Specifically, you want your post to flow with order. Once you figure out this structure, you can use it as a guide every time you sit down to write. It will save time and help eliminate frustration.

Here is an example of the order of a post:

–>Introduction {this is where you need to capture your audience}

–>Image

–>Personal story, experience, testimony {choose one}

–>Main points {use bullet points and numbered lists freely}

–>Closing paragraph {kind of sum up what you wrote in new words}

–>Call to action {invite your readers to answer a question or participate in a challenge}

If you are serious about blogging, this is something you want to be open to doing. Bloggers such as Michael Hyatt and Jeff Goins would agree and have been successful as a result.

Do not taking writing on your blog lightly if you expect to capture an audience. You must understand the importance of writing technique, eye-popping images, and blog post structure if you want to be successful as a blogger and/or writer.

Christin is a wife, and mother of 5. She has a heart to help women in the discipleship of their children and in the making of their homes. She also enjoys learning and teaching others about blogging and all it entails. You can find her writing at Joyful Mothering and tweeting as ChristinWrites.

Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Better Blogging: Identity and Branding in Today’s Blogosphere

September 26, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

Lisa and I want to extend a great big thank you to all of you for making the last two workshops such a huge success! Rachel Meeks’ workshop on Simple Blogging sold out the day before. We are so excited to see so much interest. And my goodness, did we ever learn a lot from Rachel. Two of the things that stood out the most to me were these:

Blog with passion but blog with purpose.
There is no need to compete. Network with each other. There is an unlimited audience waiting for each of us.

It opened my mind to hear from someone with more experience and who has achieved such great success in blogging. She had some practical applications that we were able to take away and apply immediately but I appreciated that her emphasis was on being who you claim to be. If you tell others to put family first then you would serve yourself and your family well to do the same. If you tell others how to live a better life and enjoy each day then don’t do it while still in your jammies with your hair up while the house is a mess. Actually enjoy life yourself.

We have another workshop this week that is going to be a game changer in your blog style. This workshop is highly recommended for anyone developing an online presence. If you cannot attend live it is recorded so you can play it back whenever you like. You must be a ticket holder though. Tickets are going fast so grab yours today!

Darcy is our featured instructor for Better Blogging: Identity & Branding in Today’s Blogosphere. DIY Ministry’s workshops are providing what you need to accomplish your online goals.

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How to Gain / Increase Blog Readership

September 8, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

For most bloggers, the reason we blog is to be social; to participate in a community. In order to do that we need to gain readers, loyal visitors who have an interest in what it is you blog about. I’ve talked before about how I haphazardly blogged for several years before getting serious about it. Once I did get serious my stats started to take off.

What I did was follow the advice of other well situated bloggers. We all need to learn from someone. Don’t ever be afraid to ask questions of other bloggers. For every one person who ignores your email there are probably 10 more than willing to help.

Here is the advice that I was given on how to increase blog readership.

Image by manop via Flickr

First things first, decide that you want to have a larger readership. Something magical happens when you actually make a decision to do something. You stop waiting for it to happen and you take charge and do things that will “cause” it to happen. The same is true of growing your readership. When you make the conscience decision that you want it to grow then you begin to take steps in the direction of growing it. You are no longer passive about it. you become proactive.
Know what your stats are. In order to know if you have an increase you need to have some stat counters installed on your blog. StatCounter is a free one that can be used for a variety of platforms. Jetpack is another good one. It is a WordPress based plug-in. There is also Google Analytics and Get Clicky. Each are beneficial in their own way but any of them serve the basic purpose of recording visits. The key here is not to get hung up on these stats. Think of it like a scale: only check it once a week or so.
Reply to every comment and every email. Would you want to “hang out” with someone who ignored you all of the time? I wouldn’t either. When I finally realized this I began treating every reader and as a personal friend. The amazing part is that I now consider the majority of them friends. We share stories, photos, Christmas cards, and holiday wishes. They keep coming back to read because they have a true interest in my life. The least I can do is acknowledge that. Once you reach a certain point then it will become impossible to reply to each email and comment but even then stop to reply to some of them. It makes a world of difference.
Post consistently. Consistently is different for everyone. For me it means at least four times a week but for others it may mean only twice a week. No matter what your schedule make sure you abide by it.
Sow seeds. I think part of my turnaround point came when I took a 7 month blog break and actually began reading other blogs. When you visit other blogs (and email them or leave a comment) then you are showing that person that they were important enough to get your attention. That causes them to take notice of you. I also began participating in niche relevant blog hops. My traffic increased significantly.
Guest post on other blogs. I know you have heard this one before but it is a big one. When you post on another blog then you are exposed to their entire audience. Even if the audience isn’t large you are still exposed to readers who may not have discovered your blog otherwise. Make sure when guest posting to offer high quality content to the blogger. You want to make sure it is worth it to them to post it and you want to make sure their readers will find that you have enough value to click over and check out your site.
Post something of value. If you want someone to read your posts regularly then they need to gain something from it: information, inspiration, entertainment, or education. If every other post is about what you had for dinner or your visit to the dentist then you may not see a spike in readership. What do you like to read on blogs? This goes back to number 4: be sure that you are reading other blogs. Write about what you like to read about. Just do it from your point of view and in your own style.

If you faithfully employ these steps for a minimum of thirty days then you should begin to notice changes in your readership.

As always, if you have questions or comments please let us know in the comments. And if you need more intensive blog help then simply sign up for our one year DIY Ministry membership. It is like having your own consultant 24 hours a day and only cost $24.95 for a whole year!

How to Blog Using Stat Counters and Analytics (diyministry.org)
52 Types of Blog Posts that Are Proven to Work (problogger.net)
7 Traffic-Building Tips (bloggingwithamy.com)

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How To Use Your WordPress Dashboard Screen

August 30, 2011 By Lisa B

Once you log in to your WordPress administration area, you will see this Dashboard screen.

How do I get to my site?
Look in the top left corner of the screen where it says Dashboard and then to the right, there’s a WordPress logo and the name of your site. The name of your site is actually a link to the front part of your site or the domain name. I suggest you open it in a new window or tab so you can easily switch back and forth between the two.

What are all these boxes and do I need them all?
The boxes that you see can be turned on or off and can be moved around. Just click and drag the title bar area of a box to move it into a different column or above/below another box.

You do not have to keep all of these boxes on your Dashboard. It can be overwhelming to have all of that information in front of you when you log in.

How do I simplify what I see on my screen?
On any screen you go to in the Administration area, you will see a button in the top right corner that says “Screen Options.” Click that to expand the options for the screen you are on. For the Dashboard, I recommend unchecking the box next to WordPress Blog, Other WordPress News, and Plugins. While you are learning, this information would be overload and not necessary. You can always come back here later and turn them back on.

Main Navigation
On the left side of the screen is the main navigation menu detailing each of the administrative functions you can perform. At the very bottom of the main navigation menu is a Collapse Menu link to collapse the area to a set of icons. Each major function such as Posts has a sub-menu that will show when you expand the menu by clicking on the heading. Click the heading again to collapse the sub-menu.

Work Area
The large area in the middle of the screen is the work area. Specific information relating to a certain navigation choice will show here and allow you to edit the information.

Updates
WordPress now alerts you when there are updates to either WordPress itself or Plugins you may load. This information will show up at the top of your Dashboard highlighted in a yellow box with a link to perform the auto-upgrade. Note: Some hosts do not have their file permissions setup to allow for WordPress to upgrade automatically. If you get an upgrade message, click the link and tell it to upgrade, you may get an error message that says Installation Failed – Could not copy files. In this case, you will just have to check in with your hosts one-click install area and wait for them to provide the upgrade that way.

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Where do I log in to my new self-hosted WordPress.org? A tutorial.

August 29, 2011 By Lisa B

You registered your domain name.

You signed up for hosting.

You went through the one-click install of WordPress through your host.

Now what?

Once the one-click install is finished, you should be able to go to your domain name http://yourdomainname.com. You will see a Welcome screen that asks you for some information needed to finish the setup of your site.

Site Title: You can change this later if you want, but this is what you call your site. For example, here our site title is DIY Ministry.

Username: Put in your desired username. It can be anything and do not make it admin. Admin used to be the default user and that’s what most hackers (mean people) will target.

Password, twice: You know the drill. Put in what you want your password to be. Please consider making it a secure password by using a phrase and replacing vowels with numbers. Also throwing in some capital letters here and there, for example 8myR0cksD3s1gn is Amy rocks design with eights for a’s; zeros for letter o’s; ones for i’s; and threes for e’s. These passwords make it harder for those mean people to run their special programs and guess your password — especially if it’s in the dictionary.

Your E-mail: This is where your email will be stored in WordPress and if you ever forget your password, you can reset it using this email.

Leave the box checked to “Allow my site to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati.” After all, we do want people to find you

Then click the Install WordPress button.

The next screen should be a “Success!” screen and give you a Log In button to click. This button will take you to the log in screen and then direct you to the Administration area of your blog. You’ll want to bookmark or remember this url (http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin/) because it is where you will go to change settings and do things like post.

Take 5 Minutes to Make WordPress 10 Times More Secure (problogger.net)
How To Change The Admin Username In WordPress (johnchow.com)

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Finding a Niche In Blogging – Blog from Your Roots

August 17, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

Image via Wikipedia

I have to admit that I have struggled in the area of finding a niche. Every well intentioned instructor and successful blogger speaks about having a tight niche to build your platform upon. I could never think of one subject that I wanted to write on exclusively. I am a mish-mash of cooking, creativity, blogging, interior design, organizing… on second thought, I sound like a mom. hmmm….

Being a mom isn’t a tight niche though. I mean, there are thousands of mom bloggers out there. What would make me different?

I bet you have asked yourself the same thing.

Because I am a mom, a couple of my favorite shows are Next Design Star and Next Food Network Star. Can I tell you that I’ve learned a lot more from those shows than how to hang curtains and use a pressure cooker? You can hear the judges week after week saying, “I like this. It is nice but it doesn’t tell me who you are.” With other contestants you can find them running from the places they came from and it shows in their work. The judges keep repeating, “Where are your roots? Work with what you know. Learn new things to grow but they must be rooted.”

Be who you are. It really is that simple.

Whether you are an educated businessman who wants to blog about all the latest gadgets or fantasy sports or if you’re an empty nester who wants to blog about cooking for two or the grand kids: let your writing reveal who you are.

So who are you? A New York socialite with an affinity for cottage decor? A football lovin’ dad from the south? Maybe you are newly wed and traveling across the country with your military spouse. Whoever you are, blog that. I don’t mean blog about your roots unless of course you want to. Instead, blog from your roots. That is your niche.

Business Bloggers That Professional Bloggers Should Read (blogging.yourway.net)
My First BlogHer Conference: BlogHer 11 (southernhospitalityblog.com)
How I Made it onto Freshly Pressed 3 Times in 6 Months (problogger.net)

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How to Balance Time Online and Off

August 15, 2011 By Amy Bayliss

This is a question that I am asked often. Everyone wants to know how to balance time online and off; between family and online activity. How do you do it all? My secret: I don’t do it all. That is the bottom line.

Get your “priority” straight – I used to live my life in this “priority” frame of mind. By the time I made it past God, husband, and kids then there was no time or energy left for house, ministry, and everything else. Then it dawned on me that God is my only priority. Now I ask Him every day, “What do you need me to do today, Lord?” Sometimes it is about my husband; sometimes ministry; sometimes a friend. I’ve found that if I just make God and His will my only priority then He spreads me around to accomplish each day what I need to get done.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Do I always get it right? No. I mess up on many occasions. In fact, just recently I threw my hands up and called my mom-in-love to come get Matthias because I just could not carry him one more step. That boy is almost 28 lbs of pure energy. He had head butted and kicked me so many times (because he gets easily excited) that I was just about to drop to the ground. I got frustrated with other things too and it wasn’t until this evening that I realized that I did not read this morning and I did not ask Him what I should do today. I didn’t put Him first.

Set a timer and keep a to do list – I also watch my time like a hawk. I set a timer for replying to email and working on my blog. I have a “to do” list for every day and I use it as a guide; a reference for what I should accomplish. For online stuff I keep digital post its with my list of what needs to get done. When I have work to do online then I turn off email & chat, don’t click on links, and check things off as I go. I don’t let sites like Facebook and Twitter suck up my time either. I use them on occasion but I am not a die hard user.

I also reward myself for getting things done. If I accomplish my online to do list in say two hours then I make myself a frappacino or use my special bubble bath. I know it might sound strange but having a goal and a reward to look forward to motivates me to get things done. It helps me to focus.

Eliminate stress – Another secret I can share is that I realized that when I was stressed or in constant thought about something then it caused me to wander the internet aimlessly. Before I realized what happened the 2 hour timer would go off and I would have done nothing productive. My thinking about whatever was bugging me was in the forefront and my browsing the web was more or less done unconsciously. When I sit down to write or work then I shut my brain off to everything else. I listen for Matthias and the boys but my focus is on what I am doing. If something keeps popping up in my mind then I add it to my digital post it or I write it down in my notebook. Many times while I was online I would get great ideas but instead of quickly researching or implementing those ideas I just write them down for another day and get back on task.

Another trick is to close all other applications except for the one you need to accomplish your tasks. If you are trying to write and schedule posts then turn off your email & Twitter alerts. Close out Facebook and Google +. Close out every tab except the ones that you need for the immediate task. Those things can distract you easily and steer you off course.

Be flexible and submissive to His spirit – And like I said I do have a daily to do list but I don’t follow it religiously. If I don’t do something on that list then my life isn’t over. I simply put it on hold for another day. Some days I don’t get around to blogging or doing things for for some of my online projects because other things need to get done. There are also weeks that go by when I don’t reply to any email. Sometimes people get upset but I don’t feel bad because I was putting first what I felt God wanted me to do. I really do just depend on Him for guidance as to what to do.

Tip: If you do intend to ignore email for a while it is best to set up an auto response to let people know that you will eventually get back to them but it won’t be anytime soon because you are taking a break.

Support from your spouse is priceless – Ryan is a BIG help. He doesn’t mind helping with laundry, dishes, cook, clean, whatever needs to get done. He recognizes that we are a team and doesn’t mind helping out regularly. I am really blessed in that sense. He knows that I have to work sometimes and that my “work” helps me to wind down. He is also the first to tell me to go take a bubble bath when he sees that I am wound up a bit too tightly.

Make time for family – We also take time together a couple of nights a week to watch TV on the couch. It helps to laugh and get excited about things. Sometimes we’ll watch a movie but we both find it helps our emotional well being to allow ourselves to be distracted by the shenanigans on The Cake Boss or to laugh our heads off at Wipeout. Emotions are easily induced which means if I am stressed and I watch something happy then my stress goes away. Ryan and I are similar in the sense that he and I both have to deal with things immediately. We don’t let them stew or brew. That in and of itself is a stress eliminator.

Learn to let go of things – And all of that online stuff I do… I downsize quite often. I have had to walk away from other online projects that I was involved in because I know that they are in good hands and I needed the time I was devoting to those projects. I also stopped doing all design work (besides my own, of course!) Now I just spend my time with my blog, DIY Ministry and AWI – and I’m downsizing that now too because I have a bigger project in the works. I’ll be contributing to two online publications on a regular basis but have gone to strictly guest posting on others. Other than that I don’t regularly obligate myself so that I don’t let myself or anyone else down. There are seasons in life and sometimes we can handle a lot and sometimes we can only handle a little. You have to stay close to Him to know what season of life you are in.

I don’t over think it; over plan it; and I don’t wait until I think I have enough time to do it “just right”. That has always hindered me in the past. Now I just do a little at a time. And it is amazing how much God has rewarded that.

Oh and the power water I drink… it’s just good ol’ iced tea.

What do you do to balance it all? How do you make it work?

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