Day 3208 – World Book Night – With Some Of My Top Book Recommendations

Posted on April 23, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Y’all know I love to read. I HAVE to read. I will get legitimately down if I don’t read. I have made time for reading in my life. Since today is World Book Night, I wanted to share some of my top recommended books.

All of these links are Amazon Affiliate links. That means if you purchase the book or something else on Amazon after you click on the link, I will get a small percentage. If you’ve been here a while, you know I only ever share links to products, books, etc. that I have personally read, used, and believe in.

Books on Marriage

When Sinners Say “I Do”gave us some amazing advice and really helped prepare us for the journey ahead. The biggest thing that stood out to me is admitting to your spouse “I’m a big fat sinner.” Nearly nine years later and we still say this to each other, especially after a big argument. It basically means realizing that you are not a perfect person, you never will be and come into the marriage totally messed up.

Books on Life

Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths about Aging by Dick Van Dyke was a really fun book. It is read by the author, and in my opinion, the only way to experience this book. I laughed, I cried, and I appreciated my life so much more. He shares great stories about life, marriage, family, and his show business career. He sets a great example of how to live – no matter how old you are. This is a great listen for a road trip!

Books on Work

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World completely changed my life. It helped me to cut the hold of social media on my life. It helped me realize areas I needed to change and have more focus. This is a bit of a heavy read, but worth every minute.

Unmistakable by Srinivas Rao. I stumbled on this book while browsing in the library. It talks about how if we can be Unmistakable, we won’t have to worry about being the best, who can compete with us? It was a great reminder that who I am is unique, and worth being. As soon as I started reading it, I knew it would make an impact, and it did.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less totally changed my life. Even though we were already pretty simplified and minimalists, this book helped me to dig even deeper into simplicity. It helps me to say no to things that need to be said no to.

Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day was a great reminder that work isn’t just about your 9-5 but “any value we create that requires us to spend our time, focus and energy is work, humans, it seems are wired to find satisfaction by adding value through toil.”

Getting There: A Book of Mentors What I loved about this book was the varied fields and methods of work shared. It felt like I sat down with each of these successful people and learned some of their secret tips.

Children’s books

Brontorina by James Howe – A brontosaurus doing ballet is reason enough to read a book, and part of the reason I grabbed this one. But what I found was a story that encouraged chasing your dream, encouraging others to chase their dream, and not putting anyone in a box.

Bad Day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg – As a kid, I loved Two Bad Ants, also written by Chris. I sought out his other books and found this one. It was such a different story line than any other kid’s book I’d read before. This was a really fun read.

Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins – I love the books that turn what you expect an animal to do and be into something completely different. I especially loved that Bruce ate organic. I am now a super big fan of this series and read each new book when it comes out.

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin – This was so delightfully fun. I laughed very very hard reading this one. I mean, how can you not enjoy a book about dragons who love tacos?

Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! by Jason Carter Eaton – I picked up this book for the title alone. What I found was a very comical result of a messy room. This is a great book if your kids are having trouble cleaning up.

Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus – I am very patriotic about my US of A. This book was such a great reflection of this great country and I loved all of the elements that came together. There were a few books in my stack of children’s recommends that moved me to tears, this was one of them.

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty – When I first picked up this book, I read the title as Reverse Engineer. Since I’m all about systems, it sounded perfect. Upon reading, I realized my mistake, but I found something better. This book was a great reminder about creating things, failure, and the drive to continue on. This is great for little inventors.

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Day 3207 – Outrageous Multi-Step Marketing Campaigns – New Book From Bill Glazer!!

Posted on April 22, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Years ago, when I was building my wedding photography business, I heard about a book – Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get. I read it and got some great ideas. I knew he was writing another book, I had no idea what it was about but I knew I had to get it.

I finally got my copy this week and I am SO excited to start it! The new book is OUTRAGEOUS Multi-Step Marketing Campaigns That Are Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Business Owners Who Want to Change Their Good Business Into a GREAT Business. I can’t wait to read about the campaigns in the book, especially since Bret and I do lots of campaigns for our real estate investing business. The best part is that all proceeds of this book are going to a help US Vets who have had a stroke. In 2015, Bill suffered a stroke, and it has been amazing to see how far he’s come – from speaking on stage again to writing this book.

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Day 3204 – Poetry And The Creative Mind Day

Posted on April 19, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

One aspect of myself and my creativity is poetry. For a myriad of reasons, I’ve kept this part of myself tucked away. It seems I’ve always enjoyed writing poems, but for some reason or another, I just haven’t. Since attending a poetry reading, and purchasing a truly epic journal (see below), I’ve found myself writing poetry nearly every day. I’ve been reading great books on fostering creativity.

It seems as a rule, having a childlike joy and wonder with the world is a key to having long lasting creativity. Coming to situations with fresh eyes. Playing, just for the sake of play, awakens parts of our brains we try to keep quiet.

I still have a ways to go in increasing my play and childlike wonder in life, which is a good thing, I think. Realizing it’s a long game, and something I will always be striving to attain, is a relief. Much like learning – there will ALWAYS be something to learn. There is no reason to stop learning.

What is your favorite creative outlet?

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Day 3201 – Things Learned Over Seven Years Of Blogging Every Day

Posted on April 16, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I started this blog to help grow my wedding photography business. I saw it as a way to share stories from our marriage to connect with potential couples, and to share the message of the importance of marriage until death do us part. I love that I have blogged seven of the almost nine years we’ve been married. I’ve learned a lot about myself, my marriage, and what is possible when you show up every day to do something. Here are a few of the biggest lessons that have come out of this blog for me.

Showing up every day adds up to something you never could have imagined at the beginning. I never would have guessed that I would stop photography, or take four cross country road trips, or that I would share one of my biggest secrets.

You never know who you will impact through your posts. There have been countless times I’ve gotten messages from folks who said a post impacted them in a way I never would have expected.

You never know who is reading….every….single….day. A few times, I’ve had people say things like “I saw that on your blog” or know little details about me from reading my blog daily. It is a good reminder to really think about what I’m posting.

You never know where your life will take you. I’ve experienced a wealth of things over the last seven years. From moves to new jobs to leaving old jobs to new friends to new adventures. I’ve experienced extreme heartache as well as extreme heartoverloadgoodness.

Whatever you’re working on daily that doesn’t have foreseeable benefits – keep going.

Whatever you’re dreaming about and afraid to start because the plan isn’t clear – just start.

Whatever book you have buried in your heart – even a few lines a day will add up to a book in time.

Thank you to every one of you who has been here from the beginning or started following this week. You make me continue to show up, every day.

I took this picture at the moment I had the idea for this blog. I was so moved that I had started to cry. For some reason, the picture was flipped upside down. I’ve kept it this way because sometimes what we think will be the end product is so far from what we expected, but it’s better than we could ever have imagined. I can’t think of a better way to describe this blog.

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Day 3199 – Why Are You Putting Off Your Dreams? – repost

Posted on April 14, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I’m a big pusher. I love this about myself. I love to push people to be better, to follow their dreams and to do things that make them happy. Once I figure out how to make that quality in myself into a source of income that makes sense for my lifestyle, I will be a very happy camper.

But just as a photographer really sucks at taking photos of themselves, their family and friends….AND printing them out. I suck at pushing myself. It’s easier for me to just give advice to other people and not give it to myself.

I have had a dream to publish a book for years. I honestly have no idea how long. At least 10 years. I am pretty sure as a kid/young adult, I had dreams of writing a book. I watched countless videos, went to seminars, heard many people say how easy it is to publish a book today. I knew it was possible and it did sound pretty easy.

But here’s the thing, I still dragged my feet. It took a lot of arm twisting for me to hire a proof reader/editor. I did and I know my book is so much stronger because of the changes and general clean up that my editor did. She even made a few changes that made my formatting for Amazon a ton easier.

I also delayed a while after the manuscript was done. To be fair, I was stuck on the title. It was so hard to say what the book was about. I had so many competing voices and advice. Do this, do that, you HAVE to do this, DON’T do that! One day, I finally turned everything off and just talked to God. I said tell me what you want YOUR book to be called. Because really, the book is what God has to say about work….not me. It was a big step for me, I figured out the title and everything clicked after that.

I met some resistance in getting things set up…buying the ISBN, designing my cover, uploading to Amazon. I realize now, it was mostly a “I’ve never done this before and I’m putting things off” type thing.

But now that I’m done, I can’t get over how easy it was. Not only to put publish the ebook but also the paperback (I’m still waiting for approval from Amazon, keep checking the link if you want to buy a physical copy). I had a little trouble with the cover design….but Amazon has a great program to catch any mistakes on the book.

I will be a major pusher to others who want to write a book now. I will also push affiliate marketing as well. Through people clicking on the link to my book, I’ve already made affiliate sales. Basically, if someone clicks on one of my affiliate links and buys either the product I’m sharing or something completely different, I get a percentage of that sale (at no additional cost to the purchaser). I’ve made more in the last few days through my book than I have in a few months of having an affiliate account. (If you have to shop on Amazon, follow the link to my book in the footer to make sure we get credit!)

So as I marinate over the fact that I am now a published author, I am struck by the thought “why did I put this off for so long?” It seems silly now…especially since I’m a big supporter of “go do these things that make you happy. Go take that cross country trip. Quit your job and take a chance on your own business. Get rid of all your stuff and live out of an RV.”

Why are you putting off your dreams?

originally posted 12/18/16

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365daysofmarriage

Simplicity in Marriage, Christianity, Travel, Business, Life

Category Archives: Business

Day 3208 – World Book Night – With Some Of My Top Book Recommendations

Day 3207 – Outrageous Multi-Step Marketing Campaigns – New Book From Bill Glazer!!

Day 3204 – Poetry And The Creative Mind Day

Day 3201 – Things Learned Over Seven Years Of Blogging Every Day

Day 3199 – Why Are You Putting Off Your Dreams? – repost