Over on eMoms at Home, Dawud Miracle wrote a post called Knowing When To Slow Down. In it, he says, “Freedom, which I mostly define as a flexible schedule, is my main reason for being self-employed.” But he goes on to say “What I’ve come to realize over the years is that being self-employed has given far more little opportunities for freedom then it does large ones.”

That is a huge and wonderful truth about this business of working online (in your pajamas). It isn’t the fact that I can take long, luxurious vacations when I want. (I never do that, but I guess I could). It isn’t the fact that I can take short, weekend vacations in the middle of the week (I… Continue reading

Posted on August 31st, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Making Money Online | 5 Comments »

The WordPress admin is fairly vulnerable to hackers. Hackers know where the admin is; they know the username for the admin is usually “admin”, so that only leaves one problem - the password. For a hacker, that’s not a really big problem. Just run a brute force attack and in a matter of time, there’s a good chance of figuring out the password and logging in. What comes next? Anything the hacker wants, including destroying the blog you’ve worked so hard on.

A good friend of mine just finished creating a WordPress plugin called Login LockDown that aims to make that task much, much more difficult for a hacker. The plugin records makes a record of the IP address every… Continue reading

Posted on August 29th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tech Advice | 1 Comment »

There are quite a few keys that are necessary to ensure success when making a living online. I’ll cover each of those keys in subsequent posts. Today, let’s discuss the Diversity Key.

I’ve found it to be extremely important to have a large, diverse set of income streams. Over the years, there have been times when one or more of my income sources have been low or non-existent for that month. If I’d been dependent upon just one or even a few sources of income, I probably wouldn’t have been able to pay the bills during those months.

Summertime, especially, is lean for me. It is absolutely vital that I have multiple sources of income so that if any of them suffer during… Continue reading

Posted on August 27th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Keys To Success | 2 Comments »

I’m intrigued. Jim Kukral, a man I have a lot of respect for, has a new site that he’ll be launching any moment now called ScratchBack.com. There’s no information about what it will be, but he does show a really funny video of a dog scratching his back. Now, knowing Jim, that’s just a marketing technique to get our attention, and of course, as with most things Jim does, it’s a technique that works. Another successful technique that he uses is to hold a contest, and the contest he is holding is really good! Hosting for life on a Rackspace private server is a biggie. The beta launch of Scratchback is happening in August, and since August is nearly over, it should be… Continue reading

Posted on August 26th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Making Money Online | 2 Comments »

Are you thinking about following my plan to make a living from home in your pajamas? Are you already working towards that goal? If so, then I suggest you sign up for a Fantasy Football league now (before the football season begins). Go ahead and ask me why. It’s a legitimate question. Go ahead and tell me you either don’t know anything about playing Fantasy Football or you don’t even know anything about the sport of football. I’ll tackle that one too. (Like how I got that football-related term in there?)

Let’s handle the last doubts first. You don’t know anything about either the sport of football or the game of Fantasy Football. That’s perfectly fine. Perhaps with some knowledge, you… Continue reading

Posted on August 25th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Business Development | 2 Comments »

This Dazzlin Badge of Excellence is awarded to Skelliewag. Skelliewag’s tag line is “On Creating Content 2.0 To Match The New Web” and Skellie does a great job of doing just that, while teaching readers how to do the same. I love reading great content, and when that same great content gives tips on how to create more great content, well, it’s like a never-ending spinning kaleidoscope of great content. There are many aspects to being successful with an online business, but creating fabulous content is way up at the top of the list, so I recommend subscribing to Skelliewag.

If you’ve won a Dazzlin Badge of Excellence Award, you can display the awards badge on your site… Continue reading

Posted on August 24th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Excellence Awards | 2 Comments »

Many people, when attempting to make a living online, will concentrate on one idea and one site only, and that’s ok for them. But some people are what I call “idea people”, and I happen to be one of those kinds. Ideas spring forth like weeds from my brain, and while I don’t act upon every single one, I do tend to act upon at least a dozen or so each year. Some are really bad ideas and fail miserably. Some are pretty good ideas, but I don’t execute them well enough. And some are great ideas that work out really well.

When I first started doing this several years ago, hosting choices were very limited, and my budget was even more limited. I was… Continue reading

Posted on August 23rd, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Site Ideas | 4 Comments »

I promised that I would be starting a series of podcasts, and I haven’t changed my mind. Here is a podcast that begins the series where I show you how to do what I do…make a living online, working from home in your pajamas. Although I’ve already posted an entire series on this subject, the podcasts are designed to give more detail in an auditory format. Don’t be surprised if you see video in the future. Now, on to the podcast. Just click one of the links below to listen or to subscribe.

Listen to Should You Work From Home?

Subscribe to Podcast - DazzlinDonna Speaks

Subscribe via iTunes

Posted on August 20th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: DazzlinDonna Speaks | 3 Comments »

Adding a music clip to your audio or video project can make that project stand out and be noticed. You need to be aware though, that you can’t simply grab a clip of your favorite Top 40 song and use it on your latest Youtube video. Why? Because that’s illegal. Short and sweet. So what can you do?

Music and lyrics published before 1922 are in the public domain, but sound recordings of any music never go into public domain. You can record those old public domain songs yourself if you want. That can be used legally. Or you can record your own original music and use it however you want, of course. Anything else requires that you shell out some… Continue reading

Posted on August 17th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tech Advice | 2 Comments »

Lately, I’ve seen quite a lot of sites (usually blogs) put gray text on a black background. Tonight, I noticed it from StumbleUpon (a site I love, btw), and was just dismayed. (Yes, the screenshot above is from something SU wants me to know). Stop it, people! Just stop it. I don’t care how uber-cool it might be, it just plain sucks for readability. Show off your dark side in some other way, but don’t tick off your users in the process, k? If you want me to read what you have to say, make it legible, why don’t you?… Continue reading

Posted on August 15th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tech Advice | 5 Comments »