World Travel One Couch at a Time

A friend just told me about the site www.couchsurfing.com -- a website that facilitates strangers staying at the homes of other strangers when traveling.

My friend said his wife is obsessed, spending hours connecting to people in different groups on the site. And he and his wife have had people from all over the world staying with them. Plus he and his wife have stayed with other strangers when traveling.

I'm not advocating this website, although it is an interesting concept that you might want to check out for yourself. It's certainly a unique use of a social networking website.

Bon voyage!

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Do-Gooder Scrooge, www.couchsurfing.com, world travel

Self-Publishing: Valuable Reference Book for Comparing Companies

Stacie Vander Pol, author of the new book TOP SELF PUBLISHING FIRMS, asked me to review her book for Amazon. I have just posted my five-star review there, and I wanted to mention the book here in case any of you are considering self-publishing.

There are so many self-publishing firms to choose from that it can be very hard to decide which company to use. And what I learned from Stacie's book is that, if you're not careful, instead of comparing apples to apples, you'll be comparing apples to bananas and oranges and kiwi and every other fruit that exists.

Her book's comparison chart can be an invaluable tool to a prospective author overwhelmed with choices. And her advice, particularly on the trickiness of evaluating royalties, is excellent.

If people you know are considering self-publishing, tell them about this book. They'll be glad you did.

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Do-Gooder Scrooge, Stacie Vander Pol, Top Self Publishing Firms, Amazon review

Gluten-Free Brownies and Cookies That Taste Really Good

I wanted to share with you that a Los Angeles bakery whose products are gluten free (and therefore wheat free), dairy free (no casein) and kosher ships brownies and cookies throughout the United States. For those of you with food sensitivities who long for truly delicious treats, this is a place to check out. (I personally vouch for how good the treats are.)

The website is www.thesensitivebaker.com, and this could be a great place to find gifts for people who have everything -- except treats they can eat!

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Do-Gooder Scrooge, www.thesensitivebaker.com, gluten-free brownies, gluten-free cookies

Facebook: Important Basic Rules for Beginners on This Social Media Platform

I’ve just started a group on Facebook called Information Mavens – a place for people to post information that can help others.

Because of this new group, I’ve “friended” two women new to Facebook, and on both their profile pages I’ve noticed some basic “errors” about which I’ve told them.

Thus I wanted to write a quick post about these plus one major “error” that many people do in order to help other people:

• Do NOT put your birth year on your profile (it is NOT required). It’s good to put your birth month and date so people can wish you happy birthday. But to protect against identify theft, leave your year off.

Your profile photo should be of you alone and a close-up so we can see what you look like. As Chris Brogan said when I heard him speak in LA yesterday, if you have a good photo of yourself on social media platforms, you can be recognized when people meet you at a live event. (If you’d like more advice on profile photos, get my free report “7 Mistakes to Avoid to Protect Your Image on Facebook” at www.millermosaic.com.)

• Privacy settings are very adjustable on Facebook – it’s up to you how much you want people to see without being your Facebook friend. To make this decision, you need to decide what your purpose is on Facebook. If, like me, you want people to know about your novel and your blogs and your online businesses, you want to let as many people as possible find out about you. (But I still don’t put my telephone number and email on my profile page.)

And here’s the fourth important point thanks to MaryPat Kavanagh (www.queenofmarketing.com) and her valuable Facebook webinars:

• With a friend request – always include a reason you are asking someone to friend you (unless it is someone you already know personally). Do NOT just click the friend request without adding a personal message. If you have a connection, say what that connection is. Or if you just like the person’s profile info, say what in the profile info attracted you to making a friend request.

Although I do want to expand my friend circle on Facebook, after learning this advice from MaryPat I usually ignore friend requests of people I don’t know who don’t write a personal comment with the friend request. I figure it’s not a real request to start a Facebook relationship but just a numbers game.

Facebook can be a wonderful venue for making friends, learning new things, and promoting your blogs and businesses. But it is NOT a magic wand. You do have to put in effort and interest in order to get a good return on your investment.

I’d love for you to friend me on Facebook if we’re not already friends. Just be sure to tell me where we “met.”

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Do-Gooder Scrooge, Facebook, www.millermosaic.com, www.queenofmarketing.com, MaryPat Kavanagh

Asthma and Allergy Advice: Check out the Website of Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics

This morning at Starbucks two conversations about trying to solve asthma/allergy problems of children were taking place around me. As I personally know the frustration of trying to find the answer to a child’s medical issues, I wanted to share with you here the link to the organization that made such a difference in my family’s life when my children were young.

Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics can be a literal life-saver for parents who are at their wits’ end concerning their undiagnosed (or diagnosed correctly) children.

In a recent newsletter from this organization, an article brought tears to my eyes as I read the saga of a mother whose child’s doctors did not “see” that the child had classic asthma and allergy symptoms. Only when the desperate mother stopped accepting the doctors’ brush-offs did she find the medical help her child needed.

And what was most surprising in the article was that, for anyone who knows anything about asthma and allergies, the symptoms were classic. (This is in contrast to symptoms that don’t present as classic.) So why didn’t the child’s doctors notice what was going on?

Parents whose children are continually sick without any specific diagnosis must educate themselves in order to get the right medical care.

And if you’re on Facebook, join my new group Information Mavens. I’m hoping this group page will serve as a place for people to post information that can make other people’s lives easier.

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No Problem: These Words Should Be Banished from Everyone’s Speech

I just renewed my online subscription to Daily Variety (an entertainment industry newspaper) that I have had for several years. Daily Variety is NOT the only game in town, so you would think that the subscription person would take the opportunity to say something along the lines of “we appreciate your continued subscription.”

Okay, I can keep my blood pressure down if I’m not thanked. But when I thanked the subscription person for her help, her reply was “no problem.” And that reply of “no problem” sent me immediately to my computer to let off steam by ranting in this blog.

When will people who use that expression understand that they sound as if they are saying the opposite?

The word “problem” connotes a negative response. Instead of saying “no problem” as if assuring the other person it wasn’t a problem, the reply should be something along the lines of “it was a pleasure” or “I was glad to be able to help.”

These are examples of a positive response that produces a pleasant feeling in the other person rather than the annoying feeling produced by “no problem.”

Let’s all unite to banish “no problem” from the English language!

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Daily Variety, Do-Gooder Scrooge, no problem

Project Runway Cuts a Designer for Dressing a Professional Woman in a Suit

I’m addicted to watching Bravo TV’s PROJECT RUNWAY even though I know little about fashion and care even less. It’s the creativity motivated by each challenge that intrigues me.

This week’s episode found the remaining six designers facing the assignment of designing a makeover look for recent college grads starting out on the path of their professional lives. And the designers had to also please the mothers of these young women.

The young women ranged in career paths from possible med school to photographer to graphic designer. And it was for the graphic designer that the hapless fashion designer created a suit look.

One of the judges reamed him for creating a look with all the “clichés” – a woman in a suit with a pocket square in her breast pocket.

Personally, I’m old enough to remember when it was novel that designers created suits for business women. I even did a news story for the (now defunct) Philadelphia Bulletin about a Philly department store that opened a department for suits for professional women (rather than suits for traditional social functions attended by “ladies”).

In fact, I was so excited to be able to buy such a suit in which to interview as I neared graduation from Wharton’s MBA program that I actually made the fashion mistake of buying a purple linen suit to wear in March in LA. Only once in LA wearing my purple linen suit and surrounded by women in dark suits did I realize that professional women wore “winter” colors and fabrics in LA during the winter months.

The look that got the fashion designer cut from Project Runway was surely too formal for a young woman interviewing for a graphic designer position. Yet in my time the brightly patterned blouse worn under the pinstripe suit material would probably have produced fainting spells among any women and men who spotted the off-beat blouse.

I’m happy for young women starting out today that fashion dictates now allow them a much wider range of styles in which to express themselves and still look professional.

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Do-Gooder Scrooge, Bravo TV, Project Runway, fashion designers, women’s suits