My 4 Favorite PDF Producing Programs (plus a few online options)
Filed Under In General | 15 Comments
Yesterday I posted about the glories of PDF documents and highlighted features you can easily leverage for your business. I also had a tiny rant about reader-friendly features going unused, and listed some folks who create PDFs that work all the best bits.
Today I’m on the coolest of cool things about Adobe’s PDFs, which is you don’t have to buy a pricey Adobe product to make them! There are stacks of free and affordable ways to create PDFs: downloadable desktop applications, online services, and as a feature in programs we already use.
Here are the 4 programs I use to make PDFs, plus some online options: Read more
Adobe’s PDF (Portable Document Format) files are an author’s BFF, and for good reasons. PDF documents:
- Can be secured against editing, copying, and printing
- Maintain the appearance of the original document
- Can be optimized for small file size
- Can be read on any (maybe every) computing platform and operating system with Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader
- Have reader-friendly features such as hyperlinks, text search, bookmarks, and various viewing and navigation options
I’m a bookworm from wayyyy back, but in many ways I believe PDFs are better than paper, with some clear advantages for business use: Read more
Picking and Poking at Poverty Mind
Filed Under In General, Quotations | 35 Comments
~Michael Neill
Michael Neill’s words—which headline the Finance and Money chapter of X Marks the Spot—got me rethinking poverty mind. And not in terms of money.
What if what Michael says about financial security is the same for our emotional security? Then emotional security stems from a belief that we can get more love, more friends, more acceptance, more appreciation, and more attention whenever we want. It would follow then, that insecurities are rooted in fear that those things are in short supply.
Is the same true for ideas? If it is, it means that people who believe in bottomless idea buckets feel safe when sharing their notions and helping others brainstorm. On the flip side, people who are secretive about ideas and miserly with feedback are reacting to a concept that the ideas they have are the only ideas they’ll ever have.
And then there’s time. Pema Chodron asks us, “Since death is certain, and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing?” Our time is surely finite, but does that give us a right to be stingy with it, or would we serve ourselves and others better by handing over this unmeasurable treasure by the bushel?
We’re probably hardwired to hoard when there’s a shortage. But I feel it’s critical for a healthy spirit, a functional family, and a harmonious planet that we treat love, ideas, and time like the renewable resources they truly are. Since the beginning of the beginning, we—as a species—have fought with others (and ourselves) over things we imagine are in short supply.
Why is it easier to scrap over scraps than to cultivate resources that can’t be used up?
Which is all to say: when it comes to earning a living, how do we choose a service to offer? Selling something we have plenty of and the market lacks is easy-peasy. But what do we do when the knowledge and skills we have in ready supply aren’t met with high market demand?
Or maybe even more challenging, what if what’s in demand is something we have, but we feel a need to clutch it close to our chest? Indira Gandhi said “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist,” and to that I add: you can’t accept payments that way either.
Sorry. I usually post answers, but today I’ve got nothing but questions. There’s never a shortage of those.
Et tu? Let me know below.
Book Review: X Marks the Spot
Filed Under Feed Your Mind | 9 Comments
In my most compelling recurring dream, I wake from a nap just in time for an international flight that I’m not prepared to catch. My bags aren’t packed, my guides and maps aren’t marked—nothing is ready. I had this dream 2 or 3 times a week and it was always the same: my desperate rush to pull it all together and a too-late-so-sorry arrival at the gate while the plane is taking off.
After a month of restless sleep and heartache, I planned a response to the apparent lesson. The next time I found myself in the dream, I picked up my passport and purse and walked right out the door. No luggage or maps or snacks or books or anything I typically take when I travel. That time, I caught my flight. And I haven’t had that dream again. Read more
cc danielle_blue, courtesy of Flickr
A great question arrived at the Idea Cafe’s CyberSchmooz forum about a month ago (time flies!), asking how to expand an annual art show’s income beyond the 3-day event. Edward (the owner) says it best,
I am wondering however if there is another component, other than another event, that I can add onto a business like this that would still fall under the umbrella of this 3 day event. Since the website gets a good amount of hits maybe I can sell something on my site?
My question is: Do I work on ways to add more components to this or do I focus on making this 3 day event the biggest and best 3 days of the entire year?
Edward’s feels he can pull his event off only once a year. I suggested he at least consider a holiday event in December, and promised I’d “chew on” ways he could leverage his website for income the other 362 days of the year. My much-gnawed answer is:
DO BOTH
by providing the value of the real-world event in an online venue
For the artist/vendor, Edward’s art show is an opportunity to display and sell their work while connecting with art enthusiasts. These attendees benefit similarly: they can explore a variety of art in one place, meet the artists, and buy their work.
With those things in mind, here’s how Edward can promote his annual art show and earn year-round income with a restyled website: Read more
7 Reasons Why I Heart PayPal
Filed Under Work the Web | 29 Comments
A recent CNN Money article offered alternatives for e-commerce business owners that are “sick of PayPal”. Service descriptions from the article and the vendor websites were revealing, and not in a good way: Read more
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