Image By Aussiegall. Flickr Creative Commons License.

Tip 1

Do you get ideas constantly popping into your mind about what you’d like to share with your followers, but haven’t got as far as establishing a clear autoresponder routine, because, er, well, you mightn’t even have a list yet?

Start a document file called “Autoresponder Message Ideas” (or similar) and each time an inspiration strikes, simply write it down quickly on a fresh page, and save.  Quite quickly, you will have a juicy list of messages to load into your autoresponder system when you are finally ready.  You might even have enough ideas that naturally group together for a special report.  That would be a bonus.

Depending on your personal style,  your notes may be ready to go, or may need to be tidied up before being loaded

Just don’t let those brilliant ideas that pop into your head get forgotten.

Tip 2

Do other people’s autoresponder messages make up the majority of your daily emails.  If you do read them (!) do you ever come across one that you think is just really well written and you would like your list to receive  a similar one from you?

I look closely at welcome and thank you messages.  The majority are quite bland.  Polite, yes, but not particularly outstanding.  Then there are others that so obviously were written from the heart.  They are like jewels.

I’ve started saving these type of messages in an email file called “Great Autoresponder Messages”, so I can use them as a swipe file, for inspiration when I write my own messages.

Now I’m not talking autoresponder emails that have great content (I like to flag those).  I’m mainly talking about the relationship building messages that get sent, or even just observing the “tone of voice” a writer uses.

Even if you don’t directly use them, they become useful to you in simply helping you discover your own voice, what you would like it to be.  Many people have difficulty being naturally themselves when they decide to offer their passion as an online business.  They think they have to sound “professional”.

Were these tips useful?  Do you have any of your own that you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear from you.

If you can start the day without caffeine;

if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;

if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles;

if you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it;

if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time;

if you can take criticism and blame without resentment;

if you can conquer tension without medical help;

if you can relax without liquor;

if you can sleep without the aid of drugs …

You are probably the family dog!

Dedicated to my two wonderful doggies – you are angels with four legs and a tail 

Also, in memorium for the now-defunct site, but to be resurected in another format.

Image by Zedzap. Flickr Creative Commons License.

I was very moved by something that I read recently:

You don’t tithe because you want something.  You tithe because you’ve already gotten it.  You are so blessed already, there is no way in the world you’ll be able to repay it.  There are six billion people on the face of the planet who would give their left lung to trade places  with you.  You tithe out of gratitude you feel for the unbelievable blessings and lifestyle you have.

It was from  Jack Canfield’s book  “The Success Principles“.

Tithing hasn’t been a habit for me up until now, but Sundays will hereonin be my Gratitude For My Blessings day, and I will be making donations to someone to help them live a bit of a better life.

I don’t belong to any religious or spiritual organisations, but I came across  the Kiva group, which organises loans to individuals across the world for various purposes.  You get to choose your recipient, which is really cool.

Your “loan” may or may not be repaid.  If it is, then you can allocate it to someone else.  This concept of loans rather than outright donations,   I believe, helps to empower others and shows the principles of abundance beautifully.