Families on the Frontline

 As I near the end of the semester I am taken aback by how much I have learned about business, especially online business. I used to always think that starting a business was so simple. Let me tell you it is not simple! ...but it is not very hard either. Yes, there are many steps to having a successful business, but if you take it step by step you will eventually have a fully running business.     Throughout this process, I would say that the hardest parts were with Google Ads, Analytics, and SEO. I did not know very much about any of them so I had to do more research and figure out the steps. Luckily because of the class I am taking it made it all so much easier. Plus, my professor was very good at explaining things in videos and in the assignments.     This class has given me the knowledge I need to succeed on my own in creating my own business. I will probably wait until I have more time to continue moving forward, but at the moment I am excited to one day tr...

 One thing that I have found good about social media is being able to market new business on it! It's a great tool to build a name for your company. If you can post good, interactive content you will be able to meet a good chunk of people. Especially if using some advertising within the social media platform. I will be digging deeper into that once this semester of school ends for me. One platform that I am excited about using is Instagram. I already have an account and I am excited to be able to spend more time creating content on it. I plan to share date ideas and then create challenges for couples. I have always been a fan of the challenges on Instagram so I am excited to add to that mix but in a way that strengthens couples. It will be a fun way to continue my business without paying for a website to sell dates.

 Have you ever looked up a business on Google and thought it was really cool? Like the pictures make it look all nice and you are excited to go visit it. But when you do, it really doesn't meet the expectations you put on it? That same thing can happen when people see our ads on Google. We are telling them something which then leads them to have expectations. Hopefully, the ad was good and they are excited to see the website. However, hopefully, your potential customers don't get them same feeling I do when I go to a bad restaurant. What people first see when they come to your website is so important. We call it a landing page and this is because it is the first place people land in their destination for your products/business. It should grasp the audience's attention and bring light to your business. 

       This week in my business class I was able to learn about the importance of tracking the information for my business. Through Google, there are so many possibilities to expand your business. A great tool is the ROI tracking information. It is able to see when and how long your users stay on your website. It can also potentially track what gender the user is as well. Through Google, you can also see what is going on at a certain point on your website. For instance, I chose to see the analytics for when customers put something in the cart. This then helps me to see what customers are interested in, even if they don't buy it.      This is key information because I can then change my business from what analytics I get back. If people are spending a short amount of time on my website and not buying anything I can then realize that I need a great hook to captivate the audience on what I am selling.     There are so many things that go into tr...

       This week I prepped my business by adding Google Analytics to my website. By doing this it is a way of tracking how long my customers spend on my website. It will help me to see what will be most intriguing to my customers in regard to what I am selling. Of course, to do this, it will come with a lot of trial and error to see what will work best but over time I hope to figure out what will drive more sales.     This type of analysis can also be compared with how we live our lives. We go day by day trying to figure out the most effective and efficient way to do things. Then, slowly over time, we are able to perfect those tasks and add them to our skills. We also can compare this to our efforts in trying to be a better person daily. It takes time to figure out who we want to be and how we can best help others. Over time as we help others we are able to create friendships. There are so many ways to analyze our lives but I'm looking forward to this new a...

It's amazing to me how we all have such unique thinking patterns. Someone may be talking about grass and referring to the green lawn, while someone else may be referring to the grass as the grass that is a drug. Of, course this would lead to confusion while others fully get it. Luckily I am not having conversations about drugs but about Google Ads.      Google Ads is a great way to promote business, however, you must understand what others will be looking for. It was another week of pretending to go inside my customer's brains to see what would intrigue them about my business. Wondering what headlines they would click on if they saw it. Let me tell you it is difficult to come up with different phrases for "Date Ideas"... However, I was able to find some good phrases that will hopefully lead people to my website!     If any of you are planning to start a business I fully recommend using Google ads to promote it. They offer so many good videos and explain things i...

 Have you guys ever played Taboo? Well, this week I feel like I was playing Taboo but in the opposite way. So instead of trying to avoid the word you just come up with as many words as you can that are similar.      However, instead of a game, this was actually for company advertisement. It's something you do with Google Ads, and they call it keywords. I will be using it to attract more people to my website.      Google uses these things called keywords. You basically find words that people would normally type into Google and then select these as words to associate with your website/business. It's an interesting concept and a unique one too. It made me get creative in my ideas and word usage!     This helped remind me of the importance of communication in our lives. To have the best relationship we all need to have good communication skills. Those skills don't just have to be verbal either. They come in many ways but it's amazing how much a g...

This week in my class we have been focusing on the legal, taxes, and business registration side of things. I truly never knew how much went into a business! I am really glad I am taking this class so I can be sure to dot my I's and cross my T's.  The good thing is that most of the registration needed to start a business is free in Idaho. Well of course that is if you are starting a small business. Like mine where I will register my Dating Business as a Sole Proprietor. This allows me to have legal protection and doesn't require too much extra work. If things go well in my business then I will move forward and become an LLC or something along those lines.  Starting a new business can be a scary endeavor because you really do not know what will come out of it. There are so many things that can go wrong. However, if things go right and you have properly set up your business then you could be in the market for great success. Everything in life takes some type of planning and wo...

 This week I have been brainstorming ways to design my website, and let me tell you there are so many different layouts and designs! It's fun to see the uniqueness of each website and now it's just up to me to create a fun unique website too.  I have decided what I want to do for my business which is so exciting! For all you family lovers you know that any good way to keep a marriage is to go on dates! And any good way to prepare for a marriage is to go on dates as well! WELL...  I have decided to sell my dating ideas! My husband and I love to go on dates each week. I had so much fun planning them I decided why not give it a shot! So I will be selling dates in packs depending on the type of date/activity.  With all of this being said I will hopefully have my website up and running by the end of next week! This presents quite a few challenges but I am looking forward to creating my own layouts and designs to implement in my website!  Catch ya next week!

 If you have ever done any research on building a website you may have found like me a lot of options and ideas. I had no idea there were so many different ways to create a website. I also did not realize that it costs money to build a website either. This week I have been researching and narrowing down what website builder and host I want to choose. Pretty soon I will have my own website up and running! To relate this back to family life, there are so many things we could be doing with our lives. So many things trying to call attention to us. Some of these things are simply just distractions while there are others that are more worth our time and money. Just like the website searching had several options it's important in our day-to-day lives to prioritize what is most important. Let us work past those things in life that call our attention so loudly we forget to be present. For instance, Instagram, Cell Phone usage, and any other things that may distract you from being fully pres...

 We've all heard the phrase "Become an Affiliate" on Instagram and other various social media platforms. Who would have thought 100 years ago that people would be making money by sharing links to products on the internet nonetheless! It is amazing how much growth there has been in shopping online. I am still a firm believer in the fun of going shopping at a mall or a store, but maybe that's because my life is boring as a student.      Back to affiliate marketing, in case you want a little run down on how it works; basically, you sign up with a company to be an affiliate for them. This means that you will promote their products. There are no upfront fees as well as there is no upfront commission. The way you make money is when people click on your link to buy a product.     I recently signed up to be an affiliate through Amazon. The process to do so wasn't hard, however, in order to make money I will need to start advertising their products on my social medi...

 It seems as though every day we are faced with competition. The world tells us we need to be better, stronger, more capable. Being better each day is a good thing to strive for, however, we can look and realize that it is okay to be calm and to be ourselves. Without trying to compete for something that leads to nothing substantial in our lives     When we look at good start-up businesses we are able to see that their success usually comes from an overall low competition, in regards to the product or business model. Their success comes from standing out and being different. When start-up businesses look for a product they should also be aware of the demand. If you choose to sell a product that does not have a high demand. Changes are most people will not see the necessity of purchasing it.      Overall, we can compare demand vs. competition to different aspects of our lives. The best thing we can do is recognize what is most important in our lives. When lif...

I have always dreamed of getting married and sealed in a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This has been my dream and I used to pray for it every day as a child. A sealing is when a man and a woman are bound together in marriage but not just until death but forever. It is a promise you make with your spouse and with God. It is not just a light thing to take to heart but it is an important decision that will influence the rest of your life eternally. These days we see many people falling away from the church. This is due to several different reasons but I think a big one is just the draw of the world. People see it as something fun and exciting. However, as a member of the church I have been taught that God's way is greater. This can be hard to comprehend with some aspects of the world but overall God's plan will bring us the greatest happiness. Part of that plan is finding someone to settle down with and get married for time and all eternity. As you are...

Today, I will be writing about parenting. The topic is something that is very important to me and I have a great desire to nurture and teach my children in the best way possible. As I am sure every other parent desires too. The thing about parenting is that there are so many ways to go about doing it. They try to classify parenting into these four categories, authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. As we dive into these categories none of them can really cover all that goes into parenting. I actually find it quite interesting to watch how people parent their children. I guess you could also say that I enjoy people-watching.  I come from a family with seven kids and four of them are married with multiple kids each. In a way, each of my siblings chooses to parent their children differently. As I continue, in no way do I mean to throw any of them under the bus but more of analyzing what I have seen happen over the years. My oldest brother and his wife chose a more au...

  Fatherhood, what a noble calling in life. If I were a Dad I would find it to be such a privilege. Fathers make such a huge impact on their children from childhood to the adult years. As I have done some research I am amazed at just how many people are affected by their fathers or how they are negatively affected by the lack of a dad in their life. Studies have shown "...that children who grow up with absent-fathers can suffer lasting damage. They are more likely to end up in poverty or drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of wedlock, or end up in prison" (Source 1). Therefore we see that children without dads can live a harder life. Think of something you care greatly about. Whether it's a friend, a car, or a child. Now, think of what your life would be like without that. If you picked something that you cared a lot about, and it was to be gone from your life, there would be a hole in your heart. If that didn't quite do the trick for your i...

  How much does communication matter to you? Could you live without any communication with another individual? This would include no social media, no talking, no verbal language, and essentially sitting in a room by yourself all day. The rare person would say, yes they could to this statement. However, I certainly could not Communication is part of our everyday life and is essential to living. Not only is it vital to everyday living but it is vital to relationships. The best couples have the best communication. As I think about my future spouse and family I hope that we can develop Christ-like communication. C ommunication that is open and loving. No degrading, petty comments, or criticism. I want to be able to build a strong relationship of trust and appreciation. I was recently inspired by a great system for communication. There are 5 steps: The Disarming Technique: finding something true about what the other person is saying, even if it seems crazy. Empathy: Though Empathy: pa...

  Does anyone else have the problem where their brain turns and turns with overthinking the most ridiculous things?? Well if not consider yourself blessed! In today's world, people are becoming more aware of mental thoughts and the effects they can have on our health. This is a good thing but like everything in this world... all things in moderation. The biggest thing to remember when it comes to things mentally is to remember that we have control over our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Some people find this very hard to believe. They think their life is bad because of other people and the way they have been treated. News Flash! Life isn't rainbows and unicorns! We are going to deal with people who hurt us and cause pain. However, we do not need to dwell on the pain. We need to work through it and then remember what is in the past is in the past. There is no going back to try and fix it or change the outcome. We can learn from the past and choose to live our lives in a higher...

  One of the greatest heartaches known to man... falling away from someone you love. Infidelity is a big problem in today's society. So much so that people don't even marry as much. Why make that commitment to one day end up in heartache?? They choose to then still get as attached though so in the long run are they really avoiding that heartache ... nope! Whether you are married or not, it hurts when you lose someone to another person. Infidelity/cheating is a real thing that is devastating. It is interesting how there are several different forms of infidelity as well. Emotional, sexual, financial, and fantasy. Each one has its own aspect but in some way leads to the act of choosing someone or something else other than your partner. As I have had some time to learn more about infidelity one thing that really stood out to me was how much friends play an impact on it all! When a man and a woman get married they have created a bond. Essentially a united circle. They are to be as o...

  Have you ever met those couples who are engaged after 3 months? And before they are even engaged they have already planned their entire wedding? In society that would be absolutely INSANE!! For some reason that is a normal phenomenon for the church. I do not find this an intelligent way to approach eternity. For Pete's sake, you can wait a few extra months to make sure you are making a good decision! Marriage is a big step that takes commitment and loyalty. It's hard to tell how committed someone will stay throughout a lifetime. They may seem committed for the period that you are dating, but how is someone supposed to know how you will react to change? What about how you react to a change in weather? In my own family, I have seen this take place. In the engagement process, they seemed to be such a good fit and they had similar hobbies, similar hopes, and dreams. However, over time I have slowly seen these things change. Usually, it was nothing drastic but we came to find out ...

  Dating in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints… it's a whole different kind of bread. Not only is dating hard in the modern world now, but add on standards, strictness, lack of desire, and people who don't know where they stand in the gospel. It is a hard life to figure out and the expectations from older members are very high! To start with I'd like to talk about the culture of "dating." I don't think we can consider it dating. Nowadays, it's a life of hanging out. We have lost the courtesies of a good date. Like manners, expectations, and boundaries. I like to think of the dating game 40 years ago. The purpose was to go out with the opposite gender and have a good wholesome time getting to know each other. However, in today's culture, we do not have that as much. Within the Church, there are a few who still try but it seems to be rare. I would say typically life in the dating culture of the church is the following: Someone asks for the o...