Montana Fortune

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

awoodger — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:36:43 +0000

No idea what Twitter is all about? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Conducting an unofficial poll of a handful of my friends and family members I was surprised to find out how many DON’T know what twittering, tweeting, or anything of the sort is about. If you’re a business owner, Twitter is not something to ignore. Free advertising, people! Take advantage where you can. Here is a great article I found through Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, “Why Now is the Time to Crush It! Cash in on your Passion”.

Chris Brogan has some insightful thoughts on using Twitter to enhance your business:

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business.

Black Friday~ shop online, more time for skiing!

awoodger — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:13:49 +0000

I love a bargain just as much as the next person, in fact, I have a hard time paying regular price for anything. But somehow the lure of extra special “Black Friday” deals has never enticed me out of bed at 3 a.m. to go stand in line in front of a store. I do however, LOVE shopping online.
Enter the web mall where you can shop thousands of merchants, AND earn rewards points to use again at the same stores. Kinda like frequent flier miles, except you can use them at any store on the webmall. Pretty cool! All the same stores I’d be battling for parking at: Target, Macy’s, Old Navy, The Gap, WalMart, just to name a few.

Free shipping? Yes, please! Check out our web mall- create an account for free and you’re on your way to some of the best deals online. And save yourself some time to relax with the family–priceless, right?

In Training

awoodger — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:41:16 +0000

It hit me last night that my off-season is officially over. If you’re not familiar with an “off-season” you probably don’t live in a resort town. Here in Big Sky that is either from the time the ski areas close (around mid-April) to 4th of July, when traffic to the area picks up again. It’s also comes around the 1st of October until Thanksgiving. Our local economy is basically dictated by the weather & travel patterns of the tourists that frequent our beautiful area. But I digress. Training. Right. So, the past month and a half I’ve spent traveling out-of-state visiting relatives, but since returning home to Big Sky, NOT doing a whole heck of a lot. Hazy gray days breed lazy days. And with very little snow (;( to shovel we’ve had my hubby home quite a bit.

I’ve tried to create some illusion of activity by getting out as often as possible for a morning run. Even committed to running the Huffing for Stuffing Thanksgiving Day race in Bozeman. So I’ve been in training for that. Trudging along it usually feels like. But as the temperature continues to drop, I remind myself that I’m also training for the wintry weather that will soon settle in for the next 7-odd months or so. I appreciate the days when the thermometer hovers around 20 b/c I know there I’ll be bullied by plenty of colder days on the ride up Challenger.

Sunrise over Ramshorn from our deck

The running, the skiing, I’m thinking of these as my physical and mental training for my next BIG event: the birth of our second child. So excited! Also scared about the long winter ahead, but trying to focus on all the things I can do (yes, the shallower side of me is mourning the loss of the alcohol induced giddiness of the holidays). But it’s almost SKI SEASON!!! And how lucky am I that I have the life where I actually get to get out and ski as much as possible? Hello preschool and ski lessons! Of course Sam and I both are looking forward to skiing with Max again this year. He’s been talking about it for the past two months. Can’t wait to see how he wows us on the slopes this season.

Even though the off-season is over, which means to me that I’m “getting back to work”, that doesn’t mean I’m done training for these other events. They’ll make me better equipped to lead my Fortune team in accomplishing our collective goals. Because busy people get more done, so the busier I stay through this loooooooonnnng winter, the better.

Fall view from our deck

Droids.

awoodger — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:31:18 +0000

Have you heard of these new phones? I hadn’t but then I’m usually about 5 steps behind in the new technology department. Besides the geek-chic name, the are said to compete aggressively with the iPhone. Why would anyone not get the iPhone though, we all know how p.c. (ha ha) it is to have an iPhone, but if you live in the wilds of Big Sky, you have no carrier that supports it. Boo AT&T! It’s pretty much Verizon or Cellular One up here, and possibly all of Montana, but don’t quote me on that. BIG SKY: If you’ve been wanting an iPhone, check out the deals on our cell website.

This is the one I like, Droid Eris by HTC (whom I’ve never heard of, btw). I have a perfectly fine Blackberry (albeit very clunky old skool version), but my contract is up for renewal so I could get this phone when I renew. I love the freedom my Blackberry gives me–yes, that’s right, I said freedom–the fact that I can take it with me and stay connected when I’m down by the river, at the playground, or SKIING, gives me the freedom for my play schedule to work around my work “schedule”.

And how cool is that? Since it ’tis the season to be thinking of others, I think I’ll wait until my contract is expired & get the new phone then. Shoot, that’s in January! Not long at all.

HOT SPOT: Western Washington

awoodger — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:48:33 +0000

So excited for my trip back home this week. Going out with my business partner, Dan Paquet, to get our Washington team rocking and rolling! Who’s ready to make a major change in their life? Who is ready to have more time to do whatever it is you love to do? Dan has been my mentor in Fortune from day 1. This guy knows what he’s doing! Just 2 months into the business he had matched his income as a contractor with 30 yrs. experience. Now 8 mos. into the business and he’s looking at about $10k/month. Ready to start down the road to financial independence? Call me 406.581.5867.

DIY: Sewing for Slackers

awoodger — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:45:01 +0000

Another sweet find at Costco? Or Ross? Cheap sheets. Yep, SHEETS.

Which leads me to sewing for slackers…sheets make sewing soooooo much easier! Especially if just sewing a straight seam on a pair curtains is a challenge. Which is usually why I just stick to pillows ;> But I digress..

Check out the sweet curtains I hooked up in Max’s room. What you can’t see from the picture is that there’s a super duty insulated liner that I picked up at the fabric store. Other than that, this was made from two top sheets. Mr. Acrobatic Sleeper has no business with a top sheet, so this part of the bedding set always gets tossed aside, unused. Voila! Enter the sheet curtain. I know, not that terribly innovative, you’ve thought of it yourself? Since we’re re-doing Max’s room to an Outer Space theme, I was really psyched to pick up this Moon & Stars flannel sheet set at Costco for $12. And all the finished edges on the sheets make it almost fool-proof.

Wall E for the liner, Stars & Moons on the outside

My Boss

awoodger — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:40:26 +0000

I work for a 42″ blond haired, blue-eyed creative genius. Today our morning meeting consisted of baking up a batch of chocolate-zucchini muffins, yesterday we had a group meeting with one of his main cohorts, Sammy K. Hard to tell what kind of a mood he’s going to be in on a daily basis, but as long as it starts with a glass of O.J. and his favorite cartoon, we’re usually off to a good start.

Bottom line, he’s the center of my universe and I’ll do anything to make sure he’s happy ;>

Who did you work for today?

Morning walk down by the river. Boy genius pointing out scary looking thistle

The office

Boo! Did I scare you?

awoodger — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:19:06 +0000

Is “Too Good to be True” really that scary?

Too good to be true sounds alot better to me than the alternative. Too bad to be true? No thanks. How many things in your life are “too good to be true”? Why is it so much easier to believe the negative than in something positive? We all know the answer to that–look at what’s on the televised news, the front page of Newsweek or Time. It’s depressing what the media is pushing these days! White collar crime and the degradation of financial institutions have the average American wary of any new opportunities.

Enter the not-so-average American. Human Being. You know you’ve heard of him or her, that “glass half full” type of person? That’s who I want to be. I want to be the person who’s not afraid to be the first person to try something. The person that believes someone or something could actually be what they say they are.

Too good to be true? Sign me up for some of that!

Do you spend $25/month eating out?

awoodger — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:21:37 +0000

If you do, then Amusement Pack pays for itself. For $25/month, you get a $25 gift certificate to use on restaurants.com, PLUS a companion airline ticket when you purchase a full-fare ticket through the site. Both of these benefits are monthly! That’s not mentioning the discounts at golf courses, museums, zoos, amusement parks, and more. Such a cool site!

Short Lines at Disney

awoodger — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Just returned from our trip to California, visiting family, Disney, etc. Thank you, Gramma, for your help with the Disney vacation, couldn’t have done it without you! The crowds were small–not sure if this is purely a seasonal phenom, or if this is a result of the slow economy. I’m sure it has to do with both, but nevertheless, it sure was more enjoyable to wait (with a 3 yr old) in a 15 min. line vs. what is normally a 2 hour line. Besides short lines at Disney, we also noticed TONS of empty storefronts. Depressing to see stores boarded up and empty, from Thousand Oaks to Solvang. The guy on the airport shuttle consoling his wife that “he just needed to get his foot in the door anywhere he could”.

All of these signs reinforced for me the fact that FORTUNE is something that alot of people need right now. No surprise that this week’s cover of TIME sported the headline: “Out of Work in America”.

Why double digit unemployment may be here to stay–and how to live with it. By Joshua Cooper Ramo

What is your family’s back-up plan? We didn’t have one either, but the future is MUCH brighter now that we do.