Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips

If you're lucky enough to find hardwood floors hiding under your tired carpeting, you might feel like covering the wood back up. That's understandable because refinishing the floors yourself seems like an impossible task.Hardwood floors were a common feature in houses until the 1960s. Before that, having wall-to-wall carpet was considered a luxury upgrade. From the 1970s on, most homes had wall-to-wall carpet in nearly every room. However, tastes change, and over the last couple decades, hardwood floors have once again become fashionable and desirable. Oftentimes, when I'm talking with someone about fixing houses, they ask if refinishing hardwood floors is something they can do themselves. Unless the person has a physical reason why they can't do it, I generally say yes. However, I also remind them that redoing hardwood floors takes a great deal of time, sweat, and elbow grease. As a general rule, floors of fifty square feet or less can be sanded by hand, but for any floor larger than that, rent or buy a small orbital sander. Everything necessary for doing it yourself will be available at your local hardware store. You can buy a pretty good electric sander nowadays for less than 0, which can be a good investment, especially if you're planning to work on your home on a regular basis.The first layer to be removed is often a thick wax coating, followed by a coat of either polyurethane or varnish. A heavy duty commercial wax stripper can remove the wax, and then a lacquer thinner or acetone can be wiped on to prepare the wood for the next step. If there are any carpet tacks or pieces of old nails in the wood, remove them first. The remnant of a nail can tear up sandpaper, damage a sanding pad, and do serious damage to the palm of your hand, so check carefully to make sure all remnants of tacks and nails are gone before you begin sanding. Fill all nail holes with a quality wood filler, matching the color as closely as you can, and let it dry. Then you're ready to begin sanding the floor with 220-grit sandpaper, whether by hand or with a sander. When you're done sanding, wipe the entire floor with a damp cloth to remove as much sanding dust as possible. Damp cloths work better than vacuum cleaners. Let the floor dry, and then wipe it again with a tack rag, which is a cloth impregnated with resin to pick up fine dust particles. Again, your local hardware store will have what you need.After the floor is as clean as you can get it, apply three coats of polyurethane with a paint pad, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly, lightly sanding with 220-grit paper, and wiping the floor with a damp cloth and a tack rag between coats. If you prefer an old-fashioned finish, you can use a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and mineral spirits and then wax the floors with beeswax or paste wax. Take caution with the chemical mixture and the rags because they can catch on fire. You can refinish hardwood floors yourself. It just takes time and effort--and a good set of kneepads wouldn't hurt, either! Once you finish, you'll have a gorgeous floor to be proud of and ready for that next "do it yourself" project--perhaps the next room with hardwood floors. Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

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Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips

Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Do It Yourself Tips

Author Jeanette Fisher, America's "Dream Home" Maker, teaches interior design, redesign, and home staging. You can ask her questions on her Amazon blog or see http://www.designpsych.com for free home decorating teleseminars.

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6 Personal Organization Tips That Will Save Your Life!

It's really not that hard to stay organized once you get there... but the getting there can be a challenge. I've often wondered if some of us are born with an organizational gene and others are born with a messy gene. It seems some people have a knack for keeping order everywhere around them-in their car, office, and home. And others create messes wherever they go!

For those who do not have this innate ability, it's fairly easy to learn tips that will not only bring peace of mind, but can literally save your life. Losing your keys, misplacing important documents, or not being able to find your medication can all have life-threatening consequences.

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More often, most of us want to be organized in order to have a life that flows more smoothly, with less stress and chaos, and more structure and efficiency. Whatever the reason for creating order, you will enjoy the results. Here are some top tips to get there:

6 Personal Organization Tips That Will Save Your Life!

1. Have a home for everything.
"A place for everything and everything in its place" is a basic tenet of organization. Once you establish a home for everything, you just need to put it back there to maintain order. A logical place to put things is close to where they will be used. Keep your office supplies in your office close to your desk. Keep your tools in a tool box in the garage. Organizing can be fun when you look for proper storage containers to store everything. A rolling cart can be kept close to your desk with pens, stationery, and computer paper and ink. And a multi-level tool box that holds all your basic tools will keep them well organized. When everything has its place, you will be able to put your hands on what you need when you need it. In some instances, that can be life saving!

2. Maintain your space.
Spend time each day or once a week doing maintenance. That means putting things back in their home and catching up on any organization projects. One of the main reasons people are not organized is they don't take the time to keep up the organization. Taking 15 minutes to put things away every evening can save hours of cleaning up messes that have gone untouched for weeks. Did you know that piles of paper are breeding grounds? Just watch one paper, then pile another on top, and watch them multiply. In no time at all, you'll have a massive pile! If you've misplaced a critical document, knowing where it is at all times can be life saving!

3. Keep a calendar/ to do list.
If it's not on my calendar or to do list, it doesn't exist. I don't know how anyone can be busy, juggle activities, and schedule appointments without a calendar. I've helped many stressful coaching clients with just this simple suggestion: write it down! You must keep a calendar so you can honor your commitments to others and yourself. And a to do list helps you tackle the important activities first and keep track of all you have on your plate. If you miss an appointment with a client, or forget to pick up your kids at soccer practice, or neglect a physical checkup, you will definitely appreciate how writing everything down is life saving.

4. Manage your time.
Time management is a huge part of an organized life. Keeping a calendar will help you to manage your time more effectively. Other skills that will help include learning when and what to delegate, saying no when it's not in your best interest, and prioritizing your activities. When you cannot do it all-and frankly, you should not be doing everything yourself-it's time to delegate. Whether it's house cleaning, gardening, or having a virtual assistant, the best use of your time is what you do best and enjoy doing. Learning to say no to activities that don't support your primary goals keeps you free to focus on your priorities, which you can organize with your to do list. See how all of these fit together?

5. Clear the clutter.
Having a home for everything will get you started on clearing the clutter. The next step is to let go of what you won't use or haven't used for the past year. Have a garage sale or donate to your local thrift store or charity. People tend to buy new things but not discard the old, and what happens is we run out of space! Recycle, let go, and free up your space. It's difficult to stay organized when there's too much stuff! It's difficult to find a home for everything when there's too much stuff! It distracts you from being able to focus your energy on the important areas of you life. Have a family "clear the clutter" party at least once, maybe even twice a year.

6. Learn to make decisions.
What do I do with this paper? Where do I put this piece of equipment? One of the primary reasons stuff accumulates besides not having a home and having too much of it, is that we put off making decisions. Should I keep this? If so where would I put it? Oh, I'll decide later. Sound familiar? So if you look at some of the clutter around you, you can probably trace it back to being unable to decide what to do with it. Adapt the Nike slogan, "just do it." You can always make another decision later, but for now, decide to do it, delegate it, or dump or delete it! That's easy! This simple, but powerful skill, will stand you in good stead in so many situations. And making decisions can definitely be life saving!

6 Personal Organization Tips That Will Save Your Life!

Lifestyle Mentor, Personal Coach, Author, Educator, and Entrepreneur, David B. Bohl is the creator of Slow Down FAST. To learn more about this step-by-step strategy for Living YOUR Life YOUR way, and to sign up for his 9 FREE Tips for Finding Happiness in a Fast-Paced World, free teleseminars, free Special Report, free bi-monthly ezine and more, go to: http://www.SlowDownFAST.com

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One Product - Service - Client Does NOT Make A Business

Recently a new client came to me in total frustration. She had been working with another coach who had insisted she focus on offering, and aggressively marketing, only one service. Now she was out of energy, out of money, and couldn't understand why she was failing. A great salesperson in her previous work, she was struggling to sell enough of this one service to support herself.

This talented and skilled professional was on a slippery slope to a failed business. She was using one of the most enticing and dangerous models for the direction of her business: Offering just one service to just one market.

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One service, one big client, one product, does not make a one-person business that can thrive. And, it can get you in hot water if your one client with your one product or service is corporate: you start to look too much like an employee to keep the IRS happy.

One Product - Service - Client Does NOT Make A Business

So, what's the answer? For this new client, my first question was "Have you done the numbers?"

Her blank look was enough of an answer. So, we walked through the numbers process:

how many contacts she needed to generate a lead

how many leads to make a sale

how long the sales process took in both hours and days

how much it cost out of pocket to develop a paying customer

how long to deliver the service

how much she needed to sell to cover her expenses, to generate enough to get by, and provide a quality life for herself, and

how long before the customer was ready for the next service session.

The answer to her problems was very clear. She needed to sell six new clients a week to get by in order to pay her bare living expenses. But, it took significantly more time than 40 hours per week to generate the leads, close the sales, and deliver the service. More like 80 hours per week.

She had also not taken into account the amount of money her marketing and sales was taking, as well as the money needed to produce the service. So, although her target was 6 sales a week, she really needed to make at least 7 to cover both the costs of production, and the money she needed to cover her living expenses.

An undoable plan!

The answers to her dilemma were the strategies one-person business owners need to consider for themselves. What kind of multipliers can you implement so you can provide for yourself in a manner to which you would like to become accustomed, and at the same time provide quality products and services to your target market.

Start with a commitment to yourself that you will never again have just one service or product for one market. Aim for at least 3 service/product offerings in 2 - 3 markets. (I know when you are just starting out, it is hard to develop all three at the same time. Just make sure it is in your plan, and then work your plan.)

Devote your next executive meeting with yourself to reviewing your product/service packages. Look for ways you can multiply your efforts, or transfer your current offerings to another market. Ask yourself:

Is it time to make one of your service packages into a stand alone product you can make once and sell, sell, sell? Consider ebooks, workbooks, resource guides, quick start guides to using a product or service. Plus with add on's, hard to source supplies, and specific tools.

Can you bundle stand alone, or individual services into an ongoing coaching, consulting retainer agreement with your existing or new clients?

Can you service a number of clients at the same time? They can get the benefit of learning from one another, and lower individual fees while still increasing your total income/time. Consider teleseminars, group coaching, group counseling or therapy, seminars, workshops or training classes.

You can also look at unserved potential clients in the work you are already doing. Many professional speakers develop products or services so their audience members can take a part of the speaker home with them, or continue learning more than what was possible in one presentation. Consider what you could offer the executives who make the decisions to hire you. Or, additional products or services for meeting planners. This means you have three different potential client bases all in the room with you when you are presenting. Do you leave them wanting more...or do you have products and services just for them?

Bottom line-one product, service, or client doesn't make a viable one-person business. Make a commitment to yourself to build a stronger, more profitable business.

One Product - Service - Client Does NOT Make A Business

Need to get your small business more strategic, organized, automated? Click here http://www.1PersonBusiness.com for Pat Wiklund’s complimentary introductory course on How to Run a One-Person Business Without It Running You.

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Teleseminars and Purposeful Evil Disruptors Considered

Let's face it anyone who has ever given a number of teleseminars knows there can be some rather unruly and combative guests who attempt to interrupt or disrupt the question and answer period. Indeed, if you have experience here you know exactly what I mean, and thus, my first advice to any new comer in this sector or using this type of informational marketing or perhaps for training and education - is to remain strong and in control. If you sound wishy-washy or unsure of yourself, you are bound to embolden such purposeful or even downright evil disruptors.

Worse, you may find yourself in a situation where your investors, best customers, regulators, and competition lose faith in you, your company, and your ability to perform. If you do not handle yourself properly you could lose decades of credibility in a 30 minute teleseminar with a 10-15 minute minimum Q and A at the end. Now then, I've been on both sides of this game. That is to say I've been an evil disruptor, a competitor, and really given the speaker and presenter a hard time.

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And indeed, as paybacks are always a "witch" well, I've had my share of hard to deal with disruptors myself. Sometimes politically diametrically opposed, other times competitors who were ruthless to a Machiavellian fault trying to get me to flinch first. Now then, don't assume everyone that asks you a question point blank is a disruptor, they very well be a buyer in the market for your products or services, and only need a little nudge or answer to their objections prior to closing of the sale.

Teleseminars and Purposeful Evil Disruptors Considered

In fact, I've had what I thought were disruptors call me back personally, or emailed and later become my best customers - most loyal and best source of future referrals, so remember that. Next, I recommend killing everyone with kindness, often this will diffuse even a hard-nosed, hard-to-deal-with competitor trying to make you look like an imbecile. Another great tactic is to refer the disruptor to a follow-up conversation on that particular topic after the teleseminar, and stating what a "great question" they've asked.

Now then, always expect disruptors, and try to shield such questions in advance. Always control the Q and A, and when you get an SOB be sure to follow-up, because sometimes the most hostile folks turn out to be your best future customers. Indeed, it is my sincere hope that you will consider all this and think on it. Then act appropriately during your teleseminars.

Teleseminars and Purposeful Evil Disruptors Considered

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 23,000 articles was a lot of work - because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off..

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Wedding Rehearsal Dinners - Five Great Themes

Wedding Rehearsal Dinners are wonderful intimate events. A Mexican Fiesta, A Hawaiin Luau, A Low Country Boil, A Clam Bake and a Spanish Tapas Party are five great rehearsal dinner themes that will add pizzazz to a special evening that will long be remembered.

Out of all the wedding festivities, it is often the wedding rehearsal dinner that brides, grooms and family members say was the most fun event of the weekend wedding festivities.

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"I love wedding rehearsal dinners!" is a sentiment that resonates across a broad, eclectic range of ethnic, cultural and social economic spectrums.

Wedding Rehearsal Dinners - Five Great Themes

While wedding receptions tend to be very large functions with perhaps several hundred invited guests, rehearsal dinners are smaller and more intimate with only the closest family and friends in attendance. Often times there are guests in attendance at a large wedding reception, that the bride and groom barely know. That seems rather odd! I suppose that is why wedding crashers can go unnoticed!

I've never heard of a rehearsal dinner crasher... have you? Rehearsal Dinners are far too intimate.

To create a great rehearsal dinner, think about your combined passions. Use the themes of other rehearsal dinners, soirees, movies or other passions to serve as a springboard to creating a theme that fits your unique situation for this once in a lifetime special night!

1. A Mexican Fiesta

One couple loved hot spicy food and bold vibrant colors. When it came time to think of a theme, the Southwestern Fiesta was a natural.

2. A Hawaiian Luau

Another couple wanted to have a Hawaiian Luau to build on the theme of the honeymoon they would be going on.

3. A Low Country Boil

One grooms family had a tradition of hosting Low Country Boils for special occasions and asked to honor the couple with this special tradition.

4. A Clam Bake

One couple threw an authentic clam bake for their family and friends on a sandy beach.

5. A Spanish Tapas Party

Another couple who had met while studying abroad in Spain requested a Spanish Tapas Party for the theme of their rehearsal dinner.

Whatever you decide to do for your rehearsal dinner, have fun with it! Take out a pad of paper and start jotting notes, sketches and inspirations. I suggested this technique to one couple. After giggles and a couple whispers they said they wanted butcher paper for tablecloths and magic markers on each table because they loved doodling "I love you" to each other at the restaurants and bistros that they have eaten at during their courtship that covered their tables in newsprint or butcher paper.

The sky is really the limit when it comes to selecting a theme for your rehearsal dinner.

© 2006 Kathi Dameron, Kathi Dameron and Associates

Note To Publishers: You are invited to share this article through your ezine, website or print publication provided you publish this article in its entirety and include the copyright statement, bio information, active website links and contact information for Kathi Dameron and Associates as provided in the resource section at the bottom of the article.

Wedding Rehearsal Dinners - Five Great Themes

Abundant Blessings!

Kathi Dameron

Wedding Reception Teleseminars For Brides

Learn How To Self-Cater or Semi-Cater Your Own Wedding Reception

http://www.kathidameron.com 850-422-3599

Kathi Dameron teaches brides-to-be how to create beautiful and affordable wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, bridesmaid luncheons and other festive soirees that pop with personality and panache.

Today, Kathi shares her wedding reception expertise that she gained during her tenure as the owner, chef, and event designer of Canopy Rose Catering, a high end catering and special event company that was located in Tallahassee, Florida. Brides and other interested individuals who want to learn the secrets to creating a dream wedding on any budget can attend Kathi's Wedding Reception Teleseminars.

Brides can learn more about attending these teleseminars from the comfort of their own home by visiting http://www.kathidameron.com or contacting Kathi Dameron at 850-422-3599

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