30 Day Holiday Health Challenge

November 28, 2009 mandeewidrick 1 comment

I have taken the initiative to accept the challenge from @loswhit and jump on the bandwagon for the 30 Day Holiday Health Challenge!

Why I decided to do this - Things have been a bit up in the air lately and I have been procrastinating in certain areas of my life. There’s nothing better than some good ‘ol discipline!

So, for the next 30 days, I have committed to meeting these 3 goals:

  • Physically - Keep your yap shut, I hide my extra weight well, but I know it’s there even if you don’t. I’m going to commit to dropping 10 pounds over the next month. This should be interesting, since I have a love affair with Christmas cookies…
  • Spiritually – I’m going to commit to spending time with God every day (reading the Bible, worship and prayer). It’s something I put off way too quickly, because I’m always so busy…or so I claim.
  • Relationally - I’m going to do my part to be patient and more understanding with my family. This means taking time to do things with them when I would normally be working or relaxing on my own.

Keep an eye out, because I’m also going to be sharing updates twice a week. If you don’t see updates here, you can follow me on Twitter, because I’ll certainly be tweeting about it. I’ll even post some videos along the way!

Would YOU like to take part in this challenge? Click here to sign up!

Black Friday special from Bit & Bridle

November 27, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

Check out this great special we’re running for Bit & Bridle through November 30th. You don’t want to miss out! You’re also inviting to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for our FREE e-Newsletter!

E-day at Jefferson Community College

November 21, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

Sharing about my business at E-day

A wonderful event for entrepreneurs occurred yesterday at Jefferson Community College. E-day (that’s entrepreneurship day, for those of you who didn’t know) started out bright and early – too early for night owls like me – but with an audience of more than 300 people I can assure you that the auditorium was filled with the chattering voices of teenagers even at 8:30 AM. It was apparent that they were excited to be there.

I was delighted to be one of four featured speakers this year. The guest speakers included Missy Ringer of Bella’s Bistro, Kevin Richardson of North Country Farms, Steve Conaway of Thousand Islands Winery, and myself (representing Bit & Bridle Magazine).

Four highschool teams additionally competed to win funding for their proposed business plans. Those teams included Far From Famous, The “S” Stop, North Shore Web Development, and Shine Design Marketing.

I was quite impressed by the creativity of all teams, and each of them had quite obviously put some good thought into each of their presentations which I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Far From Famous was a team of young men who would like to start a business that helps skaters get good sponsors. The “S” Stop wanted to start up a restaurant that served healthy, ethnic foods. North Shore Web Development builds and maintains websites, and has already established a growing customer base. Shine Design Marketing consisted of two young women who are interested in marketing for other businesses. In the end, Matthew Turcotte of North Shore Web Development took 1st place with a fabulous prize of $1000.

Great job everyone, and I am already looking forward to next year. :)

Book Review: The Carousel Painter

November 12, 2009 mandeewidrick 1 comment

Title: The Carousel Painter

Author: Judith Miller

Publisher: Bethany House, (Click Here to Purchase)

In this season of my life, I rarely read fictional stories. With all of my business and marketing endeavors, I tend to stick to reading materials that further my education, as my once-cherished novels collect dust on a shelf. However, when I saw the opportunity to review The Carousel Painter, my interest was stirred by simply the title alone. I thought a break from my normal studies would be refreshing and so I took the plunge.

The Carousel Painter proved to be a beautiful story that captured me from the very beginning. The main character, Carrington Brouwer, is a young women who struggles with opposition everywhere she goes, or so it seems to her. She doesn’t understand why God would allow her to be wrongly accused of such horrible things on so many occasions! She is just a simple girl trying to do her best in life and pursue what she loves, and yet her efforts would go unappreciated and often times misinterpreted. What really stood out to me about “Carrie” was her enduring faith and longing to learn more about God even in the heat of her trials. If I were to put myself in the shoes of this fictional woman, I know that my own reaction to much of what she encountered would not have been so proper!

I was impressed by the author’s ability to portray the character and found myself unable to put the book down, which is unusual for me. I rarely find a book so good that I literally don’t want to turn my lamp off and go to bed. Carrie is a lovely character that will certainly capture any reader’s heart with her sweet spirit and willingness to do what is right.

For more information or to order this wonderful book by Judith Miller, visit Bethany House Publishers at the link given above. This book was provided for review by the publisher.

2,000 Facebook Fans

November 11, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

Have you heard? The Facebook page for Bit & Bridle made it to 2,000 fans this week! To celebrate, you can now order subscriptions for only $8.00/Year, through November 13th. Click here to order your subscription today!

 

Click the image to become a fan

Twitter 101

November 10, 2009 mandeewidrick 1 comment

Twitter 101: Five easy steps to tweet your way to success
By Mandee Widrick

It was less than a year ago that I caved and signed up for a Twitter account. You could say that I did it under peer pressure, seeing as I had no intent of ever using a website that had a maximum of 140 characters per update. The mere thought of a website that only allowed boring status updates just seemed pointless to me anyway.
Yet, being a small business owner, I was always looking for ways to market my product. I had a website for my company as well as business accounts with both MySpace and Facebook. I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least try. What I didn’t know at the time was that Twitter would open the door for more opportunities than any other social networking site I’d ever used.
Today, I’m finding that almost every company has a Twitter page, because everyone is discovering how valuable this micro-blogging service truly is. Sales leads, interviews, introductions…all of it is available right at our fingertips, and for free. All you need to get started is a little time and the basic know-how.
That said, if you are one of the many small business owners that do not have a clue how to get started with Twitter, here are five simple steps that will help you begin.

Step 1: First and foremost, you will need to set up your account by visiting www.twitter.com. If you’re setting up

Example 1

a business page, be sure use your business name as your Twitter URL so it will be easy for your customers to find you. Try to avoid the use of hyphens and underscores unless absolutely necessary, as those will just complicate the process for people that are trying to look you up. (See Example 1)

Step 2: Once your account is verified, log in and take a look around. If you’re completely new to the world of Twitter, you will want to take some time to get to know the website before you begin using it to its full potential. Add information about your company (website, bio, etc.) under the Settings option. Be sure to upload your logo or a photo of yourself, because users without a custom photo can often times be mistaken as spammers. Once this is done, go back to your Home page. You will see on the top right corner of your profile “0 Following” and “0 Followers”. These numbers will change as you begin following other users. For a complete explanation of how this works, visit http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/14019.

Step 3: Now that you know how to follow people, decide whether or not you want your profile to be visible to the public. I recommend that if you are using Twitter to promote your business or services that you leave it public. However, if you would prefer to set it to private, you can do so by again visiting Settings and selecting Protect My Tweets. This can be changed at any time should you decide to update your settings later on. You will also notice in your settings that you can change your username. Unless you’re truly unhappy with your current username choice, it’s best to leave this option alone so you don’t confuse your followers.

Example 2

Step 4: It’s time for your first tweet! Keep in mind that on Twitter, it’s all about quality, not quantity. (See Example 2) Think about what you want to say to your followers. How is it relevant to them? If you overpost about things that are unimportant, you are likely to lose followers rather than gain them. Establish a relationship with other Twitter users and get to know them on a personal level. It is much like any business transaction – get to know the needs of your potential customer and make it about them, not about you. To reply to a person’s tweet, begin a new status update by typing @ then the person’s username (with no spaces in between), followed by your message. This will make your reply show up in that person’s reply timeline. You can also check for replies to your own tweets by clicking the “@yourusername” on the right of your page.

Step 5: Use Twitter on a regular basis. Don’t just set up an account and forget about it! Many successful users tweet daily as an aid to drive hits to their website, and this in turn will generate new sales leads. Once your followers begin to increase, you can start taking control of your settings by using additional Twitter services such as automatic direct messages (https://www.socialoomph.com) and evaluations to see who’s following you back and who’s not (http://dossy.org/twitter/karma) to keep things manageable. Even though Twitter is a free service that won’t require any monetary investments, it will require commitment and time. Stick with it, observe the trends and watch your sales revenue begin to increase!


Have questions? Follow me at http://twitter.com/mandeewidrick and send me a DM (that’s Twitter lingo for “direct message”).

Amidst the Loss: Representation of a Promise

November 1, 2009 mandeewidrick 2 comments

Experiencing the loss of a loved one is tragic and difficult. I experienced such a loss about a week and a half ago, when I lost my beloved companion and sidekick, Libby.

Libby was a beautiful black lab that I had adopted when she was only 8 months old. When I first brought her home, I had to keep her on a leash at all times. If I didn’t, I could expect a chase that would last a minimum of 2 hours. That dog had legs that just didn’t tire. She also had a taste for dead animals that she stumbled upon during her travels. Libby ended up at the vet’s office during one such occasion. She had found a decaying porcupine and made a buffet meal out of it. (Feel free to cringe here.)

A couple years later, we had our first skunk episode. It was late at night and my “Bibba” had run off again, though she was finally beginning to stay closer to home. My mom and I chased her onto the neighboring golf course carrying her favorite squeak toy, our newfound secret to retrieving a runaway lab. Libby heard it and came, sure enough. We smelled her long before she reached us. I can remember what a long night we spent trying to scrub her clean. I recently threw out the bandana she had been wearing that night. When I finally got the stench out of it, Libby wore it for a good 2-3 years until it was torn and ready to retire. Now I wish I still had it.

I can’t forget to mention the time Libby got ringworm. Where’d she get it? An unlikely source: ME. I’d pick it up at a neighbor’s house when I’d snuggled a new kitten they’d adopted from the SPCA. That was quite the experience. On top of that, we were trying to re-home my dog due to so many training issues. We already owned 2 labs and one had to go. Well, needless to say…you can’t exactly give a dog away with ringworm. That worked out in my favor.

We did end up giving her away at one point. We gave her to one of my riding instructors, but it broke my heart so bad that we got her back the following day. I don’t really understand why she had to go in the first place…other than the fact that she seemed impossible to train. ;)

From there on out, I took over all training responsibilities. Libby was my dog, and I wasn’t going to lose her again just because she was such a handful. I kept her on a leash, filled my treats with pockets, and took her everywhere with me. Eventually the leash came off, and my dog turned into the most obedient dog of the three dogs we owned.

Then one day, I got a call while working a babysitting job. My dog had been hit in the road. But, it was okay…she’d just been grazed and she lived through it. She didn’t even need to go to the vet. I remember how scared I was for the brief moment that I thought I’d lost my dog. When Mom said, “She’s gonna be fine,” I almost cried. Maybe I did. The memory is a bit hazy.

On October 19th, my baby girl started vomiting. It wasn’t unusual for her to eat something strange and throw it up later, so I waited it out. After all, we live on a farm, and one thing I could never train her NOT to do was eat chicken crap and horse poop. (She was a dog, what can I say…) I thought this was probably the case. Then she started sleeping outside. Libby never slept unless she was in the house…for her to sleep outside was not like her. By evening, she was stumbling. Something was wrong.

My mom woke me early the next morning, around 6:30am. “I’m taking Libby to the vet. She’s not any better this morning.” I nodded and dozed back off. Three hours later, I got up and checked up on Libby’s status.

“There’s nothing they can do.”

No. Please, no. She was euthanized within that very hour. I hadn’t even said goodbye.

I don’t really know what happened to my girl. They said she must’ve eaten something toxic, and by the time she started showing symptoms, her kidneys were shutting down.

At this point, I can’t really put my emotions into words. The first week was very hard, probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never lost a person close to me, so this loss hit me hard. I am doing better, so please don’t worry. I started “dog shopping” only a few days after Libby’s death. I looked at a Labradoodle that was adorable, but not a good fit. Then I found a little black dog named Lexi, and she was the right one. She’s a lab/beagle mix that looks like a small version the dog that I lost. She’s not the same as Libby, of course, but she’s a lovable darling that I keep by my side at all times. On numerous occasions we’ve already found ourselves slipping up and calling her “Libby” by mistake. It will take time. But I am grateful that after the passing of an old friend, I can make a new one. Lexi is a reminder of how I am always moving forward, never back. Even as I type right now she is sleeping no more than two feet away from me. God is my comfort in hard times, and I am very blessed, regardless of the loss. He holds true to His promises.

She + Me = Happy

October 19, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

Categories: My Life Tags: , ,

Balloon Boy Incident Deemed a Hoax

October 18, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

Authorities have finally announced that the Falcon Heene balloon incident has been deemed a hoax and publicity stunt. The parents will be facing criminal charges in an effort to get them to cover at least some of the costs for rescue attempts made during the ordeal. Read the complete story from USA Today by clicking here.

Photo by David Zalubowski, AP (From USATODAY.com)

Photo by David Zalubowski, AP (From USATODAY.com)

Where is Balloon Boy?

October 15, 2009 mandeewidrick Leave a comment

UPDATE: (6:15 EST)  @CNN “Colorado Sheriff says boy was found in box in garage attic.”

UPDATE: (5:28 EST) Officials saying the basket was seen seen falling! No reports as to whether or not boy was inside.

UPDATE: (4:55 EST) @amyCNN “Reports: basket attached to the balloon is missing.”

If you visit Twitter right now, you’ll see #SaveBalloonBoy trending. Don’t know the story? Well here’s a quick summary:

Reportedly, six year old Falcon Heene entered his father’s homemade aircraft in Colorado and let it loose, taking authorities two and a half hours to chase it down. The mylar aircraft, over 20 feet wide and filled with helium, eventually brought itself to a halt in an open corn field. From there authorities discovered that there was no child inside.

So where is Falcon? Was he really in the balloon to being with? Some are saying this is a publicity stunt planned by his risk-taking family, who also happened to be featured on ABC’s Wife Swap. Or perhaps we should look at Falcon’s 8 year old brother, who reported seeing Falcon enter the aircraft. Was he being truthful?

Regardless, I have to wonder why the parents seem to be so clueless as to where their son is.

Visit the Huffington Post story for more details.

Photo from CNN.com

Photo from CNN.com

Photo from CNN.com

Photo from CNN.com