Project “End 2009 With A Bang”
Project “End 2009 With A Bang” wasn’t that successful! However, I did want to officially bring it to a close by creating this post, especially since we’re already one month into 2010.
The biggest thing I learned was that I shouldn’t take on too many new projects at once. I managed to get some results with my weight loss efforts and with my relationship with God, but I didn’t make it to my goals in those areas or make progress with my family & friends goal.
I also realized that it doesn’t take much for me to lose laser focus. That is something that I will work on this year. I have to find some way of keeping my goals, as well as the reason I’m trying to accomplish them, in front of me so I decrease my chances of getting sidetracked. It’s so easy to get distracted by something else, discouraged, or to lose focus. That’s not news to me, but I think from now on I’m going to remind myself more often of what I want to do, and why, so that I don’t lose the chance I have to achieve my goals. Or, get frustrated while doing so.
I still believe that New Years resolutions are a bit of a waste. I can set goals all year long, I can make changes in my life every day, why wait to do so just once a year??? So here’s to laser focused goals, and to implementing them in 2010.
2009 New Year Resolution & Goals Update #3 & #4
Project “End 2009 with a bang”
Week 3 & 4 (of 6)
Goals
- Health – lose 15 pounds
- Family & Friends – Finally send thank you cards to everyone who attended my birthday party in April (I know – it’s horrible)
- Relationship with God – attend church every Sunday for the rest of the year
Update #3 & #4
Okay, I soo wasn’t ready for laser focused action… I had mixed results the last two weeks.
Health
I lost 5 pounds. (Three pounds in week 3 and two pounds in week 4) That brings me to a total loss of 5.2.
It’s progress, but I feel bad because I know I’m not going to make it anywhere near my goal of losing 15 pounds by the end of the year. Plus, it’s kind of a drop in the bucket toward my larger goal.
However, I’m going to brush that off my shoulders and keep it movin’…
Family & Friends
OMG, I’m doing the worst in this area… I still haven’t done anything here! 
It’s sad, but true. Maybe I should take Shae Bynes advice, from her comment on my last post, to heart and just roll the thanks into a christmas message.
To answer your question Shae, I’ve been procrastinating because I kind of feel like a card just won’t show everyone how thankful I am for them, their being at my party and the gifts they gave me.
This is another area where I need to stop being so hard on myself and just give it another try this week, which is exactly what I’ll do. Hopefully…
Relationship w/ God
I didn’t go to church the last two weeks. Here’s a preview of next weeks update - I didn’t go today either… surprise, surprise. I’ve been hybernating the last few weeks on saturday and sunday morning. Crashing is more like it, totally dead to the world!
I feel the worst about my lack of follow through in this area, but that’s not going to stop me from going to church next week. I plan to go to church on New Years Eve too, that will be a first for me and I’m looking forward to that. No Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve alone at home this year!!!
Observations
I totally botched up everything the last two weeks, and I haven’t done alot as a whole for the last four weeks in general. However, it has been a learning experience. I do think it’s important to be ready for change when you embark on something new.
Also Shae was right… It’s better to work on one thing at a time. I orginally had a list of 7 items to work on and I’m struggling with the three that were left from the original list. I lived and learned…
It’s also important to remind yourself about your goals often, it really is a lot easier than I thought to get off track. If you have a list, pictures, or a blog post 
, to remind yourself about your goals, you may not find yourself too far from your intended path and target at any given time.
I’m glad this is at the end of the year as opposed to New Year Resolutions at the beginning of a year. I think I know that what I’ve learned over the last month will help me in the last two weeks of the year, and with planning my goals for next year!
2009 New Year Resolution & Goals Update #2
Project “End 2009 with a bang”
Week 2 (of 6)
I’ve been M.I.A from all things social media for the last week, so this update for this week is late, but I’ve still been making progress…
Goals
- Health – lose 15 pounds
- Family & Friends – Finally send thank you cards to everyone who attended my birthday party in April (I know – it’s horrible)
- Relationship with God – attend church every Sunday for the rest of the year
Update #2
Health
I only lost 0.2 pounds this week. Then again, it was two days after Thanksgivings day so that was almost like losing 2 pounds. 
Family & Friends
Unfortunately, I haven’t done anything here…
Relationship with God
Even after hanging out with my one of my homies/sorors the night before, I went to church again this week. (By the way, everyone should go see the movie “The Blind Side”)
However, my sister did have to come by to help nudge me out of bed… I was going to get up and go, or hear her sing “Ladies Night” over and over, and over again. Thanks sister! 
2009 New Year Resolution & Goals Update
Project “End 2009 with a bang”
Week 1 (of 6)
I received a comment from Shae Bynes, the author of the article that inspired this project, about my original post. Part of the comment made me question the number of goals I was focusing on:
You have a LOT of things written down here to accomplish by end of the year. I don’t know how much of this is NEW activity/habits vs. continuing what you’re already doing (e.g. the personal finance, service, health items) but it seems like a lot of new habits and stuff to focus on in a mere 6 weeks.
I re-thought my list and I think Shae’s comment about trying to do too much in a short period of time is true in this case. So, I decided to cut back on the number of goals I will work on the rest of this year. Here is the new list of goals I have for the last 5 weeks of the year.
- Health – lose 15 pounds
- Family & Friends – Finally send thank you cards to everyone who attended my birthday party in April (I know – it’s horrible)
- Relationship with God – attend church every Sunday for the rest of the year
Update #1
Health
No Comment. (I had a few small victories, they just weren’t on the scale)
Family & Friends
No progress yet
Relationship with God
I actually went to church this past Sunday!!! It was a great day to return, the church just had a Men’s Encounter. It was encouraging hearing the testimony of so many men who took a few days out of their life to have an encounter with God.
New Years Resolutions and Goals… 2009
There are exactly six weeks left in 2009. I hadn’t thought much about it until I read a blog post by Shae Bynes about what she’ll be focusing on for the rest of the year. Far too often I postpone starting the things that will get me what I want.
Overeating during one meal turns into a week of bad food choices, and I’m always telling myself I’ll start my diet again next week. I silently promise myself that I’m going to go back to church, every week, but I stay up uber late sunday morning. I want to track my spending and most of the time I’m unsuccessful, but sometimes I don’t record a few cash purchases. I convice myself that I’ll figure it out later. And the list goes on.
It’s so easy to get distracted and off course, especially when you don’t know what you want to accomplish. It’s even eaiser to tell yourself that there’s still time to get the desired result later, always later. However, I really want to end 2009 with a bang! There’s still enough time to achieve some of my short-term goals and make significant progress toward some of my long-term goals.
So, like Shae, I’m going to “focus [my] self-discipline on a single purpose.” (Quote from Dan Kennedy’s book “No B.S. Time Management For Entrepreneurs“) I’m actually going to choose a few single purposes to work on:
- Real Estate - Close my first real estate deal!!!
- Social Media/Web 2.0 - Write at least 1 blog post per week
- Health – lose 15 pounds
- Family & Friends – Finally send thank you cards to everyone who attended my bday party in April (I know – it’s horrible)
- Relationship with God – attend church every sunday for the rest of the year
- Personal Finance – track all spending, create new personal financial statements
- Service – volunteer at Open Hand for at least 20 hours
I’m sure these goals will keep me busy for the next six weeks and will help me move toward my long term goals. Thank you Shae, for the inspiration to pursue my goals with a laser-like focus. I hope you will take the opportunity to map out the things you want to achieve over the next six weeks too.
Don’t forget to tell me how it goes, okay!?
What is SIMS STOCK?
SIMS STOCK is the annual training seminar conducted by real estate investor and marketer Greg Clement and internet marketer Jeff Walker. The inaugural seminar was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, California from November 6 – 9, 2009. In attendence were 400 real estate investors and marketers from all over the country. There were even a few attendees who came to the event from Canada.
The training centered on the topics of internet marketing and real estate. More specifically, they talked about everything from commercial real estate to how to use the online real estate database Realeflow. The topics that centered around internet marketing were especially valuable as the SIMS program is about just that.
The areas of internet marketing that were covered included video marketing, squeeze pages, blogs and article marketing, among other topics. Greg Clement also covered the property launch formula, which is a real estate specific adaptation of Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. Both topics were covered during SIMS STOCK.
The guest speakers included Than Merrill, of A & E’s Flip This House, Jeff Watson, Josh Cantwell, Scott Scheel and Don Fowler. Another well known real estate investor, Preston Ely, showed up just for kicks and giggles. Josh Cantwell and Than Merrill were both awesome! Don Fowler offered a lot of great information about using virtual assistants in our businesses and Jeff Watson blew us away with his legal knowledge.
It was a great event. The staff of Realeflow did an outstanding job putting the event together. They gave away a free t-shirt and notebook, both with the SIMS STOCK logo on it, to all attendees. They provided free Starbucks coffee, Vitamin Water, and snacks all weekend long. (I think I gained a few pounds, sadly) There were giveaways and karaoke contests everyday. The hotel was awesome and San Diego is beautiful. There was plenty to do in the Gas Light District where the hotel was located.
The only downside of the events was there wasn’t enough content from Jeff Walker and Greg Clement. It was great hearing the other speakers, however it would have been nice to learn more about internet marketing from the two of them. However, when they did speak everyone listened because they were offering so much great information.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m happy to be home, but it was a great weekend. I’m ready to implement the things that I learned and I can’t wait to connect with all of the amazing people I met while I was there.
2009 SIMS STOCK Karaoke Contest Featuring Stephanie Peay
Okay, I know with the 100% certainty that I can’t carry a tune and I’m tone-deaf. That’s a fact! However, in spite of that I got up in front of 400 people at Greg Clement and Jeff Walker’s SIMS STOCK training seminar at San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel to sing Karaoke yesterday.
The seminar is 60’s/70’s themed so all the songs were from that time. I sang These Boots Were Made For Walking by Nancy Sinatra. I stumbled a bit in the beginning of the song, but I finished. I even won a cool prize!
Disclaimer: Side effects of viewing this video include ear aches, nightmares, and having the song stuck in your head. If you experience any of these symptoms, suck it up! Just Kidding.
Stephanie Peay Singing Karaoke at SIM STOCK
Wouldn’t you like to know what Ephren Taylor know’s about wealth?
If you are in the Atlanta area tomorrow night, I would highly suggest that you attend bible study at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. It’s going to be a great night! Ephren Taylor, CEO of City Capital Corporation (stock symbol CTCC) will speak about wealth creation and putting “Wall Street on Blast.” If you’ve never heard of him, here are some of the highlights of his career:
* Started business ventures at the age of 12
* Made first million by 16
* Youngest Black CEO of a Publicly Traded Company
* Oversees over 250 Million in Assets
* Diverse client list ranges from Stock Market Day Traders to Hip Hop Icons
If you won’t be in the Atlanta area tomorrow or you can’t make it to New Birth, you can view everything on the site Streaming Faith. In either case it will begin at 7pm.
By the way… I’ll be attending, so if you do get the opportunity to go, and you see me, please say hello!!!
- Stephanie Peay
Sources:
My Journey to Number 1 on Google.com
I Am Not An Ecologist!
I remember a time, not to long ago, when I first searched my name in google. If you’re honest, you’ll admit that you do the same thing from time to time. It didn’t really matter to me at the time that I was basically no where to be found. I think there may have been a page with my name on it a few dozen pages in. (Yes I kept looking through more pages until I found something). It was a bit disappointing, but not a big deal. I did learn that there was another Stephanie Peay. Apparently, she is a well respected Ecologist in Britain. I was okay with her taking the top spot on all of the search engines, until the first time I saw a link to something about myself on the on the first page of Google.
It seems that Google like’s putting facebook profiles on the first page of search results for people, when that applies. There I was, my name and a link to my facebook profile, on page one of a Google search for my name. It was nice. I had my own space in the internet and Google actually recognized it! I must admit, from that point on I wasn’t so content with my Ecologist namesake taking up so much space. I think my LinkedIn profile was the next link to make it on the top page, followed by my twitter account. Ever since those links made it to the first page, and the link to my facebook profile made it to the number one spot, I was determined to take over the whole first page. I still have a long way to go, but it’s been a fun journey.
I’ve had the chance to connect with people from so many different area’s of my life on Facebook. I’m friends with sorority sisters, people I know from church, people that I knew from college, and I’ve even reconnected with people from as far back as middle school. I have quite a following on twitter and I even created a Google profile for myself that’s on the first page too. I haven’t done a whole lot to my LinkedIn profile yet, but it’s been nice to have a professional face on the web that’s been indexed by Google too.
I wish I could offer you sound, sage advice for how to take over the first page of Google, but I’m still learning just like you. I do know that Google seems to like social networking sites, videos, and pages that have been on the web for a long time tend to have a higher rank than those that don’t. Although ”Stephanie 2.0″ hasn’t graced the first page of Google, yet, blogs are also likely to appear on the first page of a search too.
The search engine’s algorithm seems to like content that’s updated on a regular basis. (That’s probably why so many social networking sites are ranked so high). Apparently, the search engine’s “spiders” crawl the internet on a regular basis looking for new content to index. Therefore, if you have a blog where you post new content on a regular basis, you’ll likely have another page that will make it to the top page of a search for your name. It also helps when you post comments on other people’s blogs. Those pages have appeared in the search terms for my name as well.
I haven’t mastered the art of getting business sites to the top of search results, but as soon as I figure that out I’ll let you know! However, the journey to put the world on notice that there are other Stephanie Peay’s in the world, besides “The Ecologist” as I refer to her now, has been fun. I check Google every once in a while to see what appears on the first page and it’s fun to see that I’m truly making my mark. I hope this article helps you do the same.
Stephanie Peay
By the way… I have nothing against any of my namesakes. (Yes, there are others). Especially, Ecologist Stephanie Peay! You’re braver than I am. I couldn’t fathom a career working with crayfish, they look really creepy!!!
Newspaper Print, Thousands of Links, or the Atlanta Foreclosure Report?
Three Ways To Locate Thousands of Pre-Foreclosure Leads in Georgia
Yesterday I spoke with an investor who is beginning their wholesale business. They have been trying to locate individuals, to no avail, who are facing foreclosure. At first I wondered how they could possibly have a hard time finding pre-foreclosures. Right now, you don’t have to walk very far to find plenty of people in distressed situations. Then again, if you’re looking in the wrong place, you’ll never find them.
Well, that led me to the question I asked next… Where are you looking? His answer doesn’t really matter because it was in fact the wrong place. However, I don’t want you to have to search in the wrong place for the right answer. If you’re looking for a list of people facing foreclosure, you need to look in the legal newspaper in each county you are researching.
For example, in Fulton County, GA you would look for legal ads in The Daily Report. The Daily Report is the legal organ for the county. The corresponding paper for DeKalb County is The Champion. Each county has their own newspaper where the legal ads, including mortgage foreclosure listings, are published.
Some of the newspapers even have websites. The process is even easier for those papers because you can just point and click! The website for The Daily Report is a case in point. (http://thedailyreportonline.com) Once you get to the site click on “Legal Ads”, under “Public Notices” at the top of the page, then click “Mortgage Foreclosures.”
Once you get to the ads you can click on each one and gather the information you need. The ad on the site appears the same way it does in the physical paper version. You’ll be able to see the name of the homeowner, how much they owe to their lender, the address of the property, the name of the lawyer, and more. From that point you follow the process you have set in place to contact homeowners about purchasing properties or starting short sales.
If you’re like me, you don’t want to go through hundreds, if not thousands of ads, to get the information that you need each month. In Georgia, you have another option. It’s called the Atlanta Foreclosure Report and it’s published monthly by Equity Depot. (http://equitydepot.net)
The report is actually a database on their site where you can search for pre-foreclosure auction properties. It gives, the same information the newspapers do, however you don’t have to scan through each individual ad to get it. There is a cost to the service; however that cost is miniscule in comparison to the time you save. Plus, you can create mailing labels to homeowners or export the data into Excel.
Whichever method you use to get the information I hope that you found some value in this article. If you have any comments please feel free to share them, especially if you’re familiar with the Atlanta Foreclosure Report or the legal newspapers. Better yet, if you know of a better way to get this information, please let us know.
Stephanie Peay Manager, TPC Home Buyers, LLC http://homebuyersatlanta.com
