2011: Hop with the Rabbit

The rabbit years according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar include: 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, and 2011. If you are born a rabbit, you are in the company of Pope Benedict VI, Albert Einstein, Leon Trotsky, Frank Sinatra, David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Tiger Woods, Johnny Depp, Whitney Houston, Snortin Willy Weston (ok...so I just made that up), and yours truly.

According to the Lunar calendar, 2011 will be calmer than 2010 (a tiger year) as traditionally, Rabbit years are centered on home and family, peace, diplomacy, and artistic pursuits. Creative business partnerships are also predicted. But because of the rabbits' instinct for home and family, this year may also see countries moving towards more insular tendencies as they try to be more protective....or so say the astrologers.

The Economist has a special issue on The World in 2011. In this issue, Matthew Bishop writes on multinationimbles, those businesses that will sprint through because of their scale-agility combination, their capacity to use their advantages of scale to respond to fast-changing market conditions. Big is nimble because it has so many options in this analysis. Big Blue? GE? 3M? YUM?. Oliver Morton writes about cooling the earth, Robert Guest advises the super rich on the joys of philanthropy and John Parker muses on the world population reaching 7 billion. And more. The book will cease to be a book. It will be an "app" according to Alix Christie and Ludwig Siegele as more and more readers are shifting towards e-readers and computer tablets. The emerging economies are racing with China and other developing ones joining the race with the old economies seeking new directions. BRIC will become BRICK...with the K being Korea. And watch Food! More people want more food and richer people want better food. Hmmmmmmm.

Given all these, how do I visualize my 2011?

I started to build my online presence last year. For most of that year, I was just learning. Squidoo provided me with information and tools I could easily apply and it was very encouraging. So many lensmasters shared their knowledge not only in their lenses but in their posts as well and I was able to batter through many of the roadblocks and pot holes along the way to build a meaningful online presence.

There are still many things I need to learn. I need to learn the tricks of the trade especially around promoting my sites and getting sales. Maybe, getting more serious with Etsy, Cafepress and Zazzle. Even venturing more into affiliate links. And I need to learn this without forgetting that I'm here to have fun and help others. KIVA only got $8 in 2010.

Starting the first days in 2011, I have started to understand SEO, backlinks and lens rank. I have committed to making my lenses current as read and learn more in each subject area. I will add more lenses in areas where I can make a solid contribution and I will participate more in other social networks. Oh, I forgot, I have to improve my other sites on the Net.

The first days of January saw me focus on learning about keywords, SEO, et al. I started revising my tags based on what I saw as working well in my lenses. I saw that some phrases are caught by google and placed as a separate link from the lens title. I focused on applying similar catch phrases in my module titles. I also understood how some keywords in the list Google provides when it brings up search results on some words are the ones people look for so I built those in my lens by changing the titles of existing modules or creating new modules with those titles. I have read this before from some other lenses but it only dawned on me clearly now.

Here is the result. For days, I was disappointed as I kept revising my lenses but I still have not cracked Tier 1. In fact, some days, especially when there was that glitch and many of you had a move up, my top lenses moved down. But I picked myself up to just keep working. Today, January 15 my effort got its first Tier 1, #28 over alll. This is my lens on Working for Others Just Doesn't Work for Me. Today, it's #14. I don't know if it will stay there but I just kept looking at it the whole day. I felt I have finally unlocked what needs to be done. I have to thank all the angels who blessed this lens and all of you who squidliked and viewed it. January 15, this lens is #43. Still in the top 100. Am happy. I have learned some of the key steps and my strategy is working. Well, it is now settling at #247 which is still Tier 1. January 20, it is at #141. Two of my lenses are also at Tier 2. Today, my top lens moved up to #108.

March and April weaned me from squidoo as we visited families and vacationed with some. May and June were work days for me so I was not be able to spend as much time on squidoo. I don't regret this as I learned so much in the months when I focused on it. July and August were summer days in Canada and family time.

September 2011. Back to Squidoo. By October, I had one Tier 1 and two or three Tier twos. I have learned what to do but always finding out new things I have only read about before but never did as it did not click. I have only understood how to create backlinks recently and was surprised at how valuable they are. I have also learned to focus my titles and revise my tags based on what I focus. I used to make really general lenses and I still have them but I try now to make focused ones and link them.

We had been talking about where to "winter." Canada in the winter is best remembered in a Christmas card or in pictures from friends reviewed by you in a tropical sunset! April to October is perfect for serious northern climes. After much putzing around with ideas of Florida or Italy or Hawaii, we realized that after so many years working out here, we have become Asians. We have picked on a beach and a small town and started a winter retreat in the Philippines.

My dream is to have a big garden and I already had this place in Philippines before typhoon Frank and a flash flood a few years back destroyed one property we had on a river in the Visayas. The past two years, we have not done much but recently, the urge to get on with doing and not just talking hit hard. We decided to once again put up a comfortable bamboo villa on the beach and maybe stay there during the winter, a sort of a poor man's Maldives! Also our big garden is being developed again and the villa is now being built. A pool will follow. It will take time for the trees to grow but we have to start somewhere. Maybe, there will be more joy watching these grow.

What we also want is to make these places demonstrate some affordable green technologies that local folks can use. We are starting with solar panels to keep off the grid and we will see where we go from there.

Recently, my sister and brother-in-law visited me here in Cambodia and that sped up the work as they wanted to bring pictures of the place we are developing as our winter get away. We hope the plants will grow well. They are growing very well and everything is now ready.

We finally got a feew days holiday and went to visit our new place in the Philippines. Though short, our stay there assured us that this would be a good place for us for a month or two. A swimming pool would complete it.

Yes, that is another milestone for me. I will be 60 this year...a vintage rabbit! . There are some goals that need to be revisited as this would be one of my last chances to put some energy into these goals. This year of the rabbit forecasts creative partnerships around business. And this is the year for artistic pursuits. I have always wanted to have a business around creating beautiful things. I have dabbled in it but because we are too mobile, I just can't seem to give it consistency and growth. But having seen many artists in squidoo turning their talents into an online business, I am encouraged. Maybe, I can explore tie ups with some online stores and find out how I can help the many struggling producers here in Cambodia find markets for their products or maybe if things go well in the Philippines we can harness some of the fantastic creative talent there and give it a home online.

And because I am now turning 60, I need to take care of my aging self. Eat healthy, exercise, learn more about natural products to use and have more fun. Attitude and health do have strong connections.

I know many people who are writing e-books now and they are touted all over the Net. I have started several and as usual, I have not finshed even one. Scanner that I am, I go off into something else and forget about whatever it was that I started. I have many unfinished potential e-books hiding in the file corners of my assorted laptops. And people have passed me by writing best sellers on topics I thought were mine. Well, they stayed mainly as thoughts so this year is the year. I will write one and publish it. So watch out for my for a limited time only free offer. My husband has promised to edit it, so at least it will be funny!

First, I have to conquer my procrastination. I will do this by placing my list where I can see it everyday to remind me to focus on those goals. I will set up a time frame for each one and monitor my progress. I have been disciplined so far but once family and friends come, that's it.

I will also use visualization to help me reach my goals. I have used this before and found it really effective. In addition, I will have to discipline my scanner self. I will re-read this Lens as an incentive. family members will keep the prods poking. My husband has promised to become a memory tazer!

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