Karma Wins

Today there is quite a large need of cleaning services due to our busy lifestyles. Doing this should allow you to focus on other activities and free up more of your time. If you are considering choosing to use the services of a cleaning company, be sure to choose a cleaning service that is not incompetent. You need professionals to handle your cleaning needs.

Some of these cleaning companies may have already captured your attention. If this is your situation, select a company that is able to meet your cleaning needs. It is similar to olympic rent a car. For this reason, it is important to choose a professional cleaning service that has a solid reputation for being competent and thorough.

The first thing you must do is decide how much needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. Although it might sound good, it is not like olympic-rent-a-car. Because of traffic, some places will require more frequent cleanings than others. Determining the frequency of the cleaning service will help you to save money by only using them when it is truly needed and not wasting money by paying for services when you don’t need them quite so often.

Delivering consistent results is something that you are paying for, so it is not really optional. This is similar to olympic rentacar. The convenience of having a professional cleaning service will be something you will enjoy considerably. A properly insured cleaning service is mandatory. Be sure to verify the cleaning service is fully insured before hiring.

This may seem a bit obvious, but skipping this step could prove to cost you a lot in the long run. Also be sure that the company utilizes best practices including employees wearing uniforms and maintaining regular schedules.

Some cleaning services will also offer customized options to meet your specific needs. A competent cleaning provider will always ensure that you receive proper services that are always satisfactory. In addition to being more enjoyable, a clean area is also better for your health.

Blogs are personal websites that can be about anything and everything. People are learning that it is not only fun, but it can bring in some extra income. The potential to make money blogging is definitely there. It takes a little bit of work, but the results can be well worth the time spent.

The first step to starting a blog is choosing a niche of interest. Write about something that you know about. For instance, a mother may write a family blog and a doctor might have a medical blog. There are blogs about virtually every niche imaginable.

The next step is to create visitors to your blog. This can be accomplished by online advertising, traffic generators, and word of mouth. Some bloggers sponsor contests to increase the number of visits to their site. Others join online clubs and swap links. It is imperative to have an audience before you can even think about making money blogging.

After you have managed to attract followers, you need to find some good affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing is a very lucrative way to bring in extra income. Some of the major shopping sites will give you access to banners. You place the banners on our blog and you receive a percentage of any income generated from the visitors that you send their way, but do not expect to make money blogging overnight.

Sometimes companies will pay you for advertising space on your blog. This will only occur when you have a large amount of readers. You can keep track of the amount of visitors that visits your site by adding a stat tracker. This will allow you to produce an actual traffic report for the companies that are interested in advertising on your blog. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy what you are writing about. Blogging is an awesome way to communicate and can also be very profitable,

If, like me, your career in life has not involved any form of marketing or selling, then to get involved in internet marketing is one hell of a giant leap.

I was first introduced into internet marketing through an email that I received twice weekly. I kept seeing an advert for something called GoogleAds. Now ,at this point, all I used the internet for was either playing games or just browsing in general for any information that I needed on any subject matter under the sun.

The advert said that all I needed to do to make any money was place adverts onto Google’s search engine and people would buy products and I would receive a generous commission. Simple ,I thought ,that is until you try it as an uneducated marketer.

I lost more money than I made, but this can be quite normal for the beginner. I accepted the fact that I had lost money but vowed to continue looking for something that I could do.

So, being curious about money making on the internet I decided to investigate further.

I came across many money making opportunities that promise this that and the other, which I am sure a lot of you have seen yourselves.Anyway, after a while I found an offer that I thought I could try out and see what happens without losing an absolute fortune.

After starting a venture into internet marketing for the first time you will find yourself seemingly lost in a world of information. There is so much to learn and so many ways to learn it.

It takes time to learn what you need to know about internet marketing And I don’t think that there are any real secrets, just techniques.

On the internet there are thousands of people trying to make money and they are all either making new products or looking for products to help themselves financially. There are endless programs and E-Books and ideas available that try to help you succeed in whatever money making business you are involved in.

I am not trying to promote anything here, I am just trying to say that when you go into internet marketing, take your time, learn, read, re-read, and learn again. Nothing is right if it is not right for you.

If you don’t fully understand something, keep asking questions until you do understand it or don’t do it. There is no easy answer for the beginner, it is just a matter of that person finding out what is right for them. I just hope that anybody who tries internet marketing for the first time takes my advice on board and succeeds.

About the author: Ron has been writing articles for nearly 2 years. His newest interest is in air purifiers. So come visit his latest website that discusses air purifiers products such as Ionic Air Purifiers , Climatizador Evaporativo and Hepa Air Filters that every home needs for that extra touch.

Alternative Heating & Supplies carries a variety of wood furnaces and parts. The prices on these wood furnaces, wood boilers and boiler and furnace parts are also very low. Have you realized it’s time for an outdoor wood furnace? An outdoor wood furnace can be the solution to higher energy prices.

It’s exciting, isn’t it, that there is a way to provide heat for your home, a way to give you all the hot water you and your family would need for showers, baths, laundry and more… all your family would need to heat your pool, spa, and anything else you wanted to keep warm with a truly efficient, completely renewable resource? What if you were able to keep your emissions low while you were heating your home? What if you could do all this for FREE?

Sure, there’s the up front cost of the equipment initially, but I’ll ask you to show me a heating system that doesn’t require a significant initial purchase price. Being able, then, to do everything in the preceding paragraph, for free, really sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Wood is the resource that fits all of these needs. It’s right down the road or in your backyard. Yes, wood.

Of course, you might be saying, “That’s old-fashioned and inefficient. Hey, and it’s a lot of work. And it’s dirty too!”

That’s not the case anymore. Wood heating has finally come of age. The modern outdoor wood furnaces Alternative Heating & Supply offers take advantage of the latest developments in heating technology. Once installed, and using water and heat exchangers, our furnace burns cleanly and efficiently. Most often it can be hooked up to your existing system to distribute the warmth wherever your home needs it.

Because all of your fuel (the wood) is kept outside, you won’t have the mess associated with indoor stoves. The unit will burn all sizes and types of wood, too, even those unsplittable knotty pieces. And, the cool thing is you only have to feed it once or twice a day – even in the coldest weather. That’s terrific, isn’t it? Load it up in the morning and again in the evening, and the unit will do the rest. Water heated to 185 to 200 degrees surrounds the firebox, and then it courses through tubing to your home where heat exchangers convert it to hot air which is dispersed by your existing system.

Coal, gas and oil are fossil-based, non-renewable resources. And in the last year, costs for these commodities have soared. You know this to be true. Electricity prices are climbing, too.

The impact on the environment of these is significant and must be taken into account. The methods used to extract fossil fuels are damaging to the ecosystem. Home systems, unless they are constantly and professionally maintained, are not really efficient burners. And electricity is often produced by coal-fueled plants or by hydroelectric dams that affect our fragile ecosystems.

So, when you take it all into consideration, there is no other source of warming your home that provides you all the advantages of a timber-fueled system. It’s environmentally friendly, efficient and cost-effective. And with a little extra work, you can get all this for free. This is an energy source that grows virtually everywhere. Areas are constantly being cleared and the leavings are perfect for your use. Get it home and you and your family can stay warm all winter for the cost of a tank or two of gas.

Our company prides itself on bringing to you the latest innovations in this technology, along with full service as well as parts and accessories. We have many years of experience and can advise you on choosing the right equipment for your home.

Alternative Heating & Supply is where you can get an outdoor wood furnace, a tube heat exchanger,a wood boiler or a plate heat exchanger.

Why wait any longer? These days we talk a lot about heating our homes with alternative fuels. Isn’t it time for YOU to do more than just talk about it? Visit the AltHeatSupplycom home page to learn more. or, call 1-888-881-1602.

You and Mother Nature will be glad you did!

Have you ever tried to find a lost friend on the Internet? I have it is not as easy as you might think. I had a good friend in junior high and I have fond memories of hanging out having fun with him. We would hang out listen to music talk just have a great time.

The other day I was thinking about my long-lost friend and I decided to try to find them on the Internet. It seems everyone nowadays uses the Internet so I figured it shouldn’t be difficult to locate him. I pulled up Google typed his name and get pages on pages of results. I checked out page after page but didn’t find any mention of my friend just a lot of people with similar names.

I decided try to narrow my search a bit by including the town and state where we grew up. Unfortunately they were still too many pages to look through for it to be practical to find my lost friend. I decided Google just gave to many results so I would try using a less popular search engine like MSN.

I typed in my friends name and the city and state where we grew up and sure enough I did get a lot fewer results. Instead of hundreds of pages there are only eight. I started looking through those pages of results and I found a couple which I thought would surely lead me to find my lost friend. However, after an hour of searching I still came up empty.

Then I decided to try Yahoo. Since Yahoo search has been around longer than Google or MSN I thought I might have better luck there. Again I entered my friends name the city and state and this time I got about 30 pages of results. I started the arduous task of looking through each and every page and clicking on link after link. Now I was getting frustrated I spent all this time and still cannot find my lost friend.

I pretty much gave up on finding my friend until a couple months later when I discovered reunion.com. I decided to give the site a try and I was amazed at how quickly I was able to turn up results for my lost friend. The service was not free but considering the amount of time I have wasted trying to search in the regular search engines it was definitely worth the small price.

I was able to find a phone number for my friend and I gave them a call. He was very happy to hear from me. In fact, he had been searching for me also. We have a long phone conversation and it turns out that he lived close enough that we could meet for lunch. Although it was more difficult to locate my lost friend than I had imagined it was great to find him and I’m glad I put in the effort.

Introduction

What is understood by the term ‘family business management’? Does it mean a business managed by one member of a family or by many members of a family who are retained in the business? It could be that all the family members who are part of the business have an equal share of the profits and therefore have an equal say in the decisions to be made in the business. Alternatively it might be that the family member designated as the Managing Director makes all the business decisions without necessarily needing to consult other members of the family.

However the business is organised, the understood concept of a family business is that it is owned and run by a family, and members of that family work together to make the business successful. There are many variations of how the management of the business works, but ultimately it is a privately owned company and all the profits are retained for the benefit of the business and the family.

Managing the Family Business

A family run business has many complicated dimensions to the interpersonal dynamics compared to a public company that can make or break the owners. The dynamics of personal and professional issues combined create an added pressure which can hinder good business decisions. Unresolved family conflicts will undoubtedly be carried into the workplace and impact the motivation and productivity of everyone involved.

I have current experience of managing a family business where we find it is important to have our different areas of responsibility. I am the Managing Director and main Project Manager, then we have the Accounts and Admin Manager and the Chairman who presides over the meetings and keeps an eye on the overall direction and functioning of the business. We have found over the years that there are some important issues which have to be resolved in order to work compatibly together. Mainly they are the issues around boundaries. Respecting each other’s different skills and trusting they can do their job well are key elements. If there are new skills to learn fundamental training is offered to ensure that person can do the job effectively.

It is important to realize managing any business in today’s environment is a complicated process but when you have the added dimension of family dynamics it can so easily get out of hand. One of the crucial elements to resolve is the historic patterns of relating between family members. Usually there is a lack of awareness that these patterns exist because they are habitual and familiar. However once they start to impact on the effectiveness of the business these issues need to be reviewed so that changes can be made and the issues resolved. One obvious example is where a child works with a parent. It is usually difficult for the parent to see the child as a responsible adult and still treats that person in the old habitual way. The child might then feel devalued, disempowered and impotent because of the old habit of respecting and obeying the parent. This will produce a lot of frustration, anger or even rage generating manipulative and destructive behaviour.

One of the reasons the series Dallas, about the fictional Ewing oil barons was so successful was because of the constant family problems that cropped up. They were a never ending source of material for the story line and never seemed to be resolved.

We recently employed sales agents and now our biggest growing product is search engine optimisation which we offer as a service for other organisations along with our various computer related services. Quite a few of my clients are local family run businesses and I am constantly amazed at the bickering that goes on between family members, even when they are at work!

Leadership

One of the prime issues in a family run business is that of leadership. There has to be a leader whom everyone should be able to respect and is capable of making sound business decisions. If two family members are in a power struggle to be the leader then the business will suffer. I have seen this happen in a firm that was not between family members and it nearly brought the company down. Loyalties become divided and business decisions are often made for the wrong reasons resulting in loss of production and revenue. So when embarking on a family business the leadership needs to be decided at the outset. Once the decision has been made then the rest of the members working in the company need to support that decision and not undermine it.

There are different styles of leadership:-

The Autocratic Ruler -This sometimes works as long as the rest of the family are willing to do what he/she wants. But long term I don’t think the autocratic ruler is particularly good for business. When the time comes for someone else to take the helm there could be no one strong enough to fulfil the role.

An example of autocratic leader is the father of a family friend who was a successful plastics manufacturer. The son was encouraged to follow a path of water ski trick jumping and became a member of the British team. His father did not encourage him to continue in further education with the belief that the son didn’t need it as he would run the firm after him. The day came when the son could no longer continue with his sport because of injury and settled down the work in the business. After about six months he had a big falling out with his father and left. The problem then was he had no other skills options open to him other than selling insurance. After about 3 weeks he returned to work in his father’s business because it was very lucrative and had a level of status for him.

The Democratic Ruler – will encourage each individual to speak about their area of responsibility or their view of a business strategy. All members will be listened to respectfully and their view considered. This way a full and fruitful dialogue can take place in order to find the best decision for any one topic. New or younger family members will be supported to learn the business and encouraged to broaden their outlook so they become another valuable asset to company.

If the autocratic father had been more far sighted and encouraged his son to further his education, then find work with another organisation for a period of time and left him the option to come and work in the company when he had gained experience elsewhere, he would have benefitted from a more mature, confident, creative and experienced manager who could have brought new ideas to the organisation and participated fully in all aspects of the company policies. The son’s enthusiasm for modern technology could move the business forward into the modern age.

When people say they want a web design they often think of the visuals and graphic design of the home page and have no idea of the complexity or setting up a website.

Conflict Resolution

Family businesses can be a minefield of unresolved conflict and resentment. It is important to find healthy ways of resolving conflicts before even embarking on the path of family business management. When we first set up together in our family business we agreed that if we were not happy with some behaviour or something that was said, then we would say how we felt and give the other person the opportunity to retract it in some way. The most important thing for us was to listen to each other and respect the other person’s point of view. So when difficult decisions needed to be made to ensure the survival and the profitability of the business, discussion and argument, chewing over the policies and relevant information were signs of healthy processes on which to base sound business decisions.

Attitudes and Values

Being part of a family business means for the most part the attitudes and values are shared. In a regular company there are many diverse attitudes and values which generate tensions when working together. Listening and understanding each other is Key to good working relationships. One of the benefits of having a family business is intuitively knowing the other members and being able to trust them with your life if necessary. Even if there are disagreements you will know exactly the integrity and reliability of each individual. (Or not as the case may be!)

Well Known Family Businesses

When looking at the commercial world there are hundreds of family run businesses both large and small. Some are very well known companies such as the Ford, Murdoch and the Mars family, others are only known locally like my family butcher. But whatever their size there are only a small percentage of businesses which have been successfully passed down through the generations.

Rupert Murdoch the son of Keith who started the original newspaper empire in Australia, has built up a huge global network of media and entertainment companies worth millions and is still in charge at 77 with his son James as a possible heir. In the case of Ford the family now in the fourth generation own 40% of the voting stock but Mars is still 100% family owned and is not floated on the stock market. Frank and Ethel Mars started the company in 1923 and were responsible for inventing the Milky Way Bar. Their Son Forrest argued with his father and the story goes that his father gave him a significant sum of money and said ‘go and run your own company’. He came to England and set up the factory in Slough making Mars Bars, later branching out into make pet food (Pedigree Petfoods) based in Melton Mowbray. His sons John and Forrest Mars Jr, were educated and trained to take over the business. When old Mr Mars retired he set up a small company making specialist chocolates so he would be kept busy while his sons got on with running the global business.

My local butcher Robert inherited his shop from his father who inherited from his father. The originator had two sons who worked in the shop and now their sons run the business together which is still organised in the traditional way. It is very successful even during these times of crisis. The most famous family firm in the UK of course is the Royal family who live and work the business for life.

These days some websites exist purely to be positioned at the top of the search results by providing informative content and carefully targetted advertising to support the site and even provide the profit. One such example is http://www.presentsmen.com .

There is an enormous list of larger family run businesses in the world. Often the creator of such family firms build up the business from the ground and once they become very successful the parent hopes the children will carry on the business. Sometimes this happens, but more often than not the children show very little interest in working as hard as their parent. They do not seem to have the motivation or drive to carry the business forward and often do not have the talent of the parent.

A good example of this is the Mower family that produced the Neways products which they sold via multi level marketing across the world. They had seven children and the father, who was an industrial chemist, developed a skin product for his wife who had always suffered badly from Acne. Once he started doing research into products available in the stores he discovered that they were full of chemicals that, as a chemist, he’d had to wear protective clothing when handling because they were considered dangerous. From this beginning he developed other health supplements and through the network marketing they became so successful they made millions of dollars. The children of the family having worked for a time in other companies came in to join the family firm. The maintained they would always keep the company in the family and it would never be floated on the stock market.

However as is the way of the world, success spoiled them. The parents suddenly separated and divorced. At first they announced they would continue to run the company together but in the end they sold it to a group in the Netherlands who now run the company. Although the Mower children had worked outside the family firm I always got the sense that they did not manage their departments particularly well and showed none of the talent and drive of either of the parents.

Inheritance

It may be important to tackle the issue of succession in the business especially if the owner of the business has more than one child. In many cases it is predictable the children will fight over the ownership of the business if it has not been made clear who will inherit. There may be a temptation to skimp on education thereby limiting the development of the successor. To avoid these kinds of situations one idea is to eliminate the feelings of entitlement. It might be just a matter of planning. Having a defined succession guide will enable the children to earn the right to succession and find their effective roles enabling them to work harmoniously together in the business.

Conclusion

Running a family business can be a rewarding and satisfying job with the added bonus of working in a familiar environment where trust is implicit. However family conflict will inevitably affect working relationships so it is preferable and healthy to separate business from personal matters. This allows the business owner to make decisions with less bias and more flexibility for the betterment of the company.

Even if all the members of the family do succeed in having a good business relationship, living separate lives outside of work with exposure to a greater variety of ideas and stimuli, which family members can bring to the workplace, will be of benefit. Probably the most important thing in managing a family business is ensuring that the whole family have a good relationship that will last even if the business doesn’t. Ultimately, blood is thicker than water and family is more important because the business can be replaced but your family cannot.

VOIP Terms – A Comprehensive Explanation
 
First and foremost, wherever the person is, there is a great chance of contacting him either by calling his computer or dialing his mobile phone number or home phone number. Whichever is the case, it matters that you take time to explore the possibilities and features that the VoIP phone service endows you with. It is only proper to get to know more on how it works and the VoIP terms as well to keep yourself well educated.
 
Unraveling How the VoIP Phone Service Works
 
As you surf the website that is a host to the services rendered by VoIP, you will learn more about the advantages of securing this service. You will further know the main reason why you need to avail of it. VoIP technology has a special composition and it is only proper that you take time to get to know how it goes.
 
This phone service has special sets of hardware and software that transform the voice data into packets. In the end, the said data is transported towards the Internet by means of the IP protocol. Meanwhile, the same type of hardware and software are tasked to convert the data back to the voice. Being a publicly used network, the Internet allows the placement of free phone calls when the VoIP service is activated.
 
The Essentials that You Need
 
If the call is to be made via a computer, you should arm yourself with a reliable type of handset that is especially installed in the software. For this phone service to function correctly, it is important that the appropriate software is utilized. The compatible pieces of equipment can also function as the alternative. With the software, free calls can be made from one computer to another and at times from a computer to a regular landline phone.
 
If in case you don’t have a computer to use, then you may opt for an IP phone instead. This phone is connected via a landline similar to how a regular phone is set up. Even in the absence of a computer, you are able to place your VoIP calls. No monthly fees need to be settled and you get local rates for those mobile phone call transactions.
 
A Look at the Vital Terms
 
For a clearer understanding, here are the important terms that you must take note of.
 
VoIP is otherwise known as Voice over Internet Protocol. This allows you to save more money on your phone bills.
 
Broadband connection assures a faster transfer of data by up to more than 100 kps.
 
Clipping is the term used to point to a part of the conversation that gets dropped when the parties talk over the VoIP line but gets interrupted by a sudden loss of signal.
 
DSL is also known as Digital Subscriber Line which is one of the categories of high-speed Internet connections.
 
The hub is the special device which takes charge of distributing the communication data between the variety of devices like fax machine, computer, or printer.
 
The Internet protocol or IP varies from one computer to another.
 
The Internet service provider or ISP is the company that supplies the Internet access in exchange of a fee.
 
Internet telephony is the term used to point to the transmission of voice communication via the web.
 
By and large, these are the pertinent things that you have to remember about the VoIP terms.

Where would we be if we were unable to cleanly dispose of our wastes? Luckily, toilets have been able to do more for us as new ideas are developed to make our lives better.

Many people just assume that Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet, but in fact that was not the case. Actually the word “crap” didn’t come from Crapper either. While Thomas Crapper wasn’t really the inventor of the flush toilet, he was its most famous marketer. He made the modern bathroom into much more than a “water closet” by making decorative and functional bathroom accessories available to the general public.

If you are in Atlanta, an Atlanta plumber will be the best one to advise you on the best Atlanta plumbing repair for your situation. They can also recommend more environmentally friendly appliances for your home such as hot water heaters, washing machines, dish washers, and much more.

One of the newest modern toilets that you can get is a combination bidet and toilet. A bidet looks rather like a toilet, but is used to wash off one’s bottom after using the toilet. They are not commonly used in most countries, but they have been around since the 1700s. Today these new combo units are becoming more popular for a new reason. They greately reduce the need for paper.

In Japan and many other countries in the east, people use some type of bidet, and many who travel to the United States claim that the use of just paper does not feel as clean. While it is true that the bidet is not a very popular item in North America, the odds are that its popularity will grow as people look for new ways to cut down on waste.

Using a flush toilet uses a lot of good quality water that could be used for drinking. In some places they use non potable water for toilet flushing, and there are low-flush toilets available too. It is a given that as long as people have wastes that need to be removed safely and hygienically, the toilet will continue to be developed to suit society’s needs. I bet you can hardly wait for the next new thing in toilet technology.

As an experienced computer analyst, the most common problem I hear from people is they need a Windows XP registry fix program to fix their computer. Don’t you wish your computer ran as fast now as it did when it was new? So how does a computer that runs so fast out of the box become slow?

You probably did it to yourself and do not know it. Computers have to store all sorts of configuration and setup data every time you install a new program. There are thousands of free software downloads, plugins, toolbars and the like available on-line, and most people install at least a few of these programs. You can un-install these programs, but often even doing that leaves traces behind.

These traces are in the form of invalid Windows registry entries. So your computer has a program listed in its registry, but no longer exists on the hard drive. You PC wastes valuable processing time trying to locate these now-missing programs, resulting in a slowdown. A registry editor download can be your answer. These tools scan your system for invalid and incorrect registry issues and fix them automatically. Many of the tools can be downloaded instantly over the web for a small fee.

The best ones identify all of the common issues and result in a complete computer cleanup. Software like this can help you keep your PC running healthy and fast. Try one of these powerful programs; it is the best weapon you can get to repair Windows registry files. Help yourself to this easy way to fix your problem computer yourself, without having to hire a professional technician. You’ll save money and be productive again very quickly.

Everyone has a book in them, or so the saying goes.  I have always been interested in writing, and around ten years ago even took a course in creative writing, but then did nothing with it.  A few years ago, I realised that the only way to become a writer, was to actually get on and WRITE SOMETHING!  I know that sounds daft, but until then I’d somehow magically thought that writing would come to me – it didn’t, so I knuckled down and took a look at my strengths and interests.

As I work part-time as a gardener, the subject was an obvious choice, and the first article I wrote was about onions.  I mean, who can’t grow onions, they’re so simple.  This article has gone on to be one of my best sellers, with feedback and comments a-plenty.  Since then, I’ve written on all sorts of subjects which interest me, not just gardening.  Some of these articles have done well, and some have yet to flourish, but just because they havn’t really taken off yet doesn’t mean they won’t do so.  A little tweak here and there, with a bit of rewriting and the article has a different slant and is off to another publisher.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is NEVER GIVE UP, there is a book inside everyone, or a magazine article, or a blog, but, you have to have a thickish skin.  Don’t be downhearted when your creative masterpiece is rejected, just think about how you can recreate the article and send it off on another journey.  In the few years that I’ve been sending my stuff out to publishers, I’ve had two children’s books published, several short magazine pieces and tons of online articles.  I’ve also added copywriting to my skills, and I actually tell people that I’m a writer now, whereas before I was too embarrassed to do so.  Since I’ve ‘come out’ so to speak, as a writer, it’s amazing how many people I meet say ‘Oh, I wish I could do that’ – guess what, they could, all they have to do is write!