Franklin Connection

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Copyright © Margie Franklin

Quite unexpectedly one of Liv’s best friends, Brieanna announced her engagement. Andre had just asked her to marry him & she was bursting at the seams to share the news with Liv. It was all so very exciting. Brie and Andre had been dating for a little over a year, but there hadn’t been any mention of a wedding. At least not to Liv & she would know because Brie tells her everything.

Brie is thinking about having the wedding in Jamaica. Andre doesn’t seem to care where he gets married as long as Brie will be his wife. Andre did agree to the September 23rd wedding date, but hopes that Brie will take charge of all the details. She’s considering staying at Sandals, an all inclusive couples resort located on a private island in Montego Bay.

Brie has heard a lot about Sandals’ “WeddingMoon” package from her friends and has even fallen in love with the famous drink called the “Jamaican Smile.” One of the things that appeal to Brie about Sandals’ “WeddingMoon” is that Preston Bailey gives his special attention to each one. Many Hollywood stars have chosen Preston to create that ultimate romantic moment for them so he comes highly recommended.

Another reason that Brie is thinking about Sandals is because of the transfers they give to each couple upon arrival. The transfers allow the newlyweds to hop on air conditioned shuttles and go to other Sandals Resorts in “Mo Bay.” It makes it easy to travel within the same town for a variety of dining experiences and a change of scenery. Sandals also has the “Stay at 1, Play at 7″ program. This means their guests can take advantage of the amenities at all 7 of the resorts in Jamaica, if they’d like. It’s a matter of convenience combined with the bonus of seeing other parts of the island.

Andre and Brie completed the Honeymoon Bridal Registry they had discovered on their favorite travel website, http://www.franklinconnection.com. It’s free for couples to register and provides a variety of options for family and friends when choosing wedding gifts. Andre and Brie have both lived on their own for a number of years. They don’t want the material things that most newlyweds who are just starting out need. With that in mind the happy couple made a wish list of romantic things that they would like to experience on their honeymoon. Their dream list consisted of little adventures that they would always cherish.

Brie and Andre thought the Bridal Registry was awesome and would be convenient for everyone. Their friends and family will save gas and the aggravation of driving to the mall by simply ordering their gifts online at http://www.franklinconnection.com. It’s easy to use too. All Brie and Andre had to do was bring up the travel website, click on “Bridal Registry,” and follow the easy instructions. Instead of buying a toaster or blender, Brie & Andre’s friends and family will have other options. They may contribute towards a romantic couples massage, limo ride w/champagne, Kingston Jamaica Day Tour, live webcast of the wedding, The Dolphin Experience, Hot Towel Beard Shave or even cash to help towards the cost of the honeymoon.

Brie’s thoughts turned back to when she first met the love of her life. She had always been a romantic so she knew right away that Andre was the perfect match for her. He loved the same things that she did, sailing, horseback riding, surfing & snowboarding. But she moved him to the top of her A-list when he told her that he volunteered at the Special Olympics every year. Andre won Brie’s heart because he truly cares about helping people. His good looks were just a bonus, a part of the total package. He doesn’t just talk about volunteering, he takes action.

Brie also volunteers, but her focus is on helping people who are living with HIV/AIDS. That’s how she met Liv. They both were volunteers at the Pater Noster House. The Pater Noster House takes care of low income individuals who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and are homeless or facing homelessness. The Pater Noster House provides a temporary place for them to stay.

Liv & Brie are fun-loving people whose enthusiasm and joy of life is contagious. They enjoy volunteering and have found it to be rewarding because the people they assist are very cool and often become their friends. Most just want someone who’ll listen to them while they bare their souls. People living with AIDS often endure pain, ridicule and avoidance. Although, thanks to education, things have gotten better, but there’s lots of room for improvement.

Liv’s brother died of AIDS many years ago. During the last few months of his life he lived in the Bailey-Boushay House in Seattle, WA. It was the first 24-hour AIDS nursing home and hospice in the US. The doctors, nurses and volunteers took excellent care of Liv’s brother. They even provided accommodations for her family while visiting her brother. The special attention and strong desire to keep Liv’s brother comfortable during the last few months of his life touched Liv deeply. So she vowed to do her part. She wanted to comfort other’s and help relieve some of strain that families in similar circumstances might be feeling. That’s when she decided to volunteer at the Pater Noster House.

Volunteering has always been in Brie’s blood. She tries to help those less fortunate than she because she’s just that type of person. Brie was the one to call on if you needed help in high school or church. After graduating she continued that spirit of helping others by volunteering in the community and other charities. But her heart and passion has always been to contribute, in her small way, to finding a cure for AIDS. The battle against AIDS must be won soon!

Volunteering for Liv, Andre and Brie is a common thread that ties them together. Now they have a wedding to look forward to. Hopefully, the plans will be finalized soon. There’s still a couple of other wedding destinations to consider, so Brie and Andre will look into those before making their final decision. Who knows, maybe they’ll choose an Adventure Wedding and Honeymoon in Africa.

About the Author:

————————————————————————————

Margie Franklin, The Home Biz Diva, owns her own online

Travel Agency and Work at Home Opportunities. To book airfare,

cruises, hotel reservations, car rental, or to use the best online

honeymoon registry, buy passports visit:

Book Travel Online

Work in the Comfort of your Home

http://myvmteammajic.com

————————————————————————————

Copyright © Margie Franklin
http://www.franklinconnection.com

Today we find that Liv has booked travel to China. She decided to venture out of the country and head to the home of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

After searching several travel websites, Liv found the ideal China Tour Package at http://www.franklinconnection.com. Choosing this travel website was the right decision because it also alerted her that a China Visa is required for this tour. Luckily, she was able to download & print it from http://www.franklinconnection.com.

The China Visa is required, in addition to having a passport. The fee is $200.00 and it must be requested at least a month prior to the departure date. Liv was glad that http://www.franklinconnection.com had given her advance notice.

Liv prides herself in trying to “expect the unexpected.” To that end, she also bought the Travel Protection Plan. She’d hate to forfeit the money she paid for the China Tour if an emergency caused her to cancel the vacation. The Travel Protection Plan costs a little extra, but gives her peace of mind.

China was chosen as a vacation place because it sounds fascinating. Liv already new a few things about Chinese culture from high school. For instance, she knew that the Chinese are only allowed to have one child per family. Although some families receive authorization to have 2 children. The One Child policy was established to help with the over population issue. It seems to be working, but there’s also a rumor that abortions have increased and infancy deaths, especially for females. It seems that the Chinese prefer to have a son than a daughter. Liv is puzzled by this. It conveys a negative message to the world that the Chinese do not believe in a woman’s ability to excel or achieve greatness.

Liv’s vacation plans to visit China were already confirmed prior to the recent tragedy of the earthquake in the Sichuan province. Since the earthquake included the collapse of many schools, several families lost the only child they had. That made their loss even more devastating. The earthquake didn’t stop to consider one’s gender, it just destroyed everyone and everything in it’s path. There’s been over 60,000 deaths reported thus far, 26,000 people are missing and over 353,000 were injured.

The outreach of love, compassion and financial assistance has been overwhelming, but much more funds are needed to reconstruct Western China.

Even though the earthquake was quite devastating, China has not canceled the Summer games. Liv is so thrilled to be attending the major event of the year where several countries come together as one and participate in friendly competition. She really hopes to see the Olympic Flame too, but there’s been a lot of controversy & turmoil surrounding it. It seems some activists have made an attempt to snuff out the torch. They want to boycott the Summer Games because they’re protesting China’s crack down in Tibet. Liv applauds the brave, proud torch bearers who will keep the flame lit during the 130 day, 85,000 miles journey from Greece to China.

There’s so much to do in China. The Great Wall is definitely a must see for Liv. She’s heard so much about how fantastic it is. The Great Wall is the largest man-made construction and took several dynasties to complete. It was actually started in the 5th century BC and completed in the 16th century. It winds through the countryside for over 4000 miles and was built to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire from invasions and attacks.

Liv can visualize the men hard at work, sweat dripping down their backs with a look of determination on their faces as they constructed the Great Wall. They had to overcome numerous challenges as the years turned into centuries, but they persevered. Millions of men lost their lives during construction of the wall.

From Beijing, Liv will fly to Shanghai and visit Cheng Huang Miao (Temple to the Town Gods), which is loved by tourists. From there she will travel to the famous Nanjing Road and…go…shopping! Nanjing Road is known as the best shopping street in China. The shopping district stretches for over 3 miles and is lined with hundreds of upscale department stores, theaters, bars, and fast food restaurants, and many other forms of entertainment. Speaking of entertainment, there’s a rumor that a young man ran for several minutes on Nanjing Road in the nude before he was finally caught.

If she can fit it in her budget, Liv hopes to extend her stay in China so that she may catch some of the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games start 12 days after the end of the Olympic Games. These games are inspirational as the athletes had to overcome illnesses and other challenges in order to compete. It would be great to be there to cheer them on to victory.

Although it’s too late now, Liv is hopeful that in the future the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games merge into one fantastic event!

When her vacation comes to a close Liv will be wondering what the next adventure will be. The destination is unknown, but she’s sure that she’ll book it at http://www.franklinconnection.com because of it’s so easy to use & has competitive prices.

At the end of her China Tour Liv will ride the Maglev train back to the airport. It travels over 258 miles per hour and is the world’s fastest train. Although Liv had lots of wonderful and unique experiences in China, she anxiously looks forward to sleeping in her own bed. It’s great to take vacations, but there’s no place like home.

About the Author:

Margie Franklin, The Home Biz Diva

—————————————————————–
To book airfare, cruises, hotel reservations,

car rental, use the best honeymoon registry

or buy passports visit:

http://www.franklinconnection.com

http://www.livethedreamwithfaith.com —————————————————————–

Copyright © Margie Franklin

Olivia,  Liv” for short, is considered to be “The Virtual Travel Diva” by her friends and family. They call her “The Virtual Travel Diva because she is living her dream by virtually traveling the world.

It all started quite innocently. Liv didn’t get to take vacations as a young girl, so she vowed to take several each year when she became financially stable. Now Liv has traveled to many highly sought destinations, thanks to http://www.franklinconnection.com.

When it came to choosing a website to book her vacations, Liv considered the older ones, like Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity. But she chose franklinconnection.com because she had read about the owner, Margie Franklin, online. Her research showed Liv that Margie is a real down to earth person who truly cares about helping others. On the other hand, Liv hadn’t heard anything about the people behind Orbitz, Expedia or Travelocity. Plus, the prices on franklinconnection.com are competitive & there’s many exciting options available on the site. Therefore, to Liv, franklinconnection.com was the obvious choice.

One of Liv’s favorite fun-in-the-sun places to visit is Key West. It’s a fairly new resort called Parrot Key Resort, which is part of the Singh Resort beach house family. Liv loves the name “Parrot Key” because it puts her in mind of beautiful, multi-colored things such as rainbows & Joseph’s coat of many colors, as well as the gorgeous bird. Multi colors are a sign of the good things in life.

Liv chose to vacation in Key West because it’s home to America’s only living barrier reef. She had also heard of Key West’s “live and let live” motto and that suited her just fine. She’s fairly liberal herself and a happy-go-lucky, spirited person.

Memories of the breath taking sunsets of Key West & sandy beaches rate high on Liv’s places to see. Many people flock to the Sunset Celebration on the Mallary Dock because it’s the best place to be at that time of day. Part of the excitement is being entertained by the jugglers, mimes, musicians and artists while awaiting the sunset.

Liv enjoyed the “Duval Crawl” which has everything from pubs, clothing stores, restaurants & souvenir shops. There’s such a huge variety of novelty stores that no excuses are allowed for not being able to find souvenirs for friends and family.

Key West is also famous for their fun-filled night life on Duval Street, scuba diving, snorkeling, boating, sailing, big game fishing & museums. A word to the wise…there’s limited parking and the streets are often filled with scooters & bikes…so be cautious and considerate to others.

As for the experience, Liv found it to be very rewarding and definitely worth repeating.

About the Author:

—————————————————————–

Margie Franklin, The Home Biz Diva, owns her own online

Travel Agency and Work at Home Opportunities. To book airfare,

cruises, hotel reservations, car rental, or to use the best online

honeymoon registry, buy passports visit:

http://www.franklinconnection.com or

http://www.livethedreamwithfaith.com

—————————————————————–

Read more >>

Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-18762/ebiz.html

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one
knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face
is how to drum up new business.

If there were not people in your community or marketplace that
you knew who needed your products or services, you probably
would not have started your business to begin with. But, once
you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your
what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will
help keep your doors open.

Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some
point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down
the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition.
But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with
creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising
needs while working within our budget.

Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of
money in order to advertise their home business. When you start
out, you honestly will not have much money available for
advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.

Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me
share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most
important topic.

LESSON #1

It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home
business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.

As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising.
If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising
without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself
broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who
commit this error write off their failure on the home business
they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses.
But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their
mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don`t let
this be you.

LESSON #2

All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise
simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you
know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register?
You won`t. All you will know that something might be working,
but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.

Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they
found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people
ever will tell you anything — and those people who do may not
even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers
to tell you what advertising is working for your home business.
You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.

LESSON #3

Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio
should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign.
Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to
determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be.
Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people,
but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the
additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep
your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from
your advertising dollars.

LESSON #4

As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising
investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first
starting out, whether you are running a home business or a
business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people
talking and thinking about your business.

If you are busy testing ads in media`s such as the newspaper,
magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of
promoting your business that do not require large cash
expenditures. A few examples are:

· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television

Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:

WORD OF MOUTH

This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet
— it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they
know anyone who could also use your products or services. When
they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be
willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the
word for you.

BUSINESS CARDS

You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When
you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards
to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.

Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis.
Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an
extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that
if they write their name on the back of one of your business
cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a
referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much —
sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and
your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.

PRESS RELEASES

Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your
home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is
always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the
business news section of the newspaper.

Of course, the business editor understands the economics of
running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you
buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print
stories for special events and openings.

The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it
must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are
a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a
third person format: John Doe said, “Your quote here.”

A Press Release should pack the most important information at
the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the
end.

You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a
simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often
the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will
enhance their take on your story.

NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and
television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These
target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the
infomercial people in business.

These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.

Don`t be afraid to check your local radio and television rates
for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With
television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is
8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to
advertise your home business at discount rates!

IN CONCLUSION

When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about
advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat,
everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your
bank account.

About the Author:
————————————————————
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people
in over 200 countries around the world start and run a
successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start
your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy’s
Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-18762/free.html
————————————————————

Quote of the Day:

“Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.”
– Voltaire

Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-18762/free.html

P.S. Get your free Dotcomology book at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-18762/dotcomology.html

Jim Killeen’s adventure through the search engines of GOOGLE to the
far corners of the world have given him a knowledge one can only
obtain throughout the journey.

Computers have become a focus of our daily lives rather than an
addition to the tasks we perform each day. Simply checking our
occasional emails has become a thing of the past. Bringing the
computers out of the den and into the main living area of the home
for researching information, watching videos and sometimes
gathering advice on the many websites available through the
world-wide web. GOOGLE has produced the greatest impression and has
enabled web users to connect, seek, and ultimately locate each
other.

GOOGLE Me The Movie, Jim Killeen, and Blog Talk Radio are merging
together for a one night event on GOOGLE Me Talk Radio! Thursday
night April 24th at 8pm ET. This will be an exciting evening with
the host of GOOGLE Me Talk Radio, Jim Cobb and The GOOGLE Me Man
with the plan, Jim Killeen. Be sure to spend some time at
http://www.GoogleMeTalkRadio.com for the entertaining evening.

Looking to stand apart from others? Go to Margie Franklin’s website,
http://www.brandyourselfgoogle me.com