Weekly Blog #3

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I cannot believe #PBandJterm is coming to an end. This class by far was the most helpful class I have ever taken, as I stated on Facebook.

Before J-term

The rest of the quote is true also. Our first assignment called for us to Google our own name. When doing this none of the results were myself. Turns out there is a realtor with the same name, and she has claimed most of the top results.

After J-term

However, after this class, I have given her a little competition. Now not only am I showing up in the regular search results, but my photos are also showing up under the Google images search. To some this would be a bit scary, but it doesn’t scare me. I plan to graduate soon, and when I do, I feel I will have a better chance at getting a job thanks to things like this. The easier it is to find me, and the more that is said about me, the more a potential employer will trust me, and feel as though they know me, before even meeting me.

Week Number 3

I have many of the things we learned this week to thank for my rise to the top on google. All of the guest speakers touched on this idea, and I learned something different from all of them. Most of all I learned to LOVE what I do.

Guest Speaker #1: Derek Mabie

Whoa! Talk about an inspiring person. His story alone was inspiring. I learned so much from him about SEO. Not only how to improve SEO for my own personal brand, but also how I could do it for other companies. I have started reading his beginners guide, and it is extremely helpful. As a web designer this is great information that I need to know for my career, and no one is teaching it.

Guest Speaker(s) #2: Maddie & Jess from City in a Jar

Also another very inspiring duo. These two were great. Their personalities worked well together. This class has made me want to keep up with blogging after this class is over, and these girls gave me the information I need to do that. Not only did they give me the information, but they gave me the inspiration. I have lived in St. Louis my whole life and haven’t explored much, so I look forward to reading their blog for ideas of what to do in the area.

Guest Speaker #3: Michael Zandstra 

It was great to hear from a fellow student. The way he explained things made more sense to me. I could see myself going to him with questions once I make the switch from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. Also, because of the way he spoke to us, and the fact that he is also a student, he seems more reachable than most people in this field.

Goodbye #PBandJterm

I am not ready to say goodbye to this class yet. I’m happy and proud of all of the connections I have made. Also, I have grown so much from this class. I am now more confident in who I am, and how I present myself to future employers. I owe a huge thank you to Jill Falk!

What Is Faith, and Why Do We Need It?

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When deciding to write this blog, I wanted this one to mostly come from my heart. However, I did some research before I started writing and realized there are many different opinions on what Faith is. So I will select the pieces that support my idea of faith, and I will tell you why it is so important to have in your life.

What is Faith?

definition of faith
This is how Dictionary.com defines faith.

The first two definitions on dictionary.com were my favorites. The definition of faith itself would make for a great quote. You know it’s a powerful word if it can sum all of these things up into a single word.

 
Faith does mean trust. It means fully trusting in someone or something to a point where you would never question it. It also means that you believe in that someone or something without needing to see it for yourself.
 
My personal belief is that faith is hope in its strongest form. It’s when you hope for the best in something or someone and therefore you believe it.
 
There is also the religious meaning to faith. I do not have to preach my religion to you in order for you to understand faith. All religions call for you to have faith in them. Most religions have some proof, but there is no 100% sure convincing proof, or everyone in the world would probably follow the same religion. You have to take what evidence you have, and have faith that the things you are learning from that evidence are the truth. You have to put trust in your religion without knowing the answers.
 
 Seeing people with faith in any religion shows me that they are a strong person. It takes a lot for someone to fully believe in and dedicate their lives to something that they have not seen for themselves yet. If they can do that in religion, then most likely they can do that in other places in their lives too.
 
 

 Why Do We Need Faith?

Source: mmorris.webs.com via Venessa on Pinterest

 

 

 

We need faith, because there is not alway going to be evidence to support everything. Sometimes in order to start something new, you have to believe that it will work without seeing the outcome. You may fail at whatever you are attempting, but without faith you are even less likely to succeed.

If you cannot trust in the people or things around you, it is hard to live a happy life. You have to believe that everything around you is there to support you. If for some reason that support fails, then you have to pick yourself back up and place your faith in something new.

Faith gives us a reason to stay positive. It gives us something to believe in. We cannot always see how things will turn out in the end. Most of the time we have to have a little faith and take that step without looking.

I hope I have inspired you to have faith in something. Make it your goal for the day. Find one thing you can put your faith in, not necessarily a religion.

I will end with a quote from the all mighty Wikipedia, that I think sums up the definition of faith well. “True belief can only arise from faith, because reason and physical evidence cannot lead to truth.”

Everyday Inspirational Quotes

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Like I need anymore excuses to spend time on Pinterest, right? Well this is exactly why this blog is perfect for me. I know today is not Sunday or Monday, but I wanted to go ahead and post a blog filled with uplifting quotes for you. My goal is that you can find one for each day of the week. Remember, these are great quotes for your mirror messages!
mirror messages
Check out my last blog to create your own positive mirror messages!
Quote Junkie
I will be the first to admit that I am a quote junkie. It seems as though no matter how you are feeling there is always a quote out there to inspire you, or help lift your mood. There are so many different kinds of quotes too. There are quotes about love, religion, humor, friendship, family, and so much more. There are many people in this world that have great things to say. It’s great that when we are struggling to find the words we want to say, or need to hear, we can simply use someone elses. Of course when using someone elses words it is great to give them credit when possible. I enjoy the design element behind the quotes on Pinterest, so this is most likely where I will be doing most my research. However, I am a designer, and someday I hope to find quotes and use my design to create an interesting way to display them. Maybe someday I will be the one getting designs pinned to Pinterest.
 
Daily Quotes
 
Monday:
 

 

This quote could mean different things to different people. To me and where I am in my life right now, this quote says: Turn towards the positive in your life, and instead of letting the negative bring you down, let it fall behind you and move on.

Tuesday:

 

Sometimes I need a quote like this to remind me to be a better person. I’ll admit that I often judge a book by its cover. However, I have been wrong many times. This would be a great quote for me to see everyday as a reminder to avoid making judgements, and actually take the time to get to know the people around me.

Wednesday:

 

First of all, what a great way to display a positive message! Secondly, this is a great quote. It’s very similar to what I am trying to do by writing this blog. I want to find ways to make myself happy, and share them with my readers to make them happy too.

Thursday:

 

This is so true! You can change yourself for the better at any time. Any day is the perfect day to start living a more positive life. You owe it to yourself. Besides, the next new year is 11 months away. You could be waiting a while.

Friday:

 

Enough said! This quote is as simple as four letters. These four letters have taken on a meaning of their own, and they seem to put everyone in a better mood.

More Quotes!

This week I simply focused on quotes featured on Pinterest. However, there are many sites out there filled with quotes. I will list a few below, so you can look for your own. Also, when you are reading, in conversation, or anywhere, you can save a quote. I write down things I hear that inspire me all the time and keep them until the time comes when I need them. There is no reason you cannot create your own real life pin board filled with great quotes.

How to Create a Vision Board and Mirror Messages for Daily Reminders

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For my first blog post I wanted to go big. By “going big” I mean giving my readers something to improve their positive outlook on life every day. By doing this my readers will have a way to start their days off great everyday, in case for some reason they cannot get to a computer to read my blog.

What Is a Vision Board?

I cannot take credit for this idea, but I am still happy to share it. I heard about this from my sister, and she was kind enough to let me use hers as an example. I also found another blog about vision boards thanks to O Magazine.  A vision board is a board filled with images (usually magazine clippings)  which demonstrate things you desire for your future. My sister’s board is a great example. She even has little notes next to the goals she has accomplished.

Vision Board
My Sister’s Vision Board (the stars represent goals she has reached and the date on which she accomplished them)
 
 How to Make Your Vision Board
You don’t have to sit down today and decide to start a vision board (although you are more than welcome to if you would like). However, my personal suggestion would be to collect the images over time. As you are reading magazines, or even when you are browsing online (places like my favorite Pinterest), just save the things that you would like to add to your life. Once you feel you have enough saved up it is time to be crafty and start your board.
 
How to Use Your Vision Board
Once you have finished crafting your board, hang it in a place you will see it every day. My sister for example has hers up in the room where she gets ready for work every day. Another great use is the way my sister has placed notes next to the goals she has reached. This is a great reminder that you have reached those goals, and there is no reason you can’t reach the others too.
 
Mirror Messages
I also cannot take credit for this idea. This idea is something I picked up from a roommate of mine, and it has stuck with me. My roommate used to write different quotes on her mirror using dry-erase markers. This way you can change the quote to suite whatever you are going through in life at the time. Also, it is great, because I know almost everyone looks in the mirror every day, maybe even several times before you make it out the door in the morning.  
 
How to Make and Use Your Mirror Message
I promise to help with this! One of my duties as the writer for this blog is going to be to provide you with quotes weekly. Of course if none of my quotes work for you I will also be posting different sites where you can look for your own quotes. Each Monday I will post a blog featuring a few quotes. My goal is to have one for each day of the typical work week. For the weekends sometimes “Its the Weekend!” is inspiring enough, so maybe we can just write that on our mirrors.
I bought my mirror at Target, and I only paid $5.99 for it! You can also find dry-erase markers at most stores. Pick a few different colors for yourself just to make it exciting.
The rest is simple! Just write the quote on your mirror (leaving room for you to see yourself). Then you can change the quote when ever you feel you need something new.
mirror message
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” -Marilyn Monroe

Now go buy your mirrors so that you can be ready for my quotes next week! & Remember to stay positive!

Weekly Blog #2

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Wow! What an amazing second week of J-Term. Personal branding class is by far the most amazing class I’ve taken in my five years of college. I am learning so much, and I have grown so much. I feel as though for once I am actually preparing for my career, my future, and creating my “Personal Brand.” This is the first class I have taken in my two years at Lindenwood which I feel I have actually gained all the information promised to me.

This week started by us putting together a LinkedIn page. Before this class I had never heard of LinkedIn before. It was important that we worked on all of our other social media sites before our LinkedIn site. LinkedIn ties all our other sites together, and connects you with people around the world in  your field. I feel as though this site will play a huge role in my career path.

Our guest speaker was Nick Gilham (@NickGilham), who is the founder of A Branded You. He is a great person to follow if you are interested in creating or managing your own online personal brand. I learned so much from him about the right way to use LinkedIn. I spent hours working on my profile on LinkedIn, and tried to follow his advice. I believe that my profile is great now, and that I will have great success thanks to his tips. I still could use some work in different areas on my page though. He said to make sure that our summary was not short and sweet. He says that since LinkedIn gives us plenty of space, we should use it. The hard part for me is writing about myself, so for now my summary only consists of my synopsis and objective. I also need to get some recommendations. Luckily, I have found many people I have worked with in the past, and people I currently work with, and hopefully they will leave me as many recommendations as possible.  Thanks to Nick, I also learned a lot more about connecting to others on LinkedIn, which has helped me to connect to more people.

Another big event for me this week was opening my own gmail account. This is huge! I’ve needed a new email address for far too long now. You can now reach me at ashbeybynum@gmail.com. Sounds much better, and more personal than any of my college email addresses. It also allowed me to start using Google Reader! I’m a huge fan so far, and I’m constantly subscribing to more blogs. I swear I could do nothing but read blogs all day long if I did not have to work. I have learned so much from all of the blogs I am reading. The best part in all that I have learned is that it is current and happening right now.

We also met with Jill one on one this week. She was very helpful, and had a lot of great suggestions. Thanks to her I now have some of my design pieces up on both my LinkedIn page, and a portfolio page on my blog. Hopefully this semester there will be much more work to add. I also went back and added captions to the images on my previous blogs, and tried to add things I love to my twitter info, but it was hard to fit in just 160 characters.

I’m extremely thankful that I signed up for this class. I can’t believe I almost skipped out on J-term all together. I cannot wait for class tomorrow, and for everything this next week has in store for me. I know we will be getting started on our blogs for our final project, and I am excited to start writing. These three weeks flew by and I’m not quite ready for this class to end. I have made so many great connections, and have really improved my personal brand.

P.S. Winter finally hit STL for a couple of days. . .

Me sporting my hood after my crazy drive to class in the snow on presentation day.

Think Happy Thoughts

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Source: imgfave.com via Kasey on Pinterest

In spirit of the new year, and the events my family and I have been through recently,  I’ve decided to start a blog about keeping your head up. In writing this blog I hope to motivate others to stay positive, even in the worst of times. Through this process I hope to help myself do the same. In theory, my plan will work, because the best medicine for me is nurturing and helping others.

This blog will also enable my addiction to Pinterest. The image at the start of this post demonstrates exactly what I love the most about that site. No matter what mood I am in, or what inspiration I feel I need for the day, I can always find it there. The image I found for this first blog post perfectly describes what I would like my blog to be about.

I feel this topic is a topic which will never grow old. The world will never be perfect. I truly believe perfection does not exist. Therefore, people in this world will always need motivation and inspiration. This will be a subject that will still be important to me after this assignment, after this j-term class, after I graduate, and after I start on the many paths life will lead me down.

I lost my Grandfather one month ago today. I have been truly blessed to have never lost anyone close to me until now, and I must say it is the most painful thing I have ever been through. Of course I miss him, but the hardest part for me isn’t missing him. The hardest part is seeing my loved ones sad and hurt because they lost him too. This is why I want to start this blog.

My Grandpa and I at my Great Grandmother's 100th Birthday Party.

 I hope that my blog can help others get through any tough situation. My plan is to post unique ways to pick yourself up when you are down, and ways to keep pushing through tough times. I know all my ideas and discoveries will not work for everyone, but I hope to find something new and inspirational every day to feature on my blog. If that something happens to move just one person then my hard work will be worth every minute.  Call me selfish, but I hope to make others smile in order to put a smile on my own face.

My first piece of inspiration is quite personal, but I feel that it fits seeing as this is the beginning of what I hope is something I continue forever. This piece came to me in a dream the night before my Grandpa’s funeral. I dreamed that I was saying these words at the funeral. When I woke up I kept saying them over and over in my head and I could not go back to sleep. I got up and wrote them down, not thinking I would have the courage to say them out loud to anyone else. Once they were written on paper I was able to go back to sleep. I asked my mother to read them the following morning, and she asked me if I could read them at the funeral. I am so proud of myself for speaking about my grandpa at his funeral. I didn’t know if I had the strength, but knowing it was one of the last things I could do for him is what pulled me through.

It’s sad that it takes losing someone for us to realize just what we had, but I want to learn from this experience and grow from it. I will not let it bring me down, my Grandpa would want me to continue to work hard at being a positive person. He loved helping others and I can honestly say I learned from the best.

The note I read at my Grandpa's funeral.

“My grandpa had the biggest heart I’ll ever know, and I”m so blessed to have a piece of it in mine.”