heartharmony.com.au

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas, fantastic holiday season and exciting 2009

From the Heart Harmony team - including our hardworking office mascot - Dalai Kitty

I am still on the hunt for last minute gift ideas so checked out Annette Piper one of my favourite jewellers. This piece really caught my eye. The colours are gorgeous and very rich. Sometimes handmade makes the best presents (even if you are not the one making it by hand!) Now to convince the kids to get it for me …

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony - Freelance Copywriters

Every now and again I talk with someone who says “I can’t do it - I’m too old”.

At times like that I remind them that Colonel Sanders started KFC when he was 65 and Ray Kroc didn’t start McDonald’s until he was 52. In Ray’s words:

“People are always amazed by the fact that I didn’t start McDonald’s before I was 52 years old, and that I was an overnight success. But I was just like so many people in the entertainment business who practice their routine for years with hardly any notice, and then suddenly find themselves in the spotlight of stardom. I did achieve success from one day to the next, that’s true, but my 30 years of preparation were like a long, long night”.

What’s your excuse?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony - for SEO copywriting

In 2 weeks time I am the MC for our local PCYC (Police Citizen’s Youth Club) community Xmas Carols. It is a great cause where we raise funds for our local PCYC and bring the community together for a night of fun and music.

Every year I try and top my previous year’s bad Xmas jokes for kids - you know the sort of jokes that goes “What does Santa’s cat want for Christmas? Some new claus”. I think they are commonly referred to as ‘Dad jokes’ as usually your dad will tell them over Christmas lunch.

I mix them with some stand up-comedy in between organising the assorted bands, choirs, sing-a-longs and of course welcoming Santa (who last year looked very buff as he was a fitness instructor at the PCYC).

And … I need your help! I am running out of Xmas jokes.

What are your favourite bad Xmas jokes?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony - Freelance Copywriters

I live in Brisbane and on Sunday night we were hit by an absolutely massive storm. The main area hit was the Gap and my home is located right near it - in the Ferny Hills/Arana Hills area. I hear we had 89mm of rain in 30 mins.

The storm was terrifying to live through. The needle like rain and hail the size of golfballs coming in at 90degree angles hitting our windows and car at 130km/h. Our front door was blown in with the force, and our ceiling access covers blown out of their sockets. Every towel and blanket in our house was used to stop the water coming in through out lounge-room and office window frames and to mop up the front door area.

We had a river of mud that want ankle deep raging down our back entertainment area and straight into our neighbours yard. I had to keep racing out in the storm to clear the stormwater drains otherwise the damage would have been worse.

We were the lucky ones in the street - our losses were limited to a fence, slight water damage, about 1/3 of all of our Xmas lights (we enter the competitions each year) and lot of our trees.  As I removed all of the branches from my car I was amazed to see not one scratch or dent. Miracles do happen.

All other houses in our street lost retaining walls, roofs, porches or had major water damage. We spotted trampolines blown into the middle of the street and houses which were now just matchsticks.

After the worst of the storm was over it was great to see the street emerge - people who had never spoken to each other pitched in and helped each other. Elderly neighbours were checked on and supported. Houses where the owners were away were covered in tarps, and their animals rescued. We became an informal animal rescue station with our house full of wet, smelly and scared animals - cats in one area of the house and dogs in another until it was safe for them to return home.

Yesterday was a day of very hard work - digging out the mud, repairing fences, retrieving things that had ended up many houses away, cutting trees and dragging them to the front. I was proud of my kids and all of the work they did - they didn’t complain once, just pitched in and helped. I was also proud of my elderly father who also pitched in and helped us repair our doors, fence and gutters. It was truly inspiring to see things come together over the day.

We finally got power back at 11.30pm last night, over 36 tiring hours after the storm. I woke my girls up and we did a little dance of joy … before racing down to put the first of many loads of washing on.

Our massive thanks to the SES and electricity workers who have worked tirelessly around the clock to remove trees and corrugated iron from power lines. They are true angels!

Thanks also to my brilliant friends who popped in during the day for moral support, to recharge my mobile phone and give hugs.  We also had many offers of showers (yes, we all smelt after the work and mud), hot food and a bed. The support was appreciated.

Today (or tomorrow) is a day to revisit all our business emergency plans - to work out what worked and what didn’t, and put new procedures in place.

For all of my clients, I will be off the air for another 48 hours just finishing off repairs, taking things to the tip and helping out the neighbours.

With much love and gratitude

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony

It had to happen. Finally a designer has combined fashion with bullet proof clothing!  Miguel Caballero is the world’s only designer (so far) of designer bullet proof clothing.

Gone are the  bulky flak jackets - enter blazers, ran coats, polo shirts and nice crisp business shirts. Some have lovely comforting stab proof linings and others can withstand mini-Uzi machine gun fire.

Miguel is a Colombian designer who saw this unique niche and now exports around the world. His clients read like the who’s who of the world - top actors and politicians all swear by his clothing. George Segal, the President of Colombia, Andrew Carroll, Spanish Judges and others appear on the website as owning his garments.

Now - this sort of high end fashion doesn’t come cheap - polo shirts start at $7,500 and range to $9,800.

It goes to show even in the competitive fashion market there are still niches available to be found.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony - Web Copywriting

One of the great things about the net is you can create niche businesses to serve a particular group of people. I was checking out My New Shiny Shoes blog and they mentioned a site where you can get great ideas for 21st birthday presents (there are only so many wooden keys anyone can get).

Why stop there? 18th birthday’s are a potential niche, Gold & silver weddings are a niche. Any major life event can be a niche for your business.

If you are a service business you can use these life events to set up a special promotion - financial planning to get your life on track for your 21st,  design of special promotional items for the 18th … use your imagination and you can create some great promos.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony - SEO copywriter

• 19:02 Loving Java - my home page is looking funky with the new video! #

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• 12:32 Stunning Sunshine Coast Aerial Photos tinyurl.com/6nmfs2 #
• 13:22 Beautiful Brisbane - worth moving north for! tinyurl.com/5cbz99 #
• 13:43 OK - I admit I need a holiday - Aerial Photos of the Gold Coast tinyurl.com/6g6mqk #

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Just a quick heads up on a really fantastic marketing training for green, local, community minded, holistic and otherwise conscious entrepreneurs if you live in or are travelling to Canada in May.

It is run by my colleague Tad Hargrave who is a brilliant marketing teacher and has some great ways to help conscious entrepreneurs build their businesses. He doesn’t run these workshops often, so when he does it is worth finding a way to get to them if you can.

The best part of the weekend is that it’s done on a pay what you can basis (seriously). Meaning - you don’t pay anything before you go and you only pay at the end what you thought it was worth based on what you can honestly, afford.

Here’s the basic info.

WHAT? Radical Business Intensive (marketing training for 20 or so conscious entrepreneurs)

WHERE?

• CALGARY: May 1-4. 16 spaces left.
• EDMONTON: May 8-11. 10 spaces left.
• TORONTO: May 29-June 1. 14 spaces left.

COST? Pay what you can/want at the very end. Seriously.

FOR MORE INFO AND APPLY TO COME: http://tadhargrave.com/RBI

It’s worth checking out!

Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony