On the Fun Ship.....Carnival

Cruising on the Carribean with Kat!

This was the first week long or longer vacation that I've taken since college - isn't that sad? It was great but a long time coming...even in my 8 1/2 years of marriage, we didn't take this long of a vacation can you believe it?

So when my 'girlfriend' Darlene asked me over the summer if I wanted to come on a cruise with her in October I didn't hesitate a moment - I said "SIGN ME UP!" and then I asked where we were going because at that point it didn't matter.


If you're an entrepreneur, you can probably relate, or even if you're just really busy and don't normally take time out for yourself - you probably know where I'm coming from.

But 2007 was the year I told myself I was going to take at least one week long vacation. I didn't really care where it was to as long as it was sunny and there was a beach! I didn't know who I'd go with either but I've learned that you just have to MAKE THE DECISION to do something and the "HOW" it will happen will surface.

If you are motivated by this at all and want help figuring out how YOU can uncover and find more freedom in your life and business - this is what I teach! Sign up for a 1-On-1 Planning Meeting right now and take action - go to www.1on1planningmeeting.com!!



Darlene and I were going with a bunch of people in her online travel business (Ultimate Choice Travel) so since I knew I'd be talking business with these people much of the time - of course I could also write it all off! What a bonus don't you think? There's always a way to work business into pleasure which is one reason why I love being an entrepreneur.



So our itinerary included:

· Starting from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - I had to fly across the country to start. Below is me in our inside cabin when we arrived....after finding out though how awesome some people had it in their rooms with balconies - I will only book those from here on out for sure! Really our room didn't matter though as we weren't in it very often. It was surprisingly large enough though for two DIVAS to get ready!



To the right is me on deck
the first day too -->

It was so utterly hot and humid I really thought I wouldn't make it however - Oh My Gosh! I'd never been to Florida before and the humidity really KILLS YOUR HAIR!

Here's us one formal night snapping photos like crazy - I sware, every corner you turned they had photographers ready to snap!

It's funny, I thought I'd wear this pink dress that I frankly never wear the first formal night and my shiny fun, hot outfit the second formal night but guess what???? I drank so much during this cruise and became so bloated (I know, TMI) that I could hardly fit in that second outfit!! I can't even show you the photos I took in it, it was a little embarrassing.

I think I drank over 100,000 calories in alcohol alone this trip - can you believe it? Not in food, but in alcohol! ;-)

This is a character we ran across one night - there were a lot of large groups there, mostly young or our age and they all planned dress up nights on the cruise to make it interesting....and boy was this guy/gal interesting!! This is a guy!

This was a group of gay and lesbians who were hilarious the whole trip and I must say very entertaining.

Which brings me to the story....

All I wanted was to do some simple flirting all week long and have a bunch of fun meeting a bunch of men but I had to shift my thinking a bit and change my plans when I realized that every man on the ship (with the exception of a few 20 something’s) were either married or gay.

You know when you have that special event or formal that you have to go to and so you go out shopping specifically to find that special dress or outfit – you can never find ANYTHING! Then when you’re just casually shopping or looking around or slipping in and out for something quick in a store – YOU RUN ACROSS A TON OF STUFF THAT WOULD BE PERFECT FOR YOU! That was the case on the ship with single, attractive men. Oh well….it wasn’t meant to be.

Itinerary continues....

· First stop Key West, Florida - here Darlene and I both went parasailing (I still need to get the photos of us...) which was so much fun. We launched from a small speed boat right off shore, they dipped us in the water a few times which was hilarious and we floated up above the water for a good 15 minutes. This is so fun, if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend parasailing on your next vacation. Then after we cleaned the salt water off us and changed into dry clothes we went on a "Pub Crawl" walking through the streets of Key West, drinking a different drink at about 6 different bars and shopping in between bars of course! Then we stumbled back on the ship to continue our little party....


Here's us and some other girls at night enjoying the live music and dancing....BEER GOGGLES HARD AT WORK....

· Second stop the Grand Cayman Island. Here we had lunch and margaritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville (I can craft a better margarita than them however), did a little shopping and then we took off to lay on the beach.

We got to the beach just in time to gulp down one cocktail at a little beach bar and then it started pouring rain. Everyone huddled under cover as best as they could for about 40 minutes until it passed. It cleared though and we did manage to get a bunch of sun in plus the water in Grand Cayman is the prettiest, clearest and bluest you'll ever see - it was wonderful.

They had a fun pirate ship excursion that we didn't go on but the ship looked so fun!

· Third stop Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Here we didn't see much except the port, a few select shops and one small piece of the beach because right when we got off the ship the locals hounded us trying to get us to buy their stuff - wow, were they aggressive!

I found it actually very fascinating watching their sales techniques and even asked some of them if they study sales and marketing solely there or what? Darlene unfortunately couldn't handle their aggressive tactics and almost freaked out - it does take a lot out of you in that situation. I found it amusing though.

So, it didn't take long for us to buy what we wanted and get back to the beach to relax.

Luckily we had been part of a 'beach party' which they called an excursion so we weren't hounded to buy stuff, we could simply relax. The locals in beach party area were quite nice however and the service was awesome. The water however was not as nice; really clean, prestine beaches but not that clear of water and boy was it hot as heck!

So, that's where we went and no we didn't do a lot of excursions and tours and stuff because frankly we knew we'd be up late drinking and dancing each night and neither one of us wanted to have to get up early and swim with dolphins or climb mountains or anything so we decided for this trip the scenic, relaxing things were for us.

The goal became to just layout, drink, dance and have fun - which I did!

Now....to plan the NEXT ONE!!

Katrina Out --

Running on a Hampster Wheel ... and Not Sure How To Get Off?

Do You Feel Like You're Running on a Hampster Wheel and You Don't Know How or Can't Get Off?

Why do we always insist on doing it all?


I can't tell you how many clients and other business owners I see every month who continue to believe that THEY have to DO IT ALL.

I learned this lesson a couple years ago. When I hired my first assistant I thought I had to hire "an employee" so I got the insurance, worker's comp, payroll service and put an ad out.

I didn't even know what I could pay or for how many hours mind you at this time, I just knew in order to get more successful and get more business quicker - I needed someone to help me do the things that were slowing me down.

So I found my first "employee", paid the payroll, taxes, etc. It was all relatively easy.

Unfortunately that employee ran his course and I soon needed someone with additional talents and skills. So I (being the connector that I am) found that employee another job with a client of mine and hired a different employee for myself with added skills that I needed to get me to my next step.

That second employee was so good in fact that she got hired out from under me to work full time in a great job. I wished her well because it was ideal for her but then I was stuck again and back on the hampster wheel, doing it all myself.

I was introduced to a temp agency who could have someone come and work in my home or from their home if need be for certain projects. I hired someone from the temp agency who worked out very well. She had another small business of her own and she did other work for other professionals as well. She brought many ideas to the table for me and challenged me to work more ON my business and let her work IN it. She took on client projects and research projects plus other things that I really didn't need to be doing. I in turn was able to network more, follow up more and got a lot more new clients and referrals after this.

After this temp gal ran her course I was so used to someone working "virtually" for me, from her home or from mine depending on the day or project that I wasn't sure I wanted someone to come back into my home office space again. This is when I learned about Virtual Assistants - what a concept! They do my work from their home and it gets done efficiently and successfully.

I now have 3 Virtual Assistants and looking to hire one more. One who does all my bookkeeping, manages my shopping cart sales and my QuickBooks, one who does all my data entry for all the business cards I collect out networking and they also do any mailers that need to go out to my list. The third VA is my right hand gal - she does everything I can think of. Anything that comes across my desk that needs to be signed up for, looked into, opportunities that need investigating plus she handles my whole membership program (Marketing Mentor Program) - new sign ups, cancellations, email blasts, website updates and so much more! I couldn't think about doing this alone anymore and I am no longer on the hampster wheel!!

I realize it's hard to figure out how and what to outsource at first because you think you are the only one that can do certain things.

But I can tell you - every single client I consult with in my 1-On-1 Marketing Planning Meeting or any call or consult really - I urge and recommend outsourcing 1-8 things! There is always a way - you sometimes just need to be SHOWN the way.

Once you do this you will be able to step off that hampster wheel more often than not and you will have so much more free time to do the things that you LOVE TO DO, be with the clients you LOVE working with, be able to develop new products and services and figure out ways to leverage your time and expertise to make you more M.O.N.E.Y. with less effort and less time.

Isn't that the goal?

Let me help you figure out how to get off that hampster wheel and get more clients and experience more success faster - let's do it now!


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"Need Help Figuring Out the Easiest and Most Profitable Ways to Take Your Business to the Next Level and Get Off That Hampster Wheel?"

In my 1-on-1 Marketing Planning Meeting we do just this. Whether you're just starting out and need to figure out where to start marketing or whether you've been in business for over 10 years - THERE IS ALWAYS A "NEXT LEVEL" TO TAKE IT TO if that's where you want to go!

In the 1-on-1, we cover whatever needs to be covered in order to take you to that next level of business, success or income in order to give you the life that you want to live. That could mean stop trading so many hours for dollars and leveraging your expertise into info-products or ebooks like me. That could mean targeting a whole other target audience and how to do that. That could mean revising your website to come into the 21st Century and beyond!! Whatever or wherever you want to go with your life and your business -
I can help you get there.

This meeting isGUARANTEED or your M.O.N.E.Y. back!!!
Sign up ASAP and Start Making SMART Marketing Decisions!

---Katrina Out

Skunk Dilemma!?!?

You won’t believe it but my 120 lb. German Shepherd Zeke got sprayed by a skunk last night; I knew this day would come…..

I let him out to pee about 10:30 pm and he ran after something and got totally hosed!! I had to practically drag him through the house to my shower cuz he didn’t want to budge but the longer he lingered so did the smell. I proceeded to leave him in the shower alone for 5-10 minutes while I tried to fumigate the house with Fabreeze. Then I had to strip down, get in and scrub him down. Luckily I had some tomato juice cans – only 6 real small ones, using that and shampoo about ½ hour later we emerged from the shower both covered in black hair from head to toe! After another 5 minutes of drying him off and doing sniff tests, he still wasn’t totally back to normal and neither was MY HOUSE! I can’t smell anything but skunk I think I’m going to be deadly ill. If you don’t hear from me in a day or two – get worried and call in the troops. The windows are wide open and I can’t tell if the smell is inside or outside or ON ME! What the &%$#!! Two pounds of hair and a clogged drain later, ½ a bottle of bleach for the shower and a ton of smelly lotion and spray for me – we hoped to make it through the night without gagging. Unfortunately it was extremely hard to sleep – only got 4 hours cuz I had a gal coming to help me in my office today too!

:0{

So, today was interesting….looked online for some skunk remedies and of course wouldn’t ya know it – tomato juice is a farce! They all recommended vinegar and baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. Not having 2 of 3 of those, I continued on with lighting every smelly candle in the house, constantly spraying fabreeze, calling in PetSmart to de-skunk the dog (which they did this morning – but it didn’t work! They say the smell still takes 3-7 days to go away!!)

So, now I’ve closed the house up (seems to smell better with the dog outside – poor Zekey L - and the smell seems to be outside mostly.)

Finally, the conclusion:

3 ceiling fans running
27 smelly candles burning
7 plug ins (had to plug in extra for reinforcements)
2 incense sticks at a time burning
7 large bottles of vinegar dumped in and around the house (and on the dog!)
5 bottles of spray foam for the carpet odor
2 bottles of fabreeze - 6 cans of tomato juice
3 loads of laundry and a
$49 dog bath and de-skunk dip later……

I can breathe again. :0{

--Katrina Out