Message from Shoi...

Hi

A warm welcome to our regulars and to our new subscribers joining us here for the first time. Thanks for taking the time to read today's in-the-loop.

It's been another crazy week that was. I'd been pushing myself really hard to keep up with all the new developments, projects and changes last week brought. In fact, we hit the ground running from December and haven't stopped since! Like they say, there's always a price to pay. I'd been feeling pretty ragged last week. Problem is, I don't always listen to my body and do the smart thing ie. take time out to recoup my energy, recharge my batteries, center myself, etc. Well, almost didn't. And I have Ray and Gerald to thank for that...

Everybody loves Raymond but who's Gerald...? Gerald Lopez is a very old friend of ours, and Ray recently hooked up with him again. Anyway, Ray forwarded me a copy of Gerald's newsletter last Wednesday. Perfect timing as I was close to "crash and burn" by then. I'd like to share with you what I learnt from this...

In his newsletter, Gerald shares this about yoga, "If we do it for any longer than we feel right, we start to tense up, and the practice becomes useless because it lacks focus." -- I saw the parallel: If I continue to obssess about my business, push myself physically/mentally beyond what feels "right"... all that can amount to useless work/effort because it lacks focus. I'll be more likely to make careless mistakes and poor decisions -- In situations like these, working longer hours, pushing myself harder does NOT a Superwoman make. If anything, I'll be feeling pretty dumb if any mistakes I'd made back then decides to come back and bite me on the butt. I'm grateful for this timely reminder, so I can rein in my anxieties and pace myself more to manage this coming week (and beyond).

You can read Gerald's "The Science of Life" newsletter and visit his site at Gerald-Lopez.com -- Gerald is a natural health practitioner in NZ and he uses Ayurveda and Yoga to help people gain better health and wellbeing.

Note from Ray

There's no feature article today. Please read Ray's note further on below -- I'll let him update you with his latest news.

NB: Readers from Southeast Asia, do drop us an email and introduce yourself! -- Some of Ray's new business initiatives cover this region, and there may be potential business opportunities to explore together.

The Advertising Campaign That Never Ends

For those of you who missed last week's special announcement... Ray is publishing a viral ebook "Inner Child - Spirituality & Business" and there will be limited sponsorship advertising spots inside this book -- Get more details

I believe this is the BEST place to invest your advertising bucks: This viral ebook (with your sponsor ads inside) contains special features that fuel self-targetting and onward/ongoing viral promotions -- In short, you get to enjoy a never-ending advertising campaign, it goes on and on... and your ads get to continuously circumnavigate the www. You can't ask for better online ad exposure (or value for money).

Shoi's Pick for Today...

I'd like you to meet Toronto-based glass artist and jewelry designer, Izik Levy. He's young, refreshingly charming, and he's brought a whole new meaning to "saying it with flowers..." -- See Izik Levy's "Blossom" -- It's exquisitely subtle and quite simply... irresistible.

If you like what I'm doing in Shoi's Pick as well as the values reflected in our ezine, and you personally know of any designers/artists/artisans who'd make a great feature here... do refer them to us. Thanks!

Till we next speak... have a blessed day and a wonderful week ahead.

Editor

in-the-loop™ Ezine

Email Shoi

Note from Raymond...

Hi

I'll be busy with a chess competition until Wednesday. My son is playing in our State Finals chess competition. But I wanted to write you this brief note...

There have been a few readers that have tried to engage me in an intellectual discourse on my writings. This has put me in a twist. Let me try to explain here why I have been reticent to do that. Since our decision to make a stand on m1m's/affiliate marketing, eMasters had been on precarious financial footing. We took the risk believing we can weather the storm, but it also put us under a lot of pressure. There have been daily brain storming sessions to look at new options, angles and exploring new alliances----with endless emailing and skype/msn/google conversations in a typical 12-16 hour day, without a day off since December----and of course writing this column.

I also realise that I have fielded for questions but, quite honestly, I didn't expect that many in such a short space of time. So please accept my apologies here. I'll take the few days of rest to think how I can manage this and get back to you. We also seem to be coming out of the financial crunch with a steady stream of new work coming in. So if things continue to improve, that'll free up more of both Shoi's and my time for more balance in our lives.

There was a timely newsletter (view it here) sent to me last week by my old friend, Gerald, in New Zealand. We used to be in London together, and Gerald is one of the most laid-back guys I've ever known.

I'll continue next week with answers to the many questions I've received and I'll finish off "The Coming Alive of Internet Marketing" series by writing on the perspective of a deal-maker/negotiator. I believe this is essential to round off the series.

Talk to you again.

Business Development

eMasters

Email Ray

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