Turning Typing Mistakes into Liquid Gold

Anyone who has ever used a typewriter has experienced the frustration of hitting the wrong key. Depending on which year you made this mistake, you had very few choices as to what you could do after making the mistake.

For most of the typewriter’s existence, if it was an important piece of paper you were typing you had no choice but to throw away the one with the mistake and start over again.

This was very time consuming. For some, it was impossible to actually type a whole page worth of characters and not make a mistake. This meant many people couldn’t use the typewriter…at least not until someone could solve this problem.

A Valuable Solution

In 1954, an executive secretary, Bette Graham, decided that there was a better way. Her mother was an artist and Bette decided to use tempura paint to cover up her typing mistakes.

Soon, others in the office saw what she was doing and wanted some of this magical liquid Bette called “Mistake Out.”

The demand for it grew and she started making it at home. Her son and his friends would bottle it up.

In 1958 an office magazine ran an article about “Liquid Paper” which resulted in over 500 orders. This grew to over 5,000 bottles per week by 1962.

By 1975 she moved the headquarters of Liquid Paper from San Antonio to Dallas. Three years later she sold her company, Liquid Paper, to Gillette for $48 million.

Bette’s Acres of Diamonds was sitting in her mom’s painting supplies. She turned an irritation with typing mistakes into a multi-million dollar fortune.

Other Solutions

Over the years this same problem has led to many other solutions:

* Typing training (teach people how to not make mistakes)
* Typing tests (screen out the bad typists)
* Erasable paper
* Erasable ink
* Ink remover
* Cover-up sheets – looked like white carbon paper
* Different keyboard layout like the Dvorak keyboard
* Correcting typewriters
* Type ahead buffers with built in dictionaries
* Dedicated word processors like the Wangwriter
* Word processing software like Wordstar, Word Perfect and Microsoft Word
* Voice dictation software like Dragon Speak

Each of these solutions is someone else’s Acres of Diamonds. There can be more than one successful solution to a problem.

Finding Your Own Acres of Diamonds

Ask yourself a series of questions:

What problems are you facing that others face?

Which of those problems would people be willing to pay money for a solution?

What possible solutions are there for that problem?

Which solution seems like the right one for you to pursue first?

What are your next action steps?

You don’t have to have a degree, a special background, previous experience or certification to come up with a great solution to a persistent problem. You just have to decide you want to find a solution and take action. The power of intention and persistence will yield great rewards.

About the Author

Dan Swanson is an Internet marketing consultant, who systematically increases qualified traffic and improves conversions of visitors to customers for client’s websites. For more information on his Internet marketing consulting services visit http://www.iq2.com. For more Acres of Diamonds success stories, visit http://www.AcresOfDiamonds.net.

Get Wisdom!

I have just had a revelation this morning – my middle son found a verse in Proverbs in our Bible time. It was Proverbs 3 v 19 :

The Lord by skilful and godly wisdom has founded the earth…

This really struck me between the eyes! Wisdom is what created the earth. The kids and I started thinking about what is inside the earth – iron, gold , silver, metal, diamonds, precious gem stones etc.

Wow! Wisdom created all these precious and valuable things. I am sure that there is more to discover that hasn’t already been revealed inside the earth. All through the book of Proverbs the writer is trying to get the reader to value Wisdom – to get Wisdom.

I sure what Wisdom if it has the ability to create diamonds! don’t you?

Writing to Inspire
Rachel

Just Take A Step

Hi There,

I haven’t blogged for quite a while – The Ultimate Homeschool Expo just about wiped me out! There was so much amazing information and freebies to go through not to mention all the audios.

I have latched myself onto Lisa from me and my house Lisa said some really great truths that I am spending time pondering. I highly recommend her seminars and HisStory ebook. It gives me a Christian framework to teach my boys a biblically worldview.

But whenever you come across something that is really lifechanging and full of wisdom – it takes a but of time to sort through what is the next step – right? The enemy wants us to get overwhelmed with new information or truth and will try his very best to make you feel like it is all too much. Well, here is a short article that describes that exact feeling and what you are to do about it.

just-take-a-step.pdf
Keep Moving Forward!
Rachel Larkin

Another Key in Becoming Beautiful

This is a reprint of a post that I recently sent to my Becoming Beautiful Ezine subscribers. If you wish to receive the FREE Becoming Beautiful ezine just subscribe by entering your details on the right.

Welcome to the Becoming Beautiful Ezine!

It is definitely autumn “down under” with leaves turning brown, red or orange. It is a difficult season for me – I LOVE walking through the fallen leaves and gazing on their beautiful colours. But I am also sad that winter is around the corner, blowing in fast!

This week God showed me another key to becoming beautiful! I am so amazed at how many times the Word of God talks about beauty. God is truly a God of beauty and desires us to live in a world of beauty.

Here is the key – from Proverbs 4 v 9 in the NASB says:”She will place on your head a garland of grace; she will present you with a crown of beauty.”

Solomon here is talking about Godly Wisdom. Godly Wisdom gives you a crown of beauty and grace. As women, we all want to be beautiful and graceful, don’t we? Well, this is a key!

The Wisdom that Solomon is talking about is described further in verse 11 – it is the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God” (AMP). Having insight into the ways and purposes of God will bring beauty into our lives. Our relationships will be beautiful, our speech would be graceful and our lives would be reflecting God’s glory.

God’s glory is captivating – we would become captivating.
God’s words are life changing – we would become life changers.
God’s spirit brings love, joy and peace – we would also bring love, joy and peace.

How do you gain this Godly Wisdom? How do you become captivating, a life changer and bring love, joy and peace into your world?

1. You must desire Godly Wisdom above all else.

Value and prize it with all your heart. This means that you seek God’s ways and thoughts on EVERYTHING that happens in your day. Seek Him out before you move a step forward. Seek it like silver, and search for it as hidden treasure” Proverbs 2:4.Consider God’s ways as valuable as having a billion dollars.

2. Study and meditate on the Word of God

God’s word is inspired by Him and gives you the “comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God”. It is Godly Wisdom. So we must desire it above all else. We must consider God’s Word as valuable as gold. Go on a treasure hunt everyday in the Word. When my heart is right with God and I come with my opened Bible in my hand expecting God to reveal His treasures – I ALWAYS receive Godly Wisdom, ALWAYS.

3. Pray for Wisdom

God tells us in James chapter 1 to pray for wisdom if we lack it. He wants to give it to us. He knows that we need it. At the top of our prayer list should be Godly Wisdom – to know God’s thoughts on our home school plans, to know God’s thoughts on our financial budget and our food shopping list. We need God’s wisdom to know what and how to speak to that difficult child or that withdrawn husband.

We need God’s wisdom to create and maintain beautiful relationships, homes and lives.
What are your desires today? Is it to know God’s thoughts on today’s to-do list? Did you check with Him first? Is your life more beautiful than it was yesterday? Why? Why not?

Keep moving forward in your journey to Becoming Beautiful in God!

Rachel Larkin

Do you want to learn how to make money from home?

That is a dream for a lot of stay at home mums isn’t it? To be able to start up a business from home and grow it until it becomes the main source of income and then Daddy can leave his job to join you.

Well, it doesn’t have to be “pie in the sky”. I have joined a online community called Entrepreneurs At Home – EAHLive which is committed to helping each other start a business or investments and continue to grow.

Here is a short blurb about what EAHLive is all about-

Are You Ready to Learn How to Educate Your Kids (and Yourself!) To Use Your Natural Abilities to Serve God and Others and Make All the Money You Need, All from the Comfort of Your Home?
Well, if you are, boy have we got a community for you!

To break out of the Rat Race, you need to do 3 things:

1. Get vision for what God wants you to do
2. Get specific education so you can do it
3. Take action because nothing will happen if you don’t change what you’re doing now.

Our online community focuses on giving families practical cutting-edge education and continual encouragement in areas such as real estate, ebay, and the Internet that you won’t find just anywhere. Ask your questions in our 24/7 international forum. Read tons of our success stories. Check out our Recommended Resources to cut your learning curve by years!

If you are ready to do something different, you’ve come to the right place! We can help you like we’ve already helped thousands of others realize that God wants more for you than to focus on paying that power bill every month. He has a job for you to do and we want to help you figure out what it is, then get empowered to do it!

So if you’re ready to get started, join our community now! We’re going places!

Here is the link -EAHLive
Go and see for yourself! Once you become a member there are tons of articles, instructional videos and an incredible forum which is perfect for asking questions from those who have been where you are right now. Just reading the forum questions and answers is an education in itself.

Do You Want To Make Money From Home?

We all do don’t we? We hear of these “select” few who rake in money working from home. Well I have joined a membership site called Entrepreneurs At Home which helps you (especially homeschooling families) create a business from home.

It is fill with really useful articles and it has a forum where you can ask questions and gather ideas to help you achieve your desire to earn money from home. It is like a community – you get to know people and their failures and successes as they start on the adventure of earning money from home.

There is extremely helpful information on how to start blogging and all that techie stuff as well as the marketing stuff. It is well worth the investment. Especially since more ebooks, audios and articles are in the pipeline to come.

Interested? – have a look at the site here -”EAHLive“

I am sure that your membership will be repaid if you action some of the ideas that you will find there!

Desire

“I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits for long, so very long, in vain.”
~A.W.Tozer~

Wow this is a fantastic quote – you can just about feel the intensity and fire in Tozer’s voice!

Tozer doesn’t just want to encourage this longing for God but to go out of his way to create opportunities to long after him – it is a deliberate act.

I want two things -
1. to have this “mighty longing after God”
2. and to “deliberately encourage this mighty longing after God”

This is my prayer for my church, for my husband and for my children – that they will have an acute desire for God.

Yes Lord let it be!!

My Secret For Achieving The Best Year Yet!

I hope that the Christmas and New Year break has been a relaxing and a rewarding one, spending time with family. Apparently we have had the driest summer on record! The grass is proof of that – brown as.

Today, I want to stir you up to expect and dream for this coming year. We all have dreams, some of them are unspoken, some have been discarded, and some we are yet to imagine. Without a dream or vision, we are just getting through life; basically surviving. God doesn’t want us to JUST survive – He wants us to dream and move towards an aim or goal in our lives.

What are your aims this year?
What would you like to achieve?

I usually have loads of aims and things that I would like to do. BUT I never seemed to get around to doing anything or maybe life just got in the way. Every year I would sit down and review my past efforts and become very discouraged. What is the point in even writing down goals? I never seem to achieve even a portion of what I dream about.

Over the past few weeks, I have spent quite a lot of time talking to God about this. He has shown me a SECRET to achieving my dreams. I will get to the SECRET in a moment. But first I want to share with you what I was doing wrong. God revealed it to me while I was reading James 1 v 6b – 8

For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Amp

Two words literally jumped off the page. “Dubious” and “irresolute”. They aren’t words that we use freely these days are they? So I took the time to look them up-

Dubious: hesitant, uncertain, doubtful, sceptical, unsure, undecided, irresolute.

Was I sceptical about achieving my goals? Was I so full of doubt that I didn’t really believe that I had it in me to gain the victory? It started to look like sabotage – I was sabotaging my own dreams! Let’s move onto the word “irresolute” -

Irresolute: unable to make up your mind.

Well, I thought – that is strange, I thought I HAD decided to accomplish certain things. Hadn’t I wanted to lose weight? Hadn’t I wanted to write? Hadn’t I wanted a closer relationship with my husband? Wasn’t that making up your mind? But this was only half the meaning – the negative side. I then looked up the flip side –the meaning of resolute.

Resolute: unshakeable, unwavering, unswerving, determined, single-minded, firm

Ah! Now the lights were turning on! If I had made up my mind on a goal or made a decision to do something then I would have been UNSHAKEABLE – nothing could change MY course of action. I would be so determined to achieve -it would be inconceivable that I would fail. If my “mind was made up” then I wouldn’t be in “two minds” that James is talking about. Being in “two minds” is disastrous. You can not achieve anything in “two minds”.

Now here comes the secret – this is what God wanted me to know, the reason why some people achieve and others don’t. It comes down to …DETERMINATION!

Wishing and wanting just doesn’t cut it. Desires and dreams just stay a “what if?”, when there is no determination behind it. Here’s a great verse which has great imagery –

“Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavour, be aglow and burning with the Spirit serving the Lord” Romans 12 v 11

That sure sound determined to me! Okay so what does “determine” mean?

Determine: to settle ultimately, to fix on, to settle or establish, and to resolve

Now there is no argument here, this meaning is pretty clear – to determine is to SETTLE FOR GOOD on what you want to have happen. That is determination! You have made up your mind to inject love into your marriage relationship and nothing is going to get in your way. That is determination! You have resolved that you will lose x amount of pounds this year and that chocolate calling your name is not going to get you. (Now for some reason, yummy fattening food like chocolate is my biggest downfall and I can get determined about most things …but losing weight and giving up chocolate is hard but with God’s help nothing, NOTHING is impossible – watch this space!)

You (and I – I so need this as well) MUST get so determined about the dreams that God has placed in your heart that you decide once and for all and then set your mind on it – you get so fixated on making it happen. God talks about this in Colossians 3 v 2 “Set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things) not on the things that are on earth”

You are not in this alone, God has promised to help you and inject determination into your hearts and strengthen your minds so they can be set upon achieving your goals.

So stir yourself up, sharpen those pencils, and write down those dreams and goals. Pick ONE DREAM, ONE GOAL and become completely determined to achieve it!

To give you a head start,YOU are INVITED to type in your one DREAM or GOAL in the comments area below. I would LOVE to hear what you all are aiming for! Let’s encourage each other towards achieving at least one dream or goal in 2008.

Here’s to the best year ever!
Rachel Larkin

God is ……

God is so much more than we realise isn’t he?

He so wants for us to seek Him out and find out MORE about who He is and His plans for us.

At the beginning of this year I had one prayer on my heart – from Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good!”
He is good all the time to us. He has provided for all our needs this year. I have witnessed God healing me, my family and an internet buddy (Hi Stephanie – I am still praising God for your healing!) this year.

I have tasted and seen that God is good – but it has created in me a hunger for more tasting!!!!
2008 is going to be great!!!

What have you prayed for at the beginning of the year? – share your answers, write a comment.
Rachel Larkin

Do You Find It Hard To Memorize Scripture?

I have come across an excellent resource that has helped me memorize Psalm 1 in 6 days (one verse a day).

It is a little ebook written by a man called Dr Andrew Davis. It is free!!!! – Here is the link where you can download it -An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture By Dr Andrew Davis

He is encouraging Christians to memorize large chunks of Scripture instead of a verse here and a verse there. I hadn’t thought of it in this way before. But it is starting to make sense to me. Since I have memorized Psalm 1 I have been able to see the whole Psalm in context rather than just focusing on my favourite verses in the Psalm.

I am so encouraged with Dr Andrew Davis’ method on how to memorize large chunks of Scripture that I am now working on memorizing the entire book of James!!!!

I urge you to go to the ebook link and print it out and give memorizing and meditating on God’s Word a go.

Here is another great resource – the website is called Precept Austin , here is a link to the page on Memorizing Scripture – it is so full of excellent encouragement and insightful comment on the ins and outs of memorizing the Word. Memorizing His Word

Happy Memorizing
Rachel Larkin