I would strongly recommend that you check out Dave Ramsey’s website at www.daveramsey.com.  This website provides tools that help people clear up their debt and build wealth in a very smart way.  I was originally turned on to Dave by my parents, which I will forever be grateful.  Dave teaches people how to be smart with their finances and the lessons that he teaches are some that I have taken with me throughout life.  In Dave’s words he shares common sense advice about life and money the same as your grandmother would teach.  Personally, I find myself learning and bettering myself just by using his materials.  On his site he has numerous tools such as financial wealth calculators and links to people that he trusts in different industries like real estate, life insurance and various others.

Dave Ramsey operates a nationally syndicated radio show called “The Dave Ramsey Show” .  On his show he answers questions from callers regarding their finances and life.  Dave’s story is quite an intriguing one.  He became a millionaire very early on in his life through the real estate industry and by the time he was 30 he had lost it all.  After that Dave started his own business on a card table in his living room by helping people clear up their debt and build wealth.  In the process he has become an extremely successful and respected authority on the subject of finance.  He also has designed financial education programs that have been utilized in many churches and other organizations as well as in schools all across America.   I would highly encourage you to visit Dave’s website at www.daveramsey.com.

“This post is by Rick Curtis.  Rick runs a personal development website which can be found at www.ricksdreammachine.com.  His site focuses on sharing messages and resources that are aimed at inspiring and motivating people to chase their dreams and follow their hearts.”

The InSights Group is all about spreading a message via social media. We’re also super excited when someone with drive and passion comes along. Meet Salathiel. She’s got a dream of a Steampunk Bookstore in Farmington Hills, MI, and she is making it happen. Demolition is well underway, and the bookstore will be opening in the beginning of October. We’ll be hosting a “steampunk bookstore warming party” as soon as she tells us it’s ready.

On October 1, 2010, I am opening Off the Beaten Path Books & Cafe, the first and only Victorian Steampunk themed book store in Michigan that specializes in new and used speculative fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, horror/mystery/thriller, and children’s books). The store is a literal and literary experience. There are several features of the store that customers can interact with.

For the more hands on types, we have a roster of classes and workshops from belly dancing and contact juggling to car maintenance for girls and how to create a steampunk outfit for $50 or less. There will also be live music, author signings and readings, poetry slams, children’s activities, and gallery showings in the space. Plus much, much more! We want it to be a kickass home away from home for the community. We are the anti-big box book store!

My original 1st pick location fell through, but I found an even better one and it has a cafe space already apart of the building. I wasn’t planning on a cafe, so I want to make sure that it gets the same awesome steampunk treatment as the rest of the store. We already have wonderful coffee (roasted at a carmelite monastery in Wyoming) and tea (Queen Elizabeth uses it at Buckingham Palace) suppliers and scrumptious nibbles. All we need now is you!

In the meantime, she could use a little help. Let’s show some social media enthusiastic help. There’s a pretty cool site that helps track donations for a cause. Check out the service while you are there, and support one of InSights Excited Entrepreneurs.

Here’s a link to our Webinar that was recorded as we were live on Tuesday with a great bunch of people! *We experienced some audio difficulties. Playback is best with headphones plugged in vs. computer speakers. Continual upgrades in progress.

Also, enjoy just the slides for a quick peek:

Why social media and persona branding? This sums it up:

Meet Meem

Seth Godin has mentioned them on his blog, and they’ve made the news. Think trading cards meet business cards, and social media all bundled into one. (If you have been following InSights blog posts, you know that we are huge promoters of the photo on a business card concept.)

From: http://blog.firstedgesolutions.com/bobbysblog/

Meet-MeMe

July 8th, 2010

I have written and blogged numerous times regarding the world of Cross Media Marketing and/or Multi-Channel Marketing.  We have just delivered a product to the market in the last month that will be taking that concept to a whole new level!!

Please allow me to paint a picture for you.  Currently, by and large, a Fortune 500 retailer gains a new customer through direct mail and other traditional marketing methods, radio, TV, etc.  Great, congratulations, they gained one new customer.  However, the real art is in making them become a brand ambassador/loyal shopper so you can calculate and maximize their lifetime value thus driving a higher ROI per customer.  So what is the retailer doing to keep the conversation going?  How can they help each of their customers feel like they have a local presence, voice, and know they are actually cared about?  Our product Meet-MeMe is a social media aggregator trading card printed and tradeable on-line at www.meet-meme.com and has major areas in which it can make a HUGE impact:

How it all began:

Meet-Meme was launched at unGeeked (the SxSW of the Midwest), a digital and social media conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The idea behind the cards (and soon the full online experience) is that your trusted online connections can be met offline. The Meet-Meme cards are a tool that aggregates personal online networks to use for offline experiences and interactions, that then return you back online to continue the conversation with new contacts.

The Meet-Meme cards can be a replacement for business cards or moreover in addition to because they are traded with people you know, you like, and you trust.  Please click on the link below to see our recent spot on Fox.

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-100617-social-media-cards,0,3313602.story

We have received incredible feedback from CMO’s and CEO’s of Global Brands already as they see the immediate impact this can have with their customers as each day more people are tweeting, facebooking, getting LinkedIn, etc.

I look forward to everyone’s comments and questions…We have already had many from across the country pouring in and we know many more will be coming.  This is an exciting and a perfect tool to utilize Social Media the correct way to help corporations grow market share and improve ROI!