Book Review: Making Money from Home By Donna Partow

Making Money from Home

By Donna Partow

Making Money from Home is a great book geared toward women desiring to start a home-based business. It is full of encouragement and ideas on how to achieve balance between your home life and your business.

It offers pros and cons for including your children in your business and offers suggestions to avoid your children resenting you and your business.

Pros and cons for working with your spouse are also included.  Topics are suggested for couples to discuss before going into business at home. Partow stresses honoring your spouse’s wishes and keeping their needs in mind. It is important to keep the lines of communication open so that the business doesn’t rule or ruin your life and marriage.

There are many links sprinkled throughout this book for sites to help you research your business idea, to link your website, and other things.  This book was published in 2010, so some of the links are no longer working.  An Internet search should help you to find the information that you need for doing the suggested research.

Partow’s Making Money with Donna website does not appear to have been updated since 2013, but still contains posts that would be of value to someone starting a business at home.

We received Making Money from Home through the Tyndale Rewards Program.  Sign up, earn points, and get free books. What could be better than free books? If you click my link and join, we both get points - we both win!

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Book Review: The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God By Vashti Murphy McKenzie

The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God

By Vashti Murphy McKenzie

The book The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God is intended to help Christians to start where they are in their lives and realize that they don’t have to climb Mount Everest at the start of their walk with God, they just have to start.  They can start small.

This book is filled with different anecdotes that help underscore the author’s point in a way that makes it all make sense.  

There is one anecdote the author shares about when she was practicing for the high jump back in high school.  The assistant coach set the bar higher for her than for the other students.  This assistant coach singled her out for a higher bar.  It was completely within her father’s power to change things; he was the head coach at the school.  But, he didn’t.

As it turns out, her father knew what was best by not intervening. Setting the bar higher made her a better jumper and helped her win, where the other students did not.

Isn’t this a lot like our Heavenly Father? Perhaps He could remove the trials from our lives.  But He does not because He knows it will be much better for us in the end.

This book is very-well written and a very engaging read.  We give it all five stars on our scale of zero to five stars.

One point the author, Vashti Murphy McKenzie, makes is that we could start out with 30 seconds of prayer and then seek to add just a little more each day.  Thirty seconds does not seem like much. If you watch our videos, you will see that the prayer at the beginning of the videos average about 30-45 seconds.  We know this because we have to time the animations to go along with the video.   

Hamlet’s part at the end takes about forty-five seconds to a minute on average.  A lot gets said in those few seconds.  This means that you could breath a quick word of prayer and say more than you think.

The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God would make a great book to share in a small church class.  It provides many ideas for additional worship, one step at a time.  You will want to buy several copies for your church.

Federal Trade Commission Required Notice:  We were sent a complimentary copy of The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God written by Vashti Murphy McKenzie for the purpose of writing a review. This will not affect this review at all. In the words of our favorite U. S. History teacher, Anna Dean Pennington, “Eyes calls ‘em likes eyes sees ‘em.” We call them like we see them, too.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

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Book Review: FedTelligence 2.0 by Ann Vanderslice

FedTelligence 2.0 
by Ann Vanderslice

Most people would rather take a beating than talk about retirement benefits. It can be very complicated.  It is even more complicated if you are a federal employee.

Congress is constantly making “improvements” to the retirement plan for federal employees.  This kind of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo is why the words, “I am from the federal government and I am here to help you” strikes fear into the hearts of most Americans.

It is not the fault of these federal employees. They don’t make the rules; they just have to abide by them.

FedTelligence 2.0 by Ann Vanderslice is here to help.  In this concise book, Vanderslice explains as simply as possible how federal employees can understand their retirement benefits and how to maximize their benefits and not leave money on the table.

Evidently, it is common for federal employees to think they have enough time on the job to qualify, only to find out too late that they only needed a few more days, days that mean a lot to their pension.

If you are a federal employee, you need to read FedTelligence 2.0 before you apply for retirement.

We give FedTelligence 2.0 all five stars.  It makes understanding federal retirement benefits a little easier.  It makes retiring from the federal government a little less complicated.

FTC Required Notice: We were sent a complimentary review PDF copy of FedTelligence 2.0: The ultimate guide to mastering your federal benefits written by Ann Vanderslice for the purpose of writing this review.  There was no cost or obligation for this copy.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

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Book Review: Amazing Adventures with Dev: His Voice, My Voice, Our Voice By Melody L. Boulton and Devon Allen Merritt

Amazing Adventures with Dev: His Voice, My Voice, Our Voice

By Melody L. Boulton and Devon Allen Merritt

We were given a copy of Amazing Adventures with Dev: His Voice, My Voice, Our Voice by Melody L. Boulton and Devon Allen Merritt in consideration of a review.

Amazing Adventures with Dev is the story of a mother and her second son, their lives together, and the loss of his life to a rare lung condition at the age of 23 years.

This book elicited some very strong emotional responses from me, especially as I tried to share some of the scenes with others.  Having also lost a child, I can understand the devastation, confusion, the questions...the endless “whys”. I can understand one wondering how one can possibly continue on without this child (regardless of age) in it any longer.  I cannot judge the way another parent processes their grief.  Grief can do strange things to a person and make a person do strange things.

Some parts of Amazing Adventures with Dev may seem strange or too “out there” to many.  It talks of reincarnation, how our souls are eternal beings, how life goes on after the death of the earthly body.  But, she is also delves into astrology and meeting with mediums and other things that I cannot relate to at all.  These things may be a turnoff to other Christians as well.  

There is no doubt this mother loves her son and always will.  I can understand never wanting to lose that relationship.  There is a strong, almost overwhelming feeling that this love has turned from parental love to worship.   I can understand intense love and I don’t doubt that our loved ones watch over us from the other side.  It seems, though, that she has made a deity of Devon.  This part of the book made me very uncomfortable.

Amazing Adventures with Dev is a book that will definitely make you think. It gives plenty to ponder.  However, unless you are very well-grounded in your faith, it may cause confusion, and may not be the book for you.  If you are strong in your faith, then you will likely find it interesting to ponder the questions that it brings up.  Shared with others, it can lead to enlightening discussions.

Because I believe that calling on mediums goes against the teachings of the Bible, I cannot give the book all five points on our one-to-five scale. This book is well-written, with only a few areas missed by a proofreader.  I will give it a four because one sign of a good book is that it elicits strong emotional responses and Amazing Adventures with Dev most definitely achieved that!

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Book Review: Knights In Training: Ten Principles for Raising Honorable, Courageous, and Compassionate Boys By Heather Haupt

Knights In Training: Ten Principles for Raising Honorable, Courageous, and Compassionate Boys

By Heather Haupt

FTC Required Notice:  We were sent a copy of Knights In Training: Ten Principles for Raising Honorable, Courageous, and Compassionate Boys written by Heather Haupt for the purpose of writing this review.  There was no cost or obligation attached to receiving this review copy.

Knights In Training is a very interesting read.  It takes a novel approach to raising little young men in this politically correct world.

Boys in public school are told to sit in their desks, not talk, sit still, and pay attention.  The problem is that little boys just aren’t wired this way.

If a young boy uses his fingers to make a gun at school, parents will be called, counselors will be involved, and cooler heads will not prevail.

In Knights in Training, Heather Haupt has a different approach to raising little boys. Instead of trying to make little boys into something they are not, she suggests channeling this raw energy into a unique way to teach little boys the appropriate time and place for weapons and rough housing.

In short, Knights in Training turns a problem into a very creative way to raise well-behaved little men.

This book is very well-written, very well-researched and thought out.  The author actually used this approach with her three young men.  And, it worked. We give Knights in Training all five stars on our scale of zero to five stars.

If you have young boys, you may well want to read Knights in Training.  It is a great way to turn all that pent up energy into good behavior.

 

Kid's Knight Set - Available on Amazon!

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Book Review: Sober Dad: The Manual For Perfectly Imperfect Parenting By Michael Graubart

Sober Dad: The Manual For Perfectly Imperfect Parenting

By Michael Graubart

FTC Required Notice: We were given a copy of Sober Dad: The Manual For Perfectly Imperfect Parenting, written by Michael Graubart, by the publicist for the purpose of writing a review.

Sober Dad is written primarily for dads who are sober alcoholics who are trying to be the best dad they can be, given what they have.

However, it is a great book for any young father, alcoholic or not, to read and learn from.

This book is funny and entertaining while at the same time it provides some good, solid, real-world advice for dads-to-be as well as dads just starting out.

The author, Michael Graubart, is not an “expert” in child rearing.  There is no such thing.  We know from having to deal with so-called experts that most of them have never had children of their own and only understand the theoretical approach to child raising.

Michael Graubart is down here in the trenches fighting the day-to-day battle that many of us have to face. We are not perfect, but we do the best we can and we love those little rug rats.

We give Sober Dad all five stars on our scale of zero to five stars.  So far, Mr. Graubart has not had to deal with an empty nest.  Watch the video all the way to the end to see what happens when a father finally makes it to an empty nest.

Now is the time to order your very own copy of Sober Dad. You will be glad you did.

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Book Review: What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business?: Don’t Expect Fish to Climb Trees By Rex Conner

What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business?: Don’t Expect Fish to Climb Trees

By Rex Conner

 

FTC Required Notice:  We were given a copy of What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business?:  Don’t Expect Fish to Climb Trees written by Rex Conner by the publicist for the purpose of writing a review.

What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business?   is an informative read. One criticism of the book might be that it is, in a way, an advertisement for Mager Consortium.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.  We are given enough actual content in the book to make up for it.

This is a fast read.  The book is only 120 pages long.  There are a lot of simple to follow charts in the book and several Dilbert comics that relate well to the subject matter.

The author, Rex Conner, gives his readers some very good ideas regarding common sense ways to recruit, hire, train, utilize, and promote employees.  This method takes the guess work out of human resources.  

We have known several companies where this common sense approach to running a business would have been helpful to the business and the employees, too.

We rate all books on a scale of zero to five stars with zero being terrible and five being wonderful and perfect.  We rate What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business? four stars because of the recurring promotion of the company that produced the method in the book. Although it is not a bad thing to promote your business, after awhile it gets annoying.

That annoyance aside, we think that What If Common Sense Was Common Practice In Business? is a very good read with a practical approach to business. This is the kind of book that someone might want to accidentally leave on the CEO’s desk when he isn’t looking.

Most executives will benefit from having read the book.  We think you will benefit from reading it, too.

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Book Review: A Walk With Purpose: Memoir of a Bioentrepreneur By Michael D. Becker

A Walk With Purpose: Memoir of a Bioentrepreneur

By Michael D. Becker

FTC Required Disclosure: We received a review copy of A Walk With Purpose: Memoir of a Bioentrepreneur by Michael D. Becker free of cost or obligation for the purpose of writing this review.

Grab yourself a box of tissues and sit back for the best read you have had all year. We are talking about the great book A Walk With Purpose by Michael D. Becker

In this book, Becker takes us through his life, starting out as a child with his one and only experiment with drugs, through his life as a young computer geek who dropped out of high school, all the way through his life as a stockbroker, Biotech stock analyst, CEO, CFO, entrepreneur, and more.

Throughout his career, Michael Becker was in contact with numerous doctors, scientists, researchers, and more who were on the cutting edge of cancer research.  

Little did he know at the time that he would soon draw on the self-education he was getting to fight the disease himself.

A Walk With Purpose is an excellent read that you can’t put down.  From a business perspective, it is a great read giving the history behind some companies that we had never heard of that evidently are very big players in the biotech industry.

From a Life Recipe perspective, this book is a great read because it has such a positive message. A message of hope.  

From an entertainment perspective, A Walk With Purpose is a wonderful read.  Bittersweet would be a good way to describe the book.

This book is happy, sad, funny, serious, informative, pretty much anything you want to find in a book is in this book.

The actual book is over 400 pages long.  That sounds like a lot, especially to anyone who normally only reads the 99¢ ebooks.  But, it is a very fast read. Primarily because it is impossible to put down.  We read it in less than a day.  Of course, part of that day was spent eating, blogging, etc., too.

We give A Walk With Purpose all five stars on our scale of zero to five stars.  It fits into just about every category of book we can think of, except maybe poetry.

We think you will enjoy your copy of A Walk With Purpose. Maybe you will be giving copies of it as gifts.  

Our video review is in production now and will be available soon as it is on an express schedule.

 




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Book Review: The Pen and the Brush By Anka Muhlstein

The Pen and the Brush

By Anka Muhlstein

Translated by Adriana Hunter

We were provided a copy of The Pen and the Brush in order to review it.

Wow! This book is a wonderful blend of art and literary appreciation. Often, I felt like I was in way over my head, but it was exciting and invigorating.

I have always enjoyed history, literature, and art, and this book is a perfect blend of all three. The focus of the book is how art inspired literature, but we also learn how literature inspired art, too.

There are some very funny moments in this educational book, as well as information that I never knew about a well-known American inventor. Maybe I’m the only person on the planet that didn’t know this about him, but just in case I’m not, I won’t spoil the surprise for you.

This book is inspiring and has made me want to explore art even further. It has also been the cause of a big increase in my to-be-read stack.

The Pen and the Brush was better than any art or literature appreciation class that I have ever had. If you love art and history, you will not be disappointed or bored with this book. Quite the opposite; you will be enlivened!

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Book Review: Eat Wheat By Dr. John Douillard

Eat Wheat

By Dr. John Douillard

We were sent a copy of Eat Wheat, written by Dr. John Douillard, for the purpose of writing this review.

Many people stop eating certain foods because they cannot tolerate them any longer.  They feel relief, but that does not last long.  Soon, the problems return.

Eat Wheat addresses why that happens.  Dr. Douillard gives us good, healthy choices that will help detox and reset the body so that we can again eat the foods we love.

This book is well-written and well-researched.  It is a very entertaining read as well.  Often times we find ourselves zoning out when reading books that are medical in nature.  Not so with Eat Wheat.

Why certain things have happened to us because of food is addressed in Eat Wheat.  Once David stopped drinking a name brand diet soda water for awhile. His blood sugars improved. Then, he treated himself to one 20 oz. diet soda water.  His blood glucose went crazy.   Dr. Douillard explains why that happened.

If you are having health problems of any kind, we suggest you get a copy of Eat Wheat and see if it might be caused by diet.  Of course, ALWAYS consult your medical provider before you start any nutritional  program.

We give Eat Wheat all five stars and two snaps up in a circle.  We would give it a bag of chips, too, if they are baked, not fried, and do not contain preservatives or overly processed ingredients.

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Book Review: Do The Right Thing By David A. Duryea

Do The Right Thing

By David A. Duryea

We were sent a copy of Do the Right Thing in Business Improvement, Including Process and Technology written by David E. Duryea for the purpose of writing this review.

Do the Right Thing is not geared towards the casual reader. It is geared towards those business professionals who are tasked with making improvements to existing businesses.  

Do the Right Thing reminds business improvement professionals that it is important that a business first understands what its core business is and, then, if improvements are really needed, to make improvements while keeping that core business in mind.

Too often we see new management come into a business with the change guns ablazing. These alleged professionals seek change for the sake of change and forget all about what made the business what it is.

We have seen this in Avon. Avon was once the best way for a woman with little start-up money to build a business. But, when the company restructured to become The New Avon LLC, they forgot all about what Avon has been all along.  

Once customers could place an order for an Avon product and KNOW that in two weeks or less, she would have her product.  Now, Avon has added new products that were never part of its core group of products. A customer can now place an order for a product and not get it, EVER!

Do the Right Thing provides great advice for anyone who is in leadership of a company that is contemplating a merger, acquisition, or technology change.

We give Do the Right Thing all five stars on our scale of zero to five stars.  It is well-written, but we will not go so far as to say it is well proofread.  There are places in the book where the proofreader dropped the ball. The overall quality of the writing and the great information provided make it easy to overlook that.

Do the Right Thing would make a great gift for anyone in business leadership.

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