Book Review: Giving It All Away…and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously by David Green

A lot of of people know Hobby Lobby as a successful business and may have heard about the Supreme Court decision a couple of years ago involving the Affordable Care Act and its mandate to cover certain contraceptive methods. But this book will tell you the whole story about the company and its founder David Green. Starting from humble beginnings with a lot of borrowed money and a "store" that was limited to a room in his house, David Green maintained his integrity throughout his career and never wavered. No matter how much other objected and how much criticism he faced. 
David Green stresses the importance of staying true to yourself, even when it may not be easy. This is emphasized throughout the book and ties in not just with David's generation, but having been passed along by prior generations, especially David's mother. And this same approach is still being maintained at Hobby Lobby.
The title also underscores that no matter how much money you may have, and most readers will have less money than Mr. Green, you can still do good and give back to your community. It may not be based on money donations, but spending time supporting local causes or helping your neighbor who may be elderly. Giving back is not just often the right thing to do, but it may also end up giving back to you in ways you do not expect and that makes your life richer for all the right reasons. Mr. Green underscores that most of the people in the US have a blessed life compared to people in many other countries and people should appreciate that fortune, but trying to give back to their community and to others. 
This book offers plenty of advice for people running their own business and feel that they are not able to mix Christian believes with commercial success. In addition, it will provide incentive for everyone to give back to the community and ensure that the world around is better because of us, no matter how small the impact may be.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed are solely my own and have not been influenced by any third party.

Book review: Launch Your Dream: A 30-Day Plan for Turning Your Passion into Your Profession by Dale Partridge

If you ever dreamed about opening your own business and had no idea how to go about it, in particular getting funding, learning how to run a business - this book is for you. Written by Mr. Partridge, who has founded several successful businesses in his life, this book will provide the reader with the main points about how to living the dream of your own business. Normally taught as an extensive course by the author, the book shares his course teaching in easy to grasp sections that can be used as an how to guide by anyone with a dream.
Without saying, the focus is on building a strong online presence and as a blogger, I found these lessons helpful to people like me as well that may not want to run a business, but have a strong online presence to bring a message across. Really anyone, from an experienced MBA to a mom-blogger like me that has some ideas about products or services to commercialize will find useful hints and tips and guides in this book. Will it still take effort and time and luck, yes- but reading this book is a good first step to see what is involved in building a business today.
I particular found the lesson on branding to be important - you do want to stand out for the right reasons and not be one of a large number of would-be owners that sell a product. In addition, what really assured me about giving the online presence of a business a try and expanding form just running a blog for reviewing products was his statement that running your own business can be ore stable than working for someone else. A lot people feel that running your business is unstable and insecure, but really working for someone else, especially in at-will states without union protection will make you employed at the will of someone else and you have very little stability.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free sample in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.

Crowdtap sampling: The Revlon Youth Fx line of anti-aging products

 Through Crowdtap I received the full set of Revlon Youth FX line of products, which takes anti-aging to a whole new level and you can actually see an effect after just one use. The set consists of the following products:

• Revlon Youth Fx Fill + Blur Primer, Forehead
• Revlon Youth Fx Fill + Blur Concealer in a variety of skin tones to match your tone perfectly
• Revlon Youth Fx Fill + Blur Foundation again available to perfectly match your skin tone
• Revlon Youth Fx Fill + Blur Primer, Face/Neck

The components include the latest in anti-aging science, such as the Face/Neck Primer that is specifically formulated for the face and the neck. It contains micro-spheres and optical diffusers as part of Revlon Youth FX's innovative, age corrective technology.

copyright Durhamonthecheap - Love how my skin tone has improved!

I used it once and could also feel that my skin felt tighter and overall had a younger look to it. And to make sure that you can have a natural look, the products come in a range of skin colors, such as the Concealer, which is available in six different skin colors.

copyright Durhamonthecheap- problems be gone thanks to Revlon YouthFx

Disclaimer: I received a free sample in exchange for my review. The opinion exprssed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.

Book review: Let's Be Real: Living life as an open and honest you by Natasha Bure

This is a great book that parents can give their pre-teen and teen kids, in particular their teenage daughters, who may think that the world is a less than perfect place (which it is). Reading this book can help your teenagers to understand that we all have problems, they are not alone with their problems and life goes on. Even if some youtube celebrity or daughter of a TV star like Natasha Bure may have the seemingly perfect life, she still struggles with the same issues that any young woman or girl struggles with. There are pimples, boyfriend breakups and plenty of self-doubt. But life goes on and tomorrow is a new day that brings new opportunity make things better and see something positive. It is that positive attitude that I really enjoyed in this book and I found so refreshing as a message for teenagers.
While Natasha is certainly benefiting from a financially stable upbringing and parents that can provide her with a lot - not just time, but also material things. She still manages to write a book that I find in the language used and the issues tackled to be good for teenagers. I think parents should discuss with their kids that the material benefits that Natasha enjoyed set her apart from most kids in the US and the rest of the world, but that material things are not what happiness is about and the reader should focus on a message of a positive attitude towards tomorrow.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review I received a free book. The opinion expressed is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.