Copyright © Margie Franklin

I’m numb. My aunt, my ally, my friend is gone, forever. How can I possibly bring myself to attend your funeral when all I want is to hear you say my name again. See the sparkle in your eyes. Reminisce about granny and the good old days.

Your smile always came easily and your hugs were genuine. You were quick to welcome my friends and put them at ease. Whenever your children needed a sitter, you were there.

Aunt Rita, I thought our journey would continue much longer than this. At least that was the plan. Remember? Many of us were ready and willing to give up a kidney so that you could continue living a quality life. Free from dialysis.

Our plan failed. It’s a mystery. No one knows the reason, we just know the result. You’re gone. Free from pain, but the pain caused by your death is killing me.

I love you Aunt Rita.

Margie Franklin

In this day and age it’s rare to turn on a tv without seeing some type of crime show. There’s Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Criminal Intent, CSI Miami, CSI New York, Criminal Minds, Monk, The Mentalist, NCIS, and Cold Case, just to name a few.

The public seems to crave this type of show and the networks know it. Have you ever stopped to wonder what the attraction is? Fear, weird fascination for bloody murder scenes, or is it just the sense of relief felt when the criminal is caught and ultimately brought to justice?

Whatever the reason, it’s important that we discern fiction from reality. There are real criminals out there. Thieves, rapists, and murderers. All just waiting and watching for just the right moment to pounce and make you their prey. Don’t become a crime victim.

Here are a few tips to help you become more aware of where these criminals like to lay in wait for their victims.

Driving Alone

Stalking people who are driving alone is one of the oldest and most used ways criminals seek out their victims. Case in point. A young lady was driving home when the stop light turned red. While she was sitting at the light a man knocked on her window and she rolled it down. Why? Because she was close to home, felt very safe and secure in her own neighborhood, and the police station was just a few blocks away. At the same time that this young lady began rolling down her window, a thug opened the back door of the car and pointed a gun at her. These men grabbed her, pulled her out of the car, and threw her to the ground. Although her body was badly bruised and her SUV was stolen, she was considered lucky. Most car jackers carry weapons and are violent. Often times these crimes result in the victim’s death.

Running on Empty

We all hate to take time to fill up our gas tanks. Guess what, criminals know this too. So they lay in wait, hoping a procrastinator is running on empty and will soon be forced to fill up her tank in the dark of the night. Although gas stations are well lit, the perpetrators often wait in their cars until locating the perfect victim. This will be someone, traveling alone, who decides to go inside the gas station for coffee or a bathroom break. When the intended victim returns to her car, the perpetrator jumps out of his car with a gun and forces the victim into her own vehicle. He’s then in full control. He forces his victims to withdraw money from the ATM, rape her, sometimes more than once, and later discards his victim when he’s done. Of course, no one may suspect that you’re missing for awhile. This gives your assailant time to return to the gas station and retrieve his vehicle.

Car Break Down

Criminals are very clever when it comes to tricking the intended victim into believing that her car has a serious problem. He will follow you for awhile to make sure you’re driving alone. Then he’ll start making gestures to indicate that you have a broken tail light or a flat tire.

Once you stop your car the predator pulls over too and convinces you that he’s there to help. He seems friendly and truly concerned about you and your safety. After you begin to trust him, he reveals his real purpose and you become his next victim.

Always keep in mind, that a person who is flagging you down may have an ulterior motive. If you suspect that your car really does have something wrong with it try to pull over in a highly populated area. Call AAA for assistance and don’t get in the car with the “Good Samaritan” who just happened to be driving by. If you suspect anything call 911 immediately. Let your loved ones know where your are.

Never agree to go somewhere alone with a stranger. He may have a whole different agenda for being nice to you, especially if he approaches you after finding you stranded in a remote area. Be smart and put into practice all of the things that you were taught about safety. Carry protection and be prepared to use it.
You’re family loves you and trusts that you’ll make the right decisions when traveling alone.

Parking Lots/Parking Garages

Rapist and thieves lurk in parking lots and garages because they know that inevitably a woman will come along. They anticipate that she’ll be exhausted from a long day at work or perhaps will have her hands full from shopping. They like it when the person they are stalking is talking on a cell phone as this distracts her and keeps her from hearing any noise he may make. Cell phones tend to give people a false sense of security.

One such case I read about involved a teacher who was walking to her car after school. She had parked her car in a parking lot that was 2 blocks away. She was weary from the long exhausting day and just wanted to get home and relax. As she was about to get in her car, a teenager jumped in the back seat and held a gun to her head. He forced her to drive to the ATM, made her withdraw a large sum of cash, and then had her drive to a remote area where he raped her in her car.

Rest Stops

Time and time again you’ve been told not to go to certain places alone. But when given a choice you throw caution to the wind. This is especially true when traveling alone and you’re weary from the long drive or you feel the need to relieve your bladder.

Many think that rest stops are a safe haven to take a break, have lunch, or use the bathroom when driving across the country. Predators feel safe here too. It’s a perfect place for a shady character to strike up a conversation with someone and seemingly befriend her. When her guard is down the assailant over powers his victim.

This apparently happened to one young lady who had packed up her car and her two dogs, kissed her mom & dad goodbye and was traveling to her new home. She was excited to be relocating and felt like she was starting on a new adventure. Later, this young lady’s two dogs were found roaming around at a rest stop and her disheveled body was discovered in a ditch.

Be cautious, travel with a companion when possible, and stay alert. Refrain from being on your cell phone when walking to your car. Talking on the phone gives you false security. You believe if an assailant is nearby he won’t harm you because help is on the other line. The exact opposite is true. Predators like to target a woman who is chatting on her phone because her guard is down. She is focused on her conversation and may not hear any noise made by him as he sneaks up to attack her.

These are just a few examples of where predators like to find their victims. If you take heed to these tips they could prevent you from becoming tomorrow’s next top news story.

Copyright © Margie Franklin

The whole idea of blogging is somewhat overwhelming to many Internet marketers. The thought of writing fresh content on a consistent basis drives some people away from blogging almost as quick as they get started.

Here’s a thought that might change your mind. What if you were actually making money from your blog?

Would you be more interested in doing it? Here’s 3 easy ways to get your blog ready to make money.

1. Join Google Adsense and put ads where people can find them. Google offers good tutorials on how to do this. This is easy money because you do not have to sell anything.

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Many Internet businesses are open 24 hours a day. Some Internet businesses are closed 24 hours a day. In your mind you should determine what time of day you open for business!

Part of this will be determined by the type of Internet business you have. Of course the Internet never sleeps so you have the opportunity to be conducting business nonstop around the clock.

Some businesses require more of a hands on approach. Businesses that require you to personally contact your prospects and customers come to mind.

However many Internet marketers really never have set business hours so it makes it hard for them to conduct business. If you have the type of business where people need to be in contact with you, you should establish set office hours and publish those where people can find them.

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As many people have found out in the current economic slump having all your income eggs in one basket is not a good idea.

Many people who have lost their jobs also lost the only way they had to make money.

On the Internet it is possible to create multiple streams of income and a good way to do that is to build residual income streams.

Multiple streams of income just mean you’re earning money in more than one way. Residual income means you continue to get paid even when you’re no longer working.

This is also known as creating a walk away income and in the past was primarily promoted through network marketing.

MLM opportunities continue to be a great way to develop a residual income.

As a matter of fact more people are making money in network marketing than any time in history.

This is due primarily to how much easier it is to sell products on the Internet and to enroll new distributors.

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You are going to need to learn how if you want to make more money with your Internet business. Fortunately there are many resources available to you to help your online business make more money.

Here are the top five Internet business resources for training and helping you be more profitable.

1. There is more to Google than just using them to search for things. If you do not have one already you need to open an account with Google. This will give you access to all of their unbelievable resources available to help you build your Internet business.

Everyone already knows about the great results the Google search engine provides. They also offer additional things such as free email accounts, pay per click advertising, a PPC affiliate program, site statistics, payment processing, a free blogging platform, and much more.

You can learn more about Internet marketing and becoming more profitable when you take advantage of everything Google offers your business.

2. Discussion forums are full of resources and training for your internet business. The Warrior Forum is a perfect example of this.

You can hang out and read useful tips from some of the top Internet marketers in the world. You can join the forum and post questions and get answers back on those which is great.

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Often times people join affiliate marketing because the merchant provides a website for them. Although this is a good way to start you eventually will want to set up your own website.

Here are a few different ways you can do that and the steps it takes to get going.

1. You want to host your own website as opposed to using a replicated website. This gives you complete control over everything and you can make changes to it any time you choose.

2. Find a hosting company that fits into your budget and has a proven track record of little or no downtime. The last thing you want is to arrange for free or cheap hosting and have your website offline and not making you money.

3. Most hosting companies will provide you with tutorials on how to build a website. Today this is very easy to do and you usually do not need to learn HTML code.

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