You've made the right decision to step back. I didn't do it that young and in my retirement Sickness has meant that I'm housebound. I've got cancer now as well so I think there will be many things I wanted to do left undone. Wish I'd retired at 62.

The good thing about IM is that you can do it as often or as little as you want. It's fun, not a job.

The conventional business wisdom has always been to use your own domain name for your email address. This is good for branding your company and tends to look more professional. You're also in total control of your email preferences.

But...here's a few considerations why a free third party email address like Gmail may be better. What happens if you use your own domain name and want to sell your site or let the domain name expire AND you've used that email address to sign up for a bunch of accounts?

Another consideration is, what if your hosting goes down? During this time your email is probably also down and no one can contact you.

IMO if you own your personal name as a domain name, you likely won't sell it so I think that makes a stronger case for using a domain name you own. But this still brings up the issue if your site/hosting is down, but you can use your own name for multiple sites and account logins.

There's really no perfect solution. What do you do and what do you recommend?

Here's a (free) site that will take an old photo and using AI animate it and turn it into a MP4 video.
https://www.myheritage.com/deep-nostalgia

Here's a few samples:
 

 
 
For marketing I can see these making great memes and also for pattern interrupts. Get a well known pic of a person from history and it will grab attention.

Just a guess that this may catch on and soon be over-used, but until then...

I was messing around with PowerPoint's Morph Transition to make vertical videos using the Parallax Effect. The Parallax Effect adds an interesting 3D effect to regular images, making them more interesting in your videos.

This 37 second video has 3 examples. The key for the parallax effect using PPT is having isolated images with transparent backgrounds that can be "morphed" individually.

Ex 1 - A background of space and an image of an astronaut.

Ex 2 - Background of forest plus an image of deer plus an image of an axe in a stump.

Ex 3 - Background of street scene plus image of woman in white hat with back turned plus image of older man with a beard.

In a PPT slide just add a background image then add one or more "isolated" images with transparent backgrounds.

Duplicate the slide.

Resize and move the images, including the background. Generally modify/change images in the foreground more than towards the back.

Add a Morph transition. I used a Duration of 11 seconds in the demos. Be sure to check the "After" box so the slides will transition without needing to click the mouse.

Here's a bunch of subreddits of interest to marketers and all folks working and making money online. The descriptions are from the subreddits themselves and not my own.

If you know of any GOOD subreddits please post them....
 

If you have any tips for prepping for disasters and emergencies please post them here. I'm not a "prepper or survivalist" by any means but I do believe everyone should be prepared for a variety of situations, including having a minimum of 2-3 weeks of food, water, meds, etc.

Here's some tips you may not find elsewhere...

A case of Sterno and a folding camping stove. Lighters, matches, candles. I keep a lot of rubbing alcohol on hand and it makes a great fuel for DIY lanterns. 

Two water filters: One for chemicals like a Brita and another for biohazards like a Sawyer. A lot of people in Texas are soon going to wish they had these along with the knowledge of how to purify water. 

Wool blanket and clothes/socks. Unlike almost every other material wool keeps its warming abilities when wet. And remember if it's cold and wet...cotton kills. 

A deck of cards and a pair of dice. Boredom can become a real issue in survival situations. 

If it's cold put a couple of gallon milk jugs filled 3/4 with water outside to freeze then put in your fridge to help keep it cooler and preserve food.  

Nuts and protein powders/"instant breakfasts". These can withstand hot and cold temps, don't require cooking and are calorie and nutrition dense. Canned food won't withstand a freeze. 

Cash. If the power grid goes down your ATM card may not work. 

Keep your car's gas tank full not only for transportation but as an energy source. Have a "go bag" ready with some clothes, medications and important papers that you can grab and go.

PowerPoint isn't exactly Adobe Aftereffects but it does offer plenty of options for creating kinetic (moving) text. Kinetic text is very useful as pattern interrupts to grab and keep viewer attention.

I like using kinetic text when I don't have other media like stock images or videos for a particular slide. The great thing about text is you can create a slide about anything with text. And kinetic text makes plain text much more appealing.

An issue with kinetic text is that it can take a lot of time to make impressive animated text. I suggest keeping things easy and just learn a few basics for creating kinetic text in PPT and use them when you are "stuck" without other media.

This video shows a couple of very simple kinetic text techniques for PPT and is for PPT beginners:
 

 
 
Think about how you can create multiple blocks of text so they can be animated individually.

Know the "bounce" and "smooth" ending features.

Here's an invitation and a reminder that the Pheeds Frontier affiliate program is now open. You can get email swipes and your affiliate link here:

The Frontier Affiliate Tools
http://kurtmelvin.com/Deals/the-frontier...ate-tools/

The Frontier is a great opportunity for you to share. It's much more powerful than services like Hootsuite and at a fraction of the cost.

Also, if you bought The Frontier you should be automatically approved as an affiliate. Real customers make the very best sales people because they know the product and have real hands-on experience. People know you aren't just trying to make a sale and you have "skin in the game" yourself.

If you've bought anything else from me before and want to be approved for the Frontier affiliate program just reply to this email and let me know...

We're officially open. The Frontier affiliate tools page:
http://kurtmelvin.com/Deals/the-frontier...ate-tools/

A Good into to the Skyscraper Technique for Building Links

Here’s a good introduction to the “Skyscraper” for building links. Simply, it’s about taking a topic and creating the very best page on the topic on the Web. This makes it easier to share and more likely folks will organically link to the page.   What Exactly is the Skyscraper Technique in Link Building? The […]


https://www.sitepronews.com/2021/02/02/w...-building/

NameCheap is having a 99 cent special where you can register some domain extensions for 99 cents for the first year. There are some interesting possibilities, just pay attention to the yearly renewal fees before you invest long term.

https://www.namecheap.com/promos/99-cent-domain-names/

.online
Carve out your own space
$32.88/yr
$0.99/yr
Renewals at $34.88/yr
98% off

.press
Read all about it
$63.88/yr
$0.99/yr
Renewals at $65.88/yr
91% off

.top
It starts with a domain
$10.88/yr
$0.99/yr
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95% off

.fun
A domain to make you smile
$19.88/yr
$0.99/yr
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80% off

.cyou
It starts with a domain
$4.88/yr
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.us
Make it big in the USA
$8.48/yr
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.click
It starts with a domain
$8.88/yr
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.rent
It starts with a domain
$52.88/yr
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