  Hello!
SALE FOR MARCH - I had some people request that I put the seminary credential package on sale a little longer, so I dropped it another $10 for the rest of this month.
Also, with the wedding season upon us, I put the Wedding Basic Pack on sale for another $5 off for the rest of this month, then it will revert to its original price.
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=133 Seminary Credential Package
http://www.ulcseminary.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=31 Wedding Basic Pack
I'm also having an upgrade to the shopping cart so when you order something that has ceremonies or when you order a course, you'll be able to immediately download any ceremonies that go with your order and you'll be able to immediately download the first lesson of your course. It should be done any day, so it might be finished by the time you get this.
LATEST LESSONS - The latest lessons running through my life and, seemingly, those around me, have to do with both the importance of kindness, as well as the difference between 'forgiving' and continuing to let someone treat you-me-anyone badly. Kindness has been a focus for me ever since my divorce. I realized, during the last couple years of my marriage that kindness was hugely important to me. I hadn't been getting it and hadn't been realizing my potential for giving it either. Things have changed. I have been stressing to my children, over the last two or three years now, how very very important it is to be kind.
When someone at school is being unnecessarily and out-of-left-field mean to them, I remind them that we don't know what's going on with that person. My daughter (freshman in HS) was having a girl call her names and say mean things, for no particular reason. I pointed out that the girl must have someone saying some pretty ugly things to her at home for her to be spreading it around like that. She hadn't considered that. Her first reaction was to say something mean back, but after she and I talked, she thought a little differently.
How hard is it to say something kind to someone? To find a way to validate someone? I don't mean flattery because flattery usually comes across as false. Validation is more about something said to someone that validates who they are as a person. Saying they have a pretty dress on is one thing, but telling someone, from the heart, that they are missed when they are gone or that they are smart or doing a good job -- that's something else.
The other thing that I've noticed is a change in the people I'm willing to surround myself with. Friends (or family) who have nothing nice to say to me, or who fail to consider anyone but themselves, or who say unkind things -- those are people who I can wish well and wish on their way. You can forgive it without making what the person does okay and you can let them out of your life with a shift of the wind, rather than a push. Sometimes a push is needed, but often not. I've had a few friends lately who have come to the same conclusion.
When someone is a friend, a real friend, they treat you with kindness and consideration. Nobody is perfect and mistakes can be made, but with real friends, it should be always clear that you matter to them and they matter to you. And just because they are related to you, doesn't make bad treatment okay. That's it, in a nutshell. And from the wonderful responses I get from so many of you, after a 'kind words' mailing, I'm seeing that many of you are making similar discoveries for yourself. We all deserve to be treated well and to make sure the Universe is clear on that, I'm making it my goal to treat others as well as I'd like to be treated.
So far so good.
ARTICLE DIRECTORY - One the newest cool things that I decided to make is an Article Directory. I get sent a ton of really cool writings from ministers on a regular basis. I don't have time to read them all or post them all, but I still do think they should be shared. So... I created an article directory at http://www.ulcseminary.com. You can sign up and submit articles, sermons, ceremonies, etc. You can also include a link back to your own site. So it'll work for you to promote your own ministries, as well as share your good work. Please go check it out and start adding your work. Please spell-check it first, no profanity and, of course, only submit articles of quality that are yours to submit. There has been some pretty ugly-thinking ministers out there recently (well, one in particular) who have nothing positive to say. Kevin, Andre and I get emails about his antics all the time. We choose to ignore him, mostly. It has been one of those life lessons, lately. Some people are best left to their own craziness.
AFFILIATE PROGRAM - Please check out the affiliate program again. If you've downloaded the ULC Toolbar (http://ULCSeminary.OurToolbar.com/), you'll see there is now a direct link to go there. I have had a hard time making the pages because, apparently, what I wanted to do is not something the program was designed for. But after a heated discussion with the program designer (I get snippy too, sometimes), he came up with an answer. Apparently, nobody has ever asked before to sell more than one item per page. At any rate, it's amazing what you can come up with when pushed a little. He is smarter than he thinks he is, I guess. :) The new pages will be up shortly, as soon as I can figure out how to create a page without using CSS and still have it look good.
The link is: http://www.ulcseminary.org/idevaffiliate/. It's brand new, so more things will be added as I go, and there may be a few bugs, but I think it's ready to rock and roll right now.
- It's free to join
- You get a $10 bonus just for signing up.
- You earn money with every sale that comes through your link.
- You can track the link 24/7 to check on sales and traffic.
- You will get paid monthly.
- If you send me the pages that you have the banner on, I will help promote them through the search engines, which will help increase your sales.
You can put any or all of the links/banners, etc. on your website. I currently have several banners and some text links available, as well as a couple of html pages that you can put on your site. You can choose which banner(s) you like, depending on what products you want to market. Each banner takes you to a separate category in the store that sells only those items.
NEW PROGRAMS - I've been offered some help for reading, editing and formatting new programs. I am a little buzzy on that, so if you wanted to do one, I talked to you about it, and didn't get back to you with a template and a course, please let me know. Also, if I did send you one, please shoot me a quick email letting me know what you have and where you are on it. I got a bunch of responses and now I can't keep track of who I sent what. I'm no different than the rest of you -- sometimes my brain hard-drive loses data. lol
ADDING ORDINATION OPTION TO YOUR OWN SITE - I've mentioned this before, but I'm putting it out again because I noticed that just by putting the html on a page with html, it was adding extra html when people copied and pasted and that made it not work. (Duh, to me). So I fixed it. Now, there is a little box of html that you can copy and paste into a page on your own personal site. This means that people can go to your site, fill out the form and get ordained and you will get notice of it. One person said he had two ordinations happen within an hour of putting it up.
I put the code at http://www.ulcseminary.org/ordinationform.php You can put it in a column, like I did at http://www.ulcceremonies.com or you can put it on its own page. I think it is a great way to spread the word of ULC and you're giving you all the convenience of doing it right from your own site. There are also instructions to add a line to the code (cut and paste) so you will be notified whenever someone is ordained through your site. If you put the form on your site, send me a link and I'll check it out. :) Let me know if you have any problems and I can try to help. Please run a test on it to be sure it works properly. Between the ordination option and the affiliate page, you can very easily offer a full service ministry website.
SPAM - INLCUDE A SUBJECT LINE PLEASE - The latest spam thing going out is to get emails from familiar addresses, but with no subject line. What that means is that if an email doesn't have a subject line, it will be deleted without being read. I'm sure I'm missing a few real ones that way, but to open all of them is very time-consuming, so please include a descriptive subject. (Not 'hey')
If you're new to the Seminary, check out announcements from previous months at http://www.ulcseminary.org/announcements.php
Warmly, Rev. Amy Long
President of ULC Seminary
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