The Smartest Thing I Ever Did...™

Another way to share your advice & get published

You've already heard about the three new titles we've added to the Smartest Thing™ series—for incoming freshmen, seniors, and newly-minted graduates (or, if not, use the link in the right-hand column to find out how to get published in them). These fun books are a great way to share your hard-earned wisdom and advice to the students coming along behind you in school...and give you an impressive bullet for your resume: "published."

But we've got even more ways for you to share your wisdom and advice with other students and grads...and beef up your resume even more. QwikSmarts™ Publishing is an imprint of Real Solutions Press (which publishes the Smartest Thing™ series). Grads: Take Charge of Your First Year After College! is coming off the presses right now—256 pages jam-packed with everything you need to make a smooth and successful transition from school to the 'real world' of work and independent living. The next book in that series, Freshmen: Take Charge of Your First Year in College! is now in the works...and that's where you come in.

We're looking for 40- to 50-word quotes of your best advice for next year's incoming freshmen...about preparing for the transition to college, adjusting to being away from home and living with roommates, dealing with the food on campus, avoiding the Freshmen 15, surviving the first exam week, not going broke...anything goes! The name of your school and the year of your (past or expected) graduation will be included with your name—we can even include the URL of your blog, if you have one.

It's a great way to help fellow students and yourself at the same time. Your sage advice will be seen by thousands of students across the country and sales of the book will help a national charity, as all our books do. And you'll get the coveted bullet for your resume.

So go take a look at QwikSmarts.com—you can leave your tidbits of advice on the blog or email them privately right to the publisher. You survived freshmen year...now help the Class of 2013 do the same!

And, right now through May 3, you can get the e-book edition of the newly-released Grads: Take Charge by using coupon code GRAD00. Click here to request your copy now. You'll receive a download link on May 4th and be completely armed for success out in the 'real world'!

New Titles Added...for College Freshmen, Seniors, and Grads!

We've just added three new titles to our exciting new book series:

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did™ ...as a Freshman in College

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did™ ...as a Senior in College

The Smartest Thing I Ever Did™ ...After Graduating from College

Students and grads today are just starting their academic and professional careers in the most complex world ever...filled with confusion as well as opportunity. Share the stories of things you did that helped you through those tough years and come out on the other side as a successful, confident grown-up.

Did you learn some lessons the hard way and want to help others avoid the same mistakes? Did you take time off to travel so you could face the job hunt with greater clarity? Did you start a successful business in your dorm? Maybe you put off grad school until you had some real-world experience under your belt...or maybe you decided that freelancing and volunteer work fit you best. They say that hindsight is 20/20—what do you know now that you wish you had known when you were first striking out on your own?

Share your stories here and help this new crop of Millennials make it in the real world! The story voted BEST for each book wins $100 cash prize; other prizes, too!

Submission deadline: Friday 16 October 2009

 

NEW! If you're a recent grad, a member of the Class of '09, or know someone who is, go to TakeChargeBookSeries.com right now to grab your free copy of the e-edition of our 256-page, newly-released print book, Grads: Take Charge of Your First Year After College! Get it for yourself or a special grad in your life!

We're going to start the donations rolling...now!

Every book in the Smartest Thing™ series will be generating a donation to a related charity based on the sales of the book. It's our hope to donate a minimum of $10,000 to each charity. But for that to happen, of course, the books need to be in print and offered for sale.

We don't want to wait that long before making donations to these worthy charities, so we've decided to start right now! While we are still in the process of collecting stories for the dozen-plus titles in the series, we will donate $1 to the selected charity for each publishable story we receive for each book! 

Remember that favorite quote of mine, from Donald Trump: "What's the point of having great knowledge and keeping it to yourself?" So choose the title that best showcases your hard-won wisdom and submit your stories today!

You'll notice that charities have been selected for only a few titles in the series so far—we need your help to make selections for the others. Tell us which charities you feel should receive the donations from your favorite titles by leaving a comment on this site or emailing us privately. We'll keep everyone posted as we make selections.

Get your business noticed in StartUp Nation's competition!

Most of the contributors to our Smartest Thing™ book series are business owners and professionals, most work for themselves, and many work from their homes. Time is short, but I wanted to let you know about a competition sponsored by StartUp Nation. The deadline is in just a few days, September 30th, but the submission process doesn't take much time.

Even if you don't enter the competition, take a look around. StartUp Nation is a great place for all you entrepreneurial-minded folk. Check it out.

I'm honored to have been named a Woman Blogger to Watch in 2008

As many bloggers do, I was checking the statistics on my various blog sites yesterday and discovered quite a number of 'hits' coming from one source to this site of ours. I visited that site to find that I, as the hostess of this site for The Smartest Thing I Ever Did...® book series, was selected as one of the 101 Women Bloggers to Watch, Fall 2008 by WE magazine. Thank you, WE and all the Smartest Thing followers and fans! I'm truly honored to be on this list.

I hope you'll also visit my Better Than a Business Card blog for some great marketing tips and strategies to increase your visibility in this new Marketing Climate 2.0. And if you have special 18- to 25-year-olds in your life, go see what QwikSmarts® is all about!