What Is This Site About?
About The Problems:
Overwhelm. Overwhelm is the main problem. Mountains of unpaid bills, relationship turmoil, health challenges, emotional upheaval, mental fatigue, and financial tragedy are all part of the overwhelm. All of this causes a disconnect with ourselves, with others, and can make us feel like we are not even in control of our own lives.
Boredom and Loss of Self. In a world full of crisis, techno-garble, and information overload, it is becoming harder and harder to connect with who we really are. It is easy to lose our confidence, self-esteem, personal power, and our inner joy while drowning in constant overwhelm.
Too Many Choices. And yet, the flip side of that is now more than ever, so many wonderful solutions are available that can negate all of that chaos and bring some kind of order back to our hectic lives.
Life-crisis at ANY Age Now. Many of my friends and people I read about are having a type of personal life crisis right now. Too many all at the same time to be an isolated incident.
Having to Start All Over. Just look around you. People of all ages, education levels, experience levels, races, religions in epic numbers are having to start all over again. Have you noticed that?
And it’s terrifying!
Frantically, good folks in droves now move from houses into apartments. What to do? Get cheaper cars? Find a new job or start a new home business? Move back in with their parents or to take care of their parents? Go back to school? Start all over again after a successful career that is now dried up? Hard decisions for hard times. And tough questions that are demanding answers:
Who am I? How can I fit in to this world in a special, unique way when there’s just SO much going on? What makes me think I can be a STAR? I feel like a big fat FAKE!
About – In a Nutshell
Gotta Keep It Real. This is a little thing called COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. Where you pump yourself up to believe you are and where you actually are are two very different things. This is why things like Guitar Hero aren’t that good in the long run. Deep down, you know it’s a fake guitar and you are not actually a hero if you can’t even play. It’s FAKE. And the whole fake it til you make it concept is actually doing more harm than good. Why be fake? What if you could be genuinely, authentically a Star?
The Struggle for Authenticity. I seek to close that gap with actual ways that you can become an AUTHENTIC Star of your life, a true hero, because you can actually back up what you say you can do, and who you claim to be…who you desperately desire to be. Toss wishful thinking out the window. There are plenty of things you can do today to become a true SuperStar in your own life.
The Time Problem. It’s like time has sped up so much, or it seems that way. Remember just 3 years ago when you spent so much time on Myspace? Now, how much time do you spend on it? Things change so quickly, it’s almost dizzying. In fact, for two years I’ve struggled with actual physical vertigo! Too much, too fast.
We Must Take Back Control of Our Minds & Emotions. Drifting, as Napoleon Hill calls it in his book Outwitting the Devil (banned for over 30 years). The overwhelm by constant barrages of things pulling us in many directions, especially advertising and technology, has caused us to fall into a hypnotic trance that almost feels like our lives are leading us instead of us leading and directing our own lives. It becomes confusing as to what we as individuals are even thinking and feeling. Did it come from us or something else?
To become a Star of your own life, you absolutely MUST get back into the driver’s seat. And I mean ruthlessly take back your place.
Does any of that describe you or someone you love right now? Does it describe YOU?
You Are Definitely Not Alone!
Do you feel like you need a re-set button? A life do-over?
Life is forcing us all to change anyway, whether we like it or not! So why not take charge of that change?
It’s a unique opportunity to forge new territory in your life.
Now here’s the million dollar question:
What IF You Could Re-Set Your Life?
I believe it’s not only possible, but simple and fast. The StarMaker solutions this site mentions ALL build YOU up in a real, tangible, productive way. It’s not rah-rah cheerleader feel good stuff, but then you go back to your problems afterward.
I focus on real, down to earth, do-able ideas & solutions for the most challenging areas for people right now: health, relationships, emotions, developing mental, financial, and even quickly inexpensively developing technical skills.
It Requires Getting Back to Basics. And By Basics I mean True Authenticity.
You must be able to back up what you say you can do! It sounds hard but it’s so much easier than you think.
Stay Human. That is the key. Michael Franti is right (in his song Stay Human: All the Freaky People). It’s really that simple. The basics are finding out what truly makes you happy, what brings you joy, what makes you FEEL like a star, as a human being. Only not a temporary fleeting feeling. That’s not what I’m after here. No, what I’m after are authentic, as near permanent as possible ways to feel and actually BE a star, for a lifetime. Then, since you feel like a superstar on the inside, your outside will quickly match up.
Here’s a fascinating discovery…
Dr. Walt Winklemen, whose blog I posted on the blogroll below, has discovered through ongoing research 13 things that humans require for happiness: intimacy, donating/giving, random acts of kindness, music, preventative health, leisure time, volunteering, hobbies, spirituality, work-life balance, social support group, exercise, and touching.
All of the real-world solutions discussed on this site, to help you become a star of your own life must meet one or more of these qualities.
Who Are You and Why Did You Create This Site?
Believe me, I know how overwhelmed you feel, because I’m right there with you.
My name is Stacie “Foxy” Cole, and I created this site to help people, including myself, to overcome the problems listed above. That’s it in a nutshell. I love helping people. It makes me feel good.
Take advantage of the time I save you with research. And it just so happens that I am a research junkie. I have a lot of information about a lot of things, and have tried and experienced many different things. I’ve narrowed that exhaustive research information and data mining I’ve spent years with down to small, digestible posts that give you the straight facts on practical, do-able, real world solutions.
Before I created this site I was a successful SEO Copywriter for several years. I loved it. It was wonderful. But in January of 2011 I had this huge urge to do this kind of a site, even though it meant a complete and total 180 from the tried and true I had become used to.
It was bold, it was risky. And I resisted it like nobody’s business. But that still small voice kept at me until I surrendered.
I kept hearing a voice say that I should retire from work-for-hire copywriting and return to my original vision for this site that I had back in 2005. The blogging system wasn’t as sophisticated then as it is now. Technology has actually caught up with my original vision. 🙂
What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants. And my heart wants to touch that spot in you that is long since dormant, but ready to change. Ready to break the shell of complacence, fear, anger, low self-esteem, low self-worth, lack of authenticity…whatever we all struggle with, and return us back to integrity with ourselves and each other. Does that make sense? Can you relate to what I’m saying?
We Must Stick Together and Allow Our Humanity and Authenticity to Bring Us The Happiness, Health, Love, and Prosperity We All Crave
Creating this site has made me feel like a Star. I’ve re-built every stitch of it from the ground up. I pushed myself through immense physical and emotional challenges, driven by the desire to create something meaningful in the world. Something that matters. The perseverance alone drove me to new levels of discovery. What I thought was overcoming my own physical limits and disabilities actually caused me to prove to myself that I could push through them. Push through the impossible. Many of the solutions and ideas on this site are what helped me.
I know it’s hard right now, believe me I know. Keep going. Never give up. I’ve buried way too many people way too early (and I’ll bet you have too) not to understand deeply that life is precious.
Even though the posts themselves are brief, I spent countless hours compiling data to pick just the right ones. Later on down this page, I talk about the criteria I use.
It is my wish and intent for us to travel this journey and grow together. These solutions and ideas are just as much for me as for you. EVERY post I put up is something I have tried, done, used, or learned directly from. I have direct experience with every single StarMaker. Plus, well I’m hoping the site will be a ton of fun! 🙂
No Matter What is going on in the world or in your life, you can still be a Star!!
What is a StarMaker?
The short answer: a StarMaker is an every day, real world, practical solution so that and through which most any person can authentically become extraordinary, fast. You build integrity and authenticity quickly. Don’t let their simplicity fool you!
Short & Sweet: A word on the brevity: I purposely kept the posts brief for easier reading. Nothing is more discouraging than finding a post you would like to read and having long blocks of smashed together text. And also, if you relate to something, it will not take more than 5-7 bullet points to simply trigger your mind to say…yeah…I’ve been wanting to do that for years anyway. It’s too difficult to read so much text. In fact, I’m finding it challenging to keep this static page to a minimum, yet still give you the crucial info you need. Allow me at least the home page for a bit longer of a post! 😉
Extensive Research & Experience: While the posts are purposely brief, there’s a very lengthy set of criteria I place for each one, which I have listed for you below. This is where you find out all the exacting detail that has gone into the architecture and selection of subject matter for this site, for all of my data junkie friends!
What qualifies as a StarMaker?
- Must be heart-centered. Meaning, activate a feeling of warmth and love, self-love which also leads to love of others. This state of being is where all the StarMaking happens. You will feel like a star. Even if it’s under MindStar, all of those StarMaker solutions have a mind-heart connectedness to them. I did this on purpose so that it activates the human, loving part of us, which is where all the goodness is.
- Must be either free or the cheapest I could find it, so that it could be available to the most amount of people possible.
- Must have a simplicity to it, a real-world quality to it, so that it can be applied with practicality immediately, and provide the real feelings of accomplishment immediately.
- Must be practical, earthy, not airy-fairy, so that it stays grounded and keeps it real.
- Must build a genuine Authenticity in people.
- Must be a nearly immediate confidence builder, so that you begin feeling it right away, which will lead other good things to be attracted to you.
- Must be proven, so that it bypasses the critical “yeah but” factor. Many are, nearly to the point of being self-evident. However, since they are so self-evident, it is easy for us forget or take for granted that amazing things await us right in plain sight!
- Must somehow feed your soul, your mind, your heart, and connect you to a greater source of empowerment, from the inside out.
- Must be cross-generational, meaning any generation like Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y (Millenials), and those beyond and after can apply the solutions. This quality makes a special and unique type of bonding that eliminates some of the social or generational gap barriers that keep people disconnected.
- Must be able to be measurable in some manner, so that it builds your confidence in yourself in a tangible way as quickly as possible, i.e., you plant a garden and therefore get a crop, you do a cleanse and release toxins and weight, you go on lynda.com and learn an actual skill, you join Toastmasters and transform your fears practically overnight…etc. You get the picture.
- Must appeal to the childlike qualities of curiosity and courageousness, yet still be something that adults can not only do, but it adds an extra something to their lives. Remember that sense of “I can do anything” you had as a child? You can have it as an adult too, and it’s critical do becoming a Star in your own life again. These solutions are actual things an adult can do every day.
- Must provide some kind of growth in some way. It is said that which is not growing is dying. These solutions add practical skills to your adult lives, with a childlike joyfulness. Real skills on every level, mentally, emotionally, financially, physically, spiritually, that you can begin having actual positive results in your life quickly.
- Must have a take charge, re-set button type of quality to them, so that it can lead to real changes and positive shifts that put you back in control instead of circumstances controlling you.
- Must meet one or more of the 13 things required for humans to live a happier, more fulfilling life, in any circumstances.
- This should go without say, but you must know, I only post about things I’ve actually done myself. 🙂
How Do You Get the Most Benefits, Use, and Value Out of This Blog?
- Share it, help your friends, use the things I recommend, comment, add more suggestions, be a guest blogger! Use it to the hilt!
- Most useful ways to share: by commenting on Starticles you relate to, or have tried, by using the “share” buttons under each post to share on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Here’s how the posts are set up: I’ve kept them very simple and in a similar format. In short I talk about why it is a StarMaker, my own experience with it, in sort of a “review” style.
- Links are provided in the posts, so that no searching is needed. Couldn’t be easier. All the research has been done for you. 🙂
- Some of the links are also embedded in graphics on the side of the blog as well, but there’s too many to put them all there and it would look too cluttered, so don’t worry all the links are included in the blog posts as well.
The Pages & Posts explained:
- Home – is a static page that explains the entire site in one place, this page that you can access by clicking the link up top or on the side bar.
- About -is a static page that is a little bit about me. It’s brief because I’d rather talk about and share with YOU.
- Contact– is a static page that lists a form that you can fill out that goes directly to me to ask any questions you would like. It is the best and fastest way to reach me.
- All Starticles -a liquid page that lists every single article post all in one place. At the bottom, you can click easily through all the rest of the pages.
- BeautyStar, LoveStar, FeelingStar, MindStar, MoneyStar -these liquid pages all have Starticles (article posts) that are tagged with specific posts only (Health & Beauty, Love & Relationships, Emotional, Mental & Mind Builders, & Financial Starmakeers). These contain inspirational, educational, as well as solution-oriented posts.
- StarMakers -is a liquid page that contains Ultimate StarMakers, the best of the best StarMaker solutions, all in one place. Foxy’s favorite link!
- Stay Connected! – at the top right, join the StarMaker Newsletter, so you never have to miss any posts. Also, I’d love to connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, and RSS Feeds. In future plans is a StarMakerTV Youtube channel being developed, where I do mini videos talking about the StarMakers. And guest bloggers will be able to talk about their StarMakers on video and have it uploaded to the channel also. I’m VERY excited about this feature! 🙂
- The “Ads” Section -The graphics you see on the side, I set them up in the ads section but some of them are not an actual ad, but merely a graphic with a link, just so that it’s a quick easy way to hit some of the more popular pages I talk about. Same with…
- The Blogroll -At the bottom of the blog is a list of wonderful sites that provide even more solutions for becoming a true Star of your life. NONE of them are affiliate links. These are simply my personal top favorite sites that have related material. Enjoy!
I Have Some StarMaker Ideas Not Listed, Can I Contribute As a Guest Blogger?
Absolutely! These ideas will stimulate others, and your ideas are most welcome. Simply go to the upper right and click “Contact” and a form will come up. Send me an email with your idea and if it fits in with the rest of the blog then yes, I definitely encourage you to let us all know!
Keep in mind to review the criteria, your suggested StarMaker must fit these.
Will you be allowed to post an affiliate link as a guest blogger? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that it also depends. It must pass my critical review (match the criteria), be something that genuinely is to help people and not push a personal agenda, certainly be applicable to the site, and links to something that would benefit everyone. Does that sound fair? I hope so, because that’s the way it is! 😉
We all have the capacity to be individual Shining Stars within this wonderful thing called humanity. We each serve as our own piece of the puzzle, and form a greater whole of a powerful community. We are in this together. So step up and take your place!
FAQ:
Q: Do the links you provide point to affiliate links or relationships?
A: A few of them do, but a good many do not. For example, ToastMasters International is not an affiliate link and I don’t even think they have an affiliate program. Yet it’s on here because it is one of the most powerful StarMakers you could ever imagine. Much of the information is either freely given, and/or the solution doesn’t have an affiliate link, or I chose not to do that particular solution in that manner. The main goal was to get actual links available to save you time searching for them yourselves, whether affiliate or not. However, I do personally feel better about revealing when they are affiliate relationships. Why hide it? The ones that I am affiliated with I’m quite proud of the relationship. And I’m a harsh skeptic, so if a company, book, product made it past my criteria then I’m happy to let the world know about them. Does that make sense?
I try to make sure to tell you how and where to get things that I recommend, so that you find it easier. Whether it’s an affiliate link or not does not matter to me. What is important to me is that it is made as easy as possible for you to take action steps right now. So if anything pops out at you in the blog, tag cloud, links, side graphics, or the blogroll, just check it out and see if it resonates with you.
Q: Is the blog heavily moderated? If yes, why?
Yes, the blog will be heavily moderated. The reason is simple:
You are constantly given contrast, all the time. Every day you are given reasons why you “can’t.” You suffer resistance from internal and external forces constantly. In this place, I create a safe haven where all that is talked about are the many ways you CAN. Some of the solutions may work for you, some may not. Move on to the ones that do. The idea is to get the creative juices flowing on what works for YOU. You are immensely strong and yet also vulnerable in this life, and this blog / website is one place where you can be supported and nourished. So I will not tolerate spam, or trolls, or devil’s advocates, or debaters, political agendas, or any form of negativity on this site. Does that sound fair? You are fully supported by me and I rule this site with an iron hand in a velvet glove. Your tender places will be protected here. And your strengths will be given full reign to shine. Believe that. That is my commitment to you. ~Love, Foxy
