Mistake #1: Not having the pool correctly installed.

This one is big. An improperly installed pool is almost always harder to maintain and can also be unsafe for your kids to be swimming in.

If you are doing the install yourself, be sure to follow all the instructions and be sure to ask questions if in doubt. This is the computer age, all your questions have probably been asked, and answered, it’s just a matter of finding the right information.

No matter who installs the pool, start checking the level early on, when there is only a few inches of water in the pool. Take a tape measure from the top rail to the top of the water. Do this all the way around the pool. The measurement should be well within an inch. There is no point in going any further with filling if the pool is not level.

One of the most common questions I get asked is “my pool is x number of inches off level, is it safe?” There are too many factors to give a yes or no answer. For example, if the pool is three feet in the ground it would not matter much. But the thing is, don’t fill a pool that is not level, don’t waste the water, because whether or not the pool is safe, you will not be happy with it.

I have written so much about what to watch for with professional installers and how to do the job right if you choose to do it yourself. No matter who builds the pool, watch it as it fills. Not only do you want to keep tabs on the level you should also be observing for anything that might not seem right. On oval pools watch for any indentations forming under the liner in the area of the pressure plates. Also watch the side braces closely, they need to stay upright and not start to bow out.

With a round pool watch the uprights, they should all be straight up and down in all directions. If they start to shift there might be trouble. Watch the bottom rails, are they all sitting on firm ground and are they staying that way. Observe inside the pool for any indentations, especially in the cove area. Anything aside from a perfectly installed pool could be red flags.

Mistake #2: Not learning how to take care of a pool.

After the installation questions come all the ones about why doesn’t my filter work, why is my water green, why are there sink holes in the bottom of my pool, and so on.

Now that your pool is installed you need to learn how to take care of it. You filter doesn’t work? Will, most of them do. It’s true, a lot of pools come with under powered units, and upgrading is a priority. But before you do try running the filter more hours a day. Some units need 24/7 to keep a pool clean. Try different run times before you give up on your filter.

Certain types of algae will blow right through most any filter, this is not your filter’s fault, you need to kill the algae. If you vacuum the pool only to find the bottom just as dirty ten minutes later, that’s your problem, algae.

In order to properly maintain your pool you need to learn about filter maintenance and water chemistry. Not becoming an expert at both of these will lead to high expenses at the pool store in the years to come. Gaining knowledge in these areas will reward you with a clean, sanitized pool, that you and your family can enjoy for years and years, without going broke with repairs and buying chemicals.

Mistake #3: Not landscaping around the pool.

This is so important, and yet so often not done. You need three feet around your pool that is grass and weed free. The best way to do this is with landscaping plastic and decorative rocks. You can build a barrier, line the inside with plastic and fill it with rock.

Doing this will help to prevent cove wash out, weeds and grass growing up through the liner, critters getting in and under the liner and many more pool mishaps.

Landscaping is another expense, but well worth it if you plan to enjoy your pool far off into the future, like beyond next month.

Have you tried manifesting your desires with little – no success? Do you feel like the law of attraction and other associated practices are working against you?

If so then the following Love or Above review may be the most important post you’ll ever read!

When I first got wind of Christie Marie Sheldon’s Love or Above toolkit I was instantly intrigued as I had previously finished her Unlimited Abundance course and found it to be very useful. I immediately signed up for the Love or Above breakthrough kit to see what I could learn about the “toolkit” and Christies new program.

That’s why in the subsequent Love or Above review we’ll break down what Love or Above is and what it’s intended to do to help you make a more educated decision on whether or not it’s right for you.

So what is it?

The Love or Above toolkit is an online coaching program for individuals looking to achieve more in their lives and generally live a more peaceful and fulfilling life. It’s delivered in a series of audio, video and documented sessions whereby intuitive life coach Christie Marie Sheldon teaches people how to raise their vibration.

Assuming you’re already aware and familiar with the term raising your vibration, you’ll already have a good grounding for understanding what Love or Above is intended to do. In case you aren’t familiar with the term it basically means to increase your state of consciousness/ awareness.

Raising your vibration is associated with many different practices, both spiritual and science based. The law of attraction for instance lays reference to raising your vibration and even spiritual practices such as meditation center around increasing a person’s state of consciousness.

As you can see the understanding of raising your vibration certainly isn’t new! Meditation alone has long been practiced by many different cultures and civilizations and is just one example of many.

How Does It Work?

There’s been many publications written over the years around this topic and vast amounts of research which do indeed signify that raising your level of vibration can be beneficial. One of the more prominent figures to research this subject was Dr. David Hawkins who actually went onto release a book on the topic from which Love or Above references.

As a result of his findings David charted the scale of human consciousness which could be used as a guide to categorize the state of consciousness associated with a person’s vibrational frequency. The lower section represents emotions such as guilt and anger, as you climb the scale the emotions become more positive and represent emotions such as joy and love with the scale capping once a person reaches “Enlightened”.

Although the accuracy of this chart remains to be seen it is a useful tool for roughly gauging a person’s state of consciousness. Shockingly though, David concluded that the average person is reaching somewhere in the region of just 205 on a scale of 0 – 1,000!

The problem for many is that they are carrying too much emotional baggage and have negative energy blocks that stop them from raising their vibration. This is where Christie Marie combined her own extensive knowledge with that of the finding’s of Dr. David Hawkins to develop the Love or Above toolkit.

Essentially Christie teaches you how to remove these negative energy blocks and start climbing the scale of human consciousness. The aim is to reach the “Love” milestone which measures at 500 on the chart. Anyone said to reach the Love milestone is living at a state of peace and content with the attitude required to manifest positively.

Conclusion

To wrap up my Love or Above review I would definitely recommend the course to anyone wanting to make lasting changes in their life. I was already a fan of Christie Marie and what she teaches from her unlimited abundance coaching course and Love or Above is a great addition.

There’s a great little community to get involved with as well, sharing your progress with like-minded individuals is always beneficial. Before committing to change though it’s important to understand what you want to change and how you plan on changing it.

Christie is a great coach and certainly someone worth listening to. The sessions are short, packed with useful information and leave you feeling positive and ready to take action. Love or Above is definitely going to grow a wider audience and worth checking out.

Unlike usual swimming pools, above ground pools are built on an elevated space, that is, above the ground. Some consider them to be more economical than below ground swimming pools. For a more permanent feel, you can build decks around it. Below are given some reasons for choosing them:

– Affordability: Compared to the total cost of building a swimming pool, these can be bough and installed at much considerable lesser costs.

– Installation: The process of installing above ground pool and deck is shorter. Find yourself a skilled and insured installer to perform the task for you. Make sure to use the right filter and pumps.

– Permits: Check with safety and precautionary rules of the state you reside in. you must have permits for creating one. Besides some laws also mention what safety measures to take such as building fence around above ground pool deck or installing alarms.

– Maintenance: They require low maintenance time. You need not worry about frequent wear and tear. The only maintenance needed is to take care of filters, change water, and keep it clean of dust. Some above pools also come with covers. So, when not it use, cover it completely for protection.

– Design: There are no particular standard pools. Depending on the space you have and much big you want it to be, you can buy one. The pool decks are mostly wooden. It is good to install bigger decks if the house has large families.

– Safety: As mentioned earlier, make the pool safe for kids. Gates and railings should be installed for protection. Since the pool is built at a height, falling off from there can be injurious.

– Mobility: They enjoy mobility, which means that they can be shifted from one place to another in case you change residence. This is one of the major reasons for its popularity.

Students in many public and private schools will likely be experiencing the results of teacher training in the area of Quantum Learning this year or in years to come. Schools as well as business leaders are being trained to implement this powerful, research-based system that uses brain studies and physical movement to enhance the core components of education and/or the work environment. It has been proven to increase teacher/leader effectiveness and improve student performance.

One of the key components of Quantum Learning, and there are many, is the idea of “living above or below the line”. This “line” is a level of responsibility or, as the program defines it, respond-ability, and it is very similar to the Covey “habit” of being proactive; taking control of choices, and therefore taking control of outcomes. You may hear your children talking about this, so this article will address the general idea of “the line” and where you and they are living. This is a great lesson for people in general and specifically parents as it lends itself well to positive discipline.

The basic premise of “living above or below the line” is that we are running our own show, and must take ownership of how things turn out based on the choices we make – good or bad. There is a lot of power in that understanding.

Living “below the line” is defined in Quantum Learning as the message we send when we lay blame, justify or deny. For example, laying blame on someone or something else for our own choices sends the message “I have no control over my life – other people control my life”. Is that true? Of course not – we make the ultimate choices in what we say and do in the moment. When we justify, or make an excuse, we are sending the message “I have no control over my life – outside circumstances control my life”. Again, is that really true? No, it isn’t. Although outside circumstances do affect us, they do not have to control us unless we allow them to. When we deny, or are just flat out dishonest, we send the message “I am a liar and cannot be trusted”. Ouch! We have all lied at some point in our lives, but we don’t ever want to send the message that we are chronic liars. The last “below the line” response is that of simply quitting. This is displayed in the negative and/or apathetic “I don’t care and can’t be bothered” attitude. Quitting, dropping out, or giving up all send the message “I don’t have what it takes”; also, not true. Living below the line is simply living the victim mentality – poor me, look what life is doing TO me.

How do we live “above the line”? We decide that we have the ability to respond in ways that give choices, power and freedom. When we recognize that we choose our response, we begin to understand the power we have in creating the life we want to live. When we actively seek more choices instead of laying blame, justifying, denying or quitting, we ultimately end up with freedom. This is ownership or “living above the line”.

So, parents at home, other adults in the workforce, students in school and all of us as we interact daily, the question is… where are you living?

Promotion can be loosely classified as “above the line” and “below the line” promotion. The promotional activities carried out through mass media like television, radio, newspaper etc. is above the line promotion.

The terms ‘below-the-line’ promotion or communications, refers to forms of non-media communication, even non-media advertising. Below-the-line promotions are becoming increasingly important within the communications mix of many companies, not only those involved in fmcg products, but also for industrial goods.

Some of the ways by which companies do BTL (below the line) promotions are by exhibitions, sponsorship activities, public relations and sales promotions like giving freebies with goods, trade discounts given to dealers and customers, reduced price offers on products, giving coupons which can be redeemed later etc.

BELOW THE LINE SALES PROMOTION

Below the line sales promotions are short-term incentives, largely aimed at consumers. With the increasing pressure on the marketing team to achieve communication objectives more efficiently in a limited budget, there has been a need to find out more effective and cost efficient ways to communicate with the target markets. This has led to a shift from the regular media based advertising.

A definition of below-the-line sales promotion given by Hugh Davidson:

‘An immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and having only a short term or temporary duration’.

Methods of below the line sales promotion

1. Price promotions

Price promotions are also commonly known as” price discounting”. These can be done in two ways:

(1) A discount to the normal selling price of a product, or

(2) More of the product at the normal price.

Price promotions however can also have a negative effect by spoiling the brand reputation or just a temporary sales boost (during the discounts) followed by a lull when the discount would be called off.

2. Coupons

Coupons are another, very versatile, way of offering a discount. Consider the following examples of the use of coupons:

– On a pack to encourage repeat purchase

– In coupon books sent out in newspapers allowing customers to redeem the coupon at a retailer

– A cut-out coupon as part of an advert

– On the back of till receipts

The key objective with a coupon promotion is to maximize the redemption rate – this is the proportion of customers actually using the coupon.

It must be ensured when a company uses coupons that the retailers must hold sufficient stock to avoid customer disappointment.

Use of coupon promotions is often best for new products or perhaps to encourage sales of existing products that are slowing down.

3. Gift with purchase

The “gift with purchase” is a very common promotional technique. In this scheme, the customer gets something extra along with the normal good purchased. It works best for

– Subscription-based products (e.g. magazines)

– Consumer luxuries (e.g. perfumes)

4. Competitions and prizes

This is an important tool to increase brand awareness amongst the target consumer. It can be used to boost up sales for temporary period and ensure usage amongst first time users.

5. Money refunds

Here, a customer receives a money refund after submitting a proof of purchase to the manufacturer.

Customers often view these schemes with some suspicion – particularly if the method of obtaining a refund looks unusual or onerous.

6. Frequent user / loyalty incentives

Repeat purchases may be stimulated by frequent user incentives. Perhaps the best examples of this are the many frequent flyer or user schemes used by airlines, train companies, car hire companies etc.

7. Point-of-sale displays

Shopping habits are changing for the people living in metropolitan cities. People prefer big retail outlets like Big Bazaar to local kirana stores. Most of the decisions of buying are taken by the virtue of point-of-sale displays in these retail outlets.

SOME INTERSTING EXAMPLES OF BTL PROMOTION

Most of the big brands are following the suit of BTL promotion because of rising prices of media based promotion, advertising clutter and increased impulse purchasing.

Some of the interesting examples are:

Most of the educational institutes like career launcher, Time and PT are holding informative workshops and free tests for students which give a direct interaction of these institutes with the target customer and hence a suitable platform to sell themselves.

Ring tones and music videos on cell phones are helping the entertainment industry to promote for a music video or a movie for dirt-cheap rate as compared to media promotion.

Various companies sponsor sport events to promote their brand, but nowadays media companies like Hindustan Times are holding weekly events through out the country in which companies can put up their stalls, display banners and posters and arrange for some fun activities. These events give the companies a platform at very low price to promote their brand and increase visibility among target consumer. These companies also give discount coupons to winners in the games, which in turn boost the sales of the products and ensure that first time users try these products as well.

Pepsi organized an inter school cricket event for 425 schools across 14 cities which did wonders for the company by promoting the brand amongst the right target customer for almost no cost.

Most of the pharmacy companies do BTL promotion by getting shelf space through doctors to display their products or by giving away free calcium tablets again through doctors, knowing that for a patient a personal advise from a doctor would hold more value as compared to a commercial advertisement.

Another interesting BTL promotion was by NIKE, an athlete dressed up in Nike sportswear could be seen jogging on an elevated treadmill for the whole day on National Highway 8, Delhi.

BTL promotions are gaining popularity among all big companies nowadays considering their effectiveness because of the “individual customer promotion” at a price, which is much lesser than the normal media promotions.

Every once in a while a product is released which gains instant popularity. The latest it would seem is the Love or Above toolkit by Christie Marie Sheldon.

That’s why in the following article we’ll discuss what Love or Above is, how it works and why it may be of benefit to you.

What Is Love or Above?

Love or Above is a spiritual toolkit for helping people to raise their energetic frequency (vibration).

If you already understand the concept behind raising your vibration then you already know what the Love or Above spiritual toolkit was designed to do!

In case you aren’t aware “raising your vibration” is a term used commonly in the Law of Attraction circles and basically means to raise your state of consciousness.

The toolkit is essentially an online coaching course where members are taught how to raise their level of vibration by Christie Marie Sheldon.

Who’s Christie Marie Sheldon?

Christie Marie is an intuitive life coach and development mentor with over 15 years experience in her profession.

To date Christie has already managed to help thousands of people from all corners of the globe raise their energetic vibration, achieve more in their lives and generally live a more fulfilling life.

How Does It Work?

To the best of my knowledge the main engine behind Christie’s development of Love or Above was the initial research of Dr. David Hawkins.

It was due to the extensive research of Dr. David Hawkins that the map of human consciousness was developed. This was a simple chart which could be used to identify a persons energetic vibration.

As a result of his findings David predicted that as a whole (an average) a person is only reaching one fifth (1/5) of their true potential!

Christie Marie used the research of Dr. David Hawkins as well as her own extensive research and knowledge to develop the Love or Above toolkit.

The “Love” is simply a milestone on the map of human consciousness. Christie aims to get each client to the Love milestone or above.

Conclusion

I have always strongly believed that raising your vibration can have a positive impact in your life.

It’s important to note though that the Love or Above toolkit isn’t a miraculous life changing gift in a box! I like to look at it as a tool which can help you in developing as a person.

There are certain habits and negative influences you’ll need to overcome. It all takes time but any change that has a positive outcome is a change worth working towards.