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Speak Up, Speak Out – Take the Stage
It’s a brand new year and it’s time to take stock of your accomplishments of the past 12 months and start planning carefully for the the next 12. This month I feel it’s important to talk about two additional gifts which can boost your personal and business image – public speaking and publishing a book.
The gift of your voice is one of those extraordinary gifts within. The energy we expend learning, experiencing, and growing garners extraordinary value, and it’s high time many realized their gifts need to be shared. Some do it in the form of mentoring, coaching, and consulting. Others develop the gift of speaking, and write a book to help share the story.
The industry is full of people who are excellent at what they do and share it in an entertaining and informative way in the form of Keynote Speaking. The money can vary – quite literally – from zero or free to several thousands of dollars – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.
If you and one of your competitors offer virtually the same thing, the client will more likely choose the services of the one with a book and speaking experience. Writing and speaking are superb tools to establish you as an expert. You can be an expert without a book, but it’s hard to be an expert without speaking. There are many people who write a book but don’t develop the speaking skills. Others speak but have no book. It is much more difficult to sell a book without mass marketing it and establishing a platform. Many publishing houses won’t look at you unless you already have in place a solid marketing plan with a solid database to market the book to on a national scale. …
[ Read More ] • [ 4 Comments ] • [ Filed under Marketing ] • [ 1/18/10 ] -
The Business of Art(isans): Part II
In Part II, we look at Jenny Hughes, who recently rebranded her company after a four-year trademark lawsuit. She’s been in business for five years and designs reusable cloth shopping bags. Her marketing has included getting her bags onto the ‘swag’ table at Toronto’s International Film Festival, resulting in celebrities like Julianne Moore and Matt Damon using her bags.
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How Do You Hire a VA?
If you read my last article and you find yourself screaming “She’s talking about me!” then it’s time to begin the process of determining who is the right Virtual Assistant for you. As mentioned in my last article, the first thing you need to do is determine what tasks you need help with in your business, that if taken off your plate, would result in less stress and a higher income for you.
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The Business of Art(isans): Part 1
Who are the people you see selling their wares at Craft Fairs and Farmers’ Markets? Are they hobbyists, artists or entrepreneurs? Does it pay to sell your stuff at a craft fair? We interview three artisans to find out. Part One: Christine Rio of Pink Gargoyle Design
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Marianne Bertrand – Muttluks Inc.
Fifteen years ago, Marianne Bertrand and her husband were pouring over their finances trying to figure out how they were going to pay their mortgage. It was one of Toronto’s coldest winters, and the weather report came on announcing there would be another two weeks of -30 temperatures.
Marianne decided right then and there to make dog boots.
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Which Fitness Personality are you?
It’s the New Year! Try as we might, the allure of making New Year’s resolutions is strong, and media will push fitness at you like some kind of religion. How do you navigate the overwhelming exercise options?
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How-to: Find a Virtual Assistant
Asking for help is something that many entrepreneurs hate to do. They have the ‘lone-ranger’ mentality which makes them believe that to be successful they really need to do this solo. But let’s revisit that thought process and see if any of this sounds like you.
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How-to: Find a Life Coach
Gerrianne Clare of Clare Consulting, Kelowna, BC, says the most important thing in all these tips is to make that phone call and chat. It’s the best way to get a ‘vibe’ about someone.
“It’s important to interview your coach and make sure they have the understanding of what you need,” she adds. “You’ll know that connection when you get it.”
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Simple Steps to Organizing your Office
Business owners are so tremendously busy running their day-to-day operations that there is rarely spare time to organize their office as well. Yet, organization is crucial to running a successful business. Keeping a clutter free, organized office from the beginning will reduce your stress levels, improve your efficiency and make your business more productive. Ideally, starting on the right foot when you start your business is best, but if you’re already knee-deep in disorganization, you can still take steps to change your office into one that is clutter-free and running smoothly.
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Lisa Larue – Big City Cupcakes (Updates, etc.)
In 2009, three women opened a cupcake shop in Kelowna, BC. Things seemed to be going well, with new stores popping up all over the place. A year later, stores were closing and court cases were being filed. Here are the first few paragraphs of the original story written in 2009, with updates in the comments section and links to Court Services, Scamchasers.com and stories by the Vancouver Sun and the Edmonton Journal.
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Gerrianne Clare – Life Coach
Gerrianne Clare, a Life and Family Wellness Coach and owner of Clare Consulting Group, says people who decide to use life coaches often have thought things like, “I know I can do better. I know my life should go differently, but I feel like I’m on a treadmill and I’m not getting anywhere. I wish someone would tell me how I can do this differently because I can’t figure it out.”
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What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is a professional entrepreneur who provides services on a contract basis to aid solo-entrepreneurs, as well as small and mid-size businesses, to complete a variety of on-going tasks and projects. Virtual assistants can handle everything you need from administrative tasks, such as organizing and responding to emails, creating operation manuals and scheduling meetings, to arranging events, and some will even handle your bookkeeping needs.
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Defining The Winning Image
A few months ago I was sitting with a terrific group of people and the conversation moved into sharing life stories. I was pleasantly surprised about the common thread among us: we were all driven and passionate. One person had that great positive attitude that was part of her life since the earliest years and […]
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Mhairi Petrovic – Social Media Guru
“Social media is like a pub in Britain,” says Mhairi Petrovic, president of Out-Smarts Marketing Inc., a company that helps entrepreneurs understand how they can use the internet to promote their businesses. “People in Britain go to the pubs to get together, socialize, share information, anecdotes, and photographs, and to interact.”
