So in my JV travels this past week, I decided it was time to reconnect with Michele Scism. We met a year ago at Nancy Marmolejos I Heart My Biz event (one that catapulted the most transformational experience of my life, as I have mentioned previously on this blog). We tried to connect after but the timing wasnt right.

As I googled my new friend, I discovered she was just launching another Blog Challenge. And I thought How perfect! Just what I need!

I already know that daily blogging can double or even triple your traffic to your website in just weeks. And it also increases your credibility as well as your visibility. So why don’t we do this all the time?

For me, it’s habit….and I really don’t like to write. But I will do it anyhow because I know it works!

So here I am, kicking off this blog challenge with my announcement about it.

Want to join me? Everything is always more fun with friends!

Just so you know, I will be finishing up my 25 1/2 written blog posts that I wrote these last few months and haven’t yet posted–content and value driven! I will also share what I have been up to and what I have coming up. And finally, I have decided to use my favorite Wordpress App on my iPhone–so the quality of the pictures might not be the best. I will try to fix them later.

But right now, my priority and commitment will be to blog 31 times by the end of the month–and getting something good posted is better than waiting until it is perfect! (Again, I have 25 less-then-perfect posts waiting in the queue…)

Please share your thoughts, comments and ideas as you are inspired.

And heres to creating REALationships via blogging!

In the last few weeks, I have been making some decisions to attend live events to help me in my business. Interestingly enough, I have been receiving some feedback through the grapevine AND to my face asking me “WHY those events? What can you learn there? You could be teaching this stuff!”

So I decided to share–especially because I have had some of my biggest, most transformational breakthroughs at events where I had been asked these same questions.

So why do I go to these events and how do I have such amazing experiences when the content shared is “old news” and the people there are not really my market?

I follow this simple process:

I get clear about WHY I am attending the event.

Last weekend, I attended the Prosperity Summit hosted by Gerald Rogers and Garrett J White. They did a great job! But really, I didn’t learn anything new. And I wasn’t expecting to. The event was a combination of mindset for success and business tactical skills and systems. Why was I here?

1. To support my friends hosting the event
2. Support my friends who were speaking at the event
3. And be in the spirit of working ON my business instead of IN my business.

In the spirit of working ON my business, I set my intention BEFORE I go.

I get very clear about what I need to receive during my time that I am investing at the event. This last weekend, I was clear that I would receive the message I need to take my business to the next level AND the specific actions I need to take to achieve this growth.

Did I receive this? Absolutely! I got a message slammed over my head (that is often what it takes for ME to hear messages…) about my purpose. Well, I knew my purpose before I went. In fact, I have known my purpose for 3.5 years–starting with a hand analysis that was clear I am meant to EMPOWER THROUGH LEADERSHIP.

I have received more in-depth knowledge about my purpose with the work I did with Linda Zimmer. Well this message was reignited by Garrett. With the message, I did some serious soul-searching to understand exactly what I need to do to switch between KNOWING what I am meant for and what to do about it.

Well, because I had dedicated the time, energy and intention to receive the knowledge, I got it.

So this last week, I was installed for my 2nd term as President of the Salt Lake Chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners. We hosted an amazing event that was empowering to all. I feel like it is my “do-over” year to move from my theme last year of EMPOWERING YOU (where in I was the one empowered) to this year’s theme of BEING THE LEADER in our business, life and family (where it is my opportunity to be the leader…).

I have also reconnected with a number of great friends and people I met but just needed to step up the relationship. And I have a list of my top 10 HIGH PAY-OFF ACTIVITIES (actually, these are my top 10 CASH FLOW activities–because isn’t life much easier when the cash is flowing from a place of prosperity instead of hard work?).

So yes, it really is two steps:

1. Be clear about WHY you are attending the event.

2. Set your intention for what you will get from the event.

What are the steps that YOU take when you have amazing success attending a live event? Please share!

I love this post by my good friend & former mastermind buddy, Rhonda Hess. She shares the importance of identifying the best way to get clients. It is simple and it works! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

MaryPat

PS. There is a link to a special offer below–and the deadline is TODAY! So if what she is saying interests you at all, please do not hesitate to get more information about Rhonda and what she does. Or just ask me.

Guest Post By Rhonda Hess

If you’re honest with yourself, you know this. . .  When most people prioritize where to put their hard-earned money, coaching is not high on the list. So why are you trying to convince people to buy it?

There’s a better way to get clients. I’ll lay out the four steps below, but it all starts with finding out what people will put their money into. And in order to find out what people will pay a coach for, you have to know which people you are talking about.

Trust me, there are plenty of people out there who are eager to invest in professional services for a specific purpose. Finding them, and finding out what they are after, is the art of target marketing.

I’ve seen over and over how the clients start flowing in when coaches target a viable coaching market. And the kicker is, targeting a viable market significantly reduces the amount of marketing your business needs. Why?

• It’s quick and easy to learn about the people in a narrow market - what makes them tick, what they want in life, what’s missing for them. And suddenly, you have the keys to the most powerful and effective marketing.

• Your business becomes client centric. The more you build everything in your business around what you know about your prospects, the more your business connects with them where they live.

Have you ever come across a service that seems like it’s designed for you? The service provider is speaking your language, understands what you want so well that it’s a no brainer. You’ll invest, right? And you’ll tell other people about it, too. That’s what target marketing does for you as a coach.

Will Your Coaching Niche Go the Distance?

When you try to sell a coaching specialty (transition coaching, career coaching, relationship coaching) or you target a market that’s too broad, it’s very difficult to generate sustainable demand for your services. Your specialty may be valuable, and exciting to you, but attracting paying clients will be an uphill battle.

If you target women in transition, for example, you’re trying to appeal to too many diverse situations and populations. Consider the values, interests and challenges of women graduating from college, versus women entering retirement. Trying to cover all those angles won’t engender credibility or trust. And it leaves you competing with anyone who markets to women at any stage of life. That’s fierce competition!

You can tell your coaching niche is too broad when:

• You’re working extremely hard, unable to leverage your efforts and struggling to meet your financial goals.

• Each time you market, it feels like starting over.

• It’s hard to think of something new to say in ezines or blog posts.

• You quickly run out of ways to connect with groups of people in your market.

But when you choose a viable coaching market:

• It’s easy to get in front of 100 or more people in your market every month.
• You can quickly become an expert in your market.
• You’ll get pre-qualified referral business from your current clients.
• You’ll be able to charge high prices for your coaching.

Build a Client Centric Coaching Business

Here’s one of the top reasons I have so much juice for helping coaches succeed - because the most successful coaches are the ones who do the most good. They are the ones who are working at their full potential and reaching the most people.

Building any successful business is hard work. It takes loads of talent and grit. So don’t make it harder than it needs to be. The best way I know to give your coaching business every advantage, is to make it client centric. That means:

1. Choose a viable coaching market.
2. Find out what matters most to those people - the goals they really care about and the obstacles that keep tripping them up.
3. Design your coaching programs around what your market is motivated to invest in.
4. When you market - when you communicate what you are offering - use language your market will understand.

None of this is rocket science, but it does help to walk through it with someone who has been there before. That’s exactly what my workshop on target marketing for coaches is designed to do. That’s why I call it Champion Your Ideal Coaching Market.

~~~

Rhonda Hess is an internationally recognized business mentor and the Founder of Prosperous Coach®. Rhonda has a gift for helping coaches choose and champion a highly profitable niche so they can coach more, market less and blow the lid off their income. Grab Rhonda’s free ecourse now: 5 Secrets No One Ever Told You About Your Coaching Niche and join the conversations on her award winning blog. http://prosperouscoachblog.com

I love traditions. We don’t have a lot of them in our family, but the few we have are very special to all of us.

With Easter coming up in a few days, I thought I would share our family favorite tradition.

After we  color eggs and get ready for bed (yes, even my teens participate in this with excitement), we start making Easter Cookies. You can click here for the recipe.

But for the sake of this blog post, I want to talk about traditions in business. You see, I think some are great and some need to go away.

Do you find that what worked 3 years ago just isn’t working today?

Are you frustrated that making money used to be easy and now it’s like pulling teeth?

That’s because some of your traditions…or the things that used to work, just don’t anymore.

But how do you know which to keep and which to throw out?

Here’s my strategy for deciding:

The systems in your business should support you no matter the economy or amount of money that is coming in. Keep those.

The models, molds, & blueprints for business building and marketing techniques? Throw most of those out. Well, not if you are sure they are working. But if you haven’t set up proper tracking and assessment systems in place, then how do you know?

So in my own attempt to throw out the old traditions, I have created a new model for expert interviews. You probably know that I love to host interviews. But I am fed up with the prep for the sale, build up the anxiety, riddle the listeners with fear, and then shoot out a pitch model.

So that is the tradition that I am throwing out.

And in with the new Expert Connections 2011 interview model for success!

Let  me know, what business traditions are you keeping and which are you tossing?

NOTE: This article was written for a magazine in the fall of 2008, but it is timeless information. I will be sharing more of each of these interviews including some of the audio clips on my blog over the coming months.

What is Success?

Four Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets

I had the opportunity to connect with four successful women entrepreneurs and talk about their stories of success and some insights to how they define success, trials and tribulations they experienced along the way as moms, wives and women, and advice they have for others on their own journey to entrepreneurial success.

Here are the women that I interviewed. These interviews were candid and open, and we discussed some things they had never shared before.

Kendall Summerhawk, was the Horse-Whisperer for Business Owners and has evolved into the Million Dollar Marketing Coach where she teaches money, marketing and soul for the women entrepreneur who is ready to charge what she is worth and get it!

Sheri McConnell, Founder of Sheri McConnell Companies and owner of more than a 1/2 dozen companies. Her mission is to empower women to achieve financial independence by learning how to leverage their time, money, and expertise exponentially.She believes that when a woman is financially independent, she makes decisions from a healthier place on behalf of herself and her family. She also believes that when you teach a woman how to achieve financial independence, you empower many generations to come.

Michele DeKinder-Smith, President & Owner of Linkage Research and Founder of Jane Out of the Box, is a seasoned researcher having specialized in marketing, consumer and business research for over 20 years. She has interviewed thousands of business owners and is an entrepreneur herself, who’s taken her business over the million-dollar mark! She understands the needs of large corporations, government agencies and the female entrepreneur. Through her research, publications, consulting and training Michele helps each of these audiences achieve their goals.

Mari Smith, www.MariSmith.com, is one of the world’s foremost experts on using Facebook as a marketing channel. She is the coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day and the lead author of The Relationship Age. Dubbed “the Pied Piper of the Online World” by FastCompany.com, Mari is a popular Social Media Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Thought Leader.

If I had to capture the common thread between these women, it could be summed up in these three words:  persistent, focused, and genuine. It was truly my honor to be able to connect with these women and share this information!

To start off this series, here are some highlights from my interview with Kendall SummerHawk:

Kendall SummerHawk, the Horse-Whisperer for Business (www.KendallSummerHawk.com) says the key to success is PASSION! Kendall’s story begins as a young girl with a mother who was successful in her own business.  Kendall’s mom believed that entrepreneurs have more control and freedom to create happiness.

What is your definition of success?

Success is happy, loving what I do even when it is mundane; I make great/fantastic money and have a lifestyle PLUS a business!

What sacrifices did you make to achieve your success?

I let go of things I DON”T like to do-grocery shopping, wrapping presents…I don’t believe I have sacrificed much when you look at what I have!

What is life balance?

Feeling alive and excited about what I am doing because I am passionate. I outsource many tasks and only spend time on quality activities that add benefits to my life.

How has being a woman affected your success?

I count on my intuition as a vital voice in running my business! My intuition keeps me authentic. Also, the ability to connect and build relationships is more natural to women.

Advice to share:

Success is built on both marketing and business as well as stepping into who you are!

Stay tuned to this series as I share audio clips from this interview as well as advice from our other amazing experts!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

I’ll make this quick so you can get back to celebrating this great holiday!

I have a special I want to share with you, but first I thought I would share some of my favorite Irish sayings:

This quote explains my life…

“In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.”
– Sir John Pentland Mahaff

I like this because it reminds me to appreciate what is.
“The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens.”
– Irish Proverb

I always thought that since my Irish grandfather was 6 feet tall, that I had a chance…but alas, I just didn’t make it that far in height.
You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.” – Irish Proverb

“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time — a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.”
– Adrienne Cook
I LOVE this quote–there is so much possibility here!

And in honor of this holiday (which was 2nd only to Christmas in my family growing up), I am also offering you a lucky St. Paddy’s Day offer:

Register for the Jumpstart Your JV’s program before midnight tomorrow, Friday, March 18th, and get this new and improved 2 day program for only $77!

http://queenofconnections.com/jumpstartyourjvs.html

This program is for you if:

• You have tried social media and it takes up more time than it is worth.
• You network regularly but you are tired of sifting through the masses to find that gem.
• If speed dating is sounding more fun than making new, often scary connections.
• If you have connected with some people who make you think you “picked them up in the wrong side of town”.

If any of these sound familiar, then this is the program for you!

I will teach you the specifics of what you need to do to start ATTRACTING the right people into your “hood”. There are some simple and quick things that most people just don’t know about that can make the difference between ATTRACTING the “scaries” and attracting some really cool, amazing people who know you, follow you and rave about what you do to their friends!

Check out this page and make sure you get registered now  to SAVE!

http://queenofconnections.com/jumpstartyourjvs.html

Let me know if you have questions!

Lastly, here is my favorite Irish blessing that hangs on a linen on my wall:

May the road rise to meet you…
May the wind be always at your back…
May the sunshine warm upon your face…
May the rains fall soft upon your fields…
And, until we meet again…
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

To your JV & REALationship-Building success!

MaryPat Kavanagh
Queen of Connections

P.S. Don’t miss this opportunity to save! Get registered now and as my dad always says: “The Luck ‘O the Irish to ya!”

Guest Post by Evelyn Kalinosky Blog Post

I held a teleseminar recently that explored the concept of redefining financial success as a spiritual journey. This redefinition is about becoming professionally and personally “fulfilled,” which involves a spiritual quest of recapturing  or discovering, sometimes  for the first time, your dreams, and money is the higher purpose that helps you foster this fuller, more balanced life.  Money is the by-product of values-based ambition, which is all about living out your authentic values and beliefs. It’s what I refer to as “Wealth of the Self” and what moves you from success to significance.

My guest, online visibility expert Nancy Marmolejo of Viva Visibility, and I covered a lot of information in 45 minutes, but nothing in what we discussed was more important than when we talked about the one key thing that needs to happen before you can move from success to significance. This one key thing is non-negotiable. There’s no way around it. Think of it as the foundation that must be poured before you can build a house. It’s what anchors you to the life you want to live.

That one key thing is becoming empowered.  It’s giving yourself permission to take the risks and make the changes you want and need to make.

I know that sounds really simple.  And you’re probably thinking: “You’ve got to be kidding me? That’s it?!”  But the reality is that for so many women - including women in high-level positions and women who own their own businesses - there are places in our lives where we don’t stand in our own power.

Whether it’s being afraid to speak up, doubting our capabilities or denying the things we long for, allowing ourselves to be mistreated, feeling like an imposter or fraud in our professional life, resisting the truth, or acting in ways that go against our values - disempowerment is at the root of the problem.

When we feel powerless:

• We think of ourselves as small and ineffective, more like victims of circumstance than the strong, capable women we are.
• We find it difficult to make positive, lasting change. We vacillate. We’re ambivalent.
• We spend too much time needing acceptance and validation from others rather than trusting that we know the answers that are best for us.

When we’re empowered, however:

• We’re able to access our own abilities, strengths and gifts.
• We’re able to draw upon the host of internal and external resources that are available to us, and we know how to put these resources to our best use.
• We’re able to say “Yes!” to change and welcome transition because we trust ourselves to be able to handle any challenge that comes along.

Take a moment and think about those times in your life when you felt truly empowered - what kind of decisions were you able to make?  How did they impact your life and your choices?

Now compare that to those times when you felt powerless - how were the decisions you made different?  How did they impact your life and your choices?

A critical part of redefining your life means going from breakdown to breakthrough in terms of discovering your authentic power.  Not “perceived” power that can often feel aggressive, and is largely situational and transitory, but true power that is strong without being forceful, and that doesn’t come and go depending on the moment.

When you stand firm in your own true power in both your professional and your personal life it’s like you are a tree with its roots firmly, deeply embedded in the earth.  It’s from this base of knowledge that your life branches out to embrace infinite possibilities.

Part of your journey in going from breakdown to breakthrough includes working to uncover the hidden landscape of habits, beliefs and patterns that underlie and sometimes subvert how you live your life and how you own your power.

I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about. Have you found yourself at one time or another:

• Hanging on to a job that is physically, emotionally and psychologically draining because it provided you with a substantial amount of money, good health benefits and a retirement plan?
• Holding on to a personal or business relationship because it provided you with financial security, even though it was clear to you that separation would be best for your emotional and spiritual well-being?
• Being surrounded by all kinds of information, advice and resources, and yet something stopped you from using any of it?

As a “breakthrough” woman, you must be willing to do the things you sometimes don’t want to do.  There are many things that keep women in business from making changes, especially if we’re making a healthy income. The promise of money, or the threat of losing it, induces us to tolerate or make concessions. I say this without the slightest hint of judgment or reproach, because I am a woman who tolerated things at different points in my life that my more actualized self would never allow now.

Refusing to make changes when you know in your core that you’re doing yourself a disservice is a clear sign you’re not empowered. Give yourself permission. Say “Yes!” to what it is you truly want. That’s your first step on your journey to living a life of significance.

~~~

As Founder & CEO of Evelyn Kalinosky LLC, Evelyn specializes in helping women executives, professional women and women entrepreneurs who want to achieve a more sacred kind of success.
She is a consultant, speaker, published author and poet, and is currently writing a book about women navigating through midlife. Visit her at: www.evelynkalinosky.com.

Can people hear you?

I mean, can “your people” hear your message that you are trying to get into this world?

My very good friend, Shannon Cherry, is an activist for people who want to be heard. And in her amazing marketing wisdom and passion, she created a holiday called National BeHeard Day.

“I created Be Heard Day six years ago to celebrate entrepreneurs like you who find their voice, tell their story and be heard by using low-cost marketing and business building techniques.” -Shannon Cherry

In celebration of this perfect entrepreneurial holiday, she has gathered together some incredibly smart entrepreneurs (including yours truly). Together, we are sharing some of our most valued resources.

Actually, most of us have created special products and services to share with you today that our clients, customers, friends and family have not ever seen before. AND these are all specially designed to help YOU, the aspiring entrepreneur, in your business and your life!

And the best part? We have all DONATED these tools to this campaign! Yes, that means they are FREE!

Simply go to this website and gather your tools now!

www.BeHeardDay.com

You’re getting this all for free. Unlike many of these types of giveaways, you’re not going to have to view numerous sales pages in order to get the great low-cost marketing tips and tactics. There’s no catch; no strings attached. And you’ll be getting some great stuff! Here are some of the items that Shannon herself is sharing:

• A free PR Newswire membership
• A free fill-in-the-blank press release
• an e-book on visibility tactics
• And much, much more

My gift to you is a special audio & workbook that I created to show you Where REALationships Meet Revenue!

And that’s not all! Here is a list of the other contributors/supporters of this National holiday!

• Shawn Driscoll
• Mary Pat Kavanagh (me :-))
• Nancy Marmolejo
• Sandra Martini
• Maruxa Murphy
• Michele PW
• Therese Skelly
• Felicia Slattery

Don’t miss this once-a-year opportunity to boost your business and connect with some of the smartest business owners I know!

www.BeHeardDay.com

The following story is almost true. And it happens almost every day, to an unsuspecting, cool entrepreneur. Can you relate?

You’ve gotten up the gumption to connect with Life Coach Sally and she says yes. You’ve set up the time and you dial the number. You are excited about making the connection and taking it to the next level, but not sure where it will go.

The conversation is feeling really good—you like her energy and are really starting to see the potential in this relationship.

Then she tells you about her upcoming program in 3 weeks and invites you. Cool!

Then she asks you to share it with your list and if you get 5 people to pay her $5,000, Ms. Sally will let you attend for free!

What happened?

How did a great conversation turn into ME getting pitched by someone I just met?

And why would this person think it’s ok?

You may have experienced this first hand. Or you may even have been Ms. Sally…

The problem?

You just don’t know how to go from meeting someone to creating a strategic ROI (return of investment—it’s your time in this example). Know that this situation is fixable.

What went right?

The conversation went from a Facebook relationship to an email connection to a phone conversation. This is good. The conversation started with learning about each other and about each other’s businesses. This was all good!

What went wrong?

The problem occurred when Ms. Sally decided that the conversation needed to create an ROI now. Truth be told, relationships are not built in a day—even when they start out on Facebook! Conversations and relationships need to grow…they need to be nurtured…and they need time and space to develop into something that will last longer than my 7 year old’s attention span.

How can we fix it?

If you have been subjected to this type of conversation or even created this conversation, have no fear. Do not slam the door on the good energy and possibilities that inspired the connection!

Here are three simple steps to fixing a bad conversation:

1. Focus on the good parts of the conversation—the parts BEFORE the conversation turned selfish.
2. Be grateful for the opportunity to connect and the enlightenment you experienced.
3. Keep the door open. After politely declining (or accepting if it feels right), make sure you allow for future conversations as enlightenment and possibility arises.

And finally, be understanding—for your connection and yourself! Most of us are just plodding away, doing what they think they have to do in order to earn a living, support a family and achieve success.

Have you experienced a conversation turned bad? I would love to hear your experience and how you handled it. Or, hypothetically, how WOULD you handle it?

Have you ever felt like life was knocking you down no matter what you did?  And that things that you thought were going to work in your business, suddenly didn’t?  This article is a story of some big lessons I learned recently and wanted to share with you because the concepts I’ll talk about can be the very thing that could jump start you to make new and better decisions in your business and your relationships.

woman with broken hand

This all started last month when I broke my hand right before Christmas. It was a bad enough break that it required surgery. In my mind, I just wanted to get my hand back. You can probably imagine what it’s like for an online entrepreneur to lose her ability to type on the computer. I thought that surgery would be the worst of it.  But I was so very wrong.

I went to my follow-up doctor’s appointment last Thursday and discovered the error of my thinking.  After they cut off the cast, my fingers didn’t move. I was a little freaked out and then the doctor came in and bent my fingers for me (OUCH!). Then he told me the worst was yet to come and sent me off to the physical therapist.

I was pretty emotional driving to the physical therapist office. I kept thinking that I couldn’t handle it getting any worse before it got better. (You may have felt like that from time to time with your business.)  But I didn’t have a choice. I knew that I wanted to have a right-hand that functioned like it used to. So I was going to have to suck it up so that I could get better and do what I need to do.

It occurred to me that often in our business and our lives, we get comfortable with the “dysfunctionality” of how we are operating. We unconsciously choose not to fix it.  But as I was driving home I wondered if we were told as entrepreneurs that very often it’s pretty normal that things get worse before they get better…. how often would we do what it takes to make it all work right?

In the last four weeks, I got really good at typing with my left hand and pecking with my right. I was compensating pretty well. Just as in our businesses we overlook, adapt and go around the places we aren’t strong in. We even compensate in the relationships we choose.

In my life I can see places I have chosen to stay comfortable.  In my business I see areas where I have defaulted to the old ways of being that kept me in my box. (Just read my blog for more examples of this.) What is it for you?  Maybe you don’t pass off tasks to your team because you feel you can do it better yourself.  Maybe you are tolerating clutter and noise in your workspace. Maybe it’s just distractions in your life that keep you feeling like you can never catch up. Think for a bit about where you are working hard at keeping things the same.

But here’s the funny part of the story. It turns out that when I got to the physical therapist, they didn’t hurt me at all (I was expecting some major pain). The pain did come with the exercises that I need to do 3 to 5 times a day. But what I had imagined on my drive over was way worse than the reality. And that’s exactly the business lesson.  We fear making the changes so we don’t, but when we are on the other side of thing we are most afraid of is when true growth occurs.

So let me ask you a few questions to get you thinking.

What are the areas of your life, your relationships and your business that are not functioning at their best?

Would life be easier and maybe even happier if you had your (metaphorical) right hand back?

Are you compensating for something and you don’t even know it?

I’m going to encourage you to keep going, reach out and know that change sometimes happen with pain.  But if you push through and learn the lessons, everyone is better off in the end.