While driving back in the pouring rain from Mike Capuzzi’s Response Boosting Workshop in Philadelphia, it dawned on me that the pounding rain on my windshield was much like all the ads I get bombarded with each and every day online and offline.  (The fact that my windshield wiper blade broke in mid trip didn’t really help me see better either! Good thing Philadelphia is only 90 minutes from my house.)  It was  a fantastic thing, attending Mike’s workshop. Because, I left there with boatloads of information on how to increase my response rate for my marketing.

Since we are being bombarded by ads each and every day, much like the rain pounding on my windshield, as marketers of our business, we have to find a way to get through the rain/clutter and get your message through to your prospect.  And it’s not only getting through to them, it’s also then getting them to take that next step, whether it’s to contact you, sign up for you free offer or buy your product.

So how do you get through that clutter and get more people to respond to your marketing efforts?

1)     Know your ideal client - This one is huge, you have to really know who you’re communicating to in your marketing. And not just know their age, you need to know what keeps them awake at night. You need to know their challenges, their hopes, their fears, their emotional hot buttons.  Then, you need to speak to them in all of your marketing, like when you are writing your copy, your headlines…  just about everything.  Here are some examples of emotional hot buttons: (These speak to why people buy.)

• Avoid Pain
• Avoid Loss
• Avoid Missing out
• Be Popular
• Be Unique
• Make Money
• Protect Their Reputation
• Save Time
• Gain Attention

2)     Looks do Matter - Your copy should be laid out in such a way that it’s attractive for the reader.  In fact, your typefaces for online are different than for offline copy. 

• Offline Ads, sales letters, cards, etc., to be printed – It’s best to use serif fonts like Garamond, which is the best, then Times Roman. A serif font has things coming off the letters.  Most newspapers use Times Roman or Courier.
• Online web copy – Sans serif copy works best and is more readable on the screen. Best fonts are Arial and Verdana, and 12 point size works best.

3)     Your Copy Ought to be Personal - This is really big, the more personal your copy is, the more people will open your direct mail, read your emails and response.  Some examples of making it personal – always use the readers first name, use a handwriting font to make it look like a personal note, use copy doodles (handwritten drawings that make your copy standout). Also, connect with your audience and share something about yourself. Ask them questions, get to know them, and build a relationship with your prospects BEFORE you try to sell them anything.

4)     Why won’t they buy - Do you know your prospects objections to why they wouldn’t buy your product? This is really important. The number 1 most overlooked psychological reason why people don’t buy is because they don’t believe in themselves. They don’t believe  that they can make whatever your offering work for them.  There are many ways to overcome this according to Bill Glazer, President of Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle and author of Outrageous Advertising. (This is an awesome book, a must have in your library if you do a lot of advertising, direct mail and want to get your letter opened!) The best one is to write down all the reasons why people won’t buy and focus on your prospects, NOT your product.

5)     Build a Relationship - This goes back to number 3, it’s not about so much “selling” your prospects, but it’s about building a relationship and adding value.  It’s been proven that people will eventually buy from you over time.  So your job is to connect with your prospects at least once a month and be in touch with them on a regular basis, adding value to their lives.

There’s a lot of great ideas in this post, so don’t get overwhelmed, just pick one of these things and do it today. These ideas are proven and they work, so now just go ahead and implement, one, two or maybe even three of them!

Have you ever heard this phrase before: “Planning Promotes Perfect Performance!” ? I’ve heard this many times from my inspiring and wonderful Executive Coach, Debbie Phillips.  Back in my Corporate America days, when I was the Director of Corporate Communications and we did many employee events, it was always incredibly stressful. And when I had my calls with Debbie, she would always remind me of the 4 P’s of planning – Planning Promotes Perfect Performance.  Because once you have your plan, the rest will simply fall into place, albeit sometimes you need to have a good team in place to help. Yet sometimes the team is just you, so planning becomes hugely important.

I found that whenever I had a plan, everything pretty much fell into place, according to my plan. The times when disaster struck was when I didn’t have a concrete plan written out with specific information, who was responsible for each task and the date it needed to be completed by.  Holding yourself and others to tasks and ultimately to your plan of success is imperative in order to be successful in business and in life.

The one cool thing about having a plan is it actually helps me get more done, seriously.  Why you ask? The reason is when you take the time to put your plan together, you create your own road map, and for me, I call it my Marketing Road Map for my business.  It’s everything that needs to be done and it’s split into categories – what needs to be done for my clients, for my two businesses, and for my personal life.  I’d totally recommend when writing out your overall plan, to do it in categories that work best for you – your business, your clients, your family, etc.  The beauty of this is, after I take the time to write out my plan, I can then get a very clear snapshot on what I will do AND (this is a very important and huge step) what I will OUTSOURCE to others to do FOR ME.  Did you get that?  Once you have your snapshot of what all needs to be done, than you can CLEARLY see how to break up the tasks and outsource to the best people accordingly.

So if you’re stuck in overwhelm mode and have way to much to do, I know the last thing you want to do is put together a plan. Or better yet you already have  a huge  ”to do list.”  I know, I used to have that one too.  But really, the key to getting more done is the planning phase, not the old “to do list.” Write out your big plan, then write your weekly and daily “to do list”" from your overall big plan.  It’s helped me immensely in both my businesses and personal life.  Plus because of my plan, it’s certainly promoting perfect performance for me to end the year amazingly well.

If you’re in overwhelm mode, and want a way to get out of it and have an awesome finish in your business this year, my Marketing Road Map to Riches might be the best thing for you… Here’s a link to my 5 REcession Busting Tip and an Offer to help you put together your Marketing Road Map Plan. You have to HURRY though, my slots for creating these plans are almost all booked up!

Happy Planning!

It’s fall here in New Jersey and I know that not only because there’s a little chill in the air and the leaves are just now starting to change… I know because now when I go to South Mountain Reservation and walk my rescue dog Lily, she chases after all the chestnuts falling from the trees.  The whole scene is actually quite comical, albeit sometimes a little frustrating.  We get a pretty good pace going, then all of sudden we come across this huge patch of several hundred chestnuts on the ground and more falling. (In fact, I have to be careful and often dodge those falling from the trees or they get me right on the old noggin.) As soon as Lily sees them, she chases after them, dive bombs the chestnut, picks one right up and starts to eat it.  Ok, she doesn’t swallow them anymore because let’s just say she and chestnuts don’t get along. Yet, she still loves to chase and pick them up (and there are a lot of them now) and chew them and then lets them drop.  For those who are visual, like me, I actually took my camera with me to take some snap shots of her. The only bummer was she was too quick to get this on video,  maybe tomorrow!  So I only have some choice shots of my chestnut chasing dog…

So what does her chestnut chasing antics have to do with teaching me how to be a better implementer and get more done? Simply put, watching Lily chase after EVERY chestnut on the ground, reminded me of myself over a year ago, where I would basically chase after that next “shiny” object. Some of you entrepreneurs out there who work at home, know EXACTLY what I mean.  Being at home, there’s always something that will get my attention and it usually isn’t the something that will bring me in lots of money or help improve my business.

So I got down to brass tacks when I started noticing how my days were not as productive as I’d like.  The real crux was reading a few good books on time management (there are many!), getting Eben Pagan’s course on Wake-Up Productive, and having a mastermind group, belonging to two of them really helps keep me on track.  The real trick to not going after EVERY “shiny” object that comes across my path is having a big detailed plan of what I want to accomplish.  I mean really detailed, like what I will outsource, what skills I need for certain tasks, date it will be completed, etc.  The  more detailed the merrier. Plus at the start of each day and as I go through my day I’m always asking myself “Is this task going to get me closer to reaching my goal?” “Is this task going to help me create more income?” If the answer is no, then guess what, I’m not doing that task.

One more tip I can leave you with is the object isn’t to “do more.” The object is to be more productive with “what” you are doing and ensure you’re doing the tasks that will create greater income and help you reach the goals you so deserve!

So when you get the urge to go after that next “shiny” object, as yourself the telling questions, will this help me get and reach my goals? Then have the courage to change your course, if need be, and stick to the things that will help you reach and accomplish your goals.

Much debate goes on about what kills dreams these days, and of course there are many things.  But, how many of these things can be directly attributed to the person themselves?  What I mean is, instead of blaming the world, money, people, competition and everything outside of us, why not look within us first.

I just finished this book, The War of Art, Break Through The Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. It was given to me at a Dan Kennedy workshop called the 7 Figure Academy.  The sole focus of this workshop was on the 7 ways to take your 6 figure business to 7 figures.  It was fascinating to me because a lot of this stuff I already knew and was using to help my clients.  Yet, it was assembled and explained to me in a way that I really got it on a whole other level too.

There was a lot of discussion and time spent on overcoming resistance.  Let’s face it, in order to be a successful entrepreneur and business owner, we have a lot of obstacles we need to face and overcome.  The biggest one I think is that huge internal one, you know what I’m talking about, those little voices inside of you that try to stop you from being successful. The ones that say you’re not good enough, or you don’t deserve this, or you’re going to fail, or instilling huge fear in you so much so that it freezes you right in your tracks and stops you from getting what you want and being successful.  These same voices that unfortunately have taken some great people from us like Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi and others… they suffered from their inner demons and in the end couldn’t over come them. In fact, Oprah just had Whitney Houston on her opening show, wow, talk about demons and resistance.  Hers kept her from singing for almost 7 years.  Thank goodness she has a wonderful mom, who stepped in so she could find her incredible gift again, get past her demons of resistance and share her voice once more with the world.

I call them my little internal demons.  They rear their ugly heads when I least expect it.  In  Pressfield’s book, he talks a lot about how resistance shows up in your life and gives you some really great concrete ways to handle and push through them.  Here’s a great quote: Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.  Wow, that is so true. And another truth is we’re not alone in our resistance, we all struggle with it. Like when I was sitting down at the computer to write this, I could thing of a million other things I had to do and got up and did a few of them because I was “resistant” to writing this blog!

So my advice to you, is to be aware and pay more attention to yourself.  When you don’t want to do something, stop for a second, see if this is resistance calling and keeping you from doing something really great.  Make a daily plan where you’re focusing on core actions that will bring in more clients and more money each day.  Don’t fill your days with too many activities that will leave you feeling empty and like you have accomplished nothing. Face your internal demons and chip away at them so you can be the success entrepreneur that you came here to be.

One last thing that I have found really helps, join a group of like-minded entrepreneurs that meet on a regular basis. I”m in 2 different mastermind mind groups which were and still are awesome in helping me grow my business.  Nothing beats having like-minded entrepreneurs, who are incredibly successful, all working together to help you ensure your success as well.  This helps keep you stay on track with your business and make bigger leaps of  progress in shorter time frames. Remember isolation is a dream killer, that’s when the resistance demon strikes best.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, “a rising tide floats all boats.” So work on overcoming your resistance and even helping others with this a long the way. We are much stronger together than we are separately.  There’s much power within in us.  Don’t let your fear and resistance take you away from being the incredible successful entrepreneur that you truly are and came here to be.

The number of times I’ve gone bowling at an actual bowling alley could be counted on both hands.  I went a couple of times when I lived in New Orleans (I grew up there until I moved away after going to LSU for college.) they had this great place called the Mid-City Lanes Rock-N-Bowl on the corner of Carrolton and Tulane.  It was this great old bowling alley that was up these really steep stairs and it wasn’t just bowling.  They had great Louisiana cuisine, (gumbo, crawfish etouffee, po-boys, etc.) and they had live local bands playing while you bowled.  It was so much fun, having a beer, eating great food and bowling. Of course the bowling for me was secondary to the music, food and drink.  I’ve never been an avid bowler, the game escapes me. I mean it seems so simple.  You roll a medium size ball down an alley and try to hit the ten pins at the end of it and knock them over.  Yet, to bowl, you really need to learn and practice this skill. And it’s one that I ‘d never quite figured out and just what it would mean to me many years later.

I also went bowling every so often at friends parties and an occasional birthday party for my son Harrison.  Then we got the Wii and I got a kick out of the bowling game, it was so real, even though it was just a video game. I kicked butt on the video game.

Then it happened, a few weeks ago for my son’s 12^th birthday we took him into New York City and went to Chelsea Bowling Alley on pier 60.  It was such a cool place, with the lights, music, and food. Reminded me a bit of my days back in New Orleans, but this alley was way too new and the music and food were no way near New Orleans standards.

They made me bowl first, so talk about pressure… I thought, ok, this is going to be fine, I have all that practice from playing on the Wii, I’d be fine.  Well the first bowl was a gutter ball, the next, more of the same, then everyone after me starting knocking down pins.  I have to say I was getting a bit frustrated about my lack of “bowling” ability. We had 6 of us bowling… Then it hit me as I watched everyone else, it wasn’t about them.  I shouldn’t care what they think or even how they bowl.  And if I did, I’d have to use that emotion to fuel me to do better.  By the way, I was in last place.

So it was then and there when it was my next turn, that I decided to try something new.  I stood up and walked to the lane to pick up my ball and I simply visualized throwing a strike.  I didn’t think too much though, no over analyzing, I just saw the strike, then I kept that vision when I let go of the ball and guess what?  I had a strike!  How cool was that?!  I wish I could write that I used this strategy for the rest of the game and won. As it always happens in real life I got too distracted.  The good news is that I did finish in 3^rd place, which was much better than last!

The real lesson for me was what I discovered about bowling and how it’s helped me be a better entrepreneur… When you have your own business there are thousands of things that come at you and distract you from making money.  The real core and crux of being successful is having that vision of what success is, and taking the key core actions to make it come to fruition.  To create your success plan of goals for the year and ensure you take plenty of action to make them happen. So in order to be a success in business as entrepreneur you need a vision, a plan, and you need to take action and surround yourself with people who will help and support you to make it happen. Keep in mind the more focused you are, the clearer your vision, the better manager of time and being able to outsource what you’re not good at are great factors to help you be an incredibly successful entrepreneur.  Just know there will probably be some gutter balls here and there and maybe even a spare or two.  The real thrill comes from getting that first strike, so don’t forget to celebrate.  Then get ready to do it all over again!

In my printed newsletter from July, (If you’re not getting my FREE printed monthly newsletter, click here to sign up!) I promised you that I’d  explain the 4 Top Secret Ways in which people learn and why these are crucial to your business. Eben Pagan introduced me to these learning styles at his Guru Workshop in LA, and he got these from Dr.  Wyatt Woodsmall.  He’s a certified master trainer and master modeler in NLP and has over 25 years experience in behavior modeling and training.

Discovering these styles was a fascinating revelation to me, not only because we all learn differently, but the fact that we can then use these in our businesses.  This is really highly important and crucial information to you and your business, so don’t take this lightly.  You’re probably asking yourself right now, “Well why is this important to me?”  It’s important because knowing these different learning styles, you can then ensure that they are incorporated in your marketing, advertising and when you write ads, sales letters, create presentations, write a self-help book, when you coach, or even when you create information products. By using these, you”ll be reaching a lot more people because you’ll be appealing to the way they learn, read and understand information. So these are key, especially when you’re creating an information product!

Here are the 4 Ways People Learn:

1. WHY: Why should I learn this? (1/3^rd of people learn this way) These people area always  asking themselves – “why is this important to me?” They’re also asking “Why do I need to know this?” These people need to be motivated and need to know what the outcome is, what they will achieve and what challenges they will avoid by doing such and such. So, when you are thinking about your product be sure to address the – why one should be doing this.
2. WHAT:  What am I learning? People who learn this way are abstract thinkers, and usually have a higher level of education. These people want to know the history, philosophy, psychology and even theory behind your product. They need to see the whole picture, the process, and the features in order to buy into your product. A lot of these thinkers are college professors.
3. HOW:  What is the step by step process? These people are not concerned with the What and the Why they just want to know the the step by step process of “How” to do it. In order for them to buy in, they have to understand  “how it” works.  So give them step 1, 2 and 3 of exactly what they need to do to take advantage of your offer, or solve their problem, etc.
4. WHAT IF:  I get it, so let’s just do it. These people are mainly entrepreneurs, they see the whole picture and what the outcome could be and want to just dive in. So, you need to give them the one thing they need to do right now.

So how can we apply this to your business?  If your goal is to get as many people as possible to see what you have to offer, then you must appeal to the masses. And in order to do this, you need to structure all of your copy to meet the needs of every learning type. Here is why you need to do this. Here are the actions you need to take. Here is what it is. Now go and do it. So, make sure you adress these learning styles in your text, in your product, course and on your web site.  These 4 learning styles could really help you and your business, so go out now and implement them!

Have you ever sent out an email to a bunch of folks and later found out that there was an egregious typo, or maybe you got a fact wrong, or maybe you forgot a word, or had a wrong date and on an on?  The worst of it is that you didn’t find it, that one of your prospects, or maybe it was one of your clients took time out to tell you about your error.

Well I can tell you from going through this experience more than once, it’s no fun making mistakes, simple ones like typos in your advertising, or in your email, and even more complex ones like picking the wrong business partner or backing the wrong product and it goes bust on you.

The one thing I discovered and that’s what I wanted to share with you is the best way to look at your mistakes is ask yourself this question? What’s the worst thing that could happen from this mistake?  Now be forewarned your mind will go to some pretty interesting and maybe even some scary places. This is what my new colleague Noah St. John calls beware of your “head trash.” (He’s the author of the newly published book – The Secret Code of Success.) You’ve got a lot gunk up in them there hills of your mind that’s embedded many experiences good and bad from childhood.  The best way to use this exercise is to stop your mind and realistically look at the worst thing that could happen. So in my case, because that’s really why I’m writing.  I made a pretty good mistake in my last newsletter. I went through the exercise and realized probably the worst thing that could happen is those who read it thought I was a little off my rocker, or couldn’t add, or worst yet, I was lost in time… So let me tell you what my mistake was in my newsletter. (The funny thing is so far only one person caught it and told me about it.) In my main article about my workshop with Jeff Walker, I said how I went to his training 2 years ago in 1997. I’m thinking I was channeling 1997, had some great memories, but the point is I should have said it was back in 2007. So… that was my big mistake. And yes, I do have an editor who looks over my newsletter, among many other things and we still didn’t catch it. Go figure!

My moral of the story is we’re only human. I make mistakes just like the next person. I would hope you’d walk away with some great lessons-

1-     Don’t let making a mistake stop or paralyze you from taking a chance or doing something you want to do.

2-     When you make mistake, always ask yourself what’s the worst thing that can happen

3-     At all costs, fix the mistake, or mend the bridge, or figure out a way to deal with and handle the worst thing that can happen.

4-     Irony would have it, when making mistakes, lots of times you’re better off having made them simply because of the wonderful learning experience you can turn it into.

Lastly, I decided to give away a free gift for all those who caught my mistake, as a mea culpa and I’ll work on doing better next time.  I just recorded a call with Valerie Young, ChangingCourse.com.  I did this special bonus call for her students who are training to be Outside the Job Box Experts. They work with you to help you discover your passion and find the best career for you.  It was The 7 Easy Ways to Economically Get New Clients, and to Easily Boost Your New Business In A Down Economy. To access this mp3 recording, just click here.

I always try to look at mistakes now as learning opportunities, hence I wrote about it here. I’d love to hear your storiesand how you’ve made lemonade out of some lemons. Here’s to turning our mistakes into awesome learning and discovery tools….

Have you ever heard of the information marketing business? It’s a fascinating space that I stumbled upon three years ago. It’s really an interesting niche market, filled with people who sell information. This isn’t any old information though. Most of these folks are amazing experts in their field and hence have created products, courses, newsletters, and membership sites to share with their clients and prospects.

Why do these people get into the Information Marketing business?

There are several reasons, other than the obvious one which is making a lot of money. Here are some key reasons to get into this business:

1) You don’t really need a staff in this kind of business

2) Not a whole lot money needs to be tied up into inventory

3) People who buy your products will more than often buy more if they like what they see

5) If done right, you are truly able to multiply and leverage what you know

6) And of course – making oodles of money!!

What’s stopping you from getting into the information marketing business? Or have you made up your mind to get into this business and just don’t know where to start? Well on both counts, you are in the right place.

Stay-tuned in the coming weeks where I’ll reveal more about the Information Marketing business and why you might want to consider jumping in and selling some information of your own that’s locked inside of you…

Here’s a great example of a very successful information marketer – Eben Pagan.  He has a pen name, David D’Angelo, and created a multi-million dollar information business with his product – Double your dating . I just attended his event in LA.  It was a Guru workshop for people who want to get into internet marketing and creating their own products.  His event was stellar and right on. Gave a great framework on how to start your information business and tons of great ideas!  So much more to share with you…be sure to stay tuned!

Yours truly and Melanie my godchild

I will never forget that particular day in February,  many years ago, when I received the call that my sister was on her way to the hospital because she was going to have her first baby.  This was big news in our family, mainly because she was the first sibling to have a baby. It was doubly exciting for me because I was going to be an aunt and she had asked me to be the baby’s godparent. I was awed and taken aback, sounded like a big responsibility, yet I was thrilled and jumped in with both feet as I always do.

My mom, sister, me and Melanie at her christening

The christening was about 6 weeks later, so I booked my plane ticket and flew down to meet my little godchild. She was beautiful, always smiling, happy and had taken to me as I held her and rocked her to sleep. She loved to fall asleep on my shoulder.  It was an amazing experience, holding that little tiny baby as she was baptized and everyone looking on in the church.  The only sad thing for me was my sister lived over 1000 miles away, so I would try to make a trip once a year for a week to visit and hang out with my godchild. I remember one trip in particular we had had so much fun, that when it was time for me to go she ran onto the bed and flopped across my suitcase and declared “I’m going, pack me in your bag!”

Melanie trying to fit into my suitcase so I can take her home with me. (She was 3 yrs old)

Fast forward 16 years later, my little godchild is not so little anymore (She’s taller than me now!).  In fact, I just got back from spending a week with her, my sister and her family.  As it turned out, my wonderful godchild was graduating from high school.  It was so wonderful to be there for her. She’s so grown up! When did that happen?  It was another amazing experience and a huge transition. In fact, my sister and I, since her first child was born, have both gone through many transitions. She moved several times and had 2 more kids, both girls.  My transitions were many, surviving 4 layoffs in 9 years, a divorce, and the poor passing of my 2 beloved Golden Retrievers.

Melanie and I at her graduation this month. (She's 18 now!)

So, as I was sitting there in that amphitheater with my mom, watching Melanie (my godchild) walk across that stage and accept her diploma, I was awash with tears of joy and sadness.  How did this time pass so quickly?  And when did I become the “cool” aunt that all my nieces wanted to hang out with?  How bizarre to be sitting here watching a graduation of over 600 students in Houston, Texas and be struck with all the transitions we go through in life.  So, this prompted me to write because as I saw the amazing transformation of my godchild, I also know she has wonderful parents (and aunts, uncles and grand parents) who have instilled in her many survival tips and tactics of sorts on how to make it through each and every life transition in one piece.

And since I’ve been through many of my own life transitions, some of them all at once (my divorce, laid off from my job, losing my house, my best friend) I wrote a chapter about it for this awesome book by Debbie Phillips (Founder of Women On Fire) Women on Fire, 20 Inspiring Women  Share their Life Secrets (and Save you Years of Struggle!). I have the honor of being one of the 20 Inspiring Women who share their life secrets in Debbie Phillips new book, Women On Fire. This book is a heart-stirring and heartwarming anthology of stories written by 20 courageous and powerful women who faced real-life challenges and successfully moved through them to become authentic women on fire. Each woman shares the details of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and describes how she summoned the strength to overcome it and emerge stronger, healthier, happier, and more deeply fulfilled. The most important part of their message is that you can do the same! If you want to discover more about my 7 Secrets to Life’s Transitions, click here!

I’m thrilled to be a part of this book, this Women On Fire movement and to have so many wonderful Women on Fire in my life – my sister, my mom, my beautiful godchild, and my nieces!

Click here to order your personal signed copy of Women On Fire by yours truly!!

Debbie Phillips, Founder of Women on Fire and me with the new "Inspire Me" DVD

If you want to be inspired even more, check out the newly printed – WOMEN ON FIRE DVD: Inspire ME – it’s s a delightful video tour into the world of Women on Fire.

Discover ways to move forward in your life when you meet real-life women who are “on fire” about their lives. Click here for more information about the DVD and how to order.

You will experience the magic of Women On Fire Tea Parties (read more about how the Women On Fire Tea Parties saved my life) and be invited into an exclusive live Women on Fire workshop.

This seems to be the hot topic – what to do when you get laid off from your job? It’s unfortunately affecting hundreds, if not thousands of people, right now as I write.  And this is no time to jump for joy or make light of your situation. In fact, I hope that I can help you with offering you my own words of wisdom by revealing my 7 secrets to how I was able to survive being let go from my job.  This is where I have the honor of being brutally honest with you because, I not only was let go from my corporate job once, but I was let go 4 times in 9 years!

The really awesome inspiring thing about my journey from job to job, was I discovered a ton of things about myself, my work, and my life from going through this experience SOOO many times.  In fact, it was such an ordeal for me that I ended up writing over 10,000 words about it.  The fun news is that I was able to edit those 10,000 words down to 3,000 and wrote a chapter and am a co-author in the newly published book, Women On Fire, 20 Inspiring Women Share Their Life Secrets (and Save You Years of Struggle!) by Debbie Phillips, Founder of Women On Fire.

Yours Truly signing my first copy of the book for a good friend!

Yours Truly and Debbie Phillips, Women On Fire Founder

My chapter is poetically called: Breaking Loose From Corporate America: 7  secrets to surviving being let go from your job. In my chapter, I highlight the 7 things that really helped me to deal with being laid off all those times. The real tough part was the first time I was told that I wasn’t a match in the current job I was in.  I was only in the position for 3 months and they changed the qualifications and wanted me to leave.  That had NEVER happened to me before. I had worked all my life since I was right out of college. I had no clue what to do with myself if I wasn’t working. I totally had identified with my work, I was my job. With no job, who in the world was I now?  This was a huge step for me getting past this point. And I’ll reveal to you a few of my secrets to help you on your journey. (For a complete list and to read about my story, you can order your personally signed copy of the book by me here.) The first thing that was truly a Godsend was my Executive Coach, Debbie Phillips.  She was the glue (and the help of my therapist) who kept me together and helped me make some very intelligent decisions that have served me well.  So Secret #1 is – “You have to have support!”  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  You need a support system, or I call it a support team to help get you through these difficult times, don’t try to do it alone.

My 2nd Secret is “Tame the Mind.” This was was incredibly helpful. I had went to several spiritual classes to help me learn how to meditate. I would highly recommend visiting Kripalu or the Omega Institute.  Plus I read these inspiring books by Pema Chodron’s- The Places that Scare You,  When Things Fall Apart, or Start Where You are. There were many more I read, yet these truly helped me in my journey to overcome the loss of my job. Because being let go is a loss and you have grief and are grieving from this loss.  So that was helpful too, to acknowledge my grief, own it and let it simply then to pass through me.

Being let go from your job, is really hard and can be extremely challenging on many levels, emotionally, mentally, physically and of course financially.  And I know it’s really hard to see right now that your being let go was really a gift to you.  It certainly was for me.  Having been let go so many times, I finally got it- Corporate America was not my playing ground anymore!  I was thrilled to be able to start my own Direct Response Marketing Coaching and Consulting company. It’s been 3 years since I started my business and I haven’ ever looked back with regret.

Here's the cover of the book!

Here’s some more in depth information about the book - Women On Fire, 20 Inspiring Women Share Their Life Secrets (and Save You Years of Struggle!) by Debbie Phillips, Founder of Women On Fire.

Are you in the midst of “life issues” and feel as though they may prevent you from living your deepest passion?  Are you ready to be “on fire” about something special in your life? Save yourself from unnecessary struggling and get this book!!

I have the honor of being one of the 20 Inspiring Women who share their life secrets in Debbie Phillips new book, Women On Fire. This book is a heart-stirring and heartwarming anthology of stories written by 20 courageous and powerful women who faced real-life challenges and successfully moved through them to become authentic women on fire. Each woman shares the details of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and describes how she summoned the strength to overcome it and emerge stronger, healthier, happier, and more deeply fulfilled. The most important part of their message is that you can do the same!

Here are 13 of the Co-Authors at a Special book party before the book came out.

Reading these inspiring stories, you will discover how you too, can:

• Tap into your passion and make a living from it
• Transform being laid off or fired into exciting new dreams
• Survive and even flourish after the death of a spouse or loved one
• Joyfully step off the corporate track
• Gracefully move through divorce and thrive after it
• Find love, even when you think it has passed you by
• Earn your college degree in midlife
• Be enriched from the responsibility of caring for both your children and your parents
• Successfully overcome an eating disorder
• End job burnout…forever

As you can see, these topics cover a wide range of speed bumps we all can experience in this wonderful journey of living our lives. And it is not always about the actual speed bump but more importantly how we deal with it. Does it stop us in our tracks or do we learn and grow from it? And as for yours truly, my speed bump was particularly challenging for me, but I chose to stop, take the time to see and ultimately to grow from it and in the end I was in a much better place.

Click here to order your personal signed copy of Women On Fire by yours truly!!

Yours Truly and Debbie Phillips holding the 1st copy of the Inspire Me! Dvd.

If you want to be inspired even more, check out the newly printed – WOMEN ON FIRE DVD: Inspire ME – it’s s a delightful video tour into the world of Women on Fire.

Discover ways to move forward in your life when you meet real-life women who are “on fire” about their lives. Click here for more information about the DVD and how to order.

You will experience the magic of Women On Fire Tea Parties (read more about how the Women On Fire Tea Parties saved my life)and be invited into an exclusive live Women on Fire workshop.

So, get your copy of the book and DVD today and carry this wisdom with you as proof that you too can survive and more importantly thrive in this life!!!