This is a guest post by Victoria MacLean, co-founder of BeauCoo.

When I complained of boredom as a little girl, my mother would look at me and say, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

I guess I took that advice to heart. In the last seven years, I’ve started four companies and two nonprofits, all while raising a kid. I’m definitely not bored now.

It’s not easy being a mom, no matter what kind of work you do. It’s hard to know how to prioritize everything: kids, work, husband, friends, volunteering, and time to just breathe. Women in a male-centric environment like tech have another unique challenge. We have to be hard-asses at work. When we’re the bosses, we have to be in charge, demand the best from everyone around us, and drive hard bargains with suppliers.

That attitude doesn’t transfer well to family life. Kids need a nurturer, not a boss. How can you make sure you’re being a leader at work, but also in your kids’ lives? Being a parent and an entrepreneur is a wild ride, but both roles are extremely rewarding ones to fill.

Work with an Understanding Team

It can be difficult to expect employees or team members to work late on a deadline while you have to attend a school concert or deal with your kid being bullied at school. But as a mother, you have to accept and integrate all the pieces of your life, rather than try to balance them.

Sometimes, it’s OK to answer an email or send a text when you’re waiting in the gym for the kids to file in — as long as you set down the phone and give your full attention when the concert starts. A good team will understand your responsibilities and priorities as a parent.

Letting your team know how you work as a parent will help you work well at your company, too. Be honest and upfront with them if you have a family commitment. If you can’t be on your phone for a few hours, give them plenty of notice so they can prepare for your time away. An understanding and hard-working team gets its tasks done together, no matter the circumstances.

Be a Stay-At-Home Entrepreneur

One of the great perks of being a tech entrepreneur is being able to work anytime from anywhere. Kids get sick, and sometimes they just need Mom to be there while they watch TV. The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you have more leeway to work from home (or wherever you might find yourself in parenting) during these times.

When I worked in a corporate environment, it was still frowned upon for a woman to stay home with kids or leave the office early for soccer. That’s not the case now! If you can get your work done efficiently from home, do it. Your children will benefit, and your work will not suffer.

If you choose to work at home, try to integrate some rules with the kids so they know your office or workspace is designated for work. Work in increments, and take time to check in with the children. Let them know that although work is important, they come first.

Separating (or Not Separating) Family and Work

The idea for my company, BeauCoo, came to me when I was pregnant. In a city of a million people, I couldn’t find stores that sold clothes over size 12 for pregnant women. I had to wear sweats and stretchy clothes — definitely nothing fashionable. I felt awful about my body, but becoming a mom made me realize that I couldn’t let negative body image control me. Having a child who was much taller than kids his age also made me realize how sensitive I had to be about body image and how my own experiences were transferring to him.

BeauCoo was born as a way for fashion-forward girls who aren’t a size 2 to connect and celebrate their unique bodies. It’s also a family affair. My husband and I are co-founders. This is tricky when we have important meetings together and no childcare, but I always know my partner values my family as much as I do. We also love bringing our son to the office when he’s out of school. He’s been a part of the start-up community his entire life, and that exposure to entrepreneurship at a young age is worth every tradeoff we make.

Of course, it’s tricky juggling it all. But throughout the years, I’ve found a few things that really make things easier.

1.      Find consistent support. Not every mom in tech can co-found with her husband, but it’s important that he’s supportive. It’s also vital to find help — family, friends, or babysitters — that understands crazy hours and can be flexible.
2.      Schedule family time. As entrepreneurs, we schedule everything else. If we don’t make family time as high a priority, it will never happen. When it is family time, put your phone down and walk away from the computer. Really engage with the kids and be completely there for them.
3.      Find time to relax. Drive home slowly, or grab some coffee. Go to the grocery store if you have to! Whatever it is, take time to breathe and relax a little.
4.      Don’t overwork yourself. There’s always something else to do, but if you let your health deteriorate, you won’t be able to accomplish anything. Your mental and physical health is a priority. If Mom falls apart, it’s probable that everything else will, too.

I wish I could say that doing these things makes everything perfect. They won’t. I still have days when the house isn’t clean or I drop the ball on a school event. When those things happen, the most important thing you can do is let go of guilt. As a mother in tech, you’re impacting entrepreneurship, technology, and your kids’ perspective of life. If you are doing your best every day, then the rest will fall into place.

Victoria MacLean is the co-founder of BeauCoo, a fun, body positive community for women that makes it easy to discover styles, brands, and stores by sharing photos of stylish finds in-store or at home. Connect with Victoria on Twitter and Google+.

Where can you find a puppy, a roommate, a job, and spare auto parts? Craigslist, of course. So, why not turn to the almighty online classifieds for some lessons in content marketing, too? I’m a big Craigslist fan, so stick with me here as I extract five lessons for small business owners and marketers!

#1  Creative Posts = Likes, +1’s, Re-Tweets…

I could have just titled this post “5 Online Marketing Tips,” but of course, you wouldn’t be reading it. The same goes for Craigslist posts. (By the way, if you’ve never read a great Craigslist ad before, then you just don’t know where to look.)

When you get creative with the titles and content of your blog posts you’ll get the traffic that you crave. This is something I’m always telling my writers at Content Equals Money. Always take a couple extra minutes to write a killer headline!

#2  Be Time Sensitive

Depending on where you live, your Craigslist post can get buried in a tidal wave of content. In New York City, for example, a job posting from this morning may be back on the third page of listings by the afternoon.

Successful Craigslist posters know that they have to time their posts perfectly in order to get the audience they want. You should be doing the same thing with your blog posts, tweets, and Facebook posts.

A lot has been written on this subject, so I’ll just direct you to this Mashable article for everything you need to know about publishing time sensitive Facebook posts and Tweets.

#3  Give Readers More Than They Expect

When you exceed expectations, you don’t just make someone happy. You also gain their trust and come to be seen as a provider of value. I don’t have to tell you that those things go a long way in business.

Giving “value” does not necessarily mean giving more. Just look at Craigslist. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, “did one simple thing: He thought about what his users wanted and put very little on his site that wasn’t useful to them.”

Sometimes less really is more.

#4 Show Some Personality

Don’t let your content marketing look robotic. Be personable. Great “Craigslist-ers” know how to write to their audience. Selling a jackhammer and passing off a litter of kittens require two totally different vocabularies.

Show your audience that you know who they are and how to talk the talk. This ties in with point number three because it helps build trust, too.

#5 Don’t Spin Articles/Content

As a content marketer, I loathe article spinning. You could argue that a form of “article spinning” exists on Craigslist in the form of copy-and-paste real estate postings. When you’re hunting for a new apartment, wading through this junk is painful.

Don’t do this to your readers either. Create original content that shares something worth reading. No, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you publish. But, every piece of content you write should be unique at the fundamental level.

Any other parallels you see between Craigslist and content marketing? Share in the comments section!

Nowadays, the self-made woman is practically a commonplace phenomenon. Women are highly educated, active in politics, unabashedly ambitious, and increasingly making the leap to start their own businesses. Compared to what life was like for women even as little as 50 years ago, today’s reality is pretty amazing. What’s even more amazing is that even though history is full of examples of the subjugation of women, it’s equally full of examples of astonishing women who defined it. Instead of looking at the present for models of female entrepreneurs, let’s take a look into the past at some of the extraordinary women who changed the world.

Sappho

Born on the island of Lesbos around 630 BC, the details of the life of this ancient Greek lyrical poet are lost to history. However, her work, and her legend remain influential even today. With sharp and beautiful imagery, and a melodic word selection, Sappho’s poetry was probably meant to be sung and not spoken. Praised in antiquity by the likes of Plato, there was a revitalized interest in her work during the Renaissance.

Joan of Arc

Burned at the stake for heresy at the age of 19, Joan of Arc was later declared a martyr and patron saint of France. Born a peasant, she claimed divine intervention and went on to be an incredible successful military leader, ensuring countless French victories during the Hundred Years War. Her aggressive tactics and passionate rhetoric changed the course of the war, and her memory lives on with the help of frequent artistic depictions, from Shakespeare to Mark Twain to modern films.

Catherine the Great

Talk about team building! Catherine the Great, the renowned empress of Russia, ruled over the country as it became the largest and most powerful it had ever been. Her success was in large part due to enlisting the assistance and advice of the most esteemed generals and nobles she could find. Often called the Golden Age of the Russian Empire, the era in which she ruled saw many reforms and architectural advancements. She was also in charge when Russia established the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe.

Florence Nightingale

Born to an upper class English family during an age when marriage and family we’re considered the ultimate achievement for women, Nightingale decided instead to create a profession. Of course, there were nurses before Nightingale, but she changed the game and laid the foundation of modern nursing as a career. Later in life, she helped to issue reforms that would improve British healthcare, expand opportunities for women in the workplace, and help ease hunger in India.

Marie Curie

Curie holds the distinction of being the only person, male or female, to win the Nobel Prize in multiple sciences. A Polish physicist and chemist, Curie made clear that science was not only a man’s game with her pioneering research into radioactivity. She would continue to break ground, becoming the first female professor at the University of Paris.

Rosa Parks

December 1^st, 1955, a department store seamstress on her way home from work refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on-board a Montgomery, Alabama bus. That woman was Rosa Parks, and that action not only got her arrested, it sparked a movement in the form of a citywide, 381-day bus boycott.  Later, when asked why she refused to give up her seat, Rosa recalled that it wasn’t because she was physically tired, but that she was tired of giving in. Her courage that day and in the days to come would earn her a place in history as a Civil Rights pioneer and a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the recipient of many prestigious accolades and awards. In 1999, TIME Magazine recognized Rosa Parks as one of “The 20 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.”  

J.K. Rowling

We’ve got to end the list with a modern representative of a spectacular woman, so why not choose the author of the best-selling book series in history? A single mother struggling to stay afloat with the help of social security checks, Rowling is a true rags-to-riches story. Her stories of wizards and muggles proved to be just what the public wanted, and Harry Potter made her a multi-millionaire in five years, not to mention help reawaken a passion for reading in children around the world.

There are certainly hundreds of women to choose from, and the list only continues to grow. Nowadays, it may be filled with CEOs and media moguls, but let’s never forget the women who helped shape the society in which we live.

Who is an inspirational historical figure that inspires you? Share your favorites in the comments below.

Who is Shradha Agarwal?

Shradha Agarwal is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of ContextMedia, a leading media technology company that educates and informs consumers as they make critical decisions about their health. Shradha was named to Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 list, and she was the Stevies’ 2012 Female Entrepreneur of the Year. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.

What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you? Who is this person? What does she do?

The word “entrepreneur” has now become very trendy to use, and it conjures up images of college dropouts-turned-billionaires, like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. In reality, an entrepreneur is someone who challenges the status quo and suggests better products or services to improve an industry or society. Being an entrepreneur is an attitude, skillset, and philosophy. It is more than a success story for the magazines, or even a career path. These are a few of the qualities needed in an entrepreneur.

Attitude: An entrepreneur is curious, passionate, and unafraid. An entrepreneur asks “Why?” and “How?” — and “How else?” and “Why not?” This person is optimistic, has the ability to dream big, works hard to make it real, and has a big appetite for risk and change.

Skillset: An entrepreneur needs to have the capability to jump into the swimming pool to execute, the desire to continually learn and improve, and the confidence to know what she knows and what she doesn’t know.

Philosophy: Finally, entrepreneurs have to believe they make life happen — life doesn’t happen to them. They need to have the will to make the impossible possible and have the stamina to keep going when things get tough!

When defining who an entrepreneur is, do you think the lines are blurred? Why is this?

When we speak of an entrepreneur, it doesn’t define one type of person or career path. Someone who launched a new division in her agency by recognizing changing customer needs is also an entrepreneur. A lawyer who identifies a new industry to expand her practice in is also entrepreneurial.

What was your path to entrepreneurship? How did your career start out and what led you to the place where you are now?

As a kid, I was always looking for ways to bring information to people and make money doing it. I didn’t recognize this was entrepreneurism, but now I have a nice label to apply! I was in fourth grade when I started renting books to my classmates so they could read more — and I could have more money to expand my library of books. I started a newspaper in high school and also launched a magazine in college.

While working at a news station in college, where I was enrolled as a pre-law student, I saw how inefficient our system was — reporters were bringing us information after the incident vs. us bringing information to people to prevent the incident. I wanted to bring information to people at a better time and place so they could take action and improve lives.

Entrepreneurship was not on my shortlist of career paths; teaching and being a lawyer, writer, and journalist were. But I began to recognize the entrepreneurial traits in myself — looking for ways to improve things around me, always being positive and fearless, and believing in taking action over talking — and I knew this would be my way forward.

What lead you to make a change to become an entrepreneur? Are you a different person now because of it?

Entrepreneurship is an acquired taste. It takes a lot of practice to avoid obstacles and remain optimistic through it all. While you may enjoy an occasional challenge, are you ready for each day becoming a new challenge? A lot of people think full-time entrepreneurship is cool, and there are certainly aspects that are extremely cool! However, like anything else, the coin has two sides. People sometimes forget to evaluate whether their personalities and skills are a good fit for pursuing their own business, or whether they may be happier being entrepreneurial in another environment.

When you see other people who may want to make the same career change that you did, but don’t think they are cut out for it, how does that make you feel? What would you tell them?

I think we are cut out to do anything we put our minds to! But you should make educated decisions, and it’s important to understand the risks and benefits of choosing the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Why is it so important to women to believe in themselves at entrepreneurs, and what effect does that have on our county and the world?

Women are natural givers; they have empathy, a strong work ethic, and willpower. (Didn’t you skip that cookie at the party last night?) But women need to be better at believing in their own abilities and strengths, and they need to toot their own horns. Our society sets high expectations for women, and, in turn, women set their own goals extremely high. Hence, we are judged by a higher standard.

We need to learn to follow our guts, ignore the naysayers, and bring our ideas into existence. Women tend to launch and build businesses that are based on solving problems or making an impact on the world, rather than a business focused on building the ego or personal wealth of the founder. It is important that we challenge and support each other because these businesses change our society and world.

What was your path to entrepreneurship? How did your career start out, and what led you to working in Silicon Valley?  

I grew up in Silicon Valley, or, specifically, Cupertino, which is where I still reside. Silicon Valley and I grew up together; I worked at Apple, literally in a building that stands on the same land where I picked apricots as a kid. So, I have extremely deep roots here — and a huge investment in the continued, vibrant growth of this area, and the tech industry itself. Remaining at the cutting edge of technology is one way for our economy to continue to thrive, despite all obstacles.

My career actually began with a focus on the music industry. I started out working at Guitar Player and Keyboard magazines, which were also based in Cupertino. I put myself through college while working and then moved to Los Angeles to work for a major record label — EMI Music. Of course, music has always been tied very closely to tech advancements, and I have always focused on building strong relationships on both sides of that equation to have a strong effect on the two industries I love.

After EMI, I was recruited to return to Cupertino to launch the music focus at Apple. In those days, working at Apple was very entrepreneurial and much less corporate; we had tons of autonomy and created groundbreaking campaigns and products with an amazing degree of freedom. When I left Apple, I began working with an endless stream of disruptive, innovative tech startups all over the Silicon Valley, of course with a special focus on music and entertainment. It is 15 years later, and I’ve had an amazing track record of success and have built a huge and powerful network of investors and entrepreneurs.

You had the chance to be a leader at Apple. What did this experience teach you that you can pass on to other women entrepreneurs?

During my time at Apple, we flourished in a culture that valued autonomy and an entrepreneurial spirit. We had a shared mission, vision, and passion, and it felt like we were all driving our own destiny, while also enjoying the perks of a large company.

The leadership skills I acquired certainly included solidifying a vision for a company, figuring out how to empower and build the spirit of a team, understanding the power of collaboration, and developing self-confidence and a can-do attitude to overcome challenges. I also learned the importance of working with good mentors whom you resonate with; I can’t emphasize enough how having that kind of support and guidance helps future entrepreneurs.

As women, we really need to build environments where autonomy is valued, and mentors show up to support and guide us.

Why do you think the world is so fascinated with Silicon Valley? Should we be?

I think it’s because Silicon Valley is the most consistent hotbed of innovation on the planet, and we have so much success in creating products and services that have a huge impact on the world. There’s nowhere on earth like this. So, yes, we should be fascinated with it — it’s a truly unique place for innovation.

When you see other women who may want to get their foot in Silicon Valley, what advice could you give them?

You should have a clear vision, a passion, and an unbending commitment to achieving your goals, first and foremost. Find a core team of individuals you trust who complement your skills and who share your vision and commitment. Also, it is important to network and establish powerful relationships where your ideas and passions can thrive.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a woman in Silicon Valley?

I think it’s an advantage to be a woman here. Our inherent skills around the way we approach contributing to a team and collaborating for success enhance the overall spirit of the Valley. Also, there are fewer females marking their marks here, relatively speaking, so women have a real chance to carve out a niche and stand out in the industry.

What can women do to change the perception that most tech startup founders are, and should be, male?

As the years pass and we see more female founders and CEOs, the balance will shift so it isn’t expected that a founder should be male. Personally, I just don’t buy into that perception. I focus on doing great work and want that to be noticed on its own merits — regardless of gender. It’s helpful for tech companies to hire and support women on their teams (assuming they’re equally qualified). My general advice would be to stay somewhat “gender-neutral” — refuse to buy into stereotypes.

Do you think you need to be in Silicon Valley to make a difference on the world as a women entrepreneur, specifically in tech?

I do think it’s helpful to be here because we are “ground zero” for innovation (especially in technology). The ability to network with other founders and entrepreneurs is invaluable, and there are so many opportunities available within just a 50- to 100-mile radius. The cumulative, collaborative opportunities just can’t be recreated by Skype!

There are so many strong women throughout history and those making history today. If you could have lunch with any female in time, who would you choose? Why?

Honestly, for me, it would be Oprah Winfrey. I resonate very strongly with her values and approach. I truly admire the impact she’s had on women across the globe. She is a lighthouse and beacon for personal growth and transformation, and, like me, she is on a lifelong mission to empower and encourage others to truly be their best selves. I want to show people that they can live their best lives by being more self-aware, by constantly questioning things, learning, and growing.

Living anything BUT our best lives is a tragedy.

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A highly sought-after consultant, mentor, speaker, producer, coach, and author, Kelli Richards is the CEO of The All Access Group. She and her team facilitate strategic business opportunities in digital distribution between technology companies, established artists and celebrities, film studios, record labels, and consumer brand companies in order to foster new revenue streams and deliver compelling consumer experiences. Kelli is also the author of the bestselling eBook, “The Magic & Moxie of Apple –An Insider’s View.”

Wait, that must be a misprint, right? It should have read positive thinking. After all, negative thinking is destructive process that all of us are trying to avoid, right? Right?

It’s Only Natural

The truth is, negative thoughts are a normal part of life for everyone. Even the most successful people in the world have to deal with them. The trick is to recognize these thoughts for what they are and refuse to let them cascade into a bad mood that is ultimately unproductive and emotionally damaging. Negative thoughts are nothing to fear. It is not the thoughts themselves that are so destructive. It is succumbing to the fear that does the real damage. If you can find a way to reject the fear, or better yet, embrace the fear, you can use negative thoughts as even more fuel to reach your lifestyle and business goals.

Meditation

Meditating can be a powerful addition to your daily routine. But you don’t need to be a Buddhist monk to realize the benefits of this kind of thinking. Or is it non-thinking? While meditating, you let thoughts and emotions run smoothly over your mind until they drift away back into the vast sea of your subconscious. Where do all your thoughts come from? Well, perhaps nobody really knows, but we can assume for purposes of communication that they arise in your subconscious, that part of your mind not readily accessible but very influential. Meditation is not about shutting down your thoughts completely. It’s about recognizing that these thoughts are ultimately fleeting, not representations of your true self. They are simply thoughts. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t reject them, but let them drift away on their own.

Putting Fear to Work

Since negative thoughts are really nothing substantial, how do they become so destructive? The answer is obsession and fear. It’s easy to fall victim to fixation and fear. Certainly the world is full of plenty of negative imagery and unfortunate occurrences that they can be dwelled upon endlessly. But can this kind of fixation really accomplish anything? All it does is cause mental paralysis due to fear. Don’t dwell on negative thoughts and allow them to snowball into a bad state of mind. Take the fear you feel, recognize it as a natural emotion, and work to mold that fear into positive action. Sound silly? Remember, fear is pure energy. It excites your body and mind, allowing you to outrun that tiger in the bush or prepare an awesome business presentation.

Control Your Thoughts with Your Actions

Surround yourself with positive people that treat you with love and respect. At the same time, share your love and respect with others, even those with bad attitudes. Though you’re certainly not responsible for other people losing control to their negative thoughts, you’re doing the world a service by generating positivity everywhere you go. Connect with people on an emotional level and help others when you’re able. And of course, don’t forget to love and respect yourself. When you live a life filled with positive actions, negative thinking becomes trivial. You realize that ultimately it has no real power.

On passion: “Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart.”

On vision: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

On authenticity: “Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.”

On courage: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

On purpose: “Your ambition should be to get as much life out of living as you possibly can, as much enjoyment, as much interest, as much experience, as much understanding.”

For the full article, including 5 more great Eleanor Roosevelt quotes, check out the article on Forbes.

Which quote is your favorite? Let me know below.

I’m working on something new and and I think you’re going to love it! It’s called an Entreprenista Featurette – a short-but-to-the-point ebook that addresses one single burning question. Featurettes will feature wisdom (the kind of wisdom that only comes from experience) from other women who have been through the ups and downs (and way downs) of the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

If you think you’ve got a great answer and you’d like exposure to potentially thousands of women around the world, submit your answer below.* You’ll need to subscribe to our email newsletter list so we can contact you when the Featurette is done, but you can unsubscribe at any time.

Here’s the burning question of the week:

What is the best piece of advice you would give someone who is struggling to increase their sales?”

(it’s super easy and should only take a couple of minutes!)

Got a Burning Question? Post it on our Facebook Page and your question might be the star of an upcoming Featurette! Just make sure you let us know it’s a “Burning Question”.

*Your answer to the Burning Question is not guaranteed to appear in a Featurette. All submissions (answers) become the sole property of Entreprenista, and may be used for similar, alternative content marketing purposes.

So, you had a great time at the New Year celebration, and you even beamed at the speech given by the motivational speaker who said, “This year is your year.”  Day 1 was great.  Day 2 included a proud accomplishment.  Day 3 got busy and was forgotten.  Day 4 looked a lot like Day 3. Skip to Day 14… well, now you may not be sure what your entrepreneurial goals were in the beginning.  You may not be sure if your initial goals even matter.

Don’t lose the greatness you stated you will bring in this year!  You still have plenty of time.  We’re waiting for you to bring it and enjoy the moment doing so.  That being said, here are some great ways to get your groove back and have fun doing it:

1. Set the date

Setting dates for your goals will make your goals more of a reality.  It will also drive you to take steps to make the date happen.  For example, I remember setting the date for one of my first conferences.  Because I set the date and told many about it, I was determined and driven to make the conference happen.  Though some dropped out, I still followed through.  This turned out to be a fun and enlightening experience in the end.  The lessons I learned during that conference set me up for other fantastic “dates.”

2. Turn on the music

Play your favorite beat or song.  As an alternative, play a book or inspirational speech on audio.  You can check one out at your local library, search YouTube, dig into your stash of albums, or browse your Netflix titles.  Listening to these sounds will bring energy to your thoughts and goals.

3. Call someone who will motivate you

This could be someone that makes you smile.  This could be someone who makes you laugh.  This could be someone who you consider to be your thinking partner or your professional coach.  This could be someone much older or someone so young they haven’t learned to read yet.  This could also be the person who is passionate about doing what you don’t like to do in your business and is open to your delegation.  The people you’ve built and maintained relationships with can help you continue your mental and professional drive.

4. Change your environment

Think about what type of environment inspires you to move forward, then create it or go there.  Is it a clean house?  A room with lots of light?  A place with a table, music, and low light?  Since you know what you want your environment to look like, create it or go there, be it a loud mall or a quiet library.  Being in a motivating place while you think, design, or write will get you back on the track to moving your business forward.

5. Carry a notebook and a working pen

Carrying a notebook and working pen keeps you prepared to write things down the moment you are inspired.  You can use these written thoughts as a good resource to refer to later.  While reviewing these writings, you’ll be reminded of captivating quotes and ideas which prompt you to do more at any given moment.

Now that you’ve been given some ideas, did something spark in you again?  Go ahead, set a date, put on moving audio, connect with your motivational group, arrange the environment, and keep your paper and pen ready.  Get your groove back.  The world is waiting.

Do you know what the majority of people fear the most? Death? Divorce? Dieting? The answer, of course, is public speaking. Great public speakers are like tremendous athletes. It’s frustrating to the rest of us because their finesse and competence makes it look effortless. In fact, the greatest athletes often practice more than anyone else, and the most charismatic speakers are often professionals that have honed the craft of carrying a room. Additionally, elite performers of every field feel anxiety and fear. They just know how to use these emotions as a positive force.

Rather than letting anxious feelings keep you down, use these 6 tips to harness and leverage that energy:

1. Play a Role

Natural charismatics always seem to know just what to say. They anticipate audience response and use their foreknowledge to captivate with rhetorical skill and technique. They are playing a role in a play of social interaction. By thinking about social interactions as a game of role players, you open yourself up to stepping into any role you desire.

2. Anxiety Is Your Friend

Stage fright can be crippling. People can sweat, feel weak in the knees, and even tremble when confronted with the very idea. Why does something as benign as simply standing up and talking in front of a group of people have such a profound effect? Because as innately social creatures, we’re wired to respond powerfully to how others view us. Try to imagine your anxiety as simply your body’s physiological response to an unusual circumstance. Instead of letting feelings of anxiety cripple you, utilize their energy to excite yourself and your audience.

3. Remember You Aren’t Super-Human

Beta-blockers, or beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists, are a class of drugs used to treat heart conditions.  Because they also tend to lower the physiological symptoms of the flight-or-fight response, professional speakers, musicians, actors, and other performing artists sometimes use them to settle their nerves. This is obviously not a suggestion, but is rather meant to illustrate that even the most talented among us are not super-human. Everybody understands the pressure of public speaking. They will give you the benefit of the doubt if they see effort and humanity. They are hoping to be entertained and informed and are in your corner.

4. Use Humor and Likability

It’s a classic recommendation to open a speech with a joke. But injecting humor into your public speaking can be more sophisticated than a simple setup and punch line followed by a slideshow. Often, the best humorists don’t tell traditional jokes at all. They tap into the emotions of their audience and use their own humanity to elicit laughter. If you can weave together speech that lets your personality shine through, you’ll add emotion to your words, and your audience will be ready to follow your lead, whether it is toward humor or any other emotional destination.

5. Unleash the Charismatic Within

Charisma is within anyone’s reach, at least for a short speech. Watch your favorite public speakers and try to discern exactly what makes them so captivating. Copying a bit from experts is great for building some confidence. Practice your speech. Practice it alone in front of a mirror, in front of someone you trust, record it watch it yourself. When speech day arrives, show up early and get a feel for the room. Introduce yourself to some of the audience before you begin if possible.

6. Interact

Be prepared for questions and even throw in a couple for your audience. Interacting directly with members of the audience brings a further personal touch to your speech, as well as giving you a real chance to demonstrate your authority. If somebody asks a question during an event and receives an engaging answer, chances are good they’ll never quite forget the experience.