Many solopreneurs and small business owners struggle with finding clients.   In our interview with Michelle Mahoney, a kick ass business coach and speaker, you’ll get some ideas for finding clients without breaking your bank and increasing your income in a holistic way.

You can listen to our interview with Michelle here:

Finding Your Clients with Michelle Mahoney – Show Notes

• People fail to find clients because they look at the big picture too much. They fail to realize that they can start small and work their way towards that big picture.
• Entrepreneurs who are shy and introverted do not do well in marketing because they don’t value what they put out there and what positive impact they can have on people. They need to understand that what they do not only affects the business of their clients but their personal life as well. The positive impact they have on their clients flows over to their family, community and the world.

Where to find clients

• Go to the places where your target clients hang out. Ask the people that you are working with right now where they hang out. Find out what they like to do for fun and where do they go with their friends. Go to those places as well. For example, if you’re a business coach like Michelle, you can go to the business section of a bookstore.
• Listen to people and be open. You can find clients in unlikely places like groceries, bookstores, coffee shops, and libraries if you listen to what they say about their work and life and approach.
• Start small. Focus on local opportunities.

Three secrets to creating a six-figure business

1. Create a free taste or a free sample for people to get to know you. Examples would be a free e-book,  video or audio.  Don’t just  ask people to sign up for your newsletter
2. Follow up consistently. Do not wait a month before following up. New marketing says that you have to follow up 12-15 times before a client invests in you.
3. Solve a specific problem for people. Do not try to give away too much. Just focus in one of the four big problems that people have – money, love and relationship, health and fitness, and religion and spirituality. Focusing on solving any one of these problems is a surefire way to economy-proof your business.

About Michelle Mahoney

Michelle Mahoney is kick ass business coach and speaker. In her new web site 4monthsto6figures.com, you can sign up for a free video series called “3 Sizzling Hot Secrets to Attract Clients” where you will learn to attract the right clients through irresistible offers and building your list.

Can a small business or a solopreneur be green and profitable at the same time?

Business owners have this idea that going green means investing a lot of money on business practices with low ROI. But our interview wtih  Shel Horowitz, owner of Green and Profitable.com, proves that assumption to be wrong.

True, going green may mean buying the more expensive recycled paper or sourcing higher priced organic products. But if you use creative marketing strategies, you can easily recover your investment.  Listen to our interview with Shel to learn how going green may be the best thing for your small business.

Be Green and Profitable with Shel Horowitz – Show Notes

• Walmart has taken a leadership role in the green sector by selling organic produce by the truckload.  This has resulted to increased profits for the retailer.
• Marcal, a toilet paper company, has seen a tremendous increase in their sales by marketing their eco-story.
• Solopreneurs and small businesses have an easier time to go green than big companies. They don’t have to go through committees or boards to make the decision to go green. Their size makes it viable for them to do a lot of their business online and run a business from their home office with the help of virtual assistants.
• Consumers have a lot of power in the marketplace. They can reward companies that go green and do something for the community.

Green Marketing

• Green marketing is supporting green products and services and doing your marketing in a green way.
• Be creative in marketing your green business. Social media is a  green marketing channel where you can engage with your target market and colleagues.
• The green market is sensitive to hype. To succeed in this sector, you should focus on educating the market rather than shouting at them.
• Green marketing is relational rather than transactional.

Business Ethics Pledge

• Ethics is not just a have to, it’s also a success principle.
• The culture of business has changed in the US. There’s a trend towards ethical business practices.
• Being green is not just the right thing to do. Being ethical is not just the right thing to do. These are also success strategies.

Why you should create alliances with your competitors

• Make the pie higher. –  George Bush
• Partnerships  and alliances can help you break into new markets.
• Partner marketing can help you save a lot of money.

Why you shouldn’t care about market share?

• If you keep yourself busy, if you keep a full calendar, why should you care whether the other person has a full calendar? Remember that you cannot serve all the clients out there.

Top 3 business advice to be green and profitable

1. Go for the low hanging fruit first.
2. Make sure that you market about what you are doing environmentally and socially. Remember to market differently to the green market and the non-green market.
3. Marketing should be smart. This includes making alliances with your vendors, competitors, customers, and anybody you can think of.

About Shel Horowitz

Shel Horowitz is a consultant,  writer, and author. He is very passionate about  green, ethical business and living. Six of his eight books have won awards and/or been republished in other countries, including his most recent, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, which he co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson. To find out more about how you can be green and profitable, check out Green and Profitable or buy his book from Amazon.

• Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet
• List Price: $21.95
• Price: $7.90
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Writers Block?

Many authors suffer from writer’s block. but the way Nick Orsini, author of Two Wrongs Make a Vice, writes would make you think differently.

He writes three to five poems/letters a week and tries to put out a short story every two weeks. He also produces an article for a blog that he writes for every month.

With all these output, it does seem that Nick  is uniquely qualified to say that he has never been afflicted with writer’s block. In our interview with Nick, you’ll get an idea on how he became such a prolific writer and a mentor to other young writers.

SHOW NOTES

• Nick started writing in high school but he only discovered his passion for writing while  studying film history at a university in upstate New York.  In between writing film analyses, he had an idea to write his own novel.
• Nick wrote two novels while he was working on a full-time job and blogging at Adorkable Life, which is his poetry blog on Tumblr.
• He wrote the two novels after hours. He would usually write a few passages/pages very early in the morning, around 1am to 2am
• As for poetry,  Nick usually gets his ideas during the day and he writes it down or saves it in his phone. Then, when he gets home from work, he edits it. This means that a new poetry is published around 9:30PM.
• Because Nick is passionate about writing, it does not ever feel like work.  It’s not a struggle for him. He’s happy at the time he gets to do it and enjoys  the creative side of writing.

Nick’s creative process

1. When Nicks get an idea, the first thing he does is to  defines what it’s going to be. – a poem, a short story, a novel, etc.
2. If it’s a novel or short story, he spends three weeks to a month outlining his book.
3. Then he draws pictures of characters the way he has pictured them in his mind to make them come to life.

On writer’s discipline

• Discipline is to write that first sentence.
• Writing term papers in college helped Nick become  a disciplined writer in terms of having a purpose and accomplishment.

On marketing his blog and book

• Nick started on Tumblr  because it was the easiest way to blog. It allowed Nick to connect and meet many writers.
• Nick does not use Twitter as a marketing tool. He tweets about his thoughts and ideas.

On his books

• His debut novel, Two Wrongs Make a Vice, is a stream of consciousness story about a nameless protagonist that has a lot of awkward moments in high school. It’s a funny, coming-of-age book intended for readers aged 14 to 21.
• His second novel is a pointed narrative.  It’s about two friends, Anton and James, and the pressures they face as young adults. It is intended for people aged 18-28.

On being a mentor

• Nick does a lot of mentoring work. He travels to schools like his alma mater to talk to students about writing. He takes also accepts interns.

On having a full-time job

• Having a full time job allowed Nick to have a source of funds for his book tours and independent publishing needs.
• He takes comfort in the fact that he has something to fall back on aside from writing.

Nick’s advice for budding authors

• Don’t stop writing. Don’t stop reading either. To be a great writer, you have to pay attention to the great writers. The more you learn to deconstruct great books, the more inspired you’re going to write your own.
• Don’t be afraid to start it yourself. Start writing a book or start with a blog.

About Nick Orsini

Nick Orsini is a book author, blogger, poet, and mentor. He has a Communications: Radio/TV/Film degree from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.  He currently resides in northern New Jersey. Nick’s inspirations include, mainly, Hunter S. Thompson…the man responsible for sparking the desire to write with purpose and immediacy.

Eighty  percent (80%) of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.

As children, we were told to save our money to buy things that we want. However, consumerism and a weak economy has rendered many people in debt  and in personal bankruptcy.

Do You Need A Budget?

In this interview with Jesse Mecham of  YouNeedABudget.com, you will find out how you can make the most out of your hard-earned dollars and get of out of the paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.

Click the play button to listen to the interview.

Spend your money on paper before you get it.

• Plan what you need to do with your money so you’re not spending it reactively. You will find that your dollars go a lot further than you previously guessed.
• Sit down once a month with the money you have on hand and allocate the money.
• Focus on the money you have on your hand. Do not worry about the paycheck that’s coming in two weeks.
• If you are thoughtful about your money, you will end up spending on things you don’t really want to do.
• When budgeting your money, ask youself this: What is the most important thing you need to do with this money?
• Make a habit out of budgeting. Tie it to something you do frequently like brushing your teeth. For example, budget your money after brushing your teeth.
• Do something frequently so it becomes a habit. This applies to managing your budget.
• As you begin to plan what you want your money to do, you become more aware. You become aware of leaks, things that you don’t want to spend your money on, and put a stop to those leaks.
• Planning your budget is all about allocating money for things that you value.
• You are your best financial adviser. You make the best financial decisions for you.

Four Rules  in Budget your Money

1. Give every dollar a job. Assign a purpose to every dollar. Think of yourself as a drill sergeant and you give  a task to every dollar that you have.
2. Save for the rainy day.  Divide your larger bills and expenses and treat them like monthly bills.  Save money monthly for Christmas, year-end taxes,  etc.
3. Give yourself some slack. There’s no benefit for being accurate with the budget, there’s only benefit in making a decision. A budget only allows you to see where your money is going and make financial decisions. If you go over your budget,  reassign dollars as needed. Don’t knock yourself up for overspending. Get back to game. Make yourself flexible and keep on budgeting.
4. Learn to live on last month’s income. Don’t live from paycheck to paycheck.  The income of small business owners and entrepreneurs vary from month to month. If you live using last month’s income, you don’t have to forecast  your income and expenses.  If you get a bigger income, then you can have something extra for your savings.

Make your bonus feel like a bonus

Do not spend in anticipation of a future income, e.g, bonus. Many people overspend their monthly budget, thinking that they have a bonus coming. Spend your bonus as it comes on hand and budget it.  Thus, when you receive your bonus, you will really feel that it is a bonus.

Small Business Budgeting Tips

• If  you’re earning money on the side, you can merge your personal and business finances.
• If your business is the sole source of your income, separate it from your personal finances.

On using credit cards

• Jesse’s main reason for using credit card is for protection. He finds comfort in the fact that he does not have to take out cash.
• If you carry a debt on your credit card on a month to month basis, get rid of it.
• If you spend according to your budget and you’re  aware of where you are financially, then you should not be afraid to use a credit card.

Learn how to budget your money. You’ll feel more in control and more at peace even if you just have a little amount of money. If you need something to help you spend your money on paper, check out Jesse’s iPhone app. Just click on the link below:

I need to budget!

About Jesse Mecham

Jesse Mecham is the founder of YouNeedABudget.com. He is a graduate of  the Masters of Accountancy program at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a former (slowly recovering) Certified Public Accountant. He is busy teaching YNAB and helping others get a hold of their finances.  He enjoys playing the piano, working in the garden, lifting weights,  honing his golf swing and taking care of his four kids with his wife, Julie.

What Is Present Life Purpose?

Many people course through life wanting to get to the top of the mountain and never getting there. Some people want to write a book yet never publish one.  Jamie Saloft of  The Author’s Prophet offers valuable  on how you can get on top of that mountain by looking back at your heritage and living your present purpose.  Her tips will help you unleash the author in you. Listen to our interview with her by clicking the play button below:

Align with your Dreams – Jamie Saloff, The Author’s Prophet

 SHOW NOTES

What is present life purpose?

• Our purpose evolves as we go forth. For example, Jamie’s  purpose then as young married wife, hoping to be a published author, is a lot different from her purpose now as an author and healer.
• Sometimes we get carried away when we’re looking at the top of the mountain. We forget that that’s where we are heading… that it is NOT our purpose today.  If you look at what you’re supposed to be doing now –  your present purpose – then things would be working a lot much faster.
• If you look at the whole picture, you might get scared and be afraid to get there. Remember, the top of the mountain may be something bigger and better than you ever dreamed.

How can you tune in to changes in your purpose

• Use the force. Use what is inside of you. Tap into your heart to find out what’s right for you and follow it.
• If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, check out her book “Transformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and ProsperityTransformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and Prosperity”  This books is really about purpose.

About transformational healing

Why you should read the The Ugly Duckling

This is a great story about finding your purpose and transforming yourself.   A poor, helpless ugly duck ends up with an old woman, a hen, and a cat. All he wants to do is swim; he is a water fowl after all. That is the desire of his heart. But the woman, the hen, and the cat called him crazy and set him up in a comfortable, nice home. Yet makes the decision to follow his heart — to swim — and he turns into a beautiful swan.

All famous people have these ugly duckling qualities, which are actually super powers, that help them become swans.

Tips on how to transform yourself

• Get with like minded people. Find people who want you want to do, whether online or offline.

How do you know when you’re living you’re following your heart.

• Act on what you heart is telling you what to do. When things just start opening up, you know you’re on the right path. Follow your intuition. When you follow those, it leads to another thing to another thing that just opens up the world.

To find your present purpose and transform yourself,  read Jamie’s book, ”Transformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and ProsperityTransformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and Prosperity“. You can buy it from Amazon by just clicking on the button below:

• Transformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and Prosperity
• List Price: $24.95
• Price: $24.95
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About Jamie Saloft

Jamie Saloft is the force behind The Author’s Prophet and  is the author of five books, including: Transformational Healing, Prayer Superchargers, and The Wisdom of Emotional Healing. She offers online workshops, leads weekend retreats, and offers one-on-one counseling for ugly ducklings looking to discover their own inner swan.

Trained in Lily Dale, NY, at the Fellowships of the Spirit School of Healing and Prophecy, Jamie is a spiritualist minister and certified metaphysician. She has also trained with Donna Eden in energy medicine. Dubbed “the POD Queen,” she has been designing print on demand books for self-publishing professionals for over a decade, specializing in spirituality, health and wellness, nutrition, business, memoir, and other non-fiction topics.

Write a book.

Did you know  that 81% of Americans have this on their bucket lists? Yet only 2% end up as published authors and many, around 200 million to be exact, end up as bloggers.  There’s something about blogging that  makes it more manageable for the average person. In this interview with Nina Amir,  author of How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time , you will  get some really valuable tips on how you can strategically transform yourself from a passionate blogger into a published book author.

Click play to list to the interview.

Nina Amir How to Blog Your Books Show Notes

Blogging vs Blogging for a Book

• There’s a big difference between just blogging and blogging a book. A blog can be whatever is in your mind that day.  With blogging for a book, you have an end goal in mind.
• If you’re blogging for a book, you need to prepare a book proposal.

Reasons why people would still buy your book even if you blogged about it.

• A book is easier to read.  It’s hard ro read a book on a blog because blogs have this “last post first” thing going on. Your fans and readers would want to read your book in easier to read format  and then re-read it.
• A book offers additional content.  Nina suggest that when you map out all of your content in advance before writing anything.  Hold out several  chapters from your blog with the intention of including it in the book.
• A book is improve by editing. You can revise your blog posts to add more value. Your editor might also ask you to increase your word count.

If no one picks up your book proposal, it could be because….

• You have no author’s platform. This refers to your fan base. – the people who know who you are. This refers to the the people who will run out to buy your book as it is released. Darren Rowse  is a professional blogger who was approached to write a book. He hired Chris Garrett  to help him write a book to turn the book “30 Days to a Better Blog” into an e-book when his readers demanded it.
• You have no book promotion plan. Publishers want good business partners.  Just because you have a good idea, does not mean that it is marketable. If you back up your proposal with a promotion plan, publishers will see that you are serious about making money from your book.
• Your book is not marketable. Do your research.  Look at the competition out there.Is your book unique? Does it add value? Does it tell  story? Talking to a professional editor will help you with these issues.

Follow your passion by blogging; write a book

• The wonderful thing about blogging is that it allows you to see if people are interested in what you have to say.  If  you write a lo and use keywords to optimize your post,  people will find your bog.
• Whether you have a online or offline business, a blog will help your build your business.
• Follow your passion. Do what you love to do and  the money will follow.
• Stop and think what’s your purpose, what you’re  passionate about.
• People who struggle the most are the ones who are not doing what they love.

 The book proposal process

Nina suggest that you pick up Michael Larsen’s  ”How to Write a Book Proposal,” and follow the steps he outlined there. In a gist, here’s how you write a book proposal.

• How to Write a Book Proposal
• List Price: $18.99
• Price: $0.49
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1. Look at the market and see how you can make your book unique. For people writing fiction, make sure your characters are unique and will touch the   hearts of the readers. Check out the blogosphere and see who’s blogging on similar topics. Think about how you’re going to angle yourself to get their readers.
2. Plan your blog promotion. How are you going to promote the book in offline and online events?
3. Write a  content plan. Brainstorm all the different ideas and subjects that will go into the book. Organize that into a Table of Contents and break it down to blog post size bits. The more you break it down, the easier it is that you can write your book.
4. Decide your schedule. How would would you write? The more often you write, the easier it is to get your book  deal and attract a readership.
5. Publicize your content in social networks to attract readers.
6. Approach publishers. Once you have gone through your content plan and made your blog popular, you will be approached by a publisher. Or, you can approach the publisher and pitch your book. You can also self-publish.

You can get a copy of Nina’s book,  How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time, on Amazon.

• How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time
• List Price: $12.99
• Price: $2.29
• Read Reviews

About Nina

Nina Amir, is an author coach and author of How to Blog a Book: How to Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books). She is also is a nonfiction editor and consultant. She has more than 33 years of experience in the publishing field. She writes five blogs, including Write Nonfiction NOW!, How to Blog a Book and As the Spirit Moves Me, and two national Examiner.com columns. Additionally, she speaks weekly about writing and publishing on the popular radio show, Dresser After Dark (www.dresserafterdark.com), hosted by Michael Ray Dresser, which has approximately 80,000 listeners per month.

For more about author marketing and book promotion, find out about the TalkingBooksTV packages!

Suzanne Tulien From Brand Ascension

In school, we learned that deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, makes every person unique. It’s something that is embedded in every cell of your being — your saliva, your hair, and even your sweat. It’s something that makes you UNIQUELY you.

What would happen if we apply the concept of DNA into your business. What do you get? Suzanne Tulien of Brand Ascension explains the concept of Brand DNA and how it is important in your elevating your business in this interview.

Listen to the interview here:

Stop Marketing! Start Branding! -SHOW NOTES

Brand DNA

• Brand DNA refers to the brand foundational values that businesses does business by. It includes your company’s core values, style attributes, authentic differentiators, standards of performance. Brand DNA is a brand promise and a brand platform.
• Brand DNA matters because it helps your business focus – to stay on track on what you say you are.  It can be used to make decisions like hiring employees and marketing your business.
• Your brand DNA blueprint  is your guide to making  business decisions. It should be authentic and true to your company’s values.
• Brand hones on the perception of the brand. It is not the logo. A logo represents the brand.

• Brand DNA will help you elevate your brand.

Branding for solopreneurs and companies.

Brand DNA is different for a company and solo entrepreneurs.

• A company brand is a collective creation.  To develop the brand, the members of the company should sit down together and go through a brand invention to define the core attributes of the company brand.
• A solo entrepreneur is the brand of the business. Your customer will interact with no one else but you.  You are the brand.

Branding vs Marketing

• Branding is inventing what attributes  you will withhold. It’s about defining the core values that will define your business and how you will make decisions.
• Marketing is the act of disseminating information about your brand. It’s about getting the word out about your brand.

Six Myths of Small Business Branding

Suzanne  wrote a book called 6 Myths of Small Business Branding: Discover the Secrets and Learn the Truths to Exponentially Grow Your Bottom Line.

 Here are some myths:

1. My Logo is my brand.  Logo is an iconic, graphic symbol that represents the brand. It is not the brand. The branding should come before the logo. You should tell your graphic designer  “This is who I am. Develop something that matches that.”
2. My brand appeals to everyone.  –No brand is universal.
3. My customers just want the best price. The truth is that 82% of customers are willing to pay more for better customer relationship.
4. The size of my marketing budget determines my brand success. Understand that branding and marketing is different. You should define your brand. Your marketing dollars will not work if you don’t have a consistent branding.

Pricing

• The Internet has created  a “FREE industry.” Decide what tier of your products and services are you going to offer for FREE.
• You do not have to discount your products and services in order to get customers. Focus on elevating your service in the customer level.  When you level up your relationship with your customers, they will feel more valued and be willing to pay more. For example, Starbucks can charge $5 for a cup coffee. Why? People go there for the experience, rather than the coffee.

Cultural Creative Focus

You may have a lot of interest but it all boils down to your core attributes.   Help your employees understand the DNA of the brand. It has to get to the mind of the employees for your brand and your business to be a success.

Suzanne Tulien, Co-founder and Principal of The Brand Ascension Group® is committed to organizations who want to achieve transformational and sustainable brand success through strategic, internal branding practices. As co-pioneer of The Brand DNA System(SM), she helps small to medium sized clients define their internal brand core. Then, guides them to integrate it within their leadership, culture, and processes to produce experiences that inspire, motivate and engage employees to deliver memorable customer experiences consistently.

For 23 years, Suzanne has been passionately serving clients by creating corporate identity design solutions packaged with powerful strategic branding consulting and training. Working with a dynamic marketing and training firm, she helped design and facilitate marketing training workshops across the U.S. Then, as creative project manager for the global consulting firm, Navigant Consulting, Inc., she helped manage the internal and external brand acquisitioning of 13 different firms and the acculturation processes to be merged under one corporate entity.

Find out more about Susanne and Brand Ascension

How are you branding yourself? Do you brand? What is your brand? What is your idea of small business branding?  Leave a comment below with your brand and a link back to your site so we can see it!

Thanks Michelle

Pinterest is the hottest new social network around.

It’s a virtual pinboard where you can share quotes that inspire you, things you want to remember, cool pictures and funny saying in boards. You can have as many virtual pinboards as you want and pin as many images as you like. Many brands are using Pinterest to market their products and services and here to help us understand more about this visual marketing wonderland is  Kelby Carr, author of Pinterest for Dummies and Pinterest Marketing for Dummies.

Kelby Carr was interviewed on TalkingPurpose Radio by Michelle and these are the show notes. You can listen to the show below

SHOW NOTES:

Wait! What if you’re blogger who does not have a brand?  Should you still be in Pinterest?

Yes! Once a reader pins an image from you site to Pinterest, you will get a link back to your post. This link previously had a do-follow attribute but since SEO professionals discovered this and basically “spammed” the site, the developers  of Pinterest have changed  this to a no-follow attribute but you will still get a lot of traffic.

So how should you use Pinterest for business?

Pinterest offers you an opportunity to show the human side and personality of your brand.

To make sure that your pinning efforts are not wasted, follow these tips from Kelby:

1. Use images in your posts.  You can use stock photos from Fotolia and insert them to your post.  Do not get images from Google Images because Google is a not a source, it is a search engine. If you must, make sure to click on the image you intend to use and see where it came from and give credit to owner.
2. Add a Pin It button to your site and blog posts. If you are using WordPress, there are many plug-ins to easily do that. Just do a search on the WordPress plug-in directory and you’ll find plenty to use. “Pin It” Pinterest is one of the best
3. Pin only good content. People go to Pinterest not to search for things but to discover things. Many stumble on content that they never thought they needed. If you pin good content, pinners will like it and repin it.  So it’s a good way to get “found” online.
4. Link your pins to your blogs.  Pinterest allows you to upload images to your virtual pinboards.  Many such images go viral and you will be missing an opportunity to drive traffic to your site if you do not link to your web site or a specific post. So make sure to add a link back to your site or post.
5. Watermark your images. This is closely tied to the preceeding tip. Add your domain to your images so that if it goes viral, people will know where to look for it even if you forgot to add a link to your site.
6. Follow the 80-20 rule in self promotion. Many big brands ONLY pin their content. They do not follow other people nor do they repin content from other pinners. While this strategy works for big brands it’s not for everybody. So you should take care not to overly self promote on Pinterest. It’s okay to have boards that are clearly dedicated to self-promotion. But always follow the 80-20 rule in social media . Twenty percent (20%) of the time should be about pinning your own content. The rest, the 80% of your time, should be spent pinning, repining, and liking the content of others. Don’t forget to follow other pinners, too!

For a more detailed discussion of these tips, and what Kelby says about why Martha Stewart is using Pinterest all wrong you can listen to our interview with Kelby here:

Now that you have learned how you can market yourself and your brand on Pinterest, the next step would be to act on these tips.  You can start by following me and Michelle on Pinterest.

Follow Michelle Vandepas on Pinterest

Follow Kelby Carr on Pinterest

If you do not have a Pinterest account yet, you can (1) enter your email on Pinterest to get an invite, (2) ask friends to send you an invite to join Pinterest, or (3) log-in to Pinterest using your Facebook account. The third option is the quickest way to get access to PInterest.

Kelby’s book:

Happy Pinning!

Are you using Pinterest?  Leave your ideas on how you use Pinterest below!

How to Live Your Purpose In Your Small Business

Bring the passion back to your work!

Too often we find ourselves caught up in the business of doing our business. The marketing, the sales, the administration, bookkeeping, actually delivering whatever it is we do…it can very quickly start to take up all of our time and we find ourselves not only exhausted at the end of the day, but when we find a moment of quiet we can start to find ourselves questioning whether or not we’re truly loving what we’re doing – whether this is really what we signed up for.

This invariably brings us to the question of why we started our business in the first place. Was it to find a way to pay the bills? Did we fall into it by default because we left the corporate world and that’s what we know best? Or did we truly take the time to align who we are with what we do?

Are you in Energetic Alignment?

In my experience there are very few people who have found that alignment between who they are and what they do. I will say that we are seeing it more and more, it’s as if there’s a wave of forerunners who are paving the way to make it ‘ok’ to share who you are through what you do. My hat goes off to them, however, the rest of us are still trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between paying the bills and being ‘on purpose’. There are layers and layers and layers involved with the process of ‘jumping off the cliff’ as I like to think of it. Sometimes we don’t even know the cliff is there so we avoid it entirely – this is when we feel a little lost or unfulfilled but we’re not sure why. Other times we are standing at the edge looking down into the endless chasm, knowing that’s where we want to be, yet we can’t seem to move feet that suddenly feel like they’re made of concrete – this is when we know something needs to change, and we sub-consciously know what it is that needs to change, but we’re resisting the whole idea of change! Then of course we have the situation where we’ve made the leap but we’re still kind of hanging on to the edge with our fingernails, unable to truly trust and let go to allow our new world to emerge.

There’s lots to ponder when it comes to being ‘on purpose’ in our business and very little of it has to do with the business of doing business!

Our guest on the Talking Purpose Radio Show for today i.e. May 10th at 8:30 is a mother, a wife and an author of the life changing book “The Question Journey”. We are very excited to have Trish Bishop here on our show to share with us and discuss life purpose at work. In her book, Trish discusses the ways to find yourself through realizing your actual life purpose and understand your inner strengths so that you can be what you choose to be.

Born in Nova Scotia at the age of 20, Trish was facing troubled times as she was working hard as a waitress to make ends meet for herself and her son. She was a single mother and also a high school dropout so it was a bit difficult for her to make a career professionally. So she decided to change the situation and take the matters into her own hands and to fulfill her actual life purpose. Thus began her Question Journey that helped her realize her life’s purpose in reality and today she shares this wealth of knowledge on the Talking Purpose Radio Show.

Today Trish Bishop has completed her education and has a professional career in IT sector and also a book to her name. Thus she has achieved her real life purpose. To know more about her interesting journey you can visit her blog “The Question Journey”.

Masters of Heaven and Earth Movie Review

from Empty Mind Films

Tai Chi Chen Style

The photography and filming is beautiful, as expected from filmmaker Jon Braeley who’s other films include The Yoga Guru’s and The Empty Mind.  Jon is a wonderful documentarian, and I love his subject matter – many of his movies that explore Consciousness and the Mind/Body connection from  disciplines around the world.

The opening of the movie features a master teacher – a 9th generation Tai Chi Master who shares his  linage and the styles tweaked by his ancestors.   The art is passed along from generation to generation inside one China village from master to student, and taught by members of the Chen family.

The movie really starts to move and become interesting when we see him teach his students, and demonstrate the details that differentiate a student and master – small details, but powerful when demonstrated with the master’s Chi.  (energy).

Yellow River and Wudang Mountain

The opening is gorgeous, with Chen Xiaowang practicing by the Yellow river , one of my favorite parts of the movie as we watch him practice the movements and forms.  The ending of the movie is the best, with a mystical feeling from Wudang mountains and  incredible Tai Chi masters doing practice in a cave with monkeys and the invisible Spirits watching.

Tai Chi is more than moving meditation, or self defense, or a martial art. Tai Chi is a practice of The Tao, a way of life, an art, and this movie gives a glimpse into the world of the masters, of what they strive to attain.  There is a sadness as we can see what they (and some foreigners) are giving up to learn the art, although they never give a sense they feel any sadness or regret.

If you love the connection with Mind/Body/Spirit, or you are learning Tai Chi, you’ll love this movie. As a new student of Tai Chi and Qigong, I’m looking for ways to help me understand the complex styles and Spiritual teaching behind Tai Chi.

The question, how does Tai Chi  integrate the link between body/mind and the subtle with hard and soft movements as in Chen style. I could have spent the afternoon practicing, but watching  Masters of Heaven and Earth  on a cold January day isn’t a bad way to go either, so I settled back and rented this movie online and watched it in a couple of sittings.

I’m just a beginner,  starting my Tai Chi journey I’m learning the Yang Style Tai Chi through TaiChiAssociation of Colorado Springs.  If you are local, come join us!  I’m hoping to someday learn the double sword forms. They looked pretty cool on the movie. Wish me luck.

Synopsis:

What I loved:  The movements, the feeling of dedication, the masters, the authenticity, the scenery.

What I didn’t love:  Too much talking and narritive.

What I would have loved to have seen:  More exploration as to the actual benefits the masters have achieved. Better health? Live longer? Happiness?  I didn’t get a sense that all this hard work was worth it.

Watch the trailer of Masters of Heaven and Earth Now:

From the website:

Travel with us from Beijing to Chen Village and to Tai Chi’s spiritual home of Wudang Mountain. In Masters of Heaven and Earth we will take you where few people can go, to experience one of the worlds most misunderstood arts. You will learn the history of Tai Chi Chuan, about yesterday and todays top masters and how Tai chi has spread and much more. Understand the internal health principles – the Chi and the Mind and Essence. Witness breathtaking demonstrations of Chen style and Wudang Tai chi with a soundtrack from China\’s top traditional and modern-fused musicians. Filmed in sharp High-Definition. Packed with interviews and demonstrations and Featuring: Chen Xiaowang and Chen Xiaoxing. Priest Zhong Yun Long and Master Yuan. Master Cui Zhongsan.