Michael Ray, host of Dresser After Dark, invited me back to his talk show last night to workshop his bio on the air. Listen in and see how I offered some compelling upgrades to transform his bio from OK to really great in short order, thanks to the lessons I teach in the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and share via the Extreme Bio Makeover service. Here is the link to make it easy for you to listen in.
I’ll be doing this same thing for up to five lucky folks who RSVP for the AOE March 2 Bye-Bye Boring Bio teleclass that I blogged about yesterday, so hurry and claim your place so you can benefit as Michael Ray has. Here is the new amd improved bio we created during the call:
About Michael Ray:
Four words that describe Michael Ray’s life and business philosophy:
“OK. I Can Do That!”
Michael Ray, host at Dresser After Dark, is a talk show host with passion, skill and talent for coaxing outstanding content from guests whose messages shine with confidence, clarity, and relevance. His engaging interview style sets the stage for authors, experts, and trainers worldwide to captivate, inform, and inspire action.
His 27-year career in radio and media skills training got its start when he sat down behind a microphone at a radio station in Fairbanks, Alaska in January of 1983. Since then, he’s interviewed thousands of radio guests from stations all across the Midwest and beyond, and he can’t wait to meet who comes next.
Ray is a sought-after media skills trainer serving clients such as X, Y, and Z around the globe with his proprietary media skills training system. His new book — “The Link to Connection: Techniques for Getting What You Want Out of Any Media Interview On or Off the Air” is coming soon and will guide experts the world over to achieve winning results through the power of compelling and engaging conversation.
Guests such as (important name, important name, and important name) on Dresser After Dark describe Ray as engaging, thought provoking, and gracious.
Michael Ray lives in the Milwaukee area. His passion for conversation is rivaled only by his enthusiasm for living an engaged and vibrant life. Something about him that might surprise you is that his biceps are impressive enough to turn heads and stop traffic. He is often mistaken for being decades younger than his XX years.
Authentic Visibility Tip of the Day: If you are an author, expert, or consultant with great content to share with Michael Ray’s listeners, get in touch with his producer Susan Greenman to pitch your story so you can benefit from a much wider audience for your message. Visit this link for the relevant contact information.
Be sure to sign up for a very fun teleclass I’ll be leading on March 2 at 9 a.m. (PST) for the Alliance of Online Entrepreneurs. The title is “How to Say Bye-Bye to Your Boring Bio and Why You Should.” The first 100 people to RSVP will receive an EXCERPT from the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide so they can do their own “Extreme Bio Makeovers.” And, the first five people to turn in their best drafts qualify to have me “workshop” their bios during the call. You can read all the details at this link. This is going to be very fun, deliver a lot of value, and it’s free to participate. Hurry to register so you can be among the lucky ones to get your Extreme Bio Makeover “live” during the call!
(This teleclass is part of the nine-year business anniversary celebration March 1-7, 2010, during which I’ll be extending a “buy one great item, get the other great item for free offer.” You won’t want to miss this!)
Yesterday, I blogged about the great story RainToday.com shared about my company’s reinvention during a demanding economy. Now you can read the entire RainToday.com feature when you click on this link. Enjoy!
Let me call out some of the fabulous and generous people who have played a key role in helping me navigate these last nine years in particular:
Publicity Hound Joan Stewart – She advocated for the publicity tips booklets I brought to market in July of 2006 to her list, and that really helped put me on the map. Thanks Joan.
Tips Booklet Queen Paulette Ensign – She taught me everything I know about tips booklets, and she can do the same for you.
Michele Lisenbury Christensen of Working with Power LLC, who came up with the Publici-Tea™ name in the first place!
Presentation Skills Coach Patricia Fripp – Kiplingers Personal Finance has described her speaking school as among the top six best investments you can make in your career. I agree.
Branding Expert and Founder of Get Known Know Suzanne Falter-Barns – Suzanne coached the “Get seen, heard, and celebrated in your own backyard … and beyond” message out of me on Christmas Day 2007. What a gift!
Info Product Guru Fred Gleeck- He gave me plenty of straight talk in the beginning about what was missing from my website, product packaging, and product elements. His “tell it like it is” approach isn’t for the faint of heart, but his advice has proven to be right on the money.
Info Product Guy James Roche – James is showing me how to be more strategic and focused in my efforts to serve my people and grow the success I enjoy from the information products and training elements of my business.
New Client Marketing Institute Founder Henry DeVries – Henry was the very first coach I engaged to take my growing business to the next level of success. The lessons he taught me have served me well, and they will serve you well, too.
David Wiseman, my patient and amazing webmaster – No information products business can work without someone like David.
My loving husband Steve Juetten – Steve, thanks for being in my village, serving as my cheerleader, and doing everything you do in my life and work. You are a treasure. And I repeat with credit to Julie Powell of “Julie and Julia” fame – “You are the butter to my bread and the breath to my life.”
Those of you who are interested in traveling your own journey of reinvention are well served to engage any and all of these fine professionals and resources, all of which have served as powerful contributors along my evolving journey to business success.
Two days ago, I blogged about how business anniversaries don’t necessarily earn front page news. But they can earn media attention in the right venues with just the right timely, newsworthy, and relevant story hook.
Case in point — a story by M. Sharon Baker about how I reinvented my business during the recession to survive and thrive appears in today’s issue of Rain Today. Rain Today is the premier online source for insight, advice, and tools for growing professional services businesses. That is certainly a well-targeted audience for how I serve the marketplace.
Here is a brief excerpt from today’s article:
After offering professional public relations services to small and medium-sized companies for seven years, Nancy Juetten, founder of Authentic Visibility, realized she spent too much time having coffee or tea and giving away free publicity advice to prospects who ultimately could not afford her services. Rather than look for ways to halt such requests, Juetten, a solopreneur in Bellevue, WA, saw it as a market opportunity and used that information to reinvent her business, a move that helped Authentic Visibility thrive despite the recession.
You can read the complete case study to learn how this independent practitioner created a 6-figure business with multiple revenue streams during a recession by signing up at Rain Today for a free trial.
And if you love those free trials, I have an anniversary celebration offer to share with you. I’ll be offering a “buy one great item, get another great item for free” sale during the March 1 – 7, 2010 anniversary sale. If you’ve been thinking about treating yourself to the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide, you’ll get the Publici-Tea™ Express Digital Workshop as a high value bonus gift when you buy during the one-week-only sale.
The information you’ll receive during this fabulous sale will equip you with the insights you need to earn media attention for your winning ways, including writing a rock star bio, preparing and sharing your story so the right people will listen, and guiding to you decide if publishing a book is the right approach for you to build your expert status now. And you’ll get it all during the sale for $49. That’s why you won’t want to miss this amazing deal.
Why not take your savings and treat someone you like, trust, and respect to coffee or tea to chat about what you learn. Spread the wealth of knowledge so independent professionals everywhere can succeed in what an article by Richard Greenwald for the Wall Street Journal describes as “the age of going solo.”
Those of us who are running businesses of our own are always happy to turn the page on another year and celebrate a business anniversary. In these daunting times, getting the chance to suit up and do what we do for another year is certainly cause for celebration.
Business anniversaries, however, aren’t typically what folks in the media refer to as news. You can earn media attention for your business anniversary when you frame your story in a broader context.
Just yesterday, I read a piece in the Seattle Times about the Boy Scouts of America celebrating 100 years. Woven into the story were anecdotes from prominent business executives from the Puget Sound region who consider the lessons they learned along their respective journeys to earn the rank of Eagle Scout among the most valuable for informing their success today.
When Alice Cunningham, co-owner of Olympic Hot Tub Company, was preparing to celebrate her 30th business anniversary, she made the story relevant by showcasing how she wasn’t afraid to learn new skills to communicate in new and powerful ways– such as launching her blog at www.hottubbliss.com — to serve her ever expanding community of hot tub loving consumers. The Tacoma News Tribune was happy to tell that story.
Just last week, I met with Val Scalvo, co-owner of Heartland Interiors, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in February and throughout 2010. Since February is a month with a “heart” theme, and this company has “heart” in its name, that is a fun and timely story hook. What is even better is how this business got its humble start. As Val says, it was with high hopes and high expectations that Val and her best friend Diane Wainhouse walked to their community bank to each deposit $75 to start their business. Today, Heartland Interiors celebrates 25 years, having grown their business to average over $1 million in revenues for each of the last few years, even in these daunting economic times. They have learned some powerful lessons along the way from which other business owners who are eager to start businesses with equally humble beginnings can profit. Our story pitch along these lines has enlisted interest among at least one local news outlet, and that is encouraging news so far.
What these stories share in common is that they meet the recipe for news. They offer timely, newsworthy, relevant, and interesting stories that answer this essential question: Why should the reader, listener, or viewer care?
It isn’t the anniversary that is newsworthy. It is how relevant and interesting the back story associated with that anniversary that makes the news.
Speaking of business anniversaries, my own business is celebrating its ninth anniversary this year. I’ve got a number of things brewing to make that celebration relevant and compelling for you. Among them is an anniversary sale that will run from March 1 – 7, 2010 with amazing values never before offered before. That may not be the stuff to earn front page news, but I promise you the information you’ll learn will be of high value so you can apply it to bring YOUR OWN story to front page news. Mark your calendar and stay tuned for more details!
If you are already a subscriber to my ezine and want to get the latest update of all the “Media Savvy” newspaper columns I’ve written through 2009 for the Puget Sound Business Journal and beyond, now you can with one click.
I’ve set up a landing page where you and everyone you know can access these practical articles that guide you step-by-step to earn the DIY publicity success you seek. There is no obligation to share your email address again or at all, though you are certainly welcome to do so.
My intention is to empower business owners everywhere with useful information they can really use to get seen, heard, and celebrated in the media in their own backyards … and beyond. So, spread the good news and the love to everyone you know. And make some magic happen in your business today through the power of free publicity.
Here is my prediction — One taste from this “pink spoon” and you won’t be able to resist digging into and delighting in all the practical, buzz-building information to support your delicious and growing business success.
And, since we are in “American Idol” season, here is a fun quote for the day from Amy Palmer of Blue Sky Coaching and Consulting. She says, “Thriving in this economy is like being on American Idol: pick the right song, put your heart into it, and ignore Simon!” Rock on everyone.
Meeting Linda Claire Puig, founder of Claire Communications – the “Everything Newsletter” Company, at the Robert Middleton Info Guru Summit last weekend was a distinct pleasure. As we spoke, she referenced a concept she calls Pink Spoon Marketing™. In a nutshell, a pink spoon is a free “taste” of what you have to offer that you serve up right from your website (e.g., a downloadable report, email course or audio recording).
Linda says that a pink spoon makes the right people—lots of them—want more from you. And all these people join your list. In fact a pink spoon is one of the key list-building strategies employed by professionals throughout the Internet.
A pink spoon positions you as a professional with the right stuff.
A pink spoon becomes a business-generating tool that adds dollars to your bottom line.
And a pink spoon begins a relationship that could last a long, fruitful time. It’s this relationship—and the trust that develops as a result—that brings in new clients, new business, new referrals.
As for me, I’ve created three bonuses to reward those who opt-in to receive my ezine. I’d be honored to earn your readership and referrals. And, if you want to sample some of my best DIY publicity e-tips as your treat for today, you can visit this link right now.
Feel free to invite anyone in your world who is interested in getting known as an expert and getting seen, heard, and celebrated in the media to enjoy the bounty my “pink spoons” contribute to DIY publicity and online visibility success.
Authentic Visibility Question of the Day: Do you have a “pink spoon” to share with the clients and prospects you would most like to attract to your business? If your answer is “no” and you need a little help getting your offer together, Linda and her Pink Spoon Telecampcan show you the way. The next telecamp starts in the spring, so sign up for Linda’s ezine so you’ll be among the first to taste what she has in store for you and your growing, successful business.
Would it surprise you to learn that in my stocking feet, I stand almost six feet tall? I mention this because I met three amazing business owners at the Robert Middleton Info Guru Summit in the Bay Area last weekend who were surprised enough by my stature to comment on it. (By the way, in the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing plenty of amazing new resources, stories, and ideas based on the great information I learned while attending this event, so stay tuned.)
When you do business in your own backyard, people see you and know how tall you are. Even though I have a full body shot of me in a hot pink trench coat on my blog, it never occurred to me that it wasn’t immediately obvious how tall I really am. Tips Booklet Queen Paulette Ensign, who I’ve worked with since 2006, said she had it in her mind that I was five foot two! So, for those of you who haven’t yet met me in person, now you know. I am a tall drink of water, as my friend Warren Talbot likes to say.
Authentic Visibility Question of the Day: What about you that you think is immediately obvious is likely a surprise to people who meet you for the first time after connecting with you online? Think about it. The answers might surprise you … and give you something to blog about, just for fun.
About Michael Ray:
