May 13, 2010
Business Success, Event Promotion
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Every now and then, something wonderful takes shape, right before your eyes, and you just have to share it.
Kammie Lisenby is a 23-year-old business owner of Simply Efficient who is really serious about building her business and making a huge difference in her own backyard and beyond through her work as a professional organizer. Launching a business two years ago at a young age required a fair amount of courage. Staying alive during the last couple of years has required a lot of hard work and focused effort. She’s serious about learning more so she can build the buzz and grow her business even more.
A few days ago, an anonymous business owner stepped forward to offer a scholarship to help Kammie pay the tuition associated with tomorrow’s All Day Custom Publici-Tea™ Retreat. Then, Kammie sought out additional sponsors who believe in the business she is building and asked for their support. She posted messages to Facebook to make her case. She spoke to family members. She asked for what she needed.
So touched by this effort was I that I offered a partial scholarship, as well. Late yesterday afternoon, Kammie reported she had pulled together the tuition to benefit from the event. She was touched by a profound kindness from an anonymous donor. That moved her into powerful action, and now she stands to receive some powerful support to help her get to the next stage of her success. It’s just a beautiful thing.
The first donor said that when she was first getting started, a business owner who believed in what she was doing gave her a similar expression of support. The only requirement the donor made was that when she got to a point of success later that she would pay it forward and return the favor. That donor has certainly done that. And I have a keen sense this isn’t the first time. What a great gift.
Speaking of gifts, my good friend Thach Nguyen and his team are hosting an amazing event this Friday called “The Gift” that celebrates the spirit of paying it forward. I had the amazing opportunity to work with Thach when he and his co-collaborator Matthew Ferry brought the first iteration of their event to Seattle a couple of years ago. The gifts that have been unfolding in my life and business started flowing with abundance as a result of embracing the lessons shared throughout that special event. You can learn more and hear directly from Thach on his key points by watching this Q13 Fox News Segment. Thach invites everyone he meets to consider these four steps:
1- Connect deeply with others.
2- Discover what they are up to.
3- Contribute on the spot.
4- Watch miracles happen in your life.
The stories unfolding here and beyond as his many followers embrace this message are many.
Speaking of which, a couple of years ago, my name came up as someone who could handle the PR for his big event. Frankly, I was intimidated by the challenge of using PR to compel 1,000 perfect guests to show up for a never-before-held event in Seattle. In fact, I referred the project to a bigger PR firm with deeper bench strength than mine could offer. As things turned about, Thach spoke with the other PR firm and then called me back. He said he knew I could do what needed to be done. He challenged me to rise to the occasion and submit a proposal the following week, coincident with the date the other firm was submitting theirs. At some level, I knew Thach was offering me a very powerful gift. He believed in my capabilities more than I believed in myself. He connected with me in a way that caused me to think differently. The more I thought about it, the more energy and ideas started to flow to help him achieve his goal.
- Did I write up a PR proposal in time for the submission deadline? Yes.
- Did I put my heart in it? Yes.
- Did we work together to bring 1000 perfect guests to benefit? Absolutely.
But here is the thing. The gift I received was far greater than doing a great job for a client and making a treasured 
friend for life. I found untapped possibilities in my own work and life than have continued to deliver wonderful rewards for my clients, my friends, and my personal life, thanks to Thach taking a genuine interest in me. I will be forever grateful.
Here is the way I see it. Either you believe in unlimited possibilities or you don’t. If you want to get steeped in possibility inspiration, treat yourself to The Gift with Thach and his team on Friday. You can still purchase tickets to the event. Here is the link to make that easy.
Thach, you are on your way to inspiring a billion people to make amazing contributions to the world. I salute you. I appreciate you. And I can’t wait to see what miracles manifest as others follow your lead.
May 12, 2010
Bye-Bye Boring Bio Success Story
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By Nancy Juetten
Out here in free agent nation, millions of independent business professionals are pounding the pavement, attending networking events, and sharing their messages via cyberspace and social networks as they seek more perfect clients and media opportunities. The trouble is, many of them are failing to launch because the stories they tell about their background, experience, and qualifications are falling way too short of the mark.
Now more than ever, decision makers are doing business with PEOPLE as opposed to companies. That means they need to like, trust, and respect you immediately in order to engage. If the story you share in your online bio or social networking profile is bland, boring, and unremarkable, you’ve built a roadblock that can stand in the way of attracting the perfect engagements you seek. Here are among the most common bio blunders independent business professionals make that can stop opportunity in its tracks.
Arrogance and Affect
- Lofty language
- Too many five dollar words that don’t count for a lot
- Too many words that say too little
- The story leaves you with a gut feeling that this emperor has no clothes
- You feel at arms length as opposed to wanting to lean in and engage
Blah, Blah, Blah Boring, Bland, and Boilerplate
- The words scream “Who cares!”
- The story conveys no personality
- Unmemorable and unremarkable information put the reader to sleep
Content
- Crisis of credibility
- Absence of credentials or proof to your claims
- Absence of clarity about who you serve and why it matters
- “Cute” stories that don’t deliver content your ideal client cares about
- Too little content, too much content, and absence of “right sized” choices
Differentiation
- Information is disconnected and fails to tell a compelling story
- The words read like every other professional in your category
- Absence of stunning results, quotes, or compelling facts
Failure to Compel
- There is a “so what” reader reaction that fails to attract clients or opportunities
- Frustration continues to mount, along with your obligations
If you are fed up, fired up, and finally ready to do something about it, here are three suggestions.
- Put your own bio through these filters.
- Revisit the content to lead with your stunning results, succinct stories, sassy sound bites, and social information to help your ideal clients connect with you.
- Share your new and improved story with the right decision makers to invite more of the right opportunities you seek.
Oh, by the way, help is close at hand with three ways to get the help you need, no matter the size of your budget.
Review the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide success stories and generous audio files posted to this blog. It’s free and fabulous information to guide you along your own path to bio success.
Buy the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide so you have the best tips, tools, templates, and examples to make it even easier to achieve success.
Make your appointment for an Extreme Bio Makeover and benefit from the inspired work of a professional who cares about putting your best story forward almost as much as you do.
You get one chance to make a fabulous first impression. Take the time to showcase what you bring to the marketplace in a compelling, memorable way in your online bio and social networking profiles. That will increase the likelihood that ideal clients will learn to like, trust, and respect you more readily, and you will likely get to “YES” a whole lot faster.
No matter which approach you take, remember this. It’s your story. Tell it well.
Permission to Reprint: You may reprint this article, provided you use it in its entirety and offer the following bio box for attribution.
Nancy S. Juetten is a “Media Savvy” newspaper columnist, speaker, Publici-Tea™ trainer, and the author of the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. If you are a rock star, but your bio is all washed up, this guide shows you how to write a rockin’ bio, one step-by-easy-step. Get an excerpt from this popular guide when you opt-in to receive the Authentic Visibility ezine at www.byebyeboringbio.com. Reach Nancy at nancy@nsjmktg.com or 425-641-5214 (PST).
May 11, 2010
Event Promotion
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Even the most inspired among us grow tired of doing so much for our businesses on a DIY basis. That’s why the Second Annual Done for You Giveaway Sweepstakes of the Century is something you’ll want to know about. And, it is an event in which you and your business owner friends will most definitely want to participate. Just click on the link so you can pre-register and be in the loop about the $250,000+ in business building services that will be given away during the May 17 – June 7, 2010 window. Here is a sampling of the high value services that will be given away:
• Bookkeeping services
• Opt-in page creation
• Ready-to-deliver workshops & teleseminars
• Custom audio & video production
• Website headers
• A full custom website
• Custom-designed ezine templates
• Blog set-up
• Article submission services
• Intern program set-up, interviewing & hiring
• Autoresponder copy
• Affiliate program set-up
• Ready-to-go articles & article brochures
• Audio “logos”
• Newsletter service
• Extreme Bio Makeovers from yours truly!
With $250,000 in services to potentially win to help your business in very specific, practical ways, this event is cause for celebration and a great opportunity for you to get what you need without having to do so much yourself. If this resonates, pre-register for this event so you won’t miss a thing. And tell your business owner friends.
You can even Tweet about it!
May 10, 2010
Good News
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Over 5,000 women and a few good men traveled from around the nation, around the world, and across town to join in the 10-year anniversary celebration for O The Oprah Magazine in New York City last weekend.
Best friends, mothers and daughters, stay-at-home moms, business owners, working women, and everyone in between happily met and become friends for the weekend. Some were celebrating 50th birthdays. Others were treating themselves to that “bucket list” experience they had been dreaming of for years. Others were taking in that too long delayed gal-pal weekend, or perhaps celebrating their first Mother’s Day away from their children in a most magnificent, one-of-a-kind way.
Each with reasons all her own, we all came to celebrate, laugh, cry, and express gratitude to Oprah for the role she has played as we’ve journeyed forward to do the best we can with our lives and careers.
The Live Your Best Life mission set at the launch of O The Oprah Magazine has stayed true all along. Millions of lives have been touched, shaped, and made better with every advice column, every book club recommendation, and every coveted treasure fortunate to earn a place on that influential and oh-so-revered O List.
What Oprah has built over the last 10 years is a tribe to which millions belong and from which we all find pearls of inspiration to journey toward the purposeful, meaningful lives we desire, deserve and design. I know that I am not alone in declaring that we are all returning home very glad to have made the journey and much enriched by the experience.
Oprah’s influence has been deeply felt in my life and work. I, like so many others, am proud to have overcome personal and professional odds to create a life and a business filled with purpose, passion, and possibility.
Those of us who wanted to say “thank you” to Oprah for the impact she has contributed to their lives had that opportunity this weekend. Those who wanted to take stock over their own progress in living their own best lives over the last decade took the opportunity to do so, each in her own way.
As I waited in line to take my seat at the workshops, participate in the Sunday 5K walk to benefit a host of 
worthy charities, and take in the other displays and exhibits, it was inspiring to meet people and to see, hear, and celebrate with them as they shared their accomplishments, forgave their failures, and gave themselves permission to anticipate their future opportunities. It was very special to share the experience with Lori Richardson and Kammie Lisenby, who are featured in these photos taken at the opening ceremony on Saturday morning and the 5K walk on Sunday.
Now, the question for each and every one of us is what is next?
Oprah would likely say that it is time to dream a bigger dream, listen to the whispers, and step more boldly toward what is truly possible.
What I know for sure is that my passion to serve others is fierce. To play a role in guiding others to learn how to tell their own stories so they can walk taller, proceed more boldly in the pursuit of their purpose, and accomplish more of what they want in their lives and businesses is the most satisfying, rewarding work that I do. And, the stories I help others tell will continue to make an impact as I gain the courage to tell stories in an authentic voice that speaks my own truth.
While I don’t know for sure the exact shape things will take in my own life and work, I can tell you that over the last ten years, Oprah has taught me a lot about how to ask the right questions. Like millions of others on the journey to create my own best life, my story is still unfolding. I look to the future with high hopes, high expectations, and the belief that great things are possible for those who believe in unlimited possibilities and are willing to do the work to bring them to life.
I’ll close this post with a quote Oprah shared during her magnificent one-woman-show at Radio City Music Hall and on page 256 of her ten-year anniversary magazine.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”
– Oprah Winfrey
May 4, 2010
Be Heard, Recommended Resources
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I’ve always made a practice of asking for testimonials. Within the last few months, I set up a special page on my blog that makes it systematic for me to ask and easier than ever for clients to reply. I learned this from Info Products Guy James Roche, and it has been working beautifully.
Here is a link that I send to happy clients as soon as our appointments are complete, at the precise time they are feeling especially fabulous about our work together. Most clients are only too happy to reply by sending in their photos and their favorable testimonials. Why not put something similar in place for your business by adjusting the language on this page to be a perfect fit for what you offer?
My good friend and colleague and a happy client Alice Cunningham, co-owner of Olympic Hot Tub Company, always says, “You have to make it easy to buy, easy to own, and easy to refer.” An ongoing flow of glowing testimonials certainly can make it a whole lot easier for your ideal clients to “get to yes” faster. And, when they do, you are fast on your way to do more of the work you love.
By the way, I can’t say enough good things about James Roche. Here is a testimonial I sent to him yesterday to thank him for the impact he has made on my business:
“Tired of going it alone and believing that great impact could be made in my business with the support of a proven and capable coach, I engaged James Roche to serve as my information products marketing coach in January of 2010. After just six content-rich telephone coaching sessions that catered to my very specific business needs and goals, I have acted on all of James’ suggestions and already welcomed at least $10,000 in new revenues to my business. What is better is that the marketing funnel and strategy James helped me refine and the systems he helped me put in place stand ready to deliver even greater balance sheet impact over time as I stay consistent in my efforts to execute the winning strategy he coaxed out of me in record time. What I appreciate most about James is that he shares both the big picture strategies and the nitty-gritty execution details I need to know to be systematically successful. My confidence grows with every coaching call as my business results continue to escalate. Thanks to lessons James modeled for me in running his own successful business, I now have greater control over my time and my life as I think bigger and serve more quality clients. Words can’t express the gratitude I feel for this benefit alone. Thank you James.”
With gratitude,
Nancy Juetten
Late last year, I followed a tip from Alice Cunningham to share a testimonial about good results I experienced with paid advertising with the vendor. That testimonial I provided to Help a Reporter Out Founder Peter Shankman ended up on the pages of Inc. Start-Up Toolkit Blog! The lesson here? One good thing most always leads to another.
All this is to say that as wonderful as it is to receive testimonials, it is also fabulous to give quality testimonials. especically when the impact of someone’s work on your behalf is so meaningful.
Authentic Visibility Tip of the Day: Take a moment to send a quality testimonial to someone in your business network who is making a significant impact on your success. Then, tell me what happens next! No doubt, good things will unfold in ways too priceless to count.
May 3, 2010
Event Promotion, New Audio File to Support Your DIY Publicity Success
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If you’ve been pondering enrolling in the Publici-Tea™ Custom All Day Retreat on May 14 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., today I am sharing access to an engaging, informative 23-minute audio file that should answer your questions and help you make the right decision for you and the buzz for your business.
Dial this number to listen in: (712) 432-1085
Your Access Code: 292926# at your 24/7 convenience.
Or, you can listen in at this link:
CustomRetreat514
Just be sure to submit your application to me at nancy@nsjmktg.com by Monday, May 10.
P.S. You can bring a team member at 50% of the published rate and have a built-in “Accountabili-Tea” partner.
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Kammie Lisenby is a 23-year-old business owner of Simply Efficient who is really serious about building her business and making a huge difference in her own backyard and beyond through her work as a professional organizer. Launching a business two years ago at a young age required a fair amount of courage. Staying alive during the last couple of years has required a lot of hard work and focused effort. She’s serious about learning more so she can build the buzz and grow her business even more.
