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Can you imagine a place where there is no smog, no 18 wheelers pushing you to go faster, no temptation to visit a fast food franchise (because there are none), and a place where you can dress down all the time. Imagine being in the company of adults who seem like folks you've known all your life...women who have inspiring stories and even better advice! How about being in a place where your meals are delicious and prepared for you every day, a place where you can walk along the ocean or sit on the porch and relax all day for an affordable price for an entire week? You can experience all this. Join Sisters & Friends Getaway to Oak Bluffs, on Martha’s Vineyard.

Why Martha’s Vineyard?

Martha’s Vineyard is the perfect place for this gathering. First, it is quiet and serene and being there makes one slow down. Second people are intrigued by the Island and never dreamed they could one a day visit. The Island is rich with African and Native American history. And, because many high-profile people have homes or visit there, Ms. Portis wants others to experience this slice of ‘the good life’ and know that it is within their reach.

What is the agenda?

Some activities include line dancing, card games, book discussion, morning ocean swim, shopping but mostly Sisters & Friends Getaway is a trip where guests make their own respite agenda. That is why the vacation begins the Sunday after Labor Day when the pace is slow and the tourist crowd is reduced and the island quiet and serene. The nights in the houses are spent laughing, playing games, joining in inspiring discussions and enjoying fabulous meals (including vegetarian).

What are the Accommodations?

We stay in vintage Vineyard homes within walking distance of each other in the historic Oak Bluffs neighborhood. Each person shares a twin room with a sister or friend or alone in a queen bedroom. Houses accommodate 8-14 women and there are multiple facilities in each house. Check out the FAQ’s at http://bit.ly/Z70CkT

How much does it cost?

With times so tough and many wanting to save and forgo vacation this is the perfect opportunity to get away, experience a wonderful place and join with other women while not spending a lot of money. Since meals and board are included in the cost, many find this the perfect group to go to Martha’s Vineyard with. How to obtain pricing information is on the website

Who are the women that attend?

While many do not know each other, sisterfriends come from varying backgrounds, stages and ages in life and share one common bond and that is to experience a peaceful, relaxing vacation. In year's past, women come from Washington, Nevada, California, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and many states in between. Women who join sisters & Friends Getaway are adventurous and looking for calm no stress vacation. Some are starting new careers, launching a businesses, or winding down from work and others are retired after exciting and rewarding careers. Other come with a sister or friend others come alone. Many get their network of friends from around the country to meet them on this trip. Cities represented for this year’s trip include women from Rockford, Ill, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte, NC, Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding cities, Woodstock, MD, Lauderhill, FL, Atlanta and Smyrna, Georgia.

Connie Portis is a publisher,event planner human resource professional and host of events for women. She is in her 29^th year of publishing the Greater Pittsburgh Black Business Directory, and previously published a newspaper, Pittsburgh Renaissance News and was a member of NNPA, past president of the Black Pages Association and currently works in Equal Opportunity for a state government agency. Ms. Portis is known throughout the Pittsburgh area for hosting quality and inspiring events.www.sistersandfriends.com

 Contact, Connie Portis, caportis@hotmail.com (412) 391-8208

This month in Say YES to Purpose, we talked about the purpose journey.  In today's vlog, Vaneese Johnson, Career Reinvention Coach, talks about purpose as it relates to your career -- Identifying Career Purpose http://tibayintl.com/identifying-career-purpose/

Both career women and those in business have faced many obstacles in past decades and unfortunately, still today. Women in the workforce have battled glass ceilings, unequal pay for equal production and undeserved stereotypical barriers. As business prototypes have changed with the advent and growth of the internet, so have the unique issues encountered by women in business. Below are five of these challenges and solutions to overcome and achieve success.

Challenge 1: Lack of Cash Flow

Even the most brilliant business plan will fail without sufficient cash flow. Simply put, cash flow can be loosely defined as "cash in" (as generated by revenue) and "cash out" (to pay the expenses incurred to achieve "cash in." Inadequate cash flow can stifle a business into failure.

Let’s just get real… your creditors, employees or suppliers don’t care about your cash flow woes. They want to be paid in a timely manner!

Solution:To simplify this problem, as well as correct it, look at all facets of the balance sheet and income statement. Is there a lag time between the time you have to pay your creditors, suppliers and employees and when you collect from your customers? If so, you must pinpoint the problem areas and take necessary steps to correct them.

Four quick solutions to manage your cash flow:

• Consider factoring. In factoring, a business owner sells accounts receivable at a discount to a third-party funding source that pays invoices immediately. Chris Lehres, a loan officer for Versant Funding says, “A wide range of companies in a multitude of industries, including some with a negative net worth, that are losing money, and often even companies in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy are eligible for factoring services.”
• Open a line of credit. A line of credit is a standard service provided by many banks and credit unions that serve small businesses. Your banker can best discuss the benefits of a business line of credit.
• Offer several payment options to your clients, such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or pay pal.
• Track your receivables. Have a collection process in place so that you have a protocol to handle aging invoices.

Challenge 2: Undefined Niche

To Niche or Not to Niche…that is the question. What is a niche? A niche business is one that targets a very specific group of people with specific shared interest. A business with an undefined niche is like a ship sailing in shallow water.

By creating a niche business allows you to market to your ideal clients. For example, if you were a behavioral psychologist targeting teens, you would market your services in places where parents are likely to find out about you; such as advertising in parent magazines, providing resources to local middle and high schools or joining organizations geared towards parents.

Solution:By understanding who and where your ideal customers are; it is easy to craft a marketing plan to target them. Here are three easy ways to target your potential clients:

• Improve your website’s SEO with specific key words
• Generate exposure locally and virtually with professional speaking, seminars or publishing a book or articles.
• Craft a clear message that speak at the heart of your customer

Challenge 3: Not Understanding the Power of Referral Marketing

For years, the mantra for success in marketing was "cold calling." Today, we know that cold calling is ineffectual, especially when compared to referral marketing. Referral marketing is promoting your business thru referrals and word of mouth networking to more effectively gain sales.

When comparing referral marketing to cold calling, think of it as sowing grass seed. It is much easier to grow grass from seeds if you know how fertile the ground is. You can scatter a handful of seeds over a wide area of dirt and some of it may, or may not, take root.

Solution: Find others with whom to network and collaborate to gain sales. For instance, if your business sells cars, you might collaborate with a local automobile service company with the result that the purchase of a car includes a certificate for a free oil change from the car servicing business. Both businesses benefit and just increased the likelihood for repeat business.

Challenge 4: No Social Media Plan

Random tweets and meandering Facebook posts will result in a lot of time devoted to zero results. Before making another useless post, sit down with pen and paper and make a list of what you want to achieve from social media. To which social media do you belong? What are some social media marketing strategies that you have noticed from other companies? What do you have that will offer value? You may find that your company is spread a little too thin across the social media spectrum. Quality truly is superior to quantity in this respect.

Solution: Create a social media marketing plan and stay the long haul. Establishing a strong presence can be a very time consuming process. It is unwise to expect your list of fans, followers or subscribers to grow overnight.

Challenge 5: No Strategic Plan (after 3 years in business)

Without a strategic plan, a business can become stagnant in the mire of what is immediately going on, rather than focusing on long-term goals. Successful businesses recognize the critical need for strategic planning and it is an ongoing process - it is never finished.

Solution:An effective strategic planning process allows small businesses to take control of their future and stay focused on the essential areas that will result in sustained periods of growth and success. Here are six tips to help you in the planning process:

• Assess the Current Business Environment
• Focus on Important (SWOT) Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
• Define (or Redefine) the Company’s Mission and Goals
• Start with An End In Mind
• Establish Mini Milestones
• Plan for Follow Through

If starting your strategic plan seems a little intimidating, download your FREE ‘Strategic Planning Strategy Worksheet.’

As you can see, there are many hurdles that can cause women to fail in business; nevertheless, many solutions to prevent failure from happening. These are my top 5 challenges; what other challenges do you think women face today?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE? YOU MAY AS LONG AS THE BLURB BELOW IS INCLUDED:

Sylvia Browder is a small business consultant, trainer and author. She is founder of National Association Women on the Rise, a virtual community for aspiring and established women entrepreneurs. For the past 6 years, she has worked as Project Director of the Women's Business Center; and served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004. For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder's Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, http://www.sylviabrowder.com.

How sensitive are you to the subtle signs of re-direction? Do you take for granted hidden messages that are often right in front of you? Are you the type of person who needs solid proof in order to make a decision? These are important questions that may reveal if you are ready to take the walk of faith.

We are led every day to new people, and new experiences.  Our daily path is filled with connections - some visible, some invisible - but nevertheless they are evident and they help get us to our destination. We need only to be willing to follow the subtlety of clues whenever they surface. More importantly we need to be willing to open our heart and listen to the still small voice when it directs us to go this way or that way.

How do you follow your bread crumbs? The first thing you need to do is:

(1) Make a decision - define what you want to do? Do you want to get a new job, start a bowling league, go back to school or make a career change? Whatever it is, you must first define it.  This clarifies your starting point. You cannot run in the race until you line up at the starter's block .

(2) Now that you've made the decision - just be open and willing and have an open heart. Don't discount anything. This is the stage where people have a tendency to talk themselves out of their options. When a choice is presented to you, don't say I can't; I don't have time; I can't afford it. These are the words that neutralize our options.  It's important to filter your emotions - and clear your heart and mind with all of the negative internal chatter so that you can see and hear your choices.

(3) Ok, you've made a decision about what you want to do, now is the time to pray/meditate/journal - do whatever you need to do to touch heaven. Dedicate your decision to God. Scripture says in Ps 37:5 - commit your way to the Lord; trusting in Him and expecting Him to bring it to pass.  It's that simple. It's not complicated as we make it. 

(4) Once you've prayed - now walk it out with your eyes open to new discoveries.  Don't be afraid of what's ahead.  And don't have pre-conceived ideas about how your choices will manifest.  For instance, you want a new job - but when one opens up - you second guess yourself because it doesn't fit your profile.  You then choose to stay where you are because you are comfortable.  And you never know the new job could stretch you, could open other doors or even give you an opportunity to use your knowledge in a way where you become a valuable source to your present environment. Commit to doing the next one thing that catches your attention or which pulls on your heart. Usually these are clues.

Don't over-think the subtle ways in which life uncovers itself to you. Life is simple, just follow your bread crumbs.

I started my Cookie Lee business because I loved the jewelry. I never imagined that I would be earning the extra income that I now receive each month! I get paid to have fun while selling jewelry at home shows, office shows, through my website and by collecting catalog orders. I've made such great friendships with my Cookie Lee business—it really is a family! The opportunities with Cookie Lee are endless, so contact me today to learn how you can start your business and enjoy all these benefits too!

www.cookielee.biz/rojulinedixon

System #1: Customer engagement

System #2: Customer Relationship Management

What is a system?

It all starts with the BRAND

Sticky notes are not the best way to keep track of a prospect you need to call. There is a better way - thankfully. It's called a CRM.

A CRM is a sales and marketing term for "customer relationship management". It's a system to keep track of important information about your clients, customers, sales prospects and a way to centralize your business communications and resources.

I love technology. You may already know that from some of the resources I share. But I really didn't discover the power of a CRM until I started realizing that I had too much paperwork floating around with my client's notes, names of people I needed to follow up with, and even keeping track of any missing payments to my client accounts.

So here are some benefits of using a CRM:

• Organizes your business records
• Creates a safeguard of all your key contacts
• Automates your appointments
• Helps you develop a "pipeline", which is the path you work each client or prospect through to work with you
• Gives you an easier way to pay attention to your customers
• Makes it easy for people to pay you

I had a dream last night. In the dream I invested in some type of postal supplies shop - you know, like the ones you see on every corner now? This guy from an office next door kept coming in to say he was there to help me. Seemed like a nice enough man. At first, he offered to lay a customized floor tile that looked like a stamp for me in front of the counter. He described how it would have my initials, my favorite colors, and it would really light up the place. I was convinced and I said, "sure, that would be nice". Then after he put it in and I realized it wasn't just one tile, it was half the floor. Cha-ching.

Next, he came in and offered to change the locks on my door. I said, "yes, that's probably a good idea". And of course, he upgraded the entire door. Cha-ching...again. After a series of these offers, I realized I'd drawn up quite a bill. That's when I finally sat down to look at the total costs of my initial investment, the add-ons, and the history of success the shop had before me. Guess what? The previous owner sold it because she hadn't made a profit.

It was a pretty dismal outlook. I had the same dream at least once more the same night. It was like I had to go through it all over again, even knowing what the end would be. Then I woke up.

I realized that this was a pretty accurate picture of some decisions I've made before as a business owner. Not researching the so-called investment first, saying yes to everything that looks short-term shiny, looking at the total profit/loss picture only after I've spent all the money...

Notice I didn't say anything about "adding value" or "profit generating" decisions? What investments are you making in yourself and in your business that will add long-term value and generate profit? Got the wake up call yet?

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video download, 5 Secrets to Developing Your Unique Brand Proposition at: www.bepromotable.com.

Are you the person everyone comes to for advice? If so Compass is providing for you to make it official and become a Professional Life Coach. Compass Coach Training is comprehensive, accelerated and affordable.

With Compass Coach Training you can become a Professional Life Coach with a comprehensive curriculum,  industry IAC ( International Association of Coaches ) partnership. This is  unique coach training design for you to  become a Certified Life Coach within a year with an - Earn While You Learn approach.

You will have clients assigned to you through Compass Independent Reps who are enrolling people into the Compass Coaching Network. Classes can be atttended virtually as to not interfere with what you are currently doing. Next class starts in March and Limited Enrollment.

Contact me if  you are interested; I will provide you with additional details. Also visit http://www.fallintoyou.com to know all about Compass - self-growth and personal development network for women.

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Certififed Compass Coach

I often hear the question, "how do I develop a personal brand statement?" and my answer stays the same most of the time. A strong personal brand statement can be one of the best tools you can have and certainly one of the most critical ones for your branding and marketing toolkit, whether you are a business owner, or a professional working for someone else.

• When and how you will use it - e.g. interview for a job? networking situation? speech?
• Who you're talking to - e.g. language needs to meet the needs of the audience; the message is the same, but the approach should be adaptable

1. Who you are - let the recipient of the statement know your identity, your name
2. What you do - the core service or opportunity you provide
3. Who you do it for - your target audience and/or ideal client you work with
4. How you do it - your style, your unique approach, what distinguishes you

Let me give you an example of how this might work -

"Hi, I'm Tanya Smith of Be Promotable, the No Guesswork Branding & Marketing Resource for women solopreneurs. We show our clients practical, step-by-step online marketing strategies to confidently promote their business and get them noticed."

Now you try it. Add your own P.B.S. with the 4 parts in the comments and I'll share feedback...come on, you can do it!

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com.

Solo professionals are like big businesses when it comes to the need for a solid marketing strategy. The distinctive thing about solopreneurs, however, is that you get to be the head decision maker for every part of the business. That means it is all the more important to take your strategies from complex to simple whenever possible.

Now is a great time to develop your branding and marketing plan. While you definitely need to consider mapping out a strategy that is more comprehensive to cover you for at least the next twelve months, here are four simple questions you can answer in order to set a basic foundation for promoting your distinctive brand and services you provide:

How will I generate leads?

This is one of the most critical steps to developing a solid branding and marketing strategy. Assuming you have already identified who your ideal clients are, you must now figure out where to find them. Immerse yourself in studying your target market - find out what they read, where they frequent, and what they buy - and put yourself in front of them.

How will prospects get to do a "taste test" with me?

Before a potential client will buy BIG from you, they will want to know what your services are like. Depending on the business you're in, you will need to decide what is most effective and most practical to give away. For example, you might offer a free strategy session, or a free audio, or even an e-book. What can you offer that will be of interest and take little effort or investment on your part?

How will I direct them from one point to the next?

Now that your prospect has had a taste of what you do and they want more, make it simple for them to know what is next. This involves some thinking on your part of what your marketing funnel looks like. Whenever you engage a client in your product or service, be prepared to promote the next thing and make it easy. At the end of your teleseminar, share the next program or info product. This is the time where you can extend even greater value to your new customer - at the point that you have already made good on your initial promise!

How will I follow up?

The client engagement process usually follows a certain path - suspect --> prospect --> client --> advocate/evangelist. In order to move people through these stages, you need some idea of how to continuously follow up and stay in touch. Whether this looks like a series of autoresponder emails, a regular ezine, postcards, etc. consider how you will stay in front of your leads. The key is to add value to their inbox, not being pesky.

I now invite you to claim instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully
Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: http://www.bepromotable.com to learn even more about great solo professional business branding tips. - Tanya Smith, The Solo Business Brand Coach at Be Promotable.

This post was originally published on Tanya Smith's blog. Click here to see the original post.

Goal setting always gets to be pretty popular this time of year. You hear a lot of techniques about how to do it and one of the most common ways is the SMART technique. I'm not writing about that here, because it's so overused now, I don't think you'll care.

No matter what you use, the new year always kicks us off with a great start, right? But then somehow you lose interest. There is this cycle that we seem to get into and it goes a little something like this:

• Day 1: Whoo hoo, yeah, I'm on it this time. I'm going to [your goal here] -->
• Day 3: This is great. I can't believe how this is changing [enter positive results] for me! I will definitely keep this up. -- >
• Day 5: You know what, I'm just going to take a little bitty break...I'll come back to it, I promise! -- >
• Day 10: What was that thing I was trying to do again?
• Day 20: Start over again or drop it completely..

Positive

Level

Evident

Appropriate

Self-initiated & Maintained

Self-initiated and maintained. Your goal must be something that you can initiate and maintain. It must not be something dependent on other people. Make sure that your goal reflects things that you can directly affect.

If your goal, or outcome is set each time with these criteria in mind, you will have crystal-clear vision that you can hang on to and it will get you past those tough times when you're ready to let go. OR it will bring you back to what you wanted in the first place...SUCCESS!

Share one of your clear outcomes in the comments below.

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is the "no guesswork" personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free multimedia downloads including 10 Branding Mistakes Made by Solopreneurs and 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com

Every year, my kids and I create a vision board to capture goal highlights for the year using posters, magazine clippings, crayons, glitter, glue sticks -- you name it, it's on the floor on 12/31. We have the music going, candles lit, and complete focus on what we're doing. Here is our process laid out in 5 steps for you. I hope you then enjoy the short video version of my board that was designed using Animoto.com. Head over to Life Vision Boards and get another take on the "how to". They use Animoto as well and you certainly can too - it's a free tool for creating video using images and music. Use theirs or add your own.

5 Steps To Creating Your Vision Board

1. Get yourself to a quiet place
2. Imagine that it is now the end of 2011 and you are reflecting back on your accomplishments for the year
3. Write down a list -- brainstorm freely at first
4. Now highlight the top 3-5 things you really want to focus on for the year
5. Cut, draw, and paste images that represent your goals onto a poster board (you can even make a miniature version on an index card to carry with you)

That's it! Now set a date to get the board finished. ;)

Read the full Article | http://www.helium.com/items/1999010-how-to-self-publish-a-book

Okay, yes the title may tell you I know a little something about martial arts...but no, I don't. Only as much as the last Karate Kid movie
(which is one of my kids' favorites) and the line from Kung Fu Panda
which says that Kung Fu stands for "excellence of self".

I was thinking about that today after having watched the main character, a Panda named Po, one of 50 jillion times. I think personal brand work is like working out your Kung Fu - it truly stands for mining
and understanding how to portray your self excellence.

I thought I'd share how you can strategically do some kung fu kicks with identifying your personal brand strategy below. One approach is using the SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis is a well-known method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, while also examining the Opportunities and Threats you face. All four areas can help you clarify your personal brand and your
distinctive and unique value.

Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes that need to be made in your plan.

Try to work through the following questions and think about what insights you have from this focused work:

Strengths -

• What do you do well?
• What can you do better than anyone else?
• What comes naturally for you?

Weaknesses -

• What could be improved?
• What might you do poorly?
• What comes with more difficulty for you?

Opportunities -

• In what areas do you see possibilities?
• What resources or circumstances can you leverage?
• What trends might you use to your advantage?

Threats -

• What obstacles are in your way?
• Who is your competition and what are they doing well?
• Are you financially challenged?
• What else do you find yourself up against?

About the Author: Tanya Smith, Career & Personal Brand Coach, offers women professionals, with dual roles in a corporate career & solo side business, access to cutting-edge strategies to help them thrive
and promote themselves as experts in a progressively competitive work and
marketplace. Claim your free instant access to two fill-in-the-blank brand templates and a special report, The Beginner’s Guide to A Successful Career
Brand at: http://www.bepromotable.com.

I have really begun to mentally process how the discipline of marketing a business and many of the principles that come with it are just as critical for personal success.

There is great value in developing a personal brand marketing strategy that helps you stand out, and that makes you more credible in the eyes of your select audience. Unfortunately, it is way too easy to ignore because of competing priorities for our time.

• Do you have a personal brand marketing plan or do you personally market yourself unintentionally?
• If you have a brand marketing plan, does it include specific promotional activities and are these tied to events?
• Have you taken the time to identify a target customer, or employer? What desired characteristics have you named?
• Does your personal brand strategy identify ways to sell to and maintain your current clients while attracting new ones?
• What are the demographics of your key prospects? What makes you distinctly different, or unique as compared to your competitors?
• What is your personal brand marketing budget? How will you distribute these funds?

About the Author: Expert-ize your personal brand. As a Personal Brand & Marketing Coach, Tanya Smith offers female professionals with dual career & entrepreneurial roles access to cutting-edge strategies to help them thrive and promote themselves as experts in a progressively competitive work and marketplace. Claim
your free instant access to a special report at: http://www.bepromotable.com.