Blogs

One of the biggest challenges to competing in an online marketplace is to know confidently what sets you apart from the rest of the pack. This value you add for customers, compared to others out there doing what you do, is referred to as your unique value proposition (UVP), also referred to in some circles as your unique selling proposition.

Why should someone invest their time, money, and effort with you instead of someone else? What extra value can you bring to the table? Look closely at what you would like to offer to people as part of your business model. Then, you’ll need to answer the following questions for your online business.

1. What is your offer?

Lay out the details of the product or service you plan to sell. Outline the features in detail. What does your service or product do and what does the package look like? For example, is it a 7 day ecourse on how to set up a blog in Wordpress? Is it a 90 day coaching program that gives people direct access to you personally via telephone? Be very specific.

2. How does your offer solve customers' problems?

How does your product or service offering solve your client’s problems? State the problems your target customer is facing, which you should know from having done your market research. Then describe how each feature of your product or service solves those problems. Think about how your customer would see your solution, not knowing you at all. If you can answer the question “What’s in it for me?” from the customer’s viewpoint, you’re already halfway there.

3. What is different about your service or product offer?

You have to look at ways to create a product or service that are distinct from your industry competitors. Sure you can try the "yeah, me too" site, but it will be much more difficult in the long run to distinguish between your offer and the person next door. How is your solution different from other providers? Are you offering something extra, such as live training or additional done-for-you services? Do you offer your product in multiple formats, such as audio or video? Do you provide extra resources or tools to make your solution easier to use? If you can’t figure out any features that are different about your product, now is a good time to get creative.

4. Why should a customer buy from you vs. your competitors?

This is probably the toughest part of creating your UVP. It will also be one of the most important parts of your sales and marketing copy. So here's what you do --- tie together the problems your potential clients are facing, the features of your product, and how your product can solve the prospects’ problems. Then pull in your extra “proof” of why people should buy from you. You could gather social proof through testimonials of how well your solution works. You might have started to establish a track record of experience in your industry, and if not, spend time asking for feedback as you go about delivering your services now. You could also have great "case studies" or examples of your solution in action. Which of these examples would be most relevant to your market? Highlight one or use them all depending on what you think your prospective clients need to hear.

If you have already done the essential market research, you know what problems your customers are facing. Make sure you thoroughly understand what your target customers want and what your competitors are already offering. Then you will be able to identify exactly what you can do differently or where you can add something more. Put all of that together and you have your Unique Value Proposition.

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 is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. Get free tools to simplify and stand out online at:www.tanyasmithonline.com

Ever wonder how to incorporate your personal values into the way you work?

It's important to incorporate your personal values in the work you do. People connect to and respond with people and people leave bad managers not bad organizations or companies. With so many businesses lacking ethics and leaders facing worldwide criticims from poor leadership and management, leaders of organizations should incorporate their personal values into the work they do, especially entreprenuers! In doing so you set the standard for excellence within your company.

The following exercise is help you decide what you value most.

1. Go through the list below and write down the top 10 things you value most.

Achievement                               Friendships                               Physical challenge

Advancement and promotion         Growth                                     Pleasure

Adventure                                   Having a family                          Power and authority

Affection (love and caring)            Helping other people                   Privacy

Arts                                            Helping society                          Public service

Challenging problems                   Honesty                                   Purity

Change and variety                      Independence                           Quality of what I take part in

Close relationships                       Influencing others                     Quality relationships

Community                                  Inner harmony                Recognition (respect from others, status) Competence                                Integrity                                  Religion

Competition                                  Intellectual status                    Reputation

Cooperation                                 Involvement                         Responsibility and accountability Country                                        Job tranqulity                        Security

Creativity                                    Knowledge                             Self-respect

Decisiveness                               Leadership                                Serenity

Democracy                                  Location                               Sophistication

Ecological awareness                   Loyalty Stability                  Economic security

Market position                             Status                                  Effectiveness

Meaningful work                             Supervising others                  Efficiency

Merit                                            Time freedom                      Ethical practice

Money                                          Truth                                  Excellence

Nature                                        Wealth                                 Wisdom                                                                  Excitement being around people who are open and honest         Fame

Order (tranqulity, stability, conformity)                              Work under pressure

Fast living                             Personal development           Work with others

Financial gain                               Freedom                              Working alone

2. Once you've captured that list write down how you display those values in your personal life.

3. Next I want you write down how you can display those values in your professional life.

4. Then I want you to look at that again and circle your top 5 values.

Those are what you are going to be known for showing and displaying at all times at work. Make sure you write them down and keep a company at your desk, in your wallet and make a post it note for your car.

Remember to look at them daily and ask yourself: How can I show this in my work today?

You can also complete the same activity for your business and once you've identified your top five values, create a values statement for how your company can display these values daily.

How to get Business Credit Cards Without a Personal Guarantee? http://BusinessCreditAmerica.com 1-888-821-6408x2
How to get a Business Credit Card with out a Personal Guarantee is a step by step process. First you have to see what business is more favorable to banks, which is called SIC CODE. Once you know and understand this step then you can continue on with the proper step to get business credit cards.
http://www.businesscreditamerica.com/services.html

Here are the necessary steps to get a Business Credit Card with out a Personal Guarantee.

Know you Sic Code for what type of business your looking to Start.
Call and get your EIN#/TAX ID# over the phone not online and please make sure you use Incorporated at the end of your company name.
Incorporate your business to a C-Corporation Banks love this entity.
Get your Dun and Bradstreet Number from their website. DandB.com. You want the number thru the CCR Government program. This way you get the number for Free and within 48hrs instead of 30 days.
You need to have Projected Financials submitted to Dun and Bradstreet in order to a Clear complete file this is very important.
You need to file Ucc-1 lien against your business for the money and equipment, you invest in the business to get it started. This is very important to creditors.
Once these steps are completed then you need at least 6 to 9 Net30 Accounts such as http://www.sharedaluv.com/, http://vipelectronicscenter.com/, http://www.tradesmartproducts.com/index.html, http://www.azsnacks.net/, http://ucc-1credit.com/, https://www.stntsol.com/, Grainger, Uline, Seton, nebs, deluxe and so on. Remember Dun and Bradstreet does not report your credit limits, they report the amount you spend on purchase, so the more you spend on products the better the tradeline looks on your business credit file.

If you follow this step by step, you're guaranteed to get Business Credit cards with out a Personal Guarantee.http://www.businesscreditamerica.com/services.html

By now, you may have heard Cinch.fm is leaving us. Sad day, I know. Cinch.fm was one of the online resources I pointed people to all the time. Quick and easy to use, you could record audio lessons, roving thoughts, news bytes and more. And you could do this all by computer or your phone while you're out and about, sharing it on your social sites at the click of a button.

Alas, the service shut down on August 20, 2012.

So...you need options for accomplishing the same thing? Need a way to capture your audios that can be shared consistently across your online network? Being the "walking Google" that I am, I've got a few for you.

#1 - Spreaker

Spreaker.com is an online app for creating and sharing live audio content across the Internet. They target users who want to be seen as "Radio DJs" and I've seen them expand their features just within the last few months. Spreaker is a simple way to host personal radio shows that can be streamed live and heard through a widget that feeds to all the major social media and mobile platforms.

Great features? No need to install anything. You can broadcast live on Facebook. You can create your own playlist and schedule your show at the time you choose.

They have a free plan, which is great for starting out. If you need more time (since the free version limits you to 30 minute recordings), you'll want to upgrade. Starting at $39/year, plans are pretty affordable.

#2 - Audio Acrobat

I'm a fan of the founders of this platform. They started out years ago with the intention of creating a way for women to have their voices heard loud and clear using online media.

Catch my interview with the founder here

(Note: I used BlogTalkRadio to conduct the interview, which is another way to podcast. I won't highlight them here because so many people already use their service, but it's another one to check out. Just be ready to invest in the monthly service because it offers more flexibility with recordings than their free plan.)

Ok, back to AudioAcrobat.com ---

These guys give you lots and lots and lots of options so it's not just a podcasting service. You can record coaching sessions, audio interviews, audio "postcards", and more. Share your podcast easily with iTunes and other directories. Preschedule posts to go out when you want. You can even use your iPhone to create episodes that you upload right into your account.

I love their customer service and they also have a great affiliate program, one of the first I ever made commission from because people just loved using them once they drooled over all the features.

Basic plan is $19.95 monthly. All plans come with a free 30 day trial.

#3 - Evoca

Evoca.com is another great tool for podcasting. They tend to market to people who want to do audio interviews because of a really great integration that some people don't realize can work very well - Skype. When you record an interview without the right tools over Skype, the sound is not always quality EXCEPT I have had no issues whatsoever when tying Evoca with it.

Using Skype with Evoca gives you crystal clear, no-cost phone connections, even if you're interviewing someone across the globe. Just join your interviewee on your Evoca-provided dedicated phone number.

Idea alert? You could use Evoca's embeddable widget on your website for testimonials. People share their comments using the widget like online recorder on your website and it's much like leaving someone a voice message.

Post interviews with Evoca quickly to your website or blog, Facebook fan page or profile page and Twitter. Plans start at $6.95/month and you can test them out with a free trial.

I'm sure there are other tools out there, but these three are my favorite and if you're looking for a way to replace Cinch.fm's service, check them out and see what suits your fancy.

Shout out to the Cinch.fm folks and all the best in your future endeavors. We're sad to see you go.

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 is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. Get free tools to simplify and stand out online at: www.tanyasmithonline.com.

The right business branding strategies could spell real success for your business. What convinces people to invest in you or your products or services is how well they know, like, and trust you --- branding positions you for this.

What is a Branding Strategy?

Having branding strategies can provide the fundamental steps and it will help identify the most valuable tools to create a powerful business brand. In general terms, a strong brand is one that people recognize and believe to deliver quality. Have you ever found yourself at the store choosing one product over the other because it is the more recognized or trusted brand? I know I do. For example, there is a certain type of soap I always buy because I have come to expect it keeps my skin moisturized, smells great, and doesn't melt in the shower. I know when I see the box on the shelf that it's the brand I recognize and trust.

Recently, I did a survey and one of the comments was this:

"...what I see always is your name and that spells 'quality'"

It is a branding strategy's objective to identify what could turn your business into a trusted brand name. How do you influence people to trust your brand and its reputation? What should you do to communicate the objective and mission of your company? What is the message you are trying to send out to produce loyal, ideal customers? A sound business branding strategy will aim to find answers to these questions so you can establish a brand for your company that would excel in the market.

Creating Your Business Name, Logo, or Website

For starters, think of a logo that will readily connect with consumers about the nature of your business. Choose images that are associated with your business and perhaps the products they represent.

TOOL ALERT: One of my favorite logo creators? Try Logonerds (this is my affiliate link, and I use them for almost everything).

Coming Up With Slogan or Tagline

One advantage that you can have by including a tagline is that it is not permanent, unlike the logo. So if your company later decides to employ a new marketing strategy, you can readily adapt your tagline to highlight this new marketing plan.

Applying Colors and Images

Integrating Differentiators In Your Services

Learning how to effectively employ these key business branding strategies will help boost your company's marketing efforts and get you that much closer to the success you want.

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 is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing service based solo entrepreneurs how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. For instant access to your free branding templaes, visit us at: www.tanyasmithonline.com.

There’s a pretty well-known online marketer whose favorite quote is “Hope is not a marketing plan”. In other words, you can’t just pick a marketing strategy and “hope” it will work. Instead, you have to put together a detailed marketing plan where you lay out your bevy of strategies for meeting your business goals. I don't mean a comprehensive list of daily tasks...rather, it's about breaking down each tactic you want to use and the process you’ll put in place for its implementation.

Start With Your Business Model

Not every marketing strategy will work with every business model. You’ll hear lots of promos about “proven” tactics, but that doesn’t mean they are the right ones for you. First, examine your own business model then outline some of the characteristics of that model and your market, including:

• A detailed description of the key features of your target customers
• Where customers will come from - is it organic search, paid search, joint ventures, offline sources, affiliates, etc.?
• What are the buying triggers for your prospects buying triggers? Where or when do they usually make a purchase decision? For example, it could be from a personal referral, a product review, a trusted expert's endorsement, through surfing content sites, through email suggestions, etc.

What Are The Most Popular Marketing Strategies?

Now, look again at your business model and the most popular marketing tactics used by your competitors and what I like to refer to as "role models of excellence". How do they convert from prospective client to paying client? For example,

• Do they have sales pages that lead to freebies that put prospects into an email series
• Do they host regular free teleseminars that include a special offer at the end
• Are they using straight SEO and traffic generation
• Are they engaged in multiple joint ventures and recruiting affiliates

Which Attraction and Marketing  Strategies Will You Focus On?

If you try to do several marketing campaigns at once, it's hard to do either one of them just right. It's probably better to focus on one to start with. Test it out, see if it’s working, and then look at adding more strategies. There are endless methods to choose from. Try choosing the easiest marketing strategy so you can put it in place and get moving straight away. You should always have at least one easy tactic you can use that doesn’t require a lot of thought and planning. For example, you can create an autoresponder series that starts every time a person signs up for your list. It’s a very passive form of marketing that requires almost no attention once you have it up and running. Then you can start planning out more campaigns.

Try Working Backwards

In order to put your marketing plan down on paper (or computer), start by looking at all the steps involved from the end result back to the first step. What are the activities you need to complete in order to implement and maintain each strategy? Now put those steps into order by priority and use a process you can follow. Which steps are interdependent? Which ones need to be managed first? You can even use a mindmap to lay out a visual of the process, which makes it easy to move things around. Freemind is a great, free tool for creating mindmaps on PCs. SimpleMind is another one that works well on iPads (this is one I use frequently) and it has a desktop version as well. You can export any of the mindmaps to a pdf so that you can print them and post them by your computer.

Make sure you set deadlines for achieving each step in your marketing plan.The success of much of your strategies will be dependent on a specific timeframe, like the length of time between emails or follow-ups. Get it on your calendar and set firm dates for yourself. Your marketing plan will help you determine what actual tasks you'll need to do from day to day. For example, if you know that your emails need to be set up in daily intervals, then you’ll need to put the outlining and writing of those emails down on your to-do list every day. Just don’t make the big mistake many impatient, overambitious marketers make by trying to do everything at once. Focus on a single strategy at a time, set deadlines, and follow it through to success.

Where can women find reliable resources to assist in the realization of empowerment “Spirit, soul and body?” Robin Tramble aka The Empowerment Diva launches a 6 week ecoaching program “Extraordinary woman, Extraordinary life!”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Apr 20 2012 - 
Where can women find reliable resources to assist in the realization of empowerment “Spirit, soul and body?”  Robin Tramble aka The Empowerment Diva launches a 6 week  ecoaching program “Extraordinary woman, Extraordinary life!”


Elk Grove, CA  April 20, 2012 – Women are becoming overwhelmed as a result of the economic downturn and some are finding themselves stuck, unable to grasp hold of the energy and persistence to move forward. Some are becoming sole earners in their homes as husbands are in transition from either being laid off or other reasons that have led to their current unemployment.  Although it has been stated that we may see relief, women are still needing and wanting programs and systems that will assist them in their endeavor to live their best empowered life, allowing them to thrive in the midst of any financial crisis, according to Robin Tramble, CEO and Visionary of Robin Tramble International.


“It is apparent that there is an echo, a sound of fear, confusion, discouragement and possible defeat. You can choose to survive or take action and thrive in 2012! Empowerment is a choice and women must become decisive action taking women if they're going to manifest their best empowered life.”  Having experienced some of the same things and now living a life of empowerment through learned systems and experience I can passionately share strategies and keys to discover your authentic self, get unstuck, overcome overwhelm, fear and how to stay focused in crisis. I have also been rewarded with witnessing the impact it has had on raising 4 children who are now all successful in their own rights.

The Empowerment Diva mentors, trains and coaches savvy women, aspiring, new and enterprising entrepreneurial women as they strive to realize their personal, spiritual and professional goals. Robin Tramble The Empowerment Diva is currently launching a 6 week eCoaching program complete with Bonus live calls for exponential personal, spiritual and business growth.


The three components are Spiritual workout, Body works and prosper your soul (mind, will and emotions)..

The Extraordinary woman, Extraordinary life ecoaching program is an excellent resource for women who desire to be equipped with keys and strategies to empower them to move to another level in their lives manifesting maximum empowerment and becoming an extraordinary woman leading an extraordinary life. When you take care of the internal structure you are laying a sure foundation for the external which renders a great return for business and ministry success.


“It’s the place to be for breakthrough results and to join with like-minded women from across the world in one place striving for their best empowered extraordinary life” Says Robin Tramble

Enrollment is being received here http://bit.ly/extraordinarywomanprogram

# # #

About Robin Tramble International

Robin Tramble aka The Empowerment Diva is a definitive resource for savvy women, aspiring, new and enterprising entrepreneurial women. The Empowerment Diva passionately empowers women to live their best empowered life via a vast array of empowering resources for the express purpose of assisting them as they strive to realize their dreams and desires. 

Robin Tramble is qualified to mentor women in their life empowerment journey through her training, experience in the work force, education, working at home and personal experiences. 

Robin Tramble is also an author and recoding artist and plans to creatively combine her music into another empowering resource for women.

Find out more about here at http://www.Authenticlifeempowerment.com

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Pinterest is the latest social networking craze, but not only that - it has some potential to be a useful tool that drives traffic to your website. For example, you can add pins to your boards that link back to your website.

Need a little help? Here are a few simple steps you can take to increase pins and links to your blog or website.

#1 Pin Using the Bookmarklet Tool
If you’ve installed the Bookmarklet tool onto your browser then simply visit your blog or website and click the button to “Pin This.” It automatically includes the link with the image you’ve pinned so that if anyone clicks on the image or pin in Pinterest they’ll be taken to your website.

#2 Add a “Pin This” Button to Your Website or Blog
There are a few ways you can add a “Pin This” button to your site. You can use the code provided in the “About” menu under “Help.” Choose “Goodies” (http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/) and you’ll see a few options to add buttons to your site. If you have a WordPress blog there are also a few handy plug-ins that do the trick. Once the button is on your site, then you simply visit the page you want to pin and “Pin it” to your board.

#3 Use the Add+ Feature
You can also use the Add+ button located at the top right of your Pinterest page. Click it and you’ll get a drop down menu with a few choices. Enter your URL, click “Find Images” and choose from the selection of images shown. You’ll notice one image is displayed with the words “Prev” and “Next” underneath. Click “Next” to scroll through your images until you find the one that you want to pin.

#4 Write a Clear Pin Description
If you prefer, simply type the link you want people to visit in the description area of your Pin. The thing to remember here is that when people repin your image, they can and probably will change the text in the description area to match their own purposes. The link and description will remain intact only on your boards. Depending on your goals this may be okay.

#5 Make Your Site Pinterest Friendly
As my recent post about the 80/20 rule of content sharingsaid, you shouldn't be adding Pins from your own site too often. Remember, the point is that others will be motivated to pin images from your site onto their boards. That's a much more organic, less pushyway to get links to your site.

The more Pinterest-friendly your site, the better. That means making it visually interesting and adding “Pin This” buttons to your site.

You can build your Pinterest followers by becoming active on the site. Comment, “like” other pins, create boards and repin – USE the site. And remember to spend time integrating your activities on Facebook and/or Twitter to grow a larger following.

Want to know more about using Pinterest for your business? Check out my latest webinar: 4 Myths About Pinterest for Business, Tuesday, 6/12/12. Replay will be available for a limited time!

If you've been hearing a lot about Pinterest, it's because it has caught on like a really catchy phrase...it almost seems as though it just came out of nowhere and now it's breaking record speed for popularity, length of time on site (average? 90 mins+!), and more.

If you are a business owner, chances are you have not yet figured out how Pinterest could be used in your marketing strategy. Sure, you have established goals for each of your individual marketing tactics, like your content marketing. You have even created a step by step plan to achieve those goals, possibly with the incorporation of social media (why not, everyone else is). But I bet you didn't think that posting pictures could be much of a marketing boost, right?

Pinterest is boasting faster growth numbers than some of the more popular social networks when they first started out - i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc. At my last reading, they had nearly 12 million monthly unique visitors and it hasn't even in existence very long. Creating a Pinterest profile could very well help you be exposed to new leads, drive traffic and boost your business growth.

Pinterest is actually catching on so fast, I suspect, because it's heralding the next social media phase - visual imagery. Remember when it was all about written content? Then we heard video? Pictures and visual imagery are hot right now because they speak to people emotionally. Visual aspects of how you market are becoming more and more important. And it would be very smart to develop an image sharing strategy to tell your story, to convey your branding, to make faster connections.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started using Pinterest in your marketing approach:

#1 Blog PlugIns

#2 Content Marketing

#3 Social Networking

Remember to test and track your efforts. Add Pinterest to your analytics. Pay attention to who is pinning your content and repinning your pins. Track your Pinterest traffic and integrate your efforts with other traffic generation strategies you're using.

By the way, you have to be invited in order to set up an account. If you need an invite, simply visit me on Facebook and let me know you need an invitation. You'll be able to view my Pinterest tab there also (remember? integration :) ).

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 is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients.  Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market.  For instant access to your free 7 secrets to online time management report, visit us at: www.tanyasmithonline.com.

Empowered to Say No

When asked to take on a task and you know that you don’t have time to fit it in your day do you

1) Say I’m sorry I’m unable to do that at this time

2) Say I’m sorry I’m unable to do that at this time while feeling guilty or

3)You agree to do it knowing full well that it will be next to impossible to fulfill it?
One of the biggest hindrances to one’s endeavor to lead a balanced and healthy life is the inability to say no.

Many things contribute to one’s inability to simply say no without the guilt. It can b a problem with needing approval, not wanting to be rejected which is complicated by low self esteem.

Generally speaking, people can’t say no to someone asking them for something because they are so worried about upsetting the person or lack the courage to turn down the request. People often dislike disagreeing, or believe saying yes is easier than saying no. Others can simply not say no. However, there are often instances where it is best to say no to a request and it is important to learn how to utter that small little word, “no.”

You can become empowered to say no.

Discover simple strategies to say no, politely but firmly.
It’s you schedule and your life. You don’t have to come with excuses or stories. If you don’t value your time no one else will. You can say no without being dishonest.
Here are a few ways you can say no.
• No. I would only be able to do a mediocre job right now.
• No. I don’t have any spare time right now.
• Not this time, please give me more notice next time and I’ll work it into my schedule.
• I can’t accept this, with my present commitments. I’m sorry.
• I’m rather quite busy now. I must decline.
• I don’t think I have the time for it, as I am in the middle of something important.
• After looking at my calendar, I found that I already have prior commitments.
• I can’t.
• Why don’t you try someone else? I’m not the right person for this.

Take some time to come up with some additional ways that you can say no that feel authentic to you and our personality. If you aren’t sure, you can always ask for time to make the decision without feeling guilty. You may say you will have to think about it. If somebody persists with the request when you want to say no, you may have to be assertive and firmly decline. You don’t need to risk over committing by saying yes when you actually want to say no.

When you neglect being honest when approached by your boss for instance and you know that you couldn’t possibly fulfill the request in excellence you are putting your job on the line.

If you can show your boss, the reasons for not being able to accept the extra responsibility, you may be able to convince your superior about your inability to accept the additional work. Don’t accept anything that puts your job at risk or makes you suffer later.

Believe it or not learning to say no at the right time can help you gain respect with your peers and help avoid dire situations.

When saying no do so with confidence and if you lack confidence well this is an area that you want to work on. An inability to say no will be a definite hindrance to your personal empowerment.

Boost your confidence and self esteem. Celebrating the uniqueness of you will go a long way in enhancing your ability to say no without feeling guilty.

Besides when you don’t truly desire or have room to fulfill the request you’re not being authentic and you know I’m all for being authentic.

Here’s to your no-ability!

I know you enjoyed this post and maybe you’d like to go deeper. I’d like to invite you to join me for my new Teleseries. Click here to join my Teleseries “Essential secrets to Extraordinary Life and Business Success!”



Are you looking for ways to increase your productivity? This is an area that I spend a lot of time in my endeavor to follow my passion which is empowering women and woman entrepreneurs.

There is very little that can cause a decrease in productivity as easily as burnout. While you may be tempted to believe that putting every waking moment into working on your job or building your business is a good way to get things done, there is an additional factor which you may not have considered. When you figuratively take your work home with you or never officially close business you can increase your risk of burnout and get much less accomplished in the long-run.

In this scenario you are not just doing work during your free time you are actually keeping your work on your mind during your free hours. When you are at home, or somewhere else other than in your workplace, you can easily burn yourself out by keeping it as your main focus.

Key #1
When work is done or business is done at home have an official shut down of your work, of your business.

It may go something like this. At work outside of the home close the door to the office, get in your car, turn on some music that actually allows you to transition from work to home.

Home business
Hopefully you have a place that’s designated as your home office. Shut the computer down whether that’s to put it on sleep or standby. Move away from the computer. If it’s in a office with a door, close the door. Put on some music that will also allow you to make the transition from work to home.

This sounds simple, however, you’d be surprised at how beneficial it is to making the transition from work to home. If you need to go back then consider it extra work and not stringing along your work hours throughout the day.

Key #2

Leave work thoughts at work

During your off-hours, you may put a lot of time into thinking about your job. You may worry about whether you will get something done on time, or the overall quality of your work. This can lead you to become overly stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed. You may become more fatigued by your work when you are thinking about it and worrying about it than when you are actually doing your job.

Instead of stressing yourself out over whatever you need to accomplish the next day, or how much progress you are making with something you are working on, try learning how to leave those thoughts and concerns at your place of business.

Key #3

Cultivate positive habits

When you have free time, develop some positive habits. Learning how to relax, to participate in healthy recreation, and giving both your time and focus to your friends and family will all reduce your risk of burnout. When you have begun to develop these habits, it will not take long for you to see the results. You will start each new work day feeling physically, emotionally, and mentally refreshed. You will have more to give to your job when you are refreshed. You will be more motivated, more energetic, and more productive.

And you know I like to over deliver so here’s a bonus key

Bonus Key #4

Saturate everything with Prayer

Begin your day with prayer. You can never go wrong by staying close to the master planner. You’ll gain clarity of vision and peace will be imparted. Wisdom will also be given to those that ask. James 1:5

You can also meditate on God’s word through out the day and most definitely close your day with prayer.

Prayer will also help you to be less irritable and those things that would really get to you will seem to bounce off.

What will you use from this article? Take at least one thing and begin to apply it to your daily routine. If you need additional support in getting it done and making it happen I want to give you a special incentive Secure your place here in my FREE Tele-Class “Tap into insider secrets : Get it Done – Make it Happen!” This is the preview call to my 90 Days of Empowerment and Focus Coaching Program. You’ll receive access to my coaching, guidance, tools, resources, templates and more. End 2011 strong and kick-start 2012 with a BANG! Get focused, Make Big Changes and get results Faster! If you know you’re ready and need to do something positively different right now and don’t have time to wait. Go here to enroll in 90 Days of Empowerment and Focus Coaching program today!

Self-discipline is an essential factor for productivity and success. Without it, one becomes lazy, unmotivated, and dependent upon others. Lack of self-discipline also makes for a difficult-to-deal-with employee, boss, or coworker.

Exercising self-discipline means, in an old-fashioned term, setting yourself to a task. You need to know what must be done, when it must be done– and do it. Good self-discipline includes a basic schedule, or framework, of what needs to be accomplished within a specific period of time. You do not allow yourself to become sidetracked, or to procrastinate.

However, being too rigid with self-discipline does not increase productivity. It can even lessen it. If you do not allow yourself any breaks throughout the workday, or any room for error at all, the expectations you are placing on yourself are too rigid. Instead of getting more done, or doing more in a shorter period of time, it can cause you to become frustrated with your tasks and your job.

If you learned self-discipline early in life, you probably do not have any difficulty with it now. On the other hand, if your schooling years and family life were too rigid, or if little was expected of you, this is a good time to develop the habit. You may have managed to slide through your early years without a good sense of self-discipline, but it will be a stumbling-block to your career.

A good way to start cultivating self-discipline is

Read more

In my latest blog post, I share the importance of understanding the difference between a profitable lifestyle versus building wealth. Not that having a profitable lifestyle is bad because it isn't but that we shouldn't confuse the two and that focusing too much on a lifestyle in sacrifice to your wealth journey isn't what our purpose is for. I encourage you to check it out...great food for thought!

While you're checking that out, check out Part II featuring 6-10 of the 10 ways you need to get your personal "Act" together in pursuit of your entrepreneurial success. 

Let's start a dialog! Tell me what you think of these post. How do they relate to your life, do you agree disagree? 

Sure many successful entrepreneurs (myself included) will tell you how they've either maxed credit cards, over extended themselves, moved in with parents, sold cars, lived IN their cars, spent their entire life savings or 401k on their dream all in pursuit of their dream and destiny. Many of them took a gamble and won having built lasting profitable businesses and wealth. One of my clients successful built her company to 7 figures after being at the brink of bankruptcy, repossession, and financial ruin.

Entrepreneur.com list it's 25 Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs and these are all dead on many of them echo the traits needed such as "creating  plan" to learning to work with integrity and so one, however there is one that is missing...

I'm adding #26 and making it #1, you MUST have a plan for how you will get your Personal Affairs in order. This means from your  personal finances to improving your credit if it's challenged, to your relationships. It's no secret to successful entrepreneurs that your personal life (particularly for women) has a direct effect on your business. Taking risk in your business is a given and while I'm neither for or against risking it all (I'm more so on the "for" side) Ignoring your personal affairs can certainly lead to undue stress.

#1 Get Your Personal Affiars in order

From your relationships, drama, and finances. If you are Planning to risk it all you NEED to have a strategy! Failing to plan how you are going to navigate and survive or deal with a mate that is unsupportive or how you plan to manage your health care can mean the difference for some of success and failure.

While it is important to have a plan BEFORE you start your business. The reality is MOST of us won't, we'll fly out into entrepreneur land blind. Hey I'm not mad at you, I get it I'm with you 100% but at some point you must get some order to your personal life in order to reach the optimal success you want to achieve in your business life. I'll share more about my own personal story tomorrow, but for now here are some steps you must take now.

1. Pull your personal credit report and get an understanding of where you credit stands. If you have challenges you may not be able to fix them overnight, but get clear on where you are so you can make a plan.

2. Make sure your tax returns are filed or at least you have a strategy and plan in place and know where you stand with the IRS. The worse feeling is being on top of the world in your business and then BAM! You are hit with an audit on the personal side. See it with clients...you don't want this.

3. Get an Life Insurance policy for yourself and your family. Leaving a comfortable 9 to 5 where they (should) provide life insurance for you, many entrepreneurs simply don't think about this when whey start out on their own. Sure you want your business to be your insurance policy but be realistic. If you are a young person be sure to have a plan of how your family will survive if you become disabled.

4. Create a Will. I hope you didn't create your business but have no plan of how it will pass on after you? Create a will for how you plan to leave your business, or other assets. A living will may be good as well to cover how things should be governed should you become disabled and unable to care for your family or your business.

5. Create a salary for yourself in your pricing. If your fee for coaching is $100 an hour, make sure you know that about $75 is going to go just to cover expenses, pay insurance, travel etc. That leaves you with $25 an hour to live off. If this isn't going to be good for you, then maybe you need to increase your hourly rate to $150 or $200 an hour. 

Check here for the rest! 

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Thanks for liking my blog post! If you wish to share it or repost it, you must include the information below!

Katrina M. Harrell is author of "Embrace.Your.Journey.: 180 Day Journey to Unlocking Your Wisdom, Redefining Your Success and Discovering Your Abundant Wealth" (The Sum of Her Publishing, 2011). President of the KM Harrell Group, LLC a Strategic Business Development & Management firm supporting minority and women-owned businesses. Her firm’s consulting services have helped many minority and women owned businesses establish foundational structures and exit strategies within their businesses that have aided them in selling for profit or obtaining investor funding. Passionate about entrepreneurship education, Katrina’s insight and expertise is highly sought after both online and off. She is also founding CEO for Your Simple Bookkeeper, outsourced national bookkeeping company for micro and small business. 

Most of us think of celebs in terms of entertainers.  But the category is far more vast.  A celeb is anyone who has notoriety with the general public or a select group of people.  So the range of celebrity talent goes from famous actors, dancers and writers to hair stylists, inventors or maybe even an industry expert. What determines brandability can be summed up with two questions. WHO would be interested? WHY would they care?

My determination process may seem a bit crass, but it cuts to the chase and saves loads of time.  Once we determine theWHO, the WHY is almost as important.  Its the WHY that dictates longevity and level of success.  A fly-by-night sensation will lose its shine once the 15 minutes of fame or over, that is unless we keep giving them more WHYs.

EXAMPLE: Last year we were all singing the "Pants On the Ground" song courtesy of General Larry Platt.  The General appeared on the season 9 auditions of American Idol.  Platt then embarked on a whirlwind media tour that included appearances on The View and Ellen and even spawned his own You Tube Channel (click here to visit).  There were posters and t-shirts and even an attempt at a iTunes single.  Let's face it, General Platt became an epidemic.

Now fast forward one year.  We could care less about the "Pants" (on the ground or otherwise).  So what made the excitement fizzle?  No rocket science required here, the reason WHY the General WAS famous, but ceased to be current or interesting.  Of course there are other factors that contribute to brandability, I made a quick list below.

Here are the key factors to be BRANDABLE:

1. Be Clear -  clearly determine your fan base
2. Be Interesting -  can you keep the fans interested long term
3. Be Personable -  can you connect to your audience on a personal and emotional level
4. Be Authentic -  fans don't care if you are an angel or an ass, they just want it real

Remember Branding is all about 'promise of value'.  Determine your value, and you determine your brand.

Often times I hear it said by man ythat they feel like everyone around them is out to harm them. I also see these same people, continue to exhibit self destructive and non constructive behavior. They are unable to maintain any healthy relationships. They are insecure and they seem to find joy in the act of self pity. They struggle with forgiveness and are unable to accept the blame for many of the wrong turns that they have taken in life.

So, again I ask… Are YOU the Common Denominator?

It is imperative that we take an extensive look at ourselves on a regular basis to establish what type of person we would like to project ourselves to be. Do you want to be someone who lives a lonely and destitute life, lacking of true friendship, true happiness and the knowledge of self worth? If you answered NO to any of these questions, there is help. But it starts with you. 

Once you realize that you have the power to change these obstacles, then and only then can you begin to change them. It is absolutely necessary to remove the blinders from your eyes, the plugs from your ears and the hardness from your heart. 

The world is not out to get you, It is not everyone else………the Common Denominator is YOU!!

If you have a problem with keeping friends……..There is a reason!

If you have a problem maintaining healthy relationships…..There is a reason!

If you can’t seem to find true joy in your life……There is a reason!

If you find yourself isolated……..There is a reason!

First you must find the root of the problem and then you can trim the dead leaves and branches and establish a healthier life that grows better with time! 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help if needed. We can’t do it all on our own!!

Stop being the Common Denominator!!

Randa Johnson

"Helping You Brand the Best You"

http://www.RandaJohnson.com

http://www.WorkWithRanda.com

System #1: Customer engagement

Let me start with a disclaimer. Tacky photos are my pet peeve, so I'm going to be really blunt about this subject. So here it is in a nutshell, if you want to be taken seriously then present yourself seriously!  Honestly, if you don't care enough to invest in professional photos, then don't expect potential clients to invest in your product/ service.

Types of Photos

1. Glamour Head Shots:  Ideal for presenting a professional presence.  Great for bios, personal appearances and media photos.
2. Lifestyle/ Portrait Shots:  Perfect to communicate your personal brand. These images are not staged (unlike Glamor and Editorial), and they should reflect you in your natural habitat doing what comes naturally.
3. Editorial Photos:  Usually reserved for appearances in media where you are a feature story.  Should have a personal touch with a professional flare.