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In its infancy, the lawmakers in the United States of America only granted the right to vote to a privileged few.  Males of European descent who had wealth were the only ones allowed to elect government representatives.  It took nearly two hundred years for the country to grow up and realize that a true democracy required that all of its citizens have the right to vote.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 guarantees that right; that all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or financial status, have the right to choose their elected officials.

Today, there are those who seek new restrictions.  State voter ID laws are touted as a means to thwart voter fraud, when, in reality they are guises designed to limit participation by the disenfranchised.

It is imperative that you exercise your right to vote before someone decides you don’t deserve it.  To vote is to honor the legacy of all of those who fought and died for this right for all people.  Your right to vote is one of the most valuable rights you have.  Never take it for granted.

GET SOME EXERCISE TODAY…EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

http://www.soulvisiontv.com/VOTEPage.htm

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This past week, so many people suffered from a superstorm that was born out of water, sand and wind.  Sandy's latest stats spoke of killing an overall 161 people, including 92 in the United States (source: CNN, Nov. 2, 2012).

The aftermath of this storm has left literally hundreds of thousands of people without fuel, food, electricity, and prized possessions.

This storm was a heartbreak and one of the biggest ever in the loss of lives and finance.

And many of us felt the pain and the wrath of it even from many miles away.

Maybe you have felt loss and pain because of  storms in your business - one day you're riding high, enjoying the fruits of your labor and out of nowhere it seems, you're left scraping the bottom of your budget, feeling desperation about your business model, facing naysayers who tell you to give up, unable to attract paying clients.  These personal storms can take a heavy toll on you.

But there are lessons we can learn from the recovery following this devastating storm called Sandy. Lessons we can apply to life and our businesses, especially in times of loss.

Lesson 1 -  You Are Not Alone

In the aftermath of a huge storm like this, it's easy to feel separated from the rest of the world.  People feel isolated, like no one but their small community knows what's going on.  Survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin, Missouri tornado spoke of the anger and sadness, and how alone they felt.

Victim Eileen Romero spoke of this to CNN, "I didn't even realize that we were being covered 24 hours a day," she said. "It was only months later that I comprehended that New Orleans was on TV all the time, that people cared so much about it."

When you are facing devastation in your business and in your life, you may be surprised that people care.  They want you to be successful.  They want you to get back on your feet.  Reach out through mediums like networking communities, social media, friends and family.  You don't have to share all the specifics; say what you're comfortable saying and let others help and encourage you.

Lesson 2 - Focus On What's Important

In times of tragedy, remember what's important.  I was listening to an interview with a family who talked about how they lost so much.  But they weren't looking for their laptops or jewelry in the wreckage; they were trying to find other loved ones, making sure they all had food, that they could be transported to safe lodging.

In business, you may find yourself falling back on familiar things like putting time and money into a website, when you could be making sure you have groceries for the month.  Take inventory of what's happening and where to focus your time and money when going through a business crisis. Focus on the priorities for survival until you can get back on your feet.

Lesson 3 - Recovery Won't Happen Overnight

Even after the worst of the storm itself was over, many Sandy victims still await rescue. Although some electricity was restored, backup batteries and generators for cellphone towers have been running out of juice.  It's going to take some time to get back to stability.

When you have suffered a loss in your business, it won't "fix" itself overnight.  Remember there is a process to recovery and just because you don't see things turning around after making two or three efforts, it doesn't mean it's time to give up.  A colleague of mine talks about how it took her 3 years to get back on her feet after her small business went bankrupt.  It was not easy, but her perseverance paid off.

Hold onto your vision - keep it steady, and know that it may not be time to give up on your dream just yet.  Even if you have to find temporary employment in a different field, even if you feel your previous business model has failed, it doesn't mean you should give up your idea completely.

Do what you need to survive first, surround yourself with encouragement and support, and dust yourself off to plan for the next life adventure.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” - Khalil Gibran, Artist, Poet, Writer (1883-1931)

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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

    Hi, I stopped by to let you know about my new Pink Made Me Research,  What I do is research based on your needs.  I basically have information on Grants and Funding. My services do cost.  Although they are not unaffordable.  I really look into things to help you get what you need.  This is a gift I have that I am starting to share with others.  A grateful mother  and member of society.  I pray that you will tune into what I have to offer.  For more informtion you can leave me a message.  I do check them reguararly.  Thanks  and God bless!

Moving Your Business from Potential to Profitability in 2013

Entrepreneurs – as you think about your business plan for 2013, consider the following questions:

• Did your gross receipts exceed the level of effort and resources put in the business in 2012? (This answer indicates whether you have a business, per IRS standards, or just a hobby)
• Are you aware of the substantial changes in your industry that will impact your business next year? (This includes new technologies, new competitors, new laws, etc.)
• If Business Growth is one of your goals for 2013, have you already figured out what will be the “RIGHT” type of growth? (i.e. not just more clients, but the clients with whom you will have continuous sales next year)
• If you are a Coach or Speaker, what “new” insights, services or products do you plan to bring to your clients or audiences next year? (In other words, what will make you stand apart from all the others in your field?)

As a solo entrepreneur or a small business owner, you may have the “potential” to make millions, but if you have not mapped out a strategy for addressing issues such as the ones listed above, increasing your profitability in 2013 is unlikely. Your business plan outlines your business structure, but a solid strategy is the bridge to get you to your destination.

As entrepreneurs, we must relentlessly pursue our highest level of potential in business. Utilizing our full potential empowers us to serve the world with our unique gifts and talents, while being compensated accordingly for doing so. I believe that every entrepreneur should strive for extraordinary success. If you know the precise destination in which you’d like to take your company, then you have a definite target for which to aim.

First, let’s look at why you need a strategy and not just a business plan:

• Business plans are essential to have, but they are used primarily to start a business, obtain funding, or direct ongoing operations
• A strategic plan is used to provide focus, direction and action in order to move your business from where it is now to where you want to go
• A strategic plan is critical for prioritizing your three most valuable, but limited resources (time, talent and capital) to grow the revenue and increase the return on investment
• A strategic plan focuses on building a sustainable competitive advantage and is futuristic in nature

Strategy helps you make clear and conscious choices about the direction of your company in relation to what’s happening in the dynamic business environment. Armed with strategic knowledge, you’re in a much better position to respond proactively to a changing environment.

Second, let’s review some of the fine points and benefits of small business strategy:

• To establish a unique value proposition as compared to your competitors
• To enable you to do the RIGHT things at the RIGHT time
• To identify the tradeoffs and clarify what you should not do
• To focus on activities that fit together and reinforce each other
• To execute your business plan in a way that provides distinct and tailored value to customers

Third, strategic planning is the most effective way to “position” your solo venture or small business for success and profitability. Positioning helps you align your business activities with the goals that you have set and it helps differentiate your products and services from others in the mind of the consumer. If you think positioning your business strategically is an easy task, consider the following senarios:

• The owner of a local bakery wants to remain small and local, but needs to increase profits. How should the owner adjust and align all business activities, including operations, inventory, marketing and customer service in order to achieve these goals in 2013?
• A clothing designer wants to position her business to grow into a much bigger regional or national company in 2013. In what way would she need to adjust operations and inventory to cater to a broader client base? How will the owner develop the distribution channels needed to achieve this goal? How much will she need to invest initially – before profits?
• A Health & Wellness Coach has been planning to launch a new suite of wellness products in 2013. She just found out that another contender in the market is also launching a similar suite of products with a sophisticated online portal at a much lower rate. The competitor is also positioning themselves to become a player in the healthcare exchange market in 2014. How should this Coach adjust her go-to-market strategy?

These are actal strategy senarios from three of my current clients. As you can see, developing a profitable and competitive strategy is much more complex than just putting together a business plan. You have to know the direction you want your company or solo venture to take, understand how to position yourself, and align the various elements of your enterprise with that directional goal. This avoids wasting time and effort on activities that don't add to your bottom line.

I realize that it’s not easy, so I want to help you develop a solid Game Plan for your business in 2013. Because I want you to succeed, you don’t have to work through this process alone. Joined by two other phenomenal business coaches (Chloe Taylor Brown and Cheryl Budden Earls), we have scheduled two workshops in an effort to coach and train you in the development of your “2013 Strategic Play Book”!

Follow the link below to find out more about the Strategic Coaching Workshops that I'll be offering in December, with Chloe Taylor Brown and Cheryl Budden Earls! Armed with the right strategy, you can Rock 2013 and drastically increase your profitability!

Click Here To Get Started with the 2013 Small Business Prosperity Challenge Today: www.moniquestoner.com/2013-prosperity-challenge. It's totally FREE & there's no obligation.

Also, for additional 2013 Business Planning Tips, read my Five Steps to Business Success in 2013 article - http://www.moniquestoner.com/five-steps-to-business-success-in-2013/

When it comes to choosing those to represent us in government, I believe Trust is the most important characteristic of any candidate.  Beyond charisma, experience, knowledge, likability, or positions on issues, the people you send to Washington, the city council, the state legislature, or the school board, have to be people that you can trust. Trust trumps all other qualifications.

In order for a candidate to be considered trustworthy they must exhibit the following behaviors:

First, they have to do what they say they are going to do.  That means saying what they mean, and meaning what they say. 

Second, whatever it is that they say they are going to do, they have to do to the best of their ability.  There can be no half-steppin’.

Third, they must tell the truth.  They can’t accept lying as a means to an end.

Fourth, they must be honest.  They can’t blame others for their own mistakes, and they can’t take credit for something they did not do.

And finally, they must never purposely deceive or mislead.  If they do, then they are not worthy of your trust, nor your vote.

As you make your final decisions on who you will choose to represent you, it is both good and proper to look at a candidate’s knowledge or experience, but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, “Can I trust this person?”  Be sure to Vote.

SoulVisionTV.com

As posted on Denene Millner's "My Brown Baby" on November 5, 2012. See full post here.

Author: Akilah S. Richards

How is it that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, our percentage of business ownership as black women in the U.S. is up 59 percent since 2002, yet we make up a mere 3 percent  of the $1.2 billion dollars in sales from women-owned businesses?

Unjust systems and long-standing, deliberately placed hurdles aside, many of us are learning to maneuver this new era of social impact through technology, and leveraging our skills with our passions to the tune of thriving businesses and comfortable lifestyles.

But on the real, the numbers of us who hoist sails on sinking ships with unstable businesses far surpass the number of financially and emotionally stable black women business owners.

Certainly, we do not lack access to the resources or the brainpower it takes to excel in business—so what’s the deal?

Business and Life Strategist Katrina M. Harrell and I have got a theory about these troubling truths.  It might ruffle your feathers a bit, but perhaps that’s a necessary part of your growth and ours.

The theory: Black women in business have been B.I.T.C.H.ing up, big time!

Yes, we BITCH up!  We get scared.  We stop trusting ourselves.  We take the shortcuts and we prioritize popularity over business ownership.  Many of us, myself included, spent years building a “popular brand”, without focusing on operating a business.

The results: High visibility, but low income.  Some success, but no real fulfillment.

I was a slave to the very thing I had built.  But thankfully, I got free.

READ MORE HERE...POWERFUL READ.

It’s not your fault,

You didn’t’ know your words would eat away at my heart.

It’s not your fault,

You didn’t’ know your words would break my spirit.

I don’t blame you,

You couldn’t have known.

I remember my sister once told me that you should be happy most of the time and have a few unhappy days, when you are in a relationship.  I was unhappy most of the time and lived for the few days when things were good.  I didn’t realize at the time that there was a cycle that I could count on.  I was too busy trying to do everything right to be able to notice anything around me.  The verbal, mental and emotional abuse was something I had to deal with daily.  I did not ever know if I should speak or have an opinion of my own.  I was always on edge.  There would be times when we would be in the middle of a “normal” conversation; everything would be great and then I would say something wrong and everything would change.  If my words were not EXACTLY as he thought I should say them, the accusations and name calling would begin.  We came from different life styles, we came from different cultures and evidently, I didn’t know how to speak or express myself correctly.  I tried so hard to say the right things in the right way…I just couldn’t get it right.  If I talked “too much” or explained things in detail, he would accuse me of treating him like a child.  I have been used to talking in detail with my children and family…we talk and repeat the same thing in several ways.  We analyze and we discuss in detail, however when I spoke this way with my husband, again,  I was accused of treating him like a child and I had to pay the price by being yelled at and called names.  If I tried to explain, it just made matters worse. Even as I write this, I feel my heart start to beat fast because I am afraid I am saying “too much”.   If my children called me, I had to be careful of every word I spoke in fear he might take something wrong. 

I learned how to listen verbatim.  If I paraphrased something and didn’t get it right, he would yell at me for “putting words in his mouth”.  If I said something and then latter changed it, I was “lying” or “up to something”.  If I forgot something, or didn’t remember exactly as it was said days before, I “was stupid” and a “damn liar”.  Anything I got wrong could easily be turned into proof that I was cheating on him or that I was somehow putting him down.  I wasn’t and I couldn’t find a way to show him.

I felt like I was losing my mind.  There were times when I knew something was said or not said.   It may have been that I didn’t remember word for word or that I had a different understanding of what was said then he did; it didn’t matter….I was always wrong.

If I argued what I believed I had heard, I would have to pay with his verbal assult on me.

  I was a “damn liar”; I was a “m…f…”; I was a “c (word)..”;  I was a “b (word)…”;   I was “stupid”; “No one could be that naïve, so I must be lying”;  I was a piece of “s (word)”; I was a “w (word)”;

His anger was so strong and the tone of his voice was so harsh, when he spoke these words to me, I was scared and felt helpless. 

When you are in school, they call it bullying….as an adult it is abuse. Years of hearing the same types of things carried into my adult life reinforcing and strengthening each word and each name as it was yelled at me.

The name calling echoed in my mind every day and it got louder and louder each time the words were repeated.

There was a very fine line between the verbal, emotional and physical abuse.  One crossed right over to the next and any one could trigger the other.

In school we learned

“Sticks n Stones may break your bones,

But words will never hurt you.”

My Daddy always told me

“Don’t care what other people think”

Why do his words hurt me so much?

Redefine Success

Over the years of me working in the Financial Services Industry as a Personal Banker, I have acquired the knowledge about how successful women think differently about themselves when it comes to viewing success. Women truly take it hard when they cannot meet the needs of there family, or when they don’t accomplish a set of goals. It is important to reevaluate our goals according to life’s happenings. Life is an on going cycle and we should adjust our goals around it. Your goals need to be changed every so often. Over the years as an entrepreneur, I have personally re-evaluated my goals and redesigned my brand in alignment with my beliefs. As the year come to an close it is important for you to take the time out to re-evaluate your goals in your life and business. I have provided you with a few ways on how you can get started with evaluating your goals. Make sure you allow yourself room for change and don’t forget to give yourself permission to change them as your circumstances change.

1)      Evaluate your Intention

Set time aside to determine your real intention. Successful people that I have come to know of have an intention. Set the right intention for accomplishing what you desire. Setting the right intention will keep you on track to completing your desire goal.

2)      Evaluate your Mindset

Your thoughts have the power to become things; so you truly want to set yourself up for success, simply by jotting down on paper positive words, which you are going to implement in your life. You want to surround yourself with other positive people. Keep a positive mindset free from debilitating beliefs that may cause your thoughts to control you.

3)      Evaluate your Desire

All of the successful people that I have come to know. Truly had a burning desire to be and do more. Ultimately, it is that desire that will wake you up in the wee hours of the morning, while half the world sleeps just so you can get a task completed. This desire that I am talking about is necessary in order to complete a goal. Know your why.

4)        Evaluate your Biz and Life

Set aside a moment to Evaluate your progress. Look at where you’ve been and where you want to go. Make sure that where you want to go is in alignment with your purpose. Always remember it is not a sprint; it’s a journey. Visualize where you want to be in the next 90 days and write it down.

To Continue reading click HERE!

Shakeemah Murray

BizS.A.V.V.YMOM

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On November 6, 2012, citizens of the United States will get the distinct honor of choosing their government representatives.  Millions will participate in the democratic process that will determine the future of this country.

While some proclaim that this election is about going back, the nature of life, as created by the Master, only has one direction…Forward.  You don’t get a “do-over” for yesterday.  Once born, you can’t return to infancy.  The clock doesn’t move backwards.  The sun doesn’t move from the west to the east.  Everything moves forward.

So in reality, we only have one choice, and that is to move forward.  Gone are the days of legal segregation, bias, and discrimination.  Why would anyone want to go back to that?  This country has become a much stronger nation because of the inclusion all people, instead of the exclusion of some.  Why would we want to go back to a weaker state?

Life, by design, has only one direction, and that direction is Forward.  It is designed that way so that everyday becomes an opportunity for you to be more.  The Master wants your life to be abundant, and gives you a new day everyday to be all that you can be.

So on this Election Day, we must recognize that life only moves Forward.  That is the only option.

SoulVisionTV.com

The United States embodies the definition of diversity.  From race, to ethnicity, to gender, to religion, to age, the U.S. provides a context where diverse groups can function within a common society.

And yet with all of the diversity, there are some basic needs that Maslow says binds us together. We all require clean air to breathe.  We need food for nutrition and water for hydration.  We all want to be safe, and we all need love and affection.  These are what we call the Human Factors.

So when a crisis hits it is these Human Factors that take precedence over any differences we may possess.  When disaster hits, you don’t see one group of citizens refusing to help another group of citizens.  You see people from all demographics coming together to help each other.  Partisanship no longer matters.  Extremism has no place.  When humans need help, humans come to help.

Maybe it is through disaster and crisis that Providence is trying to guide us to be better.  The Master commands, “Love ye one another, as I have loved you.”  When crisis hits, we do not hesitate to follow that commandment, but as soon as some sense of normalcy is restored, we go back to our prejudices and biases.

Something tells me that we’re missing it.  We were put here to love and live and care for one another.  The Master asks nothing else of us.  It shouldn’t take disaster or crisis for us to get that.

SoulVisionTV.com