The Go-Giver - A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea

Today a WONDERFUL BOOK arrived in the mail.

It is called "The Go-Giver - a Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea" by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I can honestly say this is one of the best new books I have read in a long time. It is short and easy to read. I know this because Bob is a dear friend of mine and a couple of months ago he sent me the "galley" to review.

David Bach, NY Times Bestselling author of "The Automatic Millionare" says this about the book: "Not since Who Moved My cheese? have I enjoyed a parable as much as this. You owe it to yourself to read "The Go-Giver" and share its message with those who matter most to you. It is a beautiful book that will touch your soul and inspire your heart."

I totally agree with Mr. Bach. The Go-Giver has a heartfelt, inspirational message. And much more than that. When you read this book and follow the principles outlined therein, you will grow your business, be a better communicator and be an all-around better person.

I am so excited that the book made it to the bookshelves before the holidays so everyone I know can get and give a copy.

I hope you put this on your reading list and gift-giving list for those you admire. I know I have!

Wishing each of you a wonderful weekend... and more.

Go forth and give... and see what comes back in return!

Heidi

Ps. Bob is the author of several best-selling books, including Endless Referrals and The Success Formula.

John is the author of The Zen of MLM and other best-sellers.

Women, Wealth and Planning

Today is Wealth Wednesday on HER Mastermind Network and Susan Kildahl, Topic Leader had some great advice to share which I thought would be good to post here as well.

Wealth Wednesdays is all about securing our financial future. Share your wealth-building, budgeting, money-saving tips and resources here.

Here's what Susan Posted:

Our topic today is: What are you doing for yourself, and for your business, to keep your income steady through the holidays. Because let's face it...the holidays can be rough! I work from home, as many of you do. I know that if you provide a service, rather then a product, then you might be finding the holiday months to be tougher then normal.

What can you do?

-keep your marketing efforts strong

-keep your networking efforts strong-follow up even more and plan for 2008 NOW

-keep your one 'to do' list up to dat

e-start your marketing plan now for 2008

-start your networking plan now for 2008

Susan also asked us to share our thoughts and here's what I wrote:

Susan,Great topic! And excellent advice.

I am doing all the things you suggest! Most business owners cut back on marketing and networking efforts during the month of December - retailers might do so because we think we have more business than we can handle, however once the holidays are over, often so are the "sales." I know because I have made that mistake more than once. This year I have 2 networking events a week scheduled for December, I have already completed my marketing plan for 2008 (rough draft) and am an avid "to-do" lister.

I have not yet worked out my networking plan for 2008 so thanks for the reminder! The last week in December is traditionally quiet for my businesses so that's when I look at all those things I accomplished, the things I didn't and still want to (which go on the 2008 list), I prioritize my marketing and networking efforts and I review all the networking organizations and event I participated in to see where I received the greatest "bang for my time and buck."

It is especially important to plan all our strategies and in many cases probably should have begun planning earlier. It is no accident that most large companies create their budgets for the coming year by October! This way know who they can support (other smaller companies, non profits and individuals). I believe that small business owners who model their calendars after largers corporations do better in the long run (at least that is what my clients tell me).

So it's almost December you say, well it's still not too late! January may not even be too late, however, if you wait to plan until you need to plan, it is often too late!I also think that our wealth self-talk and perceptions of aquiring wealth can hold us back. If we truly want to build wealth, we must know our attitude towards and handling of money situations money to begin with!

I also recommend reading the following book "The Girls’ Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business" by my good friend Susan Wilson Solovic, Founder & CEO of SBTV.com. She knows what she's talking about since she has built more than one!

Susan is a Licensed facilitator-Get Clients Now!™ with workshops starting in December. You can find Susan online at: http://www.coachedbysusan.com/

Have a great day... and more!

Heidi

Are You a Stress Junkie!

My dear friend Priscilla Marotta, Ph.D. http://www.solutionsnottalk.com/ created a new "Are You a stress Junkie" Quiz for Glamour Magazine Online. Priscilla is a psychologist and the author of Power & Wisdom, The New Path for Women http://www.amazon.com/Power-Wisdom-New-Path-Women/dp/0966633903 .

She is also the founder of Women of Wisdom http://www.womenofwisdom.com/, which is a website where Women and Mentors Connect. In 2005 Priscilla named me President of the site and it is one of my projects for the coming year – as it is in need of a redesign.

Here’s the link to the quiz: http://www.glamour.com/health/polls/stressaddict/junkie.

Good Luck!

Heidi

The Buzz about Blogs & Books

I was just getting ready write a blog post about an entirely different subject when I came across “The latest from Blogger Buzz." I love Blogger Buzz because you can find out what other bloggers are doing that’s cool and exciting. Today, Blogger Buzz profiled Sasha Cagen, Writer, editor, quirkyalone-movement- leader, and world's leading to-do-list-ologist. According to her bio “Sasha is an entrepreneaur and author who who builds communities around passions and new ideas. She is most well known for coining the term 'quirkyalone,' a person who prefers singledom to dating for the sake of dating. "

And she’s also know for her To Do List Blog - a blog that publishes handwritten lists. Sasha became fascinated by lists because they are such a rare window into our everyday lives–and everything that’s on our minds.

From her blog came her latest book “To-do List from Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What our Lists Reveal About Us"which is a collection of 100 lists and the stories behind them.

And you can find this book in all major book stores.

Although I haven’t read it yet, To Do Lists is on the top of my LIST of books to read. For two reasons. One: I think it will be fun to see what is on other people’s lists and Two: It never ceases to amaze me how such a simple idea can become a book and others will read it.

And this got me thinking. Thinking about turning a blog into a book, so I did some research on the subject and here’s what I came up with. (Note: When I “Googled” turning your blog into a book more than 13 million results came up and of course, like most people, just read the first two pages! ).


There are articles about how to do it, there are companies that can turn your blog into a book , export the blog into a pdf for you, software that turns your blog into a book, consultants who tell you how to turn your blog into a book , blogs about turning your blog into a book and there are writers who have turned their books into blogs such as Business Blogging Secrets Revealed - was developed directly from two blogs AND “Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit When He Split” by Laurie Perry aka Crazy Aunt Purl not to mention all the writers, writing blogs in hopes that they too will one day have the contents of a book.

John Paul Micek from Blog i360 advises: “For those of you who are blogging passionately about a niche topic, consider doing it with the purpose of creating a book. When you develop the plan for a book and then combine that plan with a blog (or blogs) that have an organized category structure and a solid schedule for posting — creating a book quickly and painlessly can be easier than you ever imagined!”

I totally agree with him and now all I have to do is figure out what ONE subject I want to write about!

Happy blogging,

Heidi

Adding Pictures to Your Blog & Empowerment

“It is better to have failed in something, than succeeded in nothing.” Unknown

WOW! I recently discovered how to add a picture and imbed links in my blogger blog and I feel empowered!

Like a child who just learns to tie her shoes, I feel exhilarated at the very idea that I can add visual personalities to my blog posts! And I never knew how to embed the links until I started playing with my other blogs at wordpress. Because I had someone show me how to do it on wordpress, I started clicking on links in the admin panel and voila'! I found both tools and started using them.

And it was so simple that I asked myself why it took me so long?

One thing I don't do is beat myself up over taking a while to learn something. It is more important to me to celebrate those little successes than to worry about how long it took. Of course, that was not always the case. I am one of those people who wants to learn it yesterday and tend to have very little patience with myself and my own limitations.

How about you? What do you beat yourself up over? What do you do when you learn something new? If it is something technological, I practice it over and over until I feel really comfortable with the new technology. I'd love to hear from you...

Heidi

ps.

When you are in the admin panel in Blogger, there are little icons on the top of the text area. I clicked on the one next to the color chart and a box comes up for links. Further left there are picture icons. One is for adding images and one is for adding video. Videos are next on my list!

If you need a wordpress expert who can help you set up an customize a blog, check out Heidi Caswell's blog, Connect Simply. She is the technology brains behind my other blogs, WE Magazine for Women, Women's Media Summit and my soon-to-be launched Redhead Marketing Blog!