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Your dog is so cute… what kind of dog is it?
Whenever I walk my dog-Lily, which is every day and sometimes twice a day, I get this question- “what kind of dog is that, it’s so cute.” It never fails, day in and day out. I used to get annoyed because I was trying to get us both some exercise and had no time for chit chat. Now many months later, I just find it amusing and actually stop to answer their question. (Photo- This is the photo that drew me to Lily on Petfinders– she looks like snoopy- Look at that left ear!) For those who get my printed newsletter, you already know that I’m a huge dog lover. …
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Daring Escape from Corporate America
I don’t know about you, but I feel like 2 years ago I made a very daring escape from Corporate America. I’d be entrenched and chained to a desk since I was 22 and that’s a long time. I had always thought that I’d be like my Dad and work at the same place forever until I retired. Yet, that was not my story and that was not meant to be for me. My career path took some long and winding and winded turns along the way. I started out in sales and then got into marketing. My tale is long and blogs are for short stories… So suffice to…
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Are you singing the recession blues?
Well, I sure hope not because, as an entrepreneur and business person, you need to focus on how to increase your business. You need to get your head out of the sand and not use the excuse that the economy is in a recession, and that’s why your business isn’t doing well. I just went and saw the most motivating and inspiring marketing mind ever. His name is Dan Kennedy. He’s so many light years ahead of businesses because of how he thinks. It’s a little bit scary. He’s the one that’s said many times, if you’re smart and you know how to market and who to market to, you…
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Lost in Vacationland and Other Adventures…
Wow, I had hoped to communicate while I was on vacation, but it just wasn’t mean to be…. not sure what happened- maybe it was all the people that came to visit. Or maybe it was that I just needed to unplug, revamp and revitalize myself… Have you every had those moments, where you just need to take some time and unplug? I have to say it was really nice not being tethered to a computer and email and to enjoy my time off and all the company that came to visit. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to take more than 2 weeks off. In fact,…
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Discovering 4 Travel Secrets on my Trip to Martha’s Vineyard
Back at home now, I’m writing from my second floor office where the view out of my window is a bit dreary- the rain is back. Yet, as I sit and reflect about my trip to Martha’s Vineyard, it was far from dreary. In fact, I discovered 4 really cool secrets that I wanted to share with you. Before departing on our trip there’s the usual freneticness that goes along with any kind of travel these days requiring leaving your house for more than a few days. Since the summer is upon us, I know I’m not alone in my quest for sanity amidst the travel. Key for me was…
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Do You Ever Long to Feel like You Belong Somewhere?
I’m writing from the train, heading home to New Jersey. I’m on the way back from a business training meeting in Baltimore. (As an aside, riding in business class is the best way to ride up and down the East Coast- no worries about gas or traffic!) To be honest, I wasn’t totally looking forward to working the whole weekend, yet I was so pleasantly surprised at what happened. Going there, I honestly had no expectations. I was ready to learn and discover new ways to help promote a business I’m working on with one of my clients. The weekend of discovery and training turned out to be one of…
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Know When To Hold em, When to Fold em…
Remember this line from Kenny Rogers’s song The Gambler- “Know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run…” Well, with this continuous talk of gloom and doom in the economy (I don’t watch the news anymore. Yet it seems people I talk to keep bringing up “the recession.”), this song came to mind, and we could glean some interesting things… For one, Hillary and Obama are all over the news this week. He finally declares victory, and she’s chiding away from publicly announcing that he’s got the nomination. Talk about “know when to fold ’em…” This whole thing seemed…
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If money wasn’t an issue… what would you do for fun?
When I was going through a difficult time in 2004, after just being laid off yet again… I met the most wonderful person that really helped me during that difficult time. Her name is Tama J. Kieves and she wrote this fantastic book called- This Time I Dance! Creating The Work You Love… (which was just published in a new edition.) A friend I met at an unemployment seminar mentioned Tama to me and asked if I wanted to tag along to a seminar she was giving. It was the best thing I could have done at that time for myself. Tama is such a dynamic speaker and her story…
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7 Fascinating Discoveries on the Road to Recovery
As I’ve been laid up these past two weeks, can’t walk or drive, and trying to keep up with the frantic pace of my business, I’ve noticed some fascinating discoveries: 1) I’m truly amazed at the human body and how fast it heals after the operation on my foot. (Photo- Here’s my view for the past 2 weeks of my feet 🙂 ) 2) I Love my clients, my family, my success team, and my support system- they have been there for me and wonderful while I’m trying to heal. (You know who you are- please accept my eternal gratitude for being in my life.) 3) I was shocked at…
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Are You Drowning Trying to Get it all done yourself?
Here’s a hot-button topic that is making its way back into business news this week… I have to be honest and say that I struggle with this myself. How do I figure out what I can do versus what I can hire other people to do for me? I can take this one step further this week because I had to have some minor surgery on my right foot to repair an old running injury. The bottom line is I have to be off my feet for 7-12 days- no driving, no walking- just bed rest- yikes! And I won’t be walking or much less running for at least 4…
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Need more money? Raise Your Prices… That Simple…
Here’s the deal: big talk out there of recession, banks closing and not willing to lend money, and on and on. I have to be honest and tell you I really don’t know half of it because I’m sticking to my word about not reading the newspaper or watching the news anymore. Yet, I have to admit that I just got back from my spring vacation, and I’ll come clean and say that I did glance at a newspaper while waiting in the President’s Club at the airport to see what the news was reporting about our economy. Of course, it wasn’t good, and everything was fear and horror, so…
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Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone- Taking Risks…
For most of my life, I think I played it pretty safe. Yet, when I look back, there were times when I threw caution to the wind, went for a job as Director of International Marketing that I thought was out of my reach, and ended up getting it and literally saw the world. Then again, I also was laid off several times in a 6 year period and totally took a leap of faith and started my own business. ( I just finished writing about this experience. I have a chapter in an upcoming book that will be out this summer- more to come!) But to me, these things…
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You are who you hang out with…
Have you ever heard this statement before? “You are a product of who you spend the most time with.” I’ve heard this a number of times in the past two years since I started my own business. In fact my friend and Master Coach, Rob Berkley just wrote about this and tells me and our Mastermind group this all the time. I think I finally get it now… I just came from a very inspiring and idea-filled event- Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle Marketing SuperConference in Nashville. It was amazing to me how being surrounded by immensely successful people really elevated my thinking and opened my eyes to a much bigger way…
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What do you do when you have a roadblock in your life or in your business?
This past week, I was driving to Boston for my Mastermind meeting. I was running a little behind schedule. I don’t like taking the George Washington Bridge and going through New York because of traffic. However, my traffic radio station said it was the quickest route. As I was just passing the toll booth going onto the upper level of the bridge, I saw this rather large pothole and swerved to avoid it. Unfortunately, my tiredness nipped it, and then, “boom.” My tire blew out just as I was getting on the bridge-yikes. I tried not to panic. In fact, I was on my wireless headset speaking with a colleague…
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Now for something a little different…
Have you ever gotten a new technology “toy” to play with and find yourself using it a lot because it’s so easy and fun? And yes I did use the words toy, easy and fun all in reference to technology. This certainly could be an anomaly because most technology certainly isn’t easy or fun, especially when it comes to computers. Yet, there is a very cool shining star in stores right now that’s my favorite new, fun and easy technology toy. It’s called a Flip. Some of you may have already heard about it. In fact my favorite tech editor David Pogue from the New York Times just did an…