When, after 8 years, I decided to emerge from the security of a monthly salary I was met with the usual, “Are you sures and are you mads”

Thankfully, I didn’t listen

I felt that as Marketing Director of a company like Advantage Business Angels I was being held back.
My talent for thinking outside the box was not really required in a, dare I say it, formal, don’t do anything radical, don’t do anything crazy, institution like ABA.
I understood, we had to be seen as reliable, dependable, professional – in other words a bit stuffy, for people to take us seriously but it didn’t help me and my yearning to have my creativity unleashed!

My multi tasking skills are quite good, after all I am a woman, but even the most organised of people would struggle with a seriously demanding Managing Director, (sorry Neil), Magistrate’s duties, mothering duties, grandmothering duties and trying to run a business in my spare time duties.

So I did it – I’m now free – free to follow my dream to be an Internet marketing queen.
And I have just received my first official accolade – I am in the company of some fabulous ladies on The Forbes List of The 30 Women Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter – I have made my mother so proud and I’m quite proud of myself as well.

Pat Sutton – Professional Blogger and Internet Marketing Specialist – Official Blog – http://www.PatSutton.com
Follow me on Twitter “TheBizWoman”

Forget the glass ceiling – use the fire escape instead!

I am so excited to be on the Forbes List as Thirty Women Entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter.
I am honoured to be in the company all those inspirational women.

Forbes’ Natalie MacNeil said:

“These business-savvy tweeters are all excited about helping you grow your company, create buzz for your brand and stay inspired.

Twitter has been an incredible tool for connecting with like-minded people from around the world. I am always on the lookout for women entrepreneurs and women in business to follow, connect with and learn from. The following 30 women entrepreneurs have excellent Twitter feeds to follow….. ”

So what does this mean to me and how can I, as a marketer, profit from this?

We women are not very good at blowing our own trumpet but we have to learn, not only to get a sound out but to play a good tune!

Here are my 10 tips on what to do when you have public recognition to shout about.

1. Turn your good news into a helpful article or blog, as I have done here.
2. Once you have created your blog, grab the URL and get it out across the web to social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.
3. Post your blog on all your group’s news pages on LinkedIn. If you are not a member and have not joined any groups then why not? (My blog about marketing on LinkedIn coming soon).
4. Add your news to your e-mail signature.
5. Use your news to prove your credibility, for instance when trying to get articles or books published.
6. Add to all your marketing brochures and publications.
7. Include the news in any advertising campaigns.
8. Create a banner that you can pop onto your website.
9. Send your news, together with a story about how you gained recognition, to your local or national newspaper editors.
10. And probably the most important thing to do is to say thank you to the journalist…if you can’t get to her or he directly, write to the editor or better still both!

Think on this…it’s great to feel you are important. The feeling is infectious and once you get the bug it will drive you to strive for even more success. But my tip here is, “What goes around, comes around”.
I believe that if you help others as much as you can then good things will happen to you!
Thank you so much Natalie, I’m truly honoured!

If anyone has any other ideas – love to hear them!

Pat Sutton – Official Blog http://www.patsutton.com

Wow! I’ve been listed!

At last my official blog website is actually finished. My intention of blogging for a living has become a reality.
Ok, what next?

The first thing I need to do is to go back over the archives and delete all my earlier muses.
In the early days, as is usual for blog virgins, my impression of a blog was something that no sane person would ever read or be interested in. So my first blogs were indulgent, grammatically terrible and some were even downright silly.
But as my hand hovers over the delete button I hesitate….wait a minute…this is like throwing out an old photograph album.
There’s the one about my dog Sadie, now gone, who was miraculously cured of cancer by a Spirit healer. And the time a had my cat trimmed and she looked like one of those nodding animals you put in the back window of your car.
Then there are the feelings I had when starting a new job or moving house.
I recorded my first days on Facebook and how cheeky people were, asking to be “my friend” when they didn’t even know me!
Of-course, I would hate for all you guys with discerning tastes to read these old blogs but I am definately not going to dispose of them. I’m going to print them up and stick them into a scrap book for posterity.
Maybe one day one of my grand daughters will find them and will read them to their children…how strange it will be to them…how old fashioned it will seem!
This time of Ipods, webcams and Twitter will be an archaic, bygone age to them!

I wish I had written more!

Read Pat’s Official Blog at http://www.patsutton.com

Confessions of a Blogger.

Do you have what it takes to be really successful? Have you ever thought about what you must be prepared to endure and do in order to be successful in business or your career?
I think I have been asked at least 5,000 times what it really takes to be successful in business, so I jotted down 10 questions you can use to gauge whether you already have what it takes, or if you need to do a little “work” to get there.
Many years ago I heard Jim Rohn say that you either pay the price of discipline or the price of regret. Discipline weighs ounces… regret weighs tons! With that said, here are 10 questions to ask yourself:
1. Are you disciplined?
2. Do you take rejection personally? What about criticism?
3. Do you bounce back quickly from making errors or failing over and over again?
4. Are you a planner or do you do things by the seat of your pants?
5. Are you prepared to take risks? Moderate or Big?
6. Do you stay focused on one thing and one thing only until the result you want is achieved?
7. Do you have the stamina to keep going long after everyone else is tired?
8. Can you delegate well, or are you the only one who can do things right?
9. Do you wait for things to happen or do you aggressively go after what you want?
10. Do you do whatever it takes to achieve your goals or just what’s convenient?

These questions are critical for you to ask yourself in order to get a true picture of your nature and behavior.
What I have found is that successful people are aware of the consequences of not being efficient in these areas, and find other ways, resources or people to manage for them.
Food for thought?
Remember to create a masterpiece!

Copyright © 2004 John Assaraf
John Assaraf, aka The Street Kid, a New York Times & Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, Trainer & Entrepreneur.
Go to: http://www.thestreetkid.com to discover his “Secrets To Building A Multi-Million Dollar Business – Guaranteed!”

Go to: http://www.TheStreetKid.com/seminars to register for your No-Cost eCourse, “The Science Of Making Tons Of Dough.”

10 QUESTIONS: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? By John Assaraf

People often ask me about the benefit of having  a membership site.
I have 3 networking  membership sites that are free to join and are  self populating.
Once set up, these sites tend to need very little administration but, although they do not generate any direct revenue apart from occasional affiliate earnings, they have immense value to me.

Let’s take a look at my Women’s Peer Network,

At the time of writing I have a membership of  266 business women who have written 119 blog  posts and started 18 forums. They have 14 groups ranging from Blogging to Arts and Crafts to  Women in Golf.
As the founder of the network I have been invited to speak at events, join company boards and consume many delicious lunches.
If I, or one of my members, has a product or  service we would like to promote, we have a  captive audience. I am sure the members have  generated many fruitful relationships through this network. Yes it is a labour of love but it  allows me to feed my passion for helping women  in business.

Now let’s take a look at the paid membership site.

This relates back to my “Image Attraction  System“. If you want people to agree to pay you  good money for what you have to offer then you  need to have first “upped” your image to such an extent that they see you as a leader, a mentor and an expert in your field. I am not saying that you should lie – but you  should not be afraid to “blow your own trumpet”!

So if you plan to launch a paid membership site you had better have prepared your “Image” first.
You need to give your prospect a reason to  believe that you can deliver. You need to  “shout” credibility!

How can you do this?
Well first you should have a great profile across all the social and business networks where you must make a conscious effort to engage with people, (not pitching to them- but building relationships).

This is how you set about being seen!

You can join forums and groups where they are  talking about your chosen subject. It is always beneficial to leave comments on other people’s entries and blog posts always remembering to  use your full name and website if possible,  you’ll be surprised how many people will  recognise you and then search you out.

For me, I built my “Image” through Blogging.

I blog about Internet Marketing, Personal  Development and The Tarot. I research the things that interested me and  then I write about them. If you are becoming good at something and you can see it working for you then with a little research you may well be on a path to becoming an expert in it and can pass that information on.

Don’t get me wrong, when I say expert, I mean
expert.

Internet Marketing, as an example, changes every day. What worked last week may well not work  this week. You need to keep up with the times by reading newsletters, blogs and articles, taking courses and attending seminars.
A good source of information is to set up Google Alerts. You can choose news feeds to be  delivered to your inbox everyday that will keep you up to date with the latest trends.

The trouble with the internet and the social networks, is that many people will declare themselves to be experts when actually all they have done is read an article or two.
Look for ways that you can prove your credibility. I have reccomendations and testimonials on my website from people I have worked with and workshops I have delivered.
If you haven’t got this far yet then be honest, offer your services for free and if people are happy with what you have done for them then ask them for reccomendations.

OK, so you’ve built your image and are seen as  an expert – now what?

Decide what you are going to offer to your  members!

As an example:
Our membership site is a Marketing Vault, where  you have resources such as e-books, videos and  software with articles and newsletters delivered to your inbox.

Your membership site could have many products or just one on-going product such as a course or knowledge base. It’s up to you.

Decide what you are going to charge for  membership!

We charge a small subscription of $19.95 a  month. We find that it is expensive enough to  show a value in the membership but not too expensive to put people off.
Lower may devalue  your offering and higher may generate less sign ups.
If you feel you would prefer a higher price therefore less people joining then that is your  choice. I personally think that the money is in the list. The more people who join the better.

So let’s summarise:

• You need to “Up” your image.
• Decide what your expertise is going to be.
• Work hard, help people for free so that you will be seen as an expert in that field and can generate testimonials.
• Decide how much you are charging for membership.
• Decide what you are offering to your members.
• Do your research; if you can take what you  learn and turn that knowledge into value for other people, you will have cracked it.

It’s by helping others and giving them information that they would not easily find on their own that builds your credibility and gives other people confidence in your expertise.

A good membership site can generate a great  residual income so it’s worth getting it right  by preparing properly. You first, your business later.

Pat Sutton’s Official Blog,
Internet Marketing and Personal Development http://www.patsutton.com

How and Why to Start a Membership Site.

Many of us feel set in our ways. We’ve been doing things the same way for so long, it is hard to imagine we could change.
But anyone can change, yes I said anyone!
You can create changes in your life by doing the tiniest of actions each day, like doing 5 minutes of exercise or cutting out that second piece of toast, but the problem is that a lot of us just don’t have the discipline or the will power to do it and these things are so easy to do but even easier not to do.

This creates a self defeating cycle which means our negative thinking leads to not taking action, then not taking action leads to no results, and no results confirms and reinforces the negative thinking. We are stopped from making changes even before we start.

So how can we change this “not making changes” spiral?

The answer:
Introduce the following word into our vocabulary.

“YET”

“I haven’t been able to find a better source of income…yet”.

“I can’t do an exercise program…yet!”.

“I tried that and it hasn’t worked…yet”.

“I don’t have the discipline or will power…yet”.

This may sound like a small step but it opens up big possibilities. It introduces the potential for success, which can help keep us motivated to continue trying.
In the future all things can be possible. Where is it written that something is impossible?
Others have been successful, others have made these changes, why can’t we?
Of-course it may take work but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
Just because we haven’t done it so far doesn’t mean we won’t be able to eventually.
Many people who succeed at making lifestyle changes, at first experienced some failures.

Remember riding a bike? Did you ride perfectly the first time? Probably not, chances are you needed to practice a number of times, or build up your confidence, or just be in the right frame of mind to be willing to try.

You need to challenge your negative thinking. Break out of the self-defeating negative cycle of thinking that keeps you from taking positive steps to improve your wealth. Hold open the door to possibility. You’ll get there…yet!

=======================================
Some great quotes:

“There is no shame in failure only in quitting.”

“All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs.”
Anthony Robbins

“Change your thoughts and you change your destiny.”

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter
hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without
as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and
first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that
blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis

Don’t listen to the negative thinkers!

“Had I but plenty of money, money enough to spare,” wrote Robert Browning.
Money is the greatest attribute of riches.
It is a universal desire, money is the materialization of riches, the stuff that makes the rest possible.
Are you looking for financial security? For retirement, for education or leisure?
Riches are the overflowing abundance of material possessions – houses, cars, boats, furnishings -everything you ever wanted.
For others, riches come in the form of satisfaction and personal independence. Centuries ago, Horace wrote, “By right means, if you can, but by any means, make money.”
Satisfaction comes from accomplishment in employment or attaining goals. It is that feeling of contentment and confidence from a good task well done.
Riches are closely linked with success. And with that comes fame or acknowledgment of position.
Success might be the feeling of well-being from the rewards of good effort. Or the enthusiasm and vitality triggered by recognition. “Success is how well I enjoy the minutes,” said producer Norman Lear.
Throughout history, the people who lived with riches often achieved them by hard work, diligence and a belief in themselves.
For some people, it took courage, genius and stamina. But for many others, it took nothing special but the desire to turn dreams into reality.
Whether you want millions of dollars, recognition as an artist, or personal freedom, you have the ability to make your life as rich as you want.
Think about what you most desire. It may not be hard cash, but what it can buy. Or it may be those feelings of inner satisfaction, from creating something beautiful or strong.
You may want personal independence from the work week, or freedom to live anywhere you want.
You may be looking for something meaningful and significant in life – something other than things money can buy.
Whatever your goals, and however difficult they seem to be to accomplish, you have the ability to become who you want.
Can you see yourself surrounded by riches? Picture the world open and in front of you, ready to become the form of your dreams, ready to stage your desires. “Why then, the world’s mine oyster,” wrote Shakespeare, “which I with sword will open.”

You can make your life as rich as you want!