More Than WE Know

In case you missed it, I gave out a link to an ebook on Sunday, entitled Effective Internet Presence by Ted Demopoulos.  It’s a great book filled with practical tips on how to brand yourself on the internet and become established as an authority. 

Ted also gives tips on how to get quoted in mainstream media like the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN  and others. 

Being quoted by WSJ or CNN is obviously great offline press for potential customers who don’t use the internet. 

And these mainstream articles are all also published on the internet - so it is really twice the exposure and a boost to credibility.

Then when you factor in the fact that blogs tend to pick up and repeat media articles - it’s easy to see how this publicity can grow - further expanding your internet presence.

I read Ted’s book this weekend. Imagine my surprise (and delight) on Tuesday when I saw an article quoting him several times, in CNN Money!   I realized it wasn’t just an interesting book - Ted’s advice really works!!

I followed up with Ted to ask him how he had actually gone about getting interviewed for this particular article. 

Here is what he told me:

Ted, I enjoyed your book. I was really excited to see your advice in action when I read the article in CNN Money.  In your book you mention using PRLeads to get noticed by the press. Is that how this particular article started?

I found the reporter and his query about blogs via PRLeads.com. I know he got several replies, and he definitely Googled me before responding to me (he said so) and setting up a time to talk on the phone.

We had a great conversation, not a  typical interview by a reporter. He was very familiar with me before we spoke as he had spent some time reading my blogs.

So it was a mixture: PRLeads, then the reporter Googling me and reading my blog before getting back to me.This is the exact same sequence that repeated itself before, for example with the Wall Street Journal a year or two ago.

Some reporters certainly do find me online via my blog as well.

Thanks Ted - great info!

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Being quoted by a major offline media sounds fun but there are several aspects you should consider in determining whether it is the right approach for you:

• How would being quoted by a major offline media source improve your business?
• Would being seen as an expert or authority in your field help you get more clients?
• Would being able to provide clips of articles in which you were quoted help you get more speaking engagements?
• Are you ready to increase your visibility?
• How much money do you have budgeted to invest in publicity and marketing this year (PRLeads costs $99 per month)

Even if you are not ready to take this particular step, Ted has lots of other advice in increasing your internet presence through free or less expensive means.

So, if you’re tired of feeling lost in the wilderness of the world wide web:

1.  Download Ted’s free e-book Effective Internet Presence
2.  Read it 
3.  Put together an action plan that is right for you

(And let me know what you did!!!)

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Were you intrigued by the recent book review of Discover Your Inner Samurai?

 Would you like to hear more from Susan Reid?

Phil Gerbyshak at SlackerManager.com is also participating in the Discover Your Inner Samurai Virtual Book Tour.  Recently Phil published an interesting article written by Susan Reid, Recession Proof Your 2008 with 7 Sure-fire Tips to Boost Productivity. 

Phil is also giving away a free copy of Discover Your Inner Samurai at his blog. 

To enter - submit your best productivity tip.  Winners will be chosen at random on Friday the 18th.

Also on Friday I will be publishing an interview with Susan Reid.  She will be answering questions about her book, as well as giving tips on how she wrote it and how she got it published. 

Look for another opportunity to win a free copy of the book as part of that interview!

Come on - be honest - aren’t there some items on your list that you just keep moving from one day to the next?

You know you should be doing them, so you diligently add them to the next day’s list.  But if you were honest with yourself you’d admit you weren’t going to do them tomorrow anymore than you did them today.

This weekend, I took a look at my “carry over list” to see if I could find any pattern that would help me understand why I never did these items, and yet, never erased them from my list either.

If you read this blog regularly you know that I do a lot of different things - corporate career, small business, doctoral studies, travel, etc.  Most things I have no trouble doing, while others just seem to linger at the bottom of my list - until they become unavoidable crises that I have to manage.

Here’s the list I’ve been carrying over for a couple of weeks:  

• call maintenance to investigate the mysterious line of small brown spots on the ceiling in the kitchen (leak from upstairs apartment?)
• call salon to make appt. for a haircut
• call Dr to arrange a bone density test
• submit paperwork for recertification of my Project Management Credentials
• submit paperwork of final portfolio for my coaching certification
• obtain absentee voter form (I’ll be traveling on my state’s primary day)
• update my passport
• add my new blog to topline community forum

These are all obviously important, which is why I can’t just remove them from my list. So why aren’t I doing them?

When I looked more closely at the list, I could see that the common theme was that I had to deal with some form of bureaucracy in order to accomplish the task. 

I really dislike bureaucracy.  Not that anyone Likes it. But I Dread it. I am always sure it is going to be a nightmare to deal with receptionists, clerks, policies and procedures.

Even something as simple as talking to the receptionist at the beauty salon seems to defeat me - I assume that I am not going to be able to find a time to fit in with my schedule, etc.  The irony is that I then wait until my hair is so out of control that I am desparate and take whatever they have, totally disrupting my schedule.

The same with the rest of these items. They all have deadlines which will soon become imminent and I will be forced to deal with them. Why not deal with them now before they become a crisis?

So, this week, I am going to face my gremlins - and deal with bureaucracy.  I’m going to concentrate on getting these items off of my to do list for good. 

Next week I’ll report back to you how I did. 

If I didn’t take care of at least 4 of the 7 items, I will do an extra mile on the eliptical machine at the gym. (since I only recently started going back to the gym - this is more grueling than it sounds!!)

If I do get 4 of them taken care of, besides the great feeling of having them off my list, I’ll treat myself to a new novel, just for fun!

So, how about you?

What’s lingering on your to-do list? What can you learn about yourself by looking at the activities you most avoid? 

What can you get done by next week and how will you reward/challenge yourself to get it done?  

This week’s carnivals will give you a work out - but I guarantee you’ll like the results.

The selected articles tell us the best ways to take advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves in our lives: by evaluating,  focusing, using our strengths and working hard. 

And to reward you for all the hard work in this week’s carnival, I’ve included a free gift at the end!

This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is hosted at Small Business Essentials.  John Crickett’s article Evaluating A Business Opportunity posted at Business Opportunities and Ideas provides a detailed list to use when evaluating a business opportunity that seems like it must be “too good to be true”. 

At the All Women Carnival hosted this week by Australian Women Online Edith Yeung reminds us to stop multi-tasking every minute of the day. If you’re like me and can’t recall the last time you focused on one single thing for at least an hour, then be sure to read How to Stay Focused posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.

Jason Blumer of Thriveal did an excellent job of hosting the Carnival of Small Business Issues this week. He’s provided a tantalizing summary of each article in the carnival.

Of particular note is David B. Bohl’s article Are You Exploiting Your Strengths?  posted at Slow Down Fast.  We’re all pros at identifying our shortcomings, but how about taking advantage of all of our strengths? We’ll feel happier and might just get more done. 

At the Carnival of Success Principles Andrew of Personal Hack presents Hard Work or a Secret Formula?.  Andrew reminds us that very little long-lasting success occurs overnight.  Instead the way to acheive sustainable success is to work at it consistently each and every day.  It’s not a hyped-up, adrenaline-rush of a message - but it is inspirational in its own way. 

So, How did you do? Did you make it this far? Good for you!

And now, as I promised, here is your free gift:

Ted Demopolous at Blogging for Business is giving away an ebook called Effective Internet Presence Now Required for Success in Business and Life.  Ted will make you think about your relationship with the internet as he asks the provocative question - If you don’t exist online, do you really exist?

One of the fundamental premises at More Than WE Know is that as Women Entrepreneurs, WE Know More than WE Believe WE Know.  Dr. Susan Reid has taken a similar premise and expanded it  in her book Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Journey to Business Success.

What I think of as that small, still voice within, or our intuition, Susan has described as “Our Inner Samurai”. 

Too often, as Women Entrepreneurs, we allow our intuition to be devalued  as not being serious or business-like enough.  WE feel embarrassed to admit that we are making decisions based on our intuition rather than data and facts. 

The flaw in this way of thinking is that we can never gather all of the facts in a short amount of time.  And if we take too much time, the moment for the opportunity may have passed.  Timely business decisions must be made in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Therefore, the most powerful business leaders gather all the facts they can, and then trust their intuition to make the final decision.

By describing our intuition as an Inner Samurai, Susan gives that inner voice power and credibility.  She makes us realize that a well-developed intuition is  a powerful secret weapon. 

In her book Susan describes how to distinguish between the “rational mind…with lots of chatter, explanation, and convincing and the yes-or-no pulsing of our intuition.”

Once she helps you connect with your inner samurai, Susan walks you through how this connection can serve you in every step of starting and building your business. She understands that many Women Entrepreneurs never intended to start their own business.

Instead, many Women Entrepreneurs are  “Accidental Pren- hers” who may have stumbled into owning their own business unexpectedly due to a job loss, personal disappointment, family crisis or overwhelming passion for a hobby.  (This is certainly true for many of the Women Entrepreneurs I work with). 

Susan reminds us that “there are no accidents” and that “everything that happens in your life happens for a reason…even if you don’t recognize it as such at the time.”

Susan’s book has been described as “The Secret for business” (Muzetta Swann).  Which makes sense because in addition to being an author, Susan runs a business called Alkamae which specializes in branding, niche clarity and Law of Attraction based marketing for Women Entrepreneurs.

There was a lot in Susan’s book that resonated for me - so much so that I have asked her to let me interview her for More Than WE Know.  Look for that interview next Friday.

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Note: Today’s book review and next week’s interview are part of a Virtual Book Tour for The Inner Samurai. I’m pleased to be a part of this tour along with many other bloggers. To learn more about Susan’s book, check out the other  ”stops” along the way on the book tour by visiting Inner Samurai Virtual Book Tour.