Ask five friends to describe, in their words, what you do...you will get back as many different answers. Your "Positioning", or the set of impressions people have about you, speak so much louder than any marketing campaign or snazzy logo.

In this webinar, you will understand the anatomy of your positioning, and discover a simple process to ignite a powerful word-of-mouth buzz about who you are, what you offer and what kinds of clients you really want.

(Notes, mp3 and other resources below the fold)

[Read more →]

You have probably received an email that starts:  "I came across your website and I would like to propose my services..." or "Please pardon the interruption, but I would like to propose our services..."

What is your first gut reaction when you see this? If you're like me, probably to hit the "delete" button. And if you're feeling particularly peeved, you might hit the "Identify as Spam" while you're at it.

But the temptation to send out these kinds of e-mail is huge. You need to let people know that you exist. And everyone is doing it, right?  So why are you still doing it, even if the return on these kinds of campaigns, whether by e-mail, postal mail, telephone, social media update or ad, or other means, is pitiful?

I agree that it's important to reach out and let people know what you offer. How you do it, though, is the difference between generating indifference or interest. So what is the difference between a message that captures a prospect's interest and one that turns them off?  When is spam, spam?   [Read more →]

Do you sometimes feel that you are drowning in data? For us solopreneurs, staying in touch with what's happening is essential. However, since the volume of data is increasing exponentially, how do you make sense of all...while keeping your perspective and your sanity?

In this FREE webinar, you will understand why learning to surf the data tsunami is important to your business success. I will share with you the tools and techniques that I use (many of them free!) to stay plugged into the hottest ideas in my field, and how I share them with my network in order to attract more and better clients. And after this session, you will be able to do this also!

(Connection details and more resources after the fold:)    [Read more →]

I've just attended the Gamechangers Roundtable call today on "Creating a Game-Changing Culture" with Jonathan Fields, Chris Guillebeau, Pam Slim and Reese Spykerman, moderated by Elizabeth Marshall.

The core of the discussion was about Branding, what it means and how to create a brand that expresses your own personality and quirkiness... because that is what will attract the right people to you.

To give you a sense of what was discussed, here are the notes I tweeted during the call (bottom of the list = start of the call): [Read more →]

Is your business project running off the rails, or turning into a "Death March": a daily slog with no hope of any outcome?

If your project or your business is heading towards disaster, what can you do to get it back on track? In this discussion, Coach Davender Gupta will show you a simple process to take control of the situation and steer it back onto the path to progress.

Join Sharon Sayler as she interviews me about a simple five-step process to get you back on track, during her BlogTalkRadio podcast "Beyond Lip Service" this Tuesday at 1pm East / 10 am Pacific at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/BeyondLipService

Air Date: Tuesday Feb 2 2010, 1pm East/10am Pacific
Direct Link: http://bit.ly/9TzGvt

[Read more →]

No, no - it's not what you think! This is a real question, and an important one to consider!

Cory Doctorow (blog), in his novel "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom", imagines a world where money is obsolete, replaced by a personal reputation-based currency called the "Whuffie".

Tara Hunt translates this idea into real life in her book "The Whuffie Factor": we are already entering an age where our "relationship capital" is just as important (or maybe more important?) than our financial capital. The more people respect you, trust you, and like you, the more they want to interact with you.

Tara suggests five principles to increase your Whuffie:   [Read more →]

I had a great interview this morning with Denis-François Gravel, an authority on how to use presentation technologies to improve your ability to communicate.

In preparing for this conversation, recorded for my French-language podcast "Radio Passion au Profit", we had a whole list of topics. But we ended up going deep into one issue: Does PowerPoint kill or enhance our ability to communicate? [Read more →]