You Can Have it All, Just Not at the Same Time

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Fairy Godmother Mary Wilson-Burkett, of Coaching Associates spoke for Start Up Princess this week on a national teleconference and also at our Utah Networking Tea Party Event. The events were awesome! Thanks to all who attended and joined us.

Enjoy my notes:

3 main points of the presentation, “You Can Have it All, Just Not at the Same Time”

1)We are all different

2) The phases in our lives give us different opportunities

3) Enjoy whatever it is that we are doing

Having it all at once generally doesn’t work, but we can have it all…if we are patient and persistent

Life expentancy: well into our 80’s because women generally don’t smoke, eating/exercising better, and wearing our seatbelts

Ecclessiastes 3:1 scripture says:

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.

There are things we “should be doing” and what we may “want to be doing”

We may have an a-ha moment where we feel that we are supposed to be doing something (For example: Oprah feels her calling is her school for girls in Africa)

Develop A Mission Statement:

Is this what my mission statement should be at this time in my life?

12 guiding principles of living need to be changed (true to the season) of the season.

Today’s Magic Wand:

Discovery Exercise created by Mary:

1. Find a quiet place to sit with no distractions, relax your body from the feet up, once you are completely relaxed, pay attention to every muscle, close your eyes and just let you mind think about your life’s mission.

2. If your/as your thoughts are going to go all over the place, then plant one thought in your brain: “What is my purpose and my mission?” Let the thoughts come…distracting thoughts: I’m here to

3. Be in this state for 20 min

4. Open your eyes and jot down everything that you felt it came with your mission and purpose

5. Wait 48 hours and do the exercise again Read more

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Create A Local Media List While You’re Running Errands

Fairy Godmother Ponn Sabra of Empower Women Now shares more valuable magic wands for women entrepreneurs!

How-to create a local media list during one day’s errands:

1. You gotta get gas, right? Rather than pay at the pump,
pay inside today. At the door, inside the door, and by the
door; pick up all the freebie newspapers,newsletters,
flyers, etc. available to you.

2. Make a side-trip to the library. Again, pick up all
the freebies as you walk in,check out the community bulletin
boards, and head to the newspaper section.

Grab all the local periodicals (newspapers, magazines, trade
newsletters, and most importantly, the business weekly or
monthly).

Find a nice big table and spread ‘em all out.

Search for the Editors’ contact information (primarily
his/her email address). Try to find their circulation or
readership, and if they have a website.

Viola! You’re done at the library.

3. Now that you know what you’re looking for, you’ll be
able to spot free media outlets throughout your day. The
hotspots are grocery stores,pharmacies, mom & pop shops,
and medical and business offices. Isn’t that just about
everywhere you go?

4. At home, collect all the papers and start compiling
your Editor’s list again.

5. Head to your computer and make a quick online search.
You may find an online local newspaper, blog, newsgroup,
etc. that should definitely be on your local media
contact list.

6. Make a Local Media List group; and you’re ready to
send them local news, tips and articles!

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Read Fairy Godmother Wendy Piersall’s Adventures at Elite Retreat

Fairy Godmother Wendy Piersall of e Moms at Home won an amazing contest last week and ended up at the Elite Retreat ($5,000 retreat!) in San Francisco! She wrote an essay about why small companies should pay attention to branding for the contest. Her recent posts tell a lot of the details of the retreat and all of the famous online marketing experts who are there teaching her and giving her one on one tips.

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Woman’s Day Wants to Feature Women Entrepreneurs Who Used Library Resources

Here’s a GREAT PRESS opportunity for women entrepreneurs! If you used the public library to research ideas or find info for starting your business… Check out this link and apply today!

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Simplify Family Life

Recently we asked a few  Start Up Princesses to share their Magic Wand tips for balancing family and start up.

Enjoy their wisdom:

Start Up Princess Carol Rice, Founder of CherishBound recommends “never accept recipes from people that have more than five ingredients” and “everyone over age 7 does their own laundry” (but she folds it and puts it back in the baskets).

Start Up Princess Wendy Bird, Founder of My Princess Pearls recommends “use Skype” to chatting with long distance loved ones and “everyone in her family has a cell phone,” including her 8 year old!

Start Up Princess Johnna Andrea Tuttle of Andrea’s Home recommends the daily affirmation, “My life is easy, I have enough time with my children”

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My Recovery From Being A Perfectionist

Michael Haynie called me a perfectionist recently and I denied it…over-achiever, yes…perfectionist? I guess it depends on what area of my life you are talking about. I obviously have a tendancy to “to do too much” but don’t they say, “if you want something done, give it to a busy person?” Michael said, it’s ok …because I’m a recovering perfectionist” and I can show you how to recover too. Then he had me write down:

Today’s Magic Wand: I will do the best I can with what I have: time, resources, experience, support, and trust it will be enough.

This is my new mantra. I’m trying to be MORE effective (by doing the right things) and productive, not just “active and efficient (by getting things done).” Looking at the dynamic of perfectionism and “doing well” is a challenge, but an important step in being peaceful about where I am, instead of trying to take on too many projects or assignments. Maybe some of you women entrepreneurs out there can relate?

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Free Press Release Distribution Sites

UPDATE!! Since this post was originally written, Ponn has created the “Ultimate Press Release List”, check it out here 

Our New Fairy Godmother, Ponn Sabra of Empower Women Now shares Magic Wand tips we can ALL use. One of the most important marketing aspects to help us get MORE PRESS, MORE TRAFFIC, MORE BUSINESS, HIGHER PAGE RANKS… is fairly simple and easy to do, it’s writing Press Releases (suggested to submit at least monthly) and you can do them on the web for FREE.

Ponn Sabra writes:

These are the websites I use to distribute my press releases, in priority order:

[PR = Google Page Rank]

1. http://www.prweb.com PR7 (this is $10 and up, but it is the very best distribution)

2. http://www.free-press-release.com PR 6
3. http://www.24-7pressrelease.com PR6
4. http://www.clickpress.com PR6 [I haven’t tried them yet, but it obviously knocked others off my top list to get its #4 placement.]
5. http://www.pressmethod.com PR4
6. http://www.express-press-release.com PR4 [I haven’t tried this one
either, but a colleague highly recommends them.]

Given time restraints, I always go to PRWeb.com first, because they have
many features unavailable elsewhere, such as multiple links, trackbacks,
images, etc. at additional prices. They even offer a podcast interview for
$100.

I tried the $10, $30 and $80 service once each and saw good results. Although my $80 and $30 press releases were totally different: one was announcing my book’s official release date, and the other was promoting an
affiliate eBook; my viewings, and pick ups saw similar numbers.

The major difference, that I could see, was that I had close to 200 PDF
downloads for $80 and the $30 had 0-zippo (I guess people like my picture and images enough to print them out. I didn’t get any pictures or images at the $30 donation).

My pay-out? I broke even for the affiliate link, and gained greatly for the
book sales (Best-Seller on Amazon).
Side note: PRWeb.com’s customer service is awesome! I had personal emails
and phone conversations with staff a hand-full of times. I was submitting
weekly releases prior to my book launch, and they helped me mold a
consistent Editorial Score of 4+. Even if you offer $100s, if your Editorial Score is
less than 4, they will not promote your releases to their newswires, because
their reputation is at stake. To know they are personable is reassuring. So, as I look back, I am glad I was sending weekly press releases for free online.

Unknowingly, I was building a relationship with PRWeb.com, getting some Editorial Scores of 3 as my own personal copywriting-training before my big book launch, and learning the craft of writing a perfect press release with minimum word counts.

I was consistently sending press releases to my local media at the same time to set a realistic goal. Little did I know that I was being noticed by the Big players too

No doubt, press releases are one of my favorite online marketing techniques. If you don’t like to write press releases I offer writing services and can help you.

Give the above sites a try and share your results!

Quick note: Most online press releases can not be released for 48-hours upon
submission.

Anyone have any success with these sites? Any great tips to share?

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The Divine Law of the Great Chair

Carrie and Danielle, our Fabulous Fairy Godmothers share wisdom and inspiration every Friday. Today’s Magic Wand tip is something I really resonate with right now because I’ve been sorting through our basement for the last month. I’ve donated a van full of goods, filled trash cans with old papers, and unloaded a ton of mind clutter as well. The gift?? We transformed an unused, storage room into a bright, cheery playroom for my kids. What does this have to do with being an entrepreneur? It’s part of the wheel of life and our absolute need for being balanced in all areas so we can be more effective and joyful.

Carrie and Danielle say:

Here’s a radical notion: what if you really liked, even outright adored every material thing in your own life? What if the quality, shape, color, function, and feel of the things you owned gave you satisfaction, pride, and delight?

Carrie was an interior designer for years. Many a time she’d come across people who were holding on to futons and tired old chairs long after University days has passed.
“Get rid of it,” she’d advise.
“Well, we hate it, but we really need it.”
“Get rid of it.”

Enter, The Divine Law of The Great Chair.

When you let go of things you don’t love, you create space for things that you do love to show up. EVEN IF: it’s “useful”, it’s filling an “empty” place, it was a gift, it was inherited, expensive, imported, exotic, or you truly loved it once upon a time -– if you don’t like something in your space, it’s dragging you down. This isn’t about old, or new, or what you can afford – this is about how STUFF makes you FEEL.

Today’s Magic Wand: Identify the “old chair(s)” in your life that you’re making do with, and get rid of it. You may have to sit on floor cushions for while, but you’ll be dwelling in possibility – instead of compromise and regret.

And you know what’ll happen? The “Great Chair” you desire will show up. Your neighbor will be getting rid of a chair they don’t like (because they also read Friday Focus,) and it’ll be the Great Chair of your dreams. Or you’ll get a raise next week and treat yourself to…a new Great Chair. Or you’ll find it on a road trip…finally! Your Great Chair, oh-so worth the wait.

Satisfaction and delight feels juuust right.

(PS…please purge responsibly. Deserving friends, charity shops, and shelters are much more practical than landfills.)

Special Announcement! Carrie and Danielle will be doing an amazing teleseminar for Start Up Princess on April 18th; 11am PST). Save the date and plan to join us!

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It’s My Birthday and I’ll Grant Wishes if I Want to!

I’m 34 today. Happy Birthday to Me. It truly is my BEST year ever. I believe that life should get better every year…don’t you? I’m creating the BEST year ever everyday…and you are all a part of it. Thank you for being a part of the joy in my life. To celebrate all that is beautiful and good in my life, my greatest birthday wish is to GRANT WISHES to Start Up Princesses.

Why am I giving presents on my birthday? Because I want women entrepreneurs to succeed! I am interested in what they need, how we can help here at Start Up Princess…so, last week I emailed our network of over 100 Start Up Princesses and asked them to share with me their wishes with me.

The Top Wishes: 

The #1 Wish was PRESS. 

My Answer? PRESS is a great wish…and one not so difficult to achieve, but it’s all about connections and a great story or product. I have had a bit of success in my former PR/Publicist days. So, when one Start Up Princess wished to be featured on Daily Candy my first question was, who do you know that’s already been featured? Can you ask them what THEY did? Did they know someone? Could they make an introduction? Can you send a press kit? Can you spin a great story or give them sample copy to use? I also offered to write a recommendation letter because their gig really DESERVES to be on there and I have no doubt it will be some day soon.

The #2 Wish was more help with growing their business nationally, reaching larger audiences–more distribution channels, help with creating a catalog

    My Answer: When one Start Up Princess wanted help taking her massive ecommerce site to a new level by reaching clients via a catalog, I told her to contact the local college graphic design department students and post an ad or request an intern to help her create a template that she could use or if she wanted to hire someone, to consider elance.

The #3 Wish was help with child care

When this issue comes up…I always recommend hiring a college aged student as mother’s helper to come into your home for a few hours a day. I have one that comes 10 hours a week and we love it.  Sorry I can’t babysit for you, but if you’re local and want to trade babysitting…I’m up for that!

What is YOUR WISH? I’ll open this up to everyone. If you comment and let me know your wish I’d be delighted to try and grant your wish… by giving you a tip, a suggestion, an idea to help you along with fulfilling your Start Up dreams.

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The New Way of Doing Business for Women Entrepreneurs

The following post is by Fairy Godmother, Nancy Cadjan, Founder/President of Sign Babies.

I have been working as an adult, college graduate for over 13 years. When I got in to the work force, I worked in several small companies and then moved to a major software company. In over 7 years at that company, I worked to create a woman’s organization. This was one of the most eye-opening experiences because I learned the difference in the way that different generations of women do business.

I found that many of the women who had been in business for years were secretive and unwilling to help others succeed. They even sabotaged other women’s careers. The woman’s organization I started had a hard time getting off the ground because we had a hard time finding a woman executive to support it. It was a man in Human Resources who got the ball rolling and our greatest advocate was a male VP who was very progressive in our thinking. All of this happened in the late 1990s and the early 2000’s. It is so wild to me to think that in the start of a new century, women would be unwilling to support each other.

When I left the company to start my own business, Sign Babies, I vowed that I would NEVER work like that. I would never horde information or keep other women from succeeding. I was happy to find that there were a lot of women like me with the same feeling—if we help each other, we both succeed.

It is an abundance mentality—there is enough for all of us and helping you only helps me because I grow and I learn along the way. I spend time volunteering with the Small Business Association helping women who are starting businesses. I talk to them on the phone, help them work out their ideas, and give them guidance. Some people feel like I should charge for this, but I find that it comes back to me in many ways. Just today, I had a question and I emailed Fairy Godmother Rachael Herrscher of Today’s Mama. She talked to me on the phone for 30 minutes while driving to another meeting. That 30 minutes was a boost to me as well as a way to get some great information. She volunteered to share how she did certain things in her business. I really appreciate that because I had spent a lot of time researching the topic and I could not get a straight answer.

I am trying to spread the abundance to moms who have businesses in another way. I recently started Babies and Moms: Birth and Beyond, an internet talk radio show that focuses on the birth to three experience for both babies and moms. I have offered to test and talk about mom-created products on my show so that these moms get a way to spread the information about their products. Start Up Princess Heather Ledeboer of Mom4Life is a great example of the same philosophy. She just changed her mind to carry only mom-created products. Good for her. She also is one to share ideas and give others suggestions.

As you work on your business, make sure you have an abundance mentality. Give and you will receive the help you need. Whether you give to a charity or give to other women doing their business (or both), remember that what you give out to the universe comes back to you.

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