Korean Review of Goal Digger
Can you guess what she is saying? I hope it’s good. I don’t want anyone bad-mouthing me in other languages… 
Article: The Millionaire Male Mind, Dissected by a Success Seeking Woman
My book, Goal Digger: Lessons Learned from the Rich Men I Dated, got a stunning review from Elizabeth Gordon, founder and President of Flourishing Business®, and the author of the business bestseller The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels. I always appreciate it when other business women see the value in the approach I took – thanks Elizabeth!
Ever wonder how millionaire men think? Or what their day-to-day lives look like, what they do that makes them so successful?
A key best practice of rich and successful people is to surround yourself with other successful people who can act as mentors, advice givers and guides to your along your journey from where you are to where you want to be.
How to Set a Retail Price for Your Services – Remember, people pay for experiences!
As a business owner, you have many jobs, and one of the most important ones is to determine the costs of your products or services. The number you stamp on them will greatly impact your sales, income, and your success.
Yes, ultimately you have control! But that control has to rely on several other factors when it comes to determining the worth, the value, and the asking price for your goods. If you overprice, nobody will buy them. In essence, you’ll price yourself out of the market. However, if you underprice them, potential customers might be reluctant to invest in what they psychologically deem to be an inferior product.
In our current economy, I am finding that people are willing to spend money on experiences – possibly, life altering services (such as joining Michael Jordan’s Basketball camp in Vegas, learning how to sail a boat in the South Pacific, and writing a book, perhaps! ) – rather than spending money on products that teach you these things (Why read about sailing in the South Pacific, when you can just go do it!). 
Case in point, sales of info-products have steadily decreased for the past few years (The last thing people want is another DVD binder product to place on the book shelf!), while the percentage of people working one-on-one with coaches (dating coaches, business coaches, marketing coaches, life coaches) has been increasing massively. The latter can obviously be more expensive, but people are willing to pay more for quality experiences if they see them as valuable.
So, how do you determine your value? Well, there are several things you can research to determine a realistic price range for your product or service—a price a customer is likely to be willing to pay for the value they will receive. Let’s take a look at them:
1) Do your homework and find out the price of similar goods and services in your area. What are your competitors charging their customers? Is their product or service selling at that price? And, last, does your product or service have more or less value than their offerings? If either, adjust accordingly.
2) Ask previous clients to give you feedback. Did they find value in your product or service? Was it worth what they paid? Did they get more than they expected for the price, or less? If they had to do it again, would they pay the same price for the same product?
3) Test your market. Perform telephone surveys, distribute questionnaires, and try to find out how much your target market is willing to pay for the goods or services you offer. Find out what they like or don’t like about your business, and how they compare it to others within the vicinity. Then, set your price based on their honest feedback.
4) Ask yourself this question, Is your product or service scarce? Let’s face it, there are so many hours in the day. If your coaching practice is keeping you on the phone 40+ hours a week, and you have a wait list of clients wanting to work with you, you are obviously not charging enough for your time. In this case, raising prices will not only make you more money, but will ‘buy’ some of your time back!
Do one or more of these four things and you’re likely to establish an asking price for your product or service that is within the expected range that potential clients will pay. If you overprice, you’ll lose customers to the competition. If you set your price too low, they’ll assume that your product has less value or worth. As you can see, this is one area that’s far too crucial to your success to leave to guesswork. Do your research, do your homework, and you’ll find your answers.
Traditional publishing vs self publishing: A Comic
The reality of traditional publishing...
A writer/editor contractor, whom I often work with often, sent me this comic from The New Yorker magazine. The reality is, whether you self-publish, or publish through a Vanity publisher or traditional publisher, you will have to market your own book. Period! Actually, traditional publishers are only interested in authors (specifically non-fiction authors) who already have a built-in audience, a following, prospects, basically a list of people who are interested in your message.
Did you think writing the book was the hard part? Well, the reality is that marketing is the true challenge….
10 Tips to Get Free Publicity (Blog with Audio)
My good friend, Sally Shields, and I recently held a teleseminar on Publicity Secrets Revealed: What Every PR Firm Doesn’t Want You to Know About! It was so successful that I want to share those secrets with even more business owners, entrepreneurs and authors, showing them how they, too, can navigate the world of publishing and marketing and get the publicity they need and deserve.
If you’ve already written a book, that’s great! But by now, you know that getting book sales and publicity takes work—and a lot of it. Well, we understand—we’ve been in your shoes, but along the way we’ve found some shortcuts and secrets that will help you to spark interest in your book and get free publicity—yes, free publicity! Sally Shields has used these very same tips to become a number one best-selling author on Amazon.com with her book, The Daughter-in-Law Rules.
One of the biggest obstacles authors have is getting publicity, so it’s not unusual for them to hire a PR firm. More often than not, they invest a heavy chunk of money in a PR firm, only to be disappointed with the results. You can actually get the same, and better, results on your own, and for little or no money. I’ve had tremendous success with these tips with my book, Goal Digger, and we already know the amazing results Sally got from them. However, while we encourage you to market yourself and your book on your own, we also encourage anyone who’s doing so to get media training first. Invest in learning how to deliver your message so when you get the publicity you want, you know what to say and how to use it wisely.
So, without further ado, here are the top ten things you can do to market your book and brand. Now, you don’t have to do all of them, but if you do several really well, you’re going to get some very surprising results.
1. Print business cards with your book cover on them. This is an inexpensive, but effective, way to reach a mass of people. Give them out to friends, drop some on the counter at the beauty shop, the bagel store, the corner deli, or even at doctor’s offices, clothing stores, and restaurants. You never know who will pick them up and who they might know.
2. Make sure you have a website and it can capture people’s email addresses. You can do this by asking them to sign up for your emails or your newsletter. Just get their addresses and build that client list and friend database. You can even entice them to sign up by giving all new members an opportunity to download a free chapter of your book, which will spark more interest in your book.
3. Create a book trailer. You can create your own 30-second book trailer for free at Animoto.com. Do it and put it on your website and post it on YouTube. This does generate publicity and a great deal of interest.
4. Fine tune your elevator pitch. HelpAReporterOut.com is free, and it’s a wonderful way to create and perfect your elevator pitch. Simply stated, your elevator pitch is a three-sentences giving: Your name, the title of your book and your vision and how you and your book can help others. Short and sweet, it’s an introduction to the media letting them know about you, why they should be interested in interviewing you, and why their listeners, viewers, and readers will tune in. Make sure you tell what’s in it for their listeners and readers…make it short and make it good.
5. Create a media-ready release. Now, don’t confuse this with a press release—it’s different. Your elevator pitch will help you. You’ll need a headline or a hook that is timely and which ties into the news or a specific time of the year or holiday. Your media ready release is going to lay out the main points that you can talk about. It’s actually going to make it easier for you to get on radio and TV shows because it shows you’re prepared and does most of the work for the producer.
6. Prepare letters and emails in an effort to get at least five celebrity testimonials. Now, you don’t have to solicit testimonials from mega big-screen stars, but that would be nice. By celebrities, we mean you can contact authors, athletes, radio hosts, and actors, as well as famous business people. Well-known names respected in their fields are always a plus. In your letter, include a few sample testimonials for them to choose from. By making their job easier and already providing the testimonial, you’re more likely to get a quick and favorable response. How are you going to find these celebrities? I like ContactAnyCelebrity.com. Visit that site and you’ll find contact information, as well as their PR firm, agent information, etc. Be kind, courteous, complimentary, and thankful.
7. Create a media calendar. One of the easiest secrets, this one is effective. Get a calendar and fill in the months and days where your message is pertinent. For instance, if your book is about mothers or parenting, Mother’s Day is a focal point, as are other holidays like Grandparent’s Day, etc. You could take advantage of the exposure of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, etc. Use your imagination and fill in the dates when your expertise could be relevant to that day or time of year. Then, write a media release when that time of year comes around, using a hook or headline which relates your book to that time of year. This catches a great deal of attention, showing why they should be interested in you and your book right now. Make sure the release contains the most popular keywords (you can find those on Google.com/alert.
8. Prepare articles and get them posted on five or more blogs in the next 60 days. Prepare one to three articles, and if you don’t feel confident doing that, use an article template. There are some free ones through Jeff Herring who is known as the article guy. His website is TheArticleGuy.com. Write an article or use a template, then google your keyword plus the word “blog” to find the highest-ranking blogs for your area of expertise. Pick five blogs and contact them. Introduce yourself, give the elevator pitch you prepared earlier, and volunteer to submit content or be a guest on their blog. Offer them a Question and Answer session, and of course, a giveaway, which will help promote your book. To curb costs, you can send electronic books, what we all know as ebooks, which are very inexpensive promotional giveaways.
9. Book a local speaking engagement at a library, bookstore, or event. Prepare a PowerPoint and a little speech, and do a book reading. You’ll be surprised at how many people buy your book when you’re done. If you’re afraid of public speaking, practice—attend Toastmasters—write note cards to help you stay on point. The hosts of these events often buy your book in bulk beforehand, giving you sales right away. If you’re speaking for a charity event, partner with that charity. It’s an excellent marketing tool and will give you sponsorship and a great deal more exposure. Plus, you’ll be helping a cause that’s important to you.
10. Always, always carry copies of your book with you. Tuck a few in your purse, your briefcase, wherever, but always have a copy of your book on hand, ready to give to the first person who can help you. You never know who you’re going to meet every day, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity. If your book is on parenting, the person you start talking to might know a radio host, a prominent pediatrician, or even a corporate retailer of children’s products. By giving them your book and talking about it, you’ve just made an inside contact to some influential people who can help you. So, always, always carry your book with you and don’t be shy about flaunting it!
Those are the top ten secrets that you need to know to get your books out of the garage and into the hands of people who can give it the exposure it deserves. Do a few of these, and do them very well, and you’re going to find that you are the best PR firm your book and your business will ever know.
To listen to the replay of this info-packed call, click here.
How I Became an Amazon.com Bestseller and How You Can Too!
More information about Amazon.com Bestseller Program, click Amazon Bestseller Homestudy Program
CALL-IN DETAILS
Host Name: Sally Shields and Alicia Dunams
Teleseminar: How to become an Amazon.com Bestseller!
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, October 13th at 9:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW…
http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=9506163
Turn off the TV, and Focus on Your Potential… Wealthy Girls Reunite!
Instead of focusing on a struggling economy and a negative job outlook, come network and celebrate with a powerful network of women, a.k.a. “Wealthy Girls,” who choose to focus on their potential.
First held in January 2008, the Wealthy Girl Summit is a powerful seminar that featured 13 women who have defied the odds and become leaders in their fields. By sharing the secrets and knowledge of the top female leaders in their field, we created a network that inspires and empowers women to create their own personal and business growth and wealth. Covering topics like financial planning, investments, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation, these amazing women shared their diverse backgrounds and experiences as financial and legal experts, investors, authors, consultants, and branding experts.
A transformational experience, the Wealthy Girl Summit created an explosion of interest from women across the globe who wanted to benefit from the insight of our network. So, we offered The Wealthy Girl Summit to women everywhere, providing them with the opportunity to benefit from one of the most powerful networks of women available! It’s been a more rewarding and, yes, rich experience than we had hoped!
That’s why, one year later, we are reuniting! The Wealthy Girl Reunion and Networking Event promises to be as fulfilling and enlightening as our first summit, which was launched just a year ago. We invite you to join and discover the changes that the last year has brought and the opportunities it offers. Reunite and network with Sanyika Calloway Boyce, Tiffany Bass Bukow, Adryenn Ashley, myself, and the other business owners and investors for this awesome event on October 15 from 6:30 to 9 pm at Wellington’s Wine Bar in Sausalito, CA. As a bonus, you’ll enjoy in the celebration as WGS speaker Sanyika Calloway Boyce launches her book, Give Yourself Credit, which promises to be a hit among people everywhere!
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to benefit from the profound seminar, now is your opportunity to do so. The modules contained in our original summit are accessible to women everywhere for a mere fraction of the cost that attendees paid because we want you to enjoy a richer, more rewarding, successful, and fulfilling life than you ever dreamed possible! Learn how to become a wealthy girl and make your finances, investments, and business work for you by ordering all five modules. When you do, you’ll receive 12 bonuses—one of which is an autographed copy of my book Goal Digger.
Never before has the opportunity for women to succeed been as great as it is today. Embark on your own journey and join me and the network of wealthy girls at the top today! To order your personal copy of The Wealthy Girl Summit modules, go to www.beawealthygirl.com and enter the promo code: FREE OFFER. To learn more about our awesome reunion and networking event, visit http://bit.ly/ooHQPf.
And, to ensure all women have access to a successful and wealthy life, there will be a requested $10 donation at the door – 100% proceeds going to Dress for Success, SF Chapter. If you wish, you can bring a gently used suit, in lieu of the cash donation.
I hope you accept my invitation to become a wealthy girl and start living the life you’ve always dreamed of today!
