What Susan Boyle can teach us

Last Saturday I had not heard of Susan Boyle. I had been to the Greek Orthodox church with a friend and we were eating a late meal - like at 1.30am - accompanied by a couple of Ouzos. The waitress asks if I am from England and tells me about Susan Boyle who had amazed the judges on a talent show in the UK.

I checked her out on YouTube when I got home - and wow - she has an amazing voice. It truly brought tears to my eyes.

Lessons for people starting out in business ?

- believe in your dream
- take steps to make your dream come true
- don't be put off by what other people might think or say

And lessons for anyone : don't pre-judge and be humble enough to admit that you had prejudiced or just plain wrong.

Watch the video clip of Susan Boyle - not just to enjoy her voice but to see how the faces of the judges change as they realise they had erroneous, pre-conceived ideas about her and how they are humbled by her.

So what is your dream ? What would it take to make your dream come true ?

Kathleen Gage removed from Facebook

Kathleen Gage has been removed from facebook. Yep.... and no-one (including her) knows why.

I know I got warnings last year when I was adding friends and I think it was because I was cutting and pasting my little spiel about myself everytime I asked someone to be my friend.

Other suspected reasons for getting into trouble on Facebook include:

- inviting people to friend but cutting and pasting the same message to each of them. Even if you top and tail to make it personalised the alogorithms see cutting and pasting as potential spamming.

- entering a URL too often in one day

- accepting too many friend requests in one day

- accepting too many invitations to join groups in one day

- sending too many messages in one day

- you become a victim of a phishing scam

- if you are a group Admin or have a Facebook page with a large
number of fans then you are much more at risk than others
because it is very easy to fall foul of Facebooks anti spam robots.

Read Kathleen's postand associated comments here.

It's been a year

Yep, its a year since I started to build friends on Facebook. Today I went up to 2,800 friends. This has been achieved by selectively inviting people who make interesting, intelligent comments on walls, people who have a similar business to mine (business coaching & consulting and information products) or accepting some of the numerous requests that I get with as much discernment as is possible.

So what have I gained from Facebook ?

A great transcriptionist, Cynthia Bull who was recommended to me by Diane Conklin

Laurie Hayes (the Home Based Business Source)with whom I have shared information and bounced ideas

Andrea Stenberg (Babyboomer Entrepreneur) who I met when she was up in Montreal last Summer and who I am going to be sharing some ideas and plans and schemes with

Valerie Young and her wonderful Changing Course programme (which I bought)

the fantastic Lorraine Cohen whose programme Insider Tips to Shine as a Radio Guest; is awesome - I can't recommend it highly enough

Lisa Hartwell who is going to interview me later this year

Rodney Waters who has asked if he can quote from an article I co-authored "The Universality of Music and Human Rights." in connection with a concert at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas

The list goes on.

Plus I can see what my real friends are up ! And my lovely dentist can tell me off for eating maple syrup on a stick when unbeknown to me she was checking what I was up to.

So... tell me... what have YOU got from being on Facebook ? Tell us all - the good, the bad and the ugly !!

Jade Goody loses battle

The news came through today that British reality star Jade Goody lost her very public battle with cervical cancer. She was just 27 years old with young sons aged 5 and 4. She died on Mother's Day.....

I've never been a great television person so to begin with I had no idea who she was but everytime I have been in the UK over the past 9 months Jade Goody was rarely off the front page of the more popular newspapers. (It seems she became a celebrity after appearing on the British version of Big Brother in 2002, polarizing audiences with her brash manner.)

When her cervical cancer was diagnosed last Summer the remaining time she had on this earth was played out very publicly. Her situation touched the hearts of the nation, made people acutely aware of how vital it is to follow up when a hospital calls you back because of abnormal cells being found,
how doctors can fail sometimes and resulted in a dramatic increase in cervical screening in the UK.

Jade went from rather brash to serence and poised. A credit to her strength of character when she knew that her days were so tragically numbered. She always had a brave, beautful smile for the press. Even during her lavish wedding just a few short weeks ago she made no attempt to conceal the ravages of chemotherapy, holding her bald head high and so elegantly.
Bishop Blake who conducted the blessing of her wedding to Jack Tweed said: "She was an extraordinary person, she's become for all of us almost like a saint, a saint of Upshire, a princess from Bermondsey. [...]she's touched so many people not only in this country but across the world." He said she transformed the way people approached cancer by laughing in the face of death and making possible every last dream before she died. "I think that's been an inspiration, a light, a torch of hope burning brightly across the world [...]

The British Prime Minister in his tribute to her said: "She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer which will benefit thousands of women"

I think the TV presenter and author, Stephen Fry, summed it all up in his tribute: "Poor, dear Jade... I warmed to her immensely. All impulsive spirit and smiles. What a life. Jade lived life under a magnifying glass. Magnifying glasses magnify (obviously) but they distort and they burn. I suppose she was a kind of Princess D from the wrong side of the tracks."

Yes she touched my heart too and this post is a further tribute to her courage and a warning to others to never ever ignore symptoms, never ever ignore a letter when a hospital calls you for further tests, never ever be fobbed off by a doctor when your body and your heart tell you that something is wrong. You only have one life - fight to keep it and always strive to make it a worthy one.

Rest in peace Jade.

Click here for the BBC video clip about her life.

Info Products - What do your clients want?

Well I would love to know what my potential clients would like to have when they consider buying information products.

The survey is at this link or you can read the questions below and just leave your comments on this blog post - as you wish. Thanks in advance for sharing your views !

What information products have you bought recently - what subject and what format did they take (audio, CD, e books, combination of these)

What did you like about the content and what did you not like

What did you like about the format and what did you not like

Did the product involve any interactive sessions with the person who produced it, or coachiing or the possibility of asking questions ? - did you wish that it had ?

I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback !

The Power of a smile

Check out this awesome 15 minute film about the power of smiling. Try smiling at everyone and even those miserable faced people you see everyday will smile. Smile at potential clients rather than straight faced telling them about your business services.

Empowerment

Back in the days when we were in the corporate world empowerment was all about the company empowering its employees and managers empowering their staff; then you become self-employed/run your own business. Suddenly its just you so is empowerment relevant anymore ? You bet your life it is.

Think about it...

When did YOU last empower yourself to not open an email from an ex-client who was bound to be writing to hassle about something ?

When did YOU last empower yourself to not accept a mandate even though you needed the $$ because you knew the client would cause you grief ?

Have you empowered yourself to not do everything but to outsource a few things ? - like setting up the website in Wordpress, or doing your tax returns.. sure you can do it but you'll probably do it slower than someone else and while you are doing that who is getting in the clients ?

Go on - make a list of things that annoy or irritate you; the things you do not like doing; the things you are slow at and then empower yourself to make changes.

Feeling empowered makes you feel great and utlimately it will make you great.

Don't you agree ?