Free Tele-Classes - topics and schedule

Want to experience us? Then join one of our free tele-classes. Open to all past, current and future participants, these calls cover a different topic every month. Whether you want a refreshment or a sample, be sure to check it out.

Here's the schedule for the remainder of 2007:

October: Can I learn to love Marketing?
Wed, Oct 24th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

November: Creating a vibrant referral system
Thu, Nov 15th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

December: Creating a Treasure Map for 2008
Thu, Dec 27th
12:00 Noon Pacific Time (1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central time, and 3:00 PM Eastern time)

To register to any one of the calls click here. You will receive the conference calling number and code and a courtesy reminder 24 hours before the call date.

Aligning business calendar with nature: time to replenish!

Fall Leaves from http://www.northshorefallcolors.com/

I am guessing you have already received a handful of newsletters welcoming fall, the crispiness of the air, the winds of change and the many things we should fall back to. So I am not going to talk about that. Or am I? I can't help but share what I think is the season's greatest wisdom: it's time to replenish. Just look at nature around you. With the end of Summer, the season of growth and extroversion, the trees are getting ready to hibernate, letting go of their leaves to conserve energy so that they can endure the hardships of winter. What about us? Are we finding ways to do the same for ourselves? Or do we keep inviting more?

While many businesses boom during fall and throughout the winter, our body and mind have evolved to be in tune with the seasons. As I write this post, I find myself half way through Fall's Yogi Incubator program here in L.A., taking four profound and provoking trainings and riding (or creating?) big waves of change in my personal life. Much thought and dedication is going into taking good care of myself so that I can be as grounded and present as I can, while gracefully embracing all that is unfolding.

I hope you can too, take care of yourself while growing your business in harmony and getting ready to wrap up the year.

Warmly,
Clara

Is marketing bad versus bad marketing

an example of bad marketing from the past, from http://blogs.citypages.com/amadzine/2008/01/

In the Yogi Incubator program we spend a good time reflecting upon our resistance to the idea of marketing, "unloading" the word (removing negative energy that we have attached to it) and filling it up with new, inspiring meaning.
When I ask people I work with what has been keeping them from embracing marketing, here's what comes up:

• Marketing myself sounds desperate
• I feel like I am selling myself, it's degrading
• Marketing is too expensive
• Fear of rejection comes up, I feel vulnerable
• Why should I do it in the first place? A good product should sell itself

Clearly, any marketing done from this space will not feel good and will carry out negative energy, which compromises its effectivity, reinforcing the negative pattern. Everyone nods when I say that. But how do we shift?

Like any other change, acknowledging we are stuck in a paradigm that is limiting, and wanting to transcend it, is an indicator that we are already half-way there.

The other half entails creating a new, expansive and freeing definition of marketing that works for you. Let's say that marketing is still to be invented, and you are the person inventing it. Can you define it in a way that feels valuable, meaningful, authentic? Recently, in Asheville, a participant defined marketing as "an extension of who I am and how I share my story." I am thinking of inviting her to work with me!

Once you have that definition, you will also be able to understand how to stay in integrity when you are marketing. Whenever you are marketing yourself and you feel a contraction, chances are you are violating your own law. It stopped being an extension of who you are and became "please love me and validate me by signing up to my workshop". It's no longer a way to share your story but an attempt to fit into what you think the client/student wants.

Sounds too simple? It is. Truth is simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. And practice makes perfect.

More on the topic: join our monthly free tele-class!