The Navigator

Here is an article I published in one of my newsletters a while back that I got so much positive feedback on, I wanted to share it again.

I am Powerful Article

There is nothing as incredible as feeling powerful and in control of your own life!  However, you are not alone if you have ever felt like you give your power away to others and you don’t know what to do about it.
Here are some signs you may be giving away your power to others:
•    You doubt yourself.
•    You try to make everyone else happy.
•    You go along with others to avoid making waves.
•    You look for approval from others instead of from within.
•    You buy into other people’s drama.
•    You allow yourself to be intimidated.
•    You have poor boundaries.
Any of this sound familiar to you?  It does to me.  I doubt myself.  I look for approval from others.  So why do I do this?  There are many reasons we give our power away.  It might be a habit.  It might be the way we were raised.  We might be afraid of confrontation.  Maybe it feels good in the moment to take care of someone.  What happens when we focus only on that one little moment in time instead of considering the long term impact?
Each time we give our power away, we sell a little bit of our soul.  Over time this adds up.  Even if it feels good in that moment, the price is quite  high.    The good news is we can learn to be powerful, to be in control of our life.   Here are some suggestions:
•    Remember to breathe.
•    Practice staying in your own energy, space, etc.
•    Learn to say “no” and mean it.
•    See yourself as a whole being, with all the right answers.
•    Use your anger wisely and stand up for yourself.  Anger isn’t always bad – just use it wisely.
•    Ask for what you want and need.
•    Realize that other people have their own path and you are not responsible for them.
•    Remember that someone else’s behavior almost never has anything to do with you.  Practice just observing it without any attachments.
When we choose to live our life from a place of strength and trust, when we are living authentically it means we have the courage to show up as our true self.  It doesn’t mean being rude or inconsiderate.  It does mean speaking our truth and believing in who we are at our very core.

Today I choose to be my authentic self.  Today I will not apologize for that.  Today I choose to be powerful and it feels really great!

Today I hope you’ll choose to be your authentic self.  Today I hope you will not apologize for it.  Today I hope you will choose to be powerful and it will feel really great!

1. & 2.  Branding Goes Social

For 23 years, Pepsi has spent millions of dollars on SuperBowl ads.  In 2010, they stopped.  Instead, they are opting to spend the 20 million dollars on a social media advertising campaign called “The Pepsi Refresh Project”.  Not only is this giving Pepsi a boost to their image with the concept of doing good in the world and making a difference, it is providing the opportunity to create increase brand awareness, results that can be tracked and will generate demand for their product – all through the use of social media.

There are two trends in one here that can’t be ignored.  One is the desire for a greater world full of promise and hope.  Especially big with the baby boomers, a company who shows they have a desire to be of service and support others is the company that will most likely get the business from others.

The other is the ever-growing, probably never-going-away social media craze.  With budget cuts coming going deep, why not capitalize on what you have that’s free?  If you’re department or company doesn’t have a page on Facebook or a Twitter account, you may be missing the boat.  With just the right amount of nurturing, you can serve both employees, customers and potential customers alike.  If you have a minute, check out one of my last articles on how to do social media right and begin growing your number of fans now.

3.  Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is all about driving traffic to your website through the use of social media and other forms of advertising AND getting them to buy.  Up to 70% of all leads who visit your site are not ready to buy.  So how do you stay engaged with them in the hopes of turning them into a purchasing customer in the future?

Creating the ability to capture their email address as a way to share information with them in the future is one way.  Remember, though, you need to stay in contact with them regularly (I recommend 2-3 times a month) AND it can’t just be about getting them to sign up for a program.  Nobody wants to feel sold to all the time.  It’s about sharing information you think they might be interested in.  80% of your content shared should be education, tips, information on trends, etc. versus telling them about an upcoming program you want them to participate in.  This is what builds relationships.

Curious how you are doing as far as driving traffic to your site?  Checkout websitegrader.com and get your website evaluated for free.    If you don’t get a great score, don’t panic.  Find someone who is knowledgeable in this area to help boost your site ratings.

4.  Marketing Directly to Your Target

This is the way it has always been, however, with all the information coming at people all the time it is more important than it has ever been before.  You want to make the most of your time in front of your target market.  In addition to your brochure, consider sending out flyers and updates to those who have signed up for similar programs in the past rather than everyone.

Segment out your mailing list is key for this trend.  You might choose to have a list for people with preschoolers and send out an email once a month with an activity they can do at home, something about a park facility and an educational piece about why it’s important for children to spend time outside.  After you’ve filled 80% of the email with this type of content, add a promotion for an upcoming program.

5.  Automate, Automate, Automate

Use an automated system like MailChimp, Constant Contact, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, etc. to automate some of these tasks so you can do a group of them at once and then sit back and enjoy the benefits.  Just remember, it’s all about authenticity and transparency so don’t automate everything.

If you have any questions about any of these trends or are in need of additional resources, please let me know.  I can be reached at michele@lodestonedynamics.com or 763.633.9364.

Another good one that I’ve probably posted in the past but good to get the reminder.

I think I’ve posted this in the past but it’s been a while and always a good one to reflect on:

You have been telling the people that this is the 11th hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.

And there are things to be considered…

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
Where are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside of yourself for the leader.

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said,

This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel that they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river
Keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.

And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do must now be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Yesterday I posted about my scary trip on 35W Monday evening.  If you didn’t read the last post, you may want to before reading this one.

My feeling of floating, of not connecting to the road also connects for me on how it is in business when you don’t have the right tools to get you where you want to go.  It’s tough to get traction when you don’t have what you need and are trying to “go forward” anyway.  Sometimes, we need to take a little detour and re-evaluate where we are at before taking action.

Do you have a business plan?  A marketing plan?  Are you clear about what you want?

These are just a few things to consider when in business for yourself.  Make sure you have the tools you need to be successful (however you define that)!

As some of you may have heard, last night I traveled to Owatonna to teach a Community Ed class on Auras and Chakras (including those great photos!).  The roads, weather and traffic were not pretty.  What should have taken me an hour to drive from my last meeting ended up taking me 2 1/2 hours!  I was late.  I’m never late to teach a class.  Luckily, everyone waited and they were happy when I arrived – nothing like being cheered on by 20 people in a room LOL.  They were even happier when I told them I was going to give them all their reports instead of having them pay the $10 if they wanted it since they had been so patient (they cheered again).

After class, I set out to make my way home.  It was the weirdest experience driving that I think I have ever had.  I felt like I was floating along the highway.  My car felt like it was being pulled side to side by wind but there wasn’t much wind.  I couldn’t feel the road under my car.  It was as if it wasn’t there.  I felt really unsure of myself and where I was headed.  After driving slowly for about an hour, noticing how few cars were on the road which seemed odd for 35W, I passed a white van that had gone off the road and rolled in the ditch.  A semi had pulled over to help them.

That was all it took.  I pulled off the road at the next exit, stopped at a gas station, bought a toothbrush and toothpaste and found a hotel for the night.

I am so glad I followed my intuition in deciding to pull off the road.  At the gas station, there were people talking about another accident up the road and how the highway was glare ice.  That must be why I felt like I was floating and couldn’t feel the road beneath my car.

This story has a couple of connections for me that I would like to share with you, one now and one tomorrow.

On your  journey, there will be times that you feel like you are floating along.  There will also be times when you feel like you can’t get any traction and aren’t making any progress.  Take a minute and ask yourself what you need to do right now in your life for your highest good.  If you follow your intuition, it will never steer you wrong.  While someone jokingly told me I should have kept going last night (he does auto body repair), I knew what was right for me to pull over and take a break.  I listened.  It slowed down my journey a bit but I made it home, safe and sound and my family, both two-legged and furry, never looked so good to me.  Trust your intuition.  Listen to the guidance it provides every step of the way.  Life is so much more enjoyable this way.

Isn’t Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?  LOL I guess when I am my own boss, I can’t complain about doing a little work today.  After all, it is my choice and I do love what I do.  I noticed the sun is shining brightly and hope to go into town a little later to get my car washed.  It is in dire need!

I shared a little bit on Facebook last night about how I got lost in the middle of nowhere heading home after a class in WI.  It was late, it was dark and I was tired.  It was all I could do to stay focused on the prize of getting home instead of losing it.  Before I went to the class, I had a nudge to print the directions on Mapquest in reverse…a nudge I obviously ignored.  I thought I’ll be fine, I’m used to following directions, I can figure it out to get back home.

Well, most of the time that’s true.  I’m pretty well versed on the art of following directions but every once in a while, I need that extra help and guidance and this was definitely one of those times.  You’ll be happy to know that I did make it home, in one piece and not too crabby.  I found a nice man at a gas station who gave me directions to get back to the highway (side note:  how come gas station attendants never seem to know where they are??).  Lastly, don’t give up.  I was so frustrated and was on the verge of losing it when that man appeared and gave me exactly what I needed.  Most businesses give up, right before the turning point would have happened where they can experience the success they desire.

Don’t give up on your dream!

I spent Thursday at a great Conference offered by WIN (Women in Networking).  This was my first experience with WIN and it was a great one.  I met several members who were so nice and welcoming and I had a blast interacting with them throughout the day.  The conference content was great too.  I attended three breakout sessions: one on marketing, one on increasing profits and one on networking.  All perfect for what I need in my business.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to attend these types of events because I am an introvert by nature.  I know how important it is to get out there so I can build relationships with others so I step out of my comfort zone and do these kinds of things alone.  I occasionally will sign up with a friend and I love being able to experience something new with them and yet, for my best interests, it’s great to go alone and meet new people rather than having a tendency to stay in that safe zone with a familiar face.

How do you network?  What organizations are you a part of that you enjoy?  I’d love to hear about them.

Check out her blog: http://mixcreative.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/email-marketing-words-to-avoid/