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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Developing Your Money Magician

If you want to learn about "Unleashing Your True Potential for Prosperity and Fulfillment" then read Money Magic by Deborah L. Price! This book is chocked full of insightful, useful information.

Ms. Price starts by explaining about the energy of money and why there are winners and loser in the money game. The most interesting part of the book was Price’s description of the eight money types:
• The Innocent
• The Victim
• The Warrior
• The Martyr
• The Fool
• The Creator/Artist
• The Tyrant
• The Magician

So how do we recognize these types, and identify which type we are? I am sure we've all known people like these.

For instance my friend who has no clue of what her take home pay is and how much her monthly expenses are, she'd be The Innocent. Or my relative, The Victim, who continually makes bad choices with her money then blames everyone else and gets her mother to bail her out. And oh boy, you know The Warrior type, he is so focused on money, he sets out to conquer the world, all in an effort to prove his own self-worth. Then there's The Martyr, poor thing, she spends all her time, energy and money on everyone else. I think I dated The Fool once or twice, they play by a different set of money rules, usually rules they try to stack in their favor! The Creator/Artist type just finds it difficult to live in the material world and would rather not have to think about money. I think we've all known The Tyrant, he dedicates his whole life to making money so he can use it to feel superior and control those in his life. Finally, there is The Magician, these are probably the millionaires and billionaires, because they know how to transform and manifest their own financial reality!

Most of us are probably a combination of money types. I could see small traits of all them in myself. At times I am The Innocent, because I would rather not pay attention to the money details, and sometimes I’m The Victim, who likes to blame the economic downturn, but then The Warrior in me will emerge briefly, until The Martyr takes over and I spend too much money on my kids, then I truly feel like The Fool, and crawl into The Creator/Artist who wonders why we need money anyway, until the Tyrant emerges reminding me that the one with the gold makes the rules. Unfortunately, cycling through all these types has never lead to The Magician, who I am sure resides somewhere in my mind.

This book challenged me to define my relationship with money through a series of exercises such "Your Money Biography" and "Identifying Your Money Archetype". Although I am still a work in progress, I feel I am on my way to developing a new relationship with money and on the path to finding or developing The Magician but maybe, The Magician is just a state of mind where we feel truly abundant, prosperous and fulfilled! I can hear the tune strumming through my head, “I’m in a Magician state of mind!”

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Big Business Layoffs, Small Business Opportunities

Richard Branson predicts more big business layoffs and opportunity for small businesses.

In an interview for American Express, the mega business mogul (best know for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies including Virgin Airlines and Virgin Records) shared how he sees the gaps that will be created by big business layoffs that can be filled by small businesses. Regarding the current financial crisis he says it is up to all entrepreneurs to do everything possible to make our businesses stronger, that in fact small business is what will get America back on our feet.

Branson encourages business owners to talk with their existing customers to get innovative ideas for new products and services. He also reminds business owners of the value of leadership and communication with their employees in an effort to cut waste and make their business stronger.

Branson sees hope and opportunity for small businesses in spite of, and possibly because of, these tough economic times. We'd all be wise heed his words, after all this is a guy who has proven he has an eye for opportunity!

To see part of Branson’s interview click here.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

The Blogging Effort

It's been a very interesting day regarding blogging.

First let me say, on most days I don't think about blogging. I actually only think of it once or twice a month, either when I write my email newsletter or when I am reminding my newsletter list of my FREE monthly tele-coaching session. Today is neither of those days, so it's unusual for me to even think of blogs or blogging.

But, as I said, today has been interesting.

My first encounter with thinking about blogs and blogging began at a lunch networking meeting where one of the attendees gave her 60 second elevator speech of who she is and where she works. I don't remember any of what she said about that. But when another attendee said something like, "Tell them about your entrepreneurial work." She then said, "Oh yeah, I teach people how to monetize their blogs." Then that same attendee said, "Tell them how much you made last year on your blog." She then said, "About $35,000, working about 5 hours a week." Wow! Now that is something to think about!

My second encounter regarding blogs was a conversation I had with my daughter who has/had a high fashion blog. She was looking at a magazine and casually commented that she had not posted anything on her blog in quite sometime. We began talking about the different kinds of blog styles, her competition in the fashion blog world, and why she has somewhat lost interest. I mentioned to her about the woman from the network meeting who teaches people to monetize their blogs. She said she has a friend who knows how to do that. Of course, having today heard for the first time about the concept of 'monetizing your blog' I had to wonder why she wouldn't have already learned how to monetize her blog since she has a friend who could teach her how!

My third thought about blogs happened as I was surfing the internet to look at website designs as I am considering a website make-over. I was shocked to see how many sites had links to their blogs which hadn't had any new blog postings for months or even in over a year! As I would see that I had to wonder, "Are they still in business?" or "Have they lost interest in their business?" or "Did they just decide to quit blogging?" However, when I saw a blog with a recent posting I felt comfort in knowing this person is still passionate about their business and/or blog.

Now as I sit here this evening pondering the question of why the subject of blogs has come up for me 3 times today, I realize I have learned the following:

1. If you already have a blog it's a great idea to learn how to monetize your blog, after all a little extra income would be wonderful.

2. It is easy to loose interest in your blog. If you have lost interest, examine why and what it would take to re-gain your interest.

3. If you are not going to keep your blog current either take it down or at least leave one final message for the readers advising them that you are still in business but have decided to no longer blog.