Attention D-riven, I-ntelligent, V-ivacious, A-chievers!

I am in the process of interviewing ladies to join my DIVA DREAM TEAM.  I will select and personally coach 10 women to improve their health, free themselves from financial pain, find their passion, establish their dreams, create a strategy for success, and push themselves to live a life full of happiness, health, and wealth!

The first step is for us to meet so I can learn about your dreams.  I want to know if time and money were not an issue and you could redesign the next year of your life what would you do?  The 10 women that inspire me the most with their passion and drive will join the Diva Dream Team.  These 10 women will support one another in transforming their lives, creating a legacy for their loved ones, and coaching other women to do the same.

There are two things that STOP people from dreaming:
#1 – They are in survival mode.
#2 – They are not healthy.

It is a personal mission of mine to help hundreds of women to reach their financial freedom day and achieve optimal health so they can be FREE TO DREAM bigger than they ever thought possible.  Would you like to join me on this mission?

I look forward to meeting the women that dream as big or bigger than me and are willing to take the action needed to achieve their dreams.  What’s your dream and more importantly what are you willing to do about it?  It’s never too late to make a dream come true so just decide you are committed and let me and my team support you to get there!

Expect success!

Jenn Seeger
Founder, Diva Dream Team
Founder of The Diva Center, San Diego’s Premier Resource Center for Women
www.JennSeeger.com

Traits I am looking for in my life long business partners . . .

• Charismatic & fun!
• Track record of success
• Dreamer
• Heart
• Positive
• Go-Getter
• Integrity
• Open minded
• Committed
• Focused
• Coachable
• Intelligent
• Team Player
• The kind of woman I would want to have over for dinner or go on a girls trip with

If this describes you e-mail me at jenn@thedivacenter.com!

In his #1 bestseller, Stephen R. Covey presented a framework for personal effectiveness.

SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN HABITS

Habit 1:  Be Proactive
Change starts from within, and highly effective people make the decision to improve their lives through the things that they can influence rather than by simply reacting to external forces.

Habit 2:  Begin with the End in Mind
Develop a principle-centered personal mission statement. Extend the mission statement into long-term goals based on personal principles.

Habit 3:  Put First Things First
Spend time doing what fits into your personal mission, observing the proper balance between production and building production capacity. Identify the key roles that you take on in life, and make time for each of them.

Habit 4:  Think Win/Win
Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a “win/win” deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertantly rewarding win/lose behavior.

Habit 5:  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
First seek to understand the other person, and only then try to be understood. Stephen Covey presents this habit as the most important principle of interpersonal relations. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other person has said through the lens of one’s own experience. Rather, it is putting oneself in the perspective of the other person, listening empathically for both feeling and meaning.

Habit 6:  Synergize
Through trustful communication, find ways to leverage individual differences to create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Through mutual trust and understanding, one often can solve conflicts and find a better solution than would have been obtained through either person’s own solution.

Habit 7:  Sharpen the Saw
Take time out from production to build production capacity through personal renewal of the physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual dimensions. Maintain a balance among these dimensions.

Recommended Reading
Covey, Stephen R., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Learn about all the benefits of the card here.

1.)    What is Social Media?

2.)    Branding

3.)    Keep it Professional

4.)    Messaging

5.)    Where to Begin

6.)    Networking

7.)    Promote

What is Social Media? – Social Media is an ever-growing and ever-changing new phenomenon. It’s the new wave of meeting, networking and connecting with people, most importantly a new method of meeting new potential clients and marketing your business for free. If you stop for a moment to think about the magnitude of this it’s mind boggling. At any given moment there is a worldwide network of people at your reach. Isn’t that an amazing concept? No longer are we restricted to networking within our immediate geographical location. Best of all, people are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Those who are not, are weeded out and blocked fairly quickly. The big question that lies in everyone’s head is, “How?” This blog will give you some key insights on what you need to get started and successfully market yourself, product or company through the use of social media platforms.

Branding – In branding, your goals are to gain brand awareness, associate certain qualities and characteristics that make you/your company unique and over time gain brand loyalty. If you plan on marketing your business through social media it is important to keep brand integrity intact. Your brand is an extension of you and your company. How does this translate to social media?

A.)  Avatar/picture – Make sure you use a good picture. A professionally taken picture is highly recommended, but if you choose to take your own just make sure you are dressed in a professional manner and have someone take it for you or use your timer. You do not want the “picture taken in the mirror shot showing the camera”. Use this picture on all of the social networking websites. This will give you brand consistency and increase recognition across platforms. It is important to use your picture. Social networking is about creating relationships, people want to know there is a real person behind the company façade and get to know that person.

B.)   Name – You wouldn’t put a different business name on all of your sales material so make sure you don’t have different user names on your social networking websites. When social networking for your business it is common to have your full name or full business name as a user name, whatever you choose, just keep it consistent.

C.)  Description – Be sure to describe your company, who you are and what you do on all of the social media profile pages. This is the first and possibly last place an interested person or potential client will go to find out more about you. Have a thorough, concise description and double check spelling and grammar. The description can vary from site to site and be custom tailored to the audience, just make sure all of the essentials are there to easily tell people about you/your company.

D.)  Custom colors and background – Most of the social networking websites have an option to customize your page. When doing so try to make sure the colors and images used are consistent across all websites. This will also associate these colors and images to your brand and help you to achieve brand recognition.

Keep it Professional –When communicating on social networking websites you want to portray your unique self and interests, this helps to build relationships on a personal level. However, just remember that as you create your social media profiles you are also creating and endless, virtual, searchable stream of information on the World Wide Web. So keep those comments, tweets and pokes to a professional level and make sure you don’t post anything you wouldn’t want printed in the paper or seen on the news.

Messaging – In developing your Social Media presence you want to position yourself as an expert in your field. You want the message and information you post to be relevant to what you do. In typical advertising we tell the viewer we are an expert at what we do, through social media you get the opportunity to show them. People are online to search for information – share your knowledge with them and give them helpful advice.

Some of you may be hesitant, thinking, “Wouldn’t I would be giving away all of my secrets?” Are they really your secrets? Unless you have a new idea that can be patented, most likely we can find the answer to anything online these days for free?  People are often under the misconception that they hold some secret knowledge that they want to charge others for. The fact of the matter is you learned this knowledge from somewhere and it’s more than likely that someone else has learned it to.

The key to successfully marketing through social media is not to directly sell yourself, your product or your service.  Gone are the days of high pressure sales pitches and 25 different closes to sell someone. This is a new era, people are turned off by these tactics and it’s a sure fire way to be blocked or lose followers. Instead, you should show people that you truly are an expert in your field by sharing your knowledge, insight and wisdom.

When you do this you gain loyal readers and followers. Guess what? Those loyal readers and followers are very smart and intelligent people.  They have a thirst for knowledge. The next thing they will do, after you captivate them through one of your blogs or postings, is research you and find out what you do. You don’t need to tell them or sell them in your postings. That’s what your profile and website are for.

Over time you will indirectly sell them through your knowledge and expertise. It is important to stay fresh in their minds with regular postings and relevant advice. By doing this you better believe you will be the first person they contact the next time they are in the market for your particular product or service. Since they are already gathering information, they are most likely getting ready to make a purchase decision.

Where to Begin – Hopefully you have already begun, if you haven’t don’t worry today is the best day to start. Below are some great ways to get started today!

A.)   LinkedIn is an excellent tool for keeping up with business contacts, listing your experience and awards, searching and posting jobs, creating groups and networking through existing groups.

B.)   Twitter is a great way to stay in contact with people by using short message posts called tweets. Use this site for tweeting and retweeting relevant articles and advice that your follows will enjoy.

C.)   Facebook is the best way to get in contact with your old high school friends and keep tabs on your new ones. This site tends to be more for personal use than business but your friends are sometimes your best leads. You can get some business exposure on here by creating a fan page, event page, promoting your cause or forming a group.

D.)   Blogs are very beneficial for updating your clients or followers on a regular basis. They are easy to use and even easier to keep up-to-date with current and regular information. You can easily setup a blog page through BlogSpot or for the more advanced user you can create a custom blog page through Wordpress.

E.)    YouTube is an invaluable tool for sharing videos on the web. Sign up for your own YouTube Channel and start promoting you/your business today. Just remember, the quality of your marketing pieces are a direct reflection “in the viewer’s mind” of the quality of your work. Professionally created videos are strongly recommended.

F.)    Flikr is helpful resource for sharing photos, portfolios and artwork.

Networking – Social media is all about creating relationships and easily networking without geographical limitations. Just as you would go to a local networking event to meet clients, you can now do so online with anyone in the world. Use social media as a powerful tool to build strong relationships, get to know people, share contacts and advice. Most importantly, start today!

Promote – Lastly, promote your social networking contact info. Add it to all the places you now list your “typical contact info”. (e.g. email signature, business card, etc…) It is important for people to find you online, you want to gain fans, friends and followers, so don’t forget to add your Skype, twitter and blog info to all of your “typical contact info”.

You should now have a good understanding of how to successfully market yourself/business through social media.

To your success!
Holly

Since the onset of network marketing, it’s amazing how many times people get approached with another “great opportunity” that’s life changing.  Although I appreciate the eagerness of shooting for dreams, it’s hard not to be short with someone selling a future in a bottle of lotions, potions and creams etc.

Still, every business — and employment– opportunity has merit to some degree. In fact, it may actually be the “best opportunity” to come into your life. But due to previous experiences, we tend to shut off our minds and don’t even listen.

How do you know if the business or job represents a legitimate opportunity to be involved with?  Since I’ve been a marketing consultant for more than 17 years, an entrepreneur and investor, I’m always open to looking at a new concept and passing it by the following criteria used to evaluate ANY business or job opportunity.  Most will accomplish at least one of the five, perhaps even two or three.  But rarely, does any business I’ve come across satisfy all five.  I do know of one.  More on that later, if you want my opinion.

Here they are, and I’ll break it down for you, and give you examples:

1. Leader
2. Product
3. Value/Compensation
4. People/Training
5. Timing

LEADER
The first key to measuring an opportunity is to ask, “is the company a leader?” Whether it’s the first, the only, the best, the fastest or the largest are all examples of being in a leadership position. Not all companies are, but before I seriously consider an opportunity, I want to know if I’m going to be representing a leader or a follower. By affiliating with a leader, you will have a competitive advantage, at least for the time being.

PRODUCT
Next, look for products that everyone needs. This creates stability over the long haul. Trendy items come and go, and so do the income. In a best case, you want to be involved with a product that is in demand, and is needed by as many people as possible regardless of the economic climate. You will also want to believe in your product because a strong belief will come across in your tone of voice, non-verbal communication and help your determination to persevere. I also look at the consumer loyalty. Will clients buying the product be inclined to continue to buy the product? You’ll find consumer tastes come and go. But there are some products, people will stay with forever. You will also want to figure the competition into the equation and I explain more about that under “Timing.”

VALUE/COMPENSATION (or ROI)
Businesses the provide a significant value, and pay well, are also a key criteria. Like beauty, value is often seen only in the eye of the beholder, but if you are offering a valuable product or service at an affordable price, then it’s comfortable to represent the business to anyone because of the confidence in the value. Plus, we all want to be paid well. So, I’m always looking for a good value that rewards its people well. It’s a tough combination because typically affordable products do not pay well because of the lower profit margins. This is the primary challenge with most multi-level marketing companies. They have a good product and a good value, but you have to enroll a country or two of people in order to make good money. If you are evaluating a business opportunity or investment, the primary tool is to measure the return on investment. If you invest $100,000, what kind of money will that earn you? If you earn $200,000, that’s doubling your money and a good investment.

PEOPLE/TRAINING
Whenever you come across a business or job opportunity, determine if the people and leadership are consistent with who you would like to spend time with. Are they people you can learn from? Also, ideally you want to be a part of a business that provides ongoing training to support your personal and professional development. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a job with no hope for growth and with people you don’t want to associate with. On the other hand, this can be the most exciting part!

TIMING
Finally, be sure to consider the market timing to any business, product or job opportunity. Is it a particularly good time to be in that industry? Will the business thrive or dive based on the timing of entry into the market? Or is it always a good time to be in that business? Envision the future and if you see the company still in the picture, you may have a winner. Consider the competitive environment and if you have entered a market with little or no competition, then you are in a good place. Avoid entering into a crowded marketplace, even if you have the best. It takes time to break in, unless you are heavily capitalized and can rely on big-time advertising and promotions effectively explaining the merits of your brand.

To see how this works, use any company that comes to mind, even your own.  Be honest, and put a check next to each one that satisfies the criteria. Ask is the company a leader in some way? Is the product something everyone needs or is in high demand? Does it provide a great value, and do they pay well? Are the people and leadership in line with who you want to work with and is there appropriate training for your growth? And is it a good time to be in that business? Then, you have to put your own values up against each one. If you feel strongly for one or the other, keep that in mind when you are making a decision.

Now let’s look at an example: 24 Hour Fitness. Is it a leader? I believe it’s the largest health club chain in the world, so that’s worth something. Is it a good product everyone needs?  Yes but people join and don’t stay committed to fitness. Does it provide a good value? Yes, but the pay is not that great unless you are a top executive. Are the people cool? Varies. Is there training offered to help you grow up the ladder? I don’t think so. Is it a great time to be in the health club business? Not especially and there’s a lot of competition. So you can see, the best thing about working with 24-Hour Fitness is they are a leader and a valuable product. If that is good enough for you, then go for it!

You can apply this criteria to every business out there, I just randomly picked 24-Hour. I’m a member and love the place, but would never work there.