From "22 cool eats and drinks for your summer in the city" by Julie Van Rosendaal. (Page 12 of the July/August edition of Calgary's Foodie magazine, 'City Palate.')

Thought: Could you write more (or even a little) like this?

"#5 Pie from Decadent Desserts...

Hardly any fare is as universally nostalgic, comforting, and generally pleasure-inducing as home-baked (not home-assembled using a frozen shell and tin of filling) pie. In this world, there are pie-bakers and pie-eaters. If you fall into the latter category but are unlucky enough not to have a mother, husband, grandmother or friend who bakes pie from scratch, go immediately to Decadent Desserts and introduce yourself to Debi.

She makes spectacular pies, the way I imagine myself making them in a parallel universe in which I bake pies and breads daily from scratch for my husband George (Clooney) in the open kitchen of our Italian villa, and have a 28-inch waist.

Debi's pies are piled high with fresh fruits and berries encased in pastry I'd be proud to serve grandma (taking full credit of course.) She makes a mean lemon tart too. (#103, 1019 - 17 Ave. SW.)"

Oh, how many 'learning points' about writing could we reverse engineer from just the above 100 words??

Hint: I read City Palate cover to cover, inch by glorious inch, every time I get my paws on it, alas only 6 times a year. But oh it's wonderful - intimate, vivid, saliva-and-laughter inducing (sometimes at the same time, a bit of a problem.)

Oh the whole, I find that foodie magazines like this are a tremendous learning playground for me as a writer. I learn how to tell a story in just a few sentences. I experience what happens when writing grips my senses (good and bad.) I soak in the use of language in surprising ways.

If you'd like to up the 'compelling factor' of your writing, find the City Palate of your town or state, and grab hold. It's quicker, cheaper and a more organic way to spice up your writing than many a copywriting seminar. (No comment on your eating habits though.)

I've mentioned it before and I'll do so again: "good writers are the programmers of our civilization."

What (and how) are you writing?

They say a person's handwriting changes as you grow older. You hold a pen differently; the pressure you use to put pen to paper changes; you scrawl more because the kids are late for school.

As you evolve as a person from the inside out, is your writing?

Postscript: Other great resources to consider modelling...

(1) Clothing catalogues such as Coldwater Creek...how is it they can make every outfit sound like a lifestyle upgrade, really?!

(2) Skymall Catalogs, the ones you get on the plane. For some reason the online Skymall catalog isn't nearly as compelling.

(3) The J. Peterman catalog, a la Seinfeld's Elaine Benes and the job she held as writer for the clothing retailer, truly a wonder of writing.

Where else do you observe and learn the craft of writing? (And by extension, give meaning to your speaking/teaching/coaching/storytelling?)

Why do YOU think a coaching-approach would be an asset to your business?

We covered 10 on today's Book Festival call...now it's your turn.

What was most useful to you and how will you apply it?

Much of this is about shifting a mindset so be patient with yourself. And get yourself started on the anchoring process by posting a little of you raw-out-loud thoughts here.

And yes, once again, posting means you are eligible to win this week's prize: a copy of Thomas Leonard's 28 Principles of Attraction CD set, subtitled "Stop Chasing Success and Let it Chase You."

Cheers until next time!

With the advent of our latest for-pay offering "Write a Book in 45 Days | The Action Workgroup" we're getting a few quizzical virtual looks and queries:

"Why all the mad rush, and emphasis on completing books quickly, Andrea?"

This is a good question, one worthy of a good answer. So here's an attempt:

10 Reasons Not To Dilly-Dally and Complete Your Book Quickly

(1) Completing quickly increases the fun other things you get to do and try, exponentially.

Books are doorways to other possibilities. In my mind, when I conjure up a visual image of my business, I see a house constructed of various materials, most notably a book where they would ordinarily be a door. Opening the book is the equivalent of putting a key in the lock.

The sooner you hold yourself to the discipline of formulating, synthesizing and producing a book, the more clarity you'll have as to how the rest of your business can flow. A book isn't the only way to do this, however it is one of the best ways I know to give crystal clarity *AND* purpose to your helping business.

Want to make it easier to (1) get on the radio (2) receive yes answers from joint venture partners (3) make money when you speak (4) sign autographs in fun colors or (5) design programs to add to your streams of income? Complete quickly.

(2) Completing quickly clears your head so you can think your next round of cool thoughts and decide how you'll contribute now.

How many thoughts do you have each day? How many thoughts will you have tomorrow? Will you have finished thinking today's thoughts in time for you to have new ones tomorrow? In fact, getting your thoughts out speedily is a responsibility to the new thoughts you're meant to have tomorrow.

Completing quickly is an essential de-constipating process for your brain and innovation muscle so both can keep going...

(3) Completing quickly means people understand you more readily and you can stop explaining what you do.

Instead, just say, I wrote this book called X. Think of all the saved explanations!

(4) By completing quickly you acknowledge a new world context: the rate of idea exchange and pace of innovation has increased dramatically.

The role books play in our society has changed. For the most part, they are no longer sacred repositories of facts or information. Think of how Benjamin Franklin must have treasured his physics texts. Books aren't like that to us anymore - they are more about impact, process, or entertainment and emotion. They don't have to be 'right.' Instead, 'right now' is more important.

Completing your (current) book quickly keeps you current in a world that is moving quickly. (Quickly as distinct from 'in a panic' mind you.) By learning to complete books/anything quickly and without struggle is a modern day skill or 'way of being.'

(5) Completing your (current) book material quickly allows you to begin having an impact.

If a brilliant thought occurs in the forest of your own mind, but no one has heard or read it, does it exist? Enough said.

(6) Completing quickly increases (NOT decreases) your chances of capturing the purest most useful insights.

Too much writing suffers from overthinking, in my opinion. There is a purity of idea or thought whose energy is captured when you don't overanalyze, question or poke and prod from every angle.

You don't see painters painting over their brush strokes ad infinitum, do you? Changing the shade of a color that's already painted on, or turning the canvas upside down, right?

(7) Completing quickly activates your right brain.

As if enrolling the right side of your brain to support the left, moving quickly engages your whole brain.

Contrary to what you might think, completing quickly doesn't equal sloppy thinking or poor quality control.

(8) Completely quickly supports your personal evolution.

Something I've observed with first-time authors is it takes them longer to get psychologically ready to be an author, than is really needed to physically write the book. Put it another way: most of the delay in completing a book has to do with the person getting ready to be a 'published author.'

In this case the inner personal development drives the outer physical goal - a completed book. But in this community of sophisicated and evolved meaning/money seekers, we can look for a greater balance. Allow yourself to physically finish the book (with the right support, of course) and you will find your personal evolution catches up fast...like a rubber band snapping into shape.

(9) Completing your book quickly can - with the right plan - accelerate your way to increased income.

Books usually fall into the 'ice cream cone' layer of the Multiple Streames funnel. As a first 'thing' folks often buy, books are ambassadors for your other higher-priced items.

(10) Completing your 10-year-old book idea quickly at this juncture in your life is a huge relief, AND it can be a lot of fun.

I liken the 'complete your book quickly' process as like dipping an empty cup into a spring of water that is your knowledge and experience. Your life. You are certainly not going to try to push all the springwater into the one cup. So effortlessly and swiftly, visualize yourself filling the cup and splooosh - your cup is full/your book is done.

Besides, there's always another cup, right?

From the Calgary Herald, Saturday July 22, 2006, page A18 "Just asking questions alters behavior: study" by Sadia Latifi, McClatchy Newspapers

"Simply asking college students who are inclined to take drugs about their illegal-drug use in a survey may increase the behaviour, according to newly published findings that are making some researchers understandably nervous.

'We ask people questions, and that does change behaviour,' study co-author Gavan Fitzsimons, a marketing professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in Durham, N.C. said Thursday. The provocative effect, he added, 'can be much greater than most of us would like to believe.'

[....] People exercised more after they were asked how much they exercised. In a follow-up experiment, students who were asked about skipping classes and drinking cut class more and drank more."

You've probably heard the saying, "What you focus on expands."

Until now though, there hasn't been a scientific study done that supports this greater truth, at least not quite this way.

Questions create reality. Do you tend to ask negative questions, such as "How could you do such a thing?" or "You aren't really going to do that are you?"

Could you be making a greater contribution to the world simply by asking different questions - more often, and at the right time? "What would you like more of in your life?" "How do you think we can solve this together?" "Would you like to go for a walk and some ice cream?"

What are you asking, and in so doing, creating? For yourself, and coaches: for your clients?

"Won't it be wonderful when these trees are hundreds of years old and our great-great-grandchildren play in their shade?"

"Dad, it's so good to see you relaxing. How was your golf game today?"

"After you graduate, what's something you'd enjoy doing that would also contribute to the greater good?"

"How can I contribute?"

"What's one thing I can do right now?"

And...

"What if every research study asked slightly different questions?"

Last but not least...

"What if every person on the planet asked 10 better questions each week?"

Simply beautiful, slayers-of-darkness and champions of our future, these little things called questions, don't you think? ;-)

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Spot Exercise:

Ask more questions.

Before opening your mouth to ask your next question, ask yourself: "What do I want to create more of, by asking this question?" Or, this one may be preferable for you: "What direction would I like to create movement in, if any, or is my purpose to create neutral space with this question?"

*Then* ask your question.

What a wonderful, intense, dense book this is...'Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others' by Author James Flaherty, also founder of New Ventures West.

As my friend Elyse pointed out to me, some of us tend to have 'relationships' with our books; that is, they take up a place, a role, or an energy, in our lives on an ongoing basis that evolves.

I have books on my shelf for example that I've only ever read a sentence from, and yet they've changed my life. I also know that another paragraph in there will shift me again, who knows, perhaps when I'm 65. Between now and then, it sits holding a place in my life, on my shelf...giving me a way to be conscious about something that's important to me, just not in a hugely active way. [Insert my husband's loving ribbing about my relationship with inanimate objects here. ;-) ]

All this to say that Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others is one of those books, and that picking it up today to prepare for this week's Money and Meaning call lit up the light bulbs in my head. Thanks again, James, for writing it.

Here are the two excerpts in particular:

(1) From the Introduction: page xix

"The challenges in writing a book on coaching [AND living life well! i think/ajl] are the same as those one faces when beginning to coach:

> How to say something distinct enough to foster change and yet familiar enough to be understood.
> How to say something linearly (the orgnized form of nearly any book) that can only be fully understood holistically and systemically.
> How to show something meant to evoke a paradigm shift in a way efficient (cogent) enough to maintain interest."

I love how he's encapsulated precisely how I try to write, and teach, market, build business, and above all, coach...even though I hadn't put it that way myself! :-) Whether you're a capital 'C' coach or not, if you are in relationships with others, I think these three bullet points are profoundly remarkable.

And so I include it here in the Money & Meaning blog, because I think these can also be read as guidelines for creating both.

(2) Secondly from Chapter Five: Openings, on page 59.

Here is something I think gets overlooked or conversely, overemphasized, in the growth of a professional coach. One extreme or the other. So if you fall into the latter category, just ignore this piece. ;-)

"In coaching, timing is everything. Knowing when to start may well determine if you get anywhere."

Repeating: "Knowing when to start may well determine if you get anywhere." Cool, right? So...extrapolating...if you start at the wrong time, you can end up nowhere!!! Love this. (Money, Meaning & Beyond readers refer to Chapter 13: Picking the Ripe Apples, including, especially the Endnotes.)

Continuing...

"Since most people aren't walking around soliciting coaching, it's the coach's job to determine when the correct moment occurs."

Hence all the work and shifting we do around the idea of 'stepping into a raging river of demand for your coaching' in Multiple Streams. Because noone wants to be in the business of creating a demand for coaching - not all the time at least.

Back to Flaherty...

"Of course, we can only find an opening by knowing what it is, and then looking for it. Here's a chance to begin both activities. [Author refers to the chapter he is introducing.] The underlying principle of this chapter is from Heidegger. He claims in 'Begin and Time' (1962) that the artifacts and routines of our everyday life are transparent to us until they break down.

For example, we normally don't notice the flow of traffic until it jams, and we don't feel our shoes until the heel becomes loose, etc. Similarly, most people don't seek out and are not ready candidates for coaching until their everyday life is interrupted."

Some of the coaches in the Money & Meaning community have posed this kind of question in the past:

"Must my marketing be focussed on solving a problem?? instead of moving towards a solution?" "Do I have to leverage pain to create action? I feel out of integrity with that."

Put it another way, this is the old question every helping business owner comes face to face with at some point:

'Is your business offering a vitamin (something that benefits a person inherently) or an aspirin (something that solves a real pain)?"

I believe the answer is yes, if you want to make significant money relatively quickly in your coaching business, you will solve a real pain. Note, there is a clear and present difference between (a) noticing the opening when something is painful as Flaherty describes it, and (b) exploiting it, which no business owner with heart would want to do.

That's the line we walk and talk as we explore how to create what matters to our clients in a way that's meaningful to us, right? :-)

Another way I like to put it is: "In your business, find a way to give your clients what they want, and earn the right to give them what they need."

To piggyback on Flaherty - "Find a way to give the customer a new heel for the shoe, and earn the right to suggest they wear a better quality shoe in the first place."

When done well, it's a sight to behold. In my mind, it's the ultimate in 'Meeting the client where they're at" and setting aside your own agenda as coach. Bingo! :-)

Take a moment to reread the second quote now and see what more you can get out of it.

I'm paying special attention to timing this week...not just of my clients and for my clients but for me as individual, as business owner and in the meta-sense of time.

It's planning season for the Money & Meaning family of businesses and with more and more opportunities coming our way...we have some timing choices to make, especially because I don't like saying no.

What are you doing that may be forcing 'time' right now? Could you pick a 'riper apple' in your life or business, let the other one sit on the tree awhile longer, soaking up the summer sun?

And what might you be ignoring that's been tapping on your shoulder, saying 'it's time!?'

P.S. If you've ever tried to read Heidegger, or other philosophers, and like me, found the going tough, Flaherty's book is a great way to absorb some in a way that doesn't stop you in your tracks...

The 'Money, Meaning & Beyond' Book Festival call this week was a definite biggie, but hopefully (with the addition of some lovely musical accompaniment by the mystery participant who put us on hold) you found it more uplifting than heavy. Or should I say melodic, to borrow a phrase? ;-)

Remember the 10 Differences between VA's who make you money and VA's who cost you, are a guideline for navigating a long-term sustainable relationship with a valued team member. Whether you are about to start a new relationship with a VA or you have an existing VA whose relationship you want to solidify...which of the 10 differences do you think you can begin digesting more fully now?

Post your comment/insight here so that:

- you can extend your learning beyond the time we spent together ....remember information is just information until you apply it to your own situation, and because the call was unusually non-interactive, this is your chance to speak up and be heard!

- you can set an intention or goal in the public view as to what you will do - even if it's just 'think' or 'absorb' - with this information; Tina and I will both continue to rove the comments and reply back to any questions

And finally...by posting...

- you can enter yourself in this week's prize drawing for a full copy of the home-study course called 'Pink Spoon Marketing' a 197 page workbook and 5 CDs (retain value $497) Pink Spoon Marketing represents over 5 years of coaching real-live businesses using the product funnel model...all packaged up in a handy-dandy binder.

As mentioned on the call, if we have more than 25 posts, we'll raffle two of these prizes, if we have 25 or fewer, we'll raffle one. Until next week, enjoy!

An update on the 'Conference-for-the-price-of-a-book' now in its third week!

I've just posted a handful of replies to questions from festival-goers from our Week #1 topic: How to Write a Book in 45 days. So that you don't miss the answers to questions from those attending the calls, here are the direct links:

Click here and here and once there, look for the strings of asterisks like so *************.

My comments follow the asterisks, sometimes after the person's question in a chunk, or, interspersed in the body of their comment, when this seemed to make more sense. (Hint: A shortcut for PC users anyway...click Ctrl F, type in a few asterisks in the field that pops up, then click 'find.' Your computer should take you directly to the first of my replies, nice and easy.)

Among other things, I cover how to title your books and chapters more compellingly (with links to resource sites, real-life examples, etc.) and other goodies. Enjoy!

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Next by way of update on our Book Festival, congratulations to this week's winner of our Conference Prize: a full registration in the List-Building Action Ecourse - a 21 week course-by-email that will help you biuld the size of your customer database. Retail value $87, or $57 for book readers, the lucky winner who pays absolutely zero is Sidse Stausholm of Coaching Unlimited in Denmark. I've never had the opportunity to see a Coaching website in Danish before, have you?

Sidse, bravo! :-) To claim your prize, just send an email to tina@OnlineBusinessManager.com and Tina will get you in the flow.

Interested in following through on the Book Festival and creating more money and meaning into the fall? One way to do so is via the Action-inducing List-Building Ecourse, a serious business-building gift for yourself for a small investment. Click here to see the details for yourself..

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And, last but not least, a reminder that this week's topic is 10 Differences Between a Virtual Assistant Who Costs You Money and a VA Who Makes You Money

This is - if I say so myself - a seriously hard hitting topic that I believe is slightly ahead of its time. Get the scoop here first as we equip you with 10 ways to help your VA grow with you strategically if you already have one, and helps you hire the best one possible if you don't have one yet.

Not sure what the Book Festival is all about but curious about all the noisemaking? You can join in the festive yet high-touch learning experience, with a single $20 investment of the book. The only catch is - we ask that you commit to reading the book too.

Here's the link to find out more - it's being called the best $20 to spend on your business this summer.

'Money, Meaning & Beyond: 27 Unexpected Ways to Create What REALLY Matters, for Business Owners.'

From "Wisdom for a Young CEO" by Douglas Barry:

"I believe writing is the most important thing we do. I like to say that language is the programming of the mind. To me, good writers are the programmers of our civilization."

--Leonard Riggio, CEO - Barnes & Noble Booksellers

January 17, 2000

If you're a fan of Harry Bosch novels, Michael Connelly will need no introduction. He's a multiple #1 New York Times Bestseller and currently has several paperbacks in the 'Summer Reading' section of a bookstore near you. 'The Lincoln Lawyer is one of them -- "Perfect Beach Fodder" and all that.

So what does "The Lincoln Lawyer" have to do with advertising? To wit, from page 3 (I just cracked the spine a few minutes ago):

"He calls his business Liberty Bail Bonds. His phone number, in red neon on the roof of his establishment, can be seen from the high-power wing on the third floor of the jail. His number is scratched into the paint on the wall next to every pay phone on every othe ward in the jail."

Talk about stepping into a river of demand for your services, meeting your clients where they're at, and advertising where it really counts eh? :-)

I mean, I do know it's fiction, but still...

From time to time we get a friendly do-good note that goes something like this: "I don't know if you realize this, but when I go to buy something in the 'Money & Meaning' Online Store, nothing is stopping me from getting the discounted price for members or book-buyers even though I'm not a member...you might want to do something about that."

It's never a hot email or anything like that, but the 'creased forehead, waggy finger' tone definitely comes through.

So here's the 'official' explanation for the record...yes, it's true. We are not policing who uses the discounted button versus the regular price button. For the most part (99% of the time) people use the appropriate button and only avail themselves of the savings for members or book-readers if they are those things. It's the honour system.

Rationale? For the amount of abuse it gets, it isn't worth it to me to police it. I have lots I want to do, to read, to write, to think, and feel and see and be and do...policing isn't included anywhere in those things. So we don't. Every once in a while a crackerjack team member may catch an occurrence, and if so, a polite email goes out (once) to give folks a chance to sort it.

But sometimes things can be just that simple. We just don't worry about it. (This is similar to the conundrum of 'how to make sure a PDF file of an ebook doesn't get shared' etc. )

Anyway, for the $30 or $50 or $100 savings the abusers enjoy in the short term, I figure their karma will run over their own dogma in the long, and that will be the that.

End of official story.

How Do You Move From Just Thinking About Prosperity...
to Truly Creating Prosperity - from the Inside-Out?

Are you someone who believes things happen for a reason? That everything in our lives is the way it is because we chose it?

Some time ago, the Money & Meaning Blog was privileged to host Elyse Killoran, Founder of the Prosperity Partnership Program, in two telecalls. She has now completed her first energetic meditation CD, and will begin shipping very shortly.

Find out more about the Anchoring Prosperity CD - the First in the Touchstone Series of transformation CDs - at the links below, and order your copy today.

Will you allow me to put it to you this way? I'm quite certain I'll be playing my copy regularly...for the rest of my life.

Click here to access the CD purchase page: http://www.choosingprosperity.com/cd.htm

Or click here to read Elyse's latest article "Get off the Hedonic Treadmill."

Probably best if you don't read this unless - as Alan Weiss likes to put it - you know me a bit already, or you might be (a touch) offended...

I'd like to share a bit of a 'naked' truth, as it were, without pointing any fingers. As a business coach, I'm no longer surprised by how much and how often sex (how much, when, what kind, how great it was, or not) comes up in 1-on-1 coaching sessions. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." Really. It's just not something they teach you about in Coach Training, as it were. :-)

So I guess it's no accident that one of the chapters in 'Money, Meaning & Beyond' is called 'How is Your Sex Life Affecting Your Business?' Because I believe it does affect it, period.

At the risk of pushing the question too far, and yet completely helpless to resist, here are a few follow-on questions on this theme, because I am truly curious:

- Have you ever noticed a correlation between your sex life and how well things are going for you in your life and business? A connection that's deeper than 'feeling great' afterwards, so everything's taken on a rosy glow?

- What do you think the correlation is?

Great sex ==> Physical looseness ==> 'Ease'ier approach to business (less stress, anxiety, struggle) ==> Better Results?

Or maybe it's more like:

Fabulous day of sales ==> Celebratory glass of wine + a nice stint of flirting ===> Amazing sex?

Which came first?

I don't suppose to know the answers here, just happened across a few of the questions. What do you think?

Here's a quick tune-up for any business that wants a reality check on how to grow. It's proven beyond doubt to work, and you already have everything in place to implement.

Ready?

Ask: "What's something that's going fantastically well right now, in your business?" Or, a variation: "What *win* are you celebrating in your business, this week?"

Is it...the fact that a new client was referred to you?

A new yellow page advertisement is bringing in a steady stream of prospects?

The fact that whenever you speak, you attract at least 3-4 new clients?

Whatever it is, my invitation to you right now has two parts:

(1) Celebrate...hold the energy of this win.

(2) Step back and ask "How can I do more of this same thing without a lot of effort?"

A lot of entrepreneurs are - statistically speaking - quite bright. And funny thing, because of this, they can tend to create complicated problems out of their everyday situations, issues and tasks...just to stimulate their brains.

They aren't aware that they're creating mischief for themselves when there's a clear and easy alternative path to getting the results they really want. In 'coaching-speak,' they're 'in your own way'.

If you think you fit in this category, one of the biggest favors you can do for yourself is commit to a full year of learning to be simple-minded and lazy. In fact, this is one of Tina's favorite expressions, in the middle of a meeting with me: "Well Andrea, my simple mind thinks there's an easier way."

Which is of course a godsend, every time.

So how can you cultivate a simple mind? There are many ways. Sometimes it takes time to undo years of ingrained habit - a person can get very proficient at making a mensa-like labyrinth out of everything.

Have you heard the story about the overdesigned pen? It's the one that NASA tried to invent so astronauts could write by hand in outer space. I'm not certain if this is myth or not, but apparently lots of money was spent on this puzzle - how to make a pen write in space.

To the point - on the flip side of the coin, I understand the Russians just used a pencil.

Go figure, right? I think this is the part where I resist saying something about 'it ain't rocket science'... ;-)

Get started on the 'simpleminded laziness' regime by asking the above question...namely, 'What's going great?' And then set yourself a plan to do it more, lots more.

Got a referral? No need to spend money testing 10 marketing strategies. Systemetize a way to consistently get (ask for) more referrals.

Did you just do another speaking gig that led to clients? No need to struggle with cash flow, then. You know what to do, and it's proven, by you, to work. So go get some more speaking gigs.

It's time for a reality check. Because I think you'll agree - you already have everything you need to do more of what you're already doing...

So even if it's not the most stimulating thing for you to do...do it. Simpleminded laziness can pay off big.

Although we can't play music at the "Conference-for-the-price-of-a-book" festival, we wish we could! :-)

Today's call on the topic of "Thirty Ways to Get Your Mailing List To Respond (To The Benefit of Your Bottom Line)" was rollicking good fun, and hopefully everyone got what they came for: practical, proven things to do that will increase your list conversion, as well as connection and fellowship.

To follow up on your commitment to increasing and deepening your relationship with your readers, post below on which of the 32 tips we covered you'll now implement this month.

Many are easy peasy, so have at it.

And if you are the owner of a copy of "Money, Meaning & Beyond," the recording and notes for the call will be sent out to you very shortly so you can review if you wish. Just for now, post the ones that resonated most strongly with you...and in doing so, enter yourself in the draw for this week's prize. (A complimentary registration in the Multiple Streams List-Building Action Workgroup, value $87 or $57 for book buyers.)

Also, post your questions as you see fit...my solid gold promise to you is that you will get the answers here...from Tina or myself.

Cheers until next week, when we gather to talk 'real-world' Virtual Assistance and how to take them from a cost center to a profit center for you.

P.S. If you are wanting to sign up immediately for our List-Building Action Ecourse, do so by clicking here. If you are the lucky winner selected before our next week's call, not to worry, we will refund your purchase 100%. Bring on the lucky charms!

Just got back from 10 days in beautiful British Columbia, visiting family in Vancouver and then soaking up the sun in the Okanagan Valley, quickly becoming known as 'Canada's Napa Valley.'

As often happens, I ran across an interesting business case to share. This is a really lovely example of storytelling in a business context. You may have noticed, we like to tell a story once in a while here at the Money and Meaning blog. =)

So what does storytelling have to do with your business?

Stories are one of the primary ways human beings make meaning, or sense, out of the world. The better your story is, the more viscerally and true-ly your customers will connect with you, and in connecting with you, enjoy your products and services.

So here's an excerpt from the first page of the Wine List at Old Vines Patio Restaurant, which is run by the Stewart Family of Quails' Gate Estate Winery. That's a photo taken from the table we occupied at right, before the food arrived. Yes, it really is a slice of heaven.

As you read the excerpt, remember that at this point as a diner in the restaurant, you have not yet looked at the wine list, caught any glimpse of prices or difficult-to-pronounce names in foreign languages.

Begin excerpt:

The 'superb handcrafted wines' you are about to discover on this list are grown on the vines that you see laid out in front of you, hand crafted here in our winery, and finally aged in our tank and barrel cellars behind these walls.

Over the years at Quails' Gate we have put aside a small amount of wine that we now uniquely offer from the Old Vines Restaurant Cellar. This selection of our own library wines and wines from other wineries throughout the Valley reflect the bounty this supernatural wine growing region has to offer.

As I shared this excerpt in one of today's complimetary Money and Meaning telecalls, I asked the business owners present to share what they felt was happening through this use of story. Here are some of the responses:

(1) They are outright asking you to try the wine and enjoy the wine.
(2) They are tooting they're own horn.
(3) They're creating an event, or setting a stage for something important, something is happening and you want to be a part of that.
(4) I want to go there or grab a glass of wine right now.
(5) There is a sincere spirit of generosity that I feel from the story.
(6) I can visualize the love for wine they have in this business.

What else do you observe?

As simple as this example is, there's actually lots to glean from it. For one, it's pretty evident that without this first page in the menu, the diner's experience would be altogether different, yes?

Do you think you would respond more positively, wine drinker or no, to a plain menu with just prices and names OR a menu with this story prefacing it?

Stories like this - when genuine and true, that is - are a very real way to increase the meaning your business has for your customers. Not to mention, by cultivating in you the ability to be transparent as a business owner, you foster your own personal growth. But I digress. :-)

How can you be more clearly, evocatively and effectively telling the story of your business? Don't make it about you, mind you...note how Quails' Gate nicely turns the focus on the person who will enjoy the wine...even as they tell their story. (Money and Meaning book readers refer to Chapter 20: Where Are You Coming From? or Lessons from a Golf Course for more on this.)

What is your story? If you're already sort-of telling it, how can you enrichen it? Tell it in a better 'spot' in the customer experience? Link it more directly to the buying opportunity you offer?

Compare this now briefly to another tourist attraction I won't name, also in the Okanagan Valley. My husband Mike and I also enjoyed this place, but not as much. To our surprise, after leaving we learned this farm had recently burned down in a fire only to be rebuilt, and the owners had surmounted many things to bring their family and business to Canada. It was in fact, a powerful story, but alas, nowhere to be found on the premises.

Do you fall into the same category as this latter business? Why might you be hiding your story under a bushel?

----

I'm not actually a big wine drinker. I worked too long in Japan, I think, and once in a while enjoy a Rye and Ginger as a result.

But I will tell you this (some-would-say) jaded-old marketer ordered an additional glass of wine because I so enjoyed the idea of a glass being poured for me from a hand-picked library behind where I sat, and I delightedly chose to become a bigger part of the Quails' Gate story.

How many more glasses or bottles or wine do you think they sell because of this story?

How much more business could you do if you paid attention to how you're telling yours?

What is your story?

People ask us on a very regular basis - What is the most important thing I can do to build my business?

And our answer is always the same:

Build your list and convert it!

In fact we've said it so often you can hear the echo in our virtual hallways (build your list... build your list... ;) )

Your list is the hub of your business, as the people on your list are the ones who become your paying customers and biggest fans. Whether your list is currently big, medium or small, we invite you to pay some focused attention to boosting the size of your list in time for a more lucrative fall.

List-Building Action eCourse: The Top 21+ Ways to Build a Pink Spoon List with Integrity, Maximizing a Coaching Approach.

Each week we will send you a list building 'tip' based on proven strategies that we ourselves have used and continue to use to build our own lists. You will then have one week to implement that particular strategy before the next tip arrives. Each tip is specifically designed to be super simple, quick to read and apply immediately to your business.

(Hint: A list size of about 1000 subscribers is a must for any serious business owner working online; Several of our past participants have made tremendous progress towards just that in the first few weeks.)

Prior to attending the Multiple Streams List-Building Workgroup, I was getting a trickle of subscribers.

In just 3 weeks of implementing the strategies covered, I have had over 450 subscribers. These strategies really work.

I recommend this List-Building to anyone who is serious about building a list and their business

Tessa Stowe http://www.attractmoreclientsnaturally.com

The tips include tools and concepts, resources and partners, all with one goal: to support you along the way to your list-building breakthrough.

The upshot is, with this Action based eCourse you will:

> Increase the size of your list...
> Understand the direct relationship of certain activities to certain results, within the online world...
> Shorten the time you spend testing new list-building strategies; use only the ones that work...
> Be introduced to new joint venture possibilities....
> Increase your chances to convert subscribers to paying clients and putting real money in your pockets...

As we like to say in 1-1 coaching sessions:

Don't think yourself into paralysis...just do. This is not an eCourse about more information, it's about giving you the structure and regular reminders to take action. So stop training...start completing. No more trying...let's get going!

What are you waiting for? Your list and potential new clients await, so let's get started shall we?

If you are a Multiple Streams member or book buyer, use this link to activate registration at the discounted $57 rate:
>> Register Now

If you aren't a Multiple Streams member or book buyer, and don't wish to become one just now, use this link to pay the general fee of $87.
>> Register Now

(Not yet a Multiple Streams Member? Click here to join and then come back to this page to take advantage of the $30 savings.)

Once registered, your first tip will arrive right away and you can begin the journey to sustainable, systemetized, organic, long-term results for your list.

Drumroll please...

The first winners in our book festival series of draws have now been determined! An admittedly very un-scientific yet absolutely fair process for determining the winners was used:

First, everyone who posted a comment as directed after our June 28 teleconference on 'How to Write a Book in 45 Days' had their name entered into a hat, like so:

For the purposes of this very special celebration of Money AND Meaning, we felt it appropriate to use my husband's new baseball cap, inscribed with 'Life is good.'

You can listen to the actual drawing process live via recording - and verify that contest rules and regulations were met to the letter, press the play button below and turn on your speakers. This is light-hearted 3 minutes with Tina and Andrea...pulling the winning names.

And of course, a hearty Congratulations to both winners!

Marcia Merrill, Career and Life Transitions Coach, who has won a 100% complimentary seat in 'My Book School' a 90-day program that supports you in the entire process of completing a book, including printing and logistics...as designed and hosted by Book Shepherd Extra-ordinaire Lynne Klippel (who lovingly shephered both our books to reality.) Approx $300 retail value.

For more information about My Book School, go to http://www.MyBookSchool.com


And Trudy Van Buskirk, Small Business Marketing Consultant who has won full tuition to the Multiple Streams Book-Writing Workgroup, a four week accountability and integrity workgroup focused on writing and completion, and begins on July 25. Retail Value $197 (or $157 for book readers and MSOCI members.)

We're truly privileged to have Andy Wibbels steer this group across the book-writing finish line this summer - many of you will know he is the esteemed author of Blog Wild! published by Portfolio.

Curious about joining Trudy in the Book-Writing Workgroup? Click here to find out more.

Trudy, Marcia, to claim your prizes, write to tina@onlinebusinessmanager.com and lynne@lynneklippel.com respectively and you will be presented with your next steps as well as a fistful of virtual confetti - we just know you're lives - post book-completion - are never going to be quite the same.

Here's looking forward to celebrating your books in the very near future! :-)

And now without further delay, let's move onto the second week of our 'Conference for the Price of a Book.' This Wednesday is call #2 of 5, and our topic is: Thirty Ways to Get Your Mailing List To Respond (To The Benefit of Your Bottom Line)

See you on the festival grounds...more prizes to come.