Should You Be Friends With Your Ex?

Submitted by on March 29, 2011 - 9:36 am

Best-selling authors Charles J. Orlando and Lisa Steadman duke it out in this episode of He Said, She Said, where relationship professionals discuss hot-button issues about social media, dating, marriage and sex.

In this episode, Charles and Lisa discuss if you should be friends with your ex. What do you think?

For more on Charles J. Orlando, visit his fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theproblemismen
For more on Lisa Steadman, visit http://www.lisasteadman.com/

Are You Playing to a Warm Audience?

Submitted by on - 8:40 am

Have you ever attended the taping of a television show? Most shows have someone I call the “warm-up guy,” whose job it is to come out before the show starts and warm up the audience. The warm-up guy establishes a rapport and makes the audience feel welcome and like an important part of the production.

What he’s doing is actively engaging the audience, which is the third step of engaging The CLAMOR Factor™.

To refresh your memory, The CLAMOR Factor is an energy that has clients and customers clamoring to work with you. It’s an acronym for my six-step process that engages and enrolls your audience in your mission and your movement. Here’s what it stands for:

C reate a compelling offer or audacious goal

L anguage and leverage the energetics of your offer

A ctively engage your audience in pre-buzz development

M aster your messaging in a way that’s inviting and inclusive

O wn your expertise, sharing it with the world in a big way

R eturn on investment. Measure what worked, what didn’t, tweak, and repeat.

In my last blog, we covered C and L. Today, we’re going to tackle A and M.

So let’s go back to our television studio: Actively engaging your audience in pre-buzz development is like being your own warm-up guy. In other words, you’re getting them ready for your compelling offer. I have to tell you this is one of my favorite steps. I love engaging with my audience!

An easy way to start is by asking questions. One of my clients recently created Clamor on Facebook when she started engaging HER audience with this post:

A Soft Place To Land – I am fully committed that my businesses will always provide A Soft Place To Land for my amazing clients. This sets me apart from others. What sets you apart (either in biz or personal)?

Do you see how she shared in a non-promotional way what she offers her clients and engaged people in a conversation where they could share what they offer their clients? This is brilliant and strategic.

As you build your pre-buzz, people will tell you what resonates for them. They won’t say it in those words; they’ll let you know by commenting, retweeting or liking your posts.

Once you’ve warmed up your audience, you’re ready for the next step …

Master your messaging in a way that’s inviting and inclusive.

Part of mastering your message on social media is striking the right balance between being inviting and inclusive, and delivering value and exclusivity that requires people to pay for your products and services.

This is a fine line. So let me be clear here. While there is an exclusivity factor in working with your clients, on social media your job is to enroll people in your movement. Invite them to play with you, get to know you, learn from you, value you, and most importantly, like and trust you.

One of the easiest and most fun ways to master your message is by creating what I call your 10 hot topics: 10 juicy, actionable, engaging, search-engine friendly, exciting conversation starters that you can then take out to the world in big and bold ways.

First, create a list of topics you like talking about. Get specific in your language. And then make them hot by engaging the juicy factor, finding a way to use language that is a little sexy, a little controversial, and gets people talking.

For example, another one of my clients is a life and business coach from New Jersey who wanted to brilliantly embody the sass and street of her brand while engaging her girlie side, too. So one of her hot topics was “How to Jump Start The Jersey In your Business.” We then came up with 5 bullet points for this hot topic that educated her audience on why using street smarts AND your girlie side can make you a more powerful business owner.

See how fun it can be to create your hot topics? Make your list of your hot topics and meet me back here next week when I cover the final two steps in the CLAMOR factor and show you how to own and receive the Woohoo!

To learn more about how to create CLAMOR for your business, as well as build buzz for your brand, follow my 30 Days of Brilliance video series, launching April 1st.

About Lisa

Lisa Steadman is a best-selling author, sought after speaker, results coach, and CEO of Woohoo, Inc. As Chief Woohoo Woman, she helps entrepreneurs, experts and authors build buzz-worthy brands, compelling online communities, and purposeful, passionate and prosperous platforms. If you are interested putting the Woohoo in your business, contact Lisa by clicking here.

Does Your Business Have the CLAMOR Factor?

Submitted by on March 22, 2011 - 5:58 am

Justin Bieber’s got it. American Idol’s rolling in it. Elvis and The Beatles? They were partially responsible for CREATING it.

No, I’m not talking about rock n roll. But what I am talking about can make you a rock star.

I’m talking about the CLAMOR Factor, i.e. an energy that has clients and customers clamoring to know you, like you, trust you, and ultimately work with or purchase from you.

Do you have the highly coveted CLAMOR Factor?

If you said yes, Woohoo!! If you said no, isn’t it time to claim your CLAMOR? (Don’t worry — it’s easy!)

CLAMOR is an acronym for the six-step process I take my clients through that authentically engages and enrolls their audience in their mission and movement.

Here’s what it stands for:

C reate a compelling offer or audacious goal

L anguage and leverage the energetics of your offer

A ctively engage your audience in pre-buzz development

M aster your messaging in a way that’s inviting and inclusive

O wn your expertise, sharing it with the world in a big way

R eturn on investment. Measure what worked, what didn’t, and repeat/tweak as needed.

Today, I’m going to cover the first two steps of creating CLAMOR. I’ll reveal the rest of the steps in my upcoming blog posts.

C stands for create a compelling offer or audacious goal you’d like to take out to the world. This first step sets the tone for your entire initiative. I invite you to think BIG.

What do you have that no one else can offer? Is it your expertise? Is it a product? Is it your service? How can you set yourself apart from your competition by distinguishing your brilliance in this first step? CLAMOR starts from within, so now’s a good time to reconnect to your Woohoo Within and what makes you innately great.

Here are two examples of my clients who have claimed their CLAMOR:

“As a health coach, I help women reconnect to their Inner Va-voom!”

That’s how my client Sharon Otness Foot distinguishes herself from all the other health coaches online.

So for Sharon, her compelling offer/audacious goal might be, “I want to enroll 10 new clients in my upcoming 8 week Bloom Into Va-voom teleclass.” (Don’t you LOVE that name?!)

Or, if you have a product line like my client Bonnie Stern, creator of Sex Butter, her compelling offer/audacious goal was, “I want every woman on the planet to rediscover the beautifully sensual side of sex AND more easily achieve an orgasm with my certified organic sexual enhancement product.”

Bold, huh? (Everything IS better with Butter!)

While both of these women set dramatically different goals, setting the goal was the first step in their success. Now, let’s move onto the next step.

The L in CLAMOR stands for Language and Leverage the energetics of your offer.

As Chief Woohoo Woman at Woohoo, Inc., I’m a big believer that words are energy. Plus, I’m a huge word nerd. So this next step is critical to your success.

To create the right language/wording around your compelling offer/audacious goal, you first need to ask yourself…

How do I want people to feel after experiencing me, my work, and/or my compelling offer?

This is where specifics are key to your success. So be sure to get specific. What is the payoff your fans, clients, and customers will experience once they enroll in your movement? What problem/pain do you solve or resolve for them?

It’s not enough to say, “I want my clients to feel happy/rested/excited/confident.”

Because you’re enrolling people in your mission/movement, you’ll want them to be so engaged with you that they become your biggest evangelists, happily sharing your brilliance with their friends, family, and community.

So again, get specific.

How do you want people to feel and what are the words that align with those feelings?

Here are examples of great languaging from two of my clients:

“I want overworked, overwhelmed, overstressed corporate women to feel like they have a soft place to land and have permission to reconnect to their authentic self, even if it means rebuilding that beautiful self one brick at a time.”

That’s from my amazing client Debbie Ingle. Pretty clear and specific, yes?

Or…

“I want women who are going through a divorce to feel empowered to live full lives on their own, confident and hopeful about the future, excited about facing new opportunities with courage and not fear, and inspired to get out of their comfort zones.”

That’s from my brilliant client Lori Latimer. Again, very specific and tangible.

Do you see how getting clear and specific will change the language you start using?

Are you starting to get the idea that by being specific in your languaging, it’s going to be that much easier to fully engage the CLAMOR Factor?

Are you beginning to think about how you can create CLAMOR for yourself and your business?

I’d love for you to share your thoughts!

Click here to read about steps 3 and 4 of the CLAMOR Factor process.

To learn more about how to create CLAMOR for your business, as well as build buzz for your brand, follow my 30 Days of Brilliance video series, launching April 1st.

If Your Business Was Your Boyfriend, Is It Time To Break Up?

Submitted by on March 15, 2011 - 7:14 pm

“We’re in the ‘working on it’ phase.”

“Sometimes we fight, but we love each other, too.”

“We beat each other up last month (this is my first abusive experience in a relationship).”

Lately I’ve been talking to a lot of women business owners, and the way they’re describing their businesses sounds a lot like the way some women talk about the men in their lives. Especially men we would call “bad boys.”

Can I let you in on a little secret? Two years ago, I was in an abusive relationship with MY business. I was so committed to catapulting my business to the next level that I vowed to do whatever it took.

I worked around the clock. Evenings. Weekends. Holidays.

I tuned out my friends. I barely called my parents. And I hate to admit it, but I was actually THANKFUL my husband traveled during the week for work. That way, I could squeeze in a half-hearted phone call to him every night, and pay attention to him on the weekend … in between networking events, client chasing, and the general craziness I had created.

I stopped working out. Stopped sleeping well. And stopped taking care of me.

Sure, I got results. Amazing results! But the price I paid was too high. My health deteriorated. My marriage with my husband suffered. And I felt like a slave to getting my next client.

I also felt disappointed I wasn’t getting better results. I was reading everyone’s e-zines and Facebook posts about how AMAZING their lives, businesses, and bank accounts were. And while I was bringing in six figures, I was also reinvesting every last penny back into my dysfunctional relationship. As my new CFO says, if you make six or seven figures and spend six or seven figures, you’re still at zero, and that’s not a healthy business model.

I was so singularly focused on MAKING my business work that I couldn’t recognize my intensity and obsessive behavior were the reasons my business and my life were so out of balance. I had lost all perspective. And I began to resent my business.

I’m willing to bet that if you’re reading this, you can relate. And I have to tell you some bad news: If my story feels like your story, you and your business may be headed for a nasty breakup.

I don’t want that for you. And you don’t want that either, right? So let’s look at the top five reasons why you may have lost that loving feeling for your business:

1. You’re not getting the results you want and feel incredibly disappointed.

2. You ignore your own successes and instead compare your business to everyone else’s, feeling like a total failure.

3. No offense, Tim Gunn, but you’re operating out of a “make-it-work” mentality and a “have-to” space. You feel contracted, rigid, unbalanced, and MISERABLE.

4. You’re overworked, overwhelmed, and frustrated that you’re not getting farther ahead financially.

5. You feel like you’re giving up too much of yourself and not getting enough in return.

Whew! I’m exhausted just reviewing the many ways I used to resent my bad boyfriend of a business. Fortunately, there is a better way. A more balanced way. A healthier and happier way to do business. And I’d like to share this NEW way of re-ENGAGING with your business.

As Beyonce says, “If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it!”

Instead of being that slave to your unhealthy relationship with your business, here’s my 3 step formula for falling back in love, getting engaged, and putting a nice ring on your finger:

1. Admit what’s happening.

Be honest first with yourself. Don’t judge yourself. Instead celebrate that by owning how you feel, you set those negative feelings free.

2. Ask for help.

Next, enlist support in falling back in love with your business. Hire a coach, find a mentor, get into a mastermind group, or simply talk to your friends who can understand and support you.

3. Take consistent action to get your desired results.

Just like losing weight requires consistently eating fewer calories and moving your body more, falling back in love with your business requires consistently different behavior to get a different result. Create an action plan. Follow through with it. Measure your results. Change directions when something doesn’t work. Repeat your successes when they happen.

It really is as easy as that. But you have to be ready to make the changes necessary to go from being on the brink of breaking up with your business to putting a big fat sparkly ring on your finger. So answer this last question: If your business was your boyfriend, is it time to breakup, get therapy, or put a ring on it?

What do Kim Kardashian, Oprah, and Barbie Have in Common?

Submitted by on March 8, 2011 - 7:10 am

Of course, they’re all attractive and successful women. But they’re also attractive and successful brands.

Think about it. When you hear any of their names, you automatically know what you’re going to get. Kim is all about fashion and glamour. Oprah is about love and living your best life. And Barbie is every girl’s feminine ideal. Each offers an expertise and is the face of their business.

So let me ask you – At your core, are you and your business a brand like Barbie, Kim, and Oprah?

Don’t worry if you’re not. Not all businesses are brands. You could be a product, a service, or a mission/movement.

Or, quite possibly, you’re a hybrid. Oprah is a hybrid; she’s a brand AND a mission. Barbie’s a hybrid, too. She’s a brand AND a product.

So think about you and your business and choose the category that most closely aligns with the ultimate vision you have for your business, and not necessarily the business as it stands today. I’m talking about the grand vision you initially had for your business, that Woohoo Within™ that spoke to you, guided you, and gave you permission to think BIG and share your innate gifts with the world.

Many of us have lost that initial vision, bogged down by the burdens of running a business, making money, and chasing clients.

Sound familiar? If so, it’s time to get re-engaged to your Woohoo Within™ and honor what you’re REALLY here to do.

So again, in the grand vision of your business, are you a brand, product, service, mission/movement, or a hybrid combination? And if you’re a hybrid, what percentage of your business is a brand? A product? A service? A mission/movement?

Why does it matter what you and your business are?

Because the way you communicate your brilliance depends very much on how you answer that question. It also tells you how you should be spending your time.

Products and Services

If your business is focused primarily on any particular product or service, your time should be spent on sales.  But don’t be GROSS about it. (GROSS stands for Getting Really Offended by Selfish Selling. Here’s a blog I wrote about that.

Instead, lead with your unique selling proposition. Tell your customers about the benefits they get from buying your product or using your services. Use social media to engage with your customers, inviting them into your product or service world, the benefits they can expect, and how your particular product or service will change their lives. For you, it’s all about sales.

Brand

If you’re a brand, you’ll want to spend your time building a profitable platform. This may include getting booked on TV, landing speaking gigs, and sharing your expertise with the world in big and bold ways. Spend time defining your social persona and honing your expert status. The quickest and easiest way to establish your expertise is to become a content queen! Create valuable content and share it through blogging, videos, speaking, ezines and article syndication.

If you are a brand AND a product or service, you will want to market yourself as much as you sell your products and services. Think about Rachael Ray. She’s a brand and she has several products. If you watch her television show, you’ll see her cooking with her own brand of cookware. Jenny Craig is a brand and a service. You recognize the brand’s celebrity spokespeople, such as Valerie Bertinelli, Kirstie Alley, and Jason Alexander. And you most likely know that their service is geared towards weight loss including packaged meals (a product) and a health consultant (a service).

Mission/Movement

Finally, if you’re a mission/movement like Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle, your job is to build a community and find evangelists to enroll in your movement. Spend time on your messaging and the energetics surrounding your messaging because ultimately your goal is to engage, inspire, and enroll people in your mission so that they can help spread the word and be your evangelists.

If you are a brand AND a mission/movement, you will want to be sure everything you do – from the items you post on social media, to the clothes you wear to networking events, to how you communicate your message to the masses – fits your messaging and the energetics behind your messaging. Oprah is a brand and a movement. Her movement – living your best life – has a home when she launched the network OWN.

Remember, you can be a combination, but it’s important to know what combination you are so you can effectively communicate your message to the masses.

Got questions? Want to share what you and your business are? Post a comment here!


Like this article? Then you’ll LOVE the tools, tips, and advice I share in my 30 Days of Brilliance Video series starting April 1. Get started building YOUR Brilliant Biz today!

Is Your Platform As Sturdy As Your Platform Shoes?

Submitted by on March 2, 2011 - 8:13 am

I recently hosted a big event for entrepreneurial women and was excited to rock out in the fab pair of platform heels I bought just for the occasion. Let me tell you, they looked GOOD. But every step I took felt like I was balancing on the edge of a tower.

What we do in the name of fashion, right? It occurred to me that it’s similar to what we entrepreneurs do in the name of feeling successful. A lesson I learned the hard way.

In 2004, I left my job in Corporate America – where I had successfully built a $9 million online brand and community – to build my very own million-dollar brand and community around one word: breakups.

I was going through my very own Big Breakup at the time, and I set my sights on getting a book deal. Within months, I accomplished that goal. My book, It’s a Breakup, Not a Breakdown, debuted in 2007. I appeared on the Today Show and other national programs. I went on a book tour. I did all the fancy things I thought an author should do. Woohoo!, right?

Well, not quite. When I got home, I took a look at my bank account and almost had a nervous breakdown. I was broke. I had invested thousands of dollars in publicists and book tour fees and website development. I had taken time away from lucrative freelance projects to write and sell my book. In other words: I did all of the things I thought a successful author should do, but I hadn’t checked to see if I was building my platform on a solid foundation.

Ironically, I’m one of the lucky ones. Only 5% of first-time authors sell more than 5,000 copies in their book’s lifetime, and my book sold close to 10,000 copies in the first six months. And only 5% of the population makes over one hundred thousand dollars a year. I broke that ceiling a few years ago. Woohoo! indeed.

So what happened?

Well, while I love my books (I’ve since written and published two more traditional books and two e-books), I didn’t realize that they weren’t sturdy enough to be my business.

Instead, they’re my business card.

Here are some of the mistakes I made and how you can avoid making them, too:

  1. I relied on one revenue stream – my book. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket (especially if it’s a broken basket!).  Create an entire product suite, such as a book, coaching programs with multiple levels, speaking engagements, writing and blogging opportunities, etc.
  2. I forgot to create golden opportunities with others who were aligned with my brand. Find major companies that have similar missions and explore ways you can partner. Eventually, I got paid $5,000 to write a blog entry pimping out a major company’s hair care products while giving their customers tips on how to have a post-breakup makeover. Jackpot!
  3. I got caught up in being an author and overlooked the value of my expertise. Look for other ways to make money from your knowledge. Eventually, I got paid handsomely to write articles for an online dating site. A Fortune 500 company approached me to consult them on their online business. At first, I felt these were not aligned with my “author” expertise. However, both opportunities have been incredibly lucrative and I loved taking on those exciting endeavors.
  4. I didn’t ask for help. Before you spend tons of money on a publicist, for example, take the time to evaluate what you really need. In hindsight, what I really needed was a business coach before I needed a publicist. Carefully assemble your team (a.k.a. your Woohoo Crew!) because you cannot build a profitable platform alone.
  5. Finally, I HOPED for success rather than making a solid, actionable plan. Get out of wishing mode and into action. Sure, hope springs eternal, but it also keeps you paralyzed because as long as you wish for something, it’s possible. Taking action is scary because it might dash those dreams … but it’s the key to your success.

So back to those sky high and oh so fab shoes of mine. For one night, they’re fun. But when it comes to building a six-figure and beyond success story, I’ve decided do it in sensible shoes.

Ready to build a rock solid 6 figure platform around your expertise, passion, and purpose?

Join my teleclass “How to Build a Sustainable 6 Figure Platform” on March 9th!