You don't have to be heartbroken to get it.

A while back, Launching Queen Amy Swift of Ladies Who Launch invited me to weigh in on the top 10 reasons dating an entrepreneur rocks. Here’s a sampling:

1. We’re not waiting to be rescued. Rather than wait for some guy to come along before we have a home of our own, pay down debt, and plan for the future, as female entrepreneurs we’re actively living our dream lives on a daily basis. We don’t expect the guy in our life to take care of us. We’re just looking for someone who can enjoy the amazing journey with us.

2. We know what we want and aren’t afraid to go after it. What’s sexier than a woman who has goals, ambition, and actively goes after what she wants? Nothing! And the right guy will dig the fact that you not only talk the talk but walk the walk.

3. We like our careers (translation: we’re happier than the average 9-to-5′er). As launching ladies, our businesses most likely started with a personal passion. Even on the most difficult business day, we love what we do. That better equips us to be healthy and happy individuals, and healthy and happy individuals make for fantastic partners.

To read the full article, click here.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

Let me start off by saying I am in no way affiliated with the site I’m about to mention. It’s called exmarkstheplot.com. Basically, you can bury your ex, your old self, your old relationship, etc. in cyberspace. It’s an interesting idea — acting as a widow following a breakup — and one that I am writing about in my upcoming book. However, I’m not sure how I feel about the $6.95 cost. The truth is, you can bury your breakup in the comfort of your own home for free. All you need is an old shoebox and a Ken doll. But it’s an intriguing idea and one I wanted to share.

So if you feel the need, check out exmarkstheplot.com and put your ex to rest in cyberspace.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

Recently, my mom called me during the day. Normally she doesn’t call during the day so I was a little worried, thinking something might be wrong with her or my dad. Turns out, nothing was wrong. My mom had just heard about a website she thought I should check out. Mind you, she’s not exactly Web savvy. But I decided to humor her and asked her what site she thought I should visit. That’s when she told me about exboyfriendjewelry.com. I had actually heard of the site a few days before but hadn’t yet visited. As soon as we got off the phone, I logged on and check it out for myself.

OMG — I love this site! Basically, if you’ve got jewelry from an ex cluttering up your life and don’t want to get ripped off by a pawn shop, this is the place to go. You can buy/sell/trade your jewelry and blog about your breakup (so therapeutic!). They’ve even got a place for you to donate the money you make from your ex-boyfriend jewelry to breast cancer charities. Breaking free from your ex’s memory AND donating to a good cause? Love that!

Mind you, my ex’s were too cheap to give jewelry. But don’t think that’s going to stop me from perusing the site, picking up some sparkly bling, and helping a fellow breakup survivor move on. This is so pay it forward! I love, love, love it.

Here’s that link again: http://www.exboyfriendjewelry.com/

Enjoy!

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

Earlier today I told you about the launch of youpublish.com a brand-new publishing revolution…

While my next traditionally published book won’t be in bookstores until May 2009, you can now check out some of my e-products on youpublish.com. There, you’ll find…

The Bad Love No More e-book and introductory audio - Say sayonara to Mr. Wrong and hello to happily ever after with this step-by-step guide to breaking free of limiting relationship beliefs.

The Savvy Singles Guide to Life - Find out what successful singles know about living and loving their fabulous lives!

Wants to publish your own work on youpublish.com? Click here.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

In case it’s not yet abundantly clear, I happen to think Mark Victor Hansen is a creative genius! His latest endeavor YouPublish.com launches today, and here’s the press release he just emailed me about it…

Los Angeles (May 7, 2008)–YouPublish.com officially opens to the public today for consumers to view, purchase/search and download digital content by a wide range of authors, creative artists and everyday people with something to say or share with others internationally.

Integrating aspects of YouTube, Facebook and Amazon with unique, new thinking and technology in an ultra easy-to-use online environment, YouPublish is the place where unlimited creators go to publish their digital content for sale or for free distribution to consumers. Launching with well over 1,000 authors, musicians, composers, photographers, poets, and varied creative artists from more than 20 countries who have been placing content since February, this portal is now open for commerce.

The brainchild of Mark Victor Hansen and fellow YouPublish Advisors Roice Krueger and James Skinner, YouPublish.com is designed to be the simplest way to publish any electronic digital file in any format on the Internet. The structure of the portal is streamlined so that any person can literally register as a YouPublish user and publish their creations in minutes. You can test drive and publish your ideas almost as fast as you can think them!

“From our experiences in business, specifically publishing combined with the future direction of the Internet, we believe YouPublish.com is exactly where buying and selling content, from books to films is headed,” says Hansen, co-founder of the hit book series Chicken Soup for the Soul and longtime mentor of authors around the world. “We see the opportunity for existing, well-known authors and creative professionals to first-time authors and artists to have fun creating sales through YouPublish.com. Consumers and producers of great digital content now have a whole new way to share their products and ideas.”

According to Hansen, it will be nearly impossible to pass up opportunities like the ones consumers will find on YouPublish.com. This portal showcases a range of works from videos, music, e-books, poetry and more. Ideal for the most established and budding creative types alike such as authors, composers, musicians, poets, college students and stay at home moms with a penchant for the pen, YouPublish.com is setting new standards from day one.

Consumers can begin at the home page or go directly to their favorite authors and/or artists via personal pages.YouPublish.com packs even more of a wallop by also offering an evolving social network and excellent support system for content creators with the unheard of bonus of a unique and creative search engine. The portal’s design includes patent pending technologies, which allow for revolutionary ways of searching for, viewing and acquiring creative works.

YouPublish.com is the perfect combination of the self-publishing aspect of YouTube with the social networking features of Facebook and MySpace with the selling features of Amazon all rolled into one solution, without the restrictions of allowing only free or only paid-for content and not being able to designate whether a work is to be available to everyone or only to a specific group or community. YouPublish empowers content creators by providing an unprecedented level of flexibility and control while publishing and selling their original works.

YouPublish.com eliminates the hassles of self-publishing or working with dozens of fragmented websites to place, market, sell, distribute and collect royalties for sales of creative content. This new portal is a single publishing source/destination, which allows authors, musicians, video producers, photographers and others to effortlessly manage, publish, and distribute their materials in one location and reach a massive consumer audience internationally and worldwide.

On YouPublish.com, users can place any type of electronic file or any combination of them. Because YouPublish.com accepts every electronic file format, authors and content creators can share books, poems, songs, videos, photos, seminar packages, and even spreadsheets and software. Authors and other content creators can choose to sell their digital products or share them for free, or make them available in any combination. If true wealth is indeed being able to afford your own imagination…then YouPublish is the springboard for limitless opportunities.

Some of the key features unique to YouPublish.com include royalties of 50% of sales (compared to 11% to 35% elsewhere), the site is simple for anyone to create content pages, authors and artists can rapidly expand their fan base, as well being able to release their works electronically and immediately in any media in any combination they choose.

For consumers, YouPublish.com is an opportunity to find great content that’s not available anywhere else on the Internet, to collaborate with their favorite artists and like minded friends and build and share a library of their favorite works. For more information about YouPublish.com or to shop for fresh, original content visit www.youpublish.com.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

Are you contemplating sex with your ex? Before you place that booty call, check out my interview on FirstWivesWorld.com where I discuss the dangers of sex with the ex, rebounding, and more!

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

This just in from TodayShow.com…

In the new romantic comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” the broken-hearted main character takes a recovery trip to Hawaii, only to find his ex-girlfriend there… with a new beau. Have you ever had an encounter with an ex that completely mortified or shocked you? Ever run into a former love and say something bizarre or clumsy? Did you stalk, pine or obsess over an ex — with disastrous results? If you have a bad ex encounter, share it with us and we might feature it on TODAYShow.com!

Living in Los Angeles, I’m sometimes surprised how rarely I encounter an ex (thank God!). The only bad encounter I can recall is during my big breakup when my girlfriend and I went to lunch one day during the week (remember, I worked with Mr. Ex). We were going to try a new restaurant. I opened the door and the first person I saw was Mr. Ex. Seated across from him was a blond woman. He and I made eye contact, he smiled awkwardly, and I turned around and left the restaurant.

Later that day, out one of the windows in my office building I saw them standing very close together in the parking lot, talking and laughing. I knew I shouldn’t let myself just stand there, watching him enjoy the company of another woman, a beautiful woman I’d never seen before but I couldn’t stop myself. My heart raced and I wanted to throw up. But I stayed there and watched them. It was agonizing! My only consolation was that he never knew that I saw them in the parking lot. Ouch!

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

By now, you’ve probably heard about the youtube video of a scorned socialite trashing her ex for the world to see. If you haven’t, here’s the gist of it: Young, blonde, British socialite Tricia Walsh Smith thinks her husband, Broadway theater mogul Philip J. Smith wants to evict her from their posh New York apartment. Instead of handling things with dignity through a lawyer, Tricia takes her case to YouTube, trashing her ex’s reputation by claiming they never had sex during the marriage but that he is obviously having sex with other people since she recently found his stash of Viagra, porn, and condoms.

Tricia is playing the victim to the hilt. She claims her husband is trying to evict her, that their air-tight prenup has screwed her over, that her stepdaughter is stealing the money she rightfully deserves, not to mention the fact that her acting career isn’t going in the direction she’d like.

Wait a minute — actress? Is this whole thing staged? It’s definitely produced better than the average amateur video but the facts remain the facts. Tricia thinks she’s being a “warrior,” taking action instead of letting her hubby ambush her, but all she’s really doing is making her husband’s case for divorce that much stronger. (While making herself out to be a gold digger, admitting that she married her hubby knowing they would never have sex, asked him how much money she’ll get if he had a stroke, and calling his children evil because they’re trying to protect his assets.)

Here’s the thing. In an age when airing our dirty laundry online has become the norm, have dignity, decorum, and fairness gone out the window? When celebs routinely blog about their personal battles with other celebs, lovers, etc. on their MySpace page, people breakup via text messages or blog entries instead of face to face, and embittered divorce battles play out before the cameras before they play out in court (Sir Paul and Heather, anyone?), what’s next? Seriously, it won’t be long before America starts voting on whether or not two people should breakup, who gets what in the divorce, and who gets to play the villain.

While it’s tempting blog about, film, or in any other way air your personal battles online (the momentary sense of empowerment and justice can be quite satisfying), proceed with caution. And keep the following in mind:

Revenge is a dish best served privately
When we’ve been scorned, we all fantasize about seeking revenge on the person who’s hurt us. Especially if that person is a former lover. But while revenge fantasies are fun, revenge realities are dangerous, possibly involving cyber stalking, restraining orders, and/or jail time. Rather than spend any more of your energy on your ex, focus instead on your personal recovery and bright future. And keep the revenge fantasies just that — fantasies.

Your personal rant can and will be used against you
If you choose to air your dirty laundry online, be prepared for the consequences. Not only will the people you wanted to see your rant be able to view it (your ex, his friends, your friends, etc.), but plenty of others will too. Strangers will weigh in with their opinion (and not all in favor of you!). Plus, your ex may retaliate, either using the information against you in court (if you’re going through a divorce) or creating their own online rant that paints a very nasty picture of you. Is it worth it?

What comes around goes around
Just as we leave a carbon footprint on the earth, we also leave an online footprint based on our internet activities. This activity is easily monitored, by potential employers, future boyfriends or girlfriends, etc. All anyone has to do is Google you. Do you really want such petty behavior to come back and haunt you? Is the momentary feeling of self-satisfaction worth the long term consequences?

As for “poor” Tricia, her saga promises to continue to playing out online.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

How’s this for a cautionary tale? Heather Mills, former wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, just got awarded a $50 million divorce settlement. Roughly, she got $12.5 million for every year she was married to McCartney. Now, how is this fair? She didn’t help him make his fortune. She didn’t give him the best years of her life only to find herself an older woman without prospects for the future. All she did was give him four years of her life, bear him a child, and then engaged in one of the nastiest celebrity divorces in recent history. Now it’s true that there are two sides to every story and shame on Sir Paul for not insisting on a prenup, but still. 50 million? Ridiculous! This just seems like fodder for all the other golddiggers (men and women alike) out there who think that they can take advantage of someone else’s success. Once again, I can’t express enough the importance of a prenup. It doesn’t mean you don’t love the other person — it simply protects both individuals in the event that something goes horribly wrong in a marriage.

Wha do you think? Share your thoughts here or on the message board.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."

My friend and FWW creator Debbie Nigro is creating a unique event tomorrow to send heartfelt sentiments to the Former First Lady Of New York. If you’re in the area, join her!

Women everywhere are feeling empathy, compassion and pain for Silda Spitzer and her daughters, says Debbie Nigro, Chief Executive Girlfriend of First Wives World.com. (www.firstwivesworld.com) “Many women have found themselves the unsuspecting victim of their spouses bad decisions, and have felt similar shock, hurt, and anger - but rarely does such a personal matter make such public headlines.

“It’s more than any person can be expected to handle as a woman, wife, a mother and public figure”. Nigro adds. “Women in New York are really concerned that Silda Spitzer and her daughters are hurting and they want to extend their support.

“First Wives World is giving the women themselves an opportunity to tell Silda how they feel, because people sometimes need to do something about matters that weight heavy on their hearts”.

This Tuesday, March 18th, from 12 noon until 2pm, Debbie Nigro will be outside the Heartland Brewery at The Empire State Building at the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street with a camera crew.

“On behalf of everyone at First Wives World, I urge the women of New York to come by for a few minutes and express their sentiments in a short video message of compassion and caring to the very dignified and beautiful Former First Lady Of New York, Silda Spitzer – just to let her know we care.”

“In times of need a woman needs girlfriends and though I am certain that Silda has many of her own, the way I see it is…a woman can never have too many.”

Date: Tuesday, March 18th

Time: Noon to 2pm

Where: On the sidewalk outside of the Heartland Brewery at the Empire State Building, 5th Avenue at 34th Street

What: Be ready to send a positive, loving and supportive video message to Silda Spitzer that let’s her know she is not alone and has the strength of girlfriends everywhere

About First Wives World
www.firstwivesworld.com is the first-of-its-kind website offering community, cutting-edge information, and relevant blog and video programming to the approximate 30 million women transitioning through divorce.

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Lisa Steadman, a.k.a. The Relationship Journalist™ is the creator and editor of BreakupChronicles.com. She's also the author of "It's a Breakup, Not a Breakdown."