I recently met up with fellow members of Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Club Platinum Group at the gorgeous Montelucia Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona for two full days of inspiration, learning, and focus to move our businesses forward. (RIGHT: Me with Ali Brown and Head Coach James Roche)

The women (and a few men) at the retreat were gracious and brilliant, sharing their expertise and insights in facilitated mastermind groups, over meals, and by the pool. Being a part of such a supportive and smart group has been such a wonderful experience!

And, I won’t lie and tell you we didn’t spend the whole day after enjoying libations by the pool! It was warm, relaxing, and fabulous… and the views were stunning.

Read My 16 Best Take-Aways From Ali Brown’s MPC Platinum Retreat

When building a brand, there are three approaches you can take:

• Branding a Business
• Branding a Person
• Branding a Thing

Are You Branding a Business, Person, or Thing?

Last week was an incredible (and busy) week. It started with my trip to LA for the Platinum networking and mastermind retreat for Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Club. I was joined by 49 other entrepreneurs to work ON our businesses and our mindsets for two days and the experience was intense. I set some pretty brazen goals for myself and had a few personal ah-has that will result in some business adjustments too!

After LA, the family headed up to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend.

We rented a very cute house right outside Tahoe City and we’re having a blast! Yesterday we took on a 16-mile bike ride from Tahoe City to Squaw Valley and back. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, and warm … and there is still snow ALL OVER!

Read About My What-Was-I-Thinking Bike-Ride

Wow! I just returned from Marina Del Rey, California, where I spent two full days with my incredible mastermind community. This year I am a part of Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Club Platinum Program and this was our first live retreat (here’s a picture below of the group on Day 2).

I went into the experience with high expectations and no attachments – Meaning I chose to be open to receiving exactly what I needed from the experience, no matter what that looked like.

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One week ago I was in Las Vegas networking with around 500 smart women entrepreneurs and attending Ali Brown’s Shine Event at the fabulous Wynn hotel. I’ve been to a few of Ali Brown’s events and I love the overarching message of empowerment and balance for women entrepreneurs that her events have.

Two things attracted me to Ali originally. First was the idea that I could use my expertise in branding, web design, and marketing to build a business online and help more people outside my local market. Second was the idea of building a “lifestyle business” – a business that creates the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family.

I’ll be honest. Both of those didn’t happen successfully for me at the same time.

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Yep. I registered for Ali Brown’s 2010 Shine Event in January not knowing the official dates and not knowing the exact location, except that it would be in Las Vegas, and hoping it would be better than last year’s event.

Wondering why?

I attended Ali Brown’s 2009 Shine Event in Las Vegas and well, let’s just say it didn’t completely live up to my expectations. I had attended amazing events by Ali in the past and this one, other than the fabulous networking,  just didn’t cut it.

Here’s the low down on my Ali Brown 2009 Shine Event experience: READ MORE

This post is the third in a series based on the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas. Check out my previous posts I Didn’t Really Come For All The “Woo Woo” Junk and Billionaire Entrepreneur Coach Makes Social Media Blunder.

At the end of the Ali Brown Shine event, I was speaking with some ladies in the lobby area and one asked me if I had my brand/business card evaluated by Ali’s billionaire business coach during one of the breaks.

No way.

I have to say they were a little surprised. You see, they had assumed that as a branding/marketing expert that I would love to get advice from someone so important.

When they asked why I wasn’t one of the women huddled around this billionaire business coach for jockeying for a few words critiquing my business card, my answer was simple.

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This post is the fourth in a series based on the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas. Check out my previous posts I Didn’t Really Come For All The “Woo Woo” Junk and Billionaire Entrepreneur Coach Makes Social Media Blunder and Golden Nuggets of Wisdom for the Entrepreneur Mindset.

This past week I have been blogging about my experiences at the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas, which I have to say, attracts a phenomenal group of entrepreneurial business women (and some men) from around the globe. In fact, the networking at Ali’s events is fantastic and if you attend, you are guaranteed to meet and be inspired by women who are stepping into their own power and truly rocking the business world.

What also amazes me is the genuine desire to give that these women have. Almost every woman I met was genuinely interested in my business and how they could help me. How awesome is that?! Likewise, they were so excited to share about their business and passion that just meeting them gave me a boost of energy and inspiration.

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This post is the third in a series based on the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas. Check out my previous posts I Didn’t Really Come For All The “Woo Woo” Junk and Billionaire Entrepreneur Coach Makes Social Media Blunder.

One of my favorite things to do after I attend live events, conferences, and seminars is to read through all of my notes from the event and write down all of the most important ones in my journal.

Rewriting those notes and positive words of encouragement helps me remember them. It also helps me reflect a little further on what they meant to me and why I wrote them down.

Today I’d like to share with you some of the nuggets of wisdom I jotted down at the Ali Brown Shine Event, where I not only got to hear from Ali and her team speak, but from Real Estate Mogul & Business Consultant Barbara Corcoran and Academy-Award Winning Actress & Activist Marlee Matlin!

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This post is the second in a series based on the Ali Brown Shine event in Las Vegas. Check out my first post I Didn’t Really Come For All The “Woo Woo” Junk

The Shine event was a mix of Ali and several others speakers. There was a buzz humming through the room on the first day of the event and everyone was looking forward to hearing Ali’s billionaire entrepreneur coach speak.

I was especially looking forward to the presentation because it was on branding. As a trained graphic designer, former corporate branding instructor, and current brand strategist for entrepreneurs, I was interested to hear her insights on branding.

I wanted to hear her thoughts on branding a business versus branding an individual person. I wanted to hear some strategies about building a strong brand and brand equity. I wanted to hear how she would communicate to the room how much your brand can do for your business and what a difference it can make.

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