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 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 month I was the featured speaker at the Sacramento Speakers Network Meetup, speaking on the topic of search engine optimization (SEO. The topic was a huge one to cover in a short amount of time, and challenging because the audience is made up of complete SEO novices and SEO experts alike. So I narrowed it down to the top three things that can make a big difference that most websites completely forget or don’t include in their optimization efforts.

On October 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm PST, I’ll be the featured guest on a teleseminar for The Corporate Fugitive. I’ll be interviewed by Chief Corporate Fugitive, Sherri Garrity about why working with a professional designer is important for your business, how a designer can help you business, and how to find the right designer to help you get the results you want. www.corporatefugitive.com.

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If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably noticed that your prospects are holding their hard-earned dollars much tighter these days. With the over-saturation of email marketing and infoproduct pitching, you’ve probably also noticed that reaching and grabbing the attention of qualified leads who are ready and able to work with you is becoming more difficult.

The good news is that there is something you can do reach your target audience, get their attention, and convert those qualified prospects into buyers. Almost every marketing professional will tell you the same thing: People do business with people they know, like and, trust. In fact, I have heard this said over and over and several conferences and workshops.

To cut through the marketing clutter and speak to your ideal client, there are three things that you can do right now to build upon the know, like, and trust factor to get more clients and grow your list.

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I’d like to start off this blog post by just stating that I Love Twitter. Being self-employed and working from home has the potential to create some fairly solitary days, especially for many of us work at home entrepreneurs who used to work in Corporate America and big offices with co-workers and water cooler chatter.

You know the kind of day I am talking about. The kind of day where you sit down in the morning to start your work day and then you look up to finally take a breath and it is 5:00. The kind of day where you realize you forgot to take a lunch break and you’re starving. The kind of day, that at the end, you realize you haven’t spoken to another adult all day.

On one hand, these days make me feel awesome. I know I was totally focused, in a groove, in flow, and making a lot of progress and headway on my open projects.

But on the other hand, these days also remind me of how much I sometimes miss the corporate water cooler and the interruptions of co-workers stopping my my cube or office (depending on the job) to say hello, talk shop, or chat about the weekend!

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I get it, social media is a hot trendy topic these days and all the cool kids are “doing” social networking. Hey, for the past year, I’ve been on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn more than I care to admit and I love it. But as a friend of mine, Andrea Costantine said many people “think ‘social media’ is the end all be all, but nothing beats a good old fashioned relationship.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Andrea, which is why I have put a lot of mileage on my car this past week. My schedule has been completely jam-packed with normal business meetings, several awesome networking events, and a fun family night out (see my hubby, kids, and father-in-law in the picture)! Check out what my week looked like:

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Marketing is often a word that when mentioned around business owners draws out grumbles, moans, and sighs. While the task of marketing your business may not be your first choice, it is a vital part of the success of your business.

Here are three simple things you can do to make your marketing, advertising, public relations, and sales efforts much easier:

Differentiate yourself

When your marketing and sales message is too similar to your competitor’s message, your prospects and customers are left with price as the only differentiator. Trust me. You never want to be in that situation.

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This past weekend I learned a lot of great tips, ideas and strategies from expert speakers: Eric Lofholm, Eiji Morishita, Alejandro Reyes and Mickey O’Brien.

Here are some of my favorite tips and strategies I learned this weekend:

Use the 80/20 rule! After every event, conference, or teleseminar, write down the top 10 things you want to implement and prioritize them 1 to 10. First, focus on the top 2 (20%) that will bring the most value. Only when those are complete, go back to your list and choose another. This will help you take action faster and not feel overwhelmed by the new items you want to implement.

There are three needs that prevent abundance. The need to be right, the need to be in control, and the need to always look good. If you can learn to just let go, abundance will come to you. Let others help you, admit when you need help or don’t know, and be truly authentic.

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It’s obvious the media thinks we’re stuck in the middle of a bad economy, and maybe we are. It’s on the front of almost every newspaper and at the top of every news station on television. It seems as if it is all doom and gloom.

But I am here to tell you that many entrepreneurs may not agree. In fact several small business owners I know are taking advantage of this economic downturn to grow their businesses, expand into new markets, refine their skills, and systematize their processes. They are taking action now to ensure that when things do pick and up people starting spending money again, they are at the front of the pack leading the way for their industry.

Here are five simple things that you can do right now to build your brand and market your business in any economy:

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