Nicola says:  You never know what impact you write is going to have, for good or ill, but for some of us, we just have to write. 

And one of the things that trigger me off on wanting to write something, is being asked really good questions, and one of the other things is reading great writing by others.

This week I’ve been asked some really good questions which inspired me, I’ve read some great writing on Judith’s blog which inspired me to write this week’s article, and I’ve also received an amazing testimonial (see the box elsewhere in this ezine) which was great writing in itself.

Judith also asked me a great question today, which was “If we outsource all the non-essential stuff you are doing, what will that free you up to create?” 

A combination of that question, and the other questions from the chap on Ecademy, and the testimonial made me think again about a question that I’ve been asking myself quietly…………what next for me?

While I know I have to keep focused on the Money Gym marketing, the Gold and Gold Express levels and the “Women Talk Money” workshop particularly, I like to have a new project on the go.  And I have faithfully promised – myself and my partners - that any projects are ALWAYS going to be Money Gym orientated from now on.

I’ve been looking for a way to write the next Money Gym book – I want to combine my thoughts with the wisdom of all the amazing people I’ve met over the last few years and it occurred to me that this might be the way to do it.

Ask some of those people – and some of our amazing clients - some really great questions and then compile the answers with my own thoughts and feelings and observations.

But which are the three greatest questions to ask?  If you could ask any guru or successful person any question, what would it be?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, mine would be something along the lines of…….”Did you really know, deep inside, that you would make it one day?  Or did you just feel compelled to carry on?”

I feel a askdatabase.com/images/askbanner2.gif?AFID=182957">survey coming on! 

In the meantime, do feel free to let me know what questions I should ask these people, via the comments box here!

I’ve been following the discussion on the EuroCoach List about so called “free weekends” that contain hard sells, with great interest as I have not only have been to many "free" weekends and seminars - I’ve been to T.Harv Eckers events (New Jersey - great fun!), Russ Whitney events, Millionaire Mind events, World Internet Summit events – but spoken (and sold at) quite a few myself.  I’ve even put on one or two.

I say "one or two" because we have made a clear and conscious decision not to sell The Money Gym this way, even though it’s a proven and very successful way to sell training and coaching.
 

Every moment of those "free" events is woven through with semi-hypnotic sales messages and they know very clearly what they are doing - how many sales they will get from how many people in the room, from how many places booked, from how many letters sent. 

These are businesses after all, and very successful ones too.

I often think that The Money Gym would be more successful - instead of being a bit of a "well kept secret" if we …..

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A Nip In The Air

Well it’s the 29th of August and it’s a funny old week.  We have had our Bank Holiday weekend but the kid’s don’t go back to school till next week.  We are in limbo land, the land of checking uniform, new haircuts and gym shoes, and buying lunchboxes to replace the talking Dalek one’s now seriously grown out of.  Mum, noooooooooooooo!!!! 

It’s not been much of one this year, the summer, it never really got started and I should know, I live on a very “exposed to the weather” part of Shoreham and we really notice both the good and the bad weather.  We did get about two weeks of sunshine and some midnight swimming but I don’t know, it might be me, but it just never seemed that warm.  One barbeque all season?  Ridiculous.

Already it’s getting cooler, and as my partner Judith Morgan says so eloquently typepad.com/">on her blog, there is a distinct nip in the air, even on the most sunny day. 

It can be a very positive time of the year, a “clean slate” for new beginnings, but for many people  it’s a very depressing time of the year, as the string of Monday Bank Holidays come to an end, they return to jobs that they hate, or perhaps love but feel trapped in a prison, having to be somewhere from 9-5.30 at someone else’s say so (I used to hate that!) or perhaps don’t mind but feel they can’t leave because they have no idea how to replace their income.

For the self employed, there have been a plethora of ezines and blogs about how hard it is to make money in the summer, with folks focused on their holidays (although the Money Gym had a brilliant July and August, I must say!) and all about how to get going again with marketing,  revenue generation and wealth creation in September.

Love That Summer Holiday Lifestyle?

Many people spend all their money on living in holiday luxury just two weeks of the year;  they go to places that they love and spend the whole two weeks fantasising about living abroad all the time.  I used to.

Where do you live?

I’m lucky, in that, when I was coming home from Spain where I lived for several months, my sister said to me “well you can live anywhere in the UK now, where do you really WANT to live” and I chose   

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Nicola says:  I was feeling very odd last week, as the summer hols were coming to an end but not quite there yet.  I felt like I wanted to get back into some routine, but not wanting the lazy days of early morning coffee in my bed, looking out to sea, with my lappie doing my emails….ever to end.  I felt almost "down" at the thought of having to get up every day, and wondered how I would ever dredge up any enthusiasm for doing the same old, same old, enjoyable as that is, compared with "working for a living" in a J.O.B. which we all know stands for "just over broke" LOL

Judith put her finger on this feeling very well in her blog and ezine this week and here’s an extract from her thoughts on coming back up to speed from the summer hols…watch out for my article about how I managed it with a bang this week!  Different technique, same outcome.

Judith says:

It’s a slightly sad day for me, as I can’t help but regard August Bank Holiday as the end of summer.   And as I have banged on about this on typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/turn-turn-turn.html" href="http://judithmorgan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/turn-turn-turn.html" target="_blank">my blog today, I’m not going to get into it here again. Just one question to ask you really… are YOU ready to emerge from your entrepreneurial chrysalis?

Can You Feel The September Tug? I frequently have a debate with myself, either consciously or sub-consciously. It goes something like this…can I be bothered to be the best version of me?   Will I step up?   There’s a fear that I will and a fear that I won’t.    It’s a matter of balancing the two sides of me, the unstoppable entrepreneur, leader, ambitious, financially motivated Judith -v- the calm, peaceful, relaxed, grateful and happy, living in the moment Judith.   And sometimes I am easily both in the one woman, and other times I cannot be bothered to step up to my destiny.   Life as a challenge all the time gets pretty tiring. What’s that all about?   Which motion shall I choose? A kindly friend (and client) reminded me today of a brilliant meeting we had in Battersea Park three summers ago in which together we pioneered my "less is more" August policy, which I have been enjoying again this past month.   That (lack of) energy takes me into slacker mode, the one where I feel I am not achieving very much.   And that’s really OK these days, I’m enjoying just being and that’s very, very cool.   For the first time in my life, I really think I have been happy with a peaceful non-achieving August and that’s a result for me.   I’m just evaluating and working that out as I write. As regular readers will know, my more normal modus operandi, one which works equally well for me and where I feel both empowered and safe, is a more forward-focussed, controlling, hard-driving energy which takes me to the next level in my business and in my life.   It’s the one which  makes my wildest dreams and ambitions, the wish lists, the vision boards, the aspirations all come true - the property portfolios, the overseas retreats, the financial rewards. And yet, we Secret fans know that …..typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/08/turn-turn-turn.html">READ MORE HERE >>>>

Over at the Scrooge Report they are quoting an article from BankRate.com detailing the "Top 10 Ways We Waste Our Money" and as I love a nice Top 10 list…………….!

Scrooge Report says: Is there something you can do without that might bring extra ka-ching into your pocket by not having it? Bankrate.com states that it’s easy to fritter away money on daily expenses. If you fall into these money traps, learn to avoid them and pocket the savings.

1. Coffee
2. Cigarettes
3. Alcohol
4. Bottled water
5. Manicures
6. Car washes
7. Weekday lunches out
8. Vending machines snacks
9. Interest charges on credit cards
10. Unused memberships

READ MORE HERE >>>>>

As you may know if you are a long time reader of my ezine, I started the rich schefren business coaching programme last autumn, after reading his excellent Internet Marketing Manifesto, the “Missing” Chapter, and the “Final” Chapter.

It’s a great programme – but very, very intensive! One of the changes I made very quickly was to start keeping very detailed statistics on The Money Gym, ranging from how many visitors per month, through to how long it takes the average client to invest in the Money Gym coaching programme, after subscribing to the ezine.  It went down from 10 months to 8 months, almost immediately we started tracking it, which was interesting!

We have been busily examining everything about The Money Gym, looking at our “competitors” and how they do things, and building a product funnel and a long term sustainable business over the last year, with a clearly defined “customer journey”. 

Clarity at last, phew, unusual for me!

I’ve also realised, with Andy Shaw’s help, that…..

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Mary Hunt, who I recommend so thoroughly to our Money Gym clients, for her amazing book "Debt Proof Living" has launched her new blog "Money Rules, Debt Stinks" and thought provoking it is too!  One post, asking women to tell about how they handle money, and how they feel about it, is absolutely gripping reading.  Here’s one example which sums up perfectly how my husband and I used to be, before I started my journey "into the light"….

Jenna says "We keep making the same mistakes over and over. I feel like we’re trapped. I do the bookkeeping, and my husband does not know how much we have in the account, nor does he want to know. He would rather just spend. I know how much we have, but I spend anyway. It’s a nightmare. I don’t know where to start to fix this. We don’t tithe, because we never have enough. We’re going on a short trip across the state this weekend, but we can’t afford it. it won’t stop us from doing it. help!!!"

Read more here >>>>

Uh, no they are not actually…………

ITN - Monday, August 13 02:23 pm

House prices jumped 12.1 per cent in the year to June, the biggest annual increase since March 2005.

Advertisement
According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, house price growth doubled in June, with prices jumping by 1.6 per cent.

This compared with an increase of 0.7 per cent in May, to put the average cost of a home in the UK at £214,222.

The average first-time buyer is now paying £164,755 to get on to the property ladder, 12.4 per cent more than a year ago, while former owner occupiers are paying around £238,490, a rise of 11.9 per cent compared with June last year.

The stronger than expected figures contrast with other indexes which had shown the housing market was slowing down in response to higher interest rates.

The annual rate of house price inflation increased in all regions…….

READ MORE HERE >>>>

Nicola says:

Mike Southon is best known for his "Beermat Entrepreneur" book which is a classic, and he has a great "Beermat" branded series on everything about business.  He’s recently launched a membership site for entrepreneurs which I have just joined - there are free and paid levels. 

Of course my partner Judith Morgan is the best business coach in the country, in my opinion, and her site www.TheLonelyEntrepreneur.com is free to the first 1000 members.  We are often asked about how to find a business mentor….If you are not in our gang, and you would love to find a mentor, Mike has just posted a great article on finding a business mentor……Hope it’s helpful!

"Probably the number one question I’m asked is "Where can I find a good mentor?" closely followed by "Mike, will you be my mentor?"

This is hardly surprising as mentoring is so fundamental to the Beermat Model, but finding a mentor can seem difficult at first glance.

I always respond to these e-mails the same way. First, I cannot be your mentor (yet!) as I don’t know you; for a mentoring relationship to work, the fundamental principle is that ….

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I received an email recently from someone asking me to recommend a good accountant or financial planner.

The gist of it was that they knew that they were going to make it financially, they had made a good start at controlling their finances but they were now looking for a good quality and trustworthy financial planner, and that person should also be able to advise on investments and perhaps be an accountant. They were not looking for the cheapest but the best, someone they could forge a permanent and loyal relationship with, paying top fees for the top advice. This person had just completed their first joint venture property deal and had some cash coming.

I had to tell them that they were talking about two different people, if not three! I went on to say….

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