Connecting Mind, Body and Business

Issue: IU League 6 Week of: July 18, 2011

NETWORKING COMMUNITY

Inspired Living is a publication from

Inspiration University for the IU League.

www.InspirationUniversity.com

SUCCESS TIPS

5 More Ways to Reward

Employees Without a lot of

Money!

INSPIRATION

How Long Should You Wait for

Your Dream Job?

BUSINESS

SOLUTIONS

5 Branding Lessons

from Celebrities

It’s a Great Time to Start a New

Business

CONNECTIONS

9 Topics That Will Kill

a Conversation

IN THIS ISSUE:

SUCCESS TIPS Page

5 More Ways to Reward

Employees Without a lot of

Money

2

INSPIRATION

How Long Should You Wait for

Your Dream Job

3

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

5 Branding Lessons

from Celebrities

4

It’s a Great Time to Start a

New Business

5

CONNECTIONS

9 Topics that Will

Kill a Conversation

6

IN EVERY ISSUE

Sponsor Offers 7

Up Coming Events 7

Business Highlight 7

Publication Information:

Inspired Living is a publication for the

IU League of Inspiration University, a

networking community. This publica-

tion is distributed for members only.

Membership information can be found

at www.Inspiration-University.com

or contact:

info@Inspiration-University.com.

Editors: Valerie Stuut and

Vicky Pestrichelli

Copyright 2011 Inspiration University

5 More Ways to Reward Employees

Without a lot of Money:

1. Pay for them to take a fun

class, such as cooking or

flower arranging.

2. Find out what they like to

collect and add to their collec-

tion.

3. Let them suggest a way

they would like to be recog-

nized.

4. Pay for their child to go to

camp.

5. Give them a pair of movie tickets..

Page 2

How Long Should You Wait for Your Dream Job?

Page 3

By Richard Bolles

It’s always interesting how we tend to rush things. For example, summer. Technically,

summer doesn’t begin until June 21st, at 12:49 p.m. (PDT). But try telling that to those of

us whooping it up on this Memorial Day Weekend. As far as they’re or we are concerned,

summer has now begun. And what a lovely thought that is, after the dreary cold spring we

have had! Summer is a fun time, and a time – if we wish – for reflection on what we want

out of life. Some anonymous genius wrote a fable about this, which goes as follows (I am

retelling it in my own way):

Building A Business

One summer, an American investment banker was vacationing in Mexico, in a small

coastal village. He was down at the dock just as a small boat was docking. The banker

noted that on the deck of the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna, and only one young Mexican fisherman. He addressed the fish-

erman in English (which he understood), extended his compliments on the quality of those fish, and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “Only two or three hours.”

The banker then asked why he fished so briefly. The fisherman said two or three hours of such work gave him enough money to support

his family’s immediate needs. Said the banker, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?” The fisherman said, “My day is this: I

sleep late, then fish a little, then play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, then stroll into the village each evening where I sip

wine and play guitar with my amigos.”

The banker saw an opportunity to be helpful. He said, “Back in the States I am an investment banker. If you wouldn’t mind a little advice, I

think I could help you with your business.” The fisherman looked curious. “What would you advise?”

“Well,” said the banker, “Were I in your shoes, I would spend more time fishing each day. You would eventually be able to buy a bigger

boat with your increased proceeds.” “And what then?” asked the fisherman.

“Well, with the proceeds you would receive from using the bigger boat you would eventually be able to buy several such boats. You’d

have a fleet. And with that clout, you could get rid of the middleman, and sell directly to the processor. Eventually you could open your

own cannery, leaving you controlling the product, the processing and the distribution.” “And what then?” asked the fisherman.

“Well, at that point you could afford to live anywhere. You could put your wife and your kids in a luxurious house or condo, say in New

York, and just enjoy all the fruits of your vast enterprise.” The fisherman said, “Very interesting. How long would all this take?”

To which the American replied, “I think you could achieve all this easily within 15-20 years.” “And what then?” asked the fisherman.

The banker laughed triumphantly, “That’s the best part! When the time is right, you take your firm public, and immediately you become

very rich. In fact, you would make millions.” “Millions…!!! Very interesting. And what then?” the fisherman asked.

The banker thought for a moment. “Well, gee. At that point, you could afford to retire. A wonderful retirement, in fact. You could move to

a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandchildren, take siesta with your wife, Maria,

stroll to the village in the evenings where you would sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

Why Wait?

The point, of course, is that many times we could have now the life we are only dreaming about having sometime in the distant future. But,

the first condition of having it now, is to know what it is. Leisure time in summer is a good time to put this together, by noticing what you

love to do, when no one is telling you what to do.

One man I know of – a salesman – used his summer in just such a way, but was dismayed to notice that what he most loved to do would

never generate enough income to support his family: he loved to play bridge! But, he started small – holding on to his sales job – just

teaching bridge to people on Friday nights and weekends. Soon he was in such demand that he had to quit his regular job to teach bridge

full time. Eventually he had to hire other teachers. In time, he expanded to other cities. He ended up earning far more than he had ever

earned as a salesman. And doing what he loved to do.

The moral of our tale: don’t ever give up on finding the life you would most love to live. And finding it now.

5 Branding Lessons From Celebrities

Page 4

Today's celebrities aren't just entertainers, they

are brands and businesses. Here are 5 lessons

you can learn from some of the hottest celebri-

ties around:

1. Lady Gaga -- Love Your Customers and

They Will Love You: Lady Gaga loves her

fans so much that she has nicknamed them

(Little Monsters) and makes sure to acknowl-

edge them often. This is a great strategy for

business -- it is much easier to market more

products and services to your existing custom-

ers that are already raving fans than to try to

find new ones. So, make sure your customers

know that they are loved and keep telling them

-- they will buy more from you and advocate

for you -- loyalty is the way to go!

2. Justin Bieber -- Go Niche: Many of us

don't understand the appeal of Justin Bieber,

but we aren't his niche -- it's tween and teen

girls. They love him and he knows how to lev-

erage that. Focus on a very distinct target mar-

ket and know what that market cares about. I

remember a very successful shoe store in Chi-

cago that employed a similar strategy.

They had only really cute guys working there,

who flattered every female customer incessantly

as they tried on shoes. That store did very well.

Once you are solid in knowing your target market,

find a hook that has a strong appeal to them.

3. The Kardashians -- Strike While the Iron Is

Hot: To say that the Kardashians have not been

shy about exploiting their brands is like saying

that fire is kind of hot. The Kardashian

girls endorse clothing, perfume, diet supplements

and more! What they know is that no business cy-

cle lasts forever, so they are not shy about maxi-

mizing their potential while they can. The same

goes for your business. Business cycles are short-

ening, so don't be afraid to make the most of your

opportunities while you are hot.

4. Chelsea Handler -- Do it Your Way: You

don't have to recreate the wheel to be innovative,

you just need to bring something new to the table.

There are many late night talk shows, but Chelsea

Handler has become the queen of late night by

bringing a new authentic voice to the market. So,

the innovation comes from the way that she ap-

proaches something that has existed for decades.

Your business can bring a new marketing strategy,

distribution channel or value-add to the market

without having to come up with the next big idea.

5. Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan (And Some

Other New Celebrity Just About Every Day) --

Even a Good Brand Can Become Tar-

nished: Even if you have something valuable to

offer, if you are a jerk, eventually folks won't

want to do business with you. Tiger Woods, Char-

lie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan are just some of the

celebrities that have learned that the hard way.

You can't get complacent in your business -- you

need to continually work to earn the trust and re-

spect of your vendors, clients and employees!

Sure, it sounds counter-intuitive, maybe even nuts.

But it's true -- times like this can be a great time to

cut your teeth as an entrepreneur. How should I

know? Because I did just that -- I quit a good job

in the darkening days of 1979, trading an office

with a window over Midtown Manhattan for a

ramshackle desk in my third floor attic. Over the

first two years I made an embarrassing cascade of

mistakes and had to inject $89,232 of savings and

bank borrowing into the business. Learning from

each mistake, I ended up selling a line of winter

warmth garments by mail-order catalog that pro-

vided ongoing cash flow. To finance growth I sold

our house and borrowed against the proceeds. I

rented bargain office and warehouse space. With

someone else making the garments and selling to

me, there was no need to build an expensive fac-

tory or develop a complex technology product.

As the recession of the early 1980's deepened, I

flailed away with my pipsqueak of a company, still

making the inevitable mistakes of a neophyte en-

trepreneur. Since my company was tiny, however,

the mistakes were also tiny--and survivable. They

provided the necessary start-up lessons at a mini-

mal financial cost. When the floodgates of the

economy opened a few years later, I pounced. In

1986-1988 my little company morphed into an

INC. 500 list honoree of America's fastest-growing

privately-held companies and generated steady, 20

-percent pre-tax profits. In 1990 I sold it in a com-

petitive bidding process and walked away a free

man, able to take a breather and put my kids

through the best private schools. Starting small

and proceeding like a tortoise had been the key.

To be honest, I didn't plan to start in a recession.

But in retrospect, the dark days of 1979-1983

were, like today, an ideal time to birth a business,

especially one with limited capital. It forced me to

select a product line by trial and error, and then to

learn its business' fundamentals from the ground

up. It was a priceless boot camp that provided the

mental template for later success.

Page 5

As years

passed, I saw

many well-

funded entre-

preneurs start

up, and then

fail, wasting

all their sav-

ings, and in-

vestors' capi-

tal, in the proc-

ess. They were

like boxers

sent into the

ring for important fights without adequate training

and coaching. They all ended up losing their fights,

and wasted precious resources. They had made

their inevitable start-up mistakes on too large a

scale. If they had made these mistakes on a very

small scale, as I had, they would have been able to

live to fight another day--and have a good chance

to make the elusive 5% winners circle.

You don't necessarily need an expensive M.B.A.

Experience, product selection, training, cost con-

trol, people skills, work ethic and instincts are what

will determine your success or failure. What better

time to hone them than during a dark recession?

And financing? If you pick a low-tech product and

sell direct to the consumer, you'll be able to com-

fortably service bank debt.

__________________________________

About the Author: Frank Farwell is the au-

thor of Chicken Lips, Wheeler-Dealer, and

the Beady-Eyed M.B.A.: An Entrepreneur's

Wild Ride on the New Silk Road, recently

nominated for the Financial Times/Goldman

Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. For

more start-up financing advice, take a look

at Chapter 10, The Magic of Smiling Dan.

It’s a Great Time To Start a New Business

Page 6

In today’s competitive business world it takes

more than expensive clothes and a pleasant per-

sonality to be successful; it is also how you pre-

sent yourself.

Make a wrong remark during a conversation and

you could ruin your business and social position

within certain social circles.

Ever wonder why you were not invited to an

event?

Your conversation etiquette in meeting and social

setting, especially those that include important

business partners or high profile personalities,

could determine if you are invited back or banned

from future events.

9 Topics That Will Kill a Conversation: What

not to say during a conversation.

One of the best rules in conversation is, never to

say a thing which any of the company can rea-

sonably wish had been left unsaid.” Jonathan

Swift

1. Politics-Talking about politics is always a

touch subject. Some people are very passion-

ate about their political views. If you don’t

agree with something that has been said, just

acknowledge what has been shared by nod-

ding .

2. Health-People really do not what to hear

about your latest surgery. Sharing too much

bad news can bring the conversation down.

3. The cost of things-Ever been around

someone and all the talked about was how

much they paid for their car, house. Don’t ask

and don’t tell.

4. Personal questions-Don’t ask questions

such as “How much money do you make?” Or

“When do you plan to have children.”

5. Don’t gossip-When you gossip you de-

stroy your creditability and trust with the

group.

6. Your boss/or job-You never know who

knows whom.

7. Off-color jokes-I tried to justify this by

saying, “If you are with close friends and

you all share the same views; however, I

cannot.

8. It is never acceptable to joke about

another’s weight, religion, racial heri-

tage, physical limitations, or make any

remark that will hurt another person.

9. Doom and gloom-People hear enough

bad news, all one has to do is turn on the

TV. If you want to draw people to you, be

happy and optimistic.

So, what can you do to avoid putting your foot

in your mouth? Learn the art of small talk.

Definition of small talk: n. polite conversation

about matter of little Importance, especially be-

tween people who do not know each other well.

Encarta World Dictionary.

About the author Walethia Aquil:

Want to become more charming, persuasive and memorable? In-

crease your income, power and influence. Walethia Aquil is a certi-

fied image and etiquette consultant, with over 25 years experience,

has helped thousands boost their confidence, improve their bottom

line and business and personal relationships via television, radio,

seminars and personal coaching. Claim your FREE Instant access to

the Business Etiquette e-course, when you visit

www.GraceandCharm.com .

9 Topics That Will Kill a Conversation

Mark you calendars for our upcoming networking opportunities:

September 20, 2011 - Tuesday:

IU League Meeting: Location TBA

October 18, 2011 - Tuesday:

IU League Meeting: Location TBA

November 12, 2011 - Saturday:

Total Working Women’s Convention:

Broward County Convention Center

January 21, 2012 - Saturday:

National Women’s Career Expo:

Broward County Convention Center

Here are some great offers from our sponsors. Just

print them out and enjoy!

Print out the above inspirational message and

display it in a place you can see everyday like

your refrigerator. Page 7

We would like to thank Horwitz Dermatology

for participating in our Total Working

Women’s Convention.