Coach Cassandra Rae

Cassandra Rae & Cherie Del Carlo

Hi there ~

I am at Chrystal Bougon’s Lunch & Learn on How to Bring More Bliss to Your Blog featuring the fabulous ladies of Gather Your Crowd.  Woohoo!

Congratulations to Carla who just welcomed her second baby into her family.  We miss you and totally understand that your place is at home for today.  That’s so cool how we got to Skype you in for the presentation.  You are one dedicated lady!

Here are my notes from the presentation:

Social media is word of mouth on steroids!

What’s in a brand?

1. Your name
2. Your identity
3. Engage with peeps

Cherie showed us her infographic, which is a really big picture that shows all of their on-line presences and how they tie together.  It’s really cool to see on one page with your entire on-line plan is.  Your overall social media plan can feel overwhelming, but to narrow it down to one page makes it feel so manageable.

Carry your brand across all profiles {i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.} so graphically they look the same

Why should you blog?

• Share your passion – the web is dying for original content!
• Let yourself shine!
• Connect with people
• Marketing through relationships

You do not have to be an excellent writer.  As long as you’re funny, you can blog!

Your blog posts do not have to be long.  A good length for a blog post is 500 words.

You can also use your blog for:

• Microblogging like Twitter
• Share videos
• Post Photos

Search Engine Optimization tips:

1. Buy your domain for 2 years or more
2. Add privacy policy/terms of use
3. Use target key words in your title, url, filenames
4. Sprinkle in your key words in your articles {like 5 or 6}
5. Use good meta-tags {high level description of your blog that you drop in behind the scenes}
6. Post frequently
7. Hyperlink to other sites when you blog about them
8. Use tags
9. Use reputable host provider for fast page upload

Give people the incentive to take action.

To keep you organized create a graph that includes:

• All the places you exist on-line
• Schedule of publishing
• Takes on your topic

Think like your reader.  2 questions to answer:

1. Who do you want to read your blog?
2. Who’s reading your blog?

Set up an RSS feed reader and watch blogs you like.  Blog a response to someone else’s blog post and include a link to it to inspire the connection.

Acknowledge peeps who comment on your blog!

Create a mission statement for your blog.  What is your mantra? How does it tie in to your personality?

Schedule your blog post for high peak hours.  Don’t post on Friday night at 7pm!  Weekday mornings in between 7am and 9am are very popular hours – everyone’s checking email :~)  If you’re writing at a non-peak hour, then schedule it to publish during a high peak hour.

Your categories should show what your blog/business is about.

Syndicate your blog posts.  One wordpress plugin Gather Your Crowd likes is “links alpha”.  Keep in mind that every platform is different with different crowds.  Use them accordingly.  When posting on Twitter and deciding whether to push it through to Facebook, then ask yourself, “Does this make sense on Facebook?”  My favorite way to syndicate blog posts to Facebook is the app Networked Blogs.  *LOVE IT*

People want to connect, help out, and win stuff.  Woohoo!  Run a contest to encourage virality.  Virality is not a science.  It’s an art.

There’s a human side to your backlinks – create meaningful relationships through thoughtful comments :~)

Listen to your peeps.  What are they saying about you? Answer! Answer! Answer!

There’s no such thing as bad PR.

Clyde Learner with ITComputing just told me about WPTouch – a plugin that changes the view for peeps checking out your blog on an iPhone.  He also told me about bit.ly and how you can monitor how many peeps are clicking through your links.  You can also share your link straight to Twitter.  Suh-weet!

Gather Your Crowd can help you build a custom Facebook landing page.  Woohoo!  This is so important to do, folks.  And Facebook does not make it easy.  Hire Gather Your Crowd to do it for you.

Welp, that’s it from today’s presentation.  Leave me a comment to let me know your favorite tip or share a new one with all of us.

Rock it out, Peeps ~
Cassandra

Coach Cassandra Rae, founder & life coach
SimplyFearless.com
408.730.5546

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Oh my gosh I had the most amazing and scary experience this week.  I role-played the “sales pitch convo.” My coach acted as if she was a potential client and I got to share about my upcoming program with her.  I was so scared, but I didn’t have that long to think about the fear.  The idea simply came up in the session and one second I’m sharing my process and the next I’m talking to a potential client.

And isn’t that how it goes in life too? You strike up a conversation with someone at a party or at the book store and all of a sudden you realize you are talking to the perfect candidate for your product or service.  Here’s the opportunity.  Do you take it? What do you say? How do you talk about it without being pushy?

Yeah, it was one of those moments.

And it was fabulous!

I learned that when I don’t have the time to over-think it I actually know what to say.  I got to experience my own joy, excitement, and energy around the topic of Calling.  It was amazing.   Yes, there were parts that were fuzzy – as my coach was kind enough to tell me honestly and gently – but, overall the experienced showed me that I’m on the right track.  I actually know what I’m talking about.  What a relief!

I’m so grateful for my coach who gave me this opportunity to stretch my comfort zone and practice sharing my message with potential clients.  Now I feel more sure of myself even though I don’t have all the pieces in place yet.  Woohoo!

Today is Simply Fearless Friday!  Blog about one thing you’ve done this past week that’s stretched your comfort zone and then come back here to share the link directly to your blog post.  Facing your fears is an absolute must when you are building the business of your dreams. But, you do not have to do it alone.  Share your story and I promise to swing on by and leave you a comment.   I’d love to connect with you.

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http://selfmarketing.us

Popularity: 2% [?]

Currently I am taking the Essential Ernest Holmes class at the San Jose Center for Spiritual Living my spiritual home.  This past week I read this quote in our workbook:

“What we seek is seeking us.”

Yowza!  I’ve been saying this a lot lately about your ideal client.  You are seeking them and they are also seeking you – even though they might not know it consciously.  They are calling you to share your message in order to open a new door of possibility for them.  Well, for both of you really.

So today while I was sitting quietly eating my lunch alone it hit me:

“I’m seeking clarity, which means that clarity is seeking me!”

Oh how comforting this idea is and it applies to my life on so many levels.  You see, my daughter just moved to her dad’s house 60 miles away.  Literally.  She just left moments ago and one of the things I’m doing to nurture myself through it is to write this blog post and share it with you.  I have no idea if making the move was the “right” thing to do.  But, I do know it was the best decision considering the facts, circumstances, and recent past.  Here we are just moments before her departure:

I’m also running my very first Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group {so excited!} and I’m writing our workbook as I go.  There are times when I doubt, question, or over-edit the content, direction, and lay-out.  But, I do know I am creating something {both a workbook and a community} that is central to who I am, what I’m all about, and my calling.

Plus, I am working with a product coach and creating brand new products for my website, which is in the process of being redesigned.  Wow!  I am doing so much right now.  I hadn’t really realized it until I was typing it all out.

Anyhow, all of these happenings require a tremendous amount of decisions to be made relatively quick and money to be invested.  So yeah, I’m seeking big doses of clarity.  I’m so glad that it’s also seeking me.  In fact, I know it’s already on its way.  It’s a good thing because…

I am open.

I am ready to receive.

And to rock it out!

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On the 4th Monday of every month at 12noon Pacific I host a free coaching call.  This month we went over the Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group.

Right click here and “Save link as” to download the audio to today’s call or listen via the player at the end of this post.

Important News: registration for the Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group ends tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 12midnight Pacific.  I would love for you to join us!

Here is an outline of today’s call:

Opening Quote:

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” ~ Confucius {from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

Discussion questions:

1. What is a fempreneur?
   1. Woman business owner
   2. Service provider
   3. Home based headquarters
   4. Running a household
   5. May or may not have kids
2. What is your calling?
   1. Internal ~ intuition, thoughts, feelings, nudges from your Soul
   2. External ~ peeps who need your talents, skills, experience, wisdom, etc.
   3. Evolves ~ your calling is not static; it evolves with you
3. Believing in your calling & your ideal client
   1. You are here for a purpose
   2. You are capable of knowing it, claiming it, and rocking it out!
   3. There are others out there who need you to answer your calling
4. Open up to receive your calling & your ideal client
   1. Opening your heart
   2. Processing your feelings
   3. Increased awareness
   4. Intention
5. Connect with your calling & your ideal client
   1. Share
   2. Ask
   3. Listen
   4. Soul Convos
   5. What are you doing consistently to connect with your ideal client?
6. Surrender to it while you choose it
   1. Let go of controling the process with your mind & everything you are “supposed to do”
   2. Instead make powerful choices that move you out of your comfort zone through Soul inspired action
   3. The bottom line is: Now that you have this information, what are you going to do with it?
7. As you follow your inner calling, the outer piece follows

Closing Quote:

“A person’s world is only as big as their heart.” ~ Tanya A. Moore {quote from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

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Today is our opportunity to connect. Woohoo!  Aren’t you excited? I am because I *LOVE* to connect with you, support you, and inspire you to follow your heart.  Yummy!

And I’m especially excited today because we are previewing the inaugural Simply Fearless Fempreneur Group.  To follow are my notes for the call and if this is something that speaks to your Soul, then by all means jump on that phone and join us!  It’s super cinchy.  All ya gotta do is call in at 12noon Pacific today {01/25/10}:

(712) 432-0800
Access Code 886293#

Opening Quote:

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” ~ Confucius {from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

Discussion questions:

1. What is a fempreneur?
   1. Woman business owner
   2. Service provider
   3. Home based headquarters
   4. Running a household
   5. May or may not have kids
2. What is your calling?
   1. Internal ~ intuition, thoughts, feelings, nudges from your Soul
   2. External ~ peeps who need your talents, skills, experience, wisdom, etc.
   3. Evolves ~ your calling is not static; it evolves with you
3. Believing in your calling & your ideal client
   1. You are here for a purpose
   2. You are capable of knowing it, claiming it, and rocking it out!
   3. There are others out there who need you to answer your calling
4. Open up to receive your calling & your ideal client
   1. Opening your heart
   2. Processing your feelings
   3. Increased awareness
   4. Intention
5. Connect with your calling & your ideal client
   1. Share
   2. Ask
   3. Listen
   4. Soul Convos
   5. What are you doing consistently to connect with your ideal client?
6. Surrender to it while you choose it
   1. Let go of controling the process with your mind & everything you are “supposed to do”
   2. Instead make powerful choices that move you out of your comfort zone through Soul inspired action
   3. The bottom line is: Now that you have this information, what are you going to do with it?
7. As you follow your inner calling, the outer piece follows

Closing Quote:

“A person’s world is only as big as their heart.” ~ Tanya A. Moore {quote from http://www.heartquotes.net/Heart-quotes.html}

p.s. If you can’t make it live, the recording will be posted here on the blog to download and/or listen to at your convenience.  Suh-weet!

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