However, next year at tax time you might not think so — if you've got to come up with an extra $17,000 to fork over in April like I did one year.

Basically, it comes down to how much money you made (which is the overall amount that you took in minus expenses). That’s what we’re taxed on.

Quick explanation (with totally hypothetical numbers):

• Let’s say that you made $30,000 in 2017. Your quarterly taxes that you pay in 2018 might be then set at $2000 every 3 months. ($8000 for the year)
• Now, what if you made $60,000 in 2018 – and you’ve only been paying $2000 every 3 months? In April, you may have a day of reckoning. (You will have paid $8000, but then may owe as much as another $8000 for taxes on the added income.)

So, you’ll owe a chunk of money in April.

And of course, when you add a zero to those income and tax numbers it becomes even more important to stay on top of it!

At the end of the year, I normally end up making several significant (but smart) purchases in order to decrease my Taxable income for next year.

If you're in the same boat, I have some ideas for you that will help you to spend SMARTLY.

In some instances, today is also THE day to get over procrastination and make those decisions that you've been putting off that you know are the right move for your business. You'll be glad you did it today rather than next month as most people do.

Three years ago, in December, I purchased approximately $5000 in advertising and paid my affiliates early and prepaid some subscriptions in order to lessen my income. (The expenses get subtracted from my income so my overall income would be less — therefore less taxable income.)

So, since advertising is an expense, I choose to spend money on it, knowing that it’ll pay me back (and then some) the following year.

As to how much is the right amount for you to spend… you’d have to run those numbers with your CPA/Accountant. Normally I spend a bunch in December, then we run the numbers again in January to see how much I should put into my SEP (which is like a 401K) to give me the best tax breaks in April.

WARNING!!!! Don’t go spending money you don’t have on things that you don’t NEED. You’re still spending money.

However, if you plan to buy things anyway.. or have a birthday coming in February like I do and want to treat yourself to some business items, then buying early can be a smart move – especially if you're planning for growth for next year.

*AND Contact YOUR CPA/Financial Adviser before making any decisions.

For instance, I do some consulting for high level marketers on their affiliate programs and passive income — and I get more than my regular amount of requests in December  — probably because they're planning for next year. So, why not have them prepay and save on their taxes?

Here are my recommendations for some items you might purchase (based upon my favorite things)…  

They are also products that I personally use in my online business.

For when you’re on the go.

• Kindle – Read and learn on the go.
• A Cell Phone Upgrade.
• Good Headset(s) for your Cell Phone. I keep one in my travel bag, one in my gym bag, one by my bed and one in my purse.
• Amazon Gift Cards to stock up on books and audio books, too.
• Audible credits. I can never have enough of these.
• iPad. I keep mine in my purse. It’s so much easier than carrying around a laptop.

Business Tools & Software

Having the right tools for the job can make all the difference.

• This tool that makes repurposing your blog posts easy.
• Camtasia
• SnagIt
• Photoshop
• Aweber – The service I’ve used since 2005 to manage most of my newsletters, ecourses, and ezines. (If you get emails from me, they probably come through this list managing service.)
• LeadPages– LOVE LOVE LOVE this.
• AW Pro Tools – If you're a big user of Aweber, this is a great add-on.
• Basecamp – Allows you to track projects and who is working on each one.
• Password Manager Program – Keeps track of all of your logins, usernames and passwords, so you don’t have to. (Try it free.)

Get a Coach

Hire a coach or consultant to come into your business and tweak/refine it to make you more money.

• If you want to work with me, here's where you can find more info – Hire Me
• If you're just getting started out, then I'd recommend that you Work with Kelly McCausey (she is patient and tough)
• I also love love love this guy, too. He's awesome and I've worked with him a lot.

Travel

• Luggage for traveling to cool conferences to hang out with me.
• Ticket to NAMS for April.
• For the ladies, spoil yourself and come to Beachpreneurs!
  • Beach Camp is our hotel event for all female entrepreneurs.
  • The Beach House is a mastermind retreat that's held in a house on Pensacola Beach.  (We have payment plans to make this affordable.)

Personal Development & Business Books

Right now, I'm enjoying “You are a Badass” and “The Year of Yes“.

Equipment

• Kick butt mic.
• Headset with a Microphone. For recording tutorials and webinars on your PC.
• Green screen
• Lighting
• Video Camera
• New Laptop (Time for that MacBook Pro?)
• New Desktop

Done-for-You Content  – Because It’s AWESOME!

Do you really love staring at a blank screen? Why do things the slow way when you've got these shortcuts that can help?

• PLR Articles Because you can always use more articles for your blog.
• Coach Glue Workshops, Workbook and Planners.

Promo Stuff

• Facebook Status T-shirt
• Cool Business Cards. Zazzle has really cool “skinny” & “chubby” sized cards.

SWEET Planners. 

Join an Awesome Community

Sometimes having the right community can make all the difference. Here are some places where I hang out.

• Earn1kaDay (Mostly marketers. I bought the lifetime option. You get all of Dennis' products he's ever created. It's pretty huge.)
• Your Shining Business Academy (Mostly creative business owners. Lots of love and support.)

Obviously Beachpreneurs is a great community, too, but that one is in person.

Stuff for your Office.

To make yourself more comfortable and productive.

• Desk Pad Calendar. For scheduling and staying organized.
• Handerpants – in case your hands get cold while you’re working.
• Bacon Envelopes.
• Comfortable desk chair (if you are having back problems or just want one) or an exercise ball, if you prefer to sit on one like I do.
• Ergonomic keyboard or mouse.
• Space heater. brrrrr….

Awesome Courses

Hire Help

• Hire a Virtual Assistant or Copywriter to write press releases, articles, sales pages, or design graphics for you.

** Most of the stuff above is tax deductible.

Awesomize the WORLD!

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that it's also a great time of year to donate to your favorite charity.

Whether your heart is with orphans, animals, veterans, homeless, abused women and children, community development, research & health, the environment, your own church, or any number of other great causes – today's a great day to support your favorite organization.

Keep more of your money instead of handing it to Uncle Sam. 

Best of luck.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Did I miss anything? Let me know!

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

I just found a new coach that I'm working with and am super happy about that. (You can find out who it is at the end of this post.)

That led to this week's question.

Do you currently have a business coach or mentor?
If so, are you brave enough to share who it is and why you chose that person? 

This week the experts will name names, point fingers, and give shouts of kudos where appropriate.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

My business coach is Armand Morin. I'm a part of Armand's Platinum group, which meets monthly on the phone, daily via email, and 3 times per year at Armand's home. I've enjoyed Armand's business advice since 2005, so it must be working!

I chose Armand because I liked the way he does business. I always learn something new from him. He truly loves what he does and is always learning and sharing the latest and greatest information. He also has the ability to diagnose problems quickly and offer a solution. Armand attracts people just like him – no pretense, no hype, 100% above-board business owners – many of whom are not “internet marketers.” Armand himself operates several businesses outside the IM space, so he has broad experience that pays off for us.

Most importantly he genuinely cares about my success. He is a patient teacher and even better mentor. I highly recommend him as a business coach!

Felicia Slattery of Signature Speech Secrets says:

I work with several coaches for various reasons. My business and internet marketing coach is Bob The Teacher who helps keep me focused on my money-making activities while helping me make decisions about my business direction. In my business I interact with A LOT of coaches and I chose Bob because he's everything I'm not in many ways: he “gets” technology like no one I've ever met, he's uber-organized, and is amazing at connecting with people (ok, well I do that, too, but Bob is fabulous at it!). Not a week goes by where I don't learn some new tip or trick that is useful! I met Bob when he was a speaker at an event in 2008 and we've been friends and business associates ever since.

I also have a wealth coach, Kamin Samuel, who has helped me stay focused and grounded in my business. Working with her has helped me open up areas of wealth and income I would never have experienced without her coaching and guidance. We started out in a program together in 2006 and all these years later still work together regularly.

Finally, I have an ADD coach, Tina File, who, having ADD herself is adept at helping me prioritize and gives me useful strategies for getting everything I need to get done without feeling too overwhelmed. Tina was a client who wanted to learn more about speaking for her business and when I heard about how she helps so many entrepreneurs with quieting the noise inside their heads long enough to be productive, I knew she could help me.

The point is, there are different coaches for different skill sets. One of these days I'm going to hire YOU, Nicole, to help me get my passive income and affiliate programs running as they should because YOU are the hands-down clear expert on that. I find the best and work with them. It's always served me well!

Karon Thackston of Step-by-Step Copywriting Course says:

Why, yes! I do have a business coach, Nicole. And it's YOU!

I have some very specific goals I'm working to accomplish and you have proven systems in place where these goals are concerned. I knew you'd be able to get me through to where I wanted to be and give me the know-how and resources to be able to continue down the path long-term.

Plus, you're just a fun person! I knew I'd enjoy my time with you and have a few laughs along the way. Nothing better than making money and having fun doing it!

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

The idea of coaching has never appealed to me; instead, I have chosen to work with several mentors since coming online in 2006. I think of a coach as someone who cheers you on to do your best and challenges you to do more, while a mentor guides you toward success by sharing what's working for them and then showing you exactly how you can do something very similar for your own business. During my first two years online I worked with two different mentors, and each of them helped me to move forward. One mentor I still work with to this day is Armand Morin, someone who continues to help my business grow by leaps and bounds. I'm in his Platinum program, which is limited to twenty-five entrepreneurs from around the world. I've been with this group since 2008.

Several years ago I was asked to join a Mastermind of my peers and I enthusiastically agreed. We meet in person several times a year and via Skype or webinar at other times. Unlike the mentor relationship, Masterminds are by invitation only and include the opportunity to joint venture and recommend each others best products, programs, and courses. This group has helped me to grow on both a personal and a professional level and to achieve goals I never thought possible.

I would encourage you to seek out like-minded people to put together your own Mastermind, and to choose one person you admire and respect to be your mentor. Having multiple mentors does not seem to work for anyone, and my own mentees experience the best results when they work exclusively with me for one or two years. Knowing that someone cares about your success as much as they do their own can help you to move up by leaps and bounds and will help ensure that you reach and surpass your wildest dreams and goals. Going it alone does not work, so get involved with the right people and be willing to do the work to achieve great results in record time.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I have had some short term coaching in the last year, but I don't have a full time coach right now. I do have smart friends who I welcome input from on a regular basis though.

What I'd really like is to be part of a Mastermind. I want to spend more time with people making more money than me. I want to soak up their attitude and submit my brain for regular stretching sessions. I respond well to firm accountability (I can't bear reporting a missed deadline!) and enjoy the mix of a mastermind environment.

If I can't find a mastermind that fits me soon, I'm going to circle back to the coaching question. I know I can't get from where I am to where I want to go without some steady outside influence.

Tiffany Dow of  Work Life Balance says:

I have an online business coach who started out as just someone who saw potential in me and reached out to help me go from ghostwriter to marketer.

His name is Craig Desorcy . He currently works with both individual entrepreneurs as well as coaches or niche leaders – but the thing I love most about him is how he teaches people to “come to the table, ready to serve.”

As most of us know, greed gets you only so far. You build a solid reputation and a loyal fanbase that converts well through your efforts in helping others, and he excels at helping you tap into that.

What started out as a simple friendship discussing Internet Marketing has evolved into official coaching calls with my mentor. During these sessions, it almost always turns out to be something personal holding me back from professional success, and he takes me to that place that reveals what it is and shows me a simple way to address it.

One thing I find myself doing during times of extreme stress is becoming paralyzed or scrambling to get things done. Craig is the voice of calm and reasoning that shows me that if I breathe through it and think things through with a calm, clear mind, it all works out effortlessly.

I also love that he doesn’t have a cookie cutter approach to his coaching. He might ask some of the same questions to get insight, but he recognizes each individual as a separate entity and doesn’t try shoving his personal ideal business strategy on anyone – he tailors what you need to you because we’re all unique in our set of skills and talents, available time, and obstacles that we’re overcoming. 

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

Currently I don't have a business coach, but want one. It's difficult for me to find the right person, as I am an out of the box, fast thinker which can annoy some, and can challenge someone who is coaching me. (Rebellious anyone?) So finding a person who gets my values and can go with me toe-to-toe has been a very long, very hard process.

That said, I am quite lucky as I have several very smart friends who help me on occasion, whether I need help or just an ear to listen to me whine.

And if anyone is up for the job, here's my help wanted ad.

Help Wanted: Smart Coach or Mentor to Help Successful Marketer to Expand Her Reach and Increase Her Profits

Established entrepreneur with a rapidly growing client base is currently seeking a dynamic, driven, and experienced individual to be their coach or mentor. This position will have the primary responsibility for providing ongoing support and ideas to the entrepreneur to grow the business.

Specific responsibilities for this position will include: help with the development of new business opportunities through analysis and interaction with the entrepreneur, coordinate and conduct regular mentoring activities which may include live meetings, phone calls and email support. The position will also assist with providing guidance to promote revenue growth. This position is highly visible and requires working in an effective and professional manner.

The ideal candidate will have a combination of real world and coaching/mentoring experience. In addition, he or she needs to:

• Provide a reasonable contract with an ‘out’ clause for both parties. (I refuse to be sucked into a contract for a ‘lifetime’ or even a year, unless specific guarantees are in place.)
• Listen to entrepreneur when the advice given isn’t working, without blame.
• Be unique and not use a cookie-cutter approach when it comes to coaching/mentoring. (I see through that quickly.)
• Understand how to work with a strong personality who sees through BS pretty quickly.
• Uses and comprehends fundamental marketing principles… not too much of the Law of Attraction and woo-woo techniques unless you like my eyes to roll.
• Recommend only additional products/program that you see as a benefit to the entrepreneur (as opposed to something you get a kick-back on or have a back-end agreement to do.)

Divas, kings, queens, gods, goddesses, emperors, mavens, and other self-important titles that have nothing to do with your abilities need NOT apply, unless you have been officially coronated or ordained in some way. (Please provide appropriate documentation, if needed.)

Compensation is commensurate with experience and proven TYPICAL results. (Not your best results… results, on average, for all your clients.)

Melissa Ingold of Time Freedom Business says:

My personal and business coach for this year is Jennifer Longmore, and I’ll share more about why I chose her in a moment, but first…

I say “this year” because as I grow both personally and professionally, my needs change.

Choosing the right coach shouldn’t be taken lightly. I don’t go out looking for a coach to be my personal cheerleader, I have friends like Nicole for that and mastermind groups. I choose a coach who is going to help me get to where I want to be next.

And I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong with coaching. They hire a coach who isn’t in a place to get them to the next level, or they think a coach is going to be all “rah, rah” and so they don’t hire one.

If you’re not hiring a coach for the right reasons, you’ll end up disappointed.

If you’re not hiring a coach because you don’t think it’s for you, you’re missing out.

The right coach brings more to the table than just helping you one-to-one in your business, they can bring:

• Connections – They can personally connect you with the movers and shakers in your industry, and get you in front of people you’d never get in front of on your own. Whether it’s to get you an interview, some kind of promo, a speaking engagement, or for a JV.
• Resources – They’ll share their personal recommendations for people and tools that they wouldn’t share with their list or blog readers publicly. You know, the kind of stuff they normally hold close to their chest, but as their high-level coaching client, they’re more than willing to share them with you.
• Money – They’ll become invested in your business, and they’ll really get to see what you’re doing and the value you’re bringing to the market. And so, more often than not, they’ll promote your products and programs to their huge lists, exposing you to a whole new group of people that can result in a lot of money for you.
• Smarts – They’ll, more often than not, have their own business coach, and so there’s a trickledown effect that happens because of that. They learn from their super-duper successful coach, they try and test new things, and then that knowledge ends up trickling back down to you. They’ll tell you about all the things they’re doing in their business, what’s getting results, what’s going on behind the scenes, and more. You’ll get an inside look at how they’re running their own business, and why they’re doing what they do. Plus, they always have so many crazy good ideas for you, so you’re going to make a lot of money.

You see, you don’t get all those things in a mastermind group. When people are in a group setting, they’re not as open and trusting as they would be with a private coach. And the mentor running the group, isn’t likely going to lay all their cards down on the table because some stuff will only be shared with their private high-level coaching clients.

Think about it. If you were running a group of 25 people, would you send an email to your list promoting every single one of them? Would you send them all to your best writer or VA? Would you connect them all to the go-to people you worked really, really hard to build a relationship with? Would you really share all of your hard-earned top secret tricks and strategies?

Maybe with one or two of them, but I guarantee you won’t open yourself up to all of them. It’s just human nature.

Now I’m not saying there isn’t value in mastermind groups, there totally is. But a group like that by itself, won’t get you to the next level as quickly as a well-chosen coach can.

At the end of 2010, I hired Carrie Wilkerson as my coach for 2011. She was more successful than me, she had a ton of connections, and I really wanted to see what she was doing and why.

I invested $20,000 in her yearlong program, and what do you know, I added another $100k to my income that year. It ended up being my best year up to that point, for all the reasons I mentioned above.

I don’t pick coaches to cheer me on. I pick coaches who have what it takes to make me money and grow my business.

In 2012 I didn’t work with a coach, because I took almost the whole year off.

Then in April of last year, I purchased some info products from Jennifer Longmore, which then led to private one-to-one sessions with her for the remainder of the year. At the end of 2013, I made the leap into her yearlong coaching program, so I’ll be working with her all of this year.

I chose to work with Jennifer this year because I’ve been working on a lot of inner personal / business stuff that was stalling me out. I say “was”, because since working with her, my business has taken a quantum leap in growth and income. But I still have a lot more internal work to do.

But what I’ve found, is that as you get ready to up-level your business, fear and other niggly’s will come up, and if you don’t work through those and clear them, you’ll stay stuck below the glass ceiling instead of busting through.

I really can’t explain how Jennifer does what she does. I just know that she’s freaking brilliant, and she’s changed my life in so many incredible ways.

I don’t know what the next year will bring. Maybe I’ll want to keep working with her, or I may be on the lookout for someone else. Again, I choose a coach based on what my goals are and where I want to be in the next year.

So my last piece of advice? Figure out what your needs are, and where you want to be personally and professionally, and then find someone who can bring a crap load of benefits to the table for you.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

As I mentioned, I just started with a new coach and I'm happy! happy! happy!

Note that I said “new coach” as I feel that the coaching/client relationship is a fluid and evolving thing. In my opinion, to stick with the same business coach or mentor forever will limit you.

The problem that I'd been having was finding a coach for ME.  Once you get to a certain level of income/success in your business, it can be very difficult to find a coach who you trust and who is someone that you can be honest and direct with – as well as who has knowledge in areas where you want to get stronger.

Could I have found a coach to help me become a better speaker? In a heartbeat. I've definitely got room for improvement at that.

Could I have found a coach to help me write and publish my book? Absolutely. In fact I have one.

But, someone to teach me to be a better marketer? Well, I'm kinda awesome at that – so it's a little more difficult.

One normal alternative, and what I'd been doing was to create private masterminds with peers which worked well.

But, I really wanted something different. And, I've tried to coach friends and be coached by friends — it just doesn't work as well as I'd like. I wanted to work with someone who I admired – but who wasn't a girlfriend (and someone who I was paying so they had to be honest instead of just being nice).

So, I'd been on the hunt for a coach for me. And, I knew several other friends who were looking as well.

My criteria at this point in time for a coach included:

1. My coach must have built at least two successful profitable businesses, and also have a great relationship with his/her list.

2. My coach could not be working 80 hours a week. I've built my business so that I can work when I want to but I have plenty of recurring income streams and systems in place so I make money ongoing. Having a coach who was flying all over the country and working 8-18 hours a day wasn't going to be a good fit.

3. Similarly, I wanted someone who doesn't work off a jam packed calendar. I like to have my schedule mostly free except for a few coaching calls and any interviews that I'm doing. Otherwise, I feel trapped by my business.

4. Someone uber-productive.

5. A businessperson with low overhead. I didn't want someone who had a staff of 15 employees and an office building. I wanted someone running a tight, lean, profitable business.

6. A person who rocks at positioning. I felt stuck in a decision about rebranding and how to move forward with it.  So, I wanted someone who was very clear in his/her positioning and in putting themselves out clearly in the marketplace.

7. A great public speaker/presenter. I am getting more and more speaking opportunities and I know that I can improve in this area.

8. A person who I trusted to not blab to others and who I felt comfortable being honest and open with. (Someone safe and kind.)

9. Someone who was familiar with and who would understand my business model, with EasyPLR.com, CoachGlue.com, Beachpreneurs.com as well as my other areas of business.

10. He or she must offer email coaching. Again, I'm not a fan of scheduling calls and I prefer flexibility. Plus, I wanted private coaching, not group. Sometimes more opinions are not necessarily better.

11. Funny helps. I wouldn't mind having some laughs, too.

12. My coach must also have MASSIVE amounts of integrity in business and in personal life. This is not optional.

13. He or she must also be making the world a better place with the platform that they have built. (Using the opportunity of having an audience to get the word out about ways to impact the world.)

Not too hard, right? Well, when I was stuck in Icelanta during the storm, Kelly and I brainstormed and one person JUMPED out at me as the right person. And, I was so sure that I was making the right decision that I jumped on the lifetime coaching option. It was the best and easiest money that I've spent in a long time. (Watch for new greatness to happen soon.)

Click here to find out who I picked!

I do hope you found this post to be interesting and informative.  

Please share your tips for finding an working with a coach below. Also, feel free to give a shout out if you have a coach that you are working with that you love.

Big hugs to you!
Nicole Dean

Before we get too late in the month, let's find out how my friends juggle it all. I asked them this.

“The holidays are such a busy time of year, so it got me thinking about balance.

Between shopping, decorating, business… family – how did you handle it all? Got tips for my readers?”

I think you'll find the answers this week interesting and helpful.

Jason Fladlien of Wishy Washy Guru (<-You know you gotta click that one) says:

For this busy time of the year… I actually get more done believe it or not. Because everyone else takes a break, they are not lined up to speak to me or need my time as much… plus with the family off of work they have more free time

I like to focus more on internal stuff and preparing for next year instead of going external marketing. But December is a great time to launch products because most people don't do it…

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

Balance between business and personal lives is a challenge at any time of the year – but particularly during the holiday season. I've found that I prefer shopping late in the evening, after I've finished “work” for the day and had dinner with my husband. The stores are less crowded at that time of day and that's a high energy time for me. Other people are in bed at midnight as I'm closing down the stores!

I'm also doing most of my first round shopping online. As a family we “post” our Christmas lists on Thanksgiving day, so it makes it easy to pick out things you know people will like. Since we encourage everyone to be specific in what they want, they sometimes even include the store and catalog number! So right now my living room is piled with boxes of gifts to be wrapped (my husband's job – did I mention delegation?)

For my business, I preschedule blog posts and tweets. Plus my assistant tweets reminders on things several times per week. I also preschedule email broadcasts (to coincide with the blog posts and other announcements). I try to work a couple hours a day, generally in the morning, so I have the rest of the day “off” for personal fun. After all, we're working this business to have more personal freedom. NOW is the time that pays off!

Starting around the 20th of December, my assistant will only check the help desk once a day and go through email once a day. On Christmas we don't turn on a computer (except for video games with the grandkids!). Then the “quiet week” between Christmas and New Years I'll crank back up full-time. It's a GREAT time of year to get things done!

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts says:

I don't believe in balance in the sense that many people talk about it. Sure, you can forecast a perfect balanced schedule, but life doesn't usually fit into your expectations. Rather I believe in having well considered priorities and making choices based on them.

For this empty nest season of my life, I get to be my main concern quite a lot and I'm taking advantage of it. I focus a lot of time on my self care, going to the gym, eating right, etc.

My family is always a priority. I have a whole day every week set aside to be available to them. My calendar booking tool won't let you set up an appointment on that day. I have breakfast or lunch with my step-dad and I'm free to visit other older relatives.

These loved ones are precious and I've no guarantee that they'll be there for me to visit next year or the year after that – so they've got to be a priority now.

As far as the holidays go, I've played it very low key up to now. Not a lot of shopping, definitely not spending a lot of money. My gift to others this year is my time and undivided attention – and home made goodies of course. Future holiday seasons may not be so laid back so I'll take advantage of this one for sure!

Kevin Riley of  Blogpreneur Training says:

Fortunately, I live in Osaka, Japan, where we aren't affected by the whole Christmas madness. However, the commercial aspect of Christmas has been making inroads over here in the last few years.

Rieko and I only buy one present each for each other – just something small that we know the other person will enjoy. In this way, there's no pressure to get some big gift, just for the sake of giving a big gift. I'm very happy to be away from that whole gift exchanging thing, and just buying each other a little treat. It really frees up Christmas for just enjoying the season. BTW, this year, I bought Rieko a DVD of a season of Friends, which she loves (Shhh. Don't tell her.)

As for decorating, we only put up a tiny tree and a handful of decorations. When I say tiny, I mean tiny– about 18 inches tall. Next week, we'll make a gingerbread house, which rounds out our decorations and also gives us something to nibble on.

Tips for you? Keep it simple. Focus on just having an enjoyable time with your family. Take stress out of the equation and you can have so much more fun this Christmas. Rather than big presents, give your family your time.

Tiffany Lambert of  Work Life Balance says:

Balance is a tough one for me, but I handle everything so I must be doing something right!

For me, what works best is an all day work schedule. Some people prefer to have a set business time, but I feel less stressed if I have the luxury of starting and stopping work in between other tasks that need to get done.

Some days nothing much gets done. The Thursday before Christmas, I spent the first part of the day at my younger kids’ school participating in school events – and then brought them home for my oldest son to watch while I went and did more shopping for six hours.

How did I manage work that day?

My iPhone. I approved and responded to blog posts while standing in those long, grueling lines at the mall. I answered emails when I got back in my car between stores. If I don’t stay on top of things, then it gets out of control and becomes overwhelming to me.

Doing a blog reply here and an email reply there is easily doable.

Regardless, the key is not to beat yourself up if something doesn’t get done – whether that’s part of your home life or business world.

Guilt is debilitating, and you have to enjoy the fact that flexibility is what this career is all about. No one tells you what to do or WHEN to do it. If you need to push work aside until 8 PM because you’d like to enjoy decorating the Christmas tree, then do it! Those are precious family moments and no amount of work or productivity can replace that.

I will say that balance is much more achievable when you have residual income streams that work for you when you need time off for other things. If you're always working as a service provider, then every second you spend not working is a boulder of stress on your shoulders.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

This is the most wonderful time of the year… and the most stressful, too.

In addition to all of the craziness that I already have, my daughter is in the annual production of Christmas on the Coast, here in town. So, I'm in the dressing room under the stage by the pit – and my hubby is doing props for an entire week. But, she loves it – so it's worth it.

By the way, if you're in Pensacola, come see the show.

So here are some things that I do to try to keep myself mostly sane this week.

1. Cut me some slack, Jack.

I try really hard to cut myself  a break during the holiday season, and just flat out do what I can and not stress too much over what is left undone.

2. Take Advantage of Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime is truly one of the best inventions on earth. I can order pretty much anything and get it shipped anywhere in the USA in 2 days for free. This means that even if I don't start my holiday shopping until mid month, I'll be fine.

3. Presell a New and Exciting Course.

I'll be teaching a Passive Income Course in January with my friend Melissa Ingold. So, we started preselling it this month.

That gives four big benefits:

• I get to finish the year strong,
• My affiliates have a way to easily earn some quick money promoting something NEW that people will love,
• My students get the tax break of paying by the end of the year (and also a discount for buying during the launch), and
• We all get to start the next year with a fun and exciting project to look forward to.

4. Embrace Routine, but Call it Tradition.

I've read that some of the most successful people on earth have a very limited closet of clothes. Like they buy the same darned thing so they don't have to waste valuable brain power on such menial tasks as deciding which socks to wear.

I've realized that I do much better if I do the same.

For instance, this Christmas, I won't be searching Pinterest for a  new and fun way to make mashed potatoes. I'll use the same recipe that I've used every year for the last 10 years.

Now that's not to say I don't LOVE Pinterest and enjoy trying new things, but with everything else going on, now is not the time for me to be messing around with new stuff. You follow?

So, I'll be making my SAME spinach dip that I make every year, my same mashed potatoes, my same green bean casserole, and the same old can of wiggly cranberries out of the can.

Now, my husband and kiddos are totally free to come up with whatever dishes and desserts they want to eat.  But, as for me, the one who is responsible for all the holiday shopping, plus the business, plus the kids school and staying on top of everything? I have to just let myself have the “tradition” of knowing exactly what I have in front of me for Christmas dinner.

5. As for Business – Follow the Money.

I encourage my coaching clients to do this and I'll encourage you, too. KNOW where your money is coming from and focus on that, especially in times of added stress.

• If you make your money from publishing a new Kindle book – then do that.
• If you mail your lists daily and that's where the majority of your income comes from, then by golly, don't be messing with a webinar this month.
• However, if you know you can run one webinar with a trusted partner, make enough for the whole month and then be done with work – then do that.

Of course, the above also applies to where you're investing your outsourcing dollars. Put them where you'll get the highest ROI.

6. Planners Profit.

PLAN out the rest of the month now, if you haven't already. In writing. You know, with a paper and pen and a calendar of some sort – so you know what you've got to do and how much time you need to accomplish it.

7. Your VA has a Life.

Understand that your helpers have a life, too. Make sure you're setting them up so they have a happy holidays, too. Do this by planning ahead, posting your hours on your customer support site, and being extra careful of the timing of new promotions and coupons – so there isn't a glitch on the 24th of December that puts everyone in a panic.

8. Take Care of You!

The extra holiday stress can bring your immune system down. Take care of yourself so you're not spending Christmas morning with a thermometer in your mouth instead of a piece of pie.

9. Remember the Routine? Recycle, too.

I post the SAME blog posts this time every year with minor edits.

For instance, you'll see these posted here nearly ever year since 2008:

• Blogging Calendar
• Save on Taxes

Streamline and make your life easier – by hitting that ‘copy post' button on your blog and reworking your eagerly anticipated Annual Posts. (Remember Tradition is a good thing.) Or as my friend, Sean Platt said in a presentation that I heard him give. “Become a habit”. I hope and pray that my audience looks forward to these annual posts and anticipates them each year.

10. Don't forget to Spend.

Spend some extra money in your business by the end of the year for tax breaks, but I meant something different.

SPEND time with the ones who you love. Put down that blasted phone (unless you're taking pictures with it) – and experience the moments that you are blessed with. Work can wait and it will be there when you get home.

11. Have your Priorities Straight. 

I always tell my coaching clients this:

Remember, it's freaking ONLINE BUSINESS. We're not the ones flying the heart to the transplant. We are web publishers, social media managers, authors, coaches, and bloggers. The world CAN wait to hear back from us in 99% of the cases. But you only get one shot at Christmas 2013 – so enjoy it!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. This is a great opportunity to tell you about Tiffany's new product. Check out Work Life Balance to get a good butt-kicking about making sure you keep your priorities in line

This week I asked our panel of experts the same thing I asked last year and the year before (since 2008) …

“If you made more money this year than last year, your quarterly taxes probably won't be enough to cover what you owe (since you'll owe more), assuming everything else in your life remains the same. (Unless you added a deduction like a baby to your family or something…)

Quick explanation (with totally hypothetical  numbers):

• Let's say that you made $30,000 in 2012. Your quarterly taxes that you pay in 2013 might be then set at $2000 every 3 months. ($8000 for the year)
• Now, what if you made $60,000 in 2013 – and you're only paying $2000 every 3 months, then come April, you may have a day of reckoning. (You will have paid $8000, but then may owe as much as another $8000 for taxes on the added income.)

So, you'll owe a chunk of money in April.

At the end of the Year, because I've been fortunate enough that my income has grown every year, I Normally End up Making Several Large Purchases in Order to Decrease my Taxable Income for Next Year.

Do you have ways you reduce your taxable income? If so, what kinds of things do you purchase?”

I think you'll find the answers this week interesting and helpful in your business tax planning and preparations.

** Note: Contact YOUR CPA/Financial Adviser before making any decisions. The following people are not professionals in regard to tax laws.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

Actually I AM an accountant! That was my Bachelors' degree. My first business was a bookkeeping and tax service that I “invented” so I could write off my first computer. Happily, I sold that business for a nice profit 3 years later. But taxes remain a hobby for me.

Okay, if you're still reading (and not laughing at that “taxes as a hobby” comment), the secret to tax savings is timing. You don't necessarily WANT to reduce your taxes this year. If you're new in the business, it's likely that you'll make more next year and need more deductions. Likewise, there's a good chance that tax rates are going up, if the government has anything to say about it. So again, you may want to defer those expenditures until January.

But if you do want a deduction this year, here are a few easy ones –

• Office supplies (stock up!)
• Phones and tablets, if used more than 50% for business
• Contractors and employees (pay before the end of the year – they'll love it
• and you get the deduction)
• Affiliate payments (pay them at the end of December for sales to that point.
• Welcome money for them – deduction for you).
• Donations – always in season!

Dr. Mani of How to Set Goals says:

Not sure how relevant the details of my situation will be to your audience, Nicole, because I live in India but I'll share some thoughts any way…

1. Quickly review the current status of tax exempt and tax deductible investments/expenses (they keep changing often) to know what will qualify and what won't.

2. Talk with my accountant, discussing specifics based on projected earnings, and get an idea about how much to spend or invest to optimize taxes.

3. Look at my ‘wish list' for things to buy, and see if any would qualify for a tax break. If they do, plan a purchase date.

4. Decide on my annual contribution to charity (a sizable share of my online income goes to sponsor heart surgery for children through the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation). Donations are eligible for a partial tax exemption in India. Though it isn't WHY I do this, I do claim the incidental benefit!

One mistake from my past I will NOT repeat is trying to defer getting paid for some things until the next financial year, thinking it'll help save some on taxes. Didn't work out too well, that idea

All success
Dr.Mani

David Perdew of NAMS says:

December brings back fond memories from my corporate newspaper days.

All year, as the Director of Photography in charge of a multi-million budget, I was supposed to come in 10 percent under projections by the end of the year.
Then, in December, when I had accomplished the goal of keeping expenses way down by penny-pinching all year long, the corporate office would call in a panic. “Taxes are going to kill us. Spend as much as you can.”

It was like Christmas in the photo department. Everyone got new cameras. We bought all of our film for the following year. (Yep, this was pre-digital.) And, then we bought refrigerators to hold the film so it wouldn't go bad.

In January, we were back to penny-pinching for the next year, only to repeat the process at the end of the year.

I got pretty good at it.

And now, with my own little business, I can’t spend millions at the end of the year, but I like to make any big purchases if I can before Dec. 31 like computers, printers or software. Especially, if they can be expensed instead of amortized.

The key was to take delivery before Dec. 31. So, ordering a new computer on Dec. 31 didn’t count. It had to be in the place of business. I’m not sure it still works that way, but I adhere to it anyway.

And of course, dumping cash is a good thing which means paying as many affiliates as possible by the end of the year to put the tax burden on them. Sorry. Paying taxes is an awesome problem to have because you obviously are making enough to be concerned.

Paying as little taxes as possible legally is the gift from our crazy government…

I think the NAMS Workshop is one of the only Online Business Marketing Workshops that teaches taxes, legal issues, and business infrastructure as well as making more sales.

Dennis Becker of Earn1KaDay says:

This is the time of the year when I contribute to the charities that are meaningful to me.

I also look to pick up more premium licenses for products that can be used either inside my membership sites, to sell, or ideally both.

And I pay bills a little early, for example in late December even if they're due in January.

Kevin Riley of  Blogpreneur Training says:

Since I live in Japan, I'm dealing with a tax system that differs quite a bit from what I dealt with in North America. However, some of the following advice (especially, to keep all your receipts) probably applies in all countries.

One benefit we enjoy in Japan is the no-limit entertainment expenses deduction. Due to our culture of entertaining prospects and customers, the Japanese tax system does not limit you on how much you can deduct for entertainment. Therefore, any time I go drinking, eating, or otherwise spending money in a fun way, I ask for an official receipt (ryoushushou). Find out what you can deduct, and make it a habit to always save your receipts.

Since my office is in my home, I also can deduct a percentage of all home expenses from my income tax. This means that I can deduct a percentage of rent, water, electricity, and grounds maintenance fees. This is a deduction I also enjoyed in Canada, so look into it for where you live. This can make a huge difference in the amount of tax you pay.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

If you made significantly more money with your online business this year than you did last year, CONGRATULATIONS! That's wonderful news.

However, next year at tax time you might not think so — if you've got to come up with an extra $17,000 to fork over in April like I did one year.

Basically, it comes down to how much money you made (which is the overall amount that you took in minus expenses). That’s what we’re taxed on.

Two years ago, in December, I purchased approximately $5000 in advertising and paid my affiliates early and prepaid some subscriptions in order to lessen my income. (The expenses get subtracted from my income so my overall income would be less — therefore less taxable income.)

So, since advertising is an expense, I choose to spend money on it, knowing that it’ll pay me back (and then some) the following year.

As to how much is the right amount for you to spend… you’d have to run those numbers with your CPA/Accountant. Normally I spend a bunch in December, then we run the numbers again in January to see how much I should put into my SEP (which is like a 401K) to give me the best tax breaks in April.

WARNING!!!! Don’t go spending money you don’t have on things that you don’t NEED. You’re still spending money.

However, if you plan to buy things anyway.. or have a birthday coming in February like I do and want to treat yourself to some business items, then buying early can be a smart move – especially if you're planning for growth for next year.

For instance, I do some consulting for high level marketers on their affiliate programs — and I've gotten more than my regular amount of requests this month — probably because they're planning for next year. So, why not have them prepay and save on their taxes?

Now, I’m not a tax adviser (nor a doctor nor a lawyer), but I do know a CFP & CPA who I asked for advice.   So, here she is Kristine McKinley in an interview I did with her and posted in 2008:

Kristine McKinley says…

You definitely have the right idea. If your business income is up this year, then you want to do some year-end tax planning to try to reduce your taxable income for the year.

You basically have two options: you can defer income into the next year, or accelerate expenses into this year.

If you’re not sure how to do that, here are some tips to reduce your taxable income:

Defer income:

if you are self employed, one way to reduce your taxable income is to defer income. You can do this by holding off on billing clients until after 12/31. Or if you were planning a teleclass or a big product or service launch at the end of the year, you could hold off until January.

Accelerate expenses:

– Software: I know I’ll need tax software in the next month or so, so I can choose to purchase it in 2008 if I want to accelerate my expenses, or if I think my 2009 income will be higher, I can wait until Jan 1 to buy my software

– Supplies: same concept; any supplies I know I will need for tax season I’m going to buy now to reduce my 2008 income.

– Furniture and equipment: do you need a new computer, an external hard drive for backup purposes, a new chair for your desk?

– Web hosting or domain renewals: do you have any domains that will be expiring soon? Renew them now instead of waiting until they expire.

– Office supplies, shipping supplies, computer supplies: basically stock up on any supplies that you use on a regular basis in your business before the year is over

– Continuing education or classes to improve your business: if you are required to take continuing education, or if you just want to take some classes to help you improve your business, signup and pay for the class before the end of the year so you can deduct it on your 2008 taxes.

– Membership sites: if you’ve been sitting on the fence about joining any membership programs (Shelancers for example), signup before Jan 1 so you can deduct the fees on your current year tax return. Even better, if they offer a lifetime membership fee, choose that option to save money and to take an even larger deduction on your tax return.

– Do you need any work done by web designers, VAs, or other independent contractors? Consider prepaying them for work that you expect them to do in the next 30-60 days. Don’t forget to send them a 1099 if you pay them $600 or more during the year.

– Affiliates: do you usually pay your affiliates on the 5th of the month? Consider sending them their December commissions on 12/31 instead of waiting until Jan 5th.

– Donate to charity: while donations to charity won’t reduce your business income, they will reduce your total income, so consider donating cash, services or goods to your favorite charity before the end of the year

Basically, any expenses that you expect to incur in the next few months that can be accelerated into 2008 will help reduce your taxes for 2008.

One other strategy that every self employed person should consider is funding your retirement account. However, you have a little more time for this strategy as the deadline for most retirement contributions (to IRAs, Roth IRAs, Simple IRAs, etc.) is April 15.

Here are my recommendations for some items you might purchase (based upon my favorite things)…

They are also products that I personally use in my online business.

For when you’re on the go.

• Kindle or Nook – Read and learn on the go.
• iPad. I keep mine in my purse. It’s so much easier than carrying around a laptop.
• Cell Phone. Is it time to upgrade? If your plan expires early next year and you have it as a business expense, you might want to renew early.
• Apps for productivity. Been putting off buying some apps to make you more productive? Now is time.
• mp3 Player – More Learning on the road. (Be sure to load up my podcast.)
• Nice Headphones for your Cell Phone. I love my headset. I can use my cell as an mp3 player while I walk the dogs (and still feel safe because I have my phone on me).
• Good books – just in case you get trapped on a Deserted Island.
• Comfy office chair or a Lazy Boy Recliner for your office.
• Noise Cancellation Headphones. (I have some. They’re weird but wonderful.)

Software.

• Unstoppable Productivity Timer
• Camtasia
• SnagIt
• Infographics Creator
• Photoshop
• GotoWebinar

• Premium WordPress plugins
• Premium WordPress Themes
• Hire someone to redesign your blog

Stuff for your Office.

• Desk Pad Calendar. For scheduling and staying organized.
• Day Clock – in case you lose track of time, really badly!
• Big freaking White Board. Did you see mine in my office video?
• Space heater. Again… brrrrr….
• Do your back a favor and upgrade your desk chair
• Better speakers
• Ergonomic keyboard
• New wireless mouse

Camera & Microphones.

• Video camera for recording video.
• Headset with Microphone. For recording tutorials and webinars on your PC.
• Lapel Mics.
• Tripod for recording videos
• Lighting for Videos
• Backdrop/Greenscreen

Customizable Content!

• PLR Articles  Because you can always use more articles for your blog.
• For business coaches and VA's – Customizable Business Content

Promo Stuff

• Personalized Twitter T-shirt
• Cool Business Cards. Zazzle has really cool “skinny” & “chubby” sized cards.

Courses to Learn Cool Stuff From.

• NAMS Membership
• Audible.com – I just grabbed an annual account and am loading my phone up with good stuff.

My Latest Course.

• Sticky Content – How to Get More Visibility and Profit from All of Your Content
• Sticky Social Media – How to Stand out and Get More Visibility on Facebook

Travel

• New Luggage for traveling to cool Internet Marketing conferences to hang out with me.
• Ticket to NAMS for February.
• Airline tickets

Business Tools

• Autoresponder – if you’ve been putting off this purchase, now’s the time.
• Shopping Cart – Switch to an annual plan and pay for a year in advance.
• Get Organized with your Outsourcing – organize all of your helpers.

Hire Help

• Hire a Virtual Assistant or Copywriter to write press releases, articles, sales pages, or design graphics for you.
• Also, you can go to the Warrior Forum and check out their Special Offers section to find great deals on advertising and copywriting.

Get a Coach

Hire a coach or consultant to come into your business and tweak/refine it to make you more money.

• If you want to get your book published in 2014 – Hire Kristen Eckstein to Coach You
• If you want to work with me, here's where you can find more info – Hire Me
• If you're just getting started out, then I'd recommend that you Work with Kelly McCausey (she is patient and tough)

** Most of the stuff above is tax deductible.

And, of course, you can hire Kristine McKinley (who wrote the article above)  to help you with your financial planning (which is another way to spend a bit of cash). She said:

Hope this helps! If you need more ideas I’ve got several posts on my blog about year end tax planning. Here’s my site: http://www.beacon-advisor.com/

Keep more of your money instead of handing it to Uncle Sam. 

Best of luck.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Did we miss anything? Let me know!

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“What's something that's working right now to get you traffic?”

I think you'll find the responses interesting as everyone's answers were so varied.

Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach says:

I love paid traffic. The biggest sources for me lately have been Facebook ads, PPV ads, and solo ads. With all of these, I send visitors to my optin pages to get them on my lists. They go through a very extensive email follow-up sequence and then eventually drop into my regular broadcasts.

Facebook is a great place for a beginner to start on their first paid ad campaigns. Below are a few instructions for getting started. I went into much more detail in a recent newsletter inside my club.

My Tips for Running a Successful Facebook Campaign

You can advertise Facebook pages or any page on your site. To get started quickly, you can simply drive visitors to an optin page you already have ready.

Start with a ‘right column' ad. Newsfeed ads get higher clickthroughs, but this is simply about getting started with a simple method.

Offer a freebie on your site to get people on a list. Facebook users are not generally in a buying mood. You're interrupting them. Get them on a list and warm them up to you with consistent follow-up.

In your ad text itself, promise them a free gift. One of my currently running ads has this text:

7 Unique Ways to Create…
FREE Gift: “7 Unique Ways to Create Profitable Emails…Even If You're Not a Writer”…

The image is the most important part of your ad. You will have to test images, but I've found colors than contrast with Facebook's blue to be most effective. This means most of my winning ads feature red or green in them.

You can target very tightly to the precise interests and demographics of your target market. For example, let's say your best buyers are women age 35 to 55. You target that for your demographics.

Then you target precise interests based on your market. For your very first ad, I'd likely target a keyword phrase that matches up to your audience OR a popular author/celebrity in your market. For example, if you were selling a course on Adwords, you could target “Perry Marshall” as a precise interest.

Here are some of the ways I brainstorm interests:

• Keywords – Use any of your favorite keyword tools to come up with possibilities.
• Books – Check Amazon’s best seller lists for popular book titles you could target.
• Authors – What are the most famous authors in this niche?
• Speakers – Which speakers are well known for this subject?
• Celebrities – What celebrities would people interested in this subject listen to?
• Websites/Bloggers – What about the most popular websites/blogs in the niche?
• Magazines – For example, in ‘internet marketing’ you could target “Success Magazine”
• Events – What conferences, expos, or other events take place in the market?
• Fan Pages or Groups – Are there popular fan pages or groups you could target?
• Stores – What big brand stores or manufacturers are in your market?
• Products/Software – Are there popular products or software purchased by the audience?

I suggest you choose a tightly niched audience for your first ad which could mean anywhere from 5,000 to 150,000 targets. And I'd start your daily budget low such as $5 to $10 so you're not risking much.

As a starting point, go with cost-per-click bidding. It's possible your ad or targeting may be poor and won't generate many if any clicks. With CPC bidding, you only pay for clicks to your site. If your ad doesn't work, Facebook will only charge you for the clicks you received and will quickly stop showing your ad. Your risk is minimal (ALWAYS remember to set the daily budget to where you're comfortable).

Of course there is a lot more to add, but these are the very bottom basics to getting started on one of the best ad sources currently available.

Note from Nik: If you want the report that Terry mentioned above, you can grab it here: 7 Unique Ways to Create Money Making Emails…Even if You’re NOT a Writer

Melissa Ingold of CoachGlue.com says:

One thing that is working for me right now is repurposing my podcast episodes into videos.

I have a whole process that is completely outsourced, and as a result I’ve seen my search engine rankings improve, and the amount of traffic I’m getting from Google has shot way up.

Here's the one I did with Nicole, as an example:

David Perdew of NAMS says:

Let’s modify the question. In my mind, it should be: “What’s something that’s working right now to make you MORE MONEY while getting traffic?”

This is a three-step process.

1) Step 1: Set up a LIFETIME DATABASE REFERRAL affiliate program (and yes, I was yelling that). I’m not talking about stinking lifetime cookies – those are a joke. Lifetime Database Referral means tagging new prospects to affiliates on the first transaction in the MyNAMS system in the software database where it cannot be overwritten. Any time that customer buys any product in our system, the referring affiliate gets the commission. We’ve created a video here explaining that:

Click image above or click here to watch the video

2) Step 2: Create a high-quality course and give it away for free by letting our top affiliates promote it with a 100% exclusive discount to get more people in the system. We did that with our course: Found Money – Creating Streams of Passive Income featuring… wait for it… Nicole Dean! Those top 10 or so affiliates promoted the course for 2-3 days exclusively.

Pssst. You can still grab that here or by clicking the image below:  Found Money – Creating Streams of Passive Income

3) Step 3: And here’s the money shot! We created unadvertised bonuses with free products from Our Favorite Affiliate programs which also met my PIE test. PIE = Passive Income Evaluation. When customers grabbed those bonuses, I was tagged in the Lifetime Database Referral affiliate programs of my favorite partners too.

You can see the 5 attributes we used to choose affiliate programs we will consistently promote here: Why I Probably Won't Promote your Product.  But here’s a hint about the first attribute: See Step 1 above.

The results were pretty awesome. In 6 weeks since we started this program, we added 4559 new users to our system. And if we compare that 6 week period to the previous six weeks, we get some pretty interesting numbers:

Love those percentages… In the MyNAMS Insiders Club, we work together to figure out how to capitalize on even more traffic.

Kristen Eckstein of The Kindle in 30 Challenge says:

What's working right now? Kindle books!!

Not only am I getting an influx of buyers, people are opting into my list like crazy. I included a simple opt-in invite after the Introduction of each Kindle book in my new series, Author's Quick Guide, and when people opt-in they go through a survey funnel that helps ensure those on my list are a good fit to work with me in the future or buy my other products.

Another result of the Kindle series is as I've been pumping out one a week for the past 13 weeks and will continue through the end of 2013, I've gotten a lot of major affiliate marketer attention. I recently launched the sales page for a new Kindle in 30 Challenge Boot Camp to take place in January and I literally have top level affiliates climbing all over each other to mail their lists first!

It's been amazing to see my list grow with not just people wanting something free, but with BUYERS who will be likely to buy coaching or a done-for-you e-book service from my company in the near future.

I've also gotten invites for more interviews, Google Hangouts, and offers to guest post on major news sites and in mainstream industry magazines, all more forms to drive traffic to my web of money-making opportunities.

Dennis Becker of Earn1KaDay says:

I tend to get most of my traffic from three place:

1. my email lists

2. from affiliates, and

3. from paid advertising on Facebook (for example promoted posts).

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

I'm finding social friendly images and short infographics are really making people click links for me right now. People love images and the right ones will draw them in.

A variation on this is that I've been creating new covers for social media platforms as I promote new things. (Super tip: I also create a cover image for my clients as well as we are working on a program, which helps promote my program.)

Dr. Mani of How to Set Goals says:

I've been trying out Bing Ads, and am getting quite a few clicks at affordable rates. The problem is with quality of the traffic, not too great from my testing (but I'm no PPC expert, so I may be doing the wrong things!)

SEO is working best for me, and I've devised a rather effective though simple process which kickstarts traffic to a new project, and keeps it going from adding fresh content for which I repeat the process. Now, I'm NOT talking about a gush of hundreds or thousands of visitors every day. The niches I'm in don't need high numbers, so my focus is on quality and ‘market match' in terms of visitors to the sites.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Sell your Book with an Ecourse says:

I am very focused on writing and selling books right now, so most of my traffic is aimed at making more book sales and the resulting subscribers to the ecourses that go with the books.

Bing and Facebook ads are working for me for book sales, as well as other paid advertising. It's faster and easier than “free” marketing tactics and lets me focus on writing books, rather than articles and blog posts.

Nicole Dean of .. here! says:

The basics are still working really well for me.

1. Create great sexy offers.

Example: One of our more popular offers right now is Sticky Social Media Graphics

2. Make them irrisitible.

You'll see at  Sticky Social Media Graphics we have TONS of value added. Lots of people buy just for one of the bonuses.

3. Have a super-sexy affiliate program that rewards loyal affiliates for their referrals – and tie in affiliate contests regularly.

For instance, at CoachGlue.com right now, we're rewarding our affiliates – yet again. For every $100 in commissions they earn this month, they'll also get a $25 Amazon.com gift card. So, they'll have a little extra spending cash for the holidays. And that's good stuff.

4. Release Portions of the Course that our Affiliates Can Promote.

You can see on of those from our   Sticky Social Media Graphics  course here:

5. Network my butt off to get people to promote.

As you know, I frequently travel to meet new people in our industry. (You can meet me here.)

When I get home, I stay in touch with the people who I connected with and those people usually become my top affiliates on a continual basis – and often vice versa, too.

In addition to that, my list is still my #1 source of regular traffic.

• I write a blog post, and then I tell my lists.
• I create a product, and then I tell my lists.
• I am featured on someone else's site, and I tell my lists.

It's traffic on demand. And, not only that, but it's my OWN peeps who are awesome and already love me. That's better than cold traffic to me any old day.

HOWEVER …

One thing that I have been putting off that I really need to make a priority on is Facebook retargeting. I know that every single day that I put this off, it's money that I could have had in the bank. Plus, implementing it will also help my affiliates earn more money which is hugely important to me, too. So, watch for an update in a few months about “what's working now” – because hopefully I can tell you that the Facebook retargeting is.

One thing surprised me.

No one really talked about Teleseminars or Webinars. What's up with that?

Talk to Me.

What's working for you right now? What are some questions you have about traffic? Let me have it!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

This week I asked our panel of experts a question that I know is on a lot of your minds.

“Let's talk again about exercise.

How do you fit movement into your daily schedule without guilt?”

It's about finding small pockets of opportunity to take care of YOU.

I think you'll find the responses inspiring.

Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach says:

One of the best things for my health was moving to Florida over 4 years ago. Both my wife and I lost weight since we moved here, because we aren't trapped inside during the winter like we were back in Indiana. It's pretty amazing what a difference location has made.

I walk my two dogs every day. Once I made that habit, they make sure I stick to it. And during regular breaks throughout the day I'll play ball with them in the backyard. Instead of sitting there stressing about what to write or do, I'll get up and start moving. Some of the best brainstorming is during the walks.

I also have a weight set on our lanai which I workout with 3 times a week. In the summer time I worked out first thing in the morning to avoid the heat. Now that it's a little cooler I'll change this over to right before lunch. It becomes a break right in the middle of my day.

What I've found is exercise and movement get ideas flowing…which is the business we're in online. It doesn't take time away because your mind is still working in the background on the day's projects.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

We all agree that we feel better when we exercise, but sometimes in the midst of a project it's hard to remember that. I use a Happy Face timer.

Not only does it make me smile, but it reminds me to get up out of my chair every 45 minutes and walk around for a few minutes, maybe even vacuum a room or two. On good exercise days I dance to one or two tunes or turn on the Wii and dance to one of the dance videos so I can keep up with my grandkids.

Although I don't do as much as I “should” I enjoy walking the hike and bike trails in our neighborhood. On rainy days I go the mall that is only 3 minutes away. If I'm really feeling ambitious I walk the pool at our health club.

Note from Nik:  See Cute Timers on Amazon

Kevin Riley of Blogpreneur Training says:

Every day, I walk briskly. In fact, I no longer own a car. I walk everywhere. Sometimes, I'll take a train out to the countryside and go trail running (I love trail running like a mad man). Every Wednesday evening, I hit the boxing gym, beat the crap out of the heavy bag, go a few rounds with another boxer (I am in fact sporting a slightly fat lip today from this Wednesday's sparring), and then join the music boxing group for 30 minutes of all-out boxing aerobics. I feel fantastic after 2 hours of the boxing gym.

**Update: This week, I'm suffering badly bruised or cracked ribs (not sure as I passed on going to doctor) after challenging a semi-pro boxer half my age (yes, I am that crazy). I won the fight overall, but took a nasty powerhouse shot to my left ribs near the end. Don't make me laugh – it hurts. LOL. Ouch.

Dr. Mani of How to Set Goals says:

Outside professional work, I drive sparingly and only if the place I'm going to is over 2 kilometers away, or it's raining. For all other things, I walk.

When I drive, I try and park some distance away to squeeze in some brisk walking in between.

When it's less than 4 floors up, I take the stairs, not the elevator.

While working at a computer, I take breaks every hour or so, to walk around the house for a few minutes.

I've fit in an evening walk of around an hour with my daughter, a ritual we try and stick with every day. It works, more or less.

Not quite “exercise” in the sense of serious workouts, but you'd be amazed at how healthy it can be to walk briskly and regularly!

Rachel Rofe of How To Get Every Book You Write Onto The First Page Of Kindle says:

I have found that getting exercise finished first thing in the morning is the absolute best way to go for me.

I generally hate commitments :), and scheduling anything during the day feels like I have to schedule my whole day around that commitment.

When I work out first thing in the morning, it's done, I don't have to think about it any more, and the rest of the day is free to do as I please.

Every morning I wake up, drink 8 oz of water, fill up my water bottle, grab my iPhone and headphones, and walk to the gym.

As a bonus to doing this, working out first thing in the morning puts you in a good mood for the rest of the day and is also best for your metabolism.

Sometimes, if I'm feeling ultra productive, I'll pop in audio trainings and learn as I treadmill. Other times, I'll just play music that makes me happy.

Note from Nik: If you want some free audio training, check out my podcast – http://nicoleonthenet.com/category/podcast/

Erica Douglass of Market Vibe says:

I love the new game Ingress — it's made by Google and available on Android phones. You play in real life, so you physically have to walk to historical markers to play the game. It's quite fun. In the 3 days I've been playing it, I've walked/jogged nearly 3 miles just to “hack some portals” in the game.

It will be available for iOS next year, but in the meantime, it has quite an active base of Android players (over 1 million people are actively playing already!) I am on the “Resistance” side.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I belong to a 24 hour gym and am fortunate that it's right around the corner from me.

I know it's hard to believe, but I like going to the gym.

Give me a bunch of podcasts to listen to and a not too busy gym and I'm a happy gal. My key to making this happen is going late at night, after the usual evening crowd has thinned out. After eleven at night it's usually just me and a few young guys who keep to the ‘big weights' and leave me to roam the machines without interruption.

I'd like to add another source of movement to my schedule – like maybe a daily walk around my neighborhood? I might also get back to volunteering at the local women's shelter – that was a great way to be more active. This is more practical, especially with winter so close, I don't see myself wanting to wander my streets in the snow.

I'm curious about adding a standing desk to my home office – I've heard many fellow podcasters say they prefer recording from a standing position and I'd like to give it a try. I've scouted out a few options and I like the smaller, mobile versions best.

Laptop Computer Desk/Podium Cart (Black)

I'd love to hear other's experiences with this sort of thing!

Kristen Eckstein of HOLY COW SHE WRITES A LOT OF BOOKS says:

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

First of all, let me give kudos to my buds.

You’re all awesome! Whether you realize it or not, you’ve inspired me.

Let me share a few things that have helped me over the years..

1. My best friend, the timer.

I use a timer for everything in my house. It is my lifesaver. So, for instance, I’ll set the timer for 45 minutes of work, then I take 15 minutes to walk around, do laundry, exercise, head outside for a bit, whatever. It may not seem like much, but it really works on helping you stay focused — and off Facebook!

When I really need to lose weight fast, I try to break up my day so that I do focused work for 30-50 minutes, then do physical activity (like squats and situps) for 10-20 minutes then repeat. If I can do that 4-6 times in my day, that helps to keep my metabolism up all day long.

2. Wearing running shoes.

I find that it’s silly, but if I put on my running shoes first thing in the morning, I move more during the day than if I’m barefoot. Plus, I can’t climb on the couch or in bed for a nap as easily. (ducking and running)

3. Don’t work weekends.

I try not to work much on the computer (if at all) on the weekends, unless I’m launching a big project (or if something major happened during the week- fun or otherwise).

4. Outsourcing.

I know, it’s not directly related to exercise, but it keeps my butt out of the chair, which helps.

5. Freezer Cooking.

Again, I know it’s not directly related, but if I have meals in my freezer that are healthy, I’m much much much less likely to order pizza at night or go out to eat.

6. Exercise 7 Days/Week.

I used to plan exercise days and plan my “recovery” days back when I was a gym rat. Now, I aim to work out every day so that when life gets in the way and I miss one, it’s  no big deal.

7. Public Accountability.

It helps to have other people pestering me about how I’m doing. Accountability works.

8. Finding wasted time and making it useful.

My daughter is in chorus and dance classes in downtown Pensacola which is a 15-20 minute drive from home. I found myself sitting around for an hour to an hour and a half several times per week while she was at practice. I was too far from home for it to make sense to run back to work, so I'd sit and play Words with Friends or watch Hulu. So, after a year of that, the next year, I joined a gym right near where her rehearsals are. I find that, in the hour or so from when I drop her to pick her up, I can get really sweaty. I have just enough time to run to the gym, park, get inside, and get a good workout. It's not ideal, but it works for me. (Exercise without guilt is a good thing.)

That's it for me. Now it's your turn. How do you find time to exercise in your busy day?

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. This is a great opportunity to tell you about my friend, Tiffany Lambert (formerly Dow) and her new product. Check out Work Life Balance to get a good butt-kicking about making sure you keep your priorities in line.

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“How do you manage your calendar (both business and personal)?

Special software, outsourcing, or plain old paper and pen?”

I think you'll find the responses interesting.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

I manage my personal and business calendar two ways – by using the calendar feature on my iPhone and by using a desk calendar in both of my home offices. This has been the easiest way for me to see what I have coming up, as well as what I've done in the past.

I also use something I call rocks, pebbles, and sand that you may be familiar with. For each month I write in the plans I have with my family and close friends, as well as personal appointments and commitments. These are my rocks. I would almost never change any of these. Next comes my business obligations and my charity and volunteer time, which are my pebbles. These are very important to me, but not nearly as important as my rocks. Everything else is sand. I've done this for almost eight years and it helps me to keep my life and my business in perspective when it comes to what is truly important to me.

Kevin Riley of Maximize Your E-Mail Marketing Profits In 2013  says:

I keep a wall calendar on the wall of my office. I find that writing things down there keeps me much better organized than some app (esp. since I have 5 computers and am always switching where I am working).

I also print out a PDF ToDo list that I created years ago, and I write down important tasks to accomplish the next day.

The wall calendar is my general (long term) planner, and the ToDo list is my specific (short term) planner.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I operate well on the theory that ‘it doesn't get done if it isn't on my calendar' so my calendar is part appointment schedule and part serious to do list.

When something needs to get done this week, it gets a spot on my calendar. By actually putting tasks on the calendar, I have to estimate the amount of time needed and not overbook myself. This practice is called ‘time chunking' and it's a huge part of my ability to focus and get things done.

I'm a Google Calendar fan all the way. It's easy to use and plugs in with other tools I'm taking advantage of, like TimeTrade. TimeTrade is a web based appointment booking tool that gives my coaching clients and podcast guests the freedom to book their own meetings with me. TimeTrade does cost money, but it has actually saved me a few thousand in Virtual Assistant hours in the last year so I'll be paying the annual fee with a smile on my face.

Tiffany Dow of Squidoo Quick Commissions Guide says:

I love offline calendars. I started managing mine separately, since one calendar never seemed to have enough room for everything in my life.

I found a free PDF monthly calendar download site here: http://www.pdfcalendar.com/monthly.

I print out 6 calendars and I label them like this:

• Activities
• Ghostwriting
• Bills
• PLR
• 1 Owner Content
• Project

Activities is for all of our family’s activities – everything from early dismissals from school to doctor’s appointments.

Ghostwriting is where I map out my clients’ projects by page count. So if I have a client who ordered 25 pages, I split it up over the course of a week with 5 pages per day for them.

Bills helps me see how much needs to be earned, by what date, to have everything paid for. I sometimes track earnings on this calendar, too.

PLR and 1 Owner Content is where I list a topic per day on the calendar. I allow myself the flexibility to skip around, but I cross out topics as I create the new PLR or 1 Owner Content packs. It just helps to have 30 topics per month mapped out.

My project calendar is where I map out tasks for major products I’m creating. It might include everything from creating an outline to securing JV partners.

All of these calendars stay by my desk and I just highlight or cross things off as I go. It helps to see all that I’ve accomplished, too. That’s a feel good factor that is important to me. And what's great is, if I get offtrack, I can just reprint quickly and map it out again.

Rachel Rofe of How To Get Every Book You Write Onto The First Page Of Kindle says:

I manage my calendar via Google Calendar. I love it because it's always available either on my computer or on my phone, and I pretty much always have one of those around.

If I am at a doctor's appointment, for example, I can just whip out my phone when looking to schedule a follow up appointment and have all my availability right in front of me.

It's also fantastic because I can share my calendar with my main assistant and then also with MyFancyHands.com.

Every week, MyFancyHands sends me a “Looking Ahead” email with everything I have going on that week, which is very helpful. They get that by syncing into my calendar.

They can also look at my calendar and offer to confirm appointments, etc. Here's a screenshot showing you what I mean:

The arrows are where they offer to give me extra help.

Also, when they schedule appointments for me, they put it right into my calendar. And my assistant can see when to schedule interviews for me because she can see everything too.

In short — Google Calendar rules.

Dr. Mani of How to Set Goals says:

Paper and pen works well for me.

But then, if you see this, you'll know why

I draw circles around dates on a calendar that hangs on my wall.

I also set alarms on my mobile phone to serve as reminders.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

I use Outlook 2003 for my calendar. Yes, it's old, but it's familiar and my favorite layout. I tried newer versions, but none of them worked for me. I believe that if you have to argue with a tool to get it to do what you want, it's the wrong tool for you.

One of the things I love about my outlook calendar is that I can drag emails into the calendar to schedule appointments or work sessions.

I keep both business and personal on the calendar, using color coding to differentiate. I use colors for personal, travel required, speaking (meaning I have prep to do!), required call (for coaching and consulting), then those other items – birthdays, anniversaries, webinars to attend, meeting to attend, movies I want to see, etc.

Each appointment has all of the details needed for it – program description, links to the webinar, where I filed the notes. I also set reminders to go off 15 minutes before a live event or days in advance of a birthday or trip.

We have a year-long wall calendar that both my husband and I use to schedule trips and important dates. As soon as we know when and where we'll be it's added to the wall calendar. It's an easy visual tool.

To see more of my productivity tools, check Organize Your Online Business

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

I use a combination of calendar management processes.

First, I use Google Calendar. I like it because I can access it everywhere and on every device I own. And it's easy to schedule on the fly.

I also hook that calendar with my TimeTrade software. I have all my clients book their own time so there is no back and forth about scheduling. And finally, I also have a VA who helps me do my scheduling for those odd scheduling items. (I personally am horrible about scheduling my own things. I often double book or don't give myself enough ‘break' time so for me it's better to outsource.)

Now when it comes to scheduling my marketing campaigns, I use Trello. It's an easy to-do and calendar system so my entire team knows what needs to be done and when.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow. I'm really pretty shocked by the responses. There are a lot  more pen and paper types than I thought there would be.

Our entire family uses Google Calendar along with the apps that ride along with it (iPhone, iPads, iPods, etc).

Each person's activities display as a different color in the calendar and we can all see each other's stuff to keep things straight.

It's a life saver when it comes to me trying to make a doctor's appointment for one of the kiddos or for setting appointments for myself. It keeps our busy family schedule running as smoothly as possible – plus I can safely book travel dates, knowing that everything that we've got going on is already in the calendar so I won't book a speaking engagement during one of my daughter's shows for instance.

Just that one thing has really reduced my stress level. Now, whether I'm in my car or at the beach or in Las Vegas at a sushi restaurant, if someone needs me to check my calendar or schedule something, I can. When I had the pencil and paper method, I would have to jot down a note or say “I'm not near my calendar right now” or call my husband and have him look at the calendar. Now I always have it at my fingertips.

Plus, the beauty of the Google calendar tied to your phone is that you can set reminders. There's been more than one occasion where my phone has beeped and I jumped up and yelled “Crap!” as I had lost track of time and needed to be somewhere in an hour – so in the shower I went. (Thank you Google!)

As for scheduling and coordinating appointments goes – I use Time Trade, too. (Thank you, Kelly, for helping me to set that up.) That way, to schedule a podcast interview, I just send the link to a potential guest and they set their time, based upon my availability. They then receive all of the instructions and the appointment syncs with Google Calendar. Yep. You heard that right…. TimeTrade works with Google Calendar. So, I tell TimeTrade “These are the times and dates when I will do interviews.” But, if I schedule a doctor's appointment during that time block, then TimeTrade won't LET a podcast guest schedule at that time. So there are *usually* no conflicts where I have to juggle more than I want to.

It's POETRY IN MOTION.

One last thing. My “to do” list is not electronic. I keep that separate on paper. So, I am old fashioned in that way. I just love love love the convenience of managing my calendar from the cloud and being able to access it anytime and anywhere. (If you can't tell… I love it!)

What about you?

What are you using to manage your personal and business calendars? Please join the discussion.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“Swaying off topic a bit, do you do any special dinner prep to save kitchen time and make you more productive?

Inquiring minds want to know.”

I think you'll enjoy this special weekend edition.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

My only prep hack is running out to a fast food restaurant for my daily salad. I love salad and will eat one every day, IF it's made for me. If I have to shop ingredients and assemble one, it will never happen. I love fresh salads from Wendy's, the Chicken BLT Cobb is my favorite there. I also hit McDonalds for the Chicken Bacon Ranch. In both cases I order the grilled chicken to keep it ‘good for me'.

Another prep hack is buying veggies all cut up at the grocery store. I'll pick up two or three pre-packaged cut veggie assortments every week and they save me from the munchies. Finally, I buy a bag of pre-boiled and peeled eggs for easy low carb snacking. I know I spend more – but it's worth it. If I don't make sure there's something healthy available to grab n go, there'll be something unhealthy there for sure.

Alice Seba of The 30 Day List Challenge says:

I love cooking, but sometimes dinnertime can sneak up on you during a productive afternoon. I do a few things to ensure we have healthy meals each day, all the while avoiding eating out as much as possible and rarely resorting to packaged foods.

The first thing I do is set up a meal plan each week, so there is no question about what's dinner. Then it's easy to assign some dinners to hubby and even my oldest child is making dinner about once per week. Without that plan, it's easy to get into take-out trap which doesn't usually offer the healthiest options.

I love the crockpot, but for the most part, the family doesn't care for the mash up of food it creates, so I don't use it all that much. But I do use it for chili, sauces and other things like that, so firing it up in the morning and having dinner ready at the right time is a great thing.

Although I can't use the crockpot much, I'm a big fan of freezer cooking and will often spend a day on the weekend freezing soups and prepping other meals, so they're easier to get to the table in a timely manner. Because I love both cooking and working, but just not at the same time, I find it great to separate the activities to different days as much as possible, so I can really focus on what I'm working on. I also often cook more than needed and then freeze the leftovers to use them at a later date. And since I absolutely hate wasting food (my Eastern European mother drilled this into me), I chop and freeze any leftover meats and they're easy to use later for sandwiches, soups, quesadillas, etc.

I also wash and freeze cut berries, fruits, etc. so we can easily use them for smoothies or using or Zoku Quick Pop Maker, White.

That way, there are healthy quick options available at any time.

Lynette Chandler of Tech Based Marketing says:

No magic formulas, only a hodgepodge of methods. Meal planning – I do not like to plan meals at all but it is a huge help. So, I rope in the kids. This way, I'm sure they will eat what's on the table and I free myself of this task.

I also try to assign the girls to one meal a week. Woot! Two days down 5 more to go. If I'm lucky I'll rope in the man for one day of the week as well. 4 days left, what to do?

Well, slow cooker meals are definitely a must. We also have a FoodSaver. The best purchase we made. When cooking family favorites e.g. Spaghetti, taco's and the likes, I try to cook double or more. On the days I get lazy, it's home made freezer meals for us.

The other side benefit to the FoodSaver is something I never anticipated. Meal prep is super fast and surprisingly easy with these saved leftovers. Taco meat or sloppy joes get turned into cupcake tacos or hamburger muffins.

So there it is. Were you expecting me to say we had a self-programmed robot cook at home? I wish, but will continue dreaming.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

LOL – Special dinner prep.

We choose the list of take-out restaurants ahead of time, instead of the night-of.

Melissa Ingold of Special Reports PLR says:

Using my crockpot is just one of the tools I leverage in my business to help me be more productive. Sounds funny, right?

Well here's the thing, without my slowcooker I'd have to stop working before I'm ready so that I can prepare and cook dinner, then take my kids to their various sports, and then come home exhausted and head back into the office to finish what I was doing before I had to start dinner and drive all over the place.

Instead, by leveraging my crockpot I can get all my work done and head out of the office without feeling rushed and stressed that I still have things to do. I get to enjoy the kids and their activities without worrying about work, and then I get to enjoy a good meal and unwind with a glass of wine in the evening.

You can do the same thing with all the business tools available to you… you leverage the crap out of them

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Oooh. I love this topic! Why? Because there are so many great ways to make dinnertime less stressful and more enjoyable.

Granted the #1 way for me is to drink lots of wine while cooking, but I'll behave and answer the question, David Letterman style.

Top 10 Ways to Make Dinnertime Less Stressful.

10. Toast the beauty of the roasted veggie.

Definitely  the best invention on earth is that of the roasted veggie. You can quickly make any meal “fancy” by cutting up a random fresh veggie that you have laying around, tossing a bit of olive oil on it, and throwing it in the oven on a baking sheet at 350-400 F for a bit.

Some of my favorites to roast are bell peppers (all colors, shapes and sizes), Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, onions, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and yellow zuchini squash.

Seriously, if you have some chicken or fish and one of the above veggies fresh in your fridge, you can get a nice dinner in the oven while you wrap up some work or help the kiddos with their homework.

9.  Hug your freezer.

I have a big chest freezer in my garage. I love it. I usually keep certain things on hang in there, like chicken – so we can have dinner on the table pretty much any day of the week fairly easily.

One of the tricks that I learned awhile ago was when you buy chicken for the freezer, divide it out into however much you'd want to cook at one time, and throw it into a freezer bag (or casserole dish) WITH your marinade in it. That way, when you pull it out the day before to thaw, it is thawing in the marinade and you don't have to think as much – or worry what you have on hand.

As you'll see below, I use my freezer for pre-chopped veggies and batch cooking, too.

8.  Pre-chop.

I do most things that I can in batches in work and in my home life, too.

Heck, if I could just brush my teeth for an hour a month and then not have to deal with them for the rest of the  month, I'd do that, too.

So, it should come as no surprise that I tend to chop stuff in advance. If I go to the store and buy three onions and some celery, I'll probably sit and cut them all up at one time, just so that they're handy for the next day. That way, if I make soup (which I usually start with onions and celery) – I just grab the olive oil and the package of chopped onions and the container of chopped celery and I'm ready to go.

7.  Don't Fear the Food Processor.

In my opinion, most of the difficulty in dinner time comes to two things:

– Are the groceries I need on hand?

If the answers to one is “no”  – then I'm more likely to call for pizza.

– How much prep work is involved to get dinner started?

If the answer is “lots” – again, pizza. (I love pizza.)

That's one of the reasons why I love my food processor. Chopping veggies is relaxing to me, except when I'm hungry. Then it's painful. So, learning how to use the tools in my kitchen help me to get dinner on the table faster.

6. Embrace the Manliness of the Man.

Men seem to enjoy grilling. Go figure.

If you have been following me for long, you probably know that I'm really good at getting people to do my bidding… (evil laugh)

So, if you want your man to cook, make him love the grill.

Have the right tools and food on hand that can be thrown on the grill on the spur of the moment. Turn the TV towards the grill, grab some cold beers, and and invite some buddies over. It's just one way I get dinner on the table when I'm busy.

And, that my dears, is how you outsource on the budget. (If you're reading this honey, I love you!)

5. Kids = Cooks in Training. (ie. Free labor)

Speaking of outsourcing on a budget. Kids are free or at least cheap labor.

Lynette touched on this one a bit in her response, but really, kids as young as 2 can be helping with dinner. And, older kids need to learn their way around the kitchen before they leave the house – so you might as well start early, right?

4. Have Staples and Don't Be Afraid to Use Them.

We have a pretty standard shopping list. I don't mind being a bit repetitive with meals because it's less thought involved for me.

Did you know…

Take Albert Einstein. It has been reported that the famous physicist bought several versions of the same grey suit because he didn’t want to waste brainpower on choosing an outfit each morning – Forbes 

So the less things that I have to think about in the kitchen, the better for me. I know this is about dinner, but take breakfast, for instance. I eat eggs with veggies every morning. Which veggie is in them? Whatever is left over from the night before or on hand to be tossed into them. (See #10 – roasted veggies.)

I try to do the same with some meals at dinner, too. Less thought = Less Overwhelm = More Happiness for me.

An example: I normally buy chicken tenderloins, just because you can use them in pretty much everything. I don't even look at the other parts of the chicken, because I know that chicken tenderloins are easy and quick to cook. Why spend more time thinking than I have to.

3. Keep “Safe” and Acceptable Standby's.

Ever since my kids were little they knew that, if they didn't like whatever was made for dinner, they could eat peas (which they like) and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

So, having a standby makes my life easier. I'm not as much of a short-order chef as I could be if I was trying to please everyone (since our tastes vary greatly).

2. Grow your Own Herbs (and more).

One of my favorite ways to perk up a meal is by adding fresh herbs to it. You can make homemade pesto with basil in minutes (in your food processor) or chop up some salsa if you have cilantro. Why run to the store or worse use dried herbs when fresh are so easy to grow?

Some herbs that are must-haves include: Basil, Garlic, Cilantro, Chives, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, and Oregano

Of course, if you also grow tomatoes and peppers (sweet or spicy), you can whip up dinner in your food processor any day of the week.  Bruschetta anyone?

1.  Batch Cooking is the BOMB!

I LOVE batching tasks in my business. If I'm going to record one video, I'll plan out 5 instead and just deal with them all at once.

Well, I do the same with cooking as I mentioned.

It takes me approximately the same amount of time to make a small batch of my fabulous bean soup as it does to make a stockpot full.

It takes me nearly the same time (but with a bit more planning) to make 8 lasagna's as it does to make 1.

So, with just a bit of extra planning in advance – I can stock my freezer with healthy and cheap meals. And, yes, I have the kids on label duty so I know what the heck I'm freezing.

One thing I do not use enough is the crock pot.

My friend, Tracy Roberts, is doing 30 Day Crockpot is for Dinner Challenge  – and you can still join her and the Facebook group that's part of the community.

How about you?

What are your dinner hacks?

Warmly,

Nicole Dean

PS. Don't forget the wine!

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“Last week we talked about events. Tell me about your home life.

If you attend events, what do you have in place so that you can travel? Basically what's working for you?”

I've been traveling more than usual this year to events, as I mentioned in last week's post: How Many Events Do Successful Entrepreneurs Attend in a Year?.

While going to events is definitely a big way for me to grow my business, it can also be difficult to juggle home life, too. So, if you're curious about that – keep reading.

Lou Bortone of Video in a Day says:

As long as we plan ahead, my wife and I are able to coordinate our schedules and child-care so that I can attend events once a month or so.

For me, it all comes down to advance planning and making sure I'm not missing any big family events or kids sporting events. (Not easy when your teenage baseball star has 70 games per year!)

David Perdew of NAMS Free Weekly Training says:

My wife is very conservative in some ways. Especially when it comes to spending money. I love that about her.

So, in the beginning when I wanted to go to my first live event, she asked how much it would cost.

I laid it out, but then told her why it wouldn’t cost anything eventually. It would make us money.

When I showed her the income directly generated from the first live event, she asked where I was going next?

So, proof of concept – even to the spouse and family – is the KEY to making event travel easy at home. Just be open and honest about that.

Secondly, make sure your business still runs without you for a few days.

1) Have an “operations manager.” Could be one hour a day or 40 hours per week, depending on how big and complex your business is. A good virtual assistant can step in if you don’t need someone on a regular basis.

2) Have someone monitor your support desk. This too depends on how large your business is. That’s one of the reasons we use Zendesk for our support.

3) Keep a mobile device with you so you can respond to emergencies. But just remember, your definition of emergency may vary from your “staff” definition, so be clear about the expectations.

Get these things in place and you’re ready to go.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

I travel – a lot. Thankfully I have a very understanding husband who lets me leave for a week at a time so I can hang out with my amazing entrepreneur friends and come back with crazy cool ideas to implement for our business. And it helps that we work together full-time, and every couple that's together 24/7 needs a break once in a while.

In the past two months I've been to Atlanta for the NAMS conference, the beach for a long weekend with my hubby, I'm heading to the mountains for a short weekend retreat, and Florida for almost an entire week of masterminding.

Next year I already have a two-week trip planned to Ireland, where I'll have internet and will be doing a lot of sight-seeing, so I won't be glued to my computer full-time like I normally am.

I also have a team. I couldn't travel and attend events the way I do without my handy VAs, programming team, etc. When I leave the country I make sure I have internet connectivity and check email at least once per day just to stay on top of things. And I put auto responders (out of office) in place that let anyone emailing know I'm gone and when to expect my return. If I'm somewhere without internet, no big deal, because my “public” email address is filtered through one of my amazing VAs and I give her a boilerplate message to send people who want to speak to me. I also use a calendar system to schedule appointments, so people can instantly see when I'll be back and when I'm available.

Whew – that was a lot! Here it is in easy bullet points for you:

• I set autoresponders for my emails that let everyone know when I'm going to be away and when to expect a response. These autoresponders start about a week before I leave so all my in-process clients know what to expect as well.
• I give the VA who handles my public email a boilerplate response to give anyone who contacts me for information or to set up a time to chat. This response includes a link to my calendar so they don't feel ignored and can reserve a time as soon as I'm back.
• My hubby stays home when I go to business events. This means the design work he's responsible for on our clients' books still gets completed, and I can email proofs to them remotely through tools like DropBox. In other words, just because I'm out of the office doesn't mean all work halts for our clients.

I highly recommend you get a public email filtered through a VA. This has been great, especially when I'm out of the country or on a business cruise where there's little to no internet connection.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

Travel is an easy choice for me because all I need to do is walk out the door. Let me explain why.

My husband and I have been married for 44 years. Through the years we have both had jobs where we traveled a LOT. And we agreed early on that we were both adults and could function independently. Both of us can cook, clean, do laundry and love our kids equally well, although not always in the same way. But just because we don't do it the same doesn't make it any less effective.

We reared our children to be the same way. When they had an event or game, they were responsible for making sure they had a ride, whether from us or a friend's parents. I didn't try to control who was going where once they were over 10. Instead, they each posted their schedule on the central calendar. Each girl (we have 3) was responsible for having a clean uniform, clean clothes for school, and anything else they needed. They asked for our help if they needed it, but they knew that it was their responsibility.

Even though the children are grown and rearing our wonderful grandchildren, the same sense of self-responsibility remains. I don't need to shop, cook, clean or make any other arrangements to leave town. I just need to make sure my clothes are clean and I have a ride to and from the airport. Meanwhile, while I'm out of town I don't need to worry that my husband is starving or doing without clean clothes. He's an independent man who can take care of himself.

Once you establish the “adult” perspective, it makes travel a pleasure for everyone involved!

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

Ever since I became an empty nester, meaning my son grew up and moved out, I've known I didn't like living alone. When I owned my own home I always had younger women renting a room from me. It's not that I need to be chatty, I've just always loved knowing someone else was around.

Well, when I moved down state to be closer to family I chose not to buy another house and rented a duplex for awhile. I had one roommate for a few months but she experienced a job loss and had to make a change. Left on my own again I decided to explore other options. To make a long story short, I found a great place in a beautiful neighborhood where I could be “the roommate” for a change. I rent a fantastic (and giant) room from another empty nester. The home is big, comfortable and close to everything I need.

This means I can travel without any concern for what's happening back home and I love it! It's a perfect arrangement for this season in my life.

Sometimes I miss having ‘my own place' by those feelings are fleeting. There are just too many advantages to not being the one in charge LOL!

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, I asked the question because I am always looking for ways to make it easier on my family when I travel.

I can't do much about how much they miss me, but I can try to streamline as much as possible for things to run smoothly while I'm gone.

Here are a few things that I do.

1. Use Google Calendar & Google Apps.

I don't even remember life prior to Google calendar and I never want to live without it ever (EVER) again. My husband and I both have shared calendars with all of the kids' stuff on it. Those are synced to my phone and his, too, so I know when they have Doctor's appointments or have to go to the Orthodontist – and he does, too.  That means that, when I'm gone, he can make sure our daughter gets to her Chorus practices and to her Dance classes without missing a step. It's truly made my life tons less stressful and it means we argue less, too.

2. Outsource to My Team.

The others mentioned this, too, but I also have a support staff and a main project manager who can handle anything that comes up in my business while I'm gone.  That doesn't really impact my family as much as it makes it possible for me to keep things running and enjoy my trips.

3. Outsource around My Home.

I have a cleaning crew that comes every week and a lawn service, too. That helps things to keep running while I'm gone.

4. Try to Host Some Local Events.

This year, I'm holding one event close to home: Beachpreneurs – Ladies Mastermind Retreat.

I chose to have it close to home for a few reasons. One of which was so that I was nearby in case my family needed anything. But also so they can come by and go SUP'ing at the beach while I'm here, too.

5. Involve my Husband and Kids in my Other Life.

I think it's most difficult on my husband than it is on the kids. He misses me and worries about me while I'm gone.  That's one reason why I've been making an effort for him to get to know more of my work friends that I travel with and go see. In about the last year, he's met David Perdew, Bob Jenkins, Therese Sparby, Connie Green, and he's visited more with Tracy Roberts. So, I think it helps to be able to put faces with the names and he's feeling better about it.

The kids now also know if I'm traveling to see Miss Tracy who she is because she's stayed here at my home and we've been to hers (and she's cooked dinner for us).

6. Speaking of Dinner, I Do Batch Cooking.

I've talked about this before – and I think I have an Expert Briefs coming up where I'll talk about this topic – but I love love love batch cooking.

If I'm going to make a batch of my famous Black Bean soup, I'll make a HUGE batch. It takes about the same amount of effort, but then I can freeze the excess in single serving containers so it's waiting for us when it's dinner time and we are looking for something healthy to eat.

Same with lasagna. It takes nearly the same effort to make 8 trays of lasagna as it does to make one. So, why not use the food processor and make enough to freeze and eat later?

Dinner's in the freezer – and it's healthy (and cheap!).

What about you?

Do you have any tips or tricks or suggestions for me and my readers for handling this situation?

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Want to connect in person? Here's where I'll be –

• October 2013: Beachpreneurs, Pensacola Beach, FL (I’m Co-Hosting with Kelly McCausey) This is a ladies only weekend business mastermind and retreat being held in a 9 bedroom house on the beautiful beaches of Pensacola Beach. Click here for Details.

• January 12-19th, 2014: Marketers Cruise I’ve put this off for years because the cruise is LONG, but I have finally decided to make it happen. Click here for Details.

• February 6-9, 2014: NAMS, Atlanta (I’m Teaching) Why I like this event...  NAMS is family. I look forward to it every 6 months and wouldn’t miss it for the world.  The instructors are amazing, warm people. The students are, too. I couldn’t ask for a more enjoyable way to spend a weekend. Click here for Details

• April 8-10, 2014: Ray Edwards (I’m Planning on Attending) Details coming soon.

• May 16-18, 2014: Exposure & Profit, Toronto, CA (I’m Keynote) Click here for Details.

• June 2014: Earn1kaDay, Vegas (I’m Teaching) Click here for Details (get recordings from last year)

• July 31st-August 3rd, 2014: NAMS, Atlanta, GA  Why I like this event...  NAMS is family. I look forward to it every 6 months and wouldn’t miss it for the world.  The instructors are amazing, warm people. The students are, too. I couldn’t ask for a more enjoyable way to spend a weekend. Click here for Details and Tickets for the February Event (July isn’t for sale yet)

IMPORTANT!!!! –>  If you attend any of the events on this page, be sure to come up and introduce yourself and let me know that you’re on my list or read my blog or whatever! I would love to meet you!
But, be careful, I’m a hugger.<– IMPORTANT

I've been traveling more than usual this year to live events (seminars, conferences, etc). So, this week, I asked my friends the following.

“How many events do you attend in a year?
What types?
How do you choose which ones are worth your time and effort?”

I think you'll find their answers interesting.

Lou Bortone of Video in a Day says:

I usually attend about 10 events and conferences per year. It used to be a lot more, but I've gotten very selective (and I don't want to spend my life on airplanes!)

My “filter” is three-fold:

1. Will I be speaking or presenting at the event?
2. Is the audience primarily my target market?
3. Will there be karaoke? (Kidding, but I do prefer events with fun peeps!)

The main consideration is whether or not I'll be speaking. If not, I usually turn down the event. The exception is if I'm in a coaching program or mastermind group that has meetings and events. Obviously, if I'm paying for a big mastermind program, I'll make every effort to attend…

David Perdew of NAMS says:

Not Enough!

To tell the truth, I’m not sure we can attend enough live events.

People complain about not having enough money to attend live events, but if you’re not making 10 times the cost of going to a live event immediately following the live event, then you’re not doing it right.

Two things:

1) Go for free (I’ll explain how…)

2) Focus on profit

I’ve been to a live event every month since April this year (except May).

Not only have they all been free (yes, I paid for all my tickets…), but each has made me tons of money.

When I decide to go, I’m committed. When I’m committed, I tell people about it. When I tell people about it, I use an affiliate link to get my money back even before I go. Always. That’s how I make sure I’m not paying out of pocket for any event – i.e. Go for FREE!

Then, there’s profit…

When I attend an event, I look for someone – at least one person that I can JV with on a cool promotion that’s good for my folks. Then I mail my community about that opportunity and Voila! Cash in the inbox.

Much more cash than the cost of the event – much more. My average this year has been about 10 times the cost of the event.

Sometimes, I schedule two Joint Venture promotions.

That’s the primary benefit – immediate cash.

The long-term benefits are ongoing relationships.

I’m not a natural networker, so it’s a little bit of work for me to stick my hand out and introduce myself to people I don’t know. But once I do that, I can talk to anyone.

And out of nervousness, I talk too much.

Then, I have to remind myself it’s time to listen and ask questions.

Watch me at the next event. You’ll see this pattern in me.

Know your patterns too and go to events – lots of them, especially NAMS from Feb. 7-9 – to meet the right people and increase your income.

The relationships you build at events turn into business profit faster than anything else I’ve ever done.

Video from of our Weekend Retreat at David's Cabin in the Woods:

Note: Seconds 42-45 crack me up every time I watch this.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

How many events I attend each year varies based on:

• how many I'm asked to come speak at
• the ones I regularly attend whether I'm speaking or not
• special events put on by my coaches like mastermind retreats.

Most years I attend and/or speak at about one event each month, so up to 12 per year.

The types of events I attend are the ones where my target audience hangs out. Before I defined who my target audience was, I wasted time, energy and money attending events that did nothing for me or my business. Now that I know who my audience is, I go to business conferences and events where entrepreneurs hang out and develop working partnerships.

Specifically, my favorites of these events are the NAMS (Novice to Advanced Marketing Systems) workshop and small mastermind retreats such as Bob Jenkins' Hotseat Holidays and Nicole Dean's and Kelly McCausey's Beachpreneur weekends. The relationships formed at these particular events have catapulted my success in the past few years. I would not be as far as I am today without them.

You may wonder why I don't attend author events… after all, I am a book coach. My specialty is in non-fiction business books. The few author conferences I've attended have had hardly any business-minded attendees. Only business-minded attendees understand what power a book used as a marketing tool can give their reputation, credibility, and bottom line. Typical “authors” want to write – and nothing else. They aren't my audience, even though people may think they are. (Of course, if I get asked to speak at one of these events I may consider going for that one out of every 10 in the audience who is in my target market.)

I encourage you to figure out exactly who your target audience is, then schedule at least one event per quarter to check out. If you find an event that's extra amazing for you, such as I did with NAMS, make sure you attend as many of those recurring events as possible. The more you attend, the deeper relationships will form.

Oh and if you're struggling with finding out who your target audience is, I (of course) recently authored a Kindle book for that… Author's Quick Guide to Finding Your Target Market. No more excuses!

Fun picture from NAMS (after hours):

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Plan Your Online Business says:

I used to attend 6-12 events per year, but in recent years I have cut back a lot. Part of that was personal choice and part was because there comes a point in your business when you don't need to be at a lot of events unless you are speaking.

In the past couple of years I have attended only 2-3 events per year – Jim Edward's JimBoat, Armand Morin's live events and Product University with Robert Plank and Lance Tomashiro. I know them all personally, enjoy their teaching styles and am inspired to action from their events.

I've also attended a lot of “live” events online. It's more comfortable, more convenient, a better use of my time. And I can keep my travel time for vacations! But it does require focus and discipline to be sure you actually “attend” with your attention and action.

Each time an event is offered I look carefully at the agenda and who is presenting each topic. Then I ask myself –

• Do I need to know this for my business right now?
• Is this the best person I know to learn from on this topic?
• Is there an advantage to meeting the presenter in person, if I don't already know them?
• Is there enough content in this event that it makes the trip worthwhile?

I believe it comes down to where you are in your business, how much you enjoy travel, and what you need to learn. Regardless of those considerations, attending live events is a MUST if you want to build your business.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

I currently attend or speak at about ten events each year. My all time high was in 2010 when I was at sixteen events, and two of those were my own.

Being able to connect with people face to face has helped me to grow my business bigger than I could ever have imagined.

During my first two years online – 2006 and 2007 – I did not go to any live events. I held the belief that I could not afford it, I did not need to leave home, and that it would not be worth my time, energy, and investment! Was I sure wrong!

My first event was in the spring of 2008 in Atlanta. It was costly for me to purchase my ticket, pay for the flight across country from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and to stay in the hotel. I did not know anyone there, and when I saw almost a thousand people I felt like going back to my room to hide. I'm an introvert and was not comfortable with all those people.

I managed to make a friend, and together we made it through the first day. Then something magical happened and we both started having fun! The result was that I connected with many people whom I would not have met otherwise, learned so much from the presenters, and even earned some money within a few weeks because of affiliate links I shared.

These days I'm asked to speak at several events each year and also host my own live workshops. You MUST attend some live events, and choose the ones that will help you to achieve your goals.

San Francisco Pic with Connie (BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.):

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

When I put my suitcase away for a long winter's nap at the end of October, I will have traveled eight times in 2013.

Here'w where I've been:

• January: Traffic & Conversion Summit in San Francisco, CA
• February: NAMS9 in Atlanta, GA
• June: Meetup on the Beach in Destin, FL
• July: Earn 1K a Day in Las Vegas, NV
• August: NAMS10 in Atlanta, GA
• September: Marketing Mayhem Live 2013
• October: Weekend Marketer Live in Las Vegas, NV
• October: Beachpreneurs in Pensacola Beach, FL

I've enjoyed the travel immensely. Airports are starting to feel like home and I certainly loved my first experience with First Class.

Meeting new people and deepening existing relationships has been an important benefit.

Looking forward to 2014, I would love to aim to travel at least once each month – if I can find events that appeal to me. (IE: Help me meet new people!)

So far I know I'll be attending NAMS in February and August and very likely visiting Las Vegas again for Earn 1K a Day  in June. And I do know where I'll be In May: In Toronoto, CA hosting my own multi-speaker event, Exposure & Profit!

Gratuitous cute picture of Nik & Kelly:

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow! Great answers everyone.

My husband is not teaching right now, so I've been traveling more than usual to boost my connections and my business in the next year.

In fact, I keep my suitcase half packed with duplicates of certain things just to make my life easier.

I normally don't have this busy of a travel schedule. My kids don't like me to be gone too often. But, I do attend a handful of premium conferences during the year.

However, right now I'm on overdrive a bit. Here's where I'll be…

• October 2013: Beachpreneurs, Pensacola Beach, FL (I'm Co-Hosting with Kelly McCausey) This is a ladies only weekend business mastermind and retreat being held in a 9 bedroom house on the beautiful beaches of Pensacola Beach. Click here for Details.

• January 12-19th, 2014: Marketers Cruise I've put this off for years because the cruise is LONG, but I have finally decided to make it happen. Click here for Details.

• February 6-9, 2014: NAMS, Atlanta (I'm Teaching) Why I like this event...  NAMS is family. I look forward to it every 6 months and wouldn't miss it for the world.  The instructors are amazing, warm people. The students are, too. I couldn't ask for a more enjoyable way to spend a weekend. Click here for Details

• April 8-10, 2014: Ray Edwards (I'm Planning on Attending) Details coming soon.

• May 16-18, 2014: Exposure & Profit, Toronto, CA (I’m Keynote) Click here for Details.

• June 2014: Earn1kaDay, Vegas (I'm Teaching) Click here for Details (get recordings from last year)

• July 31st-August 3rd, 2014: NAMS, Atlanta, GA  Why I like this event...  NAMS is family. I look forward to it every 6 months and wouldn't miss it for the world.  The instructors are amazing, warm people. The students are, too. I couldn't ask for a more enjoyable way to spend a weekend. Click here for Details and Tickets for the February Event (July isn't for sale yet)

IMPORTANT!!!! –>  If you attend any of the events on this page, be sure to come up and introduce yourself and let me know that you're on my list or read my blog or whatever! I would love to meet you!
But, be careful, I'm a hugger. <– IMPORTANT

What about You?

• How many events do you attend?
• What benefits do you get?
• How do you choose which ones to go to and which to pass on?
• Got any coming up that I might want to attend?

Warmly,

Nicole Dean

PS. Here are some related blog posts about live events…

• What Should I Pack for an Internet Marketing Conference?
• What Should I Wear to an Internet Marketing Conference?
• Networking the Right Way (NAMS)

Want to learn why I attend Live Events? Here you go…

Click here to read this report “Benefits of Attending Live Events”