THE NEW LEAF™

The Official Newsletter of Authentic Promotion®

Volume 5, Number 1, January 6, 2003
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X

PASS IT ON: Send a gift of inspiration and fresh perspectives on business and marketing by forwarding this issue of The New Leaf to a friend or colleague. I will donate at least 10 cents to Childreach, http://www.childreach.org, for every new reader in 2003. Based on previous growth rates, you can help raise over $2,000 in 2003.

IN THIS ISSUE

1. Fast Focus: Finding Your Niche
2. Simple Gifts: Healing Books
3. Hello Puget Sound: Significantly Expand Your Service Business
4. Open for Business: Express Yourself in a Narrow Niche
5. Find A Coach: Molly's Short List
6. The Bedside Table: The Real Stack
7. Best Practices: Declutter for Clarity
8. Quick Links: Guide to Recommended Products
9. Copyright | Getting On and Off the List

THANK YOU to everyone who sent condolences on the loss of Boodle-Anne. Your cards and emails mean a lot!

CORRECTION: Last week I gave the wrong URL for Kendall SummerHawk's tape series, What to Say When You Hate to Sell. Here's the correct one: http://www.cartville.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=38272

1. FAST FOCUS: Finding Your Niche
Each of us has a natural niche, a place in the world where we offer the greatest good and thrive as a result. To paraphrase theologian Frederick Buechner's definition of vocation, your niche is where the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness meet.

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THANK YOU to all the readers who forwarded The New Leaf to their friends and colleagues last week. If you like what you read here, please forward it to a friend. (That's how we grow.) And if you received this from someone else, you can subscribe (it's free) in seconds at http://www.mollygordon.com.

3. HELLO PUGET SOUND: Significantly Expand Your Service Business
I'm delighted to be the lunch-time speaker on February 8, 2003, when C.J. Hayden, Master Certified Coach, speaker and author of "Get Clients Now," comes to Seattle to share her proven strategies for attracting clients and growing your professional service business. This one-day event is sponsored by the Puget Sound Chapter of the International Coach Federation and is open to the public.

For more information or to register visit http://www.pugetsoundcoaches.org or call/e-mail: 360.491.2727, coacholivia@attbi.com. Please let registrars know you heard about this in The New Leaf.

4. OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Be Yourself in a Focused Niche
My clients and Authentic Promotion(tm) students are surprised and delighted to discover that choosing a tightly focused niche not only attracts significantly more business but also provides richer opportunities for self expression. Far from putting a limit on your creativity and interests, focusing your niche can free you to show up as the fascinating, unique offer that you are. To understand this paradox, think of niche in ecological terms. That is, consider that your niche is that place in which you have a natural competitive advantage because you occupy the right place in the right ecosystem. A good niche is one in which: 1) you are highly visible and easily accessible to the people who are most likely to benefit from your work and 2) you can employ the widest range of your talents, skills, and training (your offer).

A good niche is one in which you--the way you really are, in all your complexity and variability--are a naturally attractive offer to prospective clients and customers, prospective collaborators and partners, and others with whom value-adding activities are most likely to be mutually beneficial. Because a good niche is where your natural complexity is most useful, most interesting, and most attractive, it is also a place where you can and must be yourself.

Next week: Finding Your Natural Niche

5. FIND A COACH: Molly's Short List
Are you confused about where to find or how to hire a coach? I've asked a variety of coaches whom I know and respect to tell me a little about themselves and about their specialties. The result is Molly's Short List of Coaches. Use this list to get a glimpse of the range of services available. Even if you do not find your ideal coach (after all, there are a dozen or fewer folks listed--that's to keep the list short and sweet), you're bound to understand more about coaching and to be in a better position to choose the right coach after talking to a few of these great people.

The list is in a Word document, and you can request it without charge by sending a blank email to referrals@mollygordon.com. Please note that the coaches listed have agreed to pay a modest referral fee, and I'll appreciate it if you let them know how you heard about them.

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BRIDGE THE GAP with a Phone Bridge
Call a meeting, hold a family reunion, or convene a study group for participants from around the world without leaving your home or office using our phone bridge.

For $20 per hour you can talk on my phone bridge with up to 50 people at once. Each participant dials a single number in Nevada in the USA and pays his or her own long distance charges. With bargains such as those available at bigzoo.com even international callers can participate for pennies a minute.

To schedule your time on the bridge, email my assistant, Debbie Buxton, at debbie@mollygordon.com. Major credit cards accepted.

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6. THE BEDSIDE TABLE: The Real Stack

8. QUICK LINKS: Guide to Recommended Products

Thank you for supporting "The New Leaf" by purchasing the products and services recommended here. I personally test every product I recommend, and I also insist on a no-hassle, no-risk, money-back guarantee. If you are ever disappointed by a transaction with one of these affiliates, please let me know. If they don't make it right, I will!

====> MAKE SALES WITHOUT SELLING
Five years ago I invested in Ken Evoy's "Make Your Knowledge Sell." It's been the single best resource I've found for turning information into income. Ken focuses on value, not hype, and he's got tens of thousands of faithful customers to prove it. I'm proud to be an affiliate.
http://www.sitesell.com/authpro.html

====> OPEN DOORS with a Brilliant Elevator Speech
This instantly available e-book shows you how to craft your elevator speech in under 30 minutes, helping you get in front of more customers, close more sales and make more money.
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=27096

====> THE PUBLICITY HOUND has dozens of audio tapes and special reports that teach you everything you'd ever want to know about getting great publicity. These are affordable, actionable tips that you can put to work now. http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=42346