What books have you read that you could read over and over again?
I love books. Always have and always will. As an author, I have a new appreciation and perspective about books. When I go into a bookstore, I find that I look at the books differently now, then I did before. Books have been a big part of my professional and personal development journey. Books have connected me with people, and have formed the basis of many great conversations.
Our dog Toby in a beautiful bookstore The Different Drummer, in Burlington,
Ontario during one of our book signing tours.
Recently I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Barry Eva on A Book and a Chat Radio. We chatted about the process of writing a book, the learnings from the accidental author, and how we market our books. I particularly enjoyed the conversation where we talked about how stories can impact people, connect them and change lives.
I think it does. In fact, courage is an essential skill for leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs and team members. Courage is one of the foundations of:
1) Resolving conflict respectfully and effectively
2) Leading teams through change
3) Taking risks to bring your business or team to new levels of success
4) Stepping into new skill sets and personal growth
Recently I was a guest on the Fantastic Frank Radio show, talking about my books, including On Toby's Terms, and GPS Your Best Life (co-authored with Debra Kasowski).
Courage when accompanied by sincerity, authenticity and humility is courage at its best. Frank and I talked about acts of courage and how courage can help you look at a potentially challenging or traumatic event through a different perspective.
Here are a few tips to bringing more courage into your day to day actions, relationships and communication:
1) Be open to new perspectives and ideas instead of being tied to your perspectives only
2) Ask lots of questions, be curious, and recognize that questions invite a deeper dialogue
3) Instead of assumptions, take a step into courage and ask for clarrification
4) Every day challenge yourself to try one new skill or activity (for example, try a new food, listen to music you haven't listened to before, start a conversation with a stranger... basically, take a small stretch out of your comfort zone)
5) Ask yourself the big question.... WITWTTCH- what is the worst thing that could happen by....
When you step into courage, you move through discomfort and sometimes through fear. Practice makes it easier, and, invites others to step in this direction too.
What makes you want to stay on the channel when you hear someone speaking?
What makes you want to tune into someone else?
Radio is a great way to get your message
out to the masses, share your expertise, to your current audience and those you wish to be in front
of. I enjoy being on radio so much I am not only a frequent media guest, but, I also host
my own three shows, you can check them out here:
Charmaine’s Radio
Shows:
Conversations
with CharmaineEvery Wed 1 pm MST- I interview experts on leadership, team
building, customer service, collaboration, difficult conversations,
fundraising, and more!http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond
PAWsitive
Radio (all things Pets) Every Sat 3 pm MST – I interview experts in the pet industry, animal and
pet related organizations. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/chammond
Debbi Dachinger award winning radio host, coach, best selling author
Authors, speakers, business owners and leaders often make the same radio mistakes.
Are you making this
On Air Mistakes?
•Talking non-stop and not allowing the host to
get in the conversation unless they interrupt you?
•Turning your radio conversation into a
monologue, a keynote?
•Not engaging with the listening audience who are
at home, in their car or getting ready for work?
Here's the good news! These mistakes can easily be overcome. Be prepared. Make sure the show is a good fit for you. Know how you will answer questions: One such way is to
practice your “sound bites” before the show, research the show you will be on
to get a flavor for the hosts’ approach, remember you are in a conversation (a
two way dialogue), you want to be remembered so deliver great content and
stories. These were a few of the many powerful tips from Debbi Dachinger.
Debbi Dachinger
is an award winning radio host, of Dare to Dream Radio, and a sought after
media guest. She is also a coach who teaches authors, entrepreneurs, speakers
and businesses how to be fabulous on radio.I interviewed her on my radio show; you can listen to her great tips
here:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-book-as-a-business/2012/11/17/guest-debbi-dachinger
For authors, speakers, entrepreneurs and leaders who will be
on media (hint- speakers, authors, entrepreneurs..Radio is important!), there
are a few ways you can find out about media opportunities, these are ones I
also use:
-HARO
(Help a Reporter Out)
-Reporter
Connection
-Pitchrate
-Radio
Guest list
-Ask
hosts for other referrals
Part of the radio experience is the relationship you build
with the host. Make sure you help the host help promote the show. We use social
media, our blog, invitations via email, to help promote the show. After the
show, help the host promote the show link, we use our blog, social media,
newsletters, emails with link to clients, and we put in our electronic press
kits. You can also do a press release announcing the shows that you will be on.
Make sure you have your “talk abouts” page done, suggested
Debbi. This is a page with 5-10 questions that the host might ask during your
interview, and a short bio, and description of your book or services or event.
Debbi stressed the importance of follow up, stay in contact
with the radio host, circle back every 3-4 months, they might just get you on
the show again. Promote their show to other people. Do powerful email introductions
of shows the host would be a good fit as a guest, or introduce exquisite guests
to that host.
What a joy to be on Fantastic Frank's radio show. Now here is a man who inspires me! A great definition for the word resilience is Frank Johnson. Frank survived a fire,
divorce, and bankruptcy, a great deal of change for anyone to cope with. He also encountered tremendous loss, he lived through the loss of his business,
singing voice, his career as a chemical engineer, his fine motor control.
And his outlook on life is Fantastic!
On Franks' show we talked about resilience, overcoming fear and how fear creates choices... the choices to become paralyzed by fear or to move through it. We also discussed how one's mindset and thinking greatly shapes and impacts the results that people experience in their life. Using affirmations, affirmative thinking and making a choice about how to let a daily challenge impact you are some of the many solutions we explored.
We also talked about my new book co-authored with Debra Kasowski, who was also a guest on Franks' show in September. Our book, GPS Your Best Life, is being released on November 21, 2012, and Frank asked a great question about the book....What does it mean to live your best life?
Wow, what a juicy question. What does that mean to you....to live YOUR best life?
I think "best life" will be different for each person, and I think perhaps our definitions change in time. For example, in the 1980's I was a Correctional Officer, and at that time I was living my best life. I loved my apartment, owning my first car, the career I chose... I was living my best life, I was serving my purpose. Fast forward 15 years, I was a corporate mediator. Helping businesses and teams in crisis and conflict solve the people issues that plagued their teams and got in the way of success. I was again living my best life. It was different from my earlier career, I was married, in love, on purpose, owner of two thriving businesses... and being in service to the organizations and groups in our community. Fast forward to now... I AM living my best life... still in love....still married to the greatest guy on earth. Living my purpose as a speaker and author, serving others, and happy... Fast forward ten years... not sure what it will look like, but I do know one thing for sure... living my best life has a lot to do with love, passion, purpose and being of service to others.
What does it mean to you?
Listen to Frank and I discuss this and many other interesting topics at:
Turning Tragedy to Triumph was the name of a recent radio show I was on with Tammy Gagnon. We were talking about turning tragedy's into learning opportunities or triumphs. She interviewed me about our sailboat accident a number of years ago that was a big learning for me about resilience, turning challenging situations into ones you can overcome. While I really enjoy sailing now, it took me many years to get back on the boat after our accident.
Always know your shoreline- have a goal, keep the goal in the front of your mind. Focusing on the goal gets you there faster than focusing on fear. Focusing on the shoreline helped me swim towards it.
Fear limits you, reduces your physical strength, and tires your mind. Focus on what energizes you, the solution and outcome you want (instead of what it is you are fearing).
You can't get back time, but you can change course and directions. If what you are doing is not getting you closer to your goal, change course. Try something different.
Let go of what is pulling you under. That might be negative thoughts, carrying the past with you in current day, or hanging onto old disappointments and regrets. these pull you away from your goal.
Ask for help.
The sailboat story is the basis of one of my most popular keynote presentations about resilience and bouncing forward, and one that taught me more than I thought I needed to learn at the time.
Want to read more about this sailboat story? It is in my book:
Well, I know firsthand that the work really begins after the book is written.... the day you open your boxes of books, hold them in your hand and say “now what?” I had the pleasure of interviewing Wendy Lipton-Dibner on my Your Book As a Business Radio Show and she shared a wealth of information to help authors, and aspiring authors. These tips will also benefit entrepreneurs and businesses who are selling products and services.
One way that authors can sell more books is to be speaking about their book and the concepts they have written about. This can include speaking in front of audiences at conventions, workplace events, and tradeshows, or, it can be through a video series. And remember, videos don’t have to be 90 minutes, they can be 90 seconds!
Wendy also stressed the importance of media, and how media can help you bring your message in front of your audience, and those who need to know you but don’t .... yet! Wendy recommended the services of RTIR with Bill and Steve Harrison.
Authors, here is a new way to think about selling your book. A few books sold to the right few people could result in thousands of sales down the road. So it is imperative that you write with the reader in mind, using their language, solving their problem, or sharing stories that they deeply connect with. One strategy is to lower your speaking fees if the client buys books for everyone. Think about who would benefit by being in front of your readers. For example, with my book On Toby’s Terms, and Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital Friends- they are both about our dog Toby. So, this could include pet stores, vets, trainers, dog day cares, pet food manufacturers. Wendy encourages us to think realllllllly big. Manufacturers vs individual stores. This creates more extensive speaking opportunities for you as an author and speaker. They could offer book as people become new clients or through their individual stores. Or, watch the big companies to see what is going on in their world, their news. Use their issue or information in a tagline to promote to them.
Building relationships and serving your readers builds long lasting support, interest and sales for your book. And most importantly, stepping into action is what creates results! Time to buy a great pair of running shoes!
On a recent interview with Nancy Ferrari, I talked about courageous dialogue and bouncing forward. Bounce Forward has four components: Courageous Dialogue, Stress Management and Resilience, Teamwork by Design and The ASK. These are four essentials to bouncing forward through life and business challenging times. When Nancy invited me to share how I define the ASK, here is what I said:
ASKS that make a difference:
A- Ask for what you need, don’t assume, and be clear
S- skills- practice your ask so that it is clear, comfortable and you are confident
K-kindness to others and receiving graciously keeps the ask cycle going
Think of a few asks that you can use as your practice asks. Maybe it is asking for help. Or advice. Maybe it is to help solve a problem. When you ASK, it sets the stage in a relationship (e.g. a workplace relationship) for others to do the same of you.
Nancy also asked me about our "sailboat story". You may know this story already, especially if you have read my book On Toby's Terms or Bounce Forward, I talk about this near death experience, and it has also formed the basis of my most popular keynote presentation. Years ago my husband Christoper and I had a near death sailboat accident. Swimming for our lives challenged my resilience in ways I had not thought possible. It was the true test of bouncing forward or back. After we were rescued, and I had time to reflect, I discovered that to enjoy sailing again I needed to push through my fear of sailing and getting back on the boat. In sailing, and in life remember...We can always change course, but we can’t get time back.
Fear also stops people from asking, and many times by the time you muster up the courage, the opportunity has gone. You can always change course, just like we do in sailing, if things don't go well, but, you can't get back time and missed opportunities.
Warren MacDonald is an incredible change agent, with an inspiring story....one of patience, persistence, hope and overcoming fear and obstacles to climb mountains (literally).
Warren MacDonald- professional speaker, author and transformational leader!
Warren Macdonald's life's boundaries were redefined in April 1997 in an accident on North Queensland's (Australia) Hinchinbrook Island. Climbing to the Island's tallest peak, he became trapped beneath a one-ton slab boulder in a freak rock fall. Two days later he was rescued, only to undergo the amputation of both legs at mid thigh. Just ten months later, he climbed Tasmania's Cradle Mountain.
Warren discovered that he had choice, not necessarily in what happened to him, but to how he coped and accepted his new reality.. he decided that being beaten by life’s circumstances and being a victim paralyzed by fear was not a choice for him, so he chose to change his perspective and live life as a survivor.
In the coming days, he realized how many huge life changes would need to be made however, he reclaimed his life and moved on. He learned to ask for help. He learned patience, perseverance, and not to be afraid of change. All great lessons for organizations and the teams that work so hard to fulfill a company mission. If you don’t view change as an opportunity, you lose your power, said Warren. The process of dealing with change really involves three steps, according to MacDonald: Acceptance, Responsibility and Crisis. When you create challenges for yourself, your team, you push through the discomfort to success.
Warren’s tips for leaders , business owners and team members around dealing with change included:
- Asking for help
- Having a common goal that s clearly defined
- Leaders inviting perspective shifts to embrace change instead of fear it
Asking questions is a great way to find out where a team is at. Warren suggested that leaders question their mission and actions. Here are a few questions to get you started.
- Why do we do what we do?
- Why does our business/service/product, etc. matter?
- What are we doing and why?
- Where are we going?
Then check in on actions and results. Are they congruent to the answers for the above questions. We are in an important time. What really matters in teams? Here is what Warren and I have both seen as important:
- Transparency
- Engagement
- A mission outside of work
Warren gave an example of one team who volunteered a shift at the local soup kitchen. Another assembled a bunch of bikes without knowing why, until a crowd of young children from a local organization burst through the doors. What a great way for a team to be connected together and to be connected to a purpose or mission outside of the work functions. You can listen to Warren share this and other stories on our interview http://www.blogtalkradio.com/charmainehammond/2012/06/20/guests-jill-lublin-and-warren-macdonald
Feel free to share the link with your colleagues and in your team. A great message worth sharing.
Recently I interviewed bestselling author, and marketer
extraordinaire, Randy Peyser on my Your Book As a Business Show. While the
theme of the show was on selling and marketing your book, many of the tips
apply to any business, whether selling a product or service. Here are a few of the many golden nuggets
Randy offered:
Speak
to a trend in media. For authors, speak to a trend that you can tie into your
book. The same applies to other types of businesses, create media opportunities
and press releases by connecting your book, product or service to a current
trend.
Proposals
to Literary Agents and Publishers- you must have a hook and grab their
attention right away.Publishers get
thousands of manuscripts and pitches each year and Literacy Agents receive
upwards of !500 a month as well.So you
must have a strong hook and grab their attention right away. The same applies
in marketing your product or service. You have such a limited time with the
consumer, you have to have a hook that attracts their attention and keeps them
with you.
You
must stand out, and stand above the others in your genre, just as businesses
have to stand out above their competitors.Think creatively about how you can stand out. And, be remembered!
Why
do some books sell thousands or even millions?They find the hook and create the buzz. And have a catchy title. Any
business can benefit by creating the buzz. Get people talking about your book,
your product or service?
Know
the trends in the industry. For example, Randy mentioned that with books, the
titles are shrinking.Pick a title that
is catchy, remembered and shorter. The same applies when choosing marketing
campaigns for other businesses.
Publishers
and Literary Agents want to see the author has a solid Platform with real/solid
numbers. Regardless of the business you are in, know your numbers. How many
clients you serve a year. How many books sold. The size of your reach.
Social
media is critical to book selling success. And of course for other businesses.
Social media helps you stay in contact with your audience, create buzz, solve
problems and be part of the national discussion and trend discussions.
Listen the radio interview with Randy, full of great tips
here:
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