Our full house of creative entrepreneurs learned how to sparkle and fizz in the wonderful world of social media in this enlightening teleclass where we danced in rainbow-showers, moodled our way through ARTsignments™ and freed our minds to explore the infinite possibilities within the mysterious world of social media.

If you missed out on attending the teleclass yesterday then it’s not too late to join in with the fun … you can download your very own recording for just £5.95 and receive all these fabulous gifties for free:

*a full-colour e-guide packed of inspiring gems and invaluable resources

* our Decisions guide if you thinking about blogging but stuck on which one to choose

* Creative Business Synergy worksheets AND

* the Wish Niche ARTsignment!

This teleclass was the first of a series of four teleclasses aimed at inspiring creative entrepreneurs to embrace the power and joy of playing and connecting in the world social media.

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For more details on our teleclass being held in May and June, please visit our Events page.  Places are filling up fast as we only have 20 tickets for each teleclass …

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Wednesday 18th May 2011

Twinkling in the Twitterverse* ~ Part II of Creative Business Synergy teleclass series

6pm UK / 1pm Eastern

You are warmly invited to join Callie for a special one-off CreaTEAvity 75-minute teleclass, where we can delve more deeply into the wonders of Twitter and learn how we can twinkle in the Twitterverse and shine our creative light brightly for all to see.

Come join the fun in this enlightening teleclass where we will dance in rainbow-showers, moodle our way through ARTsignments™ and free your mind to explore the Twitter with like-minded creatives.

You have an amazing opportunity to shape your learning experience as this teleclass will be based entirely around your responses to our mini-q’s on our registration form!

This teleclass is perfect for you if you are eager to explore another exciting facet of social media – Twitter.

Sign up here: Twinkling in the Twitterverse

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All our teleclasses are using a US dial-in number – however, if you have Skype, we will share with you a way to access free calls to our teleclasses! All details will be provided when we send you call details three days before the event.

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We are the thrilled to share feedback from a small section of our delighted attendees on our Creative Business Synergy teleclass in April 2011:

“I really enjoyed your talk, it was a lovely introduction to social networking and its language … I liked the way you got us to look at our attitudes/feelings about the different platforms and choose one that makes us excited – building motivation; and the worksheets you did to help that. It helped to link outer technology with the inner world … THANKYOU for a really useful presentation”

“… well-paced stream of really interesting information … Your presentation WAS dynamite!”

“Your enthusiasm for social media is infectious”

“ … your teleclass was truly amazing. I just love it so so much!  You are a great presenter and the information was very valuable”

“I loved your teleclass and it prompted me to do a lot of inner work and I emerged after two days with a new reframed perspective”

Join Callie for this free teleclass on

Tuesday 19th April 2011 – 6pm UK, 1pm Eastern

Calling all creative entrepreneurs!

The world needs you … but how do you get your unique message out into the world?

I would like to invite you to learn how to sparkle and shine online by harnessing the effervescent powers of social media without losing your marbles …

Come join the fun in this enlightening teleclass where we will dance in rainbow-showers, moodle our way through ARTsignments™ and free your mind to explore the infinite possibilities within the mysterious world of social media.

All participants will receive an e-book gifty, chock-full of inspired gems and tools to help steer your way through the social media landscape, as well as a special offer on a “one-to-one” session to birth your social media strategic plan into the Universe.

This teleclass is perfect for you if you are curious about the concept of Creative Business Synergy:

* CREATIVE: you would love to explore ways to boost your online visibility in safe, fun, free ways
* BUSINESS: you feel lost in the swirling seas of social media
* SYNERGY: you are excited by the possibilities of co-creating with fellow creative entrepreneurs

About the Presenter:

Callie Carling is a Divine Heart Bliss Synergist who just so happens to be an ardent fan of social media. Callie is so excited to be completing her ARTbundance™ Coach Certification and she dearly wishes to share her knowledge and skills as social media consultant with as many creative business people as possible so that they, too, can experience the life-changing events that happened to her over the past two years through the power of social media. You can contact her at www.positivitybubbles.com. Callie is also CEO and founder of http://www.moonpoppyenterprises.com (VA/social media consultancy services).

Date and Time: Tuesday 19th April 2011, 6pm UK, 1pm Eastern

Sign up here to attend this event! Please note that LIVE attendance (by phone) is required to participate, so please check your availability before signing up.

New events announced Friday 15th April

* Part II – Twinkling in the Twitterverse: Wednesday 18th May 2011

* Part III – Bashful at Blogging?: Wednesday 15th June 2011

* Part IV – Magical MailChimp: Wednesday 29th June 2011

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous, super-busy year ahead in 2011!

Moonpoppy Enterprises will be closed 24th – 28th December, 1st January and 6th – 13th January 2011

This is a great opportunity to up-skill – both for you and your staff:

* Are your business skills and knowledge up to date (or are you still relying on skills you learned on a course 10 years ago)?
* Who in your business could improve their management style?
* Are the members of the senior management team ready to inspire and lead staff through changes?
* Are you being as strategic as you could be?
* Do you throw new managers in at the deep end without any training on how to get the best out of their people?
* Are you holding your business back by not delegating? You know: “If you want something done right, you need to do it yourself”.

SME Academy can explain how the grant works, show you the options available to you and help you to apply for the funding with the help of a Leadership & Management Skills Adviser.

The grant is government funded through the Skills Funding Agency.

How much is available?

You may be eligible for a grant of up to £1,000.

The way it works is that the first £500 is a straight-forward grant and then a further grant of up to £500 is available on a match funded basis, i.e. you put in £500 and it’s matched with a grant of £500.

Most people like to take the maximum amount available and get £1,500 worth of training/development for an investment of £500 – the company pays £500 and you can get a grant of £1,000.

When does the grant end?

You need to have had a meeting with a Leadership & Management Skills Adviser and confirmed your Personal Development Plan before the end of December 2010.  You then only have until 15th March 2011 to submit your paperwork and claim your grant.

(c) SME Academy

~ we found this information via the fabulous SME Academy, so please do pop over to find out the full story: http://www.smeacademy.co.uk/grants-funding/train-to-gain-grants-funding/grants-end-soo/

New Book : Healing the Corporate World by Maria Gamb

arrives Tues Oct 12th 2010

~ by guest author, Lynn Serafinn

It’s staggering to think about it.

The American Institute of Stress calls stress “American’s #1 Health Problem.” They estimate “75 – 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress related problems” and that “Job Stress is far and away the leading source of stress for adults.” The New York Times quoted Steven L. Sauter (Chief of the Organizational Science and Human Factors Branch of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) as saying, “workplace stress costs more than $300 billion each year in health care, missed work and stress-reduction” and “workers who report that they are stressed incur health care costs that are 46 percent higher, or an average of $600 more per person, than other employees. And in the UK, nearly half a million people expressed they felt work related stress was at a level that was making them ill in 2008, and these figures appear to be increasing rapidly every year.

But in spite of all this, to my shock, all too many sites I found during my research provide tips on how to “deal” with stress, rather than trying to change “what is.” One site even talks about being “stress hardy” to make us better able to survive what we believe we cannot change. In other words, it seems that all too many have thrown in the towel, and given into the idea that being stressed (and unhappy) at our work is simply a part of life, and that the best we can do is to learn how to cope.

But Maria Gamb, former Fortune 500 executive with over 20 years of experience in the corporate world, and author of the new book Healing the Corporate World: how value-based leadership transforms business from the inside out, has a different idea altogether.

By all accounts, Maria was experiencing a highly “successful” career for many years—at least to the naked eye. But inwardly, Maria, a highly sensitive and intuitive woman, with a great belief in the human spirit, knew something was intrinsically wrong with the way businesses were being run in our modern world. Stress wasn’t the problem; it was merely the natural symptom that arouse as a result of much deeper issues. Competition, fear, blame, feelings of helplessness, and a sense of not being “seen” had become the norm rather than the exception, especially in corporate life. And no amount of stress management would ever make stress go away until these issues were addressed—not only at a personal level, but also at a global level.

It was time to talk about how we were going to transform the business world and heal a seriously ailing system.

Understanding that real change could only come from within, with each person taking personal responsibility for his or her own thoughts and actions, Maria decided to write a book that would be a call-to-action to the business community entitled Healing the Corporate World: how value-based leadership transforms business from the inside out.

Maria wrote this book with a passion to start the ripple of change that will do exactly what the title says: HEAL the corporate world. That doesn’t just mean to rescue our culture from economic crisis, but rather to heal the people and relationships within organizations so they can become healthy, flowing systems for change and creativity that are founded upon values, innovation, personal responsibility and authentic leadership at all levels of the business structure.

And while the title suggests a focus on corporate life, the book is NOT just for CEOs, senior managers or even corporations—it is a book for anyone who works. You might be a middle-manager, or a new employee on a team. You might even be self-employed, or the owner of a small business. The principles in this book are applicable to anyone who wants to create a more human-focussed society by transforming the way we do business.

The official Amazon launch of Healing the Corporate World starts at 12:01 AM Pacific, Tuesday October 12th.

To celebrate the release of this “inspiring and visionary book” (Ernest Chu, bestselling author of Soul Currency), when you purchase Healing the Corporate World on the day of its launch, you can receive a complete library of personal development gifts from dozens of leading authors, business professionals, speakers on the subject of business and self-improvement.

To purchase the book can claim your bonus gifts, just go to http://healingthecorporateworld.com

There you will find links to purchase the book from Amazon and instructions on how to claim your bonus gifts.

When you look at all the bonus gifts, don’t worry about not having enough time to download them all. As long as you purchase the book during the launch, you’ll have access to the download page until October 31st.

I hope you’ll check out Healing the Corporate World on Tuesday October 12th, so we as a society can begin to apply these values-based principles in our work-place, and help start the process of healing for everyone.

Lynn Serafinn
Author, coach, book promotions
http://lynnserafinn.com

~ by guest author Allison Maslan

Allow me to talk with you about a very grand race horse named Zenyatta.

Have you heard of her? Zenyatta is an undefeated American Thoroughbred racehorse that has defied the odds to win her last 18 races straight. She will most likely go down in history as one of the greatest and most loved race horses of all time.

What do you think makes Zenyatta a champion? What makes everyone who has the honor to watch Zenyatta in action cheer her to the finish line as they wipe tears of joy from their eyes? Is it her speed? Is it her elegant poise? Is it the way she intentionally works the crowd with her signature prance and playful strut after every victory?

Yes. She is all of these things. And more …

The black beauty, Zenyatta, miraculously glides by the other horses as if she has magical wings. She knows just the right time to work her strategy, move out of the pack, and soar to the finish line. And she does it with grace and style.

But what really makes Zenyatta a true champion is that she wants to do nothing less than win. Zenyatta knows she is a champion. She knows she has the win inside of her, and she never settles for less.

Why am I talking to you about this extraordinary horse? Zenyatta is the perfect example of what it takes to be victorious and live your true purpose in your life and work. She reaches for the pinnacle every time her hoofs hit the track.

As life and business strategist, my greatest passion has been coaching thousands to success in all levels of life. I have developed a proven formula that creates winners and takes these winners to The Pinnacle—the very highest point on your life and business journey. And that’s why I’d like to share with you 10 of my secrets from that very formula in a FR*EE 2-part event: 10 Steps to Reach YOUR Pinnacle Tues Oct 26 and Wed Oct 27 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern Register FR*EE at http://bit.ly/aFOxcP (audio available for download for a limited time after the event).

At that event, I’ll be joined by Lynn Serafinn, author, transformation coach and mind-body-spirit book promotion guru (in fact she was the person who designed the campaign that got my book Blast Off! to become a #1 bestseller). Together, we’ll be taking you through 10 steps to reaching your pinnacle not only in your professional life, but also in all areas of your personal life and ultimate fulfillment.

Also, when you register, you will receive 20 short daily tips from me delivered directly to your inbox. They take just a minute to read, so you can start your day off by thinking like a champion. I look forward to seeing you on October 26th and 27th, so I can share my 10 Steps to Reach YOUR Pinnacle with you, and help bring you one step closer to your “personal gold”, whatever that might be.

To your joy and success;

Allison Maslan, HHP, CCH

www.myblastoff.com

Gmail users will shortly be given a better way to manage the flood of emails that come their way. A new ‘priority inbox’ will sort your messages based on how important Google thinks they are. This ‘importance’ will be calculated in a number of ways, including how often you email the sender and which messages you reply to.

Many users will welcome this but there are other ways to deal with email overload. I can’t claim to operate the world’s tidiest inbox but as someone who receives hundreds of emails each day, allow me to offer some tips based on how I deal with them.

1. Archive as much as you can
If you’re a Gmail user you can select any email and archive it. This doesn’t delete it, it just removes it from your inbox. In Gmail’s case, the inbox is so vast that you’re unlikely to run out of space even without deleting anything. If you need it later, you’ll be able to find it through search. When you’ve dealt with an email – replied, taken action or even just read it – archive it and move on. It will keep your inbox small and therefore less overwhelming. I recommend enabling the ‘Send & Archive’ feature in the Labs section of the Settings too; it simultaneously sends your reply and archives your email.

If you use an email service that doesn’t allow you to archive then you can create a an archive folder and send the messages there. If you’re working with a limited inbox size then you will have to delete emails instead of archiving them. Still, it’s better to be ruthless and delete now than when your inbox fills up and you need to make frenzied cuts.

2. Add stars to emails that you need often
Don’t clutter your inbox with emails that you need to keep for reference. Password reminders, order confirmations, the instructions for repairing the office photocopier – these kind of emails shouldn’t be in your inbox. Add a star in Gmail and then archive them. When you need them they’ll be in your Starred list and your inbox will remain tidy. Once again, if your email service has no equivalent of stars, you’ll need to use folders for this but the same principle applies.

3. Use your inbox for things you need to action
Emails you’ve dealt with should be archived, so that means that all that should remain in your inbox are the emails you haven’t dealt with. Some just need to be read, others will need replies and some can be kept as a reminder to carry out an action. (Though keeping this last group does turn your inbox into a to-do list, which is a cardinal sin among well-organised people. It’s better to move those items to your to-do list and archive the email, once again keeping your inbox slim.)

If an email stays in your inbox too long – perhaps two weeks or a month – without being dealt with then do the task right away or archive the email. It’s either something that’s unimportant or something that you’re putting off.

4. Respond quickly and succinctly
It’s so easy to say “all that should remain in your inbox are the emails you haven’t dealt with” and a lot harder to do the actual ‘dealing with’ bit. I try, with varying degrees of success, to follow this rule: if an email can be dealt with very quickly then do it now. It’s very easy to skim your emails and put off tasks for later but if all that’s needed is a quick reply, it’s far better to deal with it right away and get that message out of your inbox.

5. Use rules and labels
I don’t use these anywhere near as much as I should if I wanted to be an email ninja but there is a lot of potential in setting up rules and labels for email. For example, whenever I buy an app for my phone, which I do quite often, I get a receipt emailed to me. Setting up a rule to send these emails into a folder named Receipts would keep them out of my inbox entirely and let me check them when I need to.

Of course, it’s remembering to check them that’s the problem. I have a tendency to send things to folders and forget about them, which is why I don’t use rules very much. If you’re better at that sort of thing then rules might help.

That’s how I deal with email but there are plenty of other ways. If a huge inbox doesn’t bother you then you could just leave all your email there, never filing anything and use search to find it when you need it. It all depends on how you prefer to work.

If you have any tips for managing email, please share them in the comments box: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100005532/five-tips-for-email-efficiency/

(c) The Telegraph

The growing popularity of smart phones and the changing way we use our mobiles is helping us to do much more simultaneously; we now cram 8 hours 48 minutes of digital media use into just 7 hours on an average day.

The over 55 generation is the fastest growing age group in digital media use, with half now having broadband at home.  More and more older people are getting online and finding that things like email and e-commerce are very important to them.

Approximately 23% of adults sent emails or went online through a cell phone in the first quarter of 2010, including 45% of 15-24 year olds, the Ofcom study revealed.  Using the internet in this way is the fastest-growing mobile media sector, with a million new users in the first quarter of 2010, taking this audience to 13.5m people.

Looking to social networking, 61% of 15-34 year olds are registered on portals like Twitter or Facebook, as are almost half of 35-54 year olds and 20% of 55-64 year olds.  Social networking is responsible for 23% of online activity, a figure which has surged from 9% in 2007, thanks to Facebook’s explosive growth.

The social media platform also took a 45% share of mobile web usage in December 2009, with 20% of all social networking conducted by 16-24 year olds carried out from smart phones.

More broadly, the amount of time spent on the fixed-line internet has increased by over 66% since 2008, meaning adults now spend 14.2 hours a month on this pastime.

Read the full report: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/753567/CMR_England_2010.pdf

* Article discovered (originally posted) at Entelliz.co.uk: http://entelliz.co.uk/rant/?p=718

We have updated our fee schedule and added our terms and conditions to the same file:

Fee Schedule / Terms & Conditions August 2010

Our fee schedule also includes details of our on-site training services, social media management services and the Synergy Mentoring programme for SME’s/Sole Traders.

Do let us know if there are any other services you feel we have missed off.

Getting British Business Online

GBBO is a joint initiative by Google, Enterprise UK, BT, e-skills UK and many other partners to help small businesses create their first website and help them understand the opportunities offered by the Internet. We’ve set a target of helping 100,000 UK organisations get their first website easily and for free by the end of 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTUkvZtxDF0

Pop along to Getting British Business Online to see what they are up to – and how you can make use of this amazing opportunity.