In February I gave you the opportunity to vote for your preferred cover of my upcoming new edition of Soul Proprietor. And vote you did! Hundreds of you viewed the post and almost as many actually cast a ballot via your comments and e-mail messages to me. I heard MANY opinions.

Among my favorites were (paraphrased)

“You can’t go wrong! They’re both great.”

“Absolutely #1!”

“Absolutely #2!”

“Neither! Bring back the one with the egg on the cover.”

What’s an author to do? What most resonated with me was the desire to have my image looking right at the reader. My vanity actually preferred the photo in #2, but the marketer in me said, “Don’t turn them off by looking away.”

Years ago I brought two mock-ups of my first brochure to the owner of the Artists Market in Norwalk for her opinion. One sample piece was an artistic origami style design which opened in a clever and intricate way. The other was a standard folder with interchangeable pages for easy updating and image replacement.

I was in love with the intricate one for artistic reasons. I could see the trouble my evaluator was having even opening it and desperately wanted her to overcome her frustration in deference to its beauty. But this was a retail store owner, not a museum curator. She unhesitatingly selected the simpler version. “You’ll drive your buyers crazy with the other one, pretty as it is. Less is more.”

Bowing to the wisdom of the crowds, I’m opting for (drum roll, please) cover #1. I pooled all of the entries regardless of which you voted for and selected the winner: Lisa Braithwaite a valued reader and frequent commenter on my blog.

Please note that I was most interested in your thoughts on the photo. I’m working with my designer on taking the type out of my hair and other distractions.

Thank you, ALL, for your interest, your time and your valued opinions.

Besides being headline news and having her business publicized, what tickles me about this particular press piece is that the before-and-after featured behind Betsy is MY laundry room! I’m not afraid to reveal what a mess I was before Betsy arrived to help me.

I’m such an advocate of hiring professional organizers. Some of the areas that have helped me throughout the years, due to the talents of Betsy and others, are:

• Keeping a master notebook
• Moving my art books out of my business area to make room for more business opportunities to flow in
• Creating notebooks to track projects I’m working on
• Providing me with a tickler file
• Using the principles of feng shui to attract business and allow positive energy to circulate in my office and home

If you’ve never hired a professional organizer before, I suggest you try out their services this year. The return on investment is exponential. Your productivity will increase and your frustration level will be minimized. I know from my own experience how valuable Betsy’s and her colleagues’ services are.

I knew that I wanted not only to attend, but also to have a booth space. I dusted off my trade show set-up and arrived early to put everything in order.

TFI Envision helped me with my re-branding a few years ago and included these banners which are noticeable from across a large room. I met great women and got a sense of what’s going on in the community at large.

At about 9pm Erica gathered everyone in the main exhibition room to say a few words. She shared her vision, which I just loved.

“When I was in Mexico,” Erica told us, “I was taken with how the women would create their own marketplace by setting up their wares. I thought, ‘we can do that, too.’ And tonight my vision has come to be.”

She went on to thank everyone who had been instrumental in making the event happen (everyone there essentially, Erica said) and a special thank you to her daughters who also helped and attended. “Is Dad in the car?” Erica asked as she introduced her younger daughter who had come towards the end. We got the sense of how the family had supported Erica throughout her creating this vision.

“Instead of the Big Connect, they’ve called it the Slow Connect.” There was compassionate and knowing laughter throughout the hall.

The energy in the shop expanded exponentially as each woman shared ‘what’s keeping her awake at night’ and got feedback from the other brilliant minds in her circle.

The biggest take-aways reported were:

• A photographer who is changing locations will offer a special ‘moving’ rate for headshots before she leaves her current space.
• An event planner recently hired a young salesman who wants to take on more responsibility. Her group suggested she request that he make a presentation to her about the company.
• More than one woman recognized the need to commit to a date in order to move forward with her vision–i.e. schedule a date on the calendar and send the invitation before having every detail figured out.

I’m very excited that my next event will take place in New York City at the Eileen Fisher store on Fifth Avenue. That was the success I shared.

Based on that theory, the Remarkable Women’s Network held at Troy Art and Framing in Fairfield was a resounding success. Denise DiGrigoli, pictured here in the middle between Leigh Scott of Leigh Scott Parenting and me, is the owner of Troy. She was our inspirational hostess.

At the centerpiece of her showroom was a stunning visual presentation Denise had just completed exhibiting the capacity and talents available at Troy. In addition to Denise’s computerized display of their capabilities, each woman attending had the opportunity to tell what she does and share recent good news. We heard breakthroughs, heartfelt happiness–like a child’s upcoming wedding–and positive financial reports. All of it positive and inspiring.

Nancy Moon, owner of Moon Public Relations–a PR firm in NYC and CT–always has her camera on hand and took the shot above before handing the camera off to Denise to capture us. At the end of the event, when I asked for feedback, Nancy said, “I’d love to attend these monthly.”

I’m working on it!

I learned two very cool things that I hadn’t figured out on my own–how to download a photo without going into my picturetrail.com collection (6 steps) and how to download video into i-movie, edit it, bring it into youtube.com and upload it onto my blog. Years ago, this would have been a semester-long course.

I had a staff member click this image of my hair stylist, Donna Lysobey of Noble Salon, and me before Donna fixed me up for my new headshot. You’ll see the afters as soon as I get the proofs back from Kate Eisemann. Deryll, my one-to-one instructor walked me through the uploading steps. Voila!

One thing I know for sure is that I want to work with professionals when it comes to my image. I’ve got Scarlett Debease of Scarlett New York styling my wardrobe and Donna to do my hair and makeup for the photo shoot. That helped me to relax and look my best when smiling for the camera.

Last month I received the NEWBO Woman of Distinction Award. Right before the awards presentation portion of the meeting, I handed my digital camera to Don, my client Jill’s significant other, and said, “Could you record this?” I didn’t even know how to instruct him to zoom in, but he did a valiant job. Deryll taught me how to zoom in while uploading this to youtube, so the quality isn’t perfect. I’m most pleased with the audience’s reaction. I’d love you to watch this first minute and let me know if it translates.

My kids are tweeting their hearts out. They were born to this technological age. In nursery school, Laura was in the dress-up corner playing grocery store and scanning bananas over the toy cash register. I didn’t understand why she was waving the fruit over the keys in that particular way rather than just punching in the dollars and cents amounts. Our next trip to Stew Leonard’s revealed the answer as the check-out clerk there used the same motion. “Smart kid, my daughter” I thought.

I’m trying! We of the Baby Boomers have adapted to answering machines, computers, cell phones and the like, each time protesting, “Who needs that?” before adapting and proclaiming their benefits.

I know I will master this new technology. I know that it’s important. I know I will make great connections and learn lots. But right now, I still don’t get it and am whiny and annoyed. However, I recognize that that’s my style and move forward anyway. I had a wonderfully generous twitter lesson on Friday from Miraim Salpeter who introduced me to tweetdeck. Now there’s a chirping sound coming from my laptop every few seconds as tweets come through along with notification of new followers and those I’m following.

This morning’s reading in Courage to Change, a daily inspirational book, ends with a quote by Confucius: It  does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

Unstoppable is my middle name.

When Meredith signed up for my Transformations through Transitions group this spring her goal was to bring her breast cancer story to the public’s attention.

She talked about creating an advisory board–more like a support posse–which stimulated Meredith’s drive to get help and share the journey. But the bigger challenge, the one she really wanted to be held accountable for, was to create a trailer for the documentary she’s having filmed throughout her experience.

Since I teach people how to set realistic goals, Meredith knew she was stretching the limits considering that she was  still showing up at commercial photography shoots  to do her styling work, plus continuing with her chemo treatments which are a job in themselves. Was it really realistic to also edit down the hours and hours of video footage to create this marketing tool?

Meredith walked into our session last Thursday on fire. She had the trailer completed! She showed it to our group. Watch it! It’s amazing! Not only that, Meredith has speaking engagements lined up, too, and networking events where she can meet others interested in publicizing this disease.

In addition, Meredith is putting out requests for others help and support. I offered to assist her in that endeavor. Here’s what you can do:

• Meredith will be speaking at a Relay for Life in Westport, CT on Friday, June 26.
• Watch the trailer. Click any of the highlighted trailer links in this post.
• Pass the trailer onto any and all interested parties.
• Send your healing prayers and thoughts to Meredith on June 18 when she will be undergoing her final chemo treatment. For three days after she experiences such toxicity in her body that she is only able to lie in the fetal position, closely watched by her favorite animals, and allows time to pass.

Each of us has lessons to learn at any given time in our lives. The Universe delivers opportunities often cloaked as annoyances or challenges calling us to take the next step in our development. It’s very easy for me to see and coach others’ growth edges. It’s not as easy for me to observe or negotiate my own.

First an easy (non-coaching) scenario: I attend a fellowship meeting in a building where several groups convene at the same time. There’s a particularly noisy crowd across the hall from my session. A colleague in my room was disturbed by its volume and said, “Would one of you go over there and ask them to close the door?” I responded that I wasn’t bothered by it, but if she was, she could deal with it. It was a clear-cut illustration of who owned the problem. It was hers to respond to.

What’s been repeatedly coming up for me these days (well, always really…)  is other people’s lateness. It’s a  boundary issue–clients calling 5-10 minutes late, canceling within the 24-hour time frame I request, and the no-show’s or excuse makers in groups that are dependent on all members’ compliance. When I have to deal with this ‘misbehavior’ I tense up.

I discussed this with my coach because I don’t like the feeling of being rigid or inflexible. It feels hard. I physically tighten up and I don’t like the sensation. Complicating this is an expression I’d love to live by: wear life like a loose garment. I’m trying to reconcile that approach with this uncomfortable internal intensity.

Michele reframed it for me. My stand for impeccability in the form of punctuality is a strength. It doesn’t work for me to have the container of my relationships, group or team compromised by others behavior.

What’s actually hard is my not owning the truth of it. It doesn’t work for me. Simple as that. Yet, I find it difficult to say those words. That’s my growing edge. To simply and clearly take a stand for what has meaning for me.

I know this. I teach this, and I forget it.

I just got this great mailer and wanted to share it for several reason. First, I recommend that all of my clients send out letters to their sphere of influence to let them know when something new is happening. It’s appropriate to do this when you’re  in any transition: starting a new phase of a business, between opportunities or re-creating yourself. First class mail has taken on new significance in this age of virtual marketing. I loved getting a hand-written note from a long-time friend and colleague.

When I was early in my egg-decorating career, Jack presented me the opportunity to have a one-woman show at the newly opened Brookfield Craft Center in South Norwalk. It put me on the map with a gala event and an article in the New York Times. I taught many classes at this renowned institution and shared conversation-filled dinners with Jack and Judith Russel in addition to other visiting craftsmen–a coveted invitation offered to their weekend faculty members.

So when I received this “warm letter” from Jack, it affirmed my belief in this practice. Jack was letting his sphere know what he was going on and what he was up to. I immediately picked up the phone to respond.

Jack had been with Brookfield Craft Center for 28 years. Now, at 61, he has the opportunity to make an enormous contribution elsewhere. I told him I, too, would keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities.

That’s the impact of reaching out and letting people know what’s going on. Action is the magic word.