NaturalMarketingSystem

Get that book written

The one downside to the great opportunity I had when speaking at the Invest in Property show at Earl's Court, London, last weekend was that I didn't have my book available to sell. This is a book entitled "The Advantages of Real Estate" to which I've contributed a chapter, along with 10 or 11 other authors. My chapter is entitled "The Myths & Misconceptions of Real Estate".

The book was due out a couple of months ago but it's been severely delayed due to two of the authors being late with their submissions. This is particulary irritating because the whole reason I decided to contribute a chapter was so that I'd have a deadline on which others were relying. That way, I thought it would force me to get it done, as I've found the hardest part of writing is getting motivated if there's no external deadline. My thinking was that I wouldn't want to let the other authors down by being late.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the same qualms because the two late submitting authors delayed the entire project. At this point I've already missed two ideal sales opportunities, one at the Homebuyers at Excel where I spoke last month and the one this weekend at Invest in Property.

The thing is, if I'd disciplined myself, I probably could have had my own book done by now, if I'd have kept going after writing that chapter! Ho hum! We live and learn. Guess what I'm off to continue doing now...

Speaking at Invest in Property Show

Last Friday (13th!), Saturday and Sunday I hauled myself up to London each day to speak at the Invest in Property Show at Earl's Court. Unfortunately for the show, it fell on the hottest weekend of the year so far which meant it wasn't as well attended as it could have been but I was over-the-moon that all three of my talks were packed out. This was especially satisfying since the guy who was on before me on the Sunday (a particularly quiet day at the show) didn't even bother speaking as nobody showed up!

I do enjoy speaking at shows like this for many reasons, which I've listed here because I would urge anyone in business to get out there and get speaking engagements at events that fall into their niche. Here's why I do it:

- it raises my profile and looks great when I can list these events on my promo materials;
- every time I speak, even though I've been doing it for many years, I feel I'm improving my presentation skills;
- I love the appreciation I get from audience members when I share my knowledge;
- you never know who is in the audience and what other business can come from the contacts you make;
- the great questions from the audience make you work and exercise your intelligence muscles (if you want to learn something more deeply, teach someone else);
- it's a great opportunity to actually sell.

On the last item, I've already now booked up 3 property mentorships with me on the back of these talks, so it was certainly worth the train fare and my time getting up to London.  All in all, it probably cost me around £130 for this publicity (and a large chunk of that was payment for the 3 x Kir Royales I enjoyed at The Metropolitan in Park Lane whilst waiting to meet Marilyn Manson - but that's another story). What other great marketing (with lucrative sales) could you buy for this small amount?

Learn to present on your subject and get out there and do it!

Randy Gage & Agel

Boy oh boy, am I excited?!!!

I'm due to head off to the Professional Speakers' Convention at the beginning of November which, in itself, is exciting enough, but I must tell you.....

A couple of weeks ago I returned from a few days of travelling, giving talks on property investment, to find an email from one of the organisers of the convention asking if anyone would be able and willing to collect Randy Gage from the airport and bring him to the convention.

Now for anyone who doesn't know who Randy Gage is (in other words, those of you who've been hiding under a rock for the last few years), he's a massively successful speaker, financial freedom thinker, author and network marketing trainer. 

Since the email was already 3 days old, I felt sure someone would have already grabbed the opportunity, but thought I'd respond anyway.  I was both astonished and delighted to receive a favourable response.  I couldn't believe it!  Randy was still "available"!

You know, people never fail to amaze me.  There's an opportunity to spend 2-3 hours with an absolute monster of success and to have him ALL TO YOURSELF, and nobody had gone for it 3 days later.  You might say "well, it's okay for you, you live down south near the airports".  OK, so I do, but if I'd been living up north, I tell you now, I would have gone hundreds of miles out of my way to get this chance.  Randy's private coaching costs $1,000s an hour, after all.

I'm extra excited because Randy, who had retired from MLM, came out of retirement to join Agel, which is the company I joined just a couple of months ago when they launched in the UK.  Me and my team are already having massive success, the likes of which I've never seen with a network marketing company before, but with some advice from Randy Gage..... world domination, here we come!

Oh, I almost forgot, on 6 November, Randy's giving a presentation in London for us on the Agel opportunity so you could actually get to see him speak for FREE that evening.

Email me soon, though, if you want to book and come along.

Ted Nicholas & Thunderstorms

We're having terrific thunderstorms here in the South East of England right now and I love them.  Why?  I think it's because they scare me.

Does that make sense?  I guess it will make perfect sense to anyone who's ever gone on a fairground ride specifically because it was billed as 'the most frightening ride of your life'.

Why do we do these things?  Why did Steve Irwin feel exhilirated by dicing with the planet's deadliest animals when he could have chosen to keep guinea pigs?

Is it because it's these things that make us feel truly alive?  I suspect so.

Recently, I found an old journal of mine from about 17 years ago (when I was obviously VERY young - ahem).  There was an entry in there about how I believed that we were only truly living when we were at the high and the low points and the bits in between were only existing. I also said that it was okay, even necessary, to have the low points because only then could we appreciate the high points.

So I guess my food for thought for you this weekend is to ask you whether you're really living or only existing?  The choice is yours to make.

Do you want to tiptoe through life and hope to get safely to death or do you plan to actually live this life?  Only you can make that decision.

Last weekend, I was privileged to be at an event with someone who's already had a very full life and is still living it to the full and that's the legendary marketing genius, Ted Nicholas (here we are together).  It was wonderful to see him speaking and I agreed with everyone of the sentiments he included in his handout, all of which began with the words 'If I could live my life over again...'

I've picked out some of my favourites to share with you:

'...I would take more risks as I've realized I regret far more what I haven't done in my life than what I have done'

'...I would have read more books and attended more seminars by the masters of their subjects'

'... I would never say if I could live my life over again. It's never too late to really start living. I plan to take each and every action I've so longed to take.'

Ted also said that an essential skill that everyone must master is public speaking and I agree with that, too.  How does this relate to the subject of living life to the full? 
Well, in three ways, really...

1.  It's one of those things that people put off doing and then end up wishing they'd done years ago because it has such a huge positive impact on every area of their lives,

2.  It's one of those things that pushes people out of their comfort zone so they're really living, and

3.  When you master this skill, your words can change hearts and minds. 

Can you imagine holding an audience in the palm of your hand for over 2 hours? 

That's what Ted did and I know he touched many hearts and minds in that audience and there will be those whose lives will have changed as a result.  Ted knows this and that's why he said that public speaking is an essential skill.
 
Not only will the mastery of presenting mean you will live life to the full, but you can help others to do so too.  Your words, when delivered with power, passion and pazzazz, truly can change lives.

Join me on 19 & 20 October at a London Heathrow Hotel for two days that will give you the knowledge and confidence to do just that.  Hurry, because places are going fast and the earlybird special is still on (for now).  Click through to Presentations Training course details.

Free Teleseminar

I've just booked to give another presentation of my very popular teleseminar "Overcoming The Barriers To Great Presentations".  It's a free event , you just have to make sure you go through the booking process to get the phone number and PIN you'll need to enter on the day.

It will take place on Monday, 11 September at 7pm GMT (that's 2pm EST & 11am PST), and all you need is a phone line capable of calling a US number.  The class will be approximately 60 minutes in length.

During the class, we’ll look at the doubts and fears that plague both professional and amateur speakers. You’ll learn the techniques the professionals use to overcome these barriers.  In addition, we’ll look at what you can do before, during and after every talk to hone the skills that will make you a truly memorable presenter.  Phew!  All that for free.

SIGN UP NOW

And feel free to share this information with others you know who will be interested in improving their confidence and growing their businesses.

A New Website to Build the Brand

Things are pretty exciting chez Maria right now because I've finally completed work on a website focused on one of my two speaking niches - property investment.

Women in Property Investment (WiPi) now boasts book reviews, resources for property investors, a great discussion forum, property investment speakers and more.  It'll work hand-in-hand with my presentations/naturally marketing yourself site to both establish and market my personal niche and brand.  If you take a look at both sites:

www.naturalmarketingsystem.com

www.womeninpropertyinvestment.com

you should notice certain similarities.  Although they're completely different sites, the colour scheme and the "feel" is the same - take a look.

So here's what you need to consider: 

• what are your niches within your niche (beware of creating too many or you'll split your focus and muddy the waters when trying to tell people what you're about)
• what is the look and feel you need to create (this includes colours, fonts, layout, page size, etc.)

Then, I suggest you get feedback from others.  Get them to take a look and let you know whether the marketing materials convey the same message and are recognizable as being a part of your brand.

Websites are a great starting point because they can be easily changed and easy for people to view and give you instant feedback.  Once you start shelling out for printed materials, you're much less likely to chuck it all out and start again if it's not quite right, so use your website as your testing ground.

Oh and, by the way, let's have your feedback on my sites please!

One Minute Presentations

This morning, I attended a BNI (Business Network International) breakfast meeting, standing in for a good friend who was unable to make it.  It involves a pretty early start - 6.45am!!  Which, for me, requires a 5.30am rise (the time taken to get ready increases with age, I find).

The aim of the meeting is that each of the members gets to give a 1 minute presentation stating:

• what their business does
• why people should do business with them
• what sort of business referral they're looking for this week

The idea behind BNI is a sound one - that everyone has a chance to get to know, like and trust each other and find out how they can refer clients to each other's business.

It's also a perfect example of how learning to give an impactful presentation - even for just 1 minute - can make a HUGE difference to the amount of business you can get.

I have no doubt at all that none of the attendees this morning think of themselves as presenters, but the fact is that everyone in business is both a presenter and a salesperson.

So if you're resisting learning how to market yourself by learning to give EFFECTIVE sales presentations because you like to think you don't need to present, get over it and learn. It's a skill that will not only remain with you forever but the training will pay for itself many times over in increased business.

Look out for an announcement of my next Powerful Persuasive Presentations Seminar COMING SOON!

Here's what some of my previous delegates said:

"I had high expectations. This weekend really did deliver more than I expected in every way"

"Valuable secrets into the tricks and techniques great presenters use to deliver inspiring presentations.  Maria shared these freely and honestly"

"The feedback session on each presentation was particularly valuable in understanding ways to improve"

Re-branding Expansion

If you've arrived here because you usually visit my blog and read about presenting (and nothing else) you're in for a real treat from now on because I've expanded my offerings to include many more methods of marketing and promotion, other than just promoting your business from the platform (although I still think everyone should be doing that too, especially if it's also a way of expanding your comfort zone).

So, I'm going through something of a rebrand and Phew! there's so much to do, isn't there?  It's exciting, though, not least because I know that the expanded marketing brand will have a wider appeal and that means I get to network, affiliate and make friends with a wider group of people with many varied interests.

So as a welcome to the Natural Marketing System - let me extend to you an invitation to join the email discussion group which exists to discuss and share experiences of the different methods of marketing that work best for each individual. 

I anticipate this will include discussions on promoting through all of the following methods:

• your ultimate goals
• presenting
• writing
• brand creation
• USP & expert status creation
• website creation & promotion
• product creation
• your marketing materials

I've invited some experts in the various areas to contribute, so feel free to ask for help and support, as well as providing your own opinions and advice on any issues that arise.

To subscribe, just send a blank email to: 
naturalmarketingsystem-subscribe@googlegroups.com

You can also post comments on any of the topics in this blog, so go on, add it to your regular feeds and let me know what you think on what you're seeing and hearing.

Welcome

Welcome to the Natural Marketing System Blog