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If you are an expert entrepreneur, you most certainly share how-to information with your audience, and not matter what your area of expertise is – financial, health and wellness, business or life coaching – or if you are an artist, musician or teacher, this simple (but huge) tip about confidence applies to you.

You’ve certainly heard that being seen as confident is important to stand out as a leader in your niche, to grow your client base and to attract more followers. But there are two kinds of confidence. There is confidence based on arrogance and confidence based on gratitude, and you have probably been in the proximity of both.

Confidence based on arrogance is obvious. Chances are you’ve experienced this at a conference or seminar where a speaker was operating from a place of arrogant confidence. You could probably sense an energy about that person that made you want to bolt out of the room. It was obvious that he or she was focused inward. I hope they notice how good I look and how smart I am. Ugh.

Confidence based on gratitude, on the other hand is quite the opposite. You have likely been around someone who made you feel that their focus was completely on you, that they had your best interests in mind. This is someone who calmly knows that they have knowledge or experience that can serve others and they feel grateful than they can be of service. Confidence based on gratitude is focused outwards. How can I best serve this audience? I’m so grateful that I can help.

So the tip is this. When creating marketing campaigns, products or programs – or when speaking in front of a live audience – ask this question of yourself. Am I making this about me or about them?

That’s it. Simple, but powerful.

Asking that question should be the practice of expert entrepreneurs, because it helps to steer your confidence towards gratitude, rather than arrogance. Because here’s the thing. Arrogant confidence repels, while grateful confidence attracts.

Yep. Simple, but huge, right?

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If you’re interested in spending time with women entrepreneurs who exude grateful confidence, you might want to join us in Italy next June on the Italy Retreat for Women Entrepreneurs 2013: Embracing Your Renaissance Spirit. It’s amazing! CLICK HERE

Have you ever thought about hosting your own retreat? Actually, a retreat is one of the best ways to define your unique brand.

As an expert entrepreneur, you probably already realize that creating a brand that sets you apart from others in your niche market is essential in order to take your business from good to extraordinary – as in “outside the ordinary”. A retreat is a terrific way to do exactly that.

Unfortunately, today people use the word retreat to describe virtually any kind workshop, seminar or conference. But a retreat is not your ordinary workshop – far from it.

A retreat is specifically defined as a quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax, and/or a period of seclusion for the purposes of prayer, meditation, etc. So when you combine your area of expertise with the framework of a retreat, you create a way to help your participants “unplug” (sometimes literally their iPhones, iPads and various other devices!) while at the same time providing a learning experience. The combination is what sets a retreat apart from other seminars and conferences, and this is where your unique branding comes in.

The more you stand out as unique in your market, the more attention you get and the more memorable you become. In markets that are saturated this is even more important – and that’s why a retreat is an ideal platform for your brand.

Retreats attract attention, because people are drawn to rest and relaxation – especially in today’s world. The idea of rest and relaxation combined with a learning experience in a particular setting (especially a beautiful one) is memorable. And the possibilities are endless: a fitness retreat on a beach in Hawaii, a writers’ retreat in the mountains of North Carolina, an artists’ retreat in the south of France, a retreat for women entrepreneurs in Italy (how could I not mention that one!).

The key is combining the concept of a retreat with your content. That’s it. Well, that’s not all of it, of course. There’s a lot of careful planning and organizing and researching that goes into hosting a retreat. But it all begins with combining the idea of rest and relaxation with a learning experience in your specific area of expertise. What a wonderful way to strengthen your unique brand and create an event for your clients that is beneficial – and unforgettable!

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Want to know about hosting your own retreat? Join me on Wednesday, August 8th for a free webinar, 5 Steps to Designing, Branding and Hosting Your Own Signature Retreat

Have you noticed the “mindset messages” aimed at us expert entrepreneurs lately? Mindset, as in how your thinking affects your business, and expert entrepreneurs, as in those of us who help others with how-to information in a specific niche market.

I’m going to preface my comments by stating that I’m a firm believer in the power of our thoughts – the ability that each of us holds to shape our own destiny by shifting our mindset. However, there is a specific mindset strategy being promoted these days that is frequently misunderstood and misused – and it can chip away at your integrity in a flash.

It’s the “act as if” strategy – an exercise that helps to put your mind in a state of abundance so that you attract – and notice – the possibilities before you. Basically, you act as if you already have the finances that you desire, the home that you want, the success that you wish to reach in your business, etc. The idea is that as you practice the “act as if” exercise you’ll move closer towards achieving these things that you desire, because you’ve put yourself in the right mindset.

That’s an abbreviated explanation, of course. You can google “act as if exercises” to know more details.

Here’s where the integrity issue comes in.

There are countless entrepreneurs today – I’m fairly certain you know some – who have stretched the exercise into real life. They pretend to have more clients that they actually have, more money than they actually make and more materials possessions than they actually posses. And that’s when a helpful exercise turns into an integrity stealer. (Renting or borrowing an expensive car to use in marketing photos or videos (implying it’s yours) has become very popular – seriously?)

Here’s the thing. Integrity is precious, and you should be protecting yours at all costs. Once it’s been compromised – once people perceive you as a fake – there’s no turning back. So there’s an important something that you might use to balance “acting as if”. It’s called “celebrating what is” and, as an expert entrepreneur, it can be a powerful practice  of integrity in your business.

Here are a few specific ways that you might practice celebrating what is:

• Be transparent: Allow clients to see your flaws. Purposefully point out some imperfections or, better yet, have a good laugh over them! That doesn’t mean that you should go overboard by revealing every skeleton in your closet, but it does mean that when you are appropriately “real”, people will feel your humanity, and be drawn to it,
• Share your mistakes. Pretending that entrepreneurship has been a stroll  in the park for you won’t attract customers. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Share your mistakes – and (very importantly) how you learned from them – and potential clients will identify with you. Plus, when you share specifics about how you overcame obstacles, that’s a  powerful marketing message!
• Let go of envy. Acting as if you’re further along in your practice that you really are usually stems from plain old ugly envy. Look, we’ve all experienced that feeling from time to time. The key is to counteract it immediately by purposefully letting go of it. Shift your negative thoughts to kindness, imagine it dissipating in your mind, or just take a moment to breathe and get present.
• Walk your talk. It’s as simple as that. Do what you say you’re going to do. It’s easy to get caught up in what you’re seeing other entrepreneurs doing – even if it’s against your better judgment. (I know this one first hand!). So a simple question you might ask yourself from time to time is, “What would my mom say?” For many of us, that little reality check is all it takes.

That fact is, your clients and potential clients are already on alert for the phony baloney stuff. Most are proceeding with caution before they invest in products and programs because all of us have been bamboozled (such a great word) at one time or another, right? What a terrible feeling! So when the people in your niche market find someone like you, someone who shows up with integrity in her business – who doesn’t pretend to be something she isn’t – they breath a sigh of relief. And they become your loyal clients and customers. The kind that money can’t possibly buy.

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Speaking of celebrating things, the Italy Retreat for Women Entrepreneurs 2013 is now open for early-bird enrollment! You’ll save $1,000 and you can choose installment payments if you’d like! Act now … this offer is limited time only! http://theitalyretreat.com

You’ve probably noticed, that many business coaches and marketing gurus suggest performing a January, start-of-the-year business analysis to get clear on where you are now in your business, and how you might grow and improve in the upcoming year. Since January tends to be a really busy time for me with projects and programs in full swing, I prefer June for my in-depth, business reflection time.

A big part of business reflection is financial, of course: What was your profit over the past year? Should you raise your prices? What is your financial goal? Financial analysis is important, but that’s just a part of the picture.

Specifically, where might you tighten things up this year?

There are 3 areas that I reflect on in terms of “tightening up”. Tightening up simply means strategically making things better and more efficient so that my business runs more smoothly and is in alignment with where I want to be.

1. Your Market. Tighten up your market by being very specific about your ideal client. Do you market to both men and women? Just women? What age? What interests? The clearer you become about your ideal client, the more ideal clients you’ll attract. Tightening your ideal client profile should be an ongoing process – something that you do on an annual or bi-annual basis as you expand your business.

2. Your Message. As an entrepreneur with a specific area of expertise, how you describe what you do and package what you do should be also be tightened on a recurring basis. Are your products and programs in alignment with what you do best? Are clients and potential clients clear about what you offer? Take some time to reflect on and tighten your products, programs and campaigns so that your business vision is stronger and clearer all the time.

3. Your Marketing. How do you promote your work to your ideal market? Newsletters? Video campaigns? Live events? Tightening your marketing campaigns on an annual or bi-annual basis is crucial to the expansion of your business. Technology and trends  change rapidly so it’s important that you consistently tighten your marketing strategies to keep up with the times, weed out what’s not working and improve on what is.

Although there are dozens of other areas that you might include on your annual “tighten things up” list, your market, your message and your marketing are essential to expanding your expert empire, and keeping your passion and purpose in focus as you grow your business.

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The cornetto strategy is one of the greatest factors in ensuring that you stand out as a leader your niche. In fact, when you apply the cornetto strategy, people will be spreading the word about you and your products and programs and, as we all know, word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow your business.

So what exactly is the cornetto strategy? Watch the video to know more …