Andrea's Journal
for April 2007
Please start at the
top of this page and read down.
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I'M CHANGING CAREERS...
BUT MAKING THE TRANSITION SLOWLY
April 2, 2007
I'm not retiring - I'm too young and
hope to never retire - but after decades of working with people
who want fame and fortune, I've decided to do something different.
I feel called to be an advocate for people in crisis, particularly
people who have been bullied by those in authority. I'm using
my skills as an investigative journalist to write
letters that resolve an issue. I'm like a dog with an old
sock: I won't let go until I win for my clients.
Some clients can afford to pay me for
my work; most cannot. So I must find a source of income. I don't
know exactly how I will earn an income, but I trust that it will
work out. I'm hoping to sell advice
columns, how-to manuals, and self-help books
and booklets I've written, conduct workshops
and seminars and give talks. Here are some topics I'd like
to speak on:
These are the issues that I have always
been passionate about, and in some instances I have had personal
experience.... which gives me credibility. I'll be moving into
this arena gradually, say by 2008.
Your response?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO
HELP ME HELP OTHERS?
April 3, 2007
Here's how you can help me help those
in serious crisis:
1. Recommend me to people in crisis that
nobody else seems to be able to or willing to help, and they
have tried everything they can think of. I have been successful
using creative persuasion where lawyers and private investigators
have not.
2. Buy a book,
booklet, manual from me - I'm learning how to digitize my
publications so they are more easily distributed and are more
affordable to purchase.
3. Sponsor a
page on my web site: $30 for a year, individual or business.
4. List your full page speaker profile
on Commission-Free Speakers
for a year for $39.
5. Send your spare change or non-money
"money" (unused US postage stamps- any denomination,
Canadian Tire money, unexpired grocery coupons) to my foundation
to help needy people: Andrea Reynolds, PO Box 1106, Lewiston
NY 14092 USA; or Andrea Reynolds, 359 Geneva Street, Ste.
401, St. Catharines Ontario L2N 2G5 Canada
Your response?
WHY CAN'T YOU TELL
ME WHAT YOU WANT?
April 4, 2007
Every day I receive phone
calls and emails from speakers, coaches, columnists, consultants
and practitioners who spend a good amount of time telling me
about themselves or short emails asking me to visit their web
sites. Why? I don't know. They don't tell me. Either they think
I'm psychic or they don't know how to articulate what they want.
These aren't stupid people. Most of them have earned a Ph.D.
or a Master's degree! To be honest, it comes across to me as
being rather egotistical: "Look at me; aren't I great?"
If you were that great you wouldn't be contacting me now, would
you?
I ask them directly:
"How can I help you?" or "What would you like
me to help you accomplish?" I don't get an answer that serves
any purpose. Finally I ask: "Which of my services would
you like to start with?" Their non-answers tell me they
haven't read my FAQ or even looked at my web site. They don't
seem to know whether they want to write a syndicated column,
to speak more, consult more, or host a radio or TV show. They
don't have a clue about how much money they want to earn or where
they want to be in 5 years. Or even what their budget is to hire
me.
If you don't know where
you want to go, how do you expect me to help you get there? Are
you waiting for me to tell you what your life sin the future
should be? You're going to have a long wait, I'm afraid. If trying
to get you to tell me what you want is this difficult, you're
not going to persuade me to work with you.
What I need to hear
from you is (take
your pick):
- I need your guidance
in making a plan (strategy) to build a consulting empire that
earns me $500,000 a year. My budget is: $ ____.
- I want your advice by
phone on a weekly basis to help me solve fee setting and cash
flow problems in my practice. My budget is: $ ____.
- I want your help in
negotiating book, speaking, and column/article contracts as they
come in so I don't give away too much and get paid what I deserve.
My budget is:
- I want a plan that will
attract paid speaking engagements to me without having to solicit
them. My budget is: $ ____.
- I want to order some
materials that will teach me what I want to know so I can build
my advice empire on my own. My budget is: $ ____.
If you want my marketing
assistance you're going to have to get clear in your mind about
what you want, tell me what it is, have a reasonable budget,
and have reasonable expectations of your own potential.
Your response?
COMMISSION-FREE SPEAKERS
April 5, 2007
I receive so many requests
from authors who want me to be their speaker agent. Most have been speaking for free and want me
to get them more speaking engagements that pay nothing. What
they need is not an agent, but a public relations campaign to
attract invitations to speak (for payment) and a speaker advocate
to negotiate increasing higher speaking fees and contract terms
for them.
I have offered PR
campaigns, contract negotiations,
my DIY how-to books on marketing-yourself-as-a-speaker,
speaker contract templates and critiques; but for some reason
I don't understand, they don't want any of those.
So I'm offering one very affordable service
- an online speaker directory - that will promote known and unknown
speakers at any fee they want to charge with no commission payable
to me. For $39 a year I will post a very lengthy - two
page - speaker profile with all your contact info on my web site
- Commission-Free Speakers.
Compare this to other services and you'll find that your profile
will be considerably longer and the fee you'll pay much smaller.
The best I've seen elsewhere is $99 a year for one paragraph
with no contact info provided. So I think you'll find this is
a good deal and.... if you can't afford $39 a year to promote
yourself to generate possibly 1000 times that amount and more
you may need to rethink your career as a speaker!
Will you get paid speaking engagements
from your speaker profile? That mostly depends on you.
I will be promoting the Commisssion-Free Speakers Directory
to meeting planners because I will be actively promoting myself
as a speaker. All I can do is bring them to the web site's roster;
the rest is up to you. (The directory web site is being transformed
and will be ready April 15, 2007.)
If you give me lots of useful information
to post in your profile, get it to me quickly, have a good demo
of your presentation, have good credentials, have a track record,
have good audience evaluations, and if you respond to requests
quickly, you may receive bookings. If you're passive and do nothing
to promote yourself and your profile on Commission-Free
Speakers you probably won't get any invitations to speak.
It's that simple.
I heartily recommend you use - exploit
- the potential of this directory
and all the resources
it offers you. The membership fees are not going to make me rich;
It would take 128 speaker profiles - an hour dedicated to helping
each speaker - to pay me as much as I would receive for giving
one of my talks. So this directory is to help YOU. You never
know what the visibility could bring you. Try it... but least
read the front page.
Your response?
HOW TO RAISE CAPITAL
FROM PRIVATE INVESTORS FOR BOOK PUBLISHING PROJECTS
April 6, 2007
This is a topic that
came up recently on the National Writer's Union book forum. As
I have personally raised $30,000 from private investors for a
book publishing project, I'm in a good position to help others
do the same for their books. So I've decided to teach a one day
seminar online on Monday
May 21. I'm calling
it the Angel Attraction Seminar... "angel" referring
to the private investors, not the heavenly beings, although it
wouldn't hurt to have those in your corner as well.
In the seminar each student
will receive not only the 3 documents I wrote to convince investors
and receive their pledges of $1,000 a piece, but also a free
speaker profile on the Commission-Free
Speakers International Directory described above. You'll also receive the news
release I wrote that captured the attention of the media and
investors.
But the 3 most important
parts are:
- The 67 pages of documents
you will need to satisfy your investors and the SEC.
- My step-by-step instructions
and answers to your questions.
- The intelligent questions
your classmates will ask, and answers, that will support you.
Your investment for the
seminar in $199.00 per person or you could also just buy the
Angel Attraction
Kit for $399.00.
Which is the better deal for you?
Your response?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO
OWN SHARES IN MY NEXT BOOK PUBLISHING PROJECT?
April 7, 2007
On my way back from grocery shopping
today it occured to me that I could combine 1) my year-long
Advice Empire program (see the home
page too) which will help me produce and self-publish my
book and 2) my seminar on attracting private
investors (see the journal entry above). I practice what
I preach.
If you want to know how this will work,
ask me.
So not only will I be helping you
generate an income of $500,000 a year (eventually) but I'm also
providing a way for you to receive your investment back. And with money like that coming to you, wouldn't
you be motivated to promote the book with me? (Did I mention
you could be in the book?) Would this bonus inspire you
to be one of the 10 to register for the
program?
Your response?
PIGGYBACK COLUMN MARKETING
April 9, 2007
There will be an opening
in our current column marketing campaign for one columnist as
of end of this month. For one-half of the current rate per month, your column will
be marketed to 3,000 newspapers over the next 9 months. If you're
interested, please contact me no later than April 15, so I can
get a copy of the manual to you and work with your column proposal
so your column can be ready for marketing by May 1.
Your response?
HOUSEKEEPER POSITION
April 10, 2007
I've been advertising
a housekeeper
position on this
web site for a few weeks. I did this because I've had many obstacles
to deal with on the homefront and haven't been able to get as
much work done as I need to. I need someone who can handle the
domestic chores in my home. I was serious about offering free
room and board and a percentage of my income to someone nearby
who is competent and intelligent and just needs a hand at starting
her/his life over. But the replies I've been receiving are disappointing.
All the responses have come from the US - which requires immigrating
to Canada - and include those from a convicted felon and a sexual
pervert. None has any housekeeping qualifications. One of my
neighbors has suggested I hire a nanny from the Philippines.
That doesn't work for me. So I have decided to scrap the housekeeper
idea; I thought it would be a kind gesture that would also benefit
me, but I was wrong. No more responses please. I'm going ahead
with my plan to sell
my condo and
move on.
Your response?
FREE SPEAKER PROFILE
(TODAY ONLY)
April 10, 2007
Most of the pages of
the Commission-Free
Speakers Directory
are complete, except for the speaker profiles. While I work on
them, it will be easy to add a few more profiles before April
15. If you are a speaker and would like a free speaker profile
($39 value) for a year, you must do the following:
- Send me your acceptance
(Yes) by the end of today, April 10, 2007. Later will not be
accepted. You must contact me today only.
- Send me your completed
Speaker
Data Sheet no
later than April 14.
- This offer does not
include the member-speaker
discussion forum.
Send your profile data
no later than April 14, please, because I'm giving you this "deal"
so your profile will be posted by April 15, the day we are officially
open for business. The idea is to have a number of speaker
profiles posted
so it doesn't look too bare.
Your response?
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