1st Fridayz Wrap-up and Resources

Yesterday was the Women’s eCommerce Association Monthly 1stFridayz™ event and we had some amazing guests. First up was Ken Himmler, author, professional speaker and wealth advisor, who shared some excellent tips about how to create our financial blueprint, how to set purposeful goals, how to prepare, manage and measure how well our financial people are doing for us. He also shared some of the differences between financial advisors, stock brokers, and insurance advisors (a full list is in his book). When deciding who to work with, he told us it all depends on our needs; did you know for instance that fiduciary requirements only pertain to certain professionals but not everyone in the financial industries?

He gave us some great resources including finding out more about potential professionals we want to work with by searching the FPA – Financial Planners Association. And if you still prefer to do your own financial planning instead of hiring a professional Ken suggests you invest in a financial planning software program – Money Guide Pro which is a goal based planning tool. Ken also generously donated several copies of his book Live Rich and Stay Wealthy for Women. You had to attend to get a copy or you can go to Live Rich and Stay Wealth for your own copy and for more information about Ken and his team of professionals at IAM Wealth Management.

Next up was Cheree Warrick of The Profit Partner and she gave tons of great advice on how to Grow a Six Figure Business in 12 Months or less. Some of the things she suggest are:

Have a strong team including a
Mentor, a Virtual Assistant and either a Mastermind Group or Accountability Partner
Find Clients by networking, speaking and Writing – Be a Radio guest – she told the audienct that there are 10,000 guest spots available daily on radio in the
US alone and also suggested we check out Alex Carroll’s program. Go to www.radiopublicity.com He’s the expert on how to Get Rich and Become Famous …Being A Guest on Big Radio Shows.
She mentioned several great books that every business owner should read. They are Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Cash Flow Quadrant by Guy Kawaski , Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port and “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazi , (I also suggested you sign up for his blog feeds – he shares a great networking tip every few days at http://nevereatalone.typepad.com/

Wrapping up the program was Judy Davids Founder of the Mydols and Author of Rock Star Mommy. Judy talked about how she became a Rock Star Mommy including learning to play guitar at 42. She shared with us that her goal was not to learn guitar, it was to be a Rock Star! She told us about her first gig, how they came up the name of the band – The Mydols – how she has gotten national publicity and more. Some of the take-aways for me included: 1. Set your sights high. 2. Don’t be afraid to take a big risk. 3. Never underestimate the power of your network. 3. Paying your dues can pay off in big ways. 4. Don’t be too critical of yourself. 5. Follow your passion. And BELIEVE in YOURSELF! This was a wonderful program filled with inspiration and great advice. And it was fun!

Judy was just a delight and for a short time you can listen to the audio. I suggest you grab your copy today and either listen or download – the link will only be available for a week!

In between our sessions we had a Twitter Lesson. Roy Montero the SEO Guy shared some great Twitter tips and showed us how we can use it. The first thing he suggested is that we go and get our names before they are gone. I was slightly ahead of him because I got mine in February. The trouble was I wasn’t sure what to do with it! Yesterday I also grabbed a couple more Twitter accounts for the Women’s eCommerce Association and for my Florist. I am going to use these to post small chunks of info that people can read and click on the links for more.

Roy is doing a few case studies to help others get on Twitter. The conversation was so interesting. Roy’s goal is to make Twitter Celebrities out of his following. In fact, we were trying to come up with a word like the one used to describe Web Celebrities or “weblebrities.” I suggested “Celebritweet” and hurried over to WECAI Domains to buy it! At
Roy’s suggestion, of course J. So you heard it here first! I strongly suggest you follow Roy Montero and learn what he knows about Twitter and is so willing to share. He will help you become a Celebritweet too. Feel free to follow me at Twitter/HeidiRichards too! In fact, right after I post this to my blog, I am going to post a few words (that’s all you get on twitter) with a link to this post so everyone who was unable to attend can read about our April 1^st Fridayz™. Then I’m going to find a few more people to stalk ( I mean, follow).