January evokes a renewed sense of purpose and direction.  Invigorated from the festive season break, it’s the perfect time to innovate, set exhilarating goals and start strategising for the year ahead.  A great place to start is to review your publicity campaigns.  Traditional public relations strategies are no longer yielding results so as the new year descends, get creative and embrace new modes of connecting with your community.

Do-it-yourself PR doesn’t need to be complicated.  Follow these 5 simple tips and you’ll be attracting attention to your business in no time.

Second month of the year, and I’m almost bursting out of my skin with renewed vitality and energy.  Throughout the January raw dare challenge, many people commented that they could actually see the difference in me. 

February is bustling with energy; kids started back at school; moving interstate; de-cluttering, and forging ahead with a crystal clear direction of where I’m heading for 2012 and beyond.

This month, I ponder the question of whether technology and social media has rendered the ‘Art of Conversation’ redundant.  So, throughout February, I’ll be personally calling 290 people; that’s an average of 10 calls every single day.  I’m committed to upping the stakes of connection – emails, SMS and status updates (while fun and informative) just don’t constitute true communication.  Let’s pick up the phone and start speaking with each other.

Join me…commit to logging off (after you’ve read this issue of course), and make at least three calls. Let’s work together to bring back the ‘Art of Conversation’.

…I dare you

Tania

PS:  Click here to ‘like’ our Facebook page throughout February and receive a special gift valued at $297.

Is social media driving global democracy or creating a generation of self-absorbed narcissists more interested in changing their profile picture on Facebook than participating in a human rights protest?

I was thinking about my Facebook addicted teenagers and pondering this question with an old acquaintance, when he declared, in no uncertain terms, that kids in their teens and early twenties were ‘sheep‘ and social media was, in fact, just an example of the ’inauthenticity and self absorption‘ of kids today.

He’s just a boring old punk who spent his twenties squatting in London, thumbing his nose at Thatcher during her 1980’s regime, who doesn’t know how to use a mobile phone but, I had to concede, he wasn’t the first I had heard accuse Gen Y of  complacency. It’s little wonder those looking down on the Net Generation from the skeptical Gen X pantheon of anarchic old punks, have eyed them somewhat suspiciously, so far.

But change is in the air. Social media, driven by those in their teens and early twenties, is globalizing democracy. More than just a broadcast tool, social media’s magnetic force is globalizing fervent social media activism. The global ‘Occupy’ movement is inspiring our self conscious youth to dare ask questions about the way their world is run. Frustrated by the political game-playing and turmoil exacerbating international economic, environmental, welfare, indigenous and refugee problems, young people worldwide are finding a voice. The growing gap between the majority of people and those with decision making power is in question.  By amplifying opinion, Facebook and other forms of social media are, far from creating complacency, igniting a global crusade.

Equipped with pocket sized digital media, the savvy Net Generation filmed a global revolution as it unfolded in Egypt and Tunisia and civil war erupted in Libya and Syria last December.

Erin* is an Australian nanotechnology student and aspiring astronaut who uses social media to advocate social reform – in other words, she’s an activist. Last month she and fellow activists spent Australia’s national holiday journeying through the desert to protest the detention of under eighteen asylum seekers at a remote outback immigration detention centre.

Her deep concerns at the state of society have found a boisterous platform on Facebook where she and friends from all over the world can passionately articulate their discontent and disengagement over globally pertinent social and economic issues in fiery online exchanges.

This display of intellect, courage and conviction should be applauded; after all, a social conscience is a good thing, right? The perplexing thing is that Erin has a police record. Her crime? Exercising her democratic right to freedom of speech in a peaceful march on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia last year under the banner ‘justice and climate action: not racism and war’.

Er, hang on; Australia is still a free country, right?

A recent Fairfax newspaper article reported that a private intelligence company had begun working under contract for the Australian Federal Police and the federal Attorney-General’s Department to monitor activist websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter to provide warning and analysis of protest activity.

Censorship and manipulation of social media not only muffle the smart voices of young people but create further disengagement with Governments that can only benefit by using social media to gain vital feedback on policy.

Social network tools like Facebook have the potential to globalize democracy, but if our young are censored through government intimidation, then, like that boring old punk said, we could find ourselves faced with a global society of sheep, after all. 

 *not her real name

Tierri Abraham is a freelance writer and researcher who has worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines and is an education writer for Quadrant Productions Media and Education. She is presently studying a Bachelor of Secondary Education majoring in writing, social studies and history. She is also a mother of four.

Wallace D. Wattles: 1860 – February, 7 1911

“There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty.”

Before Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’; before the prosperity teachings of Robert Schuller or Anthony Robbins; well before the worldwide sensation of Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret’, was the man and the book that laid the foundations for them all.

Over one hundred years ago, an uneducated farm labourer from Illinois transformed his life and his fortune.  He became a prosperous writer, and in one of his books, ‘The Science of Getting Rich’, he shared a practical, step-by-step process by which anyone, from any lot in life, could become wealthy, too.

Wallace D. Wattles was the pioneer metaphysical wealth strategist.  Through personal study and experimentation he discovered what he called the ‘Certain Way’ which, if practiced precisely and unfailingly, simply guarantees wealth. Wattles unlocked the secret of what we know today as the ‘Law of Attraction’.

His Story

Not much is known about Wallace D. Wattles’ life, except that before he became a wealthy and prolific writer, he was a penniless labourer stuck in a cycle of poverty, failure and defeat.

How did Wattles break the cycle? According to his daughter, “He [simply] saw himself as a successful writer, a personality of power, an advancing man, and he began to work toward the realization of his vision."

Wattles discovered, through personal study and experimentation, that by combining positive thinking with action and gratitude, and by unfailingly following what he called the ‘Certain Way’, any person could become rich – no matter what their current situation.

Wattles generously shared the principles and step-by-step instructions for becoming wealthy in ‘The Science of Getting Rich’, published in 1910.  Less than a year later, he died.

His Legacy

“Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.”

Wallace D. Wattles set the foundation for modern day prosperity thought leaders; he personally demonstrated that wealth was attainable for anyone if they put their minds to achieving it; he proved what is known today as the ‘Law of Attraction’.

Rhonda Byrne, creator of ‘The Secret’ and the modern day wealth-by-positive-thinking guru, once told Oprah Winfrey that Wattles’ book ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ “gave me a glimpse of ‘The Secret’.  It was like a flame inside my heart.  […] Something inside of me had me turn the pages one by one, and I can still remember my tears hitting the pages as I was reading it.”

Powerful.  Enduring.  Proven.  Wattles’ scientific wealth attraction theories and practices continue to bring riches to countless individuals from every walk of life.

"The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way. Those who do things in this certain way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich. Those who do not do things in this certain way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor. It is a natural law that like causes always produce like effects. Therefore, any man or woman who learns to do things in this certain way will infallibly get rich.’

Top 7 Lessons learned from the ‘original’ wealth strategist

1. Don’t feel guilty about wanting to be rich
   “Whatever may be said in praise of poverty, the fact remains that it is not possible to live a really complete or successful life unless one is rich. You cannot rise to your greatest possible height in talent or soul development unless you have plenty of money. For to unfold your soul and to develop talent you must have many things to use, and you cannot have these things unless you have money with which to buy them."
2. Think about what you want
   “A person can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.”
3. Be clear about what you want
   “You must know what you want, and be definite. You can never get rich, or start the creative power into action, by sending out unformed longings and vague desires.”
   “The more clear and definite you make your picture then, and the more you dwell upon it, bringing out all its delightful details, the stronger your desire will be.”
4. Remain resolutely focused on what you want
   “It is by your will that you determine upon what things your attention shall be fixed.”
   “The Creative Power within us makes us into the image of that to which we give our attention.”
5. Take action for what you want
   “By thought the thing you want is brought to you.  By action you receive it.”
   “…you must not rely upon thought alone, paying no attention to personal action.”
6. Adopt a ‘Mental Attitude of Ownership’
   “Think and speak of all things you have asked for in terms of actual present ownership”.
   “One must persistently visualize oneself as being, doing or having whatever one wants.”
7. Be grateful
   “There is a Law of Gratitude, and it is absolutely necessary that you should observe the law if you are going to get the results you seek.”
   “The man who can sincerely thank God for the things which as yet he owns only in imagination, has real faith.”

I had a run in with Facebook on 23 January. I shared a pic of a sexy naked man at the beach. From behind, so only his bottom was on display. Fun pic, and well received until FB deleted the lot after a complaint! I’ve seen full frontal female nudity and everything from lingerie to girl on girl action on my news feed. I don’t always approve, but I just skim over the posts that don’t interest me. In the light of what gets past the censors, it raised the old double standard hypocrisy when it comes to gender nudity. Facebook seems to react to the smallest complaint and, as a company, really needs to loosen up the censorship rules and be a little more flexible! Eventually the pic was re-instated (after many loud voices of dissent), and Mr Oceanview has now gone viral. 

Karin Witnish
Raunchy Romance Chick
http://www.facebook.com/romancechick

Get ready, because there’s an exciting new book that will change the way you think about yourself and your business, whether you’re steeped in the “WHY” movement now or just getting started!

Smart Women Live Their Why: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Living On Purpose and In Passion is a true testament to the way female entrepreneurs are shaping the world.

Chapter after chapter, you are taken on a journey with women who have encountered challenging – sometimes severely traumatic – situations, both in business and at home, that have created the circumstances in which each of their unique WHYs are born. Then, you learn how each woman cultivates and honors her WHY as she moves forward, teaching you in the process.

Now, you can see through other women’s eyes and experiences how they’ve found their WHY, and how they’re using it to give back and make positive changes in the world.

Your WHY is an inside job. Your business is an outward reflection of it. Join thousands of women around the world who are LIVING their WHY every day. This book shows you how!

Click here to grab your copy today only and join the “Live Your WHY” movement.

The year 2012 was always going to be monumental (or at least mental): according to Mayan prophets, it could be the year the world ends; conspiracy theorists predict it could be the year aliens win the World Cup. At the very least, it is a wonderful opportunity to bid goodbye to 2011 and open our doors to new opportunities.

As you begin 2012, take some time to think about what you are going to invest in this year – financially, spiritually and emotionally.  Here are 7 fresh investment opportunities to consider:

1. Going ‘green’ will keep you in the black. Recycling materials in the workplace and at home is not only good for the environment; it’s good for your bottom line. Companies which use fewer materials spend less and are better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities. Households which spend less on consumer goods are giving themselves a virtual pay-rise. Invest in less.
2. Tune up your karma. Maintaining your car is common sense, good safety and a great investment. Also consider that maintaining your relationships with others outside your immediate sphere of influence is a good investment. Donating unwanted goods or excess cash to charities will make you feel good and it’s also tax deductible. Invest in relationships.
3. Take your dogma for a walk. If you’re a vegetarian, strike up a conversation with a fisherman. If you’re Christian, attend a Hare Krishna rally. Acting outside your normal parameters will give you a fresh perspective. If you are in sales or business, it will enable you to communicate with a broader variety of new people, thus enhancing your chance of winning the next deal. If you’re an employee, your new understandings will make for more interesting conversation with peers. Invest in understanding.
4. Your wealth is in your health. Realise that many people spend the first 40 years of their lives sacrificing their physical or mental health to accumulate money, and then they spend much of that money trying to become healthy. Aim for a balance so your body outlasts your car and you don’t become the richest entrepreneur in the cemetery. Invest in your wellbeing.
5. Think outside the square you live in. Twenty years ago the Australian dollar was around 50 US cents, and Asian trade was almost non-existent. Ten years ago, India was an economic backwater and China was not even a blip on the radar. Right now, Australia is the rich www.elance.comest country in the world, and Asia’s wealth exceeds Europe. Where have you invested?  Invest in the future.
6. Outsource. It’s not just for big businesses that use overseas call centres. You can outsource daily tasks such as transcription, research, promotion or logo design for as little as $5 on sites such as www.fiverr.com or www.elance.com, saving you time and money. Invest in getting others to do whatever is not your key strength.
7. Your net worth is in your network. If you do not have a friend who gives you inside tips on new investment floats or lets you know when new properties come onto the market; if you don’t know a business coach or a wealth coach; then it’s time for you to meet new people who can sow prosperity into your life – not by giving you cash, but by giving you new money-making ideas.  Invest in your network.

Every woman’s journey starts somewhere. In the humble spirit of let’s just get it all out on the table, I thought I’d share some of the key details of mine up front. By unwrapping the most challenging aspects of my life for you now, I hope you’ll feel even more empowered as you delve further into both my story and your own.

In sharing my prior hardships and false hopes, I offer up positive energy for whichever path you currently find yourself on. I imagine that the same angels that once stood by my side throughout my childhood and then again during my divorce, flank me on either side for you. I ask that they hold us all steady as we face the winds of change, individually and together.

I invite you to step into the light with me. Isn’t it time to bring more joy and power to your world?

The best way I know how to do this is to take one step at a time, concentrating on moving past fear into power. Please forgive the Jerry Springer-esque texture to my story. What can I say? It’s where I come from. But it’s been my policy through the years that once I heal from something, I leave it behind and move on. I only stop to relive the drama now (for the first time) so you’ll know that where a person comes from (maybe you?) needn’t have any bearing on where they’re going.

I offer you a key here, hoping that it will help unlock a door to a magical place for you.

Or, maybe with my story you’ll simply find yourself making more good choices, more often. That’s the real key to success, isn’t it? Good choices. This key unlocks many an abundant door. “Make good choices!” I always tell my children whenever we part—as I drop them off at school or to daycare or at a friend’s for a sleepover. I wish my mom had known to share that wisdom with me. Or maybe she did? In her own roundabout way…

My Not-So-Happy Childhood

Don’t many unhappy childhood stories start with something about mom? Beginning with mine is perfect because she taught me countless priceless lessons at an early age.

That sounds sort of peachy, but believe me, it wasn’t. Let’s just say that I learned from my mother what NOT to do if I wanted a happy life. I watched her suffer because of her endless bad choices, which never eased up until the day I let her go. Once I grew into adulthood, I learned the truth: mom was bipolar. But as a kid, all I knew was that I couldn’t trust her to brush the knots out of my hair or make me a simple sandwich for school, much less provide any stability whatsoever. And, unfortunately, she was all I had.

My mother was an orphan who had married six times by the time I left home at 17 to put myself through college. My father was her first husband; they divorced when I was an infant. I wouldn’t see him again or ‘meet him’ until I was 21.

Mom was a stripper, or exotic dancer (I dare say semi-prostitute if I’m to be completely honest), which made my life even worse because of the environment in which she met her suitors.

All of my ‘stepdads’ were questionable at best, dangerous at worst. Together, their alcohol and drug abuse multiplied exponentially, immersing me in a toxic soup in which I struggled every day to grow.

My version of my traumatic, unstable and chaotic childhood meant that, for years at a time, I experienced a great deal of mental, physical and sexual abuse. I say ‘years’ only because during a few of her marriages, mom stopped beating me. She was either too busy with her new husband,  and thus ignored me—for which I was grateful—or because one of my stepsiblings was on the receiving end of the beatings instead.

Although my mother didn’t participate in the sexual abuse, she never saved me from it either. When I finally asked her to protect me from the last unsavory man she’d trotted into my life, she blamed the abuse on me. She said, “It’s your fault because of the way you dress.” My mother made countless bad choices.

Let me pause to say that today I’m deeply grateful for my childhood. I understand now that my mom never healed from what must have been her own childhood traumas. Then, each time she veered off the cliff to make yet another rotten decision, she became that much more disgusted with herself. After spending my twenties seething with anger towards her, and my thirties letting go and forgiving her, I now feel sadness for the woman who gave me life. Although my twenties were hard, chocked-full of mistakes from my own monkey-see cruddy behaviors, I survived with my heart and sense of humor intact. And, more importantly, I learned a lifetime of lessons in a mere few decades! If life’s a school… I got a double PhD.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that while we all deserve healthy parents, we don’t always get them. I have to believe I was given my mom for a reason, and thus I’m extremely grateful to have lived through those years, able now to talk about them while holding a larger perspective. Our experiences, negative or positive, are gifts when we choose to see them as such. For instance:

A few of the many wonderful lessons of my tortured childhood: (make into a sub-heading)

• How to adapt to change quickly
• How to relate to different cultures
• How to rely on myself to make good things happen
• How to trust my intuition and sense danger in a split second
• How to move away from unhealthy situations and people
• How to be financially independent
• How to set boundaries
• How to forgive
• How to forgive some more

My experience is that a person can live his/her whole life and not learn some of these priceless lessons. The human spirit is resilient and seeks validation and love. These lessons helped me to make better choices. And everything begins with choice.

No matter what you’ve gone through, you can heal from it. I think being an entrepreneur is undeniably what saved me in adulthood. I’m convinced I was able to learn and grow infinitely more during the last 11 years because I owned a business.

For me, having this place to go and spend my time in helped me not focus on the bad stuff as much. It gave me a place to shine rather than be reminded of my mistakes. I just have to be careful about balance, like we all do, so that my life doesn’t veer off the road again while I am running a successful business. We women are resilient souls. All of the bad stuff eventually melts away when you replace it with enough good stuff. Having a global Internet company continues to allow me to see how we’re all connected, all one, here on this planet. We get to see how common our experiences are and be inspired by each other’s brilliance.

Five Ways Sheri Learned to Help Herself & Others Heal Faster

1. Accept the present
2. Keep a gratitude journal
3. Trust yourself to change unwanted patterns
4. Forgive yourself first and then forgive others
5. Create a new environment

 By Sheri McConnell

Have you been told that dreams are just a rehashing or reworking of your day and its concerns?  Do you believe that dreams, like our creativity, are just a figment of our imagination?  I strongly disagree. In fact, from my own experience of more than 20 years studying and working with my dreams, and from twelve years of teaching and coaching people to use their dreams to enhance their creativity and their lives, I know that dreams have the power to change your life.  Dreams inspire, inform, motivate and enlighten us.  If you pay attention to your dreams and record them, you’ll discover that they are the perfect tool for creative brainstorming and problem solving, and for connecting us to the wisdom of the inner self or Divine Source. So, last night?  It wasn’t just a dream.  It was a gift.  Are you paying attention?

Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, Writing & Creativity Coach, Dream & Tarot Intuitive
www.DiviningTheMuse.com

Leonie Wheeler, www.adoorabear.com