Sounds serious, doesn’t it? Well, the affliction I am writing about is what I’ll call the Wealth Scarcity Mentality. It also goes by the other name: Starving Artist Syndrom. It affects 1 out of every 3 small business people (I made that up). Exactly how many people it affects, I have no idea, but as you read this think about yourself.

There’s one group of people–a profession–that I see as consistently plagued by the wealth scarcity mentality. And to help address this, my wife, Christine is leading a provocative workshop at 7PM on November 5 at The Nurtured Spirit in Warwick to speak to these professionals on this very topic. Specifically, the group to which I am referring is the holistic health professionals, but again, the wealth scarcity mentality affects a much greater number, than just these good people. Her talk will discuss this dis-order and share wealth creation secrets known by wealthy people that can be applied to anyone.

As holistic healers know better than most, any dis-ease within the body reflects some sort of blockage or conflict. Remove the blockage or resolve the conflict and you will have replaced dis-ease with vibrant health. But, what’s this got to do with money?

My observation and the observation of many with whom I have discussed this see an overwhelming number of spiritually-oriented health practitioners who are broke. I could write that softer, but the fact is that I am aware of only one holistic healer who doesn’t seem to be struggling to make ends meet. In fact, without a tinge of guilt, he seems to be running a bustling profitable business. Okay, two–Deepak Chopra is another.

One sign of the problem appears with many who seem apologetic when collecting their fees. I can see the faint look of guilt in their eyes as soon as it becomes the dreaded time to collect their payment. And there is often passionate pushback at ideas I might propose to them that would boost their business and income. It is as if making money is in direct conflict with the very nature of their chosen profession. Think about it: Their lives are dedicated to giving. Giving relief. Giving health. Giving life. Receiving money, therefore, to many of these professionals, seems at a deep, barely perceptible level, contrary to their life’s work.

Why does this appear to be different from western doctors? Well, I know broke doctors too. Western medicine has only recently become remotely comfortable with marketing. Advertising for them used to be considered unethical and therefore, against the rules.

Here’s the question: Is the giving art of healing–at root–in conflict with receiving money?

Consider other professions that have inherited the false believe that making money is in conflict with serving, or giving the fruits of their labor. I received a call yesterday from the head of a local arts council who asked if I would have anything to say about marketing to his association of artists. He explained that many in his artist community believe that marketing or selling is inappropriate, ineffective or impossible. Yes, I told him, I do have something to say about that! After all, I too am a musician.

Despite what Hollywood, the tabloids and pop television preaches to us daily, making money is NOT the root of evil. Rather, it is the reward for giving value.  It is the currency of trade. If my local yoga center fails to make enough money to stay open, the community suffers the loss of that value–the personal value to the people whose lives are made better through the benefits of yoga. If the reflexology practitioner is forced to get a full-time administrative job at the local car dealership, I lose the healing benefits of her practice.

The answer to all is to enthusiastically embrace the concept of making money proportional to the value you provide. I know of no holistic healer or artist who doesn’t believe that they do great life-changing work. In fact these people believe much more passionately in the value they provide to their customers than the average stockbroker or M&A executive. (They should hold their head up high as well, but that’s another post.)

So I say embrace marketing and selling your services. That means subscribe to ManiacalMarketer.com, talk to your local newspaper about doing an article about your work, lead a seminar within your community about topical issues related to your practice, embrace the Internet in spreading your ideas and your work. And then devise ways to create business and your wealth birthright from each of those activities.

Last, here’s your assignment: Before going to bed tonight and every night hence, tell yourself that it is your purpose in life to earn wealth from your profession and your passion. You deserve more than a living. You’re entitled to a grand life. Remind yourself that value begets value. Show guilt the door and reap the monetary rewards of the health you provide, the music you perform and the paintings or photographs you place in people’s homes.

What could they possible use as a compelling headline to an ad or for the banner of their web site? A company like this would probably rely on the old, “20% off this weekend only.” Now they’re a commodity that no one remembers except for a minute or two while they read the ad. But nothing sticks to the mind of their audience, and nothing differentiates them from every other store with a discount message.

Take a look at your web site, or better yet, have someone outside your business look at your web site. Ask them what stands out as your specialty. If they say something like “You sell cars.” or “You sell hot tubs.”, you’re too broad. Ask them to review your latest ad.

You can sell a wide variety of things or offer a wide variety of services. We’re talking about a focus on your message. Consider Zappos.com. They started out selling shoes and now sell watches, housewares, jewelry, clothing and backpacks. How did they grow from $0 to a billion dollars in just 9 years? Because they had a laser focus on their differentiator: service. Service has always been core to their brand and it is what every aspect of their company is centered around. Look at their web site. Their tag line below the logo is “Powered by service”. Their 800# is on every page. “Free shipping both ways” is on almost every page. “365 day returns” is plastered throughout the site. And examples of their service are legendary. Zappos is not a company that simply has “service” written on their corporate mission statement and utters the word a few times around the conference table. They live it, and they have grown because customers know it to be who they are. It’s their message.

So, if you don’t have something that differentiates you, discover it or create it. A unique aspect of your product or service is necessary in order to prevent you from becoming a commodity competing on price. And unless you’re Walmart, it’s not a good direction. I almost hesitate to mention Zappos because most companies believe that their great service is what differentiates them. But, in most cases, they mean simply that they call people back and they’re very helpful, and that they’re courteous, etc. A Zappos customer service rep once sent flowers to a customer’s relative’s funeral. Another helped a customer order pizza when they were in a strange town. This is truly is a differentiator.

One great place to look for your differentiator is to ask your customers. “If you had to choose just one aspect of our product/service that you think is outstanding, what is it?” Ask a few then see what common elements pop up. Resist the temptation to rely on your own belief about what is outstanding about you or your offering. We’re all too close to our own product to know the best answer.

So, once you either know or eventually discover your differentiator, you must integrate it into your marketing. That’s the payoff.

I recently spoke with a great martial arts master who owns a martial arts school. He is very clear on his differentiator, which is an outstanding one. But if you look at his web site, you’ll never find it. On the web, he’s a Taekwondo school promoting what is typically promoted by other Taekwondo schools.

The differentiator for this martial arts school owner is his adherence to traditional principles of teaching martial arts. While most other schools might allow their students to reach black belt within a very short time and do so with a less strenuous effort in order to provide short-term gratification, he requires his students to fully integrate the mind, body and spirit into their martial arts skills. This takes more time and is harder work for his students. When I asked him if there is a market out there for harder work for a longer payoff, he said “absolutely”. So, now we’re on to something!

A message must now be created that will attract those people who are his target: Blackbelts who lack confidence in their self-defense abilities, A-type personalities who feel that there’s something weak about their current martial arts training, and people looking for a more well-rounded experience in martial arts. In other words, his customers don’t want McDonalds. They want a great meal and are willing to wait at the table until it’s fully prepared.

Consider how much easier it is to create a compelling message to promote a specific differentiator as opposed to a wide general offering. I much prefer the assignment of promoting “Taekwondo for tough guys” to “Martial arts the whole family can enjoy”.

Armed with a strong, narrow message, consistency is the key. Put it front and center on your web site, make it a headline for your ads, write about it in your blog and highlight it in your promotional materials. This is how you develop a brand that sticks to the mind of your market and attract the type of customers from whom you will grow.

In fact, that is just one example of how email marketing can integrate so well with other forms of social media. After all, getting your content out to your email list is great, but getting that content out to the rest of the world is better, right? It brings people back to your site and hopefully builds your list and, therefore, the number of potential prospects for your product or service.

We’ve written a primer on getting started in blogging for your business, so feel free to read that post to get you started. The point here is that you can write a post for your blog and then use that post as content for your email. After all, don’t assume that the people on your email list are all reading your blog. They probably aren’t, so let’s get them going there. It saves you time by re-purposing your content AND gets more traffic going to your site. In fact, some very successful email marketers simply send out their blog posts every few days or every week as their email content.

So, now you’ve got periodic emails regularly going out to your list. How do you continue to build that list outside of adding the people to whom you become introduced in the normal course of your business day? Remember: Your list is your database for potential clients, affiliates and partners, and therefore, arguably one of your business’s most valuable resource. In the old days (just a few years ago), the primary way to attract new customers was to spend a great deal of your hard earned cash on push advertising using television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Those mediums are still valuable, but email marketing, when done right, can be an exponentially more cost-effective means of attracting qualified people to your product or service.

Back to building your list. Your next step should be to put a short form on your web site so that visitors can add themselves (opt-in) to your email list 24/7. To increase the effectiveness of your subscriber opt-in process, think of some valuable piece of information that you give them in exchange for submitting their name and email address to you. Yeah… a bribe! Go back to part one of this series and look at the example email content subjects. Any of those would work well for this purpose.

To expand upon those examples, a law firm could create a report entitled, “Inheritance: Protecting your lifelong assets for your loved ones.” A real estate agent could create, “Secrets to finding wealth-creating real estate assets in a down economy”. And a home heating oil/AC service company could create, “5 year-round cash saving tips you can do yourself for pennies”. As you would for email content topics, think of common questions or problems experienced by your customers, or mistakes you see customers commonly making. Think of a topic, create the product and have your webmaster post the PDF (or video if you’re a bit more ambitious!) and start promoting that link.

How do you promote that link throughout the Internet so that people opt in to your list? Hint: It has a lot to do with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media of which you haven’t yet taken full advantage. We’ll cover that in depth for you in part 3.

So, you’ve got someone on the other end of the phone who’s answered the qualifying question we discussed in part one in a manner that identifies a possible need for your product or service. At this point you might tell them a bit more about your product, but your emphasis should be on learning more about the problem they wish to solve and their level of interest in finding a solution like yours. Restrain yourself from going into the big pitch.

This article is much more focused on telemarketing as a means to set an appointment or take a next step of some sort. If you are selling a product directly over the phone, once you’ve found someone who admits wanting to solve the problem your product solves, it’s time to close and ask for payment. Simply put, it means asking a question, the answer to which provides you with a sign that they may buy. Typical questions of this sort include asking how many units the prospect wishes to own, what color, when she wants it delivered, etc. Talk less. Ask questions and close more.

Back to calling for an appointment: Let’s say, for example, you are an investment adviser. Your qualifying question (again, from part one) is… “Are you completely satisfied with the return you’re getting on your entire portfolio?”. I might add, “Is you current adviser communicating well and regularly with you about your various options as you go along?” An answer you might get is, “Well, no one can expect much these days, but I’m not thrilled with my returns.” You would then ask, “What return would you be happy with?” Assuming an answer aligned with your abilities, you might ask, “If I could demonstrate that type of return, would it be worth a half hour of your time to discuss it?” The principle at play here is: Offer the possibility of something big or satisfying, then ask for something small from the prospect in return.

If the prospect says, “No”, restrain yourself from asking, “Why not?” That often puts him in a position of having to justify his answer and you end up getting an excuse that’s not the real objection. Instead, ask something that gets to his motivations like, “Have you thought about when you’d like to retire?” This question gets him thinking about possibly running out of time to sufficiently grow his nest egg. Ask, “Can I ask you how much you’d like to have saved by then?” Listen to the answer, then perhaps ask, “Can it hurt to take 30 minutes to look at a possible strategy for reaching your goals - especially since it sounds like you don’t believe your current path may get you there in time?”

There is a technique at play here, and it’s one you can learn. It involves focusing like a laser on your prospect’s pains, fears and desires. In the above example, once you learned that he is not thrilled with his returns, and that he has specific retirement goals, you have a potential answer to his problem. If he believes that you might be that answer, getting a commitment to discuss your service becomes easier. There is obviously some need for you to explain what you do and how you are different, but if you’re like most salespeople, you probably believe that your explaining, selling, boasting, puffing your abilities, etc. is benefiting the sales MUCH more than it really is. Ask questions and focus on the prospect 85% of the time and talk about you 15%. We’ve created an entertaining 4 minute video on how to do this that you should watch.

One last tip: No matter if they buy or not, make sure to get an email address and let them know that you’d like to keep in touch from time to time. Most people not wishing to buy are so pleased that you are willing to end the call, they’ll eagerly agree to that. Our post on using email effectively will guide you through the process of keeping open the communication with that prospect. You never know - he might open his very next investment statement, see the losses, envision his shinking future Florida condo, and be glad you just sent him an email on savings strategies for retirement in a tough economy!

First, why use email marketing? Because it is a very cost-effective way of communicating with your prospects and clients. The more often you communicate to these important people, and do so with life-benefiting information, the more likely they will see you as a trusted expert and your product as one they should consider. Notice I didn’t just say, “the more often you email them a sales pitch about your product…”, because people don’t want to be solicited. We want to be given value. That is the key to effective email marketing.

As your fist step, you need a list of people to email. Hopefully, you’ve been keeping a database of names and email addresses of customers and the people who inquire about your product or service. Your list is key. If you have no such list, begin now by compiling one. Start by… creating an Excel spreadsheet of your customer’s names and emails. There is no magic number of names in order to start. If you have 27, start with 27. The most important thing to do is just start!

Next, how will you mail to your list? To do emailing correctly, you need a service into which you can upload your list and then compose and send your email. Vertical Response and Constant Contact are two services I would recommend. A more robust service that the emailing pros use is AWeber. AWeber has some great features including autoresponders that will send out emails on a pre-determined schedule or automatically when someone responds to your message in some way.

This brings up the subject of permission-based emailing. You can send unsolicited emails, but you risk services like AOL locking you out if people using AOL complain that they are receiving unwanted email from you. You can also be restricted by your service provider if they get too many complaints and you can risk getting flagged as spam by people’s servers when you try to email them. Unlike Vertical Response or Constant Contact, AWeber won’t let you send out unsolicited emails. Your audience MUST agree to receive emails from you. In fact, your first campaign from AWeber must be an email that literally asks them if they wish to receive information from you–and if so, to agree and then confirm. Once you make it through that step, you’re home free. Why go through that hassle? Because your emails are now fully permission-based so that they will make it through the spam filters and will most likely be more read by more recipients. Email programs and servers are getting much smarter. They know if you’ve been given permission to send email.

So, you now have your list and a service through which to send them. Now, what do you send? Send the people on your list information that will benefit them. Think of questions people ask you. Think of important topics that people are unaware of, but need to know. Think if current news topics that relate to your business, product or service.

Let me give you some examples. Say you are a day care facility. How about “7 little known cost cutting measures that will benefit your child.” or “3 tax benefits of which you’re probably not taking full advantage.” or “Questions you need to ask any perspective babysitter before they care for your child.” or “The single most dangerous food ingredient, and how to know if your child is being effected by it.” or “How to save money buying clothes for your child.” or “Vaccinations: The two sides of the argument” and so on.

Say you are a Yoga facility. How about: “How to shovel snow without adding strain to your back.” or “Why you’re probably not getting enough water.” or “Milk: What may it be doing to your bones that you’re unaware of?” or “How to improve your work and disposition by a 10 minute meditation at your desk.” or “The most neglected muscle and why you should pay attention.”

One more. Say you’re a bed and breakfast. How about: “Planning the most romantic getaway ever.” or “Great things to do in New York’s Hudson Valley.” or “Three key considerations when choosing a bed and breakfast.” or “What most people don’t think about when planning a long weekend getaway.” or “How to save money while having the 3 day weekend trip of your dreams.”

Notice what they all have in common. They’re providing value, not a sales pitch. None of them are: “Why you need Yoga.” or “The top 3 reasons our Bed and Breakfast is the best.” or “Why more parents prefer our day care facility over the others.” These types of messages will be ignored and people will opt out. Wouldn’t you? So, keep them focused on a value you can provide people that is related to your expertise or product/service. Only then, will your audience see you as a leader in your field and an indispensable expert they’ll want to seek out should they need your product or service.

By the way, didn’t all those topics sound like blog topics? Yes they did, and in part two we will show you how a blog integrates perfectly with a good email strategy.

First, the telemarketing to which I’m referring is B to B, not calling to consumers. With the national do not call list, that practice is all but dead for consumer calling. Keep in mind that the do not call list does NOT refer to businesses. We can still call other businesses to introduce our product or service.

Despite what some might feel, telephone prospecting does work. The problem is that most people do it so poorly that it seems ineffectual. If you’ve been watching some of our recent sales videos (http://www.redlake.tv/sales_video/Sales_VideoV3.html), you know that we are great believers in… asking questions to gain understanding of the people to whom you are selling. Well, in telemarketing, the need to ask questions is exponentially greater. After all, you have neither the body language to read nor the time to develop your point as you do when you’re in person. Over the phone, we need to become immediately relevant, and quick to get the other person engaged. Let me show you how questions do both.

We’ve all taken a call that starts out, “Mr. Smith, we’re calling today to tell you about our new 2.3% finance rate on home mortgages. In these difficult times, I’m sure that saving money is important to you as it is with everyone. So, I’d like to invite you to speak with one of our senior mortgage specialists to…” I can’t remember any more, because by then, I’ve started to lose consciousness.

Instead, I would start off assuming that most people I get on the phone aren’t interested in talking about their mortgage. So let me get off the phone with those people as soon as possible. You see, like any sales effort, qualifying my prospects is job one. So let’s separate the suspects from the prospects. “Mr. Smith, I’m calling today to talk to you about saving money on your mortgage payments. Do you feel that each month you’re writing too big a check to your mortgage company?” I admit that question is a bit cheeky and is meant to be hard to say no to, but once I hear “no”, I’m probably done. I want to quickly get off and find someone who says “yes”.

So, find a short statement that describes in plain English why you are calling, then ask a simple question that qualifies them as a prospect. It’s a question that is not easy to say yes to enthusiastically. And it might put a desire in the mind of the other person to hear more. For example,  If I were selling office automation equipment, I might say, “Mr. Smith, I’m with Acme copiers, and I’m calling to see if we can improve the cost-effectiveness of some of your office equipment. Are you loving your current equipment and vendor?” If I were calling about their business insurance, I might say, “Ms. Jones, I’m with Insuraco, and I’m calling to determine how we might make your company’s insurance more efficient and cost-effective. Let me ask you a question: Are you thrilled with your current carrier and their attention to your needs?”

Again, if I get “Yes.” to these questions, that person either wants me off the phone quickly or has a high loyalty to his current vendor. To the latter, I bid farewell, and to the former maybe I ask another question to see if I can get her engaged in the call. Sometimes, asking a simple follow-up question gets them talking.

For instance, if the person said “Yes” to being thrilled with their insurance, I might say, “Wow, that’s great. Can you tell me what they’re doing to keep you so satisfied?” The answer might be something less resounding, like, “Well, they just seem to be there whenever I call.” To that I ask, “Is service the most important attribute to you with your insurance?” At this point, I’m sensitive to an opening, if one seems to exist. If her answers all start ending on an upward tone, like, “Okaaaaaay.” She’s showing me the door. I might spend my time better with my next caller. Remember, you’re looking for people with a need, problem or desire. You cannot manufacture one. You must find a person with one ready-made.

So, write out your one sentence that give the purpose for the call along with a couple of questions that help you qualify the prospect. Test them out. Keep refining until you find one or two that really do the job well. In other words, the question does a good job of separating suspects from real prospects.

In part 2, I will talk about taking that existing need, problem or desire that you’ve uncovered and leveraging it into an appointment or sale.

The reporter with whom I spoke yesterday was intrigued, and welcomed my contrarian outlook on the economy. I told him that companies are still spending money on marketing, and the good ones always will. I told him the creative freelancers I know continue to fill their days with paying work. I told him that Redlake’s most recent three clients are in or related to the real estate business(!) and have hired us to create strategic marketing strategies. They’re planning.

Last night I heard for the gazillionth time a popular and self-serving Washington cliche, and for the first time, it made an impact on me. “We want to get the economy working again.” Well, the fact is that the US economy IS working and has been steadily for the past 225 years. There are plenty of places around the world to remind us what a non-working economy looks and feels like! But, this is not a political discussion-for that let’s hang out sometime. Rather, this is my assurance to you that while the economy is in a downturn, there are LOTS of people making great money and the same can be done by anyone reading this.

Here’s how: First, recognize that you must focus on delivering an exemplary quality of work now more than ever. Picking up a regular paycheck by doing “good enough” and taking your clients for granted was never a prescription for grand success, but is less so now. So, how would YOU answer these six questions:

1. What is your written plan for success?
2. How much of each day do you engage in income-relevant training?
3. Exactly how are you applying that training?
4. What is your level of engagement in on-line social media? I don’t mean looking a recent Letterman episodes on YouTube, but instead, reaching out and joining the discussion related to your skills or profession.
5. What three things within your control can do you this week to improve the quality of your product or service?
6. What income-supplementing activities can you enlist outside of your professional job requirements? Examples include multilevel marketing of a great product, active participation in the stock market and selling your knowledge on the Internet. Don’t know how? Then learn! (see #2 above)

Getting your personal economy working doesn’t require an act of Congress! It requires you to take personal responsibility for producing the absolutely best product or service of which you’re capable, and then effectively marketing that product or service to the broadest possible audience. Not sure how? Start by reading aloud your answers to those half dozen questions!

Yesterday, I was on an important business conference call. Ten minutes into the call, I was dropped. I immediately used my other line to dial back in and after 4 minutes I was dropped again. As I’ve become skilled at through years of experience, I rebooted my modem. I finally got back on the call and at the end, I complained about your company being the sole provider in this area for my cable, Internet and phone. One of the other conference attendees immediately exclaimed that he was about to sign up for your triple package. After my 3 minute rant about how abysmal your service is throughout every aspect of the organization I have touched - and I’ve got years of touching(!) - he thanked me and said he would use your competitor. Where he lives, he has options.

I realize that complicated technology sometimes goes awry. So, it is not your technology I dislike. Rather it your service. I have questions:

Why must I ALWAYS waste my time working my way up the ladder of service competence being transferred from one department to the next to the next to the next until I finally get to that really smart person who seems to hold all the answers? What’s her direct number?

Why do I need to… dial my number into the recording that answers my call, only to be required to give it AGAIN to the service person I speak with?

Why do you NOT give me the option to speak to a live person unless I trick the dial-in system by continually hitting “0″ over and over until it cries “uncle” and connects me to a live person?

Why has almost every service call over the years consisted of the technician telling me that he found the problem, only to have the technician on my next service call tell me the problem is what the last technician did?

Why must each support call I make about a dire emergency with my dead service needing to be looked at by the next level department “that handles that” end with your phone rep cheerfully asking “Is there any thing else I can help you with?”

Why do you ask me EVERY TIME at the end of a service call if I could just take a brief survey to “rate the quality of my service”? Who wastes their time taking those surveys, and do you really think that’s the way to get accurate customer feedback?

Sincerely,

A Severely Dissatisfied Customer.

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The point is: Every customer matters, even if you are a mega billion dollar corporation, but especially if you are a small business. News travels fast and in ways you can’t even imagine. Make it easy for people to solve their occasional problems with your product or service, make live people and phone numbers easily accessible (No, the Internet hasn’t made telephones obsolete!), and rethink your policies, especially if you consider and name them “our policy”.

You can no longer hide from bad word of mouth. Ask my friend who is now that other phone company’s newest customer!

I see a general neglect of people to display a flattering photograph of themselves, and as a result, my initial emotional impression of them is usually unfairly biased. I see obviously dated photos (so dated, often they are black and white), photos from a long distance, unflattering expressions, out of focus shots, poses of people looking away from the camera so that you can’t even make out their face, and the ever popular deer-in-the-headlight mug shots. And, surprisingly, I often see these types of photos from internet and media pros who should know better.

Now, before diving into a few tips for a good photograph, let’s first consider… the purpose of on-line personal photographs. In other words, why does it matter? Well, studies show that placing a photo of a person next to text written or spoken by that person greatly increases people’s reception to it. The photo humanizes the content and makes it more credible to the reader. If someone is looking us directly in the eyes, we tend to believe them more. Seeing the author of a site or other content better connects the reader to it. By its nature, the web is devoid of real personal interaction, so personal images increase the illusion of humanity on our site and our forum posts and our social media presence.

Again, this is very subjective. Maybe a black and white photo sets the right tone for you. Perhaps your personality is captured best with an off-camera gaze. A sketch or caricature might portray you perfectly. The key, however, is to make these choices deliberately rather than than defaulting them to the only photo you happen to find. Most often, the space allocated to your photo is about the size of a postage stamp, so make it count.

There are exceptions to every rule, but here are some generalized tips for a good photo:

• It should be recently taken and reflect who you currently are.
• It should be a headshot. Remember, space is limited on the web, so your face is the most important attribute of the photo. The full body shot diminishes the view of your face because you have to shoot from further back.
• Related to the above point, close is better. A sure sign of any amateur photo is that it is taken from too far away and often includes extraneous background stuff. Your personal headshot should focus on your face.
• More specifically, your headshot should focus on your eyes. Peer deep into the camera. A commonly used trick is to have the subject feel as if she is looking past the front of the camera lens deep into the camera itself.
• Be aware of your expression. You don’t have to smile, but have an expression that says something positive about you.

I realize that for many of you, just getting the photo taken is the biggest problem, right? It need be neither difficult nor expensive. You don’t need (and probably can’t afford) Annie Leibovitz. But on the other hand, you probably won’t get a good image having your co-worker take a shot of you at your desk with his point and shoot digital. Do you know someone who owns and knows how to use a good prosumer level SLR? Perhaps go to the mall and use one of the retail studios. Before you commit, however, ask to see some headshots they’ve taken. Do you like them?

The bottom line: Get a quality headshot of yourself that reflects your personality and shows you in the best “light”. Then, post it for your online avatars on social media sites, forums and your site if appropriate. I look forward to seeing you soon!

They all relate to my beautiful and talented wife, Christine, in an article recently written about her. Take a read through this brief biographical piece to learn a bit about the 24th M.I. Battalion in Desert Storm and the joys of world travel.

To read the piece click on: http://www.hvbiz.biz/proud/lakereganchristine.php