How to let someone Facebook follow you without “friending”

Posted on May 30, 2013 by

follow without friendingI have received several inquiries from small business professionals asking how to let someone follow their personal Facebook page without adding them as a friend. It may sound like an unusual request, but there are some occasions when business professionals would like to allow others the ability to follow their public posts on their personal Facebook account without adding them as a friend and giving them access to their personal information. Some examples may include:

  • Authors and artists who wish to give fans a glimpse into their personal life from selected public posts
  • Promoters and marketing professionals who want to use every opportunity for someone to connect
  • Professionals who don’t have a business Facebook page, but want to connect and share select information from their Facebook account
  • High profile employees or staff that want to allow colleagues, acquaintances or others access to selected posts.

Special Facebook settings will allow people who are not your friends to view your public posts, but not give them access to your personal information. Here are the steps to enable the “follow” button to appear on your cover photo:

  1. Log into your personal FB account
  2. Click the control wheel icon on the top right side of the page and select “Privacy Settings”
    follow2
  3. On the Privacy settings page click the “Followers” button in the left navigation area, then check “Turn on Follow”follow3
  4. This will allow a button to appear on your cover photo that says “follow”  follow1

Learn about what Facebook has to say about Follower Settings and browse our other social media tips too!

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Entrepreneur in Action – Jennifer Flowers | Accreditation Guru

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

Jennifer FlowersJennifer Flowers is the creative force behind Accreditation Guru, Inc., a company dedicated to helping organizations prepare for Joint Commission, Council on Accreditation, CARF and other accreditations. My own path crossed with Jennifer’s when she was the Director of Volunteer Services for the Council on Accreditation (COA). As a Peer Reviewer for COA myself, and as the accreditation leader for several non-profits, I had the pleasure of working with Jennifer on a number of occasions. In contrast to what could have easily been an adversarial relationship, Jennifer’s assistance and support was more of a trusted advisor than of a micromanaging evaluating body. Her quick rapport and vast knowledge of accreditation, leadership and management competencies is a natural fit for her role as CEO of Accreditation Guru. I am pleased to present her as another successful and inspiring ‘Entrepreneur in Action!’

1. Career influences

I am fortunate to have a number of good friends who have had success leading and growing their own businesses and I take inspiration from them. I look to their perseverance, dedication to client services and strategic risk taking. Whether these individuals own an insurance company or graphic design firm or another type of business, there is always good information to be shared.

2. Biggest career success

My biggest success came precisely two years after I was unexpectedly laid off from an executive position with a large nonprofit organization.  After spending the better half of a year leading the development of a new long-term strategic plan, I facilitated a Board of Directors retreat for a $50M nonprofit agency in Jacksonville, FL. During the retreat, the Board members voted unanimously to accept the strategic plan. This achievement was crowned with the feedback that this was the best Board retreat that the members had ever participated in. I will always be extremely proud of this achievement.

3. Recent lessons learned

Embrace seeking the assistance of others. While ideally, most of my time would be spent consulting for and supporting my clients, crucial functions including sales, marketing, managing finances, website design and others each require the time and attention to ensure the continued success of my organization. Whether participating in sales training courses to further my knowledge base or hiring someone to improve my search engine optimization (SEO), it is key to partner with others who are experts in their fields.

4. What inspires and motivates

I am continually inspired by knowing that I can help agencies to embrace the many benefits of accreditation and how this will, in turn, help improve the overall function of an organization and the services it provides its clients. I not only work with my clients for them to become successfully (re)accredited, but to set them up to truly “live” accreditation even after my work with them is complete.

5. Share a leadership story

If you love what you do and are very good at it, people will gravitate toward you and support your mission. Personally I have had a number of very talented people who want to work for me, develop strategic alliances or have offered to be advisors because they believe in me and the business that I am building. Those that I have brought (or will bring) onboard are not only subject matter experts, but share my passion for this work and desire to help client organizations to Prepare for Greatness! Always surround yourself with talented, dedicated people and everyone will benefit.

6. Your Top Two

#1: Dream big and go for it! Really. Your future is whatever you make of it, so reach high!
#2: Get out there and network, there are connections to be made that can enhance both your personal and professional growth…and always remember to enjoy the journey!

7. About Jennifer

Jennifer Flowers, President
Accreditation Guru, Inc.
www.AccreditationGuru.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AccreditationGuruInc
Twitter: @jen_flowers
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferflowersmba/
Prepare for Greatness blog: http://accreditationguru.wordpress.com/

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Entrepreneur in Action – Kurt Senske, PhD | CEO, Author, Public Speaker

Posted on May 22, 2013 by

Kurt SenskeI have known Dr. Senske since the late 1990′s through our mutual affiliation with the national network of Lutheran Social Service agencies. I remember enlisting his support to be a keynote speaker at one of the many leadership conferences that was held by Lutheran Services in America. Kurt is a dynamic speaker and an inspiring leader known as much for his acute business acumen as he is for his authorship and speaking gigs. I have personally enjoyed reading his book “Executive Values” which was on the mandatory reading list for Christian Execs in several faith-based organizations. Kurt is an inspiring and down-to-earth leader who I am pleased to introduce and profile as an “Entrepreneur in Action!”

1. Career influences

Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset:  The Psychology of Success has had a great impact on my entrepreneurial pursuits.   She urges us to think of our intellect as a muscle, that can be continually developed.  If we come from this perspective of a “growth mindset” we will be more likely to push ourselves, willing to take on additional risk, and embrace criticism and failure because we believe it ultimately will make us a better person.   We are also able to perceive hard work as a path to mastery, and look forward to being evaluated by our peers.

2. Biggest career success

I found significance by leaving several successive successful professional pursuits for lower paying, sometimes less prestigious positions in an effort to develop a unique skill set that would allow me to ultimately discover and fulfill my calling.  My sanity was on occasion questioned  as I transitioned from practicing as an attorney to becoming involved in politics to moving into academia to ultimately leading a large social services organization. By following my heart as opposed to conventional wisdom I found that becoming significant was more impactful than being successful.

3. Recent lessons learned

My organization recently got caught in the middle a political cross fire that was beyond our control which ultimately cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars coupled with negative publicity.  Despite the undeserved initial backlash we as an organization remained calm, kept focused on the long term big picture, communicated often to our stakeholders and redoubled our efforts on continuing to be the highest quality provider of services in the state, despite reports to the contrary.  We made decisions based on where we wanted to be a decade from now instead of reacting to the shifting political storms which quickly vanished.   The end result was that our accusers quickly lost credibility and our organizational reputation correspondingly became enhanced.

4. What inspires and motivates

Rule # 1 - For those intent on creating long term organizational success – Follow the Golden Rule.   A Harvard Business School alumnus recently commented to me that his time at Harvard was “a very expensive lesson in learning that following the golden rule is what makes organizations successful over the long term.”

Rule # 2 -  Place as much priority on achieving your family goals as you do your professional goals.   The research demonstrates that those who do tend to be more productive, more well rounded, more creative, healthier, and overall, more successful.

5. Share a leadership story

To continue to be effective as a CEO, my role and skill sets must continually evolve as I adapt to the changing external environment as well as to the changing make up of my team members.   As different skill sets and passions get added and subtracted to the mix my role must necessarily change.  At times I called upon to be a coach, facilitator, strategic planner, operator, politician, disciplinarian, motivator, rain maker, cheerleader, therapist and, on occasion, it is even best if I simply just get out of the way.   Changing times and changing team members will also dictate what is and isn’t possible organizationally.   Leadership is creating opportunity for others to bring success to the organization.

6. Your Top Two

My management style is to find really talented Type A “athletes” who possess uncommon integrity and a passion for serving others.    We then work hard at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each other, eliminate both the vertical and horizontal hierarchies and silos of our leadership team and develop complete trust that creates efficiencies and reduces the size of our respective egos. This process allows us to relentlessly focus on defining and successfully implementing programs in areas where we have a unique competitive advantage and can do better than any of our competitors.

7. About Kurt

I am passionate about living a life of significance.   You can find indications of this through my work at Lutheran Social Services of the South  (www.lsss.org); via my writing – The Calling:  Live a Life of Significance and Executive Values:  Live a Life of Significance (www.kurtsenske.com), and through my family – wife Laurie and Sydney, as collectively we strive to add value to our small corner of the world.   For those who have an interest in wine, you may want to follow me on Twitter (KurtSenske) and might be intrigued by my soon to be released book, The Vineyard and the Cross:  A Framework for Living.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KurtSenske
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kurtsenske
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/KurtSenske1

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Entrepreneur in Action – Jorrell Ang | Graphics and Web Design CEO

Posted on May 21, 2013 by

Jorrell AngJorrell Ang came into my circle of awareness through his company Design Jutsu. I was working with an overseas client that needed some repetitive and labor intensive graphic design work and needed a group that was low cost and highly skilled. I initially reached out to the eLance.com community, but didn’t feel confident in the offers I received. I found Design Jutsu through a Google search and was instantly impressed with their portfolio of high-quality work. Since the request I had was unusual I wasn’t sure Jorrell’s team would take the job, but to my delight he accepted the work and exceeded my expectations. As a firm based in the Philippines, Jorrell is able to work effectively with U.S.-based and English speaking clients and I have used Design Jutsu for a wide range of projects and clients. It was my pleasure to offer Jorrell the opportunity to share a little about his personal entrepreneur story and the great work he and his staff do at Design Jutsu!

1. Career influences

The two biggest influences in my professional life are my ex-officemate, Jun Dolor (5 years ago) and 1902 Software CEO, Peter Skouhous. I started my career as a graphic designer and a desperate wannabe developer. When I applied for a web development job/web designer, Jun was my supervisor and seatmate. Unlike other senior staff, he taught me everything I know about web development. He was a very patient instructor and also a good friend. Unfortunately, he passed away because of a motorcycle accident a few weeks before I got promoted to senior developer. Without him, I wouldn’t be a developer. I really owe him a lot. I learned the business side of graphics, web design and customer relations while working for 1902 Software under Peter’s guidance and was promoted to Art Director.

2. Biggest career success

Every time my company, Design Jutsu, accomplishes something significant and wins a long term client it is always a big success for me. Having good office staff I can trust and rely on are also big career successes. Without them Jutsu wouldn’t have grown to where it is today.

3. Recent lessons learned

Everyday is a battle. Having everything setup to do business is not enough. My people need me as much as I need them.

4. What inspires and motivates

I want to be one of the best companies in our field. We may not be number 1 but when people hear Jutsu, I want them to know who we are and what we can deliver. Like Coke is to Cola, and McDonald’s is to fast-food, we envision Jutsu to be synonymous with Graphic Design. This idea is our fuel as we deliver results to our clients. We’re in a 3rd world country, as they say, but I want to prove that we can deliver world class results and we should think, act, and deliver like one.

5. Share a leadership story

I’m transparent to my staff. I tell them that we will not be working together forever and there will come a time that we will part ways for different reasons and situations. But when that time comes, I hope that they will leave Jutsu as a better person. I want Jutsu to be the place where they learned and improved their skills, furthered their careers and improved their lives. This is the type of impact my friend Jun Dolor had with me and since he is already gone, I want to impact other people the same way he helped me and changed my life.

6. Your Top Two

It’s not the software, computers or machines that are needed to operate the business. The most important part of a business is always the people. Without the passionate involvement of staff business is lost.

Treat people like you want to be treated. Put yourself in their shoes. With this approach work is much easier and performance comes naturally. Also, if you see that your staff has the potential to do more, then don’t hinder them, support them instead. You may discover many hidden talents!

7. About Jorrell

Jorrell Ang was a graphic/web designer and web developer before he started Design Jutsu. Jorrell says, “I started with 2 people, one marketing and one designer, as an extension of myself but luckily we grew to 8 people on our team in just a year. I’m very lucky to have them as part of my team. They are more like family than employees.”

JUTSU is an IT company focused on graphic and website design. They also do web development as a secondary product. Jutsu saw an opportunity with the problem IT companies had finding the right designer. When the company found a single designer they became locked into the style of that particular designer. As a result, Design Jutsu gathered talented and skillful designers with many diverse skills that could meet the varied and changing needs of other IT companies and small business.

Jorrell personally trains and develops his staff to harness and strengthen their skills and unique design styles. Jutsu can create many types of designs; from corporate to fashion and even personal. Jutsu designers are both talented and skillful. Skills can be learned but talents are natural gifts. This unique combination of talent and skill are what make their strategically selected staff unique.

Website: http://www.designjutsu.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designjutsu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DesignJutsu
Linkedin: http://ph.linkedin.com/pub/jorrell-ang/26/978/264

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Entrepreneur in Action – Sarah Santacroce | Swiss Social Media Specialist

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

Sarah SantacroceI don’t recall the first time I learned about Sarah Santacroce, but it is likely that I discovered her from one of her incredibly useful “Savvy Biz Blog” articles. I have also attended several of her webinars, the most recent one titled “Why You’re Not Getting the Most Out of Linkedin.” Sarah is a Swiss National with a lovely accent; a California free spirit and engenders a generous and genuine ‘other-focused’ approach to business. I am delighted that she has agreed to participate in this latest Entrepreneur in Action article series and I look forward to her next webinar and e-book!

1. Career influences

Entrepreneurship runs in my dad’s side of the family. My grandma was a very strong woman, who besides raising 3 kids on her own, ran a very popular restaurant. Later she also invested in real estate and made a good living out of it. My father took after her and also has been running his own consulting firm for over 20 years. Being my dad’s first born daughter I think I might have inherited the ‘entrepreneurial gene’ ;-)

2. Biggest career success

Instead of bragging about my biggest success, I’d like to share that sometimes it’s the small successes that make all the difference. Yesterday a webinar attendee told me she got a prospect immediately after implementing the LinkedIn tips I recommended. That’s a small success! Or when my VIP group participants figured out how to use Google Hangouts! Another small achievement. As entrepreneurs we tend to always strive for the big things, but sometimes it’s just as important to look back and see what we have already achieved!

3. Recent lessons learned

I had to learn (the hard way) that as a business owner you need to be able to say ‘no’. Especially in the early years, you think you need to accept any kind of business that comes your way. Since I work with solopreneurs quite often, many of them were trying to offer me ‘service-exchanges’: “you help me with Social Media and I give you a foot massage.”  “Thanks, but no thanks.” I learned that sometimes you need to just say ‘no’, even if that means you won’t get the business.

4. What inspires and motivates

What motivates me is the fact that by doing what I love, I help other people doing what they love.

5. Share a leadership story

About two years ago I started a LinkedIn group I called ‘Simple Small Business Solutions’. It grew to about 200 members very fast, but then slowed down. A year later, it was still at that same level, and there were barely any discussions and interactions. Who’s fault was it? Mine of course. I didn’t lead by example and neglected the group. So I decided to close the group again and sent everyone an e-mail, explaining my reasoning & apologizing for my poor management. Having learned from my mistakes, I opened another group 3 weeks ago, which I fully commit to manage properly this time ;-) Sometimes as a leader, you need to admit to your mistakes – and learn from them.

6. Your Top Two

  • Surround yourself with positive people. Negativity is contagious. Surround yourself with positive, smart people. They will help you find your true potential.
  • Be yourself In order to stand out from the noise, you need to be unique. You can only be unique, if you are yourself. Use your story, your uniqueness and make it into your brand.

7. About Sarah

Sarah is a certified Social Media, Internet Marketing & Virtual Event specialist. She helps small business owners and individual entrepreneurs to find their place in today’s online world, find their way through the Social Media Jungle and become more visible online. Sarah is a Swiss national, but thinks with a global mind.

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Entrepreneur in Action – Marlee Ward | Chief Radical Entrepreneur

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Marlee WardAs an entrepreneur myself, Marlee Ward quickly became someone I followed for inspiration, online strategies and faith & business perspectives. She is a master of building personal brands and has expert level experience across a wide range of technology mediums. It was my true pleasure to invite her for this Entrepreneur in Action interview and I am sure she will be someone you will want to follow as well!

1. Career influences

My grandfather. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and my grandfather was an incredible entrepreneur. He started a business when he returned home from being in the war (in the 40’s) by selling work gloves. He went door-to-door selling work gloves until he had enough income to expand his product line. He built that endeavor into a multi-million dollar personal protective wear company now run by my aunt. In him I saw determination, confidence, and a whole lot of hustle.

2. Biggest career success

Leaving my work as a lawyer, odd as it may sound. It was such a difficult choice, but I would not have the fulfillment that I do if I hadn’t walked away. I consider that a big win. The runner up would be turning my first business endeavor profitable in two months (at the height of a recession). It just goes to show when you can solve specific problems for specific people the money will be there.

3. Recent lessons learned

Woo. This is a tough one. Most recently, I learned a big spiritual lesson that involved my business. That is, keep first things first. Being so passionate about my business it’s easy to let it control my life. I got really out of balance. Rather than keeping my eyes on my Creator, I became too focused on the gifts He provides. It led to a very dry and difficult spiritual place, which eventually started to wreck havoc on my health and productivity. You have to keep your priorities straight.

4. What inspires and motivates

What inspires me is what is possible. Our lives have a ripple effect on all things around us. When you do good work in the world you create a ripple of blessing around you. You never know who you’ll touch or how you’ll have an impact, and that inspires me. As for motivation, I’m most motivated by being able to practically meet the needs of others. This drives my desire to be a highly profitable entrepreneur. I know the more I make, the more I can give, and that is the key motivating factor in my pursuit of business success.

5. Share a leadership story (brief 100 word or less)

When you’re an eager entrepreneur it’s easy to want to say, “yes,” all of the time. But not every opportunity is the right opportunity for you. One thing I had to lead myself to do was say no to business opportunities and client engagements that were not going to be good for me or my business. On multiple occasions I turned clients away because I knew we would not be a good fit for one another. While I could have helped them reach their goal, I knew the experience would not be enriching for either party. These are things you must be very clear on as you lead your company forward so that you can stay true to your own vision.

6. Your Top Two

  1. Never give up.
  2. Go back to number one.

7. About Marlee

I’m Marlee Ward, Chief Radical Entrepreneur (aka CRE), marketing strategist, and speaker.

I help coaches, authors, speakers and professional service providers create irresistible marketing messages, powerful marketing strategies, and digital products so they can earn an abundant income sharing their God-given gifts, knowledge, experience and expertise with the people they are meant to serve.

Get free marketing training and connect with me at:
http://marleeward.com
http://twitter.com/marleeward
http://facebook.com/businesswithmarlee

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How to Setup Google Plus Authorship for Better SEO

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

google authorship seoGoogle Plus Authorship enables writers, authors, bloggers and even guest bloggers to digitally claim their online content. It also makes Google search engine results appear with ones profile image next to the web page or article. Linking your online content to a personal Google Plus account will help increase your credibility and will likely boost your search engine rankings as well. Clicks to search results that have an author thumbnail will undoubtedly generate higher click through rates which will in turn influence search engine rankings. Matt McGee, Editor in Chief of Search Engine Land, described one of the hidden benefits of Google Authorship as increased links that appear when a Google Author verified site is visited. Since the process to setup Google Plus Authorship is relatively simple and cost neutral it is definitely a recommended and worthy exercise for businesses taking their SEO strategy to the next level.

Step 1: Create a Google + Personal Account if you don’t already have one. This is different than a Google + Local page which appears on Google Maps.

Step 2: Add a link to the blog and/or website you author in the ‘About’ section of your Google + Personal profile. Add the sites in the Links > ‘Contributor To’ section. Link to the “about me” section of the linked blog/website. If you don’t have an “about me” page make one!  Or, at a minimum link to an article or web page where your bio, profile photo and contact information appears.

Step 3: In the bio section of the website or blog, create a link to your Google + Personal page using the following steps. For blogs, the bio section may be the “gravatar” profile which appears at the bottom of all posts:

    1. Create a text or image link to your Google+ profile from your webpage (in the html view):
    2. Replace [profile_url] with the your Google+ profile URL:

Text link example:

google authorship text link example

Image link example:

google authorship image link example
  • NOTE: Your link must contain the ?rel=author parameter. If it’s missing, Google won’t be able to associate your content with your Google+ profile.

Step 4: Test the setup using Google’s structured data testing tool: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets. Test with a link to one of the blog articles or pages where you added the Google Plus Author link.

Step 5: Be patient as Google connects your Google Plus Authorship profile to your pages. Google says it can take from a couple weeks to a couple months for Google to begin displaying your pages with the authorship icon. However, in my experience I have seen the Google authorship icon show up in as little as 3 days for some of my clients and my own authorship became live in a little over two weeks.

Step 6: Benefit from the increase visibility and exposure you will have from Google Authorship!

Google + Authorized content is easily recognizable in search engine results from the appearance of the profile image next to the search result link, e.g.

google authorship example

Google also sends out a one-time “Welcome to Google Authorship” notification email about a week after authorship has been established. Here is the email I received one week after my own authorship profile went live:

google authorship confirmation email

Check out other good articles on Google Authorship:

1. Google Confirms Hidden Benefit of Authorship
http://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-hidden-benefit-of-authorship-134526

2. Ten Reasons You Should Claim Your Google Authorship
http://www.copyblogger.com/claim-google-authorship/

Browse my other articles on Search Engine Optimization.

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Using Press Releases for Better SEO

Posted on March 2, 2013 by

Press Release for Better SEOProfessionally written press releases is a 2013 SEO best practice since it creates quality backlinks to a website as well as providing quality content for Google and Bing search engines to index. Good press release services create a permanent keyword friendly URL. Here are some examples from PRweb.com and PRNewsWire.com.

Check out the URL’s on these press releases…MAJOR SEO Friendly!

  1. http://www.prweb.com/releases/usedfurniture/installation/prweb10372101.htm
  2. http://www.prweb.com/releases/phoenixville/plumbing/prweb10372059.htm
  3. http://www.prweb.com/releases/robinrenee/mantramusic/prweb10368512.htm
  4. http://www.prweb.com/releases/dcbuttdoctor/plasticsurgery/prweb10157978.htm
  5. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/10-seo-tips-to-adapt-to-google-penguin-update-by-miklinseo-190206181.html

The PR Newswire VP of Social media agrees. Check out Sarah Skerik’s article on SEO Trends for 2013 that was published in January 2013.

Using press releases to get the word out on your business and services is NOT a silver bullet however. Having and SEO optimized website, an active social media and blog writing strategy as well as a quality back-link development plan are all key components to generating the visibility and web traffic that lead to Internet business leads.

Check out other articles on SEO…

Need help writing and distributing a press release? Contact me for rates and information.

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Entrepreneur in Action | Tim Horn, Virginia Hypnosis Consultant

Posted on March 1, 2013 by

Tim Horn HypnotherapistTim Horn was introduced to me by the owner of the Lotus Wellness Center, Uma Beepat, a short time ago. Word of mouth referrals are the best! Tim is the owner and sole proprietor of Hypnoconsult.com, a hypnosis consulting service in Northern Virginia. I was immediately struck by Tim’s unique sense of humor. In fact, I never laughed so much during a client coaching session as I did the last time we met! Tim’s easy ability to connect on a very fundamental level with people is probably one of the key’s to his entrepreneurial success. Just watching one of is hypnosis demonstration YouTube videos puts me in a relaxed state of mind. I enjoyed this interview immensely especially since I have the experience of getting to know the very caring man behind the message.

1. Career influences

My greatest career influences are Leo Buscaglia and Jerry Kein.  Leo Buscaglia spoke of living your life with passion and letting that love consume you.  I do what I love and that is a reward in itself.  Jerry Kein started out as a hypnotist and teacher and has built a wonderful career, made friends and changed his part of the world.

2. Biggest career success

My biggest career success was receiving a letter from a client who had been referred to me by a psychologist telling me they had thought of ending their life before I worked with them.  That person has gone on and lived a great life in the few years since.   There are others, but that one person and her comments reiterated for me why I am a hypnotist.

3. Recent lessons learned

If you are only interested in money to have money, you will never find joy. If you are only interested in yourself, you will never find fulfillment.  If you are interested in helping others and making your part of the world a better place, happiness is a natural result.

4. What inspires and motivates

People and ideas inspire me.   When I see adults and people with physical, emotional and mental challenges living their lives with joy, I remember what Lincoln said, “A person is about as happy and they make up their mind to be.”  My wife and I support Special Olympics because of a friend named Janet.  She has overcome so much and will always inspire me.

5. Share a leadership story

The folk artist Harry Chapin created a foundation to fight world hunger while he was alive.  For every two concerts he played, all the profits from one would go to his cause.  He was interviewed once about how he lived his life and he spoke about his grandfather.  His grandfather had been an artist who supported many controversial causes.  There were times he knew he would lose a battle, but he wanted to know he had done what was right so he could sleep the sleep of the just.  I aspire to that everyday even when I know I might lose.

6. Your Top Two

Life is a choice between Fear and Love.  If you have a passion for what you do and serve others, you will succeed.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”  Take control of your own life and live it.

7. About Tim Horn

My hypnosis business is small enough that I can design my programs for individual clients.  This personal hands-on approach has served me well.  Ultimately, I do not succeed until my clients do. It is up to them to take control of their lives and I am more than glad to help them do just that.

I have weekend and evening hours so my clients do not need to take off from work.
At my heart I am a teacher and the best teachers strive to make their students better than themselves.  I teach two hypnosis certification classes a year and am a faculty member for the National Guild of Hypnotists.

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Entrepreneur in Action | Tracy Hess, Zone2BTone CEO and Fitness Expert

Posted on February 25, 2013 by

Tracy Hess, ZoneTBTone.comTracy Hess was introduced to me through a Philadelphia marketing colleague, Robert Dorfman. She needed her collection of YouTube videos exported for her new website project, Zone2BTone.com. Getting to know Tracy over the last couple of years through her video interviews of local fitness facilities and an occasional marketing call has motivated my own fitness interests and routine. I know that she has inspired many people through her work that she hasn’t even met. Tracy’s determination, work ethic and energetic personality is infectious and will continue to drive her entrepreneurial success. I look forward to her next video interview and will gladly promote her efforts in my own network of connections. Tracy is truly an ‘Entrepreneur in Action!’

1. Career influences

The person that has continually influenced me is top R&B Rock artist, Tina Turner. Throughout all the physical and mental abuse, Tina found away to recreate her career as an artist and made her comeback to the stage stronger then ever. She truly marketed herself as a role model to all women who has given up after domestic abuse. She is truly my influence.

2. Biggest career success

My biggest successes would be:

  • Earning a spot with the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders
  • Producing my very 1st series of workout videos Bodysizzleworkout vol. 1 & 2
  • Winning my pro card in Nabba Organization in Womens Bodybuilding
  • Coaching my daughters H.S. Cheerleading team to winning there 1st ever victory; The District 1 Championships
  • Creating my latest successful fitness website Zone2btone.com.

3. Recent lessons learned

As sad as it may be you can’t trust anyone. You have to be limited on the information you share with others. Your dream or idea can be someone else’s.

4. What inspires and motivates

Helping people reach their individual goals this is so inspiring to me as a Fitness expert & Trainer to see my clients change there way of life forever being healthier & happier. :-)

5. Share a leadership story

Back in 2010 I created a 12-week class for young overweight teenage girls and boys that have been bullied in schools leaving them with low self esteem. In this class, I taught these youngsters how to take negative words and turn them into positive energy. I educated them about how to take charge of there lives by being more active through exercise programs, sports and making healthier choices with there foods. After the 12-week course, 80% of my students had decreased body weight, became top honored athletes in the H.S. programs and have a high level of self-esteem. I was awarded a leadership award from my fitness facility. How cool is that!

6. Your Top Two

My advice to entrepreneurs is to never procrastinate in their business. If you have a dream, make everyday count in achieving it. Remember, someone else may have the same dream and will achieve it before you; “Time is of the essence.”

7. About Tracy

Tracy Hess is the CEO of Zone2BTone; your gateway to a healthy lifestyle. The website features elite health, fitness, and beauty professionals in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Zone2BTone offers consumers a chance to get an exclusive inside look at these featured small businesses. We also give business owners the opportunity to communicate their passion and philosophies to the consumer more efficiently than a print advertisement. Additionally, Zoned2BToned offers free nutrition tips, recipes, fitness workouts and bodybuilding, fitness show coverage much more! Stay Healthy and Fit with Zoned2bToned

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