Shedding the Bitch Radio presents RICH Tip Tuesday!! Your questions, My Advice!

Hello and welcome to Shedding the Bitch Radio, where you can discuss, debate, and get advice on how to discover and shed the bitches of angst, attitude, and negative mindsets so you can realize your dreams and life purpose and create and accelerate the riches you want in life. Join us here live every Tuesday at noon Eastern and dialogue with us at 818-572-2910. You can also chat with us at blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch or share your stories on our website sheddingthebitch.com. Whatever the bitch is that's holding you back from living your life to your fullest, it's not worth giving up the riches in life that you deserve. So call in now and let Bernadette Boas know what's holding you back. 818-572-2910.

Well, hello everyone and happy, happy Tuesday. And this is actually Rich Tip Tuesday. On Chaining the Bitch Radio, and you are indeed talking with Bernadette Boas, and I'll explain that in a second. But I'm glad you are joining us because this is going to be a fun-filled, informative, motivational, and educational hour that we spend, give or take a few minutes maybe. Anyway, thank you for joining us today. It's been a, it's been a tough week, let me tell you. Not only with everything going on with the Boston Marathon, and God bless all of those men, women, children that have been impacted in one way or the other from that travesty, as well as a shout-out to everybody out in West Texas. God, that's just absolutely devastating. If you happen to see kind of the before and after shots and just the devastation that was created as a result of that explosion. And overall, just kind of the trials and tribulations that this past week, the, you know, knocking down the gun law. I'm not going to get into politics, but it was definitely something that impacted you in one way or the other. And you certainly voiced your thoughts and your opinions loudly out in the social media world. Personally, it was just heavy. Many of you know I lost my mother a few weeks ago, and I don't think I've processed that. So every once in a while this past week, I'd be sitting somewhere or walking in the park or doing something, and the next thing you know, I'm in tears, or I'm smiling, or I hear her voice, or whatever the case might be. So that's just been kind of heavy, heavy for me as well. And a lot of other things going on, all great things, all opening up doors and new windows to new chapters in my life. So that's a beautiful thing. And one of those things is this Rich Tip Tuesday that we're going to do. And I'm going to do this probably once a month. You know our Rich Tip Fridays on our Facebook page, Shedding the Bitch. And basically you've asked me for advice and coaching and support on business and life issues, whether that's your personal career whether it's your— what you do in your job or in your role. Maybe it's about your business from the business development side of it, from starting a business, growing a business, managing a business, dealing with a business. And then as well as life, you know, life issues that are coming up, especially when it comes to things like setting goals, establishing goals, creating your goals. Many of you have have voiced your challenge in doing that. And then basically, how do you find, you know, find time in the day to get everything done that you need to get done while finding what's so-called balance? And, you know, all other different aspects of just the things that are impacting you in your life today. So, we started Rich Tip Fridays which basically, send in your questions all week, I'm compiling them and then I'm answering them and providing you tips and advice and I actually provide tips every day on sheddingthebitch.com, on Rich Tip, on our Shedding the Bitch Facebook page, and then they go out to Twitter. So there's a lot of information you could be garnering and a lot of fun as well in our community. That said, what I thought I'd do today is kind of recap some of the things that you've been sending in, some of the questions, and then some of the feedback that I've been giving you and some of the tips and advice. And we would do this, like I said, about once a month so that you can benefit from all the questions and advice that is being handed out. And plus, you can only get so much on a Facebook posting or Twitter posting or in a blog, and therefore I'll also provide you a little bit deeper advice or expertise around that particular subject. And of course, I've always mentioned that if I am not an expert or if I can't respond to your question, I have a plethora of experts in my network, and therefore, don't worry, your questions will be answered. And what I'd love you to do too is even throughout our program, you could be chatting in with us or calling in 1-818-572-2910. And to chat with us, just go to blogtalkradio.com/sheddingthebitch and you can actually participate and contribute and dialogue with me through the chat room. And if you have any questions, if you have any comments, if you don't agree with what I'm saying or you just think I'm full of it, you know, feel free to share, okay? This time with you on Shedding the Bitch Radio is for you. So, apart from the great guests that we have, and we have lined up going forward, I definitely want to make sure that you're getting as much support that you need in order to shed the bitches out of your head and heart so you can create and accelerate the riches in life that you so deserve. So that's what we're all about here. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at each one of these questions and then we're going to dive into them on different, you know, on its individual segments throughout the So, throughout the program. And then if I don't get to the question or the tip or get enough detail for you, then feel free to go to Facebook, go to Twitter, go to ShedingTheBitch.com and give me some, you know, feedback or ask additional questions. But remember, every Friday I'm also taking all the questions that come in during the week through all the different social media outlets and I'm responding to them as much as possible on Fridays. So there's tons of opportunity to engage with all of us. And as many of you know, especially here in Atlanta, we have formed a Circle of Riches for you. So basically we have a Circle of Entrepreneur Riches and we have a Circle of Corporate Riches. And basically what they are are small exclusive groups of either entrepreneur women or corporate women who come together once a month to really socialize, network, collaborate, build themselves both personally and professionally. And overall, kind of just get out of— get out of your own little— what I said to someone this morning— your cubicle, whether that's in your own business or in a, in a job, so to speak. And make sure that you are actually paying attention to building yourself up as a woman with other women collectively. Supportively, collaboratively. So Circle of Riches is coming to a city, a town, a website near you. So it's also another way to engage with us. And then of course, if you're a member of sheddingthebitch.com, you can join in on our forums that are out there. And they are coming to fruition as we speak. So stay patient with that, and we'll make sure that we have the forums and the places that you can come and gather and socialize together rolled out in the coming weeks. Okay, so let's take a look at what's been coming in from the perspective of Rich Tips. Let's see, this has been going on for a couple weeks now, and I did provide this one out, and then I'll back up, but I did provide this one that I got a lot of response on. And basically the Rich Tip was, "If you don't ask, you can't receive." So my Rich Tip there is all around the fact that when people pose questions to you, whether that's in person or online, Facebook, Twitter, in your social media world one way or the other, lend your own expertise, lend your own advice, lend your own opinion to it, but then at the same time use those forums to then ask your own questions. So, for instance, as long as I've been doing my social media and I post questions out, very few respond. They like it, hundreds of you like the question, but you don't actually respond to it or you don't contribute to it. And if you can't, if you don't contribute, you're losing out on the opportunity to get that collaboration with other people. So my Ridge tip here was, if you don't ask, you can't receive. And if you ask and you hear no or something that you don't agree with or that doesn't suit you at the time, then keep in mind that the other person may not be able to help you. They just might not understand whatever question it is that you have or whatever request it is that you're making. They may not be the right person, which kind of touches on the same thing. They gave you an opportunity, a forum, just like I am, to ask those questions, but then I might not be the right person. But if the person's asking, they're most likely going to be resourceful enough to go and find you the answer, even if it's not them directly that can answer it. So you have to at least ask in order to then get some support and get some reciprocation. Your request may not have been clear. I get that quite often, especially when we're writing online more so than collaborating via dialogue, actually talking to one another. We can often be misunderstood. We can also be misunderstood to the point where someone takes it offensively or doesn't, you know, quite get where you're coming from. Especially, I have a tendency to try to insert my my wit, call it whatever you want, into my written dialogue, and that doesn't always translate to everyone that's a recipient of that communication. So you really want to be cognizant of that. And then keep in mind, if you don't get a response or you don't get an adequate enough answer from me or anybody else, there's a zillion other people out there that can help you and that can contribute to your question, to your request, to your issue, to whatever it is that you might be posing to them. Okay? So keep that in mind because that's important. The person in front of you, like myself, especially if you're watching this online versus just listening to this over the radio, you know, you don't have to take my advice. I've never been one to kind of really like idolize someone other than Barbra Streisand, but that's because I want her voice. But I don't idolize or really revere anyone to the point where I think that they're the master or the one single solo guru of anything in particular. I make sure that I spread, spread the opportunity for other people to educate me and to teach me new things and whatever the case the case might be. So, just because I'm on this radio yapping my mouth, responding to your question or responding to your issue or your story, doesn't mean I'm the only one who can contribute to it. Okay? So, be open to that. So, I kind of put in this post, and you can go to Sheding the Bitch Facebook page, but I put into this post, there's a zillion more people out there, and like sales, and even romances, you have to hear a lot of nos, or you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you get what you want, or get the response that you want, or get the ask, so to speak. So that's my first Rich tip. First, you have to ask in order to receive. So be sure to ask, especially— you're kind of, you're safe on, you know, online. And what I mean by that is you might get someone that doesn't agree with your question or doesn't understand it, or they might be, you know, they might say something that that you don't necessarily agree with. However, you know, you can deflect that very easily and just, you know, don't take it personally. Just take it as, you know, they might not be having a good day or whatever the case might be. They're not coming in attacking you personally. Okay? Alright, so let me see, I just passed Marsha. Alright, so a rich tip from Marsha. Tomlin, was, "Just starting my own business, do I really need a business plan?" And my response to her was that, well, if you're taking a vacation and you're going to be driving or even flying and you need to go from Atlanta, let's say you're going to go to vacation in Florida, would you really get in your car without a map? Whether that's your GPS system or Google Maps or old-fashioned, like I like to do, old-fashioned write-it-down type of, type of map, or one of those AAA maps. Would you really go from here to Florida, go here to Savannah, go here to a location you've never been without some sort of direction? And basically, that's how you have to look at a business plan when you're starting your business. It's an outline of what it is you're trying to do, who it is you're trying to do it for, the value proposition that you offer them, the tactics and the strategy you're going to use to reach out to them, and then basically the products and services and the financial roadmap to get you to that end state. Now, I'll throw a question back at you. Including Marsha. Without knowing that, and actually a lot of people will say, "Well, Bernadette, I keep that up in my head. Isn't that good enough? Like, I know those things. I can answer those things." I'm going to challenge you on this. Write it out on a piece of paper, look it over, talk to other people about it, and then determine if really what you had in your head actually got translated to what you actually wrote out in a business plan. Now, don't confuse a business plan as some arduous, involved kind of bank type of document that, you know, typically people think of business plans as something that you would take to the bank to get a loan or to get investment of any kind. That's not, so to speak, what I'm talking about. This is really, you need to look at it as your roadmap understanding, and if you were to discuss your business with someone else, It really is your outline of what it is that you're doing and why you're working so hard day in and day out for that business. Now, I'll challenge those of you in corporate, those of you working for someone, to have a similar one. It might be your own personal roadmap, what I call a Rich Plan, that lays out what is it that you're trying to do in your career, where is it that you're trying to go, why is it that you want to get there, who are you serving. And what value do you bring that? If you really get from both a business perspective entrepreneurially and an intrapreneurially perspective within a corporate or within a small business type of job, that will give you more energy, focus, and motivation toward what it is that you're doing and why you're working so hard than if you were not to have any of that. And I will tell you right now with, you know, hundreds of businesses and individuals that I've worked with over the years, you can't get where you're going with having it in your head. You're never going to reach Florida by having the map in your head. It's not going to happen. You have to get it out and onto a piece of paper or GPS system. You can do it online, you can do it on hard paper, whatever the case might be. All right, so Marsha and any of the— anyone else that's kind of struggling with how do you really position and really get a good handle on the business or the career that you're working so hard at, the business plan is a great, great resource. Now, if you should need a business plan outline, more of the kind of light version, then feel free to email me at BernadetteBoas@VolafireInc.com or SheddingTheBitch.com. Or respond to Facebook and just say, hey Bernadette, I heard your radio show, you offered up a business plan template, could you please send it to me? Alright, so Marsha, thank you very much for that rich tip question, and that came in on our Rich Tip Friday. Alright, you are listening to Bernadette Boas on Shedding the Bitch Radio, and today we are making it a Rich Tip Tuesday, kind of summarizing all the Rich Tip questions that you've sent in and then I responded to on one of the 2 or 3 Rich Tip Fridays that we've had on Facebook. So go to Facebook, Shedding the Bitch. It's not sheddingthebitch.com, but Shedding the Bitch. Just Google it, you'll find it. And all through the week you can pose your questions and I'll be answering them online on Fridays. And then once a month we'll have a Rich Tip Tuesday on Shedding the Bitch Radio. Where I'll take those questions and focus on them and then drill even deeper into them. And then stay tuned because what I'm going to do is then take those same questions and make video clips of them. So actually do maybe a 15, 20, 30-minute video that will educate you, train you, and motivate you around whatever question that it is. Because I feel that if you're asking these questions then you're not the only one who probably has that same question. So why not make sure you all get to take advantage of it? Okay? I'm just going to check the chat room real quick and see if anybody's asking questions online before I move on to the next question. All right. The next question comes from Corey. I didn't catch her last name. I feel horrible. But Women in the Boardroom, now I've been educating and motivating and inspiring that group of women through some webinars that they offer up. So if you're on LinkedIn or Facebook, look up Women in the Boardroom. Now don't feel as if, well, I'm not in the boardroom or I'm not even a C-level type of woman. Whether you're entrepreneurial or you're intrapreneural corporate, I like to call them entrepreneurs versus corporate, then there's always a path that you're taking. And so it might be ultimately a board, you know, that you sit on, or it might just be your next, you know, your next pursuit, your next project, your next initiative, your next position. So it's a wonderful, wonderful group of women. Actually, I'm going to have Sheila Ronan on the show. May 18th, and you can count on that. I think I have the right date. May 18th, and we'll talk more about what it takes to be a woman in the boardroom. But anyway, so within one of her programs that I participated, actually I presented, I was asked this question. It was all about mentoring and sponsors and coaches. When wanting to engage a mentor, How much time or how often can I expect that they will give me? My response was this: it really depends on your goal and your objective for having a mentor, coach, or sponsor. So I asked her to step back and say, okay, first lay that out. Now for any of you who know me and who have been part of either Shedding the Bitch Radio or our Circle of Riches or or any of the Ball of Fire, Shift to Riches, or Shading the Bitch programs, you will know that I'm always talking about writing things down and getting them on paper. So, I often show you my own journal and where I always capture what it is that I'm working on and what it is that I'm doing and what it is that I'm strategizing on. And I strongly recommend that every one of you I don't care if you're a stay-at-home mom or you are in corporate, running your own business, working for somebody else. I don't care. Buy yourself a journal, even if it's your personal life journal, and get out of your head and start formulating what it is that you want out of this life. I always talk about that we only have one life and it goes really, really, really fast. And especially even though my mother was 85, she was not ready to go. And I look at that and I say, wow, at 85 she was still so energetic and motivated and just excited about where life was going to be taking her. You know, I can wallow in that, feeling sorry that, you know, she died when she did. However, she's just left an amazing legacy. And before I start crying, I will move on from that. But my point is this. Is whether you're 20 or 50 or 85, you still have dreams and goals that you want to achieve. Maybe you have a bucket list of things. Therefore, write it down and make sure that you're pursuing them. Okay? And therefore, the journal and into this responding to Corey, uh, all kind of comes together. Alright, so when wanting to engage a mentor, how much time and how often? And my response was, just be sure you understand what it is and why it is you're engaging that mentor, coach, or sponsor. So write it out. What is it you're trying to accomplish? For a business owner, you might be saying that you needed to learn a new skill or you need to learn a new industry. Maybe you need to meet, you know, contacts and connections. You're trying to penetrate the government. You're trying to learn how to actually structure a business, hire people, whatever the case might be. Somebody in corporate or working for somebody, you might have a goal or an objective of getting to the next position, getting 3 positions later. You know, I always talk about kind of goal setting up, mentoring up, and that will be for another rich tip that we'll talk about. Whatever it is you're trying to achieve in life, maybe it's to climb Kilimanjaro. Write it out. Why do you want to accomplish that goal and objective? What do you bring to that goal or objective? So what skills, traits, experiences, lessons do you already possess that will contribute to not only your goal and objective but that relationship with that mentor or that coach or sponsor? Obviously, you know, they want to get value out of that engagement with you as well. So, what do you bring? Plus, they want to know that you're committed to that goal and objective and that you're not starting from scratch. So, if any of you— like, I study Shark Tank because one of my goals and objectives and why I seek mentors and coaches is around raising capital and getting investment from someone. Well, if you watch that show, they'll often say to the entrepreneur, they'll turn them down, they'll say, "You just don't understand," or, "You don't—" have enough of your skills or talents in order for me to help you. I can't help you. I can't come and, and, and not only give you my money, but I can't give you my time. I can't give you my mentorship. I can't give you my coaching because I've got 50 other investments. And what I'm expecting is that you're going to come to the table with certain traits, certain skills, what I call riches, that is going to contribute to you achieving your goal and objective. So make sure you understand that. Secondly is lay out the what, the why we just talked about, or I'm sorry, the goal, the what you bring to the table, but what are you lacking? What do you really need from that mentor, from that coach, from that sponsor? It will vary based on, you know, what type of role you're looking for and engagement you're looking for from that person and based on your goal and objective. So what is it that you need and what is it that you're looking for? Those things will tell you kind of how much time. Because say you have a goal and objective, let's take me for instance, I'm writing my screenplay to shedding the corporate bitch and I have a goal and objective of August 1st. To many of you that might sound, oh well, she's got plenty of time. Well, I only write on Saturdays, so, you know, take that. Number of months times 4 Saturdays to do it. I have a very aggressive timeline. Therefore, the coaches and the mentors that I'm engaging, because of that process and that timeline, I have a certain expectation, I have a certain need. It's a lot more, um, often frequent than once a month, once a quarter, once a year, or as needed. So your goal, your need And your timeline for achieving that goal or objective is going to determine what you need to kind of set expectations of when talking with these potential mentors, coaches, and sponsors. Does that make sense? So for instance, my writing my screenplay by August 1st, I've had to engage screenplay writers, producers, entertainment people that can ensure that when I hit my August 1st, I've done the right things, you know, throughout in order to make that August 1st deliverable of a screenplay viable, that I can move on to the next stage, move on to the next goal. Does that make sense? So as far as Corey's question of how often or what frequency would you engage a mentor, coach, and sponsor, and/or sponsor, it really will depend on the goal and the objective that you have. So lay that out on a piece of paper because you also would want to kind of type that up and provide it to them so they can see that you're very focused, you're very clear on what it is that you want, and all your expectations are outlined as to what it is that you need from anyone that might engage with you. Okay, thank you, Corey, for that question. And we— you are listening to Shetty the Bitch Radio, Rich Rich Tip Tuesday with Bernadette Boas. And I decided to take your Rich Tip Friday questions and sum them up into a program, one of our radio shows, so we can dig deeper into those questions and into those tips. You can only do so much on a Facebook posting. Yet, at the same time, don't let that discourage you from providing your questions, providing your issues or your opportunities that I might, may be able to lend a helping hand to. And if it's not me, I will find the person who can. Okay. All right, let's see. Rich Tipps. Let's see. Question raised this week. Okay. I didn't have a name attached to this one. So Rich Tipps, Tuesday, and your Rich Tip for today is, I want to write a book, what tips do you have? And I kicked off the response, the Rich Tip, by saying, how much time do you have? And I will certainly limit this on this program, or it'll take the rest of the time that we have together. But at the same time, this is one that I'm very passionate about. About. I've learned a lot through my own writing process and my own writing experience, and therefore this will definitely be one of those Rich Tip videos that I go off and do and provide you a lot more detail. And I'll scribble some things up on a whiteboard and that kind of thing. Okay? So, the question is, "I want to write a book. What tips do you have?" Alright. So, I believe that everyone has a story. So if you've decided that you want to write a book, I would hope, maybe, that you would know what it is that you want to write about. But say you don't. I believe everybody has a story. Now that might be a novel type of story, that might be a manual or a guidebook or something academic. That might be a how-to. It could be, you know, any configuration of a book. So if you want to write a book, what I would first also outline on a piece of paper, in your journal that we've mentioned with previous Rich Tips, you want to write out why. First, write out why, even before you kind of dialogue out on a piece of paper what type of book, what the subject matter would be, so forth and so on. And the reason why I say that is I learned very quickly that writing a book is not easy and it's not quick. I don't care how many, uh, write a book in 30 days type of videos or articles you read or listen to or watch. It is a commitment. All right, so just understand why you want to write it, and it should be almost altruistic, altruistic, in regards to that, you know, it's something that you want to do, and then it should definitely be that you want to help or serve someone else. So let me back up and say, and using myself as an example, I never thought of writing a book, though I've been a journal writer. I write in a journal. This is my business journal, but I have a personal journal that I write in on a regular basis. And I've been doing that since I was like 10 when they were, you know, black and white, you know, black and white— oh, I'm drawing a blank on the name. Anyway, composition, composition books. And yet, writing a book is a whole different story. I thought it would be easy because I was already on a regular basis writing. And I was writing about me. Shedding the Corporate Bitch is my kind of biography, autobiography. And I thought that would be easy. But it still is not. And there's still a process around it. So just write out on a piece of paper if you want to write a book. A first step I would suggest is just Write out why and just make sure that why— I call it your why spot— make sure it's big enough to where you're going to commit to it. Unless you're okay with it taking years. But if you have kind of a real desire to write it and short-term, or, you know, say a year short-term with a real value or purpose on the back end of that, then You know, we'll get to the additional tips of what to do, but at least understand your why. Then, of course, the very first thing I would suggest doing, because it was such a time saver for me, is very similar to— I gave you another Rich tip about if you're starting a business, you want a business plan. Well, if you're going to write a book, you want to write a book proposal or a book outline. And that wouldn't even matter if you're taking it to a publisher. To get it formally published, say you even want to just self-publish, I would still highly recommend writing out a book outline or a book proposal. You can Google it or again you can Facebook or email me, BernadetteBoas@SheddingTheBitch.com, and I'd be more than happy to send you my book proposal outline. Again, what this book proposal is going to do is it's going to say what is it that you want to write about. Why? Why should you be writing about this? Because you want to make sure that even, you know, even if one person reads it, are you the right person to be writing it? And that will also kind of create all the energy within you because then you'll get really kind of determined and passionate about it because of the fact that you've justified to yourself why you would be the perfect person to write this book. And then it will go through What is the main message of your book? What is the value you're going to be offering the reader? Who is the reader? What do they look like demographically, psychographically? What, you know, who is it that you're going to be targeting? Regardless if you're self-publishing it or not, you need to know who you want to be picking it up, either off your website or off of Amazon or off the bookshelf, because then you want to target them very specifically. So a book outline and proposal book/proposal will really provide you that model, that outline of what your book is going to be about. And therefore, you can really use it to start creating the energy and the flow of what it is that you're about to set out to do. Okay? I then went on to suggest before you get started, all that is good. Oh, And then basically, because there's a lot to this, so I just summarized a few of the points. Again, I will dive into this on a unique and distinct video for you. But block out specific time that you're going to write. Now, there's different approaches to this based on your style, alright? Some people that— some writers I know, authors, they blocked out a set number of words they wanted to write in a day or a week. So why they do it that way is there's a common structure to how many words should be in a book. So the average book is between 225 and 256 pages, of which there's 250 pages to a page. So, you know, you could do the math based on that. They'll say that I want to write certain number of words certain number of pages, certain number of chapters, whatever the case might be. Based on that, they'll block out their time. Now, I happen to be the type that— and my availability only lended itself to writing on the weekends. So, I blocked out noon to 6 on Saturdays and Sundays. So, I could still have a life, you know, in the morning, meet friends for breakfast, go to church, do my grocery shopping, take the dog to the park, go on a hike, whatever the case might be. And then, from noon to 6, I committed to being either at the library on Saturdays or Caribou Coffee— shout out to them— in Buckhead and writing. And I might go later than 6 or I might decide to leave at 4, but that was kind of my time block. Schedule literally had that on my calendar. So whether you do it during the week, whether you do it for an hour, whether you do it for a full day, whatever the case might be, block out specific time. Just don't say, "I'm gonna do it when I have free time." That won't happen. Treat it like an appointment and block it out. Alright? Let's see what I did. Start marketing it now. Ooh, I do wanna make sure I get that in there. I came up with my book idea actually in an emotional breakdown. You can ask me about that at another time. Ask me on Facebook, you know, to tell you the story of how I came about writing a book called Shedding the Corporate Bitch and putting myself out there as a nasty woman. I, you know, through an emotional kind of breakdown. And that was in July of 2009. I didn't start writing putting pen to paper until, I wanna say, February of 2010. And I finished it up roughly in March of 2011, and it was published in August. I might be off a little bit there, but so you can understand the timeframe. I started marketing it Probably in August of 2009. So, I came up with the idea in July and I was already marketing it. I was already telling people I was writing a book. I was already sharing that, you know, the title of the book, sharing the story, sharing the reason, the value, the issue I was addressing very early on. So, by the time I released the book and it was published, there was a lot of people already interested. That initial marketing will take you a long way for informing and educating, as well as I would use that marketing time to also survey and ask people as to whether or not the, the story, the message, the purpose, the result, the output of the book was of value and what would they change about it. So, for instance, that whole process actually helped me come up with the— I'll call them characters, but the mindset that is represented in Shedding the Bitch. If you follow us, you know there's Paine and there's Joy. Paine's name is P-A-I-N-E and Joy. And they have certain personas. One's a bitch and one's a very happy, you know, free, open woman. Well, what I did is actually through the marketing process, I posed a question describing the different personas that I was going to be illustrating that I was and how I shedded and transformed and asked them to put a name to it. Asked them to name what I used to call Bitch and Happy. So, the whole time I was writing the book, there was Bitch and there was Happy. And those were words that helped me kind of get in the mindset of the story I was trying to tell. Even though it was my own story, I still needed kind of some juice, some creative energy. And yet, through that marketing process, my new fans and followers of Shedding the Corporate Bitch came out with pain and joy. And that's who— who those characters are now and what they represent. So there's a huge amount of value you can get out of marketing as soon as you have a book idea. Okay? So I know that was, you know, a little more than I was going to go into. However, I think it's important. And like I said, this is a question I get asked a lot around how do you go about writing a book, what are the steps that you should take, what What are some gotchas about the process? How did I decide on self-publishing or publishing? Did I go after literary agents, and if so, what was that process like? So forth and so on. So there is tons of conversation we could be having around just writing a book. So I'll do a video outside of this Rich Tip Tuesday in order to share that with you. So stay tuned for that. I'm going to take a look back in our chat room. People are hanging out but not saying much, so that's fine. That's fine. But remember, if you want to contribute or ask your own question, or maybe you have a follow-on question to a Rich Tip question that I'm discussing, feel free to call in at 1-818-572-2910 any Tuesday on Shagging the Bitch Radio, and I'll get that addressed for you. Or go into our chat room. As well, go onto Facebook, Shading the Bitch, and pose your question there. And just as an FYI, a reminder, though we're talking about it here on Shading the Bitch Radio today, on Fridays I actually answer any question you pose throughout Friday. So even though it's only Tuesday, you can pose your questions today, tomorrow, Thursday, and I'll get them addressed on Friday. Okay, and then once a month on Shedding the Bitch Radio, we'll come back here and we'll discuss the ones that were submitted so we can drill deeper into them. You're listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio, and this is Bernadette Boas. And for those of you watching on, watching this via video, I'm just gonna take a sip of soda real quick. And Charlie is busy underneath the table. I hope you're not hearing him gnawing on a marrow bone that I gave him that was like this big. It was huge. So he's having a good old time down there. And we're going to take this radio program from a video perspective, and we're going to chop it up and provide these individual rich tips segments out as well as individual videos. Alright, so you're gonna get tons of output as a result of our Rich Tip Tuesday on Shit in a Bitch Radio. Alright, let's see, Tamara Reeves, her question to me was, I don't have money to spend on marketing, what are my options? Great question. Great, and this comes up a lot from, obviously, from business owners, especially small business owners, solopreneurs, people just starting out, and they're a little bit overwhelmed at the reality of what it takes to find customers, to find followers, fans. I can attest myself that, you know, people look at Facebook and Twitter as if they're the end-all be-all of getting your brand, getting your product, getting your message out there as if you set up a fan page or a Facebook or Twitter page and the world is going to come running at you. Well, not unless you have some major face time or voice time with a national/global market. You know, superstars can do that. Superstars can get, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of fans and followers. Because they're always out in the public eye. If you're a public speaker and have a decent size of stage that you're on, you're also going to get a nice amount of followers. If you're just starting out, if you're just kind of on the cusp of that broader market or that broader audience, then it's going to take some time and it's going to take some effort and some real hard work on your end. So, it's definitely a viable and great question and something that it's good that you're thinking about, Tamara, at the early stages that you are in your business because it's the time that you have very little extra money to be putting in unless you maybe left corporate or you've invested or inherited some money or you've gotten a loan or an investment of which now you have a decent amount money, even if it's small, a small percentage of your total, to contribute to marketing. But let's say you don't. Let's say you have $100 a month to spend on marketing. So what would I do with that? Well, these were my kind of suggestions. I did ask her back, do you have zero or do you have a little bit to spend? So let's just assume she has $100. Some of these are going to apply even if you have zip, okay? So, determine that first. Alright, so I'll back up a little bit. Most entrepreneurs will say, "I don't have any money. I don't have marketing, extra marketing money." Well, again, I challenge you. Is it zero? Is it $35? There's a lot you can do with $35. Or is it $100? Or is it $1,000? Okay, so determine your budget that you can afford, that you can commit to, and then really make whatever it is that you do with that, really useful. Okay? So based on that, you can start Googling what, you know, marketing tactics, marketing strategies on a shoestring budget. There's one Google string that you can type in and you're going to get flooded back with ideas from people around the world as to what you could do on a shoestring budget. You can even probably put out there I have $35 to spend on marketing, what should I do? Because there's free things you could be doing and then there's things that have a price but not hundreds and thousands of dollars. Okay, now there's of course, there's those type of things like PR and building a really, you know, robust website and search engine and all that kind of good stuff. But there's also other things that don't require all that. So first, Google. And then ask. I am huge at just kind of yapping my mouth to anybody and everybody that will listen and respond as far as asking their advice on what do they do to XYZ. What do they do on a shoestring budget? What do they do if they don't have any money to put to marketing? What do they do? So you can also ask as well as Google and then of course get educated. Take classes, small business Association if you are a small business. They have programs around marketing, around social media that will educate you on what tactics and strategies you can use regardless of how much money you have. Okay, so some of the suggestions that I put on there was there are free and there's fee-based. So for instance, Mailchimp is an electronic marketing tool that you can send emails, newsletters, announcements, customer testimonials through a free engine based on the number of connections you have in your database. And then the higher you get, then it converts into a fee-based. Still low though, still inexpensive. And it's an easy user interface to use. Constant Contact works the same way, though don't quote me that they have a free level. I think anything is, you know, is fee-based. I could be wrong, but Mailchimp. And there you can do, like I said, newsletters, you can do emails, you can do articles, submit articles out, you can send out videos, promotions for your products and services. Free. And if you are small or, or a kind of new and you don't have, I think it's like 2,000 contacts, that's a lot of contacts for someone just starting out, then it's free, okay, and then a small fee after that. Now I'm talking to you on BlogTalkRadio, all right, an online radio program, platform that you have an opportunity if you like to yap like I do, to do it, a free program or a low-fee base. So half-hour programs you can actually do for free. And that's where I started. For the first year I did half-hour, and even though I had guests and major topics to talk about, and I had big guests— Guy Kawasaki, Greg Reid, Eric LaFamme— and they have thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in their database. So what did I do there for free? I did both the radio show and I was able to build up my database leveraging their database. Come here, bud. Excuse me, my dog decides to interrupt. Come here. Come lay down. Come on. I need you to lay down, okay? All right, so I'll edit Charlie's hello out of this. Part of the video. Anyway, so you can do something like BlogTalkRadio for free. SurveyMonkey. So if you want to do market research, if you want to learn more about what it is that you're doing, about your product, about your services, about your skills and your traits and your leadership, you can always do a survey out to your friends, family, and connections, whether they're your LinkedIn connections or your, your database connections. And actually, from a business, corporate perspective, entrepreneurial perspective, you can use SurveyMonkey as well amongst your own peers. Do your own 360 assessment, and it's free. So again, very much like MailChimp, SurveyMonkey is free up to a certain number of connections. Okay, and the list goes on. Just, you just need to get out there and find them. You can do free public speaking gigs. Offer your services out free to speak or to train. Do webinars. There are, oh, not GoToWebinar. There's a webinar service that is actually free up until a certain number of connections. Okay? So you just need to Google and research, but there's a lot of things that you could be doing Free. And then small. So, for instance, I use a portal for me to do webinars and I, you can see me and eventually I'll be able to see, you know, up to like 8 or 10 people. It's almost like Google Face, I think it is. And that platform is only $50 a month. And yet it's very effective for people to see me while I'm doing my webinars or doing my coaching or doing my Circle of Riches roundtables. So again, low cost, high visibility, and that's a good point that I want to bring up. You want to find things that are low cost, high visibility, things that are going to reach the most people. So things I would not do, for instance, because it's not going to be cheap and it's very small percentage, is For instance, postcards or direct mail pieces, and my direct mail piece friends are going to kill me for saying this, but those you need to be somewhat established because just think of your own experience with them. You get postcards, you get a number of them in your pile of mail. What do you do? I stand over the trash can and just go chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, and throw it away. You know, the conversion of you know, of direct mail pieces is like, you know, less than 1%. You want to find those things that are going to be 10, 20, 30%. You sending out a very educational newsletter free, you know, you'll get conversion rates of 30, 50, 65% of opens on that newsletter, on that educational video, whatever the case might be. Those are the things that you want to look at. And what I also offered out is You first want to understand what high visibility, low visibility tactics are that you could be using. Again, Google that. Or if you want a sheet that lists out those type of high and low visibility marketing tactics, then feel free to send me a Facebook posting on Shedding the Bitch fan page or to BernadetteBoas@SheddingTheBitch.com and just reference Shedding the Bitch Radio and your rich tip Tuesday, and I'll be more than happy to send that out to you. The last thing is to test. Use those free resources and/or even those inexpensive ones, but use the free resources especially to test whether or not those things work for you or not. I'll be honest with you, and for those of you in my community, I so appreciate your patience with this, but I was testing my newsletters You know, when I test my brands, what resonates with you most when it comes to doing certain types of education? Is it Shed the Bitch or is it Ball of Fire or is it Shift to Riches or is it blah blah? So I use the newsletter to kind of test open rates, test conversions through the links to see certain behaviors from you in a free tool. Before I then said, you know what, I need to ramp it up and get it back out. Plus, my database was building, so I was eventually going to have to start paying like $100 a month. So test it first before you really commit, and you can test all different types of messaging, promotions, products, your brand, images. All kinds of things. Use things like SurveyMonkey or these new email marketing tools to really kind of do some market research on your business, alright? And then do not allow money or having no money to stop you from really reaching out and marketing whatever it is that you're doing, okay? So that's our Rich Tip all about How can you market when you have little or no money? You're listening to Bernadette Boas on Shedding the Bitch Radio. We're having a very fun day of Rich Tip Tuesday. I'm taking all of your rich tip questions that you've posed on Facebook, Facebook Shedding the Bitch fan page, and I am taking those and answering them right here, drilling into them a little bit more than what you you can do as a response on Facebook and really providing you some, I hope, good informative educational and action value advice as to what you can do in order to take these tips and leverage them in your business, in your career, or in your life right now and right here. Excuse me. Excuse me. Okay, we have time roughly for, let's see, let me do this one somewhat quickly, okay? It's from Candy Swimmer. I haven't been given a raise in a couple of years and I've been working really hard. How do I ask for it without sounding like a complaint? My risk tip was this: you standing up for yourself and asking for what you've earned value or deserved is— should not be looked at as if you're going to be complaining. It's more so the approach that you take in asking for that raise that might be perceived as complaining. So first, understand that you standing up for yourself and feeling you have earned and deserve something and that you've contributed great value to what you're doing, that is not complaining. That is just simply asking. Remember, one of our Rich Tips was about, you know, making sure that you ask if you want to receive. So go back to that Rich Tip conversation about asking to kind of find out what I responded to there. In this case, it's not complaining, it's simply how you structure the request. And remember, Asking for a raise or asking, period, is just simply making a request. And you are then open to kind of having a dialogue about that, and it might turn into what I call the hot potato conversation where they say, "No, no raise." And you come back and you ask. So my tips were, first, standing up is not a complaint. First, get in your head that you are not raising a complaint. It isn't fair I haven't been given a I want a raise in 2 years. You don't want to say that. You don't want to come off defensive from the get-go. Okay, then that is a complaint. Instead, what you want to do is you want to position your value. What have you contributed? What kind of result has that contribution made? How has it impacted the business? How has it impacted that individual? Because a lot of times you do something really well and it makes that manager of yours look really, really good. So you wanna leverage that and build a value proposition, build a business case for why you're asking for the raise. Okay? And then it goes on, go to Shitting the Bitch fan page on Facebook to see my response down to Candy, 'cause I didn't realize that we were almost out of time. Anyway, so this was Rich Tip Tuesday, and I don't know about you, but I loved dialoguing and drilling into these these tips and questions that you've had online even more so. And I want you to do that throughout the week and I'll answer them as part of Rich Tip Friday on Facebook. And then come back here every Tuesday whether it's a week with a guest, which we have some great guests lined up to help you from a business, career, or life perspective. Or go to Facebook, Shedding the Bitch, or go on to our SheddingtheBitch.com. And collaborate and share with each other what it is that you are looking to shed so you can create and accelerate the riches in life that you deserve. So for everyone here at sheddingthebitch.com and Shedding the Bitch Community, thank you so much for being part of today's program. And go to Facebook, let me know your questions, okay? And then check us out on our community, sheddingthebitch.com.

Thank you for listening to Shedding the Bitch Radio with Bernadette Boas. Join Bernadette every Tuesday at noon Eastern as she helps you shift your bitches to riches. And the dialogue is always going on at sheddingthebitch.com. See you next week.