(Wondering who the heck are Edith, Katharine, and Audrey? They’re three of the five Signature Spotlight Styles. Basically, they’re role models for an easier approach to stepping into the spotlight with your business. If you’d like to find out who your role model is, you can take the free quiz.)

Ediths, though, start with the bus station.

See, an Edith tends to rename the bus. She rewrites the routes. And she has a tendency to suddenly… Keep reading.

Nowadays, this means that the gorgeous laser Xerox that cost a pretty penny sits in my office waiting for a visit from my brother (who now lives on the opposite coast) because after three years of persnickety behavior, it decided to make things official and stop working last December. Right in the middle of  a big printing job.

Ordinarily, I don’t print much at the office–it’s easier to just send it out, especially given my track record. But, every so often, I get an idea for a project that leaves me babysitting the printer one sheet at a… Keep reading.

Here’s the thing: naming stuff is usually senseless. Yes, on the one hand, it neatly delineates Those Who Read Your Stuff from Those Who Don’t. And yes, there’s a lot of talk right now about how having a common vocabulary can help make your people feel like part of your inner circle. And yes, there are many marketers who talk about how important it is to segment your audience into an “In Group” and an “Out Group” so that people will be willing to pay you just so they don’t feel left out.

Yes, naming stuff occasionally is smart.… Keep reading.

I want to make sure that I’m still on track to help your 2010 live up to its fullest potential. See, I’ve got a bunch of irons in the fire:

• We’ve got a new version of the Thrive Your Tribe website that’s *thisclose* to being done if I’d just get busy and put the finishing touches on the writing.
• There’s also this Something New (and really, really different) that’s being introduced (by snail mail) in the next week or two.
• A new office space to organize and decorate.
• A new team member to train.
• A bunch of programs that I have all mapped out (pain-free copywriting, for instance) that I need to actually put on the schedule so you can participate.

I’m officially overwhelmed. As I knew I… Keep reading.

It’s below.

The reason that I decided to re-run it is because I got a lot of emails from readers wondering what the Haitian earthquake meant when it came to writing their newsletters–did they need to talk about the donation they’d made? If they did, did that look like marketing? If they didn’t, did that mean their readers would assume they were heartless and hadn’t made a donation at all?

And then, you have the folks who move resolutely on with their launches or blogs or newsletters without addressing the devastation at all, and I know for many of *my* readers (because y’all are such a wonderful mix of caring, compassionate types) that feels all wrong.

Personally, here’s what I’m thinking: I’m erring on the side of assuming *everyone* has made at… Keep reading.

This year, when I was writing that check, I was struck by how amazing *you* are. (Yes, I really do mean YOU!) Thank you for being here, reading along with me, even those times when I don’t have a clue what I want to say or how to say it, and also those times when I… Keep reading.

BUT, we’ve all seen what happens when multimedia goes horribly, horribly wrong. Creating multimedia content is way too time consuming to dive in with no strategy. That’s where today’s audio comes in–I’m going to take you straight to the core of where YOU should be focusing your multimedia efforts in an easy-to-follow way. So listen with me. I’d love to hear your thoughts once you’ve enjoyed the audio!

(If you haven’t already, take the quiz. And, if you need the script instead, you can download the pdf. Whether you read or listen, make sure to leave your comments here.)

I’m finally starting to feel better, and though it’ll still be a bit longer before I’m back to my old self, I could not wait any longer to say hello. So, hello!

Today, I’m wondering why the heck you do a newsletter (or a blog, if you do that instead). Is it a way to “pay” for your readers’ attention and goodwill so they’ll feel indebted and buy from you? Is it a place to sell more… Keep reading.

But, I couldn’t move it myself and wasn’t quite sure how to go about *getting* it moved. And so it sat in its inconvenient spot for over a year.

Sometimes, big projects, whether a storage shed relocation or newsletter issue get put on the back burner because we’re not sure how to move forward. And sometimes, we put them on hold because we can’t give them the attention they need.

In my case, a quick call to my dad, a couple weeks of planning, and the shed was relocated completely in two days. In your case, let’s take a look at 5 great ways to get your newsletter back on track in a lot… Keep reading.

October tends to make me feel a little gray around the edges, a little uncreative and dull. I think it has a lot to do with the way… Keep reading.

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