Category — Press

If you follow me on social media, over the past few months, you may have noticed more than a handful of tweets to, from or about @RickiLake.  And maybe you wondered what was up…

The truth is, A LOT is up!  And I have been waiting to share this very exciting news with you, but had to wait until after February 1, when the community was finally launched.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with such an inspiring woman, a wonderful team and 30 incredible founding members to form… the very first Social Television Community called Friends of Ricki.

In this video, you will see my business partner in Girlfriends Productions, Dabney Porte with Ricki Lake and me at the launch of the Friends of Ricki community.  This is one of the highlight reels of the one hour Ustream event that was held on February 1 at the Live the Dream Live conference in Pasadena.  Several of the founding members attended the event and everyone had a blast.  The mutual admiration at this event made it clear that this community is built not only on the powerful combination of social media and and traditional media, but on a tremendous amount of love and support.

For anyone who wants to join the community, the good news is that although we have an incredible group of founding members who will be sharing their expertise over the upcoming months, there’s still plenty of room for super star experts and participants in the community.

In fact, the producers of The Ricki Lake Show will be looking at the Friends of Ricki community to find interesting stories, experts, authors and audience members. So, if you are a thought leader, innovator, service provider or regular person with great content, an interesting story or specialized expertise to offer, this is a community where your participation will not only increase your social media visibility, but also boost your chances of getting traditional media exposure.

Here are 5 ways to participate in the Friends of Ricki Community (or any community, for that matter):

1. Follow @FriendsofRicki on Twitter.  Introduce yourself to the community and join the conversation. (Don’t forget to use #FriendsofRicki hashtag)
2. Like the Friends of Ricki Facebook Page and comment on posts on the page that interest you. There are all kinds of weekly activities and hot topics on this page that are fun to talk about and share.
3. Follow @RickiLakeShow on Twitter and Facebook and tell the show that you are one of the #FriendsofRicki.  Retweet posts in the stream that you and/or your audience will resonate with and look for people to connect with in the stream.  Be courteous.  Never include multiple community hashtags in a tweet and enjoy!
   
4. Subscribe to the Ricki Lake YouTube page and stay updated on our #FriendsofRicki playlist
5. Tell your friends who love social media communities to join the #FriendsofRicki party! The more the merrier! Right?

The Ricki Lake Show doesn’t air until September 2012.  However, the Friends of Ricki community will be having a blast on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Ustream and at live events starting now!  Join us and let’s make this community an even bigger part of social media history.

Do you have any questions or ideas about participating in this community?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…

“If you want to leave your footprints on the sands of time, be sure you’re wearing work shoes.” – Unknown

This week, I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of More Business of Being Born, a fantastic documentary series about birthing options executive produced by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein.  When I arrived at the premiere, Ricki was outside, smiling happily and shaking hands with attendees.

I remembered a tweet of hers from earlier in the day where she said she had been dancing for 4 or 5 hours and I was in awe of how hard this woman works. She and her dance partner, Derek Hough often receive the highest scores on Dancing with the Stars, which means they are dancing like crazy all day, for many days in a row.  On top of that, Ricki is raising 2 boys, promoting #MBOBB (More Business of Being Born) and getting ready to launch the new Ricki Lake Show.  This woman works HARD and because of this, she is amazing, inspiring… powerful!

Success doesn’t fall into your lap.  It is a choice.

As I sat in that movie theater watching #MBOBB, I was touched by the many stories of the birthing experiences that Melissa Joan Hart, Cindy Crawford, Alyson Hannigan, Christie Turlington, Gisele Bundchen, Alanis Morissette and a few others shared.  Birth is an experience like no other that involves an incredible amount of focus, love, power and strength.  At the same time, as I witnessed these amazing women, I couldn’t help but think about business in relation to the birthing process.

From the moment an entrepreneurial idea is conceived, it must be nurtured and cultivated and finally birthed into the world with thoughtful consideration.  We have many choices to birth our businesses and in this process, we can choose to educate and prepare ourselves or just go with the flow (or a combination of both).  In the end… some things are out of our control, but the ultimate outcome is a result of our hard work, focus and dedication, combined with some element of destiny.

Business is not easy and neither is child birth, but it is incredibly rewarding.  So, how do we stay focused on the mission at hand without getting sidetracked by things like morning sickness, an aching back, a social media troll, delays in production or legal challenges?

The key is to remember your WHY. Visualize what it will look and feel like to achieve your end goal. 

Do you want to raise a happy and healthy baby/business?  Is your goal to eventually sell your business, so it can grow into an even better and more powerful brand or do you want to sustain it indefinitely?  What do you plan to do when the business is sold?  Will you donate money to charity?  Will you send your children to college?  Will you relax in a tropical paradise with your significant other?  Will you write a book about it and keep on going?  What is your WHY?  Write it down, print it out, post it everywhere you will see and remember it every single day.

If we want to dance all day until we are bruised and bleeding, only to slip into a beautiful dress to promote our next baby…  while incubating another dream (like Ricki Lake), we have to be willing to go the distance.  We have to be willing to put up with the bumps and stumbles in order to make it to the rainbow and realize our dreams.  Success doesn’t just fall into our laps because if it did, we wouldn’t appreciate it.  We would simply take it for granted.  Even parents who adopt babies have to jump through hoops in order to hold that baby in their arms. Right?

So, now I want to ask you this… Are you doing everything you can to prepare yourself for success?  Do you know your why?  Do you have role models to follow (like Ricki Lake) who can inspire you to keep on going (with a smile on your face) when times get tough and days are long?  Are you so in touch with your dreams and your goals that even the “ring of fire” can’t keep you from pushing ahead?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

(BTW, the ladies in the pic above are some fabulous Social Media Girlfriends who love to support Ricki Lake, another Social Media Girlfriend!  From the left: Jane Graves, Lori Moreno, Jeryl Jagoda, Lynn Gosselin, Jodi Okun and myself. Dabney Porte joined us in spirit on the paper!)

The Question…

Can connecting with ALL 5 senses of your audience make your product or service offerings more appealing and potentially increase revenue in your business?

The Answer: Yes.

Here’s how…

We experience life through our 5 senses.  Life is full of sights, smells, touch, tastes and sounds that we unconsciously connect with emotion.  If an experience touches multiple senses, the stronger the memory and the more likely we are to recall that which gave us the experience (positive or negative).

For example, think about an exciting time in your past that you remember vividly.  If it was your first concert, of course you remember the songs you heard, but you also might recall whether you were hot or cold, what you ate, what you wore, who you were with, the stage, the lighting or the costumes of the performers.  Now think of a negative memory from many years ago.  You probably remember many of the same sensory experiences.  Right? We don’t want to focus on the negative here, but the reason I bring this up is that if you want your audience to remember their experience with your brand for years to come, you will want to think about all 5 senses and how you can leave a pleasurable memory (not a painful one).

In business, we need to make sure that we are tapping into as many of these senses as possible so that we can really connect with our audience.

Sight

Some people love to read, so having a blog with written posts and interesting pictures is perfect for your visual enthusiasts.  Twitter, Facebook and Linked In are also visual connection points to reach your ideal client.  Video is a great way to capture the audience who prefers a visual experience while simultaneously tapping into the auditory memory.

Most businesses focus primarily on targeting the visual means of audience connection, which is fine if you have done your research and you know this is what your ideal client prefers.  However, many entrepreneurs assume that visual outreach is the way to go, while leaving out the multimedia experience that many consumers prefer.

Sound

Sometimes when I am surfing the web, working out or doing something that doesn’t involve intense focus, I like to play podcasts.  It helps me to stay informed and allows me to hear different points of view.  If you want to connect with people who prefer an auditory experience,  having a podcast or at least an audio option for your blog posts is a must.  If you have a podcast in the live format, such as a Blog Talk Radio show, your audience will be able to not only listen, but speak directly with you.  This is another powerful sensory experience that engages potential customers with your brand while promoting you as an expert and boosting SEO.

Touch

We all know that networking is one of the most cost effective ways to grow a business.  When we actively engage in live conversations with people, we get to shake hands with contacts and feel the energy that they bring to the world.  A hand shake and a friendly conversation with the right people can do more for your business than any webinar or blog post.  If you want to standout as an accessible business owner, plan to attend at least 1-2 conferences in your industry every year and set up networking lunches or coffee breaks so you can connect with your audience on a personal level.

Smell

This may sound like a strange sense to inject into your client attraction strategy, but let me put it like this… Make sure that whenever you are in a place where you may run into a potential client, joint venture partner or the press, you smell GOOD!  Back in the day when I was doing wardrobe for film, I remember the smell of certain big name actors and it was not pretty.  When we meet someone at a conference and they have an intense smell of body odor, that impressions sticks with us.  Personal hygiene and keeping yourself smelling fresh shows that you care about yourself and others and that you are professional.

Taste

Another interesting sense to bring up when it comes to business (unless you are a chef or offer some type of food or beverage product through your business) is the idea of taste.  How do we leave a pleasurable taste in the mouth of our audience when our business has nothing to do with food?  Maybe taste doesn’t always have to do with food…

Maybe taste has to do with the experience itself.  What overall experience are you leaving your clients to remember?  When your audience experiences your brand, what taste does it leave in their mouth?  And what are you doing to make sure that it is one that will keep them coming back for more? This is the key to growing revenue and creating loyal fans who will keep coming back for more.

The only way to truly know the answer to these questions is to test some of the 5 senses ideas presented here, come up with some ideas of your own (that relate to your brand and your audience) and then to ask for feedback.  This not only shows that you care, but it also shows that you are investing in the future of your relationship with your audience.

Don’t forget to always reward any type of feedback with a gesture of gratitude.  Once your audience shares their thoughts, preferences or experiences with you, honor their input by making adjustments to the experience that you offer as it relates to their needs and wants.  Maybe in the end, you will come to find that your audience connects best with your message through visual with audio means (which means you do more video) or that you get the best results in person (increase workshops or  speaking engagements).  The only way to know is to experiment and then to ask.

Now, let’s hear your ideas on how we can touch upon the 5 senses in the experiences we present to our audience. 

“One of the biggest mistakes any entrepreneur can make is to avoid the “archaeological dig” of discovering your WHY.” – Liz Dennery Sanders

As the founder of PR and celebrity outreach firm Dennery Marks, Liz knows how to get the attention of the right people and turn those relationships into revenue.  Liz also discusses the value of giving back to the community and the success this can bring to your soul (as she has experienced with the Step Up Womens Network).  She explains why networking for business and play in order to grow your business and your brand is essential as well.

Speaking of networking, make sure to follow Liz on Twitter for some great branding tips.  And just launched this week… sign up for the new She Brand Candy designed to give you quick weekly tips to keep your brand in delicious shape.  ON the show, Liz shares that her ultimate goal is to empower hundreds of thousands of women to build brands that change the world.  This episode of the Work Smart Lifestyle is one step toward her reaching this goal.

If you know any women who are looking for some help with branding or creating clarity around their marketing plan, hit some of the social media buttons at the bottom of this post and feel free to share!

I hope you enjoy this episode of the WSL Show as much as I did and if you have any thoughts or questions for Liz or myself, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Whether you run a small business, a lifestyle business, a business that is seeking your third round of funding or any other kind of business, the question of the day is this:

Are your marketing efforts better spent focusing on traditional or social media?

Over the past few days, I had the pleasure of being in Sun Valley, Idaho during the Allen & Co conference where big hitters like Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Oprah Winfrey of Harpo, IAC chairman Barry Diller, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, CBS president and CEO Les Moonves, Yahoo! Co-Founder Jerry Yang, investor Warren Buffett, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and many more were treated to white glove service and luxurious mountain amenities curated to inspire the exchange of big deals and bigger dollars.

In one conference session, Oprah was interviewed by Charlie Rose.  In another, Bill Gates interviewed Mark Zuckerberg.  Diane Von Furstenberg spoke about building business in China.  And Rupert Murdoch closed down his long time newspaper News of the World… This is BIG business and what these tycoons were discussing does apply to the smaller business owner.

The biz buzz that emerged from this Sun Valley conference was nothing that we haven’t heard before… traditional media is potentially in jeopardy for many reasons and tech companies are moving into the dominant power player position.  More specifically, social media companies are making the biggest waves and even entertainment big wigs want a piece of the action.

So, what does this mean for small businesses?  It means that traditional media moguls are still making money and the smart ones are strategically merging traditional and social media to become even more powerful.  To the small business owner, this translates into a few messages.  Are you submitting regular press releases to drive organic traffic to your business website?  Are you using social media intgration in your press coverage and in your daily marketing efforts?  In every business, it is essential to stay aware of your vision, your process and your growth strategy, but in 2011 this means that social media and traditional media are best utlized when they are compatible.

Now let me ask you this: As a business owner, how do you strategize to elevate your presence in traditional media and social media?  Are you putting all of your eggs in one basket (all social media or all traditional press) or are you merging the two marketing methods to maximize your brand message?  If you haven’t started to weave a web around your online and offline footprint that drives traffic through a specific step by step process. now is the perfect time!

I would love to hear what your thoughts are and how you see the shift in traditional versus social media.  Should lifestyle or small businesses seek exposure in social media?  In traditional media?  Or both?  And is there a strategy that you see working for you that you’d like to share?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Britt Michaelian, M.A.
Founder
Work Smart Mompreneurs, a brand of Responsible Family Company
415.614.0192
britt at responsiblefamily dot com

http://worksmartmompreneurs.com/blog

Emerging Trend: Mom Entrepreneurs Establishing Passion Based Lifestyle Businesses, Setting Example for Generation of Children by Following Their Dreams!

San Francisco, CA November 16, 2009 Amidst a struggling economy and flying in the face of the conventional stay at home mom paradigm, a trend is emerging among moms throughout the country. The term “mompreneur” has been coined to describe moms who explore the dual role of mom and entrepreneur. The mompreneur’s role includes fulfilling her own dreams and setting an inspiring example for her children; Alexis Martin Neely refers to the challenges of mompreneurialism as, “Being afraid and doing it anyway!” High profile, emerging mompreneur coaches include Britt Michaelian of Responsible Family Company, Alexis Martin Neely of The Family Wealth Planning Institute, Kim De Young of The Metro Mom and Carla Young of MomEO Community. (Sites include, respectively, http://worksmartmompreneurs.com/blog, http://CoachBritt.com, http://alexismartinneely.com, http://metromom.com and http://MOMeocommunity.com)

Mompreneurs cite a strong support system as a critical element of their success. Support networks include Virtual Assistants, Nannies, House Cleaners, Web Developers, Business Coaches, Attorneys, and even Personal Trainers. The mompreneur seeks to establish a fulfilling, inspiring, and sustainable lifestyle; in fact, the mompreneur startup business is often referred to as a ‘lifestyle business,” one that can be maintained while running a household and prioritizing the role as mother. As such, the support network in a mompreneur’s life and business is a critical element of success for mompreneurs.

Britt Michaelian’s Work Smart Mompreneurs organization encourages mothers to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, while offering the opportunity for guidance and coaching. Michaelian’s mantra is to “Work smart, live smarter,” inspiring the mom who is ready to start a passion-based lifestyle business that incorporates her family and her dreams into one package: her life’s purpose! A mother herself, Michaelian recognizes that “the love a mother feels for her children is profound, but in this incredibly beautiful experience of motherhood, many moms also disconnect from their dreams… [but] by having ambition and taking an active role in her destiny, [a mother shows] her children how to follow their dreams.”

Michaelian currently offers a series of free teleseminars, entitled “Business Building Basics for Stay at Home Moms .” The teleseminar is free until November 25, 2009. After November 25, participants are eligible to apply for participation in an exclusive coaching series.

Michaelian’s 12 Week coaching program application process deadline comes on the heels of her 5 Part Business Building Basics Teleseries. On Wednesday November 25 (following the final Business Building Basics for Moms Teleseminar entitled, “Funding Your Business”) the 12 week coaching program’s application process will conclude. The teleseries will then be available for $47 or $97 with added passion-based lifestyle business building modules. Ambitious moms are encouraged to subscribe at http://coachbritt.com by November 25 to receive access to the teleseries and bonus gifts of powerful business building modules for free!

Many mothers and women who have been in relationships for extended periods of time have long found that they have fallen out of touch with their passions and purpose in life. Moms who are raising awareness of the value in following their dreams are inspiring a more peaceful, happy, and highly conscious environment for the next generation. The next 12-week Coach Britt Passion-Based Lifestyle Business Start-Up Bootcamp for Moms who are ready to find fulfillment outside of their family by starting a passion-based business begins January 11, 2010 and runs through March 29, 2010. To apply for this exclusive program (only 12 participants, max) go to http://coachbritt.com and enter your name and email address for more information.

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Contact:
Britt Michaelian, M.A.
Founder
Work Smart Mompreneurs, a brand of Responsible Family Company
415.614.0192
britt at responsiblefamily dot com

http://worksmartmompreneurs.com/blog