A Cool New Headset Option For Home, Mobile and VOIP

I just purchased a Plantronics Calisto. Plantronics is definitely the best brand to purchase and it’s praised by many coaches.

This phone is not like other phones or headsets. It has a handset, a wireless earpiece and speaker phone capabilities. You can use the wireless headset for your phone, your computer (ie. use it with skype or voip) or you can use it on your bluetooth cell phone. You can also use the wireless headset to work with Dragon
Naturally Speaking to transcribe your dictation into text!

It also stores up to 200 contacts and will sync with your Outlook contact list!

I really love the phone, although I found in one room of the house it causes static. I haven’t figured out why yet, I suspect interference with other electrical appliances.

You can purchase the phone from Amazon.com. Canadians you can purchase the phone from www.greennet.ca

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4 comments December 9th, 2008

Are “Copy and Paste” Coaches cloning your content?

I belong to a number of online discussion groups for Coaches.  This past weekend one member of a particular discussion group posted a message that made my jaw drop.  She had found that 3 other coaches had stolen her website content and placed it on their own websites. One of which had called her for a sample session.  I find this to be shocking behaviour for Coaches who are trained in the distinction of integrity.

Others on the discussion group gave her a tool to use to find any other sites that copied her website content.  What she found from this tool was disturbing.  A past client of hers had, you guessed it, had “copied and pasted” her content.  Now, I understand that some phrases stay in your head when you like them and you use them without even noticing.  But this was a line by line copy and paste job.

Now this story takes an interesting and almost hilarious spin.  One of the websites that had copied her website content had forgotten to change the links and so when you click on the link to “find out more”, you are directed to the original site, you know, the site that the text was copied from in the first place!

Now how can you find any “copy and paste” Coaches who are copying and pasting your content?  It’s easy.  Go to www.copyscape.com and enter your website’s address (and individual pages as well).  This tool will search the internet for any websites that have similar terms, phrases, sentences, paragraphs…you get the picture.

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3 comments December 2nd, 2008

Top 10 Ways to Find Content Ideas Quickly

Many online entrepreneurs get stuck when it comes to writing their blog, newsletter or finding content for their pod or video casts. Here’s 10 quick ways to find content ideas!

1. Check your inbox or sent folder in your email. Your clients have no doubt emailed you questions right? Take those questions and answer them! Leave out your client’s name of course.
2. Take a look at your blog categories. Like most bloggers you probably have over 15 different categories that you have used in the past. Those are sure to spark some content ideas.
3. Ask TwitterVille! If you are on Twitter just post a question such as “What do you want to see covered on my upcoming newsletter?”. This is my favourite because you will be giving your newsletter readers what they want.
4. Ask your newsletter readers. Add a section in your newsletter called “Ask the Coach” and tell them how they can ask you a question. Answer this question in your next newsletter.
5. Go through your archives. You can always reuse and recycle content. There is no rule against it and it would make your life a little easier.
6. Ask for guest writers. Make a list of 5 people who would love to be a guest writer for your blog or newsletter. Email them now and ask for an article.
7. Take a chapter from your book. If you have written a book, take a chapter or even part of a chapter and create an article from it. Don’t forget to let your readers know where they can buy your book.
8. Review a book. You don’t have to read the whole book to review it. Review it as you read it. What did you just read about that inspired you? How did you enjoy the last chapter you read?
9. Cover hot topics, but don’t over do it. What is a hot topic in the news and in your industry? What article can you write about it? How can you cover it in your podcast? Just don’t over do it. What I mean by this is, writing about what everyone else in your industry has written
10. Interview an Expert. Who in your industry can you interview on your podcast? Rather post it on your blog? Make it easy on yourself and send them interview questions in an email and ask them to reply within the email. This way you can just copy and paste the answers into your blog.

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Add comment December 1st, 2008

Seven Facts About Me

I have just been tagged by Paul Copcutt, who is the successful personal brand coach for professionals, over at Square Peg Solution to share on my blog 7 Facts About Me that maybe viewed as weird or at least unusual and then tag 7 fellow bloggers to do the same. So here goes…

1. I know all the words of practically every song I have ever heard once. I used this skill to annoy classmates in highschool. Because of this I am often found on stage at karaoke events singing “baby got back” by Sir Mix A Lot or “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega.
2. I’ve been kissed by a kangaroo.
3. I’ve been white water rafting 7 times in 4 different countries, and riverboarding once. Riverboarding is definitely more scary and adventurous. You walk away with a number of bruises that I call “rewards”.
4. My Fiancee’s name is Sandro, and so our friends call us “Sandroa” for short. It’s kind of like “Brangelina” only we are more popular!
5. I love doing impersonations and I’ve been told my impersonation of Borat is spot on. I like!
6. As a child I used to play music videos and impersonate the singer over and over again. My favourite video to do this to was Madonna’s “Material Girl”.
7. I would rather work until 4am then get up at 8am and work.

Here are blogs I think you should check out, and their authors who I challenge to share seven things:

Leesa Barnes: Marketing Fit

Judith Morgan: Wealth Coach

Duncan Brodie: Goals and Achievements

Greg Halpen: The Gay Guy’s Love Coach

Amy Miyamoto: Living the Lotus Life

Kristen Beireis: Coaches Marketing Source

Linda Dessau: Idea Generator

for my fellow bloggers:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.

• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.

• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.

• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Now that you know a little more about me perhaps you would like to follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/TechCoach @TechCoach

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3 comments November 25th, 2008

Great Gift ‘Choice’ for The Coach in Your Life

The holiday season is definitely upon us. If you are like me then you may be thinking about what to buy the people on your list but you have no idea what to get them. Why not get the coach in your life (your coach, your business partner, your significant other or your favourite coach blogger) a gift that will last the whole year?  I’m talking about Choice Magazine, the magazine for professional coaching.

This magazine is always jam packed with delicious content such as business tips, the impact coaching has on the world, corporate leadership and columns such as Choice Books, Coaching Tools and Industry News! It’s a great way to stay connected to the coaching world.

Choice Magazine has over 2,500 subscribers in over 28 countries! Yes, the magazine is shipped around the globe, so if your coach is in Japan, New Zealand or Portugal they will receive the print magazine in their mailbox.

Why not get a subscription yourself? You deserve it and you don’t want to be left out of the conversation!

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Add comment November 18th, 2008

Warm up and Stretch for the 2nd Blog-a-thon

Today I am hosting our 2nd blog-a-thon for the members of www.helpdeskforcoaches.com.  The participants of the 1st blog-a-thon got a lot out of it, including me.

We begin by getting on a call where the participants can ask me any blogging question they have.  Then we share our ideas of what we are going to blog about and commit to writing at least one blog post in the hour that follows.  We hang up and call back in an hour to let eachother know how we did and commit to another blog post for the following hour.  Then we do it all over again.

Here’s what Nonprofit coach Alex Carter wrote about the blogathon: http://alexcarter.com/productivity/my-first-blog-a-thon/

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Add comment September 12th, 2008

Abby’s Virtual Get-Together for Coaches

Join a virtual get-together September 10th, brought to you by www.CoachingCommons.org

Abby’s virtual get-together for coaches is a series of virtual get-togethers where we’ll explore (as a group) the subject of building and nurturing the Coaching Commons community (and our own virtual communities as well).

It’s time to explore virtual communities!  On the call we will discuss….

• What does virtual community look/feel like?
• How does it expand the more traditional concepts of community, and what are its unique gifts?
• How does face-to-face community meet important needs, and can we meet those needs in the virtual environment?
• What communication/relationship skills are particularly useful in the virtual environment?
• How can we, as coaches, help to foster greater human connection through our virtual (and face-to-face) communities?

Register at : http://www.coachingcommons.org/featured/beginning-september-10-youre-invited-to-the-coaching-club/

I will also be on the call and I will be bringing virtual kool-aid for everyone!

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Add comment September 9th, 2008

Blog client becomes a blog coach!

Last week client, Sital Ruparelia, 6 Figure Career Management Coach, sent me this email:

I answered a question on how to increase traffic on blog and just ‘won’ the ‘best answer’. Take a look and see how far the student of the blog coach, is now a teacher himself!

I am already so proud of him for consistently blogging and getting his blogsites to the top of Google’s lists asap! But the article he wrote put smile on my face that made my cheeks hurt! Here it is for you to read and enjoy:

Question: How are you taking advantage of your blog?

I’m a fairly new blogger so by no means an expert – but here are some things I do to promote my blog

I use the word ‘promote’ loosely as the emphasis is on offering value and building relationships rather than ‘promoting’ as such.

1. Write interesting, relevant content that is of value (the obvious one).

2. Adding comments of value on other blogs read by my target audience.

3. Answering questions on LinkedIn and other sites similar sites.

4. Writing guest articles and blog posts for other sites and publications.

5. Guest speaking.

6. Post articles with links to relevant articles on other blogs (Google likes this and rewards you with more traffic).

7. Use Word Press as a playtform (Again very google friendly – my content is on Google as soon as I publish a blog post).

8. Review stats to see where traffic comes from, key words used etc.

9. Use some of these key words on future blog posts.

10. Use numbers on titles of articles “10 Tips, 5 steps, 3 ways” etc to encourage people to read.

How are you taking advantage of your blog?

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2 comments August 25th, 2008

How do you build a coaching business using the web even if you are a technophobe?

Listen in tomorrow as I will be interviewed by Simon Allard of Business Building For Coaches. The topic is: “Utilizing The Power Of The Internet To Build A Thriving Coaching Business…Even If You’re A ‘Technophobe’!”

In this call we will cover:

• The big mistakes to avoid when building your coaching business …
• The top 5 things your website needs if it’s going to do more for you than look pretty …
• The technology essentials every coaching business needs …
• Internet tools and some tricks to help you work more efficiently …
• What you don’t know about the internet that can hurt your business and your wallet! …
• Technology Anger Management tips for technophobes and even the technogeeks! …
• And much much more …

Obviously it’s not a call you want to miss. So how can you sign up? Take 10 seconds and fill in the registration form on http://businessbuildingforcoaches.com/sdfbbfc200808/

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Add comment August 19th, 2008

Linda Dessau’s Style Guide for Coaches Who Write

Welcome to the sixth stop of the official blog tour for Linda Dessau’s new book, The Customizable Style Guide for Coaches Who Write. Linda not only edited my book Does This Blogsite Make My Wallet Look Fat? she gave me guidance and fabulous suggestions for my book that were both spot on and funny!

Linda and I have had numerous conversataions about writing and encouraging other coaches to write and write well. I like to encourage coaches to write because I know first hand that coaches who write do attract more clients, make more money and attract more speaking assignments.

Why you should make room for this book beside your computer:

I wasn’t always a big fan of writing. Back in 2004 when I started to build my coaching business, I attended a business building workshop specifically for coaches. We were encouraged to write newsletters as a way to keep in touch and build a trusting relationship with those who were interested in what we offered and what we had to say. I remember thinking to myself “Well that’s a good idea for those who like to write. I hate writing that’s why I studied math and computer science!”

A few months later, I hired that coach and he said to me “Sandra your first step in starting a coaching business is to start a newsletter.” I stubbornly replied “No, I don’t think you know me well enough to say that. English was one of my weakest subjects in high school. I am not a writer.” “Sandra, if you trust me you will send me a draft of your newsletter by Friday.” I trusted him and I never looked back. I’ve been writing my newsletter for over 3 years now. I’ve also written a few blogs, magazine articles, e-books and had a book published. So if I, the anti-writer, have changed my ways, then anyone can. Thanks to Linda’s style guide your writing process will not be as painful or filled with resistance as my journey was.

How this book makes your life easier as a coach:

In Linda’s book she covers six main benefits of using a style guide. They are:

• Confidence.
• Consistency
• Credibility
• Speed
• Readability
• Efficiency

A style guide will increase your confidence so that you keep writing. Keep your writing style and formatting consistent so you don’t hurt the eyes of your readers, (this has happened to me!) It will build your credibility as a coach and an expert in your area of expertise. As with any guide, a style guide will also speed up your writing and increase your efficiency. What good would an article for your target market be if it was too difficult to read or written for a 7-year-old? A style guide will gear your writing to the audience who will read it.
I’m a big fan of resources and tools. Give me a website were I can look something up quickly and move on with my work and I’m a happy writer! Linda has done a fabulous job researching a number of fabulous tools and giving us her top picks in this book.

What made me smile from ear to ear when I read this book:

There are two chapters in this book that I think will make a huge difference for any coach who uses the internet to promote their business (I’m a bit biased, but the internet is the best tool to promote your business and usually for free!). These two chapters are “Writing for the Web” and “Writing Emails”. You will thank Linda for including these chapters!

How to make your life easier:

This book is not just a style guide, it includes business tips, inspiration and some virtual hand holding. Buy this book and keep it by your computer, but only if you like to make your life easier!

More on this book:

Learn more great things about Linda’s cool new book by visiting her site ForCoachesWhoWrite.com or follow the other bloggers on her blog book tour. Tomorrow the blog tour continues with Laura West at her blog Cafe Entrepreneur.

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2 comments August 11th, 2008