Blast O' Joy

Publishing my book again … the grass roots way!

I'm thrilled to announce that a very special project that's close to my heart will be unveiled next week.

Specifically, I was able to get the rights back from Ballantine on my first Joy book - How Much Joy Can You Stand? - which I will be distributing for free across the Web in a viral edition.

For now. One of these days my financial gurus are probably going to have their way and I'll start charging for it. But for now, I just want to give the book away.

It's a powerful little book and truly everyone who reads it is touched by it.

Proof:
- More than 70,000 people have read it
- It's been excerpted in Fitness and featured in many other publications including SELF, Publisher's Weekly, msn.com and i-village.com
- SARK, Cheryl Richardson and Laurie Beth Jones all wrote glowing blurbs
- It's been translated into French and Portuguese

Ultimate Proof: I've gotten literally hundreds of fan letters about the book from people all over the world

Watch here for a download link and an easy way to share the book with friends.

Tags: Viral marketing, Suzanne Falter-Barns, joy

Making a Comeback

A few years ago, a wildfire tore through 500 acres of field and forest at the edge of our small town on Lake Champlain. A spark from a passing Amtrak train ignited grass, dry from a three-week drought.

In the twelve hours that followed, volunteer firemen and just about any other able body who saw the smoke and showed up fought back thirty foot walls of flames, carrying metal tanks of anti-inflammitant on their backs. Two neighboring farms were spared, though in some places the fire moved right up within a few feet of farmhouses and barns.

In the end, all that was left behind was scorched earth, and stands of dead trees and bushes. The normally verdant spring landscape, one of wildflower meadows, soaring blackbirds, and purple mountains in the distance, looked like a war zone. As far as the wildlife was concerned, it probably was one.

Yet, amazingly enough, this story does not end badly.

One week after the fire, I forced myself to ride my bike past the scene of the fire -- a place I'd been avoiding because it had looked so very bleak and lifeless. Yet, I was amazed to see green, admittedly small bits of it, but signs of life nonetheless. The fields were already making a comeback.

In the ensuing months, the fields returned, quickly moving from a sea of black with sprigs of green to lush fields in full summer bloom. Here and there, burned, dead brush sticks up, a reminder, like nothing more than scars on a child's knee. The comeback of this acreage is nothing less than miraculous; it teaches us a lesson about ourselves.

How often have you suffered through a devastation, convinced that some significant part of your life was now over and you would never, ever be healed? And then, through the miracle of time, you did heal.

Things slowly began to go right again; wounds were licked. Life began chugging along again in third gear. And over time, the remaining bumps and scars became part of your lore -- the essential truths that define who you are. 

Think of this the next time your dream lets you down (and it will, sooner or later, for dreams usually do as they unfold.) Remember that this, too, is part of your cycle of growth. Just as a field reseeds itself and gives way to the grasses of summer once again, so can you.

If nothing else, the crisis has left you stronger, more capable of knowing just what you can do, ready for tremendous growth.

Tags: Creativity, artist's life, motivation

An Empowering Message About Asking For What You Want

Our reader, Jean, posted this comment under my remarks about asking for what you want. I thought her big request took guts, and was inspiring. (Jean, if you're reading this, do post a comment on what happened!)

"Last month, I made the decision to ask for a new car for Mother's Day! Gutsy step for me! Usually I say things like, 'I don't really need anything' or 'I have everything I need already' or 'You don't have to get me anything...really.'

This year, I'm different...I've been leaving not-so-subtle hints around the house (like photos of me and my dream car on the computer desktop, printouts of the car info with my hubbie's work papers, informing the two teens how much it would help make our life easier). Just to be sure that this is the car I really want, I took it for a test drive last week. And yes, I really do want it! It's a Subaru Outback Wagon...and the price I came home with ended up being $7,000 LESS than I was anticipating :)

We'll see if it 'magically' appears in the driveway for Mother's Day, but even if it doesn't, I've had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs using my creativity to ask for what I really want (and what our car-sharing family really needs, as well). Bottom line...if it's not in the driveway this Sunday, it will be by the following Sunday!!"

Tags: Asking for what you want, self esteem, Mother's Day

I am now officially available to speak to your group

Ahem! (Throat clearing … paper shuffling … mic testing) A small announcement.

After a few years' hiatus (well, OK … I spoke about three times each year), I've got the itch to speak again. I did A LOT of presentations from 2000-2002, and took a deserved rest. But now … I'm back.

I am currently available to speak to your group about the following topics:

1. How to Package Yourself for Success on the Internet
I about how and why your Web presence can kill possible deals, offers, joint ventures and more if not done correctly … or attract national media when done right. I get into personal branding, blog and site optimization, and just which pieces need to be in place to really make your platform take off.

2. Automatic Marketing - Promote Yourself While You Sleep
Here's a neat system I cooked up that will help you get yourself out in front of the people you need to find … without a whole lot of stress and angst on your part. Using this very system, I've been covered in two major magazines in the past year (Home Business and Writer's Digest) and now have 42,500 links under my name on Google (up from 11,000 one year ago.)

3. How to Explode Your Income and Your Reach by Licensing Your Workshop or Seminar
I explain how and why anyone can take their workshop and repackage it to be a licensable 'Train the Trainer' package. I cover how to tighten your concept into workshop-able material, and then what's involved in setting up a successful licensing program.

4. Creativity Coaching: The Next International Trend in Coaching Comes from the Heart
As the author of one of the original books about getting on with your creative dreams (How Much Joy Can You Stand?), I can safely say I'm considered an expert on coaching others for creative breakthroughs. And I've trained more than 300 coaches worldwide on how to coach creativity, and create their own variations of my How Much Joy Can You Stand? workshop. This talk would cover basics on what creativity coaching is, why it's needed, and how to approach it.

(… or possibly some related topic you suggest? We can see how it fits.)

If you find the quality of information useful on this blog, and think I'd be a great fit for your group of entrepreneurs, solo professionals, coaches, speakers, authors and writers, consultants, professional services pros, personal trainers, pro organizers, small business owners, MLM marketers, wellness pros, chiropractors, or Net practitioners, be in touch using the email link up above in the margin.

Oh yeah … and I've spoken to many large and small audiences all over the US and Canada, including the ICF, Coachville, ASJA, PMAU, Kindermusic, Women in Communications, BPW, NAWBO … and well, the list goes on and on.

PS. While I've done plenty of conference keynotes, I do actually like small groups of 35-100, too. Especially if they're in New England or Mid-Atlantic. Call me. I'm good. (518 963 8927)

Tags: Speaking, motivational speaker, creativity speaker

What I Learned About Life from Chellie

I just got back from the Publisher's Marketing Association conference, where I roomed with my dear buddy Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit. It's great hanging out with other self-help authors, because we leap eagerly into supporting each other … and end up getting a lot of wise insights.

By the way, Chellie's got a great new book. From Zero to Zillionaire, which really sums up the wisdom of her very successful Financial Stress Reduction Workshop in LA. I've been digging in, and it's a fun and informative read.

Here's what I learned from Chellie on a walk we took around the Capitol.

1. I earn the most when I'm simply having fun. Yup, that's right. And it's probably true for you, too. When I'm truly cranking on my business in a connected state of passionate flow, I get ideas, start alliances and just plain blossom with creativity and joy. And these are always my most successful ideas. How great is that!?

2. Retirement isn't always the goal. I told Chellie my new financial goal was to retire at 52, to which she asked, 'Then what?' And … I had no idea. AND I realized I didn't particularly even want to retire; I just wanted to have some more hang time with my husband, who will be in his 70's by then. And then I realized … I'd like to have more hang time now. Insight: I thought I wanted to retire cause that's what all those commercials told me I wanted. But I don't! I love my work! I just want to do a little less of it … as soon as possible.

3. I'm actually set for life now. I keep thinking there's this bunch of money I must earn and save/invest to have true financial security; that then I'll be 'set for life'. But actually, there is no such thing as financial security. There's money in the bank - but even 'money in the bank' isn't a totally guarantee-able security. My only true security is that as long as I'm alive and fairly functional, I'll be able to create income if I need it. So yeah … save and invest, by all means. Even stockpile cash and work a lot less. But don't think this is the panacea that will save me from ruin. Instead, put it all into perspective and relax.

Thanks, Chellie!

Tags: Financial security, retirement, saving for retirement

The Best Way to Totally Boost Your Dream, Part III

A final idea about meditating and using it to nurture your dream. Try this exercise - you can do it right now. It's simple, and amazingly effective.

Take a pad of paper, or a favorite notebook, a pen that flows dependably, and go into a quiet place and close the door. Put the pen and pad within reach and begin to meditate. Allow yourself to go to a deep, quiet place within, then reach for your pad and begin to work. Stay loose and open, and let your pen record the guidance that moves through your mind. Don't worry about what your writing looks like, or where your pen moves on the page. Keep your eyes closed and let it flow ... you will probably be surprised at how readable this sort of writing turns out to be. Later, when you are finished, feel free to recopy what you have channeled into a favorite notebook.

You will have valuable information here that may or may not make sense right this minute. At any rate, it's a way to keep deepening your own divine connection.

Tags: Meditation, living your joy, creative inspiration

The Best Way to Totally Boost Your Dream, Part II

Yesterday, I introduced the idea that meditation is great for your dream … and I talked about how to best achieve it. Here are some more ideas.

Guided meditation recordings can be a terrific solution, especially if you're new to meditation. You can just sit back, turn on the CD or the iPod, relax and let someone else take care of you for a while.

Recorded visualizations can be wonderfully targeted, too, guiding you to work on specific issues. For many years, I happily climbed into Shakti Gawain's pink bubble on her "Creative Visualizations" tape whenever I wanted to help prod my goals along.

Over the years, I've put together my own CD's for going into your creative space, and asking for help on your dream. (The key one for creativity issues is part of my How Much Joy Facilitator's Training. I also have a guided visualization that helps you tap into your Soul Purpose in life.)

The important thing, of course, is not how you meditate but that you do meditate. This is your pipeline to your dream, the work that will bring you further along your path. And the more often you do it, the more clear and fertile that channel will become.

Just pick a regular time of day to meditate and stick to it -- first thing in the morning, right before you go to sleep, just after you get home from work, even behind closed doors on your lunch hour at the office.

Once you discover the lovely, honey-light of God's essence warming your soul, it will become too hard to resist, and you will find yourself waiting for the moment each day when you can connect.

Sit back, relax, close your eyes, and enjoy!

Tags: Meditation, living your joy, creative inspiration

The Best Way to Totally Boost Your Dream

Recently I heard from a reader that she'd like more practical, hands-on ideas about moving your dream forward in The Joy Letter. I'm all for that ... so let's talk about meditating, which is one of the key tools for connecting with the work of your dreams.

Or better yet, let's talk about finding that secret place where you feel God/Spirit/The Universe/your gut's presence in your life. For me, that's what meditation is all about, and there is no one way to achieve it.

My problem with standard seated meditation has always been that I wasn't sure I was doing it right.
I'd heard you should inhale to the count of four and exhale to the count of six or eight. Which I did for a while, and it did seem to focus my mind.

Yet, once I'd calmed down and gotten into some sort of alpha state, my mind was hardly empty. I was going through yesterday's grocery list by the time my meditation was officially over. I would open my eyes feeling vaguely guilty, and not really sure the meditation had "worked". Another option I tried was staring at a mandala, a design, or a candle flame, which was a complete failure. I didn't like the idea of staring at anything; it gave me a headache.

Through trial and error, I eventually came up with my own sort of mongrel meditation which I've found to be highly effective -- one it turns out that pray-ers have used for thousands of years.
I simply close my eyes, take a few breaths to relax, and say hello to God.

There is almost always a warm, secure, taken-care-of feeling that takes over, a sense that God is there, waiting, wanting to help. I thank God for various blessings in my life, and I ask for information and ideas, and help on challenges. Then I do my best to stay open to whatever divine thoughts or images may roll along. Above all, I let my intruding thoughts come and go, with the understanding that they will never leave altogether -- that I can simply include them, and move on.

It took some years to realize that a process this simple was indeed 'doing it right'. I was sure everyone else's technique was better than mine. And yet, when I finally gave up and trusted my method, I truly felt that nod from God. After all, God does want to speak to us ... He or She is always patiently waiting for us. The question is, can we muster up the courage to tune in?

Tags: Meditation, living your joy, creative inspiration

Is it Important to be the Best at What Your Do?

Bob Bly, a successful copywriter and marketing pundit, asks a great question in his Bly Blog … Is it Important to be the Best at What You Do? Here's what Bly gleaned from reading Paul Pearsall's book, "The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need" (Basic Books, 2005).

"Settle for second (or third or sixth) best," advises Dr. Pearsall. "In any life endeavor, there can be only one number one. Relax and enjoy being one of the thousands who fall short … misery is the ultimate result when we link our sense of achievement to other people's failures."

And here's more of Pearsall's somewhat negative advice: "Stop trying to live up to your full potential. You probably don't have much more potential than you're showing right now, and striving for more will only cause disappointment."

Bob Bly doubts that this is true … how about you? Do you think number two will be good enough?

As I round the later part of my 40's I have a much more mellow view of having to be number one at everything. I'm guessing this is a developmental thing. My husband, who was one of the top editorial portrait photographers in New York in the 80's is way over it - and he's 64. We agree you go through phases when you're determined to be the best. But they don't have to be absolute … and it really is OK to sink back to a more mellow place as you get older.

How about you … are you still determined to be number one?

Tags: Middle age, mid life crisis, achievement, success

The Real Numbers on Getting a Book Deal

Small Press publisher John Vonhof contributed the following comment from my recent post on my Get Known Now Blog, Scary Facts About Getting a Book Deal (If you want to know what you're up against for a major book deal, look here. It may help you decide if you want to self publish or not.)

"The number of books published in 2004 was 195,000. Many of those titles are Print-on-Demand (POD) which will never sell more than a few copies. The point is that authors need to study their market and have a marketing plan--after determining that, in fact, the world needs their book."

I'd second that. And that's why I slid into the work of helping people build platform. Because they really do need to let the world know what they're up to … before they launch the dream. And find out if their idea needs a major tweak .. before they fill the garage with cases of books.

Tags: Print On Demand publishing, getting a book deal, literaryagents

Yep, You Really Can Think Yourself Thin

I wanted to do a quick follow up to an excellent call I had with Dr. Roberta Temes last night. She's an expert on hypnosis and weight loss. According to Roberta, if you are overweight, it's because of

a) conditioned beliefs that are buried deep in your psyche
b) genetics that pre-condition you to accumulate fat
c) habits, like sleep deprivation, that make us eat even when we're not hungy

... but here's the good news: each of these can be changed with hypnosis!

Dr. Roberta shared some excellent tips with us on how hypnosis works to get deep into our psyche and convince us of healthy lifestyle choices - like choosing vegetables, or removing the bread basket in restaurants.

Wouldn't it be great if that kind of thinking was just automatic? And you didn't have to dredge up will power around food?

That's all possible, if you work with a great hypnotist. Conveniently, Roberta has a CD series that does just that AND she's making it available to you for an insanely low price. I've managed to procure a really excellent deal for you, my joyful friends.

But first - if you missed the call and you'd like to listen, here's a link to the recording: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WJSrBt94

And here's the special offer. Buy 'Enjoying Weight Loss', Dr Roberta Temes' special weight loss-hypnosis CD program before Monday night, May 15. You'll get a whopping 60% discount on some amazing goodies - for only $97.

You get Roberta's CD plus a special product bundle we put together for free!

You'll get...
Bonus 1: Managing Stress and Anxiety hypnosis CDs (regularly $69) FREE
Bonus 2: The Coping wth Stress and Anxiety System© (ebook; value $39) FREE
Bonus 3: How Much Joy Nurture Yourself Bundle (ebook; retail value $27) FREE

Total retail value: $254     Your price: $97 (over 60% off)
Offer expires at midnight on Monday night, May 15th

Take advantage of this offer at www.hypnosisnetwork.com/102

Here's to a healthier, more energetic you ... ready to live your dreams!

Tags: Weight loss, hypnosis, finding more energy

The Power of 'Just Asking' … for Women

Reader Tammy Lenski contributed the following comment on my post 'A Parable About Asking for What You Want?'

Suzanne, I smiled all the way through your story, because I saw again the power of simply asking for what we want or need. Doesn't always work, but I know from coaching women in negotiation and managing difficult conversations effectively that it's an incredibly powerful tool...and one that women, more than men, tend to use a bit too rarely!

So let's hear from the rest of you women (and men) on this. Do you tend to ask for what you need? Or are you more likely to just let things past, assume the worst and keep quiet?

Men, do you perceive women as being more or less comfy asking for what they need? My husband would say I'm an excellent asker - and I would say I'm rather shy about it … and that he's actually better.

Where do you fit in?

Tags: Women's issue, self esteem, self assertion, joy

How to Handle Disappointment

OK, we can't always be all joy all the time in this blog. I mean, we've got to reflect life, right? Which does occasionally contain disappointment; so here are some thoughts on how to handle it. For without learning to deal with disappointment, you can never truly live your dream.

Say you get a wild idea. You think and ponder and eventu ally take baby steps towards producing this idea, all the while imagining a better day, far ahead, when you will actually be living this dream. That day always seems rosy, bright, seamless, until, of course, you've lived it.

Through hard work and perseverance, you eventually begin to live your dream and reality hits. No one prepared you for how hard you would have to work! No one told you you wouldn't spend Easter with your kids three years in a row! No one told you how many scary airplane rides you'd have to take, or how many bad reviews you'd have to weather in the press. No one prepared you for the first time you'd have to fire an employee.

And yet ... this is your dream. Welcome to it.

Within all this dark stuff, you find the true test of your character. You discover what you're made of, and where you're still hanging on to the illusions of childhood. You find out just how passionate you really are, and you learn about the shifty nature of being human. You'll discover your true creative resourcefulness, and sit back in wonder when miracles happen. You may even learn on a gut level about spirituality and it's place in your dream.

The popular view is that life should be fun all the time, and that since it never is, there's a design flaw somewhere. My view is that these 'design flaws' are actually just as guided as the dream, itself, and provide unique opportunities for growth and rebirth.

Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into the Woods" has a wonderful verse that uses going into the woods as a metaphor for experiencing the dark side of any dream:

Into the woods you have to grope,
'Cause that's the way you learn to cope
Into the woods to find there's hope,
Of getting through the journey.

That's the long view to remember when pursuing any dream. Sooner or later, once you begin to live them, all dreams are destined to become plain old reality, complete with speed bumps. The key is to keep an eye on how your dream is serving others, and to remember that all those disappointments are merely tools for moving forward.

That is, indeed, how you get through the bigger journey called life.

Tags: Dealing with disappointment, joy, happiness

My Own Happiness Hit List

Building on yesterday's post about how to get over a bad mood, here's my own personal list of things that bring me joy at the moment:

1. Seeing water (not ice) on Lake Champlain … and it's gloriously still and calm
2. The appearance of very young, very pale spring green leaves on trees
3. The smell of baking chicken
4. Going to our CSA (farm coop) on Fridays to pick up jars of extra creamy milk, just cut grass-fed beef steaks, fresh new maple syrup, and some gloriously old and huge rutabaga's
5. Cleaning the house with my family (and watching our kids mop floors, clean bathrooms, and empty trash cans) … that REALLY brings me joy
6. Knowing that my future truly is up to me  -- which is both daunting and joyful
7. Working with Rich and Lena, my business coaches, who get what I do better than me
8. Working with my incredible staff who turn stuff around so fast, and have such amazingly good ideas for making this little company go
9. The photo I saw of a 99-year-old Parisian woman decked out for the Paris fashion shows in black Issaye Miyake plus a lavender ostrich feather hat
10. My friend Laurie's seed incubator, which is roughly the size of a coffee table, and is hatching seeds for about 5000 flowers right now
11. The tenacity of wild strawberry leaves, the only green thing in our yard as the last foot of snow finally melts
12. My friend Trisha
13. Anticipating the first icy swim in the lake with Larry, my husband, as we plunge in in our new swim skins
14. The words that come as God tells me what to write, as usual, in this blog
15. The sanctity of doing what I am meant to do in life

Tags: Self-motivation, living your dreams, joy, happiness

How to Get Over a Bad Mood

I was in no mood for joy this morning when I started writing this post. I'd just spent twenty minutes in telephone hell, listening to one recording after another, trying to find an actual customer service representative at one of the long distance phone companies. By the time I hung up, I was convinced I was experiencing the final decline of western civilization.

Gradually, as the smoke stopped coming out of my ears, I remembered a certain page that used to appear on my web site -- a discussion board with a post called Finding Fifteen Things a Day to Be Joyful About. So I took an unlikely moment to consider mine. And as I did the smoke cleared, my mood shifted, and life was good again. It really was as simple as that.

On this thread, people listed fifteen things that bring them joy. Some of my favorites:

"A walk in the rain on this lazy Sunday."
"Sitting in my pajamas on the kitchen floor with my three year old grandson, eating spoonfuls of peanut butter before breakfast."
"The moss on a tree outside my window."
"The energy I received walking around the strip in Vegas on a Sunday morning."
"Being in bed, getting ready to fall asleep, and having my cat curl up on my belly and purr like a diesel engine."
"The dancing smiles of friends."
"That my neighbor is an 88 year old woman who grows a garden all year long, and does her own yard work."

There is something almost hypnotic about reading what makes others joyful, yet listing them for yourself is even more powerful. It's remarkably soothing.

No matter how sophisticated we think our brains may be, they don't seem capable of holding both tormented, anxious thoughts and happy thoughts at the same time. So by stopping for a moment, and forcing yourself to think about what makes you happy in life, you get a profound perspective shift. Suddenly, the telephone desert you wandered in only a few minutes earlier is gone, and you're back making brownies in the kitchen with a child, each of you licking a beater. I can't emphasize enough what a powerful tonic this is for healing the furious, fed up, frustrated, or just plain downtrodden soul.

Drop me a quick list of your top three right now - just hit the Comments button below. I'll post mine here tomorrow.

Tags: Self-motivation, living your dreams, joy, happiness

My Annual Spring Ritual

Now that spring has finally come to the Adirondacks (though it did snow the other night!) … I've been back to running outside. All winter long I pound away on a treadmill in front of the Food Network. Me and Gianna. Me and Tyler. Me and the Barefoot Contessa. I get to burn calories and consume them vicariously instead!

Then comes spring and our annual family ritual to run some 5K races together. The children, who are 11 and 16, really look forward to this - and so I'm forced off of my treadmill and out into the actual roads of our town to start taking on the real hills, facing the wind, and feeling a host of new discomforts.

This year I started prepping early and got myself up to 4.4 miles, the equivalent of the Champlain Classic, the 5K run we will do on Sunday. It's really a push for me to go past 3.5 miles, but on this one day last week, I just decided to go for it. Could I turn my chattering mind off long enough to really run this distance?

My body is in good shape and certainly capable; that I knew. But my innate laziness wasn't so convinced this was possible or even necessary. Still I bravely punched 50 minutes into the treadmill time clock and set off to prove myself right … or wrong.

At the three mile mark, I could feel myself tensing up and resisting the rest of my run. Would I break through? Or could I? Or would this just be a small exercise in torture. Fortunately, Gianna was making chocolate tiramisu so I was gloriously distracted.

At the four mile mark I suddenly looked down and realized I was and had been in the runner's 'zone'…. A place where you don't really feel like you're running. Instead, you're just moving rhythmically and there's no good reason to stop. Still there I was running a ten minute mile, which for me is the stuff of true breakthroughs.

I stopped, almost reluctantly, at 4.4, so aware that the only reason I didn't usually run that far was my busy mind. Man, what a liberating new awareness… I'm not as lazy as I always thought I was! It was just a matter of believing it.

How about you?

Tags: running, breakthroughs, coaching breakthroughs

Diagram of a Passionate Dream Business, Part II

Back to Kelly and Karen's Kindred Spirit in Key West (see last post) ….

The instant healing I felt in their store comes from what I think of as "the essence". It's an immutable standard for your work that comes from pure passion - and it takes lots of joyful, effortless work. And the minute you get around a place or a person or even a service that's really passionate and hooked into 'the essence' you can sense it immediately.

Working  under the aegis of 'the essence' isn't easy of course. In stead, it's an experience in being driven.

When I met Karen and Kelly, they were coming off of weeks of 12-hour days putting the finishing touches on their store and holding their first event. It's this slightly insane, but critically important vision you get that pushes you forward, and forward, and forward, until you do create exactly what you want.

And please note that such work is not just a string of non-stop, blissed-out moments of creative bliss. There are many moments when you want to go home and go to bed. There are just as many when you lie awake worrying.

Still, there is something sacred and holy that pushes you forward, whether it be the 'essence' or your own hands-on interpretation of God. And you'll always be happy at the end of your life, that you went down that particular road … even if the results aren't exactly what you expect.

So back to my book talk at Kindred Spirit. It was easily the highlight of my 15-city tour that veered wildly from incredibly crowded, excited events that were great for selling books … to two people napping in the back while I tried to drag in browsers in Barnes & Noble's.
Not surprisingly, all of Key West turned out for my talk at Kindred Spirit; the event was electric! All, I say, because people wanted that healing at the heart of Karen and Kelly's hard work. We all simply wanted to be there and tell our friends about it.

May be you as moved as I've been by the healing work of all creators, great, small, famous and unknown, who are driven by nothing more than their desire to deliver what they feel. And may you discover the same within yourself.

Know a business, person, or service that conveys the essence'?

Visit the Kindred Spirit Website.

Tags: set up your own business, run a retail business, follow your bliss

Diagram of a Passionate Dream Business, Part I

Recently I've been thinking about all the touring I did for the release of How Much Joy Can You Stand? when it came out in 2000. It was an amazing time of growth, and I got a lot of insights along the way.

(I'm probably thinking this way because I've just gotten the rights back to the maiden Joy book, now officially 'out of print'. So I'm about to re-release it myself in a totally free, viral e-book version… Stay tuned!)

Specifically, I'm thinking about a New Age bookstore/tea salon in Key West, FL I spoke at called Kindred Spirit. This wasn't a 'must do' stop on the circuit of major bookstores for Authors On Their Way Up. The business was brand new and unknown. In fact, when the owners invited me to speak, they didn't even have a location yet for their store. Still, I had a feeling that this was a place where I had to speak.

There was something about Kelly and Karen, the owners, that resonated with me when I met them at a conference. They had a certain intensity, the air of women on a mission. It was clear that their lack of a lease at that moment was pretty irrelevant -- they would have exactly the space they wanted, and it would be great.

When I got to Key West, my hunch was confirmed. Here was a beautiful old two-story clapboard house, with a gracious front porch, waving palms, and those cool dark green shutters that are so much a part of the Key West landscape.

Every inch of this store held things that were beautiful and unique, each artfully arranged. Karen had hand-painted fresh, original calligraphy on the walls, and they had composed their space so you could wander at will, finding treasures at every turn. There was even a tiny antechamber, beautifully decorated, where you could have a reading with a remarkable psychic. Lace-covered tea tables here and there waited for you to sit down, relax, and have superb cup of tea. The effect of being in Kindred Spirit was that my travel-jagged soul was immediately soothed. This store had the ability to heal people.

…. Stay tuned! More tomorrow ….
Visit the Kindred Spirit Website.

Tags: set up your own business, run a retail business, follow your bliss

A Parable about Asking for What You want

Some years ago, when I was promoting the Ballantine edition of my book, How Much Joy Can You Stand?, I had a fantastic crisis. It was fantastic because it reminded me of a truth as old as the hills: when all seems lost, just ask.

Basically, the worst thing that can possibly happen to an author (and a publicist) happened. I actually forgot an interview. It was just one of those mornings when I had a houseful of guests. In fact, I was busy serving blueberry pancakes when it struck me that something was wrong ... something was very wrong.

Just like Miss Clavel in the children's book, Madeline, I ran fast and faster towards my office, trying to figure out the disaster. When I got there, I fumbled through my file and saw that I'd been scheduled for an interview on a Colorado radio station at 9:05 AM, and it was now 10:05 AM! I could feel the bottom of my stomach drop out.

How was I going to face Joanne, my beloved, trusted publicist who had worked so hard to schedule the interview? And how was I going to face the folks at Ballantine who were counting on me to show up and do my part? I just stood there, doing my best to curse quietly so the children, and houseguests, wouldn't hear me.

For a good twenty minutes, I hung around my office avoiding calling Joanne. Blueberry pancakes and my houseguests were totally forgotten. Instead, my mind was full of excuses, which The Big G (my friendly name for God) kept patiently answering. The conversation went like this:

ME: It was only 7AM on the West Coast. I can't call NOW.

THE BIG G: Joanne would be at work already, as she has to be on East Coast time often to do her job.

ME: I've already blown it, right? So why bother calling anyone? 

THE BIG G: You never know, Suzanne.

ME: I just can't tell her... I can't. She'll kill me.

THE BIG G: Joanne will not kill you. She'll help you.

ME: But remember the other time -- when the station gave my publicist the wrong time? Remember how mad the DJ was when I got him on the phone? That guy yelled at me!

THE BIG G: Everyone's different, dear.

Finally, I called. Joanne was not mad and certainly did not try to leap through the phone and kill me. In fact, she was the essence of grace under pressure and said, quite sanely, "The host is a really nice guy. Call him up. He'll probably put you on."

So I girded my loins again, dialed, and explained to the man why I was an hour and twenty minutes late. "Can you hold on?" he asked, and two minutes later I was doing the interview, marveling at the fact that all I had to do was ask.

So often we assume we 'know' how it's all going to turn out. We're completely certain of future results, and base our information on previous circumstances that have little to do with the here and now.

I'm here to say that we don't necessarily know a thing -- all we can do is ask and try, ask and try, no matter how scary it seems. Otherwise, the only certainty is that we've once again caved into our fear and stayed stuck, instead of moving forward.

Or, as the sign a friend has above her desk says, "Just Ask".

After my interview, I called Joanne back and told her how it all turned out. "This is so great!" I gushed, "I can write about it in the Joy Letter."

"Fine," Joanne replied. "But don't miss anymore interviews, okay? Even for your newsletter."

Tags: publicity, self promotion, radio interviews