It's Spring again!

Beach with pines Acrylic on canvas 60x60cm

Arr, my hearties, Sept 19 was talk like a pirate day. For tips on how to be speaking like a Pirate, visit the UK or the US websites.

If you are interested in my January 08 public NLP workshop (subtitled Mind reading, influencing and questioning) do let me know. It's restricted to smart decision-makers and influencers. Also check out the companion program Become a Fearless Facilitator [pdf] run by the inimitable Jill Chivers in December 2007. Check out our special 2 for 1 ezine offer.

Cindy

In this month's ezine we have:

• Improving your consultancy: Online experts, websites, Top 5 marketing mistakes
• Managing better: how to quit your job, classic books by email
• Fascinating: Sherrands and lice; how many people are being born now?
• Fun: Amsterdam picnic of ideas; Get the Thing; Happy Birthday Agatha Christie; Cranston Cup of Improvising hits Sydney

Your Consulting
business

Cafe Society Collage on paper 20x60cm

Websites and online experts

If you're building your reputation online, consider this article from fast company about being an expert online - particularly in discussion forums.

If you don't have a website yet, because it seems just such a mammoth job, maybe all you need is a one-page website. Here's Microsoft's take on how it helps.

Marketing and what goes wrong

Go to Market have published this useful article on the Top 5 Marketing mistakes companies make (and how to avoid them). In short, the 5 are:

1. Marketing without a strategy (i.e. marketing is bitsy and unconnected)
2. Being inconsistent with your brand
3. Not integrating marketing with sales
4. Marketing something you don't actually deliver
5. Not using the marketing mix effectively (only doing one type of marketing)

Go read the whole article if you like.

Consulting products

Choose from our
range of
consulting books
Buy now

Managing better

Musical chairs: Collage and Acrylic on paper 20x60cm

How to quit your job

If you hate your current job, how do you know if it's you or the job? Fast Company has an article on how to quit your job, and a slideshow of 10 things to do about hating your job, which include Identify your specific complaints; Can you fix it?; Confront your boss; Don't settle for less; Keep it real; Know what you really want; Research your options and test them out; Seek advice from a friend; and See a pro.

Classic Books by email

If murder's not your interest, but you would love to read some Classic books, Daily Lit will send you an instalment of your chosen book by email every day! The range is large. I've just subscribed to Macchiavelli's The Prince (classified as a "management" book) which will come in 50 instalments. The other management book is Henry Ford's autobiography.

Because they're classics, I'd probably never borrow them (Frank Lloyd Wright's biography anyone?), and I'm hatching a plan to maybe work through them all...

Special offer: Mind read, influence, question better...

Enrol in my
Corporate NLP program and Jill Chivers'
Becoming a Fearless Facilitator [pdf] programs
by Sept 30 2007
and bring a client or colleague for free to both programs.

Or enrol in just the NLP program, and for $100 extra you can bring a colleague or friend.

Both offers expire September 30th
2007. If you're
thinking about
it, and have
some issues with
dates or times or cash flow, please
contact me and
we'll see how
you can
be part of it!

Fascinating

Full up: Collage 45x60cm

New business ideas - errands and lice

We're already outsourcing traditional "home" activities like cleaning, cooking, handy-person and yard work. Now check out Sherrands - which is short for sharing errands - pull your to dos and get them done quicker. An online business idea.

And then consider outsourcing some of the more specialist tasks: parents in Texas are outsourcing removal of their kids' head lice. The service provides family rates, and guarantees confidentiality!

How many people are being born now?

Then amaze yourself with the Poodwaddle world clock which shows interesting (and scary) stats - click on the "now", week, month or year buttons, and it will show you things like how many children are being born, how many people are dying, stats on all of the communicable diseases, but also weird stats like the number of internet access points, and how many US divorces are in progress for that period. Perhaps you can find a use for it??

And Fun, fun, fun

Rocks Rooftops - acrylic on canvas 60x60cm

Table and chair acrylic on canvas 30x60cm

Public Entr - acrylic on paper 60x60cm

A Picnic of ideas

If you're in Amsterdam this week, you could check out Picnic, a series of events where "creative minds from the world of media, entertainment, science and the arts convene". Looks like a lot of fun!

Get the Thing

And what an idea! Instead of a magazine, The Thing sends you a beautiful or curious or interesting "Thing" each quarter. Sort of bringing installation art to the people. It's US based, but seems like an interesting thing to do with $120 USD per year (including overseas postage from the US).

Happy Birthday Agatha Christie

It was Agatha Christie's birthday on September 15. Visit the Official Agatha Christie web site and read about her detective protagonists, search her works for keywords, and play some games: Death on the Nile, Appointment with Death (a type of hangman), Trump the murderer or Poirot investigates (a version of wink murder). I spent a good hour playing Death on the Nile last Sunday morning, so maybe save it for a slower day!

And impro, of course

Scared Scriptless' Theatresports®, famous as the show which I'm actually in most Friday nights, continues at the Clarence Hotel, Petersham (in Sydney) every Friday night till Christmas. Doors open 7:30, show starts at 8. Drinks at pub prices, food available. There's a second show (The Late Show) at 10:30, so catch them both for an unheard of $5 whenever you're near Petersham in Sydney.

And the Cranston Cup 2007 - Sydney's yearly Theatresports® Improvisation "holy grail" is on at the moment. Come see me co-host/timekeep on 7, 14, 21 October 2007. The Cup is on every Sunday night till end October 2007 at Newtown Theatre (Tickets through Ticketek) and then moves to Belvoir Street Theatre for the semi-finals in November (tickets through Belvoir Street - not yet released).

Let me know what you like about this ezine - or anything you'd like to see more of!

C

Cindy Tonkin The Consultants’ Consultant
Certified Management Consultant

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This month's images are original works ©2007 Cindy Tonkin. See more here.

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