Remabulous

Ask Remabulous: The mysterious world of PR.

This week's question is one that I didn't even know needed to be asked until i got the answer. I met with magician Public Relations expert, Lisa Elia of www.ClearPublicist.com. She is really a gem.

During the course of our conversation, she mentioned that many people don't know what PR is, really. I discovered that I, too, was in the majority by thinking PR is simply press releases and interfacing with the press. Wrong.

So this week's question is:

What is PR anyway?

Thanks to Lisa, I now know the answer.

Reaching out makes a difference.

This past week, I had a great experience through reaching out and making meaningful contact with someone inspiring.

Some of you may have noticed and checked out Ramit Sethi's stuff recently- he's the recommended site this month. I had this hit that people needed to have access to this book, so I ordered it for the store. (Book Soup, where I also work doing Social Media) I had this strong impulse to write a review of the book, even though we have no other employee recommends in the business section (something I am hoping to change.)

Cut to less than a week later... my coworker, Kate, drops me an e-mail saying that Ramit Stehi came in the store and offered to sign any books we had. There was just one copy left in the business section, with my review. He was so happy that we had the book and that I recommended it, he took a picture of himself next to it and I hope to be able to share that soon. We traded a few messages over twitter and it was so nice to see that he appreciated the attention.

Even people with bestselling books can get a boost from a compliment. So if you love someone's work, say so. It will serve both of you.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my post on meeting Kristin Chenowith at the LA Times Festival of Books!

*** PS as of 4/27 evening: Wow those google trackers help you find things written about you so quickly! Ramit already saw this post and sent it to me so I could include it. Thanks, Ramit!

Video Friday: 3 Steps to Starting Your Project with Success.

Here we are again on Video Friday! I am once again delighted to bring you a vlog post. This week, I wanted to start a series of posts on tackling a large project. We'll begin at the beginning: planning and pacing your project. Enjoy!

Remabulous, the Podcast: Interview with Matt Lewis, internet rockstar.

Matt Lewis wins several awards for this podcast interview. Not only does he get the award for most mysterious guest photo, he also gets the most jam-packed with information award.

Matthew owns and operates Angel Valley Media, a boutique creative firm that caters almost exclusively to Fortune 500 clients, primarily in the entertainment industry. NBC Universal, Warner Bros., and The Rockefeller Foundation are among their clientele. Angel Valley offers a bevy of creative services, from the production of national television commercials to the creation of iPhone apps to enterprise-level web development, all through a small office in Pasadena, CA and a contract staff of less than 20 workers on average.

This guy knows his shit. Pardon my language, but it is the only way to put it. For someone who has been in the internet world pretty much since it started to have any application to real people, Matt has been able to construct products that serve: both for personal and professional use.

If you've thought you might want to internet to work for you and your business, do not miss this interview. And if you want to get Matt's advice on what you should be doing for your business, make sure to sign up for the Road Not Taken teleseminar series: Matt will be my guest Thursday, April 30th at noon pacific time.

If you sign up for coaching while the April sale is on, this call and three more are my gift to you. With a ten session package in April, you get two months of the Road Not Taken along with private coaching with me.

We hope to have you on the call, but in the meantime, enjoy the podcast! Sign up by clicking the magical orange square below. You can also find the show and sign up through iTunes: search for "Remabulous: the Podcast" and subscribe. Yay for you!

Ask Remabulous Earth Day: 6 Tips for a greener home office!

For this week's Ask Remabulous Column, I turned to my friend Lisa Tholen, founder of Greener By Design. As a LEED AP, Green Coach, and Sustainability Consultant, Lisa advises on a wide range of activities including LEED building certification, sustainability education sessions, green janitorial, recycling and waste reduction, eco audits, energy conservation, green team facilitation, and green moves and furniture installations.

I know we all want to do our part on Earth Day (and every day) so I asked Lisa what we creative people- many of whom work from home- can do to green up our workspaces.

Here are her 6 Tips For a Greener Home Office:

1.     1. Buy office products with the highest post consumer recycled content possible, and bleached without chlorine bleach.  Copy paper, note pads, file folders, letterhead, paper towels, napkins, toner cartridges, etc.  Search on “recycled” when placing your office supplies order.

2.     2. Narrow the default margins on your documents and print on both sides of the page.  Use mistakes for scratch paper.

3   3.  Turn off all office equipment and computers at night, or ensure that they go into energy saving sleep mode.  Make sure you turn off both the monitor and the system unit on your computer.  Only leave them on if necessary for backup purposes.

4.    4. Switch to compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) if you haven’t already.  CFL’s last much longer and use far less electricity than standard incandescent bulbs.  Home Depot and IKEA have a wide variety of shapes, base sizes, and color temperatures to meet your needs - including dimmable!  Both also take them back for recycling when they burn out in 5 or 10 years.

5.    5. When it comes time to replace office equipment, look for the Energy Star® label, which indicates equipment that is more efficient, costing you less money in the long run.

6.   6. Garbage in – garbage out.  Buy less stuff!  Do you really need that gadget?  Buy things with the least amount of packaging so that there is less to dispose of.

     Thank you so much for sharing, Lisa!  Lisa does consultations for business owners, so if you're looking to get a more specialized consultation, contact her! Her expertise has helped businesses not only go greener, but save lots of money in energy costs as well. 

     Lisa Tholen is a LEED® accredited professional with more than 15 years of experience in Sustainability, Facilities Management, Project Management, and the Design Industry.  LEED®, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the Green Building Rating System developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is a voluntary, consensus-based, market-driven building rating system based on existing proven technology.  Becoming a LEED® accredited professional demonstrates a knowledge and understanding of green building practices and technologies.

Recommended read: Secrets of Six Figure Women

As a means of continued inspiration, I have been making it a goal to read a business book each week. While I don't always hit that magic number, i am definitely enjoying the current selection enormously.

While Secrets of Six Figure Women sounds like a dramatic title, one that has often raised eyebrows while I have been reading it at the register at Book Soup, I think it raises a good point: why should it be shocking to be a woman making six figures? Isn't about time we were all in the game, too?

image: DavidDMuir

Susan Boyle: Absolutely required watching. Especially if you have a dream hiding in the closet.

Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing - Watch more Funny Videos I might even have to nominate Susan Boyle artist of the year with this video. I suspect Britain's got talent is going to have quite a few viewers jumping the pond this season. Look what happened when one woman had the courage to share the talent she believed in her heart she had. In one day, she jumped to 800,000 fans on the facebook fan page someone created for her. Amazing. There has never been more opportunity to get your creative beauty out on the world than there is now. Don't hide it...let it make our day just like Susan did. Susan, we thank you for your courage getting up in front of the world. We are all better for it.

Video Friday! Remabulous's Vlog begins today...Refuel your creative car.

So... we are going to video! Every Friday, we will now have a video post. You can also find Remabulous video content at our new YouTube channel!

Hope you enjoy... please let us know what you think in the comments.

Podcast: I interview Heather Armstrong of Dooce for Book Soup!

This week, I defer to my podcast interview for Book Soup for the artist of the week. Heather Armstrong was such a treat at her signing of It Sucked and Then I Cried. I was so grateful to have the time and opportunity to chat with her as well. As I told her when I let her know the podcast was up, it was the first time I had giggled with an author on one of these shows.

I highly encourage all of you to check out the Book Soup podcast, which I am one of the interviewers for and do the back-end production on. It's so much fun! We have Seth Grahame-Smith of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies coming up and if you sign up you can get the interview with the amazing Allison Bechdel, graphic novelist and author of Fun Home as well as the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For as well!

Click the magical orange square below to get started...

On love and fear and writing.

I bow to the writers this week to answer the questions we might have about being creative people.

Many thanks to Gwen Bell for finding this video and sharing it a fantastic recent post on the creative process. It was too good and funny and sweet not to share. And whether you are a fan of Eat, Pray, Love or not, author Elizabeth Gilbert has wonderful things to say about writing and the process of putting yourself out there as a creative person.

I am loving the theme of writing this week! Let's take Elizabeth's words to heart and try to be artists who embrace joy instead of anguish in the creative process and how we keep going in the face of challenge, failure, or even a huge success. Enjoy.