Learning how to present with confidence and influence is an imperative skill to moving ahead in your career. 

September 23rd & 30th

Optional coaching night October 5th

• Have your ideas heard
• Be an influential team leader
• Articulate objectives and present results with confidence
• Be seen as a star

When you have to present at the front of the room do you… Get anxious and nervous? Do you lose your breath, and sometimes forget what you’re going to say? Do you get dry mouth, lose your voice, turn red, or sweat?

 Do you believe…

• There is a right and wrong way of being at the front of the room or boardroom?
• You have to be more serious and formal than you usually are?
• Being perceived as ‘professional’ means suppressing who you really are?

The Truth!

• You don’t have to restrain or diminish who you are to be influential and persuasive
• You can let go of stress and fear and step into your power and confidence when presenting

Led by Expert Facilitator Liz Radzick of Manifest Consulting this limited enrollment 2 Night Course is designed to give you specific and personal feedback to unleash your natural ability to be influential and persuasive. Whether you are an experienced or novice presenter, this seminar will give you concrete tools to own the front of the room or the boardroom table the next time you have to impress your audience.

Option to Add an additional advanced personalized coaching session on October 5^th

Get an in-depth personalized coaching session with Liz. This session will offer you an opportunity to put your learning into practice, get additional one on one training from expert communicator Liz Radzick and hone your skills in a small group setting.

Learn More About This Event and How to Sign Up Here!

The Power is the handbook to the greatest force in the universe – The Power to have everything you want.

Without The Power you would not have been born. Without The Power, there wouldn’t be a single human being on the planet. Every discovery, invention, and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power.

The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realized, because The Power – to have everything good in life – is inside you.

To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing…THE POWER

Author Bio

Rhonda Byrne’s intention is to bring joy to billions. She began her journey with The Secret film, viewed by millions. She followed with The Secret book, a worldwide bestseller now available in 46 languages. Now, with The Power, Rhonda Byrne reveals the single greatest force in our Universe.

The book trailer: http://www.simonandschuster.ca/multimedia?video=524187120001

Link to The Power official website: http://www.thesecret.tv/thepower/

Buy The Book

Book review courtesy of…

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By Aurea Crotty

For as long as I can remember I knew I wanted to work for myself.  After spending almost 10 years in the corporate world I knew with absolute certainty that an entrepreneurial life was for me, but at the time just didn’t know what that was! I was torn knowing that I wanted to work for myself but could not gain clarity on what I would do and how I was going to make it happen.

And so began my journey that continues today…

I dedicated myself to gaining clarity on who I was, what it was that I wanted to contribute, what was something that I could do best, where did I feel most inspired… what began to immerge was a vision of my potential. Here are some articles on how to gain clarity:

http://prettysavvy.ca/clarity-is-the-key-to-your-success/

http://prettysavvy.ca/getting-clear-making-magic-happen/

There is so much that goes into running your own business, so much more than I ever imagined. I feel very fortunate to be doing something I love so intrinsically and believe that without that passion I would not be able to continue to survive the challenges I face running a business.  

If you have thought about becoming your own boss, there are some basic pivotal questions to ask yourself to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey:

1. What is your business idea?

2. What makes it unique?

3. Is there anyone else doing this type of business? How successful have they been?

• Reach out and see if you can connect with someone to hear about their challenges and successes.

4. Who are you going to target, and where are they? How big is this market?

5. Why would they want or need your offering?

6. What will it cost you to start this business?

• Consider time and money (can you continue working while you start, can you afford to quit your job?)

7. How are you going to make money? How much money do you need to make? How much do you need to charge?

To figure this out on a very simplistic level calculate:

• How much money you need to live (your salary) + Overhead costs for running the business
• Now, figure out what you need to charge  / how much business you need to do to cover those costs

If you come up with some solid answers to these basic questions you may be well on your way to an entrepreneurial life.

Stay tuned for more lessons learned and how to get started coming soon…

If you enjoyed this article, you may also like:

http://prettysavvy.ca/dont-just-start-a-business-start-the-right-one/

http://prettysavvy.ca/next-step-entrepreneurship/

http://prettysavvy.ca/the-womens-small-business-start-up-kit/

By Aurea Crotty

I’m a big believer in setting ourselves up psychologically for success. I believe that our mindset is one of the most pivotal factors to ensuring our success in any situation.

Recently I came upon an idea that by setting goals we are actually set ourselves up for failure.

This seems like a very radical position considering most experts tell us that successful people are meticulous goal setters.  The case for the eradication of ‘setting goals’ is, however,  a strong one; one that asks us to simply set ourselves up for success by reframing how we think about setting goals.

According to Bobb Biehl, author of Stop Setting Goals if You Would Rather Solve Problems, about 80% of people feel uninspired at the thought of “Setting Goals”. The idea of “solving a problem”, however, seems to strike a deeper cord among us that intrinsically creates a push towards action and a more dynamic thought process.

Consider this, how easy is it for you to come up with solutions for your friends challenges yet when it comes to your own, you’re at a loss! When a friend comes to you and says “I have a problem, and I need your help” an interesting spark ignites that shifts our brain into solution mode with a clearly defined map of the steps necessary to achieve the desired outcome or “goal”.

The idea is we want to use, and tap into, that same energy and mindset to help us achieve success.

“Setting goals” is a linear thought process that translates into hard work and feels difficult, whereas “solving something” is a more dynamic reflection and is more engaging.

Another shortcoming of setting goals is that most of us do not know how to effectively set goals to position ourselves for success, many times our goals can be too vague and static. “I want to be happy”, “I want to be rich”, “I want to be successful” etc…

Overall, the objective we are looking to reach is the same, what’s different is how we get there –we essentially are still setting goals but we are taking a different approach which psychologically positions us for success.

By shifting our mindset from “setting a goal” to “solving a goal” we tap into more of our brain and essentially perform both goal setting and planning more successfully.

So how do you do this?

1. Be clear on what it is you want to achieve, see and feel your outcome in every aspect of your life.  How will you feel once you achieve that goal, how will your life have changed etc… For example where your traditional goal may have been “I want to have more money”.  Through this process that goal may now be “I have financial freedom and make ‘X’ dollars”.

2. Now, think like a problem solver and look at all the obstacles and steps required to get to your desired goal. Make a list of what these are and how you can achieve them. Sometimes what is easier is to imagine yourself having achieved your goal and imagine you are looking back at your journey, ask yourself “what did it take to get me here?”. Be sure to take into consideration your entire life, for example, what type of support network did you need to get you where you are? What type of environment did you work in? Etc…

So maybe not the most radical idea after all, but it definitely is an interesting perspective on how to reframe our thinking… getting us to consider much more than a static idea.

If you enjoyed this article you may also like:

http://prettysavvy.ca/clarity-is-the-key-to-your-success/

http://prettysavvy.ca/stop-looking-for-work-start-seeking-opportunities/

http://prettysavvy.ca/the-power-to-choose-your-success/

Book featured in this article:

By Dr. Samantha Ristimaki, BSc, ND of Balance Wellness Center

How many beauty products do you use in a day? Shampoo, conditioner, face wash, soap, lip gloss…The average woman uses 9 personal care products a day containing a grand total of 126 chemical ingredients. What is even more baffling is that only 11% of the chemicals within cosmetics are tested for safety and these tests are performed by cosmetic companies, not Health Canada. Here are some key ingredients you want to watch for:

Parabens: These chemicals have been found to be estrogenic, meaning they mimic female hormones. Excess estrogens are related to increase risk of hormone relate cancer such as breast cancer.

Phthalates: This ingredient is rarely found on the label but is neatly tucked under the term “fragrance”. It can also disrupt female hormone balance.

Talc: This powder is widely found in cosmetic products like deodorant, blush and baby powder. It is often contaminated with asbestos. Asbestos fibres are characterized as carcinogenic.

Toluene: Look no farther than your bottle of nail polish remover. Long term exposure to toluene can affect the liver, kidneys and nervous system.

Diethanolamine (DEA): Commonly found in shampoo, body wash, and makeup, this chemical is a suspected carcinogen. It may also be listed as MEA and TEA.

Formaldehyde: Look for imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin and quarternium-15 on the label. This carcinogen can also evaporate when wet leaving you vulnerable to breathing in its vapours.

Scary stuff! So how do you avoid this stuff? Read!

Make sure to always read ingredient lists carefully and be weary of brands claiming to be “natural” or “organic” as these claims are not regulated. Brands like Aubrey Organics, Giovanni, Jason, Weleda and Kiss my Face are dedicated to using natural ingredients as opposed to chemical synthetics.

If you liked this article you may also like:

http://prettysavvy.ca/is-your-sunscreen-safe/

http://prettysavvy.ca/vitamin-water-is-it-really-good-for-you/

http://prettysavvy.ca/is-your-skin-healthy/

By Wendy Litner

A friend asked me if I thought there was an inappropriate age differential for older men dating younger women.  I can understand why she sought my advice; having married a man my own age, I am obviously an expert on the topic.  My mother had urged me to date men outside my age bracket, claiming they provided a softer place to fall while benefiting from the vernal spunk of a younger woman.  While some age difference may be ideal, I wonder if there is, in fact, a singular cutoff after which dating on older man turns from cool to creepy?  Like Goldilocks’ first bed, is a fifteen year gap too big but ten, like her third, is just right? 

I am what the urban dictionary calls AVOP (A Very Opinionated Person) when it comes to the politics of human rights and the importance of equality; this, however, renders me NAVOP (Not A Very Opinionated Person) when it comes to people’s lifestyle choices, dating or otherwise.  After all, as a person still searching for life’s perfect harmony, who am I to question other people’s formulas for happiness? 

I don’t even judge Melanie Berliet, a New York City freelance writer, who, frustrated with the accompanying lifestyle sought out a partner on Seeking Arrangements-a dating site pairing upwardly mobile “sugar daddies” who are looking to “mentor or spoil” younger, downwardly  mobile, “sugar babies.”  (I’ll save you the time, it’s http://www.seekingarrangement.com/).  My eyebrows were decidedly not raised as Berliet, in her Vanity Fair piece, described the site’s cyber courtship whereby sugar babies post pictures of themselves, ranging from suggestive to extremely suggestive, and sugar daddies post their monthly girlfriend allowances, ranging from Oh My Goodness to OH MY GOODNESS!!!  On paper, this seems like a fair trade.  Married or not, many high-powered men, as they advance in age, probably still feel young at heart and want a pretty, little, thing who outwardly matches their internal vigour.  With the stress that comes from the accumulation of wealth and family, many probably yearn for some uncomplicated passion.  And a man who takes charge is undeniably sexy.  Such warm feelings of safety and comfort can easily ignite naked heat for many a young woman.  

Berliet was open about the fact that she was looking for a benefactor to finance her love of writing and Louboutins, in exchange for intimacy and companionship.  Of course it would be nice to be an artist without having to give up great shoes but as a more, shall I say, conservative girl, this arrangement admittedly would never work for me-I would just feel way too much pressure to produce good art!  Berliet herself had no luck seeking an arrangement and like the rest of us is left to marry for love and rely on the elusive hope of ‘making it’ with raw talent and intractable persistence. 

While sealing relationships with a handshake may feel viscerally questionable, I am certain that there are extremely happy couples out there who have successfully bartered beauty for riches or bargained their mutually desired persona of a perfect family.  Some may not even know they’re doing it, but either way that’s all it really comes down to, doesn’t it?  The fact that they are really, truly, happy.   

When I was young, good was so easily discernible from bad.  I could self-righteously draw a moral line in the sand and know unquestionably which side I stood on.  I’ve begun to realize, as I get older, that sometimes people, situations, can straddle that line.  Things aren’t as black and white as I thought-life and love are simply more complex, more nuanced than that.

While people are adopting hard and fast rules based on traditional expectations or society’s conventional moral code, I bet there are a great deal of good and decent people living blissful lives in the grey area.  It’s not that I am advancing hedonistic or questionable behaviour but perhaps something isn’t quite so questionable if it makes you really happy.  Like, happier than you have ever been, happy.  And, undoubtedly, love, sex and passion make people crazy happy.  Even the cynic Bill Maher in his New Rules has said that those who choose love over their careers and the values of society seem to be the people who find actual happiness.  As Maher says, “true love is like a salesman at Home Depot: it only comes along once or twice in a lifetime, so you gotta grab it.  Fighting it just makes it worse, like arguing with an airline employee.”  Maher even goes so far as to apologize to Woody Allen for ridiculing Allen’s relationship with Soon-Yi, a love affair that has now lasted 17 years. 

Perhaps it is the triumph of Allen’s love in the face of critical judgements that is reflected in his last film Whatever Works.  Misanthropic curmudgeon, Boris Yellnikoiff,  impossibly falls in love with 21 year old Melodie, a sweet and tender, doe eyed girl, despite their 40 year age difference.  Watching Melodie’s impressionable idealism unfold, I have decided to seek my own arrangement.  I am ready to turn in my sanctimonious cynicism and open my heart to a more romantic realism.  I am going to go a little easier on myself and try and live by Yellnikoff’’s final incitement to grab hold of whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.    

To answer my friend, I think dating an older man, of any age, is always cool if it makes you happy.  But I think there is a more important question: are you courageous enough, in the face of scrutiny, to let yourself embrace passion with open arms and seize every little bit of happiness?  Are you afraid, or, as the poet William Blake says, are you someone whose passions are simply weak enough to be controlled?     

I hope I’m brave enough.  I want to be brave enough.

Heiress to the red rose of Lancaster, Margaret Beaufort never surrenders her belief that her house is the true ruler of England and that she has a great destiny before her. Her ambitions are disappointed when her sainted cousin Henry VI fails to recognize her as a kindred spirit, and she is even more dismayed when he sinks into madness. Her mother mocks her plans, revealing that Margaret will always be burdened with the reputation of her father, one of the most famously incompetent English commanders in France. But worst of all for Margaret is when she discovers that her mother is sending her to a loveless marriage in remote Wales.

Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph.

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By Liz Radzick of Manifest Consulting

Ah, the early morning conference call. You’re sitting in a boardroom, wishing you had brought a coffee with you while listening to someone on the other coast mumble their way through a discussion of the finer points of the new compensation plan. Even worse is if this person is YOU! So how can you make your speech less slushy and clearer? Aside from getting more sleep here are my favorite set of tongue exercises to help you wake up your speech.

 Just like putting your elbow on a table while doing a bicep curl, you can target and strengthen different areas of your speech by isolating them. So here’s the drill:

Count from 1-10 to get a sense of how clearly you normally speak.

Now bite the tip of your tongue. Allowing the back of your tongue to move as well as your lips, as clearly as possible count from 1-10 again. Then try this with the days of the week followed by the months of the year. Don’t forget to breathe, and keep the volume up – about a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10.

Second position: put your tongue over your lower teeth like you have a poppy seed in your lower teeth that you are trying to remove. Count 1-10, days of the week, and then months of the year as clearly as possible.

Final position: stick your tongue out of your mouth and point it toward your chin. As clearly as possible count 1-10, days of the week and months of the year. If you’re ambitious, try the alphabet.

Now wipe off your chin and count 1-10. You should notice a difference in clarity.

You can actually pull your tongue muscle, just like a hamstring so don’t overdo it – practice just once a day. And just a suggestion…practice in private, not in front of your team in the boardroom, that might get awkward!

By Dr. Samantha Ristimaki, BSc, ND of Balance Wellness Center

When Mother Nature drops off your monthly gift, most women reach for their stash of tampons or pads to manage the flow.  Recently, there has been an influx of more product options on the market that are more cost effective and more environmentally friendly. 

One of these options is menstrual cups, they have been around since the 1930’s and have recently began to rise in popularity.  This small reusable cup or barrier inserts into the vagina.  Rather than absorb as tampons or pads, the menstrual cup collects fluid and is empted when full. 

There are two types of cups on the market:

Disposable

This soft polyethylene cup resembles a diaphragm.  It can be worn during vaginal intercourse. 

Reusable Cup

This is a bell shaped rubber or silicone cup.  Manufacturers say that this can last a woman for up to 10 years.  This variety cannot be used during intercourse. 

Like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to switching to a menstrual cup.  

PROS:

The vagina has a natural way of cleaning itself by shedding cells and producing vaginal fluids.  Tampons typically absorb not only blood but healthy vaginal fluids leaving you at higher risk for getting infections. 

When left to long, tampons can cause toxic shock syndrome.  The cup offers the same comfort of a tampon without the risk of toxic shock and vaginal dryness. 

It also may not produce the same cramping that you can experience with a tampon. 

If you choose the reusable variety, not only do you reduce the volume of waste products, but tampons and pads are bleached and leave traced dioxin that will leach into you and the water supply.  Dioxins are a known carcinogen. 

You can wear them for up to 12 hours at a time.

A woman will use over 12,000 tampons or pads in a lifetime.  Since a reusable cups will last for 10 years and cost less than $50, it’s far more economical.

CONS:

They are a hands-on option which some women may not feel entirely comfortable with since it is more difficult to insert than a tampon. 

If you have heavy periods, you may need to wear a panty liner with the cup. They do however hold more fluid than a tampon which means you may need to change them less frequently. 

Since the cup acts as a barrier, if you wear it to bed, there is a higher risk of having retrograde flow back into the uterus.   

At the end of the day, you don’t know if something is right for you until you try it.

Married to a man twice her age, quickly widowed, and a mother at only fourteen, Margaret is determined to turn her lonely life into a triumph. She sets her heart on putting her son on the throne of England regardless of the cost to herself, to England, and even to the little boy. Disregarding rival heirs and the overwhelming power of the York dynasty, she names him Henry, like the king; sends him into exile; and pledges him in marriage to her enemy Elizabeth of York’s daughter. As the political tides constantly move and shift, Margaret charts her own way through another loveless marriage, treacherous alliances, and secret plots. She feigns loyalty to the usurper Richard III and even carries his wife’s train at her coronation.

Widowed a second time, Margaret marries the ruthless, deceitful Thomas, Lord Stanley, and her fate stands on the knife edge of his will. Gambling her life that he will support her, she then masterminds one of the greatest rebellions of the time—all the while knowing that her son has grown to manhood, recruited an army, and now waits for his opportunity to win the greatest prize.

In a novel of conspiracy, passion, and coldhearted ambition, number one bestselling author Philippa Gregory has brought to life the story of a proud and determined woman who believes that she alone is destined, by her piety and lineage, to shape the course of history.

Author Bio

Philippa Gregory is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance. A writer and broadcaster for radio and television, she lives in England. She welcomes visitors and messages at her website, www.philippagregory.com.

Author revealed Q&A: http://authors.simonandschuster.ca/Philippa-Gregory/649/author_revealed

The book trailer: http://www.simonandschuster.ca/multimedia?video=167642082001

For more information about The Cousins’ War series: http://www.warsoftherosesbooks.com/

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