Category Archives: Time Management

Should I have specific segmented brands or one brand that does all at different price levels?

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Today’s question came from a busy entrepreneur about his marketing plan.

Should I have specific segmented brands or one brand that does all at different price levels?

All markets have different performance and cost needs. Should we have multiple product brands – i.e. low cost/low performance and mid/high or have one brand that can stretch across multiple performance levels and price according to options? It makes sense to economize the product manufacturing chain but, what is everyone’s experience when consolidating a full portfolio into a single brand lineup?

Your Brand should solve a specific problem for a specific niche or class of people. If you have multiple visions/missions you should have separate branding and marketing strategies. For example: Sarah has her Health Coach business and she also sells her own brand of peanut butter.   Sarah should have separate branding and marketing strategies for those very different product and businesses.

 

product funnel2Product Funnel Strategy

Within each separate brand – you should have a product funnel strategy that leads your target client up your product/service pricing structure. Normally people start off with free samples – to allow the target client to get to know you (like a first date). In Sarah’s example, she may offer a complimentary discovery health sessions, newsletters, articles, short audios/video for her coaching; and free samples of your peanut butter for her other brand.

 

Then you create some low, mid, high end offers for each separate brand. In Sarah’s example, she can create group workshops, subscriptions based programs, one-on-one coaching programs, and then high-end product bundles with personal trainers, personal chef, image consultant, and a high-end shopping spree when your health goals are met.
If you only want to sell your coaching and peanut butter to High-Profile, Affluent clients (that’s your target client) — then you advertize, market and visit only the places where the High-Profile, Affluent people are. Your price points are selected to match the budgets of your target niche/clients.

 

Do you have an umbrella Brand that covers all your products?

You will have an Umbrella Company that owns the Health Coach and Peanut Butter business. But the branding will be different. For instance, Kraft owns Kool-Aid, Velveeta, Miracle Whip and Maxwell House. But each of these products have their separate branding, target market and product Funnels.

 

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

 

 

How do I deal with a 50% business partner who can’t hold up his promises?

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How do I deal with a 50% business partner who can’t hold up his promises?

 

Today’s question came from a busy entrepreneur – but this issue occurs for both small business owners and corporate employees.

Right now I own 50% of a technology startup aimed at real estate agents. I am responsible for developing and maintaining the upkeep of all the software associated with our business. The other partner is in charge of selling the product, however, he gets way too distracted with other life things such as his real estate work. Although he makes promises and tries to motivate me to keep working on our business because he will “sell the crap out of it”, I still don’t feel a solid effort on his part. Should I try to find a way to kick him out or continue to engage him to sell our product? Thanks.

Whether you are a small business owner or an employee of a large company, you probably have had experience working with partners or co-workers that you feel are not pulling their weight.

Business Owners with partners:

If you have not done this already – take up the time to document a business plan with roles and responsibilities for each partners. The business plan should include some SMART goals for each partner (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to your business, and timely/time-bound). Your business plan needs to include consequences (what happens when the SMART goals are not met or delivered).

Including SMART goals (milestones on when you both agree that the goals will be met) – you will have a better footing on whether he is making a solid effort. If/when those milestones or deadlines are not met – then you follow-through on your “consequences” –or next steps that you both agreed to upfront.

Taking the time upfront to map this out – saves you a lot of anxiety in the future.

Employee with project partner:

This may seem like a totally different situation, but it’s not.  As an employee, (if you haven’t done this already) write out your Personal Business Commitment (PBC) plan.  This document has YOUR business commitments, roles and responsibilities.  It outlines what you expect from your manager as well as what they can expect from you.  It also includes “consequences” such as rewards for making quotas, etc.

After you have these plan outlines and approved by your manager – you have frequent one-on-one meetings with your manager to continually review your performance against your PBC.

Taking the time upfront to map this out – saves you a lot of anxiety in the future.

 

If you need help with your next steps on this – feel free to contact me and let me know what you decide to do.

Where Do I begin to Market My Business

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Where Do I begin to Market My Business

As a business solutions consultant, I constantly get the question: “Where do I begin to market my business?“

Regardless of the type of business, the first step is to create a marketing plan. Your marketing plan will outline your business goals, your marketing goals, and your marketing budget. It will also include how you are going to measure your progress against those goals as well as your time-line or schedule for success.

Simple Marketing Plan:

Below is the minimum that you need in your marketing plan.

  • Identify a target market.
  • Develop a strong marketing message and hook.
  • Create one piece of marketing collateral that will attract prospects and set you apart
  • Get visible in your target market.
  • Keep following up to build relationships and credibility.

 

Marketing Next Steps:

Become an Expert. Start exposing your expertise, tips, techniques and skill through various media. It’s easy to create videos, audios, articles, eBooks, and speaking engagements to get your name out there.

Cultivate Raving Fans. Start collecting fans that are interested in what you have to offer. Create your social media pages such as a Business Facebook page. Use your Facebook pages to collect your fans’ contact information such as name, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Determine your niche. What are you selling and to whom? Start by using skills that you already have, such as writing, web design and graphic arts. Seek out familiar industries. Cleary define your target client and demographic.

Make a list of your potential market. Reach out to friends, local groups and places where you do business. Most professions have associated professional organizations. Start attending your professional association meetings, conferences and expos aligned with your field, as well as various local business networking events.

Go where your clients meet. Once you have clearly identified your niche, visualize where those people meet, do and have. For example, if your target client and niche is affluent men over 40 years of age, take up golf.

Advertise your marketing business online. Start out with a Business Facebook page. Eventually, you need a web site with your own domain name. However, you can get started by using a free Facebook sites. Make sure to use a professional business template.

Link all of your personal social media. Ask your friends to “share” or forward the news about your new marketing business. Your new business must show clients that you know how to use the latest resources effectively.

Market your business constantly. Every email you send should have information about your new marketing business in the form of a web address, slogan, or similar at the bottom. Holidays are opportunities to share a greeting from your business Facebook page. Social gatherings present an opportunity to mention your new business.

Get referrals. Once you have a client or a lead, ask them to tell others about you. Consider offering a discount on their next project when they bring you new clients. Don’t be shy about asking for written or video testimonials.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a presentation on “3 Keys to saying YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

 

Summer Sizzles with Business Lessons Learned from TV’s Scandal

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Hello – all you Olivia Pope and Scandal fans out there. I know Scandal is on summer hiatus. But what better time for us to review some “business Lessons Learned” from Scandal and more specifically from Olivia Pope?

This summer, we will be hosting a Lessons Learned Summer Series based on the characters of one of the best rated TV series “Scandal”. If you are interested in joining this video series – please register to receive telecast dates and times.

Today’s episode is a quick overview of “How Olivia Pope Got to be Olivia Pope”. We’ll walk through the business strategies that you can also use to build your empire, while avoiding some of the pitfalls.


If you found these tips helpful, then signup for the summer series. REGISTER HERE

3 Easy Tips to Up-Scale Your Iphone testimonials

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Today’s comment came from a busy business owner

One easily attainable marketing tool are video testimonials. If you are already giving a talk, it’s easy to take advantage of the excitement and enthusiasm that your audience is feeling right after your presentation. If you wait until they leave and are back into their daily activities – it’s going to be harder to get them to refer or comment on that event. Don’t miss that opportunity to get that genuine reaction and excitement for your genius.

So – even if you don’t have expensive camera equipment – you can use your iphone or ipads for impromptu testimonials. What are some simple steps that people can do with their iphones or ipads to increase the quality of these impromptu videos?

3 Quick Tips to improving your videos are:

1) Take your videos in the horizontal view.  It will give you more real estate to work with to work with.

2) Be aware of your background.  Take time to look at your viewfinder and make sure your client doesn’t look drawn or washed out.  Often times putting your subject in front of a solid white or black background or simply taking them outside into the sun will do wonders for their color.

3) Be aware of the background noise.  Often times you are in an large, open conference room with many conversations taking place around you.  And your iphone or ipad microphone is picking up all the ambient noise.  Take the time to move into a smaller room or corridor to tape your testimonials.  Video experts can often fix the background colors and size — but they can not easily fix the background noise in your video testimonial.

Bottom line is to merely be aware of the surroundings when you are taping your testimonials.  You may want to get your comments in front of your large banner – but if that banner is in a place where there’s lots of background noise, you may be better off moving to a quieter location and in front of a warmer backdrop.  Then supper-imposing your logo or banner later.

 

Optimize career for learning or responsibility?

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Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

I currently work at a small web design agency with a team of 5. I’m the sole marketer where I do all digital marketing for clients.

This includes SEO/PPC, some social media, and everything else growth marketing related. I love the autonomy, the people I work with, and ‘owning’ the entire digital marketing role and department.

My only complaint: clients are really small (e.g., electricians, attorneys) and I’m itching for something more challenging and complex.

However, I am learning a lot. Work-life balance is amazing at the agency, allowing me to take on MOOCs and side projects where I’m learning to code.

Recently, a large public company offered me a PPC Analyst role where I’ll manage a 10MM ppc campaign. Glassdoor reviews mention poor work-life balance. My brief pros & cons analysis of take the job offer:

PROS
+ higher salary
+ more prestige and responsibility
+ learning, yes, but very focused on SEM in one particular vertical

CONS
+ 50-60+ work weeks
+ less time for MOOCs, self-study and side projects
+ possibility of low job satisfaction (culture, politics)

=== My question ===

ultimatumWhat would you do? Do I continue working at the agency where I’m comfortable and can have the autonomy to master what excites me.

Or take the job offer with more responsibility and pay but at the expense of narrowing my career focus and skill-sets too much.

 

Like many professional in your situation, you seem to think there is only two options for you: Stay where you are or go to this possible low-satisfaction job.

There are rarely only two options to any situations. So – why can’t you continue to search for a great job that fits all your requirements? Why can’t you be the one to define and propose more complex and challenging projects? Why can’t you take a more active role in bringing in more high-profile clients? Why can’t you present at various conferences and client trade show to better expose yourself as an expert or authority in your field of interest? Why can’t you step-up your marketing of the Product YOU – so that you create additional opportunities for yourself?

Also – are you sure this new job is a 50-60+ week job with low-job satisfaction? Or are you just making assumptions?

You are ultimately responsible for your own time and project schedule. If your salary is based on a 40 hour week – then your salary is based on a 40 hour week. If you decide that you want to limit your general work week to 40 hours a week (giving you some space for MOOCs, self-study and side projects) – just outline your project schedules more realistically. Take more ownership of your personal business commitments and schedules. As long as you provide realistic expectations on your deliveries – you can still schedule space and time for everything that is important to you. Although there will be times when you need to work the extra hours; if you are consistently working overtime and the weekend – then you lack the appropriate project management and time management skills.

If you feel that if you don’t put in 50-60 hours a week to receive advancement – then you are choosing that over the other things. Figure out what you really want; decide what are the imperatives and non-negotiables – and design your life accordingly

**Note: If you consistently work overtime and weekends to conduct regular workplace business, then you have no buffer time to accommodate project emergencies. If your project is constantly hitting emergencies, then your risk analysis and project management skills need to improve. If you would like more information or training in this area, please reach out to me.

Regardless of what your ultimate decision (staying in your current position or taking the higher-paying job) – you have the power to design your own career exactly the way you want.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

 

 

3 Ways Project Managers Can Anticipate, Avoid and Mitigate Problems

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Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

What separates the good, or the great, project managers (PM) from the just so-so?

The answer: How they handle problems when they arise and they prevent them from derailing deadlines and the budget. Some of the top issues projects frequently face are:

pm triangleProblem No. 1: Team members not knowing or understanding what their responsibilities are, not owning their part of the project.

Problem No. 2: Meeting deadlines.

Problem No. 3: Scope creep.

 

Problem No. 1: Team members not knowing or understanding what their responsibilities are, not owning their part of the project.

The PM is responsible for effectively conveying the project scope, goals and individual team member’s responsibilities. The best way to assure that your message has been conveyed is to ask each team member to paraphrase the goal and their part/responsibility/role in achieving the goals. They need to also paraphrase the consequences of not achieving the goals – not only for the company but for their careers as well.

Depending on one-way conversations like email and memos will not assure that your team understands their role. Creating presentations and status reports does not fully verify the team’s ownership.

Implementing one-on-one manager’s meetings will increase transparent communication between the employee and employer. Adding one-on-one project manager meetings with the various managers on the projects will do the exact thing for the project.

 Problem No. 2: Meeting deadlines.

Meeting deadlines is one of the critical skills of a PM. The first step, of course, is to create deadlines and milestones. Milestones are the mini-deadlines used to stay on course. It is critical to associate a customer-releasable deliverable at every milestone. The deliverable can be as simple as the requirement specs, a presentation, a prototype, a demo, an update, early alpha or beta versions, etc. By delivering early and often to the clients does several things:

  • Keeps the clients involved and gives you early feedback on how your features are matching your clients’ expectations. The product needs to match the client’s need and not your design. You are building the product for the client’s use; therefore, it’s imperative that you get the clients’ perspective along the way.
  • Forces the team to work on the quality of the deliverables all along the way.
  • Can continually provide the clients with their minimum requirements (to get them moving forward on their tasks) while you continue to enhance the product for future releases.

Another tool is risk management. There are various ways to manage risk. Risk Management and Risk Analysis incorporate contingency plans for high-probability/high-impact issues. Taking the time to visualize what “could happen” in the project, then sorting which items are most likely to happen with a high-impact to the project. Those items you put contingency plans in place.

Training every member of the time on good estimation skills will have a profound effect on accurate schedules. I have an article and presentation on the 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling To download the article, register HERE.

Creating a Recovery Protocol Chart is also useful in meeting deadlines. The 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling talks more about the Recovery Protocol Chart and Change Management in general. To download the article, register HERE.

Problem No. 3: Scope creep.

Change Management is the tool that you implement to eliminate scope creep. Once you have a well-defined feature set and requirement documents – any deviation of those requirements go through a Change Management process. CM outlines the consequences of the request including level of effort, resource requirements, delay in schedule, affect on other dependencies (identify any change reaction), quality issues or budget concerns. Once all these things are clearly outlined, the team can make a better decision in moving forward with the change.

Creating a Recovery Protocol Chart is also critical in reducing Scope Creep. The 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling talks more about the Recovery Protocol Chart and Change Management in general. To download the article, register HERE.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

 

 

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

As a very new small business, anyone I bring on to my team is going to be responsible for more than one area of expertise. How can I name or define their positions when they are going to be doing much more than one thing?

Regardless of the title – you should have a full job description and even a Personal Business Commitment (PC) Plan for each of your employees (SMART Goals for the coming year). Their PBC’s should be based off your PBC’s and shows specifically how their role and responsibilities will help you achieve your PBC’s or SMART Business Goals for the coming year. Then during your quarterly performance reviews, you can easily measure their performance against their yearly goals – and give the appropriate tweaks and encouragement. Explicitly spelling out their roles and responsibilities is slightly different that giving their position a title. If you need help creating PBC’s, lets chat.

 

When giving titles, I recommend select a title that best supports or helps achieve their business goals. Consider the end-user of their business cards.   For example – if you have a employee that is a developer, but he also goes on the road with the Sales Staff to setup the demos and man the trade-show booths; I would give him the title of Subject Matter Expert or Technical Sales Engineer. Something – when given to the customer assures the customer that he is knowledgeable about the client’s use of the product as well as encouraging the client to call them about making the sale.

What if your project manager also does the accounting and bookkeeping for your small business? This person also answers the phones and fills in as the receptionist.   Although this person wears many hats, the title on their business card should be Project Manager, because affluent clients receiving that business card are more apt to carry on business dealings and conversations with the Project Manager over a book keeper or receptionist.

If you only have one sales person on your team and they also man the tech support line, their title on their business card should be Sales Manager – because an affluent client feels more important talking to the Sales Manager – than either sales person or a technical support person. They feel that the Sales Manager can actually get something done in the company.

Think about your business goals – and which title (from their many hats) is going to support bringing in the money.

Also – there is nothing wrong with creating multiple business cards with the different job titles. Then you give out the appropriate card at the right occasion. I don’t recommend doing 1 business cards with all the titles like: Project Manager/Developer/Tester. You want to present clarity, confidence and expertise to your potential client. Showing them that you are a jack of all and master of none will defeat the purpose.

Don’t work through lunch — WORK YOUR LUNCH

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.
Today’s comment came from a busy professional when discussing prioritizing a performance review process for his company.

What is the importance of taking a break for lunch during the day? What are the benefits of taking a break in the middle of the day? Why shouldn’t you eat at your desk? How can people prioritize their lunch time to get the benefits out of it — and how can they convince their managers it’s important?

I will be blunt. People that eat lunch at their desk are lazy. I know we use the excuse that we have too much work to do and we don’t have time, yadda, yadda, yadda. But the truth is that we’re being lazy. It’s easier to just eat at the desk, than do make that lunch break work for you.

As with any work break – lunch should be an actual break to rejuvenate and reduce work day stress.  Stress is the accumulation of frustration and anxiety.  The key to eliminating stress during the day is to take periodic breaks throughout the day to diffuse the frustration before it gets to the stress level.

A break merely means to do something different that you were doing 1 minute ago. It doesn’t necessarily mean to “do nothing”. It means do something different. And that “something different” can still be in performance of your career and your business.

Another reason to get away from your desk at lunch is to use that time to business network with others.  Use that lunch time to meet the right people that can propel your career further.   Eating at your desk or even with the same people All The Time – actually keeps you in the same place (at this same desk and position). Instead, use the lunch hour to network with the people that can get you to that skip-level promotion.

 

Don’t work through lunch – INSTEAD WORK YOUR LUNCH.

 

Some things to make your lunch work for you are:

 

  • Change your environment at lunch. Have lunch with different people. Have lunch in a different location so that you can meet new people – the right people for your career.
  • Use the lunch to innovate and create with mentors, advisors and heroes. Initiate lunch time brainstorming session on revenue-generating proposals.
  • Use the lunch hour for self-improvement such as attending a ToastMasters.org chapter to shore up your presentation and speaking skills.
  • Invite experts and speakers to your Brown Bag Lunch series on the next generation technology or process improvement techniques that increase revenue and reduces expenses
  • Regularly invite your manager, your sibling department managers, leaders on the next generation projects, and other important stakeholders. The more people that know who you are and what you bring to the table – the better is will be for you.

 

These are just a few things that will get your lunch working for you. Continue to use your imagination to make your lunch work for you. Now you can see that eating at your desk is a lazy-man’s lunch.

 

p.s. How can you convince your managers it’s important? Just continue to be transparent in what you are doing at lunch and invite them to your lunch presentations, brainstorming meetings, mentoring meetings, etc. When they understand what you aspire to accomplish with your lunch time, you will be seen as a leader in his/her organization.

For more information on these techniques, contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
Take that first step and setup an appointment: https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

Does Lack of Involvement Cause Employees to Behave Unethically?‏

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Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose.  I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff.  I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I give people peace of mind.
Today’s question came from a busy professional interested in freeing some time and space to advance in his career.

There is a new research from the Univ. of Georgia that shows “what happens when employees feel excluded at work”:
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-cheater-employees-excluded.html

While this article attempts to explain why some workers do unethical things in the workplace, it does not actually highlight the actual internal source.   What is your opinion?

In general – it’s easier for employees to rationalize unethical behavior when they feel resentment, unrecognized and under-valued.   Although the employee is the only one that can “cause themselves to behave unethically”, there are various circumstances that individuals use to rationalize their own behavior.

1) If they feel they are being overworked.
2) If they feel others in the organization is getting inappropriate bonus, rewards, promotions.
3) If they feel they are not getting the recognition they feel they deserve.

The feeling of “resentment” comes from the “victim” mentality.  Or the feeling that someone else is creating these difficult situations around you. But regardless of the external stimulus – you are totally responsible for your own behavior.

There are both ethical and unethical responses to the exact same situations.  The company does not “cause” the employee to behave in any certain way.  It’s the individual that will and can gravitate in either direction.  Since all employees are different, it’s not the company’s responsibility to create environments that increases their chances that all their employee’s will act ethically.  The training and development needs to come from within the individual and not external.

My recommendation is not to change the external workplace to “create ethical behavior”.

Since employees today average 4.6 years at any given job, my recommendation is to coach employees on how to positively respond to any situation and environment that they encounter.  That is really the way to succeed in any work environment.  With the proper professional development, training and coaching, individuals can be made aware of more ethical responses to the current workplace environment. This training will start a chain reaction such that when the executives, managers, and employees start implementing this training; when they are openly executing at a higher level and when they are transparent with their goals and procedures. – the entire work environment culture experiences an ethical transformation.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes