You know by the time you get your first sentence out, your audience has already decided what kind of person you are. For a lot of you, and for me, the first minute or two is the most difficult. Once you get going, a well-prepared presentation flows, but it's getting started that's challenging. So, the most difficult part of a presentation is the most critical part. How fair is that? Read more »

Normally I do not take my 12-year-old daughter with me when I go to nightclubs. (I won't go into how abnormal it is for me to visit nightclubs these days.) Saturday night was an exception because her sister, Miranda, was performing at Music Farm with the band The Makeshift. As Miranda is a classical violinist, playing in a rock band was a new experience for all of us. Most of the time we couldn't hear her, and a lot of the time we couldn't see her, but she was definitely present. Read more »

If you haven't been videotaped yet, and I mean professionally, you soon will be. Rumor has it that making your own DVD is the new resume and business card. So get ready! If you study this photo carefully, you will see a small patch of green on the right side, it's my shoulder peeking out from a colleague's head and shoulder. As soon as the video is ready, I'll put it up for you to see. It's being put together by the Lowcountry Business Network and I was called in at the last minute to replace someone. I was there representing ECEW, East Cooper Entrepreneurial Women. It was an incredible experience and here's what you need to know to be ready for your turn... Read more »

Happy Snow Day from Charleston. In any case I haven't seen a single flake today but we're enjoying this unplanned day together.

27 Things to Do on Snow Day:

1. See an early movie at the lower price. I'm taking my daughters to see The King's Speech.

2. Bake a cake, granola, cookies or bread. You can always freeze it.

3. Read children's poetry. Shel Silverstein is a good read. Read more »

If you think about your life as it is currently constructed, you probably know that it's fine, and that it would be so much better if......(fill in the blank.) If you felt more confident, if you had more clients, if you didn't have to make that presentation, if your bank account were fatter, if you were thinner, if your mother would just accept you. It's always something. And that is, my dear, a most wonderful thing about your life. Your problems are there for you to solve them.

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If you have not yet seen The King's Speech, go now and see it. It is exceptionally brilliant and I am told an Oscar sweep is expected. Not only does the film effectively show the power of leadership and public speaking coaching, you see the process through which the Duke of York learns to have faith in his own voice, like your own journey to do the same. For all his royal upbringing, Bertie was not prepared to be king, did not want to be king and certainly had no faith in his ability to rule the country. But as the saying goes, God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called...usually while on the job. Read more »

Isn't it amazing how fast we forget all the good things we've actually accomplished? Taking inventory right now of all the things you did or accomplished or made progress on helps keep your confidence high -- IMHO. Make absolutely for sure that you count all actions toward your goals as SUCCESSES, even if they didn't turn out the way you wanted. Read more »

It's Christmas Eve and I wish you all a super merry Christmas, even if you don't celebrate Christmas. The way I see it, if one of you wishes me Happy Hanuka or Winter Solstice, I'm nothing but pleased. Today I offer you a list of some things I wish for you to experience. If you look for these, I know you'll find them. Read more »

Personal trainers, personal assistants, pda's and now......personal themes? Who would have thunk? Naturally the brainiacs at Mixonian Institute would come up with personal theme. I've been making goal lists forever, but I learned a new way of thinking about moving forward from Christine Kane. She teaches choosing a word to guide you for each year. I first learned about this, I was beginning to blog, finishing my doctoral program, tutoring and thinking about starting a business. The word I chose for 2008 was "organize" and for 2009 "wealth." Last year my word was "ease," not because I expected my life to be easy, but to counteract my tendency to make things harder than they need to be. Choosing these words has been helpful but for 2011 I'm setting a personal theme. Read more »

Your life reflects all the decisions you've ever made. It's the result of the way you've played the cards that were dealt you. No doubt many decisions you're proud of, some you're not, and some you did the best you could from that special location between a rock and a hard place. The thing about making decisions today is that the options are overwhelming, Whose idea was it to create pulp-free orange juice, anyway? Read more »