Yes, you read that right! As our sincere thanks to you, our faithful newsletter readers, Natalie Hoffmann and I want to give you our brand new “Best Practices for Business Communication Etiquette” Audio CD absolutely FREE.

Business Communication Etiquette (BCE) is one of our most popular topics so we decided to create a CD to share with business people just like you.

Just go to http://www.nataliemanor.com to claim your complimentary copy.

In fact, we’d love it if you passed on this offer to your colleagues, friends and family.

Please copy and email the following note to all of your friends:

I’ve been getting a wonderful Newsletter from Natalie Manor, a great business coach and speaker. Every week she sends one of the best newsletters/coaching tips around, one of the few I actually read. It always has a warm, personal touch, valuable business tips and leading edge information! This month Natalie is giving away a wonderful FREE CD on “Best Practices for Business Communication Etiquette”! It’s amazing how these best practices can help you be a better communicator in business! Best of all, it’s FREE! I found it helpful and thought you would enjoy it, too. Get your copy at: http://www.nataliemanor.com

Our next “Business Mastery Mentor Program^(sm)” call is THURSDAY, February 18, 2010, at 8:00 PM Eastern.

Topic: “Business Mastery System: Six Steps to Get Clear, Get Confident & Be Effective in ALL Areas of Your Business” with The Natalies

• Exactly how would you operate in your life if you knew that you were as timely, talented, smart and effective as the person you admire most in your life? 
• What if you could be out there creating magic and high impact results all the while feeling good and confident. 
• What if?  

No more what ifs. On February 18, Natalie Hoffmann and I will share with you the six easy steps you can take immediately to get clear get confident and be effective in all areas of your business. We have used this system with hundreds of peak performers, just like you, to define your goals and help you achieve your dreams.

Our Business Mastery System is really very simple. All it takes is your commitment to you and your goals to put it into operation. You can move as quickly to reach your goals as you are completely supported by not only an experienced executive business coach, but a real live person who “gets” your issues.

Join us on February 18 and come away from the call with a plan for to master all areas of your business in 2010!

This call is F’REE for all BMMP members.

Not a member yet? Would you like to join us on February 18th?

Click here to learn more about the “Business Mastery Mentor Program” today!

When I feel love I am safe, warm, beautiful, powerful, and peaceful. Love is the place where I am the brightest. My thoughts are clear and confident. No harm can come to me. The rhythm of life is easy. “All is well in my world”, as Louise Hay would say.

Each and every one of us has experienced love, if only for a moment. We can also recognize love easily when we observe a baby giggling or a child with a puppy. Love is free, sweet and darn powerful.

If love is so very easy and instantaneous, where is it most of the time?

The newspapers never speak of love. Fox News does not cover any love stories except for maybe Valentine’s day. If I sang you a love song, you would probably be embarrassed and shhhh me. And yet:

• We move for love
• We die for love
• We cry for love
• We admire for love
• We long for love
• We fight for love

I had lunch with a new gentlemen friend who told me the loveliest story about a couple named Peter and Mary. Actually, they are known in their community as Saint Peter and Saint Mary because of their love for each other. They have been married for 70+ years and have seven children. They are deeply in love with each other and anyone who sees them together immediately recognizes the power of their love.

My new friend, Michael, told me that he has never experienced a love like Peter and Mary’s and, at this stage in his life, doesn’t want to settle for less than that kind of powerful love.

My comment to Michael was that Peter and Mary loved each other “anyway.” Meaning that, even though neither of them are perfect and their 70+ years of marriage haven’t been perfect, they love each other in spite of any flaws or foibles. Their commitment is to the power of love. Michael says Peter and Mary are lucky. I think they are brilliant to have recognized the power of their love and then committed to being in love “anyway.”

In my note to you, I talked about my time on the couch in front of the fire with my puppy and how I mentally reviewed the research I’ve done over the last six weeks about the idea of love as a success philosophy and the ultimate tool for creating what you want.

If you agree that love is powerful and that loving or being loved creates safety then isn’t it fair to say that when you are your most successful you are in the company of love?

In addition, love has come to all of us in some form or another and it feels good…really good, even if only for that moment. Love is something that is impossible to define and equally impossible to live without. You know when you don’t love. You know when you are not loved. You know when love is missing. You know when love is present.

Doesn’t it seem strange that we do not spend more time in love, with love, experiencing love, seeking love, providing love, or feeling love?

In my experience the word “love” isn’t welcome in our vocabulary as business people. I’ve never heard a CEO say:

“Well let’s just love that prospect with all we have and see where it takes us.”

or

“Why don’t we try lovingly telling our new Executive VP so he/she knows that we are confident in their ability to get the job done.”

Do you remember your first love? The emotion of it and the depth of it and the wonder of it? Of course you do. Weren’t you the most powerful creature on earth? I was. His name was James Henderson in the fourth grade and he wore a leather jacket. When I would think of him during class, I would imagine myself as smart and funny and terribly interesting so he would notice me. I was the embodiment of the total package of a powerful human. Yes I was.

Today I struggle to see love anywhere. Our world. Economy. Families. Employment or lack thereof. Housing. Investments. Traffic. Homelessness.

What would love do in these situations? I keep hearing the song “All We Need Is Love.” I think what if that is true and we all just missed it.

So maybe I am pathetically naïve. However, what if love is all we need?

For more FREE tips, techniques and strategies to get clear, get confident and be effective in 2010 sign up for Natalie Manor’s Business Mastery Update.

One of the toughest lessons to learn, whether in your personal life or your business life, is to forgive mistakes. It does not matter if the mistakes are yours or theirs. Mistakes are tiny failures that are natural occurrences in life. Sometimes mistakes occur because we move too fast or are just too tired to remember to be more careful.

Just forgive the mistake. No matter how big the issue. Just forgive. If you don’t, you will relive the story over and over until it becomes something that it is not. Being able to blame has no power and it takes tons of energy. Use that energy for you.

A great affirmation is, “I forgive myself and all others for real or imagined wrongs and I forgive now.”

For more FREE tips, techniques and strategies to get clear, get confident and be effective in 2010 sign up for Natalie Manor’s Business Mastery Update.

What if you could easily produce the following in just 30 Days?

• Clarity around what you need to do and what can be delegated.
• A system/process for dealing with your email effectively
• Identify new habits and behaviors that keep you accountable, effective and ultimately successful in all areas of your life
• More “free” time to spend doing what you love
• A foolproof plan for achieving all of your 2010 goals
• A feeling of confidence and serenity around both your personal and professional life
• Be on time…for everything!

30 days. That all it takes to wipe out the habits and attitudes you have right now that keep you from being effective and successful. Impossible you say? Well not with our “Platinum 30 Day Accountability Program.”

That’s right. 30 days. Every day for 30 days you and your coach work on what is most important to help you get clear, get confident, and be effective in all areas of your business.

To get you started, we will assess what is most important to you and put together the agenda for your next 30 Days of Accountability.

Don’t take our word for it…

This new year of 2010 feels like another move – a powerful move…A shift into a bigger place with bigger rewards and greater results than ever before. Become a peak player. Turn yourself, your team, and your organization into a well-oiled, result-producing, confident business leader.

We developed the “Platinum 30 Day Accountability Program” with you in mind based on our client results, our own mindset changes, and the deep analysis of what it takes to PROGRESS in your life.

Yup, everyday for 30 days you will have us mentoring, coaxing, supporting and pulling you into your successes. Intense? Of course. Achievable? Absolutely. So are you going to do this for yourself?

We are only taking on a very few of you…don’t miss this one with us.

You cannot fail if you use the proven steps of accountability to develop your goals, dreams, visions, sales process, team building, and business creation. Guaranteed!!

The “Platinum 30 Day Accountability Program” is by application only.

Call us today at 800-666-2230 or email us at Success@NatalieManor.com and we will send you the “Platinum 30 Day Accountability Program” Application.

Make 2010 your year!!! We will get you where you need and want to go by helping you Get Clear, Get Confident and Be Effective…Guaranteed!

Our next “Business Mastery Mentor Program^(sm)” call is TONIGHT, January 21, 2010, at 8:00 PM Eastern.

Topic: “Business Finances and Success with Ease!” with The Natalies and Julie Underwood, CPA and trusted business mentor

Julie Underwood, CPA, is here to guide the entrepreneurial and business fires that drive you as a business professional. She is here to help you with the best practices for starting and maintaining a successful business without the pain, debt or guilt.

Julie will share her answers to the most frequently asked question about finances, as well as the easiest and best ways to manage what you create. You will receive this leading edge information so that you can run a successful business by understanding your finances, maximizing technology and paying yourself.

Julie is your trusted advisor. She is your coach. She is your consultant. She is also the one who knows what to do and can guide you so you don’t have to learn all those #$%^&* tax laws yourself.

This call is F’REE for all BMMP members.

Not a member yet? Would you like to join us TONIGHT?

Click here to learn more about the “Business Mastery Mentor Program” today!

By: Natalie R. Manor, CEO

Our premise if that you cannot fail if you use the characteristics of accountability to support your goals, dreams, visions, sales process, team building, and business creation.

Here is how the NMA Team and I define accountability…

NMA’s Definition of Accountability

• Doing what you say you will do when you say you will do it
• Integrity around deadlines
• Providing good work even when you are tired
• Supporting the team and organizational goals
• Showing up when it is hard and doing the right thing even when no one is watching
• Not kidding yourself into thinking you do not have to be responsible

The process of being accountable and holding others accountable involves all of our communication skills because it requires that we consistently ask the questions “who, what, when, why and how” to obtain information we need to create clear results in moving forward.

• Who will be doing this?
• What is the cost?
• When will it be done?
• Why are we working on this project now?
• How will it benefit the team and organization?

When you start asking questions of your people about their ideas and the execution of their work, they can get very defensive. These questions may make them feel like you don’t trust them to get things done. Developing these types of accountability methods can very uncomfortable for both you and them in the beginning.

Use yourself as an example in thinking through asking questions. If someone were to say to you, “Well, Warren, when will it be done?” How do you feel about being asked that question? My clients who begin the process for accountability and the questioning strategy to implement accountability, have reported resistance from the people being asked these questions.

People want you to agree with them. They don’t want to tell you when it will be done, how they will complete it, why it is the way it is, etc. They just want to be able to put the details into their own schedule and complete the task according to their own timing.

And that is the problem.

Many of us do not know how to schedule our time and use it well, plan priorities and/or delegate. So when someone asks you questions about your next steps, you may feel irritated and even incompetent.

However, the questioning strategy within accountability is the most important aspect of creating the timing, projects, results, and products you want when they need to be done…and done well.

Let me point out that there may be a key characteristic missing from your accountability questioning strategy and that is the ability to listen and listen well. I would like to refer you to one of our most read articles, “Effective Listening for Leaders” on our website.

Listening is not easy nor is it common. My dear friend, Mary Warzecha, is a listening guru and she says “Listening is not just waiting to talk.”

In order for people to be accountable, they need to be able to hear you. The tips, techniques and strategies provided in the “Effective Listening for Leaders” article will enable you to easily and quickly review the top best practices for listening. You might want to even share the information with your business partner, team, or entire organization. We would be pleased for more people to improve the quality of their listening by the information we have thoroughly researched and provided in the “Effective Listening for Leaders” article.

Accountability is a behavior and a leadership characteristic that takes practice and awareness. It is also a proven way to guarantee excellence for you, your team, organization, and services/products. Once you, your team and organization learn the value of practicing accountability, the way you spend your time will dramatically change.

Communication will be clear. People will feel supported. Deadlines will be met. Your confidence, as a leader, will increase. I think that all of us would benefit by revisiting how we hold ourselves and others accountable. You deserve to revisit and relearn your accountability best practices to guarantee the successful results that you want for yourself, your team, and your organization.

Would you like help with your accountability?

Call us today at 800-666-2230 or email us at Success@NatalieManor.com for more inofrmation on how we can help you create lasting accountability practices that will help you get clear, get confident and be effective in 2010!

Our next “Business Mastery Mentor Program^(sm)” call is THURSDAY, January 21, 2010, at 8:00 PM Eastern.

Topic: “Business Finances and Success with Ease!” with The Natalies and Julie Underwood, CPA and trusted business mentor

Julie Underwood, CPA, is here to guide the entrepreneurial and business fires that drive you as a business professional. She is here to help you with the best practices for starting and maintaining a successful business without the pain, debt or guilt.

Julie will share her answers to the most frequently asked question about finances, as well as the easiest and best ways to manage what you create. You will receive this leading edge information so that you can run a successful business by understanding your finances, maximizing technology and paying yourself.

Julie is your trusted advisor. She is your coach. She is your consultant. She is also the one who knows what to do and can guide you so you don’t have to learn all those #$%^&* tax laws yourself.

This call is F’REE for all BMMP members.

Not a member yet? Would you like to join us on January 21st?

Click here to learn more about the “Business Mastery Mentor Program” today!

Many of us were not taught to take care of ourselves first early in our lives and learning it later in life can be tough. Even acknowledging that it is okay to take care of ourselves first can be a struggle.

If you know how to take care of yourself, you can be ready for anything. Self care is not only a wonderful habit to have in our daily lives, it can save our lives as we grow and life seems to get more stressful. When we take care of ourselves first we become healthy, wealthy, wise, confident and centered.

So what is the first self care habit you need and want to implement for you today? Is it getting a massage, sleeping late on Saturday morning or getting a pedicure? What about some quiet time, exercise, taking a walk in nature or even daily singing in the shower? All you need to do is pick one thing that you want to do to take care of yourself and do it.

One of my favorite affirmations is: “I take care of me so my life is mine again, and I create the life I love”. Make self care your new motto.

For more FREE tips, techniques and strategies to get clear, get confident and be effective in 2010 sign up for Natalie Manor’s Business Mastery Update.

Come to the Edge
by Guillaume Apollinaire

“Come to the edge.” he said.
“We can’t. We’re afraid.” they said.
“Come to the edge.” he said.
“We can’t. We will fall!” they said.
“Come to the edge.” he said.
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

This poem is a favorite of mine because it always reminds me that when I am hiding or playing small, there is a distinct possibility that I could also be flying.

I declare 2010 your year to get clear, get confident and be effective. You have to take the risk to spread your wings and fly in order to do so.

One of the things that holds many people back from taking the risk to fly is their emotions. I have seen this time and time again in my 24 years in coaching and consulting. It is time to remove your fear around your emotions.

Emotions. What are we to do with them? Can we never be safe from them? How about the circumstances that cause these emotions like death, love, disappointment or taking the risk to “fly”?

I wish you all these emotions and more. I sincerely hope that you are NEVER immune in any way from the visceral response of your emotional essence. Emotions are what life really is about…a series of circumstances that either ignite our imaginations or chase us behind closed doors wracked with doubt.

We have all felt them. At times, we feel them again when we are very sure we are healed and way far away from the original kick in the stomach. How about that love affair that happened ever so long ago and yet you can still feel the burn of the betrayal? How about the puppy that was hurt when you were a child and you can still feel the soft fur?

What are those anyway? Why do they get to sneak up on us and…WHAM…completely control the moment, day or year?

That’s it you know. Control. You want to feel what you want to feel when you want to feel it. You do not want any sneak attacks when you least expect it and when you feel you cannot handle anymore weight on your scale.

Control is not yours, by the way. It is an illusion. If your emotions did not knock on your door, you would be bland and uninteresting.

I ask you, when would it be convenient for you to feel badly? Sad? Lost? Shame? Fear? Remorse? When we try to control our emotions too closely they will find a way to get our attention.

Our emotions are the barometer of how we are. They make us more humane, sensitive and successful. They support us immensely when we do decide to fly.

If you do not experience loss, you would have absolutely no idea what is like to gain.

Without sadness, you would never feel joy.

Without fear, you would not know when you were being brave by getting up in the morning, so that you could take a big risk that afternoon.

Your emotions are your gifts. Moreover, sometimes they hold your control button down so you can feel them.

In his poem, “On Joy and Sorrow”, Kahlil Gibran says:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter
rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain.

Some may say that the depth of the emotion is the depth of the lesson to be learned. Many of life’s lessons are just too big in this moment until we understand that we are big enough to learn the lesson. Oddly, the bigger the lesson, the bigger the next steps in creating success. The challenges for creating success just do not seem as daunting after we take the risk to fly.

The privilege of being a business and life coach all these years is that I have been on the inside with my clients “feeling” their pain and their joy. I can tell you that much of their learning came from unearthing the emotions they had forgotten or stuffed because they are now “big deal” business people. Many of my clients believed that feeling or showing emotion is not allowed when you are successful.

These past weeks I have had the privilege of holding many hands during very difficult moments. Some of these moments were associated with terrible pain and loss. Some of these moments were associated with taking steps that they never thought they could accomplish to complete goals that were impossible just minutes before.

Emotions. We want to manage them so we do not look stupid or step out of that place called “control.”

Forget trying to control your emotions. They will come and poke you because they love you and they want to reveal to you who you truly are.

There are people who think if they cry, they will never stop. I guarantee, the tears will stop when the cleansing is complete.

There are people who think they will never stop being angry. They will, as soon as the anger has been acknowledged as being important and dealt with in a respectful way.

The best moments in my life happened when I finally let myself “feel” my emotions rather than trying to rein them in all of the time. I learned to trust my emotions as I let them guide me along my path to success.

My emotions, my faith and the support of those who love me the most are what finally pushed me off the edge. Incidentally, these are the same things that catch me when I get scared and feel like I am falling.

I have both confidence and certainty that 2010 can be your year…

…The year you learn to trust your emotions rather than controlling them.
…The year you take the risk to step off the edge and fly.

Go fly. The edge will always be there. So fly anyway.