A PERSONAL STORY TO SHARE

Back to Business!

Interestingly enough, even though some people and organizations are slowing down aspects of their business during the summer, including me, I am "back to business" in other respects!

Since I have been taking a break from most speaking engagements for the summer months, I instead have replaced much of that time spent out of my home office with time spent back in it, on my trusty laptop. The business time I am spending out is primarily on networking and educational events, which has been a lot of fun!

In book news: With my first "big" book completed, it is now going to leave the country to its first professional evaluation prior to final professional editing, printing, and then out to the world! I also have a new pocketbook that I'll be writing in July, which will be one of my Quick-Tips Guide series. This one is aimed at entrepreneurs and professionals who would like to propel their business by sharing their expertise in little pocketbooks. The title is: Publish Pocketbooks for Passion, Promotion, & Profit. The interest for this has been big, and I plan to bring it to business networking groups and my website by September.

And, I'm continuing to make lists and plans for all kinds of things! So my getting "back to business" is really about completion of the old, as well as planning and preparation for the new.

To keep with that spirit, this month's large issue is focused on careers and business, from my article on Informational Interviews, to our Guest Articles: "How can using MySpace help me get a job?" and "A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline", to my podcast on Networking Tips, and more. So if you, or someone you know, has been contemplating drumming up more business, looking for new employment or a new career, or simply looking at pursuing new interests or hobbies in a new way, then this issue is right up your alley!

FEATURE ARTICLE

Informational Interviews
Read this article here

Note from Brenda: This article I wrote was a little longer than our newsletter format would allow, so we needed to make it a PDF link. Please enjoy!

GUEST ARTICLE – Submitted by Keith Keller, Melbourne, Australia

How can using MySpace help me get a job?

We've all heard about the hidden job market, and the fact that more than seventy percent of jobs are never advertised - but what does this have to do with MySpace?

People of all ages are fascinated by the new social networking platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube as well as MySpace, all of which can be highly useful job search tools.

Although it is just one of a multitude of ways of connecting with people you have never met, MySpace is potentially one of the best networking tools ever invented. It also provides a fantastic forum for getting, and sharing, information.

Astonishingly, putting out a request for information or assistance into cyberspace actually results in responses from real people. While you need to be a bit selective about how you use this information, you may be surprised at the leads you get, just through having a conversation.

Networking has always been about finding out what's out there and connecting with people who can best help you to achieve your goal. The traditional method has involved phoning companies using the phone book. While this can still help you get a foot in the door, MySpace might well prove to be more efficient (as well as a lot more fun). It also builds your Internet literacy, which everyone needs today.

To begin the process, go to www.myspace.com and sign up. You can then set up your own page, and start asking questions.

You could also check out the MySpace jobs board and the 'cool jobs' page, which is specifically designed for job seekers and career changers. As well as information about jobs, you will meet new people who can introduce you to new networks, one of whom might just be your future employer.

While you're at it, why don't you 'add me'? www.myspace.com/careerjourneysaustralia

(Editor note: you can also find and add Brenda on MySpace at: www.myspace.com/brendablackburn )

Keith Keller is the principal consultant of Career Journeys Australia, a Career Counselling consultancy that specialises in Career Transition and Work life Balance. Keith can be also contacted using the more traditional methods; phone: 9772 1624 or email: kckeller@bigpond.net.au

GUEST ARTICLE – Submitted by Angela Murphy, Burnaby, BC

A Goal is a Dream with a Deadline

When you keep a goal in your mind, it is nothing more than a dream. There is something powerful in committing that dream to paper. When you put something in writing, a commitment to achieve it naturally follows. You can't start a fire with paper alone, but writing down a goal can start a fire within you.

You can't stroll to a goal. As long as you are running with the vision and goal in your mind you won't turn around. When you walk without a vision and a goal, it is easy to change directions and go the wrong way.

Effective goal setting and planning provides an opportunity to bring the future to the present and deal with it today. You will find that achievement is easy when your outer goals became inner commitment.

Remember, what you learn on the path to achieving your goals is actually more valuable than achieving the goal itself. Columbus discovered America while searching for a route to India.

Be willing to listen and ask questions.

Greatness is everywhere. People make different contributions. I believe you need different kinds of input into your life and your customers and team members can enrich you. You are the sum of your experiences.

Personalities differ. Each person around you contains a different body of knowledge. It is up to you to "drop your pail in the well" and draw it out.

Be willing to listen and ask questions of others. Everyone sees through different eyes and feels with different hearts. They hear through different ears. Someone knows something that you don't know. You will not discover it until you take the time to stop and hear them out. One piece of information can turn a failure into a success. Great decisions are great products of great thoughts.

Angela Murphy is the Senior Director and Makeup Artist for Mary Kay Cosmetics. Visit: www.marykay.ca/amurphy or you may reach her at: 604-299-9650. Stuck in a rut and need a new Career Look? Ask her about her "Corporate Lunch Lessons" or "Fun Girls Night Out Glamour Classes". You can earn $50.00 instantly!

CARD OF THE MONTH

This month's unique artistic card and uplifting insight is from a deck called, "Portico Soul Essence Cards", and was submitted by Lesley Phillips, whom I recently met through the Valley Women's Network, Vancouver chapter.

Card Name: Birthing

Description:
"Two swans emerge from a podium and curve round to form a heart shape with their bodies; two tubes with eggs at the end span a dumbbell like figure. This card is about making creative projects manifest and giving birth to your ideas. The startled faces show how we are sometimes surprised by what manifests in our lives, even though we have created them. The eggs depict creative potential and the symbols connecting them to the uterus are challenges that may interfere with us expressing our creativity in the world, if we let them."

Insight: "Give birth to magnificent creations."

For more information about the Portico Soul Essence Cards, please visit: www.artvisionenterprises.com/inspiration_decks.htm . Creator, Lesley Phillips, Ph.D., is a transformational artist, experienced clairvoyant reader and energy healer. Her mission is to facilitate development of intuition and to promote healing through art.

PODCAST

This month's audio message:

Quick Tip for Networking Follow-Up.

Exclusive access to subscribers only - please subscribe here!

RESOURCES TO RECOMMEND

Choosing a Career. An article from the BC Work Futures website:
www.workfutures.bc.ca

Resources for Career Management. This Work Shoppers Online website offers: Information on transition, online assessments (including ones to discover personality types, interests, skills, people environments, what/where/how test, career quizzes, and more), labour market information, occupational research, and information on education/trades/training.
http://www.workshoppersonline.com/gateway.htm

Career and Job Related Tutorials. From QuintCareers.com.
18 Tutorials including ones such as: Finding Your Career Passion, Business Plans, and Resume Writing.
http://www.quintcareers.com/tutorials.html

No Glass Ceiling, Just Blue Sky. Mini inspirational "movie"/slideshow.
http://www.noglassceilingmovie.com/

BRENDA'S SCHEDULE

If you're interested in attending Dealing With Difficult Personalities and Situations, this 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. course will be available to the public (by demand) twice this fall (Oct. 4 and Nov. 29 confirmed) in Langley, BC. This full-day workshop coincides with my pocketbook, "Breathe: How to Keep Your Cool at Work (or anywhere else)".

In addition, we're looking at running a condensed evening version, with dinner, possibly as soon as August at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Richmond – details TBA.

For full details on those dates and other events, please visit my website to see my current schedule.

ASK BRENDA

This month's chosen submission comes from Raja Hireker of London, England. Thank you Raja!

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QUESTION:

I've seen your post on spirit, titled - CELEBRATE YOU, CELEBRATE SPIRIT. It's a good one. It was posted on www.jasonsnetwork.com.

... do you accept articles for your e-letter to do with SPIRIT? And, when I say SPIRIT, I mean that animating force, that joyous, melodious, finger tapping music within each one of us... If you do accept articles, I'd be happy to write one.

... keep posting the stuff you do. Warm dancing smiles to you.

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ANSWER:

A resounding YES! Raja's blog is fabulous to read, we've been in contact, and I look forward to posting something from him very soon! Thank you so much for asking Raja! I'm happy to share the amazing light and insight that you have to give with others!

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If you have a question that relates to personal or professional development (internal, external, or spiritual), life coaching, employment counseling, training, my book, the website, or topics you'd like to see covered in upcoming editions, please send me an email.

Some submissions may be chosen to appear in this newsletter!

NEWSLETTER CONTEST

Each month, all new subscribers that month will automatically be entered to WIN either their choice of a personalized, signed copy of Brenda's new large non-fiction book (This Reality is Only An Option) when it's released, or her current pocket book Quick-Tips Guide, "Breathe: How to Keep Your Cool at Work (or anywhere else)". Winners will be announced in the following month's newsletter. All subscribers also receive free podcasts!

NEW additional "Share with a Friend" contest for current subscribers! Refer a friend to subscribe to this newsletter, then after they subscribe, email me at: brenda@brendablackburn.com to let me know that you referred them, with both your email addresses, and one submission each month will be chosen - one pair of friends will BOTH receive a free ebook of "Breathe: How to Keep Your Cool at Work (or anywhere else)" pocket book! A special thank you from me to you!

REVIEWS AND READER COMMENTS

"Your book came today and so I sat down immediately to read it. It's GREAT! ...you have consolidated all the information into one simple, easily-carried and handled place. W.I.N. was new to me, and I love how easy it is to remember... This is a book that can bring us to inner peace and world peace, and you say easily and clearly, what many take many more trees to say. The trees say thank you, as do I. Concise! Complete!!"
Cathy Edgett, Author of "Breast Stroke", Mill Valley, California
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"Hi Brenda, I just read your newsletter. WOW. Congratulations on "Breathe"!! What a fantastic guide for people ... anywhere. You are such a wonderfully creative and inspiring gift for us!! Blessings."
Bree, Owner of Sounds Devine, Gibsons, BC
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"GREAT NEWSLETTER BRENDA!!"
Rev. Angelica Taggart, Celebration of Life Center, Surrey, BC
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"So, I'm driving back home from a long, frustrating day at work in North Vancouver (I don't know why I was frustrated really, just felt tense, lots to think about I guess) and the entire trip home, 35 minutes maybe, I was consciously telling myself to breath. Breeeeaaath. Ahhhhh. But my mind kept going back to uneasy thoughts about work and the things that are going on there. Nothing negative, just lots of stuff and lots of different people to deal with. I arrive home and there it is, your newsletter. And your handy pocket reference book "Breathe- How to keep your cool at work (or anywhere else)". Wow! I ordered a copy.

Some of the ways I celebrate self and spirit:
(Editor note: this was a question, from the last edition, asked to readers.)

Most days I retreat to what I used to call the yoga room. This is an extra room in our rented half duplex that, with some logical debate, was spared being used as a spare bedroom. I felt more use would come of it if it remained virtually empty. 2 yoga mats, yoga balls, a strap for stretching, all my inspirational reading material and audiobooks, yoga videos, collection of Spiritual Cinema videos, incense, candles, and a small, cheap flatscreen in which to watch the videos (the flatscreen creates floor space), a plant and a golf putting training device.
This is the room that I retreat to find balance, sort through thoughts, consciously breath, read, watch, meditate, practice putting, etc. I now call this room the "breathing room" as yoga is not all I feel I need to get back to normal. It's good, I can just sit and be present with myself. Whatever I have to do to get my mind and body back to a state that I know I can move forward from. A state that makes me love and feel love. Back to the present moment.

It wasn't until recently or perhaps just this moment that I truly realized that calm, silent, non-physical nothingness can create such righteous internal, spiritual celebration and healing.

Thanks Brenda, for all you're doing."
Scott McCartney, Burnaby, BC

THANK YOU!

Thank you for reading and listening everyone! Feel free to drop me a line at: brenda@brendablackburn.com. I look forward to your comments! You're my inspiration! 'Till next month...

In This Issue

• A Personal Story To Share

• Feature Article

• Guest Articles

• Card of the Month

• Podcast

• Resources to Recommend

• Brenda's Schedule

• Ask Brenda

• Newsletter Contest Winner

• Reviews and Reader Comments

Brenda's Books

New Release!
"Breathe: How to Keep Your Cool At Work (or anywhere else)" is available now!

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