The Secret to Getting on TV

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

“How do I get on TV?” It’s probably the question I’ve been asked most often in my career.

If you’re new to this blog — shoutout to all my new followers in China, Japan and the Netherlands now that my book has been published there — I’m thrilled to welcome you.  The new readers may not realize that not only am I an author and productivity expert but I’m also a television news producer. That’s my “day job,” and I’ve been doing it for more than 15 years.

I put my producer hat on at the BlogHer16 conference in Los Angeles as a featured speaker this past week.  I was alongside my close friend and colleague Terri Trespicio.  We talked to bloggers in all categories: health, wellness, politics, food, money, etc., about how to take their message and pitch it to the media. We talked about how to become a go-to expert and what really stands out in the eyes of producers and editors.

That’s how Terri and I met after all. I booked her for a TV segment when she was a senior editor for Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Magazine. And years later when I started this blog – I pitched her a related idea it in the magazine. Fun, right?

Since Terri — as a former magazine editor, radio host and now a branding strategist and media coach — gets the same question about being on TV as I do — we’ve decided to team up.

We’re going to release a 4-week online course this September about how to get and keep media attention.

It’s called Lights Camera Expert! It’s designed for entrepreneurs, authors and experts of all kinds. We will be teaching you how to crack the media code, craft the perfect pitch and crush it on air — click here to join our list to be the first to hear all about it.

As a thank you we’ll send you our free ebook called, “5 Things You Should Never Say to a Producer.” We had a lot of fun putting it together.

We are so thrilled to teach something so near and dear to our hearts and help bloggers, authors, entrepreneurs and business owners boost their brand in the media.

I’d love to keep you posted on my newest endeavor Lights Camera Expert — check it out here and please tell anyone you think might be interested as well.  Appreciate your support!

Come Visit Me In LA

/0 Comments/in , /by

Since the first time I attended a BlogHer conference in 2012 I always wanted to be a speaker there. And now I’m getting to do it! I know many of my West Coast blog readers often feel left out as most of my events happen here on the East Coast. However I’ll be making my way over to you August 4th-6th for BlogHer16.

I’ll be there with my television producer hat on filling BlogHer attendees in on how to get and keep media attention. Something that is so important to bring eyeballs, credibility and clients to your business. I’ve booked thousands of guests and know who will make the cut and who won’t. I’m excited to share what I know.  Plus I’ve been on the other side as a guest when I promoted my book Listful Thinking.

I’m going with my friend and colleague Terri Trespicio. We’ll be speaking together on a panel called Crafting Your Pitch and Cracking the Media Code. Terri used to be a senior editor for Martha Stewart so she handles the print side of the discussion.

We’re asked to talk about this topic so often we’re even creating an online course together called Lights Camera Expert.  It’s aimed at teaching authors, experts and entrepreneurs how to get and keep media attention. I’ll tell you more about that next week.

If you’re in LA and are interested in meeting content creators, social media stars, entrepreneurs, top brands and activists, you should come by and say hello. If you sign up through my link I can get you a 30% discount on tickets! Just enter my code SPEAKERFF30 at the checkout.

See you in LA!

Best Free Resources for Life Long Learning

/1 Comment/in , , , , , , /by

For the first 18 years of our life we are focused solely on learning. Kids these days are learning every day by going to school, and still learning when they go home and watch cool songs with a learning theme. We study, make flash cards and brainstorm new ideas. For some of us this learning goes on well into our twenties with college. But once we leave university, most of us move on from learning into the workplace and never really go back.

I loved learning when I was a kid and I always make it a point to learn something new whenever I can. As a journalist I’m naturally curious and one of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to become an expert in many different subjects even if just for a day.

Just because you’ve left school doesn’t mean you have to give up on life-long learning. In fact, many of the long-term bucket lists that I see include learning a language or new skill. But these long term goals tend to get overlooked because they can be quite costly or because people don’t think they have the time to achieve them. Read more

These Excuses Are Keeping You From Getting More Done

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , /by

Let’s be honest.  We all hold ourselves back in some way or another.

When we start to fall into a bad habit, it’s so much easier to blame something or someone else than to get to the root of the problem. When it comes to poor productivity habits, I’ve heard all the excuses.

I’ve been over a few of them before, but there are so many I thought I’d go over a few that you might be telling yourself these days and help you get past them:

“I’d be more organized if I had more money”

This excuse differs from the others in the sense that it is – technically – true. If we all had the money to afford personal assistants of course we would be more organized!

But just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you have to give up on organization altogether. There are plenty of free apps to help you plan your day. If all else fails pen and paper is pretty cheap!

Fix: Stop focusing on what you don’t have and start thinking about what you do. Read more

Could You be a Brave Entrepreneur too?

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

When I first started ListProducer.com in April 2011 it was just a hobby. I didn’t think of myself as a business owner or an entrepreneur. I thought of myself as a writer and list maker who had a blog.

I would write blog posts when I felt like it, because planning and sticking to a schedule was something I did at my regular job and therefore it was not fun. So I didn’t have an editorial calendar at first.

Many new entrepreneurs do themselves a disservice by seeing their side business as a hobby. Once I started to treat my side gig as an actual business, that’s when I started to see results!

When I took my business seriously so did other people! I still enjoy working on it, it just that now it’s a slight more organized kind of fun!

It’s turned into so much more since Listful Thinking was published and I’ve created my online course Take Back Your Inbox and have others in the works. I’m a real entrepreneur.

This idea of turning a hobby into a business is something I discuss on the Brave Podcast where I was recently interviewed. So if you’re a new entrepreneur or thinking of starting up your own business do check it out!

I also delve into my mantra for 2016 ‘Rest is the new hustle’. With our increasingly busy lives we’re not taking any time to ourselves! On the podcast I discuss how to say no and prioritize your time (even though it feels unnatural at first).

Check it out!