THE LAUNCH OF OUR LATEST BOOK ON AMAZON: ‘ULTIMATE LIFE LESSONS’

OUR BOOK ‘ULTIMATE LIFE LESSONS‘ LAUNCHES ON AMAZON

It seems a long time ago that we started this Joint Venture (JV) with Amazon best-selling author Tracy Repchuk, one of our former mentors.

We established this JV on the first night of our maiden cruise with Mike Filsaime and over 400 other top Internet Marketers, coaches, and entrepreneurs, travelling around the Caribbean.

The concept of our JV about Ultimate Life Lessons is that of:

people sharing the wisdom they have acquired during their lives,
so creating a multi-authored book of ‘life lessons’ for people to learn from,
carry out exercises we provide and so embed the learning and hence change their lives for the better.

The process to create the book is:

we find experts in their fields;
make contact with them;
introduce the concept of the book;
show them samples of what life lessons we are contributing;
agree that they will contribute and set a deadline for their contribution(s);
progress chase them for the contributions;
create the book in a sensible order;
send the copy to the authors for proof-reading;
proof-read the whole book again for errors;
send the book out to authority figures to ask what they think of it, i.e. will they give us a testimonial if they like the book.

Sounds easy, right? Not! Successful people are very busy people.
Getting in touch with them is a challenge and persuading them to find time in their hectic schedules for your project over all of their other projects and those that other people are submitting to them for JVs is another hurdle, but happily, our fantastic co-authors loved the concept of our book, so they responded well. Nonetheless, the whole project took 8 months versus our initial estimate of 4 months, but then this is our first time of putting together a multi-authored book, and there are over 30 distinguished co-authors in our book!

We’ve been humbled and honored by the quality, success and helpfulness of the great co-authors we’ve assembled.
There are superb lessons they’ve passed on and from which we can all learn.
The coaching / personal development exercises will help to embed the learning from those lessons and assist people to make changes in their lives to get the results they desire.

Our book launches today! Here’s to success, fulfilment and happiness for all our readers!

November 21, 2010December 13, 2011

CRUISING WITH TOP MARKETERS IN 2011

CARIBBEAN CRUISE IN 2011 WITH MIKE FILSAIME, TRACY REPCHUK & OTHER TOP INTERNET MARKETERS & ENTREPRENEURS

We’re heading off mid-December to Florida to chill out for a few weeks until we head off for our 2nd Caribbean Cruise with over 400 top Internet marketers. People fly in from all around the world: Eve and me from UK & Belgium; folks from Canada; from Australia, New Zealand; the Far East; and all over the States. They go time after time to network with like-minded people, learn other marketing techniques that are currently working, see what the latest trends are, get to know potential Joint Venture (JV) partners. Eve and I formed a JV with one of our former mentors, Tracy Repchuk, on the first evening of 2010′s Caribbean cruise! We’re editing and co-authoring a multi-author book of life lessons (“Ultimate Life Lessons”) from experts in their fields. A number of other excellent folks on the cruise also feature in our co-authored book: Emma Tiebens, Dr Jane Lewis, et al.

Later during 2010, we formed 2 other JVs with lovely, dynamic people we met on the cruise: Kelly Morissey and Susanne Jorgensen, both highly rated in their respective fields of Divorce Coaching and Dating Coaching. We’re also delighted to have them as co-authors of our book.
Great sunshine in Florida, especially in beautiful Naples, which we loved so much when we spent Christmas and New Year here last year that we bought a property here to winter here.

Roll on the cruise on the 6th of January!

Marketers’ Caribbean Cruise Janaury 2010

Organisers plus me: Donna Fox, Lou Edwards, Vinden Grace, Mike Filsaime, Tom Beal

September 1, 2010October 13, 2011

EVEN MENTORS NEED THEIR OWN MENTORS!

WHY DOES ONE NEED A MENTOR?

As Eve and I are coaches and mentors, it may seem strange that we would consider engaging the services of a mentor, but it seems pretty simple to us:

Key Tip: Never Assume That You Know It All!

The moment that you do believe you are expert at everything, you have made a fatal mistake. You’ll get into overload, try to learn too many skills, and delay the time when all your hard work pays off. Outsource, get expert input, seek Joint Venture (JV) partners and build a team.

My wife, Eve Grace-Kelly, came across Jonathan Jay when she was training to be a coach and he was the founder and MD at the time of The Coaching Academy, the world’s biggest coach training school. He later sold this for many millions and one of our JV partners, Bev James, is now MD.

Our thinking was that, if he can do that, he must know his stuff!
His current venture is SuccessTrack and NABO, the National Association of Business Owners, where he and his team of mentors help people take their businesses to the next level and beyond.

So, this year, we’ve signed up with him to accelerate the growth of our success coaching, training and personal development company, Quantum Coaching and Consulting Group.

Here’s to a really challenging but rewarding 2010 & 2011!

July 26, 2010December 13, 2011

THE ENTREPRENEURS’ BUSINESS ACADEMY & A WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

THE ENTREPRENEURS’ BUSINESS ACADEMY (THE EBA)

The co-founder of The Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy (The EBA), Bev James, kindly invited us to attend one of her London-based weekend events that introduce people to The EBA’s mentoring programme.

Her co-founder, James Caan, of BBC TV series Dragons’ Den fame, was also there speaking to the several hundred people who had made the journey on a Saturday. (It was our wedding anniversary and travelled over from Brussels, Belgium, so we felt we gained a ‘brownie point’ for effort!)

Bev had earlier agreed to write part of our multi-authored book that we’re working on, Ultimate Life Lessons. We’re absolutely delighted to have someone of Bev’s standing and generosity as a part of the book. (She’s also MD of the world’s largest coach training school, so as fellow coaches and entrepreneurs, there’s great synergy with Bev.)

She also introduced us to the lovely Penny Power of Ecademy.com fame, who was also speaking at the event as one of the expert mentors at the EBA. Penny was also kind enough to agree to be in our book. It’s such a nice experience to work with people like Bev and Penny, who are both lovely warm people, plus they are very generous with their time and help.

Our key message here is don’t try to do everything by yourself: build a team. Seek out phenomenal Joint Venture (JV) partners. Network with successful, helpful people. Work with top-notch mentors. Plus, give back when you’ve made it!

Ah, the anniversary? We had a glass of Champagne after the event in a fab 5* hotel nearby to toast our wedding anniversary and how well the day had gone, then had a really nice meal in Quo Vadis, recommended by another EBA mentor. A superb end to a fantastic day!

May 15, 2010December 13, 2011

OUR FIRST JOINT VENTURE OF 2010 – UPDATE

THE POWER OF JOINT VENTURES

Joint Ventures (JVs) are so powerful for leveraging your skills into new geographical areas and business markets.

They’re also a great way to get introductions to new people to do business with, as we’ve found, gaining introductions from a number of really helpful co-authors of our latest book, a multi-authored coaching or self-improvement / personal development book with a best-selling Amazon author, our old mentor Tracy Repchuk.

Particular mention must go to:

Bev James, CEO, and co-founder with James Caan of BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den fame, of the Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy and MD of The Coaching Academy, the world’s largest coaching organisation.
Mindy Gibbins-Klein, our publisher and a speaker and author
Penny Power, co-founder of Ecademy.com
Stephanie J Hale, publishing expert and writing coach
Jonathan Jay, founder of the aforementioned Coaching Academy, who sold this and now runs SuccessTrack and NABO, the National Association of Business Owners.

The book is coming on well, but these multi-authored books take much longer to pull together than writing a book by oneself, so be warned!

Watch this space for details of the launch!

April 21, 2010October 11, 2011

BUYING OUR FIRST US PROPERTY! FLORIDA REAL-ESTATE

IS NOW A GOOD TIME TO BUY REAL-ESTATE IN FLORIDA?

Having made a low-ball offer on a property in gorgeous Naples, a chi-chi town in South-Western Florida prior to going on the Marketers’ cruise around the Caribbean, after some negotiations, we closed escrow on our first US property in April 2010. Yay – we’re now proud owners of somewhere we can call our winter home, US visas permitting. Oh the joys of the Internet business lifestyle, where as long as you have an Internet connection and a laptop, you have a portable business!

We paid 80% less for this property than it sold for 5 years ago! It represents to us incredible value, especially when compared to UK property prices.
Plus, we love the winter sunshine!

January 27, 2010December 13, 2011

CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN WITH MIKE FILSAIME, TRACY REPCHUK & SEVERAL HUNDRED OTHER TOP MARKETERS & ENTREPRENEURS

THE POWER OF INTENSE NETWORKING

Eve and I have never been on a cruise before, but one of our former mentors, Tracy Repchuk, is a VIP / speaker on Mike Filsaime’s Marketers’ Cruise around the Caribbean, so it seems a great way to meet fellow marketers and entrepreneurs in a convivial atmosphere and try cruising, plus catch up with the lovely and very talented Tracy.

We stayed one night in a pre-cruise hotel and already made new friends with the delightful Amanda and Rob van der Gulik and Emma Tiebens. We can see ourselves working with them!

We’re cruising to Cozumel (Eve and I have been diving there when we holidayed in Mexico), Belize, Isla Roatan (Honduras), and seeing Mayan ruins in Yucatan Peninsula.

Wow-first evening of the cruise and already we’ve secured a Joint Venture (JV) to write and edit a multi-authored book with a best-selling Amazon author, our old mentor Tracy Repchuk!

That’s our top tip for 2010: the power of JVs. Keep your minds open to the possibilities of working with other people to capitalise on one another’s strengths and get access to each mailing list or database.

Have a great year!

Vinden Grace and Eve Grace-Kelly

January 7, 2010October 8, 2011

FLORIDA – REAL-ESTATE & JOINT VENTURES

WE ONLY VISITED FLORIDA FOR SOME WINTER SUNSHINE AND A CRUISE!

Well, Eve & I needed (OK – wanted!) some winter sunshine so we spent a few weeks in Florida touring around prior to going on our first ever cruise: socialising and networking with several hundred marketers & entrepreneurs, hoping for a Joint Venture or two! We visited Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, Marco Island, Sarasota and fabulous Naples, which I’d visited 20 years or so ago. It was smarter and more stylish than ever and Eve loved it too.

Having lots of time on our hands, (one of the advantages of working for yourself with a laptop!), we idly picked up some real-estate / property magazines and ‘casually’ set up a few appointments, ‘just to see what was on offer’ in the Sunshine State. The answer? Great value and loads of sunshine, the outdoor life, friendly people and great seafood. The upshot is that we’ve made an offer on a property in an immaculately maintained development.

We are off on the Caribbean cruise now, visiting Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Yucatan Peninsula, so will have to wait and see if our offer is accepted….. Watch this space!