-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 163 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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I walked into my wife's office today and saw her in one of the 
chat rooms geared towards the home based business crowd. The 
one thing I saw mentioned over, and over, and over was the fact 
that hardly anyone has given any thought to their taxes. I know 
that we all hate taxes, and I know they're no fun to deal with, 
but if you keep putting your taxes off you'll end up paying a 
heck of a lot more than you really need to. Proper planning and 
a meeting with a CPA will allow you to take all the deductions
allowable under the law. If you aren't prepared you may miss 
out on all the allowable deductions and end up paying thousands
of dollars that you don't owe! Get out from behind the keyboard
and get your tax documents in line before you end up being stuck
with too little time to find all the deductions you can.


FEATURED ARTICLE
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Tools Of The Speaking Trade
by: Burt Dubin

Wireless Mike, overheads or slides, laser pointer, excellent 
handout materials -- these are some of the tools of the speaking 
trade. 

Are they the most meaningful tools in your toolbox? I think not. 
Yes, they matter. They matter a lot, as do other implements. But 
they're not the most meaningful tools. The 7 most meaningful 
tools of our trade, tools that help you get more bookings at 
higher fees, are these... 

1. Your empathy: 

Your empathy for the concerns of the decision-maker who hired 
you, for the interests of the organization paying your fee, for 
the needs and wants, hungers, longings and fears of your audience 
members. 

2. Your attitude: 

Are you there to make a dollar or to make a difference? Are you 
delivering your standard program much like what you delivered 
yesterday somewhere else? Or do you go the extra mile researching 
this organization, this industry, the trends affecting this field 
now, and so forth? Do you interview outside industry experts and 
key executives within this organization -- and, most important, 
some of the lower echelon folks who are to be present? Do you ask 
deep questions about the core issues interesting each of these 
constituencies? Then, do you probe further for emotional issues 
that may affect the whole direction of your program? 

3. Your program design: 

Do you weave your insights and findings into a tapestry of wisdom 
and hope, of ideas and guidelines, of recommended actions? Do you 
share new information, AHAs born during your research for this 
event? Are you a conceptual artist -- like Michelangelo painting 
the Sistine Chapel ceiling -- i.e. do you interlace and clarify 
what others find hazy until the moment you speak? (Do you make 
the ephemeral visible?) Do you articulate palpable words and 
images so those present better understand -- and know how to deal 
with -- the goings-on in their world now? 

4. Your passion: 

Are your ideas throbbing with aliveness? Does your body language 
match your words? Do you gaze deeply into the eyes of different 
audience members, connecting one-on-one with each if only for a 
few seconds? Do you radiate an emotional intimacy with your words 
-- and do you express that intimacy by the look on your face? Do 
you use the power of the pause, the eloquence of silence, to let 
your ideas sink in? 

5. Your state of being: 

This is your primary message. It's what your audience members see 
and feel first. They get it subliminally. They get it instantly. 
They see it in your stance. They sense it in your glance. And 
they persist in getting it every second of your program. Are you 
up? Your audience knows. Are you here now, are you present? Your 
audience knows. Are you emotionally attuned to your topic? They 
know. 

6. Your mental acuity: 

Can you turn your talk on a dime if the audience mood so 
indicates? Do you respond brilliantly to spontaneous 
questions...saying enough to satisfy, landing on your feet and 
staying on your track? Are you sensitive to the various cultures 
present in the room -- to their perceptions, their expectations 
and entitlements, their differences and similarities? Are you 
careful not to offend? 

7. Your physical energy: 

Do you arrive fully rested, on your toes, eager for this 
opportunity to speak? Do your eyes sparkle with aliveness as you 
move through your presentation? Are you light on your feet as you 
move about? Do you think tall as you stand before your audience? 
Here's an easy way to do this: Picture a silken thread at the 
crown of your head gently pulling you up-up-up. This 
visualization aligns your bones and muscles into perfect order. 
It often makes you look taller, more in command. It helps you 
tingle with energy. 
------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Burt Dubin, a 20 year veteran of the business of speaking, coaches 
and mentors speakers and wanna-be's world-wide. Burt works with 
people who want to be speakers and with speakers who want to be 
masters. The words of his clients, the admiration and respect 
expressed for his work by some of the world's most successful 
speakers, testify to the values he delivers. For samples of his 
wisdom, simply go to his web-site, http://www.SpeakingBizSuccess.com 
or e-mail Burt at burt@SpeakingBizSuccess.com. Down-load some of the 
12 FREE articles and 20 FREE newsletters. 

 
DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST 
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If you've been reading this newsletter for a while you already know
that I am a big believe in instant messaging software. If you are
not on at least one of the major IM networks ( ICQ, AOL, MSN, and
Yahoo! ) then you are just wasting time. There are times when email
is a good way to communicate, but if you really want to get down
to business you have to have an IM client. If you're like me and
want to run all of the IM clients at the same time, but hate the
fact that they all have a different interface then Trillian is 
for you! Trillian is an IM client that features connectivity to
all of the major IM networks through one simple, skinnable 
program. You can get Trillian for free by visiting their website
at http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ and clicking one of the many
download links you'll see on the page. If you run more than one
IM program, or if you are not yet an IM user, this is must have
software!


WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
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I have written a few scripts that I offer for sale. I recently got
an email from someone who was running a pirated copy of my script
asking me for support! Did this guy really think I wouldn't think
to check to see if he was a customer of mine before I spent my
valuable time helping him out? What in the world would motivate
someone who stole a piece of software to write the company they
stole from asking for help? I realize that software piracy is
pretty common, but I didn't think there was anyone out there who
was dumb enough to point himself out as a software thief to the
company who wrote the software. I'm not about to condone the
theft of software, but please, if you are running some pirated 
software at least be smart enough not to incriminate yourself. 


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