Debra Kasowski

Are You Being Truly Present with Those You Serve?

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Today I had the great pleasure of interviewing Laura Gisborne, the founder of Powered with Passion, for The Millionaire Woman Club. We had a phenomenal conversation and one of the greatest insights for me was the power of being present in the moment. How many people do you know that are truly present when you speak with them? There are so many distractions and bright shiny objects in the world.

What I mean by truly present is that you are in a conversation with someone and no matter what is going on in the world everything is about the two of you in conversation. I love how Laura said, “Nothing is as important as what is happening in this very moment.” Jack Canfield, co-author of The Success Principles and Sandra Yancey, founder/CEO of eWomen Network, are two people I know that live in the moment that way.

Being present with others, makes a person feel heard, valued, and appreciated. This is a skill that definitely can be learned and a valuable skill to build into your business and life practices. How can I learn how to do this you may ask?

3 Ways to Become More Present with Those You Serve

1. Maintain Eye Contact. I am not telling you to stare deeply into their eyes, but maintain eye contact. Do not look through or over the shoulder of the person you are talking to, stare at the floor, or look around the room to see who else is around.

2. Be an Active Listener. Lean forward and listen not only to the words being spoken but for the complete meaning and emotion. You can learn many things about a person when you do this. You can sense and feel how passionate they are about their businesses, family, and personal life. Nod once in awhile to acknowledge comments or phrases that resonate with you. Don’t forget to smile if appropriate – keep in mind your subject matter. 

3. Paraphase, clarify, or ask questions. Summarize key points of what the person has shared with you. Clarify what you perhaps do not understand. Ask questions to dig deeper into a subject area that they are talking to you about. Be wary as you may become so involved in the conversation and lose track of time. Which can be easy to do – this is when you may ask to have a follow up meeting to further discuss the topic at hand. Thank the person for sharing their time with you.

I personally love connecting with people who are fully present. It makes you want to shout, “You GET it!” These are the people I can talk to for hours and learn so much about their passions, dreams, and desires. Not only that, I have always learnt more about myself in the process.

Your business is your purpose! Take time to be PRESENT so you can share the BEST of you with others! Build your relationships and in turn you will build your business.

Build Your Expertise Through Education on a Shoestring Budget

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Are you on a shaky financial ground? Have you been stretching your marketing budget or spending money from your business in your personal life and going through tough times? Do you need more education or knowledge to build your credibility as an expert? Many women in business have been in your position at one time or another.

“If knowledge is power, where do you get some. ” –  Debra Kasowski

There are several ways you can build your credibility as an expert. Develop a presence of being a go-to or knowledge expert. People are looking for people who deliver results. You must be confident in your abilities and be able to demonstrate this to others both on-line and off-line.

Educate yourself to be the best:

  • You Tube Videos or TED talks

    • – Watch videos about the expertise you are trying to develop or hone. There are many tips and techniques out there.

  • iTunes – Podcasts also have valuable information. Listen and take notes. Remember knowledge is only good if it has been applied and works for you.
  • Books, Articles, Magazine, & Newspapers – Learn from the experts already out there. Find out what you need to learn and work toward honing that skill with one action step each day. 
  • Google – The best resource out there. How many times have you heard, “Just Google it!” For example, you might want to learn about blogging. Think of the questions you might have about starting a blog. What? Where? When? How often? How can I do it? Why blog? Who is your audience? Type in what you want to learn, there are literally hundreds of websites and blogs like this sharing information.
  • Networking Events and Conferences – There are often speakers at networking events and other experts like yourself. Go for coffee or lunch with one of them and learn about their business.
  • Study the experts. Success leaves clues. What are they doing that you could be doing to build your business? Go to their websites they often have a free newsletter or other resources that you can use.
  • As you are growing, you will need to invest in yourself in other ways by attending conferences and seminars. My greatest growth came from working with a coach who has been where you want to go and done what you want to do. You want to be able to have the knowledge so you can leverage opportunities and give the people you serve the results they want.

Are You Intentionally Networking?

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When you go to a networking event or social event, are you going there with intention to meet someone, build a relationship, and potentially introduce them into your business? When you go to an event, don’t stand there like a dear caught in headlights. Go and introduce yourself. I know it can be intimidating when you are not use to doing so. The more you step out of your skin into who you are meant to be, it will be amazing the connections and referrals that you will actually have.

Tips for Intentional Networking:

Act as if everyone in the room is someone you know. I learned this from my friend, Christine Cashen. She said that her grandmother had taught her that whenever you walk into a room if already  you already pretend that you are knowing everybody you will feel comfortable.It is easier to start introducing yourself to other people because soon enough you will know everyone in the room. That’s a fabulous tip! 

Have your business cards with you so you can introduce yourself and be able to pass it on. Do not make that your first intent. Taking your business cards to and event is not like playing blackjack. It is not like seeing how many cards you can deal out. Give your card to people you connect with. These are people you feel have an alignment with or connect to.

Mark or make notes on the back of the card. Ask for permission to send out your e-zine. That is how relationships are formed.

The biggest thing is your Follow-up! Are you going to follow-up with a phone call or whether it be with your e-zine and connect with them to continue that relationship. Whether it be through email, phone call or in person, you want to continue to nurture the relationships around you.

Go with an intention. How many people do you want to meet? What type of people are you thinking of wanting to connect with?  Perhaps when you are in conversation you can say this is what I am looking for and this is some of the people I am  looking to connect with. Maybe they will know of someone and refer you.  Maybe they will refer you to someone. You never know where your connect will be.

They say there are six degrees of separation. In this new world of connectors, I am finding it three, four, or even one spot difference. It’s amazing how small the world is when you connect with like-minded people.

Your influence will continue to grow!

Have a great day and Be Rich from the Inside Out!