Seth, all is forgiven !!!

Wow, what an event.

We went to see Seth Godin speak in London yesterday and I have to say he was truly brilliant. I take back anything I may have said about ego or arrogance, he came across as a brilliant thinker, a genius ideas man and a genuinely nice guy.

He was also kind enough to sign my copy of Purple Cow (my favourite marketing book ever) which I will now treasure forever.

Oh and by the way C, my 'son' was the lovely young Stefan our prizewinner of the free ticket - an entrepreneur from Birmingham already on his second business at the age of 17.

There was a lot said about tribes (Seth's new book)and if you would like to join mine please go to my website and register for free.

That will also get you access to our first live webinar this afternoon (Wednesday 18th February) from 4pm on the subject of driving sales - with my friend and special guest, the business coach, sales expert and wealth guru Paul Avins.

Look forward to hearing from you on the call.

The Love Affair is Over Seth

As you'll know from previous posts, for a long time I was a big fan of Seth Godin.

I've read [almost] all of his books, eulogised about him at lots of business conferences I've spoken at and I would guess promoted his book Purple Cow [my favourite] to a cumulative live audience of at least 10,000 British entrepreneurs at those events over the past couple of years.

Not to mention buying a copy of Purple Cow for every one of my mentoring clients, featuring Seth on my Blog etc. - plus I'd also invited him to be interviewed for my new TV project rachelelnaugh.tv

Yet, in a private email exchange this morning, in response to his recent Blog post about Love (and Annoying) (which obviously annoyed him!) I received the most curtly rude and arrogant response.

So, Seth, this Post is to let you know that my love affair with you is now officially over!

I think it's the same sort of American arrogance that has seen George W Bush leave office as the most disliked US president on record (not to mention the damage done to the US brand) and was displayed by Dick Fuld as he nosedived Lehman brothers into the ground last year.

Let's hope Barack Obama brings back a sense of humility to the US people.

How I made Seth Angry

I've removed this post as I didn't read Seth's emails properly - which politely request at the bottom that they aren't published or used on blogs etc.

So my apologies to Seth (and I suspect if he wasn't angry before he is pretty p*ssed off with me now!)

However, I've left the comments here intact for Seth to view - as I think they are interesting feedback on his personal brand.

It used to be that all great thought innovators came from the US but I think now the US brand is damaged, their power is perhaps waning.

Big gap in the market then for a fresh marketing guru? Stephen???

Back in the Saddle

You often read about how 'back to work mums' suffer from a lack of confidence - well I never thought that would happen to me until last week, when after three months 'out of the spotlight' I returned to the Business World, firstly presenting the Franchisee of the Year Award at the StartUps Awards in London on Wednesday (which quite frankly I completely fluffed up!), and then speaking at the Business Start Up Show at Olympia on Saturday.

And the thought of public speaking again terrified me! All the old nerves and fears which I thought I had well and truly conquered, seemed to have returned.

The material for my 'Are You An Entrepreneur?' seminar at Business StartUp was all new and untested on an audience (which always adds to the nerves); it was based mainly on the research and learnings from my Entrepreneurial Profiling Test since its launch in April this year.

In my seminar, firstly I talked about the three key qualities of the successful entrepreneur - which in my view are Self Belief, Determination and Drive.

I then talked about how my Entrepreneurial Profiling Test works and the nine different entrepreneur types which result, and the ways they can ALL be successful in business.

I then ended by talking about my favourite three business books of all time, which are:
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis, and
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
Interestingly many of the emails I've had since the Show thanking me for my seminar also said that I was the ONLY speaker who talked about the other rewards of business (freedom, fulfillment, adventure) rather than being solely obsessed with monetary rewards - which is actually the underlying point of both Napoleon Hill and Felix Dennis's books.

Anyway, having faced my fears, I came away from the seminar feeling really inspired and energised myself, and it also reinforced my belief that I am in an incredibly priveliged position to be able to help entrepreneurs starting out in their journey in some way.

So thank you to everyone who came to the Show, and to my stand to see me afterwards (I'm sorry I couldn't spend time with you all) - as well as to everyone who has sent me such wonderful emails since Saturday. Your positivity has given me such a boost, I am no longer a 'nervous back to work mum' any more!

Next stop is the Entrepreneurs Forum Annual Conference in Newcastle this Thursday, where I will be talking about the highs and lows of my own entrepreneurial journey.

Hope to see you there!

Regards


Rachel