Your Book in 100 Days

You can write your book in 100 days!

With the right mindset, motivation, guidance and determination to succeed, you will write an excellent book that will help you achieve your goals. “Your Book in 100 Days” is a practical and friendly book and it shows you how to tap into the power of your mind and bring your best ideas to life. You will write your book in much less time than average first-time authors take, and you will have more fun doing it! You will discover the answers to the big questions, such as

• What is your dream, for your life as well as your book?
• Who will benefit most from reading your book?
• How can you structure the book in the best way for your reader?

Follow the advice of two authors who have helped hundreds of people create their books and see your book come to life in just 100 days!

About 1.5 years ago, I wrote a blog on how to publish a book in 1 month (in Dutch, on Lifehacking.nl). When I met Mindy at a Blackstar event (Ecademy), we talked about the possibilities on setting up a partnership by writing a book together. As a bookmidwife, Mindy specializes in delivering people’s books. For me as a lifehacker and life coach,  I am helping people to get clarity on what it is they want to achieve in life (and whether a book fits into that 🙂 ). On top of that, I suggest different tools and exercises to actually achieve these dreams in less time. So, it was a natural fit for the two of us to create this book. After all, we are two coaches who both believe passionately that if people want to do things in life, they should find a way to do them and they can do them quickly and easily. Did you know that 83% of people interviewed said they dreamed of writing their own book? The problem is that most people never even start, much less finish their book…

So, if you have “a book” in you, it is time to think about how you’d start writing it. Buy this book now at Amazon, Ecademy Press or directly through us and start reading first. Have fun with the exercises and create your own book. We want to hear you shout when your book is in print and we want you to see you reaping all the benefits that a good book can give you!

Twitter Search Tips

Twitter is a wonderful tool and platform to share your message. We all know that! What most people don’t know is that Twitter has a magnificent search engine. Almost everyone (including me) is using Google, but if you want the latest trends or events, you’d better use Twitter. Why? Twitter is a real time search engine, while Google indexes everything and that takes time, sometimes up to 6 weeks before a site is included in Google. So, if you are looking for live input on a certain event, Twitter is more likely to find it.

In order to help you find stuff quicker, I am sharing a number of Twitter Search Tips with you. How does it work?
You first go to http://search.twitter.com. Of course, if you just want to use the regular search, you can type in your keywords and find anything right-away! Now, it becomes even more interesting if you would use the advanced search. Here is an overview if you want to use advanced search operators:

Operator	Finds tweets…
Genius Shortcut	containing both “Genius” and “Shortcut”. This is the default operator.
“happy hour“	containing the exact phrase “happy hour”.
black OR white	containing either “black” or “white” (or both).
Belgian –beer	containing “Belgian” but not “beer”.
#ff	containing the hashtag “ff” (followfriday, interesting people to follow as indicated by others).
from:bertverdonck	sent from person “bertverdonck”.
to:bertverdonck	sent to person “bertverdonck”.
@bertverdonck	referencing person “bertverdonck”.
“happy hour” near:“London”	containing the exact phrase “happy hour” and sent near “London”.
near:London within:15mi	sent within 15 miles of “London”.
lifehack since:2010-03-26	containing “lifehack” and sent since date “2010-03-26” (year-month-day).
lifehack until:2010-03-26	containing “lifehack” and sent up to date “2010-03-26”.
movie -twilight 🙂	containing “movie”, but not “twilight”, and with a positive attitude.
movie 😦	containing “movie” and with a negative attitude.
fun ?	containing “fun” and asking a question.
fun filter:links	containing “fun” and linking to URLs.
news source:twitterfeed	containing “news” and entered via TwitterFeed

Additional easy Twitter Search Tips:

1. Click on the Advanced Search link and save yourself from typing the operators!
2. If you want to search in a different language, use the language switch in the advanced search : “Written in:” and choose your language in the dropdownbox.
3. If you specifically want to search for retweets or you don’t mind that retweets are shown in the search results, then check the box: Include Retweets.

If you want extra Twitter Search Tips, you know where to find me 🙂

Social Media Update

A couple of times a month I am giving sessions on Social Media in general or specialized sessions on LinkedIn, Twitter… Most people are asking me for additional figures, presentations, YouTube clips, etc. So, I decided to step-up and share with you some interesting materials on Social Media.

Of course, the list of great stuff on Social Media is endless, so I am sharing four with you:

1. Did You Know 4.0 (check out version 3.0 too!)

2. Social networks around the world 2010 (Research by InSites Consulting)

3. Social Media in Plain English (Commomcraft.com, who else :-))

4. What the F**K is Social Media? One Year Later (check out the original too!)

And the Winner is…

Did you ever had that moment where you are sitting in a room full of people and some contest was going on? Then suddenly the crowd’s attention goes up and the speaker on stage says: “And the Winner is…” a couple of seconds filled with extra silence…and then your name pops up! What? Was that my name? Sure? People start to look your way and spots find a way to you. You get up and slowly move towards the stage. Almost there, you realize this is actually happening! And you start to smile 🙂

This is exactly what happened to me a couple of days ago! Where was I and what was going on? Let me start from the beginning. As you know, I am a public speaker and share my message regularly on stage. Several friends asked me if I would join the Professional Speakers Assiociation (PSA). I am already a member of so many organisations that I intended to decline. People from all over the world suggested me to do that, some insisting more than others 🙂 So, finally, last tuesday, I decided to join PSA Holland, the Dutch chapter (no Belgian yet!) of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF). One of the goals that I made that day was to be on stage for them on their next convention (honestly I was thinking of 2011!). And I enrolled for the PSA Holland 2010 Convention immediately afterwards. This convention took place last weekend.

So, upon arriving, I registered and started to network a bit. Jan Vermeiren was also present and he introduced me to some of the people he knew. One of them was Christine Morlet, negociation expert and organizer of the “Elevator Pitch”-challenge. She asked if I where interested in joining a game and of course I said yes, actually not sure what I said yes too 🙂 Anyway, she explaines that at this PSA convention they are holding an “Elevator Pitch”-contest. The only thing I need to do, is present myself on stage in less than 120 words and less than 2 minutes. Most participants enrolled for it before the event and some backed off and so she was a couple of contestants short. So, I volunteered. Was that smart? I’ll answer that later on…

I presented my “Elevator Pitch” and was already satisfied that I got the visibility, let alone the feedback from the jury. It was well organized and they had a life voting-system (Sendsteps for more info). Because I was sitting behind the camera-man, I wasn’t really paying much attention to the scoreboard. But you know what happened next, right? Exactly! Before I knew it, I was on my way to the stage and jumped right on it! With a big smile, because I had won! And the Winner is Bert Verdonck with 52% of the votes (Can you believe it?)! Yes, the first price is a relax weekend in the Provence (France), thanks for asking 🙂

What just happened here?

Let me share you my personal “Elevator Pitch” according to the above rules and share some of the feedback that I got, from the jury and other participants.

“Most professional speakers are always looking for an audience, right? How fast can you be on stage before your target audience? We all want a shortcut! As the newest PSA Holland member, I did it in less than 3 days to be here in front of you! That is exactly what I do. Shortcuts! With Genius Shortcuts I teach you practical tools and tips to save you 2 hours/day or hack away other frustrations. I am a lifehacker and I help people through keynote speaking, trainings and workshops. So, think about how you would feel if one of your biggest frustrations disappeared forever? Come and see me afterwards and I will share free Genius Shortcuts so you can feel happier!”

Some of the feedback that I received:

• Relaxed, great & pleasant voice, to the point, looked at the audience and the jury, great timing, radiant, great connection with the audience, fully present on stage, you walk your talk: you speak easy & simple, very good pitch, clear message from the start, well developed pitch, great impact, engaging, surprising opener, good pause and excellent posture.
• Points to improve: wear your jacket (I forgot to put it on before walking on stage!), take more time (I only used 1 min instead of 2, so more room for extra details), not always clear what it really is about (lifehacking?), start smiling before you get on stage, explain better, give more examples, can be more confident, a bit too vague and explain more who your target audience is.

I am really thankful for all the feedback that I got and I am looking forward to sharpen this elevator story even more.

Why do I tell you all this? So you know how important it is to know your own Elevator Pitch. And to look for your Genius Shortcuts to find an audience or clients faster. Of course, it is also proof that you don’t have to be a longtime member to get the necessary visibility. Finally, it is important to receive feedback from other professionals, so that you improve. If no one ever tells you what you could do to improve, you don’t move forward, let alone become better at what you do…

LinkedIn Live!

LinkedIn is launching a new service in the Netherlands : LinkedIn Live! As this is in pilot phase now (official launch soon!), it still has to be discovered by the press and the rest of the world 🙂

The reason for me to blog about this is that I am one of the 4 certified LinkedIn trainers worldwide! No, I am not a LinkedIn employee, but as a member of Jan Vermeiren‘s team (Networking Coach) I had the privilege of being at the right place at the right time. As you know, I am giving lectures and trainings on Social Media regularly and of course LinkedIn is always included.

So, do you want to better use LinkedIn? Do you want to meet other LinkedIn users? Enroll for one of our inspiring sessions (in Dutch) now!

These 4 types of events are organized through LinkedIn-Training.nl (the official site):
Link & Learn: get an introduction about the practicalities of LinkedIn and meet other LinkedIn users “live” through facilitated networking.
Boost Your Business: discover how LinkedIn can help you attract additional customers, suppliers, employees & partners and experience the real power of networking through a networking auction and dinner.
Catapult Your Career: understand how LinkedIn can help you find your dreamjob and give and receive help during the networking drink.
Dive In Deep: follow a hands-on computer training in a small group with personal guidance allowing LinkedIn to unleash all its secrets to you.