October 2004
Inspiration on careers, networking, writing and more

In this issue:
Editorial: Meet Penny the Passionate PIG
News You Can Use: Inspiration for writers; Difficult People seminar with
Nancy Slessenger; FREE STUFF and speakers’

bootcamps
Your feedback: Lots and lots

What’s on: Autumn 2004
STOP PRESS!! IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

“Where words speak louder than actions”

Meet Penny the Passionate PIG
Sitting in front of me on my desk I have a pink fluffy pig called Penny. She was a gift from my good friend Susie Evans. Susie bought her for me on impulse in Cornwall last month from the gift shop at the Lost Gardens of Heligan. She could not have found a more perfect gift.

You see, back before the summer when Jacinta Noonan and I were getting all excited about our imminent Find Your Passion workshop (which we will run here in Rutland at the beautiful Barnsdale Hall Hotel on Saturday November 6th). I was talking about how important it is that entrepreneurs find a way to create passive income streams. When Jacinta told me that these were sometimes called Passive Income Generators. Immediately I spotted the acronym. The books I sell at the back of the room and the ebooks I sell online are PIGs. And because mine are based on things I love, my passions, they are Passionate PIGs.

So excited was I about this revelation that I told my right hand woman, Fiona Cowan, about Passionate PIGs and she realised that they needed a name. Then she came up with Penny, short for Moneypenny. It was perfect.

I am passionate about more things than writing and my work, believe it or not. My family are pretty important to me too. And I am always keen to encourage my family to believe in themselves. My 13 year old, Sam, is a keen artist. So I asked him to use a simple draw program to depict Penny.

Here she is – did you spot her?
If it weren’t for Penny on my desk I would forget to spend time creating my PIGs. I recognise that writing my own books falls into that ‘important but not urgent’ category, so I put it bottom of my list. I prioritise work for clients because that pays me money. Writing and publishing my own books costs both time AND money, and because I love writing so, it feels like an indulgence.

When Jacinta and I planned our Find Your Passion workshop I motivated myself to write the book to accompany it in the only way I knew how (before Penny). I advertised that delegates would be able to collect their copies of my brand new book at the workshop! But still it did not get written. Something else got in the way. But last week I caught Susie’s Penny looking at me accusingly – so I wrote it! I did!

‘Find Your Passion – 20 tips to help you start living and working the way you were born to do’ by Jo Parfitt is out on November 6th 2004 priced £10. If you would like to join in the celebrations I will give all Monthly Inspirer readers a copy for just £8 (or $13) including postage, anywhere in the world! You can send a cheque or pay by PayPal.

Thanks to Susie’s Penny I made it. And today is a particularly special day for Susie, because today she starts a photography degree course and is following her own passion bigtime.

Do you need a PIG on your desk too?

Jo Parfitt
Believe in blue sky

News you can use

Writing
I have just been told about a website called http://www.writequickly.com <http://www.writequickly.com/> which has an ebook to help you to write your book very quickly. The person who told me about it, Gemini, had used it and from what she told me, it was excellent.

Another website, based on a similar idea – that of writing a novel in a month – is called http://www.nanowrimo.com <http://www.nanowrimo.com/> (which stands for National Novel Writing Month and is the brainchild of Chris Baty. He is living proof that it works and his latest book, entitled ‘No Plot? No Problem!’ is further testament to his discoveries.

Deal with difficult people
My friend and client, Nancy Slessenger came to run one of her seminars at my local Winning Connections for Women networking group last month. The way she listens to our problems with difficult people both in and out of the workplace and comes up with solutions in a flash, is worth witnessing. So I’d like to tell you about her next open seminar on 2nd November. Click on the link below to find out more:

http://www.vinehouse.co.uk/seminar/index.htm

You can also sign up for her free ezine on http://www.mytipsbooks.com

Or download Nancy’s free Difficult Person Calculator at
http://www.mytipsbooks.com/difficult.htm

Accelerate your sales
I met Carol Bentley just over a year ago at one of Nigel Risner’s great speakers’ bootcamps. Since then we have kept in touch and last month Carol offered a FREE EBOOK called ‘Accelerate your Sales’ to all Monthly Inspirer readers. Just send an email to Carol with REPORT in the subject line to mailto:report@pybiz.plus.com. And by the way, if you fancy a spejkers’ bootcamp go to http://www.nigelrisner.com . Frank Furness, president of the Professional Speakers’ Association, runs them too and his next one is at the start of December and his website is http://www,frankfurness.com

Get a life
Arvind Devalia is another client and friend, of mine. His book, ‘Get a Life’ has almost sold out in less than a year, so he’s feeling pretty chuffed. He now has a FREE EZINE of the same name, packed with inspiration on getting a life. As a life coach you can expect that this to be highly practical and only for people who really do want to lead the lives they want and are prepared to take action. To sign up please go to: http://www.nirvanacoaching.com and sign up there.

Your feedback

Dear Jo
Thought I'd let you know that I've had a short story published! Your course was a great catalyst, enabling me to take the step to send work to potential publishers. Unfortunately I won't be getting very rich through this story but it's to help an extremely worthy cause, raising awareness and funds for the Breast Cancer Campaign. Please read the press release below.

Scary Shorts for Halloween is the third book in the ‘Shorts’ range of charity books. It contains contemporary ghost stories as told by those who were actually there! Stories of terrifying curses and possessions along with chilling tales of visitations and hauntings weave an intricate web of mystery and intrigue that is guaranteed to leave the reader spellbound. Each copy sold will raise 1 pound for Breast Cancer Campaign. It's published by http://www.sexyshorts.info/ If you are a UK resident, the book can be ordered or purchased from your local book store.

If you live in Holland please mail one of the authors, Angela Williams, mailto:angela@beehive.nl to order a book directly or receive information about a promotional event centred around 'Scary Shorts for Halloween' I'd be very grateful if you could include this information or part thereof in the upcoming October Inspirer. Thanks in advance.
Angela Williams

Dear Jo,
Hello! This is Maria from Salzburg, Austria. You always promote the WIN conference so enthusiastically in your Monthly Inspirers, that one just has to see it to believe it. Well, this summer I applied for, and received, a full scholarship to the 3-day event. In return for this, I'll be writing articles to help spread the word about WIN. I'm really excited - finally, I have this unique opportunity to expand my network internationally, and boost my writing career!
Best regards,
Maria-Fe Ortner

Hi Jo
As per your "tithing" article. Absolutely agree. Even during serious financial shortfall....I choose to contribute to favorite and occasionally new causes each month and when I added it up for my accountant I was astonished....particularly since I haven't found the funds for new clothes or other "discretionary" expenditures. Can't say I've noticed a significant response in kind but the feeling of helping and contributing is, in itself, recompense.

Thank you for your wonderful "inspirer" whenever it arrives....late or on-time....it's a mood enhancer.

Best,
India Ourisman
indiainc@earthlink.net

Dear Jo,
I always read your inspirer, no matter how busy I am. probably because we met and I felt we connected.

Call me a cynic, maybe it comes with age and experience - prefer to think it is just keeping my feet on the ground.

At the beginning of the summer, one of my clients who rents out holiday homes called me to say that she was going to have to cancel her bookings because her husband had been taken into hospital, for terminal care. In her eighties herself, she couldn't cope with getting her two large houses and grounds ready and had no one to help. Cancelling these bookings would have meant kissing goodbye to a substantial part of her annual income, on top of the worry about her husband.

Living only 5 kilometres away, I volunteered Julia and the rest of my family, (me and 3 teenagers) to go and get everything ready. Our local membership consists of a strong church community, a least one Buddhist, a Feng Shui practitioner and various other do gooders who are always approaching me to donate money for some cause or another. So I sent an email out to our localised database, in the hope of getting some help, explaining the situation, giving directions, time and place etc.

On the morning in question, Julia, I and the kids turned up at my clients properties, mops, brushes, cleaning gear etc in our sweaty little hands. Did anyone else turn up?

Yes of course. Every local hard bitten cynic, atheist, agnostic, ne'r do well and successful hard headed business person (who usually never has anytime for anything or anyone) was waiting for us. Not a church member, do gooder, or anyone else who preaches to me about the meaning of life, god, religion, charity, feng shui or any other ***** to be seen.

These people all turned up because they believed no one else would help and out of a sense of moral responsibility. Not because they believed they would get their reward in heaven or anything in return. Except maybe the satisfaction of knowing they had done a good deed. Cynicism rules OK!

Which leads me to my point.

Where On Earth continues to expand at a healthy rate because it is based on an unusual principle. Better to work with and help your competitors, than to try and destroy them, which is the basis of most business plans. You might find this interesting - especially the bit about the gold miners: http://www.whereonearthgroup.com/web-marketing.php

Our success comes from helping people launch their business over the Internet, even when they are competitors. We have spent the last three and a half years developing software systems that can propel a web site into the public domain. We can apply the systems to any business even when someone doesn't have enough money to market themselves, we are prepared to help.

We give, and we get back in return. Nothing mystical about any of it - just plain economic business sense and a lot of technical know how.

Feet planted firmly on the ground but not letting the grass grow under them

Paul Herbert

WHAT’S ON
OCTOBER
Wednesday 6th October
Definite Articles
Collyweston, Stamford, Lincs
Find out how to write and sell articles about what you know already.
9.30 – 3.30
£80 including lunch and notes
Book on: mailto:info@summertimepublishing.com

Thursday 7th October
A Place in the Sun
Buy the Book, Stamford, Lincs
Find out what moving abroad really means.
7.30 pm
Cost: £5
Book on 01780 756773

Wednesday 13th October
Definite Articles
Islington, London
Find out how to write and sell articles about what you know already.
9.30 – 3.30
£95 including lunch and notes (previous students pay £80)
Book on: mailto:suewarner@speakingout.co.uk

NOVEMBER
Saturday 6th November
Find Your Passion
Barnsdale Hall Hotel, near Oakham, Rutland
A workshop with Jo Parfitt and Jacinta Noonan (over from The Netherlands who runs http://www.bigontheinside.com ) that will show you how to find your passion and make the break to turn your dreams into reality.
10.00 – 14.00
Cost: £65 – includes lunch and notes
Embrace magazine readers will receive a free book called Find Your Passion by Jo Parfitt or My Perfect Weight by Jacinta Noonan

Book on: mailto:info@summertimepublishing.com

DECEMBER
Wednesday 8th December
Collyweston, Stamford, Lincs
Release the Book Within
Learn how to plan and write books and get them published too.
9.30 – 3.30
£80 – includes lunch and notes

STOP PRESS!!
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
AFTER SEVEN YEARS AS HALF OF A COMMUTER MARRIAGE THE BOYS AND I ARE JOINING IAN IN THE NETHERLANDS. WE MOVE TO NEAR DEN HAAG AFTER CHRISTMAS.

THIS MEANS THAT:
YOU WILL STILL GET YOUR MONTHLY INSPIRER!

THAT I WILL STILL COME TO ENGLAND REGULARLY (COME ON EASYJET IS CHEAPER THAN THE TRAIN!!) SO MY PUBLISHING CLIENTS WILL NOT BE ABANDONED!

THAT I WILL BE AN EXPAT AGAIN (HURRAY!!)

THAT COURSES IN ENGLAND WILL BE REDUCED AND PRICES WILL HAVE TO GO UP BUT THAT COURSES IN THE NETHERLANDS AND EUROPE WILL INCREASE!!!

FREE TIPS BOOK: Would you like a copy of my free tips book ‘So, You Want to Write a Book?’ Simply send me an email with FREE TIPS BOOK as the subject line and I’ll send you a PDF right away. I will also sign you up for my free monthly ezine THE MONTHLY INSPIRER.

As one recipient, Michele Thorel, said recently: ‘Thank you, Jo, for this avalanche of interesting and helpful information.’