Dear Friends,

Like you, every year I take stock of what matters most to me going forward. I have a romantic, loving sweetie, good friends, a glorious garden, and I love my work. In short, a good life. Of course it's not completely without strife or suffering, and I consistently use the Sedona Method for moving through difficulties. There is always tweaking to be done and new things to learn.

Personally, I'm reading the classic books I promised myself I would, along with some thrillers and the stuff I probably wouldn't read that we choose for my book club. This month we're reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a door stopper that's keeping me up late into the night.

I'm doing one raw juice drink a day, while still indulging my yen for french fries once a month. I'm back down to a size 4 and feel terrific, and am looking forward to starting Aikido classes. Just read about a 72 year old woman who has a second-degree black belt and is director of the Aikido Kids! program. She started 10 years ago. I'll be 52 in February so I figure in 10 years I can have my black belt too.

On the work front, I'm going to be doing embodied leadership programs with the Strozzi Institute, and I'm taking the corporate sponsorships workshop with Brendon Burchard, which is right in my back yard in San Francisco.

I listened into the 1.5 hour seminar Burchard gave on December 30th and was impressed with his sincerity and how generously he gave of his knowledge. He's the opposite of those who withhold information until you get to the actual "paid" seminar. What a breath of fresh air.

His opening story, the basis for his book, "Life's Golden Ticket," brought tears to my eyes. He sold the book for a $500,000 advance to HarperCollins based on the huge platform he's created partnering with corporate sponsors. More about that in the article below.

Brendon Burchard was a 19 year old kid living the small town life in Butte Montana. Right before he was about to be married he got into a big fight with his finance and the wedding was called off. That was a turning point for him. He took a job in the Dominican Republic as a tour guide for a summer. One night his friend Keith and he were cruising home at a brisk 80 mph down a typical third world country road when he hit an unexpected sharp turn. The car skidded off the road and flipped over the ridge.

At that moment at death's door some questions went through his mind. "Did I live a life that was fun, vibrant and passionate while I was here? The answer was 'No'.

Did I love?

Who am I going to miss and who is going to miss me? I didn't like the answer to that question." Burchard said.

Then he lost consciousness. When he came to then next thing he knew, Kevin was screaming for him to get out of the car. Burchard was confused and could barely move as his head was smashed down. He then pulled himself through the windshield and looked at his body. Blood was pouring out of him and onto the hood of the white car. In that instant he thought that life really could end.

The last questions he asked himself was, "Did I even matter. Was there even a reason I was here?" He felt dizzy and looked into a glint in the blood on the hood which compelled him to look up and see the big beautiful full moon. The blueness of moon was an inspiring vision and he felt awe and appreciation that he was still here. He said to himself, "The Big Guy is saying, 'Here you go kid. You get a second chance and you'd better make this round matter.' I call this life's golden ticket."

Asking yourself Burchard's three questions on a daily basis will give you a good gauge of where you are...

1. Am I living a fun, vibrant, passionate life?

2. Do I love? Who am I going to miss and who is going to miss me?

3. Do I matter?

In a way every day is life's golden ticket. What will you do with yours?

Warmly,

Susan

Corporate Sponsorships: Learn the steps to get the right one for you

I have to admit, I wasn't convinced that corporate sponsorships were right for me--until I listened to the teleseminar that Brendon Burchard gave yesterday. I was under the impression that to get a corporate sponsor I had to go on the road and do tons TV appearances and speaking engagements which I didn't want to do as I'm a homebody. Neither are necessary.

Corporate sponsorships are for anyone who has information to give. Corporations and non-profits are seeking partnerships with people like you who have new ideas that could help their clients, customers, audience, subscribers, or members. That pretty much describes all of us who have a certain amount of expertise in our subject area, right?

Here are a few things that Burchard shared during the 90 minute teleseminar that made me believe it was possible for me to get the kind of corporate sponsorships that suit my needs, temperament, goals and life plan.

1. Identify your non-profit and corporate partners.
Who would you love to help you get your message out that you're aligned with? Burchard has partnered with non-profits who are leveraging their human resources to spread their message. His student leadership guide is all about how to make more of a difference in classrooms, community and in students' early career. To help him, one non-profit, that serves 250,000 youth, gives out 10,000 of his books at one time to their kids.

There are 2 million non-profits and they raised 290 billion dollars last year! They raise 40 billion per year from fundraising and often have speakers at those events. The non-profit world is also connected--and well-funded--with the green movement, so you have a huge opportunity in this sector.

Corporations give Burchard the cash to support his programs, books, and seminars. Watching TV, and reading magazines and newspapers will help you find major companies that are already promoting your message through conferences, advertising, and outreach.

2. Forget the self-made millionaire myth.
"Everyone thinks they have to do it themselves," says Burchard. But that's a big lie. The corporations already have an infrastructure in place and all you need to do is leverage that. Don't fund your business, product, book or cause yourself, find other organizations' money and use theirs. Their budgets are renewed each year and can be leveraged to fund your book tour, speaking engagements, and even sweepstakes and contests.

They have a big advantage over you in that they already know what your audience will buy, the price point, and all the when wheres and hows. You can then use their successful model instead of building yours from scratch.

"We often think we need to wait to get the credibility before approaching a sponsor," says Burchard. But the opposite is true. If you don't yet have a platform, following, or expert status you can live on the borrowed credibility of your big name partners like the ones Burchard has linked up with: Wachovia, YMCA, Kiwanis, Wal-Mart. You just need to have something that they want. They don't care that you're not famous.

3. Move at warp speed.
Burchard explains it quickly with a train analogy. You could take all the money from your savings and buy railroad tracks and railroad ties. After that you could do doing all heavy lifting, buy the wheels, train, engine, and fuel the project with your own time, energy, and expertise, to get momentum going along the tracks to finally get to your destination.

Or

You could stop the busy work and instead hook onto major super trains that have already laid the track and set up infrastructure. If you connect to the train with the right project then you can move at warp speed.

People ask him how he's done all this as such a young man. "I haven't. The magic is the model. I haven't done it, they have. All you have to do is talk to the conductor. You just need to know the conductor and understand what to say to get on the train."

4. Information is king.
Burchard explains that there's an old saying, "Cash is king." But someone forgot something. What does cash get you? The biggest, most respected companies figured out that content is king. They buy information. We create content. That's power. We come up with new ideas that then help them raise awareness, and increase funds and sales.

One of Burchard's partners works for a major company. Their newsletter reaches 113,000 people per month. She runs out of ideas and she needs someone to come to her consistently with new ideas. "Those ideas, along with my books and projects, push what they want to do," says Burchard. "They aren't going after eyeballs they are interested in creating experiences. We create and collaborate on things together to that end."

5. Brands need reinvention.
Sponsors give money because they either want to change or reinforce an image. Given the current economic climate, right now is the best time to do this, particularly for major companies in the financial sector. They will spend millions changing brand image and so will be looking to invest substantial funds in sponsorships.

6. Regular people are now the prize.
Models, celebrities and beautiful people are passe. Sponsors are looking for the regular guy. All you have to do is watch TV to notice that commercials are featuring regular people, like you and me. Many not even as well groomed or fit.

So whether or not you're an established expert, whether you have a small or large niche market, there is a corporate sponsor for you. If you have articles, books, or knowledge you can get a sponsorship to fund and promote your ideas, products, books or cause by connecting with the non-profits and corporations that are right for you. To find out more listen to Burchard here.

How to Get Corporate Sponsors

This is a quick reminder that the last day to get save $1500 is to register before January 6th at 6pm EST. go here to sign up. I'm going and hope to see you there.

Whether you are a speaker, author, coach, consultant, or Internet marketer, non-profit leader, thought leader, cause marketer or expert with a narrow niche you are in a prosperous position to find corporate sponsors. They key is to hone in on their needs and match them to what you want to promote or sell.

Brendon Burchard, an author and speaker, who has consulted for some of the top marketing minds like Jack Canfield and Tony Robbins, has ferreted out some totally practical and do-able ways to land corporate and non-profit promotional sponsorships and use them to fund his marketing efforts. In fact, he's perfected a model which he will share with you at his seminar. He does not hold back anything he's learned and will give you the blueprint to getting the right sponsorship for your needs.

At the event you'll learn how to:

• Position, package and pitch yourself correctly for the market you want.

• Put together a 10 page proposal in the exact format that corporate sponsors want so you get everything paid for.

• Win the deals, and understand what to do after you get the sponsors.

• Grow the sponsorship relationships and get them renewed year after year.

• Avoid a huge mistake that cost Burchard a million dollar deal.

• Speak the language non-profits and corporations are used to hearing so you get invited to send them your proposal.

• Make every line of your proposal count. One wrong line could lose you the entire deal.

• Use Burchard's fool-proof blueprint that he's employed to help dozens of unknown people, without a platform or following, replicate his success.

You'll also get a 200 page resource guide with all the deals that Burchard has done, nothing held back.

Plus, you'll hear, in person, from a "regular guy", a nervous speaker who consistently raises 250 million a year in corporate sponsorships and how you how you can too.

This is a no-sell zone. Burchard is not having guest speakers who just want you to buy their programs. This is an event that will give you the map to get the right sponsorships for you. The smallest sponsorship starts at $15,000.

Burchard guarantees to give you your money back plus airfare and hotel if you're not satisfied.

Listen to Burchard here.

I'll be there so please introduce yourself to me!

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I'm now a columnist for the examiner.com

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