Archive for July, 2010

Marketing is more than advertising. Marketing is targeting and integrating opportunities to present your products and services to the right clientele.

Marketing is not a luxury. It is a necessity for every business, every entrepreneur and every company – no matter how big or small- interested in growth and opportunity.

Here are 5 easy and powerful tips to help you build a better business!

Tip 1

Define your ideal client and be willing to release clients that drain your energy.  I know that’s probably a scary thing and some of you have heard me say this before, it’s really important in the world of business that you spend your time and energy focused on what you desire, not what you don’t. And clients that are less than your ideal client, clients that drain your energy and deplete you, are clients you don’t want.

In this dynamic universe, you only have a certain amount of space and if you’re busy working with the wrong clients, you don’t have space for the right ones.

Tip 2

Focus on what you provide, not what you charge.  I have to say this one again in capital letters.  FOCUS ON WHAT YOU PROVIDE, NOT WHAT YOU CHARGE. Base what you charge on what you feel you’re worth, what your value is. 

Tip 3

Build relationships with supportive businesses.

When you have a relationship with supportive businesses, you help each other.  You share clientele and you attract people who already know something positive about you – and that’s a great way to build your business!

Tip 4

Create a simple business marketing plan.

• Describe your business in a way that makes it viable in the market place.
• Determine your personal reason for establishing your business.
• Define what you provide your clients
• Define what makes you unique. 
• What focus will your company have? 
• How do you know you’ll be meeting your customer’s needs and wants? 
• How will you be able to tell? 
• Why will you be wildly successful?
• Define your company mission statement in ten words or less.

No matter what you do, this simple structure is adaptable and will work for you. To do it properly you’ll need time; don’t rush the process you want to establish a foundation that honors who you are and what you desire.

Tip 5

Have a vision.

Determine what you want your business to be and then reinforce that desire. To reinforce your desire with feng shui, write your intention on a beautiful piece of stationery. Then fold your intention and bury it in the soil of a potted plant. Every time you water the plant imagine that you are watering, nurturing your intention and as you do, your intention grows and supports your business.

Don’t let the simplicity of these 5 tips fool you!

To learn more Feng Shui tips, listen to my podcast here.

© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:

Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui and Lifestyle Marketing articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.

Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.

What is real feng shui?

Lately a lot of feng shui practitioners, teachers and schools have been heard saying that they are “real feng shui” and by default of course, all others are not.

Feng shui seeks to create environments that are in balance with our individual sense of harmony and serenity. It is the practice of understanding how the energy, the feeling, in our living spaces impacts and affects the quality of our lives. Feng Shui allows us to harness and use this energy to our best advantage.

ALL perspectives of feng shui are real. Each seek to accomplish the same thing – creating an environment that supports those living and working within it. The tools or methods each of these perspectives use is quite different, not better or worse, simply different.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese form of environmental placement that has been used for thousands of years and was originally used for burial of the dead. The Chinese believed that if their ancestors were buried with honor and riches then the living generations would prosper as well..

Form School or Landform Feng Shui is the oldest school of feng shui. It is based upon the position of the mountains, the rivers and the basic configuration of the land. “Qi flows where the earth changes shape.” quote from the Classic of Burial, a text attributed to the Han Dynasty. Climate, contour of the land and the shape of the plot are all taken into consideration when constructing a dwelling. This school of feng shui is the foundation that all perspectives share.

Over time feng shui has evolved to include many diverse and varied perspectives, both in thought and application. And as history shows, feng shui has always evolved and adapted in response to the needs of the culture it is in. This does not make one perspective better than another, they are simply different and depending upon our needs and situation, one may serve us better than another.

There are three basic principles in feng shui:

1. Everything is constantly changing
2. Everything is alive
3. Everything is interconnected

Based on these premises, it is easy to understand how feng shui has continued to evolve and grow. If everything is constantly changing, the way we view and work with the environments around us is also subject to change.

There are many different schools and perspectives of feng shui, and while they each share a common foundation and belief, their approach and methodology is quite different.

So what is real feng shui?

All perspectives of feng shui are valid and effective; no one approach is better than another, they are all merely different facets of the same crystal, each shining a different light on the same subject.

Real feng shui is ALL feng shui.

© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:

Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui Lifestyle articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.

Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.

I’ve been experimenting with Social Networks for about 6 months. I have to admit, I resisted even learning about it for years and now…I love Facebook! It’s true! I visit it several times a day and I look forward to hearing from my FB friends and followers. I like knowing a little bit about their daily lives and I like sharing about mine!

If you had asked me my opinion a year ago it would have been much different. You see, I’m a big believer in managing energy. (I don’t believe that we mismanage our time, it’s our energy we mismanage.) That means using technology to enhance my life rather than letting it take over my life. You did notice that this is a blog post- right? Another type of communication using technology. Has technology taken over my life? No, but it has redefined it.

Now when I write my monthly newsletter, I do it in an Ezine. When I want to reach people I use Facebook, email, my blog and my Ezine. I rarely write hardcopy articles any more. And I love the change. It’s fast. It’s spontaneous. And it’s interactive. All things hardcopy writing is not.

What has this got to do with Feng Shui? Feng Shui is about change. And embracing change is going with the flow. So, my embrace of Social Networks and technology is me going with the flow and in the process, practicing perfect Feng Shui!

As long as- I keep a balance.

How do I keep a balance? I check email, and Facebook early in my day, sometimes before I get to the office. Once at the office I focus on my work related projects. I check both again around lunchtime and then finally before leaving the office. And sometimes, I only check once a day. What I don’t do is keep any of them open all day. If I did that I would lose focus and my work would suffer for it.

I know you know what I mean! How many of you find that you spend much of your day online and your to-do list just keeps getting longer? If this sounds like you, you’ve been sucked into the energy wasting vortex and you must get – out – now! Before you’re trapped!

How do you get out? Simple. Set aside specific times when you’ll be online and stick to it. And soon you’ll be going with the flow too!

© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:

Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui and Lifestyle Marketing articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.

Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.

I’ve always known that fast streets and Feng Shui aren’t the best combination. With fast streets the energy flows by the home so quickly that it can create a negative impact on the home. One of the best ways to address this is with a landscape berm. A landscape berm is a raised bed in between the home and the busy street. This raised bed should include a bank of evergreen trees or shrubs to create a barrier between the home and street.

Landscape berms are great ways to block fast flowing energy, loud, noisy street sounds and they create beauty and enhance the front of the home. When  the front of the home is enhanced, good energy or Chi is attracted. And good energy supports a home and it’s occupants.

What has this got to do with me?

The home I live in has a lovely berm in front, between the street and house. A string of large evergreen shrubs run down the center and both sides are filled with beautiful flowering plants, shrubs and grasses. Or I should say, up until this spring the beautiful berm I’m describing existed.

What happened this spring? We had gale force winds and rain tear through our town and cause tremendous destruction throughout town. Large, ancient trees were toppled, homes were damaged and streets were blocked.

In my case, my lovely front berm literally had all the large trees destroyed! My view went from one of beauty, and calm inspiration to a view of the street and even worse…all the noise from the street!

It’s like suddenly finding yourself outside in front of your home naked. Everyone can
see you, you feel exposed and uncomfortable.

The noise level has gone up substantially, I no longer feel welcome in my front yard and when I look out my office window, I don’t see beauty, I see the street.

The difference in my experience of my home and front year has changed dramatically. I have to say, I REALLY appreciate all the benefits a landscape berm provides. I understood it before but now I have a much more intimate appreciation and understanding.

What am I doing about it?

Next week we’re replacing the evergreens we lost. No longer will I feel naked and exposed in our front yard! We won’t  be able to see and hear the street and our lives will slow down, and gain more clarity and beauty. When I look out my office window the view will be comforting, welcoming and inspiring.

It’s going to be a good thing!

© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:

Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui and Lifestyle Marketing articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.

Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.

My oldest daughter just started a blog and I was impressed by what she wrote and inspired to change the way I write on my blog. Starting today I’ll be writing several posts a week, sometimes article based, other times like today, a conversational post. I hope you enjoy the changes as much as I think I will!

Feng Shui, Change and the Gulf

This morning I woke up, checked Facebook and clicked a You Tube link about the oil spill in the Gulf. As I was watching I was inspired to write an Examiner article about how the principles of Feng Shui can help us at this time.

I know that this probably sounds a bit far-reaching, but hear me out.

Our sea and our land need us. The destruction the oil spill in the Gulf is causing is difficult to comprehend. What can we, as individuals do? We can use this terrible experience as an opportunity for change. We can choose a new path, a new way of living in our world. One that honors and respects all life.

Feng Shui is about living in balance and harmony with your environment.

Two of the basic principles in Feng Shui are:

1. Everything is connected
2. Everything is constantly changing

And they both apply in this situation. First, everything is connected. We now know just how much this is so. Everything we do ripples out and affects the world around us, sometimes good, sometimes not so good. For example: When we use pesticides we affect not only the insects we view as bad but we also affect the good insects. And we affect the quality of our water and the land we live on. Everything is connected.

Second, everything is constantly changing. We can see this is the ever changing seasons and weather around us. And now, we can see devastating change occurring daily in the Gulf. Change that is affecting our sea, our land and the animals and people unfortunate enough to be close by- and ultimately change that will affect us all.

How can Feng Shui help? By embracing the basic principles of Feng Shui we can choose to change the way we live our lives and that in turn can make a difference the way we use energy and how the energy we use impacts the world around us. We can choose to move away from energy sources that contaminate and damage the world we live in.

5 Easy Steps to Big Change

1. Recycle
2. Buy local food and produce whenever possible to cut back on the fuel needed when our food is sourced elsewhere
3. Change to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reduce the amount of energy you use
4. Drive less, use public transportation more
5. Turn your thermostat up in the summer and down in the winter – every little bit of energy you save helps

Change starts at home, with each of us. We can make a difference. We can choose to change. And Feng Shui can help, when we live in balance and harmony with our environment everybody wins.

© 2010 Harmony Life, LLC by Laurie Bornstein

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include the copyright and the following information:

Feng Shui Teacher, Designer and Entrepreneur Laurie Bornstein, is the author and creator of ‘Feng Shui Lifestyle’, her FREE monthly ezine filled with Feng Shui and Lifestyle Marketing articles and tips, empowering and inspiring you to live and work in comfort, balance and harmony.

Visit www.harmonylifedesign.com to learn more.