As we come to a certain stage in our lives many of us feel the call to make a difference. We want to make a difference in the lives of our families and our communities. We feel this spiritual call to make our unique impact. What I mean is that we all were put here to sing a particular song that only we have the lyrics to. For example, I came here to live the life of Dr. Jennifer Howard, with all of my gifts and challenges and to learn and grow and become my absolute best. You came to live as (fill in your name), to give to the world all of your gifts and talents and to learn from your difficulties.

From a spiritual perspective, many texts throughout history talk about the interconnectedness of all of life and how we are all one. Very much like the ocean is all water and we are individual waves in that ocean.

Many of us make our greatest positive impact through our life’s purpose; which can be defined as our unique impact. One’s life purpose can be the source of more than one positive impact. When we are able to find our life’s purpose, embrace it, and allow ourselves to move through life doing it, we feel much more content, at peace and happy.

Some people’s impacts are not, at first glance, huge. We are not all here to be Donald Trump or Barack Obama. Some of us do things in a much more behind the scenes way which is equally as important. Somehow in society today, many folks feel like they have to be famous to make an impact, and that’s not true.

Right now I am thinking of the classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart. In this movie, the central character thinks he didn’t do anything in his life. He is feeling frustrated with his life because he feels like it is too small. As the movie unfolds, we see how many people’s lives he actually touched and how much of a difference he actually made in his community. He gets to see what the world would be like without him, as if he was never born.

I invite you to answer the following questions…

Are you clear about what your life’s purpose is? If you are, what is it?

In what ways have you expressed it in the world so far to make your positive impact?

In the future, what other kinds of positive impacts would you like to create through your life’s purpose?

About the Author:
Dr. Jennifer Howard is a licensed psychotherapist, healer, author, relationship counselor, and professional speaker with more than 20 years of experience in helping people make changes in their lives. She’s appeared as an expert on numerous national network television shows including The Maury Povich Show, America’s Talking, Rolanda & other national media. She is known for her compassion and wit.

Right now, Dr. Howard is offering a free gift along with her free ezine. You will also gain access to free articles, blog and the online Virtual Meditation Room with guided and visual meditations, and more. Visit http://www.DrJenniferHoward.com

Relationships are the number one key to success for most successful business owners. But how do they do it?

If you are like most, you have gone out of your comfort zone, connected with some cool people, even created some partnerships, but they just didn’t go the way you hoped.

What do those successful business owners know that you don’t?

Here are three secrets to get you on track for creating happy, profitable relationships—whether you are being interviewed, promoting a service or even creating a product together:

1. Intuition: Make sure the partnership and the opportunity “feel” right. I don’t know how to say it any other way, but use your gut! Check in with yourself on the person, the opportunity, the timing and the compensation to you and your audience (remember that compensation can be money but is more often something different like visibility, traffic, testimonials, etc.). Even if you love the person, it may not be the right opportunity at this time. Trust yourself!
2. Write it down: Get your entire agreement down on paper. A conversation is not enough when something goes astray. You need to discuss all the “what if’s” before you start building a product or promoting an event. If you’re not sure what to write, I have a simple, customizable template for partnership agreements that you can use for free. Take a minute and download this template—even if it is just for conversation! http://www.queenofmarketing.com/grab-my-partnership-agreement-templates/
3. Communicate! Yes, this may be basic, but when partnerships start to go haywire, people quit talking. Don’t fall into this trap. Make time for your partner and always be respectful. This is like a temporary marriage of sorts.

Yes, it sounds simple and it is. Follow these three “secrets” and you will be on your way to joint venturing success!

MaryPat Kavanagh, President & Owner of Strategic Results Marketing LLC, credits her success in business to the many relationships she has developed over the years. To learn more about her and her relationship-building strategies and joint venture tips, connect with her on Facebook at http://Facebook.com/QueenofConnections

As a joint venture (JV) and business relationship expert, discovering the potential with social media tools was like discovering a gold mine! At last, a quick and easy way to cut through the clutter and the gatekeepers to start building high-end relationships with great people quicker than ever before!

But what I also learned quickly was that communicating in this social media world was not the same as we had previously communicated to our lists in the online marketing world. In fact, it is much more like the 20^th century days—you know, where you actually had conversations and built relationships with people BEFORE you asked them to promote your stuff.

So here are 5 steps to relationship success using social networking tools that work for everyone, no matter your business or your personality!

1. Build a profile that ATTRACTS the right people. Isn’t it a relief when people are knocking on YOUR virtual door instead of you having to bang on theirs? With the right combination of business information infused with your human interests and personality, you can turn your social networking profile into a relationship magnet!
2. Build your network with quality, not quantity. Make sure you know who you want to connect with. It’s about strategic relationships and it’s not random. Get clear about your values and the values of your ideal connections. Then infuse these into your conversations, updates and content sharing activities. Then get clear about the kind of people who you want to connect with and start having conversations.
3. Build your visibility with the people you want to connect with. Share great tips, answer questions and send private messages & birthday wishes. Again, having strategic, relevant conversations will increase your visibility with the people that matter.
4. Build your credibility through sharing good information—yours and others. Make sure your conversations and content sharing is relevant to your market and your expertise. But you can also RE-share information from your potential strategic relationships. This will get you noticed and leave your new friends feeling grateful to know you!
5. Make Money by getting signed up as an affiliate for your new friends. Make sure these are people who provide relevant and beneficial content, programs and services that will benefit your list and/or network and compliment you and your services.

These 5 steps are very effective when you are purposeful with your social networking and strategic in your relationships. Remember, conversations make the relationships, so listen and engage!

MaryPat Kavanagh, President & Owner of Strategic Results Marketing LLC, credits her success in business to the many relationships she has developed over the years. To learn more about her and her relationship-building strategies and joint venture tips, connect with her on Facebook at http://Facebook.com/QueenofConnections

What technology tools do successful websites use? Remember that a website is a store front; it’s your customer service rep, delivery guy and your marketing department rolled up into one.

“We are open”

People don’t enter stores that have a closed sign at the door. (Well some do, but… you know, we talking about the law abiding kind here.) Nothing says ‘Closed” louder on a website than old content: old date references and postings. So one of the best things you can do is to get a script that keeps the current date front and center for your visitors. You don’t have to update it everyday – it does it all by itself.

Now that people think you are home, and open for business, they may inquire about your product. You must have a customer service desk. This can take the form of a form where they fill out their name and email. It can be to simply subscribe to your newsletter or they may have a specific question. If you want to have a ‘stress-free’ site, try post an FAQ section – Frequently Asked Questions. Then one of the important things you will want to have is an autoresponder.

An autoresponder will keep your site in the mind space of your potential clients who have signed up for your newsletter or requested more information. It will send out preformatted emails at defined intervals automatically. Did you know that after 5 emails, the likelihood of making a sale increases steadily? It may seem like you are being intrusive, but they will be able to unsubscribe if they wish.

Urgency Sells: When you offer limited time offers, you cause people to make decisions. You need a script that keeps a deadline up to date on your website. It would generate a line that looks like this: This offer expires on XX/XX/XX, so act quick!

The Popup Generator – Pop up windows that appear on your web site when a visitor enters or leaves your web site have been shown to dynamically boost subscriber rates and sales. Even if you don’t have any programming knowledge, you’ll be able to add a popup to your site with a single click

Tell A Friend Generator – No matter what promotional tools you use on your site, no tool is a match for the power of viral marketing. Use this generator to create a quick, one-step button that you can add to your web site that will let your visitors tell their friends about your site with just one click! Add this to your site and watch a whole new flood of targeted traffic come in!

All these types of scripts are available for free or for a small fee online. I suggest that in addition to these sites, that you visit lots of sites you would like to emulate and see what they do well, what strategies are particularly effective and find ways to incorporate them.

I know even just the little bit above seems overwhelming. Well perhaps a mentor, someone who has done all the above and more would be of interest to you.