Pelusey – Blog

I began my relationship with Johann, when I had to learn a poem by him for my Year Twelve German exams. I struggled, whinged and memorised the long poem in German, not really having a concept of what it all meant.  (It turns out the poem we learnt wasn’t actually written by him, but now that has little relevance to my Goethe discoveries)

Years later I stumbled across a journal with a quote on the front saying “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” I felt it was meant for me so I bought it and began writing a journal.  Some research has discovered that Goethe may not have said this. He might have been credited with this quote but as he wrote in German, they can’t find the original words.

Nevertheless it is a great quote from that old era. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the German version of Shakespeare. Goethe is quoted in German as much or more than Shakespeare is in English. Goethe was born in Frankfurt Germany on 28 August 1749. He lived in the time of the French Revolution, Sentimentalism, Enlightenment and Romanticism. His works ranged from the The Theory of Colours that was later expanded by Charles Darwin to the legendary Faust.

“He produced volumes of poetry, essays, criticism, a theory of colours and early work on evolution and linguistics. He was fascinated by mineralogy, and the mineral goethite (iron oxide) is named after him. His non-fiction writings, most of which are philosophic and aphoristic in nature, spurred the development of many philosophers, including G.W.F. Hegel, Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Along with Schiller, he was one of the leading figures of Weimar Classicism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe

All of that is almost irrelevant to others, but in 2011 I had the pleasure of going to the Frankfurt Bookfair. While I was there I decided to do a bit of “following in Goethe footsteps”. Some of that was accidental because he did get around.

My goal now is to spread some of his quotes so others can discover an amazing philosopher from history. I do find it fascinating that 300 years ago could have such deep insights into science, life and its meaning. Goethe loved art and nature.

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”

We aren’t musicians, but Goethe is the poet and Michael takes very fine pictures. We will combine the poetry and pictures for inspiration.

Paula Smith is an amazing public speaker. We met her through National Speakers Association Australia (WA) and during that time she has achieved her CSP (the highest accolade for a speaker). Her book Speaking in Shower gives you all her tips of the trade.

http://www.paulasmith.com.au/author.html

Would you like to be a dynamic speaker? Would you like to be a confident, charismatic and influential speaker?

Speaking in the Shower reveals the strategies to presentation success. Whether you are a trainer, sales person, student, corporate high-flyer, community worker or small business owner, Speaking in the Shower is the essential guide for anyone who needs to stand up and speak out. Stories from the truly terrified to the professional speaker, plus Paula’s seven steps to presentation success, are all exposed so you too can become a speaking superstar.. Join Paula Smith, Author, in the Speaking in the Shower journey.

Step out of your shower and onto the platform with a real audience (with your clothes on).

We met Andrew and Sue a few weeks ago when they were in Perth for the City to Surf Marathon. We interviewed them for our Live your Passion series and got a copy of their book Couple on the Run. We are representing their book at the 2010 Frankfurt BookFair. Here is their story.

In 2008 Sue and Andrew O’Brien became known as the “Couple on the Run” when, side by side, they ran 8 marathons in 8 countries in 8 weeks together. They live by the philosophy that by harnessing the principles of exercising with a partner and applying this to other areas of our everyday lives we can achieve more. With almost 100 marathons under their belt, overcoming a case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the early detection of their son’s life threatening condition and personal and professional successes all attributed to their running partnership, who are we to argue?

They claim fitness is one part of the equation, but it plays only a small part. The greater benefits include sharing the motivation to get things started, the commitment to regularity and enjoying quality time with one another. All leading to greater understandings, shared goals and ultimately lessons in life.

The O’Briens combine a diverse yet complementary experience base. Sue is a fitness expert and former Australian Triathlon representative, while Andrew is an award winning CEO, expert in creating Desired Futures™, corporate adviser and talented facilitator.

Applying their Desired Futures™ and Partnerunning™ principles of vision, strategy, planning, communication, teamwork, relationships and fitness, the O’Briens inspire and educate business and individuals to perform at their best.

Together they talk, walk and run the power of partnership.

The book, Couple on the run, tells the story of those 8 marathons in 8 countries in 8 weeks. http://coupleontherun.com/

Here is another great book Jane and Michael Pelusey are representing at the Frankfurt Book Fair

From Hormone Hell to Hormone Heaven by Eva Torner 

From Hormone Hell to Hormone Heaven is a simple, easy to follow guide using natural and holistic methods to help women balance their hormones.

This book educates women by showing them some simple strategies that will help ease the discomfort and distress experienced from the symptoms related to their hormonal imbalance.

These symptoms include:  PMS, heavy & irregular periods, menstrual cramps, bloating, breast swelling & tenderness, mood swings, depression, acne, fibroids, endometriosis, cravings, weight gain, osteoporosis, fatigue, tiredness, loss of libido, hot flushes and night sweats.

The book provides women with a step-by-step approach to enable them to easily implement the first few simple steps immediately by making some minor lifestyle changes and to then build from there.  It is designed to inform women of the options available to them and empower them to make the best choices for themselves.

It lets women know that there are natural solutions available, apart from the medical recommendations that can be drastic, don’t necessarily work and can even have harmful side effects.

From Hormone Hell to Hormone Heaven adopts a holistic approach and covers all areas, which along with the physical aspects, also involves the emotional, mental and spiritual.  It will help a woman to rediscover her power so that she can control her life rather than having her hormones control it.

It will help women realize that the difficult time they are experiencing may be the biggest gift they have received and can be the start of a journey of rediscovering their true essence.

From Hormone Hell to Hormone Heaven is written in layman’s terms by someone who has been on this journey to hell and back.

Eva has utilized her resources, knowledge and experience, along with that of practitioners and mentors to help bring this important information to women everywhere.

In summary, From Hormone Hell to Hormone Heaven is a simple and practical guide written for women by someone who has actually been there and it covers the steps that any woman can take to get herself back in hormonal balance.

 Helping you with your own journey towards
Hormone Heaven!

If you want a copy go to www.hormonehelltohormoneheaven.com

Today I did a video of Janette Philp for our trip to Frankfurt Book Fair in just over two weeks. Janette is the co-author of Live Love Laugh. This little pink book has become a national best seller and has inspired thousands of people. This is one of the ten great Australian Self Published bookes we are taking to Frankfurt with us

  Janette Philp with Live Love Laugh

Are you living the life you want, but find yourself too busy to make any meaningful change?

Have you created SHRR in your life? When you simply feel Stuck in your Habits and Routine, resulting in a Rut.

If you’re looking to make change in your life, then this high energy, fun filled soul nurturing book is for you!

Experience more fun, joy and zest to radiate an energy that attracts the things you desire!

“When I stepped into my office after being away for five weeks, it was like hitting a brick wall, all of a sudden the love, the life and the laughter disappeared. Live Love Laugh is full of wonderful tips and ideas to take you from overwhelmed to calm. As I turned more pages a serenity came over me and total calm filled the office space I had previously corrupted. Every page gave me another idea that I could implement gradually into my life, my love and my laughter. This wonderful book of ideas can be read all at once or just one page at a time.”

Cyndi O’Meara, Best-Selling Author, Nutritionist & International Speaker

“The power to change your life is inside you, right now. Live Love Laugh reveals how you can bring it out and get you moving towards living your dreams and enjoying the journey – one day at a time.”

Pat Mesiti, Best-Selling Author, International Speaker, Business & Prosperity Coach

Michelle, Janette and Terri, authors, motivators and life coaches are everyday women who walk their talk. Through their collective experiences, they are enthusiastic and committed to igniting the passion in women.

To buy the book go to http://www.threellls.com/books.html#lll

In five weeks time we are flying to Frankfurt, Germany for the biggest book fair in the world. As well as our own Live your Passion: Food book, we will be taking a selection of books from other self publishers. Over the next few weeks we will be showcasing those books. Our first featured book is Creating Brand Energy. We met Cath Sutherland through National Speakers Association Australia in Perth. Cath is a expert in brand energy and her book is a beautifully designed and has great information about how to create that brand energy for your business.

Creating Brand Energy – How to transform your business energy into market power

 It’s all about energy. Creating a powerful brand is all about activating and managing the collective energy of everyone who works with the business – Cath Sutherland 

Browse the shelves in the marketing section of your local bookshop. You will be inundated with jargon-packed titles bearing grandiose promises about bottom lines. Cath Sutherland knows there is more to business than profit margins. In Creating Brand Energy: How to Transform Your Business Energy into Market Power, she invites the reader into a more meaningful conversation about business and brands; one that explores who you are, what you stand for and why you are here. 

In a word, this book is about connection. Introducing her innovative Brand Creation Model, Cath takes businesses through a process of connecting with their Purpose, Values, Personality, Product and Global Vision – all the while showing you how to build “Brand Energy” that is authentic and attracts relationships that are reciprocal, meaningful. 

This practical and creative guide is as powerful for the small business owner as it is for the corporate professional. A genuine “how to” book, it clearly outlines a process for building a powerful brand by deepening your understanding of your business identity, attracting “like energy”, and growing market share through connection.

 Creating Brand Energy features inspiring stories of Australian businesses that have successfully applied the innovative Brand Creation principles.  

Brand Samples include: BOOST Juice Bars, ENJO, Morrison, Kailis Jewellery, Faraway Bay – the Bush Camp.

 Cath Sutherland 

Cath Sutherland is a dynamic Australian businesswoman who began her career as a creative director for radio stations throughout Australia and later worked in events, public relations and national marketing management. In 2000, she established her Perth-based consultancy, now Conscious Business, which specialises in helping businesses come alive to their personal, local and global impact through strategically developing their brands. She created her revolutionary Brand Creation Model to guide businesses through this process. Cath is steadfastly committed to her Global Vision: fostering corporate integrity. This book is 100 percent aligned with that commitment. 

To order your copy of Creating Brand Energy – visit www.consciousbusiness.net.au

Recently I have been to a few workshops and seminars and I am amazed at how many speakers do not have a book to sell at the back of the room. I am going to let you know why it is imperative that all speakers have a book to sell. That is of course only if the speaker wants to be an expert in their field and wants to stay in the memory of their participant.

A case in point is the National Speakers Convention in April this year in Melbourne. It was three days of dynamic professional speakers and breakout sessions. Three months later who are the speakers I remember?

1. Ngahihi O Te Ra Bidois and
2. Kevin Roberts

Ngahini, Jane and Michael

The reason I remember them is because they are the books I bought. In fact they were the only keynote speakers that had books. Ngahihi is a Maori who speaks and writes about Ancient Wisdom, Modern Solutions. I mention him to many people and usually have to get his book off the shelf to spell his name.

In contrast Kevin Roberts name is not hard to spell, just so common it is hard to remember. So I get that book down regularly too. His book is called Lovemarks.

So how does this story relate to the average workshop speaker? At a presentation or workshop, the speaker usually has something else to sell – a longer more in-depth course or mentoring or coaching. Some people will sign up immediately. Other however will not and not because they don’t want to. I have been to course where I am overseas or interstate when the next course is on or the time is not right financially or career wise. What I would always do though is buy a book.

The theories of accelerated learning are that you learn the stuff one day and then should review it the next day and then in seven days. Here’s a big tip, not a lot of people review their notes but they will pick up your book again. Your book works on two levels:

1. People remember your message
2. People remember YOU!

When I buy the book, I go home and show my husband, family and friends. I take that speaker to bed with me, reading of course. I wake up with that speaker when I read in the morning. I might take the book to work and read it at lunchtime. My workmates might say “what are you reading” and I show them the book. I leave the book on the coffee table for a few weeks, staying in the front of my mind. Even if it goes on the bookshelf I see them every time I am looking for another book. And when the time is right to sign up to your big ticket item, your contact details are easily accessible in the book. 

Then my friend rings up saying do I know anything about that topic. I share the book. Luckily the courses available by that speaker are described in the book so my friend decides to go along.

And what about sales of the book? If you are a speaker that gets a good amount of people and regular seminars, 1000 books would disappear of the shelf. You can also include a free copy for your clients that buy your big end products. If you sell the 1000 you end up with $30,000 gross. A book costs about $5-$8 per book depending on the colour and design.

If you think it takes too long to write a book, it is all in the planning and lateral thinking. What if you had some case studies in the book? You get others to write the case study about their story in relationship to your topic.  Win – win for everybody

• They write the piece
• Great testimonial for you
• Great advertising for them

So to all those speakers without a book, if you want your message and yourself to be forgotten as soon as the participants leave the room, then continue as you are. If you want to be remembered like Ngahihi O Te Ra Bidois (I had to look at his book again) get writing.

If the whole process of writing and publishing a book seems too big give us a yell and we can help. www.pelusey.com

Mushrooms are poisonous, hallucinogenic, glowing, and now, thanks to a new study, named after a children’s cartoon character. This is the start of an article on the National Geographic website, announcing Spongiforma squarepantsii as the name of a new fungus species.

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/16/weird-wild-spongebob-mushroom-named/?source=link_fb20110620spongebobmushroom

I would like to hypothesise that fungi is actually the key to finding you passion. My evidence for this is as follows. For years we have been fascinated by people who seem to be living their passion. Our first real experience and recognition of people with a passion began 20 years ago when we met Katie Syme (who will be in our Live your passion book about art and the environment). Katie was and is passionate about fungi. Yes fungi. Although we do find fungi fascinating it is more the fact that somebody could be so outrageously excited by that subject that really grabbed our imagination. Her face lit up, her knowledge was extraordinary and she showed a great hunger for learning. Fast forward 20 years and we interviewed Katie for one of our books and she is just as passionate about fungi. In fact Katie is a world authority on the subject.

Another strong influence in my life was Beatrix Potter. I may have been reading Tales of Peter Rabbit but she was also a keen Mycologist or passion about fungi. Katie and Beatrix had something in common as both are botanical artists specialising in fungi.

As we interviewed Matt Moran at Aria Restaurant, he bounced in and showed us a photo on his phone. He was so excited because the white truffle (yes a fungi) was on a plane and heading his way.

So with my tongue firmly in my cheek, when trying to find our passion perhaps we need to go to the mushroom section of the greengrocer. Well they are the meat for vegetarians.

If you have been in an industry for a while, it is very easy to think that you know pretty much all there is to know about your area of speciality. Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security. It all comes down to the angle of your perspective. We have been writing articles on a freelance basis for magazines and newspapers for over ten years now. So there is a sense that we think we know how to get into the media. We thought that when we were running some photography workshops in country towns and we needed some publicity, so our automatic response was to contact the editor with mixed results.

We have just completed a two day Publicity Campaign course with Sue Papadoulis. www.homebizchicks.com  She turned what we thought we knew on its head. She taught us some great stuff so stay tuned to see us on a media outlet near you. What fascinated us was that you can be working in an industry and really only understand it from your own view. This just proves to us that everyone needs to keep learning. You soon realise that the more you learn, the more you don’t know. I actually think the longer you have been doing one thing, the more you become stuck in your own ways.

The world around us is changing so fast, it is essential to keep up to date if you want to stay ahead of or even keep up with the pack. The other industry we are involved in is writing books. When we started, we would send manuscripts as hard copies with files full of transparencies. Today manuscripts and photographs are sent on one flash drive or using a file transfer website.

As I read my kindle, buy books online at amazon and download e-books, I realise that the world of books is also changing very quickly. Keeping up with the current trends and looking at everything from different angles is the key to standing out in an industry on the move.

So when you ever say to yourself that you know a lot about your specialty, it might be time to look at it from another perspective.

Two of the people that we have interviewed last week for our book series -“Living your passion” are flying to Delhi this week for the Commonwealth Games. One is the coach of the Australian Men’s Hockey team, Ric Charlesworth. The other is Glenn Mitchell, ABC sports commentator. I once heard Glenn Mitchell call Ric Charlesworth the best coach in Australia. Great praise indeed.

What these two passionate people have in common is their ability to be open to any opportunity that presents itself. Both were passionate about sport, but didn’t plan to have a lifelong career revolving around it. When opportunity presented itself, they both took it and now are living their passion.

Both Ric and Glenn know India very well. Hockey is India’s second biggest sport. Ric has been visited as a player and coach plus he lived there for a while. Cricket is India’s biggest sport and Glenn travels there regularly to commentate on the Australian cricket games.

Ric and the men’s hockey team are world champions and therefore favourites for the Commonwealth Gold medal. Glenn and the broadcast team can be heard on any ABC radio station around Australia. Glenn is commentating on the cycling. Good luck to both of them in India.