Even if you aren’t a fan of RAP music, you’ve gotta hand it to M.I.A.’s pregnant Grammy performance last night on the Grammy’s with T.I., Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne, and Kanye West.  She rocked the house in a signature couture pregnancy outfit…on, yes listen closely ladies….her due date!  Her outfit was made with polka dots and mesh fabric putting it all out there.  I just had to write about it because to me that takes real confidence and self esteem and I couldn’t have been prouder while I was watching.

There was a woman standing on stage with four men, doing what she loved, thinking outside of the box about career options for working mothers, paving new paths for future generations, keeping it real and doing it her way and shining with Self Esteem.  Just what Six Figure Moms Club is all about.  My kinda woman.  You can see more about M.I.A. in Huffington Posts’ article here.

Next time you’re feeling insecure about anything, think about Ms. M.I.A. rocking it on the stage with her 9 month pregnant belly covered in Mesh.  You just gotta love it!

Check out the links above and read more about Kim at her oh-so-cool blog I Work in My Pajamas. Her blog has great information about how affiliate marketing works and also fits right in with our Six Figure Moms Club mantra, “Where Women Meet to Create Their Best Lives”.  I’m hoping she’ll join us when our social network launches in the next few weeks.  How about it Kim?

Next week, when you’re working on your vision boards at our January 22 event (or virtually from home), consider putting an affiliate marketing shoe selling strategy in one of your corners.  Getting free shoes sure does sound like a nice fringe benefit to me!

The industry has its own magazine, FeedFront, and the cover feature story is, “The Women of Affiliate Marketing”.  The conference has a mentor program.  Because I’m so new to this industry, I signed up for a mentor.  My mentor just happens to be, Lisa Picarille, editor of Revenue magazine and so far she’s been terrificly helpful and teaching me about the Affiliate Marketing conference.  I’m looking forward to meeting her face-to-face this weekend.  We introduced ourselves via phonecall earlier this week.

Lisa told me a handfull of stories of six figure moms who had left their corporate careers to pursue successful careers in affiliate marketing positions.  Many of these career changes were forced due to a family health situation but the end result seems to always be a happier mom with a more cohesive family unit.  I’m hoping to meet some of these women in person this weekend and to interview them so that I can share their stories with you.

Likely the most interesting thing that Lisa talked to me about is the personality of the Affiliate Marketers and this conference.  She said, “This weekend is not about explaining your business to people and striking deals.  It’s about hanging out, getting to know people and forming relationships.  People in this industry want to know you and they do business with people they like and feel a connection with.  Business deals will likely happen after the conference.”  How refreshing is that?  It is the classic Know, Like and Trust, but a whole room full of 3,000 that actually GET that is going to be amazing. 

Some of the big players in social media are already in Las Vegas for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and will be staying around for Affiliate Summit.  I read yesterday that Chris Brogran, Warren Whitlock and Dave Taylor all attended Social Media Jungle.  Sorry to be repetitive, but Gary Vaynerchuk (@Garyvee) is the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit and you know I can’t wait to hear him speak again!

What is Affiliate Marketing you ask?  Here’s a link to a great site with the Top 10 Affiliate Marketing programs which also has some interesting articles which tells you more about the Affiliate Marketing industry.  If you have a specific question about Affiliate Marketing this weekend, send me a message on Twitter @aaswartz or email me and I’ll do my best to find out!

I don’t watch much TV but yesterday I wanted to record Gary Vaynerchuk making his debut appearance on the Today show.  I love Gary.  I’ve been hooked since I first heard him speak last September.  I didn’t know who he was but once I heard him speak, I was addicted.  After his talk ended, I asked for his advice about a Six Figure Moms Club membership site.  I wanted the site to be free versus paid and he agreed.  I had been coached by many that it had to be a paid membership site.  That just didn’t feel right to me.  I wanted the site to be availabe to everyone and I thought charging a fee would inhibit people from joining.  Gary agreed.  (The membership site launches in early January.  I’m so excited and I hope you’ll check it out and join!)

Gary is amazingly motivating when you hear him speak.  He’s CRAZY when he talks but so real that I can’t help but feel connected to him.  He does live Ustream shows from his office which are great too.  They are often impromptu.  He’ll announce them and within 5 minutes, 600 people have shown up to watch.  Gary has made a name for himself for being authentic, truthful and doing what he loves.  His family owns a wine company but Gary himself produces an internet wine show at www.winelibrary.tv.  He also speaks, offers corporate coaching and is known as a social media and personal branding expert.

Additionally, Gary talks about something near to my heart, people who want to change their careers and follow their passions. Gary preaches that if you are unhappy in your current job, there’s nobody to blame but yourself.  I’ve heard him talk about how a person can still work their day job, spend a few hours with their family and then spend the hours of 9pm to 2am working on a plan to reengineer their lives and careers.  He says you have nobody to blame but yourself if you are unhappy.  It’s a hardnosed approach but he’s right.  Some of you may know that I’ve written a book, QUITTING IS EVERYTHING!  It’s sitting nicely here on my shelf waiting for its publishing partner.  It’s a series of interviews with six figure earners who left their corporate jobs for more fulfilling passionate work and a how to guide about career transition and working in a job you love.  I hope to publish my book someday.  In the meantime, try to catch Gary talking about career change but be warned, you will be motivated to change.

Also, I’m sure Gary will have his Today show segment up on his site in a few days if you’re interested in seeing his spot.  He recommends some fabulous champagnes and proseccos for under $20.  In Gary’s signature language, make sure to give them all a good “sniffy-sniff”.  “American’s just don’t smell their alcohols enough” and that makes Gary very sad ;-(.

So, what do I have in common with Matt? Well, likey a couple of things related to travel in Italy but the main thing is….Today Show Co-Host, Matt Lauer, attended Ohio University, my alma mater.  He just has to be a good guy   Afterall, it is known as being ranked consistently in the top 20 of all party school lists!  (And they do have a top ranked journalism school too!)

Have a great day everyone and CONGRATULATIONS @GARYVEE!

I love cooking a huge Thanksgiving dinner and having a large group at my house. The more the merrier. In my opionion, the key to avoiding overwhelm is all in the planning. Yes, at Thanksgiving and in life. It’s just like any other large project you need to manage. Look at your goal and then plan backward from the deadline. Outline the critical path activities and go from there. How am I doing? Am I taking all the fun and sexiness out of your Thanksgiving day experience? Maybe it sounds that way but for me, I’ve found that proper planning is the key to my enjoyment factor. If I am able to take the guess work out of my Thanksgiving cooking schedule (and my life scheduling), then I can spend my time enjoying the process and the day.

Here’s my tip for what you should do this week with your Thanksgiving planning:

Monday

• Plan Food Menu
• Plan Beverage Menu
• Plan Thursday Morning Breakfast and Snack Schedule (Avoid Hungry Grumpies within your Tribe)
• Gather all Recipes
• Do all shopping in advance (Hopefully, some of you did this last week to avoid crowds)
• Assemble Serving Dishes, Glasses, Plates and Table Necessities (Silverware, Centerpieces, Candles, etc)
• Make Assignments for your spouse (align these with his/her talents and affinities)
• Make spouse feel like it takes someone with the skills of a King, Queen or Knight to accomplish the task you are asking them to help with
• Make sure you have your favorite Tea, Coffee, Wine or Cocktail on Hand and Imbibe freely (but wisely) during your cooking fun this week

Tuesday

• Prechop everything you can (Onions, Celery, Carrots, Breads)
• Planned and Prepare Kids Foods (As Possible e.g. precook pasta, etc)
• Cookand bake in advance (Cranberry sauce, boil sweet potatoes, moir poix, pies, cakes, jello molds, relishes)
• Put time in your day for something relaxing (meditation, bath, 10 minutes of reading your favorite book or magazing, a quiet walk down your street to get your barrings). This is huge in the success of keeping your sanity and keeping you on track this week.

Wednesday

• I prefer Fresh Turkeys BUT….
• If your bird is Frozen, make sure you thaw the bird if it’s frozen. IT TAKES A LONG TIME.
• Put everything in dishes that you can (relishes, condiments, pickles, jellies, salt, pepper, etc)
• Continue advance prep for recipes
• Select table linens
• Set the table
• More time for you to relax
• Do something fun with your family.
• Buy fresh flowers (or best, ask hubby to….)
• Revisit your lists. Evaluate whether a trip to the store is necessary.

Thursday

• I’m a member of the Cook the Turkey in a Turkey Bag Crowd. It’s easy and awesome and the bird is juicy and full proof.
• Cook the bird according to the Birds directions.
• Ready beverages
• Finish cooking what must be done today
• ENJOY!

Ok, so what about those of you who have no idea where to even start?  My advice is to go to a site like http://allrecipes.com/ which has easy to follow recipes and avoid some of the more mature sites like http://www.epicurious.com/ and http://www.foodnetwork.com/.  Although, these sites are among my top favorites, they can be intimidating for beginners.  Other great sites like http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx have great recipes for beginners too.  Good luck!

So, in closing, why do I think Avoiding Overwhelm at Thanksgiving is just like avoiding it in life?  Here you go:

• You have take care of yourself first to avoid overwhelm
• You have to plan, plan, plan
• You have to expect that something is going to go wrong and that’s just part of both.  No big deal.  Readjust, move forward and enjoy the adventure.
• Someone WILL say something you don’t like and someone will make someone else uncomfortable.  You’ll have to help, you won’t want to but it’s all part of your journey.

President Obama’s ability to reach out and connect with Voters, specifically Generation Y is due to the fact that he embraced their language: texting and communicating with social media tools. Compare this to John McCain, clearly a novice, and it’s easy to see how a younger generation might feel they have only one clear choice for President. They just can’t relate to someone who can’t communicate with the tools of today. It’s a text book example of the generation gap.

So you say, interesting enough but how does this impact me, the working mother?

Think about it for a minute. If Barrack Obama can use Social Media to have a landslide competitive advantage over his competition, then why can’t you? If you’re an entrepreneur or you’ve been thinking about starting a venture, what can you learn from this recent presidential election? What can you implement for your own business? What can you plagiarize from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign? If our President used Linked In, Facebook, My Space, Twitter, why wouldn’t you? After all, he did spend millions on his campaign, likely the largest budget for market research this year. Why wouldn’t you maximize the research that he’s already done and copy that for your own business?

Clearly, I am a Social Media evangelist. I believe that Social Media is the path for working mothers to flexible work. In fact, I believe that it’s the path for not only working mothers but for anyone looking to lead a more independent lifestyle. Think about it. For the first time in history, the playing field has been equalized by the internet. We’ve all got the power to step up to the plate and hit a home run. Why shouldn’t it be you?

So, go see what your new President did to get elected and copy, copy, copy. Working moms, the man just showed you exactly how to do it. All we have to do is watch, listen and implement for our own businesses. How lucky are we to be living in these times?

Got examples of things you’ve already done? Love to hear from you so that other moms can learn! Leave a comment and if you like this post. Please stumble it!

Here are a few other interesting articles covering our new President’s Social Media success and predictions about how he might continue to use it moving forward:

Mashable: How Will President Obama Use His Massive Social Media Influence?

Search Marketing Gurus: Barack Obama: The First Social Media President?

Advertising Age: Obama’s Rivals Should Steal From His Social Playbook

Read Write Web: Obama’s Social Media Advantage

Each year, when I spend time on a lake, I leave with a little more clarity about what I would do differently if I really did win the lottery. So my task will be to refine my dream a little more with the information I’ve gained from this trip. How lucky am I to get to try out my dream before I really get the opportunity to go for it? You should be doing this too. It’s so much fun!

I received a note from a reader today that said, “I just realized, I have no earthly idea where the Adirondacks even are”. Here’s a link for your reading pleasure. I found my house on www.vrbo.com which I’ve mentioned before here. Email me if you decide to travel here and I’ll give you my tips on planning a great lake adventure. I like to vary my trips from fast paced to laid back. The Adirondacks are definitely a place where a Six Figure Mom could kick back, relax and reengineer a few things in her life while taking in some great scenery. What are you waiting for?

Have you ever seriously thought about what you would do with your life if you won the lottery? If your answer is no, then I must ask you, WHY NOT? My prescription for you is to devote some quality time to this question and write a press release about yourself as if you won enough money to live the life of your dreams. I know some of you naysayers are shaking your heads and saying, “Why would I ever waste time working on something I know is unachievable? I’ll do that if and when I actually win”. Well, with that kind of attitude. It likely IS unachievable. But, if you can change you paradigm a bit and work with me here a little, we can have a little fun and develop a plan. Your mission is to visualize your dream life and then work backwords. You just might get closer than you think to your dream life. For example, my highlevel dream if financial resources were unconstrained consists of the following:

• Fund entrepreneurs with great ideas and great potential. Coach and mentor them to success.
• Travel and see the world while furthering philanthropic causes. Invest in real estate around the globe. Own a vacation lakefront home.
• Foster change in the work force and use my influence to open up options for flexible work so that my daughter will have more options than women today.
• Use my money and public speaking abilities to influence others to live happy, fulfilled lives of personal leadership and to get them to help others. Lead by example.
• Maintain health and fitness and influence others to do the same.
• Maintain only authentic relationships with people I truly care about and who appreciate me for my true talents. Get out of relationships with people who expect me to be someone I’m not and who want to influence me to take paths that are not the best for me.

So, all that said, what do you think I am doing today, even though my financial resources are constrained to get closer to my dream? I’m doing something for each one of those bullets but since I’m on vacation, let’s focus on that. I don’t own a lakehouse…but I’m sitting on the deck of one I rented for the week. It’s one of the nicest houses in Old Forge, New York. I’m in New York for a trip to see my husband’s family to which I conveniently added a week long lakehouse rental. Last year, I went to Montana to visit friends who were in country from Singapore. Guess what I added to my trip? 3 days on Whitefish Lake and 3 Days at Many Glacier Lodge…also lake front. (I also must mention that on a great hike at Many Glacier lodge I met an incredible man who I interviewed for my book who I promise to write about in another post. Serendipity IS always looking out for us if you’re aware of it).

So, your life press release is waiting for you, now get to work. You can’t afford not to work on this. Your life is waiting.

If you’re in the coaching business like me, you hear people talking about life purpose all the time. Whether it’s other coaches or clients looking for a more meaningful life, seems like I’m talking about this topic at least once every day. As for me, I’m at a great place with life purpose. I feel like every single thing I’ve done in my career specifically served to lead me to this very moment. Yes, that’s a “whoa that’s big” statement. (For those of you who don’t know, I’m a recovering Telecom Professional, MBA, CPA type turned Executive Coach, Blogger, Writer, Speaker). Actually, I’m so happy with my career that I think my friends are getting a little sick of me and sometimes frightened by my delight. They are looking at me and going. “Ok, Missy. It’s great to be in your fabulous euphoria, but come back down here to Earth with the rest of us and tell us how to get from where we are to our next step”. Fair enough.

I left my corporate position over four years ago. I can tell you that those four years have been the most excruciatingly difficult times of my life. Yes, even more difficult than high school and puberty. Why? Because going through two transitions at the same time 1) Becoming a parent and 2) Changing careers was almost more than I could navigate and still stay sane. (In an earlier post, I quoted colleague Tim Kelley, who said, “Your LIfe Purpose is the Thing You Struggled With The Most In Your Own Life”….Are you getting my life purpose and the tie to Six Figure Moms yet?).

Anyway, why am I writing about this today? Several clients have asked me lately. “Angie, Do you really think it’s necessary to do all this self discovery work to find out what I’m supposed to do with my career?” All I can do is laugh. Because I know, from looking back at them from the vantage point of the fabulous but difficult road I’ve already traveled that they are only cheating them self by even asking the question. And again I ask myself, “How do you get a horse to drink?” You know, the, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” adage? (If only I could invent some kind of elixir or kool aid to serve all of my clients…hmmm, I’ll have to work on that. But I digress…).

SO, the point of this whole story today is this, it’s not at all about finding your life purpose, but in finding the courage to embark on the journey. To search for your purpose because it is the path to finding your best, most authentic self and to be able to look in the mirror and see how fabulous you really are. Who can resist that?

I’ll be writing more about this topic over time but today I ask you to open your mind to your own self discovery. YOU are waiting.

So, anyway, he’s telling me how excited he is to have connected with such a great inspirational coach and I’m about to say you’re welcome (because I’m always giving him advice whether he asks for it or not). Then he tells me that his inspiration is none other than Donny Deutsch, and his TV show, The Big Idea.  I start laughing as I realize he’s been talking about Donny Deutsch for the last month as if he started dating a new girlfriend.  Seems that Donny gave him permission to work as many hours as he wants and provided a benchmark of other happily thriving, balanced, hard-working business owners.  So, John, thanks for reminding us Six Figure Moms to look for inspiration in all out of the box directions and best of luck. 

And readers, Donny does have some pretty impressive messages so check him out.  Thanks to John and many other folks that have been buzzing about Donny,  I’ve been following him too.  Good stuff.   Who are you all following on the cutting edge these days?