You have many choices in life and in your business. I believe one of the most significant choices you make is whether you will be the true expert in your field. By definition, the expert is the recognised leader, the one who stands above all the other people in that field – and that person is usually wealthier than his or her peers. The expert is usually the one who put more thought and attention into the goal, so that person truly deserves greater benefits. The benefits are three-fold, and I would encourage you to think about which ones would motivate you to set yourself up as the true expert in your area.

You owe it to your customers

Your customers are confused. They need direction. They have real issues and concerns that only you can resolve, but unless you are a real expert who stands out above the crowd, you are being lumped into a big group with all of the other companies that do what you do. Personally, I’m glad we have a big market and entrepreneurship is encouraged. However, you may have noticed a glut of emails, marketing material and general information from a growing number of companies that all start sounding the same. When I go to networking meetings, I can hardly remember two or three people a few days after the meeting. I’m not being mean; I just have too much happening in my life and it seems my brain will only cope with outstanding information. I have been studying this issue for several years, and most people have a similar view. The people I remember are those who say something specific and memorable – and I will only remember one thing about them. I ‘catalogue’ people so that I stand a chance of even remembering them at all. And as I said, I am not alone. By the way, I also notice those that are adding specific value in their books, blogs and articles, as well as those that others are talking about.

Make it easy for people to see the real value of what they do, as this makes it easy for them to choose you. They want to pigeon-hole you because there is just too much information coming at them from all angles. You don’t want them to pigeon-hole you but that’s what they need and want to do. If they want to catalogue you so that they remember you later, let them! They want you to stand out for one specific thing that you do better than anyone else.

The key to standing out is to have one message to share with your market and share it widely and wisely. Most people’s tendency is to diversify and talk about a range of things, but as we said, the customer would prefer to pigeon-hole you. Think of a top Internet company. Why does that company stand out in your mind? Probably because they have made it very clear where they excel and why they are the leader. Give your customers a clear message and they will love you for it. You will see more direct business and you will get others writing and talking about you, online and offline.

You owe it to yourself

Get your piece of the pie. If you haven’t noticed, it’s very competitive out there. That usually means more companies fighting for the same piece of business. If you are just ‘another one of those companies’, you have to fight a lot harder and will probably get squeezed on price. The more you stand out as the expert, the less competing you need to do and the higher the price you can command. Think about your own buying habits, in business or even at home. Have you ever purchased a premium product or worked with a serious expert in their field, willing to pay more for the confidence that you were getting the best? In today’s market, the abundance of choice means customers can shop around and get good deals, but the amount of choice available also makes it harder to find the real leaders.

Being the expert also allows you to keep things simple. When you wake up in the morning, you only have one hat to put on. It’s a great feeling and you will wear that hat with greater confidence. Over the past eight years of showing entrepreneurs how to be real thought leaders, I have noticed that those who embrace this concept of being a real expert on one area have greater creativity and fulfilment as well. It’s as if the part of the brain that was managing all the diverse roles was finally freed up to focus on being the best at one thing. It is very liberating.

You can go deep, acquiring more and better knowledge about your subject and your market. You can then share that knowledge and new insights with that market and help them even more. Knowing that you are delivering real value is a benefit that can’t even be quantified.

A benefit that can be quantified is time saving. One of the best ways to prove one’s expertise is by writing and publishing. However, most entrepreneurs do not do any writing because they think it is time-consuming and overwhelming. Experts write good quality books, articles, blogs and speeches, and they write them fast because they know their subject so well. Getting books, articles, blogs and speeches out quickly and frequently widens the gap between them and their competitors, allowing them to stand out even more. I would love it if you could do that because it makes life a whole lot easier and way more fun!

You owe it to society

Society is in desperate need of good leaders. As I mentioned, people are willing to pay more for the leading solution because they hope it will enhance their lives. You want to think about how what you do enhances lives. Then keep that picture in your mind as you go about your business day.

Inspire the next generation. The next generation of entrepreneurs are looking to us to provide guidance and direction. The more specific greatness you can share, the more you will help them realise their potential as well. It’s like providing a clear signpost, as opposed to one with too many confusing directions on it.

When you become the true expert, you will become wealthy. Wealth can be measured in financial terms and it can also be a sense of abundance and well-being. Many people want to build their businesses, write books and become experts to acquire wealth. I believe the key lies in knowing what that wealth will do for yourself and others.

So we are not just talking about you becoming wealthy to benefit yourself. Your family probably features strongly in your vision. What about other people you would like to help? A rich person can help a lot more people than a poor person can. Wealth is a great thing, if fully appreciated and used for the good. So please consider being the true expert and becoming wealthy.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein is best known as Founder and Managing Director of The Book Midwife Co-Founder of Ecademy Press business publishing. Her mission is to create thousands of real thought leaders who will change business and society with their ideas.

An international speaker, trainer and consultant with 20 years in marketing, and over 100 clients who have written and published excellent books and articles quickly using the Book Midwife methodology, Gibbins-Klein shows top business leaders how to turn their expertise into enhanced credibility and more business. Read more at www.bookmidwife.com

Geert Conard on the need for Networking in the modern economy.

His book Friends with Benefits was launched at the weekend and can be sourced from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk or from this site.

Have you ever opened a favourite magazine or journal only to find an article by or about your biggest competitor? How did that feel? Not too great, I imagine. Especially when you know that your product or service is superior. Some people just seem to get all the media attention. They also tend to get more business than those with lower profiles. In my experience, media attention and increased business go to those people who have established themselves as the experts

Finding the Needle

In this day of information overload, it is harder to find the needle in the ever-increasing haystack. There are many new businesses entering the arena because of redundancy (layoffs) and the attractiveness of becoming an entrepreneur. These new companies just crowd the market, confusing and diluting the messages from serious players. So, even if your company is the best, you need to shout even louder than before to be heard above the din.

Economic drivers and time pressures cause decision makers to react in ways that may not be ideal. For example, instead of taking the time to read the hundreds of emails, direct mail pieces, magazines and other print and online media, they resort to simpler methods of choosing suppliers.

The vast majority of companies I speak to say that they have seen a tremendous fall in the number of proposals they are asked to generate as well as the number of proposals to which they are being asked to respond. It seems no one wants to spend their time putting together lengthy documents and even fewer people want to read those documents. The nature of business decision making is changing, and it is going back to more old-fashioned values.

People do business with people they like and trust. They get to know about those people by meeting them, reading about them and hearing about them. So, a combination of personal relationships, public relations and word of mouth. The people who stand out are those who write and speak like they know what they are talking about, and the PR serves to validate that perception. And it is always a person who is a leader, by the way, not a company. Companies don’t have opinions, companies don’t sign agreements – people do. If the top executives create the right reputation, the company will do well as a result, and clients will be attracted to you.

Therefore you will be doing your clients a favour and saving them time if you stand head and shoulders above the competition, thus eliminating the need for complicated buying processes.

Someone has to be the expert; it might as well be you

If we look at the market as a pie, we must admit that the pie is a bit smaller than it was before. However, companies still want the same size slice of pie they had last year. Well, that’s simply not going to happen. As a result, the rate of business failure is up while a larger number of businesses than ever before fight over the smaller pie. And the table manners are not always pretty!

In every industry, one person is always going to get his or her slice of the pie, and that person is the obvious expert in the industry. The top person (or company) is the one that stands out in a decision maker’s mind because of their reputation. And, as I mentioned above, that reputation is built by good relationships, good PR and positive word of mouth. If you make yourself visible and share influential views on key topics in your industry, you will become known as the go-to person, a highly valued opinion moulder.

Executives cannot afford to be too busy to write or speak in public

I speak to hundreds of executives every year and one comment I hear consistently is that they are very busy running their businesses, and there is no time to do things like writing or speaking. My argument is that there are always some people who make time to distil their thinking and share their wisdom with the market. I call them the ‘REAL thought leaders’. Their willingness to be visible and vocal as well as bold and opinionated gives them an edge over those who have their heads down, buried in the business. It is not always easy to prioritise these kinds of activities, especially when business pressures intensify.

In fact, it is precisely when times are tough that creative approaches are necessary. The payoff can be more significant since so few are willing to do what it takes to be seen and heard.

Real thought leaders find the time to write and speak about their area of expertise. Steve Glowinkowski, PhD is founder and managing director of Glowinkowski International, a firm of management consultants specialising in organisational and leadership development. For 25 years, the company worked at building their reputation as a leader in this area, with an innovative process and framework, and an impressive client list. However, it was the publication of Steve’s book It’s Behaviour, Stupid! – What Really Drives the Performance of Your Organisation that consolidated the many years of work and established Steve and the firm as the go-to people for people development. The timing could not have been more critical, with the launch of the book taking place in the spring of 2009 when consultancy work began to dip dramatically.

One person is standing out above all the others in your industry. It may be you, or it may be the other guy. Being seen as the expert is no longer a luxury since a shrinking market delivers business deals to the obvious experts or the REAL thought leaders only. The good news is that it is easy to set yourself up as that top expert, if you have the resolve and determination to win. I hope you see your name the next time you open your favourite magazine.

We are very happy to publish Geert Conard’s latest book for several reasons.

The first is that his Girlfriend in Every City was the first book we published in December 2005.

The second is that he is addressing a very topical subject – How to Network in the New Economy.

The third is that he is an excellent networker and a good friend.

So when he approached us with this latest book, we simply said YES.

What is the book about?
Four years after his first book ‘A Girlfriend in Every City’, Geert is back with more stories, examples, quotes and glimpses into his life as a proactive networker. This time his focus is on the changed world in which we live and work today. In this new economy, networking has become more important than ever before … The book is already available to buy both here and on Amazon.

Book Launch
On the evening of Saturday 21st November 2009, the book will be officially launched in Geert’s home town of Diest, Belgium. The presentations will be in Dutch with English powerpoint. The book is in English.

If you are interested in attending the launch, you can request an invitation from the book website.

You can buy the book for £14.99 from Ecademy Press and from Amazon at £14.24 (at time of posting this).

Grad Expectations: The essential guide for all graduates entering the workforce by Rob Cross

In these tough economic times, development expert Rob Cross provides invaluable advice to Britain’s desperate graduate workforce to help them achieve their true potential.

Never has the job climate felt so hostile as in this cruel recession, and never have graduates, both newly qualified and established in the workplace, had to fight so hard to win their jobs and then to keep them. In Grad Expectations (published by Ecademy Press), an entirely unique professional guide by business and talent development guru Rob Cross, constructive, inspirational pearls of wisdom are unveiled, enabling readers to recognise the tools and qualities they need to nurture within themselves in order to enjoy successful and rewarding careers.

Grad Expectations wittily combines fact with fiction, as Cross offers his sage instruction through the life experiences of five young university graduates who meet at the induction day of their two year development programme at World-Corp PLC, a company like any other real organisation. Cross allows us to follow their individual journeys, charting their highs and lows, their individual and collective challenges, how they manage the complex hierarchy of office relationships, while establishing a system for success which enables them to fulfil their true potential. Cross was horrified by the inadequacies of UK careers advice programmes which were failing to give students a tangible understanding of life at work. He was shocked to discover how many good graduates were ill-suited to the careers they had worked towards, and were now effectively suffering from a quarter-life crisis. Cross was motivated to write Grad Expectations by the thought that millions of ambitious, talented graduates were trapped in jobs they hated, and that employers were themselves saddled with lacklustre staff.

Grad Expectations enables all young graduates to feel empowered and better equipped to deal with the daunting professional world. It removes any notion of shame that might be attached to those who must chose to resign from it and follow another path of employment. Rob Cross’s priceless advice should be both a comfort and an inspiration for students on the cusp of employment, as well as acting as a brilliant guide for those talent managers who may need to fine tune their own working practices.

About the author: Rob Cross was born in Melton Mowbray but emigrated with his family to Melbourne, Australia as a toddler. He has degrees in both business and engineering. After an influential tenure with the Australian Air Force he returned to Britain in 2004, and was employed to deliver leadership courses to public, private and not-for-profit organisations. He currently works as a business and leadership development consultant focusing on developing tomorrow’s leaders through providing specialist coaching and consultancy, as well as running training seminars and motivational speaking assignments. Rob Cross lives in London.

To find out more about Rob Cross go to:
www.rob-cross.com
www.grad-expectations.com

You can buy the book for £12.99 (excluding delivery) from Ecademy Press or Amazon (UK site linked) on-line or by ordering using the information below at your local bookseller.

Bibliographic Information:
Grad Expectations
Rob Cross
ISBN 978-1-905823-61-1
Published by Ecademy Press Sept 09
Retail Price £12.99

Ecademy Press is a leading publisher of new authors writing on business and life-solutions based titles. Since its launch in December 2005, Ecademy Press has published a number of highly acclaimed titles including Amazon bestseller ‘BusinessWise’ and ‘Property Magic’ by property millionaire Simon Zutshi

For more information about the author or to arrange an interview please email :-info@authoright.com

In his blog today, Geert Conard explains why he published A Girlfriend in Every City with us and why we are working together again to produce Friends with Benefits, his new book on 21st Century Networking.

In general there are two options for publishing a book : Making a bookdeal with a mainstream publisher or self-publishing. For me both these options don’t really work. Getting a bookdeal with a mainstream publishing brand is close to winning the lottery. The odds are against you unless your name is Dan Brown and you have already published a million-selling book before.
If you go for self-publishing, you are choosing for publishing without any backup at all. In fact you have to become a publisher yourself to get your book on the market.
I have chosen for Ecademy Press which is a cooperative publisher, offering packages of services which makes you land somewhere in between both choices I mentioned before. When I wrote my first book in the summer of 2005, I didn’t even have a clue about the processes that were needed to transform my manuscript into a nice paperback book.

Friends with Benefits will be launched in Belgium on November 21st and will be available from Ecademy Press and Amazon before that.

Watch this space …

Why you need to be writing and publishing
Mindy Gibbins Klein

More business books are being written and published than ever before. If we combine Internet publishing, self-publishing and traditional publishing, the total number of non-fiction publications has more than doubled over the past five years, and this trend looks set to continue. So why the big increase and what are the implications to the average CEO?

The main reason we are seeing more books in print is the ease with which they can be published. Print-on-demand technology and cooperative publishing enables books to be printed only as needed, which save the publisher (or the author) from having to make a significant investment to print books up front. There are more publishers out there than ever before (48,000 at last count) so publishing has become a trendy thing to do, and more business leaders see writing a book as a viable activity, compared to years ago when it would have been much more difficult to get the book published. Most of us would love to have a book with our name on it; the only things that usually stop us are lack of information, confidence and clarity and not knowing how to get published. The advent of the Internet, for publishing electronically but more importantly for promoting books, has made a huge impact on independent authors and publishers. All in all, writing is now more attractive because publishing is easier and more accessible.

In a competitive market, the winners are usually those who shout the loudest, or at least those that stand out in our minds. We don’t always like to admit that or believe it; we prefer to think that buyers make their decisions rationally, based on facts, choosing the best products and services. However, research has shown that most people make decisions emotionally and then back them up with logical arguments, after the fact. One professional speaker I know swears that he lost a job because he didn’t have a book and the other guy did. When challenged, he told me that he asked the decision makers what influenced their final choice and they told him “We didn’t like the other guy as much but he must be authority because he’s written a book”. Shocking but true.

You are an authority

I happen to like the word “authority”. I know some people don’t like it, but I think it has a lot of value. What I mean by “authority” is simply being a source of knowledge that people look up to and respect. Contrary to popular belief, it does not mean being the best or offering something completely unique. Too many people worry about being “unique” when what they need to concentrate on is being excellent, reliable and authentic. There are already plenty of books on your subject in the market, and yet there is room for many more. Each new book offers a slightly different perspective and, if the author has been completely authentic and shared his or her own views and perspectives on the subject matter, the book creates a personal relationship with the reader. Thought leadership is not an esoteric label; it means that we are leading by sharing our thoughts.

Although we ultimately want to see full-length books written by our top business leaders, some people prefer to start by publishing articles or being part of a compilation or anthology. It’s all part of a comprehensive writing and publishing strategy, which, executed effectively, puts those executives ahead of the majority of their peers. Journals such as this one are highly respected and books with multiple authors can be more interesting and add more value than books by single authors. I have worked on several anthologies during my career, with the most successful by far being a book called BusinessWise – Words of Wisdom for Small Businesses with Big Ambitions (Ecademy Press, $19.99). The secrets of that book’s success were a good title, stand-out book cover and a team of authors who were absolute authorities on their subject. They all had something to add to the overall content and an interest in using the book to boost their own professional profiles. BusinessWise hit number 2 on Amazon on launch day and continues to sell well, with most of the authors actively using it to build credibility.

In larger organizations, there are opportunities for more than one executive to create writing and publishing strategies and build their own personal profiles while adding to the company’s image. You need to ask yourself who in the executive team should be visible and what they have to add. For example, different members of the team have different skills, experience, and ideas or opinions. The key is ensuring that the individual writing and publishing plans support the overall plan, in terms of messages, format and timing.

It needs to be a printed book

You may have heard of e-books, or electronic books. I would like to differentiate between electronic versions of good, full-length books and the phenomenon of sketchy, overpriced, misleading e-books whose prime purpose is making money. I am in favor of making books available in different formats to suit different readers, but let’s face it: respect is normally reserved for authors whose books or articles are in print. Electronic versions are simply not perceived to be as impressive. For example, I have never heard someone say “He is the author of that important e-book”. Maybe this will change over the next few years, but for now, print books remain the only way to establish that real sense of authority.

How and when to get your message out

Having worked in this area for many years, I am still surprised at the number of executives who do not have personal writing and publishing strategies and plans. They may have marketing and public relations plans and activities, but their own articles, books, blogs and related public speaking are generally not included in those plans.

We have already discussed the fact that if you want to be seen as the leading authority in your area, you need to be writing and publishing books and articles. In a tough market in particular, your customers need clear messages from you that set you up as a true thought leader. What you need to produce depends on several factors, such as where your business is in its life cycle, the competitive state of your market (i.e. what your competitors are doing and saying) and your key product and service messages. For example, in the early stages, when you are not yet known, you need to provide higher level information to introduce people to you and your company. Later on, you can differentiate yourself by providing your unique perspectives on your topic and influencing the market in that direction. If you are in a very competitive sector, it may be necessary to bring in the influencing earlier.

If you have many different ideas, it is more even more important to create a strategy for getting one clear message into the market, supported by several subsidiary ones. I meet a lot of entrepreneurs at networking events who, when asked what they do, talk about at least three or four things and make people totally confused. I also see business leaders dilute their message by writing several unrelated articles or blogs. You want to be known for one thing, and it starts with your perspective on your topic. Taking the time to strategize will make it easier to produce high impact, effective books, articles, blogs and speeches. Those activities will, in turn, set you apart from your competition as a real authority on the subject, which could result in more business, higher fees and the satisfaction of having your name on the cover of an excellent book.

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Mindy Gibbins-Klein is best known as The Book Midwife (TM) an international speaker, writing and publishing strategist and leading book coach who has helped over 100 business experts write and publish books, many of them bestsellers. She is a Director of Ecademy Press.

Financial advisers lacking the trust factor are being given the secrets to a long and successful career thanks to The Trusted Financial Adviser, a new book by leading independent financial adviser Lee Clarke.

Following a recent Which? Test which revealed that only 5 out of 40 advisers passed the ‘good advice’ test, Lee Clarke is a shining example of why trust is so critical in maintaining his longstanding career as a financial adviser. Lee’s primary motivation for writing The Trusted Financial Adviser was to help both existing and new advisers to develop more trusting relationships with their clients.

“Above everything else people are looking for an adviser they can trust. As a financial adviser you must act with integrity in every aspect of your life and especially in your business dealings. Especially in troubled times such as these, clients are looking for advisers who will demonstrate competence and integrity by only acting in their clients’ interest” says Lee.

Lee has been advising business-owners since 1974 and in 1981 discovered and developed his true calling of becoming a Financial Adviser. Having been a founding member of the Institute of Financial Planning and currently serving on the MDRT Ethics Committee, he is now celebrating his 28th year in the industry with the release of The Trusted Financial Adviser (£12.99, Ecademy Press) which Ecademy Press publisher Mindy Gibbins-Klein predicts will be a category bestseller.

“The Trusted Financial Adviser is aimed at people who want to work for themselves and Lee explains clearly how they can build their own business rather than build someone else’s capital value and future. In the current climate, Lee’s advice on how to have a successful career as a financial adviser and how to protect yourself from possible scandal and danger is immensely valuable and a must read for any financial adviser,” says Ms Gibbins-Klein.

Last month, the Financial Services Authority banned and fined two directors of a Yorkshire-based financial group for their misleading promotions and the mismanagement of an investment scheme that put 53 customers at serious risk of losing nearly £10m. It would seem that The Trusted Financial Adviser could not have come at a better time.

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Lee Clarke is a successful independent financial adviser from Cardiff and founder member of the Institute of Financial Planning and Professional Speakers Association. He has served on several committees and task forces for MDRT, the professional association for financial services professionals worldwide with 35,000 members and currently serves on their Constitution, By-Laws and Ethics Committee. The Trusted Financial Adviser shares his 28 years of experience and is his first book.

Lee Clarke blogs at www.finspeak.blogspot.com

The Trusted Financial Adviser is published by Ecademy Press.
Buy it here for £12.99

For press enquiries please contact Jessica Suter on 01603 283 503 or by email.

Audra Lamoon and Sue Gilkes, Partners of Your Impact, a successful business training skills consultancy, with offices in the UK and Dubai, have published a book entitled ‘Blondes in Business’. The official book launch took place on 3 September at London’s newest 5* luxury hotel, The Grange, St. Pauls.

‘Blondes in Business’ details their experience, as women [and blonde to boot!] of setting up their own business in what is a largely male dominated market. In a lively and humorous way the book talks about the struggles and prejudices they have had to overcome and how they have successfully built up a thriving international business. The book also gives practical, no nonsense advice to those thinking of setting up their own business.

Your Impact was set up in 2004 by Audra Lamoon previously of Lamoon Business Solutions and Sue Gilkes of Your Impact. The UK Company has expanded into the Middle East market where they set up a joint venture company, Kawader Impact, based in Dubai. The company, which delivers business and people development training skills, employs over 40 trainers and has worked in over 20 countries worldwide, delivering programmes to the public and private sectors including retail, media, PR, hotel, construction, engineering, government, financial, education, health and rail.

The company works with some of the UK’s major contractors on PFI bids ranging in value from £300m to £1.1bn, including British Schools for the Future. They are involved throughout the whole process of the PFI bid – from presentation, technical content of the bid, team coaching, through to presentation and delivery.

Your Impact is also working with Microsoft where they have designed and implemented the ‘Microsoft Engineers Academy’, and are responsible for running the academy’s worldwide training programme. Since training commenced, Microsoft have seen, on average, an increase of 12% improvement in ‘Satisfied’ customers to ‘Very Satisfied’ customers.

Audra and Sue said that the rationale behind publishing the book was to pass on their knowledge and expertise, in order to encourage other women to set up their own business, particularly in the current recession which has seen many thousands of people lose their jobs.

The book is available to order online at www.blondesinbusiness.com priced £10.99.

For more information contact Michelle Swales on michelle@yourimpact.co.uk or call 0788 798 4107.
For more information on Your Impact log onto www.yourimpact.co.uk

24 Carat Bold was launched on 2nd September, 2009 with a competition – details here.

Q:  How did you come up with the idea?
 
A:  I love the coaching work I do because I help really great people raise their visibility and credibility in their market.  I was looking for ways to do even more and to be ‘bold’ as I talk about in my new book 24 Carat BOLD.  I am also sad when client programs end and wish we could continue working together for ever to achieve even more.  Now I’ll be able to do just that with one lucky winner.
 
Q:  A lifetime of coaching?  Don’t you think you will get bored or tired of working with the same person?
 
A:  Absolutely not!  I have been doing this work for nearly 10 years and I do get clients from the old days coming back again and again.  It’s one of my favourite parts of the job: to see them grow and expand their message and their results.  I love the idea of helping them over a really long period of time.  Just imagine what they could produce in that time!
 
Q:  How do you define a ‘lifetime’?
 
A:  My working lifetime.  I will probably keep doing this work until well into my seventies.  I have a lot of business colleagues in their seventies and they just keep getting better and better.  So the competition value is based on about 30 years.
 
Q:  How did you form the panel of judges?
 
A:  We are all members of the Ecademy BlackStar network.  It is a group of top quality entrepreneurs, speakers and authors who have joined the BlackStar club for life, and they are all good friends of mine as well.  We all already work with business owners and executives on leadership development, so I thought it was a natural fit.
 
Q: Who are you hoping will win the competition?
 
A:  Ideally it will be someone with great ideas and enthusiasm, but without the resources to bring it all together.  By resources, I mean time, money and extra creative ideas.
 
Q: Aren’t you excluding people who are not able to buy the book online?
 
A:  I suppose I am.  I really couldn’t think of a better way for them to prove they had purchased it; Amazon is so prevalent.  And if someone is not even on the Internet, I am not sure they are at the right stage to be thinking about being a REAL thought leader.  So much is done online nowadays.  But if someone really can’t buy the book online, they can call us about sending in a bookstore receipt.  The number is +44 (0)845 003 8848. 
 
Q:  Any last comments about today’s announcement?
 
A:  Yes.  It nearly killed me to keep it all a secret.  I hardly slept for days leading up to the event.  I guess it shows how much I like sharing everything with everyone.  I wish all our participants the very best of luck and remember – winning the competition would be great, and the real value is in applying the principles of the book!  Go out there and be 24 Carat BOLD!

For more information please contact Jessica Suter on 01603 283 503 or email Jessica@mediajems.co.uk