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.

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).

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

The secret is finally out! Following a press conference today at Adam Street private members club, The Book Midwife® Mindy Gibbins-Klein has revealed that she is personally funding a prize worth one million pounds and is now on the hunt to find a lucky winner.

To mark the launch of her much awaited third book 24 Carat BOLD (£10.99 Ecademy Press), thought-leadership coach Ms Gibbins-Klein has devised a never been seen before offer of the chance to win a lifetime’s worth of coaching, worth a million pounds.

The competition will run for one month and the entries will be judged by a panel of four leading UK entrepreneurs including; Ms Gibbins-Klein, Beermat founder and FT columnist Mike Southon, Founder of The Academy for Chief Executives Brian Chernett and Managing Director of Dynamic Transistions Judith Germain. There is just one stipulation, you need to have purchased a copy of 24 Carat BOLD during the month of September from Amazon, which then qualifies you to enter the competition.

The lifetime offer is a bold move by New Yorker Ms. Gibbins-Klein, who says:
“Coming from New York I’m used to being around bold, opinionated people, so it was only when I came to England 18 years ago that I realised how many businesspeople were missing out on opportunities to really stand out due to fear of a damaged reputation. I decided that in order to help them realise their inner boldness or as we New Yorkers say Chutzpah, I had to take things into my own hands and use my experience and knowledge to help them evolve into REAL thought leaders,” says Ms. Gibbins-Klein, who has helped over 300 people to write and publish their books.

William Buist MD of Abelard Management Services, who attended the press conference said;
“Mindy put on a great show today, we didn’t have a clue about what was happening as she kept the nature of the announcement a total secret. A million pounds worth of coaching is a extremely generous offer considering the current climate and we are all looking forward to finding out who the lucky winner is!”

Entrants need to forward their Amazon proof of purchase with a statement of up to 15 words on why they deserve a lifetime of thought leadership coaching. Entries will be judged by the panel of judges. Eligible entries are Amazon purchases dated August and September, closing date is Sept. 30th, with the winner being announced Oct 1st

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Mindy Gibbins-Klein has helped hundreds of business leaders gain recognition as the true experts in their field by showing them how to write the best possible books, ebooks and articles, and how to deliver high impact, relevant presentations and keynote speeches.

An MBA graduate in International Business, Mindy is a trained coach and marketing consultant with over 18 years of experience in the corporate world, largely running marketing departments.

Publisher and founder of Ecademy Press, Mindy is the UK’s leading authority on REAL Thought Leadership and the author of 24 Carat BOLD (Ecademy Press, September 2009). Mindy is also co-author of Amazon bestseller BusinessWise, A Dance in the Desert and an e-book about self-publishing.

Mindy is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker and is a regular contributor to the business press on a variety of subjects, with an emphasis on turning business leaders into REAL thought leaders.

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