Because I’m seeing more emails from members about needing a sub, I’d like to remind everyone that it’s YOUR responsibility to find a sub. So to help you find one, here are five suggestions:

1. Have a coworker sub for you — Shane Anderies does this with his staff’s attorneys and Nancy Yeh has invited other Paychex employees to sub for her.
2. Have a client sub for you — Ask someone who can vouch for your services to sub for you and give a testimonial. Many members have done this successfully.
3. Have a person who does what you do sub for you – Julia Ten Eyck recently asked another family law attorney to sub for her.
4. Have a potential new member sub for you – Every substitute should be a potential customer for other members in the chapter. So invite someone who will fit in and fill an empty category.
5. Have someone you’ve subbed for at another BNI chapter sub for you – They know the drill so all you have to do is give them your 30-second infomercial and they’ll do the rest.

From blog.intuit.com, April 27, 2011.

Do you call a life coach to navigate life’s challenges or help with career issues? Does a life coach help you understand your goals, how to reach them, and prioritize them? Do you need a life coach to boost your self-confidence?

We called Kenji Oshima, AKA Coach Kenji, of San Francisco, to find out the answers. He said, “All of the above!”

ISBB: What does life coaching focus on?

Coach Kenji: Life coaching focuses on an individual’s entire life as it relates to goal setting, outcome creation and change. In coaching, the assumption is that individuals are capable of generating their own solutions, while the coach provides a supportive, discovery-based framework. While positive emotions are typically the natural outcome of great coaching, the primary focus is on creating strategies for changing your work or personal life.

In addition, the true emphasis in coaching is on action, accountability, and follow-through; it supports personal growth, professional growth, and development based on individually-initiated change, since coaching is forward moving and future-focused.

Coaching is for self-actualized people who have known success in their life, and choose to add that extra edge in order to move forward to make the changes they want in life.

Read more.

Once you have more than three people to gather for a call or meeting, email is no longer an efficient tool. Instead of saving time, you’re wasting time – your own and that of everybody else. If you send email to poll your group on possible dates and times, you end up sending and receiving an endless string of messages. Ugh!

Thank the admin gods for a nifty (and free!) online app from the folks at Doodle. Go to www.doodle.com and follow the simple instructions for polling your group for good days/times to meet. The set up is super fast and easy. Once you’ve done that, you receive two emails from Doodle.

One message includes the link for the poll. Simply insert that into an email to your group. It will lead them to the online poll where they check the days/times that work for them.

The second message includes a link for you, the administrator. This allows you to see, in real time, the responses. Once you know which days/times have the best response, you can easily schedule the meeting and send a note to your group.

That’s it! One email to poll the group. A second to inform them of the meeting date and time. So simple.

Running a successful small business requires you to make the most efficient use of your time. This free application does just that. Now go! Schedule your next big meeting. And prosper!

Most of us blog or have at least thought about doing it. But, we’re plagued by the thought:

What do I write about?

Tips for content creation:

1. Develop your own library of keywords, topics and angles your customers want to know more about. Think of this as the subject matter you want to be known for, like “gluten free diet” for Cathy, “DUI” for Christopher, “Aging in place” for Josh, and “cloud computing” for Joe. Brainstorm a list and keep it handy for guidance.
2. Look at frequently or recently asked questions from your clients. As Bradley suggested, look at your outgoing email for ideas.
3. Take information you think is commonly known, but really isn’t. Like the value of comps when selling your home, for Tom or Kevin, or tax filing deadlines for Wayne
4. As Phil always says, look for something topical and in the news right now. Set up Google News Alerts to get email notification of all relevant news and blog posts to stimulate ideas. I get a daily email with news for “bicycle commuting” for my Bikes Make Life Better blog.
5. Share your expert opinion on something controversial. Take a stand.
6. Use seasonal events and celebrations as a hook. There’s a day or month for everything. Bart, Alexander Graham Bell’s birthday is coming up!
7. Do what Gil does for his Intuit blog: interview other people, especially if their expertise dovetails nicely with yours. I should do a blog post with Lauren on the value of art direction over graphic design.
8. Did you just read a great book that relates to your business? Do a quick book review.
9. Do a customer profile, highlighting how you’ve helped them
10. Do a brief how-to on something, laying out simple, yet specific steps your readers can act on right away
11. Provide tips on something, like Steven doing a “10 ways to transform your bedroom into a tranquil haven”

Most important:

Start with a plan! Keep it simple. Stay focused on what your customers want that you’re particularly good at providing. Ask yourself if writing this or that will advance your business. If it will, add it to your plan.

To see how to easily publish your blog posts and articles to the BNI site, watch this super quick video from Bradley. Remember, the more inbound links you have to your site, the better your search engine ranking. So with that in mind, get other marketing tips and ideas from my site, Definitive Marketing.

Well, you can, with Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

Read more to learn how.

Any member of this team can offer sage advice: legal@BNIembarcadero.com.

Financial Services include:
• Banking Services
• Bookkeeping
• Business Broker
• Commercial Funding
• Corporate Finance & Restructuring
• Financial Advisor
• Tax Consulting

Legal Services include:
• Bankruptcy
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• Estate Planning
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• Intellectual Property
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Also, do you need a florist for an upcoming event, your home or business? Are you searching for a wedding photographer?

Our experts are all just a click away: life@BNIembarcadero.com.

Our Insurance Services include:
• Business/Commercial Insurance
• Casualty Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• Florist
• Health Insurance
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• Wedding Photographer

Our Marketing Makeover team can handle any creative need: marketing@BNIembarcadero.com.

Our Marketing Services include:
• Advertising Sales
• Art Direction and Graphics
• Copywriting
• Event Marketing
• Marketing Services
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• Promotional Items
• Public Relations
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A wide range of health care professionals, practicing both Western and Eastern medicine, are all here to help. We can get anyone fit, healthy and happy: health@BNIembarcadero.com.

Healthcare Power Team Services include:
• Acupuncture/Herbal Medicine
• Caterer
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• Hypnotherapist
• Massage Therapist
• Nutritionist
• Nutritional Supplements
• Personal Chef
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Contact any of our Professional B2B Services power team members today: pros@BNIembarcadero.com.

Professional B2B Services include:
• Certified Career Coaching
• Credit Card Processing
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• Employment Agency
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• Professional Organizer