Links and Tools
Like most people, I've never had an original thought. Everything has come from somewhere else. Here are some of the "somewhere elses," I've been enjoying.
For simplicity's sake (thank you, simplicity) I've broken these down into categories. Feel free to take the used bookstore approach and just browse, or, if you're feeling more focused, click and jump.
- Educational/Self-Development
- Internet Tools
- Breakthrough services or products
- Spiritual Resources
- Interesting, heart-opening, or just fun
Educational/Self-Development
These are all sites that offer educational or self-development programs of the highest quality, and with whom I've had personal experience. You have to keep growing, so you might as well plant yourself in the best soil.
The Jaffe Institute:
An amazing school that offers training in how to heal and live in the way of the love. There is a constant flow of weekend and one-day workshops, as well as the more complete three year program. They have four majors in the program, including Spiritual Ministry, Spiritual and Medical Healing, Parent and Family Healing, and Organizational and Business Healing. Mark is a graduate of both the three-year program and the two-year teacher internship program, is an assistant teacher with the healing school, and serves on the Institute's board of directors.
School of Conscious Healing:
"This school assists any sincere person with the restoral toward wholeness through the evolving embodiment of the Truth and the Love. Sufi master teachers Kamil and Kamilah Nash are dedicated to guiding the student in practicing and facilitating others in this art of healing and living in wholeness." Basically, Kamil and Kamilah are amazing embodiments of this love, and teach in a beautiful way. I love them both, and have seen friends and colleagues of mine who are students of theirs just soar.
Bainbridge Graduate Institute:
BGI is a relatively new institution, but backed by decades of experience. They are providing a ground-breaking MBA in Sustainable Business, taught by industry experts and world-renowned faculty, all in a wonderful learning environment. They have huge hearts, and I recommend getting to know them.
Internet Tools
If you're in business, and you are on the internet, you want to do it right. While it's true that having a website is much cheaper than real estate, if you want your website and internet presence to be effective and powerful, I recommend investing in the right tools to make it easy on you.
Aweber Unlimited Autoresponders
If you are, or want to, put out a newsletter or ezine, you need to use an autoresponder service. Why? Because they handle all of the administration of dealing with bounced emails, they help you to automate the subscription process, you can set up nifty on-line series or classes like I did with The Remembrance Challenge, and they handle personalization of your emails.
And, the most important reason, if they're good, like Aweber is, they are constantly working with the major ISPs and spam-control efforts to make sure your email actually makes it into the recepient's inbox. Good price, easy to use, a lot of extras.
1ShoppingCart
This is the cart that I, and nearly every other successful internet marketer, uses. It's simple, powerful, effective.
Healthy Web Design by Dawud Miracle.
Dawud is my designer, and I love him to bits. I chose him to design this site when I was ready to invest and really make it professional for three reasons: 1. He really knows what he's doing and I loved his own website; 2. While he's constantly learning on the cutting edge, he's more interested in how useful the site is than how "designed" it is; and 3. He's a Sufi healer like me, which means he has a huge heart, and can support you in a very human way even if you are in big overwhelm around technology and the web.
He can handle anything you throw at him- from very affordable packages for beginners, to advanced web design with complicated back-end systems.
Breakthrough Services and Products
I have had personal experience with every one of these organizations, and I have no reservations about sending anyone to them. They aren't all business related, but then, our lives aren't all business, are they?
Lionheart Consulting, Inc.:
Lionheart helps organizations flourish as a whole through fostering leadership at every level. They are all friends and colleagues, and we have been clients of each other. Check out their unique business model.
AdamKayce
Adam Kayce is a colleague of mine, and we have been clients of each other. He is incredible at helping anyone who is a healer of any sort (coaches, consultants, trainers, LISTEN UP!) get rock-solid about their internal guidance, and trusting what you "get" in subtle perception. He is a spiritual healer of the highest caliber, so he talks from a spiritual perspective. Which is, after all, what you want if you are looking for guidance. Don't miss his Talking With God classes on receiving guidance.
Psychotactics
Zany New Zealander Sean D'Souza is a marketing genius, and one I'm happy to say I know personally. His gift? Piercingly sharp insight into busines strategies and structures in a way that makes them do-able, served with the humor you would expect from a former cartoonist. The help I've gotten from Sean has been instrumental in pushing my business into earning five-figures per month. Start with his Psychotactics newsletter, then get the Brain Audit. Then go from there.
Action Plan Marketing
I know Robert Middleton personally, and I just like the guy. Plus, his Infoguru approach was the foundational step I took from struggling into creating momentum. He offers great free stuff, including a weekly newsletter. Sign up for it, but then I highly recommend his Infoguru Marketing Manual. I've read a LOT of marketing books, and he lays out the details, and step-by-step of marketing for independent professionals with extreme clarity and effectiveness.
Conference Calls Unlimited
I know Zane Safrit, the CEO, personally, and I have been impressed by this company. I use them for all of my conference calls, and I especially appreciate that none of my customers will ever get blocked out of a conference- they have 24-hour customer service to help callers connect in case of problems. A solid, excellent company, with an old-fashioned and conscientious approach to customer service. You'll like 'em.
The Positive Futures Network:
They publish Yes! Magazine.
This is a journal that I always read front to back, and anxiously await the next. They cover political and cultural topics of global interest, from a local perspective, and are always showcasing how everyday people have successfully taken on major challenges around commerce, pollution, urban planning, economics, etc.
JasonStein.com
Jason is one of my mastermind buddies, and is an incredible spiritual business coach, "The Business Mystic" who helps professionals integrate spirit and work. One of his hallmark talents is around the concept of "Business Synergy" which is networking on steroids, and he is incredible in both living it and teaching it. I recommend his refreshing Monday Morning Minute- a free audio minute every Monday morning.
Pearson's Wine Web Site
In the family since 1933.
This web site represents a business that has nourished my family through three generations, and is where I first learned about how a business is run, and what heart and integrity mean in dealing with customers.
My parents run the place, and the email newsletter my dad puts out (with great help from my mom), is probably one of the best examples of effective, authentic email marketing I've ever seen. In about a year they went from less than 50 people on the list to thousands, and cut out a six-figure annual advertising budget for the cost of a monthly ISP, and increased their profitability per square foot of retail space significantly. And, it's fun for them.
He's been invited to write columns on wine because of it (free publicity), and several hot-shot corporate consultants subscribe just to see how he does it. You can, too.
Spiritual Resources
To stay effective in the world, you must nourish your heart and spirit. All of these resources offer nourishment for your spirit.
Shadhdhiliyya Sufi Center:
Connected with the Jaffe Institute, they offer spiritual support, teaching, and guidance in various programs, including some wonderful workshops and spiritual retreats. They have residential retreat centers in California, Maryland, and Hawai'i, as well as active Sufi communities throughout the U.S.
Chochmat HaLev:
Wisdom of the Heart Jewish Meditation Center in Berkeley, CA.
I had been quite active with them in the recent past, until moving to Portland, Oregon. They offer a three-year meditation teacher training, and beautiful spiritual renewal through Judaism.
Interesting, Heart-Opening, or Just Plain Fun
Genius Catalyst
Michael Neill is an acquaintance of mine whom I've come to respect deeply. If you are looking for daily inspiration for a better life, check out his site. I've been inspired by his generosity and warmth, and I've had a lot of fun surfing through his website- engaging, thought-provoking, interesting.
Camela Widad Kraemer
This woman can sing! I've known Camela personally for some years now, and it's an amazing thing to have a friend also been one of my favorite musicians. Her music brings me back to my heart, energizes me, uplifts me- I can't recommend her highly enough.
Secret Worlds: The Universe Within
Overwhelmed? Get perspective on your life. View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.