Powerful Women Today Magazine Winter 2023 V1

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What would the ideal women’s magazine look like?

Let me start by saying I LOVE books and magazines. When I was litle, I was fascinated by National Geographic . I used to think that one day when I grew up, I would become a National Geographic correspondent and travel worldwide, bringing amazing adventures and stories to everyone. Litle did I know then that I would grow up to be a 100% indoorurban type of lady.

My choice and taste in magazines grew as I did – pre-teen mags with the latest version of Menudo , Vogue , Veranda , Time , The Economist – with the later, my dream was that one day, I would be qualifed enough to apply for one of the jobs listed in The Economist . Happy to report that the being qualifed part did come true! And today I am a proud entrepreneur and founder of Powerful Women Today.

Back to Magazines. Because we are located in Toronto, Canada, most of our media, including magazines, come from our southern USA cousins along with some brilliant decoratng ones from the UK. But I learned very quickly about decoratng magazines was to only look at Canadian publicatons decoratng magazines. BECAUSE because ALL of the beautful products and companies listed in the back directory from the magazine’s contents would be something I could actually get or even drive to. No point in falling in love with something you cannot get. At least, practcally.

To say decoratng is a passion for me would be an understatement. Decoratng is about gracious living and surrounding yourself with a manifestaton of your best self and best life.

That is the passion behind Powerful Women Today’s Magazine. All the content contributors are Mentor Experts within Powerful Women Today. Every day, they are Empowered Women empowering women through their respectve modalites. They are not celebrites, nor are they recommending solutons that are out of reach for most women.

Powerful Women Today is a boutique accelerator of women’s success. Be sure to check out our full-service ecosystem on the next page. Our Mentor Experts are a collectve of elite professionals who, in additon to running successful businesses of their own, choose to come together and form the ultmate Empowerment Circle of interdisciplinary and multdisciplinary knowledge, skill and desire to impact the world.

We are real everyday doctors, Ph.D.s, lawyers, self-made millionaires (keyword self-made), Licensed Professionals, Elite Coaches, Consultants and Mentors.

Click to meet all our mentor experts .

Powerful Women Today’s Magazine is our way to bring strategies, solutions, inspiration, and Aspirations to women globally in a real and authentic way. No more photoshopping, less of the circle of shame , and none of the ridiculous sex tps, unrealistc expectatons, consumerism, and celebrity culture. We ofer what women want to read about: practcal life, career, and entrepreneurial advice, clothes a human-shaped person can wear, and –wait for it – books writen by experts who have lived through an experience and now ofer expert solutons on parentng, relatonships, self-care, money, intellectual development, happiness, peace….

Our Mission and Vision are to champion and empower Women’s Emotonal and Financial Independence. Our core values of Non-Judgment, Diversity, Equity, Justce and Inclusion inform everything we do. Our desired outcomes are Visibility, Impact and Legacy for all women who wish to be heard.

“Championing Women’s Emotional and Financial Independence.”

Our Magazine is our Love letter to you with fresh, intelligent, thought-provoking perspectves and inspired lifestyle, professional, and most of all, realistc solutons for the everyday challenges of superwomen. So… Economist meets Vogue meets Veranda meets National Geographic : The Urban Indoor Version…let’s get to it. Here comes Powerful Women Today ™ Magazine.

I hope you enjoy the frst issue of our Magazine.

About the Author

Carolina M. Billings Ph.D (C), MA-IS, CHRL, SHRM-SCP

Powerful Women Today ™

htps://www.linkedin.com/in/ carolinabillings/

In what areas of your life would you like more confdence, power, inspiraton, creatvity, knowledge or profciency?

Would it be in any of these areas? Relatonships, Happiness, Wellness, Financial, Business, Career, Mental Health, Self-Care, Occupatonal (Career, Entrepreneurship, Transitons), Parentng and more...

If you said yes, we have an Empowerment Circle for you.

When you join PWT with an Empowerment Circle membership, you gain access to a team of elite experts ready to champion and support you— at the same tme, belonging to an empowered community of women with the same goals, concerns, challenges and aspiratons as you.

So why join one?

The power of working within a laser-focused single-topic group accelerates and simplifes the acton and strategy to implement and achieve your desired outcome. At the same, you will be building your confdence, drive and profciency. This is what it means to be empowered to achieve your goals as a woman living your best life as your best self. This is the path to Emotonal and Financial Independence.

Powerful Women Today’s commitment to breaking down barriers to success means startng where you are. Our PWT Empowerment Circle membership connects our Mentor Experts with

those wishing to succeed in intmate, topicfocused teams.

We meet twice a month. One Circle with your group Mentor Expert and One with all our Empowerment Circle sisters on a monthly global call. And of course additonal benefts of membership within Powerful Women Today.

All these for $29 per month. Say it with me: Wow!

Click here to choose your PWT Empowerment Circle:

• Speaking & Visibility to Monetze your Message with Stacey Hall. If you have been given your message away for free and want to learn the best strategies to convert your message into income, this is for you.

• Choose Your Adventure. Join Mentor Expert Dortha Hise on a journey of mindfulness and connecton with nature to bring peace and inner harmony. Click here for more info.

• Level Up with Simone Sloan Entrepreneurs and Professionals will beneft from meetng successful C-Suite guest speakers addressing the joy and challenges of leveling up. Click here to more info.

• Reclaim Your Shadow with Sallie Wagner. Let’s face it when we accept and claim our shadow-self reconcile with our past, close open chapters and integrate into our best self.

• Become an AUTHORity with Melanie Herschorn. Join Mentor Expert Melanie to share your mission with the world by becoming an author.

How You Define Transformation Matters To Your Success and Happiness

by Powerful Women Today

Change is inevitable. It is ofen said that change is the only constant. Sometmes we’re prepared for it, other tmes not. You always hope for the former --for change to be deliberate, strategic and brought on by the opportunity to transform.

Change however is not the same as transformaton. As humans, we experience transformaton at many points in our life organically. We Transform from an infant to a toddler, transforming from a woman to a mother, midlife ofers transformaton by sending our hormones into a dance or a revoluton sometmes both at the same tme. Eventually organically transform into elders, sages if you will, understanding and remembering a life full of opportunites taken and more ofen than not missed.

In fact, transformaton is essental to longevity. This brings us to the consideraton of the empowerment of intentonal transformaton. Whether brought on by internal discoveries and insights or necessitated by external forces, we ought to consider the impact of not being an actve partcipant in developing the person we choose to be, the experiences we choose to have and purposely minimizing the loss of potentally transformatve moments.

To thrive in today’s ever-changing world, transformaton by choice is imperatve. But there are many ways to do it. The one constant is your role, as the author of your own life, and the need for your direct involvement.

Put simply, we can no longer aford to maintain the status quo. We need to be ready to take educated risks; be constantly on the lookout for disruptve paterns, toxic environments and things or people that simply no longer work for us; and be willing to set a transformatve, vision that enables us to capitalize on opportunites, counter any threat and maximize value. Transformaton when self-determined, can result in the highest level of personal fulfllment.

The queston is, how? How do we determine our exact role, the exact tme or the modalites to be used in transformaton? And where should we focus our fnite tme and energy to best help you succeed on this journey?

Transforming Self

Transformation by Radical Self-Respect by Carolina Billings

Radical Self-Respect is about changing our mindsets and changing how we look at our own lives. It is about taking ownership and responsibility for how we treat ourselves and how we let other people treat us. It is understood that if we are constantly being mistreated, we are cooperatng with the treatment. I hear many people complain that they would do anything for others, but they rarely get the same treatment in return.

Oddly enough, setng boundaries begins within. Boundaries are about what you choose to let into your life, whom you chose to let into your life and the experiences and life you choose to live. In my experience, there are two philosophies that help not only fnd inner peace but make the journey a delightul celebraton of personal independence: Taoism and Mindfulness Meditaton.

Mindfully Empowered better yet

Mind Fully Empowered

Being Open to Receive by Dortha Hise

Sometmes being open to receiving can appear in ways that you don’t antcipate. For example, receiving peace about a situaton where there was struggle previously. Or perhaps it comes in allowing yourself permission to receive.

Being gentle with yourself throughout the process is a necessary step in order to allow what will come to show up.

And while it may sound like I’m speaking in riddles or circles about receiving as a magical thing that which will render itself with a beacon and a strobe light somewhere, it’s not that. Sometmes the inner things that we work on don’t show up in a physical manifestaton of a “thing,” rather as peace or calmness, or satsfacton, etc.

Sometmes the gif of receiving is in that openness to receive it.

The Secrets of Transflowmation by Kim

Ward

Mindset and personal growth become a new part of my days. I learned about aformatons. Don’t confuse this with afrmaton. Afrmatons are a positve sentence, but what happens when you read or write a sentence that your brain knows is a lie?

Each morning, start your day with one powerful queston that only has a positve outcome. Mine was “How can I show up more powerfully today?” This queston is called an aformaton. It’s not a lie and your brain will be determined to fnd an answer for this queston. Before you know it, you will start to behave in a way that solves this queston.

It took me a year and a half to build a global, multple-six-fgure business from home. I was Living my dream of tme, freedom, fnancial independence, and impactng so many people, startng in my own home.

Transforming Relationships

10 Tiny Transformations That Create an Abundantly Prosperous Life by Stacey Hall

During my early adulthood, I was ofen a negatve person, having grown up in a household that focused on what was wrong… instead of what was good in our lives.

I was eventually introduced to the concept that we manifest what we focus upon, and I realized that I could change my outlook through focused efort and atenton. I made a pact with myself to create a set of tools and resources –tny transformatons -- that I would use every

day to keep my physical, emotonal, mental, and spiritual energy as abundantly high as possible. I call these tools and resources my ‘Energy Surges’ because they boost my attude up to the highest heights of positvity and prosperity.

It is much easier to be a positve and prosperity-minded person when we feel our decisions are energizing and empowering and support us to take an acton from a sense of desire, passion, commitment, and/or intenton.

The Transformational Effect of a Little One on Health, Work, and Relationships by Leona Krasner

Baby-making and work. What an adventure. From the get-go, I knew I would go back to work sooner rather than later afer baby boy was born. The moment he was out, however, I knew the focus would have to be on him. The key was re-prioritzing my life such that baby was front and center.

I am the Founder and Managing Partner of a ten-employee law frm that helps folks in New York and New Jersey with their family law needs. I had two key goals as they related to work and my baby:

1. My baby would be nourished almost fully with my milk; and

2. I wanted to maximize my tme with my litle love to the greatest degree I could.

People talk about how much of a burden a new baby puts on a relatonship. Heck, I see it in my law practce all the tme. But surely that wouldn’t happen to me.

Turns out that caring for a whole new human, coupled with way less sleep than we had ever had before, meant that the pressure hit us, even though I did not expect it to do so. Communicaton was key. My husband asking me in those frst post-birth days how I was feeling, really, made such a diference. Taking the tme over dinner, or whichever fve-minute meal we could grab before baby let us know he was up again, to share

our worries, best practces, latest Internet or Facebook mommy group discoveries we had learned, and plan together, made all the diference.

From Yes to Forever by Stephaney Campbell

Many couples may underestmate the power of marriage preparaton. Some couples are even reluctant to the idea as they may feel it to be an outdated practce. As the saying goes “An ounce of preventon is worth a pound of cure”.

Whether you’re newly engaged, planning your wedding day, or have been married for years, it can come as a shock for couples to experience challenges, disagreements, and struggles in their relatonships. All too ofen, couples approach the big day with the assumpton that the marriage of fairy tales will be theirs, that their love will always be enough, and that maintaining their relatonship while taking care of themselves as individuals will be easy.

As wonderful as that may sound, all couples face challenges, now challenges. Now we have created a plan to help couples build that foundaton. My brilliant mentor, Hailey Party and -founder of the Happy Love marriage preparaton workshop, has taught me how to guide couples and help them insulate their marriages using 5 essental steps to creatng an IDEAL marriage. This method has helped me in my relatonship, as well as in the couples I have coached.

Transforming Relationships with Money

by Ean Price Murphy

I had always thought of money as a necessary evil, a unit of exchange in which I begrudgingly gave up my tme so that I could pay my bills. When I started working for myself, I could set my price based on what I wanted to charge to have a comfortable life - not just what a boss was able to aford to pay me. When I was able to charge based on the value I provided and fnd clients who wanted the services I was ofering, my relatonship to money transformed.

The daily stress and worry dissipated and I found that most months I had a litle extra money to do with as I wished. Conversatons with myself about my goals and values and how I wanted to save or use the excess became normal. I was able to put money away for retrement, save for vacatons, and support charites that were important to me. I came to realize is that realize that money is necessary to be able to catalyze the changes I wanted to see in my life, my community, and the world. Now I no longer view money as a unit of exchange for tme, but for impact. I no longer view money as neutral but as a tool for good.

Transforming Your World

Harness Your Energy to Transform Your Ideas into Reality

by Elisa Magill

“Everything is energy & that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.” ~

Darryl Anka

Today, self-help books are abundant and available to us from multple sources. Many of these books discuss the potental to create our own realites. Is it “fuf?” Is it something a “con-artst” came up with to steal millions from those who wish it to be true? Some would say this is the case. However, the research shows that there is something to the belief we share in a cause. In a sense, when we think something and believe it to be true, we are energizing that belief. We are giving it life. When we contnue to envision that reality, our brain will believe it to be true, and will work to make that belief a reality (Hill, 2008).

This is why some research will show that visualizaton works. If the brain thinks negatvely, it will negatvely charge our thoughts, and our negatve thoughts and actons will follow. However, if our brain envisions positve outcomes, our thoughts and actons will follow in that desired directon as well. In this way, we can build momentum and energy in any directon we choose.

Should I stay or should I Go by Gina Marie De Leon

Ofen, I see people moving companies and running into the exact same reasons they initally decided to move because they never addressed the underlying issue, which is their lack of belief, be honest with yourself in this area. Have you given the company a fair try, and focused on all the right things? What specifcally needs to change for it to work, and do you have reasonable grounds on which to believe that is likely to happen and in what tme frame? Do you believe that another company is more aligned with your vision, are you passionate about it and believe it is a beter place for you?

Whether you stay or go, make the decision, and plant your fag, because the people that have made an impact and have become fnancially successful in this business are those that stood the test of tme. It is all right if you want to go somewhere else, but do not be a company hopper the minute things get tough, or you are never going to have staying power in this profession. The people that have staying power are the ones that fnd a company that they are aligned with in terms of their values, they believe the leadership has character and integrity, they love the products, and it is a fair compensaton plan,. and they plant their fag in the ground and they get to work, ride the ups and downs, they understand they there are good years in the and bad years, but they never waver. They have a vision, and they keep going, and that is why they succeed.

How to Become a Subject Matter Expert by Melanie Herschorn

Transforming into the expert you want to be is less not about spending the 10,000 hours to hone your craf, a number that’s been atributed to author Malcolm Gladwell. You don’t even have to be a “professional” (whatever the heck that means).

What you really need to have is the right mindset and a few tools in your arsenal that I’ve outlined below.

Yes. It can be that uncomplicated. It can even be done without atending medical school.

I know lots a lot of experts who are too encumbered by impostor syndrome to charge for their expertse. I used to be (and sometmes stll am) one of them. Even my dog siter has trouble asking for her desired fee afer 28 years in the business.

Feelings Matter

The “feeling” part is important to touch upon. Many of us are our own worst enemies. We can get all the positve feedback in the world but if we hear one negatve comment, we’ll fxate on it. If one person says something that triggers us to make us queston our expertse, we’re likely to wonder if we should just throw in the towel now.

Whenever this happens, I want you to go back to tools 1 through 3. Read something to make you feel like you’ve gained some new knowledge. Share that knowledge with someone you can help. Then, consider writng about your expertse in a book so that you can support even more people across the globe. With a book and a plan to market it, the sky is the limit.

Tapping Into the Power of Transformation: Turning your Mess into Your Message by Mindy McManus

I never thought that I would be considered a bestselling author before becoming a bestselling speaker. Speaking is one of my true callings. Not in a bragging kind of way, but in a way to share a point. I have been mocked for my writng my whole life. It was bad. Like, really bad. Enough where my boss ofered, no, demanded that I take a business writng course. Thankfully, I found a really good course. I wouldn’t have ever, in a million years, thought that I would be a part of three best selling books and become a best selling author. Just because you aren’t good at something doesn’t mean that you can’t learn or transform.

Transformaton is a gif. Even if it is thrust upon you. So when you get that crappy feedback, the bad break, the loss of a job, the loss of a marriage, etc. Remember that you are not alone. Transformaton is inevitable. We can embrace it, or it will embrace us.

I would like to invite you to start a journal as you embark on your transformaton journey.

Healthy Habits by Monika Greczek

I realized that the habits I created only took me away from my goals, and the results were not what I expected. How could this happen? It happened and I needed to refect on what I needed to do to create what I really wanted. I wasn’t moving forward at all. Things were changing, but not for the good.

Healthy, Happy, and Positve Habits. How do I create this when I am constantly telling myself tomorrow, later, it isn’t that bad, etc. I took a good look in the mirror and told myself to do it now before it’s to late. You have everything you need. Now, one day, one breathe, one meal, one step, one exercise, one positve thought, etc. You get what I am saying? Then repeat every day. That good habit will start producing results, changes, happiness, and whatever you heart desires.

Transformation: Your Strategy for Life by

Sallie Wagner

As I mentoned earlier, my transformaton started with internal awareness. It started on the inside, and then I manifested it in the landscape of my reality. It all started with a decision. Everything begins with a decision. Not just wantng, but actually deciding. When you decide, the thing you’ve decided for happens.

As you make that decision in your life, you transform your thoughts and beliefs about yourself. Those thoughts and beliefs determine your feelings, which are transformed by those transformed thoughts and beliefs. Those feelings determine your decisions, which are also transformed by

those transformed feelings. Those decisions determine your actons, which are likewise transformed by those transformed decisions. And those actons determine your results, which are now your choice, consistent with your transformed thoughts, feelings, decisions, and actons.

So, by design and natural progression, the internal transformaton is manifested in the landscape of your reality through your decisions, actons, and results.

Now that you understand the progression, you’re ready for the frst step in your transformaton – your overall strategy for your life.

Transforming Your Leadership and Impact on others

Transforming Toxic Rockstars into Servant Leaders by Simone Sloan

Toxic rockstars have an “I and I alone” mentality. I and I alone know what I am doing. I and I alone can handle this. They never look to their team for ideas. In meetngs, they do all of the talking. They have no interest in mentoring anyone, because their only concern is advancing themselves.

In a company, most people know who the toxic rockstars are and their enablers. The excepton is the toxic rockstars themselves, who lack the self- awareness to understand the unintended impact of their conduct. They have no idea that people feel damaged by their actons, communicatons, and behaviors. They do not see the resentment from their team. They live in a bubble and as a result, think that they are doing a great job all around and that everyone agrees with their performance and leadership style.

Toxic rockstars are ofen successful because they are focused on the specifc tasks that let them produce. However, they do not have a vision for their leadership. They do not even have a vision for their life outside of work. They have never considered the questons, “who am I, and am I living my best life?”

A transformation journey towards cultural humility by

Youssef Skalli

“What is here is elsewhere, what is not here is nowhere” said to me my grandmother, “Lalla” as I loved to call her, with a shaken voice while gently laying her hand over my heart before hugging me strongly… I can stll sense the smell of her rose scented perfume.

As per some professional standards, by now I would qualify for a “Cultural Competency” badge.

What does it mean to be culturally competent? Does it require you to travel the world to develop a cultural competence or competency? Can you really become a cultural competence expert?

Spoiler alert! Over the years I came to the conclusion that while I contnue developing a sense of cultural curiosity, I am not, and cannot be, culturally competent, and I do not think you can be either.

I invite you to pause here for a moment and think frst of what is your defniton of the term “culture” is, what do you think culture it is? And later, ask others around you to share their defniton of culture.

Understanding the story you tell yourself about money, opening up to others’ stories, and recognizing the diferences gives you the opportunity to rewrite it if necessary and helping others to do the same if they need your help and ask for it.

Unleash the drive to try new things, maintain a culture of transformaton while staying true to your values and you will see a long-lastng change in multple areas of your life.

Let Transformation commence!

Read More from PWT Publishing’s latest Bestseller - 30 Days to Transformaton.

Click to get your copy (US)

Click to get your copy (Canada)

PWT:

Y our book is called For the Forces of Good: The Superpower of Everyday Negotiation. What is your mission?

LKSA: My mission is to teach women to harness the power of everyday negotaton so they can confdently show up in every aspect of their lives – from getng their toddler to eat their peas to being the most powerful woman in the room, and everything in between. I would even call it my brand promise.

PWT: We, as women, often apologize in situations where men do not. Why do we do it?

LKSA: We use a lot of dismissive and self-deprecatng language. How many tmes have you said, “you probably already thought of this,” “Now this might be a silly queston, “I don’t know if this is contributng anything useful, but…” I’ve said all those things. We were socialized to be that way by our parents, by our communites, and even by our teachers.

I was taught to be powerless. I was taught to not queston authority, to cooperate, to smile, to always be helpful, and give and give and give and just keep giving. And in my day, there was no talking back. Essentally, the messaging was so contradictory. Don’t

speak up. Don’t stand up for yourself. Some of the worst bullies in my life haven’t been peers, they’ve been adults who should have known beter when I was a child.

PWT: How much do you think male-dominated workplace culture has to do with parenting of boys and how much do you think has to do with the fact that once you join the old boys’ club, you just sort of drink the KoolAid?

LKSA: Sorry to break the news to all the parents out there – and I am a parent of two teenagers who eat their own body weight and food every day – I think our we have maybe a 50% infuence on our kids. So that would be a prety good ROI. The rest of it, they’re getng from peers, from teachers, from the environment, from social media.

A lot of it is invisible structures that are in place that we aren’t even aware of. I just learned this year that workplace thermostats, even now in 2022, are stll set to a 1960s standard based on the restng metabolic rate of 160 pound, 40-year-old man. My whole career I was always cold in ofces. It’s that the workplace basically wasn’t built to make me comfortable. And in fact, it was built to make a diferent very specifc demographic comfortable, and for me to be uncomfortable.

Here’s another fact. Only about 14.5% of men are six feet tall or over, and yet 58% of fortune 500 CEOs are six feet tall or over. Did you also know 60% of US presidents have been six feet or taller? There’s a correlaton with salary, that for every inch over 5’9, a man realizes a 2.5% greater salary.

For each child born globally, there’s a 7% wage penalty for women each child. In the US, it’s about 4% and inversely, for each child, born men get paid a supplement of about 6%. So now we’ve got a diference of 10% for each child born between men and women, plus the fact that the man is 40 tmes more likely to have negotated his compensaton from the get-go. That diference is never made up over tme.

PWT: So how do we break through invisible structures if we can’t see them?

LKSA: That’s something that I’m doing. I do it through social media posts. And another way is to

teach women to negotate. Women are really scared to do that and they are not using the power that they have within them. And I’m not saying empowerment, because empowerment means you haven’t arrived yet. I’m saying you have it already. And start practcing negotaton skills in low-stakes, everyday contexts that are familiar to them. You’re building those muscles up, and it’s going to prepare you for the higher-stakes negotatons down the road. But if we put it all on women and say, “You have to be the one to negotate your salary or compensaton package,” that’s putng a lot of the burden on individual women to do that.

We also need organizatonal change. Here’s a radical thought that I would suggest to organizatons: track how much more ofen men negotate their salary versus women or non-binary people. If you notce that disparity, maybe you adopt a policy like we don’t negotate compensaton. As an organizaton, you level the playing feld.

Also, organizatons need to be tracking the caregiver status of their employees. The U.S. economy is losing something like $35 billion a year because of the caregiving responsibilites of employees. Once again, women are being disproportonately impacted – women of color, even more so.

PWT: Your ideas for change absolutely resonate with our readers. What do you believe the future holds for women?

LKSA: The future is now. We have Justce Ketanji Brown Jackson – with her savvy and her patence, who has already used the conservatves’ own originalist framework to interpret the consttuton for social justce and equal rights. We have young Generaton Z women – who queston the status quo and are climate actvists. There’s a 17-year-old woman I featured on my podcast... she’s a freshman in college now... who organized an inclusive dance program at her high school in San Francisco for students who had

been lef out of traditonal dance due to disabilites. Oh, and in additon to being a classically trained ballerina, she’s a chemist.

We are seeing women in Iran protestng against the authoritarian, oppressive regime; women in India breaking out of the repressive caste system; women disruptng the status quo that has lef them and others out of discourse, decisions, and design.

And let us please remember that progress is not linear. We take steps forward in some areas and slide backward in others. We keep at it, resistng the simplifed fcton of inevitable progress unfolding to the present or, worse, the prepossessed asserton that nothing has ever changed.

Click here to get Lucia’s book on Amazon

Ean Price Murphy is a business growth strategist with Moxie Proft First Bookkeeping.

PWT: What’s the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant?

EPM: Accountng covers such an enormous range of services. I am an accountant but not a tax accountant – someone who is a compliance expert to make sure that all of the numbers are in all the right boxes for the government enttes. When I say bookkeeper, I am talking about the wide range of people who do everything from data entry into a bookkeeping sofware all the way up to CFO services. I am an accountant but not a tax accountant.

PWT: What do you think most small business owners need but are not getng from their bookkeepers?

EPM: Entrepreneurs and business owners need to easily know what’s happening with their money and be guided on how to grow their money and their business. They get adequate clarity without spreadsheets to grow sustainably and proftably rather than just grow.

PWT: Your company is Profit First Certified and now you’re moving into being Profit Firstfocused company-wide. Why is that important?

EPM: Think of bookkeeping and Proft First like beans and rice. They exist separately, but are magic together. Proft First is an early warning system. The problems within a business that show up initally show up as cashfow problems. So whether it’s utlizaton rates of labor that’s going to show up as cash fow. If it’s not getng a return on investment on some of your spending, that’s going to show up as cash fow. Even the smallest of businesses should have at least 5 percent proft and should be paying the owner somewhere between 20 percent and 50 percent of the income. What we fnd is most businesses have zero proft and are stll not paying their owners consistently.

PWT: What inspired you to become a Profit First Certified company?

EPM: It was my clients. I had several creatve clients telling me “you hand me like these crazy mult-tab Excel spreadsheets that I’m never going to look at.” Proft First is at a glance fnancial clarity without spreadsheets. What changed my opinion from interest to all-in was when I tested Proft First on my own business. My take-home pay doubled without a single extra dollar of income.

I realized that I was doing what my accountant was telling me to do (and what all small business owners do) which is: I got to the end of the quarter or the year and said ‘look how much money there is in my bank account. Let’s invest in an online course. Let’s buy a new sofware package. Let’s bonus everybody.’ It wasn’t untl I saw what a business owner should be getng paid in relaton to their income that I realized I’d totally overspend on things that I don’t really need to get a write of. I was literally handing other people my money.

Photo Credit: She’s In Business.

Making More Sales by Making an Impact

o you desire to make a powerful impact in a meaningful way?

Then you must master sharing your message through a variety of communicaton platorms as quickly as possible.

Podcastng, book publishing, paid speaking opportunites, summits, webinars, and blogging are all essental – in additon to social media sites – to bringing your message to the largest audience possible and to making sales faster.

PWT’s IMPACT Membership Level provides the training and tools to maximize your skills and minimize the tme it takes to master each of these pathways.

The opportunites for growing your business through these pathways are impressive and massive.

Currently there are over 464 million podcast listeners globally and it is expected this audience will grow to more than 504 million by the end of 2024. To reach these listeners with your message requires developing the skills to be booked as a frequent guest on existng podcasts and then how to host your own podcast.

Book publishing is growing at a phenomenal rate. The global books market size was valued at $138.35 billion USD in 2021 and is expected to keep expanding. Increasing consumer spending on books supported by rising incomes, as well as contnued formatng innovatons that have enhanced the overall reading experience are the factors boostng the market. The motvatonal speakers’ market in the U.S. alone generated $1.9 billion in revenues in 2019 and is expected to grow to $2.30 billion by 2025. The ‘average’

professional speaker has an annual income of about $106K while senior-level speaker earnings begin at about $218K per year. And non-speaking actvites -- selling books, courses, coaching, etc. associated with speaking opportunites -- actually account for 60% of a speaker’s total income.

Businesses that post blogs experience twice as much email trafc as businesses who don’t. Over 50% of bloggers report that it has goten harder to get trafc from Facebook over the past two years, and nearly one-ffh say it has goten harder to get trafc from Google.

As a PWT IMPACT Member, you have access to monthly Masterclasses to train you in the latest message-maximizing strategies to get booked on speaking stages and podcasts, as well as having your artcles published in magazines, blogs, and featured in books.

For all the details, click here .

3 Easy Ways to Add FUN into Your Wardrobe

The one thing missing from most professional women’s wardrobes is FUN!

The lack of playfulness and creatvity ofen shows up in one of the following ways:

• Holding on to this idea of what a successful woman looks like and not showing much personality in their wardrobe.

• Not stepping outside of their comfort zone or trying something new in fear of judgment.

• Feeling like they are playing dress-up, but in boring clothes instead of fun clothes.

If any of these sound like you... I have a queston:

How would it feel if you added more fun, more creatvity, and more YOU to your wardrobe?

The good news is you can add more of yourself into your wardrobe right away. Here are three simple steps to take, startng now:

1. Get out of your rut. We all are creatures of habit and fnd pleasure in keeping things simple, but buying the same top in every color or stcking to a uniform can lead to that closet full of clothes and nothing to wear feeling really fast! Instead, mix it up a litle by challenging yourself to incorporate a fun accessory, add texture, or change your handbag.

2. Wear a color or a print with something other than black. Black pants are the biggest cause of a style rut… because in your mind everything goes with them. Quit relying on the idea that black goes with everything… fnd a unique color combinaton that you love such as camel and hunter green, grey and purple, or pink and navy. They make surprising yet beautful combinatons.

3. Stay curious! Stop saying “I can’t pull that of!” Here’s the

thing, you can pull that of if you wanted to. So When you see something you love on someone instead of letng your mind immediately go to “looks great on her, but not for me”, get curious how you to incorporate what you like about her outft in your own style.

My challenge for you is to fnd a way to add some of your unique personality into your wardrobe every day!

Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn: htps://www.linkedin.com/in/ imagecoachmelanielippman/

ings Smart Women Need to Know about Transforming eir Hormones

If you’ve ever wondered if your hormones are out of balance, chances are, they are. If you’ve ever felt frustrated looking for answers, but not really fnding any, you’re not alone. There is a movement brewing towards talking about hormones, partcularly related to menopause. There is demand for more understanding and research. LinkedIn even named Menopause as one of 41 Big Ideas for 2023.

No mater your age and stage in life, hormone imbalances can wreak havoc on your body, emotons and relatonships. According to Northwell Health,as many as 80 percent of women have hormone imbalances, partcularly related to estrogen and progesterone. However, many do not realize their hormones are of, and unfortunately, Western Medicine typically falls short of providing answers or treatment optons that go beyond birth control or hormone replacement therapy as symptom management.

There is also a rising demand among welleducated and driven women who wish to address their hormones without turning to supplements or medicaton. They want to get to the root cause of why their hormones are of in the frst place. Here are the three things smart and driven women need to know about balancing your hormones naturally that are focused at the root, and not just on the symptoms:

1. Hormones are a product of their environment There’s a common saying among hormone experts that was coined by Dr. Cheryl Burdete –”it’s not the hormones, it’s their environment. While we tend to focus on the external parts of our environment, for example cleaning and personal care products, water, and plastcs, there’s an entre layer to this that also encompasses the impact of our emotonal health on our internal cellular environment.

2. Stress throws the whole system off. Stress is a huge factor in the environment in which hormones live. Cortsol, the stress hormone,

throws the entre system of kilter and will impact your thyroid and sex hormones. It steals precursors to your sex hormones, will convert progesterone into cortsol, and completely shuts down pathways for thyroid hormone producton. All of us live with a much higher baseline of stress and we tend not to always recognize the signs. Even if you don’t “feel” stressed, operate as if you are stressed.

3. The path to hormone balance is in cultivating internal safety first. Approaches to hormone imbalance tend to include a) medicaton when symptoms get beyond bearable or b) diets, supplements and exercise. The problem is, unless you have an established barometer for internal safety – meaning you are aware of your body, emotons and needs on a level that goes beyond your intellectual brain – none of those modalites will have the desired efect because the internal environment in which your hormones live has not changed. There is certainly value in lifestyle changes; however to truly have an impact, we frst have to shif our way of being in the world.

If you can make the shif to transforming your internal environment before your external environment, your hormones will follow.

Connect with Dr. Alex on LinkedIn: htps://www.linkedin.com/in/ dralexridley/

Did you know that acute infammaton may cause:

• Flushed skin at the site of the injury.

• Pain or tenderness.

• Swelling.

• Heat.

Signs of chronic infammaton can include:

• Abdominal pain.

• Chest pain.

• Fatgue. (example: systemic lupus)

• Fever. (example: tuberculosis)

• Joint pain or stfness. (example: rheumatoid arthrits)

• Mouth sores. (example: HIV infecton)

• Skin rash. (example: psoriasis)

Shop the complete line of Natura products at htps:// naturahempco.com/

Monika Greczek is a woman who has gone out and achieved her goals and contnues to. She had started to envision the life she wanted to create since she was a young girl.

Through all the books, coaching, classes, educaton, work, and intentons, she has followed her dreams. She started doing hair at the age of 14, won 1st place in the manikin competton at the Cosmetology school she atended, then went onto achieving all her goals and graduatng top of her class. She received her Cosmetology License at 16 years of age and also was promoted at the salon to assistant manager. Doing hair came naturally to her. Her clients loved the way they looked and felt afer receiving services from Monika, even now her clients love that they always feel beter afer their visit with her. She listens to herself and her clients and always does what is best. There are people from all over that come to see Monika and receive that magic though she has through doing hair, massage, body work, coaching and engaging with them. She has become a fabulous hair artst, mentor, and coach.

htps://naturahempco.com/

3 Reasons Porque Yo Amo a Freida Kahlo

by Carolina M. Billings

Frida Kahlo, in my opinion, has become one of the ultmate icons for Powerful Women, her unique personality and multfaceted life in the deeply patriarchal culture that is Latn America then and now. She has become a standard-bearer for women’s inner strength, for courage in the face of adversity. Above all, she was a genuine woman who was faithful to her convictons.

To this day, Freida is considered the best artst Mexico has ever seen. Her paintngs are stll honoured at prestgious museums throughout the world. They have stood and contnue to stand for Diversity and Self-Inclusion. Her art represents women in a way that impacts you forever. I have had the pleasure of seeing many of her original portraits. The majority of her works rest in the very house in which Freida was born and died. La Casa Azul, or The Blue House, serves as a museum for Freida and her paintngs.

Her work can infuence us and make us beter people/artsts/creators. She was confdent, charismatc, and beautful in a way that was unique to her. She was wildly interestng, and I can only imagine her as the queen for all who refuse to maintain the status quo.

3. The “F” in feminism ought to stand for “Freida.” She defed the traditonal art depicton of female beauty and painted raw and painful experiences that many women go through including miscarriage, sexuality, and the social positon of women. Kahlo refused to be a victm of a broken body, mind or spirit. “I sufered two serious accidents in my life, one in which a bus threw me to the ground... The other accident is Diego,” Freida famously said.

The Mexican artst’s life wasn’t easy: Freida contracted polio as a child, had a near-fatal, life-changing accident as a teenager, married a renowned artst who had countless afairs, struggled with infertlity, ailing health, and a lifetme of chronic pain. But Freida Kahlo found her salvaton in the paintbrush and transformed her experiences into beautful and emotonally charged art. She lived by her own rules, trusted her vision and, most of all, she trusted herself.

1. Freida did Freida Unapologetically. Freida was a woman ahead of her tme, questoning gender roles and identty in an era when those weren’t even topics for discussion. She even showed up for her family photo dressed in a men’s suit. Her fashion, an eyecatching blend of European and traditonal Mexican styles, put her on the cover of Vogue Magazine.

2. To me, Freida symbolizes strength in the face of adversity.

She represents the embodiment that pain and hardship do not need to stop us; they can push us and make us think outside the box.

“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”

– Freida Kahlo

“I am my own muse. The subject I know best. The subject I want to know better.”

– Freida Kahlo

Reclaim Your Shadow: Integrate and Celebrate Your Power

Are you connected to your Shadow? Is it part of you, fully integrated? Or, like Peter Pan, is your Shadow detached, on the loose, running around creatng havoc?

Separaton from Shadow is separaton from your power. Integraton of Shadow is integraton into your personal power. And that’s the reason to Reclaim Your Shadow!

Shadow is that part of you that is in your unconscious, not yet integrated into your conscious awareness.

We may sometmes mistakenly think of Shadow as the scary parts, the “dark” parts. The unatractve parts that we’re not proud of. The ones that we don’t want to admit we have. The parts that we cover in shame and secrecy. Yet, Shadow is much more than that.

It’s certainly true that sometmes our Shadow parts come from trauma and pain. From unresolved, unintegrated experiences in life.

But it’s also true that Shadow parts come from faulty perceptons about life and about ourselves.

Shadow contains the parts that we repress; the parts that we don’t consciously express. Those parts that are wild, untamed, instnctual, intuitve, creatve, threatening. Those parts that we’re told need to be controlled or eliminated.

When you reclaim your Shadow, you gain a greater and deeper understanding and acceptance of yourself and others. You connect to your authentcity, resilience, intuiton, creatvity, freedom, and power.

As you work in and with Shadow, you integrate those parts into the whole fabric of your life – the whole vessel of your life –beautfully adorned, decorated, celebrated at each point of integraton, as you create and live the life that makes you come alive!

Like the Japanese art of kintsugi, you recreate and reframe the “faws” of your life, adorned with gold dust, silver dust, platnum dust, stardust – the brilliance of all of creaton.

You no longer hide or disguise the “faws,” the diferent-ness. Instead, you see them as part of the history of your life. You adorn, decorate, celebrate, integrate them into the whole fabric and vessel of your life as you create an integrated whole, more beautful and dazzling than the original.

Are you ready to Reclaim Your Shadow? Are you ready to Integrate and Celebrate Your Power? Join me as we launch my new coaching program – Reclaim Your Shadow.

Winter Planning for Future Adventures

Winter is a wonderful tme to begin planning adventures for the spring, summer, and fall!

I use the winter months when actvites might be a litle bit less easily accessible, to get into planning mode for the upcoming warmer ones.

The first step is to get out maps and identify our plans.

For example, my husband and I are working on completng our hike of the Pacifc Crest Trail on the Sierra secton. We have now completed several hundred miles, and we have about 150 miles to go.

As we look at how to plan the remaining stretch of the trail, We work to identfy access points where there are places to camp the night before. Then we will hike for 50 or 60 miles, and then get to a good point to be able to get of the trail easily and to a maintained road.

When we aren’t out snowshoeing or partaking in another snow adventure, we use the tme we are cozy at home to get into the mindset of planning and preparing for an upcoming adventure. If you aren’t sure where to start, I recommend looking at trips people you know have taken… reach out and ask questons. Begin looking at maps, and looking at the destnaton. You can look at excursions that might be available to you. You can look at hotels, amenites, and things like that depending on the way that you like to adventure. Everyone’s

comfort level is diferent. Some people don’t mind sleeping on the ground, while others would never dream of it.

So it’s really about what you’re willing to and not willing to do. Then branch out into whatever you think is going to be fun for you. There is an adventure to be found every day.

As I write this, our area is enduring thunderstorms, so I’m enjoying the adventure of not knowing when lightning and thunder are going to strike. And not knowing if we’ll lose power.

Other ways I bring adventure to every day are through the organizatons or enttes that I am in. For example, the Powerful Women Today community has been a great way to connect and fnd adventure. There are opportunites to partner up and have friends to grow with you, whether in business or on a personal level.

Great friendships and connectons have been forged and I think it’s really fun to have a conversaton with someone and say, ‘hey, I’m planning a trip into your area and would love to see if we can coordinate, getng together while I’m there.’

There are so many possibilites… how will you adventure next?

“If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.”

– Rachel Wolchin

Radical Self Respect. Setting our Boundaries and Knowing our Non-Negotiables

Excerpt from Chapter in “30 Days to Transformation”

by Carolina M. Billings

Radical Self-Respect is about changing our mindsets and how we view our lives. It is about taking ownership and responsibility for how we treat ourselves and how we let other people treat us. It is understood that if we are constantly being mistreated, we are cooperatng with the treatment. I hear many people complain that they would do anything for others, but they rarely get the same treatment.

Oddly enough, setng boundaries begins within. Boundaries are about what you choose to let into your life, whom you chose to let into your life and the experiences and life you choose to live.

Resources, Relationships, Self-Development and Self-Maintenance

The old master’s teachings, even afer two and a half thousand years, are worldrenowned, studied and practsed by millions around the world. Refectng and beginning to know who you are through the four fundamental areas of life, helps to understand not only who you are, but what you want and do not want to have in your life. Afer all, you are 100% in control of your mind, body and spirit.

Number One: Resources.

Having your resources at peace is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered, the low is raised, the excess is reduced, and the defciency is replenished. The Way reduces the excess and replenishes defciency. People’s way is ofen not so.

Flow and Balance

The concept of balancing the complementary parts can be applied to the subject of resource management. We have to make sure we don’t use too much of one resource at the expense of another.

When you use your talents in your job to excess, you get promoted, and you enjoy doing overtme at work, doing what you love, but you completely ignore your health. You don’t take your tme to replenish your physical power in the long run. This can be very detrimental and can even shorten your life. If you use one resource to excess, you create disharmony in the universe.

Number Two: Relationships

Living in harmony means doing no harm and, moreover, nurturing, protectng, and contributng to the well-being of everything around you. As all humans are part of this universe, we have to see others as our extended family. We have to take care of each other.

“No person is an island, and being happy has much to do with the relationship between you and what surrounds you.”

Scientfc studies prove the importance of having a healthy social life. For example, a Harvard study on adult development found that good relatonships are the key factors that mater most for long-lastng happiness. Good relatonships keep us happier and

healthier. One of the most important ways to achieve lifelong happiness is to focus on meaningful relatonships and on trying to improve or eliminate the bad relatonships in our lives.

Number Three: Self-Development

Self-mastery plays a major key in people who spend enough tme working on selfdevelopment and self-mastery to understand themselves in a beter way. They can control their thoughts. They know how to avoid negatve thinking. And they know how to learn from their mistakes.

lovingly protectng that border -- is what makes a naton a sovereign, independent naton. Whenever we travel, we always pass through border control. The ofcers are generally kind but frm (to me, anyway). Kindness and frmness: the two greatest qualites of a boss boundary seter.

Chances are you need to set some boundaries in your own life right now. Maybe you need to delineate what you will and will not accept in your personal life or professional life. Perhaps you need to be clearer about what you will and will not tolerate from family members, clients, team members, etc.

Number Four: Self-Maintenance

“How you treat yourself is teaching others how they can treat you”

The human body is said to have its own energy patern, which is known as Zang Fu. The Zang Fu model has partcular organs that correspond to the fve elements; wood, fre, earth, metal, and water. The organs have Yin and Yang propertes (energies) assigned which, if not balanced, will result in partcular illnesses to keep the Yin and Yang energies in balance.

Putting it all together

To really start to implement this way of living I would love for you to consider three exercises. Past, Present, and Future.

Journaling & Self-Discovery Exercise #3. From now on…

6 words to help you set better boundaries

Setng stronger boundaries is central to strong leadership and your ability to reign as sovereign queen of your own life. Think about it: having a border -- and

In other words -- to reach your next level of success, you may need to become your own border control ofcer from tme to tme.

When that tme comes, I have 6 words which -- when used in this exact order -- allow you to frmly and elegantly set boundaries, enforce them, and actvate your power as sovereign queen of your own life and person.

Here they are:

That does not work for me.

A simple, straightforward phrase you can use anytime to firmly and respectfully set a boundary.

That does not work for me. No apology. Instead… “but this will” after all, every non-negotiable ought to have a negotiable on your own terms.

For the full chapter and all three exercises click here:

US - click here Canada - click here

“Growing personally leads to more happiness”

My favorite pair of socks have an important message. They boldly tell anyone who sees my ankles: I’m silently correctng your grammar.

Yes. I’m one of those people. The people who wince when you say “between you and I” or “mis-chee-vee-ous’ or “me and him” are going to the store.

It’s not a superiority thing – a point of contenton between my husband and me (see what I did there?) – instead, it is about taking ownership of your message and being the best version of yourself you can be.

The quality of your messaging is what separates the women from the girls. When you are clear, concise, and you speak to your intended audience in a way they understand, you can create a community of raving fans who will happily buy your books, products, and services. Why? Because you get them. Even more importantly, you will be making this world a beter place because you will be sharing your incredible mission and vision with those around you.

I have been preparing for this role as Powerful Women Today Magazine Editor in one form or another for my entre career. Back in the aughts, I was walking red carpets with celebrites, writng press releases, and pitching stories to media outlets. Afer completng a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Southern California, I set to work as a news anchor and reporter on the radio then worked as a newspaper reporter.

The next step in my career won’t sound like a logical trajectory: I became an entrepreneur and designed and manufactured breasteeding clothing which sold on Nordstrom.com, Amazon, and at boutques

across North America. Now as a book marketng strategist for nonfcton and children’s book authors, I help coaches, speakers, and consultants grow their audiences, make more money, and make a big impact with their book.

At Powerful Women Today Magazine, our mission is to elevate the conversaton and empower our readers to feel like the world changers you are.

Cheers, Melanie

Connect with Melanie: htps://www. linkedin.com/in/melanie-herschorn/

Thank you for joining us on this incredible journey.

Our mission is to elevate the conversation and empower our readers to feel like the world changers you are.

So You ink You’re An Ally...

by Youssef Skalli

The word “Allyship” gets applied to a variety of causes advocatng for stronger equality and equity. But the word itself deserves to be defned.

For me, being an ally is not a label, a ttle, or an identty. It is defnitely not an award. It means standing next to and behind the supported individual or group of people. Allyship is not a one-tme acton. Instead, it is a life-long process that consists of asking, learning, unlearning, listening, and speaking up.

Whatever the cause and whoever the individuals are you stand for, they and only they, have the right and the full understanding of what an ally means to them and represents. You may want to positon yourself as an ally, but if it is not validated by the person, your actons will have less impact.

To be an efectve ally, I believe it starts with a selfrefecton on your beliefs,s, self-awareness of your own biases, and is then followed by engaging in a contnuous process of inquiry, listening and learning before actng.

If I want to be your ally, I frst need your help to understand how I can help. I also need to understand clearly what are my advantages, gifs, and privileges that can support both of us in your journey – a journey in which you are the pilot leading the way and I am using my span of infuence to be your co-pilot.

It is important to understand that an ally is not a savior or a fxer. Sometmes just listening actvely and carefully is an act of allyship. Empowering others to take acton or simply to speak up and share their lived experiences is an act of allyship.

When it comes to women’s empowerment, having male allyship is essental for all. What’s more, men also need women as allies. When everyone joins forces for the greater good, we can drive the change needed for now and for generatons to come.

Youssef Skalli is an enthusiastc professional empowerment coach and workshops facilitator with 20+ years of progressive experience in a multnatonal corporate environment.

Afer a successful career in corporate Finance and Human Resources, holding leadership roles in diferent countries and multcultural contexts across the three contnents of Africa, Asia, and Europe, he moved to North America and setled in Otawa – Ontario, Canada where he funded his professional empowerment coaching practce. Connect:

htps://www.linkedin.com/in/myskalli/

The word “Allyship” gets applied to a variety of causes advocating for stronger equality & equity.

Level Up to Your Business Greatness

by Simone Sloan

What actons and behaviors will you do diferently to achieve your goals this year?

Staying focused on your personal and professional goals can be challenging. A goal without a well-thought-out plan lacks true intenton and purpose. Having clear goals and objectves that are writen out and visible to you daily can support your eforts to stay focused on tasks needed to move forward and also help hold you accountable to your actons.

Here are 3 tps to help you stay focused to get results in 2023:

1. Get Clear on Your Vision

Have you set aside tme to think about your professional or personal vision? If you are working towards fnancial wellness, a healthy lifestyle, or world travel, create goals and objectves with that vision in mind. Afer all, no vision means no acton, which means no results.

Create a list of actvites that will support your vision. This should include related projects/tasks, phone calls, e-mails, and networking actvites.

Check in with yourself at the end of each week to determine what is working and what is not working. This is a great gut

check on your integrity and will help align your thoughts with actons.

2. Act with Purpose and Set Your Intentions

I, personally, love structure and organizaton. However, I know that may not work for some. Find your fow and groove. How do you plan out your days and weeks to propel your life forward? If you are planning on the fy, chances are, you may be spending precious tme planning rather than using it more productvely, like connectng with others, atending network events, or managing your well-being.

Even when you are “busy,” are your actons aligned with your purpose and intenton for the life you want? Wasted tme plus wasted energy equals wasted eforts.

3. Avoid New Shiny Things

New, shiny things may be cool, but do they support your vision for your well- being, professional career, and relatonships? They can be a distracton and tme suck.

Now you are ready to focus, plan, and execute!

htps://www.linkedin.com/in/ simonesloan/

www.YourChoiceCoach.com

Connect:

About the Author

htps://bit.ly/YourChoiceCoach

As Founder and CEO of Your Choice Coach, Simone is an accomplished business strategist, executve coach, and DEI consultant. She has held senior roles at Fortune 500 companies across marketng, communicatons, medical afairs, sales, and global business strategy. Her tenure includes successfully launching and leading products and services, implementng programs for key stakeholders across the globe, and developing and training sales, medical, and technical teams.

Simone’s mantra is “Voice, Power, Confdence.” As an emotonal intelligence executve coach, she changes the way leaders and their businesses engage their employees and clients. Simone emphasizes the human element with a focus on diversity and inclusion.

e Top Five Trends For Professionals Who Sell Services

by Liz Wendling

You can accomplish extraordinary results and convert more potental clients into paying clients when you create new habits and adopt new trends for 2023. Here are the top 5 trends to implement for success:

Trend #1: Better follow and follow through : Use modern language and stop sounding like everyone else. Stop “following up,” “touching base,” “checking in,” and “reaching out.” These overused phrases do nothing to move the sale forward. They no longer work or get someone’s atenton. If they worked, no one would get ghosted, and prospects would return their emails and phone calls.

Trend #2: Stop squandering time on being “busy” versus being productive Being highly productve at work is an investment that always pays big dividends. The key to increasing your productvity and output and your income is to work the entre tme you are at work. Don’t squander that precious commodity. The biggest tme wasters are checking email, surfng the web, taking phone calls that distract you, and using up the tme you should spend on high-value tasks.

Trend #3: Selling outside your comfort zone . The greatest enemy to your highest potental is contnuing to sell inside your comfort zone. No growth or progress can be achieved without stretching, expanding, and stepping out of your zone. A good stretch outside your comfort zone does wonders for your botom line.

Trend #4: Effective qualifying . Successful professionals have an expert grasp of the qualifying process. They don’t assume that everyone is a buyer. They know how to investgate and dive in to obtain vital informaton and uncover the truth. They distnguish themselves as experts through their questoning. They employ listening skills to hear what the customer is saying and not saying.

Trend #5: Sell value instead of price . People don’t always buy based on the lowest price. No one believes that the lowest price equals the best ofer. You don’t close on price. You win clients on the value that you create. If price is the only thing that maters and people are just looking for “cheap,” Nordstrom would be empty, fying frst-class would not exist, and we would all be drinking Folgers instead of Starbucks. Show people the value, and many price objectons will disappear. Happy Selling!

Liz Wendling is a natonally recognized speaker, sales consultant, and author of 6 books. Her two most recent are The Heart of Authentc Selling and Sell Without Selling Your Soul.

Liz is driven by the mantra, It’s not WHAT you sell, it’s HOW you sell that maters. Liz understands the sales challenges that professionals face when selling their services in today’s compettve environment and shows them how to make a profound diference in their sales approach, language, and process —online and ofine.

Whether for her one-on-one consultng, group coaching, multple-day training, or workshops, Liz will customize programs around the specifc needs, challenges, and objectves a business faces.

Liz has coached thousands of professionals to build solid business skills, develop a success mindset, exceed sales expectatons, and prosper in any economy. htps://www.linkedin.com/in/

Essentials of Conversation

by Judy Cirullo

Do you know that 90 percent of the tme the person you are speaking to misses your meaning or intent? In these conversatons, we talk over each other, we trigger each other, and stop listening.

When you have conversatons that mater, which include the top skill of listening, engagement increases by 61 percent. In additon, highly engaged employees are almost 90 percent less likely to leave their employer. Conversatons that include two-way feedback increase productvity by 2.5X, and employees who feel their voice is heard are more than four and a half tmes more likely to feel empowered to perform their best. All of these statstcs are a result of having conversations that matter .

Would you like to see these types of results?

Conversatons are the backbone of our relatonships, interactons, business culture, and everyone we interact with. The most common theme I hear from my clients is that they avoid conversatons that might be difcult, leading to a perpetuaton of the situaton as frustraton, angst, and stress increase.

You are overcome by thoughts of “ if I leave it alone, it will go away,” “what if my employee quits?” “What if my family member doesn’t take it well and gets really upset?” These thoughts are what hold us back from having impactul dialogue that transforms our conversatons and moves our relatonships to a new level. For example, I had a client struggling with having a successful conversaton with their employees. The motvaton was low, the engagement was haphazard, and they had difculty with the retenton of their key employees. Whenever

she wanted to have a one-one conversaton with the employees, she became stressed, anxious, and frustrated. Ultmately, she avoided these conversatons, only to realize that her business culture began to deteriorate, and the team morale sufered. Sound familiar?

To help her overcome these obstacles, I introduced my 3-step approach to mastering essental conversatons:.

Step 1 - Deconstruct your past conversations. Think about what happened during a previously difcult or challenging conversaton. With whom, where and when? Did it occur between tasks or meetngs, during lunch, end of the day, over the phone, or even by email? What made it challenging or even successful?

Step 2 - Have the conversation. Spend the frst few minutes focusing on making a personal connecton. Yes, personal connecton, even though it is at work. Ask simple questons such as “How are you?” “How are things going?” Listen more than talk, share background informaton, and clarify expectatons. The conversaton may address a specifc situaton that needs atenton. While sharing perspectves it is critcal to include 2-way feedback.

Step 3 - Follow up. Closing the loop on these conversatons is crucial. As a leader or facilitator, your integrity is on full display. Include what you both agreed to: tmeline, expectatons, resources needed, follow-up ensures accountability and forward movement of the performance and, thus, success. Now you’re ready for your next essental conversaton!

About the Author

Judy is a seasoned business owner, a former clinician for 40 years, and a certfed professional coach (CPC) for leaders and teams. Having owned and operated 4 successful businesses, she has experienced challenges and frustratons of managing people while juggling all of the responsibilites of business and personal life. Judy is a certfed coach through ICF (Internatonal Coach Federaton), Conversatonal Intelligence (C-IQ), WHY Insttute, and a Founding Actuator for the Culture Fix® Academy. I blend culture transformaton with impactul conversatons to drive results and outcomes so owners, leaders and teams can move beyond survival mode to sustainable growth. I do this through keynote speaking, interactve workshops, individual, group and team coaching. I enjoy hiking, exploring outdoors with my husband, cooking treats for others, playing with grandkids and sharing with our entre family.

htps://www.linkedin.com/ in/judycirullo/

htps://growstrongteams. com/

Unlearning to Heal from Trauma

by Lisa Ford

Trauma is really just a fancy name given to an emotonal wound. When we talk about our own trauma, we are saying that in some way, we have been through a situaton that caused us emotonal distress. It may have taken the form of anything abuse, to neglect, to abandonment, to witnessing a scary event... Sadly more ofen than not, this trauma has occurred in our own homes and may have been passed on from one generaton to another to another. Called “intergeneratonal trauma”, we have learned to survive by adaptng to the embedded chaos that existed in our homes and has atempted to break away from that chaos by fnding our own methods of getng through. We call these “coping skills.” (Long Term Efects of Child Abuse and Neglect ( htps:// preventchildabuse.org/latest-actvity/long-term-efects-ofchild-abuse-and-neglect/ ).

But coping skills may be maladaptve, meaning they do not help us to live our best lives including addicton, selfharm, sexual promiscuity, and even criminal behavior. It is not that we intend on thriving on these behaviors, (or in many cases, repeatng the same behaviors that we have seen as we grew up), it is just that we have not learned how to “unlearn” those behaviors. When we are raised in, witness or are somehow exposed to trauma, we tend to subconsciously feel comfortable in the heightened emoton that we have become accustomed to. (Mind SupportYour mental health platorm - htps://mindsupport.eu/en/ artcle/6120f30cca3d380626b36f9 ).

So how do you unlearn such deep-seated behaviors? One of the most important steps is therapy. Therapy is the process of taking apart the pieces of our lives to understand why we have adapted to our life stressors and developed the habits of survival that we needed to get through tumultuous tmes in our lives. In therapy, we explore the efects, behaviors, and the core belief systems that have been established to determine whether “the coping skills” are helping us to efectvely manage our life stressors, and if they are not, what we can do to change or replace those behaviors. With therapy, we can also access psychotropic medicatons which help to restore the balance or equilibrium of our brains, so we “get out of our heads” and stop focusing on the trauma. It is extremely important to develop a relatonship with the right therapist, and if the therapist is not the right ft, to change to someone more aligned with your needs. With the right treatment, therapy will no longer feel scary, and instead be an empowering catalyst for change.

In 2021, Lisa lef the feld of educaton to support her daughter, who underwent a mental health crisis, for a positon in mental health as an Outpatent Therapist.

Lisa is in the unique positon to bring atenton to the importance of creatng mental health awareness and mental health advocacy from the perspectve of a former School Counselor, trauma survivor and mother of a trauma survivor.

Connect:

linkedin.com/in/lisaford-12526454

htp:// causeandefectraumahealing.org/

e Journey to Becoming a Published Author

Announcing to the world (and to yourself) that you are ofcially an author may, in fact, be one of the all-tme most amazing, life-changing moments. It sure was for me.

I had been (sort of) trying to become an author on and of since the 4th grade. Decades later in graduate school, I foated the idea of turning my master’s thesis into a book, but I was so tred of reading the material there was no way I could have hunkered down to fnish the project. Truth be told the topic was niche online datng and that book never would have held up in today’s swipe right world.

It wasn’t untl I became a Powerful Women Today Mentor Expert that my dreams of becoming a published author fnally came true.

With PWT, I have had the pleasure of co-creatng alongside dozens of women in collaboratve books, and now, my personal

book Book Marketng AUTHORity is on the verge of being published through our PWT publishing house.

The beauty of being part of a mult-author book is that you gain membership into something bigger – a mission-driven story from a chorus of voices, each chapter highlightng something diferent and wonderful. There is a special camaraderie that emerges from having a shared vision. If you haven’t yet been part of a collaboratve book, I highly recommend it. My goal for publishing my personal book is what some might call “my why”: to be able to help as many nonfcton and children’s book authors as possible by ofering them strategies and tactcs to amplify their voices and share their message with the world.

Are you ready to tell your story? Find out more about book marketng opportunites and get Your Ultmate Book Marketng Checklist at vipbookmarketng.com .

n the 1970s, a “cult” was a weird, dangerous group of people who were defnitely outside mainstream America. What no one seemed to grasp was... sometmes a “cult” can be right down the street.

PART I ONE

High school for Sadie was a fun, happy tme – a tme of freedom, fun, and the expectaton of a bright future. Life was full of promise, and things were only going to get beter. She found her soulmate, she went to an all-girls Catholic school where even the nuns were relaxed and laid back. He lived in a great city, New Orleans, The Big Easy, so-called because life was meant to be lived easily, slow, happy, musically, and beautfully.

Sadie’s friend, Beau (short for Beauregarde Jasper Boudreax), invited her to join a garage band. Beau, Mickey, Sadie and Ace (short for Alexander Patrick Thibodeau) magically blended their voices into something mesmerizing.

They called themselves The West Banke, and they knew they had something great. Their hopes of making demos and getng local gigs were inevitable. More importantly, stars, sparks, or whatever you want to call it were practcally visible when Sadie and Mickey frst saw each other. From that moment, Sadie and Mickey were inseparable. They wrote music together, rode the ferry back and forth from Algiers to the Quarter, and wandered, listening to the city, listening to its heart beat and its music. Mickey was a poet, a writer, and a musician. He had a generous heart, a genuinely spiritual aura, and he was talented. Everyone knew he would be successful. And everyone knew Sadie and Mickey would be together forever.

Sadie spent her school days at the Archbishop Blenk High School for girls. When she and her friends were bored,

they’d skip class and sit up on the roof and smoke. Everything was funny and easy. Life was full of possibility. Afer school, she would practce with the band, then ride the ferry with Mickey. On the weekends, they’d hang out at The Flower Pot, a night club that was supposedly for kids under 21. The air was foggy with pot, the music was fantastc, and they’d stay ‘tl closing. Listening to other bands sometmes inspired a music writng session with Mickey and occasionally the other guys in the band. Other tmes, Sadie and Mickey would walk down to the levee and lay in the grass looking at the stars. She was always late getng home. There was a window she could climb in if she was really late.

There was always some place to explore in the crescent city. You could ride the streetcars or hang out in the centuries-old cemeteries full of beautfully carved crypts. The Quarter was full of shops and fortune tellers and music. They spent a lot of tme at Cafe Du Monde, drinking cafe au lait tl dawn when they’d walk up to the top of the levee and watch the sun come up.

Then there was Mardi Gras – Sadie’s drill team always marched in parades. The parades that were community-oriented and atended by entre families, the grandmas and grandpas, litle kids, and parents. Folks would bring their lawn chairs and food and drink and the kids would yell, “throw me something mister!” It was fun, exhaustng, and wonderful all at the same tme.

Mardi Gras begins on Twelfh Night and ends at Midnight on the day before Lent. Very religiously oriented. As the season built to its Fat Tuesday crescendo, Sadie and her friends loved to roam the Quarter, laughing and dancing, hooking arms, winding through the alleyways and back again into the crowd. Ace or Beau (or both) usually drank too much and had to be carried back to the ferry.

They had their life planned out. As soon as they fnished high school, they were moving to an apartment in Treme. They would atend Tulane (Mickey had a fne arts

scholarship) and live on the money they made playing in clubs. Since Mickey would graduate a year ahead of Sadie, he decided to work that year and save money.

That’s where things went wrong.

Mickey showed up at Sadie’s school. The halls were open air, and classrooms were all windows so as soon as Mickey drove up, Sadie saw him. She asked for a restroom pass, and went outside. She felt a terrible foreboding. Something was of. It took hours to walk down the stairs into the parking lot. He never took his eyes of Sadie.

“What is it?”

“This,” he said, and handed her a piece of paper.

The world stopped. Time stopped. They didn’t say a word, just stared into each other’s eyes watching the other one’s tears fll their eyes and fall slowly down their face. Mickey had been drafed.

In 1966, that meant one thing. Viet Nam.

Over the next month, Sadie and Mickey both lived in a haze of disbelief and fear. She tried to be encouraging but they both had a terrible sense of doom. Their plans for the future that were so certain and joyous were now at the very least delayed or worse, destroyed.

Mickey brought his guitar to Sadie’s. He didn’t have to say it. They both knew it was just in case. They told each other over and over that he was certainly coming home. The war would probably be over in a few months. Things would be okay.

Afer boot camp, Mickey came home on leave. His mom and dad acted so proud of him, like he was already a hero. Sadie and Mickey talked about going to Canada. They counted their money and tried to fgure out where they could go and how they’d survive. Finally, Mickey said he couldn’t do

that to his dad. They played one last gig at The Flower Pot, walked slowly through the Quarter, and rode the ferry home. They laid in the grass and watched the lights on the river. As dawn broke, Mickey walked Sadie home. He took her face in his hands and kissed her sofly.

“I love you forever.”

“I love you longer,” she replied.

She stood on the porch and watched him walk down the street. On the corner, under a street light, he turned and blew a kiss.

Sadie wrote to Mickey every day. His leters usually arrived two or three at a tme with weeks in between. She read his words and his mind, both trying to be upbeat while a dark foreboding grew and grew like a storm on the horizon.

One of Sadie’s assignments in Lit class was to fnd a poem from a poet she was unfamiliar with. She halfeartedly searched through a few books in the library but found nothing remotely interestng. Then she found Sylvia Plath. She picked up Ariel, and it fell open to “Daddy.” The comparison to Nazis and the Holocaust was intense, and Sadie was trying to avoid thinking about war. Contnuing her interminable and seemingly fruitless search, she discovered Auden. Sadie was drawn inexplicably to “Funeral Blues.” Lost in her own thoughts, she tore the page out of the book and put it in her pocket.

Six months later, a yellow cab drove up to Mickey’s parents’ house. His mom was home alone, and the taxi driver handed a telegram to her. She stared at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but just shook his head. He turned and went back to the cab and drove away. She read the telegram and slid to the foor in the doorway.

Across the street, Beau watched in

stunned silence. He didn’t have to ask what happened, it happened every day to somebody. He ran down the street and banged on Sadie’s door.

“You gota come. Now.”

And Sadie ran down the street afer Beau.

They found Mickey’s mom stll on the foor sobbing and shaking. They picked her up and took her to the couch in the living room. Sadie grabbed the telegram. Her knees buckled. The room spun round.

No, no, no, no.

Only Sadie couldn’t cry, she could only focus on trying to keep breathing. She was suddenly wretchedly hollow, her insides sucked out by a terrible force, leaving her empty and lifeless.

At the precipice of incredibly cool sh**... that’s where I like to fnd myself. Whether it’s hiking to the summit of a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains or atractng powerful, amazing clients that are doing cool things in the world, standing on that precipice is a joy that makes my heart smile. Partnering with Powerful Women Today Magazine in the role of Creatve Director for this magazine is an honor, a joy, and a privilege.

Throughout these pages are incredible stories, beautful training, opportunites to connect, and much more.

Pairing wonderful content with fantastcally rich images has made this project incredibly rewarding.

The powerhouse collaboraton with Carolina M. Billings, the Publisher of this magazine, and Melanie Herschorn, the Editor, on this amazing project and seeing it come to fruiton is something that holds a very special spot in my heart.

I’ve always dreamed of being part of a beautful magazine project and now I can put a check mark in that column of my goals!

Hugs, Love, and t. Rex always,

Dortha a.k.a. Rexie (you’ll hear more about that soon enough)

Essential Tips for Couples Planning a Destination Wedding

Destnaton weddings can truly be customized to your liking. Your special day can be intmate, extravagant, or even of the resort. The possibilites are endless. Here are 6 essental tps to ensure your destnaton wedding is the event of your dreams.

Do your homework:

Choosing a destnaton can feel overwhelming for many couples so one of the best ways to overcome that feeling is to do your research and narrow down your selecton to 3 destnatons. This will help your travel consultant get a feel for your preference. Remember, too, this is just your startng point. Our agent will be able to help with the process of making a fnal decision.

Keep your guests together:

Couples will ofen commission a travel consultant to assist with planning their guests’ fights and accommodatons. It is a good idea to encourage guests to book with your agent. When a guest books outside of the group, if any issues arise the agent will not be able to assist them. That’s why booking together will eliminate a lot of discrepancies. There are also certain criteria that must be met in order for a group to be considered a group.

Select the right vendors:

Choosing the right vendors is a task within itself. This is where your travel consultant’s knowledge will be extremely valuable. Your consultant will have a list of trusted vendors they work with frequently, as well as access to local talent at a great price point. Try to arrive a few days early to meet your vendors if it is not possible to visit vendors at least 4 months in advance.

Make a Realistic Budget:

It’s important to be transparent with your planner on what your budget is. This,

alone, can save couples a lot of stress and anxiety. Let your planner know what your must-haves and non-negotables are. Your planner will be able to provide alternatves for those areas of compromise too, such as forals or guest count.

Go with the flow:

Destnaton weddings require couples to exhibit a lot of patence. Sometmes language barriers, tme zones, or the overall work style of the partcular destnaton might have you on edge. Because many weddings were postponed due to the pandemic, it may take more tme than usual to receive quotes from suppliers or vendors l. Don’t allow these minor setbacks to deter you. Your planner and travel consultant are pros who know how to navigate these situatons.

Maximize your experience:

Planning a destnaton wedding has many unique challenges, so why not make the most of it? Unlike a local wedding in which you have one night of celebraton, destnaton weddings are nonstop festvites. Plan actvites and excursions, utlize the resort, and host a welcome or send-of dinner to extend the party. Many couples also choose to have their wedding trip include their honeymoon.

For even more destnaton wedding inspiraton, follow Stephaney Campbell on Instagram at: inspired_ weddingsinc or email hello@inspired-weddings. ca for more tps or enquiries.

e Coaching Industry Market Size & Insights for 2023

by Mindy McManus

Coaching is a profession that is not regulated by the government. Anyone can take a one-week class and say they are a coach. Therefore, when seeking out a good, qualifed coach, it is important to look for a few key items to ensure that your coach has gone through a rigorous training and examinaton. Coaching takes tme and practce to grow into your coaching skills.

When I am looking to refer a client to another coach, I check to see how many hours of training they received and if they are accredited from a reputable coaching accreditaton source. How will you know? You can ask or you can look for a Credly badge from their coaching insttuton or from the accredited body from which they received their certfcaton. For instance, I chose to become certfed through the Internatonal Coaching Federaton (ICF). I selected ICF because that is the accreditaton body my job required at a prominent healthcare system at the tme.

ICF ofers three tracks for certfed coaches. The frst path is the Associate Certfed Coach (ACC) is 60-plushours of training and 100-plus hours of paid coaching. The second path is the Professional Certfed Coach (PCC) is 125plus hours of training and 500-plus hours of paid coaching hours. The third path, which is the one that I am working toward now, is the Master Certfed Trainer (MCC) is 200-plus training and 2500-plus paid coaching hours.

Becoming a certfed coach is one of the best things that I could have done for my career. It helped me to deepen my coaching skills so that I can beter serve my clients. When it comes to coaching,

we can always get beter. It takes a lifelong learning mentality and the need, want, and desire to serve others. I am proud to be a part of PWT’s coaching academy where we help to elevate the coaching world with qualifed and certfed ICF coaches.

Connect with Mindy: htps://www.linkedin. com/in/mindymcmanus/

About the Author

Mindy’s Executve Coaching, LLC is about developing a creatve partnership with clients capitalizing on their potental ignitng creatvity, leadership, passion, and drive. My passion is around executve coaching and leadership consultng with leaders and their leadership teams to improve their leadership capabilites to achieve professional, team, organizatonal, and personal goals. My niche is developing diverse physician leaders. Assistng clients to harness their greatness and discovering unrealized talents.