Copy That Pops: Writing Tips and Psychology Hacks for Business

What is hypnosis? What is "a practical psychic"? How about spiritual coaching? We cover all of these parapsychological topics plus book writing, bestseller launching, and more with our guest Priscilla Keresey.

Journey to where Priscilla is now - What is hypnosis? - What is spiritual coaching and how can it help you? - Best tips for writing and publishing your book - Priscilla's first bestselling book of 2019: Self-Esteem Solution: The Breakthrough Plan To Overcome Obstacles, Determine Your Destiny, and Pursue Your Extraordinary Life - Priscilla's second bestselling book of 2019: RISE & Shine: Your Day-By-Day Guidebook To Healthy Self-Esteem

Priscilla A. Keresey is a trained professional in hypnosis, spiritual coaching and psychic mediumship readings with clients all over the country and the world including Israel, Russia, and Canada. Since 2002 when she was certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists, Priscilla has been working with her clients as the “practical psychic” who understands that people are seeking guidance from someone who speaks in terms that are relevant, treats readings like the important business they are, and understands that her clients expect something of measurable value for the money they're spending.

In January 2003, Priscilla began studying at the Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking as well as opened her first office where she offered free and low-cost workshops on Spring Cleaning for Mind, Body and Spirit, Creating Prosperity, The Power of the Inner Mind, How to Set Intentions for Success, Meditation, How To Pray, and her most popular: Developing and Using Your Own Psychic Abilities. In 2004 she began lecturing at New Age conferences, health clubs, fraternal organizations, women's groups, libraries, schools and at workplaces on a variety of topics related to the power of the mind, and then graduated from the Seminary with an M.A. in Divinity and was ordained in Israel in November 2005.

Over the next four years, she not only kept up with her various industry endeavors but also created and taught a highly-effective six-week empowerment program for female inmates in the NYS Correctional System – a course that has been offered eight times since its inception.

Priscilla has continuously strived to diversify her professional efforts, functioning as a guest minister at the Albertson Memorial Spiritualist Church in Old Greenwich, CT while teaching workshops on self-esteem, hypnosis, psychic development, and mediumship skills. She has published multiple books including “It Will All Make Sense When You’re Dead, Messages from Our Loved Ones in the Spirit World”, “Nobody Gets Out of this Alive, More Messages from Our Loved Ones in the Spirit World”, “The Self-Esteem Solution”, and a series of self-help e-books and audio files that she authored and produced called, “Live & Learn GuidesTM.” She also co-created Putnam After Dark, a series of monthly events at the PV Grange highlighting the paranormal with speakers including S.P.I.R.I.T.S. of Hudson Valley Paranormal Investigators and author and UFO investigator, Linda Zimmerman.

Currently, Priscilla is President of the Putnam Valley Free Library Board of Trustees, and a member of the Putnam County Historical Cemetery Committee. She founded, and for the last 10 consecutive years has run, the very successful Putnam Valley Psychic Fair and is also teaching an ongoing mediumship development circle by teleclass. For additional information or to contact Priscilla, visit her Facebook page at facebook.com/APracticalPsychic, her website at apracticalpsychic.com and liveandlearnguides.com or via email at [email protected].

PERSONAL BIO:

• Raised in West Hartford, CT and Rindge, NH. • Graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1984. • Served as Art Director at Cornell University before beginning a long freelance career as a graphic designer, working for various Madison Avenue advertising agencies and Hunter College in New York City.

Priscilla has traveled the world as a high altitude mountaineer, enjoying technical rock and ice climbs on mountains in the US, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Africa, and the French and Swiss Alps.

Her favorite things to do are writing, studying and striving to grow closer to Spirit, traveling, and spending time with her animals outside in nature.

• “All of our memories......

Do you want to earn income working from home? (Whether you have a child or not...whether you are a mom or not).

This episode may also be SO TIMELY for millions of people social distancing at home because of COVID-19.

Then tune into this episode! Our guest today shares her story of how she replaced a full-time income in the financial industry (living in the expensive LA area) as a single mom...and how you can do it too.

A Few Highlights from This Podcast:

Blog Outpost Group

Single Mommy Tribe Group

How MarketMuse Content Optimization Software Helped Neil Patel Double His Traffic and Rankings

Book: Stay at Home Single Mom: Writing Your Way to Your Happy Ending

How Kimberlee went from the financial industry to writing screenplays, business plans, blogs, ghostwritten books, and more (and how you can too)

What is the rate you can charge for your writing (and should you do it by hour, by word, by project?)

Tips to get your priorities and strategy clear

The biggest mistake to avoid as a freelance writer

Kimberlee answers the question many have, "Should I do work for free or reduced price in the beginning as I build my writing samples, network, and client base?"

Our Guest

Kimberlee Leonard is the author of Stay At Home Single Mom: Writing Your Way to Your Happy Ending which takes readers on her journey behind establishing herself as a freelance writer so she could stay home with her toddler when faced with a divorce.

She is the founder of The Single Mommy Tribe where she helps mentor and support other moms faced with the decision of staying home with the kids or going back to the workforce and The Blog Out Post where she coaches bloggers and writers on how to create a second income to replace their first.

Great Quotes

• “It’s about setting your priorities so you meet your goals, otherwise you’re always struggling with mom guilt.” - Kimberlee Leonard
• “Don’t be afraid to have a little bit of an edge of who you are.” - Kimberlee Leonard
• “'I don’t know what we’re gonna write if I’m a plumber?' And I said, 'Well then you write about all the DIY things somebody in their house is gonna do because I guarantee they’re still gonna need a plumber after they do that.” - Kimberlee Leonard

Take Action Now!

1. Amazon Bestselling Book Workshop + Resources [free]
2. Bestselling Book Accelerator [best option to get your book done, live, and #1!]
3. Speaker's Secret Gig List [get more speaking gigs]

To access full show notes on making money as a writer from home, please click here.

Sword fighting, Peace Corp serving, apple pie with cheddar cheese-loving business owner Ray Blakney stops by to share with us how he’s grown the largest language learning online school in the world that hasn’t raised venture capital.

Whatever content you have -- a blog, a book, a podcast, a website, a YouTube channel, or a combination of them -- Ray’s 4 proven steps will get you from crickets to consistent growth of your brand, business relationships, and revenue.

A Few Highlights from This Podcast:

Starts first business as a language school in Mexico with wife (who used to be his Spanish teacher)...but then swine flu hits...and it forces them to go online, which leads to huge growth (got over 4 million visits in 2019) - Shares a lot of personal information on your site and podcast questions...why? Psychologically what is the reason? - Tips for coming up with a name for your business - 4 steps (plus a bonus 5th step!) for his proven content amplification process 1) Research 2) Create great content 3) Amplify on social media 4) Ranking and linkbacks - Resources named: UberSuggest and Ahrefs.com - Advice on writing emails that get people to agree to link back to your content - What’s a realistic timeframe for all this to work and snowball? Answer may surprise you. - And be sure to book a free, no pressure call or jump on a live training to get help implementing what you learned. This is so valuable!

Our Guest

Ray Blakney is an award-winning Filipino-American entrepreneur who has over a decade of experience building (bootstrapping) and operating 6 and 7-figure online businesses. He and his businesses have been featured in magazines such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, The Boston Globe, and other top publications.

In his free time, Ray is a part-time sword fighter.

Learn More: LiveLingua.com InfiniteUpcycle.com Anomalous Educator Podcast

Great Quotes

• “The advantage of us not needing to grow is one that a lot of people overlook. They look at it as a business. You grow, grow, grow, just for the sake of growth, and sometimes if you're happy where you are, I don't know if you're making a hundred thousand dollars a year, were you really that much happier making 120.” -Ray Blakney
• “Bookstores are making a comeback in the United States. Those like little niche corner shops where you used to go and read books, Barnes and Nobles, you know the big ones are going bankrupt, people want that personalized thing where you can go in and you know the seller or the seller knows you. It's like: -You know, a new book just came in that I know you would love because you, this is the kind of book that you read.” -Ray Blakney
• “I think a lot about names and people ask me a lot about names cause it was all about like copywriting and words and it can be really tough, but it's great to know, one you can change it, two its kind of like no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care that sort of phrase, it's like no one cares about the name of your business, they care about the results they're going to get for them or how you're going to make them feel in doing the interaction. So focusing more on that and less on the names.” Laura Petersen
• “So you really need to know yourself first and then write some content that is around that, we find that that's the base for creating any great piece of content is that there is a point to it, your personality is included and you know what you're trying to say in that content.” -Ray Blakney
• “Even if you sell 20 copies to 20 people who really need it, you did something good and you never know where those relationships could go, it can just completely snowball in a way you can't anticipate. But let's not worry about trying to please everyone and be this massive overnight success.” - Laura Petersen

Take Action Now!

1. Amazon Bestselling Book Workshop + Resources [free]
2. Bestselling Book Accelerator [best option to get your book done, live, and #1!]
3. Speaker's Secret Gig List [get more speaking gigs]

For full show notes click: Create Content That Gets You Ranking

UNPOPULAR OPINION: Hanging out with ACHIEVERS is actually HURTING you {psychologically}!

Facebook Post where you can write and share your thoughts:

We all know the whole 'you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with' saying -- I retell it all the time, myself!

But, I realized recently how doing this can actually hurt us too. Now, before anyone jumps to write a scathing comment in rebuttal, hear me out...

HOW IT HURTS

You see your hardworking, successful business buddies start podcasts, write books, and speak on stage. So, you think and feel like "everyone is doing it."

You then think and feel "it's too late for me," "I missed the boat," or "I'll never be as good as they are, plus they got such a head start, so I won't do it."

SO, YOUR PERCEPTION IS SKEWED

The truth actually is that you are just hanging out with go-getters.

Most people do NOT start podcasts, write books, or speak on stage.

Most people consume but do not create.

Most people overthink but do not take action.

And, more and more -- did I mention MORE? -- people are coming online every single day looking for the solutions you offer. Looking for YOUR style of speaking or writing. YOUR examples and lessons learned. YOUR wacky humor or calm speaking voice.

HOW TO FIX

So, I would never advise hanging out with losers to combat this misperception and get you back to reality. The side effects would be too negative.

The recipe simply is to recognize where you are. You are in a GREAT place if this post resonates with you.

1. You have a great crew around you. Keep it up.
2. Just because your buds are rockin' it does NOT mean there isn't space and a huge -- and increasing -- demand for your unique twist and style. Audit your thoughts, audit your feelings...and reframe.
3. Do the thing. You know what it is. Do it.

FEEDBACK

Agree with me? Disagree? Did this help at all?

Let's dialogue!

Take Action Now on Your Bestselling Book!

1. TRAINING on hitting Amazon bestseller [free]
2. COMMUNITY of new and growing nonfiction authors! [free]
3. ACCELERATOR: Write a great book & hit bestseller! [not free ;)]

Click here to access full show notes.

4 examples to convince you once-and-for-all that the Oxford comma is non-negotiable.

Today, let’s talk about a nerdy debate that continues to rage. But, my dear listeners...there is only ONE CORRECT answer to question...

“Oxford comma or not?”

----- PRODUCT SHOUT OUT -----

I use the Owlet Sock to keep track of my 3-month-year-old's heart rate and oxygen level as he naps and sleeps. It's a game-changer as a new parent! Lifehack. :)

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What is the Oxford Comma anyway?

Another name for it is the serial comma. It’s when you put a comma before the and in a list of 3 or more things.

For example, “I love the movies Die Hard [comma] Just Go With It [comma] and Independence Day.”

Should I use it?

Yes. Always.

Why?

The short answer is because it’s more clear. Some argue it’s a stylistic choice and to ‘just be consistent in your usage.’ Okay, fair enough. But, there is no denying that writing with the extra comma is more clear!

Here are 4 examples to convince you.

1. How many seats at the table do we need?

• Without the Oxford Comma: “I ate lunch with my grandparents, Liz and Kyle.”• With the Oxford Comma: “I ate lunch with my grandparents, Liz, and Kyle.”

When you hear this statement, how many seats at the table do you think we need?

Well, WITHOUT the Oxford Comma, we could need 3 seats or 5!

What do I mean?

Without the extra comma, I COULD be naming my grandparents as Liz and Kyle. Therefore, we’d need 3 seats...one for me, and two for my grandparents (whose names are Liz and Kyle.

Or, I COULD be naming my grandparents and two additional people named Liz and Kyle (who happen to be the names of my favorite cousin and his wife). Therefore, we’d need seats for my grandparents, Liz, Kyle, and me...that’s 5.

Therefore, if -- as in this case -- Liz and Kyle are not the names of my grandparents an Oxford comma is essential to make that clear.

2. Are JFK and Stalin stripping again?

There’s a funny meme image that goes around that reads, “We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin to the party.”

And it is accompanied by two images...one with the Oxford comma showing 2 female strippers, JFK, and Stalin (so 4 people) and another without the comma showing JFK and Stalin as strippers (2 people).

3. Can you even talk to toast?

I’ll include it and the stripper image in the shownotes!...is “I had eggs, toast, and OJ.” With the serial comma, it shows you are naming 3 things you had for breakfast.

Without the serial comma, it is as if you are saying “I had eggs” TO toast and orange juice...like toast and orange juice are a person you are talking to about your breakfast.

Long story short, there is no denying that the Oxford comma makes your writing more clear. And isn’t that an element of what makes our copy pop? What makes it compelling?

We want to be clear and understood!

I can tell you that when I read lists without the Oxford comma I spend too much time trying to figure out the intended meaning and get annoyed by the author.

If I do that, I am not alone. (There are lots of writing nerds out there -- let’s start a club...we’ll meet on Thursdays ;)). So, don’t annoy your nerdy audience...use the Oxford comma and be crystal clear.

Okay, I think there are still some folks unconvinced...who cares about being crrryyyystal clear if it requires extra punctuation!?

4. The $5 million dollar comma

One final example for you...

Not using the Oxford comma could cost you $5 million!

Take Oakhurst Dairy and their shipping department — there was an overtime dispute between the company and its drivers. And the whole thing hinged on the lack of an Oxford comma!

According to a History 101.com article entitled “30 of the most expensive mistakes in history”...

“Lawyers representing the drivers argued that a sentence in a contract the employees all signed needed the oxford comma to clarify that overtime pay was forfeited in a specific situation. “That comma would have sunk our ship,” the drivers’ attorney David G. Webbert told the New York Times. The company settled the lawsuit by paying the drivers a total of $5 million. That’s one expensive comma!”

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Noooowwww are you convinced??

That’s it my nerdy copy compadres! Remember that the Oxford comma is more clear and cost-effective! :-P

Talk again next time when we’ll find more ways together to write copy that p...