Dear Women (and Brave Men) of GutZ, BrainZ & HeartZ,

When I heard that Janet Beckers, Founder of Wonderful Web Women, totally lost all of her websites…and I’m talkin’ GONE…because her website provider just DISAPPEARED, I had a couple of reactions.

1. Since she is a friend and colleague of mine, my heart went out to her because after having been an internet marketer and “evangelist” for over 10 years, this happening is like your worst NIGHTMARE!

2. I got nervous because there is so much content on my GutZy Women website that if that were to happen to me…I would have a heart attack! That is YEARS of work!

So as I followed how she and her incredible team were going to deal with it, I was in AWE of how Janet, in particular, overcame such a wrenching experience!

After screaming, crying and bemoaning her fate, she got right back up and turned lemons into lemonade. (Actually she went even a step further and turned it into Margaritas…now that’s the kind of GutZy Woman I’m talkin’ about

Her story is all over the place…on her website, on her blog, etc. So I’m not going to repeat all the details. But what I want to bring to your attention is the fact that she will be taking what she learned from this horrifying experience and showing YOU and me how to not make the same mistake!

So if you have a website or two…I would highly recommend that you listen to what Janet and her Geekess Supreme, Charly Leetham, have to offer in the way of preventing that from happening to us and what to do if (God forbid) it does.

The teleclass is LIVE tonight in the US and Tuesday morning in Australia. It’s free…so if this is something that can be extremely valuable to you…These two ladies KNOW whereof they speak!

Click here to register …NOW! It’s happening soon!

http://tinyurl.com/donotdisappear

Sincerely,

Deb Ducic

aka GutZy Woman

Free Giveaways or Bonus Gifts (”ethical bribes”, as Alex Mandossian would call them) are almost a necessity these days for anyone looking to increase the number of people (prospective customers, donors, customers, clients) to opt in to their lists.

Everyone likes getting stuff for free if they perceive some value in it. Free is such a powerful force in innovation, especially online.

One innovation that sprung from the idea of individual “gifts” is “giveaway events” and they have now taken the internet by storm.

What is a Giveaway Event?

When several to hundreds of people or entities contribute products or services as free gifts for other people who visit a website that might be promoting a product launch, a new service, a particular promotion, then it’s considered a giveaway event.  

For people to receive each giveaway item, they must subscribe to the contributor’s mailing list. Done correctly and depending on the quality or perceived value of the gifts they offer, the contributors can build their lists exponentially in a much faster period of time than if they were to do it on their own.

That’s why Giveaway Events are such a GREAT idea for those just starting out!

Although giveaway events greatly benefit “newbies”, ANYONE can benefit from them, all the way up to multibillion dollar corporations or international non-profits.

Each contributor agrees to send traffic to the event website site so every contributor benefits from the mailing list of each other contributors (also known as Joint Venture Partners or JV Partners). The gifts you give can either be your own product or service or it can be a gift you own the rights to give away for free.

The event organizers send you instructions and promotion materials such as sample email messages, endorsement letters and sponsored ads to use in endorsing this give away event to your subscribers who are already subscribed to your mailing list. Again, if your list is small, you can always team up with a colleague or a mastermind group of people you like and trust and present a united front…VERY POWERFUL!

That’s exactly what I did when I received an email from Chet Holmes International informing me of their MASSIVE Giveaway Event that kicks off TOMORROW, June 4th

After experiencing first-hand the power of their big event last year, I knew I’d be crazy not to take part once again. As I thought about whom I could partner with, it occurred to me that this event would tie in nicely with my 2008 goal of raising the visibility of women, their businesses, products, services or causes on the Internet.

So I put out a call for women who were interested in joining me and it’s an AMAZING group of women from all over the world who are movers and shakers who have INCREDIBLE gifts to give!

We’re calling it the GutZy Women International Mastermind Alliance and we invite you to take part in this EVE-olution by checking out the Event website. It will fill you in on all the details.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article & follow the rest of the story:

OK all you grassroots organizers, non-profit fundraisers and do-gooders out there. This article is about the power of the internet to save a person’s life that YOU can take part in or use as a template for creating and implementing your own drives, fundraisers or movements.

If you have a list or post in a blog, then this article might even spur you on to spread the word to help the cause or if you’re the type they’re looking for, you may even decide to save a life!

This is exactly why so many of us get so JAZZED about new technology, web 2.0 and the Internet.

We talk about how we use the Internet to start and grow our businesses in order to create more freedom and abundance, which is GREAT, but with all of the crazy things going on in the world, we can use it to do great things to help man(woman)kind in our life struggles as well.

“Petey Needs a Wheelchair Van” is an Example

I previously wrote of an example of one of my fellow competitiors in the Next Internet Millionaire, who is an aide for a young man by the name of Petey. Petey has an incurable debilitating disease and in order to help him lead as normal a life as possible with the time he has left, Jason Marshall put together a giveaway campaign to raise money to buy  a wheelchair accessible van.

While they didn’t reach their goal of $15,000.00, they did raise $6,000.00, which not only puts them closer to the possibilities and may open up new opportunities, but it also helped those of us who who donated recieve some valuable information products, softwares, books, courses, etc. for much less money than we would have had to pay if we bought them at retail…Obviously you can see the WIN WIN!

By the way, you HAVE to go see the Google graphic Petey created for a contest…Those of you who can relate to handicap life will LOVE it!  

When you Ask for More than Money

Well, this new grassroots effort takes this same sort of idea to another level. This time the disease doesn’t have to be fatal and by either contributing our time, our connections or our bone morrow, we get a chance to save a life of a darling 26 year old Asian American woman and more!

Michelle Maykin dedicated herself to helping others by creating Project Michelle, an online/offline campaign focused on recruiting people to become potential bone marrow donors for others like her who  have leukemia, so this drive reaches even further. Apparently, there is a major shortage of Asians registered as potential donors, which is a problem because they are the most likely prospects for donors that match others of Asian background.
 

My point is that this campaign can be used as an incredible template for using our skills and creativity to put together grassroots movements of as many people and entities as possible to provide for the needs of others less fortunate in our communities by leveraging the capabilities of viral marketing, blogging, email marketing and the Internet.

What makes this drive unique is that its purpose is not to raise money, but bone morrow donors. Think about the logistisical challenges, especially online, which, to the more traditional thinking person, might stop them before they start in putting something like this together.

So I invite you to study how this grass roots campaign is put together and how are successfully getting the word out, gaining volunteers and how they handle the logistics of creating drives in 5 major cities, as well as dedicated centers outside of those cities, that are tied in with the National Morrow Donor Program. 

Read the rest of the article here:
 

“Free is such a powerful force in innovation”

Think about it…the financial risk is removed when something is free. Removing risk is powerful! We are much more easily motivated to take action when there is nothing to lose. But have you ever thought about how if something is free it encourages us to be innovative?

It intrigued me because although I know the word “FREE” is a proven motivating word in sales, I never looked at the fact that FREE is one of the great motivating factors behind the innovation of the Internet.

Now, FREE is one of those words that sets off the SPAM filters. The word is WAY over-used at this point and has become one of those words that sets off the skeptic in all of us…and yet:

FREE “giveaway” promotions are the latest and greatest in getting people to subscribe to your list. People sign up by the hundreds or thousands.

FREE information, free entertainment, free phone calls across the world, free software, free graphics, free hosting, free consultations, free samples…Just about everything that exists is given away FREE these days.

FREE helps “newbies” get started in the learning process of creating and interacting on the internet. FREE helps “intermediates” grow and start to compete with the “experts”.

FREE helps the Mom & Pops compete with the Mega Corporations.

FREE helps the “experts” create their Maven status, warp speed their viral marketing and position themselves as generous “good guys”.

FREE lets us spend our money on other things like gas & food

FREE makes us crazy when we’re on the other end of the deal…trying to make money.

Never-the-less, below is a list of some “freebies” I’ve used myself and like or have had other GutZy Women tell me they like.

 Check them out! And if you get some value out of these FREE tips, feel FREE to subscribe to our FREE RSS feed, or our FREE newsletter, or FREE social networking site for more FREE tips, strategies and valuable information.

1.   Website builders:           

      http://www.weebly.com

      http://www.webnode.com/en

2.   Resize & Optimize pictures:         

      http://www.shrinkpictures.com

3.     Public domain image resources:

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources#General_collections

4.   Cover generator for ebooks, CD’s etc.           

       http://www.groundbreak.com/graphics2.html 

5.   Internet Calling:     

    http://www.skype.com 

6.   Live Video Broadcasting:      

      http://www.mogulus.com                        

      http://www.ustream.com 

 7.   Podcasting:    

     http://www.talkshoe.com     

Obviously this is a very short list compared to what’s out there, so why don’t you ADD to the list with YOUR favorites in the comments section below. I can just feel the Innovation coming on! For MORE innovative articles and videos click here:

Are you letting the weight of the world drag you down?

A few weeks ago I was feeling crushed by the weight of the world, with all the natural disasters, the recession, violence against women around the world, the number of our young men and women being killed and traumatized by the war and on, and on…UGH! It was really getting to me and I let it affect the way I thought about my life, my family and my business.  My family, whom I love dearly, were getting on my nerves and taking up my time in a way that I was resentful. I wasn’t going into my office because I didn’t want to leave my house. My girlfriends, who were always asking me to do things with them, were now too busy with their own lives. Money and clients seemed to just disappear.  

“HMMM….WHAT IS GOING ON???”…This is NOT ME! I’m NOT like that normally and have had very few bouts of depression throughout my life, so I had to step back and wonder why I was often on the verge of tears.  My poor mentor had to put up with tears and nose blowing for a couple of hours at the local coffee shop one morning in front of all these people and I had NO INTENTION of even mentioning what had been going on in my head, but when he asked me how things were, my emotions took over and I couldn’t stop myself, for the life of me! 

It was embarrassing and yet obviously it was something I needed to get out of my system. I felt better immediately, listened to some very sage advice and continued to re-examine my perception of life, the happenings in the world and the direction of business.  Funny thing is I talked to more than a few friends and colleagues who were going through something similar, to different degrees.  

Now, I know this is a personal issue, so why I am writing about this here?

In this blog and on my GutZy Women Website, I’ve always tried to focus on delivering valuable information for YOUR benefit. The majority of the articles and videos I’ve published have been to educate, illuminate, inspire and motivate YOU to leverage the power of technology and Multi Media to expand your reach, whether for business, personal or benevolent purposes. 

But now I feel drawn to take it a step further and use my knowledge, skills and passion not just for business purposes, but to seek out those who are using a more holistic approach to how we can serve each other and the world and align myself and GutZy Women LLC with those who are proactively seeking positive solutions and taking action to impact positive change. 

So one “ah-ha” that came to mind through this process is that I wonder if what I’ve been publishing, teaching and offering is actually accomplishing that which I intended. Another question in my mind is that since the vision of GutZy Women is HUGE and has so many facets, is it time now to add another piece of the vision?

The first question can only be answered by YOU and I would LOVE your feedback. Call, write or comment below:

The second question, although open for discussion, must pretty much be decided by me and the universe. Come back tomorrow to see what I decided and how YOU can benefit!

LOVE

Deb Ducic

PS: The third question is…How is the state of the world affecting you? How are you handling it?