Have you ever felt like you have reached your limits? Whether it shows in your writing, business creation or time management – you are not alone! Below, learn how to develop strategies that will make you feel more productive, take your adventure to the next level and keep you in line – we’ll even tackle the stuff that keeps you up at night. Let Karen Post and the Oddpodz team lead the way.

1 – Does branding countries, government programs and leaders really matter? 3 part series that includes insight, strategy and recommendations.
2 – How to quickly sway opinion, sell product & make a point – with wordplay Metaphors can make a difference.
3 – Energize your entrepreneurial engine. Attend 3-day conference in Tampa. Engage in networking opportunities with students from all over the country as well as business professionals.
4 – Entrepreneur essentials – Bandwidth limits, saying no and time off. There are only so many hours in a day, what will you do with them?

For last weeks wrap up, click here.

Also, don’t forget to check out:
Slimy scam, smart business model or insightful day?
3 smart chicks, 10 ideas to breed more loyal blog readers
Greenwashing and other recycled business sins

Karen Post and the Oddpodz team are back on American soil, had a great time and took away many lessons learned. To view last weeks wrap up, click here.

1 – An airport restaurant so good, you will beg for a longer layover. Great food in Atlanta, only a plane ride away.
2 – Last minute gigs, Nigeria, branding adventures in Africa. Part 1 of a global branding adventure.
3 – Paparazzi, plantains and petrol. Part 2 is packed with lessons learned.
4 – Do you hate computerized customer service as much as I do? Make sure your phone system isn’t annoying your customers.

Also, be sure to check out:
our Get publicity Ta-Do list
I’m going to Saudi, join me!
Creative warrior goes to Memphis

Preparing for a far away trip can be challenging. Karen Post and the Oddpodz team learn how to take a stressful situation and turn it into an achievement. If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

1 – Sponge Bob would be proud of me. I’m soaking up stuff at a very high speed. Traveling is only part of the adventure.
2 – Ouch! Global travel can hurt. How to manage your health on the road. An education on why to take extra precautions.
3 – Why being in the right state is critical. And I’m not talking about Florida. What happens when goofy thoughts enter your brain.
4 – How to reduce the sting in charging service fees. Being nickel and dimed may turn out to be a valued convenience.
5 – 18 steps toward stress-free, fast-lane, more fun and darn good writing. Tips that will make you want to dump your notes.

Be sure to also check out:
Are you brand battle ready at the frontline?
Top 10 best brand stories
How two websites almost killed a baby

Being introduced to new experiences can change your perspective on life. They can also change your perspective on how to run your business. Karen Post and the Oddpodz team experienced many new things this past week and we’re sure you’ll enjoy the take-away.

1 – Miracle Whip and Cate Blanchett. What do these two have in common? Differentiating you brand will help you succeed in the long run.
2 – Making history in Saudi and 5 lessons from the experience. Being introduced to global challenges can be very rewarding.
3 – Size can matter. 4 ideas to help your brand impact measure up. Increase your brand memory with objects bigger than life.
4 – Waiting patiently. An oxymoron and opportunity. Don’t wait for your competitors to measure up to you, start creating a masterpiece now.
5 – Have an AT&T iphone? Don’t expect service in NYC. You’ll be disappointed. How some technology can’t always keep up to speed.

If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

Also, be sure to check out:
What Jimmy Fallon taught me about marketing.
5 promotional ideas to earn serious visibility for your venture.
Facebook, I’m just not that into you.

This week, Oddpodz shares the reality of keeping a business together while getting ready for an important trip. If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

1 – I’m going to Saudi, join me! Get the inside scoop of marketing, communication, travel & cultural lessons.
2 – Blog breakthrough – What does it really take? And what is the magic move that turns pondering into reality?
3 – How to get unstuck on a writing project – 10 ways. Learn to practice what you preach in a stress-free way.
4 – Forgive me, I’m using an excuse card tonight. Use these funny excuses if you’re having an off day.
5 – A road warrior’s check list, so the journey is a joy. What to pack when you’re always on the go.

For more on-the-road lessons view:
Networking in the sky. How to turn a seat mate into a good connection.
5 inspirational ideas and 2 revelations from an adventure to Chicago
What I learned from going to see Oprah

This week, Oddpodz took advantage of the simpler things in life and learned how fulfilling they really are. Here are some ways you can look at your business half full too:

1 – Fox TV calls for a 30-minute live interview. Will you be ready? Learn how to interview like a pro, here.
2 – How reincarnating an old idea can be a BORN AGAIN HIT. Check out word-smithing at its best.
3 – Birthdays, gifts and marketing – an interesting trio. Do you have a way to remember your customers’ special days?
4 – Can being happier change your entrepreneurial success? It’s true! Identify the small things in life and make them happen.
5 – Don’t forget to Celebrate loving being an entrepreneur everyday. And start making your own life choices.

If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

For more ways to fulfill your life, check out these posts:
Why creatures of habit are champions in sports, business and life.
Work less, accomplish more!
Money, money, money!

Starting this week, we are providing a weekly wrap up email from Karen Post’s Oddpodz blogs on marketing, branding and entrepreneurial matters. In case your week went flying by, here is what you’ve missed from:

1 – 2nd chance. 2nd book cover. 2nd wind. When something does not work the first time, don’t give up – just give it another shot.

2 – If you have ever tried calling internationally, then you will relate to Global phone mess – a lesson in assumption and learn why you should always plan ahead.

3 – Can a good tease convert, engage and conquer customers? We think so. Learn how to get attention from your market, before you give them all the goods.

4 – In 5 Super Bowlicious marketing practices for any size business, discover the trends and how to apply big game marketing strategies to your own business.

5 – In How to make achievements a national holiday, learn 5 ways to turn your achievements into a holiday and why it’s important to celebrate them.

6 – Don’t even think about calling me a senior or reminding me that I’m over 40 is a reminder that marketing towards the young boomers has changed.

7 – Have you learned How to juggle multiple projects and keep your cool? If not, here are two approaches that can help.

Too much email, but still want easy access to the content for from Oddpodz the place for creative-minded entrepreneurs? Then, sign up for the RSS feed and read via a feeder or in your web browser.

And thanks for your continued interest and support!

Karen has joined the daily blogging club! Use the RSS feed to get everyday insight or sign up for the Oddpodz ezine, which is a summary of blog posts that is sent out bi weekly.

Here is a wrap-up of the last 15 days:

1 – In Mystery of pricing exposed. How much would you pay to look smarter?, Karen Post highlights the fact that we tend to forget: behind every decision we make, there is a price. From this standpoint, ask yourself ‘How much am I ready to pay for a particular situation?’ In order to do so, Karen recommends Eduardo Porter’s book The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. Check out Karen’s literature choice and the awesome trailer, here.

2 – In You know you are engaged when you take your laptop and Seth Godin to the bathroom, Karen shares with us 4 tips she learned from the Seth Godin’s recent webinar she attended (and could not get away from…!). Engagement is one of the primary sources of success. Even during challenging times, do your best to keep engaging in what really matters. The four tips also discuss guest bloggers, blogging frequency, Twitter and not giving up. Learn from Seth and Karen here.

3 – In 10-steps to making writing your blog easier, Karen gives great tips to help each and every one of us to enhance our blogging experience. Keeping up with a consistent daily post is harder than what we can expect. Try out Karen’s 10 ta-do’s and bring your A game when blogging. Check out Karen’s list here.

4 – In The #1 strategy that is giving me more money, influence and balance, Karen discusses her focus on trying to align all of her business ventures. These strategies can be good for your business as well. See how she does it with Oddpodz here.

5 – In 3 productivity tips to prevent eye strain & pain from your computer, Karen shares a few tips on how help your eyes if, like the average business worker, you spend more than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, in front of a computer screen. See what Karen does to avoid painful eyes and how to stay productive here.

6 – We have all asked for feedback on a project and found that good feedback does not always necessarily mean nice feedback. In Hard candy advice. Why sweet is not always better, Karen tells us about the feedback she received from a recognized author concerning her book proposal. Although it might not have been nice to hear, she definitely received helpful tips. See how she used her advisor’s insights to the fullest here.

7 – In 4-simple habits of champion goal-getters, Karen lists 4 qualities that a well-driven person should have. From setting clear objectives, to surrounding themselves with focused people, some day-to-day habits are essential for anyone who attempts to be a successful goal-getter. See what makes Karen a goal-getter here.

8 – Productivity is a powerful thing. In Save at least 5 hours a week. Subscribe to RSS feeds, Karen tells us how to increase our weekly productivity and to save precious hours. Stop surfing the web looking for pieces of information you want from your favorite websites. Make the news come to you – learn to use RSS feeds here.

9 – In Feet and footers should both be sexy, Karen mentions one of her pet peeves: feet! And also the footers on web designs. Have you checked your website/blog footers lately? You might want to reevaluate and see if they’re eye catching. But before doing so, see what Karen thinks about feet and footers here.

10 – In A crazy combination that works. Bad spelling+psycho cats=$30M in cash, Karen tells us about a crazy success story. Ben Huh, former journalist, bought a website: I Can Has Cheezburger and turned this misspelled domain name into a venture that just raised $30M! See how Ben did it here.

11 – In How to scale up the experience you deliver in 4 dramatic steps, Karen deals with a notion that is really important in the start-up world: scalability. How can a company use all the space available to communicate and sell their products? Learn more about scaling-up your business here.

12 – Want to be a standout brand? Avoid these 5 costly mistakes discusses tips every business should follow if they want to standout from the pack. To become a memorable brand, Karen Post talks about what to do and what not to do here.

Need to know something important? And get some feedback on a critical project?
Getting the best advice on anything is always a tricky task. Many of us gravitate to asking our friends. This is generally not wise and a big waste of time.

• Your friends hopefully like you, so they will say nice things about you.
• Your friends are also often not experts in what you are asking them for advice on.
• And free advice is also often aligned with quality (you get what you pay for).

A couple of weeks ago I was wrapping up a very important book proposal. This was a second chance to score with a big publisher. My first submission was kicked back (with important publisher/editor suggestions) that I needed to add or change. I knew it was now or never. While I felt good about my revised draft, I was not willing to risk the result (or my investment to date over 100 hours) without running it by a proven expert.

I remembered a coach I had worked with in the past who had written some books with this same publisher that I was having dialogue with through my agent. I shot him an email, explained the situation. He agreed to provide a read through and some counsel for $1000. In making my decision, I looked at what this book deal was worth to me, certainly that figure times at least a 100 times, and I knew this consultant/expert had the experience I needed with this publisher and many publishers.

So I fired off my draft with an email summarizing many things that I thought were important for the consultant to know. He fired back a short email. “Karen, you need to be more concise in your emails, I don’t need all of that. And your first draft gets a C”. He also provided very concise bullet points on what I needed to improve.

Our subsequent conversations were also very direct, no sweet candy coating, in fact, they were Sergeant-like blunt.

I got to work. I didn’t get emotional about him not blowing sunshine up my skirt or feeding my ego, which my friends would have done if I asked them for feedback.

After 8 intense days of focus and reworking my proposal, following my consultants advice, I sent him back the new draft.

This time he responded, “Excellent! Well written. Fascinating chapter angles. This is ready to send to the publisher”. The consultant also offered to write my forward and any testimonials. WOW! This consultant has written 30 titles in 9 languages. That said a lot.

Was it a joy and pleasure working with this very smart dude? NO. It was not like paling with my buddies.

Did his contribution significantly increase my work product value and the likelihood of me winning a great contract. Oh YES!

For more advice, check out: Mind freeze, is there a fast way to thaw your thoughts?

Off to a mondo start for the New Year, we hope these stories add to your life and success.

1 – In 3 gifts that should be on everyone’s holiday wish list, Karen mentions three entrepreneurial qualities that will help any business owner to move forward. If you have not offered yourself anything during this holiday season, it is now time to make it up with (a) intention, (b) empathy and (c) confidence. Karen lets us know why this combo will make you a successful entrepreneur here.

2 – In How to turn competition into sales, Karen explains a mantra that we have all been hearing in business: “Competition is good!”. In this article, she shares one of her experiences listing three tips that will help you to make allies out of your current competitors. Read how to use competition for your business’ sake here.

3 – In Entrepreneur Corner features Karen Post on branding your small business, Karen invites us to listen to the Entrepreneur Corner online show hosted by her friend Lisa Malloy on January the 10th. The show can be seen here. Karen and Lisa will bring their expertise on branding development during half an hour. Check the program of the show here.

4 – In Step up your progress, passion and perspective, Karen wraps up 2010 by listing several moments that made her year a success. But, as usual, she also gives us the takeaway lessons that she learned on the way. Check out the Karen’s lessons of 2010 here.

5 – In How I earned the #1 spot on Google, Karen talks about the one thing every entrepreneur wants for their business: Get top ranked in Google search. Thanks to different tasks based on keywords, content publishing and tags, the Branding Diva made it to the top for the “branding speaker” search.

6 – What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word ‘price’? In Mystery of pricing exposed. How much would you pay to look smarter? Karen Post talks about a fabulous new book she recently read that will get you thinking about how critical and motivating prices in our lives really are. To read more about this book, and to read Karen’s review, click here.

Check out the ta-do list and follow the same path here! And congrats Karen!