Self employment started when the first human consciously exerted herself to meet her survival needs. And to this day, self employment happens when we consciously choose work for the sake of the things that are most important to us.

Of course, these days we want more than to survive; we want to thrive. And then we want more. We want to create. Make a difference. Leave a legacy.

And that is part of why this most-natural thing can feel overwhelming. It’s not just that you need to be a marketer, a salesperson, a product designer, a planner, an administrator, a boss, and an employee. You want to do all that in a way that is meaningful and deeply useful.

You want to play a bigger game, not just for fame and fortune, but because you want to do work that matters and live a life that, well, that blesses the people and world around you. (Forgive me if I sound hokey, but if you just want a get-rich-quick program, you’re on the wrong page.)

The problem of overwhelm

When you work for yourself, good intentions and visionary goals can get swamped by the pressure of everything you need to know and do. The harder you try to make things work, the more confused and disoriented you can feel.

Take marketing, for instance. You know that getting the word out is part of your job. But when there’s also financial pressure to get more work, the voices of worry and need can contaminate your promotion. If you get results, it feels like you got them for the wrong reasons. If you don’t, it’s easy to slam yourself for having been both inauthentic and ineffective.]

There’s a difference between being self-employed and owning a small business.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed because business best practices don’t apply to self employment, at least not without a good bit of tweaking.

I’m not saying that you can’t go from being a one-man or one-woman show to owning a business. It’s just that most creative professionals don’t start there. We start out wanting to do good work for good pay and have a reasonably peaceful and flexible lifestyle. (What good is paying the mortgage if you don’t get to see your kids or have friends over for dinner?) But most business advice is written by and for Big Business.

Even so-called small business advice is directed at companies with millions in annual revenue and up to 500 employees! Even scaled down, these big and small business practices don’t give us clear, workable, effective ways to get work, get paid, and have a meaning-filled life. But The Self Employment Telesummit will.

A how-to event for self employed people by self employed people

The Self Employment Telesummit brings you 12 breakout sessions from successful creative professionals and a follow up coaching program with me. Each of us is an expert in his or her field, and–if I do say so myself–we’re the kind of people you’d like to hang out with on a Saturday afternoon. We’re here to change the context of self employment from one of isolation, competition, and lack to one of community, collaboration, and plentiful resources. In short, to help you get meaningful work that pays well while you live a great life and do a little good along the way.

Success with a Little Help from Your Friends: The 2009 Self Employment Telesummit Line Up

Click here for the complete schedule.

Pam Slim: Ready, Set, Go! How to get started at self-employment

• How to work with your fears, not against them, so your progress is not stalled by anxiety
• How to narrow down a business idea that will make both meaning and money
• How to identify and attract your perfect customers, peers, mentors and teachers
• How to create an implementation plan in 3 minutes so you can take immediate action to build your business

Sonia Simone: Marketing You Can Live With

If marketing has ever felt sleazy to you, like a dress you wouldn’t wear to a family event, you’re going to love Sonia. A professional writer and social media maven for 20 years–yup, before there was a World Wide Web–Sonia knows what makes communications remarkable and real. Her class in Marketing You Can Live With will leave you with strategies you actually want to implement.

Sean D’Souza Planning for Chaos

If you haven’t experienced Sean’s teaching before, you are in for a treat. He’s a structure-meister, which means he breaks things down into bite-size chunks. But Sean’s bite-sized chunks are not for casual snacking. He packs so much nutritious info in every word that your head may be spinning for a while after his session. But that’s okay. His material is worth getting dizzy over, and his handouts always make things crystal clear.

Isabel Parlett: So, What Do You Do? How to Communicate Your Value with Confidence and Clarity

What’s one skill you use every day in your business? It’s communication – writing and speaking about your work so you can convey your value, touch your audience, and create the opportunities that will fulfill your dreams of self-employment. Whether you are networking, giving a promotional talk, writing an article, blogging, or writing copy for a sales letter, you need good words to convey the value that you bring to the table. When you struggle to communicate, you often end up hiding out instead of stepping into the spotlight because you’re not sure what to say. When you invest in your ability to communicate, everything in your business gets easier, more effective, and more fulfilling. In this entertaining session, you’ll learn:

• The less obvious reasons business owners everywhere struggle to write about what they do
• The fundamental shift to make in working with words that moves you from making head connections to making heart connections
• New writing habits that open up the vein of more interesting language to describe what you do
• One simple change to immediately improve your elevator speech
• The four essential written pieces that you’ll want in place to keep all your communication on message and in focus

Nancy Marmolejo: The Magic Secret of Social Media as a Lead Generator

You know that social networking is THE place to be for online marketing, but how do you know if you using it effectively as a lead generation tool? In this teleseminar, social networking strategist Nancy Marmolejo will share with you her “magic secrets” of turning social networking followers into fans and fans into pre-sold leads. You will learn:

• Expert tips on setting up a strong social networking presence so you stand out from your peers and competition
• The 4 Parts of the Social Marketing Cycle that turns followers into fans and fans into leads
• The truth on why people “Tweet” about coffee, food, snacks and how that can help your business
• Big mistakes social networkers make that cost you fans, followers, leads, and sales (you can’t afford to miss this part!)
• The 3 things to focus on that will drive pre-sold leads to you

Dawud Miracle: Measure Twice, Cut Once – Using Metrics to Stop Doing What Doesn’t Work and Start Doing What Does

The old carpenter’s motto is “measure twice, cut once.” By taking careful measurements, carpenter’s cut down on the mistakes they make during building. The same holds true for business owners. If you measure your marketing efforts you can find out what works and what doesn’t. By understanding these metrics, you can adjust your marketing plan to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. What’s great about using the web is that measuring is relatively simple and easy to do – and in many cases the tools are free. So in this class I’ll be show you:

• A simple introduction to metrics • How to know what to measure, what not to measure and why
• How to find and measure your website’s primary business objective
• The free and simple tools you can use
• How not to get overwhelmed with all the information
• Use the K.I.S.S. principle to actually get better results from your marketing

Erin Ferree: A Road Map For Designing An Effective and Affordable Brand

Your business’s brand can be a fork in the road. It can help your business stand out from the competition to help you bring in new clients – if it’s designed right. If your brand takes a wrong turn, your customers can wind up lost, confused, or worse yet – turning to another provider. No one wants that! This class will help you make sure that you’re setting your brand up for success – and designing a brand identity that will really help your business to get customers moving in down the right road – towards making a purchase with you. Erin Ferree of elf design will talk about the elements you need to make sure your brand will help your customers get there:

• Your Branding Destination: where your brand needs to go to help your business go down the right road
• The 5 essential Branding Directions to keep you on the “right” path
• How to design the right brand as your vehicle

Jennifer Hofmann: Creating an Inspired Home Office: A unique organizing approach that actually works

Jennifer has re-defined home office organizing. She’ll share the foundation of her approach to a truly Inspired Home Office. You’ll learn:

• 3 essential ingredients for an effective, enjoyable organizing system
• What’s the space for? The missing link to enjoyable organizing.
• The heart connection that makes sense of your way of doing things.
• Simple steps to going from crazy and cluttered to being at home in your office
• 3 essential organizing tools you can’t live without
• The secret to inspiration and focus

Shannon Cherry: How to Get Known for Pennies

Are you getting all the clients and customers you want? Are you tired of spending tons of marketing that doesn’t pay the bills, let alone give you the credibility you need to make more money? Are you struggling to learn how to market your new business?

It doesn’t have to be this way. As a matter of fact you can learn and use some of the same free and low cost marketing tactics that the big brands use every day to attract more prospects and gain market share. Join Shannon Cherry, the Power Publicist, as she shares the secrets to becoming your own publicity machine, without spending a ton of cash! At the end of this session, you’ll be:

• Thinking like a reporter to create newsworthy stories – even if don’t think you have anything to say
• Understanding the tricks to getting the media’s attention – and keeping it
• Armed with several tools to get free publicity for yourself
• Discovering the secret to promoting your products and services, without feeling like a sleazy salesman

Mikelann Valterra: How to charge good money for doing what you love

You have a business idea, now you’ve got to charge for it! But how much? You may be scared that you won’t get enough clients if your rates are too high, but your time is precious. Will you end up resenting it if you don’t charge enough? Join Mikelann as she helps you navigate the complexities of rate-setting, while paying special attention to the emotional side of this charged issue. Many women under value their worth when it comes to their services. Fears of not being “perfect” prevents them from charging enough and often times women simply give away too much for free. Sound familiar? And how do you feel about making money from helping people? Are you at peace with profit? Mikelann will share :

• Three strategies for feeling good about charging good money
• Two ways to avoid giving away too much
• The top five reasons why you should be charging at the top of the range for your service.

Mark Silver: What really makes a website work without being weird, cheesy, or manipulative?

You already know you need a website. And, you also have LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, and blogging whirling around in your head. It seems as if you need twenty years to learn enough just to get started, when you need to get going yesterday. I mean, like, yesterday. Social media, grand design, and all of that is important, but when it comes right down to it, your business needs to live somewhere on the web, and that home is your website. This presentation will cut through it all to teach you:

• When to invest in custom design and when you can save your money.
• Breaking the curse of professionalism- the truth about personal branding in your website.
• The five elements, in eight shortish paragraphs, that make up an effective home page that really connects with your best clients.

There’s no reason to agonize any longer, you can get your website going now. Isn’t that nice?

Michael Neill: Closing Keynote Address

Michael Neill is an internationally renowned success coach and the best-selling author of You Can Have What You Want, Feel Happy Now! and the Effortless Success audio program. As the closing keynote speaker, Michael will be delivering a rousing call to action. He has spent the past 18 years as a coach, adviser, friend, mentor and creative spark plug to celebrities, CEO’s, royalty, and people who want to get more out of their lives. His books have been translated into eight languages, and his public talks and seminars have been well received at the United Nations and on five continents around the world. He hosts a weekly talk show on HayHouseRadio.com®, and his newest book, Supercoach: 10 Secrets to Transform Anyone’s Life was released by Hay House in March.

Goody Bag: The Self Employment Survival Kit

Each faculty member is donating a product or service that will help you apply what you learn. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find in your goody bag. (Available to registered participants on August 15.)

Quickstart to Self Employment with Pam Slim

30 days of Quickstart to Self Employment by Pam Slim. Quickstart to Self Employment is a rich and supportive learning environment to help aspiring entrepreneurs get out of the dreaming stage and make progress on their business. The program includes content modules, a coaching gym and a collaborative participant forum. Value: $99

Brand Design For Your Bottom Line with Erin Ferree

Branding doesn’t have to be hard. This 5-step branding and marketing design system will help you to create a brand for your small business in 5 easy steps. These recordings talk about those 5 steps in detail. If you address all 5 of these steps when you create your Brand Identity and marketing designs, you’ll create a professional brand for your business that will make it easy for you to build credibility for your small business. A professional brand identity communicates your company’s purpose and promises, increases your memorability and drives sales. 6 MP3 recordings plus PDF transcripts. Value: $69

Miracle Metrics from Dawud Miracle.

If the idea of statistics makes you break out into hives, relax. Dawud promises that this will be a very basic introduction to website statistics covering the eight basic stats you need to know in a way you can easily understand. Included will be a brief intro into what each stat can teach you about the effectiveness of your website and marketing. Miracle Metrics includes a 20-30 minute audio. Retail value: $77. Note from Molly: I made up the title of this item because Dawud is still working on it. Based on his other products, you can expect an elegant, useful addition to your tool kit.

The Wishkit: A Workbook for Your Home Office from Jennifer Hofmann

The Wishkit is full of questions about you and how you like to work. There are questions that help clarify what you need in your workspace. The order of the questions help generate new ideas and dissolve negative inner messages. This workbook taps into your deep creative energy and helps you discover answers that will help your business grow– in an environment that supports you. It’s a bit like having a coach!

Earn Your Worth! Breaking the Underearning Cycle with Mikelann Valterra

In this 90 minute mp3 audio, Mikelann Valterra shows you how to break the underearning cycle. If you’re tempted to discount, don’t miss this ! And lots more!

Words that Work: Transforming Blah-blah Business Communication into Compelling Connection

Isabel Parlett knows that business communication is about so much more than your elevator speech, or your web copy. Come learn a whole new way to think about finding the words you need daily to write and speak about your business, a way that energizes you and opens the door for your perfect clients to resonate with you and your work. You’ll learn:

• How the world is changing and how that impacts the language of business
• The difference between writing copy and developing a message
• The marketing half-truths that can keep you from the richest language and the richest experience of your business
• An exercise to move you out of logical, informational language and into more passionate, connecting language.

And that’s just a fraction of the goodies in The Self Employment Survival Toolkit!

The Self Employment Telesummit Includes	Gold Level	Platinum Level
14 teleseminar sessions with experts who walk their talk… About $30 per session at the Platinum level! Value: $600-$900
Telesummit Workbook One dozen detailed handouts in PDF format. You’ll receive them in advance so you can prepare for maximum learning. Value: $179
mp3 recordings of each session Audio recordings to download and listen to at your convenience. Value: $450
BONUS: Self Employment Survival Kit A goody bag of tools and resources to help you implement what you learn. These are real products, not marketing come-ons. Value: $650
Membership in The Self Employment Telesummit Forum An online community of your peers. Network. Vent. Collaborate. Encourage. Enjoy! Value: priceless.
BONUS: Where Do You Go From Here? A follow-up teleconference with Master Certified Coach, Molly Gordon, to take you from workshop high to action! Value: $97
Momentum Mastery A two week intensive follow-up program with Master Certified Coach Molly Gordon in building and maintaining momentum. Includes daily check-ins, two 90-minute group coaching calls, and an individual private laser coaching session. Value: $457
Ticket Prices	$325 REGISTER	$425 REGISTER
Optional payment plan Register safely on our secure server.	2 Payments of $162.50 REGISTER	2 Payments of $212.50 REGISTER

Why you shouldn’t register

Honestly, if you work for yourself, I don’t know why you wouldn’t register. Unless everything is already so easy that you can’t afford for it to get any better. And even then, you’d benefit from the spirit of collaboration and community of The Self Employment Telesummit. But seriously, there are two reasons why it might not be right for you.

1. Please do not register if you are desperate. By the time you’re desperate, you won’t have the resources or resilience to put what you learn into action. Register before you get desperate.
2. If you want a get rich quick solution. They exist, but that’s not what this event is about. Come to The Self Employment Telesummit if you like your work and want to thrive doing it.

The “my time for your time” guarantee.

Writing guarantees makes me nuts. I slip into sales-speak. I feel frustrated. I mean, can you think of anything less likely to inspire trust than trying to sound trustworthy? I can’t.

But guarantees are important. For one thing, I’m asking you to put your hard-earned cash on the line. For another, The Self Employment Telesummit asks you to spend a significant amount of time learning to improve your income and work life. Finally, framing a guarantee I can stand behind makes selling a product or service much more meaningful.

As with all my products, you can get your money back by asking for it. But what about your time?

The only thing I can think of that is as valuable as your time is my time. So that’s what I’m offering. If you attend the telesummit in good faith (and why the heck would you do it in bad faith?) and you aren’t happy, you can have your money back and you can have an hour of coaching from me, free.

From you: this will be on your honor. From me: no conditions, no strings. My coaching fee is $375 an hour, so you’ll be getting a really good deal and a rare opportunity, because I only work with 4-6 individual clients at any one time. And it’s worth it to me to learn where we missed the mark.

Still not sure?

I know how many grow-your-business programs are out there. I’ve bought a lot of them. And most of them gather dust on my shelves or just take up space on my hard drive. How do you know that this program is going to be one that makes a real difference?

For one thing, the individual classes in The Self Employment Telesummit are designed for self-employed creative and healing professionals. The language, values, and tools that will be presented are different from what you see in so many internet marketing offers. I’m not saying the get-rich-quick guys are wrong, it’s just that we’re up to something else.

Another reason The Self Employment Telesummit is different is that we’ve built in a follow-up program at the platinum level. For only $100 more than the Gold level, you get two weeks of daily support designed to get you past the post-workshop slump. I won’t pretend that a week of classes and two weeks of coaching are all you need for the rest of your self employment life, but it’s one heck of a solid foundation. And when you are standing on a solid foundation, you can make informed decisions about what you do next instead of grabbing one solution after another and never feeling really grounded.

A third way we’re different is that each of the expert presenters has a thriving business supporting creative and healing professionals to grow thriving businesses. That means you have a compassionate, research-rich support team who can step up as your goals and needs change. We’re in this for the long haul.

My one fear

It makes me crazy to see talented, skilled people struggle because they don’t know how to make self employment work. For me, the worst part is seeing how self doubt and anxiety erode the creative spirit. More than anything else I want to set that spirit free so that more and more creative and healing professionals step out and step up to give their gifts to the world.

You see, for me it’s not just business; it’s a mission. And my biggest fear is that I will overlook the one thing you need to see or hear in order to get what you need to succeed. I know I have to let go of that, so here’s my request. If you are on the fence about The Self Employment Telesummit, give me a call. Tell me what issues you’re facing and what kind of help you want. We’ll see if this is a fit. If it isn’t, perhaps I can point you in the right direction.

But don’t delay. Every day that you make this journey alone is a day you are leaking energy and inspiration that the world needs from you. Time truly is of the essence.
Molly Gordon
+1-360-697-7022
skype: mollyagnes