Every so often, I get these promos for books. They're meant to rocket the book to the top of the best seller list, and they often work. A good marketing ploy, although not everyone can muster the joint venture material as well as some. Guy Finley is one of those with a wealth of "gifts" to give out, and with good reason. His steady rise to fame has been fostered by relationships with many of the premier experts in the field; his list of colleagues, associates, and friends will amaze you.

You'll be even more amazed at the gifts they are offering in order to help him get in that coveted place on Amazon.com with his newest book, "The Essential Laws of Fearless Living," retailing for $8.22 (not sure what that would be in GBP or EUR - and yes, you can get it anywhere you can use Amazon, and you still get all 108 gifts). You can read about the book here:

Super Special on "the Essential Laws of Fearless Living"

I'd appreciate it though, if you'd come back here to this page and purchase the book through my link, as it helps defray a very tiny bit the expenses of this blog. I think I get 3% of the price, which would be about 25 cents! But you can of course, use the link on the site above, or go direct if you prefer.

Essential Laws of Fearless Living by Guy Finley

Once you have an Amazon order number, go to that page above, enter your information, and claim what gifts you find useful. There's an FAQ with full information about it on the site.

Once we've all got our books, let's have a conversation about it, here, or privately on a skype conference or something. The concept of fearless living has always fascinated me, but then, I'm fascinated by many things.

You've heard of the "sandwich generation," those of us "sandwiched" between caring for children and caring for parents. Add divorce/separation/aftermath stress, and it's surprising that most people get much of anything done. I'll make that divorce one "relationships" instead, since while the divorce is finite, all the relationships carry on with issues of their own. These three issues are the ones that most of my clients bring to me to discuss, so they're what I'll be dealing with here.

By the way, I've got a few groups together around the book, Emotional Intelligence," and if you want to get in on one of them, buy the book using the link below, email me your receipt, and I'll get in touch with a schedule. We usually "meet" in the evenings, in groups of up to 5 (including me), and on skype, but I can make other arrangements. No charge, except you have to buy the book, of course.

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goldman

We'll probably only have time to go through one chapter, this stuff is so interesting, and a bit heavy, since it's not a self-help book but a presentation of information it's ripe for discussions like "how does this apply to me?" and "where does this fir into my life?"

It's been a long time since I had a female client. Not that I don't like them, but the cliche that women are more organized and know how to build a personal support system seems to fit. During the past ten years, my male clients have shown me an interesting profile that I'm revealing here. It's partly a "this is the kind of client I'm looking for," sure, but mostly, it's a "Is this you? If it's you, then you aren't alone, and there's someone who can help." Why do I say that? Because most of my clients are very successful men in many ways, but they're stuck on one aspect of their lives that's just messing everything else up, at least temporarily.

Otherwise, there really isn't much of a "model" client. Some of them have been small businessmen, barely ekeing out a living - and for whom personal consulting seemed like a huge expense, and the organizational, leadership, and executive training aspects proved to be a wise investment. Some of them were quite wealthy, and what was for them a minor expense turned into an extremely rewarding experience. Most of them though, were in the middle, and as I said, had this one thing that they just couldn't solve on their own, one thing that was often completely disrupting their day, every day, consistently and relentlessly. About half were personal problems and concerns, and the other half were in-the-workplace issues. Sure, eventually they would have gotten worked out, but during that time such a loss of productively, such mental and emotional trauma - and far more expense in time, money, anguish, and all kinds of other things than the consulting would have been.

In these blogs are some examples. In these blogs, I will give far more advice than I would EVER give to a client, because I'm writing in a vacuum. I rarely give advice, more I put forth scenarios, just like any other managment or business consultant, and the clinet chooses the one that works the best for him. Most situations are extremely specific; just like people, unique, but with features in common with others in similar positions. I hope you will find something in them to enrich your life, comment and ask questions for me to answer.

And, [shameless plug here] if you see something in them that might make you think you could use the services of a personal consultant, you'll let me know. 

Little bits of advice, from someone who has been through all kinds of interesting, and sometimes traumatic, events, on my own, or at the side of someone else. Not advice so much as words of wisdom - it is your life after all, and your choices that must govern it. But no need to reinvent the wheel - nor think that you are the first, the only person who is going through whatever it is today, or even the only person who is facing it right this minute.

Whether it be personal, public, or political concern, I will try to touch on as many as I can remember, those that come to me in messages, and those that present themselves in my life, from my clients and friends. Please feel free to act as muse, and inspire me - and let me share my experiences with you.