Viral Storytelling with The Story Lady, Ronda Del Boccio

How do you imagine you would live without sight? 

If you’ve read my blog before or watched my YouTube videos, you already know that I am “legally blind.”  I introduce myself as a blind person because I function more or less as a blind person.  Sure, I have some vision and I can see colors, but without adaptive technology and techniques, I would not be able to do what I do.

I can’t just go to the drugstore and buy those $10 reading glasses.

 “The doctors” can’t “fix” my eyes.

Can you believe people actually say things to me like, “Why don’t you go have an operation or something?”  DUH!  They’re wearing one of Bill Ingvol’s stupid signs!  Ah well.

I also get the Christians who want to lay hands on me and if I’m not instantly healed, then I don’t have enough faith.  That’s a whole other rant, but the bottom line is that I AM healed because I am at peace with my situation.  If my lot in life is to be an inspiration for the rest of you to get off your rear and make things happen, then so be it.

Life goes on and no point whining.  I have no desire to complain.  What a wonderful life this is.  And I can work from my beautiful little house in the Ozarks and listen to the birds all day long while I work.  No worries about gas prices.

One of our local television stations, Springfield’s  KOLR 10, ran an excellent piece last week.  I’ve spoken to Emily Baucum, the reporter who ran the piece.

Watch the video here. 

The couple she interviewed are much like myself.  They don’t feel that being blind is a big limiting factor in their lives.  It just means doing things a little differently.

One of the great things about me being on Top Affiliate Challenge is that people worldwide will have a chance to see that a blind person can navigate and work.  The only thing that can hold you back is you. 

There are so many technological advantages we have today.  I can use the comptuer because of a speech program.  I have an audible caller ID on my phone.  I have only one gripe about the adaptive technology, and I’ll save that for my next post.

I am about to go to Lincoln, Nebraska for the world’s first real time internet reality show, Top Affiliate Challenge.  Producer Thor Schrock and the rest of the crew will definitely have a new experience having a blind person and my guide dog Miss Molly Flagtail around for 2 weeks!  You can watch the blind woman work starting July 1.  Incidentally, I am the only woman in the world who made it to the show!

Tags: mentor, leadership training, author coach, folklore, Blog Talk Radio, Geometry of Success

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 story reported by Emily Baucum: Download

I get more and more excited as time draws near for the Top Affiliate Challenge, and today I want to share some things

If you’re a runner preparing for a marathon, you know exactly what to expect.  26 miles of grueling, exhausting pavement pounding action, and you can prepare yourself appropriately.  You understand that you have to increase your endurance and you know the types of activities that you will do both in preparation and during the competition.

Nobody will be there to say, “I’m sorry but you’re going to jump hurdles today, not run the Boston Marathon.”  You know that if you’re going into a marathon, that means running 26 miles. Period.

Not so with Top Affiliate Challenge.  Oh sure, we know that it’s about affiliate marketing.  That much is a no-brainer.  But what types of challenges will we face?  none of us knows for sure. 

I’m pretty sure that the contestants who are whiz-bang with pay per click campaigns believe they’ll grind the rest of us slackers deep into the dust.  Jeremy Shoemaker (Shoemoney) calls best selling author Ken McArthur an old spammer because he uses email marketing, yet a couple contestants are a little scared that Ken got over 4.1 million emails sent out for his book launch May 15th of this year.

And I know that show producer Thor Schrock is really pulling out all the stops to get the community involved.  Heck, he’s got the Governor of Nebraska and the Mayor of Lincoln coming, from what I heard, to the welcome ceremony.  He is dedicated to showcasing Lincoln.  So I’m thinking a lot of the challenges will have offline elements to them.

Lots of drama between the 3 gurus Shoemoney, John Chow and Ken McArthur.  Plenty of drama amongst the contestants.  Some unplanned for drama as well.

how do you prepare for a competition when you don’t know what the challenges will be?

What do you consider as you prepare yourself to go into a competition knowing very little about what to expect?

If you’re me - well I can’t tell you all my strategies of course - but you start with your mindset first and foremostl

Shoemoney said in his video review of the top 10 that the most important attribute is a work ethic.  All the rest can be learned.  he is so right.  I have a great work ethic and I can learn anything.  There are some types of campaigns (affiliate marketing) that I have never tried yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be wildly successful.

And heck, I’m the only female there, so someone has to balance out all that testosterone!  women unite!  Help keep me on the show!

Plus my guide dog Molly Flagtail will be there too, of course!  She will help us all keep it real

I am going in with these things in mind:

1.  Do everything I can to make this a great show!

2. Be open to new situations and ways of thinking

2.  Keep my mind in the success zone

3.  Play smart

4.   Learn lots

5.  Keep emotions in check

6.  Build lasting relationships

So that’s it for today!

Ronda

Tags: story, blind, Ronda Del Boccio, Awaken The Author Within, leadership training, success

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I am extracting this post under the Increase Your Impact category.  It also is related to Top Affiliate Challenge. 

Read the full story here.

I was Ken McArthur’s advisor as he wrote his book Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference in a Noisy World. And I’ve practically got the book memorized I was so deep in it! So naturally I want to put what I learned from Ken McArthur to the test.

World Association of Persons with DisABILITIES (WAPD) The World Association of Persons with DisABILITIES has the mission of empowering persons with disABILITIES to create financial freedom and increased quality of life worldwise. “We believe that all of us who want a high wuality of life can have it” is part of the welcome message you can see and hear on the website. There are pages for working from home,disability resources, knowledge base, chat rooms, volunteers, local chapters and more.

Membership for an individual is $20USD Corporate/business memberships are also available here. Donations are welcome - but the point is to say that as a member and as the Missouri State Chair, I am dedicated to this organization. It is the best multi-disability group I have found with people of such high integrity and tremendous heart.

Swelling with Gratitude

It really is humbling that I am able to ask for the help of the membership to vote me a 10 for Top Affiliate Challenge even though nobody knows if I’ll make the show yet. Naturally, I am using my knowledge of viral storytelling, creating buzz, and running a business to help me spread the word about the organization. There are already a couple of videos and I will make more.

Read the full story here.

Tags: Blog Talk Radio, MLM, Awaken The Author Within, blind, story coach, host

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What good is buying a book if you don’t put what you read into practical use? Not much. It becomes “shelf improvement” if you don’t use the strategies. I’m an action taker. Sure I spend time creating a vivid dream, but I also act.

I was Ken McArthur’s advisor as he wrote his book Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference in a Noisy World. And I’ve practically got the book memorized I was so deep in it! So naturally I want to put what I learned from Ken McArthur to the test.

So this post could fit in both the Impact and Top Affiliate Challenge series’, because I put impact to the test in my efforts to get on the world’s first real time internet reality show. We’re close to the end now, and you can read the Top Affiliate Challenge thread on this blog for more about the show and all the goings on.

More than one Voice

I’m running a clean campaign. I’m not throwing hundreds of dollars to buy my way in. I am, however, using the power of an alliance to help me. Now let me tell you, when you’re involved with something that involves daily voting over about a 14 week span, you have to get pretty creative. That is a LONG time to keep sufficient momentum without driving people nuts.

I’ve been telling you all kinds of stories and bringing in comments from other people etc. along the way to keep it fresh and interesting. I’m also teaming up with an organization in which I strongly believe.

DisABILITY Touches Every Human Life

Maybe you haven’t stopped to think about the fact that everyone is somehow touched by disability. If you’re not disABLED yourself, perhaps you will acquire one unexpectedly due to accident or illness. Or perhaps you have a relative or close friend who has some sort of “limitation” that makes him or her do things a bit differently from how you do them.

Indeed, 18% of the world’s population has some sort of physical, mental, or emotional distinction, and that’s about 1/5 of the population. So figure a little less than 2 billion people worldwide are affected. And one of the biggest misconceptions about disABILITY that people have is that the population as a whole does not significantly contribute to the local economy.

An Economic Force

If you think this, please allow me to remind you that even if a disABLED person is on government assistance, they still buy food, clothes and shelter. They still vote or otherwide participate in the political process of their particular country to whatever degree is allowed.

According to Dr. George Kerford, Chairman Emeritus of the World Association of Persons with disaBILITIES (wapd) , this “underdog” population contributes $3 trillion to the world economy. And yet the unemployment rate among us is so very high. Among blind people it is over 70%.

World Association of Persons with DisABILITIES (WAPD)

The World Association of Persons with DisABILITIES has the mission of empowering persons with disABILITIES to create financial freedom and increased quality of life worldwise. “We believe that all of us who want a high wuality of life can have it” is part of the welcome message you can see and hear on the website. There are pages for working from home,disability resources, knowledge base, chat rooms, volunteers, local chapters and more.

Membership for an individual is $20USD Corporate/business memberships are also available here. Donations are welcome - but the point is to say that as a member and as the Missouri State Chair, I am dedicated to this organization. It is the best multi-disability group I have found with people of such high integrity and tremendous heart.

Where Impact and the Reality Show Converge

OK I said this was about both Impact and Top Affiliate Challenge. one reason is that our best selling impactful author is also one of the 3 gurus who will lead a team on the show. He is the White Hat Guru. But beyond that, as you may have seen from my audition videos, I am giving a share of my winnings from Top Affiliate Challenge - which I expect to be on! - with WAPD. This means that I have been able to send mailings to the entire membership. I am also doing special webinars for WAPD members only sharing business strategies, so if you want in on this, simply join WAPD! I have also “blasted” a free copy of my inspirational ebook to the list as my way of saying thanks. (note: take care of those who support you)

We are doing conferences around the US and possibly other places as well that are specifically geared toward prosperity and financial freedom. The first one will be in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma September 18-20, 2008.

Swelling with Gratitude

It really is humbling that I am able to ask for the help of the membership to vote me a 10 for Top Affiliate Challenge even though nobody knows if I’ll make the show yet. Naturally, I am using my knowledge of viral storytelling, creating buzz, and running a business to help me spread the word about the organization. There are already a couple of videos and I will make more.

The Fickle Finger of Fate

As fate would have it, the first time I sent the mailing asking for votes, the TAC server had a meltdown thanks to fraud attempts. We got hundreds of emails of people who could not vote when they were so very kind to give what should have been a matter of 30 seconds to help me help the organization.

Then again fate twisted and Monday we had more fraud related problems and molasses servers, adding further frustration to those kind enough to attempt to vote.

And today I sent one last mailing with a gift in it and a word to look out for my special webinar next week, and wouldn’t you know it…the scores didn’t move for HOURS! I’m sure it’s more fraud sweeps and the like, but I realize how scammy that sort of thing can appear.

My Enemies Rally to Keep Me Off the Show—–AGAIN

AND now that they did finally move, after 2 huge mailings have gone out today, my score is up only .03. I think perhaps my enemies have been busy trying to keep me off the show again! rest assured, you will be caught! All fraud attempts are being thwarted. I’m sure efforts like this mean it will take a while for the official top 10 even to be announced. The top 10 as of close of voting make it to the show for certain, plus 2 others from the top 25%. I want to be on the top 10. I’m sure they’ll have to do a massive and detailed fraud sweep before anything is made official. Thanks so much, cheaters!

IMPACT

Anyway, one of the strategies Ken McArthur teaches in his book Impact is to combine your efforts with a nonprofit. That is exactly what I have done and I know of at least 2 super votes and I don’t even know how many regular votes have come from the fact that I love what WAPD is doing and want to give more financial help and buzz to the group.

So expect to see me wearing a WAPD T-shirt on the show at least part of the time as I participate in the Prosperity Team and help guide people with disabilities to multiple streams of income.

So if you want to make impact, team up with a powerful group!

Tags: Blog Talk Radio, I\’ll Push You Steer, story, Kama Sutra of Storytelling, network marketing, entrepreneurial authoring

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I’m part of the launch team of volunteers for Ken McArthur’s book Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference in a Noisy World.  We have meetings each Monday and work on creating buzz and notoriety for the book.  It is so wonderful to learn how to do a different kind of book launch from the inside out.

Tonight John Kremer, who wrote 1,001 Book marketing Ideas, was our special guest.  ken mcArthur is using John Kremer’s book as a guide for rolling out some aspects of the launch and he recommended it to us.  I have the book already and am picking out some strategies I want to use for my own books.

Incidentally, I have a book marketing quick tip of the week, and one of my tips is to get John Kremer’s Book Marketing Tips Newsletter.  Several of my subscribers have written to say how much they like it.  Go to John’s site for his tips.

John Kremer shared a few mistakes that many authors make in marketing their book.

• Giving up too soon
• Letting rejection get to them
• Doing something they are not comfortable doing
• getting attention that is meaningless and irrelevant to their book
• wasting money on ineffective campaigns.

So since a lot of my readers are authors, I wanted to share those with you.

You can follow the launch of Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference in a Noisy World by reading the launch blog.

 And here’s a gift:

This is a brand new FREE software that finds blog posts that are related to particular keywords, so that you can easily search out high traffic blogs related to a book launch. Click here to download it now.

the Story Lady

Tags: Ronda Del Boccio, blind, story coach, MLM, I\’ll Push You Steer, legend

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I’ve been thinking a lot about impact lately. Oh sure, partly it is because of Ken McArthur’s upcoming book Impact: How to Get Noticed, Motivate Millions, and Make a Difference in a Noisy World, who I’ve been working with lately.

If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you’ll know I have helped him craft his book in such a way that it naturally leads the reader into a continued relationship working with him. You can listen to live coaching with him and others in the Books Mean Credibility coaching program.

But as well, I’ve been reflecting on impact and how it is made, and it occurs to me that there are different levels of impact.

The first level is accidental or unintentional impact, such as when my mom tripped and twisted her hip resulting in a couple weeks in a wheelchair and a month of recovery for one tiny mis-step. That event is having an unintended impact on how she lives her life. Another example is the kind word from a stranger when you are having a really awful day.

Then there’s intentional impact, such as when I ask you to please visit Top Affiliate Challenge and vote me a 10. I even gife you a thank you gift for voting for me. Or on a much greater scale of magnitude, when a church community comes together to have a food drive for a local food pantry, or the Petey’s Power Pack Project, which involves various marketers including me who each donated a gift to help Jason Marshall raise money for a boy with muscular dystrophy to get an accessible van. (see videos below)

Organized impact is also the political campaign process, missionary work, evangelism, and activism.

Another level of impact is what Ken McArthur is creating with his book and coaching program, and that is a system for impact. His system is what he is using to spread a message with impact in a meaningful way that takes into account various factors such as virally spreading the message, building up a community, and organizing an impact campaign.

Ken McArthur takes impact to even another level that is exponentially higher, and that is funding the impact. He makes a good point that if you put the term “lost funding” into a Google search box, you’ll find thousands of wonderful, life-saving, humanity-uplifting programs that can no longer create impact because they are no longer funded. How sad. I was saying to someone just a couple days ago that there are several organizations I would love to give $10,000 to support. That means that I need to massively increase my finances to help these organizations create their impact. A funded program is in a better position to be more impactful (though this is certainly no guarantee). At a well funded level we could all give to our most cherished charities.

So those are som levels of impact that occur to me.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Is there a higher level of impact that you can imagine? Tell us about it by making a comment and increasing YOUR impact!

And I know he’s spreading this whole “zingwhacker ideas” thing around. What’s up with that?? I posted a cartoon he made up below in the media.

Be wise and pre-order your copy of the book now, because he’s launching May 13 and copies will definitely run out! Order here from Barnes and Noble so they’ll stock plenty in the stores as well as online..

The Story Lady

Tags: spiritual tradition, story, leadership training, folklore, home based business, Ronda Del Boccio

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 Zingwhacker ideas: Download
 Petey's Power pack: Download
 Top Affiliate Challenge Audition by Ronda Del Boccio: Download