For a long time, it was like having an unlimited credit card — when you reached your limit someone paid the bill and gave you a higher limit… last night my 3+ year long e-mail storage binge had to come to an end.  I finally ran out of space in my gmail account.  Yes, it is amazing I had over 20,000 messages in my box and I was using almost 3 gig of space.  It turns out my timing was good,  Google generously offered to double my space to 6 gig for $20 a year (a pittance) but I decided that what I really needed was to clean house.

In the space of about an hour I want from 20,000 messages to around 5,000  (39% of the storage limit) by:

1. Deleting 3 years worth of old work emails (I don’t work there anymore and live in a different state) that I forwarded to gmail because I had a very stingy corporate email storage limit.

2.  Searching for yahoo, finding and deleting most of my mailing list messages.

3. Searching for and deleting other mailing list messages (especially the ones that email several times a day — yikes!)

As fate would have it, a blog entry from Amy at Contentious inspired me to do even more.  She recently cleaned out her inbox using GTD wizard Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero method.  So, I took another hour and winnowed through the emails — deleting some, and archiving most (I use GTD as a back up brain/filing system — it has saved my tush numerous times — why would I purposely forget anything?).

I suppose it’s a matter of balance — the need to save space vs. the need to save information.  For right now, I’m working on deleting things that I know I don’t need (like flylady reminders to clear my house hotspots — she’lll send it again (and again).  Somehow I think she might approve of this whole electronic housecleaning effort…

Anyone have a good system for taming your e-beast?

One of my clients, Lisa Fredette, is sponsoring a teleseminar series for women who want to improve their lives.  The series provides a great sampling of the work of some of the best coaches on the Internet.  For $57, I think it is a good deal.  Now, I’m not getting any commisions on this recommendation — I just thought it might be something that you might enjoy.  I’m looking forward to being on the call.

Passionate Growth Teleseminar Series

 Topics include:

Click here for more information and to sign up. Start building your ideal life today.

Scott, the nametag guy, talks about how to be a virtual extrovert  in his latest blog post.  He gives some fabulous suggestions on some painless ways to "get out there" on the Internet.   One of his challenges was to brainstorm a top ten list of where people hang out in your industry.  So, in that spirit — here are 5 great places for female solopreneurs to hang out online.

1.  Mom Masterminds  This forum is a fabulous resource for moms who want to make a name for themselves on the Internet.  The women who belong to MM are smart and focused.  The coaching you get is top rate. There is also a literal treasure trove of resources available to teach you about Internet Marketing.

2.  International Virtual Women’s Chamber of Commerce -is a great place to meet and partner with other solopreneurs.  Every once and a while the IVWCC sponsors an online email mixer.  I have met and partnered with many great people through participating in the mixers.

3. Marketing Salad - Again, an awesome place to meet dynamic women who are working to make thier business a success.

and two places just for fellow virtual assistants…

4.  Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce – I must admit — joining is not easy — but the result is a community of fellow VAs who are at the top of their game.

5. AssistU - AssistU is the Harvard of VA training — and like all top-notch schools part of the package is making some great connections. 

Whare do you hang out?

I got the notice today.  I am now an official graduate of AssistU, the top VA training program.   No, you don’t HAVE to go through training to be a VA, but I am so glad I did.  During the 5 month-long course, I learned how to *be* a business owner, how to attract clients by being attractive and most importantly how to partner with ideal clients to add value to their businesses.

To graduate, I had to pass a weekend-long exam to ensure that I really *got* the material presented in the class. 

So, now what?  I have three wonderful clients and my practice is growing.  I wouldn’t be doing as well without the knowledge and support I’ve gotten from AssistU.

I just recently took a very eye-opening online test.  It was about ways that we get in our own way.  Little did I know that all my "being a good girl" and doing things just because they were "nice" was not really getting me where I needed to be.   Some of the other stumbling blocks identified by the assessment include not "being the DJ of your inner ipod" and not letting your mind work for you.  The author of the test is a Harvard trained psychogist (and one of my virtual assistance clients)  who has spent decades studying what holds people back.  She normally charges her clients thousands of dollars to go through her process.  She decided she wanted to broaden her reach and help more people.  As a bonus for taking the assessment,  I got a copy of the book that explains it all.   Nothing in the book is really revolutionary, but taken together all of the items present a great blueprint for freeing yourself from those "inner demons". Try it out at http://sharonmelnick.com/quiz2.htm

Have you ever had fantasies about having your own radio show?  Thanks to podcasting and the Internet, it is pretty easy to do.  I just started two new podcasts, the virtual chile pepper (click the link on the side of the page to listen) and one about family friendly activities in Albuquerque, NM.  Using  Audio Acrobat,  I just called in (using the phone number they gave me) and recorded the podcast by speaking into my regular phone.  Of course, I could get better sound quality with a PC microphone, but this was a good start.   I plan to record the podcasts weekly. 

Give it a listen, let me know what you think.

I am usually very skeptical of free offers.  I feel like a little monster is there tempting me into someone’s marketing funnel — only to spend thousands of dollars on products that claim to bring massive traffic — but don’t end up working. 

The Client Attraction Inner Circle, however, is the real deal.  Fabienne Fredrickson is so good at filling the practices of her clients that she is known throughout the virtual world as the Rainmaker.   Her practice is full — but she is on a mission to help people be successful in realizing their dreams.  So, she started a membership group called the Inner Circle to give more people access to her and her method of attraction marketing.  But, she only wants committed people in the group.  So, she is offering a free two month trial of her program.  Go over to her website to see everything that is included.  All of the material is in multiple formats (written, audio, e-mail group) so no matter how you learn, you’ll get something out of it.   

The links aren’t affiliate links.  I just think that Fabienne is a great teacher and I wanted to pass this on. I hope it helps

One of the things that I dread about traditional networking functions is the bad food. I know that I am not there to eat, but since I don’t drink and I’ve paid $50 to attend the function, I want the chicken to be edible.

Lately, I have been having really good success networking online.  I just recently joined the most incredible organization, the International Women’s Virtual Chamber of Commerce. They were having a special on the dues — $50 for 6 weeks.  The thing that makes this group diferent is that they hold online roundtables where they ask you questions about what you do and who you need help from.  These are sent out to the whole group.  In just a few days, I have gotten some excellent leads for joint ventures, new clients and partners for my referral network.  To further help you, they post information about your business on thier blog — Women Parnter.  Mine is up there now, check it out!

Another great place to go to network and learn a lot about Internet Marketing is Mom Mastermind.  Not only is Mom Mastermind a great forum for networking with some very successful internet marketing moms,  is is chock full of classes and resources that you can take advantage to learn the basics of internet marketing, and beyond.  The members of the group are very supportive, yet honest in thier comments.  I have learned a lot from the site.

Where are you hanging out online?