Class Services - Communication Skills, Skilled Communicators

+1 702-882-0638 | Login

“Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are
able to pass them on to others.” - 2 Timothy 2:2

CLASS Blog

Blog Entries for: Business

Partnering with Pros - Business Coach Karen Robertson

July 20, 2010

By Linda Jewell

Many speakers and writers have felt surprised and discouraged when they see their income and expenses reported in black and white on their Individual Income Tax Return Schedule.

Prior to becoming a personal success coach, Karen Robertson was a classroom teacher, school administrator, college instructor and staff developer. She also pursues a career as speaker, writer and comedian.

With her background, Robertson knows a solid business plan impacts your bottom line,especially for speakers and writers. “Business plans give us a focus to achieve our creative goals.”

Read full entry »

July 20, 2010 | View or add comments

Partnering with Pros - Prepare and Practice with Len and Carolyn Goss

May 31, 2010

By Linda Jewell

Len and Carolyn Goss have had a 24/7 partnership for more than thirty years. These pros also partner together at GoodEditors.com to help writers and speakers "...make your manuscript as good as it can be."

To help you prepare and practice your skills, they advise, "Write, write, write and read, read, read. The more writing you do, the more comfortable and confident you will become. Likewise, the more you read, the more you will know what good writing and not-so-good writing is."

Read full entry »

May 31, 2010 | View or add comments

Partnering with Pros - Nonfiction Writing - Blogging - Social Media Coach Lee Warren

March 18, 2010

By Linda Jewell

Armchair quarterbacks and amateur sports fanatics dabble in their field of interest because they love the game. However, successful and professional sports players take the initiative to find a great coach to help them learn to focus on what's important to win their game as well as for clear directions on the steps necessary to achieve success.

Writers approach Lee Warren and ask if he will coach them in making nonfiction ideas and projects more marketable and salable to a publisher.

Read full entry »

March 18, 2010 | View or add comments

Partnering with Pros - Life Coach Jerome Daley

February 1, 2010

By Linda Jewell

Have you ever felt like you're bungling around, trying to figure out God's will for your life?  Or, even if you're clear that God has given you a message, a ministry and a mission, do you sometimes get lost? Sometimes get stuck? Sometimes get discouraged?

Read full entry »

February 1, 2010 | View or add comments

Partnering with Pros - Professional Organizer Marcia Ramsland

January 10, 2010

By Linda Jewell

Did you resolve to lose weight in 2010? Follow Marcia Ramsland's "30-lb. Paper Diet" to shed piles and files from your home and office.

CLASS graduate, international speaker, writer, and professional organizer Marcia Ramsland, The Organizing Pro, can help you organize your home, office, and time systems so you can get more done in your life.

Read full entry »

January 10, 2010 | View or add comments

Tracking Writing Submissions - Simple Project Management

January 7, 2010

By Kristen Clark

I started writing for publication only a few years ago but soon discovered I needed a tool for tracking my submissions. I spent too much time looking for that essay I wrote last year (or it could have been the year before) and remembering only vaguely why it might be a great piece and searching my brain for some inkling of the titles. As a writer, my goal is to keep my work circulating until it sells. Unfortunately, publishers have different requirements for submission and keeping track of them all was exasperating. Besides the fact that I was in constant fear of submitting a story to a publisher who had rejected that same story under a different title a year earlier. I couldn't imagine anything less professional!

Thankfully, my experience as a project manager in corporate America quickly reminded me that a simple table with rows and columns would do the trick. I pulled up Excel on my laptop, opened a new spreadsheet and started labeling columns to help me track my submissions. I started with the basic fields of information: publisher and contact information, submission deadline and publication date, submission process and title of my work. I later discovered other pieces of information were equally helpful and I added writing genre, word count and pay rate. The next thing I knew, I had a simple and easy-to-use tool for tracking my submissions.

Read full entry »

January 7, 2010 | View or add comments

Connections 101

November 30, 2009

By Evelyn W. Davison

The meeting and greeting time at any networking, business meeting or social gatherings can be very difficult for some.  Introducing yourself to new people can bring awkward moments. How does one do that naturally?

A lot has to do with personality strengths and weaknesses.  Some of us are naturally inquisitive or outgoing, while others are reluctant or shy. Some of us overwhelm people immediately with "Who we are" -- while others seem to get lost in "Who they are and why they are there."

Read full entry »

November 30, 2009 | View or add comments

A Dream Come True

September 25, 2009

By Tama Westman

As a child I would sit at the rosewood desk and dream of being a writer. My mother fed my dream by supplying me with foofy pens with feathers on them so I could feel my writing was eloquent and important. In the days before home computers and e-mail, I would spend long hours play-acting at that desk, making pretend phone calls to clients, tap-tap-tapping the numbered keys on the adding machine to ring up sales and writing out long checklists.

Some forty years later, not much has changed, except that the dream I had as a child came true! I still spend long hours at the same rosewood desk, calling clients, tap-tapping on the calculator, and writing out long checklists. Long gone are my foofy pens, replaced with a laptop, Sharpies and write on/wipe off pens for the white board.

Read full entry »

September 25, 2009 | View or add comments

Are You Hitting Your Goals?

September 8, 2009

By Tama Westman

I saw this tip from Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, while I was flipping through the pages of the October issue of Success Magazine (If you don't yet subscribe to Success, I encourage you to up your game today with this monthly issue of some of the best leadership advice going).

According to Hansen, you can create a life-goal list in as little as 15 minutes. Sounds easy. Here's how:

Read full entry »

September 8, 2009 | View or add comments

Driven by Vision, Fueled by God

March 26, 2009

By Tama Westman

God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. – Psalm 67: 1-2 (NKJ)

As a Christian communicator, the above verse from Psalm 67 is the bottom line. The Lord blesses each of us with unique gifts and talents, and it becomes our responsibility and privilege to employ these gifts and talents to minister to and serve His children.

Read full entry »

March 26, 2009 | View or add comments

For a Fee or a Blessing

May 1, 2008

By Linda Goldfarb

I have been speaking publicly for over twenty years. Yes, that means I started when I was 10! Well not really... it was more like 15 :) Anyway, when my speaking career began, I was on the payroll of a very successful entrepreneur and had the opportunity to travel the states encouraging the sales staff and revving up the energy in the packed auditoriums as any good Choleric/Sanguine would. Those were the days when I'd clock in at 9am and go home at 5pm except on the weekends when we were on the road, at that time it was nonstop until the boss hung up his hat for the night. I was paid well for a job well done.

Today I work out of my home (my office is the first bedroom on the right) and I seldom clock in at all, or is it, I seldom clock out? My family would say it’s the latter, but I’m working on that. Being self-employed has changed my perspective about what to charge. I must admit it is more what I talk about that has changed my view of “to charge or to bless.” In the corporate world I have no problem charging a fair wage for my services, if my service helps an individual to increase their bottom line then I charge accordingly. If I am presenting a faith-based talk, I look at it differently.

Read full entry »

May 1, 2008 | View or add comments

To Charge, or Not To Charge

April 28, 2008

By Gary Chevalier

It's interesting that this month focuses on charging fees, because that is an area that I've been struggling with recently. I think that there are basically two types of people who have an issue with charging: those who think they're better than they are and charge too much, and those who feel bad about charging at all (or at least, very much). Of the two, I fall into the latter...

I'll spare you the long, boring story, but suffice it to say that talking about and/or negotiating fees with church groups is uncomfortable for me. It's hard to say why, exactly. It just totally unnerves me and makes me queasy. In truth, I know that there is nothing wrong with paying someone to come speak/teach/lead. Anyone I bring to my church I try to pay well. (In fact, I serve full-time at my church as the worship pastor. You'd think that I'd be OK getting paid by the church!) As strange as it may seem, though, when I go to a church to speak I feel greedy and prideful for asking to be compensated. It's not true, but satan whispers in my ear that I'm about money, not ministry, and I freak out and run the other way.

Read full entry »

April 28, 2008 | View or add comments

Top of Page