Expat Women relaunch + 2 sweet treats!

Hi Everyone, Yes, it's true!

After a two-year break, I'm excited to announce that ExpatWomen.com will relaunch for you this year, thanks to its recent acquisition by an expat investor in the Middle East.

The new owner plans to grow the site bigger and better for you in 2014, so stay tuned for the exciting relaunch date.

On a personal note, I wish to thank everyone who has supported Expat Women since its launch in 2007. Without you, the site would not be the treasure chest of information and inspiration that it is today for so many women around the world.

But wait, there's more...

Before I leave your inbox forever, I'd love to offer you two sweet treats over at my new sites:


1ST TREAT: 
VIP DISCOUNT TO HELP GET YOUR IDEA LAUNCHED & NOTICED

If you have a business idea burning inside you, I invite you to come join me over at Launched & Noticed... and here's why...

After years of answering thousands of Expat Women emails and reviewing 2,000+ blog submissions, it's been sad to see so many websites and email outreaches fall flat.

I don't want this happening to you (anymore).

I would love to create a course (and a community) for you that:

1. Gets your business idea launched and noticed 

By launching good products and writing emails that grab attention, I'm so grateful to have enjoyed:

• An interview with a supermodel;
• An unexpected phone call from a TV personality;
• A one-on-one meeting with the head of a $90 million business empire;
• A direct call from the head of product development for a company whose annual revenue is close to $1 billion; and
• A buyer for my six-year labor of love, ExpatWomen.com.

2. Saves you time, money and sanity


3. Is full of practical tips and lessons learned...

• Business planning;
• Setting up your website and social media (on a budget!);
• Writing website copy that attracts dream clients;
• Choosing online software that makes your day easier;
• Testing your idea sooner rather than later;
• Motivating yourself on a daily basis;
• Understanding website SEO, page rankings and online trends;
• Successfully reaching out to influencers in your target market;
• Guest posting on big-name sites;
• Building credibility on social media; and
• Getting through what Seth Godin calls "the dip".

Just tell me what you most need help with!


Come join Launched & Noticed and you'll receive (for free):

1. An exclusive VIP discount
When the course launches later this year.

2. The chance to have your say
I promise to personally write to you and ask what you'd most like to see in our very first course - so that it's jam-packed with the most useful tips, blueprints, resources, worksheets and video tutorials possible. (I also promise to keep your business idea and progress confidential.)

3. Free tips along the way
Snippets of all the good stuff, plus updates from the feedback received.


Sound good?


Come join me here: Launched & Noticed

2ND TREAT:
$50 DISCOUNT CODE FOR STORY RESUMES

If you are looking for work (at home or abroad), then this might be more up your alley...

With only six seconds* to impress a recruiter, you need to grab attention fast.

That's where Story Resumes comes in.


Story Resumes is an innovative new service to help you get noticed (and hopefully hired) faster.

We transform an ordinary resume into an eye-catching masterpiece that captivates everyone who sees it and helps your resume climb to the top of the application pile!


Come check us out today and remember to use your EXPAT WOMEN $50 discount code before it expires on June 1, 2014. (Feel free to share this coupon with your networks.)

Thank you

Finally, on a personal level, it has been an honor to serve you.

Thank you so much for inviting me into your inbox.

 I wish you and the Expat Women community every success and I hope we meet again soon!


Andrea Martins x


Email me: andrea at launchedandnoticed dot com

Tweet me: here

KISS Like Melody Biringer, Founder of CRAVE

Hello Everyone, In October 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Seattle-based Melody Biringer in Amsterdam, where she was hanging out for a few months to kick start her CRAVE Amsterdam guide. Melody and I met up again a year later, this time in Las Vegas for a conference and have kept in touch in-between. I love hearing about all the cities that Melody's CRAVE guides have expanded to and I love learning from her entrepreneurial lessons (20+ businesses to date) and successes.

Recently, Melody posted this entry on her blog. I loved it and gained her permission to share it with you. If you are a current or budding entrepreneur, you'd be wise to listen to this seasoned experimenter!

Wishing you success in your business, at home and abroad, Andrea.

Nobody Kisses Like Melody Biringer

"The exercise of writing my business history down this last year, about the 20 some businesses I have started over the last 30 years, made one thing loud and clear to me. KISS (keep it simple stupid) has been haunting me most of my life. When trying to decide the title of my book, I thought I should just call it KISS.

This lesson learned has popped up over and over again. I know this stuff. I know it so well I could write a book about it! So WHY do I keep trying to complicate my businesses still today? I am a very “right brained” female. I like to have my hands in lots of things, and am easily tempted to live life like a mind map. BUT, my only successes have come when I kept it VERY simple.

I started my first business with the most simple business model of all. A lemonade stand. I sold lemonade….period. How much simpler can you get. Flash forward a few years and it is ironic that I still basically sell lemonade for a living. One of my most successful businesses has been the festival concession biz, where I sell strawberry shortcake and berry lemonade to thousands each summer. People stand in line and hand me cash and have continued to for the last 22 years. I have tried to complicate that business a bit over the years by adding other products to the mix, like pie baked in a bag, berry cobbler, even s’mores….always thinking of ways to grow.

But I finally got it through my thick skull…I am known for our strawberry shortcake and that is why I am still in business. Just KISS!

For several years, I was deeply invested in the wholesale bakery business. This is a perfect example of doing too much and not paying attention to simplicity. We sold muffins to grocery stores and coffee stands all around Seattle. It started with the fat free muffin, then we added 97% fat free and finally added full fat muffins. We had about 10 flavors of each kind. Of course the blueberry was always the best seller across the board. So many labels, ingredients, recipes to keep track of, so much staff to manage, so many headaches keeping track of all the flavors and which % of fat was ordered.

What if we just put all our muffins in one basket and specialized in the best fat free blueberry muffin in the world and sold the heck out of it? I might still be in that business today if I’d done that.

I remember being jealous of the Uncle Seth pink cookie at the time. He made one really good sugar cookie with pink frosting and could barely keep up with the demand.

It all goes back to the 80/20 rule I believe. Usually we are spending 80% of our time on nonsense and forgetting about the most important part of our business – the 20%. It is so easy to get trapped into the 80% because there is a lot of drama around it and very hard to see the forest through the trees.

I am so happy this lesson has come out loud and clear in my life right now. It makes decisions so much easier. When I am in team meetings, we all say “is this KISS?” and that makes our decision.

We even took a chance on this CRAVE blog. We had created a big huge nightmare for ourselves these last few years. Who are we? What are we going to write about? How many guest bloggers do we need? What should they say? What does our editorial calendar look like? We are behind! Help??? So we flipped it (another lesson learned) and took the KISS principal and decided to just talk about one of my lessons learned each month.

Talk about KISS all month? Is that too much of one subject? Will people get sick of us? Just do it, we said. It is simple and will simplify so many people’s jobs around here. YES I like the sound of that. A no-brainer. Who knows if it will work, but we are all breathing free and that is a good thing.

What can you simplify to breathe easier?

Melody"

Women Speakers: We Need You At Conferences!

Hi Everyone, I really liked a recent blog entry from expat marketing coach Stephanie Ward (see our interview with Stephanie on our main Expat Women site here).  Stephanie has kindly given us permission to republish it for you here.  It is a thought-provoking post about the lack of women speakers at conferences and I hope it inspires more of you to nominate yourselves as speakers at conferences.  I am sure many of you would be fabulous!  Andrea

What the Majority of Conferences Have in Common

"I was surprised over a year ago when I counted up the number of female speakers represented by a female owned Dutch speaker’s bureau to find an overwhelming number of men. I just did a recount and discovered that there are five women out of the ninety-one speakers (that’s 5%).

A couple of days ago I checked out the upcoming LeWeb conference 2010 in Paris. There are seventy speakers, eight of whom are women (11 %).

I tweeted about this and got this tweet back from the founder of the conference, Loic Le Meur: “@FireflyCoaching we think those women are worth 5 men each.”

I decided to look at other events to see what I could find. The Sprout Challenger Day that’s coming up in the Netherlands has thirteen speakers, two are women (15%).

Tedx Amsterdam is also coming up. Out of the seventeen presenters, three are women (18%).

Interesting that as I was writing this I saw this quote posted by TedX Amsterdam on Facebook: “The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet” – William Gibson.

The 2011 PINC conference to be held in Amsterdam will have two women out of sixteen speakers (13%). Looking back at all of the previous speakers at PINC, out of a total of 169, 29 are women (17%).

At the Mobile Convention Amsterdam, an Event for Mobile Marketing & Business, that was held in April 2010 there were six women speaking out of the total of thirty-six speakers (17%).

At the recent fourth edition of the Picnic event 27 of the 129 speakers were women (21%).

Please don’t shoot the messenger, the numbers are what they are.

These conferences are successful.  Is it possible that could they have a bigger impact, attract more female participants, and provide a more interesting mix of perspectives and experiences if there were more of a balance between men and women speakers?

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely don’t want to see more women speakers for the sake of having more women if they’re not fabulous.  I honestly believe there are bright, talented, thoughtful women whose voices aren’t being heard.

So what’s the problem? Why aren’t there more female speakers at events and conferences?  For one, I’ve heard that there are simply fewer women in tech.  Another reason given is that it’s hard to find great female speakers.

Instead of focusing on why it is that way it is, I’d rather focus on the solution and how we, men and women, can all take action together to change it.

Let’s not fight about, let’s do something about it. Here are some ideas:

1. If you are a fabulous female speaker apply to speak at conferences and sign up at a speaking bureau so you can be found.

2. If you are an organizer of an event think about featuring more women speakers so that there is a balance between the number of male and female speakers.  They are out there, I promise.  And if you get stuck and can’t find anyone, ask me for names. I have a big network, I’m sure I can connect you with many savvy speakers.

3. If you attend events and conferences, tell the organizer that you’d like to see more female speakers.

4. Share this blog post with people you know who would like to help change this situation.

Have you noticed this as well?  Do you have helpful ideas and suggestions?

What They Don’t Tell You About Successful Product Launches

Hi Everyone, When reading a great article today on ProBlogger by Darren Rowse, entitled How To Get Things Done When You're Feeling Overwhelmed, (interestingly, it has been retweeted nearly 500 times, so it seems that those of us feeling overwhelmed are certainly not alone!)...

I came across another great article by Darren: What They Don't Tell You About Successful Product Launches - which I watched first in video form (Darren is very genuine and great to watch and listen to - I highly recommend the video), but then I read the transcript as well.

Essentially, Darren says the following (but in a more animated way and with more anecdotes):

1. Build a Content Base.  He emphasized that this does not happen overnight, but that a genuine content base takes time.  He said he has been building his online content base over the last 8 (!) years.

2. Build Relationships.  "Every day you have the opportunity to take yourself closer to that big launch by getting to know someone else on the web, whether that be a potential reader, whether that be another blogger, whether that be just someone who’s interested in the same kind of stuff as you on Twitter, you never know where those relationships will take you."

3. Build Your Skill Set.  Add to your repertoire daily.  Learn new things. Connect more dots.

4. Build Your Email List.  Build a greater audience, over time, and be rewarded with a bigger launch impact.

Darren concludes:

"I guess the point of this video is not to come up with a conclusive list of things that you can do that will take you closer to your, your goals one day, but it’s to get you to think about what you can do today, what you can do tomorrow and to think about some of those little things that will take you closer to your ultimate goals.

Set yourself some tasks this week. Just little things that you can do, posts that you can write, people that you can interact with, just features that you can add to your blog, new skills that you can learn. All of these things will take you closer to that ultimate goal.

It’s great to have the idea of a big product launch in the back of your mind, but at the front of your mind needs to be these sorts of daily activities that will take you closer to that."

I highly recommend Darren's video. Have a great weekend!  Andrea

Expat Women August Newsletter Highlights

Hi Everyone, Here are the highlights from our Expat Women August 2010 members' newsletter, sent out this week:

(If you are a member and did not receive your newsletter, please email us here, thanks)

* Success Story: Toni Brendish, Managing Director, Danone Dumex (Malaysia);

* Business Idea: Little Broadway, Tiffany Jansen;

* Home Exchanging: Tips For A Successful Home Exchange, Zoe Hine;

* Boost Your Brand: 10 Ways to Boost Your (Relocation) Brand Online, Andrea Martins;

* Learning Disabilities: The Evolution Of Learning Disabilities: A Global Guide For Parents, Kristina L. Dooley;

* Expat Confession: He Wants To Go;

* Mothering Abroad: Nora Kohri, Founder Of Care The World;

* The name of our Explorer Publishing mini-guide pack winner; and

* Our winning story by Expat Women member Lauren (again!) (an American in China), entitled The Strays of Dingbo.

Read our August Newsletter Here

If you are not a member of our main site, ExpatWomen.com, please join today to support us (and receive a link to download our free Expat Women e-book "Winning Stories"). This will also mean that next month your newsletter will be delivered directly to your inbox.

Thanks Everyone! Andrea

Brilliant Social Media Video

Hi Everyone, If you only watch one this month, I highly recommend that you watch Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh).  I believe it is put out by Erik Qualman (author of SocialNomics) in association with Hult International Business School.  The video is lively, it's professional, it's insightful and it's... brilliant.

Is Social Media a fad, or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?

Some of the facts it shares at the beginning (to groovy music):

• 50% of the world's population are under 30;
• 96% of Millennials (aka Generation Y) have joined a social network;
• Facebook tops Google (!) for weekly traffic on the web;
• 1 in 8 couples married in the United States met via social networks; and
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world, behind China and India.

But that is only the beginning... I encourage you to click here and enjoy it for yourself. 

Expat entrepreneurs, freelancers, relocation companies and service providers, take notes.

Have a fantastic weekend, Andrea.

Expat Job Seekers and Entrepreneurs: Can You Be Found?

Hi Everyone, If you are an expat job seeker or entrepreneur, I invite you to read the guest blog post I wrote this week for Adrienne Graham's Fearless Woman Magazine.

The post is entitled Job Seekers and Entrepreneurs: Can You Be Found? and I hope you get something out of it. It starts like this...

"Once upon a time, job seekers looked for jobs, entrepreneurs looked for clients, and occasionally, employers and clients advertised their needs to the general marketplace – crossing their fingers each time and hoping for a positive, quality response. That was the old marketplace.

Today, we are living in a whole new generation of job and client search. Employers are proactively targeting specific job candidates and clients are seeking out the best entrepreneurial businesses with which to partner. The traditionally-hunted have become the hunters, and the old-style hunters have morphed into the hunted. It is a very interesting dynamic and it is shaking up the whole job/client search paradigm.

Example One: The Large Recruiter
Recently, I met a very senior HR Director working for a very large telecommunications company. He told me..."

To read more, please support Adrienne's new online magazine and click here.  Many thanks.  Andrea :-)

PS. Feedback very welcome, by the way (either on our blog or Adrienne's)! 

Learn From An 86-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Has Sold 100,000 Knitting Books

Hi Everyone, I read an interview today from Mom Invented®'s Tamara Monosoff, who we featured last month for her new book, Your Million Dollar Dream (affiliate link).

Tamara talked to 86-year-old Betty Lampen who is a knitting pro and who has sold 100,000 copies of her books since 1991. 

We could learn a lot from Betty.  For example:

1. If you have an idea, give it a go!

2. "Never give up. There is always somebody out there who is interested. You just have to find them."

3. You do not need 60 - 100 thousand words to publish a best-selling book. Nor do you need to be the world's leading expert. Betty's books were only 18 pages long (!) and I have a feeling she is not the (only) world expert on knitting.

Questions for You: Do you have an idea for a book?  If you are not writing your book, why not? 

Andrea

Expat Women June 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our Expat Women June 2010 Home Page. Please take a look, share it with your friends and tweet about it for us. Thank you!

Success Story
Wendy Wilson
Co-Founder and Editorial Director, AngloINFO
South African Wendy Wilson left the film industry to move with her British-born husband Mike Hardaker to the French Riviera to start AngloINFO.com in September 2000. Run as a franchise business, AngloINFO now has 50 local websites worldwide, serving over 50 million page views per month...
Read more...

Business Idea
Love Travel Guides
Fiona Caulfield
A self-confessed luxury vagabond, Fiona Caulfield is the creator of Love Travel guidebooks, designed for the discerning traveler. Already, Fiona has sold more than 15,000 books because unlike mass tourist books, her books are written like you are being chaperoned by a good friend...
Read more...

Repatriation
How To Overcome Expat Withdrawal
Heather Carreiro
After living abroad, moving back to your home country can be even more of a shock than learning to live in a new country and culture. So much of how we define ourselves while living and working overseas is wrapped up in being an expat. Our friends back ‘home’ think of us as "Mary in Japan" or "Susan in Dubai." In our host countries, we are always the foreigner – the one who is different. Even the very way we introduce ourselves and think of ourselves tends to be connected with this element of 'otherness'...
Read more...

Global Nomads & University
The Global Nomad's Guide to University Transition
Tina Quick
We talk to Tina Quick about her new book for TCKs transitioning to university. Tina, mother of three college-aged daughters, is an adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK) who, having made 18 moves, understands well the cycle of loss and grief involved in a cross–cultural lifestyle...
Read more...

Expat Confession
A Lonely Affair
Expat Women Girlfriend
My husband’s new role is very demanding and he is frequently travelling away from home. I am embarrassed to confess that my loneliness has led me to start an affair with my neighbor. I feel extremely guilty about what I am doing and know that this is not right. Ironically, I started the affair to ease my loneliness...
Read more...

Job-Seekers
Career Resource Center For Expatriates, Singapore
Alka Chandiramani
The Career Resource Center For Expatriates, Singapore (CRCE) is a unique, not-for-profit initiative run through the American Association of Singapore, offering invaluable services to expatriates seeking job local opportunities. We talked to Alka Chandiramani to learn more about this great concept...
Read more...

Not A Member Yet?

Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletter this month (which will hopefully be sent out this week) and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site ExpatWomen.com, and also receive your link to our free e-book of Winning Stories!

Thank you very much and have a fantastic June! Andrea

Stevie Awards For Women In Business

Hi Everyone, The 2010 Stevie Awards for Women in Business are now accepting entries!

If you are a woman who has achieved amazing things (and I am sure that many of you have), why not consider entering this year to see how you fare.

On Tuesday 20 July at 1pm ET (U.S.), they are running a free webinar entitled "How to Enter the Stevie Awards for Women in Business".  Learn more about the webinar here.

To enter, click here for the entry kit. The early-bird entry deadline is July 28.  Good luck expat women!   Andrea :-)

Twitter Updates For Social Media

Hi Everyone, Here are 8 recent 'social media' tweets I have made that might interest you, especially if you are an expat entrepreneur, or anyone helping their company's online strategy...

Facebook Now Commands 41% of Social Media Traffic- http://bit.ly/92J1aw @mashable

Here's what Chris Brogan told ABC news about making money via blogging - http://bit.ly/cW5EmQ @chrisbrogan

Mark Cuban's "Why You Should Never Listen To Your Customers" http://bit.ly/bx1WyD ...interesting Thanks @RachelleGardner's blog

2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report http://bit.ly/SMMIR by @mike_stelzner 1,900 peers surveyed

Very interesting slide about Kavit's 'Blog versus Website' positioning recommendation for all of your social media tools http://bit.ly/dkxT8B

Looking for work? Read Little Pink Book's Social Media Job Hunt article http://dlvra.me/s/3ellT

Mashable’s Weekly Job Listings in Social Media - http://bit.ly/b8ORJw @mashable

Please click here if you would like to follow me in 'real time' on Twitter. 

Many thanks and have a fabulous week!  Andrea

Expat Women May 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our Expat Women May 2010 home page. Please take a look, share it with your friends and tweet about it for us. Thank you!

Success Story
Lynda Armstrong OBE FEI
Technical VP, Shell International
Lynda Armstrong OBE FEI, awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003, has worked for Shell for more than 35 years in a variety of assignments around the world. Lynda’s current position is Technical Vice President with Shell International, based in the Netherlands...
Read more…

Business Idea
Masha Malka
Success Coaching
Masha Malka is a former Soviet refugee who has gone from living life with little clarity and focus to becoming a successful entrepreneur, best-selling author, international speaker and a mentor to many. She is a resident coach for the national radio station Talk Radio Europe in Spain and has done over 200 radio interviews...
Read more…

Motivational
Embracing the Pain and Power of Change
Nona Jordan
Living overseas can be a constant barrage of new and exciting experiences. However, even the most savvy and confident of women can get thrown off balance during the unexpected changes that life throws their way, resulting in painful body aches and/or emotions...
Read more…

Expat Confession
My Kids Are My All
Expat Women Girlfriend
I am a lawyer who gave up my own very successful practice to move abroad with my husband over 14 years ago. My husband travels extensively for work and I am worried that I am too attached to my children... my days revolve around my kids entirely and I willingly turn down social functions...
Read more…

Starting A Business
Got A Million Dollar Dream?
Learn From Tamara Monosoff
Former expat Tamara Monosoff is a mother and businesswoman who knows all about making dreams come true. Tamara made her own dreams come true when she invented and successfully sold her product in thousands of stores nationwide. She has also made the dreams of thousands of other mothers come true...
Read more…

Worldwide ERC® Event 
Insights From Asia Pacific Conference
Andrea Martins
Have you ever made a last-minute decision to attend a conference and then found yourself having such a wonderful time you wondered why you had never attended before? Well, that happened to me recently at the Worldwide ERC® conference in Hong Kong...
Read more…

Not A Member Yet?
Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters. To receive our newsletter this month (which will hopefully be sent next week) and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site ExpatWomen.com, and also receive your link to our free e-book of Winning Stories!

Amazon Kindle Competition
We will be closing this competition today, 5pm NY time.  The winner be announced on this blog next week.

Thank you very much and have a fabulous May!  Andrea

Got A Million Dollar Dream?

Hi Everyone, Next week we are featuring on our Expat Women May home page an interview with Mom Invented®'s Tamara Monosoff about her new book, Your Million Dollar Dream (affiliate link). 

Interestingly, I have been a fan of Tamara's ever since I went through my 'inventing ideas' stage several years ago.  About a month ago, I came across her name again online and started following her on Twitter.  She followed me back and sent a direct message with some great feedback about ExpatWomen.com and told me that she used to be an expat in Hong Kong.  Then a couple of weeks later when she talked about her upcoming book on Twitter, I asked for a review copy and whallah (!)... Tamara sent me the only PDF copy she has sent to anyone... and it was at that moment that I was thinking that Twitter really was a powerful connecting medium. :-)

Tamara's New Book

In short, Tamara's Your Million Dollar Dream is an excellent book for any new business person.  It talks about finding the 'right' business for you.  It talks about matching your personality with your business.  It covers (US-focused, but useful for any country) funding/financing.  And it spends a few chapters on email marketing, blogs, social media and social networking (aimed at business owners just starting to explore these marketing channels, rather than the already-savvy social media mavens).  It has some wonderful success stories scattered throughout as examples.  Plus, it includes some fabulous motivational quotes (which are now hanging on my wall).

Why Tell You Now?

We are sharing a little of our May feature early because we want to help Tamara to get on the Amazon bestseller list on April 28...

If you are interested in buying her new book, please think about buying it on April 28 US time rather than sometime next month, because April 28 is the day she is celebrating her book launch by giving way lots of bonus extras for anyone who buys the book from Amazon.com, as well as being the day she is trying to get on the Amazon bestseller list.

Many thanks!  Andrea

Tamara's Bio

"Tamara Monosoff is an American mother and businesswoman who knows all about making dreams come true. Tamara made her own dreams come true when she invented and successfully sold her award-winning TP Saver® product in thousands of stores nationwide. She has also made the dreams of thousands of other mothers come true through her company Mom Invented® and her best-selling books The Mom Inventors Handbook: How To Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing; Secrets of Millionaire Moms: Learn How They Turned Great Ideas into Booming Businesses; and The One Page Business Plan for Women in Business (co-authored with Jim Horan).

Since May 2004, Tamara and her products have been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, The New Yorker, Time, People, US News & World Report, Oprah and Fortune Small Business magazines. Tamara has appeared on ABC’s The View, NBC’s Today Show, NBC’s Nightly News, ABC’s Good Morning America Weekend, The Bloomberg Report, BusinessWeek TV, CNN News live, CNNfn, CNNSaturday, CNNMoney, CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNBC’s The Wall Street Journal Report, AOL, ABC News Now, The WB Network, Inside Edition as well as over 100 local TV media outlets across America.

Prior to founding Mom Invented®, Tamara worked in Washington D.C. in the Clinton Administration where she served as Senior Communications Associate for the President's Initiative on Race at the White House, Education Director for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, and Chief of Staff for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She also worked as an expat in Hong Kong."

Tamara has received several business awards and is a frequent speaker on Entrepreneurship and Women and Leadership. She has a Masters (MA) and Doctorate Degree (Ed.D.) from the University of San Francisco, and a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara."  ExpatWomen.com

Stay tuned for Tamara's interview on our May home page and in our May newsletter.  (Please sign up here for our newsletters if you are not already a member of our main Expat Women site.  Thanks.)

W.I.N. Conference in Paris This October

Hi Everyone, It is very exciting that the 2010 W.I.N. (Women's International Networking) conference will be in Paris, France!

If you have not been to a W.I.N. conference, I can personally attest that they are warm, friendly, open, inviting and full of great networking opportunities with wonderful women from all different countries... although that said, more women based in Europe seem to attend than women based elsewhere, but that is a natural consequence of the conferences always being held in Europe... and as the Seinfeld saying goes... "not that there's anything wrong with that!" :-)

If you are looking for inspiration, I encourage you to consider going this year to W.I.N. in Paris, October 6 - 8 (9).

Registration opens May 1st.

If you are looking to inspire, hurry and submit your proposal to speak at the conference! They typically involve 120 - 150 speakers, workshop leaders and coaches - again testimony to their 'open' philosophy, which I applaud them for. Deadline for speaking proposals is 10 May. Speakers will not be paid, but will only need to pay the discounted price of 795 Euros to attend the conference. To see who spoke last year, just click here.


W.I.N. Conference: Realizing Visions, with Clarity, Enthusiasm and Care

"The W.I.N. 2010 global leadership conference is the 13th in a series of visionary leadership events that inspire thousands of women, enhance their careers and improve business practices. Be a part of it:

Learn- from world-class speakers about current trends, politics, humanity, and work-life balance

Discover- the importance of giving and receiving support to realize your vision

Be Inspired- by stories from successful professional women working around the world

Gain- new personal and professional skills through our 40 outstanding workshops

Create- Business connections and alliances within a dynamic international network

During the three-day interactive forum, we will explore the authentic journey and the importance of how you do all you do as a way towards realizing your vision. As we discover clarity, truth, beauty and how your enthusiasm can help mobilize others. Panel sessions and workshops are complemented by social and professional networking events and free one-on-one coaching sessions."


Super Spring Offer
Save over 200 Euros off regular registration prices from May 1 -10:
Standard Ticket 1000 Euros (Applies to all professional participants (entrepreneurs, consultants, corporations etc).
Subsidized ticket 700 Euros (For women in transition, students, pensioners, NGO members, individuals.)
*No additional discounts apply

Normal Early Bird Discount
11 May – 31 June
Standard Ticket 1295 Euros
Subsidized Ticket 995 Euros
*Ask for a 100 Euro Expat Women discount

Full Rates
1 July – 20 September
Standard Ticket 1595 Euros
Subsidized Ticket 1095 Euros
*Ask for a 100 Euro Expat Women discount

For more details, please click here.

Have fun everyone who goes! Andrea

Looking For Expat Women Entrepreneurs Whose Businesses Turn Over US$1 Million

Hello Everyone, We are on the hunt for more expat women entrepreneurs whose businesses turn over US$1 million or more, to interview in our Success Stories section,

If you can think of anyone who meets the criteria, please drop us a line and point us in the right direction. I am sure there are lots more successful expat women out there and we would love to profile them!

Many thanks in advance for your help, Andrea.

Expat Women April 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our Expat Women April 2010 home page. Please take a look, share it with your friends and tweet about it for us. Thanks!

Success Story
Beverly Mayhew
Orientations
Beverly Dwiggins Mayhew is the founder of Orientations and distinguished as a pioneer of destination services in Asia Pacific. A long-time devotee to the field of international human resources, Bev’s company has offices in nine Asian Pacific countries...
Read more…

Business Idea
Francesca Chocolate
Cornelia Francesca Maeder
Swiss Master Chocolatier Cornelia Francesca Maeder is a talented expat entrepreneur with a big vision: she wants to create products (chocolate, seminars, books, CDs and more) that positively contribute to the health, success and happiness of everyone touched by her brand..
Read more…

FIGT Report
Families in Global Transition Conference 2010
Rebecca Grappo
Imagine a huge convergence of people who represent families who are in, or understand, global transition. One cannot measure the level of energy nor the buzz of excitement that filled the air of the conference center as old friends reunited and new friendships were made...
Read more…

Facebook
New Book: Facebook Fairytales
Modern-Day Miracles To Inspire The Human Spirit
Emily Liebert
We talk to Emily Liebert about Facebook Fairytales, which presents twenty-five true, heart-warming stories from the world’s most popular social networking site. Emily shares her inspiration, her favorite stories and her impressions of CEO Mark Zuckerberg...
Read more…

Expat Confession
Not Welcome
Expat Women Girlfriend
Help! My husband’s job has taken us to a small, remote, island community in the middle of nowhere. The population is just over 1,000 people and the locals resent and bully the foreign community. They even chased an expat off the island who blogged about her time here...
Read more…

Expat Divorce Settlements
UK Case Study:
Agbaje v Agbaje (2010)
Carol Barraclough
The newly-reported case of Agbaje v Agbaje (2010) UKSC 13 has raised the issue of entitlement for spouses who have dual nationality in divorce proceedings. This is the first time that the Justices of the Supreme Court have...
Read more…

Not A Member Yet?
Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters. To receive our newsletter this month (which will come out around the middle of April) and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com, and receive your free e-book of our Winning Stories!

Reminder
Have you told your friends? Our Amazon Kindle Competition (where you and a friend can both win a Kindle) closes on April 30. So please do encourage your friends to join Expat Women today!

Thank you very much and have a sensational April! Andrea

Expat Women March 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our Expat Women March home page and encourage you to take a look, tweet it and share it with your friends...

Success Story
Deanne de Vries
VP Africa Strategic Initiatives, Agility (Kuwait)
Deanne De Vries is a career woman, a traveler and an adventurer. Born and raised in San Jose, California to Dutch parents, she has lived in Belgium, the Netherlands, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Iraq and now Kuwait...
Read more…

Business Idea
Stylemakers
Renée Coppinger
Fashion-lover Renée is a shining example of an expat entrepreneur who is both following her true passion and very successfully reinventing herself, over and over. From electronics, to fashion, to care giving, to study, to art and then back to fashion, she has set up businesses...
Read more…

Travel Tips
10 Travel Tips For The Seasoned Traveler
Susanna Zaraysky
If you consider yourself a master at the travel game, but you are still looking for some new ideas to save money and better navigate everything travel, read on to learn from Susanna Zaraysky who has lived in nine countries, traveled to over fifty, speaks seven languages and is the author of Travel Happy, Budget Low...
Read more…

Culture Shock: It’s A Good Thing
Ines Hofmann
Cathy was a lawyer in the United States, but when she accompanied her husband to Frankfurt she suffered from culture shock and every small step outside of her apartment seemed to be a great effort. Strange, this might seem to some, given that Cathy had just been working as a competent lawyer in the US...
Read more…

Reinventing Yourself
5 Steps To Creating A Better You
Kim Seeling Smith
As expats we are forced to reinvent almost every aspect of our lives when we choose to pick up, pack up and pluck ourselves down in another country. We have to negotiate a new country, a new culture, a new house, start new jobs (or life without a job), enrol our children in new schools...
Read more…

Expat Confession
Death Abroad
Expat Women Girlfriend
My friend’s husband collapsed and died suddenly at work this week from a brain tumour. It was terrible. Like any best friend would do, I have been doing my best to console and offer support in her time of need and help as best as I can with her two young children. But I really feel out of my depth: first with grief counselling and now with helping her...
Read more…

Not A Member Yet?
Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletter this week and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com, and receive your free e-book of our Winning Stories!

Thanks
Thank you sincerely for your support and best wishes for March! Andrea

Expat Women February 2010 Home Page

Hi Everyone, Please take a look at our new Expat Women February home page, featuring a famous expat TV Star/Producer, a Nairobi bomb survivor and more...

Success Story
Debbie Travis
Television Star, Producer and Entrepreneur Extraordinaire
Once upon a time, Brit Debbie Travis modeled with celebrity supermodel Gail Elliott. Today, long-term expat Debbie Travis is a household name in Canada, famous for producing and hosting three successful lifestyle television series (Debbie Travis' Facelift, Debbie Travis' Painted House and From The Ground Up with Debbie Travis) that now show worldwide. Debbie has also written nine books, she writes a syndicated newspaper column and she executive produces a variety of other television shows on real estate, cooking, renovations and more. She owns two television production companies and a self-named branding studio that produces a line of over 1,500 products sold exclusively at Canadian Tire, the biggest retailer in Canada...
Read more…

Business Idea
The French Paper
Nicola Wade
Five years ago Nicki and her family left London for rural France. A self-confessed magazine addict, Nicki now runs a publishing company in France with a glossy regional lifestyle magazine and a monthly English-language newspaper, with a combined readership of 45,000+...
Read more…

New Memoir
The Unofficial Diplomat
Joanne Grady Huskey
From being inside the US Embassy with her children in Nairobi when it was bombed, to being on the ground in Beijing during the sad events at Tiananmen Square in 1989, to acting in Bollywood, to co-founding a relocation company and an international school in India... Joanne has seemingly done it all...
Read more…

Expat Confession
Homesick New Mother Abroad
Expat Women Girlfriend
I am a trailing spouse and mother of one, who has been living in Japan for seven months. When I first arrived, I loved the thrill of it all. But now I hate Japan. I miss my mum for the emotional support and I wish she could help more with my son...
Read more…

Tweet, Tweet
How Twitter Can Rock Your Business
Stephanie Ward
Marketing Coach Stephanie Ward, an American expat in The Netherlands, shares with us ten reasons (and three testimonials) why you should be using Twitter as a new marketing strategy to boost your business profile and profits, wherever you live in the world...
Read more…

Learning A Language
Top 6 Fun Ways To Learn A Foreign Language: Using Music, Radio, TV and Movies
Susanna Zaraysky
Have you ever heard a song on the radio that you have not heard in years and you surprise yourself by singing all the lyrics? Music and catchy jingles can stick in our minds for years, while verb conjugation charts and memorized data disappear. So if you are trying to learn a new language, put down the verb conjugation charts for now and turn on your radio!
Read more...

Not A Member Yet?
Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are reading this blog post online or you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our Expat Women monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletter this week and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com, and receive your free e-book of our Winning Stories!

Thanks
Thanks Everyone for your support and enjoy your first day of February! Andrea

Expat Women December Home Page

***** If you are on Twitter, please Tweet this for us. Thanks! *****

Hi Everyone, We have just uploaded our Expat Women December home page and we invite you to take a look at our new features:

Success Story
Michelle Greene
Johnson Controls
Michelle Greene is the IT Director at Johnson Controls. She has also been honored as one of the Most Important Blacks in Technology (MIBiT). Michelle shares with us her career advice and talks about how her assignment in Sweden helped to get her to where she is today...
Read more…

Business Idea
Events & Company
Rachel Kaplan
Rachel Kaplan is an expat woman in France who has tremendous energy and business nous. She oversees five successful businesses specializing in customized tours, events and concierge services. She has hosted Hollywood celebrities, a former US President and more...
Read more…

26 Travel Tips
Making Friends On The Road
Evelyn Hannon
Evelyn's travel website, JourneyWoman.com, connects 67,500 women in 128 countries around the world. Evelyn kindly shares with us her top 26 tips for traveling solo, so you can make plenty of friends on the open road...
Read more…

Career Help Abroad
Finding Professional Career Help Abroad (For Accompanying Spouses)
Jennifer Bradley
You have arrived in your new location and the whirlwind of moving is starting to settle. Now your thoughts can turn to some of the issues that you have had to shelve while you addressed other urgent issues, such as "What about my career?"...
Read more…

Global Nomads & College
A Global Nomad's Guide To College Applications
Kristina Dooley
Families whose children have spent their school-age years living abroad can often reach a state of frustration or panic when embarking on the college application process. Questions abound such as: "Will my child's transcripts make sense to the admissions committee?", "Will they understand why my son has not completed the full IB diploma?", or "Will the fact that my daughter has not been a club president be viewed negatively?"...
Read more…

Expat Women Confession
Special Needs Children
Expat Women Girlfriend
We are considering taking on an expatriate posting. My question is about special needs education. We have two young children: our 4 year old has dyslexia and the youngest, 2½, has just been diagnosed with autism. I am torn with guilt between wanting to go abroad and jeopardising our children’s education. Is it unrealistic for us to consider an expat posting...
Read more…

Not A Member Yet?
Just a reminder that our blog is separate from our main site, so if you are only subscribed to our blog, you will not automatically receive our ExpatWomen.com monthly newsletters.

To receive our newsletters and to go in the running to win our monthly prize of a complete set of Explorer Publishing's Mini-Guides, please sign up today to our main site, ExpatWomen.com.

Note: In this month's newsletter, we will also be giving away our free, updated E-Book which compiles our winning stories from February 2007 to December 2009. So, join today. :-)

Thank you very much and we wish you a fabulous day/evening! Andrea

10 Of The Best Social Media Tools For Entrepreneurs

Hi Everyone, We came across this good article today on Mashable that we wanted to share, that talked about 10 of the best social media tools for entrepreneurs.

In brief, their top ten were:

1. Google Apps for Domains
2. LinkedIn
3. Basecamp
4. Facebook
5. Twitter
6. Get Satisfaction
7. Mail Chimp
8. User Voice
9. You Tube
10. Monitter

If this interests you, enjoy the full article here. Best wishes.