---

Enter your name and email address below:
Name:
Email:
Privacy Policy: We will never rent, sell, or share your name and email address with anyone, ever!

[ view tip archives ]

• Advice for Women in Ministry
• Why Every Author Needs an Amazon
• How Much Should a Speaker Charge?
• Here’s a Great Tool to Market Yourself as a Speaker
• Here’s a Quick Way to Survey





• Bible Studies
• Food for Thought
• General
  • What we're About
• Latest News
• Leadership
• Mentoring
• Planning
• Prayer
• Resources
• Shout Outs
• This we like!
• Uncategorized
• WM Team





• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• July 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• January 2009





• Fresh Grounded Faith Events - Jennifer’s Fresh Grounded Faith Event Cities
• Java with Jennifer
• Self Talk Soul Talk - Jennifer’s Self Talk Soul Talk book blog

We found this video that we thought was encouraging and wanted to share it with our WMN audience. This video addresses the question of what to do when you feel as though God has called you to serve Him in ministry and yet others are not supportive? Listen as Anne Graham Lotz shares her insights and what God has taught her about serving Him.

Technorati Tags: Advice for women in ministry

Are you an author of books or Bible Studies? Aspiring or established, we think having an Amazon Author Central page is a must for every Christian author. In addition to having your books simply listed on Amazon, an author page allows you to not only promote your products, but yourself! Through Author Central, you can create a profile that includes the following:

• Picture(s)
• Biography
• Blog feeds
• Twitter feeds
• Events list
• Books list

Any book listed by you on Amazon will link your name to your Author Central page, displaying all awesome information about you and displaying the rest of your work. In addition, your account allows you to view customer reviews, convert your writing to Kindle format, and track sales by week, by geographic location of purchase, and by overall rank on Amazon.

So if you are not selling your books on Amazon, start doing so now! And if you are, make sure your profile is snazzy and up-to-date. Learn more about setting up an Author Central page here. Check out Jennifer’s page as an example here.

What else is neat: with an Amazon Author Central page, you now have yet another profile to direct your audience to, and vice versa, a profile on Amazon to use as a lead to your other web presences. FYI: if you are listed in our very own Directory of Gifted Communicators, we can supply you with a sweet little Amazon button that will link to your Amazon Central page too.

Now how many great reasons was that to set your profile on Amazon today? I think I lost count.

Happy writing!

Technorati Tags: Amazon author page, authors, selling books

In our last blog post, we introduced you to our new and improved gifted communicators directory to help you locate speakers for your next event and promote yourself as a speaker.  A womensministry.net reader asked us this question in response to the post:

Thank you so much for this info. I need help with charging fees? Do you charge for traveling and expense? How do you figure out pricing? I appreciate all of your help in advance. Greater Blessings!

Well, here is the long and short of it. If you are brand new to speaking you may want to get a few speaking engagements under your belt first before you begin to charge for your services. This will give you the opportunity to get in front of a live audience, to work out your nerves and to let you see what it is like to speak. Many people begin by requesting a love offering.  A love offering is a special voluntary offering where the offering plate is passed for the audience to show their appreciation for the speaker. This usually will cover the cost of travel expenses and other related expenses of the speaker. However, it is usually not large enough to contribute to a new speakers personal income, but allows them to do the ministry they feel called to do.

As you become more experienced, you will have the ability to charge more. Generally speaking, there is a speaker fee (honorarium). This usually includes any travel expenses (travel, logging, and meals). Speakers who are in demand often will  negotiate a fee in addition to their speaking fee to cover travel expenses for themselves and possibly an assistant or travel companion.

What you will charge as a speaker will depend on such things as…

• When the event takes place – is it a weekend or weekday?
• How long you are requested to speak – is it 45 minutes or several hours?
• If  you are asked to do anything other than speak – are you to emcee an event, perform special music etc.?

Here is an example of a women in ministry, Sheila Wray Gregorie,  and how she has set up her fee schedule. Also, check out marketing guru Rob Eager’s blog post, How to Set a Speaking Fee.

I hope you found this information helpful. Be watching for more great marketing and speaking tips on womensministry.net and as always let us know your questions. We love to hear from you!

Technorati Tags: how much to charge, speakers, speaking engagements, speaking fees, women in ministry

Womensministry.net just launched our new and improved directory and I want to be the first one to invite you to check it out!

If you are …

• an Event Planner looking for speaker for your next event.
• a Women’s Ministry Leader looking for a consultant for advice.
• a Speaker, Author, or other gifted communicator who wants to increase awareness about your message.
• a Life coach who wants to help Christian women.

Then you will want to visit www.giftedcommunicators.com/directory .Once there, you will find a gold mine of gifted speakers and authors ready to be booked for your next event.

The directory is easily searchable and you will be glad to know the directory lists contact information, pricing, and location of each gifted communicator. It also includes a short bio and some have links to their personal websites, blog posts, and other social media.  If you are a women’s ministry leader let this be your go-to source for booking your next ladies event.

If YOU are a gifted communicator, then why not add your listing to our site? We have two very affordable options to choose from. Click here for more details.

We here at womensministry.net want to be your partner in ministry. We have a friendly and helpful staff that can answer all of your questions. So give it a try, you’ll be glad you did!

Technorati Tags: gifted communicators, speakers, women's ministry, womens event

As I’m shuffling through our Fresh Grounded Faith attendee information cards, entering data into Survey Monkey, it dawns on me, this is one handy tool. And it’s so easy.

The best part…for surveys up to ten questions and 100 respondents, Survey Monkey is free!

If you are a speaker looking to gather basic information or opinions from those you minister to, an event organizer needing to gather RSVP information via email, a Facebook page administrator wanting to poll your fans, this tool is for you.

Here’s how you would use Survey Monkey in three easy steps.

1. Create your survey in minutes using multiple choice, rating scales, text boxes, drop-down menu questions and more.
2. Collect responses by adding the survey to your website, blog, Facebook page, or linking through an email invitation.
3. Use the information Survey Monkey analyzes the information for you in convenient charts and graphs so you can determine exactly what your market is telling you.

Take a look at surveymonkey.com to learn how these easy-to-construct surveys can aid with:

• Market Research
• Event Planning
• Customer Feedback
• Product Planning
• Education & Training

Happy surveying!

Technorati Tags: polling, Survey Monkey, tool

I can’t do this.
I’m not smart enough.
I’ll never have the confidence I need.

Those are some depressing thoughts, aren’t they? But oh how easily they sneak into our thoughts and tempt us to throw away our confidence. Have you ever agreed with these self-doubts and felt a sense of discouragement and defeat?

In Hebrews 10:35, God tells us: “Don’t throw away your confidence.”  Today I want to share with you how we can identify and throw away our insecurities, and fulfill our God-given purpose by living in the security of HIS promises instead!
We’d love to hear from you! Is there something in Renee’s message that resonated with your heart or that you want to apply in your life?

Giveaway Details:

Leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win 2 copies of Renee’s book, “A Confident Heart.“ We will choose three winners to receive 2 copies each.

• Get a FREE copy of Renee’s Ebook — today only! Click here to find out how.
  (Even if you don’t have an e-reader, you can read it on your PC, Mac, IPad, IPhone and more!)
• Visit Renee’s website (www.ReneeSwope.com) to enter win a $25 gift card as part of her Contagious Confidence giveaways this week!
• Download Video Message Notes

Technorati Tags: A Confident Heart, New Book, Renee Swope

A picture is worth a thousand words (or so some say). If that is true, than no wonder Pinterest has been such a huge success! This new social media craze has thousands of followers and can hold its own against other social media rivals such as Facebook and Twitter.

This online scrapbook allows you to “pin” the things you love to your very own virtual bulletin board. For us visual people, it is a utopia of wonder that can captivate it’s audience (if you’re not careful) for hours. Here are just four reasons I have fallen in love with the site and why you too, as a women in ministry, must get on board the Pinterest Express.

1. Organize Decorating Ideas for Upcoming Events. Keeping a virtual scrapbook of ideas for your next church event is super easy to do. When you come across an idea you love and want to remember that great idea, all you do is push the “pin it ” button that you install when you sign up for Pinterest the first time. Then you can name your file whatever you wish, let’s say Mother Daughter Tea or Events and Pinterest will store all of your ideas in that folder for a quick and easy reference.

2. Provides Links to Websites. Another great thing about Pinterest is it provides a way for you to gather more information about the picture you are viewing by making it click-able.  When you click on a photo you love, you are automatically re-directed to the website from which it was pinned. This is great because it links you to more information about what you are looking at and introduces you to new websites that you might not otherwise have stumbled across on your own.

3. Follow People with Great Ideas. Pinterest allows you to follow other people that have the same taste as you in fashion, design and other great ideas. When you follow someone on Pinterest you will be allowed to peek at their pinboards to get great ideas for yourself and repin if you like on your own pinboards.

4. Promote Events, Products, and Books. While Pinterest doesn’t highly encourage self-promotion on their site, many marketers are taking advantage of their large audience to promote their products, books and events and link people to their personal websites. By adding the Pinterest widget to your blog or homepage, you increase the potential others will pin your ideas and share with others. For more great ideas on how to use Pinterest as an author or speaker, check out this blog by marketing expert Rob Eager, How to Use Pinterest to Market Books.

Don’t just take my word for it, check out Pinterest for yourself. I’m confident you will have as much fun with it as I do. Happy pinning everyone!

Technorati Tags: Pinterest, scrapbook, Social Media, women's ministry

Curious about users on your website? Care to gather information about your biggest fans so you can appeal to them on a more direct level?

I know we are here at womensministry.net! The simplest way (in my opinion) to set up forms within your website is with a handy tool called MachForms. For a one-time fee of $39, the possibilities of gathering your market’s data are nearly endless!

Here’s a bit of what you can do with MachForms:

• Drag-and-drop fields for your forms (really easy)
• Gather basic contact information: name, phone, address, website, etc.
• Gather custom information: open-ended sentence or paragraph fields
• Allow users to select options from a multiple choice list
• Allow users to upload pictures/documents
• Insert Captcha spam-protection
• Add emails to automatically send to users once forms are filled out
• Export the data you capture directly to Excel so you can understand it

Perhaps I am a market data analysis nerd, but I can’t say enough about this awesome form-creation tool! Simply purchase, drag-and-drop to create your custom forms, and let your users start submitting information to you.

If you have any type of sign up on your website and don’t wish to spend hours customizing forms, I highly recommend you check out MachForms and see if the smart folks there can help you solve your data-collection needs.

Happy data collecting!

Technorati Tags: Data collection

“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.”
― Mark Twain

As the days roll by like a train that doesn’t stop, I often think what did I do last week or last month or last year? Here are three quick ways to track what you’ve been up to in your business, church or personal life.

• This free site, called 280Daily.com , allows you to archive your life by summing up your day in 280 characters. It is quick and easy. Keep track of work or family, with this free, secure, private and unsociable resource. It is searchable as well. They will even send you a daily email reminder!

• If you have Outlook, you have access to an email program which has a journal feature allowing you to post a journal entry. It can be as long or short as you need for the day’s events. Outlook,  also lets you choose what kind of event from phone calls, meetings or just a note to yourself. Search at any time on any word in the journal for quick access. Click here for a pdf on Staying Organized with Outlook Journal.

• The Outlook calendar program can be used to keep track of what you have done daily for work or for personal remembrances. The “notes” section allows you keep track of daily activities or plans for a future day. This feature also allows you to search for key words.  I use recurring reminders for birthday reminders for years to come.  Reminders also keep me on track for appointments or even remembering to get my teeth cleaned! For how to set up an appointment including reminders, click here.

Happy Remembering!

Technorati Tags: Outlook, Schedules, Tools

The Same Page Book is set to release March 2012. Written by brand new authors Shauna Pilgreen and Courtney Bullard.  The Same Page weaves a charming & whimsical tale of the relationship between mothers and daughters.

Courtney and Shauna have used their experience as moms, daughters, writers and speakers to imaginatively create a story between a mother and a daughter.  The Same Page is a flip book with one side telling the story from a teenage daughter’s perspective and the other from a mother’s viewpoint.  This book goes beyond a fictional tale incorporating journal questions for the reader to relate her own experiences.

With all of the voices vying for our attention these days, it can sometimes be hard to hear the one whose voice we long to hear the most – God’s. This book will help you discover truths about yourself and your present reality.

Jennifer Rothschild endorses this book saying, “Every woman wants to know she is seen by the King, and this narrative reminds a woman’s heart that she is seen and known. It also provides hope that the King can bring restoration in the relationship between mothers and daughters and between women and their God.”

This book would make a wonderful gift for mother/daughter banquets. You can find out more information at thesamepagebook.com.

Technorati Tags: New Books, The Same Page

keep looking »