Goals Profits & Soul Business Show

Canva Tough Pricing Lesson

How many of you use Canva? I do and it is an essential component of my business. Canva and I have a great relationship, and I have become a very proficient Canva user since early 2015, when I first discovered it and joined its community. I quickly started paying for my account because I believe in paying for software and services that I use in my business, even when there is a free option. I have worked in the tech industry for many years and I know how much time, effort, and money it takes to run the back end systems.  When I started with Canva, the user fee was $12.95 a month, a bargain. I then graduated to an annual subscription for $119.95, still a bargain.  I just renewed my professional Canva subscription last month for the same price, $119.95, which I consider to be a bargain. Even after 10 years my membership cost is less than the cost of high end design software that I don’t want to have to spend years learning. Canva offers a significantly less technically and financially painful alternative.  I had no idea that Canva was raising its annual pricing for the professional account holders until I read about it a few days ago.  Raising its prices is an understatement. Canva was quadrupling the cost of the annual membership from $119.95 to $500. I quickly checked my billing to make sure that I had not paid that much for my recent renewal and I had not so I am not sure when they were going to implement this change for its long time users, who should be grandfathered in to any price increase.  Especially people like me, who have been loyal, paying customers for more than 10 years. Of course Canva received considerable backlash from its customer base about this ill-conceived price increase and rightly so. It is a sign of how out of touch Canva has gotten with its user base. That happens when a startup becomes a major industry player, going from no revenues to over $2.5 billion in annual revenues with more than 170 million active monthly users. A few months ago Canva ran a promotion that showcased its image count and celebrated one billion images. Those are very impressive numbers.  Read the rest of this article on the blog at gpsbusinessacademy.com [https://gpsbusinessacademy.com/canva_lesson_pricing/] copyright (2004-2024) by Jennifer Hoffman. All US and international rights reserved. Copy by Jennifer Hoffman Narration by Jennifer Hoffman Artwork by Jennifer Hoffman No part of this work may be shared in any form whatsoever and on any platform whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Failure to obtain permission and share this content or illegally appropriate this content for business or personal use will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution seeking actual and punitive damages and restitution. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for content theft, copyright infringement, and theft of intellectual property.

Watch your language and avoid using profanity in your business

There is a new fad in online marketing and it is not one I like or think is very beneficial. In fact, I really dislike it and I avoid anyone who uses it because I think it’s unprofessional, rude, lacks class, and is very objectionable.  It’s the use of profanity in marketing.  Now I am very old school when it comes to business. I started my career in the late 1970s at a time when we went to the office every day and dressed for business. For women that meant dresses or suits, stockings, and heels. Men always wore suits and ties and a white shirt. I worked in law firms where the dress code was very strict because clients were always visiting the office. I remember when they first introduced ‘casual Fridays’ and we were so excited even though that meant what would be called formal business casual today.  If you used the kind of language in a professional setting that people use today you would be fired and it would be justified. Profanity has no place in the workplace and it should not be used in business settings, or online either. I think that level of professionalism is something we need to return to. And I will tell you why in this podcast. I do not swear and I never have. It is just not part of my vocabulary. Maybe it’s because I met a woman when I was about 14 years old, the mother of one of my brother’s friends, who swore like a sailor. I had never heard language like that and she saw that it made me very uncomfortable. She apologized for her language and told me that people who swore and used profanity didn’t have a very big vocabulary and they had to use swearing to fill in the gaps. Although she was probably joking I never forgot what she said and I vowed that I would never swear. I also have a very big vocabulary in 4 languages.  Should you use profanity in your marketing? Is it ok to say that something is good AF? Should you spell out sh*t and then follow it with a little emoji? Not if you want my business. And I do not think I am alone.  The rise in profanity has followed a rise in the lack of integrity in business marketing, from people who overstate income claims to those who scam their followers with outrageous claims of income potential from their products and programs, who market with sleaze and take your money with ease, the internet is a scammer’s paradise.  It is getting better with time and I have been online since the late 1990s and have seen the wild west days. But the use of profanity is one area where we could use some improvement.  Why is this an important issue for me? As I said I have an extensive background in different areas, law, technology, finance, as well as multiple business degrees. I have been in many professional settings, including the board rooms of some of the world’s top companies and biggest startups, and I have never heard profanity used in the office in any of those environments. Read the rest of the article on the blog at gpsbusinessacademy.com [https://gpsbusinessacademy.com/watch-language-profanity-business-communication/]   copyright (2004-2024) by Jennifer Hoffman. All US and international rights reserved. Copy by Jennifer Hoffman Narration by Jennifer Hoffman Artwork by Jennifer Hoffman No part of this work may be shared in any form whatsoever and on any platform whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Failure to obtain permission and share this content or illegally appropriate this content for business or personal use will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution seeking actual and punitive damages and restitution. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for content theft, copyright infringement, and theft of intellectual property.

Why You Should Avoid Income claims

In the 21 years that I have been in business I have never talked about how much money I make. I don’t think it is appropriate and to be honest, it adds no value to my credibility, my customers, or to what I do. As a privately held company I do not have to file public documents every year and as a business and legal professional I know that these kinds of claims must be done with care and with plenty of documentation so they are verifiable. Knowing this, I have been rather annoyed by the people who claim to have ‘6 and 7 figure’ businesses and making other income claims lately, which are frankly rather unbelievable and very unprofessional. The problem with income claims is that they are generally greatly overstated and they do not accurately reflect the person’s financial standing. They are also no substitute for professional credentials, expertise, experience, or authority.  I will give you a few examples of bad income claims in this podcast because if you are going to be choosing a coach or mentor based on their income claims, thinking that you can replicate them in your life and business, you should probably know the truth and be prepared to ask relevant questions. Or better yet, find someone who has actual business credentials. The other problem with income claims is that they can get you in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission in the US, the government agency that oversees and regulates truth in advertising laws. Making an income claim is a form of advertising and all businesses, regardless of size, have to follow these laws. If you are investigated by the FTC for false advertising, which they can do if they feel your advertising is fraudulent or misleading, the penalties involve hefty fines and possibly jail time, as well as financial restitution to anyone they feel you have defrauded or misled by your claims. Do you see why this is important? Read the rest of this article in the blog at gpsbusinessacademy.com [https://gpsbusinessacademy.com/avoid-income-claim-marketing/]   copyright (2004-2024) by Jennifer Hoffman. All US and international rights reserved. Copy by Jennifer Hoffman Narration by Jennifer Hoffman Artwork by Jennifer Hoffman No part of this work may be shared in any form whatsoever and on any platform whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Failure to obtain permission and share this content or illegally appropriate this content for business or personal use will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution seeking actual and punitive damages and restitution. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for content theft, copyright infringement, and theft of intellectual property.

Should You Use AI in Your Business?

AI, artificial intelligence, is the new buzzword. Everyone is talking about it, how great it is, how many problems it solves, how it can help you create products, courses, solutions, write your emails, your books, and let you tap into a wellspring of knowledge without having to do any of the work.  Sounds too good to be true. And it is. The problem with AI is that it is not really artificial, it is a lot of knowledge based on the work of many other people so before you dive into the AI pool let’s look at some of the pros and cons of AI and talk about how to use it efficiently, effectively and with integrity in your business. When I first heard of Ai I was skeptical because something that appeared out of the blue and could solve so many problems had to have a down side. And AI has plenty of down sides. It is useful, I have used it before and been happy with the results. But before you get to the point where you use AI for everything, take a step back and consider the potential for a host of consequences, some of them legal issues that could get you into a lot of trouble.  At its earliest introduction many top names were promoting AI and of course then came the barrage of people who were going to teach you how to use AI in your business , for a fee of course.  Within a few weeks though, many of these people were backpedaling on their AI stance when they realized that AI could cut into their profit margins. For example, you do not need to buy a $2000 course on how to create digital products if you can just ask chatgpt or another AI tool a few questions and it will write the course for you. This does work, I tried it. I asked about creating a course on a specific topic and AI generated the entire outline for me, in seconds. Or you do not need a $2997 copywriting course or a $500 an hour copy writer when AI can write all of your copy for you, in a number of different tones and even multiple languages. For free! And you do not need the services of a $15,000 brand company when you can ask chatgpt to design your brand, suggest fonts, colors, styles, and even get the proper hex codes. AI will now even generate images for you. So why not use chatgpt, gemini, or any other AI to just start and run your business? Let’s look at some of the benefits of ai first, then we will look at the downside. First the benefits: If you are confused, shy, or an introvert, chatgpt or ai programs are a great way to develop confidence, get information, and ask a lot of questions without fear of judgment, or looking stupid. AI loves to answer questions and it will answer them until you stop asking. And the answers are good too. You can even ask AI for help with something you can’t remember.  Last week I was trying to think of a concept that had two words and I just could not remember it. I tried to look at the dictionary or thesaurus but it didn’t help because I could not think of the proper term and I did not want to look at lists of words. So I asked chatgpt and on the second try it got the word right. It was critical mass.  I said thank you and chatgpt was happy to help.  AI knows a lot about a lot of things. It’s true, if you want to know about something you can ask ai and you will get a great answer. If you need 50 catchy email subject lines, ask AI and you will get them within a few seconds. If you want them to be less formal, ask AI to change the answers and there they are. Need more formal or professional sounding email subject lines? Ask ai to amend its output again and you will get 50 more subject lines that are professional enough to send to any board chairman or ceo. Do you need to get detailed information on a topic? Ask chatgpt, gemini, or any other ai program to help. You can get information on a nearly unlimited number of topics just by asking questions and letting ai answer you.  Do you need help with a process? AI is glad to help with detailed instructions. It doesn’t draw diagrams (yet) but it does provide very specific instructions.  Want to write a book this weekend? Give AI the topic and some details and it will write a book for you, from a short e-book to a very long chapter book. Fiction, non-fiction, biography, science fiction, children’s books – no topic is beyond ai’s capabilities. And this is just a small sampling of what you can do with AI. It can solve math problems, write code, and do just about anything you could think of. Try asking chatgpt about anything you want and see what kind of response you get.  If AI can do all of this what is the problem? There are actually quite  a few problems, let’s look at them.  1. Consider where AI gets its information. It is ‘artificial intelligence’ so it does not think for itself, it does not come up with new ideas. AI puts data together from the massive databases that are its collection of knowledge. Where did that knowledge come from? From the work of many other people. This is especially important to know if you are using ai to write books or papers or reports or other documents that you will claim ownership of and perhaps even copyright on. Microsoft and google, two of the biggest AI platforms, are being sued in a class action lawsuit by a large group of authors, a few of them are my clients, whose books and protected copyright information were used to populate the AI databases. So if you are writing a book using AI you may want to double check the results on a plagiarism website to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. 1. AI will give you information but it will not give you expertise. If you plan to use AI to create a course, program, or submit information on topics you are totally unqualified to write about, you may be setting yourself up for a blow to your reputation or worse, a lawsuit for fraud or misrepresentation. Just because you can get AI to tell you how to do something from an expert standpoint does not make you an expert. There are enough people on the internet who falsely claim to be ‘experts’ , especially in the area of business, and who don’t know what they are talking about and who do not have the credentials to support their business ventures. 2. AI responses can be generic and repetitive. I saw this happen firsthand. I watched a video on Instagram on how to generate some content with AI and when I entered the same questions in AI I got exactly the same answers that I had seen on the video. So be aware that AI is not creative or original and the answers it is giving you it may well be providing to someone else. 3. AI can become a crutch and prevent you from using your own ideas and creativity. It’s easy to ask AI to generate content for you and it’s fun. The answers are usually good, the content quality is acceptable, and it’s refreshing to have a resource to use when you are feeling creatively blocked or stuck. But that can quickly become a crutch you rely on all of the time rather than an occasional creativity boost. Don’t get too dependent on AI to provide information and content for you. Now let’s look at some of the benefits of AI, and there are many good ones.  1. It offers a new perspective and a new way of expressing ideas. We tend to write in one way and have trouble coming up with different ways of expressing our ideas and thoughts. That’s normal and I know it’s true for me. Sometimes I will ask AI to express my ideas in different ways that are outside of my normal thinking or speaking style, and I will use that content to create ad content. 2. You can learn new things from AI. Ask AI a random question about a random topic and see what response you get. You can learn many new things with AI and it’s interesting to see how it responds to your questions inquiries. It is like having your own online copy writer and dictionary. 3. It is great for market research. Although AI is updated with content through the year 2023 it is a useful resource for market research when you ask those kinds of questions. If you want to know whether a topic is popular or how many people are interested in a specific issue, AI is a good resource for that. But always double check the responses. 4. It’s a great conversationalist. You can talk to AI like you would a person and it will reply. I asked AI about different topics and its opinion and it was very forthcoming. But don’t ask it to be mean to someone or for negative feedback because it will not indulge you. Instead, it will tell you to be nice to people and try to respect their differences. I know, I tried it. Like any technology, AI has both positive and negative benefits and you need to use it with caution but I would also encourage you to avail yourself of this technology, with care. It is a very useful and helpful technology when used in the right ways and it can be a great resource for you if you need support. But it is not a replacement for your own experience and expertise, your unique voice, insights, and perspectives, and it will offer a limited opinion, at best.  And get my trademark resource to identify your Credibility Matrix – your experience, expertise, and authority and gain confidence in how to use what you know and can do to create revenue streams. This is my iconic Expert Skills Audit and it is the only resource that allows you identify and leverage your 7 Expert Revenue superpowers – your experience and expertise, knowledge and know-how, gifts, talents, and skills to create multiple revenue streams and income opportunities. It’s so good that a top digital course creator has been trying to steal it and use it in her business for several years.  You can learn more about the Expert skills Audit at this link [https://enlighteninglif.samcart.com/products/expert-skills-audit] and start discovering the benefits of your 7 Expert Revenue Skills and how you can leverage them into multiple income sources. It is the only business program created, developed, and promoted by a real business expert with real business credentials -  3 business degrees, decades of business experience, a pioneer in online business, recognized digital product subject matter expert and one of the first online course creator on the internet – with an online presence since 1999. Should you learn to use AI? Absolutely. You are passing up on an opportunity to use a creative resource if you don’t but do use it to enhance your creativity, not fill in the gaps of your knowledge and expertise. You want to be an authentic, knowledgeable, experienced resource to your audience, not a faker. And in today’s online world someone will find out if you do not know what you are doing!  copyright (2004-2024) by Jennifer Hoffman. All US and international rights reserved. Copy by Jennifer Hoffman Narration by Jennifer Hoffman Artwork by Jennifer Hoffman No part of this work may be shared in any form whatsoever and on any platform whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Failure to obtain permission and share this content or illegally appropriate this content for business or personal use will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution seeking actual and punitive damages and restitution. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for content theft, copyright infringement, and theft of intellectual property.

Karma Time and Business Ethics

Enlightening life Substack   It’s Karma Time ! We have a strong full moon on October 17, 2024, and this one has karma written all over it. Of course if you have not been sending out any karma boomerangs you don’t have anything to worry about. But if you have, you might want to start being careful and looking over your shoulder.  There are people in the world who don’t care about the consequences of their actions. In fact, they think that their actions should not have any consequences at all and they can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal. I have known people like that, some of them have done some really awful things to me. And today I learned that one of them got the karma boomerang in a very strong way.  Since I began my online business in early 2004 I have had problems with people stealing content. This is a real problem for any author or content creator and the internet has just made it 1000x worse. And you have unprofessional, unethical, and uneducated people who seem to populate the coaching world, especially business coaching, who think that the internet is a ‘content buffet’ that they can just help themselves to at any time they want.  They don’t have the credentials to create original content, no problem. They will just steal it from someone who does. They aren’t creative enough to generate consistent content for their audience, no problem, they will find someone who has content they like and they will use theirs. This is not just happening with small accounts, it is happening with popular and well known people too. In fact, I am currently initiating copyright infringement actions against a well known ‘digital course’ leader who has been stealing content from me for 2 years – I have proof – and who should know better. If you say you have a $100 million business you should be able to create your own content and not steal it from someone else.  But I digress. If you have been following me for the past 10 years you know that one of these content thieves is a former business coach named Christine Kane. I first learned about her content theft, which by the way is copyright infringement and theft of intellectual property, in October 2014 when she announced her new ‘Becoming 360’ program which was entirely stolen from articles and programs I had created in 2013. I have proof. So I sent her a Cease and Desist letter telling her that she could not use that content because she had not created it.  Not only did she not reply to me, but she also continued to use it and called it one of her ‘most successful programs.’ I hired a lawyer to take legal action against her and she still did not stop stealing my content. In fact, she stole more. I also found out, while doing the research for my lawyer to prepare the case against her, that she had started stealing content from me in 2011. I could find my words and ideas all over her programs and blog that were published then. Anything she taught about business, energy congruence, or alignment, integration, and energy use was from content she read on my website and in my newsletter. To be honest, anything she wrote about or presented in her business was something she got from me. And she never paid me any licensing fees or royalties, never contacted me to get permission to use my content, she just took it.  Although I had blocked her email address, she had people working for her who would go through my writings and take what they wanted. And she could use her phone or other computers to access my website, blogs, and podcasts if I blocked her IP address. She was using so much of my content in her business that she nearly destroyed my business. I could not use my own ideas and words in my business because she was using them in hers. It was a nightmare.  And of course Christine Kane calls herself a spiritual person, she talks about love and light and how we should all be nice to each other. She even had the absolute gall to write an October 2014 blog post saying that ‘it’s OK if someone steals your content because they can’t steal your energy.’ Was she trying to deflect the karma she was building by stealing my content or pacify her guilty conscience about using content that she knew was not her original work? Did she write it just before announcing the Becoming 360 program so that I wouldn’t respond?  So I did the only thing I could do, I let everyone know that she was a content thief and everything she produced that was from my work I let my audiences know. I was not afraid of a defamation lawsuit because it is not defamation if you have proof and are telling the truth. As a paralegal and experienced legal researcher, I would never publicly accuse someone of such a serious charge without having irrefutable proof. And I had it. There was so much proof that my lawyer, an experienced copyright infringement and IP lawyer, said it was the worse case he had ever seen. And the content theft continued. Eventually, in 2022, she was so discredited that even her most loyal followers were asking her about the source of her content and she declared that she was taking a ‘sabbatical’ and closed her business.  It has remained closed for the past 2 years.  Since she was no longer writing or actively managing her business, that was one problem solved although she still owns the illegal becoming 360 trademark that my attorney is trying to get for me and the becoming360.com domain name. How does this connect with the upcoming full moon and karma? Well yesterday I learned that she had suffered significant losses in the Asheville, NC flooding. Yes she lives in Asheville and has for many years. Her home was on Riverbend Drive, less than 30 feet from the Swannanoa River. She owned 2 homes and both are gone. In fact, it is all gone, the homes, her possessions, the land – it is all washed away. She has nothing but the clothes she is wearing. She can’t rebuild because the flooding washed the entire riverbank away. There is no land on which to rebuild. Now I am not one to gloat over someone’s misery and losing all of your possessions is a big deal. But this is a person who gladly stole everything from me without a second thought, who happily hurt my business and income while bragging about how much money she made using my content. And who waved the spiritual flag for her followers while engaging in very dishonest and unethical actions. Now she is homeless and has to re-think her life. I call that karma. I wonder if she gets it and whether she will take a long, hard look at how she is living her life and what she is bringing upon herself because she sure wasn’t concerned about that when she was stealing from me.  It’s karma time and the karma boomerang may take some time to circle back but it eventually does. What goes around comes around and that is absolutely true at this time. Anything that has been done since Pluto entered Capricorn in 2008 is coming back around so if you have been doing good things, you will probably be fine. But if you have been living your life on the wrong side of ethical behavior, you should probably be thinking about making some changes.  And as far as Christine Kane is concerned, I wish her well but I do not feel sorry for her at all. I hope she has learned something from all of this and if not, that’s her problem. One thing about karma, it is relentless. It comes at you until you get it and if you don’t it comes around again.  It’s karma time and time to balance energy accounts and make good on promises and consequences. If it has your number it will find you and if not, you will watch the karma boomerang hit its mark with pinpoint accuracy. You do not need to feel worry for or pity these people. Bad behavior does eventually get punished and it always has a foundation in the truth of their actions and being. It’s something you can’t escape and while you may think you’re getting away with something you are not. Karma keeps score and eventually it demands payment. This is one of those times.  Learn more about the GPS Business Academy at gpsbusinessacademy.com [https://gpsbusinessacademy.com]   copyright (2004-2024) by Jennifer Hoffman. All US and international rights reserved. Copy by Jennifer Hoffman Narration by Jennifer Hoffman Artwork by Jennifer Hoffman No part of this work may be shared in any form whatsoever and on any platform whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Failure to obtain permission and share this content or illegally appropriate this content for business or personal use will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution seeking actual and punitive damages and restitution. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for content theft, copyright infringement, and theft of intellectual property.