Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Crafting the Customer Experience for People Not Like You- an EGG Live! interview with Kelly McDonald

This on demand audio series is a part of the Executive Girlfriends Group Vignette Series. Chicke Fitzgerald interviews Kelly McDonald. The original live interview was 1/25/13.

 Kelly McDonald is a recognized expert on diversity marketing and business trends.

This is the #2 show of all time on Solutionz Live! with almost 5000 downloads.

A "one-size fits all" approach to customer service is no longer viable. Businesses competing on service need to understand and cater to customers' racial, ethnic, religious, generational, and geographic differences in order to meet or exceed customers' service expectations. Crafting the Customer Experience to People Not Like You shows how companies, brands, and products struggling to differentiate themselves in a sea of sameness can foster long-term loyalty and brand preference with exceptional and customized customer service.

Kelly McDonald is a recognized expert on diversity marketing and business trends. She was named #1 on the list of “26 Hot Speakers” by Successful Meetings magazine. Kelly’s speaking client roster includes: Toyota, Sherwin-Williams, Harley-Davidson, State Farm Insurance, Mattel, AAA Travel, BlueCross BlueShield, and dozens of financial organizations and associations.

Kelly is a member of the National Speakers Association. McDonald Marketing is a woman-owned business and is a certified HUB (Historically Under-utilized Business) by the state of Texas.

To hear the show click HERE

Kelly’s website is http://www.mcdonaldmarketing.com/
To order her book click HERE
For more information about the Executive Girlfriends' Group see: http://www.executivegirlfriendsgroup.com


Monday, December 23, 2013

Wings to Fly selected as 2014 Executive Girlfriends' Group Charity Partner

http://wingstoflycamp.com
23DEC2013 - Tampa, FL

Solutionz Holdings and the Executive Girlfriends Group are pleased to announce that it has selected Wings to Fly as our charity partner for 2014.

We will contribute 10% of all membership dues to WingstoFly, a national non-profit organization that promotes leadership, friendship and life skills in girls ages 12-16.

The goal is to build lifelong self-esteem in teen girls by giving them leadership skills and self-assurance, teaching life skills and helping girls understand what matters most.  It’s about real friends, family, education, the planet and dreams that inspire their future as they become tomorrow’s leaders.

Since 2009 girls from all over the country have attended  Wings to Fly Camps to enjoy over 60 fun activities from high ropes courses and zip lining to rock climbing and team building.


Girls learn about themselves and how to work with others. There are traditional camp activities including hiking, swimming, and horseback riding along with activities where girls learn about yoga, healthy cooking and eating, managing money and communication skills. Best of all are the friendships and memories that last a lifetime!

EGG founder Chicke Fitzgerald shares, "My 15 year old daughter has attended the camp the past three years and I can personally attest to the impact on not only her self-esteem, but her maturity.  She began serving in a leadership role this past year at camp and is planning on continuing that service on a long term basis."

Join EGG or renew your membership and support Wings to Fly.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

FRIENDSHIFTS - An EGG Live! interview with author Jan Yager


This on demand audio series is a part of the Executive Girlfriends Group Vignette Series. Chicke Fitzgerald interviews Jan Yager.  The original live interview was 6/21/13.
Jan is an expert on friendship. This is the number one show of all time on Solutionz Live with over 7000 downloads.




 
FRIENDSHIFTS: THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AND HOW IT SHAPES OUR LIVES by sociologist, friendship expert, and coach Jan Yager, Ph.D.

The book is based on the author’s doctoral thesis and additional original research consisting of surveys and interviews. "Friendshifts" is a word  Dr. Yager coined to denote how sometimes  our friendships  may shift throughout our lives, and even how we define a friend.

Fortunately, in some instances, lifelong friendship does happen. FRIENDSHIFTS explores what you can do to help a friendship to last. Even with the most enduring friendships, there may be an ending because of death. The examples, anecdotes, quotes, and studies cited throughout the book reinforce the notion that the right friends will help you to get ahead or to be happy in life, and even to live a longer life; the wrong friends can sabotage you or even get you hurt or killed.

Dr. Jan Yager, who has a Ph.D. in sociology, is author of more than twenty-five highly-acclaimed and award-winning books.

She is regularly interviewed on programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning, America, The View, CBS News' & the Sunday Morning Show.

Her website is http://www.drjanyager.com/
To order her book click HERE
For more information about the Executive Girlfriends' Group see: http://www.executivegirlfriendsgroup.com

Friday, September 20, 2013

This Week's Top 10 EGG Live! Segments

 


Current    Week


Previous
Week

 EGG Top 10 -
as of September 20th, 2013
 Jan Yager holds at a
strong #1 this week



1

1


2

2


3

3


4

4


5

5


6

6


7

7


8

8


9

9
 
Erika Anderson- Leading So People Will Follow


10

10

 Porter Gale- Your Network Is Your Net Worth


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Taking a brief Sabbatical to work on my "Dash"

This has been a very different summer. Prior to school getting out, my mother-in-law had been in and out of the hospital three times. On June 8th, we found out she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. June 28th she "graduated" into the Kingdom of God.

Even though the last few months have been tough, they have also been a huge gift.

This time facing her death brought me back to what is important in life. I realised that I need to take a little break and spend some time with friends and family. So the EGG show/calls will be on hiatus for a little bit so I can work on my "Dash".

If you don't understand that statement, listen to this interview with Linda Ellis.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/solutionzlive/2013/05/31/egg-live-linda-ellis-live-your-dash

Allow me to share the video that I made for my mother-in-law to celebrate her "dash".

Julia Fitzgerald
April 4, 1921 - June 28, 2013

http://animoto.com/play/XAS03LeaZGHwIX0w4z1xvg





Friday, August 17, 2012

Shaunti Feldhahn - EGG Guest Friday August 17th 12:00 pm ET




Today's interview is with author Shaunti Feldhahn.   

For Women Only in the Workplace: What You Need to Know About How Men Think at Work, based on eight years of intense research, interviews
and surveys with more than 3,000 men, reveals the unfiltered, private thoughts and expectations of men in the workplace, that often affect women but that women may not know. Just as a woman doing
business in a foreign culture would want to understand that culture to be most effective, women who work with men will want to know what men candidly think but rarely say.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Happy Birthday Executive Girlfriends' Group and Happy National Girlfriend's Day


We've come a long way baby!! 

From a couple of dozen women in the travel industry to over 700 executive women across the US and Canada (with a few Europeans thrown in for good measure), we have certainly changed in our short four-year history.

So much has transpired from our first EGG call on August 1, 2008.  I did the first call in a parking lot in Phoenix.  I was in the midst of trying to sell the software assets of a company that I had to shut down and had just met with a prospect for that transaction.

I didn't even realize that it was the National Girlfriend's Day!  How appropos.
I have to admit that at first, the whole idea of getting my executive girlfriends on the phone was a tad selfish.  I really needed help to just get through each week and to keep moving forward without losing hope.

Within a month or so, we realized that we needed a little "content" for our calls to keep it fresh and interesting for the participants.  In September of 2008 we added EGG Live!, which now has well over 400 audio recordings that EGG members can listen to, either on BlogTalkRadio or iTunes with commercials or via our archives here on the BLOG.

In the spring of 2009 we added the private EGG platform and brought a wealth of networking capabilities to our members.

In 2010 we did our first EGG retreat in Orlando and had an amazing outpouring of support from our sponsors, including Wyndham Worldwide, Kennedy Space Center and Disney.  In 2011 we had another retreat, this time in Las Vegas.  We rented a private mansion and enjoyed the intimacy and time together afforded by the location.

So far, 2012 has been a rather quiet year on the EGG front.  So many of you are doing more with less, that our calls are frequently just with our guest author.  Pattie Brinkman, our executive producer, continues to bring in amazing talent for our shows.  If you have missed then, please make sure to go back and check the BLOG archives to listen without commercial messages.

Four of the top shows of all time are:

Jeanne Meister looks ahead to The 2020 Workplace
Leslie Truex - The Work at Home Success Bible
Erika Andersen – Being Strategic
Carolyn Dowd-Higgins – This is NOT the Career I Ordered 

If you haven't joined us in a while, this Friday is the day!!  Our guest is LouAnn Lofton of the Motley Fool, the author of Warren Buffet Invests Like a Girl.

The call is at 12 noon ET and generally lasts 45 minutes.  I hope to have you on a call soon.


Have a blessed day.

Chicke Fitzgerald, founder the Executive Girlfriends' Group

Friday, November 26, 2010

Saturday, January 9, 2010

EGG Audio now posted on Solutionz Live! channel on BlogTalkRadio

Today, we began posting Executive Girlfriends' Group audio files for our Vignette Speakers on the Solutionz Live! channel on BlogTalkRadio.   The first audio file loaded was for Henry Harteveldt, VP and Principle Analyst for Forrester Research, our guest on Friday, January 8th, 2010.

Check it out. Enjoy.   Leave your comments.  Favorite the channel.  If you want more info about the Executive Girlfriends Group, check us out. 

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Bootstrap Business is ready to ship!

September 3, 2009 SEVIERVILLE, TENNESSEE — In the summer of 2008, Chicke Fitzgerald, consultant, keynote speaker and author, was selected from a nationwide search to be featured in Bootstrap Business; a highly successful book series from Tennessee based Insight Publishing. The book is now available for sale (http://www.solutionz.com/publications.asp).

The book features best-selling authors Tom Hopkins (How to Master the Art of Selling), Jack Canfield (One Minute Manager), and John Christensen (FISH!). Chicke Fitzgerald, Hopkins, Canfield, and Christensen are joined by other well known authors and speakers, each offering time-tested strategies for success in frank and intimate interviews.

As the founder and CEO of Tampa-based Solutionz Group, Chicke Fitzgerald has spent the last 13 years solving business growth challenges for corporations, nurturing early-stage companies and coaching top executives and entrepreneurs around the globe.

With 30+ years in the travel industry, Chicke is a recognized authority on distributions models, whose expert perspective is frequently sought by the investment community and media. Fitzgerald is currently affiliated with the Gerson Lehman Group and has been among the top investment advisors for the internationally renowned GLG Expert Network™.

She is also passionate about helping others master the use of technology and social media to foster growth through her Solutionz Media division. Since January of 2009 she has interviewed more than 150 authors and experts on her Solutionz Live! show on BlogTalkRadio.com and on the Executive Girlfriends' Group (http://www.executivegirlfriendsgroup.com).

When she is not coaching, speaking or consulting, Chicke enjoys spending time with her family in Tampa, Florida. She also dedicates time, energy and resources to a local organization known as Real Estate Lives, mentoring displaced employees hard hit by the mortgage banking crisis and working with the organization’s leadership to build a similar model for other industries and communities to replicate.

To discuss speaking opportunities with Chicke Fitzgerald and to order your copy of Bootstrap Business, contact:

Chicke Fitzgerald | 813-925-0789 | chicke@solutionz.com or visit www.solutionz.com

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Noticer - Quietly changing lives with a little "perspective", July 26, 2009

Every once in awhile, you come across a book so special that you can't help but buy them in quantity to give away to friends and colleagues. The Noticer is one of those books.

Andy Andrews has crafted a story about an enigmatic man named Jones [just Jones] who appears in a beach town and touches a number of lives, in a very unusual way.

Jones uses history and literature and even the Bible to show various people why it is important to notice what is around you and especially to notice those things that others often overlook.

I found myself making a "reading" list as I was reading the book, wanting to take in Jones' wisdom by first hand experience with the characters that he would talk about. I have always loved biographies, but I tend to forget how powerful a force they can be.

Andy's writing style in this allegorical treat is easy and engaging. He pulls you into the lives of his characters and as it says on the fly of the book, gives you through the Noticer "your chance to regroup, take a breath, and begin your life again".

I loved the use of analogy in the story telling throughout the book and the obvious parallel to the Holy Spirit's influence on our lives, planting seed after seed and ensuring that it gets watered along the way, even in unexpected ways.

Bravo Andy Andrews for this masterful and highly impactful work. This isn't just fun reading. It will change lives.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

EGG Engagement Contest Winners announced

Thank you so much to our first place winner Carolyn Cauceglia for the amazing number of nominations to the Executive Girlfriends Group, plus her efforts to get the Miami group organized for our first event, which will be Monday night. Carolyn won a new Amazon Kindle for her efforts!

The next 4 winners were all very, very close to one another. Rebecca McGoye was 2nd, Joni Newkirk was 3rd, Tiffany Topcik was 4th and Chris Bradshaw was 5th. They will each receive an American Express gift certificate and an autographed copy of a book from one of our Vignette speakers.

The balance of the top 10 include Flo Lugli, Christine DeZarn, Cheryl Weldon, Marcia Gipson and George Ann Dingus. They will each receive an autographed copy of a book from one of our Vignette speakers.

We have grown from just 100 members in January to over 420! Thanks to all who contributed to this growth and for your participation in the Executive Girlfriends Group, both on our calls and in EGG Local.

Chicke Fitzgerald | founder

Friday, June 26, 2009

Establishing yourself on the social graph - Word of Mouth Media Relationship Ladder

If you are interested in how to get not only on the social graph, but to get to the top, it is all about relationships. Check out the Word of Mouth Media relationship ladder.

For more information, see www.wordofmouthmedia.blogspot.com.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

EGG Training Videos now available

The Executive Girlfriends' Group platform (http://egg.cubeless.com) is a very rich community system. To best understand its capabilities, EGG has put together a series of videos that we have posted to YouTube. We also have a site set up at http://eggtraining.blogspot.com.

If you have any questions, please contact us at chicke@solutionz.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

EGG Engagement - Let the games begin!

In August of 2008, a small group of us started the Executive Girlfriends’ Group, a weekly 90-minute call to “connect, share, care and grow”. That group has now grown to over 300 and we have added a wide range of benefits for Charter Members.


In March of 2009, we launched the EGG community site, using Sabre’s Cubeless platform. Sabre became our first Corporate Charter Member of EGG. We now have 3 additional Corporate members, the US Travel Association, the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Mondial Assistance. As a result of this membership, EGG extends its Charter Member benefits to the female executives of these organizations.


Now, we are launching a contest to increase ENGAGEMENT. Here’s what you can do between now and May 31st to win great prizes, American Express gift cards and books from our EGG Vignette Speakers.


First, to be eligible for the contest, load a picture and update both the top part of your profile and answer ALL the profile questions below the corkboard on http://egg.cubeless.com


You will also receive points automatically for asking and answering questions on the site, leveraging the knowledge base of the membership.

  • Participate in May EGG calls (started last week) – 10 points
  • Participate in a 15 minute info session on use of the community platform - 50 points
  • Join as a Charter member – 100 points
  • Refer new members – 10 points each
  • Refer new members in your home city – 20 points each
  • If a new member that you referred becomes a charter member – 100 points
  • Refer a paid corporate Charter member (all female execs are granted Charter membership) – 250 points
  • Create a personal BLOG – 50 points
  • Update it at least once a week – 10 points for each blog entry
  • Become the moderator of your local group – 50 points
  • Host a get together with other members in your area – 50 points
  • Write a BLOG entry on one of the existing groups – 20 points

The first wave of prizes will be awarded on May 15th for the early adopters and those that are highly competitive! The final wave will be awarded on May 31st. Your points (and those of your competitors in the contest) are visible on your profile as Karma points.

Let the games begin!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Growth Coaching and Online Reputation Management now available

EGG founder Chicke Fitzgerald now offers growth coaching by phone both to companies and both executive and entrepreneurial mentoring to individuals. She also offers online "reputation management", which includes an audit of your current reputation status and a plan for enhancing your online presence.

If you need to grow your business or to fine tune your personal goals and/or you need to get a handle on how to use all facets of social media to best position yourself or your firm, please contact Chicke at 813-925-0789 for more information.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

May EGG Vignette Speakers Announced

We have confirmed the lineup for the MAY Executive Girlfriends' Group Vignette Speakers. Join us on Fridays at 4pm ET.



1MAY Svetlana Kim - Author of White Pearl and I. Lana left Russia in 1991 with one dollar in her pocket and arrived at JFK to start a new life. Come and hear her amazing story.










8MAY Deborah Stephens - Author of This Is Not The Life I Ordered. The book outlines 50 ways to keep your head above water when life keeps dragging you down. Deborah is a compelling keynote speaker, bestselling author and experienced executive and consultant.










15MAY Renie Cavallari - Founder of Wings to Fly, a charity focused on young girls to help them build lifelong self esteem. EGG has adopted Wings to Fly as one of our ways that as a group, we will leave a legacy.











22MAY Debra Dinnocenzo - Author of How to Lead from a Distance. Debra is the president of VirtualWorks!, a provider of learning resources for people in the virtual workplace.










We will be off on May 29th for Memorial Day weekend, as for many of our members, this is also their kids first day off for the summer or the last day of school.

Audio available for those EGG vignette speakers you have missed

The following audio recordings are now available.

If you missed the calls, please send an email to egg@solutionz.com indicating which audio you are interested in (Date/Speaker). The audio recordings are complementary if you are a Charter or Corporate Charter member of EGG. There is a $10 charge for Basic EGG members. Basic EGG members can pay under Vignette Recording for the recording on the Solutionz web site.

You can also order the books for the various authors by visiting the EGG Book Club site.









Upcoming speakers for the balance of April

Here is our promotional video for April.



Upcoming guests include:

Friday, April 10, 2009

Were you asleep today? http://ping.fm/y19z7 His grace is there. Sunday's coming.