All I Want for Mother’s Day is Arlene Dickinson

Looking at some of the more recent people that have come into my life, I am struck by how similar they all are. When one comments on the other’s success, “Your friend is doing some amazing things!” I compliment the person back by reminding them that I choose to surround myself with successful, amazing women.

2012 is already set to be a life-changing year for me. Just like 2011 was. Growth is happening (thankfully more in career than on my waistline!) and more and more I’m learning how the people you surround yourself with shape your views, and shape your path whether it’s an obvious relationship like a mentorship or something less obvious like a friendship.

Negative people need to ship out, positive highly engaging and motivated women are who I’m choosing to surround myself with going forward.

It’s no surprise, then, that I’m a huge huge fan of Arlene Dickinson.  I’m not embarrassed to say I have a bit of idol worship going on here.  Watching Dragons’ Den and her latest television show The Big Decision, I told my husband that, “If I ever met her, I’d probably be a puddle of goo.”

Arlene has this enormous power to sternly and intuitively explain to someone how or why their business needs help, but with the compassion  to do so without crushing the person’s spirit.  This is undoubtedly because of her own story.

At 31, she was recently divorced with only a high school diploma, no savings and no clue how she was going to feed four young children. But just one year later, she was a partner in Venture Communications and ten years later, she is the CEO. Now she is one of the country’s most sought-after female entrepreneurs.

And what an entrepreneur she is!  Not only has she been a key investor in some of Canada’s most recent successful businesses, she’s also created her own signature line of products, Persuasion, based on the title of her best selling book.  The book explains how to master the art of persuasion in all of life’s situations, whether it be in a school council setting when you’re trying to convince the group that your fundraising idea is going to be full of awesomeness or when pitching a client on why you are clearly the key to online social media success.  The message is that persuasion is used everywhere and once you can fully understand and master it – the world is at your doorstep.

Other products in the Persuasion line include Chocolate (the Spicy Persuasion one I tried is unnnnbelievably good), Coffee, Wine (I had to look up where I could buy more, it’s available in Alberta stores right now and one of them is just 1 hour away (hooray!) and even Skin Care.  Smart, smart, marketing.

I received this gorgeous set of Persuasion products this week, beautifully wrapped in a box with a satin blue bow, and am not ashamed to admit I was breathless opening it.  How many of my Canadian readers would feel the same opening something like this on Mother’s Day?  Take a look here for information on where you can find Arlene Dickinson’s Persuasion products in Canada and maybe you can convince your family to get you them for Mother’s Day too.  I know mine is going to be that much better – I’m going to take some time to pour a glass of Persuasion wine, nibble some chocolate, and read a book to further help shape my path in 2012.

I have 1 Arlene Dickinson Persuasion prize pack set aside for 1 of my Canadian readers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway