Did you enjoy the first part of my interview with Wendy last week? If you haven’t seen it, you can go here to read up on it.

Let’s welcome Wendy of sparkplugging back to the university!

11. What books, blogs and/or mentors have influenced you and why?

I’d have to say that Darren Rowse is one of the first blogs I read on a regular basis. And today, his is the only feed I check every single time a new post comes out. I’d also have to say that the rest of the authors on my site have influenced me heavily as well - they have really challenged me to grow my own skills and strive to do better every single day. I’ve worked with several coaches over the years, and the two that have made the biggest impact are Alan Brown of Anthony Robbins & Associates and my friend and business coach Marla Tabaka. Both are dear friends to me and never *ever* buy into my bullshit or let me sell myself short.

And strangely, I’d also have to say that JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series has influenced me greatly as well. I see a bit of myself in the character of Harry - and his symbolic journey has pushed me to face a lot of fears and self-imposed limitations I have had over the years. Sitting down with any of the Harry Potter books makes me feel a bit magical and I feed off of his inner strength. Since it’s all imaginary, I suppose I’m feeding off of my own inner strength, but JK Rowling is an extremely gifted author and I envy the fact that she can make me feel that way with a fairy tale. That’s the REAL magic.

Stephen’s Response: I love the Harry Potter series too! JK Rowling is definitely one of those “once in a lifetime” writers to grace the earth with her literary talents. I love her rags to riches story - it inspires me every single time I read about it. I also read Darren Rowse’s feeds as well. He’s written some pretty good articles and I like how he appears to be authentic, a quality I respect in others, especially if they are as well known as he is.

12. Name the top 5 articles from emomsathome (now sparkplugging) that you believe readers at Adversity University would benefit from.

The Biggest Blog Post of My Life
Grow Your Business By Completely Ignoring Your Inner Wisdom
The Top Ten Working From Home Mistakes
What Have I Learned in 6 Weeks of Running a Mini Blog Network

Stephen’s Response: Wendy, it’s obvious how well written you are. Your stories are captivating, particularly the ones about your own personal experiences of struggle, triumphs and everything else in between.

The first two stories above are my absolute favorites. I e3specially loved the inner wisdom article because I can relate to the experiences of ignoring my own inner nudges. When you think about it, it’s incredibly exciting to realize that we really do have God’s help - it’s all right inside our hearts.

All we have to do is just listen and trust. It’s next to impossible to describe what you’re “supposed” to be feeling - you just have to go through with it and see what happens, like what happened in your San Fransisco story. Despite your heart repeatedly telling you NOT to go, your ego wouldn’t hear of it. Of course, you ended up paying a dear price for it. What a story - it ought to be in every school’s textbook!

13. What do you hope God will have to say to you when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

My friend Alan used to run amazing events with Anthony Robbins and Associates. They always got extremely emotionally intense - as anyone who has been to a Tony Robbins event can attest to. At the end of his signature event, “Breakthrough” he took the room through a difficult emotional process that forces the participants to reevaluate much of the way they have been living. Near the end of this emotional flood, he always tells the following story:

There was a man who found himself in heaven - and as he stood before his God, he begged for more time. He said, “Please, God, I need to go back. I need to be with my family, I need to love them more, and I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do in my life. Please, God, I must go back and finish what I need to finish. PLEASE, God, give me more time.” And God replied, “Son, there is no more time. Give me more YOU.”

I cried every time I heard that - sometimes because I knew I wasn’t giving life and God all of me. And sometimes I cried because I knew I was giving life everything I have got, and then some.

I hope God sees that because of the teachers and gifts he has given me, I have given back much in my life. I hope he’s happy that I gave him and my loved ones more of ME.

(SEE?! I cried again while writing that!! I can’t think about that story without crying!)

Stephen’s Response: Wendy, you are so dear to my heart! Those words from the end of Alan’s event truly struck a chord with me. Wow. I actually felt the imaginary man’s emotions when he was begging God to let him go back to make up for the things he didn’t do while alive. It made me examine my life and ask myself, “Are you doing what you are meant to do? Do you love others? Do they love you? Are you doing the best you can?”

I absolutely cannot wait to hug you at the SOBCon08 conference. I am especially looking forward to your presentation “When Your Business Takes Off.” It’s a very timely topic for me because I feel poised for take-off this year.

14. Being deaf, I am always curious to know which sounds other people love and hate to hear. Tell us a sound you absolutely adore and a sound you detest.

What an interesting question - I’ve never been asked that before! I’d have to say that tickling my kids and hearing them laugh is my most favorite thing to hear in the world. And probably what I hate hearing the most is when my kids fight with each other or with their dad. My whole body cringes and I feel it everywhere. Yugh - I hate even thinking about it.

Stephen’s Response: I’m glad you thought this was an interesting question. I aim to be different with my interview series. My goal is to go deeper than most interviews and really make people think about their answers and maybe even help them spring forth a couple of startling revelations about themselves.

BTW, your response with this one brought back images of when I was a kid and my Dad would tickle me - what wonderful memories! Even now we tickle each other senselessly and it’s still fun!

15. We all have our likes and dislikes. What would you say turns you on and what turns you off? Give the first answer that comes to your mind without censoring or editing it.

Turn ons :: fascinating business people that can talk for hours about being an entrepreneur. I LOVE to talk business with smart people. Turn offs :: Salesey - spammy messages from people wanting to leech off of others. ICK.

Stephen’s Response: I think you and I are going to have a couple of very interesting conversations at SOBCon08 because I love talking to smart people who have a philosophical way of looking at things.

I’m right there with you on the salesey, spammy kind of behavior - YUCK - what a major turn-off.

16. What is your favorite word? Least favorite?

I have no idea! If I had to pick, I’d say I love the word Extraordinary. And I’ll have to cheat and say that probably my least favorite TWO words are closed-minded. I have a real hard time with that one - though, I can say that being around closed-minded people forces me to be even *more* open minded. So it’s not all bad, I suppose!

Stephen’s Response: You just reminded me of my favorite saying and that is life is all about perception. Even what we label as bad, tragic or unattractive or whatever can serve a noble purpose because they either teach us a lesson, show us how lucky we really are or point out things in ourselves that we need ti clean up. Every situation has a silver lining. Even 9/11 a tragic event of epic proportions, had a silver lining behind it. Can you guess what it was?

17. What’s next for Wendy?

In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be doubling the number of blogs on my site. I’m really excited about these additions - they are going to add a ton of value to our community. After that, I’m going to be moving towards new product development, which will be a whole new challenge for me. 10 years from now, I hope to have a local presence across the country to have our organization be able to work at a grassroots level to give training and grants to anyone who wants to start a home business. There are a few other dreams I have, like a TV show and weekend bootcamp retreats - but I’m not at a point where I can work on making those things happen yet. But I really can’t wait until I can!

Stephen’s Response: You are fabulously ambitious with wonderful, powerful dreams. Anyone who knows about your humble beginnings will understand what an extraordinary journey you’ve been on. Once again, I cannot wait to hug you at SOBCon08! Thank you so much for being a part of my life and for agreeing to do this interview. The community at Adversity University is indefinitely better off having gotten to know you the last few weeks.

18. And finally but not least, where can we find out more about you?

Mostly on eMoms at Home - my blog is Internet Business blog. But I also write for Entrepreneur.com at Inspired Business Growth, and I have a long-languishing personal blog at wendypiersall.com. I also try to speak at as many blogging and Internet marketing conferences as I can every year. I love meeting my virtual friends in person - and I always ask my readers to join me at events and to please let me know if they will be there so that we can meet. As I write this, I’m on my way to speak at SXSW in Austin. In April I head back to Texas for the Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference. I’m sure I’ll also be at SOBCon, BLogHer and the BlogWorldExpo later this year.

Stephen’s Response: For the benefit of those who are reading this interview, emoms at home is no longer in existence for it has gone through a major overhaul with sparkplugging as its new name.

Turning to the audience: (And smiling) Do you guys realize just how privileged we’ve been to have this rock solid authentic lady in our house today? I’ve known about her for a very long time but I have to admit that our interview has truly opened my eyes about what where she came from and what she had to overcome. Her life story is perfect for a movie script, don’t you agree?

Wendy, I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am that you came on board for the “Stephen Hopson Interviews” at Adversity University. I’ve learned so much more about you and like I mentioned earlier, everyone, including myself, are indefinitely in a better place for having “met” you.

(Turning back to the audience): Don’t forget to check out sparkplugging because I’m sure you’ll find a niche that will strike your inner self. If you’re a mom, they’ve got something for you. If you’re into crafts, they’ve got something for you. If you’re an Internet entrepreneur, they’ve got that too. If you’re into environmental stuff, you can find your way to the right spot quite easily.

Until the next time, have a great week ahead!  Look for photos from my Las Vegas trip - soon!

If you liked this post and you want to be notified of the next one, subscribe via Email or Full Text RSS Feed. I would love to have you as part of the community!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite