Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queen, on small business success, media relations & customer service.

This week on the premier of ResultsRevTV, our audience learned from Multiple #1 New York Times Bestselling Author and small business mega-success story, Sweet Potato Queen Jill Conner Browne. Jill had a lot to share, especially on the topic of dealing with the public – from her customers to the media. Best of all she offered encouragement to all of us as small business owners to “do what makes your heart sing.” Jill said the best advice she ever received was to “do what makes your heart sing – what you are passionate about – and the money will follow.”

While much of her advice is simple, few of us apply such basic principles consistently in our businesses. Based on Jill’s experience and success, consistency in the small things could mean big returns for your small businesses.

Production Note: Each week, our show will be archived in this space for you to watch and learn. However, due to a production problem, this week’s show will not be archived. However, please register for the Results Revolution, and we will send you a copy of this week’s e-mail lesson. In addition, you can interact with the conversation about this event on Facebook and see more photos from the event there, too.

Show Sponsor: Many thanks to our show sponsor, Mangia Bene Restaurant Group. Whether breakfast, lunch, supper or catering needs 24/7, please remember to Mangia Bene Catering, Broad Street Baking Company, Sal & Mookie’s New York Pizza & Ice Cream Joint, and Bravo! Italian Restaurant & Bar.

Tune in next week as we learn how to grow our small businesses by marketing smarter with small business owner and restauranteur Jeff Good, co-owner of Mangia Bene Restaurant Group in Jackson, Mississippi. Next week’s show will be live at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9.

A huge special thanks to Jill Conner Browne for being our guest on our premier broadcast!!

Jackson, MS – On March 2, 2010, Jill Conner Browne, multiple #1 New York Times® best selling author and small business superstar, will be the featured guest on ResultsRevTV. The show will be webcast live before a live audience at noon on March 2 from the LemuriaBooks.com building in Jackson, Miss. The event is free and open to the public thanks to a sponsorship from Mangia Bene Restaurant Group. Local small business owners are encouraged to attend.

Jill Conner Browne conceived of and founded the Sweet Potato Queens® in the early 1980s. After passing through a patch of the doldrums, she found herself in need of some excitement, and a new direction. Jill discovered that she lived near Vardaman, Mississippi, self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World, and inspiration struck—she volunteered to be the queen for the farmers’ annual festival. Although the crowning never materialized, the prospect of being the queen of anything was too good to pass up; so, in 1982 Jill entered herself and a few similarly inspired friends in Jackson, Mississippi’s, St. Patrick’s Day Parade (now the 4th largest in the country). The four original Queens all wore green, handme-down, ball gowns and tiaras, and waved to the crowd from the bed of an old pickup truck. It was modest, but it was a start.

Jill Conner Browne is “America’s #1 Humor Writer,” according to Nielsen BookScan, a retail book sales monitoring service. There are more than 3 million copies of THE Sweet Potato Queen’s books currently in print, not including her critically acclaimed eighth work, American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queen’s Guide to Preserving your Assets, which was released in January 2009 by Simon & Schuster. The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love (Three Rivers Press, 1999), the book that started it all, which has been translated into German and Japanese.

Jill has won awards for her readings of the audio editions of her books. She also recently narrated, Building Blocks, a documentary about the cultural recovery on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

A Broadway musical based on the Sweet Potato Queens® series of books is being developed in partnership with musician and producer, Kevin DeRemer, and Grammy® award-winning singer/songwriter Melissa Manchester, who is writing the music. Jill has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, People, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The St. Petersburg Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Forbes, SOUTH, The London Observer Magazine (UK), and Bella Magazine (UK), and Today in English (France) just to name a few; she has appeared on numerous TV shows, including three times on The CBS Early Show and twice on Good Morning America; she been on the Today Show, CBS News Sunday Morning, The Other Half, The Wayne Brady Show, The Caroline Rhea Show, Southern Living Presents (nominated for a 2005 Regional EMMY®), The Rick & Bubba® Show twice, CMT’s 100 Greatest Love Songs, Tucker Carlson, Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s TV productions of Writers, (The “Southern Humorists” episode featuring Jill won a 2005 Regional EMMY®) and Mississippi Roads; Jill represents Mississippi in the History Channel’s mini-series, The States (2007), and a photograph of her attending a luncheon in the President’s private dinning room is prominently shown in the History Channel’s production, The White House: Behind Closed Doors (2008); Jill has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. Jill has written several columns for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and currently is a monthly contributor to AY Magazine. Through Jill’s website, sweetpotatoqueens.com, she has inspired more than 5,900 registered Sweet Potato Queen™ Wannabe™ Chapter Groups, in 22 countries around the world.

Jill is a founding member of the Women’s Fund of The Community Foundation of Greater Jackson, Mississippi. She actively assists Hurricane Katrina on-going relief efforts: so far she has raised over $100,000 in cash through her website; she cooked with Chefs for Humanity™ for law enforcement and victims on the Gulf Coast; does clean-up detail
with Camp Coast Care; and she participated in the nationally televised Mississippi Rising Gala Concert, raising in excess of $15 Million.

On Tuesday, we will be discussing Jill’s start as an entrepreneur and tackling the publicity tips and tricks she has used throughout the years to maintain her status as a media darling. Do you want to get publicity for your small business? Whether you are a queen or not (and we’re certain that you aren’t a Sweet Potato Queen…because well, there is only room for one!), you can earn visibility, attention and publicity for your small business. Join us to learn from Jill’s vast experience.

If you are in the Jackson, MS area, please join us live at noon for this special event (LemuriaBooks.com Building adjacent to Banner Hall on I-55 North between Northside & Meadowbrook). Several Jackson businesses have generously donated door prizes and there will be a special treat for all attendees (in addition to the fabulous networking opportunities!). Wherever you are, you may join us live on the web at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/resultsrev.