Tag: business planning

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Do This to Be More Consistent in Life and Business

Consistency is about doing repeatable tasks each day, night, or week depending on the goal you are trying to accomplish. Consistency is a smooth and repeatable process combined with the right actions to achieve your goal more efficiently.

 

Just think about the last place you ordered food. It’s likely that one of the top reasons you selected this choice is due to predictability and knowing they will do it right or be consistent in delivering the food you expect. Their ability to provide you the same food each time is why you keep coming back and why they are successful.

 

Become more consistent in life and business by following these five tips:

 

It’s Not Always About Being Comfortable

Push through even if you don’t feel like it or want to do it. It is pretty understood amongst successful entrepreneurs that continuous daily actions, no matter if you feel like doing nor what other problems are currently going on, is the path that leads to success. Even the happiest people realize they will experience discomfort, and it doesn’t stop them from getting what they want.

 

Understand Your True Wants and Intentions in Life

How do you define success, and what values do you live by each day? If you can’t answer these questions quickly, then take a moment right now to answer them and understand them.

 

If you don’t know yourself honestly, you can’t expect to achieve goals, especially not the right ones. Imagine for a moment that you have accomplished everything you want out of life and create a vision board to match it. This way, you can have a daily reminder to help you back on track.

 

Clarify Your Mission and Expectations

Highlight your goals and clearly outline what resources and other requirements you need to get there. The easier it is to understand, the easier it will be to make processes and systems that better flow for you and your business — giving you the resources you need to be more consistent.

 

Organize and Work in Batches

Be sure the work you set to do each day is organized and relevant. For example, schedule a separate time for checking emails or responding to clients and don’t allow yourself to work on anything else during this time.

 

Establish Healthy Routines

The first step you take in the morning is the most important as it determines your path going forward and how well you do. For example, if you wake up each morning in a bad mood, you will likely drag your feet trying to get work done — making your day that much harder to get going. Find the routines that allow you to live at your most optimal mental and physical health to always start on the right foot.

 

Being consistent should be at the top of your priority list and easy to do as long as you plan correctly and commit to it each and every day.

5 Rituals to Boost Your Energy and Productivity

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If You Don’t Set Hard Deadlines, Plan to Fail

If you feel like you can never get anything done and constantly run against the clock, you are likely skipping one of the most essential details of any to-do list or 90-day action plan. If you don’t set hard deadlines, then you are setting yourself up to fail from the start.

 

Deadlines are crucial to a successful plan because they:

 

  • Ensure you complete the right work to accomplish your goals.
  • Establish consistency, organization, and a smooth workflow.
  • Clarify your expectations and responsibilities.
  • Maximizes success and productivity.

 

In other words, when you set clear deadlines and stick to them, you can better use your time to focus on your goals and achieve more in life. When you are not constantly running to beat the clock, you maintain your energy and improve productivity.

 

Here are a few ways to create deadlines you will always stick to, to achieve maximum productivity: 

 

Gain and Understand the Right Resources First

Understand all the expectations required of you, what extra materials you may need, and any other obstacles that may get in your way before you establish a deadline.

 

Make Them Urgent but Realistic

Once you fully understand the expectations set a deadline that pushes you to act without feeling overwhelmed and is realistic to the task you are doing. While also accounting for the unexpected. This step will require your full attention, honesty, and accountability.

 

If you can’t be honest with your actions and abilities, you won’t estimate the correct times to accomplish your takes. For example, if you know you usually take about two hours to do a specific task, don’t expect you to get it done in an hour, even if you think you can do it or be better overnight. If you do happen to get things done faster, take note of it, find a new task to work on instead or take a much-deserved break.

 

Make Them Personal and Meaningful

Instead of telling yourself, you need to meet the deadline simply to be on time for the project, highlight a better and more meaningful reason to complete it on time. To harness even more power, make it as personal as possible.

 

For example, “if I don’t complete this assignment on the date I established, I will miss free time with my friends and family.” Even though this isn’t about your business directly, it is precisely the motivation you will need to stay on track. If you are more likely to suffer consequences, you are less likely to fall off track.

Be More Accountable and Consistent, Share Your Goals

As you can see, the correct deadlines are there to motivate you and give you the discipline you need to get work done in a timely and orderly fashion as long as you stick to them.

 

 

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Monetizing Your Email Messages

You have created an extraordinary and compelling lead magnet that is persuasive and solves one problem in a hurry for your ideal customer, depending on who you’re targeting in their buying journey, but just getting people on the list is not the end. You have to find ways to make money too. You only make money by making paid offers.

Lead Magnet Ideas You Can Use

  • Promote a Product You Use – If you’re part of your own audience, the products and services you use to solve those problems are of utmost interest to your audience. Tell them what you think about each resource you use and invite them to use it, too, with your affiliate link.

 

  • Promote Your Own Products and Services – Every three to four emails, send information about the products and services you have created for them. Anytime you bring up one of these problems, you can promote the solution.

 

  • Promote a Service You Love – Did you use a service you like recently that will be useful for your audience too? Let them know about it. Just like you’d tell your best friend about the yummy restaurant you went to last night, you should tell your audience about the services you get results from.

 

  • Tell Your Audience About a Product They Need – Even if you don’t use the products because you’re not part of your own audience, you should tell your audience about the products you need. Just like a doctor tells their patients what they need.

 

  • Create a New Product or Service – As you learn more about your customers, create products that fit into your niche that solve their problems.

 

  • Promote Memberships and Subscriptions – Continuity programs are awesome to promote whether you own them or not. Subscriptions and memberships usually require a monthly payment, which can really add up over time.

 

  • Sell Another Product on Your Download Pages – Anytime you create a thank you or download page, add the next product or service based on what they’re getting now, whether a freebie or not, as a suggestion.

 

  • Maximize Error Pages – Edit your error pages to take advantage of the space by recommending products, freebies, or whatever your current promotion is at the time.

 

  • Host Flash Sales – Keep your audience open and ready for more email messages by surprising them with list member-only sales periodically that thanks them for being VIPs.

 

  • Segment Your Audience Based on Their Behavior – Remember that you can keep segmenting your audience even after getting on your list by telling them about your newest offers, freebies, and so forth and using the automation inside the autoresponder to segment and tag them based on their actions.

 

  • Set Up Low-Cost Tripwires – A tripwire is a low-cost product that tests your audience’s interest. Usually, the cost is less than $27 dollars and is also a great way to build your list with your ideal audience.

Value Ladder

  • Up-Sell, Cross-Sell, and Down-Sell as Needed – Send the right offers to the right people. Based on their behavior, you may need to send information for up-sells, cross-sells, or even a down-sell if needed to keep their interest.

 

  • Remarket to Your List Members Via Paid Ads – One effective way to keep your list active is to use technology such as remarketing ads via social media. You simply upload your email list, and only those who are on that list will get your ads. You can use this to remind them to check their email.

 

  • Email Regarding Abandoned Carts – If you have a shopping cart, set up automation that automatically sends reminds to them if they abandon their shopping cart. You can do this via email, but you can also use remarketing ads to bring them back too.

 

  • Offer Coaching and Consulting Services – Personal one-on-one services and consulting is a very lucrative way to earn more money. Make these offers to those who have purchased most of your products and services.

 

The more ways you can offer opportunities for your audience to buy something you recommend, the more money you’re going to make. That’s just math. Make more offers, make more money.

 

 

 

 

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Eat the Frog! How That’s Actually Great for Business

No, don’t eat a real frog unless you like frogs’ feet. The point of this common phrase is to put a big emphasis on how much easier your day can be if you get the hard things out of your way first. In other words, if used correctly, this concept can increase your productivity to live a longer and more successful life.

 

Here’s how “eating the frog” leads to more success and higher productivity:

 

Get the Most Crucial Thing Done First

Whatever activities required to accomplish your ultimate goal are the things you should get done first. This concept works because you use your energy and most productive hours first. Allowing you to be more creative where it matters and get done faster.

 Productive or Just Busy?

Get the Stuff You Dread Out of the Way

When you dread something, you are likely to slow down and allow procrastination to take over and ruin your daily schedule and good habits. It stays on your mind no matter what you try to do next, keeping you distracted. Creating a spiraling effect of poor performance, mistakes, and ultimately affecting your mood. Instead, get dreaded tasks completed first and don’t permit yourself to do anything else. When you get a dreaded task done, you will feel relieved, and it will help you focus on the next task.

 

Go for The Most Exciting Thing

You don’t always have to go for the hardest, you can get the most exciting thing done first, too. This will probably benefit your day even more than the other way around. The energy produced by your excitement will trickle down throughout your day. Not only that, if you are ready for it to happen, you won’t be able to give anything else proper attention anyways.

 

Take Control and Achieve Your Goals

Most importantly eat the frog means taking control of your life or business and only do what is necessary to achieve your goals. Take control of what is required and get it done, even if it’s uncomfortable.

 

It means to take charge by fully understanding what it takes to accomplish your dream, designing actionable goals, and following good daily habits to achieve them. It takes the action, the right action. Without action, there is only failure.

 

It’s important to note that your frog will be different each day, and the same task you do one day as your frog won’t be the next. It really depends on your mood and overall objective for that day. Eat your frog first, and you can smoothly sail through the rest of your day.

 

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How and Why Getting Rid of Things That You Don’t Need Frees You

If you want to live a more organized and easy life, have less. When it comes to success and overall happiness, less is more.

 

Getting rid of things that you don’t need frees you because it: 

 

Promotes Clarity and Focus

When there are things not put in their place or disorganized, your brain can feel the same way. Confused and lost as to where it should go or look at. Getting rid of these extra things mean you no longer have to worry about making sure they fit.

 

This is why many productive people get into the habit of clearing off or decluttering their workspace. They are not constantly distracted by the things around them that are generally not there, nor do they have to think about having to do that chore anymore.

Promotes Positive Energy and Inspiration

When you remove distractions, unnecessary tasks, or people in your life causing you pain, it only makes you want to keep going forward. You finally get to see how much better life is without the pain and frustration—the power of saying no and taking control of your life breeds positivity and inspiration.

 

Here are a few quick tips and tricks to help you get rid of things you don’t need:

 

Streamline Your Business and Personal Objectives

Getting rid of things doesn’t have to be about material possessions. It can also be clunky processes or systems at work that are making you lose sight of what you care about.

 

Start Small and Categorize

Start with the smallest area in the room or department in your business and take it slow. You don’t need to do this all-in-one day to feel the benefits. The more time you give it, the more efficient you will be and the more benefits you will reap. Donate the things that don’t provide you value or are just sitting around. What are the things you don’t ever use, touch, or often save for last?

 

Take Notice of Your Emotions or Mood

If a task, person, or thing affects your mood to the point where you are bitter, sad, angry, or irritated every time you do it or are around them, you must rid these things or people from your life.

 

While you can’t use this strategy every time you feel discomfort, it should be used when you can’t get it off your mind or move on with your day, week, or worse years. You can always outsource the work or have technology do it for you instead for a low monthly price.

 

No person is worth keeping around that destroys your mental peace either. Even though possessions are most commonly what people get rid of, they are often not the real culprit to their problems. People are.

 

As you can see, getting rid of things is a great way to de-stress and reorganize your life. You don’t need to be caught up with the newest and most significant thing to feel happy. In fact, it only keeps you further away from your goals.

 

 

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5 Rituals to Boost Your Energy and Productivity

Wish you had more energy throughout your day to get each and everything on your to-do list done? You are not alone. Many people, tiny business owners, and entrepreneurs struggle to keep up.

 

Here are five rituals to add to your daily routine that will boost your energy to live each day more productively:

 

Sleep for 7 to 8 Hours Every Single Night

You can’t have good energy and be productive if you don’t get sleep. You may think you function great off 4 or 5 hours, but science doesn’t support this. You are more like a walking zombie. Even one to two hours less than a full night’s sleep of 8 hours can reduce your productivity by up to nineteen percent.

 

Getting a full night’s rest also affects your overall mood, health, and outlook. Your sleep pattern and routine are the first places to look when living a more productive life. Sleep and proper food equal optimal energy. Without both of those, you can’t expect to feel optimal.

 

De-Clutter Before You Get to Work

Nothing is better for freeing your mind than getting rid of clutter and ensuring your workspace is organized. When chaos is around, your brain will feel cluttered too. That will affect your work more than you may realize. Practice decluttering or quickly picking up everything before you get to work. It’ll be one less thing you will have to worry about later. Giving you clarity, focus, and peace to do your work right.

 

Meditate or Stretch with Sunlight

Your body requires vitamin D to feel optimal, and the best way to get that is through natural sunlight. Start each morning off with a short five-minute meditation routine or stretch outside or with your blinds open in the living room. As you clear your mind and de-stress, the sunlight will wake you up and energize you for the day.

 Avoid Burnout: How to Exercise and Sleep More

Wake Up Early and Get Moving

Science has shown that those who are early to bed and early to rise are healthier. They have smaller waist sizes and have longer life expectancy than those who refer to themselves as “night owls.”

 

Even if you feel like you may be a night owl, you can change your habits and morning routine to become one. Try going for a walk, light jog, or practice yoga to wake you up. The workout will provide you a boost of energy to help you work efficiently and allow you to get a full night’s rest once the day is over.

 

Never Skip Breakfast

Breakfast is when your body finally gets a moment to refuel after a long rest. It needs healthy fats, sugars, proteins, and other vital nutrients to be strong and alert. If you feel like you suffer from a lot of mental fog, especially in the mornings, your diet is probably to blame.

 

Watching motivational videos before you get to work or accomplish your goal, always taking a lunch break, or any repeatable task that benefits your life are good rituals to adopt if you want to be more productive. Remember, consistent, repeatable actions get you to the finish line.

 

 

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The Importance of Continued Learning in Life and Business

There is one thing that is certain in life, and that is change. You can always bet that something will change throughout your life, big or small. While change may be scary and uncomfortable to most, there is also a beautiful and different side. The chance to learn and gain something new, an opportunity you should always take no matter what.

 

Reasons to keep learning for a lifetime:

 

To Increase Your Confidence and Motivation

A lot of anxiety or fear stems from a lack of knowledge. If you strive to learn something new as often as possible about your niche and the world at large, you will empower yourself to do better, thus making you believe in yourself, and boosting your confidence while giving you the knowledge to be successful.

 

To Keep Up with Your Competition

Do you remember when Netflix used to mail DVDs to your house before there were streaming companies? If you don’t know, that’s okay too because Netflix did precisely what they were supposed to do to power through their industry and be the leader. Netflix saw a change in technologies and tried to understand and learn new ways to improve its business model.

 

They now lead their industry by streaming movies and television shows straight to your T.V. and skipping the mailbox altogether. They would become the next Blockbuster, whom Netflix and Redbox destroyed with their mail-in service if they didn’t. Something Blockbuster adopted a little too late and ultimately had to shut down.

 

To Fully Understand Your Potential

Learning unlocks skills and resources about yourself that you would have never discovered if you didn’t make an effort to do so in the first place.

 

To Run A Realistic and Successful Online Business

To be successful and keep up with an online business, you must continue learning new technologies, software services, and social media platforms. If not, you will undoubtedly stay behind the crowd and won’t get any foot traffic you may be used to with a brick and mortar store. Even brick and mortar stores have to keep up with social media and techniques as more and more people stay indoors or work from home.

 

To Create the Job or Life You Want

There are so many different paths, careers, or choices to make in life that it is impossible to know them all. You will discover this and unlock worlds, ideas, values, and inspiration you never knew existed when you learn—giving you the knowledge and more choices to live the way you want.

 

In the end, education, knowledge, and experiences are fun and rewarding. They, together with practice, are vital for growth, understanding, and compassion for the world. Education and learning provide no consequences if you want to accomplish your dreams and be more productive. Keep reading, experimenting, and jump out of your comfort zone to learn and gain more knowledge.

Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?

 

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Top 7 Productivity Tools to Try

If you haven’t started automating some part of your business yet, then you are already behind. Tools and technology make business more accessible and ultimately increase your productivity so you can earn more money or crush more goals. Technology keeps you organized and consistent, allowing you to keep up with your competition.

 

Give these seven tools a try today to increase your business productivity:

 

#1:Trello

Trello is an online, cloud-based project management system that allows you to work anywhere with an internet connection. Create message boards, lists, cards and organize or delegate tasks to different team members.

 

#2:Dropbox

Cloud-based software that allows you to save and share files from any location. Dropbox is an excellent option for businesses that need to share, transfer, or save large files like video production.

 

#3:Zapier

Connect all your different applications to automate your workflow instantly. This application moves information from different social media platforms, email applications, and more. Choose your medium and trigger and watch Zapier do the work for you. For example, anytime someone signs up for your Facebook event, you can tell Zapier to send them a message automatically.

 

#4:Wave

Every business requires accounting, and that’s precisely what the Wave app makes a little bit easier. Create professional invoices, track your business expenses, incoming revenue, pay employees and instantly generate essential business reports.

 

#5:Evernote

Evernote is more than just a notepad. It saves your text, images, files, to-do lists, and more all in the same place to keep track of new business ideas or important events and information.

 

#6:Pushbullet

If you feel like you are juggling with too many devices, smartphone, tablet, desktop, and laptop, then Pushbullet is right for you. It connects all your devices making them easier to use and seem as though you only have one. Get notifications, check your emails, send links, text messages, or files, chat with friends, family, or co-workers all from one device.

 

#7:Todoist

Keep all your to-do lists, and never forget an appointment or important assignment again with Todoist. Todoist provides features that allow you to easily organize and prioritize your most important tasks, from creating the family budget or weekly grocery list to updating important business routines and strategies or instantly share your lists or delegate tasks to your team.

 Tools and Tips to Help You Automate Email Marketing

Don’t be behind anything longer. Find the right tools and technology for your business to be more productive. Start by adding just one of these productivity tools to your daily routine. Remember, technology will only go as far as you allow it. Learn how to use it right and give it time to see the rewards and benefits.

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How to Create an Effective To-Do List

To-do lists are the most popular and widely used time management strategy and essential productivity technique adopted by many successful entrepreneurs and business owners.

Lists

It is even a great way to achieve your own personal goals. However, not just any to-do list will do. Each to-do list you make must be designed appropriately and strategically to be successful.

 

Here are six tips and tricks to implement when developing an effective to-do list:

 

Tip #1: Choose the Right Medium

Choose the proper medium you enjoy, such as paper, a phone application, or simply a word document. What you pick doesn’t matter as long as you understand it and enjoy the process to inspire your creativity and get you working. The medium you choose only frustrates you or has a high learning curve. It won’t be helpful.

 

Tip #2: Use Your Schedule to Guide Your Day

Before you make a list, look at your schedule. Do you have any important meetings or assignments that must get done first? For your to-do list to be effective, use these times or important objectives to guide you. Therefore, don’t make a to-do list for a goal that requires more of your time if you know you will be interrupted.

 

Tip #3: Make It Clear and Precise

Don’t use too many words or go overboard with the tasks. While breaking it down is necessary to highlight the actions required, you can go overboard and overwhelm yourself. Be a realist and make it scannable.

 

Tip #4: Make Deadline or Time Limits

For each task on your to-do list, make time requirements or schedule deadlines and add it to your calendar. This way, it becomes a commitment, and you won’t forget about it either.

 

Tip #5: Limit Your Daily Tasks

Remember being busy doesn’t mean you are productive. In other words, you don’t want to break it down so much that each and every little task is highlighted. This can overwhelm you and require too much time to set up in the first place. Highlight the most important information such as times and what exactly needs to be done. You don’t need to include every time you might go to the bathroom, for example.

 

Tip #6: Add Ways to Keep Track of Your Progress

Seeing the work that you finished is a great way to motivate yourself to get even more done. This way, you can get yourself back on track if you notice you are not getting the work done.

 

As long as you make your list clear, direct, time-driven, and aligned with your goals, you’ll improve your productivity exponentially.

 

Hope you are having a very productive Day!

Here is a Great Speech from Art Williams. Very inspirational.

You must be Tough and Never Quit!

Just Do It Speech….

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What Does Productivity Mean to You?

How do you stay focused and Productive?

When you think of being productive, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Before you continue reading, briefly write it down in your journal or a notepad. Really think about your own definition before you continue. This way, you can be sure your perspective is really where it needs to be to run a productive business.

Productivity has a variable definition and affects every aspect of your life, both business and personal. When you think about it, every decision you make and action you take affects your productivity somehow. Your health, creativity, journey in life, or direction of your business all depends on the type of productivity you produce.

 

 

In business, reaching the tasks required to achieve specific sales goals, gaining more subscribers or followers, or being the next innovator within your industry are a few examples of being productive. In your personal life, a few examples could include following a daily or weekly budget to buy a big purchase, paying bills on time or setting up auto-pay, or following a healthy exercise and diet routine such as meal planning and weightlifting.

 

While productivity can have variable perspectives and definitions depending on who you ask, it is vital to make sure that the procedures and strategies you implement lead to high rewards for your business or goal. At the same time, the effort you put into it is worth it when the results show it is worth it. This is the basic definition of productivity and can be measured with a simple math equation.

 

Productivity is equal to your output divided by your input.

 

If your effort is greater than the reward, it may not be worth it in the end. If you’ve determined the reward is good enough, then it is. All of this is really up to you to decide. However, you should use the math equation above in real life to be sure you are realistic.

 

For example, if you are a writer and you wrote six articles this morning in three hours, your productivity would be calculated as two articles per hour. You could further compare this number to your overall writing goal to see where you need to improve or work harder.

 

Another way to be sure you are the most productive is to create a list of all the activities you did each day and compare them to the goals you wish to accomplish. How do they compare? Do the tasks that you’ve chosen to do get you closer to your destination, goal, or job, support you in any way? Don’t be too shocked if many of the tasks you do end up getting you nowhere. It is easy to equate being busy to being productive.

Use a to-do List to stay on track

Once you take a moment to evaluate your actions, you can change your plans and daily to-do lists to do what needs to be done to accomplish your business goals. Starting each day with a primary goal and to-do list, implementing proper time management strategies, and taking advantage of tools and technology are a few tips to improve your productivity throughout the day.  Remember, if you want to run a successful online business or achieve any goal, improving your productivity is a must.