Tag: positive mindset

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Kick Distractions or Else

If you enjoy personal and professional growth and genuinely want to live the life you imagine for yourself, then you must take responsibility and kick those distractions keeping you down. Distractions come in many different forms and come with their own set of consequences too.

 

Sensory or External Distractions

These include environmental and digital distractions such as your cell phone, browsing the web or social media websites, and your workspace, including those around you. While you may enjoy working at the coffee shop, constant interactions and noises are likely hurting your quality and time management.

 

Emotional or Internal Distractions

These are the distractions that your brain is telling you as you are working. These thoughts are self-sabotaging and can easily guide you in the wrong direction if you listen to them. Controlling your emotions is possible and will help you in life in many ways. Try studying stoicism to help you if you need extra assistance with this.

 

Personal Distractions

This is the category that you need to be the most mindful and honest about. No one but you truly know what is keeping you away from working at your best. It would be best to take accountability and ownership of your actions and things around you to be successful. If you wait around for others to solve the problem for you, you might as well throw your goal list in the trash.

 

The following are six tips designed to kick distractions so you can stay focused and on path: 

 

Set Clear Boundaries and Limitations

Fully understand what you are capable of and your limitations for each work requirement or personal goal.

 

Be Mindful and Realistic About Your Surroundings

In other words, create a workspace optimal for the tasks you plan to do and be realistic about your personality and what you can handle. For example, if you know, you will get too chatty with your clients, keep your meetings short, follow a list of bullet points to keep you on track, and only do them over Zoom or the internet.

 

Simplify and Automate Your Processes

Use technology and other resources to automate processes that don’t need your complete focus and attention or ones you know will only distract you in the long run. Utilize tools, cell phone applications, or Google Chrome extensions such as StayFocused that allow you to set time limits or block websites for a certain period of time — giving you the control and confidence you need to stay focused.

 

Be Honest and Stop Self-Sabotage

Stop negative thoughts before they control your actions. Most internal distractions are false and a result of low self-confidence, lack of knowledge, and experience. Experiment more, try more things, and gain as much knowledge as possible so you can learn yourself inside and out and gain back control of your life.

Multitasking Is A Lie

In the end, to kick distractions successfully, you must practice self-control and discipline. If you don’t, your business and personal goals will suffer.

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The Impact of Music on Productivity

Research shows that music can provide many benefits to your brain and overall cardiovascular health. It can increase your blood flow, making it easier to concentrate and relax. Increased blood flow protects your brain from memory loss, allows you to de-stress, and reduces inflammation that can damage your body’s healthy cells over time.

How to Find Your Most Productive Hours

Music even works the other way around for high blood pressure due to illness or stress. The key to music and productivity is that it makes you happier. It is creating a positive spiraling effect throughout your day.

 

Music impacts your productivity in many different ways, including: 

 

  • Boosts your performance and accuracy.
  • Improves your focus, motivation, and inspiration.
  • It releases dopamine improving your mood.
  • It stimulates your brain and improves your energy levels.

 

Music can be incredibly beneficial, however, too much of it, or wrong implementation, just like anything, can have detrimental effects.

 

Tips to keep in mind when playing music:

 

Choose the Right Song

Find the tune that is right for you and the work you are doing. If the tempo is wrong for your needs, you can accidentally make a mistake. If the song is too slow, you will soon see yourself at the same pace or fall asleep; too fast, and you may start dancing instead of working. You must pay attention to your feelings and the thoughts that are going on for the music to work on your side.

 

Be Mindful of Your Tasks

In other words, some tasks require your complete and undivided attention to do safely and correctly. Be mindful of which tasks you are doing and carefully evaluate them to ensure your music doesn’t prevent you from doing your best.

 

Take Notice When It’s Not Working

Music only works if the person who is listening to it likes it. Keep this in mind. If you slow down because the tempo is slow, or it irritates you, or even because you like it too much, immediately change the music or request to turn it off, just like with anything, especially technology – it only works if the user knows how to use it and pays attention to their actions while being mindful.

 

Make Sure It Promotes Happiness

While it may not feel like it, the music is actually what’s making you productive. It’s the fact that the music is making you feel and be happier. This is why it’s so important to pick the right song and keep it personal. If it doesn’t make you happy, you likely will slow down and produce the opposite results.

 

As you can see, as long as you pick the right music, it can lead to happier and more productive days. Next time you get to work, put on a good steady beat and see just how much faster you get things done.

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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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Learn to Create Realistic Schedules

Take a look at your schedule right now. Are your goals listed yet? Do you even use one? If not, you should be. They improve your productivity, organization and help you achieve your goals both personally and professionally. However, adding them to your calendar is only the first step, you must think realistically too to be successful.

 

Keep in mind the tips and tricks when creating realistic schedules:

 

Define Your Goals and The Resources

For every goal and main objective, there are little tasks or to-do lists needed to get there. Highlight each one and then list the resources required to complete the work. For example, do you need to purchase specific equipment, or can it all be done from home?

 

Always Include Breaks and Vacations

Schedule your breaks, or you won’t take them and cause yourself to burnout. Burnout, fatigue, and lack of motivation won’t allow you to work efficiently no matter how much time you schedule yourself to work. It’s a myth that breaks are only for lazy people. The most highly productive people take breaks, and they take long ones too.

 Avoid Burnout: How to Exercise and Sleep More

Schedule Extra Time

Add around ten to fifteen more minutes to any scheduled task for things you can’t predict. Over time, little tasks you weren’t aware you were even doing, but are required to survive – like go to the bathroom – will add up and steal you away from doing the important tasks. To keep you on track and still complete what is required, expect to use a little more time than you believe you need, just like showing up to work fifteen minutes early, for example.

 

Be Aware of Shortfalls and Potential Snags

Each task you need to get done will likely have different variables or expectations, such as driving time to various onsite meetings or working with clients with different time zones. These examples can cause different kinds of delays that you are not used to or even aware of.

 

Commit to Distraction-Free Work

When you schedule tasks, you need to commit to the work time. If you don’t, you will only permit yourself to work over your breaks or other essential duties. If you commit to distraction-free work, you can ensure you get your job done on time every time.

 

Expect Change and Variability

Planning is only there to support you and guide you. It is not full proof. Don’t expect it to be.

 

Reevaluate for Accuracy

To improve any systems, you must schedule a time to review where things go wrong and where they went right to do even better next time.

 

Don’t Forget About the Little Things

Little tasks build-up, even five minutes or two minutes here and there, which could affect your schedule.

 

Don’t let the best productivity tool lead you down the wrong path. Use these tips and tricks and take the time now to rethink your schedule so you can achieve all your goals and aspirations quickly and productively.

 

 

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Tools and Tips to Help You Automate Social Media Marketing

marketing planThis list of social media marketing automated software and tools that you can use in your small business is not complete. There are so many options today that anyone can find the right tool for themselves at the right budget. There is no reason not to use social media marketing automation because the price is very reasonable for most platforms, and the ROI is outstanding.

 

  • Hootsuite.com – Aside from all the ways you can automate social media marketing using this software, they have an exciting training program through their Hootsuite Academy, where you can learn all things marketing and even get certification. Whether you’re publishing, engaging, or monitoring, Hootsuite can help you keep it all in one place.

 

  • Loomly.com – Manage all your social media content from posts to ads in one place. Not only that, the software will give you ideas about what to post based on trending topics and related events. They also have a great way to keep track of your content assets like photos, videos, notes, links, and templates.

 

  • Activecampaigncom – This marketing and sales automation platform is fully featured and offers almost anything you need to run your small business marketing program. Their solution offers automation with email marketing, customer relationship management, sales, support, and more all in one platform.

 

  • SproutSocial.com – This platform offers features to help you with social media engagement, publishing, listening, and analytics, all from a central hub. Publishing across platforms at one shot easier is essential today, especially for the one-person business.

 

  • Sendinblue.com – This platform offers email marketing, CRM, SMS marketing, engaging chat, and more that you can personalize for your audience. You can also automate your segmenting and make your transactional emails better than ever.

 

  • Sharpspring.com – This is being billed as a revenue growth platform that offers a suite of sales and marketing tools to bring your marketing automation to a whole new level. Build on the funnel idea to help you build your list and get more leads by increasing engagement due to focusing on the entire customer lifecycle. Get chatbots, landing pages, dynamic forms, and more.

 

  • BuzzSumo.com – Every marketer needs to find, produce, and publish as much relevant content as they can for their audience. This platform helps you discover and research your audience. Use this software to find influencers to help you market your products and services.

 

  • Mention.com – An essential component of social media marketing is engagement. It can take a lot of time to find places to engage with your customers but not if you use this platform that allows you to monitor the web to find out what their audience is saying so that you can join the conversation.

 

  • Socialert.net – There is no point in using hashtags if you can’t figure out who else is using them or what is going on with them. This platform enables you to track keywords, hashtags, and your social accounts for activity, making it easier for you to engage with your audience.

 

  • Zapier.com and IFTTT.com – These two platforms allow you to create applets that perform tasks for you automatically. For example, want to create a list of new list members who purchased your book with phone numbers and dropped into your Trello account so you can call them? If you’re asking for the right info, you can use one of the applets or zaps to tell your system what to do.

 

When determining the type of automation to use, first decide what you want automated, know your budget, and then find the right tool. Anything you do on a repetitive basis is game for automation. It might seem like it’s only going to save minutes, but those minutes add up and will improve conversions as well as boost your results from social media marketing.

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Tools and Tips to Help You Automate Your Marketing

One of the best things to start automating as soon as you can is your marketing. Automating is a lot easier and less expensive than it was just five years ago. Today, even a one-person business can implement marketing automation that assists in exploding their business and taking it to new heights never considered in the past.

 

These tools and tips will help you get marketing automation right:

 

  • Understand Your Sales Process – You should easily be able to describe the journey your customer takes from awareness through to delight. Because when you know what your customer’s intent is, you can put the right tools and information in front of them.

 

  • Know Who the Customer Is – Of course, part of understanding your customer’s journey is also simply knowing who exactly your ideal customer is. You must be able to describe who they are in detail if you want to know how to market to them. This fact never changes whether you are doing things yourself, using automation, or letting a contractor do it.

 

  • Create, Plan, and Publish Content in Advance – All marketing starts with content. Before you even start using automation, you need to have content for each level of the buyer’s journey to get their attention.

 

  • Pick the Right Software – For example, software like Hootsuite is helpful to manage the social media platforms all in one place. In contrast, software like SocialOomph.com can automate your content distribution by prepopulating content. Know what the point of the software is before you buy it and use it.

 

  • Focus on List Building – Whether you are marketing using automation or doing it yourself, the main focus you should have is on list building. Building your list with hungry customers is your first priority for any marketing you do.

 

  • Know What You Want – If you don’t know what you want, it’s hard to find the software. One issue with automation is you may not realize how much you can automate, so you don’t even know that you want it because you don’t know it exists. For this reason, educate yourself on various ways others use automation because the truth is if you can think it up and it’s repeatable, you can probably automate it.

 

  • Focus on The Basics First – When you first begin implementing automation, focus on the easy things you do now. For example, automating your sales pages to deliver a freebie, sign your lead up to your list, and then deliver automated nurturing messages is the first place you should consider automating.

 

Take a look at what you already are doing in your business, and then look up whether or not you can automate that. Posting to social media, sending new content to your email list, and offering self-help customer service are some simple but powerful ways that you can start automating your marketing.

 

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Where to Find Contractors for Outsourcing

No automation plan is complete without an outsourcing plan. Outsourcing means that you find other experts to do tasks for you. If you outsource to a contractor, they are not employees because you can only make requirements on the deliverables but not on how they use their time creating and making the deliverables. Combined with automation, outsourcing is very powerful.

 

  • Your Network – When you want to work with someone, the first thing you should do is survey your network to find out if you already know someone who is an expert, uses experts or knows who you can use. The person recommended by trusted sources will almost always perform better than if you hire a total stranger.

 

  • Your Customers – When you have fleshed out the tasks you want someone else to do for you, send out a message to your current customers and audience who have signed up for your list already. You never know who is already in love with your offerings that can make them even better for you.
  • Fiverr.com – Don’t be fooled by the name. Most of the time, if you want someone who is an expert, you’re not really going to get it done for five bucks. However, there are some amazing people who use Fiverr.com as their storefront that you can hire to do various jobs, from editing video to coding. The sky is the limit.

 

  • Upwork.com – This is a job board where, for a fee, you can place an advertisement for your position. Ensure that you figure out everything you want the contractor to do so that you are clear about your deliverables.

 

  • Ziprecruiter.com – This is another worksite much like Upwork.com, but it’s also an excellent place to find contractors for your needs. You can hire all kinds of people for any virtual position or project that you have open.

 

  • Advertising on Your Website – Once you know what you need, you can put your job right on your website. Using the same promotional methods, you use for blog posts and other content, you can get the word out about your openings.

 

  • Thumbtack.com – This is a great site that enables you to list your needs or go through and find someone offering what you need already.

 

  • Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk.com) – This has been around a long time and is still working great. People list the work they do and make offers on the system. You just need to search for what you want.

 

  • PeoplePerHour.com – If you want to hire people to do a task in person or virtually, PPH is an excellent resource for you. Workers list their offers, and people who need projects done also list their needs.

 

 

Outsourcing, like automation, saves money and time because it takes things off your plate that you aren’t an expert at doing, so you can focus elsewhere. Using a combination of experts and automation in your business will boost your productivity exponentially.

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s Your Job as The Owner of Your Business?

As a small business owner, you probably think that you have a lot of jobs to do. Some people like to describe the job of a business owner as one that wears many hats. As the saying goes, sometimes you have on your salesperson hat, sometimes you have on your finance hat.

 

It depends on what is happening what your job is at any moment. However, your main job description as a business owner is to plan and organize the daily operations of your business.

 

On any given day, you may be responsible for:

 

  • Developing your business plans
  • Arranging financing
  • Hiring staff or contractors
  • Reviewing sales
  • Developing marketing strategies
  • Overseeing daily activities
  • Identifying opportunities

 

All of these jobs represent your main function as a business owner, which is managing your risk.  In each of these jobs, you really don’t physically do anything other than analyzing what someone else did for you, whether it’s automation or human.

 

Therefore, when you realized that you don’t need to physically do the tasks that you design, your job as a business owner becomes a lot simpler and can be boiled down to risk management.

 

When you realize that your job as a business owner is really one of risk management, it becomes a lot clearer what your main function is as a business owner. Realistically, you may have to wear a lot of hats at first, doing the tasks defined for each, — but it’s your choice to do the projects yourself or not as a business owner.

 

In fact, one can argue that it’s best for a business owner not to physically do the tasks that don’t require them since you only have so many hours in the day. It’s always, or should always, be less expensive to outsource or automate where you can. But you do have to start someplace, and most small business owners start out doing all the tasks themselves.

 

In any case, it can help to understand that finding and setting up automation in your business is one of the roles you play as a business owner. By doing so, you’re going to reduce risks associated with your business because you’re going to ensure those tasks get done in a timely fashion by someone (or something) who knows what they’re doing.

 

The more you can automate, the fewer things you have to outsource, and the bigger and better you can build your business because you’re going to free up your time to do more of what an owner does instead of the tasks involved in each area. After all, one of the reasons you started your own business is so that you can have more work-life balance, right?

 

One can argue whether the idea of balance even exists, but it’s clear that if you’re doing the job of 10 people, it’s hard to find that time freedom, much less anything resembling balance. In fact, you’re very likely to get burned out if you’re a small business owner who thinks that you have to physically do everything in your business. Instead, realize that part of risk management is to find ways to free up your time so that you can devote yourself to discovering new opportunities for your business.

 

 

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Business Plan Resources You Can Use

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to create your business plan. There are numerous resources you can use to help you. Use this list to find resources to use to help you create the best and most functional business plan possible.

 

The more you work on this, the more likely you are to be successful. But don’t forget, set a deadline for yourself so that you finish your business plan so that you can get started living the life you dreamed you’d have as soon as possible.

 

  • Small Business Administration – [https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan] In the USA, you can use information from the SBA to help you create your business plan. They have a lot of precious information on their website and in their offices across the country, and most of it is free or low cost.

 

  • Business Plan Software – There are numerous choices, such as bplans.com, liveplan.com, and others. They’re all pretty much the same, so you can choose based on what you need.

 

  • Business Plan Templates – You can find them right inside your MS Office templates and free online. Whatever you do when you do use a template, don’t copy someone else’s information. Make sure you add your own information so you don’t make a mistake. Just use the template for layout purposes.

 

  • A Business Plan Outline – Once you decide the type of plan you want to create, make your own outline, so you don’t forget to add any information. It does help to have the basic structure laid out, so all you do is fill in your own information.

 

  • An Accountant or Other Professional Expert – CPAs, Enrolled Agents (EAs), and some bookkeepers who specialize in a business start-up are professionals you want to have on hand to help you with the financial aspects of your business plan. Plus, they can help you with tax planning. Every small business owner should visit a tax planner before they start their business.

 

  • A Mentor, Coach, or Consultant – There are people who are willing to assist you for free or for payment, depending on your situation. Try going to a local SCORE.org office to get some help with your business plan. You can also find a coach or consultant online. Ask your colleagues for referrals.

 

  • Find an Incubator – Almost every local city with a college or university has a small business incubator that is willing to help. Check out your local coworking spaces for more information about this. They can help guide you through your research and business plan creation.

 

Finally, you can also hire someone to create your business plan for you, but this can be expensive. It depends on your situation whether you do it alone, go the volunteer route, or hire someone. The main thing is to learn as much as you can about creating a business plan, read other people’s plans, and then get yours started and done.

How To Build A Wildly Profitable Income Stream From Home Without Lies, Hype, Manipulation or Pressure…

 

https://flawlessfreedom.com

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Information You Need to Know for Your Business Plan

 

There are many reasons to write a business plan. You may need a plan to borrow money, attract investors, or to validate your ideas. Plus, creating a business plan helps work out operating procedures and can put your business at a strategic advantage over other businesses.

 

To create your business plan, work on collecting the following information and documentation.

 

  • A Description of Your Business – This is simply what you do, who you do it for, why you do it, how you do it, and when you do it.

 

  • Describe the Problem(s) Your Customer Has That You Solve – Make a list of each problem you solve for your customer. Describe them fully and why they need to be solved. It can help to attach the product to the problem for reference.

 

  • Describe Your Solution – Explain how this solution solves the problem for your ideal customer. Try to write this from their perspective to ensure that you are putting the customer in a central place.

 

  • Describe Your Target Customer – You may need to describe more than one target depending on your products and services, especially if you have different levels of products, depending on their place in the customer buying journey. This is a good place for customer avatars.

 

  • Describe Your Competitive Advantage – This is all about how you are different from the competition. It may be due to price, service, innovation, operation, or something else. Some people also describe this as a unique selling point or unique selling proposition. It’s all about your place in the market and how you can leverage it to your advantage.

 

  • Describe Your Selling Process – Website, storefront, affiliates, distributors or salespeople, door-to-door, or something else? For example, perhaps you’ll set up a squeeze page with a freebie to build your list then nurture your relationship with them in email. Be specific and thorough.

 

  • Describe Your Business Model – This is a list of your revue streams and how you’re going to make money. If you have no revenue stream potential, you have no business. For example, starting a blog is not a business until you monetize it.

 

  • Describe Your Start-Up Costs – What are the funds you need to get started? List each expense and why you need it.

 

  • Describe Your Goals and Benchmarks – If you don’t set deadlines, it won’t happen, so make sure you match a deadline or benchmark to each of the goals you’ve set for your business. For example, “I will get 100 new customers each week by hosting two-hour long webinars each week.”

 

  • Describe Your Business Setup – For example, if you’re a sole proprietor who outsources to contractors, state that; if you are an employer with a management team, state so. If you plan to buy human resources, as time goes forward, mention those benchmarks so you know when this will happen.

 

  • Describe Resources You Have and Need – Make a list of the resources you have available now and how you’ll use them and a list of resources you need to buy, and when you’ll do so based on benchmarks.

 

As you work on creating your business plan, it can help to understand fully all the information and data that you need to complete a business plan that is useful for you. Use this list of information you need for your business plan to guide you as you create the plan and build your business.

How To Build A Wildly Profitable Income Stream From Home Without Lies, Hype, Manipulation or Pressure…

 

https://flawlessfreedom.com