MAKE MORE MONEY EFFICIENTLY WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways of making money for bloggers and website owners. It has the potential to generate an impressive amount of revenue for your business without putting much effort.

That’s one reason why many people are actively using affiliate marketing as a source of passive income on their websites. The good thing about this business is that you can use it to turn your website into a money-making source even when you’re sleeping.

But for that to happen, you need to have a proper affiliate marketing strategy. Remember, not all marketers are capable of using affiliate marketing efficiently for the maximum benefit.

But that doesn’t mean you should give up because, in the following section, we’ve discussed some of the most effective and successful ways of making money from affiliate marketing.

After reading them, you’ll know exactly what steps to follow to maximize your profit as an affiliate marketer. So let’s check them out.

1. Build a Strong Reputation in Your Niche

People trust brands with a good reputation. When they trust you, they become your loyal customers. And it’s easier to reach your conversion goals (which in this case is to sell affiliate products) if you have a loyal audience that trusts you.

Affiliate marketing is all about promoting your affiliate products and convincing your visitors to buy them. But for that to happen, you first need to gain your audience’s trust. This can be done only by building a strong reputation in your niche.

Building a good reputation takes time and requires a lot of hard work. From offering quality products and services, actively engaging with your audience on social media, providing excellent customer support, the list goes on. But all of this is extremely important to distinguish your business from that of your competitor’s.

So get started now and do everything you can to build a brand name for your business.

2. Attract Targeted Traffic

The success of affiliate marketing depends a lot on whether you can influence your visitors to click on your affiliate links. But it’s important for you to understand that your audience will click on these links only if they are really interested in the products you’re promoting.

That’s where targeted traffic comes in. When you attract traffic that’s truly interested in the affiliate products you promote, the possibility of your links getting clicked increases to a great extent.

For example, if you’re promoting a beauty product, it’s easier to get your products sold if your visitors are into fashion and beauty rather than into web development.

So start targeting your audience based on your niche from day one. It’s one of the most important ways of achieving success in the affiliate marketing industry.

3. Promote Products in Demand

Some marketers promote random products without considering their demand in the market. Nothing can be worse than that. If you’re someone who’s making the same mistake, stop it right now.

For your affiliate marketing business to be successful, you need to be very smart with the products you promote. Instead of randomly choosing them, it can be wise to do your research first. This will give you an idea about the products in demand.

So, find out the demands of your audience. You can do that by tracking the traffic and sales on your website. This will help you find out the behavior of your customers and their choices on your website. Once you know that, it’s easier to select products they might like and prefer to buy.

It’s also a good idea to learn about the products you’re promoting. Never sell products without knowing about them.

A little research will tell you about its features, why you should promote them, whether it’s better than the products on your competitor’s site or not, and other relevant information. All of these will help you market your affiliate products with a solid plan to influence your audience’s buying decision. It’s a great way of boosting your sales.

4. Choose Attractive Products

Another brilliant way of making money as an affiliate marketer is to be selective with the products you promote.

It’s easy to promote products as an affiliate marketer, but selecting them efficiently needs some research.

Instead of promoting all kinds of products in your niche, select products that are unique and attractive to your customers. This will increase the possibility of your product links getting clicked just because of how different they are from what your competitors are selling.

5. Have a Strong Plan

You must have come across articles talking about how easy and quick it is to make money from affiliate marketing. In reality, however, things are a lot different.

It takes time for your affiliate links to get traction. So don’t be disappointed if you’re not making a sale on the very first day or week. Instead of being disheartened, be patient, and work on the other aspects of your blog that can help you trigger a sale.

As mentioned before, your main motive as an affiliate marketer should be to attract more targeted traffic and then influence them to buy your products. For that, you need to have a solid marketing plan. So strategize on that and figure out how to increase your brand awareness. It can be by working on your SEO, laying out a strong social media marketing strategy, creating a powerful email campaign, etc.

Almost every marketer in the digital marketing world uses affiliate marketing to make money. And it’s a great way of generating a steady passive income. But no money comes for free.

If you really want to be a successful affiliate marketer, you can’t just add your products and sit back for money to come in. You need to know how exactly to make things work in your favor and influence people on your site to buy from you. The above tips can be super helpful in doing that. So use them properly and maximize your profit.

YOU DON'T NEED #AD IN SPONSORED CONTENT

Traditional advertising just isn’t as effective as it once was, nor can it offer the same level of granular analytics and optimization that newer forms of digital advertising can provide. It should as little surprise that influencer marketing has completely changed the game, and we’ve got the numbers to back it up.

And while it may have once been the case that you needed a massive following to make any money as an influencer, that’s no longer the case either.

Extending Your Influence

Don’t go wasting thousands of dollars to build up your Instagram profile just yet. Indeed, as this market continues to evolve and mature, more and more brands are recognizing the value in partnering with so-called micro influencers and even nano influencers.

That’s because they’re seeing that far more important than reach or clicks is engagement. And, as a percentage, influencers with less than 25,000 followers have higher engagement rates that their “bigger” counterparts.

This means that almost anyone — and that includes you — can “cash in” on this influencer trend. Maybe you’ve already done a sponsored post with a brand. Perhaps you’re thinking of partnering with a company for a longer time brand ambassadorship. Or maybe you’ve just received some “free stuff” to try in exchange for sharing it on social media.

In all these cases, the FTC says you must clearly disclose whether you’ve received any compensation at all in relation to your post. That’s not just straight cash payments. It involves those “review samples” and “gifts” and “special invitations” to “VIP preview events” too.

Disclosure and Misconceptions

Some bigger influencers, including celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, have already been slammed by the FTC for violating these guidelines. The FTC sent them a letter saying that they must provide “clear and conspicuous disclosure” in these types of posts. For many influencers, large and small alike, the assumption was that:

• You had to include #ad in your Instagram caption.
• It couldn’t be buried among a long list of other hashtags.
• The #ad had to appear in the first line or two of the caption, so that users wouldn’t have to tap on “more” to see it.

Some influencers thought that the #ad hashtag would turn off some of their followers or otherwise leave a bad impression. That’s what paved the way to alternatives like #spon, #freebie, and #thanks… which aren’t as immediately obvious, clear and conspicuous. But, as it turns out, you don’t have to use #ad in all your sponsored content either. You just have to make sure that your relationship with the brand or company is “clear and conspicuous.”

To this end, you’ve likely seen a lot of posts that use #giftedproduct or #giftedexperience. As far as I can tell, those are reasonably acceptable. But something like #freeproduct or #freetrip might not be, because maybe you won that product in a contest or it was a freebie handed out to almost anyone. Again, it’s about making your relationship clear and obvious.

It’s Clear and Conspicuous

While you can certainly put #ad in your Instagram caption (or anywhere else you may published sponsored content), it’s not an absolute requirement. You should, however, follow some key guidelines and best practices to stay on the better side of the FTC.

1. Always disclose any relationship or agreement you have with a brand.
2. This disclosure should be as close to the top as possible. It should be EASY for followers, readers, and viewers to find. This includes Instagram stories and YouTube videos. In the case of the latter, you should include the disclosure in the video itself, as well as in the video description.
3. Use language that’s easy to understand. Even if you don’t use one of the recommended hashtags, you can use plain language. “Thank you to XYZ Widgets for providing me with this Widget 11 Plus to review” is perfectly acceptable.
4. Putting “ad” or “advertisement” or “sponsored” without the # to make it a hashtag is just fine.
5. Another set of acceptable terms include [Name of Brand] Partner or [Name of Brand] Ambassador.
6. Use the platform’s disclosure, but it’s not enough on its own. You can use the Facebook branded content tool, for example, but you should still include proper disclosure in the body of the post.

The long and the short of it? Make sure it’s clear and obvious to your followers if you have any sort of business relationship with the brand. Even if you worked on a sponsored post with them months ago, but you mention or tag them in a later post, you still need to disclose. And while the FTC is based in the US, this will guide how the influencer marketing industry as a whole will operate moving forward.

BARACK OBAMA BOOK PUBLISHING SUCCESS AND INSIGHTS

Barack Obama’s book, A Promised Land, has proven to be an incredible success, selling over 890,000 copies JUST within the first 24 hours in the US & Canada. This puts Barack Obama as the number one author of a presidential memoir in our modern history. Simply put, it’s an astonishing success in book publishing and a masterclass of marketing delivery. Beyond setting records as the best-selling presidential memoir, it also shattered records at Penguin Random House for pre-orders, audiobooks, and ebook downloadables. The success is unprecedented; and there are few public figures that carry the same star power and influence as the 44th President of the United States. But beyond the wide reach that Barack Obama has for his book, we wanted to go deeper into what we could learn from his publishing success. After all, at Made for Success, we’re tuned to pay attention to the success of others and understand what makes it work. A Masterclass in Book Publishing Strategy The first thing to consider around Barack Obama’s book is the top-of-the-line marketing engine that powers it. Certainly, the publisher Penguin Random House had unlimited budget and resources to get the book distributed to as many readers and listeners as possible. But there’s more that you can learn from Barack Obama without having the same level of national reach. Here’s a few things that we think our aspiring authors at Made for Success can learn from former President Barack Obama’s success. The Power of Timing in Publishing a Book Barack Obama’s book comes at a time when presidency, democracy, and leadership are at the top of peoples’ minds. The book being released two weeks after our presidential election is no accident at all. It’s true that many books are released in the fall, to make it onto the holiday wish lists of many avid readers. But the timing of this book release was perfectly synchronized with the audience’s demand to hear from a former leader to help remember where we’ve come from and paint a picture of where we might be heading.

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER

Olympic gymnast Paul Hamm went into the 2004 Summer Olympics with the intention of being the first American to win an all-around gold medal in the men’s gymnastics. After his first three events he led the field, but in the fourth event, the vault, he made a crucial mistake and tumbled to 12th place. What he did next is the difference between good athletes and great athletes. He had two events left and chose to give it his all, to Finish Strong. On the parallel bars he moved up to fourth place, and a truly history-making performance on the high bar where he poured all of his energy, focus, and determination into his performance earned him the all-around gold. Try this: Consider how you react to setbacks, failures, or mistakes. Do you allow them to derail you? What could you do differently to accept them as things that happened, but move forward and Finish Strong and perhaps achieve great success of your own?

AN ONLINE PORTFOLIO FOR A STRONG ONLINE PRESENCE

Having a strong online portfolio is extremely important in current times, given how everything around us is marked by a powerful digital presence – be it an individual or a brand. This is especially true if you’re doing an online job hunt or looking for potential clients for your freelancing business. Your online portfolio represents you in the digital platform and gives your employers a reason to hire you. That’s why it’s important for your portfolio to be impressive enough to be able to grab your employer’s attention instantly. Here are some of the most effective ways to create a great online portfolio that can help you create a strong online presence. Pay Attention to Your Design The first thing that people will notice about your online portfolio is its design. The better it looks the more professional you are considered to be. Just like a business is judged by its website, your work and professionalism is judged by the way your portfolio appears. So make sure you have a powerful and catchy design for your online portfolio. If you’re not that good with designs, you might want to hire a professional designer who can help you create a great look for your portfolio. But sometimes, you may not want to invest too much by hiring a designer. In that case, you can look for pre-built portfolio templates that can save you both time and money. You’ll find different templates depending on the platform (WordPress, Magento, Wix, etc.) you’re using. It’s the easiest way to make your portfolio look super sleek and professional. Showcase Your Best Work with a Story Storytelling is a powerful way of capturing people’s attention. And you can use this opportunity to hook your employers by telling them the story of your best work. You don’t have to do that for all your projects. Just pick the ones you like best or the ones that have received the best results. Now tie some stories related to these projects. You can talk about how it started, what it was about, how you were able to achieve results for it, etc. To make it more interesting, you can add some images or videos that better describe the project and your involvement with it. This will not just engage your clients but will also give them a reason to see how creative you are. Add Solid Samples of Your Work It’s not possible to create a story for all your work. You can do that for one or two of your best projects. But that’s not enough for your clients to know your caliber. Some of them might want to check out more of such result-oriented work samples. So make sure you have a section that lists some of the best work samples for your clients to peruse. You might also want to include samples that display your skills in different areas. For example, if you’re a freelance writer, you might want to include samples of blog posts, case studies, eBooks, etc., to give them a better idea of the skills you have. Validate Your Work with Testimonials The next important thing that can quickly make your portfolio shine are testimonials from clients you have already worked with. Testimonials act like feedback on the work that you’ve done, and they are extremely important for landing more clients. It supports your credibility and the level of your expertise. By adding testimonials to your portfolio, you can strengthen your reputation too. That’s because, through these testimonials, your clients are expressing their trust in you and your business. It’s a great way of adding value to your skills and making it more believable for people who are exploring your portfolio for the first time. If you don’t have a testimonial yet, don’t worry. Just reach out to your clients through a polite email and ask them to write one for you. They’ll surely do it without any hesitation. You can even link your social profiles to your portfolio to give them a glimpse of your latest work. This will also encourage your clients to follow your latest projects for more information. Plugins like Smash Balloon can help you integrate your social profiles to your portfolio without writing a single code.

Write a Great About Me Page

Your portfolio is incomplete without a great ‘About Me’ page. It’s the one page that tells your client everything they need to know about you. So talk about yourself, the skills you have, how you’re different from your competitors, etc.

But in doing so, don’t go overboard and talk just about yourself. When a client is hiring you they want to know how you can add value to their business and help them get results.

So instead of going on about yourself, get a little creative in the way you put things across. Try to strike a balance between not appearing too self-centered and not being too bland about what you can do.

Give Them a Way to Get in Touch

Now, you’ve done everything you need to make your portfolio shine. But your client can’t find a way to get in touch with you. Can anything be worse than that?

If you don’t want that to happen, add a contact form to your portfolio through which your clients can reach out to you. You don’t need to design a contact form from scratch. There are tools and plugins that can help you add a form to your portfolio with just a few clicks of the mouse.

One such option is the WPForms plugin.

This drag and drop form builder plugin is the perfect solution for adding any kind of form to your website on a budget.

Building a portfolio is easy. But creating a portfolio that makes an impression isn’t that easy. By following the above points, you can come up with a portfolio that stands out and helps you mark a strong online presence.

CONTENT MARKETING KEY SKILLS

Content marketing is all about having the right skills, and making sure your article will resonate with your readers. The more you can write to attract your readers, the increased chances of getting some solid backlinks to your content, boosting your rankings within the SERP’s. However, I’m afraid to say many people don’t have the key skills necessary to write content that will resonate with readers the right way. Even your existing readers will soon go to your competition because they find more value in their work than yours. I’m here to tell you that you can keep this from happening, but you have to start paying close attention to the following skills that will be discussed within the post. We all know that content marketing is the new trend because search engines love it, and readers find enormous value within it. It’s no wonder companies spend thousands of dollars each month hiring a team to set up a solid content marketing strategy. With that said, Let’s jump into some key skills content marketers need to excel online. Your feedback, and opinion, will be greatly appreciated. Let’s get started. Eye for Data and Analyzing I can’t believe how many people fail to pay close attention to this element. Content marketing is all about finding what works compared to what doesn’t. It’s about putting energy where you know you’ll be able to convert readers, reaching your bottom line right? However, anyone can analyze data, but you need to be able to look for the MOST important things like CTR, opt-ins, conversions, and retention. What does this all mean? Let’s go into each a little further. CTR : This is click-through rate, however, it’s important you know EXACTLY where it matters. For example, you’ll have different headlines, images, and videos, so you need to analyze which ones get the highest CTR, leading to further engagement down the line. Many bloggers look at CTR without paying close attention to actual engagement leading to conversions. A solid content marketer knows CTR only matters when it leads to increased engagement. Opt-Ins: Content marketing is about retention because this sets you up for further marketing later down the line. I believe you have to be able to retain the customer, which, to me, is increased when you can get them to opt-in. It’s time to analyze what actually leads to an opt-in, and then optimize what has been working for you. This leads into A/B split testing. A content marketers needs to know how to split test campaigns until they reach the ultimate conversions. I’ll admit, in the beginning, this will be tough, but going forward, you’ll make up the money + increase profits 10x. Know The Tools: You have so many tools available to you so make sure you use them. From my experience, a solid content marketer knows what’s available, and keeps up to date with the trends. No need to do everything manually when you know tools are available to streamline the entire process. If you don’t, then rest assured, your competition will be using the same tools to get a jump start. Research Matters No matter what people tell you, research is the backbone of every successful content marketing campaign. You need to make sure your content will resonate with your readers, which is why I encourage all of you to take your time researching what your readers are looking for. If you don’t solve your reader’s problems, then you’re going to have a hard time converting them into paying customers. Forget even paying customers because you’re going to have a hard time meeting your bottom line period. How should you ensure research is done correctly? First, make sure you compile a list of solid keywords that you know your readers are typing into search engines. Make sure they are question based, and they answer a fundamental problem within your niche. Secondly, make sure you use the tools available to help you research your niche and relevant keywords. For example, Google keyword planner Topsy.com Buzzumo.com Your competition All of the above will help you find relevant keywords, and help you narrow down your content idea. Next, you can start dividing your content into sections so you’ll have an easier time writing once you have your keywords ready. Next, It’s important you research your audience so you know who you’ll be writing content for. The more you know about your audience, the better the chances of writing something that resonates with them. If you just started, then you might have a problem coming up with a blueprint. However, you have some tools you can use to give you a jump start. For example, the best way to find out more about your readership is to look at your competition. Here’s why: They have been around longer, and have established themselves. They have enormous content that you can pull ideas out of then write something better. You can find what’s missing then use this to create something better that resonates with them. Follow the social share pattern because you’ll be able to pull a lot of information from what’s popular. Next, You have some other cool ways to research your audience and content. For example, forums are awesome because they have been around for years and can provide enormous value. Skim through them, finding questions that have been asked within your niche then compile a list of common questions. Just do a quick search within Google using your main keyword and then skim through the list. You’ll find forums, blogs, and even communities to help you with your research. Always make notes because in the end, these will be great to reference quickly. Understanding the Different Types You’ll have an easier time writing content if you understand the different types you have available. For example, it’s going to be much harder to keep writing the same type of content over and over again. This is why you have many options available so you need to know how to make use of them. Some of the options include: Videos Images Infographics Top list How-To Podcasts Some will resonate better with your readers than others so give them all a try. Once you find out which ones work the best, you can start to scale on that content type. This will help you scale, convert, and build user retention going forward. It’s amazing how some will be better on social platforms, too, so make sure you take your time and understand what types of content you have available. Another cool approach is to visit your competition, and look at the different types they use throughout the year. You’ll notice a pattern develop, which means they’ve used some content types more than others. Learn from them, and implement what you can into your blog. Then analyze the data so you can scale at a later time, which will help increase conversions and build loyalty. Writing Content and Skills It’s one thing, knowing how to analyze data, but completely different being an expert writer. Content marketing involves knowing how to accurately structure your data so it makes sense to your readers. There’s no point having people arrive on your website when they can’t understand or comprehend what you’ve written. Having poorly structured content will just make it hard for them to pull out the value you provide. This is why I encourage all of you to ensure you are expert writers or have a team that knows how to put content together. I tell my clients content marketing and writing will depend on 5-6 main factors. Let’s check a few of them. Structure: You want to ensure your content is laid out correctly. For example, no paragraph should be longer than 5-6 sentences because too many will just make everything look way too cluttered. Make sure you have spacing throughout and the line height is set to 22-24px. This will ensure your readers can skim through, and understand at the same time. On-page Optimization: Very important to make sure your content is indexed for the right keywords. Introduction: This part is very important because it gives you an opportunity to introduce your topic, and what value you plan on providing. For example, you have anywhere between 500-600 words to entice your readers into continuing with your content. Sub-headings: I like this part because you’ll have the opportunity to organize your content and add secondary keywords into your content. For example, I like to have 5-6 keywords that are related to my main keyword. I’ll use each one in a single sub-heading going forward. This is important for indexing, optimization, and building suspense with my readers. Body: Here is where you shine because you’ll be showcasing your knowledge, adding value to your readers. I like to tell my clients to take their time, and write content as long as it has to be to get your point across. For example, you want to ensure you provide your readers with an entire solution so they don’t have to go anywhere else to find what they are looking for. By doing this, you are increasing the likelihood of a conversion, opt-in, and reaching your bottom line. Take your time and put all the fundamentals into play. For example, remember your research so you can add as much value as possible to your content. Do the following: Add value Add images Take your time Cover everything Make sure you have the best content online, and no competitor beats what you have published Always add examples so readers understand your point Don’t forget to incorporate your keywords into the body Conclusion: This part is pretty simple because you are reiterating what you have discussed throughout your introduction and body. In this section, I would like you to quickly reference your main points, and provide your readers with some action steps they can take right away. Some readers are new so they don’t know what to do when they finish reading, and I’ve found that when you guide them, it can help with overall conversion rate. In the conclusion, Summarize what you have discussed through the body Provide them all with an action plan to get started Ask them to leave comments that encourages debates Always ask them questions so they can think about other topic ideas to discuss within comment box. This can provide you with further engagement I like to place social buttons towards the bottom because you have a higher chance of people sharing after reading valuable content. Knowledge is King No matter what people tell you, knowledge is truly king because without it, you won’t be able to resonate with your readers. For example, people come to your blog because you’re able to provide insight that others can’t, and your insight comes from knowledge + experience. I always encourage people to get involved in a niche in which they have enormous knowledge because this helps attract readers going forward. With the right experience and knowledge, you’ll be able to write content that resonates well with your readers. You’ll be able to build loyalty, and will be able to build engagement quickly with very little effort. Value goes a very long way and I’m surprised how many people forget this when writing content. Anyway, with this said, there are a few ways you can ensure you have experience in your niche and continue to build it going forward. Here are the MOST important: Always research your niche before getting started. When you do research, you are automatically expanding your knowledge on the topic. Learn from your competitors. This is very important, and MOST of the knowledge I have is from reading other blogs. Read books because they provide enormous information on any niche. Attend conferences or even events because you can hear the experts speak. Always keep up-to-date with the changing trends within your niche. For example, Google Trends is a great way to find out about new keyword searches, and trends taking place within your niche. Final Thoughts In the end, you want to ensure you possess as many of these skills as possible because they will help you get a jump start with your content marketing. For example, if you have any of the following, you can start to attract the right type of attention, and start converting with your content marketing efforts. No matter what people tell you, it’s all about meeting your bottom line, which is why I work so hard to attract as many of the skills mentioned above. I believe that for any of us

THE MOTIVATING POWER OF APPRECIATION AND PRAISE

While doing some research for a seminar on maximizing human potential I  came upon this interesting piece of information.

 

Appreciation and praise are  more powerful motivators in the lives of people than sex and money. I always  knew that appreciation and praise were powerful motivators, but I didn't realize  just how powerful.  More than sex and money?????

 

How to Use Appreciation and Praise to Motivate People

 

1. Listen more than you talk.  There is nothing more affirming than the   undivided attention of another.

 

2.Always use the first name of the person you are addressing.

 

3.Be polite and respectful.

 

4.Ask for solutions to job-related problems and then use the suggestions given.

 

5.Don't give orders.  Ask nicely.

 

6.Be positive.

 

7. Be generous with encouragement and affirmation.  If you find it difficult to express affirmation and encouragement face to face then write notes of appreciation.

 

8. Apologize when you have been impatient, sarcastic etc. It will happen. You're only human.

 

9. Always correct someone in private and never when angry.

 

10.Give credit; don't take credit.

 

11.Laugh with the people you work with.

 

12. Keep your people informed.

 

13. Be flexible.

 

14. Ask about their lives outside of work.  Ask about their children, hobbies etc. There is a huge difference between being interested and prying.

 

15. Smile a lot.

- by Mike Moore

STRIVE EACH DAY TO FINISH STRONG AND HAVE NO REGRETS

Finish Strong is more than a statement...it’s an attitude. For me it has also become a way of life. I discovered the power of choosing to Finish Strong when I began my career in sales. I struggled to tremendously in the early days. I discovered that it’s not what happens to you that matters; it’s how you choose to respond that does. I made a personal commitment to look adversity in the eyes and to keep moving forward in the direction of my goal regardless of the outcome. I knew that if I gave 100% of myself to the end, that I would rest easy at night know that I Finished Strong.

The Finish Strong attitude helped propel my career to amazing heights. But more than that, it changed my entire approach to living. The attitude began to take over other aspects of my life: spiritually, sports, friendships and more. Choosing to Finish Strong has not only help me succeed professionally, but also personally and spiritually. It has made me better. I wrote IMPACT to help others become empowered to enhance and change their lives too. We’re all running the same race and we all have the same finish line. I strive each day to Finish Strong, giving no chance to having regrets. I plan on taking my last breath on this earth knowing that I did indeed, Finish Strong. My wish for you is to do the same.

BUSY ISN'T THE SAME AS PRODUCTIVE

When I tell people that I work from home, one of the most common responses is something like, “It must be nice to have all that free time! I’ve got to put in my 40 hours every week at the office.” But, here’s something that most regular working people don’t understand until they run their own business and work from home themselves. There’s a major difference between “being at work” and actually “working.”

Now, I’m certainly not saying that everyone is slacking off at their regular jobs. Of course not. But, most people would be fooling themselves if they were to assert that they were actually “working” for the entirety of their 40-hour work week. Whether it’s going to the break room to refill your coffee or secretly watching a YouTube video your co-worker forwarded you, that’s time “at work” that isn’t actually “working.”

You know another term that’s thrown around a lot these days? “Busy.” Everyone says that they’re “so busy” and we’re supposed to admire their hustle. Look how hard they’re working, right? You’ve got to admire that drive and determination, right? Except, there’s a big difference between being busy and being productive, just as there’s a big difference between being at work and actually working.

Busy Is Saying “Yes”

Look at all the things I’m ticking off my to-do list, while I keep adding more things to my to-do list. Yes, you’re going to be very busy if you go around saying “yes” to every request and opportunity that lands on your desk. Do you want to collaborate with another YouTuber on a video? Sure! Do you want to write an e-book? Absolutely! Do you want to run 25 miles a day, start an Etsy store, develop a mobile app, and write 3 blog posts a day? Totally! No wonder you’re burning out.

Whereas saying “yes” to everything is what will keep you very busy, being productive means choosing to say “no” to certain things. This doesn’t mean you should go around shutting the door on everything. What it does mean, though, is that you recognize the limitations on your time, energy and resources, so you intentionally choose what gets your “yes.” Everything else has to get a “no” if you want to be truly productive and move the needle. 

You can do everything. Just not at the same time. 

Busy Is Talking About Being Busy

You know what all busy people seem to have in common? They’re always talking about how busy they are. They’re quick to brag about all the projects they have on the go, projecting this image of how productive and important they might be. 

Productive people, by contrast, don’t concern themselves with how busy they appear to be to other people. Instead, they let their work speak for themselves. If they are being truly productive in what they’re doing, people will notice. It’s just like how famous people don’t need to tell you that they’re famous, or how smart people don’t have to keep reminding you how smart they are. You’ll just know.

Busy Is Not Having Enough Time

Busy people are always talking about how busy they are. One way that they might put this is talking about how they never have enough time to do the things they want or need to do. Believe me. I’m totally guilty of this. But, I also recognize how having “not enough time” is a bit of a cop-out.

We have to remember that regardless of your station in life, regardless of how rich or poor or whatever else, we all get the same 24 hours each day, the same 365 days each year. True, when you’re going through financial hardship, how those hours get allocated will differ. But if you’re saying that the reason you’re not getting things done is that you don’t have enough time, it means you’re not necessarily choosing the right things.

Put another way, “busy” is having a lot of things to do and not enough time to do them all. “Productive” is choosing a smaller set of more important things to do, and then prioritizing your time to do them right. I once told myself that I didn’t have time to exercise, but then I made my daily step goal more of a priority. It’s a small step (pun intended), but it has made a world of difference. 

You just have to know what gets a “no” from you, so you can prioritize your time and resources on your “yes” activities. 

Busy Is Constant Movement

“Busy” and “frazzled” (or some other variation of the word) tend to go hand-in-hand. The tell-tale sign of someone who is “busy” is that it looks like they’re always doing something, because there’s always something to be done. They’re constantly moving, reacting to the stimuli around them, almost out of gut instinct, because they don’t have time for it. They’ve got to keep doing things.

But being “busy” in that way is like running on a treadmill. Sure, you’re moving and you’re burning calories, but after all that movement, you actually haven’t gotten anywhere. You’ll feel like you’ve been productive and you’ve accomplished something, but you’re right where you started and you’ll go through it all over again tomorrow.

The “productive” mindset is different. It means that you give yourself the space to take a real break every now and then. It means giving yourself the opportunity to activate the default mode, a place where some of your most creative and original ideas can emerge almost spontaneously. By taking the time to contemplate your decisions and plan your course of action, the actions you take can indeed be more productive and not simply mindless busywork. 

Are You Busy or Productive?

You’ll find that there is so much to the dot com mindset. It’s moving away from the idea of trading hours for dollars and toward the idea of how you can earn more dollars with fewer hours. You’ll come to understand the concept of nonlinear growth and the dangers of early potential. And yes, it’s about coming to grips with the idea that simply being busy will never be enough. You need to be productive. Motion for its own sake will get you nowhere.

To be productive means that the actions you take actually move the needle. And no one is going to move the needle for you but yourself. So, get to work.  

WAYS TO BOOST ENERGY AND SAVE TIME

Research shows we have more leisure time than ever before.  Yet many Americans say that doing what they HAVE to do takes twice as much time as doing what they WANT to do.  Maybe we need to shift our attitudes about time, so that we come from a better place, have a healthy attitude about time, and not be in such a rush.

 

1. Enjoy the moment.
Much of our lives are taken up by mundane tasks such as housework and catching up on paperwork.  It can get pretty nerve-racking; instead of focusing on what you're doing, you're always anticipating what has to be done next.  MAKE your tasks seem less like chores.

 

Create the "ideal" atmosphere" for you to be able to concentrate on what you're doing. Listen to music, be outside, whatever gives you energy and makes you feel good to get the job done faster.

 

2. Surround yourself with a calm environment.
Experts agree that we tend to adjust to the rhythms of our environment, so it's a good idea to surround ourselves with people and things that help us shift into low gear.  Play soothing music. Instead of scurrying to fix dinner right when you get home, take some time to wind down by reading the paper, going for a walk, spending time with your kids.

 

3. Get some shut-eye.
Many of us think that the best way to gain time is to sleep less (yours truly is guilty of this thinking).  According to the National Sleep Foundation, a lack of restful sleep results in poor mental performance, more accidents, and lack of concentration.  Pay attention to WHEN you go to bed.  If after you put the kids to bed you find yourself wasting time by mind-numbing yourself in front of the TV until the wee hours of the night, it's time to STRONGLY consider shifting your bedtime.  Experts suggest cutting back bedtime by 15-30 minutes for a  few days to let your body adjust.  Any more and you'll throw your body into shock.

 

4. Simplify.
This is a tough one. What most people think they can achieve in a given amount of time is unrealistic.  I can relate to that - I tend to fall in the "most people" group. We make to-do lists that are near impossible to accomplish, and we beat ourselves up for not completing.  So we add what we didn't do today to the astronomical list of tomorrow, and the effect snowballs to the point  where we cry, "I can't get ANYTHING done - there's just not enough time to  do it!" Simplify.  What MUST be done today?  When those are done,  then, what other things would you like to do if you have some more time?

 

5. Break away for a daily mini-vacation.
Take 10-15 minutes each day to do... NOTHING.  We need time each day to NOT race against the clock or be productive.  We can slow down and our  minds are free to be creative.  Take a walk.  Listen to music.  Sit on the couch.   The point is to RELAX.  No multi-tasking relaxation.  Your mind must be free of everything else.

 

6. Drink some tea.
It's kind of hard to gulp down hot tea.  Several kinds can actually relax you, like chamomile tea.

 

7. Sit in a rocking chair.
The Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in North Carolina recently

installed 20 rocking chairs, and harried travelers FLOCKED to them. Can you just see them relaxing immediately?  Make good use of yours, or buy one.  I used to have a glider rocker for feeding my kids, and I tell you, I fell asleep every time.  That rocking rhythm just knocks me out.

 

8. Breathe deeply.
When you're stressed, your breathing becomes very shallow. Your body craves oxygen, and it's not getting any when you're breathing incorrectly. SLOW  DOWN.  Focus on EACH breath - in through the nose, out through the mouth. Concentrate on nothing but inhaling and exhaling.

 

9. Shift activities.
If what you're doing is making you anxious, simply do something else. If you're at your desk, GET UP and move around.  If you're heavy into concentration on a task, shift to do something mindless.  Here's a guideline: for  every 45 minutes of heavy concentration, give yourself 10-15 minutes  of mindless rejuvenation.

 

10. MAKE yourself smile.
Keep a funny cartoon or joke nearby and look at it often.  My favorite is The Far Side.  Subscribe to a humor newsletter on the Internet.  Do a search for  jokes.  Keep a joke book or humorous story on your desk. Laughter is a great stress reliever, and it helps you feel good.

 

11. Stop procrastination.
Tackle and eliminate the task NOW.  It takes more energy to put off a job than to JUST GET IT DONE.

 

12. Strive for EXCELLENCE, not perfectionism.
Stop focusing on what could go wrong.  Big time waster. Commit to COMPLETING the job, e.g. give yourself deadlines. If you need to go back and refine later, fine, do it. Ready, FIRE!  Then aim.

 

13. Say NO.
Think about everything you say "Yes" to: community involvement, errands for others, visiting, running around. Think about how they benefit you, your family, your business, your health, and your mind. Do they benefit you? If not, SAY NO.

 

14. Turn off technology periodically.
Our modern conveniences have made us more impatient and more vulnerable to others' demands.  TURN OFF your pager, cell phone, and/or fax when you don't want to be bothered.

 

15. Get rid of the clutter.
Start each day with a clean desk or clean office.  You'll be more efficient when things are in order.

 

16. EXERCISE.
Many times when we say we don't have enough time to do things it's because we're wasting time sitting on our duffs for too long because we're too tired. Get  moving!   Not only will you feel better, but you'll have more energy, which means you can get more done in less time. That frees up more time to do other things.  And you'll feel great about yourself because you're looking good and achieving more.

 

17. You are what you eat.
Eat junk, feel like junk.  Energy comes from feeding yourself foods that are packed with nutrients and don't bog you down with a lot of calories. Keep your metabolism stoked by eating 4-6 smaller meals a day; when your metabolism  is up, so is your energy.

 

 - by Garrett J. Braunreiter

HOW TO USE LINKEDIN FOR PERSONAL BRANDING

Creating a personal brand can be a powerful way to achieve important professional and business goals. When you develop a personal brand, you make yourself more recognizable and take charge of how you are perceived online. When done correctly, a personal brand can help you achieve the following: 

• Become a thought leader or a recognized expert in your field
• Find a job with greater ease as you’ll stand out from the crowd
• Attract new clients and partners to your business
• Get leads
• Drive traffic to your blog or site from LinkedIn

Building a personal brand is different from becoming an influencer. A personal brand is oriented towards a professional audience and involves content for B2B or B2C audiences.

For this reason, LinkedIn is a good place to start your personal brand building journey.

LinkedIn is the largest networking platform for professionals. It has over 500 million professionals to date and a significant chunk of this network consists of high-level decision-makers. Another interesting LinkedIn stat is that for B2B businesses, 50% of their social traffic just from the platform.

You have the best chance of building a strong personal and professional brand by leveraging LinkedIn. Let’s get down to the specific ways you can use it and become a recognized figure in your industry.

Build a strong profile

Before you can start any other step, you need to have a robust LinkedIn profile for your audience to visit. The profile section is where people will learn more about you so that they can connect with you, follow your content, and figure out if you’re the right fit for their goals. If they’re looking for someone to hire or to get interesting content, your profile content will help them understand if you’re a good fit.

Before you can start writing your profile details, there’s are two things you need to do:

• Brainstorm the goals of your personal branding efforts because this will direct how you write your profile and posts
• Determine the right keyword to use in your profile and content. LinkedIn can be compared to a search engine for people. Leveraging the right keyword will help people find you using the search feature

When you’re clear about what you want your branding to achieve, you’re going to shape your content by keeping your goals and the keywords at the forefront. Here are different areas of your profile that you can optimize.

Headline

One of the elements of your profile that’s visible in a LinkedIn search result is your headline. It’s also the first thing that draws people’s eyes after your picture and name. In this spot, you need to create a descriptive headline that includes the keyword you want people to find.

Keep it short and eye-catching so that people want to continue exploring your site.

The About Section

You can write up to 2000 words in your profile’s About section. However, it’s the first sentence that will determine if people read it fully. Create a good hook in the first five words and try to create a story here. End your About section with a call to action. For example, ask your audience to send you an email or to connect with you.

Experiences

Another way to highlight whether your profile is relevant is to add helpful details to your work experiences section in your profile. Elaborate on what you’ve done and try to tie it together with what you currently do. This will help you build a robust profile that gets recognized as a good result for specific searches.

As you create your profile, make sure that it provides information that goes beyond what’s on your resume. Try to make your personality appear in the way you write. LinkedIn is a networking site and you want to reach people at an emotional level by generating trust. Use conversational language and keep your content easy to read to draw more people to your brand.

Connect with your target audience

LinkedIn allows you to connect with 30,000 people. But when you make connections, pick people who potentially belong to the audience that will value your content.

Once you’ve built your profile so that your audience can find out more about you, your next step is to connect with the right people.

To do this effectively, consider your goals and who your audience is. If you’re trying to become a thought leader in the arena of data science, then you need to connect with other data scientists and people in related roles. Getting connected to people who are involved in, say, orthodontics will not serve you. Your content won’t interest them and this will show through a lack of engagement on your posts.

Use LinkedIn’s search feature to find people who are your target audience. Filter by location and keywords and send a personalized note when you do add a connection.

To get more attention and engagement, comment on their posts, wish them on their work anniversaries, and also follow up on your invitations.

The most important thing you can do is to send an invitation that explains why you want to connect with them and how connecting with you can benefit them. This will make it more likely that you’ll get a positive response.

Create engaging LinkedIn posts

So, you’ve made a solid LinkedIn profile and have connected with the right people. But the final ingredient in the mix is to make great content. LinkedIn is like any other social media network in the sense that emotions are the key to engagement. Here’s how to structure your posts:

• Make the very first line a hook that expresses your point of view in the form of a statement or the start of a story
• Use short sentences and line breaks to make your post easy to read
• Tell a meaningful story or share your insight on a trending topic
• Add a call to action inviting people to comment
• Use hashtags to make your content findable by topic

Put these tips into practice and you’ll see a rise in engagement as well as views on your profile.

Conclusion

The steps suggested here will all improve your profile’s performance on LinkedIn. However, there’s no substitute for real passion for what you do. Be consistent with the techniques given here and make content regularly that shares what you think.
As you continue to build your personal brand, you should see an increase in followership and get recognized as a thought leader on the topic you focus on. Keep engaging with other people too and you’re bound to grow your personal brand on LinkedIn.

PROBLEM SOLVING: DON'T TRY TO FILL A LEAKY BUCKET

Let’s start with the basic visualization. You’ve got a bucket and you’re trying to fill it up with water. Maybe you want to transfer that water from your sink and faucet over to your garden. Maybe you’re collecting the water for a later purpose. In any case, this bucket has a big hole in the bottom of it, so any water that you pour into it inevitably falls out the bottom.

If the hole is especially large, then your problem is obvious. The water from the faucet literally goes right through your bucket and you never get to contain any water at all. If the hole is smaller, you might not notice at first, but the water is definitely leaking out the bottom. No matter how high you turn up the faucet, the water will inevitably leak. It’s a waste.

Now, what if we were to think about your online business as this bucket. Is it leaky?

Throwing Money at the Problem

Now, chances are that you’re not in the water business, and the quantity of usable water you have on hand probably isn’t integral to your business model either. Of course, we’re using metaphors here for the purpose of visualization. The first thing that the water can represent is your money.

It’s undeniable that money will always be a part of the equation. It’s also true that spending money can save you a lot of time, time that you can then dedicate to the business activities that not only leverage your specific expertise and talents, but also those that actually move the needle. It takes money to make money, without a doubt. 

It’s also true, however, that money can’t solve all your problems. Let’s say that you want to grow a successful YouTube channel. Even if you buy the most expensive camera with the fanciest lighting and the best audio, if the actual content of your video isn’t interesting or of value, no one is going to care. All that equipment is just a giant gaping hole in the bottom of your bucket.

If you’re in the business of affiliate marketing, if you simply choose to throw a giant budget at PPC advertising, but your landing page stinks or you didn’t effectively optimize your keywords, you will never achieve a profitable ROI. Those advertising dollars are several holes in your bucket. 

All It’ll Take Is More Time?

Money isn’t everything. Or at least, it’s not the only thing that could be leaking out of your bucket. Far more valuable than money is time. It is truly a limited, non-renewable resource. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

And, again, it’s true that you will not achieve success overnight, so you need to be prepared to stick it out through the tough times. You have to think not about how you’re spending your time, per se, as much as how you’re choosing to invest in it. Your online business might not turn a profit or generate enough page views in the beginning, but it’s an investment into a potentially very lucrative future… assuming you’re not wasting your time on other random online activities like watching videos on YouTube or laughing at memes on Facebook.

At the same time, you also have to recognize when you’ve fallen for the sunk cost fallacy. Yes, you may have dedicated untold hours of your time toward a project, but if it really isn’t turn out a profit and you’re not really on the cusp of a big breakthrough, maybe it’s time for you to abandon ship and to explore other endeavours. Simply pouring more time into a hopeless project really isn’t going to get it anywhere. The leak is too big.

This is a big reason why you need to build your online business (and your skill set) to be as versatile as possible. If your MySpace business shutters, will you be able to pivot to Instagram? If your podcast dries up tomorrow, will you be able to find an audience on YouTube?  

Every Bucket Is Leaky

In an ideal world, every bucket that you choose will be perfectly sealed and it’ll continue to grow larger as you needs continue to expand. That’s how you scale your business. Of course, an ideal world exists only in our imagination. Every bucket is going to be leaky to some degree, because nothing you do will ever achieve 100 percent efficiency.

Even so, it’s worthwhile to keep this kind of visualization in mind as you work on your business. If you find yourself leaking out too much time and/or money without seeing an adequate reflection in tangible benefit, maybe it’s time you look into getting another bucket. 

BUILDING YOUR EMOTIONAL CAPACITY

I want you to picture two people, John and Sarah. John is stressed throughout the day. When things are going well, he’s focused and high-performing, but when adversity strikes, he crumbles under pressure. Sarah is often described as resilient and unflappable. When Sarah encounters obstacles, she works through them quickly, and treats failure as a necessary part of learning. Great leaders look more like Sarah than John. When challenges strike, you need to be the one to rally your team and stay confident. No matter how talented, focused and purposeful you are, you have to have the emotional capacity to overcome adversity.

What is Emotional Capacity?

Emotional capacity is a measure of your ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships. No matter how talented, disciplined or values-driven you are, if you don’t have high emotional capacity, you’ll fall short of your goals eventually.

A challenge in building emotional capacity the self-limiting beliefs we place on ourselves. An example of this is a force called cognitive dissonance, when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs at the same time. Cognitive dissonance causes us to double down on harmful behaviour, invest in negative relationships, and close our minds to information that challenges our preconceptions.

While it’s hard to see at first, a close-minded approach inevitably limits your ability to grow and reach your full potential. To build your emotional capacity, you must honestly evaluate your own mindset and become open to difficult feedback.

Many of us limit our potential without even realizing it, and it takes conscious effort to understand what is holding us back—and to address it. As a personal example: for years, I wanted to write a book, but I kept giving myself excuses to avoid doing it.

Quality of Relationships

Building emotional capacity is not just about how you interact with your own mind—the quality of your relationships is also vital. Legendary entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” You need to surround yourself with people who give you energy, who genuinely care about helping you improve, and are not afraid to challenge you to do so.

Do you have many relationships with people like this? While it can feel good to spend time with people who always make you feel good and never expect you to change for the better, doing this will limit your ability to improve. Needless to say, it’s similarly damaging to spend time with people who are always tearing others down and blaming others for their shortcomings.

Think carefully about the people you spend the most time with—do they share your core values and respect you enough to tell you when you’re wrong? Are there people in your life who make you feel drained and dissatisfied? If you make a conscious effort to spend time with people who share your values and give you energy, while limited exposure to people who drain you, you’ll feel better in the long run.

What’s great about capacity building is that it empowers you to not just make yourself better, but to inspire those around you to grow alongside you. If you surround yourself with people who are as committed to achieving as you are, you’ll all push each other to keep growing. If you tackle each day with gratitude and are capable of adapting to adversity, you’ll set an example for people you lead to follow.

Ask yourself—are you doing all you can to become all you can be? Do you push aside your self-limiting beliefs and take adversity as an opportunity to improve, rather than a crushing setback? Are you spending time with people who want you to reach for full potential, rather than pulling you down to their level?

You already know the answers to these questions. Wherever you are in your journey to build capacity, you can reach another level. The people closest to you deserve the best version of you.