12 May
Grow Your Business

Tech Tips That Make Business Easier

Some benefits of incorporating technology in your business include efficiency, security, and reliability. As a smart entrepreneur, you have probably employed some level of technology into your business. However, to get the best out of your team and your tech, you should explore all avenues for business growth.

Other than the basic digitization of company records, there are some simple technological applications that most entrepreneurs tend to overlook.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers the ease of having your computer resources on demand, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. It is growing in popularity, however, many are not taking full advantage of its benefits. The ability to access digital storage capacity is major. We’ve all had bad experiences trying to update business records only to realize our storage is full. Or even worse, when the hard drive crashes and takes years of information down with it. Storing business records in the cloud is safe and it makes information accessible to all members of your team regardless of their location.

Data Analytics

There is a broad range of software designed for the analysis of your company’s data. This software has a wide range of applications from identifying the popularity of your brand to analyzing the productivity of your team. Data analysis is an invaluable tool that analyzes your raw data to find trends and answer questions. It can guide you in making optimum decisions for your business. Some of these data analysis software are very easy to set up and use. A short course on the basics would put you in a position to see a data-based picture of your company.

Productivity Software

The way we communicate and share information is changing. And the way we work and offer our services is bound to follow suit. Productivity software is at the forefront of this change. It influences the way employees complete their job tasks and how employers track their productivity. The days of walking around the office and looking for things are gone. Today, the smart entrepreneur employs productivity software to share information, stop time wasters and understand the time investment needed for success. It is advisable, now more than ever, that employers get ahead of the curve and begin using productivity software now.

The basic application of cloud computing, data analytics and productivity software can be done by you. However, to get the best out of today’s technology, agencies and consulting firms dedicated to infusing technology into businesses, is the best way to go. Many offer done for you, done with you or do it yourself services that will allow you to set your business up for success.

management skills
11 May
Grow Your Business

Two Major Online Business Services That Would Give Your Business a Boost

There are many aspects crucial to the success of your business. Some of these aspects can’t be efficiently integrated into the rest of your company. A lot of these services are available online to help your business at affordable prices. The two major online business services that would give your business a boost are marketing and professional training. Contrary to popular opinion, these services can be outsourced. It’s one of the best ways to cut costs.

There is a long list of business services available online such as virtual assistant, social media manager, business coach, web designer, app developer, etc. However, when it comes to importance and priority, marketing and professional training takes the cake, even over some of the other services stated above.

Marketing

Marketing has always been an integral part of business success. However, the intricate process of advertising, getting feedback, and landing new clients is quite different from the process of production. Over the years, research has shown that hiring a marketing agency is more efficient than setting up a marketing department especially in the early stages of your business.

Today, marketing agencies are going over and beyond, offering a broad range of services from market analysis, market strategy, online adverts, ad tracking, etc. Their services and packages provide a distinct level of flexibility that makes them a very useful tool for an entrepreneur. Outsourcing the marketing of your business’s products and services is not only cost effective, it also frees up your time to concentrate on other aspects of your business.

Professional Coaching

Another online service that would give your business a huge boost is professional coaching or training. Putting your team in the right mindset and equipping them with up to date skills isn’t something you can take lightly or do on your own. 

There is a wide array of professional coaches with the necessary skills and expertise to up-level your team, ensure they are producing at their optimum level. Many coaches offer this service online, taking care of your team so you don’t have to worry about their performance needs. With your team well-coached and informed, they are prepared to adapt to change and position your business the way you envision.

Online agencies, like SiMar Inc., provide the services needed for your business to scale and grow. They offer a combination of services to handle all your outsourcing needs. It’s not only more cost effective but it’s also easier to manage. Although, you can hire more than one agency to assist with your projects, it could be an administrative nightmare, therefore you might want to give great consideration to your to an all in one type of package.

Position 2 Profit with Allison Todd is a great place to begin the small business conversation, identify your next steps and understand your business needs with a group of like minded micropreneurs .

05 Apr
Confidence Culture, Grow Your Business

How to be Creative with your Blogging Process (Step Four)

Learn how to be creative with your blogging process by taking the fourth step. Note this is not the final step but it is step four. Now that you have made it to the final day of How to be Creative with your Blogging Process, I hope you have a general idea of what it takes to create your content. The next series will show you How to Market Content with your Blogging Process.

Complete the Process

To complete the process here’s a recap of the four steps to creative blogging success.

  • Brainstorm
  • Organize Ideas & Create the Planner
  • Select Images to Connect to your Content
  • Complete the Content & Tell Your Story (Hooray!)

Step four is all about filling in the gap. You have the title and blog summary from your Editorial Content Calendar. Perhaps you also saved your blog draft after selecting the image in step three. And here we are at the final step before scheduling your post. This is your opportunity to tell your story. Let’s grow!

creative blogging process step four

Happy writing! Connect with me on social? Let’s keep each other motivated and inspired to do what we love! I can’t wait to hear your reviews. Helpful or nah? I’ve got tons of content and curriculum.  If this didn’t help, I am sure there is something that will.

Subscribe to my Confidence Coach Notes and you will always be in the know.  That means first dibs on everything.  And that include the goodies!  If the Four Step Creative Blogging Process was helpful let me know in the comments. I’d love to know if we can make a difference next week with a new process.   

04 Apr
Confidence Culture, Grow Your Business

How to be Creative with your Blogging Process (Step Three)

Learn how to be creative with your blogging process by taking the third step. So glad that you are still with me! Yesterday, we reviewed step two. Did you select your planner yet? The Confident Culture got me to give them all four tools for all four steps. They have been showing off their work in group coaching. What fun.

Back to Work (Step Three)

The best part of a blog is the image. I invest the entire emotion in my image. I want the reader to know what I was feeling when I shared the content. How about you? Do you invest in your images, create them yourself or use no images at all? I work with a designer who delivers image packs. Let me know if you are interested and I will share the info.

creative blogging process step three

If you have the images outlined with the content, the vision begins to come together. At this point, you can decide to post all images and titles as drafts OR start writing. Either way you are super close to the finish line. Let’s take a mid-day break and invest time in image selection. Challenge yourself to plan the next 30-60-90 days.

90-Day Action Plan

Once you have your editorial content plan complete, you will know what type of images you need. Go ahead and lay out 90 days, it makes life much easier. And then grab your images. If you don’t have any (see above) , I know someone. Take some time to fill in the blanks on your planner. But, don’t stop there.

Make sure you are reviewing your story. Read it out loud to yourself. Fill in the blanks and begin blogging. If this Four Step Creative Blogging Process (Step Three) is helpful let me know in the comments. I’d love to know if the next 3 days make a difference in your process.

03 Apr
Confidence Culture, Grow Your Business

How to be Creative with your Blogging Process (Step Two)

Learn how to be creative with your blogging process by taking the second step. Wait, if you haven’t completed step one yet, click here. Once you have completed step one come back to begin step two. Okay, everybody ready to create and editorial content planner and manage your ideas?

Choosing the Perfect Planner

If you are like me, you may have to experiment with a few different planners first. Personally, I prefer a pen and paper planner and a digital planner. I find that most of my brainstorming happens with pen and paper. However, I begin to develop the ideas in a digital form. I love the way I can arrange things with the drag and drop features. And the safety feature better know as Ctrl + Z or “undo” saves me a ton of time.

So how about you? What type of planner do you prefer? I have also tried the passion planner (which you may like) but it was super heavy for me. I have finally married the idea of the start planner which allows me to plan 12-months in advance and carry 90 days at a time. By now you have figured out I prefer to do my planning in an actual planner.

creative blogging process step two

Editorial Content Planner Template, Too.

How you design and share your content will depend on your creative style and audience needs. The most important lesson to gain from this step is how your organize and plan your content. However, here are some basic fields that should be included in your planner. Create your template in google drive, evernote or excel. You will be surprised how productive you can be.

Content Planner Topics:

  • Date and Time
  • Topic or Headline ( I like a column for both)
  • Content or Details ( I like to summary the blog so it has a jump start when I complete it)
  • Author (Unless you are the only author, no need to type your name 30 times)
  • Status or Due Date (I like both because I need to see my due dates)
  • Keywords (Identifying these early on is super helpful for me)

Managing your ideas in an editorial content planner assists with social media, podcasts, videos and blogs at the same time. And once you organize your content and manage your ideas, you will be even more creative.

I thought you might be motivated to get started, so I created a template for you. This will help you get started with your digital planner. And if you don’t have a paper planner, print the digital planner. A creative process is important. Don’t skip steps to your success.

Happy writing! Connect with me on social? Let’s keep each other motivated and inspired to do what we love! I can’t wait to hear your reviews. Helpful or nah? Subscribe to my Confidence Coach Notes and you will always be in the know.  That means first dibs on everything, plus goodies! 

If the Four Step Creative Blogging Process (Step Two) is helpful let me know in the comments. I’d love to know if the next 2 days make a difference in your process.

02 Apr
Confidence Culture, Grow Your Business

How to be Creative with your Blogging Process (Step One)

Learn how to be creative with your blogging process by taking the first step. Welcome back if you tuned in yesterday. If not, take a peak at How to be Creative with your Blogging Process. Fast forward and here we are at the first step. First things first, do you know what will you write about? Have you thought about how you will design your voice? Let’s learn more about you.

What’s Your Story?

This could be the best way to begin your process, thinking about your story. Step one is to begin brainstorming ideas. Wait, before you do anything grab your pen and paper. Then, write down all of the ideas that come to your mind. Whatever you do, don’t overthink what you are writing, just write. I like to play loud music while I brainstorm but do what works for you.

All of your ideas may not be great but could lead to greatness. As a result, this is where you create the foundation of your creative blogging process. How you brainstorm, where you brainstorm and the tools you use to do so make a big difference. My personal style is to brainstorm about what’s on my mind or what I am current business challenges. Then, I outline them.

creative blogging process step one

Which topics stand out to you and which make you say hmm? In other words, everything that you wrote down won’t be used. But take your time to review your list after active brainstorming. Then, identify the good, great and not so good ideas. It’s important to collect your ideas and figure out how to organize them. Some people like to use post-its to build their content and organize their blogs.

Let’s Start Brainstorming

Whatever your choices, take time now to determine what your brainstorming process looks like. Prepare to venture into uncharted waters, unfinished thoughts and mind motivation moments. To help you get started, here’s are a couple of brainstorming problem-solving, mind provoking questions:

Brainstorming Question List

  • What was my biggest challenge this week/month? What did I learn from it?
  • I want to learn more ________________ (insert topic) to improve my professional development?
  • Who does your expertise attract? And, what do they want to talk about?
  • What have you learned about your expertise? What would you do differently?

If you need more, the questions continue in the Confidence Culture community. Once you know what to blog about, how will you plan your blog for the next 30-60-90 days? Come back tomorrow for Four Step Creative Blogging Process (Step Two).

If this Four Step Creative Blogging Process (Step One) is helpful let me know in the comments. I’d love to know if the next 3 days make a difference in your process. Don’t forget we will end the week with some Blogging Goodies. In the meantime, sign up for Confidence Culture Membership and download your Blog Brainstorming Template & get your Brainstorming Question List.

01 Apr
Confidence Culture, Grow Your Business

How To Be Creative With Your Blogging Process

Are you ready to learn how to be creative with your blogging process and make it yours. With these four steps, you can create, plan and post your blog! I figured the best way to learn is to take it day by day. The Four Step Process will show you how to ignite your creativity. So, what is your blog topic?

What Will You Blog About

Yes, you need to know what you will be blogging about. We can’t get creative until you identify your topic(s). I often ask myself what do I like to read? And normally, I write about those things. Then, when I need some creative discovery, I get deep in my research. Depending on the day, I can be a skimmer or a reader. Best practice says if my skimming turns into reading, that might be my next blog topic. Either way, I write about what I love. Hence, you should too.

If the research doesn’t motivate you, focus on solutions. No doubt, marketing your expertise is a great way to grow your brand. Plus, everyone likes solutions, right? I often will use some of my confidence coaching topics or business consulting topics to write about. This gives the reader some good tips, tools and techniques (for free)!

creative blogging process

Who Inspires You?

I am inspired by love letters. I love to write letters to people who motivate and inspire me. And, that’s love. Sometimes, words for one, can benefit many. Whatever works for you. After all, it’s your blog. It’s a space to carve your voice and architect your creative process. Your audience will appreciate your creative content.

I will share the Four Step Creative Blogging Process this week. If you need to ignite your creativity, come back each day this week. For extra tips, tools and templates, join the Confidence Culture. With your membership you will receive:

  • digital group coaching
  • how to instructional videos
  • access to the resource library
  • membership access
  • an accountability group and more!

If this process is helpful, let me know in the comments. I’d love to know if the next 4 days make a difference in your process. We will end the week with some Blogging Goodies. Subscribe and stay tuned.

types of perfect leadership styles
08 Mar
Grow Your Business, Grow Your Expertise, Productivity

The Perfect Leader

About the perfect leader, there is no perfect leader. Perfect meaning without fault of defect as per Merriam and Webster. Leadership is not about perfection.  It’s about the entire experience including communication, results, relationships and more.  Even still, there are certain instances when your own actions get in your way. As such, its important to be aware of the barriers to your almost perfect leadership.  These are the things weighing down you and your success.

What are your growth barriers and how can we fix them? Before moving your business forward, take an audit of your leadership style and its effectiveness. Identify outdated business processes, things that no longer align, inconsistent efforts, work processes full of waste…. anything that defeats creativity and pauses productivity.

Barriers to Leadership Growth

The EGO

Being the leader in charge does not mean you are the only one with the capacity to lead. It is your job to enable your team to work to the best of their capabilities with confidence they will achieve results. Make your leadership transferable and repeatable. At best, let it be modeled by everyone in the company to help nurture a culture of accountability.  It is not about you but rather the effect you have on others.  Do they model your methods and/or leadership? Do they work hard at developing their own leadership style?

Change-phobic.

When an aversion to change shows up in leadership it can be a growth barrier.  This type of leader hates changes even if it means more sound results. However, an almost perfect leader requires constant change. Today’s businesses are caught up in a highly dynamic digital structure brought by technology and the Internet. Having an open mindset will allow a high degree of creativity and technological advance to sustain your business.

Fixed Methodology.

The idea of sameness is, indeed, effective as it upholds certain company standards and policies. However, it curtails innovation and flexibility. It allows no room for mistakes and often, puts a lot of creative thinkers in a tightly locked box. Innovation and creativity is the essence of great leadership. To be most effective, it’s essential to consistently discover ways to improve your business practices. The more your process evolves with the changing time, the more productive your results.

Risk Averse.

Many leaders delve into cost-cutting and risk management leading to opportunities lost. Instead of concentrating on the “risks” and “costs”, it is more important to shift concentration on how much ROI. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t spend without caution.  But your focus should be on what you will accomplish with said dollars you spend. This gives more leeway to stretch your team capabilities.

So, which habit do you continue to manifest today? Share your thoughts with me by writing to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.

06 Mar
Grow Your Business

How Social Is Your Business?

It’s March, 2019, raise your hand if you are still saying you don’t have time for social media? How social is your business? Perhaps you don’t see the value in social media for your business.  And, if that’s the case, I would love to persuade you to reconsider. 

Without a social media strategy you are under-utilizing social media. How will you achieve your goals without identifying your target audience and knowing what they want? And posting to be posting will soon overwhelm you.   Plus, you are trailing behind your business competitors.  Even worse, leaving revenue behind.  

Social media gives you an all access pass to directly connect to prospects, customers, business partners and brand champions. Facebook has more than 1.8 billion monthly active users. But, it takes more than a Facebook post or an active Twitter account to call yourself an active social media marketer. You must get involved and connect with your target audience. Use your expertise and conversation skills to make each moment count. Doing so will boost your brand in the digital market.

Whatever your choice, it’s essential for businesses to begin using more social media. If you are selling products or services, you will find the largest blend of demographics on social media. Thus, being able to sell almost anything once you find your audience. To see the results you need, you’ll meed a bit of patience and perseverance. Build a community around your business. Then learn more about them.  It’s super important that you are taking advantage of the marketing tools available to you.  I love Hootsuite because I can schedule and go.  The Repost App is another favorite.  

Either way, if you are ready to get social with your business, I am here to help. My social media mastermind is designed to keep you in front of your audience and humanize your brand. Let’s tell your story and ensure your audience learns more about your brand value? Schedule your discovery call and let’s grow. 

02 Feb
Grow Your Business, Productivity

Effective Business Conversation and Confidence Boosters

One of the most important aspects of growth is communication. Learning effective business conversation and confidence boosters is more than good grammar. It’s how you carry yourself in a conversation and the way you conduct the conversation with clients, customers and peers. Effective communication has endless business value. So, here are a couple things you can do to improve your business conversation:

  1. Don’t just listen, pay attention. When in a conversation, be attentive to what’s being said and respond accordingly. Be an authentic, sincere and emphatic listener. To confirm what you have heard, use confirming sentences like “what I hear you saying”.
  2. Practice a collaborative mindset. Unless it’s a presentation, try not to be the only one talking or providing context. Of course, no one is perfect.  There will be times that you get lost in the moment.  That’s when the conversation monologues begin. Pause and ask for feedback—and don’t waste words by beating around the bush. Simplify what you’re saying and, most importantly, don’t monopolize the conversation.
  3. Streamline communication with digital tools. Some people rely only on their emails and smartphones to communicate. Others make good use of social media messenger services to serve the purpose. There is also Skype and other video messaging services that allow you to digitally converse. Though personal conversation is the key using the appropriate communication tools enhance connectivity.
  4. When there’s a need to talk about sensitive issues, do it asap. When making decision, resolving conflicts, addressing complaints and other negative aspect of business – the sooner you talk about it, the better. Prolonging the conversation is a recipe for disaster. And, prevent communication breakdown by sharing all the information.
  5. Be attentive to the other person’s quirkiness. In business, you will meet an assortment of personalities. And even without personality differences, everyone shares differently. Be attentive to the details and try to do a little research before the conversation. These efforts will allow you to better grasp the situation. As a result, you will have a more enjoyable conversation.
  6. Inject humor to your discussion. Laughter is the best medicine. Many communication experts are known for their suave ways of injecting humor to every conversation. They make others laugh and, in the process, create a personable ease to the conversation.
  7. Go the extra mile. Small talk is essential when building excellent conversational skills. However, ditch the weather facts and be more intentional with your talks. Work on discovering interesting topics to discuss. Listen to podcasts or stream information applicable to your conversations. As a result, increasing your business intelligence opens new perspectives for you and your business.

In short, your winning attitude is an important aspect in learning effective business conversation. Be open-minded and flexible. The results are worth the investment in learning. So, are you are ready to grow your conversational skills and learn the secret to great conversational skills? Schedule your discovery call, today.

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