March 2016 - Strange & Charmed

Month: March 2016

Entrepreneurial: March, a Month in Repose

Welcome back for another installment of Entrepreneurial, my monthly journal entry chronicling my experience as an entrepreneur, my victories and failures each month, and the lessons learned along the way.

March, a Month in Repose

I started off this month on vacation, and I’m ending the month in what can only be described as a state of repose. This month I challenged myself to work a little differently, to hustle less and focus on just the essential business activities that I thought would move the needle so I could make more room for my life and the things I want to do more of. It was an interesting experiment. I ended up working far less than I normally do, to the extent that I actually got a little scared I wasn’t doing enough of the basics to get by. However, I think I discovered some great insights that will help me to be more strategic with where I put my time and energy in the future. Let’s run down what I did and didn’t do this month and what I’ve learned from this little test!

What I Didn’t Do

1. I didn’t create heaps of new content! I only really wrote a few new blog posts for this month and then reposted or updated old content. I also didn’t stress about YouTube videos, only posting three videos that are public on my channel, although I did also host a live webinar which was by reservation only. I’m beginning to think that perhaps I’ve been putting out much to much content and that it’s really not moving the needle for me anymore than some basic updates might.

2. I didn’t create any new products. This marks month number two without new products. Now, part of this is because I’ve not been feeling the creativity juices flowing, and part of this is because I know I have been creating new products month over month for over a year and it’s time for a rest! This month I focused more on promoting my existing products, which is an essential activity I tend to forget about.

3. I didn’t allow distractions. Okay, so this doesn’t mean I was able to avoid all distraction, but I did a good job distancing myself from the things that distract me regularly. This month I turned off certain notifications that always seem to sideline me, I ignored emails until I was ready to deal with them, and I stopped letting certain things steal my time. When I worked, it was in short bursts with just a few things to do, and when I rested, I turned my brain off from work. There was actually a few instances where I went a period of days without my mind turning to business while I was “out of office”. I think that’s a win!

What I Did Do

1. I thought about where I want to focus my effort and for me, that’s marketing. Like I said earlier, I have been creating products for a while and haven’t been spending enough time promoting them. So this month I created a valuable new marketing asset for myself, which is my new 5 Pillars Webinar that outlines my personal business strategy of Empire Building.

2. I took time off. Again, this month started on vacation, and is ending on a period of rest. I think I realistically only worked two weeks this month, and then spent the rest of the time “in repose” as I like to call it. I also got sick this month, but luckily it only ended up eating into my plans for rest and personal time, so it wasn’t a major inconvenience. I also spent a good amount of time this month cooking delicious dinners for my husband and myself. Cooking is one of the things I enjoy doing but I haven’t seem to have the time to do recently. So, in cutting back on my work, I am opening my time to do more things I love, like cooking!

3. I interacted and shared with my community. This month, I have been on SnapChat A LOT! Although I haven’t been creating new content to share on my site or channel, I have been doing a lot of impromptu content creation and sharing with my community which I think has really supplemented my normal content creation. I’ve always been of the mind that time spent talking to my audience and helping them is better than time spent on a blog post because I really value that human connection, and SnapChat has really opened me up to my followers in a way that allows them to see more of me and my life, and have easy access to me.

What I learned

1. Content is great, but once you have built up a massive library of posts, videos, etc, you don’t need to continue to produce lots of new content every week. Reworking old content or taking one content idea and breaking it into smaller pieces to share can keep you from overloading your audience with new ideas.

2. Progress comes from taking action. Of course this seems logical, but for myself, and perhaps for some of you, I know that I keep thinking things will change on their own. I tell myself “Once I get to this point, I’ll be able to take time off,” or “If I finish this project, I’ll have time for that.” The problem is, unless you take action to change your routine, once you get to whatever point you expected would be the tipping point, things just don’t change on their own. That includes things like wishing for a creative streak to hit. I spent a good amount of time this month waiting for a creative streak to hit me and it never did. That wasn’t because I’m out of creativity, but it’s because I needed to take action and stimulate my creativity in order to see the result. Sitting around watching TV isn’t going to inspire you to do your best creative work, but taking action and making progress will!

3. It’s really important to trust in the process. The idea of trusting the process is almost like a canned business concept that I have memorized and on repeat but goes in one ear and out the other. Obviously, with taking a good amount of time off this month, I was worried that I wasn’t doing enough to ensure my business would survive the month, but it did, and that’s because I did the right things instead of doing all the things. Once you know what the right things are, you can execute and then just trust in the process that they will work. Spoiler, if they don’t work, you either having given them enough time to work or they weren’t the right things. This can be hard to distinguish so I advise patience! Everything in business is trial and error, and I’ve spent enough years ‘doing and failing’, and ‘doing and progressing’ to know when I’m doing the right things for my business.

I hope you have enjoyed this months edition of Entrepreneurial. I changed the format around a bit with this post, so let me know if you like this better or if you prefer the old journal entry style better! I’d also love to hear from you and what you learned this month in your business, so please feel free to share in the comments below!

xoxo,

lifestyle

Recharge this Weekend with these Tips

Since we have a holiday weekend coming up this week, many of us are likely enjoying some extra time off. So, I wanted to share with you some tips for recharging over the weekend because as an adult, it’s so easy to run yourself ragged during the week and then repeat the process over the weekend, when you should really be focusing on rest. Hope these tips help you as much as they help me!

1. Go to Bed Early: I know it’s the weekend and you are probably thinking you can stay up later and then sleep in, but often this plan makes you less productive and gives you a less rested feeling, especially if you sleep in a room with a window where your body can tell when it is day time! Try getting to sleep a few hours early and see how it makes you feel in the morning. You will most likely find that you will wake up earlier and feel the need to be more productive the next day!

2. Avoid Salty or Fatty Foods: Again, the weekend is notorious for being the time of the week when we like to “cheat” by eating take out or fried foods, but that extra salt and fat can make you feel dehydrated and worn out. It’s almost like giving your body a hangover once Monday comes! I’m not saying that you have to eat super healthy, but just eat normal foods that have been prepared in a healthful way!

3. Drink Lots of Water: During the week we are often too busy to drink all the water our bodies need to remain properly balanced and hydrated, so make a conscious effort over the weekend to drink more than enough water. Start your day with a big glass of water or two and replace soda’s or other drinks with water during meals and throughout the day! Your body will thank you!

4. Get in some Meditation: Meditation is a great way to relax and recharge your mind and body! It doesn’t have to be too intense, but just take some time in the morning when you wake up or before you go to bed at night and just sit or lay down on your bed and breathe consciously. Listen to your breath and even throw in some positive thoughts while you are at it and in about 10-20 minutes you will feel a real difference!

5. Turn Off things that Beep: Sometimes I think that our notifications are slowly driving us insane and making us all way to tense. Think about it, your body knows there is going to be some notification or call that comes in from your phone at least once or twice an hour so it’s secretly bracing itself! Let your body and mind fully relax for a while by spending the weekend with your notifications off. I think you will reach a new level of peace you never even knew existed!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 23rd, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Winter Skin Hydration

I don’t know about you, but I suffer from terrible dry skin in the winter! I have naturally dry skin, so it gets worse when the weather is cold and dry and the wind is brutally whipping around on my face! Ugh! So, naturally, I have an arsenal of products that I use to help combat that extra dry winter skin and so I thought I would share those products with you! Oh and lucky for you, all these items can be found at Sephora!

1. Caudalie Grape Water: This is basically an aerosol can that sends a mist of hydrating grape water onto your skin. In the summer, I use a variation of this available from Evian, but for the winter, nothing is better than this extra hydrating grape water. It refreshes your skin and coats it with nutrient rich grape water that locks in hydration. Apparently, it makes your skin 127% more hydrated, but stats aside, it’s a great product for daily use!

2. Korres Greek Yoghurt Sleeping Facial: This Greek Yoghurt line from Korres is relatively new and immensely hydrating. If you are not familiar with the idea of a sleeping facial, this is basically a very rich night cream that you put on before bed and it super hydrates your skin while you sleep! An excellent overnight remedy for dry winter skin!

3. Dior Creme de Rose Lipbalm: I am a major fan of the Creme de Rose and I wear it day and night! It’s a thick and luxurious balm that has a nice rose scent, but it’s not overly sticky and it lasts all night long! And I mean all night long! You go to bed in this, and you still wake up with a nice layer of it on your lips! Very hydrating and nourishing!

4. L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream: L’Occitane probably makes some of the worlds best hand creams, and their Shea Butter formula is probably the best all around. The shea butter is a nice scent without being overpowering and the quality of the hand cream is lasting and healing to dry skin! An overall great product!

What are some of your winter must haves or dry skin cures? Have you tried any of these products and perhaps had a different reaction? Let us know in the comments!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 27th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Building Self Confidence | 3 Steps to Self Love

Self love is something that many people struggle with throughout their lives. Women especially, find self acceptance to be a challenge in a world that is constantly sending them the message that they are too fat or not pretty enough or not smart enough or spend too much money on shoes! Through all the noise the world throws at us, we must learn to listen to our inner voice and drown out the external crap! One excellent way to understand your positive qualities or learn to accept your not no positive qualities is through affirmations. Telling yourself everyday that you are a beautiful and unique person, or that you have an opinion that matters in this world is a very powerful tool to increase your self love and self awareness.

So, today’s post is going to walk you through identifying the areas in your life that need highlighting, creating your own self love speak, and keeping up with the self love talk as a daily reminder of your awesomeness!

Step 1: Identifying the Opportunity for Self Love

Do you find yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself often? Do you get embarrassed to do things or wear things or say things because you think others will put you down for it? Well, the first step to giving yourself the love you deserve is to identify those things you are afraid to do and understand what the issue is behind it. Do you perhaps not like to wear short sleeves in public because you don’t like the way your arms look? Well, thats a body image issue, particularly pinpointed at your arms. Are you afraid to give your opinion on an issue at school or at work or with your friends, afraid that you will say something that sounds dumb? That’s a confidence issue aimed right at your intellect. Spend some time thinking about what you are afraid or hesitant to say or do and identify the root of the issue. Once you have the root or roots (because most people have more than one issue) you can move on to step two.

Step 2: Sweet Talking Yourself

Once you have identified the sensitive issues in your life that you want to work on, write them down in a notebook or on a piece of paper and sit or stand in front of a mirror. Imagine that you didn’t have the issue and you were the positive mirror image of it. If your issue is that you have a problem with your body weight, imagine yourself at your goal weight and with the body of your dreams. Imagine that version of yourself looking back at you in the mirror. What would you say to that person? Give that person every compliment you can think of, every positive thought you wish you could give yourself if only your flaws were wiped away. Write down all those compliments in your notebook.

Step 3: Read the Writing on the Wall

At this point, you should have a page or pages of compliments that you gave your positive mirror image self. Reread through these compliments and find two or three that really stand out and strike a chord with you. Then, take out a bright shade of lipstick or a dry erase marker and write those compliments on your mirror. Condense the wording if you need to, combine them to get them to fit, but pen those words directly in front of you on that mirror and leave them there. Everyday when you go to that mirror to put on your makeup or evaluate yourself, you will be face to face with that positive mirror image of yourself in words. Read your compliments everyday as often as you can. Read them when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Eventually, you will start to believe what you are reading!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 18th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

Business

How to Execute Business Plans!

Last Wednesday I hosted a solo episode of the #GLAMPIRECHAT where I discussed my process, systems and tools for executing business plans. Getting things done for my business happens to be one of my strong suits and in this hour and a half long live chat, I explained my methods and answered your questions live. If you weren’t able to make the chat, you are in luck because not only do I have the replay up on my YouTube channel, but I have also put together a recap of the chat that I am sharing with you today!

Who is this information for?

Anyone who has a hard time executing on projects and plans for their business, whether that’s a full time or #sidehustle situation. Also, hopefully this information will jumpstart you and inspire you into action. My hope is that this post and the coordinating video become a resource for you, that you save it, bookmark it, and come back to it anytime you need inspiration to act and start or complete a project!

What will you learn from this information?

How I get things done and execute consistently. My process, systems and tools for getting things done for my business. If you have a business project sitting on the back burner, or want to accomplish a major project for your business but aren’t sure how to go about starting, this information will provide a blueprint of sorts for you to follow through on your tasks!

1. You need to have plans to execute on & an organization method to keep track of them.

Brainstorm your plans and projects: Start with a question you would like to answer or a problem you would like to solve and brainstorm possible solutions that you can turn into a plan for a project! RESOURCE: Watch my Project & Goal Planning Video for a How-To!
Keep a designated notebook or section in your planner where you can keep track of your ideas and plans: Keep track of all your ideas and project plans in this dedicated spot. RESOURCE: Need a project planning kit?
Frequently refer back to this information: Keep this list up to date and relevant. You want to ensure you are executing on your best ideas!

2. Choose from your best ideas so you know what projects to execute first.

Define your values: What values do you want your project to embody? Are you concerned with cost, environmental impact, timeliness, or accessibility? Are collaboration, joy, or simplicity things you want expressed by this project? RESOURCE: Understanding how to establish focus through values.
Rate your ideas: Grade your ideas A, B, C, D & F based on which ideas embody your values and feel like the best ideas for you.
Make your A list: Don’t discard any of your B-F ideas, but make a new list with just the A ideas. These are the ideas you will want to start with.
Extrapolate action steps for each of your A ideas: For each A idea make a list of all the steps you would need to take to execute the idea and any plans or ideas you may also have that go along with it.
Ask yourself, which idea feels most complete: After making the lists for each, decide which idea feels most complete and you are most excited about getting started with. If your project doesn’t ignite a passion within you, it’s probably not worth the time to execute it!

3. Make a project plan.

Set a time frame for your project: Err on the side of caution and be a little more liberal with your time frame, but also keep in mind Parkinson’s Law which states “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
Define what it is that you are trying to accomplish: You want to be very clear as to the purpose or mission of this project so that you don’t get derailed or wrapped up in items that may not be as important for its completion.
Keep track of the resources you need: Make a list of the resources, people, places, books, or tools that you may need to have on hand. If you can assemble these resources ahead of time, even better!
Define your reward: Any incentive you give yourself to complete your project is a good idea. Choose something that will motivate you but is also reasonable to the task at hand.

4. Schedule it + Do it!

Schedule blocks of time to work on your project: I find that 2-4 hour blocks are best. Stealing an hour here or there may work for small tasks, but overall, give yourself a scheduled block(s) of time to work on your tasks.
Get an accountability partner: Find someone, either a friend, coworker, or family member to keep you accountable for your tasks and plans. RESOURCE: Empire Building includes a built in accountability system, consider signing up to have a supportive community for your business goals!
Track your work & successes: When you do complete blocks of work, make sure to track it and keep track of the items you completed. This will help you in two ways. First, it will help you to stay motivated as you complete your project because it will be harder for you to forget all the progress you have made. Second, it will help you to understand the time it takes you to complete certain tasks. Having this information will make it easier for you to understand your time frame for completion and make adjustments as necessary.

5. Get out of your own way!

Perfectionism has no place in business: Try not to let any perfectionist tendencies get in your way. Things can always be done better and improved upon later. Don’t dwell on this and just make steady progress to completing your project.
Pull down roadblocks & excuses: Many people find it hard to get projects completed because they are putting up a number of blocks to their own path and make excuses for why they can’t do this or that task necessary for their project. If you find that you are making excuses or listing reasons for you to avoid doing your work, you need to acknowledge this and move past it. RESOURCE: 3 Ways to Overcome Resistance.
Believe in yourself, your abilities and your business: In order to be successful in any endeavor, one must have a sense of confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself and your abilities, you won’t get far in completing the tasks necessary for executing your plans. I firmly believe that if you have confidence in yourself and give a committed try to your tasks, you will find success in all that you do!
Have fun: If you aren’t having fun with your work, there is a problem. Starting and running a business isn’t for everyone and it’s important to know yourself and to understand when hesitation is occurring out of fear of failure vs out of lack of interest in your project. Get real with yourself because going down a road you weren’t meant for or don’t enjoy won’t make you happy. Their are much easier ways to make money than starting and running your own business venture.

Now, if you found this information to be helpful, you may also be interested in watching the full episode of the #GLAMPIRECHAT here! In the video I cover this information, as well as a number of excellent questions from my community, which you may find helpful!

If executing your business plans is a priority to you, I also want to let you know about my upcoming Free Webinar on my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Online Business! I’ll be reviewing the 5 Pillars of my Empire Building Program and giving you strategies and insights you can use immediately to start building your brand online, PLUS I’ll be sharing a special limited time offer for the 1 Year Birthday of the program that you won’t want to miss if you are interested in signing up!

Click here to reserve your spot for this informative FREE Webinar Training Live coming up and to also access the replay and downloads! Hope to see you there live!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on July 2nd, 2015 and is being republished for the 2016 Empire Building Relaunch!

Business

The Steps Every Business Owner Must Take Before Going Full Time

Last week I shared the story of how I left my job, built my online business and replaced my salary all in six months and many of you told me that you wanted me to share some more details on how you could make the transition to full time for yourself. So, today I am sharing some steps that I believe you must take before you make the leap!

1. Become financially stable: Thankfully, my husband and I have been prioritizing our financial situation since the first day we started living together. I don’t think I could have gone full time for my own business without knowing that our finances were in order, and I would never advise anyone to leave the security of a full time job to work for themselves until their debt to income ratio was balanced. As a business owner, the amount of money you tend to make reflects the amount of time and effort you are putting into your business and knowing where you stand financially and how much money you need to bring it each month to live comfortably is crucial.

2. Have a savings cushion: When I went full time, my husband and I made sure we had enough money in the bank so that we could live comfortably in the event that my business failed and he lost his job. Now this may seem like an extreme scenario, but in today’s economy, nothing is guaranteed, and we needed to make sure we would be okay in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Obviously, the amount of money you need in the bank and what I need may be different, which is why you need to make sure you are financially stable and have a strong understanding of your finances before making the leap to a full time business owner yourself.

3. Establish income proof: As I discussed in my personal story, I set a goal for myself to hit with the income I was generating from my business. I wanted to make X amount of money a month in order to prove to myself that my business would work and that I could succeed. So many people think they should concept a business, leave their job and then get to work on their idea, however, I think it’s important to start your business while you have the security of a full time or part time job so that you can prove that your idea works and that you have a sense that you can indeed make money from your business.

4. Have a financial plan: I would like to go deeper into this idea of financial planning as a small business owner at a later time, but I do believe that having a financial plan in place for how you intend to save for retirement and even cover the cost of health insurance for yourself or your family is very important. Since my husband does work full time, his job did cover our health insurance so I knew that wasn’t going to be a problem for me when I made the transition, but you need to evaluate your own situation and understand what financial strain your transition could have and make a plan to combat it!

5. Find a support system: Whenever you are trying something new in life its great to have a support system in place to make sure you continue to stay inspired and feel like you and your work matter. You have two ways to approach this. If you are lucky enough, you may find real life support, this could be a spouse, partner, family or friends, but for many of us, our friends and family don’t always understand or relate to our entrepreneurial goals. If this is the case for you, you can always look to finding support online through business coaching programs and groups where like minded entrepreneurs can gather together to support each other. My online business program, Empire Building, has really been that support for me and the dozens of members of the program as well who are committed to building their business and community online by supporting each other! If you are looking for a supportive entrepreneurial community, I invite you to take a look at Empire Building to see if it fits your needs and learning style, but whatever you choose, I do suggest having that system in place to keep you mentally strong for the long and hard journey of small business ownership that you have in front of you!

If Empire Building sounds interesting to you, I want to let you know about my upcoming Free Webinar on my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Online Business! I’ll be reviewing the 5 Pillars of the Empire Building Program and giving you strategies and insights you can use immediately to start building your brand online, PLUS I’ll be sharing a special limited time offer for the 1 Year Birthday of the program that you won’t want to miss if you are interested in signing up!

Click here to reserve your spot for this informative FREE Webinar Training Live coming up and to also access the replay and downloads! Hope to see you there live!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 13th, 2015 and is being republished for the 2016 Empire Building Relaunch!

Business

5 Common Social Media Mistakes that can Devastate Your Business + 1 Resource that can Help You Repair the Damage and Grow in a Positive Direction!

When it comes to using social media as a business owner to gain customers, amass a following and ultimately grow your business, there is a lot of conflicting information on the right and wrong strategies to use. Things change so quickly online and you may very well be using a strategy that is not just outdated and ineffective, but actually damaging to your business. As an online business consultant, many clients come to me when they are at a loss for how to proceed with their online presence after weeks, months or even years of effort have left them feeling desperate, uninspired, and with little to no following. Over and over again I hear many of the same common mistakes being made with social media strategy, and today I want to highlight five of the most common mistakes I hear about that can really ruin your business reputation and leave your business behind the times in terms of social media. If any of these examples sound like you, don’t worry! There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I also want to share with you 1 resource that can help you reverse any damage you may have unintentionally caused to your business and get your numbers growing in a positive direction!

1. Paying for follows or likes

Paying for followers is an antiquated practice that is unfortunately still touted as online business cannon by a few misguided online marketers. Not only is paying for follows a useless way to build a following online, on many platforms it is actually against the rules! When you pay for your followers, you aren’t actually getting a customer base of people who are there to interact with you and buy from your business, you are simply getting names on a screen that essentially do nothing but cost you money. When it comes down to it, you may think it makes your business look better to have a solid number of followers, but people aren’t blind. When they see the large follower count and little to no interaction, they are going to realize something is up. Don’t make this mistake, save your money and apply it to real investments for your business like the resource shared at the end of this post if you are truly concerned about looking good on social platforms!

2. Posting inconsistently

One of the hardest parts of running a business is developing a sense of trust with your customers. It can take a lifetime to earn and seconds to destroy, especially in the fast paced world of online marketing. When businesses use social media platforms inconsistently, they aren’t just creating a scenario that makes it hard for them to attract new followers and potential customers, but they are also putting a big fat label on their business that says “we are inconsistent and you can’t trust us!” Unfortunately, when it comes to using social media for your business, the idea of doing something rather than nothing doesn’t actually apply. In this case it is better for you to stay silent than to open your mouth only to put your foot in it! So, if you are using social media inconsistently, you need to quickly reevaluate your platforms and decide if you need to take a step back and take on less in order to provide consistency and quality on the platforms on which you do choose to engage!

3. Ignoring your comments

As a business, ignoring the comments and messages of your followers is akin to walking away from a customer in mid sentence. If you are lucky enough to be receiving engagement from your audience, it means you are doing something right and have a high chance of making a sale. Don’t just walk away from the followers that are engaging with you. Make sure to carve out time in your schedule to reply to messages and comments from your fans, and of course to share and like an content they post about you!

4. Playing in your own yard

You may think that the purpose of a business developing different social media platforms is so they can use them to communicate with their community. However, when all you ever do is use your own platforms to converse with your customers and followers, you miss opportunities to engaged and attract new customers and followers from everywhere else online! Now, I’m not saying that you have to interact with people all over the web, but the best strategy for building your following involves leaving your own space. It’s so important for businesses to interact with each other and make an appearance on other people’s platforms. This could be through a guest post, a collaboration or even just interacting in the comments of another community with the same ideal customer base, but you need to put your business out there!

5. Not optimizing across platforms

The final very common mistake that businesses make when using social media is that they treat every platform the same when they should be using each to their own strengths! Your website and blog should be treated differently than your Instagram account, just as Twitter does not operate under the same conditions as Facebook. If you are going to use multiple platforms for your business, it’s important to learn the differences of each and how to optimize the content you post to each so that you are maximizing the effort you’re spending in each area!

This 1 Resource can help You Repair the Damage and Build Your Following!

Now, like I mentioned earlier, if you believe you are making one or more of these extremely common social media mistakes in promoting your business online, the good news is that things can be done to repair the damage and restore the reputation of your business online. So now I’d like to tell you about one resource that is the equivolent of the “easy button” when it comes to learning about and understanding how to use social media effectively for your online business, and that resource is Empire Building!

Empire Building is my flagship online business program that teaches you the ins and outs of using social media to build a business online using tried and true strategies and techniques. You don’t need to spend time you don’t have researching social media platforms and learning how to use each efficiently, within Empire Building, I give you all the information you need to know to get started using these platforms the right way so that you are moving the needle in your business!

If you haven’t heard, all 5 of my Empire Building Blueprints (workbooks that include information and worksheets that teach you everything you need to know about building your online business) are published and now is the perfect time to join the program if you want to jumpstart success with your social platforms! The 5 Blueprints include:

Branding
Communication
Community Building
Advertising
and Income

When you sign up for Empire Building, not only do you get access to my 5 Empire Building Blueprints, my dedicated Facebook community for group coaching and unlimited Q&A access to me, but now you also get 4 additional Upgrade Blueprints as a special bonus! The bonus upgrades include:

Creating Click-Worthy Headlines
Pricing Strategies that Sell
Creating Your Business Plan
and Email List Building Basics

Click here to reserve your spot for this informative FREE Webinar Training Live coming up and to also access the replay and downloads! Hope to see you there live!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 17th, 2015 and is being republished for the 2016 Empire Building Relaunch!

Online Business

How to Balance a #SIDEHUSTLE with Your 9 to 5

How to Balance a #SIDEHUSTLE with Your 9-5

I spent 6 years working on my business as a side hustle before I ever dreamed of taking my business full time! If you aren’t familiar with the term, a side hustle is when you have a 9-5 job (or equivalent) and then you have a project you are working on in your free time that is your own. Usually, when we talk side hustles, we mean a business we are running on the side as though it were a second job that may one day become our full time gig, but not always. It can also refer to a volunteer project or cause you are passionate about that you never intend to make any money from but just enjoy doing in your spare time. Whatever your side hustle may be, in order to give that project our full attention and really get the most out of it so that it can one day become more if we wish it to, I have a few tips to impart upon you as someone who has been there, done that and built a full time business from it! This is not the story of how I left my full time job for my side hustle, if you want to read that you can here. This post covers the important things you need to know and focus on to successfully balance your 9-5 job and your side hustle so that you can do both effectively!

Get Clear on Your Business Vision

The first thing you really need to understand when trying to balance a full time job with a side hustle is the vision for your side hustle. Is this something you want to make money doing? Is this something you want to become your full time job? What exactly are you trying to accomplish with your side hustle? What key activities do you need to accomplish to make your side hustle happen? You may not have a 5 or 10 year plan laid out for this yet, but having a well rounded sense of what you are doing and why is important!

Set goals

Once you understand your vision, you need to set some goals for your side hustle! Goals in terms of your output and the activities you will perform on a weekly basis, as well as goals for input in terms of results you are seeking. For example, when I started my side hustle, it was just a blog in the beginning that didn’t have much direction or any goals, but once I set the goal to blog three times a week, my blog really started to take off because I was putting in consistent effort. Simultaneously, I had set goals for my blog in terms of monthly page views, at first I set those goals low, 1,000 page views a month, and once I hit that goal, I raised it to 5,000, then 10,000 etc! Setting goals for output as well as input are important to help you keep an eye on your results to ensure you are moving your side hustle along!

Make a simple project plan

When you have a full time job and a side hustle time can get very tight, so I think it’s always best to keep your side projects as simple as possible. Don’t put too much on your plate at one time or else you will get overwhelmed and one or both of your jobs will be negatively affected. For example, if you want to start an Etsy shop, keep your products as simple as possible. Don’t bite off more than you can chew by adding dozens and dozens of different items to your shop. Focus on producing a few items perfectly and promoting them regularly on the social media platform of your choice instead of spending all your time creating new items and leaving yourself no time for promotion.

Block out time to work on your side hustle

Time management is an essential skill you must master if you want to successfully pull off a 9-5 and a side hustle, and I am often asked how I was able to balance my full time job with all my social media promotion, blogging and YouTube video production before I went full time. The answer is that I blocked out time in my schedule to complete my activities. I spent some time a few evenings a week and usually one weekend day to get done my essential activities. Again, because I kept my projects simple and set goals, I knew what needed to be done and set aside the time to do it. If you are setting aside time for your side hustle but find that you aren’t accomplishing much, you may need to simplify your projects so that you have less on your plate.

Track your results

Now, the final thing you need to do to ensure your side hustle is successful is to track the results of the goals you set. You first need to make sure you are doing all the output that you said you would do because action is the only way you will move your business forward. Once you have tracked that you are completing the necessary output activities, you need to check the effectiveness of those activities against your input goals or results. Are you moving the needle week by week and month by month? You can’t expect huge amounts of growth overnight, but as long as you see growth from your actions, you know you are on the right path! But, if you go week after week with little to no growth, you may need to reevaluate your project plan and your output goals to ensure you are actually performing the right activities that will get you the results you are looking for.

Remember, it’s not easy balancing a 9-5 with a side hustle, it takes a lot of determination and clear expectation to manage both and most importantly, to make progress with your side hustle! It took me over 6 years to turn my side hustle into a full time career, mostly because it took me that long to learn all the strategies of online business and marketing that would eventually help me to create the business I wanted to run! If you are still on the hunt for strategies that will help you master online marketing for yourself, I welcome you to sign up for my upcoming Free Webinar Training covering my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Online Business!

Sign up to get more details, access to the Live event, as well as to the event replay! Hope to see you there!

xoxo,

Online Business

“This is My Dream, NOT My Nightmare!” Two Recent Interviews to Check Out!

Hello my Strange & Charmed Ones!

I’m checking in mid-week with you all because I wanted to share a few recent interviews I did that I really wanted you to check out. I know you are used to hearing about my business in my content from my point of view, but I always think reading or listening to interviews are always a different experience because I’m not the one controlling the questions and the content so sometimes you get some unexpected tidbits of knowledge.

CHECK OUT MY PODCAST INTERVIEW ON BOSS GIRL CREATIVE

I connected with Taylor Bradford of BossGirlCreative.com after she interviewed our mutual friend, Anne Samoilov, last summer! In this podcast interview, we talk a lot about vision (or lack thereof), business planning and the joy of passive income streams! Check out the podcast here and I hope the Boss Girl Creative Podcast becomes one of your new fav’s as well!

CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW IN CREATIVE BUSINESS MAVEN MAGAZINE!

Lindsay Maloney from Creative Business Maven Magazine recently reached out to me for an interview in their March 2016 issue where we talk about planners, printables, business and more starting on page 28!

I hope you guys get a lot of inspiration and a little more behind the scenes from these two interviews! Let me know what you think in the comments and if you want more behind the scenes from my business, follow me on SnapChat as MissTrenchcoat, because I am snapping up a storm!

xoxo,

Online Business

How I 4x’d My Social Following and 6x’d My Revenue! My 2015 Business Results!

Last week I told you about an upcoming Free Webinar Training I am hosting on the 20^th where I will be teaching you my 5 Pillar System for Building a Successful Business Online. I hope you had a chance to review that information and of course sign up to get access to both the Live event and the replay because this webinar is going to be packed with great information if you are someone who wants to start an online business or has already done so, but needs help getting it off the ground! I think it’s only fair, however, that if you are going to spend your precious time with me learning, that I explain to you how much this system has helped me to grow my own business. After all, I am asking you to trust me and to follow my example and I think it’s important that you know what I was able to accomplish with this method so you can understand what you too may be able to accomplish with the successful application of these strategies. So today, I am going to open up about my 2015 business results, and walk you through the growth I experienced in multiple aspects of my business.

Social Media Following

First, let’s talk about my social media following and how my presence online increased in 2015. As you may know if you have been following me for some time, I predominantly use Instagram, YouTube and Facebook as social platforms for my business and brand. Although I do have followings on other platforms, followings that have also grown over the year, these three are where I put my attention on a regular basis and therefore I can see a marked increase in growth based on my specific actions.

Instagram

Following January 2015: ~5,000

Following January 2016: 19,291

Strategy: Post high quality images that align with my brand daily. Learn more about my Instagram strategies here.

Results: My Instagram following quadrupled, adding nearly 15,000 followers in 2015!

YouTube

Following January 2015: 10,520

Following January 2016: 42,930

Strategy: Post 1-2 high quality videos a week focusing on productivity, business or personal development. Click here to learn more about my YouTube Filming Setup!

Results: 4x’d my following again in YouTube, gaining 32,000 new subscribers in 2015. This

Facebook Page

Following January 2015: 533

Following January 2016: 3,563

Strategy: Link up my Instagram to Facebook for those who do not use the platform, and share my blog posts and additional updates regularly, using Facebook as a hub for my content for those who are not as tech savvy and follow me on multiple channels online.

Results: This growth is less impressive when compared to the others, I picked up three thousand new likes to my Facebook page, however, that does represent a significant growth of 668% which is VERY impressive. Remember, numbers look good, but growth really shows your progress and for a platform that wasn’t getting any new original content and just acted as a placeholder for my brand, this growth is phenomenal to me!

Blog & Shop Traffic

The next major topic when understanding my business results for 2015 is my blog and shop traffic. Since my shop is my major source of income, it’s important that I practice great SEO techniques to ensure my blog and shop is being found in search and new eyes are coming to my content everyday. My blog and shop are both self hosted, and if you are looking for tips for creating your own professional website you can click here to learn more!

Blog Traffic

2014: 218,096 Sessions 434,011 page views

2015: 601,018 Sessions 1,500,263 page views

Strategy: Set up a visually appealing blog where I share content three times a week that relate to my business and areas of focus to establish myself as an “expert” in my field.

Results: 275% growth in the number of sessions on my blog and more than a million new page views in 2015.

Shop Traffic

2014: 44,146 Sessions (September-December)

2015: 521,779 Sessions

Strategy: Increase activity to the shop by mentioning and linking it in as much revenant content as possible through my blog, social media and YouTube. Search, Pinterest and YouTube are the top 3 referrers to the shop!

Results: 1,181% Growth in my shop from 2014 to 2015, however, 2014 is only a partial year because the shop opened in September. Since it’s growth, the shop has gone through a lot of growth and continues to grow even now in 2016 thanks to my continued marketing efforts! Mind you, my shop is a vast majority passive income, which means I make money even in my sleep!

Income & Revenue

Now to the crux of my 2015 business growth, my income and revenue! In 2015 I added a number of new products to my shop, which helped me to diversify my product line and secure greater sales for my items. However, it was not product diversity alone that helped me increase my revenue, but also my sustained marketing efforts through content creation on my social platforms. If you are looking for some more marketing strategies, you can learn about those here.

2014 VS 2015 Revenue Growth

Q1 15 VS 14: 3,359% Growth

Q2 15 VS 14: 2,653% Growth

Q3 15 VS 14: 2,826% Growth

Q4 15 VS 14: 667% Growth

Strategy: Diversify income streams (Shop, YouTube, Affiliate, Private Consulting) so I have more avenues of money coming in, which protects me if one stream isn’t performing well in a given period of time. Then, market those streams effectively via my platforms!

Results: As you can see from the tremendous growth results above, 2015 was a big growth year for me! Because the shop was not opened until September 2014 I did not have that major revenue source in my business yet, which is why the growth is in the thousands for Q1-3 however, you can see that in Q4 14 once the shop opened and had effectively replaced my income, I still have substantial growth over top of that in 2015!

Overall 2015 Business Results!

As you can see from taking this deep dive into my analytics and revenue growth from 2014 to 2015, last year was a substantial period of growth for my business! I’m very proud of the growth my business has seen in the last year thanks to my sustained implementation of some key online business strategies! I have shared some of these strategies with you in this post and linked even more content for you to review to get a better picture of exactly what I did and why, however, I am looking forward to my upcoming webinar “The 5 Pillar System to Building a Successful Online Business!”

If reading about my business growth in 2015 interested you and you want to learn more about the specific methods and strategies I used to make this amazing growth happen, I would highly recommend signing up for the webinar, it’s FREE and I’ll be sharing both key strategies and a great tool to help you replicate my success!