Month: April 2016

Business

Entrepreneurial: April, Becoming My Best Self

April's Entrepreneurial Journal
Image via Belinda Selene {@PlanWithBelinda IG}

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.

April, Becoming My Best Self

April was a landmark month for me and my personal/business development. I made a lot of big decisions this month and established some new routines that have helped to streamline my life and business. I also attended my first live event as a brand/personality, which was an amazing experience that really taught me a lot about myself. Last month I started a new format for this series where I list out what I did and did not do, as well as what I learned from the month. You seemed to like that change and so did I, so I am going to continue with it for now!

What I Didn’t Do

1. Run a promotion. April was the first month this year that I didn’t run some sort of promotion for my shop. I was really worried that this would mean I wouldn’t make as much in my shop, but actually my revenue for the month held up to other months where I ran big promotions, so I’m glad to see that I don’t need to push myself every month to do something special, just sticking to my everyday marketing plan is enough to keep the needle moving in the right direction.

2. Spend enough time on Instagram. For one reason or another, this month I didn’t Instagram as much as I would have liked. However, out of that I ended up finally defining a regular editorial for my Instagram posts that I was able to implement later on in the month. Having an editorial calendar for Instagram may seem excessive, but like everything in life, a little forward planning can go a long way to simplifying your workload.

3. Stay inside my comfort zone. This month I did something that totally pushed me outside of my comfort zone by attending and speaking at the Southeast PlannerCon in Atlanta! This was something that was planned for months, but it was the first time I made “an appearance” as a brand offline. I was pretty nervous about it going in, but almost immediately my nerves subsided when I started meeting new friends and seeing welcoming faces. It’s amazing how much anxiety you can overcome thanks to the power of human connection!

What I Did Do

1. Stuck to my schedule. Oh yes, I made my schedule and stuck to it, which includes my new block schedule for working on my business day to day. For a long time I wanted to create a schedule where I themed my days by tasks, and I was finally able to accomplish it this month. Not only did I set up a schedule that works, I executed on it the whole month which was a major win for me and it ended up making my life so much easier and actually boosted my work day confidence. I was able to execute on all my essentials during the workday and then relax in the evening thanks to this new schedule.

2. Added value for my customers. So, this month I didn’t launch a new product per se, but I did add a few items to existing products. I was very excited that I added a new iPhone only module to my Digital Styling Lightroom photography course, which was something my customers had expressed much interest in, and I also added a blogging webinar to Empire Building. Focusing on adding value to my existing products instead of creating new ones really felt like a great use of my time because it helps me keep my products fresh and exciting, and establishes a trust between me and my customers. They know I am listening to their concerns and I’m able to better serve them. Win-win!

3. Thought critically about my business. In early April, after the close of March, I performed a quarterly business review. I actually filmed a whole webinar style video on the topic in case you are interested in the process as well, but this review gave me an opportunity to think really critically about my business. I know I’m always thinking about my business in one way or another, but to really sit down and clear out time and space to review all aspects of my business was invaluable to me. Not only did this give me an opportunity to get organized, but it also helped me brainstorm some new content and strategy moving forward into Q2.

What I Learned

1. Networking is a major part of business. As someone who works for themselves from home, I often forget the power of real, face to face networking! It really is all about who you know, and by attending events within your market or niche, you can develop relationships with new people that you wouldn’t have connected with over email. Seriously, I met some amazing women at Southeast Plannercon, some I had even emailed with in the past but it wasn’t until we met face to face that I realized I wanted to work with them. Connecting in person really gives you an opportunity to see a real human side of someone that you may miss in email.

2. Helping others is never a bad idea. Attending PlannerCon was such a different experience for me than my typical day to day work because it really forced me to tap into my best self and step up to help others who truly needed it. I always consider myself a helpful person, but dealing with a live event situation met I had a chance to really use my talents and knowledge to support others who really needed it. Whether it was working out AV issues for a presentation or giving a nervous speaker support and a pep-talk to encourage them, when I help others, I get in touch with my higher self and become the best version of me possible.

3. It’s better to go deeper than wider. When it comes to developing new products in business, I find that once you have your product line defined, there are two ways you can add more to your business. Either by going deeper or going wider. By going deeper, I mean adding more to an existing product, and by going wider I mean adding more products to your line. As I already explained earlier, this month I didn’t launch any new products, instead I added new elements to existing products for additional value. This was the first time I have created something new that took me deeper instead of wider in my product line and it was a great learning experience. For me, I tend to always want to create “new” in my business. Usually that means a new product which is great because I’m adding to my product line, but can sometimes be overwhelming if I feel like I’m adding too many new products to my shop. By going deeper into existing products I can add value and expand on topics I’ve already touched on without cluttering my product line.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Entrepreneurial and perhaps picked up some new insight or a strategy you didn’t think of before. I’d love to hear how your month went, so please let me know what you learned by leaving me a comment down below!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Filofax

Your May Free Planner Printables & Tech Wallpapers are Here!

May 2016 Freebies and Downloads

May is just a few days away and that means its time for some new FREEBIES!

First up is your new May Tech Wallpapers. As everyone knows April showers bring May flowers, so this month I’ve designed a modern floral print filled with some bright colors to remind you to stop and smell the roses. 

31 Things to Do in May

Next up are your TWO Free Printable Planner Inserts that are sized for Filofax A5 and Personal equivalents. The Monthly Dashboard for May is ready for you to print and fill with all your amazing May plans, and your Oh Hello, May insert will help you keep busy this month with a list of 31 things to do in May! Grab both of them in this listing on The Charmed Shop!

As always I hope you enjoy your Freebies for the month and I’d love to see how you are using them, so make sure to snap a picture of your tech gadgets or planners and use  #CharmedGTD in your IG description or tweet, and tag me @MissTrenchcoat in the image as well so everyone in my community can see your May style!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Personal Development

The Key to More Money, Happiness and Productivity!

The Key to More Money, Happiness and Productivity (Link Roundup)

Ready for another fabulous link roundup? This month I have gathered some great reads from around the web to help you with your Business, Personal Development and Productivity! Whether you are interested in boosting your happiness, getting more done with less stress or standing out from the competition in your business, there is something for everyone in this month’s roundup. Enjoy!

Business

Personal Development

Productivity

Hope you find something inspiring to read that motivates you to improve your life, business, productivity or all three! If you have read any great articles that you’d like to share, feel free to leave them down below!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Personal Development

25 Ways to Be Charming

For today’s post I thought I’d do something a little different! I made this lovely little graphic with a list of 25 Ways to Be Charming! I think we could all use a little reminder of these simple things that we can do to be a more pleasant and welcoming person to others. Enjoy!

25 Ways to be Charming

Let me know what you think of this list and feel free to share this graphic with anyone you think will enjoy it!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Online Business

5 Mistake Brands Make when Working with Online Influencers

5 Mistake Brands Make when Working with Online Influencers

5 Mistake Brands Make when Working with Online Influencers

Last week I posted some great PR tips for bloggers, YouTubers and small businesses that were looking to put their best foot forward online in order to attract sponsors or customers, but this week, I want to turn the tables a bit and discuss some best practices for brands or businesses who are looking to solicit online influencers to help promote their products. As a blogger who has worked with sponsors in the past and is often approached by brands for partnerships, you’d be surprised at the mistakes brands and small businesses are making when approaching an influencer. So, I wanted to share with my fellow small business owners the common mistakes I see being made and give some tips for reaching out to bloggers or influencers in a way that will get you a more positive response and better results from the influencer if and when you proceed with a partnership opportunity.

Mistake #1: You don’t do your homework on the influencer!

As a business owner, I understand that when you want to spread awareness of your brand or products you may approach multiple influencers with the mindset that having more options is better than fewer options. However, it’s very important that you really do your homework before you solicit a blogger or influencer and really understand who they are, what they do online and who their audience is. As an influencer, I get dozens of emails a week from small brands that want me to share about their products, however, it’s clear to me when when I read the first paragraph of their emails that the vast majority don’t know who I am and have sent a blanket email to a countless number of bloggers hoping to get a response. These offers are impersonal and often out of line with the context of my blog and I delete them immediately. However, when I receive an email from a brand that clearly knows me and my audience I consider their offer much more seriously and take the time to respond and interact with them. If you are a small business owner, I challenge you to do your homework and make an effort to understand the blogger you are contacting before making them an offer. I promise you will have a much more positive result and in doing your research you may be able to pitch your offer in a personalized way that will impress and flatter them into a partnership!

Mistake #2: You waste time by giving too much or too little information.

After you have done your research on an influencer and decide to reach out, make sure you respect your own time as well as the time of the influencer by keeping your email direct and informative without turning it into a short story. Give the influencer all the information they would need to make a decision on whether they will want to work with you, and make a simple pitch that clearly states your offer and objectives, as well as the benefits you are willing to offer them for their service. Don’t hold back important information or be misleading in order to “hook” a potential partner. When you are upfront with all the information, not only can the influencer make a better decision, but it will help expedite the process if you begin working together.

Mistake #3: You forget that you get what you pay for!

The number 1 mistake a brand or small business can make when working with a blogger or online influencer is that they think they can get something for nothing! I think the practice of soliciting an influencer and offering them free products or social interactions for their work is atrocious. You get what you pay for! If you expect someone to review your products or use their influence to further your brand, you must be willing to pay. Value is an exchange, they do the work and you pay them for it. If you’re not willing to exchange a fair value or their effort, it will end up costing you dearly with your reputation!

Mistake #4: You fail to negotiate.

I understand that for many small businesses, the idea of striking a deal is daunting. It may be our first instinct to approach an influencer with an offer and then if they do not accept the offer, to turn away and pitch the same offer to a new influencer. It’s easier to turn away than it is to open a dialog of negotiation, but if you have spent time doing your homework to identify the influencer you want to work with, negotiating is essential. If your offer is well received, find out what objections the influencer has and edit your offer to overcome them. You don’t have to give it all away, but even just showing that you are willing to discuss the terms of an offer can go a long way to getting someone to agree to those terms.

Mistake #5: You fail to lay out clear expectations.

The final mistake I see small businesses and brands making when working with influencers is that they fail to lay out clear terms on who is doing what and when. A mistake like this could lead to communication issues where the influencer under-performs their responsibilities or the business fails to fulfill their end of the deal, which can lead to disaster if an influencer is left feeling cheated! Make sure to lay out a clear plan that details what each party is responsible for and when delivery of those details are expected. Don’t be afraid to double check details and over communicate in an effort to keep both parties responsible for upholding their end of the partnership!

Now that you understand the 5 most common mistakes I see businesses making when working with influencers online, I hope you can take this information and make better choices when it comes to working with those who can grow your brand. I think bloggers, YouTubers and social media content creators are great resources for the small business community online, and they can be more effective for small business growth than standard advertising or marketing. Just make sure to follow these best practices when working with them for positive results and brand building!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Blogging

How to Build Traffic to Your Site

How to Build Traffic to Your Site

How to Build Traffic to Your Site

When you’re first getting started as a blogger, it’s easy to get obsessed with your site traffic stats and get discouraged if you’re not seeing immediate results. Often times, I find that bloggers may think they are doing all the right things to encourage traffic to their sites like blogging regularly and covering a variety of topics that may interest their ideal audience, however, when it comes to building traffic to a site, you need more than a “if you build it, they will come” mentality. If your site isn’t getting the traffic you would expect or building momentum towards a growing readership, there are a few things you need to work on to make it happen.

Understand your audience & niche

If you want to build significant traffic to your site, you really have to understand your audience and niche! You may have a general idea of who you’re writing for and the people who visit your site, but sometimes, those two groups aren’t the same thing. When it comes to attracting a readership, you need to really understand who is coming to your site right now and why, OR if you aren’t getting much traffic, you need to get very specific with yourself on who you are trying to attract, and what sort of niche content you are able to create that would keep their attention. It’s not enough to write posts you think your ideal audience wants to read, you really need to go out there an make an effort to understand them by finding those individuals and talking to them on a deep and meaningful level about the things they are looking for online. You may think you know, but if you are creating content that isn’t gaining traction, you don’t know. Digging deep with market research will give you insight to help you create niche content that truly attracts your ideal audience.

Write interesting long form blog posts with images and graphics

Trends in blogging have been shifting for some time now and it’s now become evident that longer form blog posts are what readers are looking for. Statistics show 1,500 word posts are a sweet spot, but of course, the gist of this is that you need to be producing highly valuable content which tends to be longer in nature. Writing a 1,500 word journal entry most likely won’t do the trick, instead, you will want to focus on creating content that answers your audiences frequently asked questions, teaches them skills they desire to have or shares insights on topics that they are looking to engage with online. It’s probably not the word count that is keeping people hooked, instead, its the fact that a longer blog post has more information on the topic they are interested in, and a greater chance of keep their attention and turning them into repeat readers who share the helpful content they find. Don’t forget that words alone aren’t the key to engagement, and that if you want to get people’s attention with your posts, you will need to make sure to include illustrative images in the form of blog post headers that help add content to a post topic or informative graphics that add to the quality of the post.

Share your posts on other platforms

If you are looking to build traffic to your site via your content, it’s not enough to write a great post and let it sit their on your site. Without even a small, engaged audience, the likelihood of your great content being seen is slim. Although great SEO practices can help your post turn up in search results, why wait for your audience to come to you when you have the opportunity to bring the content directly to them? That’s why it’s up to you to share that content everywhere you can. Link your posts to Pinterest with one of your great images, tweet about your content using relevant hashtags that will help it get discovered, and of course, link your posts in Facebook where it can be liked, shared and hopefully lead to more traffic.

Find other creators with similar audiences and guest post

When your content alone isn’t helping your traffic grow, a quick fix for instant traffic can be getting yourself in front of the audiences of other creators. This can be especially helpful if you are just getting started because finding a ready-made audience that fits your ideal readership can be a quick way to gain fans and page views. In this situation, you will want to identify other established creators who have relevant followings slightly larger than yours, engage with them, and negotiate a guest posting opportunity. You will need to do most of the work by contacting and pitching a great piece of content to the established creator, but if you can get them to agree to it, you will be able to spread the influence of your content to other corners of the internet.

Locate where your audience interacts online and become an influencer there

There are forums and Facebook groups for a multitude of different communities online, and these established sites are a great place to go to find your ideal audience and direct them back to your site and your content if you take the time to establish yourself as an influencer there. It’s not enough to find a Facebook page and start leaving links to your content. In most cases, actions like that can get you banned or marked as spam, however, if you take the time to get engaged as a true audience member and then interact with as many relevant people as possible on the platform, you will gain the trust of that community and can start directing traffic to your own site. Becoming an influencer on other online communities isn’t really that difficult I find. If you really take a hard look, you will see that with every forum or Facebook group, individuals rise to the top by frequently engaging with the community by being helpful and engaging others. You will need to dedicate time to this effort, but when most people are engaging minimally, you can stand out by engaging often. It wouldn’t be out of the question to go from a complete unknown to a leader of a community online in just a few short weeks or months of dedicated service to that community.

I hope this post gives you some new insights or strategies to help you grow traffic to your blog or site. Remember, if you are putting in the effort and not seeing results after a consistent period of time, you most likely need to adjust something you are doing. I never recommend making major changes to your presence online unless you see you’re making major mistakes, but sometimes little tweaks can yield big results! I also want to make sure you understand that growing a large following of traffic to a site is something that takes time and setting reasonable goals is important to keeping your expectations balanced, but if you find that you are making no traction, something needs to change! Don’t keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. Online, the best strategy for growth is it keep at it and to approach a problem from different directions until a solution is reached!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Business

Financial Planning Tips for Entrepreneurs

Financial Planning Tips for Entrepreneurs

Financial Planning Tips for Entrepreneurs

As I am now coming up on the second annual tax season for my business, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my financial planning tips for other entrepreneurs or small business owners. Financial planning has been a topic that I’ve prioritized for a number of years, but once I became a full time business owner, the responsibility for my finances transitioned from being a task that my employer took care of, to a task that I needed to take over! Tasks like paying taxes, putting money away for retirement, and of course, making sure my business is turning a profit! So today, I want to share some tips and topics that you will want to think about implementing in your own life for business and personal financial success.

Set Financial Goals for Your Business & Personal Savings

To get started on your financial planning journey as an entrepreneur, you first need to set financial goals. For me, I like to set a goal for my yearly income and revenue. On one hand, I set a number for how much income I want to generate and then another number for the amount of money I get to keep after expenses are paid. To me, although I really want to make sure that annual income is high, it’s more important to me that my revenue be high. What I mean by this is that I would rather hit $60,000 in income in a year and get to keep $40,000 of it because I had $20,000 in expenses, as opposed to making $75,000 a year but only keeping $35,000 after $40,000 in expenses. Remember, it takes money to make money, so when you set your financial goals, you need to be realistic in the amount of money you will be spending as well as the money you will bring in. Now, when it comes to your personal savings, luckily this is a little more straight forward because you can determine the amount of money you want to save on an annual basis or you can decide on a percentage of income that you will put away into savings.

Sign up for business checking, savings and credit card accounts

Another financial planning tip I have for you as an entrepreneur is to sign up for business checking, savings and credit card accounts so that you keep your personal money separate from your business money. This is such a time saver when it comes to tracking your income and expenses on a monthly basis. It also makes it easier for you to pay bills and taxes because you can set aside money into savings for big expenses and use a business credit card or check card to autopay your monthly reoccurring expenses.

Track your Income & Expenses on a monthly basis

I think it’s a best practice to make sure you keep on top of your income and expenses on a monthly basis! For me this means I calculate my total income from all my income streams, and then I go through my business accounts and statements and calculate my total expenses. I also like to go through my business expenses and distribute or categorize each expense on a quarterly basis. You can see more of my Quarterly Business Review Process in this YouTube video!

Set up weekly or monthly auto-deductions to your personal 401K, IRA or Savings Account

In order to establish a good savings pattern for your personal finances, I think it’s a good idea to set up regular auto deductions to your personal savings accounts. Now, I’m no financial advisor so the amount of money you want to save and the types of accounts you will put that money into will vary. I’d suggest speaking to a certified financial planner to make those sorts of decisions, but no matter what you decide, you should consider setting up those contributions as auto-deductions so you don’t need to think about it or have to rely on your own time and energy to get that important money to where it belongs!

Set aside money for quarterly estimated taxes or yearly taxes

It’s a plain fact that if your business is making money, you will need to pay taxes! So, to prevent any unfortunate money situations, make sure you are setting aside money to pay those taxes, either by calculating and making quarterly estimated tax payments OR by keeping track of your tax burden throughout the year and putting money aside to pay at tax time. Again, I’m not a professional financial planner or business financial expert, however, I find that paying my quarterly estimated taxes on time helps me to ensure I don’t owe money at the end of the year! This process will certainly vary from country to country, so check your own local tax laws or talk to your state to learn more.

I hope these tips have given you some insight into financial planning as an entrepreneur. I know financial planning can be a scary concept to some, but with some good insight and the guidance of a certified financial planner, you should be armed with enough knowledge to take your personal and business finances into your own hands and start hitting your financial goals! If you have any additional tips or resources you would like to share, please do so in the comments!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Productivity

5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners

5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners

5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners

For many small businesses and brands, the concept of PR may seem like something that only big business and influential figures have to worry about. We see PR firms that represent brands or celebrities and we may be intimidated by the concept of public relations or think we shouldn’t hire out our PR. Now, as a small business owner myself who also blogs and creates content for YouTube, I am often approached by my fans, and other businesses or brands that want to work with me. All of that falls under the category of Public Relations and although we all can’t afford PR representation, we need to get in the habit of putting our best foot forward when dealing with the public. So today I just want to share 5 Quick PR tips that I have relied on through the years that I believe have helped me streamline my PR without needing outside representation or some cumbersome PR strategy!

#1. Create a Media Kit

I think that all brands and businesses that plan to work with customers or others brands should have a media kit. I made my first media kit for my blog years ago and try to update it once a year or whenever I am pursuing or about to contact a brand I want to work with. You can create a simple one page media kit that includes a brief “about me” along with your key stats and services you are available for. If you don’t know how to structure your media kit, a quick Pinterest search will yield many different examples that you can turn into your own template! Now, when it comes to using your media kit, you will want to send this file in PDF form along with any emails you may send to brands or businesses soliciting a collaborative effort. If you want to work with a brand, having this kit is like a resume that the brand can use to identify whether you and your brand will work with their objectives. You can also create a media kit if you are a service based business to send to potential clients that may outline your services, pricing and experience! I think anyone operating online would benefit from having a media kit, so consider creating yours asap!

#2. Use a business email address

This may be a given for some people, but you’d be surprised how often I see people using email addresses that just aren’t professional or a representation of their brand/business. It’s essential for putting your best foot forward to have a dedicated business email address that you can keep separate from any personal email account you may also use. This is an easy PR tip that you can implement asap with free email clients like gmail or yahoo!

#3. Make sure to engage on social posts that include your brand

It’s a great PR rule of thumb to engage with any and all social posts or mentions you may receive. I always make sure to like, retweet, and respond to all mentions on Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere online that I see! It’s just a best practice that shows that you are present in your brand and open to interaction with your followers. Nothing is worse for PR than a brand or business that doesn’t make every reasonable effort to respond and engage with followers or fans that are talking about you positively online!

#4. Reply to all your emails

I know this one may be hard, but like #3 above, replying to your emails is a best practice for any serious brand or business owner. I know what it’s like to get bulk or spam solicitations from companies and also manage emails for customer service and general inquiries, however, on the other end of each and every email you receive is a person who is reaching out to your brand and if they don’t get a response, you have most likely lost an opportunity for a sale, a connection or even simply the opportunity to create a loyal fan. If you have trouble replying to all your emails, consider creating canned email responses that you can quickly copy and paste to address frequently asked questions or specific customer service inquiries, or hire an assistant to help you manage your email. Either way, make sure you respond to your emails in a timely manner!

#5. Double check all the content and products you create for brand consistency

When you’re managing a brand or a business, I think it’s easy for us to feel like we are getting stretched thin with our ideas for content and products. I know I have felt this way on many occasions in the past few years and the result ends up being that I may create content or products that aren’t consistent with my overall brand. Since your brand is your fingerprint online, you need to keep it safe and strong by double checking that everything you produce is in line with that brand. If not, any content or products that don’t align have the ability to dilute your brand which weakens it. In order to ensure your content and products are in line with your brand, consider creating a litmus test question that you can ask and answer for each item you create to ensure it’s in line with what your brand is all about. For me this question is “Does this help people work smarter, not harder?” If I can honestly answer that question with a “yes” then I proceed with publishing my content or product to the world. If not, I need to reevaluate what I was doing and get that answer turned to a yes before I will release it to the public!

Public relations doesn’t have to be a complicated topic for your brand or business, but it is essential that you implement some simple PR tips to help your business succeed! If you have any other tips you have learned over the years or want to share a PR experience you had as a blogger or business owner, please feel free to comment below!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Business

My #BossBabe Biz Travel Essentials

#BossBabe Travel Essentials

This weekend I’ll be traveling to Atlanta for the Southeastern Planner Convention as one of the speakers for the event! I’m very excited and thankful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to meet some of my long-time planner friends in person. Since this is the first time I’ll be traveling exclusively for business, I thought I would share some of my travel essentials with you that I plan to pack in my carry on. Since this is going to be an overnight trip, I’ll be packing one large tote bag as my carry on and I’ll also bring my small rolling luggage with my clothing and toiletries. For a quick trip like this, I’ll end up packing very light, but my carry on must include my airline essentials because whenever I fly, I like to be comfortable.

#BossBabe Biz Travel Essentials

  • Comfortable, easy-off, shoes: Since I’ll be flying to the event, the first essential for me is a comfortable pair of shoes that is easy to take on and off! I’ll most likely wear a pair of slip ons or mules so I’m easy on my feet while traveling but can deal with security quickly.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Never wear heels or lace-ups when traveling, they are just too cumbersome!

#BossBabe Travel Essentials

  • Large executive style tote bag: For my carry on, I’m planning to use my Gigi New York Gates Satchel because it’s large enough for all my essentials, but also structured enough to carry with me as my purse for dinner and events. I don’t want to bring an extra bag with me so my carry on needs to do double duty.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Choose a structured bag to act as carry-on, briefcase, and purse while traveling for business!

  • iPhone + Headphones: I always keep my smartphone and a pair of earbuds with me whenever I leave home, but they are especially important when I travel because I usually pop in my earbuds and listen to a book on tape when I travel. It’s a great way to pass the time and as someone with a lot of books on their TBR (to be read) list, I find travel downtime to be the best time to jump into a good motivational or business book!

#BossBabe Travel Tip: I subscribe to Audible.com and I highly recommend them! If you have a trip coming up and you want to test out the service, click here for a special offer to get 2 FREE audio books when you sign up for a free trial of the service!

  • Universal Back Up Battery Pack: Whenever you travel with gadgets in tow, I highly recommend bringing a universal back up battery source. That way you can plug in any USB charger for any device and you can manage multiple devices at one time!

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Don’t let yourself get stranded with a drained battery!

#bossbabe travel essentials 4

  • Macbook Air: Since I’ll be giving a speech with a slideshow presentation, I will be bringing my Macbook Air with me on the flight. That way I can review my information and make any last minute tweaks! Depending on the nature of a business trip, I will normally bring my Macbook Air, but for longer trips I may also pack my iPad, which I will not need on this trip.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Don’t leave home without your important digital business materials!

  • Air travel essentials pouch: Whenever I fly, I keep a pouch with special essentials for airline travel. Inside the pouch I keep medication (allergy, pain, nausea, etc), an Evian spray mist, Caudalie hand cream, Dior creme de rose lip balm, Caudal facial moisturizer,  wet-wipes, and an eye mask. Air travel really dehydrates the skin and I already have very dry skin, so I need to make sure I add some extra moisture during the trip. Before I board I will apply moisturizer and if I take a bathroom break after the drink service, I will also reapply and freshen up. For longer flights I also suggest doing a quick re-fresh with 30 minutes of landing. If I can’t get to the bathroom to do my routine in private, I will do so at my seat. Either way, I love to do my pamper routine on the plane because it’s a great way to treat yourself and relax during a period of down time that we normally don’t have during the day.

#BossBabe Travel Tip: Use travel time to relax, pamper yourself, and take care of yourself so when you look and feel great on arrival!

Those were my #BossBabe essentials for when I travel for my business! I hope you enjoyed this post and I’d love to hear what your essentials are when you are traveling for work, so please tweet me or leave me a comment below!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

Blogging

Write Better Blog Posts with these 3 Tools!

Write Better Blog Posts with these 3 Tools!

Write Better Blog Posts with these 3 Tools!

For those of us on the internet who manage a blog, either as a marketing tool or a creative outlet, we know that creating great content week after week is hard! Even for the most talented among us, writing blog posts can be tricky, and let’s be honest, most of us could use some help improving our writing process as well as writing skills. So today I want to share with you three tools that have helped me to become a better blogger and a better writer of blog posts.

Scrivener

Scrivener is a software application that I use on my computer to write, edit and organize my blog posts. I’ve been using the program for years to keep my content in order and to organize my ideas. Although you may not be thinking of a word processing program as a tool that can help with writing better blog posts, it can really streamline the process of creating content. Ask yourself, where do you write your blog posts? Do you use a dedicated word processing program or do you write your posts inside the text editor of your blogging platform? Unfortunately, if you aren’t using a word processing program to organize your writing, you are missing out on a lot of great word processing features like word count, spelling and grammar check, and a built in dictionary/thesaurus! But Scrivener is also more powerful than your standard word processor because it also has great tools for outlining and organizing content ideas within the application. I also love that I have all my blog posts organized in one place, so I can refer back to old posts and I have a record of my content in case something happens to my blog or my website crashes while I’m adding a new post. So, if you aren’t using a dedicated system for writing, editing and organizing your blog posts, I would highly recommend checking out Scrivener. You can read more about how I use Scrivener here or visit their website for more details!

On Writing Well

I’m often asked by other bloggers if there are any courses or books I recommend that can teach you how to write better blog posts. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any on the specific topic of writing blog posts, however, I do highly recommend a book called On Writing Well to those who wish to improve their writing style! On Writing Well is a classic book that teaches how to improve nonfiction writing, which is what blogging is most of the time. What I love about this book is that it’s an easy read but filled with practical tips for improving your writing, and it even dispels the notion of some long-held “rules” of writing that just aren’t applicable anymore (i.e. ending a sentence with a preposition- you can if you want to!) It’s a very practical guide to writing that has been revised and expanded to include more modern examples of writing, and I think it’s a great place to start if you are someone who’s interested in become a better writer.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score

As I was researching ways to improve your writing, I came across the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test that actually scores a piece of writing for how easy it is to understand. This sort of test is frequently used in teaching settings to understand the reading level of a specific written work (think grade school reading levels and such) but I noticed that the SEO Plugin that I use for WordPress, called Yoast SEO, included this score as part of the SEO grading of my post. Now, the idea behind using this test to determine the readability of your post is that your blog posts should be fairly easy for people to read. Blog posts with long sentences and complicated grammar may be harder for most people to understand, so you want to use this score to help you simplify your writing so that more people are able to understand and enjoy your content. As I already mentioned, my blog has a plugin that generates this score for me when I’m formatting my posts for publication, however, if you don’t use WordPress and have access to this Plugin, don’t worry because I found a free web-tool that you can use to check the readability of your blog posts. All you need to do is click here to visit the website and paste your blog post into the text editor on the page and it will generate your readability score! Definitely check it out and see what level your content scores at in terms of readability and perhaps use what you learn while reading On Writing Well to help you simplify and clarify your writing style!

So those are three tools that you can use right now to help you improve your blog posts! I’d love to know if you have any other suggestions if you have experience with any other interesting books or tools that you would like to recommend to the community. If you give any of these tools a try, I’d love to know about it, so please feel free to message me or leave me a comment below to tell me about your progress!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature