It’s time for another link roundup! Here are my picks for this month’s best reads around the web to help you with your Personal Development, Productivity and Business! Enjoy!
As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles and I’d love to read anything you found informative this month, so please feel free to leave links in the comments below!
Why Kim Kardashian’s Terrifying Robbery was a Wake Up Call for Us All!
You could definitely say I’m a fan of Kim Kardashian. Not just Kim, but really her whole family, at least the ones you frequently see on their reality shows. Love them or hate them, they are all very beautiful, have entertaining personalities and family dynamics, and are undeniably business and social media savvy. Which is why when news broke of Kim Kardashian’s terrifying robbery at gunpoint, I was personally shaken. As someone who works online, puts much of themselves on the internet, and relies on social media to run my business, I began to question my online activities and if my social media habits were putting me at risk for a similarly terrifying situation. To be clear, I do not think I am anything close to Kim Kardashian. Her and her families fame and fortune is far beyond my wildest dreams and expectations, however, I do believe that you, me and everyone we know on social media should consider Kim’s misfortune a wake up call for the way we each share online. In our age of total interconnectivity, it honestly only takes one person, one bad apple paying too much attention to our feeds for each of us to be in a similarly terrifying ordeal. And while the chances of something like that ever happening to any of us are truly slim, the truth is, we are all vulnerable on social media. So, after giving serious thought to this situation and what it means for me, my friends, family and followers online, I have a few insights and lessons I want to share to hopefully keep all of us safer!
1. Turn off location services
Humans are creatures of habit and I bet that the majority of content you have shared on your social media feeds were posted from places you frequent. We post from our homes, jobs, favorite restaurants and local hangouts. Although many of these locations may be “public” that is no reason to geo tag your current location so everyone of your followers know where you are and where you are not at any given time. I understand wanting to tag your location if you are at a very special event, but other than in rare circumstances, keep your location services off when you post to social media so ill-advised followers don’t begin to learn your routines and invade your personal privacy by showing up out of the blue to meet you.
2. Don’t share travel details publicly
I learned this one years ago and am still always shocked at the number of posts I see sharing travel details on social media. No matter if your social media accounts are private and you are sure that you know every one of your followers, you should never share travel details on social media. In case you weren’t aware, there are people who target individuals and families they KNOW will be away from home for extended periods of time and rob them. This has been a common practice for years, even before social media, with people who scan the obituary section of the newspaper to get details on local funerals so that they could burglarize an unoccupied home at a time when all the family members would be absent. If you think that’s despicable, consider the fact that many unauthorized home entries and robberies are perpetrated by friends and neighbors who know your travel plans, what valuables you own and are familiar with the layout of your home. We need to have a little collective common sense with these issues and as much as it’s exciting to post about your upcoming vacation and share photos in real time while you are away, you are taking a tremendous risk that someone you know and trust is taking advantage of the opportunity you have flaunted in their feed. Now, I’m not perfect with this one either, and I realize the temptation to share a post or picture in the moment is made simpler by our wifi and data connections, but even when I went away recently and shared details and posts, I did so knowing full well that my husband was working from home while I was away so my home wasn’t in imminent danger.
3. Delay sensitive posts
Of course, there are safe ways to share and situations where we can enjoy social media without putting ourselves in danger. One way we can do this is by delaying sensitive posts so that we are not giving away important location details in real time. Using social media schedulers like one of my free favorites, Hootsuite, means we can capture our moments and schedule them to go live once we have left a location. No one needs to know precisely where you are to enjoy a fun snap from a concert or event, and your great photo won’t get any fewer likes if you post it the next day. Getting into the habit of delaying your posts is a good way to share while retaining a level of privacy that is critical to your safety and well being.
4. Get some sort of security system
The most shocking detail of the Kim Kardashian robbery is certainly the fact that she was alone in a hotel room without any form of security, despite traveling with a bodyguard. Hindsight is 20/20 and of course there have been numerous interviews and reports from professional celebrity bodyguards and security experts that say a lack of security was truly at fault for this event. Now, you and I most likely don’t require a bodyguard, however, we could all up level our personal security at home and while traveling with the aid of modern technology. Potentially lethal forms of protection aside, it is relatively easy and inexpensive to install and travel with personal and home security systems. Installing a home security system was a top priority for my husband and I when we purchased our home, and the upfront and ongoing cost to do so is truly minimal in comparison to how much more secure we know we, our dog and our possessions are now at home. But what are the options for personal security outside the home and when traveling? This article outlines some awesome hi-tech security systems that you can wear via clothing, jewelry or attach to purses or keychains. Although there is some variety in these gadgets, many protect the wearer by creating audible and/or silent alerts that transmit your location and/or live audio feeds to trusted friends and authorities that can come to your aid in an emergency. When traveling, simple things like luggage tags, locks and hotel safe’s can keep our belongings secure by creating a simple barrier that will deter the average thief or opportunist. Additionally, simple door alarms and window pressure sensors are portable and inexpensive ways to provide an alert to a potential threat no matter where you are.
5. Keep valuables off your feed
A final action we can take to minimize ourselves as potential targets on social media is to keep our valuable possessions off our social feeds. I know this one can seem especially difficult because the nature of social media is to share and so often what we are sharing are purchases and products we enjoy, however, we all need to expand our common sense on this point and be careful not to overshare or highlight valuables that may draw unwanted attention. In the case of Kim Kardashian, it has been speculated that the robbers where targeting her specifically due to a very valuable ring she had been sharing on social media. It’s one thing to take a selfie wearing your favorite piece of jewelry, but quite another to post precise details of quality and value, and engaging in that type of behavior regularly may encourage attention we don’t want. Again, this is something I too have been guilty of in the past and I’m not here to tell people what they should or shouldn’t post. Let this just serve as a reminder to all of us that our behavior can be a contributing factor in why we may be targeted. Again, there are so many examples of opportunistic criminals that found themselves in the right place at the right time with the right information, and we shouldn’t assume that it won’t happen to us. So, let’s just be smart with what we share.
I know this post was a bit of a different pace for my content, however, my purpose as a creator is first and foremost to ensure I am educating my audience, and as social media is such a prevalent topic I cover, I felt personally moved to share these ideas with you in real time. I hope you gained some insight from this post and if you find this information valuable, I would urge you to share it with friends and family on your social media feeds so that we can spread the word on this important message and keep our loved ones safe. If you have any additional insight or tips you would like to share with the community, please do so in the comments so that this post can become a resource for others.
September has really been a very successful month for me and my business in a number of ways. After getting back into the groove of work and productivity in August, I have not only kept the ball rolling, but I have also taken some positive steps to help me build habits and routines for success in my life. Here is a summary of how it all went down in September!
What I Didn’t Do
1. Let Myself Get Stressed Out:This month my husband and I had a few unexpected issues with our new home that really shook us up, and although I definitely had a few ugly cry moments, I was surprised at how well I handled the stress that can come with unexpected home repairs. If you follow me on Snapchat you probably know, things actually ended up working out better than expected, but I was impressed by how I managed to keep a positive mindset during the whole ordeal and take things one day and one minute at a time.
2. Worry About Being Perfect: I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect, my business isn’t perfect, homes aren’t perfect! Although I have always been a fan of the quote “Done is Better than Perfect,” I feel like I lived through that a bit more this month. Two specific things that I applied this to were my Planning for Success Master Class and my Work Week Vlog. I realize that I am pretty good at product development, but I ALWAYS worry when I launch a new info product about how it will be received. After all, when it comes to information and knowledge, there is so much out there and a lot of it is free, so I tend to get a bit neurotic when I launch a class. But I actually took some time during the process to sit and think about how I go through this cycle with every info product and it really helped me to quick breakthrough the fear so I could create. In the end the class was a smashing success and the reviews are through the roof with positive feedback! Same goes with my Vlog that went live on the 18th. I don’t like to vlog, I don’t think I’m good at it, and as the clips began to add up I was concerned that no one would want to watch it because it was close to an hour and that everyone would think the content was trash. But, done is better than perfect, so I hit publish and was pleased to see another positive reaction from my audience. They really are the best, but I just need to keep reminding myself that fear is part of the creation process and use previous examples to keep me focused on getting the job done!
3. Confuse My Priorities: Priorities were a pretty major topic in my life this month and I took many steps to be crystal clear with mine. I did a really good job of keeping those priorities in balance and because of it, this month really felt like my life was falling into place. I never really thought of my life as feeling out of place or out of sync, but keeping my priorities straight really brought a profound sense of clarity to me that I can’t say I have experienced thus far in my life.
What I Did Do
1. Focused on Self Care: It was Self Care September, after all, and so I specifically took action on self care items I had been neglecting. This all goes back to my priorities and that my number one priority is ME! If I’m not taken care of, I can’t do much for anyone else or for my business.
2. Established a Regular Meal Routine: This was one of the big self care items I tackled this month and I’m very proud to say that all month, I did an excellent job eating regular and healthy meals! You may think this is an odd thing to have to build into a routine, but for me, I have a tendency to wake up and get to work and forget to eat until nearly dinner time. This bad habit ended up creating a terrible cycle of binging and overeating that led me to weight gain and a lack of structure in my day. Meal times are so important to help you structure your day, I think most people may take this for granted. Regular work breaks are necessary and for most people, a growling stomach would be an internal alarm to stop working and get a bite to eat, but for me, there is some disconnect between my belly and my brain that makes this hard for me. Luckily, I have started this great routine for myself and will regular oversight and maintenance, I hope to keep it going strong!
3. Took a Vacation: Earlier this summer, my mother, sister and I planned a girls trip to celebrate my sisters 21st birthday (yes, we are nearly a decade apart in age). At the time, I thought to myself the end of September would be a good time because it was near her birthday and by September, I thought I would have everything in order with my new house. Of course, that was wishful thinking, but despite moments where I have felt like canceling on this trip due to work or house obligations, I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve been reminded so many time this month that there is no “right time” for any specific thing. We have to make the time, keep the plans, and live or else our lives will pass us by.
What I Learned
1. To Shake it Off: Something I have been noticing lately is how I don’t seem to let little everyday issues upset me as much as they may have before. Overall, I think my stress level has just plummeted recently and because of it, I don’t let the drama or negativity that is prevalent on the internet affect me personally. I think when you stop taking things personally you end up being so much happier.
2. The Importance of Taking Care of Myself: It’s pretty much common knowledge that taking care of yourself is important, but honestly, for me it was never really a common practice. Yes, I did engage in self care regularly in the past, and take time off for myself and spend time on my own hobbies, but I think that there is a mindset shift that happens when you truly understand that you haven’t been taking care of yourself and you really need to. So far my progress has been good, I’ve visited my Drs for some lingering health issues that I have been ignoring, I’ve started eating regular balanced meals, and I’ve kept up this mindset that I’m a priority and need to deal with my issues first and not last. I’d say it has resulted in this reduced stress, positive mindset I’m currently in. Will it last forever? Probably not. But am I seeing first hand the positive effects that routines and good habits have in your life? Absolutely. So when I do eventually fall off the wagon, which I’m sure will happen one day, I think this experience will help me get back on quicker.
3. To Optimize My Space: Now that we are settled into our new home and this feels like a more permanent home to me than any of my apartments ever did, I have spent a good amount of time this month understanding how I can optimize my space. Not just in my office and my home, but even in my business. If you watched my Work Week Vlog you may have seen my new robotic vacuum cleaner that I ordered in order to optimize my home care after I was faced with the problem of having so much more space and surfaces that need care. Hopefully, the robot will help me automate some of my chores so I don’t feel like taking care of my home is my second full time job! In terms of my business, I’ve been asking myself how I can optimize my brand, my income streams, my work, all to help me remain clear on my goals and find a direct path to execute on my plans. I’ve outlined and brainstormed a few projects and general plans this month that I want to work on through the end of the year to really help me start the new year with a fresh take on my business.
So that is my recap for September. I hope you found some nuggets of information in their and some examples that may help you think about managing your entrepreneurial lifestyle a little more productively. Of course, I want to hear how your month went, so please share your insight from September in the comments.
What Nobody Tells You About Self Care, and How to Start or Break a Habit
If you remember, my theme for the month of September has been self care and throughout this month, I shared some different topics in my blog and on YouTube to outline my experience of learning to take better care of myself and my priorities. So, I thought that for my link roundup this month, I would try to focus on self-care, habits and motivation to help you make a positive change in your life as well!
I hope you enjoyed these articles, and if you have anything you read and loved in the month of September, please let us know by sharing a link in the comments below!
5 Business Automation Tools to Utilize While You Are On Vacation
In a few days, I’ll be on a cruise ship on my way to Bermuda for a girl’s trip with my mother and sister, so naturally, right now my mind is focused on getting my business ready for my absence. Although I have taken a few vacations since starting my business full time, this vacation is a little different because I won’t be on land for most of it, and therefore, I have no idea how reliable my internet connection will be. Because the ship charges you a wifi fee per device, I won’t be bringing my laptop with me, just my iPhone. So, I am taking steps now to make sure everything runs smoothly while I’m away. Since I’m a solopreneur, I normally rely on a number of different automation tools to help me run my business on the day-to-day but if you aren’t already streamlining your business like this, give these automation tools a try the next time you go on vacation!
Email Autoresponder: Many different email applications give you the ability to set up an email autoresponder, an out of office email reply that will automatically generate a canned response to any incoming emails.. If you are going on vacation or will be out of the office for a significant period of time (more than a weekend or sick day) I highly recommend setting up this function to reply to emails on your behalf while you are busy. The response doesn’t have to be complicated, a simple notification of the time you will be away from your business will suffice, but I also like to include links to the FAQ and/or resource pages of my website that may address common issues and concerns. If you don’t have a FAQ or resource page on your website, I highly suggest compiling one because they are easy links you can share with your customers that address common issues they may be able to troubleshoot on their own!
MailChimp: I use MailChimp to manage my email list, and since I pay for a monthly plan, I have the ability to create automated email campaigns and schedule emails in advance. These are two very useful features that help me get ahead on my work and allow me to run a marketing campaign even when I am out of office. Nothing is better than coming back to work after a vacation to see new sales that generated while you were away!
Edgar: I recently started using the social media scheduler Edgar to automatically publish posts and content to some of my less used social feeds and it has really helped me to boost sales and keep a constant presence on the platforms I don’t actively create for. I love that it stores and recycles content for me so I don’t have to create and batch upload new posts in order to fill my feed. It’s such a time saver and easy marketing tool for any online business that wants to have a presence on multiple platforms but doesn’t have the time to create unique content for each.
HootSuite: Hootsuite is another social media scheduler that I tend to use for one platform only, Instagram. As you may already know, Instagram does not allow for auto publishing of images, so to get around this Hootsuite gives you the ability to preplan out your post and set’s an alarm telling you when its time to post so you can go into the app and quickly share your content. It’s not a perfect solution to automating Instagram, but it’s the best solution I have found that does not compromise your Instagram account. Beware of any apps that say they will automatically post to Instagram for you because until Instagram gives this function the green light, you are risking closure of your account by using these sorts of apps that store your login information and publish for you.
Paypal: To process my online payments I always use Paypal. I have it fully integrated into my site so I never have to send a manual invoice or actively collect payment from customers- it’s all done for me automatically! If you don’t currently use a system to automatically process payments, I would suggest checking out Paypal as it’s very easy to use and integrates into many different online sales platforms.
Okay, so those are some automation tools I use on a daily basis to run my business and ensure my business is running smoothly even when I’m on vacation! I’d love to hear your automation tips, so feel free to leave me a comment below.
My business has definitely been built in stages. There is no overnight success to be seen here, just a lot of long term planning, hard work and consistent effort. In each clear stage of my business there have been changes or upgrades I have made that ultimately resulted in my business growing into the next stage, and in time I have always been able to look back and see that it was this a specific catalyst that helped me grow my business to the next level. Today, I want to share with you 4 things I did to up level my business that had a clear impact on my growth, the impact it had on my business and provide some analysis for why it was a game changer. Hopefully, you can spend some time reflecting on these items to determine if you also are ready to up level your business in a certain area and reap the rewards of upgrading tools or strategies.
#1: Moved from Blogger to WordPress
What I did: Upgraded to a self hosted website from a free Blogger site I had been using for years to host my blog.
Impact on my business: Sky-rocketed my blog traffic and page views, and then later gave me a ready made platform to create my online shop.
Analysis: For years I had used a free Blogger/Blogspot account to host my blog, but eventually I knew it was time to upgrade to a self hosted WordPress site if I wanted to go from hobby-blogger to serious-blogger. Luckily, WordPress has many free plugins available to help make that migration from Blogger to WordPress much simpler and it only took me a weekend and an investment of about $200 to get my new site up and running. Almost immediately I could see the impact it had on my traffic and page views. Having a self hosted website is much better for your SEO (search engine optimization) than a free blog site, and my page views grew steadily over the coming months and years. Although I have garnered a pretty large following through social media, I still find that the majority of the traffic to my site comes from organic search results and SEO, and I know I have many regular readers who came to me, not through YouTube or social but through a search engine to my site and shop. SEO has been integral for helping the passive income for my business grow and upgrading to self hosted WordPress was the catalyst for this growth.
#2: Upgraded to a DSLR Camera
What I did: Purchased a DSLR camera and learned to use it!
Impact on my business: Greater following on social and YouTube.
Analysis: Once I started using a DSLR camera, the quality of my pictures and videos increased dramatically. This had a positive affect on many areas of my business, including my blog, Instagram and YouTube. Almost immediately, I began to see my followers on Instagram increase as I posted nicer pictures regularly. My blog page views increased as well as my images were getting more hits in search and they picked up significantly on Pinterest as well which in turn drove traffic to my blog and shop. Once I started using my DSLR for video, it took me some time to find the sweet spot for filming and the right lenses to use, but the improvement in the quality of my videos was noticeable. Online marketing has become increasing visual and the quality of your images and video really make a big impact in the polish and professionalism of your business as well as the marketability of your content online.
#3: Found a Business Mentor
What I did: Began working closely with a business mentor.
Impact on my business: Greater clarity for my business, generated new products and revenue streams.
Analysis: I found a business mentor early in 2015, or should I say, she found me! We clicked immediately and through our frequent chats, I gained new insight into the direction I wanted to take my business. 2015 was a big year for me revenue-wise, I was able to introduce many new products and revenue streams that helped propel my business forward in leaps and bounds. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and to challenge me to think about my business in different ways was a priceless experience that really helped empower me.
#4: Automated my Social Media
What I did: Began using social media automation tools that allow me to pre-create and schedule content to fill my feed in certain platforms.
Impact on my business: Established a promotion plan for specific platforms while also giving myself back time.
Analysis: Whenever you can automate actions in your business it is a time saver and it frees you up to do something different or more productive with your time. I started using the social media scheduler Edgar earlier this summer and since then I have put my promotion for Twitter and Facebook on autopilot. Since Twitter and Facebook are not two of the platforms that I actively create for, it was helpful to me to establish a regular posting schedule in these peripheral platforms while also spending as little time as possible managing them. Since implementing this change, I have seen sales of certain products rise, which shows me that these promotion efforts are working, even if I’m not working on them!
I hope you gained some insight from this post in understanding how certain changes can help you up level your business in different ways. Whether it was increased revenue, more traffic or just time I gave back to myself, every once in a while you advance your business in ways that have a positive collateral affect that changes the way you do business for the better!
My husband and I (and Starbuck) have officially lived in our new home for a little over a month and I’m very glad to report that we are really getting back into the groove of life and work, at last! We’ve completed many home projects, purchased a lot of new furniture, and although our work is far from done, that anxiety I get when things are completely out of place has dissolved. August was my first month back to work full time at my biz after my very long and exhausting summer of moving and home ownership prep. I’m surprised that I was able to transition back into my old work habits pretty quickly, but then again, when the alternative is obsessing over unfinished home projects, work really seems like a welcome treat!
What I didn’t do
1. Wake up early everyday: I think this is one part due to my new home and the lesser amount of light that comes into our bedroom, but I’m also not forcing myself out of bed in the morning. Although I don’t plan to keep up this routine much into fall, I think that with the exhaustion of moving and all the extra home projects, I just need more time to sleep. So I am giving myself permission to sleep more if I want to.
2. Work 8 hours a day: I go through periods of time when I work full days and then periods when a few hours of work is all I need. Since I have been keeping my workload light this summer, I haven’t been working full days as of yet. After sleeping in and allowing myself to take it easy in the morning, I have started working around noon and ending work around 4pm.
3. Focus only on work: Right now I have more on my plate outside of work, so again, I have given myself permission to spend time on things that aren’t work related. Some of that is establishing new routines in my home. Some of that is taking care of random new home things I never had to manage before. I only have 24 hours in a day and when new essential items are added to your life, it’s important to take measure of what you can scale back on so that you remain balanced and not overwhelmed.
What I did do
1. Set my priorities: All of the recent home life changes have meant that I needed to reevaluate my priorities. In doing so I was able to determine the areas of my life where I would be able to cut back without causing a crisis. Taking the time to sit down and think about your priorities and what you are trying to achieve is crucial whenever you’re managing change.
2. Enjoyed my evenings: In establishing new routines for our home, my husband and I have been focusing a lot on enjoying our evenings. We have a patio with a gazebo where we like to spend some time with a drink in hand to unwind. We also have a larger living area and more spaces without our home to use and enjoy and we are really trying to make the most of it. Especially now that we aren’t renting a little apartment and have a place of our own, I really want to enjoy our space and the fruits of our labor.
3. Started a weekly newsletter: So this was the one business project I kicked off this month! I have been wanting to do a newsletter for a while and I actually scheduled it out on my project plan to get this started at the end of the summer. I have been taking steps to arrange this for a few months now and it feels great to be on track with my business projects even if I’m not thinking business 24/7!
What I learned
1. Making progress in your personal life will trickle over into your work: It might seem like common sense that if you want to improve a certain area of your life, you should focus on that area alone, but I think that perspective ignores the bigger picture. For me, I have found that by spending time on my personal life and getting that in order, I have made progress in my work life. The more time I spend relaxing in the evenings, the greater my capacity for work is the next day. The more I get my eating habits under control, the more structured I find my workday. When you think work-life balance, I think there is a misconception that it’s all about shuffling around tasks and priorities until you find equilibrium, but I think that simply taking action to take care of one area of your life will tilt the scale for other areas of your life as well.
2. To take advantage of my flexible schedule: This was my big a-ha moment this month. Obviously, since I work from home for myself, I have a flexible schedule, but I don’t usually take advantage of that flexibility. I normally insist on creating a consistent workday schedule that might mimic a normal 9-5. This month, I challenged myself to understand why. Why do I force myself into that mold if I have created a business and lifestyle where I have the ability to legitimately break out of that mold? I know it comes down to old habits and expectations, so this month I loosened those expectations and gave myself permission to sleep in, start working later, and finish up with time to spare in the evening without hopping back on to my computer in bed! Flexibility in your schedule is only a blessing if you use it and I want to use it!
3. Patience: I don’t think I have ever been a particularly patient person. I like immediate gratification, I tend to rush and I don’t like not having control over situations that affect my life. But holy cow! If buying a home doesn’t teach you patience, I don’t know what does! Not just patience with the process of purchasing, but from the moment we bought our home there were a few dozen projects and repairs that I needed to manage and if you follow me on snapchat you might already know that seriously, nothing went according to plan! Every contractor encountered issues beyond what we were already facing. Every important delivery or installation was botched. I have lived in my home for over a month now and we are still dealing with contractors that haven’t finished their work from the first week of move in. It’s crazy- apparently this is normal- but because of all of this, I have learned to let go and be patient. I’ve had to turn my obsessiveness off and just accept things for what they are.
Hey there business and productivity besties! I know it has been a while since I’ve had a link roundup here on the blog but I’m back today with some great links to help inspire you to get your personal development, productivity and business under control just in time for fall!
As always, I hope you enjoyed these articles and found a new great read that was able to help you answer some questions or inspire you to live a little differently. If you have any articles you read and loved lately, please share those in the comments below so we can all check it out! And if you are looking to dive deep into personal development this year, I highly suggest you check out my Charmed Life Master Class! This self-paced ecourse is designed to help you get control of your life, career and relationships through a series of guided lectures and worksheets all for an affordable price. Don’t miss out- get started today!
If you are reading this, you undoubtedly know me from my work in the planner community. Perhaps you already know about my business, have purchased from me before, consider me a role model for business and productivity, or perhaps you followed a link from a YouTube video to this blog to read more planner related content. No matter what you’re experience is with me, we both have a passion in common, planners! For me, that passion was so great that I ended up turning it into my full time job and started an entire enterprise around it. You can read the story of how it all went down here, but today I want to break down the path I took that lead me from loving planners to selling inserts and courses to help others with the same love.
Follow your passion
My journey begins as most do with a passion. We’ve already established that my passion was planners and a deep love for productivity. Back in early 2014 when I entered the planner craze, I was completely obsessed and entranced by this world of planners. Without thinking about it from a business stand point, I started making videos and posts on planners and stationery supplies and gave myself permission to play with this passion with a child-like intensity that brought me happiness and joy in creating. This is really the key sign that you have a real passion for something, when you can get lost it in for hours upon hours and create endlessly and end the day with more ideas for tomorrow! If you feel this way about something, don’t ignore it, it’s a true passion.
Become part of a community
Like I said, in 2014 when I started diving deep into planners, it was already a craze, which meant that there was a community of people who were interested in this same topic (you are probably one of them!) and so connecting with others and gaining a following from my passion seemed so easy. When you become part of a community with the same passions as yourself, things really do seem a little easier and sometimes effortless. Early on, I strove to not only be a consumer in this community, but to also be a leader and a creator, making videos and content that shared my knowledge and skills. I spoke to so many planner people in such a short time, really taking time to understand what they wanted to see and know and I made so many videos that were in response to questions I had received or seen frequently asked in different Facebook groups. Because of this, not only did a grow a following, but I gained a lot of insight into what people in the planner community were looking for. No matter what your passion is, I highly suggest finding a community or creating a community if one does not exist, around it. When you have a group of like minded individuals ready to consume your content and telling you what they want, it makes it that much easier for you to create.
Identify the opportunity
Now, once I had the passion and community under my belt, it actually took me a while to identify the opportunity that I was being faced with as a creator. Although I loved planners, had an audience and was creating constantly for them, I didn’t recognize that there was an opportunity for me to create a business around this passion. It took me several months of my followers and community members asking me to sell my designs for me to acknowledge that there was a market for my work. Part of it was fear I think. Fear that I couldn’t do it or my work wouldn’t be good enough and then part of it was that I was focusing on the wrong things. I initially thought that my business would be blogging and creating YouTube videos and making an income from sponsored posts and ad revenue, and because I was focused on this, the idea of selling my own goods and having my own shop was something I glazed over. When it comes to our passions, a lot of times we have many options for how we can proceed with turning those passions into profit, but if we ignore the signs (in my case, people telling me to sell my designs) we can miss the real opportunity!
Create value
It’s one thing to find out what people want and then give it to them, and it’s quite another to take it a step further and create real value for people. When I mean value, I don’t mean pricing my products so that they are in a certain range, and I don’t mean having sales or giving discounts. I mean value in terms that transcend money and really give people more than they expect. In my business, this is a major topic and a reason why I believe my business still works after two years. So many people start these passion projects and side (or full time) businesses because they have passion and a market to sell to but they end up failing within a year because they haven’t found a way to create value that keeps customers coming back for more and brining new customers to your community everyday. For me, I create value through all the extra free content I create on my blog, YouTube and through social media. I create value by responding to emails and giving people answers to the questions they bring me. Think about how you can create value for your audience, the type of value that gives people a sense of confidence that when they buy your products or engage your services they will get more than they expected!
Make it work
The final step I took to make a profit from my passion is something I continually do day in and day out, making it work! Every day I have to get the job done and solve problems that potentially threaten the existence of my business. I have to make plans, execute and then change them if they don’t work out. I have to keep my head in the game and find a path forward even when challenges block my path. The ability to make it work stems from a sense of responsibility and perseverance that when the going gets tough, I can’t back down or else I loose it all. That’s why this whole process must start with passion, because without true passion, you will give up before you ever get your idea off the ground!
So, let me turn the tables and ask you a question now! Do you have a passion that yo want to turn into a profit? If you do, I want to invite you to check out a Free Training video I have that will help you get your business idea started if you are ready to start taking the steps to make your passion a full-time or part-time income! Click here to sign up for my training and you will be emailed a link and study guide to get started ASAP!
As a business consultant and social media guru, I am often asked by my readers and clients about the best social media platforms to join if you want to make a name for yourself online. In my signature online business program, Empire Building, I have an entire workbook dedicated to the platforms of online communication which is designed to help you choose the best platforms for your online brand and business. But the trends are clear, there are a few social media platforms that are really rising to the top right now and if you are looking for massive brand growth, it would be in your best interest to incorporate at least one of these platforms into your online presence. Now, this doesn’t mean that EVERYONE should use ALL THREE of these platforms because all three will not apply to every person and every business- hence the reason I have a dedicated workbook with information and activities to help you decide the platforms you need to optimize your online presence in Empire Building! However, these three platforms are very popular at the moment and trends show they are going to remain popular for quite some time, so they are a safe bet if they make sense for you and your brand!
YouTube
Although all video based platforms are on the rise at the moment, YouTube happens to be one of the fastest growing, most accessed platforms out there today and it’s growing so fast that within a few short years it is actually projected to become the #1 website online AND the #1 search engine, dethroning the mighty Google! With billions of searches being conducted each month and millions of users accessing the site daily, including a wide user base demographics, YouTube really is a place where you can find a following online quickly if you do the work! Although there have been users like me on the site for years building up their community and following, I still see everyday small accounts with great content rising to fame and fortune on the platform because hard work and good strategy really does pay off on YouTube more so than other platforms.
Instagram
Instagram is the youngest platform on this list, but it has been a brand power player for nearly as long as it has existed. Yes, this year Instagram announced some new updates that do make it a little harder to grow your following on the platform if you are a brand or business, however, it has opened up advertising as well, which could help with growth if you are willing to pay to play. Even the recent addition of Instagram stories, the Snapchat-like extension of the platform that gives users the ability to vlog and share content exclusively to their followers, is just another way to help brands stand out on the platform!
Facebook
Good old Facebook! Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Facebook is practically a social media dinosaur at this point, but it always seems to find a way to remain relevant and on top in the social sphere. You can’t deny that the user base of Facebook is out of control- everyone uses Facebook including children and grandparents and on a daily basis no less! Yes, Facebook often makes changes to their platform that end up making it harder for businesses and brands to stand out, only to increase the end user experience of course, and because of this Facebook is a place where you can find and build a community around your brand. I’d suggest skipping the Facebook Fan Page option for a Facebook Group which is really where it is at for developing community and brand loyalty, but having both is nice as well!
If you are someone who has been confused about which platforms to use for your brand or business online, I hope this information has been helpful to you and given you an idea of where to start! Like I mentioned before, not all of these platforms are going to be right for every brand or business, and if you want to pinpoint the right platforms for you, I highly suggest checking out my Empire Building Online Business Program, which helps you to not only learn all the major online platforms but also helps you to choose which are right for you and how to develop a thriving brand online with the right content and strategies! Let me know which platforms you use online and if you have any questions, I’d be glad to help so drop me a line in the comments below!
