Strange & Charmed

How to Use Instagram Stories to Grow Your Brand & Business?

How to Use Instagram Stories to Grow Your Brand & Business?

If you’ve been a follower of mine for a while, you know that Instagram is one of the main platforms I use to grow and promote my business online. I’ve written before about how I made $1,000 in one day from a single picture, and I’ve explained my best tips for growing your following, but today I want to tackle a new topic, the Instagram Story! For those of you who aren’t familiar, your Instagram Story is a live “in the moment” timeline separate from your standard Instagram feed. In your standard feed, you post pictures and videos with tags and descriptions that remain as a permanent part of your account unless deleted, but the Instagram Story feature is a short-term snapchat like feed where pictures and videos disappear after 24 hours and the maximum video length is 15 seconds. You access your Instagram Story through the camera icon on the top left side of your home feed and can view the Stories of those you follow at the top of your home feed or by tapping on their profile picture if its highlighted with an orange circle. Now, Instagram is always changing and updating and their Stories feature has probably received some of the most interesting updates of all in recent months. So I’d like to share some practical strategies related to these updates!

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(It’s a great way to thank me for my awesome strategies and helpful advice!)

What to Share on Instagram Stories vs the Standard Feed?

One major question that online marketers and business owners ask often is what you share on your Story vs your feed. Since the two have different parameters, it’s important to optimize the content you are putting on each. As you know from my previous posts on IG, the standard feed requires high quality images, styled photos and carefully edited promotional videos that fall in line with your branding and business products, services and goals. The Story, however, is a place where you can have a bit more fun, show the behind the scenes of your brand and business and worry less about quality and more about sharing your brand story. On the IG Story feature, I’d recommend sharing content from other platforms like blog posts and youtube videos- just a quick shot of the content with a call to action for your audience to check it out. Video footage of your workspace, projects or processes that gives your audience a peek behind the scenes is also a productive use of the feed. Since your posts to the IG Story only last 24 hours, it’s also a great place to make quick announcements, run sales, poll your audience with a quick question or share a bit more of your personality through images and videos that show your audience sides of you, your brand and your biz that they might not see interacting with your more formal content. Selfies utilizing the Stories’ SnapChat like filters, videos of your daily routines, or even quick product shots throughout the day can help boost your business without seeming like spam in the more temporary format of the feed.

How to Grow your following via Instagram Stories?

The great thing about Instagram Stories that other short term photo and video sharing platforms like SnapChat lack is the integration of discovery through your Story. Unless you specifically change your IG Story settings, your story is visible to the public, not just those that follow you. You do have the ability to block specific individuals from viewing your story, but overall, when you keep your story public, it helps increase discoverability if you optimize the content on your Story. You can do this by using text hashtags and geotags in your IG Story posts as often as possible. When you do so, these tags integrate your story into feeds that other users are searching through for Stories in their area or via hashtags which are the default search feature of content on Instagram. You should only use one or two of these features at a time, and of course, always use relevant hashtags and geotags in your Story posts, but when you do, you increase the likelihood of your Story being discovered by other users searching for topics similar to the content you are sharing.

How to Monetize your Instagram Story?

For a few years now, Instagram has unfortunately built up a reputation as being unfriendly to online business and marketers. Yes, it’s a fast growing platform that has helped many build their brands however, it always lacked a direct linking feature that would help convert your Instagram followers into customers. In terms of the standard IG Feed, their is just one single place you can put an active clickable link, and that is in your profile. I’ve talked about getting around this with short links in post descriptions, but since no links within the description are clickable, it makes conversions more difficult as followers need to physically type in the link address instead of clicking to move to a webpage. However, Instagram Stories has recently updated to give you the ability to add a link to your Story posts! When you take a picture or video in the IG Story feature, you will see an icon of a chain link on the upper tool bar that allows you to any webpage. Users then need to swipe up on your IG Story post and the link is opened within a browser inside the app. This seriously changes the game for business on Instagram because you can now link directly to your product and service pages, opt-ins, or content on other platforms, giving you a much stronger conversion than ever before.

I hope these strategies have given you some additional insight in how to use Instagram and specifically it’s Story feature to grow your brand and business online. If you enjoyed these strategies and would like to learn more about growing a successful brand online, I welcome you to sign up for my FREE On-Demand Training called Entrepreneurship is the New Black! This training is jam packed with information and strategy for you to make the most of your online platforms, including Instagram to support the development of your brand or business online!

xoxo,

Productivity

How to Perform a Mid Year Review?

Since we are now at the mid way point of the year, this is the perfect time to perform a Mid Year Review to check up on your progress for the year and ensure you are making headway on your plans and goals. I recently published a video outlining my four step process for performing a mid year review, so I recommend that you check out the video linked below to learn the process and get you motivated and ready to review the first half of your year. I’d also like to outline the four steps below as a quick reference guide for you as you undertake the process for yourself!

Click the video linked above to watch the Mid Year Review Process!

Step #1: Perform a Brain Dump

If you are not already familiar, a brain dump is a process you undertake where you write down all the information, ideas and thoughts you are storing in your mind. Here is a link to a video on how to perform a brain dump if you aren’t sure of the process. The brain dump is step one of the Mid Year Review process because it gives us an opportunity to clear out our mental clutter so that we can use our brain to process information regarding the tasks and plans we will evaluate during the review process.

Step #2: Reconcile Old Tasks

The next step in the mid year review process is to reconcile old tasks, meaning that you should go through your planner for the first half of the year and make sure you have checked off any tasks you have already completed and migrate any incomplete tasks forward. This is an important part of the mid year review process because it gives us an opportunity to see how much we actually accomplished which can be very motivating if you believe you haven’t made as much progress on goals or work you had planned out at the start of the year. This is also helpful because it helps you to see what work you have left to do in order to accomplish goals by the years end.

Step #3: Review Goals and Plans

Next, you are going to want to review the goals and plans you set out at the start of the year to ensure they are still relevant. Often times things change throughout the year, so if you need to remove a goal or change some details of a plan, this is your opportunity to do so. You can also take this time to add new plans that might make more sense to helping you end the year strong if that is what you need to do!

Step #4: Redefine Your Targets

Once you have reviewed your goals and plans, and perhaps made some necessary changes, its time to redefine targets for those goals. This means you may need to rewrite project plans, change expected targets and redefine certain tasks, but this is an important step to ensuring that you have reasonable expectations for accomplishing the big picture goals and plans you outlined for your year!

If you go through this process and find that you need more help setting goals and outlining project plans, I would highly recommend that you check out my You Got This Master Class! The You Got This Master Class is a video lecture and workbook that outline my goal setting and project planning process in detail and includes numerous activities and worksheets to help you set your goals, define your projects and organize your life so that executing on what matters becomes second nature!

xoxo,

Functional Planning

How Many Planners Should I Use?

I’m always surprised that one of the most frequently asked questions I receive from my community revolves around how many planners one should use to optimize their productivity. To me, the answer is pretty obvious, but I think within the planner community there are so many options for planners and different uses for planners that many of us begin to suffer from shiny object syndrome and want to use all the planners and have a dedicated planner for different aspects of our lives. The thing is though, we all have the same 24 hours in a day and we all have just this one life right now to plan for, so separating aspects of our lives into multiple different planners seems counterintuitive to me.

Check out my recent video on the topic linked above and make sure to subscribe on YouTube for more!

The rule I like to use is one planner, one life! That’s right! I think each of us only needs ONE planner to get the job done, organize our schedule and keep on top of our tasks. Why? Well, I think it’s important to keep all of our information for what we need to do and where we are expected to be in one place. When we separate out our calendar or our tasks into different planners we end up only seeing one portion of our life and obligations at a time, thus missing the big picture. This can cause us to overload our schedule with too many tasks or appointments, since we don’t see a full picture of our days, weeks and months. I think many of us already struggle with putting too much on our to do lists, so streamlining into a single planner system, if you are using multiple planners, should help you get more realistic with the expectations you set for your day.

Now, I do believe their are circumstances where using more than one planner is reasonable. If you are someone who works outside the home and your work stays at work, clearly separate from your personal life, then it makes sense to me to have a second planner for your job that you leave at work! This also stands in the event that you have a job where you keep sensitive information or appointments regularly and may need to keep a separate work planner for legal or privacy reasons. I also believe you can use more than one planner IF you get clear on the difference between a binder and a planner. Now, for example, I use a Filofax binder to house my planning system, but you could use a Filofax binder as a journal or to store reference information- it doesn’t just work as a planner cover! So, if you are using more than one binder and one is dedicated to your schedule and tasks, and the others are being used to house specific information or for other purposes, than using more than one is fine. The point is just that you don’t want to separate out information that pertain to your schedule and tasks because it will ultimately overwhelm you to have that information in more than one place.

I know many people bring up the fact that they use more than one planner because they like to use a smaller, more compact planner to travel with outside the home or work, and they might use a larger desk style planner to stay at home. To me, this scenario is baffling because ultimately you are duplicating information which isn’t optimizing your work, just causing you to do more! If you are someone who needs a smaller planner to travel out and about with, my recommendation would be to then keep your schedule and tasks in the smaller planner, and then use the larger binder for extraneous information that you don’t need away from the home or office. Yes, using a smaller planner may mean you can’t store a full year of inserts at one time, BUT ultimately, I believe it will help you to see the bigger picture on your short term items so that you are keeping on top of your schedule and tasks.

If you are using a single planner system and still struggling to get your schedule and tasks organized, I have a great FREE resource you won’t want to miss. I have created a Functional Planning eCourse that will teach you the ins and outs of my Functional Planning process and how to make the most of the 24 hours in your day with just one single planner! Click here to sign up for the FREE eCourse which will be delivered by email on a weekly basis!

So I hope this gives you some food for thought if you are wondering how many planners to use. Of course, I am not the be all and end all on this matter, so if you are using more than one planner successfully outside of the scenarios I discussed, let me know how you manage it and what systems you are using.

xoxo,

printables wallpaper

Start the Second Half of the Year Strong with These FREE Planning Supplies

The first half of the year is now coming to a close, so that means your July FREE Planner Printables and Tech Wallpapers are available for download over in my shop!

I hope you had a productive June and I hope these freebies help you work smarter, not harder this coming month!

xoxo,

Filofax wallpaper

June 2017 FREE Planner Inserts & Tech Wallpapers

Your June Tech Wallpapers + Printable Planner Freebies are now available for download in my shop!

I hope you had a wonderful May and I wish you the best for a productive June ahead!

xoxo,

P.S. In case you didn’t hear, I took a little impromptu blogging break for a few weeks, but don’t worry, I’ll be back soon with some new content on a more regular basis! Thanks for sticking with me!

Functional Planning

FREE May To-Do List, Dashboard & Tech Wallpapers Are Here!

Your May Tech & Planner FREEBIES are ready for download over on my shop!

I hope you all have a wonderful end to April & a fun filled May to come!

xoxo,

Filofax Functional Planning

Spring Cleaning Your Planner: Clean or Replace Your Binder

Spring Cleaning Your Planner

Happy April Planner Friends! Well- I am officially back from my Entrepreneurial Spring Break and now that it’s over all I want to do is fill my planner with new ideas and inspiration to carry me through the summer. While I was on spring break, I did some decluttering around my home, sent a bunch of clothes to goodwill, and gave away some of my unused accessories to family members. I really wanted to do what I could to make room and pass on what I could from my life, primarily to show gratitude for many wonderful blessings that have come into my life recently, but also to keep myself in balance. Balance for me is one part streamlining of what I already have, and another part planning for what’s to come. So, in that spirit, the time has come to Spring Clean my planner as well! While I am going through this process, I thought that I would share some ideas to help you spring clean your planner as well! So, this topic is going to be a 10-part series during the month of April, BUT you can come back to this series or use these ideas year round to help you reset your planner when you need it. I hope you enjoy the series and that you will come back to my site often this month to see it unfold! Feel free to share and posts you particularly enjoy as well- that would be lovely!

Part 1: Clean or Replace Your Binder

Depending on the age and wear of your planner, one of the quickest ways to spring clean it is to literally give it a good scrub or replace it altogether. Many of us in the planner community see our planners as an accessory, not just a productivity tool, so keeping our binders in good condition or swapping them out for the season is reasonable. Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

How to Safely Clean Your Planner

Correctly identify the fabric of your planner: Depending on the type of fabric or material used for the interior and exterior of your planner, you will use different cleaning products. Make sure to identify each material by checking and labels or paperwork that came with your planner, or by contacting the retailer directly. If you aren’t 100% sure of the material, I wouldn’t risk damaging it by using a product made for a specific material, however, a mixture of warm water and mild soap are a safe bet if you just can’t find the information. For any product you use, make sure to spot check the formula in a small, hidden area of your binder to ensure it does not do any damage or cause the color to run or fade.

For leather binders I use a leather cleaner and conditioner cream.
For cloth binders a fabric or upholstery cleaner used in small quantities is a safe bet.
For faux leather binders I use alcohol free baby wipes.
I also make sure to have a stock of Q-Tips and Lint Free Clothes handy when cleaning my binders!

Find the trouble spots: Before you begin cleaning your binder, I recommend assessing the damage and determining if there are any trouble spots. Cleaning up your binder is one thing, but dealing with specific stains is another. Don’t proceed with cleaning your binder until you have given it a once over and checked or any trouble spots like pen marks, stains or areas of rust/oxidation on any metal pieces. You will want to address these issues first with spot treatments specifically tailored to your binder material and the trouble spot. There are many different stain specific products available to help you spot treat your binder, like these.

Empty your planner: This may seem obvious to some, but remember to empty out your planner before you begin cleaning it. Check through and pockets and zippered areas and ensure everything is removed so you can get down to work!

Use a light touch: Whenever I’m cleaning any of my accessories, even my planners, I like to use a light touch so I don’t damage the item. You can always go back over areas with heavy build up if you are too gentle on a first pass, but if you are too rough you can do irreversible damage. Just be smart, work gently in small sections and don’t rush!

Let it dry: Once you’re done cleaning your binder, make sure to give it time to dry. Leather and faux leather binders tend to dry in a few hours, but if you have a cloth planner that required more product to clean, let it dry overnight before returning paper to it just in case! We wouldn’t want to ruin our inserts now would we?

If you’d like to watch my cleaning process, check out my 2017 Planner Setup Video where I give my leather binder a thorough clean at the start!

Replacing Your Binder

Of course, if you don’t simply want to clean your planner and want to replace it altogether- that’s a legitimate option. If you’re looking for something new, think about whether you want to swap your style or your entire system! It’s easy enough to swap one 6 ring planner for another in a coordinating size, but its a little more involved if you want to change from a ring bound to a travelers notebook style, for example. To get some great inspiration for your next planner purchase, check out my Planner Resource Guide Post on Picking a Planner! It covers some great basics for what’s available planner-wise to get you thinking about your needs.

I’d love to hear about your experience with cleaning your planner or picking out a new one for the season! Feel free to share your favorite products or planners down in the comments and be sure to share this post if you found it helpful!

xoxo,

Filofax wallpaper

April 2017 Free Planner Inserts and Tech Wallpapers!

April is right around the corner and so it’s time for another Free Filofax Printable Insert! Since Spring is about to be sprung, this is a great time to focus on a little spring cleaning! This month’s printable is a checklist of all the essential spring cleaning items that are usually forgotten, so challenge yourself to complete one task a day in the month of April and once you are done, you should have a completed refreshed view of your life! Of course, as I did last month, this printable will be available in both A5 + personal size Filofax equivalents! Of course, I also have your April 2017 Dashboard ready to go as well and when you download the Spring Cleaning Checklist, the Dashboard comes with it!

So if you would like to download these free inserts, click here to hop on over to my Shop where you can access and print them immediately!

AND- Don’t forget your FREE Tech Wallpapers for your computer, tablet and smartphone! This month’s design is all about April showers with a mod raindrop design in my signature turquoise! Click here to enjoy the digital wallpaper designs!

If you do download these free inserts or tech wallpapers, please let me know about it by taking a picture and tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #StrangeandCharmed so I can see how you are making use of these goodies. I love seeing your pictures, and I can’t wait to like them and interact with you on IG! Make sure you’re following me @MissTrenchcoat!!

xoxo,

Productivity

How to Manifest a Successful Astrological New Year

How to Manifest a Successful Astrological New Year

As many of you may already know, yesterday was my live stream called How to Manifest a Successful Astrological New Year. If you haven’t heard, today is the start of the Astrological New Year as the New Moon Rises in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. I love New Years, and luckily, there are a few different New Years celebrations throughout the year. You can make a fresh start or set your goals or intentions for your life at any point in the year, no matter what the day or moon phase but I find that if you can pair the positive and refreshing energy of a significant date with your intentions, that can lead to more substantial success. So, that was the heart behind yesterdays stream!

I was joined by my personal astrologist and tarot goddess Madeleine Joan of Written in the Stars and we paired a discussion of practical astrology with productivity. If you haven’t seen the replay yet- I urge you to check it out if you are interested in making a fresh start for the year or if you are interested in some of the more esoteric philosophies of life. The first part of our discussion goes through each zodiac sign and what specific energies the new moon is activating for you, paired with practical productivity strategy. You can use this information to help you set meaningful goals or intentions and help you manifest success for the year ahead! The second part of the video is an open Q&A where Madeleine and I helped some live viewers get some insight and clarity on questions or directions for issues they are struggling with. Now, I realize that watching someone else get an astrology or tarot reading may not seem helpful to you specifically, but I fully believe that the energy of the universe brings us all messages even through the struggles of others. So, if you choose to watch the second half of the video, keep your ears and mind open to receiving messages that resonate to you! If you feel a sense of synchronicity or alignment with a struggles of another, that may very well be the universe sending you a message as well.

I hope you enjoy this video and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the event and if you’d be interested in me doing more content on the topic of energy and manifestation, especially in terms of how we can harness such concepts for our own personal productivity and gain! Leave me a comment below- I’d love to hear your thoughts!

xoxo,

Productivity

How to Manifest a Successful Astrological New Year!

It may be March but did you know the astrological New Year is right around the corner? Monday March 27th kicks off the official start of the astrological year with the New Moon in Aries and this is a wonderful time to hit the refresh button on your life and energy if you feel like 2017 just hasn’t quite gotten off on the right foot! So, to help you find success and learn what is in store for you this year, I am hosting a FREE LIVE EVENT called HOW TO MANIFEST A SUCCESSFUL ASTROLOGICAL NEW YEAR with my friend, fellow empire builder and master astrologist, Madeleine Joan of Written in the Stars!

Join us on Sunday March 26th at 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific for a star guided and tarot filled reading to help you maximize your productivity and success this year!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE PRIVATE WATCH PAGE and make sure to bookmark it for the day of the event.

Feel free to invite your friends and share on social media as well via the event link: bit.ly/2017astrony

Can’t wait to see you all there!