2018 Is The Year of Strategy
Last year, the goal of my agency was to speak with 100 entrepreneurs and business owners. The industries ranged from health and fitness to specialty foods; real estate to solid waste; and wedding planning to personalized calligraphy. And two food trucks! More than 500 hours was spent in one-on-one conversation with people passionate about their business. Each of these individuals expressed one unified frustration: what do I do next? They all had an idea of where they wanted to go, but lacked the vision to see what step to take next. They imagined their business expanding, hiring employees, utilizing social media better to capture new customers, improving their brand awareness,…
Readers, What Are Your 2018 Goals?
It is time to soundoff. I have covered goals extensively, lately. What Will Your 2018 Story Be Writing Down Your Goals Changes How You See the Situation The 2 P’s to Consider in 2018 How to Achieve Work-Life Balance as a Freelancer How to Separate Your Work and Life as an Entrepreneur Habits of Unsuccessful People vs Successful People Now it is time for you to share your goals with me. Why? Because people who write their goals are far more likely (something like 10 times more likely) to achieve. Do you want to take steps toward your own success? Take action. What are you committed to doing in 2018 in…
Work Worth Doing
Passion and good intent are funny things. When we get an idea for something, we pursue it with great fervor. We think of the grandness of our vision and how it will change the lives of those around us and those who use it. We think about our future with this new idea in place. Not long after the inspiration strikes, we start to get less passionate about our work. Procrastination sets in. The vision board gets pushed aside. The goals, mission, and value statements find themselves in a dark drawer. The outline of the book gets buried in Evernote. The passion fades. But the idea did not get worse.…
Your Natural Abilities
We are not all natural creatives. Nor are we all naturally leaders. Likewise, we are not all skilled with our hands. We are not all plumbers, or teachers, or communicators, or visionaries. But we all have natural abilities. In business, your greatest chance of success stems from understanding your natural abilities and unnatural abilities; your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t be discouraged by comparing to something you’re not; instead, embrace who you are. Are you naturally good with people? Are you an organized person? Are you gifted at solving complex problems easily? Are you good at finances? Your natural ability lends itself to a unique platform to share your message. How…
Comparison is Killing Your Business
It’s common to want to emulate those who we look up to. We hear the success stories of other business tycoons and think ourselves, “If I can just do that, I will experience the same success they enjoy.” The fallacy is that we are comparing our beginning to their middle. We are privy only to curated snippets of their life or third-party reports of how they operate. In reality, we miss out on the context of what has lead them to where they are now. From the mountain base, we see them at the summit. We didn’t see the arduous journey to the top. We see what they are doing…
The Two Ps to Consider in 2018
The start of a new year serves as a blank slate, a chance to change, and the excitement of new opportunities. Right now, consider how 2018 will represent positive change in your organization. What will be different from last year? Answer these two Ps: 1. What needs to be put down 2. What needs to be picked up Don’t go into the new year with unnecessary burden. And, don’t forego carrying something important because your luggage is full. Instead, go into this year with intention, direction, and organization. Happy New Year!
How to Find Clients as a Freelancer
There is a certain romance associated with being a freelancer. Often we conjure images of working from remote, exotic locations; the freedom from a 9-to-5 job; the ability to create our own destiny; and doing work that is engaging or meaningful. According to a 2016 survey of the freelance economy, the number of freelance workers is growing quickly. Currently, there are approximately 55 million freelancers in the United States, up from 53 million in 2014. This represents about 34 percent of the total workforce and is expected to balloon to 50 percent by 2020. But, as many of those entrepreneurs can attest, running a freelance business is hard work. From day to day operations, managing clients, and…
Books I Read in 2017
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] As a child, I devoured reading material. My mom toted me to the library at least twice a week for the quota of age-appropriate books. I excelled at reading speed and comprehension. Between books, I would read the daily newspaper while I ate breakfast. I read. A lot. But that happy habit faded as I aged. Late this year (October, if we are being honest), I decided I wanted to get back into purposeful reading. My business partner and I agreed to read each day and followed a reading schedule that would…
How to Talk to People
Step 1: Don’t talk to people. Don’t talk at people, either. When we talk to or at people, it presumes we will be doing the talking. Instead, talk with them. Listen to them. This is especially important in difficult conversations. Instead of trying to win the argument, listen and share your story. When we listen first, our verbal posture changes to become more welcoming for a conversation instead of a defensive argument. – Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash
Is It Hustle? Or something else?
Staying up late on a Sunday night working on a project. Is that hustle? Working 16 hours a day on a new idea. Is that hustle? Foregoing social outings in lieu of shipping your product. Is that hustle? “Hustle” has become the drug of choice for many entrepreneurs. A glorification of doing what no one else will to see success that no one else will experience. What is it exactly? Hard work? Taking action? An attitude? Getting out of bed an hour earlier? Is it working faster? Is it applying yourself? Is it something to covet and celebrate? Working hard has never gone out of style — and I am not suggesting…
Honing Your Brand Voice
It may seem funny to think of your brand having a “voice.” But the language- the words, terms, phrases- you use in professional communication says a lot about your brand. Those intentional choices provide a consistent feel for your customers. Does your doula service say moms, mothers, or mommas? Do you have clients or customers? Do you have employees, partners, team members? Do you sign your correspondence Sincerely, Respectfully, All the best, xo? Do you provide photography services or capture meaningful moments? While these examples may seem subtle; our goal is a consistent “voice” for your brand. Think back in high school civics when we had to draft resumes. They all started with some…
What is Engagement Bait
[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Medium-styled Post Title and Meta” background_color=”#fbfcfd” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row admin_label=”Post Title and Meta” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_post_title admin_label=”Post Title and Author Information” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”] [/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_post_title admin_label=”Featured Image” title=”off” meta=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”] [/et_pb_post_title][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog Post Body” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ max_width=”800px” custom_margin=”|||10%” background_layout=”light”] Recently Facebook announced their improved efforts to reduce the spread of “engagement bait” — the act of using reactions, comments, and shares to trick algorithms into showing content more frequently and to a broader audience. This has some marketers concerned. Understandable, since Facebook’s organic reach (the number of…
What Will Your 2018 Story Be?
This time of year, many services recap your year with them. My Bible app shows how many days I read the daily devotional (only missed 9), MapMyRun shows how many miles I’ve run, and Pocket tells me that I consumed more than 10 books worth of content in their app in 2017. In some ways this is inspiring, a way to look back and quantify what I spent my time doing. Looking back is also a great time to look forward. What do you want 2018 to say about you? What do you want to achieve? What will your highlights be? I encourage you to take action now. What is…
How to Build an Online Business With Little to No Experience
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ background_color=”#fbfcfd” admin_label=”Medium-styled Post Title and Meta” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row admin_label=”Post Title and Meta” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_post_title date=”off” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”Post Title and Author Information” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”][/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” admin_label=”Featured Image” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”][/et_pb_post_title][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog Post Body” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ max_width=”800px” custom_margin=”|||10%”] First, congratulations on your entrepreneurial spirit and desire to get started with business online. Yes! It is entirely possible to build an online business with little to no experience. Getting started with a business online can be daunting. In fact, starting a business of…
Why I Said ‘Yes’ to Kickstart Kings
Not only is it a way to take others further, faster – but I fully anticipate it will do the same for me. I believe most folks have their choice of open doors. Opportunities that seemingly “just appear” before them. Some open doors are meant to walk by while some are meant to walk through. Our ability to discern which opportunities should be taken and which should be bypassed leads to various levels of success. When the concept of Kickstart Kings was presented to me in October of 2016, I immediately had flashbacks of other projects I had been a part of. On many of those, I was the point person — seemingly…
Vine’s Announcement Underscores This Important Marketing Advice
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ background_color=”#fbfcfd” admin_label=”Medium-styled Post Title and Meta” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row admin_label=”Post Title and Meta” _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”Post Title and Author Information” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”][/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” admin_label=”Featured Image” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”28px” title_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” title_line_height=”1.3em” meta_font=”||||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_font_size=”18px” meta_text_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.8)” meta_line_height=”1.8em”][/et_pb_post_title][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.89″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog Post Body” _builder_version=”3.0.89″ text_font=”||||||||” max_width=”800px” custom_margin=”|||10%”] In the age of social media, many brands are jumping from one platform to another — mainly because “social media ninjas” are pontificating the need to be everywhere, all the time. First of all, this is horrible advice, but more on that later. Today,…
How to Overcome the Greatest Obstacle in B2B Sales
“We’ve tried everything,” she said exasperated. “I’ve contacted them through LinkedIn and email .. and no one responded.” When I hear sales professionals utter these words, I nod my head in agreement. Like hundreds, if not thousands of other salespeople, they are usually selling in the worst possible way. Making it about themselves. When a salesperson reaches out to a prospect, it is often with the mindset that they will craft such a beautiful, perfectly written sales message that the reader will instantly drop everything else they are doing, respond, and sign up for a demo — or better yet, sign on the dotted line. This, after all, is the best product…
Transparency in Advertising
It is natural to want to put our best foot forward. When a prospective client sees you and your product, you want them to see the best possible you. But when we resort to tactics that obscure truth or manipulate the belief of the customer, we actually do more damage than good. Not only does this type of intentional engineering sell the customer a product they did not want, it also attracts the wrong customer. The hotel and travel industry has long-battled this, leading to the rise of idependent reviews that show an accurate depiction of the product. Brand leaders have two choices: Improve the actual delivered product Adapt marketing to…
What Are You Looking For
“We have so many options – almost 4,000 products,” she started as she sat down with the owner of the cafe. “We have guacamole, sliced meats, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables – our broccoli is amazing. We have soup … stuff like that,” she continued. “We have a state of the art ordering system, once we get your application, we can get you a login and you can see everything. You can order from your phone, track your order, we can customize and design your menu. We can photograph your food. It is one of the many services we offer. Whatever you need.” It continued. “Let me show you the online ordering and…
3 Tips to Rejuvenating a Stagnated Marketing Department
Regardless of your business size, it can be difficult to know which tasks to keep in-house and which to outsource. The answer is different for virtually everyone. For example, if you are an accountant, outsourcing your bookkeeping does not make a lot of sense. However, if you are a travel blogger, it makes perfect sense to outsource your financial tracking. When it comes to marketing, there are a couple of popular trends: either keep marketing wholly in-house with a marketing department or outsource it entirely to a marketing agency or firm. What happens when you feel like your marketing has stagnated overall? Or how do you deal with an outside…
How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Mix to Grow Your Business
Social media, SEO, content marketing, email marketing, PPC — the list of digital marketing tactics go on and on. And on top of that never-ending list, it always seems like there are new marketing strategies popping up every month. With all the different choices, how do you know which form of digital marketing is best for your business? To help you decide, we’ve taken four different scenarios and recommended the best digital marketing tactics. While there are many different ways to accomplish each goal listed below, we’re just going to focus on one or two digital marketing methods that have worked for us in the past. [Tweet “You don’t need…
3 Reasons You Need to Start Using Content Marketing Today
You may have heard a number of terms being thrown around the web lately: “Inbound Marketing”, “Content Marketing”, “Blogging for Business” — it is tough to keep up and easy to get overwhelmed. As a busy business owner, sometimes it is easier to just ignore trends and hope that it all works out. But guess what: hoping is not a strategy. [Tweet “Hoping is not a strategy. You should be using #content in your #marketing.”] Your business deserves the best shot of success you can give it, so let’s discuss a couple of reasons you need to be investing in content marketing today — for the sake of your business,…
How to Tell Where Your Website Traffic is Coming From
After months of trial and error, your website is finally getting a couple extra thousand visitors every month. You think, I’m doing something right! Break out the champagne! Not so fast. While an increase in website traffic is definitely something to celebrate, you need to first understand where these visitors are coming from. Someone coming to your site from organic search will behave differently than someone coming from Twitter. Here are three ways to tell where your website traffic is coming from: 1. Create a Basic Site Survey The easiest way to find out where people are coming from is simply to ask them in the form of a survey.…
How to Write Successful Case Studies That Land You More Clients
No one wants to be a show-off. But as a freelancer, you do need to brag a little bit. One of the best ways to land a new client is to showcase your past work and success. A user story, or case study, clearly outlines what you can accomplish based on real results. Everyone can talk about how great their work is, but a user story is based on facts, not hypotheticals. Here are three best practices for writing effective case studies that can win you more business: Don’t Focus on Yourself A case study should not highlight your services, it should highlight the people you work with. For example,…
How to Manage Unpaid Invoices
Being your own boss is one of the biggest perks of freelancing. However, that also means you have to do the not-so-glamorous work, like being your own contract manager and accountant. While you’ll spend the majority of your time in your element, you’ll inevitably be faced with the uncomfortable situation of asking your clients to pay you on time. This is when you have to put your small business owner hat on and take action right away; the longer you wait, the harder it will be to continually get paid on time. Here are four ways to manage unpaid invoices: 1. Be Persistent In the beginning of my freelancing career,…
What Is Content Strategy?
You write two blog posts a week, you send out a couple tweets. Your content strategy is good to go, right? Unfortunately, too many marketers confuse blogging with content strategy. While blogging is an important part, it is just one of many tactics that revolve around the planning, development, and long-term management of content. Here are four important parts of a content strategy: Collaboration Across the Company Like any successful marketing tactic, a strong content strategy comes when you work and align with different areas of your client’s company. For example, if you are working with a software company, you would need to collaborate with the product team to understand…
How Do You Start a Blog When You Have Absolutely No Audience?
The big brands have it easy. They start a blog and boom: millions of people read their posts and share them with their friends. They instantly have a blog audience. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come that easy for all of us. Most of us have to build our blog audience from scratch through listening, experimenting, and dedication. And the first couple months of a new blog are usually the hardest. What do you write about when you have no audience? What do they like? How do you reach them? Here are three tips to starting a blog when you have absolutely no audience: Listen, Listen, Listen When you’re just starting out…
How to Easily Achieve Your Blog Writing Goals
Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to enjoy positive ROI. Basically, if you consistently blog, you’re more likely to reap its benefits. But let’s say that’s old news to you. Let’s say you already knew that blogging is one of the best things you can do for your online business. The real questions is: how do you get your blog to the next level? Here are three tips for creating and achieving your blog writing goals this year: 1. Set Realistic Blog Writing Goals Start small and focus on what is possible. If you’re already running out of time in the day to respond to emails or…
Blog Writing Checklist: How to Write an Amazing Blog Post
We all remember the basics from elementary school: every story should have a beginning, middle, and end. Unfortunately, in today’s content-saturated market, that just won’t cut it. An amazing blog post needs to catch readers’ attention as they scroll through a newsfeed. It needs to keep their interest until the last paragraph. It needs to elicit some sort of action, whether that is sharing the post or signing up for your newsletter. How can one blog post accomplish all that? Here is our ultimate blog writing checklist so you can write an amazing blog post every time: Compelling Headline The headline is not only what will draw people in; sometimes,…
Trust Deposits
Trust is the currency upon all relationships are built. It is made up of tiny deposits that span a lifetime, but can bankrupt in an instant of poor judgement. As leaders, it is important that we start with trust. We must know the ramifications of our actions – not only to satisfy ourselves – but understand the perception of our actions through the lens of those we lead. Leaders do what they say, and say what they do. We accrue trust through transparency, communication, and thoughtfulness. We lose trust through deceit, silence, and selfishness. Leaders don’t gamble with the trust bank, instead, seek ways to make frequent deposits. Whether you…
What Are Your Breakpoints?
This morning, Seth Godin shared about breakpoints in sidewalks. He wrote: A neighbor recently put in some new sidewalk. As usual, the workman interrupted the unbroken swath of perfect concrete with lines every three feet. What are the lines for? Well, the ground shifts. When it does, perfect concrete cracks in unpredictable ways, often ruining the entire job. When you put the breakpoints in on purpose, though, the concrete has a chance to absorb the shifts, to degrade effectively. This is something we often miss in design and in the creation of customer experiences. We’re so optimistic we forget to put in the breakpoints. There’s no doubt the ground will…
Does It Matter
It’s easy to get caught up in the every day. The mundane cycle that repeats endlessly for seemingly no reason. Instead of accepting the status quo, take inventory of your activities and examine their purpose. Question your routine. Create art that attracts. Create marketing that makes a difference. Be an expert in your craft. Make it matter.
How Much Does Content Marketing Cost?
Eighty-eight percent of B2B marketers are currently using content marketing, according to the Content Marketing Institute. There’s no question that we all understand the value of content marketing, but not many of us truly understand what that value is worth; what the content marketing cost actually is. Content marketing is no small investment; it can easily cost thousands of dollars every month. And if you’re already on a tight marketing budget, you may be wondering if it’s even worth pursuing. [Tweet “Don’t get overwhelmed with the cost of content marketing. Instead, create a plan that works within your budget.”] Fortunately, you don’t need to shell out six figures every year to…
Go Ahead
It is easy to talk ourselves out of something we believe to be true. There is a lot of risk when it comes to taking action. Today, I encourage you: step out. Move forward. Take action. Sure, someone may get bothered over it. But someone else may get bothered that you didn’t share your gift.
5 Early Warning Signs of a Bad Client
There comes a time in your freelancing career when you realize that the money just isn’t worth it. The money isn’t worth putting up with a bad client. Sometimes, it’s better to just walk away. As a freelancer, it took me a long time to realize I don’t have to accept every job that comes my way. Some extra cash is always nice, but today, I place more value on finding a good professional match. I would rather have three clients who I truly enjoy working with than six clients who I dread talking to. [Tweet “As a freelancer, you don’t have to accept every client. Sometimes it is best to walk…
How to Achieve Work-Life Balance as a Freelancer
When you first start out as a freelancer, you find complete joy in cutting out a commute and wearing whatever you want during the day (even PJs). However, after a couple months of wearing lounge-y clothes during the day and answering work emails at night, you may find yourself losing track of the day and time, and your personal needs. The 100% flexibility and autonomy of freelancing are what attracts many people to work for themselves, but they also present their own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges for all freelancers, newbies and veterans alike, is achieving work-life balance. [Tweet “Autonomy attracts a lot of folks to freelance…
How to Commit to Writing Every Day
What do you think about writing 500-800 words every day? I’m not talking about sending 25 emails or dozens of tweets. I’m talking about cold, hard words on paper. If the idea of writing every day scares you, that’s totally normal. It’s hard to write every day! But the more you do it, the better you’ll become. And, eventually, you’ll be able to hammer out a quality blog post in under an hour. [Tweet “Like any skill, practice makes perfect. The key is committing to writing each day.”] Here are my tips for how to commit to writing every day: Be Strategic About When You Write Your creativity will ebb…
The Polite Way to Turn Down Work
It may seem counterintuitive to have a plan to turn down work – but as many experienced freelancers and consultants can attest, not all clients are good fits for your services. An associate recently discovered this after spending a considerable amount of time going back and forth with a prospect on the terms of their work agreement. The longer the negotiations, the more wiry my associate felt about the entire relationship. Who can blame her, is this how the entire process would be with this client? Yes. In my experience, when a client is unreasonably difficult or demanding even before signing a contract, they are telegraphing their post-contract behavior. As a professional, and…
Before Your Prospect Wants To Hear From You, They Must Know This …
Our prospects must believe that we care about them and their goals before they’ll be interested in hearing about us. -Pete Caputa, VP of Sales HubSpot
How to Choose the Right Webinar Software
Webinars are one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience and give them high-quality, educational content. When customers see your face or even hear your voice, you go one step further in building a strong relationship. While webinars require less time and effort than creating an e-book or report, they still aren’t easy. You need to plan, practice, and promote your webinar so it reaches the right people. Creating the content is only half the battle. You also need to find the right technology that helps make your webinar a success, and doesn’t add extra work or stress for you (or for your attendees). What is a…
The Foundation of your Sales Strategy
Your sales strategy must unequivocally revolve around one simple element: develop a genuine relationship with the customer. To see the entire collection of my quote cards, click here.
Your Legacy
The absolute best part of my job is being a part of my clients’ legacy. Congratulations on all your achievements! For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
7 Life Hacks for Freelancers
How many times have you inadvertently allowed technology to hurt your productivity, rather than help it? Do you subconsciously check social media every hour? Are you addicted to Google Calendar and find yourself scheduling back-to-back meetings for weeks on end? Do you type the same message over and over again? [Tweet “#Productivity is not about juggling a lot of tasks; it is using tools to work more efficiently”] It’s time to identify these productivity killers and use technology to our advantage. Here are 7 life hacks for freelancers to save time and help you work more efficiently: Set up meeting days and non-meeting days There’s only so much work you can…
Don’t Call It A Dream
A goal without a deadline is simply a dream. Write down your goals and make a plan. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Why You Should Stop Giving Your Content Away for Free
As content creators, we’ve been ingrained to focus on web traffic. We write BuzzFeed-inspired titles in the hopes of getting more clicks and constantly bombard our social media following with messaging promoting our newest piece of content, all to get more visitors. However, if you’re giving away all your content for free in exchange for a couple thousand website views, you’re missing out on a serious opportunity: gated content. Gated content allows you to offer something of value (an e-book, white paper, or webinar) to a user only after he or she has filled out a form with some basic information (name, email address, etc). You get to leverage great content to attract potential…
Layer Upon Layer
Anything of value – a business, a relationship, financial wealth – is built layer upon layer. Wise words from Dave Ramsey For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
How to Attract More Backlinks To Your Website
Success in the world of online marketing is driven by hundreds of factors. But, if we boil them down, getting more people to your website is really about two things: Original, Consistent, High-Quality Content Links I’ve talked a lot about generating new content (here, here, here, here, and here). So today I’ll talk about the less glamorous topic of getting more links. Links (also referred to as hyperlinks or backlinks) connect pages on various sites to one another; they are how humans navigate around the web and how we find ourselves sucked into the black hole of YouTube watching videos of cats playing the piano. But links do more that just lead us to time-wasting…
5 Landing Page Mistakes You Need to Avoid
With a strong social media and content strategy in place, getting visitors to a page can be simple. The tough part comes after that, when you want to subtly direct someone to perform a very specific action on that page. A landing page is all about one thing: conversions. The goal is to design a layout with the right copy and imagery to persuade someone to give you something (usually an email address). That is easier said than done, especially when we visit thousands of web pages each day and become immune to clever marketing. While you could spend hours reading about the must-have elements for the perfect landing page,…
Everything Works Out In The End
Wise words from Michael Hyatt For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
My Review: The Best WordPress Form Plugin
Finally! A WordPress forms plugin that’s easy and powerful! If you have ever tried building a “Contact Us” form or email newsletter subscription signup, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of creating a custom form to allow your visitors easy conversion. I’m excited to review a brand new tool that eliminates the frustration of building custom WordPress forms. It’s called WPForms, and it’s a drag & drop WordPress builder that allows you to easily create contact forms, subscription forms, payment forms, and other online forms with just a few clicks. They literally took the pain out of creating online forms and made it easy. WPForms was created by the same team behind the…
Inside Scoop: One Writer’s Tips on How to Find and Work With the Best Freelance Writers
As a freelance writer, I’ve worked with more than a dozen companies. From startups to agencies to lifestyle brands, I’ve seen (almost) all of it. I’ve worked with some amazing clients, and some not-so-amazing ones. I’ve seen the right way to hire a writer and the wrong way. I’ve worked with clients who need to be in 24/7 control and ones who generously give me free reign. And I’m here to tell you everything that I’ve learned. Here are my top tips for finding and working with the best freelance writers. How to Find and Hire Freelance Writer 1. Understand Your Content Needs Before you start interviewing freelance writers, you…
To get more clarity
To get more clarity, take a step in the direction of the destination. Wise words from Michael Hyatt For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Feeling Stuck? Here are 5 Content Marketing Ideas to Reinspire
Content marketing has had a great year. It was the most important digital marketing trend in 2015 and 70% of content marketers created more content last year than in 2014. You may have dabbled in content marketing with blog posts, videos, or infographics, but let’s make sure it’s a top priority this year. Here are five inspirational content ideas to implement to get out of the rut: 1. Design an Offer: Think outside of a blog post and create a gated piece of content that you can leverage for lead generation. You create something of value (an e-book, white paper, or webinar) and users have to fill out a form…
Should You Invest in Paid Advertising to Attract More Website Visitors?
When you’re doing everything you can to generate conversions and revenue from your website, the last thing you think about is spending money to make money. If you just wait around and hope that your target demographic will stumble upon your website and magically convert, you’ll end up costing your business more money in the long run. Sure, there are many free strategies to attract website visitors, but none can guarantee the same results as paid advertising. Why should you use paid advertising? Here are the top three benefits: Immediate traffic: If you have a relatively young website or create a new landing page, it’ll take a long time to…
Working on the Right Problem is more Important than Working Hard
Running fast in the wrong direction will not win a race. Make sure you are working on the right things rather than just working hard on things. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Inbound Marketing for Real Estate Professionals
As I have said before, social media marketing is really relationship marketing. It stands to reason, of course, that it should be used for relationship-based businesses like real estate. When I first started researching the real estate industry, I was shocked at the fundamental lack of successful, prolific, and strategic use of social media (and inbound marketing, at all) by real estate professionals. Listen, folks, this is not rocket science. This is business science. Real estate professionals should be using inbound marketing, especially social media, to build relationships with people ready to make the largest buying decision of their lives. Why is this not happening more?! [Tweet “Real estate pros…
How to Fire a Client [3 Scripts!]
We spend so much of our professional lives fearing that we’ll get fired from our jobs that when the tables turn, we have no idea what to do or say. Becoming a freelancer, consultant, or owning your agency means that you have the power and flexibility to take on the projects you want and work with the clients you like. That also means that you’ll inevitably be faced with firing a problem client, which can be as scary as getting fired yourself. Here’s a quick guide about why you’d want to fire a client, what to say, and how to do it: Why Would You Fire a Client? Not all…
Leadership Is
Wise words from Glennon Doyle Melton, a part of Michael Hyatt’s Influence & Impact Summit, 2015 For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
What Stood Out: Week of February 21st 2016
Welcome to this week’s edition of What Stood Out As you may know, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership each week. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: SnapChat Now Lets Everyone Pay to Design Geofilters Snapchat launches $5 On-Demand Geofilters; users design snap overlay graphics & draw geofence on map for filter availability, up to 5k sq ft; can share…
How to Create 8 Pieces of Content in 2 Hours
You don’t need to forgo a night’s worth of sleep to create quality content. Nor do you need extra caffeine or superpowers. The secret to creating a ton of quality content in a short amount of time is to repurpose existing, successful content. This saves you time and effort, allows you to reach new audiences, and makes your content stretch even further. [Tweet “Repurpose existing, successful content to reach new audiences and save you time.”] Repurposing is about taking a published blog post and breaking it up into smaller pieces of content in new formats. In order for your repurposing efforts to be successful, we recommend that you have a…
Trading Urgent for Important: Husbands
Timely share by my friends at Fierce Marriage following my post this morning. Husbands, it is critically important that we prioritize our most valuable resource: our time. View this post on Instagram As men, it's so tempting to chase career goals before family goals. Society applauds financial success and positional prominence. However, if those things come at the cost of loving your wife and kids well, something is terribly amiss. As a man, your first calling is to love Christ. Your next calling is to love your bride, then your children. Finally, you're called to love others in Christ's name by perpetuating the message of the gospel through discipleship. Somewhere…
Replacing Urgent with Important
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we place priority on events on our lives. From taking care of our children to finishing work projects, it is easy to become overly focused on the urgent and lose sight of the important. [Tweet “What if we commit to being more intentional about spending our time on what is important; not just what is urgent.”] A late night email from a client may be urgent; but it is more important than quality time with your spouse? Or spending 30 minutes with your child in the morning over hot cocoa rather than forcefully tackling the To-Do list. Each day, we are blessed with…
What Kind of Content Should You Create: Long or Short?
Twitter makes our lives easy. We know that our posts have to be 140 characters or less, and if we include a picture and a hashtag or two, we should be good. [Tweet “Effective long-form content is ~2,416 words. Daunting as it seems, it is achievable. “] If only content creation had the same parameters. Instead, we’re left wondering how many words our posts should be and if it’s worth spending hours of time on a long article rather than pumping out short, frequent posts. To help you find the best content mix, here are the benefits of both long-form and short-form content. The Benefits of Long Posts Long-form content…
Blogging Ideas: How to Become a Better Content Creator
Did you know that, according to HubSpot’s 2015 Marketing Benchmark Report, companies that blog 6-8 times per month generate over 2X more leads than companies that blog just twice a month? Valuable content is the meat that attracts visitors and leads to your company. Making the commitment to an increased blogging frequency should significantly increase your lead flow. [Tweet “Stuck for blog ideas? Consider taking an existing post and updating it with new information; then republish!”] Coming up with blogging ideas can be tough. If you need a little help finding blogging ideas, here is a list to inspire you: Read Industry News Because news is always, well, new, industry news sources…
When You Can’t Lead Others
If you are unwilling to make the journey, it is impossible for you to lead your team through it. Wise words from Citizens Creative House; photo by Jeff Marsh Studios For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
I Am Not A Salesperson
I love this image found on Britney Jones’ Facebook profile. She is a stylist for Stella & Dot, the fashion and jewelry retailer. But she is not defined by her title. I suspect that any reader of this site could easily identify with the title “Salesperson” or “Marketer”. In fact, in my last reader survey, nearly 80% of the responses self-aligned a variation of those positions. But that is not what makes us who we are. We are made up of smaller, yet more important attributes. For Britney Jones, she is a wife, a mom, a friend. Those are the attributes that make her who she is, and the attributes that make…
Lead Gen: You’ve Generated a Ton of New Leads…Now What?
We place a lot of importance on increasing website traffic and generating leads. We spend time on social media, pay for advertising, and maintain a blog all to get people to come to our site. We test button colors and landing pages to find the best way to convert those visitors into leads. You get a long list of email addresses. Then what do you do? Lead generation is only half the equation; how you nurture the relationship is equally important. Click To Tweet Lead generation is only half of the battle. Once you generate those leads, you need to figure out what to do with them. If you don’t communicate…
Why People Resist Change
One of the most common reasons people resist change is their focus on what they will lose, or the cost of their decision. Instead, focus on what you will gain as a result. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
5 Myths About Content Marketing
Content marketing is everywhere. Eighty-eight percent of B2B marketers use content marketing and it was the most important digital trend in 2015. However, there are still a lot of questions left unanswered. How often should you be blogging? Should you be producing more videos? How does a blog post really become viral? To help you improve your content marketing efforts in 2016, we’re debunking the biggest myths in content marketing: Myth #1: More Is Better Reality: With thousands of new blog posts published every day, marketers can feel pressure to keep up and post something on a daily basis. However, a successful blog has nothing to do with frequency. Quality…
What Stood Out: Week of January 31st 2016
Welcome to this week’s edition of What Stood Out As you may know, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership each week. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: Pagevamp Allows admins to turn Facebook Pages into a website. The app creates scrolling header image with profile photos. Additionally, it formats previous Facebook Page Posts into individual blog entries on the new site.…
The Best Way to be an Anomaly is to Act Like One
The best way to become an anomaly is to act like one. – Gary Vaynerchuk For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Managing Data Islands Now a Required Skill for Marketers
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Export Contacts Import/Merge Sort by Conversion Remove Duplicates Manually look for trends Painstakingly identify a dozen or two contacts that fit the criteria Wonder if you forgot anyone…. did you export from the customer list? What about the folks from your last webinar? Sound like a nightmare? The truth is, we use a lot of different tools to run our business. We have accounting, estimating, lead pages, lead generation, email marketing, social media fans, followers, webinar registrants, customers, high-value customers, folks who have requested a demo, people to follow up with, contracts expiring, people who mention you online, lead nurturing, lead qualification and grading,…
Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing
This article was originally published in 2012. Amazingly, it is still accurate. Today’s consumer is bombarded with upwards of 3,000 advertising interruptions each day. Marketing and advertising budgets are being stretched and sales people are working harder. All this to generate a massive amount of noise within the population, but not a tremendous amount of return on investment (ROI). [Tweet “Traditional media is a one-way, one-message horse. Inbound marketing is a conversation.”] Finally, brands are starting to realize social media is a medium to communicate with their customers, but, often, the same traditional tactics are bring used on social media as have been used for decades in more traditional, one-way, methods…
If You Don’t Understand Respect, You Are Not Capable of Serving
Service, and ultimately leadership, is based upon a keen understanding of respect. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
The Best and Worst Ways to Generate Leads
There are the best and worst ways to do everything. There’s the best way to write subject lines, there are the worst ways to use Facebook, and there’s the best way to design a homepage. But what are the best and worst ways to generate leads? It’s easy to invest money in social media, email marketing, and content marketing, but do they really work and are they worth the money? [Tweet “Lead generation is a pot of gold for every digital marketer; but we must avoid fools gold.”] Here are three of the best ways and three of the worst ways to generate leads: 3 of the Best Ways to…
Writing Down Your Goals Changes How You See The Situation
In order to stay focused and on track, you must have record of your path. Writing down your goals serves as a map to guide you through unforeseen circumstances. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
A Preview of Tomorrow’s Event
I am hosting a free digital marketing question and answer session tomorrow. Register today to save your spot and remove roadblocks holding your marketing from hitting your goals.
5 Digital Marketing Resolutions for 2016
Exercise more. Eat healthier. Take control of your finances. A New Year always signals the onslaught of personal resolutions (some kept, some quickly forgotten), but have you made the time to come up with some professional New Year’s resolutions? The beginning of the year is the best time to reevaluate your business, set new goals, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s time to freshen up your blog, choose quality over quantity, and define success on social media. Here are five digital marketing resolutions for 2016: 1. I will stop using social media without establishing clear goals Many businesses fall into the trap of tweeting or posting on…
Its Not Us vs Them
It’s not “Us vs Them”, in business, we must decide that its “Us Helping Them” For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Your Digital Marketing Questions Answered … for free
I talk to entrepreneurs each day who struggle with using digital marketing to move their business forward. They ask questions like: I know I need to be using social media to promote my business, but what do I do? I see other brands doing a contest on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest. How are they doing it? How do I get more people to my website? How can I find people who are interested in my product? How do I use Google Local or Yelp for my business? How much does it cost to make a Facebook ad? Do Facebook ads really work? It seems so confusing? I…
How Does Content Marketing Generate More Sales?
It’s easy to attribute increased web traffic or social shares to content marketing. The tricky part is connecting cold, hard sales with a blog post or e-book. It’s a common misconception that content marketing is only good for brand awareness or boosting traffic, but it can also have a powerful effect on the bottom line. Here are three ways that content marketing can generate more sales: Attracts a very specific, qualified prospect Different types of content attract different kinds of leads. For example, you could argue that a company blog is kind of a free-for-all. You may have a very focused blog (let’s say it’s about B2B public relations), but…
The Best Tools for Tracking and Growing Your Social Media Engagement
As soon as you start investing in a social media strategy for your business, you’ll run up against the challenge of proving its value. Stakeholders will inevitably ask you how to measure success on social media, and they’ll want to see numbers and graphs illustrating the hard numbers and business benefits of Twitter, Facebook, and other channels. Of course, it’s easy to track the number of followers or fans you have over time. But, it gets tricky when you need to show how Twitter helps with brand awareness or how Facebook boosts word of mouth marketing with your potential customer base. [Tweet “Social media marketing should generate revenue for you;…
What Stood Out: Week of January 3rd 2016
Welcome to this week’s edition of What Stood Out As you may know, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership each week. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: 7 Ways Productive People Stay Focused (Inc) I’m a huge fan of productivity and think we should all be actively aware of increasing our efficiencies in our professional and personal worlds. Here are seven…
Who You Surround Yourself With Matters
Who you surround yourself matters. Find those who support you, challenge you, and better you. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
Checklist: Social Media Content Calendar Must-Haves
“Staying organized” is one of the most popular business resolutions. Whether it’s as simple as decluttering your workspace or as complex as revamping an existing process, improving organization can save you time, reduce stress, build confidence, and ultimately save money. Get a jumpstart on your New Year’s business resolution by creating a social media content calendar. One of the easiest ways to stay organized, a content calendar maps out all social media posts for the upcoming weeks and/or months so you can better align your overall marketing initiatives and help improve accountability by assigning writers and deadlines for the team. So where do you start? Here is our ultimate checklist…
The World Is Yours
To stand out today, you just need to show up and apply yourself. This is both a sad truth and a wonderful opportunity.
What Stood Out: Week of December 28th
Every week, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: How This Millennial Entrepreneur Is Disrupting the $10 Billion Wine Market (Inc) Hard work, a passion for the product, and intimate knowledge of her ideal customer means early success for entrepreneur, Mary McAuley. Find Anything in Basecamp 3 (Basecamp) We don’t use Basecamp, but I love…
Success Takes Time. Don’t Quit
The idea of an ‘overnight success’ is a myth. Do not buy into this fallacy. Work hard, don’t quit. Success takes time. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
4 Little-Known Tricks to Supercharge Your Social Selling Strategy on LinkedIn
In the world of social selling, LinkedIn can seem like a no-brainer. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIn was designed for networking professionals. It was built to facilitate the sharing of personal work details and helps users target very specific types of people. If that isn’t a salesperson’s dream social network, I don’t know what is. While LinkedIn’s very nature caters toward social selling, it isn’t as easy as it seems. LinkedIn has created blockers, like InMail, to stop you from directly connecting with people you don’t know. And, more importantly, you have to walk a very fine line between annoying prospects and starting a relationship. To maximize your social selling success on LinkedIn,…
What Stood Out: Week of December 21st
I hope you and your family had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas! Every week, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: 7 Feel-Good Examples of ‘Joy Marketing’ Campaigns (HubSpot) 7 Ways Productive People Stay Focused (Inc) The Best Public Speakers: According To The Internet (Ethos3) Top 8 Products You Need to Try in 2016…
Must Be Present To Win
To be relevant in today’s economy, you have to be where your customers expect you to be. No longer is it enough to “be” on social media, to have an ecommerce store, or have a blog … You must have the means in place for your customer to meet you where they are; to speak their native language. If they speak SnapChat, be responsive there. If they speak Vine, be alert there. If they speak Facebook/Kik/Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram/Blab/Messenger/YouTube/SMS/WhatsApp/Tumblr/Whisper/Yik Yak/MeetMe/SlideShare, show up ready to play. Being accessible is one thing; being present and attentive is something else.
What Stood Out: Week of December 14th
Every week, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t always fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: How Many Of Your Daily Activities Can Be Automated? (HBR) The Very Best Things to Do In Your 30s to Invest In Your Future (Inc) The P.T. Barnum School of Self Promotion (Bidsketch) 5 Tips to Making More Money as a Freelancer Running Out of…
The Key Ingredient In Your Business Is You
You are your greatest competitive advantage. No one else in the world has the skills and knowledge you do. Accept this and use it for good. For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
The Cost & Value of Qualified Leads
According to a recent study by Ascend2, 70% of B2B marketers cite improving the quality of their leads as the most important objective of a lead generation strategy. Spending time on less-qualified, or even not-qualified leads, is a costly initiative for any B2B entity. Not only is the sales team’s attention divided, but they spend an incredible amount of energy and time on folks who are not likely to close. [Tweet “It’s not enough to just get more things done, you focus on doing the most important things.”] It is imperative for organizations to examine their current lead generation efforts and evaluate where time and resources could be better spent. The first…
What Stood Out: Week of December 7th
Every week, I review thousands of articles relating to marketing, business, productivity, or leadership. While many of the posts are insightful and well-written, some truly rise to the top and challenge my thinking or offer a new perspective. Often, these gems don’t fit into the traditional topics covered on my blog; nevertheless, they should be shared and discussed. This week, these pieces stood out: Business Professors Need to Spend Time In Companies (HBR) Past performance is not indicative of future results (Seth Godin) My first 30 days leading HubSpot Partner Innovative Marketing Resources (IMR Corp) (Nick Sal) REI’s #OptOutside campaign: 10 times more conversations than any other brand (Business Journal)…
Love and Leadership
Love and leadership are remarkably similar. Successful leaders understand the importance of forgiveness and owning their mistakes. Image from my friends at Fierce Marriage For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
3 Marketing Automation Ideas for Small Businesses
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could automate all your emails? And never have to type out another introduction email or thank you email again? Well, now you can. Sort of. [Tweet “Marketing automation can be intricate, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.”] With marketing automation, you can automate all your business emails. You trigger emails to send based on certain criteria, like sending a thank you email after someone refers a friend to your website. And the best part is you don’t have to type a thing. It all happens automatically and behind the scenes. Contrary to popular belief, marketing automation is not reserved for the Amazons of…
Mailbox Alternatives
Zero inbox. Inbox control Email management. Whatever you want to call wrangling your email inbox into submission, I’ve counted on Mailbox for years. With news that creator Dropbox is shutting down my second favorite email management app, I can admit that I am moving into the 5th stage of grief: acceptance. Mailbox was, as far as I can tell, the pioneer of swiping to temporarily archive your messages to help you get to Zero Inbox. Literally having zero messages in your email box. Productivity experts hailed it as “the way” to manage your email woes and regain control over the black hole of business today. I dabbled with zero inbox,…
Living The Life You Deserve: Intentionally
In school, work, and play, it is easy to get swept up in the moment and lose sight of the longterm goal. The number of things demanding our attention seem to grow each day. It is hard to keep from being overwhelmed or consumed by everything. Of course, in the “Play” column, getting swept up in the moment can be healthy; we need to be able to operate without boundaries. In work and school, however, we must exercise a little more discipline in how our time is used if we want to be proactive rather than reactive. This is living with intention. [Tweet “When we operate within the bounds of intention, we are giving…
Stop Waiting. Start Creating.
Success requires action. Planning is great, but a plan without forward movement is useless. Stop waiting. Start creating. From Michael Hyatt For a complete collection of my quote cards, click here.
