5 Book Recommendations to Grow Your Business

5 Book Recommendations to Grow Your Business

Books can be an adventurous or they can be learning tool. I am a book-lover and have found how reading is one of the easiest ways to grow your business. That’s because reading can help you see a problem from a different perspective, approach a customer complaint with wisdom, and provide you with the insight you need to do something new. But picking a book to read is hard. There are thousands of books already out there and dozens are being published weekly. So what should you read next? How about trying one of these recommended books
 The Power of Moments by Dan & Chip Heath In this gripping read, Dan and Chip Heath examine what makes some moments memorable while others seem to slip by entirely unnoticed. In the book, the authors describe the four elements that create a special moment—elevation, insight, pride, or connection. You can use the insights from Dan and Chip to create special moments for your subscribers, clients, or customers. These moments can strengthen and deepen your business relationships in exciting, new ways. Permission to Screw Up by Kristen Hadeed Kristen Hadeed’s book on how to fail is not only laugh out loud funny, it’s also authentic and inspiring. In Permission to Screw Up, Kristen recounts how she began her business and the mistakes she made along the way. But Kristen doesn’t just share her journey. She goes on to explain the mistake she made and what she should have done instead. This book will encourage entrepreneurs who are floundering in their business and give them insights into how to course-correct. Ask by Ryan...
Webinar Magic: 3 Powerful Benefits Every Webinar Offers

Webinar Magic: 3 Powerful Benefits Every Webinar Offers

Been on a webinar lately? I bet you have. The fact is, webinars are one of today’s hottest marketing trends. Each and every week, you’ll find small business owners hosting webinars about book publishing, blogging, and even how to sell T-shirts online. No matter what your niche or industry, webinars are a great option for growing your market. List Building Perhaps the number one reason to host a webinar—especially if you partner with another business owner in a complementary niche—is to grow your list. Here’s why it works so well. As a business owner with resources and information to share, you’re in demand, and there are plenty of others out there looking to partner with you. Find a colleague in a related niche to host your event. Ask her to mail her list with an offer to join you both on the call. Collect emails in your mailing list system. Any sales you make from the event will pay your partner an affiliate commission. That way you both win: You build your mailing list, and she earns cash for her time. Show Off Your Expertise You’ve no doubt heard plenty of people talking about the “know, like and trust factor.” It’s a simple reminder that very few people will buy from you the first time they encounter your website or get an email from you. They need more info. A webinar is a fantastic way to build up their trust. Because they can hear your voice, and maybe even see your face, there’s an instant connection. Not only that, but you get to impress them with your knowledge of...
Why You Should Be Your #1 Client

Why You Should Be Your #1 Client

Natasha was a service provider who built an online business by working for her clients. She helped her clients build amazing businesses. She was well-liked and respected in her industry. She earned top dollar and was often asked to share her systems. After a few years, Natasha found herself dreading work. All of her client’s projects were boring and she wasn’t able to get in her groove. She still served her clients but her love for what she did was gone. To help herself get back on track, Natasha reached out to her business coach. Her coach had Natasha track her work for a week and create a pie chart that showed how she divided up most of her time. When Natasha saw the results, she was stunned to realize she wasn’t spending time on her own projects. Like many service providers, Natasha had let urgent client work slowly take over her business. She felt like she didn’t have time to do activities that she found creatively rewarding. She kept telling herself she would get back to her own projects after “the busy season” was over or after a certain project was completed. But that never happened. Maybe you’ve found yourself where Natasha was. You’ve been pouring out all of your time and energy and giving to your clients. This leaves you feeling drained and maybe even a little bit resentful sometimes. If you were asked to name your #1 client today, who would you pick? You’d probably choose the one that pays you the most. But what if you were #1? What if you put your projects first...
3 Bright & Shiny Benefits of Building A Personal Brand

3 Bright & Shiny Benefits of Building A Personal Brand

Do you have a personal brand? Think of your favorite brands. They all stand out for one reason or another. For example, Apple is known for its sleek product designs and cutting-edge technology. Coca-Cola is branded as a fun, enjoyable beverage. Just like businesses can become known for their brand, so can solopreneurs and small business owners. Developing your personal brand is a smart way to position yourself and stand out in the mind of your clients. Branding Makes You Memorable But first, you’ll need to set aside time and energy to reflect on who you want to be and what you want to be known for. Doing this will save you energy in the long run since you’ll be able to focus on your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. Another benefit of developing your personal brand is that it become easier to present yourself consistently, no matter where you go. Imagine being able to intentionally place pictures in potential clients’ minds so that they will remember you. Branding Makes You An Authority Not only will potential clients remember you better, it’ll also be easier for them to tell others about you. Then you’ll be viewed as an authority in your field, all because you took the time to work on your branding. But this is only the beginning. As you become more well-known, your ideal clients will become more attracted to you. You won’t have to spend as much time marketing because your customers will naturally flock to you. 3. Branding Makes You More Money As a result of increasing demand for your services, you’ll also be able...
Are You Thinking Strategically About Your Website?

Are You Thinking Strategically About Your Website?

Designing and laying out the pages of a website isn't just about what you think looks right, or about what everybody else does. It requires strategic thinking. If you strategically organize your website, you'll make it more effective and see better results. Starting with the Goal in Mind To strategically design a website, start with the end goal in mind. This should be the goal for your visitor. What specific action do you want your website visitor to take? Examples include: Purchasing a product Purchasing a service Signing up for an email list Spending time reading or learning Applying for a job Donating to charity or investing money Entering your sales funnel Contributing content or something creative This specific action will guide all of the rest of your website planning. Make It Focused Strategic design involves making a website highly focused. You don't want pages and elements that get in the way or distract from the goal of the website. Each page or element needs to have a specific purpose in aiding you toward that goal. For example, you may want to create a resources page for your website. However, this page is full of external links that lead the visitor off your site. If your goal is to provide content and keep the visitor reading on-site, this is an element you should get rid of. If you want to understand what makes a focused webpage, look at a good landing page. A landing page has a single goal, which is usually to get the visitor to sign up for an email list. On a good landing page, there...
10.5 REASONS YOU’VE GOT TO JOIN THE EXTREME TRAFFIC ADVENTURE

10.5 REASONS YOU’VE GOT TO JOIN THE EXTREME TRAFFIC ADVENTURE

Do you want more readers and traffic to your blog? A TRAFFIC JAM, maybe? Let’s make it happen and kick 2017 off strong! Beginning January 1, 2017 the Extreme Traffic Adventure group will be taking one simple action daily to get more traffic – and you can join over 1,000 bloggers already signed up, free, at Extreme Traffic Adventure. Not sure? Here are 10.5 reasons you’ve got to join the Extreme Traffic Adventure
 10. BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE! IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS Investing in your own skills and knowledge builds your value – and your confidence. When you know you understand how to achieve a result, and prove to yourself that you can do what you’ve set as a goal, your confidence skyrockets. Don’t try to figure it out on your own. Take one action a day, following a proven plan with tested strategies and tactics. 9. INSPIRE OTHERS! SET AN EXAMPLE Do you teach others to market themselves online? Let’s walk the talk! 😉 The more “in action” you are, and the more you understand about attracting the traffic, the more you can help your clients or team. 8. CREATE A CONSISTENT HABIT Every day – do something to attract traffic to your blog and turn it into a community of fans, readers, clients or whatever your specific blogging goal is. What you focus on expands. So let’s focus on smart traffic actions every single day. 7. TRANSFORM THE WAY YOU THINK 99% of the time when we don't see the traffic we want to our blogs
 The real problem is our mindset, approach, and the way we’re thinking about traffic....
Finding Your Ideal Niche

Finding Your Ideal Niche

  Finding your ideal niche can be a lengthy process. Rest assured it is well worth the effort. When you find a niche topic you’re interested in that can generate profits your business building dreams will come true. Step One: Create a System to Organize Your Ideal Niche One of the problems that will quickly pop up is organization. As you are brainstorming and researching you’re going to generate a lot of data and ideas. Tracking this information from the beginning will save you time and energy. You may want to consider using: Spreadsheets Mind maps Three ring binders Notebooks To keep track of all of your information. It really doesn’t matter what system you set up as long as it supports you and you’re able to use it consistently. Step Two: Brainstorming Your Ideal Niche This is a step that you may come back to several times. Begin by creating four columns: Things I’m passionate about – For example, maybe you absolutely love Lemonade. Things I’m interested in learning about – For example, maybe you want to learn more about writing romance novels. Things I’m good at –For example, maybe you’re good at painting. Thinks I know – For example, you may know a lot about makeup. Don’t censor yourself. Write down everything that you can think of. Have fun with this step and take your time. Sometimes you may think of a great idea while you’re driving or in the shower. This may be a several day process. That’s okay. Step Three: Brainstorming some more Chances are that your initial brainstorming phase just touched on basic ideas....
Awesome Resources to Build your Virtual Assistant Business

Awesome Resources to Build your Virtual Assistant Business

The Bootstrap VA Final Edition Bundle Sale is all about celebrating the final edition of Lisa Morosky's popular eBook, The Bootstrap VA: The Go-Getter's Guide to Becoming a Virtual Assistant, Getting and Keeping Clients, and More!, and her time as a virtual assistant, as well as sharing excellent resources (at a great price) to bless and encourage you on your virtual assistant and work-at-home journey going forward. Lisa is also donating 10% of her personal earnings from this special sale to Compassion International. From Tuesday, April 7, 2015 – Thursday, April 9, 2015, you can purchase an awesome bundle of virtual assistant and work-at-home resources for only $29.95. The bundle includes all three versions (PDF, Kindle, and Nook) of The Bootstrap VA, plus $218.95 of additional resources to help you start and grow your virtual assistant and work-at-home business. You'll also get another $173 of discounted resources that you'll only pay $33 for (if you choose to purchase them separately). Here are all of the resources you'll receive as a part of the bundle: The Bootstrap VA: The Go-Getter's Guide to Becoming a Virtual Assistant, Getting and Keeping Clients, and More! by Lisa Morosky (a $9.99 value – but it's included in this bundle!) Become a Virtual Assistant: The Virtual Assistant Forums Guide to Success by Tess Strand (a $49.00 value – but it's included in this bundle!) FaithLeaps: The Christian Mom's Guide to Passion, Purpose, and Profits by Alyssa Avant (a $4.99 value – but it's included in this bundle!) How to be a Work-at-Home Mom: The Happily Ever After Guide to Leading the WAHM Life by Prerna...
IN THE INTEREST OF PINTEREST: USING PINTEREST

IN THE INTEREST OF PINTEREST: USING PINTEREST

I, for one, believe that social media is here to stay, the platforms may change, but the concept shall remain. That means that we need stay up-to-date within the social media world, if we use it. The challenge of staying informed also brings the how-to and what to use it for dilemma. One of the latest platforms to the social media world is Pinterest. You may be thinking that you could use Pinterest to connect with your market, but also realize that you don’t know how.   What is Pinterest? Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows you to create and manage theme-based image boards such as events, interests, and hobbies. You are able to view other boards, and re-pin images. Pinterest can be used for social, fun, or even business purposes. For instance, you can showcase your products, post videos and use it for content marketing. To help you to start “pinning”, here are some basic user tips: Introduce yourself – Introduce yourselves! Pin a photo and profile. This is your “About” page. Post one per week- Never post more that five pins to a board at one time. Think visually – Social media posts that have strong images get three times the views of those without. Why not move your data into charts and infographics. Keep your boards neat – Right pins on the right board Follow boards and not people – When you follow people you are automatically enrolled on their future boards. Comment when you pin from a website – State why you like the image or link. It can increase the repins and...
When Your Parent Becomes Your Child

When Your Parent Becomes Your Child

This was a wonderful book to read, I was able to relate. My mother has been diagnosed with Dementia, and the short time that I have been taking care of her, frustration has set in. I was not aware of some of the things that I was seeing:  memory loss, physical decline, hygiene issues, paranoia, and uncharacteristic attitudes. Not my mother, the strong, independent woman that raised me. This book not only help me to see my mother and her illness in a different light, but it made me look at myself, what if
.how would my children cope
what can I do to help them through this situation? The book was a hard read, because of my tears and having to break to get myself together, but it gave me an understanding. I was not disappointed by this deeply personal and touching account. This book gave me hope along with the fact that my mom, even with her dementia remembers her God and reads her Bible on a daily basis. For those that are experiencing a parent with dementia, you owe it to yourself to read this book. P.S. I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze in exchange for my honest opinions and reviews. When Your Parent Becomes Your Child by Ken...