Work-At-Home Hacks For People Just Like Me

There are rules of thumb but there are no hard and fast rules. The 'things people do every day to become successful' in what they do has so many variables.

Some swear by morning coffees, others a 20-minute nap. Give or take, that's almost always the story. Like I said, variables.

Routine, or better yet, discipline is what makes people successful. I will never claim to be a 'successful person' but what I HAVE been doing is working from home for the past 18 years. I hope you can share YOUR story about how you soften the rough edges off of your everyday work week too because it helps. Every little bit of advice helps, actually, because most successful people listen.

1. No Emails - Most people start their days off by rolling off their beds with everyone screaming at them. Your alarm is screaming. Your boss is screaming, your kids are screaming, your email is screaming. So, one of the things that I DON'T do early in the morning is to check my emails. People who know me know not to expect an instant reply from me early in the morning. That's when I am trying to sort my shit together so that I can get stuff done for you throughout the day. So, no emails in the morning. Only coffee is allowed.

2. Stay Dressed - This one is for those who work from home. One of the things that I've noticed in nearly 2 decades is that I dress for work (even if I will be in my home office or living room) the whole time I am going to be working. I don't know about you but the moment I slip on my cutesy 'lil comfy clothes, my zest for life and roaring enthusiasm to get things done slithers off from me like a layer of dead skin cell.

3. Meditate -Oprah's said it. So did Deepak Chopra and Cameron Diaz. It's not the woo-woo-woo stuff, trust me. It's more like sitting there in complete silence or with soft music gently caressing my ear, or just sweeping the floor (the movement is meditatively repetitive, try it!). Instead of thinking of it as a 'new age fad', think of it as Loading Your Gun Ready to Kick Down the Doors of the World. Badass when reworded, huh? I use an app to 'help me along' - Insight Timer. It has music, guided meditation, and... well... complete silence.

4. Don't multitask - It's something I was really proud of and multitasking was the only way for me to move the needle forward when the list of things-to-do was just way too long. I don't do it anymore. Instead, I think doing things in spurts is far more productive. One example would be that if I found vacuuming the floor THE daunting task of the day, I would mindfully vacuum the living room and leave the rooms and kitchen for tomorrow.

Silly example, I know, but when applied to work, it's pretty amazing when you give the tasks at hand short bursts of active, productive attention. When I am tired, I will come back with a whole lot more to contribute AFTER I've dealt with my brain fog instead of muscling through it. I mean, who am I to argue with the chemicals in my brain?

5. Coffee - I am just going to leave this right here. Explaining it any further is going to make me angry if you don't understand it. It's my survival poison.

6. Laugh a Little - A sense of humor provides a buffer against the build-up of stress and anxiety in your system. So, occasionally, load up your Tumblr or Twitter (where you are encouraged to follow people like 9gag - just a personal preference, of course) and just laugh a little.

Experts say that humor provides a powerful buffer against stress and fear. "Humor is about playing with ideas and concepts," said Martin, who teaches at the University of Western Ontario. "So whenever we see something as funny; we're looking at it from a different perspective. When people are trapped in a stressful situation and feeling overwhelmed, they're stuck in one way of thinking: This is terrible. I've got to get out of here. But if you can take a humorous perspective, then by definition you're looking at it differently - you're breaking out of that rigid mind-set."

7. Being understanding - I know this doesn't fit into the normal mold of 'things people do to be successful' but I think it's pretty important. Because most of us work with others, whether in the office or remotely, we often assume that people are being evil of mean when they're being a little less than nice to us. Sometimes, it's because they're tired just like you, exhausted just like you, overwhelmed just like you, have to pay bills just like you, are worried about their kids/parents just like you, or simply had an argument with a friend/spouse just like you.

I think this point is particularly important in the digital world. With the digital divide, we sometimes forget that we're dealing with human beings. Just like you.

Marsha Maung is a mother, writer, social media consultant, internet marketer and human. Her mission, as far as her work is concerned, is to bring brands, products, services and companies exposure. Find out more about her life from her personal blog (cooking, life, sense, parenting, writing, etc) or her professional WordPress blog MarshaMaung.Me. Hope to see you and connect there.

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Ways To Effectively Work From Home

In this day and age, there are several people who work from home on a regular or on an on-and-off basis. The reasons could be numerous, starting from health issues, long commute, maternity, and so on. The belief that an employee needs to be in the office to be efficient is now gradually changing, with benefits of working from home arising aplenty. However, for some people, especially if you have just begun to work from home, things can get a bit overwhelming. Here are a few things you can do to organize your 'home office'.

A Constant Office Space

Setting up one room (or a portion of a room) as your office can go a long way in creating a sense of mood and motivation that might otherwise be lacking when you are not in office. Fix a table, an ergonomic chair (yes, it is an investment you will not regret if you work from home regularly), and other essentials you might need for work, for example, a charging station for your computer or mobile phone around that area. Stick to that place the best you can while working and move away when you are not. You can still visit that area when you are not working, but make sure it is not close to the bed that you sleep in. In smaller houses this might be difficult to arrange but try to set up your workplace in a different room than your bedroom. This is not because you might accidentally climb onto your bed, and sleep during working hours, but because your quality of sleep at night might be affected by the presence of your work things.

Air Quality

While you are indoors through the major portion of the day, it is important to ensure you get sufficient ventilation, and good quality air to breathe. If you live in an area where the pollution level is low, keep your windows open at all times for the fresh air to stimulate your brain, and improve your efficiency. If, unfortunately, you live in an area where the outside air is horrid, an air purifier is recommended. Remember, your health is of utmost importance no matter from where you work.

Exercise

Although exercising is a mandate for everybody, it is even more crucial for people who work from home. When you are in office, you might take frequent breaks down to the cafeteria or a roadside tea/coffee shop, but when you are home, these breaks are eliminated from your routine. Hence, it is of utmost importance to exercise regularly. Choose whatever works for you - yoga, aerobics, weights, cardio, but be regular and diligent about it.

Venture Out

Make it a point to get out of the house at least for ten or fifteen minutes every working day. You could either run a quick errand such as going to the ATM, picking up dry-cleaning, buying dinner, and so on, or you could take a simple walk in your neighbourhood at the very least. Going outside once in a day and seeing other people on the road helps your brain relax, because, after all, we are all social beings.

Do Not Overwork

Many people, especially in the beginning, tend to feel guilty about not working from the office. They feel that they are not working enough, or something is missing. Some people have it even worse because others who go to office regularly have a tendency to point fingers and condemn those who work from home. Snide remarks such as "Oh, what do you know about the hectic traffic we go through", or "You work from home, that must mean you have plenty of time", to "I don't think people who work from home actually get any work done", are very commonly heard. Do not get bogged down by such things. Just because you work from home does not mean you should work longer hours. Fix your work hours as you would if you were in office, and stick to it.

With the above-mentioned ways, one may find working from home a true bliss in the middle of all the chaos.

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Does Affiliate Marketing Still Work?

Affiliate marketers earn money by selling products created by other companies in exchange for a commission. But things online have become much more competitive than when affiliate marketing first started out nearly 20 years ago. Affiliate marketing is still a good way to make money online, but the rules have changed in recent years.

Today's successful online entrepreneurs have figured out how to make affiliate marketing work more effectively so their efforts bring the results they want. How do they do it?

Make Affiliate Marketing Work For You

The best way to make affiliate marketing work effectively is to increase the exposure of your affiliate links. These are the links that take your prospects to a sales page or website and which track sales back to you.

Your Own Website

One of the most important elements of affiliate marketing today is to have your own website or blog. This is where you produce content relevant to the products you want to sell. You can write general articles and provide links to suggested products at the end of the content. The most important things to remember are that everything you write should be the factual and the truth. This helps position you as an expert worth paying attention to.

Building an Email Marketing List

It can be challenging to build an email marketing list these days because people have such jammed inboxes. That being said, knowing your niche and your target audience are two of the best ways to come up with an incentive they will be keen to get and so will be happy to give you their contact information.

Two good incentives would be an eBook or eCourse on a hot topic related to your niche. Think of the kinds of problems people have in your niche and create an information product which offers real solutions.

Be Careful About What You Sell

Don't promote anything you would not use yourself or are not impressed by. You don't want to get the reputation of being an affiliate who will pretty much sell any old rubbish just to get a commission. Rather, you want to show you're in the know, with great deals on products that really work.

Keywords In Your Content

Keywords related to your niche will help drive free traffic via the search engines. Your keywords should be related to your topic or niche. They should be words that an ordinary person interested in your niche would search for. Keyword all media files such as images and videos as well.



Companies are happy to pay commissions to people just like you, in return for selling their products and services. You have the potential to make a great income when you choose the right niche, stay committed, and understand your audience. For a no-nonsense, kick-start guide to getting started, download my free checklist, Affiliate Marketing For Beginners at https://jonallo.com/affiliatechecklist

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Importance of Responsive Web Design in 2018

A website with responsive web design is a site that is able to adjust to the screen it is being utilized on, regardless of what device it is. The website consequently reformats to give the user a superior experience that is appropriate to their device and can give your site various advantages & in addition be in accordance with Google recommendations.

Increase in mobile usage

Over the last five years, mobile browsing has increased very rapidly, and more recently, with the launch of 4G, it's become almost as speedy as desktop browsing. Over that, the price of data plans has routinely dropped over the last few years, which means an ever-increasing number of individuals can comfortably spend hours tooling around and browsing on their phone, with no financial repercussions.

It is important that to have a responsive web design which works better on a smartphone or other mobile device screens, due to a large number of people who could be using your website through a smartphone or tablet.

Benefits of responsive web design

With a responsive site, all content and pages are adaptable to all screen resolutions and devices. Whether you're seeing a site on your cell phone or a laptop, it will be bound together and easy to navigate despite the varying screen sizes. Providing an ideal experience for the client no matter how you look at it, responsive web design means your user can read and navigate the web page with least resizing and scrolling.

Responsive web design can enhance user experience which will convert into a positive impression of brand and business. If the client can access site easily on all platforms, will probably come back to the same site for more business in the future and it more than likely means a higher conversion rate for the website. In reality, as we know it where so much traffic comes from mobile devices, it's essential that you're accommodating this factor through your website.

Responsive website design is now also important as a ranking factor. Websites that are responsive will generally load faster which is probably going to support the website ranking and decrease the bounce rate. Responsive web design can also make social sharing easier, helps to grow a bigger audience for the brand.

SEO campaigns and website support are also a much smoother process with a mobile-friendly website. Responsive web design implies you just have 1 website to take care of; it's also quicker and more affordable than making a stand-alone mobile application in addition to your desktop website.

Responsive Web Design is Especially Crucial for E-Commerce Sites

Do you know what one of the most serious issues for online stores is? Abandoned shopping carts. People getting bored or getting cold feet midway through the registration procedure, and essentially taking off. Billions of potential sales disappearing.

You must inquire as to ask why individuals are abandoning their purchases, and past the conspicuous doubts component, you have the way that a considerable measure of online stores still has long and challenging registration forms, an issue aggravated by poor responsiveness

The less demanding you make for customers to make buys on your site, the more deals you will appreciate. By incorporating responsive design, you're gaining an edge on the competition, and giving your customers an uncontrollably smoother experience.

SEO and Digital Marketing

It's long been confirmed that mobile speed and responsive web design is an effective ranking factor used by search engines to decide as websites rank, so ensuring that mobile-friendly design is a priority that improves your website performance in more ways than one.

Another shelter is that mobiles are hugely more social media friendly, with clients considerably more liable to exchange over to a websites social media links on mobile than on laptop or PC. And we as a whole know how significant social media marketing can be to any business.

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Web Design Trends for 2018

Recent years have revealed some of the most stunning website designs since the dawn of the internet. Be it non-traditional navigation or mind-blowing imagery, we've come a long way. But as the landscape evolves, popular trends change in web design... like in all creative arenas. Indeed, much has changed and will continue to change. So what will be the web design trends for 2018?

Website design concepts in the coming year will offer interactive animations, chatbots, intuitive assistance and more rich experiences. Technologies like virtual reality, machine learning, and voice recognition are now advanced enough to be mainstream. You can expect streamlined, clean, and no-frills. Simplistic designs that don't overload the senses, and leave room for those new technologies to entice the online visitor.

Priority On Mobile Browsing

In 2018, design concepts and engineering for mobile devices will take precedence over desktops, notebooks, and other gear. While this won't make headlines, cell phones and tablets have recently taken over as the choice equipment for online browsing. A fundamental in the coming year will be Mobile Performance (or digital experience optimization), so 2018 will see innovations to the functionality on cells and tablets. Things we've never seen before, on any medium.

A Sleeker, Cleaner Layout

In recent times, designers started creating sleeker, cleaner website concepts for better browsing performance. Image-heavy pages are slow to load and frustrate visitors. Simplicity will be elevated to a whole other level in 2018, making smarter use of Negative Space. White space is nothing new, but among the web design trends for 2018, developers will find better uses for it. Particularly on mobile, speedy light-weight downloads will be essential.

Flamboyant, gimmicky designs are out. Everything is there for one purpose now: to increase conversions. Negative space draws attention directly to the engagement or conversion point, with less distraction.

Eye-Catching Typography

Beautifully crafted typography is known for imparting character, stirring emotion and setting a mood for a page. As visual displays evolve, designers will innovate on typography even further, appealing to users and attracting more visits. Already we're seeing bold, expressive, and artistic fonts taking the place of images, and we should expect to see more unique, hand-rendered typography. Among other web design trends for 2018, expect to see lots of bold headers and text links instead of buttons. This will have a trickle-down effect on SEO techniques and Content Marketing practices, too.

Video Takes On More Importance

All of 2017, we observed the continued rise of short video use on corporate websites. While video isn't new, it remains a multipurpose medium used for marketing, educating, and with a more modern twist than still photography. Indeed, an alternative approach to storytelling for businesses. Yes, video is taking over, and will become an even greater web design trend in 2018. Inspiring greater engagement, we find most online giants are giving more weight to video as time marches on. Facebook, Twitter and Google are among those.

Websites in 2018 will take video to new, thrilling places that seemed like crazy fantastic dreams not that long ago. You'll see websites equipped with 360 vids, 360 modeling, video mapping, and interactive applications.

Subtle Animations

Technology has evolved and web browsers handle animations much more efficiently than they did before. Animations used to be tacky and distracting, but 2018 will welcome a new dawn of subtle, informative animation. Expect to see cinemographs and scroll-triggered animations, among others.

Cinemographs: Achieving balance between a static picture and traditional video, cinemographs will be seen all over web design trends for 2018. Not as slow or data-heavy as a video, these quick clips create dynamic imagery that does just enough.

Scroll-Triggered Animations: while not new, they'll be used differently in 2018. They'll be employed for a purpose: to draw attention to critical locations on the page. Simplistic and tactical, these scroll triggers will be designed to increase engagement and conversions. The animation entices the user to keep scrolling, drawing them down to the conversion-point, while informing them on the product.

Voice User Interfaces

Perhaps the next major breakthrough that will revolutionize web browsing. Voice user interface is otherwise known as Voice Search, Digital Assistant, or Natural Language Processing (NLP). It refers to a person's interaction with a computer (or mobile device) through spoken word. Don't be surprised to encounter websites with their own voice user interfaces among web design trends for 2018. With voice search on the rise, be sure your company's website content is compatible, as people speak another way when using voice commands directed at machines. This will be especially important for open-ended searches, starting from an engine like Google or Bing.

Micro-Interactions

Micro-interactions allow the user to interact with a website without reloading the page. Historically, the internet has been very static. Every new submission meant a page reload. While this appears minor from the outside, it actually creates a hiccup or bottleneck in the user's enjoyment. Some visitors will simply lose patience and abandon ship, and you'll lose consumer data or possible conversions. Micro-interactions help eliminate those hiccup delays, yielding richer interactions for the visitors, who are now more likely to stay and engage with your site.

Progressive Web Apps

Many designers, recognizing the popularity of mobile apps, have begun developing a blend of traditional app behaviors with web page behaviors. This website-app hybrid is called a Progressive Web App.

As progressive web apps become more popular, we'll see the upgrading of functionality of websites to include things like push notifications, splash screens, offline mode, and animated page transitions. We will see greatly refined cognitive capabilities, greater dependency on natural language processing, and more automation. Apps will learn and then react to your personal preferences and style.

The Power Of Facebook

Facebook is becoming equally valuable, if not more valuable, for offering all the content generally found on a business' website. Facebook is fighting to become a destination for content, offering a blog platform, reviews, live chat, and live streaming. This is especially true since the public has discovered how to use hashtags on Facebook. In many cases, clients discover a Facebook page before a business' website and never even click-through; they'll simply call or message online and become an immediate prospect.

In 2018 building your business' experience on Facebook will become more important than ever. It will use Facebook to drive people to your website, instead of the other way around.

Responsive Design

If you haven't heard of responsive web design before, it's a method of building a website using CSS media queries and flexible layouts to design one single, dynamic experience. It then adjusts the display of content, according to the type of device it's showing on. There will be a large increase in the number of companies who leverage this among their web design trends for 2018. Businesses will be utilizing responsive design to achieve the search rankings they desire; keeping consumers happy and informed during their online visit.

Security

Security Will Gain In Importance

In 2017, malicious hacking became an even bigger issue than before. Malware was bad enough, but the Ransomware outbreak was much worse. As you think about your web design trends for 2018, be sure to consider the security of your customer's information. Make sure your security certificate is always updated, and on all pages.

Trust will always be a major concern of users from now on. Your downloads? Your contact form? Their personal information? Will your website infect their desktop or other device? People will only interact with your website, download, and share their info if they trust your technology.

Is Your Web Design Ready For 2018?

As there are thousands of innovations and patterns that quickly emerge every year in the world of web design, it is hard to predict the future. One thing is certain, the online landscape will continue to change, and change quickly. The important thing in business is not to get left behind... in 2018 or beyond.

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Ready To Give Up Marketing On Facebook?

The recent changes to the Facebook algorithm has set many entrepreneurs who were using Facebook to promote their businesses into a tailspin. In basic terms, Facebook will now prioritize relevant content from friends and family on timelines.

The reason for the change was, to some extent, a reaction to the issue of "fake content" on the social media platform. Facebook now wants to promote "real content" from real people, not international propaganda agencies disguised as people.

This means that posts from businesses will be less visible and is particularly hard on ordinary, honest businesses that are producing genuine content without trying to misinform or damage anyone.

So what does this mean for your business?

Good Content Will Always Be Shared

If you have plenty of engagement in regards to your content, you have a better likelihood of being in the new news feed. But even if you're not, those who genuinely like what you do will generally come to visit your page specifically to see what's new and to interact with your content.

Create a Facebook Group

Your personal Facebook page is for socializing. Your Facebook group is for socializing, and communicating with others that are interested in the topic or market in which you are doing business. When people join a group that you create, on a topic they're interested in, they look at you as a leader in that area. This means that you can promote your business while being in control of the process, something you can't do in someone else's Facebook group, or successfully from your own personal profile page.

Leverage Influencers

Influencers are folks who have grown a significant following on Facebook over time. They often keep to one niche or subject and offer their thoughts, opinions and expertise. Interact with their content, and you will become more noticeable. When people click on your name, they can go to your account, like your page, and start receiving your posts on their data feeds.

Offer A Variety of Content

Don't limit your marketing on Facebook to one kind of content, for example text only. Include things like memes, video, live video, short content, long content, infographics and so on. Videos should be short, sharp, informative and entertaining. Don't forget to ask for comments and shares.

It's not the first time Facebook have made major changes, and at least they informed people about them on this occasion. It's just a case of being more innovative and thorough, and watching how things unfold in the future.

Facebook wants you to succeed using their advertising platform. This just makes sense. If you achieve your business goals while spending money on Facebook advertising, you're likely to use that marketing practice again in the future. To learn how to make your Facebook marketing successful and profitable, download my Free Checklist, Successful Facebook Ads at https://jonallo.com/FBads

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Negative Effects of Social Media

Alexander Pope said "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." it goes perfectly with the amateur usage of social media especially in the 21st century. We take social media for granted and do whatever we want which comes biting back later.

Social media has brought about new opportunities and avenues for the world to connect at large. With social media, the world has become a smaller place. On one hand, it is a great invention, and a lot can be done to better our lifestyles. But if we look at it with thousands of immature users it is becoming a somewhat scary place to live in.

There is a reason why most parents or older siblings try to keep the young ones away from social media handles these days. From being a platform to connect or share worldviews it has narrowed down to bring a platform to boost and troll. That is sad given that we can do so much with social media, it is sad to see how low to stoop.

Today kids of ages 10 have the access and accounts on social handles; it can turn into over addiction and an escape to a fantasy world. This fantasy world that we create behind the 15-inch laptop screen might be a scary affair. The fit models with perfect bodies, exotic travel locations, and photo-perfect moments most often don't match with the lives we lead on a daily basis. This disconnect might want us to aspire for more which might not be possible in reality and can affect our mental health.

The thrust for more followers or likes has a dangerous effect on our mental health. You start feeling anxious, a lack of identity, less sleep causing insomnia, a negative body image can be some of the significant issues that a social media addict might, face. You make yourself as desirable as the models you see around you, you keep adding filters and edit your pictures to look 'perfect, and your sense of self is lost. You want to become someone you are not. You start hating yourself for not having the ideal body, the perfect shape, so on and so forth.

Researchers across the globe have found that the "fear of missing out" created across all popular social feeds can substantially lower self-esteem and fuel issues like anxiety and depression among individuals.

Cyberbullying is also heavily linked to the constant need to prove oneself better than the others on social media.

On a large scale, not only teenagers but people nowadays take the social platform too literally and believe in a lot of fake news of hoax that is being circulated just for publicity purposes. People today are falling for dangerous trends that they see on social media or think it is cool to be a part of. The trend of being a part of a social group is what is causing more harm than good.

You have to understand you being social has nothing to do with the number of friends or followers you have on social media. It can all be a farce, just by seeing another peer having many followers you cannot be jealous and want that life. Don't let social media be a drug that is so addictive that you cannot live without.

All of these leads to identify threats that take place due to the sharing of too much personal information on the net unnecessarily. You can also see a rise in hate speech and social disgust across social media accounts which is completely uncalled for. The most disgusting thing that is coming up a lot in the 21st century is cyberstalking. It can be too dangerous and is even taking lives. Immature usage of social platform has to stop and stop now.

After using social media handles many people decide to keep themselves away from it as there is no or very minimal privacy with the extensive use of social platforms. If not handled sensibly your life becomes a window to the world. A subject of discussion.

We as a world lack smart users. We either take everything for granted, or we take things too literally. Having said all of this it does not mean that social media is all that bad with only negatives. Of course, not, there are plenty of benefits of social media. It keeps us connected across vast distances, let's us find our school buddies and long lost colleagues. If your motive is to stay connect or share an opinion about life and other stuff but if social site is your source of news or emotional upliftment it is undoubtedly a bad idea.

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Understanding Your Content Through Facebook's Video Insights

A big number of videos are being viewed on Facebook every day. And now that Facebook's algorithm prioritizes video over other types of posts, you've probably also included video in your Facebook paid advertising strategy.

Like every other piece of content on that site, yours is competing for your target audience's attention. This means that while your videos are getting views, they might not actually keep your audience's interest for long. Worse, it won't lead to your ultimate goal-getting conversions.

Luckily, Facebook has a feature to measure how long your audiences view your videos, and then some. By understanding all these tools, Facebook allows you to work around what your audiences consider interesting. It can help you develop better strategies for video marketing.

Audience Retention

This feature shows your video's retention over time. That includes:

• the average view duration

• the total views for the first 28 days since it was uploaded, and

• the number of users who watched your video to completion or for 30 seconds.

Audience retention is useful for knowing how long people spend watching your videos. For instance, you could find that within ten seconds, your audience views dropped by 40 per cent. With this information in mind, you can create shorter content to keep your audience intrigued by what you offer.

If in the middle of your video you find that there was a large drop in views, try to find what people didn't find engaging, and work on it.

Facebook will be adding new and even more useful features to measure audience retention. They are currently not available yet, but we're rounding up how it can benefit content creating more.

Followers vs. Non-followers

This metric segregates viewers who are followers and non-followers of a page. This can help provide insights as to which people are able to reach your content and the kind of audience you want your page to attract.

Zoom Chart

The Zoom Chart helps you manage your data more accurately by letting you look closer at your stats to see which moments in your video are more engaging than the rest. This can help you create more content that focuses on something your audience considers engaging.

Audience Demographics

This metric helps you measure your audiences' retention by gender. In other words, you'll be able to see whether male or female viewers have longer video retention.

While creating content is not always easy, measuring what your audiences consider interesting can help. In the golden age of videos, it can seem like your advertising campaign could be fighting to stay relevant. By understanding what your customers want, you can come up with more ways to create engaging videos.

Whether you're hiring a company to assist you with your videos for Facebook paid advertising or creating them by yourself, it helps to know how to use these features for measuring your videos' impact on Facebook.

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Engage People On Social Media By Asking Questions

As I've said repeatedly, "It's called social media for a reason." How do you gain traction with people on social media? Not by telling them things, but by asking them questions.

When you make a post, go ahead and finish it with an open-ended question, something like "What do you think about the topic? Post your thoughts below." BTW, and open-ended question is one that doesn't automatically elicit a short, one or two word answer like "Yes" or "No," "red" or "blue." It asks people to express their inner views on a subject, to answer expansively.

Of course, the other part of the social media equation is interacting on other people's posts. In order for you to be seen, you need to do more than write your own posts. Of course, other people are asking questions on their social media posts. Some of them are asking closed questions, to be sure. "Am I right - yes or no?" A few people will be asking open-ended questions. Either way, when you reply, your voice is added to the conversation. More importantly, your on-line name or handle is added to the stream of information flowing past the eyeballs of others.

If you look for advice on marketing, a metric crap-ton of people will shout a single-word piece of advice at you - "Content!" What they mean is that you should be creating unique information to put in front of others to grab their attention.

But here's a bit of content the so-called experts tend to overlook: asking your own questions on other people's social media posts.

Let's say, someone makes a post about carpet cleaning. Yes, I use that industry in a lot of examples. So let's say a person posts that you should steam clean your carpets at least every six months. Go ahead and ask your own question! Like with your own posts, open-ended is best. "In addition to the 6-month cleanings, should I also clean before a holiday gathering?" You could switch that to a closed-ended question: "Which is best, cleaning before or after a holiday gathering?"

If you can't think of a relevant question, it's okay to ask for examples and clarification. I can guarantee there are plenty of other folks out there who would like additional examples or a different explanation. "Is there a different schedule you'd recommend for a carpet in the reception area of a business?" "Can you give an example of a hotel lobby carpet cleaning process?"

Asking relevant questions, ones that dig deeper into the subject of the post, are often nearly as good as - and sometimes better than - the original informational posts, and will get your name out there as someone who knows what they're talking about.

* * * * *

Scott Gardner is the founder of boutique firm Agile' Marketing Services, LLC. They specialize in working with their clients to become Recognized Experts, and using that status to leverage the clients' marketing efforts. For more information, please visit http://www.AgileMarketingServices.com.

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6 Reasons A Beginning Marketer Should Start With Affiliate Marketing

In this article, I will give you 6 Reasons A Beginning Marketer Should Start With Affiliate Marketing.

If you are wanting to start an online business but you don't know where to start, I think you should really give affiliate marketing a try. The reason I would start with this technique is that it's by far the easiest to get started with and has just about no upfront cost at all.

So let's take a look at 6 Reasons A Beginning Marketer Should Start With Affiliate Marketing.

1. MANY OUT THERE TO CHOOSE FROM

Just about all the companies out there have affiliate programs you can join. And not just small companies but the really BIG COMPANIES as well. Such as Walmart, Bestbuy, Amazon, JVZoo, Warrior Plus, eBay, and tons of others. All you have to do is do a Google Search with "the company name" and put affiliate program behind it like this (example. Walmart Affiliate Program)

2. FREE TO JOIN

Affiliate programs pay you to promote their products and it's free to join them, so no upfront cost for you. Now depending on the company will depend on how much commission you will make. As an example, Walmart pays 8% commissions. And most vendors on JVZoo will pay a 50%-100% commissions depending on the vendor and product. While Amazon typically pays 4-8.5% depending on your seller rank.

3. NO PRODUCTS TO MAKE

When you do affiliate marketing you don't have to worry about creating a product because you are simply promoting someone else's product. This is a no-brainer and you don't have to have any skills in creating products from scratch. All of the hard work such as building a website, create awesome graphics for a product, paying someone to write the copy for the sales page are all already done for you. All you need to do is drive people to the page.

4. NO PRODUCTS TO SHIP

When you do affiliate marketing you will never have to struggle with having to ship a product because the vendor takes care of all of this. And it doesn't matter if it's a digital product or a physical product. The vendor takes care of all the hard work for you. All you do is get people to have a look at their products and if they buy you get paid and they ship or deliver the digital products.

5. MANY PLACES TO PROMOTE

There are unlimited ways you can promote these affiliate products. You can use email, Facebook, YouTube, Forums (read their rules and regulations before posting), Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Even if you are a beginner you can make some good passive income. To me, the easiest way to make affiliate sales though is to use your emails list. If you don't have one, start building one now. Build a good relationship with your list and once they trust you and you send them affiliate promotions and they like the offer they will buy from you.

6. NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Another great thing is you don't have to handle customer support. Everything is done for you.

Well, that about wraps up the 6 Reasons A Beginning Marketer Should Start With Affiliate Marketing. I hope now you can see why this is one of the easiest business to start making money online.



If affiliate marketing is something you would like to try for yourself but want more info on the subject, check out my video about affiliate marketing here: http://ronnierokksmith.com

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How Does Affiliate Marketing Work As An Online Business?

Affiliate marketing is one branch of the internet profit tree. It works when you generate targeted traffic to a particular website selling a product for which you get commission on each and every sale. You don't own the product and your job is to come up with creative ways to connect a prospective customer to the product landing page.

Here's an example of how affiliate marketing works:

An online entrepreneur decides to sell a popular "How Lose Weight After Pregnancy" information product. She goes onto the internet, and visits the ClickBank Marketplace and looks up the weight loss products. There, she is presented with a choice of maybe a dozen different products to sell and decides on one whose sales page and statistics prove it converts well.

She clicks "get hop link," which incorporates her own unique ClickBank ID into the URL. She can then take the new URL and includes it somewhere in her sales funnel. When someone reads her sales material (an article, social media post, a pay per click ad, a YouTube video, etc, which pre-sells the product), and they click through to the sales page and buy it, she gets the affiliate commission - usually 50-80% of the price of the product.

Of course, she wasn't limited to selling products from ClickBank. There are other top paying affiliate programs out there. Large websites like Amazon.com and Wal-Mart and others have affiliate programs, too.

Low Start Up Cost

If you want to start affiliate marketing you don't have to spend loads of money to get started. The basics include a website domain, hosting, and some advertising (if you want to). But it's not a necessity to get the ball rolling. The investment you'll be making will be effort, not cash.

No Product Creation

When you start affiliate marketing, you don't have to create any products. You're the middleman. That means you go into a niche to bring together buyers and sellers. You're the liaison between the two.

Become The Go-To Person

The key to becoming a successful affiliate is to build a list of email subscribers and become their go-to person whenever they need advice. Someone they can trust. Building a stronger rapport with your readers will increase conversions. If you take the time to review and maybe even put into practice some of the products and share your results, that will help you convert more sales.

Affiliate marketing is right for just about everybody. Even product creators adopt an affiliate strategy to complement the product development branch of their business. You don't even need sales experience to become a great affiliate. Your job isn't to sell the customer, but to connect them to the solution that they're seeking.



Companies are happy to pay commissions to people just like you, in return for selling their products and services. You have the potential to make a great income when you choose the right niche, stay committed, and understand your audience. For a no-nonsense, kick-start guide to getting started, download my free checklist, Affiliate Marketing For Beginners at https://jonallo.com/affiliatechecklist

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5 Do's of Social Media Marketing

Many business don't do the marketing the right way, especially when it comes to social media marketing. What you need to keep in mind is that your social media campaigns have to be effective and affordable. If done the right way, they can help you grow your business. Targeting the wrong audience is not a good idea. Let's talk about 5 do's of effective social marketing.

1. Learn to use the power of social media

On the Internet, you can find a lot of information about marketing. You can find free courses as well as paid ones. Understanding these things is not difficult as long as you want to educate yourself.

So, it's important that your take your time to find out how these marketing campaigns work. Although basics are the same, businesses have to customize these strategies so as to grab the eyes of their potential customers or clients.

2. Listen to your prospective customers

How can you find out what your customers want from you? There is only way. You need to listen to them. Aside from this, it's important that you make use of social media platforms to extend your customer service, as more and more customers present their feedback and opinion on websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

By listening to your clients or customers, you can avail a lot of opportunities too. For instance, you can read up on the key influences to find out how you can improve your products or services.

3. Make use of automation tools

It's not a good idea to opt for spammy automation. Instead, you should use the smart automation. Blasting out a lot of promotional offers all the time is not a good idea. This may prove counterproductive and your followers may lose interest in your offers. What you need to do is make use of social media to get in touch with your customers and offer useful information. By doing so, you can build a loyal audience that can become your customers.

4. Engage with your audience

You don't just need to keep updating your social media pages, it won't work. What you need to do is keep in touch with your audience and keep them engaged. What matters is their satisfaction.

If you engage your audience, you can find out more about the problems that they are facing. Then, you can work harder to resolve those issues and make those customers satisfied.

5. Work on just two platforms first

It may not be possible for you to stay active on all of the social media sites. If you are just starting out, make sure you choose one or two platforms and focus all your efforts on them. Most of your customers will be active on two big platforms, such as social media and Twitter.

So, these are 5 do's of social marketing. If done well, they can help you run effective social media campaigns to grow your customers and clients to expand your business.

If you need more of social media marketing advice, we suggest that you head to PopuSocial.

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Social Media to Build Your Brand and Get Customers

It is no secret that social media has become a part of our daily lives. It is a direct platform for reaching consumers. The best thing about it is that people spend so much time on social media that you are sure that it will reach a portion of your market. In addition, it gives you realistic data and statistics which are easy to measure and interpret. Consequently it is the ideal way to build your brand and get customers.

How do you do it?

Create your social media pages and complete all the info. Add an attractive cover picture with a call to action. Add your logo as the profile photo. Then post on a daily basis, because each post only reaches a percentage of followers therefore posting every day is ideal.

Prepare a strategy that is your guideline to what will be posted on the social media. Don't just post anything. Be deliberate with what you share.

Post relevant and interesting content. You may be tempted to post ads every day. But rather break it up with interesting tips or fun posts in between. Make sure that the tips or fun posts are in line with your brand.

Use attractive images in your ads and add a call to action. Good pictures grab attention. Either, get a photographer to take pictures of your products or business, or make use of stock photos to create eye catching adverts.

Set up sponsored adverts that are targeted to your specific market. Specify the interests of the people you are targeting as well as the area. Be realistic with the area definition but also don't limit yourself too much. If you select an area that is very small, you will not see good results. Actually the results may show a very low reach in terms of the people that see the advert. You want as many people as possible to see the advert and the ones who are interested to interact with you.

Build a community by being available. Many businesses build a social media presence but don't maintain it. When people ask you questions, whether it is about your product or simply a question that you could answer, then answer it. Answer it quickly. Don't wait a week to get back to the person.

Remember they are probably on social media every day and may check if you've replied. If you don't respond, they may think that your brand doesn't care about them.
These are a few tips on how to get your brand noticed and your marketing campaign to generate leads.

Web2Go is a Gauteng based website development company, with over fifteen years' experience in the digital industry. Founded in 2002, Web2Go focused on providing clients with an all-round digital solution.

Our team brings forth a wealth of knowledge in website design, website development, social media management, search engine optimisation and Google advertising.

Email us for more information on ismail@web2go.co.za.

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Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Chances are, the person reading this right now has Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Social media surrounds our world, but some businesses still think of social media as an afterthought. Any digital marketing company will tell you your business can thrive with the right social media marketing strategies.

About 20 percent of customers use social media channels to find information about any business. That means your role as a business owner should be to maintain your brand's online presence.

What some entrepreneurs fail to understand is that it isn't just for fun-it's a force to be reckoned with. When used right, it can bring power to your business. On the other hand, flops on social media can be bad for business. Here are the top social media marketing mistakes companies make.

1. Having Too Many Social Channels

Alright, so if you're on social media, you don't have to be on all the platforms. Your company just needs to be on the ones that are best able to reach your customers. After all, the content you post on LinkedIn may not apply to Snapchat, as your audiences on both platforms may also differ.

Additionally, every channel you sign up for is another platform to maintain regularly. It is a real-time channel, which means content should always be flowing on your page. So if you have five different channels (which you can), you have to make sure you can manage all of them regularly.

2. Ignoring Feedback

This applies to both good and bad feedback. Customers love hearing from a brand they follow because it gives your company a friendly, human face. While it may be tricky to keep track of your followers' interactions, the more (and quicker) you respond to their comments, the more chances you'll have of giving them a good experience.

It's said that 71 per cent of customers who have a good experience with a brand are more likely to recommend it to others. This is also your chance to express brand personality. You don't have to sound like a robot. Use a voice that works for your branding. Spotify's brand identity targets millennials, so their tone is fun and hip.

3. Posting Content Manually

Creating content and managing social channels regularly are tough tasks. It takes a lot of time and effort, which is why some businesses fail to update frequently. Luckily, there are lots of tools that can help you optimize your social media management.

There are tools for different needs. For publishing, there's Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social; for quick graphics, there's Canva. These are just some of the examples of tools you can use to save time, and make its management easier.

4. Not Optimizing Content for Each Platform

Your hashtags on Instagram make sense but on Facebook, not really. At the same time, the ideal character count on Facebook is not the same on Twitter, and the number of emojis you put on Instagram won't work on LinkedIn. Each social media platform has different ideal posts, so you should optimize your posts for each channel.

Any digital marketing company knows social media marketing is more than just signing up for accounts. Maintaining your channels is a lot of work but it can build brand loyalty, which is something hard to find. So the next time you sign your business up for a social media account, remember to maintain it on a regular business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Donald_Smithon/2139064
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What Best We Can Do In Social Media To Get Maximum Exposure

Once we come into a fresh chapter on a new year, it is time to begin planning regarding successful SMM techniques for your little business. So as or perhaps you to remain in front of the rival it is important so that you can set your online marketing strategy to make the most of prevailing trends and also the ever developing marketplace for different company industries.

The little business platform has altered a whole lot in the last couple of years and remaining as much as date with those modifications could be a obstacle.

Here are some SMM tips to help keep you in front of the competition in 2018.

Raise your presence - The main reason SMM is really big is because more and more people spend some time there. You cannot enhance presence for your needs and on the internet personality with a personal page. Throughout the year 2017, I saw lots of this created me scratch my head a little. I am not sure why nevertheless the drawbacks for this can harm your brand.

If the largest issue is undesirable spam comments, this is managed and removed with the block button and also by modernizing your settings. The target is to accommodate your audience and create leads. Make certain every bit of your social networking approach serves the objectives you set and also those who might find it. Improve your social networking existence. It is important to success of one's brand. Upping your presence drives visitors and invites involvement.

Concentrate on Mobile - Most searches and site visits are done via mobile phones. Unfortunately, most companies are yet to seriously accept mobile inside their marketing techniques. Take the time to optimize your internet site content and internet assets for mobile phone users this season.

The attempts will enhance your Return on Investment from all internet channels and can drive leads to your site improving traffic from the search engines within the proceeds. I am not just dealing with design and loading speed, but really optimizing an individual experience for website search, form entry, commerce, navigation and basic mobile phone usability.

Create Involvement a Priority - You want to become popular on social media. It isn't a soap box so that you can stop by to face on to done an announcement every now and then. It had been created in order that individuals around the globe might connect to each other. How big your "followers" on social networking does not matter if no body is attending to.

Big followings cause you to feel effective however if there isn't any message to allow them to abide by it's unlikely your brand is likely to make a lot impact. What actually matters is involvement. Engagement is exactly what earns you shares which produce leads that can become sales and achieving loyal clients. Additionally you should allow it to be a place this season to regularly revisit your buyer personas to make sure your message remains unique and highly relevant to your viewers. This amount of interaction is exactly what solidifies your brand.

Content - Making plans for your calendar and content approach with this year ought to be towards the top of your to-do list. For those who haven't got began yet, yesterday will be a great time. Paid advertisements on social networking are excellent. They produce effective leads. But, it is incredibly important to master how exactly to make a trusted, expected and scalable flow of traffic that changes into clients in order that company remains afloat with or without one. This may simply be carried out by creating awesome content. All it requires is a few efforts, testing out a couple of various tactics and consistency.

If you are ready to invest enough time, you could have all of the benefits of a well-trafficked company and site with no spending an astronomical sum on paid advertisements. As a company holder and content maker, it is element of your work to provide powerful info to your visitors regarding the services and products. Good content, powerful headlines, back-links, SEO, sales campaigns and e-mail marketing produced good, reliable traffic, and sales well before the social networking paid advertisement game was invented. It even performs.

Video Streaming - Video in real-time has become ever more popular with consumers. Numerous social networking platform giants are all investing more income into increasing their video streaming capabilities. It provide chances for content marketing along with client involvement. It really is a format which has achieved serious momentum within the last one year and it is the continuing future of branding. It is a good idea to include it to your online business marketing strategy this season.

As a whole, the greater particular and strategic you will get together with your SMM plan, the greater effective you will be with its implementation. Be it Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram, there's a great deal you are able to do when it comes to marketing and producing latest chances on your own while including tremendous value to your customers, clients and readers. Do not create your SMM strategy so high and broad that it is difficult. Balance is key. Continue to keep your visitors and audience in your mind. A great company goal will guide your actions, however it may also be a measure through which you see whether you are profiting or failing.

If you are looking for an Online Digital Marketing Course or a SEO Course in Delhi, please visit our site Delhi Courses.

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Ten BE's To Increase Your Social Media Followers

As a business owner or marketing strategist, social media is an important tool to increase brand awareness, we can see social media like a cocktail party, where you can have networking and fun. I will explain 10 Must-Haves in your campaign to rock your social media strategy.

1. BE INTERESTING.

According to BBC News the average attention span is less than 12 seconds, thanks to multiple devices and a lot of distractions is really hard to stay focused and maintain the audience entertained. The only way is generating interesting content in relation to your service or product, there are a lot of formats according to each channel like videos, interactive images, and useful information applicable to their needs.

The best example is TED Talks, their content is about generating content through guest speakers of the most trendy and interesting topics in different industries.

2. BE AN EXPERT ON YOUR AUDIENCE INTERESTS.

Rule number 1. The more you know about your target, your strategy perform will better. Who are you talking to? What do they do? Why they buy your product/service? What are they doing? Where are they from? Which type of content are they interested in?

Netflix knows us well, if you are watching comedy movies, they will recommend other ones of the same type, the recommendations are driven by machine learning algorithms analyzing your interests and behaviors.

3. BE PART OF THE INFLUENCER TREND.

The storytelling of influencer marketing is more realistic, and the followers can feel connected and identified with their daily life. Marketers are increasing their budget on influencers thanks to the impact on their audience.

Fiji water did a partnership with the influencer Danielle Bernstein who is a fashion blogger offering workout videos with her personal trainer. The goal was to highlight the importance of hydrating if you want to feel and look good, the campaign name is #weworewhat with #bodyworewhat.

4. BE EMOTIONAL.

We are human beings and even we live in a connected world, we want to feel different emotions on ads and campaigns to take the experience to the next level. The campaigns that get a connection with their audience are the ones who will last for a long time in their minds.

Dove is the brand taking the beauty perception as its core strategy, they don't sell soaps, they sell beauty to women empower them to gain esteem.

5. BE FUN.

To engage your audience, you need to be unique and enjoy this job. Choose a game, a funny quote, a meme, depending on your service or product to get your audience attention.

Test, measure and repeat, you never know how your campaign is going in comparison with other campaigns, just make experiments and make them run to see what happens.

6. BE AWARE OF YOUR DATA.

Imagine if you just do campaigns and don't measure their performance, you maybe will get the results you want but, you don't know what exactly is causing a conversion or working with your audience. With your data, you can optimize your campaign and bidding.

A great example is Amazon, do you imagine this revolutionary business without data? Data gives the information and the information gives the power.

7. BE INBOUND.

Inbound marketing is a whole strategy to increase the traffic to your website and create conversions to get new customers. Content marketing is one part of that strategy, the first step is identifying the pain points of the brand and competitor's analysis. Then, create a persona (with the information you have on point 2), create content offering value to your audience and make it with a CTA (Call to Action) where you can redirect them into a landing page and you can proceed with a sales strategy.

Chipotle captured gaming fans, chipotle fans with a successful inbound strategy about "Chipotle Taste Invaders" with a laser tag shooting burrito, fighting against additives and educating the customer about the burrito ingredients.

8. BE CREATIVE.

Remember you need to captivate your audience with your campaign and it's not necessary just explaining the products and services. One of the best campaigns is Metro Trains with "Dumb ways to die" with catchy music and cartoon characters getting in the top 10 on iTunes in 24 hours.

9. BE HONEST.

And this is a little related of why influencer marketing is so successful now, the truth is that you will obtain your customer's loyalty and retain them with honesty and transparency; if they trust you, you are a winner. Put yourself in a scenario where you are really hungry and there is a new restaurant that someone told you about it, but you're not 100% sure of how healthy it is, then, you realized they cook your meal in front of you; that will make you feel confident about how they prepare the food, what type of ingredients and if it's fresh. The same happens with your company, the more transparent your product or service is, the better your audience will accept it.

One company with a lot of negative comments about their quality food is McDonald's. To attack this, the company creates a transparent marketing campaign called "Our Food. Your Questions" Where McDonald's answer all your concerns about their food.

10. BE A FRIEND.

This is my favorite part, to see the importance of these channels. Back in the days, we wouldn't think about Facebook to a way of communication of resolving inquiries or issues with a brand. Today you can take Customer Service to a whole experience making it so personal like you're in the store, providing that, you are saving time, energy and effort to the customer having a satisfied customer or just changing their perception if they had an inconvenience.

The best example is a lovely response from Lego, who could just reply with a "standard message" but it was so personalized and unexpected that went viral to all channels.

Check out your current campaign strategy and think about the above information and try to implement it to your own business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lorena_Grijalva/2538712
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Transitioning From Employee to Solopreneur

Is your number one Bucket List goal to establish your own entity and become a business owner or Solopreneur consultant? Are you planning to abandon the "safety" of a traditional job to directly market and sell your products or services to customers with the money and motive to do business with you?

Going out on one's own is a thrilling and sometimes frightening prospect. Those who take the plunge eventually discover that many resources that are casually taken for granted while working in an office are not readily available to those who step out on their own. As you weigh your options and prepare to write your business plan, be aware of a few changes and additional expenses to expect should you join the self-employed sector:

No paid days off

There will be no more paid sick days, holidays, vacation days, or personal days when you become the captain of your own enterprise. Neither will there be any pay for days off that result from bad weather. When winter arrives and snow begins to fall, there will be days when harsh weather conditions impact your business and your income. When the governor of your state declares a snow emergency, important meetings will be postponed and businesses may be unable to open and operate.

In particular for those who own a B2B or B2C venture where the business model requires you or your employees to visit the customer's location (e.g., cleaning services), or customers to visit your location (e.g., a laundromat), snow days = no revenue days. Small businesses have been known to go out of business within a year following periods of extreme weather.

Establish business credit

For tax purposes, it will be useful to open a separate business bank account and also apply for a business credit card or two. There will be business expenses to write off and you'll want to make it easy to monitor spending. Do yourself a favor and check your personal credit ASAP and pay off outstanding credit card balances to improve your credit score and correct any errors.

Financial management

Financial management will assume more than one form. As noted above, you'll need to establish credit for the business, so that you can order inventory and supplies without immediately impacting the business cash flow, for example. Those are Accounts Payable items. You will also need to ensure that customers pay you on time, or at all, and that is an Accounts Receivable function.

Maintaining sufficient cash flow is crucial to the business' survival and your own ability to keep a roof over your head, food on the table and your car on the road. You must develop a business budget and plan for the purchase of equipment, licensing costs (if applicable), insurance (if applicable), professional certifications (if applicable), or space rental (if needed).

In addition, you may consult with a business attorney or accountant to discuss the legal structure of your venture: Sole Proprietor, Corporation (chapter S or C), or Limited Liability Company (LLC). The type of business that you're in and your exit strategy will play a role in choosing the business legal entity.

Paying for office supplies

Free scanning and photocopying will be over. When you need to staple a few pieces of paper together, you must buy the stapler and the staples and you'll buy paper clips and envelopes, too.

There will likewise be no meeting space or audiovisual equipment for you to reserve. You'll have to meet at the client's office, or at a coffee shop or other restaurant. Privacy might be an issue and arranging a Power Point or other visual presentation might be awkward as well.

A lap top computer or tablet will be office equipment must-haves. It will be imperative to possess the tools of your trade and to always appear as a competent and prepared professional as you develop your reputation and build your brand. Good luck!

Thanks for reading,
Kim

Kim L. Clark is an external strategy and marketing consultant who brings agile skills to the for-profit and not-for-profit organization leaders with whom she works. Please visit http://polishedprofessionalsboston.com to learn how your organization can achieve mission-critical goals when you work with Kim.

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Multiple Revenue Streams Keep A Solopreneur Solvent

To build a successful career as a Solopreneur consultant requires courage, resilience, possession of marketable skills and relationships with people who are willing and able to refer or endorse you for paid project assignments. Solopreneur consultants must have a talent for selling, the discipline to create and pursue business goals, a knack for big picture thinking and implementing strategies and an understanding of human nature and motivation. The ability to attract good luck and dodge bad luck helps, too.

Precious few Solopreneurs are able to just "go to the office" everyday and delve into the usual work. In order to generate the preferred amount of business revenue, we understand that creating multiple revenue streams may be necessary and to make that possible, we must recognize the marketability of our skill sets, in aggregate and in segments. As well, we must learn to package, promote and sell our skills and value to prospective clients.

Consider my revenue streams, for example. When asked, in my short form elevator pitch I say that I'm a self-employed external consultant who provides business strategy and marketing solutions to mid-size for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. What that means in reality is that I've facilitated strategic planning meetings at not-for-profit organizations; edited a 100 page nonfiction book and also served as its photo editor and project manager; developed curriculum for a series of 90 minute sales skills training workshops; and periodically I teach business plan writing.

I've been fortunate enough to regularly win business strategy development or marketing campaign assignments, but the fact is that there are often gaps and in response, I've learned to branch out and offer segments of my skill set to clients or employers as a way to maintain my required cash-flow and, whenever possible, also enhance my brand. In my experience, it's the ability to leverage one's perhaps infrequently promoted competencies that help Solopreneurs to create and sustain a profitable business venture.

My friend Adela is a busy educational consultant who works with college bound high school juniors and their parents to identify suitable colleges for the student and navigate the application process. Adela's business appears to be thriving, yet she nevertheless teaches Spanish at a local university (she was born and raised in Mexico and came to the U.S. to attend Notre Dame University).

Jackie, a friend of many years, is the founder and manager of a small, full-service fitness center that became very successful in that highly competitive market, yet she teaches a fitness class at another gym a few miles away. Why? Because she gets to observe another style of fitness center management from the inside, she receives training in new fitness techniques that she can evaluate for inclusion in her own gym and she earns a few extra dollars each week, something that a mother of four can always use. Sometimes you can get paid to research the competition!

My friend Carole toggles between freelance marketing gigs at technology companies and corporate positions in that sector. She's a Lotus alumna who's also worked for tech giant EMC, distinctions that command respect and open doors in the tech industry. In between corporate gigs, Carole goes out on her own to develop marketing strategies for tech start-ups. A couple of years ago, she was offered a position as director of marketing at one of those start-ups, but when the inevitable reorganization occurs, she'll re-enter Solopreneur life.

So, Solopreneur friend, I invite you to put on your thinking cap and brainstorm how you can create additional revenue streams by exploring how certain segments of your skill set can be packaged and promoted to current and prospective clients!

Thanks for reading,
Kim

Kim L. Clark is an external strategy and marketing consultant who brings agile skills to the for-profit and not-for-profit organization leaders with whom she works. You can ensure that mission-critical goals at your organization will be achieved when you contact Kim at http://polishedprofessionalsboston.com.

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