Building a business is a fantastic and challenging experience. You can wake up exhilarated to begin your day and go to bed feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The key to success is to maintain a positive, yes you can do it, mindset.
Easier said than done, right? Here are 5 keys to help you create and sustain a positive mindset so you attain the success you desire.
1. Surround yourself with successful and positive people. The influence people have over our own personal energy is amazing. Moods and attitudes are so easily spread – think about how much of a difference a simple smile from a stranger can make for your day and then magnify it 1000 times to demonstrate the power of positive and successful friends, family and associates. When you have people around you who inspire you, believe in you and want you to succeed, there’s no room for doubts and even when they creep up, they’re quickly swept away.
2. Create a mantra or an affirmation. Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and to actually help them truly believe what they’re saying.
For example, “I am building a powerful and profitable business.” Many of the most esteemed business professionals have used the same affirmation strategy to attain their success. To find the right affirmations for you, consider writing a quick list of your doubts, insecurities and complaints. These can then be quickly turned into affirmations.
For example, if you write that you’re always feeling disorganized then your affirmation would be, “I am organized and in control.” Repeat your affirmations several times a day and feel the power of positive thinking.
3. Capture negative thoughts. We all have negative thoughts from time to time, however, negative thoughts and emotions can derail us and prevent us from achieving all we desire. Of course catching those negative thoughts takes practice and persistence. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or having negative emotions, find a trigger to turn them around. The affirmations mentioned above are a great way to turn the negative into the positive. You can also find quick pick me ups like a favorite song, a walk outside in the fresh air, or some exercise to help improve your mood.
4. Set goals/intentions and then be willing to let it go. The law of attraction says that we attract what we focus on the most. However, desperation, needing your business to be a success, sends mixed messages and a lot of negativity into the universe. Set your goals and intentions and then let them go. A certain amount of faith in yourself and in the power of attraction is necessary. Give it a try.
5. Be grateful. Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful and positive tool for success. When you’re grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life the challenges you face seem significantly less important and are more easily dealt with.
Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily. That way, when you’re facing challenges a quick peek at all the amazing things in your life will make you feel as if you can tackle anything. Additionally, an attitude of gratitude helps you maintain a positive perspective and to face challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.
Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish anything you set your sights on. Embrace these five powerful mind success strategies and you’ll build a better business and live a happier, more satisfying life.
Successful blogging requires a lot of hard work. Anyone can slap up a blog and forget it. If you want to achieve whatever blogging goals you have set, you can’t adopt that attitude. Since blogs are all about engagement, you have to constantly be “out there”, engaging in a conversation with your target audience.
Think about what the following blogging tasks have in common:
• Writing, editing and publishing posts
• Finding royalty free images for your blog
• Spending time on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media sites
• Writing guest blog posts
• Recording and uploading videos to YouTube and your blog
• Managing your blog comments
Do you get it? Do you see the constant theme in all of the above necessary blogging activities? If you have been blogging for any time at all you understand that all of the above tasks are recurring.
They are necessarily repetitive. Google and the other major search engines reward constant and frequent delivery of fresh, original content that is relevant to your blog’s theme. When you first started your blog, this was not a problem.
You were so fired up about starting your own online business, or piece of virtual real estate where you could engage with others, that you didn’t mind these weekly and daily tasks. You actually looked forward to them.
The first week you had no problem adding 2 or 3 blog posts, communicating with those people who commented on your blog, and keeping busy with social media. This may have gone for a few weeks.
Then something inevitable happened.
Instead of “wanting” to work on your blog, you began to feel “forced” to handle your blog tasks. You should love blogging. You should not despise working on the blog you created. Put into practice the following 7 tips, techniques and strategies, and you will save valuable time from blogging that can be used elsewhere in your life.
1 – Hire a virtual assistant to handle menial, recurring tasks for you.
2 – Use the auto-schedule feature for publishing your posts in the future.
3 – Develop a schedule, and stick to it. This saves time by automating your tasks, and keeping you on point.
4 – Instead of straining your brain, spending hours to create a blog post, interview someone in your field. You end up spending 15 to 30 minutes interviewing, rather than several hours researching and writing.
5 – Ask your audience to write for you. Ask your readers to send in real-life scenarios relative to your blog. This makes them feel important, it drives engagement, and gives you plenty of content for a blog post.
6 – Put a timer on all your blogging tasks. It is easy to get caught up responding to comments, writing a new post or interacting on social media. Set a timer for each task, and when it goes off, move to the next task.
7 – Schedule your blogging activities for just 1 or 2 days each week. This forces you to be productive with your blogging time, keeps you from getting burned out working every day on your blog, and leaves plenty of time in your life for non-blog living.
Does your business enterprise need a boost? Consider using special reports to add revenue and build a business contact list for future use.
What are special reports?
Special reports are short reports that contain helpful information on a subject. The reports are anywhere from a few to 30 or so pages in length. If you have the know-how, you can write them yourself or hire a writing service to do it for you. There is very little work involved in creating them but they are versatile tools for building an online business.
One popular subject for special reports is how-tos. They direct a reader, step by step, how to do something. If you are knowledgeable with computer software and hardware, that is a perfect niche for special reports on your website. People are always having trouble figuring out their computers and you could help.
Marketing special reports
There are options for marketing your special reports. If you are trying to build a business list of customers, use these special reports as a freebie when any visitor signs up to be a part of your email mailing list. For this type of promotion, use a shorter report like a five page report on how to navigate problems with Windows Vista (if your website has a computer niche).
You can create a five-part course and use the first part as the free promotion. It is your hook. Once they sign up for the mailing list, you can grant them access to the other installments through emails that also advertise your website products. Signing up for a business newsletter subscription can also be the reason to gift a free special report.
Making money
All of your special reports don’t have to go towards list building. Besides your other products or services, you can sell special reports on your website. Many reports sell for between $5 and $20 a piece, but if you offer very valuable information, you can command a higher price. Sell single reports or create various courses to interest your customers.
People love to learn about money-making opportunities. They will pay the money for any information that is a how-to guide to making money on and offline in various ways. How have you made money? Begin there with the subject of your special reports.
As your business grows, create an affiliate program. This gives customers a way to help you make more money and also make some for them. Offer certain special reports as additional compensation for reaching a certain selling level in the affiliate program.
There are a number of ways to use special reports. As you build your library and your lists, alternate the free promotional reports and continue to sell your entire library, creating combination offers such as Buy Two, Get One Free.
While your special reports are building your contact list, they are also making you money. With such a low cost to create them, your profit margin will rise.
The more you develop personal, one-on-one connections online, the more successful your Internet marketing efforts will be. That means developing the kinds of things that your prospects enjoy consuming the most. The following 5 types of content are just what your readers are looking for, and will improve your relationships with members of your target market.
1 – Video
If a picture tells a thousand words, a video tells a million. One simple way to improve the odds that you truly “connect” with your readers is to publish video to your blog or website. Google purchased YouTube in 2006 for a reason. Even then, Big G understood that the future of content online was going to be video.
YouTube is actually the second largest search engine online, behind only Google. This means that people love video. In 2015 mobile search made up the majority of web searches for the first time ever. What is the most consumed content on mobile devices? Video.
2 – Podcasts
Podcasts have exploded in popularity. Fortunately for you, most of your competitors don’t have a podcast. This means competition for your target audience is a lot softer when compared to blogging. As opposed to written text, podcasts, like videos, effectively deliver your personality through your voice. You can integrate your podcast with your blog or website, enjoying free traffic as a result.
3 – Webinars
Webinars are incredibly effective marketing tools. Users can see and hear what you have to say in real time. When you host a live webinar, you engage your prospect’s sense of timeliness. Webinars also allow for back-and-forth communication, which connects with your followers in a very special way.
4 – Answering Comments
A simple way to produce content that connects with your audience is to scroll down past the end of your blog posts. Did someone comment on your content? Response to them, being sure to provide a lot of useful information, and not just fluff. This not only connects with that one individual, but other people reading your comments will respect that you took the time to answer an individual’s question or concern.
5 – Email
You probably know by now that “the money is in the list”. Actually, the money is in strong relationships that you make with the people on your list. Unfortunately, the majority of Internet marketers build an email list, then rarely reach out to their followers. You have to keep in constant contact with those people that have taken the time to join your list, or you will never “connect” and form a real relationship that helps you meet your business goals.
The current trend is towards more home-based businesses. They require lower overhead and startup money making them easier for entrepreneurs with limited fund. If you are thinking about starting a home-based service business, here are a few tips for getting started on the right foot.
What is a service business?
Service businesses are those that provide help to others. This can be anything from mowing the lawn to managing business accounts. The basis of a successful service business is one that supplies a need. In your area, it may take some research to discover the top service needs and then figure out which one you can provide.
Benefits of a home-based service business
There are several benefits to running a home-based service business. First of all, you can run the business from your home. Since you already pay a mortgage, utilities and car payments, the only thing you need spend money on now is the equipment for your business. And, running a service that began as a hobby means you already own most of the needed equipment.
Starting a home-based business may or may not be for you. You will never know unless you jump out there and investigate what is needed. What do you like to do? Do you like to sew? Do you like creating graphics? What about speaking? Whatever it is that you like to do, you can ultimately get someone to pay you for it. What have you been called to do? Do you know your purpose?
Watch this video as I talk about the importance of knowing your purpose:
Get a notepad and sit down and right things out and implement.
Words like ‘failure’ make our hearts sink, whether it’s an exam we haven’t passed or a personal target we haven’t managed to hit. Failure is something which most of us are afraid of, and therefore we seek to do everything possible to avoid it. Failure to some people might mean not winning a race or not quite achieving something they’ve been working towards, but it’s important not to become discouraged by the fact you haven’t met targets or come out on top.
The most successful people in the world have had to go through situations that many others would regard as failures. J. K. Rowling, world-famous author of Harry Potter, was rejected by 12 publishers before she finally got the break she needed from her novels. Thomas Edison was told he was ‘too stupid’ by his teachers while he was at school, and he has become a household name now.
Failure can make you try harder
Depending on how badly you want something, failing can make you try even harder to reach your goal. Whether you’re training to run a 10K and want to surpass your personal best, or you’re studying for an exam and aiming to get the highest mark in the class, falling short can make us try harder next time. While it can be discouraging at first, it’s important to remember that you cannot change what you’ve already done, but you can look forward and change it in the future.
Failure isn’t the end of everything
With a few rare exceptions, there is always the chance to try again at whatever you’ve failed to achieve. Annual competitions will be held next year, exams can usually be re-sat the following exam season and sports can be played again and again. Failing several times can help you to realize that there will always be a second chance, and when you do finally succeed and achieve what you’ve been aiming for, you’ll feel a greater sense of satisfaction.
Failure can give you more confidence
If you’re afraid of failing, this will prevent you from trying new things and seeing what you can achieve. This fear is the main reason that many people are scared of doing certain things, such as going back into education or learning a new sport. Dealing with failure can give you a massive confidence boost and encourage you to try new things. After all, everybody has to start somewhere!
Go out and try something new. I have found that the thing that you fear most is probably the thing that will push you to where you really want to go.
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