It often seems that confidence is elusive, like a smoky mirage. Sometimes, it feels magical and wonderful; other times it can be frustrating.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret: you can build up your self-confidence without having to resort to any crystal ball. ‘How?’ you ask.
It’s simple.
I know that some people exude confidence and may be naturally confident, but many have honed the skill that it looks natural, yet they are natural introverts.
Keep reading to find out more about self-confidence and why it matters.
Self-confidence isn’t tangible. You can’t touch it and say, “This is confidence.”
It’s something we get a feeling for when we, or others, have it.
Likewise, we can recognize when someone lacks it. Even when they try to attempt to compensate for it, we sense it and feel bad for them.
The good news is that self-confidence is a soft skill, which means you can learn it and apply it to your daily life. It’s not fixed, like your height for example. It’s mainly based on your mindset and the actions you do to follow through.
Bear in mind that confidence is infectious. Even though we can’t see it, we still sense other people’s confidence levels in the way they behave and speak.
When someone is confident, they exude excitement and energy. You’re motivated to work hard and feel that same energy.
The downside is it goes both ways. When one person lacks confidence, it can deflate everyone around them. They just get the sense that there’s no point in trying.
There are different reasons why being confident can improve your life.
Below, you’ll find a few examples of how it can make you a happier, more fulfilled individual.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea as to how much having, or lacking, confidence impacts all areas of your life.
We all need confidence to bring balance and a sense of direction in our lives. Making a conscious decision to develop your confidence will allow you to take positive risks. It gets you out of your comfort zone and puts you on the path to success.
So what?
That’s what life is about. This is what boosts your self-esteem and makes you better at everything you do.
We all make mistakes. We all fail and meet obstacles in our lives.
The key is to understand that failures are a necessary part of progress. Read that again and really take it in.
Often, we feel that when we fail, it’s the end of the journey. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
To fully embrace your failures, you have to think of them as detours. When you’re forced to change lanes or take a detour that doesn’t mean the entire journey is over. It just means you’re taking a different path, but you’ll get there eventually.
Now, why do some people succeed after failing and others don’t? Those who manage to learn from their mistakes. They go over what went wrong and find a way to fix it.
Let’s take a second to think about Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of these two names? Success? Fame? Glory? All of the above?
How about failure? You’re probably saying to yourself, ‘These are two of the most prominent members of society. They haven’t failed.’
Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but they have—many times, in fact. Yet, they’re smart enough to use their failures as stepping stones to aim higher and work harder. Imagine our much our lives would have been impacted if these two men had given up every time they failed!
One of Edison’s quotes about refining the light bulb is, “I haven’t failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Many times, we can be our own worst enemies. We critique every move, every word, and every thought over and over again.
In moderation, it can be a great incentive to do better. Although, this only works if we treat ourselves with the same kindness and empathy, we show others. Sadly, it doesn’t happen very often.
Own up to your bad decision, embrace it, and move on. That’s now part of your DNA; it’s helping shape a stronger, more resilient person.
Imagine it being part of your arsenal or a superpower. Now, you’ve turned your mistake into something that can make you more resilient and less anxious.
Self-confidence is an integral part of who you are. Understanding why it matters can mean the difference being happy and being miserable.
Having that self-assurance can help boost your relationships and career. You’ll also be able to inspire others to become happier, more fulfilled individuals.
So, what are you waiting for? Decide today to work on achieving solid self confidence today and watch it transform your life!
Being confident requires self discipline and many people struggle with this, so if you want to harness the power of self discipline, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
Traffic is the lifeblood of any business. Without it, you won’t have any visitors to your blog posts, videos, landing pages, sales pages etc.
In other words, no traffic equals no leads or sales, so it is an essential skill to muster.
You need to consider whether you want to use free or paid traffic, although nothing is really free, because organic traffic is time consuming, whereas paid traffic is instant, but you will need a budget to run enough paid ads to get any viable metrics that you can use.
Basically, before you jump in, you need to do some planning first. Read on to learn how to develop a solid website traffic strategy.
Before you start bringing traffic to your site, you’ll want to determine your overall goals. Specifically, what are your overall goals in terms of revenue and sales?
You need to figure this out first, and then in a moment, you’ll determine how much traffic you need to achieve your goals.
Note: these numbers need to be realistic. While you may want $10 million this year, that’s not realistic if you’re still new to online marketing. You may find a goal like $100,000 (and the traffic required to get to that number) more realistic.
Now that you have your overall goals, your next step is to work backwards to determine traffic and conversion specifics to achieve these goals.
Here are the questions you need to ask yourself:
The point is, don’t just pick a traffic goal out of thin air. Do some realistic calculations to determine how much traffic you need, minimally, to achieve your goals.
It’s a good idea to add at least 20% to your estimates as a cushion, as most people underestimate the traffic they need to obtain to achieve their goals.
Now that you know how much traffic you need, you can start setting specific traffic goals for the year as a whole, for each month, and even for each week.
Be sure your traffic goals include the following characteristics:
For example, “I want more traffic by the end of this month” is not specific nor measurable. Instead, you’d set a goal such as “I’d like to increase traffic by 25% this month.” (Naturally, you’d know what your baseline traffic number is, so that you know exactly how much traffic you need to reach the 25%.)
The next part of your planning is to determine where you’re going to send your traffic, and what you want this traffic to do when they arrive at the destination. Take note that you’ll likely send traffic to a variety of links, and you’ll want the traffic to do different things at each of these destinations.
Common destinations include:
And similar.
Be sure to create a specific plan for how much traffic you want to send to each destination. For example, you might send the majority of your traffic to a variety of relevant lead pages, and then send some traffic directly to sales pages.
As you’re creating ads and content to drive traffic, keep in mind that not all prospects are in the same place in their buyer’s journey. That means you need to create content that appeals to people in these three stages:
Next…
Another factor to take into consideration when developing your traffic strategy is what part of your sales funnel will you be promoting?
There are 3 main parts to a sales funnel, namely top, middle and bottom.
As the prospects move down the funnel, the numbers decrease, but their receptivity increases.
A basic funnel looks like this:
Not everyone is going to follow your sales funnel exactly. For example, some people may start by buying your core offer or even your backend offer.
As such, you need to consider your funnel and the path most people will take as you develop a traffic strategy (and how you’re going to allocate that traffic throughout your funnel).
You don’t necessarily want to send all your traffic to sales pages. In most cases, it’s wiser to send traffic to your lead pages.
That way, you can build your platform – and then use your email list to send your traffic wherever you want.
Before you start creating a traffic strategy, it’s a good idea to determine how much money you have to invest in this strategy. Primarily your investment will be put towards two things:
After you determine how much you can invest per month, then you’ll need to allocate these funds (e.g., X% to paid ads and Y% to outsourcing). The exact allocation depends on your needs and budget.
You don’t need to implement your traffic strategy yourself, as you can outsource all or part of it. For example, you can hire someone to:
And so on. The exact needs you have will depend on the traffic strategy you develop, but you’ll want to start thinking early on about what parts you might be interested in outsourcing.
If you have a limited outsourcing budget (as most of us do), then you’ll need to decide what to outsource. Consider these points:
Next…
There are multiple ways to find freelancers to help you with your traffic-generation activities. These methods include:
PeoplePerHour.com, Upwork.com, Freelancer.com,
Fiverr.com or similar.
Next…
Ultimately, you’re going to have plenty of traffic methods included in your overall traffic strategy. However, a big key to your success is to keep it simple.
Start with ONE traffic method. Study this traffic method so that you understand it. Implement the traffic method and refine your method as needed.
Once you’ve got one traffic method up, running and delivering results for you, then you can add another method. But don’t do this until your website traffic rankings are high enough to justify it.
You can use Google Analytics as a good free website traffic checker, although it can be a little complex due to the mountain of information you get!
So, to put it another way: focus on just one traffic method at a time.
Before advertising, you need to know everything you can about your ideal customer. That way, you can place ads in the right locations, you can select the right keywords and audiences for generating quality traffic, and you can create ads and content that really resonate with the targeted audience.
Here is the type of information to include in your customer avatar:
… And anything else you can dig up that will help you find and connect with your audience.
Here’s how to collect information on your audience:
Next…
Avoid these two common traffic mistakes:
#1, Using non-targeted advertising. Targeting narrower audiences often means you’ll get less traffic from a particular source, but that traffic will be more responsive than a broader audience. This usually results in a better ROI.
#2, Using little-known methods or platforms. For example, if you’re going to place a pay per click ad, then stick with well-known platforms (like Google Ads), as the big platforms combat costly click fraud.
So, you will now be hopefully be generating more traffic to your website, but now you will need to convert that traffic into either leads and/or buyers and we will cover that in another post here.
For your convenience, you can get all the tips mentioned in both posts in a single handy detailed report; just click on the featured resource below, download, read it and take action 🙂
Becoming self-disciplined is a process, and the quality of being disciplined is like a skill. The more you practice it, the better you’ll get at it.
Generally, the fundamentals are the same no matter which book you read.
This article will simplify the process for you so that you can get started today without having to read a 200-page book.
So, are you ready to boost your self discipline? OK, let’s get started…
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re not going to get anywhere. In order for you to exercise self-discipline, you’ll need a goal that challenges you – and most worthwhile goals will.
Are you trying to lose weight? Or do you want financial freedom? Maybe you want to be a better parent? Or become a popular author?
The goal doesn’t matter as much as having one. List a few goals that you’ve always wanted to achieve.
Once you have the list, it’s time to focus on one goal. If you’re ambitious, you can focus on 2 or 3 goals. But you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew.
So, it’s best to only focus on one or two goals at a time and give it our best when it comes to being disciplined.
It’s important to know why you want to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. Dig deep and find out the emotional reason behind your desire. For example, if you’re trying to lose weight – it might be because you want to appear attractive to the opposite sex.
There are no right or wrong answers here, but it’s imperative that you know your “why” for achieving the goal. When the going gets tough, you’ll need to look at why you’re doing what you’re doing – and this will motivate you to stay disciplined, so you achieve your goal.
Very often, if you’re not where you want to be, it’s because something is broken in your daily life. Almost always, it comes down to your habits.
Maybe you’re eating too much junk food which explains your excess weight. Maybe you’re spending uncontrollably, and that’s why you’re in debts.
Once you know what habits you need, it’s a matter of harnessing self-discipline to achieve them.
It’s always best to make small, gradual improvements. Trying to climb a mountain in a day is impossible and you’ll just end up quitting.
By taking small steps daily towards your goals, you’ll ultimately achieve them. So, build self-discipline by completing small tasks first. Then slowly and surely keep seeking improvement until you’re unstoppable.
Having a plan will mean that you know what you need to do daily. A routine is crucial for success. Your mind loves structure. By giving it a daily plan to follow, you’ll build the habits you need to achieve your goals.
These efforts will compound, and you’ll reach your goal much faster.
Aim for 85% to 95% compliance with your routine and habits. No matter how disciplined you are, you will make a mistake and give in to temptation here and there.
If your compliance is 85 percent and above, you’ll definitely be on track to achieving your goals.
Find an accountability partner who will hold you accountable to the actions you are determined to achieve, and if for some reason you’re not quite on track, they can help you to get back on track
Willpower can fail you at times. You may suddenly binge eat at night because you can’t control your food cravings.
Or you may skip a workout because you just had a fight with your spouse and you’re not in the mood. Or maybe you binge watched a Netflix show and neglected to do your work because the show hooked you.
These things happen. You must forgive yourself and carry on moving forward.
They then decide to just let themselves go and carry on with the bad habits and give up on their goal. All because they slipped up once and think it’s ‘game over’.
It’s not. You still have some ways to go. Acknowledge your mistake and analyze why you slipped up.
Maybe you need to remove all snacks from your kitchen, so you don’t binge eat at night. Or maybe you should workout first thing in the morning, so you don’t skip your training sessions.
Once you figure out a way to rectify future mistakes, you’ll increase your compliance and prevent future slip-ups. Self-discipline is easier when conditions are right.
Last but not least, all worthy goals take time to achieve. Consistent effort over time creates greatness.
If it were fast and easy, everyone would do it. The reward comes from the way things are set up. You must pay the price for your goal. That price is sweat, effort, time, consistency, patience, and self-discipline.
Keep these 9 tips in mind when trying to become self-disciplined. Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even when you don’t want to do it. It won’t be easy… but it will be worth it.
As you can see, self-discipline is an important skill to master, and if you want to increase your power of self discipline then check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊
We are living in the age of technology and information. The world is basically a global village thanks to different communication platforms such as social media sites and mobile telephony.
Affiliate marketing is a concept that has been built primarily on the platform of information communication and technology. What are some of its benefits?
To the entrepreneur, marketing costs are considered a necessary evil because they consume a lot of resources but still have to be incurred all the same. You can’t create brand awareness and increase the number of sales without properly investing in product marketing.
Affiliate marketing is even better at this because you only pay the affiliates or publishers depending on the number of sales made. Without creating conversions, the affiliates earn no pay and the business does not incur unnecessary expenses.
Using minimal resources, you can reach a high number of customers. The program is efficient because it makes use of the internet and social media sites that are frequented by several potential customers.
The traditional methods are expensive and may not even reach the target market. A consumer is more likely to notice an advertisement on the internet as opposed to other media such as billboards and radio.
It’s always nice to be your own boss. The challenge that most people and especially young people face is the lack of capital to start a new venture. Affiliate marketing does not need any premises or capital to start.
It is an ideal way to generate capital and also find your footing as you begin your journey to self-employment. It is also a perfect home-based business that can give you some good income.
Once you learn the basic concepts of affiliate marketing, you can succeed in it as long as you are willing to put in work and learn along the way.
You don’t have to possess experience to successfully participate in an affiliate program. There are a lot of resources available even on the internet to help you find your way through.
It is very difficult to determine the exact impact of most marketing campaigns but with the affiliate program, that is very much possible. A marketing team can keep track of the sales generated as a result of the marketing efforts and change strategies if the situation warrants it.
It is also possible to get instant feedback from customers and that helps so much in improving customer service by designing products and services that match their preferences.
These are some of the benefits of the affiliate marketing program that merchants, publishers and even customers can get to enjoy.
So, as you can see, affiliate marketing is an incredibly viable online business model and if you want to get started, then you need to start using your blog…
A blog is fairly easy to set up. The most important thing is usually the functionality. Will visitors find it easy to access the content that they need? Will they find the content useful? How easy is it to use the different icons available on the site?
These are some basic questions that one must ask before setting up a blog. It therefore calls for a user-friendly interface that can appeal to the different types of people that access your blog on a regular basis.
Over the last five years, blogs have become very popular. Not only have they given several aspiring content creators a platform to grow their talent, they are also a part of social media that makes communication and reaching of a target audience easier.
What are some of the principles to observe when using your blog to run affiliate marketing campaigns?
What sort of vibe will visitors receive when they first visit your blog? This is important because it sets the entire tone for subsequent engagements.
You therefore also have to focus on the design so that it’s attractive and user-friendly. Too many cluttered advertisements send the wrong signals to visitors. The first thing that will come to mind is that you are only after making money. Let the headlines and lists portray the blog as a place where visitors can actually find useful information.
It’s like building a relationship. It takes time and a little convincing. Create content that is useful to the customer before guiding them to an affiliate link. T
he information provided will be enough to build trust and convince them to take a look at what the blog is promoting. You should also make sure that the content created is tied to the product being promoted.
There is nothing more difficult to rebuild than trust once it’s lost. When customers click on the affiliate links and then end up buying the products, they are in actual sense buying your advice.
If their expectations are not met, you will be viewed as a liar who is only out to enrich himself or herself. Promote only genuine products on your blog, more so those that you have already used. You can try and describe them well and at the same time share your experience.
Do not fill your blog with adverts that will not bring you any meaningful income. Focus on brands and products that will give you reasonable commission.
After all, the reason why you are carrying out affiliate marketing on your blog is so that you can make some cash.
Such a page on your blog consists of useful links to products or websites that are related to your area of specialization. Visitors can find these links helpful and discover products that they were originally not looking for. It’s a win-win situation.
Follow these affiliate marketing tips, and you’ll be on the way to becoming a successful affiliate marketer in no time. And if you want to know more about affiliate marketing check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊
From an early age, we’re led to believe that nothing is more satisfying than finding happiness. But happiness is so elusive and intangible.
Plus, happiness is different for everyone, so how do you know when you find it? And is there something out there that can make you feel even better than happiness?
Yes! It’s called having a sense of fulfillment. Yet, what is that exactly, and how do you get it? That’s what we’re here today to find out.
So, keep reading to learn how you can stop chasing happiness to find fulfillment instead.
Happiness Vs. Fulfillment
Take a look at this quick overview of happiness vs. fulfillment because they are two vastly different ideas, and many people may not be sure about what they are and the differences between the two.
So, let’s dive in and take a look at happiness first…
Happiness includes feelings like contentment, excitement, and joy. But the problem with these kinds of emotions is that they are all temporary.
Sure, it feels nice while it lasts, but other emotions take over, like anger, fear, and anxiety, and these negative emotions tend to hang around for much longer!
The trap many of us fall into is that we believe we’ll reach our point of happiness when we achieve certain things in our lives.
Of course, you’ll be happy! But that happiness can only last so much. After that, reality sets in, especially when the bills start coming in.
Another problem with happiness is that we often view it in terms of other people. So, we compare our lives to theirs, which is never a good idea.
No one knows what’s going on in other people’s lives. So, it’s not fair to compare only the good parts. It sends you on a loop of perpetual disappointment. The only person you should compare yourself to is you.
When you pursue the things that really matter to you, you bring fulfillment into your life. Fulfillment is when you take actionable steps towards the things you value. Part of it is also achieving goals that were set up based on these core values.
Living your life with a consistent set of values allows you to have integrity towards who you truly are. It also allows you more control over your emotions and thoughts.
The bottom line is that happiness is dependent on external factors. Many of these factors are material and likely to change at any moment.
Fulfillment, on the other hand, is internally driven. You’re the one who determines what means more to you, and then by going after it, you elevate the levels of fulfillment in your life.
You can find fulfillment in many ways. But you have to choose to see it in every experience and situation in your life, especially those that don’t go your way.
It sounds more challenging than it really is, but it’s actually relatively easy once you know what you’re doing. And it’s way more rewarding and empowering than chasing the ever-fleeting feeling of happiness.
Here are some ways to find fulfillment and bring meaning to your life.
The great philosopher, Socrates, said, “Know Thyself” to encourage his students to look inward when searching for the meaning of life. So then, when you know your true nature, you can find fulfillment because you know your true self-worth.
The more you know about yourself, the more fulfillment you’ll find in life. Remember, fulfillment isn’t about having a nice house or the latest fashion. It’s much deeper than that and much more nuanced.
It just takes a bit of soul searching.
Helping others is one of the best ways to fill your life with fulfillment. You feel good by volunteering your time or money to help someone in need.
The science behind it is that helping others boosts the release of ‘feel-good’ chemicals in our brains. Some of these include hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin.
So, whether you’re helping a friend move or helping out at a local soup kitchen, you’re bringing joy and ease into other people’s lives. Not only that, but you’re also making yourself feel more fulfilled.
Surrounding yourself with a healthy, supportive social circle allows you to feel connected to something. In addition, being part of something fosters a sense of fulfillment in your life.
You have people you can talk to anytime you feel sad or stressed out. Consequently, you don’t suffer from any feelings of isolation, disconnection, or separation.
Having a sense of gratitude can help you see the purpose in life and feel like you’re connected to a greater good. Gratitude also boosts your overall health and encourages positive emotions, which can come in handy when you’re going through a tough time.
It also motivates you to strive for more. Yet, when there’s a setback, you focus more on what you have and what you’ve accomplished rather than wallowing in your losses.
Keep in mind that if you’re not okay with what you don’t have, you’ll never appreciate what you do have.
Always trying to chase happiness definitely affects the way you think and if you are constantly chasing this, you need to start to think differently because if you don’t find happiness, self doubt and negativity can creep in. If you want to know more about avoiding self-doubt and developing a positive mindset, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 🙂
