Every single one of us can waste time either intentionally or not, but when it comes to building a successful business, often it’s far more of a subtle beast that we need to conquer: it’s our own fears.
When you’re dealing with self-doubt, everything feels a lot more difficult than it is. We find a million reasons not to get something done because internally we’re constantly sabotaging ourselves believe it’ll likely fail, so why bother?
Procrastination is a business killer. It’s also a dream killer because if you’re allowing negative thoughts and self-doubt to lead the way, you’ll never have enough faith in your abilities to see things through. You’ll not only take longer to get ahead, but chances are you’ll never reach your desired destination.
Procrastination has been called the closest ally to underachievement, and for good reason.
Many of us are afflicted by negative, self-doubt so if that’s you, know that you’re not alone. Feeling like we’re not good enough, or that any success we’ve experienced was somehow unworthy is a common struggle with entrepreneurs all over the world.
The “I’m not good enough” monster is only amplified when you see others in your industry succeed. You might wonder whether you know enough, are informed, skilled or equipped enough to be in a position of authority.
If you’re a coach or course instructor, it’s easy to feel as though you’re simply not knowledgeable or experienced enough to be charging people for your information.
Deep down, you know it’s not true. You’ve likely worked hard to get to where you are and deserve every bit of success you achieve. Overcoming those feels will take personal will and determination, but if you make the commitment to yourself and your business, and you persevere, nothing will stop you from reaching those goals.
Don’t be your own worst enemy in business. Be careful not to sabotage your own efforts. Identify your weaknesses and move on to focus on your strengths.
No, it won’t always be easy and it’ll take a determined effort on your part, but if you work towards reprogramming your way of thinking, you’ll vanquish those success-constricting messages and reinvigorate that desire that made you take the leap from employee to self-employed in the first place.
You got this!
You now understand the effectiveness of chunking (read the article here) and that by implementing this into your workweek you’ll get more done in less time, but we need to dig a little deeper.
Your work environment is just as important as your workflow. You should do everything possible to separate your personal life from your work life, which means talking with friends and family who may feel that just because you now work from home, you’re free for conversations throughout the day.
Create a routine for yourself and try to stick with it. If you can create a realistic work schedule that everyone in your life understands, you’ll be able to minimize distractions while making each hour count.
Doing this will also help you avoid burn out. You can only go full-speed ahead for so long before you’ll suffer the consequences including a dried up creative well.
Pushing forward without breaks or any sort of normal schedule will also leave you scrambling to fix errors, revise projects and will cause you to overlook important tasks.
As for your office environment itself, it all depends on what helps you to stay focused. For some, they find that music helps them focus while others need it to be completely silent.
Do your best to figure out what kind of routine will get you into a working mindset.
Does working out in the morning help?
Do you have to shut off your phone, close your email, or fire up a playlist in order to spring into action?
Find your groove and stick with it.
Your family, your mental health, and your career will thank you for it.
Hopefully you already have ideas as to how to create an organized system that will boost productivity and help you place a value on your time. If not, make that your top priority.
And your second?
Hold yourself accountable when you mess up.
If you’re struggling to get things done, it’s easy to switch up your routine believing that will help you get back on track.
However, if you take the time to analyze why you really fell behind in the first place, chances are you’ll be able to identify where things went wrong and it’s not always deserving of a new routine.
Take a step back and think about where and when your efforts were derailed.
Were you spending too much time in email or on social media?
Did you fail at prioritizing your goals and ended up spending too much time on things that don’t matter as much?
Self-correcting and holding yourself accountable are two very important lessons when it comes to being successful in your business.
It’s way too easy to say, “just one more hour”, or to push through and get that “one more thing done”, but it does you no good if you end up having to revise that work because you were so burned out that you didn’t give your very best. Your business deserves the best of you and so do your clients or customers.
Holding yourself accountable isn’t always easy, but it’s the enemy of procrastination. If you take the time to identify where you went wrong, you’ll stay clear of self-doubt by immediately correcting the issue and moving on.
And remember, one way to stay productive is to be focused and many people struggle with this. If you want to learn more about staying focused, check out the featured resource below for a free detailed report; download, read it and take action 😊
No matter what kind of business you run online, there’s a good chance you have a blog. And if you have a blog, then you need a lot of content.
But here’s the problem…
Until now…
If you think you can’t create great content fast, think again. That’s because you’re about to discover 10 types of blog posts you can create in 10 minutes or less.
Take a look…
Sometimes you might purchase PLR (private label rights) articles that you can minimally tweak and post right to your blog. In other cases, you might take excerpts out of PLR reports or ebooks, and then post these excerpts on your blog. Either way, it takes just minutes to create something unique and post it for your readers.
Here are some other tips for using PLR to create content:
TIP: This is particularly easy if the video includes slides, as you can simply create your article from the content of the slides.
And speaking of excerpts…
Obviously, this is a super-quick way to create an article. But the other bonus of this particular strategy is that you can quickly insert a pitch at the end of the article to promote the full product.
Now, there are two ways to use these excerpts:
For example, let’s suppose you have a report that lists ten strategies for cutting calories. You can excerpt out three to five of these strategies to create your article. Then at the end of the article, you can pitch the paid report as the place to get more of these great strategies.
Let’s take the example of the report with ten strategies again. This time you excerpt out all ten strategies, but you edit out some of the details. So readers will get an article that tells them what to do, but they don’t get the exact instructions of how to do it. They’ll need to purchase the product to get those exact instructions.
Next…
A link list can come in a variety of formats, including:
For example, you might list all the plugins you use on your blog. Or if you’re writing to bodybuilders, you might make a list of all the “must use” supplements.
Next…
The idea here is to create an “in case you missed it” list of your best posts in the last couple weeks or months. Of course you don’t need to just list blog posts. Instead, you can curate your own content across platforms, including your social media accounts and newsletters.
Another way to do it is by curating your best (recent) content around a very specific topic.
For example:
All you have to do is write an intro to the post, list the resources along with a short explanation of why people should read each resource, and then wrap it up with a quick conclusion.
Next up…
Here’s a great way to create content fast: let someone else create the content for you.
Here’s an example email to send to land these interviews…
Subject Line: I’d like to feature you on my blog, [name]
Hi [First Name],
My name is [Your Name], and I run the popular [type of] blog over at [domain]. The reason I’m writing today is because I’d like to interview you and feature this interview on the blog.
The interview is just [small number] questions, so it would only take about [small number of minutes] to complete.
In return, you’d get a byline and link back to your site, along with exposure to my [number] of readers and visitors. I’ll also send out the link to my [number] of newsletter subscribers and [number] social media followers.
If you agree that this sounds like a great way to showcase your business to a targeted audience, just reply back and I’ll send over the questions right away.
I look forward to hearing from you!
[sign off]
——-
Remember this: the easier it is for someone to comply with your request, the more likely it is that they’ll say yes. So don’t make your interviewee have to spend hours answering questions. Instead, shoot a couple quick questions their way that they can answer in just minutes. Then if you want more info, send a couple follow up questions.
Here’s why…
Once a person has answered your initial questions, they’ll feel invested and committed to your project. So if you ask for 10 more minutes of their time to answer a couple additional questions, they’re very likely to say yes.
The next idea is to comb through your existing content, find popular articles, tweak them, and republish the new version.
For example:
Another good way to quickly create content is to simply change your existing content into a different format. And one way to do this is by turning an article into an infographic.
Here are examples of articles that would make good infographics:
Just be sure your infographic includes social media buttons next to it, because this is the kind of content people really like to share.
Are you an affiliate for a product or service? Then one great way to quickly get your hands on some free content is by asking the product vendor to supply it for you.
However, you want unique content, right? So don’t go straight to the blog post category, as all the other affiliates are likely copying and pasting those articles to their blogs. Instead, look at other content such as reports, emails and similar. Find something suitable, and then ask the vendor if you can modify it for your blog, such as taking an excerpt out of a report.
If you’re not finding what you like within the affiliate center, then write to the vendor and request an article. The vendor is more likely to give you content – especially exclusive content – if you’ve already proven yourself to be a good affiliate.
TIP: Here’s a powerhouse combo you can use to promote affiliate products while getting unique content for free: ask the vendor for an interview. Most vendors will be happy to get the exposure and extra sales. You can post a text interview, or you might even consider doing a short webinar or podcast.
So far we’ve been talking about how to quickly create text articles. However, you don’t need to write a single word if you don’t want to.
Instead, pick up a camera to do a quick video on the topic of your choice.
TIP: You can also simply turn on a microphone to do a quick podcast. You don’t even need expensive tools, as a simple tool like Audacity will let you capture and edit audio for free. You can get this tool at http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/files/.
For example:
Then all you have to do is upload the video to YouTube.com (for greater exposure), and then post the embedded video on your blog.
One very good source for articles and other content are your own emails. Here I’m talking about two things:
“Just about every week, the same question tends to pop up in my email from people just like you. Take a look and see if you’ve wondered about this topic too…”
As you just discovered, you don’t need to spend a lot of time creating great content. All you need is ten minutes or less, and you can have a blog post ready to go out the door.
If you really want to know more about the power of blogging, you can take a look at the Rapid Blogging Blueprint training course or if you just want a few pointers for now you can grab the featured resource below for a free blogging report; download, read it and take action 🙂
In a previous article we looked at communication, adaptability, strategic thinking as ways to become an effective leader.
Now we’re going to add a couple more powerful leadership strategies, namely team building and delegation.
The thought of leading may make people shudder with fear but learning these skills will give you the confidence to be bold and take the reins and become the leader that you were born to be.
We’ll always reach a higher level of success with a team. Even the self-made millionaires and billionaires out there didn’t do it entirely on their own. Bill Gates is a great example. Yes, he had a great idea when he created Windows – but he had a talented team of programmers, designers, writers, marketers, and administrators to help him launch it.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about why team-building is an essential leadership skill, and how you can recognize the areas where you need help so you can build a powerhouse team of your own.
The Benefits of Building a Strong Team
As hard as you may work and as determined as you may be, you can’t do everything on your own, nor should you. It’s not practical, and it’s not working smarter – it’s working harder.
Consider the phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” You might be great at some things, but chances are there are areas in your business that would benefit from outside support.
Choosing a team means that you’ll have ongoing support within your own customized network. You can delegate tasks – something we’ll talk about later – and have time to do the things you do best. You’ll also be able to enjoy other aspects of life because, let’s face it, you’ll work better if you make time to play, too.
The trick, of course, is building the right team.
Tips for Attracting Team Members and Knowing When You Need Help
You need a team, but where you do you start?
The first step is identifying the key areas where you need help. If you’re building a business, you’ll need to build a brand, create products, design your website, structure mailing lists, attract new clients, service those clients, and so on.
Start by looking at the things you do very well. Maybe you’re a killer salesperson or a master communicator. Those may be things you can do on your own.
Next, look at the things that aren’t in your wheelhouse. Maybe you have very little marketing experience or you’re not great at organization.
The first team members you hire should be the people who can help you with your weaknesses. You’ll have the best chance of success if you use this method.
The next thing you need to do is attract the right team members.
To do that, you’ll need to:
It’s also a good idea to impose a probation period on any new hires. That way, you’ll be able to make changes easily if you need to. Just make sure to put everything in writing.
Next, we’ll talk about delegation.
In some ways, delegation is the most important skill of them all. I’ve already touched on some reasons why it’s important not to try to do everything yourself. The key to making that happen is to learn how to delegate effectively.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about why delegation is important and provide some tips to help you delegate the right tasks to the right people.
Why You Shouldn’t Try to Do Everything Yourself
If you want to be a great leader, you need to know how to delegate tasks and – just as importantly – who to delegate them to.
We all need down time – and we all do our best work when we’re focused on what we’re good at and love to do. Delegation allows you to focus your time and energy on the things you’re best it and the things that only you can do.
That means you’ll have more time to lead because you won’t be burned out from trying to do everything.
Tips to Help You Decide What to Delegate to Others
The trick to great delegation is knowing two things:
So, let’s take each of these things in turn, starting with knowing which tasks to delegate. You should delegate:
It might be useful to start by identifying the things that only you can do. These may include making strategic decisions about your team or meeting with investors.
Then, make a list of the things you can delegate. Once you’ve got the list, it’s time to think about who the best people are for those jobs. Here are some questions to ask:
Any of these questions can help you identify people who are ready to handle the tasks and responsibilities you’ve identified.
Once you’ve identified the people you need, you should spend some time thinking about the training and support they’ll need to succeed with their delegated tasks. You may need to spend some one-on-one time with them or pay someone else to train them. They may need an outside class or seminar.
Delegate the tasks, and make sure that you communicate clearly and in detail about what you expect from each team member.
Make yourself available to answer questions, and most importantly, keep in mind that they may not get it right on the first try.
You’ll need all your leadership skills to decide what to delegate, choose the best people for each job, and guide them along the way to success. That’s why I saved delegation for last – because it’s a skill that necessarily incorporates all the others we’ve discussed.
Whatever you want in life will require discipline to achieve and becoming a successful leader is a small part of this. And if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self-discipline, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
With a recurring revenue business model, you’ll be able to generate a steady and reliable income every single month. Best of all, you don’t have to stick with just one format and can expand your network as you discover new demands for content.
The key is to always look forward ways to tie a product or service into a recurring revenue source.
You always want to incorporate your funnel into a recurring income source whenever possible.
In a previous article we looked at recurring revenue streams and membership platforms
In this article, let’s look at software, physical product subscriptions and online courses.
So, let’s get cracking…
SaaS stands for Software as a Service and is offered on a subscription basis.
The benefits are quite obvious to customers: in exchange for their recurring payments, they are given the ability to use the software while knowing that it is updated regularly and that they’ll gain access to prompt customer support.
From Drop Box and Adobe to mailing list providers like MailChimp and Aweber, many of the leading brands have incorporated SaaS into their businesses and for good reason: Doing so drastically increases their yearly income, while making it easier for them to provide value to their customer base.
For example, perhaps you run a community focused on teaching people how to build a successful blow. You could create a training program that teaches them how to launch a successful website, while promoting the tools they need to get the job done.
This might include SaaS based mailing lists, hosting for their blog, or perhaps design and graphic tools, as well as plugins. The possibilities are endless when it comes to making money promoting a variety of recurring revenue products.
There are dozens of important tools you can easily promote within your own content to generate revenue.
And for every new customer you send their way, you’ll earn a recurring income from their ongoing payments. Win-win!
You’ve likely heard of the Dollar Shave Club as well as other subscription boxes that focus on health, fitness or cosmetics, just to name a few. These are growing in popularity every single day.
Here’s how it works:
Customers subscribe to a service and in exchange they receive a box or products every month. The products vary but are usually all in the same niche or industry.
This format works well because recipients not only look forward to receiving new products every month in the mail, but they become part of a community of active users.
The downside is that creating a physical product subscription program isn’t always the easiest business to launch as it will require coming up with products and packaging as well as shipping and distribution partners, but don’t overlook the possibilities. There may be a way to simplify the program so that it works for your business.
For example, an author who self-publishes books via Amazon KDP could create a subscription program where readers can sign on to receive a new book every month via their exclusive book club.
While an author may not release a new book every month, they could easily send out some of their favorite reads, promoting other up-and-coming authors. The shipping costs would be minimal and it could even be automated through sites like Lulu.com.
How could you incorporate a physical product subscription into your business?
It’s time to put that thinking cap on and see how you could take advantage of this profitable opportunity!
Tip: You could also combine a membership program with a physical product subscription plan.
For example, you could sell access to an online training program that offers guides, tutorials and videos and provide them with a physical copy of the course via a book.
While courses don’t usually bring in recurring income on their own since many are designed on a platform that involves a student paying a one-time fee for access to the training, you can still generate consistent recurring revenue by focusing on a strong front-end sales funnel that directs students to other products and services.
For example, while your course may be a one-time charge, you could give students the option to upgrade to a monthly membership that offers tools and resources associated to the topic of the training program.
This could include additional auxiliary components such as webinars, printable downloads or additional workbooks that go beyond the scope of your course.
Start by thinking about a topic for your course, as well as the content formats you would feel comfortable creating.
This could include:
The key is to identify an ongoing demand for help with specific problems. Your course should always focus on one main niche so you’re able to create content that is in-demand, relevant and focused.
At the same time, you don’t want to box yourself into a corner. The topic you choose should be something you can see yourself still interested in a year from now.
By purchasing access to your course, they are given the knowledge needed to accomplish specific goals.
Most of the top-selling courses focus on one main subject and then they expand their program by allowing students to either purchase additional access to upgrades or by offering additional resources after someone has graduated from the course.
Don’t let anything stand in your way! Even if you aren’t an expert on the topic, chances are you still have something worthy of teaching and that people will pay money for.
Keep in mind that for your membership program to be successful, you need to come up with a strong hook.
A hook reels you in. It sets your program apart. It works at differentiating your program from your competitors and tells potential subscribers why they benefit from signing up for your program. It’s visceral and compelling.
Evaluate your membership program’s strengths and unique benefits.
Your task of the day:
Step 1: Identify an ongoing problem in your niche where people are actively seeking guidance, training and ultimately, a solution.
Step 2: Create a list of topics that you should cover in your course based on those common questions. Then, decide on the various formats you plan to use (video, printables, workbooks, etc.).
Step 3: Next, go through that list and narrow your focus so that you are targeting a specific segment of your market.
Need help identifying a problem in your niche or coming up with a topic for your course?
Here are a few ways to uncover possibilities:
Send an email out to your mailing list that asks what your readers need help with. You can either set the email so they reply with their own feedback, or choose 3-4 topics and create a survey that asks them to choose only one.
Search Reddit sub-threads as well as Q&A sites like Quora for popular questions and ongoing discussions. You want your course to be based on an evergreen, common problem in your market.
Search platforms like Udemy.com and Teachable.com to see what courses are selling and what kind of training is being offered.
Sites like Teachable will show you a breakdown of all lesson plans so you can get a feel for the scope of the training and identify what could be missing. Then, include coverage in your own course to stand out in your market.
Tip: Creating a training program is easy with sites like https://www.Teachable.com because you aren’t required to build your own website or learn HTML.
All you have to do is enter in your content or link to your videos and Teachable will compile your course so that people can move through it at their own pace while keeping track of their progress.
If you want to know more about creating a profitable online course, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊
Everyone has had the experience of working for a not-so-great boss. While it’s common for people to be promoted into management when they excel in non-leadership positions, the truth is that a lot of the people who get those promotions don’t have the skills they need to effectively manage their team.
In other words, they lack the must-have leadership skills that all great bosses have in common.
These critical steps include: communication, adaptability, strategic thinking, team building and delegation and we’ll look at the first three in this article.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to become an effective leader and put these leadership strategies into practice? Let’s get started!
Without proper, clear and concise communication, you can’t hope to become an effective leader.
Communication is your best tool for explaining your ideas, setting expectations, and building your team. In this chapter, we’ll talk about why strong communication skills are essential for leaders and share some tips about how to communicate effectively both in writing and in person.
The Importance of Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is what builds relationships. If you listen to employees complain about their bosses and employers, one of the top issues they’re dealing with is usually lack of a direct and clear channel of communication.
Effective communication:
Any time you touch base with your team or with a client, you’re using communication skills. That means every phone call, every meeting, every chat, and every email reflects your ability to communicate and keep a pulse on how projects are going.
Tips for Effective Communication in Writing and Off the Cuff
What makes for effective communication? The hallmarks of a good communication are clarity, detail, and honesty.
Clarity means that you must be able to articulate what you want in a way that the person you’re talking to can understand. You’re not communicating effectively if the listener or reader can’t understand what you need or expect from them.
Honesty means that you must be truthful when communicating with your team. That doesn’t mean you need to tell them everything you’re thinking all the time, but it does mean that you cannot mislead them or deliberately omit information that might help them achieve the goals you’ve laid out for the team.
Here are a few tips for communicating effectively:
These tips will help you be an effective communicator and enhance your ability to lead.
Coming up next, we’ll talk about why you must be adaptable if you want to become a great leader.
You’ve heard about survival of the fittest. It’s the principle that tells us that only those who can handle change and cope with adversity survive. In other words, adaptability is necessary – and it can mean the difference between success and failure in your business.
In this section, we’ll talk about why great leaders must be adaptable, and provide some tips about how you can increase your adaptability and learn to go with the flow.
How Adaptability Can Help You Succeed
In our professional lives, things seldom go the way we want them to. There are too many variables for that to always be the case and often, the things that derail our career or our personal lives feels as though it’s out of our control.
The bottom line is that what you do in the face of adversity is what’ll determine whether you’re able to quickly recover, reset and get back on the path to success.
If you have a setback, do you get up and keep going – or do you give up and move onto something else?
Great leaders learn to go with the flow. They understand that success doesn’t happen overnight. Their adaptability helps them get through failure and come out the other side a winner.
Tips for Increasing Adaptability and Going with the Flow
Some people have a high level of adaptability naturally. If that’s you, then you’re probably in good shape.
But what if it’s not? What if you’re easily discouraged or daunted by setbacks? Is there anything you can do to increase your adaptability?
Yes!
Here are some tips to help you increase your adaptability and go with the flow.
Coming up next, we’ll talk about how to build a team – something that’s very important for every leader. Keep reading to learn more!
Strategy thinking is an essential element of leadership. In this chapter, I’ll explain why and give you some tips for improving your strategic thinking and planning skills.
The Role of Strategy in Success
Strategy is simply long-term planning with a fancy name. You have a goal in mind and then you map out a step-by-step plan to achieve it. If you want it to work, your strategy must be logical and practical. Each step you take should build to the next step.
The thing about strategy is that it’s not just for you. Having a strategy in place can help you get investors to fund your company, and it can also help you inspire your team.
Tips for Improving Your Strategic Thinking and Planning Ahead
Some people have a natural gift for strategic thinking. They’re the people who are great chess players and who naturally seem to see everything 10 steps ahead.
If you’re not one of them, don’t worry. Here are some tips to help you improve your strategic thinking.
The more you practice strategic thinking, the easier it will be.
Whatever you want in life will require discipline to achieve and becoming a successful leader is a small part of this. And if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self-discipline, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
