These days, it’s almost impossible to separate your working life from your personal life and maintain a healthy work life balance. Work consumes so much of our life that many of us don’t even realize how insidious the far-reaching effects of this situation can be.
If the spouse asks how the day went, again we regale them with the gossip and unfairness at the workplace. It just never ends.
It’s no wonder so many people are stressed out and can’t find any respite from the daily work concerns. Let’s look at a few ways you can mitigate this problem and bring about work and life balance in your life.
This applies to 2 areas: your workload and your stress.
If you can’t complete your work while you’re at work, there may be productivity issues that you need to address. Or maybe your workload is just too much to handle.
If you’re an entrepreneur who works from home, it’s even more important that you set fixed working hours and rest hours or the two will merge and you’ll find that you just can’t switch off.
When it comes to work stresses, try not to bring back work problems and tell your spouse about them. You’ll just be worked up all over again and might even end up having an argument.
Block off all work commitments, stories, stresses, etc. once you leave work.
Procrastination will only stress you out later on when the work starts piling up. It’s the enemy of success and you’ll have thoughts at the back of your mind about your workload piling up.
You do not want to be in a situation where you need to bring work home to complete just because you were putting them till a later date.
The bedroom is only for sleeping and/or sex. That’s it. Doing paperwork, reading statistics, etc. on the bed is poor sleep hygiene.
Your sleep patterns may be interrupted because your mind can’t tell if your bedroom is a place of rest or for work.
It’s these little things that make a world of difference when it comes to drawing a line between your work and home life.
If you work a day job, learn to say no when colleagues try to pass off some of their workload on to you. If you’re free, you may help out.
But if you’re already tearing your hair out because of your own impending deadlines, now is not the time to do favors.
You’ll have to set boundaries with colleagues too, if you wish to preserve your sanity.
Routines are great whether you have a day job or work at home. Waking up at a fixed time, starting work at the same time and leaving work at the same time will lend structure to your day.
Watch your time and energy closely. By demarcating your working life and personal life, you’ll be able to get the best of both worlds without being off-balance.
Trying to maintain balance in your life can be an arduous task if you’re not employing the right strategies.
This situation of being behind the 8-ball daily can take an emotional and mental toll on you, if you let it. The good news is that you can run your day effectively by adopting a few tips and applying them daily.
You absolutely MUST have a plan. It doesn’t matter if you have a day job or you’re working from home. A plan is crucial… and it’s even more important if you’re self-employed.
Not having a plan is akin to sitting down at a restaurant and discovering there’s no menu. What will you do? What will you order? It’s just confusion.
Like Dale Carnegie said, “An hour of planning will save you 10 hours of doing.”
And it all starts by planning tomorrow today. Decide what tasks need to be done. Usually, it’s best to list 3 tasks that MUST be focused on FIRST. These are usually the most urgent/important tasks and need your full attention.
Get them done ASAP. Everything else can come after that.
Write down your plan on paper or you could have it on your computer… and stick to the plan.
If you have a day job, then it’s understood that you’re stuck at your desk from the time you start work till you clock off. However, if you work from home, you have more freedom to structure your workday.
There’s no right or wrong answer here because we’re all different. What you need to do is decide if you’ll work for 2 hours or so and take a 2-hour break to do your household chores… and return later to work again for another 2-hour stretch.
While the duration you choose to work doesn’t matter, the way you choose to do it matters. If you’re working in intermittent blocks, you’ll need to plan your schedule carefully. When will your working hours be and when will you take breaks?
Write it all down so that you can stick to the plan. Do NOT approach this haphazardly or else time will slip through your fingers and you won’t know where the day went.
When planning your day, try not to take on more than you can handle. List the 3 of the most important tasks, 3 less important tasks and 3 maintenance tasks.
The maintenance tasks could be household chores such as cooking or laundry. The truth of the matter is that you’ll never have enough time to do ALL that you want to do.
So, it’s best to focus on what truly matters.
Do make time for yourself to relax and have fun. Don’t spend 14 hours a day working just to reach a lofty goal in future. You just may end up sacrificing your happiness, social life, marriage, etc. only to discover that once you reach your goal, all you’ll have is your goal and nothing else.
Life is about balance and living in the now. So, take time to enjoy it and don’t be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
Apply these tips and take control of your day. It can be done if you plan it well and plan it in advance.
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
– Alexander Graham Bell
Whatever you want in life will require discipline to achieve and maintaining a healthy work life balance is a small part of that. 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 🙂
One of the best things you can do to expand your business is to start a YouTube channel. It’s the most popular video-streaming service boasting massive online traffic, and constant streaming services – and ultimately, it will maximize exposure and help your brand become recognized within your market. And if you can get YouTube monetization enabled, you can even make some extra cash right inside YouTube itself.
And it’s the second most-visited website on the Internet with nearly 2 billion monthly users logging on to watch videos every day.
So clearly, it’s a great way to connect with your audience and keep them engaged for longer periods of time, while encouraging repeat traffic and views.
For any business owner, it only makes sense to use this as a marketing tool to better position yourself in your market. If you don’t, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re leaving a great deal of exposure on the table.
And if your competitors are working hard to create attention-grabbing content for their channels, then you’ll find it even more of a struggle to persuade your market that you have more to offer.
Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle to set up their channels. They find the learning curve too steep, or they believe that the investment of time and money may not pay off and chalk it up to a risk not worth taking.
Still, regardless of the fact that creating a stand out channel takes time, there is no mistaking just how powerful YouTube is as a marketing vehicle that can carry your message wider and deeper into your market than nearly any other social platform.
And if you’re unsure about how to get started while minimizing the learning curve, then keep reading because these articles were written just for you.
I’ll walk you through the ins and outs of YouTube, the best times to upload videos, and even how to make sure you attract the most people to your channel.
There’s a lot of information out there about how to get started with YouTube. It can be overwhelming, so I’ve done my best to condense some of the most important tips in a way that is easy to follow. That way you’re equipped with the basic knowledge you need to create your own channel.
Then, you can continue learning about YouTube including advanced optimization and marketing strategies later, once you have hands-on experience building and managing your channel.
So, don’t complicate the process and try to learn everything about marketing on YouTube at once.
Take your time and focus on the basics: building a channel based on market research so you know what kind of content is in demand. Then optimize and expand!
One important thing to keep in mind is that you’ll need to treat your YouTube channel as an extension of your business, not as just another social media platform. Building a successful YouTube channel takes time and effort and above all else, consistency.
That’s the only way you will be able to gain traction and take your channel to the level you want.
Are you ready to get started?
Let’s begin!
One of the most important things you can do is to develop a clear vision and strategy for your channel long before you begin to create content.
You want your channel to appeal to a specific audience so that you’re able to connect with your core market. You also want visitors to immediately understand what you have to offer and that your content appeals to their interests.
This requires careful content planning. You’ve probably already decided on a general focus for your channel, but now it’s time to dig a bit deeper and create a content plan that will help you stay on track while ensuring that your channel is focused on what your audience wants most.
The key to YouTube is being consistent in terms of the type of content you offer as well as uploading fresh, unique content on a regular basis.
Creating a content plan helps you stick to that overall theme.
Believe it or not, a lot of new YouTube channels often overlook the importance of a highly optimized channel description.
This is the first thing that people often see and if someone is interested in subscribing to your channel, chances are, they’re going to read your description to determine whether it’s something worthy and relevant to what they are most interested in.
Therefore, creating a well-written, keyword optimized, informative channel description is imperative to the success of your YouTube channel. Potential subscribers will find this when they click on your “About” tab.
To begin creating your channel description, click the “Edit” button within your admin panel, and then fill out the “About” section. Use this opportunity to inform viewers about the type of content you offer. Include links to your website or landing page so you can convert that viewer into a mailing list subscriber as well as a channel one!
There are also places to link your other social media accounts for your business, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, so be sure to fill them out if they’re applicable, as this is a great opportunity to gain followers on other social media platforms and create a flow of traffic to all your accounts.
If your channel will offer a weekly podcast, then be sure to include the link and content schedule in your “About” section along with a relevant hashtag for your podcast.
Use YouTube as a spring board to generate and control traffic flow to other avenues of your business. It’s one of the easiest ways to position yourself in your market and build a loyal following.
Once you’ve created a handful of videos, you can also create a playlist that is linked and featured in your About section. This is great for the times where you are offering longer videos on external channels like Twitch.
You can upload a portion of the full video to YouTube and then funnel traffic to the full video on another site where perhaps you’re able to monetize.
At the end of your about section, you’ll want to include something to encourage viewers to interact with your videos – essentially, a call to action.
Videos with a high level of interaction tell potential subscribers that what you produce is good, binge-worthy content, and keeps people engaged instead of clicking on something else and moving on.
For example, say something along the lines of something you’ve likely seen a hundred times on other channels:
“If you enjoy watching our videos, then please comment, hit that like button, subscribe to our channel, and share!”
A critical part of having a successful YouTube channel is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is what puts your videos on the Google map, as well as other search engines and social media sites, where people searching the internet can find it.
Be sure to familiarize yourself with Google’s Keyword Planner, which is found at: https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
You can also use Google Trends here: https://trends.google.com
Begin by evaluating different keyword phrases to determine what people are actively searching for, but also what keywords are relevant to your market. Chances are you’ll uncover a ton of high-traffic keywords you haven’t even considered.
Use a few of these keywords throughout your entire channel, not just your description but also in your video descriptions and title tags.
Also keep in mind that repetition matters.
Don’t keyword stuff (this is where you use keywords in ways that don’t make sense to your audience or detract from a viewer’s experience).
At the same time don’t be afraid to use the same keywords multiple times throughout different areas of your channel. 2-3 times is best practice. Any more than that can get your account flagged.
We’ll cover 4 more areas of your YouTube strategy next time…
If you want to know more about setting up your YouTube channel the right way, check out the featured resource below for an expanded version of this article covering 11 tips; download, read it and take action 🙂
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 😊
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 😊
