Jason's Tips

Jason’s Tips

7 Simple Habits To Stay Positive

Life throws challenges at us daily, and in the increasingly hectic pace of life, you need to work on positivity. This doesn’t mean you have to spend all day reading a self-help book.

Instead, you can use tiny habits daily to build up your positive mindset.

Being positive may sound a little esoteric and you may think, “How can this make my life better/make me more successful…?” but the way you think has an enormous impact on how you view and live life and this in turn will definitely have an impact on how successful you are.

By focusing on the positive aspects of life, you will become more happy, more content and probably more willing to take risks than you would be otherwise.

And you will also tend to attract similar people to you which helps to reinforce your positive attitude; people who will support you and pick you up when you fall down. Whereas negative people delight in pointing out your faults to make themselves feel better.

So, are you now beginning to appreciate the power of having a positive mindset?

If the answer is yes, here are seven simple habits you can start with today to boost your positivity.

Manage Your Words Wisely

Words and how you use them are essential to your mental well-being and the ability to stay positive.

Frequently throughout the day, you need to monitor if a negative thought comes into your head or you actually state something negative about yourself.

Work on finding the times you are triggered to think this way and then change the words you are using.

For example, if you are saying to yourself, “I’ve studied for two hours and still don’t get it, maybe I am not smart enough,” you need to rephrase that. Try saying, “I will change the way I study and come at this when I am fresh. It may take a bit longer, but I can do this.”

When you find yourself being very negative all day, it is helpful to write down what you said and go back to see why you would say that. Then look for ways to change that phrasing to a positive and keep working on it.

Manage People Wisely

People will make mistakes, and sometimes it is too easy to be critical of them.

When you need to speak to someone about an issue, take a pause first; your first reaction is rarely the best, so think before you speak!

Think about how you can approach this and give them a solution at the same time. We all need teamwork, whether it is family or work situations.

Great coaches come with solutions rather than constant complaining.

Manage Rejection Wisely

Rejection is part of life. Everyone gets rejected multiple times during their life. Adopt the belief that rejection is a chance to learn and grow.

An author who has never been rejected is scarce. In fact, even the most prolific authors were rejected multiple times in their careers.

When you are hit with rejection, take the time to ask yourself what you can learn from the experience. Is there something you need to change to make you a better person? Always look for the gold in a rejection moment.

Fear of failure is normally a fear of rejection and can be a real hurdle to overcome, so by thinking of them as opportunities to grow rather than insurmountable obstacles will help you a lot.

Be Grateful

The poison arrows of rejection, stress, and depression will always try to pierce your heart. You must deflect these negative issues as much as possible.

One of the surest ways to work on this is by using a gratitude journal. If you are a spiritual person or a person of faith, you can start your day with a prayer of thanks to God for all that you have. What about your health, your family, partner etc.?

When you pause and consider all the great things in your life (and everybody has a lot to be thankful for), the negative loses much of its power over you. Write down everything you are grateful for, no matter how small it is.

Try asking yourself a few powerful questions in the morning to put you in a positive state.

For example: “What am I most happy about in my life right now? What about that makes me happy? How does that make me feel?”

Or “What am I really excited about in my life right now? What about that/why does that make me feel excited? How does that make me feel?”

Thinks how great answering these questions can make you feel in the morning!

Even the act of waking up in the morning is something you should be thankful for as you have been granted another day to be the best you can be.

Be Joyful

Bringing joy to others will rebound back to you. Just the simple act of smiling and seeing someone’s face light up from this simple gesture will fill you with positive feelings.

So many of us are too busy to deal with other people so when you make the effort the rewards can be so uplifting.

Try it today. When you walk past a stranger in the street, smile and say hello and see what reaction you get; it might just make your day. Simple but effective.

Stop Comparing

Too many people watch television and wish they had the life of the rich and famous.

They have no concept of what is happening in the lives of those they admire so much. When you stop comparing yourself to others and revel in the bright star that you are, it increases your positivity.

Fame and fortune do not always account to happiness. Look at famous celebrities like Marilyn Monroe or John Belushi who were huge stars in their day but they both decided to take their own lives when they appeared to have everything; don’t be fooled by outward appearances!

Declutter

Starting today, if you do not make your bed right after you wake up, begin this habit. It will give you a boost of satisfaction, and then you will be more apt to engage in cleaning up after yourself throughout the day.

Decluttering your space at home and work on a daily basis makes you feel great.

When you let things slide, you become anxious or stressed at the mess that has accumulated.

Stay positive by staying on your daily chores and considering decluttering your digital space daily for even more positivity boosts.

OK, so there are seven quick habits that you can use to boost your positivity today.

If you want to know more about developing a strong mindset, then check out the featured resource below where you can download a free report that will help do just that; download, read it and take action 😊

8 Habits Of Successful Social Media Marketers

Social media has become firmly established as an effective way to market almost any business, but there are so many sites, tasks, profiles and publishing to manage every day, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

The most successful social media marketers have several habits that enable them to do it all successfully.

See how many you’re already doing, and add those you aren’t to your day to see what a difference they can make.

1. Know Your Niche

Know what the people in your niche are most interested in, and come up with content that satisfies those needs.

For example, any new golfer will want to know about perfecting their swing.

Think about the beginners new to your niche, and intermediates, and how you will become a magnet for them as they look for solutions to their main issues.

Create a customer avatar to identify your ideal customer and target your marketing towards them.

2. Block Time On Your Calendar

Make an appointment each day with your social networking profiles.

Thirty minutes per day 2 or 3 times a day will prevent you from getting distracted and eating up your time.

Log in, look around, and interact as needed. Don’t constantly crank out content with no thought to what’s actually happening in the account.

For example, if you have a Tweet that is getting a lot of traction, don’t tweet more items that are just going to push it down the page. Instead, let it ride as long as it can.

3. Leverage Advertising As Needed

Even a small budget can go far with the right content on the right network.

Using the example of the hot tweet above, consider turning it into a sponsored tweet.

Also consider running a campaign to add more followers while the tweet is prominent, in order to give it more exposure to those interested in your niche who are on the network but not connected with you yet.

4. Using Automation As Needed

A growing number of tools will allow you to manage multiple social media accounts, with just a few clicks.

Pay particular attention to publishing content during the times you are not online, for around the clock marketing.

Do a search to find the best times to post on the various social media platforms to your audience for maximum impact. The best time will vary between platforms and this is where automation tools, such as ContentStudio make things so much easier.

5. Think Engagement, Not Just Eyeballs

Your content should have a high potential to evoke a response, such as a comment, like or share.

Make your calls to action obvious to get the response you want.

Here are some ideas for calls to action:

Poll
Survey
Provocative or thought-provoking question
Sharing interesting articles and other niche-related content, and encouraging others to as well
Creating a range of content at your site and sharing it
Comment on a recent news item

If you get a comment, reply to it as appropriate. Stuck with a troll? Don’t engage on their unprofessional level in front of the entire world, just delete their nonsense and block them.

In the posting, give a clear call to action, such as “Like or share if you agree.” For more details, invite them to share more with, “Let us know what you think in the comments box below.”

6. Follow Others And Engage As Needed

See what others are doing and be helpful in all your interactions online, and people will soon be checking out your profile and starting to follow you because you look like someone worth paying attention to.

Remember that these are social media platforms, so you need to be social.

You must engage with people or you will end up being ignored and people won’t even see your posts. It doesn’t take too much effort to like a few posts and to write a thoughtful comment or two does it?

7. Connect With Thought Leaders

Connect with the top people in your niche.

You can learn from them, and will be keeping good company, which over time may result in a range of profitable opportunities.

Your network can be a really valuable asset so try to grow and nurture it whenever possible.

8. Track Your Results

See how many engagements you get from each activity.

If driving traffic to your site, create a unique URL for each network campaign so you can see the results from each network quickly.

So, there are 8 habits of successful marketers. Now let’s look at the flip side and look at some of the mistakes less experienced social media marketers may make.

7 Costly Social Media Mistakes

Social media gives unprecedented access to people interested in your niche or industry, or the products and services you offer.

However, some new users of the networks can get so excited by the prospect of more profits that they actually end up costing themselves through simple yet avoidable mistakes.

Here are the top 7 to watch out for if you are a newbie social media marketer.

1. Unclear Goals

Do you want sales, subscribers, followers?

Plan every campaign around a specific goal, which you can measure by getting the target market to take particular action.

By limiting the number of actions available in the message or campaign, you help to reduce returns, unsubscribes, and unfollows.

2. Unprofessional Profiles

Make your profile as informative and professional as possible.

Include basic information that potential customers or clients want to know, along with info that makes you stand out from your competition.

A logo and colors help you to be recognized at a glance, so be sure to add a unique and professional logo to your profile.

3. Following Too Few People

As soon as you sign on for most social sites, they ask you what you are interested in and give recommendations as to who you might like to follow.

Take these suggestions seriously and sign up, because the ones they are suggesting are usually the top participants at the site in relation to your niche.

Growing your network of likeminded people is important so don’t neglect this step.

4. Promoting Too Soon

Most newbies to social networking are there because they’ve heard it is a great way to reach millions of people.

They no sooner sign up with their profile than they start to crank out posts, tweets, and promotions at lightning speed.

Social networks are just that, social. It’s not about you hammering out promotion after promotion.

Focus on building relationships and connections that are based on your common personal and/or business interests.

5. Publishing The Wrong Content

Every social network attracts people who prefer a specific type of content or type of delivery.

For example, most Twitter users want very short and to-the-point messages.

Most content online is text-based, but many social networks are driven by eye-catching content, such as images and video.

Organize your material into folders for each network so you deliver the right type of content to each social media network, based on its specialties and the preferences of their users.

6. Ignoring Daily Search Results

Conduct a quick search each day for a couple of your business’s keywords and/or brand products.

Look for mentions of your business, product, and/or your name. Also look for questions and positive or negative comments on other sites.

If you see questions, answer them and/or refer the person to a specific URL for more information. If you see positive comments and reviews, thank them.

If you see negative, refer them to your customer service email for more details on what their issue is.

The offer of help will show good will to anyone who might have seen it and sort the real customers from those who might be doing nothing more than trying to damage your reputation online.

7. Retaliating

No matter how unfair they have been. Just don’t retaliate in public.

It could cost you more than you can ever imagine. Keep it professional at all times.

If you want to learn about even more mistakes you should avoid, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊

Choose What You Focus On Wisely

Life can be very stressful for any number of reasons. Some of them are self-inflicted, while others are out of your control.

Regardless of why life is stressful for you, you need to be able to block it out when it’s time to get to work, otherwise you’re going to be pulled away from the projects you need to do in order to make money.

One type of burden that has appeared much more often recently is now known as “doom-scrolling,” which refers to the act of continuously scrolling through bad news even though it has a negative impact on you mentally.

You might go to just check the top headlines on any news site, and just continuously scroll through looking at all the bad news you can, which ends up making you more stressed and upset.

This is one of the more self-inflicted burdens. Much like being addicted to social media, people have found themselves addicted to reading the most upsetting headlines constantly, which just ends up being bad for them.

If this type of behavior is inhibiting you from working well, you need to tune out from the news for a little while and focus on work, especially during hours that you should be working.

There are tons of burdens which are either out of your control or only partially in your control, such as marriage problems and concerns with friends, which can also negatively affect you in work.

You have to understand that there is a time to work on these problems, which is outside of work. If your job stresses productivity as most jobs do, you’re not going to fare very well if you’re constantly distracted by problems outside of work.

Wait until you’re on your own time to deal with these types of issues. There are a few different reasons as to why these types of issues should be dealt with on your own time.

For one, they can make you stressed out and have you on edge, which can negatively affect your work performance in many ways.

You can end up being more intimidating to clients and co-workers if the perceive you to be stressed out, and you can also end up working much slower if you’re distracted, leading you to have much worse performance.

If you’re getting poor performance reviews and losing clients due to being stressed out, you’re going to be adding on more stress to what you already have, due to the financial problems that come along with lower bonuses and less clients at work. It is difficult, but you have to leave the problems you have at home behind when you go to work.

Remember that you choose what you focus on so choose wisely. These decisions can have a significant impact on the direction of your life so learn to make wise decisions.

One way to do this is to study decision making and there is a great book that can help you do just that. It is called Mental Models and I have done a quick review of the book below.

Mental Models Book Review

If you’re like most people, you can often make decisions based on the wrong input. The information that you get can fools you into thinking that you must handle something when it doesn’t need to be handled at the moment.

In the book, Mental Models, the author shares valuable lessons ranging from how to make better decisions to how to approach those decisions. Readers will also learn how to handle problem solving when the need arises.

The book opens with a chapter on decision making. The first part teaches readers the importance of focusing on the things that are important, rather than things that are urgent.

When something is important, this is what your true priority is. The author explains that important things are what will help you to achieve your goals. These are necessities and require action, but they won’t come across as urgent things to deal with.

You’ll discover that urgent matters can sometimes masquerade as important but aren’t. These are things that you think you must take care of right away but it’s not true. Usually, these urgent matters come up as a result of other people acting like the matter is urgent.

Or you can prioritize a matter as urgent when you want to put off doing something else – something you should be doing. The author shares the “Eisenhower Matrix” with readers.

This is a system that divides tasks into important and unimportant. Then it takes those tasks and further divides them according to what’s urgent and what’s not. The system teaches you what you need to do right now, what tasks you should plan to do, what someone else can handle and what you can ignore completely.

Another chapter shares with readers the importance of being able to correctly see. This part talks about using the brain’s second system. This system is where slow and deliberate choices are made, unlike in system one of the brain, which often makes decisions without thinking things through.

You’ll learn how to know if your perspective is correct when you’re solving problems. This same area of the book also shares how you can understand your own issues or faults and how you can learn to check those.

An interesting chapter in the book focuses on avoiding things and how doing this can actually help you to succeed. The information shared in this chapter goes against the most common advice you might have heard.

For example, one directive is on avoiding to-do lists. Another part tells readers to avoid dealing with direct goals. While this advice is contrary to some popular advice, the information in the book is solid and can help you learn to improve your decision making.

If you want to become a powerful decision maker, his book is a great place to start. Check out Mental Models here.

As you can appreciate, all of this decision making and maintaining focus can take a lot of self-discipline and a positive attitude. If you don’t have this, you will probably struggle to maintain any focus and creativity, so it is well worth your while to adopt the correct mindset; I know this may sound a little cliched, but it does really work.

If you want to develop more self-discipline, click on the featured resource below to get a free report, The Power Of Self-Discipline; download, read it and take action 😊

How To Find Profitable Ideas For An Online Course

Have you ever wanted to create a course to teach others about a topic you are knowledgeable about but aren’t sure where to start or even whether it would be worth your time and effort?

Creating a course is a fantastic business model but you need to evaluate the niche/topic/subject first to ensure that your efforts would be profitable! After all, you are in business to make money, right?

Creating a profitable online course that will help you take your income to the next level is certainly doable and is easier than you may think, especially with today’s modern technology.

And the truth is, there are few other opportunities quite as profitable as creating an online course on a hot topic.

People crave knowledge, and they’re willing to pay for it.

Think about just how many tutorials you’ve read or watched over the last year.

How many times have you searched YouTube for video tutorials on different topics?

How many books or reports have you read in the hopes of learning a new skill or empowering yourself?

Course creators and instructors put themselves in a very powerful position.

Not only are they able to build a sustainable online business (that runs on complete autopilot), but they become known as thought leaders and influencers in their markets.

And think about just how powerful THAT can be.

So for today, I want you to think about the different courses you could create for your market.

Begin by digging deep into your niche or industry so you’re able to identify hot topics that people are interested in learning more about.

If you aren’t sure where to start, begin where courses are already proven to sell!

Udemy.com, Teachable.com and SkillShare.com are all fantastic places to begin your research.

Pay attention to the number of students enrolled in each course as it’s a clear indicator as to the overall popularity of the topic.

Then, pay attention to the reviews. Read through them all and take as many notes as possible, especially when you uncover reviews that indicate something was missing from the course.

This could be a great entry point for your own course, and help you stand out from the crowd.

And finally, browse through the course outlines. These trainers have given you everything you need to come up with a solid outline for your own course!

The summaries and course descriptions can give you an unlimited number of ideas for your own modules as well as help you shape the foundation for your content.

Creating A Winning Course

When it comes to creating outstanding courses that attract attention and outsell the competition, you’ll want to make sure to pay attention to 3 main things:

1: Content Formats

Don’t stick with just one main format!

People prefer to learn in different ways. Personally, I prefer to read instructional based content, while other people will only take courses that are video based.

So obviously the more content formats you offer to students, the easier it will be to provide everyone with the type of training they’re most interested in.

2: Titles & Descriptions

A lot of course creators overlook the power of a killer title. In reality, your course title can help make or break the success of your course.

It needs to stand out, immediately capture attention and be edgy and different from anything else out there.

Don’t be afraid to play around with different titles.

The same goes for the description and summary of your course. You want to give people enough information to get them excited so they sign up, but you don’t want to bog them down with TOO much information.

Look to strike a healthy balance of giving them the details they need while using summary titles that provide a sense of mystery and intrigue.

3: Price Structure

Don’t underprice your course trying to compete with existing programs. Instead, consider how many people equate a higher price with a superior product.

If you find that the majority of courses online are selling at $47, consider a $67 or even $97 price point.

You can always lower it later on, but it is definitely worth testing at a higher price point.

How To Get Course Reviews Quickly

One of the things that can drive in sales and help you stand out in the market is being able to get those review numbers up.

You’ve likely experienced the different a ton of reviews can make yourself when you’re considering what products or services to buy.

Reviews are social proof. They tell potential customers that your product has lived up to its hype or expectations, and that buyers are satisfied with their purchase.

It removes buyers concerns by reassuring them that their decision to purchase will be one they won’t regret.

So, how can you bump up the number of reviews you have so your course stands out?

Ask for them!

The key is to prompt your students to leave reviews throughout the learning process rather than just at the end.

That way they’re reminded several times without being bombarded. If you only ask them to leave a review once, at the end of the training, you may never have the opportunity to ask them again.

The tricky part is finding the right spot within your course in which students are likely to still be excited about the material and have also completed enough steps to where they feel they’ve gotten somewhere.

You want your reviews to demonstrate the quality of your course and how useful your information is.

So, place your review requests at key points during the training after your student’s have completed a goal.

If you really want to ramp up reviews, consider offering something extra to those who leave them.

Here are a couple of easy ways to do that:

1: Offer Free Review Copies

This is a common strategy used by course instructors who don’t yet have a large following.

Post on Facebook or to your email list and offer a handful of free review copies to those who will leave genuine feedback.

You could also try YouTube too; why not do a video of an overview of the course and encourage your viewers to sign up for a free review copy in return for honest feedback?

2: Offer Additional Content

You can increase the value of your course to those who take the time to leave reviews by offering additional content or modules in exchange for their time.

It rewards your students and encourages them to leave a glowing review.

Can you think of other ways to encourage your students to leave reviews? Leave a comment and let me know!

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 😊

Ten Tips To Achieve A Success Mindset

It’s safe to say that we all want more success in our lives, and that success may take many different forms.

You may be looking for financial success in your career or business, or you could be looking for personal success in relationships etc.

Whatever you are striving for, hopefully this post will help on the way to achieving it.

Want to give your mind a kick up the backside and put it into 5th gear? Well, these ten tips will help you shift your paradigm into a success mindset.

Here goes…

1 View Failure As A Learning Opportunity

Don’t view failure as a crushing defeat but rather as a chance to learn and to come back stronger!

So many people fall foul of this and give up before they have even really started. Don’t let that be you!

Fail forward and fail fast; don’t dwell on your past mistakes as these don’t define your future.

2 View Obstacles As Challenges

Likewise, try to view problems as challenges to be overcome. This will just make your victory all the sweeter.

This is closely linked to point one and if you can reframe failures and obstacles as challenges that will help you to grow, this will help you to keep going.

Remember that nobody grows in their comfort zone; you must be pushed to grow and this is the type of opportunity that obstacles will give you.

3 Don’t Choose Between Two Things

When trying to choose between two things that you really want, the best answer is always to find a way that you can make them both happen.

Focus and clarity are important so you need to decide which is the priority and put all your energy into that one first.

Don’t try to multitask and tackle multiple goals as this is a recipe for failure; multitasking is a myth and NOT for the success minded person.

4 Don’t Let Others Define Your Success

Too many of us have one set view of what success looks like and we struggle to see it in any other way.

Success is doing whatever it is that makes you happy. Don’t worry if that just so happens to make other people raise their eyebrows!

Like I said in the beginning, what you want for success can vary wildly and will probably change during various stages of your life so don’t be constrained by other people’s idea of success.

Determine what you want to achieve ad really go for it.

5 Invest In Yourself

Investing in yourself is the most important way to start achieving more.

This is the best way to spend money and the best way to spend time. Develop your skills, buy a suit and fix that hair!

If you are buying training to learn a new skill and you put your new skills into action, then what initially looked like an expense has turned into an investment and should more than pay for itself in the long run.

6 Act Like You’ve Already Won

Acting like you’ve already won is the best way to empower yourself to be stronger and more successful.

When you do this, you give off an aura of success that makes others gravitate to you!

Visualisation can be a very powerful tool and can really help to keep you motivated, especially when you do hit the inevitable obstacles.

Always have your eye on the end goal but don’t forget to enjoy the journey too!

7 Know Yourself

This can be tough, but you really need to do this.

Know yourself and be honest about what you want, who you are and what your strengths and weaknesses are.

By doing this, you can focus your efforts on what you do best. If you need help in another area to reach your goals, consider outsourcing to experts in that area so it won’t hold you back.

8 Avoid Toxic People

Avoid the people in your life who are constantly telling you what you can’t do, who are making you feel bad about your dreams.

This is absolutely vital to your success. Don’t stay around people who constantly drag you down or are negative or call you a daydreamer.

This can be especially difficult if the people concerned are close family or friends.

As you start to achieve success people will become jealous of you and try to pull you back down to their level because you are exposing their flaws, and this makes them uncomfortable.

Find people who encourage you and celebrate your success with you.

9 Surround Yourself With Positive People

Likewise, surround yourself with positive people and surround yourself with people who share your vision and can help it grow!

True friends should always want what is best for you and will be happy when you achieve something.

You can also find online forums of likeminded people who are all there for the same reason and will all help to support and encourage each other; don’t underestimate the online community.

10 Do What You Are Most Passionate About

The simplest way to be successful in life, is to put more effort it. That means being willing to get up earlier, to work harder and to work smarter toward that goal.

But this shouldn’t feel like work. Why? Because it should be something that you absolutely love.

Spending your life working hard on something you don’t care about is a waste and when you find your passion, you’ll find it unlocks boundless energy and enthusiasm.

So, there are ten tips to help you to increase your success mindset.

Another tool you can use to increase your chances of success is to adopt habits of other successful people…

The Positive Habits Of Successful People

What do positive people have in common? Lots of things. And in fact, if you look at the most successful people across every different discipline, you’ll often find that they have more in common than they have differences.

Top athletes have a lot more in common with top CEOs than you might expect and the same can be said for artists too.

And when we recognize these habits, we can often break them down and work backward to discover some of the most important traits and habits we need to adopt in order to join them. Here are some of those positive habits…

Self Development

On his podcast, author Tim Ferriss interviews some of the most successful people in the world ranging from actors, to singers, to athletes to programmers.

One of the things that almost all of them surprisingly have in common is that they start their day with meditation. And of course a lot of them exercise too.

What does this tell us? It tells us that the successful mindset involves being willing to work on yourself and get better. When you do that, you have no limitations and you can keep on getting stronger and better!

Following A Passion

Another thing that you’ll find without exception when speaking with successful people is that they have one singular passion that they follow in every single aspect of their lives.

You’ll be able to tell because they will start talking about it right away and their eyes will light up!

It makes sense too – because when we have a real passion, it gives us the drive, focus and determination to work harder and smarter than everyone else.

Breaking The Mold

Something else that all of the most successful people in the world share is the willingness to break the mold – to walk the path less trodden.

This is how they discover opportunities that others miss but it’s also fundamentally what made them able to question their life’s path in the first place.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was certainly unique for deciding he wanted to become a bodybuilder (he came from a small village in Austria). He certainly raised eyebrows when he moved to America. But he had the courage to know what he wanted and to go after it – even if it was a bit unusual.

Don’t be afraid to be you and to go the way you want to go. Rules are there to be broken – that’s why they’re called breakthroughs!

As you can see, having a strong mindset is critical to any attempt to achieve success in anything in life, so click on the featured resource below to get a free report on how to develop a strong mindset that compliments this post perfectly. Download, it read and take action 😊