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Rest is critical: Here's how to boost your productivity and performance
As an employee you (generally) have set working hours, specific deliverables, and a certain number of holidays and sick days. You have a contract in place. You have someone holding you accountable to your personal working goals and company KPIs.
As an entrepreneur though, none of these systems, structures, rules, or guidelines around your work are in place. While that flexibility and freedom can be exciting and empowering, it’s also a lot of responsibility. And there’s an important distinction between enjoying your work and being productive in pursuit of a goal, and overworking to no end, toxic productivity, burnout, and exhaustion.
Passive income is a myth and we need to accept it as such
Passive income is the holy grail of business. Or so we're told by business and marketing experts alike. Except – it's not realistic and likely won't happen for you. If it worked, those sunny beaches would be full of passive income earners living it up.
Here’s the bottom line: it takes a lot of work to make money off of courses, books, or guides of any kind, even if you have a large and engaged audience.
Let’s review the bare minimum requirements for creating “passive income,” and what I’d suggest you prioritize instead.
Perspective shift: Why I stopped using charm pricing
Ever heard of charm pricing? Maybe you’ve even used it before? Full transparency, I used to. These days though, when you go to buy something from me it's a nice, round number until the tax gets added on.
When it comes to your business, and more specifically your pricing, you should be doing what works for you and not worrying about what anyone else says – including me (at least on the number at the end of your prices). That’s not to say your pricing shouldn’t be thoughtful and strategic. Pricing decisions should be built directly into your marketing and business plans.
But there are much more important considerations than the look and appearance of the number you choose.
How-to guide: learn to brand yourself with words
What you do, what you say (and the tone you say it in), who you are, how you help your clients or audience – each of these elements create an imprint on the world. You don't get to have control over your brand, but you can heavily influence it by thinking about how you want others to perceive you.
Honing in on your brand voice, tone, style, and values can help you decide what marketing actions you will take (and which you’ll avoid) to reinforce the traits, values, and perspectives you want to emphasize about your company.
Goal setting and planning your marketing for a new year
The New Year is around the corner which means it’s time to get planning.
While it’s never too late to start this process, you’re sure to feel a sense of relief if you tackle it early – giving yourself clarity on where you want to go and what you want to achieve.
Once you’ve developed a sense of your goals, it’s time to embed them into your business strategy for the year.
Choosing marketing tactics based on what works (even when you don't like it)
All too often I speak to clients about various tactics in marketing and they scrunch up their faces (giving me a clue that they're not on board) and then share their feelings about said tactic(s). Now, I'm not one to push anyone to do something they're really against doing. But, the objections I hear from clients are often about personal dislike of something, which is a whole different conversation.
While you can always make business and marketing decisions based on your personal thoughts and feelings, in doing so you are missing out on the opportunity to create a well-rounded marketing strategy. Here’s how to approach your marketing instead.
Content writing prompts: 5 ideas to ignite your imagination
Constantly trying to come up with content ideas day in and day out can seem like a daunting task, and after a while it’s inevitable that you’ll experience moments where you find yourself staring at an empty page and a blinking cursor, trying to figure out what to write about.
On those days, I like to turn to the world of content prompts. For both myself and my clients, using creative writing prompts as a starting point for a blog or social media post can help to ignite the imagination.
Here are 5 to get you started.
Your comments matter: Everything you do publicly is a representation of your brand, so be intentional!
How you show up online is a direct extension of your brand. This goes beyond what you’re posting on your business social media accounts, or on your company website and blog, and also encompasses any comments you decide to share online.
When you show up authentically and positively, engaging with other brands and content in appropriate ways, it can do wonders for your company's growth.
On the other hand, if you find yourself regularly commenting on posts without taking pause first to consider how those comments might be perceived by your audience, you might end up regretting those moments of keyboard courage.
Setting up processes and automations with the right tools, at the right time in your business
An important part of building and scaling your business is ensuring it’s sustainable. Business ownership and everything it entails – from marketing to lead generation to content creation to sales to customer service – is all about the long game.
That means automating processes when it makes sense, hiring support and asking for help when you need it, making data-based-decisions, and implementing new tools and systems to improve efficiency.
However, these tools, automations, and processes are only useful if you implement them strategically and at an appropriate speed.
Here’s why you need to prioritize accessibility in your business marketing
Making changes to support accessibility in your business isn’t something that only applies when you have a physical location for your business. Accessibility is just as important in online environments.
Getting started with accessibility takes time and commitment. It's not the easiest or most convenient pursuit.
But if it means that someone who needs your services is able to access the information you have, it can be a great way to show that you are inclusive in how you communicate and work with customers.
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