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10 Awesome Productivity Tools That Will Add More Hours To Your Day

Saving a few minutes throughout the day can make a big difference in a person’s productivity. With the help of apps and software, they can help you save time and reduce the costly errors and give the opportunity to provide a top-quality service to clients and customers. In this post, I shared with you 10 awesome productivity tools that will add more hours to your day.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get twice as much done in the same amount of time? Productivity is not just getting more done as many people think it is. It’s an upward spiral of getting better at what you do. The pillars of productivity are organization, creativity, efficiency and stress management.

It’s natural for a professional to feel that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. This is especially true for entrepreneurs building a business alone. Being forced to handle the multiple daily tasks associated with running a business can easily push a person to the breaking point. With so many tech tools available, solopreneurs and consultants can automate processes, eliminating the need to hire additional staff or contract processes out. With so many tools available, it can be hard to choose just one. I will share with you 10 awesome productivity tools that will add more hours to your day.

1. Asana

Asana markets itself as a team productivity tool, helping everyone stay on-task and organized. It probably isn’t very useful for solo workers, but if you’re on a team, Asana will help you keep all projects and tasks in one spot, assigning various users different jobs.

Asana is the easiest way for teams to track work and get results. From tasks and projects to conversations and notifications, Asana enables teams to stay up to date with work from start to finish. It’s simple to get started, but powerful enough to run your entire business.

2. Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools

These tools are necessities and are considered as some of the most important tools out on the market. These online marketing tools provide ultra-valuable insight about your website’s performance, traffic, referrals and conversions. Together, these tools will help you monitor and maintain your website to ensure it is internet-optimized and Google-friendly.

3. Trello

Trello is an online productivity tool that is far more than just lists and check boxes. It’s a visual task tracking program that allows you to see at a glance where you are with your projects, what needs to get done and what you’ve completed.

Trello uses the kanban paradigm for managing projects. Projects are represented by boards, which contain lists (corresponding to task lists). Lists contain cards (corresponding to tasks) and these cards are supposed to progress from one list to the next (via drag-and-drop). For instance, it’s supposed to mirror the flow of a feature from idea to implementation. Users can be assigned to specific cards and everything can be grouped by organizations.

4. Google Drive

If you regularly collaborate with clients or colleagues on documents, Google Drive is essential. You can even use it to plan events, create spreadsheets or pages that assign tasks to various participants and allow them to update their progress along the way. Google Drive is not only free; it’s accessible to anyone who has a Google login.

Google Drive incorporates a system of file sharing in which the creator of a file or folder is, by default, its owner. The owner can regulate the public visibility of the file or folder. Ownership is transferable. Files or folders can be shared privately with particular users having a Google account, using their @gmail.com email addresses. Sharing files with users not having a Google account requires making them accessible to “anybody with the link.” This generates a secret URL for the file, which may be shared via email or private messages. Files and folders can also be made “public on the web,” which means that they can be indexed by search engines and thus can be found and accessed by anyone. The owner may also set an access level for regulating permissions. The three access levels offered are “can edit,” “can comment” and “can view.” Users with editing access can invite others to edit.

5. Google Adwords Keyword Planner

The Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool is a useful resource for building strong keyword lists and helping to get your PPC campaign off to a running start. A free-to-use feature within AdWords, its tools for generating keyword ideas and bid estimations can help you plan your marketing strategy. By using the AdWords Keyword Tool, you can search for keyword and ad group ideas, see how a list of keywords might perform, and even combine keyword lists to create new ones. It can also help you choose competitive bids and budgets to use in your campaigns.

The AdWords Keyword Tool can help you identify terms, phrases, and words potential customers are searching for related to your business that you may not have thought of before.

6. DocuSign

DocuSign provides electronic signature technology and digital transaction management services for facilitating electronic exchanges of contracts and signed documents. DocuSign’s features include authentication services, user identity management, workflow automation, data integration, forms and templates and payments.

7. LastPass

LastPass is a freemium password management service that stores encrypted passwords in private accounts. LastPass is standard with a web interface, but also includes plugins for many web browsers and apps for many smartphones.

A user’s content in LastPass including passwords and secure note  is protected by one master password. The content is synchronized to any device the user uses. Information is encrypted with AES-256 bit encryption with PBKDF2 SHA-256, salted hashes, and the ability to increase Password Iterations value. Encryption and decryption take place at the device level. LastPass has a form filler that automates password entering and form filling, and it supports password generation, site sharing and site logging, and Two-Factor Authentication.

8. WordPress CMS

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. WordPress is installed on a web server that is either part of an Internet hosting service or a network host in its right.

WordPress has a web template system using a template processor. Its architecture is a front controller, routing all requests for non-static URIs to a single PHP file which parses the URI and identifies the target page. This allows support for more human-readable permalinks.

9. OfficeTime

Tracking your time just got easier with OfficeTime. You can use this program for loads of things such as tracking to see how long it takes you to do certain tasks, organizing your to-do lists, tracking your time for client projects and running reports that turn into detailed invoices.

10. Goods Order Inventory

If you sell products, you need a way to track each item. Goods Order Inventory lets you manage, track and transfer stock whether it’s in shipment, in your garage or on the way to customers. If you’re a one-person operation, it’s especially important to be able to pinpoint an item’s location whenever the need arises easily.

Conclusion

Saving a few minutes throughout the day can make a big difference in a person’s productivity. With the help of apps and software, they can help you save time and reduce the costly errors and give the opportunity to provide a top-quality service to clients and customers. In this post, I shared with you 10 awesome productivity tools that will add more hours to your day.

10 Entrepreneurial Traits You Must Have To Succeed As A Young Entrepreneur

Achieving success in the world of entrepreneurship is never easy regardless of your age. However, with the right approach and mindset anything is possible. In this post, I shared with you 10 entrepreneurial traits you must have to succeed as a young entrepreneur.

Being a successful young entrepreneur today requires a different set of personality traits than it did a hundred years ago. So why are Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie still held up as models for young entrepreneurs to emulate?

In a rapidly changing world, being agile is all about your responsiveness to change. Taking control of your career and not being at the mercy of a corporation is the ultimate hedge against a changing marketplace.

Successful business owners have many traits in common with one another. They are confident and optimistic, while also being disciplined self-starters. They are open to new ideas that cross their paths and successful entrepreneurs are disciplined enough to take steps every day toward the achievement of their objectives.

Entrepreneurs whether young or old share a set of characteristics that help with their successes in the business world. Here are 10 entrepreneurial traits you must have to succeed as a young entrepreneur:

1. Confidence

The entrepreneur does not ask questions about whether they can succeed or whether they are worthy of success. They are confident with the knowledge that they will make their businesses succeed. They exude that confidence in everything they do.

Self-confidence is a key entrepreneurial trait. You have to be crazy sure your product is something that the world needs and that you can deliver it. The naysayers will constantly doubt your ability to execute, but having that self belief is extremely important.

2. Passion

It’s commonly assumed that successful entrepreneurs are driven by money. However, most will tell you they are fueled by a passion for their product or service. Not only that, but their main interests lie in getting the opportunity to solve a problem and make life easier, better,cheaper. Most entrepreneurs believe they will change the world and that’s the right attitude to have.

You need to be driven by a clear sense of purpose and passion. Typically, that passion comes from one of two sources: the topic of the business or the game of building a business itself. Why do you need passion? If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, be ready for a lifestyle change. With any lifestyle, you must love it if you want it to be your 24/7.

3. Tolerance Of Ambiguity

This classic trait is the definition of having the ability to take risks and to be able to withstand the fear of potential failure and uncertainty. It all boils down to being able to manage fear successfully. Capacity to control fear is the most important trait of all to become successful.

Smart entrepreneurs develop an intuitive ability to sniff out and mitigate start up business risk. You know that failure is an option, but you have to feel comfortable with the fact that you’re going to learn from your failures and adjust as you go.

4. Self-Starter

Entrepreneurs know that if something needs to be done, they should start it themselves. They set the parameters and make sure that projects follow that path. They are proactive, not waiting for someone to give them permission.

Not only that, but they don’t need to get motivated from outside sources. Instead, they are self-motivators who give themselves the push necessary to be successful. That is extremely crucial if you want to be the best at anything!

5. Determination

Entrepreneurs are not thwarted by their defeats. They look at failure as an opportunity for calculated success. They are determined to make all of their endeavors successful, so will try and try again until they achieve their goals. Successful entrepreneurs do not believe that something cannot be done.

If you are persistent and stay determined regardless of the challenges and obstacles that you are met with, success is inevitable. If you want to achieve great things in the world of business, you have to move forward with unwavering determination.

6. Resiliency 

If you’re going to build a startup, you’ll need a spirit of determination coupled with a high pain tolerance. You’ll need to be willing and able to learn from your mistakes – to get knocked down repeatedly, get up, dust yourself off and move forward with renewed motivation.

People will constantly tell you that you won’t be successful or that starting a business is impossible. You should listen carefully and be open to constructive criticism, but don’t let people kill your dreams. The best entrepreneurs can take their failures and surround negativity to do their best work.

7. Decisiveness

You’ll need to develop a level of comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity. Entrepreneurs gather as much information as they can in a short period, and then MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! The attitude is that it’s not going to be perfect.

In business, you’ll be met with numerous challenging decisions. However, the most successful leaders aren’t the ones who are always right but rather the ones who can make decisions on the spot and live with the consequences. As long as you are decisive and can make decisions based on logic and ration, you’ll be successful in the long run.

8. Creativity

If you’re going to change the world, you’re going to have to do something that nobody else has done. That requires quite a bit of creativity and vision to make it happen. You don’t necessarily have to be a great artist to be creative. Creativity is about seeing things in ways that others may not see it.

Entrepreneurs often come up with solutions, which are the synthesis of other items. They will repurpose products to market them to new industries. In order to do something like this successfully, it requires quite a bit of creativity on your part.

9. Competitiveness

Many companies are formed because an entrepreneur knows that they can do a job better than someone else. They need to win and be better at some point. Any entrepreneur who wants to be successful has to have the hunger and thirst to be the best. To do that, you must be a competitor at heart.

While some people are born competitive, others need to develop it. Often times, it’ll require the right kick in the butt to bring out someone’s competitiveness. Nonetheless, you have to be a competitor to make it in the world of business.

10. Balance

To survive as an entrepreneur, you’ll need a strong sense of perspective. The best entrepreneurs are able to balance emotions and their business throughout everything. Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster ride and it takes quite a bit of balance to make it through the ups and downs.

Not only that, but as an entrepreneur you have to balance your personal life with your business life. If you get overwhelmed too easily or cannot handle things under pressure, it’s going to be tough to succeed as an entrepreneur. You have to develop a sense of calming balance within you to be successful long-term.

Conclusion

Achieving success in the world of entrepreneurship is never easy regardless of your age. However, with the right approach and mindset anything is possible. In this post, I shared with you 10 entrepreneurial traits you must have to succeed as a young entrepreneur.

20 Tips For Creating A Strong Social Media Strategy That Will Work

In this post, I shared with you 20 tips for creating a strong social media strategy that will work. When it comes to improving your social media presence, you need to follow strategies that will enhance and lead your business to success.

Social media is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. If it is used correctly, it can create a strong personal connection with prospective customers. However, marketers often make a mistake of diving into social media without a clear plan. It can be a waste of time and can even possibly trigger a PR disaster. To benefit from social media, you need to build a clear strategy that takes into account what you are trying to achieve, who your customers are and what your competition is doing.

Developing a robust social media marketing strategy will help boost brand awareness, increase the numbers of followers you have, drive traffic to your website and generate leads for your sales funnels. No brand should be without a plan that actively places their business on social media.

Social media is an excellent place for brands to have some fun while achieving results. A strong social media strategy should work in tandem with the rest of your business strategies and processes.

To ensure that your social media marketing campaigns contribute to your brand’s greater business objectives, here are 20 tips for creating a strong social media strategy that will work:

1. Ensure That Your Social Goals Can Solve Challenges

Goal setting is a staple to all marketing and business strategies, including social media. With social media, you can be easily distracted which can make it difficult to determine exactly what your objectives. In order to stay on track, you need to look at the challenges before you and set goals based on the obstacles you want to tackle.

2. Extend Efforts Through Your Organization

Social media has long lived within the marketing department. It does not mean that it can’t have a hand in nearly every business function, from human resources to research and development. To create a fully integrated social media marketing campaign, you’ll need to involve and integrate multiple departments, especially if your goals have a direct impact on them. Work with your team to determine how you can best support each other’s goals and identify the key performance indicators that are important for you.

3. Focus On Networks That Add Value

Billions of users does not necessarily mean it will have a direct contribution to your brand’s objectives. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, you need to focus your efforts on social networks that hold the key to your target audience and objectives. Each network has its strengths and weakness, and each social media marketer should carefully pick and choose which networks they want to take advantage of.

4. Create Engaging Content

It isn’t all about hard selling your audience on social networks at every turn. Instead, you should be focused on creating content that they can relate to and engage with. Build a funnel rather than focusing on converting every post into profits for your business.

5. Identify Business Opportunities Through Social Media

With millions of messages being sent across social channels every day, there is no doubt conversations are happening around your brand. Social media monitoring should be an essential part of your social media marketing strategy. Not only can you mediate situations involving your business, but you can collect a lot of important data to further grow your company.

6. Engage With Your Customers And Don’t Ignore Them

Whether someone is commenting on a post you’ve made, writing on your wall or mentioning you on Twitter, it’s important always to stay engaged. If customers are consistently ignored, they’ll eventually ditch your brand and they will look for an alternative. Be sure to respond to clients who have left negative feedback about your brand as well. Too many companies have lost favor with their fans by trying to delete the message and sweeping things under the rug.

7. Understand Your Goals

The first step in creating a social media marketing strategy is to understand where you want to go. What is the purpose of your social media marketing efforts? Do you want to create or raise awareness of your brand? Are you looking to increase sales, website traffic or both? Is your goal to build customer loyalty and improve retention? These goals aren’t mutually exclusive, but you should focus on one or two. If you spread yourself too thin, you’re not going to accomplish anything.

8. Look At The Competition

When it comes to social media, your competition can tell you a lot about what works and what doesn’t. After all, they’re targeting the same customers as you. If you ignore your competition, you’re giving up a fantastic opportunity to learn from their successes and mistakes. To research your competitors, start by picking three or four of the top ones. Find out which social networks they’re active on and study their content.

9. Develop Your Messages

Once you know what your marketing approach is, you need to build a message around it. What is going to be your mission statement? How are you going to craft a message that is going to benefit your brand? There’s nothing wrong with adopting some of your competitors’ successful messaging ideas, but also try to create original messages that can set you apart from them.

10. Choose Your Channels

Not all social media platforms are the same. You need to sometimes even cater different content marketing strategies based on the network you are on. You may find that one type of content performs better on one platform versus another.

11. Be Clear on Your Target Audience

Knowing and understanding your target audience is the prerequisite to a strong digital marketing strategy. It’s important to know who you’re aiming to reach in your marketing so you can focus your efforts on engaging and connecting with that audience.

12. Be Social

Don’t simply share your content and hope people will interact with your business. Be social – it is after all called ‘social’ media. Comment, like and share your follower’s content. When fans respond to your content, highlight them in the comments. You can also message customers and prospects personally to show appreciation for their support. You’ll be amazed at how these small personal touches can give you an edge with your audience.

13. Increase Daily Updates

Ensuring that your posts and updates have a good chance to be seen by your target audience is an integral part of a content strategy. For example, it’s recommended to post around 5-10 times a day on Twitter and 1-4 times a day on Facebook for optimal impressions. Almost all research highlights the best posting hours to be from 8 am to 8 pm.

14. Follow Social Media Changes

If you’ve used Facebook for your business for some time now, I’m sure you’ve been frustrated numerous times. Why? Well, Facebook likes to change their algorithm and those changes aren’t often favorable for business owners. If you don’t constantly adapt and keep up with the changes social media platforms are making, you’ll very easily be left behind.

15. Make Everything Mobile-Friendly

People are more attached to their mobile phones now. Whether it’s your sales funnel, landing pages or a piece of content you share on social media, make sure it’s mobile-friendly. More social media content is used on mobile than on any other device right now.

16. Introduce Content With Creativity

With social media, you can introduce new content in many different ways. Whether it’s in the form of infographics, videos, blog posts or something else, there are tons of ways to do it. Lock in on what works well with your brand and your audience. After you figure that out, you can create a ton of good content from that point forward.

17. Present Your Human Side With Photos

Photos and other types of visual content are highly shareable on social networks. When you post photos of your team, it helps to show your business as a human brand and build relationships with your community. Social media has made it possible for you to share information about your business in a multitude of ways. Photos can show your serious, productive, silly, creative, successful and charitable sides while keeping things very personal.

18. Question Readers for More Engagement

Questions are a good example of engaging content and have become a frequent go-to tactic, especially on platforms such as Facebook. I have gotten tremendous advice for my businesses just by asking my audience questions. Survey your audience when you need to for engagement and education!

19. Utilize Online Tools

There are tons of online tools readily available on the internet that can help you with your social media efforts. Whether you’re looking for a tool to grow your audience or to schedule posts out, there’s something there for every business owner!

20. Use a Conversational Tone For Engagement 

Social media has changed the way businesses communicate publicly. Explore your culture, community, and conversation as you develop your social media voice. Rather than being overly formal like many of us have been taught to be, you can have fun and be yourself with social media. Believe me, your audience will appreciate and connect better with you.

Conclusion

When it comes to improving your social media presence, you need to follow strategies that will enhance and lead your business to success. In this post, I shared with you 20 tips for creating a strong social media strategy that will work.

10 Characteristics of Entrepreneurship Self-Made Individuals Share

Successful entrepreneurs have different characteristics that have helped them reached their goals. These characteristics are also applicable to aspiring entrepreneurs. In this post, I shared with you 10 characteristics of entrepreneurship self-made individuals share.

Have you ever wondered how successful self-made entrepreneurs achieved their goals? Aside other from hard work and dedication, every self-made millionaire has a story behind their success. They also have the traits that they shared that made them who they are now.

Regardless of how a person defines success, there are a great number of common characteristics that are shared by successful businesspeople. If you want to be like these successful individuals, you can see which of the following traits and characteristics you have in common. You can check if you possess the same characteristics as those successful people and if you don’t, you can always improve yourself.

To be successful, you don’t have to always possess the same characteristics as those who became successful ahead of you. Most of these characteristics can be learned through practice and by developing a winning attitude, especially if you set goals and apply yourself. You can do this through strategic planning to reach your goals in incremental and measurable stages.

Not all entrepreneurs are created from the same blueprint. They can come from different geographic locations, upbringings, income brackets, social classes and education levels. There has never been a bulletproof guide to entrepreneurial greatness, but one thing is consistent – they all possess common traits that made them successful.

Here are 10 characteristics of entrepreneurship self-made individuals share:

1. They’re Filled With Determination 

Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires you to constantly set goals along the way. Growing the business, increasing sales and hiring new employees requires you to accomplish several smaller before making massive progress.

Sometimes an aspiring entrepreneur loses his or her determination to pursue the dream of being successful. This is one of the challenges that aspiring entrepreneurs face and even successful ones have encountered. However, if nothing phases you and steers you away from what you want to achieve, you’ll eventually be successful. Be determined in everything you do!

2. They Enjoy What They Do 

When you enjoy what you do, doing it feels comfortable and you end up being more productive. If you focus on your passions, you’ll be much more successful because work won’t feel like work. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle so find something you can put in as many hours as you need to.

If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, it will be reflected in your approach. Self-made individuals don’t become too focused on chasing things such as money. Instead, they focus on finding something that they are passionate about and believe in while allowing the money to follow from their efforts.

3. They’re Serious 

You cannot expect to be efficient and successful in business, unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you offer. Many business owners fail to take their businesses seriously enough. As a result of this, they are easily sidetracked and do not stay motivated.

Not only that, but often times they also fall prey to naysayers who don’t take them seriously either. Starting a business and stepping out on your own is a big step. Don’t rush your decision and truly follow something that you can get serious about. If it’s a joke or something you’re doing as a hobby, it’s probably not the best option.

4. They Take Risks

Entrepreneurs are risk takers. They are ready to dive into a future of uncertainty. However, not all risk takers are successful businessmen. Successful entrepreneurs are willing to take big risks, but they are calculated risks.

Successful entrepreneurs evaluate the risks and rewards of each decision before they take the plunge. To be successful in life, you have to take a risk at some point. Comfort and change do NOT go together. As a result of this, you have to be willing to give up your comfortable if you really want to change your life.

5. They Can Manage Money 

Entrepreneurs are risk takers, but they also know how to handle their money. Successful entrepreneurs realize the need to properly manage their cash. They understand that they have to plan for the present and the future at the same time, which requires a fine balance.

Even if they are already financially secure or their business is already operational, self-made entrepreneurs constantly keep a close eye on cash flow. Whether it’s making intelligent decisions within the business from a financial standpoint or in your personal life, self-made entrepreneurs are on top of their money and make smart decisions.

6. They Have A High Level Of Confidence

Entrepreneurs that have a high level of confidence can get the job done even under the most stressful conditions. They understand that big challenges breed big rewards. Not only do entrepreneur need confidence, but they need self-confidence to be successful.

If you don’t believe in yourself, it’s going to be very hard to get others to believe in you. Be confident in your skills and beliefs if you ever enter into business. While most people focus on the challenge, a successful entrepreneur focuses on the finish line and the end reward.

7. They Know Failure Is Part Of The Game 

If success was easy, the world would be filled with millionaires everywhere. As a result of this, self-made entrepreneurs understand that failure is part of the game. In fact, failure is one of the secrets to success, since some of the best ideas arise from getting thrown around.

Understanding that failure is part of being an entrepreneur is very important. Most people end their dreams early because they give up after failing once or twice. However, successful people are willing to take failures and use them to their advantage. You can failures as a learning experience and shift your game plan to better your odds of success each time you try.

8. They Plan Everything

Planning every aspect of a business is not only a must, but it’s a great habit that everyone should develop. Business planning is very important for a business to be successful. Not only should you be planning for the best case scenarios, but you need to have a backup plan if things don’t go as planned. My motto has always been to hope for the best, but to also expect the worst.

As a business owner, this requires you to analyze each business situation, research and compile data so you can make more informed decisions. The most intelligent self-made entrepreneurs are always planning for the best and worst case scenarios!

9. They’re Highly Adaptable

In business, surprises are always around the corner no matter how well you can plan for it. Successful entrepreneurs are extremely flexible. They have the ability to respond quickly in any situation. Best of all, self-made entrepreneurs don’t think with emotion but instead with logic and rationalism.

By doing this, it allows them to make decisions that can navigate them out of trouble and allow them to thrive in environments that would sink most others. To be successful, you have to adapt to any situation that is thrown your way.

10. They’re Prepared To Exit 

Not every attempt at creating a business will always be successful. An entrepreneur will experience failure at some point in their career. Yeah, even the smartest and most experienced entrepreneurs have dealt with challenges along the way.

One trait that a successful entrepreneur has that makes him or her outstanding is the ability to accept failure and be willing to take the exit, if necessary. If a concept or a business is sinking and it can’t be revived, you have to be willing to accept defeat and move on.

Conclusion

Successful entrepreneurs have different characteristics that have helped them reached their goals. These characteristics are also applicable to aspiring entrepreneurs. In this post, I shared with you 10 characteristics of entrepreneurship self-made individuals share.

10 Golden Rules of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is not as that easy. Understanding the golden rules will teach you what to do and how to do things the right way and be successful. In this post, I shared with you 10 golden rules of social media marketing.

Based on statistics collected in the United States of America, 47% of the Americans say that Facebook is the number one influencer for purchases currently. Meanwhile, 81% of the consumers are influenced by their friends’ posts on social media when purchasing.

Today, the business world is rapidly changing. It has become a necessity for businesses or brands to not only get social but also to stay socially active, relevant and connected. Social media has changed the rules of the marketing game for businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, there are still business professionals who continue to struggle when it comes to having the right understanding of how to utilize social media to its maximum potential.

For an entrepreneur, one just cannot afford to underestimate the impact of content and social media marketing. It is more vital today than it has ever been and it’s crucial to start focusing some attention to the social networks. However, social media marketing is a double-edged sword. If not used efficiently, effectively and strategically, it might end up being a big  time-waster. To be successful, you must follow the golden rules of social media.

Here are the 10 golden rules of social media marketing:

1. Communicate

Social media marketing is not all about the numbers. Yes, the number of followers or subscribers is important, but it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t communicate with them properly. Communication is essential to any business. If we are to divulge into the meaning of the word “communicate,” it comes from the Latin word “communis” which relates to the word community.

Community and communication are essential to building a loyal audience. Communicating with your audience and not at the audience is the key. Being transparent, honest and genuine with every post and response on social media will build trust and loyalty. Engagement is extremely crucial to have a really strong following on social media.

2. Share

We all know the old saying, “sharing is caring.” Sharing content across social media as a brand is how you can care. Providing value to your audience and potential audience will amplify the excellent content that you have worked so hard in creating. When you share, you create unique experiences across the various social media platforms. Each of the content you share should reach out to your followers and readers.

The biggest thing with social media is that you have to share value to your audience. Instead of just selling on social media, focus on sharing. Share value, content and information that your audience might find valuable and be willing to engage with. Build a brand through social media rather than a sales pitch.

3. Engage With Influencers

I mentioned this earlier in the post, but I think it’s an extremely important concept to keep in mind. To be able to compete with others and to show people that you are worth it, you have to engage with influencers in your space or niche.

You have to prove them that you are a quality source of information and material. If you do, they may share your content with a huge audience of their own. It’s always good to network and build relationships with influencers because they are authority figures that can create value for you down the road.

4. Update On A Regular Basis

Your social media is one of the places where you can give information, share information and share happenings within your business to your audience. It is not enough to just write and post quality content.

To ensure loyalty and trust from your audience, you must write and post content on a regular basis and with purpose. This will make sure that your audience, readers, and community members will be coming back for more. With social media, you have to create a consistent posting schedule so you stay relevant with your audience.

5. Reciprocate

It is not always you who should benefit from others; you should do things for others to benefit as well. Ensure that the content you are sharing is the content that’s going to be beneficial for others. The most important part of this is that you want to utilize social networks for branding and building an audience mores than selling.

Hard selling isn’t the best option on social media, but it can be a major turn off to a specific audience. You need to immerse yourself within the community, chat with your audience, share content and prove that you are worth their time beyond the content that you are sharing with them.

6. Be Authentic

Authenticity is one of the secret ingredients behind every good and valuable social media marketing campaign. Knowing who your audience is the most important aspect. After that, you have to try to locate them online, listen, add value, respond, refrain from spamming them and remember to just be yourself.

Being authentic and real can result in a better and more long-lasting positive result than if you try to be someone or something that you are not. Real recognizes real. If you’ve heard that saying, it’s especially true with social media. Just because you’re behind a keyboard doesn’t mean that you should be someone you aren’t.

7. The People Have The Power

In today’s business trends, consumers have the luxury of being able to interact with your company, brand or service on their terms. Today is the era of consumer empowerment, the traditional advertising tactics of interrupting or talking at customers no longer works.

To develop relationships with the customer, it will require you to develop a deeper connection. This means that the message of your content must be highly targeted, able to resonate quickly and have an incredible value. Your social media platforms need to cater to your followers.

8. Nurture Relationships With Your Followers

Social media is associated with relationships. Some of the best relationships I’ve developed over the years have been nurtured over the years through social network platforms. Building and nurturing relationships are one of the golden rules of social media marketing.

However, everyone always wonders how that can be done. Providing an epic customer experience is the top priority and you should always be listening and responding to your customers. In social media platforms, the use of keywords and mentions is the way to listen to your audience. If they have questions, then you can respond. Answer their queries in a genuine and empathetic way. Showing that there is a real person behind the brand will help nurture the relationships over time.

9. Follow The 4-1-1 Rule

The 4-1-1 rule is based on Twitter engagement, but can still be modified and applied to other social media channels. The rule states that for every self-serving tweet, you should retweet one relevant tweet and most importantly, share four pieces of relevant content written by others. The basic idea is to share more non-promotional posts before you go in for a soft or hard sell.

10. Be The Solution

Consumers always reach out through social media because it’s very accessible and they hope to find solutions to their problems through social media. This is where you come in. You can give a solution to audience’s questions and curiosity with great content, pain points with stellar customer service, brand awareness challenges with targeted social outreach and much more.

For you to be the solution, know the problem first. Put your audience interest first by asking engaging questions, study audience insights on various platforms and analyze your most popular content to help identify areas in which you may grow and expand.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is not as that easy. Understanding the golden rules will teach you what to do and how to do things the right way and be successful. In this post, I shared with you 10 golden rules of social media marketing.

7 Great Entrepreneur Success Stories To Get Inspired

You don’t have to be born wealthy to be successful. You just need determination and perseverance to succeed. In this post, I share with you 7 great entrepreneur success stories to get inspired.

While some people were born rich and handed everything on a silver platter, others have started with nothing to accomplish the success they are enjoying now. Many of the wealthiest people in the world started their journey in slums and orphanages. Many of them credit their hardships that gave them the motivation, understanding and personality required to make it to the top.

Rags to riches stories are the most interesting stories to read. They give an everlasting appeal to readers and aspiring entrepreneurs. Their stories of a heroic struggle against all the odds can be inspirational for many who may not think it is possible for them to make a similar climb.

If you are having trouble getting inspired or motivated, here are 7 great entrepreneur success stories to get inspired.

1. Steel Tycoon, Andrew Canergie

Andrew Canergie is an American industrialist and the founder of Canergie Steel. His steel company produced more steel than all of Britain at one point. He has an inspiring rags to riches story that can motivate aspiring entrepreneurs.

He grew up in poverty having to share a house with one room and he often slept so he could forget about how hungry he was. His family migrated to the United States to fight starvation. The first job he got was at the age of 13 as a bobbin boy. His job was to change the spools of thread in a cotton mill 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in a Pittsburgh cotton factory.

His spare time was spent reading the works of Robert Burns or the Scottish heroes. He worked his way to the top quickly and by 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation became the largest of its kind in the world. He was known as one of the “builders” of America who helped shape the nation.

2. King of Retail, Samuel Walton

Samuel Walton is the famous owner of the Walmart supermarket chain. However, this retail king came from rags to riches. To make ends meet for his family, he would do numerous chores such as milking the family cow, bottling the surplus and driving it to customers.

He also joined the US Army during World War II. After the war, he left the military and started managing a variety of stores. He took a loan shortly after and bought his first store. A few later, he opened his first true Walmart location. At the time of death, he had 1,960 Walmart stores across the country.

3. Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey

The Queen of all Media is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Winfrey Show. This is the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She was dubbed as the ‘Queen of all Media’ and one of the richest African American females of the new era.

Before Oprah reached her pinnacle of success, she has a lot of struggles during her childhood. She was raped at the ages of 9 and 13. She also suffered years of abuse and decided to run away from home. At the age of 24, she gave birth to her son but they eventually died in infancy. She became a millionaire when she went national with her talk show. She went from having very little, but today, she is one of the billionaires in the world.

4. Tech Superstar, Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison is the CEO of Oracle. His mother was an unwed Jewish and his father was an Italian American US Air Force pilot. When he was 9 months old, he was given to his aunt and uncle for adoption.

He was always bright as a child, but very inattentive according to many teachers. His mother ended up passing away during his high school years and he would later go on to attend the University of Chicago for one semester while studying computers. In 1977, he founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) for a small amount with a few of his friends. Today, Ellison was listed on Forbes List of Billionaires.

5. Asia’s Richest Man, Li Ka-Shing

Li Ka-Shing is one of the richest men in the world. However, his story also inspires other people to strive more. He was forced to stop and leave school at the age of 15 when his father died.

As a result of his father passing away, he was forced to take on a lot of the responsibilities of his house at a young age. He worked at a plastic trading company earning very little. He strived so hard to succeed from these experiences that after years of back breaking work, he was finally able to start his own business.

6. Forever 21, Do Won Chang

Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, a gas station employee and a coffee shop attendant to make his ends meet for his family. He was working so hard that after three years of thrift spending, he was able to save enough to open up his first retail store.

His first retail store is known today as Forever 21. Forever 21 grew to be a giant retail store which is a pioneer in forward fashion amongst teenagers and younger individuals. Today, the retail store has over 480 outlets worldwide and is continuing to grow.

7. Apple Founder, Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs became a legend and an icon for technology. Before he became a household name, he struggled quite a bit early on in his life. He was given away for adoption by his biological parents when he was born.

When he was growing up, he showed a keen interest in electronics. He dropped out of college because his studies were costing his foster parents too much money. He had struggled a lot before he became well-known for being the founder of Apple, Inc.

Conclusion

You don’t have to be born wealthy to be successful. You just need determination and perseverance to succeed. In this post, I shared with you 7 great entrepreneur success stories to get inspired.

15 Ways For Business Owners To Improve Productivity At Work

In the world of business and entrepreneurship, employees are not the only ones who should be productive at work. Business owners are expected to make the most of their time as well. To be a productive business owner, you should have the mindset of someone that is relaxed, determined and open. It is always best to have processes and procedures in place where you can delegate tasks when needed. It will allow you to stay focused on the most important functions of your business while taking care of basic day to day affairs.

Productivity is critical for a business to succeed. Employees are motivated to perform at a higher level when they see their employers, managers and other executives performing to the best of their abilities. Their actions become an example and encourage other employees to work as well.

As a business owner, if you are having trouble accomplishing enough throughout the day, you will definitely want to read this post. Here are 15 ways for business owners to improve productivity at work:

1. Have A Clutter Free Desk

Regardless of whether you have a physical office or you work from home, you want to have a clutter-free area or table. For your office, you can have drawer shelves, wall files, filing cabinets and other organizing elements that will help declutter your work life. Having a workplace that is free of clutter can lead you to be an efficient business owner.

2. Separate Your Papers

You can separate your documents based on which ones are important and not so important. It is also another way to declutter your workspace. Put your required papers in a box and avoid piling it up too high. Being able to distinguish which documents are needed and which ones are not will save you a lot of time down the road.

3. Have A Systematized Business

Creating a system for your business can save you from wasting time. When you systematize everything, there are structures in place that you and your employees will work by. Some of the most efficiently run businesses are created around proper documentation and systems that guide the organization.

4. Outsource Some Business Tasks

Every entrepreneur has “stuff” to do that isn’t vital to the success of their business, thus they don’t enjoy doing them. A great way to rid yourself of these tasks is to hire someone overseas that can get it done for you. By outsourcing these types of tasks, it allows the business owner to focus on the important stuff and avoid saves them from burning out.

5. One Project At A Time

To be more efficient and productive, focus on doing one task at a time. Multitasking may help you start multiple thing simultaneously, but it definitely won’t help you finish numerous things at once. Focusing on a single task will allow you to focus all your attention to it. You will be more productive and you’ll get to complete more tasks within a shorter timeframe.

6. Make A Schedule For The Next Day’s Tasks

Prioritize the tasks that you want completed first or those that need urgency for the following day. There will be times that you will be interrupted by unexpected assignments and emergencies. Creating a to-do list is a great way to go into each day with a mindset of what is to come!

7. Take A Break

Grinding and hustling constantly are what we need if we want our businesses to be successful. But if you are mentally fatigued, you will not be able to stay productive long term. One way to be more productive and efficient is to take a 5 to 10 minute break to relax the body and mind. Brief interludes from work can increase productivity and will let you get back to work with fresh eyes.

8. Follow The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule is an effective way to boost the productivity of your business. It can help you determine which tasks to focus on. The principle of this rule is that the 80% of the results are going to come from 20% of your efforts. As a business owner, it can help you to identify the areas where you are most effective and focus on those areas.

9. Impose Deadline And Stick To Them

Imposing a deadline to yourself will keep you more focused and on a time schedule. For business owners who thrive under deadlines, this is a great way to stay productive long-term. You have to find what works for you and create those types of systems internally so that you’re most effective.

10. Create Your Business Around Your Passion

Running a business that is focused around your passions can drive you to be innovative, determined and focused on your tasks. Having a business that is connected to your passion will keep stay motivated and being productive will feel much easier. If you don’t love what you do, it’s hard to do it at your best!

11. Use New Technology

Technology is a beneficial tool for one to become efficient and productive. Business owners who leverage technology can grow their revenue and profitability at a faster rate. Using the latest models of computers and other tech gadgets in your space can allow you to be more productive.

12. Make Sure All Meetings Have Clear Agendas

Meetings are necessary for business, but pointless meetings are a big waste of time for everyone involved. It can help your team stay on track and keep your clients happy, but many meetings nowadays are known for being time-wasters. Create an agenda before hand of what you want to talk about, how long you want to talk about it for and follow that schedule.

13. Stay Away From Social Media

Social Media is a great distraction during work days. As much as possible, stay off of social media throughout the work day if at all possible, especially when it comes to personal use. For business related accounts, set aside a time to schedule posts and respond to inquiries from social media rather than checking those items as each notification pops up.

14. Delegate your Tasks

You may be the business owner, but you cannot do everything on your own. Learn to delegate tasks to your employees. When you properly delegate tasks, it can improve efficiency and development within your organization.

15. Give Your Team A Clear Direction From the Start

A clear direction for the employees before the workday starts can help the employees to work independently. Without clear instructions, the tendency is that employees will come to you and ask you questions constantly because they’re going to be uninformed. This type of behavior won’t be productive for you or your employee.

Conclusion

Being effective at everything you do is a major contributor to running a productive and prosperous business. In this post, I shared with you 15 ways for business owners to improve productivity at work.

30 Success Quotes To Inspire You In Life And Business

Success is attained through perseverance, determination and hard work. In this post, I shared with you 30 success quotes to inspire you in life and business.

Running a business is hard work because it’s a roller coaster ride. With any roller coaster ride, it can cause you to lose inspiration and motivation rather quickly. In achieving the success, you will experience failure, stress, frustrations, despair, hope, late nights and the feeling of uncertainty. All of these emotions put together can potentially affect the mindset to whether continue or not on the path to success.

Successful men and women all have experienced these varied emotions, but they still achieved greatness because they were motivated and inspired to go on and move forward. If you need motivation in anything that you are working towards, here are 30 success quotes to inspire you in life and business.

 

1. “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”

— Winston S. Churchill

 

2. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”

— Henry David Thoreau

 

3. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

— John D. Rockefeller

 

4. “There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.”

— Ray Goforth

 

5. “Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

— Jim Rohn

 

6. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”

— Albert Einstein

 

7. “People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

— Tony Robbins

 

8. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”

— Steve Jobs

 

9. “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.”

— Barack Obama

 

10. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

11. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says “I’m possible”!”

— Audrey Hepburn

 

12. “Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

 

13. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.”

— Mark Twain

 

14. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

— Michael Jordan

 

15. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

— Steve Jobs

 

16. “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

 

17. “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

— Helen Keller

 

18. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

— Walt Disney

 

19. “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

— Bill Cosby

 

20. “You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it.”

— Oprah Winfrey

 

21. “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”

— Richard Branson

 

22. “The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”

— Debbi Fields

 

23. “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”

— Harold Geneen

 

24. “Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart.”

— Ancient Indian Proverb

 

25. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

— Albert Einstein

 

26. “Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do.”

— Unknown

 

27. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”

— Conrad Hilton

 

28. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

— Colin Powell

 

29. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

— Bruce Lee

 

30. “Some people dream of success while others wake up and work.”

— Unknown

 

Conclusion

Success is attained through perseverance, determination and hard work. In this post, I shared with you 30 success quotes to inspire you in life and business.

7 Challenges On The Road To Success You Will Face

In this post, I share with you 7 challenges on the road to success you will face. To reach the success that you desire, you must first succeed in overcoming the obstacles along the way.

It has always been fascinating to know how successful people deal with their problems and challenges. While people generally see various challenges as a barrier to success, certain people people can see the positive light behind these difficulties. They see challenges as something to embrace and obstacles something to overcome. The confidence they have when they face hardship is driven by the ability to let go of the negativity that holds the average person back.

Success is not determined by mindset alone. For a person to be successful in any field of career or studies, he or she must be able to overcome some challenges and obstacles that will come their way. This can include failures they may face along the way.

There are challenges that people face on the road to success. Some of these challenges are listed below. Here are 7 challenges on the road to success you will face:

1. Age

Age is just a number. Successful people never let age or numbers define who they are and what they are capable of doing. Whether young or old, one can thrive and achieve success as long as you are determined to do so. I started my entrepreneurial journey when I was 17 years old, but my youth didn’t hinder me. People feel compelled to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do because of age however successful people do not listen to them. Instead, they follow their heart and allow their passion, not their physical bodies to guide them.

2. What Other People Think Of You

By comparing ourselves to others, we just make a fool out of ourselves. When you compare yourself to others, you no longer become the master of your destiny. Who cares what people think about you? Will it change your course of actions and your life? It really won’t unless you allow it to! You don’t have to rely on what people think of you and you are not obliged to hold up your accomplishments to anyone else’s. Your self-worth should always come from within,and that is how successful people succeed.

3. Loneliness

The road to success is a lonely road. The climb to the top can be a lonely one and there is a good chance you might be alone as you face the challenges on the road to success. There will be times that you may feel as if the world is against you and that is just normal. You can overcome loneliness by surrounding yourself with people you love and trust as your support system. These people will be the ones to motivate you to continue when you think that it may be time to surrender. They will encourage you to rise after each fall and they will be the people that will hold you accountable for your failures and successes.

4. Fear

Fear is a lingering emotion that is often fueled by our imaginations. Fear is our choice. We choose whether to believe in the fear that we feel or choose to let go of fear. Successful people know that fear is just a hindrance to success. They are more addicted to the euphoric feeling they get when they have conquered their fear. I truly believe that if it doesn’t scare you, it probably won’t change you.

5. Boredom

The road to success is lonely; therefore, you can feel boredom along the way. You will get bored trying to master your craft over and over again. With boredom comes great temptation. You’ll be tempted to not only leave your path, but to take take time away from your goals which may set you back. However, you have to allow boredom be your ally. When you feel bored, just realize that you are on the right track and continue pushing forward.

6. Losing Friends

The road to greatness is never straight nor is it easy. There will be times that you will hit something along the way that may cause things to derail. One of them is friendship. It will never be easy, but you have to let go of your friends who are holding you back. You will feel upset in the beginning, but you have to realize that it is just one challenge you have to overcome. You have to get used to the feeling of losing your friends. It is the price you pay on your way to greatness and success. If your friends aren’t willing to grow with you and support your decisions, what kind of friends are they really?

7. Failure

At least 90% of the time you will fail. However, failure isn’t a definition unless you allow it to. Let me explain why that is. Failure is an event if you fail on a certain day and get right back up smarter than you were the time before. If you just give up after a few failures like most do, then you allow failure to define you. When it comes to being successful, you can fail a million times but people will always remember that you were successful moreso than how many times you fell on your face.  The secret to success is taking experience from prior mistakes.

Conclusion

It is a constant desire of a person to succeed in life. To reach the success that you desire, you must first succeed in overcoming the obstacles along the way. In this post, I shared with you 7 challenges on the road to success you will face.