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Hey! So today I am joined by Kim Scotland We are going to be chatting about all things TECH as well as learning about the journey, challenges and successes Kim has faced which include building her own business alongside a full time job! Connect with Kim WEBSITE

Hey so today we are talking to Jasmine Adams-Monks as well as chatting about all things small business, we are going to talk about some of the Challenges and achievements Jasmine has faced while building her business which include creating her first online course, The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Hiring A Virtual Assistant. In this show we talk aboutHow outsourcing can help small businesses achieve success and can be particularly useful for bloggersWhat where and when outsourcing makes sense for small business ownersHow to leverage technology in growing your blog businessCONNECT WITH JASMINE WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

Hey so today we are talking to Silvia Del Corso from PinkSEO about all things SEO for bloggers! TIME STAMPUltimate SEO advice for bloggers09:00 - CODING AND TECH15:30 - CONTENT / KEYWORDS / USER EXPERIENCE40:00 - BACKLINKS 45:00 - TAGS & CATAGORIES49:00 - SEO OPTIMIZATION TIME FRAME TO SEE RESULTS52:00 - PAGE SPEED AND ITS IMPORTANCECONNECT WITH SILVIA WEBSITE

Hey, so today I'm joined by Emma Cossey and we are talking all things the life of a freelancer. All of Emma's links will be available in the show notes. We're going to be chatting about Emma's experience as a blogger and a freelancer as well as learning about the journey, challenges and successes Emma has faced which include moving past imposter syndrome and navigating through the roller coaster that is self employment. Hello, thanks very much for having on. So I'm Emma. I run the Freelance Lifestyle which a blog and a podcast all about freelancing. I'm also a mum to a little boy and I live with my husband and my son in Bracknell which outside Reading. I've been blogging now for over ten years now and I've done all sorts of different ones from professional blogging to running my own ones. I am a fake blogging geek.Amazing. You must really love it to want to blog for other people as well as your self.Yeah, I was really lucky actually early on. One of my first ever freelance gigs was working for Parent Dish way before I had children of my own. So I got to blog for them on all things parenting which was definitely throwing me in at the deep end. Then I also worked for Echo Media who ran Catwalk Queen and Chihuahua and some of the first big fashion blogs in the U.K. and the Catwalk Queen I think was the first one that ever got a seat at fashion, at London Fashion Week and things like that. So it's been really fun. I've done some really fun kind of blogging over the years. Yeah, it's been great.So what made you want to go into then writing your own? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did you write blogs for other people first and then kind of slowly transition to doing your own or have you always done your own alongside that? How's that look?Yeah, the latter. I've always kind of done a mix, so I started landing these jobs because I was doing a little bit of blogging on my own. I loved the challenge of blogging for other people and learning about new things as well, but I've always run my own blog along the side. I kind of started off with one of these cheesy, I think it was called Cocktails and Cupcakes initially which I think every single blog at that time was started as and then Random Warblings of a Blogger, I think was another one. Then I started the Freelance Lifestyle about eight years ago I think.So you've given me a great opportunity to talk about like one of my most favorite sides of blogging which is the business side. Tell me how you, how you viewed the blogs that you started for yourself alongside the blogs that you were doing. So you're happy to be paid as a freelancer for other people to write great articles but how did that go with you in your own mind when it came to doing your blog?Oh it's hard. I think it's hard because sometimes when you're getting paid for these articles they become your focus. They become your priority and it can leave you with very little creative juice at the end of the day to write your own stuff, but it's also very important to all off your own blog content as well because I think it's kind of ... I'm trying to think what it kinds of compares to. I find the more you write the more you enjoy it.Absolutely.So you have to still make your own writing a priority. I think it helps at the time I was on Twitter a lot more as well which just gave constant inspiration for new topics.How did you feel when it came to asking for money or finding a way to create money within the blogs you were doing for yourself or did it go on for quite a while where you were happy to kind of hobby blog, I suppose, or accept that your blogs weren't making the money that you were making from your freelancing for other blogs?Good question. Okay, I do a lot actually with that. A lot of things I write about is a lot of the emotions that come around money. I think women in particular really struggle to ask for money and I find this so often with freelancers that they either struggle to ask for money or more than the absolute minimum amount. I definitely found that initially where I was quite comfortable charging at the time very small amounts but blogging for other clients. I felt very uncomfortable doing it initially with my own and it kind of ... I think because initially I started the blog because I wanted it to be a resource for freelancers and new freelancers that wasn't cluttered with business lingo so I felt like it would be disingenuous to charge people for that. Then I realized that I was providing a lot of free content and that I found more in depth content for you, coaching and courses like that and sponsor posts and things like that and that it was, it's okay to ask for people to support you when you're providing them with lots of other free content as well.Absolutely. I think this about the most come across thing and this isn't just in blogging. This is all over the board with people that go into a new business. Actually I did a Live about this tonight. I was talking about the thing that stops people getting what they want from their blog or from their business and nine times out of ten it's just the fact that they're not actually owning it as a business. They haven't every sat back and gone, "Oh, this is an actual business so how should I put together a business plan and decide what I want to achieve with it?" Like, none of that process happens. They just dive in at the deep end because either maybe they've left a job and they were on maternity leave and they want something to do or they've been through something. Like you say, you were really passionate about equipping freelancers with the resources that they needed and you were so passionate about it that you felt like it was just, I don't know, like flowing from you anyway and you didn't need paying for it. Whereas your day job you're like, "Yeah, I'll write you an invoice for that that blog." It's getting that balance and I see it all the time. Tell me about how you grew then, once you've kind of, I suppose it's a case of acknowledgement, acceptance, isn't it, and kind of allowing it to change into a fully fledged business. So how did that grow for you? I know that when we were chatting before you said about being an introvert. How is this whole process, 'cause that's quite a big, not obstacle really, but it's a big part of your journey that you've sort of come through with all of this.Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, definitely being an introvert I'm definitely on the ... I think this is where people view it as introversion and extroversion and that I'm quite chatty and quite happy talking to people but I hit a point where I'm like, "Oh, I'm done now. I'm done."Gotta lay down in a dark room somewhere.Yeah, exactly, but blogging allows you to reach a wide berth of people without being that energy drain on you sometimes. So actually it's fantastic for introverts in that way. You can get your message out there without being so emotionally and energy drained from it.  I've completely forgotten what was the question was. I've gone off on a tangent now.It's fine, no, well it was a long question because I suppose it's a big part of your journey. It's kind of that part where you've gone, "Right, I'm not charging or I'm not making the money in my blog that's actually getting all of this traction, all these people are loving it but I'm not making any money. How is that? I'm billing X, Y, Z, $100, $200, whatever it is for her blog post. Why aren't I making that in my own business?" And kind of that light bulb going off to then actually not just accepting that and starting to make a move on that but then growing it to a point where it's then your sole, your main business sort of thing. How is that for you?It was very organic. I can't say I sat down and wrote out a plan. That's not really ... I've very goal set now but at the time I was not really someone that sat down and made a plan out because that seemed too terrifying. It was very organic in terms of I would start to get people who would be introduced to me on my blog and people who were just getting started and I realized that I was sharing all of these tips that we bulked then into a course. And that was the first thing I did.  I created a course and I charged ten pounds for that course for 30 days of going freelance. I think that's where it started and then it kind of snowballed from there that I took inspiration from other things. I ran a Facebook group and I often find myself doing conversations or Lives or anything that would snowball into content or something that I could sell. I think in that way it was less scary because it just bit by bit and inspired by what people were already asking me for which made it a lot less scary because you already know that there's demand for it. I think one of the things that really changed for me a couple three years ago was I went to see Denise Stafford Thomas. Actually, it was at four years ago, so I was pregnant at the time and I remember being really uncomfortable. She did a show in London and she did a talk on women and men, how they sell. Have you seen it?Yes.Yeah, and that changed how I saw it completely because I realized I needed to detach myself emotionally sometimes from the sale and stop seeing everything as a personal reflection as me and more about how I can help people. And sometimes you can ask for money for that and it's okay to do that. It's okay for people to have to pay you to help them. The first part of that is acknowledging that that is even a problem.Absolutely, and you don't realize you're doing it until you realize ... and I think you'll say when you're a creative, assignment guilt wrapped in it.And you don't want to do any of the business stuff. I think I'm one of the only creatives in the history of the world that loves doing that, that loves the business side which is why I've gone to where I've gone in what I do, because I've come from the business background, but there isn't many because nobody that's cr

Hey guys, so today I'm gonna talk about discouragement. And I've had a lot of this popping up in my email inbox and in my community, so people are saying, early stages of growing their blog business and it's hard not to feel discouraged when it's moving so, so slowly or maybe even not at all. And we're talking follower numbers, blog page views, I would assume, monetization that it's quite a slow bend process at the start. Also, that it's one of those things that even if you've been blogging for a year, two years or you've had an online business for that long, we could all get to a point where we feel like it feels a bit hard, you're pushing that ball up the hill and it's quite strong and it takes quite a lot of energy and effort from you to get it up there, but once you do, you know that the momentum you're going to get is just going to keep on them rolling and it's going to be much, much easier. But we all get to that point and it isn't one that you get to and then you never have to get through it again. Every stage of your business, as you up-level, as you go to the next stage, you have that same thing again. Okay, you have to push the ball up the hill a little bit further again to keep on growing and to keep on building a bigger, more profitable, more sustainable business. That's really what we all want isn't it.That's the aim of the game, so I wanted to talk to you about this discouraging feeling that we get and really this is a symptom of a problem.So, there's a problem and one of the symptoms that comes up is this discouragement, this lack of enthusiasm. You could call it motivation, lack of motivation, and kind of the persistence that you need to keep going. And that's what I see a lot and as I said that is a symptom of a bigger problem, so sometimes it can just be something as simple as the inspiration is drying up. Maybe you've been consistently putting out blog content every single week or even every single day and you're really on top of your SEO, and you're doing it absolutely brilliantly, but you're still just not, it's not going you're struggling to come up with the next new idea. It's not an easy process when you're trying to put it out that often and if you're not getting the feedback from your readers, your followers, your subscribers, it can sometimes feel a bit daunting, knowing which way to turn and what to put out next. The inspiration can lead to this feeling of discouragement, but also obviously, lack of growth and lack of monetisation, lack of sales, all of that stuff, that all can also lead to you feeling just really disheartened and down, and like you don't want to carry on blogging. And that is what I do not want for you. I want you to know that you're not alone. This happens to so, I don't think there's an entrepreneur that hasn't been through a part like this, a really difficult part that they've had to push through because that is the name of the game, that's why great businesses that succeed do really, really well because people are willing to have this perseverance and this resilience to push through and keep on going. So, I wanted to share some of my top tips for motivation, enthusiasm for keeping your eyes on the prize so to speak and pushing through any times that might feel, I like this word, I've used it twice in videos this week, sticky luck, it might feel sticky and sludgy and difficult for you right now. So, here's some tips to overcome this discouragement. The first one is to really get clear on what you're doing and why, so if you remember why you're doing something, you will never, you'll never lose sight of what you're going to do. If you can remember why you're doing it, then you're never going to lose sight of where you're going because you know where you're going and why you want to get there. So, remembering why you started it in the first place. And this is a difficult area for a lot of bloggers because as I've said before, we jump in feet first, it's a passion flooded thing, blogging. Nine times out of 10, it's because you've experienced something, maybe you went to a shop, it just came over, maybe you went to a shopping centre in London and you got disrespected for breastfeeding in public and that just spurred on your campaign to help breastfeeding moms feel comfortable and happy to breastfeed in public. It could be that you, I've got all the mom examples today, I don't know what's going on with me. But maybe you've gone somewhere and you can't get your stroller in and you just want to go places that are more family-friendly, that you know instantly you're going to somewhere, cause everyone knows what an upheaval it is to get out the door when you've got to try and get kids out, especially babies, when you get there and then you can't get the stroller through the door, it's really quite, quite sickening to your stomach. So, I can see how that would spur somebody on, but also, a lot of bloggers come into blogging because they're passionate about what they're doing, but they're in between. So maybe you're working full time and you're unhappy or you've left for maternity leave and you just don't want to go back. Or maybe you and your partner have got full-time jobs and you're both unhappy and you're looking for a new way of life for your whole family. There are loads of reasons why we can start it, but sometimes it's not so easy to really work out why it was we jumped into it. Because if you've just left work to have some maternity leave, you just wanted to keep yourself busy, it's a bit more of a difficult driver to then push forward and build something that you can say, oh well I've got into this because I'm really passionate about this because it's more that you got into it because you wanted to have that extra side income to keep yourself busy during that time. So, why are you doing what you're doing? And if you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, then that's a really a good exercise for you, as well. So, think about what is that you're passionate about around what you're doing, what is it that you want? What is the end goal, maybe you're doing something to do with body positivity, body image, and the end goal is to have a foundation that helps girls over in the third world countries get access to medical and education that they need, that's going to help them to advance their lives? But what is the ultimate goal? Why are you doing what you're doing? It could just be that, well because in six months I want to have 10 thousand pounds so I can go on holiday. So, look at what you're doing and why you're doing it. What is the motivation behind what you're doing? That is going to be your key to being able to keep up this persistence and resilience that you need, understanding why you're doing what you're doing and where you're going? The second one here is to create priorities, okay? Because we can be so overwhelmed. There's so much to do as a business owner. Maybe you're juggling a full-time job alongside being this business owner or maybe you're juggling a family and there's always so much to do. And in the earlier stages of business, before you've got a team 'round you, before you've got this big support network built, you really are everything to that business. You are doing every single job role and if you think how many people you would need to bring in to replace you, there's a lot to do. So, I think that the key here is to prioritize and to get clear on what matters most to you. When you're in this period of feeling overwhelmed and just out of resilience, out of love really with what you're doing and, oh is this even going to matter? Is this even going to achieve what I want it to achieve? That discouragement, yeah, get clear on your priorities here because this will really help you fire yourself up again. You know why you're doing what you're doing, we've just done the exercise, so you should be clear now in why you're doing what you're doing, what it is you want to achieve, so the second part is what are the priorities that you need to start to focus on to get you there, okay? Maybe you've got bogged under on putting' out 15 posts on Facebook every day and you just can't carry it on anymore and it's just been discouraging', nobody's talking' to you, there's stuff that you can let go of, alright? There are jobs that you can just let go of, let them go off, float off like a balloon and go over and somebody else can pick them up at a later time because they aren't important to you and your priorities right now.Your priorities right now are to maybe keep up your consistency in putting' out your blog content, okay? And promote it strongly on one platform where you know that your customers, your clients, your readers, whatever, where they're hanging' out, okay? Or maybe, your priority is to start building' some relation, so maybe your priority right now is to start building' some relationships in your business and building' up that support network around you, building' up the right people and that's where you need to put your time and energy, okay?You've created your content, it's all there, you just need to keep updating' it and nurturing' it and now put your time and effort into building' these relationships. Whatever it might be that is a priority to you and your business

Hey! Happy Sunday guys!  today for the Sunday Story Share I’m joined by Mary Biagianti and we are talking about Mary’s blogging journey so far! I have the complete pleasure of having so many stories shared with me every single day, So, on a Sunday – it’s my mission to help inspire your week ahead help you get into a better or a more fired up state of mind ready to tackle the new week ahead. So, without further delay I’m gonna hand over to Mary to inspire the start of your new week! Much love! Xo Connect with Mary WEBSITE

So today I'm talking about traffic, I'm talking about getting more eyes on your blog, getting more views on your content, growing your subscribers and getting more sales, getting more clients, getting more people excited about your blog. Now the traffic and the subscribers and the followers and the customers and the sales, that is a result, and it comes from something magical called growth. So really the thing that we need to focus on here is the growth aspect. We get a lot of questions emailed in, how do I get more eyes on my blog? How do I grow my blog Readers? how do I get more page views? How do I grow my Instagram followers? How do I get more likes and comments on Facebook? All these sorts of questions, I get them all the time. We really put a lot of weight on numbers, on our metrics, on how many people are liking our stuff, following our stuff, subscribing to our stuff, and although this is great, it's absolutely amazing when you've got these numbers and you've got this huge, engaged audience, and the thing you're missing here is that the part that really matters is the engaged audience okay, the engaged, the engagement, the fact that people are actually talking to you and interacting with you and not just flicking you a quick thumbs up every now and then okay, it means so much more. Engagement is the key to growth, because if you're putting out content that people love to talk about, if it's starting a conversation, if it's getting people excited, if it's answering a problem and you're getting a lot of reactions from it, be it positive or negative, they're both great because they're both awesome feedback for you to tailor your stuff going forward. That is what is gonna help you grow, okay, that level of engagement, because with engagement becomes more visibility. If more people are looking, going over to your Google, so say you're coming up on Google, you're getting the clicks through, people are leaving comments, people are sharing that, then you're gonna get seen even more easily, okay. Same with social media, if you are on Facebook, and you're putting stuff out, people are commenting, answering your question, starting up a conversation with you, then more people are gonna be shown that content, because their Facebook knows that it's valuable to them, okay. Facebook knows that it's good, and it's got people talking, and that's what they want, they want content that makes people talk, because that keeps them on there, and it keeps them thrilled, keeps them engaged with what's going on. So, let's go back to what the original question of this was, which was about how can I get more blog subscribers? How can I get more followers? How can I grow my Instagram? How can I get more blog subscribers? How can I get more followers? How can I get more sales in my blog business? How can I create these people into money? And the answer is to grow, okay, it is to concentrate on growth. And I know that that seems like a very broad and very like okay Jade, you're telling me to grow, don't you think I wanna grow? Like we're trying so hard to grow, we're putting all the right stuff out there, but we just don't seem to be getting that level of growth. And like I've just said before, the growth comes from when you hit the nail on the head, when you are really talking to the person that knows you are there to serve them, when you're really putting something out that people just desperately are in need of, okay.So take a moment to think about what content are you putting out at the minute? So here's a few tips to help you with this growth part of your business, because with the growth becomes everything else, with growing becomes a much more engaged audience that you can then sell to much more easily, you can convert into money much more easily, and they're gonna allow you to have impact on them much more easily, because they trust you. They're gonna allow you to enter their life with your content and with your products, your services, with your programs, whatever, because they trust you, and they're engaged with you, and they like what you've got to say, they can see that you're gonna help them, okay. So growth is the key, and here's a few things that can help you in this area. Firstly, is really knowing that what you're putting out is speaking to someone, and I know you hear this a lot, oh speak to one person, really get clear on who you're speaking to, and it's a very ambiguous thing to say, isn't it?Get clear on who you speaking to? Well what does that mean exactly? Well what it means is what problem are you solving and for who? And why do they want you to solve it, and what does that look like? So for example, maybe you, I've used this example before, maybe if you're a parenting blogger, and you're reviewing restaurants in a specific area, maybe you're in London and you're reviewing coffee shops where it's parent-friendly, where you can actually get a pushchair through the door, and you're monetizing that by creating a guide, or an app or something that you can have on your phone. Obviously you're talking to mums with children, mums with multiple children are gonna be an even more engaged audience, because trying to get a twin stroller through the doors is even more tricky than getting a single one in. Mums with children that have got different ages, so you go somewhere, and you've got something that they can all sit and do, like the more specific you get about the problem and the struggle and why they want your solution, the more you are talking directly to them and the more engaged they're then gonna be with that. I know if I saw something that said best coffee shops in London to get a twin stroller in, that's gonna get me talking, because that is something that I'm thinking about.I'm thinking oh my goodness, someone's just literally read my mind, I was just thinking today I've been to the cafe, and I couldn't get my buggy through the door, and I just felt so stressed out and overwhelmed, and I ended up having to get a coffee to go, and go and sit at the park, and it just wasn't what I was expecting my day to be. I wanted to sit down for a bit, read my magazine while the kids were doing something. Think about, look at the depth that I've just given you on that issue. That is what everybody has, everybody has different problems at different levels, at different stages, and they want you to offer them a solution in different ways. It's just really getting to know who that first person is, that you're gonna offer this solution to, and how you're gonna speak to them, and how they want it presented, what experience they want to have, okay. So that's the first part, really know that person that you're talking to.The second part to create great engagement, which is gonna lead to amazing growth, is to be where they are, okay. There's no point putting out, one of my pet peeves, and I know it helps people grow, I understand that it plays a part in your numbers growing, what I don't see happen very often is it playing a part in your monetization, okay, and that is going and blogging engagement groups and getting blog posts shared, and you're getting different eyes on them. And I understand for SEO, and for all different reasons it can be really handy to have the extra page views and get the comments and stuff, but let's roll that right back to basics. Why are you putting your blog out there? You're putting it out there to help somebody, and in turn you're gonna monetize, you're gonna have a financial reward for this. So if you are wanting to help someone, that specific person, are you helping them by putting it out to a sea of people that are not related at all to what this person is struggling with? Yes, it may in the short-term help you get that more stretch, that widespread reach, but if it's not a widespread reach in the same people, it's like if I had 20 pink Smarties, and I chuck them into a bowl of all mixed color Smarties right, but I wanted to target the pink ones, and I've chucked them into a bowl of 2000 other Smarties, and there's 20 pink ones in there okay. Or if I chuck that same 20 pink ones in there, alongside another 10 multicolored ones, the concentration of the right people is much, much greater, much, much stronger, and you're not floating about in a sea of loads and loads of other people that really just are irrelevant, don't matter, don't care what you've got to say, and you don't really care to help them, they're not who you're here to serve. Does this make sense?So really thinking about where your people are hanging out, so if you're in Facebook groups, or if you're hanging out on LinkedIn, or maybe you're over on Twitter, or maybe you're networking in person, going to places where you know they are, so that you can communicate with them, and you can show up for them and get their feedback on the stuff that you're putting out, because that is what is gonna really like supercharge you.And that's leading me onto my third tip, which is get the feedback, okay, do the research and get the feedback. Do the research on the people that you are wanting to talk to, that you know you have a solution for, and then get the feedback on what they think, whether they're engaging with your stuff in the first place, whether it's oh my goodness, I n

Hey so today we are talking to JoDee Martin who has years of experience in building blog businesses!We are going to talk about some of the Challenges and achievements JoDee has faced while building her business which include Balancing time- house/kids/work and Living each day with Joy.Connect with JoDee WEBSITE

Hey guys, so today I'm talking about focus. I know that focus is something that's like this elusive, golden chalice for entrepreneurs. We're always thinking, we need to focus, we need to get focused on what we're doing. And it can be really difficult sometimes just to get motivated, let alone really narrow down your focus and crack on with actionable, and steps that are actually gonna make a difference on daily basis. So that's why I wanted to talk to you today, really. We spoke about consistency yesterday, and how that is really important in your business, it's the key to success. But the struggle and the stumbling block that was presenting itself around actually being consistent, actually carrying out consistency with conviction, and bringing it into your everyday life. So, today, the secret to being consistent, the secret to having all of this stuff in your business, and being effective with everything that you do, is to work on your focus, and really understand what steps, and what actions you take on a daily basis, that are going to make a difference, make an impact, in your blog, in your business going forwards. So, I've broken this down into three top tips, three key areas, really, that, if you can master these places, if you can put your time and your effort and your energy into these things, then your focus is gonna come much, much more easily. It's gonna make it really easy for you to establish what you need to do on a daily basis, to really get clear that what your doing, every single time you're doing something, you're working in your blog business, is gonna make a difference. Three things, the three areas that I believe are the most important, and the things that you really need to work on. Number one is really prioritize. Learning to prioritize and know what is important for you, what is important for your business, what is important for your readers right now. So let's go back to that consistency example that I used yesterday, around knowing what people want you to put out and putting stuff out in a way that your readers actually want to consume it. So, you know, if you wanna put our 15 posts a month, and it's killing you to do that, and your readers only really wanna read one post a week, if that, and they're happy to chill out with you on Instagram Stories everyday, and then catch maybe one main big blog post a week, or it may be even one a month. That's where they're feeling happy. It's really getting that balance of understanding how best to serve those people. And this is the same with the priorities in your business. So, yeah, we've gotta do it all with consistency, we've gotta show up with consistency. But prioritize where your most important things, your most important tasks, lie. So, for example, maybe your priority, right now, is growing your Facebook audience. And to do that, you wanna show up with a really quick video every single day. That is your priority, to get that one video out every single day. That is your priority. Not to put out 20 different posts on Facebook, and Instagram, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, because your focus, because your priority, is within that Facebook audience, right now. Maybe you're trying to nurture a group and get people to move over from your Facebook profile, your Facebook business page, into a group. And that really is where your focus wants to be right now. Get to grips with what your priorities are. And this doesn't just have to be a business thing, okay. Sometimes, in our businesses, in our lives as entrepreneurs, knowing what we need on a daily basis, is also a priority. So, maybe you're a mom, or you're working full time alongside your blog, alongside your business at the minute, and you still need some time for you. You need some time to be able to keep your creative juices flowing, to be able to keep your enthusiasm for what you're doing, and to be able to serve people with 100% of your energy. So, what do you need for you? What is a priority for you? And this could be monthly, weekly, daily, hourly. Whatever feels most right for you, I feel like you need to start taking the time to prioritize what you need and what is most important in your business right now. This leads me nicely on to my second tip, second area, to really narrow in and hone down on your focus. And this is creating a non-negotiables. So, for me this is a practice that I do myself. It's something that I've found super, super valuable in managing my children, my home life, my businesses, everything that I've got going on, and making sure that I'm giving everything, when I'm showing up for it, 110% of me. Because what I was finding was I was spread thin on the ground. I was doing everything. But I was doing it half-heartedly. I wasn't showing up 100%. I wasn't behind whatever I was doing 100%. And that was happening in several different areas in my life. And I see it happen with clients, time and time again, where you're just spread too thin on the ground. So I created something called my non-negotiable list. And what this is, and I actually do this on a daily basis, I do not do this in advance, because I don't know, until I get to that day, what, for me, is gonna feel non-negotiable, what, for me, is gonna feel most achievable, on that exact day. So I stopped putting pressure on myself by doing it in advance and going, well, this is my priorities for the week. We get that all laid and down. This is what we wanna achieve this week. This is where we're going. These are the things that need doing. And this is the overall bird's eye view look at what I've got going on. But this is my non-negotiables. And I will literally get up on a morning and do my morning stuff, and then look at my list, and go, what is non-negotiable for me today? What is the main priorities for me today? What, no matter what, if a meteor hit my office today, what have I got to get done? What is gonna make me feel most lit up to do? And what is the most important step? So, if I've got a big shoot coming up, and I know that there's some shoot preparations that need doing, then that is on the non-negotiable list. If I know that I've got a load of client calls that day, maybe two or three client calls, then I know that getting them calls done and being there for them people is the most important thing. Maybe it's just a day of lots of different marketing activities, and the most important, non-negotiable thing for me is to get on and record you a video like this. Whatever it is, it needs to go on your non-negotiables list. And no matter what, you know that that, even if you're doing it in pockets of time throughout the day, that that is getting done. And then similarly, I have that same non-negotiable list for me too. It doesn't spread into just one area. This list covers every aspect of my life. So if I know that I've got something that I need to achieve with my children, or something that I need to show up to for my children, that day, and that is non-negotiable, then it goes on the list. If I know that I need to go swimming, because I've not been swimming for three weeks, and I need to go and stretch myself out and have an hour in the water, and just give myself that time, then that is gonna go on my non-negotiables list. But, again, remove any pressure from this exercise. It doesn't need to be another thing that you need to do. This needs to be the thing that you do so that you can get the best out of you and remove all the pressure around all the other stuff. The other stuff on the list, other stuff on the priorities, yeah, it's nice to have. But the main things to be going on that non-negotiables list in the morning, so that you know, no matter what happens that day, those are your things to put your focus into fully. And then the third part of this, really cracking down and getting clear with your focus and being able to laser hone it when you need to, when you've just got pockets of time that you're coming in and out of. Maybe you're in and out, in and out from work, and then you're out with your kids, and then you've got all this other stuff going on, you've just got these windows of time, is to be kind to yourself. And that's why I created my non-negotiable list, because I needed to start being kinder to myself, and take off the pressure. But, in order to do that, I've actually got to start being kind to myself. So it's no good doing a non-negotiables list and then beating myself up about keeping to it, and stuff, because I know I've put stuff on there that's just too much to be on my non-negotiable. Yeah, it's nice to have, but my non-negotiables are things that, no matter what, have got to be done that day. It's like these are the, I don't know, like the stake in the ground things that need doing. I can make that list as long or as short as I want. It depends how kind I am being to myself. Which is why I do it on a daily basis, because I know how I feel that day when I get up, and I'm looking at my list, or I'm looking at what I've got going on, looking at my schedule, looking at my calendar, knowing what I've got going on that day, I know how much extra stuff I can take on and how much I can't. And I also know if I'm not feeling 100%. Maybe I just got up and I'm not feeling 100%, I'm feeling a bit tired, and I'm gonna be kind t

Hey. So today, we are talking to Eli Natoli, service focused marketing strategist. All of Eli’s links will be available in the show notes. Now, we're going talk about some of the challenges and achievements that Eli has faced while building her business, which include having a love, hate relationship with social media. I'm sure so many of us relate to that. So, tell us a bit about you, Eli. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Like you said, I'm a service focused marketing strategist. And I know it's a mouthful, but really what it means is, I approach my business from the concept of what we're going to do to really provide value for our customers and clients. So to take a step back, if you think about it, when it comes to building a profitable business, whether you're starting a business or you're thinking about starting a business, there are two things that's always on all of our minds, and those two things are, how can I make money? And how do I get more customers and clients?So what happens is, everything that we do from that point forward, every decision that we make, every task, every activity that we take on, it's all based in answering these two questions. How am I going to make money? How am I going to bring in more customers and clients? So in my opinion, that's the reason many businesses fail. That's the reason that many people struggle with their business. Trying to make money. Because, especially now more than ever, people are looking for a connection. Especially in 2019. So you have to have that connection. And to do that, you have to find a way to build a relationship with your prospects. You need to gain their trust. And that trust and that relationship obviously starts with you.So I've realized that. And that's what I do in my own business and with my clients. And if you show up with the intention of serving your audience rather than wanting something from them which is, "Buy from me." If you put service first, and if you put your intentions just making their lives better, and give them value in every interaction they have with you, that value comes back to you in form of money in your pockets.So in a long about way, that's what I do. That's what I stand for.I feel like that we're all becoming to that level now of understanding around, especially on social media, how people are looking for that connection. And really, if you want to get more eyes on your stuff, then you really need to be working on engagement really, isn't it? The stuff that you're putting out that people are like, "Thank you so much for putting that out." Getting people to actually talk to you. Rather than worrying about how quickly can I increase my follower numbers? What strategies can I put in to do that in a quick way? It's more doing it in that authentic way now, isn't it?Absolutely, and people see through that anyways. That desperation, right? That you show up every day and you're just trying to force yourself to put stuff out there with the intention of, "I got to get likes and I got to get comments, and I got to drive that traffic back to my services and products." That desperation just comes through loud and clear.But like I said, if you just take a deep breath, and I know it's a hard thing to ask people to do because, obviously, we don't want to run businesses, right? We went into business ... yeah, we have passion or skills or knowledge that we wanted to put out there, but at the end of the day we all want to make sure our businesses make money.So it's a hard thing to ask, not to think about that. But if you're willing to do it, give it a try. And when you're on social media especially, try to show up with the intention of just providing value. Then people will connect with you better. You'll engage with your audience better.So tell me, we were talking about the quality of stuff that you're putting out, rather than worrying about, "I must get this number or I must get these likes, I must get these comments." What would you say are your tips for the best and fastest ways now to grow an audience? Because we do want to do it quickly, don't we? But without having to go buying followers and looking down them routes.Well, the very first thing that as a business owner we need to be clear on is, what is our profit path? At the end of the day, what is it that we want to sell to our audience? What product or service? Knowing that and sort of walking back from there. Figuring out exactly what my audience needs that along the way that I can provide to them and then walk them through that path that ultimately, they will buy that service and product is a good content strategy to start with for social media. So that ensures that instead of waking up every day and randomly creating content, whether it's for social media or any other places. Your blog, the videos that you create, any kind of content that you create, if we start from knowing our profit path clearly, knowing what our audience want from us clearly, then everything for your strategically create that content, then really, that's all it takes.I always tell my clients that you don't need to have this huge volume of content because a lot of people make this mistake of thinking, "The more content I put out there, then the better my chance is going to be to get that audience, to attract that audience to me." Believe it or not, sometimes five strategically created content is all you need to attract and engage with the right audience. With your ideal buyers.I feel like that's something that a lot of bloggers struggle with. Because you think you need to be putting out blog posts every single day or three times a day, or absolute times. But actually, if you flip it around on it's head and go, "Okay, who in my writing this for? What are they struggling with? What can I help them with most that today, is going to really give them something that they need, and they're going to be really happy to receive, what is that thing that I put out?" They're going to be so much more thrilled by that than by you burning the candle at both ends trying to write five posts in a week. Or you know, 10 posts in a week. I don't know, some of it.It definitely is about quality over quantity, isn't it?Absolutely, and I love what you just said. Love the recap. That's absolutely right. Instead of just being out there, working God knows how many hours a day just trying to pump out all this content, be strategic about it. Instead of ... I always tell people, instead of creating, let's say, a 700 word blog post, sit down and strategically create, let's say, a 2,000 or 3,000 word blog post. And then, instead of pumping all that content, spend the next two months just promoting that one piece of content.So, one of the mistakes that a lot of people do is, they really get focused on creating and putting stuff out there, but not so much on promoting. So be strategic, create strategic content, and then, do less of that but spend more time promoting it.One of the most asked questions I must come across, especially when we go down the strategy route and in my Brand is For Bloggers Program is around the promotion. So, "Where do I put my stuff? How often do I put it out? Where is going to be best?"And for me, I always say, "Well, where are the people that you want to read it hanging out, you know?"Mm-hmm (affirmative).I think for bloggers as well, there's this real temptation to spend time in these long engagement groups because they do get more eyes on your stuff. Which does work to help you strategically in the way of more eyes, more views, more comments helps with your Google ranking and stuff. But it doesn't help you if you try to monetize, because you're not getting the right people looking at it. You're not getting the right comments. So it's about having that balance. What tips have you got around knowing the right route for promotion, to help bloggers that are kind of, I don't know, spinning their wheels in an overwhelm about this?Mm-hmm (affirmative), well, first, don't spread yourself too thin trying to be everywhere and try to have be visible on all different social media groups and all these different platforms. My suggestion is, pick one or two that you know ... First of all, you're going to shine best, right? So depending on your personality and how you can sort of transfer that information, or to show up being your best, pick that platform.For example, I love writing long contents. So for me, Facebook is amazing because I can just get into these big discussions. I can write this long post on Facebook, and I don't do so good on Twitter because I'm limited to that character limit. So, figure out where you're going to shine best, and where is going to be the ... Which one of those platforms is going to be the best vehicle for your particular content and for your particular audience, right? Where do they hang out?So don't spread yourself too thin. Just pick one or two of those platforms, and try to show up consistently. That's the key. You know, your audience is going to expect whatever consistency rate that you have them expect you to be there. If, for example, you have the Facebook group and you show up once a week, that's the expectancy, right?If you're going to be there once every day, then you got to make sure you show up once a day. So pick one or two of those platforms or channels, and show up consistently. Make sure that the ratio of promoting ... And when I say promoting, like, before that, I was talking about make sure you promote yourself. And a lot of people mistake that promotion, they mistake it with thinking, "Oh, I got to go out there and just ask people, like, 'Buy this. I have this service, I have this product.'" But that's not really promoting.By promoting, I mean just being out there and providing value. Putting your content in front of people. Getting people to, you know, if you've written that 2,000 blog post, just try to get more eyes on it. Tell your audience what is it about

So today I'm going talk to you about consistency. It's something that I've seen come up a lot, talking about, how can I produce consistent content? How can I consistently show up online? Post on social media, how do I consistently put out blog posts? Consistency, we all know, is the key to success, all right? There's no denying that doing something consistently is always going to return better results in the long run. But the issue that I'm seeing, and that I'm hearing from you guys, is that you just don't know how to get that consistency into your life, and into what you're doing. So I thought, instead of jumping on and talking about why you need to be consistent and how it's this most important thing that you can do, and you've gotta show up consistently, you know I say that a lot. I write it a lot in my blogs and I talk about it a lot in the podcasts.Instead, I wanted to really help you understand how you can create consistency in what you're doing, without beating yourself up about it all the time, without feeling like you're not good enough, or you're not doing enough, or what you're doing just isn't right, okay? So, that's why I've come on to talk to you today. So what I see a lot is, we sign up to several different platforms, so we've got a blog going, or we've got an online business, or a business, and we're on loads of different social platforms, and we're kind of halfheartedly on lots, so maybe we're on Twitter, maybe we're on Instagram, maybe we're on Facebook, maybe we're on LinkedIn, maybe you're Snapchatting, maybe you're trying to do YouTube videos. Okay, so you're over lots and lots of different platforms. And yes, in the long run, the aim of the game is for your business to have as much coverage as possible, and spread your net as wide as possible, so that the most amount of people are getting to hear about you and your fabulous solution, but, at the start, and in the early days, and until you're at the point where you've got, you know, a whole team of people around you, then, one, choose one platform, okay? One platform is key. Learn a platform, master it, and then, by all means, if you feel like you can give the same amount of effort and focus, move on and do another. Okay? So, what I hear a lot, is, I can't post, I'm struggling to keep up with posts on social media, feeling like I'm having to post 10, 15, 20 times a day, spread out over all the different platforms, and the reality is, guys, and this might be hard to hear, because, for some of you, you think that the more you do it, the better results you're gonna get, but that's just not, it's just not accurate. Social media is called social media for a reason.We get on there because we want to be social. So, we want to waste some time. We want to scroll through stuff, we want to watch a video, some slime being squished, or a sponge being shaved. Or, whatever, right? We're on there to procrastinate, and waste some time, and just to consume something that removes us from our immediate reality, that's going on around us. So, when your clients, when your customers, when your people are on social media. They're on there looking to be social. They're on there looking to be entertained, and to have a great experience. They are not on there for 15 posts from you, in one day, promoting all different things in their face. They're not on there for that, and what will happen, is, they won't click through to any of them, and then, the algorithm will take them away from seeing your stuff, okay? So that is, it's not productive, it's counterproductive. The aim of the game to get engagement, okay? Is to get people talking to you, and to get people interacting with you, and loving and liking you, as a person, and as a business, and, in order to do that, yeah, you need to show up consistently, so people know that they can expect you to be somewhere, but not in a huge, ridiculous quantity or volume, okay? It's just not necessary. So, think about that for a minute. Let it soak in. What are you doing when you're on these different platforms? Which platforms are you on, and what are you doing on them? What is the thing that drives you there? Are you just there for an exercise to promote your blog, or promote your business? Or, are you there because you love interacting on there, and you're really big on that platform? You really understand it, you really enjoy using it, and it lights you up to be there. Think about that each time you go on a platform, okay? So, the next version of consistency that I find people struggle with, is, producing consistent content, and again, it's the exact same issue, in my opinion, it's quantity. People are choosing quantity over quality. Now, blog posts, producing blog posts that work is an art. It's a skill. Okay? You have to understand FCO, you have to understand how to write a great piece of content, you have to understand how to be visually engaging. There's lots and lots of skills that come into play when you put out a blog post, or when you put out, you know, a piece of information on your website for your clients, for your customers, okay? So, there's a lot of things that come into play with that. You cannot fully focus on doing that every single day, at the start, you just can't. It's near impossible. Yes, you can write a documentary type account of what's going on in your life, but if you really want your blog posts to work how they need to work, so, to be optimized, and being found on the search engines, to generate you all that traffic coming in, and, to be conversationally interesting, when you're posting out the thumbnail, and sharing it around to be visually appealing. All of those boxes to be ticked, then you need to give them a bit more focus, time, and effort. So, a question I see a lot, is, should I write five blog posts a week, or, I'm struggling to put out three posts a week. I'm struggling with it, I'd really like to go down to just one post a week, or two posts a month, whatever it is. There's no hard, fast rule here, about how much content you need to be putting out, first of all, okay? It completely is going to depend on your audience, and the team that you've got around you, how established your business is, what support network you've got, what help you've got, in order to be able to produce high quality content, every time you put it out. So, the consistency comes into play, here. Are you being consistent with your, the work you're putting in on your posts? So, your search engine optimization, your visual appearance of your posts. The quality of your content, and what you're writing about. The fact that you've taken the time to go and promote it, and put in links, and the let people know who you've linked to it, all of those things take time and effort, and the quality of you doing that is so much more valuable to you as a blogger, and you as a person, than trying to get, you know, 10 posts out every single week, it's near impossible. So, consistency when it comes to writing blog content comes from consistently delivering on the quality level that you are promising your ideal customer, your ideal reader, okay? It's consistently delivering on what they expect. And, if they're expecting a weekly blog post from you, and that's what they want, that's helping them the most, put out the weekly blog post. If they're consistently expecting a monthly blog, put out a monthly blog post, okay? I don't want you to, or anybody in business, to have any more pressure than necessary, okay? We've all got so much pressure when you are running your own business. There's always a lot of pressure on you to succeed, in whatever that means to you. We all have different measures of that. And, being consistent, I am not gonna allow this to be an excuse for you to put more pressure on yourself, because you need to be consistent. Consistency is something that comes easily and naturally, the best quality way that you can, okay? In the way that best represents your business. So, take a deep breath about consistency, all right? Yes, consistency is the key to success. If you are consistent and persistent, you will get anything that you want in this world. Consistency is not a reason for you to sit back and have an excuse that you've got too much pressure on you, because you need to be consistent, okay? Be consistently brilliant, okay? Show up every day if that's what you want. Show up every week if that's what you want. But, do it consistently. There is no set way that you have to be. You can be whatever you want to be. You set the bar on this. You set it for your readers. If your readers want you 10 times a day to update your Instagram stories, then that is where I suggest you put your focus. If your readers want you to put out one blog post a week, just, you know, highlight, maybe a fashion blogger highlighting all your outfits for the week, rather than a day-by-day blog post, but you're documenting it on Instagram day by day, no brainer, okay? Do what your audience is demanding of you and wants to consume from you, because that's the most important thing. And, do what feels good for you.Don't be led by anybody else, or anybody else's views of what you should or shouldn't be doing, always deliver on your brilliance and your promise and your quality that you put