The 3Cs to Competition-Proof Yourself in this New World
Indeed, change is inevitable; change is constant. With the pace at which society progresses, business owners strive to find new strategies and ways to dominate their markets and they have to do whatever it takes to survive no matter how bleak the future might look for the economy especially these days.
Yes, times do get tough and always, we need to equip ourselves and our businesses to get ready with what the future has in store for us. Let me share with you here, the 3 Cs to Competition-Proof yourself in this new world.
Competition is a Myth
Survival of the fittest is a widely used and accepted term in business and everywhere else. To survive is to compete against others fighting for the same resources. Almost always, it’s not healthy. See, the gist here is that, for you to achieve your goals and flourish, someone else must not succeed in achieving their goals. And you are seen as superior only when you beat your competition, it’s the ultimate triumph! But do we always have to see each other as competitors? Is being better have to mean bringing someone else down?
The idea of having to compete and needing to win against another entity is ingrained in every business and culture, so how do you protect yourself and your business from falling prey and just simply survive in this so-called competition?
Expand! Why fish in a small pond when you can go to the ocean and catch more and even bigger fishes? When you expand your business to different locations, areas, and different sets of people, you expose your products and services to a broader audience. Be open to all and increase your customer base. In this way, you will be able to convert more customers and improve your sales.
Always, remember that competition is a myth! Because the world is vast, you can expand your business and expand your mind!
Collaborate
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. A holistic, diversified approach can help – Collaboration. See, when you put all your eggs in one basket and for whatever reason, the basket gets knocked over, all your eggs will break and you will lose them all in one shot. However, if you put your eggs in several different baskets, the chances of losing them all in one go will be avoided.
Successful businesses are huge because usually, they operate across markets so that even if one market is not performing well they can rely on other markets to average returns.
Now, to be truly successful in expanding your business and achieve greater geographical spread, collaborate and team up with other businesses. Advertise together, share marketing efforts, co-author presentations, co-brand products, and redirect business to each other’s websites. Increase learning possibilities when you partner up with others or share your services and skills with other businesses. Be a mentor to one another. When you foster collaboration, you deepen ties and assure longevity which, in return, will benefit everyone: business, employees, and customers.
Create
Creativity is the key to survival. In today’s highly competitive global environment, companies who can think outside of the box are able to sell more of their services and more of their products. Creativity is what fuels big ideas and challenges our way of thinking. But then, how do you keep your mind to be more creative and innovative? Continuous learning!
Be a life-long learner. Extend your learning and increase your knowledge about society, the economy, and the world. Successful business owners don’t stop with what they already know, successful business owners continue to attend seminars, earn certificates, and attend workshops. When your knowledge and skills are basic your creative confidence is not enough for you to collaborate and share innovative ideas. Continuous learning supports the improvement of knowledge, skills, and tools to support organizational goals. Cultivate a thirst for knowledge and let your imagination run wild. As your mind grows, ideas flow and the need to collaborate becomes an exciting journey to deepen ties and better business relations. A creatively innovative mind opens the door to new business opportunities and better business relationships.
So don’t forget! Understand that competition is a myth, instead, look at the world as your clients. Remember to avoid seeing other businesses as competitors, assuming they want you to fail. Again, competing is not the be-all-end-all to survive, rather, survive by being constantly in the mode of creation. And with your creativity, collaborate and learn from other businesses so that you may grow successful together. It is possible!
6 Elements of a Powerful Personal Brand Website
Why do you need a personal brand website? If you are an expert in your field, it’s very important that you have your own website. Using your own name as your domain name for your website would be a suitable option when branding yourself as an expert in your field. If you want to be recognized as a subject matter expert in your niche, having your name as your domain name for your personal brand website will definitely make people see that you are confident in your pursuits. If using your name is not an option, at least use a name that would help describe your business.
Aside from naming your personal brand website, there are many other factors to consider when creating a website. Your personal brand website is a key component in building trust but how do you make sure that your website is relevant to what you do? Let me share with you the 6 elements that you need to ensure you have on your website.
Strong Branding
Make sure that your name logo is clean, simple and clear. Most importantly, it should represent what you do. You want people to remember you and your business, so you want to keep it simple and memorable.
Take time to plan your website design color. It should specifically represent you and the business. Your website design color choice is crucial for your online success because colors help people to process and store images. So choose the right colors for your website design. It will help increase brand recognition and will influence your visitors to your website and take action.
If you want your website to be reader-friendly and to create harmony which all counts towards positive user experience, maintain consistency with your fonts throughout your site. Not only will it give a more professional aesthetic appearance, but it will also impact readability and will definitely leave a lasting impression.
Speaking of aesthetics, invest in professional photography. Truly, a picture paints a thousand words. Indeed, our brain can interpret images quicker than text, which is why websites with professional photography get more traffic than websites with low-quality photos and websites without images at all. Visitors will be more likely to browse longer through your website and will ensure a greater chance of being converted to either an inquiry or even better, a sale!
Valuable FREE Content
Build trust and enhance your influence by offering free but valuable content. Business owners know very well that during the first few days of opening shop, earning customers’ trust can be laborious and grueling. More often than not, someone who’s just starting up in business would come home empty-handed and a little upset. To build trust, you must be helpful, educational, and consistent. You want people to be able to depend on you for the information they’re looking for. And what better way to earn the people’s trust but by offering free valuable content? The point is to build rapport and trust now with your website visitors so that you can make sales right after and right away. The 3 most valuable content you can offer absolutely free to your visitors are Blogs, Podcasts, and Videos. Blogs, podcasts, and videos are entertaining and easy to digest. It’s a sure-fire to grab your visitors’ attention and keep them on your website longer. These are effective avenues to showcase your skills, knowledge and the business itself. Blogs, podcasts, and videos are one the best and most efficient tools in marketing your business no matter how small or new your business is.
Valuable Optin Content
Now that you have built trust amongst your visitors and the ones who were just your visitors are now your customers, take this opportunity to build your list of warm and hot leads and maintain a connection with them over time. Valuable Optin Content is free but the good thing about this is it allows you to invite your visitors to your website to receive certain benefits and information that can be a valuable key to their own successes in their business or other interests. Assessments, Cheatsheets/Guides/Checklist, and Webinars are the best way to get your visitors to opt-in, providing you permission to ensure that they don’t miss important offers, correspondence, and announcements from you. When your website visitors opt-in that means they are acknowledging interest in your product or service, in return, this will help you qualify leads and validate those who are genuinely interested in your skills and your business.
The “About You” Page
An “About You” page is a special page on your website where your visitors get to learn more about you and what you do. To build confidence amongst your visitors and help them to understand that you and your business possess the skills and experience that they need, provide a lengthy but inspiring bio about your journey and the history of your business. Take the opportunity to build your credibility by adding media mentions and show social proof by adding testimonials from clients, customers and business partners. The “About You” page is, indeed an excellent way to connect to your visitors and an effective way to communicate your team’s values and how they may align with a potential customer’s goals. Don’t ignore your “About You” page by just jotting down a few brief words about your company, instead realize just how valuable an asset it really is and use it to boost your business potential.
Products
Now that you have attracted visitors and earned loyal customers and clients, don’t miss the chance to showcase your products on your website. Let your customers find out what you have available in-store. Use your website to introduce and describe each of your items. Let them realize which products they need now or may need in the future.
Services
Services represent an integral part of the product. By offering your services instead of just selling your products, it will allow you to create, not just customers or clients, but relationships. Your services will help make people realize the importance of buying your products and the benefits of using your products as a solution to a specific problem. You can offer Done-for-you services where a customer or client can “Book it, pay for it, and forget about it” as you do all the tedious jobs for them. However, if you would prefer to teach, you may position yourself as a success coach or you can choose to speak on stage. Either way, you are providing a valuable service to your clients or customers that is essential to their own successes and you are providing an in-depth understanding of why your products are important to the growth of your clients or customers businesses.
4 Levels of Thought Leadership
A Thought Leader is somebody who is considered as an authority or expert in their industry. People look up to them and respect their views and opinions. They go out and speak on stage. They are Influencers with a huge social media following. These are the kinds of people who are considered as a Thought Leader.
However, that is the common perception of what a Thought Leader is. I, on the other hand, look at it slightly differently.
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Turn Your Mess into Your Message
How can you turn your mess into your message?
The Mess of problems or trials and tribulations could be found in any area of our lives.
You could be going through a divorce, going through cancer, going through weight loss, or it could be something as simple as teaching your kid how to go potty. Really, it could be just about anything! But then again, if you’ve gone through challenges in life and found ideas to overcome each hurdle, you could take those lessons and teach those who are going through the same trials. You could turn it into a carreer by becoming a coach, or an author, conducting training and mentoring people on how to get through difficulties in life.
You may think that your challenges in life may not mean anything to most and it may not positively affect some. However, no matter how small or big your challenges are, there are many out there who are going through the same tough times like you and when you share your thoughts and problems to others, not only do you relieve yourself from the burden of having to carry your struggles, you also make others realize that they are not alone.
Sure, you could doubt yourself and say that you’re not in any way an expert at life and that you have no Ph.D. in counseling but good news! Times have changed. Nowadays, if people want to learn something or if they want to overcome a challenge, usually they don’t go out and look for people who have a qualified degree in that subject. All they want is a person who they trust, who’s “been there and done that”, and most importantly, someone who has genuine intentions in helping people.
If I want to learn anything, for example, if I want to learn how to set up a website, I don’t necessarily have to hire an agency to teach me. Instead, I can call up a friend who has done it before and get some pieces of advice from them! The way people think nowadays has become even more progressive as we start to turn to practical ways of finding solutions quickly and more effectively. Relying on people with certificates and degrees seems less and less now and most prefer to connect with human beings who have seen the worst but have been through it all and who are kind enough to share their journey.
Many people have been practicing a particular profession for twenty-five to thirty years and suddenly, they would have met with an accident and that could be the turning point in their life. They would have started living a healthier and meaningful life. They want to probably teach meditation and turn it into a career to help people get rid of their stress factors. That’s how life changes or rather, begins. Newton’s first law of motion states, “An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Never undermine all the challenges that you’ve been through. Go back and remember those days when you were in the darkest hole, try to discover your message through the experiences you’ve had. Your Ups and Downs can be your tool to success and similarly, it can be a tool used to drive and encourage others to succeed. And what better way to turn your mess to your message than by writing about it? You could write a book, such as a memoir or be more creative and tell a fictional story about a young hero overcoming adversity. Writing your feelings down is proven to be stress-releasing. It is a great way to move forward. By writing your problems down, you will be able to see things clearly and for you to be able to share your thoughts, your ideas and the way you see things clearly, you will be able to help someone who is lost and looking for advice. Not a piece of professional advice but advice from someone who’s been through it, too. Someone who can relate.
It’s evident that we now live in a postmodern society where people thrive in mindful communication. Young minds have been shifted and seem to truly believe in the phrase “Sharing is loving”. Not in a material sense, but through words. So, even if you don’t believe you’re an expert but have gone through so much in life and have been successful in overcoming each obstacle, you will have so many powerful stories to tell, enough to make others’ burden easier to carry. You could be anyone, a teacher, a student, a housewife or a single parent, if you feel that you have a message you think will bring forth positivity, share it with the world, it matters. Turn your mess into your message.
4 Levels of Thought Leadership
Thought Leaders are common in this day and age. You can see them everywhere! However, what makes them a Thought Leader? And how do you find them?
A Thought Leader is somebody who is considered as an authority or expert in their industry. People look up to them and respect their views and opinions. They go out and speak on stage. They are Influencers with a huge social media following. These are the kinds of people who are considered as a Thought Leader.
However, that is the common perception of what a Thought Leader is. I, on the other hand, look at it slightly differently.
I believe that most of us here are Thought Leaders at some level or the other but, we fail to realize that. When was the last time you posted something on Facebook? And when was the last time you made a comment on Instagram? Whenever we share our views with the world, we are sharing our thoughts. That, itself, can make you a Thought Leader. The only difference is the level at which you are playing this game.
So what are these 4 levels of Thought Leadership?
Level 4: Social Media Posts
A Level 4 Thought Leader is online constantly, getting themselves updated on the latest trends, posting views about what they think is right and wrong. Social media has made it so easy to voice out people’s opinions that anyone with a smartphone can just log in and talk about a certain topic that interests them. That’s what makes social media so powerful. It is the way it allows people to connect using their thoughts. And this is what makes all of us Thought Leaders
Level 3: Blog, Video, Podcast
The next level of Thought Leadership is about individuals who are taking their thoughts seriously. They compose lengthy blogs and post it on their website or another platform and similar mediums where blogs are considered valuable. They create and post videos that are longer and in-depth, and they probably do podcasts, too! They might even have a community of followers! These people, in my opinion, are Level 3 Thought Leaders.
Level 2: Webinar Seminar
Being a Level 2 Thought Leader is when an individual takes time and the effort in creating valuable content for a set of audience who aren’t just casually watching their videos or reading their blogs.
A Level 2 Thought Leader hosts webinars! This way, they are able to build personal relationships and have real-time conversations. By doing this, they would be able to inspire people to explore the highlights of a certain topic and help gain rich insights.
This can also happen offline in real events. Others would go on stage, book themselves as a speaker and share their ideas about a certain topic to a specific audience who are dedicated to learning from them.
Level 1: Book
The ultimate way to establish your Thought Leadership is through a book. It is not an easy feat as it requires commitment and effort. A level 2 Thought Leader may already know tons about a certain topic though they may not take the time to structure all their ideas and compile it in the form of a book. That’s what makes authors stand out from other types of Thought Leaders.
Experts write books!
A Level 1 Thought Leader writes and publishes something on a subject that is important to them, allowing themselves to express their creativity or share their expert advice and teachings with others who, in return, can have and bring with them for the rest of their lives.
Many new opportunities will open up once you establish yourself as a Level 1 Thought Leader and the best way to do it is through writing a book.
5 Deeper Connections I’ve Built During the Lockdown
So it has been hectic in the past few months with all the tension and chaos due to the pandemic that has affected every nation worldwide and while a lot of us are lucky enough to be confined in the safety of our homes, most of us can rediscover ourselves in different ways. Let me share to you here, 5 deeper connections I’ve built in my life during the lockdown.
Connection with Body
In times like these, don’t let any circumstances allow you to give up on your fitness routine. And for those who don’t make exercise a habit, time now is allowing you to do so. Not being able to go to the gym is never an excuse. You can always exercise in the comfort of your home. We all know that staying fit can keep you healthy physically, but exercise boosts your mental and spiritual health, too.
Also, since most of the cities are on lockdown, food deliveries are seldom now. That should not keep you from cooking healthy food for you and your family. Our situation today reminds us that keeping a healthy diet is important as it aids in keeping your body fit and strong. Good food is essential for good health and it protects you against many harmful diseases.
Connection with Mind
Just because the world has stopped, doesn’t mean our mind stops learning. Reconnect with hobbies and discover new ones. Listen to what your mind truly likes. What you choose to learn about and discover can morph into a passion that will get you excited. While waiting out the pandemic, hobbies will help you recover from a long day and it gets your mind working. That’s why hobbies and learning new things is important, it helps you boost the quality of your life. Henceforth, don’t wait for another pandemic to happen, invest time in reconnecting with your mind every day.
Connection with Soul
When we see what’s happening around the world, we become to understand that, truly, life is fleeting and no permanence is ours. Realizing this, we start to connect with our soul and it opens our eyes to see all the things that have been given to us – access to food, shelter and more time with family. Because of this, we become thankful to God and nature. It’s become more obvious that the world today wants to teach us gratitude by connecting with our soul. Connect with your soul and be grateful!
Connection with People
With what’s happening presently, it’s like the world is trying to force each one of us to be with our people to face the darkness together. We now have so much time in our hands to spend it with the people close to our hearts, like family and friends. Cooking today, cleaning tomorrow, most of us would while away the hours swapping stories and doing fun activities with family. With friends, we find ourselves online almost all the time, creating chat groups and killing a couple of hours on FaceTime. Soon, we become more aware of our neighbors, greeting them and asking them how they are doing. The current situation has left all of us to feel more connected with our family, friends and the people around us now and more than ever.
Connection with the Environment
Taking care of the environment starts at home. During these trying times, we are forced to stay home to keep safe, but this also makes us realize that Mother Earth is fighting back. Nature is giving us a once-in-a-generation chance to take care of our environment and what better way to start this than by taking care of our own homes. A clean house is important for the health and well-being of the entire family. Get your family to pick up a broom and assign each member a household task to help tidy up the home and keep it in order. Doing chores together as a family can be a fun interactive way to feel a part of a team. Remember, a messy home invites nothing good and only bad news. On the other hand, having a clean and organized home keeps everybody happy and it eliminates the stress caused by a chaotic environment.
As we learn to take care of our homes, we should also learn how to look after our natural environment. Our environment is responsible for our plants, animals, water and much more. The more we ignore our environment, the more it will become polluted and it will bring about devastating effects to our ecosystem that will equally harm our health. You can take part in protecting and sustaining our planet by recycling, using less paper, using reusable containers, saving electricity and water, and many more. Today, Mother Earth is indeed fighting back. Let this be a lesson to all of us. Always keep in mind that a clean environment is essential for healthy living and a healthy ecosystem.
5 Deeper Connections I’ve Built in my Life During the Lockdown
So it has been hectic in the past few months with all the tension and chaos due to the pandemic that has affected every nation worldwide and while a lot of us are lucky enough to be confined in the safety of our homes, most of us can rediscover ourselves in different ways. Let me share to you here, 5 deeper connections I’ve built in my life during the lockdown.
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3S to Effectively Work From Home
If you just started to work from home, you’ll find it’s not always easy. It’s nice to be able to lounge on your sofa and relax in your bed with your laptop, just typing away, or to be able to prep some snacks and eat it while working at the same time in your dining area. Sure! But then you begin to notice that you’re unable to finish your work on time. At one point, you’re happily typing up a report to present at the meeting tomorrow and the next thing you know, you are staring straight at your TV getting all hyped up with the soap opera only your mother was so excited about. You have practically jumped from one area of your home to another but for some reason, your attention keeps getting diverted to somewhere else that your mind finds more entertaining. You soon realize that it is more chaotic working at home than it did when you were working in the office.
So let me share with you what worked for me before and up to now, as I, too, have had some difficulties working from home.
1. Space
Society has a fixed and oversimplified image or idea of how a person working from home looks like. Work from home advertisements would picture somebody drinking coffee on her favorite sofa chair fiddling on a Tablet. In reality, it’s more complicated than that. As much as you’d like to move from the living room to the dining room and vice versa, you’ll always find it hard to concentrate on your work.
Give yourself some space, a dedicated workspace. It can be a small separate room in your home or a small area inside your bedroom. Ensure its cleanliness and orderliness. Just as Marie Kondo would say it, “Discard everything that does not spark joy.” Declutter and then organize. Keep it minimal by only having the stuff that you think is required in your office. To list down your goals, create a scoreboard, and To-do List by getting yourself a Writing Board. Don’t forget to add a table, chair and other useful fixtures such as a stand-up desk or a cabinet to keep your files and book in order.
Another thing to consider when working from home is a High-speed Internet. You’d need good quality internet to connect with your clients and managers. Avoid using pocket or mobile Wi-Fi connections that’ll cause any latency problem and will only add to your worry. Pocket and mobile Wi-Fi connections are best as back up connections in case of any downtime in your high-speed internet connection.
Lastly, you’d need to invest in good quality hardware and software. Get a laptop with a webcam and a good quality microphone. Download the latest updates for your software and other tools required to execute your work properly. You’d need these during meetings, transferring files online from one person to another, and sending out information to clients and other work staff.
2. Schedule
Follow a schedule. Dedicate time for play and work. Depending on you and your family’s lifestyle, work according to what is most convenient to you and your family. You can split your hours or work straight on a set schedule.
Once you have established your working hours, stick to it as much as you can. It is essential to follow a routine. Start your day by checking daily goals and comparing your yesterday’s tasks from today. This way, you’ll be able to map out your work hours and follow through easily.
When the day is done, make sure to quit working. Have a method to break your work hours when the time is up. Some people would change their clothes, others would drink tea to relax, and I’d turn off my work apps on my phone and simply shut my laptop off.
Another way to start your day right is to get dressed for work. Wake up, take a bath and dress for work. It doesn’t need to be formal, just as long as you’re not in your pajamas and you’re feeling fresh.
Most of all, turn off all phones, unnecessary apps, the television, and close the door if you think it will add a distraction to you and your work routine.
3. Support
Seek the support of your family and friends by making them understand the importance of your time when working and the value of work you need to put in. Explain that you have a special time for your work just as you do when you are spending quality time with them and that during those work hours, you request not to be bothered by anyone unless it’s an emergency.
And there you have it, the 3S to effectively work from home.
With the right space, schedule set in place, and support from family and friends, you will find working from home is as beneficial as others would say it to be.
3S to Effectively Work from Home
If you just started to work from home, you’ll find it’s not always easy. It’s nice to be able to lounge on your sofa and relax in your bed with your laptop, just typing away, or to be able to prep some snacks and eat it while working at the same time in your dining area. Sure! But then you begin to notice that you’re unable to finish your work on time. At one point, you’re happily typing up a report to present at the meeting tomorrow and the next thing you know, you are staring straight at your TV getting all hyped up with the soap opera only your mother was so excited about. You have practically jumped from one area of your home to another but for some reason, your attention keeps getting diverted to somewhere else that your mind finds more entertaining. You soon realize that it is more chaotic working at home than it did when you were working in the office.
So let me share with you what worked for me before and up to now, as I, too, have had some difficulties working from home.
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The Easiest Way to Find Your Life Purpose
At some point in time, we wonder about a lot of things going on in our lives. Are we leading ourselves to the right path? How does it feel to live a life more fulfilling? Often, we shrug it off and accept the thought that, anyway, someday in the future, we will get there and find our purpose in life. However, the question lingers, “If not now, when?” I have been going through the same struggles, I have discovered something that helped me and I want to share it with you in this video.
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