“10 Ways To Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home Blogger” plus 1 more

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10 Ways To Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home Blogger Posted: 26 Aug 2015 07:04 AM PDT This is a guest contribution from Larry Alton. Working from home sounds like a pretty cushy job. You can wear whatever you like, eat as often as you want, text your friends, run errands, and be at home with your family, all while being employed. However, that list of things can often make it difficult to accomplish your work. If you're struggling to find a productive schedule as a freelance blogger, consider these tips. Find Your Groove Everyone has a groove that spurs productivity. Maybe you need to sit in your office chair with the lights off, blinds shut, and a fuzzy blanket on your lap. Or maybe you need to have a clear view of the sunshine and wear your lucky socks. Maybe your groove requires waking up and going straight to work without eating or showering. Everyone has a different groove, and if you find yours, you'll find your most productive hours. Dress Up It's pretty cool that you can go to work in your pajamas and fuzzy slippers, wrapped up in your Snuggie. However, that comfort zone may be your downfall. Wearing clothes that are too comfortable can often lead to a stronger desire to relax rather than work. Dressing up in your business professional clothing can help working at home feel more like working in an office, and you might find your productivity spike. Manage Projects Stay organized by managing your projects. Whether you write just one blog or you ghost write for 20, there are several tools you can use to stay organized both on the computer and off. For example, there are software tools and apps that make invoicing, scheduling, and emailing extremely easy. Or if your projects aren't very complex, you can use a simple white board to keep track of your daily tasks and mark them off as you go. Either way, stay organized to help you stay on track. Remove Distractions Email, cell phones, kids, roommates, pets, food, television—all of these are some of the most tempting distractions for freelance writers, and if you want to find productivity, you'll get them out of the way. Go somewhere to work where you won't be distracted by your surroundings, and set aside separate time to check your phone and email so that you're not doing it during your most productive time. Set Specific Work Hours Scheduling your time is extremely important for having a constructive day if you make a schedule that works specifically for you. Choosing your own schedule is one of the better perks of working at home, after all. When are your most productive hours? When do you work most slowly? Some bloggers have their most productive hours between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. Others have it from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Whatever time works best for you, make sure you build your schedule around that. Make Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Goals Both short and long-term goals do wonders for inspiring creativity and helping you stay productive. If you're a work at home blogger, you're probably goal oriented and deadline driven. Each day, write out your goals for your desired progress and tack it to your office wall. Similarly, define weekly and monthly goals that you're constantly striving to achieve. Log Out of Social Media Social media is incredibly useful for promoting your writing and networking with others. However, when you're supposed to be writing, it's basically the antithesis of productivity. During your scheduled work hours, log out of social media. Better yet, block your favorite networks on your computer until a certain time or ask a trusted friend to change the password for you until you've finished your work for the day. Make Time for Exercise Sitting at your desk chair all day long not only contributes to lost muscle mass and definition, but it also makes you feel less alert and can contribute to lost productivity. When you stay stationary all day long, it can make you feel sleepier and fog your thoughts. Setting aside time for exercise on a daily basis can boost your efficiency by making you more alert and motivated, all while leading to a healthier lifestyle. Eat Healthy Meals Another thing that contributes to fatigue and lack of motivation is sugary, unhealthy food. These make it so that you don't feel 100 percent, which makes it difficult to work efficiently. Healthy meals and reduced snacking on sugary treats can make you feel more alert and healthy, which enhances your abilities to perform your daily tasks. Prepare the Day Before As a work at home blogger, your schedule can fluctuate from day to day, but you can still benefit from preparing for your workload a day in advance. Write out all of the tasks you need to complete the next day and even a tentative schedule for completing them. Furthermore, prepare yourself and your office space. You might set out your clothes or prepare your lunch. You might also clean up your office and pull out any resources you might need for the next day's tasks. A cleaner, more prepared office makes it easy to go straight to work without worrying about a mess. Further Reading: 5 Ways to Make Your Blogging Life Easier. Productive blogging takes practice and a series of trial and error, but once you figure it out, the freer lifestyle is worthwhile. How do you stay productive when goofing off is a more appealing option? Larry Alton is an independent business consultant specializing in social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 10 Ways To Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home Blogger The post 10 Ways To Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home Blogger appeared first on @ProBlogger.

The Biggest Lesson I Learned About Building a Profitable Blog in 2015 Posted: 20 Aug 2015 04:52 PM PDT Episode 38 of the ProBlogger podcast is focused on something I’ve learned in the course of the past year that I think has the potential to transform not only your blogging, but many areas of your life. Today’s episode is personal – my personal journey of the last nine months. I talked about it at the ProBlogger event a few weeks ago now in my opening keynote – an unexpected topic perhaps, but one that I think is so useful as the foundation of everything, including building a profitable blog. The question I want to ask you today is the question we get asked all the time: “how are you?”. Not your blog, not your business, but you? Not just answering “good”, or “busy”, but finding out how are you really? Don’t gloss over the question – really ponder the answer. The biggest lesson in blogging I’ve learned this year, is that if I want my blog to shine, I need to move beyond the minutiae of monetising, finding readers, creating content – I need to work on making myself shine. The wellbeing of my blogs is directly linked to the wellbeing of me, and I had been letting myself go. Late last year I went to the doctor for my annual health checkup, and what he told me changed the trajectory of not only my life, but my blogs as well. He gave me a list of things to work on to get my health back up to speed – a whole list. It was stuff I already knew but had never really done anything about. Seeing it there, in list form, was confronting. I left that doctor’s office feeling pretty low. I didn’t sleep well that night, as I thought about all the things I needed to change in my life. I even pondered the stuff that the doctor didn’t know, but that I knew was an issue. The story I want to tell you today is how that day was a pivot point for me, and how putting my health and wellbeing first has made such an impact on my blogs and my work ever since. I hope it inspires you to examine the parts of your life that need changing, to inspire you to take your health seriously and to stop forgetting to exercise, forgetting to eat well, forgetting to get your priorities in order as we churn on through the hamster wheel of work. I hope it helps you set a solid foundation from which your blogs and online endeavours can grow. Click here to listen to episode 38 of the ProBlogger Podcast: The Biggest Lesson I Learned About Building a Profitable Blog in 2015. I’d also love to hear your feedback on today’s episode, either here or at ProBlogger.com, and your answer to the question: “how are you?”. Further Reading: Sitting is the New Smoking: Sydney Morning Herald How to Get in Shape after Being Sedentary: LiveStrong Five Best Standing Desks: LifeHacker The 5:2 Fast Diet: How Does the Fast Diet Work?: TheFastDiet.co.uk The Important of Rest and Relaxation: University of Washington The Practice of Stillness: Michael Hyatt Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger The Biggest Lesson I Learned About Building a Profitable Blog in 2015 The post The Biggest Lesson I Learned About Building a Profitable Blog in 2015 appeared first on @ProBlogger.

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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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Let Your Personality Show On Your Website To Attract A Bigger Audience Posted: 26 Aug 2015 04:50 AM PDT What’s missing from most people’s websites? A personal touch. Business often has an impersonal feel to it, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can share who you are with your audience, and you’ll probably be better off for it too. The hardest part about this is being vulnerable. It can be difficult to open up to your followers and share who you really are. However, overcoming that fear is all part of growing your online business. Here are four steps you can take to let your personality show through on your website and begin to attract a bigger audience. Step #1 – Identify Your Values What do you stand for? What drives and motivates you? What is most important to you in your life? When you know what your values are, difficult choices become much easier. You’ll always make better decisions concerning your business, your life, and your family if you make them with your personal values in mind. As you are in the process of identifying your values, remember that there are no right or wrong answers. There is virtually no limit to what you can include on your list (but it is good to keep your list on the shorter side). Here are some examples of common values: Achievement Family Challenge Freedom Creativity Integrity If you aren’t sure what you value, then take some time to think about what makes you happy. That’s usually a pretty good indicator of what’s important to you. Finally, there is some value in prioritizing your values too. Some might be more important to you than others. If you resonate with that, then take a moment to order your priorities. Step #2 – Make A List Of Your Passions What do you like to do with your time? What are your hobbies? How do you spend your days off? Identifying your passions shouldn’t be hard. In fact, it should be a lot of fun! After all, this is the stuff you already care about and spend your time doing. You would probably do these things even if you weren’t paid to! You might be passionate about technology and gadgets, playing guitar, watching your favorite basketball team, going to movies, or spending time with your family. Guess what? Other people are passionate about that stuff too! Sure, you and your audience might not have everything in common, but the more you let on about your passions, the more you’ll give your followers an opportunity to feel a sense of connectedness with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re marketing affiliate products or selling your own resources; if you’re open about who you are, your audience will grow and you’ll sell more. Additionally, some people like to separate personal passions from professional passions. That might be a good thing to do, depending on what your goals are. For example, if you started a blog to land your ideal job, separating your passions might be helpful in evaluating offers that come your way. Step #3 – Talk To Those Closest To You Do you want to know who you really are? Do you want to get a sense of how your audience views you? Although it’s a good idea to look yourself in the mirror (both literally and figuratively), it’s the perception of others that matters. This isn’t to say that your view of yourself isn’t important, but in business, you also need to be thinking about how you’re coming across. Who knows you better than those closest to you – your family and friends? You should spend some time with these people. Share your values and passion with them and ask them what they see in you. Who knows? You might discover some rough edges that you need to smooth out. You might find that your values aren’t totally in alignment with your actions. Or, maybe you’ll discover that you’re exactly the kind of person you thought you were. Regardless, this is a valuable exercise. Asking what other people think of you requires a certain amount of vulnerability; the same vulnerability that will be needful of you as you are in the process of building a bigger audience. Step #4 – Determine Your  Goals By now, you should have a much better idea of who you are. Now it’s time to take a look at where you want to go.. What do you hope to achieve in your personal and business life? What activities have you found to be the most rewarding in your life so far? Where do you see yourself ending up; five, 10, or even 50 years down the line? It’s entirely possible that you already have goals for yourself and your business. If so, do you have them written down? And, if they are written down, are your goals in alignment with the person you’ve identified in the last three steps? Congruence is important. It seems obvious, but when who you are matches up with where you want to go, getting there is going to prove much easier. Now that you know what your life vision is, don’t forget to take the time to think about the steps you need to take to get there. You have to break your goals down into smaller steps; otherwise, your dreams are merely wishes. Conclusion The steps outlined here might seem overblown. It may seem like a lot of trouble to go through just to attract a bigger audience. But there is a lot of power in knowing who you are and sharing that with others. When they know what you’re after, it makes it easier for them to rally behind you. More than likely, you’ve taken the time to find out who your audience is. You’ve figured out what age they are, what their interests are, and where they like to hang out online. This is marketing 101. Personal branding 101 is knowing who you are. If you’ve taken the time to get to know your target customer, then you should take the same amount of time and effort in understanding your own desires and motivations.

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