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Reaching and Attaining your Goals

Last week in the Social Speak Network we discussed setting goals for your business. It all starts with creating SMART goals and making sure these goals are driven by your Internal Motivators rather than External forces. If you missed these topics, please click to get all caught up:

This week, we are focusing on Reaching and Attaining your Goals.

Achieve your Goals

The PDF Download is Available Here

The purpose here is to give you the tools you need to make sure you are being productive as you work towards you business and personal goals. Far too frequently, especially as a business owner, things pop up and derail our journey to leading a more successful life. What can you do about this? My solution, following the advice of Todd Herman of the 90 Day Year, is to focus, as his title reflects, on shorter increments of time. Focusing on shorter increments of time allows you to stay more focused on the efforts that are going to drive you forward.

The premise is that you can utilize Time Blocking to make sure that rather than multitasking, you are focusing specifically on elements that will make a difference in your business and life. I feel this ties in with Tim Ferris’ book, 4 Hour Work Week, in terms of finding ways to structure your time more efficiently (hiring virtual assistants to aid with repetitive projects, checking email at specific points during the day, etc).

So how can you structure your SMART goals to be more attainable in your business?

Many of you may have focused on only your business goals within the SMART goals worksheet, in this scenario, we will be needing to grow your list slightly. If you only work towards your business goals, you may not be structuring enough time to work on personal and family goals, as well.

Step 1: Within the categories of Work, Education + Personal Development, Health, Family, and Something for Others, what is your number 1 SMART goal?

The worksheet provided at the end of this article includes space to enter these goals.

Step 2: Most likely, these goals are for the entire year. Working backwards, where would you like to be for each of your goals in 90 days (3 months)? It is alright if you want to complete the entire goal within the 90 days.

Step 3: To reach the goal or your progress towards the goal, what needs to be accomplished each week? What TIME do you need to set aside each week to ensure these tasks be completed?

Why do you need to understand the time it will take for you to reach your goals?

Within our daily lives, especially as business owners, we always have things popping up. When you are working towards our goals, knowing how long you need to focus on each one allows you to Time Block your week. This doesn’t mean necessarily writing down everything that you will be working on for the week at the specific time, but it does mean blocking off an hour (or however long you need) to focus specifically on one goal without interruption. No email, no social media, no phone calls. Just you and your work towards the goal.

Let’s say your goal to engage with your email list more frequently. What does this actually mean? Be more specific. What about, send 1 email to your email list each week with the goal of scheduling the email 1 month ahead of time.

To achieve this goal in 90 days, you would need to: come up with an email template, decide on the day of the week to send your email, come up with topics to discuss in your email campaign, start sending/ scheduling the emails. To have the goal of scheduling the emails out 1 month ahead of time, over the course of 90 days, you would need to write and schedule 4 extra emails (13 emails to be sent out during the 90 days + 4 pre-written for the following month).

Take the time to think about the amount of time you would need to prepare each email:

  • Email prep (template selection, day of week, etc): 1 hr
  • Content for each email: 45 min

From here, figure out how long you need to spend each week to achieve your goal of writing 17 emails in 90 days.

  • 17 emails divided by 13 weeks equals 1.3 emails per week (17/13=1.3).
  • In other words you would need to write one complete email and start the draft of the next email (or finish the draft of the email you started the week prior).
  • This equates to just about 1 hour per week to achieve your goal in 90 days (1.3 emails per week times 45 min per email equals 58.8 minutes per week). That seems pretty doable, right?

This means each week you just need to block off one hour to work on your newsletter.

Now, let’s just look at if you wanted to write all of the newsletters for the year within that 90 days, how long would you need to spend per week?

  • 52 newsletters divided by 13 weeks equals 4 emails per week
  • 45 minutes per email times 4 emails per week equals 180 minutes per week
  • You would need to spend 3 hours per week or just over 30 minutes per day to write a years worth of newsletter content in 90 days. This actually could be a great goal to have for your business.

You can follow this same process for all of your goals in the 5 categories listed above. As you move along in the 90 days, assess if you are actually committed to focusing only on the one goal for the blocked time allotted. Often if you find yourself falling behind, it may be because you aren’t committing to this task specifically. If you find you need more time, create 2 blocks during the week for your goal or 1 block of time each day to make sure you are progressing towards it.

Personally, I tend to choose themes for my years and create goals that relate back to these broad themes. In 2018, my theme is Organize. This includes my house (we already tackled our ‘hoarding closet’ and donated 2 giant bags of clothing, old bed sheets, old bags, and shoes to goodwill), my business (creating a process for setting my top priorities each day), my family (doing a better job managing childcare for our toddler), etc. So, however you choose your SMART goals for the year, make sure you start tackling the ones that are going to make the biggest difference in your work and life.

This 90 Day Year framework is available for download HERE. In the download you will find sheets to organize each of the top goals in the 5 categories as well as a weekly time blocking sheet to help you set specific times to focus on your goals. Again, during this time, you are not to answer emails or phone calls and you should be purely focused on the task at hand.

Download PDF for the 90 Day Year Here.

[This PDF is not the actual pdf that you would receive from Todd Herman’s 90 Day Year]

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Pinterest Checklist

Pinterest Checklist

Is your Pinterest set up correctly? This checklist reviews the items you should be sure to consider as you are creating your Pinterest profile.

Download PDF Here



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Blog SEO Checklist

blog seo checklist

The Blog Checklist for Search Engine Optimization covers the most important aspects of SEO on your blog posts.

Download PDF Here



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Achieve your Goals Workbook

business goal setting

In this workbook you are given the framework to set your goals through sprints towards the end result!

Download PDF Here



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Internal and External Goals

Today we are talking about setting your internal and external goals. Every year we all set goals and New Year’s Resolutions but sometimes we get lost just focusing on the destination and not the journey. When we are talking about your internal goals we are looking at your creativity, feeding your soul, positive things, finding your purpose and fulfilling yourself. Whereas External goals focus more on how people view you, the extravagant things like a huge house, nice cars, making 6 figures a year, now those things are great, but are are you wanting them because they mean something to you or because of how people will view you? The external goal focuses more on the outside appearance and just your destination and not your journey.

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Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization in 2018

As technology continues to evolve, it may come as no surprise that the marketplace has become increasingly digital. In an attempt to capture a growing and lucrative online marketplace, business owners are beefing up existing marketing efforts with digital marketing strategies. They are doing everything they can to keep up.

Here are 3 ways digital marketing can help grow your business.

Connects you with mobile consumers

Whether you’re managing an e-commerce business or a brick and mortar store, it is important now more than ever to have a solid online presence. According to studies, 72% of consumers are already connecting with brands through their various digital marketing channels.

Having a strong online presence makes it easier for potential customers to find you. Remember, your competitors are working hard to build an online presence. If people can’t find you online, then they are likely to come across your competition.

Generate more sales

Thanks to the internet, almost everything can be done on a smart phone. It allows you to communicate with your family and friends, keep up to date with current events, do research, and even go shopping.

In the age of digitalization, more and more people prefer to shop online than visit the local stores. After all, online shopping is more convenient. Plus, all the items your purchased will be delivered right at your doorstep. With the increasing popularity of online shopping, it is important harness the power of online marketing. Not only will it get your products and services in front of potential customers; it can also help you generate more sales.

Allows you to compete with large corporations

Not too long ago, big businesses would put up billboards and create TV commercials in the hopes of reaching their audience. While there is no denying that such methods are effective, they can be too expensive for small business owners.

With digital marketing, small business owners and marketers can get the word out about their business without having to spend a huge sum of money; thus, allowing them to compete with large corporations. Since majority of their target audience is already spending most of their time online, online marketing provides a quick and easy way to reach your target audience.

SEO Myths You Should Leave Behind in 2017

SEO is always changing and evolving. With this continuous change, a lot of marketers and business owners are left in a state of constant adaption.

Thanks to the internet and blogs, it is easier now more than ever to share information. A lot of people want to share their knowledge with others. Unfortunately, not everything you read on the internet is true. Often, false ideas and wrong information gets mixed up with facts. Because of this, a lot of myths and misconceptions remain no matter how many experts debunk them.

There are lots of misconceptions about SEO that you should know about. Here are some of the biggest SEO myths you should leave behind in 2017.

Keyword stuffing is the ultimate SEO hack

Back in the early years of search engine, people used to shove as many SEO keywords as possible onto a web page to improve SEO rankings. Using keyword in your content can get your website ranked high in search engines. But overly stuffing your content with your keyword isn’t a good thing either. If you do, your content will be perceived as spam, and your site will be penalized.

When using keywords, make sure you incorporate them as seamlessly as possible into your content. Also, make sure that the keyword density doesn’t go over 5%. Otherwise, it will be viewed as spam.

Social activity doesn’t affect SEO

Google doesn’t use social metrics such as the number of shares, likes, and followers for SEO. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that your social media efforts are useless.

Each post you make will be categorized as a page. With millions of social media posts, along with other contents published on the internet on a daily basis, not everything gets indexed by Google. But when a social media post goes viral, it triggers a signal in the Google algorithm. This puts your content in front of the right users; thus, increasing engagements and driving more traffic to your site.

Social media may not directly affect search engine rankings, but it can have significant secondary effects on your SEO.

Creating high quality content is enough to rank your website

It is true that content is king. In fact, Google rewards websites that generate valuable content regularly by giving it a higher ranking in the search engine results page.

While creating well-researched and relevant content is a great starting point, it’s not enough to get you to the first page of Google. It may be impossible for crawlers to find your content if your website isn’t optimized.

You may have a blog full of good quality content and you make it a habit to publish a new one every week, but there is no point in writing great content if no one is aware of your work.

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YouTube Checklist

YouTube Checklist

The YouTube Checklist goes through the steps for you to take to set up your YouTube Channel most efficiently.

Download PDF Here



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How To Work SMART In 2018

I don’t know about you, but my mind has been consumed with planning for 2018!  Specifically, I have been asking myself “how I can grow my business in the new year?”  The biggest question I have been asking myself is “What are the activities that I need to be involved in to grow the business and how can I tell if those activities will work and are working?”  Almost like kismet, I stumbled over the SMART acronym while surfing social media.  While it is not a new idea, it is definitely a timely one!

If you are not familiar with the SMART acronym, here is how it breaks down as it applies to business and goal setting:

S – Specific (make your goal is clear and not ambiguous) 

M – Measurable (how will you measure your results to ensure you have reached your goal?)

A – Attainable (make sure the goal is something realistic, something you can achieve)

R – Relevant (does the goal make sense for your business and your business plan?)

T – Time-Bound (how long will it take you to achieve your goal or what deadline did you assign to this goal?)

This acronym is a favorite as it reminds me to be laser focused when planning my goals for 2018.  Each goal I set for 2018 will need to be SMART.  Each letter of the acronym will be filled out in order for it to be considered a serious goal for 2018.  To do that, I created a 2018 SMART planner that I am excited to share with you!  You can download the planner and complete SMART for each goal you plan to achieve in 2018.

To get your SMART planner, click HERE.

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Social Media Campaign Tips to Amp Up Your Holiday Sales

Christmas is the season of giving. Most people are looking for the perfect gift for their family, friends and loved ones. Many of them turn to social media for gift ideas. This provides a great opportunity for you to promote your products and grow your business.

You need to have strong social media marketing campaign in place if you want to generate more sales. Remember, social media can have a significant influence on a consumer’s purchasing decision.

Use these tips to boost your holiday sales.

Schedule posts in advance

To capitalize on this growing opportunity, you need to start your preparations early. At this point, you should have written your blogs, social media posts and planned your social media calendar. If you haven’t already done so, then you’re too late.

Take time to schedule your posts in advance. Not only will it help you save time, it also gives you enough room to handle real-time engagement when the rush of the holiday is upon you. Stay ahead of the game by planning your social media campaign early.

Create stand out content

Time spent on social media starts to increase by October. It reaches its peak by New Year’s Eve.  Because of this, social media is aflutter with holiday buying cheer during this time of the year.

With so many businesses vying for the attention of consumers, you need to find a way to stand out. One of the best ways of doing this is by creating interesting, unique, and informative content. It is also a good idea to create content that activates a high-arousal emotion as it has the potential to go viral.

Feature user-generated content

Instead of bombarding your audience with ads, why not encourage them to share how they like to use your products. Or better yet, ask them to create a story on Snapchat or Instagram showing how they like to celebrate the holidays. Starbucks seem to have mastered the art of user-generated content. They even hold the red cup contest every year.

Encouraging your audience to get creative with your products can be beneficial for your business. Not only will it help boost your social media engagement, your brand will come across as real and personable. Remember, feeling connected is a huge part of what drives social media success.

Get reviews

Most people would read reviews or get recommendations from friends before buying something. If you want to boost your sales this holiday season, encourage your customers to write reviews.

Customer reviews are very influential. In fact, they are more effective than a paid marketing ad in increasing your sales. Having legitimate product reviews can mean the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.  They can persuade new or casual browsers to take action and make their own purchase.

Fun and Festival Holiday Marketing Ideas

Christmas is just around the corner. With the competition getting tougher than ever, most businesses are already plotting their first move. If you haven’t started your holiday marketing yet, then you’re already too late. But don’t worry. We’re here to help.

It’s time for you to start pulling together some marketing ideas and get stocked and ready for the holiday rush. Here are some fun and festive marketing ideas you should implement this holiday season.

Send holiday emails

You have probably heard that email marketing is on the verge of death, and sending emails to your target audience is just a waste of time and effort. That’s not true. In fact, email marketing is alive and well. It’s very beneficial for businesses, big or small.

Email marketing provides a very personalized and intimate way to communicate with your audience. It allows you to build better relationship with them. This holiday season, make sure that you keep in touch with your audience and let them know about your upcoming deals. This will give them a sense of exclusivity.

Send a unique gift catalog to loyal customers

People have crazy schedules these days. Many of them are looking to buy their presents online because it is the most convenient option.

Everyone is in shopping mode during this time of the year. Make it easier for your loyal customers to shop for their Christmas presents by sending them a gift catalog. Now that you have provided them with a convenient way to shop and gift suggestions, they will no longer have to look elsewhere.

Feature upcoming deals in social media

Most people visit social media sites a few times a day. Use this as an opportunity to reach as much peole as possible and let them know about your upcoming deals.

By now, you probably know which social media platform your target audience frequent. If most of your audience are using Instagram, then focus your marketing efforts there. But don’t forget to promote across different platforms as well.

Create limited offers

Any company or retailer with a product or service to sell can benefit from creating limited offers. Adding urgency to your offer will help generate interest and compel people to buy right away.

For this to work, you need to define your offer dates and let people know about it. The whole point of limited-time offers is to get people to act fast. If they know that they can still avail the product or service for the same price next week or next month, they may not even show interest. Call to actions such as today only, last day, and ends at midnight creates a higher level of urgency and pushes your audience to buy now.

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Finding Topics Your Tribe Will Love [Video]

Topics Tribe with love

Content is King… When you know which topics you should be writing about.

This video is an excerpt from our NEW COURSE: Secrets to Effectively Blog For Your Business (which is included in the membership for our paying members).

In this video, we take a look at 3 of the ways you can find topics to blog about for your business:

1. A personal brainstorm
2. Your competitors
3. Industry and Trade Journals

And how you can utilize these topics to create a content calendar for your business.

As you tune in, be sure to have a pen and paper handy to start your brainstorm process.

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