Create

Life tends to be all about sinking or swimming. Once you’ve experienced the pain of taking on too much and feeling like you’re drowning, it teaches you life lessons. It takes a great deal of effort to stay afloat. However, there is something about rock bottom that teaches you things that you can never learn when you are swimming along peacefully.

When you are at the bottom, you learn how to fight and claw your way back to the surface. You learn the power that you have within you that will sustain you in life. Now, the biggest challenge is to learn how to break away from your past and stop dwelling on those mistakes; it’s easier said than done.

Do you tend to ruminate on your past, and your mind plays a loop of your failures? Why do you keep playing the same movie time and again in your head, and you’re expecting the ending to be different? When you are constantly dwelling on the past, you will reopen wounds that have closed, and it will self-sabotage your determination.

How can you move forward when you are so preoccupied with what’s behind you? Letting go is never easy, but if you don’t get control of your thought processes, then days, weeks, and years will pass without change. To put the past in the past, you must first be willing to take a step forward.

10 Tips to Help You Stop Dwelling on the Past

It’s time for you to move on, and you need to let the universe know that you’re ready for a fresh start and change. There’s no need to be scared because you will stagnate if you never alter or change in life.

Everyone will agree the aroma that comes from stagnant water is pungent. If you’re ready to move on from your past and begin again, here are ten tips to help you.

1. Remember You Write the Story

The great thing about your life is you get to write your story. You will have many chapters, but each of these chapters will tell a story of a time or period you endured. Some chapters will be exciting and full of love and hope, which others will reflect on the darkest times in your life.

You will have support characters, people who are there for only a season, and those who shake things up. Take a good look at your novel and identify the chapter you’re currently in. Now, the great news is that you get to write the ending too.

Remember, no one else can write your story like you, so make sure that you give the novel plenty of interest and love.

2. Learn from Your Mistakes

The book of your life would be a pretty boning read if there were some intrigue, mystery, and drama. Consider a baby learning to maneuver in their new world. It takes them several times to fall before they learn to walk.

However, the young child soon learns what they need to do so that they don’t fall. The same analogy applies to you. You eventually know what you need to do to keep from making the same mistakes in life. Rumination and dwelling on the past only hurt you. Use your failures as motivation for the future.

3. Trust the Process

Do you ever wonder how your life would have been if you had made different choices? Did you know that you’re one decision away from a whole new life? Each choice you make is important because it defines that chapter in your life’s story.

Sometimes, things won’t work in your favor, and other times, you will master it all. The connection to why these things happened will become apparent in the future. If you’re constantly dwelling on the past, you might resist the good things in store for you.

You must trust the process and give yourself a pat on the back that you’ve made it thus far.

4. Look to the Future

Your strength may be limited, but the things you can achieve in your life are limitless. Keep in mind; you are utilizing strength and energy when you’re dwelling on the past, worrying, or angry. It’s exhausting trying to focus on things that are out of your control.

Letting go is so tricky, but in time you will learn to build and trust. The wonderful thing about letting go of excess baggage is that you’re clearing the way for new adventures. There are reasons for change, and when you resist these changes, you could be preventing some of the most extraordinary experiences of your life from occurring.

5. Find Inspiration in Others

Do you think that you’re the only one with problems? Life is all about the ups and downs and the valley. It seems so lonely when you’re at rock bottom, but you may use this time to draw inspiration from others.

One of the most powerful platforms ever created was Ted Talks. People share their stories of facing insurmountable odds and coming through victorious. You can find just about any topic and subject to draw strength.

If you aren’t much for podcasts, then you might try an online support group. It’s incredible what it does to your spirit when you read of others and their tales of the human spirit’s ability to overcome.

6. Meditation and Developing a Proper Mindset

Dwelling on the past puts you in a negative mindset. There have been numerous studies done on the effects of negative thinking. If you speak positive things, then you will be optimistic.

However, if you are continually living in a negative realm, your life will have a pessimistic outlook. You can change your thoughts by using meditation. If you’re new to this art form, you might want to try a guided meditation to erase negativity.

Your mindset means everything, so it’s time to change it for good. Stop looking at your past as a life sentence. It’s in the past for a reason, and you need to leave it there. Through mindful breathing and meditation, you can conquer some of your biggest inner struggles.

7. Stop Playing the “What If” Game

Does any of these questions sound like you: “What if I didn’t marry that person?” “What if I didn’t buy this car?” “What if I didn’t move across the country and try this adventure?” There are lots of questions that you ask yourself daily that you cannot answer.

While it’s hard to look at things positive when they turned out to be a disaster, try focusing on the right parts. For instance, your marriage might have been a wreck, but you have a beautiful child that you adore. If it weren’t for that marriage, then you wouldn’t have your baby. Even the darkest of clouds can have a silver lining.

8. Develop a Positive Mantra

You’re human, and it’s nearly impossible to stop all the evil thoughts. Every time thoughts of your past come up and bother you; you need to have a mantra that you quote to clear your mind.

For instance, if you found yourself once addicted to drugs and alcohol, but you’ve been clean for ten years, it’s a significant achievement. When your mind wanders back to those horrible events, tell yourself that you’re more powerful than the pain, and you will use your life for good.

You can use your past to help others who are not as far along on the journey. Then, you’re taking the bad that happened to you and turning it into a positive. Rumination and dwelling on the past are only useful if it’s helping someone else.

9. Stop Playing the Victim

Some people love playing the victim card because it feels good to get attention.

At some point in your life, you must move from victim to victor. Dwelling on the past should never be something you use for people’s pity or to get attention. Plus, this negativity will hold you back and won’t allow you to move on.

10. Get Help

If no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get past the past, then you need to seek professional help. Therapy is an excellent outlet for you to vent your frustrations, process them, and then move beyond that stagnating position.

It’s never easy to change, and there are times when you want to run away and hide. However, there’s something very freeing when you talk about the issues with a third party who is objective. They can help you make sense of the madness and put things into perspective.

It would help if you found the strength within you to move past these events. You know how annoying the old record players were that would get stuck on a scratch and play the same sentences over and over?

Well, you’re doing the same thing inside your head. Ruminating on your mistakes can cause excessive anxiety, depression, and other mental health disturbances. You owe it to yourself and your family to move on.

Final Thoughts on How to Stop Dwelling on the Past

Dwelling on the past holds you back from entering the next significant phase of your life. Consciously work at removing these barriers from your mind. Only then will you be free to attain all your goals and dreams.

You have goals. That’s wonderful. Believe it or not, you’re doing great. Life coaches everywhere will tell you that a lot of people haven’t even made it that far.

Now you’re probably wondering how to achieve those goals. Many people psych themselves out at this step. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to achieve these grand goals you have floating in your head.

Life coach Lauren Handel Zander suggests that people haven’t really taken enough time to figure out what they want out of life. Taking the time to sit down and map out what you want can help guide your life. “Whatever you’re chasing in life — it needs to be you true north,” says Zander.

The best way to not get overwhelmed, and to achieve goals is to create an action plan. When you have a plan, you can see the journey step by step and suddenly your goals seem easy to attain. Here is the best way to create a great action plan based on advice from several life coaches.

A Ten-Step Action Plan to Help You Reach Your Dreams

Step 1: Relax.

As stated before, a lot of people can be overwhelmed at the thought of trying to achieve goals. Just relax. You need to get rid of stress first before you embark on this journey because you need a clear head.

Whatever you need to do to take the edge off, do it (as long as it’s nothing harmful to yourself like drugs or alcohol). Take a couple of days off, do yoga, read some self-help books, and get yourself in the right state of mind. You don’t want to start the journey off as a frazzled mess. That isn’t going to help anything.

Step 2: Clearly define your SMART goals.

You may have goals, but your goals need to be clearly defined. According to life coach Alexis Robin, co-founder of pLink Coaching Center, “when you get crystal clear about where you are going on a project, in your career, or in your life, each decision you make will get you closer to or further from that vision. If you are struggling with big decisions it may be because you don’t have your destination clearly identified.”

To clearly identify your goals, you should use the acronym SMART. This stands for:

• Specific – your smart goal should be as specific as possible. For example, instead of just saying you want to save money, you should specify how much you want to save and give yourself a deadline.
• Measurable – you should be able to keep track of your progress. It’s essential to be able to see the progress from week to week or month to month.
• Attainable – you should always aim high, but the goal needs to be reasonable and attainable. For example, don’t say you want to save a million dollars in six months if you’re currently only bringing in $20,000 annually.
• Relevant – the goal should be relevant to your life, skills, and needs. For example, don’t have a plan to buy a new car if your goal is to save money.
• Time-based – you should be able to set a deadline for you to achieve the goal. The deadline should be reasonable.

Step 3: Figure out your reason why.

It’s important to understand why you want to reach the SMART goal you’re striving for. Your reason why could be simple. You want to save money so you’re not living paycheck to paycheck. You want to lose weight so you can live a healthier lifestyle. These are simple, but sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find the real why.

This could take some self-exploration and it may be a little scary to do that. However, understanding why you want to achieve that goal will provide you with the motivation you need to do it.

For example, you might want to save money so you can enjoy more time and activities with your children before they completely grow up. That’s much more motivational than simply saying you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck.

Step 4. Create actions and a timeline.

You have your SMART goal in place, and you’re motivated to accomplish it. This part of the action plan is where you map out exactly how you’re going to do that.

You should be able to create a list of actions or tasks that will take you, step by step, to your goal. Essentially, you’re going to divide your main goal into smaller goals. Remember to keep the smaller goals attainable.

Step 5: Get started.

You would be surprised how many people create an entire action plan but never put it into action. Now that you have your plan all set, you have to start doing it. A plan without any action isn’t a plan at all.

This is where your real why is most important. It’s going to give you that fire to get started. Keep that in mind and don’t be afraid to take that first step in your plan.

Step 6: Delegate tasks and designate resources.

Parts of your plan may require the help of other people and outside resources. Don’t be afraid to seek out that help. However, make sure you’re counting on reliable people.

For example, if your goal is saving money, you might have a plan to get a promotion so you can have more money coming in. This means you may need to step up at work and take on leadership positions which include managing other co-workers. Here is where you’d delegate tasks and designate resources.

Step 7: Take your plan step by step.

Remember to take your plan step by step. Of course, you’re going to keep your primary goal in mind, but don’t allow yourself to think of the entire goal at one time. You may find yourself getting overwhelmed.

Remember, you made an action plan for a reason. Don’t focus on future steps. Focus on the step that you’re currently working on.

Step 8: Don’t give up.

Your plan makes it easier to achieve your goals, but it doesn’t make everything easy. There are still going to be challenges along the way. These challenges might push you to your limit.

You have to remember not to give up. Make sure you have a source of strength around you to keep you pushing towards your goals. Keep a reminder of your real why near you. Write daily affirmations, listen to motivational videos, and do whatever it takes to keep going. Remember, when things get hard, or almost impossible, don’t give up.

Step 9: Monitor your progress.

Keep an eye on the progress that you’re making. As you achieve each of your smaller goals, look at them as milestones. Look at them as points in the plan where you need to recognize your small successes so far and make sure you’re still on track.

In other words, hold yourself accountable. If your goal involves a team, hold your team accountable. Have meetings to make sure everything is going as planned. If you need to, meet with individual team members.

Pay attention to the needs that arise as you follow the steps of the action plan. Make sure you’re providing those needs so that your progress won’t stop. In fact, you may need to anticipate needs so that your progress doesn’t stall. You can’t anticipate needs unless you’re doing a great job of monitoring your progress.

Step 10. Celebrate your successes.

Everyone works better on a rewards system. Plan to reward yourself with the accomplishment of each small goal. It can be a small reward, or it can be something extravagant (although if you’re trying to save money you may want to go with a small reward).

If you have a team that’s involved in your plan, don’t forget to reward them for their successes as well. The reward could be as simple as recognition for their efforts. There are plenty of studies that show that employees (or team members) work harder and are more productive when they are recognized for their efforts.

This includes you recognizing yourself. It’s a great way to keep up your self-motivation.

Final Thoughts on Creating an Action Plan to Attain Your Goals

Having goals is the first step to a better future, but you have to find a way to reach them. Action plans are the way to do this. Focusing on the big picture all at once can be overwhelming but creating a plan to get you there makes your goals much more attainable.

Life coaches everywhere will tell you that smaller, attainable tasks take the pressure off you and that taking the pressure off allows you to thrive when you’re pursuing your goals. Take this advice and get started on your action plan as soon as possible. Remember to stay focused and stay motivated and before you know it, your big picture will become a reality.

Fight for Your Write to Create: Best Creative Writing Careers

Did you take a creative writing degree and are now looking for a job? 

Some people assume creative writing only leads to journalism and editing careers. That’s not true! There are a lot of ways to put your skills to good use. 

You can do so much more than work as a newspaper or website journalist. To help you figure out your next career move, check out our list below of some of the best creative writing jobs.

Fiction Writing

Becoming a published fiction writer is perhaps the ideal creative career. Who doesn’t want to become the next big sensation? Who doesn’t want their work to become as popular as Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, or The Hunger Games?

The traditional route involves writing a manuscript and then sending it to different publication agencies or directly to a publisher. You may have to send your manuscript around before someone agrees to publish your work.

However, with today’s digital market, you can self-publish on sites like Lulu.com or the Amazon Kindle library. Titles like 50 Shades of Grey made it big despite starting as indie fan fiction projects.

Don’t limit yourself to novels. You can write for online magazines or publish a collection of short stories. You could focus on novelettes or write solely for fiction websites.

Podcaster

Yes, working as a professional podcaster is one of the best career options for creative writing majors. There are at least 62 million podcast listeners in the US alone. If you want to flex your writing muscle and work on programs that get people interested, this could be the platform you need. 

Podcasting covers a wide range of options, too. You could write segments for educational podcasts, political topics, or hobbyist endeavors such as podcasts dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons sessions. If you want, you could place a few cameras, so that you can also release a video version of the podcast on platforms like YouTube or Facebook.

Screen or Playwright

Another option for a successful creative writing profession is to get a career in writing for movies or stage plays. You don’t have to aim for creative writing jobs in Hollywood or Broadway; there are tons of indie film projects, local stage performances, and network TV programs to jump into. 

You can also work as a screenplay writer for documentaries, church films, advertisements, and YouTube content. You could launch a successful career writing for YouTube creators, particularly those who need content daily or weekly. 

Copywriter

Copywriters are all about writing content that sells something. It could be as simple as writing content on a web page to promote a particular product or writing slogans and taglines for posters. You could work as a copywriter for print materials, writing content for flyers, and pamphlets.

People often confuse copywriting with blogging. Blogging covers a wide range of topics, but you can focus on blogs that serve as copywriting material. If they promote and sell a product or service, then they fall under this category.

You could work entirely as a copywriter for websites. You’ll focus on writing web content for their pages and blog posts. The central focus is to promote the site and its services or products to their visitors.

Ghostwriter

Are you comfortable writing something for someone and not taking any credit? Are you comfortable getting a one-time payment for all your hard work? If you are, then you could carve a lucrative career as a ghostwriter.

Keep in mind that as a ghostwriter, you have no claim over the work you did.

As a ghostwriter, you could explore a wide range of creative options. You could focus entirely on ghostwriting fiction novels, screenplays, blogs, or academic papers. You could work as a ghostwriter solely for non-fiction work, such as biographies or documentaries.

Video Game Writer

Writing in video games grew over the decades. Nowadays, you’ll find games with epic stories that can rival the quality of some of the most amazing movies.

Consider the stories of games like The Last of Us, God of War, and Mass Effect. Even games where a story isn’t often the focus, such as platformers, you’ll still see amazing writing. Consider games like Celeste, The Messenger, and Axiom Verge. 

All of these require an expert creative writer to handle the narrations, dialogue, scenarios, and more. Writing for video games is quite different compared to writing a book, but it’s as fulfilling, especially when you see it all come together.

Academic Writer

Do you have the skills needed to write a good thesis paper? Do you know how to choose a capstone topic for undergrad students? You could work as an academic writer.

Does that still count as a creative career? It does! Even though you’ll focus more on research, putting all the information together into a cohesive paper requires creativity and writing skills.

Social Media Marketer

Have you ever wondered who writes all the fun and creative tweets for Wendy’s? That falls under the responsibility of the social media manager or social media marketer.

You could step into this career choice and practice your creative writing this way.

You may prioritize writing Facebook posts, Instagram captions, or descriptions for YouTube videos. This is one of the most crucial jobs in any business because your work directly affects branding. The words you put out reflect how a business engages with its community.

Launch a Successful Creative Writing Career Now

Don’t limit your creative writing skills to journalism or plain-old editing. There are so many career options available, so feel free to explore and give them all a try. You might discover a new passion or a niche you excel in!

But don’t stop with these creative writing jobs. If you want to discover even more career guides and lifestyle tips, feel free to read more of our articles right here. We cover a wide range of topics to help you out!

One of the best ways to relieve stress is by taking a trip to the spa. While it’s the little things in life that matter, you may not be able to afford to have such luxuries. Thankfully, you don’t need to go out and about to create a spa day at home.

A spa day at home is a way for you to unwind and release some stress and tension that you carry around. There’s very little that they do at a spa that you cannot do at home. Additionally, it’s very beneficial to have some “you” time where you put the children and spouse on the back burner for a few minutes.

Pampering Yourself with A Spa Day at Home

If you have no idea where to begin, we have created a list for you to simplify the process. Grab some candles, essential oils, bath salts, and a beautiful, fuzzy robe, and you’re ready. Here are some ways to let the pampering begin.

1. Do a Cleansing Facial Mask

There are hundreds of facial masks on the market. You can find ones for dry, oily, or combination skin. There’s no need to spend a fortune as you can usually get sample packets that give you a one-time treatment before you buy a more significant portion.

Mud masks are great because they draw impurities from the skin as well as hydrate. The black charcoal masks are great for those who have acne and whiteheads. Though it’s challenging to pull off the cover once it’s dried, it brings with it all the dirt and debris that hides deep in your pores.

Masks and facial scrubs can stimulate the collagen in your skin to generate new cells. You will look and feel amazing when you scrub all the build-up off your face.

2. Pedicure for Pennies

Your feet take a lot of abuse, so a foot soak is in order. Do you have cracks and rough spots that are driving you crazy? Wintertime is the worst for dry skin on your heels. Thankfully, you can get rid of this before summer’s sandal season.

Start by pouring some Epson’s salt into a tub of moderately warm water. Put your feet into this tub to soak for 10-15 minutes. Once you pull them out, the skin will be softened and more comfortable to remove.

Take a pumice stone and work those rough patches out. Pay special attention to the sides and heel of the foot. One your feet are silky smooth, then rub a foot cream on them to seal in moisture.

Lastly, clip your toenails and add a color of polish, if you so desire. Your foot makeover can be a fantastic transformation that doesn’t cost a fortune.

3. Manicure Miracles

Your hands are busy throughout the day. Do you have hangnails and need to get them back into shape? Start by trimming off all the overgrown cuticles that are edging up your nail.

Next, clean out any debris from underneath the nail. Then, clip the nails to the desires shape. Finally, buff the top surface to promote growth and evenness. Now, you can color or gloss them to look like a million bucks.

4. Tweeze Those Brows

Are your brows on fleek? Having well-manicured eyebrows are all the rage. If you love threading, then you can accomplish the same thing with tweezers or wax. You can mold and shape those brows and then use color to make them stand out.

5. Laser Hair Removal

As you begin to age, you may notice that you have hair growing in places that it shouldn’t be. Even guys have hair creep up in the ears, eyebrows, and nostrils that can be unsightly. You don’t need to go to the spa to make your hair problems go away.

There are many laser hair removals system that you can buy to use from home. These systems are inexpensive and work well. Just be sure to read the reviews before purchasing as some are better than others.

Forget paying $100s for each treatment. You can get rid of that hair in your home for pennies for each session.

6. Have a Spot of Tea

One of the best things about going to the spa is all the gourmet teas that they offer. These teas are amazing and have the perfect herbal blend to put your mind, body, and soul at ease. Thankfully, you can make these drinks at home.

Chamomile tea is one of the best options for calming you, but don’t forget the power of peppermint, either. A lovely hot cinnamon tea is also refreshing. When you’re in the middle of a pamper session, a cup of tea will hit the spot.

7. Muscle Healing Massage

One of the best parts of going to a spa is the massage. They use oils and rub all those tired and overworked muscles. Now, you will need some help to pull off this part of your spa day at home, but it’s worth the effort.

Light some aromatic candles, put on some soft music, and grab your favorite essential oils. Your spa day at home wouldn’t be complete without a fantastic massage. Plus, you will feel so much lighter after the stress is rubbed away from your body.

8. Bubbling Bath

Who says bubble baths are just for kids? There is something mesmerizing about sitting in a tub of hot water with bubbles all around. Use the hottest water you can tolerate and fill the tub with oils and bubble bath.

Next, light candles and put them all around the tub for an ambient glow when you turn off the lights. Then, put some soft mood music on to help you relax your cares away. Fill the tub as high as you can get it, and then you can soak for as long as you like.

9. Take Care of Those Dark Circles

Do you have dark circles under your eyes? It’s a common problem for someone who isn’t getting enough rest, has sinus issues or is under stress. Get a few cucumbers to place on the eyes.

Cucumbers have been used for decades to help erase dark circles. They have cooling properties and are loaded with vitamins and minerals to stimulate healing in this area. They can also help with fine lines and wrinkles.

Leave the cucumbers on for about 10 minutes or until they become warm. A cold cucumber works best to help the dark circles. Plus, cucumbers can be used as sunscreen and hand sanitizer when juices and mixed with other agents.

10. Hot Oil Treatment

Your hair can develop split ends if it’s not cut promptly. Hot oil treatments can help with split ends as well as nourish every shaft. You simply heat the mixture, leave it on your hair for the allotted time, and wash it out.

Hot oil treatments can be done every month or more often if needed. They don’t leave the hair greasy afterward. Instead, the hair is silky, shiny, and repaired. If you don’t have the premade kit, then you can use olive oil too.

11. Yoga

Now that you’ve done all the things to have your body calmed, why not try some yoga. Doing deep breathing exercises will help to remove any lingering stress. Yoga is an excellent way to open your mind, as well as heal your body and soul.

Doing this ancient practice as often as possible will only help you. When you learn to control your breathing, you can stop anxiety and panic in its tracks. It can help you to gain control of your life and stress levels too.

12. Moisturize from Head to Toe

Lastly, you’ve pampered yourself with your spa day at home. Now, it’s essential to seal in everything you’ve done with a great moisturizer. From head to toe, your body needs hydration.

Now, you don’t want to use the same moisturizers on your face that you use on your feet. Buying a few different varieties will help to address the dryness issues wherever you need them. There’s nothing better than a silky-smooth body that feels great to touch.

Plus, when you feel good about you, then your confidence will radiate for others to see. No one wants alligator skin so that you can take care of that with the right moisturizer.

Final Thoughts on Treating Yourself to a Spa Day at Home

Once a week or so, enjoy a spa day at home for one. You will treasure the quiet moments and the time you’ll have to spend on self-care. Who knows? Maybe your in-home beauty treatments will add up so some serious savings of cash.

5 Benefits of Global Branding and How to Create Your International Brand

If you’ve been thinking about going global, now is the time to do it.

You have a case of e-commerce sales expected to hit $4.5 trillion in 2021 and social media becoming the modern rendition of a town square on a global scale. This makes the traditional barriers to entering new markers barely five inches above the ground.

As an ambitious business owner, you can start by winning your local market. Then, it’s only natural to start looking outwards into the rest of the world. The way to do so is by creating a global branding strategy that’s ready for market fluctuations on the global level, nevermind the language barriers. Yet, it’s more than worth it.

Keep on reading to learn all about the top five benefits of global branding and how to start going global.

What Is Global Branding?

Alright, we know it’s rather exciting, so we understand why you’d like us to jump right into it. However, let’s explore what global branding entails before catapulting into the unknown.

In the simplest of terms, global branding is a method of designing standardizes global advertising and marketing strategies. These strategies are used to develop —and market— a product or service to be recognized on the global level. 

By using the same marketing strategy to promote the brand everywhere it’s on offer, the business can confirm that the brand’s values are consistent across all markets.

Now that we have the definition pat-down, let’s talk about the top five benefits of global branding.

1. Increases the Effectiveness of Products or Services

When you’re competing globally, you’ll be forced to do —at least— double the effort you put in product development or services on the local level.

You’ll grow and learn from your mistakes, as well as become more effective at rolling out better products and services. This happens due to the wider exposure of your business to a worldwide audience.

You’ll be getting feedback in a variety of languages and across different cultures. Make sure you have a language service provider because you’ll need it. 

2. Creates a Strong Competitive Advantage

Leveraging a global market can open a variety of business doors, from investment opportunities to a stronger reputation at home.

When you’re competing with local businesses, you’ll be able to use the knowledge you have from marketing to a global audience to your local environment.

For instance, say you’re noticing an emerging business trend on a global scale. You can use you’re already existing infrastructure and connection to catch the wave right before it reaches its highest point. 

3. Boosts Customer Awareness

In this day and age, reaching out to a company across the world would take the average person less than five minutes and a couple of clicks, and vice versa. 

Therefore, having a global branding strategy you can easily open communication lines between your company and your customers wherever they are. You can inform them about any recent brand updates, and they can share that with their friends and family. This can immensely grow your customer base with barely any effort on your part.

4. Grants Greater Access to Talent

We’ve been talking all about the customer side of the equation. How about your own employees? 

One of the great benefits of going global is the ability to tap into global employee markets, especially the ones rich with unique skills and mindsets. Naturally, this gives you a substantial edge over other competing companies in your industry that haven’t gone global. 

5. Diversifies Your Company’s Markets

Nothing helps with managing risk better than diversifying your markets. What better way to do so than expanding globally? 

With a limited local market, you may experience anything from a traditional downswing of your industry’s business cycle or a natural disaster that wipes the demand for your services. However, once you diversify your markets by adding multiple global ones to your portfolio, that will stabilize your revenue sources. 

How to Expand Your Brand Globally

It’s awfully clear that you’ll need more than a couple of social media accounts to create a solid global branding strategy. There are a couple of main steps you’ll need to take in order to avoid misunderstandings across borders from occurring. 

Here’s what you need to do.

Choose the Right Market

It might seem intuitive at first to aim for the biggest markets out there. By biggest, we mean markets with the highest number of potential customers. 

However, that may lead to stretching your budget too thin trying to cover every customer segment available in big markets. In addition, you might start running into relevancy problems. 

The way to go would be focusing on an expansion market that isn’t necessarily the biggest, but the one most relevant to your brand and the services that you have to offer. Make sure to aim for markets where you’ll be able to address your customer’s pain points via your products and services. 

Research Until You Drop

If you look at the leading global brands today, you’ll find that they sink enormous amounts of money into market research.

It’s not that they have money to burn, it’s all about doing their homework. When McDonald’s did their homework on Indian markets, it resulted in a breakthrough into vegetarian options for McDonald’s on a global scale. In addition, it converted —literally— millions of people to try McDonald’s in a majority-vegetarian country.

Through the use of focus groups, surveys, and questionnaires, you can learn a huge deal about what makes your audience tick. Furthermore, it gives you great insight into how your brand translates across cultures and other environments. 

You don’t want to find out that your new line of perfume uses a flower that symbolizes mourning in a specific culture after it’s been launched. 

Ready to Go Global?

It can be nervewracking to contemplate brand expansion on a global scale. Yet, with a solid global branding strategy in place, the potential returns are more than worth the minuscule risks.

Now that you know all about the top five benefits to global branding as well as the foundational steps to take before creating your strategy, you’re in a great place to start taking some action.

Furthermore, in the spirit of research, make sure you’re up to date with the latest happenings in the industry. Learn all about the importance of text messaging for small businesses, in addition to the best practices to protect your business from hackers. All of this and more is available on our blog. 

How to Create a Presentation Using Google Slides

Want to make a slick business presentation without turning to PowerPoint or Keynote? If you’re ready to learn how to create a presentation that will impress your co-workers and supervisors, this is the article for you. We’ll show you the best techniques for Google Slides so you can feel confident presenting your reports to any room!

Step 1: How to Create a Presentation

Once you’ve planned your presentation and downloaded a premium Google Slides presentation template, it’s time to learn how to make a slide. Start by getting your Google Drive open and clicking the New button located in the upper left corner. Next, click the Google Slides button from the drop-down menu. 

After a new presentation opens, select a template, or if you’re using one that’s recommended, you’ll need to upload it to your Google Drive first. Simply drag and place the .PPTX file into the Google Drive browser, then double-tap it. Next, select Open with Google Slides and you’re ready to start working on it. 

Step 2: How to Add Text, Images, and Other Media

When learning how to create a presentation, this is one of the most important parts. Your words will help you tell your story while the images you select will determine how your story will be seen. If you’re working with a template, the slides will typically have text boxes and places to drag and place images or videos. 

To add your own text, select the Text box button, click where you’d like to place the text, then begin typing into the box. Similarly, to insert an image, start by selecting Insert > Image from the main menu and upload an image from your computer or find one online using the built-in box. To add audio, select the Audio option to see how to make a slide with music or sound effects. 

Step 3: Set Your Presentation to Play Automatically (or Loop)

If you want to know how to make a PowerPoint on Google Docs that can be published online, you also may want to set it up to automatically play whenever it’s opened. Luckily, Google Slides has an auto-play option for slideshows that are published online. Just click File > Publish to the web option and choose Start slideshow as soon as the player loads box. 

You can also make your Google slideshow play on loops. This allows your presentation to automatically restart when the presentation comes to the end. Click the Restart the slideshow after the last slide checkbox to the left and you’re good to go. 

Step 4: Alter the Look and Feel of Your Presentation

You can always change the look and feel of a presentation even if you’re using a template. What is Google Slides used for if not to share your creative expression? Google’s organization, creativity, and innovative techniques are some of the major differences between G Suite vs Office 365. 

Making changes to your presentation theme allows you to access different master slides and layouts. You’ll be able to change the color or font of the text on any slide. Then you can further adjust your presentation however you need to. 

Step 5: Saving, Restoring or Exporting Your Presentation

With Google Slides, you can save your slideshow very easily. Your presentation automatically exists in the cloud so changes are automatically saved as you work. However, Google slides also stores previous versions of your presentation — click on File > Version History > See Version History on the main menu. 

Get Going on Your Google Slides Today

Now that you’ve seen the simple steps on how to create a presentation, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t matter what template you choose, it’s easy to get it set up on Google Slides. Get started today!

For more tips and tricks, check out some of the other posts on our site. 

Gain Exposure! How to Create Brilliant Online Promotional Strategy for Your Coaching Practice

A good sports coach inspires and educates players with the end goal of a team win. The same applies when working as a professional coach.

The tricky part is proving to potential clients you have what it takes to help them achieve their goals. You don’t have the national press coverage of professional sports highlighting your every career move. 

Follow this guide to create a brilliant online promotional strategy for your coaching practice to build credibility and attract paid customers. 

Face Biggest Challenges First

It’s very important to understand your motivation for outreach. All businesses need money, but knowing exactly how a post on social media will cure this problem is important. 

Save yourself time by creating a list of your biggest challenges before taking any action. This list helps you identify your goals and ignore the many distractions available online promising you instant customers.

If you are currently marketing online, divide your list between what works for you and what has not produced any success. 

Research Your Audience

Once you understand your challenges and needs, analyze the needs of your customer. Marketers can’t read the minds of customers, so they use data to prove any assumptions made.

Start with social media analytics tools to get demographic data on your ideal client.  Each social media platform has a different type of user and can help you avoid wasting time with demographics that don’t match your audience. 

With enough data, you can create a buyer persona. A buyer persona outlines details about a person like where they work, education level, family status, salary, gender, and fears. 

By creating a buyer persona, you know your ideal client and can make ads or posts that resonate with them directly.

Promotional Strategy vs. Ideas

A brilliant online marketing plan is a strategy, not a list of ideas. Ideas are great for coming up with targeted design schemes but ineffective when it comes to creating a plan of action. 

Armed with research your ideal client and business needs, your next step is to use your research to decide the most effective tools. Consider the amount of time it takes to execute each tool and whether you have the budget set aside to cover the expense.

Starting a campaign and abruptly ending it is one way to become discouraged. Choose online marketing tools that allow you to maximize time, money, your business goals, and your customer’s buyer persona. 

When you factor in each of these categories, it helps you weed through dozens of irrelevant marketing options online. 

Web Design

Design a professional website that speaks to the needs of your clients. A well-designed website means capturing the attention of visitors and keeping them on each page longer. 

The average visitor’s attention span is 8 seconds which is 1 second less than a goldfish. Pages that are clean and easy to read allow customers to navigate your website, learning more faster.

If you don’t know how to design pages yourself, hire help. Web designers study user experience to learn layouts that attract more clicks to areas you want. If you can’t afford a web designer, there are alternatives. 

Templates exist that allow you to use proven design styles that attract customers. The site helps you capture user data learning stats like which pages visitors click on most.  

Remember buyer personas when choosing page content.  If your ideal client is a parent, it may be beneficial to add a family photo with your bio on the About Us page to connect with potential customers. 

Get Press

Hiring a public relations professional can mean getting access to media contacts who can include you in a story. While you may not get an article specifically about your business, contributing a quote to an existing story builds your credibility.

News coverage means getting exposure to a much broader audience than you might have access to on your own. Add any press you receive to your website to show off your position as a trusted expert. 

Start a Blog

Starting a blog is a great way to attract repeat visitors to your website and optimize your site for search engines. Blogs are an overwhelming idea for some. The responsibility of constantly adding new ideas weekly or monthly seems like hard work.

Automate a series of blog posts through a publishing service to simplify the process. Instead of coming up with new ideas over and over, write several posts when you feel inspired. Schedule the posts over a period of time to keep your blog active.

Remember to keep your posts engaging. Be personable. Tell a story. This blog is a good example of how to capture your audience with memorable posts. 

Learn from Competitors

Competitors who are successful can show you a paved road to getting the results you want. Do an audit of a competitor’s website to determine why customers spend time there. 

Look at the way coaching services are described. There may be keywords or customer needs you are overlooking with your marketing materials. 

The same applies to marketing strategies. Consider advertising where competitor ads are present to gain market share.  

Research tools like Buzzusmo help you learn the types of content that receive the most shares. This is helpful because it can tell you what content is valuable by topic. Review the top content posted to see where you can improve in your messaging.

When to Bring in Help

Online marketing can seem like an endless set of tasks. Without direction, it’s easy to simply move forward with what’s easy instead of what’s an effective promotional strategy.

New online marketers need to keep things simple but not at the expense of business goals. Consider hiring a professional if you are not tech savvy or find yourself adding more strategies than you can manage on your own.

Your goal as a coach is to help clients succeed. Know when to find your own coach who can help you in areas where your expertise falls short. 

Doing so allows you to focus on your craft instead of learning a whole new job. For more information on content marketing, visit our website. 

Tips for Success: How to Create a B2B Content Strategy that Attracts New Clients

89% of B2B marketers report that content marketing is their most effective way of bringing in new leads and sales. Which is why a strong B2B content strategy should be the backbone of any marketing campaign.

Not sure where to start? Read out tips below on setting up a successful content plan. 

What Is B2B content strategy?

Chances are, by now you’ve heard about how important a strong content strategy is. However, unless you’ve spent some time focusing on marketing efforts in the past you may not know what B2B content is.

Basically, B2B content is offering valuable information through various mediums to other businesses to mark yourself as an authority in the industry. Not only does this lead to increased traffic and higher Google rankings, but it also increases the number leads your business will bring in.

Know Who You’re Creating Content For

There’s an old marketing adage that states “if you’re talking to no one everyone you’re talking to no one”. The saying still rings true today, which is why it’s so important to know exactly who your content will be geared to.

While target market research is very helpful, we suggest creating an ideal target avatar. This means crafting a fictional character that matches someone that would fall into your demographic.

Give your avatar a name and get detailed. What do they do for a living? How many children do they have? How far did they get in their education?

Then go even deeper. Think about what keeps your avatar up at night. What parts of their day can be made better? Who do they admire? This information should be at the center of all of your content.

What Problem Will You be Solving?

Out of the questions listed above, the most important is what problem will you be solving? Is it a problem that your avatar even knows they have? Do you need to let them know that it’s a problem? Most importantly, how will you educate them on how your product or service fixes the problem?

Another valuable asset in marketing is letting your audience know just how affected they are by this problem. For example, everyone knows that a lack of sleep leaves you with low energy throughout the day, but do they know that not sleeping also increases your risk of heart attack? This is educating your audience on the realities of the problem you’re helping to solve.

Highlighting What Makes You Unique

Unless you’ve landed on an entirely original product, you’re going to have some competitors. Even if your idea is entirely unique, it won’t be long until the copied ideas start popping up. So it’s important to learn how to highlight what sets you apart from similar products and services.

Even subtle differences can give you an advantage over the competition. For example, your product may be more eco-friendly, safer for children, or perhaps a portion of your proceeds goes to a cause your avatar is passionate about. Highlight these differences and incorporate them into your content.

Know Content Type

Not all B2B content lands the same. It’s important to know what type of content your audience is most responsive too. Often these media choices will depend on the industry, for example, fast pace industries may respond better to a short infographic than an in-depth blog.

You may find that your audience responds to a blend of content, like a short blog paired with a video that gives more information on the subject. See where the engagement lies and follow that.

And Where to Publish It

Today there are countless social media platforms and media outlets where you can meet your audience, and trying to get your content on all of them will quickly dry up your marketing budget.

Instead, focus on 2-3 platforms that have been known to attract your type of audience. Don’t just limit yourself to social media either. White label blogging through other sites and media sources is also a great way to get your content in front of the right audience.

Set Clear Goals

And by clear goals, we mean realistic goals. Many businesses expect to start producing content and have the traffic rolling in within weeks. The truth is between audience research, content production, and engagement you’re looking at 4-6 months before you start seeing real results.

Which is why consistency is key in any content marketing campaign. Set a clear and realistic goal on where you would like to be in terms of traffic and engagement in the next 6 months, then an additional marker for a year from now.

Stay on Top of Management

Many businesses start off with a strong content campaign that tends to taper off as time goes on. We get it, your business takes enough time and energy without having to come up with fresh content on a regular basis.

This is where you have a couple of options. You can use a content platform that allows you to create your content in bulk and then slowly leak it out to the public. While this will ensure your content is consistent, it also requires you to invest a high number of hours up front.

Your other option is to hire a content agency that both creates and distributes the content on your behalf. This offers a higher ROI as getting the right kind of content engagement is what these businesses are all about.

Track and Regroup

While we would love to say that most businesses hit their content campaign out the park on the first try, this often isn’t the case. Fortunately, there are a number of analytics tools available to offer insight on which content is performing well and which isn’t.

Once a month take a look at your analytics and try to spot trends. Is your audience responding more to a specific type of content? Is one platform bringing in more leads than another?

Take this information and use it to restructure your content. Remember, your audience will change and it’s up to you to change with them.

Taking the Right Steps Today

The more you know about creating a B2B content strategy, the more successful your content campaign will be.

If you’re ready to start putting some action behind your content, we suggest starting with our article on 4 Actionable Content Marketing Tips.

How to Create Great Writing for Social Media Marketing Posts

Social media marketing is more important than ever. Chances are that social media is where your audience is — around 56% of adults use more than one social media platform. That number climbs when you only look at adults ages 18-34.

Despite this, some businesses still don’t put a lot of thought into how they create posts for social media. Posting without a strategy is a good way to leave money on the table and miss out on potential business.

Check out these tips on writing for social media to make sure that your business is up to speed.

Understand Your Audience

Who are you trying to reach, anyway?

Deciding who you’re “talking to” is one of the most important parts of writing for social media. You can determine this by looking at your current customers or what problems your products or services solve.

Figuring out your audience will help you decide what kind of voice and tone you should use in your posts. If you don’t have time to do this, companies like Reliant Social can help you do the research.

Keep Your Voice Consistent

Once you’ve decided on your voice, stay consistent! You don’t want to adopt a professional tone one week and then switch to a conversational one the next.

That gets confusing to your audience and makes your brand inconsistent.

Even though your social media account represents a business, people still expect it to have some kind of personality. Remembering this will help you create better content.

Use Active Voice

Whatever tone you choose to use, you should always use active voice instead of passive voice. You might need to think way back to English class for this one.

This is a basic grammar rule. Passive voice doesn’t grab the attention of your audience. Active voice, on the other hand, helps to give off a confident and decisive tone.

Look at the difference between these two sentences:

1. Ten thousand units were sold by our company this year.
2. Our company sold ten thousand units this year.

The second sentence is the active voice you should aim for.

Put Your Audience First

It can be tempting to only talk about your business on social media. After all, that’s the point of social media marketing, right?

Not quite. If you only talk about your business online, you’re setting yourself up to fail. You need to center your audience in each post you make.

What’s in it for them? How does your business benefit the people scrolling through your social media? These are the questions your audience is probably asking.

Make sure that your posts answer them.

Learn More About Writing For Social Media

These are just a few of our favorite tips for writing for social media. If you keep this advice in mind, you’ll create a strategy that puts your audience first and sees higher engagement rates.

Still want more advice about social media marketing? You’ve come to the right place. Check out the rest of our digital marketing articles to help you take your strategy to the next level.

How to Create a Blog People Will Read

Does it seem like you spend hours and hours each week reading blogs that fascinate you? And after you’re done, do you stare into space above your computer or phone screen, wondering what two cents you might have to offer the world?

Guess what: the world wants to hear your voice! The problem is that among so many millions of other voices, yours can be hard to hear. Creating a blog that people can actually find and that they’ll want to read can be challenging.

There are a few tips and tricks, though, that will make your blog stand out from the crowd. Keep reading to learn how to create a blog from idea to conception, and how to write blog posts to fill it with.

Choose Your Platform

When starting a blog, several platforms are available to pick from. You should pay attention to their features, support, and usability.

The big contenders are:

• WordPress.org
• Blogger
• Tumblr

If you think your platform doesn’t matter, think again. Each has its own distinct features that you should definitely read up on before choosing your blog’s new home.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is one of the most popular blogging platforms out there, thanks to its versatility. Here’s the deal with WordPress. There are two different websites: wordpress.org and wordpress.com.

WordPress.org is a blog-building platform on which you can construct your blog from scratch, pulling from over 55,000 plugins. It’s free to use, but you will have to pay for a domain name and hosting.

You can do this through WordPress or through a second party. Learn more about hosting options on Bluehost, a hosting service that offers everything from email accounts to 24/7 online support. WordPress.com, on the other hand, is the hosting service created by the same founder of wordpress.org.

Blogger

Blogger is an awesome option for those who aren’t super techy. If you don’t want the hassle of building your own blog from scratch, Blogger is probably for you. They have plenty of nice templates to choose from, and anyone with a Google account can comment on your blog posts.

The downside to Blogger is that it’s not updated as regularly as WordPress. That means fewer theme rollouts and bug fixes.

Tumblr

If you want to add a social element to your blogging experience, Tumblr is the way to go. When you sign into the site, you’ll be faced with your own personal feed of posts from blogs you follow. Tumblr amasses them for you in one convenient newsfeed, so you don’t have to hunt all your favorite Tumblr blogs down to stay updated on their content.

Tumblr also makes it super easy to interact with your blogging community. You can like or reblog other people’s posts, either adding them to your own favorites folder or posting them on your own blog.

They also feature really clean, simple themes that can come off as artistic or as professional as you’d like.

Domain and Hosting

If you’ve chosen to go with wordpress.org, you’re going to need to get external hosting. Blogger and Tumblr will both host your blog right on their platform.

Once you’ve got your hosting all squared away, you’ll want to get your own domain name. Although most blogging platforms will give you a webpage address, it’ll usually be a spin-off of their website name, such as thisisanexample.blogger.com. If you want a normal domain, like yourname.com, you’ll need to pay a hosting service.

These can cost anywhere from $10-$1,000,000 monthly (really). The higher demand there is for your domain, the more it’ll cost you to keep month to month.

Sticking to your name is usually a good idea. It allows for more personal branding, and will usually be on the extra low end of this cost spectrum.

Consider Design

Once you’ve signed up for all the services and platforms you’ll need, you can start to design your actual blog! Each blogging platform will offer a selection of free themes to base your blog on, but you’ll also be able to find some third party themes out there if none of them suit your fancy.

Using a minimal design is usually a good go-to since that design style makes a blog easy to navigate. If minimalism isn’t your thing, just be sure to create clear-cut navigation through your blog to ensure your readers won’t get lost.

Pick Plugins

WordPress has a whole host of user-created plugins that you can choose from to add to your blog. You can find contact forms, password protection, and even SEO optimization to your blog simply and easily through plugins.

Blogger features plugins like this as well, but Blogger hosts them. They offer a more limited selection, but installing them is super user-friendly. You can literally drag and drop your Blogger plugins into the spots you want them on your site, making it easy as pie to add diverse elements to your blog.

Tumblr offers the least in the way of plugins. Their plugins are built into different themes, so you won’t be able to customize your readers’ experience much. They do offer plugins for your newsfeed experience, though!

Write Your Copy

Your platform is chosen, accounts are made, and your blog is finally designed to your liking. Before you add content, consider writing some compelling copy to introduce your readers to your little corner of the internet and let them know how to get in touch with you.

On your about page, tell your readers a little bit about yourself, where you come from, and what your interests are. Readers love when they feel like they know the person on the other side of the screen, so don’t be afraid to get personal!

Add a picture so they can put a face to the name, and tell a little about your blogging niche, so they know what to expect from your content.

On your contact page, include your email address, but never your personal phone number or address. After all, your site will be public!

Invite readers to get in touch to discuss your content or anything else that may strike their fancy. Building an online community is one of the best perks of blogging. You’ll definitely get some emails from new friends wanting to talk about the ideas you’re sharing that week.

What to Write About

Now it’s time to get to the nitty gritty: actually writing your blog posts. If you’re scratching your head wondering what to write about, pull out a piece of paper and a pen.

Write down ten things you know anything more than the average person about. You don’t have to be an expert on a topic to write a blog post. In fact, it’s this sort of thinking that keeps so many bloggers in the dark, feeling unqualified to share their ideas.

You are qualified to share every idea you have, every day. You’re not claiming expertise, but you are claiming your own experiences. Own them.

After you’ve got your list of ten things you know something about, break it down even further. Think of three potential blog posts you could write on each topic.

For instance, if you wrote “photography” as one of your ten areas of knowledge, you could break that down into:

• Choosing your first DSLR camera
• How to shoot in manual on your DSLR camera
• A guide to composing beautiful images

See? It’s that easy. After this exercise, you’ll have thirty–count ’em–thirty blog posts waiting to be written.

Starting a blog can be intimidating, but just remember that it’s your space to share your ideas.

Add Visuals

If you put “photography” on your list of ten areas of knowledge, like in the example above, you’re lucky. Not everyone has that skill, and finding engaging visuals for your blog can certainly be a challenge if you’re no good behind a lens.

Plenty of free stock photography websites are out there that will allow you to use images royalty-free. This is a great option for the beginning blogger who basically just needs content to get up and running.

Once you (and your readers!) fall more and more in love with your blog, though, these won’t feel good enough anymore. This is because they’re not necessarily specific to you, your brand, your voice, or your content.

Luckily, smartphones nowadays grow better and better at taking professional-level photos at a fraction of the cost of professional cameras. If you don’t have the interest in getting into photography, stick to providing your own visuals using your phone.

It’ll feel more personal for your readers, and will even probably spur new content ideas for you!

Create a Blog Today

Hopefully, you’ve learned enough blogging for beginners tips and tricks here to open a new tab and create a blog right away. Before too long, your blog will be read by so many people that you’ll be able to host paid advertisements!

Want to learn more about how to run a successful blog? Check out our other content strategy articles. We love to share knowledge that helps bloggers like you reach their writing goals!