by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 8, 2013 | Entrepreneur
How do you value or measure your success? Many place financial gain as their metric for success but does this really encompass all that you strive for? It is certainly one component but is it the “be all” to gauge your accomplishments?
There is always going to be someone else with more: more money, more things, more status, more friends. You name it; we are a society of more and that is unfortunate. This mentality leaves some in a state of inadequacy, never feeling secure, successful or complete.
When you are able to turn inward and discover your own strengths it becomes a healthier motivation for achievement. Remove the emotional tickers and learn what is good for you. How you can be better at your career, relationships, parenting, and in your community.
The desire to grow should be a daily goal but based upon you and not your perceived success of others as you are a unique individual. Sure, be inspired for change, realizing it on your terms, your gifts to make a difference in your unique value proposition.
Just the other day I was speaking with a client about measuring success against the success of others and she told me: “You have arrived.”
Did I dance a bit? Heck yes.
Did I believe her? Yes, I did.
Have I compared my success level to that of others in my industry? Honestly? I have. It became a powerful learning tool for me as I was able to look deeper into my company, what I am doing, what is different, what is the same, what is (isn’t) working, what are my strengths and where can I improve. I set my intentions, manifested goals, and knew what needed to be worked on.
Am I a success? YES and on many levels: as an entrepreneur, a mom, a caregiver, a thought leader, a friend, and even an X-wife. I love what I do and do what I love. I am a passionate business owner driven to help others succeed.
I think my greatest accomplishment is being the best mom in the world or so I have been told. My daughter recently graduated college with a degree in forensic science from VCU and I still get the calls: “I love you so much, mom. You are an amazing role model.”
My most personal empowering experience? During my daughter’s sophomore year in college, she wanted home closer than 12 hours away. Twitter directed me to North Carolina: a quick flight in August 2009 to find an apartment and then the solo 16-hour drive from NH to NC in October to begin my next adventure.
The most impactful would be caregivers for my mom and sister while they battled breast cancer. As my sister and I were leaving Dana Farber after her stem cell transplant, she looked at me and said: “I never could have gotten through each day without opening my eyes and seeing you in that chair.”
Treasured notes: one from my dad telling me how proud he is of me, my accomplishments, and my company. I love my dad.
Business successes are numerous: they can be counted, measured, and shared. “I have arrived” and I know this from the recommendations on LinkedIn, website testimonials, word of mouth referrals, shout outs on social media, growth of my client base, the client calls I receive just to hear their successes because they partnered with Ace, the positive network of other virtual assistants and colleagues, the expansion of my community, earning the trust and respect of others, and the recent opportunities for interviews, guest author posts, and podcasts.
This is my view of success or at least part of it.
Life and business are constant opportunities for growth. If we stop learning, we stop living: we stagnate. Create richer value to share and assist others. Look for ways to instigate change (the infamous words of Chery Gegelman of Giana Consulting).
Have I achieved everything I want on MY terms? Not yet but that is why I have goals and action steps.
Do I facilitate daily growth and change? YES. I have a thirst for knowledge and a quest for learning to benefit myself and my clients.
Am I ready to buy my private plane or oceanfront home? Not yet but it isn’t always dollars it’s YOUR view….
More importantly: Am I satisfied and content with my place in this world? A resounding YES!
“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one’s energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.” Aleister Crowley
The day isn’t over and I am still breathing.
Watch out world because I have arrived.
What is your measure of success? Is it only financial gain or are there other more intrinsic metrics to exemplify your growth achievements?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 6, 2013 | Blogging, Social Media
Blog syndication provides a distribution channel to enhance your readership and exposure. You can’t just write a post and hope that it is found. In our last post: Why Should Your Business Bog? you learned about the purpose of a business blog as well as some core best strategies.
You have heard “content is king.” It is your currency to drive engagement, authority and conversions. After you have written such rich and educational content, share it on your social channels and start the buzz to develop your quality relationships and branding.
“Not only are bloggers suckers for the remarkable, so are the people who read blogs.” Seth Godin
Social media and SEO are related as you have seen in your social searches and Google has validated this as well with Google+ and Google Authorship. Content that is relevant and can be trusted as authoritative will help drive both search engine and social media marketing. Content that is shared on your SM channels is prioritized and has a great deal of influence with search engines and your audience. When people see that your content has been liked and shared, this becomes “social proof” and they are more apt to visit your website and read your content. Content that has a social connection is presented more often in search results, giving you the opportunity for a higher ranking. Your social shares help to promote more inbound links, increases page rank and influences SEO with your use of keywords.
“Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. This effect is prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation.” Wikipedia
How and where can you promote your blog?
- Leverage the power of your website with a link in the navigation bar
- Link internally to other posts
- Use sidebars to promote popular posts
- Add a link in your email signature
- Include your blog in your email marketing newsletters
- Create a weekly or monthly digest of your most popular posts and email this to your opt-in list
- Add a blog link to your business card
- Include your blog on your social media profiles
- Share your posts with your network
- Become a guest author for other industry thought leaders
- Include social share options on your posts
- Add an RSS and Feedly button at the top of your blog
There are many other sites and different types of blog and article directories to help push your content for further exposure and notoriety. While the list below is short, it is a baseline to start the process of promoting your posts.
Here are some other resources and articles you may like to read:
TopRank Best List of RSS Blog Directories to Submit Your Blog and Feed
Link Building Strategies – The Complete List
The Content Marketing Conversion Funnel [Infographic]
YOU are at the center of The Conversation Prism
What steps do you implement to promote your blog content? Do you have any favorites that have considerably driven your engagement or met your goals?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 2, 2013 | Productivity, Time Management
Are you looking to increase your productivity and efficiency? Maybe get back on track to do more or better manage your time? There are hundreds of articles posted daily and it can be overwhelming to read and/or implement different tools or platforms. You have to find the one that works best for you and use it.
We can read and test with all best intentions but unless we begin to create new habits, committing to a goal, the tool won’t take effect. It is up to you to dedicate your time and energy to learning which one you will apply.
I know I have personally tested a variety of To Do lists, task reminders and project management applications. Some have fallen by the wayside while others have become SOP. I have made these part of my daily routine, for both myself and my clients. Without proper time management and organization, time would be lost and there could be a sense of chaos or overwhelm.
There are many professed gurus suggesting their best methods and time tested tools, but whatever you choose, it must work for you.
- You must want to be more industrious and systematized.
- You must be ready for change.
- You must utilize the application until it becomes second nature.
We search every day, every week for new articles and suggestions and here are few from this week.
6 Secrets Of Super Productive To-Do Lists
3 Threats to Effective Time Blocking and How To Solve Them
How To Manage Your Time
Project Lists: 8 Steps to Crush Your Chaos
The Science of Productivity (video)
Small Business Success Podcast: Time management, Delegation & Empowering Your Core Genius
Time management tips: 5 beliefs that limit productivity
Time Tracking for Productivity
So there you have it: a few tips, tools and commentary to guide you toward a little deeper efficiency.
Can you become a Productivity Maven?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jul 31, 2013 | Blogging, Small Business
Your business blog is an essential tool for your inbound marketing efforts in terms of SEO, creating a community, becoming known as a thought leader and generating visits, leads, conversion to customers and brand ambassadors.
As THE most valuable piece of company real estate, your blog content should speak to your audience and prospects first and then the search engines. Your blog content should resonate with your prospective buyers, meeting their needs and answering their questions. Make it rich, valuable and educational.
WHY?
People are searching for answers to their problems and pain points every single day and you have the solutions.
Hubspot: Companies that blog have 55% more visitors and generate 70% more leads than companies who don’t.
If you are writing content and optimizing your site and pages to answer the questions of your buyers, then you will be discovered, valued and your content will be shared. Don’t just push product and services. Answer questions with exceptional content that is worth talking about. When they talk and share, this creates more inbound links. The more inbound links you have, the higher the rate of getting found in organic searches. 97% of companies that blog have more inbound links.
Laboring over content and strategy can present a challenge for many. Think about what you want to say to your readers. What solutions you offer. Research trending topics, keyword searches, case studies, statistics and other industry related materials. Set aside time each week for research and writing. Your blog content strategy is simplified and better organized if you create an editorial calendar containing columns for:
- Theme
- Posting date
- Social media channels
- Title
- Keywords
- Tags
- Meta description
- Links
- Statistics
- Guest authors
When considering your keywords and descriptions remember: Blogging impacts your SEO!
HOW does a blog influence your SEO??
- Each and every new blog post you write is actually an indexable “site” of its own.
- Each page gives you an opportunity to be found by search engines.
- The more pages you have, the more indexing you receive: the greater opportunity to move your site higher up the ranks.
- You can optimize each post with strong keywords that your target market is searching.
Keywords are just as important as your content. When creating your post, consider what probing question (s) you want to answer and use these in your title, meta descriptions, image file name/alt tags and body of text. Long tail keywords are much more powerful and targeted than just a single word. They help to drill down to a slimmer defined market of those in need. It trims the fat and returns much better results.
“The long tail contains hundreds of millions of unique searches that might be conducted a few times in any given day, but, when taken together, they comprise the majority of the world’s demand for information through search engines.” Moz.com
Your blog is a cost effective inbound marketing tool to generate new interest, business and web traffic.
- Keep it rich, enticing and educational for the greatest return.
- You are writing for your audience.
- Content that is relevant and can be trusted as an authoritative resource will drive search engines to crawl your site.
- Make your content personalized for your visitors, answering their questions.
- Use long tail keywords
- Create internal links to other posts on your site
- Blog consistently
- Monitor your brand’s online chatter
- Submit your posts to online blogging directories and business sharing communities
Are you ready? Now set aside the time right now to work on your editorial calendar and content. If you need help overseeing your blogging efforts, just send us an email to schedule a consult.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jul 29, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Life Thoughts, Small Business
How often do you step away from your office and take a break? Just shut down for a bit to refresh your brain matter and gain clarity? We all need a respite or as Jennifer V. Miller of the People Equation says, a “staycation.” It is a short mental holiday from the hustle and bustle of our information overloaded lives. We are constantly on overdrive, meeting extensive demands and teetering on a tightrope.
Whether at your home or office take a break and slow down a bit. Life won’t stop if you do, but it may if you don’t.
Say YES to you.
Learn to give back to yourself; rewards, small pleasures, time to do nothing, time for YOU. A few simple steps toward SELF will reduce your stress, give renewed focus and refresh your whole soul to keep pushing forward.
ME time can be anything you want or need it to be, but just do it.
You may be thinking that ME time is being selfish. On the contrary!! Please don’t believe that you are a superhero and can only give to others. While that is a commendable quality, you can’t continue to empty your tank. You must make deposits to refuel. Aren’t you worth it?
If you are a solo-preneur, you are fortunate to be able to create your own stress breaks, but if you are an employee, you may need to implement some of the suggestions in Jennifer’s blog post above.
In either case, you still have other hours to choose from, so schedule ME time.
- You are entitled to it.
- You earned it.
- You deserve it.
Get More Out of Life: 5 Tips to Focus on You
My ME TIME is my mornings to lift at the gym. My phone does NOT go out on the floor with me. It is locked up. I put my earbuds in and tune out everything else around me.
This afternoon’s brain break is the image above: homemade watermelon sorbet with my Champion Juicer. I needed to step away from the computer for a bit. It didn’t take long to make. I could still check my Smartphone if needed, but the world didn’t stop while I cleared my head.
How will you gift yourself today?
