Online Business Owners Don’t Despair :6 Questions To Help You Stay Productive, Fresh and On-Track.

Online business owners have a mutitude of tasks and priorities to occupy their day because the online world moves at pace yet some things remain constant. These 6 questions developed by Brendan Burchard will keep you sane, fresh and on-message as you build your online brand.

Brendan Burchard of High performance Academy fame  is one of the more inspiring  and authentic online entrepreneurs out there. He is everything we advocate here at Make Work Play.

1. Presence.

Ask yourself to what degree are you totally and utterly focused on the present moment?

We’re taking about complete emotional and physical engagement in the now. That’s about giving all your energy to the people you’re with whether that’s the partner at home, the kids or the people you work with. They want your time but most importantly your presence and they know when you’re not fully there because they feel it and they sense it.

So what about that as an online business owner ?- Accesibility is important when running an online business, readers and potential customers want to relate and identify with you so its important to show as much as yourself as you feel comfortable with and to be real and authentic that way you build trust. Starting a blog with a commenting facility is a great way to share more of your thoughts and outlook as well as connecting with others.

2. Psychology

Are you living your truth?

High performers focus on different things. How we think and how aligned and congruent we are is one of the most important things for authentic success online. First you’ve got to get clear on what you want , where you’re going and why you’re doing it. That’s why we start with passion and purpose here because we know that intrinsic motivation based around these areas will carry people through and get them performing, regardless of experience and knowledge. Once we find ourselves, the core so to speak, there is no holding us back  anymore and the energy flows through you. It’s about identifying what kind of role model you want to be then living those attributes and values daily everytime you show up anywhere.

3. Physiology

How are you taking care of yourself?

The right food and exercise is rocket fuel for the body to produce the right amount of energy to activate your goals. That’s about taking good care by getting the right amount of sleep, plenty of water throughout the day to hydrate you and regular exercise to build both strenth and stamina.

When you’re working online all day its naturally sedentry leading to all sorts of aches and pains if you’re not sitting right. We’re more susceptible to headaches looking at a screen all day and eye strain so its really important to get a break and get some fresh air .

4. Productivity

What is my mission today?

I ‘m sure , like all of us, you’ve struggled with the daily fight of the  inbox, especially if you’ve signed up to every online guru’s programme and words of wisdom but listen up they’re a time suck and yes I know I ‘m in danger of a potential unsubscribe here now but what he’s saying and, I’m agreeing with as a business owner  running an online business,  is that you can be a busy fool. Its about focus and clarity and keeping your prime objectives for the day upper most in your mind so you don’t get distracted by all the online noise and hype out there saying come watch me, read me, listen to me. Remember my PERFORM acronym if you’re a member here ?

So watch out and be mindful of the online distraction all promising you fast turn-around miracles and easy step by step online success.

5. Persuade Others

How am I persuading others?

Persuasion is about igniting action and momentum in others. To build an effective online business and become an expert in your field you need to be able to engage others with an inspiring vision and influence them to take your ideas and translate them to help others accomplish more. I guess it boils down to helping others see what’s possible and how much more they can become. We endorse that one wholeheartedly here.

We want you to love what you do every day.

We want you to reach for the stars.

We want you to work smarter not harder.

We want you to speak up and speak out for what you believe it.

But most importantly, we just want you to be yourself and to be deliriously  happy.

Online business owners build trust before they build profits.

Brendan talks about bold enthusiasm for lighting up the stage, your video and your online copy and bringing some excitement to the thought of changing from the old world to the new world because no emotion spreads faster than excitement. We’re all about emotion here and love  frankly, because we know if you love what you do every day no matter what; life has a magical way of falling into place.

6. Purpose.

How can I serve greatly?

High performers are always connected to purpose, the love is in the doing and the serving and the becoming not for the kudos ,the limelight or the cash. Income is merely a consequence of doing well. Purpose is the foundation to everything, start with this principle and you have solid foundations to build an awesome online brand.

Now go play!

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: online business owner, online business owners

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Online Business Owners Are Using Pinterest  to collect, curate and share to connect people.

Online business owners are seeing the potential of this exciting new pin board and platform.

Pinterest has been receiving a lot of attention lately, mainly as a result of growing more than 11 million unique visits a  month in January this year and breaking through into the top 10 social networks in the world.

Many of you might just be thinking  oh no not  yet another social networking site, some of you may not even have heard about it yet but its worth discovering because its popularity is growing and its easy to see why.

The Pinterest Headline Stats.

1. Pinterest has a google page rank of 6 and root domain authority of 93.
2. It is ranked by alexa as 275 globally, 53 in the US and now 353 in the UK and growing quickly here.
3. Pinterest has 3.3 million active monthly users for their Facebook app, 167,000+ followers on twitter and 67,000 + ratings for their app on Itunes.
4. The average user spends 98 minutes a month on the site compared with 7 hours on Facebook and 2.5 hours on Tumblr.

This two year old bookmarking site lets its users collect and share things they like on the web. It’s possible to create your own intereactive bulletin/vision boards known as pinboards for popular categories using the Pinterest Pin It bookmarlet tool and Iphone app to save on and offline. Think of it as a means of creating your very own wish list and boards range from healthy recipes to photographic natural images, household design and retail products of desire through to inspiring books to read, role models to learn from and great wisdom quotes.

Pinterest’s vision is simple, to connect everyone in the world through things they find interesting.

To learn more about what’s so great about this site read this ;

10 Reasons Why We Love Pinterest

The traffic to this site is 68% female with a demographic age of 25-44 years so a great starting place for finding new customers and traffic to your blog, particularly relevant to anyone selling beautiful products online . You can use keywords in the same way you do with Twitter and hashtags when pinning and at the same time its possible to simultaneously publish to Twiiter and Facebook.

Technically Pinterest is still by invite only so you need to get your friends to invite and connect you.

Why consider Pinterest as an online business owner?

Here’s a great article from Copyblogger on 56 ways to use Piniterest for online business owners.

1. A way to build traffic to your site.

Pins link back to their original source so if you pin an image of a product from your business website on your pinboard and someone actually clicks on the image they’ll get directed back to your website.

2. A great way to engage.

Using images and this digital scrapbook concept is just another great way to find and engage with like-minded indivuals who are interested in what you have to say and what you stand for. You have the facility to leave comments on boards and tweet and post to Facebook using hashtags to get a conversayion going. Every time you like or repin an item this action will show up on the users sidebar. It will also send an email notification to the user if they have this message facility turned on.

3. Sourcing great images.

As a blogger I find the site a great resource for sourcing beautiful images and  inspiring messages that can be embedded on my blog.

4. Spreading your video messages.

Pinterest allows you to pin videos too so it can act as yet another video sharing site along with Youtube and other well known video sharing sites.

So there you have it, as an online business owner Pinterest is well worth investing the effort to build branding, identify and target potential customers and source ideas. From a practical perspective its just great to have all your favourite stuff curated in one place and that’s why I ‘m hooked. To view my boards please follow this link online business owners.

Happy pinning!

Enjoy this…we hope so then be a love and share it for us and if you’re looking for more great online marketing and social media tips then be sure to subscribe here or connect with us on one of your preferred channels.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: online business owners, pinterest

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Quit Your Job And Learn How To Be Your Own Boss.

Quitting your job and starting an online business I do  appreciate won’t be for everybody but here’s why you should at least think about what the reality of staying put actually means to you .

From where I ‘m viewing, and yes, its only a perspective , life as an employee is subject to significant forces that offer no real security , a high probability of continuous capped reward structures and  increasingly frustrating experiences that don’t always provide the intrinsic motivation you’re looking for .

So isn’t it time to think differently about our work?

There is a growing breed of professionals living a new employment model these days and learning how to thrive in this brave new world.Meanwhile, the government and the media appear obsessed with reporting on traditional employment statistics regarding who’s in work and who’s out  but these traditional models are shifting and seismic change is taking shape.

Here are 6 good reasons why it might just be the perfect time to quit your job .

 1.The playing ground has changed for good.

Advancing economies in China and India suggest that attempting to return to a bouyant healthy job market and pre- recession picture may be totally outdated. Its perfectly possible to connect and access global talent and skills from the comfort of our homes .The growth of online work is on the increase, according to the CEO of Odesk ,the online workplace for E-contractors its growing by about 70% a year with technologies evolving all the time to support this evolution. The Internet has become the universal source of information for people at home, school and at work.

In 2012 it is predicted that more than 6 million online jobs will be posted representing more than $1 billion of work performed via the web.These are freelance remits and don’t even account for the full spectrum of online working such as many online professionals who have started their own businesses through creating information content, products and services .

Technology improvements, enhancements and innovations will continue to eliminate the need for certain workers and jobs.

2. Low barriers to entry.

The costs of an online start-up are minimal . All you need is a website and a blog along with a hosting plastform and you’re away.There are a multitude of free services to take advantage of to find, engage and stay in touch with customers.

Many seasoned executives and corporate folk are opening their minds to the prospect of starting an online business seeing the advantages of offering a  more competitive  and flexible service based around their expertise and knowledge with no company rules and restrictions to navigate their way through.

The Internet brings us all closer with no restrictions for entry for the entrepreneurially minded who want to have a global business operating out of their home and still have a life.

3. The virtual workplace.

Forget about needing to commute long distances or spending endless hours a day caught in traffic. Starting an online business gives you complete freedom to choose what interests you most as well as where and  ,of course, when you want to work. Work of the future will be much more human and less controlling. Think about it, why answer to someone else and dance to someone else’s tune when you could be making money for yourself and developing a multitude of skills at the same time.

If you were to sit down and create a company from scratch it is unlikely that you would copy the practices and traditional structures of today’s organisations. They’re less agile and responsive to change, too hierarchical and closed with heavy fixed costbases and a restrictive outlook to those who want full empowerment and autonomy .Think about it, if you were setting up your own corporation  inc would you really lease out a flashy HQ and employ lots of overheads when you could buy-in services on demand from some of the brightest and the best minds available?

Do you need a sizeable core team around you when you can network, mastermind and maybe even collaborate with other solo-entrepreneurs?

4. Value through people.

Work of the future is all about relationships because processes will all be automated. This value lies in the non routine elements and contributions that people can make. That’s about insight, personal mastery, innovation, leading and continuous learning. This is expansive in every sense with no limits to  how you work and who you can work with . The why of what you do becomes increasingly important along with the wider contribution you make to society at large.We’re all consumers and we want to know our goods are sourced in an ethical way and that the profits of any business are actually going on to do some good in the world rather than merely serve a  minority.

5. Portfolios offer longevity of working.

Starting an online business is a great way of building entrepreneurial stamina without the risks involved. Without alternative income sources you’ll need to learn quickly how to sell, what to sell and to whom which is why many Internet marketers initially will typically go for affiliate products or MLM franchising models before designing their own products or services. As your knowledge and subscriber base grows, its possible to see multiple avenues to generate an income stream whilst still having time to potentially freelance . The experience creates an evolved learning and growing experience for those who are willing to committ the time to build niches and sub-niches.

Given the fact we’ll all be working longer,  due to dwindling pension pots, having a diverse portfolio of skills and talents will serve you well in the years ahead.

6. Creative Play

We’re all about making work play here and the online world offers an extensive playground to evolve an idea from inception stage to launch and  final promotion. You can split test to refine and modify those creations right up to the final version. You can ask your market what it actually wants in the first place. Like any kind of creative pursuit it takes guts, courage, and the will to get something off the ground but heres the thing,  it’s your baby from the outset, something that you’ve wanted to do rather than feel compelled to take on and you can steer the direction and timescales.  You get to choose who gets to play with you and you get the kudos if it takes off.

The online world can be distracting, there’s a lot of noise and some big personalities but its a pretty social playground from where I ‘m looking and there is plenty of room for those seeking to rekindle that childlike curiosity!

Then again, you can always stick to what you know .

If you would  like to breakout,  quit your job but haven’t got the first clue how then why not take the first step and connect with us here to open up your world of options.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: quit your job, starting an online business

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Are you new to blogging? If so then welcome, you might want to start here in my how to blog series of posts and follow along to cover all the fundamentals in a logical sequence of learning.

Video blogging is on the increase, made accessible as a result of inexpensive  yet very effective video cameras  and microphones on the market as well as the hugh increase in video traffic from sites like You Tube and Google. Some blogs have become purely video as many prefer this medium as a natural expression of themselves. Many of the more established bloggers use a multitude of media to engage their readers, recognising the page ranking benefits as well as reader preference.

Click here to view the embedded video.

 There is no doubt about it ,video  is an important media source to an online marketer but how can you ensure you’re visibility is an asset rather than a liability?

Many bloggers I know prefer the anonyminity of  pure text but like anything else with regard to online marketing strategies if you want to appeal to your audience then the more multi-media sources you can utilise the better providing its not overkill. We all have preferences in terms of how we take in information through our 5 senses, known as lead representation systems in NLP language. Basically some of us are more visually inclined, preferring colour and pictures, others more auditiory in nature so podcasting would be a better format to this group of people. Then you have kinesthetic types, feelers, who love to learn by a process of doing each step as they go. Finally you have auditary digital preferences, in other words, these people learn by making sense of stuff and frequently talk to themselves!

Whilst one lead representation system tends to dominate we also have a mixture of the other characteristics.

Video Blogging-The Do’s And Don’ts.

I ‘m not an expert here, in fact, far from it but I ‘m eager to learn because I see it as the way forward to capture your unique expression in an authentic fashion.

Here’s what I have integrated into my own learning so far.

Make A Start.

Unless we take the action and have a go we never ever get started. There’s one thing about being confident in front of the camera and another about always working on getting ready to get out there. Its the process of learning and the steps that we under take that becomes a habit . The more times we repeat anything the better we become. My early videos absolutely suck and I cringe when I see some of em (on my other site btw) but hell its a start and a step in the right direction.

Lighting And Sound Quality Is Important.

I’m learning that the background and composition matters. A white background with plenty of lighting makes an amazing difference to the overall look. Avoid being videoed too close to windows because you typically get shadow effects.Invest in a good microphone, seperate from your digital camera, one that you can hook on your clothing  to avoid inteferences and give a really good sound quality .

Keep Your Videos Short.

A big learn for me, obvious I know, but I can get carried away when I start talking and get passionate about a subject. Two minutes or even shorter typically works best , that way you can keep their interest level. So one simple key point is much better than too much information  as we just can’t process that much all at once.

Be Up Front.

Provide a hook to keep them watching till the end.

Do Your Homework.

Think about what you want to say by stepping into your customers shoes. What problems can you solve for them? Think about what analogies and stories you can provide that gets the questions answered in an informative and simple way.

Forget the Official Scripts.

I don’t think readers mind if you make an odd mistake, after all, it shows you’re human. When we’re too scripted we just come across as wooden in’ presenter mode’ fashion. Its not about being too slick or too clever but it is about keeping it real.

Remember Your Brand Message.

Stay focused and true to the values and DNA of your brand so you ensure that is reflected in your voice, the links and associations you provide and the way you deliver that message.

Be You First And Foremost.

Did you realise that words in videos only actually account for 7% of what matters?

93% of what is being picked up by your audience is your  unconscious behaviour in the way you speak, your voice tonality and in the way you hold yourself and the body language you give out. This is all about the energy of who you’re being. We actually take in two million bits of information through our senses every second and we can only process 134 bits. That effectively means we distort, delete and generalise about the rest and impressions absolutely count.

So one thing I realise I  always need  to remember is to smile . Imagine you are face to face with someone because it will help you keep your eyes forward and staring right out at the camera . Standing still in one spot without swaying gives the impression of someone who is more commanding and grounded. Use silences to avoid the umms and the ahhs….I ‘m still working on this one myself.

Voices are so distinctive, if you have a great voice than you should definitely be using podcasting and video blogging to engage and connect more and well if you haven’t then don’t worry, focus on your other assets, it never did Marilyn Monroe any harm!

If you’re serious about learning more about how to stride out in complete confidence then I recommend you checkout this great series by Gideon Sladwick on video blogging secrets.

Thanks for stopping by and as always, if useful please share the love because we ‘re building our own steady stream of dedicated followers and would appreciate the publicity. Got any other tips we should all be aware of then be sure to drop us a comment below, we love to hear from you.

Happy video-blogging!

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: how to blog, video blogging

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

As an NLP practitioner I ‘m fascinated with understanding people’s behaviour and underlying programmes that prompts them to think and act in a certain way. I guess I ‘ve always been interested in what makes the crucial difference in people’s success and after 13 years in recruitment and 2 years now of coaching  I ‘ve seen a wealth of profiles and coping strategies out there.

Despite societies fascination for achievement and performance there is still a lack of deep and real  insight into what is the difference that makes all the difference between success and failure in business. Ask most business leaders who their top performers are and the one thing they do that makes the crucial difference and they’ll generally struggle to clearly pinpoint and articulate this.

NLP modelling is really the process of recreating excellence. Founded on the belief that we can model any kind of human behaviour by mastering the beliefs,physiology and underlying thought processes that generate the skill or desired behaviour. NLP modelling involves transferring what an expert thinks they know and what they unconsciously know, given the fact, that 95% of the effort is largely unconscious. It’s all about producing the outcome and then passing on that learning to others in a teachable framework.

That’s really what this blog is all about,passing on insights and tips that make all the difference to your business success. So listen up!

Here’s the difference that makes all the difference to you.

If you want to find the work you love and translate a passion into a profitable concern then you’ve got to find what makes you unique. What’s the one thing you’re known for ?

You don’t have to be a genius.

Its all about finding your talent as opposed to a learned skill because that’s the unconscious element at work . Maybe you’re an absolute master at running meetings, mediating between different points of view, bringing people and ideas together to get the much needed results or perhaps you have this unbelievable ability to empathise and build rapport like no one else or is it the fact that you’re a  fabulous wordsmith and when you communicate with others you just uplift and inspire people ?

The one thing that cuts through everything else is your reason for being, find this and you begin to find your purpose in life and in work. Begin to translate that into your business and it can become your dominant selling idea.

All great businesses have one crucial thing that sets them apart from others, known in the business world as your unique selling point. Its the one thing  that you do differently. It should be important to others, believable and of course , measurable and you need to own it and walk your talk. It’s the thing that gives you your character.

It’s aligned to your deepest values and is the stuff that builds self belief and passion and enables you to persevere when everyone around you tells you otherwise.

In a world of sameness these days we all yearn for difference.

Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s what I’ve personally learned about the difference that makes all the difference.

Fear of failure can be as effective as drive for success in focusing on and hitting a goal but there is one crucial difference. Fear of failure depletes energy like nothing else and drive for success increases energy. So if you want repeatable, sustainable results then it makes sense to move towards what you love to do . In this way , you’ve got your unconscious mind supporting you rather than trying to protect you. Energy depletion, leads to stress, nervous exhaustion and thought patterns that in the end will sabotage your behaviour and bring you down.

Quit focusing on what you don’t want, the unconscious mind can’t process negatives, so when you focus on what you don’t want you’ll merely get more of it.

Your environment is having a significant impact on you whether you realise it or not. Think about it, as kids we learnt to model and mimic others in our family and wider circle learning good and bad habits . Ask yourself whether your environment lifts you up or energetically drains you and then review your performance and happiness in the context of this.

Despite conventional wisdom telling you so, it’s not about working harder than everyone else. Of course, when you start your own business you’ll need to invest time and effort in what you’re doing but all work leads to imbalance and closes down your inspiration and creative flow. The unconscious mind is far more reliable than the conscious mind and works best when left to ponder and filter ideas. These are often presented in the form of symbols and dreams but the conscious mind needs to have switched off enough to receive them. All successful entrepreneurs listen to their intuition first and then activate their conscious minds not the other way round.

The unconscious mind works always follows the path of least effort.

Authentic success is an inside out process. You need to feel it, think it and act as if and before you know it you ‘ll be that person you want to become, that leader you’re  totally capable of and you too can have a business that encapsulates who you are and what you stand for.

Difference can be subtle but it can be the  1% difference that really makes all the difference in standing out and fininshing what you’ve started.

Identifying your deepest values  makes all the difference to finding the work you love to do.When our values and our work are aligned there is congruence and alignment . Internal cohesion on the inside leads to cohesion on the outside. In other words, our thoughts,feelings and our words and actions line up and we begin to really walk our talk.

Get to this place and nothing will stop you from moving forwards and being the difference!

So what’s the one thing for you that makes all the difference to your work and success ?

We’d love to hear it so drop us a comment below and if you’d like some help idenitfying your unique talents then get in touch.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: nlp modelling, the difference that makes all the difference

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Doing What You Love Is Not Dumb.

Doing what you love is often dismissed as impractical and totally idealistic. Instead, we’re conditioned to conform and drown out our emotions with anything and everything to dull the pain whilst keeping calm and carrying on.

Research by the Institute of HeartMath based in California have actually put some substance behind the concept of doing what you love because they have proven that the heart is actually doing far more than pumping blood around our bodies.  Emotions have been found to have a direct physiological effect on the heart. When we’re experiencing negative emotions such as grief, unhappiness, frustration and depression , and feeling time pressurised ,often induced by stress  from our work or life situations, we actually release chemicals into our bodies that cause chaos.  This affects our clarity of thinking , our ability to make the best decisions which ultimately affects our performance and can actually destroy our immune systems in the process.

Fast Tube by Casper

Positive emotions on the other hand, actually bring about heart coherence causing the heart to beat in a coherent rhythmn and internal cohesion to take shape  which restores health and well being, strengthens our immune systems and promts us to have more passion to be who we really want to be.  It affects intelligence and awareness, bringing on mental clarity, creativity and emotional balance which leads to personal effectiveness.

So by consciously and deliberately choosing to do the work you love and live your life by your own rules you can actually make a critical difference in the world and contribute to global coherence.

This work goes far in exploring the real power of emotions in contrast to thought alone. Once an emotion is experienced it becomes a powerful motivator of future behaviours, affecting moment to moment actions, attitudes and long term achievements.

An international study of 2, 829 people between the ages of 55 and 85 found that individuals who displayed the highest levels of personal mastery and feelings of control over life’s events had nearly a 60% lower risk of death compared to those who felt relatively helpless in the face of life’s challenges.

Doing what you love is intelligent.

The heart communicates with the brain in 4 ways;

• Neurological communications ( through the nervous system)
• Biophysical communication (through pulse waves)
• Biochemical communications ( through the hormones)
• Energetic communications (through our electro- magnetic fields)

The heart is by far the most powerful generator of electromagnetic energy in the body. The hearts electronic field is sixty times greater in ampltude than the brain and its magnetic field is five thousand times greater. So we can now prove how we can affect others around us and how our heart signals can affect anothers brainwaves.

By shifting the heart we shift the rest of the body and produce more energy than through the mind but heart intelligence offers far more.So next time someone tells you that your passion is misplaced or the thought of doing what you love is a waste of time ignore them.

If you’re job is causing havoc with your heart’s intelligence then it might just be the ideal time to quit your job, follow your heart  and do what you love instead. If you’re looking for some direction in how to convert your passions into profit and build an online business then why not get in touch for a free 1 hours life and business coaching  consultation.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: doing what you love

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Blogging is not for the faint-hearted. Great blogs take time, effort, love and momentum.

Blogging is an ideal way to market your brand, find your customers and convey your philosophy whilst helping real people solve real problems but to uncover your blogging talent and find your style you’ve got to realise there are no rules……you effectively invent your own. Of course, it makes sense to learn some basics from others such as selecting the right platform and understanding which plug-ins will make your life easier but when it comes to designing and writing then the more you can find your own way the better.

After all, there is no one quite like YOU.

Learn more about how to promote your blog in this  previous post.

My six blogging tips for keeping you inspired, on-track and in flow.

1. Be Original

Blogging is all about personal expression so forget about trying to copy and replicate others. You are your own person with your own unique perspective. Funny how when we feel completely and utterly authentic we find that little voice inside  of us that is  just begging to be heard and desperate to get its message out and I ‘m not talking about the voice of judgement, I call her my’ inner bitch’ because she’ll just try to stop me from ever moving forward.

2. Stay Curious

When we’re completely wide open and receptive to seeing the world through a wide lens then we typically enjoy more flow moments as our inspiration is on full supply but we’ve got to feed our inspiration by doing stuff we love and by learning new stuff. So learn to continually feed your spirit with timeout for walks in nature, uplifting reads and people watching and by mixing up your routines to allow the element of spontanaeity to your working week.

3.Don’t Settle.

Quality work takes time to unfold and they’re are plenty of Internet marketers out there teaching you to be formulaic by writing a post a day and killing any decent copy with an overdrive of keywords and highlights and not a lot of content. Write with your readers in mind, keep it simple, short if you like and share what you have to say. Do so in a way that feels right to you, whether that be with images or short text it doesn’t matter as long as it is a reflection of you and its your best effort which never comes about by going through the motions.

4. Forget about Offending Others.

It’s not the masses we’re after on this blog, its people like you, people who get it and relate to what we might have to say. So accept that in doing so, we may offend a large number of other people with their own opinions about the subject matter, that’s ok, we’re all entitled to our own opinions.. So what…. my feelings are on this one is …dare to be a rebel, don’t wait for permission.

5. Be Spectacular.

We can all get free information on the Internet these days so what will your blog community provide and your posts which warrant attention ?

This is a blog about helping others see their unlimited potential as my readers develop so does their business.This is a site for self discovery and growing minds. It’s about building self reliance from the inside out so YOU can find the courage to step up and step out because that’s the only way to breakthrough those self limiting beliefs  that just keep us anchored in fear and keep us stuck doing mindless work with no clear purpose.

6. Teach Wisdom as well as Knowledge.

Experience and taking the action converts knowledge into wisdom but then again, there are plenty of people out there doing the same things over and over and wondering why they’re getting the same results in life but they never stop to review, reflect and re-arrange their internal world preferring to move jobs, or relationships or whatever else rather than look in the mirror more closely.

So teaching YOU  how to blog won’t make you part of the success crowd online but giving you the means to understand your actions and behaviours and the tools to overcome them might just do the trick. Supporting you through that journey to come out and be bold will.

Learning how to blog is just one component of the Internet marketing jigsaw you must master if working  online these days. Blogging has been proven time and again that its the one strategy that builds connections. I think that’s because it builds the relationship ,and if done really  well , reveals the heart of a leader and conveys values that might resonate with others. More than anything though, I believe that blogging is a fabulous mechanism to unlock someone’s voice and to accelerate their personal growth.

So what will you do with this information?

Please share it with others if you are committed to enabling others to be themselves and find the work they love to do.

Are you being fully heard or do you need to turn up the volume?
Can you hear te voice of judgement in your work or the voice of independent expression?

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: blogging, how to blog

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Traffic Generation- The Do’s And Don’ts.

How To Get Traffic To Your Blog With Triberr.

Learning how to get traffic to your blog makes all the difference between success and failure as an Internet marketer. Not all traffic is equal but there is a multitude of tools and techniques online to help you access your audience. The key being to identify those that will amplify your reach, making life easier for you to get your message out there.

In this post and over the coming weeks I ‘ll be looking at traffic generation tools to increase your blog readership and build your audience. Today I want to focus my review on Triberr the creation of Dan Christo and Dino Dogan. Effectively I ‘m killing two birds with one stone because as a new member to the site following an invite from a new connection (Thanks to Jon of @ThinDifference) I needed to get my head around how it all works.

Effectively Triberr is a tool and social media platform that aggregates the RSS feeds from all members of a tribe and then allows you to automatically or manually post them into your Twitter stream. The idea behind all this is the tribe supports one another  by retweeting each others content.This ‘tribe inspired’ model is unified under a chief who has set up the specialist tribe for collaborative working. Its free to join but you can only link one blog feed to one tribe at a time and if you want to expand your network then that’s possible with additional costs.

Triberr is by invitation only.

The Benefits of Triberr for traffic generation.

Triberr levels out the playing field for lesser known but great quality blogs so you can get found amongst all the junk and spam out there.

It unlocks the full potential of Twitter because it takes it a step further by connecting you to the key influence-rs and their followers. It is an extension of a tweet application and a reach multiplier.

As you become a member of a tribe you’ll get more eyeballs on your posts with access to all followers of all members.Triberr promotes the belief that it will double your traffic.

You can find and access guest bloggers and vice verse, promote your availability for guest posts.

Features of Triberr.

Tribes can be public or private.

When you join you effectively gain 100 free bones. Bones are the virtual currency of the Triberr community .Add on’s cost bones which is effectively where Triberr makes its revenue so if you start a new tribe that will cost you 30 bones or if you invite a new member to join your tribe there is another small cost involved. Bones , however, can be earned randomly by supportive acts known as ‘karma’. You reap what you sow and all that  so the more you support the more love should come back your way.

If you approve a post you’re giving it karma points.

The site also has a feature called bonfire, think of this as similar to the open facebook wall where you can view news feeds, see technical questions and solutions and find mates to connect and collaborate with.

Triberr has had a mixed reception as a traffic generation tool in some circles.Here are a couple of articles that offer two very different opinions;

Four Reasons Why I Finally Like Triberr

Let’s Vote Triberr off The Island

Proceed with Caution.

In the end we should make our own minds up and that means we should test it first but follow these guidelines.

Its always important to reflect on your intent when considering these traffic generating sites. Do give consideration to what you’re comfortable tweeting. Your content should always be aligned with your brand so you come across as consistent and known in your field of expertise.

All bloggers are different in terms of length of posts ,frequency of blogging and quality of content so it makes sense to do your research up front and make sure any tribe you join or any bloggers you invite to a tribe you set up reflects similar values and philosophy. Whilst the content may compliment each others readers the values and quality will ensure you delight rather than frighten all your readers away.

The potential reach of Triberr is obvious but that can also make it a vehicle for those individuals who are more prone to random connections and spamming .

As always, if you’ve found this useful we’d be ever so grateful if you’d share our content and drop us a line and let us know what traffic generation tools you’ve found useful  or would like to know more about.(Spammers beware )

Happy Blogging

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: how to get traffic to your blog, traffic generation

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

How To Increase Creativity For  Online Success.

You don’t have to be particularly creative these days to start an online business, after all, there are a myriad of networks out there which are already widely established with processes in place to accomodate the newbie. In fact the Network Marketing Industry came into being , flourished  and now positively depends upon this concept. When thinking of transitioning to self employment we’re often attracted by established brands and guru’s who preach the value of their knowledge, their experience and their training. We want what they’re got, often portrayed as living the millionaire lifestyle and the kind of time freedom that you can’t even begin to imagine whilst working round the clock for a wage.

They offer a tried and tested process for success but we’re all unique individuals and we have to find our own route to the treasure .  In order to do just that we’ve got to access our own creativity .It is my firm belief that if we can get to a place where we can love what we do, whilst using our talents and gifts and being ourselves, then we’ve a far greater chance of being in the 3% of online businesses that actually make it.

For many of you reading this then joining the ranks of those Network marketing businesses might well be the answer  right now and I ‘m certainly not suggesting that is not a great choice if it can  fulfill your desire to earn more, work less, stay at home, travel more and help others in the process, if you believe that’s possible.

Many of you though have bigger dreams and goals ,you want to change the world, you want to uniquely express yourself and you want to create something that has your name on it. Create something you can be proud of and create something that delivers seismic shifts in the way people think, feel and act.

If you fail to translate your idea (s) into action, however, this is hardly creative , just your imagination at work and that can be deeply soul destroying when you look back with regret or see that someone else has beaten you to it.

Creators have to think first and then convert that idea into something of value and originality.

Creativity is actually in our nature so as we evolve its understandable that we’ll be able to access our creative potential provided we learn to keep on learning about ourselves. I ‘m talking about self discovery here not just the stuff of text book learning, that left brain analysis . Its not until we can actually see a bigger person inside that we can begin to access more of our  natural creativity and start to turn those ideas into concrete action.

Creativity actually comes easiest when we’re doing work we love. It’s no surprise then that most people aren’t anywhere near to realising their creativity. Fear and threatening environments close us down and impede our intrinsic motivation.

According to Dan Pink in his book  A Whole New Mind, money is not the answer at all. Whilst we all want to be compensated fairly that won’t make a blind bit of difference when it comes to developing  creativity. That can only really come with a deep engagement with our work. Now that is only possible when we begin to find the intersection between our passions, our interests and our values, in my humble opinion.

That’s why many talented folks are choosing to start an online business sharing what they know to benefit themselves and others.

To learn more about the myths of creativity read this;

The 6 myths of creativity

To kickstart your creativity read this ;

16 ways to increase creativity and generate ideas.

Now Pink goes on to state that we’re living in the conceptual age these days , a place beyond the information age. He argues that left brained ,linear, analytical thinking is being replaced with right brain empathy ,understanding and inventiveness as the skills most needed by business. He cites the rise of Asia, automation and general  prosperity as the reasons behind this shift.

So the conceptual age is about artistry, empathy and emotion. Makes perfect sense to me, we want deeper connections and we want to specialise on what we enjoy doing. Of course this view suggests that the winners will be the designers, the counsellors, the inventors and the like, whilst the losers will be the left brained lawyers, accountants , engineers etc.

In the end, it is whole brained thinking that produces the kind of breakthroughs in creativity that we need to make a success of our online venture. That takes right brain imagination, artistry and intuition then left brained logic and planning to turn passions into profit and deliver something new.

So if you want to be one of the small handful of online solopreneurs listen up.

The average adult thinks 3-6 alternatives to any given situation whilst the average child thinks of 60. You can’t expect your online business to be the success it needs to be if you persist in applying what you’ve learnt from the past. It’s about finding wisdom in the lessons of the past that’s all then using your imagination to move forward.

You’ve got to create an environment for yourself that fosters risk taking and the pursuit of self knowledge. Its all about the challenge and the desire frankly.

You’ve got to cut lose from the pack and learn to value independent thinking. That means you’re gonna need to find your inner rebel, not the voice that says;

“ you’re not up to it ” BUT that voice that says 2 Yeah I ‘m  buzzing for this”

Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns and make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena to generate solutions.

How To Increase Creativity

1. Focus your effort.

First get clear on what you want to focus upon. You’ve got to be excited and enchanted about what you’re selling whether that is information on how to blog or you’re selling herbal remedies and skincare products. Begin to break down your goals into bite size pieces and build your online business brick by brick. As you carefully understand each piece of the whole picture you’ll be glad you invested the time and effort you did.

2.Collaborate.

As the saying goes ” all of us are smarter than any of us” so learn to collaborate with others to develop and extend your ideas into something that’s translatable to a business venture. Masterminds and forums offer plenty of opportunity for evolving your creativity or engage with us here to see how we can help. We don’t often see what is under our nose because we’re right in the thick of it so to get a breakthrough it pays to enlist the support of an outsider to help you see more clearly.

3. Balance your hard work with time out.

Twenty minutes a day of meditation or a walk in nature will do wonders for your creativity. You’ve got to be prepared to let your imagination roam free and it is our unconscious mind that speaks to us in ways beyond words through feelings, deep imagery and symbols so we’ve got to listen and look out for them.

4. Daydream.

Its really all about focusing your energy on thought and visualisation and as you hold that thought an idea will present itself that opens up possibilities far greater than you might have first appreciated. Deep inside each of us lies the potential to connect to a universal flow of knowledge and creativity that is boundless.

Creativity really does make all the difference between working smarter not harder .

Now go and create something you’re mom and dad would be proud of!

Fancy more wisdom delivered in our very own rebelistic style then be sure to subscribe here. We’re working on our very own creation at the mo and those on the inside will get first dibbs for testing purposes.

As always, if you’ve got something out of this material we’d be ever so grateful if you’d share the love.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: developing creativity, how to increase creativity

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Be your own superhero!

Starting an online business begins with learning  how to play again.

Childhood may conjure up many memories for you , some of them might not be so good . After all, who wants to recall abysmal school dinners, freezing your proverbial off on the rugby or hockey pitch on a grey cold winters afternoon  or reliving that experience of trying to memorize your times tables. Then there’s those really awkward moments, the firsts of everything’s but we won’t venture there.

Your childhood might feel like a lifetime ago now, funny that when we’re kids we can’t wait to grow up and be adults and when we’re older we spent hours and hours trying to turn the clock back!

But I want to talk about the childhood memories of believing in tooth fairies and Santa Claus, play acting, storytelling and the wide eyed wonder of new insights and discoveries.

Are you there yet?

So what has being a kid got to do with starting a business online ?

First and foremost starting an online business requires guts, passion and bag loads of creativity. We’ve got to unlearn everything we’ve been conditioned to believe.

 1. A return to innocence.

We need to see the world anew , to feel more and think less, along with suspending our beliefs so we can imagine new possibilities and see where that takes us. Its that childlike curiosity we’re looking for where we can be open to exploring  just to see where it goes. Its  where we can open ourselves up to new stuff, new people and collaborative ventures , new tools without too much up front censoring and second guessing and without expectation of how things may turn out.

Starting an online business means we’re going to need to make connections online with people who don’t live down the road from us. We’re going to need to learn how to embrace all sorts of new techy tools to promote ourselves in the right way and we’re most definitely going to need to be transparent to take advantage of social media.

We need to get very comfortable asking questions and persisting until we get an answer that satisfies us.

2. Present in the moment.

Remember when you didn’t have any baggage to carry around with you regarding the past ?

How liberating was that !

Kids are easily absorbed in exactly what they’re doing in the moment and don’t preoccupy themselves about what might happen in the future and that’s exactly the type of focus that brings on the creative flow that any online marketer is going to need. Its about learning to play again and having some fun because when we can enjoy what we’re doing we take all the stress out of learning and have a far greater chance of retention and ease without all the resistance and control issues.

3. Its not about control, its all about expression.

As small children we worry far less about how to should be behaving, how we should look and conform. Those labels come further down the line and with it all the societal pressures that keep us small and in a confined box full of pain and anxiety about how we should be showing up in the world .

Your customers want to know who you are, how you think and what you feel. They connect emotionally, spiritually as well as mentally and if you’re not being true to your real nature they’ll spot it. To develop online we’ve got to be prepared to have an opinion, to shout about what we’re passionate about. Often we’ll need to get behind the camera and shoot a video or podcast our message . That requires a degree of comfort with who we are and an ability to step forward into the limelight when the role demands it.

4. Telling stories.

People are attracted to  who you are as much as what you do online . They want to know what you’ve learned from all your experiences and what makes your heart ache. They want to know why you could possibly understand what they’re going through and in this regard you need to learn to tell your story and then share the stories of others you’ve helped .

Stories have been used for centuries to pass on knowledge and wisdom and they have a way of magically connecting people without needing to be so direct and in your face.

5. Divergent Thinking.

This is not quite the same thing as creativity as it has more to do with the ability to see lots of possible answers and solutions to a question and a problem. Its about recognising there are lots of different ways to interpret a question thinking in a broader rather than just a linear way. Children display more of the genius tendency in this area because they’re less conditioned.

6. You are your own superhero.

Kids spend a great deal more time using their imaginations to bring on states and emotions and are fully open to believing that anything is possible . As they take on the personnas of their superheros they become fearless and they laugh at the world.Daydreaming is an everyday ocurrence when we’re young.

Just like children we need to tune into our imaginative faculties if we want to be successful online because 10 % of what we do is skill and know-how and 90% is mindset. We need to be prepared to persist with our efforts even when it looks like we’re getting know where fast. All great entrepreneurs appreciate that believing in yourself is the single most important factor in your success.

If you’d like to play full out and want to learn more about how you can master your mind to grow your online business then get in touch.

Enjoy this?

We hope so, then be a love and share it for us.

© midliferebel for Midlife Rebel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: starting a business online, starting an online business

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh