Author Archives: B

5 Hidden Ways to Market Yourself

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Believe it or not, every day holds an opportunity to market yourself. If you own a small business, you may or may not be taking advantage of the following lesser-known marketing tactics:

  1. You send emails every day right? Have you been making your email signature work for you? (Do you even have an email signature?) It boosts your credibility and allows other people methods of getting in touch with you that they can in turn share with others. Every time your email is replied to or forwarded, that email signature is always going to be staring at them in the face. Make sure you include a catchy tag line- put out a call-to-action, a news item about your company or a particularly funny testimonial.
  2. I bet you’re on other forms of social media, too. Maybe you have a business account that you manage, but have you considered leveraging your own personal media to advertise your business? Include links to your website and/or other business accounts where possible. Flush out your social media profiles so people have a better idea of what you do for a living. Even better, apps like Facebook are now allowing people to link their personal profiles to their business pages by listing themselves as a team member.
  3. Many will disagree with me that in this paperless age that business cards have become a thing of the past. I say your business card is like a physical mini-version of your website: it lets people know who you are, what you do and how they can contact you. Giving people a physical reminder of the ways they can get in touch makes it easier for them (instead of walking away trying to remember your Instagram handle) and makes you more likely to stand out in their minds because you have a business card.
  4. I think a lot of people shiver when they hear this but it’s true: you must network. 90% of the business I’ve had has been for and through people I know. You don’t have to be a hardcore seller to do this. Just work on your interpersonal relationships- next time you go to a party, make a point of finding out what everyone does for a living. Sometimes just talking to someone about their job can reveal ways in which you might be able to fulfill a need, bridge a gap or boost performance for them. As soon as you’ve figured out how you can best help them, give them that business card! (See item 3.)
  5. This is the most painfully obvious way to market yourself and yet there’s very few people who take advantage of this trick: come up with a creative way of introducing yourself that gives people more insight into what you do specifically. Giving people just a job title is kind of boring and may not paint the whole picture of what you do for your business. “Hi, I’m B and I’m an accountant” is far less exciting than “Hi, I’m B and I solve financial problems for small businesses.” Don’t make it vague, but keep it intriguing- just enough so that whoever you’re talking to will be curious and want to find out more.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

The Timing’s the Thing

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This story starts off with a mistake: my own. I was working on a social media consultation for a client and during my analysis I noticed a lot of her posts weren’t getting many views. My advice to her was to change up the times of her posts to try and broaden her audience and I gave her a list of the best times to post to social media (according to my research).

Long story short: the project failed. Her views went down as did her engagement rates. I couldn’t figure out why her posts had gotten more attention. Obviously we were both unhappy with the results so I suggested she go back to doing what she was doing. Wouldn’t you know, her numbers went right back up again.

See, what I failed to take into consideration is that not all audiences are alike. The lifestyle, the income and the social status of your audience has to be taken into consideration when you decide what you’re going to post and when. Just because statistically speaking a lot of people look at Instagram before going to bed doesn’t mean that your specific audience engages in the same habit. In this particular instance, my client’s audience consisted of mostly of mothers who checked their Instagram while their kids were at school- that’s almost a 12-hour difference. Lesson learned: what applies to one audience doesn’t necessarily apply to the other.

Another factor I failed to take into consideration was that I was working on a previously established social media brand, which meant the audience was already used to reading posts at a certain time. Not sticking to a defined schedule meant people were missing out on what she was posting. In one case, the absence of posts at a certain time gave a reader the false impression the account was no longer active. (Huge fail.)

It may seem like an insignificant detail, but having a set posting schedule for your social marketing based on your audience’s media consumption habits actually does make a difference in your engagement rates. Not only that, it’s a reflection of your brand- it projects consistency, inspires confidence and reassures consumers, particularly if you have a pre-existing audience.

Social media can sometimes feel like trying to dance when you don’t know all of the moves. But like with any dance routine, as long as you get the timing right, you’re already halfway on your way.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

 

5 Truths for the Self-Employed

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When I transitioned from working full-time at an office to working for myself it was a bit of a shock. Even though I used to freelance many years ago, I still found myself stuck with certain beliefs that people have about the life of the self-employed. Here are some of the things that I had forgotten:
  1. You have no free time. I think everyone has this vision for themselves: you get up a leisurely pace, linger over coffee and maybe squeeze in a couple of hours of light work before having time to visit with friends or pursue hobbies. Not so! Working for yourself means not having the luxury of leaving your work at the office. You’re on 24/7 which can mean early mornings and long nights.
  2. But you still have to try to have a life. Just because you can work from home all of the time doesn’t mean you should. In fact, it may be harder to tear yourself away from your work when it’s there constantly in front of you. Sometimes I have to force myself to take breaks and I’m still trying to learn when to walk away from something when it’s “good enough”.
  3. You’re responsible for everything. When you work for yourself you are your own boss but you’re also an accountant, an administrator and your own HR department. Even if you’re fortunate enough to be able to farm tasks out to others, you’re still responsible for a heck of a lot more than you normally would in a traditional office setting.
  4. But you’re also responsible for everything else. Your real-life responsibilities are always going to be staring you in the face when you work from home. Chores, errands and other household tasks are going to have to be incorporated into your day somehow. (And if you’re wondering, yes I’ve responded to client emails between doing loads of laundry!)
  5. It can get kind of lonely. Being stuck in front of a computer isn’t really conducive to being social. Plus, without any colleagues around as built-in coffee companions I can sometimes go a whole day without talking to a real, live person.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

How to Build Your Online Cred…for Real

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Chances are if you run a small business then someone’s been looking for you on the internet. We live in a digital age where people like to research their options before making a decision and having greater access to companies via social media makes it easier then ever for a business to communicate to its customers.

But are you really using the internet to your advantage? That’s a point I make to a lot of clients who are hesitant about adapting social media into their marketing efforts. What they don’t realize is that the more of an online presence you have, the more credibility you have with your audiences.

That’s not to say that every company needs to get onboard with the latest social media platform. When creating your digital presence it’s always important to ask yourself who your customers are and where they’re consuming their media. Even if you already have a strong online presence, here are some things you may want to consider.

You have to have a website (or a website equivalent). Websites only work if they serve a purpose: for example, an esthetician client of mine needed one so that clients could find out more information about her services. On the other hand, a one-of-a-kind craft company I work with has such a high turnover of products that customers get most of their information- and buy most of their products- off of Instagram. Either way you’ve got to have some kind of main hub where potential customers or clients can find out more information about your company.

But If you have social media make sure you’re using it. Having one or two really great, active social media channels beats being spread too thin across many. You don’t have to post every day, but every 2-3 days is considered an active account.

Also, are you using social media to leverage your sales? Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram all offer tools for business that can help you sell merchandise to your social media audiences which eliminates the need for a website.

Make sure that people can find you in other ways. Let your Instagram followers know that you’re also on Pinterest. Maybe people who enjoy your blog want to be updated via Twitter. Just make sure that if you are hoping to attract audiences across multiple channels to make your content varied and interesting so people don’t get bored.

There are still other ways for people to find you online, even without social media. Even if you don’t have a bricks-and-mortar location it may be helpful to have a Google Business page so potential customers can find you more easily. Encourage satisfied clients to review on sites such as Yelp. Join an organization and make sure your business gets listed on their directory. Making sure your company name comes up in several different places increases visibility, boosts credibility and may even help with your SEO.

Building your company’s online reputation doesn’t have to be confined to building a website- in fact, your company may not need one at all! But by increasing your company’s digital presence and providing unique, relevant content across social media channels, you’re well on your way to building a company that appears professional, credible and on-the-ball.

Running a small business is a challenge and it’s one that everyone seems to faced with these days as companies shrink, more employees take on side hustles, and more people work for themselves. As the owner of a small business, I’m always looking for ways to manage my professional life, which I write about here. I’ve also worked in several offices, so I share some of my workplace strategies here. Looking for ideas on how to market your business? I write about that too.

Do you have your own business? Tell us all about it and the ways you manage your professional life by commenting below or emailing keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

 

Nail that Presentation!

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I’m going to give you a statistic. It’s going to be completely made up but I think you’ll agree: 90% of us don’t like making presentations.

Am I wrong?

For the 10% of you who do like making presentations, this post is not for you. But if you’re like me and the thought of public speaking kind of makes you want to throw up, then you’d better read on.

See what I did there? Already I’ve started to give you an effective presentation (even though you’re reading a blog post). I started off with a statistic you may or may not identify with and because it’s completely made up I’ve hopefully put you (my audience) at ease and maybe even made you laugh a little. But because I’ve humanized myself by identifying a common fear that most of us face I’ve made you intrigued: if I feel the same way as you do, what solution could I possibly have to fix the problem?

That’s how a good presentation should start: capture your audience, then identify yourself in relation to the issue you’ve raised. Once you’ve established a connection, you’ve established a certain level of trust; then you can make your intentions for the rest of the presentation known.

That’s half of what makes a good presentation work: appealing to the humanity of your audience and identifying a human component to your subject. Knowing who you’re presenting to and what’s important to them will take away a lot of the guesswork as to how to deliver your message more effectively.

The second half is preparation, which to the nervous folks in the crowd is the key to cutting your anxiety by half. Even if you consider yourself crap at public speaking, just taking the extra time to prepare may give you the confidence boost you need to get through your presentation.

And by prepping I don’t just mean reading your notes over and over until you have your whole speech memorized. In fact, some experts consider writing out your presentation beforehand a big no-no: memorizing means you run the risk of losing your place, and it may leave you with a false sense of security regarding your material. What happens if you get interrupted, get asked a question, or sense a mood shift in the room? A written presentation has no room for spontaneity.

However, if you write out your key points ahead of time and use visual cues in your notes (bullet lists, colours, capital letters, underlining) you can rehearse different ways of delivering your information so you’re prepared for just about any conceivable possibility. (Try to imagine several different scenarios to see how they would play out.)

Your prep work should also require some thought as to the sensory experience of your audience. Consider the seating arrangement, time of day, room temperature, lighting, and the quality of any equipment you may be using. These are all elements that factor into the attentiveness of your audience and their willingness to receive your message.

I’m not going to give you advice in the form of that old adage of picturing everyone in their underwear; I think the best thing you can do is to visualize yourself as confident, knowledgeable and above all more than able to pull off a fantastic presentation. (And that’s fully dressed.)

Holding your own in an office isn’t easy in a fast-paced, competitive and demanding work culture. Having been faced with similar challenges of my own, I’ve compiled some of the best ways to sustain yourself throughout your working life here. For more professional advice, and on how to market yourself or a product, click here or here.

What are some of the speed bumps you’ve hit working in an office? Share your workplace stories below or send them confidentially to keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

How to Organize Your Digital Files

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I recently ran into the following dilemma: my files were taking over my computer’s hard drive to the point where everything operated more slowly and my computer begin sending me system messages warning me that my storage was almost full. Similar to when I purged my digital photos, I ended up going through about 2,000 documents. Well, that’s one mistake I won’t ever be making again. I hope you don’t ever have to make it either. Here’s where I was going wrong:
  1. I wasn’t processing documents on a regular basis. I’d scan written meeting notes to transcribe into Word docs and never do it. I’d dump files in the folder marked “Inbox” on my desktop and never go through it. Now I make going through my computer inbox part of my weekly review so I can tackle my processing in bite-sized chunks instead of trying to clean all of my files up at once.
  2. Not naming files as soon as I created them meant I relied a lot on my memory to store important information, like when and where my photos were taken for example. I’m taking care to label each of my files correctly and accurately so I can find what I need quickly.
  3. Not being able to let go meant that I was holding onto a lot of things that were a waste of space- literally. Bad photos, old school projects, drafts of things that are so bad they’ll never see the light of day- these are all things that need to go.
  4. I never took advantage of external hard drives or cloud-based storage systems, meaning I kept a lot of archival material in with projects I was currently working on, which made me feel like I was wading through files every time I went to look for something.
  5. I didn’t take advantage of the “Folders” function on my computer. Instead of keeping al of your files in your downloads folder, or dumping all your stuff onto your desktop (which can make your computer run slower), file away documents and photos that are clearly labelled and follow a system that works best for you. Depending on your OS you can further organize your folders by colour-coding or designating tags. Or go the old-fashioned route and use letters, numbers and symbols to organize and prioritize your folders so they fit in with your workflow.

I’ve found from experience that staying organized is one of the keys to maintain a balanced, more productive lifestyle. I’m trying to figure out the best way to organize my life here, or click here for some of the best methods for managing your time. For more ways to keep it all together, click here.

How do you organize your life? Inquiring minds want to know. Tell us below or send pics of your beautifully organized stuff to keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

8 Ways to Avoid Stress

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It may seem like a pipe dream, but I truly believe there are measures we can take to reduce the amount of stress in our lives. While we can’t always control what stresses us out, I’ve come to learn that exercising measures in what I like to call “stress prevention” can help me control my reaction to stressful events and stop fretting about the things that I cannot control. While I haven’t totally perfected my technique, here are some of the strategies I put into place to help me avoid stress:
  1. Don’t overcrowd your schedule. I know that if I schedule too much for myself in one day, I feel emotionally and physically exhausted. Just having blank space on your calendar can give you peace of mind. It also gives you contingency time should an emergency come up, or if a task takes longer than planned.
  2. Be realistic. I used to know someone who would schedule meetings but forget to schedule travel time in between and as a result ended up constantly running behind. Leaving blank space on your calendar isn’t just for visual stimulation. Think of it instead as your back-up plan.
  3. Learn how to say no. Once you become more realistic about your scheduling capabilities (see number 2) you have to exercise your right to refuse work that interferes with your schedule, is outside of your job description, or beyond your capabilities.
  4. Learn when compromise is appropriate. One of the keys to dealing with stress is having the right attitude when approached with projects that are less than desirable. Be willing to do what needs to be done but make sure you take steps to ensure that your needs are met as well.
  5. Be okay with enough. As much as you may like to give 110% to everything you take on there will be times where it is not worth the effort, the time or the money. If perfectionism is causing you to fall behind, miss deadlines or prevents projects from moving forward, it may be time to learn when to walk away.
  6. Be loyal to yourself. In order to keep on top of my projects and administrative tasks I schedule a weekly review. Keeping that appointment with myself is such a high priority for me that I plan my schedule around it. Recognize the best practices for your lifestyle and stick to them.
  7. Know that you can handle it. Most of the anxieties that we have are rooted in the lack of faith we have in ourselves to manage the things that are thrown our way. It may so corny, but if you believe in your ability to handle any situation with grace and confidence it will greatly reduce any anticipation or dread you feel about a problem or upcoming event.
  8. Accept the things you cannot control. This may be the hardest rule to swallow, but at some point in time you really will have to face the facts: there will be times where you cannot prepare and the only thing you can do is take care of yourself and manage as best you can. (A sense of humour helps too!)

In this day and age we place so many demands ourselves that sometimes even going about our day-to-day lives is exhausting. As a person who likes to keep busy, I find myself struggling to stay balanced. You can follow my journey here, or click here or here to find more ways to streamline your life to keep it simple.

What are some of the ways that you stay balanced? Give us your advice below, or email your strategies to keepingbusywithb@gmail.com.

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyways!

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Ever been on a rope course? I have, once, when I was thirteen and it was one of the scariest things I had to do in my life. I’m pretty clumsy when it comes to most physical activities and I’m not so good with heights, either. So asking me to (repel) down a length of rope while strapped to a harness is kind of like asking me to stand on my head and hold my breath for as long as I can- not impossible, but most likely not going to happen.

But there I was anyway, somehow having been coerced up there and now I was faced with having to glide from one tree to another and I was freaking terrified. The pressure was on. Everyone was yelling at me, encouraging me. I almost started crying.

One of the teachers was already over on the other side. “You gotta keep on going or you’re going have to find another way to get down,” he called.

In that moment, something inside me shifted. I looked down and it was far. Like really far. And there was no way I was going to attempt the descent myself. I looked over at the teacher who had called out to me, at the length of rope suspended in the air before me. There was no way out except to do it, no matter how scared I felt about it.

And that’s kind of like a lot of things that we’re scared of in life: they’re inevitable and most of the time the only way through is forward, even if it means confronting the unknown, or taking a risk. We can kick or scream or cry in front of our classmates but our reaction changes nothing; the problem will always be there until we work through it.

I was faced with a choice: move forward or remained trapped on a tiny wooden platform forty feet in the air. Neither option appealed to me but being trapped up there seemed far more awful than zip-lining between two trees. One option would move me forward, the other would leave me stuck.

You can choose to let your fear take over until it brings you to a standstill, or you can acknowledge the fear for what it is- just an emotion- and continue on with your life. You may be surprised to find that things weren’t as bad as you anticipated.

As for me? I zip-lined down that rope and screamed the entire way. When I got to the other end, I was shaking but happy. I had just done something scary and survived. Nothing had changed except that I was one step closer to my destination and I was getting braver, so brave that I didn’t look down or back and instead found myself only facing forward.

In this day and age we place so many demands ourselves that sometimes even going about our day-to-day lives is exhausting. As a person who likes to keep busy, I find myself struggling to stay balanced. You can follow my journey here, or click here or here to find more ways to streamline your life to keep it simple.

What are some of the ways that you stay balanced? Give us your advice below, or email your strategies to keepingbusywithb@gmail.com.

That Time My Body Tried to Self-Destruct

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I’ve put off writing this for over a year now. When I first started I felt it was necessary but then it became too difficult and I stopped because I figured no one would be interested . After some time passed I started to wonder if I had done the right thing. I wondered if anyone else had gone through what I had been through. I share this with you today in the hope that there’s someone out there who needs to read it as much is I need to write about it. Consider it a cautionary tale.

Last spring, my body decided to self-destruct. To a casual observer it may have seemed as if it were a long time coming but to me it was a total shock. I didn’t know what was happening to me.

How do I describe myself at that time other than to say I was a mess? I had stopped eating and sleeping and as a result of my stomach was upset all the time and I was exhausted to the point that I was falling asleep in random places. My skin broke out and I started losing my hair. I lost weight and had to go to the doctor, who told me to stop overworking myself.

But I didn’t listen. As my stress levels rose, my health plummeted: I started having frequent panic attacks and crying spells that would last hours. I felt like I couldn’t handle anything and it made me hate myself. I was angry all the time: I’d throw tantrums, I’d throw things and then I would throw myself down on the bed afterwards and wonder about the person that I was becoming.

The final straw occurred when I got sick, really sick, the kind of sick that makes you cancel everything and stay in bed for a week. It made me realize that I was miserable. I hated my life. I knew that if I kept I’m going the way I was I would make myself sicker and at the time the only way out that I could see was to do something drastic.

So I quit my job.

Disclaimer: don’t quit your job. It’s a really risky thing to do, especially when you’re in a bad place. However, it seemed like the only solution to me. I missed freelancing: working from home, getting creative. I wanted to be passionate about something again.

First, I took some time off because it had been seven years since I had had a vacation. I had to teach myself to enjoy once again the little things that used to give me pleasure: reading, journaling, creative writing. It sounds like a lot of fun but reality it wasn’t easy trying to shed the workaholic personality I had developed.

It’s something I’m still working on. I did eventually go back to freelancing (that’s a whole other post) but even then I have learned the importance of following my body’s cues. In doing so, I have to come to discover that if you’re not taking care of yourself on an emotional and physical level you will lose the strength needed to deal with things on a daily basis.

Now that I’m kinder to myself my stress levels have become more manageable. I have more energy and experience better health overall. Sure, I still have my moments/days/weeks but they are getting fewer and farther between.

If any of the above sounds familiar to you than my advice is this: listen to your body because it will tell you when you’ve had enough. It will tell you when it is depleted. It will tell you when the lifestyle you’re leading is wrong.

Deep down inside, you know which things are best for you. Recognize those things, honor those things and try not to let them go.

In this day and age we place so many demands ourselves that sometimes even going about our day-to-day lives is exhausting. As a person who likes to keep busy, I find myself struggling to stay balanced. You can follow my journey here, or click here or here to find more ways to streamline your life to keep it simple.

What are some of the ways that you stay balanced? Give us your advice below, or email your strategies to keepingbusywithb@gmail.com.

The Secret to Everyday Happiness

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I recently celebrated a birthday and I’m not lying when I said I had a great day. I gave myself a day off of work and spent time with family and friends just relaxing and enjoying myself. It felt great.

If you’re a workaholic or perfectionist like me, you know how much work can suddenly start to take over your life. Taking even just one day off can give you a different perspective. I realized that most of my days are planned around work. My birthday gave me a rare opportunity to plan for pleasure instead.

I started to wonder about why I wasn’t making more room in my life for the things I love. Why would I save only one day out of the whole year for rest and relaxation? What if I could find some way for my day to be pleasurable every day, even in just some small way? Could I actually plan my own happiness?

If happiness is something that you work on, it’s a state of mind that needs to be worked on every day. Giving yourself something to look forward to, allowing yourself time to relax or even indulging in something small are all good ways of injecting some fun into the day, whether it’s during the week or on the weekend.

Realistically, there might not be an opportunity to do this on a daily basis (like I said, life gets in the way) but there is always the time to practice gratitude. It may sound corny, but reminding yourself of reasons to be happy can actually improve your mood. Gratitude doesn’t always have to mean listing the things you’re grateful for either- for me, practicing gratitude also encompasses finding appreciation or pleasure in the everyday world around me. It could be as simple as being grateful for the breeze on a hot summer day, or how beautiful the view is from your window. There are little sparks of joy everywhere in your life if you know where to look for them. If you don’t, it may be time to create some. (Check out The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo or The Book of Awesome by Neil Patrisha for some ideas.)

We only have birthdays once a year, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have reasons to celebrate everyday. We’re alive, for one thing, which is remarkable unto itself. If we constantly look for opportunities to be grateful for this, we can all be on our way to something that looks like everyday happiness.

In this day and age we place so many demands ourselves that sometimes even going about our day-to-day lives is exhausting. As a person who likes to keep busy, I find myself struggling to stay balanced. You can follow my journey here, or click here or here to find more ways to streamline your life to keep it simple.

What are some of the ways that you stay balanced? Give us your advice below, or email your strategies to keepingbusywithb@gmail.com.