Author: Telecommute Job Online

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Understanding Telecommute Burnout

Ever since you have been telecommuting, you have been warned about telecommute burnout. But what is burnout and how can you avoid getting it? Or if you have it, how can you treat, or better yet, get rid of burnout altogether?

It is important to understand burnout because 51% of telecommuters are complaining of burnout as they continue to work from home remotely during the pandemic. Even with the best efforts to see that remote workers are taking breaks, getting outside, taking walks, engaging in enjoyable hobbies, taking advantage of flexible work hours, and spending more quality time with family (71% report they are doing all of that), still over half of all remote workers are complaining of burnout.

With so many benefits of working remotely, how can so many be suffering from burnout?

All the universities and thinktanks in America are diligently scouring the data to find the answers, and so far, they are in agreement that assuming that participants are tending to their own self-care needs, the work at home environment is one of the key contributors to telecommute burnout.

The working from home environment consists of not only the workspace which is set aside for the performance of one’s job duties but also the structure of the rest of the atmosphere, including the balancing of work life with home life within the same geographical location, when they were better separated before transitioning to remote work.

It is much more difficult for employees to see clear definitions between their home life and their professional life, now that they share the same space 24/7, thus opening the door to increased stress which leads to burnout. Structure and routine throughout your workday can go a long way in staving off burnout.

Other components of burnout include depression which can be attributed to the isolation from being under pandemic restrictions and feeling as though you are imprisoned or being held captive in your own home.

Another contributor to stress in the work from home environment which leads to burnout is that which is associated with trying to justify one’s value to the organization while telecommuting. How is your employer to know that you are giving the same value (or reportedly more value) for your efforts working from home as you did when you were working in the office? There is a lot of anxiety associated with justifying one’s value to the organization and may also be tied to feelings of inadequacy of fear of job loss.

The stress and strain of burnout is not the kind of thing you can just brush-off, ignore, or leave unattended to. Burnout is a cumulative stressor which builds up in the body and expresses itself in a variety of way physiologically. Repressed burnout can appear as

  • High blood pressure
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Obesity
  • Weakened immune system
  • Heart disease
  • Cognitive dysfunction

… and so much more …

How to Overcome Burnout

Be Kind

By taking self-care to the next level and being kind, not only to others but primarily to yourself.

Three Things

Have a daily reserve of three activities that you can engage in that will bring you to a centered place of peaceful resolve. It might be talking a walk, quilting, and doing a guided meditation (like Sending Love to the World).

Then, when you are feeling disconnected or overwhelmed you can take a break and pick one of these three activities.

Set a Schedule

Your body loves to know what to expect, so having a regular schedule even though you know you have the ability to change it at any time, gives your psyche a specified routine container to hold all your business details.

Take Time Off

Not just regular breaks throughout the day but actual days off. I know this is less exciting if you are going to feel like you are wasting your vacation time on staying home (during the pandemic) but having scheduled time off work to not work is good medicine.

When you come back after taking a reprieve, you will feel much better about the work that you will be doing.

Do Something Fun

Have something you can do in your off-hours. You may still be on pandemic lockdown, but you can still do stuff, like go somewhere or do something that makes you feel good. You might have an activity that you like to do, like a hobby, that you can get involved in that takes your mind away from the thoughts and details of your work.

The key to telecommute burnout is to be aware of it, to understand it, as best possible, and to use techniques, like being kind to yourself, having three things on standby that you can engage in at any time, setting up your own work schedule, taking time off (days) from work, and doing something fun.

You can make it through this without having to be a victim of telecommute burnout.

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Pandemic Employees Mental Health Declines

Declining mental health states and increased substance abuse are at the top of recent employee concerns during the pandemic. Followed by feelings of uncertainty and fear, being bombarded by negative news, changes in work-style including performance demands and evaluation, uncomfortable and difficult home environments, uncertain financial and/or job security, declining health status, and childcare issues. Then, to top it off, there are concerns about COVID-19 exposure, potential burnout, depression, and suicidal ideation.

The Top Mental Health Concerns

1. Mental health concerns
2. Increased substance abuse
3. Feelings of uncertainty and fear
4. Negative news
5. Changes in work-style, including performance demands and evaluation, uncomfortable
6. Difficulty managing the home
7. Uncertain financial and/or job security
8. Declining health status
9. Childcare issues
10. The threat of COVID-19 exposure
11. Burnout
12. Depression
13. Suicidal ideation

Essential workers who are required to work with the public report higher rates of declining mental health states than telecommuters.

Adverse Psychological Outcomes

Essential workers, especially healthcare workers, are one-third more likely to suffer from Adverse Psychological Outcomes (APO) than teleworkers who are working from home, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), insomnia, depressive states, and suicidal thoughts. Those with pre-existing conditions such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia are at greater risk of experiencing adverse psychological outcomes.

Women and Minorities

More than half of all adults who are working from home are expressing concerns regarding increased stress, anxiety, and depression. Disproportionately hit demographics include women and minorities. 25% of the female workers are opting out of the workforce voluntarily to tend to their families during the pandemic.

Families

For work from home families, whatever degree of home management, which was maintained pre-pandemic, fell apart when one or more family members began to telecommute, and schools and daycares were closed. It is almost too much to ask someone to do, especially for single parents working from home.

The shutdown of schools and daycares have put an incredible amount of undue stress on working and non-working families alike.

Men

While women, in general, and primarily single-parent women, are hit hardest during the pandemic reporting their feelings of overwhelm, and greater degrees of anxiety and depression, men are far more likely, 70% more likely, to actually succeed in committing suicide during these unprecedented times. If you are thinking about suicide, please reach out to someone to talk to, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for English, and 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish.

Unpaid Supporters

Often overlooked are the unpaid friends or family members who are volunteering to accept the increased challenges of lack of childcare resources during the pandemic. These individuals are also seeing a decline in mental health status and as reported, 31% of them have contemplated ending their own lives.

Inner-city domestic violence is up, and rural domestic calls are down (although this is likely due to non-reporting, as students who are not attending school cannot adequately be evaluated for abuse at home).

Children

And with all this talk about who is suffering from mental health decline regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s not forget the children. They are also experiencing a difficult time that they will never forget. Some of them are depressed, confused, feeling isolated, and abused. Since many of them are unable to attend school, the trained professionals who are charged with looking out for their mental health status are MIA (missing in action).

So, keep a watchful eye on our precious little ones and growing youngsters who may be showing changes in their behavior. According to the CDC, signs to look out for include:

  • Excessive crying or irritation in younger children.
  • Returning to behaviors they have outgrown (for example, toileting accidents or bedwetting).
  • Excessive worry or sadness.
  • Unhealthy eating or sleeping habits.
  • Irritability and “acting out” behaviors in teens.
  • Poor school performance or avoiding school.
  • Difficulties with attention and concentration.
  • Avoidance of activities enjoyed in the past.
  • Unexplained headaches or body pain.
  • Use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.

Know what mental health resources are available to you and take advantage of them as needed.

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Operations Following Lifted Pandemic Restrictions

Here we are, in the new world of the telecommuting future thanks to the impetus of the pandemic. Operations following lifted pandemic restrictions will include telework, flexible work hours, working from home, home office, coworking spaces, and turning to jobs online, all a part of the new normal, a metamorphosis in the workforce of the post-pandemic world.

Fortunately, all the necessary technology is readily available for employers to adapt to telecommuting and remote working as we ready to return to the new normal and beyond.

If your business or organization is not already remote-work-savvy now is the time to ready for the new digitally enhanced workplace following in the footsteps of other businesses and organizations that vow to never return to archaic pre-pandemic methods of operating their businesses.

Everything You Need is Here

Some of the first places to look for digitally upgrading your teleworking environment would include software to communicate with and monitor staff, applications for scheduling projects and task management, training programs, and security solutions.

The Top 10 Attributes of Post-pandemic Operations

1. Structure

Organizational structure is important to layout as early as possible for establishing hierarchy and accountability among the digital workforces. The better your structure is formatted, the more secure your remote workers will be adapting to the work from home model. Though, not all your personnel will be working from home. Some staff may still be coming into work, even if only for a day or two per week, then teleworking the remainder of the time. You will have to figure out what works best for your organizational structure.

2. Empower Staff

By empowering your staff to take responsibility for their own tasks, you add the necessary and most impactful component of flexibility to your team. This also relieves you from the responsibility of monitoring each and every employee. Take your attention off of the minute details and focus on the while, allowing each employee to manage themselves.

3. Communicate

Keeping the line of communications open is very important, and especially allowing and encouraging staff to reach out if they are feeling overwhelmed by any piece of the task at hand. Team chat tools can allow team members to stay in contact and report ideas to problem-solve on the fly.

4. Performance Evaluation

Performance evaluation in the new normal is conducted on a large-scale, then at several levels below by reviewing strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure the overall performance of the organization, each team, and for problem-solving, each employee. All efforts can be traced to ensure the success of the organization.

5. Motivation

You might choose to use virtual boards to keep employees motivated (though these only work if everyone is on board, using, and regularly updating them).

6. Culture

The biggest organization-wide tele-employee advantage with the most impact on your overall performance is to establish a positive work culture. Working remotely should be a celebration of all the best attributes of an organization and its employees culminating in a joyous performance.

7. Empathetic Correction

Of course, there will be slumps in individual and team performance which will need to be addressed along the way but do so in a compassionate and empathetic manner. No one should ever feel like they are being punished or threatened by, “It’s my way or the highway,” which is considered barbaric in the current workforce marketplace.

8. Trust and Support

Employees perform better when they are able to accept their own responsibility within the most flexible parameters, and when they feel supported and trusted.

9. Non-work-related Socials

Digital non-work-related social events can help to take the edge off of staff which is feeling the pressure of being on lockdown resulting from a pandemic and executive restrictions. So, feel free to be creative and support Zoom meetings that are just for fun. Maybe a staff talent contest, show off your work-crib competition, fashion review, pet show, cooking show, or host an online karaoke show. Anything to take the edge off potential cabin fever or blues from isolation.

10. Affinity

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” so apply the “non-work-related” label as often as possible when reaching out to and communicating with your employees. The creates affinity among your organization and will put you miles ahead in employee retention.

 

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Top 10 Things You Can Do to Destroy Your Business Forever

Times are tough. I remember, they shut us down for two weeks, then it was two months, now it is going on a year, and already more than half of our businesses are lost and gone forever. What have we learned? Here are the Top 10 Things You Can Do to Destroy Your Business Forever during the pandemic.

Top 10 Things You Can Do to Destroy Your Business Forever

1. Don’t Change the Way You Do Business

The worst thing you could do is to just go about business day-to-day as you always did pre-pandemic. The world is changing. Your customers are changing the way they go about reaching out for your products and services from the convenience of their homes while under lockdown. You can adapt to this new method of doing business, or not.

2. Don’t Convert Old Customers into Digital Prospects

If you have previous client contact information, now is the time to convert them into digital prospects. If you don’t have their email addresses, reach out to them, and reward them to get it to you. Reward them with discounts, incentives, and access to proprietary information that people who are not on your preferred customer list never get access to. Or disregard.

3. Don’t Find New Ways to Deliver Your Products of Services to Homes

Getting your products or services to your customers wherever they may be by any means is a priority if you are to continue to do business in the new economy. Figure this out, and you can continue to operate during the lockdown. Take advantage of shipping and other delivery methods, electronic, if possible. Or not.

4. Don’t Communicate with Your Clients

Communicate regularly (but not so often as to be interruptive or too imposing) via any method possible. Utilize electronic communication, and consider direct mail campaigns, if you are not already doing so. Incentivize them for listening and tell them what they want to hear… not so much about you, but about how their lives will be so much better with you. Be humble and empathetic or disregard them and they will walk away (you are already losing them, anyway).

5. Don’t Strengthen Your Online Presence

You need to have the name-of-your-business-dot-com so that your customers can find you, with daily updates to give them reasons to check-in (and to attract new clients to what you are doing). Be found as active on social media platforms with consistent branding, message, and tone of voice. Or not.

6. Don’t Engage in Targeted Digital Marketing

Face it. Your clients are online, you must get their attention there. Your previous customers are there, and potential new prospects are there, you have no choice but to reach out to them where they are. Or hope to God they find you some other way.

7. Don’t Invite Your Customers to Buy from You Online

Your clients are using the Internet and their credit cards or PayPal to make their online purchases. If you intend to continue doing business with them, you will need to deploy an online marketing platform and allow them to Buy Now with the push of a button to access your products and services, or else, they go elsewhere.

8. Do Decrease Your Ad Budget Because Revenues are Down

This was the first thing we saw those failing businesses do, but the survivors increased their ad budgets and expanded their market reach, spending more in digital mediums. Those businesses that are gone and never to be heard from again? They cut back on advertising due to decreased revenues.

9. Close Your Doors and Wait for Normal to Return

Then, there were the businesses who shut down their operations altogether, hoping to be able to hibernate until the dust of the pandemic settled. But how long can you sustain an inoperable business? Paying the freight (overhead) with no new income? Unsustainable for long, and this pandemic has lingered much longer than we had initially imagined it would.

10. Don’t Fight to Survive in the New Economy

Giving up and not fighting for any way to sustain your business no matter what the circumstances is the death blow to any business or organization. Not fighting for yourself, your business, what you believe in, does not give you the right to represent well in the post-pandemic world.

Times are changing and you must change with it, or not.

 

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How Are Small Businesses Surviving the Pandemic?

Times are tough and business consultants are frantically teamed-up with their clients to make the adjustments necessary to save failing businesses that are disintegrating due to the current pandemic restrictions. For those small businesses surviving the pandemic, their success is attributed to being flexible, adaptive, and acting quickly for sustainability.

But coming up with a plan to transition to this new economy is not a one-size-fits-all strategy as every business, every market, and the surrounding socio-political environment is unique, and therefore, the solutions are just as unique to each business.

Digital Marketing

Short of hiring a Certified Digital Marketing Specialist, there are many digital marketing opportunities that can be effective in maintaining connection and public relations active but this is an activity that, if not managed well, can run away with the potential profits which are sorely needed in these unprecedented times.

Certainly, there are many free digital marketing tools available to the pandemic-bound business and organization, but they take time for your digital staff to deploy. When your business is hanging in the balance, one wrong move in your digital marketing effort could do more harm than good.

Businesses need to embrace the digital connection methods but must closely monitor what is working and what is not and be able to make the necessary adjustments as quickly as possible.

It is About Them

When reaching out to your client base remember, they are more considered about “what’s in it for me.” They are turned into WIIFM, and if you are not speaking to them about them, they will be listening and responding to someone else who is talking to them.

You must be able to identify your target market and get to know them better than ever so that you can reach out via your digital marketing efforts to connect to them. If you know exactly who your market is, what they like, what they do, how do they make decisions, where they hang out, what they do for fun, you will have more ways to target your marketing to them and build relationships with them.

Stop making your message about you and make it about them. Use the word “you” as often as possible in all your digital marketing efforts. This makes them feel like you are talking to them, and make your message all about them, and yes, what you can do for them and how they will benefit from your product or service.

Selling Online

Transactions made over the Internet are different from transactions made face to face, in brick-and-mortar retail establishments, or within office spaces. You must be able to plug into the digital economy, enable clients to interact with you and/or your staff, to order and pay online quickly and easily.

Connect to your clients using technologies such as Skype or Zoom, and make sure your appearance and presentation represent how you want to be seen by your audience. Wear appropriate attire, have good lighting, audio, and a nice backdrop for your videoconferencing.

Selling online will also mean re-evaluating your delivery systems to deploy your products and services to reach your customers at home.

Increased Value

In the digital marketplace, you need to provide your clientele with as much value as possible. So, creating and supplying workbooks for virtual presentations, providing tools and guides that they can use and will make their lives better, these are things they are looking for. Plus, anything you can give them to download, view, or print, means more potential for connection, and building that invaluable relationship after the online exposure has taken place.

Lead with your most valuable information first. The rule of thumb is to

Tell them what

But don’t tell them how

Leave “the how” specifics for a more detailed and intimate conversation at a later date (and higher price point).

Do not worry about not making the sale immediately. Business is conducted differently online. Take your time building the relationship in the selling process and let them come to you in the instant they are ready to press your Buy Now button.

Conduct Webinars

Online webinars appear to be the most effective way to bridge the gap between your pre-pandemic and pandemic clientele. Live presentations in public are considered too dangerous during the pandemic, so conducting virtual events is the answer. And you will be pleasantly pleased to discover that virtual seminars are far less expensive than their live counterparts but must be conducted completely differently.

These online events will increase your exposure and increases your credibility and connection with new and existing clients. Remember to provide value and educate your audience via your webinars.

Communicate Communicate Communicate

You must regularly communicate with your target audience to maintain connection and relationship. Enroll them in drip campaigns, let them opt into your mailing list, and provide them with regular updates. Let them know what you are doing, and how you are doing.

Increase your connection, not only with your target market but also with others in your field who are also trying to survive the pandemic. Together we can weather the storm and make it to the other side.

We are all in this together.

Exercise empathy, compassion, and humility in your communications, but be careful not to overdo it. This applies to all communication with clients, potential clients, employees, business associates, and peers. You do not want your audience to unsubscribe, delete your messages, or even worse, mark your messages as spam.

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What are Businesses Doing to Thrive?

More than ever, independent businesses are struggling to continue to make a living amidst the pandemic lockdown as they are forced to find different ways to appeal to, interact with, and serve their clients and the world unimpeded by COVID restrictions.

Businesses are forced to learn how to communicate with clients in new ways as they are forced to stay home and stay safe, and employees are telecommuting and working from home, and jobs are shifting from in-house to online.

Unfortunately, if you thought the lockdown was temporary (remember, it was only going to be for a couple of weeks, then a couple of months, and now we are moving more toward a year), it turns out that the telecommuting business model is here to stay, so, if they are to have any hope of survival, must learn to adapt quickly, before suffering too much loss, leading to business failure, bankruptcy, never to return.

It is time to get creative and to take advantage of electronic forms of operating your businesses remotely and using all the tools which are being embraced by the survivors.

Businesses with less than 100 employees are at the highest risk and most likely not to survive attempted adaptations which would include new safety procedures, expanded revenue channels, alternative customer service methodologies, and delivery systems.

This leads to the growing majority of businesses to failure, yet others are surviving by evolving into the new normal of innovative operating businesses more remotely. How this will look following the pandemic, we have yet to see.

Millions of small businesses are fading to black, never to be seen again, due to being unable to persevere throughout the pandemic restrictions.

Of the survivors that have found ways to increase productivity and are enjoying even greater than pre-pandemic profits, what are they doing?

What are Businesses Doing to Thrive During the Pandemic?

Shifting to Online

Businesses are shifting from selling from showrooms to online marketplaces and live streaming sales. They are connecting to their customers via email and building relationships using every social media method possible.

Home Delivery

Delivering product or service directly to the homes of clients.

Empowering Staff

Empowering employees to expand their skillset and their value the organization by thinking outside the box and suggesting new solutions to problems as they arrive.

Evolving Business Models

Evolving the business model to adapt to new opportunities as they become available during the most challenging of times.

Remodeling

Remodeling retail, hospitality, and restaurant interiors to accommodate clientele and to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Embrace Technology

Embracing emerging technologies that increase communication, relationship value, and maximizing revenue streams.

Adaptive Interaction

It also means changing the way line staff interact with clientele, especially if face-to-face communication was an important component of your business model pre-pandemic and keeping staff and customers safe during the process.

Telecommuting, telenetworking, and telesales are the new standard.

While the coronavirus pandemic caught so many businesses off-guard, the majority of those that will be left standing post-pandemic will no doubt be unfazed by any future similar challenge.

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How to Establish Your Credibility

When you are starting to put your message out to the masses that you are offering your services to the community at large, credibility can go a long way in influencing others, enough to make them feel comfortable with giving you money in exchange for your services, and when you are starting out? How much credibility do you have? Not much. But you can bridge the gap by establishing verifiable credibility, and here is how to establish your own credibility.

In my branding trifecta, there are three components that are necessary to create the foundation of your credibility. They are (1) dot-com (2) names (3) website.

1. Dot-com

When you get ready for this phase of launching your business brand and your individual credibility, note that you are not going anywhere without the appropriate domain names (specifically, dot-coms) in place.

So before we sew up the domain names, we must review your name(s) first.

2. Names

You will need two or three dot-com domain names. The first is your name. You can search GoDaddy.com to look for your-name.com, without any dashes. For example, I wasn’t able to get davidmasters dot com because that was already taken, but I was able to get davidmmasters.com so that (David M Masters) became my name, and I started using it ever since.

The next dot-com you need to get is the one that represents what you do. I wanted to get transformation specialist, but that was already taken, so I settled on transfigurationspecialist.com, which is actually a better representation of what I do.

Finally, you will want a dot-com domain name that is the name of your business.

Only get domain names that end in dot com, and if your first search doesn’t turn up any matches (because someone else already owns them) keep searching for alternatives and buy one that resonates with you.

Once you know what your names are, you can go back to (1) and purchase the domains.

3. Website

You will need 2 or 3 simple websites that do not need much information but can work for you as online business cards, which will show up when people search for you, what you do, and the name of your business.

This is the foundation that will serve as the basis of the credibility you will be building from here on out.

The best way to establish yourself as an expert in any field is to

4. Publish Your Book

This is really easy to do. Of course, it will definitely take effort on your part and you could hire out someone to ghostwrite your book for you, but I feel like you are better off doing it yourself.

Don’t worry about whether this is a literary masterpiece, or not. This book, while it is written by and about you, is not about you. It is about the audience that you are appealing to as your target audience.

Think about when someone introduces you next as, “Coming up next is the author of” insert the name of your book, followed by your name (which you also have the dot-com for). Now, you have instant credibility because you wrote the book on it. Who would question your credibility? No one.

And publishing your book has never been easier or faster, thanks to on-demand publishing by Amazon and other on-demand publishers. Just type up your manuscript, upload it, along with your cover art (you can use any of the free templates, or have one designed by someone on fiverr.com), and press publish.

Of course, the better your manuscript is formatted and edited the better, but don’t let anything get in the way of writing and publishing this book.

Of course, we’re not done, yet.

5. Citations

You will need to get citations (not to be confused with traffic tickets). These are mentions of you in the media, so that when people search for you, they will be able to find you. This is what news reporters will be looking for before they reach out to you as an expert in your field.

Get your name and your thoughts out there via social media, blogs, audio or video streams, or other content online, and it is not just enough to have your statements appear but to actually be found interacting with your peers and others online, leaving digital footprints (proof of credibility) behind.

6. Be Accessible

Make sure all of your websites and online media have your contact information and respond to any attempt to be contacted as soon as possible. Accessibility and approachability lend to your credibility, plus opens the doors to other opportunities for exposure. I get invitations to participate in events all the time, just because I am approachable, and people can easily contact me.

Let them contact you by any method that is easiest for them (not just a contact form on your web site). Make sure you arm them with accessibility from any variety of places, such as an assortment of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), email, or phone.

7. Establish Your Voice

By interacting with others online and leaving traces of your thoughts, you are developing a digital identity, and ideally, a unique voice that projects your perspective on life, what you believe, how you think, and how you feel. This helps to build credibility with your audience, so be careful about how you represent yourself online.

8. Blog

Creating a blog on your-name.com is an excellent way for you to preserve your voice and message online. You can decide to do it regularly, or not. But note that the bloggers who post regularly get the most credibility. You have to decide what is the best schedule that will work out for you, being aware that consistency equals reliability and dependability in the digital arena.

And start showing up online, when and where you can, and as appropriately as possible.

Remember, you are your brand, so keep that in mind for every online interaction that you have.

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Taking Your Work from Home Business to the Next Level

If you have vetted your business idea, that it to say that you (1) told someone (in some way) what you were willing to do in exchange for money, (2) someone actually did give you money for your service, (3) you performed your service to some degree of satisfaction, and (4) you received in written form (or another form of testimony) a positive review from one or more clients, you are ready to ramp up your offer.

Now you can add energy to your offering to see what happens next. You are ready to experiment with communicating your offer to others to see if you can get other people to pay you for what you are offering.

Be cautious. Do not go crazy trying to advertise your offer. This is the testing phase. Where you invest small amounts of advertising in different ways and evaluating your response. After you have run this test, you will have a good idea of how to promote your business. Even though advertising is not an exacting science, you will have data on which you can somewhat predict what your results will be.

Also, remember that you don’t have to do it all. Find other people that you can rely on to help you do all the things that you need to do and outsource everything that you can, especially the tasks that you would rather not do if you can. For instance, if you need a logo for your advertising, outsource it, get someone on fiverr.com to do one u for you for five dollars.

ROI

Keep in mind that the results you are looking for is your rate of ROI (Return On Investment). If you pay $25 in advertising in the newspaper, how many calls do you get? Same with Facebook, or the radio. Make sure to track everything separately.

If you find an advertising vehicle that seems to work, increase your dollar amount, and track those results. If your results go up commensurate with your increased investment. This method of getting the word out about your business is effective.

Keep testing and tracking, then tweaking your offer.

Hopefully, you can find joy in the tweaking process. I enjoy making changes in offers and graphics to get an increased response rate. If you can wrap your mind around your marketing in a positive way, making it a game, or scientific experiment, you can have fun while you are adjusting your business offering(s).

The goal is to accumulate enough data so that you know that for every dollar you spend in a particular marketplace, you will receive back a determinable rate of response. Therefore, if you increase the dollar amount, the responses increase accordingly. Sometimes, they increase exponentially, and not how the response rate may change at certain times of the year.

Diversification

In times of the year where your potential clients are less responsive to your advertising, it might be better to take time off and understand that your business has a cyclical lifestyle. If that proves to be true, relax your business efforts during these times and think about diversifying.

Look for another business that is cyclical, but up when your business in turning down. This is the perfect synergistic relationship between two businesses, that will keep your efforts rock-solid throughout the year.

 

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How to Turn What You Love into Cash

You have a good idea what you love to do, but how do you turn what you love into a cash machine?

First off, do not let yourself brush this project aside because it sounds ridiculous or too good to be true. I have seen so many people turn the things they love into successful businesses, things that you would have never imagined would turn into successful business ventures. So, hang in there.

And don’t forget the job market that already exists. If there is something that you love to do, there is a good chance that there is someone else out there getting paid to do it, who probably doesn’t even like doing it. That is another opportunity for you either as an entrepreneur or as an employee.

You would be so much better performing that thing than anyone else who thought they were just doing a job for someone else’s business. You could get that job or start a business that provides this service to other companies.

There’s nothing wrong with getting paid to do what you love to do, while working for someone else, but consider this: If you are doing what you love for someone else, your employer is making five-times what you are getting paid off of the work that you do. By starting your own business, you can easily double your income by offering your services to others.

How to Turn What You Love into Cash

Take the leap: Create your own dream job by starting your own business offering your unique skill, service, talent, gift, or teach others to do what you love to do.

If you were to take a look at the most successful people in the world, you would find them doing what they love, and enjoying every moment of it, while watching their bank accounts grow exponentially.

You could be doing the same thing, too.

If you have no experience in running your own business, do not worry. You can stick your toe in the entrepreneurial water to give it a try inexpensively with little or no risk. In fact, this is the preferred method of trying out your idea on others before making the big leap.

You don’t need a license to do business under your own name, so just use it to test your idea out before you get distracted by the business if doing business. Just keep track of your income and expenses while you are testing the waters.

Your primary goal is to present your idea to someone and to get someone – anyone – to pay you any amount of money to do what you would like others to pay you for, which would be the focus of your business venture. This is how you vet your business idea.

While vetting your business idea, spend as little as possible advertising your service. Use community bulletin boards, leave flyers in offices, place small, classified ads, use craigslist.org, advertise on Facebook marketplace, you get the idea. Get free business cards (yes, free business cards are a thing… Google it). Make phone calls to businesses or individuals who might be likely candidates for your services(s). Spend very little and the idea is only to get one paying client before you proceed.

If you are unable to get someone to pay for your service, put this idea on the back burner and try the next idea.

If you have a paid client, you are to perform the service and request that your client gives you a positive review of your performance. With this/these review(s) in hand, you are ready for the next step.

 

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Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow

You have heard that phrase, “Do what you love, and the money will follow,” and it might make you wonder, “What does that even mean?” and if you could understand it, “Could it apply to me?” It may mean more to you now, more than ever. This year has brought us the most business startups than ever, and yours might be the next one to make its debut.

If you do it right, you can stack the deck in your favor and enjoy making a successful venture based on doing the things that you love to do. The things that love more than anything and enjoy yourself immensely while people are paying you handsomely to do it.

So many people (millions of them) are taking this opportunity of being on unemployment, or just being unemployed, or unemployable, to start their own businesses based on their passions, gifts, and special abilities.

Can you imagine, doing what you love and being able, not only to get paid for doing it, but possibly making even more that you might ever make working for someone else? What an incredible way to finance yourself and/or your family. Right?

This is better than winning the lottery. Most people who win the lottery are broke not long after the win, but not you. If you convert your passion to an income-generating machine, the money keeps coming in month after month.

Regardless, if you are like the rest of us, you have been told that you were never destined to be a business owner, now is the time to let go of that dark programming, reignite the passion that you may have denied yourself in the past, and start to see the world of opportunities that is all around you, right now.

You came to this planet with a distinct purpose, mission, passion, and message to share with the world. Even though the societal engineers of the industrial age would like you to believe that your only function was to work for someone else.

On the other hand, you have heard of those incredible rags to riches stories where someone with minimal skills, talent, and. or financial resources breaks through the barrier from ordinary life to join the rank of the “one percent.” Could you be one of them?

One thing is for sure, if you do not try, you will not be one of them.

What do you love?

Make a list of all the things you love to do, those things that when you are doing them, time just slips away. What activities did you get lost in when you were a child? Might you like to do them now?

Do you look up to someone? Anyone? What do they do for fun? Would you like to do that? If so, add it to your list.

Has anyone ever told you that you were particularly good at something? Did it seem so natural to you, that it did not seem noteworthy or magical to you (but it did for others)? Write it down.

Are people attracted to you and ask you to help them? Is there a particular theme that resonates throughout their requests for assistance? If so, that’s a clue.

After a few days of creating this list of “My Favorite Things,” go through them and rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being that you would love doing the most.

Next, you will have to figure out how to turn what you love into cash.