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"Failure is a part of life. Failure is a part of achievement. Straight up." - Rachel Hollis


Happy 2021.


With a new year, comes new goals - right? Usually. But this year is different. To me, and maybe for many others who struggle with yearly goals, this year feels more like a re-adjustment of last year's vision. Now with a better lens, a better sense of who we are, and a better idea of where we really want to go. 2020 has allowed us to refocus on the things that really matter and how we can work more efficiently towards our goals, our values and the person we want to be - both professionally as a small biz owner and personally too. So...same goals, new me? Kind of.


Last week, as I was confronting the realization of a reinvigoration of my old goals, I stumbled on Rachel Hollis' podcast, "How To Make Your 2021 Different From Your 2020", where Rachel talks about building efficiencies for success through a calendar audit, acknowledging failure as a path to growth, and what is called the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule. If you don't know this rule, which I can NOT stop thinking about, it basically says that 20% of your effort should give you 80% of results. Simple.


In a nutshell, it's about achieving more by working less. It's about focusing on heavy, difficult, money-making things on your to-do list and leaving the easier, low-hanging fruit items for last. So less binging and scrolling and more scheduling and monotasking.


To me, 80/20'ing it means being your most efficient, fine-tuned, eating, living clean self. But being efficient is not ignoring the things you need, it's knowing what you need at the time you need it. To that end, I created a list of 6 things I WILL STOP DOING in 2021 to be more 80/20. (I invite you to join me!)

  1. Waisting time worrying about things I can't change. Ugh. Can we please stop doing this in 2021. Is it possible? I'm not sure. But I'd like to find a way to meditate away the anxiety, hold my head up high to imposter syndrome, and tell failure to: BRING IT ON. As Rachel says, “Your fear of failure will keep you from ever doing anything of worth for the rest of your life. So figure it out now. Because it’s controlling you.” I'll work to circle myself with supportive people who help to drive my business toward success. I will not question my own capabilities, instead I will celebrate and draw focus on my abilities.

  2. Rabbit Hole scrolling. You know what it is, you've been doing it and we all need to stop. When one post, brings you to another post and you just can't stop. You waste hours mindlessly scrolling when you could have been reading, writing, SLEEPING - preparing to crush tomorrow.

  3. Leaving white space on my calendar. It's proven that when you block out your day with the important tasks that bring in positive results, you are more productive. Calendar white space is simply an invitation to waste time. Also, as Rachel mentions in her podcast, doing a calendar audit of previous months will help you determine what tasks are actually giving you the most positive results.

  4. Being tempted by ads. Oh you know those Ads of EXACTLY what you what you want. So tempting. But if you are working on a task, don't be tempted, because you know that the click, will lead to a whole feed of clicks then to a website, you get the idea. So instead of clicking, I'll just bookmark it. Come back when my important stuff is done.

  5. Finishing what I started. Don't stop unless there's a real life emergency. Let the tag, the DM, the text, the phone, the door all go unanswered. And just finish the task you started before allowing yourself to be distracted. I like to set a timer with 30 minute intervals of complete uninterrupted time. Try it.

  6. Keeping it simple, stupid. Finally, a favorite of anyone over 45: K.I.S.S. or Keep It Simple Stupid. A professional victim of bureaucracy and paperwork, I constantly need to remind myself that one of the reasons why I went into business for myself was to NOT overcomplicate things. It will give me time to focus my efforts on the things that matter and on growing my business.

Now your list may be different but either way, like a resolution, in order for anything to stick it needs to resonate with your own goals, values, beliefs and why. Ok, now let's start crushing 2021.



Stay positive,




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Networking in a pandemic, can be⁠

complicated⁠,⁠

strange, ⁠

⁠scary⁠,⁠ but mostly, honestly, just⁠

lonely.⁠

⁠

When you're a solopreneur, your network is everything your old office life once was.


The usuals at the water cooler, ⁠the IT guy who always seems to fix it, that impromptu meeting at the corner of your cube, your work spouse who just gets you, the drama in the room next door that you can just barely hear through the glass you're holding against the wall (speaking for a friend.) ⁠

⁠

As a solopreneur, you rely on your network for brainstorming, for knowledge, for high fives on your wins and for support during those losses. ⁠

⁠

But these days, it's just you and zoom reactions (btw, why aren't there more of these?). Or if you're lucky an old-fashioned phone call.⁠ ⁠

⁠

Looking forward to when we can all be together again. Until then drop me a line. I'd love to talk to you! đŸ‘‹đŸ»â 


Stay positive,






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"We tell ourselves stories in order to live." - Joan Didion


We're creeping past the halfway point! Here's Part 3 of my 5 part series on getting your small business started on Instagram.


In this post we'll talk about where the big time fun happens: Stories.


As a small business owner, telling the story of your brand is likely your favorite thing to do. And the peps at Instagram have made it easy and fun to share your stories 24/7/365. Yep, endless story action. From product launches to user generated content (UGC), this three year old, widely popular feature is the best part of IG (IMHO). Because as we all know, the best way to engage your target audience with you brand is to engage you target audience.


And you won't be alone! Of the 1 billion people who use Instagram every month, 500 million people use stories EVERY SINGLE DAY. And to top it off, one-third of most viewed stories are actually from businesses. With numbers like that, you can't afford NOT to use IG Stories.


Not convinced yet?



BOOM.


"So what are Instagram Stories anyway and how do I use them?" We'll I've got some answers for you. We could go on for hours on all the features, uses and benefits of Stories but in the interest of keeping it to the point, I'm going to tell you what you can do and can't do with Instagram's Stories feature.


Let's do good news first.


What you can do with Instagram Stories:

  1. Customize like crazy! Instagram makes customizing your story, ex-treme-ly easy. Add custom text, stickers (like hashtags, mentions, location and music!), giphy graphics, emojis, lines and filters (a shoutout to Snapchat). And if that's not enough there are also stickers to add for food delivery services, gift cards and donations - all perfect for businesses using Stories.

  2. Post videos and images. Whether you are sharing a video or an image, IG Stories lets you customize your story. (Note: videos are posted in 15 second increments and you can't post more than 1 minute of video at a time -throw that over to the can't section!)

  3. Share your story to your IG feed, FB Stories and IG highlights. (Note: Read Part 2: The Feed to learn more about how to manage your IG Feed.)

What Instagram Stories can't do:

  1. Survive longer than 24 hours. I know you want your story to live forever but unfortunately, Instagram Stories only stick around for 24 hours. But you can (and should) save your Stories to a Highlight so that they can happily live there for as long as you like. Check out this article on the value of Highlights for your business and how to setup up for the best engagement.

  2. Be edited after it's posted. Yikes, you forgot an important tag on your Stories or, even worse, THERE'S A TYPO! No, you can't edit. If it's really bad - delete and repost.

  3. Add links. Yep, IG is funny with links. Honestly, if you want to "link it up" you best go to other link-friendly platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. IG was created to be creative and links aren't always the most attractive (sorry). But the good news is IG does offer linking on Stories...IF, you have either 10,000 followers or a verified account. And for the rest of us? The workaround is adding videos to your IGTV library and using the swipe up feature to link in your story. More on IGTVs in my next blog!

I hope that helps you feel more confident in telling your business's story with IG Stories.


Next up, Part 4: Going LIVE. Get your Ring Light ready!


Stay positive,



P.S. Need help with your content strategy? Contact me @manejahpr today!

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