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How to 10X Your Productivity

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My favorite Chrome browser plug-in in the world is called One Tab and you already be using it. Stick with me because I’m going to show you a feature in the app that you may not know about. If you are new to One Tab, it’s a free Chrome browser plug-in that allows you to collapse all of your open tabs into one tab, for future reference.

But that’s just the beginning of the fabulosity! . In the video below, what I show you are some features that allows you to create whole systems with a click of a button. Now, that’s my kind of app!

After you watch the video. let me know in the comments below if you found it helpful. If you aren't already subscribed to my YouTube channel, make sure and do that and you'll never miss one of these tutorials.

10 Content writing tips when you are stuck (or slow)

10 Content Writing Tips when You are Stuck or Slow

Recently, a member of my online community, The Front Row posted a question that received such amazing tips, tools, and feedback that I wanted to make sure and capture it all and share it with the world at large! (Here’s the original thread.)

The Question:

I’m looking for some advice on something that's really getting me down. Basically, I need to learn to write faster! I tend to be the slow and fastidious type when it comes to writing, both for myself and for my clients, but struggling to produce a single blog post in a day is harming my profitability and stopping my business from growing further. Does anyone have any advice please?

The Responses:

Batch writing! Writing several pieces in one sitting/in a row, rather than trying to write one a day? Also "writing prompts" can be very helpful -- just to get your mind flowing. If you are writing about a specific industry, try journaling/brainstorming a list of topics and then break each topic down into different ideas. Also, just old-fashioned story telling works -- sharing personal stories, defining moments in career, hurdles overcome, crazy things on the journey, etc are always a hit -- people love to read about other people's stories. Give yourself permission to free-flow write -- a lot of it will be junk, but you will find the treasures in there too!!! http://www.serped.com/client-blog-post-ideas/1903  

Contributed by April Adams Pertuis


Give yourself permission to write a shitty first draft (maybe using April's ideas above for prompts, batch writing, etc). Print out what you've written, read for clarity and punch, and edit.

I'm suspecting you are putting undo stress on yourself by thinking you are letting your audience down and ultimately hurting your credibility and bottom line. If you write out of stress and anxiety- it shows. It sounds to me like you would benefit by resetting your expectations of your blog to something realistic so that you can work on other higher priorities. Chin up. There's only 24 hrs in a day and 12 of them are reserved for your personal strength. Yes?  

Contributed by Colette Noelle Micrae


Recording yourself talking almost always reduces the stress, gets ideas flowing, and gives you a ton of material to revise and edit later. A key to making this work is not to try to edit or revise as you speak. Just talk and record. Also Dragon dictation, Google Voice, or Evernote recorder can help, too..  

Contributed by Marnie Ginsberg


Repurpose. Write it. Take out lines and make great quotes. Write a riveting intro for people to click to read the rest. Can you make 5 ways to do this or 7 ways to do that out of it? Break it out. Squeeeeeeze all the juice out of it you can. Write a blog about getting stuck. Repurpose the heck out of it. Share your solutions and continued challenges. Another trick I have is I write my rough and leave it. Then I might another 2 or 3. I give it a good day. Then I go back. Give myself 20 mins on it and break again. Over and over I come back, until it's either complete or I become more inspired. Something about the limited time and upcoming break helps.  

Contributed by Isabelle Baker


Next time someone does something nice for you, make mental notes on how you would tell this story to a child or someone with a very short attention span. If you only have a few minutes to make your point and get to the "feel good" punch line, you'll have to be brief. When you edit, make sure that most of the story is about the person and the kind act. It’s best to start at the end of your content by asking the question, “What is the main purpose of this piece of content?” Once you know the purpose of your content, for every sentence you write, ask yourself this question, “Am I going off track and confusing my reader, or is this sentence helping achieve my content goal?” When you know the ultimate goal of your content, you’ll find yourself writing both faster and better. (Source:  http://www.influencewithcontent.com/writing-engaging.../ )

Contributed by Brian Lee Rouley


I do a lot of outdoor activities (walking, running, biking, dog play) and find that some of my best "writing" happens when I'm in motion. I don't make any record of it, analog or digital, but rather just rough out main points in an outline in my head. Key phrases tend to get memorized easily too. I think anyone can benefit from this, as I think it's not a gift but rather a craft. Just the other day, columnist Connie Schulz had a nice post about walking, thinking, and writing       

Contributed by Tony Ramos


Anytime I'm stuck, I go to my dragon (google voice works too) and start talking thru what I want to say - sometimes I start with " I'm trying to explain XX and I'm having trouble - here's what I wish I could get people to understand ... talk it thru. Then I leave it alone for a couple of hours (or a day if deadlines permit) and go back to reframe and edit. It works. Also - HUGE fan of SFD - it's the only way you're going to get words out of your head some days.

Contributed by Phyllis Stubblefield Nichols


Write drunk. Edit sober. . ? Also, I use 750 Words http://750words.com/  Contributed by Yves Dropp

 
Content Writing Tips When You Are Stuck
 

Start with the single thought that guides all your storytelling and strengthens the conclusion. Divide it into three blocks, to make it simple for you to write and the others to read. Make three titles and subtitles first, that are explanatory and interesting. Then comes the central text. The first one is "intro block", where you may start with one strong phrase that describes and intrigues at the same time and contains also your keywords. Like saying something about the issue and then start with a question. In the intro, you can make three phrases, not more. The second block gives more details and you can make the list of terms that you will use to explain it deeper (bullet points). The third block is the conclusion that has at the end the call to action. You can use also the self-explanatory images for each block. If you start with this simple structure, it will help you to take out the "image" you want the others "see" and "accept" about something. Imagine you have a friend who would like to know "what happened". Just like that. Once you have this "habit" to take out the structure, you can work on formats. And this way will help you to shorten your time and finish the article in max few hours. (Put some good music on while writing.)

Contributed by Valerija Brkljac


What are you best tips? I'd love to know. Comment below or send me a message.

Other posts on this topic you might find helpful:

How to find Ideas for content when you're stuck

How to Make a content assembly line

How to write a content marketing plan, step by step.  



 

How To Use IFTTT TO Automate Your Life and Business

HOW TO USE IFTTT TO AUTOMATE YOUR LIFE AND BUSINESS

How to Use IFTTT to Automate Your Life and Business.

In this video tutorial I will be talking about how to set up your IFTTT applets. What is IFTTT? It stands for IF THIS THEN THAT. In essence it connects applications and devices together to automate things and make your life just a bit easier. These "applets" as they are called are "recipes" that trigger certain actions between apps and/or devices. 

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of combinations of these applets you can set up to help you manage lots of mundane, day-to-day tasks.

How to Use Meet Edgar

How to use Meet Edgar

Meet Edgar is a social media auto-scheduler. What makes it unique from Buffer and Hoot Suite is that it allows you to put content in one time, and then it circulates that content around the clock (based on a schedule that you set). 

You can send content out to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

There is a similar service, called RecurPost. I'll be doing a demo on that later. Big difference is that RecurPost is less expensive.

CLICK HERE FOR MEETEDGAR


 
 
 
 
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How I Use Evernote to Manage My Biz & My Life

How I Use Evernote to Organize My Biz and My Life

Evernote is one of the most important tools I use in my business, and my life.  Although I do still love a nice sharp pencil and a clean pad of paper, nothing beats Evernote for keeping things organized. The secret to using Evernote successfully is in it's tagging feature. Yes, you can create oodles of notebooks and categories, but if you are anything like me, you will forget where you put something as soon as you put it there. Tags allow you to simple type whatever logical word comes to mind into the search bar, and if you tagged your item, it will pop up instantly. 

I created this video, below to demonstrate.


 
 

 

How do you use Evernote? I'd love to know!

How to Make a Content Creation Assembly Line for Your Videos and Blog Posts

content creation assembly line for your video or blog post

In order to really grow an audience, it's so important to create good content, CONSISTENTLY. You want to become the go-to person in your niche. But creating good content, consistently is not exactly an easy proposition, right? This was a challenge for me, for sure. When I did create content, it was usually pretty good, but it was the consistency that I had trouble with. It might be months between vlogs or blog posts. Or even live streaming or posting on my Facebook business page. 

That's when I decided to create a system, and it's made all the difference.

Use this as a guide, but don't feel like you have to do every single thing I've mentioned. The gist of it all is this:

1. Batch your content (you create several videos or blog posts at one time)

2. Move each piece of content through a process. A content assembly line.

(Having a virtual assistant to help with this is a game changer, and I created a free mini-course on the topic here.)

My favorite place to create this assembly line is in Trello, and I've made a template for you

 

Thinking about my content creation systems like this is really a credit to Todd Herman, who is a genius performance coach. A year ago I signed up for his course, 90 Day Year and using his methods I was able to accomplish a year's worth of progress in 90 days. He's got great free videos here.

Make sure and grab the workbook and checklist below.

MAKE SURE AND GRAB THE ENTIRE WORKBOOK BELOW

 

 

What are your biggest challenges with creating content consistently?

 

 

Hire and Train Your First Virtual Assistant (Before You Think You Need To)

how to hire and train your first virtual assistant

I wish I would have known this when I first started my business: hiring a virtual assistant, right off the bat is one of the smartest things you can do to grow your business.

I know the objections:

I'm not making money yet.

I wouldn't know what to give to a virtual assistant, I can barely figure out what to do myself.

I'm so disorganized. And by the time I explain it, I might as well do it myself.

But listen up:

If you spend your days doing $10 an hour tasks, that's about how much money you can expect to make?

That is time you ARE NOT spending doing the things that are actually revenue-producing. 

Hiring a virtual assistant for my tiny little business was the best move I EVER made.

I've created an entire system that will walk you through how to find someone who you can afford to pay, where to find them, and how to onboard them in a systematic, automated way that will not take up a ton of your time.


Onlinejobs.ph - These are VA's exclusively in the Philippines.

Loom Video: This free software allows you to record your screen (or yourself) so that when it is time to onboard your VA, you will have a full training portal in place.

Trello - A project management system that allows you and your VA to be on the same page, literally. (I use the free version)

Lastpass - Allows your VA to access your accounts, without knowing your passwords.

Click this link to grab the notes I created. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

ELIMINATE DISTRACTION!

ELIMINATE DISTRACTION!

One of the biggest challenges with having an online business is that we are ONLINE much of the time. This means that when we sit down to work, we are being distracted by all sorts of bells, whistles, pings, notifications, etc.