What The Pandemic Has Taught Me About Life

by vanessa | Sep 16, 2020 | Blog

WHAT the pandemic has taught me

These are the five powerful truths the pandemic has taught me about life

Last year, I never thought I would ever write a blog post about a pandemic. But here we are. I wanted to share what the pandemic has taught me about life. There are four months left in the year and I’ve learned a lot in the last eight months. In this blog post I will talk about 5 powerful truths the pandemic has taught me. These powerful truths have shaped my life. They have also made me question a few things about life. A lot has happened this year. That shook us. From the forest fires in Australia to Kobe Bryant and his daughter dying in a helicopter crash. That was only the beginning.

A month later, a virus broke out in Wuhan. We all believed we were safe. Then it trickled to the other countries. We expected it to pass by. But that didn’t happen. The world has forever changed as countries scrabbled to find a cure. The rich weren’t safe either. We were told young people were safe until that shifted and we questioned everything. This year has been a roller coaster of emotions and events that have transpired. Still, many of us have learned a lot about life.

Here are five powerful truths the pandemic has taught me

Life is precious

We all know life is short. Some of us use it as a mantra, but how many of us realize life is precious. We all think we have enough time to do all the things we want. But if this year has shown, we don’t. Many of us don’t take full advantage of what life has to offer. There are things I thought I had time to do, and then this year happened.

I started questioning all the things I wanted to do but never did. This pandemic has shown me you can’t take life for granted, and many of us do. Many of us take the smallest things for granted. The air we breathe. Even the simplest things were eating at a restaurant, spending time with friends and exploring the world. But this year has shown us that for a minute all those things can disappear without you realizing it.

It’s a powerful truth that I’ve learned this year. It has shaped the way I look at the world and myself. No longer am I willing to wait for the opportune time to do something. Because there are no guarantees in life.

Waiting is not an option

Even though many of us believe that we have to wait it out. Waiting is no longer an option. I had set plans in motion this year, many of those plans were unfilled. Winding down the year, I have realized how much time I spent on waiting. Waiting to write a new book. Waiting to publish it. Waiting to grow my Facebook group. it’s almost as if I was waiting for something else to come along.

I now understand that waiting isn’t an option. There’s no such thing as the right time because they will never be a right time. This is a powerful truth the pandemic taught me and many of us. Often, we lean on too much of certainty, but what happens when that’s gone. I had to realize that. Let it sink in for me to understand it.

Waiting for the chance to start your life doesn’t work out. Waiting for you to create a legacy is playing with fate. What happens when fate has another plan? That’s a question many of us had to ask ourselves this year. We had to question whether we should have done more with what we had. It’s a powerful truth that will stay with me even after the pandemic has ended. You can’t wait for your life to start.

You can’t run away from failure

Many of us do whatever it takes to run from failure. We choose not to do anything that requires us to fail. This year, as I failed, I realized failure happens. I couldn’t run away from it. One blessing this year provided was time. Many of us thought about things we never thought about. We started questioning whether running away from failure was the best decision.

This powerful truth revealed by the pandemic made me realize I was afraid of life. I was afraid to fail. I hated the thought of rejection. I won’t lie, that stung, but there was the truth. It terrified me that those I looked up to would reject me and I wouldn’t achieve anything. It has taken me everything I possess to understand that failure is inevitable.

Regardless of how we try to avoid it, we can’t do that forever. That’s a truth, many of us need to learn.

Also Related: 10 Healthy ways to cope with failure

Move away from negative people

Our mindset is a fickle thing. It is so easy to go from positivity to negativity at the drop of a hat. That is why you need to be careful who is in your inner circle. He or she might help to elevate you. You should be able to elevate your friends and we can say the same for them. If you are bringing each other down that is a toxic friendship.

When I was younger, I was so desperate for friends I used to be friends with anyone who would have me. I felt unworthy to have great friends, so I had ones who would bring me down. They weren’t bad people; they were just negative. Some would say that it’s just being realistic, but we can attach even realism to negativity. I know it seems unbelievable. Realists don’t believe they can achieve anything. They don’t believe they can live in a different country knowing no one. They don’t believe they can pick up an instrument and learn it.

They never move past their circumstances and stay forever in the same situation. You can be a realist and still be positive. But many people can’t separate the two. This is a powerful truth the pandemic taught me. Here’s an example of an extreme realist and a cautious one. An extreme realist will point out that since they never learned how to play an instrument when they were kids, trying now would be a waste of time. A cautious realist would point out they had to take their time to learn an instrument, but within a year they might play it.

Being a realist isn’t bad. But being an extreme realist can stop you from going after what you want.

Accept change

Powerful truth number five is that we all have to accept change. This pandemic has taught us a lot of things, but the number one thing it has taught us is change is inevitable. You can’t run away from it. You can’t escape it. That leaves one other option on the table. You got to embrace it. Embrace the fact that everything changes.

Just like a caterpillar eventually becomes a butterfly, we all have to develop. It is then that we understand what it takes to get to the next level. That’s why many people don’t like change. We see it as a threat to our survival, as if change will create this shift in our lives. We also are afraid of the unknown, but we can’t escape uncertainty. This entire year was a pile of uncertainty, and it still is. Yes, it created a shift for many of us.

A lot of tragic things happened this year. And we had no say or control. That is a powerful truth. You can’t control everything. I’ve learned that there are things beyond my capabilities and trusting God takes care of the burden of doing it by myself. Accepting change doesn’t mean you are relinquishing the power you have. It just means that you understand that change is inevitable. This powerful truth will set you free.

What has the pandemic taught you about life and yourself? Comment below.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

Should I Start A Blog In 2020? Is Blogging dead?

by vanessa | Sep 2, 2020 | Blog, blogging, Entrepreneurs, Side-Hustles

BLOGGING ISN’T DEAD. STARTING A BLOG IN 2020

Blogging isn’t dead, find out how you can start a blog the right way in 2020.

Blogging isn’t dead in 2020. It has just changed. The other day I thought about this and I thought I would write a blog post. Nowadays, it seems as if blogging is dead with the rise of YouTube. YouTube has taken over as the number one platform, and it has increasingly turned people into entrepreneurs and millionaires. Ever since the 2000’s, blogging is the number one medium to put yourself out there and since then they have been 600 million blogs.

Let that sink in for a minute. There are 600 million blogs. How is it possible that blogging isn’t dead? How is possible that anyone can make money from blogging? These are significant questions, but blogging isn’t how it was in the 2000’s. Over the last few years, it has developed. Dramatically.

Blogs still make money

It seems impossible that they are blogs that still make money. After all, with the increase in popularity with podcasts, YouTube, and Social media. It seems as if the era for money making blogs has passed us. This isn’t true. It is just that blogging has transformed in the last couple of years. Niches have either become broad or narrow. Video blogs have also become popular. But blogs still make a lot of money. The successful blogs listed below are examples of why blogging isn’t dead. All it takes are a few examples for inspiration to understand you have what it takes to have a successful blog.

Here are a few examples

1. Kate Kordsmeier

Kate’s first blog was so successful, that she decided she wanted to start another blog on how to start making money blogging. Her first blog was a wellness blog called Root + Revel. Her second blog, Kate Kordsmeier brought in a whooping $117, 497 in January 2020.

2. The Gentleman Racer

This is a popular blog in the automotive blogging niche. Michael Satterfield doesn’t show what his monthly income is. However, this blog is also a magazine that covers topics such as automotive, men’s apparel and travel. The blog’s popularity has allowed Michael to write for several publications and co-found different apparel companies. The Gentleman Racer has shaped the automotive blogging niche and has proven what is possible with blogging.

3. Simple Programmer

The best ideas come from people trying to solve problems. Simple Programmer started like that. John Sonmez noticed that people were offering complicated programming courses and wanted to change that. As a programmer, he was frustrated that other programmers were making the topics too complicated. He makes $400k per year. The overhead cost is relatively small. It took him 4 years for him to become a full-time blogger and he quit his job. He spent that time building the business up.

4. Practical Wanderlust

Despite the travel niche’s reputation for being saturated, Lia and Jeremy Garcia managed to make money in one year and a half of blogging. They make between $250k and half a million per year. Lia and Jeremy had been traveling for sometime, they had saved money. When they moved back to the pricey Bay Area, they were ready to get back to their old life. Jeremy went back to being a high school teacher, but Lia was dragging her feet. She didn’t want to go back to her corporate job. Lia decided to change her job, she interviewed for an incredible company. They flew her out for the interview, but when they ghosted her, she saw it as a sign. It was then that she decided to go into blogging full-time. That it was when Practical Wanderlust was born.

5. French Together

Benjamin Houy started this blog after he was a teacher in Korea for seven months. It wasn’t his passion, but he saw it is as the logical next step and thus began the journey. Benjamin has always been passionate about languages. He has always loved the idea of language connecting people. He has learned several languages including German, Portuguese, Korean and Spanish. In 2019, he earned six figures from his blog. French Together is one of the most popular French learning blogs out there.

Blogging isn’t dead, it just is evolving

Blogging has been around since the 90s. It became popular in 2003 when WordPress was released. Mathew Charles Mullenweg wanted to create a way people could share their thoughts and thus, an idea was born. In the last few years, it has drastically changed. When it first started, it was words on a screen and that was enough. There were no videos or photos, just words. Over the years it changed.

It isn’t enough for a blog to just have words. It has to be engaging. People need to be interested in reading more when they open a blog. A blog has to be more than a blog. A blog is now a small part of a business. When you look at some of the most successful blogs, they have YouTube Channels or podcasts.

Here’s a look at some things successful blogs do.

Produce multimedia content

Blogging isn’t dead, it has developed. One way it has done this is through multimedia content. Nowadays, it isn’t enough to have a blog and not have different multimedia content. This is one way new blogs can differentiate themselves by showing different aspects of their brand.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income is an outstanding example, He has a Blog, Podcast, and YouTube channel. Each of these covers similar content, but the approach is different. In his blogs, he goes into more detail, on his Podcast he’s more direct, and on his YouTube channel, he shows his skills and gives people tutorials. Therefore, Pat Flynn has become a millionaire with his business.

The more variety of content there’s on your blog, the more people will stick around.

Also Related: Should you start a YouTube channel?

Build a email list

This is a crucial part of your business. The earlier you start, the better. Building an email list will help you remain connected with your audience, and that is important. Your audience needs to trust you, and the best way to do this is through an email list. This is how they will like, know, and trust you. To make money from blogging your audience needs to like who you are, know who you are, and trust you. Just like you wouldn’t buy a car from a sleazy salesman, the concept is the same here.

Often, we forget that. We don’t want to be the sleazy car salesman or the annoying door-to-door salesman. If we don’t like those kinds of people, our audience feels the same way. That’s why it’s important to build an email list because if someone is comfortable enough giving you their email address then they will open your emails. Not all the time, but this direct approach can help you in the long run. They will get an in-depth look at who you are as a person and why what you say matters.

Create and Sell products

There are a lot of ways bloggers earn money from sponsorship to commission from affiliate marketing. However, they earn most of their money from selling their products. You need to create products and sell them. You can create Ebooks, courses, templates, coaching programs, or sell services. However, the key to making more money without spending too much time is courses.

That is how gurus like Lewis Howes, Marie Forleo, and Pat Flynn make their money. By creating and selling your products, you turn your blog into an online store. Remember, blogging isn’t dead and this a demonstration of how it isn’t. Bloggers create their products and sell them to make their blog profitable.

Start your blog the right way

Blogging doesn’t cost a lot of money nowadays. You can start using a free platform, but unfortunately, it will be difficult to make money from it. You don’t need lots of money. Blogging is one of the most affordable ways to start a business. That is why blogging isn’t dead. Over the years, it has become more affordable to start a blog. You need to use WordPress.org and Bluehost so you start a blog the right way.

One way to make sure you stand out is by making your blog look different from your competitors. You need to figure out what your brand story will become. For example, Smart Passive Income is all about making smart decisions when making money online. Lewis Howes’s blog is all about success strategies that work. Marie Forleo is about approach-ability. Melyssa Griffin is youthful and fun. The colors you choose, your logo, your blog design, and your voice will show your customers who you are.

Start a blog the right way

Driving traffic

The reason many people believe blogging is dead is that they discontinue blogs in the first year. Many people give up in the second year. Blogging like anything takes time, and it requires traffic. YouTube is a search engine, so it’s easier for your content to be found as long as you take the necessary steps to ensure it does. But what about blogs? The same applies, but you have to do two things to make sure they find your blog.

Some strategies still work, others don’t work. As a first time blogger, guest blogging might be tricky because a lot of those blogs are particular. The best strategies that work are Facebook groups, SEO, Pinterest, and giveaways. Giveaways are one of the quickest and easiest ways to grow your blog. They are also fun to do if you know what you are doing. The best giveaway plugin is RafflePress. They also offer a free plugin if you don’t have money.

Related: How to run a blog giveaway?

Monetizing blog

The purpose of doing a blog is for you to make extra income on the side. Therefore, you need to monetize the blog. Another reason people believe blogging is dead is that they aren’t making money from it. The old ways of making money from blogging don’t make sense anymore. Years ago, Ad-sense was how people made money. This doesn’t even work for YouTube, and people assume it does. You would have to have lots of subscribers. Even then it doesn’t bring in a significant amount of money. I still want to prove to you that blogging isn’t dead and here are a few ways you can make money from your blog.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money on a blog. It is when you promote another person’s product and when someone purchases the product using your link; you get a commission. This is an extremely beginner-friendly technique as you don’t have to create a product to sell. There are a lot of affiliate marketing sites you can join. ShareASale, Amazon Associates, and Commission Junkie. Another thing you could do is check if the people you follow have affiliate programs. Often, they will have an affiliate program you can join.

Sell digital products

Every successful blogger makes money from creating and selling digital products. This is another reason blogging isn’t dead. It takes more work and time than the method listed above. But it isn’t as hard as it may seem. You can use a free tool like Canva to create workbooks, journals, planners, and Ebooks. After you create the product you save it as a PDF. You have two options to use Easy Digital Downloads or Cartflows. Both are free. You can use them to sell your product. But if you want to make more money, than creating courses is your next move. The significant thing about courses is you create them once and you keep selling them until you decide to shelf the product.

If you don’t want to sell individual products, you can use membership plugins such as MemberPress or Membermouse. A membership site is where users pay a monthly fee to access the content. Think subscription sites such as Netflix. The same thing applies here. I would recommend starting small because membership sites require a steep learning curve if you are an absolute beginner.

As you can see blogging is far from being dead. These are the ways you start a profitable blog in 2020. If you start a blog the right way and you keep pushing yourself, you can make a considerable amount of money from your efforts and change people’s lives.

Want to start a side-hustle: How to start a side-hustle at home?

What is your main takeaway? Let me known in the comments section.

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

Considering Becoming An Entrepreneur?

by vanessa | Aug 5, 2020 | Blog

considering becoming an entrepreneur? five questions to ask yourself

Have you ever considered becoming an entrepreneur, ask yourself these five questions.

In the last decade or two, entrepreneurship and startups have become popular. Becoming an entrepreneur has become extremely popular in recent years. Young entrepreneurs have changed the face of entrepreneurship. No longer do you need to be well into your forties to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have gotten younger since the 90s’. But for many of us, we see these entrepreneurs as enigmas. “The Social Network,” explored how different these people are. How bold their ideas are and for many of us, we feel we don’t fit in that bracket.

What if we aren’t socially awkward or feel young enough to become an entrepreneur? What if we don’t have time on our hand and what about the risk it all factor? If you are looking for a steady career path then entrepreneurship isn’t for you. If we are being honest. If you are doing this just to see if you can then you likely will fail. Entrepreneurship isn’t easy, no matter how old you are. It takes time and the learning curve is steep. Most entrepreneurs make money after three to five years so if you want a get-rich scheme then this is the wrong profession.

This might not be something you wanted to hear. I do get that. But, I want to be as honest as I can with you so that you don’t attempt to do something you aren’t ready for. Here’s the great news, entrepreneurship is rewarding. It will open doors you never thought would open and you will learn so many skills from it that you will be shocked at what you can do. You will be shocked at what you learned as well.

If you are still with me, that’s great news. You want to become an entrepreneur and here are a few questions you should ask yourself. These questions will confirm or deny your request to become an entrepreneur. It will also embolden you if this is something you truly want. Becoming an entrepreneur changed my life for the better and those who stick with it say the same thing. My eyes opened to the wonders of entrepreneurship and the opportunities no other profession can give you. It made me realize how my mindset was the one thing preventing me from succeeding.

Stick with me as we explore the five questions you need to ask yourself. Becoming an entrepreneur has a lot of benefits and you will see a few of them in the questions I ask.

Am I excited about next year

Late in 2018, I asked myself this question. I wasn’t excited about getting older, I don’t think anyone is unless you are in your early twenties. But, there I was looking at the calendar. Wondering how next year was going to be like. I had no idea what the future held for me or what I was going to do next. Every year I made resolutions, but I didn’t accomplish anything of significance.

Maybe, I cut sugar out of my diet for a few months or picked up a new hobby. There was no challenge or excitement about what I could do. Since then I have picked up skills I never thought I would. I asked myself this question for me to figure out what I wanted. Becoming an entrepreneur requires being honest with where you are right now. Even if you are considering it. You need to be honest with where you are and where you want to be.

I didn’t want to complain about the same thing the next year. I didn’t want to feel as if I wasn’t living to my full purpose and I knew the only way to change that was to become an entrepreneur. So, I put on my thinker’s hat and started jotting down all the things I was interested in. And that was when I had a Eureka moment. It was staring at me and I didn’t realize it until I realized I wanted to become an entrepreneur.

Many of us aren’t excited about the new year. Whether it is the fact we hate or job or how every other year seems like a horror movie. 2019 and 2020 are proof of that. But what I can tell you is that becoming an entrepreneur does open your eyes to what is outside your safety zone. You will discover a world of like-minded individuals who are optimistic.

Do I have financial and emotional support

Entrepreneurship is lonely. Often, at times you will have emotional, but not financial support or vice versa. When I started I had emotional support. One of my oldest friends was by my side, she was my cheerleader. It is worse if you don’t have financial support because it can add the pressure of performing.

Even if you don’t have either it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your entrepreneurship dreams. You just need to know what is required of you. Entrepreneurship is hard. It requires long hours, frustration, the period of learning the hard way (even if you get a coach.) it does take a toll on you. The hardships you will endure will make you want to poke your eyes out. Graphic, but entrepreneurship can be like that.

However, when you stick with it you will grow incredibly. You will network with people who will change the way you see the world. Becoming an entrepreneur is hard, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. It often does because we choose to do this alone. In the beginning, it will be hard, but with time it gets easier. When it comes to financial support, there are ways to help you pay for entrepreneurship without breaking the bank. You can get a loan, sell your old stuff, sell books online and you could also provide a temporary service. Even if you don’t have financial or emotional support, there are ways around it so that you don’t feel as if you are in this alone. You aren’t.

Also Related: 10 Ways To Finance Your Business?

Am I willing to take risks

Entrepreneurship is risking. It involves you playing high stakes whether it is spending money on ads, website developers, graphic designers, or marketing. You will risk a lot when it comes to entrepreneurship. You will gain a lot, but not in the beginning. Often, it requires working long hours and you working on projects that don’t see the light of day.

All this is frustrating, but becoming an entrepreneur requires taking risks. Sometimes it pays off, but most times it doesn’t. This can take time to get used to, but here’s the thing, everything requires taking a risk. Some risks seem safer than others, but that doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee. That is why you got to believe what you are saying and know that there’s a reason for it. If you understand this then it won’t feel as if the risks you are taking won’t measure up.

Every entrepreneur took a risk to get to where they are right now. It was at that moment they understood that to truly live, requires them to take risks because if they don’t then they will always wonder.

Do I want to leave a legacy and create an impact?

This question will point you in the right direction. Becoming an entrepreneur is more about leaving an impact than making money. Sure, you might have reservations. But when you put that aside, do you have a strong calling? Is there a bigger reason to why you are doing what you are doing. Lisa Nichols main reason for becoming an entrepreneur was to change the fate of her son. She didn’t want him as a black male to end up dead or in prison. So, she wanted to change that so that they were financially secure.

That act changed her son’s life for the better. She changed the world for the better. A successful entrepreneur wants to achieve something bigger than themselves. Legacy and impact makers are what make the world different. You need to have a big why and that is what will push you to succeed. It will push you to follow through and encourage you to face the odds. They will be a lot of odds against you, but when you want to create an impact it will reduce the frustrations you have.

One of the best things about becoming an entrepreneur is knowing that you can change someone’s life, by creating an impact. Most of us forget this. That is the main reason why a lot of people become entrepreneurs. They want to change the world.

Also Related: How to Solve Problems Like A Entrepreneur

Are you ready to go all in?

Becoming an entrepreneur is hard, but it is incredibly rewarding. If you truly want to change your life then you need to be ready to embrace what entrepreneurship means. Not the cookie-cutter explanation we are so used to. Entrepreneurship is about becoming uncomfortable and constantly learning.

From the day you start, you will never stop learning and that is what makes it a dynamic career path. Constantly evolving and learning. This is important because you need to be able to adapt, to constantly change course when you need to. You also need to wear every hat when you start. When you become an entrepreneur you will soon discover that you are a marketer, social media manager, writer, editor, graphic designer, and SEO expert,

You won’t have enough money to hire someone. To push yourself out there, you have to take charge. This is why your mindset has to be right. You need to have the right frame of mind, be able to cope with all the stress. You can’t do that if you aren’t ready to go all in. This requires you to develop your self-discipline and it also needs you to be able to be patient with the process.

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

What questions do you have about entrepreneurship? Comment below

How To Reinvent Yourself In Five Steps

by vanessa | Jul 8, 2020 | Entrepreneurs, personal development

HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF IN FIVE STEPS

These are a few ways you can reinvent yourself.

Even though this post is titled how to reinvent yourself in five steps, I am not going to talk about how to change who you are. Often, when we hear, the word reinvention, we automatically think it refers to changing who we are. The core of who we are doesn’t change no matter what happens. How many times have you had to reinvent who you were or change the way you looked at things. Reinvention is nothing new for many of us, but this time is different. Reinvention simply means changing your direction.

A lot of things have changed in 2020. Maybe you lost your job because it was deemed as obsolete or maybe your pay was drastically cut. Where ever you stand, you have had to look and wonder what steps you should take. Should you do something else? Even the prospect of picking up a second career doesn’t seem to be in the cards, well at least for a while. When you start to reinvent yourself, you realize that there are so many things you can do. You become more open to changing course and that is a good thing.

In 2017, I reinvented myself, two years prior I had a quarter-life crisis and it took me two years to pick up the pieces. To figure out what I wanted and reaccess where I wanted to go. I knew I needed to change course. The things I believed I needed no longer seemed valid. It was as if life slapped me in the face and I started to consider whether it was necessary to go through with the motions and not face the cold truth. It was here that I knew what I needed to do and what I had to work on. I published my first book after I went through that and my second book is on Amazon now. I would have never done any of that if I hadn’t gone through the reinvention process.

Here’s how you can reinvent yourself.

Discover your authentic self

Many of us don’t know who we are or what we want. You aren’t alone. I was the same way. If you had asked five years ago that I had a personal development blog, I would have laughed at you. There’s beauty in discovering your authentic self. When you do that, you figure out what you want to do and how you can do that.

Discovering your authentic self requires writing in a journal. You need to write down all your dreams, every idea you had that you didn’t dare think about and you need to be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to feel things that you never felt before. You must go through this process because it is only here that you are honest with what you want. Maybe you had a dream that you wanted as a kid, but you forgot about it or gave up because you believed it was too stupid.

When you reinvent yourself, one thing you need to do is to take a hard look at all the things you want. As a kid, I wanted to be an author, but I gave up on that dream because it seemed too far-fetched. Years later, I am going after it, but I wouldn’t have done so if I didn’t reinvent myself.

Take risks

There’s a difference between calculated risk and risk that isn’t. Many of us take calculated risks. Do you fit in that category? Many of us would do that. Two years ago, when I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I took a risk. It wasn’t calculated. But I was reinventing myself and I knew this was something I had to do.

It was terrifying, to say the least, and often at times, it was as if I had no idea what I was doing. I am still figuring out the entrepreneurial journey. That was the scary part. I thought about what would happen if I failed and often I questioned my sanity. I had to be insane. Maybe, I lost my marbles. After all, I knew the statistics of people who started their own business and it wasn’t pretty. How many people even make money online? I asked myself this question often and my family questioned my decision. I had watched people close to me struggle with brick and mortar businesses and even online business. And yet here I was. But one of the steps in how you can reinvent yourself is taking risks.

If you don’t take any risk, you never go far and if you only take calculated risks you never grow. There are risks where there’s a guarantee. A blueprint that if you follow it then there’s a chance you will make it. But you don’t grow as much from those risks. Learn to take risks that you are afraid of. Whatever it is, you will be better for it. What I have come to understand in life is that there are no such thing as a guarantee. Sometimes, you have to jump with both feet in and discover yourself in the process.

Also Related: Afraid of Risks? How to be Bolder?

Take action

The third step in how to reinvent yourself is you need to take action. What is your dream? Writing a book? Starting a business or maybe, moving to a new city or country. Whatever it is you need to take action because the more you do it the more confident you’ll become. When I first started my business, it was terrifying, but I knew this was what I had to.

That whole year had been one mess after the other. From being ill to not having enough money for food and the list goes on. I took the risks and started my business in November of 2018. I remember the day well. I took a risk. One that changed my life for the better. I became more confident, assure of myself and it was as if something in me awoke. The better version of myself I would say. And it was like all the things I believed I couldn’t do, I dared to try.

I am not the only one who has experienced this, most people who start their own business or reinvent themselves say the same thing. They become better versions of themselves. If you want the next six months of the year to be better then here’s your chance to do exactly that. Here’s your opportunity to improve the areas you lack in and become a better version of yourself. You do have to take action though. This is an important step because without action you can’t change course and move forward with your life.

Become flexible

Another step in how you can reinvent yourself is to be flexible. Of course, you need to also be patient, but there’s a lot of power in flexibility. How would you rate yourself in flexibility? Can you adapt to difficult situations? This year has changed a lot of things and it has also shown you who you are. If you struggled with resilience and flexibility this year might have taken more out of you then you expected.

Certainty was thrown out of the window. But you are here right now and that is a blessing. One that we take for granted. Every year is a blessing, one that we have overlooked. But maybe you have learned to become flexible. After all, the situation called for it. You may have learned patience since many of us have had to stay at home and wait for the lockdown to be over.

Even though, the world isn’t going to be the same ever again. So many things have changed. But for you to move forward with your life, you need to be flexible. You need to figure out what you want and go for it. And be patient enough to wait for it to come full circle. For example, the reason why most people fail online is that they give up too soon. They throw in the towel before their actions pay off. This shouldn’t be you. Another thing is sometimes the way we do things doesn’t work and you need to pivot.

You need to change direction and find something that does work. For instance, many people who start a business online fail because they didn’t do it the right way. It is understandable why they quit. But if you want next year to be better, you must be flexible and patient enough to see what comes next. This part reinventing yourself isn’t easy. But if you want to reinvent yourself you need to go through with it.

Step out of your comfort zone

By now, you might already be stepping out of your comfort zone. The four I listed above might have already pushed you out of your safety zone. This step is important as well. If you want to step out of your comfort zone even further then you need to figure out where you want to go and do that. For example, you want to be successful, but your habits don’t align with what you want.

One step I took when I wanted to reinvent myself was waking up early. This was something I wasn’t comfortable with then I started doing Facebook Lives. I took one step that helped me take another step. Our comfort zones protect us from getting hurt, but if you want to reinvent yourself then you need to change some of the things you do. You need to start pushing yourself because the more you do that, you will be amazed at how much you can achieve.

We are creatures of habit. That is why it is so hard stepping out of our comfort zones. This step in reinventing yourself will help you become more confident and you start to discover who you are. You have so much potential, but the reason why you aren’t where you are because you haven’t stepped out of your comfort zone. You haven’t allowed yourself to be vulnerable or fail at something enough. You often have to fail at things numerous times for you to get better at it.

This is how you can grow and become better.

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

What is your takeaway from this post and how are you going to reinvent yourself? Comment below

5 Easy Ways To Boost Creativity

by vanessa | Jul 1, 2020 | creativity, Entrepreneurs

5 easy ways to boost creativity

Find out how you can boost your creativity with 5 easy methods.

Years ago, many of us saw creativity as this trait that only the exceptional had and needed. We believed that it was impossible to boost our creativity. We marveled at authors, at their ability to create worlds that they never visited with politics that made sense. Our minds were blown away at how structured their worlds were and the laws. When the novels were adapted, we ran to the theaters knowing we were in for a treat.

We viewed actors, singers, and painters the same way. Many of us have had this block when it comes to creativity. In recent years, scientists and psychologists have come out to claim that everyone is creative. This is good news for us because that means we can boost it. You might be wondering why is it that important. If you want to be an entrepreneur then you need to be creative. This will help you when it comes to making videos, writing books, or blog posts. It is extremely important to boost creativity because once you learn how to do it then you will be amazed at what you will achieve.

Let’s look at a few of the greatest entrepreneurs. Sir. Richard Branson required creativity to help him come with ideas for his first projects. Without it, he wouldn’t have achieved the success he has. Another great example is Tony Robbins. He has written dozens of books, but he needed to boost his creativity for him to write those books. Boosting creativity might seem difficult, but it requires you to take a step forward. Understanding there’s more to becoming successful than your belief system, it also involves your traits. One of those traits is creativity.

If you were to do a study on what makes people successful. A few traits would stand out. One of them would be resilience, knowledge and the other would be creativity. This isn’t an exhaustive list of the traits of successful people. But I hope you understand that you need creativity to help you solve problems and to create ideas. But you also need it to see the world from a different perspective. Below are a few ways you can boost creativity.

Keep a journal

There is a reason why every successful person has a journal. Writers, actors, entrepreneurs, and musicians keep journals. The way they journal is different, of course, but the process is the same. This is one way you can boost creativity. When you journal, write down your thoughts or visions. Whatever you are experiencing at the moment, just grab a journal and write it down.

What this does is help you solve the problem. It is scientifically proven that writing down things helps you to see something in a different light. If you have a problem that you are struggling to solve, grab a journal, and write it down. This will force you to find a solution to your problem. It has proven that the greatest minds like Einstein and Da Vinci kept journals with exhaustive notes. Einstein managed to solve his problems by writing things down in a journal and Da Vinci found solutions to world problems that were prevalent in those times. Even though he didn’t build the inventions, years later someone came and used his equations to do just that.

Choose a creative activity

One of the easiest ways to boost creativity is by doing something creative. For example, many people choose to pick up drawing and painting. You might not consider yourself an artist, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it. Something happens when you start drawing. Your neurons start firing and you get an extra dose of dopamine. This will help you to boost your creativity. Maybe, the idea of drawing scares the crap out of you.

Drawing can be scary. There are dozens of options out there. The point in boosting your creativity is also not limiting yourself to what everyone else is doing. So, why not pick up an instrument. Learning to play an instrument is also a great way to boost creativity. A few other things you can do are pottery, sculpturing, photography, quilting, origami, writing, wood carving, or woodwork. They are far more examples out there. The objective here is to create something with your hands.

Creative hobbies push you out of your comfort zone and force you to concentrate and be disciplined. Constant action creates momentum and helps you with your problem-solving skills, idea generation, patience, and creativity. The more you practice, you step out of the boxes that confine you and you start exploring other ways of doing something. For example, you start exploring all the different ways you can take one photo or you come up with an idea for a song.

Listen to music

This is one of the easiest ways to boost creativity. Music has a way of changing the mood in a room. With the right music, you can believe anything and the right song will boost creativity. Music also fires up our neurons, helping our body to relax and feel more comfortable.

Numerous scientists speak highly about using music as a motivational booster. Ambient music helps you process situations better and this promotes abstract processing. This leads to higher creativity. Music can aid you in figuring out creative solutions to solve your problems. Though, the music you listen to has to be at a moderate level. So, loud rock or rap music will make you overwhelmed and stressed out. The type of music you listen to will affect you more than you know.

We underestimate the power of learning to play a musical instrument and listening to music. It can change the way we operate and perceive the world, but it must be the right genre. Loud music does the exact opposite of soft music.

Learn something

Do you want to boost your creativity? Then learn something. Many of us believed that once we graduated from high school or college then the learning period was over unless it was associated with our profession. That is far from the truth. Learning never stops. The most successful people are always picking up new skills. Whether it is learning a new instrument, understanding marketing, how to write a book, or anything else they focus on learning.

Successful entrepreneurs tend to read more than twenty books a year. There’s a reason for that. The simple answer to that is learning builds new neurons which also helps you to solve problems better. Are you terrible at solving problems? Then learn something new. Keep doing this until it becomes second nature. The more you learn new things, you can use this as a start in your business. You never know how something you learned four years ago can change your life now.

But this knowledge can help you in your day-to-day. You will go from a person struggling to solve their problems to one who doesn’t. When you learn something, your mindset also changes. You stop thinking that you can’t become creative. This shift will change your life in so many ways and it will boost your creativity because you will start working on it. Creativity is a muscle like self-discipline. You need to work on it for you to get better at it.

Also Related: How to Solve Problems Like A Entrepreneur

Map out your plans/goals

Instead of doing to-do lists why not map it out in a colorful way. Brain dumps are one of the best ways to boost creativity and anyone can do it without a problem. This is a way new neurons can also be built. But it also helps to get all the things in your head out on paper. When you dump or map out all your ideas even the crazy ones that you were terrified to say you starting seeing connections.

That is important. Ever since we were children we were trained to see connections, but we had to write them down to understand them. That is why even as adults, writing down our thoughts helps us understand them better and complete the tasks. We have been trained that is the way to do it. This is why you need to write it down because once you do then you can start working through your connections.

What most people don’t understand about creativity is that it is needed for problem-solving. Many of us believe only those who pursue creative professions require it. That isn’t true, if you want to achieve anything then you need creativity to help you do that. It is also required to come up with ideas. When you boost your creative muscle you will start to notice what needs improvement and how you can work on ideas in their infancy.

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

What is your takeaway from the blog and what methods are you going to implement first. Comment below

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