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How to Win The Day With Your Morning Routine

How to Win The Day With Your Morning Routine

by | Sep 11, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, personal development, Success

 

HOW TO WIN THE DAY WITH YOUR MORNING ROUTINE.    

How you start the day matters because it determines whether you will have a successful day or you won’t. 

It has taken me years to understand how important it is to have a morning routine that helps win the day. My mornings used to be the worst, I’d wake up at 10 am, be too groggy to do anything constructive and I’d watch television, as a high school, this was normal for me. Then I went to college and it was rough, my bad routine made it hard to do anything. I was always late for class and when I’d go to class, I used to sleep.

It is embarrassing to admit that I was that kind of student. It took me years to realize that we take mornings for granted and because of that most of us don’t excel at our mornings. This is normal, but the most pivotal hours in your day are the early mornings. By the time mid-day comes or the afternoon, it is hard to be alert or to concentrate on certain things.

When I was twenty-one I realized that if I wanted to win the day, I had to understand how to create a morning routine that will help me win the day. The last couple of years I have discovered the secrets behind a successful morning routine so that you can win the day. Most of us underestimate the importance of routine so we don’t win the day. As a result of this, we don’t make as many strides as we would like and we don’t progress past a certain point. 

Here’s what you need to realize we all have choices and it starts early in the morning. Every bad decision we make doesn’t push us forward instead it pushes us back. The more we keep going back, the harder it is to become successful in our efforts. The more cumbersome it is to excel in any area and that is the problem. 

When you make the decision to not listen to your alarm, you are training yourself to not follow-through. And that is why many people struggle with self-discipline. How you end the day starts with how you begin it. I have listed all the ways you can win the day, this is a snippet of what a successful morning routine looks like. 

This is so powerful that when you start implementing it your life will change. 

 

 

 Hour of power

 

I learned about this from the great Tony Robbins who advocates how important it is to spend time thinking about your day. An hour is a lot so you don’t have to do it for that long. This strategy will help you win the day because it consists of you thinking about what you want to do. When you are clear with your goals, it is easier to achieve.  

How you go about doing this depends on how much time you have to give and what you want to achieve in the day. When I was doing this, I did it to the tee. But with time I shortened it to 30 minutes. The hour of power consists of visualization, writing down your goals, reflection, exercise, meditation, and gratitude. Why should you try out the hour of power because it is Tony Robbins. He is the leading expert on how to have a successful morning routine to win the day. 

What I like about the hour of power is that it will help you build your life. When you are starting from scratch it is difficult to know which direction you should take and that is where the hour of power comes in. It will help you change the way you think and give you a start to your day that is guaranteed to make you happier.

If you want more information on how to do it and what it entails, you can find it here.

 

 

Protein breakfast

 

 

Carbs will make you feel tired and it is the worst thing to have in the morning. Not saying you can’t have carbs, but make sure your breakfast is for champions. Have you ever wondered why athletes drink egg yolks. When I was I kid, I used to think they were crazy, but now I have come to realize that is not the case.

Despite, it being disgusting egg yolks actually fuel athletes. I am not saying go and eat egg yolks, that is crazy and unless you are training for a marathon and are used to eating raw things, I don’t recommend it. Though, you can still have a protein breakfast. There are dozens of recipes out there with eggs in it that will give you energy so you can win the day. The key here is to find out which one works for you.

Another secret to getting energy is by making yourself a banana chocolate smoothie. When I started drinking this early in the morning, everything changed for me. I used to be so tired in the morning and I’d drag my feet, but when I added a banana chocolate smoothie to my morning routine everything changed. I no longer was dragging my feet through the day, but I was now doing more. Learning more and I wasn’t as tired as I used to be. 

When I don’t drink my smoothie, I do feel extremely tired and I struggle to do any work. If you follow any successful person, you will realize that many start their day with a breakfast that helps give them energy. If you want to start the day right, I’d recommend changing your breakfast. Figuring out what will give you the best chance to win the day.

 

Your go-to mantras

 

 

What do you do when things get difficult? What do you do when you are stuck on a problem and there seems like there’s nothing you can do about it. Everything you do, you have to be careful because it can affect you in more ways than you can imagine.  

It is so easy to lose sight of things, for you to get lost among the rumble and have no clue on what next to do. No one is born being great at solving problems and it does take time to figure everything out. For you to understand what you should do next. I get that, but that is why it is great to have a go to mantra so that when life gives you lemons you can make something out of it.

Throughout your day there will be times when life gets a hold of you and won’t let you go. Your emotions will run rampant and your thoughts will go wide. Negative thoughts will plant in your mind and it will be difficult to get rid of them. So write down your list of mantras and look at them when you are down or when you lose sight of your dreams.

Here are a few examples of what it could look like

 

  • I can do this
  • If I have problem X, I need to take time to think about how I can fix it
  • I made this mistake, how can I make sure that I don’t make it again
  • What should I do when I am not getting the results that I want
  • Reflect on my successes through the month
  • What did I do right?
  • This is not the end of the world

 

These are a few examples, right down your go-to mantras or sayings that you will tell yourself. Why is this important? Because if you want to win the day you can’t think negatively. You can’t dwell on your emotions, you need to focus on your strengths. That is what makes the successful who they are, they try to not let doubt affect how they run the day. 

 

 

Practice Stoicism

 

 

Marcus Aurelius is known for being a stoic philosopher and he used this philosophy to live his life. You might be wondering what is stoic philosophy. It is an

ancient Greek Philosophy that was developed by Zeno Citium basically it teaches people self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive 

thinking.

 

Why is this philosophy important to win your day? This is where Stoicism comes into play and why Marcus Aurelius is known for his display of this philosophy.

Many of us spend the day angry over things we can’t control. We are so used to using our emotions to control our days that by the end of the day, we are so tired 

because we were consumed with things that had nothing to do with us.

 

It takes time to implement this, but you will have a more productive morning if you start practicing this philosophy. How do emotions ruin our day, because 

 

throughout the day they will be things that test us from the driver who almost caused an accident to the annoying traffic jam, you co-workers who are talking

about you or your boss that refuses to give you a raise.

 

If you can’t change anything about it, stop worrying about it and refuse to let it control your day. Most successful people use stoicism to control their morning.

Why should this be part of your routine because, in the beginning, this won’t come naturally?

 

Whenever something happens that you can’t control, you need to take a few seconds to ask yourself if it is worth worrying about it. If it isn’t, take a deep breath

and concentrate on your goals and think about how you want to achieve them.  

 

 

 

Gratitude list

 

 

Most of us think about think about anything else because you ask yourself what did I do wrong. This is a normal response to life not happening the way you want. We all go through it, but when you focus on what you don’t have, you will never be grateful for what you have. It is important to be grateful. There’s an awesome exercise you can do to make life easier for you and also to help you win the day. I learned this from Peter Voogd who often talks about how important it is to have a routine that will help you win the day.

Though this exercise is not solely a gratitude list, it does help you reflect on what you should make life happen for you. Life doesn’t happen to you even though we have been made to believe that, it happens because of you. Your decisions impact how your day will start and end. Every little thing you do matters, so this might  seem stupid, but in the long run, it is beneficial. If you want to know more about what habits you should have to make your life better, here’s a post about it.

 

  • Three things you are grateful
  • Three things you are committed to making happen?
  • What are you willing to give up?                                                                                  

 

 

Wake up early

I didn’t start with this because I wanted to show you how important it is to start the day and have a morning routine that will help you win the day. However, you won’t be able to win the day if you don’t wake early. How early you want to wake up depends on you and what your goals are? It depends on where you want to go and what you want to do.

Some people wake up at 5 am and that works for them, some wake up at 4 and there are few who wake up at 3 am. Waking up early is not only mentally beneficial for you, but it is also physically beneficial. The reason why most of us are always tired is that we sleep late and wake up late. When you sleep late, you sleep longer than you normally would have if you went to bed earlier.

It does matter what time you wake up and what you sleep. And I can’t stress enough how important it is, but I will list a few benefits of how important it is to wake up early. Hopefully, I can convince you how beneficial it is.

 

 

  • Get things done in a shorter period of time
  • Can concentrate and prepare for the day
  • Won’t have to rush to get to work therefore making you stressed
  • This will take the pressure off
  • Can think about how the goals you want to achieve throughout the day
  • You will feel lighter and happier
  • Reduces grogginess
  • Reduces brain fog

Review your morning

When it comes to your morning routine, it will constantly change and that is a good thing because what works for someone else might not work for you. But you won’t know what is working and what isn’t if you don’t review your mornings or your days. 

This is by far one of the most important things to do so that you can win the day. Reflect on what you achieved, what mistakes you made or what you didn’t do. Keep reviewing your life so that you can understand how to improve it.

Reviewing doesn’t have to be bland as you might think it is. Imagine your life as a movie on a big screen and you are watching yourself on screen. Think about every action you did in the morning as if you are watching a character.  If you were a movie critic what would you say about that character? 

This is more than just about your morning routine, but also about your actions. What decisions are helping you and which ones are messing you up? Maybe, you spend too much time gossiping with your co-worker, does this help you or does it do more harm. Maybe, you yelled at a friend because they said something you didn’t like. 

It is normal to become emotional, but you need to ask yourself if it is worth arguing with your friends, manager or co-worker. Does that help you achieve your goals? Write down your trigger words. These can be anything that makes you emotional and next to it, you can write down how to let yourself not get emotional.

When we are emotional, we make rash decisions that can affect us long after the day has gone. To win the day, you have to understand how to control your emotions.

 When you start implementing this, your life will change and you won’t believe how so much will change. It will be much easier for you to win the day. Here’s a post on why self-reflecting on your day is important.

 

What is your main takeaway from this and does your morning routine look like? Comment below

                                              

                                                         

                                                          Keep Pushing                                           

 

                                                             Vanessa

On Dying, Losing Hope and Fighting For Your Dreams

On Dying, Losing Hope and Fighting For Your Dreams

by | Sep 4, 2019 | Blog, motivation, personal development

On dying, losing hope and fighting for your dreams.

Time is a limited resource and we need to learn how to use it better so that we can start fighting for our dreams.
“Life is short,” is a well-known statement that we can all relate to it. I have learned that understanding that life is short will help you to fight for your dreams. Most of us pretend as if we have all the time in the world and that death is nothing more than just a word. We avoid it like the plague because death reminds us of a loss so deep it cuts through us. Maybe, your loved one died or we watch it on a daily basis. Almost every day there’s a story of people dying regardless of where you live.

No one wants to talk about because death has a way of making us feel small or we feel as if we are insignificant. As though are mere existence is to serve a function of the ecosystem. We are like the ants who help the ecosystem function or we are the cause of the ecosystem crumbling.

But often death has more of an effect on us then we like to admit and for me, I understand that a lot. I am only in my twenties and I have had three incidences with death. I don’t like talking about it because well it is one of those topics, you talk about. It isn’t like talking about the weather, by the time I was seventeen, I was sure I would die at 32.

Another somber story of a young life gone too soon. When I had reached my late teens, my health had crumbled far too many times, I was addicted on prescription medication and I was suicidal so thinking I would die at that seemed natural as if that was my destiny. 

Even though I nearly died, I never took life seriously and I never fought for my dreams. It didn’t matter how many times I visited the hospital, how many times I saw the flashing lights or when my heart was giving in. All that didn’t seem to move me. Maybe, I didn’t care for the longest time and I let my health give in.

I let myself get addicted to medication. I know it is getting really dark and the reason why I writing this is for you to understand how short life is. Beyond a doubt, it can be gone in seconds when death truly wants to knock you out. And that is what happened in 2018, I almost died. It is ironic that it wasn’t my physical health that was at play here, but my mental health. Then when I thought I had made it to the other side, a few months later, my health took a turn for the worst. 

For the better of ten years, I dabbled with illness from thing to the next, but I had thought my health was better. Then for a whole month, I was sick. Most people think that all this is simply getting a common cold. Yeah, that wasn’t the case. I was bedridden, couldn’t walk and that was the most embarrassing thing. Not being able to do simple things like walk to the couch, bend down or even lift up something.

I had to question everything about life, ask myself if I was truly living and start making better choices. That one month made me deal with things that I tried my best to forget. 

In less than a year, I had to deal with two near-death experiences and it taught me invaluable lessons that I want to share with you.

Stop being a people pleaser

 

If you want to fight for your dreams then you need to stop trying to please everyone. For the longest time, that is all I cared about, pleasing people. When I was fifteen, one of my closest friends at the time told me that. She told me I wanted to please people and like most fifteen-year-old kids I was stubborn. I refused to listen to her. 

It is only later, I realize how right she was, I wanted more than anything to please people. Due to that I never fought for my dreams, I didn’t want people to think less of me. So, I followed the normal path, chose to hide in the background. Be a shadow and people’s tail. What I have learned is that does you no favors, I get it we don’t want people to think you are an attention seeker, but as a result we try our best to please others.

And that is all I did, I nodded my head when people said something, I never spoke and now I realize what a mistake that was. In life, you have two choices when it comes to your dreams, you either build someone else’s dream or yours. When I heard that, it changed everything and I saw that often we overlook that one detail.

We stop fighting for our dreams because we think it is a smart decision to make. The wise choice that won’t make us look like a fool and that is exactly what we do.

  

Don’t get accustomed to your mess

 

I was accustomed to my mess. For the longest time, I was okay with life being that messed up. Most of us don’t realize how easy it is to get used to a certain routine or bad habit. Whether that is thinking negatively or being used to the mess, accepting that things will never change or even certain statements that are false. Here are few examples of these statements, “I will never be financially free,” “it is okay to be broke,” “I am incapable of achieving X, Y or Z,” “my friends struggled so will I,” “I have been ill for years, I won’t get better.”

It is easy to get used to this way of thinking and when you have this kind of mindset, you won’t fight for your dreams. No way will start exercising if you believe that you will never lose weight. You won’t ask for a raise, especially if you think you don’t deserve it. I could go on, but I am sure you get the point. 

When we get used to our mess then well life happens and we do nothing about it. We don’t try to improve because we think that we can’t. We never strive for anything better because we were told we don’t. Don’t get accustomed to your mess because if you do it will hard finding a way out of it.

 

We forget how to stand up for what we believe in

 

Kids are relentless, they fight for what they believe in, even when people tell them they are bonkers. They don’t care, they befriended kids despite what anyone says, they sign up for things even when everyone around them tells them not too.

To a kid, what matters is making the most of their time and standing up for what they believe in. By the time we turn thirteen, we lose that strength to fight and start thinking more about what other people think of us. We stop going for our dreams and start trying to blend in. We start acting like everyone else or trying to because we think that is how we can survive the next years of being a teenager.

Then twenty comes and now, we are full-fledged recruits in the blending in-crowd. We do what everyone does and that is the problem. When you forget how to fight for what you care about, you don’t want to fight for your dreams. Why would you fight for something if truly believe you don’t want it?

The crazy thing is that there are so many millennials who hate their jobs and dream of financial freedom. That isn’t an exaggeration. The reason why most people don’t go for their dreams is because they have forgotten how to stand up for what they believe in.

When I was thirteen, I wanted to be a fiction author, I had written a book of short stories and I was going to publish it. I never did because people said I sucked as a writer. Maybe, I did. I had people tell me the stories were good, but the problem was I believed what other people told me. And it went downhill from there.

Eventually, I stopped fighting for my dream and started doing what everyone else told me to do.

 

You don’t have to do a 9-5

 

 

Just because everyone is doing a 9-5 doesn’t mean you have to. The same thing goes for doing online business, just because person A is doing it doesn’t mean you have to.

 

It all comes down to what you want out of life, what fuels you and pushes you. Who do you want to be? You might be thinking if you don’t want to do a 9-5 or be an entrepreneur what is there left. The definition of an entrepreneur has changed in recent years, it has gone from startups to blogs to membership sites or hosting summits to book conventions or teaching people how to dance with a course.

 

It isn’t the same as it used to be. Despite the online space, we don’t understand we can achieve the impossible. We lose hope that we will never find a way out of our situation and we think that the only safe bet is having a 9 – 5. 

 

That isn’t even the case. You can be an indie author and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in a year. You can be a guitarist and teach people how to learn the guitar. You can be a gardener and teach people how to take care of their garden. 

 

I want you to believe in the impossible so that you can create the possible. I want you to fight for your dreams so that you can live a life of purpose.

 

 

Better habits

 

 

I am a sucker for poems and good fiction books. One of my absolute favorite poets is William Ernest Henley, he wrote a poem way back in 1888. It was called

“Invictus.” One of my favorite lines from the poem says, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

Basically what happens is a direct result of your actions, I do believe that there are things beyond our control, but what ultimately happens is due to our decisions.

Here’s an example, you choose not to wake up early so you are groggy and have to rush to work. That decision might seem harmless, but then you get into a traffic jam and it takes you longer to get to work.

By the time you get to work, you are angry and moody, your mood affects the people around you and how you see the world. You see it as tainted, your boss is mean to you and as a result you are on edge. You belittle your friends and say the wrong things, they, in turn, draw away from you. You start to dwell on this and your negative limiting beliefs makes it harder for you to deal with life.

I am not saying this is how you will react, but a lot of people go through the rough patches of life because one action they have made. If you want to fight for your dreams, get better habits. Habits can make or break you and at times it can appear harmless until it isn’t. 

 

Learn to be okay with not being okay

 

Being a blogger has taught me that it is okay to be vulnerable and if you met me years ago. I was a brick wall. Impenetrable to the highest degree and I didn’t let anyone. Which usually meant most people had no idea who I was and I didn’t mind it. In fact, I preferred it. I didn’t want people to know my darkest secrets.

It wasn’t like I was auditioning for a talk show or trying to be a reality TV star. So, for me, it didn’t make sense for people to know me and I was okay with that.  What I have come to understand is we are all trying to be okay, to pretend as if we don’t have problems because being vulnerable sucks. No one wants to feel as though they don’t have control of everything.

You need to be okay with not being okay because only then can you solve your problems. Only then can you actually be okay? Quick question what happens to a driver that doesn’t want to admit they are a bad driver. Firstly, the driver never improves and therefore, is a danger to himself and the people on the road.

Life is exactly like that and you need to be okay about not being okay. You have to accept that they’re certain things you won’t be good at. You have to accept that everything takes time. 

As odd as it is, you have to be okay with not being okay so you can fight for your dreams. Pretending as if life is okay will make it harder to see what you need to do to fix the mess in your life. This is a hard lesson to learn, but it is crucial for you to learn it early on.

 

 

What are you fighting for?

 

Most of us do things and we don’t even know why we are doing it. This is why there are a lot of unsatisfied people, after some time you forget why you are doing this, if you don’t have a strong reason for what you are doing. It is important to understand why you are doing this so that no matter what comes your way, you can move past it.

If you don’t know what you are fighting for, by the time you are forty you will start questioning everything about life. Ask yourself why you are doing this, what you hope to gain from it and once you do that, it will easier to get up in the morning and do what you do.

It will be easier to go for your dreams and fight for them. You won’t care what people think about you because that won’t matter as much as your dream. The reason why you are doing what you are doing. 

Every successful person will say the same thing, know what you are fighting for because only then can push past all the obstacles that come your way. Only then can you work on your dreams even when you are broke and unemployed. There are people who have done it before. If a homeless person can become a billionaire then there’s nothing stopping you from achieving your dreams. To fight for your dreams, you need to understand why you are doing this or it becomes pointless. Here is an awesome inspirational blog post that will help you go in the right direction.

 

 

Keep hustling

 

Most entrepreneurs will never tell you this, but before you have the money to invest in your dreams, you have to be okay with being broke or hustling.That means doing more than you normally would. So, instead of working for a few hours, you have to work more. Do more so that you can achieve what you want.

This is what it means to fight for your dreams. The easiest way to start is by creating a side-hustle that will help you get to you where you want to be. It doesn’t matter what side-hustle is. Some side-hustles won’t work depending on the country you are in, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do a side-hustle. 

The reason why you need to hustle is so you can achieve your dreams a lot faster. Most people give up before they have the chance to actually create an impact because most people don’t like the thought of working for their dreams. They want it yesterday and if only that was the case, but sometimes you got to do things you don’t want to do so that in the future you can have a better life for yourself. Here is a post about quick side-hustles you can start at home so you can make a bit of money. Most times when you have to fight for your dreams, it requires you to work harder than your normally would.

 

 

What are you willing to give up?

 

 

This is another thing, most people don’t talk about, but you have to give up something and that is a great way to fight for your dreams. When I was starting out, I had to give up time and eventually money. You don’t go anywhere in life without giving up something. Most people don’t want to do this, but when you are willing to give up something now so that you don’t have to do it in the future, doesn’t that make it worth it.

As life gets complicated and we get older, we are going to have to give up certain things. As a nineteen-year-old kid, I didn’t give up much, when I went to College that changed. I had to give up my bad sleeping habits. I am not complaining about it now, but in the beginning, there was resistance until there wasn’t. 

In the beginning, giving up Netflix will feel like a burden until it isn’t and you actually don’t mind not watching any of your favorite television shows. As time goes, and you get more freedom, giving up all those things will be a blessing in disguise.  Most of us aren’t willing to give up something in order for us to fight for our dreams and that is the problem. If you don’t push yourself, you will never know what you can achieve. 

 

What is your main takeaway from this post and what invaluable lessons that you learned? Comment below. 

                                                                 

 

                                                              Keep Pushing

 

                                                               Vanessa

Amira from A Self Guru Interview

Amira from A Self Guru Interview

by | Sep 2, 2019 | Blog, Creator interviews

Amira of

A Self Guru

Be The Master Of Your Own Destiny

Profiting From pASSIONS: Episode 3

 

 

This week on the Profiting From Passions Series, I am talking to Amira from A Self Guru.

Her Blogging journey is absolutely inspirational and goes to show that anything is possible if you put in the hard work. Amira proves that despite what your passions are, you can still be a blogger with a full-time job.

She’s a full-time lawyer and runs a six figure blog where she helps entrepreneurs with the legal side of their business while also coaching them on how to become the master of their own destiny.

 

Can you please introduce yourself to my audience

 

I’m a lawyer, blogger and business coach from ASelfGuru.com. 

During the day, I work full-time as a lawyer and at nights and weekends, I’m a blogger and business coach.  I teach other bloggers and entrepreneurs how to protect their online business legally along with the business skills they need to build a six figure business and become their own boss!

 

How did you start your blogging career

 

I started my blog on a whim when I got inspired by other successful bloggers. I’ve always wanted to make a greater impact in the lives of others through my legal and business expertise and blogging seemed like a great way to do that.

I’ve been working full-time as a lawyer for more than 8 years but have been teaching business and legal skills and coaching online entrepreneurs for over 10 years now. I have owned multiple businesses from a young age, so it was only natural for me to start a blog and bring those skills in my blogging business as well. 

So I launched my blog in 7 days while working full-time as a lawyer! You can read all about that here.

 

 

Can you please tell us a little bit about your blogging journey?

 

 

I really love blogging because it allows me the freedom to work from anywhere at my own pace and reach a bigger audience. 

It has been a very rewarding and enriching experience for me building a six figure blogging business in less than a year while working full-time as a lawyer! 

I made my first $1000 blogging in my first month and then doubled that income in my second month when I made a total of $3700! From there, my income kept increasing until I made $20,000 in a month! 

You can read my blogging journey of how I made $20,000 per month here. 

So now I teach others how to do the same while also helping them protect their online business legally! 

 

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I know I’ve found my life purpose with blogging.

At what point did you realize you were living the life you wanted?

I am still working towards it! Everything takes time and before a blogger, I’m a lawyer which I love! So it’s a tough decision for me to quit my job at this time.

But who knows what the future holds. 

I know I’ve found my life purpose with blogging but it’s challenging to blog with a full-time job, so I believe once I start dedicating full-time to my blog, that’s

when I’ll be living the life I want!

 

What’s the one thing you wish you knew when you were first starting out?

There are quite a few things that come to mind! I actually wrote a post that answers this question! 

 

It’s about the 7 blogging lessons I learned after making $10,000, and it talks about the different things I wish I knew before starting out. 

 

If I had to name one thing right now, that would be learning Google SEO from the beginning. Both Google and Pinterest SEO are super important to

bring traffic to your blog! 

 

So take the time to learn these from the beginning to maximize your time writing blog posts that actually rank well on Google. Same thing with Pinterest,

it’s an excellent source of free organic traffic but you have to learn the tips and tricks first. 

I spent a lot of time learning Pinterest in the beginning, which really helped me but I neglected Google SEO and wish I had learned both simultaneously. 

 

How has blogging changed your life?

It has taught me a new way to make money online while making a greater impact in the world with my products and coaching services. My legal

templates are used and appreciated by thousands of bloggers and entrepreneurs, and I can’t begin to describe how fulfilling that is! 

 

I’ve worked personally with so many bloggers and entrepreneurs and have helped them grow their business. So it feels great teaching other bloggers and

entrepreneurs how to build a six figure blogging business from scratch even with a full-time job! 

 

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If you have both then you have a perfect recipe for success. 

 

Do you think that blogging relies more on passion than skillset?

No, I think you both! You need passion and skills to go hand in hand. If you only have the passion, you would still need to learn the skills to succeed as a

blogger, and if you only had the skills, you won’t go far without the passion. Makes sense?  If you have both then you have a perfect recipe for success! 

 

What are the skills that bloggers require if they want to be successful?

Great question! There are quite a few things you need to learn and master to be successful –

1. Learn how to blog legally – just like any business, with blogging, you need to learn how to blog legally and the first basic step is to make sure you have all 3 legal pages on your website before you launch! So take the time to invest in legal templates written by a lawyer such as my Legal Bundle to protect yourself and your business from lawsuits.  

 

2. Learn email marketing and social media marketing – for this, I recommend investing in the right blogging tools and resources to learn from the experts. I’d say don’t waste time trying to learn everything on your own and get frustrated! Instead, invest in the right blogging courses and tools to get started painlessly. I’ve put together a list of all the blogging tools and resources that helped me grow and monetize my blog quickly. You can check them out here.

 

 

3. Manage your time wisely – blogging can be very time consuming and there’s always so much to do! So it’s very important to be disciplined and organized with your time if you want to be productive. Don’t spend too much time in the “thinking” phase and not take enough action. Sometimes, we tend to overthink and over-analyze things and that delays our progress. 

 

What is the one mistake you made in the beginning that you wish you hadn’t made?

I already talked about it above – I didn’t learn Google SEO right away and that was a mistake because later, I had to go back and revise 20+ blog posts I had already written to optimize them for SEO, which was a huge pain!  It ended up being a lot of work that I could have avoided and saved myself all that hassle if I had learned SEO from the beginning. 

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Better late than never.

If you could, give advice to younger self about anything, what would it be?

I wish I had started blogging at a younger age, perhaps during college because I had a lot more time on my hands back then. But like they say, better late than

never, right?! 🙂

 

What was the one thing you implemented in your business that made a huge impact?

It was creating my own digital products that made a huge impact in my blogging business! 

 

With your own products, you are in full control of your income instead of selling someone else’s product. I love affiliate marketing but I think you have to

diversify your blogging income and one of the ways I did that was by creating 10+ legal templates of my own. 

 

These are legal templates that all bloggers need for their business at different stages. 

 

For example, you need the Legal Bundle before you launch your blog. It includes all 3 legal pages you need on your website and those are your:

 

    1. Privacy Policy
    2. Disclaimer and Disclosures
    3. Terms and Conditions

Same way, you need this written contract when you work with clients as a freelancer to do any kind of work. Both the freelancer and the client need this freelance

contract to work together. 

 

Also, as a blogger, you may have heard about sponsored posts or even written one. Sponsored posts are a great way to make money blogging.

You get to work with your favorite brands and get paid to write sponsored content for them! But just like all other contracts, you need this sponsored posts contract to work with brands. 

 

Check out the complete list of legal templates you need for your blogging business here.

 

Do you have anything that you would like to share?

Sure, here are 3 awesome offers for you – 

 

1. Are you blogging legally? If you are a blogger or entrepreneur then make your website legally compliant within minutes with my best selling Legal Bundle. 

 

The Legal Bundle is a discounted bundle of 3 templates (Privacy Policy, Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions) that has helped thousands of bloggers and

entrepreneurs comply with the law and protect themselves legally. 

 

Plus it comes with 9 additional bonuses worth $1175! You get the bonuses for free with the Legal Bundle. Learn more about the Legal Bundle here. 

 

If you need any other legal templates for your business, then check out my legal store for all the templates available to you! Feel free to reach out if you are

looking for anything specific and don’t see it on my website. 

 

2. Want to work with me personally to expand your business or go over your legal and business questions? Then sign up for a 30 minutes

business coaching call here and let’s work together to grow and monetize your business quickly while keeping it legal! I offer a really affordable monthly coaching program to support you as a mentor throughout your blogging and business journey. During our coaching calls, you can ask me anything, and I will show you how to become a six figure blogger.

 

I was a teacher before I became a lawyer, so you will see that I have a passion for teaching and really enjoy working with people! 

 

3. Want some free legal and business tips or a cease and desist letter for copyright infringement? Check out these  awesome freebies for you here. 

 

How can people reach you?

You can easily connect with me on my blog at ASelfGuru.com, my Facebook group or on other social media platforms- Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

 

                                                                                                            Keep Pushing

                                                                                         Vanessa Gowora

Make Money Blogging For Beginners (Free 2019 Guide)

Make Money Blogging For Beginners (Free 2019 Guide)

by | Aug 28, 2019 | Blog, Entrepreneurs, Side-Hustles

 

Make Money Blogging For Beginners in 2o19 (Free Guide)  

 

This free guide will show you all the ways you can make money from blogging online.  

Is it possible to make money from blogging in 2019?

Hasn’t YouTube replaced it as the new medium for making money?

Do people even read blogs anymore?

These questions circulate the web every so often while people are searching for ways to make money. Blogging is one of the oldest ways to make money online. When it started, it was a way for people to communicate. Remember one of Hilary Duff’s movie, “The Perfect Man,” when that movie was released blogging became incredibly popular among the teen angst crowd. It became a new thing before then it was mostly used by marketers and then blogging grew in popularity.

In the early 2010’s, that is when more and more people were hopping onto the fandom and making money from blogging. If you were to take a look at 

a lot of popular blogs many of them started in 2010 and 2011. Not all, but there are a lot who started then and there’s this perception that blogging is dead and you can’t make money from it or that you can’t do that as a beginner blogger.

Blogging isn’t dead, in fact, it is still one of the best ways to make money online. It easier to setup then a YouTube channel especially if you are camera shy and a lot of bloggers eventually start YouTube channels.

Just because you start with one medium doesn’t mean you can’t venture out and try new things. If you are on the fence about blogging, keep reading about the earning potential. I will list a few reasons why you should start a blog. So, here we go. Here’s an article about overcoming the fear of blogging. 

 

 Why start a blog in 2019

 When it comes to the online space, there are a lot of people who are dubious. The internet in the past couple of years has gotten a bad rep. There are far

too many scams that whenever someone reads something about making money online, an eye roll usually follows and they log off. If Instagram influencers are making money online then why would it be impossible for people to make money online? 

Another thing a lot of people believe is that blogging is too hard and you need to be a genius when it comes to writing. Any skill can be learned and mastered, even writing. I was an awful writer growing up and I would never have imagined years later, I would be a blogger. When you practice on a consistent basis you will master any skill.

Now, on to the interesting bit, why should you start a blog in 2019. I want to list down a few of the benefits of blogging, keep reading and I will get on to the best and easiest ways to make money from your blog. 

 1. Financial Freedom 

2. Passive income (make money while you sleep)

3. Time freedom (have more time to spare with your family)

4. Awesome opportunities (you can start a YouTube channel, become a motivational speaker, start a clothing line, etc)

5. Write a book

6. Create an impact

7. Change the world

8. Support a cause 

 

How to start a profitable blog in 2019

  

If you want to make money from blogging then there are a few things you need in order for you to do that. You can’t set up any ole site and think that it will make you a million dollars. Blogging is like any other business, it requires dedication and effort so I want to let you know the few things you need in order to make money from your blog. Don’t worry it isn’t a long list, but it is crucial for you to setup your blog the right way.

 

Needs to be self-hosted

 

A self-hosted blog is a blog that you setup using a hosting service. When it comes to blogging most of us are familiar with setting up blogging with WordPress. This is the free version and it won’t make you any money. It is also extremely hard to customize. So when you are setting up your blog, you need to set it up with a provider.

I recommend using Bluehost. 

The link to the how to start a blog is below, this is a step by step guide on how to set up your blog the right way.

 

Start A Blog (Step-By-Step Guide) 2019

 

Good Design

 

 

Another thing that you need is your website needs to have good design. When you are starting out, you can use a free theme, but I do recommend going

for something with a bit of a kick. I use Divi which is one of the best themes and the great thing is you can customize it the way you want, you reduce

a lot of the costs because it comes packed with a lot of features so you won’t need a developer.

If you choose to go with something else then get a theme that works well for you, that will help you with your brand. You need to know this if you plan on making money blogging in 2019. Don’t skip this step. You can check Divi theme.

 

Target audience

 

If you want to make money blogging you need to know your target audience well, it helps if you are part of the demographic or if you understand the target

audience well. When I started my blog, I knew my target audience would primarily be people from the ages of 25 to 38 because I wanted to focus on millennials and since I am a millennial it made the most sense.

I understood that most millennials want to do their own thing, but are scared of doing it. That they want financial freedom and to have enough money to travel the world. I listed all the things that millennials would be interested in, that way I could target them and help them achieve their goals.  So, when you are identifying a target audience, you create an avatar.

Why is this important? So, you know what topics you should write about and what products you should promote. 

Business plan

 

 

Many of us thought we would never have to do a business plan once we left school, the thing is a business plan is important. It can actually be a lot of fun.

It doesn’t have to be too long or technical. 

List down all the important things that you need to focus on, such as target audience, demographic, geographic location, marketing plan and etc. This way you have an idea of what to do next after you set-up your blog. I have come to realize when it comes to business that marketing and strategy is key. What is the main driving force you will use for traffic. 

An example is there are a lot of blogs out there that use guest posts as a way to drive traffic to their blogs, I use interviews. This is one of the ways I get traffic to my site. Another way is Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. That is part of my business plan and I wouldn’t have known what would work with my blog if I didn’t write a business plan. This will make it super easy for you to make money blogging in 2019.  

 

Make Money Blogging in 2019

 

We are finally here, this is the part where I show you all the ways you can make money blogging. If you want to get access to more ways, keep reading, I have 

included an awesome infographic for you to show you how to make money blogging. There are so many ways you can money blogging, it is unbelievable, but it does take time for you to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Even though you can make money blogging, it still requires patience and effort to get everything going. A car with a well-oiled machine runs better than one without, so it is important you build your blog the right way so that you can make money blogging.

Here are the top ten ways you can make money blogging, keep reading to get the extra twenty and those are definitely game-changers. Okay, so here we go.

 

 

1. Affiliate Marketing

 

 Affiliate marketing is by far one of the easiest ways to make money because it doesn’t require that you have a huge list or a lot of traffic. Most affiliate

programs just require that you have a blog with a great design and that’s literally it. Not much to it, you can start with a lot of awesome programs out there.

The great thing is affiliate marketing is free to start, I wanted to just put that out there. Remember when it comes to making money online you won’t have to pay for any program to make money. You sign up and if you get accepted, boom, you make money.

Why do I love affiliate marketing because you sell it once and make passive income from it? You promote something and then you make money even while snoozing on the couch and that’s why there are a lot of people who love affiliate marketing

If you do it the right way, you can make a lot of money from affiliate marketing. An unbelievable amount of money. Here’s a great article on how much money you can make.

 

What are some awesome affiliate programs?

When I was first starting out, I had no idea where to look for when it came to affiliate programs so I have taken out the work for you. Here are some ideas of 

affiliate programs. Look at your niche and use that as a guide to find what affiliate programs you should be a part of. It makes life a whole lot easier if you look through the list of affiliate programs. 

73+ HIGH PAYING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR BUSINESS BLOGGERS

100 BEST AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR FASHION AND BEAUTY BLOGGERS

LIST OF TRAVEL AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR TRAVEL BLOGGERS

59+ ART AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR CRAFTY AND CREATIVE BLOGGERS

67+ FOOD AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR BLOGGERS AND CONTENT CREATORS

Bonus: When choosing the right product, go with something that you use or that you have done research on. Don’t just promote a product you know nothing about, that can cause a lot of headache for you and your client down the road. 

 

2. Coaching

 

When I first started out this is the first thing I tried out because it is easier to start with. You don’t need to be great at marketing or have an awesome product. All you need is yourself and your expertise. You can make a lot of money from coaching. There are a lot of people who use coaching as a way to make a name for themselves so you are hitting two birds with one rock.

You can also be seen as a mentor or a guide, it is pretty much the same thing except for a few things. When it comes to mentorship it is usually more personal and informal, it is also long-term. You get a mentor if you want to make six-figures a year. Most people start with coaches and make their way up to mentors. Mentorship tends to be more costly than coaching that is done on a short-term basis.

So, here’s an article about how you can start a six-figure coaching business.

 

3. Freelancing

This one is awesome pretty easy to step up and that is what most people do when they are figuring out what they should sell or offer when it comes to making money with blogging.

This is one the best ways you can make money blogging in 2019 and there’s a lot of potential for growth. You start off small and as you grow, you can add many services or products to your list. 

Freelancing though is not for everyone, it requires a lot of work and you will be getting more active income than passive. Basically, if you don’t work then you don’t make money. In the beginning, you will be your own boss and you will have to do your own work. There are a lot of people who start this way and then they hire people as they grow, but who knows how long that can take.

If this interests you slightly, here’s an article on how to make money from freelancing.

 

4. Services

 

This is another easy way for you to make money blogging and you don’t require technical skills. When I first started out, I used this as a way to make money blogging, the great thing about this is you can scale it in time. 

All you do is offer a service, for example, I offer a Done-For-You Blog service where people purchase hosting through my link and I set up a blog for them for free. I incorporate affiliate marketing with this and that’s also how I make money. If you don’t want to do that, you can still charge your clients and maybe you give them a discounted price if they purchase through your link.

Blog done for you services is incredibly popular because not a lot of people to do it. If you are wondering what services you can offer to clients, I will list them down.

A lot of people offer services as a way of making money and the great thing is you can grow as much as you want. There are companies that are worth millions of dollars and when they started all they did was offer a service that people loved.

 

Designing logos like on 99 Designs or Dribble

Editing podcasts using your audio engineering skills

Offering social media marketing services

Offering to create FB Ads

Designing Book Covers

 Writing blog copy or content for brands

Building websites

Any skill you have can be used to offer it as a service

 

Where to find clients?

 

I listed below some of the places you could start with to find awesome clients so that you don’t have to scourge the internet to find it. 

 

60 Places You Can (Quickly) Get Great Remote Jobs

72 Best Freelance Jobs Websites to Get Great Clients (Fast)

 

 

Get Free Infographic

 

5. Sponsored Posts

The last five are the most difficult because it requires you to have an email list or be a little experienced when it comes to blogging, but it is still a lot easier than the others you can pick up. If you want to make money blogging, you should consider this one as it does have a lot of earning potential as long as you have a couple of email subscribers and thousands of followers on your social media accounts.

If you are in the beauty and fashion niche, sponsored posts are a great way to create an income stream that works for you. This is one of the most popular ways to make money from blogging for beginners for beauty and fashion bloggers. Though, you can still make a considerable amount of money from this even if you aren’t in that niche. 

 

What is sponsored content?

 

This is content that has been paid for by a big brand think of Apple sponsoring a tech company to promote their latest product or Gucci sponsoring content to talk about their latest product line. You agree on the price and it can be anything from a couple of hundred to even a thousand. Depending on how much money you are already making and how much traffic comes to your site.

That is the problem, if you don’t have a lot of visitors it will be hard for any brand to take you seriously. My suggestion is to keep this in the back burner and plan this is as a way to make extra content further down the line.

 

6. Display Ads

I have a hate and love relationship with display ads. Far too many bloggers promote it, but what they never tell you is you need an influx of traffic so in the thousands and not hundreds. Another thing is if you aren’t careful it does make your website look like it came from the 2000s because of all the ads appearing on your website. 

Do people make money from it?

Of course, they do, but those are established bloggers who have been in the game for a while and who have a lot of people on their mailing list. So, I would be careful if you choose to go with display ads.

Another thing is you don’t have enough control of how much money you make or where you put the ads on your site. My recommendation is to go with Sponsored posts. The earning potential is more and you have more control. If you still want to know more about display ads, you can find it here.

             

Get Free Infographic

 

7. Sell An EBook

I am a little biased, but this is one of the best ways to make money blogging. Once you build an email list, you can sell them your eBook. You decide though where you want it to be either on Amazon or on your website. Both do perfectly and each has its advantages and disadvantages. All you have to do is choose wisely.

The great thing about selling an eBook is it instantly makes you an authority on a subject and that makes you more credible than someone who doesn’t have a blog. I would put this down as something you can do later on. EBooks are also one of the best ways to earn passive income. It is a great way to make money blogging in 2019 and more people are using this as an income stream. 

There are a lot of ways an eBook can change your life and you can even use it to build your business. Here are a couple of ways you can use an eBook to grow and scale your business.

 

A publisher can approach you and decide they want to publish your book to a wider audience

It can be turned into an audiobook

You can use a book as a way to start a podcast

You can start a YouTube channel using your book

Become a public speaker

Become a consultant

It can be turned into a TV or reality show

As you can see there’s a lot of earning potential when it comes to selling an eBook, if you want to make money from your eBook then you need to be decent at marketing.

Bonus: If you want to make money blogging, selling an eBook is a great way to do that. However, you can earn more money from it if you have products in the back-end. This is how you do it, people who buy your book sign up to your mailing list and then you can sell products to them and make more money from it. 

 

 

8. Sell digitals products

Depending on your goals you can sell different types of digital products and use this as a way to make passive income. That’s what makes selling digital products awesome, you can make a lot of money through it.

There are a lot of websites who sell several types of digital products, so focus on the ones that you prefer to sell. Courses and eBooks usually fall under the bracket of digital products, but I decided to separate them because the earning potential is larger than most digital products. It is also a lot easier to set it up than an eBook or a course. They are also easier to create, so here is a list of all the digital products you can create. There are a few I didn’t include because those are going into my infographic.

Templates

Journal

Customizable graphics

PSD Files (this a file type Photoshop creates)

Swipe Files (used to recreate something specific such as email swipe files)

Media kit

 Audiobook

Music Clips

Photos that can be used commercially

Workbooks

Marketing material

Video stock

 

You can create numerous digital products and because they are usually cheap to produce and affordable, you can make a considerable amount of money from it. 

Bonus: Make sure that your digital products have the same branding as everything else you sell. Same colors, fonts and etc so that there’s consistency for everything.

This is how you stand out compared to everyone else, if your branding and messaging align. 

                                              

9. Sell online courses

This one will turn you into a millionaire. No kidding, making courses is incredibly profitable, but you need to have at least 1000 subscribers to make money from it.

Without that, it will be hard pitching your idea to people and one thing you don’t want to do is go to groups and start screaming about your products. That will get you banned and you will get a bad reputation.

Reputation is everything when it comes to business. It is the foundation you really need to be successful and here’s the thing most people don’t know how to do courses and that is why they struggle when it comes to selling them. There’s a lot of factors that come into creating a successful course. I want to emphasize that this is one of the best ways to make money blogging in 2019.

Once you have the systems in place then you can make a lot of money. It is also one of the top income generators when it comes to make money blogging. There are a lot of people who don’t like the idea of being teachers. Same. What I have come to understand is educating is not only rewarding, it helps you create an impact.

Education is in high-demand, look at the videos online. Social Triggers wrote an awesome article on how you can create a course. If you still aren’t convinced with how much money you can make from selling courses, here’s one article on how much money you can make.

 

10. Sell physical products

In the last few years, dropshipping has become incredibly popular. If you always wondered how people were shipping physical products from an online store

the answer is dropshipping. This basically is when a seller uses a middleman to produce and ship the product and all they are doing is facilitate the sale.

When it comes to dropshipping you need to have marketing expertise and understand Facebook Ads because it is more complicated than the others. This is however, a profitable way to make money blogging in 2019. And there are a lot of successful people who are also dropshippers. That golden pen that you once saw probably is dropshipped.

The reason why people do dropshipping instead of shipping the products themselves is it becomes too costly to do that. Fulfillment is incredibly expensive and it is time consuming and most successful people want to afford having to take care of all the stress that comes with it. Enter dropshipping, one of the easiest and most cost effective ways of selling physical products. 

If you want to learn more about dropshipping, this article will show you all the ins and outs of the dropshipping business.

 

What is your main takeaway from this and what make money blogging method are you interested in learning about? Comment below and I will reply as soon as

possible. 

                                              

                                                         

                                                              Keep Pushing                                           

 

                                                             Vanessa

Lidiya From Let’s Reach Success

Lidiya From Let’s Reach Success

by | Aug 26, 2019 | Blog, Creator interviews

Lidiya of

Let’s Reach Success

Achieve Financial Freedom and Start a blog

Creator Interviews: Episode 2

Every Monday, I deliver awesome interviews from successful creators who are changing the game. I am super pumped to introduce you to Lidiya of Let’s Reach Success. She teaches bloggers how to start a side-hustle from their blog and change their life. A few months ago, I came across Lidiya’s blog and I was super impressed how she changed her life through blogging. Her story is incredible and will definitely show you what is possible when it comes to blogging.

The reason why most people don’t go after their dreams is because they believe that they are can’t do it and that is what encouraged me to do an interview series on people using their passions to create a business based around that.

This is the second interview, please let me know which creator you would like me to interview and I will do that. So, here we go

 

Tell us a little about yourself

Hello. I’m Lidiya, a full-time blogger and lifestyle designer. I’m the creator of Let’s Reach Success where I help others achieve financial independence through

making money online so they can use that income to live their best life.

What inspired you to start a blog?

I initially began making money as a freelance writer, during which time I was also blogging for fun. Eventually, I learned more and more about the business model of blogging and realized this is the one thing I want to do. So, once my income increased, I left freelancing behind and devoted myself to full-time blogging.

I love that I can write about things that matter, no client tells me what to do and I can reach more people because I’m the one making sure the content is

promoted well and gets exposure. Also, the chance to provide real value and bring more visitors to my blog motivated me to update old content consistently, work with guest contributors and give them a chance to get published elsewhere and make each blog post easy to read and visually appealing.

When did you create Let’s Reach Success and why?

I started Let’s Reach Success back in March 2013 when I knew absolutely nothing about blogging. I just wanted to share what was on my mind and write about

personal development. That was my biggest passion so I decided to combine it with the best way to express myself – writing. The best thing about it is that I kept going.  I slowly began gaining traffic and the income from freelance writing was motivating me to keep posting stuff on my blog so I can use it as my portfolio. But over time, it became a much bigger project than I expected so I started paying more attention to it.

After some time, I switched to a self-hosted WordPress site, optimized the platform better, built a presence on social media, learned from other bloggers, defined my niches better, made my content longer and better, etc.

Let’s Reach Success started as a hobby and was only on Personal Development but has now turned into a blog that gets over 100K monthly page views and is

sharing advice on making money online, starting a business on the side, lifestyle design and financial independence.

 

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The moment we feel too comfortable, it means we’re about to get stuck.

Who was your first mentor?

My first mentors were completely different from the people I’m following and learning from now. I actually wrote a post once listing 5 of them and how they’ve helped me shape my mindset. Here it is.

 

I read that you have been to a few countries, what has traveling taught you?

I always knew in theory that getting out of our comfort zone is something we should constantly be doing. The moment we feel too comfortable, it means we’re about to get stuck.

I practice leaving my comfort zone in multiple ways such as being social, trying new things, etc. But traveling is what really helps you taste life in a different way.

If you give it a chance (which means solo traveling, or just leaving your country for longer and seeing how people live, or maybe traveling full-time for a year or so), it can change the rest of your life in a positive way.

 

What is the one thing you wished you knew when you started blogging?

Even though my blogging journey was longer than that of others, I have no regrets. It was important for me to be forming the mindset of a full-time blogger and location independent business owner while making mistakes and learning all I could about the digital world.

However, a few things I could have done earlier include:

Investing in online courses – nothing beats learning a topic inside out from someone who’s already done it and the best way to do that online is to purchase one of their courses. I started doing that just in the last 1,5 years and it changed the game for me. I took one on affiliate marketing, then one on Pinterest (and saw immediate results), and currently I’m slowly going through a big course on becoming a six-figure blogger in which I’m taking steps to master affiliate marketing, creating strategic content and having a sales funnel.

Giving Pinterest a chance – I only did that in the last year and it’s because I’ve been studying the business models of bloggers in my niche. I love checking out their income reports. Together with that and thanks to the many bloggers I’ve interviewed for Let’s Reach Success, I started seeing what a big traffic source Pinterest could be for me. So I gave it a chance, started publishing content there on a regular basis, took an online course on the topic, and now part of my traffic is from there.

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Blogging changed my life in a positive way since I started it because I had my own project to work on.

 

When did you start making a living through blogging?

So, my first money online didn’t come directly from the blog – although it existed – but from freelancing. That was fine for me as I had a lot to learn about blogging, and – most importantly – to start believing I too can make money this way.

Eventually, I used my blog indirectly to earn an income which was by showing it to potential freelance clients. They liked it so they wanted me to write similar content for them too.

2 years after starting the blog, I began earning from sponsored posts. I joined marketplaces but people also started reaching out to me. And while I was undercharging as I didn’t know any better, it was the first income from my blog. 

I was also selling my eBooks at that point and made some money through ads. As I come from Bulgaria and was living there up until 2,5 years ago, I didn’t need much money to be able to make a living from my online endeavors. That’s because it’s a cheap country and I could live with my parents so the rest was easy.

However, the more monetization methods I tested, the more my income increased. I could save some money, be braver when creating my vision for the future, invest back in my business, be a confident solopreneur paying my own taxes, etc.

Which brings me to the next life event which would have been impossible without my blog…

 

When did blogging start changing your life and how did it feel once it did?

Blogging changed my life in a positive way since the moment I started it because I had my own project to work on. I was playing with the design and topics, the brand and the services/products I offered. But the physical transformation began happening 2,5 years ago when I had enough money saved and left my home country to move to my ideal destination – the Netherlands.

As it’s still in the EU, I could simply move and test the lifestyle. So I spent a few months there and it worked well. I was happier than ever and even though I saw some big bills for the first time in my life as the country has a higher standard of living, I was okay with it. In fact, it helped me become more financially responsible, build discipline, and double my income.

I also traveled to Thailand for 5 weeks and lived pretty well there. When I came back, I settled down in the Netherlands, registered as a citizen of Amsterdam, and loved doing my work every day even more as now my motivation was to sustain that new lifestyle.

In 2018, I had my best year ever earning nearly $50K blogging, as shared in my annual income report. I also moved the online business to the Netherlands at the beginning of 2018 and am paying taxes here now. That allowed me to have more confidence and take action to find my own place (still renting, but my own studio in a good neighborhood which can be pretty hard to get in this city).

I did that 2 months ago and am now writing this from my home office that I love so much. It’s a new building with young professionals living in it and a co-working space downstairs so it’s basically made for people like me. That makes it impossible not to feel grateful every morning when I wake up and get to work for all the wonderful things that have come my way thanks to blogging.

 

Who inspires you and why?

Other bloggers doing the same but who are further in this journey. I’m lucky to have the chance to actually interview them for Let’s Reach Success now and each time I publish another such interview, I can feel the momentum. There’s so much to learn from every blogger as even though they might be using the same tools and have the same business model in mind, the little things they did along the way made the big difference for them.

That includes Alex and Lauren who started from nothing but are now earning $100K/month from their blogs and traveling the world.

More and more moms are achieving amazing things online thanks to blogging too. Such as Caroline who built a $100K parenting blog thanks to combing Pinterest and affiliate marketing, Elna Cain who has a freelance writing business and a blogging business and is raising her twins at the same time, and Suzi from StartaMomBlog who managed to retire her husband at 30 thanks to the income from her blog.

If that’s not inspiring, I don’t know what is.

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I want to help people believe it’s possible to make money online and encourage them to start a blog as soon as possible.

What mistakes did you make the first time around and if you had a chance to change it, would you?

Like many others, I waited until I found the courage to go from a WordPress.com site to a self-hosted one. The technical aspect scared me a bit but it was completely fine at the end.

I also didn’t dare e to raise my prices for sponsored posts and freelance writing thinking that no one would work with me then. It’s a common thing in the digital world. However, once I did it, it helped me double my income in 6 months and reach $5,000/month.

 

What is the impact you hope to create with your blog?

I want to help people believe it’s possible to make money online and encourage them to start a blog as soon as possible. Self-doubt is often the biggest barrier. So many people look at where the highest- paid bloggers are and think they’ll never get there. But they don’t need to. Earning $1000/month from a new blog is absolutely possible, they just need to find the right way, niche, and their audience. And that extra $1000 can be life-changing.

 

Thank you Lidiya, for agreeing to do this interview, do you have any free resources to give my audience?

Thank you too for having me! Yes, here are my 3 free courses.

How to Make Your First Money Online Freelancing

The Passive Income Boss

Launch Your Profitable Blog Today

Can you tell us what is a quote/saying that always keeps you going even when life gets harder

I like to remind myself that ‘it’s all a learning experience’. Having the mindset of a learner allows you to never let failure or other people bring you down and to look at new goals and challenges as a way to learn something new.

Also, in terms of personal relationships, believing in yourself or dealing with what life throw’s at you, I like to remind myself of a simple principle – that the only thing I can control in most cases is my reaction to what’s happening. And I’ve saved myself a lot of trouble and have improved my relationships with people thanks to being calm in the face of hardships, accepting things the way they are, and waiting for better times to come.

 

How can my readers reach you?

Feel free to check out Let’s Reach Success. If you’re on Pinterest, you can follow me here. And to contact me, email is the best way.

 

One more thing, Lidiya, I read about your awesome premium course “Financial Freedom Through

Blogging,” what does your course offer and what sets you apart from other blogging courses?

Financial Freedom Through Blogging is the biggest and most important digital product I’ve ever created. I’ve included all the things (only important ones that an aspiring blogger or one that’s been blogging for some time needs) that I’ve learned over the last 5 years which have allowed me to turn Let’s Reach Success into a money-making machine reaching over a million people every year.

What sets it apart from other blogging courses is that it shares my unique experience and that’s it huge (over 80 lectures!).

It covers all you need to know about starting, growing and monetizing a blog. Plus, how to actually enjoy that income once you have it (which is what I’m doing right now).

I only allowed myself to create such a product after I was a full-time blogger living in a new country and making real money online. To offer something like that before that point would be simply unfair to people. They want to learn from someone who’s already done what they are after, that’s why I share all my numbers (blog stats, monthly earnings, and expenses, etc.) in my detailed income reports.

The fun thing about Financial Freedom Through Blogging is that I’m promoting it by simply sharing my story. If others want similar results, they can check out the course. And any time I see more results with my blog, I make sure to update the course with even more practical steps and tips. You can find it here.

 

                                                                                                            Keep Pushing

                                                                                         Vanessa Gowora

12 Productivity Myths You Need To Stop Believing

12 Productivity Myths You Need To Stop Believing

by | Aug 21, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

 

12 productivity myths you need to stop believing.

These are many productivity myths that you have believed in and it also has stopped from truly becoming productive.

I sat on a chair twiddling my fingers, trying my best to concentrate. The room was beaming with noise coming from all four corners, kids screaming at the top of their lungs. A cloud of questions hovered in my mind, my seventh-grade teacher walked, she glared at us.

She said with a perfectly calm voice. “Why don’t you something constructive?”

That changed the way I looked at life, but I still had no idea what being constructive meant or what it meant to be productive.

I spent years reading and watching videos on productivity. “You must wake up early,” one entrepreneur said.

So, I started waking up early, my mother would tell me that I needed to learn about multitasking, but everyone said the opposite. “Multitasking doesn’t work, you need to focus on one thing at a time,” so I learned to stop multitasking.

There were so many productivity hacks out there, but everyone said something different. There were people saying work harder than you ever have ever worked. So, I learned how to do that until when I reached the age of twenty-five and I was burnt out.

“Is this what success is supposed to be like, I mean I wake up at 3 am, but I still am not doing much with my time,” I said to one of my friends. “I am always tired, I’m pretty sure that’s not what success is supposed to look like.”

“Have you tried doing something different, changing things around,” the answer was so simple, I grunted as if I hadn’t thought of that, then I realized she had a point.

I was doing everything wrong, listening to millions of Tom, Nancy’s and Dicks who had a say on how to be more productive, but it wasn’t working for me. I spent the next couple of years figuring out that there are a lot of productivity hacks out there that are myths.

I know, it almost seems like you have spent the last couple of years wasting away your life. Here’s the truth, productivity comes in many shapes and forms. You have to decide which ones haven’t worked for you and if you truly want to be productive here are a few myths that I hate to burst. 

It will help you in the long run, don’t believe, you would be shocked at how myths you have believed. Here are 12 productivity myths that you need to stop believing.

 

Productivity Myth 1# Multitasking doesn’t work

 

 

Put down your pitchforks, I know in a recent post I said something completely different, but this is where the trick lies. Multitasking depends on who you are,

I have ADHD so multitasking for me is like breathing, I can’t stop it even though I want to, but I have learned how to use it in small doses. So, you might be one of those people who is good at multitasking. Our mothers do it well, they can manage to cook four different things and not burn anything. That’s hard, by all accounts.

But many of us do multitasking and we don’t realize it, we do it while listening to music and working at the same time or listening to an audiobook while cooking.

So, this one depends on who you are as a person. If you are the type of person who can’t concentrate on doing two things at the same time then this isn’t for you. So, the advice that multitasking doesn’t work well is dependent on who you are as a person. Sometimes, not every piece of advice that we get works in our best interest.

This is where it comes in handy to know yourself, your ins and outs. If you don’t, it easy to follow every advice even if it isn’t meant for you. So, this is the first

productivity myth I had to burst, for all those people that thought your mother’s advice was wrong.

This was is complicated because it is both a myth and true. Multitasking to a certain degree doesn’t work, but as I said before, it helps if you are doing things that don’t require too much of your attention span. Listening to a song while you are writing works. Listening to a podcast while you are writing doesn’t work.

Just be careful when you use it. I wrote an awesome post on productivity hacks that can help you manage your time better.

 

 

Productivity Myth #2: The early bird catches the worm

 

 

Yes and no. It all depends on you again. Most people are just not early birds and that is okay. Just because you don’t wake up when the owls are up doesn’t

mean you won’t be successful. It all is about whether you are a lark or a night owl, some people can work until 2 am and still be running on fumes while

others can’t.  

For the longest time, we have believed that if we don’t wake up early we won’t be successful. It all depends on when you are the most alert, I have been a

morning person since I was eight. I would wake up before everyone else did, eventually, with time I started waking up later on and it took me time to figure

this out and once I did, everything clicked for me. So, the early bird does catch the worm, but you can still catch the worm despite waking up later than usual.

Know your body and how it works so that you can be more productive. That is how you will learn how to be more productive. This is productivity myth is one of those that many of us believe and with time it does become how undoing. 

 

 

Productivity Myth #3: Work Harder

 

 

Just because you work harder than everyone else doesn’t mean you are more productive. This is one of those myths we have been going around saying for years.

“Work hard so that you get the life you want,” teachers would say.

“What does that look like?” A student would ask.

“Well, you must always be buried in a book. work until you see results even if that means leaving work later than most people so that you get more done.”

And people wonder why most of us are so sleep deprived and our bodies are failing us. It isn’t because of Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Network teaching us how to play.

No, it is the advice that we have gotten since we were kids. Just because you work more than others doesn’t mean you are productive. The exact opposite, you could be buried in a book and yet, not understand what you are reading. You could leave work later than most people and still be behind everyone else.

Why? Even our bodies can’t keep with the tiresome demands we require of it. Coffee isn’t a miracle drug that will push us past exertion. Everything has its limits and this is why you need to learn how to work smarter and not harder. Find ways to make life easier for you so that you can accomplish more. Here’s a simple analogy, I hate washing dishes as most people do, but I realized I spent far longer washing plates if I allowed them to pile up so I started washing plates every time I used them, I cut my time in half.

Find ways to work smarter and you will realize that you will be far more productive if you do that. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. With everything it will take time to understand this. The work harder productivity myth causes a lot of grief, it pushes us to the extent of our body breaking down. Keep telling yourself you need to work smarter and not harder.

 

Productivity Myth #4: I don’t have time for a system or routine

 

 

This is an excuse that many of us use, but the truth is you need a routine and this is coming from someone who has used the whole I will wing it speech.

Starting a business has made me realize two things; one a system is the difference between success and failure, and two if you want life to be easier you

need a system.

So, I dragged my feet and started working on a system that will help me progress quicker than the tortoise in the race but will also make me smarter than the hare.

There are countless people without systems and that is why they aren’t successful. So, yes, developing a system will take time, but once it is up and running you won’t have to worry about it.

This productivity myth needs a serious makeover because so many of us believe it. If you can make time to watch your favorite television show be it Game of Thrones or the Big Bang Theory, you have time to create a system that works for you. The reason you use that excuse is that you don’t want to it and I understand, doing something that’s different is terrifying, but one step forward and you will get there. Keep remembering that and you will be fine. 

Having not enough time is an excuse we use often, even when it comes to productivity. Many of us believe in this productivity myth.

 

Productivity Myth #5: Creativity has no business being part of my

system

 

 

So, this productivity myth is for creative types. I understand how hard it is to wade through all the business talk when you are a creative person. I regard myself as a

creative type and for the longest time, I believed I couldn’t be a business person. It is ironic how I realize that was a creativity myth. That is coming soon to a blog post near you, but for now, let us burst this myth.

Creative work is still working, whether we want to accept that or we don’t. We still need to deal with procrastination, shoddy work or even drifting off between edits.

The most successful creative types have a system so why do most of us creative types think that we can deliver a Van Gogh without having a system. Even Van Gogh himself struggled to deliver his work in time because he had no system. So, unless you want to be successful when you are deceased, I think its best that you work with a system. I went a little dark there, but I just wanted to show you how important it is to have a system. 

Those who don’t can spend years working on their projects and get noticed much later on in life. If you ever wondered why it takes some creative types years to 

deliver their best work, that is because they have no system in place. Have a system for everything you do in life. This will be the difference between you being

successful and unsuccessful.

 

 

Productivity Myth #6: I will wait for my muse

 

 

This is one of those productivity myths that has become so common people actually believe that if they wait for a muse, that is when they will be more productive.

You will be waiting for years because it is true Success, waits for no man. And that is why waiting for inspiration or a muse is not only a waste of time, it is a waste

of your potential.

It is incredibly easy to believe this myth that many of us have been saying this for years. But this isn’t true at all, no matter how many times you want a muse, you

have to learn to work despite being unmotivated. You have to learn to work even when your brain is foggy and you need to understand that when you push yourself that’s when you can be more productive.

A lot of these things are mind over matter, it sounds simple, but it does take time to use this to your advantage. Keep in mind that when you push yourself, this will

train yourself how to respond to moments when you don’t feel like it. This always helps you when dealing with procrastination. So, for all those that aren’t sure how

to get rid of the terrible P. This is one way to curb its effect, do work even when you don’t want to.

 

Productivity Myth #7: I work best under-pressure

 

 

Delayed action has become the default setting for most of us. I did this for the longest time. I definitely understand this because I did for years. I always would tell

people that I worked the best under pressure and as a result, I was always tired, overworked and stressed. I put my health through the grinder that most times I

would see bright hues of colors dancing in front of me.

Then I realized I was messing up myself up, here I was thinking that being under-pressure upped my game, but I still was so tired. I hate planning, but I have come

to understand and appreciate how important it is. My teacher had this saying, she’d say “fail to prepare then you must prepare to fail.”

It was brutal hearing that as a sixteen-year-old awkward teen, but now as an adult I understand how important it is to plan. Without planning, you make more

mistakes so unless you want to get sick to the point where you give yourself a stroke then you need to stop working under-pressure.

And yes even people under the age of forty can get a stroke, life is more stressful and after a while of putting your body in the ringer, it gives in. So, don’t be like

everyone else and work under-pressure. Plan so that you can actually succeed.

 

 

Productivity Myth #8: Organizing is extremely boring

 

 

When it comes to organizing there are two camps of people; those that adore it and those that equate it to boredom. So, I was in the latter camp,

and I understand how it might appear boring, but it definitely makes life a little less chaotic and a never ending nightmare compared to everything else.

Being organized is a lifesaver, those who are organized, have their ducks or socks in a roll.

They don’t have to worry about missing deadlines, interviews or anything else. No, things work out for them and there we are rolling our eyes, but the truth is they

are having a laugh our expense. Why? Because organized people get to the top a lot quicker than those that are not, they always find a way to make time for things

and we could learn a thing or two.

To truly be productive you need to be organized. You have to be that kid who walked around with markers and colored sticky notes. You know the kid, who

always highlighted their notes and used a different pen for important points. The kid whose desk always looked like it was on sale at IKEA. You know, that kid.

Once you do that, you will look at life a lot better than most and yeah, you will actually become extremely productive. So ignore this productivity myth that

organizing is boring and start to embrace it,

 

 

Productivity Myth #9: No routine is my routine

 

 

 

I was a big fan of Mean Girls as a kid and my favorite line even up today is, “Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen!”

As much as we think that having no routine is a routine, it isn’t. Having a routine can change your life, it certainly did and this is coming from a person who

wanted so badly to make the no routine happen.

If you want to be productive then you need to have a routine or system in place. It is highly unlikely that without a system you are more productive with one.

The kids in school who had a system for studying always came up with higher scores than those who didn’t. From an early age, we have been trained to

accept that systems are actually a good thing, but the reason why we don’t follow through with it because we terrified to fail.

Doing anything that you aren’t used to is terrifying. I would say that just do it. If you fail at least you can say with a brave face. you tried it out.

 

 

Productivity Myth #10: You need a to-do list

 

 

 

 

Gasp, yeah you have read it right here, you don’t need a to-d0 list to be super productive. Nope, you don’t need a to-do list. The problem with to-do lists is

many of us go overboard. For a day we can list ten to twenty things we want to accomplish. There’s no amount of time in the day that will make it possible

for you to achieve twenty things unless you have eight arms or have a secret.

 

Most of us normal human beings have limits and that is the problem with to-do lists. I am not saying that they aren’t great, but it is the way we are doing them. It just doesn’t work out, the way we hope it will. So, what should you do instead of to-do lists? I would say have goals for the day. At least about five and focus on those goals. Every time, you make progress, this is a milestone you can use towards your monthly or yearly goals. 

 

 

Productivity Myth #11: A productivity app will help me

 

 

 

No, the new productivity app that you found on the Apple store or Playstore won’t make you a productivity guru. Yeah, even if they promise

you that it will solve your productivity woes it won’t. Any app is simply a guide for you, that’s all, it won’t change your life or give you the will to.

So, you need to start working on your productivity before you invest your time with a productivity app. This is just a helpful guide to get you started.

Nothing can beat a good old-fashioned system, having a system in place is hard, but just take your time and you will figure it out. 

 

Productivity Myth #12: Everything needs to be perfect

 

 

 

 

This is the messiest productivity myth out there because people don’t realize this until it is too late. There’s no such thing as perfectionism,

not even for Disney characters. Working on a project tirelessly until it reaches your standards of perfection drains you of energy that you

can use on other things.

When we spend way too much time trying to perfect things, that stops us from actually being productive and achieving our goals in time. If you are dying to know more productivity myths you need to stop believing, here you go.

 

What is your main takeaway from this and what productivity myths did you believe in and why did you? Comment below and I will reply as soon as possible. 

                                                             

 

                                                              Keep Pushing

 

                                                             Vanessa

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