I watched the movie, We Bought a Zoo, with my 3 year old this weekend.

Very cute movie… but this is what I learned.

Sometimes people need a little courage
to make a choice,
make a change,
step out of their comfort zone.

What if you allowed yourself 20 seconds of insane courage?
What could you accomplish?

Apply this to your business…Make that call, Make that Video, Say what you mean

Apply this to your relationships…Say how you feel, Pick up the phone

Whatever you do… Use your 20 second window to grow!

We all know what ‘listening’ is and we all probably suck at it… at times. Right?

So now that we are in agreement on that…

I want to talk about the times you are GOOD at listening.
Reality Check–You probably suck at those times too.

I don’t mean you are uninterested or blatantly rude.

I am talking about the inner voice in your head that is having it’s own dialogue while you are ‘listening’, distracting you from being in that moment and really contributing to the conversation.

Example 1:

Last night at dinner my husband was telling me about his goal to run a 50 mile race.
He has done several marathons and I have no doubt he can do it. So while he was talking about his training program, his timeline, the location, his goals…I was thinking about the 10K I recently signed up for, my workout tomorrow and how I was going to fit in a swim. So when he wrapped up his thoughts and asked me a question, I was so involved in my inner thoughts, I had no idea how to answer. How selfish of me.

Example 2:

Ponder this…My friend, let’s call her Sally, was telling me about her goal to become a real estate agent. She was listing the reasons why she was going to rock at it! She said, I’m outgoing. I thought, So are the other million realtors out of work. She said, I know a lot of important people. I thought, Those important people aren’t buying houses right now. She said, I can work all day while my kids are in school. I thought, Your weekends are going to be gone! In hindsight, why was my mind negating all her points, playing devils-advocate. It was of no value to the conversation. I should have either supported her whole-heartedly or voiced my concerns so she could either address them or consider their truth.

Example 3:

Here’s another example… I was listening to a training on Living in the Moment by Marie Forleo, which is what this blog post is based on. She made it very clear that I had to clear distraction, open my mind to learning and absorbing and be in the moment. As she delivers this brilliant training, my disobedient mind wonders. I start thinking, well I can delete old emails and do mindless work while really listening to this training. I look  at  a text, clean up papers around me and before I know it, I have to rewind the audio to know what she is talking about. Why did I let me inner voice think I was better than the training, better than the audio and able to multitask.

I had never really acknowledged the fact that I have the ability to ignore my inner thoughts. To be in the moment, to learn and listen in my entirety. That is when you will produce results, find excellence and stop half-assing. How you do one thing is how you do everything- Marie Forleo. I’d rather be brilliant at what I am doing, then always planning for the next best thing, which will inevitably come and I will half-ass it while I am thinking of my next big thing. WOW, reality check. Be in the moment. Do what you are doing NOW great. Focus, learn and be present in conversations, trainings and everything you do. Results will follow and self-satisfaction will rise.

Ahhhh… I feel good about that rant! I mean seriously… are you truly listening.

Do me this favor today,
be aware every time
your mind wonders.
You will be floored!

Let me know your thoughts…
inner and outer, lol!

Comment below!

Do you have pictures stored on your computer that you have no idea
where they came from? I have hundreds!

Now that imagery is such an important piece of portraying ourselves and our
business, it’s time to share! If you are having trouble remembering where
you found the pictures, but want to give proper credit, here is a way.

PIN THIS…
your followers will appreciate you
looking out for them and their unique images!

Intensity and Persistance produce Results!

The problem is most people want immediate results and if we don’t get them we blame the program or system rather than ourselves.

Think about that for a minute…

Compare yourself to a golfer or pianist or someone who has mastered a talent.
What type of effort do you think they put in to produce results?
Have you heard of ‘The 10000 Hour Rule’? This is the idea that it takes approximately 10000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill. So, it would take 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day to become a master in your subject. Approximately 5 years of full-time employment to become proficient in your field. Work out how many hours you have already achieved and calculate how far you need to go. You should be aiming for 10000 hours.

If you are thinking to yourself… Well I don’t want to be THAT exceptional, then accept a level of mediocracy.

If you you are thinking to yourself… I want to be brilliant, then ask yourself this…How can I step it up? How can I increase my intensity, commitment, perseverance?

If you are thinking to yourself… I want to be brilliant, but  I don’t know if I can. Read a book, surround yourself with positive people, and start your journey of self-belief, because the only reason you can’t produce results is because you are telling yourself that.

Nothing has meaning, besides what we give it.

That is powerful! Nothing has meaning, besides what we give it.

I know this is true, because if it did, everyone would experience life exactly the same, all the time.

These thoughts were based on The Diamond Cutter by Michael Roache

Stay laser focused and step up the intensity! Work towards your dream today!

Leave me a comment below, share my post and mostly importantly produce results! I know you want to or you wouldn’t be reading this!

Putting yourself out there on video, can be a bit intimidating.
I know, because I left it on my ‘To Do List’ for over a year.

I knew it was the best way to market online and would achieve the best results,
but I made excuses.

I don’t know if my camera is good enough? I have to make sure my hair looks really good that day.
What should I say? What should I wear? Will I look stupid?

I finally made the decision I was going to learn it and then teach it.
The best way to really solidify a new technique is to teach it to someone else.
So lucky YOU… Once I mastered creating video and was comfortable with it…
My business partner and I created a 2-week training course that breaks it down in a step by step format.
So now YOU too can put yourself on camera and share with us whatever your expertise is.

Video marketing really is the the best way to market online so I present to you.(drum roll)

VLOG VIRGINS Series! (Video Blog = Vlog)

Put your name and email in the right-hand box  to begin…

Start in the right direction for your businessand learn the best way to market online!

I can’t wait to see what you create! Make sure to post it on my Facebook Fan Page… www.facebook.com/LikeHeatherCalhoun

Two Terms to Understand: Keywords & SEO

If you want Google and other search engines to find you online when people search, these are important concepts to grasp.

Keyword: Specific terms or phrases used by people to search for something online.

SEO: (Search Engine Optimization)

Let’s simplify SEO.

There are three pieces of software that make up a search engine:

• Spider software – Crawls the web looking for new pages to collect and add to the search engine index. It is only interested in text, links and the URL they came from. The spider doesn’t collect images, so make sure to include an ‘alt tag’ to pictures and videos.
• Index software –  Makes sense of the mass of text, links and URLs using what is called an algorithm – a complex mathematical formula that indexes the words. An algorithm analyzes the pages and links for word combinations to figure out what topics are being covered. Then, scores are assigned that allow the search engine to measure how relevant or important the web pages might be to the person searching. For example, when someone types coffee into the search box on Google, then it’s time for the query software to go to work.
• Query software - Is what you see when you go to Google something. It checks through all the records that have been created by the index software. And those records are made possible by the text, links and URL material the spider software collects.

The first step toward ranking high in the results for the most common terms that people search for is to have the right keywords as part of your online presence.

Using Keywords

This is where it gets tricky. You can either purchase software to analyze keywords quickly or spend some time manually assessing the terms related to your niche.  The results for a business picking the right keywords are huge. Keyword selection is essential to success when it comes to a paid or organic search.

Note: You have to get on the first or second page of search results to be effective.

Although the term keyword is used to identify search terms, I feel it should be called a key’phrase’ since that is commonly most effective.

Start your analysis with this question…”What products or services do you sell?” If you sell gourmet candy online, gourmet and candy alone would be poor keywords. They are too broad, overused and you are unlikely to rank on the first two pages unless you are a highly authoritative site. So look at more specific keywords such as chocolate candy apples, assorted chocolate heart, or vanilla buttercreams. Not only is the competition for these terms less fierce, the more specific keywords are going to have a significantly higher conversion rate to purchases on your site. Focus on the thousands of more specific keywords that more closely match the services or products you offer.

Tools available to help you choose:

You can start by Googling your term to see the competition below your search.

http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/

http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/

http://www.marketsamurai.com/ (Paid)

Once you have chosen a keyword, I recommend using a WordPress plugin http://www.seopressor.com/ to help you optimize your post. Keep in mind you cannot over use your term or search engines will see it as ‘keyword stuffing’.

Using keywords takes practice and consistency. Go for it!!

This is the Like Box on my WordPress Blog…

Here’s how to add your Like Box

• Copy your Fan Page Url. Mine is https://www.facebook.com/LikeHeatherCalhoun
• Go to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like-box/
• You will see this…

The Like Box is a social plugin that enables Facebook Page owners to attract and gain Likes from their own website. The Like Box enables users to:

• See how many users already like this Page, and which of their friends like it too
• Read recent posts from the Page
• Like the Page with one click, without needing to visit the Page

The minimum supported plugin width is 292px.

• Paste in your URL.
• Choose the size you would like.
• I prefer the light color.
• I chose to include faces, stream and header, but that is up to you.
• When finished click Get Code.
• Copy and paste the code to your website.
• Websites will vary as far as where the code should be pasted.
• On my Woo Theme you go to your Dashboard, Appearance, Widget, I dragged a ‘Text’ bar to the ‘Primary’ Sidebar and pasted it there.
• If you are not familiar with html, this will be something you could hire a web designer to do.

Ok, not 1000 Plugins, but it feels like that when you are searching around trying to figure out which ones to add to your blog.

I thought I’d make it easy on you and share all the Plugins I have on my blog!

What are your favorite plugins! Share with me below which plugins you would add to this list!

Selecting an effective domain name is one of the most important decisions you will make with regard to branding online.

These three factors
can help unleash the true potential of your online presence.

Often times people will click on your link online and be taken directly to your website, which is great! But when you are verbally communicating your domain or a previous viewer is trying to recall the site, these factors are essential. If you are telling someone your domain make sure it’s easy to understand and spell. For example: www.BeginHomeCareer.com is what I consider an effective domain and easy to say, versus www.OnlineSucceedingMoms.com You would undoubtedly get many misspellings with the word succeeding and some may leave out the ‘s‘ on Moms.

It’s important to create a website address that incorporates your brand, company name or type of product in some fashion. However, I am very aware that many effective domain names are not available and some searching is required. For example, there is no way www.bestbusiness.com is available or www.leadership.com. It’s likely that your first choice will be unavailable. If your business name or personal name is taken, I would highly recommend looking into who has that domain. There are many cases of poor planning and your marketing could be directing people to a competitor or even worse a negative website that you would not want to be associated with, even by mistake.

Keep in mind, an effective domain name that clearly indicates what you do or a problem that you solve, will give your target market a clear indication of what to expect on your website and encourage them to take a look. I recommend, making a list of keywords that someone might use to find you online.  This list could include your industry, your target market, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer.

If you are just starting out with a blog and you are trying to brand your name, it is a good idea to purchase at least two domains. The first one, should be your name, www.HeatherCalhoun.com or if that is taken www.HeatherCalhounOnline.com. The second domain should include a keyword that describes your blog content. That way when people search they may connect with your blog even if they don’t know you….yet.

I have personally found it a fun challenge to find available effective domain names that fit the following criteria. They are out there, now it’s time to…

Start your Search to find an effective domain!

I typically use www.GoDaddy.com  to search and register my domains, but there are other domain registrars available. The cost is as little as $10/year. I just start plugging in the names that come to mind until I come up with 3 or 4 that are available.

Here are my best tips!

• Keep it short.
• Easy to pronounce and spell.
• Relevant to content.
• Include a Keyword for search engine optimization (SEO), for example: If you are branding yourself, use your name www.HeatherCalhoun.com If you are promoting a clothing line, use a word such as “Clothing” “Fashion” “Style”
• Don’t use play-on-words, creative misspellings and numbers. For instance “biz”,or “B at Home 4 Kids”
• Don’t use hyphens or special characters.
• Buy .COM version. The .net, .biz, .org endings will be overlooked and you will lose traffic. For example. if your website is www.HeatherCalhoun.BIZ, odds are people will still search for www.HeatherCalhoun.COM out of habit.

Put some thought into choosing an effective domain name that you are proud of and will serve you well in the years to come. It is a rewarding tool for helping you grow your brand and business online.

Leave me your domain and the reason you chose it! Hopefully an explanation will not be needed as to why you chose your effective domain

This is the main toolbar you will see when you start a new post in WordPress.

I am going to give you the basic function of each icon.

*Note that text you want to change must be highlighted before pushing the icon to format the specific word(s).

I have expanded on some icons below that may require more of an explanation.

 Bullets for an ‘unordered list’

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3

 Numbers for an ‘ordered list’

1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3

The Blockquote button formats text as a quote.

From Stephen Covey’s “The 8^th Habit”

“Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “…our significant challenges cannot be solved with simplistic little quick-fix programs-of-the-month or psyche-up slogans and formulas. We must earn a comprehension of the nature and root of the problems we face in organizations and likewise earn our learnings about the principles that govern the solutions by incorporating the new mind-set and skill-set they represent into our character. This will require some real effort. But I promise you if you will hang in there, you will be empowered with a powerfully simple and clear combination of KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, and SKILL – three elements of HABIT – that will make you equal to the new challenges of the new world.”

Hyperlink text or images to a designated url. When you select what you want hyperlinked, click on this icon  and you will see this box pop up.

Fill in the URL with the appropriate website. I suggested clicking the ‘open link in a new window’ box, to make it easier for readers to return to your blog.

The Insert More button inserts a split or break into the post, which can be used to limit the amount of a post that is shown on the front page of your blog and encourage users to click through to read the rest of the post.

The Full Screen button will expand the writing area to the full size of your web browser, which can be handy when writing long posts.

The Kitchen Sink button is used to hide or reveal even more editing functions.

Woo Theme Shortcode. I won’t go into much detail since this will vary with each theme.