Why Evaluate Your Business? (+ WHAT to Look At)

Why Evaluate Your Business? (+ WHAT to Look At)

A business evaluation can provide you with valuable insight as to how your business is making money and how you’re spending it. Taking a closer look at your finances can reveal things you never knew about your company’s finances, and where you need to plug potential holes in your expenses.

Here are 5 things you should evaluate when performing your business evaluation.

Business Evaluation Component #1: Employee Performance

Labor is probably the biggest expense for your business, and if your employees aren’t measuring up to certain standards, you’re throwing away your money. As business owners, we set standards to ensure that we’re paying employees fair wages, based on what they can do and how well they perform in their areas of expertise. If employees aren’t measuring up, it’s time to take a look at how this really impacts your finances.

Let’s say you’re paying someone $50,000 per year for a high-level job that requires a lot of work. This employee has continuously failed to meet goals throughout the year, causing other employees to have to pick up the slack and help do their job. Not only is this detrimental to the cost of keeping this employee on the payroll, but it can cause serious frustration and extra work for other employees.

If someone on the payroll isn’t measuring up, perform a review twice a year and give them goals to reach. If they continuously fail to meet those goals, it may be time to consider seeking out a new person to fill that position.

Additionally, because blogging can help your business thrive, you should be sure to hire bloggers who can create compelling content for you on a regular basis. This will help boost your brand’s visibility online as well as help you rank in the search engines. Read More

9 Reasons Why Making Friends with Clients is Important

Why Making Friends with Clients is Important

Making friends with clients is important, despite what “they” say about not mixing business with pleasure!

In fact, there are many benefits to establishing good relationships with other bloggers, authors, writers, freelancers, and business owners online.

Not only will they help you share your posts with their audiences, but they will help you out in other ways, too.

A perfect example of this happened in the summer (a few months ago, in 2018) after I took almost three months off, almost ran out of money, and had one of my client-friends come to my rescue.

Why I Ran Out of Money

I had been living off my savings for the month of June, July, and August.

I decided to take the summer off (for me, summer is July and August, as I live in Canada, in a city where it is winter for most of the year).

I made this decision at the beginning of June, when I got out of the hospital. I went to the emergency room on May 29th, 2018, because I was having trouble breathing. This event actually marked my second near-death experience. (I nearly died in August 2012, when my appendix burst.)

The cause of my shortness of breath was due to having blood clots in my lungs. I was in the hospital from May 29th until June 4th. I was put on blood thinners and had many follow-up appointments with my doctors.

I was also put on a new medication on June 19th. Then I contracted a stomach bug on June 26th. I had an upset stomach and a sore back for two weeks. I thought these were side effects of my new medication, so I spoke to my doctor and he advised me to stop taking it.

When I didn’t get better right away, I knew it was something else that was making me sick. It wasn’t until the second week of July that I really started feeling good again.

Because I was feeling so great, I decided to start taking that new medication again, which I did, on August 1st, after consulting with my doctor. For the most part, I am okay now, and my body has adjusted to the new medication, which is actually a cholesterol pill.

I still had to keep up with my appointments to get my blood checked because of the blood thinners I am on. In fact, I am still being monitored to this day, and will be for months to come.

When August rolled around, however, I noticed that my bank account balances were dwindling. I started to panic. I have not been broke for a very long time (years, actually) and I didn’t want to be broke again! I was down to my last $150 and knew I needed at least three times that amount to make it through the month!

I also have not had to make a budget in a very long time, either. I simply pay my bills when they come in, buy groceries whenever I need them, and go out when I feel like it, without having to worry about money, because there’s always money in the bank!

I have worked very hard for this freedom, and I have enjoyed it for years. 

That is one of the 12 benefits of being a freelance editor!

But, when I got sick and decided to take the summer off, I didn’t take the time to see if I could actually afford it. I did not draw up a budget. I simply thought my funds would last me until September, which is when I had my next editing gig booked for!

When I almost ran out of money, I didn’t know what to do.

In the past, when I was a prostitute, anytime I needed money, I would simply go out and stand on the street and sell myself. Those days are long gone. I stopped doing that years ago! (FYI, I’m much happier now, and most of my happiness stems from using positive affirmations.)

So what was I going to do to get through August? Read More

The Essence of Blogging (+ How to Earn Money Online)

The Essence of Blogging (+ How to Earn Money Online)

Someone on Facebook messaged me the other day, asking “What is blogging?”

I was a bit speechless. I didn’t know how to answer, because really, how can you explain what blogging is to someone who doesn’t really know?

So I directed him to my post 5 Things New Bloggers Need to Know, and said, “This will help you.”

Yet… just four years ago, I had the same question. 

I was a newbie blogger back then.

I was clueless.

And I still remember the struggles I’ve endured over the years as I’ve journeyed from “newbie” to “pro.”

It wasn’t easy. It was time-consuming. I was constantly learning. (I still am!)

To help speed up my learning process, I followed these 8 Action Tips For Guppy-Bloggers In An Ocean Of Sharks.

I also followed these 30+ Blogger-Sharks Spouting Oceans of Knowledge… and still follow some.

I’ve come quite far in my blogging journey. I’ve practiced the 10 Effective Strategies to Becoming a Successful Blogger.

I’ve also built a solid business from it.

The thing that really amazes me it that most people think blogging is a quick way to earn money.

But blogging is NOT a quick way to earn money… not at first.

In today’s post, I am going to share a few things I’ve learned about blogging and earning money online. I will reveal how I earn money through blogging, explain what blogging really is (the essence of blogging), and hopefully give you some ideas about how you can increase your blogging strategy and income streams.

By the end of the post, you should have most of your questions answered! Of course, chances are, you will likely have a bunch of new ones! LOL

But at least you will know more about how to earn money online!

WTF is Blogging?

Blogging is more than just writing articles (also called blog posts) and publishing them online.

If you’re a blogger, you likely already know that blogging involves:

  • creating and then running your own website  — read Blogging Resources + How To Start a Blog (if you don’t already have one)
  • learning how to install and update plugins
  • moderating and replying to comments
  • figuring out how to be noticed by search engines (hint: make sure you submit a sitemap to the search engines! You can use this free sitemap plugin to help you with this.)
  • learning how to create images for your posts (hint: use Canva or PicMonkey to help you — they are both FREE to use!)
  • learning how to take and then use screenshots in your blog posts
  • learning how to use Click-to-Tweet links in your blog posts (hint: read How to Use “Click-to-Tweet” Links In Your Blog Posts (for FREE))
  • figuring out who to link to within your posts (promote your friends, but also link to top posts in Google that provide good information or complement your message)
  • determining how to promote your posts on social media (hint: you have to have accounts everywhere!)
  • learning why networking with other bloggers is important (especially “blogger-sharks” — the big bloggers who you constantly learn from — such as the ones in
  • doing guest posting (and following proper guest posting etiquette)
  • providing value to your audience
  • growing your audience (usually by offering them an incentive to sign up to your mailing list, such as a freebie or a content upgrade)
  • determining which email marketing platform to use (Mailchimp, GetResponse, Aweber, MadMimi, Constant Contact, etc.)
  • figuring out how to monetize your site (hint: you can start by using AdSense)
  • creating content on a regular basis (remember, you can always hire someone to help you do this… such as me!)
  • AND SO MUCH MORE!

WTF is blogging? And how can you earn money from it? #money #blogg­ingtip­s

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Open Oceans of Opportunity By Being Vulnerable and Honest

Open Oceans of Opportunity by Being Vulnerable and Honest

Open Oceans of Opportunity By Being Vulnerable and Honest

Have you ever wanted to reveal a secret about yourself… but were too scared to?

Have you ever wanted to share something personal online… but didn’t, because you were afraid of being harassed, made fun of, or maybe even attracting a stalker?

Here’s some good news.

It’s okay to be afraid.

It’s OKAY to be Afraid. (We all are, at some point!)

It’s also okay to share personal stuff.

In fact, people LIKE it when you do.

Seriously! (I know, I was surprised at this too!)

People genuinely like it when you expose your vulnerabilities and share your innermost thoughts and private experiences. It gives them a sense of entitlement.

More importantly, they feel closer to you, learn that you are a real person, baggage and all.

They also deem you as brave and appreciate you more.

And they love you for it.

Because I have been through so much in my life, I wanted to offer my personal pieces of wisdom to you… because I know what it’s like to be in a position of uncertainty.

I was scared, once upon a time, of revealing things about myself to the world.

I also learned, in therapy, it’s okay to be afraid. (Plus, I learned a lot of other things!)

When I Ignored My Fear, My Posts Went Viral

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