Why You Need a Self Care Plan and How to Practice Self Care

When you’re creating a self care plan, know it doesn’t have to be bubble baths and massages — but it can be.

With about 33% of people in America reporting they feel stressed, you know there are plenty of others out there that are maxed out and feeling the pain but not saying anything about it.

Continue reading this article and learn why you need a self care plan as we go over these reasons to practice self care and how to do it.

What Is Self Care?

Before we get too deep into why and how — let’s look at what self care is.

Self care is something we do to take care of mind, emotions or physical health. While self care sounds simple, it isn’t easy for many people because life is busy and the easiest person to push to the back burner is yourself.

You’re taking care of everyone else but you are running on empty and about to burn out. Practicing self care is a must if you want to live a fulfilling life and stick around to help others for many years to come.

You should know that self care is not something we do that makes us feel bad. If you hate working out, if you force yourself to work out, that isn’t self care. That’s getting what you need to do done.

Self care is something that makes us feel good and replenished. Make sure you don’t get it twisted.

Why You Need a Plan

Life can get extremely busy. Almost every moment of the day is spent achieving and working harder so that we can do more, buy more or be more.

If you don’t have a self care plan in place, it’s very unlikely you’re going to do anything to refuel yourself.

I’m guilty of falling out of my self care routines from time to time but I don’t beat myself up about it. I notice where I fell off the path and I hop back on and get back at it.

As a mom of 4, it can be hard to focus on myself and make a plan for self care but here is what I do, personally, when I am taking care of myself. These are in no particular order.

Take a 30 minutes nap
Read a romance novel
Watch a Netflix show
Write in my journal
Go for a walk

There’s more but these are more normal go-to’s and make a major difference in my life. I have to remind myself that I’m allowed to relax and enjoy life. I’m a recovering workaholic and that’s not always the easiest thing to do.

Create a self care plan that works for your lifestyle. If you’re really busy, maybe you only have one or two days a week that you can devote an hour to yourself. Make it happen and don’t break that appointment with yourself.

Having a self care plan takes the guesswork out of what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it. One of the biggest stressors in our lives is trying to make decisions on everything. If you make the decisions beforehand, you’re saving yourself a lot of stress.

Love Yourself Enough to Do It

If you don’t love yourself, you’re going to find it very difficult to give yourself self care. You’re going to want to stop and you’re going to feel some guilt.

Take some time to look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and see what an amazing person you are. I don’t expect you to love yourself instantly but it’s a good start and if you keep working on it daily, you’re going to love the person you see in the mirror.

Best Practices for Creating Your Self Care Plan

Don’t just create your self care plan in your head. You need to write your plan down and put it where you can see it.

List the activities that you find appropriate for self care and then put any objections you can think of. Do you think that you don’t have enough time? Aren’t worthy? Or something else?

Put all of those limitations down and then look at them closer and see if those things are really true and how you can overcome them.

If you’re coming up a little dry on ideas, it is likely because it’s been so long since you’ve allowed yourself to have fun. Go back to when you were a child and think about the things you liked to do then.

You might not like all of these same things anymore but you could find some gems that you really did enjoy but you just stopped doing them over the years.

Did you love to dance? Maybe you used to read books and you haven’t picked up a good one for a while.

Think of as many things as you can and at least explore these things and commit to yourself and your self care plan.

Putting Your Self Care Plan In Practice

It’s not always easy to practice your self care plan. Life will try to get in the way. Guilt will try to come and take over.

You’ve got to let those things go and take it one step at a time. The more you practice self care, the easier it is going to be for you to breathe and enjoy yourself while you’re doing it. So, if it feels a little weird at first, that’s okay.

Just keep going and learn what a good self care routine looks like to you.

What are some of your favorite ways to practice self care? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know. 🙂

How to Live on a Budget Without Being Miserable

Jessica Lauren Vine

Wondering how to live on a budget without being miserable?

The average American is living in $38,000 worth of debt and that is excluding their mortgage. Most people are paying enough money on debt that they could be paying a second mortgage. And many people are also paying a second mortgage.

That’s a lot of debt!

If you’re tired of being in debt and you want to learn how to live on a budget without being miserable, you’re in the right place. I used to think that being on a budget meant you couldn’t buy anything or do anything and I didn’t want to have anything to do with that.

Maybe you’ve thought the same thing.

Continue reading this article to learn more about budgeting and how to live on a tight budget without feeling bored or deprived.

Stop Trying to Keep Up With Other People

The kiss of death to any budget is trying to keep up with other people. You might see a friend or family member going on a vacation to an exotic island or another appealing place.

It’s easy to try to justify spending money that isn’t within your budget to go on a trip to keep up with them and feel better about yourself.

You never know how much money they spent vs how much debt they went into to go on the trip.

Instead of putting yourself in a tough spot by going on a vacation you can’t afford, save money and pay cash for the vacation and learn how to live on a budget.

Don’t Forget to Budget for Fun

Why would you keep working and working if you never got to have any fun? Neither you nor your family is going to stay on a budget if there isn’t fun involved.

You don’t have to do things that are super expensive to have fun. You can go bowling or go to a discount movie and you aren’t going to break the bank. Just make sure that you have it in your budget to do these things. You don’t want to go into debt to do activities.

If you don’t have the money in your budget to do it — don’t do it.

It’s worth it to get a side hustle and do a little more work to pay for the fun you want to have.

Do a Cut Your Expenses Challenge

When you give yourself a challenge and only make it for a month or even a week, you might be surprised at what you can live without.

Some of the things that you might not notice that are eating away at your budget are:

Sodas
Snacks
Coffee
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Gum
Dollar store and thrift store finds

While these things might not cost too much, if you’re not tracking what you’re spending very carefully, it is easy for your budget to get away from you.

I use a spending tracker app on my iPhone and there are similar apps for other devices. I know exactly what I am going to spend each month and I stick to it. I even overestimate on categories that might fluctuate a little bit.

You can also create a miscellaneous part to your budget so you don’t have to dip into savings if something not so awesome happens.

If we don’t spend our miscellaneous budget, we put it in savings to go toward something that we want to do or something that we want to buy.

When you get to the end of the month and you’ve seen everything that you didn’t buy that you normally would, you might have a couple of hundred bucks. Put it in savings or even put it toward next month’s fun activities budget to reward yourself for being disciplined and not wasting your money on short-lived pleasures.

If you’re tired of being broke, this is a great step in the right direction.

Learn to Love Cooking

I have to say that we’ve never been a family that goes out to nice restaurants to eat much at all. But we’ve been guilty of stopping at fast-food spots and eating off the dollar menu. After drinks and everything, you’re looking at 20 – 25 bucks depending on where you’re going.

While it’s like – ah, it’s the dollar menu — good job, you! It’s also like, hmm… that just blew our budget out of the water. lol

Now our food budget is where we can spend a certain amount of money per month but we also have one time of going out to eat a nicer place than Taco Bell or McDonald’s. Maybe Zaxby’s? 🙂

Cooking saves you so much money. Eating takes a lot of cash whether you’re eating in or out when you’re a family of 6 but cooking makes all the difference.

My hubs went to school and became a certified chef so I am freaking spoiled. hahaha But you don’t have to do that. I cook alongside him even though I’m not as great as he is.

Be Proud of Your Budget

Before I started budgeting, I used to feel terrible when I couldn’t go to places and do things when people asked me. Now, I just know whether it’s in the budget or not.

If it’s in the budget then I go and if it’s not, I just say — ah darn, not in the budget this month. I appreciate the invite though!

There’s nothing to be ashamed of when you’re in control of your financial life and you learn how to live on a budget.

After our truck and RV upgrade, our next goal is to get out of debt and save money so we don’t have consumer debt. Debt for a business is a whole other story and maybe one day we’ll do that but consumer debt — gag!

How to Live on a Budget With Joy — Now You Know!

Our home is usually a pretty joyful place and I don’t feel like we are missing out on things because we’re on a budget. I feel the best I’ve ever felt even though I tell myself no many times when I want to make impulse purchases and spend money I don’t have.

Now that you know how to live on a budget with joy vs living on a budget and being miserable, you can get started. It took me a long time to get to where I am now and if it takes you a while — no worries. One step at a time. 🙂

Don’t forget to put your email address in on the sidebar of the site, so you can stay updated about new posts and other helpful information.

Go to the Next Level: 10 Characteristics of a Good Leader

Jessica Lauren Vine

10 characteristics of a good leader feature image

Learning the 10 characteristics of a good leader will allow you to unlock the life that you want. If you want to achieve more in life, the solution is always to become a leader.

Whether that’s a leader in your family, a leader in your industry or a leader to — yourself, it’s a must.

“Leader of one leader of many if you can’t lead one you can’t lead any” – unknown

If you’re ready to go to the next level in your life, continue reading this article to learn the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

1. Self-Discipline

I have to say that today I had to use self-discipline myself.

A lot.

I wanted to give up. I had all of my “normal” work done and then I knew I had to write this blog post, create the Pinterest pins for it and more.

I had to keep telling myself that I committed to myself that I would do this and I also told my good friend that takes care of my Pinterest what I was going to do. And I took it one step at a time.

I know if I am going to be a leader, I have to be dependable. And that starts with discipline. If you say you’re going to do something — do it.

Discipline yourself and make it happen. It’s the most important point out of the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

Truthfully, I don’t hang out with people that don’t love themselves enough to discipline themselves to do what they said they were going to do. If you aren’t going to show up for yourself — who is?

Plan out your day and make sure you know what is going to happen before you come to it. Visualize your day and make it happen. Use that discipline and create a life that you don’t need a vacation from!

2. Resilience

I promise you that life is not going to be easy. You’re going to have challenges that come at you more than not.

A good leader knows they have to bounce back quickly if they’re going to achieve their goals. If you’re a good leader, you don’t have the ability to lay down on the job and cry about things.

When a good leader gets knocked down, Les Brown says you should hope to fall on your back because if you can look up, you can get up!

If you want to become a thought leader or an authority in your field, you have to be resilient. You’re going to get people that don’t agree with you. People might call you bad names on Twitter or say that you talk funny — or anything else!

You have to give yourself a time limit to feel bad and then get back at it. I’m talking — 90 seconds for something minor.

3. Honesty

When we’re talking about honesty, we aren’t only talking about honesty to other people but also honesty to yourself.

Always be honest. I’m not saying you have to tell everyone everything. I am saying — if you say something make sure it’s truth coming out of your mouth.

I’d rather someone hate me for a truth I said than love me for a lie I said.

4. A Positive Attitude

Can I just say that if you don’t have a positive attitude, you’re not a good leader? A good leader isn’t going to lead people down a road of negativity, so keep this in mind as you’re learning the 10 characteristics of a good leader.

Leaders can be negative. We’ve seen some pretty bad leaders in our time but we want to be a good leader so work on that positive attitude.

5. Confidence

Why would you follow someone that wasn’t confident?

How do we get to the local grocery store? I’m not sure… I think it’s that way.

You’re not following that guy. You’re looking for the person that says they can show you where to go.

People aren’t born being confident. Confidence is built by showing up for yourself time and time again. You don’t have to accomplish great feats before you can be confident in your abilities.

Show up for yourself one day at a time. Take it one step at a time and know that you’re going to do what is necessary to achieve what you set out to achieve.

6. Good Communicator

A good leader with the 10 characteristics of a good leader knows how to show people what is important and why it is important. Someone with fewer communication skills may be trying to get people to do something but is unable to move them. Mr. Good Communication comes in and has the same idea and people start to move.

People think it’s magic but it’s simply the art of communication. The art of allowing people to see and feel what’s in your mind and heart.

To be a good communicator, you have to be brave. Communication is at its best when you’re sharing a piece of yourself vs. only sharing facts and findings.

7. Passion

No one ever got excited about following someone that wasn’t passionate about what they were doing. It doesn’t matter how boring a topic is — if someone is passionate about it, you’re likely to pay attention.

A good leader is able to transfer their passion to the people they are leading to achieve great things. A group of passion-filled people is a hard group to stand against and you’re going to be able to accomplish anything you can dream of if you can transfer your passion to others.

8. Empathy

Being able to feel for other people is essential with a good leader. If you don’t feel the pain and joy of the people you’re leading, why are they following you?

Whether your empathy is for your employees, customers, friends, family or others in your life, it is essential if you’re going to get to the heart of the matter and truly be helpful in any situation.

9. Patience

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and no matter what you’re doing, you’re going to have to understand that if you want to be a good leader.

It’s easy to put in some work and look around to see if you’ve gotten the results that you want. But a true leader knows that patience is key and that you won’t reap the harvest the day you plant the seed.

Patience is especially important when you’re working toward a major goal. While you can break the goal down, it can still be very trying to wait for the accomplishment of your final achievement.

10. Influence

Influence is leadership. Without influence, you’re not a good leader, you’re not a bad leader, you’re not a leader at all.

Influence is often the most difficult thing for people to develop. It takes the perfect amount of all of the ingredients to turn into a beautiful and tasty influence soup.

You need things like trust, effective communication, and negotiation skills to be able to influence people. And to become a good leader or even a great leader, you’ll have to learn to influence leaders.

10 Characteristics of a Good Leader – Does It Sound Like You?

Now that you know these 10 characteristics of a good leader, does it sound like you? If you don’t think it sounds like you — don’t beat yourself up.

Instead of wasting time beating yourself up, take the time to plan out the next step you need to take to build those character traits into yourself.

This month, I am pushing myself to go above and beyond and doing a blog a day for the month on top of all of my normal work and I would love to hear from you on these posts.

What characteristics other than these 10 do you believe should be included in the characteristics of a good leader? Leave a comment and let me know.

What’s Smart.bio from Tailwind? And How It Boosts Instagram Results

Jessica Lauren Vine

What’s Tailwind Smart.bio?

Tailwind Smart.bio is a way to easily put links to your blog posts and showcase your favorite Instagram content all in one place. I’ve only been using Tailwind Smart.bio for a little bit and I’m way underutilizing it.

I have been sporadic posting on Instagram because I’ve been focusing on using Tailwind for Pinterest to grow my blog traffic.

But before we get into how I feel about Smart.bio, I have to tell you this –

This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. And I’m also receiving a bonus for putting this content together. Thanks, Tailwind!

Now, back to it!

Smart.bio is free. Yes, f-r-e-e even for people that don’t use a paid subscription of Tailwind for Instagram or Pinterest.

Smart.bio is the most powerful FREE Instagram bio linking tool. Grab yours today!

Here’s what mine looks like right now. I took all of 5 minutes to throw this together because I wanted to take advantage of it but I’ll be fancying it up soon. lol

You can also put images on your smart.bio page which makes it looks really nice. I am going to go through adding images and playing around trying it out, so make sure to check out the video.

How Does Smart.bio from Tailwind Boost Instagram Results?

Are you tired of changing out your Instagram bio link every time you put up a new blog post or want to promote something?

Yeah. I didn’t like to do that either. That’s actually one of the reasons I haven’t done more with Instagram already.

Now when you add a new blog post, you can easily update your smart.bio link and design it to look however you want it to look. People will be able to easily see what you’re trying to promote.

If you don’t have over 10,000 followers and you want to make it easier for people to go from your stories to the link you’re promoting then Smart.bio is a must.

Check out this little screenshot of my results already. I haven’t even been posting on Instagram since I put smart.bio up except for a couple of times.

Isn’t that crazy?

I had 13 clicks and 30% of people clicked on the links.

I do have to say that you need to write compelling link descriptions so people want to click on them so that will factor into your click-through rate.

Once you know the best time to post on Instagram for the most engagement as well as how to write a good Instagram bio and link descriptions, you’re going to be on fire.

Replacing your normal link in your bio with a smart bio will also allow you to track your results and see which links people are clicking on most. You’ll learn what your audience is interested in so you can create more content around those topics.

Give the people what they want after all, right?

I do have to say that my results aren’t typical. You can see the typical results on this blog post from Tailwind.

Since Tailwind smart.bio is forever free, you have nothing to lose so go ahead and check it out for free. Enjoy!

How to Make it Easier For Your Customers to Buy from Your Business

Jessica Lauren Vine

So, you have great products or services that are just waiting to be discovered by your customers? If so, then it’s time to make it easier for them. Remember the old saying “easy sells best?”

It is absolutely true! Customers want things that are easy and convenient, not difficult or complicated. So, to make it easier for customers to buy from you, here are four steps!

#1 Offer a Variety of Payment Methods

The first step is to offer a variety of payment methods. Customers vary in what they are willing and able to pay with, so it’s good business sense to make sure that you have as many different payment options for customers as possible. Make sure you try to accept all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover too!

Also, if you can accept debit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay, you’ll also be going a long way to making things easier for your customers. Offering different methods also gives customers more flexibility when they’re shopping around online, which can help increase your conversion rates.

#2 Have Clear Shipping Rates and Options Available

This is another essential step. Customers need to know how much it will cost them in shipping and what options are available, especially when they’re buying from a company online that’s outside of their country or city. In your shopping cart, make sure you have clear information on the shipping rates for different products or services before customers add items into their bags!

This way, if the prices change by weight or destination, then they’ll be able to see this straight away without going through the entire checkout process first. You should also have easy-to-understand FAQs explaining all of these details so prospects can get more information at any time, which helps develop trust with potential buyers too!

Also, provide a variety of delivery options. Make sure you have express shipping options available, including overnight, two-day, and even same-day delivery if possible. Not only will this help with conversions, but it can also be a great way to stand out from your competitors!

#3 Make Orders as Simple as Possible with One-Click Shopping

As you probably already know, customers are always looking for the easiest way to get things done. So make your online shopping experience as simple and easy-to-use as possible by including one-click ordering on your website.

This is an extremely popular feature with shoppers because it provides a quick and convenient option when they’re in a rush or just want to make their purchase quickly!

Also, provide social media integration so people can share items directly from within their news feed which helps create more exposure for those products. In addition, if you have a physical store, consider looking into why your business needs a mobile point of sale system and how it can benefit you.

#4 Provide Good Customer Service

Last but not least, make sure you have good customer service. If things go wrong with a purchase or they need help after their order has been placed, it is vital that your company provide the best support possible to ensure customers remain happy and satisfied!

It’s also a great idea to include contact details on every page of your website so people can get in touch quickly, too, which will boost conversions even more because visitors won’t want to leave empty-handed.

4 Reasons Why Your Marketing Growth May Be Stunted

Jessica Lauren Vine

Marketing, pursuant to a certain goal (such as increasing lead generation, product sales, and more), can also be assessed on its own merits. For instance, by analyzing the metadata, you can more readily see if your current marketing strategy has outperformed your previous.

If you use social media tools, you may even be able to glean more information, such as the demographics of those who may be visiting your website, how your audience may be changing in their spending habits, and more.

But despite all these competent tools used for analyzing ready and waiting for our use, sometimes, marketing growth can feel stunted, and campaigns may feel like they hardly may a splash. This can be concerning, particularly if your investment in such a promotion has been significant compared to your past campaigns.

Where are you supposed to go from here? Well, don’t lose heart. Marketing may seem like an art, but it’s also a science, and can be properly analyzed, considered, and retried to come to different solutions. Furthermore, there’s no guarantee that a marketing campaign that works now would also work a six months from now. In this post, we’ll discuss how to reinvest life into your marketing strategy, and more:

A Singular, Weak Approach

While it’s true that marketing to an audience has never been this accessible, competition has never been so rife. This is why it’s important to use PPC methods, SEO, web design, and more to totally cultivate a reinforced marketing campaign that makes sense, as opposed to one that is singular and without substance. Often, third-party services dedicated to this efficiency can provide more in the way of advice and even a custom-organized campaign to help you get all of these necessities in order.

In this age of social media relevance, a company that wishes to compete must have all platforms registered and the willingness to provide content to each profile as suitable. This way, you curate the strongest possible opportunities, and may even herald further decisions, such as starting a business blog.

Failing To Pay Attention To Competitors

As we mentioned above, competition has never been so rife. This means we need to understand exactly what it is that our competitors are doing, and where their successes may lie. How is their marketing formatted?

What kind of social media approach are they taking? Are they leveraging multiple platforms, like posting videos on TikTok intended to go viral? What innovations are being pushed? Could it be that while you have more to offer, another firm can present its ideas in a much more accessible way? How does this relate to your target demographic? Questions like this can keep you sharp, and always a step ahead.

A Brand That Hasn’t Evolved

Sometimes, brands get stuck in the past. For instance, often brands that try to engage in ‘meme culture’ do so much later than when those ‘memes’ are actually relevant, and it just comes across as an overly sanitized and easy means of marketing a product. Additionally, think of how two years of a worldwide pandemic have changed consumer spending and confidence. Brands with vision, innovation, and a social conscience are hot right now, and transparency is the name of the game. If your brand’s image isn’t properly aligned, no amount of marketing can perfectly promote it.

Poor Market Analysis

Every product or service must be offered within the span of a market, and it will be defined by that market demand. Even companies that sell to a highly niche audience, such as those who sell original art worth millions, will need to understand the clients, collectors, and other players in this space in order to properly calculate what their market expectations can be.

This is why we’d recommend every business establishes a go-to-market strategy [learn more here]. This will help you identify the span of your pricing, the idealized or general target demographic, including how competition and distribution will affect your ambitions here.

Overall, this approach can quite literally define your success, as it helps you remove as much vague unpredictability by using common sense and market statistics to help define your path forward. Jumping in the deep end and risk-taking can be beneficial for companies, but there’s no benefit to depriving yourself of knowing what’s ‘under the water’ when possible.

With this advice, we believe you can identify a few means by which your marketing growth may be stunted, and you’ll feel equipped to counteract it.

Instagram Removing Likes? Learn Why and What Influencers Can Do Now

Jessica Lauren Vine

I’ve been reading about Instagram removing likes.

With it’s 1 billion monthly active users, this has been causing quite the ruckus and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet either!

I decided to do some more research and see why Instagram is getting rid of likes. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me. I noticed that I use Instagram likes to figure out if I want to follow certain people — if they are popular then their content must be good — right?

Truthfully, this isn’t always the case but a lot of times, it is. I am still a little bummed over that. Enough about that though, let’s get into it. Continue reading to learn what’s going on with Instagram and what you can do about it.

Getting Into the Why of Instagram Removing Likes

I searched a little deeper and I saw that Instagram was claiming Instagram removing likes was because they wanted to help mental health.

Uh, what?

In Instagram’s tweet, they tell us that they want us to focus on the photos and videos we share vs. how many likes they are getting. Since we can still see our own likes, does this tweet make that much sense?

When I think about Instagram and mental health, they really don’t go together. Truthfully, I do think going on Instagram can either be really depressing or really inspiring. It’s all about who you follow and why you’re following them.

Perhaps Instagram is trying to recover from being ranked as worst for young people’s mental health in 2017. And of course, things have only escalated since then with even more people using Instagram.

Here are the top problems reported on the mental health survey in 2017. Maybe you’ve experienced some of these issues when using social media but didn’t even notice the connection.

I honestly find myself looking at the number of likes on my posts on Instagram, Facebook, this blog and more and if they aren’t high it does put a kink in my day sometimes.

I’m not saying it’s a non-issue. I’m just not so sold on the fact that Instagram wants to help us improve our mental health by hiding likes. They’re a business, right?

How is this benefiting their bottom line?

No Likes = No Influencers?

If people can’t see how many likes people have on Instagram, how is this going to work for Instagram influencers? I’m not even that big of an influencer and I’m pretty curious about how this is going to play out.

With people spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on influencer marketing on Instagram, this is no doubt hurting the amount of money they could be making off these companies with ads.

Influencer marketing is oftentimes less expensive than using ads and companies know that followers are more likely to take action when something is recommended by an influencer vs. being recommended by an ad.

As you can see in this chart above, there are a lot of factors that go into how much an Instagram influencer gets paid but Instagram doesn’t want any of its money going to anyone other than itself.

I mean, this makes sense. They are doing the work of keeping the site up, so why wouldn’t they want to make all of the money?

Just because it makes sense, that doesn’t mean removing the likes is for our mental health. I never trust a company to sacrifice profits for the sake of its customers. Not happening.

If you spend a lot of time trying to figure out the best times to post on Instagram, how to get more likes on Instagram and how to grow your following, you might be freaking out a little bit.

I always recommend that you diversify. No matter what platform is showing you all the love right now, you should at least be building your following on a couple of other platforms. You never know when a major update like this is going to put a kink in your plans.

What Do You Do As an Instagram Influencer?

If you’re an Instagram influencer and you want to stay on top during this major change, what do you do?

Well, while Instagram removing likes is supposed to help our mental health, the focus on likes it just going to shift to the focus on getting comments.

Travel vlogger @heynadine tells Business Insider that comments will become the new likes and she’s right.

With almost 100k followers, she is going to be reading A LOT of comments.

Focus on Quality Engaging Content Because of Instagram Removing Likes

When you want to win at the Instagram game, no matter if it’s going for likes, comments or some other metrics that may become important in the future, you have to focus focus focus on creating quality and engaging content.

Now you might need to tweak the content to be content that people want to comment on.

I am a little nervous to see what this is going to inspire on Instagram. I am thinking of more controversial posts, risque posts, gossip, etc. becoming the norm. As for the travel vloggers, maybe more daring adventures that make people say “OMG! I can’t believe you did that!”

Look out Instagram, you might not have helped our mental health at all. Facepalm!

Ask for Comments

Many of us don’t even think to ask for comments on our Instagram post. People will comment if they want to comment, right?

Not necessarily. People might not want to bug you or they might not want to take the extra time to drop a comment unless they know you actually value them.

When you ask for comments, give people a reason to comment other than the fact that you want them to. Maybe they will be entered into a drawing or perhaps, you just say that you’re going to reply to them. It doesn’t have to be something major.

What are your thoughts?

Did you even notice? Or do you even care about the Instagram removing likes update?

Drop a comment and let me know. I always reply to everyone, so comment away. I <3 them. Hint: Comments are good for your blog too!

Getting Your Biz Online The Cost Effective Way

Jessica Lauren Vine

If you want to tap the largest market there is without all of the costs associated with opening a brick and mortar store, then getting your business online is the way to go. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s free or takes no effort.

Indeed, if you’re not careful, you can see your initial marketing budget growing and growing. As such, here we’re going to look at cost-effective ways to manage your online launch.

Rely on Freelancers for the Branding Basics

You might have a name in mind, a logo, and some aesthetic choices that your brand is going to maintain. Rather than hiring an established graphic design team, you might instead be able to spend a lot less by looking for graphic design freelancers. You might not always get the same level of quality and you might have to be more personally involved in getting the end results that you want, but it can cost a whole lot less.

Build Your Own Website

You don’t necessarily need to hire a web design team or even a freelancer to build the home page and the online base of your business.

There are plenty of great website-building tools out there and, they might not always be free, but access to no-code websites can allow you to run entirely by yourself. Paying for the tools to do the job yourself is almost always going to be less expensive than hiring someone else to do it.

Let Content Drive Your Marketing Approach

Aside from launching your online presence, you want to make sure that you get it out there, too, and there are free methods of doing that. Starting a blog and writing content for it can cost as little as nothing. From there, you can use social media to get that content out into the world, with some management tools coming with no cost, too.

Learn to Make Use of SEO

When it comes to cost-free marketing, there are few more effective approaches than search engine optimization. Of course, writing that blog content as mentioned above is one step towards search engine domination.

Take a free SEO course to learn how to optimize your site so that it works together with search engines, making sure that more traffic is getting directed to your site from those who use the appropriate keywords in their searches.

Keeping Your PPC to a Budget

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with spending some money when the results are worth it.

Pay-per-click ads are a very effective way of reaching your audience quickly and getting fast results, such as conversions when you have a sale going on. Just make sure that you know how to manage your PPC budget, such as learning how to set up bids effectively so that you’re never paying too much for a click.

As you go on, a mix of paid and organic marketing is going to be the key to the most cost-effective approach. Hopefully, the tips above help you get started with that.

Four Creative Ideas to Increase Customer Flow for Any Small Business

Jessica Lauren Vine

If you are a small business owner, you know that getting stuck in the same rut is easy. Day after day, your customers come into your store and buy the same items. This can be frustrating for both you and them. So it’s time to shake things up! This blog post will discuss four creative ideas that will help increase customer flow for any small business.

1. Ask For Referrals

Did you know that your happy customers are your best source of new business? If a customer comes into your store and is truly happy with the product they have received, ask them if they would be willing to give out referrals. This can work for products as well as services.

In return, offer discounts or special deals on future purchases! In an article from Entrepreneur Magazine, they mention how asking for referrals was one of the small businesses’ most effective marketing strategies in 2016. Not only did this strategy get more people through their door, but it also helped generate 40% higher revenue than other advertising methods! This method could potentially help grow any small business very quickly.

2. Create A Network

As a small business owner, how often do you network with others in your industry? If the answer is not enough or never, then now is the time to start. Networking has so many benefits for both parties involved and can even help generate more business from referrals created at these events.

In addition, networking with other people who own similar businesses as yours means that there will be an ongoing flow of new customers coming into each of your stores regularly. This also helps create large customer bases, which can mean higher revenue for everyone!

3. Improve Your Website

Believe it or not, many people are still unaware of websites’ power when trying to generate new business. Small businesses need to have a professional-looking website to be taken seriously by potential customers. Make use of a small business web design service to get your website up to date.

Yet another article from Entrepreneur Magazine states how effective an e-commerce based website was in 2016 compared with other traditional marketing methods such as word-of-mouth advertising and printed brochures/flyers. These numbers prove why creating an improved online presence should never fall behind when thinking about making more customer flow for any small business!

4. Participate In Community Events

As a small business owner, it is essential to feel like you are giving back and not just taking from the community. Participating in local events such as school fundraisers and sports leagues for children can help create more customer flow by increasing awareness of your store or business. More importantly, though, these things show that you care about the people around you, making them think twice before going anywhere else!

Customer flow is important in any business, but not just for the sake of increasing revenue. Business owners have a responsibility to create an inviting atmosphere that keeps customers coming back again and again! By implementing some or all of these ideas into your small business, you are sure to see more people through your doors which will only mean higher profits in the near future!

Running A Business In A Pandemic Period

Jessica Lauren Vine

The beginning of a new stage of Covid-19 signals the beginning of a period of reflection about the future of running a business.

There are numerous adjustments you will have made over the past two years, some of which you can begin to consider putting to rest, and others that you may wish to put into effect permanently. Let us have a look at a few examples of these.

Working from Home

As we begin to progressively ease our way out of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly evident that enterprises can be operated from home offices. People will be able to be more flexible with their commute and travel to and from the office. Perhaps it makes sense for your organization to relax the work from home limits it currently has.

Keep in mind that some people may choose to remain at home for the time being for safety reasons; therefore, make sure you are considerate of everyone’s requirements, including those who are eager to return to the workplace. As a result of the shutdown, it has become clear that while offices are convenient, they are not essential for the operation of many businesses.

Following Covid-19, business leaders should keep in mind that talent can be found virtually anywhere, and that includes remote workers. There is a wealth of talent outside of the confines of big-city offices. Make certain that whatever business practices you implement are applicable to everyone in the organization.

If offices are opened, hand sanitizers should be readily available for all employees, employees should be given clear directions on how to enter and exit the facility, and people should be able to feel completely at ease in their work environment.

If you are unable to allow employees to work from home – for example, if you own a retail business – ensure that both employees and customers feel safe by implementing measures such as cashless payments – try this contactless card swiper, for example – and keeping screens at payment points up and running.

Technology Is Always Evolving

Throughout the pandemic, technology has played a critical role in enabling people to work from the comfort of their homes. If And, if their technology was not working before, lockdown made it very evident.

The return to the office is a welcome sight for many of us, but it is vital to remember that, if your platform has changed, it is equally important to inform the appropriate people of the procedures.

Continue with Virtual Events

Even if hybrid events are a possibility, going along the virtual approach is simply smarter at this point in time. While it may be tempting to return to conventional gatherings, your consumers will feel much secure if they continue the events at their homes instead. The only difference is that there may be more convenient access to your offices.

Irrespective of whether you choose to continue events online at home or in the office, make certain that your audience is aware that your organization is taking the necessary safety procedures to protect them.

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