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Planning and Goal Setting for your small business

Content Ideas for Instagram August 2021: And how to use them.

Posted on August 2, 2021
by Andrea J. Stenberg

Coming up with content ideas for Instagram, Facebook (or whatever social media platform you use) can sometimes be challenging. You’re busy running your business then suddenly you need to be creative for your social media too.

I created a list of fun made-up holidays in August to inspire you (scroll down to see the full list).

These are fun, silly posts but even if you have a serious business there is value in creating these types of posts.

Here’s why:

The Algorithm

I know you’ve heard about the Algorithm. When you create a post, not everyone who is following will see it. The algorithm determines who sees your post based on:

  • Engagement with you. People who interacted with your past posts (liked, commented, shared, saved, swiped) are more likely to see future posts.
  • How similar this post is to other types of posts this person interacts with
  • Whether it looks like it’s valuable content. If you create a post that gets a ton of engagement, the algorithm will show it to even more people.
  • Hashtags. If someone frequently engages with posts using similar hashtags to the ones you used, they’re more likely to see your post too.

Fun posts like this often encourage engagement, because people are on Instagram to be entertained, even if they use it for more serious purposes too.

Know, Like & Trust

If you’re like a lot of business owners I know, you have a tendency to be too serious or too business-like on social media.

And while it is important to showcase your knowledge, expertise and your products/services, you also need to let people get to know YOU, the person behind the business. The “Like” in know, like and trust.

These silly, made-up holidays allow your followers to see the lighter side of your personality, particularly if you use the caption to highlight how this holiday relates to you or use a photo of yourself in the post.

For example, for Watermelon Day you could take a photo of yourself eating watermelon then in the caption tell a story about a pip spitting contest you had with your brother as a child.

Engagement

As I said earlier, people who engaged with your posts in the past are more likely to see your future posts.

So when you post about these fun holidays make sure you find a way to encourage engagement. Then if you next post is educational or promotional those people who engaged with your fun post will be more likely to see the serious ones.

For example, for International Dat Day I plan to create a “This or That” post. I’ll ask my followers, “are you a cat person or a dog person?” Most people are one or the other and love to share their opinion.

Plus this is an easy call to action. Your viewers don’t have to think about the answer and they don’t have to work hard to reply. A “cat” or “dog” works.

Now You

I’d love to see what posts you create using my content ideas for Instagram. Tag me on social media or leave a comment below and tell me where I can find your post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Video Marketing Tips w Andrea (@andreastenberg)

Facebook, Instagram, Know, Like, Trust Factor, Planning, social media
Organize Your Business with a Bullet Journal

Organize Your Business with a Bullet Journal

Posted on January 26, 2017
by Andrea J. Stenberg

If you’re like me the beginning of a new year is like a clean slate. It’s a time to set new goals, get organized and try new things.

I always start the year with the best of intentions but staying on track is always been my number one challenge. This year I came across a new tool, something that fits in with my style but added a few extra bells and whistles to make it more efficient. It’s called the Bullet Journal.

The Bullet Journal is a way to use a notebook to track your activities, make plans and help you be more organized in your business.

I’ve always used a notebook to brainstorm, make to-do lists, take notes when talking to clients and generally keep track of what I’m doing. When I remembered I wrote the date on the page. However, when I want to find something I have to try to remember approximately what date I wrote it down and then flip through pages trying to find it.

Not very efficient.

The Bullet Journal solves that problem. At the front you create an index and record important bits of information or documents that you want to refer back to and their page numbers. Of course this means you have to number the pages.

At www.BulletJournal.com you can buy a special notebook and get instructions on how to set it up. However I just use a regular spiral bound school notebook. Read More→

organization, Planning

Goals: To-Do Lists Alone Aren’t the Answer

Posted on April 1, 2015
by Andrea J. Stenberg

I’m a compulsive list-maker. I create daily to-do lists, grocery lists, annual goal lists, Christmas shopping lists. What I really love is checking an item off a list. It feels very satisfying.

But I went through a periodAchieving Goals: It's not about to-do lists where I was getting very frustrated. I couldn’t complete my daily to-do lists. Not even close. Most days I didn’t get through half. I was mentally beating myself up for being lazy and unfocused.

Then one day I went through my daily list and added a time next to each item – how long I thought it would take. When I added up the total it came to 28 hours!

No wonder I couldn’t get it all done. Even if I gave up sleep, eating and spending time with my family I couldn’t possibly complete it all.

Then I got the idea of using file cards for my daily lists. File cards are much smaller than an 8½” sheet of paper so I would be forced to be more reasonable.

Guess again. I just started writing smaller, along the side, on the back.

Another fail.

Then I realized part of the problem was I was making it up as I went along. And I would add new items throughout the day. I decided I needed a detailed 3-month plan. So I created one and got to work implementing it, making my daily lists using the plan.

Better, but I still wasn’t quite achieving my goals. But I wasn’t sure exactly what to do about it.

Then in January 2015 my friend Yvonne told me about the 100 Day Challenge. She’d signed up and wanted me to join her. I hesitated because I’d taken programs before and didn’t really want to spend money with nothing to show for it at the end.

But I reviewed the information about the 100 Day Challenge, did some digging on Gary Ryan Blair and decided “okay”.

So we joined and at the end of my first 100 days I am amazed at the results (see my previous post about this).

I think there are four things that worked here.

  • The daily training/motivational videos kept me on track
  • The detailed 100-day plan I created
  • The focus on getting things done daily.
  • The weekly After Action Review and coaching

I really think number four is the biggest change. I’d been madly running along checking off items on my to-do lists without taking any time to step back and see how these tick-marks are helping me achieve my goals.

The weekly check-ins allowed me to stay on track. If I had a week where I didn’t follow my plan – bright shiny object syndrome – the weekly review gave me the motivation to be more focused the next week. I frequently caught myself thinking “no, Andrea, that’s not your priority. Stick to your list”.

Weekly self-assessment also allowed me to make a smart course-correction. I’d planned to start a podcast in March but part way through February I realized I needed to change my focus and put more effort into my list building efforts because the podcast wasn’t going to do as much to help me achieve my goals

Registration for the second quarter 100 Day Challenge is open from April 1st to 10th. If you’re interested in signing up, or learning more go to 100DayChallenge.com.

If you have any questions feel free to get in touch. I’d be happy to talk to you about my experience.

Yes, I will get a commission if you purchase the 100 Day Challenge using my link.

 

Motivation, Planning
Get Massive Results

Get Massive Results This Quarter

Posted on March 27, 2015
by Andrea J. Stenberg

If you read my previous blog post, you know I’ve been participating in Gary Ryan Blair’s 100 Day Challenge and getting amazing results. That’s why I was so excited when he agreed to let me interview him for the blog.

You can change your life

The interview is only about 28.5 minutes but Gary shared some really valuable stuff. In fact, from about the 9:50 mark to about 12:15 Gary said something that blew my mind and caused a major paradigm shift in my thinking.

He said you can change your life. It requires a short period of time, a focused mindset and executing like you never have before.

Then he talked about thinking about how he can take his annual income and turn it into his monthly income.

Wow. I realized I’ve been thinking too small and that has completely changed! I went from thinking I might be able to triple my income from last year but now I’m thinking 10 times.

The thing is, it’s not pie-in-the-sky dreaming. In the short time it’s been since I interviewed Gary, I’ve come up with several pieces of the plan to get me there.

And I am so energized, excited and happy about how much work it’s going to take because I’m going to be getting massive results.

So please, listen to the interview. Then if you’re interested in joining me for the 100 Day Challenge for the next quarter, or just want to learn a little more go to www.TheBabyBoomerEntrepreneur.com/100Days/

Here’s a special discount group code that you can use to save $50 on your enrollment.
Group Code:   group97

[bctt tweet=”You can change your life. You need a short period of time, a focused mindset, executing like you never have before.” via=”no”]

 

Motivation, Planning, podcast

I’m on Track to Double My Income – Are You?

Posted on March 24, 2015
by Andrea J. Stenberg

Can you Double your income in 2015?

When you run a business, no matter how heart-centered you are or how dedicated you are to helping others, if you don’t make a profit you have a hobby, not a business.

Always remembering to focus on the bottom line can be challenging when you’re wearing so many different hats in your business. I know I’ve had my ups and downs over the years when it comes to business profits.

However, for 2015 I’m on track to easily double my income over last year. And when the dust settles in January 2016 I plan to be even further ahead than that.

[bctt tweet=”When you run a business, if you don’t make a profit you have a hobby, not a business.”]

I’ve set goals like this in the past, but I haven’t been able to reach them. I’ve had good intentions, good plans but I’ve never quite managed to achieve that level of success I’m looking for.

So what’s different this year?

First of all, I’m much more motivated. I took my son for a university tour and although he’s still a couple of years away it’s really become imminent. And when I totaled up the cost of tuition, residence, food and books I was shocked. I knew costs had increased since I was in school but I hadn’t done the math recently.

But more importantly, I got the right help this year when I joined the 100 Day Challenge. This is a program created by Gary Ryan Blair to help you achieve exponential results – in business or personal goals.

It seems like a simple program. We set some goals at the beginning of the 100 days then created an action plan. All of this I’ve done before.

What’s different is each morning I receive an email with a link to today’s video. Or I can log in with my smartphone and watch the video before I get out of bed! The videos are short – usually around 5 minutes – and are motivational as well as instructional.

Next I have to write out my top 10 priorities for the day.

See what I mean? It’s so simple. And yet I’ve been getting amazing results.

The videos keep me motivated, on track and remind me to focus on what’s important.

I’m just about at the end of the first 100 days. The next 100 Day Challenge starts in April. I plan to continue and I hope you’ll join me. Of course, I can’t guarantee you’ll double your income but I can attest to the fact that you’ll have a better shot doing it with Gary’s help.

You can learn more by checking out Gary’s special report and free video series. Just got to: 100DayChallenge.com

Stay tuned … Gary has agreed to let me interview him about goal setting. I’ll post the interview once it’s ready.

Motivation, Planning
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