Becky Robinson's Blog, page 28

How to Master Your Motivation & Achieve Your Goals

We all long for the opportunity to grow, demonstrate resilience, and gain wisdom from our experience. But if we want to accomplish what’s important to us, discipline and willpower won’t get us where we need to go. This week’s featured book reveals compelling insights and actions to help master and maintain our motivation.

Master Your Motivation

Motivation is at the heart of everything you do and everything you want to do but don’t. Unfortunately, the ways we typically motivate ourselves don’t work. Relying on sheer determination eventually becomes exhausting — it’s not sustainable. And even setting goals can backfire — if you’re not setting them for the right reasons.

Susan Fowler says motivation is energy, and what matters is the quality, not the quantity. Traditional “motivators” such as fear, guilt, or the promise of a reward provide low-quality, short-term energy. Drawing on the latest empirical research, she proves that high-quality, optimal motivation is a skill that you can learn and apply.

Science tells us that satisfying three basic needs — for choice, connection, and competence — is essential to optimal motivation. You need to feel like you’ve picked your path, not that you’re being driven down it. Your goal should be linked to people or a purpose meaningful to you. And you want to continually learn and grow.

Through practical exercises and eye-opening stories, Fowler shows you how to identify and shift the quality of your motivation. The skill to master your motivation is important — it may be your greatest opportunity to evolve, grow in wisdom, and be the light the world so desperately needs.

Meet the Author

Susan Fowler has shared her message on optimal motivation, self leadership, and thriving together in all 50 states and over 40 countries. In her bestselling book, Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work . . . and What Does, Susan Fowler implored leaders to stop trying to motivate people because it just doesn’t work and aggravates everyone involved. Thanks to this bestseller, translated in over a dozen foreign languages, thousands of managers worldwide have learned how to activate their staff members’ optimal motivation. Now, with her latest book, Master Your Motivation: Three Scientific Truths for Achieving Your Goals, Susan is on a mission to help individuals master their own motivation, achieve their goals, and flourish as they succeed.

Widely known as one of the foremost experts on motivation and personal empowerment, Susan gained her knowledge through extensive experience in business, advertising, sales, production, marketing, executive and life-style coaching, and leadership training with clients as diverse as AARP, Dow, Eli Lilly, Fruit of the Loom, Google, and the National Basketball Association. Susan is also coauthor of the bestselling Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager with Ken Blanchard, and the creator and lead developer of The Ken Blanchard Company’s Self Leadership, the best-in-class self-leadership and personal empowerment program.

Susan lives with her husband, Drea Zigarmi, in San Diego, where she is a senior consulting partner for The Ken Blanchard Companies, a leadership consultant and motivation coach, and a professor in the Masters of Science in Executive Leadership program at the University of San Diego. Susan is a rotating board member for Angel Faces, a non-profit organization serving adolescent girls with severe burn trauma and disfigurements.

Praise from Readers 

“Truly great performers in every field have mastered their motivation. Now we finally understand the magic—and the science—behind how they’ve done it. More importantly, Master Your Motivation is the first book to teach a revolutionary idea: motivation is a skill you can use to achieve your goals—and sustain high performance.” — John Calipari, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, University of Kentucky

“I have no doubt that the powerful ideas in Master Your Motivation will change your perspective about motivation. But what I love about this book is how Susan’s storytelling brings the skill of motivation to life with relevant examples you can begin using today.” — Tracie Lorber, Director of People and Culture, Peet’s Coffee

“Master Your Motivation teaches you how creating choice, connection, and competence leads to the optimal motivation you need not only to be more productive but also to lead a happier and more peaceful life.” — Brian Tracy, bestselling author of Eat That Frog!

“Master Your Motivation is a wake-up call about the nature of motivation. The techniques Susan offers in this groundbreaking book work—I have personally seen people’s motivation transformed, allowing them to be more productive and personally fulfilled in their endeavors. She blazes a trail that leads to a new understanding of motivation that everyone can follow, myself included.” — Tom Hood, Deputy Director, Field Sales Leadership Development, Bayer

Learn More

Visit Amazon to buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it.
Check out the website for a free chapter and ways to support the book.
Watch the recent webinar to learn scientific truths for achieving your goals.

Can Amazon Ads Make My Book a Bestseller?

There were approximately 3 thousand books published in the United States in 2018. Of those, fewer than 500 titles made the New York Times bestsellers’ list, and according to Publisher’s Weekly, only 20 of those sold more than 500,000 copies.

Selling books, and large numbers of books, can be a difficult proposition. In our work, we try to help authors find the right audience for their book, not the largest, because a loyal audience can support a series of books. One big hit won’t sustain a career, just ask Tommy Tutone.

One of the tools we’ve been using lately to connect our clients’ books with readers is Amazon ads. While we support an organic approach to book promotion, these ads are a great way to get books in front of interested readers at the point of purchase.

Pros & Cons of Amazon Ads

Book publishers and those who have self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing have access to the Amazon ads platform. The ads available through this dashboard are based on keywords used in search. This allows authors to position their books around bestsellers in their category, around subject matter, and more. You can create a successful ad for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

When successful, we’ve seen the ads sell thousands of dollars in books and expose the title and author to tens-of-thousands of new readers. There is a caveat, however: the ads don’t always deliver strong results. To paraphrase an Amazon sales representative, “you can’t make people buy a book.”

Shoppers are making snap decisions when they see an Amazon ad, so everything about the book needs to be as strong as possible. That means a powerful title, engaging cover art, strong description, and at least 10 but preferably 50+ Amazon reviews. Without these things, ads won’t move the book, and organic efforts will likely be slow, too.

Amazon ads are a strong component to have in your book launch arsenal, but they are not a silver bullet. Books that connect with readers will find new readers with ads. Struggling books will continue to struggle with ads.

If you are interested in experimenting with Amazon ads, contact Weaving Influence or your publisher to get started!

Reflections On Transitions and New Beginnings

Our company currently has three job openings posted after some unexpected departures.

Watching people leave our company is a bit like watching my oldest daughter finish high school and graduate, with the same mix of pride, joy, gratitude, sadness, and loss.

There’s the pride of seeing people advance in their careers and move on to new opportunities, and the sadness of knowing our connection will inevitably change and diminish. There’s joy in watching them thrive and gratitude at the time we’ve had to work together. There’s the loss of their contribution — missing the unique perspectives and talent they offered our team.

All of this is happening at once: the graduation and the team departures, so the mix of emotions I’m experiencing is present in huge doses now.

There’s also, unexpectedly, excitement and passion, showing up at unexpected moments.

It’s exciting to be able to incorporate new team members and anticipate the possibilities represented by their unique talents and perspectives. New people bring new energy. As some people leave and new ones come, we’re forging a new team, with long-time team members challenged to pour into and onboard our newest members.

As people join our team, there are a few ideas I hope they pick up quickly.

It’s okay to be human here. It’s ok to be real here. It’s okay to be messy here.

I want to hire real people, who are willing to talk openly about themselves, including their interests and passions but also their emotions, both positive and negative. I want to hire people who are willing to ask for help and admit mistakes and limitations. I want to hire people with whom I feel comfortable sharing my own emotions, shortcomings, and frustrations. We will work better together when we know each other and give each other room to be real and human.

We work hard here.

Our work is fast-paced and requires diligence and discipline. There’s not a lot of time to waste or down-time. But we all share the satisfaction of work done well. I want to hire people who are willing to work hard and pitch in to help with tasks, even ones not included on their job description.

Our work is always changing and growing.

We adjust our tactics and strategies to reflect the way our world is changing; we see projects start and end; we pursue new initiatives and ideas. As a company, we look for ways to improve, both our internal processes and our service to clients. I want to hire people who are excited to change and grow and willing to offer improvement suggestions and ideas.

We truly care here.

I want to hire people who care about their work and each other, who partner with me in this work because they choose to and want to. We care about each other’s success at work, and each other’s happiness outside of work.

The next 10 days will bring so much change, both at work and at home. These changes bring the mixed and bittersweet emotions, joy and pride, sadness and loss. Following those is the excitement of creating new opportunities for others and watching my daughter head out to the next chapter of her schooling.

Tell me something: what emotions are present for you right now?

 

Interested in joining the Weaving Influence team? Check out our latest job postings here!

Self as Coach, Self as Leader

As a coach or leader, would you like to deepen the impact of your work? It turns out to do great work as coaches, we start at home – strengthening our use of self, broadening our nimbleness.

This week’s featured book gives coaches and leaders a simple framework for exploring their multiple layers of self, and exploring the edges of our development. You can become a more effective leader by discovering the resources you already have!

Self as Coach, Self as Leader

Pamela McLean, CEO and cofounder of the Hudson Institute for Coaching, has been at the forefront of the field for the past three decades, using clinical and organizational psychology to provide the highest-quality coaching and development training to professionals in organizations and solo practice worldwide. Now, Pamela is teaching readers to cultivate their leadership potential through “use of self as instrument,” a key dimension of developmental coaching that emphasizes the whole person. Her holistic methods give coaches and other leaders a clearer framework for getting to know themselves, exploring their multiple layers, and fostering their latent abilities so that they can foster the abilities of others.

Self as Coach guides you along a path that interweaves six broad dimensions of your internal landscape into the fabric of great coaching. This creates lasting improvements, unlike more common remedial, tactical, or performance-based programs, which often only function as short-term solutions.

Develop leadership skills using internal resources you already possess
Achieve real improvements with long-lasting benefits
Based on methodology proven successful in business and personal settings
Includes useful practices and exercises for self-reflection and brainstorming

Whether you’re an emerging or experienced coach, whether you want to grow your own leadership skills or develop them across an entire organization, Self as Coach can help. With its innovative approach, proven methods, and near-universal applicability, this book will not only provide effective instruction but also help you uncover lasting insights that will benefit you long after you’ve turned the last page.

Meet the Author

Pamela McLean, PhD, brings more than three decades of experience as a clinical psychologist, master coach, coach supervisor, and contributor to the field of coaching. As CEO and cofounder of the Hudson Institute of Coaching, Pam oversees and ensures Hudson provides the highest-quality coach training to seasoned professionals and leaders, as well as consulting to organizations worldwide. Working in the arenas of clinical and organizational psychology, and leadership coaching and development, Pam has worked with hundreds of organizational leaders and seasoned professionals inside organizations and in solo practice to deepen and strengthen their coaching skills. She has also consulted numerous organizations in developing coaching cultures and establishing best practices inside organizations.

Pam is the author and co-author of several books, articles and whitepapers focused on coaching, human development and transformational learning. She most recently authored The Completely Revised Handbook of Coaching and is the co-author of the well-known book on transition and change, LifeLaunch, A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life. She also speaks regularly on the topic of Use of Self as a Coach and Leader. She lives in Santa Barbara, CA. In her spare time, she also enjoys experimenting in the kitchen.

Praise from Readers 

“McLean lays out a compelling roadmap to help coaches go from good to great. This book will push you, challenge you, grow you. Don’t read it lightly!” — Brian Underhill, PhD, Founder and CEO, CoachSource, LLC

“Pamela McLean has created a profoundly valuable coaching book for both new and experienced coaches. . . . She is one of the original master teachers of a rich, developmental style of coaching and her book is packed full of not only her own personal reflections on developing coaching excellence but also in-depth coaching vignettes that are superbly helpful to the reader. This book has my strongest recommendation.” — Jeffrey Auerbach, PhD, President of the College of Executive Coaching 

“Pam McLean has created a master class on how to become a great coach by mining the depths of one’s self and full potential. A perfect blend of art and science combined with her own unique wisdom and personal insights, honed by over 35 years of practice; the one definitive book on coaching for all current and aspiring coaches.” — Steve Milovich, Former SVP Human Resources, The Walt Disney Company

“Drawing on her extensive experience as therapist, coach, and leader, Pam McLean, co-founder and CEO of the Hudson Institute of Coaching, adds new dimensions to the profession of coach. Interweaving personal examples with samples of client coach interactions, and adding practices to carry the work forward, McLean demonstrates the what, the why, and the how of the elusive concept of bringing one’s own self to the encounter with the client in service to the client’s needs.” — Patricia Adson, PhD, Author of Depth Coaching

Learn More

Visit Amazon to buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it.
Check out the website for more information about Hudson Institute of Coaching.
Watch the recent webinar to learn more about understanding your internal landscape.

Putting Audiobooks on Your Radar

Ten years ago, it was a whole lot easier to pick out the self-published books and authors. The covers often looked unprofessional—like they’d been designed using word processing clip art—and the only format on offer was paperback. My, how times have changed!

These days, being self-published no longer keeps you out of bookstores or regulated to the bottom shelf. Professionally designed covers that can hold their own against any traditional publishing house offering are just the start. Paperback is one option, but so are hardcover and ebook—and now, thanks to companies like ACX, audiobooks are on the rise.

Audiobook Options

According to their website, “ACX is a marketplace where authors, literary agents, publishers, and other Rights Holders can connect with narrators, engineers, recording studios, and other Producers capable of producing a finished audiobook.” Once the book has been recorded—using either their free or paid options—it can be made available for sale on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. With the potential for up to a 40% royalty, this is definitely an option worth researching.

You can work with ACX as a narrator/producer, or a Rights Holder/author. For example, if I decided I wanted to pay to turn my children’s book into an audiobook, I could follow the steps listed here, choose a producer, approve the final project, and have ACX handle the distribution. Or, if I decided I would rather record and produce it myself, I could create the audio files on my own and upload them directly to ACX to take advantage of their distribution channels and royalty options. And if I decided I liked narrating, I could also become a narrator/producer through ACX, auditioning for books and contracting with authors to narrate their books for a front-end payment or a percentage of their royalty fees once the book is for sale.

When you’ve already invested a lot of personal capital in publishing and promoting your own book, it can still be scary to take a leap like this based only on what a company website says. With this in mind, I reached out to two members of our Facebook Book Marketing group who had mentioned working with ACX in the past, and asked them if they would share a little bit more about their experience.

Don’t Just Take Our Word for It….

Laura Johnson is an audiobook narrator and producer, as well as self-published author. “My experience with ACX has been all good,” says Laura. “I have successfully produced 15 audiobooks for other Rights Holders [authors] and 1 audiobook of a book I wrote and self-published.” If you’re worried about being new to the audiobook world, or concerned about being taken advantage of, Laura says there’s no need to fret because everything is done through the company and “ACX stands behind you 100%.” Laura is so thrilled with her ACX experience that she even wrote a book about how to get started as an audiobook narrator and producer (which she, of course, narrated herself and produced through ACX).

David Greer is the author of Wind in Your Sails, previously available in paperback and Kindle formats; but he recently celebrated his fourth book anniversary by releasing a new audiobook version produced through ACX. He initially considered recording his own work, but made the decision to hire a producer when he found out how many things were involved in doing your own recording. “Because I would have had to put a lot of time and energy into making the marketing case to attract producers on a revenue share basis,” says David, “for me, [it was] quicker and easier to pay a producer. [It also] attracted many more producers and it was easy to find one who matched my voice.” His biggest surprise was the ACX approval process. While a Kindle book can be approved the same day, it took over ten business days for ACX to listen to and approve the audio content of Wind In Your Sails, which affected his launch plans for the audio edition. Another unexpected delay was the need for a new book cover. In order to meet the size requirements, David had to go back to his original designers and commission a square version, an added expense that you may want to factor in when figuring out costs.

Based on the personal experiences of Laura and David, combined with the wealth of information and options available on the ACX website, I would definitely recommend taking a deeper look into the audiobook world and potentially broadening your horizons and increasing your sales.

You Tell Me! Do you have any experience creating audiobooks or working with ACX? What would you add to this?

3 Reasons You Need an Author Website

Websites require time and money to set up — and even more time and money to maintain. But for an author, thought leader, or anyone else who has a message to share, they are well worth the investment.

A static website, regular blog, or even a simple microsite lies at the heart of your online influence. It is your “home” online — the place you can be yourself, display your tastes and opinions, and convey your message in the most effective way possible.

Here are a few benefits a good website or microsite can provide.

Complete Ownership

While we advocate sharing your message and interacting regularly on social media, the one drawback to that strategy is that you don’t own your content. Social platforms fizzle and fail. Messages get deleted and lost in cyberspace. You could wake up one day and discover that the business page you’ve spent so many hours curating has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.

Your website, on the other hand, belongs to you alone.

You own the content completely. You decide the colors and layouts. You choose when to archive blog posts or refresh the design. You can display whatever message you want, for as long as you want, in whatever manner you prefer.

Curated Presence

Gone are the days of anonymity. Now publishers and audiences alike can search for you on Google and social media. But what if you don’t have a very professional presence on there? What if all they find is a private page or — even worse — your embarrassing baby photos that some wonderful family member chose to share?

That’s where a website can do the heavy lifting. Properly managed, with good SEO and smart navigation, your website can show up at the top of search results and point people to your carefully-curated online home . . . rather than Facebook. You can point people immediately to your online home, where they get to know you better and connect with you on a more personal level.

You get to choose whether to share vacation snapshots or work-related podcasts, favorite recipes or professional resources. What works best will depend on your message and target audience, but the point is — it’s up to you to decide what to share.

Central Location

Once your readers or followers discover you, what’s next? How can they connect with you or learn more about your message? A website provides a central location for both you and your audience.

It provides a secure place to capture email addresses for marketing campaigns via free lead magnets or newsletters.
It gives your audience a consistent place to check for new content (podcasts, blog posts, etc) and upcoming events.
It provides one location for all the things you have to offer the world — your services, resources, written content, audio-video clips, press releases, share graphics, social media buttons, and anything else you want to share.
It offers the opportunity to include a store, if you wish, and a contact page for people to learn more about acquiring your resources and services.

Are you convinced yet?

If you don’t have a website yet, don’t get overwhelmed by the idea. You don’t need to create an elaborate mansion or never-before-seen design. You can start with something as easy as a one-page microsite or a simple template to get things up and running, and work towards developing a custom website down the road. Not sure which one is best for you? Check out this comparison of the three main options, along with examples of each.

Once you decide what will best showcase your message and most effectively reach your audience, remember to keep things simple, logical, and up-to-date (here’s why). You might be surprised at the results!

 

Need some help creating your “dream home” online, or even just deciding what it should look like? We’d be happy to help! Here’s how to connect with us.

Self-Publishing? You Don’t Have to Go It Alone

You’ve written a book and decided to self-publish. Amazon KDP makes it possible for authors to write and publish a book from start to finish on their own. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to.

When it comes to self-publishing, just like the Farmer’s Insurance commercial says, “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.” And so have our authors who have self-published books.

In my recent post, I shared some of the benefits our authors have found in self-publishing. I also asked them this question:

During which part of the self-publishing process did you most need help?

Copyediting and Proofreading

Every author wants his or her book to stand out. But you don’t want it to stand out because of misspellings, sentences that don’t make sense, and grammatical errors. There is a difference between having trusted individuals in your circle read your book and provide feedback, and having your book professionally edited. No matter how much writing experience you have, you are too close to your own content to find the mistakes, and your inner-circle friends are not likely to have the necessary skills or be as honest as they need to be.

Cover and Interior Design

We all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. However, we also know that the right cover design can really set your book apart from the rest. In fact, self-published author Danise DiStasi shared, “I definitely needed professional help with the design of the book. While I wanted to provide the book at a reasonable price, it had to be eye-catching. The book rivals many other traditionally published books because the design was well done. I would never self-publish a book without the funds to have it designed professionally.”

DiStasi also shared that she was recently complimented on the professional appearance and quality of her books Love Like Louie and Lead Like Louie, which made them stand out from other self-published titles before the person had even read the books.

It is possible to go from a Word document to a paperback book using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. However, trim sizes, bleeds, and spine widths all impact the appearance of the final product. Professional typesetting with the right tools can make all the difference.

Logistics and Administrative Details in Working with Amazon KDP

Amazon provides a wealth of information on its site designed to walk you through every aspect of publishing a book on the KDP platform, and many authors work through this on their own with no problem. For others, either they don’t have the time to devote to learning how to do it and then setting up the account and moving the book from manuscript to book, or they may find working with the technology daunting.

In either case, working with professionals who have already been through the learning curve and are experienced in troubleshooting can save both time and headaches on everything from obtaining ISBN numbers, to registering the book for copyright, understanding the financials, and converting your files for Kindle.

Marketing

While not inherently a part of the book publishing process, if you want to sell the book you’ve written, you’ll need a marketing plan. For Paul Larsen, author of Find Your Voice as a Leader, it was important to “Be deliberate with my strategic marketing activities as there are so many options to choose from but having the help and support to align those activities with desired outcomes versus just throwing darts at a dart board and hoping to get a bullseye.”

All of the Above

Most of our authors are experts in their fields with an important message to share. However, when it comes to publishing a book, they admit to being out of their element. Many indicated that they needed help throughout the process.

Richard Greenberg, author of Never Coach on an Empty Stomach: Bite-size Actions to Energize People and Teams, said: “Wow. You name it. Design, editing, critique, the process of working with Amazon… All of the above really.” And Beau Sides, author of Lessons  from China: A Westerner’s Cultural Education and Unseen Tears: The Challenges of Orphans and Orphanages in China, said: “I was just a guy with some stories to tell, not a skilled writer. My knowledge of publishing was so limited it was embarrassing, so I needed help in every aspect of publishing.”

If you’re considering self-publishing, reflect on the experiences shared here as well as your own strengths and resources. In those areas where you need support, seek help from experienced professionals and always ask to see examples of their work prior to making a decision.

 

4 Benefits of Self-Publishing Your Book

Google returned about 240,000,000 results in 0.62 seconds when I searched “Benefits of Self-Publishing Your Book.” As I sit down to write a post on the topic, that result is daunting. What can I possibly share with you that you can’t find elsewhere via Google?

Maybe this: insight from self-published authors.

Aside from the stat in the first sentence, I’m not going to bore you with facts and figures. If you’re interested in that, clearly, Google can help you. What I am going to share are the responses of several of our past and present self-published clients to the following:

What was the number one reason you self-published your book, or the greatest benefit you found in doing so?

Additional Credibility in the Marketplace

For many of the authors we’ve worked with, including those who traditionally publish, one of their primary goals in publishing a book is to gain credibility in their marketplace. This was true for Richard Greenberg, self-published author of Never Coach on an Empty Stomach: Bite-size Actions to Energize People and Teams, who says, “The book has led directly to more business and more clients and I’ve had a lot of fun participating on panels.”

Greater Autonomy and Control

When you self-publish, you retain control of many elements of the process. The two areas this is most evident are in being the sole decision-maker around the content of the book, as well as being able to determine the timeline for publication.

This was an important consideration for Diana Peterson-More, author of the newly self-published title, Consequential Communication in Turbulent Times: A Practical Guide to Leadership. Peterson-More sought advice from a trusted advisor and traditionally-published author whose “strong recommendation was to self-publish, allowing me to retain greater autonomy and control over the entire process.”

Paul Larsen, author of Find Your Voice as a Leader, had similar reasons for deciding to self-publish. He said, “I decided to self-publish as I wanted more control (and thus accountability) over the process. I am the sole-author of my message, via my book, and I did not want any other entity diluting that message and thus, the eventual impact with my target audience.”

Affordability in Publishing

For two-time self-published author, Beau Sides, cost was one of the driving factors in his decision to self-publish. His books, Lessons from China: A Westerner’s Cultural Education and Unseen Tears: The Challenges of Orphans and Orphanages in China, were published to support the work of his nonprofit, Global Partners in Life. Because the organization is a nonprofit, keeping costs as low as possible was an important consideration. By self-publishing through Amazon KDP, out-of-pocket costs are minimal and the print-on-demand platform means authors don’t have to print copies in advance, store inventory, or incur shipping costs.

Sharing Your Message

If you’re an author, it’s because you have a message that you want to share with the world. Danise DiStasi, self-published co-author of Love Like Louie: An Adventure of a Girl and a Lost Dog and author of Lead Like Louie: Leaders Who Love are Life-Changers, stated that she chose self-publishing for Love Like Louie because she “wanted to make it available to schools and nonprofits for a very reasonable price. Self-publishing allows me to offer the book either at cost or free.”

All of the Above

If you read between the lines of the responses from the authors above, you’ll see that each of these themes are woven together. Though their individual goals vary, the common threads of advancing their goals through sharing their message while maintaining control over the message itself and the delivery of it are seen throughout their responses.

If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of self-publishing, there are now 240,000,001 results on Google. You can also contact our team and we’ll be happy to help.

How to Reach Your Marketing Goals with Webinars

If you’ve done a webinar in the past, or are planning on doing one in the future, there’s good reason. When we typically conduct a webinar with an author around the time of their launch, we see a boost in sales or pre-orders following the webinar.

Boosting your sales numbers right before or during launch is great! But there are ways you can continue to use your webinar content and have it work for you in the long term to reach your goals. Remember: marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Focused, consistent effort over time will help you reach your goals.

Here are 3 ways you can leverage your webinar to reach your goals.

Use the webinar recording as a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a valuable piece of content that can be used to obtain new leads (aka, get new contacts signed up for your email list), so that you can continue to stay in touch with them via a newsletter. If you are savvy enough or if you work with a web developer, create an area on your website where you can advertise the webinar recording in exchange for email addresses. Next to, or below that, have fields where visitors can input their email address. Once the user inputs their email address you can set up a campaign to automatically send them an email with a link to the webinar recording. Consider whether you want to send them one email or a series of welcome emails (the first being a link to the free resource) to keep them engaged and wanting more.

Share it on social media.

If your webinar is embedded somewhere on your website, you can share the link on social media to direct people back to your site. There, they may find more information about you, what you do, or find ideas on how to connect with you further. You can also put your webinar on your YouTube channel (if you have one) and share the link there (example). Pull quotes from the talk and use these on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn with a link to the recording. Use relevant hashtags on Twitter to reach new people.

Sharing your webinar on social media increases your visibility and establishes you as a thought-leader or authority in your field.

Use it in a newsletter with share links.

Another option is to embed your recording in a monthly or quarterly newsletter inviting people to learn more from you. Use a resource like Click to Tweet or a share link generator to create easy-to-share posts that your audience can send from their social media accounts about your webinar.

Asking others to share your webinar will multiple your network exponentially.

Whichever avenue you decide to take, there is no wrong answer! Do what feels right to you. Ultimately, you know what goals you want to achieve; your webinar is just another tool to help get you there.

If you are struggling to implement any of the ideas mentioned above, we can help! Just send us a quick email and we will reach out with more information.

When Goals Change

It’s just a part of life; sometimes, goals change.

I remember a time where I was running hard after a business. I had just opened an E-commerce store selling knitted, photography props for newborn photographers and new mothers.

I was a one woman show—the sole marketer, creator, advertiser, and accountant all while juggling a curious three year old and a newborn baby.

Looking back now, I see how crazy it was to try and handle it all. But I had always been an achiever and this was no different. I wanted to be the best at all of it—a good mother, a successful business owner and to top it off with a clean house.

Except it didn’t work out like that.

I remember juggling breast pumps and laptops, typing one handed emails to customers while nursing a baby with the other. And for a while, my business did do well. I made a consistent profit that contributed to our household income and it made me feel important… like I was DOING something.

Because isn’t that the hardest part of being a stay at home mother? The work is never done.

The laundry could be washed, dried, folded AND PUT AWAY only to turn and see your toddler running around with a blown-out diaper. It’s unending.

So for every PayPal notification that rolled in declaring a new order… I felt a growing sense of accomplishment, which was probably why I didn’t notice how much it began to take over.

I found myself pulling more and more late nights as I tried to keep up with shipping times and customer requests. Exhausted, my patience grew thinner and it wasn’t long before I snarled more than I loved on my kids.

I wish I could say that I figured out how to balance it all. But I didn’t.

In the end, I had to choose.

So three years after opening my shop, I shut it all down.

Maybe if the kids hadn’t been so young or if I hired extra help, I could have found the balance I was hoping for. But at the end of the day, I knew I wanted to be more present than successful. I didn’t want to be distracted by every ping of my phone or have my thoughts constantly consumed with improving my business. I wanted to be able to “waste” my afternoons chasing butterflies and tadpoles, watching cloud-bunnies float by and experience what it meant to be completely present with my kids.

It’s just a part of life; sometimes, goals change.

Looking back, it was the right decision. My kids were too young and I would have regretted my choice to continue pursuing my business. When you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to remember that things change—that little babies grow into big kids and with that comes new freedoms and responsibilities. Six years later, we have found new rhythms that have allowed me to pursue my ambitions while also keeping my kids front and center.

How have you balanced motherhood and a career? I’d love to hear your story.