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Category: Blogging

Ask for what you need

Before you can ask, you have to know what you need.

When you pay attention to how you ask for what you need, you may be surprised. If you fail to voice for what it is that you require, how will the universe bring it to you? Owning your feelings gives you the platform to issue requests.

Assertiveness doesn’t need to be an intimidating habit, however; understanding the areas in which you experience lack help can contribute to greater empathy, more confidence, and deeper understanding. Advocating for your needs increases the likelihood of success.

To improve your asking skills, check out this nifty guide from The Creative Independent.

Letting go: A skill

Most people hold onto relationships or situations longer than necessary. Stability is appealing, and change is hard. Loyalty has the potential to be faulty, however, and should be reserved for situations that show promise and potential. Even reciprocity.

We have limited energy to share. Learning to discard situations and environments with insight and discretion is a necessary skill. Maintaining energetic ties with people who are rude, mean, or unkind serves nothing and no one.

Releasing stale, stagnant people and places welcomes more power, more magic, more energy, and more love into your life. Though difficult, it is never too late to recognize and change behavior patterns.

That which you focus on is what will expand.

Be kind, online and off

Pew Research Center found that 73% of adults have seen someone bullied online in some way; 40% reported such harassment themselves. In fact, 60% of those polled had watched someone use offensive, hurtful names to target another person. Over half of the participants in this study knew these online messages were sent and posted with the intent to embarrass or harm another. 

From celebrities to colleagues, even family members and friends, social media has made it possible for us to watch. Watch and not participate. Sit back without standing up for what is right. Conversations that should be taking place in person are now occurring strictly online. 

Messages sent from behind a screen can cause damage, emotional and otherwise. Talking about personal challenges can be difficult, but keeping problems to yourself can feel isolating and make issues even worse. A quick online search can bring up local and international resources if you are not sure where to turn. Cultivate a network of support. 

If you see a friend is a target of hateful or hurtful speech or is posting concerning messages online, reach out. During the holiday season, it is even more important to realize you and others may be under excessive stress. 

Remember, you are never alone. 

SEO fundamentals

Most small business owners have heard of SEO and know this is the secret sauce that can push your content up the list of search engines. But many do not know exactly what it entails or how to put it into practice. Here are some SEO basics:

Research

You have to know not only what your competition is doing but what your customers are searching for. If you are promoting and producing content that is irrelevant to consumers’ needs, all of the coding and keywords in the world cannot help you. You need to know your own brand and the words that your audiences associate with your brand to be most effective. Google Ads Keyword Planner can help.

Organization

The way your structure your site and individual pages will help search engines place priority on your content. Deciding which keywords you want to emphasize can help you think through the pages you have  already created and the ones you need to build in order to meet your business goals. It is tricky to rank for words that are not included in your pages, so think about the keywords and phrases you want placed throughout your site.

Links

Links help show that your content is valuable. By sending audiences not only to relevant pages within your site but also to other sites that have equally valuable information, search crawlers can recognize you’re not producing spam or junk merely for the sake of SEO rankings.

Results

The whole point of SEO is to connect with a wider audience. Monitor your website’s traffic to make sure what you are doing is working. See where traffic is heading and how long they are staying. Hosts like Squarespace have analytics tools built in, or you can use Google Analytics for more in-depth data comparisons.

The risk of vulnerability

Vulnerability is associated with weakness and inferiority, yet exposing your true self requires strength and conviction.

The future is uncertain, and there’s no telling how events will pan out.

Find the courage to live your best life — truly, freely, authentically.

Find what fuels you

art
music
nature
fixing
writing
walking
helping
praying
laughing
tinkering
exploring
reading
hiking
organizing
scultping
discovering
drawing
planting
analyzing
dancing
donating
planning
dreaming
yoga
hosting
gardening
meditating
sewing
giving
playing
cleaning
running
loving
singing
crafts
gratitude
building
painting
connecting
do more of that.