Monthly Archives: March 2023

3 Freelance Writing Mistakes That Are Killing Your Writing Profits!

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Freelance writing can be a great job that offers a flexible schedule, freedom of time and place for work, and for those writers who learn and adapt, a really good living, as well. One of the problems that many beginning, and sometimes even experienced, freelance writers run into is that pure writing ability isn’t the only measure of who makes the most money writing and who makes the least. In other words, there’s a lot more to being a writer than the actual writing.

There are many mistakes that good writers make that holds them back from really making all they could with their freelance writing work. The following are three of the main mistakes that freelance writers make, particularly online writers.

Freelance Writing Mistake #1: One article means one sale. This is a huge mistake that far too many writers make. If “The Atlantic Monthly” is paying you $5,000 for a single 1,000 word article, that’s one thing, but most freelance writers aren’t making that money. Since you do so much research for one article, learn to write and re-write that article to spin several original articles out of one assignment. Why write one “how to” blog post, when you can re-write that same information for a new article on eHow, one for Constant Content, and another for Associated Content. Great freelancers learn how to get more money for the same amount of work.

Freelance Writing Mistake #2: Staying loyal to one website. I’ve seen this advice given to beginning online writers, and it is terrible advice. First of all, look at mistake #1. Second, if you’re on a site that pays absolute peanuts for your writing, you are far better off leaving them for better paying markets where you can earn what your writing really deserves.

Freelance Writing Mistake #3: Not being flexible. Having a niche is great. I’ve done very well writing poker articles, something I’m familiar with since I’m also an amateur player. But if I was only a poker writer, I would also be a very poor writer. The more types and styles of writing you are willing to learn, the more jobs that are open to you and the more money you can make as a freelance writer.

Those three mistakes have prevented some very good writers from becoming full time freelance writers, and has limited the profits of even some full time freelancers. If you are looking to be an effective freelance writer, make sure you’re not making these three common mistakes and your bottom line is sure to improve!

The Fighter’s Guide to Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training

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One of the most memorable scenes in the 1976 Oscar winning movie for Best Picture, “Rocky,” involves Sylvester Stallone pummeling slabs of beef hung in the meat locker where his future brother-in-law Paulie worked. Rocky knew what everyone in the fight game knows, in order to hit hard, you must train to hit hard, and the best tool for this training is the heavy bag.

Regardless of your fighting style or art, regardless of your goals for training, sport, fitness, or self-defense, training on the heavy bag will take your fighting and martial art skills to a new level while increasing your power and fitness levels. To get the maximum benefit from heavy bag training, Wim Demeere, with Loren W. Christensen, has written “The Fighter’s Guide to Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training.” This book, published by Paladin Press, is an excellent reference on how to maximize heavy bag training for increased power, speed, endurance, and explosiveness. Additionally, the drills here will enable you to perfect your form and work on timing. For one of the simplest training tools, the heavy bag produces some of the greatest gains for time spent with it training.

For the person new to training with the heavy bag, this book is a must. The guidance here will save you time, money, and wasted practice doing things wrong. It will also help you prevent injuring yourself or training partners. For the advanced martial artist, I bet you will still learn a thing or two. I’ve been using heavy bags for over 25 years and I still picked up a few great tips and drills to incorporate into my workouts.

The book contains 12 chapters, which I will briefly describe here. Chapter one covers kinetic energy and five types of impact. This is a good introductory chapter discussing a bit about speed and the ways to impact the heavy bag and how the five types of impact affect your opponent. Chapter 2 teaches the reader how to choose and take care of a heavy bag. From there, chapter 3 illustrates how to attach or hang your bag. The book covers various ways to hang your bag depending on your location. The 4th chapter titled Nuts and Bolts focuses on things like gloves, how to get started, and advanced hitting. It is a short chapter with some practical advice. Chapter 5 covers some basic and advanced training concepts for the heavy bag. Read this chapter twice and be sure to incorporate the concepts into your training routine.

Chapters 6 and 7 contain a variety of drills to perform on a heavy bag. Using these as a guide, you should then be able to expand on what Demeere illustrates through photos to vary your heavy bag workouts endlessly. Even if all you do is the workouts shown here in this book you will have many hours of varied routines. Chapter 8 focuses on partner holding. Various drills are shown that work better when you have someone holding your bag. I like that Demeere and Christensen show how to hold the bag and help your training partner. Reading this chapter will keep a few people from holding the bag wrong and getting hit or kicked. (I’ve seen it happen in the gym) In chapter 9, various ways to use the heavy bag for ground training are shown. I’ve never really used a heavy bag on the ground much, but I plan to try out a few of the drills shown here. Chapter 10 shows some drills you can do with your training partner holding the heavy bag while it is not attached or hanging from someplace. Again, there is some interesting way of using the bag shown to vary your workouts and increase your range of training. Chapter 11 is a very short chapter on using various things to make your training with the heavy bag more precise. The final chapter, 12, contains ten common errors and how you can prevent them while training.

Overall, I found this to be a very valuable book for anyone who incorporates heavy bag training into his or her workouts.

While I was impressed when I read the book, but I was blown away with the companion DVDs, “The Fighter’s Video Guide To Hard-Core Heavy Bag Training” also published by Paladin Press. Wim Demeere has put together an exceptional video training guide for anyone who uses the heavy bag for training. This DVD set will undoubtedly assist you in taking your fighting and martial art skills to a higher level. The two discs have an approximate running time of 264 minutes and contain a wealth of training advice and drills to incorporate into your own routines. I will briefly outline the contents of the two discs.

Disc 1 starts with a short introduction and then goes into common mistakes often made when training with the heavy bag such as hitting too hard, pushing not hitting, not breathing correctly, standing too stationary, sliding off the bag, and dropping your guard.

From there, Demeere goes into DVD chapters on ingraining basic techniques which he divides into: Basic Mastery – jab, range, movement; Intermediate Mastery – variations, types of impact, simple combinations, sparring with the bag; and Advanced Mastery – types of impact in combination, progressive level change, different rhythms on the bag, and countering.

Continued teaching on this disc includes developing combinations drilling basic combinations, variations of these, physical conditioning, strategic progressions, tactical progressions, biomechanical training, combining stronger and weaker techniques, and versatility. As I mentioned above, there is a tremendous wealth of information here.

The last part of disc one is titled “Working On The Hanging Heavy Bag” and it focuses on clinching, grappling, the Muhammad Ali drill, hit and stick, ground work, and finally concludes with “dancing with the bag.”

Disc 2 starts with partner training. Demeere teaches how to brace for impact, and then teaches reaction speed drills such as angled orientation, reacting to a surprise, and precision reaction. The machine gun striking, including variations such as learning arithmetic and how to use machine gun striking are great anaerobic conditioners. Drills such as the elevator, floating bag, changing levels, punch and freeze and pull back and hold are also included in this section.

The DVD just keeps on going with more drills and techniques on the freestanding heavy bag such as the metronome, sweeping techniques, grappling techniques, takedowns, footwork, throwing the bag at each other, and how to work on the bag alone. From there, Demeere takes the bag to the floor and teaches how to work with the bag on the ground. He covers hitting the bag, grappling with the bag, striking techniques, basic mount, side control, the north-south position, in his guard, in your guard, and transitioning on the ground.

When you don’t have a training partner to throw, Demeere shows how to incorporate heavy bag training into throwing and advanced techniques. He guides you with throwing, sweeping throws, pickup throws and takedowns. Nearing the end, Demeere covers some realistic training drills on the heavy bag where you can use a rope as an arm or attach a stick to aid training.

Before his concluding remarks, Demeere ends the program by showing a little weapons training on the heavy bag using a training knife and stick. It is enough to make the viewer thing of ways to go beyond what Demeere showed and continue training variations indefinitely.

The production quality of these DVDs is top notch, and Wim Demeere is an exceptionally talented martial artist and instructor. I wholeheartedly recommend this DVD set to anyone interested in making the most of his or her training on the heavy bag. Combine the DVDs with the book Demeere wrote with Loren Christensen and you will have the best of both worlds: written and video instruction on one of the most simple, but useful, training tools available – the heavy bag. All you’ll need is to follow these guides to take your skills, power, and conditioning to a whole new level.

Developing a Pupil’s Capacity at School

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Schools must develop the pupils capacity for critical and independent appraisal and their ability to resist tendentious influence. This aim should be constantly pursued in, not least in addressed to classes or groups and in practical vocational orientation. A critical attitude means among other things that pupils are taught to query the theoretical foundations of and the selection of facts in the information supplied. They must be made aware, for example, of the uncertainty of forecasts, and they must be made critical of categorical statements concerning developments in the labor market. Schools should always state their sources and discuss whether the end in view has been allowed, deliberately or unconsciously, to influence the selection of facts or their presentation. An attitude of critical analysis also means that in connection with field trips, homework and practical vocational orientation, the pupils will ask questions and procure facts shedding light on social relations at work, values among different groups and problems such as the aims of activities, pay differentials, the status of different occupations, the relation between subordinate and superior, sex roles and so on, and that they will then discuss these questions and relate them to their own choice of occupation.

Schools have a special responsibility towards those who, for physical, mental and other reasons, encounter difficulties in their school work. School staff must therefore also devote special care to these pupils in the context immigrant children and their parents too are often in special need of assistance.

In principle, must be conducted using the same working methods and the same work procedures as other school activities. It must tie in with the pupils I perception of reality and must gradually broaden their perspectives. It must employ investigatory working methods and aim at pupil activity and individualization. It may constitute elements of class or group instruction as well as individual work, and it can provide a starting point for in-depth studies and project days.

An important part is played by the pupil’s conversations with teachers and counselor concerning his (or her) interests and plans for the future. The subject matter of many different teaching subjects, contributions by persons active in the community at large -trade union representatives and representatives of enterprise, the public sector and parents -field trips and practical orientation will give pupils an increasingly broad understanding of educational and vocational activities as their school career progresses. In this way personal interviews can lead the individual pupil to seek education and to attach importance to it.

Schools should encourage the individual to be independently active, to engage in self-analysis and to subject alternative choices to a process of appraisal. This will increase the pupil’s ability to cope with situations of choice and to revise his educational and occupational choice, for example when his educational and vocational plans have to be altered because of external circumstances or contact and partnership a change in his interests. But the person providing individual educational and vocational guidance should not remain passive. If teachers and counselors merely operate as the suppliers of information on demand, it will not become a powerful counterpoise to the influence exerted by the family environment, classmates, mass media etc.

Individual educational and vocational counseling interviews are optional for pupils and, of course, for their parents, but schools should endeavor to reach as many as possible, not merely through the medium of printed matter but also through activation measures.

Like other aspects of school instruction, requires a supply of printed material. Pupils must therefore be able to find the general and specialized information they require in the school’s book collections.

It is the responsibility of school management to ensure that is planned and evaluated as part of the school working plan.

In the various subject who are taught, teachers must let their pupils seek knowledge and develop skills which are of importance in the context. In language teaching, for example, it is natural for the pupils’ attention to be drawn to the importance of knowledge of languages in different occupations and fields of study and for a discussion to take place concerning the various occupations in which knowledge of languages is essential. Other subjects can make equally natural contributions towards an all-round orientation. Practical vocational orientation involves extensive co-operation with the working community outside the school. This participation by enterprise, public authorities and organizations etc. is an essential ingredient of educational and vocational orientation.

The school doctor, school nurse, school social worker and school psychologist have a special knowledge of the pupil’s aptitudes and needs. The work done by the counselor has a vital bearing on individual interviews, general information, and liaison work with receiving schools and contacts with labor market authorities. But the counselors should also join with teachers in discussing and planning the role in school work. In doing so they can make suggestions regarding investigations, projects studies, individual assignments, exhibitions and field trips.

Basic Ways to Learn How to Play the Guitar

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As rock music became more popular over the past decades, more people have wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Did you not have that dream of becoming a rock star yourself when you were younger? Most teenagers dream of playing rock music all the time, actually.

A lot have wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but they were not successful enough. That is because most of them took the wrong approach and ended up giving up guitar playing altogether.

Just like with other skills that people need to learn and develop, there are different ways that people can learn to play the guitar. The problem that most people have is that they do not have the luxury of time to learn. Other factors also come in that interrupt our desire to learn to play like work schedules, errands and probably not having enough resources to even try.

You may have started learning how to play the guitar but are not satisfied with your skill level. Whether you have started to learn or are about to, this article will discuss the basic ways you can approach guitar playing so you can find the best way to learn.

Let us start with theory books on how to learn to play the guitar. There are actually hundred or thousands of theory books available in the market today. These books can make learning to play more comfortable and are easier on the pocket. But a lot of people did not find success in learning how to play the guitar through books.

If you have a lot of patience, maybe you can learn from theory books.

If you are not a reader and more of a visual person, you can learn to play with the use of video lessons. Some people find it easier to absorb information from watching and listening than reading.

You can find these video lessons on how to play the guitar online, but the only drawback is that you do not get corrected if you are doing something wrong. You could be making mistakes and not even realize it.

This takes us to another way of learning to play the guitar through private lessons. Hiring someone to teach you is actually one of the best ways to learn how to play. Lessons start with your teacher helping you familiarize yourself with the different parts, teaching you all the basics and correcting you so you improve with your guitar playing skills.

Just make sure you find a really effective one and be ready to pay for the lesson on how to play the guitar.

Last, but not the least of the ways you can learn to play is to play by ear. Sounds intimidating? Not really. Sounds like a long process? Yes, it is.

When you learn to play by ear, you will need to devote a lot of time to practicing. Do not feel discouraged because a lot of the best guitar players actually learned to play by ear and are really good at what they do. These musicians rely a lot on their auditory abilities.

As you can see, there are many ways to learn to play the guitar and you can choose which one best suits you and your learning capabilities.

Preparing for the CPA Exams As a Working Mother

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Pursuing a CPA can be both a daunting and exciting challenge, especially if you are a working mom with a family to take care of and a host of other responsibilities waiting for your attention. Preparing healthy meals, dropping and picking kids from school, keeping a clean house and performing myriad other activities that go into running a home and taking care of a family can eat into the time you need to prepare for your CPA exams. However, it is possible to balance family, household chores and work with your CPA prep. Once you pass the CPA exams, you can reach the next level in your career. By following a few simple but essential tips, you should be able to run a well-functioning home while achieving success on your CPA exams.

  1. Learn to prioritize and delegate Preparing for a CPA needs considerable attention so you will need to carve some time out of your busy day in order to get some much-needed studying in. This will require you to learn to prioritize the tasks that are most important such as cooking and getting to work on time and leaving less crucial tasks for later or even delegating them to kids or a spouse. It is perfectly okay to ask for support from your family at this time and to be comfortable with the fact that some less important tasks may be left undone while you prepare for your exams. Remember, your house will not collapse just because you forget to vacuum or tidy up.
  2. Have a study schedule A study schedule is crucial to helping you plan your time so that you can go through CPA material at your own pace without having to cram at the last-minute. It also ensures that you dedicate time to reading and free up the rest of your day for work, family, household matters and other activities.
  3. Use cheat sheets, flash cards or portable notes You can study on the go or whenever you have any free time by taking advantage of cheat sheets, flash cards or portable notes. These allow you to get some learning in whether you are on a coffee break, are waiting in a traffic light or simply have a few minutes to yourself during the day or night.
  4. Get rid of, or reduce time wasters Activities such as watching too much television, hanging out (sometimes) with friends or browsing the internet for anything other than study can really eat into your time. Unless they are absolutely necessary, you may need to cut down on these activities or get rid of them altogether until you have passed the CPA exam sections.
  5. Work with a CPA tutor Passing your CPA exams will not only require that you set aside some time for study but also that you seek support from a tutor or someone who has passed the exams successfully. A good tutor will work with you to help you organize your time well and ensure that you get the most out of studying. You will need to get the best tutor for your particular situation in order to maximize your chances of success. Companies like Tutor the People provide one on one CPA prep with tutors who work on a one on one basis with students while providing customized learning plans and realistic study plans that align with a student’s learning abilities. Tutors are committed to ensuring that you meet the goals that you have set for yourself.

Preparing for CPA exams is challenging. However, by following these few essential tips and making the necessary time commitment, working moms can maximize their chances of success while achieving balance at home and work.

Gender in Education: A Shift From Ideology to Action

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GENDER PARITY in access to education is a common discourse shared by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In last two decades, Most of the countries have taken a wide range of initiatives to achieve equal participation of male and female students in primary and secondary education. Nevertheless, positive changes in number and quality are still lagging behind the SDG targets. 42.5% of girls attended primary school in South Asia in 1992. In 2012, the scenario remained unchanged. However, trying to achieve gender equality only by increasing equal number of participation of boys and girls does not help achieve the original aim.

Equal number of participation of both gender in education surely portrays equal right in access to education. But the notion of gender parity lies within an individual psychology and actions correlated to the psychology. Increased enrollment of female student in education does not necessarily ensures gender equality. Many people see women participation as an essential tool to eliminate social stigma which does not necessarily change the age-old mentality about gender equality and equity. Such mindset is absent among most of the girls, and women of next generation. As a result, the number of female participation has remained almost unchanged over the period. Changing this psychology requires adopting an intricate pathway of learning and understanding the necessity of both gender and practicing in real life. Actions, in accordance with sustained ideological shift of equal gender role, increases the chance of creating protracted timeline of continued gender equality. Hence, psychological change is one of the cardinal elements to bring expected change in gender parity. Access to education may ensure women’s right to education but access to gender equal mindset can ensure women’s right not only in education but in all walks of life.

Designing such tricky pathway to ensure gender equality is not easy. Gender issues are perceived differently among male and female students. To change the preconceived stereotypes of gender role, gender issues must be included in textbooks. Unique ideas need to be evolved to penetrate typical notion of gender role built over the years in patriarchy. Education curricula need to be linguistically realigned to represent gender equality. Gender issues should be addressed separately among male and female students as the perception of gender roles differs from male to female. Generic description of gender equality in textbook is not sufficient if it does not stimulate the preset psychology to bring the expected changes. Contemporary curricula need be restructured with evolving gender issues and ideas of gender role and equality in workplace to bring the positive psychological change.

Once the change is made, the group of thoughts can be implemented through practical actions. Adopting psychological change and practicing equal gender roles must run in parallel. A positive psychological change in gender equality can be carried forward though prolonged course of actions in the society. If necessary, school-going students can be taught in different ways than the female students as gender role is influenced by patriarchal ideology. On the other hand, school-going female students must be introduced with gender education and innovative ideas to raise their voice in patriarchy. A comprehensive and inclusive approach is compulsory to teach and preach both gender about gender role, issues, equality and equity.

If such gender neutral mentally evolves and sustains through generations, the chance of bringing positive changes with gender neutral role will be higher. This ideological shift reminds us about Dr. Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach that emphasis on ideological change by taking free decision to control quality of life. The psychological development of gender equality brings similar impact to make independent decision on gender role. The capability of making gender neutral decision comes with ideological changes and practices through combined actions.

The idea of increasing female participation among school-going children will see the daylight only we are able to change psychological construction of school-going students from the early stage of life and transfers such changes through generations. The need of increasing female participation should be addressed among male students, and future generation as well. The process needs to be customized accordingly. Any overarching approach for gender neutrality could be counterproductive and ineffective. Increased number of female students may depict access to education, but not access to gender equal world.

Why You Need The Awakening Course by Dr Joe Vitale

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I would like to share with you my review of a new course on the law of attraction by the renowned Dr. Joe Vitale, who had an influential speaking role in the documentary classic, “The Secret.”

Simply put – Get this course as soon as you can. It will electrify your understanding of the law of attraction, and it revolutionize your way of thinking. It is truly a liberating, refreshing course.

I must say that this is one of the most comprehensive, laser-targeted courses which trains your mind on how to effectively apply the law of attraction to it’s fullest and utmost potential. It reveals the four stages to ideal health, wealth, romance and more. Would you like to discover the missing secret for attracting wealth, health, happiness and love? Well this is the very course you need, written by one of the most sought after authors and speakers on the law of attraction.

We all know, that is, those of us who live the law of attraction, that the only way for us to conquer our problems is to transcend them. A lot of us struggle daily to successfully to use the law of attraction to attract wealth, health, healthy relationships, etc. Many of us come up short, because of the numerous distractions in life which hinder our ability to successfully apply the law of attraction and enjoy its benefits. A lot of us do not know how to escape this mindset, and just allow the law of attraction to flow its energies through us. This course teaches you exactly how to overcome these difficulties and successfully retain your positive outlook on life and enjoy your walk in the law of attraction in your daily life.

The course starts off with an excellent refresher course which then segues to “secrets” of applying advanced methods and techniques of the law of attraction which have never been told before this course. Vitale does a great job addressing the various pitfalls and unfortunate incidents in our life which keep us from applying the law of attraction, and how these advanced techniques can make these problems virtually disappear. Vitale finally leads you into the fourth and final stage of complete awakening – a place rarely ever described before.

Here’s just a sample of what you will learn in the first five presentations of “The Awakening Course”

-What it means to be awakened and why it’s so important
 

– How you can create your own awakened life filled with miracles

– The steps to get out of the victim mentality

– Ways to turn your fears into catalysts for success

– How to move beyond ego

– 5 steps for attracting anything or anyone into your life

– The missing secret for making the Law of Attraction work every time

– How the universe works (the real truth)

– Cleaning and clearing methods allowing miracles

– New perspectives on money, role models, and the power of your unconscious

– How to re-state complaints into positive life-changing intentions

– The role gratitude plays in attracting what you want in your life

– How to co-create with the Divine

– A rare ancient method you can use to clean blocks

– How to prepare yourself to become awakened  

And so much more. I firmly believe that this new course is absolutely essential to any follower of the law of attraction and any other person on this planet!

 
The video that comes with the course, “The Awakening – Live,” is a dynamic and powerful 45 minute seminar by Joe Vitale which can only be seen to believed. Just this 45 minute video alone was enough to get me saturated in this course and apply its strategies. There are a lot of things on this video which are not in the course, so it is best to take it all in.

Another guide is also included, “The Inspired Action Guide.” Here you’ll be guided through all four stages of awakening through some very intense, effective and FUN exercises guaranteed to get you to where you want to go in every area of your life — COMPLETE MIND, BODY AND SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION GUARANTEED.

In conclusion, there are two other bonuses which I won’t include in this review, because they deserve another review on their own – they’re actually that good.

If you’ve had trouble living and applying the law of attraction, if you want more inspiration in your walk, and if you want to improve your application of the law of attraction, it is highly recommended that you take this course and apply it immediately.

Dr. Vitale literally tears the veil which covers our eyes of understanding and teaches you how to effectively start applying these techniques within minutes. 

Average College Tuition Cost

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Like everything else, college costs are going up. According to recently released figures, students or their families will pay from $175 to $1100 more this year than last. Still, there is good news. The amount of financial aid available is now almost $170 Billion. In spite of the increases, a college education still remains affordable for most students and their families.

Even though some of the college costs so often mentioned in the news – $36,000 to $50,000 per year for tuition and fees at premier 4 year schools, college is actually more affordable than that. For example, over half of students attend four year schools with tuition and fees below $9,000? When grants are taken into consideration, the net price drops way below the published “sticker price”. Other forms of financial aid drop the out of pocket costs even further.

The College Board has published these figures for the 2009-2010 academic year:

Private four year – $26,273 (up 4.4 percent)

Public four year – $7,020 (up 6.5 percent)

Public two year – $2,544 (up 7.3 percent)

Room and Board will cost $377 to $420 more than last year

The average out of state surcharge for full time students at a public four year institution is $11,528

One of the vehicles to save ahead for future college costs is a 529 college savings program, which allows you to save for college through a state sponsored investment account. Earnings and funds can be used at any school, in any state. Earnings and withdrawals are federal tax free, and funds are treated as parental assets when calculating need figures. There is also a variation which is a tuition prepayment plan which allows you to lock in tuition cost at a particular school

There are other vehicles such as Coverdell savings accounts or Roth IRAs which could be utilized for college savings. There are also cost free sources of money for college – scholarships, of which there are many, and another under publicized vehicle which you can find by following the links below.

Build Your Coaching Business – How Many Calls a Week Do You Get from Your Website? Zero?

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There are three key things to know in any marketing and that includes your website.

  • How many people see it;
  • What Percentage of those that see it actually act on it;
  • And How many did you want to act on it.

Statistically over 99% of all websites don’t deliver what you, the coach, running a coaching business, wanted…..more clients.

The reason is very simple: very few manage the key measurements, How many see the website (your traffic); What is the conversion of the website (the percentage that are COMPELLED to act, to call you, to sign up, or whatever the action you designed…or did you design it?); And how many you wanted to call you each and every week. By the way, did you know that you COULD design your website, or any marketing for that matter, to deliver exactly what you wanted each and every week? Well you can….if you manage those three key measurements.

Do you have any idea why it hasn’t worked up until now? I mean, after all, didn’t you pay some web developer a lot of money to make that happen? Or did you do it yourself? The results are probably still the same….zero clients (or very very few anyway) from the website.

Let’s say, just for the fun of it, that you want 10 calls a week for your coaching. And, let’s also say that you close 50% of those. That would be 5 coaching sales a week. By the way, do any of those numbers sound familiar, or achievable? Maybe you’re doing something wrong, or ….not even managing the numbers?

If you want 10 calls a week, and let’s assume that your website converts 5% (do you even know what your website conversion is? Or are you managing it so that you get something like that? I’ve seen some websites hit 40% when they work on the conversion. In any case, 5% is our current target.) Wanting 10 calls a week, and with a 5% conversion, that means you have to deliver 200 people, your traffic to your site. So, how do you do that?

Let’s start with: Do you know how many people are looking for your coaching services every week on the internet? Go to http://inventory.overture.com , type in your type of coaching, and find out. (By the way, that site has a LOT of traffic, and may time out just waiting for your turn. If you get a “website not found” warning, or something similar, just keep trying. It will come up eventually. This is a very popular site.) The results your see will show you how many people are searching for that search phrase in a month on Yahoo. If you want to know how many are searching on Google, it’s approximately 2 times as many. So, the totals for the two most popular search engines are apprxoimately 3 times the numbers showing.

Here are some examples (just for Yahoo):

  • Business Coach 5,487
  • Life Coach 16,174
  • Career coach 2,508

There are a lot of other types of coaches, and different ways to search for each type of coach, so play with the search terms to see how many people are looking for you in what way. It might be a pretty big eye opener.

Now, let’s pick Life Coach with 16,174 people searching in a month. Let’s say that when those 16,174 people search they come across your listing on a major search engine, and if you are on page 1 of that search engine you get 5% of those searches, that’s 808 that end up on your website. And, if your website converts at 5%, that’s around 40 people giving you a call a month. Neat huh?

Do you come even close to that? Don’t forget that whatever you found, multiply that by 3 to get how many are searching on both Yahoo and Google.

There are lots of ways of capturing that 16,174 people, or at least directing them toward your website. Search engine optimization (consciously writing your website correctly so that the search engines put you on page one….not as hard as it may sound), using pay-per-click (sponsored advertising), article writing on ezines (you’re reading this aren’t you…that’s how you got here, and there’s a link at the bottom of the page to my website…see it does work!), and lots of other ways.

In any case, let’s look at a formula that explains this.

# people who see website X Percent converted = # calls, leads or whatever you want to call them.

You can either just wait for something to happen, which most coaches have been doing, or you can actively manage the three numbers to deliver exactly how many calls, or leads you want each and every week or month.

How?

For number of people seeing your website — actively work on search engine position, start up a pay-per-click campaign (only after making sure you have the conversion on the website), start article marketing campaign, and lots of others. Make sure you track the actual traffic to your website weekly, and manage it to get the results you want.

For Conversion – Write the website content that is targeted on your target audience’s pain or problems. Most coaches make the mistakes of “selling coaching” when the prospect is only interested in “do you understand his pain and problems” and “do you have a solution”. Therefore, when the website starts out: “I am a coach. Been in business 20 years.” or Company name, logo all at the top it takes 3 seconds for the prospect to flip to another website because he didn’t see anything about his pain, his problem, his solution. Notice the use of HIS here. It isn’t about you, your coaching, or anything about you. It is ONLY about your client’s problems, pains, solutions, results. They’d better be the first and only thing he sees in that first 3 seconds…..or he’s gone. In any case, measure your website conversion weekly and manage it to get 5% or greater conversion. If you’re not getting that, and most coaches report zero traffic and zero conversion to me before they start.

For number of leads or calls you want – Well … manage the other numbers. You can literally design the system, your website, your traffic, to deliver exactly what you want, and sometimes the surprise is that there are so many people looking but finding no one, that your chances are pretty good…..only after you start managing these key numbers.

So, coach, are you getting the potential calls per week or per month from your website?

So You Want A Career Change, But How Do You Decide Your Next Move?

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Competition for jobs has never been more fierce, so ensure you have decided on what you really want to do next in your ideal career before jumping from the frying pan to the fire (whether you’re currently working or not working). This requires taking a step back from browsing the vacancies, to ensure that you’re pursuing the best career path for you. Have you considered a fresh start? Lacking in new career ideas? So where do you begin?

Take a deep breath, and take the time to get a complete picture of yourself; likes, dislikes, strengths, values, goals… It can take time, because the natural urge is to just job hunt, but it’s vital to take a look at all of ‘you’ before careering (no pun intended!) into looking at specific jobs. How do you do this? I suggest you get started by writing a short biography, and to look at your highs and lows over the past, so that we can have as full a picture as possible of “you”. What have you achieved in your career that you’re proud of? What did you really enjoy? What problems or challenges have you encountered over the years, and how did you overcome these? Following these suggestions will give you as full a picture as possible of “you”. Some tips during this process would be:

• Be positive throughout – if it’s difficult, write down ten things that you like about yourself. This is often a challenge, but will help your mindset

• When writing your biography, look for clues to your values, and write them down.

• Think about whether you’re naturally a risk taker career-wise. If so what happened when you took risks? What happened when you didn’t?

• In tandem with the above, start to generate career traits/ideas/factors that appeal to you. Keep them as a list, collage, whatever works for you. Keep updating this list with new ideas as you go about your day. Be in a constant mode of enquiry.

The last point above is vital, and worthy of repeating. I understand the natural urge is to just job hunt, and focus on career ideas. I suggest that you generate factors about jobs you might like. Factors, not necessarily the job itself; so you could see a job advertised on a hoarding that you’d never consider, but an aspect of that role appeals – note it down. Don’t “edit” your ideas at this stage.

The exploration of oneself can also be a fun stage where I see “light bulbs” going on regularly, as realizations about past errors in career strategy are realised, and a plan to move forward is gradually laid down. This is a thorough process, and I urge you to take the time to explore all of your values, strengths, likes, and desires before rushing into job search per se.

After the exploration stage, I suggest that you enter what I call the “dream” phase. This is an exciting stage where you get to think outside of the box, be expansive, really go for it! What careers have you ever dreamt of doing? What jobs did you dream about when you were 5 years old? 10 years old? 15 years old? – No, don’t “edit” yourself”.

After this process you may have generated many many different job ideas (this process could happen over a few weeks, so you will hopefully have accumulated lots of ideas. By using the exercises you’ve done previously, and your own intuition, try to get to three possibilities. All three possibilities should meet your values, skills and abilities, and be something you feel truly passionate about. All three ideas should also stack up against all of the aspects of Life and Work, which you will have been recording throughout the process. After we have those three ideas, through the coaching process we then get to one idea! It’s this idea which you will take forward and formulate a plan of action to get you there! How do you get from three options to one? I suggest you ask yourself some searching questions:

• Referring back to the previous exercises, really drill deep down into each choice. Which makes you feel really enthusiastic?
• Ask yourself the potential pro’s and con’s for each choice
• Paint a “Word Picture” for each choice; see yourself doing the role in the future – write it down. How does it feel? What are you doing? Why do you love it so much? Could it be better?
• What results would you like to create for each possibility?
• Your final choice should be the one that’s most “alive” for you

Finally, I suggest that you create a practical, detailed, time bound action plan, which is a list of actions required to move you toward your career goal. Decide who you need to contact (or other action required), by when, and for what reason.

This detailed list of action points is vital to carry the whole process forward.

Whatever path or strategy you take with regard to career change planning, I hope that you will take that ‘step back’ to ensure that your needs and values are being fully served by your new career choice.