Mindset and Wealth: How to Grow Your Wealth

Can you really ‘think yourself rich’? I’m here to tell you that it is not only possible but that it is also actually the best chance you have of making a lot of money. Many of us dream of living in a large luxurious house in a sunny country, we imagine wearing smart suits that exude power and confidence and we wish that we didn’t have to make so many hard choices because our funds can’t support the lifestyles we want to lead.

If that sounds familiar, then you need to make a change. And as with ALL things, that change starts with you and your mindset. If you want to be wealthy, then what are you doing about it? And is there any chance that you may, in fact, be going about it the wrong way?

Wealth and Your Career

Ask the average person in the street what they would hypothetically need to do in order to become richer and 99% of them will tell you the same thing: get a better job. Okay, fair enough. They are not wrong per se. Indeed, getting a better job won’t hurt their income and that in turn will likely mean they get richer at least a little.

But in fact, this is not the whole story. And what’s more, is that this isn’t even the main part of the story. Wealth and salary are not inextricably linked. They are related sure, but only to a small degree. If you wanted to see an equation telling you how to get wealthy, then it would really look like this:

Wealth = Income – Outgoings

So, let’s say that your income is determined solely by the amount of money you are making at work. Even in that scenario, you still have another, equally as an important factor. That is your outgoings. If you earn a cool million dollars a month but you also waste a million dollars a month of lavish holidays and on nights out and clothes, then you are ultimately not going to be very well off. Rather, you’re likely to lose money over time.

But if you are earning a more normal $2500 a month but you only spend $500, then suddenly you are saving $2000 per month. In 12 months, you’ll have $24,000 saved away. That’s a decent down payment on a house! So, you now have two options. Two ways to get richer. One is that you seek to get a better job and increase your income and the other is that you save more money and spend less.

How to Spend Less

When I was at university, my summer job was working at a yacht club. Specifically, I was a waiter in one of the restaurants there that were actually paid for and owned by the clientele of the club. The club was located in Sandbanks, England – an area that is also sometimes referred to as ‘millionaire’s row’ because it has among the most expensive real estate in the world along the seafront.

So, these are people who own yachts and who belong to a club that is situated in one of the wealthiest parts of the world. Suffice to say that they were not struggling for cash. And of course, what many people would point out to me is that this should likely result in pretty big tips!

Except that’s not what happened. In fact, I received some of the worst tips I have in any job. I had a lady call me over to secretively give me 20p (around 30cents) for my hard work. She literally told me to buy myself something nice. And this is bearing in mind that it is standard practice in England to tip 10%. The meals usually cost close to $150.

I told my Mum this and her response was: how do you think they got rich, dear?

Makes sense

Look, I’m not here to tell you you should become stingy with tips. But what I am telling you is that the wealthiest people recognize that every little bit adds up and makes a very big difference in the long run. Your aim now is not to fritter. That $3 coffee you have every morning on the way to work is actually $15 over the course of a week. $60 over a course of a month and $720 over the course of the year.

That is a tiny amount and that’s before we have even considered all those other things you likely pay for that you don’t really need. Maybe your Spotify account, Netflix, 100+ TV Channels, gas for the car for all those trips you don’t really need to make. It adds up. Worse are all those larger purchases we make on an impulse.

These are things like clothes that we think will make us look smart, games consoles, PCs, overly advanced phones. How much did your phone cost you? If you’re on a contract, then chances are you’ll be paying $700 or more for it. Now ask yourself how much more that phone really does than something for $300. Do you really need the fastest processor around? Considering that even an old phone can play everything in the app store?

Do you really need a 30-megapixel camera? Or a 4K screen? Can you even see the difference between 4K and 1080p? The real problem here is marketing, the internet and other people. We have unfortunately been conditioned to associate these items with success and to find them highly desirable. We want to get the latest phone, car, computer etc. because it looks so sexy in those adverts. But the reality is that these things don’t really bring us happiness.

Likewise, we are told that we need to buy a large house, go on lavish holidays. Is this really for us? Or is it so that we can look successful to others? I’m not telling you to cut back on all the things that make you happy here. There is no point in having wealth if you aren’t going to enjoy it and have a better quality of life for yourself and your family.

All I’m telling you is to make sure you are certain of what it is that does make you happy. And that often means deciding what you don’t need and what you should be prioritizing. Have you always dreamed of a beautiful big house? Then why not stop going on those big holidays for a while? Why not stop buying widescreen TVs? And how about considering getting that big beautiful house in a less expensive area?

Heck, if you move to Spain, then there are places where you can live in a five-bedroom home with a swimming pool and roof pool and it will only cost you $200,000. You could almost buy that in cash and think about how much money you would start making then once there was no mortgage!

Conversely, if all you want is to travel the world, then you can change your accommodation to something less glamorous. How about moving to a quiet neighbourhood and living in a spare bedroom for a while?  Your outgoings will be below, so you can enjoy going on more holidays and still save up that wealth. Know what you want to achieve with that money. Know what wealth means to you and then you can focus on being more efficient with your money.

Financial Modelling

This will also help you to set up a budget and/or a plan. If you know how much you have coming in and how much you’d like to be making per month, saving per month and spending on things that make you feel wealthy per month, then you can create a budget that will help you to reach that point within a specific timeframe. This then is where you can look at those small things you can cut out to save money.

If you have a spreadsheet that contains all your income and all your outgoings per month, then you can look at what kind of impact cutting coffee from your routine would actually make. You’ll be left with a total profit at the end of each month and you can decide how much of that you want to put into savings and how much you intend to spend on other things.

You can even set up standing orders in your accounts so that money saved automatically gets transferred to a savings account. With such a spreadsheet, you can then multiply the savings you are making by any given number of months and see projections of what your finances are likely to be at certain points in the future. Need more money for an upcoming expense?

Then look at something else you can do to cut your expenditure. This is called ‘financial modelling’ and it’s a powerful tool for building your wealth rather than just letting it ‘happen’ without your direction or input.

A Couple More Ways to Save Money

And what if you have run out of things you can cut in order to save money? What if you are living on as little as possible? A few other options include changing your providers for bills, selling off old items, or even moving money between accounts in order to receive bonuses. A friend of mine does this religiously and will even take out credit cards with 0%APR, just so that he can put all of that money into an ISA and then make a profit on it.

If he gets a cash incentive to sign up for anything then he will sign up! And he never buys a new piece of tech or even clothing without taking one of the older items to sell and thereby offset the cost. Something else to note is that if you have a dream of a wealthy future, then you might need to ‘be okay with living a little more simply for a while in order to get there.

You need to put the work in now, to reap the rewards in the future. And this is hard because it often once again means forgetting the conventional signals of wealth and success. Once again, you have to do this for yourself and not be worried about what others might think. So for example, if you want to someday have a beautiful home, one of the very best things you can do is to live with your parents if they will let you.

Sure, it’s not glamorous and it’s not fun, but if they charge a small amount of rent you’ll be able to save so much per month that it will help you to get on the property ladder MUCH faster. You could then buy a smaller home in a less attractive area but flip the property to make a big profit. You need to put in the graft and have an eye on the future.

Likewise, you might need to learn to stop trying to demonstrate your wealth and stability to friends. Have you ever met up with a friend and eaten in a restaurant that you can’t really afford because you want to see them and because it is embarrassing to suggest eating somewhere cheaper? As you can imagine, this isn’t exactly conducive to getting wealthy quickly! Again, you need to be willing to tell them that you can’t afford it and to go elsewhere.

How about you suggest they meet you at your house?

Setting Up Revenue Streams 

Next, come the revenue streams. We’ve seen how you can actually become richer without changing your job, simply by spending less. The other strategy is to become wealthier by having more than one income stream. Once again, your salary isn’t determining your wealth! So, what might this mean? One simple option is to take on another job, such as a weekend job.

If you are happy to work on a Saturday, then you will have potentially $150 extra to spend each week! That’s $600 per month or $7,200 per year! Save that and in a couple of years, you can be living in a nice house – or you can use it right now to feel that bit wealthier and wear those fancy clothes. This is a big sacrifice though granted. So, what would be better for most people would be to earn money online for instance.

Tim Ferriss describes creating a ‘muse’ in his book The Four Hour Workweek, which is a small online business that generates a passive income. This can be as simple as finding an affiliate product (a product that you sell for commission) and making a simple website recommending it, then sending people there with ads. This is very low maintenance but can potentially make a fair amount of money.

You could try matched betting alternatively (a form of betting that ensures you can’t lose – it uses only the free bonus amounts that you get given for signing up) or you could look for a simple online job. How about selling photography online? Working as a writer or a web designer? Or, like a friend of mine, try commentating on sports for websites?

You can also make money from arts and crafts of course and sell some things you make on the side, or you can buy and sell items in bulk on eBay! Then there are the other options that work offline: these include such things as renting out rooms to students, such as mowing the neighbour’s lawn, cutting hair, teaching an instrument etc.

All these options will help you to make an income that will be added to your current income.

Not only does this of course give you a better total, but it will also help to make you more ‘resilient’ so that if anything ever happens with your main job, you’ll of course still have some money coming in. Another tip? The more you make, the more you’ll make. Try to look for investment opportunities, whether that means buying a second house and letting it out to someone else, or whether it means moving to an area that you know is up and coming.

A strange thing to think of here is board games. If you’ve ever played Monopoly, or any other game where you have to amass a kind of resource, then you might have found that it pays to invest wisely early on. To get the card that will pay out just a little bit every round, or that will prevent you from losing a little bit every round.

These seem like small changes in the short term but over the course of the game, they ultimately put you in a position of great power and help you to win decisively! It's the same in real life. Make a few right choices that will build up over time. Know what you want. Be patient. And avoid the temptation to splurge on the short-term gratification. That is how you get into a wealthy mindset!

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix yolabastos@womenflix.org https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, was incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

Mindset and Business: How to Achieve Success in Your Ventures

When we think of success, one of the images that come to mind is often one of a businessman (or woman) decked out in a suit, standing at the top of a high-rise building and looking out over the streets below.

We associate business with success in this way for a number of reasons.

Firstly, success in business often brings money and riches. Secondly, success in business suggests a certain level of skill and ability and tends to yield a higher status and importance as a result. For all these reasons, business and success go hand in hand in our minds and for many, those are the specific heights that we are aiming for.

But is business success really what you want? How can you go about getting it? And what might you unwittingly be doing wrong that could be sabotaging your own success?

In this guide, we’ll take an in-depth look at what it means to be a success in business; and how you should go about getting there.

Be Careful What You Wish For 

The first thing to remember is that you should be careful what you wish for. For many, the idea of success in business is a very romantic and idealistic one. It’s something we might spend a lot of time daydreaming about. But as is very often the case, the reality isn’t always what you might have expected. And it might not even really be the dreams that you’re having.

Let me explain.

Many of us associate success with the business. We’ve already explained this and it seems to make sense on the face of it.

But another of the reasons we hold this association in mind is that we have been trained to think this way. Over many years, we have seen images of successful people almost always wearing suits and wielding power. This is how success is depicted in the movies and in the books.

We think of the film Limitless or maybe Wolf or Wall Street (despite the fact that both these movies were really lessons against seeking too much power, too quickly). Maybe you want to make your parents proud? Maybe you plan to follow in their footsteps?

The image of success that your grandma has is linked to business as well, after all! But this can then lead to your downfall. If it means that you then chase after things that don’t really bring you joy. If it means that you become the head of a big delivery company, or of a corporate legal team. Maybe it means you become a procurement manager.

Whatever the case, you can end up taking a stuffy job and being a ‘suit’ and attempting to get rich that way. You’ll start at the bottom, put in the hard graft and the work and climb the corporate ladder. But is that really what you want? Not only are you now facing years possibly decades of working hard with very little reward, but you’re also going to be working toward something that may not be all that gratifying.

Sure, the pay is good when you’re standing in that high-rise, but do you really want all that responsibility? And do you feel all that passionately about the product or service your company is providing? The price of success is often that you end up staying late until 8pm or 10pm that you have to deal with people shouting at you down the phone and that you are responsible for millions of dollars.

All so that someone can get their boring parcel delivered on time. Or so that a dubious business can avoid a lawsuit.

Is that really your image of ‘success’? And what do you spend the money on? Expensive clothes? A car? Was it really all worth it? In many senses, this is not really a success. And not only that but if you take this route.

If you climb the corporate ladder, put in the work and do your time, then you actually won’t be as successful as you possibly could be. Think of any massively successful businessman. Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk.

How many of them started a boring job and then worked their way up? 

No: they started passion projects. They looked for things that no one knew they needed yet. They innovated. Trailblazed. They came up with completely fresh and novel ideas. And because they did that, they were able to have breakthroughs that no one could have imagined: reach heights that were truly unprecedented.

The Strategy

So, here’s the strategy. Learn to separate ‘income’ from ‘wealth’. If you read the guide on the money mindset, you’ll see that the two absolutely do not go hand in hand. Then learn to separate your status at work from your personal sense of pride and accomplishment. You know what? If you write a brilliant novel in your spare time and not one person reads it then that should still be just as rewarding.

So, I want you to take some time out. To find your passion and to follow that path. But do it on the side. And view your day job as what it is: a necessary evil to help you get by in the interim. Over time, you can turn that passion into a way to make money. Then maybe you go part-time. Then maybe you go full time. Then maybe you quit your day job.

Why Passion is Crucial for Success 

When Elon Musk created SpaceX, he was not the massively well-known name that he is today. Musk was a relatively unknown name whose mission was to encourage the private sector to venture into space. No small task. But you know what? Musk did it. And his explanation one of his explanations was that he aimed big. Many of us feel that we need to reign in our dreams and goals.

We have been led to believe that aiming too high will end in disappointment, will make us look foolish. But the reality is that aiming high is actually precisely what you need to do. Because when you aim high, you inspire others. When you have something exciting to say and when you are clearly excited about it yourself then people listen.

It’s so much more inspiring to hear someone tell you they want to go to space than it is to hear someone say they’re a hairdresser (though if that’s your passion, there’s nothing wrong with that!). If you’re reading this, then there’s a good chance you’re in the internet marketing industry. Let’s say you are for now. You might have a plan to launch a website, sell an ebook, make some money. There are two ways you go about that.

One is the cynical way. The way where your heart isn’t in it. The way that you see time and time again. This approach involves looking for the hottest new ‘niche’ in the market. Whether or not that’s a niche you’re interested in doesn’t really matter. Then you buy some content, maybe hire someone to write some, maybe pump out a little yourself by just regurgitating what you already can find online.

Then, you lace into that content as much SEO as you possibly can. You do everything you can to make the site sell. You cover it in ads. You call it something like ‘The Best Fitness Site Ever’. And you wait for the cash to roll in. But that will not work. Why? Because there’s no passion. If you have a site about animal welfare and you hire the very best writer in the world to write for it.

If you tell them to write you the latest, most exciting, newest content then you still won’t do well. Why? Because they aren’t you. They can’t speak for you. They don’t know your point of view. And they probably don’t know the topic all that well either. So, they’ll do their research. Learn it thoroughly and try to write something great. But it will be safe. Generic, boring content. People will visit the site and they’ll see that.

The site has no personality. No tone of its own. No ‘mission statement’ or purpose. There is no passion or love behind it and so no community grows behind it. The site dies. That’s why the thousands of low-quality sites never make it big. Think of the sites that do make it.

Those are sites like MOZ blog, Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Blog, and Pat Fynn’s Smart Passive Income. The Verge. The BBC. Forbes.

These are sites that are written by passionate experts. They are sites that have unique, engaging and brilliant content. And unique, brilliant points of view that are unique to the brand. They have high production values, slick design, thriving YouTube channels.

Do you see the difference? 

Think about the sites that you read on a daily basis. I bet they are either:

A) Large teams of enthusiastic professionals

OR

B) Single, passionate individuals

None of them will be spam designed to quickly make money. None of them will be ‘overly SEO. You can’t create amazing quality unless you are passionate about the topic. You have to love doing it. You need to put everything into it. You have to want to spend your free time writing articles, answering fan-mail and tweaking the logo. It mustn’t feel like a job.

If there isn’t a topic for a website you feel that way about, then being an internet marketer isn’t for you. You need to find what you are passionate about. Your calling. That is how you become Elon Musk and not ‘tired, overworked, stressed Dad who works himself to an early grave’. Do you see the difference? You can’t fake it. You have to love it.

Presenting the Image 

But I know what you’re thinking: it’s all good and well having the dream and the vision but you also need the skill and you need that business persona. And it’s true. If you’re going to lead, inspire and get investments then you do need to learn to present yourself and you do need to learn to be taken seriously. And this is a skill that will help you in every other aspect of your life too.

So how do you go about it?

The simple place to start is with the realization that you are a brand. Your name is your own personal brand and just like any business brand, it is your job to protect that brand in a professional manner. You know how it is so important for a website to be correctly spelt, to have great design, to pay attention to even the smallest details?

It’s the same thing with you.

You need to present yourself in a way that inspires confidence and trust. You need to make sure that every interaction that other people have with you is a positive one. You need to present the face of a service that people can trust. You need to gain the confidence that you know what you’re talking about. You do this, to begin with by conducting yourself in a professional manner.

That means that you put effort and hard work into everything you do. Whether it’s that boring 9-5 that you’re just ticking over with, or whether it is a client who is very much ‘small time’ in your eyes. If you don’t give them 100% of your attention, if you rush things or if you make a silly mistake, then that is a black mark against you. If you say you are going to get a piece of work in by a certain deadline, then you make sure you do that.

You never know where amazing opportunities might come from. And you never know what one interaction might lead to. If you deal with someone in a poor manner, or you do a sub-par job, then the word might spread. If you do an excellent job, you just might get offered something. The same goes for any work that you put out with your name on it. Make sure it is of excellent quality.

Next, you need to make sure that your presentation is perfect. That means learning to communicate. Learning to present yourself in a professional manner  I highly recommend getting classes to help you with public speaking and elocution. This will help you to get your point across in a way that other people understand. It will teach you to sell yourself, to thrive in interviews and to win clients and backers.

You also need to think about the small details of your appearance. How are your nails? How is your hair? Do you have a nice suit? Are you in good physical shape? All of this has been shown in countless studies to make a difference. People want to bet on the winning horse and if you look like you can barely keep yourself together, then why would anyone believe that you’re going to be able to run a business?

Sell a product? Provide a great service? 

Again, tiny things make the difference here: things like your shoes, how polished they are, how the laces are tied. Be constantly improving yourself and investing in yourself in order to make a better impression. Meditate. Get enough sleep. Have enough vitamins and minerals. Be ready to take those opportunities when they come.

Springboarding 

And learn to see opportunities where you don’t expect them. Because it won’t always be obvious. Think of Sylvester Stallone who wanted to become a famous actor. He was turned down from all the acting jobs, so he eventually got there by writing a fantastic script for a movie. That movie was Rocky and he would only sell the script if he got the leading role.

The rest is history.

Opportunities might present themselves to you that don’t seem directly related to your goal. But adapt, learn to see the alternate routes. Because success in any area can lead to success in another. It builds confidence, it gives you connections and resources. This is called ‘springboarding’, where you use one ‘win’ to launch you to the next.

If you turn down an opportunity because it doesn’t seem to exactly match your plan, then you can end up missing out on something that could have been huge. Always be looking for that next move. Business is like a massive game of chess. And once again, this is why you always need to put your best foot forward. Making the right impression and protecting the brand opens those opportunities.

Keep your goal in mind, keep winning and keep taking that next step. Don’t let yourself become comfortable. And use the lessons from our other guides to get over your fear of risk and failure to keep taking those chances.

If you do all this, then you never know where your drive and your effort might take you. THAT is how you become a success in business.

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix yolabastos@womenflix.org https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, was incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

Sick of Being Single? Make Your Relationship Goals Happen

Setting goals does not just apply to your career, your finances, or your fitness. Goals apply to every aspect of your life and that includes your relationship. If you are single and you’re sick of being that way, then you need to come up with a plan to change that and you need to approach it with the very same determination as you would any other type of goal.

• What’s Holding You Back?

The first thing to do when trying to change the way you’re approaching your love life is to look at what is holding you back.

For many people, it’s actually a lack of trying. Either they’ve been hurt before, they’ve lost confidence, or they just don’t realize they have to. But at the end of the day, if you’re tired of being single, then you need to work at this just as you would anything else. That might mean trying online dating, it might mean going to bars more, or it might mean just asking people out in the street.

While some people aren’t trying at all though, many other people are simply trying the wrong strategy or focus on the wrong thing. These are the people who know they don’t want to be single any more but who aren’t quite sure how to change that. 

For example, if you want to have a more active sex life then you shouldn’t be dating your friends as that is more likely to lead to a long-term relationship. If you want a long-term relationship, then looking at bars or on Tinder is likewise misguided.

Actually, pining after friends is generally a bad idea and it’s something that can really waste your time unless you have a drastic plan to change the way they see you. And then there are people who simply fail to correctly assess their own desirability to certain groups.

Then there’s the chance that you’re doing everything right but just not getting results, in which case you need to focus on your approach. That might mean the way you present yourself, or the way you come across in conversation. Many of us will unintentionally come across as sleazy, as needy, as clingy, or as desperate – none of these things is going to help your chances!

• How to Make the Change

Once you’ve identified the problem, it’s time to start making the change. The first thing to do is to make the commitment to be proactive. That means regularly approaching people, or signing up for online dating and putting in the effort (just creating a profile is not enough) or to improve your approach and your swagger.

Then you need to come up with a plan and think about how to make the best use of your resources. For instance, Facebook can be a surprisingly effective way to meet people and also to reconnect with old people. Perhaps there is an old flame you could start messaging? Or maybe you could add someone that you met at a party?

If you’re shy of approaching the opposite sex, then maybe you should think of a way to work up to it and to build your confidence.

Sometimes it means not taking the most obvious route but the most important thing is that you identify the weak points in your game and your strategy and then work to fix those. 

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  
Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

How Dwayne Johnson’s Passion Makes Him Unstoppable

 

There are many people who you might think of when you hear the word ‘success’. One who springs to my mind though is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He is a celebrity who started out by conquering the world of sport as a wrestler and who then went on to become one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood. Meanwhile, he has also started a successful business, become a highly influential social media presence and maintained an incredible physique all the while. Meanwhile, some people are now saying he may one day run for president!

How has one man achieved so much from humble beginnings? What is the secret to his success? And is it something that we can learn to emulate?

• The Answer

There’s actually one very simple answer to what makes The Rock so unstoppable and that’s his passion. Johnson’s passion is so overwhelmingly strong, that he has no problem doing whatever it takes to make his way to the top.

When someone is that busy and has that many plates in the air, how can they possibly attain the kind of physique that he has? One of the answers is to get up earlier and to train before the rest of the world even wakes up. And that’s exactly what The Rock does. If you follow him on Instagram, then you’ll quickly find that a lot of his pictures pertain to his early morning training. These are images of his phone alarm going off at 4am, or of him in the gym alone before any other patrons have arrived. 

Simply put, he is in that incredible shape because he has the will to train when most people wouldn’t even consider having the energy to do so.

And he puts that same passion into everything. This is how he finds time to be in so many movies each year, how he finds time to promote himself so actively on Facebook: it is all driven by his passion. 

Yes, the Rock has unstoppable determination and motivation. But that comes from his passion. You can see it in the way he talks; he is absolutely thrilled to be doing what he is doing and that is what makes him jump out of bed in the morning. Have you ever seen him look sullen and disinterested? Can you imagine him coming home, getting into pyjamas and watching rubbish TV while eating a pot of icecream? 

• How Passion Makes You Magnetic

It’s also the same passion that makes The Rock so exciting to watch. The Rock talks and smiles and gesticulates in a way that is genuine and larger-than-life and that makes him incredibly persuasive and likeable. Once again though, this comes from the fact that he loves what he does.

Studies show us that we rate people as more charismatic when they gesticulate more. When do people gesticulate more? When they are passionate about what they’re talking about. People who love their subject speak with their whole body and that makes them highly magnetic.

So what is the secret to Johnson’s success and how can you tap into it? 

Simple: find your passion!

Written by Yola Bastos

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578) 

The Importance Of A Good BackStory

The Importance Of A Good BackStory 

You will gain more influence over your audience when you have a good back story. This is your personal story about how you started and how you got to where you are today. Without a good back story, your audience will not warm to you as much and you will not get as much free traffic as you could from Facebook.

Use the Zero to Hero approach

Most people start their business from nothing so be sure to add a “zero to hero” element to your back story. You want to give your audience hope that they can do the same thing as you start from scratch.

We are not suggesting that you are dishonest in any way with your back story. But emphasizing that it was a real struggle for you to start with is something that most of your audience will resonate with.

Nobody launches a business and is successful overnight so tell people about your journey. What sacrifices did you have to make? Maybe you had very little money and had to be really resourceful to get your business idea off the ground?

Let’s use an example here. You are a successful online entrepreneur. It is something that you always dreamed of doing and you have finally made it. Now you can help others to do the same through your Facebook Page. 

Many people have a dream of making it online. Think back to what you did to become successful. Did you try many different things before you found the one that was right for you? Many people try different online business models and are not successful so they will relate to this.

Perhaps you spent all of the money that you had on training courses and programs that promised to provide you the secrets of online success. Did any of these help you or were they just a waste of time? Again many people that dream of online success spend a lot of money on courses that do not really help them.

You were once a Nobody

Make it clear in your back story that you were once a “nobody” that had nothing. Through hard work and dedication, you were able to turn everything around and become successful. You want your audience to feel that they can do what you did.

Your audience is going to want to ask you questions about how you worked everything out and made a success of your online business. They will want to know if you had to make significant mindset changes to get where you are today for example.

You need to answer all of their questions in the form of Facebook posts and the products and services that you offer. Once people know, like and trust you they will be a lot more willing to check out your offers so make sure that you provide value in your Facebook content.

Be Consistent with your Back Story

You need to ensure that the story you tell on Facebook is the same as the one that you tell on your website and your other social profiles. If people are interested in you then they are definitely going to check you out. If they find inconsistent stories then you will lose their trust.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Give Your Audience What They Want

Give Your Audience What They Want

It is important that you post the right type of content on Facebook. You need to bear in mind that you are competing with a lot of other content in the news feeds of your audience. When you give your audience what they want then you will get a lot more views and increase your engagement levels through commenting, liking and sharing.

• Identify your Target Audience

The more that you know about your audience on Facebook the better results you can achieve. Start by creating a persona that describes your ideal audience member. You can create a good persona by asking the following questions:

• What is their gender? 
• What is their age range? 
• Where are they located?
• What are their interests?
• What income levels do they have?

There are a lot more questions that you can come up with here. Look online for some good resources on creating the ideal customer persona. Take your time to make this as accurate as possible. It is really important.

• What Problems does your Audience have?

When you know what problems your audience has you can plan your Facebook content so that you address these questions. By doing this they will perceive you as an expert in your niche and will be more likely to check you out further by visiting your website.

Do your homework here. If you are in the make money online niche then think about the problems that people want to solve:

• How can they make more commissions?
• How can they get more traffic to their offers?
• How can they rank their website on Google?
• How can they achieve more conversions?
• What online business model should they use?
• Which web hosting is the best?
• How can they build a high converting sales funnel?

There are always problems in all niches. You can join related Facebook Groups and find out what questions members ask the most. When you can solve the problems of your audience they will love you forever!

• What kind of Content does your Audience like the most?

If you have been using Facebook for a while you can go into Facebook Insights and see which of your posts were the most popular. Examine these posts carefully to determine what made them a hit with your audience.

You can then use this information to shape your future Facebook posts. It is not a good idea to post about the same subjects all of the time as your audience could quickly lose interest. Just figure out the format and other details of winning posts and use this same formula again.

If you don’t have a history of posts then again you can turn to Facebook Groups to find out which posts are popular with your audience. This is easy to see from the number of comments, likes and shares that a post has. 

• Plan your Content

Once your audience starts to consume your content they will want more and more of it so you need to post on a regular basis so that you don’t disappoint them. Stick to a posting schedule so your audience knows when to expect your next post.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Taking It A Step Further: How to Reuse Your PLR

Most online business owners make a crucial mistake with their PLR that limits their mailing list growth – they use it in only the format it came in. For example, you bought a PLR report on how to stop procrastinating. You broke it up into blog posts, created content upgrades, and called it done.

But the truth is you can switch up your PLR content by using different formats like changing text to audio. This can make your content stretch even further. Here’s how to use different formats to grow your list:

• Turn a Report into Podcast Episodes

You’re probably using at least one PLR report or workbook as an opt-in gift. That’s great for a downloadable gift. But take your text and transform it into audio by creating podcast episodes. 

This doesn’t mean you should have long podcast episodes where you read out the entire content. Instead, grab the main ideas from your PLR content and expand on them in audio. Add new insights and opinions. Brainstorm recommendations you forgot to include the first time around.

At the end of your podcast episode, let listeners know they can download the full report or workbook from your website. Then direct them to your opt-in page so they can sign up for your mailing list. 

• Live Stream an eBook Chapter

If you have an eBook as an opt-in gift, break it down chapter by chapter. Turn each chapter into a live video using a social media platform like Facebook Live or YouTube streaming. 

Again, your goal is not to read the entire chapter to your viewers. You want to expand on the chapter by going deeper into it. 

If some of the content has changed since you first uploaded it, then talk about that. For example, you might say, “In the eBook, I mentioned a graphics website that’s no longer online, now I recommend ABC tool. It has a similar layout and I like that it’s simple to download the images I’ve created.” 

When you’re winding down, make sure to mention that visitors can download your eBook in its entirety on your website. Provide a link to your opt-in page in the comments section so viewers can easily sign up for your awesome gift. 

• Create a Challenge from Your Course

If your opt-in gift is a course, consider turning it into a challenge. This works especially well if your challenge is short (think 7-10 days) and has plenty of action steps that your followers can follow through on. 

Create a Facebook group and invite participants. Let them know that they have to sign up for your mailing list and download the course in order to follow along. 

Then show up in the group each day of the challenge. You can do this by starting discussions, creating homework assignments, or using Facebook Live to motivate your challengers.

At the end of each day’s assignment, remind your attendees to sign up for your mailing list so they don’t miss new challenges. Have a special opt-in page for these participants since your challenge can lead to a lot of new traffic and new subscribers. 

Don’t fall into the trap of only using your PLR in only one format. You can recycle your favourite PLR pieces again and again.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Creating Content Upgrades with PLR

Many online business owners that use PLR, edit it and publish it on their blogs. They spend a few days promoting it then they let that post die a quiet death and they move on. The problem is that while the post may be informative for the reader, it doesn’t invite them to go deeper.

That’s what a content upgrade is all about. It’s a way of building on the blog content so that visitors are invited to become subscribers who will (hopefully) go on to buy your product or services. 

But don’t freak out thinking that content upgrades have to be difficult. They’re easy to make. All you have to do is take the PLR you posted to your blog and turn it into an upgrade. Here’s how to do just that…

• Create a Checklist

You know that tutorial you posted to your blog? Summarize each step in just one sentence. Then paste these steps into your favourite word processing software. 

You can use the bullet point feature and select squares for an instant checklist. Now just save it as a PDF and you have a downloadable checklist to include with your tutorial. 

• Make a Worksheet

Take a PLR article and turn it into a worksheet. All you have to do is come up with 3-7 questions. For example, if your blog post is about overcoming fear, you may want the first question to be something like: “What were you afraid of as a child?” 

Keep asking questions until you help your readers work through their fears. When you’ve finished, save your questions as a PDF and you have a worksheet you can use as a free content upgrade.

• Design a Resource List

When it comes to creating a resource list, look at the tools or software mentioned in your PLR content. For example, if your PLR content is all about how to make beautiful graphics, it probably mentions websites like PicMonkey or Canva. 

All you need to do is open a document and copy every tool listed in your PLR. Be sure to add links where necessary so subscribers can find what they need easily. Save your list and upload it to your website as a simple content upgrade.  

• Turn Your Post into a PDF

Sometimes, visitors want to keep your post for future reference. This is especially common for tutorials, recipes, and lists. So, make it easy for visitors to access your content again by providing a PDF of your post.

This is a content upgrade that’s deliciously simple. As soon as your newest post goes live, visit a website like Printer Friendly. Once your conversion is finished, upload your PDF to your website and you have another content upgrade ready to go!

Content upgrades can be simple and easy to make. It just takes a few minutes and you can turn any post into a conversion machine.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

3 Fun Ways to Use PLR

When it comes to building your mailing list, there’s one secret weapon you should definitely be using: PLR content. Private label rights content is an ethical tool that’s easy to implement. Try using it in one of these three ways and watch what happens to your list…

• Launch Multiple Opt-Ins

Opt-in gifts are like dangling carrots. They offer something the reader wants and motivates him or her to go deeper into your sales funnel. But having just one isn’t enough. If you really want to grow your mailing list, you need multiple gifts sprinkled throughout your website.

Having multiple opt-ins is especially important if you have several customer avatars. For example, you’re a business coach that helps women create recurring income. Customer avatar #1 is a service provider who’s looking for more passive income opportunities. She might like an opt-in gift about how to add more affiliate marketing to her business. 

Customer avatar #2 is a stay at home mom who wants to make recurring income by writing books. Your opt-in gift might be a guide to self-publishing for new writers. 

You’re helping these women discover recurring income but you’re also tailoring your opt-in gifts to meet the unique needs of each one.

• Come Up with Blog Content + Upgrades

If you already have a few pieces of content that you want to use as opt-in gifts then you can find PLR on these topics to post on your blog. For example, maybe you wrote a short report on how to get started with self-publishing.

Then you’d want to find and purchase some PLR on the topic of Kindle publishing. Rewrite this PLR content and post it to your blog then add a strong call to action inviting visitors to sign up for your short report. 

• Funnel Traffic to Your Opt-In Page

Another way to use PLR content to grow your mailing list is to break down into social media posts. Look over a PLR article or blog post and take 5 sentences from it. Use those sentences as text updates on social media and link to your opt-in page.

If the PLR seller included images, you can use those too. First, brand them by your adding your logo or website name to them. Then upload them to social media sites. Link your followers to your blog posts to encourage sign-ups. 

PLR content can help you grow your list quickly and easily. This gives you more time to spend growing your community.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

How to Make Your PLR Content Unique

 

Private label rights content is content you purchase to use for your business. It’s often much cheaper than hiring a ghostwriter and it’s faster than creating the content yourself. 

One of the drawbacks of PLR is that anybody can purchase it. But this doesn’t have to be a big deal for you. Instead, just take the PLR you’ve bought and customize it for your business by following these tips: 

• Change the Titles

The very first thing you want to do when using PLR is to change the title. When you search on Google, you can find millions of articles titled How to Choose the Right Lipstick Color or a subtle variation like Choosing the Right Lipstick for Your Skin Tone. 

Now Allure magazine could have used that same tired title. But instead, they opted to use the headline, The 10 Commandments of Lipstick. This title leaves readers curious. It makes them wonder if they know all ten of these lipstick rules, which causes them to click through to the website.

• Rewrite When Necessary 

If you're publishing the PLR content to your blog and you want to get organic search traffic, rewriting is a must. That’s because search engines love original content that’s entertaining and informative. In this case, think of the PLR you buy as a starting point and make it your own.

But when you’re using PLR in other cases, you don’t have to rewrite every word of the content you purchased. If you’re using PLR in your autoresponder or as an opt-in report, just lightly edit it with references to your target market. 

You’ll also want to add in your own opinions and stories to make the content unique to your community. Doing this establishes you as a thought leader in your niche.

• Add a Call to Action

PLR content will often lack a call to action at the end. That’s because the PLR seller doesn’t know exactly what you’re focused on in your business right now. So it’s your job to add CTAs to the content you’ve purchased.

Think about where your readers are in terms of your funnel. If this is content that’s on your blog, then you want to include a call to action that invites visitors to become subscribers. If it’s a free report that you’re giving to subscribers, your call to action might be recommending they buy a product or service from you. Regardless of what PLR you use, always add a CTA to encourage your community to go deeper into your funnel.

Making your PLR content unique is important but it doesn’t have to be time-consuming. You only need to spend 15-20 minutes editing the content before you share it with your community.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

3 Surprising Facts about PLR Content

3 Surprising Facts about PLR Content

Lily built a thriving coaching business. She loved serving her clients but she wanted to expand to offer more services like group coaching without increasing her workload. Veronica, Lily’s friend, told her about private label rights content or PLR.

“It’s content that a writer or marketer creates and sells to their customers. With private label rights, you can use the content as you and post it online as if you wrote it.” Veronica went on to explain, “You’re free to edit or change the content if you like. You can even add your own thoughts and opinions if you want to.” 

If you’re like Lily and you’re new to the world of PLR content, here are three surprising facts you should know about it…

• Fact #1: It isn’t stealing to use PLR content.

Stealing content is finding an article online and copying the whole thing to your own website. It doesn’t matter if you credit the author or not. If you take more than a paragraph or two, you’ve violated copyright law because you didn’t have the right to copy that material.

With PLR content, the seller is giving you the right to copy their material. Most PLR providers even allow you to change the content if there’s a point you disagree with or if you want to add your own opinion to the work. 

• Fact #2: It isn’t unethical to use PLR content.

PLR content is usually created by a ghostwriter. Ghostwriters create content with the knowledge that their name will not go on the content. They know this upfront and they don’t mind. In fact, many ghostwriters enjoy what they do because they get the chance to educate and inform readers while writing on a variety of topics.

PLR content is also used by many different types of businesses. For example, politicians rarely write their own speeches.  Most athletes don’t write their own autobiographies, choosing instead to work with ghostwriters. 

It’s perfectly ethical to use PLR content to serve your community and it’s one of the fastest ways to grow your business.

• Fact #3: People you respect are using PLR, you just don't know it.

Thousands of online business owners use PLR to power their businesses. It’s how they’re able to produce so many blog posts, podcast episodes, Facebook Live videos, and more. 

The simple truth is trying to create all of your content on your own can be exhausting. But PLR is an affordable solution that’s easy to customize for your community with just a few subtle tweaks.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).