How To Become An Insanely Self-Disciplined Person

How To Become An Insanely Self-Disciplined Person

“Disciplined people are more successful and happy”. Agree or disagree? We’ll come back to that…

Want to know how to become insanely self-disciplined? Your lack of discipline and ability to get things done is part of your creative "think big" personality, but there are tricks to becoming extremely self-disciplined! Check out this science-backed article about how to become insanely disciplined so you can FINALLY finish what you start and reach your BIG goals!

Have you ever set a goal, gotten all excited and motivated, committed to it with every fiber of your being (Yes I WILL lose 20 pounds… Yes I WILL learn to play the guitar this year… Yes I WILL start and grow a profitable blog)… then gave up when the fire died, or it got too hard, or it took too long, or someone told you you couldn’t do it?

Has that happened to you more than once? Does it feel like it keeps happening to you?

If so, I soooo feel you.

I mean, I set SMART goals, plan it all out on paper and put it all into my calendar down to the last nitty-gritty detail.

But then I feel like I have to FIGHT SO HARD to NOT give up on my goals. I go through seasons of total unstoppable fire and then other seasons of feeling tired, bored, lazy and like my goals are silly and I should just watch Netflix instead.

What’s with this?! It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

We really want this thing. Not just kind of, but really really REALLY want it. So why the heck do we keep giving up?!

Turns out, it comes down to one word: DISCIPLINE.

Because the big secret I realized is this: MOTIVATION doesn’t last. I wish it did, because oh mama, doesn’t it feel like you’re on an amazing high when you’re motivated?!

You feel like you can take on the world! You feel like you can make a million bucks! You feel like you can walk into any room and OWN IT.

But then, you wake up the next day after a long night with a sick baby, and out of the corner of your eye you catch the huge pile of laundry staring at you from the open hall closet, and all of a sudden all of your fiery motivation is shot to hell.

Too dramatic? Nah, I think you feel me.

“Yeah, that’s great Candis. Glad you had this epiphany and all”, you’re saying, “but I already know I need to be more disciplined. I’m just… NOT.”

Okay, I hear you. I totally get it. Me neither. But we ain’t dead yet, sister!

What we are not yet, we can still become.

Once upon a time, scientists believed that our brains – and therefore our personalities, traits, habits and preferences – were hard-wired after childhood, unable to grow or change. But in recent decades, scientists and psychologists have discovered that our brains can continue to grow and change throughout our lives as a result of our interactions with our environment.

This concept is called “neuroplasticity”, and in short, it means we can change our habits and traits if we want to! We are not destined to stay in this seemingly endless cycle of motivation-rut-motivation-rut. Studies show that there’s a legitimate trick to getting yourself unstuck:

You need to set up a SYSTEM for your success.

In the eye-opening article “How to Motivate Yourself”, Stanford Behavior Scientist, BJ Fogg, shares that motivation comes in waves. We shouldn’t RELY on motivation alone, but instead leverage it to act right away in setting up a SYSTEM so we can be successful even when it fades:

“We should assume that our “future self” is going to be lazy with no motivation. We need to set up systems to make achieving our goals as easy as possible — even when our motivation is low.” For example, I was trying to form a gym habit. I’d get up in the morning planning to go, but after a few minutes decide not to. I discovered that if I put my gym clothes and my shoes next to my bed, I would put them on first thing and by that point, I “might as well” just go.

And this is what brings me to Shelby.

When I found myself stalling in my new business, constantly trying new strategies halfheartedly and whisking from one new tactic to the next without following through, I turned to my teammate Shelby Putnam.

From the moment I met her, it was clear that Shelby was an insanely disciplined person. Like WHOA disciplined.

She had her health and business goals down and took DAILY action in her business.

Just check out her transformation from our 30-Day Healthy Living program:

Pretty freaking remarkable, right?!

And even though the healthy living program is designed to make weight loss as easy as possible, the plain truth is that not everyone sticks with it. You don’t get these kinds of results unless you are committed and disciplined.

I mean, how many times have you sworn to yourself that you were going to eat healthy only to throw in the towel when hubby brought home Magnum chocolate ice cream bars? Ahem, not that that’s ever happened to me. Okay, maybe it has… moving on.

What’s more, Shelby was swiftly promoted to the next level in the business within months after starting and her business is exploding more and more every time we meet up or chat.

This month, she’s in the TOP 10 on our whole team (among hundreds of people) for personal sales and recruiting! That’s just crazy, y’all. I mean, I’m a California girl born and raised and I just said “y’all”. That’s gotta show you how impressed I am.

I mean, this girl has it figured out.

So a couple weeks ago I reached out to her and begged her to let me in on her secrets! Seriously, I left her an out-of-the-blue voice message on Voxer and was like, “Girl, tell me how you’re so freaking disciplined! Share your hacks, tips and secrets!”

(Well, the actual message was like 5 minutes long because I ramble, but that was the gist.)

And let me tell you! She dropped some knowledge bombs, ah-ha revelations, and tough love straight-talk.

Turns out this powerhouse was a 5x National Champion gymnast on the USA team and had the virtue of discipline instilled in her from a very young age.

Her tips were so helpful to me personally that I asked her if she’d let me share them with all of you! And of course she said yes, because she’s awesome like that (video interview below).

And you wanna know the really crazy thing? All of the 5 discipline hacks she shares lead to the same conclusion that the science shows: if you lack self-discipline, you need to set up a SYSTEM for yourself to succeed.

“Yeah, but how the heck do you DO THAT?? I mean, what, specifically, do you mean by setting up a system?”, you’re asking.

Watch our interview below to hear from Shelby herself. You can also scroll down below the video to get the bullet-points.

Okay, without further ado, get ready for some game-changing life advice!

https://youtu.be/ahtS6STTIAY

Shelby is an Independent Consultant with Arbonne and an inspirational powerhouse! To connect with her, hit her up on Instagram and check out her health & wellness website here.

1. Map it out and Set It Up

For her 30-day healthy living challenge, Shelby wrote out on her physical calendar her entire 30 days of shakes, meals and workouts ahead of time.

She also put out all of the products she needed and set up a meal delivery service for her family so she wouldn’t be tempted at the grocery store or when cooking things she couldn’t eat. This will look different for you depending on your goals, resources and weaknesses, but basically you need to set up your environment for success.

2. Positive Self-Talk

“I am a huge self-talker and I think it makes a huge difference in my discipline. Every morning when I wake up, I tell myself that I love myself, my body is beautiful, I got this, and I can do this. Even if I don’t feel this way, I say it. Because when I say it, it makes me believe it.”

Sound to foo-foo for you? Thing is, we all talk to ourselves whether we like to believe it or not:

“We all hold internal conversations as we go through our days, and sometimes our nights. Psychologists have identified one important type of these inner monologues as “self-talk,” in which you provide opinions and evaluations on what you’re doing as you’re doing it. When this is upbeat and self-validating, the results can boost your productivity. However, when the voice is critical and harsh, the effect can be emotionally crippling.” – Psychology Today

So Shelby’s not the only one who’s discovered the effectiveness of this practice. Psychological studies have shown that constructive self-talk is correlated with higher performance, improved creativity, better leadership and overall improved happiness and self-esteem.

3. Have Visual Cues: Positive Notes and Visual Goals

To keep herself motivated to stick with the healthy living program, Shelby left notes of encouragement for herself around her calendar, work area, mirrors and pretty much all over her house!

To keep herself progressing daily in her business, she has her next-level business goals posted in plain sight, along with her income producing activities for each day.

4. Accountability Partner

“Honestly, one of the biggest things that helped me was that I literally checked in with Jessica (our team leader) every.single.day. I’d Vox her and say, “Hey Jessica! I did this today for my 30 days! I did my 2 teas! I did my shakes! I did this! I did that!”. So I think having that person to check in with every day helped to solidify it in my brain. I knew I’d have to check in and give a report.”

And she’s not wrong. The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) did a study on accountability and found that if you have a specific accountability appointment with a person you’ve committed to, your chances for success goes up to 95%! Now that’s just downright cray-cray.

(I can attest to this in my own experience as well. My year-long journey to losing 38 pounds after baby #4 only worked because I had an accountability partner to work out with every day until it became a habit. My latest burst in business development and writing consistency? A result of a 21-day accountability challenge a teammate and I agreed on. And this very article you’re reading on my blog only got finished because I had an appointment with Shelby to do the interview and I told her I’d have the outline done before our interview. Accountability is where it’s at!).

5. Make the Decision

“Lastly, when I make up my mind, I make up my mind. When I decide I’m going to do something, I go all in and go for it.”

You might be tempted to dismiss this last one as fluffy, but it’s absolutely essential.

In fact, it’s so important that business and network marketing mogul, Eric Worre, cites this as the #1 “secret” or thing that determines success:

“Success starts with making a decision. A decision that you are going pro, a decision that you are going to the top no matter what. And that decision starts with you and your commitment to becoming a professional. A decision that says “No matter the set backs I might face and no matter the challenge, I am going to the top.”

So make your decision. What will you accomplish? Decide which outcome you want, work your butt off to get it, and keep your promise to yourself every.single.day.

So let’s bring this all back around. Are disciplined people happier and more successful? Study upon study shows that it’s true.

But at the very least, you can use the virtue of discipline in your own life to FINALLY reach your goals, whatever they may be.

So tell me… what’s your current BIG goal? Let me know in the comments below.

Don’t have one yet? Then you MUST watch this 2-minute video… and then read my last 3 sentences below the video.

After watching this, I bet you feel so motivated and fired up for life and big goals and dreams that you feel like you can take on the world!

But you know that won’t last, right? So right now – in this moment – take the 5 tips you learned above on how to become insanely disciplined and go write out your #1 goal, make a plan, and set up a SYSTEM so you can’t lose.

YOU’RE WORTH IT.

P.S. Yes, I joined a Network Marketing company! Adding another stream of income to my blog 😉 LOVE network marketing for us busy mom bloggers, so let me know if you have any questions about it!

How To Work From Home As An Arbonne Consultant

How To Work From Home As An Arbonne Consultant

how to make money arbonneAre you a busy mama who wants to be able to work from home in the nooks and crannies of your day? Then read on, mama, this one might be for you.

I love Network Marketing as a work-from-home option for busy moms because it offers the ability to start a home-based business with a flexible schedule, minimal investment, and no experience (choosing the right upline for you is important, though… read more about this below).

As for how to work from home and make money with Arbonne, there are a few things to consider, and we’ll talk all about it in this article so you can make an informed decision!

Here’s a quick overview of what we’ll cover:

  • What is Arbonne?
  • How to Make Money as an Arbonne Independent Consultant
  • Arbonne Perks & Benefits
  • Why I Joined Arbonne (and who I am!)
  • What’s included in the $49 Arbonne Consultant Welcome Kit?
  • How to Sign Up as an Arbonne Independent Consultant

What Is Arbonne?

Arbonne is a health, wellness and beauty brand that has been in business for over 40 years. They are well-known for their “Pure, Safe and Beneficial” ingredient policy, planet-friendly product and packaging commitment, and inclusive and inspiring company culture.

All Arbonne products are:

✔️Cruelty-free
✔️100% Vegan
✔️Certified Gluten-free
✔️Non-GMO Project Verified
✔️Dairy-free
✔️Soy-free
✔️Non-toxic
✔️Free of over 2,000 harmful ingredients (they have a stricter ingredient policy than the European Union, which is impressive!)

Arbonne products include:

✔️30 Days to Healthy Living (clean eating “easy button” program)
✔️Plant-based nutrition supplements like energy fizz sticks and protein powder
✔️Botanically-based anti-aging skincare for women & men
✔️Detox Bath & Body Spa Line
✔️Botanically-based makeup
✔️Sports nutrition
✔️Baby Care bath & body line

You can view the entire catalog online right here (over 400 products). Learn more by clicking here, then clicking “About Arbonne” in the top right corner.

How to Make Money and Work From Home with Arbonne

In a nutshell, you can make money working from home with Arbonne by earning a commission on any products sold through your personal website link (this is included when you sign up as a consultant). You don’t need to carry any inventory or sell a certain amount every month  – you ALWAYS earn commission on your personal sales as an Independent Consultant, no minimums required.

In addition, you can scale your income up big time and leverage your time by growing a team of consultants for helping others do the same. When you do this, you can earn bonuses and overrides as you help your team become successful as well. This is where the true power of Network Marketing lies! When you help others become successful, YOU become even more successful than you could be on your own. With that said, some people are not interested in growing a team, and just want to focus on personal sales, and that’s okay too! Once you sign up to become a consultant, it’s YOUR business and you get to run it however you want 🙂

The moment you start your Arbonne business you have an entire team of positive, successful people with a vested interest in seeing you succeed as fast as possible. If you start to see success early on, the momentum will carry you on and fuel your continued business growth. You can build your business offline (traditional way) or online (internet marketing, blogging & social media).

With a consumable product line that’s in high demand, it’s easy to make sales without being “salesy”. (Take special note of the word “consumable” in that last sentence… we’ll talk about how important that is in just a minute.)

As an Arbonne consultant, you make money in four ways:

1. Through your own direct sales. 35% commission on retail sales through your website and 15% commission on Preferred Client sales. Paid weekly.

2. Override commissions through your team. As you teach and train others to work their own Arbonne business, you earn commission from your team sales as well. The more people you help, the more you earn. Paid monthly.

3. Cash bonuses at every level. You are eligible to earn additional cash bonuses at every level – from Consultant to National Vice President, which are paid monthly.

4. Mercedes Benz Cash Bonus Program. When you promote to Regional and National Vice President, Arbonne gives you a generous cash bonus to pay for a white Mercedes Benz of your choice.

Here is a bit of information about Arbonne’s generous compensation plan:

It costs $49 to become an Arbonne Independent Consultant, plus the cost of whatever products you want to start out with. The $49 covers the cost of your personal website plus welcome kit.

arbonne welcome kit $49

My personal recommendations for which products to start with:

  • The 30-Days to Healthy Living Set (this is very popular, so it’s a good idea to have personal experience with at least this)
  • One skincare set (AgeWell is our best-seller in skincare)
  • “Ready in Five” makeup set (daily makeup routine, simplified)
  • Rescue and Renew spa line (ideal for self care and rejuvenation)
  • A la carte products that you know you’ll use and be able to easily recommend or share about

Of course, you will need to decide what is best based on your budget and how “all in” you are when you start. If you just want to “dip your toes in and test the waters”, then perhaps just starting with the 30-Day Healthy Living Set in enough. But if you want to jump in with both feet and get to a full-time income asap, it will be in your best interest to use and share as much as possible.

This is your business, YOU get to decide 🙂

Also, there are no monthly fees, inventory requirements, minimum sales requirements or hidden start up costs.

You automatically get 35% – 50% off all product, plus a revenue kick-back once you reach the first level of management since you’re ordering from your own personal online store! You can become a consultant just to purchase product for yourself and get your kick-back, which is a great option if you’re already in love with the products and want to get the best deal.

OR you can sign up with the mindset to start your own business and make money from home! The income potential is HUGE (this takes work and is not promised to everyone… your income is determined on how you work your business. Please refer to https://earnings.arbonne.com/).

Read Next: 87 Best Consumable Product Network Marketing Companies For Moms

My Story – Why I Became an Arbonne Consultant

I wanted to share a bit with you about my journey and the reason I decided to write this post. Ever since I became a consultant myself, I get a TON of questions about the business and how to get started!

The truth is, I started my Arbonne “business” simply because I really admired the women who first told me about it. I had been using the botanically-based products myself for about 6 months, but I was already really busy as a stay-at-home-mom of 4 young kids (2 still in diapers) as well as running my own blog… I couldn’t fathom adding any more to my already crazy schedule! But they assured me that this was the kind of business that I could fit into the “nooks and crannies” of my day, so I decided to give it a go.

Plus, I was at a place in my life where I was actively pursuing personal development, and I knew that one of the best ways to increase my own success was to surround myself with ambitious, successful people.

(Blogging is great for that too, but can get pretty lonely behind a computer screen! Arbonne gave me real-life friends that I am so so SO grateful for ❤).

My intention was to just do the business casually to earn a side income and I wasn’t really thinking about pursuing the business in a serious way. But once I jumped in I was immediately surrounded by an army of positive, supportive, ambitious go-getters and I saw how simple it was to go big if I had the right mindset. I was completely inspired to action!
become arbonne consultant

Arbonne Consultant Perks and Benefits

So you know why I became an Arbonne consultant, but you may be wondering if it’s right for you and some of the benefits. Here are a few key points for you to consider when making your decision:

  • You don’t need to carry ANY inventory. You get your own website that people can buy directly from.
  • You can start making a profit in your first month if you have the right guidance (see below)
  • It’s a consumable product line. This means the products in the Arbonne line are things people already use in their day-to-day life and will NEED again and again (this is business 101 and SO important for effortless ongoing sales)!
  • It’s a GLOBAL business operating in 7 different countries. This means that even when you’re sleeping, people in Australia can be buying from your website.
  • You get built-in business training and support from your sponsor so you’re not wasting time or “guessing” at how to grow your business
  • Personal growth and friends! It can be really hard to make friends if you’re a stay-at-home-mom or a mom who’s busy working outside the home. Arbonne is a short-cut to making deep friendships with people who will lift you up, encourage you and support you (this is the #1 reason I joined).
  • You can truly fit it into the little pockets of time in your day (how much time do you spend scrolling Facebook or watching TV? Be honest! You can start building your business during that time instead.)
  • You can earn lots of FREE stuff like products, cars and vacations (no joke)
  • It’s only $49 to get started! You can start your own business for half the cost of your Amazon Prime membership.

My first month as a consultant I was already in qualification to get my first promotion without being salesy or begging my friends or family for sales! (If you’re interested or curious about becoming an Arbonne Consultant and working from home, see below for a peek into the strategies I use).

Do You Love Arbonne Freebies & Fun?? We created a private Facebook Group, Arbonne Glow Getters, (be sure to mention my name: Candis Hidalgo, when asked who referred you) where we do Arbonne giveaways, sales and promos, and share health & beauty tips, tricks and resources! >>> Come join the fun!

If you have the right guidance and support, working from home as an Arbonne Consultant can be extremely fun and rewarding! When you join my team, you jump right into a business that has systems in place for making money your first month in. You will need to do the work of course, but if you follow our training then it is simple and fun. Download my free checklist below which has tons of ideas and can be a “roadmap” for earning profit in your first month:
become arbonne consultant

I share tons of tips for making sales with “attraction marketing”, blogging, social media, email marketing and much more with the peeps on my team, as well as personal guidance for how to implement everything. I share step-by-step training for growing your business offline or online so you can choose which way suits you best (or mix ’em up). I’d love to have you on my team if you feel like we’d be a good fit for each other! If so, just follow the steps below to get signed up and start selling in 5 minutes!:

How to Become an Arbonne Consultant

Step #1:

  • Go to my website and click the green button that says “Start Earning” (you should see my picture  and name – Candis Hidalgo – at the top of the page, but if not just enter my consultant ID to make sure you get on  my team (#24360472). You’ll enter your email address and personal details in the next few steps.

    Start here to sign up as an Arbonne Independent Consultant

  • The sign up process will take you through a few more steps, then ask you to choose a start-up order. You aren’t required to purchase any products to start your business! All you need is the “New Independent Consultant Registration” ($49), which comes with information on how to get your business started. If you’d like to set yourself up strong for doing demos regularly (which can be very profitable), then it’s a good idea to choose one of the Value Packs at this time. But again, that is totally optional. Finalize your sign up by clicking through the next steps.

    Just $49 to start your business. Other value packs are optional!

Step #2:

Shoot me an email at hi@smartmomblogger.com and say hey! Let me know you just signed up and I’ll get you plugged in. We have a private Facebook training and support group and Voxer group for our team where you get access to me and the rest of our team and can learn how to grow your business, make sales and leverage online marketing and blogging so you can grow your business and make money without begging or spamming people 😉

I can’t wait to chat with you about your goals and where you want to take your business!

LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING AN ARBONNE CONSULTANT
Network Marketing Secrets Book Russell Brunson ClickFunnels

Network Marketing Secrets Book Russell Brunson ClickFunnels

Russell Brunson’s much-anticipated “Network Marketing Secrets” book is finally here!

GET YOUR FREE COPY HERE!!

He’s teased about it on his YouTube channel and written an extensive guide about how to grow your network marketing business online. The promise goes like this:

Network Marketing Secrets:

“How to Use Sales Funnels To Grow Your Network Marketing Team…

So You Only Have To Talk To People Who Are SO SUPER INTERESTED In What You’re Selling That They Actually Raise Their Hands And ASK You To Sign Them Up!” 

In the book, he takes you through the “3 Lost Funnels” of Network Marketing and how to use them ONLINE to grow your business and create residual income on autopilot.

BUT BEFORE you read that…

… the best way to fully prepare to take fast action and explode your Network Marketing business once the book launches is by reading his Expert Secrets book first! It’s the same foundational marketing principles that will be shared in Network Marketing Secrets and can be applied to your business starting TODAY.

The best part is, you can get it for free for a limited time (just pay S&H) right here. PLUS, once you get the Expert Secrets book, you’ll automatically be on the waiting list to receive notification once the much anticipated Network Marketing Secrets book drops!

In fact, people are ALREADY USING the Expert Secrets book to grow their network marketing businesses like crazy! Read Jill’s story below…

Jill Christensen

“Network Marketing Expert”

“I recommend Expert Secrets to all my network marketing students”

Jill teaches network marketers how to generate leads online.

She started in the network marketing industry as a young stay-at-home mom with two little boys.

She had always been entrepreneurial since childhood. But she thought she had to choose between babies and business.

She decided to stay at home with the kids but found herself missing being an entrepreneur. One day, a network marketing opportunity fell in her lap and she decided to go for it.

She started seeing some early success but soon ran into difficulties. Her business was taking her away from home on the weekends and she hated having to leave her children behind.

She realized that what she was doing was not helping her family… it was taking her away from her family.

This drove her to try to generate leads online. After a couple years of studying and implementing, she found something that worked.

Today, she coaches other moms in the network marketing industry on how to generate leads online so they can succeed in business and without having to sacrifice time with family.

She uses the Perfect Webinar and other strategies found in Expert Secrets to grow her coaching business.

The Popular Blog Post Formula: How to Write a Blog Post That Gets Shared

The Popular Blog Post Formula: How to Write a Blog Post That Gets Shared

Love this! How to write a popular blog post every time - the formula makes it so easy to remember!The babies are finally down for a nap, you just poured yourself a piping hot cup of coffee, you settle into your chair, open up your content calendar and start typing away to create your next viral blog post.

But after a few words in, you stop. Then delete what you just wrote. Then let your mind wander in search of some inspiration for how to start and what you want to actually say in the post.

Then you check Facebook… or worse yet, Pinterest. And we all know what happens after that, don’t we?

I always teach people to make sure they’re blogging about things that can help their audience solve a problem or reach a goal. This is a surefire way to make sure your audience stays interested in what you have to say.

Related: Don’t Start a Blog Before Answering These 2 Questions

And there’s a simple formula you can follow to make sure you’re writing posts that your readers can’t get enough of and want to come back for again and again… viral blog posts.

This method for how to write popular blog posts comes from Ruth Soukup, New York Times Bestselling Author and owner of the popular blog, Living Well Spending Less.

In her free blogging video series, Blogging Made Simple, she shares the writing method she used to catapult her own blog to epic success.

You see, Ruth started her blog simply as a way to keep herself accountable to her new family budget. As she got deeper into this whole “blogging thing” she realized that she absolutely loved it and wanted to dedicate herself to making it grow.

But that was easier said than done. She started comparing herself to other bloggers that were farther along than she was and felt like she could never catch up.

She became obsessed with learning about how to grow her blog traffic and turn her blog into a success.

And that’s exactly what she did. Through this process, she developed a blog posting method that catapulted her blog to epic status.

She calls it the F.O.C.U.S. method, and it’s quite brilliant.

Watch This: Ruth dives deep into all of this and more in her free video series, “Blogging Made Simple”. It’s honestly the simplest and smartest way I’ve heard for creating a blog that people want to read and want to share.

F IS FOR FIRST IMPRESSION

In this age of busyness, we all know that we have about 3 seconds to grab someone’s attention with our post before they’re off looking for something else. But how do you do this?

The First Impression, or title, of your post is the first thing people see, and it’s got to be magnetic.

Your title must grab your readers’ attention and let them know right away what the benefit will be to them for reading.

As Ruth says in her free training: “Don’t ever underestimate the importance of your title. It will make or break your post.”

O IS FOR OPENING

If you’ve succeeded at winning your reader’s attention with your awesome title, then you better make sure your opening paragraph is just as powerful. In writing, this is often called “the hook”.

It should set the stage for your Central Idea (see next point) and draw the reader in for more.

Ruth suggests these tips for using in your Opening:

  • An interesting illustration (this is what I used in my opening to this post)
  • A bold statement of fact
  • Ask a hypothetical question
  • Share a startling statistic

C IS FOR CENTRAL IDEA

If you’ve gotten your reader this far, congrats! You’re well on your way to having learned how to write popular blog posts that get comments and shares.

But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. You still need to craft the heart of your post: your Central Idea.

You need to have JUST ONE central idea, and it should be either instructive or influential in order to make an impact.

Remember, your reader is interested in the BENEFIT TO THEMSELVES, so make sure your Central Idea clearly conveys that. Watch this for specific examples on how to do this.

U IS FOR USEFUL LOGIC AND ILLUSTRATIONS

The “U” is what Ruth calls the “meat” of your post, and it’s what makes your post come alive and actually be interesting to read!

After all, no one wants just bland information that’s going to put them to sleep.

You need to include bullet points with interesting facts, statistics, images/graphics and personal illustrations that support your main Central Idea. Don’t expect your readers to “just get it”… paint a picture and your readers will understand your message on a deeper level!

S IS FOR STRONG CONCLUSION

Watch This: Ruth dives deep into all of this and more in her free video series, “Blogging Made Simple”. It’s honestly the simplest and smartest way I’ve heard for creating a blog that people want to read and want to share.

The last thing you want to do after taking your reader through an epic post is to leave them hanging out to dry!

Be sure to make your conclusion work for you and take the time to wrap the post up in a nice tidy bow. Reiterate your main points and remind them of the key benefits that were shared. This is also a great place to have a “call-to-action”, which basically just means giving your reader a “next step” to take once they’ve finished reading. Is it to share your article on social media? Sign up for your email list? Download a worksheet related to the post? Chat in the comments? Be sure to lead your readers on an intentional journey to start building a relationship.

When all is said and done, you want your blog to be a success. We all do. But the old Field of Dreams mantra “If you build it, they will come” just doesn’t cut it when it comes to blogging.

You need to give your audience a compelling reason to read your posts and come back for more again and again and the F.O.C.U.S. method for writing blog posts is the best way to do just that. Give a great First Impression, Open strong, share a clear Central Idea, include Useful examples, and finish Strong. It works like magic every time 🙂

Want to Pin this post for later or share it on Facebook? Use the handy-dandy share buttons on the side or bottom of this post. ❤

Yours Free: 10 Steps to Take When Your Blog Post Goes Viral

How To Use Tailwind Tribes: The Epic Guide For Bloggers

How To Use Tailwind Tribes: The Epic Guide For Bloggers

She shows how to use Tailwind Tribes to get traffic to your blog. Step-by-step instructions and screenshots... need to do this asap on my blog! Pin for later.As a busy mom who’s running a family and a blog, you know how important it is to make the best use of your time. There’s always so much to do, it seems virtually impossible to get it all done.

So when it comes to using social media for getting traffic to your blog, being ruthlessly efficient is a must (we’ve all been down that Facebook and Pinterest black hole where entire hours disappear in seconds)!

I am still learning the ins and outs of using social media to help me grow my blog, but have had huge success with using Tailwind Tribes to get blog traffic from Pinterest.

I thought I would share my Epic Guid on how to use Tailwind Tribes to help you get started and find your way around the inside of the Tribes dashboard so you can get your own surge of blog traffic!

If you’ve been wanting to jump on Pinterest to help you grow your blog, you’re definitely in the right place. I am going to walk you through step-by-step on how to get started.

While I don’t have any secret Pinterest traffic secrets to share, I can say that this guide will help you understand how to get started using the Tailwind Tribes.

I know what you’re thinking: another tool that’s going to cost me money.

But if you’re serious about turning your blog into a business, then you know that it’s impossible to do everything for free.

The great thing is that you can use the power of Pinterest and Tailwind Tribes to help you grow your blog, and once you have your blog profit plan in place, the boatloads of traffic are going to pay you back 10 times over.

How To Use Tailwind Tribes to Grow Your Blog

So ask yourself, do you want to make your life easier? If you understand that all business owners have to spend on their business, then you’re in the right place. I am going to show you how I use Pinterest to grow my blog.

Now if you’re new to Pinterest, you may not know what Tailwind is. It’s nothing more than an automated scheduler. It costs $10 per month or you can save by paying for the annual subscription. I went ahead and purchased the annual subscription because I love saving money.

YOU CAN TRY TAILWIND FOR FREE >>> (but you’ll probably want to go “all in” after reading the rest of this post!)

Tailwind has helped hundreds of bloggers make better use of Pinterest, without having to spend hours online. As bloggers who don’t have a lot of free time, it’s important for us to know which tools will actually help us grow our blogs without needlessly wasting hours on something that can be done in minutes.

As bloggers, it’s important to be able to get traffic to our blogs. Without traffic, no one is going to sign up for your email list, buy your products and services or click on your affiliate links.

Your Own Personal Virtual Assistant

Most successful bloggers hire virtual assistants for all those repetitive tasks. They no longer have to worry about wasting times on tasks such as; finding pins to share, creating pins, responding to emails, creating book covers and etc… You know those repetitive tasks that take time away from our money making tasks.

Unfortunately, as a new blogger, when you start your blog, you’ll have to do everything yourself. Most of us don’t have the money to hire our own virtual assistants. This is where Tailwind comes in handy. While you may not be able to hire a human virtual assistant, this tool will help you automate your Pinterest efforts.

I couldn’t imagine trying to do everything it does manually. I don’t have enough time in the day to do it all by myself.

How to Make the Most From Tailwind

Tailwind offers a 30-day free trial and you’ll be tempted to start with that. However, I recommend signing up for their annual subscription. They will give you a discount for doing so and you’ll be able to start pinning as many pins as you want.

Once you sign up, head on over to your dashboard. I recommend taking some time to watch the Tailwind training videos. You’ll find it inside of your dashboard.

Tailwind training videos

Once you’ve watched the videos, it’s time to start finding the pins to schedule. I recommend scheduling at least 30-60 pins per day.

Of course, everyone’s opinion will vary on this, the best thing you can do is test things out to see what number of pins is your sweet spot.

Join Tailwind Tribes

One of the reasons that I love using Tailwind and decided to keep using it even when I started with Board Booster is because of the Tribes feature. If you don’t know about Tailwind tribes, read this. I recommend taking the time to join as many tribes as possible. Find tribes that your blog will fit into, here’s a list of 10 tribes you can join right now.

Editor’s Note: Some were reporting difficulty joining the Tribes via the original links in this post. I have contacted Tailwind support and identified the problem, so all of the links should now be working properly. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding 🙂

  1. Striving Bloggers
  2. Blogging Friends Pins
  3. Pinterest Friends
  4. Milspouse Bloggers
  5. Bloggers Chalkboard
  6. Blogging Tips
  7. Small Business
  8. Christian Bloggers-Faith
  9. Home Design & DIY
  10. Practical Mommy Lifestyle

These are just a few of the Pinterest tribe groups you can join. There are literally hundreds of Tribes available.

To find even more Tribes: Google is your friend! A simple search for “Tailwind Tribes for bloggers” will uncover boatloads of Tribes in every niche. Join as many as possible!

Before You Add Your Pins to the Tribes

I know you’re going to be extremely excited about getting started using the awesome Tribes feature in Pinterest. However, every Tribe is different. They all have their own rules, so you want to make sure that you take the time to read their rules.

Most Tribes will require that you pin at least 1 pin for each pin you submit to the group. This means that before you start submitting your own pins, you need to take the time to share the other member’s pins. I recommend taking the time to share other people’s pins before adding your own pins.

The last thing you want to do is break the rules and get kicked out. Plus, it’s not hard to share other people’s pins.

Adding Your Pins to The Tribes

Once you’ve shared some of the tribe member’s pins and have a reserve of shares built up, it’s time to start adding your own pins. After all, you want people to share your pins too.

Head on over to your Tailwind dashboard again and click on published pins. This is where you’re going to find the pins from your own blog. I submit all my published pins from my own blog to all the tribes.

published pins

Adding Your Pins to the Tribes from Tailwind

Once you’re inside of your published pins on Tailwind, you’ll see all the pins from your own blog. I start from the top and work my way down to add them to the group.

On the far right, you’ll see a button 3 buttons, click on the “add to tribes button.” This will bring up all the tribes that you are a member of.

adding your pins to the tribes

A box will popup that lists all the Tribes you are a member of. You’ll notice that a little red caution icon appears next to the Tribes that your pin has already been added to. You never want to add duplicate pins to any Tribe. Once you’ve added the pin to the tribe you’ll notice that Tailwind will inform you that the pin has been added successfully.

added to tribes

You can add as many pins as you want to, as long as you’ve met the sharing ratio guidelines. Most tribes have a certain limit of pins you can share on a daily basis. They set a limit so you won’t flood their members with a bunch of new pins. If there’s a limit, you can always keep sharing on a daily basis, until you submit all your pins.

Adding Your Pins to the Tribes from Pinterest

You may want to add your pins to the Tribes from inside of your Pinterest account. It’s really easy to do, just follow along. Log into your Pinterest account and find the pin your want to add.

Click on the schedule button, instead of clicking on the red save button.

Tailwind scheduler

Once you do that you’ll be taken to the Tailwind scheduler. On this screen, you can add the pin to any of the Tribes.

Click on “add to tribes” and find the tribe you want to submit your pin to.

add to tribes

This will add your pins to the Tribes board. You can also use this method if you want to add pins directly from your blog to the tribes. If you want people to share your pins on Pinterest, you may want to read which social sharing plugin makes it easy to get more shares.

How to Find Your Pins In Your Dashboard

I personally found it a little confusing at first to find my pins inside the Tribe dashboard. It’s NOT hard and once you get a quick tour of where to find your pins, you’ll be a Pinterest Tribe champion.

When you’re inside of your Tribe dashboard, you’ll see these tabs.

tribe dashboard

Let’s run through all these tabs so you’ll have a better understanding of what each one means.

  1. All: These are all the pins inside of the tribe. In this tab, you’ll find all the pins of every member in the Tribe.
  2. New: These are the new pins that have been added recently.
  3. Yours: These are your pins that you’ve added and people are sharing.
  4. Shared: In this tab, you’ll see all the pins that you’ve shared from that tribe.
  5. Skipped: This tab contains pins that you’ve skipped. For instance, if you are constantly seeing pins that you know you’ll never share because the pins won’t fit on any of your boards, you can stick those pins in the skipped tab.

The Tribe Members

You’ll also be able to see all the Tribe members inside of the dashboard. Pinterest will also give you some stats about your pins.

tribe members

Let me run through what each of these mean so you have a better understanding of it.

  1. Re-shares: This is the number of times that your tribe mates have shared your pins. If you’re not getting any shares, it may be because your pins are not high quality.
  2. Re-pins: These numbers indicate how many people are re-sharing your content.
  3. Reach: This number represents the number of potential impressions from all the re-shares.

If you’d like a more in-depth explanation of what these tabs mean, read this.

It’s important to create awesome looking images people want to share. Learn how to create captivating images for Pinterest.

Why Are My Pins Showing Up As Drafts

When you add pins to your Tailwind Tribes and aren’t scheduling on one of your own boards, you may notice that your pin will show up as a draft. I had this happen to some of my pins and freaked out. People were still sharing the pins, but they said draft.

The easiest thing to do to remove the draft label is to head on over to your drafts inside of Tailwind and delete the draft that was created. Tailwind automatically creates a draft of your pins, if you don’t add them to any of your boards when adding them to tribes.

Leaving Tribes

The main purpose of joining tribes is for the traffic benefit. We want other people to share our pins because we are sharing their pins. It’s kind of like you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back.

However, if you’re not getting enough shares or don’t feel like the Tribe is worth your time, you may want to consider leaving. When I first got started with Tailwind Tribes, I was scared to join a Tribe. I thought what if I join and I decide that I don’t want to stay.

I finally figured out how to do it and the best part is that it’s extremely easy to do. So don’t be afraid to join tribes to see if they will work out. If they don’t you can always leave.

Let me walk you through the process, don’t feel like you have to stay in a Tribe if it’s not meeting your standards. It’s extremely easy to leave and you won’t feel bad.

Log into Tailwind and head on over to the tribe that you want to leave. Scroll down to all the members section of the group.

Find your personal member info.
leave tribe

Once you find yourself on the members dashboard, place your cursor on it. You will see two options, chat and leave the tribe. Click leave tribe.

You’ll see a toolbox that pops up and asks you if you are sure you want to leave the tribe. You’ll also be notified that any content you’ve added to the tribe will be removed.

Click on the leave tribe button once you’re positive you want to leave. Now you’re no longer a member of that tribe.

Final Take Away

I suggest setting aside some time this weekend to get started with Tailwind. Join some of the Tailwind Tribes from above or find some other ones online.

Start sharing other people’s content and don’t forget to add your own content into the tribes so they’ll share your pins. Start learning as much as you can about Tailwind to get the best bang for your buck.

Once you start making use of Tailwind and the tribes, you’ll realize how much free time you have for other productive tasks like guest posting on Candis’s blog to help you grow your blog.

A Word of Warning

You’re going to realize that after a couple months your Pinterest traffic is going to start growing. You might even be tempted to ditch all your other traffic generating methods.

However, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket. While Pinterest is fun and can definitely be a huge game-changer it’s important to find other traffic methods as well.

Susan Velez is helping people start, grow and monetize their passions through blogging. She loves helping people with the techie side of blogging sign up for her FREE 7 day WordPress Course at susanvelez.com

How To Make an Online Quiz To Grow Your Email List

How To Make an Online Quiz To Grow Your Email List

I've been seeing quizzes everywhere! Here's how to create an online quiz to grow your email list (step-by-step with examples). Pin for later or click through to read the full article right now.You’ve seen them, you’ve taken them, you’ve loved them and loathed them.

It’s that BuzzFeed style quiz that has taken over your Facebook newsfeed and promises to tell you what kind of Disney Princess you are if you’ll just answer a few short questions about your coffee preferences.

They reel you in with the carrot of revealing something about your personality or intelligence, and before you know it you’ve not only taken the quiz in its entirety but are also now sharing your results on social media.

It’s viral marketing at it’s best, and companies, entrepreneurs, and bloggers are using this strategy to grow their email lists like crazy.

Take the one I created to see how it works: “What Type of Mom Blogger Are You, Actually?”

This article on Forbes explains why online quizzes are so effective:

“If you want a lot of people to share something online, there has to be something personal, interesting, or fun about it… Most people love reading and hearing about themselves.

 

A quiz can offer that same satisfaction of speaking to something about who the reader is, but it does it in a way that offers instant gratification. A person on Facebook can do a 10-question quiz and see a result within a couple of minutes. At that point, they’re excited and it’s easy to coax them into sharing the link to see what kinds of results their friends get.”

You’ve heard you need to build your email list with freebies and checklists and resource files. And those can work great!

But if you’re looking to try something a bit more fun and “out-of-the-box” that will both delight your audience and grow your email list at the same time, then I think you’re going to love creating an online quiz for your blog.

I created my first quiz last month and it was so much fun! Well, not fun like having crazy dance parties with your kids, but wayyy more fun than creating ebooks.

Want To Create Your Own Quiz Right Now?

You can begin creating your quizzes immediately with an online quiz creator like Interact (this is the one I used). They have a fantastic tutorial and a bunch of examples and tips to help you create an awesome quiz.

How To Create an Online Quiz that Grows Your Blog Email Subscribers

When I first heard about using online quizzes as a marketing strategy and list building tactic I was intrigued and excited to try it but, having a bazillion things on my blogging to-do list already, filed it away on my “someday” list of things to try.

Then I came across this super-easy online quiz builder so I had to give it a go. All in all, it took me a few hours to brainstorm, create and publish my quiz. Here’s how I did it:

Step #1: Create Quiz Title, Questions & Answers

When you’re thinking about what type of online quiz to create, try to keep these three things in mind:

1. It should be enticing and fun for your ideal readers

Make sure you create a “clickable” title and cover image that piques your ideal reader’s interest and makes them want to click. Here’s a screenshot of my quiz, and the simple addition of the word “actually” to make it pop a bit more.

If you miss the mark on the title then your quiz is DOA (as is also the case with your blog post titles!), so spend time brainstorming and coming up with one that’s great.

2. It should give your readers a sense of what your blog is about and why they should care

The questions and answers inside your quiz are the heart of the quiz. They should be related to your blog topic and also lead the reader to take the ideal next step (sign up to your email list).

The Interact quiz builder I used makes it really easy to set up questions and answers. Their quiz builder guides you through adding questions and multiple choice answers. You can also add pictures to spice things up (they have a bunch you can choose from for free).

3. It should get them to sign up to your email list

At this point, you’ve had fun creating a quiz that will delight your readers, but don’t forget about your ultimate objective of getting email subscribers! You can set it up so that people will have to give you their email address in order to see their results.

Pro Tip: Add a “freebie” offer at the end of the quiz to increase conversions. When I did this, it increased my email sign ups dramatically! The first week I promoted the quiz I got 36 new subscribers, which I was happy with. But after adding the freebie incentive, my promotion efforts after the second week increased 72%!

The quiz builder integrates with most major email service providers (like MailChimp, ConvertKit, Aweber and many more), so connecting this with your email list is a breeze.

Step #2: Create Results

This is the part I was most skeptical about because a lot of the quizzes I’ve taken online seem to have such random answers. Like the one I recently took on BuzzFeed titled, “Build A Starbucks Frappuccino And We’ll Tell You How Many Kids You’ll Have”… it said I had one. Ummmm, not even close.

And even though I’d set up my questions and answers with specific results in mind, I was curious as to how the quiz builder would make it all work. Thankfully, it was really easy! They have a little tool that lets you easily correlate the answers with your desired result.

Step #3: Publish & Promote!

As I mentioned above, the entire setup – from brainstorming to creating all of the content – took me a few hours to complete. But I wasn’t done yet! Just like writing blog posts or any other type of content, you need to promote it to get the word out and readers in.

The quiz builder I used has a “viral” share feature built in so people are automatically prompted to share their results once they’ve completed the quiz. This was a HUGE help! But to get the ball rolling, I also:

  • Posted in Facebook blogging groups on promo days
  • Created a Pin image and pinned to relevant group boards on Pinterest
  • Emailed my list (Note: Even though these readers are already on my list, thanks to the “viral” aspect of the quiz, if they share their results on social media then that means more free traffic to my quiz!)

Here are a few things I plan to try going forward:

  • Facebook ads
  • Add a link to the quiz in my main menu
  • Add the quiz to relevant blog posts

Important Note: Don’t forget to welcome your new email subscribers with a strategic welcome email sequence. This will help ensure that your readers not only become subscribers, but also true fans that want to hear from you again and again.

Trying to build your blog email list can sometimes feel like a chore. Somewhere between daunting downloads and overdone ebooks, we’ve lost some of the FUN in growing our blogs! If you’re feeling stuck – either from boredom or lack of results – I think you’re going to love creating an online quiz for your blog.

It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and if you keep these three tips in mind (from Step #1 above) then you’ll have set the foundation for a winning quiz that both delights your audience and grows your email list like whoa 🙂

❤ If you enjoyed this post, will you please share it on social media? That 5-second gesture goes a long way to support my blog. Thank you! ❤

Free Resource Guide: 8 Steps to a Money-Making Mom Blog in Just 2 Hours a Day

Everything you need to know, and in what order, to start and grow your own money-making blog in just 2 hours a day.