Category: Personal Branding

How to Become a 21st-Century CEO

Steven on October 18, 2022

No matter what you do, where you’re located, and which industry you’re in, there’s just one thing you have to do if you want your company to grow and keep getting more and more successful – you need to be the best CEO you can be. This means being completely in charge of all aspects of your business, from hiring and managing your employees to negotiating with your business partners, and you need to become the most efficient leader you can become. Doing these things is never easy, and you’ll need to spend a lot of time learning different tricks, ideas, methods, and techniques that might help you reach the level you’re looking for. In case you’re looking for new different leadership ideas as well but you’re not sure how here are a few tips for new-age business leaders.

Be there for your staff

Back in the day, people used to spend decades working in a company without ever meeting the people running them. This happened because executives were unknown people who spent their time running the company instead of hanging out with their employees. And even though this approach made them professional and successful, it also meant that the people working for them had no relationship with their superiors – and that’s not the way to go if you want to be a modern CEO.

So, if you want to become the best executive in the world, you need to know every single person you employ and form a close connection with them. This doesn’t mean that you need to be friends with them – moreover, you should never be friends, but you need to be friendly – but you have to spend time together. This way, you’ll show them that you care for them and wish them to bring their A-game to the office every single day, but it’s also going to help you learn more about the way your company works from the inside out.

Be punctual

Whether you’re about to meet with your business partners, potential investors, or your employees, you need to be punctual and be there on time. If you’re late, you’ll show everyone around you that you’re one of those people who aren’t to be trusted, and that’s not the way to act if you want to gain their trust and respect.

Instead, you need to be there before everyone else, especially if you’re about to welcome a group of associates into your office. And in case you’re going to a meeting somewhere else, you have to arrive on time, even though that might not be that simple at all times. This is why you might think about finding a corporate chauffeur who will make sure that you’re always where you need to be. This way, you’ll never be late and you’ll be able to impress everyone around you, which will help you become a better CEO than you’ve ever been.

Represent your brand

Running a company and being a great CEO means being in touch with your business as much as possible. What this means is that you need to become the face of your company and represent your brand everywhere you go and whatever you do. This is something most modern business owners don’t do in this day and age, but you need to realize that your personal identity and your brand identity are two connected items.

Luckily, what you need to do is quite simple – just place your face wherever you can. From your website to your billboards and everywhere in between, you need to use a chance to remind all those people around the world who you are, what you do, and why you deserve their trust and money. And once you start doing that, you’ll start noticing changes in no time at all and using your brand image as often as you can.

Always keep learning

If you want to become the best CEO out there, you need to keep learning new things at all times. Different CEOs have different levels of knowledge and different college degrees, and you can become a business owner even without formal knowledge, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop learning after you start running a business. On the contrary, only if you’re ready to make an extra effort will you be able to take your company to the next level.

Still, before you do that, you need to do one more thing – figure out what you want to learn. Some entrepreneurs love boosting their business skills, others focus on their language skills, and some love learning a bit more about technological updates and improvements. So, whatever you do and whichever approach you go for, just keep in mind that you have to stay focused and motivated, and you’ll soon find a way to get some new knowledge every single day.

Becoming a modern CEO might not be the easiest thing in the world, but that doesn’t mean that doing this is impossible. On the contrary, you have to learn a bit more about these techniques and start using them in reality, and once you do that, you’ll notice positive changes straight away!

Personal Branding

Small Changes That Will Have a Big Impact on Health and Wellbeing in Your Office

Steven on August 18, 2022

If you employ a team, the health and well-being of everyone in your office should be incredibly important to you. Keeping your staff healthy and happy is a caring and considerate thing to do, but it can also benefit your business.

While you can’t control what your employees do outside of work, there are some very simple changes that you can make in the office that can have a positive effect on everyone’s health and well-being.

Why You Should Find Ways to Improve Health and Wellbeing in Your Office

A healthy and happy team will stick around, lowering employee turnover and increasing loyalty. They’ll work more productively getting more done in the time they are in the office. Being happy also means that they’ll be less stressed out, and more comfortable and the quality of their work will improve. A healthy staff is also less likely to take time off sick, which can be costly for your business.

Below is a look at some of the simple changes that you can make in your office, which will improve the health and well-being of everyone who works there.

Invest in The Right Office Chairs

We sit on office chairs for a massive amount of our time at work. Yet so often they are cheap, uncomfortable, and offer no support. Over time, this can lead to back pain, neck stiffness, and headaches, and no one works their best when they are uncomfortable.

Investing in supportive office chairs, but also considering each individual’s specific needs and remembering that the same chair won’t suit everyone, is one of the best things that you can do for your team.

Consider an Ergonomic Desk Setup

Ergonomics is the art of fitting an office to a user’s needs. The office furniture should offer support and reduce discomfort. Small things like keyboard height to reduce the risk of wrist pain are good ergonomics. Desk chairs play a big part in creating an ergonomic office, but the desk height and size can be equally important.

Branch Furniture offers a range of ergonomic office furniture, but also this informative guide on ergonomic desk height. Branch suggests a great option is investing in adjustable height desks, to help you find the perfect ergonomic desk height for each employee.

Add a Standing Desk Option

Standing desks are great for health, fitness, and mental health. But they don’t work for everyone. If any members of your team have joint or mobility issues, a standing desk isn’t ideal. So, consider offering standing desks as an option, but don’t replace all of your seats.

Maximize Natural Light

Natural light improves our mood, increases productivity and energy levels, and helps us to get more vitamin D, which is great for our health and wellbeing.

In a rented office space, there’s not always much that you can do about light, but small things like making sure the windows are clean, their surroundings are clear, and any blinds or curtains can be opened fully can make a big difference.

If your office is small, adding mirrors and other reflective surfaces can be a great way to reflect the light that gets in, increasing brightness and helping the office to feel more spacious.

Add Houseplants

Houseplants improve mood, but they can also improve the atmosphere and air quality in an office. It’s best to stick to easy-to-care-for plants, and if you are short on space, it’s worth making sure your plants aren’t going to grow too big.

If you have client-facing areas and waiting rooms, adding plants can help make visitors feel welcome and help you to make a good first impression.

Encourage Personal Touches

Personal touches help us to feel comfortable and safe. Encourage employees to bring in things that make a space their own, even if it’s just mugging in the shared kitchen.

Stock Up on Healthy Drinks and Snacks

Healthy drink to take away

At work, there’s often a temptation to fuel ourselves with coffee and unhealthy, easy snacks. But these typically lead to an afternoon energy slump and could ultimately contribute to weight gain and associated illnesses.

Try to fill your kitchen or fridge with healthy snacks that are easy to grab, as well as a range of healthy, sugar-free drinks and smoothies to keep everyone hydrated.

Create an Open Plan Space

An open-plan office can be a great way to encourage good team spirit and boost morale and productivity. It can also encourage openness and honesty. Your employees are more likely to talk to you and their colleagues if they have a problem if you aren’t all shut behind doors.

If you can’t have a fully open plan office, make sure there’s at least a communal workspace, separate from the break room, where everyone can come together to work creatively on projects.

Improving health and wellbeing in your workplace should be a priority because you care about the people that work for you. But there’s no denying the positive effect it could also have on your business. Making some of these fairly small changes can have a huge impact.

Personal Branding

Is it Better to Purchase or Lease a Warehouse for Your Biz?

Steven on July 11, 2022

Getting ready to launch your business involves several crucial choices. If you plan to have a physical business, you may need to think about finding a location for storage. You will be faced with the question of whether to buy or lease a warehouse. This is an issue with pros and cons you will need to ponder.

Leasing Costs More in the Long Term

Finding a warehouse for sale in Houston will never be a problem. The issue you will face is how long you want to stay in a particular location and how much this will cost you. For this reason, you may first wish to lease, rather than buy, a warehouse. This may be because you want to see how well things go within a particular space of time.

This is a strategy that may be recommended if you are starting on a budget that is less than forgiving. If this is the case, it may well be a good idea to limit your upfront costs by leasing. Should the worst occur, you will at least have minimized your losses by not being tied to a building you now have to sell.

However, should the opposite occur, you may need to reconsider this state of affairs. As time goes on and your business begins to prosper, leasing may be a strategy that begins to cost you a lot of money. Your business may be giving you the economic pull you need to begin thinking about owning a space of your own.

Should this be the case, now is an excellent time to consider buying a warehouse property. Although it may seem like a major investment in the short term, this is a move that is bound to pay off. The money that you save by being an owner rather than a renter can be focused elsewhere to help your business expand.

Buying Leads to an Investment That Appreciates

When you are making your initial decision to lease or own a warehouse property, you need to keep the future of your business in mind. Doing so will help you arrive at a state of mind where you can think more clearly about your upcoming moves. One of the choices in front of you in future days will be whether or not all of your business assets are growing in value.

This will not be the case with any properties that you are leasing. They are not your properties, to begin with. If you want to take advantage of rising prices in the commercial real estate market, you will need to have skin in the game. The only benefit that comes otherwise will be to the owner that raises your rent.

How Long Will You Stay in Business?

Another major question that needs to be pondered on is just how long you plan to stay in this particular venture. If this business does succeed, will it be your main focus for years to come? Will you sell it at the first sign of a major profit? Or will you build it for a few years while developing your future plans?

If you are planning on staying with this present venture for the long haul, there is no reason not to consider buying a warehouse. This will be a move that gives added stability to your day-to-day operations. The warehouse you buy will be the cornerstone of your enterprise for many more years to come.

On the other hand, if this is not a business you plan on owning for a long time, it may be better to lease. You want to limit your losses in case it fails. You also want to be able to divest quickly from the entire operation once you sign a deal to sell it.

Buying or Leasing Depends on Your Finances

At the end of the day, the issue of whether to buy or lease a warehouse property will come down to your present and future financial health. If you can foresee a time in the future where your profits enable it, you should plan to buy. If this venture is a stepping stone to other pursuits, leasing may be best.

Legal Branding Personal Branding

10 Licenses you Need to Open a Restaurant in the US

Steven on July 8, 2022

Opening a restaurant, like any business, is a long and complicated process. Once you’ve got a solid business plan and investors, the next step is the most difficult and time-consuming part of the process, the licensing. While different states may vary slightly on the exact licenses you need to have to open a restaurant, these are some of the ten most important licenses you will need to open a restaurant in the US.

1. Business License

The very first thing you are going to need to open a restaurant or any business at all in the United States is a business license. This allows new businesses to be recognized as legal entities.

Depending on your new restaurant’s location, you may have to pay a yearly fee for this, or a percentage of your total sales.

If you are planning to sell alcohol in your restaurant, you will need to apply for both a state business license and an additional federal business license.

2. Employer Identification Number (EIN)

As well as a business license, every business in the US must obtain an employee identification number to operate. The EIN is given to every business by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and serves as a tax ID number. However, be warned that the IRS only issues one EIN each day, so be prepared for a long wait on this one.

3. Certificate of Occupancy

After your business location passes its final building inspection, your city’s local zoning or building department will issue you with a certificate of occupancy. This will legally state that the building has been built and maintained to an adequate standard.

4. Liquor License

If you want to serve alcohol at your restaurant, you will need to know how to get a liquor license. Depending on your state, you may have to apply for a liquor license as well as a beer and wine license. These applications can take months to process so make sure to start this process as early as you’re able.

5. Food Service License

wedding-invitations

You can usually apply for a food service license from your city or county health department. They will usually then visit your restaurant to ensure that all food safety regulations are being followed. Once you have successfully gained this license, the health department will regularly visit your restaurant for inspections. If at any point you are found to fail one of these inspections, you may face losing your food service license.

6. Building Health Permit

In some states, it is required that all restaurant buildings are inspected for a building health permit, particularly if you are building the location yourself.

This could be included in your business license, however, you should be sure to double-check if your state requires a building health permit too.

7. Employee Health Permit

As well as a health permit for your building, you will need to get a health permit for every employee who is handling food and beverages. There are specific training resources available from the FDA for employee health and food protection. In most cases, employees will need to complete a state-approved food handler’s course and gain a food handler’s permit. This teaches employees important food safety points such as proper sanitation practices, food handling, and food storage to ensure food safety in your business.

8. Sign Permit

Every business or storefront will want to put up a sign to market their business and attract customers from the streets. However, before you put up a sign you will need to be awarded a sign permit from your city government. Each city has its own regulations about what size, lighting, and locations are acceptable for your business’s sign. It is also important if you are renting or leasing the building your business is in to make sure you get written approval from your landlord to display your sign as well as the state-issued sign permit.

9. Music License

All good restaurants will play music to create an atmosphere and personality. To avoid any copyright infringement claims you will need to purchase a music license to cover all forms of music from a CD to streaming services to live music performances.

Playing copyrighted music without first purchasing a license could incur a fine of anywhere between $750 to $30,000 so this license is well worth the fee.

10. Seller’s Permit

A seller’s permit is something that allows a business to be identified by the state as a collector of sales tax. This is a particularly important permit in the state of California. In other states, this may be referred to as a “sales tax permit” or license. This is important for most businesses in the US, particularly restaurants and other businesses handling food and drink.

Personal Branding

Here is All You Need to Know About Inserts for Running Shoes

Steven on May 25, 2022

The requirement of the inserts for running shoes becomes important when there is pain felt in the joints or knees. These kinds of inserts help in to release the foot pressure. For many people running shoes are required regularly. It can be for athletes or jogging. For extra comfort of feet, it is preferable and vital for running shoes.

It is often seen that runners always have to wear shoes for long hours. Pains in the joints or knees are possible if the shoes cannot provide the required comfort. It becomes difficult for runners to carry throughout the day unless they feel comfortable. In such cases, players or runners can use inserts for running shoes.

Benefits that are possible wearing insoles or inserts are as follows:

No backache
Improves overall performance
No blisters
Reduces ligament stress
Maintain proper alignment of bones and joints

Athletes or runners have the chance of improving their performance with the inserts of insoles. Even after wearing it for long days, it avoids forming uncomfortable odors.

Choosing Inserts for Running Shoes- Points to Note

Runners spend high amounts on new shoes. Purchasing new shoes is based on quality, as well as keeping comfort in mind. Running can cause discomfort, or it can be painful leading to reducing performance on routine. Hereby, apart from seeking top-quality or branded shoes, there is a need for insoles.

While running, the runner’s feet reverberate which affects the different parts of the body. It includes hips, knees ankles shoulders, and neck. The running shoes are made keeping the convenience of the runners in mind. So that athletes do not face any problems while continuing their exercises and activities.

In such cases, the inserts for running shoes enable to customize the running shoes and provide the runner’s ways to improve their activities and reduce related issues of pain and any other severe health problems.

So, if not a professional runner but it is a passion for anyone, they should use it to increase their efficiency in running. Better the health condition and less tired to the body it will respond with high energy.

Hereby, a person can run without inserts for running shoes. But intense pressure exertion to the feet can cause pains to the legs and sometimes the entire body. As a result, the body will need some rest; which means that there will be a break in the routine. So, whenever an initiative was taken by a person to run. It can be as a morning exercise or for any preparation for the running race then it is essential to add inserts for the shoes.

After all, if the body remains energetic the mind is happy. Then there are chances that professionals or any player will enjoy running. They feel comfortable and healthy with stable feet.

Blisters are common problems that are painful, but when it is continuous, they can interrupt routine practices. Running is itself strenuous for feet, on the other hand, blisters with swells and pus may turn infectious to the skin at the same time.

Final Words

For long-runners such as marathon runners, the inserts for running shoes are essential. Not only for a better fit for shoes, but it ensures stability and support to have the players’ bodies balanced. As it provides proper support, it ensures that the accurate fit can lead to reducing or minimum injuries.

The injuries are reduced along with maintaining the health of joints and bone alignments. Especially, the inserts are required when the runners are run for extended hours throughout the days wearing shoes.

Personal Branding

How to Rebrand Yourself in 2022

Steven on February 22, 2022

From time to time, we can all feel in need of a makeover, a style overhaul, or just all over “Glow-up”. Whilst we may think that just because we are not famous or have over 10k Instagram followers, that is not necessary that we brand ourselves. However, in the modern world, anyone can find and see what you are about in a couple of clicks, so you must understand and establish your brand.

The start of the new year can make you reassess yourself and how others perceive you, and whilst there is simply no escaping the digital space in 2022, it is essential that when people look you up online, you put your best “digital” foot forward.

“So where do I start?”. A personal branding course is a great starting point, but if you are looking for some quick and easy tips on how you can rebrand yourself in 2022, we have come up with some tips to get you started.

Search Inwards

Whilst this may sound like a cliché from a therapy session, you need to have a strong understanding of the person you are (or, in some cases, the person you want to be seen as). Ask yourself, What are your core values? Are your goals aligned with the person you are becoming? What are today’s issues that I genuinely care about?

Do Your Research

After you’ve clarified what it is that makes you, you. It is crucial that you also gain an understanding of who needs you. Who are the people your product, service, or skills will help, and where online can you target them.

Highlight What Makes You Special

Another cliche that bears trues is that you need to stand out from the crowd. What makes you different from everyone else, and what can you do better, faster, stronger than anyone else. Find your strengths, then make sure that you are highlighting them.

Also, Think about what you want to be known for in your industry. If you have a niche, niche it again, and niche some more, make what you do irreplaceable and highly sought after.

Keep Social

The first place people check is your social media, so ensure that it is fundamental that you make a good first impression. Ensure that your profile picture is a consistent and well-lit professional photo. Also, ensure that your contact information is accurate and has an impactful opening headline statement. Utilize all tools available on your page — each touchpoint is a potential opportunity.

Create, Share, Like & Comment

The comment section is being displayed

If you are hoping to get noticed, you need to be part of the conversation. Produce content that you are excited and passionate about and create content towards your end goal. If you are branding yourself as an expert on a specific topic/area, answer the most popular question to not only engage with your audience but garner attention. Don’t be afraid to jump on trending topics as well.

If we learned anything in 2021, it is that no one knows what can happen next. However, we can control what we choose to share and put out into the world. So start building a better personal brand today and start showing the world your best self.

Personal Branding

5 Effective Stress Reduction Techniques

Steven on January 6, 2022

Stress is a natural part of life, and it may help inspire you to get things done. Even severe stress caused by a serious disease, job loss, a death in the family, or a traumatic life event might be considered normal. You may feel low or nervous for a period, which is typical.

Consult your doctor if you have been feeling low or nervous for more than a few weeks or if it is interfering with your home or work life. Therapy, medicine, and other approaches can all be beneficial.

Meanwhile, there are certain things you can do to assist you to handle stress before it becomes too much. There’s a lot more you can do to aid with stress management. Consider the following lifestyle changes:

What exactly Is stress?

A young girl is sitting with her hands covering her face

The body’s response to a challenge or demand is referred to as stress. Everyone feels stress, which may be induced by a variety of situations, ranging from little inconveniences to big life upheavals such as divorce or job loss. Physical components of the stress reaction include raised heart rate and blood pressure, thoughts and personal ideas about the stressful experience, and emotions such as fear and wrath. Although we commonly associate stress with unpleasant events, it may also result from positive developments in your life, such as receiving a promotion at work or having a new baby. If you’re someone who is struggling with stress, a great first option to try reducing this is by trying some supplements. For instance, any that contain Ashwagandha (like these here) are great to help reduce stress, become calmer, and improve sleep.

Exercise

To begin, physical activity can help you sleep better. Improved sleep also equates to better stress management. Doctors aren’t sure why, but those who exercise more get better deep “slow-wave” sleep, which helps regenerate the brain and body. Consider exercise options that also have specialized stress-relieving effects, such as yoga, tai chi, Pilates, or one of the martial arts, which are all excellent methods to release pent-up tension and negativity. Just be careful not to exercise too close to bedtime, as this might interfere with sleep for some individuals.

Exercise appears to improve mood as well. Part of the explanation might be that marijuana causes your body to release a variety of chemicals such as endorphins and endocannabinoids, which assist block pain, promoting sleep, and antedating you. Some of these (endocannabinoids) are thought to be responsible for the euphoric feeling, or “runner’s high,” that some individuals experience after lengthy runs.

Diet

The advantages of consuming healthy meals extend beyond your waistline and into your mental health. A nutritious diet can help to reduce the impacts of stress, strengthen your immune system, balance your mood, and lower your blood pressure. Excess sugar and fat can have the opposite impact. When you’re under a lot of stress, junk food might appear even more attractive.

Look for complex carbs, lean proteins, and fatty acids in fish, meat, eggs, and nuts to keep healthy and balanced.

Antioxidants are also beneficial. They shield your cells from the harm that continuous stress can inflict. They may be found in a wide range of foods, including beans, fruits, berries, vegetables, and spices such as ginger.

With a few basic suggestions, you can maintain a nutritious diet. Create a shopping list. When you leave the house, bring healthful food with you. Avoid processed meals and try not to eat mindlessly.

Deep Breathing Should Be Practiced

The relaxed woman is laying down in the backyard

Deep breathing is an excellent strategy to lessen sympathetic nervous system activity, which governs the body’s response to a perceived threat. Deep breaths taken in for five seconds, hold for two seconds, then released for five seconds will assist activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which can help lower overall tension and anxiety.

Experiment with belly breathing. Close your eyes, become comfy, and lay one hand on your tummy and the other on your chest. Take a deep, cleansing breath in through your nose. Your belly should rise faster than your chest. Now, exhale through your nose and see how your body relaxes. Repeat.

Meditation

There’s a reason it’s been around for almost 5,000 years. Meditation works successfully for many individuals and offers several advantages. It can reduce tension, anxiety, and chronic pain while also improving sleep, energy, and mood.

Guided meditation is an excellent approach to divert your attention away from the stresses of everyday living. There are several guided meditations accessible on the internet that might assist you in finding 5 minutes of focused calm.

Make Time For Your Hobbies

A bulk of the brushes is placed in the bowl

You must make time for activities that you like. Try to do something that makes you feel good every day to help reduce stress. It doesn’t have to take long; even 15 to 20 minutes would suffice.

Daily pressures might sneak up on you before you know it, so schedule at least one soothing activity per day. Listening to music, meditating, writing in a notebook, or taking a body skincare relaxing bubble bath are all excellent methods to unwind and de-stress. Taking care of oneself is essential for stress prevention and management. Do it the way you understand to some it might entail picking up those eyelash extension tools wholesale you bought and doing a face while to others it is taking a long-needed nap.

Conclusion

Everyone experiences stress; it is hard to escape it entirely. However, stress may be managed by having reasonable expectations of yourself, knowing how to keep difficulties in perspective, and taking calming getaways from the regular pressures of life.

Personal Branding

Break Diving takes online learning to the next level in a positive social media atmosphere

Steven on August 26, 2021

Online learning communities have been emerging on the internet scene for quite some time now. Even before the pandemic hit, many people joined these forums to communicate updates and queries and provide general encouragement, help, and motivation to achieve their goals.

“Given the growth of technology and the lack of geographic barriers on the internet, online communities are the new hub for innovation and learning. Like “real-life” communities, online communities have shared interests, trust, operating norms, and roles, creating the foundation for effective interactions.”[i]

Some positive aspects of these communities include membership, influence, fulfillment of individual needs, shared events, and emotional connections to a learning community. Membership in a community gives each participant a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging helps to build bonds between members, which results in encouragement for them to stay connected and keep helping one another. Additionally, for a learning community to work well, every member should react and respond to what they see. This requires them to be present not only when there is a debate but also when people need advice and ideas. Furthermore, people tend to participate in a learning community to absorb the material and ask and answer questions. They should have the ability to express their opinions openly. In this way, community members can give and receive.

In addition, members of a learning community must also be able to share positive and negative experiences. Sharing experiences can help people connect, trust one another, and learn from one another. This results in a strong sense of community among the members.

Bottom line, a learning community becomes effective when it is held together by the right elements. This includes a fundamental goal, where the purpose of the community is defined from the get-go; identity, where a person’s identity is found through belonging to the community as a member; discussion and supportive participation, where members can discuss matters in a mindful, supporting and encouraging way; and shared values, which is the general perspective that members of the learning community share. Having those shared values is what unites them and enables them to promote an evolving discourse.

Much like everything else, therefore, there are pros and cons to the establishment of an online learning community.

The first benefit is improved retention rates. Learning communities have been shown to boost student retention rates. Regardless of age, students who participate in learning communities feel considerably more inspired to study and to keep learning. This is because they don’t feel alone in the process. A community serves as a support system, guiding you through the process and making it less lonely. Furthermore, they provide an effective and safe place to seek assistance. The more community members assist one another, the more empowered they feel to accomplish more in their studies.

Many students benefit from going over class material together through discussion since it helps them remember what they’ve learned. The more that co-learners talk, the more likely they are to remember what they’ve learned and continued learning. Second, online learning platforms are more integrative. Generally, co-learners are viewed as competitors in the academic environment. However, people are considered allies in a learning community. A learning community brings people together to help one another along their path. If someone needs assistance, others will gladly provide it. The third benefit to online learning is that when done right, it provides high-quality education. Online learning communities are seen to be beneficial to students’ learning. In addition to enhancing recall rates and reinforcing information, high-quality learning is facilitated by the abundance of learning chances. Members benefit not just from their study materials but also from each other’s experiences. The ability to interact and discuss with other learners provides opportunities to learn things that weren’t included in the course material. By hearing about other people’s experiences, learners will be less likely to make the same mistakes. This saves time and effort and makes them less likely to get discouraged and stop. Other benefits include collaborative knowledge and practice-based learning.

The most significant concern for educators in learning communities is the temptation for members to lose their sense of motivation. This is relatively frequent nowadays, especially among adult learners who are too busy or exhausted to put in the effort and expect everything to come effortlessly to them. Learners may try to take advantage of others in such situations by absorbing what they share rather than making an effort to find things out for themselves. When a member is too lethargic to put in the effort to participate, other members will be hesitant to share their thoughts. This can lead to feelings of hatred and mistrust among users, suffocating the positive environment. To address this potential problem, educators must make an effort to make sure learners develop both a personal and a group identity. Personal identity refers to how people see themselves in comparison with their peers; what strengths and value do they bring? What unique attitude and personality do they have?

On the other hand, group identity is how people collectively identify themselves, including their shared values, aims, and ideals. Striking a balance between the two identities could help to create a good learning community. As a result, some online courses reward individuals with individual milestones, such as badges when they complete a specific goal. These badges include content mapping, or unlocked content. With this reward system, educators can define and recognize an individual’s achievement in isolation from the group’s achievement.

Taking all of these pros and cons into account, Break Diving has established a not-for-profit social media site (at breakdiving.io) that is dedicated to changing the current social media landscape. The organization was founded on one mission; to increase people’s success, happiness, and friendships worldwide. The team behind Break Diving understands that traditional social media is one of the biggest causes of depression, arrogance, selfishness, and loneliness in the modern world. Additionally, regardless of one’s accomplishments, most people feel like they are still inadequate and cannot shake feelings that they have failed compared to their peers. Finally, despite the Internet offering us better connections to the rest of the world, most of us still lack true friendship and camaraderie.

Break Diving is changing this. The platform has proven to be a force of inspiration and support in the world by: 1) Helping people feel more connected and supported, 2) Building a positive alternative to all other social media platforms that brings people together in harmony, 3) Helping users achieve all their life goals and encouraging them to inspire others as well, 4) Creating a global mentorship program, and 5) Expanding everyone’s global cultural perspective to promote mutual understanding.

Unlike other platforms, Break Diving has regular live events that members can attend. They also offer a “dive certification program” that allows members to get certified in hundreds of “dives” at various levels. Dives are tasks that members can complete to show their skills in particular areas. Additionally, through their peer-networking support groups and events, they offer motivation and support. Finally, through the top-down mentorship and support program infused in their community, they help provide strategy and business sense.

The platform combines the best parts of other social media platforms. Break Diving has a rigorous application process as well as a clear Diver’s Code and Member Expectations. Since they are more than a social media site, they do not just accept anyone. Break Diving cares about its community. For this reason, they only accept applicants who will fit in, enjoy the experience and make the platform better. While their plan is not to exclude anyone, their application process is designed to help people understand what Break Diving is all about so that users can be positive members of the community from day one. The supportive community is filled with coders, writers, linguaphiles, performers, investors, entrepreneurs, travelers and parents from all over the world. While the members come from all walks of life, they’re all ambitious, motivated, friendly, helpful, and committed to helping others succeed.

If you love to learn from others and share with others, improve your life, develop greater self-esteem and pursue your dreams, Break Diving is the perfect social media platform for you.

If you’re interested in applying for Break Diving, click here to start your application. You can also get more information on these platforms:

Community Site: https://www.breakdiving.io/

Corporate Site: https://www.breakdiving.org/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/breakdiving

Blog: https://breakdiving.blog/

W.Y.S.E Blog: https://wyseguidance.org/

[i] https://trainingindustry.com/articles/e-learning/the-benefits-of-online-communities-in-e-learning/

Personal Branding

How To Keep Track Of Your Expenses And Profits

Steven on August 8, 2021

A successful and profitable business ensures timely tracking and accurate accounting of expenses. Cost-saving measures and proactive approaches yield good profit. Scrutiny of monthly expenditures and profits is the essential element of adequately managing your business.

A standard bookkeeping practice is tracking business expenditures. Salaries, utilities, commissions, advertising are a few examples of business expenses that require diligent accounting. Attention to detail in profit and loss performance ensures a healthy and thriving business. It pays to make it a habit to track expenses and profits.

The process can be less complex with the appropriate tools. Tracking your business allows you to take a closer look at spending that leads to increased profitability. Below are steps on tracking expenses and profits to financial literacy.

Open business financial accounts

Designate financial accounts solely for business. In this way, the personal expense does not meddle with the business-related.

Open a business checking account, savings account, and business credit card to take care of bills and purchases. Take advantage of cash backs and rewards by placing purchases on credit cards, partner with the best business credit cards to reap maximum benefit.

It is best practice to use credit and debit card transactions for your business purchase. A digital footprint is better with the card as a mode of payment. Cash transactions are volatile, difficult to track, and inconvenient to record.

Proper documentation

Proper storage of paper and digital receipts effectively tracks expenses and profits. Envelopes, file folders, and binders are tools that can assist in expense filing. Also, pay attention to the business calendar documentation attachment on receipts.

Some applications store receipts digitally to track profit, such as the Shopify profit tracker. This app lists and tracks all expenses in one place and shows the business’ profit in one go.

Profit and loss spreadsheet

For small businesses and start-ups, spreadsheets can record income and expenses and manually generate a profit and loss report for your business. In setting up an accounting system for your business, there are two options. Cash accounting records transactions as they occur. Therefore, income and payment recording are real-time when it is made and received. A more in-depth approach is accrual accounting. It is beneficial for growing businesses to apply this method.

A profit and loss spreadsheet reflects the financial performance of your business. In this way, an owner can assess and evaluate spending to improve the quality of profitability.

Cloud accounting software

Recently, more business owners are transitioning to cloud accounting software due to the accessibility of their business accounting data on their phones. This software offers mobility to users. They can easily manage the business finances on their mobile phones through digital transactions. The software carries out income and expense transactions. It also operates through a cloud; in this way, records and documentations are more secured.

In the digital age, managing finances is a walk-in-the-park process. Resource tools are available, and some are free of charge and customizable to your business needs. It is imperative to track expenses and profit because it depicts the overall financial health of your brand.

Legal Branding Local Branding Personal Branding

Experts Discuss Small Productivity Tips for That Bring Big Benefits

Steven on June 8, 2021

In everyday work, there are a lot of challenges and sometimes even obstacles that prevent us to stay in focus all the time. It doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur, manager, assistant, junior or on any else position, it is important not to lose the thread. Here you will find many useful advice on how to save your time and energy, and at the same time to make the highest productivity.

Productivity in a Nut Shell.

Our partners from Managementguru suggests “Productivity in a Nut Shell”.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

Productivity can’t be better explained. Productivity is the result of a commitment to excellence, smart planning and focused effort. Remember – Effective people are preferred to, rather than efficient people as the former does the right thing and the latter does things right. Procrastination is like a credit card. It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill. The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action. Managementguru is the number one source for all things business. They’re dedicated to giving you the very best of information, with a focus on social media marketing and strategy.

Be more realistic about what you can deliver as a team.

Our partner Sherene Funk from Rain Retail suggests to “Be more realistic about what you can deliver as a team”.

We recently had a goal-setting session in which we determined that, in order to be more productive, we needed to be more realistic about what we can deliver as a team. It’s always best to under promise and over deliver. Realistic goals prevent overwhelm, increase motivation, and heighten the sense of achievement when projects are completed on time, or before.

Focus on time increments and small wins – Imed Bouchrika, project leader and chief data scientist at the academic research portal Research.com.

It’s easy to lose productivity when confronted with multiple tasks. Doing them all at the same will likely end up in you pouring in lots of initial work across a field of open-ended tasks at the day’s end. In short, you accomplish nothing.

Instead, focus on finishing one task at a time across increments of short periods. You can follow the Pomodoro Technique here, where you break work into 25-minute periods. Or devise your own increments. For example, divide an hour into two 30-minutes or four 15-minutes and allot a period for each task.

The time increments allow you to tune out of the paralyzing thought of needing to finish a lot of work NOW and instead focus on a small win, something you can easily take a good shot at. Achieving small wins will add up to wrapping up the big task sooner than later.

There is a postscript benefit to increments and small wins: It helps you squeeze out more outputs past your highest productivity level in a day. After all, it’s not that difficult to add just… one… more… 15-minute task even in your last hour of work.

Productivity is doing more with the tools and making sure the outcome meets standard of quality.

Our partner Andrea Curry from Zenefits says that “Productivity is doing more with the tools”.

There’s a lot of buzz words that are thrown around when talking about productivity. How many Medium blog posts or LinkedIn articles have you seen about “super-charging” our workday, “hacking our way” through a project, or “tips and tricks” to increase output with minimal input? For me, productivity is doing more with the tools I have and making sure the outcome meets my standard of quality. Honing productive habits help get this done. Step one is to get organized (and that doesn’t mean having an inbox with zero unread messages, though that helps!). Projects can get messy, so be sure that you use a system that helps you keep control and look at the big picture. I love using the online tool Asana for this reason. It helps with capturing my thoughts, outlining workflow, and I can easily update deliverables and due dates. The next thing to understand is that distractions will constantly come up. It takes a lot of self-discipline not to be pulled in different directions. It’s helpful to have an understanding of what is your “north star” — aka your purpose or big picture goal. If people or other projects pop up, ask yourself if this helps you achieve your goal, or if it will derail you. Finally, remember not to burn yourself out. You won’t be productive if you’re running low on fuel. Incorporate the things that help feed your creativity and bring you joy — whether it’s exercising, spending time with family, or taking a walk outside.

Take Charge Of Your Email Not The Other Way Round

Our partner Dr. Anthony Llewellyn from AdvanceMed suggest to “Take Charge Of Your Email Not The Other Way Round”

Dr. Anthony Llewellyn is a successful online doctor coach. He writes about the importance of getting in control of your email.
With so many points of contact into your business, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed at times. But whilst email is now considered by many as “low tech”, the “email list” still remains one of your greatest assets. So it’s important to be able to dedicate time to your email management. But that doesn’t mean it needs to always take away your focus.
One great tip I developed sometime ago came out from a bit of frustration. You see I was getting a bit sick and tired of being included as a “CC” into a whole lot of company wide and team email discussions. It often felt like I was being included either on a “just thought you should know” basis or even at times because the email sender didn’t trust the recipient and wanted some witnesses!!
So I went through my email inbox and saw how many emails I was getting on a CC basis. And I thought to myself. Would it be that different if I just chose to ignore these emails? So I set up a bit of an experiment. I set up an email rule to divert these CC emails into another folder before I could even notice them. Strangely enough, the sky didn’t fall in and the world kept rotating. I blissfully forgot about the presence of this folder for a few weeks and then I remembered it.
So I went back in and checked all these emails and to my great satisfaction, I realized that all the issues in these emails had either been inconsequential to me or dealt with in other ways, i.e. someone had come to speak to me about the issue or emailed me directly.
I’ve since used a variety of rules with emails to cut through and focus on what is important.

Recognize Your Strengths

Our partner Lori McKnight from CSI Stars suggests to “Recognize Your Strengths”.

Most people are much more productive when working on things that utilize their strengths. Identify what you excel in and focus the majority of your time on those activities. If you are in the right job, these things will be what most moves the needle and delivers results. The same goes for your team. Spend time getting to know each of your employee’s strengths. It is far more productive to leverage your peoples’ strengths than fix their weaknesses.

Identifying your employee’s strengths and recognizing their contributions will drive higher employee engagement. This, in turn, will boost your own productivity as you spend less time interviewing and re-training. Consider these stats:

Organizations that excel in employee recognition have 12x better business results
High-recognition organizations have 31% less voluntary turnover

Who knows…maybe a team members’ strengths will even complement a weakness of yours!

An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners”

Our partner Scott from Structural says that “An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners”

An organization that doesn’t trust its employees to manage their workload while being able to connect with others as needed will quickly find itself with “doers” and not “learners” which is an organizational death sentence in a world where the half-life of skills is so short.

Avoid getting caught up in the work of others

Our partner Clayton Kaufman from My Employees suggests “Avoid getting caught up in the work of others”.

“When you truly believe your work improves the lives of others, the difference you make becomes the anchor of your passion. Make the connection between the work you do and how that work makes life better for others. The decision to become a positive difference-maker for others contributes to a deep sense of purpose, fulfillment, and productivity”.

Plan your days in advance

Our partner Kelvin Mokaya from Fuzu suggests “Plan your days in advance”.

Knowing what you need to accomplish during a particular week will enable you to plan for the week. List all the tasks you’ll need to do in order of the urgency they need to be done and the amount of time it would take to complete each. This will make it easier for you to plan your calendar for the week while prioritizing the work that matters most.

Prioritize actions that will make tomorrow easier

Our partner, Fiona Adler from HR Partner, explains that prioritization is one of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of productivity. Taking the time to proactively decide which tasks are most important will put you streaks ahead. One key to this is acknowledging that you can’t actually do everything – you will always have more ideas and things coming at you than can possibly be done. Once you really understand this, the significance of prioritization is obvious – if you don’t do this, you’ll never get to those most important tasks.

But prioritization is hard, so one thing to remember when putting your tasks in order of priority is to emphasize those tasks that will make your tomorrow a bit smoother and easier. So prioritize things like; choosing a new HR system, posting a job ad for a new accounts manager, setting up a new process, or deciding on a strategic direction.

Invent your personal workflows that work best for you

Our partner Baiju NT from RoboticsBiz says it is vital to create personal workflows to efficiently manage your time and increase productivity. Productivity isn’t just all about checking boxes off your to-do list. It is about making sure you’re getting the right things done in the right timeframe, successfully and effectively. Creating a workflow enables you to train your brain and systematically get into an efficient cycle of executing tasks from the morning till the end of your day. Start the day with easy, regular, and repeatable tasks first, and then you will have more uninterrupted time blocks to accomplish larger time-demanding tasks in a day. Millions of people use productivity tools like Trello to get into personal workflows and achieve more every second.

Infographic provided by Food For Thought