While hanging out at John Saddington’s blog I discovered this amazing free tool! 
These guys are giving loads of lectures on how to start your business. This will prove to be more valuable than we all know if we soak this infomration up!
Blogging
Blogging
2 Reasons You Didn’t Complete That Last Project
As an entrepreneur there are two words that have to be ever before us. What are they you ask?
Focus & Consistency
I am constantly challenged by that.
Today’s post is open ended.
What kills your focus and consistency?
Is it the never ending pool of Netflix death?
Facebook?
Instagram?
Youtube?
Fear?
Data and Research hoarding???!?!!
Mine???!?!!?! Twitter and too much multi-tasking when I should be locked in!
This may be the mind most important question you honestly answer for yourself and then decide to do something about it. I will be switching to the 25 minutes on 5 minutes off work method next week. The website is 95% complete so the real work begins next week.
Be encouraged and face the truth of your productivity killers.
An Entrepreneurs Guide to Colour Branding
While working on the reconstruction of ChristinaFaith.com I had to think about what I want my brand to stand for.
Here are a few facts about me and color:
- My favorite color is teal and orange.
- My last brands have had teal and orange.
- The previous podcast brand was in the purple hue (my husbands choice)
- I love to find out what colors mean
- I am interested in projecting a specific thought when people view my brand
Instead of just picking colors I decided to tell a story with the colors that I choose. When major brands select the brand colors that represent them they are not interested in what they like; they are interested in what the colors are project. Colors tell stories. Colors help people make purchases. Colors evoke emotion. If color evokes emotion and provokes purchases it’s incredibly important. Instead of simply picking a color we should consider a few things.
- What story is my brand telling?
- Am I selecting colors based on my likes and dislikes?
- Do my colors line up with the story of my brand?
- Am I attempting to persuade people or make them feel comfortable?
Take sometime and write down adjectives that represent your brand. You should feel comfortable with your brand colors and your audience should feel welcomed.
My adjectives:
- possibility
- trustworthiness
- purpose
- vision
- consistency
- creativity
- security
- balance
Based on the following adjective that I desire to project the brand colors will be:
Yellow (#fff880) Blue (#3477ff) Gray (#858585) and White (#ffffff)
I then used a color palette generator to come up with the accent colors of my brand.
While editing the current template of my website I discovered that my colors didn’t work well together in some respects. Instead of changing my colors I decided alter the frequency of each color.
Check out this video on colour branding.
Resource posts on colour branding:
21 outstanding uses of colour in branding
The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding
True Colors: What Your Brand Colors Say About Your Business
Teeny Tokyo Photo Resizing @TeenyTokyo
John Saddington continues to inspire and amaze us all. Less than a year ago he released Desk a writing app. He walked us through every portion of the process allowing us to see the up’s, down’s and in betweens. When I woke up this morning I had the privilege of discovering Teeny Tokyo a Photo Resizing App was released. As a blogger I currently use ImageOptim which is free. However; as an entrepreneur it’s always good to support indie developers!
John is a master of consistency. He has been instrumental in my person journey as a blogger. He was on From Start to Finish last season and gave us some great tips and words of wisdom for writers and developers.
Here is a demo of Teeny Tokyo.
P.S. keep your eyes peeled John is waiting for three other versions of Desk to hit the iTunes store shortly.
5 Apps to Manage Your Relationship
I will admit it I have a problem! I have a major problem managing my relationships. When my husband and I started courting I realized that I had a problem with remembering dates, things and overbooking. As time went on I realized I had a problem with that in all of my relationships. As a techie I realized that I didn’t have to have a problem with these things I could use what I had in order to manage them. Early on my husband would comment, “You need a calendar to remember to spend time with me?” Yes, I do. I have a problem. I don’t remember everything I should.
I have been an iPhone user since 2007. I was an Apple employee from 2011-2015 (one day I am going to tell you about that story). I’m probably not using all the best apps for managing my relationships but what I use works for me.
To schedule appointments, coffee meets, podcasts, church and bills. I use the calendar app on my iPhone, Macbook Pro and iPad. I remember the days when nothing would sync, then you paid $99 for a mobile me account for them to sync. These days EVERYTHING syncs through the iCloud and you can share calendars with others. I separate my calendars into Family, Business, Church and Committees that I am on. Calendar allows you to place reminders in your event, locations and invite others to the event. I use the invite feature to send others the event as well so that they don’t forget. They get the same reminders that I get.
Recently, Ted Rubin told me about an App called Refresh. Refresh is super cool. It connects to your email, calendar, and social media to give you information about a person prior to you’re meeting with them. It only gives you information based on the people whose email you have. It’s not going to just give you information about random people. Refresh allows you to know about people before you talk to them. It truly does “refresh” you for you’re gathering with them.
To make sure that I am getting “Things” done for my relationships whether business, family or pleasure I use Things to schedule my to-do list. Things is a hefty investment however; it’s worth it. It took me a few years to really get into using Things but after much deliberation the syncing capability sold me. I love sharing things on all of my platforms. Regardless of what device I use I have everything right in front of me.
Last but not least Trello is the ultimate organizational tool for business and groups. Trello is an app with a desktop companion that allows you to collaborate with people on multiple tasks. Trello brings organization to any team. When you work with a lot of people you need order and Trello does just that.
Managing relationships can be tough but if you are intentional to use apps and other things at your finger tips to make sure you are being faithful over people I am sure a weight will be released off of your back.
Perspective on My Morning Coffee
I love coffee. It’s the third thing I consume in the morning (Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar and 8 oz of water are first). When I have my morning coffee I decide how I am going to view the day with truth or emotion. While praying and reading I tend to focus my heart on Scriptures that deal with an area I am weak in at the moment. I want to manage that weakness by applying Scripture. If my perspective is off Scripture puts me back on track. I ran out of coffee this morning and my strength was weak. In that moment I realized that its perspective. Do I see my coffee as weak or a different taste? Today instead of a medium roast I had a light roast. My coffee wasn’t weak, it was different. Perspective is everything. While working at Apple I realized my greatest intentions meant nothing if they didn’t transfer over to how people perceived my actions.
Perspective-aparticularattitudetowardorwayofregardingsomething;apoint of view
People Matter More Than Success
This world of the internet and social influence places a lot of emphasis on the number of followers you have. Over recent days I am realizing that the return on actual relationships is far greater than the number of people following you. In the midst of all of the starting and finishing remember people matter more than your success. It’s easy to chase accolades and forget that the people with you are more valuable than any success you can or will achieve. Even in the midst of a crowd of strangers know that they matter. They matter to God so they should matter to you.
We need other people.
We need friends.
We need advocates.- Jon Acuff
Here’s a link to an article I wrote on Adam Smith’s Site A Reason We Might Be Bad At Relationships
SEO and Authenticity
Google and SEO are changing are you? In this day and time we have to be willing to evolve and change with everything quickly. This requires us to know what to focus on what not to focus on.
Present: Marketers should focus more on a brand’s reputation, how people engage with that brand, and the quality of the product/service. In the end putting a focus on this should improve your rankings by increasing shares and natural linking across the web, but ultimately the focus needs to be on how your brand is viewed as opposed to its ranking position.
Present: Links nowadays must be earned. Today it’s more important to build relationships and build links from relevant and authoritative sources. This does not mean that directories, forums, and other link building tactics are not longer an accepted practice, it just means that marketers need to be much more selective.
The new SEO will put a premium on relationship and brand authenticity.
Get Organized
After my interview with Kyle Reed I have been thinking of developing a task sheet and organizing better to be more effective. I have been listening to the oldie but goodie Making Things Happen and I’m convinced I can do more. I downloaded some sheets from Hootsuite. I’ve also been using Buffer that helps tremendously.
Creating a plan, a template, or a calendar simply means that you make all the necessary information available to all the relevant stakeholders in one place. It takes in all your channels and resources and organizes them in a way that makes it easy to access information you need when you need it.
Chamillionaire Rapper Turned Techpreneur
Never judge a person by there current career. Former rapper Chamillionaire is now an entrepreneur but he was one from the door. Now a techpreneur and In Resident Entrepreneur for Mark Suster!