Being An Influential Person In Your Own Right
By Cheval John
We all admire the big name celebrities that we see everyday.
However, we fail to realize that we are influential in our own right.
How so you might ask.
Well, we are influencing everyone that we come in contact with everyday.
Just because we don’t get the attention like the big name influencers and celebrities does not mean that we are not making an impact.
I detailed more about how we are influential in a post for Millennial CEO which I have been a contributing blogger for since January of this year.
Hope you enjoy the article that you read here on Millennial CEO
Six Twitter Chats That Will Improve Your Social Media Knowledge
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of stock images
When I first started using Twitter in 2011, I had went in with the wrong mindset of only sharing my work on the social media platform.
I knew that the platform was a great way for anyone to grow their blogs, businesses and personal brands.
I thought that if I followed people, I would get back a follow.
However, I did not get back a follow from the masses.
The only ones who had followed me were the people I had knew personally during my time as an undergraduate student.
I had continued to operate with the mentality of a taker for over a year on Twitter until October of 2012.
At that time, I had moved my website from the WordPress.com to a self-hosted site using the WordPress.org software.
In that moment, it hit me that if I wanted to gain new followers, I had to engage with the people.
So I started engaging with people on Twitter and sharing quality content that I believed would make people’s lives better.
Then last year, I heard about Twitter chats and decided to check them out.
Since then, I have been participating in so many Twitter chats and learning new concepts regarding social media, job hunting, the best blogs, etc.
Also, you will see the same people in so many of the chats that you will establish strong friendships that can allow you to be more successful at the next level.
This is something that many businesses are missing out on because “it is a focus group” that will cost them nothing.
Now that you know about Twitter chats, the question is, “Which of the chats are the right fit for me?
Though there are many Twitter chats out there, here are six chats that will be worth your time:
1. #BlogChat
Hosted by Mack Collier, this chat showcases the different trends that is going on in the blogosphere. Occassionally, they will be guest who share their blogging expertise.
The chat happens every Sunday night at 9 p.m. eastern, 8 p.m. central.
2. #BizHeroes
Hosted by Kelly Hungerford (ambassador) and Magda A. Torres of Paper.Li, the chat discusses topics about connecting with your audience and the different trends in social media. It is on Tuesday afternoons at 2 p.m. eastern, 1 p.m. central.
3. #MillennialTalk
Hosted by Chelsea Krost, Millennial Talk highlights topics that has an impact on the Millennial generation. Chelsea has guests on the chat and it happens every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. eastern, 7 p.m. central.
4. #sbizhour
Hosted by Brian Fanzo and Rachel Miller, #sbizhour chats about how brands can build a loyal following through authenticity and trust. They have guests ranging from CEOs to community managers who have succeeded in building their audience. The unique thing is people can watch the chat live on Google Hangout. The chat is every Monday at 4 p.m. eastern, 3 p.m. central.
5. #cmgr
The #cmgr chat is in the same category as #sbizhour because it is a Google Hangout in addition to be a Twitter chat. It is hosted by “MY Community Manager Team.” and every week, they have a different panel of guests who are community managers themselves. The chat is on Fridays at 2 p.m. eastern, 1 p.m. central.
6. #jobhuntchat
If you are looking for a job because you were laid off or a recent college graduate, you should participate in #jobhuntchat. The chat talks about different ways to stand out from your “competition.” The best part is that you can build friendships with people who are human resource professionals because they are in the chat. The chat is every Monday night at 10 p.m. eastern, 9 p.m. central.
What are your favorite Twitter chats and did I leave out any chats from this list? You can leave your comment below.
We Don’t Always Have It Together
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles
We see a person who have achieved their goals and are showcasing their expertise to the world.
We might think that the person has everything together and might be thinking that nothing can go wrong in their life.
It is understandable to think like that because most of the time, we see in media outlets of how a person seems to have everything together with their life.
We might only see the successes, but never see the failures that they endured to achieve success.
One case in point, Michael Jordan, who celebrating his 52nd birthday today.
We all know him as arguably one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game.
Amid the 6 National Basketball Association (NBA) championships that Jordan won and being one of the major reasons why the NBA is globalized, many might not know about his “failures” while trying out for the varsity team in high school.
Jordan did not “make” the varsity team during his sophomore year even though he played for the junior varsity team.
Even though the junior varsity team was a consolation prize, it motivated Jordan to work even harder on his basketball skills.
Jordan made the team in his junior and senior year of high school, went on to the University of North Carolina, sanked the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA national championship game against Georgetown and a couple years later, got drafted by the Chicago Bulls and the rest was history.
You might be thinking after reading this that Jordan has been rising in success and does not have any struggles.
I can guarantee that Jordan and ultra-successful people still experience failures despite their success.
The biggest difference is that the successful are not afraid to fail.
They do not see their failures or struggles as the end of the world.
Instead, they see their failures or struggles as learning experiences so that they can achieve their success.
We might be afraid to show our failures because we think that people will judge us.
However, if you showcase your failures and your struggles, they will be drawn to you even more because they can relate to you.
Though I have achieved some successes like becoming an Amazon best-seller author for my second book, “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn,”covering sporting events as a freelance journalist, hosting a podcast and being a blogger, I still struggle with self-doubt and comparing myself to others everyday.
At times, I struggle with putting a great article together because I want the post to be stellar and I don’t want to fail.
But the truth of the matter is that I work hard everyday and keep a positive mindset because I know that I want to be successful.
If I would have allowed the fear of failure to stop me from becoming a blogger, I would not have had the opportunity to venture into podcasting and becoming an author.
In conclusion, it is o.k. to fail and share those failures because you will show everyone your journey to success.
Just don’t feel sorry for yourself when you experience failure.
Have you experienced failure in your life? If so, how did you overcome failure to be successful to make the world a better place?
Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I earn a commission whenever I recommend a book. In this case, I am recommending my book.
Your Employees Are Your Ambassadors
By Cheval John
You always hear the old saying that you want to leave a job on good terms and don’t burn any bridges.
It seems as if this message is only implied to employees because they are the ones who are working for a paycheck.
What if I told you that this message can be applied to employers as well?
I am here to tell you that it does implies to employers as well because that employee can either make or break your business.
You see if an employer does not allow their employees to shine and hinder their growth or mistreat them, they are doing them a disservice.
And when that happens, it leads to bad customer service and then the employer will put out more material of how to treat the customers or threaten them with discipline and send them towards retraining.
All of that will cost more money that will hurt the business.
The biggest thing that employers don’t realize is that “Their Employees Are Their Ambassadors.”
When the employers realize that, they will treat their employees right and in return, will generate great customer service that will create more money.
And when the employee do leave, they will talk about their experience at your company.
It only a matter if the reference to your company is good or bad.
For example, Kelly Hungerford, who I had the honor of interviewing on my show, “What’s The Word?, was with Paper.Li for over three years.
During her time there, she created the #bizheroes twitter chat that has grown to about 700,000,000 impressions on Twitter.
Though Kelly is a freelancer now, she is continuing her work with Paper.Li as an ambassador because she believes in the people and their product.
The other reason is because the executives from Paper.Li allowed Kelly to be herself and gave her the freedom to be innovative that has benefitted the company.
So if you want to make sure you business thrive in the 21st century, treat your employees right.
Because if you don’t, your company will end up failing because of the bad referrals and reviews.
Going To The Next Level Through Writing A Book And Starting A Podcast
By Cheval John
Photo courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti
Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate and I receive a commission for each book I recommend.
I decided to try to gain more book sales for my first book, “8 Things You Need To Do Before Quitting Your Job” by putting it on Sweet Free Books site after I saw success with running a campaign on there with my second book “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn.” You will see the results below.
The first book is still on sale for .99 cents on Amazon.
Without further ado, here is the article.
You have started a new business and are looking to gain new customers or clients.
Whether it is a sports nutrition company, being a baseball trainer, a public relations consultant, etc., you want to set yourself apart from the crowd.
You have heard the many advice on starting a blog to grow your audience.
Though that is a great idea, which I am a strong proponent of blogging, you will be in competition with other people because the blogosphere is really oversaturated with about 450 million blogs in every niche.
Two ideas that can help you to stand out and add more power to your blog is starting a podcast and write a book.
I will explain further.
Podcasts have been around for about a decade.
However, they have been exploding at record pace and recently, they were 1 billion downloads on iTunes.
Another thing to keep notice of in podcasting is that Apple came out with the New Carplay system last year, which allows a person to connect their iPhone to their dashboard of their car.
The Apple Carplay is set to be in about 50% of cars this year which will allow any podcaster to reach a huge audience.
One more thing to keep notice of is that they are about 300,000 podcasts in the world.
So that is ample opportunity for anyone to get out their message and separate themselves from the competition.
Another great way for an entrepreneur/solopreneur to stand out from the crowd is to write a book.
The reason why this is important is because not many people write books.
According to this 2011 article by Publishing Perspectives, about 200 million Americans dreams of writing a book.
However, not many follow through.
They might see the plenty obstacles like gaining the attention of a literary agent who can pitch your book proposal to publishers.
However, many can circumnavigate this by self-publishing.
And self-publishing has become more popular thank to platforms like Amazon’s Createspace.
Now that is good news for anyone because they can get their message out to the world.
And the point that you have written a book will elevate you to another level because people will see you as an expert.
What if you want to get the word out about your book and stand out from an estimated 4 million ebooks on Amazon.
One of the ways to stand out is running promotionals on discounted book sites.
The ones that are really great are Buck Books and Book Bub.
The criteria to run a campaign on Buck Books is that your book must either be 100 pages or have over 10,000 words.
I have seen people who ran their book campaigns on Buck Books gained Amazon-Best Seller Status including No.1 in different categories.
Before I show you how running a book campaign on these discounted sites helps an author, let me explain something that I have learned while taking a Self-Publishing Success Academy class from the teachers, Kimanzi Constable and Jimmy Burgess and I am paraphrasing.
Amazon wants a person to become a best-selling author because it will help drive more business to their site and help them to make money in addition to you making money.
The way how a person become an Amazon best-selling author is to have their book ranked in the top 100 overall.
Though you might think that you can’t get your book in the top 100 overall, their is good news.
If your book is ranked in the top 100 in any category that you choose to feature your book, you will have become a best-selling author.
And Amazon update their best-selling author’s list every hour.
The interesting thing is that even if you don’t sell a whole lot of books overall, the point that your book sold enough at a certain time will allow you to achieve the Amazon Best-Selling status.
Now that you know a little bit about achieving the Amazon Best-Selling Status, here is how Beau Henderson became an Amazon No.1 best-selling author.
Mr. Henderson ran a campaign on Buck Books for his book, “The Rich Life: Ten Investments For True Wealth” and it made the No.1 Amazon Best-Seller in three categories.
That distinction of being a No.1 Amazon Best-Selling Author will always give Mr. Henderson the opportunity to gain even more clients and take his business, The Rich Life Group to another level.
Now if you have written a book that is less than 100 pages, then there is an alternative to Buck Books.
It is called Sweet Free Books.
Sweet Free Books has books ranging from romance to non-fiction.
If you are accepted to run a book campaign on there, you would have to pay $5 dollars to run the campaign.
That is really cheap.
Also, you will have to change the price of your book on Amazon to either free or .99 cents days before the campaign hit live on Sweet Free Books.
I know this because I ran my second book, “8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Learn” on Sweet Free Books and I forgot the first time to change the price on Amazon before the campaign ran.
However, I did not make the above mistake again and as a result, I became an Amazon Best-Seller in the Small Business and Business and Money Categories.
I will be very honest, I did not sell thousands of books.
However, I sold just enough to achieve the Amazon Best-Selling author status.
Here is the results below.
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,415 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
o #70 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Entrepreneurship & Small Business > Small Business
o #100 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > 90 minutes (44-64 pages) > Business & Money
As you can see, it was 70th in Small Business and 100th in Business and Money.
At one point, the book was 78th at the 3 p.m. hour on February 8th in the top 100 in the Small Business category:
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Then it dropped to 95th in the top 100 at the 5 p.m. hour before dropping out completely:
Amazon Best Sellers
Our most popular products based on sales. Updated hourly.
Best Sellers in Small Business
• Top 100 Paid
92.
Local Online Marketing: Small Busines…
by Claude Whitacre
4.8 out of 5 stars (44)
Kindle Edition
$2.99
93.
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by Alvaro Mendoza
4.4 out of 5 stars (12)
Kindle Edition
$6.99
94.
The Way to Wealth: Advice, Hints, and…
by Benjamin Franklin
2.5 out of 5 stars (2)
Kindle Edition
$2.51
95.
8 Lessons Every Podcaster Needs To Le…
by Cheval John
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
Kindle Edition
$0.99
96.
Turning Memories Into Cash: a step by…
by Kathy Moore
4.9 out of 5 stars (11)
Kindle Edition
$2.99
97.
The Virtual Assistant Solution: Come…
by Michael Hyatt
4.3 out of 5 stars (63)
Kindle Edition
So you have seen how you can stand out from the crowd by writing a book and starting a podcast in addition to blogging.
The only question now is what are you waiting for.
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