Have you jumped on twitter yet? If not, why not? Everybody is signing up for a twitter account just to see what all the buzz is about.
So What Is This Twitter? Twitter is one of the newest, hottest social networking interfaces to hit the internet. The original use of Twitter is for giving status updates of what you are doing throughout your day and giving you a way to connect with your friends and family real time across the world.
Since Twitter was created many people have scrambled to make new tools that will make your Twitter experience a lot easier. On Twitter you can share pictures, meet new people with like minded interest, follow others who you can learn from and provide value to others that follow you. You can use new twitter applications to find people with the same interest as you across the world.
Another way to use Twitter is to implement it as a business tool. As I said earlier you can use different applications to find other people that have the same interest as you. If you sell gardening tools you may want to look up people that are talking about gardening. If you are selling “how to start your own home based business e-books” you may want to connect with people looking to start up businesses. The main objective is to offer value to the people that are following you and in return you build a relathionship which down the road you can make a call to action for them to buy. Chances are since you have warmed that person up you have more of an opportunity for them to buy then if you just asked them to buy from you upfront.
So Who Do I Follow And Why Would Someone Want To Follow Me?
The people you want to follow are people that share the same interest as you do. Of course any of your close family and friends you would want to follow also. Over the next couple weeks I will introduce you to some really nice tools that will help you use Twitter as a business and not just something to play with. Why do something if it’s not going to be financially productive?
THE BIG QUESTION!! Do I follow everyone that follows me?
If you search the internet you will find many mixed answers to this question. Originally the answer was YES it is being courteous to follow everyone that also follows you, but here lately others are finding out that is is not so good to follow everyone that follows you. When you first start your twitter account it is pretty easy to keep up with everyones conversation but as your list of people you follow grows it becomes a chore just to find comments from people that you really want to hear from. Understand, there are programs out there that can help you to make this easier such as TweetDeck, which makes this task alot easier.
Me personally I choose to follow all people that follow me. My reasoning behind this is that although I will not be able to personally connect with each and every person I follow or that follows me, just like a forum, one day something someone says may catch my eye or they may have the solution for something I’ve been looking for and if I wouldnt have chose to follow them then I would have never known about it. This has already happened to me multiple times by using Twitter. No, I wont catch every single conversation and be able to add value to everyone but this is Networking and the more potential connections you can make the better.
Now when it comes to people I personally choose to follow on Twitter I do only connect with people in my industry or people in my area or people that like the things I do. Like right now one of my favorite t.v. shows 24 is running through its series. I connect with other people that like 24 and from time to time I talk to them about it. The conversations become very intersting so be sure that you use Twitter wisely and productively at the same time.
If you would like to see what I’m doing on twitter you can follow me Aerion Miles on Twitter
It’s been a long April and I’ve been really busy with my new website I’m creating. I’ve also been really busy kicking it with the family and having lots of fun. Easter was really good for me. I know my mom also enjoyed herself as this was her first year with her new granddaughter Aeriona. Yes she is named after me : )
Anyways…I wanted to just share with you some photos of my new daughter…Well she is 4 months old now, and her sister and my oldest daughter Amari. Yes I know I’m a little late but here are some of their Easter photos. I’ll be back in touch soon, but otherwise enjoy your day!!!
Hope everyone had a wonderful easter weekend as I did with my family. Over my easter weekend I was working on a website and I ran across a nice product that I thought I would share with you all. It’s called X-Header and it helps you to create really nice header graphics for your website.
What is A Header Graphic?
A header graphic is simply put your first impression when someone visits your website. It creates the visual aspect of your website and helps your website to look more professional and put together. Your header graphic helps the visitor know what they will be looking forward to if they stay on your website.
The best part about X-Header is that it’s absolutely free. I put a couple video clips from the X-Header website so you can get a feel for how you can create yourself a header graphic for free.
Five Tips to Beat Procrastination Procrastination is something that everyone struggles with, I know me personally this was one of my biggest issues, and I still struggle with it from time to time. Why do it now if I can do it later? That type of attitude is the beginning of the end when it comes to getting any type of work done whether it be work or chores. I soon woke up to the fact that to be more productive means that I have to stop the procrastination. Dont let procrastination ruin your thought process. It can be a silent killer.
Why does a person procrastinate? One of the main reasons is the “fear factor.” The fear of failure is why alot of people procrastinate. If they dont put any effort into anything then they can never lose right? You have to understand that failure is going to happen so it’s best to fail at something that you can learn from so you can get better at it.
Totally opposite of fear of failure is the fear of being successful. Thats odd, wouldn’t I want to be successful? Some people see being successful as having the bar set real high for yourself therefore you have to keep up or maintain that certain level of success and it can become a chore. The pressure of being successful can cause you to stop work and procrastinate.
Another cause of procrastination is stress. A person will think it is easier to just hide a problem and not deal with it than taking the problem on and meeting the challenge head first. The stress of having to take that task on will cause you to procrastinate in cause leading to more stress.
Here are some ways to change your mindset and beat procrastination.
1. Make a list. When I worked for corporate America alot of my day I felt overwhelmed and at the end of the day I had no idea what I had done that day. So I started to make a list of all the things I had to do that day. Every report, every task, every meeting I would put on this list. I would add deadlines on the list so it could be prioritized. Every time I finished a task I would cross it off. It’s good to look at your list throughout the day so you can have a sense of accomplishment and by the end of the day you can see the progress you have made in your day and know that you have done something productive with your day.
2. Work hard, play hard! I think this was a chore value at one of my old jobs. You know the saying “all work and no play.” You have to schedule some downtime in your day to just take a break and relax. When you are working you will sometimes find yourself thinking about taking a break and doing something else with your time. Well it’s okay to take breaks throughout your day. Make sure you get up and walk away from your work so you will feel refreshed when you get back. Be sure to schedule out these breaks so you dont find yourself thinking about the break while you could be working which henders productivity. This way you can stay focused on your work.
3. Don’t overload your work schedule. If you have alot of things on your plate then just the thought of doing it will cause you to procrastinate. Only put as much on your schedule as you can handle so you wont find yourself losing your mind trying to complete everything. You are more productive when you can easily manage your task and you will not have a problem with missing your deadlines.
4. Find coping mechanisms. As I said earlier stress can lead to procrastination. You have to find ways to destress yourself before it effects your work. You need to find ways to relax, you can learn things like different breathing techniques, join your local gym, take a walk around the block anything that relaxes you and your body and mind so you can take on your work with a refreshed feeling.
5. Stay organized. Another thing I learned in the corporate world is that if you are not organized you will not be productive. My desk used to be full of piled up paperwork, folders, sticky notes everywhere and every morning when I would walk in it just made me not want to do anything because I didnt know where to start. So I got organized and developed myself a system for my daily task. Without organization and a system you will not be able to find the file you are looking for or article you were suppose to write instead you will find yourself procrastinating on finding that information causing less productivity. Keep your desk neat so you can easily find what you need at the right time.
Use the above tips to help beat procrastination. Procrastination comes from within you and your mind so remember it can be beat if you work at it. Doing so will increase your productivity and help you to be more successful on a daily basis.
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