Generosity is something you’re born with, I honestly believe. It has nothing at all to do with how much money you have, how well connected you are, or whether or not you believe that giving to others is optional. It does have everything to do with knowing that sharing your time, money, knowledge, and resources with others, especially if they have done the same thing for you is the right thing to do on a regular basis.

Here is something I began notice as my business began to grow and I was surrounded my more and more successful people:
People who are more successful are generally more generous to those around them.

It turns out I am not the only person to feel this way. Seth Godin discusses something he refers to as the Generosity Boomerang. It goes like this:

“Success makes you happy. Happiness permits you to be generous.
In fact, it actually works like this:
Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful.”

Godin goes on to say in another post that we seek to be around people in our life who are open, generous, and connected.

“Open to new ideas, leaning forward, exploring the edges, impatient with the status quo… In a hurry to make something worth making.
Generous when given the opportunity (or restless to find the opportunity when not).”

When I spend time with people who do not seem to have a generous bone in their body I am always tempted to start a discussion on the topic with them. Many are just getting started with their businesses and would argue that they simply can’t afford to be generous right now, but fully intend to when they are earning more money.

Generosity is all about gratitude, and understanding that when we are grateful for what we already have in our lives we are given even more.

Just as I believed I could not volunteer for charities and other organizations back when I was a classroom teacher and also in real estate, this is just wrong thinking. You always have enough time and money to serve others, both those you know and whom are helping you and those you may never meet because they live half way around the world. Generosity is a trait worth developing, if you were not born with it.

What do you think about generosity – is it a trait we are born with, or must it be developed?

I’ve been reading Pamela Slim’s latest book, Body of Work: Finding the Threat That Ties Your Story Together, and it has made me think more about what I am doing in my own life and business. In her latest blog post Pamela asks her readers what’s next in their body of work.

Here is an excerpt from her post that rings true with me:

“We have so much more in common than we think– people in every work mode want to know that the work they do matters, they want to enjoy what they do, and they want to know that they will remain highly employable, no matter the economic climate. My heart sings when I get to help individuals, organizations and communities work together to create positive, productive and sustainable economic growth. So that is my next challenge!”

As I look back over my own Body of Work, almost nine years in the making since leaving my life as a classroom teacher and real estate broker/residential appraiser behind, I think about what I have accomplished. Some is tangible, like the fifteen hundred blog posts I’ve written on my two main sites, the ten books I have published, the events I have spoken at, the Workshops I have hosted, the Retreats I hold in Santa Barbara, and the thousands of people whose lives I have touched and whom have touched mine as well.

The real victory for me is the intangible; the way I have been able to change my mindset and belief system to know anything is possible if we want if badly enough, the feeling of accomplishment I have when one of my students excels, and the way I have been able to step up to help a variety of charities around the world. I’ve come so far, yet I feel in many ways that I am just beginning my journey.

What’s next for you, in your unique body of work?

Both of my podcasts were selected as those worthy of being called the ‘Best Free Podcatsts’ available on iTunes. Have you subscribed to these on the list?

Dropbox is a service that allows you to store your content in the Cloud. I started out with the free version, which you may access here, and when I realized how simple it made my business I upgraded to the paid version. In a recent post at their blog, the good people at Dropbox explained how they have added a new feature in case your computer falls into the wrong hands. Here is an excerpt from that post:

“Remote wipe lets you delete your Dropbox files from a lost or stolen device while keeping them safely backed up in Dropbox. For example, if you’ve ever left your laptop on a plane, you’re not just worried about the laptop — you’re worried about the stuff that’s on it.”

You can also share folders with others through your Dropbox account, giving them their own unique password. This is an excellent feature if you work virtually and have several people assisting you on a variety of projects as I do. In addition, I have pictures, videos, audios, and all of my written documents backed up and saved with Dropbox. There are so many more features I’m not going into detail with here, and once you give it a try you will not know how you ever lived without it!

Marketing Your Book Online

If you’re looking for ways to market your book online, look no further than your blog. By this I mean your hosted WordPress blog, one that you own and control. A recent post from author and book coach Judy Cullins reinforces this idea. Here is an excerpt from what she shared with her readers after being asked if blog posts should be related to our business website:

Yes! Your blog posts serve an important purpose in your book and business marketing. They should serve and bring only your target audience to your site where you offer your books, products, and services. Why would you want lookie loos, who have no interest in your topic to come to your site? They won’t stay awhile and they won’t buy for sure.

She goes on to say that we should stay on topic and keep each blog post focused in a specific niche. I agree completely with this strategy, which continues to work for me and my clients. Your blog can help you to reach people from around the world who may directly or indirectly lead you to achieve even greater results.

I was reading Marlon Sanders recent post on getting traffic to your blog and wanted to share that with you. The image on the left is his infographic on this that he so kindly gave me permission to share. In it he explains the three primary sources of driving targeted traffic to your website or blog. These include:

• Organic traffic from the search engines – Marlon says that Google Webmasters is your best friend, and also have steady and consistent content (such as I am doing here with blog curation).
• Paid traffic – This includes pay-per-click from Google Adwords or Bing, Facebook and other services, as well as something known as Retargeting.
• Traffic from your affiliate program – start with a simple product and build it up over time.

I love to see increasing numbers of people visiting my sites each month because I’ve made the effort to share my content and ideas, as well as sharing excellent information from others.

Marlon has a 5 Day Fast Start Course that I am finding extremely helpful. If I’d had access to this type of training when I was just getting started online, my journey would have been a much different and more lucrative one. Let me know when you pick it up and I’ll schedule a thirty minute laser focused call with you within a week to ten days.

SEO Tips for Beginners

When I first came online in 2006 I started learning about something called SEO, which stands for ‘search engine optimization’. It was a fascinating topic to me at that time, and I began setting up simple websites and blogs and then optimizing them for specific keywords and phrases.

Then Google changed everything and I went from fascination to frustration over night. My sites tanked in the search engine rankings and I began my pursuit of knowledge in this area. There was not much available in the ‘SEO tips for beginners’ category initially, and then it seemed like every day a new WSO was offered that promised to get you ranked on page one of Google once again.

My recommendation is to find people who are knowledgeable on this topic and learn from them over time. One person is Art Remmet. I was just reading his post on website dual identities and wanted to share it with you. He shares information on what is referred to as the ‘Canonical issue’. Here is an excerpt from his post:

A bit of history behind this whole canonical issue is that when the Internet was just getting started, websites were placed in the “www” folder on the webserver. This created the www. Subdomain. As the Internet has evolved, webmasters were not consistent with this practice and at times placed the website files in the root directory.

I believe you will find his site easy to navigate and understand. Please leave a comment to let me know if you have further questions.

Having an email marketing strategy certainly makes sense in an ever-changing online marketing world. I like to believe my email marketing is working well for my business goals, but after reading a post on email marketing strategy from Lynette Chandler I realize I still have a lot to learn.

In this article Lynette shares her insights into this topic, including a site she uses call Customer.io. It’s like the go-between with your website and your email system. They call it behavioral emails. If you want to take your business to the next level, consider making some small changes that could bring huge results.

What do you think about changing your own email marketing strategy?

Listen to my podcast interview with Lynette Chandler here.

Looking for some great ‘About Page’ examples?

Your ‘About Page’  is the most crucial page on your blog or website. It seems like everyone has an opinion about what should be included, and I was asked by Nicole Dean to give my opinion in one of her recent posts. You’ll enjoy reading what she and the others think about this as well.

I said in that post: