Brandmerry Blog Archives
The Morning Routine of a 6-Figure Mompreneur
We hear time and time again how important morning routines are for our well being, but how often do you think of a morning routine as a benefit to your business?
I've got to be honest with you lady they go hand in hand, and through my journey from working 9 to 5 working mom to 6-figure business owner, I've learned a thing or two about morning routines.
So even though right now you might be a little pissed at me for pushing a morning routine on you, I'm telling you by the end of this post you're going to feel super inspired.
Now, before I jump into the morning routine that has allowed me to be the best mother, wife, woman and business owner (yes, seriously) I want to share one of the most important pieces of a morning routine.
Are you ready?
IT'S ABOUT YOU.
That means that you have to do what works best for you and your schedule.
Man, I wish I had known this early on because I struggled for almost a year trying to make someone else's routine work for me and spoiler alert it didn't work.
It's been through my own trial and error that I've developed the routine I'm sharing with you below, so my intention is you will take what you need from this schedule and modify it to fit your life.
Let's dive into the 6 things I do every single morning.
MY MORNING ROUTINE
1) DAILY WRITING
This is a new practice I've adopted and I'm obsessed. Every morning I begin by free writing 3 pages. It's called Morning Pages, from the book The Artists Way, and it's really changed my mindset and creativity as I head into a new day. I find I'm more creative in the morning (who knew?) and this allows me to explore that creativity first thing in the morning.
This practice has allowed me to get all my thoughts and ideas out on paper before diving into the logistical to-do list of my day.
2) ENERGIZE MY BODY
First things first after hopping out of bed upon completing my morning pages is to brush my teeth. I recently read an article that said yogi's brush their teeth first thing in the morning to clear mucus and get the body ready so naturally, I added it to my routine. It's been awesome for giving me that morning boost I need to feel more awake.
I follow this by a spritz of my absolute FAVORITE skin care line Lola Jane Naturals. I swear by all her products, but use my Rosewater Facial Toner to brighten my skin and again wake my ass up.
Finally, I guzzle a glass of cold water, always served in a mason jar naturally, to get my digestive system ready to rock and roll.
3) GET CAL ADJUSTED
If you're new here, Cal is my toddler, and he has his very own morning routine so momma can show up for hers. In order to move into steps 4-6 I grab Cal's breakfast, get him situated in his blue chair and turn on his favorite cartoons (this kid is seriously loving Word Party on Netflix these days).
Making sure Cal is in on my morning routine magic allows him to understand the importance. I've found this results in fewer interruptions and distractions, allowing my morning routine to be about ME (no shame in that).
4) MOVE MY BODY
Now, it's really time to get this party started and I love to kick off my morning with movement for my body and quiet for my mind. I typically aim for 15 to 45 minutes of exercise daily from Toneitup.com (seriously love them). My personal favorite if I'm needing something that not only energizes me but also makes me feel more aligned is yoga.
5) LOOK INWARD - MORNING MEDITATION
Now, meditation has always been a struggle for me and it took me a long time to begin to look at it differently. I love to use this time to check in with myself - sometimes that's a simple breathing exercise, a guided meditation from Gabby Bernstein or a Kundalini meditation. At the bare minimum I turn on music and ask myself "What do I need to hear today?" Then I sit and reflect on that statement until I feel clear. I've found that when I'm more flexible with myself here and make the focus on inward reflection I have the very best results.
6) MORNING SMOOTHIE
I'm a smoothie junkie and a creature of habit. Every morning I love to drink a super refreshing, energizing and healthy smoothy. I'm seriously loving my Morning Matcha Smoothie right now and wanted to share the recipe with you below:
Ingredients:
1.5 cup Flax Milk with added protein
1 packet Trader Joes Match Tea
1 frozen banana
1 cube frozen spinach (you could also use a handful of fresh spinach)
5 drops of Stevia
So freaking simple, yet always makes me feel absolutely amazing (yes, I also drink this out of a mason jar as well - it's kinda my thing).
And that's it!
Ok, wait I lied, there is one more practice that allows for all of this to work.
I LOCK MY PHONE!
My favorite app of 2018 is definitely QualityTime, an app for your phone that allows you to lock your device. It's allowed me to remain super focused on my morning routine and remove distractions that might pull me into my work first thing in the morning. With this app, I aim to lock my phone anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours every single morning.
If you're interested in learning 3 tips to help you create your own routine, watch my IGTV video all about morning routines ↠ https://www.instagram.com/tv/BlHfwRQBD04/
Until next time!
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Meet Michelle
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
How to Use IGTV to Increase Brand Awareness
How to Use IGTV to Increase Brand Awareness
IGTV is a new addition to Instagram. It's another way to show up on that platform, get super visible and increase brand awareness and it's all about video. Not only are we going to talk about how you can use IGTV to increase brand awareness, but also how you can use it if live video really scare you.
What is IGTV and How to Start Using It
Essentially it is a longer, pre-recorded video platform on Instagram where you can share content and do more of a Youtube style video. This gives us a beautiful opportunity to get clear on our messaging. Smaller brands only have the ability to share 10 minutes of content per video, which will help us be really clear and concise in our messaging and the content we are sharing.
The other thing I love is the cross promotion within the platform which we will talk about a little later in the post as well, but Instagram is giving you the ability to link straight to your IGTV videos in stories. You can share as an in-feed post, etc.
The next thing I want to talk about is hashtags. Hashtags are searchibility on Instagram and now we can use these in our IGTV videos. There's so much flexibility in one platform which I'm absolutely loving. If you know your audience is on Instagram, you can now focus on this one platform to start building massive brand awareness.
Afraid of Video? IGTV is your answer
We know how important video is - it's where we, and every platform are going because it really takes your brand to a new level. It's all about taking your business and brand to the next level because when you do video, your ideal client will start to feel like they know you. So video is so, so important for increasing brand awareness and building a successful business.
I know from talking to a lot of you that live video can be scary. You want to be using it, but it scares you and this is where IGTV comes in. IGTV kind of takes away the scariness of live video, but has the same feel of live video. This gives you the opportunity to practice, record yourself and still ask for engagement. It's an introduction to video that is really going to be so powerful for those of you who are just starting out in video. Not only are you increasing your brand awareness, but you're getting yourself comfortable with the camera. You also have the ability to share this on various platform, and what I love about IGTV, you can grab the URL and send people from your email to your IGTV. You can even cross-promote on other platforms as well like Facebook.
If live video scares you:
Get comfortable with camera
Play with asking for engagement
Sharing on various platforms
How to use it in your biz for brand awareness
1. Focus on building one community - Instagram
The idea of being on all of these platforms can be super scary, so I always recommend to start with one and focus on it, get really good, and then add another. What I love about Instagram is it gives you so many touch points, so I think it's a great platform to start with.
2. More personal and less polished than other video
IGTV gives you the opportunity to be more personal and less polished than Youtube or even live video. It's about showing up as who you are with an already established platform.
3. Now have 3 points of contact on IG (posts, stories and IGTV)
This gives you the ability to show up for your audience in different ways on just one platform. It's so important for you at this stage in online entrepreneurship to have these multiple touch points.
4. Sharing options (cross promotion - within stories, via email, accessible in feed)
I can now use the swipe up feature to my new IGTV episodes. I really think easy access is so important and Instagram allows you to make your videos super accessible. You can also pull the URL from your video and share it in an email or on Facebook. Extend the life of your content!
5. CONSISTENCY!
Be consistent with your postings. What time, what day and what type of content? Think of a TV show. This helps build trust and accountability within your community.
You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!
Head over to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://www.facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching/videos/1729525050417157/
And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!
Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>
3 Things You Are Probably Doing Wrong With Your Brand and How to Fix Them
3 Things You Are Probably Doing Wrong With Your Brand and How to Fix Them
I'm really excited about today's content because I freaking love branding. Whether you are in a place where you already created your brand or a place where you haven't even started yet - this is for you. And all of the things I'm talking about today I've done, and that's why I'm sharing them with you. I thought "if I'm having a hard time doing this, and I understand branding, I'm sure others are struggling as well."
1. You Don't Believe It
You don't believe that your brand, your business, what you have to offer, is actually worth it. This is a big deal. If you're going to go through all the effort of building a brand and doing all the things, you have to believe in what you have to offer, and I mean really believe. If you don't see that what you have to offer is worth it, your "ideal" client isn't going to see it either.
The first thing I want you to do is look at your brand or the brand you want to create and ask yourself "do I really believe it?" I like to say that branding is the heart of your business and the logo and aesthetic is just the cherry on top. This is why I focus a lot on niche work because it is through your niche work where you really discover what you have to offer and why what you have to offer is the best. It's about really loving everything your doing with your brand and being excited to share it.
2. Believing if you build it they will come
Just because you build something does not mean people will begin pouring in. Just because you build a website does not mean you'll start getting clients. How do they even know about it? This is where visibility comes in. This is also why the website and the aesthetic stuff isn't the most important thing that you do or the first thing you should do. I like to say a website is the home base of your brand. If you don't know what you do and who you serve and your niche and all of those pieces then a website doesn't matter at all because you are going to have to redo it all once you have all that figured out. You need to be focused on visibility first and having all of those key pieces in place.
I would even suggest that one of the first aesthetic pieces of your brand be branded photos. When I got a photoshoot, everything changed. The posts were now getting comments and likes and people saying "I love what you're doing!"
3. You're boring
You're not making people feel anything. It's like having a conversation with someone who is watching TV. There's no depth or feeling with your brand. Your brand should make people feel something. It's not enough to just look pretty or sound pretty. You want people to read your copy, look at your site, look at a photo and think "I get this. I need this." You need to have an emotional component with your brand and this starts with your story. What do you want your audience to feel and think and do?
I want you to go look at your brand and ask yourself "what do I want people to feel? What do I want people to associate me with?" Make people feel something.
Want to flip the switch and create a captivating and money making brand? Join me in You! Branded.
You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!
Head over to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://www.facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching/videos/vl.671457719709362/1521842731185391/?type=1
And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!
Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>
How to Hire Team Members for Maximum Support in Your Online Business
How to Hire Team Members for Maximum Support in Your Online Business
Today we're going to talk about outsourcing - hiring your team and building your team, and I know how scary this can be, so I'm going to share my own experience.
I really struggled with outsourcing in the beginning. It took me a really long time to add people to my team, and the biggest reason for that was my perfectionism. Yes, I can use this as an advantage at times, but how do I keep it from running my business full-time?
From July 2016 to about May 2017, I did it all myself. But then I came to the point where I started to get more clients, my son was now one and a half and I felt a need and desire to focus on certain things in my business that were in my zone of genius and let go of the others.
Fears around Outsourcing
I had a lot of objections at first. What if they do something that doesn't go with my brand? How will I find someone I can trust? Can someone do it as good as I can? What if they mess up? Etc. And what I've found was the majority of my objections were driven by my perfectionism.
I first made the dive with one specific area and that was Pinterest. The second thing I did was lead pages, landing pages, so I started to dabble and see the benefit of having team members. I started to realize that if I could outsource the things not in my zone of genius and was able to focus on visibility and my clients, I would be able to bring in more money.
Another big fear for people when it comes to outsourcing is the investment. I had this fear because I knew I could do it myself, so why do I need to pay someone else? But I had to look at what I was ultimately investing in and that was my bigger mission, which I'm able to get to much more quickly when I have a team. Why create a business around freedom if you're constantly strapped to your computer. You're investing in your business, in the bigger picture.
I would love to hear your fears or concerns around outsourcing. Comment them below!
My top recommendation on what to outsource first
Before you hire, you want to make sure you know exactly what you want to outsource, and your journey is going to be even easier if you are crystal clear on who you are, what it is you provide and who you provide it to, so when you do hire out, you can pass all of that stuff over. And remember there is going to be a learning curve.
One of the questions I get asked a lot is "when do you know it's time?" and I truly believe that if you're doing something in your business and you're like "ugh I don't want to do this" then it's time. There's always going to be something to outsource and it's going to be different for everyone.
I believe you should start small and then continue to hand over more tasks over time. You are stepping into the position of CEO and there's a shift that happens in your business when you hire a team and suddenly we experience beautiful growth and it's very powerful. Outsourcing isn't about "I don't want to do this." It's about wanting to be supported in your business, so you can grow.
So what should you outsource?
- Social Media - this is what I recommend to all my clients. For example, I knew I wanted to be on Pinterest, but I didn't have the capacity to add another thing on my own. So I hired someone, and I've never touched my Pinterest, but that's where the majority of my website traffic comes from. It's also easy to outsource social media because you can still control the content - they can repurpose blog posts, emails, etc.
- Tech - I love tech, so this took me a little longer, but that's not the case for everyone. There are people out there who can setup a whole funnel in half the time that you can. I also recommend a bookkeeper or accountant.
- Design - This is another thing I felt comfortable in, so I just started outsourcing that, but there are so many designers out there that will knock your socks off. Good graphics can make you a lot of money! This can be workbooks, social media graphics, your freebie, etc.
Write down everything you do in a week, then go back through the list and pick out the things you love doing and circle the things you despise. Those are the things you need to outsource.
In addition, although it's not something we think of right away in our biz, I highly recommend investing in legal for your business to protect all your hard work and dedication. Having a Client Agreement is so important when contracting team members. Learn more about this important document from Christy Westerfeld here >>
Where to find team members
- Ask your entrepreneur friends. If you have a mastermind you are apart of, ask them. Get recommendations from people you know.
- Ask in Facebook groups. This can be a pitch fest, so if you want to avoid that, be very specific in the type of person you need. Tell them to put recommendations below and say "please no messages." This way people can post and you can have a ton of options to look through, but your inbox isn't being filled to the brim. I love to see who's recommended. I immediately check out recommendations first.
- Upwork - this is great for single projects and getting your foot in the door. You can also find these people in Facebook groups as well and just slowly build that relationship. If you have a single job or just want to test the waters and see how you do handing work over, then Upwork is a great place to start.
If you’re looking for support in your business here are some of my favorite ladies to support you.
- Social Media Management by Kirsten Atkins - http://sociallyboutique.com/
- Pinterest Management and Resources by Jena Liat - https://www.jenaliat.com/
You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!
Head over to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://www.facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching/videos/1708345602535102/
And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!
Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>
How to Add SEO to Your Squarespace Website
How to Add SEO to Your Squarespace Website
I know how important it is to drive traffic to your website if you have a blog. Otherwise, what's the point, if no one can actually see the content that you're creating? So today I want to support you in two pieces of the puzzle to improving the SEO on your website.
1. Content is Key
Number one is your content. I am telling you that none of the cool features matter if the content on your blog and on your website is kind of crappy and ultimately if your audience doesn't want it, then they're not going to be searching for it, so it's really important that you put the majority of your energy on creating content that your audience wants. You need to know who your audience is and, more specifically, what it is that they're looking for online and then you create the content to meet that need.
Some of my favorite ways to find out what my audience is searching for are to step in their shoes and imagine what they're googling online. Now if you're like, I don't want to imagine Michelle, I just want to know specifically, so I ask them. Go ahead in a group, in a private community and ask them what they're searching for online or what specific questions they have about the industry that you're in. Another fun tip is to go to blog posts that are in a similar industry as you would see, what kind of comments are coming through the bottom, see what people are asking about, and then create content that meets that need. Or, go into a facebook group and see what people are asking about your specific niche and create content that again meets that need. I can't stress enough to you how important content is and if you're struggling with coming up with ideas, it is as simple as asking your audience, what can I create for you?
Some of my biggest, most impactful, most traffic driven blog posts that I have are really specific, so the titles themselves need to be really specific as well. Some examples for you are "7 Tips For A Well Branded Photo Shoot" or "How to Convert Clients on your Website." Remember you. People are searching for the content that they need, so make sure that not only is the content amazing, but also the title is super descriptive and on point for what your audience is ultimately searching for.
2. Keywords
The second piece of this puzzle is my favorite thing to do, and that is adding keywords to your blog posts. Now, I do not suggest that it's just a keyword heavy blog posts, so it's just keywords, right? You're not actually giving value, none, no, no, no, no. Lead with value, but add in those key words that's going to tell Google, hey, that's what this blog post is about.
Another really cool thing that you could do is add keywords to the images within your blog post. If you watch the whole Youtube video below, I actually dive-in to my Squarespace site and show you exactly what I'm talking about here. As a result, I saw this was having a big impact on my SEO. You'll see I have a ton of images in my blog post. I have videos, I have all kinds of things. One of the things that I absolutely love to do is to go in and edit the image. Once you upload your image, you'll see a place for file name, update your file name, make your file name, the name of your blog post, or maybe a key word that is in relation to your blog post. This helps Google rank your content. So they're pulling all the different pieces from your website, including your images, so update your file name. It's as simple as seriously just clicking on here and typing what ever you want. I don't have captions underneath my photos, that you guys can see, but I do have things written. Again, giving google more to work with, with my site. Again, I show you exactly how to this in the video below, so be sure to watch if you're not sure what to do!
Bonus Tip
I'm going to give you guys one more bonus that I absolutely love. At the end of all my blog posts throughout my website, I have a lot of personal information, and I have a signature. This is another amazing space to add a little bit more seo to your website. You can go ahead and just type in your title right or maybe the name of your business. So for me, I type branding and business coach, and then I can also go into design caption below and you'll see branding and business coach. Okay, so this helps. This helps you rank on Google for your title. It helps Google know who you are, what it is that you do specifically. And again, all I have to do is do not display caption and hit apply. So fun little tip for you in improving SEO. Using images on Squarespace, making these small changes to the content that you're creating and the SEO that you are adding to your website in the form of keywords can have a big impact on your brand awareness.
Can I get an "A" for driving traffic to your website with zero ad spend? That's like the entreprenuers dream, but I also understand that coming up with content, coming up with ideas is kind of daunting. So I have a really cool free resource for you that you can grab here: https://brandmerry.lpages.co/content-creation-training/
It's how I map out 30 days worth of content and as little as 30 minutes, there's a really cool bonus video that kind of walks you through my process and they're really easy spreadsheet that you can use in your own business to kind of categorize what content you're going to create and plan it all out in advance. It's going to help you overall in your business, if you can start streamlining these practices now.
You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth tutorial of this with several bonus tips below!
Head over to Youtube and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://youtu.be/H39rEQNWBdw
And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!
Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>