Nothing can replace transparency in business, and therein lies the power of authenticity.

I mean, what could be better than the latest Pinterest or Facebook Ads Strategy for growing your online business? Well other than a bouquet of roses from your sweetheart for Valentine's Day…a good dose of authenticity, that's what! Whether you’re a new blogger building an online business or a seasoned entrepreneur, when you’re working hard to offer your best advice and strategies that have helped you gain the knowledge and expertise that you have, it always comes down to how you treat people in everything from online comments to email nurturing sequences. It's so important to be kind, compassionate, and supportive. I think that's what really showcases a person's ability to be transparent. So why do women still fall victim to the trap of jealousy, comparison, negativity, and cattiness? Why hasn't everyone discovered how truly rewarding life can be when we empower one another instead of tear each other down? When I began connecting with like-minded women along my journey toward entrepreneurship, something magical happened. The women who I worked with previously…the ones who were ultra-competitive, caddy and downright miserable stayed that way, while my new friends were thriving and supportive of one another. Wisdom is meant to be shared, and when we genuinely celebrate our wins and help one another through though times when we're vulnerable, we can ultimately reconnect with our true purpose.

The Digital Collective of Women Entrepreneurs

I've found there are a lot of people and tribes out there who aren't always what they seem, and I've been fortunate to find a few select online groups that provide a real opportunity to connect, share, and grow. On Instagram, for example, there actually “follow loops” with people who participate and then a few days later “un-follow” one another! (So much so, that someone actually created an app to track the un-followers!)

I was once part of a Facebook group and I shared a genuinely helpful comment to another woman. The owner of the group issued a “warning” to me because I shared a link inside her group, however, I'm pretty sure she did not even read the context of the conversation that was taking place. Let me just say…it was not an affiliate link, and it was not even a link to my own blog! But for all the sh*tty groups out there that I had to weed through, waste my time, and feel upset about, there are those that I participate in and enjoy being a part of every single day as I build my business, and that's why I decided to take the opportunity to create another real and authentic group to help foster a meaningful way for women to support one another.

Women are powerful when we collaborate!

Building each other up, supporting one another with a legitimate follow, a re-tweet, or even just a “like” now and then can really lift someone up. The Digital Collective supports Share Threads for all social platforms, as well as blog and vlog requests for comment. I invite bloggers of all nîches to join me; feel free to post your own link inside the applicable thread whenever you are moved to do so! Women, especially moms, need a supportive place to grow. We deserve it!! We ALL were assigned a mountain…to show each other that it can be moved! This is a new group as of the spring of 2019…and although we're just starting out and we may be a small group…together, we are powerful. Together, we are vogue! Join us at: The Digital Collective of Women Entrepreneurs

Authenticity in Business

People who are authentic work until the job is done, not to look good, but instead because they want to nail it. They make things more efficient because they're always thinking about what isn't working and how they can improve it. They inspire people around them, and they bring relentless enthusiasm to the table.

When you're surrounded by people who believe what you believe, there is an element of trust that just doesn't exist elsewhere. For example, it's not like you're “friends” with everybody who lives in the state of Pennsylvania just because you live in the state of Pennsylvania, but if you travel to California and you see someone wearing a Philadelphia Phillies tee-shirt, then you're suddenly friends. (This actually happened to me, I was in San Francisco and the Phillies happened to be playing the Dodgers, so even those in San Francisco were my friend that day!).

Now more than ever, people are desensitized to information overload. We don't want to talk to an automated phone system, we relentlessly press “zero, zero, zero” to get to a live human being with whom we can connect and share our troubles. At the end of the day, we are all just looking for someone who “gets” it. How do you surround yourself with people who “get it?” This is your tribe. It's a tribe of people who genuinely want to connect with what you stand for. Think about this in your business and how you can relate the concept to selling your product or service. Think about the underlying psychology of what your target audience believes. What do they want? What do they need from you? How is your product or service ultimately going to help establish trust and allow them to take risks with the confidence that the reward of your product or service will actually move them forward?

Here are 5 Ways You Can be More Authentic in Your Business Today:

1. Strive to be more positive (in both your business and your personal life) by writing down 5 positive affirmations. It's truly amazing what positive self-talk can do for you on a subconscious level. Get out 5 post-it notes, write 5 positive affirmations, one on each. Then post one on your bathroom mirror, fridge, car dashboard, desk where you work, and one by your bedside. Here's an example:
   

   I have the power to change my story.

2. Take time to listen. Listen to feedback from those who you might think don't know as much as you. There are lessons we can learn from everyone, including children. I once worked with someone who believed he could never learn something from someone who was his subordinate. What an unfortunate circumstance. Mediocre leadership will never grow a business.
3. Look in the mirror. What do you look like when no one's looking? Authenticity can hurt sometimes; it's who you are when no one's looking. Do you need to make a change? If so, make a commitment to yourself. Write it down, and re-evaluate in 3 months, 6 months, and a year.
4. When you open your heart and choose gratitude, you make a huge impact. There is little in the world that makes people more aware than a heartfelt, hand written thank you note. Take a few moments out of your busy day to craft a distinctive and personal thank you to someone that could only come from you, and could only go to them.
5. Consider an area in your life where perseverance paid off. Let that be a conversation with someone you know personally that needs guidance in their life. Connect with them, and offer a helping hand. You just might find a nugget of wisdom in return. The more senior leaders become, the more feedback they need, but the less they are willing to receive. The more guidance you give, the more you receive.

From Fling to Long-Term Relationship

It's always a good time to reflect on how growing your tribe is a lot like growing your marriage, your business, your best employees, or your personal relationships. I just can't say enough about how important transparency and authenticity is if you want to take your blog audience from fling to long-term relationship.

I recently had the opportunity to read a great ebook by Steph Parrell called “The Year of Simple Living: 12 Months to a Simplified Life” and it was a great read to help slow me down to literally smell the roses. As busy entrepreneurs, we tend to stay so focused on growing our business that so we often forget how connected our life and purpose really is to wellness. Steph provides so many tactical suggestions that you can implement immediately for everything from organizing your closet to mindful eating to meditation.

There are too many people, both in person and online that are not reputable with their business practices. Maybe it's because they simply aren't mindful of how connected their daily life really is to their business. I find when I focus on simplicity, that's when my business begins to thrive. I myself have fallen into the trap of working for a business owner who I thought was a completely different person than he actually turned out to be. Business owners continually look for ways to streamline their processes, and systems such as with email marketing automation, setting smart goals for internal operations, and even planing for a digital transformation. These are all a great way to get things done more efficiently, but should be facilitated from a place of self-discipline and moral responsibility, so that your people don't lose trust in you. I encourage you to pick up your copy of The Year of Simple Living to help bring you back to basics.

You've seen it happen…a business owner becomes greedy or an employee becomes envious of another. It's just not good business, and it will never foster a meaningful connection with your customers, your team, or even your family and friends. It happens not only from brick and mortar businesses, but in social media circles as well. To gain a true connection with your audience, to build a tribe, you have got to be authentic. Period.

How does Authenticity fit in to every day business online?

“You don’t know me, but I’d really like to sell you…”

OMG!!! JUST KIDDING!

I get a ton of terrible pitches to my business every week, and they all start out pretty much the same way. Someone I’ve never heard of sends me an email out of the blue, trying to sell me something and I’m immediately turned off. Cold emails just don't work. It's not good business.

I was working on a project for a client recently when the business owner decided that the 75 marketing qualified leads that I produced for him in a given month didn't work out as planned (because his sales person didn't follow up with them). So he decided to nix his Ad Spend Budget and instead hire a company who would “cold email” to set appointments…the idea was that this company was going to use their proprietary automated intelligence to search LinkedIn for opportunities (in other words, people their software identified as a good lead/match based on certain criteria like size of company and job title) and reach out to them via a series of automated emails. The idea was to set an appointment that the sales team would eventually turn into a revenue generating sale for the business. I tried hard to convince an old-school sales guy that cold calling may have worked out okay in 1990, but it just doesn't work that way anymore. Buyers are educated, savvy, and completely not interested in high-pressure sales techniques. Especially online buyers! Fast forward a year later, the same business owner is still paying this “company” to generate leads. Would you like to know how many deals have transpired? Zero. Zilch. Zippo. NONE.

But what do you do when you’re on the other side of the fence — when you want to reach out to someone you don’t know to ask them for something? You follow a modern, practical process of inbound marketing and thoughtfully planned automation to serve up a solution to their problem in a non-salesy way. And it works. There are literally hundreds of thousands of smart people making 6-figures a month in their online business. I'd say they're doing something right by running a transparent and authentic business, wouldn't you?

Another one of my favorite books is a collection of everyday meditative paragraphs. It's called Take Your Soul to Work. The book describes a host of leadership qualities that everyone should aim for, even if you don't yet consider yourself a leader. Give yourself permission to be authentic!

Power changes people, and it can be easy to confuse power with influence. Twice in the past few years I've been on the receiving end of a gentleman's power struggle. I politely walked away. A person is powerful when he or she display's authority over those who are powerless in their ability to disagree. A person is influential when people want to follow their lead out of admiration, respect, and inspiration. Being on the receiving end teaches us all a lesson in patience, tolerance, and acceptance. Rather than argue, I just walked away. I truly believe that I made the right choice.

I'm in a few different private Facebook groups with bloggers that I really enjoy being a part of. I believe they are truly authentic and the bloggers care so much about supporting each other. Some of them are quite large though, so with groups that number in the tens of thousands, I find that sometime's our voice gets lost. I recently formed a brand new Facebook Group (click here to join) for the sole purpose of connecting with other like-minded bloggers, and sharing each others blogs and socials with the ultimate goal of growing and sharing one another's business. I plan to run this group a lot like Megan's Pinterest Ninja's Group with one thread per day, so if you happen to be interested in some additional opportunities to share, please join! There's no set industry or topic, everyone is welcome. We're all in this together, and the more we can join the conversation and help one another, the better the world becomes.

What do you value most from other bloggers? Let me know in the comments below, or join the conversation inside Facebook. Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with you! XOXO

So You Want to Land your Dream Job and Work from Home?

Everyone's talking about getting a job that allows them the freedom to be a better mother and a better wife, right? We all know that finding a good paying, flexible, work-from-home job is difficult. But what almost no one understands about getting a job that allows them the freedom to be a career woman, a mother and a loving wife is the concept of new media jobs. I'm not talking about selling facial cream or jewelry for a large MLM. Maybe you are and you're wondering why you're spending so much time and energy for so little reward.

We’re educated, we’re driven, and we’re managing our household by chopping healthy vegetables for our crock pot in between meetings. We work from our home on a flexible schedule, we start work when our kids get to school and have the flexibility to visit their school on Field Day.

Learning the right way to leverage new media so you can make a living working on your own terms is simple once you’ve got the tools you need at your fingertips. And that can happen even if you are still working full time and just searching for a side hustle or you’re commuting to a high paying job in your local community that currently offers you little flexibility outside of the regular 9 to 5.

A strong team is the foundation of any successful business, whether it’s a global corporation or a small start-up; what you need to know is that businesses of all sizes share the same need for assembling a team of high quality employees that are driven to succeed. But are you driven to grow someone else's company or your own?

When I started my career in the late ‘90s, hiring remote workers was rare. Today, it’s a smart move being made by multi-national corporations that reduces overhead costs and allows them to improve their reach and maximizing efficiency. Advancements in technology have made working remotely easier and more efficient than any time in history.

According to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, as many as 90% of workers in the US alone would prefer to hold a job that allows them to work from home.

What do you need to know to get a high paying, remote job like this?

…And what is the difference between working from home and getting paid by a company versus starting your own online business? Hint: Starting your own business is a lot of work, but the reward is far greater in the long run. But what business will you start?

I’m sharing this story with you because I know there are sooo many amazing women out there who give up every day because they feel like they aren’t getting the results that everyone else is, or in certain situations, no results at all.

I know how defeating that is.

Women, moms, all the hardworking people who desire flexibility to be their own boss. We all have so much potential in this online space, with unbelievable talents and a unique gift to share with one another.

This is for you, because I don’t want you to give up.

If by sharing this story, of being vulnerable in a space that we're all still new to, sharing the truth behind what it’s really like having worked for a digital agency will provide you the tiniest bit of hope, to keep you going, and not give up on your dreams, then this was worth it.

And for that, I’ll take one for the team.

Who Am I?

I am Kate Murray.

I have been in this business for over 2 decades. TWO DECADES. Sometimes when I'm invited to speak at Career Day for my local high school, I realize that it really has been over 20 years since I graduated from college!

Straight from undergraduate, I worked in corporate marketing for 10 years. And then I worked in agency marketing, for 8 more years. I earned an MBA along the way, and then got married and freelanced when my kids were babies…because at the time, I needed the flexibility to work from home and most large companies were not doing that yet. I had clients of my own, and I did something called “white label” work, which means I built websites and digital marketing plans for clients of Digital Agencies as a 1099 of the Agency. In other words, I did the work, but the client wasn't really my client. It was the agency's client. I still do both freelance and client work because I spent so much time building the brands of large corporations (ie: the clients of the agencies that I worked for) that I neglected myself and my own ‘brand’.

Business is my life. Business is my passion. But in 2018, I came to an important crossroads. My kids were being neglected so that I could grow other people's businesses. I was feeling undervalued and under-appreciated at work. I was working long hours in the office, a half hour commute to and from the office, and my babies who are now 11 and 12 years old, were going to bed feeling sad because I was too tired to give them the attention they needed.

They ate cereal for dinner.

This was absolutely not what I wanted for them, for my husband, or for me. I needed balance. Yoga. Meditation. Healthy food. Children with manners. All of these are important, and yet I was so loyal to my job…but going to work was completely uninspiring.

Motivation is intrinsic. It doesn't come from a leader, rather it comes from appreciation…I was feeling no appreciation from my work. Can you relate?

And now this.

All these people in the online world showing up and sneezing out a 6-figure income. They started last month and already made $5k. Is that possible? Yes. With stipulations.

Can You Make Money Blogging?

Blogging is not a “get rich quick” scheme. You can “get rich” but let me manage your expectations by saying that it might not be as quick as you think.

Here you are, giving it YOUR ALL and you haven’t achieved that $5k a month milestone yet.

Hang in there.

You cannot start a blog for free and make money. If you need some further explanation on that one, watch this video:

So as you can see, blogging is not a “get rich quick” scheme and you do need to invest in your business. Not much, but something. You need to invest some time and some effort, and a little bit of money. This is relative, but you can start a real blog for less than $100 if you have the time and drive. If you watched the video above and you're motivated to start a money making blog asap, then take that first step and reserve your domain name and hosting at Bluehost.

So you invest in your new online blogging business because you know it’s the responsible thing to do. Whether you could afford it or not. Whether it was a Facebook ad, a website, branding, all the online courses you might need to take to gain some education on how this whole system works. You did the responsible thing because you know you wanted the results, and you were willing to do whatever it takes. And still, nothing. Crickets. How can this be?

Hang in there.

You’re showing up, daily. More than daily. You are doing all the things you’re supposed to be. You’re building relationships, you’re communicating, you’re sharing your offer. You have all the social media accounts, the hashtags, the keywords, you’ve even tried to tone it back and focus on 1 or 2 platforms.

Hang in there.

It must be your money mindset you say, so there you go again. Learning, investing, listening, watching, reading, obsessing, trying. Trying. But that’s not working…

I have brushed myself off and opened up my laptop, day after day, not knowing if I will ever be able to build my brand from scratch.

Baby steps.

Day in and day out.

I finally stopped all the noise from getting inside my brain, my inbox, my life.

I started to believe in myself.

It’s not a miracle.

It’s not Forbes worthy.

But it’s the truth.

So I keep going.

Tears. No’s. Crickets.

Still going.

And if you’ve stayed with me this long, I want you to keep going, too. Because it will be worth it. I can assure you that the methodology for generating evergreen leads, setting up your website and automation the right way and delivering digital content in a way that resonates with your nîche is not yet taught in any MBA programs. I know this because I taught courses at a local college. Our colleges and universities train students for the dream of a corner office, but we’re ALL living proof that the dream of a corner office has been replaced with a need for flexibility.

Brush yourself off, and get back out there. You can do it. I believe in you!

Whether you're starting an online business, thinking of starting one, or looking for a company to work for in a remote capacity, there are certain characteristics that make a candidate more suited for remote work.

Here are 5 Tips for being a Successful Remote Worker (whether you're working for a corporation or for yourself!)

:

Your previous work experience

If you have already had successful work experience, this can be a huge relief for other professionals. When you have experience working out of your home and you know how to conduct yourself online, in writing, and verbally in front of a video conferencing platform, other professionals can assume it’s likely you’ll hit the ground running. The ability to start producing meaningful deliverables is huge, so if you can show that, you’ll already be a front-runner. Do you Email Marketing Automation effectively for your business? Businesses large and small need to know that you are capable of using more than the free version of Mailchimp. Try something like ConvertKit, it integrates well with a variety of platforms.

Excellent communication skills

You’ve got to be able to show that you can communicate professionally, both orally and in writing. Articulate your point clearly and professionally, and show that you’re approachable and coachable. Job prospects who stand out from the crowd will be able to use email correspondence, phone calls, and video chat on a regular basis as part of their communication repertoire and will be able to effectively express themselves clearly no matter what form of communication they are using.

Technology Proficiency

Today’s successful remote professionals are comfortable using a variety of collaborative software whether it’s for project management, online messaging, a group project organization board like Trello, or a CMS such as HubSpot. If you can quickly learn and navigate various cloud-based applications, it will make you more suited to a remote role than your competition. Do you use Webinars in your business? If not, get accustomed to WebinarJam.

You must be driven

You must be able to function with little supervision. A strong candidate can deliver on a project and thrive in an independent role without requiring constant attention. People who make a lot of mistakes, require a lot of direction, or need excessive feedback can take time away from their supervisor’s other responsibilities. HR managers and other professionals who you might collaborate with see this as a red flag. Whether you're seeking a job or seeking to collaborate with an influencer, you've got to show that you're motivated.

Always be professional

Remote workers must be brand ambassadors. Be mindful that just because you are at home doesn’t mean you should have kids, pets, or TV sounds in the background of your conversations. Showing up to a meeting in yoga clothes or performing chores while on a conference call are all easy traps that remote workers take for granted. Don’t let this undermine your professionalism. Even though you are working from home in a more relaxed setting, always behave as if you were working in a corporate environment.

A great remote worker will have all the necessary traits listed above, along with confidence and the ability to perform the highest quality work. Do you have what it takes? Share your comments below!

Interested in selling your industry expertise, coaching, or blogging so you can start up your own online business and make money with your blog? Get started with my FREE GUIDE: The Ultimate Guide to Starting (and Finishing) Your First Blog or Website.

Want to join a collaborative of women entrepreneurs who support each other's online businesses (no matter what industry you're in)? Join my NEW Private Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/connect.share.grow

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate partner links. For more information, click here.