Category - Notes From Liz

Over the last few weeks I've watched 3 different marketers post on Facebook that they have had their YouTube Channel shut down.

These are marketers I know, and have seen MANY of their videos. I truly don't see where they are violating YouTubes community guidelines, but guess what? YouTube makes the rules and they can make them up as they go. Once your account has been shutdown it's almost impossible to get it reinstated.

So you need to REALLY be watching what you're doing on YouTube.

Make sure you have read their guidelines. You can see them at https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/policies/#community-guidelines

Break any of those rules and you'll find your account shutdown! Or follow the rules and you can find yourself shut down… 🙁

So here's my advice…

1. You need to treat all platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and the rest) you use a “fishing net“. Meaning they are specifically for you to use to bring in traffic to your site. Of course you want to create good content, that makes them come to your site, but keep your BEST stuff on YOUR site.

2. All of your content should point people to a lead capture page of some sort. Each piece of content needs to have a call to action in it to get people from the platforms you're using onto your email list.

I hear people saying “email is dead“. Well I haven't stopped making money and I rely on email marketing 100%!

3. Back up your content! Don't just upload/post content and not have hard copies of it on YOUR computer. That way if your accounts ever DO get shutdown or the platform disappears then you still have your content. You can simply move to a new platform and start posting your content.

Hot Tip: You can create a spreadsheet, list all your content, why you posted it, and link to the actual file in your spreadsheet. This is also a great way to repurpose content.

I want your biggest takeaways from all of this to be this…

1. Follow the rules!

2. Make sure your content is bringing people to YOUR site.

3. Keep your content organized and backed up!

Hopefully things will calm down with YouTube. There are so many people using it, and it's a great platform. They are just in a “crack down mode” right now, so be careful!

Talk soon!

Liz

NOTE: I initially posted this on Facebook, but wanted to share it here because it holds some important information for you that will allow you to get everything done in a day you need to so you can run your business and make money! 🙂

Having a schedule is key to being productive for most people. I however cannot stand the thought of a schedule. I do what I do so I DON'T have to have a schedule. So I do schedule “spurts“. For a month or so I'll have a certain schedule. So right now this is what it looks like…

I wake up grab coffee and sit on my lanai for 1 hour to wake up. I use that time to catch up on Facebook posts.

Then I grab a shower and ride my bike or do some kind of exercise. I deal with a lot of nervous energy and this pulls me in and gets me focused to sit down and get some work done.

Once I do my some sort of exercise I take another quick shower (if I sweat I must shower… part of my OCD *lol*), and then grab my laptop and sit and pound out a few hours of some kind of work that will make me money. Maybe it's creating an email to send to my lists, or product creations/launching, etc.

About 30 minutes before sunset I grab my tablet and head to the beach to watch the sunset. While there I answer emails and messenger messages. Whatever I can't do on my tablet I continue on with when I get home on my laptop.

So my work day is split in half… First I work on stuff that directly makes me money and then I work on the rest of the stuff which is mainly talking back and forth with customers.

This is REALLY REALLY REALLY working for me right now because it gets me out of the house and away from my computer at least twice a day. Yes I go watch the sunset and work, but I'm getting out and away. In the past I have suffered from “burn out” because I would just work non-stop because I was never leaving the house. That's not healthy physically or mentally.

So why am I sharing this?

Because I want you guys to learn how to schedule your days. You've GOT to find a block of time to work on something that's making you money and that should be done first. Then you've GOT to find a block of time to work on the other “things” in your business.

For those of you that still have 9-5 jobs maybe you get up a couple of hours early and work on the “money side” of things. Then at night you work on that “things side” of things. *lol* You get what I'm saying…

Always work in “time blocks” though. I learned that from Eben Pagan YEARS ago and it's truly helped me get stuff done. 🙂

Hope this helps! 🙂

Talk soon!

Liz

So over on my BackpackBusinessLifestyle.com blog we talk about being healthy, happy, and wealthy and I truly believe you should focus on those things in that order.

But…

Keeping all three of those things well balanced is a constant struggle. At least for me it is!

The main two you need to keep focused on his the healthy and wealth because MOST of the time when you've got those two things in check the happy just comes. I mean when you feel good and you have money in your pocket life is a lot easier, right? Which makes you happier.

So with my struggle to balance everything I've let my health go a bit. 🙁

Since May 2014 I lost 80 pounds. In the last 2 months I've put about 10-15 of that back on.

Why?

1. Because I LOVE sweets and I've let myself eat too many. Along with other “bad” foods!

2. I'm not running, riding my bike, or doing any exercising.

I can make all the excuses in the world… I made a big move, I've been working a lot… Blah blah blah…

At the end of the day though it's my fault. I could have NOT eaten those candy bars, carrot cakes, and all the other sweets I stick in my mouth.

I could have taken at least an hour a day out of my busy schedule and made myself sweat.

I own that and I'm going to be changing that. More on that in a minute…

Another bad health thing I did was to continue on with smoking and I let it get worse. Uuuggh again!

This week I get my new e-cigarette, and I'm going to be using it to get my off of regular cigarettes and then will be able to put the e-cigarette down. Thank you, but I don't need advice on this. I need to do it my way. 🙂

I'm ready to get the healthy part of healthy, happy, and wealthy back in check!

In other words I need to start working harder to drop the 10-15 pounds I've gained back to get back on track to lose the last 25-30 to hit my goal weight, and get back on track.

How am I going to do that?

I'm going to do it with YOU if you want to join in…

Here's what I'm doing to help you and me get healthy and continually STAY that way. I've started a Facebook group at http://www.MyGetHealthyChallenges.com

In this group we will be doing several different challenges to get healthy. The way I lost 80 pounds and stuck with eating right and exercising was by diversifying what I ate and my fitness activities. I get bored very easily and will drop something quick if I get bored!  To help you do the same and keep you going we're going to be doing different 5 day challenges (they will last Monday – Friday so we can do what we want on the weekends) at least once a month and hopefully get it to a weekly schedule.

You can join for free at http://www.MyGetHealthyChallenges.com

Nothing for sale there… I just want to interact with my customers and fans and friends and help us all get healthy and stay that way. I hope you'll join me!

I'd love to hear from you about how you keep everything in your life balanced, so leave your comments below…

Talk soon!

Liz

To start this post off I was looking for a great quote. Probably just something else I was doing to put this off. 😉

And that's what this post is all about. Putting stuff off…

Stop it! Stop it right now!

I've been waiting for the “stars to align” and my life to become completely perfect before really diving back into business and getting back to kicking ass in this industry.

There are so many things I need to finish, so many things I need to start, but right now…

I'm so locked up in my head I can't seem to get anything done.

I mean NOTHING!

What happened to get me here?

A lot… *lol*

I up and moved away from everything I have ever known. I got my heart ripped out of my chest and fed to me. I had a serious catastrophic thing to happen to me that was entirely my fault.

Huge things that tore me down without me even realizing it until the last few weeks where I've been trying to put all my pieces back together again!

So I decided to go back in my mind to a time when my business was running great, and I was doing great with life in general. There are smalls windows in time when both of those things simultaneously happen. I usually have one or the other.

But… I've ALWAYS had one or the other!

For a while though I've had neither…

In the last few weeks I've been able to get the life stuff straight. Whew… That's the hardest part.

Now to take on the business stuff!

If you find yourself in a position where you don't know which way to turn in your business here is what you do…

1. You must absolutely go and wear yourself out! Push yourself in some kind of physical activity where for a few days in a row you're so tired you can't see straight. I call this “soul sweating”…

This will clear your mind and bring you down to a place where you can think clearly and concentrate.

2. Come back to your business and find 3 things you have been putting off and spend 2-3 days getting them completed and taken care of. Just tackle the shit out of them and get them done no matter what it takes.

This will make you feel accomplished and make you want to get MORE done!

3. Find ONE thing that can make you money RIGHT NOW! I'm talking something that can make you money in 24-48 hours or even less than that!

This will put money in your pocket and give you the breathing room you need to move on and do bigger things that bring in BIGGER money which will give you sooooo much more “drive”!

I got 1. knocked out over the last several days…

I've spent a ton of time riding my bike on Anna Maria Island in Florida. It's about 30 minutes from where I live. I've also spent time swimming at the beach, soaking up the son, canoeing… Anything just to exhaust my body and clear my mind.

For the next 2-3 days I will work on 2. I've got a few projects I'm behind on, and a few clients I am behind on. I will finish those up, and then by Monday I will have 3.

This will all lead me to where I need to be with business!

So what can you take away from this?

Life is going to knock the hell out of you a lot! A whole lot… It probably already has several times. If not… It's coming for you. I had 33 years of near perfection, and it came and got me over the last 4 years REPEATEDLY! 🙂

When life knocks the hell out of you though you've got to have a way to come back from it. This is my way of doing that! The three steps I just listed help me. You might be able to use them and you might not, but you MUST have the steps YOU need to take laid out in your mind so that when life does knock you down you can actually get back up and be even stronger than before.

I encourage you to take an hour alone right now and think about the things that get you “pulled back in“, and get you back on track. Write those things down and I'd love for you to share them in the comments below!

Here's to fighting back!

Liz

So for the past 6 months I've been in a pretty bad life funk… No worries things are getting better, but it's been a rough 6 months. Honestly it's been a rough 3 years. I'm sure a lot of you can relate to having “bad years“. Of course there's lots of good in them too, but as a whole the last 6 months have been REALLY rough!

I've had a problem with knowing what direction to go in. Some HUGE mental blocks kept me from being the best me I could possibly be.

My “mojo” has just been gone!

I made my life long dream come true to move to Florida, but that also meant that…

1. I had to leave my best friend of 13 years behind… She's always been a HUGE source of “mojo” and being this far away from her was like leaving half of me behind.

2. I had to leave my hometown… For 32 years (I moved to Chattanooga when I was 5) I've called Chattanooga, TN home and it's an amazing city that has all of my best memories in it. And 95% of my special spots!

Those two things had a much bigger impact on me than I ever imagined. I lost part of me in making one of my lifelong dreams come true.

That happens when you go after bigger and better things!

Now add in a horrible heartbreak and a catastrophic event I can't even talk about publicly and you have the recipe for a massive “funk“.

As I said though things are getting better…

Why?

Because I'm learning to get my “mojo” from other people and things.

I lost my mom 3 years ago and she was literally my backbone. She was my BIGGEST source of “mojo“.

Then I divorced one of the most amazing men in this world. Yes he has his faults, BUT when I met him at 23 I was still such a child. The man basically raised me and turned me into an adult. Well as much of an adult as he could. He was another HUGE source of “mojo“.

In that divorce I also lost 4 step-children that I helped raised for almost 13 years. Yep… There goes some more “mojo“.

My son decided that he wanted to live with his father full time instead of me. Talk about heart breaking. He's got an amazing dad and that's the only reason I allowed it, but it was devastating. He doesn't know that because I'm trying to teach him to follow his dreams and what makes him happy. But… There went another HUGE source of my “mojo“.

Now throw in the move and leaving my best friend and hometown behind you can kind of see I've been sucked dry.

Literally everything I've known just slipped through my fingers. A lot of it is my fault, but at the end of the day I've suffered huge losses.

Add in the last 6 months of craziness and my “mojo well” has run dry.

I've always gotten my “mojo” from people and special places. I've been warned about not getting it from people, but it's in my makeup to do so. Maybe it's a character fault, but it works for me when I'm getting it from people so I'm accepting the fact that I have to get it from them.

With so few people in my life now I didn't know what to do… So I started thinking about who else was in my life when I've had the MOST “mojo” going. All the people I've listed above were there, but guess who else was.

YOU!

At my best I've always given half of myself to my customers, fans, and followers…

That reminder has catapulted me back to where my head needs to be. It's you guys who give me my “mojo“.

How?

By buying my stuff? Of course, but that's like .005% of it. 🙂

The ways I get “mojo” from you guys is when…

You comment on my Facebook stuff/ blog…

You give me feedback on the information I create for you…

You consume what I teach you and use it to be successful…

You are actively go after your dreams…

You consider me a source of YOUR “mojo“…

Even when you are giving me “constructive criticism“…

I could go on and on here, but today I wanted to open up a little to you and let you know how much I appreciate you for all the “mojo“.

Keep doing what you're doing… Keep interacting with me… Keep letting me know what you think… Keep letting me know how I can help you…

Just keep sending all of that “mojo” so I can continue being the best I can be for you!

Alright that's enough “sappy” stuff for one day. And definitely enough “mojo” talk. 🙂 Time to get back into action mode with all of this “mojo” I'm getting. 🙂

I hope you've found something in this post you can identify with and I hope if you're lacking in the “mojo” department that you find your new source of it too!

Liz