by Elle Ray | Jun 26, 2018 | Small Business Advice
Put Some Life in Your Work/Life Balance
Sometimes, a word, phrase or concept can get so overused and worn-out that you cringe when you hear it, even when it’s pretty cool and even more useful. Consider, for example:
- Have a good day
- Fake news
- Mind/body connection
- Haters
- It’s all good
Useful words and phrases shouldn’t make you want to gag, but after a while, even the best turn of the English language can send you into a tither. And like the positive aspects of the mind/body connection that are saving so many people from fake news about haters and healthcare, the work/life balance teeters in that same realm: “I’ve heard it too often; if I hear it one more time, I’m gonna slap you.”
But Please…
Trends aside, it can be a daunting task to balance work, play, family, friends, culture, alone time, spirituality and physical fitness, especially for entrepreneurs. Thanks to technology and the advancements they bring, now you can work 24/7/365 if you choose. And you may end up doing just that if you can’t find that elusive work/life balance that you don’t want to hear about anymore!
Having said that, no matter how trendy and overused the phrase has become, you can never get too many work/life balance tips. Your sanity depends on it. Your health depends on it. Your relationships really depend on it. In fact, there is no “life” in the work/life balance equation if you can’t tune out sometimes and let work issues go straight to voicemail.
Side Effects and Risks Take Hold
Usually, you only see a subhead called side effects if you’re reading a medical blog. Not finding an acceptable work/life balance, however, may lead to a medical issue if you don’t do it. Since the U.S. ranks 30th out of 38 countries surveyed by Family Living Today that asked who thinks they have a healthy work/life balance, it’s appropriate to list the side effects that can happen when that sensitive balance is tipped too far in one direction. Too much work leads to:
- Poor morale
- Lack of motivation
- Fatigue
- Heart disease
- Stress
- Depression
Socially, an awkward balance leads to:
- Not being able to focus on anything but work
- Time spent with others is ruined by emails and texts
- Important events missed
- Losing touch with friends
- Anxiety
But, you may counter, if you don’t give your business sufficient time and attention, you won’t have a business to worry about. And that leads to missed bill payments, low self-esteem, feelings of failure, poverty and maybe even homelessness.
Show Me How It’s Done, Toto
Finding that elusive balance is the key to success both for your business and in your personal relationships. When you get enough sleep, eat right and exercise on a regular basis, your body is happy and supports your endeavors. And while some weeks, the pendulum simply must swing to long working days just to meet important deadlines, for the most part, it behooves you to build a work life based on balance.
How that looks varies from one person to the next. And when you’re the boss, you may have to put in extra hours each week. But instead of having to choose between making yourself sick and not being able to meet payroll, consider implementing a few balancing rods that shouldn’t be too difficult to manage. These tips allow you to still make the money you need and run a successful (and healthy) business:
- Plan blocks of time off for strictly vacation and relaxation.
- Insist on phone-free periods throughout the day, such as dinner time, for example.
- Kick time-wasters to the curb or at least limit their intrusion. Maybe say goodbye to Facebook?
- Include exercise time in your schedule at least three days a week. Make it as important as a big client meeting.
- Ask your family to help you with the everyday chores you typically do.
- Hire out those things that nobody wants to do.
- Make social commitments so that you don’t blow them off in favor of working.
- Stick to your calendar as faithfully as possible while still building in some flexibility.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jun 5, 2018 | Small Business Advice
So Why Isn’t Your Business Taking Advantage?
Who wants to start an email newsletter when you have so many other marketing strategies in play. Consider all the efforts you put in to promote your business. Depending on your company’s size, resources and growth strategy, you may be doing:
- Print advertising
- Online marketing
- Blogging
- Social media campaigns
- Webinars or speaking engagements
- Networking
- Sponsorships
- Sales promotions
- Giveaways
No matter which of the above activities you’re doing, you must be tracking responses and weighing your return on investment. As any business person will tell you: “Why continue to do something that isn’t working for you?” Tracking where your business comes from is as important as promoting your business.
If you’re satisfied with these undertakings, you may believe you have no reason to start an email newsletter. Everything else is working, and you’re growing. Starting a newsletter takes work, coordination and above all, content. Where will you find the time?
But You Can’t Afford Not to Start an Email Newsletter
Getting a newsletter off the ground isn’t as difficult as you think. And the rewards can be phenomenal. To persuade you to start an email newsletter, here are the best five reasons to get on it today:
- You collect a list of email addresses. To start an email newsletter, you need email addresses. To get email addresses, you have to entice people to sign up and voluntarily give you their email addresses. Giving away a free webinar, ebook or company swag may be enough. Many companies just ask for an email at the checkout or as part of the client contract.
After a brief email address-collecting campaign, you’ll have enough of an audience to start sending out your email newsletter. And that list of email addresses has suddenly become a company asset. It’s a list of current and potential customers! It’s a gold mine if you use it properly. Collecting those email addresses is valuable enough for any business to want to start an email newsletter.
- You put your company branding in front of your audience every month. Most email newsletters go out monthly. That means every month — 12 times a year — you get to put your message in front of a growing number of customers and potential clients. You get to share news, offer tips and maybe promote special discounts. And it goes out electronically to as many people as you can get to give you their email addresses. There is no upper limit.
What your email newsletter contains should be worth reading, of course. You want your audience to look forward to your newsletter and to open it when it arrives in their inboxes. Otherwise, it doesn’t work. But think of it: your brand in front of a willing audience every month. That kind of face time via any other media — television, radio, print, social media or online ads — would be prohibitively expensive.
- You gain access to detailed reports at a click of a mouse button. All email newsletter delivery services — and there are many — offer analytics. For each newsletter you send, you’re able to find out how many were delivered, how many were opened, how many recipients clicked through from a link in the newsletter to your website. Some services break down the numbers by location, gender and age. Sometimes, you can get even more granular data.
Think of how valuable that information is to your business. Companies large and small often spend enormous amounts of time and money to find out who’s buying from them and what they want from your business. When you start an email newsletter, that information is readily available. Soon after you send your first newsletter, you can start collecting and analyzing that data.
- You can reuse the content from your newsletter. Remember that one of the objections to starting an email newsletter was finding the time it takes to develop the content for it. And it’s an expense, whether you do it in-house or hire a firm like Ray Access to write it for you. But this is content that gets delivered through email. It’s not posted online, so Google won’t penalize you for duplicate content. That means you can reuse that content in other ways.
Pull out the discount promotion from your newsletter and use it in a print ad. Grab a couple of pull-quotes and add them to your home page. Reprint a newsletter article as a blog post on your website. (You also can use your unique blog posts as fodder for the newsletter if they’re well written and pertinent.) The money you spent developing that content isn’t wasted; it’s a bonanza! You can never have too much good content about your industry, your business, your products or your services.
- You may want to run advertisements for your partners in your newsletter. After you start your email newsletter, you have to let it grow before considering this last tip. But once your newsletter has a big enough recipient list and you know your audience is opening it — you know the numbers and can back them up with reports — you can sell ads in your newsletter. You have to carefully curate those ads so you know they’ll be useful to your audience, but you may reach a point that your email newsletter is paying for itself … or even making your business a little money.
When you’ve started a successful email newsletter, you have a way of reaching out into your target market, an audience that’s already interested in your business. You can continue to provide value-added content to keep them hooked, but you can add ads, slowly at first, small enough to not get in the way, to gradually capitalize on that market. If the ads are in line with your values and are for businesses that complement yours, you can build on your success.
Start an Email Newsletter Today!
So, what are you waiting for? You now have enough ammunition to persuade your boss or your lender that you should start an email newsletter. You now know the value a newsletter can bring. A successful email newsletter creates many advantages and two distinctly new assets that add value to your business:
- The newsletter itself
- The list of email addresses
That’s just the bare minimum of benefits your newsletter can deliver. By slowly building up your newsletter, you broaden your company’s reach while satisfying your customers’ desires for inside information, special deals and useful tips. It’s time for your business to start an email newsletter. Here’s what you need to know. Make it even easier, and let Ray Access develop, write and distribute it for you. Contact us for an estimate!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | May 8, 2018 | Small Business Advice
An Entertaining Look at Business Gone Wrong
In all the years Ray Access has operated — delivering website content, blog posts, press releases, you name it — we’ve never missed a client deadline. We may have to pull a few late nights. We may beat the deadline by just an hour, but we always deliver. It’s a point of pride.
But Ray Access has a team of writers, and sometimes we’ve had to cover for their missed deadlines. Many writers are deadline junkies. If they get an assignment due in a week, they often put it off until the day before. It’s a plan that doesn’t always work — which brings us to this week’s topic: the best excuses for missing deadlines. Enjoy.
Some of the Very Best Excuses for Missing Deadlines
We’ve heard them all, and ranking them is impossible, but here are our all-time favorite best excuses for missing deadlines:
- The internet connection crashed while we were downloading 115 songs from a piracy site.
- Is 6:00 am the next morning still considered the day before?
- I thought the deadline was flexible.
- I got unexpectedly sick from eating three-day-old pizza and couldn’t finish the assignment.
- My baby got sick, and while I was rocking her in my arms, she threw up all over my computer.
- An old friend dropped by, and I hadn’t seen him for, like, five years, so we just had to go out and catch up. I didn’t think I’d be gone for as long as I was.
- I struggled with the subject for three days and just decided I couldn’t do it.
- I had to help my neighbor jumpstart his car. He was so grateful that he drove me around all day.
- My mother-in-law came to visit, and I had to get out of the house.
- My laptop battery died, and the rabbit bit the cord, so it wouldn’t charge.
- I just started rehearsing for a new play!
- I thought I’d watch just one episode of Game of Thrones, but of course, you can’t watch just one episode.
- Instead of doing the assignment, I spent my time coming up with the best excuses for missing deadlines.
- When the kids got the flu, I thought I could still manage and meet the deadline. When my husband came down with it, I still thought I’d manage. Then I got sick…
- My computer told me to update the system. I had no idea it would take so long.
- I won the lottery! No I didn’t, but I thought you’d enjoy that more than “I overslept.”
- My mom passed away. It was 10 years ago, but it was right around this time of year, and it always chokes me up so that I can’t concentrate.
- A friend gave me a free ticket to the Biltmore Estate. I had to go!
- The dog jumped the fence again. We had to look for him for hours.
- I was working on the assignment in a café, but I got so jacked up on coffee that I ended up embroiled in this deep conversation about how best to eat ramps.
- My boyfriend is a real ass.
- It was on my to-do list, just further down than it should have been.
- I got locked out of my house, and my daughter wouldn’t let me back in.
- On the day I put aside to do this project, I got called in to my other job as a barista.
- I started a new diet that makes me irritable.
More of the Best Excuses for Missing Deadlines
Sometimes, one of our writers turns in the assignment on time, but well short of the targeted length. To us, that’s as bad as not turning it in at all. Their excuses included:
- My studio apartment is too small to write 1,000 words, so I only wrote 500.
- I ran out of ideas, and I’ve been wracking my brain to think of something else to add. I couldn’t. That’s why it’s short.
- My computer crashed while I was writing. Since I hadn’t saved it, I had to recreate the whole thing. But I could only remember half of what I wrote. Here it is.
- I got distracted by a visual thesaurus program, so I only finished half of the assignment, but it’s really good!
- I didn’t really know what you wanted, so I scribbled some thoughts down. That counts, doesn’t it?
- I kept going back and rewriting the beginning. That’s where all the time went. Sorry.
- I didn’t see the length requirement until I was almost done. That stopped me. I hope this is all right.
What are some of the best excuses for missing deadlines you’ve heard? Leave yours now!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Guest Blogger | Apr 3, 2018 | Small Business Advice
The Shift Away from Nine-to-Five Employment
Even if you’ve never heard of the “gig economy,” you probably leave your home to go to work every day. A gig economy refers to the recent employment phenomenon of freelance/independent contractor work that encompasses short-term and long-term projects. It’s generating a lot of buzz because it’s estimated to comprise roughly a third of the workforce and is expected to grow to 43 percent by 2020.
Courtesy of Pixabay
One of the biggest benefits of this arrangement is being able to work from home — or anywhere, for that matter. That makes it an appealing option for:
- Millennials looking for an alternative lifestyle
- Parents, both single and attached
- Seniors, especially those stymied by the current job market
- Caretakers with lots of downtime
- Any of the 85 percent of people polled who admit hating their jobs … and their bosses
While working as an independent contractor may sound like a dream scenario, there are pros and cons to the arrangement. But if freedom and flexibility are your goals, then it may pay to educate yourself about what it truly means to work independently.
Establish a Budget Before You Start
Before diving into a gig economy lifestyle, you’ve got to figure out how much work you need to take on so you can handle your expenses — from bills and obligations to recreational funds. Keep in mind that the workload is often feast or famine, so it can be difficult to accurately predict your income. Because of this, you may want to begin with an emergency fund that’s enough to cover three to six months of your financial obligations.
Make sure you establish a budget — get yourself a good software program to help you stay organized. Your budget should include all your expenses and the applicable information of all of your current “gigs” or freelance projects. When you work for yourself, you must keep clear records.
Save yourself a headache at the end of the year (or each quarter) by setting aside money for taxes each month since they’re not withheld when you’re an independent contractor. Also keep in mind that you don’t get paid vacations or sick days, so you’re going to need a reserve to manage time off.
Choosing Work in the New Economy
There are two routes you can take to enter the gig economy:
- Doing something you know, like what you did in a previous full-time job
- Doing something you love, like a passionate hobby in which you’ve developed some expertise over the years
If you’re lucky, your passion meets your proficiency. For example, if you love animals, but worked in business marketing, consider becoming a pet blogger or freelance writer covering animal issues. Even if you’re taking a salary cut at the beginning, you’ll be motivated to work harder when you need to because you’ll be doing something you enjoy.
You could also consider jumping on a gig economy job app to work for a popular ride-sharing, meal-delivery or errand service. Some of the more lucrative and more technical gigs that are in demand are in the areas of:
- Blockchain jobs
- Robotics
- Penetration testing web services
- Virtual reality
- Instagram marketing
- Video editing services
- Writing and copywriting — you could even work for Ray Access
Finding Work in the Gig Economy
Looking for new work needs to be a weekly habit since the rug can be pulled out from under you at any moment. There are many resources available online. Make it easier on yourself by setting alerts to receive job notifications pertaining to your skillset and interest, but don’t back yourself into a corner. If there’s a particular company you’d like to work for, reach out to let them know you’re interested in any potential remote-working opportunities that may arise.
While the independent workforce continues to grow, there’s still work to be done to protect contractors — in terms of physical and mental health. Last year, U.S. legislators proposed a bill that would provide gig economy workers with “portable benefits” that they can take with them from job to job. Until then, make sure you understand what you’re walking into when considering a career change.
Guest blogger Lucy Reed has been starting businesses since she was a kid, from the lemonade stand she opened in her parent’s driveway at age 10 to the dog walking business she started while in college. She created GigMine (gigmine.co) because she was inspired by the growth of the sharing economy and wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurial individuals like herself to find the gig opportunities in their areas.
by Mark Bloom | Mar 5, 2018 | Small Business Advice
The Best Web Agencies in 2018 Fit Your Needs
When it comes to your website, turn to a professional. It doesn’t matter if you need help building your website, revamping your site or improving your internet presence. But unless you’re in the web development industry, you may have difficulty figuring out what makes the best web agencies in 2018 rise to the top. Even if you work in the field, it’s still a chore.
While interviewing potential web developers, remember that professionals tend to specialize. You may need to talk to a website design firm, a website developer or a company that specializes in search engine optimization (also known as SEO). Some of the best web agencies in 2018 offer all those services under one roof, but that may not be the best fit for you.
Finding the Right Agency
Ray Access has been seeking to partner with web agencies to offer our services to them and their clients. As a result, we’ve done a lot of the research you need to do to find the best web agencies in 2018 for your needs. Here’s what you need to know:
- Full-Service or Specialty. The type of agency you need depends on what you’re looking for:
- If you want to rebrand your company, you may want to start there before thinking about a website.
- If you want to scrap your existing website and relaunch with a new one, look for a full-service agency that offers design, development, content and marketing.
- If all you want is to market your website, find several that specialize in SEO and interview them to find the best match.
- Big or Small. Big firms may offer more services than smaller agencies. But smaller firms provide personalized service and more flexibility. The best web agencies in 2018 work with you to deliver whatever it is you need, no more and no less.
- Communication. Find a firm that listens to your goals. That’s a sure sign you’ll end up with a product (your new website) and services (design, content and marketing) that satisfy you.
- One Shot or Repetitive Work. Some creative firms, including the best web agencies in 2018, give you options when delivering their services:
- Web design firms give you different designs to choose from or different color palettes to match your goals.
- Content writers often provide a free revision to better target the tone and style you want to portray.
- Online photographers take a lot of pictures to find the one you like best.
- Web developers, however, may only build your website once. Changes may cost extra.
- Price. Some agencies may charge you an arm and a leg to build your website, and if you don’t know what you’re getting, it may seem reasonable. That’s the value of shopping around and getting several quotes before you enter into an agreement. Tips to make sure you keep your costs in order include:
- Have a budget in mind. If it’s unrealistic, the agencies you contact will tell you, and you’ll have to reassess what you need and what you can afford.
- Weigh the price with their promises and the feeling you get from them. Ask for references and referrals and then call them. Every reputable company can put you in touch with past clients.
- Be clear about your goals and ask about alternatives. Some services are more expensive than others. If you want monthly help to market your website and your company, for example, it can run into the thousands of dollars, whereas publishing a weekly blog on your website may be minimal.
- Ask for a contract. To avoid escalating fees and add-on charges, know what’s included when you sign an agreement.
Do Your Homework
No matter what you’re looking for or how much you have to spend, you must do some research even before you start talking to agencies. The best web agencies in 2018 love talking to potential clients who are knowledgeable about what a web agency can and can’t do. Talk to more experienced small business owners who’ve already gone through this phase to get a general idea of what you may need and its market value.
And ultimately, make sure you end up with what you want – a website that’s working for your business. It should look good (and be reasonably modern). It must function seamlessly and respond quickly, with compelling images and engaging content. It should, ideally, get visitors to contact you.
If you want a referral from the best online content firm in the world (aka Ray Access), contact us and we’ll give you the names of some reputable agencies. The best web agencies in 2018 are the ones that deliver what you want, for the price you expect and by the deadline you’ve agreed to. And remember that Ray Access is the leader in providing the words for your blogs and website that empower your business.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Dec 25, 2017 | Small Business Advice
The Only Way to Receive Is to Give Generously
Since it’s the season of giving, we thought we’d share this little bit of wisdom: you have to give to receive. It’s cliché, but like all time-honored sayings, so very true, and especially timely during this season of giving. You know it’s true. And it’s easy to come up with examples:
- To attract holiday shoppers, you might have to give away a discount.
- To get good karma on your side, you need to do good deeds.
- If you want people to be nice to you, you have to be nice to them first. You have to give kindness to get it.
- To get a paycheck, you have to give a good day’s work.
- The first point of attraction is your smile. You have to take a chance and project your smile out into the world if you hope to receive a smile back.
You could apply this concept to any endeavor and every activity. If you bring nothing to the table, you’ll often leave it empty-handed. But if you join in a lively conversation with insight and regard, you’ll learn something new or meet someone new.
Give with an Open Heart
While giving to receive is a popular sentiment these days, your intention matters a great deal when you set out to give. Now, we’re not implying that it’s better to give than to receive, although we believe that. But don’t just give — give of yourself. Share your presence, not just your presents, and the world will respond.
And while giving inherently is its own reward, we do believe that what goes around comes around. Even when you give with no thought of what you’ll get in return, you’re often rewarded from some other source. It’s strange how it works, but it does work.
The Season of Giving for Businesses
It’s the same with your business. You don’t have to give away your trade secrets just to drum up customers. But give away your insight. Give freely of your industry knowledge, no matter what industry you’re in. Educate your clients, and they’ll become more discerning buyers.
Everyone faces choices when they want to buy, whether it’s a product, a service or an adventure. If you’re selling products, services or adventures, you can provide inside information to help people make better choices. Here are some examples:
- If you’re a plumber, explain the pros and cons of all the different varieties of water heaters.
- If you sell auto leases, definitely share all the ways you can help car shoppers.
- If you’re a medical specialist, share insights into your experience with keeping your patients healthy.
Share Your Knowledge in a Blog
It doesn’t have to be the season of giving for you to give away advice, tips and insights. When you blog on your business website, you can share every week or even more often. That’s what we do here at Ray Access with this blog. It’s what you can do on yours.
Blogs reach out to people searching for answers. The people you attract are already interested in your goods, services or adventures. Whatever your business does, you can share information about it to educate your customers. Do it for free. Make it valuable. Give of your knowledge, and people will remember. What goes around, comes around.
Happy holidays from your writing and editing friends at Ray Access, where it’s always the season of giving.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
