Black History

You’ve been feeling a bit sluggish and your body is always in pain. It could be because you have a sedentary job. These jobs pay better than your basic retail job but they can hurt your health.

You need to be able to stretch and walk around regularly. Depending on how crazy your work schedule is, it may be hard for you to find the time. Rather you know it or not, it’s not too hard to work fitness around your daily life.

To help you bring in the cash and stay healthy while you do it, here are a few ways to take care of yourself when you’re working a desk job.

Stretch at Your Desk 

Sometimes it’s hard to find time to leave your desk during the day and that’s fine. You can do stretches and exercises without ever leaving.

If you’re not sure where to start with this you can find some great desk workout ideas online.



Take the Stairs 

Most workplaces have both stairs and elevators. When you’re left up to choose, go with the stairs. It gives you more opportunity for walking.

If stairs aren’t your friend then you can get the same kind of benefits from parking further away from your building. Basically, find as many opportunities to take steps throughout your day as you can.

Have Weekly Fitness Sessions

While you may not be able to fit in working out every day you can still get wellness benefits from scheduling a few. You don’t have to head to your local gym. You can go on a jog a couple of times a week.

Some workplaces do have a gym on sight. If yours offers this service then make sure that you’re taking advantage of it.

Get Up 

Even though you work at a desk you don’t have to keep yourself glued there. You can get up and walk around a little whenever you want.

For example, say your boss asks you to take a conference call. You can take the call and then pace around as you listen and take notes on a pad.

Companies in the United States spend approximately $207 billion in marketing every year. They spend most of the money on televised ads, product events, and online promotion.

When searching for effective marketing materials, look no further than company brochures. Brochures offer a myriad of marketing benefits to your small business.

Here are five important reasons why you want to use brochures for your small business.



1. Brochures Are Easy to Distribute

Unlike newsletters, distributing brochures is easy. They are light enough to place in a variety of locations within a building.

You can bundle tangibles such as t-shirts with brochures to market your business.

Many people appreciate handling information in small packages such as brochures. Resources such as newsletters and company journals can be overwhelming.

2. Brochures Are Cost-Effective for Small Businesses

Most print shops will not turn away your business due to budget. In most cases, they will adjust their work to fit the bill.

You will also realize these cost savings using brochure templates, which help save time. There is a wide range of free and paid templates available on the internet.

There are numerous web resources available used to design marketing material. This will allow your small business save costs even more.

You should be aware that high-quality professional designs don’t come cheap.

3. Company Brochures Personalize Communication

Using a brochure gives you an opportunity to communicate with your audience easily and quickly. Personalized messages are more effective than those meant for a larger audience.

As your small company grows, adjusting the message on a brochure will be quite easy.

Your business has taken all the strides to adapt to the modern age. It’s been equipped with social media profiles, an email marketing campaign – all the digital marketing bells and whistles.

But it turns out, there’s one thing you didn’t prepare for when committing to the age of the internet.

What is it? Negative online reviews.

These dreaded comments on social media profiles and Yelp pages can come as a nasty shock and a bit of an emotional blow. But how can you deal with them properly so the bad reviews left by the occasional dissatisfied customer can be more than a bad start to the day?

For 6 of our top tips on staying positive in the face of negative online reviews, keep reading!



1. Remember, You Can’t Please Everyone

When it comes to dealing with negative reviews from customers, it’s absolutely necessary that you recognize that there’s never been a business or organization that hasn’t gotten a bad review. You may take those negative words personally but you’re far from the first to do so.

With over 7.6 billion humans on the face of the earth, there’s bound to be one who’s having a bad day. There’s bound to be another who had unrealistic expectations, and another who caught your employees on an off day.

It’s unrealistic to expect to please everyone every day. One bad review doesn’t mean the end of your business – it just means someone felt they had something to say. Read it and accept the feedback, then move forward!

2. Know That Bad Reviews Aren’t Always Indicative of Your Quality

Remember that moody customer we mentioned? The one who had an awful day where everything kept going wrong, then your website was slow to load or their order took a bit long to fill and it just pushed them over the edge?

Their bad day isn’t always indicative of the quality of your business overall. So, don’t think it is!

Chances are, for each negative review you’ve gotten, there are two or three or ten good ones to match it. You probably have hordes of customers who come through your doors or inbox who feel totally satisfied with their experience.

If this is the case, you want to attract the biggest audience possible. Although it might seem like you need to have a lot of contacts to make this happen, it’s not always the case.

In this article, we’ll show you how to promote an event and grow your audience with only a few simple steps.



1. Create a Multifaceted Marketing Plan

The first step if you want to attract more people to your event and grow your audience is to create a multifaceted marketing plan.

You will not achieve the results you want unless you focus your efforts on more than one platform. The marketing plan should include diversification such as email marketing, social media, and a website for the event.

2. Partner Up With Other Organizers

Although it might seem like other organizers are your competition, it’s very unlikely they will be promoting an event like yours.

If other event organizers in your area cover different topics but have similar audiences, you might benefit from a partnership with them.

Partnering with other organizers is a two-way street and you can make excellent connections.

3. Use an Event Hashtag
It’s no secret we now live in a world with hashtags. If you want to promote your event and see results, it’s important you create a hashtag for your event.

Encourage your event-goers to use the hashtag whenever they post a photo or share your event on social media. This will create more buzz around your event and increase the chances of it going viral.

4. Use SEO to Your Advantage

Many people use Google to find events around them and see what’s going on in their city. Since this is the case, you need to make sure you use SEO to your advantage.

You need to make sure your event’s page is optimized and you use the right keywords. For example, if your event is a wine tasting in Chicago, your keyword “Chicago wine tasting” should appear a few times on the page.

With over 168 million photos on Instagram tagged as #food, it’s no secret that people love to take photos of food- and look at them too!

Unfortunately, this means that if you are set on becoming a famous Instagram food blogger, it’s going to take some work. Simple photos of what you ate for lunch aren’t going to cut it anymore.

In fact, behind every successful Instagram account, there is a strategy. Here are 5 essential tips that will help you start strategizing your account and learning how to become a food blogger.



1. Define Your Niche

The very first step before you even begin posting is to strategize what your profile and platform will look like. Pick a color theme and style for all of your photos.

This will help you to build up a congruent and professional looking profile as more photos are added.

Not only that, but this is the time when you get to decide what makes you different from every other food blogger.

Will you only post about waffles? Or will you post about healthy versions of your favorite comfort foods?

Whatever, you choose just make sure it’s something you can grow with and that you love!

2. Follow Others

The next step is to begin following other famous food bloggers. This will give you an idea of the kinds of posts that people respond well to.

From the top profiles, you’ll be able to learn how to become a food blogger that people actually want to see in their feeds.

However, don’t stop there! Follow the people that like, comment, and respond to these bloggers as well. This will help you get your name and profile out in front of followers that are already loyal and engaged.

Avoid following bots and people that will just give you a like for like. Also never buy followers. These both will ruin your engagement and in turn, negatively affect 

3. Be Unique

With over 300 million monthly users on Instagram, you need to make sure that your posts and profile are unique and memorable.

This can be done by posting images of uncommon recipes or making an interesting display of the food. If you get stuck, just check out WaffleMakersHub for examples.

Are you running your own business? Among the many different requirements you need to work on, the health and safety of your employees in the workplace are paramount.

Thus, the United States government established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) back in 1970. The agency’s primary goal is to ensure the safety and health of workers. According to data from OSHA, there were 2.8 million nonfatal workplace illnesses and injuries in 2017.

In 2014, over 4,000 workers died while in their respective workplaces.

As a business owner, you need to understand what does OSHA do concerning these matters?

Continue reading below as we break down OSHA and how it affects you and the welfare of your employees.



What Does OSHA Do? A Lowdown

What does OSHA do? The OSHA’s official mission focuses on guaranteeing employees, both men and women alike, a safe and healthy workplace. They achieve this by monitoring the workplace environment, providing training, and giving business owners specific guidelines to follow.

Enforcing such standards means working with business owners. The OSHA expects the latter to comply with certain standards.

What Is OSHA?

As an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA’s main task is to implement the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). Moreover, OSHA can enforce its occupational safety and health laws. They can also conduct research concerning new rules.

Importance of OSHA

The value of OSHA is encompassing. It brings benefits not only for the employees but also for the business owners. It also impacts the entire community.

By ensuring a safe and healthy working environment, the OSHA helps foster productivity.

Have you been considering going back to school but are daunted by the anxieties that come along with it? Are you currently enrolled in courses and are having a hard time managing the school/work-life balance? If so, then should know about some of the benefits of online classes.

Taking classes on campus means being committed to a specific schedule, which can get in the way of every-day life activities. This is one of the biggest reasons why so many people decide that they cannot go back to school or that they must drop out.

However, there’s another option that might put all of those anxieties at ease. Taking online classes gives you the education you need, minus the on-campus stress. Ready to learn about all the benefits of online classes?


1. Go to School With Ease

Taking several classes on campus means you’ll have to go from class to class with not much room in between. This makes for an intense and stressful day. You’re required to sit through an hour or longer lecture with minimal time to rush from one side of campus to the next.

In some circumstances, you might have a large window between classes, but this doesn’t make the day any easier. You’re forced to stay on campus because you have another class later in the day, and you miss out time when you could be working. The pace of on-campus classes is intense, and you don’t have much wiggle room.

Online classes allow you to go to school with ease. You won’t have to worry about the intensity and stress of rushing from one class to the other or being stuck on campus in between classes. 

2. Enjoy More Flexibility

Online classes are much more flexible than on-campus ones. For example, if bad weather conditions arise, such as large amounts of snow or hurricane winds and rain, you won’t have to worry about fighting through the harsh weather conditions to get to school. All you have to do is simply open your laptop and sign in.

They’re also awesome for when emergencies pop up on us. If you have small children, elderly parents, or any other reason why something might come up unexpectedly, then online classes give you the flexibility you need. Many online classes don’t require you to be logged in on certain days during certain times.

In many cases, online classes provide modules or work that needs to be completed before a specific date. When you decide to sit down and complete this work is totally up to you. Don’t panic if your child’s school calls you to pick him or her up.

Sit down with your laptop after bedtime or the next morning and complete your work then.

The Internet has made it easier than ever to start a business. A simple idea can spur disruptive empires seemingly overnight. Even the oddest ideas have merit as you’re bound to find an audience somewhere out there on the Web.

But:

The ease of starting a business is equally shared with your competition. It often turns out that your ideas aren’t as unique as you thought. Even now, you may be finding new competitors racing to your market that wasn’t there yesterday.



You also have global brands pumping millions into their ads & marketing campaigns. It seems like building a successful business is a long-shot, doesn’t it? In some ways, it can be, unless you know how to grow your local business.

The faster you grow and reach the market, the better chances you’ll have competing against these startups and global brands.

Don’t know how to start learning and apply growth strategies? Follow along as we get into a collection of our best ideas and strategies.

Creating a Lean, Mean, Growth Machine

You’re in a fantastic position as a small, local business:

Smaller operational costs

Fewer management headaches

Hyped workforce and outlook

You’re lean. You’re agile. You’re a go-getter.

You don’t have bureaucracy sabotaging your efforts. You control the direction and keep each marketing attempt succinct and affordable.

Here is the point saying all of this:

Don’t feel obligated continuing a technique if it isn’t working out
Fail fast and learn from the mistakes, then move onto the next
Now, consider each of the following items below for your growth efforts. Keep these items in mind moving forward with your campaigns and business goals.

How to Grow Your Local Business the Smart, Affordable Way
Every growth strategy involves some investment. Since many small businesses don’t have big budgets, they’ll make it affordable by DIY learning and doing.

Did you know the digital advertising industry is worth more than $192 billion?

Do you want to increase your sales but are wondering what is a click funnel? Not to worry! In this article, we’ll go over what it is and how it could help.

Want to learn more? Keep reading to find out.

What is a Click Funnel?

Clickfunnels is an online sales funnel builder. It helps businesses sell, market, and deliver their products online.

This tool helps simplify the online marketing of products and services. Users have funnel options pre-built for a specific service or product.

You can use it to build webinars, landing pages, and membership sites. Clickfunnels incorporates elements needed for a functional sales funnel.

You’ll have a unified and comprehensive package. Many people choose between Clickfunnels vs Leadpages.


How Does It Work?

Clickfunnels allows users to use a bunch of pre-built sale funnels. They choose the one that matches their business needs. Clickfunnels saves you time and speeds up the sales funnel setup.

When you’ve selected your funnel, you’ll need to choose a template. You have a variety to choose from and proven to work. With a bunch of templates to use, you don’t have to worry about a testing phase.

It’s a user-friendly interface. You can integrate clocks, videos, and animation to your templates. You can perform your A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t work. You don’t have to deal with a learning curve.

Clickfunnels has a staff ready to answer any of your questions. They also have a Facebook group you can join for more support.

When you launch a funnel, you should consider getting a domain name. Clickfunnels will buy your first domain name for free. They will set up SSL as well.

You also can try out a 14-day free trial if you’re interested. Clickfunnels has two different subscription levels. You can choose the standard plan or an upgraded plan. The upgraded plan includes features like Actionetics and Backpack.

Did you know that the open rate for SMS is nearly 98%?

Because SMS can offer such incredible open rates, it can be one of the best ways to reach your target audience. But if you want to use SMS to market your business, you may have doubts about where to begin.

You might be unsure of how to get the phone numbers for your campaigns. You may also worry about the kind of messages you should send people, once you have their phone number.

This post aims to provide you with some clarity on how SMS marketing works. Once you’ve read this post, you’ll be able to comfortably answer the question “What is SMS marketing?”


Let’s begin!

What Is SMS marketing?

SMS marketing is a means of marketing that’s based on you sending text messages to people. SMS (short message service) is just another way to describe a text message, and the two terms are interchangeable.

This method of marketing works well, as people carry phones with them everywhere they go. This then makes it easy for you to reach your target audience, no matter where they are.

Additionally, a text message often demands more attention than an email. This is usually down to the fact that not many other companies are using SMS marketing to contact customers.

It’s also worth noting that the notification for a text message often differs to the notification for an email.

SMS notifications are often more audible and can cause the phone to vibrate, whereas emails might not allow for this to happen. Following this, SMS marketing can produce better levels of engagement. That’s because people will quickly check their phone, upon receiving a promotional text message.

What Can You Do with SMS Marketing?

The way you use SMS marketing is going to depend on your business and the kinds of services you offer.

If you want your business to be wildly successful, you need to have a killer social media presence.

Selling fancy socks to teenagers? You can grab their attention on Instagram.

Trying to market a new brand of medication to the elderly? A lot of older people have turned to Facebook for their social interaction.

Social media isn’t a passing fad, it’s a phenomenon that you need to master if you want your business to excel. It can be difficult, however, to know what to do if you’re inexperienced. Luckily, social media marketing isn’t an unconquerable subject.

Here’s why you need to start your campaign immediately.

Benefits of Social Media for Businesses
If you still aren’t convinced that you need to beef up your social media presence, you’ll probably change your mind after reading the rest of this post.



1. Web Traffic

Your product is wonderful. You know exactly who your audience is and what you want to say to them. There’s just one problem- how are you going to find them?

Solely relying on Google searches to find customers is risky. Yes, if you sell dog leashes and someone searches for a leash for Fido, you can buy advertising space to reach that person.

But what about the woman who’s casually browsing the internet, not thinking about her dog at all? Google isn’t going to be enough to open her wallet. But she might open her wallet when she sees pictures of awesome-looking leashes on Instagram.

2. Huge Conversion Rates

Traditional advertising is impersonal. Ads are targeted toward large swaths of the population and fade into the background.

Social media advertising, when done correctly, is aimed towards YOU. Your interests, your likes and dislikes are taken into account. This allows people to become more comfortable with your brand.

That familiarity with your brand can lead to impressive conversion rates.

3. Improved Customer Recognition

If you could, you would probably plaster your brand’s logo everywhere in sight. Obviously, that’s not practical in the real world.

Social media is different. Knowledge of your company can spread fast and organically. Because the posts that you share can be seen by thousands or even millions of people, you’ll be able to reach an audience that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Someone who’s just casually browsing their news feed might hear about your brand because one of their friends re-posted your ad.

Social media marketing is more important than ever. Chances are that social media is where your audience is — around 56% of adults use more than one social media platform. That number climbs when you only look at adults ages 18-34.

Despite this, some businesses still don’t put a lot of thought into how they create posts for social media. Posting without a strategy is a good way to leave money on the table and miss out on potential business.

Check out these tips on writing for social media to make sure that your business is up to speed.



Understand Your Audience

Who are you trying to reach, anyway?

Deciding who you’re “talking to” is one of the most important parts of writing for social media. You can determine this by looking at your current customers or what problems your products or services solve.

Figuring out your audience will help you decide what kind of voice and tone you should use in your posts. If you don’t have time to do this, companies like Reliant Social can help you do the research.

Keep Your Voice Consistent

Once you’ve decided on your voice, stay consistent! You don’t want to adopt a professional tone one week and then switch to a conversational one the next.

That gets confusing to your audience and makes your brand inconsistent.

Even though your social media account represents a business, people still expect it to have some kind of personality. Remembering this will help you create better content.

Use Active Voice

Whatever tone you choose to use, you should always use active voice instead of passive voice. You might need to think way back to English class for this one.

This is a basic grammar rule. Passive voice doesn’t grab the attention of your audience. Active voice, on the other hand, helps to give off a confident and decisive tone.

In the 1980s, there were about 2.5 million marriages officiated.

After you’ve been married a while, a relationship can start to feel dull and bland, but it doesn’t have to stay that way.

It may seem like the honeymoon phase is over. How do you keep your relationship strong? Read on to find out.

Be Friends First

One essential thing to making your honeymoon phase last is making sure that you have a good friendship as a foundation for your relationship.


Newer couples can get swept up in the romance of the engagement and the wedding that they forget to have a healthy friendship too. Make sure that you set aside timeduring the week to talk with them and actually have a conversation with your significant other.

You should also make sure that you talk to them too. Put the phones away for a little bit and have a conversation; tell them stories about your week and listen to their problems.

Treat them to the same effort you put into any friendship, maybe even more.

Go On Another First Date

Remember your first date?

Go on another one.

When people get into long term relationships, they tend to stop putting in all the effort we did at the beginning of the relationship.

However, this is one way the honeymoon phase doesn’t last. Go out to where you had your first date (or a new place) and try to rekindle some of that romance that you found when you first started dating.

Gain a New Perspective

Sometimes it can feel like the honeymoon has ended because you may behave doubts about whether or not you should be dating that person.


If there are problems in a relationship, it’s good to address them. You could talk to a trusted friend and ask them for some advice or help with the relationship.

If you feel like you need professional help, a lot of people go to couples counseling as well.

Try New Things
Sometimes in a relationship, you get stuck in a routine. You go to the same restaurants or do all of the same things.