10 Things Exceptionally Successful People Do on the Weekends

It is one thing to be successful and it is another thing to be exceptionally successful. But to attain a high level of success, you have to be willing to put in the work. Because the theme of the modern-day careerist is this: How do you get more done in less time?

So while a lot of people see the weekend as a time to hang out and relax, exceptionally successful people have a different idea of how Saturdays and Sundays should be spent. Here is how they spend their weekends to set the tone for a week of crazy productive work.

1. They wake up early.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is said to wake up at 3:45 a.m. every morning. Including on weekends. It’s wrong to assume because it’s the weekend, you need to stay in bed until midday. Successful people still get up early because they know time is precious and shouldn’t be wasted, no matter what day it is.

2. They read.

You cannot negate the power of reading. Eimantas Balciunas, CEO of Travel Ticker, says, “Reading and staying abreast on what happens in the travel industry puts me in a position to discover those things the competition apparently may have ignored!” By reading and expanding your knowledge, even and especially on weekends, you are better informed to approach your tasks for the week.

3. They spend time to reflect.

As Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” And successful people follow that philosophy, using the weekends to look back at what worked and what didn’t. By reflecting on your week, you can focus on the improvements you need to make on Monday.

4. They make time to pursue their interests.

Successful people know that chasing success shouldn’t mean they have to forget their favorite hobbies. The weekend offers you the opportunity to be creative, whatever it is you like to do most in your spare time.

5. They give something back.

Alexey Chuklin, founder and CEO of Write!, says, “I can use the weekend to give back by showing I am a part of a community.” And in the book Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals, author Thomas C. Corley discovered that 70 percent of successful people give back at least five hours every month.

6. They disconnect.

Successful people know they have to carve out downtime where they put away phones and don’t check emails. The weekend is the most ideal time to seek a break, even if it’s a small one.

7. They connect with their family.

Weekdays might not offer busy successful people enough time to spend with their family and friends. So the weekend can be the opportune time to catch up.

8. They stay in shape.

Exercising can be refreshing. Not only does it strengthen your mind, it gives you the opportunity to clear your head and embrace fresh ideas for the new week.

9. They build momentum.

Successful people don’t settle for average. They are always focused on excellence by keeping up the momentum. The weekend is a good time to put things in perspective and gain clarity, to refocus on your most important goals.

10. They plan for the upcoming week.

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey has an insane work ethic—he works 16 hours Monday through Friday. But he makes sure his schedule allows him to take off Saturdays, and he uses his Sundays to plan for the upcoming week.

How do you spend your weekends?

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10 Tips For Making Money With Social Media

Turning a profit using social media, for some, is as elusive as a white rhino. But, it doesn’t have to be. Think of social networks as a big party and try to fit in — not be the life of the party.

My Infographic, courtesy of my partner, Ideas and Pixels, shows great tools for making money with social media — and other tools for making money online. Many of these tools fit together to create an integrated online marketing strategy to support your online marketing goals.

But, you need to go beyond these tools to know HOW to apply them to making money with social media.

Here are 10 tips for making money with social media (notice none of them involve hogging the microphone):

10. Be authentic

Social media isn’t like traditional advertising and it shouldn’t look and feel the same. Social media is a community designed to share comfort, support, information, expertise, and entertainment. You need to develop a voice in social media — one that talks like a real person, shares like a real person, and that people can relate to as a real person. Share your foibles, mistakes, sense of humor, and what’s going on in your life. Let people backstage.

9. Don’t interrupt

If folks are having fun sharing on social networks, join in. Don’t bring the party down by talking about yourself. Have fun with them or create your own fun.

8. Leave them with something to talk about

Share something interesting — something of value. Social media is definitely a pay-it-forward world and if you don’t get that, then hire someone who does. I give away tons of valuable stuff — like the first chapter of my new social media analytics book. Grab a copy today and let me know what you think. No strings attached. And, if you give me feedback or edit my work, I’ll send you a PDF of the book when it’s finished. What a deal!

7. Follow your target market

Don’t fish where your boat is, fish where the fish are. You’ll be more successful. If the fish aren’t biting, move your boat. For instance, I used to get a lot of traffic to my website from Twitter — now, not so much. I still use Twitter, but I now focus on social networks that bring in traffic, especially the kind that will buy from me — my target market. I find Facebook much more valuable, especially my group, which I call my social media marketing tribe. Feel free to join us and share your great content with the group.

6. Build trust

Trust is a big word… it’s important. And trust in marketing is low because for years we’ve made promises to consumers then failed to meet our obligations. Firms have a lot to do to make up for this.

5. Engage

Get your target audience involved with you. Ask questions on Facebook. End your blog posts by asking for feedback. Participate in Quora conversations. And, make it easy for your target audience to engage. For instance, I use a plugin allowing visitors to comment using their Facebook profile. The plugin also brings comments from Facebook back to my blog. This increases engagement.

4. Build your community

Don’t just pretend to care about your visitors — truly care about them. That means responding quickly when they post a question or concern. Remember, social media is always on, so plan for responses during the evening and on weekends. When visitors share your content or comment on a post, thank them and consider ways you can repay the compliment.

Building community means being a good member of that community and helping everybody out.

3. Give value

Don’t think about yourself — think about your community. Why are they engaged with you? What are their pains? How can you help?

I recently met with a client interested in using social media to connect with younger prospects. Yet, they were uncomfortable when I suggested we find out what types of posts might help these prospects, they only wanted to talk about themselves in their social media marketing. FAIL!

2. Plan, plan, plan

You can never plan too much. And, planning isn’t done — you need to constantly update your plan as things change. I commonly suggest to clients that we meet on a monthly basis to review results and plan for the next month’s campaign. Putting your social media marketing on autopilot isn’t going to optimize your opportunity to make money with social media.

Contingency planning should also be part of your social media marketing plan. Social media marketing is, by its nature, less predictable. You never know when someone is going to say something off the wall or where they’re going to choose to say it. You need a contingency plan so when something bad happens, you’re ready with a response.

Recently, Jesse from Jess3 behaved badly at a conference. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the details. The important thing is he quickly responded and apologized for his poor behavior before others started complaining about it.

1. Measure, analyze, respond

Social media is great because there’s so much information available, but don’t get sidetracked with vanity metrics like # of Fans or Followers. These don’t translate well to conversion, so keep you eye on the ball. Assess things related to making money with social media — things like reach, SEO, and conversion. Be sure to assesses these metrics in a way that helps you focus your efforts on creating more content that performs well.

Don’t bury your head in the sand. Listen. It’s important, as mentioned above, the listen and respond to both positive and negative comments and answer questions quickly.

Using these tools

Notice that many of these tools integrate together and reinforce each other. Cool. Integration is really the name of the game.

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20 Websites You Can’t Miss If You Want To Make Money As A Freelancer

Being a freelancer has a lot of benefits – you can work from anywhere you like, you make up your own rules, you don’t have to concern yourself with trivial office politics, there is less stress involved and you get to spend a lot more time with your friends and family. However, not having a stable job means that you will be living a nomad’s life, moving from project to project, constantly on the lookout for a new employer. Kind of like an online ronin, a masterless samurai roaming the virtual wastes. Well, there are places you can go to look for great freelance opportunities, so do not despair. Here are 20 great freelance websites you should definitely check out.

1. Upwork

Upwork is one of the best websites to look for freelance work of all types. Programmers, designers, writers, IT professionals, translators, attorneys, financial advisers – everyone is welcome and there is plenty of work to go around. You can set up a profile fairly quickly and charge an hourly rate or have a set price for each individual project and you get rated depending on how well you do.

2. Freelancer

It’s been around since 2004 and it has a large following. It’s a place where services are outsourced to freelancers in a number of fields including: web design, writing, marketing and data entry among other things.

3. Guru

Guru.com is a fairly large network that connects companies and freelancers. As stated on the website they are interested in work on “technical, creative or business projects”, so there is plenty of opportunity for all types of freelancers from programmers and game developers to translators, engineers and attorneys.

4. iFreelance

iFreelance is a very wide freelance network with categories that include photography, videography, marketing, traditional art, writing, translation, architecture, engineering, graphic design, accounting and administrative support. It’s easy to set up an account and start looking for a project you can contribute to.

5. People per Hour

Create an appealing profile, look for jobs, send proposals and make a short video promoting your services. It’s all very straightforward with PeoplePerHour.com – you find a client, provide a quality service and get rated.

6. Tuts Plus Jobs

This is a great job board for programmers, designers and developers, as well as copywriters and editors. It has a user friendly interface and allows you to quickly find and apply for jobs best suited to your particular skill set.

7. ProBlogger

An excellent job board for talented writers, ProBlogger makes finding the right writing opportunities incredibly simple. Just click on the job listings you want and follow the instructions.

8. Freelance Writing Gigs

This is another great website for all the writers out there. Posting an ad will cost you around $10, but it will give you a chance to showcase your writing skills and provide content to those willing to pay for your efforts. You can also contribute to their blog and get some additional exposure by linking to your blog/website and social media accounts.

9. SmashingJobs

This is a designer’s and programmer’s heaven, offering plenty of full-time and freelance job opportunities. The website has a very clean and crisp design which allows for quick browsing and some efficient job hunting.

10. Odesk

Set up an account and choose from 75 different job categories and plenty of offers within each category. The thing with oDesk is that there is no invoicing involved – your work is tracked automatically and you receive payments on a weekly basis depending on how much time you spent on various projects. Some of the main categories include writing and translation, software development, web development, marketing and design.

11. Fiverr

Sell your services starting at $5, that’s the tagline and it is quite accurate. You can offer basically anything you can think of – write and perform a poem, create DIY projects or promotional videos, etc. Some basic categories are writing and translation, online marketing, video and animation, music, programing and graphic design.

12. Freelanced

This is a freelance social network where a large number of people with different kinds of talents and skills can come together, share their portfolios and look for some online work. There are a huge number of job categories ranging from creative writers, sculptors and music composers to accountants and programmers.

13. Freelance-Writing-Jobs-Online

A variety of fields to write about, ranging from mathematics and physics to biology and medicine. To sign up you need to fill out a form and wait for a confirmation email. Upon receiving the email you may take a competency test and be on your way to earning some money.

14. Pitch me

A freelancer with some experience in journalism will feel right at home on this website. Ideas are pitched on various topics – fashion, science, culture, etc – and you can pitch as many ideas as you like. If someone likes what you have to offer, they can than pay you to write it, it’s as simple as that.

15. Text Broker

This website provides talented writers with a very effective way of getting paid for doing what they do best. You start by creating a free account and completing a competency test after which you will be rated. Then, if all goes well, you can complete your author profile and start looking for writing assignments that suit you.

16. Art Wanted

Artwanted is the perfect place for artists and photographers to create an online portfolio, get feedback and sell their artwork online. Registration is free, but there is a $5 per month premium membership option that grants you access to some good bonus features.

17. 99designs

This is a website where over 281,579 designers from 192 different countries can connect to potential clients and showcase their work. A client gives information about his business and a rough idea of the type of logo he wants. Then the designers send in their work and the client can pick out the one he likes best. You look for design contests, enter the ones you like and do your best to win. As you win more contests your status will improve and you will get more opportunities.

18. Simply Hired

This is a big and broad job hunting website with tons of options, but it is a great way to look for some freelance work, particularly if you are a writer, graphic designer or web designer. It’s very easy to navigate and you can quickly search through a large number of recent job offerings in your field.

19. Tutor

As the name suggests you can become an online tutor for families with home-schooled children, children in military families and even schools. There are a number of subjects and different grade levels to choose from, so if you have a deeper understanding of a subject such as math, English or science, than you can go through a few simple steps. You have to fill out an application form, pass a subject exam and deliver a writing sample, perform a mock session to test your teaching skills and go through a background check before you can start working.

20. Authentic Jobs

A well-designed and straightforward job board, AuthenticJobs.comallows you to filter out categories you are not interested in and apply for freelance jobs in different fields. The main focus is on web development, web design, application development, project management and UI design.

I hope you find this information useful and that you succeed in your freelance career. Just remember to be patient and to keep looking. It takes time to see some serious results, but freelancing can be a fulfilling career once you get pass the initial stages.

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8 Best Practices to Promote Your Business on Social Media

Almost three-quarters of small-business owners are confident in their social media strategies. Still need help with yours? Try following these 8 tips.

It seems strange to think there was ever a time when social media wasn’t an integral part of growing a small business. While many entrepreneurs still struggle with how to best use social media to engage their audiences and promote their businesses, there are signs that they're gaining confidence in their social media skills. In 2012, 54 percent of small-business owners, who participated in a survey administered by Constant Contact, reported they needed help with social media. This year, that number dropped to 45 percent. This confidence seems to be translating into success, with 72 percent saying that their marketing efforts across the channels that matter, including social, email, mobile and Web, are working.

Socially savvy entrepreneurs know that it’s all about engaging the right audiences with valuable content. The online community has little tolerance for self-promoters who view social media as a means to free advertising. Given this, small-business owners face a challenge when it comes to striking a balance in using social media to engage and promote.   

Promotion and engagement are really two sides of the same coin. Engagement is rooted in consistently sharing insight and providing value every time you connect with a customer. This establishes credibility while building trust and inspiring customers to tell their friends about you. Promotion extends your engagement efforts by presenting a valuable offer that’s based on your customers’ interests and needs. Social media amplifies your efforts so you can be found and engage a wider audience to grow your business.

To put it all together, here are eight best practices for successfully engaging customers and promoting your small business through social media.

1. Follow the one-in-seven rule. 

This rule is where only one of every seven posts overtly promotes your business. The remaining six should be focused on sharing valuable content, including posts from the community. This doesn’t mean you can’t promote your business in those other posts; just be sure you pair it with great content.

2. Ask conversation-starter questions. 

Most people enjoy sharing their opinions, so ask Facebook fans to weigh in on topics that are relevant to your business and interesting to them. For example, a fitness center may ask fans to vote on their favorite summer sports in order to be entered into a drawing to win private lessons for them and a friend who joins the club. The questions should engage fans and inspire them to refer business while giving the business owner great insight.

3. Share your expertise. 

Post little-known, fun facts in the form of questions with a special offer presented to the first person to answer correctly.

4. Provide value. 

While including fun posts that reflect your personality is a must, it’s important to create content that benefits your followers. That can mean posting tips on best practices, providing access to white papers, or offering special deals on products or services.

5. Enhance the rewards for virtual check-ins. 

For a specific period of time, double the points each time a customer checks in on Foursquare and triple the points each time he or she brings a friend. Their friends on social networks will see when they’ve checked in while you expand your reach exponentially.

6. Create a Pinterest board. 

Make sure the board has eye-catching visuals and run a contest through it that will inspire and reward customers for their participation. Be sure to encourage them to re-pin and create their own boards that reflect the initial contest for additional social amplification of your campaign.

7. Avoid syndicated messages. 

While you can use tools that allow you to write one message and have it appear on a variety of social media outlets, you risk losing the sincerity behind the message. You can use similar language as you promote your offer on different sites; just be sure to change up the words while reflecting the tone of each network.

If you find that your customers are scattered across a variety of networks, focus your efforts where they’re most active. Not sure? Ask. Otherwise, you may waste a lot of time skimming the surface of multiple networks with little results.

When small-business owners apply these best practices to social media engagement and promotion, we’ll likely see that already impressive 72 percent success statistic continue to rise.

Photo: Getty Images

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