Decision Making

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Many entrepreneurs choose to hire independent professionals rather than full-time employees because the former provides several unique benefits to the business. This article from Keep The Fire Lit outlines some of these benefits and shares tips on hiring freelance sales and marketing professionals.

Why Hire Freelance Sales and Marketing Professionals?

Freelancers operate independently. They offer specific expertise, such as designing, writing, sales, and marketing. Freelancers take projects from different clients and set their own schedules. If you’re looking for sales and marketing professionals in Toronto, hiring them on a freelance basis offers several pros and cons.

According to Fora Financial, the pros of hiring freelance sales and marketing professionals include:

• Minimal commitment. Hiring freelancers lets you access sales and marketing expertise without having to commit to the professionals long-term, as you would with full-time staff.
• Flexible rates. You can agree on rates based on the specific projects or tasks the freelancers take on.
• Large talent pool. The freelance market provides you with a large pool of highly talented and motivated sales and marketing professionals that you can deploy almost immediately.

The downsides of hiring freelance professionals include:

• Limited control. Your oversight is limited because freelance professionals operate with significantly more autonomy than full-time employees.
• Limited scope. Buscom notes that a freelance workforce is relatively difficult to scale because expanding the scope of a freelancer’s work involves renegotiating your contract with them.
• Training and onboarding costs. Hiring freelance professionals often involves some up-front training and onboarding costs, which can add up if you frequently hire new freelancers.

Investing in certain off-the-shelf services can also help save your business time and money. For example, the right accounting software may offer all the benefits of an in-house accountant while saving you the cost of hiring one. Likewise, you can save money on the fees lawyers charge to incorporate a business by hiring a business formation service at a reduced rate.

Incorporating your business can help you save on taxes, limit your personal liability for business debts, and give you access to better ways of receiving payments from customers.

How to Hire Freelance Sales and Marketing Professionals

Freelancers vary widely in their expertise and rates. You want to hire freelance sales and marketing professionals who match your business’s needs and budget. Of course, you’ll need to be able to pay for your outsourcing needs, so seek out sources of funding. If you need to take out a loan, keep in mind that lenders will examine your finances closely, and if you have a young company, personal finances will be especially scrutinized. Among other criteria, lenders will consider your debt-to-income ratio to determine whether to issue a loan, so it’s good to know what yours is before approaching an institution.

There are different places to find talented freelancers.

• Search on Google for the websites of smart, organized freelancers.
• Hire sales and marketing professionals through LinkedIn after reviewing their profiles.
• Look for sales and marketing professionals on freelance marketplaces such as UpWork.com and Freelancer.com.

When looking for sales and marketing professionals, check for the following:

• Ability to maintain meaningful relationships with key customers
• Strong corporate communication skills
• Experience selling products similar to yours
• Proficiency in using digital tools for sales or marketing
• A good culture fit for your company

Additionally, check their stats and client referrals to make sure they have a strong history of excellent performance.

Hire the Best Talent

Freelance sales and marketing professionals can be a great addition to your workforce. With the right hiring strategy, you can find freelancers who meet or even exceed your expectations.

Disclaimer

This article does not provide legal, financial or hiring advice. If you need advice, please consult a relevant professional in your jurisdiction.

This article contains affiliate links.

Growing up, many of us were encouraged to keep a journal or a diary. We might not have been aware of the benefits it came with but we did it all the same. Writing your thoughts in your little book of secrets seemed so mysterious and exciting until we grew out of it. With the everyday jostle and a busy schedule, sometimes it becomes hard for one to consider writing in a journal. Just like how we become so pumped up at the beginning of the year, we see the need to document our resolutions and how the previous year went, it should continue like that throughout the year. The reason why many of our resolutions are never realized is how we choose not to make a habit of journaling.

One might be wondering why they should keep a journal as it might seem trivial. There are many benefits to keeping a journal, it has been seen to be a great way of reducing stress and anxiety in turn improving a person`s mood. People who keep journals have better mental health and even physical health as the immune system is boosted. It helps you to organize, clarify, and articulate your thoughts. You develop better self-knowledge and problem-solving skills. It even aids with creativity and innovation as you get time to brainstorm on ideas, enhancing the curiosity to learn new things.

Keeping a journal sounds easy, l mean what could go wrong with just writing your thoughts in a book? Plenty of us at some point picked up a book and started journaling maybe for a couple of days and probably just lost interest in the process. It takes a lot of willpower and organization for one to be able to be consistent about keeping a journal. Below are some amazing tips to help you keep going once you start, all the while enjoying the process as well as getting the most out of it.

Always have your journal with you

Your journal shouldn’t be a book for special occasions or just one you use when you want to write something special.  Dump all your thoughts into it. By always being with your journal you give yourself more chances to write in it. You get to scribble down ideas and decisions you might need to get back to. Inspiration can strike anytime. And if you have a journal that you can also color in, it allows you to have something to do that is both therapeutic and relaxing. A coloring journal allows you to plan out your week or further ahead, while also having fun coloring.

Make lists

It is not always easy to make detailed entries in your journal especially when you always have a busy schedule or when you are someone who doesn’t really like writing. A bullet journal will work just perfectly for you. Write lists instead,

• things you like,
• what excited you today.
• Interesting quotes you come across
• bucket lists.

You don’t have to narrate your whole day.

Create a layout that works for you

Write in a way that makes the experience enjoyable, one that allows you to go back at some time and still understand what you were writing about. If you list your goals, things you want to work on, let them be clear also with a specified time frame that allows you to go back to them and track your progress. Include how you plan to achieve the desired goal in well-articulated steps.

Don’t be hung up on perfection

Many times we end up losing the zeal to write because we will be obsessing about doing it the right way. There is no right way to do it. Embrace your thoughts and go wherever they take you, it is alright to be spontaneous. Your handwriting doesn’t have to be perfect, that idea doesn’t have to make sense entirely before you can scribble it down. If you find it difficult to write anything down unless it’s “perfect”, then before you start, write at the top, “no one else has to see this”or  “practice  pages  only”  or  something  else  that  will  encourage  you  to write,  rather  than  edit  yourself  before  starting  to write.

Don’t overthink it…

Write it down no matter how ridiculously big or how small the idea might be. Write about what scares you; your long-term goals, the short-term ones and be sure to always document your wins and celebrate them no matter how small they might be. Keep your journal entries short and easy to follow up on. Use diagrams  or mind maps or speech bubbles or drawings of scrolls or whatever you want to record a few words and make them stand out.

Journal consistently

Make it a culture, it might not necessarily be every day but to make the habit stick it is advisable to write daily and even push it with a specific time you find flexible. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time you give yourself – five minutes daily to write up a few thoughts. You can even choose to write during a specific activity during your day, if you take a bus to work or to school you can even make the bus ride a time for reflection and writing daily. Set reminders if you are one to forget.

Eliminate distractions while journaling

To be in sync with your mind and to able to tap into the creative realm your mind should be free of distractions. Find a serene spot that is relaxing which makes it easier for you to focus. If music calms you down, play some to shut out all other distractions. Or maybe color in and focus on the coloring. It is surprising what useful ideas suddenly start appearing!

No need to make it too serious!

Journaling should be fun. If you love color and glitter, if you are into pictures include some in it. It does not have to be strictly writing. Spice it up to keep it interesting in line with your preferences. Sketch a drawing if you want to.

If you have not yet started the journaling journey, anytime is the right time to do it. Don’t wait for the beginning of the month or the year, start now. Grab a book and get on it, you will not regret it!

 

 

 

 

 

This article contains affiliate links.

What is Mind Mapping

A mind map, also known as an idea web is a form of brainstorming that uses visual diagrams to help you understand how different thoughts or ideas could be connected. Mind mapping was originally devized by Tony Buzan but the idea has spread worldwide and is used in schools and businesses, by project planners and authors and by teams as well as individuals.

Mind mapping can help you organize and write a College essay, your next novel or technical manual, learn information for an exam, prepare a presentation, map complex documents, such as contracts and doctoral theses or visualise a company structure.

Simple To Learn

It is such a simple process to learn that young school children can use it and so flexible that it can be used for the deepest and most complex projects. The process is commonly used in project planning and presentations. Being able to share mind maps without having to scan a paper copy is a great benefit of cloud based applications and many of these also also allow teams to create and modify a mind map together.

How To Create A Mind Map

You can read up here on how to mind map or watch the video at the bottom of this page.

Once you know the principles of mind mapping (and they are very easy), here are some of the best cloud-based applications available for free mind map software. Most are free for personal use and also have paid options for greater use or for businesses.

Popplet

Popplet allows multiple users to work on the same project. You can also add media such as images or video to your maps. Organization is helped by the use of tags or categories applied to the maps, so they are easy to sort through later.

Link – popplet

Coggle

Coggle is signed into via your Google account. It’s free, and it’s also an easy mind-mapping application. Coggle automatically randomizes the color of each branch, as you create your map, although you can change it to any other color you want, by clicking on the branch you want to change. Mind maps can be downloaded and shared. And the people you share your mind map with can also edit the content. It’s helpful that Coggle also gives you the option to view your mind map from before you allowed other people to make changes to it.

Link – coggle

GroupMap

GroupMap makes team-based, mind-mapping activities easier. After you create or select a map, you can then invite a team to collaborate with you on it. They can comment and even vote on the best ideas. It doesn’t matter whether the people joining you are the quietest in the group, everyone gets to add their views. No one is drowned out by louder voices, so every team member has a voice when it comes to collaborating. GroupMap collects all the ideas and displays them in a group view. This is where commenting and voting can occur. GroupMap is easy to use and offers a free account option.

Link – groupmap

SpiderScribe

SpiderScribe is an online-based brainstorming and mind mapping tool. You can share your mind map with other people if you wish. SpiderScribe allows you to connect files, notes and even calendar events and you can design your map any way you want. These maps are then stored in the cloud, so you (and anyone you choose to share the map with) can access and edit it at any time. with SpiderScribe you can have a free personal account or you can upgrade to “pro” and “business” options for a small fee.

Link – spiderscribe

Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is free for 3 maps. It’s a tool that allows you to create online “trees” to brainstorm and map ideas. As with any mind map, you start with a central topic, and add new topics as branches, either at the same level or a level lower. Bubbl.us formats your thoughts and notes into a tree automatically, but you can also move the bubbles around to suit your way of thinking and organizing. You can change the color and size of your bubbles to help make connnections clear. Bubbl.us is free, but an account is required to create or edit a tree.

Link – bubblus

Influence Maps Or Idea Webs

You can also use mind maps or similar visual mapping systems to show how one thought or idea influences another, so you can understand where the best means to insert a tipping point might be.  If you need to brainstorm ideas before creating a mind map, you can see how to brainstorm here.

Mind mapping is a great tool and fun as well. It allows you to collect your thoughts together in a visual way, so all the ideas are visible on one sheet instead of scattered in a linear fashion over many notes, where it is hard to see the linkages. The tools listed above are just a few of the mind mapping tools available online. There are many other services available that provide mind mapping resources. There are also useful brainstorming tools available. Check these out to decide which is best to help you and your team organize your ideas for whatever you want to do.

Video On How To Mind Map

So What Would YOU Choose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which ice cream would you pick? Maybe you could eat all four. What if there were 8 or 16? Sometimes, we have to choose what to do because we can’t always have everything. If we have several options and they are all fairly alike, how to we decide which one to do and in which order? For some people there would be no choice. They may not like or be able to eat ice cream. But the same types of decisions are needed for almost anything.

Some possibilities are more highly regarded than others. In terms of ice cream, perhaps chocolate in any form is always preferred? Some courses of action are preferred over others. Perhaps walking away or maybe choosing one and saving the others in the freezer? There can be many choices: many courses of action. How do you pick a winner?

We all have to make decisions all the time. Some are trivial like which ice cream, though for some people that can be a life-changing decision if perhaps you are allergic or diabetic. There are also life-changing decisions like who to marry (or not), where to study or whether to start a business. Try watching the video and see whether you would survive – or not!

Decision-making is often an unconscious choice based on our values, beliefs and preferences. It can sometimes be life or death, such as if we are driving a car and have to choose the speed to approach a corner. These are the kinds of choices we have to make quickly and automatically, where we rely on mental shortcuts we learned from past situations or developed over the years.

Some times, choosing is a long agonizing process. Which ring (of several) should we choose, which bit of housework should we do first (they all need done).

Some of the things that make it harder to decide can include missing information, stress from urgent deadlines, and not enough resources. Stress can make it hard to make a decision. Our emotions and preferences can affect our decision making process. When we have to choose how to make a hard decision, we often are influenced by our prejudices (men don’t do housework), memories (my mother used to do this for me) and emotions (feeling sad, or the last time I did this, this particular thing happened).

Paralysis By Analysis

If you have to choose one of several possibilities, all of which are similar in terms of length of time to do, their importance or urgency, it can be difficult to choose which to do first and that can waste your time. Sometimes it is best just to make a decision – go for this one – work on it, complete it and then choose the next. If you only have two choices, flip a coin and go with the one that the coin indicated. If you find yourself dithering between which project of several similar ones to start first, a coin is not as easy, so then try this.

Serendipity

Lay out the projects in front of you, you could use sheets of paper with a title on each one, representing the project. Then use any of your old children’s choosing rhymes, you know, the ones where you chose a companion for your team. Ones like, “Eeny meeny miny mo”, or “Each peach, pear, plum, I choose Tom Thumb”. Point to each project in turn while reciting the rhyme and pick the one your finger lands on.

HERE’S THE IMPORTANT PART

If you pick a project and think, “Great, I’ll get stuck into this.”, then fine, get on with it and when it’s finished, choose another.

BUT, if at the point where your coin flip or counting rhyme indicates one project and you immediately have the feeling that you should flip the coin again, or do the counting rhyme again, then put that project to the side. With only two projects, then you start on the one that’s left. With several projects, do the counting rhyme of your choice again, leaving out the one that was chosen the previous time.

Unconscious

Often, our unconscious knows which one is most important or easiest to get stuck into or which one will give us the best “win”. You do not have to go with what the coin or rhyme picked out for you. It it feels wrong at this moment, then choose again.

What If There Are No Choices Left?

It is possible that you don’t want to do any of the projects. After all, if it’s a choice between doing the laundry or washing dishes, neither might be appealing. But they may HAVE to be done. In this case, use the coin or counting rhyme and don’t allow yourself any slack. Most of these kinds of tasks are done a lot more quickly than it takes to moan about them. Just get stuck in, you’ll be surprised how fast they can be done if you just do them. If you have several projects that all have to be done, then choose one and spend 15 minutes on it. Then stop that one and spend 15 minutes on the next. Keep doing this until you have completed some or all of your projects. If this is a long job, allow yourself a few minutes to rest each hour and make sure you drink water.