Almost a year gone and who knows how much longer. Time is of the essence, and this slowdown in business activity made me realize the importance of being productive. So when this pandemic is over, I will be ready to return to business as usual. I wanted to share these 7 action items I incorporated to prepare my business and grow professionally.
1. Update your website/social media
A daunting task everyone has is updating their website and social media. You always want to keep it all fresh to attract attention. Choosing new images and creating new text is a time-consuming process. Edit current content, add new images and text. Just as important is the website design. Keep the branding consistent through logos, type and theme. My website host is Sitewelder. This system has advantages; change designs easily while keeping content consistent, huge selection of designs, great SEO and top-quality customer service.
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| View my updated website |
2. LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn
Rediscover LinkedIn to build and engage your professional network for opportunities. Update your profile, upload a current image, highlight your accomplishments. There are many aspects to your profile. The best book to assist you is the updated for 2021, “LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide” by Sandra Long. This book provides everything you need to make the most of your LinkedIn experience.
3. LinkedIn, Part 2. Build your network
Even with a “free” account you can do searches to connect to potential clients. Find people in your area, look for job titles, or companies, these are just a few search filters. Go to the search bar at the top left, enter a keyword. After going to the results, you can go to the filter to further refine it. You can do this process for a job search. Click on Jobs on the menu bar on top of the bar.
4. Find a New Side Hustle
Need a Plan B? What is your passion? Can you earn extra income from doing things you love? One of my passions in basketball. Having officiated games for years, it keeps me active, motivates me to stay in shape, meet wonderful people who turned into lifelong friends and earn a few bucks. However, the high school basketball season is on hold. But the learning goes on, through weekly Zoom meetings.
To discover your side hustle read, “Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days”, by Chris Guillebeau. Also, he has a free daily podcast.
My new side hustle is a Notary Public. See my Notary profile. I get to meet new people, help them to facilitate complex documents and make extra income.
5. Stay Active
During this stay-at-home predicament, it is important to stay active, to keep your body effective, protect your health, control your weight, prevent stress plus improve your sleep. You can get outside to walk, bike or run. A great inside activity is Yoga. A wonderful free collection of yoga practices on YouTube is by SarahBethYoga. She provides easy to follow routines for every level. Try it, you will like it.
6. Catch Up on Your Reading
Expand your knowledge, you probably have a pile of books you want to read. Make time each day to read. If you are an Amazon Prime member, they provide a free monthly selection of books to read. Just download the books to your Kindle device. www.amazon.com/primereading
7. Expand on Your Hobbies
Nothing like a hobby to keep your mind active and do something you like. These past few months, I jumped on my bike with my camera to explore the surrounding areas of the C&O Canal National Park. Photographed wildlife and activities. Great exercise as well as sharpened my photographic skills.
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| The short video of my nature photos from this year. |
Copyright 2020 Laurence L. Levin
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Rated #1 2019 DC Event Photographer by Peerspace
