HOW AND WHEN TO ASK FOR SALARY INCREASE

It is that time of the year again when most of us are busy working on our performance reviews and preparing to have the inevitable pay rise discussion with our employers.

Having that discussion is never an easy task however knowing what needs to be done helps in making the process easy.

Make-up Artist Career Description

Make-up artists use make-up to ensure that people looks good and beautiful, presenters or guests look natural on the television screen, create special effects such as wounds and ageing and create the correct appearance for actors such as a clown or a dirty old man.

Your Ideal Client Selection

The first concept, the first tip that I want to offer you in terms of ideal client selection and attracting more of your ideal clients, is to have real clarity for who your ideal client is. Give thought to their industry, their position, their geography.globalheirng.com/blog/

SCIENTISTS TRYING TO SQUEEZE LIGHT TO PROCESS MESSAGES

LIKE US ON FACEBOOKFOLLOW US ON TWITTERQUARTZ DAILY BRIEFABOUT USREGISTERLOG INEVENTSATLAS

FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT

Scientists can now “squeeze” light, a breakthrough that could make computers millions of times faster

Olivia Goldhill 

3 hours ago

Light-powered computers would work millions of times faster. (Reuters)

Have you ever wondered why we don’t use light to transmit messages? Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but while we use light to carry signals along fiber optic cables, we use electrons to process sound and information in our phones and computers. The reason has always been because light particles–photons—are extremely difficult to manipulate, whereas electrons can be manipulated relatively easily.

But now a group of Harvard physicists has taken a major step toward solving that puzzle, and have brought us one step closer to ultra-fast, light-based computers.

4 Sound Arguments For Writing a Cover Letter

1. Writing your cover letter is the easiest part of your career search.

It is likely going to take you less than 5-10% of the time you need to spend creating your resume and your LinkedIn profile, and an almost minuscule percentage of the time you’ll spend developing a personal website if you follow the growing popularity of that advice. 

STOP WASTING YOUR TIME ON COVER LETTERS

Stop Writing Cover Letters! Nobody reads them, and writing one can only hurt you. You’re wasting your time.” This headline, on a recent Facebook post, certainly caught my attention. Coming from the legacy world of resumes being sent via the postal service, even updating that to a resume being sent via e-mail, I was immediately wondering how HR or a hiring manager would act to an envelope just containing a resume or e-mail with no message and just a resume attached. I am not buying this advice.

Global Heir Consults: WINNING TEAM CAPACITY

Global Heir Consults: WINNING TEAM CAPACITY: Winning capacity often makes the difference in the market place between the laggards and the leaders. Generati...

WINNING TEAM CAPACITY

Winning capacity often makes the difference in the market place between the laggards and the leaders. Generating winning capacity requires a conscious process. It could involve a new product, a superior service model, peculiarly skilled people, a special flavor of the business or a breakthrough.

How to Win Business without Consulting Proposals

Proposals aren’t meant to win business!

Everything starts with a real conversation. Your #1 job is to get your ideal client’s attention and engage them so they want to have a meaningful conversation with you.

Instead follow this approach:

5 Beautiful Steps to Achieve Success in Business and Life

In life, like in business, you have the people who are out there living it to the fullest and the other letting it pass them by. You have the people who sit around and mope all day about how miserable their lives are, and then you have the people who are out there crossing things off their bucket lists on a regular basis.

5 Critical Things to Avoid During Job Interview

Below are some common but dangerous interview blunders that we suggest you avoid in order to increase your chances of getting hired.

Going for an interview, it is very important that you make a good impression to put yourself in good stead for being selected as the right person for the job.

However, there are some factors such as nerves or just a lack of organisation can jeopadise you effort. Making any one of these can hurt your chances of getting the job or have the employer hire another candidate who didn’t make these common job interview mistakes.

Unique Steps to Make Your First Sale

A consultant recently said “People don’t see a need for my offer.”

He went on to explain that his offer isn’t getting any traction. And that his ideal consulting clients aren’t interested in it.
This is quite a common concern for young consultants.

What’s important to realize is that hope isn’t lost…

You just need to change your approach.

If your offer isn’t converting there are only two options you should consider.

Envision Greatness

Success Tips
Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Success is walking from failure to success with no loss of enthusiasm.
There is always room at the top.
I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail, than to attempt nothing and succeed.
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
Set goals to achieve your dreams.
Step by step and the thing is done.
What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.
Well done is better than well said.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Secret to More Clients

What I am sharing with you here today can be applied to your marketing.

Consultants often take the same approach. They start marketing their services. They don’t get the results they want and then they stop.

They either give up completely or they move on to trying some other type of marketing. And they experience the same lack of results.

Good News: No Need For An Exercise As Scientists Are Working on an “Exercise Pill”

With the increase in the humidity level and pain of having to force yourself on a repetitive exercise, Imagine if, you could have the benefits of exercise without any of the effort. That scenario isn’t a ridiculous fantasy but a serious scientific goal, and researchers have recently created a blueprint of the molecular reactions to exercise.

Be Hard Working

Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.

How to Instagram Your Product With a Bit of Hunmblebrag

At this point, everyone accepts that Instagraming your beautiful product is basically a unique way to market your product and also one big 24/7 humblebrag. And a part of humble bragging is showing off your newest, quality, finest product. But there are rules—or at least strongly suggested guidelines—for doing this right. Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts to live by.

Introducing Online Marketing for Consultants

The second part of this is your online presence. Your online presence isn’t only about a website.
It also includes things like your LinkedIn profile, any other social profiles that you have. Are you writing and blogging on other websites?
When a buyer goes online – and that’s 80% of the time that they’re going online – they’re searching for an expert like you.

How to Get Noticed as a Consultant

  

Eighty percent of buyers of consulting services and expert services are now going online to search for those experts.
That means they’re online right now searching for you.
The question is, are you online?
Can those buyers find you?
Do you have an effective website?

HOW TO WIN YOUR FIRST CLIENT

You were speaking with a buyer, your ideal client, and for some reason it slipped out of your hands like a wet bar of soap. You thought the sale was coming and then it was gone.

Your first focus should be on building rapport with your buyer. People don’t buy from people they don’t like. So the first thing is to establish a foundation for the relationship. One that you can build on.

Are You A Young Consultant? This Piece Is For You To Make It.

 








 

Create Greater Value

And as you’re creating greater value and working with larger clients on larger projects it also allows you to earn greater compensation.

You can make a lot more money by working with larger clients on larger projects than you can with smaller clients on smaller projects.

African investment leaders talks about Development Business Goal

Africa investor (Ai), a leading international investment and communications group, has announced that it has launched a seminal business statement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) entitled The Business of African Development Economic Development: Implementing the Sustainable Development and Finance Goals in Support of Agenda 2063 during the UN General Assembly.

Global Heir Consult : Empowering SMEs – Market Gap Analysis

Global Heir Consult : Empowering SMEs – Market Gap Analysis: Market gap analysis Based on the facts and findings, obviously  amost  all of SMEs outsourced their accounting, tax and auditing funct...

Empowering SMEs – Market Gap Analysis

Market gap analysis

Based on the facts and findings, obviously amost all of SMEs outsourced their accounting, tax and auditing functions to the external parties or accounting firms. However, all the practices were just to fulfil the regulatory requirements.

Empowering SMEs – Nurturing Leaders

Nigeria Small Medium Enterprises or SMEs are a vital component of the country’s economic development.

They contribute huge per cent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employ up to 40 per cent of the country’s workforce. In addition, value added products from SMEs are expected to be worth Billions of naira.

Project controls: An overview

When project execution begins, data collection is constantly taking place from work in progress. These data (Project Cost Accounting) collected from the relevant project controls systems are compared with the budget for performance measurement and assessment, and determination made if there are deviations from the original plans and budget.

How To Develop Content

lot of people call me a content machine whenever they hear that I wrote over 300 guest posts in 2010 alone. Even though almost all of my ideas come naturally I also have resources I use whenever I’m stuck and I will be giving you some of those resources below.

How to Get Started Guest Blogging

When I started guest blogging I made the typical mistake that many guest bloggers make. That mistake was writing a lot of guest posts on several blogs without thinking about the benefits or consequences. A lot of people will think that’s a great way to go, but I’d like you to know that it is not effective at all. You shouldn’t just start guest blogging because others are doing it or because you think it is the right thing to do. With blogging and internet marketing there is hardly anything called luck. Everything must be effectively planned from the beginning.

How To Promote And Market Your School Online

Some schools always seem to be in the news with good stories about their achievements or just promoting themselves through a range of strategies. Other schools find it hard to get good media coverage or have not developed a strategy for promoting themselves. 

The schools that fall into the first category are not necessarily the best funded or highest performing in academics. They are simply the ones that have learnt how to manage their public profile by marketing and promoting the right way and at the right time.

The Ultimate Guide to Guest Blogging

Global Heir Identity

have been guest blogging for few weeks now and within that period I have written several guest posts,. A lot of my guest posts were written solely for the sake of getting traffic and subscribers, and to improve my sphere of influence. Others were written solely for the purpose of experimenting and learning new things as far as guest blogging is concerned.
To say I haven’t learnt anything when it comes to guest blogging would be a lie.
Let me discuss with you what I have learnt so far.

What is Guest Blogging?
The first question that will come to your mind when guest blogging is mentioned is, ‘what exactly is guest blogging?’ A lot of us know that forum marketing is the act of marketing our blog/website on forums. Most of us know that blog commenting is the act of commenting on other blogs. But what is guest blogging?
Guest blogging is the act of writing for another blog, with the hope of getting quality back-links, getting traffic, gaining exposure and building relationships.

Who Can Use Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging definitely has a lot of advantages, (which I’ll be getting into soon) but one major concern I have been getting from readers is that they only see guest blogging being used in the make-money-online niche. They ask me if it is really effective in other niches. Since guest blogging is based on you giving away free content with the hopes of getting link/traffic/exposure, it is really practical and effective in other niches.
The problem is that it might be a little difficult to find blogs to write for in niches other than the MMO niche. However, this also means that the blogs you’re after would’ve only had a few guest bloggers competing to write for them. This gives you the chance to get even more results from your guest posts.

Anybody can use guest blogging, in any niche: as long as there are blogs within your niche – guest blogging is possible.

Benefits of Guest Blogging
There are various reasons to guest post, and I’m a firm believer in the fact that your reason for guest posting will determine the kind of guest post you write, and the kind of blog you write for. I’ve written a previous post on some of the major benefits of guest blogging but I also think it will be better if I highlight some of the major reasons why I personally guest post below.

• To Gain Quality Traffic: In most cases this is the only reason I guest post. From my observation I have discovered that guest blogging is one of the best ways to get quality traffic that sticks and converts into subscribers. A recent guest post of mine on Problogger sent me over 1000 visitors in less than a week with very low bounce rate and quality time on site. So many of these visitors even go on to engage with me in other places. Guest blogging is by far my best traffic source.
• To Gain Subscribers: To me, this is the joy of guest blogging because there is no point in having traffic that doesn’t stick. I have gotten as much as 2000 visitors in one day from Stumbleupon alone, but you’ll find it difficult to believe that none of those visitors subscribed to my blog, and even though my guest posts on big blogs send me an average of 400-500 visitors I still get over 100 subscribers from each and every one of them. In fact, my recent guest post on Problogger (which is my highest-performing one ever) sent me over 400 subscribers in the first 3 days – and I keep on getting subscribers from it every day.

• To Build Backlinks: I once started an experiment (which has now been paused) to see how effective guest blogging is for link building. Guest blogging is the easiest and most effective way to build quality and authoritative backlinks to your blog. For this reason some of my posts are ranking on page one of Google for their desired keywords, most of my posts are indexed and ranked as soon as they’re published, and I now get over 4,000 visitors from Google alone every month. Guest blogging is definitely the best way to build authority backlinks to your blog and domain name – and the fact that it is also the easiest makes it the best.

• To Gain Exposure: Do you know that Problogger gets as much as 40k visitors every single day? Let’s say I was able to get a guest post published on Problogger. In a matter of one week the guest post would have been viewed by at least 10k people. This means that number of people have also seen my name. You might not see great value in this but considering the fact that people have to see a brand at least 7-8 times before they become really familiar with it, you will easily gain exposure and build your brand by repeatedly getting featured on the top blogs in your niche.

• It Helps Build Your Brand: Even though I get thousands of visitors from search engines every single month my blog name and my name are the most searched keywords readers look for. This is mainly as a result of my guest blogging (because I get the most searches when a guest post of mine is published on a big blog). I have also noticed that visitors who arrive from the search engines through my blog’s name (or my name) are those who end up spending the most time on my site. So, it doesn’t matter what people think works or not, guest blogging is one of the most effective ways to build a great brand.

• To Gain Credibility: What is the best way to start making a lot of sales when you launch a new product? Or what is the best way to get a lot of affiliates to jump on board? The truth is your traffic counts but the big players will only help you promote your stuff when they know they can count on you. There is no better way for people to know they can trust you than for them to repeatedly see your work on some of the biggest blogs in their niche. Guest blogging helps build your credibility and makes it easy for people to trust you and take your word for it.

I’ve done quite a job explaining the benefits of guest blogging and considering this isn’t the main area we’re touching on today, let’s move on.
Proof that Guest Blogging Works
Just so you know I’m serious when I talk about guest blogging (and that I get results from my efforts) I’ll show you some screenshots from some of my successful guest posts.
While you’re at it, I’ll also like you to know that even though my results might be mouth watering, they aren’t typical. I have seen people get more/fewer results than I do. This post will be based on my approach to guest blogging and I believe that by following my approach you will be able to get better results than I did.
Over 1K Visitors from Only One Guest Post
By Bamidele ( writers in charge)

My 5 Rules for Guest Blogging

have rules for guest blogging, and my rules have never failed me. This particular rule has helped me get my guest post published on some of the biggest blogs in the blogosphere and I hope that by following them, you will be able to achieve the same thing.
My 5 guest blogging rules are Research, Writing, Proofreading, Submitting and Interaction and I’ll be explaining them below.
• Research: When getting ready to guest blog the first thing I do is research. And when I refer to research I’m not just talking about researching the post idea or anything of that nature – but researching the blog itself to be familiar with it so I can get my first submission published. I know my first efforts didn’t get me published on most big blogs and that is exactly why I formed this rule. Effectively researching before submitting your guest post makes it easy for you to understand how a blog works, who is the key person behind the blog, what kind of content is allowed, and what you must do to easily get published on the blog. For example, if I’m just trying to get published on a big blog for the first time I will take a look at the last 30 posts published on the blog (both by the blog author and guest bloggers), because that will give me an idea of what is accepted and published there. I’ll also read the most recent guest posts to have a better idea of what is common among the guest bloggers. For example, I see writing completely different, specific and unique posts works best on SmartPassiveIncome. Highly informative list posts work well on DailyBlogTips. And looking for new ways to effectively present your ideas work well on Problogger. By researching, I have also noticed that DailyBlogTips don’t accept SEO’d anchor texts, and Problogger has no problems with links within the content of your guest posts, as long as your links are highly relevant. Every blog host is different. They have different rules and beliefs and you have to understand that before trying to write for their blogs.
• Writing: Even though I have a standard for writing when it comes to my blog, I try to raise my standard when it comes to my guest posts because I know there are a lot of people competing for the attention of my potential host, so only the best guest posts will stand out. I try to research effectively when it comes to my writing. I also do my best to ensure my guest post is unique, detailed and informative. As a result – every one of my guest posts on big blogs are thousands of words long. This is not because I am specific about the length but because I try to do my best to make my content as detailed, informative, practical and as presentable as possible. Another thing I have noticed is that the more unique and informative my guest post is, the more results I get from it.
• Proofreading: I always fail whenever I try to submit a guest post to a blog without proofreading it. What this shows is that my writing isn’t perfect – none of us are. Proofreading your guest posts makes them as clear and as presentable as possible – thus making them easy for your host to read. I have published guest posts on this blog just because of how effective and clear the grammar is, and I’m sure a lot of bloggers will do the same. I often take more time proofreading my guest posts than writing them because the secret lies in proofreading. Your guest post is never complete without you proofreading it.
• Submitting: This is one of the most crucial aspects of guest blogging. Some people believe in pitching before writing but I believe in writing before pitching and it has always helped me. So many bloggers prefer it too because it is a time saver. If you tell me you have a guest post for me and I tell you to go ahead and write it, you will be more disappointed if I don’t accept it. But if you send the post along with your first query email I can easily give it a quick scan to see if it is right for my blog or not. It is also important that you do your best to make sure you’re as polite as possible in your email. Bloggers hate rude guest bloggers so they won’t even bother replying you if you’re rude. Just to give you an idea of which kind of email works I will be attaching two of the emails I have sent to bloggers below.
• Sample Email for DailyBlogTips Guest Post
•
•
• Sample Email for Problogger Guest Post
•
• Interaction: I know some of you who are familiar with my guest posts on Problogger and DailyBlogTips will say I don’t interact in the comments section. This isn’t because I don’t want to, but because my IP has been blacklisted by Akismet and these blogs get a lot of spam comments every day. It will be very difficult for me to constantly disturb the bloggers to fish out my comments from their spam section. Otherwise, I always interact in the comment section of my guest posts because a lot of my readers told me that’s how they found me. It is a good thing to get your guest post published, but interacting in the comments section of the blog that published your guest post is really important because it tells the readers of that blog you really care and are not just there for the link or the traffic.
It’s that simple, the above are my five rules for successful guest blogging and I’m so optimistic about them working for anyone who tries to use them effectively.
We’ve talked about the process of guest blogging so it’s now time to visit some other important aspects.

These People Are Getting Paid to Write. Here’s Why You Might Not...

Have you ever asked yourself what it is that really separates average freelance writers from really successful ones?

A while back, I shared quick lessons from my cold pitching experiment, and I shared what was working for me and what I felt wasn’t working.

Two days after, I got the following email from a reader (Nabankita):

“Thanks a lot for this wonderful article. I tried the ways you told to write a cold pitch and it really worked! I got 2 response emails already within 48 hours out of the 8-10 emails I had sent. Thank you for your article. Have a good day.”

Essentially, this reader read my email, acted immediately and started to see results within 48 hours.

I also got the following email from another reader, Afatah, in response to the same email about my cold pitching experiment:

“I normally just subscribe to stuff but I don’t know how I decided to act on your cold pitch experiment.

Here is my first:”

(He then attached the screenshot below. You can click the image to make the image bigger and bolder)

By immediately acting on the lessons I shared in my email, Afatah was able to get a major publication to agree to pay him $80 for an article.

As you can see from the screenshot he sent, Afatah was asked to mention his rate and he asked for $80, which the client instantly agreed to. If he wanted, he could probably have asked for more.

Afatah is also based in a third world country but he did not create mental blocks or excuses for himself such as “I am based in a third world country, will clients take me serious?” or “I’m not really sure this will work, what if {this and that}?” Or “Oh, I’m a non-native English writer. I’m worried I’m not qualified to be paid well to write”

Instead, Afatah got to work. He sent his pitch, and you can see the result.

ACTION. That’s The Key Word.

Afatah’s success, Nabankita’s success, mine and that of the many successful writers you admire is hinged on action.

At the end of the day, the key to success lies in taking action… not reading.

There’s an abundance of information, over-abundance even, on what to do and what not to do but you’ll only ever know if something works if you take action.

The two examples are from readers who acted on my free advice, and I have even more success stories from students of my premium programs (Anca, Clement, Hassan and many others).

Ultimately, it’s not about whether the information you get is free or paid, it’s about whether you act on it.

Early in my writing career, in 2011, I remember reading an article by Carol Tice calling writers out for not being bold enough to ask for what they want. She encouraged writers to embrace their “inner bitch” (now, some will find the language too strong and it’s not something I’d use myself but I focused on the message of that article, which she expressed articulately)

I was earning $80 – $100 per article and I wasn’t bold enough to ask my clients to pay more; “what if they say no?” After reading that article, I decided to start charging new clients $150 per article; not a single client complained. I later demanded $200 per article, and there was no complaint either. I have charged clients more, and I basically charge anything I want now; if I decide to go lower, there’s a strategic reason behind it.

At the end of the day, the reason Carol’s advice worked for me was because I acted. I started telling new clients “this is what I want” and I got it.

So, if you want to get clients, take action by reaching out to businesses on a consistent basis; you’ll get hired in no time!

If you want to earn more, don’t be afraid to raise your rates; ask for it, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can be worth.

Don’t just read, act. That’s the key to getting results.

- See more at: http://www.writersincharge.com/key-to-getting-paid-to-write/#sthash.Y5YAQBcF.dpuf

Young Consultants, Make Your Mark

• Start Now!
  Many consultants later regret neglecting their personal brand during the early stages of their career. For the current generation of young consultants, widespread use of social media has certainly changed how many young consultants build their brand; but has also posed a threat to the sanctity of the personal brand. Grant stressed the importance of working on our personal brand through a range of mediums, as soon as possible, and in doing so giving ourselves more time to shape our personal brand to fit our long-term career objectives. “Start now – the earlier the better.”

• Be Your Own Marketing Department
  Many consultants are already aware of the need to continually push ourselves to achieve higher standards and better quality work, but it is equally important to make those around us aware of our achievements and strengths. You need to be front of mind when a client faces a challenging issue; a difficult place to occupy when clients are bombarded with information personally and professionally every day. So you need a personal brand that’s memorable, strong and trusted. One of the best pieces of advice Grant had received early in his career from a senior partner was to learn when and how to ‘blow your own trumpet’ in a way that celebrates success and builds brand recognition, but isn’t arrogant or disingenuous. Be thoughtful and persistent in building your own branding campaign, just like a marketing department for a large company would be. 

• Understand Your Natural Assets

• Our personal brand can be thought of as one of our primary natural asset. It is an expression of our natural strengths and capabilities. One effective method of determining what your personal brand ought to be is to ask yourself: “What do I want to be famous for?” In other words, how and what will we be remembered for as individuals and employees? Using this question can help us develop our Personal Brand in a genuine and unique way. Interestingly, as time goes by and we grow and develop, the answer to the question tends to change. This change is mimicked by our personal brand, making us ‘naturally unique’ over time.

shocking-the-most-promising-retail-markets-in-africa-are-in-the-countries-people-rarely-talk-about/

It is rarely mentioned countries, like Gabon, Botswana and Angola, that are increasingly becoming attractive for multinational retailers looking to launch and expand on the African continent, according to a new report. These countries are small and dynamic, their income levels are growing and their retail markets are unsaturated—offering ample opportunity for the enterprising retailer.

Daily Digest

"There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.”

"The fact that you are willing to say, 'I do not understand, and it is fine,' is the greatest understanding you could exhibit."