Changing Your Domain Name Without Ruining Your SEO
I’ll cut to the chase. Dreamhost, one fo wordpress’ recommended hosting companies (and my personal favorite so far) wrote a great blog on how to change domains and not destroy your SEO. https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/domain-change-seo/ If you don’t need to change your domain, DON’T! You’ll notice they say that you will REDUCE the amount of damage done. You’ll still probably have a dip in traffic. If you can bear that in the short term and if in the long run it’s better to change domains, go for it. If not, just don’t change your domain. If you change your domain name, follow their advice. Make sure you forward all necessary URLS and pages. Make sure you update all your social media links to your site and then notify Google through Google Search Console. If you don’t use Google Search Console… I don’t even know what to say apart from “you should get it!” It’s by far one of the most valuable SEO tools you’ll ever have. I use it almost exclusively.
What Now?
What now? What’s important? I was going to write some stuff about crypto currencies and markets etc., but then I looked over at my nearly 4 year old daughter… Though I’m trying to recession proof the businesses of the people I work with and put in place plans to force ahead and grow through the recession so they don’t come out in the same state they entered into the recession, but honestly, work burnout is a real thing. Making bad decisions is a real thing. I just finished a blog post for crypto investing (according to me) and though it’s a great time to buy, there will be a lot of times to buy over the next year more than likely, so don’t go all in just yet. Pace yourself (my opinion). I’m increasing the amount I invest in all areas I can, including my business because it’s a good time, but I’m stretching it out over a year at least. I haven’t put all my chips on red. I put them all on “be reasonable and hang in there” haha. That is of course with a plan to grow that I actively work on nearly every day. Make sure you invest equally in all aspects of your life and business. I have a business counselor, a counselor counselor, I still study things and learn and I have a financial advisor. I also have general counsel for general decisions. So what to do now? Don’t panic, try to invest steadily in all aspects of your business (including yourself) and keep pushing forward.
Bitcoin Mining
Well, now I’ve done it. I’ve gone off the digital deep end. I’ve gotten into crypto currencies… I get it, I’m a bit late to the table, but I’ve done the unthinkable and partnered with some good friends/work buddies of mine and we’ve started a Bitcoin mining company. Well… We talk about it at least. We’ve started a site, which you can see here: https://www.bitminingbros.com/ where we talk about Bitcoin and crypto things and how you can get started, then we even help you get started! We’ve taken all the mess out of it. Very shortly we’ll be talking about PhilCoin so head on over there and stay tuned!!!
Moving Forward When Your Uninspired
I always tell my clients it REALLY doesn’t matter what you write about. The last thing you want is for your work to become a chore that you avoid. Sometimes though, it’s unavoidable. The solution, I think, is to push through. I know sometimes (personally) that it’s tempting to think you’ll have a change of heart or a revelation and you’ll go off in a new direction and have great success, but I’ve found and many other have as well that perseverance is key to winning the race. According to J. Paul Getty, he often bought oil wells that other had given up on. All he’d do is drill just a little bit further and hit oil. People would often give up when success was just around the corner. Today, I had no idea what to write, and I still don’t really, but I knew I had to write something. So here I am writing because really, I just have to. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but I’m hopefully helping form a habit that will lead to more success. Honestly over the past few years I’ve had a great deal of success. Sometimes I just have to push through work and personal problems even when “my hearts not in it” and through all of that things are undoubtedly much better. I can barely keep up with things now. So keep walking. Keep blogging. “Un-slumping yourself is not easily done” as Dr Seuss says, but it can be done.
Procrastinating – Self Employed
You’re self employed or you’re a business owner/contractor. Your pay/how much you earn per year is based on how much you work. I get it. It’s a lot of pressure and it can quickly clog your mind. Like two many people trying to go through one door, or like traffic on the highway, things come to a stop. It’s an overwhelming and hopeless feeling. It only goes away if things keep moving. Btw, are you procrastinating right now? Quick tip. Stop reading this and get to work. If you’re kinda burnt out or just overwhelmed, here’s what I do. Do you have an ipad or a smart phone? Put on a program you’ve seen a million times before and just muddle through it. Put on music etc. I prefer shows because it’s a habit I can maintain. And I just put something on and work until I’m less overwhelmed and more on top of things. There are probably better habits, but it works in those really rough times. I work from home, but I imagine in a traffic jam this is what people do. They don’t park their cars, they listen to the radio or call a friend and they move at whatever pace they can until the day is done or until the traffic subsides. No more reading, get back to work. Don’t even get up to get coffee or water and don’t read the news or go on youtube. You won’t find anything helpful online. Just rabbit holes. Go put on your music or your show and get to work.
Who Made Business Boring?
There are people who can make the most dramatic, dragon filled, battle ridden, heart breaking tales boring. I think we have the same idea about work, or at least I did (and still do sometimes). Business and work don’t have to be boring if you are engaged. Someone once said “I want to know how many years of experience you have, not how many years you’ve been doing the exact same thing.” I’m a big fan of LOTR and the Hobbit. When you get to the end of those movies, you get a clear sense of wanting to go back to the tough parts and not wanting to even touch the end of the movies. You even get that sense at the beginning as Bilbo is writing his story. He longs to go back, finding that all the tough things he had to do really made the journey worth it. Frodo could have attempted to stay in the Elvin city and enjoy a leisurely life. But looking back, even though Hobbits are more sedentary in nature, not wanting to change, neither Frodo nor Bilbo would have been happy. I think they would have enjoyed it for a while, and perhaps would even try for a while to ignore the nagging feeling that there’s more out there. I think when you look at business that way, when you see it as trying to be comfortable or going through tough times, learning, growing and even getting into situation that can be very stressing and painful, you’ll find that you like it and come to miss it. Business isn’t boring. Trying to be comfortable is boring. Go learn. Don’t try to make enough to be comfortable, try to grow and do things and do a good job. Jump in and just keep walking. Through the fields, through the hills, mountains and swamps. For those who need more practical steps: read, call people, start a website, post on facebook and let people know you’re open for business, start a facebook business page, do a youtube video, take breaks and do physical activity, buy a few small things to make your business run better, then charge people for those premium features. That’s walking through the fields. They lead to hills and mountains. All movies have a beginning and in end. It’s what’s in the middle that makes them enjoyable.
Yes, Godaddy Really Does Suck
I’ve long held Godaddy as the gold standard of poor hosting. Their tech department is the only one I know of that can offer 4 contradicting explanations and solutions to the the same problem. It honestly doesn’t mater how many times you call their tech support, they will always give you a different answer and it’s normally a bad/nonsensical answer. The only on that’s outdone them (once) was Hostgator, but my understanding is that Hostgator has decent hosting whereas Godaddy ABSOLUTELY doesn’t. Godaddy’s hosting has never seriously ben ranked amongst the highest and apart from their control panel bing a disaster and a half, they nickle and dime you for things most hosting companies offer better version of. The reason I’m writing this now though is because it came to light that Godaddy, in addition to their poor technical skills has unsurprisingly ben storing peoples password in plain text. Something not even most n00bs do. https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/11/godaddy-breach-plaintext-passwords/ I have never once suggested anyone use Godaddy for hosting. You’r better off printing your website and stapling it to telephone poles. Just do a Google search for best website hosts and use any of them. My personal preference is Dreamhost and MAYBE A2 Hosting. Dreamhost is dead stable, normally ahead of the curve and great at what they do. A2 Hosting is general ahead of the head of the curve and constantly try to make things even better. Having talked to one of the higher ups at A2 Hosting, I can tell you that at this moment they are continuing to push the envelope.
When the Goal Train Gets Off-Track
What to do When You Get Derailed Cool picture huh? Pretty but accurate if you think about it. Though there’s a simplicity in meeting goals once they are set properly, it’s rarely a smooth ride and almost never goes as expected, and sometimes the destination doesn’t look like you thought it would. Still, you ned to accomplish what you’ve set out to do, unless it’s a bad idea, in which case don’t do it or do it quickly so you don’t sink too much time into it. Along the way, you’ll find urgent things come up. Family matters, money problems , urgent client related problems software limitation etc. This year, a lot of my schedule has been uprooted due to people becoming ill and some even passing away. These are things we have little control over. as hard as it can be to get into the swing of things, when it comes to goals, you rally can just hit the pause button and pick up on them. Like a word document, you save your progress and re-open it later when you’re ready to work on it. There’s no point in getting discouraged. Just get on with it. Pretend the delay never happened and pick up where you left off. Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making plans (a quote from a bunch of different people). It’s a normal thing that happens to even the most successful people. How many products are released late or released unfinished and ned patching up. When you pick up where you left off, don’t try to do everything at once, you’ll just overwhelm yourself. I normally just delay other things as much as possible and hen catch up. So whatever you can put on hold, put it on hold or delay as much as possible while you catch up on the goals you had to pause little by little.. Put in a couple extra hours and you’ll catch up before you know it. If you are REALLY far behind, count the goal period as lost, and restart a new timeline with the same goals. I set goals every 90 days. Recently I had to scrap a whole 90 day period, count it as nearly lost and start again. I’m still here, still working and all is good.
Successful Goal Setting – Part 2 – Goal Timeline
What are Your Goals? Assuming you know why and what you want to do, the next step is to set some goals for yourself. It’s important to note that there are different types of goals and not all of them need to be pursued as heavily as others. Lifelong goals like “climb Mount Everest” don’t need to be focused on every day for the rest of your life. You could use it as a motivator or a direction, but don’t use up much energy making it happen now. You may find it counter productive. There are a lot of things that will require your attention daily in order to achieve that goal. By focusing constantly on a large task, you may be discouraged in your day to day duties. Especially if he end goal seems large and daunting. Timing Your Goals So let’s break it down a bit. You have long terms goals and dreams. You have mid term goals you want to hit along the way that may or may not contribute to the long term goals. Then you have short terms goals, which many times are very urgent. I think it’s important to prioritize these so that you’re not spending more time worrying about tomorrow than you are working today. Today has enough worries to be honest, but your short terms goals should lead somewhere. Start by listing a few long term goals (5 or fewer). It’s ok if these change over time. Then move on to mid terms goals (2-10 years) (5 or fewer). Then go to short range goals (next year or so) (4 main goals). You can change these goals later if you just wan to use this as an exercise/practice. If you have more of these or you want more clarity, expand on the goals and then group the goals into similar categories. In the categories you can have short descriptions that include the breakdown. For example one goal could be to set up a website. Within that goal you need content, pictures, a logo and pricing for services. With the 4 short range goals, break them down and organize them into a logical chronological order if some goals need to be completed in order for other goals to happen. This will help you make sure that your goals are reasonable and obtainable. Quick check, try to make sure your goals line up in some way with each other or that they form something like a big picture. You may have to revise the whole list of goals once or twice (or as you go). What you want to break the year down into is 90 day segments and set 3 gals for each segment. You can have sub-goals, but just make sure your goals are attainable. BE SURE to use an app that counts down in DAYS so you can see the days ticking away. Here’s the app I use: Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/countdown-star/id576177593 Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joemerrill.android.countdownstar&hl=en_US&gl=US Then just make sure you have someone to check in with and be accountable to for each 90 day period. I can all but guarantee that time will all but fly when you do this, but you’ll find that your goals get done. and you’ll start moving your mountain! p.s. Be forgiving (to yourself) if you miss your deadline. I try to hit mine, but sometimes life hits back. If you go over the 90 days I suggest you just finish your goals then start on the next 90 days a little late. Someone else I know suggested you just move the unfinished goals into the next 90 days. Whichever works better for you, but be accountable.
Successful Goal Setting – Part 1 – Motives
Why do you do what you do? Here’s what this is intended to help you do: Get direction Gain momentum Use your time more efficiently / Help stop you from wasting time in the short and long run Set up the foundation for guiding principles in all the following steps Create consistency in your life and hopefully a happy future. Before you start any game and figure out a strategy, you aught to consider whether you like the game you’re about to play, and if you wan to play it at all. A lot of times I find myself wanting to do something because I feel the need to do it. I want to win at some game or do the best I can do on whatever project is in front of me, and that’s fine in some cases, and often has little influence on ones life. But what if it were something more important. What if it’s something you’re going to invest a lot of time into? What if it’s something that’s going to shape you in some way? Well… Then you aught to consider WHY you are doing it. Does it fit who you are and what you believe. I’m writing this to help you set goals. To accomplish something. This is not likely to help you on some one our project. One of the first things I learned about getting on track to set goals and accomplish what I wanted, was to ask myself “Why am I doing this?” and subsequently “do I want to do this?” If you’re going on a road trip to Alaska (or Hawaii for those of you who aren’t good with geography haha), I’d ask myself “Why Alaska?” and as a sub question “Do I really want to go to Alaska? It’s a long trip. Why am I doing it? Forget about the resources. I’m convinced that just about anything can be done, and that details can be worried about later. So for now, just ask yourself, “why?” IF what you’re going really fits who you are, what you want, what you believe, then it makes sense to move forward. I’d hate for you to get half way to your destination only to find out that you hate cold weather and prefer the tropics, or that you were only going because you felt pressured to go or didn’t know where else to go. There will be a lot of miserable people that would simply forge ahead for forging aheads sake. Hopefully you aren’t one of them. People like that seem to love being miserable, so maybe it’s the right choice for them? This is all just for people who want to pursue some goals in their lives. To be honest I think you could be happy and made a difference anywhere you go, but if you’re going to invest a lot of time into something, make sure your reasons are right. Some people I know what to be actors because they want the fame, but they hate acting. That’s a nice recipe for failure 🙂 Don’t do that. Start asking why and get your internal compass out. Then we’ll start working on a plan. The book that was recommended to me was “Starting with Why.” Here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447 If find that you’re happy with the direction you’ve chosen, then you might be ready for step 2 (next week). If not, take a little time to think about why you do what you do. What motivates you and what kind of things you’d like to do that go along with your own internal workings. Take at least a day, maybe a week to think. Though failure is always a good option, it’s best to avoid having to turn back after embarking.
