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The internet is a great place to do business but you’re only going to be successful if you beat your online competitors and reach your target audience before they do.

If you’re running an online business, you’ve probably heard that you need to target a small and specific market or niche to be successful. But success is also possible in markets with lots of competition. Competition in a market is a sign of a healthy marketplace.

So, how do you make your online business competitive in a big market? And, on the flip side, how do you know when your market is too small and will not be profitable.

1. Create Something That Lasts

Don’t just concentrate on short-term profits. Reach out to your prospective customers and help them to solve the problems in their lives. When you make a difference to peoples’ lives you can create a successful online business irrespective how much competition you have.

2. Fish Where The Fish Are Biting

Ensure that you’re selling products and services in a niche where your prospects are very responsive to your offers. This market will be successful, whether you’re competing with thousands of other websites or just a few.

3. Check Offline Sources

Your local bookstore can help you narrow down your market if it is too broad. A simple trick is to go to your local bookstore and look at the chapter titles and other relevant information in books about your marketplace. These chapter titles can give you great pointers to new market areas.

4. Ask Your Audience

If you have a customer list, ask them what issues they want to resolve? From the answers you receive, create a solution which will generate traffic and sales.

5. Check Out MeetUp.com

MeetUp.com is a virtual meeting place. It works on gathering people of similar likes and interests. Type your broad niche name into the MeetUp search engine and you will see all kinds of physical and virtual meeting places relating to that keyword or phrase. In addition, smaller micro-niche markets are revealed.

6. Use Social Media

Social media sites are a goldmine of customer information and understanding your competitors. You can see groups and pages have the most members in a smaller and niche marketplace. Facebook’s advertising platform has a great demographic targeting feature. It helps you identify a popular sub-niche in a broader market and provides a ready-made group of eager prospects.

Local is all the rage these days as more and more businesses realise the importance of nearby audiences for more opportunities. Here are some steps you can take to make sure that your website is taking advantage of the best options for local prospects.

1. Optimise your website content

To attract a local audience, you need to look trustworthy and professional. Start by making sure that your website content is fully optimised. Include concise and relevant information, such as your locations, contact numbers and email, as well as an interactive map showing where you can be found. Showcase customer stories, FAQs and a blog to have a more personal approach.

2. Go mobile

According to Google and Nielsen, 75% of mobile searches for local stores and services lead to a store visit, a purchase, more research, or a call. This undeniable opportunity cannot be missed by local SMBs. Make sure to incorporate mobile response into your game.

3. Get found in listings and directories

Your local presence will not be complete if you can’t be found in local directories online. Own all your listings by providing updated information. Get listed on Google Places for Business as well as Local Google+ pages. These will help you provide accurate information to customers as well as communicate with them and get more exposure.

4. Use social media to your advantage

Social media is a powerful tool for online business, making and breaking businesses. Make sure that you have active social media profiles in the various platforms where your customers can reach you. This doesn’t stop at just creating a Facebook page.

Analyse your target audience and find out what platform they would likely use more, such as Pinterest or Instagram for fashion or food, and maintain a strong presence there. Knowing how people use different platforms is invaluable, such as how Twitter for quick questions and shout-outs, or Facebook for sharing content and stories.

5. Use localised Search Engine Marketing

Increase people’s awareness of your business with pay-per-click ads on search engines. Choose keywords that are most relevant for your business within the area. This will allow your company to target the audience in the specific area and give you a competitive advantage over other businesses.

6. Find your voice

Many companies attract a large following by having a distinct approach – a human touch or voice behind the business. Find the personality to build your business around, whether that’s incorporating a family business approach or quirky language. This will help local audiences to recall your business when they are looking for your services.

7. Get involved in the community

Local visibility can be greatly improved by being involved in local events. One way to do this is organising a drive for a good cause that will benefit a particular local audience. Not only do you generate good public relations, but you also get to give back to the community that supports your business.

8. All about branding

Branding is a must, whether you’re a small business or a more established one. This includes not just a logo or a tagline, but the overall image that you project within the community. Give your branding a local touch by including local trends, expressions or approach.

9. Encourage local reviews

With so many people with access to the web, prospects are able to find what others say about you with just a few clicks. This is why having reviews from genuine customers is important. The more good reviews your business receives, the more likely it is that people will choose what you have to offer.

10. Join local business organisations

Getting involved in local business organisations is a good way of establishing ties within the larger business setting. This will help you build your network and be more visible in the community.

11. Closely monitor results for continuous improvement

Lastly, striving for further improvement is important for any business, big or small. Monitor the results of your efforts and analyse where you can still improve. Listen to customer feedback and make sure to lessen negative talk across the web.

When it comes to local presence, it’s a good idea to build a business that your audiences can relate to, something that can have a certain bearing on their daily lives. These steps will help you on your way.

Ever felt that your website is not getting enough amount of traffic? Or you have visitors but they are not actually turning into paying customers. It is because you have only made an upright website but haven’t worked enough on the UX and UI elements for making the visitors turned to buyers.

Experts in the web development realm have been consistently providing great conversion tips to assure website’s success for the companies and here we are discussing the same for PHP websites. Well, there are innumerable ways you can boost the performance of your website but need to bring to play only those techniques that will deliver results in the shortest time.

Read on to know few of them which is appropriate and simple for every website irrespective of what it deals in or what type of visitors it targets.

Improvement in the Site’s design along with Navigation

While website development is not only about appearance, good looking sites do attract visitors in the first instance. So, you need to work on its overall appearance by putting great background graphics, motion UI elements, vivid colors. Further to provide smooth navigation use clear menus, minimise scroll down options and reduce distractions through too many links.

Place up-to-date and engaging content

The notion that “content is the king’ applies for all websites of all sizes, scales, and businesses. It is one of the biggest critical factors playing its part in search engine optimisation. Thus, you need to put precise, relevant and updated content that is well convincing for the visitors to avail your services.

Put enticing headings and clear CALL-TO-ACTIONS

To keep every single page attractive to the visitors, put alluring headlines and headings for the content and keep prominent Call-to-Actions to push visitors to the main page or checkout phase.

Create Buyers Personas to target the right audience

Figure out who are your targeted customers are and what type of information might interest them. Placing such type of content that pique their interests will help them relate to you and your site.

Go for A/B testing

To ascertain a good rate of conversion in your site, it’s about testing! A/B testing is one of the effective testing ways to enhance conversions of a web page. It splits up the audience into two equal parts and redirects them to two alternate versions of a page. The page getting maximum sales will help you know which version is apt for your site.

Use responsive or mobile-friendly design

According to the latest studies on the market scenario, a hefty percentage of population use only their phones to access websites either to seek information or any service. To go with this radical change and prevent your website from being lagged back, make sure your website responds to phones of different screen sizes and resolutions and works seamlessly in the mobile user interface.

Nonetheless, if you want your website to be swamped with a great number of visitors every day, you need to work on its design as well as performance. These tips focus on both. So, to every website owner out there who are trying to good business with their websites, make sure its core aspects are optimised and tweaked in to serve only and only the interests of the targeted audience.

Looking to set up a business or are you already an established but looking to increase your presence online? First and foremost requirement for this is to get a website for your business. A website should tell about the work of your enterprise and should be easy and user friendly with no technical glitches.

To make an online presence one must cater to SEO enabled web pages on its website. When looking to create SEO enabled web page one must contact an SEO Expert who knows the details of his work and can get you a visibility on various search engines.

If you are based in Gold Cost, Australia it is highly recommended you should look out for professional services offered by SEO Expert to enable your website to achieve a high online presence. In today’s new era of the internet for any venture to succeed it is essential for them to own a website of their venture and to increase the visitors of a website, the website should be visible on various search engines.

When looking for a SEO Expert to carry out the work for you, please consider the following points before hiring anyone:

Professional: The expert should be highly professional and should hold an expertise in the area. You cannot expect to receive the best output with an individual with average or mediocre skills. Check the background of the individual or SEO expert service that you are being provided.
Significant Experience: It is important for you to consider the individual for your SEO needs to hire the individual who has a significant amount of experience in the field and knows how to achieve the desired results. You cannot afford to consider a fresher as he might not have worked in the field and the results might not be as desirable as you expect them to be.
Budget Constraint: It is always advisable to discuss the budget of the SEO service in advance to avoid any confusion in future. One must compare prices across the industry to avoid getting duped. One should always take a specific budget constraint into consideration before locking the deal with any expert.
Local Industry Experience: It is important to hire an individual who has knowledge regarding the local industry. He will know what it is like to consider for achieving visibility online in a specific market.
Ongoing support and services: Once the work of the SEO Expert is completed, he should be available for any further queries in the future. It is important to discuss regarding any services required in the future. All such requirements should be discussed in advance.
Monthly Analysis: The SEO Expert should provide you with the monthly analysis of the keyword positions on the website. It is essential to note the position and visibility of the website on various search engines after and before availing the services from the SEO expert.

There is the quantity of Digital sponsors working day in and out to offer move to brands or new organizations identified with them. This consolidates promoting your meander on various social stages, headway of your webpage as demonstrated by web look devices. There is the quantity of old promoting strategies which associations have been following since quite a while, be that as it may, with the advanced time of digitalization things have changed an extraordinary arrangement so we have to change our methods too. Read on to get some answers concerning the need for Digital Marketing for your startup.

# Raising the brand Identity

With Digital Marketing you not simply involvement with the progression of your thing or organizations yet, what’s more, gives them trust on your picture. At the point when people have started making trust, they will place assets in you. This will develop your image picture.

#Social Media Awareness

By and by nearly everyone over the globe is slanted to electronic long range informal communication, Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or some other web-based systems administration organize. The quantity of associations has started affecting their clients by means of online systems administration media. Facebook and Instagram are starting at now filling in as the best advancing stage. All the more unfaltering your picture is by means of online systems administration media, the quantity of clients you will have.

#Increment in lead age

Since you currently have a stronghold tight the clients by means of online systems administration media they will consistently get your updates starting there and would change over into leads as you presumably know this is to some degree elevating began to show some person a comparable thing, again and again, that too with number of choices, they will add to you.

#Reputation Management

Much the same as you, everyone relies upon Google, clients explore on Google before getting it from somewhere. Moreover, accept you are top connections then you will get a trust of customers. That yes if the association is portrayed on the best, by then it will be more disposed to be substantial. In any case, you know the mystery behind it I.e situating on Google is out and out is a direct result of Digital Marketing techniques. I was always associated with Digital Marketing. By and by it’s your swing to endeavor it and help your self in updating your business. So settle your Organization’s belt with Digital Marketing, Make new techniques and welcome the results of advancement.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

“Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin C Bliss

Do you feel as if you’ve outgrown your circle of friends? Perhaps you do not feel safe or understood any longer. There may be fewer and fewer things you can share with people in your habitual circle, and it leaves you feeling lonely or isolated. If so, you are not alone. Welcome to one of the core dynamics of continuous growth!

As we continue to evolve, many of us struggle with a sense of not quite fitting in with our traditional community or tribe: we may have expanded or changed beyond the borders of tribal norms, and no longer find the same sense of belonging there. Other members may have tightened the tribal rules to foster a sense of security. As a result, we may feel a sense of disconnection or alienation.

In truth, each one of us belongs to many tribes simultaneously: there is your original tribe – the family you were born into – and then there are all the communities of choice you have joined: your work tribe, your social circles, your faith-based community, your neighborhood, and more. These communities are not static; they are in continuous flux because they consist of individuals who are in continuous states of change. When there is a lot of change happening in either the individual or the community, a sense of dissonance results.

How are we to deal with this? First, it is important to recognize that tribal allegiances were historically forged for survival. They were adapted over the course of centuries to ensure the safety and survival of the group. Survival required that individuation be sacrificed for the trade-off of security.

In modern society, the tables are flipped. Whether we enjoy it or not, change is essential for survival at every level of being. The pace of change is driven by technological advances and happens with increasing rapidity: sociologists estimate that more change has taken place in society over the course of the past 100 years, than in the totality of the previous 6,000 years. Individual adaptation now is a requirement for survival, and the pace of individual change does not always match the pace at which our various tribal communities evolve. The resulting dissonance can cause intense friction and pain.

Dissonance also results from confusion between the concepts of ‘connection’ and ‘community.’ We tend to equate one with the other, when they really relate to different qualities. Connection relates to connectivity: the objective physical technology or media that enables us to build community, but which does not represent the quality of that community. Connectivity simply offers the opportunity to connect with others through internet, texting, phone calls, or any other social networking options.

Community is the result of building relationship through meaningful interaction over time. There is no shortcut; it is a process that develops when bonds of trust and intimacy are nurtured and honored.

And here lies a caveat: When we confuse connectivity with community, we depersonalize the sacred nature of true community and start relating to people as objects. Instead of developing intimacy over time, we collect friends on social network sites or try to buy people’s allegiance. Yet friending is simply an act of connecting; it does not create intimacy.

In fact, social experiments indicate that technologically dominated connectivity results in alienation and social collapse over time. In a groundbreaking social experiment conducted by Josh Harris, one of the founders of social networking on the internet, he found that the more people’s private lives were exposed by 24/7 technology, the more their sense of intimacy and relationship deteriorated until the community collapsed in violence and self-destructive behavior.

It is time to revisit our concepts of community so we can create tribes that offer a true sense of intimacy and belonging.

In his 1987 book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, psychologist M. Scott Peck described several core characteristics of true community. Beyond the obvious components of inclusivity, commitment and participatory consensus, Peck pointed out the quality of embracing diversity through realism. When each member contributes their unique viewpoint from a place of humility and goodwill, the community benefits from a broader perspective in which to better grasp the full context of a situation. In other words, mutual tolerance helps members to embrace one another’s different viewpoints as an integral part of the whole, instead of imposing a forced compliance to groupthink or cohesion.

In an environment like this, members experience and express compassion and respect for one another. They allow others to share their vulnerability, to learn and grow, and to express who they truly are. When conflict arises, they learn to resolve it with wisdom and grace. Members listen to and respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, and commit to find solutions together rather than to fight against each other. Indeed, the true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. The source of this spirit may be seen as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Does this description of community sound spiritual to you? It is indeed, because Spirit is the common denominator among all of us, regardless of how separate we feel from others.

As human beings, we often experience a socio-economic sense of separation from others because of different opinions, beliefs, expectations, language, culture, or interests, since each one of us expresses these in a way uniquely different from anyone else. And still, we continue to differentiate! In this ongoing process, we continue to evolve or devolve in response to life. A community that felt like a good fit last year may no longer work today; the places where we felt embraced, now may suffocate us. Over the course of a lifetime, we can expect to outgrow and change allegiances to many of the tribal communities we once belonged to.

And yet, when we transcend the layers of physical appearance, mental beliefs and socio-economic conditioning, we find in the presence of Spirit a common denominator in everyone around us. Perhaps it is time to expand our tribal definitions to embrace a spiritual community that includes all of mankind as children of God.

Mother Teresa admonished her nuns to see Jesus in every leper they encountered, to find His presence as they looked into the eyes of the homeless. When we can look past the issues that divide us to find omnipresent Divinity in each other, we will uncover the foundations of true community.

Spiritual community transcends all socio-economic borders, beliefs and backgrounds. It is inclusive because it operates on voluntary self-responsibility and mutual compassion, and its doors are open to everyone.

Building this type of community takes time: time to listen, to hear, to respond and to participate. Take a few moments to read the description of spiritual community again. Then, make time in your life to foster that type of connection with people who matter to you. You are one of the architects of community in your life, and you can participate in building a tribe where you belong.

What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is right now? Can work-life balance be achieved? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?

What is the challenge we face? I sometimes find that time spent at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, home-schooling children, and sometimes even doing a side hustle. Imagine also the full-time home-based entrepreneur. How do they manage to do all they need to do in a day?. We are living in a time when many entrepreneurs and even company employees have adopted work- at – home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines become blurred between home and work. These blurred lines and constraints on the limited resource called time result in over-worked, under-rested, burnt-out individuals. Whilst good time management has been encouraged and indeed, embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done in changing the mindset for the elusive work-life balance to be achieved.

What are the tools at our disposal? To manage time effectively at home, there are many interventions one can employ including setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for every task, organizing oneself, and instituting the discipline of appointments. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I believe we need to focus on appointments and see how this can powerfully change the course of one’s day regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend. Life is busy as it is without any intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that they are at the gate. These can be friends, neighbors, a salesman of some product you do not even need. I am not promoting regimentation here but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything that we succeed at is because we carefully plan and execute it. I am a firm believer that you cannot manage time if you do not manage yourself thus I implore you to incorporate planning and appointments into your repertoire. I am not talking about something I do not do. I have to achieve many things in a day therefore I set appointments with my work, others, and myself.

Could scheduling appointments and keeping them on the home front help us save time and prioritize? Whereas we have established that it is a normal business practice to set appointments and keep them, we need to abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing all and sundry to have access to us as and when they please on the home front. Please understand where I am coming from. We each have greatness within us but for us to achieve it we need to culture great habits. Employing the use of appointments at home and seeing only those people you had agreed to see removes non-essential encounters especially during the most productive hours. I know this will vary with culture, geographical region, or even level of affluence, whether you live in a low density or high-density residential area, but doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you will work and rest when the time for scheduled rest comes.

What do we need to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You are not always fire-fighting to meet deadlines, You are not always tired because you have not taken time out to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you are a busy person, I am sure you appreciate what I am saying. Whether it’s time to work uninterrupted, family time, or “me-time”, it takes some kind of order to enjoy it.

I am not saying that those that come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they probably are people you enjoy spending time with. Nevertheless, there must be prior communication so that you can attend to your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite disrupting and a whole day can just pass by without achieving anything that you had planned to do.

As we grow older we begin to appreciate that rest and recovery need to be scheduled. The fact that I am relaxing doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to do. One therefore cannot assume that just because you are at home you are available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, spouses need to also set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule a time to spend with their children. When you have some sort of order in your life you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happier person.

In conclusion, I believe that the work-life balance can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal just like it is in the workplace.I believe we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to make only the commitments we can keep.I am certain that setting appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize.