YouTube and many other sites actively encourage video responses to the videos that have been uploaded, but there’s not a huge take up on it, which is a shame because for the affiliate or rival it is a golden opportunity to either piggyback or hijack the potential customer.

A video comment is exactly what it sounds like and what’s more it will appear as a ‘related video’ in the block that appears at the end of the main event and possibly down the right side of the YouTube page. This means it is in clear view of someone who has just watched the item that brought them to the site and they are still receptive to the message it had given. This is an ideal time to make use of that attention.

Let’s say that the main event is a video advertising a new e-course on, for instance, list building. The course is mostly sold by affiliates – who are mostly much of a muchness so anyone would do to buy from… Enter the canny video-commenter affiliate-marketer.

The video commenter would put up a video comment in praise of the product and perhaps offer a related bonus item which now increases the value to the potential buyer. The commenter now stands out from all the ‘me too’ guys and gets the sale.

You’ve probably noticed that a lot of Google ads have ‘product name – is it a scam?’ headlines to get you to click on them, taking you to a sycophantic review to get you to buy through their link. There’s no reason why your video review couldn’t use the same tactic – whether it’s in praise or to show a rival product. Whatever the reason, you’ve pulled the customer to your site and link rather than someone else’s.

If you happen to find a video that’s really popular and going viral, you may even be able to get people interested who hadn’t even come to look at something like your offer. Let’s pick puppy videos as an example. Someone has put up a puppy doing something cute for the main video. Your video response comments directly about the video and at the end of your comment you slip in a line about your dog training guide and where people can get it from. It’s related, it’s relevant and a lot of people will see it. Ker-ching.

I’m sure by now that your head is buzzing with the ideas that video commenting could do for you.

All you need is a decent video camcorder – most mobile phones can manage video in HD resolution. Video editing programs exist for smart phones as well as Windows, Mac & Linux operating systems and are easy to use. Your video comment doesn’t even have to be you talking into the camera. A PowerPoint presentation or some screen capture shots with perhaps your own voice over – or find a voice over artist to do one for you from fiverr.com or elance.com (depending on what you want or can afford) whatever will do the job. Your response video doesn’t need to be more than a couple of minutes and could be the start of a whole new source of traffic.

If all of the above is too much for you simply write your comment and find websites that will convert your comment article into a video. There’s plenty out there or it’s back to the micro-job websites to find someone to do it for you.

All you need to do is to search out videos that are in your niche and are popular. YouTube lets you sort by recent popularity when you search for your niche’s keywords so you should easily be able to find something suitable. Once you have some targets, the video commenting world is your oyster.

Promoting your business on Facebook requires that you create a business home page, which will serve as your social networking site. Although similar to the traditional Facebook profile page, this one will specifically be for your business or brand. Because it is from the page where you will interact with potential customers, you need to create it in such a way that it reflects your business or brand.

Creating a Facebook business page is certainly not enough when you need to promote your business. You need to start off by connecting with Facebook users. Facebook provides you with the “Build Audience” tool located on your page’s Admin menu. The tool enables you to invite both your Facebook friends and email contacts that have the option of following your page. In addition to your friends and email contacts, you need to advertise your Facebook page’s URL through other means to get more following.

There is really no point in gaining following if you do not keep them engaged. You need to create relevant content that your followers will like, share and give comments on. Posting relevant content on a regular basis will have the positive effect of attracting more followers as the same are shared, which will in effect increase your chances of making sales. Engaging your followers is not limited to creation of relevant content. The Facebook Offer tool is a valuable tool you need to use to attract customers. The tool allows you to create redeemable coupons that your followers can use in your store.

One of the most effective ways to promote your business on Facebook is to create Facebook ad(s). Facebook actually provides you with the necessary ad creation tool complete with monitoring tool you can use to monitor performance of your ad(s). Although you pay for the same, the cost is very minimal. You actually indicate how much you are prepared to pay for your ad(s). Furthermore, Facebook gives you the opportunity to choose users you wish you ad(s) reaches and geographical location among other important factors.

This is in no doubt a simple and straightforward way to promote your business on Facebook. In doing so however, you need to remain alive to the fact that advertising on Facebook is all about relationship marketing. You therefore should not expect to start reaping benefits instantly. Your initial aim should be to gain significant following you can rely on for long-term business relationship.

The first thing that should be realized is that internet marketing cannot be approached like other forms of advertising mediums. It is totally different and entails a mindset that is unique in a special way compared to other traditional approaches. Looking at the world with a fresh perspective and a simple open-mindedness will help you to reach the summit of successful accomplishments.

As you layout your campaigns, include tempting bonus offers that would spike the interest of everyone. Offer free products related to what your customer just bought, or throw in things that everyone can make use of. For example, gift cards or food coupons will keep people coming back to you.

In order to improve your exposure, search for the most popular questions that are asked on places such as Yahoo Answers and pitch in a satisfactory answer. Be creative and make your name similar to your brand name, which can serve as a free way to expand the exposure of your company and boost your website traffic.

A good policy for internet marketing is to make sure that you have a professional looking website. Whatever size your budget is, big or small, it is vitally important that you uphold a professional looking standard that gives off an impressive standard of successful business relations. It is a surefire way of getting plenty of traffic.

One appealing method is to bundle several of your products into one bulk package that offers deals with other companies. To expand your efforts, make up another website and advertise it on your first one, which could double your overall traffic. The possibilities are endless with one extra business or even multiple businesses.

Some marketers like to saturate their site with ads in order to get plenty of clicks, because the more clicks that add up the more profit will accumulate. However, this is a bad move, having multiple ads on your site doesn’t go over too well. A header, a footer and one in between is the most you would want to post.

Go over your website and review it in intricate detail to determine where you can make improvements. It is a common mistake to admire what is yours and think it is perfect, but others may not like it. Look for ways to rearrange it so that it is easier to navigate. Certain changes, even small ones, can make a big difference that can attract more customers and pull more traffic your way.

When you get down the road a ways and develop some experience, it may be important to expand into new areas and try new products. This will divide up your markets and reduce the risk of being washed out by a single product failure. With this tactic, you will have greater chance of hitting it big and having one of your lines really take off and make a ton of money.

Getting to know your customers is something that many successful marketers do, especially the best ones. Take notice what they prefer. Find out if they make use of Facebook or Twitter, or other networking social sites like Tumblr and FourSquare. What blogs or forums do they use? Getting more familiar with customer’s commonalities, the easier it will be to reach them and motivate them with future offers.

Gaining a true understanding of how you can use certain tricks that are out there to navigate a plan of success, is how you will eventually be a success in any type of online business. Perhaps you’re already doing well and just need a little boost or maybe you’re a newbie. Nevertheless, which ever type of person you are, use the easy tips we’ve covered to help you be prosperous and enjoy plenty of the good life.

However, we cannot undermine the concern of the business owners to increase their web ranking. According to a survey by Infront Webworks, the very first SERP (Search Engine Result Page) of Google receives about 95% of the web traffic.

Now, this may instantly remind you of PPC (Pay-Per-Click). Several site owners spend lots of resources on PPC to quickly occupy the top ranks. While this can definitely draw greater visibility to your site in a short span of time, the advanced users often tend to avoid the advertisement sites and prefer to check the organic results.

An interesting observation by New Media Campaigns reveals that organic SEO results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than the paid search results. Despite that, 87% of search engine dollars (about $10 billion) are spent on PPC and only 11% (about $1 billion) is reserved for SEO efforts. This means, the strategy that is over 5x more effective, SEO, is receiving only 1/8 of the resources spent in the market!

While PPC can boost ranking instantly, SEO helps to maintain the rank and that too, at a lower cost. This is why we strongly believe PPC has not affected the relevance of SEO.

Though we have already mentioned that there’s no magic, there are surely a few strategies that you may adopt to boost your organic ranking. One of them is to improve your on-page SEO.

# How to Improve On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing web pages in order to improve the website’s search engine ranking and thereby drive organic traffic. But sometimes, SEO best practices suggested by random practitioners can be misleading. No worry. We got you covered. Our extensive guide will walk you through a few on-page SEO tricks recommended and practised by the experts at any top SEO agency that you must follow should you seek to improve your site’s visibility on Google.

1. Generate High Quality Content

Content is the heart of an on-page SEO. Google always prioritizes high-quality content. Informative and user-friendly content automatically drives more audience and thereby obtains a higher rank.

The first step to creating quality content is to choose relevant topic and keywords. The below-mentioned tips will help you to generate great content:

Keyword Optimization

With a plethora of complex algorithm, Google is consistently improving in understanding the searchers’ intent. No longer does it rely solely on popular keywords but deliver quality content that can address the users’ requirement. One of the primary objectives of Google is to enhance user experience. Old-school SEO strategies like keyword stuffing are penalized by Google’s Penguin algorithm. This is why it’s crucial to learn the ideal keyword density before writing a content.

Further, Panda algorithm evaluates a website based on the content quality and pages with high-quality content are generally rewarded with higher ranks.

Our suggestion is to conduct keyword research and incorporate long-tail keywords. These keywords are more specific and bear close proximity to the search queries. Also, ensure that the keywords occur naturally or organically into the content and don’t appear to be forced.

Add Relevant, Engaging, and High-Quality Visual Content

Visuals register more effectively in human brains. Our brain can process visuals over 60,000X times faster than a text. Further, a study by Venngage reveals that visuals can increase the desire to read a content by a whopping 80%.

While uploading any visual content, make sure to optimize them properly. For instance, compress the image without affecting its quality and ensure that it doesn’t take a long time to get loaded. While JPGs are used for high-quality images, PNGs are ideal alternatives for logos, icons, etc.

Also, use Alt tags (alternative text) so that the search engine spiders get a clue on what the picture is about. Below we will discuss in detail about images Alt-text. So keep reading.

Include convincing CTAs

Include Call to Actions (CTAs) to lead traffic to the products and offers pages. This can effectively help in driving more conversion and thereby boost ROI (Return on Investment).

Page content is central to all the on-page SEO processes. Other on-page SEO elements stem from the page content, so invest enough resources and time to develop and optimize it.

2. Site Architectural Elements

Site architectural elements indicate the constituents of your website and individual pages. How you structure the website helps Google to crawl the pages and the content.

Page URL

The page URLs should be easily comprehensible by the readers and search engine. These are also important in maintaining the site hierarchy as you create subpages, blog posts, and other types of internal pages.

https://moz.com/blog

In this URL, the blog is the sub-domain and “moz.com” is the domain. Check out the following tips to write SEO-friendly URLs:

Remove unnecessary or extra word
Use “https” if possible since Google uses it as a positive ranking factor.

Internal Links

Internal linking refers to the process of hyperlinking to other pages on your website. This is important for on-page SEO as internal links send traffic to other webpages on your site and intimate Google that your site is helpful and valuable. However, make sure that the links correspond to the topic of the content because stuffing irrelevant internal links will affect user experience.

As we already mentioned, enhancing user experience is a crucial concern for Google and so should be yours. Therefore, link only those pages that can truly help the readers to know more about a particular niche. Only then can you expect to drive higher traffic to those pages. If the users find the linked pages to be irrelevant, they will leave the page increasing the bounce rate. Also, it will produce a negative impact about your brand.

Improving a website can provide a better user experience and there are different ways to do this. Some of these are delivering relevant information, photos/videos that support text, web pages that are easy to navigate and a mobile-friendly website.

The abovementioned ways bring about a better user experience. As a result, there will be more clicks, increased leads, improved brand recall as well as higher conversion rates. These factors, which are favored by search engine sites, will improve ranking in search results.

SEO is the Number One Source of Leads

Inbound marketing strategies are the most efficient and successful lead sources for both B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customer) marketers as well as non-profit organizations. These strategies include SEO, content marketing, social media and referrals, among others.

If businesses do not get leads from their SEO strategies, they should assess their activities. There may be other marketers that are benefitting from their piece of the pie.

SEO Delivers Higher Close Rates

According to statistics, SEO leads deliver an average of 15% close rates whereas outbound leads bring just under 2% close rates. More often than not, outbound/cold leads, wherein businesses reach out to customers, bring about lower conversion rates.

On the other hand, SEO leads, wherein customers search for products/services, give a higher conversion. Such individuals have a purpose or particular requirement when they are searching on the web.

SEO Brings About Higher Conversion Rates

When a website ranks high on search engine sites, it is expected to have higher conversion rates. Its target audience will be more aware of its presence for as long as it maintains on the top position of search results.

When customers get acquainted with a brand and learn more about its products/service, there is a higher chance for them to make a purchase.

SEO Builds Credibility of a Brand

When a brand ranks on top, second or third in search results, customers will think that the business is among the leading players in the industry. This also shows that it is a popular brand and a lot of users have searched for it.

On the other hand, if the brand is found at the bottom of search engine results, customers may have this idea that the brand is only new or it is not well-known in the industry. They may also think that the business has insufficient budget for website improvement to get better results.

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.

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

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 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.