How to Grow your Brand on Twitter

With Twitter now eclipsing 200 million active users and on the verge of an IPO, there can no longer be any doubt that Twitter will become a regular feature on the docket of marketing executives. The company Twitter will be on a prolonged offensive to develop its business and monetize its base.  The question then becomes, from a brand’s perspective, how to grow your brand on Twitter?

Objectives first

The first point of call is to figure out what are the overall business objectives and to understand how social media — and in this case Twitter — will be a contributing factor in the overall strategy.  With these objectives clearly in mind, the next consideration is to figure out what you will be measuring against.  For example, where is it that you want the Twitter users to go (i.e. create a funnel)?  What actions do you want to stimulate (e.g. subscribe to a newsletter)?   Once the objectives and measuring sticks have been identified, then a strategy and implementation plan comes into focus.

Twitter Options

Having established the objectives, the question remains as to how to grow your brand using Twitter.  Below are several typical usages for Twitter.  These are arguably transfers of traditional business functions onto another channel.  Only the first is demonstrably about hitting the top line.

• Sales Channel (e.g. DellOutlet, SteamyDeals [Steam video games]).  Other brands use their Twitter to announce deals or offer coupons within their stream.  Whole Foods is one of the more recent ones to join this bandwagon.  With pure players and/or those with eCommerce sites, this avenue is easy to control and measure.  However, it is a more complex affair in a cross-channel environment.
• PR or Corporate Communications - To broadcast corporate messages, for example press releases and/or shareholder information (e.g. LOrealUSACorp)
• HR Recruitment / Careers - To speak to and hire new recruits (e.g. Nestle USA Careers)
• Customer Service (e.g. JetBlue, NikeSupport,ComcastCares…).  According to an infographic produced by Sentiment Metrics, 30% of top brands now have a dedicated customer service on Twitter.

Unlike on a Facebook page or in LinkedIn Groups or Forums, a brand’s Twitter followers are not a tight knit community.  {Click to Tweet} Each person or account has chosen to follow the brand, but does not necessarily interact with other followers.  After all, 80% of all Twitter accounts do not actively tweet.  Moreover, the notion of unfollowing on Twitter is done with little friction.

What counts on Twitter?

Twitter has unique differences to the traditional media channels and we have seen some very original and different ways of using Twitter to help drive the business.  A healthy Twitter account should typically have a combination of the four components below:

• Conversation - Procter & Gamble uses their principal handle with a declared intent to “keep the conversation going.”  Conversation is the part that makes Twitter social.  Accounts that are uniquely one-way broadcasts can quickly become stale or viewed as a kind of spam.
• Content creation and distribution - Twitter can be suitable to distribute content that is being created within the organization.  An example is IBM.  The key is creating valuable content for one’s follower base.
• Curation - Rather than focusing on one’s own content, brands can use Twitter to uncover and dispatch the most relevant news out there.  According to a recent Livefyre study, 93% of respondents said that they used Twitter for social curation.  As Livefyre’s CEO, Jordan Kretchmer, said, “[p]eople are talking about your brand every day. Social curation enables marketers to tap into what people are already saying about your brand on social networks and then use it to promote their products in an effective, authentic way.”
• News - Especially when it’s hot.  The bakery, Albion’s Oven, in London has been using Twitter since 2009 to great effect, announcing when the latest baked items were hot out of the oven.
• Customer Service (e.g. JetBlue, NikeSupport, ComcastCares…).  According to an infographic produced by SentimentMetrics, 30% of top brands now have a dedicated customer service on Twitter.

6 keys to grow your brand on Twitter

Notwithstanding all the above usages, there are several key ways how to grow your brand on Twitter.

1. Integrating.  On the very basic level, it is important that your Twitter account have a well thought through bio, replete with a pertinent link.  Moreover, your Twitter presence should be fully integrated into all other marketing materials, including substantively the home page of your main website.  The Twitter handle (aka username) can also be farmed out throughout events, on business cards and more.
2. Listening.  Twitter is a vibrant space and, considering the volume of tweets, it is likely that there are people talking at anytime about you, your competitors and/or your environment.  By listening intently to existing and potential customers, there are inevitably opportunities that open up, whether in the B2B or B2C space.  I highly encourage C-suite executives to use Twitter just to listen to what is going on in the street, thereby side-stepping the internal hierarchies that can often obscure the truth.  A great example of such behavior is the CEO of O2 in England, Ronan Dunne, who as he says uses his account to “walk the aisles.”
3. Demonstrating expertise.  To the extent Twitter is a micro-blogging service (where blogs are a long form way of highlighting one’s expertise), it can be a good vehicle to establish one’s authority in a certain field.  The key point here is to think of one’s brand as a media or publishing company.  Twitter can be a useful part of the arsenal in creating a sense of authority in a chosen sector.
4. Providing offers.  Twitter can be a way to distribute offers, coupons or straight discounts.  Whether the offers are separated into a dedicated “sales” channel or integrated into the stream of the main account, Twitter’s particularity is the rapid decay of Tweets.  Typically, this makes it an ideal channel for flash sale sites.  However, it can also be applied for other offline stores.  The key is figuring out the association between the tweet and the cash register — and making sure the staff are appropriately trained and equipped.
5. Identifying leads.  The search function is an effective way to find interesting contacts.  Sometimes finding leads can be done the soft route, by answering questions of people in need (relative to your area of expertise).  Otherwise, there are many people asking questions and looking for goods/services.  Fixing up some automated searches (using a client such as HootSuite or Tweetdeck to set up columns) can be an effective way to monitor these requests.  Meanwhile, as of end of August 2013, Twitter has rolled out Lead Generation Cards which can only be used with promoted tweets.  As published in a Mashable article,“[i]n a case study quoted on Twitter’s blog, outdoor gear and apparel company Rock/Creek saw a 4.6% engagement rate and generated more than 1,700 new email contacts in one week by using a Card within a Promoted Tweet.”
6. Creating contests / white papers / webinars.  By formulating exclusive contests on Twitter, one can add names to a mailing list and/or establish new leads.  An alternative might be to offer free white papers or webinars.

Conclusions

The key point in using Twitter to grow your brand is to know what you want to achieve, to set out some measurable goals and then test and learn.  It is essential to find an editorial line that respects the followers, because they can very quickly and easily unsubscribe.  Secondly, it’s important to think of this as a longer-term project, without concerning oneself with immediate results.  Buying followers via any of the quick fix services (eg SocialKik, FanBullet) is not prescribed,even at the beginning.  Thirdly, a Twitter feed must be managed.  If you are in start-up mode, training and guidelines are vital.  Members of a team managing the accounts need to play off each other and are ideally identified in the bio (e.g. for ComcastCares) or are recognized in the individual tweets (e.g. via ^initials).    Finally, Twitter cannot be a standalone.  For example, when creating a Customer Service line via Twitter, there usually needs to be other channels to cater to different audiences.

Parting tips: If you are going to be serious about building your brand on Twitter, here are three guiding principles:

• (a) Consider carefully the objective of the account(s) and allocate the right resources (including people, tools and time)
• (b) Listen, test and learn
• (c) Give before expecting in return

Your thoughts and comments are, as ever, welcome.

http://socialmediatoday.com/minterdial/1833696/how-grow-your-brand-twitter-6-keys

How to Become a Rockstar Blogger and Monetize your Passion In three words: follow your bliss

Joseph Campbell, one of the world’s most respected methodologists, gave us a simple yet profound proposition for life:

                       Follow your bliss

The Internet and social media tools enabled anyone to follow her or his bliss and make money. For the first time in the history of humankind you can turn a hobby into an online business by bootstrapping from the comfort of your couch (or a village in Thailand).

Penn Jillette, an illusionist and actor famous for his Penn & Teller show, in a keynote at NMX (New Media Conference) in Las Vegas described success asbeing able to do what you love while supporting yourself. Following his bliss, Penn recenctly raised over a million dollars in crowdfunding to make a scary movie.

Make Penn Bad

Penn delivered this powerful message to thousands of content creators, bloggers and podcasters, who chose to follow their bliss and came to Las Vegas to learn how to turn their passion into a business… while being able to support themselves.

Do you know how many blog posts are written today? Check outWorldometers’ counter that provides real-time data on total number of blog posts published every day in the world (powered by Technorati). In short, millions.

How to break through the clutter in a highly competitive blogosphere and turn your passion into passive income?

Rockstar bloggers dream B.I.G (via Breaking Bad, AMC)

First, if you want to be a rockstar blogger, act like one!

How to start blogging

It might be easy to start a blog but sustaining and enduring it is quite difficult. Running into writer’s block, blogging for an audience of crickets and attracting nasty commentators for the first time can take the wind out of your blogging sails.

However, understand that every failure brings you closer to become a rockstar blogger. Before you give up, read this.

Invisibility is a fate much worse than a failure.

Improving your blogging game requires you to have a deep desire for learning the ins and outs of successful blogging. But you have to play a long-term game. It is the hardest part because in the beginning nobody will care. So before you give up, try those 10 strategies.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Develop an intense passion for your blogging exploits. What is passion? Close your eyes and think what you would do if you could do anything. The first thing that comes to mind is your passion.

Constantly consume massive amounts of information related to your passion. Identify the best sources of information and be the first to know. Find people who accomplished success doing what you want to do and emulate them. For example, I look up to guys like Gary Vaynerchuk and Neil Patel.

I am passionate about how inbound marketing and SEO can help entrepreneurs build amazing things online; in making the Web a better place. So, I built SearchDecoder.com. I am also passionate about helping others others achieve success so I wrote a free e-book about personal branding. I built the Inbound Marketing Clinic, a start-up incubator at NYU, because I am passionate about connecting business and academia.

Everything I ever created online was because I wanted to express my passion creatively.

How to become a rockstar blogger

Understanding the blogging game improves your skills pronto, so get serious about your approach at the outset.

Become a Passion Chaser

Follow your passion. Pick your niche based on an idea which makes your heart sing. Skilled, authority bloggers (aka rockstars) generally blog about ideas which appeal to them.

Think about the long, hard blogging road. Some days you will not feel like posting. These are the days where following your passion comes in handy. Rockstar bloggers push themselves to create when writer’s block seems overwhelming because they are passionate.

For Anna van Tonder of annaDishes.com it was the passion for cooking that led her build a food blog:

Blogging has become so many things to me, so much more than just a food blog. It is an outlet, an inspiration, a collection, and meeting place. I started blogging at annaDishes for a few reasons. First, I’m a passionate foodie and love to share with and feed those around me. Second, whether it’s food, ideas, or writing, I love to give what I can create for people—in person or virtually.

For starters, I think it is extremely important to have some true energy about a topic when looking to start a blog. I get excited to talk to people about food, recipes, parties, travel, big ideas and how to create. To really engage, you have to be passionate about your subject. If you don’t believe in it, why should anyone else?

Neil Patel notes on Moz.com that superstar bloggers write like madmen to bump up their blogging game. He suggests writing 1,000 words daily for 7 days each week. People who love their topic of choice have few issues writing like crazy about that topic.

In particular Moz.com suggests follow dynamo Gary Vaynerchuk for an example of someone who exudes overpowering passionate energy for his blog and brand. I also recommend Gary’s book Crush it for any beginner blogger.

For MsAttachee the love for travel and photography was the driver behind building her blog on Tumbler.

http://msattachee.tumblr.com/

Take Successful Baby Steps

Blogging is no sprint. Prepare for a marathon. Successful bloggers create helpful content day after day. The best bloggers make strong connections daily.

stuymsa.com

Think in terms of months and years instead of hours and days when setting blogging goals. Build your blog on a solid foundation. Be patient. Relax.

Almost all failing bloggers allow impatience to cloud their judgment.

Improve your blogging game by providing value and make connections by taking successful baby steps. Write one solid post today. Meet 5 new bloggers. Follow these steps each day for 3 months, then 4 months, then 1 year.

Each seemingly baby step can help you create a wildly successful blog.

Play to Your Strengths

Play to your blogging strengths. Choose a medium which complements your talents.

Mariusz ‘Pudzian’ Pudzianowski

Do you like to ham it up in front of the camera? Create video blog posts.

Maybe you prefer to type away in front of your laptop for hours on end. Create text posts.

If you are a skilled photographer consider using Pinterest to expand your blogging presence.

Some bloggers prefer to be on the interviewing side of the microphone. Consider publishing podcasts.

Designers would be wise to go the Infographic or meme route.

Play to your strengths. Choosing the right content medium helps you to resonate with your ideal target audience and be your best self.

Monetize After Hitting the Basics

No successful blogger chases money. Bump up your blogging IQ by learning the basics inside out. After you have created immense value, money can flow into your coffers via blog monetization. Spending months making strong connections with fellow bloggers also boosts your net worth.

Resist acting on the urge to get rich quick.

Rockstar bloggers chase their passions not dollars.

Adopt a servant’s mindset. Create value to gain your audience’s trust. Make connections to grow your blogging network. Building something valuable helps you to attract value in the form of prospering relationships and money.

Moz.com suggests that you diversify your income through multiple channelslike information products or books. Affiliate marketing or brand ambasador is another route. If you have develop massive website traffic, you can make money serving ads on your blog.

Monetize along channels which complement your blog. Video-inclined bloggers might offer a paid video marketing eCourse. Bloggers who enjoy writing posts might sell eBooks.

Make money blogging only once you have mastered the basics.

Use the right tools at the outset

Rockstar bloggers have the best inbound marketing tools in their toolbox. They are strategic which tools and platforms they use to optimize and scale their efforts.

I highly recommend any blogger to get on Triberr, a blogging community platform, to build relationships with other bloggers and promote your content.

If I had an opportunity to turn back time when I started blogging, I would focus on building an email list at the outset. Use tools such as Aweber to build form widgets to capture leads and manage your email marketing campaigns.

What’s in my blogging Toolbox? Here is a list of SEO and inbound tools I recommend for every blogging need.

SEOToolbox.me

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What tips can you add to this list?

How are you becoming a better blogger?

https://medium.com/personal-brand/d5e0a3c3b7a4

19 Million Reasons To Revisit Steve Jobs's Stanford Commencement Speech

So one of the things that I cherish most in the world is people being happy. And one of the key methods for this to happen for people revolves around what they do day to day...

If people are spending 40 to 50 hours a week doing something they hate...then obviously this has its downfalls...It effects people...Essentially if people come home from their job stressed, it rubs off on their loved ones, and can cause distress.

Really all I want is people to be happy and any value that I can add this in blog to help people achieve that, well then its worth it for me. Even if it just helps one person.

So here is a great little article that I found. Its from Steve Jobs. If you haven't heard this speech before, well then you should dedicate 15 minutes of your day to watching the video at the bottom.

It will change your life. 

So to help you on this beautiful weekend, here is this great article that I found on the Huffington Post that is titled 19 million reasons to revisit Steve Job's Stanford Commencement Speech but make sure you watch is speech that he made at Stanford also - It will blow your mind. 

Have a great weekend,

Micheal.

Nine years and 19 million YouTube views later, Steve Jobs's commencement address to Stanford University's graduating class of 2005 has achieved iconic status.

Jobs, the Apple visionary who died in 2011 at age 56, delivered a speech that resonated far beyond the Stanford audience, with a masterful mix of personal anecdotes, sparks of insight and universally applicable pieces of wisdom. Each year, especially around graduation season, people discover and rediscover Jobs's speech and its messages for those who seek meaning and purpose in life and at work.

The speech is perhaps most relevant to Millennials, who live in a world Jobs helped create -- a world in which young people increasingly look to non-traditional and entrepreneurial career paths (not to mention a world dominated by Apple products). The overwhelming viral response to the commencement address is a testament to just how much of a mark Jobs left on the world, and especially on young aspiring innovators.

As the youth marketing company Ypulse noted, Jobs was a living manifestation of the spirit of innovation that characterizes the Millennial generation.

And as Walter Isaacson, Jobs's biographer, wrote in the New York Times: "He was the most innovative and successful business leader of our era and embodied the Silicon Valley dream writ large: he created a start-up in his parents’ garage and built it into the world’s most valuable company."

Jobs's now-famous Stanford speech crystallized many of the fundamental lessons of his life and work, and it's worth revisiting, no matter what life or career stage you're in. Here are the five most important life lessons from Jobs's classic commencement address.

The road to success isn't linear.

Many successful people -- from Abraham Lincoln to Oprah -- have argued that failure isn't something to be feared or avoided; it's actually a crucial component of success. Jobs faced many failures and setbacks on his road to success, but he used those experiences to fuel the fire of his ambition and create new opportunities for himself.

In his Stanford speech, Jobs is quick to note: "I never graduated from college." Dropping out six months after arriving at Reed College, Jobs says, was one of the best decisions he ever made. But it didn't always feel like that at the time.

"It wasn't all romantic," he says. "I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple... much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on."

The unique skills Jobs picked up after dropping out of college ended up being invaluable to his future success. He sat in on calligraphy classes, which gave him an aptitude for typography that would later become one of Apple's signature strengths.

Finding what you love is the most important task of a lifetime.

If there's one message to take away from Jobs's address, it's that you must do anything and everything to find what you love, both in your work and in your relationships. Finding and doing what you love will energize your life every day and give you the patience and determination to turn your failures into opportunities.

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick," Jobs says. "Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did."

Jobs explains that he was lucky to find what he loved to do early in life. His love for his work helped him get through the darkest time in his career -- being publicly fired from Apple -- the company he himself had launched -- at the age of 30.

"I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley," Jobs says. "But something slowly began to dawn on me -- I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over."

Getting fired, he notes, also led Jobs to find the love of his life -- not bad for a "public failure."

Know that the universe has your back.

As the Sufi poet Rumi once advised, we'd all do well to behave as if life rigged in our favor.

Although he didn't see it at the time, Jobs says that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him. The experience helped him to realize that setbacks are often blessings in disguise, and that life has a way of working out in our favor.

Jobs told the class of 2005:

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

Live like you're dying.

Contemplating death isn't morbid -- it can, in fact, give greater meaning to your life, says Jobs, and help you to remember what's important.

As Jobs puts it:

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Death is life's "change agent," says Jobs, which helps us to clear out the things that are no longer serving us to make way for the new.

Follow your own path.

If there's any one secret to Jobs's success, it's that he was true to himself and his own vision. He encouraged Stanford graduates to find their own inner truths and follow them:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/14/steve-jobs-stanford-comme_0_n_5133299.html?1397492093

Doing What You Love And Growing Your Brand Through Social Media

Hello everybody,

Here is a video from a guy called Gary Vaynerchuk. The one thing I can say from the bottom of my heart is that if you don't like what you do for a living, or are uninspired, please watch this video. 

It will change your perception and it will provide you with so much inspiration.

Gary is a legend in 3 areas because he promotes 3 simple things:

1. Finding out what you’re passionate about;

2. Monetizing what you are passionate about;

3. And growing your brand through social media.

Actually after this video was made in 2008, he now owns a large million dollar company called Vayner Media (and this is after he owned a video blogging platform called Wine Library TV which made him a millionaire).

This guy is really a success and his next goal is to buy the New York Jets i.e. Become a billionaire in order do so.

Have a look at this video and I personally promise you that it will be the best 15 minutes you spend today and even next week.

Enjoy,

Micheal.

 

How To Find And Do Work That You Love

Here is a great video that I found from Scott Dinsmore where he talks about a how you can avoid a malaise that has affected many people which is hating your job.

After watching this video - Has it inspired you to get off your ass to change your direction in life if you currently can't stand what you do?

Would love to hear your comments below.

I have a free gift for the first 5 people who comment which is my brand new eBook on the 8 Top Strategies To Get More Out of Your Life.

8 Ways to Discover Your Passion and Live a Life You Love

“Don’t worry about what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman

I didn’t spend two years and $100,000 for a master’s degree in counseling from an Ivy League university so that I could be miserable and hate my life 50 hours a week, but that’s what happened.

After a few years in the trenches of the non-profit world, my job had become so emotionally draining that it was taking a vicious toll on my health and causing gripping anxiety attacks. I felt exhausted more often than not, and I was scrambling to find scraps of happiness in my previously joy-filled life.

When I took the time to listen, my inner monologue sounded something like this:

“You know you’re not doing what you love. Your life lacks a deeper meaning, and you have no idea what you’re really passionate about. What in the world are you doing with your life?”

I wanted to do more, but I had no idea which path I wanted to take. I felt confused, stuck, and worst of all, embarrassed by my lack of direction. I was treading water as I waited for a sign as to what my next step should be.

As the months continued to pass, I became more aware of how I was wasting time. I saw my life passing me by, leaving me only with regrets and “what ifs.”

Finally, I was brutally honest with myself about my unhappiness and I embarked on some serious soul-searching. I asked myself tough questions and learned what it felt like to be authentically me. I discovered that my unhappiness was rooted in my lack of passion and I slowly began taking control.

Six months later, I launched my own coaching business. A year later, I quit my job, reclaimed my life, and I have never been happier.

But that doesn’t mean everything fell into place perfectly.

Even though I had been building my own business for several months before I left my job, I was still scared. I didn’t know if I would be able to support myself financially or if my business would be sustainable.

In order to build up my savings, there were months of saying no to happy hours and weekend brunch dates, moving in with a friend to decrease my rent, and cutting corners to save every dollar possible.

Following my passion was emotionally challenging and a leap of faith, but I never worried about making the “wrong” choice because I knew I didn’t want to be unhappy any longer, and that was more important to me than any paycheck.

It is terrifying when you feel like your life has no purpose or direction, but finding your passion can change all that. Finding your passion is like finding your personal road map. When you know what your passion is, you feel motivated, inspired, and so much clearer about what your next step should be.

8 Ways to Discover Your Passion and Live a Life You Love

1. Slow down.

When we slow down, we are able to tap into the best version of ourselves, which is most often when we find the answers we’ve been searching for. This might mean practicing yoga, going for daily walks, or setting aside time each day to meditate. Slowing down allows you to quiet the outside voices and listen to yourself.

2. Change your story.

We all tell ourselves stories about who we are, what we’re capable of, and what we deserve. If we can identify our self-limiting stories (I’m not good enough; I don’t deserve to be happy, etc.), then we can begin writing new stories that are grounded in confidence and courage, and map out actions that move us from one to the other.

3. Own your uniqueness.

We are here for a reason. No one else has your unique blend of talents, wisdom, strengths, skills, and creativity. We all have something great to offer, and learning to accept and own what makes you unique is crucial to sharing your gifts with the world.

4. Cultivate confidence.

If we are continually telling ourselves we can’t, then we will never believe we can. There is a chance you may fail, but it will be impossible to succeed if you don’t believe in yourself. You can create affirmations, focus on the things you want, or make a vision board that shows your future success.

5. Find the themes.

Recognizing the recurring themes in our lives creates a pattern for us to either follow or change. What themes or lessons seem to constantly surface in your life? What are you drawn to again and again? What areas of life seem to be full of discomfort and pain? What areas are full of joy and light?

6. Write.

Ideas flow more freely when we write without an agenda. New inspiration may appear unexpectedly and it becomes easier to connect the dots. Spend a few minutes of quality time each day with a pen and paper allowing yourself to process your thoughts without influence from the outside world.

7. Focus on the fun.

Too often we get wrapped up in the expectations we set for ourselves. We focus on the details and the to-do lists instead of what is most important. What do you love to do? What makes you smile? If money were limitless, what would you be doing today?

8. Push past fear.

It’s so seductive to tell ourselves that’s we’ll go after what we want when we have more experience, more money, or more time, but the truth is, that will never happen. We must identify these excuses as masks for our fear. It’s only when we get clear on our fears and recognize how it is holding us back, we can begin moving forward.

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/8-ways-to-discover-your-passion-and-live-a-life-you-love/