Pitching is literally the start of a baseball game. It’s how two different teams connect; one pitches the ball and the other team tries to hit it. Pitching can change your life in a nano-second.  Game on!

But pitching isn’t just for baseball players (or freelancers)

It’s also the act of lobbing an email, making a phone call, or otherwise (figuratively) throwing information at someone hoping they choose to connect with you.

In other words, pitching is a way of introducing yourself in the hope of creating a new connection with someone you don’t know.

When done well, pitching can change your life.

We all pitch ourselves every.single.day. hoping to create something new. Whether you want a new job, a raise at your current job, a date, or you need to make some fast money, I hate to break it to you, but you’re pitching.

Here’s the deal though. If you don’t know you’re pitching, you may be struggling to live the life you know you should be living. Maybe you don’t have the job you want. Perhaps you’re not making the money you KNOW you should be making.

Let me prove it to you.

Here are 5 examples of how pitching could change your life.

1.  You need a new job.

So you’re out there sending your resume all over the place but your cover letter is vanilla at best. It basically just tells people what’s on your resume. There’s no pizzazz—no personality.

Your cover letter doesn’t even begin to represent you, your personality, or your unique skillset.

When done well, your cover letter makes whoever is doing the review take a double take at your resume, and they AT LEAST put your resume and cover letter in the maybe pile to pass on to the hiring manager.  They may even put you straight in the “definite” pile for an immediate interview.

When you pitch yourself, you sell yourself. Your first line of business is always to show that you meet all of the requirements for the job but your second (and equally important) job with your pitch is to be personable.  Until the robots COMPLETELY take over the hiring process, people will be involved and they will (at least subconsciously) evaluate whether they like you on paper.

And if they no without a doubt that you’re qualified for a job AND they like you on paper, they’ll want to meet you to see if they like you in person.  And you get an interview.

Pitch successful. Connection made.

Whether you get the job or not depends on how well you interview, which is in itself a form of pitching, but we’ll talk about that later.

The point of the pitch was to make an opening for yourself; to make a new connection and to create an opportunity to show that you are the right person for a job. A new job, more money, a better commute —all due to one little pitch. Pitching can change your life.

2.  You want a partner/spouse

Getting a date is nothing more than an effective pitch.  It has nothing to do with being “compatible” although that will play a factor in whether you ultimately end up in a relationship with someone, but getting the date is about the pitch.

Now, in this case, the pitch isn’t in writing (but if you’re online dating, it definitely could be).

But in person, your pitch is all about your appearance and the way you handle yourself.

Are you clean? Groomed? Not dressed like a bum?

Are you doing all the talking or are you legitimately interested in the other person?

While getting a date with the intention of creating a long-term relationship isn’t formulaic and there’s no simple way to guarantee compatibility, you do pitch yourself to get a date and you continue to pitch yourself even after you’ve created a long-term relationship.

Because at the end of the day, your partner is always making a decision to choose you. So you can’t ever stop pitching yourself as the right person for them.

3.  A New Referral

You can write a pitch to individuals in your current network to request referrals. But you just can’t ASK for people you know to refer to you to people you don’t’ know.  While that’s essentially what a referral is, it doesn’t work that way.

Most people protect their network. After all, it’s a valuable resource and one wrong move could sour your own network against you.

So, if you want referrals, you have to pitch your network, explaining to them WHY you’re worth the risk to their reputation to refer you. Plus, you also have to write in a way that reminds them how they know you and why you’re a great resource to have in their network.

In other words, they need to like you.

4.  A New Sale (Affiliate or personal product)

If you’re a blogger, a product creator, an affiliate marketer, or a marketer of any kind, you’re always pitching.

When you write blog posts, you’re pitching your brand.  If you’re an email marketer, you’re pitching your brand, you’re trying to encourage your readers to click over to your website, and you may even be selling a product or service you want to encourage folks to buy.

You can even pitch products and services on social media.

When you pitch well, you know your audience in such detail that you know how they talk, think, and feel. Then you can write to them in a receptive way, enticing them to buy and making yourself instant money.

5.  A New Contract

Pitching is just an abbreviated way of writing contract proposals.  For small businesses that want to win more contracts, knowing how to write effective pitches will help you write winning proposals for new contract work.

Pitching Can Change Your Life

Whether you’re looking for a new job, a new client, a date, or to make instant money, you need to perfect your pitch.

Pitching isn’t just for freelancers or baseball fanatics. Pitching is a skill that you can use every day to create new connections and opportunities in your life and business.

You could definitely get a raise. You just need to first prove you deserve it, using hard data. Then, you also have to be likable doing it.  That’s your pitch: a combination of hardcore facts (in your favor) and a winning personality.

Are you pitching the right way?

Pitching is about data and likability.  That’s it, and there’s a definite art to it. If you want to perfect your pitch game, check out my pitch checklist.

Sign-up below and get my pitch checklist for an instant download.

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Being a digital nomad is a crazy ride. Not only do you get to work from home but home gets to be anywhere in the world.  But you’ve got to keep the income flowing or the travel stops. And there comes a point when you either hit your groove or you head home broke and disappointed. So it’s super important to find a sustainable way to create digital nomad income.

But how do you make money as a digital nomad?  

Great question. Let’s chat.  As a digital nomad, there are a ton of ways to make money, see the world, and enjoy life.  Let’s be honest though.  Being a digital nomad is NOT fun if you’re constantly chasing jobs, cash, or clients.

So, I’ve broken the following digital nomad income recommendations into long-term and short-term ways to make money as a digital nomad.

Short-Term Digital Nomad Income Options

Making money as a digital nomad is not, as some might say, easy.   While it’s not complicated, and certainly doesn’t require a PhD in digital marketing, you probably won’t make tens of thousands of dollars overnight.  Maybe you will but you’d be the exception—not the rule.

1. Job-Board Freelancing. This is a great way to make extra money as a digital nomad. There are tons of job boards that specialize in freelance job postings, and you can pitch and win new clients by checking out 10 Go-To Places To Find Your Next Freelance Gig
2. Blogging for ad revenue. Contrary to popular belief, blogging isn’t dead. In fact, it’s matured a bit. It’s no longer a bunch of amateurs rambling about their life. There are professionals with degrees and experience, chatting up the stuff they know, and many people eat that stuff up. If you’ve got something to share, start a blog.  Monetize it with ad revenue and promote it to the moon.  You won’t become the next Bill or Melinda Gates but if done well, you’ll have a few coins in your pocket to help fund your digital nomad lifestyle.
3. Sponsored Posts. Big brands pay media influencers to test and write reviews about their products and services.  It’s not salesy; it’s a conversational one-time piece of copy that’s hopefully a little witty and generally, just a fun read describing your experience with the brand’s products and services.  The great thing about sponsored posts is that your rate is negotiable relative to your social media reach and your blogging audience.
4. Affiliate Marketing. Similar to sponsored posts, affiliate marketing is where you share your experience with a product or service. But while sponsored posts pay you once for sharing your opinion, affiliate marketing can be a constant stream of income.  For example, big brands like Amazon hire affiliate marketers, social influencers, to share their favorite Amazon products. Once accepted to be an Amazon affiliate, you get a unique link for every product/service you want to promote. Here’s the genius part!  Every time some clicks on your Amazon link AND they buy sometime within a certain number of days, you get a commission. They pay you!  And if you don’t have a blog, you can post many affiliate marketing links directly on social media.

The examples above are short-term digital nomad income options because they’re hit or miss.  Sometimes you could be successful and other times you may not be.

The problem with many of the short-term digital nomad income options is that you’re not in charge.   And when you’re not in charge.  Job board work may not pay you as much as you need to live comfortably. Blogging Ad Revenue and Sponsored posts are not always consistent.  When you depend on short-term digital nomad income, you could be in constant hustle, which makes the nomad and travel part of digital nomad income slightly worse than a 9-5 job.

And no one wants that.

Long-Term Digital Nomad Income Options

1. Freelance Consulting Business. The difference between job board freelancing and starting a freelance consulting business is a strategy. When you’re just hopping from job to job, you can’t depend on the income. But when you start a business, you more strategically take on new clients, create static freelance offers, and you develop a reputation that allows you to charge more, creating a more sustainable income stream.
2. Blogging & Product Creation. Start a blog.  Become a social influencer and build a community around something you love or that you’re passionate about.  Once you begin to create a community, you can then help that community solve problems, creating products, courses, and developing services to help your community figure out some problem in their life.  Once you start creating products, courses or offering services, when marketing properly, you’ll start making consistent money.
3. Affiliate Marketing. When you become an affiliate marketer and you combine your social media influence with a personal or professional blog, your affiliate marketing posts can be shared from your blog to your social media accounts, making you affiliate dollars and ad revenue dollars at the same time. Once the blog post is written, it can be shared indefinitely. That’s where you make money, in the constant promoting old content and creating new content.

And that’s how you make money as a digital nomad.  There are a ton of options out there and how you implement these options will greatly impact how much money your digital nomad life brings you.

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Wanting to save money and pay off debt is meritorious. The only problem is you can only save but so much money. You still have to eat. Personally, I believe the best way to make extra money.

How do you make extra money from home?

Whether you have a full-time job or you’re a stay-at-home mom, looking to make extra money, you have a ton of options!

The big thing most of us have to realize is that we don’t need a job. Making extra money when you have a family (and possibly a career), does not require you to find a second job. Oh, contraire... working online is a pretty effective solution to make extra money online.

In fact, “how to earn extra money online” and  “how to make an income online” are now something people Google on a regular basis.  There are a TON of articles (but none better than this one… can I say that?!) to share ideas to earn income at home for moms.

So when it comes to saving money,  there’s no better place to go than to your laptop.  And while your laptop won’t help you save more money, it can definitely help you make more money to save.

Today, I thought it’d be helpful for me to share my 7 favorite methods to make extra money online.  You can use these methods at home on your couch or from the comfort of your bed (while in some cases) watching a favorite show or in my case, while traveling the world with my family.

Here are 7 ways to make more money as a digital nomad.

1. Offer a service.

This is the fastest (and easiest) way to increase your income. You can provide virtual assistant services, bookkeeping, writing, design, project management, website development, and coaching services.

2. Sell a product.

A bit more difficult to launch, it’s also a wonderful way to make extra money. Whether you make something crafty and sell it on Etsy or you create a cool workbook for your target audience to teach them how to do something you know they want to do.  A product can help you make more money and help you build a passive income stream.

3. Start a blog.

If you’re not in a rush and you’re willing to play the long-game, starting a blog is a proven way to make more money. In fact, many bloggers make full-time income. Elite Blog Academy is a great program to help you jump-start your blog game and learn how to monetize like a boss!  This course is only available for 5 short days each year, so jump on the waitlist to get all of the free resources and to get an email when enrollment opens again.

4. Take Surveys.

Don’t have a lot of consistent time? Not sure you want to commit to anything? Cool. Surveys are an excellent source of income for those just wanting to add some extra income for their family. Check out Swagbucks to get started and the Penny Hoarder has a great list of 8 Legitimate Paid Survey Sites to Make Extra Money Each Month

5. Teaching online.

It’s not just for college professors anymore. There are a lot of legit online English as a second language (ESL) programs. You don’t need a degree and you don’t have to travel. You teach kids (and sometimes adults) English online. To learn more, check out VIPKID. Related: Teach English Online — 9 Companies That Pay 

6. Sell things you no longer need.

I don’t know how many of you are trying to be more minimalist, but if you know my story, we travel a lot. So we’re always getting rid of stuff we don’t need. Then it hit me. Why not sell it? Our junk could be really useful to someone else and it’s way more sustainable than just throwing it away. You’ll be surprised what people will buy. And skip the yard sale, sell it on eBay. It’s way easier.

7. Become an affiliate marketer.

What is affiliate marketing? If you’re asking that question, let me fill you in. Affiliate marketing is when you agree to sell someone else’s product online for a commission. Depending on the terms of the agreement, you can sell on your personal social media account with or without a blog/website. It’s easy to do and you’ll be surprised how much money you can make by posting a few messages on Facebook, Tweeting, or Pinning a sale or a great deal on Pinterest. The best course on affiliate marketing is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing (<—affiliate link).

Some of these ideas can help you make so much money, you could do it as a full-time income. But in any case, these ideas will definitely help you make more money, and having a little extra cash makes saving SO much easier.

Make more; save more. That’s my motto. How do you save money?

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Deciding to start an online business is exciting. And for a while, it’s all-encompassing. Inevitably, there comes a time when you need a support network that understands your big business wins and your epic fails. These are times when it’s great to have online business buddies.

You may be wondering, what are online business buddies?

Great question. Let’s get into it.

What Are Online Business Buddies?

Online business buddies are people you “meet” online.  They’re in the same Facebook groups with you or you’ve taken similar online courses and happen to be in that same online group.  Maybe you discovered a few folks writing about the same things you’re writing.  However you meet, your online business buddies are online entrepreneurs, like you. You’ve never met, yet you share a camaraderie and become friends as you cheer each others’ wins, support big business losses,  and give on-going support to one another.

How do you find online business buddies?

Maybe I’m weird (and I may very well be weird), but I didn’t FIND online business buddies.  I tried and failed. But when I stopped looking to connect with people who I thought would make great online business buddies, I started just connecting with people in various Facebook groups, on Pinterest, and on the blogs I liked. Then, BAM! I started connecting regularly with a certain number of entrepreneurs and after a few interactions, we were online business buddies.

Simple right?

Well, it depends who you ask.

Why do you need online business buddies?

Ok. Now you know what online business buddies are and how to find them, but you may not understand WHY you need them.

If you’re a new or intermediate online business owner, let me explain…

5 Reasons You Need Online Business Buddies

1. Working Online May Be Isolating.

When you work online, you’re all alone.  There’s no way to take a 5-minute break to grab a cup of coffee and go visit with a colleague. When you work from home, you may be the only one in the house. So if you want to take a break and chat for a minute (or 30), having online business buddies make great colleagues. They help you feel less isolated on your solopreneur journey.

2. Family & Friends May Not Understand

Leaving your job OR forgoing a job to work at home and build an online business is still a foreign concept (to some people).  Many people don’t quite understand it. And those who have heard of starting an online business may think it’s a scam.  So, your family and friends may be less-than-supportive.  That’s where your online business buddies come in handy.  You can commiserate together and each can be the other’s support.

3. Resources & Tool Recommendations.

There’s nothing worse than being the new kid on the block and not knowing the best place to get something you need.  When you’re isolated and working on your own, you just don’t have the network to ask for recommendations for different tools and resources.  Meeting a few pals online can give you an opening to new and different information.  Ultimately, the decision to buy is always yours; it’s just nice to have options (and recommendations for people you know).

4. Aid & Assistance

Horror of horrors! Your website or blog crashes. You have nothing but a white screen where your online business used to be.  Who do you ask for help? What do you do? How do you keep this horror from happening again? Did you do something idiotic?  Only your online business buddies can reassure you that this craziness happens to everyone. They can also tell you what they did when it happened to them. (hint: start with your hosting provider).

5. Accountability & Friendship

My favorite reason to have online business buddies is the accountability.  I have online buddies now AND an online mastermind group.  My online business buds are AMAZING. They give recommendations, feedback, and they aren’t afraid to tell me something stinks and needs an overhaul. The best thing is that I can (and do) reciprocate and provide equal levels of accountability and friendship to these wonderful folks.   I send presents when they have new babies and enjoy catching up with them just like I enjoy when a friend drops by for an in-person visit.

What’s next?

If you own an online business or you want to start an online business, keep your eyes and ears open for other mompreneurs out there who need/want support. The rules for making friends online are the same as making friends in person.  Be kind. Give before you receive, and be curious about other people.

Do you have online business buddies? How did you meet them? And have they been helpful?

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There are two types of people — those who set goals and those who don’t.

Granted, you can (and should) argue that there at least 4 kinds of people those who:

• set goals and succeed;
• set goals and fail;
• don’t set goals and fail; and
• don’t set goals and succeed.

If you argued that, you’re right. Those folks all exist.

I just don’t care…

For our purposes, I only care about those who set goals and those who don’t.  The way I see it, whether you succeed or fail is a personal problem that generally has nothing to do with the goal and everything to do with the person.

Yep. I went there.

And I’m not blaming anyone.  I’ve set goals and failed, but I’ve also set goals and succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. The only difference in succeeding and failing was in how I approached the goal and who I was being in “relationship” with my own goal.

Too much too soon?

Right. We’ll get back to the whole “relationship to your goal” in a bit…

Setting big business goals

Alright.  You’re probably thinking (hoping) that I have some crazy amazing secret sauce to help you set some crazy ass goals and achieve them. Right?

Well, I don’t.

I hate to break it to you but…

There is no secret sauce.

Not even a drop. But here’s what I can tell you.  Setting big business goals is more of an art than a science.

Bear with me. I have to get corny and coachy for a second. Based on personal experience, this part is really effective.

When you’re setting big business goals, you need to take a long view of what you want to achieve and you need to be as specific as hell.

I hate to blunt, but that’s the reality. You need to be painfully specific.

Making more money is not going to cut it.

Take a look at each area of your business. Look at the sales, your overhead costs, the time you personally spend working each day.  Examine your work/life balance and your personal and financial needs and responsibilities.

(remember I told you this part was corny…)

I want you to sit still; close your eyes and imagine how you’d ideally like your business to run.

Momentarily suspend your personal fixation with “how” you’re going to accomplish all of this stuff and “how long” it will take to achieve.

Just let that part of your brain have a break… (it’s not just you, we all get fixated on the ‘how’)

Now focus on your senses (remember those: smell, touch, taste, sight, sound? Yep. Those).  Now focus on your sense and use them to enhance your imagination.

(like a dream…)

Stick with me…

In this future image of your life, ask yourself some questions:

What are you eating these days?

What are you eating now that you couldn’t (or didn’t) eat before? How does this food taste? Where do you get it? How does it make your body feel?

What project are you working?

Which functions do you no longer have to worry about?  What are you ecstatic to stop doing in your business? How many hours are you working?

Who are you spending your time with now?

What are you doing now that you couldn’t do before?

Now, open your eyes!

What big business goals do you need to prioritize right now to achieve that life?

List them.

I’m not joking. Download this free BIG Business Goals Tracker and fill it out.

You may notice that the things you thought you SHOULD do aren’t the things that will get you where you want to go.

OR

You could notice that you only have one (maybe two) BIG BUSINESS GOALS and all the other things are just tasks along the way to help you achieve your big business goals.

Before you freak out…

It’s possible that what you imagine for yourself is a bit overwhelming.  It could be a BIG dream for you. Something you may have thought was never possible may be your big business goal.

And that’s ok.

Having big business goals, heck, big life goals are the only way to roll.

You’ve got to think big. Otherwise, you’ll stay and play small.

So, do us both a favor. Don’t freak out. Look at this as an opportunity to get more work done than you’ve ever accomplished in your life.

Now that you have a big business goal, what’s next?

Achieve it! Achieve your big business goal.

Again, there’s no secret sauce.  You don’t just have a big goal and {poof!} achieve it.  Nope, sorry.  That’s absolutely not going to happen.

If you’re still with me, let’s dissect how to achieve this big business goal of yours.

First, if you haven’t downloaded my free BIG Business Goals Tracker, that’s a must.

Set Your Intention

Second, we’re going to make a declaration. And a declaration is a ride or die intention to do something. Meaning, you’re totally committed.   To do that, you need a date. Let me clarify. You need a date by when you will achieve this big business goal.  This date can’t be too far away.  Actually, the more scared this date makes you, the better.

Don’t roll your eyes at me. 

It’s good to be a little uncomfortable with your goals.  If you set the bar too low, you’ll lose interest.  People achieve goals because they’re hungry, willing to hustle, and ready for a change.  When things are too easy, we all tend to stagnate.

Remember how?

Remember during phase 1, visualization, I asked you to stop thinking about “how?” Well, it’s time to think about how.  Third, it’s time to plan.  And we’re going to approach planning backward.  Yes, instead of going from start to finish, A to Z, we’re going to go from Z to A.

This makes WAAAY more sense in the Big Business Goals Tracker. I even created a template for you. It makes this process so.much.simplier!

So, to plan to achieve your big goal, you have to start with you BIG business goal declaration.

By {date} I will {achieve goal}.

Great. Now, move one month backward from there.  For instance, if you’re going to achieve your goal by November 2019 then move back to October 2019.

Answer this question: By October 2019, what do I need to accomplish to meet my goal in November 2019?

Then keep stepping backward a month at a time to determine what needs to be done to achieve the following month’s goal. I call these milestones.

Make sense?

Continue this monthly milestone process until you reach today’s date.

Now that you’ve determined how + when…

What actually needs to happen?

Having monthly milestones will definitely help to keep you working in the right direction, but the most important step to achieving your big business goals is to determine your WHAT.

For every monthly milestone, you need to determine WHAT tasks you need to complete each month to meet your milestone.

Then each of those tasks needs to be broken down into a 4-week plan.

Once you set your 4-week plan, you can meet your monthly milestones and each milestone you meet gets you closer to your big business goal and that amazing life you imagined for yourself.

So, why not start now?

Download my free BIG Business Goal Tracker and start making AND achieving big business goals.

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