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There is a misconception about the importance of branding. While many believe branding is only for well-established companies, many are unsure if it really helps their business.

Are you a small business owner saying that you don't need branding to grow your business? If you believe in this, then you're wrong.

What is Branding

Your business brand is your competitive edge over your competitors. Although you need a logo and fonts and colors for your branding, it should not stop from there. This is because your business brand is your total impact and value to your customers. From customer experience and tone of voice, you use designs up to customer service. These create your holistic branding strategies.

Why Branding is Important for Every Business

Accenture report shows that 66% of consumers buy from companies with brand culture and transparency. This is why branding plays a vital role in your marketing strategies. In addition, your branding guides your whole marketing efforts. For example, when Nike consumers hear its tagline, "Just do it!" They are not only reminded of the nice shoes. However, the brand reminds consumers of the overall experience they have from pre-to-post-purchase.

Seven Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Brand

Consider these seven reasons to invest in your brand. Let's look at benefits and understand why your business needs to pay attention to them.

1. Branding enhances recognition

The purpose of branding is creating it to get recognition from your target customers. You want to be recognized that your business exists and that you provide value to your customers/clients. A logo helps your brand be recognized. So, create a nice, catchy, relevant logo for your business. Also, consumers often purchase from recognized companies, so establish your brand well to gain more customers.

2. Your brand helps you stand out from the competition.

As I've said, your branding is your competitive edge. In addition, it puts your business apart from the competition. And the moment consumers hear about your branding, they remember your business through the unique value proposition you provide.

3. Your brand tells people about your company's DNA

From the stiff competition, how your business differs from others? Your branding will educate the market about the holistic DNA of your business. From visuals like logo and branding colors, customer experience and services, and tone of voice used in marketing. These are just a few things that enable the market to understand your business and its relevance to them.

4. A strong brand generates referrals.

It is imperative to meet the promise you have said to your customers. Because doing so allows you to generate referrals. How? By meeting the promised excellent customer experience to your customers, you are gaining their trust. And when customers trust your business, they are at ease in referring your company to others. This is because they're confident you can help or provide excellent products or services to their friends or family.

According to Forbes, 75% of shoppers buy products and services from brands they know. As a result, establishing strong branding enables you to generate more customers.

5. Your brand helps you create clarity and stay focused.

Suppose your branding is consistent and easy to recognize. In that case, it can help people feel more at ease purchasing your products or services. Consistent branding enables customers to identify your business from the crowd. Similarly, creating a clear brand strategy makes you focused on your mission and vision as an organization. On top of that, your branding will guide your marketing efforts effectively.

6. Your brand helps you connect with your customers emotionally.

Emotional branding forms a relationship between a consumer and a brand or product through emotions. And for you to do this, you create content that appeals to your consumers emotions, egos, needs, and aspirations. As a result, you establish how customers make purchase decisions and become long-time fans of your brand.

7. Your brand provides motivation and direction for your staff.

Your company can also benefit from it. By establishing a strong brand, your employees will feel connected and love working with your business. In addition, employees who think they're part of a team are motivated to commit to achieving their business goals. Thus, you'll be expecting positive outputs from your team members.

Need help with your business branding? Ann Virtual Ally is here to help you!

Contact me at email: [email protected]

Freelancing as a Full-Time Career

Yes, freelancing can be a full-time career. Freelancing is suitable for either long-term or short-term projects. It's a practical approach that lets you work as much as you want, when, and how you want.

Freelancing is one of the best choices today for a career. Many are becoming freelancers because they want something more productive, bigger pay, flexibility, and many more benefits. In this article, I will explain freelancing, in a nutshell, to help you get started as a virtual professional. And if you haven't heard about it yet, then better read more to unveil something extraordinary!

Reasons Freelancing Be a Full-time

1. You're the Boss

Being a freelancer means being the Boss. This means you can make all the decisions about how, where, and when you work. Since freelancers always have plenty of work available, you'll never have to worry about layoffs. You also get to choose the projects that suit your skillset, including those that pay well. If you are into writing, copywriting, or article writing, many websites will be lined up to hire you and pay for your excellent service.

2. Set Your Work Hours

Working from home can benefit you if you have children or other family obligations. You can set your hours, allowing you to work when your kids are at school or take off an afternoon if you have something more substantial.

It's the best thing about freelancing. You have a lot of freedom at your job because no one tells you what to do. The timeframe for each task is up to you and you want to accomplish.

However, there is always a limitation. Time freedom doesn't mean not meeting deadlines. One of the essential qualities of a freelancer is to deliver outstanding output without compromising deadlines. This is because, as a freelancer, you need to provide value to your client.

3. Freedom to Work From Anywhere

There is no need to sit in an office all day. Working from home, in a coffee shop, or on the beach is an option. You can also travel while you're working. There's no commute to deal with, so you'll save time and money on gas. You can be in your pajamas all day if you want.

Freelancing can be a full-time career. It sounds appealing!

4. Do the Work You Love

One of the most excellent reasons freelancing can be a full-time career is that it allows you to do the work you love. It is a powerful incentive because you will not quickly get tired when doing something you love. You don't dread it and don't feel like you're working.

Many people have jobs they hate and have to do them to make money. However, would they still have those jobs if they could make enough freelancing to support themselves or their family? Probably not.

5. Take Control of Your Future

Having a successful full-time career in freelancing all comes down to setting goals and creating action plans for achieving them. To start freelancing, decide where you want to go with your career and how you will get there. Then make a living as a freelancer, and it's not as hard as you think. It all comes down to setting goals, learning the right skills, understanding the business, and taking action.

6. Earn More Than a Salaried Job

One of the primary motivations for becoming a full-time freelancer is it enables freelancers to earn more money than a salaried job. In addition, freelancing has other benefits, such as having the freedom to choose your schedule. You can also work from home or anywhere else you want. You can work on projects whenever convenient, whether between your classes, during breaks in your schedule or even late at night.

7. Build Up Your Confidence

Freelancing allows you to build your confidence while making money simultaneously. Finding a job that lets you start from the bottom and work your way up is hard. But freelancing is one way to do that. You'll get plenty of training, mentorship opportunities, and hands-on experience with real clients. And most importantly, you don't have to deal with a boss the same in an office setup.

8. You'll Learn A Lot

Freelancing gives you a chance to learn new skills. When you work as a freelancer, you have a lot of freedom and flexibility regarding what you do and how you do it. It exposes you to new skills that will help you expand your career options in the future. You will know much more than what is taught in school or by employers. Moreover, it allows you to work on something that interests you, so you can gain experience in an area that may lead you towards starting your own business.

9. A Work-Life Balance That Suits You

The best part about being self-employed is deciding what work-life balance works best for your needs. Suppose you want an early morning before anyone else wakes up. Also, spend all day doing your thing until bedtime at night. Go for it! Or maybe you'd prefer to do an afternoon shift where you wake up early. Work all day and then go out with friends after work? Again, no problem! The options are endless here, so go with whatever works best for you.

10. Variety of Work

Most people think freelancing is only for people looking for online part-time jobs or a side hustle. But it's not true. Freelancing can be much more than that. It can help you to have a variety of work, and you can earn as much as you want. But some still think it's only a part-time occupation. With new jobs always posted online, you don't have to stick with one type of job for long periods

How to Start Freelancing

Freelancing has many benefits over traditional job Working as a freelancer offers you the flexibility to from anywhere and set your hours. Additionally freelancing provides you the freedom to decide what projects make sense for your career development. There are also some downsides to freelancing. However, you can mitigate problems with some planning and learn from the experts.

1. Identify Your Purpose

We're all here for a reason. It's a powerful thing, and it can be the driving force behind our success. How do you find that one thing that will make you successful? That's where self-discovery comes in.

2. Identify Your Niche

Identifying your niche is the next step toward success as a freelancer. You need to know what type of work you want to do and who you want to do it for. When you know your niche, it's time to start marketing yours building your reputation.

3. Figure Out Your Pricing

As you start freelancing, you must understand your services' value and what clients will pay for them. First, you need to figure out your hourly rate or per project. It can be tricky because it requires that you figure out how much time you spend on a project and how much money you want to make per hour. When you're starting, it's okay to have a lower rate than experienced freelancers. But as you grow in your field, you'll get better at what you do and demand higher rates. You can also find out what other people are charging for similar work on freelance sites like Upwork or Fiverr.

4. Create Your Portfolio

It would help if you had some work samples ready before contacting potential clients. It can be anything from blog posts for a freelance writer to design portfolios for an artist or designer. Include your best work and contact information so people can reach out if they like what they see.

5. Find Some Clients

Finding your clients as a freelancer is a little bit hard at first. Considering the numerous sites and platforms to reach out to clients, you need to identify the best place your clients are dwelling.

To become a full-time freelancer, you must build your freelancing career by providing value because the money comes next when you have established your career. Also, don't stop until you find your premium client.

6. Start Cranking Out Amazing Work

It is a rewarding way to make money while pursuing your passion. However, it would help if you did more than crank out mediocre content to make a successful full-time career out of freelancing. To get people talking about your content, you need to create amazing content. You can share it across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+, so many clients can see your work.

Many believe that freelancing is not a full-time career and are proven wrong. You can make freelancing your full-time occupation if you want to.

How to do it? You need to work hard and plan how to earn a living with this. If you're considering freelancing, or you've already started and are looking for ways to make it a more viable career, contact me at [email protected]. We are thrilled to help you have a flourishing freelancing career.

Surge Marketplace introduces VA and Freelancing Toolkit. Over 100 plus designs for your VA and freelancing needs! Click this link to learn more: https://surgedigital.agency/freelancing-virtual-tool-kit/

Qualities of an Excellent Leadership

We see different facets of leadership being portrayed in our society nowadays. To name a few, we have politicians, government officials, spiritual leaders, social media influencers, and even ordinary people who take extraordinary steps to create a difference. Leadership can be a powerful tool to influence, inspire and change the lives of others. With the sphere of influence a leader has, one has the authority to create an impact either positively or negatively. Regardless of how crucial it is to be in leadership, many are wanting to be in the position. But what is true leadership anyway? Let's take a look at the excellent leadership essential qualities which a leader should possess to become effective in the position:

Practices of an Excellent Leadership

Have a Clear Vision

Leadership expert Warren Bennis once stated, "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality". You need to be clear about what you want and where you're heading. A vision is a picture you have in your mind which directs your thoughts on what you want to achieve whether in your business, career, or family. An effective leader has a well-defined vision that allows her to focus on achieving her goals despite being confronted with various challenges along the way.

Thinking More of Others and Less of Yourself

Rick Warren says, "Humility is not thinking less of y it is about thinking of yourself less" It can be tempting sometimes to be enamored by status and positions especially when you are in leadership. One of the qualities of a good leader is simply removing your ego from the equation. It is not just about "ME" but it is about "WE" in the process. If people around feel their importance and value, they will undoubtedly become a strong player in the team which then leads to success.

You are NOT Perfect And that's OK

When you become a leader you will happen to be in the limelight. Your life becomes an open book. You get people to see all of you, your scars, your flaws- but it's ok. You don't need to be perfect to please everyone. Everyone commits mistakes and likewise you. But the good thing about making mistakes is that they can be corrected and becomes an instrument to help other people not to take the same path as you did.

You are NOT the Whole Ship - You are Just Part of It

Out of the very many lessons that leading can tea the most important lesson that we should never forget is that leaders are never the whole team -they are just part of the team, the same as the rest of the group. You could be leading your classmates in a group, you could be leading your staff in a team, you could be leading employees in your business, or your students in school as a teacher. May it be a small or big team, never forget that your role is to lead and facilitate, never to control and dictate. You are linked to the rest of your team, respect them and make them grow!

Now if you think you have all these excellent leadership essential qualities and traits of a good leader to become an effective leader, you're already a way to go to become a successful influencer who creates an impact in the lives of others. Create a difference. Make an impact. Be a blessing.

To learn more about freelancing and be the next excellent leader in your field of jobs, you can visit Surge.

How to Bill your Client for your Work

When you're a new freelancer, one of the most challenging decisions is setting your rates, whether you charge clients per hour or per project. But how does that work, and how will you do that? Let's look at these options below and check if it helps you with your problem.

Charging per hour

Charging per hour means you will have a fixed, regular wage for the hours your client requires you to perform. The beauty of charging per hour is that it can help you develop your pricing strategy once you're already an intermediate and freelancing expert. Once your experience in freelancing increases, your charge rate per hour will also increase.

On the other hand, if you perform the work quickly and competently, you will get paid less when you charge per hour. The disadvantage is that when you become quicker and better as you go along, you'll not be paid well the better you become.

Charging per project

Charging per project works better on many levels. After all, you can charge more and keep the client happy because you're providing excellent value.

Clients hire freelancers because they always think they can accomplish the task in less time to complete thE they can achieve. So, give them a total price for the entire project (incorporating time spent on the task plus all the extras like email, phone correspondence, etc.). You will deliver the accomplished job the way you and your client stipulated.

One good side is that timeframe will not be a requirement because only you know how long the project will take you to finish. Remember that you'll be faster and better the longer you're a VA, so tasks won't take long to accomplish.

Setting your rates

Setting your rates depends on your expertise. When you're new and don't know how to charge clients, consulting experts is one of the best options. But, if you need to give your rate right away, consider the following factors:

• Do you think you're good at what you do?

• Have you worked hard to gain your skills and experience?

• Do you think your skills are valuable in term saving or making people money or giving more time?

Are a lot of other VAS offering this service, or are you a specialist in this area?

Then, think of your worth and charge.

You are a modern business-minded individual and have skills. Additionally, you are trained to fulfill tasks as a freelancer. Position yourself well, and the client will realize your worth; don't settle for less to get hired. But, you can grab projects offering lower costs to have experience with the tasks. Just make sure that the project is worth the effort.

Are you an aspiring freelancer who needs guidance to get started? Learn freelancing with Surge Freelancing (Virtual Assistance) Course. Click this link to learn more.