Written by: Bandana Jain, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As many find themselves in an unprecedented situation this year, both personally and professionally, a shift may be the exact push needed to launch a new business venture. Launching an online home business can be exciting but equally daunting. In the MENA region, 64 percent of working individuals stated they would like to start their own business, with 36 percent afraid of failing, which often prevents them from taking the leap. There are many elements that need to be considered when starting any business, including investing time, developing ideas, identifying resources and creating a plan that helps position a budding start-up for success. One of the most useful elements of a home business is its online presence, which enables customers to have easier access to the company. In addition to key online tools that can help increase the success rate of a home business, other considerations can be helpful when considering to launch a home business. Here are some useful recommendations for setting up your home business: 1. CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN A business plan is the most fundamental element of every business. The primary reason for a business plan is to see whether your idea is capable of being successful. Once you have chosen the ideas you are passionate about, write down a business plan which includes: an executive summary of the business idea, research of your target market and competitors, description of your ideal customer, marketing strategy, and financial and operational plan. 2. SET ASIDE A SPACE FOR YOUR HOME BUSINESS Many people think they require a completely separate room which has to be transformed into an office in order to succeed in launching a home business. However, simply designating a small area in your bedroom or living room as your home business office space can suffice when starting out. It is helpful to create some structure around your workspace. 3. REMIND YOURSELF: IT IS A REAL BUSINESS People sometimes stigmatize home businesses as not a “real” business simply because the entrepreneur does not have an office outside their homes. This stigma is sometimes also perpetuated by the home business owner themselves. İt is important to fully understand that business whether physical or online, in an office or at home, requires tremendous efforts. To implement a business-like structure at home, start by setting ground rules for you and your family, so that they are aware you are not available during specific hours to run errands and do various chores. Make it clear to yourself that you need to focus on work – this will eventually be clear to others around you as well. 4. GROW YOUR SKILLS Learning doesn’t come with finishing line, make it your mission to improve your existing skills and grow new ones. These skills will be reflected in your business and allow continuous progress and possible expansion of the business. 5. SOCIALIZE AND INTERACT Having a home-based business could tend to keep you isolated throughout the day. It is important to occasionally switch your workspace from home to a cafe or the community library. Meeting like-minded people and individuals in various businesses and industries is also imperative. Try attending business networking events and various conferences that apply to your business and sector and considering joining online related business forums and groups. 6. LAUNCH A COMPANY WEBSITE More than four billion people across the world and nearly 200 million in the Middle East have access to the internet. In addition, with the current unprecedented pandemic-related circumstances, people are starting to see the value of having company websites and online activity. Setting up a website allows your customers to reach you directly and be introduced to your products or services in your own creative way, with the information right in front of them. 7. CREATE STRONG SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE You like it or not, digital marketing is the norm of the day. Having a substantial social media presence will help in raising the success quotient of your business to new heights. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit my website Bandana Jain, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Bandana Jain is a Dubai based lifestyle and travel journalist for the past two decades. She’s also a passionate lifestyle blogger, photographer and loves pursuing modelling as a hobby. One of the aspects of her journalistic life that she thoroughly enjoys is rubbing shoulders with Bollywood celebrities. Having said this, her community journalist status ensures that she loves interacting with people from different strata of the society. She loves the limelight on stage sometimes as an anchor, whilst on other occasions as a public speaker. When she is not pursuing any of the above, you can find her shopping in Dubai’s famous malls or chilling by the beach with her favorite cup of tea. Travel is her passion, creativity her morale booster and enriching conversations are enough to give her the necessary thrust in life.

Written by: Stephanie Pye, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise When most entrepreneurs start out, they’re told it’s all about the numbers, cold call, walk-in, direct message as many people as you can, someone will say yes… What they didn’t tell you was there is another way. You see, building a business online and building business relationships online is much like any other relationship in real life. Cold messages, and cold calls are the equivalent of asking someone to marry you on the first date, most of the time you’ll freak someone out, they’ll go cold and probably never talk to you again. If you’ve done this method, and you’ve come on too strong, you might be getting used to being left on read or seen! It doesn’t have to be like this; there is another way. "If your content is so strong and you build the relationships effectively, your content will sell itself" It’s all about attraction marketing, getting visible and setting yourself up as an expert in the industry. Building real relationships and treating your customers like people and not numbers. Once the switch is made from what you can do, to what you can do for them, everything changes. If your content is so strong and you build the relationships effectively, your content will sell itself, without having to be pushing or come on to strong. You can build your relationships within the messages, then when your audience actually see your content, and they will thanks to the algorithm thinking you’re friends, it will show them your content. If your content is strong and followed by an enticing call to action, if they are interested, you’ll be sure to know! There are so many options when it comes to your call to action; Click the link in my bio Sign up to read my blog on the [specific topic with an enticing headline] Join my free challenge / masterclass (and you upsell at the end) You want to take your audience through the know, like and trust process and build your network. Remember, not everyone is ready to buy right now, but you want to be the person they think of when they are. Set yourself up as an authority and build your relationships. Follow me on Instagram and visit my website! Read more from Stephanie! Stephanie Pye, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Stephanie Pye is an Internationally sought after Time Management and Instagram Coach, with a passion for helping women in business, particularly mums become more productive, more profitable and monetize Social Media. She teaches them, they too, can have it all. As a mum of young children herself, she knows the importance of adaptive planning, a strong why, a strong vision and to focus her daily activities on getting her closer to the vision. She has helped women all over the world gain clarity, balance and become more productive in their business.

Written by Lea Gerlock, Founder of Personal Chapter Lea Gerlock, Founder of Personal Chapter and Host of Awakened with Lea: The Next Chapter. Lea is also a Transitions and Visibility Coach. As a Certified COR.E Transitions Dynamics Specialist™ and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner, Lea supports her clients through a transformational path of discovery. So, what if I told you that stress is not your enemy? Would you believe me? Probably not. But the truth is that stress is not the culprit of our struggles, it’s not the monster that’s lurking in the shadows, it’s not the beast that gives us grey hair and yet another wrinkle. It’s actually our reaction to stress that does all of that. What, you ask? Crazy, right? As a life coach specializing in breaking the cycle of trauma and transitioning to a better reality, I often say this to clients. And the response is always the same. Disbelief, resistance, and sometimes, even a little bit of disdain and resentment. Do you know why you’re inclined not to believe what I just said? Because once you believe that, you have to accept that you and you alone are in full and total control of the level of stress in your life. You get to choose your reaction. Therefore you’re in the driver’s seat. So, how do we solve this problem? How do we control our reaction and make stress a tamed, whimpering wannabe-beast? Let’s start with the basics. Life is full of transitions. Some are welcomed, while others, not so much. We put a ton of energy into resisting those transitions that we do not want, and it’s kind of like a caterpillar refusing to spin its cocoon. You can’t go against nature and expect things to go smoothly. Simply put, transitions in life are inevitable, and they’re the means by which we grow as humans. We don’t have to embrace each one and get excited about it, especially difficult transitions like divorce, the loss of a loved one, getting laid off from a job that provided all of our income, etc. But we do have to show up because life won’t stop for us. Think of it as a merry go round that never stops spinning. Let’s talk about what happens when we’re feeling stressed. Suddenly, we lose our inspiration and motivation, and even worse, our connection to ourselves. We start to question our values, our purpose, and (if the road gets bumpy enough), why we’re even here. We may try to distract ourselves by juggling a bunch of tasks at once, simply because focusing on the problem at hand becomes exhausting and overwhelming. We tend not to sleep as well, we stop eating healthy foods and just drown our emotions in takeout, and we either stop exercising or distract ourselves by spending hours in the gym, so we don’t have to face our emotions. "Remind yourself that you’re human, and humans are messy." So, what can we do when life takes us down a road we’d rather have detoured? The key is to lean into our emotions, and figure out what we’re really feeling, and just let ourselves feel that. Too often, we scold ourselves for the way we feel about things. But whatever your feelings may be, I assure you they are valid. And you need to remind yourself that. Often, just acknowledging the emotions you’re feeling, and realizing that it’s totally ok to feel the way you do goes a long way towards alleviating feeling stressed. The way we perceive our emotions has a lot of influence on how we manage ourselves and others. So next time you’re feeling stressed, take a moment to ask yourself what you’re really feeling, and just let yourself feel that, to drown in that emotion. And remind yourself that you’re human, and humans are messy. You can’t control your life, but you can control the way you choose to do life. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram and visit my website for more info! Lea Gerlock, Founder of Personal Chapter Lea Gerlock is the Founder and CEO of Personal Chapter, a life coaching and personal  development empire focusing on mastering all transitions in order to step into one’s highest  potential. As a divorced mom of 3 and recovering alcoholic, Lea was able to break through the fear, self-doubt and uncertainty that comes with major transitions in life. After having overcome her own battles, Lea quickly learned that so many people struggle with navigating through major and minor transitions. Her superpower is helping people transition into the next and very best chapter of their lives. When Lea is not working, she enjoys travelling, long walks on the beach and spending time with her 3 amazing sons.

Written by: Dianne Shelton Are you ready to grow your small business with less time and effort? It’s time to stop doing it the hard way and risk losing revenue in your business by taking advantage of free software to help you get out of the weeds of day-to-day operational work. To run a profitable online business in today’s fast-paced world, you need to leverage available free tools to keep up with your customers and help lighten your load. Let me share with you a list of 5 fundamental software that can help you grow your business without the overwhelm. 1. Website Builder Software The first software you need as a small business owner is a website builder. By building a website, it allows you to highlight your products and services for your customers. During my review of different website builder tools, I found that some website builder tools are more powerful and more advanced than others. With drag-and-drop features and pre-built website templates, Wix is an easy-to-use tool that requires no technical expertise to help get you started. 2. Branding and Design Software You want to leave a memorable impression with your customers by having consistent branding on the materials that you share with them. Creating consistent and professional materials does not have to be time-consuming or expensive. Having a branding and design software like Canva is more cost-efficient than hiring a graphics designer, especially for small businesses. Canva includes royalty-free images and a variety of free templates that you can use for your business. 3. Social Media Management Software In this digital age, social media presence has become a necessity for business owners. By leveraging the power of social media, businesses can build trust with their customers and grow their reach. One thing I notice in this space is the ever-changing and ever-increasing number of social media platforms. Business owners need to be mindful of their time spent on social media versus other tasks. Social media management software like Hootsuite provides a one-stop view of all of your different social media platforms in a single dashboard. Hootsuite also gives you the ability to automate social media posts to create continuous engagement with your customers, even when you’re busy with other tasks. 4. Email Marketing Software As much as social media is a great way to increase brand awareness, email marketing software such as MailerLite is still a valuable tool that makes it easy to connect with your customers. MailerLite has built-in functionalities to help you collect customer information, send automated emails, and target lists. By leveraging the power of email marketing, you are creating a long-term communication strategy with your customers, even when social media platforms shift over time. 5. Financial Management Software At the end of the day, you need to make a sale. Sending timely invoices, collecting payments, and balancing out the financial books can be a juggling act that small business owners get caught up with. Wave is a financial management software that takes care of these financial administrative tasks and helps free up your time so you can stay focused on strategic, revenue-generating tasks that will continue to move your business forward. Need more help? Visit my website to get a free copy of my 10-step Launch Checklist that will help you reach your audience in no time. Dianne Shelton, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine Dianne Shelton is the founder of Passion Breakthrough and a certified Coach who helps women leverage their passion to get the life & business they love. She is unafraid to go through the fire to achieve great things like when she moved halfway around the world or traded in a “safe” career to build her coaching business from the ground up. She has helped hundreds of women through her direct, on-point coaching style that provides more clarity and just the right amount of structure. Ready to get the life and business you love? Schedule your free discovery call today!

Collaborated post Any project manager knows that coming on or under your target budget is a mark of success. But it’s also very difficult to stay under budget, even with all of your careful planning. Finding ways to cut costs can help create a buffer for your project, and could even make things simpler. Here are some ideas for saving money on your larger building projects, helping you stay on budget, and on target too. Outsource Outsourcing can bring a number of cost-saving benefits to a business. Using a company that has its own equipment, insurance and employees can save you a lot of money on these costs, especially when they’re only needed for a small amount of time. When outsourcing for your project, it’s important to choose your suppliers carefully. When it comes to large-scale work such as crane hire or logistics, you’ll want a respected, capable company like Freo Group on your side. Outsourcing will involve some contract and supplier management, but you’ll save a lot more in time and money having someone else handle different areas of your project. Stay on top of things An effective construction project manager should track spending throughout the project, analyzing data and ensuring everything is on track. With today’s technology, there is no excuse for not being able to stay on top of things. Explore the most relevant construction project management tools that can help you monitor your key data easily and effectively. By identifying areas where you’ve overspending at an early stage, you can make some quick adjustments that will help you keep on track of your budget. Find reliable, long-term suppliers Working with suppliers involves a lot of trust, and it can be difficult if you choose a supplier who doesn’t meet your expectations. Working with an experienced supplier who is reliable can help you develop better relationships, which can help when it comes to negotiating terms. Developing long-term relationships and establishing some long-term contracts could help you lock-in your costs, helping to beat price increases or competitive pricing. Cut down on everyday costs Your project can incur a number of everyday running costs that could be cut or scaled back. Areas such as travel, utilities, and even the cost of catering, can all pose a problem when it comes to your project spend. By learning to cut your business costs, you can run a much more economical project, as well as cut back on waste too. Take a look at some of your top spending areas to identify where cuts can be made. Running an effective project means working smarter, not harder, and this philosophy can be applied to your budget and how you spend it. With various tools available, as well the ability to make sensible decisions regarding contracts and other spending, you’ve got what you need to ensure your project comes in under or on budget. Consider new approaches to your project management style to help ensure success for your business.

Collaborated post All businesses run on a systemic basis. Without processes, guidelines, protocols, your business is unlikely to function correctly. At certain sizes, it will not function at all. This is why we hire employees, to become caretakers for certain processes and to keep their success regular under such stewardship. For instance, we cannot expect a CEO to come down to the mailroom and package the products themselves. Much in the same way we rely on our blood cells to transport oxygen around the body, a business leader must trust every node of employment under their care to correctly perform their job. Furthermore, the role of employment policies and procedures allows for quick and thorough replacement should they become unable to perform that task. But these systems are not perfect, no matter how excellent our hired staff are. From time to time they need improving, optimizing and developing. In other words, lubricating the systemic processes within your business can help it operate like a well-oiled machine, avoiding problems from becoming worse, or preventing them outright in the first place. With that in mind, we’d like to recommend the following advice: Reviewing Policies It’s not enough to review policies after they have contributed to a calamity. For instance, if you find that staff aren’t obligated to report safety equipment failures for up to twenty-four hours, that’s an obvious hole that needs fixing. It can be worth working through your hiring practices. For instance, removing the first and last name, nationality and gender from all applications that are reviewed can ensure no subconscious social bias is ever-present when choosing applicants to interview. Little improvements like this can help you optimize your firm a little further. Reviewing Results Reviewing the results of policies can also be a great place to find inconsistencies or difficulties in your approach. To use an example, you may find that your cleaning services seem to clean your bathrooms less frequently or deeply than they used to, and from that point on finding a new service could be important. After all, office hygiene is paramount. It could also be that in an effort to improve your environmental impact, you recommit to recycling. Maybe you wish to buy red diesel drums from suppliers that care about their proper handling this time. Little adjustments like this are well within your powers to apply, and could offer a real beneficial result. Streamlining Appropriately Sometimes, streamlining departments or tasks can be a great idea. For instance, you may decide to carefully develop your HR department to be more front-facing, dealing with payroll issues as well as helping your staff more appropriately adapt to working from home. Perhaps enabling all meetings to be taken via conferencing software can also help you, especially now, but as a continued norm that saves time and energies in the future. These are two examples, but we’re certain you can find many more of them as you consider your own systemic setup, and how the firmament-shaking influence of 2020 has given its own opinion on the matter. With this advice, we hope you can more easily lubricate the system processes found within your business.

Written by: Krystal Thompson, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise Many of us have seen videos of stage hypnosis where volunteers end up clucking like chickens. But to simplify the power of hypnosis to that and nothing more would be like judging the entirety of a national forest by a single tree within it. Hypnosis is simply an advanced state of relaxation, and one that we experience regularly. You know that sort of trance-like state you sometimes fall into during repetitive activities such as driving or doing the dishes? Those are hypnotic states. Familiar, right? Hypnotherapy is working with a trained practitioner to use that state as a path to the subconscious mind, and to make specific changes on that level. Conscious Vs. Subconscious I’m sure you’ve heard of the conscious and subconscious minds, but what are they really? How do they interact, and how do they affect our day-to-day lives? I’d like you to imagine your mind like an elevator with ten floors. The 10th floor is where we live our conscious, day-to-day lives. This is where we experience the physical world: other people, our careers, our thoughts, our bodies, etc. Because it’s all most of us know to consider, we tend to think that this single floor - the conscious experience - is the extent to which we have access. But your subconscious mind, floors 1-9, dictates what that conscious experience actually is. What’s manifesting on the conscious level is an indication of what’s present at the subconscious level. Your subconscious mind is a program; you can imagine it like a Google Doc. Everything in the Google Doc is a reflection of the environment you grew up in: your family, your peers, your community, your culture, and all of the beliefs and expectations that exist within those. As young people, we build our map of the world as it is shown to us, and the subconscious mind encodes it as a replicable program. You can print from a Google Doc countless times, right? Your subconscious mind is the same way: it will run the same program until it’s altered. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but if, for example, you grew up in an environment (poverty) that doesn’t match the one you want to cultivate for yourself as an adult (abundance), you may have some subconscious shifts to make. If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, are you experiencing the level of success you want? Are you consistently hitting the goals you set for yourself? Do you see your work making a difference in the world? Do you feel like you’re living your purpose? If not, this could be an indication that your subconscious mind is running programs that no longer serve you, such as fear, doubt, limitations, or scarcity. How Hypnotherapy Works Again, hypnosis is an advanced state of relaxation. As the physical body relaxes and we settle into the parasympathetic (resting) nervous system, the doors to the subconscious mind ease open, and we are presented with a pathway to make lasting changes. Hypnotherapy is specific suggestions and reframes given directly to the subconscious mind. Returning to our previous metaphor, hypnotherapy is an active process of editing the subconscious “Google Doc.” This process literally creates new neural pathways (changes your brain), directly affecting the way you show up and behave in your life. How This Affects Your Success If you’re an entrepreneur or the head of any team, your mindset directly affects everyone and everything under you. If you’re a Creative Entrepreneur, for example, but you grew up in an environment where artistic pursuits were belittled (“You’ll never make any money as an artist,” “You should do something more stable,” “You’ll never make it,” etc). Those programs are still at play in your subconscious mind and will affect how successful you allow yourself to be. Because some subconscious part of you expects to struggle (based on all of the direct and indirect suggestions you were given throughout your life), you will consciously create situations to match the program. We all know this process, we just tend to call it by a different name: self-sabotage. So, Can Hypnotherapy Help Your Business? Absolutely. Hypnotherapy can help in any area of your life where there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be. How to start? Take inventory. Get clear about what you want and what you’re working toward, and be honest with yourself about what isn’t working yet. Reflect on how you can show up and behave differently: how much of the action you’re taking is aligned with old fear or scarcity-based programming? How can you empower yourself to make your first shift right here in this moment? You can connect with Krystal and learn more about starting your own journey by visiting her website and connecting with her on Facebook and Instagram Krystal Thompson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Krystal Thompson is a Los Angeles-based Self Worth + Success Coach for heart-centered people with big dreams. Her approach is a unique blend of conscious mindset work, subconscious reprogramming, energy healing, and inspired action coaching. Everything she teaches is a process she has been through in her own transformation, and is done with one goal in mind: to elevate the collective by reigniting the individual. By uncovering what’s kept them stuck, she helps her community tap into the clarity, confidence, and self-empowerment to build the life they want, not the one they think they have to settle for.

Written by: Jessica East, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise Social media is the great equalizer. It allows small businesses to compete with giant corporations at costs they can afford. Social allows us to connect with friends and loved ones who are no longer geographically close. Social allows us to educate ourselves on matters of government, health, and safety. But. Social is also used to confuse, frighten and destroy. Tiny bits of truth are exploited for cash through clickbait-y headlines, mismatched images, and doctored memes. Hate groups and conspiracy theorists peddle personal feelings as facts to divide us all. The last few weeks have been hard. Heck, the last several months have been hard. Why would someone who helps clients manage their own social accounts put out such a message? I have seen so many people spiral down online rabbit holes into debilitating fear, incoherent thinking, and uncontrollable rage -- especially these last few weeks. They can't leave their homes; they're barely functioning. It's not healthy. "The best way to feel better is to get your hands dirty doing something to help someone else." It’s not that social media shouldn’t emotionally influence us, instead, we cannot become overcome to the point we’re living in fear and not present to fully live our lives. If you find yourself pulling away from friends, family, and activities, it’s okay and advisable to take a break from social media. The length of the break is obviously up to you. Some people find it useful to set time limits per day to catch up on the news, while others find themselves needing a complete shut-off for several days or even several weeks. If you have to be engaged with social channels for work, try smaller breaks during the day: take a walk, cook a good meal, volunteer at a neighborhood non-profit. Our communities all have so many opportunities to plug in and give back. The best way to feel better is to get your hands dirty doing something to help someone else. We can't work towards making our neighborhoods better if the negative emotions consume us that too much bad news can do. Be well. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit my website for more info! Jessica East, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jessica East entered the creative scene in 2001 when she started her design career at MeadWestvaco. From her initial position as a junior graphic designer, Jessica advanced to a small marketing firm, picking up marketing, social media and event planning skills, and then on to a position as creative services manager for Five Rivers MetroParks. At MetroParks, she took on the challenging role of utilizing and policing new brand standards for an organization that previously lacked any formal marketing department. During her watch, the parks were pulled out of their staid ’70s look and blossomed into a new, energetic brand that matched the organization’s values of making the community healthy and vibrant. Jessica started her own agency, Noir Marketing and PR, in 2012. Ms. East obtained her degree in graphic design at Bowling Green State University, where she joined the Phi Mu sorority and remained an active alumna in her local chapter. In addition to making dazzling designs, this marketing maven has collected enough ADDYs to back U.S. currency. Other awards and recognition include a laundry list of local and national design and professional awards, including several Mercury Awards and nominations, ADDYs of all metals, OPRA and NRPA awards, recognition in Print and GDUSA magazines as well as Teen magazine’s “50 Hot Picks for School.”

Written by: Thokozile Eunice Mahlaola, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Every artist has a reason for creating his or her art. The artwork usually lives up to the artist's intentions and when it does not, it means the art project was not successful. It also means that the artist will not be displaying that artwork. Each of the artworks produced by the artist is unique , and they invoke different reactions; they convey specific messages and they require distinct viewpoints. That is why they say we must study the artwork and read up on the artist's notes. This is because the artist leaves clues that can help us to better understand what she is communicating through her art. We, as humans, are artworks and our Creator is the artist. He has a specific purpose for each one of us. We can know what our different purposes are if we can read up on His notes and study ourselves as artworks. We live up to His intentions and become successful when we are who He created us to be and do what He intended for us to do. On the other hand, we become rejects and will not be displayed when we choose not to follow through on His intentions. We then start to realize that we are all original artworks and not copies when we open ourselves to knowing Him and ourselves. We come to understand that every stroke on us is divinely placed, and our different shapes are exquisitely chiseled that way. We start to see that we are beautiful in every way when we see ourselves through the Creator's eyes. We realize that each one of us is a masterpiece: unique, magnificent, and worthy to be displayed in grand galleries. To live an artistic life, we need to align with the Creator's intentions , fully embrace the types of artists we are, and express our art in our diverse, authentic ways. When we do this, we step into our greatness and stop living aimlessly. We then zone in on what makes us who we are as individuals, and that discovery becomes the foundation of our unique artistry. When we know who we are, where we are going and why we are going there , our lives start to change. We start to appreciate life and treasure our given time on earth because we now have direction. We begin to have something to live for, and we discover that it is beyond us. We realize that we are part of a bigger picture and we move on to play in a higher league. We understand how important our lives and contributions are as we step into our distinctive roles and do our parts for the greater good. Knowing who we are means that we are ready to start creating. While we live in a world where some create by mistake and many do not create at all, when we create because we know that we are artists, our artworks shift from being typical to being exceptional because we are intentional about our creations. We are all creations who create and once we embrace that, our lives become worthy of being displayed on prominent stages. Our lives then become an inspiration to others and impacts on the world. We go on to produce legendary work whether we are painters, pilots, or parents because we comprehend that all human beings are creatives at their core. Therefore, let us welcome being both the artwork and the artist because they feed off each other. As we unravel our truest selves let us go ahead and reveal how extraordinary we are. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my YouTube-Channel ! Thokozile Eunice Mahlaola, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Thokozile Eunice Mahlaola is the founder of The CherryBlue House, a consortium where they deal with career development, personal development, content writing and music entertainment. Since 2015 she has self-published three books and has two books as well as a music album coming out in 2020. Her online courses have changed the lives of people from different parts of the world. She has studied Creative Writing and Editing through the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism as well as Language and Literature and Public Relations Management both through the University of South Africa. The eighteen years of combined corporate and entrepreneurial experience she has gathered has prepared her to work with individuals, employees and new entrepreneurs who want to know their life’s purpose; align their priorities with their values and be more productive in their lives, work, and businesses.

Written by: Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Your Niche is that sweet spot between the people you serve, the situational problem you help them solve, and your signature system. Indeed, the exercise to narrow down your focus and concentrate on those who resonate most with your calling isn’t new. Identifying the sociodemographics of your target audience is a long process that only in time we get to refine, then again when in business for years or for a couple of months, it’s wise to have clarity on whom you’re speaking to. That’s what we call identifying your Niche. Moreover, it doesn’t stop there. The next step is to single out your ideal persona. He or she becomes the single point of focus when creating, writing, speaking to, or directing your marketing efforts to your ideal customer, and this might help the new avenue to explore. Once we have reached the level of being comfortable to speak to one when referring to your ideal clients, we’ve reached that sweet spot of your Niche. Would you like to give it a try? It is easier said than done, I must confess. Hence, I’ll share my top 3 secrets on working with a Niche and why it’s beneficial to any female entrepreneur in any industry. Whether you’ve been in business for years or just started out, this principle applies to you. The difference lies in the feedback your current clients share with you and, what you originally started out doing versus what you’ve discovered your core audience really wants. The commonalities become the golden nuggets every entrepreneur is after. The most frequently asked questions, your top service/s, the highly-rated component of your service, and ultimately the common traits of your favorite clients. Fears Along the process of defining a Niche, you might face the fear of missing out (FOMO), leave someone behind, lose opportunities, insist everyone can use what you have to offer, and my ultimate favorite: myopia on the common traits of your best clients. Why? Why do we get stuck in narrowing doing something that should be quite straight forward? Simply said, because clarity doesn’t come by easily. However, the opportunities you’re going to gain by having a clear, lucrative Niche will astonish you. So, here’s secret # 1: When you go deep into your Niche, you open up a world of possibility that is creative, exciting, and full of opportunities. You’re not going to feel you’re leaving anyone behind or missing opportunities because you’ll be busy helping your ideal people and growing your business. You’ll become a magnet! Tribe Have you ever consider how your service could be potentially beneficial to a category you usually don’t work with? For example, a new group of people that you may not have previously thought of and who have the money to pay for your offer. Keeping an open mind in order to identify specific “communities” of potential ideal clients within your category might serve as a starting point, don’t decide just yet. Instead, think about clients that have the most potential for being lucrative, fun, and plentiful to work with. Bringing us to secret # 2, testing for your Niche. As your brainstorming process is going, ask yourself, is your Niche big enough? Is your service offer in demand or you’re pioneering the market? How important will the people within your niche rank solving the problem you help them with? Do you love working with them? When answering these questions, you’ll be able to identify your tribe. In the words of top renown marketer, Seth Godin, “what people really want is the ability to connect to each other… A tribe helps like-minded people find each other.” So, by identifying the individuals that you’d like to invite to form your tribe, identifying the commonalities of one individual, making him or her feel special, belonging, identified with your offer, you’ll then be able to describe your persona. Now, why do we search for a single person? Just because when we as creators can speak to that “one” person directly in our mind and in person, the creation process becomes smooth, effortless, hence our deliverables resonate with our tribe as the natural solution they seek, and we never run out of ideas to help our audience grow. Let me ask you, as a female entrepreneur, wouldn’t you like to be in constant conversations with your ideal people? If you ask me, I’ll give you a sounding YES because I believe this is the only way you free yourself from a job (even if it’s one created by you) and truly start living what you love doing and making life, not just a living, in your own terms. Message Once you’ve come clear with your persona, the next natural step is to test him/her out by drafting your marketing message. There are 6 components in your message, and that is secret # 3: Whether it’s your elevator pitch or your tag line on your landing page, these six elements should be working simultaneously speaking to your Niche. First, it starts with a single call out to your ideal client, followed by the struggle they face, and their desires. Fourth, the mention of what you bring to the table and how they can achieve results. And last, any other component that is key to your magic (product or service). In a couple of sentences, this message becomes your invitation to whom you are, to work with you, or test out your product, in a simple and straight forward call to action. As the end result, you’ll see it will resonate with some, not all, and that is good. You want to craft your ideal clients in time and foster a close line of communication with them. At this point, the effort of crafting a Niche will only seem as natural and spontaneous. However, as you evolve in your business your Niche will evolve with you, so you want to always keep a close eye on that message, that invitation, you present to the world regularly and let people part ways easily if you no longer speak the same language. So, let’s get into action, are you in for a challenge? Apply the 3 secrets I’ve shared with you just now, and once you’ve crafted your new marketing message, I challenge you to share it with 25 people this week. As responses come back, note the traits these people have in common and next think of 5 new places where you can connect with your new Niche. Get ready to be surprised, welcome new clients, and drop me a line if you’d be interested in getting 1:1 support in this journey to UpLevel your current offer. It’d be my pleasure to guide you through your discovery process, simply book a clarity audit session with me, no cost. To your success! Follow Andrea Cristancho on Facebook, Instagram and visit her website for more info! Read more from Andrea! Andrea Cristancho, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Andrea Cristancho, founder of www.andreacristancho.com is a Holistic Business Coach helping female entrepreneurs in the wellness space. Through her signature program The UpLevel Method, Andrea integrates the entrepreneurial mindset with practical business tools that re-engineer existing businesses to achieve their next level of growth. As an international business mentor with Latin roots and serial entrepreneur, she has run her own businesses in 3 continents in a number of different industries. In the process, she has discovered that having a signature program, a personal brand and the right mindset is the key to taking off your entrepreneurial success. Learn more about her work by claiming your Free Business Cleanse Checklist here.

Collaborated post Progressing in the career of your choice is a great achievement. It can give you a great sense of accomplishment and take you one step closer to achieving your career goals. As you progress to jobs with more and more responsibility, however, some people can start to doubt their ability to do their job and worry that those around them will notice. Doubting yourself doesn’t mean that you don’t have the ability to do your job to a high standard; you were able to get the job because of your knowledge and experience. Doubting yourself, could, however, have an impact on how well you do your job and how those around you see you, but it doesn’t have to. Following some of the tips below will help you to become a respected colleague, and gain more confidence in yourself and your ability to do your new job. Dress well When you want to feel confident in your workplace, one of the simplest ways of doing so is to dress well. It may sound strange that what you wear can change how you feel about yourself, but it really can. If you work in a more formal workplace, dressing more formally will help you feel like the kind of business person that you want to be. It can lift your mood, help you feel more confident, and affect how you are perceived. Dressing well can also earn you respect from those around you. When you start a new job, it will give everyone a great first impression of you and can establish you as someone whose word should be taken seriously. It doesn’t have to be difficult deciding what to wear for work. Buy outfits especially for work that can be worn over and over again like a uniform. You don’t need to have a lot of options to be able to dress well at work. Be prepared Being prepared at work can mean different things for different people. It could be reading up on various processes, refreshing your training, or researching work that you will be carrying out to refresh your memory. It could be that you work in an industry where you need safety glasses, so you ensure you have your own prescription safety glasses. When your colleagues or employers see them , they may be impressed at your commitment to the job. Taking the time to be more prepared will help you to feel more confident, as you won’t be worrying about all the things that you could have done to make yourself feel better about the job you are doing. Work hard to complete every task on time Working hard will prove to yourself that you are capable of doing your job, but it will also show those around you what you are capable of. When you are at work, make sure you are working and not spending time distracting others, as this will also take away from their work time. Ensuring that your tasks are always complete on time will also show that you are reliable and that people can count on you. It may be challenging to complete some tasks when you first start at a job, but don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it or to push yourself, as that is how you will grow and develop your skills and become more confident in your abilities. Be patience When you are working with others, you have to learn to be patient with them. Collaboration is great when you give everyone a chance to get involved, but you have to remember that everyone works and learns at their own speed. If a task involves you helping others to get to grips with new software, then you will need to show them patience. Show your confidence in what you are teaching them, but don’t expect them to pick it up quickly. You should also be approachable so that nobody will fear asking you for help. Get to know your colleagues Going to work isn’t just about the work, although that is an important part, it is also about the people that you work with. The relationship that you have with your colleagues can affect how you feel about your job. Creating a positive relationship with them will help to improve your job satisfaction, but it will also mean, when you are going through a hard time, they will be there to support you, and when they are going through hard times, you can support them. It will help to create mutual respect and make it easy to collaborate with others and ask for help when necessary. Stay out of workplace gossip Although it is essential to get to know your colleagues, it is important to try and stay out of any office gossip. It may be fun sometimes, but it can usually cause a lot of unnecessary problems. Gossiping may lead to friendliness with some, but it will also give the impression that you will not be able to keep sensitive information to yourself. It won’t lead to people trusting and respecting you, and could also make it seem like you are less dedicated to your work . Handle conflict maturely In any situation where you are working with other people, at some time, there is going to be conflict. How you handle this conflict can determine how your colleagues see you. The best way to handle conflict is by confronting it so that you can come to an amicable resolution. Letting it simmer, or talking about it to others could make things worse in the long run. Handling it directly with those who are involved will ensure that people know you can be professional in any situation, and you will be respected more. Stay organised Just like how the way you dress can make you feel more confident, having a neat and organised workspace can help you to feel more equipped to get on with the job at hand. A cluttered or messy workspace can make it harder to concentrate, and could also give your colleagues a negative impression of you. Keep your space organised so that you can spend your time working on improving your skills and gaining confidence in your work. Fix your mistakes Making a mistake can knock your confidence, but you can learn a lot from them. Everyone has made a mistake at some point in their life, so it isn’t a big deal, but how you deal with the situation can be. The best thing to do is to own up to your mistakes. You will earn respect because it will show that you are humble and confident enough to admit when you do something wrong and apologise when you need to. Fixing the mistake will also help you to learn the correct way to do things. If you need to, you could ask for help, but one thing is for sure, once you take the time to fix the mistake, you probably won’t make the same one again. Ask for feedback It can be nerve-racking to hear about how you are as a worker, but it can help you to gain more confidence and give you the chance to improve in the areas that you need to. The feedback could be from your boss or your clients, but it could also be from your colleagues. Always striving to do the best that you can at work, and taking the time to learn and make improvements will allow you to feel confident in your work.

Written by: Hoda Elsobky, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. We are already midway into 2020 and the Pandemic has been the toughest of the challenges we had to face in our age. Lockdown has been the norm, social distancing and remote working have been the new slang of everyday activities. Yet we had a counter dialect emerging fast in our lives too: We had Empathy rising up to the surface, Compassion and Kindness reemerging in our relationships with others. We had simplicity revisited. We had been offered the opportunity to go back to basics, to purity and to rawness, and to get rid of the clutters the sophistication and disruptions of the modern world. Today as the world is reopening again after six months since the first hit of the Coronavirus in Wuhan. Here comes my invitation and my insistence to go back to our true authentic selves, back to nature, back to intuition and back to happiness, true happiness. Yes, we learned to be happy with what we have, we learned to be happy wherever we are and under whichever circumstances. Allow me to ask you to just PAUSE and RESET. Pause exactly here, and start all over again, but start with grace. Have a clear mind and a clean heart. That is all you will need in your new journey; and here is the answer to your golden question: Where is Happiness? Let me tell you, I hope you found it! Happiness is there, you can achieve it, you can own it and you can sustain it; and here is the answer to your long-awaited question: Happiness is all of the above, happiness is the outcome of the Coronavirus-and please don’t get me wrong, nobody can underestimate the losses we had and empathize with-. But, if you haven’t found it yet, then you haven’t benefited from the experience! To make it simple, here is the equation: Compassion + Kindness = Happiness To elaborate more, compassion is a direct route to happiness, and it is the foundation of Kindness. So, both together form the shortest cut to happiness. Study after study recently showed that helping others brings about the same sensational or neurological response in the brain that is normally attained by realizing one’s own wants and lusts. The good question now is: Is compassion a built-in attribute, or it can be acquired? Luckily, studies pointed out that children who are securely attached to their parents tend to be more empathetic with peers. Meanwhile, Parents who use reasoning and rationalization to communicate with their children tend also to have the most sympathetic children. In the end, have I not known the value of empathy, I wouldn’t have nurtured it, until it grew and flourished and gave meaning and purpose to life. 3 Tips to help raising Compassionate Children: When someone is sick in your circle of family or friends, talk to your children about it and encourage them to go and visit him/her with you. Buy them flowers on the way. This will help Children build their own empathetic system. You are the Role Model, be Compassionate and Empathetic and be of help to others. Your Children will follow if not copy exactly. Educate your Children to evaluate things through their real worth and merit, not their price. By that way, you are raising strong, Emotionally Intelligent humans, and not just materialistic beings. Now, that you have all the three pillars to go ahead with your life, are you ready to press the button? Are you ready to reset? Let me tell you one thing before I conclude, I forgot to mention that Happiness like anything else in life; it has its own terms, and amazingly its terms are: Kindness, Compassion, and Empathy. To dig deeper into the true meaning of happiness, download the first chapter of my book for free here! To learn more about Hoda and Happiness - follow her on Facebook, YouTube, Join her free Live every Thursday  and Monday on Instagram, and visit her website. Read more from Hoda Hoda Elsobky, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Hoda was born in Cairo, Egypt. Graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majored in Economics and minor in Business Administration. Later, She received her MBA in Marketing. Her greatest interest lies in the fields of philosophy and positive psychology, with a focus on self help and wellness. Above all, she is passionated about happiness as a way of living! She have worked in multinational IT companies in Egypt, like IBM and Oracle, in sales, marketing and business development capacity, from 1994 till 2005. At that point she flew with her husband to live in Vienna for three years and then to Dubai. There she discovered her passion for writing.