How to succeed as an entrepreneur?

I Answer the top 5 FAQs on me and my business

May 20, 2020 by Jane Sheeba 5 Comments

In this video I answer the top 5 questions I keep repeatedly getting from my subscribers (email and YouTube channel), and social media followers.

Rather than separately answering each of them, I thought I would make a video and could direct people to this video whenever a question pops up!

So in this video I answer the following 5 questions about me:

Why do I run multiple websites / YouTube Channels
What are my hobbies?
How do I make money from this business (my income streams)?
How do I manage to publish and maintain multiple websites / YouTube Channels?
Why did I study Ph. D and ended up with this online business?

Hope you’ll enjoy watching. If you have any questions, share them in the comments below!

My Coronavirus lock down schedule: How I get things done?

April 2, 2020 by Jane Sheeba 4 Comments

Being on a lock down is no joke. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Earth is on a lock down.

We all miss our regular schedules. The only positive thing is that all members of the family are under one roof.

With no schools, or colleges or workplace to go, we get to spend a lot of family time together.

At the same time, unable to go out anywhere and do any kind of outdoor activities can be suffocating.

Plus since everyone is at home all the time, getting things done can be challenging for many.

In addition, it can be really challenging to keep the kids occupied.

In this video let me share my Coronavirus lock down schedule and show you how I get things done while staying sane.

#1 Have a schedule

I am a big believer of a schedule. Without a schedule I couldn’t imagine getting things done.

It is true that it could be challenging to have a schedule while everyday is like a weekend.

And by schedule, I don’t mean having an extremely strict schedule during this lockdown.

It is very important to enjoy the family time too.

But throwing away the concept of schedule altogether can get you in trouble.

Without a schedule it can be a hectic and chaotic affair to be staying indoors and trying to get things done.

In addition, having a schedule means you respect your biological clock.

With a schedule, you can eat and sleep on time.

A little bit of sleeping in and messing up with schedule is OK though. And that leads to the next point…

#2 Be flexible

This seems to be controversial to #1, right?

Well, the key is to strike the right balance between #1 and #2.

Too strict of a schedule will make the lockdown quite boring and frustrating. At the same time, too much flexibility will mess up things.

But since the family is together, it is crucial that you spend enough time with the family members.

The kids have to be entertained, and looked after.

This could be a round the clock business for some parents if they fail to have a schedule.

Which is why you need to have a reasonable schedule allowing enough flexibility to attend to the family needs.

#3 Exercise

I cannot stress enough the importance of exercise while on a lockdown. When we were freely out, we would have had an active lifestyle.

Even if we are tied to our screens, we would be freely moving around. We would take a walk if we want to, play outdoor games, commute to work and be more physically active compared to the current situation.

For instance before the lockdown, I would play tennis every morning for about an hour, six days a week.

And I would also walk on the treadmill for about 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week.

With lockdown in practice, there is nowhere to go or practice outdoor sports or workout.

But that doesn’t mean I can skip workout altogether.

Having no physical activity during lockdown will take a toll on your physical and mental health.

Being idle, with a sluggish schedule will make you gain weight. It can cause your sugar level to rise and will disturb your metabolic activity badly.

And being like this for weeks can get you into various other complications too depending upon your age and medical history.

Now during the lockdown, I walk on the treadmill everyday for about 30-40 minutes. And then do some workout to burn some fat, get fit and strengthen my core.

Among the hectic everyday schedule, I make sure I carve out time for this – a suitable time when the kids are asleep and everyone is taken care of so no one needs me for a while.

This way I don’t have any excuses to tell myself to skip the workout!

#4 I plan as always

Just as I plan my week every Sunday before the lockdown, I do the same even now. I just go a little bit easier on myself than before.

I have clearly explained how I plan my year, the week and a day in one of my previous videos. In that video, I also share the tools I use to keep my business and life in shape.

I do the same now during lockdown too.

And surprisingly, I get a lot of work done and my progress is really good.

The good thing with planning is, I don’t wake up and figure out what I do when I get a chance to work. This makes a big difference in my opinion!

#5 Engage in relaxing activities

I make it non-negotiable to engage in relaxing activities everyday during this lockdown period.

Without relaxation it can become really frustrating to cope. It can make you mad.

And when I’m frustrated or mad, I don’t perform or behave well. I am sure you are like that too.

The fact that I manage to get a lot of things done, and be very productive during this lockdown, when the kids are with me 24×7 is because I am sane.

And I am sane because I relax as much as I can. So how do I do it?

I make sure I get enough sleep everyday. If I work late during any night, I catch up the next day with a nap.

I have some “me” time every day where I briefly read a book or listen to music or watch a movie – basically “putting my feet up” time.

In addition I make sure I bring the family together and we spend a few minutes together.

During this time, we play board games, or dance, or play I spy, or puzzles – anything that works according to our mood.

And that my friend, is my Coronavirus lockdown schedule. When the lockdown was announced I was pretty afraid about how I would manage with the whole family under one roof.

I was worried about how my work will be affected and so on.

But to my surprise things are going really good.

Nevertheless, I strongly hope this situation passes away soon and that we get back to normal.

The tools I use to keep my life and business in shape

March 26, 2020 by Jane Sheeba 7 Comments

We all strive to achieve high levels of productivity. We all have different ways of getting things done.

Some are morning bees, while some are nightly owls. And throughout the day our energy varies.

That affects our productivity a lot.

Which is why I am a strong believer of having a system in place to get things done.

I don’t get up every day and face the tasks as and when they come. That will make me give away my control to the others and to the situation.

Rather I would like to grab control of every day!

Well, don’t mistake me. Life happens. And doing business with kids means you CANNOT take control of all days.

Watch this video to know what I mean and how to tackle that situation:

But for the most part, I can go by my plan and get things done and hence will be able to achieve my long term and short term goals by having a system in place.

A system is so powerful that it doesn’t require you to reinvent the wheel every time.

Let me get started.

First let me share the tools I use and then explain you the purpose of each tool according to me.

The list of tools I use

Asana
Google Drive (Docs, Sheets)
DaVinci Resolve
iMovie
Pocket
LastPass
A Real Diary (Paper diary)

Asana is my go to tool for my editorial calendar, my personal productivity calendar and for assigning, tracking and discussing various small tasks related to my business with my team.

I’ve set it to auto-open when the browser is opened and it stays open until I shut down my work for the day.

My business activities will totally come to a halt if I am unable to open Asana for any reason.

Asana plays such a crucial in my day to day business activities.

Here’s how I plan my year

I set up yearly goals by reviewing my past year and planning for the upcoming year, usually by the start of December.

A related video:

I gather the big goals for my business and write them down in a diary (not a fancy planner or anything – just a regular diary).

I get down my big goals as a list.

I then break up my big goals into small, actionable chunks.

I make action points that will help me move forward towards my big goal.

For instance, if my goal is to hit a particular number of subscribers for my YouTube channel, I write down that big goal in my diary.

I then make an action plan to achieve the same.

I plan how many videos I need to do. Then I decide on how (and when) I come up with video ideas, how (and when) I do keyword research, when I write the script, when I shoot, when I edit and so on.

I hope you get the idea.

This way I split up all my major goals into actionable chunks.

Each of those actionable tasks are then taken on to my personal productivity calendar (Asana).

At this point, I plan my publishing frequencies for my sites (I maintain multiple website and hence publish regularly on all of those).

For collection of blog post or video ideas, I use a spreadsheet named Master content idea sheet in which I create separate sheets for separate sites.

I then brainstorm for content ideas and fill out the columns, in addition with any reference links that would be helpful to create that particular piece of content.

I don’t brainstorm content ideas for a year straight. I just come up with ideas for one particular month, write them, and then brainstorm again for the next month.

This way I don’t feel much of an overwhelm or pressure to come up with numerous blog post ideas in one shot – given that I run multiple websites.

A related video:

Here’s how I use my tools

When tools come into picture, I don’t use many. I used to read about a lot of tools and try them out.

I used to get so enthusiastic about productivity and time management tools, and tried a lot of them, and hence wasted a lot of time.

When I tried out one tool after the other, I realized that I spend way too much time on trying out tools and actually end up not getting things done.

I also realized that less is more. The lesser the number of tools I use, the more stuff I get done, and the more sanity I have.

Let me now share what tools I use for what tasks in my business (and life).

Asana

As I said already, Asana is my go to tool for my business and life tasks.

I keep it open all day and I also have the app on my phone.

My editorial calendar for all the websites I run is on Asana and I share it with my VAs.

I also have my personal productivity calendar, that’s private to me. Whenever I do my weekly planning (usually on Sunday evenings), I write down the major goals for the week in my paper diary.

I then assign myself appropriate tasks that I need to do in order to achieve my weekly goals in Asana.

In short, I break down my weekly goals into actionable chunks and get them scheduled throughout the week appropriately in Asana.

Apart from the editorial calendar and my personal productivity calendar, I have a bunch of other projects in Asana – usually dedicated to each of my websites.

And I also have a dedicated project for my hosting, maintenance and website design clients.

Inside that project, there will be a task carrying the name of each of the client.

These website related projects and clients’ project are shared with my technical assistant.

This way I work with my team and I also have my own personal stuff to keep up and track via Asana.

Google Drive

This is another tool that I cannot live without.

I have docs, and sheets that I share with my team as well as for my personal use.

Just as I open Asana by default and keep it open always, I have the Master content idea sheet open by default too.

This sheet carries sub-sheets for all my sites. And in each of the sheet, I have tentative titles for my upcoming blog posts, reference links, the date that post needs to be published and its status.

I also track the progress of my YouTube channels’ subscribers, Facebook Page Likes and so on.

I write all the content in Google Docs because once I get the titles and references right in my Master content idea sheet, I create a doc in that title inside the appropriate folder for that particular blog post.

It is much easier for me to handle things this way – all in one place.

Also since I can access my drive files from anywhere, it helps me have my content creation things handy.

Pocket

Pocket is my go to place for inspiration for content ideas and reference material.

Whenever I come across a piece of content via social media feeds, or from Feedly (which is another tool I use where I’ve subscribed to feeds of a handful of websites I’m interested in), I save them to Pocket.

I use Pocket both for business as well as personal use – personally I save recipes and interesting information that I come across in Pocket.

Since I run multiple websites in different niches I tag the contents I discover with appropriate tags.

And later on I transfer these inspirational content as reference material to my Master Content Idea sheet and work on it.

LastPass

I, just like you, use loads of websites on a regular basis that require me to login.

And it is humanly impossible for me to remember all the passwords.

At the same time, it is no joke to forget a password each time and meddle with websites when you have crucial things to take care of.

So I use LastPass premium so I can be carefree about the passwords – works both on my computers and my phone.

DaVinci Resolve & iMovie

I use a combination of these two software for doing video editing.

I run three YouTube channels (Jane Sheeba Media, Banking Minutes, and Funfortainment).

In addition I help with editing my dad’s YouTube channel (Zion Revival Ministries). Hence, there’s quite some editing involved.

For now, I am using these two software – as per the requirements of a channel.

For some videos I completely use DaVinci for editing until finish.

For some, I do the primary editing in iMovie and the finishing touch in DaVinci.

My personal diary (a real, paper diary)

Last, but not the least. In fact, my paper diary forms a very crucial part of my working system.

Even though everything else is digital in my system, this diary helps keep me grounded.

When I plan my week, usually on Sunday evenings, I sit down in peace, with so much clarity to write down the goals for the week.

It gives me immense satisfaction and a sense of achievement after having put things down things from my head to the paper, as well striking them through after I complete the tasks.

Conclusion

When it comes to managing and running a multi-passionate business, having a system in place is very crucial.

I can’t afford to tackle each day with the tasks that come to my face – without any plan.

At the same time, I cannot be reinventing the wheel each time!

Hence I have a set of tools and a strategy that makes my system. And this system works for me.

I am not saying that you should also adopt my system and the tools I use so you can get things done.

You should figure out what works for you! I have just shared what works for me.

And I hope it helps.

How Productive Are You? Check With These Keys To Productivity

March 12, 2020 by Jane Sheeba 5 Comments

Productivity is essential for every person. Whether you run a business on your own, or work for your boss, or work at home at your free will you need this thing called productivity.

If you have your own business, you see that you are productive yourself and you also want your staff team to be productive.

If you work for your boss, you are accountable to him/her and he/she wants you to be productive.

And, you are also accountable to yourself because you get paid for what you do and your future career or life depends on your current performance.

If you work at home you cannot be unproductive just because no one is watching you.

Your very purpose of working from home will be at risk if you don’t take enough efforts to boost your productivity.

So let’s run a fact check to see how productive you are.

Do you have a goal?

If you don’t have a goal you are not sure about what you are working on. In that case, how could you expect yourself to be productive?

I mean, there are two basic connections between having a goal and productivity as a measure:

If you don’t have a goal,

(i) you don’t have something to work on,

(ii) or, you don’t clearly know what to work on (but there is something for you to work on).

In both the cases, you simply either don’t work at all or you don’t work effectively.

Case (ii) is where you put all your efforts, hard work and energy but you don’t know where to focus them.

Hence all your hard work will go wasted since things are not streamlined.

You could appear to be busy all day, yet you won’t accomplish anything meaningful at the end of the day.

Passion

When you have passion with what you are working on…

You don’t have to wait for the right time, a comfortable zone or a favourable situation to work towards your goal. That is why it is very important that you start working on things you are passionate about.

While it is important that you choose a business idea that is profitable, you must also see whether you are passionate about that particular idea.

I’m not saying you should cling on your passion and forget about the profitability.

You should have both of these in the right proportion so you can run a profitable business without making it feel like work or having to jump off the wagon!

Commitment

When I had a full time job (as a Research Scientist in the field of Medical Physics, not just 9-5 kinda stuff but even more; you know it’s research), a family to take care of and my personal self to take care, I put a regular amount of time everyday into blogging.

Even today as a full time blogger, I write content every day, I hone my blog articles, I write guest posts, I take care of the design, administration and other management tasks associated with my blogs and those of my clients and so on.

But I don’t feel that I am getting squeezed, while in fact I am. The commitment comes by default when I have passion towards doing what I love.

The very fact that I am committed to what I do makes me productive. I don’t just work hard but work smart because of my passion and commitment.

Discipline

In general, a disciplined person can get a lot out of the available time and resources and hence can easily prove to be productive.

A disciplined person is organized. There are very little chances of looking into lost things again and again and hence wasting precious working time.

A disciplined person has goals and action plans. They know where they want to focus their energy and hard work.

They also know how to achieve something, that is the actual route to achieving something.

A disciplined person is well aware of time wasters like TV, mindless browsing, pointless texting and chatting, endless reading online or offline (without making use of the content or taking action) and so on.

A disciplined person has many good habits that boost their productivity. And, they have very less bad habits to waste their time and energy upon.

Being organized

This follows simply from a disciplined lifestyle. As I said earlier, you cannot stop a disciplined person from being organized.

They can get a file or a paper from their desk or their shelf when they need it.

When you spend enormous amount of time in figuring things out, that is a big hit on your productivity.

If you are organized, you have already figured out most things, you remember them (or make it easier to remember) and hence you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

Your productivity does not depend on the time you are trying to work, but it rather depends on the time you are actually working on.

Do you have these keys? If not, then work on those that you are lacking.

How to go after your apparently UNREALISTIC dreams and achieve them

February 27, 2020 by Jane Sheeba 4 Comments

Well, everyone has dreams. I am not talking about those dreams that lack logic that you get while you are asleep.

If you are interested to know about those kind of dreams, there’s a video. I’ll share the link to it in the description below.

Now, let’s talk about some real dreams! Dreams that are related to your life, business, career, to your passion, relationships, and so on.

Have you come across the term “unrealistic” dream? Of course I think you do.

Whenever you have a dream from your inside, a dream that you are so passionate about, you are most likely to hear this comment, “unrealistic”.

I personally think that realistic dreams are boring.

So when you come up with that big, unrealistic dream, that’s when your life, or business or whatever it is becomes interesting.

Now let’s see how you can pursue that unrealistic dream of yours and actually achieve it.

#1 Believe in yourself

When your dream is big enough to be called unrealistic, all you need is self belief.

If you lack that, chances are that you are not gonna pursue your dream beyond a point.

You will find yourself giving very many excuses for not pursuing that dream.

Why, because you don’t believe in yourself in the first place.

Self belief is so powerful that it can fuel you and propel you in the right direction.

And when you lack that you won’t be able to move forward in the right direction.

#2 Eliminate negativity

Naysayers are everywhere. When you propose your dream, you can instantly expect rejection.

Or a negative comment. Or a destructive criticism.

It’s so easy for most people to spread negativity.

What you should do is to identify any negative vibe, as it starts, and eliminate it right away.

For instance, if you have a colleague or a neighbour who is constantly giving you negative comments, make sure you stop talking to that person about your dreams or plans.

It is much better reduce the time you spend with these kind of people so you stop getting negativity any near you.

The naysayers and negative commenters can also be on social media. So watch out.

#3 Build a positive community

Now that you have eliminated negativity from your surroundings, it is time for you to build a positive community.

Reach out to people you can be supportive to you of your dream.

These people can be your family, friends, neighbours, or people in social media.

And by “being supportive of your dream” I don’t mean anyone to do it for you, or do it with or help you in anyway – while those can be appreciated of course.

What I mean is a simple word of appreciation can go a long way. Any moral support is quite important too.

So identify people who provide you with such positive vibes and talk about your dreams and plans with them mostly.

And that takes us to the next point…

#4 Develop an action plan

To talk about your plan, you gotta have one!

A dream without a plan is just a dream. You cannot achieve a dream without a plan.

No matter how unrealistic your dream seems to the others, you are already believing it right?

And, you really want to achieve it. If then, you really have to roll up your sleeves and write down that game plan.

It doesn’t have to be a complicated sketch with multiple layers. It can be a very simple outline.

In fact, the simpler it is, the easier it will be for you to execute that action plan.

#5 Get into action

This is THE most important bit in pursuing your dream.

A dream without action is just a wish.

Taking action is where most people lack moving forward.

Having a dream, believing it and even making an action plan to pursue the dream are relatively easier than taking action for most people.

I have a dedicated video where I talk about how to get to action when you have an action plan.

I will leave a link to the video in the description below or you can click on the card above.

But here’s the thing – you can stand there and think about all the what ifs and buts. However, you must realize that only action will help you achieve your dream.

Action also helps you with identifying what works and what doesn’t. You can learn a lot by taking actions.

It is so powerful, because you are putting yourself right there in reality, you are doing some realistic action and then you are learning the real life struggles.

Not the challenges or struggles you read in theory but the practical struggles or challenges that occur in real for your particular situation.

And that’s called action based learning.

Which won’t happen if you don’t take any action and just keep thinking.

So to wrap up, you can and you should pursue your unrealistic dreams no matter what others tell you.

I personally feel that life would be a lot boring and meaningless without having such dreams or goals.

I don’t know what I would do if I don’t have any such goals in life.

These unrealistic, big dreams that you have give meaning to your life and make your life interesting!

So go get your dreams – and don’t stop!