Meagan Kerlin

If you are not naturally a morning person, you are not alone. You may struggle to wake up early, or you may be a person who tends to hit the snooze button repeatedly before you make it out of bed. Feeling sluggish and slow during the mornings can significantly cut into your productivity, but it’s possible to break this cycle and turn yourself into a morning person. This can be a significant step in boosting your attitude, success and productivity rate.

To be a morning person, you have to be up and at ‘em early. Waking up early is a major struggle for many, but changing this starts with developing new habits. If this will be difficult for you, try focusing on the benefits of why waking early is good for you. Instead of thinking about how tired you feel, think about how much more you will get done. You may be sleepy, but changing your perspective can help change your attitude as well.

Becoming a morning person doesn’t happen overnight. Building a new habit takes time, and you may find it helpful to start in increments. Start your bedtime routine 15 minutes earlier and wake up 15 minutes earlier each day for a week, then repeat each week until you are on your desired schedule. If you do this in steps, you will find it easier each day to open your eyes and get going a bit earlier.

Some of the most successful people are early risers. Forming this habit takes discipline and focus, two traits that are essential for success. If you need to train yourself to be a morning person, think of it as a way you are training yourself to be better and more motivated. If you reframe the way you think about waking up early, you will find more motivation to do it.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

If you aren’t leaving room for creativity in your life, you could be missing out on opportunities to grow and learn. Giving yourself the opportunity to create, think and enjoy artistic endeavors can provide clarity and insight that you may not get from any other types of professional development efforts. In fact, your best ideas for your business or your career may come from times you set aside for creative efforts.

Creative time allows you to relax, and it gives your brain the ability to think about other things outside of your work. You may find creativity gives you the ability to think more clearly about things, and you could have sudden “aha” moments while you’re busy with your non-work activity. In fact, you may do your best thinking while you’re doing things that don’t involve a lot of thought.

You may feel like you are too busy to include intentional creative time in your schedule. In fact, you could feel constantly stressed and overwhelmed by everything currently on your to-do list, and stepping away from your responsibilities may seem unwise. In reality, taking a “brain break” can actually result in better productivity and final results. Sometimes, taking a break from work is the best thing you can do for your work.

You don’t have to be an artist to benefit from creative time. You could simply cultivate a hobby you enjoy, such as reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle. If you have a hard time including these things in your everyday life, you need to make it a regular priority by including it in your schedule. Taking care of yourself through creativity and regular breaks is as important in your success as anything else you do.

If you aren’t leaving room for creativity, hobbies and stress-relief activities in your schedule, you should be. Taking the time to do these things is a step toward protecting your mental and emotional health, especially in times of stress and busyness.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

The last year and a half has been one full of uncertainty and changes. The pandemic has brought upheaval to virtually every area of life across the globe, and like many others, this means your work life most likely changed as well. As vaccinations increase and the virus begins to wane, many will be returning to the office. In many fields, virtual work is not effective or possible, and you may be working in-person soon. As you can imagine, post-pandemic office work could be very different.

Workspaces may be spread out, and offices may implement policies that will limit close contact. You could be restricted in what you can bring from home and take home with you. Depending on the nature of your work, you may be doing everything exclusively online, even if you are working in the office.

You may also find that workplaces will implement rolling schedules. You could alternate days you work in the office and virtually from home, or your employer could stagger who is in the office in other ways. There may be a shifting in teams and new strategies for how you will work with your team members.

For at least a few months, changes could be part of the norm. Your employer may experiment with different strategies to find out what works best for your workplace. If you have to go back, it will be crucial to be flexible and willing to adjust accordingly. You are not the only one who will be dealing with changes, and flexibility is key.

You may be looking forward to returning to the workplace, or you could be dreading in-person work after a year of doing your job virtually. It will be helpful to remember that while this is a step toward normalcy, it could be awhile before things feel truly normal. In the meantime, patience and flexibility is key.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

Are your social media pages successful? Do you get a lot of likes and comments on your posts? This is a great way to gain exposure and to increase your brand recognition, but at some point, you want to turn these followers into real paying customers and clients. How can you make the leap from a social media relationship to a business relationship?

This conversion is tricky. It’s one thing to ask someone to follow you on social media, but it’s another thing entirely if you want those same people to trust you with their money. This is why it’s critical to use your social media platforms as a way to inform, educate and establish trust.

One way to do this is by asking your social media followers to sign up for your emails. Your subscription contacts are a great way to communicate more directly about the different ways the readers can engage with your company. To entice followers to sign up, you can offer incentives like percentages off their first purchases or other benefits.

Another way to convert your followers is to have fun. People respond well to social media accounts that are engaging, entertaining and fun. No matter what type of company you work for, it is possible to let some personality shine through your posts. It is also important for your content to be genuine and approachable.

Finally, keep your content professional. This doesn’t mean boring—it just means to make sure that what you are posting is well-written and accurate. If you have a Facebook post full of spelling errors, your followers may not take your business very seriously. Every post, video, meme or other type of content you post is a chance to make an impression and take another step in converting your followers into customers.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

Perhaps you’ve been thinking about starting your own company or moving forward with your pursuit of that next career goal. It’s not always easy to determine if it’s the right time to go for it, especially after a year of difficulty and massive changes. A careful look at your career and other circumstances can help you understand if you should move forward or if you need to be patient for a bit longer.

One of the first signs is that you are weary with your current circumstances. You no longer find joy or fulfillment with what you are doing, and you find yourself constantly thinking about doing something else. Part of these feelings of weariness and discontent is that you feel you have something to offer that’s new and needed, and you want to put it out in the world.

A key component to success is offering a product or service that is needed or wanted by your target market. Perhaps you can solve a problem many are facing, or maybe your services can meet a need in a way that is novel and important. If you have pinpointed how your plans will do these things, it could be a sign you are ready to take the next step forward.

If you want to go out on your own, you will need self-discipline and self-motivation. New business owners or individuals pursuing specific career goals will need to have the ability to be self-starting, driven individuals. This drive and motivation will be necessary for when things are difficult or you experience a setback. If you possess those qualities, you will be able to make it on your own.

One requirement for those who want to start their own company is the ability to expect and face diversity head-on. You will go through hard times, and you will have times you want to quit. To succeed, you have to consider these instances as opportunities for growth and learning. Failures and setbacks are inevitable, but what you do next after they happen is what could make or break your business goals.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

There is an assumption that one must be doing exceptional or purposeful work in order to find meaning in it. In reality, you can find purpose in your work no matter your job description or what you do for a living. Sometimes, purpose is about what your perspective is rather than the greater good. For example, you don’t have to start a non-profit or be a brain surgeon to do something meaningful.

Maybe you work in a restaurant or sit behind a desk, but it is still possible to have a purpose. With a deliberate effort, you can intentionally interject more meaning into what you are already doing. Purpose isn’t something you find by accident or with a specific job—purpose is something you create for yourself. It should be a very personal journey and specific to who you are as a person.

You can have multiple purposes. For example, you can find purpose in parenting your children well, but you can also have a different purpose when you’re at work. Maybe your purpose for your job is self-improvement, helping someone, honing your kills or putting your very specific set of skills to good use. It’s also completely reasonable to find meaning in your work simply because you enjoy it for what it is.

You are not a less important person because you have what you may consider to be an average job. The meaning you find in your work is totally up to you—not society’s definition of it. Whether you love your job or you just love the people you work with, your purpose is what you make it to be. If you are discontent, consider ways you can inject more meaning into your daily tasks and in your overall perspective of your job.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

As a business owner, you understand how important it is to manage your money carefully. Your personal financial health affects your business’s financial health, and it’s critical to learn how to avoid the pitfalls many younger and inexperienced business owners make. Strong money management skills are important, but they are especially critical in the early stages of a business.

One beneficial step is to be protective of your credit score. If it’s low, work to bring it up. Good credit can be important if you need to borrow money in the initial stages of your business. Your eligibility for a potential loan and your interest rate will depend on your score. If you must use personal funds to run your business or take a personal loan for that purpose, be certain you can pay it back.

As an entrepreneur just starting out, it’s essential to be realistic about your financial circumstances. Don’t live beyond your means. Instead, develop a budget that will allow you to pay for essentials and give yourself some breathing room. Living this way will enable you to save and have the room you need in your budget in case the unexpected happens in your personal life or with your business.

In your budget, create a line item that allows you to set aside money to establish an emergency fund. Having a cushion is essential in the beginning stages of a business when expenses can be high and profit can be low or inconsistent. As a business owner, you will also want to prepare for your taxes each year. By setting aside what you will most likely need, you won’t find yourself surprised or overwhelmed by what you owe the IRS each year.

The key to financial stability as an entrepreneur is preparation and a willingness to sacrifice. You may have to work very hard for little or no return for awhile, but you can lay the foundation for a strong financial future with a few simple steps now. Saving, careful spending and budgeting may be necessary, but these are prudent habits that will pay off now and in the future.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC

Do you do things for work out of a sense of obligation, even if they are tasks that shouldn’t fall on your shoulders? Do you find yourself stuck with certain responsibilities because you feel like you don’t have a choice but to agree to them? You could feel stuck, but the reality is that you always have a choice.

You have the power, the ability and the right to control your time and energy. This is not to say that you will never have to do anything you don’t want to do, but it means you can learn how to speak up for yourself and protect your time.

One way you always have a choice is with your attitude and perspective. You may be doing something you don’t enjoy or don’t want to do, but you have the right to decide how to approach it. You don’t have to have a victim mentality if you don’t want to. Consider how these less-than-desirable things could be helping you develop skills or gain inexperience in new ways.

You may be subject to the demands of your employer, but you don’t have to be subject to mistreatment or requirements out of the scope of your job. If you are constantly being tasked with things that should be the responsibility of someone else, you should speak up. You deserve to be fairly compensated for your time and the work you do.

While you may not always be able to control everything about your work, you can always control yourself. You get to decide on your attitude, your effort and your perspective on everything. In situations where you are subjected to unfair treatment, you do have the right to defend yourself and respectfully pursue a resolution to your concerns. If you feel out of control over something, ask yourself what about the situation can you control.

By Meagan Kerlin for Vertu Marketing LLC