Have you ever not eaten a new food because you were afraid that it might taste bad?

Have you ever not gone out with a new group of people even if you wanted to?

Have you ever not delivered a presentation even though you knew it would bring amazing benefits to you?

Fear stops us from experiencing and living life to the fullest. We feel fear when we feel a negative outcome may arise out of a situation. As a result, we often try and avoid the situation completely to prevent the potential harm.

This is completely normal. In fact, fear is a core human mechanism which gave us the fight-or-flight instinct which helped us survive as a race.

However, in modern times, fear is often restricting as it attempts to protect us from emotional danger. This is the fear that our emotional state or feelings may be negatively impacted by a situation. Unfortunately, this creates huge mental barriers to go out and do what you truly desire like meeting new people, making new friends, moving city or going out and speaking to an audience.

Recently, I have been taking steps to really understand and embrace fear. These are the three steps that aided me significantly:

Embrace the fear

Trying to lock the fear away will not work.

Fear is a core part of our emotional state. It is what makes us who we are. Trying to hide part of yourself from yourself is only going to lead to more internal complexities occurring.

Just like with your insecurities, you have to embrace them; opening up and accepting yourself for who you are is key to improving yourself and overcoming your fears.

See Also: 3 Simple Ways To Overcome Your Deepest Insecurities (And Become Happier In the Process)

Tackle the fear bit by bit

I have found that being overwhelmed often does more harm than good.

When you get chucked in the deep end, you often develop a negative connotation with the feeling. As a result, it may damage your progress to embracing and overcoming your fears.

Instead, I suggest you start small.

If you are scared of public speaking, do not just got out and present to 1000 people. Start by speaking to yourself in the mirror.

After that, express yourself more openly to friends and family. Let them judge and criticize you. Embrace the feeling and realize that the feeling is manageable.

You can then use this as a stepping stone to slowly get a little bit out of your comfort zone each time. Slow, steady and consistent progression is better than trying to do too much too fast and pushing yourself further away from your goal as a result.

See Also: Overcome Your Fear of Making a Presentation

Appreciate the positives

Fear develops when you fear the negative events of a situation occurring. On the other hand, excitement is when you are looking forward to the positive outcomes from a situation.

We actually elicit a very similar physical response when we feel fear or excitement. It is the net positive or negative interpretation of the outcomes that may occur which ultimately determine if we are going to be fearful or excited.

In order to make this transition from fear to excitement, try and visualize all the good things that could happen from facing the fear such as meeting amazing people, going to incredible places, or having mesmerizing experiences. Do you really want the fear of your emotional state being affected a little stop you from benefiting from all these positives?

Using the break-it-down method from step 2 will also help you appreciate these positives. When you tackle very small components of the fear, the potential negative impact will be minimized whilst still experiencing the positives. Slowly, you will develop a positive connection to the experience and will look forward to experiencing it more. You will start to value the potential benefits of the situation over the negatives, and as a result, the fear will turn into more of an exciting opportunity.

These 3 steps really helped me make significant advances in helping myself overcome my fear. If you implement these I am sure it will help you too.

 

 

 

The post 3 Actionable Steps To Help You Overcome Fears appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gKywxW

The biggest obstacle to our success as business owners is often not a lack of knowledge or resources, but rather our ability to manage time. As a freelancer, I’ve had the opportunity to experiment with several time management strategies over the past few years. Here are four of them that I’ve found especially useful for maximizing productivity.

Here are four of them that I’ve found especially useful for maximizing productivity.

Expand your Einstein window

Your Einstein window is the time of the day when you’re the most mentally alert and productive. If you’re not sure when that is for you, ask yourself if you’re a morning person or a night owl – this should give you a pretty good hint.

You can get more productive hours out of your day by designing your sleep schedule around this critical window.

I’m a morning person – my brain goes down with the sun. To make the most of those early morning power hours, I trained myself to go to bed two hours earlier during the week. This has allowed me to extend my Einstein window by two hours, which makes a huge difference to my overall productivity.

By training my body to follow a regular sleep schedule I’m able to fall asleep faster than I did before, and I wake up feeling more alert and energetic.

When you’re designing your own sleep schedule, make sure to allow for the time it takes you to fall asleep or you’ll be setting yourself up for burnout. The full recommended eight hours of sleep plus an extra 30 minutes to an hour may seem like a lot, but it’ll keep you at your best in the long term.

Schedule habits instead of tasks

As freelancers and business owners, our workdays are made up of many different activities: marketing, managing inventory, bookkeeping, feeding the content machine, managing contractors, working with clients, and so on.

While a bit of variety is refreshing, many of us have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the entrepreneurial lifestyle. We associate routine with those poor sods working a 9-to-5, label it restrictive, and carry on in our fragmented schedules – which, let’s face it, are often high on task volume and low on results.

A great way to avoid this trap is to use a habit-tracking app to manage the day’s activities (I’m currently using Strides). Whereas before I kept a list of writing tasks that I wanted to complete in a day, I’ve now consolidated them into one daily habit: “Write 2 Hours.”

The beauty of thinking in terms of habits rather than tasks is that you’ll simplify your to-do list and achieve momentum – that steep curve in productivity that happens when you consistently apply yourself to a routine.

As an added benefit, you’ll waste a lot less time and energy making decisions, since the bulk of each day is already planned out for you.

A smart routine is liberating, not restricting. And once something becomes a true habit, it’s easier to do it than it is not to do it, and that’s when you start to see real follow-through.

Pull the kill switch on procrastination.

Procrastination is a major hazard for the self-employed. In reality, the act of making that unpleasant phone call you’ve been avoiding will only take up five minutes of your day. Left unresolved, it takes up too much mental real estate and prohibits you from moving ahead with confidence.

If you want to experience an immediate boost in productivity and motivation, make a list of the tasks you’ve been actively avoiding and commit to handling them before you do anything else.

If it’s a task that you absolutely hate, go ahead and outsource it. In many cases, the cost of hiring someone is minor compared to the cost of inaction.

See Also: 5 Reasons to Outsource Your Crazy Life 

Don’t spread yourself too thin.

The fewer goals you commit to at a time, the more time and energy you’ll be able to put into those goals, and the better results you’ll ultimately get.

For ambitious people, this is easier said than done. It means some of your goals will have to fall by the wayside – for now, at least. Personally, I’ve tried all kinds of clever ways to work multiple large-scale projects into my schedule. You’ve probably done the same. In the end, you probably didn’t get the results you’d hoped for.

In my own experience, the sweet spot is two, maybe three, major goals at a time. If you focus your efforts in this way, you’ll be able to devote a good chunk of time daily or weekly to each goal, retain the passion you initially felt for it, and build up the momentum that’s so important to successful execution.

See Also: 10 Productivity Musts for Freelancers 

 

The post 4 Productivity Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gEnlsr

The cloud has become more and more prominent in the technology world over the last few years with a lot of software moving to a SaaS (software as a service) format and cloud data storage continually growing and become more of the norm. Seemingly everyone is using the cloud in one way or another but are they getting the full potential out of it?

Everyone can benefit from the cloud in some way but small and medium business owners, in particular, can really harness the power of the cloud to grow their SME. Here are a few benefits of using the cloud and how they can help your business.

Data Backup & Storage

Utilizing the cloud means that you are not restricted by your physical location as it is all online. You are not restricted by the need for hardware and equipment.

This freedom created by the cloud can save a business a lot of money. There isn’t the expense of building further IT infrastructure and the cost of constantly maintaining and upgrading it when technology eventually evolves.

Without all of this equipment, you also don’t need a huge space to house it all. This allows a business to cut back on building costs because there isn’t a need for an unnecessarily large office that is just too big for their team to occupy.

The cloud is also a very scalable technology. It’s easy to increase your storage space in the cloud at any time and similarly decrease it if you needed to.  Compared to physical storage, it’s a breath of fresh air. Your company is spared from buying really expensive new servers for a peak in your business when you might not need to use them in the future.

This all translates to a lot of savings which be instead spent in further developing the company to help with the overall growth of the business.

A Boost in Productivity

Field and remote workers have a lot more flexibility with the cloud as it allows you to work from anywhere on any device as long as it is connected to the internet. It presents a lot more opportunities to get work done.

This drastically reduces the amount of time that can be spent working on documents, presentations, and other paperwork. On the move and with access to the cloud, work can be done whenever there is time. According to an infographic by Sage, there is a potential 400% increase in productivity in companies that have invested in cloud technologies plus a potential one and a half hours saved per day if remote workers did work from a mobile device.

See Also: 4 Free Business Productivity Apps To Help You Grow Your Small Business

Improving Collaboration

You no longer have to wait for a time where everyone can fit in a face to face meeting. The cloud presents a lot of collaboration tools. The abundance of web-based conferencing applications means that any number of people can have a meeting at any time and come together from multiple locations.

Services like GoToMeeting and even Skype can assist you in putting you in touch with collaborators, suppliers and customers who are further away more easily. As well as increasing collaborating opportunities, carrying out meetings like this can also save a business a lot of time and money. There is no need for expensive travel and accommodation and less time is wasted on planes, trains or in the car. Again all of this spared expense can be invested in business development and the saved time can be spent doing something a lot more productive.

See Also: 5 Essential Tools And Apps To Build Your Early Startup

 

The post How Cloud Technology Can Help Your Business Grow appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2hJf0zB

Do you need inspiring Christmas quotes and cards to send out to your loved ones this holiday season?

Friends, throughout the year, our minds are filled with thoughts of improving our businesses,  boosting our productivity and focus, and ultimately creating success. It does get wearying and holidays are the perfect time to pause awhile, take stock, and turn our attention outward to all our blessings and all the people surrounding us.

Send out these inspiring Christmas messages to the loved ones in your life. It’s not about expensive gifts, rather, it’s the simple thought of being remembered that often counts.

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas!

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. – Roy L. Smith

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. – Janice Maeditere

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. – Thomas S. Monson

Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings exchanged, of gift-giving, and of families united. – Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving. – B. C. Forbes

The only blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. – Helen Keller

Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling. – Edna Ferber

The BEST of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a HAPPY FAMILY all wrapped up in each other. 

God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. – Pope Francis

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. – Dale Evans

Please visit SayingImages.com for more Christmas Quotes, Messages and Greetings.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

The post 12 Christmas Quotes about Love and Family that will Lift Your Spirits appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2hiig7U

To-do list and task manager apps can be great as a second brain. They act as a repository for all of the things that we need to do but struggle to remember. These days they enable you to bring all of the things to be done everywhere you go and on whatever platform you are using, whether that be a mobile phone, tablet or PC.

However, when you dump all of your tasks, appointments, and random thoughts into a to-do list app, the resultant wall of text can be hard to digest. Some app developers recognized this and responded with innovative ways for people to handle daily tasks.

Let’s review some of the options available.

Droptask

Using Droptask is like being given free rein with jelly beans in a candy shop. Droptask has a fun and vibrant interface that is a delight to use.

Tasks are represented as circles with a collection of circles forming a project. Each circle can have additional information such as urgency or importance. The circle size can also be adjusted to indicate how much effort is needed for the task.

Droptask has native apps for Windows, IOS, and Android but it is really on the PC’s bigger screen that the unique user interface excels. Droptask can also be used across a team so tasks can be assigned to team members, comments entered for each task and files attached. The latest version of Droptask also brings a new Kanban style view. This shows all tasks a.k.a. circles arranged in vertical columns.

The Business version is at $8.25 per user per month as of writing. This removes the one-project restriction of the free version and enables a host of other features including team calendars, Google and Evernote integration and the new Kanban style workflow.

Priority Matrix

Priority Matrix is based on the Eisenhower matrix which uses four quadrants to categorize tasks by urgency and importance. From a quick glance at the relevant quadrant, you can immediately see which tasks are to be focused on. If urgency and importance are not the key categories in your tasks, fear not for they can be configured to your particular needs such as task category or status. Any of the four quadrants can be filtered and you can then see those tasks in the quadrant view, as shown below or alternatively as a list or Gantt chart.

Not only does Priority Matrix provide a framework for personal task organization, it can also be used for distributed teams. This app supports chat for team members, running records of all changes made, and file uploads.

Priority Matrix supports many of the common platforms with native apps available for Windows, Mac, Android and IOS. The Pro version comes at $12 per month and essentially brings team functionality to the table including project templates, chat, and team delegation.

See Also: 20 Best Productivity Apps and Programs for 2017

Trello

Trello is a visually appealing app that is based on the Kanban methodology. Traditionally, Kanban has been implemented on a physical notice board divided into different sections such as Pending, In Progress and Done. Tasks are then written on post-it notes and stuck to the board in the relevant section. As the task is progressed, it can be physically moved along the notice board sections from Pending to Done.

The virtual realization of Kanban works really well, especially with Trello, the leading app of this ilk. As with Droptask and Priority matrix, Trello can be used not only for personal usage but also for distributed teams or families. You can also add pictures, comments, due dates and even checklists to each task.

Trello offers both free and business class options, with the latter costing $9.99 per user per month. The business features include the ability to organize the Trello boards within collections and unlock integration with other online services such as Dropbox, Evernote, and Slack.

To Round

This is the only app of the bunch to meticulously follow Newtonian laws of motion. In To Round, bubbles represent tasks and these bubbles can be moved, bounced off one another and even respond to gravity! As you pan and tilt your phone, the bubbles topple around the screen accordingly.

Apart from this party trick, the other nice thing about To Round is that it is the virtual manifestation of Stephen Covey’s big rocks philosophy. In this philosophy, big rocks represent important tasks. Unfortunately, it is the pebbles and sand that often fill our time. To Round reflects this philosophy by enabling the size of the task bubbles to be adjusted between teeny weeny little bubbles and bubbles of biblical proportions.

So, from a glance you can immediately fixate upon the huge bubbles, representing the important tasks to be done. To Round lacks many of the features of the other apps such as team task sharing and multi-platform support but if you only seek an affable app to handle simple task lists, To Round is certainly worth a look. It is available and free for both Android and IOS devices.

See Also: 14 Great Apps for Getting Organized 

So, what’ll it be? Boards, bubbles, quadrants or circles? All have free versions so try them out now.

 

The post Todo List Apps for People Who Don’t Like Todo Lists appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gGIAZ0

Instead of asking where you will work, the more important thing to consider is how to make your space work for you. As your company evolves and grows, take a good look at your office space and check if it is still the optimal setup for your current circumstances.

Your working environment plays a pivotal role in your team’s productivity, creativity and innovation. Of course, budget plays a big role in the equation. As much as you may want to build the office of your dreams, startups with limited funds might not be able to turn that dream into reality immediately.

Fortunately, there are different kinds of workspaces now to cater to every budget and need.

Home office

Creating a working corner in your living room, bedroom, kitchen or garage may be appealing for several reasons: it saves money that you can use to grow your business, it saves time spent in commutes and traffic, and it saves the effort of having to start an office from scratch.

A home office offers privacy that may be a challenge in shared working spaces.

However, meeting with clients might be a challenge with this kind of setup. The lack of formal office space might hinder some customers from working with you, as your home location might not be too accessible, or they might associate the lack of formal office space to lack of credibility or professionalism.

If you have a team with you, your family or other people living with you might not welcome of playing host to ‘strangers’ every day.

See Also: 8 Ways To Set Up An Awesome Home Office 

Coworking space

Many startups find coworking space a very attractive option: friendly price, professional-looking workspace, convenient location (as most coworking spaces are located in business districts), and a good community of like-minded people.

As you work alongside other entrepreneurs, self-starters or startup companies, coworking spaces are known as excellent breeding grounds for new ideas and innovation. You can also build a strong network or even forge partnerships in this community.

But coworking might not be for everyone. If you require a bigger area for your equipment or inventory, the lack of space in this setup will be a serious problem for you.

Privacy is another challenge. It might be difficult to discuss new items and strategies with your team without the risk of compromising confidentiality.

See Also: 7 Surprising Benefits of Coworking Spaces 

Shared office

If you are not yet financially ready for a private office, consider a shared office space. You can rent just the right size of working area for your needs.

This option is definitely more affordable than a private leased office. If designed well, it can provide your company the privacy you need, while still offering the chance for you to meet other people (you fellow co-renters).

However, you have limited control on your surroundings, like how you want to color or decorate your office. You also do not get to decide who rents the other spaces, who might turn out to be a competitor or people who are plain bad neighbors.

Private leased office

It is every entrepreneur’s dream to eventually have his own private office space or building with the company’s name on the door and the whole place decorated just the way you like it. This exudes professionalism, credibility and stability to clients, employees, suppliers and all stakeholders.

Before you decide to lease your private office, make sure that you can really afford the costs and long-term commitment associated with it.

At which phase is your company now? Finding that office space that works for you requires research and thoughtful planning. It is a good idea to collect several options so you can properly weigh the pros and cons of each one. Conduct an online search and don’t be afraid to seek the help of experts. Some websites offer excellent choices to fit all kinds of budgets and needs.

The post One Size Doesn’t Fit All: How Office Space Caters To Each Stage Of A Business Journey appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gRgtUq

The success of any business depends in large part on its relationship with its customers. Even if you are offering the best products but overlook the importance of good customer service, then your business will not be able to achieve the desired results.

Ignoring the importance of good customer service is a grave mistake. The best way to achieve a high level of customer support is to ensure that your staff is well trained in dealing with your customers.

The customer service staff is the face of your business. The sales of the business can depend a lot on the customers’ interaction with your team. If the team fails to answer the needs of your customers, then they will most likely turn to other companies who are able to provide better services than you.

Here are some ways that will help in making sure that you provide appropriate customer services to your clients.

Improve Your Customer Team’s Skills

Hire the best people for your team. They should be capable of managing the needs of your customers. Make sure you are clear on the traits and abilities that you are looking for during the screening process.

Patience

The people you hire should have patience. Not all clients are easy to handle. It is possible for customers to be irritating sometimes. It is also possible that they are full of questions and unless their questions are answered, they will not be satisfied. The staff should have the patience and empathy to deal with all types of clients.

Adaptability

The staff has to deal with different customers every day so it is important that they have the ability to adapt. They should be able to stay calm and take care of any surprises that come your way. The clients should have the ability to sense the mood of the clients. They should be quick to learn and implement.

Effective Communication

Your customer support team should have no difficulty in communicating with your customers. Try to speak the language that is easily comprehensible to the clients. Avoid technical terms because not all the clients are experts.

Positive Attitude

While interacting with clients, it is vital that the staff maintains a positive attitude. Try patience and positivity while answering any questions to avoid having long and fruitless conversations.

You should have a good work ethic. Good management skills will help in handling any situation and staying focused on the goals. You can have an optimistic mind if you make sure you have enough knowledge to answer the queries of the clients.

See Also: How to Save Your Startup by Hiring the Right People 

Ways to Improve Customer Interactions

Once you assemble a team which has all the essential traits of a good customer service, you need to make sure that they are properly trained and have the ability and resources to improve even further.

Here are some of the things that can help in making sure that the service is thorough and effective.

Find Common Ground

People will find it easy to ask for help if they have a shared interest with the service provider. It can provide a point of understanding making it easy to solve the problem. It helps in building a trustworthy relationship with the clients.

Be Attentive

It is highly important that you pay attention to things that customers are saying. If you are not attentive, then customers will feel like they are not being paid attention to. If they feel ignored, they will seek out another service or even write bad reviews about your brand.

So, let your customers know that you are interested in not just listening to the problem but also solving it. Make sure that they feel heard.

Admit your Mistake

If you want to gain the trust of the clients, admit to your mistakes before your customers find you out. It is an excellent way of taking control of the situation. Customers will find it easier to trust you and your ability to solve any issue.

Always Follow-Up

Once you have solved the problem, you should make sure that you follow up. There are simple and easy ways of following up. You can simply send an email or use a feedback survey. It will let the clients know that you genuinely care about them. If you want to get more personal with the clients, then you should take advantage of social media where you can interact and respond to comments and queries.

Always be there for your Customers

You have to show that you are always there for your customers. Make sure you are able to meet all of the needs of your clients. You can use several online platforms to make sure that you are able to respond without any delay. You can also improve the customer experience by bringing clients together with the help of social media, conventions, webinars etc.

See Also: 5 Steps to Creating a More Productive Sales Team 

Excelling in customer support has a definite payoff.  The profit of your company will improve significantly if you pay adequate attention to offering the best service to your clients.

 

The post 11 Key Tips for Improving Customer Support appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gDjav0

As of writing, there are over two billion social media users. This makes social media an excellent way to interact with our users. This is also why over 90% of brands use up to three social media platforms for their marketing campaigns.

One challenge, though, is how our users are found all over the globe and thus logging into their accounts at different times. The nature of social media is that everything happens in real time. Users can miss out on a lot of things while they’re not logged in. 

We can’t spam our followers’ news feeds with updates 24/7 so the ideal scenario is to find out the most optimal time to post. That is the key to getting in touch with your audience.

If you can post during the best time when many users can see it, you get to receive messages, likes, and comments and respond to them as well. That’s the beauty of it. If you can make this happen, the users will most likely recommend you to their friends knowing that someone is always at the other end waiting to reply to any queries.

In this post, we will help you identify the optimal time to post on social media sites. We will look at the many different factors that can also contribute to making sure that your social media marketing campaigns will be successful.

LinkedIn

Each social media site has their unique appeal. For LinkedIn, with over 300 million users, it is for building networks among business professionals. Over half of the members access their LinkedIn accounts through the use of their phones, checking it out at least once a week. LinkedIn is a great platform when it comes to generating leads for B2B businesses.

As for the best time to post contents on LinkedIn, the most sensible would be during Mondays to Fridays at 10 AM to 6 PM. This is the typical working schedule and most LinkedIn users log in to their accounts during this time. They don’t normally check their LinkedIn accounts on weekends or from 10 PM to 6 AM.

If you really want the best hour for posting, it is at 10 AM to 11 AM on Tuesdays. If you post during this time, you’ll have the best chance for likes, clicks, and shares.

Twitter

Twitter is a popular micro-blogging site that users access both at home and at work. Most users are within the age bracket of 18-49 years old. Twitter is a great source of trending topics around the globe. Just like LinkedIn, users access their accounts usually with their mobile phones while they are on their breaks in their office or even while traveling.

The nature of tweets is that they are short-lived. That is the challenge for business.

For Twitter, the best time is from 12 PM to 3 PM. This is usually during the lunch breaks of employees. In addition to that, Wednesdays at 5 PM to 6 PM works great as well. For B2B businesses, weekdays are the best times. For B2C businesses, tweeting will work best during weekends.

See Also: 12 Awesome Tools For Efficient Twitter Searches 

Facebook

Now let’s proceed to the social media platform with the most number of users reaching up to 2 billion. Facebook is both used at work and home. It is accessed both through a computer and through mobile phones. Facebook is used at any time of the week, weekdays and weekends.

Don’t be surprised that users spend almost about an hour in this social media platform. So the best time to post your content on Facebook will be at 1 PM. Around 3 PM though is the best time to get more clicks. If you want to get the most engagement, Thursdays at 8 PM will do the trick.

See Also: 4 Good Reasons For Marketing With Facebook

Takeaway

Now you know the best times to post on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. You can take full advantage of this information so you can make the most of your content marketing strategy. All you need to do now is to create the best content possible.

Make sure to share something that your audience will find valuable, informative, and interesting. If you can do this, you will surely get the clicks, shares, likes, and comments that you are hoping to get.

Don’t be afraid to try new things and experiment with other schedules and other types of contents. The techniques and results vary from business to business so make sure that you learn what you can about the things that will work best for your business.

Once you know the right formula, the results will soon follow. You can then replicate your technique to other sites as well as other campaigns.

 

The post Finding Out the Best Time for Posting on Social Media Sites appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2hbozIc

Gift giving can be tricky for many of us guys. We’re never quite sure what to get our loved ones, how much to spend, where to shop, or even how to wrap the gift. Perhaps your partner takes care of everyone’s wish list and you have it pretty easy. That is, until it’s time to shop for her.

Here are five tips to help you woo her this holiday season. Follow these and you won’t be left wandering the mall on Christmas Eve searching for the perfect last-minute gift for the woman in your life when the shelves have been picked bare.

Pay attention

Most women drop hints to their partners constantly. They linger at a too-expensive sweater. They talk about the sweet new technology a friend has. They mention how much they love the boots their co-worker was wearing at the office party.

We can be more intentional about listening for these clues. You probably hear them all the time, but you either do not catch them or just brush them off as small talk. Dig a little deeper when she starts talking about something like that to see if it’s something she’d love under the tree come Christmas Day.

Buy her an experience

Picking out clothes, jewelry, and home decor for someone else can be difficult especially if you just aren’t sure of her taste (even after 10 years of marriage). Surprise her this holiday season by planning a date together. You can book a wine tasting package, buy tickets to the musical she’s always wanted to see, or plan a getaway weekend.

Think about things you have always talked about doing and pull strings to make them happen. She’ll love your thoughtfulness and intentionality with this gift, especially if you do all the legwork (like arranging childcare).

See Also: How to be a Good Husband to Make Your Life a Bed of Roses 

Pamper her

Mothers are always taking care of everyone. It’s in their nature. So this year, take care of her. There are probably several luxuries the woman in your life would love to have but would never splurge on for herself.

Buy her a certificate for a massage, pedicure, or facial. Score even more points if you plan it with a friend’s husband and get it to where your ladies can go together. She’ll be singing your praises over and over as she relaxes her troubles away.

Get the kids involved

It’s so easy to make the holidays all about the kids. But why not teach your children when they are young that life—and holidays—aren’t always about them?

Take them shopping and let them pick out a gift for mom. Or, take them to a local craft fair and let them make something special for her. She’ll love getting a separate, thoughtful gift from her children.

Surprise her with a service

For some women, there is nothing better than having something unexpected taken care of for them. Hire a professional to deep clean the house the week before the holidays so she doesn’t have to worry about it. Take her car in and get it detailed inside and out. Order a meal service like Blue Apron, so she doesn’t have to worry about meal planning and prepping for a few days.

Giving her the day or night off by taking care of something on her to-do list will win her over time and time again.

See Also: 10 Ways To Woo A Girl The Right Way! 

The holidays are a fun time to think about how we can show love to the people we care about the most. Sometimes it can get so tricky and difficult that we run out and buy the first necklace we see or perfume we smell. Instead, think about your partner, what she likes and values, and then take one—or all five—of the tips above and really woo her this holiday season.

 

The post 5 Ways to Woo Her This Holiday Season appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2h4HnuT

Are you stumped on how to transfer music from your Apple phone to your android phone?

Apple iOS and Google’s Android are currently dominating the market for mobile phones. These two operating systems have totally different compatibilities and hardly match.

Transferring music from one device to another of the same operating system is easy but what about when you’re transferring music from iTunes to android? It’s really a million dollar question for sure. Here we have come up with a unique solution. If you follow the guide given here in step by step manner, then you can successfully transfer all kind of music files from iPhone to Android devices.

Here we have come up with a unique solution. If you follow the guide given here in step by step manner, then you can successfully transfer all kinds of music files from iPhone to Android devices.

How to Transfer Music from iTunes to Android

Friends, first of all, I want to mention some things here-

1. Please do NOT try this process if you have a rooted or jailbroken device. It may not work and moreover may harm your devices.

2. Connect your devices to Wi-Fi or high-speed data connection. It’s not a must-have requirement but you can face a lot of issues if you try to do this with slow internet.

See Also: How to Transfer Music from iPod to iTunes 

Step by step guide to transfer music from iTunes to Android devices

Buddy, go through the steps mentioned below and let us know whether you are facing any problem or not. Don’t be shy to mention the issues as this is a never ending process of knowledge sharing.

Double twist: Install the app and you can sync iOS devices to any Android devices and can transfer music files.

Transfer music files through double twist app- PC method

Note: All the transferred files will be synced into the SD card, and you can get those files from the Music folder of your SD card.

Follow these steps –

• Install the app named “double twist” in your computer.
• Connect your phone to your PC using a USB cable to turn on MTP (Mass storage mode)
• The system will recognize the device automatically and will flash a single window for syncing your files. Just going through the options, you can initiate music file transfer immediately.

Transfer music files through double twist Air Sync app- LAN method

This is a paid version of the above-mentioned app. It may cost you around $4.99. Using this method, you can transfer a lot of files within few seconds using the Wi-Fi or LAN. One requirement though is that both devices should be in the same LAN network. Otherwise, it won’t work.

• Launch the app, and it will show a 5 digit password to be paired with the device.
• By entering the code, you can pair up the devices and initiate the process.
• This seamless process can transfer a lot of music files in a minute!

That’s it, friends, you are done! Let us know your experiences and any issues you might experience.

See Also: Hack Your Soundscape To Boost Your Productivity 

 

The post How to Transfer Music from iTunes to Android appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2gjTrt0