Project Girl 2 Woman

How to become Proactive – Create your “Proactive Personality”

In life and work, proactive people have a higher chance of getting promotions, achieving their goals, and sidestepping problems in advance.  But can you actually become more proactive or is it something you are born with? 

 

Can you develop a “proactive personality”? And what’s the difference between reactive and proactive? I went ahead and did some research and here is what I have found out:

What’s the difference between a proactive and a reactive person? 

 

Reactive means you act after external events happened. Let’s say your doctor tells you, you need to change your diet cause your cholesterol is too high. Another example would be if you reply to an e-mail after the e-mail window pops up. You react to an external stimulus. If you react only when given a stimulus you are being reactive e.g. when a task is given.

On the other hand, if you are proactive you react before an event has occurred. Someone who is proactive would keep a healthy diet in advance. In other words, someone who is proactive takes initiatives and makes things happen! Someone who is reactive lets things happen. 

Where in your life are you being proactive and where are you being reactive? 

 

“I am not a product of my circumstances, but a product of my decisions!” – Stephen. R. Convey

 

How can you become proactive? 

 

Being proactive is all about forward-thinking. One has to anticipate future events and consequences of situations before they happen.

 

  1. Develop a Plan for your Future

 

In order to take action towards your goal, you need to know what your goal is.  Check out our blogpost on goalsetting. Being proactive helps in all areas of your life. Education, Relationships, Finance, Health, and your Career. Which steps can you take to achieve your goal? What kind of problems might occur? How could you avoid or minimize them?

 

[ READ: Setting Goals Like Smart Women + Free Goal Setting Template and Techniques]

 

  1. Write a Daily To-Do List

 

Next, write a daily to-do list of the actions you can take to achieve your goal. Review the To-Do List daily. Which tasks are proactive, which tasks are reactive? Are the tasks on the list helping you achieve your goal? Start off with the proactive tasks and keep the reactive tasks for when you are low on energy.

[ READ: How to prioritize with the 80/20 rule]

 

  1. Develop skills you think you’ll need for future projects. 

A proactive person thinks about the skills necessary for future projects beforehand. Which projects will come? And which skills might you need? What will you have to learn in order to successfully finish them? 

 

  1. Think like a problem prevention specialist

Being proactive means, you anticipate problems in advance and find solutions before they even occur. Instead of thinking like a firefighter you have to think like a problem prevention specialist. Make enough room in your schedule for emergencies. 

 

[ READ: Simple Productivity Ideas – Discover the 5 Best Productivity Tips ]

  1. Take Responsibility for your life

Recognize you are responsible for your own life. You can influence your decisions and emotions. What are your typical excuses, why you don’t work on your goals proactively? The biggest barrier against being proactive is fear. 

 

Benefits of being proactive: 

 

  • You’ll be more prepared for future events, which means less stress

  • You’ll be more driven 

  • You’ll have higher chances to get a promotion

  • Self-Awareness

So, to sum it up in order to be proactive we need to: 

  • Set our goals

  • Write daily to do Lists to achieve our goals

  • Think Like a problem prevention specialist 

  • See Bumps along the way and prepare counter measures

  • Watch our surroundings 

  • Take Responsibility 

  • Hold ourselves accountable 

  • Be Consistent 

If you want to get informed about the latest updates, please subscribe to our newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on:

 

 Pinterest 

 Instagram 

Twitter

 

Love from Germany,

Julia and Carina

How to become Proactive – Create your “Proactive Personality” Read More »

How to conduct a Competitor Analysis

/Social Media and Blogging Advice

Competition is everywhere – but what else are you expecting with 7.8billion humans living on this planet. Yet, when you have your own online business, or you start your own Social Media account (or Blog), competition is a crucial factor for your success. 

Hostingtribunal stated that 70million new WordPress posts are published every month. 

So if you want a piece of the cake, or better a higher traffic rate to your site, you have to figure out how your competition sneaks more cake off the plate and impresses their readers by their content, layout, and interactions.

A long-term  competitor analysis helps you to:

 

  •     Better understand your market or niche
  •     Estimate your market position
  •     Better target your customers
  •     Define opportunities and threats
  •     See your competitions pricing and product tracking

So how do you conduct a competitor analysis? 

                                        1. Identify your competition
                                        2. Check their content strategy and user interaction
                                        3. Check their products and customer interaction
                                        4. Define their Strengths and Weaknesses
                                        5. What can you learn from your research?

1. Identify your competition:

First, you have to find out who your competition is. If you are a blog owner, you can simply lookup blogs with similar content or keywords used. You can use Google as your search engine or if you are mainly interested in WordPress competition, scroll through your wordpress search bar to find similar blogs. I’d also recommend to check out Pinterest. 

If you try to build a Social Media account you can also lookup similar keywords or check out recommended accounts by the provider. For both, bloggers and social media accounts hashtags exist to build communities.

Like if you are a blogger but also built your social media account you can follow hashtag groups that people are solely using to connect with other blog keepers. (eg:#bloggersofinstagram). Those hashtags can be also used to find your competition. The key is to find similar blogs with a different experience curve. Thereby you can see their actions based on their progress and see where you are at. Eg: You look for blogs that are close to your end goal and blogs that are close to your current progress.

Next, you have to diverse between direct and indirect competition: 

Direct competition is in the same sector and offers the same product. Like if you are creating an online course on how to build your social media content strategy and your competition offers a course with the same title. In this case, you compete with him in either offering a better value to the customer or a better price. 

Indirect competition is if your competition is in the same sector but offers a different product. Indirect competition might not have the same product but it fulfills the same needs of the customers that you want to fill with your products. Thereby it is important to gain the interest of your users. Checking your competition can give you an overview of how they attract readers and how well your own blog/account does in comparison. 

2. Check your competitions content strategy and user interaction

Next, it’s time to scan their blog design or social media account. The first impression counts! How does it look like? What do you find nice to look at and what would you change?  Scan how they chose and built up their pages and posts, how they designed the homepage and how they built their brand image. Anything that looks out of place? You can also check if they have an email list and how creative their newsletters are. 

Then analyze their content strategy: How often do they upload, how limited is their content? how is their writing style and images? How is their color scheme? Is their content unique?

Third, it’s time you see how they interact with their users and other creators. You can check underneath posts how they reacted to comments, if they follow similar communities and groups and if they are actively involved with readers and other content creators. Having close relationships with other content creators can form strong collaborations and push you to the next level.

3. Check out your competitors products and customer relationships

Once you have analyzed the content strategy of your competition it is time to check out their product. What are they selling? What is the product’s quality?  What is their pricing? How do they market their product? How is the buying process for the customer? How is the customer service? 

Thanks to the modern world you don’t even have to invest in their product. You can just look for reviews online and check how well a similar blog is doing. But please be aware that not all reviews are 100% valid. The best is to check it twice or thrice to avoid fake reviews!

Once you see how satisfied their customers are with the product, you can compare their effort with yours. How is your product doing? What are you doing differently? What needs do their product cover? How is their customer loyalty? 

Let’s go to the last point and take a look at the bigger picture: 

4. Strengths and Weaknesses

Once you take a thorough look at your competition’s business it’s time to figure out what their strengths and weaknesses are. The best way is to make a table already while scanning through their content and relationships. 

Why should you set up a table?

As described at the beginning of the post, a competitor analysis helps you see where your competition is at and how you are competing in the market. 

But this is not all, with this analysis you gain important knowledge about how you can improve your own blog, content, and relationships by the doings of your competition. 

If your competition is successful, they already tried many different ways to perfect their business. This gap, especially big if you just started, can be reduced by learning what they are doing. It gives you a hint on how to improve your weaknesses and how to make more out of your strengths.  That’s why the last important question is: What can I learn to improve my own business and get a better market position?

Before I am closing this post I’d like to mention that: Just because you are competitors doesn’t mean you are enemies! The best way to grow fast is to help each other out,  try new things, and to grow as a team. Please don’t copy any content. Implement the newly learned information in your own unique way. (bigcommerce)

If you want to get informed about the latest updates, please subscribe to our newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on:

Love from Germany,

Carina and Julia 



How to conduct a Competitor Analysis Read More »

15 Simple Life Lessons We Learned In Our Early 20s

Our 20s are a whirlwind of decisions, emotions, and events. We struggle with grades, try to find a job and have some fun. We move. We drift apart from old friends and make new ones.

Some of our friends are getting married early, some get really focused on their career, yet others travel the world or seem to change their major so often you lose track. Some of your friends move in with their partner and some never seem to keep a job. 

 

Amongst all this mess your parents are lovingly nagging: “At your age I’ve already built a house and started our family.” No pressure at all mum. 

It is the time we struggle with finding out what we want for ourselves, while feeling the pressure of meeting and/or disappointing expectations set by family, friends, and society. 

 

The 20s are a-mazing! And many lessons can be learned. My sister and I sat down and wrote out our Top 15 Life Lessons we learned in our early 20s.

Lesson Nr. 1 

 

Do not underestimate the water quality in Egypt. Our sensible European stomachs might not be able to handle the tap water. This might lead to extremely uncomfortable situations without any toilet in sight. Not that that ever happened to me mind you . Ps.: What I didn’t know, they of course use tap water to clean the salad and they often make soft drinks with tap water  🤦 .  

 

Lesson Nr. 2 

 

Do not party too much during your first semester at college even though everyone else does. It seems that during your first semester there is an endless string of parties going on. I am not saying have no fun. But I know you want to do great, so just don’t overdo it. Get some friends, who like to study. Tip.: You will most likely meet them at the library! And once the second semester starts, you’ll see how many students had to drop out. Most often they are also the ones you saw partying all the time.

 

Lesson Nr. 3 

 

Take extracurriculars. These days many people study. It’s pretty difficult to get a well-paid job these days. If you want to work in marketing for example – you compete with all the marketing, business, and design students. If you join a marketing club and design homepages for small companies in your spare time, you will have an advantage over your competition. Therefore, try to do some extracurriculars and internships, while you are a student.

 

Lesson Nr. 4

 

Work and study smart. I know you want to do your best. In order to do so you have to work smart. Regardless of whether we talk about work or university.

Most students study the material from top to bottom. This is fine if you start early enough and manage to finish all the material. But how likely is it that you studied absolutely everything? 

The star in the following pics stands for the material that will be tested. Let’s say you study from top to bottom and manage to finish 80%. This means you didn’t study everything that will be tested in the exam. 

 

Top to Bottom:     Important First: 


 

Rather than that focus on the material you think might be examined. Usually your prof will make comments, you’ll get some test exams, or you’ll just have to think like the one who designs the test. Also check out the 80/20 Rule.

The same goes for work there are only so many hours. First and foremost, focus on the important. What’s important for your boss? Which deadlines have to be met? 

 

Lesson Nr. 5

 

Don’t try to find your purpose. I think trying to find your purpose is rubbish. There is not one thing you are meant to do all your life. How are you going to find it anyway? What you do with your life and what you focus on is a decision. In order to make that decision you need to try a lot of things. How else will you know what you might like or dislike. It doesn’t matter which work you’ll do there are always fun tasks and tasks that just need to get done. Explore while you are still young and have few responsibilities.

 

Lesson Nr. 6

 

Don’t live other people’s dreams. Your father always wanted to be a doctor and now you are studying to become just that. Does it really make you happy? Or might it be that you study medicine for your father’s approval? 

Go really deep and think why you do what you do. Have you been influenced? Maybe? Despite that you love your job? Great! If not make a hard decision. It’s your life after all. 

 

Lesson Nr. 7

 

Live alone for a while. You will learn a lot by being independent and on your own. Who would have guessed I can repair broken toilets and fix broken cabinets? When you are by yourself, you’ll be forced to do things outside of your comfort zone. You’ll make many new experiences. From paperwork to making new friends and fixing things. I can only recommend everyone to live on their own for a while. 

 

Lesson Nr. 8

 

Start a side hustle while you still have the time. A side hustle will not only give you the comfort of security when you can’t find a job immediately: it also gives you the chance to learn about finances. I regret not having done anything on the side while I was still a student. When you have a 9 to 5 it is still possible, but your available time is a lot more restricted. Add in a family and it will be really tough. A side hustle can become your future job or help you in getting a job. 

 

Lesson Nr. 9

 

Relationships trump grades. Once I had an interview at a company and they told me I got the job. A few days later they called and told me they had changed their mind. Someone else got the job. Later on, through the grapevine I learned that the job was given to the son of one of the managers. 

Being able to build relationships is one of the most important skills in society. The more connected you are the easier you will have it. 

 

Lesson Nr. 10

 

Be grateful for what you have. I am not saying don’t strive for more. I am saying each moment only comes once. Appreciate what you have at each step of your life. Your family, nature, the smell of freshly mown lawn, a calm morning before your family wakes, a hot cup of coffee after work. Enjoy the little moments and appreciate them. Aren’t those little moments the ones that make our life worth living for? 

 

Lesson Nr. 11

 

Make international friends. They will give you a new perspective. Your community has a standard of beliefs and norms. If you meet people from abroad your beliefs get challenged. Maybe some of the things your culture has taught you weren’t as true as you believe? With international friends you’ll learn new things and grow. 

 

Lesson Nr. 12

 

Don’t strive for perfect before you even start, or you might as well never start at all. Truth is you can always improve something. My high expectations and perfectionism have often held me back from starting something. Accept that in the beginning it might suck, it will definitely not be perfect, and it might fail. Do it anyways and improve on the way. Everyone sucks when they start. 

 

Lesson Nr. 13

 

Don’t wait for something to happen. Be proactive. No one will knock on your door and ask if you want to go on a sponsored world travel. Well at least the chances are fairly low. Are you most of the time proactive or reactive? 

 

 

Make a list of all your tasks and categorize them according to proactive and reactive. 

The first hour of your day try to do something proactive. Take the initiative. E.g. approach clients.

 

Lesson Nr. 14

 

Make time for the important people in your life. You never know how long you will have them. Don’t postpone visiting your grandparents. Don’t skip your family parties. Don’t miss out on your kids achievements for work. Life happens. You think you have so much time and suddenly that person is gone forever. 

 

Lesson Nr. 15

 

Set a good foundation. What we mean with that is: start early eliminating bad habits and establish productive and healthy routines. Someone who brushed their teeth starting at 3 will have better teeth than someone who started at 40. The sooner you start the better. Again, be proactive. And remember it is never too late to start a new habit or routine. 

 

So, to sum it up our top 15 Life lessons are: 

  1. Do not underestimate the water quality in Egypt

  2. Do not party too much during your first semester

  3. Take extra curriculars

  4. Work and study smart

  5. Don’t try to find your purpose

  6. Live your own life. 

  7. Live alone for a while

  8. Start a side hustle while you still have the time

  9. Relationships trump grades

  10. Be grateful for what you have

  11. Make international friends

  12. Don’t strive for perfect before you even start

  13. Don’t wait for something to happen.

  14. Make time for the important people in your life

  15. Set a good foundation

 

What are the life lessons you have learned so far? Let us know down in the comments? 

If you want to get informed about the latest updates, please subscribe to our newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on.

 

 

Love from Germany,

Julia and Carina 

 

15 Simple Life Lessons We Learned In Our Early 20s Read More »