Welcome to the Productivity Blog

When you think about it, whether you're a freelancer, full-time worker or you run your own business - we spend a lot of time at work. In your studio, travelling around to appointments or in the office, it's a huge chunk of time that we spend in our career environment.

It can take some of us a while to settle into a new place at work and this is only natural. And really, whatever stage we're at in our career, it's up to us to make sure that our day is going to be a positive one.

Especially when you're going through a busy or tough time at work, it can be difficult to stay focused and passionate all the time. But I've found that when I feel like this, if I focus on the things in my career that bring me the most joy, they actually have the biggest impact in my life. So today I wanted to share these with you, in the hope that they can also help to inspire and motivate you.

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Do me a favour and go to your Google analytics. Take a look at your traffic so far for the month - where’s most of it coming from? Search engines? Referrals from other websites? Directly? Or somewhere else?

Each form of traffic to your blog is unique, and each is also really useful.

But there’s one source of traffic that’s made the biggest difference to growing my blog and online presence - social media. So today, I wanted to dig deep into how you can increase traffic to your own website from social channels.

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A Branch of Holly started nearly three years ago, and rebranded slightly almost one year ago, when I still had no idea just how vast this online world was. At the time, this blog was purely devoted to lifestyle - music, fashion, beauty - you name it, I wrote about it. I had no huge plans apart from simply to write and connect with people, which I'm sure most of you reading this can relate to with your own blogs. 

What started off as a saviour for a difficult time in my life quickly became an obsession. I loved the process of creating a blog post. I lived for comments and Twitter mentions from my readers. Once you envelop yourself within the blogging community, you come to realise being a 'blogger' doesn't come down to just writing blog posts. It actually means a lot more than that.

Over time, I believe that I've built more than just a blog...

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Hey guys! Today I have the pleasure to write a guest post for A Branch of Holly and I have loads to talk about, so get ready! But first, a little introduction is needed.

I’m Carole, a French graphic designer and illustrator currently living in beautiful North Wales. I’ve been living here for about 5 years now and although I’ve loved my full-time designer job from the start, I’m preparing myself to take the leap and go freelance next month! I know, exciting right?!

I love talking about design, my adventures and inspirations on my blog, and my Instagram is full of the yummy food I eat (oh yes, I’m a greedy girl!) and beautiful places I see. But I’m not here to talk to you about food (although it’s very tempting) - I’ve got the pleasure to talk to you about how I stay inspired and motivated in my fascinating creative job!

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"What does etiquette mean to you? To us, it means treating people with consideration, respect, and honesty. It means being aware of how our actions affect those around us. Why? To help us build successful relationships." 

- Emily Post - 

Growing up, I remember my parents were always hosting parties at our house. I remember helping my mother prepare the appetizers, decorate the house, and organize favor bags for the guests. She went all out and I always admired her drive to throw the perfect party each time. The guests always left smiling, their stomach's full of food, drink and laughter.

Clearly, I have taken after my mother, because I absolutely love organizing parties. Whether it be a wedding or a backyard BBQ, here are some tips to being a great party guest.

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As of 2016 I’m self-employed and now work from home.

I don’t think there’s anything that will prepare you for the shift in work environment – especially if you used to work in an office like I did! So here are my five top tips for new freelancers working from home.

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Choosing a career is never an easy task. Actually getting started in said career can be even harder.

To start with, career paths aren’t as linear as they once were. In the 5 years since I’ve left uni, not a single one of my friends have stayed in one job and “worked their way up.” Nowadays, people seem to be taking a lot more time with their careers, and a side step can be seen just as important as an upward one, if you come away having learnt something new.

And if you haven’t left school yet, spoiler alert, your education doesn’t finish with a qualification.

In fact the “learning process” can be the single hardest thing to navigate when you’re starting your career.

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It is my pleasure to share with you a little bit about my experiences as a new blogger.  I created my blog, Sunny Expectations, nearly four months ago on Christmas Day.  That morning, I had woken up early to a quiet house consumed with sadness and heartache.  My daughter was with her father for the holiday, per our parenting plan, and I was a mess.  Out of a tear-filled, lonely morning, Sunny Expectations was born.

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The dreaded quarter-life crisis of feeling a little lost, unsure and not knowing what you’re supposed to be doing is something I know all too well.

Questions about our futures start off young. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” turns into “What GCSEs/A Levels are you going to take?”, which quickly segways into “What are you going to do at University?” and “What to do you want to do next?” 

We spend so much time questioning what it is that we want to do be doing that, often, we forget to think about what we don’t want to be doing.

I’ll take myself for example, because what better experiences to draw from than your own? 

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I tend to find that setting goals is easy enough, but when to comes down to the nitty gritty of actually keeping up with them, hitting them, and smashing them to pieces, I need a good ol' poke with my motivation stick. It's at this point in the year, you find yourself looking at two different types of people.

The first type are the ones who have every day of their entire year planned, with tricks on how to advance their goals, hit them, and pretty them up every which way. Then they do it all over again, and smash them every single time. They're usually just that tiny bit too competitive with other people, even when they don't need to be, and feel the need to tell you their achievements more often than you'd like.

The second type are a little.. less motivated. They're behind. They're struggling. They ditched some of their goals because, although they knew deep down they weren't achievable, they stressed themselves out over them anyway. They think about giving up and joining a nunnery in order to somehow achieve a level of happiness that their forgotten goals never could bring them.

Neither one of these types of people are bad, and neither is what they're doing. There are just healthier ways to go about your goals, ways that don't involve putting them on a bonfire to crackle away into nothing. It's important to remember there's a reason you made those goals and wanted to achieve those things, and in order to stay on top of them, you've got to have at least half a plan to start with.

So, how do you stick with and stay on top of your goals?

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It’s happened to all of us. You’ve cleared your schedule, turned off your phone and sat down at your computer ready to focus on writing blog posts…only to be drawing a blank when it comes to new content ideas! 

It’s frustrating, to say the least, when you want to deliver amazing articles to your audience but are just a tad hung up with writer’s block. 

In this post, I’d like to help you break down those mental barriers by offering 8 unique strategies you can employ when you need to develop new content ideas out of thin air. 

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If you're anything like me, you dread the question 'what do you want to do with your life?' There are SO many things I could say in reply – I want to be happy. I want to travel. I want to love, and be loved. I want to make a difference, and leave a mark. I want to eat lots of food, and read all the books on my 'to read' list. I'd love to make lots of money, but it's not a priority.

A few weeks ago somebody asked me a different question: What are you passionate about?

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My name is Steve and I am a singer songwriter called Stylusboy (www.stylusboy.co.uk). I have been making music for a number of years and I have done this alongside having a family and a full-time job. In addition to writing songs, I also create my handmade artwork, design and maintain my website, book live shows and promote myself. It keeps me very busy but I love it and I can't imagine it any other way.

People often talk to me about how I manage to do all this, so when Holly posted looking for guest bloggers I offered to write about how I manage everything.

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I am a writer.

Do you know how long it has taken me to say this?

A few years ago I might have said, “Well, I sort of write. I try. Of course, it might not be any good…”

Would I have mentioned my blog? No, probably not.

I’ve been writing – and three years later, blogging - for thirteen years. I started when I was pregnant. Writing the first few chapters of a novel. I’ve still got it in my files somewhere.

After I had my first baby things were difficult.  So I would escape into our small dining room to write. The few chapters I had written whilst pregnant evolved into something else.

I kept writing the same three chapters over and over. Trying to get them perfect. Changing names of characters.  Altering the starting point. That first crucial paragraph. But I was in a continuous loop: chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, then back to the beginning and start again.

Until I joined a group of writers online and set up a blog. This literally changed my life.

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An important part about blogging for business that many overlook is creating a solid blog strategy. Imagine what your blog could do if every word, image, and button was crafted with your ideal audience in mind.

I was able to see the difference a little intention was able to make with my past blogs. The second I started thinking about what I was writing, the content in my sidebar, and how each and every thing related to my goals, I saw a difference.  I started attracting the people I wanted to, readers started clicking to my best content, and my email list grew. All this from being intentional with what I was creating.

Sounds easy, right?

Okay, not so much. There really is a lot to it and it’s a lot to take in all at once. Today I want to go over 6 ways that you can quickly boost your blog strategy.

If you want to follow along with the first two steps grab your free workbook right here!

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Hey y'all, I'm Felicia and I usually blog at The Felicia Renee, which is where I discuss self-care, productivity, being a vegetarian, and much more.

Lately, I have been working on simplifying my life and increasing my productivity. Living a simple lifestyle is easier said than done. I know this from experience while on a quest to find the simple things in life, instead of feeling complacent.

However, once you begin to change your life slowly but efficiently, you will notice that you will become even more productive.

You will notice clarity in your life and your to-do lists will begin to shrink. There are many ways to simplify your life, but these are three ways that I have come to find truly helpful.

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Stephanie Lennox is the founder of "The Authorship Program®”, an immersive 12-week experience which helps writers break through any creative challenge. For more tips for feeling well and writing well, you can sign up for her free author training here.

Stephanie introduced herself to me through the Blogging Breakthrough community and said she'd love to be a part of this series. So of course I said yes! 

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It's nothing new that Twitter is one of the best platforms out there for bloggers.

Previously, I’ve talked about social media myths, a one-stop guide to the basics of this platform and some of it’s latest important updates. Now, I want to talk more in-depth about how you can intentionally curate a Twitter feed to align with your values as a blogger and as a person.

The most successful Twitter profiles have a mixture of three things: their own content, other people’s content and other personal updates, from motivational quotes, to GIFs and more. They also always share content that is completely in line with their vision, because this platform is there to represent who they are. Think of Instagram but instead of images, it’s all about the words.

If you use your Twitter feed purely as a personal account, you might not want to curate it at all. But to market your personal brand whether you’re a blogger, small business owner or neither - Twitter is a really useful tool that can be used to curate a connected brand and introduce it to new audiences.

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The guest posts I’ve got planned to kick off next week almost didn't happen. That was partly because I didn't know if I was organised enough to manage everything, and partly because I was scared that no one would offer to take part. That no one would want to write a post for my blog.

I forced myself to send out that first tweet about it, because, well life is all about getting out of your comfort zone right? And you know what? I’ve got over thirty people lined up ready to post over the next few months. I’ve actually got more than I originally needed.

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