Category Archives: Sport Science Wellness

Sport Science Wellness

LinkedIn – To Open Network Or Not

As an avid LinkedIn user, and as a member of the LinkedIn Open Networkers group (aka LIONs), it is a question I see being asked on LinkedIn and at other social media platforms and services on a regular basis. I actually think that the answer is more varied than simply the two options of "open networking" or "closed networker," and your individual answer depends on you and your objectives in creating a LinkedIn profile.

linkedin training

LinkedIn system

The reason that the question exists to the extent it does, is that LinkedIn has created an online network which at its basic level is fundamentally different to any other Social Media network. LinkedIn positively discourages members to connect to those that they do not know and have not met. They even enforce the systematic structure by making supporting statements in both their terms and conditions as well as their User Guidelines. This is in stark contrast to the social side of others online networks which most will be more used to in the form of Facebook, where chatting and connecting to people who seem to be much like you is part of the whole ethos.

But, and here's the crucial difference: LinkedIn users have an average household income of over $140k, with 80% over $75k, the spammers would see an open network as list building shangri-la! Further, when 60% are senior executives and 90% are college educated, it would mean that any affiliate or direct sale would inevitably come with a high commission return.

LinkedIn market

Hence from a market trust view point, making it difficult to connect is ensuring just that: consistent, believable and hence trusted online networking. Further, that is what LinkedIn's target audience want. They are not used to the fast moving and Farmville-powered coffee corner that is Facebook. They want something more akin to a select and stable club, where one can mix with like minded people, and then be introduced by acquaintances when mutual needs which are mainly business orientated arise.

LinkedIn networking

So, what options are there between open networking and closed networking which can be adopted by LinkedIn users? Firstly, lets be clear here: there is no such thing as closed networking on any social network, including LinkedIn. If you choose to be wholly "closed" in your networking, then you wouldn't even have a LinkedIn profile, let alone connect to known friends whom you work with directly or meet with on a weekly basis. You choose to join a club or network and stay there because it gives you a professional marker post in a popular place, and opens up opportunity on both a personal, professional and business level.

But on the other hand, nor does truly open networking exist. If you were truly open, then you would accept every invite that any "profile" sent to you. The reason I mentioned those statistics about LinkedIn at the start of this piece, was because however difficult a systems designer makes connecting to others, those membership statics much like the challenge of stealing the British Royal Crown Jewels or the Mona Lisa from Paris will always attract ambitious opportunists.

While as a recruiter and CV writer I never encourage non-artiste job applicants to place a photo on their CV, in online networking one of the first signs of a spamming profile is the lack of profile image, or use of one that you may have seen once or twice before: its amazing how many photos of Rod Stewart, Bono and Sir Tom Jones are available! Then there are the names, most often three letters as that is the minimum LinkedIn will allow; or the incomplete profile records of both education and work history: one term at Harvard and a three months on Wall Street doesn't fool anyone!

So in reality, everyone is the same type of networker, but at different points along a line of how much trust they require to develop in others before they decide to offer to connect.

List of Social Networking Sites

This is a quick list of social networking sites, which can be used for traffic generation, or just getting your name out there for marketing and credibility.

Facebook – This was developed for the collegiate market and later expanded to professionals as these people graduated from college. The interface is clean and crisp, without a lot of extraneous stuff. It allows people to connect with others in their own network. It offers a profile and several ways to market yourself to your friends, although you are not allowed to spam marketing hype on your profile or elsewhere. It has many applications you can add to boost your profile or add marketing features to your profile.

LinkedIn – This social networking site has a far more business-like and professional flavor. It is noted for helping people network to find new jobs or business opportunities.

Squidoo – This site allows you to define your brand and even promote and market products. It is more of a marketer's social network and is based on the creation of lenses that are focal points of interest that you want to highlight about your personal expertise or your business.

Twitter – A social networking site with minute-by-minute updates, if that's what you like. It's unlike the other sites, but hugely popular, particularly for mobile phone updates.

By the way, do you want to add a LinkedIn coaching program to your business? If so, join me in Markethive and I will introduce you to someone who provides training. There is no cost to either of these. Good luck.

If you believe that my message is worth spreading, please use the share buttons if they show at the top of the page.

Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Rebirth of Email Is Coming in 2016 – Really?

Email marketing was ignored, under-resourced, and declared uncool and dead during the rise of social media.

email marketing

Now that leased media is morphing into paid media, and paid media is morphing into blocked media, brands are returning to permission-based email marketing to find that it has new synergies, powerful new capabilities, broader integration, and fresh blood.

Prediction #1: We’ll see many more positive media stories about email marketing than negative in 2016.

It has always been the workhorse behind eCommerce, but now email marketing has become a driving force behind content during the meteoric rise of content marketing. Thanks to advancements in personalization, dynamic content, and predictive analytics, email newsletters have become “the new homepage,” in the words of Contently’s Jordan Teicher.

The Rise of Mobile

Email marketing has also become central to mobile strategies. Reading email has been a top activity on smartphones for a long time, and the growing adoption of responsive email design is boosting smartphone conversion rates to make the most of this opportunity. This holiday season has been a breakout one for mobile shopping and the momentum will carry into the New Year. Beacons, geofences, mobile bar codes, and app behavior triggers will further intertwine email and mobile in 2016 and beyond.

Prediction #2: The majority of email opens will occur on mobile devices in 2016.

Prediction #3: The majority of brands will use responsive design for their marketing emails in 2016.

The Integration of ESPs

Email marketing is also benefiting from broader integration across business functions, thanks to more than $6 billion in acquisitions of major email service providers (ESPs) over the past few years by Salesforce, Oracle, IBM, Adobe, and others. Rather than experiencing a wave of consolidation, where ESPs buy other ESPs, the email industry is experiencing a wave of integration, where ESPs are being melded into customer relationship management, digital marketing, and enterprise resource planning suites.

Prediction #4: Another major ESP will be acquired in 2016 by a software titan.

Together, these advancements have elevated email marketing’s stature and put it on a clear path to achieving the 1-to-1 marketing paradigm, as brands are increasingly empowered to facilitate customer journeys and maximize lifetime value. But it’s not just that it’s getting well-deserved attention again—email marketing is actually kind of cool again.

Whereas the email industry suffered an exodus of talent to social media and mobile during the mid-2000s, now there’s an influx of new talent, most notably from the world of web development. This fresh blood is driving the industry in a new direction, one where emails don’t always act like simple gateways to landing pages.

Sometimes the email will facilitate more of a customer interaction before the clickthrough to the destination, whether it’s through hamburger menus, email carousels, embedded video, or live Twitter streams—and sometimes the email will be the destination itself, where subscribers can take action or convert without leaving the inbox.

Pioneered by innovative companies like Rebelmail, interactive email experiences will bring new energy to the industry over the next 12 to 18 months as familiar web experiences make their way into the inbox.

Prediction #5: The first brands will offer checkout experiences that are fully contained within emails in 2016.

The cumulative effect of all of these developments is that email marketing will experience a second coming of age during 2016. It will be a time of accelerating competitive advantage for brands that are committed to investing in high-ROI subscriber-centric strategies. And it will be a dangerous time for brands whose resource-starved email strategies have never matured beyond batch and blast.

If you believe that my message is worth spreading, please use the share buttons if they show at the top of the page.

Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Garret Jacobs wins the N.C. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Competition

This year N.C.. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Competition winner is my brother Garret Jacobs! While this achievement may seem long overdue for some, I knew this day would come. Winning any competition that's open to anyone nationwide is always an accomplishment. I honestly think that his biggest accomplishment just might be that this may have been only his second attempt in entering the N.C.. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Competition.

It reminds me of what may have been his 1st art competition that he entered years ago back here in Burlington City NJ. Each participant could enter  this art competition either as a professional or armature based upon upon the competition rules. As my brother received his armature credentials and setup his table (a little further down from our original spot), I had to get his paintings out of the car from where we were parked. I carried each painting to the new table locations and we sat there as people came by looking. What we kept noticing over a 90 minute span was that people kept taking a wide path around a tree that was about 50 feet from us (where we first parked). Some would even stop, stare and point but we didn't get it.

My brother asked me to walk over to that tree and try to see what people were looking at. So only as the baby brother could do, I did just what he asked. When I got down to that tree to see what people were looking at, all I could do is laugh. As I walking back with both hands behind my back, I stopped and he asked "Well"? I asked my brother "remember that you said that you were missing a painting"? I said that when I parked the car and got the paintings out, I left the painting of your squirrel. The picture of this squirrel sitting upright against a tree just so happen to be a similar tree that was in the picture. People actually could tell if something was wrong with the squirrel because it never moved. One lady said she walked passed the squirrel twice then told others. Needless to say Garrett Jacobs won but loss this art competition if I remember correctly. They gave him 1st place in the armature division, banned him from future competitions because they said that he should have entered as a professional.

For years I've watch my brother paint one masterpiece after another, only to white them out and draw over them again, I can remember doctors would want to be my friend in hoping that it could land them a little closer to one of my brother paintings. He even had a couple of doctors that were willing to produce his prints and get him started but I know "trust" was big to him. In winning this year N.C.. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Competition, I hope this gets him started. Whether it's the hair popping of the painting or almost seeing what these animals are looking at through the detail of the animal eyes, his life like renditions of wildlife is something the world needs to see.

Please revisit this post as I will try to update you when his 2016 award winning 2016 North Carolina Duck Stamp prints becomes available. See the North Carolina Washington Daily News press release article about Garrett Jacobs winning the 2016 North Carolina Waterfowl Conservation Stamp Competition at http://hive.pe/c5

Bruce Jacobs
 

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

TRULY FREE Stock Photos & Images For Commercial Use

DSLR Camera Image

 

Here's a quick post which i thought would be really helpful (if you didn't already know this).

Whether you are a designer, developer, blogger, marketer or do any kind of work online, you may find yourself in a situation where you NEED high-resolution images which are free for you to use on your commercial and personal creative projects.

Well, I do all of the above and it used to be really tough finding free images i could use on commercial projects that were truly free.. not just 'royalty free'. 

It seemed 'free' meant different things to different people and my dictionary was clearly different from theirs. 

I've now come up with my own personal Library of sites that provide high-resolution images that are free for commercial and personal creative projects, and I'm happy to share some of them with you – Did I hear you say "some?". Well it's not
because i'm trying to hide the rest.. it's just a rather long list and I dont have the time to do all of them right now.
 
Below are some sites that I've found tremendously helpful. Most are free of copyrights and under Creative Commons CC0. Some do require attribution to the creator though (i'm sure you'd happy to do that). Do donate towards their coffee fund wherever available.. we all need our coffee 🙂

Note : All links open in a new window / tab.

Disclaimer: Rules change. Please double check the site terms before you get yourself in trouble.

So what are you waiting for? In the words of RAUMROT.COM

"TAKE ALL THESE PICTURES AND DISTRIBUTE IT ABOUT THE WHOLE WORLD."

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Blogging Tips in MarketHive and Elsewhere

For all you budding Bloggers here in MarketHive. Once you have posted your article, display the post and use the Share buttons to send it around the Internet … Use StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn etc.. I also use Buffer, as it allows me to share it once and then it sends it Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn all at the same time. I mention this as I see many posts with 0 views and this means that you have not even shared it once to your own social media accounts.
 
 
 
How to Blog Almost Every Day
  1. Read something new every day. …
  2. Talk with people every day. …
  3. Write down titles and topic ideas in a notepad file. …
  4. Maintain a healthy bookmarking and revisiting habit. …
  5. Find 20-40 minutes in every day to sit still and type.
  6. Follow an easy framework. …
  7. Get the post up fast, not perfect.

If you believe that my message is worth spreading, please use the share buttons if they show at the top of the page.

Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

8 Ways To Diversify Your Freelance Income

Want more stability in your financial life? Here's how freelancers can create a more reliable income through diversification.

growing an income

Perhaps whoever coined the phrase "don't put all your eggs in one basket" was a freelancer, because, well, that's one of the biggest financial mistakes freelancers make. If you make all your freelance income from one client, what's going to happen when that client loses their funding? Certainly nothing good. But, if you make your freelance income from ten clients, when one client loses funding, you'll only be out looking to replace ten percent of your income.

There's more than one way to put your income into separate "baskets"–here are eight ways that freelancers can diversify their income for a more reliable paycheck.

Work with multiple clients. If you happen to land a client large enough to pay your entire salary, it may not be the best idea to work only with that client. Keep a few other clients on the side so that if something does happen, you're not wondering how to pay for groceries. The more clients you have, the more reliable your income will be—just make sure you can manage them all. Along the same lines, freelancers should continually be marketing their services so there's a potential client to contact when a current one falls through.

Write a blog. Whatever it is that you do, you can earn a little extra side money by sharing your first-hand knowledge. One way to do that is through blogging. While creating a successful blog takes time and effort, it's a good way to add an extra income source. And if worse comes to worse and you don't make any money from your blog, you at least have a great website to show potential clients that you know your stuff.

Write an eBook. Many bloggers expand their income through eBooks. While a blog earns money through advertising, eBooks are ad-free and earn income through the sale of the book itself. Many readers prefer getting their information through eBooks because the form is much easier to use and typically offers more information than a typical blog.

Teach a class. Another way to earn extra income by sharing the knowledge you have of your field is through teaching a class. While you can go the old fashioned way and actually teach a local class, you could also teach online for an even farther reach. Using a platform like Udemy or Open Learning, creating an online class is easier than you may think. There is a big time investment involved—though if you already have material like a blog or eBook on the same topic to work with, it's much easier to get set up with an online class.

Sell a digital product. There are many more possibilities of diversifying your income without selling an eBook. If your expertise lies in graphic design, for example, you could create and sell graphics such as clipart or templates for businesses to use for marketing materials. There are a lot of possibilities here, including stock photos and templates for different software programs.

Sell physical goods. While it takes a bit more of a financial risk, you could also sell physical products, ideally related to your area of expertise. Graphic designers and photographers, for example, could sell their designs on t-shirts and other items through a company such as Cafepress. If you created an eBook, you could could sell a physical copy too.

Use affiliate links. Many online stores pay for the links that send them traffic, it's called affiliate linking. If you have a blog or social media network with a large following, you could earn a little extra by using affiliate links. Popular sites with affiliate links are Rakuten Affiliate (formerly LinkShare) and Amazon Associates, though there are many more.

Expand your services. Having a niche area is a great way to show that you are an expert, instead of the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kind of freelancer. But there is such a thing as being too narrow. One way to diversify your income is to start offering more than one service, ideally, something that's similar to your primary focus. For example, if you are a copywriter specializing in blog posts, it's an easy step to also start offering landing page content or e-mail marketing. The best way to expand is to offer another service that caters to the same business as the first. If your target audience for your first service is businesses, but for the second is families, it will be tough to market properly. Instead, try adding a service that your current and past clients might consider adding.

Freelancing, and the unpredictable income that comes with it, can be pretty scary. A great way to lessen the fear and create more stability is by adding other revenue sources. The first and biggest way is to work with a wider number of clients. But, by offering things like a blog, an ebook, online courses, digital or physical products, affiliate links or additional services, you can create a more reliable income that comes from a variety of sources.

What do you think? Have you ever worked for free? How did it turn out?

If you believe that my message is worth spreading, please use the share buttons if they are visible on this page.

Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Your Healthy Body Challenge

If a healthy body is part of your healthy new years resolution, then here's a possible simple solution. There's a great wellness company that I love that has a nutritional program called the Healthy Body Challenge. You asked for it and now you have it all in several wellness packages options just waiting for you. The healthy body challenge program with Youngevity products is not just about how to loose weight to feel better.

Youngevity products are at the base of so many healthy people from around the world.  What seperates their science-based high quality nutrition from others to me is how they share with you the science of appliation. Just having the best products now days is not good enough if you don't know how to apply them. Supporting your health with targeted quality nutrition in the proper amounts allows provides a solid foundation for your body in reaching your healthy goals

Now is your time reach for your New Years healthy goals. There are several healthy packages based of what healthy goals you may have. But don't just get healthy by yourself, help someone else too. ow many times have you or others you know got off their healthy track because it got lonely. You will be amazed how much better it will be when 2 or more are on the same healthy trail. Oh and by the way the Youngevity Healthy Body Challenge can reward you enough money towards the basic Healthy Start Pak, making your almost free!
 

You heard the saying "Misery Loves Company", well your health loves good company too! 

 

Bruce Jacobs
Youngevity Indep. Rep ID# E100397
More Healthy Start Videos – Click Here Now

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Absorbing nutritional supplementation

Healthy eating and nutritional supplementation is a great start towards your new years healthy goals. As a famous doctor still says "It's not so much what you eat but more so what we don't eat is what killing us". Then when I heard him say " You are what you absorb", everything started to make sense. So many of us are under the belief that our body breaks down everything that we consume, absorb it then and distribute every nutrient to where its supposed to go.

What if we consume nutrients that counteracts the food breakdown process? Or better yet, what if we don't consume the correct nutrients that helps us to break down what we consume? I think its a pretty logical guess that food that's not fully broken down  properly has 2 options. Foods not broken down properly could either just pass through or just sit and wait inside for who knows how long. Either way the so called nutrients are either trapped inside or wasted away.

Once again our consumed nutrients are only as good as your body’s ability to absorb them. proper absorption ensures that your body has the nutrients it needs to perform at its optimum level to support a healthier you. So if feeling younger, having more energy and living longer is on your New Years healthy goal list then you hopefully you realize that the importance of proper supplementation is key. So many people don't realize the importance of what this doctor has identified as what are the 90 Essential Nutrients.

More important is that most of us can not consume many of the 90 Essential Nutrients in the amounts we need (if at all) unless we supplement them. I have come to love the Youngevity’s Pro-Line core of “90 for Life” products that have been scientifically designed for ideal absorption while still being able to deliver the 90 Essential nutrients too. I really believe that consuming these 90 Essential Nutrients could very well help position the body to avoid, and possibly even reverse many of today’s pressing health concerns.

 

Bruce Jacobs
Youngevity Indep. Rep #E100397
Learn more about Essential Nutrients by Clicking Here

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

Skincare Beauty

Skincare beauty from the inside out or from the outside can be easier understood once we recognize what our skin truly is. Whether you're researching WebMD, Wikipedia, CDC or other health related websites, they all agree that our skin is our largest organ. When many people think of our body organs, we so many times think of, kidneys, lungs, liver, heart and others while forgetting about our skin. Our skin absorbs more than just sunlight, harsh airborne elements and water.

Many of us have the understanding that polluting our inside organs with harmful chemicals, dyes and bad nutrients is not good for us. What so many people don't understand is that putting those same harmful elements on our skin can be bad for us too. Many of us forget or just don't know that many of the makeup, moisturizers, hair care products, shaving products, as well as many foods and drugs, contains formaldehyde (used as a preservative) parabens, phthalates, and other unhealthy elements too.

Phthalates is a chemical while Parabens is another chemicals that's widely used as preservatives in cosmetics. You can find that many FDA scientists say parabens and phthalates seem safe, but more study is needed. Wouldn't it make sense that until more  evidence about Phthalates and Parabens is found that it just might be better to avoid them in your personal care products when you can? Do a Google search for Phthalates and Parabens and see what you find.

Opting for products free of Phthalates, Parabens and fragrance-free products and choosing   those that use essential oils might be a choice that your skin may thank you for down the road. After doing a little skincare product research and product use, I found my Soul Purpose products at http://hive.pe/bG If you want to learn about Paraben Free products, Listen to the 30 minute overview of their products below now.

Bruce Jacobs

Visit my Soul Purpose products

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.

Sport Science Wellness

A Easy Healing Perspective

Health and wellness can sometimes be easier than we think. While there are many perspectives relating to nutritional supplementation, this doctor is not afraid to tell you his perspective. The information that he covers has helped me and so many other people in so many ways.

Finally someone explains a little perspective of the various types of medical doctors and their area of expertise. He will also talk about nutrition in a way that you may always wondered about but nobody ever told you.

 

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More info can be found at www.im90forlife.org

 

Bruce Jacobs

This video is never intended to treat, diagnose, or cure anything. If you find this info to cause you to ask any questions, please feel free to consult your doctor first

The info shared here has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any illness or disease.