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How to find a good honest MLM Company after investing precious time and money with maxed out credit card debt, multiple failures, and not knowing what to do next is the reality many people experience.

After working on-line for years, with more failures than successes; I learned how to create a financial freedom lifestyle by research, careful thought, planning and being comfortable with a business

Jane wanted something to help supplement her retirement income. A friend introduced her to an online marketing opportunity that could accumulate wealth and Jane didn’t need to do anything but set it and forget it. The company did the work and she just received a weekly check.

She signed up with no money for this business convinced that the first year she could earn ten thousand dollars a month passive income. But then her free sign-up came with an up sell including admin fee, a twenty-nine dollar monthly website fee to use the back office, and the company offered a marketing system for twenty-nine dollars a month.

Two months later Jane quit, but immediately signed up with another company and continued joining business after business. Nothing worked. Jane learned the hard way after losing thousands of dollars that getting involved an MLM Company needed serious consideration.

If you’re like Jane and are spending more money than you’re earning; chances are you’ve made a mistake. Are you working in a field that you’re interested in, enjoy and won’t stress you to the breaking point? Are you comfortable using the product and selling it? Are you willing to recruit other people and help train them? If you answered no to any of these questions; it’s time for a new start.

A few tips to help you get starting in the right direction.

Decide how much time you want or need to work a business.
Look for a company that sells products that you would use.
Read the product labels. If you’re comfortable then buy the product.
Research the company, look at the Better Business Bureau Rating.
Check to see if this company is in good standing with the Direct Selling Association.
Learn about the Founders/Management of the company (and research those people.) Are they trustworthy?
When you finally chose a company, read carefully the policies/rules/disclaimers and privacy statement.
MLM marketing is a business that requires planning, setting goals, action, and time. Marketing strategies are critical and can become marketing tragedies; market with caution.

Remember this; Everyone is not your customer. And everyone is not interested in joining an MLM Opportunity.

I’ve only touched the surface about how to find business that you could be successful at working and also have fun doing it.

People buy from people; not companies. Brand yourself not the company. That company may not always work out or stay in business. By branding yourself you can move on and keep your followers.

“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” — Steve Jobs

It’s important to have data of well-constructed and researched customers to understand your targeted groups and boost your firm’s revenues.
It’s important to have a customer journey map as well.

How Customer Journey Map Helps
1. It improves your business revenues.
2. It improves customer experience.
3. It cuts down your service costs.
4. It increases customer engagement with your brand.
5. It results in a shift from your company to a customer-centric viewpoint.
6. It helps you to target particular customer personas with marketing drives applicable to their specific identity.

But, understanding of your customers and their specific requirements could not be an easy job.
It can indeed be difficult for your company to understand what your customers want and what they don’t.
You could wonder why your would-be customer spends a long time checking your selection and adding products to their cart only to close the tab, or why your customers are taking many steps to move from Point A to Point B when, ideally, it shouldn’t take more than just one.
The reasons could be many.
One such reason could be the absence of a Customer Journey plan with your firm.
What’s Customer Journey?
It’s the procedure by which a customer interacts with your firm to achieve a target.
It’s a visual representation of every experience your customers have with you.
It helps to tell the story of a customer’s experience with your brand– from initial involvement and into–with a bit of luck–an enduring association.
Customer journey maps are frequently based on a timeline of events, like, for example, their initial contact with your website, and the manner they shift towards their first in-product experience–and afterwards–purchase, among others.
Visualize the customer journey as a road map that covers every likely halt through the way.
Afterwards, take these crucial measures to prepare your Customer Journey map for your online viewers.

How to Create a Customer Journey Map — 10 Key Steps

1. Decide your targets.
2. Create buyer’s personas on the basis of research. Conduct interviews of your targeted groups.
3. Map out the path with key touch points.
4. Map present states.
5. Map future states.
6. Study your business rivals to figure-out where they click and where they don’t.
7. Decide your platforms on the basis of study.
8. Figure out how your brand story lines-up with your audience and make an affinity plan.
9. Make a content plan with a fixed timeline.
10. Share content.

Wrapping-up, create your Customer Journey Map, if you want to understand the persona of your customers for an improved engagement with them, for increased company’s revenues, and for great results.

The bounce rate percentage can be seen in your Google Analytics. High bounce rate indicates that your website is not retaining its visitors. Before you get anxious about a high bounce rate you must understand the goal and role of your website; if you aim for visitors to take a specific action off your website (such as: calling your freephone number, clicking affiliate banner links, filling a lead form) then the high bounce rate may be appropriate and even warranted. On the other hand, if you are looking to maintain your visitors within your pages for as long as possible so that they are drawn by the content, the experience and the products and/or services offered, then it’s time to consider the following action points:

1. Page load time: is this optimized?

People like fast sites; Google likes fast sites, so much that it is moving towards what is known as ‘mobile first’ index.

Site speed is a major ranking factor and perhaps the biggest reason for a bounced session. On desktop, anything taking over 3 seconds to load increases the chance for a bounce off by 60% or more. Let’s not forget that on mobile, we are talking about a 2 second load time or less. According to Radware data, mobile users facing a 500ms connection speed delay results in up to a 26% increase in frustration and up to an 8% decrease in engagement. Sites that live by conversion rates such as ecommerce websites, suffer huge losses with shopping cart abandonment due to delays in page loading.

There is no easy or quick fix to loading time optimization, but the more steps that can be taken, the lower the bounce rate will be. Some strategic factors to keep in mind include an investment in a better host, enabling site compression of HTML/CSS files, optimize images and enable browser caching.

2. Eliminate Sidebars, popups, banners

Cramming the digital margins of your content pages with ads, offers, and other material, may in theory be interesting for your audience. However, this may certainly backfire due to your visitor being overwhelmed and cause them to bounce. Additionally, Google has already started punishing mobile sites with intrusive pop ups.

You must give your visitors enough time to engage with your content before any newsletter sign-up offers or other promotions are being pushed.

3. Website structure

Your website’s navigation and structure must be designed such that it is easy for visitors to access the information they are looking for. You should avoid multi-level hierarchical structures. Additionally, make sure that your wording is clear; ambiguous content can be a pushing force, making visitors click away from your website and switch to a different website.

The text of your website’s content must be legible. Text size and the contrast between the background and font colors must focus on readability.

Your visitor should be able to find what they are looking for in less than 5 clicks once they land on your site.

4. The world is going mobile

Accessing the Web primarily from mobile devices is increasing every year with over 63% of search queries coming from mobiles.

With this in mind, don’t force your visitors to bounce and take their business elsewhere just because your site is not optimized for mobile devices.

This issue should not be underestimated and can be resolved (understandably at a considerable cost sometimes). A streamlined mobile experience is priceless and your bounce rate will definitely improve.

5. Tackle those 404 and 410 pages

When pages are moved or removed completely from a site but still indexed in Google search results (possibly due to incorrect use of Robots.txt and/or the no index tag) a user may land on a 404/410 page (the first indicating that a page was not found and the second indicating that the page does not exist). The pure annoyance of reaching such a page causes the visitors to bounce off the site.

To combat this, make sure that all of your old pages are redirected to the replacement page or if such a page does not exist, then redirect them to the homepage. It is also a good idea to ensure that you have created a custom 404 error page with a search function and an HTML sitemap of the website, so that users have the option to locate what they were looking for to begin with.

A few closing words

It is important to understand the bounce rate you are aiming for which depends greatly on your site’s offering and call to action. In order to minimize the bounce rate it is clear that well designed websites with high quality content designed to engage with users keeps them coming back for more. The power of social media can also increase the return to your site and this strategy needs to be incorporated from your website to your social media channels and vice versa. You have the chance to bring your audience back; just make sure you are taking all the necessary precautions as noted above so that you minimize losing the audience.

Studies show that over 90% of all on line customers use search engines like Google and Yahoo to locate what they may be seeking out, whether or not merchandise/services, or just plain antique facts.

The subsequent twelve factors will, I hope, summarize a philosophy, approach and technique to the SEO query that’s both sound and powerful, together with giving some useful insight into the industry itself.

1. Content. Content. Content.

Effective, expert, optimized copywriting is the single, most crucial aspect in any SEO campaign. SERPs index web sites based totally on the content material observed on every web page of the website online. With a thorough knowledge of the language and grammatical conventions blended with in depth research, to locate and make the most the marketplace recognition, you can pass a website to the higher echelon of the “SERP’s” (search engine results page) in a methodical in addition to ethical way.

2. Analyze internet logs.

Measure everything, at the least two times, and then test once more. Even as I’d be the first to say that among the strategies that make up website optimization are greater artwork than technology, one wishes to take a totally clinical approach to the effects of the effort. This is achieved by way of methodically preserving a report of, and making an analysis of the websites web logs. There are a number of specialised software which make the task easier however at the naked minimal, one wishes to hold a near eye at the site traffic and their interest while at the site. No matter how well planned the approach, it is essentially theoretical until tested via the effects, which could only be measured via the logs, and a thorough analysis of their content.

3. No one can assure a #1 ranking on Google, or another search engine.

People who promise such feats will both optimize for such vague search time period terms (along with, “green stunted widgets with red polka-dots and icing”) that nobody will ever likely look for, or they are making a false declare, which they don’t have any purpose of keeping, or they’ve an inside aspect at Google, something which they may free, fast, whilst the sincere parents at Google find out about it. The alternative option, that they will take the money and run, is worth bringing up here but I will be polite.

4. Some matters are simply undeniable silly.

You do not want to submit your web site to 50,000 search engines. Corporations which give this carrier are suspect, at pleasant. Eighty five% of the hunt effects at the internet come from one seek engine, which, when you have one link from an established website, or better yet, a listing, will discover your website just satisfactory, on it’s own. 4 (4) search engines like Google and yahoo account for over 90% of the site visitors at the web. As for any supposed gain which may additionally accrue from being indexed in an obscure seek engine in Botswana which makes a speciality of safaris to the Kalahari Desert and gets 7 hits per day; nicely, you determine it out.

5. Search engine optimization isn’t pay Per click.

At the same time as nobody could argue the effectiveness of getting increased visitors and sales, through a properly deliberate, pay-in step with-click on marketing campaign, the fact stays that the conversion fees are commonly low and they end the instant the “pay” stops. With a well deliberate and achieved SEO campaign, at the same time as outcomes may additionally take a bit longer, they continue to produce, and in reality grow, long after the work is done and paid for. Pretty regularly we’ve observed that after a thorough optimization of a domain, only minor changes are wanted on an ongoing foundation, typically associated with new content material and/or new gadgets of sale or carrier.

6. Search engine optimization isn’t witchcraft, druidism, shamanism.

Neither does it require any special chants, ceremonial fires, or vestments, though some of us do want to howl at the full moon, every so often. There are no “top secret” practices which a good search engine optimization can not inform a client, a judge, or his mother, for that count number. The very nature of the net has usually been cooperative and there may be nothing about search engine optimization that can’t be learned, with a heavy dose of time and money. A reputable SEO company will provide you with an object per item breakdown of simply where the money is going. Be wary in case you experience a secretive environment or any unwillingness to reply questions. Whilst there are technical points which might take some historical past to absolutely apprehend, if one has a stable evaluate of the complete state of affairs, a simple rationalization need to be smooth sufficient to give you.

7. Do-it-your self SEO.

Yes, you may execute your very own search engine optimization campaign and discover a legit search engine optimization firm to assist plan and prepare it for you. About one 1/2 of my very own purchasers do a little a part of the actual work themselves, or have their in-house dedicated employees do it, after discussion of the dreams and aims of the enterprise/internet site, a radical website evaluation, complete search phrase studies, and targeted education at the methods and manner of achieving high engines like Google. Those preliminaries are observed up with an in depth program of hints and techniques which the client can then enforce themselves or rent others to carry out. Common financial savings; 30-forty%.

8. Phased implementation.

Whilst many businesses spend lots of greenbacks in line with month on search engine optimization, an opportunity is available so as to pay dividends to you in accelerated income and leads with out the high preliminary funding. The most essential consideration is to have a reputable firm deal with the preliminary evaluation and suggested optimization making plans first. The trial and mistakes approach will fee lots extra, in the end, without or with the favored result. After studying the plan and establishing a viable budget you could implement the plan as finances allow.

9. Bear in mind the vintage pronouncing, “if it sounds too desirable to be genuine, it possibly is.”

Never turned into this greater proper than inside the realm of SEO. At the same time as concrete and measurable profits will usually come from a well notion out and achieved optimization approach, the internet is a aggressive media and we all want to be number one. Be given that a steady upward movement, over the years, will location you worlds in advance of a flash accompanied with the aid of a crash.

10. A thought to ponder.

At stake, within the race for the top, is the very life of your internet site, your business, and pretty in all likelihood your recognition. Beware of any “shortcuts” or much less than moral schemes that anybody may advocate to in addition your business desires. When it is all said and done it’s miles you, the commercial enterprise owner, who bears the duty for any corporation or individual you hire. Insist on knowing precisely what the strategy is and what steps are being finished to implement it. If it appears, within the least, suspicious, ask for and get an explanation. In this case, now not simplest is lack of understanding now not bliss, it can very well be the start of the stop in your business.

11. All incoming links aren’t created the same.

A backlink is the bone of SEO, to build good backlink for site you need to know about Link Building Techniques. Each the relevance on your line of business and internet site subject matter and the pr price of the incoming link decide how precious they may be on your own pr ranking. With Google beginning the fashion, nothing new there, and maximum of the others following near behind, the days of grabbing all the inbound hyperlinks, in any way feasible, are long past. No longer most effective will low ranked and/or irrelevant inbound links not help, they will, in truth, reason a penalty. Link farms, loose-for-all link schemes, automated hyperlink accumulation software, or another fad that does not carefully screen the links and websites they’re coming from will, in the end, do extra harm than right.

12. It is more than just data and figures.

The relationship between an online commercial enterprise and SEO is, possibly, one of the closest of business relationships. That allows you to be powerful, a SEO must recognize now not best the data and figures relating the endeavor, but s/he should know something of the goals and aspirations of the commercial enterprise principals. Matters which do not typically pop out in a prospectus are regularly useful information when attempting to find the “right fit” into the complex international of the internet. My personal clients sometimes ask, due to the frequency of my calls and e-mail in the early stages, “am I your only customer?” I normally snigger and say something to the impact that until I recognize your business almost as well as you do, yes, you’re the simplest one which counts.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

“Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin C Bliss

Do you feel as if you’ve outgrown your circle of friends? Perhaps you do not feel safe or understood any longer. There may be fewer and fewer things you can share with people in your habitual circle, and it leaves you feeling lonely or isolated. If so, you are not alone. Welcome to one of the core dynamics of continuous growth!

As we continue to evolve, many of us struggle with a sense of not quite fitting in with our traditional community or tribe: we may have expanded or changed beyond the borders of tribal norms, and no longer find the same sense of belonging there. Other members may have tightened the tribal rules to foster a sense of security. As a result, we may feel a sense of disconnection or alienation.

In truth, each one of us belongs to many tribes simultaneously: there is your original tribe – the family you were born into – and then there are all the communities of choice you have joined: your work tribe, your social circles, your faith-based community, your neighborhood, and more. These communities are not static; they are in continuous flux because they consist of individuals who are in continuous states of change. When there is a lot of change happening in either the individual or the community, a sense of dissonance results.

How are we to deal with this? First, it is important to recognize that tribal allegiances were historically forged for survival. They were adapted over the course of centuries to ensure the safety and survival of the group. Survival required that individuation be sacrificed for the trade-off of security.

In modern society, the tables are flipped. Whether we enjoy it or not, change is essential for survival at every level of being. The pace of change is driven by technological advances and happens with increasing rapidity: sociologists estimate that more change has taken place in society over the course of the past 100 years, than in the totality of the previous 6,000 years. Individual adaptation now is a requirement for survival, and the pace of individual change does not always match the pace at which our various tribal communities evolve. The resulting dissonance can cause intense friction and pain.

Dissonance also results from confusion between the concepts of ‘connection’ and ‘community.’ We tend to equate one with the other, when they really relate to different qualities. Connection relates to connectivity: the objective physical technology or media that enables us to build community, but which does not represent the quality of that community. Connectivity simply offers the opportunity to connect with others through internet, texting, phone calls, or any other social networking options.

Community is the result of building relationship through meaningful interaction over time. There is no shortcut; it is a process that develops when bonds of trust and intimacy are nurtured and honored.

And here lies a caveat: When we confuse connectivity with community, we depersonalize the sacred nature of true community and start relating to people as objects. Instead of developing intimacy over time, we collect friends on social network sites or try to buy people’s allegiance. Yet friending is simply an act of connecting; it does not create intimacy.

In fact, social experiments indicate that technologically dominated connectivity results in alienation and social collapse over time. In a groundbreaking social experiment conducted by Josh Harris, one of the founders of social networking on the internet, he found that the more people’s private lives were exposed by 24/7 technology, the more their sense of intimacy and relationship deteriorated until the community collapsed in violence and self-destructive behavior.

It is time to revisit our concepts of community so we can create tribes that offer a true sense of intimacy and belonging.

In his 1987 book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, psychologist M. Scott Peck described several core characteristics of true community. Beyond the obvious components of inclusivity, commitment and participatory consensus, Peck pointed out the quality of embracing diversity through realism. When each member contributes their unique viewpoint from a place of humility and goodwill, the community benefits from a broader perspective in which to better grasp the full context of a situation. In other words, mutual tolerance helps members to embrace one another’s different viewpoints as an integral part of the whole, instead of imposing a forced compliance to groupthink or cohesion.

In an environment like this, members experience and express compassion and respect for one another. They allow others to share their vulnerability, to learn and grow, and to express who they truly are. When conflict arises, they learn to resolve it with wisdom and grace. Members listen to and respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, and commit to find solutions together rather than to fight against each other. Indeed, the true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. The source of this spirit may be seen as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Does this description of community sound spiritual to you? It is indeed, because Spirit is the common denominator among all of us, regardless of how separate we feel from others.

As human beings, we often experience a socio-economic sense of separation from others because of different opinions, beliefs, expectations, language, culture, or interests, since each one of us expresses these in a way uniquely different from anyone else. And still, we continue to differentiate! In this ongoing process, we continue to evolve or devolve in response to life. A community that felt like a good fit last year may no longer work today; the places where we felt embraced, now may suffocate us. Over the course of a lifetime, we can expect to outgrow and change allegiances to many of the tribal communities we once belonged to.

And yet, when we transcend the layers of physical appearance, mental beliefs and socio-economic conditioning, we find in the presence of Spirit a common denominator in everyone around us. Perhaps it is time to expand our tribal definitions to embrace a spiritual community that includes all of mankind as children of God.

Mother Teresa admonished her nuns to see Jesus in every leper they encountered, to find His presence as they looked into the eyes of the homeless. When we can look past the issues that divide us to find omnipresent Divinity in each other, we will uncover the foundations of true community.

Spiritual community transcends all socio-economic borders, beliefs and backgrounds. It is inclusive because it operates on voluntary self-responsibility and mutual compassion, and its doors are open to everyone.

Building this type of community takes time: time to listen, to hear, to respond and to participate. Take a few moments to read the description of spiritual community again. Then, make time in your life to foster that type of connection with people who matter to you. You are one of the architects of community in your life, and you can participate in building a tribe where you belong.

What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is right now? Can work-life balance be achieved? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?

What is the challenge we face? I sometimes find that time spent at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, home-schooling children, and sometimes even doing a side hustle. Imagine also the full-time home-based entrepreneur. How do they manage to do all they need to do in a day?. We are living in a time when many entrepreneurs and even company employees have adopted work- at – home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines become blurred between home and work. These blurred lines and constraints on the limited resource called time result in over-worked, under-rested, burnt-out individuals. Whilst good time management has been encouraged and indeed, embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done in changing the mindset for the elusive work-life balance to be achieved.

What are the tools at our disposal? To manage time effectively at home, there are many interventions one can employ including setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for every task, organizing oneself, and instituting the discipline of appointments. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I believe we need to focus on appointments and see how this can powerfully change the course of one’s day regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend. Life is busy as it is without any intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that they are at the gate. These can be friends, neighbors, a salesman of some product you do not even need. I am not promoting regimentation here but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything that we succeed at is because we carefully plan and execute it. I am a firm believer that you cannot manage time if you do not manage yourself thus I implore you to incorporate planning and appointments into your repertoire. I am not talking about something I do not do. I have to achieve many things in a day therefore I set appointments with my work, others, and myself.

Could scheduling appointments and keeping them on the home front help us save time and prioritize? Whereas we have established that it is a normal business practice to set appointments and keep them, we need to abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing all and sundry to have access to us as and when they please on the home front. Please understand where I am coming from. We each have greatness within us but for us to achieve it we need to culture great habits. Employing the use of appointments at home and seeing only those people you had agreed to see removes non-essential encounters especially during the most productive hours. I know this will vary with culture, geographical region, or even level of affluence, whether you live in a low density or high-density residential area, but doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you will work and rest when the time for scheduled rest comes.

What do we need to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You are not always fire-fighting to meet deadlines, You are not always tired because you have not taken time out to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you are a busy person, I am sure you appreciate what I am saying. Whether it’s time to work uninterrupted, family time, or “me-time”, it takes some kind of order to enjoy it.

I am not saying that those that come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they probably are people you enjoy spending time with. Nevertheless, there must be prior communication so that you can attend to your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite disrupting and a whole day can just pass by without achieving anything that you had planned to do.

As we grow older we begin to appreciate that rest and recovery need to be scheduled. The fact that I am relaxing doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to do. One therefore cannot assume that just because you are at home you are available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, spouses need to also set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule a time to spend with their children. When you have some sort of order in your life you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happier person.

In conclusion, I believe that the work-life balance can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal just like it is in the workplace.I believe we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to make only the commitments we can keep.I am certain that setting appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize.