September 2021 - Page 2 of 12

A Sign Of Deficiency In Vitamin D – Which May Fight COVID-19

82% had insufficient vitamin D levels, the results of the study found.

Gut problems are a simple sign of vitamin D deficiency.

This can include bloating, diarrhea, stomach pain and cramps.

Vitamin D helps keep the immune system and the gut healthy.

Indeed vitamin D deficiency makes people vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, a recent report reveals.

Fully 82% of people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are deficient in vitamin D, research finds.

Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Dr Bernard Corfe, who led the study, said:

“Our work has shown that most IBS sufferers in our trial had insufficient levels of vitamin D.

Furthermore there was an association between vitamin D status and the sufferer’s perceived quality of life, measured by the extent to which they reported impact on IBS on life.”

The study included 51 people with IBS, 82% of whom had insufficient vitamin D levels.

Around half the world’s general population is deficient in vitamin D.

From October to March many people in northern climes do not get enough vitamin D.

Vitamin D is found in oily fish, egg yolks, fortified cereals and some margarine spreads.

Most people need around 10 micrograms per day, which can also be obtained from supplements.

Dr Corfe said:

“It was clear from our findings that many people with IBS should have their vitamin D levels tested, and the data suggests that they may benefit from supplementation with vitamin D.

As a result of this exploratory study, we’re now able to design and justify a larger and more definitive clinical trial.”

IBS affects around 10-15% of people around the world.

The cause is unknown, but both diet and stress affect the symptoms.

One IBS sufferer, researcher Vicky Grant, explained:

“I read about other IBS patients experiencing success with vitamin D, via the online patient community.

I wasn’t really expecting the vitamin D supplements to work as I had tried and failed with so many other treatments.

I’m not cured but I have found that supplementation has dramatically improved my IBS.”

The study was published in the journal BMJ Open Gastroenterology (Tazzyman et al., 2015).

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6 Content Marketing Tips That Will Save You Time [VIDEO]

Content Marketing doesn’t have to be hard, there are so many free resources out there to help you. Here are 6 tips to saving yourself time on content creation this week!

Blog Highlight: https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/content-marketing-tips-to-save-time/

WHAT IS DIGITALMARKETER:

DigitalMarketer is the premier online community for digital marketing professionals. It’s a place where you can learn how to market like a pro, connect with industry experts, and get the strategies and tools you need to grow and scale your business to new heights.

https://www.digitalmarketer.com/

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How to Start a Window Cleaning Business

You can start a window cleaning business rather affordably. In many cases, the largest expenses you’ll face consist of your website development, logo design, and business document creation.

But if you have the right tools and can complete some or all of these tasks yourself, you can keep your startup costs minimal.

Once you have your business up and running, you can start building up your client base and enjoy the empowerment that comes with being a business owner.

Starting a window cleaning business doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.

If you put extra effort into developing your own website, logo, or other essential materials, then you’ll be setting your business up for success and saving even more money.

The Easy Parts of Starting a Window Cleaning Business

When starting a window cleaning business, you’ll have a few advantages. The first is that window cleaning is an in-demand service. If you do your market research carefully, you can position your business to solve a need for many homeowners and business owners, making it easy to acquire new customers.

Technology has made setting up a website easy and affordable.

Website builders can help you create a professional website, even if you don’t have design experience. Website hosting has also become highly affordable, so you can make and launch your website for a minimal investment. If you are uncomfortable developing your own website, you can always hire a professional to take care of it for you, making it specific to your needs.

Canva can help with your website design, logo creation, and even the development of marketing materials. If you paid a professional for each of these elements, you might spend thousands of dollars. Canva makes it easy to create these yourself, saving you money…

Put One Big Rock on Your Calendar

The end of this week is your last opportunity to put a big rock on next week’s calendar. Once day-to-day urgencies appear, they prevent you from accomplishing important tasks.

You’ve been meaning to make a list of activities you can take off your calendar and give to someone else, for example. But you’re so busy you can’t find time to do it.

Most can’t resist screaming trivialities.

You can’t schedule next week’s important work next week.

4 reasons little rocks replace big rocks*:

We haven’t identified big rocks. The first step in doing important work is deciding what it is.
We think big rocks require dramatic action. But self-care might be as simple as taking a walk.
Speed makes small rocks seductive. Unimportant tasks are often completed quickly. You think, “I’ll just check off this small thing first.” But you end up chasing small things all day.
Big rocks are quiet. Small rocks are noisy. By the time a big rock gets noisy, you’ve neglected it too long. Think of your health.

*How to do things that matter most before it’s too late.

One big rock:

Put an appointment with an important task on next week’s calendar today.

Think of something you’ve been meaning to do. Schedule it. When someone calls, tell them you’re booked.

Big rocks contribute to the life you aspire to build but haven’t found time to build.

Big rocks expand opportunities.

Big rocks strengthen relationships.

Big rocks maximize your talent. Working on a big rock energizes. Constantly working on small rocks insults you.

Big rocks give meaning. But don’t think meaningful activities are always difficult. Big rocks are often simple.

Big-rock-activities make disproportionate contributions to satisfaction.

The longer you wait to schedule big rocks, the smaller life becomes.

Why do small rocks keep us so busy we don’t have time for important tasks?

What big rock do you need to put on next week’s calendar?

Episode 1511 Scott Adams: Imaginary Whips, Who Started the Simulation, Alcohol is Poison, and How I Will Destroy China

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a

Find my “extra” content on Locals: https://ScottAdams.Locals.com

Content:

Africa colonization with alcohol
Original species and the simulation
President Biden whips Border Patrol Agent
James Mattis $85,000 Theranos investment
Poor White people can get a voter ID?
Taliban public hangings

If you would like to enjoy this same content plus bonus content from Scott Adams, including micro-lessons on lots of useful topicsto build your talent stack, please see scottadams.locals.com for full access to that secret treasure.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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How to Tell If Your Digital Marketing Agency is Doing a Good Job

If you sold your business to Amazon for $1 billion—what would your advice to other entrepreneurs be?

Justin Kan, the founder of Amazon acquired Twitch, isn’t afraid to share the reality of entrepreneurship:

You’re always going to feel like you’re drowning—even when you’re succeeding. Which makes being an entrepreneur incredibly confusing.

Are you doing a great job or a terrible job?

This is an entrepreneur’s, like a digital marketing agency founder’s, existential life crisis. The numbers can look great, but does that mean their customers and employees are happy? What happens when you’ve missed the mark on every single metric you set at the beginning of the quarter…but your employees and customers have never talked so positively about you before?

As Justin explains, these are questions you’ll be asking yourself for a very long time as a marketing agency owner. You’ll learn to love them and to challenge yourself in trying to make the hard times a little more enjoyable by leaning into the unknown.

But that’s easier said than done.

What does that actually look like?

For agency owners, it’s the answers to these 3 questions.

Is your digital marketing agency doing a good job?

You’ve realized by now that your agency lives on spreadsheets and reflection. If you’ve read Traction, you’ve already set up your weekly meetings, figured out what your biggest obstacles to success are, and narrowed down your 3-year and 10-year plans. If not, you’ve probably put something like this together on your own. Now, you’re staring at a beautiful sheet of numbers that tell you how your business is doing.

But what do all those numbers mean?

Great revenue doesn’t always mean happy customers. You could have your best quarter in sales, but your clients are feeling left behind and like they can’t ever get a hold of your team. That’s not the work of an agency doing a good job.

Or, your revenue could be on the floor. Yet, you have extra time to help your clients, and they’ve never been happier with your agency.

Part of figuring out if you’re doing a good job (despite feeling like you’re drowning) is to look at the numbers and the words.

Let’s explain what that looks like with 3 questions you can ask yourself to figure out if your digital marketing agency is doing a good job.

#1: What deliverables did you promise your clients and have you sent all of those over?

First, let’s look at the basics. The foundation of your digital marketing agency is creating deliverables that lead to traffic and conversions for your clients. Your clients can’t get results if they don’t have those deliverables because:

Your team is behind on final edits and can’t deliver them to clients
The team isn’t big enough to create the number of deliverables promised
There’s a bottleneck keeping deliverables from getting created, edited, or sent

What deliverables were promised to your clients—and have they received all of…

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The Best Ecommerce Website Builder – 2021 Review

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best website builder for ecommerce for most people is Wix eCommerce.

If you want to start selling online, you need a great ecommerce website builder.

These are website builders built specifically to help you make an online store. It’s different than your run-of-the-mill website builder or ecommerce platform.

Ecommerce website builders are really the only option to consider if you’re building a website from scratch. It’s much easier than building out the entire website yourself.

I’ve reviewed 8 of the best ecommerce website builders below. Use this guide to find the right one for you.

The Top 8 Best Ecommerce Website Builders

Wix eCommerce — Best for getting a store up in minutes
Zyro — Best ecommerce site builder for beginners
BigCommerce — Best site builder for multichannel selling
Squarespace — Highest quality website templates
Square Online — Best integration with brick-and-mortar
Shopify — Most customizable ecommerce site builder
Weebly — Most affordable for small businesses
Shift4Shop — Best enterprise-level builder at rock bottom prices

I’ll explain the top features, benefits, prices, and specific use-cases for the platforms below. I’ll point out any potential downsides or drawbacks, as well.

#1 – Wix eCommerce – The Best for Getting a Store Up In Minutes

Starts at $23/month
Over 50 payment methods
Build a site in mere minutes
$300 in ad vouchers included

Get a 14-day free trial

Wix is one of the most popular website builders out there. The company has made the process of creating a site as easy and…

7 Truths about Chronic Complainers Every Leader Needs Today

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.” Dale Carnegie

Chronic complainers:

Seek validation. Constant complaining is a plea for attention.
Feel powerless. Complainers see themselves as weak and circumstances as powerful.
Feel powerful when they complain. The only thing weakness can do is affirm itself and disrupt others.
Don’t see themselves as pollution.
Cuddle with problems and bristle at solutions. News Flash! Chronic complainers aren’t seeking advice.
Play it safe. It’s easier to complain than seek solutions.
Blame. It’s the boss. It’s the weather. It’s always something other than themselves. Chronic complainers are blamers. Chronic complainers are happy with themselves but not with others.

Warning: Chronic complainers seek followers.

How to respond to chronic complainers:

#1. Don’t offer solutions.

Every solution you suggest to a complainer motivates them to pile on 10 more complaints. Offering solutions to complainers is exhausting to you and empowering to them.

#2. Open the door for imperfect solutions.

Ask, “How likely is it that we will be able to solve this today?” The answer is, “Not very.”

#3. Create commitment.

Ask, “Can we make this a little better?” Wait for a yes.

Solutions never come from people who don’t believe they’re possible.

Those who aren’t committed find fault. Those who are committed find a way.

Move to #4 only if there’s commitment.

#4. Generate three imperfect solutions.

Ask, “What small thing could you do to make this situation a little better?” (Notice the pronoun ‘you’.) Don’t say ‘we’ unless you plan to get involved.

After generating three imperfect solutions ask, “Which would you like to try?” Making choices empowers.

#5. Establish accountability.

“Let’s get together next week to discuss what you learned and what to do next.”

From your perspective, what’s true of chronic complainers?

What suggestions might you offer for dealing with chronic complainers?

Bonus material:

Managing a Chronic Complainer (hbr.org)

How to Stay Positive When Dealing with Difficult People (happify.com)

A Disturbing Sign Of Vitamin D Deficiency

Up to 50 percent of the population of the world is deficient in vitamin D.

Daytime sleepiness can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, research suggests.

People with low levels of vitamin D are likely to wake more during the night and to have less sleep overall.

Vitamin D levels are linked to both sleep quantity and quality.

From October to March many people in northern climes do not get enough vitamin D.

As many as 50 percent of the world’s population is thought to be deficient in vitamin D.

Most people need around 10 micrograms per day, which can also be obtained from supplements.

Other signs of vitamin D deficiency include low mood, muscle fatigue, difficulties with learning and memory, gut problems and headaches.

The vitamin is thought to play a role in regulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter important for mood.

Foods that are rich in vitamin D include oily fish and eggs, but most people get their vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin.

Vitamin D is critical to the functioning of the whole body.

Some of the main risk factors for having low vitamin D levels are:

being female,
poor dietary habits,
being older,
living in northerly areas,
and less exposure to sunlight.

The study included 81 people who had sleep problems.

Vitamin D levels were found to be lowest in those with the most daytime sleepiness, the results revealed.

Dr David McCarty, the study’s first author, said:

“While we found a significant correlation between vitamin D and sleepiness, the relationship appears to be more complex than we had originally thought.

It’s important to now do a follow-up study and look deeper into this correlation.”

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (McCarthy et al., 2012).

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10 Product Announcement Email Examples (and What you can Learn from Them)

Research shows that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42. Compare that to paid advertising where the average ROI is $2 for every $1 spent.

You can see why email is such a crucial part of an effective product launch strategy.

Email is profitable because it allows you to talk directly to your audience. You don’t have to rely on ever-changing algorithms and hope your message reaches the intended segment. Email gives you a direct, unobstructed means of communication, thus a bigger return.

In this article, we’ll cover what’s needed to grab attention in a stacked inbox. Then, we’ll break down 10 successful product announcement emails, looking at why they work and what you can learn from them.

Winning the fight for inbox attention

Whether it’s a new product launch, product update, or upcoming event invitation, the aim of a product announcement email is always the same. It should:

Get the word out to as many people in your target audience as possible
Educate customers on features, benefits, and availability
Convince customers to take action

To achieve any of these things, you need to get your email seen. This means winning the battle for inbox attention. With around 320 billion emails sent and received every day, this is no easy feat.

That sheer volume means a product launch email can’t be a one-and-done effort. A single correspondence is too likely to get lost in the shuffle.

To reach, engage and convince your target audience, your best bet is to approach launches as an email campaign. Craft a series of emails that grab attention whether the recipient is an excited fan or only vaguely familiar with your brand.

Creating a product announcement email sequence

With any email sequence, timing is as important as the messaging. For a product announcement, you want to build anticipation ahead of launch and follow up after.

Your email sequence should look something like this:

1. Teaser email: A heads up that something new is coming soon. You can hint at what it is, but don’t go into too much detail. You only want to build hype and excitement. Scientists have found that anticipation can be even more rewarding than the experience itself, so make sure to utilize it to build interest. Aim to send out your teaser email up to two weeks before launch.

2. Product announcement email: Tell your audience about the product they’ve been looking forward to. Fill them in on key details (what it is, how it benefits them, launch date, etc). Use images and videos where necessary to show off your product and ramp up the excitement.

3. Product launch email: Let your audience know that the product is live. Reiterate features and benefits while you’ve got their full attention.

4. Follow-up email: After the initial excitement has died down and sales have slowed, follow up to remind your audience of your new product and what’s…

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