Sabrina Espinal

Blog Topic Inspiration

I’m stuck! What should I write about? We’ve all been there when trying to decide what to write on any given day. News flash: It’s ok to select new and exciting topics that might seem a little off from your brand. Embrace everything that inspires you and it just might enhance your brand, business, and blog.

Crazy Blog Topics:

1. Coffee Shop Crawls
2. Technology
3. Cupcake Hops
4. Newly Released Books
5. Music
6. Marketing News
7. Social Media Networks
8. Branding
9. Supporting Other Bloggers
10. The Perfect Man Cave
11. The Perfect Woman Cave
12. Writers Block
13. The Perfect Relaxing/Spa Day
14. Virtual Work Space
15. Recipes
16. Re-Purpose/Update Your Old Blog Posts
17. Product Reviews
18. Toot Your Own Horn
19. Magazine Headlines
20. Working From Home
21. Upcoming Offers
22. Take A Vacation From Social Media
23. How You Got Started
24. Holidays
25. A List About ….

This is a crazy list, but it just might give you inspiration for a few blog posts.

Make An Impression.

Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company

Image ©Bigstock Ammentorp

Starting Over And Branding Yourself

By Sabrina Espinal 4:00 pm

starting-over-branding

Starting Over. Maybe you’re leaving your job to start your own thing or maybe you have a burning passion that you want to pursue.

You know that you have things to share with the world.

What is the easiest and least expensive way to share your knowledge and build a following?

How To Start

Start posting your passion on your social networks, and by that I mean to start on Facebook. This is a safe place where you can post to your friends and family and gain confidence. Just start talking about your passion, your personal experience, and why you want to share. Take your time and be yourself. This can help you begin to find your voice and let you know if this is something that you want to continue to pursue.

Evolving Your Message

Everything evolves. Once you begin posting and working on your new thing, you will notice that you might begin to add or take away different components of your message. That is perfectly normal. Everything is fluid.

Here’s an example: Sophia starts sharing healthy organic recipes online and then she decides to start sharing motivational quotes. Sophia begins to wonder if these two things make sense and go together but she doesn’t stifle her thoughts. She keeps building on her message and comes to the conclusion that she wants to offer workshops on body and mind and not just organic recipes.

The beauty of evolving and becoming clear is that you’ll find a way to blend your passions together. As you evolve, so will your message and what you want to offer to the world.

So Let’s Talk About Personal Branding

Personal branding is a long-term strategy that is really more about YOU and not your message to the world…but in many ways, it is tied together.

If people like you and want to hear from you, then they will listen with excitement and respect. That is over 3/4th of the battle won in personal branding. People will begin to look to you as an authority in your field!

5 Ideas To Creatively Brand Yourself

Blogging On Your Website

Writing articles and posting them on your website is the best way to brand yourself online. It allows you to share your expertise, show your personality, engage with a larger audience and keep everything that you are doing in one place.

Write blog posts/articles that are around 600 words. Not too short and not too long. Make sure you sign your name at the end of the article, add a link to your contact information, add a great picture that goes with the article and add a “call to action”. A call to action can be anything from asking the reader to join your social networks, join your email list or contact you if they have any questions.

Your Photo

Like a logo, a photo instantly identifies you. It also gives people a good first impression. Make sure that it’s a great photo that you like. Be consistent with your photo on all of your social networks. I know this can be a drag if you love to switch out your photo but it’s important to use the same or similar photos on all of your networks in the beginning.

Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is a clear, brief message or “commercial” about you. It communicates who you are, what you’re looking for and how you can benefit someone. It’s typically about 30 seconds, the time it takes people to ride from the top to the bottom of a building in an elevator. Take the time to prepare something and memorize it when someone asks you what you do. This is really important when you are starting over or starting something new. You want people to get to know the new work that you are pursuing.

Here’s my Elevator Speech

I’m Sabrina Espinal from Sabrina&Company Marketing. And my company exists to help small businesses and single entrepreneurs with their social media marketing. We do this by creating and posting content on their social networks and managing their daily postings. We also manage their websites and offer consultations and workshops.

Signature Words and Phrases

This is fun! Try to write a short sentence or a simple phrase/tagline that communicates to people exactly what you do and how you benefit them. Take your time and just let your mind flow with this exercise. Remember, it’s not about you but it’s about what you offer. Another fun thing to do is try to create your own unique hashtag.

And don’t worry, everything evolves and you can always change it!

My Taglines:
Your Voice on Our Time
Make An Impression

My Hashtags:
#LikeLoveForYourSoul
#sabrinacompany

Get Involved

Offline:

Co-host a small event. Give a short talk or 60-minute seminar at a shared workspace office. Events show people that you’re passionate and it’s a great way to meet new people.

Online:

Start playing around with doing Facebook live videos and then expand to setting up your own FacebookGroup or Event. Don’t become discouraged if you have a low turn out, the preparation is helping you build your knowledge and confidence.

Are you starting over?

This article has covered a few simple steps you can use. I started over and moved from Human Resources into a completely different career, so I know it can be done.

Join Me On Instagram

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Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company

15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

By Sabrina Espinal 9:59 am

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier.

We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them.

Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right

There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control

Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame

Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk

Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs

Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining

Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism

Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others

Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take off all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change

Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels

Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears

Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses

Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past

I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment

This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another, attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations

Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves. You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

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Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company Marketing

Positive Affirmations

By Sabrina Espinal 4:45 pm

Affirmations are short positive statements that you say to yourself.

It is a collection of simple and very powerful statements that, when repeated and used daily, integrate and become part of our thought patterns. When that happens, we are consciously guiding and “nudging” our subconscious self towards the goals and outcomes we set for ourselves as part of our creative visualization journey.

Here is an example of a few pretty cool affirmations:

Examples of Affirmations:

I am strong and healthy
I have my dream business
Everything is coming to me easily and effortlessly
I love and appreciate myself, just as I am
I am always in the right place at the right time
Every day I am growing more financially prosperous
All things are now working together for good in my life

I also use affirmations with vision boarding. I write and say affirmations as if they have already happened. Meaning, if my vision board is about wanting more clients I would think and write, “I have an amazing new client.”

More example of thinking forward affirmations that you can use with a vision board

I am now the manager of my store
I have an amazing new client that is aligned with my principals
I’m so excited about my new job
I just got a raise

I learned about affirmations from Shakti Gawain’s classic book. “Creative Visualization”.

Positive Statements (Affirmations):

Affirmations are one of the most important elements of creative visualization. An affirmation is a strong, positive statement that something is already so. It is a way of “making firm” that which you are imaging. The mind is busy “talking” to itself, keeping up an endless commentary about life, the world, our feelings, our problems, other people, etc. The words and ideas that run through our minds are very important. Most of the time we aren’t consciously aware of this stream of thoughts, and yet what we are “telling ourselves” in our minds is the basis on which we form our experience of reality.

Our mental commentary influences and colors our feelings and perceptions about what’s going on in our lives, and it is these thought forms that ultimately attract and create everything that happens to us. The practice of doing affirmations allows us to begin replacing some of our stale, worn out, or negative mind chatter with more positive ideas and concepts. It is a powerful technique that can completely transform our attitudes and expectations about life, and thereby totally change what we create for ourselves.

To study more about affirmations, I highly recommend the book “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain.

Start making this a way of life!

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Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company

7 Easy Ways To Build Your Personal Brand

By Sabrina Espinal 7:19 am

Personal branding is personal. It’s about you. I love that this can be empowering and impart a great sense of clarity and motivation.

Look At Your Personal Brand As An Investment

While the projects and products you’re working on may change, your personal brand will persist and (hopefully) add value. People will follow you if they feel connected to it. When launching a new venture, your personal brand has the potential to guarantee that people will want to support you.

Set Goals For Your Public Image

Because your personal brand is built from the thoughts and words and reactions of other people, it’s shaped by how you present yourself publicly. This is something that you have control over. You can decide how you would like people to see you and then work on publicly being that image. Consider your goals for the brand. Be seen as someone with the authority to teach others on your key topics. Be authentic and professional.

Define And Refine What You Are About

Expertise. Stay on top of your expertise and always add new areas of expertise to keep your brand fresh.

Your style: This is not so much what you communicate about yourself, but rather, how you do it. Are you enthusiastic, witty, confident and crusading? Your style of delivery should be as unique as any other aspect of your personal brand. Be yourself. Nurture and grow your style, expertise, and brand. You should always be growing.

Start Blogging

Use your website to showcase not only your services but your expertise by blogging at least once a month. Add links to other pages on your website so the reader can learn more. Share your posts to all of your social media channels.

Webinars/Workshops/Videos

Depending on your brand you may want to branch out and offer webinars or workshops to add more layers to your brand and reach more people.

Keep Your Brand Fresh

No matter how good your content is, you’ll risk seeming stale and repetitive if you don’t continue adding new elements to your brand. You can’t ride one idea forever. Keep adding new layers to what you represent.

Continue Learning

Invest in yourself and search out the best classes and workshops budget them into your year. Updating your knowledge and confidence is priceless. They may be expensive but it’s better to receive really high quality training than get worn out over a lot really inexpensive offers.

Showcase Your Products

Build your personal brand by showing your personality, expertise, products and what you stand for.

Do you want to shine? Let’s talk! Join me on Facebook.

Make An Impression.

Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company Marketing

How To Post Social Media During A Tragedy

By Sabrina Espinal 12:02 pm

Our world is all to often filled with unexpected local and global tragedies that shock and sadden people. During these times it is normal for social media news streams to be filled with timely details and people’s personal sentiments.

As a social media strategist, I believe that (in most cases) a business shouldn’t “post as usual”. Posting about your sale or program can often make a brand seem heartless or insensitive. Depending on the brand I suggest a mixture of posting options.

Pick and choose posting options right for your brand:

Post an acknowledgment of the tragedy, showing respect, and then post a toned down non-sales message later in the day.
Silence is perfectly fine if a brand doesn’t want to post on the first full day of a tragedy.
“Pause” any auto-posting messages for a day.
Never use the tragedy as part of a post that includes a sales pitch.

The very last thing that a business needs is to have a misstep that will offend people on social media and create a brand nightmare.

Social media is all about community—and in times of tragedy or national distress, the community becomes more important than ever. Internet-goers use social media to reflect, react, and respond to tragedy; and through social media can easily spread hyperbole and inaccuracies, many users rely on its immediacy to share information in those first crucial moments of an unfolding event.

For brands, it can be hard to know just what to say during tragic times; but often, the best thing to say is nothing at all. Instances like Kenneth Cole’s #Cairo Tweet have become synonymous with the sort of social media disasters that no corporate PR team wants to clean up; but nearly every instance of a big brand blunder can be avoided by prioritizing real, human grief over absolutely any other agenda (An apology was later posted). Basic sensitivity in times of national distress is key—and for companies who misstep, a timely and sincere apology is critical.

The anniversary of September 11 is still as somber an occasion as ever, as Americans come together to pay tribute to those who lost their lives that tragic day—and unsurprisingly, most prefer to grieve without the input of brands. Though many brands were publicly shamed for tasteless tributes, AT&T stunned with a blatant advertisement:

The company’s “Never Forget” sentiment was met with a chorus of anger, shock, and disappointment due to the brand’s exploitative imagery. Though the tweet was quickly deleted, screenshots soon circulated on major news outlets as users awaited an apology from AT&T’s corporate Twitter account. An apology did soon follow, but many found the apology to be just as offensive as the original image:

If your brand falters, a sincere apology is always advisable—but sincerity is especially crucial in times of distress. Social media is fleeting, but something as insignificant as a tweet can have a critical impact on a brand’s reputation if it demonstrates an insensitivity to tragic events.

When posting during times of tragedy, use discretion; remember that silence is always a safe strategy. If your company would like to commemorate occasions like September 11, stick to short, simple tributes, and never exploit the day with any attempt to push a product. And if a new tragedy is unfolding, please—unless you can provide clarity or comfort, cancel any scheduled posts and stay quiet.

Resource: Fluency Media.

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Sabrina Espinal
Sabrina&Company Marketing