SYDNEY It's one thing to start a company. It's quite another to start one that competes with tech titans like Microsoft and Adobe.

But that's exactly what Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins did when she built a design product to rival the tech giants.

"Our goal was to take the entire design ecosystem, integrate it into one page, and then make it accessible to the whole world," said Perkins.

Perkins is the 32-year-old co-founder and CEO of Canva, a free-to-use, online design platform.

The young founder started the company in Australia in 2013 in a bid to make design accessible to all be it for logos, business cards or presentations. Within five years, she made headlines as one of tech's youngest female CEOs, at just 30.

Two years on, the Sydney-headquartered company is now worth $3.2 billion, giving Perkins and her co-founder and now- fiance, Cliff Obrecht, an estimated personal fortune of $900 million. And to think, it all started with a high school yearbook business.

Canva for Enterprise

Canva

Perkins was just 19 when she was first struck by the idea. It was 2006 and she and Obrecht were studying at university in Perth.

The teen would earn a little income on the side by teaching other students design programs. But students found the platforms offered by the likes of Microsoft and Adobe "crazy hard" and she felt there must be a better way.

"People would have to spend an entire semester learning where the buttons were, and that seemed completely ridiculous," Perkins told CNBC Make It. "I thought that in the future it was all going to be online and collaborative and much, much simpler than these really hard tools."

So she and Obrecht set to work making that vision a reality.

With few resources and little business experience behind them, the couple started small and created an online school yearbook design business, Fusion Books, to test out their idea.

They launched a website for students to "collaborate and design their profile pages and articles." The pair would then print the yearbooks and deliver them to schools across Australia.

Melanie Perkins and her boyfriend Cliff Obrecht in Perkins' mother's living room in Perth, Australia in 2010.

Canva

"My mum's living room became my office, and my boyfriend became my business partner, and we started enabling schools to create their yearbooks really, really simply," explained Perkins.

The business was a success, and remains active today. But for Perkins, it was just the first step in what she called her "crazy, big dream" for a one-stop-shop design site so she began chasing investors.

A few years later in 2010, while at a conference in Perth, Perkins received her first big break.

A chance encounter with Silicon Valley investor Bill Tai saw him invite Perkins to San Francisco to pitch her idea. Just hours later, the legendary venture capitalist, clearly impressed, was connecting her with his contacts.

"I thought that he didn't really like what I had to say. He was on his phone, and I thought that meant he wasn't really engaged in what I had to say about the future of publishing," Perkins recalled.

"But then I got home and realized that he was actually introducing me to a few people."

Building new relationships with Silicon Valley was far from plain sailing, Perkins soon discovered.

Tai, an avid kitesurfer, was keen for Perkins and Obrecht to get networking at MaiTai, his unique retreat for investors and kitesurfing enthusiasts. So she had to pick up the sport fast!

"Every time he (Tai) would say how was my business going, he'd also be like 'how's your kitesurfing going?'" Perkins recalled.

"I had not done it before and, to be honest, it's not something that I would normally, naturally try," she said.

"But yeah, decided to give it a go because when you don't have any connections, you don't have any network, you just kind of have to wedge your foot in the door and wiggle it all the way through."

Canva co-founders Cliff Obrecht, Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams.

Canva

The new skill served her well. Before long, the young couple was winning over major investors and building out Canva's design platform with a fast-growing team of tech engineers.

But it was in 2012 that the business began in earnest. With the help of their tech advisor and the co-founder of Google Maps, Lars Rasmussen, Perkins and Obrecht found a tech co-founder in Cameron Adams and a tech developer in Dave Hearnden.

Months later, at the close of their first funding round, the company was oversubscribed. That initial $1.5 million investment was even matched by the Australian government in a bid to keep the company on Aussie shores.

The following year, the site went live, allowing subscribers to create a variety of online designs for free.

Today, Canva has helped create close to 2 billion designs in 190 countries and won celebrity backing from the likes of Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson.

In October 2019, an $85 million funding round led by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker gave the company a valuation of $3.2 billion.

Perkins said she plans to use the additional funding to expand the team of 700 across Sydney, Beijing and Manila, while also building out the company's paid services, Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise.

Canva's Sydney office in 2018

Canva

That strategy will bring Perkins the closest she's come yet to competing directly with the professional design tools created by tech giants like Microsoft and Adobe.

But with 85% of Fortune 500 companies already using her platform, the young founder says she's up for the challenge.

"I think I've always put a lot of pressure on myself. And I think that sort of internal locus of control has been pretty strong," said Perkins.

"So while the expectations around our company and what we're expected to do is sort of increasing, that's nothing on what I've got on myself!"

Don't miss: How a Harvard dropout founded South Korea's most valuable start-up

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FARMINGTON -- Former Razorback Jeb Huckeba experienced football's biggest stage, yet reveals a down-to-earth perspective appreciating the accomplishment for a small town constructing a $16 million facility.

Huckeba was on the roster when the Seattle Seahawks earned a trip to Super Bowl LX. The Enterprise-Leader caught up with him touring Farmington Sports Complex and Cardinal Stadium Aug. 15 during an open house.

"My brother actually lives in Farmington. We live close in Fayetteville and we came out tonight just to check out the new facilities here. Beautiful new stadium, football field and indoor facility along with weight room and plenty of locker rooms," Huckeba said.

Having played in the SEC and NFL, Huckeba recognizes an environment conducive to gridiron success.

"I know from walking around and even getting to be a part of 'Fields of Faith' last year (in October, 2018) at the old football field (Allen Holland Field) and now seeing this, I know that the Lord is going to use this, these facilities here," Huckeba said.

Huckeba shared his personal testimony during a Fellowship of Christian Athletes event hosted by Farmington in October and anticipates the school and athletic program rising to a level of sustained excellence by capitalizing upon the vast array of resources designed to enhance the level of performance.

"The student athletes that get to come through here, the coaches that get to come coach here, and the community of Farmington is really blessed to have this as a place where student-athletes and coaches can come and work hard and give God glory for the success that they're going to have in the future."

Speaking during the Fields of Faith event, Huckeba answered, what for members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, amounts to a rhetorical question.

"In Colossians 3:23 it says, 'Whatever you do, work at it as working for the Lord, not for men. You ask, 'How can I glorify God with my performance in my sport?'"

Huckeba defined an appropriate response as "by showing up for practice every day with a great attitude, a great work ethic. By playing the game with everything you have and then showing great sportsmanship because you're a reflection of Christ even to the other team and also to your teammates."

Huckeba acknowledged life isn't perfect and student-athletes may feel uncomfortable in a certain class or not feel like going to practice. They may feel like the coach doesn't like them or experience issues with a teacher they struggle with.

For Huckeba the key to overcoming that type of adversity is simply a matter of perspective.

"You can still bring God glory every day by living out Colossians 3:23 because it says whatever you do, work at as working for the Lord not for men," Huckeba said.

"We want to please coaches. We want to please teachers. We want to please our parents, but truly you can rest assured that if you're doing your best you are pleasing God and you're a reflection of his glory."

Huckeba pointed out that Farmington High School's capital improvements to its athletic infrastructure reflects well on northwest Arkansas as a whole.

"I know it's really exciting for the community and just for the surrounding communities, as well," Huckeba said.

"I think Farmington has really distinguished themselves as a desirable place to be. You can tell there's a lot of excitement and it's really neat to get to see this happening."

Print Headline: Huckeba: Success Is In The Cards

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Huckeba: Success Is In The Cards - NWAOnline

UROLOGIST Peter Duffy wentfrom personal and professional devastation to runaway success as an author in 2019.

At the beginning of 2019, it appeared the surgeons story - a winding saga that saw him lurch from being voted Furness General Hospitals Doctor of the Year to finding himself apariah within the NHS - had largely drawn to a close.

Months before, an employment tribunal found that he had been unfairly dismissed by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), seeming to conclude a long and bitter dispute - one which, besides uprooting him from his family,had threatened to crush the medicfinancially and psychologically.

Yet the publication of a book chronicling his experiences as a whistleblower and lifting the lid on alleged failings in UHMBTs urology services stretching back over a decade propelled him back into the headlines lastsummer.

This, alongwith the failings pointed to in the book, has all been documented thanks to an extensive Mail investigation by Chief Reporter Amy Fenton.

Having left family and friends and relocated to the Isle of Man in order to continue practising, Mr Duffy explains that most of what would become Whistle in the Wind was written on the Ben-my-Chree ferry, a three-and-a-half hour crossing back to Lancaster and his family.

Id just get out my laptop and tap out another half a chapter or so, he says. Around three months later he already had the bare bones of a draft.

By April time the book was more or less finished and just needed some proofreading as well as a legal opinion to make sure I didnt leave myself wide open to any defamation claims. And then it was just a question of getting it formatted to go up onto Amazon."

UHMBT finally called an external review into its urology services last year, after the books revelations saw dozens of affected patients come forward to The Mail alleging appalling and, in some cases, fatal care.

The book has continued to resonate with readers within and beyond the Furness area, with the title chalking up some 8,000 sales since publication numbers that Mr Duffy says have gone beyond his "wildest expectations."

I remember thinking, If it sells more than 1,000 copies in its entire lifetime, that Id be ecstatic. So for it to sell more than 7,500 copies in its first six months wasincredible.

"There was a point when, around the time the frontline staff at Morecambe Bay got wind ofit, the book got as high as number 58 in the Amazon best-selling titles rankings. That was quite a surreal moment."

But he still believes Whistle in the Winds material has some distance left to run.

If it wasnt for the fact that I did manage to get the book out, so much of this wouldve stayed hidden. At the heart of it there are two deaths that I personally feel may tip over into medical manslaughter. Obviously youd need a criminal court to decide on that.

But certainly one case covered inthe book compares almost identically to a similar casewhere the consultant ended up with a custodial sentence.

UHMBTs chief executive, Aaron Cummins, has said: The trust has asked NHS England to carry out an external independent investigation into concerns surrounding the urology service.

I have met with Peter and have assured him of our intention to continue to be open and transparent and we hope Mr Duffys concerns will be addressed within the work of the investigation.

Despite the lip service Mr Duffy says is paid to protecting NHS whistleblowers the 58-year-old surgeon still believes he has not yet seen a meaningful change in the way they are treated.

If this continues to be the case, he hints another book could soon be in the works.

He said: I think its shameful that the NHS just fought me all the way through this, trying to silence me and gag me and threaten me.

Even in the course of the employment tribunal the true facts didnt come out.

Under the current system, the tribunal is not so much interested in the whistleblowing - its interested in destroying the character of the whistleblower.

So, had it not been for the book and for Amy Fentons work, obviously, all of this wouldve been buried and concealed forever.

At least there has been a belated realisation that these are serious issues.

And I think it is good the NHS hasnt managed to cover this one up. Its out there now.

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"It's out there now": Peter Duffy speaks to The Mail about his year and success as an author - NW Evening Mail

The New York Giants' coaching search was not without drama, but the team made the decision to go with former New England Patriots wide receivers and special teams coach Joe Judge to fill the position. The team was reportedly interested in hiring Baylor coach Matt Rhule, but he agreed to the open spot with the Carolina Panthers before ever meeting with New York.

Two of the other top coaches up for grabs, Ron Rivera and Mike McCarthy, went to the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

David Samson sat down on "Nothing Personal with David Samson" to discuss the hiring.

When Rhule informed the Giants he would not be making the trip, Samson says the team questioned what it was going to do and 45 minutes later announced its decision.

Samson emphasizes the importance of looking into a coach's "genes" before hiring them and deciding if they will be not just successful, but a good fit.

He discusses Judge's past, working with Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Alabama's Nick Saban, commenting that those are two pretty solid coaches to have on your resume.

Judge has two championship rings from college and three in the NFL, but a history of success is not everything when it comes to the job.

The Giants are in no way the Patriots, as Samson points out, and where he puts the most emphasis is whether someone can gel with the owners, the system and the market, not their previous success.

Samson says this was likely not the Giants' first choice, but in his experience teams have every scenario planned out so they can be ready to make a decision.

There was also one thing that helped Judge secure the job. "Here's what he really has that no one else had," Samson said. "He had the ability to say to the Giants at the perfect time, 'Yes.'"

With everyone else either not coming back for another interview or not coming for an interview at all, that "Yes" held a lot of power.

The rest is here:
What went into the Giants hiring of Joe Judge and what set the former Patriots assistant apart - CBS Sports

For Christine and Marc Steiniger, husband and wife co-owners of The Sweat Box Fitness Studio in Kitchener, their fitness journeys took very different paths.

"I was a long distance runner," says Christine. "People were always asking me to help them learn how to run, so I would teach them. Then I started helping them build exercise programs." Eventually Christine decided to turn her coaching into a business; after completing the required certifications she became a personal trainer and in 2016 started her business Body By Chris.

Marc's journey wasn't as direct. "I spent 20 years in tech," explains Marc. "Think of an active and healthy lifestyle - that wasn't me." By age 40 Marc weighed 250 pounds: he wasn't exercising, was eating poorly, and wasn't managing the stress of his tech job very well. He knew he had to make a change and began exercising, eventually working with a personal trainer and then taking part in group fitness classes. Not only did he begin to lose the excess weight, Marc noticed he felt better about himself. He had more confidence, and was handling his stress better. Eventually Marc decided to become a certified trainer himself. "I was passionate about fitness, and I also saw it as a natural progression so I could help Chris out with her business when she needed it," he says.

Three years later and their fitness paths now connected, the couple decided to open The Sweat Box - a fitness studio offering personal training and group fitness classes.

"Body by Chris was doing well: her success was quite dramatic," says Marc, "but she was a one woman show. She was renting a gym for her personal training business, and we could see she was going to hit a limit where she was."

"I had a 6 month waiting list for clients," Christine says. "I wasn't able to hire anyone in the place I was renting, and I couldn't grow like I wanted to in the space I was in. So Marc and I made a decision to shift from Body by Chris and evolve into The Sweat Box."

They began looking for a location for their new business, and in June 2019 they opened the doors to their studio located at 35 Trillium Drive, Unit 4 in Kitchener. They describe The Sweat Box as a boutique style fitness centre that's not like traditional gyms. Members can book personal and group training sessions to work with their schedules, and there are no contracts. Part of what makes them unique is their focus on form; both Christine and Marc concentrate on teaching technique so that members are training safely. They say The Sweat Box is all about developing general health, strength and cardio capacity in order to make people's day to day living 'amazing'. While the couple works together to grow the business and design the programs, Marc's focus is on group classes and administration, while Christine's is on personal training.

"I love the one-on-one relationship," says Christine, "I like to make people feel good about themselves, and not intimidated about coming into our space. I like group training too, but the relationship is stronger in personal fitness and I love empowering women and men and making them feel good. Our clients have to feel good about themselves - that's what we're really about."

They've built a very committed community of members in a short period of time, and reviews have been overwhelming.

"It makes my heart sing," says Christine. "People who come to The Sweat Box like how we motivate them, and how we drive them. The Google reviews our members have posted make me so thankful. It's like my passion is flowing into them!"

"The best feedback I've received came from a female client in her 40's who told me she was having her snow tires put on and had to put the tires in her car," says Marc. "She grabbed them and put them in, and it was no big deal. It was the first time she didn't have to ask her husband to do it for her."

One thing the duo has learned through their respective journeys is that fitness goals are very personal - they have to be something you want.

"Before he began to work out I was always there for Marc, but getting fit was a decision he had to make on his own," Christine explains. "No matter what, you can't change for anyone else - you need to change for yourself. We say that to our members, we say that to our personal training clients; if you think you're doing this for someone else, you're not going to be as successful. If you're doing this for you, you're making that choice, and that's what's going to make your transition stick."

"And it's not about being perfect and adhering to lofty goals," adds Marc. "It's about doing one thing better today than you did yesterday. All of those little positive changes become cumulative very quickly!"

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'Progress, not perfection' - the core philosophy behind The Sweat Box - KitchenerToday.com

As many people make New Year's resolutions related to their health or finances, Daymond John, an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank," suggests that you focus on something equally important in 2020: work-life balance.

John recently posted a photo of his two-year-old daughter, Minka, on LinkedIn, with the caption: "I MISS HER SO MUCH! IS WHAT WE DO REALLY WORTH IT?"

The CEO and founder of the clothing company FUBU explained that he "personally struggle[s] with this dilemma." Although John has experienced a lot of success in his career, he questioned, "Is it really worth it if I can't be there every night to kiss my amazing wife and put my little girl to bed?"

Work-life balance is a topic that John is passionate about, but he's been candid about his issues with it in the past. When he founded FUBU in 1992, he said that he "didn't have a life" because he was working so much, he told Lewis Howes on the "School of Greatness" podcast in 2018.

"Work/life balance is the toughest thing that we will always be challenged with," John wrote on LinkedIn. "It will never be perfect and it will personally change for you over time."

John prompted his LinkedIn followers to concentrate on work-life balance in the new year, sharing that he wants to continue to spend time with his daughter as she grows up. John also has two older daughters with his first wife, Yasmeen and Destiny, and has said that he regrets not being there for them at a young age.

"I really kind of mentally said to myself, I'll get to know my daughters when they're 10 or 15 years old, because there is no time now," John told Howes.

Now, John's attitude has changed. "I have the opportunity to be able to give as much love as I can," he told Howes.

"As we all set our New Years goals, make dealing with your personal work/life balance goals one of the most important things on your list," he wrote.

Regardless of your job, John wrote that "you are not alone" if you're still figuring out work-life balance. He suggested "small changes" to achieve that goal. For example, John has said he schedules time to hang out with his daughter or call family members, because it's the only way to ensure that it happens.

"If you want #worklifebalance, you need to make it a priority to steal away time for yourself no matter how small it is. It will add up over time and you won't regret it," he wrote in an Instagram caption in November.

There's not a one-size-fits-all solution for work-life balance, as other business titans have shown.

Some people, like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, prefer to think of it as "work-life harmony" instead of "balance." Singer and entrepreneur Beyonce revealed in a recent interview with Elle that balancing work and life is "the most stressful thing."

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."

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Tobias Lutke, founder and CEO of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify, says working 80 hours each week is not necessary for success.

"For creative work, you can't cheat. My (belief) is that there are 5 creative hours in everyone's day," Lutke said in a tweet on Thursday. "All I ask of people at Shopify is that 4 of those are channeled into the company."

The Shopify CEO shared his opinion in response to an ongoing conversation on Twitter, as some were debating whether working nights and weekends in addition to a standard day of work is necessary for success.

"Most people that changed the world were workaholics," one CEO tweeted on Christmas Day.

But Lutke begged to differ.

"I've never worked through a night," Lutke said in a tweet on Thursday. "The only times I worked more than 40 hours in a week was when I had the burning desire to do so. I need 8ish hours of sleep a night. Same with everybody else, whether we admit it or not."

Lutke is worth about $3.6 billion, according to Forbes, and built a company with a current market capitalization of about $48 billion by "treating everyone with dignity and not falling into the fallacies and trappings of some orthodoxy," as he said in the Twitter thread.

He added on Twitter, "I'm home at 5:30 pm every evening. My job is incredible, but it's also just a job. Family and personal health rank higher in my priority list."

And Lutke is not the only billionaire in support of getting enough sleep.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, told Thrive Global in 2016 that getting eight hours of sleep "makes a big difference for me, and I try hard to make that a priority."

"For me, that's the needed amount to feel energized and excited," Bezos said.

Bill Gates also agrees with sleeping well and avoiding all-nighters although, during his early days at Microsoft, Gates believed sleeping was "lazy," as he wrote in a Dec. 10 blog post.

"I routinely pulled all-nighters when we had to deliver a piece of software," the self-made billionaire wrote in his blog. "Once or twice, I stayed up two nights in a row."

Later on, he realized "that my all-nighters, combined with almost never getting eight hours of sleep, took a big toll," adding that sleep is extremely important for good health and focus at work.

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Don't miss: In Bill Gates' Microsoft days, he thought 'sleeping a lot was lazy'now he needs 7 hours a night

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You don't have to work 80 hours a week to be successful, Shopify CEO says: 'There are 5 creative hours in everyone's day' - CNBC

NDP Leader Ryan Meili says he is focused on holding the government to account while also offering alternatives for Saskatchewan voters.

Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili heads into 2020 with a fall election campaign in his sights. It will be his first foray as a candidate and as party leader.

The NDP spent a great deal of 2019 highlighting issues facing emergency rooms and classrooms, and concerns about the level of support for mental health and addictions support.

CBC's Adam Hunter sat down with Meili for a year-end Q and A.

What has been your biggest accomplishment as a party this year?

What we've been able to do is shine a light on some of the real challenges in health care and education in particular. The crisis in our classrooms as well as the hallway medicine that has become the norm under the Sask. Party.

We've got so many people coming forward telling us what's really going on and hearing back, as we're travelling the province, a pretty high level of frustration. This is the most important piece. We're also putting forth some solutions that people are seeing as credible, valuable and worth engaging.

What did you not get accomplished?

I sometimes refer to opposition as the complaint buffet because there are so many things in so many departments that are worth pointing out. It's a tough balance between picking some things to concentrate on as well as making sure you're not leaving anything uncovered.

We've announced our new Saskatchewan plan to move us to renewable energy and in a way that will lower people's bills and put lots of people to work. We've announced a cap on class sizes to get the crisis in our classrooms under control.

What's your criticism of the Premier and the government's handling of relations with Ottawa?

There are things we can do in this province to improve the economy that are actually in our power and that's what's been frustrating is to see more and the Sask. Party, really Premier Moe and the Sask. Party,pointing fingers elsewhere and trying to distract from their own record and missing opportunities to make smart choices here.

Frankly, it seems like they don't really have a lot of ideas about what to do there. And so they're pointing fingers elsewhere or putting out lofty goals but not really having clear, credible plans to actually get them.

The Premier's rationale iswe build the economy and you attract people and create wealth.What do you say to that?

There's also the people side of it and that's what they forget. We need to put people as our first priority. Put that as our main focus. When you invest in people, when everybody's got a chance to have a decent place to live, a decent standard of living, a chance to have their educational personal success. It actually makes you more resilient when times get tough so you're better able to weather tougher times and you're way more ready to take full advantage when things go well.

We've seen under the Sask.Party when things were going fine and prices were high, people were satisfied. The spending went up. As soon as the economy struggled at all, big cuts, a big panic, shutting down STC, cutting health care, cutting social services. They made all these steps backwards because they had no plan for what happens if things don't continue to click along as they'd been lucky enough to see in the previous years.

What can people expect from youand the NDP for the next few months?

I think people have seen a lot of what our approach will be that emphasis on putting people first. Pointing out obviously the troubles under theSask. Party, the lack of ideas and missed opportunities but really coming up with some I think exciting opportunities for us to go forward and renew Saskatchewan.

My focus is to make sure we have a Saskatchewan where everybody's got a chance to do as well as they possibly can and where that shows up in good quality of life for people who are living here.

*Questions and answers were edited for length and clarity

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NDP leader Meili on balance between criticizing government and offering solutions - CBC.ca

In our lifetime, we have all met people with great financial wealth but who seemed to lack substance. And we have also met people who had very little money to their name but deeply felt the extent of our humanity.

As business leaders and entrepreneurs, many of us were trained to separate emotional success from financial success. But the days of "keep your feelings out of business" are long gone. More than ever, we are realizing that it is our moment-to-moment dominant feeling that determines the level of success we experience both emotionally and financially.

Before we go down the rabbit hole called financial emotional intelligence, let me ask you, "What does being financially emotionally intelligent mean to you?"

According to Investopedia, being financially emotionally intelligent has to do with the "need to live within your means. And to live within your means, you must spend less than you make." Do you agree with that definition?

If you do, know that you are not alone. There are many people who think that being financially emotionally intelligent has to do with being financially responsible. Think about it. If somebody borrowed over $100,000 against their line of credit to invest in their personal development, would you call that a financially emotionally intelligent decision? I received a resounding "No!" from those in my immediate environment when I made that decision a long time ago, but back then, I was onto something big. Let me share that something with you.

Financial emotional intelligence is understanding what we feel about money and why. It is really zeroing in on what money means to us emotionally, so we can feelingly welcome more money into our lives and enjoy it. Don't take my word for it. Let's do an exercise together.

Think about the last financial decision you made prior to reading this article. Perhaps you bought yourself a cup of cappuccino. Maybe you paid a supplier or hired a new employee. Whatever that money decision was, did you really stop and take stock of what you were feeling in that moment when the financial transaction took place?

The reason I am stressing the importance of noticing our dominant feeling when money crosses our hands in any form is because we make decisions emotionally before justifying them rationally. Allow me to explain.

Each one of us has a "little" thing called our ego-mind. In every moment, our ego-mind uses the dominant feeling we are experiencing to dip into the pool of beliefs and memories we have associated with that specific feeling. In other words, our ego-mind is constantly validating itself.

When your latest financial transaction took place, what were you feeling about money in that moment? Feel into that feeling and identify the belief/memory that specifically came up for you. Be honest with yourself. Do you now notice how your belief/memory validated your feeling?

It is important for you to be self-aware of this because that belief/memory you just referenced about money determined the next thought you had, which ultimately led to your next financial decision, whether that decision was successful or not.

This is why financial emotional intelligence is an ongoing feedback loop that leads us to experience exactly what we believe about money as we justify to ourselves every single belief and memory through our dominant feeling in the moment.

I get it. It can be daunting to realize that we are the powerful common denominator in every experience we have since we are the ultimate validator of our financial emotional intelligence expressed reality. When I realized that truth for myself, I massively invested in my personal development. I was done fooling myself.

Back then, despite being a finance economist, chartered financial analyst, and emotional intelligence coach, I could not, for the life of me, answer what money meant to me emotionally and why. I had a terrible relationship with money.

After much sweat and tears, I have become the financial emotional intelligence coach who assists business leaders and entrepreneurs in experiencing their ultimate level of success emotionally and financially. I am living debt-free and enjoying a thriving, compassionate relationship with money.

Since I only know what I am living, here are four great advantages of being financially emotionally intelligent:

Letting go of stereotyping:Now that you know there are financially wealthy people who deeply feel the extent of our humanity, keep looking for that evidence.

Owning our lives emotionally and financially: Beliefs are learned, which means they can be unlearned by consciously associating more positive feelings with money. Challenge every money belief you have.

Developing deep, meaningful relationships: When we understand that we are the common denominator in every experience we have, then we understand at a much deeper level how our feelings and money are always walking together and shaping both our business and personal lives. Make money fun again.

Creating the ultimate legacy of success: Financially emotionally intelligent people often ask themselves, "What will others say about me at my eulogy?" and they take inspired action accordingly. Lead by example.

Financial emotional intelligence is the predictor of ultimate success because it is our dominant feeling that constantly determines the kind of business leader and entrepreneur we are. Being financially emotionally intelligent is the most humane thing we can do.

Read more from the original source:
Why Financial Emotional Intelligence Is The Predictor Of Ultimate Success - Forbes

Purpose, passion and a design that pops are all central to success on the social-media platform.

December 30, 2019 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Many would argue that understanding how to express a personal brand on social media is one of the most challenging things to do, and yet its necessary, and easier than you may think. A good rule of thumb? Think, What would I do if I were a business?

Although people and their personalities are fluid, adding consistency to what and how you post will equate your personal page with a brand to your followers. The important note here is to continue expressing the brand consistently, because it takes, on average,five-to-seven brand impressions for people to notice what youre doing. Compounded over time, your followers --even the ones who are strangers -- will start to feel like they know you, particularly if you follow these three guidelines.

Related: You Need a Personal Brand. Here's How You Build One.

While you may have many passions and interests, followers want to know what theyll get from you consistently. So, if your one big passion is sustainability, gear your captions and content towards that realm. If you suddenly add posts about digital marketing tactics, it gets a bit confusing for followers who come for your insights on sustainable initiatives.

Sometimes, a good starting place for this big question is considering what you most want to say. Youre the one who will be creating the content, so what is in your heart that you want toteach or share with others? I know that this can be a bit muddy at first, so I recommend writing a personal manifesto. New York Timestech writer Thorin Klosowski suggests that the manifesto should lay out your topics (what you most want to focus on) and your principles (your beliefs and intentions) and do so with strong, affirmative statements. Rather than, I want to be an authoritative voice for women in STEM, write, I AM an authoritative voice. Put this manifesto by your desk or make it your phone wallpaper.

Companies create visual brand books with their logos, colors, fontsand overall brand feel. This is an important step in the creative process of building a business, because it engendersa sense of familiarity for the consumer over time. NDash Marketing VPMatt Solar blogs for Marketothat the psychology of color can help [you] establish trust and familiarity by soliciting the right emotions and increase the brand recognition with the desired reactions that they may provoke.

These colors and fonts can then be used on your Instagram story and any graphic-design posts within your feed. Again, the more consistent you are, the more quickly a follower will recognize that the post is from you when they see these branded markers.

As far as choosing the color goes, I personally went with a dark pink, simply because I like it. Studies find that colors like blue or red are the most popularly used for business brands, but this choice is all personal for you. If you choose a color you like, youre more likely to also have that color as your coffee tumbler or notebook color, so it keeps everything consistent. None of this should be calculated, necessarily. These are just ways to emphasizewhat you already love and express.

Finally, every strong personal brand has a product or concept that typifies its personality or is an extension of what the owner loves. For Spanx founder Sara Blakely, its Cheez-It crackers, and for her husband Jesse Itzler, its bananas. It doesnt necessarily have to be a food (although for many, it is),but the idea here is to ask yourself, What do I love so much that my friends think of me when they see it?

I accidentally discovered mine when I took to my Instagram story last year to discuss my baked-potato woes. As it is my favorite food, I had just ordered one singular baked potato from a steakhouse. For whatever reason, this really resonated with people. I started receiving pictures of baked potatoes with kind notes, and a school I spoke at even posted a picture of baked potatoes on their social-media feeds to announce I was cominng.

This is also something you cant overthink. Because it was a food I actually really liked, it was more probable that Id be eating it more often and that I could enhance this marker of my brand with a picture on my Instagram story every time I did. Its silly, but it works. A client of mine drinkstea every night while she plansher following day, so I told her to get in the habit of posting the quote attached to her teabag. I now call this tactic the baked-potato principle --accidentally establishing resonance with an audience because of a quirky thing youve always loved.

Ill reiterate once again: The secret here is consistency. The more you can create content in alignment with your passion, establish clearly visible brand expressions through color and font and find your own baked potato, the more the expression of your personal brand will become second nature. Andyour followers will feel they know you more than ever.

Link:
3 Stealth Ways to Express Your Personal Brand on Instagram - Entrepreneur