Category: HEALTH AND WEALTH

Tips on Health and Wealth

  • Examples of Practices To Attract Money in Todays World – Do They Really Work?

    The subject of faith, religions and beliefs is a debatable subject today depending on where in the world you come from. In the midst of the many different religious sects in the world, prosperity is the biggest selling ‘commodity’ used by evangelizers to spread their gospel.

    watch video

    With internet here with us, the religious industry is concentrated with all kinds of gurus claiming to show people the secret to ‘attracting money, making money gaining fame, becoming wealthy, e.t.c. They know that most people are constantly looking for new ways to make money thus they have positioned themselves to solve their problem of money using the practices they propose.

    For instance, in Africa, Christianity, Catholicism and Muslim religions are widespread. People will relate and trust an individual more when they introduce themselves as a born again Christian. But is this all that an individual needs in order to gain a following?

    Yes, if they use the right keywords common in most churches to command response from the congregation or followers like ‘praise God’ lord be with you you.. e.t.c. It is even more effective if the presentation is done on video. You and I know that anyone can start and build an audience through video online.

    With the keyword search for ‘making money or attracting money‘ among the most searched topics online today, one can easily become a victim of self made Gurus in that niche. More and more people will want to consume these content if they are coupled with biblical facts or ancient religious practices related to Christianity. The world we are living in right now is saturated with facts about religion. You can find answer to anything online.

    Below is a video of one Youtuber claiming that rubbing hands with gridded cinnamon and salt will help one attract money to their life. Have a look.

    This presentation is from a Catholic Reflections Youtube channel. If you watch the video from the beginning, the presenter starts by greeting the viewers in the name Jesus, then goes on to preach the word of God a little bit before introducing her topic of the morning ritual that helps one attract money.

    Do you think Christians are convinced by such presentations as hers? absolutely yes they are, but not all. Her target audience are Christians. If a Christian is looking for ways to make money and watches this video, he/she might be convinced.

    But, Is This True or Acceptable in Christian Faith?

    The answer to this depends on the religious sect you belong to and the region in the world you are coming from. For example, in the religion that I belong to, this will be categorized as idol worship which is forbidden by the 10 commandments in the bible.

    Exodus 20:3 says “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

    Shifting your believe in God as the provider and starting to believe in salt and cinnamon for financial breakthrough is not encouraged.

    This takes me to the next item in my list.

    Attracting Money With Money Plant

    Money plant is a succulent indoor type of plant that comes is various types. It is associated with prosperity and nourishment. Chinese Feng Shui practitioners think very highly about the money plant. People believe that if the person owning this tree can grow it and take care of it well, they will have even more good luck.

    Practitioners have clear instructions on where to place the money plant and how to attend to it for maximum benefits. e.g Placing in the south east side of your room means you will have high possibility of attracting more good luck to yourself. This idea is based on Feng shui compass.

    Having had money plant in my house in the past for close to 3 years, I think the claim is true as long as you believe that the plant will bring you good luck. Also, you must be around your home all the time to attend to the plant less it dies. If it dies, your financial luck dies. This is scary if you think about it deeply.

    Again, is this acceptable in the Christian or any other faith? Yes and No depending on how you support your argument. Plants are Gods creation and we have a responsibity to take care of them.

    Downsides of These Methods

    The two examples of practices I have shared with you above gives you a picture of how much influence some practices have on an individuals faith. If you search on Youtube, you will find several types of these videos including the Money plant presentations. The presenters make these practices look easy to the viewer or reader that one would not hesitate to practice them.

    However, practicing these without thinking about its downsides may get you in trouble in a long run. For instance, in the cinnamon and salt secret to attracting money, one is required to rub the salt and cinnamon on their hands every morning for them to attract money.

    What happens when you travel far away and forget the cinnamon at home and cant find some in where you go to? Will your attracting money powers die?

    On the other hand, it is believed that money plant will stop attracting wealth if one stops attending to it or if it dries up for lacking water.

    In life, you need to attract other things to your life apart from money. Does this mean you will have to practice something else to fulfil this purpose? Think about it.

    Now, lets look at the bigger picture.

    The Big Picture

    Keeping several things for various faith purposes in your house is overwhelming especially if you are a busy person. At some point you will forget some and the consequences of abandoning them will hit you back based on the faith you had in them.

    In a country like Kenya where most people are christians, catholics and muslims and have some things in common about God, it will be really hard to keep up with these practices of attracting money. In a long run if you practice them, you will find yourself the odd one out.

    Even though the question of faith is a very debatable subject across the world; the idea of believe in one invisible God still stands. We all have different believe histories. Some have retained their traditional belief in God while others have embraced the western model of believe because of the good that it comes with.

    All in all, the believe in one supernatural God as the source of everything is easy to practice. You don’t need to practice any of these things you see online that promises to solve your money problems. God and the faith you have in what you do and desire will help you big time. You are in this world for a purpose and God is there to help you fulfil that purpose.

    He will provide you with all that you need to fulfil the purpose as you have fun in the process.

    It all begins with staying open to learn about God. I wish you well in your journey as you seek to strengthen your faith.

    And that is it.

    I hope you found this post helpful? What practice or believe have you fallen a victim of in your journey of faith? share your thoughts in the comments section below.

    If you are looking for help to produce digital video content, let me know here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on social media and subscribe to my blog for updates each time I share new content.

  • 3 Things To Do In 2023 That Can Potentially Change Your Life

    Technology and innovations presents to us unlimited potential to success. The big question is, what is holding you back from success?

    Have you ever sat down for a minute and wondered what’s preventing you from succeeding in life despite having access to everything that you need in order to succeed? If you haven’t, it’s high time you do it now.

    Watch video – 3 Things To Do In 2023 That Can Potentially Change Your Life

    Good news is that success is within your reach. Before you give it a try again in 2023, maybe you need to fix one of these 3 things.

    Pay Back All Debts

    black steel pet cage with one dollar

    2022 was not easy economywide. For instance, there was long electioneering period in Kenya which led to high cost of living and inflation.

    At some point nearly everyone found him/herself borrowing money. From friends and family, bank, mobile money, digital apps and more. In no time, we all found ourselves accumulating a lot of debts which became hard to pay back on time.

    when debt collectors come knocking at your door and you don’t have money to pay them back, one feels so embarrassed. As a result some people end up not to paying back their debts despite the humiliation.

    That should NEVER be the case. Always note down all your debts and pay back even if it takes you ages to raise the money.

    Don’t rely on the fact that people will forget. Some may be silent but they recall that you owe them. Make a point of paying them back when you have the money.

    If it’s money you borrowed from the digital apps, pay them back. Negotiate with them so that they can stop charging you interest once the loan you borrowed has matured.

    My point here is, if you owe anyone money, prioritize paying them back in 2023.

     If you are in debt, you should live on 70% of what you earn. Save 10% for yourself and use the remaining 20% to repay your debts. You should set this aside before you spend any other money. 

    From the Book The Richest man in Babylon

    Save Money As a Way of LOVING Thyself

    After working hard in whatever you do, you get paid. Aside eating out and partying with friends as way of treating yourself, do you save? If yes, why do you save?. Reasons for saving money vary from person to person. In this day and age it is becoming harder and harder to save a portion of what you earn.

    Saving for the purpose of acquiring material possessions is very common. When you acquire them then what?? Attaching LOVE around the material possessions you intend to acquire with your savings makes the saving process more worthy.

    If you save as an expression of self love, your attitude will stand out in time as your savings accumulate. You thoughts will be aligned to more ways of loving thyself.

    When you are the best of yourself, you will be the best for others. Whoever is around you will feel the good energy.

    Start A Website/Blog For Fun

    We all have something we love doing as a hobby or just for fun. Have you ever thought of starting a website or blog where you have control and can freely share with world? 2023 is the year to start that. Stop procrastinating and put money aside to start it.

    If you are not good at writing, hire a writer or utilize AI Technologies like chatGPT to write content for your website landing page.
    Everything starts with the first step.

    Have in mind that a website/blog with your own domain name on WordPress will cost you $97/year. This is a reasonable amount considering it is a long term investment on yourself.

    Be patient with yourself as you start. Learn through the process and in no time, you will be an authority.

    Conclusion

    Sometimes, simple things in life holds us back from achieving our dreams. Don’t procrastinate; take that first step today. That’s the only way you will know if it is going to work or not. When you have control of your finances, you have control of your current and future life.

    And these are the 3 things that I suggest you do in 2023 that will potentially change and shape your future.

    Did you find this article helpful?

    Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

    And until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • How To Optimize Your Performance As a Freelancer Working From Home

    Every freelancer working from home always wake up in the morning with one ultimate goal; to perform optimally and give their best in in their work. When one is in a position to consistently perform flawlessly, they will be more happier and fulfilled.

    So what will it take to achieve this considering the conditions surrounding working from home?

    In order for one to start their journey to high performance, they have to first look at what led them to poor performance.

    man sitting on green chair while using laptop

    In this blogpost, I will focus on 3 areas in life that presents long term challenges while working from home.

    Solitude

    Unlike working in the office where you are able to interact with colleagues, working from home is lonely to many. It follows that the only place that freelancers interact with their collaborators is via video chat, call, e-mail or messaging apps.

    Creatives in the digital media space is one group of freelancers who go through moments of solitude as they build their brand.

    Video: Ways to Optimize Performance Working From Home

    In order to succeed in these scenarios, freelancers have to take personal responsibility. As a freelancer, you are the captain of your ship.

    Ways to Deal with Solitude

    family gathering for a group hug
    1. Set Goals – Goals will motivate you to look forward to the next day with lots of enthusiasm. Your goals must be aligned to solving the ‘solitude‘ state that you are currently in. When you have goals set, you will feel more vibrant when working from home alone.
    2. Prioritize Family time – Covid-19 Pandemic and hard times has proven to many that the ONLY people who will stand with you when everyone is gone is your immediate family. Spend more time with them when not working and build a strong bond. Having a family is a blessing.
    3. Build a Mastermind Network– If you love say travelling, hiking, or partying once a week, find responsible guys or fellow freelancers with the same hobbies. Plan to regularly meet and share. In order to achieve the best results on this, be wise in your approach and do it consistently. Use apps like meetup or join social media groups to connect and kickstart your journey.

    4. Start a Relationship – This is for the single freelancers. When working from home, meeting people physically is difficult. Be open to try different social media networks and dating platforms to meet new people. You just can never know!

    Health

    Your health is important. Sitting the whole day in your chair while working can lead to severe health problems like back pain, eye irritations, neck pain, arm and wrist pain and more. If these conditions are not diagnosed early, it may lead to serious damages to your body.

    In order to solve health issues arising from sitting most of the time while working from home, keenly establish the route cause of the problem that you are having. Here is how I have diagnosed some of these problems.

    man and woman holding each others hand
    1. Back and arm pain – This is mostly caused by the chair that you are sitting on. According to spine-health.com ”It’s important to have an office chair that’s ergonomic and that supports the lower back and promotes good posture to avoid developing or compounding back problems.” You can innovate ways to achieve this by adding a cushion behind your chair to support your back and see how it goes. Read more here on choosing the right chair for your office.
    2. Irritations on your eyes – This is mainly caused by the refresh rate of your computer screen. I recommend you acquire a modern monitor or computer as it has been optimized for the eyes. It adjusts according to the environment you are working in. Secondly, schedule breaks in between your workday of 10-20 mins after 1 hour of sitting. This will help you relax your eyes from looking at the screen for a long time besides getting little time to stretch and allow blood to flow uniformly through your body.
    3. Body Health – Lack of physical activity is the biggest of course of many health problems today. When you are working from home, your general health is at risk if you don’t exercise. It is therefore good to have a consistent schedule for exercising. You can do this from home or you can choose to pay for membership in your nearest gym.

    Diet

    Diet is directly linked to your health. Eating healthy therefore should be part of your ultimate goal. Sample different types of food to find the ones that you like.

    According to WHO, a healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

    What you eat will determine how you feel all through the day. When working from home, there is a tendency to feed on snacks when on breaks. Most snacks nowadays contain a lot of sugar. It is therefore necessary that you moderate the amount of snacks you take during the day.

    Of course drinking a lot of water should come in here as part of your healthy diet.

    How you deal with solitude, health and diet will determine your overall daily performance and sucess in your freelancing business.

    Conclusion

    While your financial state is another accelerator to your well being, the areas discussed above should come first. Finances tends follow a happy and healthy freelancer. Heathy freelancer does more with less effort.

    Is there any other area that freelancers should focus on and thus optimize their performance and achieve more? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

    And if you need screencast video production services or any other services, you can request a quote for free here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Top Tips To Subcontracting Work

    As freelancers and entrepreneurs, we find ourselves in situations where there is a need to subcontract work due to growing demand. It’s not that we lack the skills to do the work, but its because we have a lot at hand and need help from other Freelancers.

    So, in what occasions should you sub-contract and not to sub-contract a project?

    Well, in this blogpost, I will cover when to sub-contract work and when not sub-contract work.

    What’s Subcontracting?

    crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign
    Subcontracting Work. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

    Subcontracting in the online marketplace or any other marketplace means bringing in an outside company or a contractor, to help you complete certain work or a project that you are unable to do. To help you understand this better, I will use Videography as an example. Let’s say, I get invited to shoot video by 3 clients on the same day.

    Based on our work history together, each of the clients individually insists that I take the job. As an entrepreneur or freelancer, I have to find a solution. The solution will be recruiting other professionals with good skills in videography to help me out. I will then give them instructions on what to shoot.

    This in a nutshell, is subcontracting. I am the one who is assigned the contract and I have other guys or agencies doing the actual job.

    Watch video

    When To Subcontract

    When You Have More Than You Can Handle

    As detailed above, when you have a lot of work at hand, its wise and healthy to subcontract. It will seem a bit difficult when subcontracting for the first time. When you have done it once, repeating the same will be easy. Take advantage of such subcontracting opportunities to make more money and build a network of like minded professionals.

    When You Don’t Have the Skills Needed

    woman typing on laptop
    Online Copywriter at work. Photo by Startup Stock Photos on Pexels.com

    In the online marketplace, sometimes the skills you have can’t help you. For example, if you are a direct response copywriter and a client wants you to write a copy on a new Cryptocurrency Token- a product you are not familiar with; what will you do if the job needs to be completed urgently?

    In order for you to deliver the best copy, you will need take time and learn about the cryptocurrency token in question by comparing it with other related services.

    With the abundance of freelance direct response copy writers in very specific niches online, it will be worth your time to hire a professional cryptocurrency copywriter to help you out.

    When You Are Ill

    young man in sleepwear suffering from headache in morning
    Sick Freelancer. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

    Good health is the key to success. If you are not feeling well at the time you are awarded the contract, the only you can make that money is by getting someone else to do the work for you as you recover. In other words, you need to subcontract.

    When You are Away on Vacation

    Even when on vacation, freelancers and entrepreneurs still get excited when they are awarded contracts or asked to send a proposal. If the job is coming from a client you have worked with in the past, you will not want to lose that contract owing to the relationship you have with them.

    By subcontracting, you will still be able to enjoy your vacation while the job is getting done.

    When Not To Subcontract

    When In The Middle of Contract

    Any contract that you have initiated work on is not worth subcontracting. There are many reasons to this. One is the cost that comes with sub-contracting. You may lose time and money in the process. Its therefore important to factor in time and cost when planning to subcontract.

    If there is a need to sub-contract, do your evaluation first and see if its possible to complete the work internally without seeking services of an external contractor. Secondly, the training that you have to give to the new contractor is time consuming and exhausting. You have to show them how far you are, your workflow process, the iterations made already so there is no repeat e.t.c.

    At the end you will realize that you would have rather assigned them the project as a new contract rather than let them pick from where you left.

    When Your Past Experience With a Client Wasn’t Good

    photo of woman writing on tablet computer while using laptop
    Freelancer working at home. Photo by Anthony Shkraba on Pexels.com

    If you have worked with a difficult client in the past, you know what I mean. If the same client returns and you previously had a difficult time working on their project, you might tempted to accept the work, and sub-contract. This might be prompted by the fact you will be able transfer the stress to the immediate contractor. While this might be a witty idea, you may end up making losses in process.

    The best thing to do is not to accept the contract all together. Tell them you are fully occupied. This way, you will be able to take on work with people you enjoy working with.

    If The Client is Nosey

    Some clients are nosey. After you are done interviewing and they have awarded you the contract, they still follow you around to find out if it’s you who is really doing the job. This in my opinion is disgusting. A normal clients’ concern should be to get the work completed on time. Otherwise, why would someone waste their time making unscrupulous investigations on whether I am the person actually doing the job?

    This is unless subcontracting conditions was stated clearly on the contract that there is no subcontracting. Otherwise, taking work from nosey clients is not worth.

    If the prospect sounds nosey at the verge of hiring, reconsider accepting the contract. They will keep asking you things that are not in anyway related to the contract at hand.

    Conclusion

    Success comes with vigilance. I know you need money, and good money comes from making the right decisions when it comes to subcontracting. If you don’t take for granted any of the above instances, you are sure to reap most from subcontracting work.

    I hope the information I have shared here on subcontracting was helpful to you.

    In what instances do you reconsider subcontracting a job or a contract?

    Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

    And if you need help with screen-cast video production or videography, you can request a free quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • 5 Lifetime Lessons I Learnt After Auctioneers Came For Us

    If you buy any daily newspaper today in 2021, you cannot not help but notice that 2-3 pages of the paper carry Auction Notices for properties and valuables due to bankruptcy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    In the year 2015, auctioneers were threatening to close my business. At the time, Kenyans were losing their properties to auctioneers due to the long electioneering period which led to a stunt economic growth and a whole lot of uncertainty.

    More and more people were finding themselves at the mercies of the ‘hammer man’,some caught unawares and others well… They knew what was coming.

    Newspapers published Auction Notices ranging from vehicles, homes, lands and office equipment, which were being sold off at very cheap prices to recover debt. It’s similar to what we see today.

    When I found myself in this desperate situation after a misunderstanding with a client, I got a whole lot of schooling which I would like to share…

    So, in the year 2015, auctioneers stomped into our office and collected all our electronics and valuables. We were all caught unawares.

    I was in the middle of a very important project for a South African company and the deadline was nearly approaching.

    It was a very scary situation. They started with collecting our chairs so that we couldn’t continue working. I panicked. I could feel a light sweat rolling down my armpits and at the center of my back.

    My assistant editor stared at me hoping I could say something… Anything! I was silent and she gave in her chair.

    I remember mumbling to the auctioneers to wait a little bit so that we could save our work and shut down our computers. It was about 3 p.m in the afternoon.

    After switching off my computer, I went out to check on my brother at his office and hear what he had to say. He was been my landlord since I started my business.

    He subleased part of his office to me. He had nothing to say. So we had to let go until the court settled the case.

    Now, a week later, after all the dust had settled, we were back to the normal day to day business.

    However, here are some of the lessons learnt from this experience.

    Deal With The Embarrassment ‘in the face of those who work for you’ That Comes With This Action

    When this happens, be prepared to fight the battle of embarrassment that comes with it. As directors and founders of companies, there is a particular pride that we carry with us. This will be the best time to deal with it. When you share the story with your allies, most will pretend to pity you, but you will be surprised to find out what they say behind your back, talk of wolves in sheep’s clothing. The storm will be over anyway and new life will start afresh. So, be calm and trust in the supernatural being.

    Don’t Get Attached to Material Acquisition

    I was attached to my editing suites. My new suite which had costed me $1000, was what kept me awake all night the actual day when the auctioneers visited. I was worried the auctioneers would sell it and pretend it got lost. After the 3rd day, I was calm. Questions that went through my mind were: what would I have done if a disaster had taken place and I had lost everything?

    You Are Not The First One

    People get auctioned everyday and they still push on. They never give up on their dreams. They start their lives once again and push on like nothing ever happened.

    Do What You Can to Contain Any Situation and Leave The Rest to God

    When you are aware that you might experience a disaster because of failing to settle on a few things and its beyond your control, never panic. Ask God for guidance and if it gets out of control, stay calm, keep your faith and you’ll reason your way out.

    Co-operate And Negotiate Later

    When the auctioneers came in, we cooperated and allowed them to do their job professionally. Despite inconveniences we were facing as a result, we knew with a little bit of negotiations through the court, we would be back to business in a short period.

    Lastly, that is how God will take control of the situation- I am kidding!

    Food for thought:- Go out and research on the meaning of ‘detachment’ in life and what it means to you….It will change how you look at life.

    We would like to hear from you!

    Have you ever had any bad experience with auctioneers? Let us know in the comments section below.

    Also make sure you subscribe to our website to get our new posts.

    And if you need help to create and produce professional screencast video tutorials, let me know by requesting a free quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony

  • Does Fast Service Delivery Mean More Money?

    Does delivering your freelance services faster than the others means more work and more pay? My answer is no. But again It depends. In some occasions, yes. But if you are thinking of offering this in a long term, it’s not sustainable. I am saying this based on my personal experience.

    Watch video

    When I started Freelancing, I gave outrageous promises so as to get as many jobs as I could. I was very ambitious. This does not mean that I was not delivering to my promise, but the consequences of me doing so has costed me several years of wasted time and energy.

    In this blog post , I will share you with 3 long term damaging consequences of offering fast delivery services at a fraction of the price. Many people do this with the hope of making more money only to end up in a freelancing rat race.

    Fatigue

    Fatigue is a term used to describe an overall feeling of tiredness or lack of energy. Here is a case scenario of fatigue in Freelancing. Lets say you send 5 bids, and you get hired for all of them. The clients motivation behind hiring you is faster delivery at a fraction of the price.

    If the normal delivery time for the project is 3 days and you are doing it in a record time of one day for the same quality, you will have to work day and night so as to deliver.

    While it’s possible to hire other freelancers and subcontract some projects to them, the main question will they be able to meet your standards? Are you making a profit even after sub contracting the project? How much are you paying them out of your negotiated price? When all this is combined, you will always be anxious and fatigued.

    And what happens when you are fatigued? You have no motivation and no energy. You become a loser but you don’t want to admit. If you are not careful you will be dealing with dispute after dispute because of failure to deliver assignments on time or failure to meet the standards required by the client.

    No time for Yourself

    You will not see this until you realize that you can never get enough of the money you want even if you are hired and assigned a hundred similar jobs at the same price.

    By the time this awareness hits, you will be years deep on the rabbit hole. On the other hand, if you are not careful, your relationships with friends and family will be fully disintegrated. You will start building them again from square one.

    While this experience will prepare you to be an entrepreneur, you will never recover lost time and stress trying to overdeliver.

    Poor Diet

    When you are fatigued, your appetite is lost. It’s even worse when you are living alone and you are busy working. It means you don’t have time to go out and do some shopping. On the other hand, you can’t afford to pay someone to do shopping for you because you want to save money. I mean your motivation is money.

    When this two are combined, your health becomes the last priority. You eat just to satisfy your hunger which is very dangerous in a long term if you are eating the wrong food.

    It becomes even worse if you don’t exercise. If you want to make more money, invest in good diet.

    Conclusion

    You can only make as much money as you want if you are reasonable in your freelancing work. Don’t take actions or make decisions based on greed or desperation. Offer todo a job because you want to add value. When this is the motivation behind what you do, you will not rush.

    And when you don’t rush, you will deliver the best. At the end, high value jobs will follow you instead of following them and it be upon you to set the terms of engagement.

    Do you think offering fast delivery on your freelancing services will make you rich? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

    If you need professional screencast video production services, let me know here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take care. Follow me on twitter @cheptiony