Here's the next blog post for next week, a day early in fact!

I frequently get asked what my biggest tip for improving pet relationships is, and it is always the same.

Talk to them.

Nothing else can have as dramatic of an impact on your relationship with your pet than simply talking to them.

 So what’s the big deal?

Your pet lives in your world, and whatever they have is all they have with you. It’s their entire world. But that doesn’t mean they understand what is happening in that world. 

The thing is they are exposed to all of your life - the ups and downs. They live with you through job changes, relationship challenges, financial struggles, additions to the family. All the nitty gritty day to day grind, and all of your challenges they are right there with you. 

They feel your energy changes, the stress you are carrying, and the worry about whatever is going to happen. But they are helpless to make any changes, especially when all of those challenges aren’t communicated with them. 

The best relationship advice I can give for your pets is something that is free. It will only cost you time, and you’ve already got that with them anyway. To chat to them while you are making dinner, while you’re feeding them, in the bathroom (because let’s face it, they follow you in there anyway), or when you are spending quality time with them. 

Just communicate heart to heart. Speak out loud whatever is on your mind as if you were talking to another person, let them know that your boss was really mean to you today, or that your spouse has been doing things that are challenging your relationship, or that you are worried about paying the bills, or you have a vacation coming up that you’re excited about (but stressing about getting everything done before you go, not to call myself out our anything…). Whatever it is, just speak out loud to them and fill them in on the details. I promise you they are the best listeners.

But the byproduct of that is that they feel included. They feel like they are a part of the happenings in your life instead of just living them by proxy. They feel appreciated for being a part of your family, instead of like an object that just happens to be in your house. 

And when they know what’s going on in your life that is having a big impact on you, they can support you in the best way that they can. 

That might be not being as rambunctious. 

Or being calmer.

Or loving on you more.

Or reminding you that you should probably get up and take them for a walk so that you move around.

There’s a million different ways they can support you - but they can’t do that if they aren’t aware of, and a part of, the things that are happening in your life. 

So next time you’re a little stressed out, fill your pet in and let them know what’s going on, too, so that both of you can work through it together. 

@Antonio Aversano I made it a day early!

I believe that small businesses wanting to serve the greater good in the world deserve all the help they can get.

Per The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, “Small Businesses Generate 44 Percent Of U.S. Economic Activity.” That is a large portion of the population and yet they appear to have very little power in the U.S.

On top of that, solopreneurs and small businesses are the heart of innovation in the workforce. They are not beholden to a board of directors and shareholders. This gives them more freedom to be bold, creative and of service to our world, not just service to profit.

When I first started doing social media marketing, the training I was going through encouraged us to find big corporations or small businesses with a large advertising budget and charge them 10k a month to use complicated strategies to promote their businesses.

This was not what I was looking for to fulfill my mission to help create a better world. Fortunately, I was inspired by later mentors to work with the types of businesses I am really interested in helping. 

I discovered and have added my own touch to a way that is much more affordable to help those solopreneurs and small businesses fulfill their goals. I really like working with businesses that have 0-10 employees.

I don’t write for them because I found it is more real and authentic when they write for themselves. I will do consulting for them to write their own content, including helpful tips and useful strategies. This way, their readers will better understand the gifts and offers the writer is communicating.

I help them learn how to do marketing on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, or I can do this for them if that is what they need. I do this by taking the content they have already written and posted and then put it in an ad. 

Some might think that running the ads would be the easy part. This is a big misnomer. The online software used to run these ads is quite complicated and has many problems and pitfalls. For the people that I teach to do this process, I am just a Zoom appointment away for any navigating assistance they may need.

For these DIY people I offer a stripped down simple version of using this software. This gets many started on the road to reaching a lot more people. As they master the simplified method, they are welcome to deepen their journey by having me teach them more skills and higher level theories. Others prefer to keep it simple, easy and quick.

I really enjoy the sense of accomplishment and service I feel by helping these businesses that are bringing good into our world.

I wrote this recently when I saw some people commenting in a thread about the subject of over using the word "authentic" in content creation for social media. I decided to explore on my own:

Is the word “authentic” overused?

Authentic is a term that has been used a lot in recent years, and it's easy to see why. It conveys a sense of genuine sincerity, integrity, and trustworthiness that many people strive for. It's also a powerful word that can be used to express a meaningful idea.

First of all, for me, being authentic does not mean you have to share everything about you. There is a difference between authentic and transparent. Authenticity can be sharing the truth of who I am and what I believe at any given moment, I don't have to share all of who I am. That would be transparent. I like to reveal parts of myself that feel safe, appropriate and genuine at the same time. I can be authentic and have boundaries.

In my social media marketing and consulting business, I coach people to be authentic. I feel that it is important to facilitate truth in the world, plus I also believe that it is a much better strategy than being disingenuous. Who wants to go into any kind of relationship, business or otherwise, based on a lie?

While it might be overused in certain contexts. I am interested in creating social media content that is real and helpful. Is there a better term to use for this than authentic? Hmmmmm.

Overall, authentic is a great term to use when you want to express something with sincerity and honesty.

@Winnie Sher