Behind the Scenes + Best of the Month is your quick recap of my life lately, as well as a compilation of the best social media articles around the web.

Happy...mid-summer?! Surely I say this every year, but I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by. This month has been huge for me as far as business development - I've let go of one full day of personal training, which (so far) has been enough for me to network and complete work for my social media clients. Other news: Ray and I are gearing up for a trip to Europe, as well as hopefully being new puppy parents this fall!

Making Time For The Business

July marks the first month that I've intentionally made this social media business more of a priority. Up until this point - seven months into beginning this journey - I was frantically keeping my head above water managing my social media clients and seeing personal training clients. I wasn't able to make time to improve things within the business like my services, About page, or even do bookkeeping. This new business owner has learned a few lessons, for sure:

It's OK to say "no": I've had to refer a few personal training clients to fellow trainers, say "no" to prospective ones, and pare down my schedule in order to make time for social media consulting. Saying "no" is notoriously the most uncomfortable thing for me, and it took gentle prodding from my support system to get me to this point. I now have the flexibility of working from home (or Paradox Pastry) a full day + two mornings per week (oh, and weekends), which has really helped with my stress levels.
Bookkeeping can't be avoided: well, this one's pretty obvious, but here it is nonetheless. Up until this month, I knew I was "keeping track" of income/expenses in my head and through invoices, but I finally sat down and did ACTUAL bookkeeping. Having an extremely clear and updated record of money coming in and out is 100% a priority for any business, and I was putting it off for no good reason. Having extra time during the week made bookkeeping unavoidable, and now it's much easier to add things as I go, rather than seven months of work all at once!
Don't forget to network and build relationships: since networking and connecting my social media clients with others in the community has been a priority, that didn't leave time for me to do my own networking. By giving myself a full day for both business development and client work, I'm finally able to practice what I preach! As (busy) business owners, it's easy to put off our own development in order to help others, especially if we create a product or offer a service. But, at the end of the day, we grow by continuing to form new relationships.

Italy And A Puppy

Yup. It's happening. We're going to Italy (for the first time) in August! Our friends are getting married, and we've officially booked flights and hotels. It'll be my first time traveling to Europe (Ray has been to a few countries), and we can't wait to sightsee, eat (a lot), and drink wine!

And finally, the news you've all been waiting for. I don't mean to build too much hype, but...we're going to (hopefully) be dog owners this fall! We've been connecting with a local German Shepherd dog breeder, and have even gone to socialize the previous litter of puppies. The momma dogs are pregnant and due later this month. If all goes well, we could be taking home a puppy at the end of September/October!

Best Of The Month

Social media is an ever-changing, ever-evolving thing, and staying on top of it all can be overwhelming! I like choosing a handful of articles for you each month so that, hopefully, social media is a little less daunting. Grab a cup of your favorite drink, pull up a chair, and check out these social media articles:

5 Things You Need to Know About Hashtags

6 Ways Social Media Can Help Build Customer Loyalty

Instagram Adds Video Replies to Stories, Increases Pressure on Snapchat

Facebook's Testing a New Option to Add Text to Cover Photos on Pages

8 Simple Ways to Generate Leads With Social Media

Well, that's all for now. Hope you have a great rest of the week, and I'll be seeing you over on Instagram :-)