ORANGE STAR BLOG

Subscribe to Fresh Squeezed, essential ideas on branding, marketing and growing a small business.

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Subscribe to Fresh Squeezed, essential ideas on branding, marketing and growing a small business.

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Can I keep going?

“It turns out that, if you ask yourself ‘Can I keep going?’ rather than ‘Can I make it to the finish?’ you’re far more likely to answer in the affirmative.” ~ Austin KleonThe creative* life is not about arriving at some destination. It’s about the journey itself. There are no limits to what you can achieve as…

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love your business

How to fall in love with your business again

Starting a business can be a little bit like falling in love. You are excited about the possibilities, you can’t wait to get started, and you are completely committed to making it work. Then the honeymoon period fades away… This is when the trouble starts. The feelings of love fade away and they may disappear…

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Is it stupid enough?

Embed from Getty Images   Laurie Anderson has done just about everything a creative person can do.For every piece she’s working on (regardless of the medium — song, painting, sculpture, etc), she asks herself these 5 questions to figure out whether it’s any good or not: Is it complicated enough? Is it simple enough? Is it crazy…

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⏳ My secret timesaver

This free Chrome extension is a huge timesaver in Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Salesforce and wherever else you may be.You can create shortcuts for the text you type and the browser-based actions you perform often.Save any “snippet” of text as a template and give it a shortcut. (ie: try /ty for a thank you sentence.)Type the shortcut and the snippet…

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Rule of Three

1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ One, two, three

Three is the most persuasive number in communications. 🤔 You see, three is the smallest number required to make a pattern.Our minds enjoy thinking in patterns and we naturally look for and create them in everything we do. You can optimize or improve your communications by using the power of three in your design, process, and…

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🛑 Stop learning…

What do YOU need to stop learning about and start taking action on?Having a great idea doesn’t matter if you don’t do anything with it.Something I often see preventing people (myself included) from making progress is the tendency to wait and learn more — another podcast, book, course, etc. — when really we just need…

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What might you accomplish?

Have you ever not done something you wanted to do because you were afraid of doing it wrong? Have you ever felt like you can’t do something because that’s just the way it is? Maybe you want to write a book, but you’re afraid that you’re not good enough. Me too. Self-limiting language can hold…

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extraordinary in the mundane - CIA abstract photograph

Extraordinary in the Mundane

There is extraordinary in the mundane — if you look closely enough, everyday sights that wouldn’t ordinarily be considered attractive or engaging can suddenly be transformed into art. I often notice things like this when I drive or walk around town without thinking to take a photo immediately… all the more reason to always carry a…

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Oops, forgot to send…

If you’ve ever actually remembered to upload and share a Zoom recording like you promised, congratulations: you’re the only human on the planet to do so. 🤪Robots, on the other hand, get it right every time. Here’s how to use Zapier to automatically upload all your Zoom recordings to Google Drive (or Youtube, Dropbox, or any other…

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Could I do better?

The truth is, we will never be able to do “enough.” Rather than “Can I do more?” what if we ask “Could I do better?” It’s not about “finding the time.” It’s about how we spend our limited resources of time and energy. Do less, but do it better. That’s where the magic happens. Alohomora,

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