Stock investors are always looking for that killer investment that will provide the highest returns. They are focused on searching far and wide for that one little-known diamond in the rough, that will magically take off and become extremely valuable.

What many entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the absolute best investment, that will produce the greatest returns, is an investment in themselves. You.inc has unlimited potential if you can be absolutely open and honest with that reflection in the mirror, and figure out exactly where investments need to be made.

Health Investments

If that investment isn’t nourished properly and exercised regularly, it will quickly become a high-risk venture that might shut its doors overnight, without warning. This means that purposeful investment must be made in healthy diets, regular exercise, fresh air, and time away from stress. This sounds easy but a high majority of these entities expire long before they should have because this inexpensive insurance was never taken care of. By the time they realized the fatal mistake, the entity was too far in the red to recover.

Education Investments

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Experts say that it is similar to a muscle in that it should be regularly exercised. If you are not continually challenging yourself, you will eventually find that your nimble asset has become a dinosaur. Your once-creative thought processes will not remain sharp and fresh if they are not continually used, stretched, and adjusted for changing times.

Is your business struggling with something? Why not get educated about it and become an expert on that subject so you can solve the problem? Invest in education…continual education. Do not ever stop reading, researching, and learning. When someone thinks they’ve become an expert, it’s important for the to understand that the King of the Hill remains the king only if he continually stays on top of the hill. Without this continual education, the king will soon discover that someone else is higher on the hill, or that the hill has moved. Use it or lose it.

There are so many ways to continually educate yourself. Try listening to educational podcasts instead of music. Read a book to learn something new instead of read the newspaper. Watch a YouTube training video instead of a series of random, funny clips. When surveyed, almost all millionaires have stated that they continually educate themselves, especially in areas they need to improve. This isn’t the stone age anymore. It’s easy to find solutions to everything you lack. There are classes, counselors, coaches, trainers, medications, courses, videos, podcasts, books, ebooks, and more, that can help you obtain the education you need.

Employee Investments

Companies with employees are only as good as the employees themselves. You’ve heard the saying that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest length? When that chain is under pressure, it will first break at the weakest spot. If you are the owner, supervisor, or even coworker, it’s important to clearly understand that it’s the employees that bring companies to life. It’s also employees that are often the cause of a company’s death, through poor customer service, theft, breakage, errors, expensive mistakes, etc. Employees are often one of the largest investments a company makes. Properly training those employees, providing structure and support, and learning how to correct them without alienating them is critical.

Disease spreads quickly. In some cases, knowing when to dump an investment, cut bait, and let them try to be successful somewhere else, is the key to keeping morale high among the rest of the team. Always remain fair and ethical. If a bridge gets burned, make sure they are the one who lit the match.

Family and Friendship Investments

All too often, stressed out entrepreneurs tend to take those, who are closest to them, for granted. In many cases, that supportive spouse, child, relative, close friend, will indeed give you a little slack when you need to focus on work. However, cashing in that chip too frequently will quickly make it distasteful. Those who are closest to you will feel that they are no longer important to you, and human nature will start building up protective walls and you may find that you are not longer important to them. Sometimes, to avoid the pain of rejection, a person will proactively reject. Remember that “Hurt people, hurt people.“

Similarly, taking the stresses of the job home can start to wear down relationships. I have seen this in my own life, from both sides of the equation and most of the time, there is nothing healthy and beneficial to a relationship when this stress comes along for the ride. Yes, sometimes a well-timed hug can help the stress fall away for a while, but when the stress comes home day after day, you’ll notice friends and family scattering like fish when you come around.

When all is said and done, only friendships will remain. When you are dead and gone, only the memory of your friendships will be cherished. The most valuable people in my life are those few who took time to truly love me in one way or another. I’m not talking about the kind of short-term love that was based on what I accomplished or who I knew. I’m talking about that special love found in close friendships. Sometimes it is unconditional love (thanks Mom), but in most cases, it’s a deep love because we took time to invest in each others’ lives. For me, there aren’t too many of these really close friendships, and I need to continually take time invest in them. They are good investments with long-lasting, valuable returns.

Did you actually read all the way down to hear? Wow, that is impressive! Please leave a message below and tell us all how YOU invest in You, Inc. or if there are other areas that should be considered.

If you found this post inspiring, please consider sharing this link with your friends on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. Thanks!

The post You, Inc. is the Best Stock to Buy! Invest in Yourself! first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.

Question:

“How can I build up Twitter followers that are from my target audience instead of just random people? And how can I do this for free?”

Answer:

Assuming you clearly know the characteristics of your target audience, a smart and FREE way to build followers from that audience is to think about the leaders and businesses for which that target audience is connected. These might be your competitors or the leaders and businesses in your niche that you look up to yourself. Go find those leaders and businesses on Twitter and read a history of their tweets to confirm that they would attract your target audience.

Then the fun begins. First, post a few quality tweets on the subject matter for which you specialize. Make sure those tweets are not retweets of some else’s material. You want these golden information nuggets to be at the top of your recent tweets when a potential follower comes and checks you out.

Next, go to the Twitter home page of one of those major leaders or businesses and click on the Followers option to see a list of their followers. If you selected the right leader or business, it’s fairly safe to assume that most of their followers are the type of people that you’d like following you…right? Right!

To avoid wasting time on potentially junk accounts, scroll through their list of followers and quickly look for the following characteristics:

1. They have a profile picture.
2. They have a name that makes sense when compared to their @ handle (e.g., if the name is “John Jones” and their handle is @W3RFg3Q, skip to the next name).
3. They have a profile description that sounds like your target audience.

For each person/business that seems legitimate and appears to be in your target audience, click on Follow to follow that account.

Go to the next account and lather. rinse. repeat. Be careful not to follow too many people in a short amount of time, or your account might get locked by Twitter until you respond to an email from them to verify your account. How do I know that?…ummm…well…trust me.

So up to this point, it sounds like you’re following your target audience instead of getting them to follow you. How do you turn this around?

You’ll be happy to discover that many of them will follow you back, especially if your profile fits their interest and your tweets look like the stuff they’re interested in following. We find that about 25% of them will follow you back! What a cool way to connect with your exact target audience.

Bonus: Try to connect with influential people or companies who frequently like, retweet, or positively comment on the tweets of gurus or popular companies your target audience follows. These might be free advertisers of your material if you can get them to follow you as well.

If you are looking for more help to identify and reach your target customer, or if you just need a qualified consultant, contact Advanced Development Concepts, LLC.

The post Twitter Tip: How to Get Your Target Market to Follow You on Twitter for Free first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.