We’ve all been there, mired in the throes of pessimism when life just doesn’t seem to be going our way. For the lucky ones, this entirely natural, though disconcerting, feeling ebbs and flows, ultimately dissolving into a more balanced, healthier state of mind. For hapless others, though, the extreme negative thoughts and ideation can overwhelm—even becoming “who they are.”  At worst, it can be deadly, as one peer-reviewed study found that “people who are strongly pessimistic about the future are at greater risk of dying earlier than those who are not pessimists.”  

It turns out that we as humans might be built for negativity, making us our own worst enemy. This, as other research casts doubt on so-called optimism bias, debunking the notion that some people inherently “see” life “through rose-tinted glasses.” It’s an unfortunate opportunity loss, as another study found optimism to be associated with “exceptional longevity.”

“Thoughts are powerful things, and both the positive and negative lead to our moods, our physiological symptoms and our behaviors,” says clinical psychologist Monica Vermani, author of A Deeper Wellness: Conquering Stress, Mood, Anxiety and Traumas. “Even though, at times, we may feel as though we are not, we are the ones in control of our thoughts. We can choose not only   what we think about but how  we think about it.”

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/90754266/a-psychologist-explains-why-negativity-dominates-your-daily-thoughts-and-what-to-do-about-it

Source: https://fstoppers.com/education/10-tips-help-beginner-photographers-improve-their-work-605546

Be it sugar, social media or sex, the response in our brain is the same: It produces the “feel-good” neurochemical called dopamine, which brings on feelings of pleasure and motivation. “It may be even more important for motivation than for actual pleasure,” says Dr. Anna Lembke, a Stanford Medical School psychiatrist, researcher and author of the new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.

A dopamine hit brings about pleasure, and then is quickly followed by pain, or a come-down, in order to keep us motivated. Lembke says this balancing see-saw of pleasure and pain made sense in the time of early humans, when we had to constantly search for our basic needs – food, water, shelter. “It’s really an ingenious method to make sure that no matter what we do, that’s pleasurable. It doesn’t last very long and it’s followed by pain so that immediately we’re searching again,” she explains.

But, in modern life, we live in a world of abundance rather than scarcity, and Lembke says our brains weren’t evolved for the “fire hose of dopamine” of sugar, social media, TV, sex, drugs or any number of dopamine-triggering stimuli so easily available. In short, Lembke says, almost every behavior has become “drugified.”

When we’re repeatedly exposed to our pleasure-producing stimuli, our brains adjust and, eventually, we need more and more just to feel “normal,” or not in pain. That’s called a “dopamine deficit state,” and the cycle that leads us there can actually lead to depression, anxiety, irritability and insomnia.

“We’re not able to take joy in more modest rewards,” Lembke says. “Now, our drug of choice doesn’t even get us high. It just makes us feel normal. And when we’re not using, we’re experiencing the universal symptoms of withdrawal from any addictive substance, which are anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dysphoria and craving.”

Ultimately, Lembke says, this is a universal problem – not one limited to those of us struggling with the disease of addiction – that has come with living in modern life. And to restore our sanity, collectively we must rethink how to navigate a dopamine overloaded world.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1090009509/addiction-how-to-break-the-cycle-and-find-balance

By Larissa Martin

I am going to be honest with you. I have never really been good at choosing people that choose you, especially in the friendship department.

Up until a couple of years ago, my friendships were basically one-sided. I put more work into them than my friends did for me.

Sometimes I would think it was more of a friendship than the other person did. This started in middle school, and I noticed that because of this pattern, I started to develop trust and consistency issues that I still have to this day.

Unfortunately, when I begin a friendship, I don’t want to get too attached because they’re just going to leave, and I am going to get let down again as I always have before.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I stopped chasing friendships I thought I wanted and finally chose people that chose me. I can finally say that I have some of the best friends I have ever had in my adult life and that I am definitely not scared of losing like I have in the past.

Do I regret not choosing people that choose me, year after year? Sometimes I still do.

Let’s be real, I don’t regret doing it, not one bit; this is because it has led me to some of the most important and meaningful friendships I have ever had, and how can you argue with that? You can’t. At least in my personal experience, anyway.

I believe we don’t choose people that choose us at first because we don’t think we deserve those people. So, we settle for years and years until we stop chasing what we think we want and deserve; we end up choosing a person or an opportunity or whatever it may be.

How do I know this? I have gone through it time and time again.

It takes a lot of self-reflection over the years, and some trial and error of doing things at the wrong time, for all the right things to fall into place; for you to choose people and things meant for you.
Is it easy? Will there be heartbreak involved? Will you lose relationships in the process? Absolutely.

But it will be more than worth the risk for you to finally choose what you actually deserve and not what you thought you did for years.

Source : https://www.yourtango.com/2022350664/why-you-should-choose-people-who-choose-you

If you’re tired of feeling behind or scrambling to complete a task, here’s how to beat procrastination and boost productivity.

Whether it’s putting off answering emails or waiting until the last possible minute to submit a project before its deadline, we’ve all procrastinated. For some of us, however, procrastination is a constant struggle–one that can have a detrimental impact on a business if it isn’t addressed.

As the co-founder and managing partner of a content marketing company, there is seemingly no end to my to-do list–and I’ll admit that I can be prone to procrastinating on certain types of projects. But over the years, I’ve picked up a few tips and found a few tools that have helped me better manage my time and stay productive.

Here are tricks chronic procrastinators can use to become organized, hold themselves accountable–and finally get their work done once and for all.

1. Be realistic about your bandwidth.
A common reason we procrastinate is that there are just too many things on our plates. For instance, you know you have a big presentation coming up at the end of the month, but your day-to-day becomes occupied by smaller tasks (in part because it’s easier to focus on them and check them off). The next thing you know, that presentation is only a couple of days away and you haven’t even started it.

To reduce the number of tasks that prevent you from getting your work done, be realistic about your capacity to take on more work. Determine which responsibilities can be delegated, shifted, or put on hold to better prioritize the larger (and more pressing) project that’s coming up.

2. Break up large projects or deadlines into small tasks.
There’s nothing more overwhelming than seeing a major deadline on your calendar and treating it as though it’s a single task to check off your list. With so many elements that go into these large projects, it only makes sense (and is a lot more satisfying) to break them up into smaller, more manageable to-dos.

As you break down your projects, invest in a project management tool to help you organize and prioritize tasks by month, week, and even day. We employ Basecamp at my content marketing company. I often organize my to-do list for the week, but only let myself schedule — and visually see — four or five tasks max in a day. That number is manageable and encourages me to dive in rather than feel overwhelmed.

3. Put time blocking into action.
Studies have found that we can focus for only 90 minutes before we need a break–and I can only assume that our attention spans are even shorter now thanks to our digital devices.

Instead of fighting that attention span, use it to your advantage by working in short sprints through a technique known as time blocking. I like to block off specific times in my calendar to complete tasks — let’s say answering emails, for instance — and I turn off all of my notifications when executing them.

You can also try a method like the Pomodoro technique to get focused work done. This system (which requires a timer) encourages you to work on a single task with zero distractions for 25 minutes before taking a five-minute break.

Source: https://www.inc.com/amanda-pressner-kreuser/5-easy-tricks-to-beat-procrastination-you-should-start-today.html

Want to use persuasive writing to convince your readers to do something or agree with your point of view?

OK, that was a silly question. Of course you do.

We all know how easy it is to get distracted these days, and you want your online business ideas to stand out and reach the audience you’re aiming to serve.

It’d be great if that happened by itself, but smart content entrepreneurs know it takes research, dedication, and skill to make a living online.

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing is generally an exercise in creating a win-win situation. You present a case that others find beneficial to agree with …

You make them an offer they can’t refuse, but not in a manipulative way that violates marketing ethics.

It’s simply a good deal or a position that makes sense to that particular person. To make your job easier, though, there are techniques that you can learn to make your case more compelling.

Why learn persuasive writing?

If you’ve ever wondered why some blogs turn into businesses, and others stay hobbies, it’s likely because the blogger has studied persuasive writing.

Nothing’s more disappointing than having great blog post ideas that no one pays attention to … learning how to write a good blog post that persuades not only attracts people to your content, it also keeps them interested in your message.

More on that in a bit, but now let’s look at persuasive writing examples.

Persuasive writing examples

While this list is in no way a comprehensive persuasive writing tutorial, these 10 strategies are popular … because they work.

1. Repetition

Anyone who’s familiar with psychology will tell you repetition is crucial.

It’s also critical in persuasive writing, since a person can’t agree with you if they don’t truly get what you’re saying.

Of course, there’s good repetition and bad. To stay on the good side, make your point in several different ways, such as:

• A direct statement
• An example
• A story

You could also use inspirational quotes for writers when they’re appropriate, and restate your point once more in your summary.

2. Reasons why

Always remember the power of the word because.

Psychological studies have shown that people are more likely to comply with a request if you simply give them a reason why … even if that reason makes no sense.

The strategy itself does make sense if you think about it. We don’t like to be told things or asked to take action without a reasonable explanation.

When you need people to be receptive to your way of thinking, always give reasons why.

Having some initial anxieties about a new relationship is natural. However, having that anxiety linger is not fair to you or your partner. You want to have a happy relationship with no insecurities. Love and bliss can indeed go hand in hand, and it’s not complicated to get there.

There are many ways to feel more confident about yourself, but here’s how to stop being insecure in a relationship. Take the reins or the bull by the horns (or whatever else comes to mind), and start feeling more confident. Your partner will thank you for it.

20 Ways To Stop Being So Insecure In Your Relationship

1. Don’t snoop unless you really have a good reason not to trust him.
Emails and voicemails taken out of context can cause a lot of unnecessary heartaches.

2. Give him a little friendly competition.

It doesn’t hurt for him to know that your tall, built, a wildly successful artist friend from college periodically tells you you’re the one who got away and that it’s the biggest regret of his life.

3. Skip the games and be upfront.

If something’s bothering you, tell him directly. Guys don’t know what to make of it, and it shakes them up and gives you the upper hand.

When you think of someone running three businesses, you probably imagine 80-hour work weeks, but Dawn Scott manages to do it without sacrificing her life. Here are the tools and practices that make it possible to juggle it all.

One of the advantages of a personal loan — a debt, usually unsecured, that you pay back in installments — is that unlike an auto, student or mortgage loan, it’s not allocated for a specific, limited purpose. Instead, you get a lump sum of cash, which you can use for just about any purpose you choose.

So what do people actually use personal loans for? It’s hard to come up with precise data, since lenders don’t ask. But two recent studies on borrowers and personal finance, along with some input from advisers and experts, give some insight into why people apply for personal loans, and what they use the money for.

1. Dealing with Debt
A September 2019 study released by credit reporting firm Experian, one of the three major credit reporting companies in the U.S., looked at 210 consumers who were considering taking out a personal loan for the first time. Forty percent wanted the money for debt consolidation — that is, paying off existing loans, such as credit card balances, and replacing them with a single monthly payment, often at a lower interest rate. Similarly, a study of LendingTree customers, released in January 2020, found that around two-thirds of those who inquired about personal loans wanted to deal with debt in some way, with debt consolidation accounting for 35.7 percent of borrowing. Refinancing credit card debt to get a lower interest rate contributed another 31.4 percent of borrowing.

“Many people use personal loans to consolidate debts, much in the way that some people have used balance transfer cards over the years,” Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst for LendingTree, an online marketplace that helps consumers to shop for and compare loans, including personal ones, says in an email interview. “Zero-percent balance transfer cards can certainly be a cheaper way to go, but for many folks who want nothing to do with credit cards after running up big debts over the years, personal loans can be a pretty appealing option.”

2. Home Improvement Projects
In the Experian study, 35 percent of people who inquired about loans were considering applying for a loan to finance a home improvement project.

“2018 was a robust year for overall consumer spending on home services, with average home improvement spending at $7,560, average home maintenance spending at $1,105, and average home emergency spending at $416 — for an overall total average spending of $9,081 across all categories,” according to HomeAdvisor.

3. Purchasing Big-ticket Items
Experian found that 27 percent of potential loan seekers said they might use the money to make some unspecified large purchase. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to finance the entire item with the loan, according to Rod Griffin, director of public education for Experian.

For example, “if I’m buying a new car, one of the options I have, if I don’t pay cash in full and have a small amount left, is that I can use a personal loan to pay the small remaining balance,” Griffin explains. “Maybe it’s just a few thousand dollars. From personal experience, I know that when the balance is below a certain amount, a bank may not want to make an auto loan, because not enough will be owed for it to be profitable.” A modest personal loan can bridge that gap.

4. Travel
Twenty-three percent of people who are looking at taking out a personal loan would consider using the loan to pay for travel, Experian found. That’s understandable, since vacations can be pretty costly. A 2019 study by personal finance website Bankrate found that for the 52 percent of Americans who were planning a vacation that year, the average anticipated cost was $1,979, with older millennials in their 30s — a prime age to travel — expecting to spend $2,366.

As this article from LendingTree notes, using a personal loan to pay for travel has pluses, in that you don’t have to delay gratification, and it may be cheaper than putting a trip on a credit card. On the downside, because of interest, you end up paying more for the trip than if you had saved up the cash, and you face the usual risks if you borrow too much money and have trouble paying it back on time.

5. Medical Bills
While health care costs don’t show up in the Experian study as something that people frequently list as a reason for applying for a personal loan, financial advisers say that many actually turn to such borrowing after they suffer a serious illness or injury.

“A stroke, cancer, heart attack or major car accidents can cause extremely high medical bills,” explains Dwain Phelps, founder & CEO of Phelps Financial Group in Kennesaw, Georgia. “There are expenses that your insurance will cover and expenses that your insurance will not cover, which become your responsibility. Now think about those individuals who don’t have health insurance, their medical costs and expenses could get out of control. A personal loan could help with those unexpected medical costs.”

6. Starting a Small Business
Personal finance experts say that people who are trying to launch new ventures — especially home-based ones that they want to pursue while still holding down their day jobs — sometimes turn to personal loans for seed money. “Entrepreneurship is another legitimate reason for borrowing,” Griffin says. “You may need to purchase software or computer equipment.” The needed capital might be too little to make it worth applying for a business loan, but a personal loan will work just fine.

7. Unexpected Expenses
It could be a broken-down air conditioner in the middle of summer, or a cracked muffler on that old car that you need to get to work every day. Experts say yet another reason that people sometimes turn to personal loans is that they need to cope with some sudden setback they didn’t anticipate. According to a 2018 report from the Board of Governorsof the Federal Reserve System, four in 10 U.S. adults, if faced with an unexpected expense of $400, would not be able to come up with the cash unless they sold personal possessions or took out a loan.

“The reasons for borrowing money are complicated, and it varies for different people, but one thing I think is a unifying theme in our country is that millions of Americans who are working hard are still struggling hard to get by day to day,” explains Christopher Peterson. He’s director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America, and a law professor at the University of Utah who focuses on consumer protection.

But taking out a loan to cover an emergency can lead to trouble down the road, if a person has more bad luck. “Credit can be risky because if you’re borrowing to deal with a problem today, you may have the same problems tomorrow,” Peterson cautions. “But you’ll be less equipped to deal with it because you’ll still be paying of the previous debt.”

Source: https://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/debt-management/reasons-for-personal-loan.htm

AN Etsy store owner has opened up about how she started her business with only $5,000 and made over a million dollars in a little more than a year.

She now works as an online coach for small business owners who want to recreate the same success she had in such a short period of time.

Hannah Gardner, who dubs herself an entrepreneur after starting her own brand on Etsy and running a full-time YouTube channel, revealed she started her journey with one credit card that had a $5,000 limit.

“I started my e-commerce brand in my grandma’s spare bedroom and with a $5,000 limit on a credit card that I lied about my income to get,” she said in a YouTube video, warning others to never do this.

“But that $5,000 credit card limit allowed me to start my business.

“My closet was in the trunk of my car and my grandma let me use her spare bedroom as an office and I slept on her couch before I could afford to put a payment on a two-bedroom condo.

“But I took that credit card and I turned into $1.1million with my e-commerce brand.”

BUT HOW DID SHE DO IT?

The first thing that Gardner did when she started her store was to research the products she could potentially sell.

If you decide to sell something that not a lot of people are looking for, you’ll want to spend a few bucks on advertising and marketing.

“Before you launch, you want to see what your competitor is doing,” she explained.

That’s when you decide whether you can beat their product price, offer better shipping time or price, or expand your collection compared to the competition.

“The next thing I did when I set up my account was spending as much time as possible on my Etsy store. I spent my entire day on it,” Gardner revealed.

“When Etsy sees you are a user and you are serious and making constant edits to your content, Etsy will reward you for it by giving your their stamp of approval.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/money/5199102/hannah-gardner-started-buisness-made-millions-year/?utm_campaign=native_share&utm_source=sharebar_native&utm_medium=sharebar_native

With backing from KKR’s Henry Kravis, Falguni Nayar has become India’s richest self-made woman thanks to her fast-growing fashion and beauty retailer.

India’s richest self-made woman – Falguni Nayar, who founded Mumbai-based beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa – has advice for women entrepreneurs: “Let the spotlight of your life be on you.”

That resonates with her own journey to creating the $11 billion (market cap) Nykaa – derived from the Sanskrit word “Nayaka,” meaning one who’s in the spotlight.

Nayar was an investment banker for 19 years with India’s premier Kotak Mahindra Bank. During those two decades, she worked closely with India’s business elite including her boss, Uday Kotak, the well-respected billionaire founder of her firm. As managing director of its subsidiary Kotak Investment Banking, she held the hands of dozens of Indian entrepreneurs – including now billionaire Harsh Mariwala of consumer goods firm Marico and Ajay Bijli of PVR Cinemas – and helped them take their companies public.

Then one year shy of her 50th birthday, she quit to start her own business.

falguni-nayar-stripped
“You have to be the chief actor in your life,” says Nayar, who founded beauty and fashion retailer Nykaa in Mumbai in 2012. She invested $2 million in the initial years, along with her husband, Sanjay Nayar, the India CEO of U.S. private equity giant KKR. (The couple were in the same study group at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad).

One of her earliest believers was KKR’s billionaire cofounder Henry Kravis. “He was a big supporter from day one,” says Nayar. “He encouraged me to start my entrepreneurial journey. He wanted to take a stake in the first fundraising round, but I wanted to keep it to domestic investors.” Kravis eventually bought a stake from another investor who was selling; his Kravis Investment Partners LLC owns a 1.1% slice of the company.

It’s been quite a successful journey so far. Nykaa, which sells 4,000 brands, from sprays to skin creams to skirts, all available online and through 102 stores across 45 Indian cities, first became profitable in the fiscal year ending March 2021. Eight months later, Nykaa went public, one of the rare start-ups to turn a profit before the IPO. That helps explain why the November listing was such a smash success: the $13 billion IPO was oversubscribed 82 times. Even though the stock’s taken a beating since then, Nayar is still worth $5.9 billion, thanks to the 53% stake that she shares with her husband and 31-year-old twins, Anchit and Adwaita, who run Nykaa’s online and fashion businesses.

Nayar grew up in Mumbai. Her father–who moved from Karachi as a teenager during the partition of India and Pakistan by the British colonizers–started as a Sanskrit teacher in Mumbai and eventually cofounded a ball-bearings business.

Nayar recalls that she and her younger brother were both encouraged to help with the business.

“He’d expect us to roll up our sleeves and pitch in – even if it meant packing large orders,” she says. “My father was a different thinker. He’d treat me and my brother equally. Growing up I always felt like I could take risks – because I saw him taking risks.”

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anuraghunathan/2022/04/14/falguni-nayar-henry-kravis-how-to-quit-your-job-at-49-and-make-a-6-billion-fortune/?sh=2643dc442833

The alarm goes off, and the day begins.

You stumble out of bed, bleary-eyed and barely awake.

As the morning gears up, your mind is racing.

You need to check the weather, get dressed for work, grab breakfast, and then head out the door.

It’s hard to find time for everything you need to do in the morning.

The morning can be a hectic time as we’re trying to make all of our normal routines fit into just a few short hours before going to work, or wherever else we need to be.

But if we make it a priority to start our days off right with some simple rituals, we’ll set ourselves up for a great day.

One of such habits is getting our high-value tasks done before noon.

Your most precious and productive hours are the first fours hours — it’s the time we are focused and full of energy.

It pays to block off time for your most important work in the morning.
I do all my writing in the morning.

I feel more refreshed and alert in the morning, so I’ve scheduled to write my Medium posts before noon.

Source:https://betterhumans.pub/the-first-rule-for-great-day-own-the-morning-dc739ac5cc93

When you’re learning how to write better content, it’s helpful to think of a friend who tells stories that never seem to get to the point.

They sound okay at first, then they spins off into tangents about how they met their spouse, then we go into their first college dorm room, with a side trip to that deeply formative event that happened in third grade, then …

There might be a point in there somewhere. But by the time it’s arrived, your eyes have rolled back in your head and you’re hoping to get struck by lightning so you can get out of this conversation.

It’s boring. And it’s annoying. So let’s make sure that your audience never feels that way about your business blogging.

How to write better content

Over the years while working with content marketing students, I’ve critiqued hundreds of blog posts.

One mistake I see over and over is content that’s interesting and well written, but that wanders all over the place before it gets to the point … if, in fact, it has a point at all.

Creating aimless, fuzzy content wastes your time. Even worse, it wastes your audience’s attention.

Because I’ve been driving back and forth from Corvallis to Portland so much lately to attend to my mother and cousin, I’ve had ample to time to listen to audiobooks. I find that I’m actually grateful for the opportunity to “read” in this fashion. (Like many folks, the past decade has destroyed my attention span and ability to read for long periods.)

I’m currently reading Stephen R. Covey’s classic The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. (Five stars on Amazon in 5672 reviews!) I read the book once long, long ago — sometime during the mid-1990s. I’ve referred to it now and then as the years have gone by, but mostly I’ve forgotten its lessons.

Or so I thought.

In reality, it turns out that much of my personal philosophy is similar to the precepts Covey covers. It’s shocking, in fact, just how much of my personal and financial philosophies align with those presented in Seven Habits. I haven’t consciously or deliberately emulated his teachings, but I’ve wound up in the same place nonetheless.

For those unfamiliar, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People are as follows:

1. Be proactive. Take responsibility for your own life. Take the initiative and don’t simply accept what you’re given. (Here are my thoughts on becoming proactive.)
2. Begin with the end in mind. Have a plan for your life. Know where you want to go — and why. Like me, Covey is a proponent of writing a personal mission statement.
3. Put first things first. Sort out your priorities (which is much easier to do when you have an end in mind). Focus your attention on the things that are urgent and important. Covey’s “big rocks” metaphor comes from this section.
4. Think win-win. When possible, seek mutually beneficial solutions to problems. Don’t be adversarial. Help others achieve their aims as you achieve yours.
5. Seek first to undertand, then to be understood. Don’t be in a rush to be right. Listen to what others are saying. (Truly listen.) Practice empathy. I feel like this is a seldom-practiced skill in modern society, which is why I urge people to practice financial empathy.
6. Synergize. Find ways to work with others in order to achieve mutual aims and accomplish things that you couldn’t do alone.
7. Sharpen the saw. Make time for personal renewal. Keep your lifestyle balanced. Pursue self-improvement.

Source: https://www.getrichslowly.org/the-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-people/

Since I was in college I have seen couples getting together and breaking up, falling out of love faster than I could change clothes. People were “trying each other on” like new dresses and collecting experiences.

Many, if not most, of the couples I saw during my twenties were in such miserable relationships that I was grateful to be alone and to have the energy, drive, and desire to grow personally, professionally and spiritually.

So what is a loving relationship that has the power to last forever? I strongly believe that we have to take care of ourselves first in order to let somebody into our lives who will look in the same direction. And then together we can co-create a beautiful life day-by-day.

Is your brand in need of a makeover? While it may seem as simple as something like changing your company’s name, rebranding is a complicated process with many moving parts.

After a time, many companies change or update their missions, and rebranding is an effective tool for signaling to customers that a company is undergoing major changes, but it can also result in pushback from the target audience if not handled well. Below, nine Young Entrepreneur Council members reveal steps you can take if your rebrand doesn’t achieve the reaction you were hoping for.

1. Pivot

A rebrand is more than a logo or name change. It needs to guide values and culture changes as well. There will always be mixed reactions, but if you know where you want to go next, you can overcome them. Use the rebrand to guide shifts in operations and experience aligned to customer needs. If you know the unmet needs of the market, you will know when to pivot a brand and where to take it. – Ryan Stoner, Dendro

2. Ask Why

Most people don’t care much at all about the corporate name they are buying from. Product and service names are more important. If your corporate rebrand gets a negative response, don’t be too proud to ask why and react accordingly. Changing the name back again might get more press anyway. – David Boehl, TravelSite.io

3. Give People Time To Adjust

Don’t give up right away. Most people shy away from change because there’s an unknown element. When a brand starts making changes to things like their name, people wonder what else may be changing. Will the experience or quality be the same? Give people time to adjust, and employ strategies to make it a positive experience for customers. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR

4. Explain Your Reason For Changing

Any rebranding will be met with at least a little criticism. Especially if your brand is well-loved and well-established, your customers will find it hard to see you in a “new light.” The key is to be incredibly transparent. Explain what brought about the change and show them a glimpse of what you have planned for the future. Make sure they feel like they’re a part of it and give it some time. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

5. Get Clear On Your Purpose And Values

Go back to the beginning to ask yourself some fundamental questions. Do you know your company’s purpose? Vision? Mission? Values? This sounds cliche, but being able to articulate these things is fundamental to your brand and core identity. Be clear about who you are, what you do, why you exist and how you operate. If a rebranding failed, these questions should get you back on track. – Shu Saito, Fact Retriever

6. Create Something To Celebrate

A great way to deal with negative pushback around a rebrand is to create something to celebrate. I’d introduce a new feature, offer a limited-time discount or create an event. It’s not so you can distract your audience from a brand change they don’t like; it’s to associate positive new changes with the rebrand and to help people realize growth can be a mixed bag of experiences. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

7. Operate With Excellence

Stay the course and focus on the areas that you excel in. Change is hard on many, and some things take time to grow on people. By continuing to operate with excellence and take care of your clients in ways your competition can’t, you’ll make a name for yourself no matter what you’re called. – Joel Mathew, Fortress Consulting.

8. Do Some Research

The best people to answer what went wrong are your customers. If my rebranding efforts don’t receive the response I was hoping for, I would definitely try to understand what went wrong by conducting thorough research. This can be done by sending out feedback forms, asking for customer reviews, having live sessions on social media and more to ensure that the same mistakes aren’t repeated again. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

9. Monitor How You’re Tracking Implementation

Notable rebranding always receives criticism; people love criticizing, and everything new feels wrong and scary at first. New identity and messaging is just the beginning of rebranding—the crucial part of it is implementing your new brand internally and externally. Before tearing everything down and pivoting, take a look at how you are tracking your implementation efforts. – Daria Gonzalez, Wunderdogs.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2022/03/15/nine-steps-to-take-if-your-company-rebrand-doesnt-get-a-positive-response/