Amidst the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), we're experiencing closures, cancellations, quarantines, and many institutions & businesses transitioning to work-from-home.
And while the spread of the virus, as well as the financial impact of these cancellations and closures, is very real, it's important to maintain some form of hope and optimism during this time of crisis.
I hope that by writing and sharing these resources, I can help:
1. Share all of the good that is still going on around us!
2. Share resources that may help you or someone you love get through this crisis.
3. And empower you with a healthy mindset & valuable resources to help stop the spread of fear, panic, & anxiety.
I've walked through many seasons of unexpected waiting and lows both in my personal and professional life and have learned that this time is often what brings about the space to breathe and dream again.
Cheers to having time for growth and expansion! 🥂
INVEST IN YOUR EDUCATION
I fully believe that the best investment you can make is in yourself and your own education. Now is the time to be thinking long term - what skillsets do you need in order to have a sustainable and profitable career for yourself that you do not currently posses, or feel fully confident in?
Many things are getting postponed vs cancelled, which tells me that when the world gets back to normal, there will be a flood of new business and events going on. But this also means a season of busyness! Are your systems and process in place and prepared for this?
Sit down and figure out your plan, and I mean step-by-step. If you find your knowledge, skill, or system related to a certain area is lacking, invest in the education that you need to develop these skills! If you want to make a living as a freelancer, you need to know how to build and market yourself as a business. You need to know how to build a website, start an email list, run social media accounts so they convert, how to build a magnetic brand, have legal contracts, an email template bank....all the things, right? Now is the perfect time to learn about and create these (and even better, actually get started doing it)!
Here are some resources that I personally recommend for digital education:
Flute Roots: A digital program created by Dr. Katherine Emeneth on teaching beginner flutists. This program is currently open for enrollment through Sunday, March 22
Create Your Career! My signature program - a digital course designed to walk you step-by-step through branding yourself and leveraging your online audience so that you can market and pitch yourself like a pro. (This program is normally only run live twice per year but in light of the recent crisis and how important it is to be able to function in a digital world, I am offering access to the recordings of this program for only $300. Please reach out to me personally at hello@nicolericcardo.com to gain access to these training materials.)
Create & Cultivate Insiders: "Create & Cultivate is an online community and offline event series for women looking to create & cultivate the career of their dreams." Their conferences include a lot of the big-name players for creatives, entrepreneurs, and CEO's. By becoming a C&C insider, you will gain access to their video archive of past panels and mentor sessions!
Join entrepreneurial Facebook groups! Especially in this crazy time, group admins are working overtime to bring super valuable resources to us as real-time as possible. I'd love to have you be a member of my group, Create Your Career, and would also recommend The Society of Women Entrepreneurs, Boston Business Women, Classical Musicianeer, and Create & Cultivate!
Podcasts! Some of my favorites include Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner and Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield.
READ A BOOK
This is one of my favorite ways to take time for myself. Whether I'm continuing my education or simply looking for a good story to get lost in, here are some of my top recs to read (or listen to on audible)!
IF YOU'RE BUILDING/GROWING A BUSINESS:
The Success Principles By Jack Canfield
Traction By Gino Wickman
Rocket Fuel By Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters
ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk
ON COPYWRITING:
How To Write Copy That Sells By Ray Edwards
ON DIGITAL LAUNCHING:
Launch By Jeff Walker
ON SELLING:
Little Red Book of Selling By Jeffrey Gitomer
How To Win Friends & Influence People By Dale Carnegie
Ask By Ryan Levesque
ON NEGOTIATING:
Never Split The Difference By Chris Voss
ON MINDSET:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success By Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
ON EFFICIENT PRACTICE:
The Talent Code By Daniel Coyle
Talent Is Overrated By Geoff Colvin
LAW OF ATTRACTION:
You Are a Badass at Making Money By Jen Sincero
The Secret By Rhonda Byrne
ON BECOMING A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF:
The Path Made Clear By Oprah Winfrey
Daring Greatly By Brene Brown
Atomic Habits By James Clear
Big Magic By Elizabeth Gilbert
Girl, Stop Apologizing By Rachel Hollis
The Daily Stoic By Ryan Holiday
A BOOK EVERY MUSICIAN/CREATIVE/FREELANCER SHOULD OWN:
Survival of the Flutist By Marianne Gedigian
FICTION:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Conviction By Denise Mina
The Silent Patient By Alex Michaelides
A Confederacy of Dunces By John Kennedy Toole
New Orleans Sketches By William Faulkner
UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE
If you have downtime, this is the perfect opportunity to get to all those things on your to-do list that you normally look at and think, "Wow, I really need to get to this but I just don't have time right now." And I'd be willing to bet updating (or building) a website is somewhere on there. 😉
Here are a few things to check in on & update: 1. FORMAT Did you know that something as simple as placing an image to the right of a text block vs to the left can have an impact on your conversions? Team NR Media is all about conversion-based design, and we encourage you to think strategically and design an intentional path that you want visitors to take when on your website. Another thing to ask yourself is, "Is this easy to use and navigate?" The reality is you have less than one second to capture attention and intrigue a visitor to click further into your site. And if they can't figure out where to go next or get overwhelmed by the amount of options in your menu, they're gonna be saying, "thank u, next." 👋
⚡ PRO TIP: ⚡ We recommend having no more than 5 options in your main menu. 2. COPY 📝 Are the words on your website speaking directly to your target audience? And speaking of....are you crystal clear on who your target audience actually is? (HINT: Your target audience may be different than your current audience!) Your website should be your best unpaid salesman, so knowing exactly what to say where, and how to say it, is crucial in building a website that can effectively convert passive viewers to customers. If any of this sounds confusing to you, don't worry, you know we gotchu! 😘 To help out our community, we are offering our Signature NR Media Wix Website template for $50 OFF through March (now only $200!) Not only is our template formatted very intentionally with a conversion based design, it also has a built-in copy template to tell you exactly what you should be saying & where. 😉 Just email hello@nicolericcardo.com to purchase this template for yourself!
ATTEND A VIRTUAL CONCERT
In this time of social distancing and quarantine, many incredible organizations are opening up their video vaults for free viewing! Here are some places to catch incredible performances:
Fluteevents.com : A comprehensive global calendar of concerts, masterclasses, workshops, courses, and more. If you are holding an event, feel free to share it on this calendar by clicking submit your event!
The Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall : now FREE for 30 days!
Free Opera Streams via The Met
VIRTUALLY TOUR A MUSEUM
Museums across the globe, and even some zoos and aquariums, are now offering free virtual tours and live streams! Here are a few to check out:
View even more virtual tours HERE!
STAY ACTIVE
When working from home it's incredibly important to take breaks and find ways to keep your body moving. Not only does it keep your immune system strong, working out releases endorphins!
My personal favorite resource is Yoga With Adriene, a free YouTube channel full of awesome yoga videos!
Glo is offering free yoga, pilates, and meditation specifically designed to help with stress.
The DownDog App has made all of their apps free until April 1st! They have at-home workouts on yoga, barre, HIIT, and more.
TAKE TIME TO RELAX
I'm choosing to think of this quarantine as the Universe's way of telling me I need to relax more. Here are some ways you can show yourself a little self-love, and help relieve some stress!
Practice meditation. I personally recommend, and use, the Headspace app!
Do an at-home spa day. I'm talking treat yourself to a face mask, bubble bath, paint your nails, and do a hair mask (my faves include LUSH bath bombs & face masks, and Not Your Mother's hair masks)!
Light candles. I love using different scents to set the energy for my spaces and will even use multiple candles throughout the day when I'm shifting my focus! For example, in the mornings and evenings I like to use a Eucalyptus or Lavender scent for calming and relaxation, and when I am in work mode I'll use something more citrusy or energizing! These are my recent faves!
Bake something! I don't know about you, but nothing relaxes me more than curling up for a good Netflix binge with some chocolate cake, wine, and a super cozy blanket. 😍
Read a book! See above for my big list of recs.
Organize! Okay okay, this may not be relaxing for everyone, but to me there's not much that's more satisfying than organizing my closet by color and making my pantry look like something out of The Home Edit. *swoon*
Create photo books! For anyone else out there that's super visual like I am, for YEARS I've dreamed of creating beautiful photo books filled with my memories and photographs from the year to have something to look back at and remember what the heck was going on in my life. Now that we have some extra downtime, this is a great opportunity to finally organize all those photos and even compile them into beautiful heirloom quality books that you can look back at for years to come!
Do a puzzle! (I've gone through two so far 🙈)
PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL WELLNESS
If you're experiencing a lot of stress, anxiety, and/or panic, I encourage you to seek (virtual) help from a licensed therapist. There are many options including shifting your current therapy appointments to virtual ones, as well as utilizing one of the many apps available!
STAY CONNECTED
In a time of social distancing and quarantine it can be tough to feel connected. Here are a few ways you can stay emotionally healthy and in-touch with your loved ones without having to leave your house and endanger them.
Use video chat like FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, & Skype. Having a coffee date or lunch with someone is as easy as the click of a few buttons!
Check on your neighbors through the NextDoor App. If anyone is running low on supplies and you have extra, you can share the love by dropping it on their doorstep. Also check in on your elderly neighbors, many of whom may not be able to get their own groceries during this time and probably aren't familiar with how to use grocery delivery services. Lend a helping hand when you can!
Use the Netflix Parties Chrome plugin to hang out and binge watch shows with your friends...from a healthy distance. 😉
Host live mastermind sessions and hangouts with friends on social media!
SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY
What are ways that you can give back and support your community right now, whether that is locally or via your social media community? Here are some ways to bring value right now:
Write blog posts or create video content sharing your knowledge & expertise with others
Share your favorite small businesses on your social platforms
Purchase gift cards from your favorite small businesses
Shop online at your favorite small businesses
Organize a mastermind group to share ideas and knowledge
If these resources and tips were helpful for you, please share with your friends!
