To help you have a healthy Christmas we have created a Christmas recipe book together 17 recipes that your family will love.
If you are keen on a FREE copy simply download the book here
You can have a healthy, happy Christmas.
Merry Christmas,
The Team @ The Diabetes Clinic
These little tarts are just the thing for a Christmas plate in the lead up or on the day. They have a shortcrust like shell and raspberry and lemon curd centre, sweetened with either monk fruit or stevia.
Raspberry and Lemon Christmas Tarts
Makes 24-30 bite sized tarts
Cases can be made the day before and stored in an airtight container and filling chilled in the fridge.
Pastry
1c ground almonds
½ c ground walnuts (Blitz walnut pieces in the blender)
⅓ c coconut flour
½ c tapioca starch
2 Tbsp psyllium husks
1 small egg
2 Tbsp butter
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp stevia liquid
Filling
250g fresh or frozen raspberries defrosted
Juice and finely grated zest of 2 lemons
¼ cup monkfruit sweetener or stevia equivalent
4 egg yolks
75g butter chopped
1 ½ Tbsp chia seeds
Topping
100g 70% dark chocolate
75g cacao butter
25g coconut butter
20 drops stevia
To make the pastry place all of the ingredients into a food processor and combine until the mixture comes together into a ball. Turn out dough, wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Place tablespoon sized balls of dough into well greased mini muffin tins and press with fingers to cover the base and up the sides of each hole. Prick the bases with a fork. Bake for 12 minutes until golden.
Melt the butter for the filling in a medium sized pot. Add the raspberries, lemon juice and sweetener and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and whisk the egg yolks into the hot mixture one at a time to make sure they don’t scramble.
Return to the heat and cook over a low heat stirring continuously to avoid catching on the bottom until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Cool and stir in the chia seeds. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
To make the topping place the dark chocolate and the cacao butter into separate heat proof bowls. Place the dark chocolate bowl over a pot of simmering water to melt. Do not allow water or steam to get into the bowl. Spread the melted chocolate onto a sheet of baking paper. Place the bowl of cacao butter over pan of hot water and add the coconut butter and stevia. Stir until melted. Pour into a zip lock bag and cool until it is starting to thicken. Snip the corner off the bag and pour lines of cacao butter over the dark chocolate while it is still soft and swirl through.
Place on a tray in the fridge until set and remove and cut star or other shapes from the chocolate. To assemble spoon raspberry filling into the cases and tope with a chocolate star. You may not want to assemble until you are ready to use them as the cases are delicate without the gluten and will go soft quickly.
Healthy Eating
-Julie Buckley (Coach/Chef)
Diabetes Clinic New Zealand
To get hold of our FREE 2018 Christmas Cook Book please ‘like’ our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/diabetesclinicnz/ and tag a friend in the comments section under this recipe and then send us a message “Xmas Cook Book please”.
The 2018 Xmas Cook Book will be delivered digitally to those in our message system. It is full of great healthy recipes for the whole family. Feel free to share your book with family and friends and have a very merry Christmas.
Have you ever wondered how social media influencers make their money? Does it just seem like they have a lot of fun doing the things they love but maybe they just have a rich dad or something? They are all just either on holidays taking photos or wearing the latest fashion or frequenting Cafes and Restaurants…
Far from it.
As a Digital marketer who has built his business from scratch, I figured there was much more to becoming a successful Social Media Influencer and making a real career or business from this activity. So, I have done some research and here is what I have found to share with you…
To qualify as a Social Media Influencer, you don’t have to make money, however those who do work hard to build a business or career just like other successful people do. The cool thing though is they seem to LOVE what they do!
You can fast track your social media influencer business or career by learning from those who have gone before or working with someone like me who can leverage my networks and reach and help fine tune your approach.
Anyway to whet your appetite for a career as a Social Media Influencer here are some of the ways you can make money.
1. Build a following then simple sell them products you love (Products that match your brand/style). There are brands who will pay you a commission on sale if you can sell their products.
2. Sell you own digital products - can be low cost to develop. Build your followng then offer them something they will love. Kayla Itsines is someone who has done just that. Another of my favourites is Ty Moyer from iPhone Photography School
3. Becoming a brand ambassador is another viable way for people to enter the career as a social media influencer. Here is a good example of a very talented Brand Ambassador who has been developed by a major organisation JP Morgan she is awesome and possibly not what you would think of as a brand ambassador. This is an example of securing a career and developing into a ‘Employment’ Brand Ambassador. So, does this make you think “there are a lot more options out there for me to become a brand ambassador”…
4. Social Media sponsored posts. Be careful here, your followers follow you for a reason but if a product or service connects with your market then yes you can make money promoting a sponsored post. You will also need to declare to your followers it is a sponsored post so choose wisely.
5. Podcasts/Webinars/Online Courses all work in similar ways. If you have something to teach your followers and they are willing to subscribe here is another way to generate a good income. This is how you turn your hobby or skill into an online income maker whether it be how to weave flax’ or ‘how to draw pictures’ the scope here is endless.
6. Coaching other Social Media Influencers - Once you are making a living from your craft, others will always want to know how they can too. There are multiple ways to deliver this training including (5) above.
7. Become a digital marketing consultant. Use your skills to build a following for other people/businesses and get paid for it.
The fact is there is so many ways you can generate an income once you have something other people are interested in. Whether you do this part-time after school or work, during your lunch hour or even before you start you start the day give it a go. You may find a way to leverage your way into a career or business that you LOVE too.
Smile and have a great day
Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
w. tonycuttingdigital.com
For more tips on Digital Marketing or becoming a Social Media Marketer please feel free to follow my Facebook page Tony Cutting Digital
PS. If you liked this blog please share it with someone you know who would like it too :-)
Where is your happy place? Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST
My happy place - I love marketing and love making my clients businesses shine. However, I only want to work with good businesses who want to be great.
I made a conscious decision to seek out clients with great products and services. As a digital marketing specialist, you are pushing sh*t uphill working with clients who don’t have a great business or at least have no desire to become great. When it comes to digital there is no place to hide which I love. It truly creates an environment where good businesses and business people can do well. Meanwhile, ‘shonky’ operators waste precious time dealing with poor reviews and losing customers simply due to being called out on Google and Social Media.
Also, don’t we all want to do something that adds true value to the work we do?
Unfortunately, marketing is to blame for creating many issues in the world, some lethal when you think of the effect of fast food, cigarettes and refined sugar.
Outside of the ‘evil’ businesses I break businesses into two groups;
1. Those who want to be great (and make money)
2. Those who want to make money.
I choose to work with those who want to be great and make money. The fact is if you are in business you need to make a profit, or you won’t be in business very long.
So, what does a great business look like?
For me great businesses are driven by people with their heart in the right place. They have good products and/or services, but they are striving to become great. Generally, for me that means products and services I would personally use or recommend to my family or friends - as I often do.
They work on developing their business skills, upskilling and developing their staff, but most of all developing a culture in the business focused on the customer. They strive to the best and through this journey they become great.
Simply put. Good businesses who focus on what their customer (and audience) wants can become great businesses. Yes, there is a lot to learn and becoming great can take some time but when you get there not only will you grow a business that thrives, you are probably providing a product or service you customers love and are more than willing to talk about. Marketing job almost done.
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Focusing helping businesses become great
My mission for Tony Cutting Digital is to help good businesses (or great ideas) turn into great businesses. To help this happen I setup my own business networks and marketing collectives so local businesses can learn from each other as well as learn how to help each other thrive.
In terms of my skills, as a business coach and digital marketer I spend 20% of my working week learning and 80% of this time building my business or delivering services to clients. I am growing a good business and hope to one day have a number of great businesses as my clients.
If you are interested in working with Tony Cutting Digital, please feel free to contact me. However, if your business is not committed from moving from good to great please give some other marketing person a call.
Have a great day
Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
w. tonycuttingdigital.com
Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash
In New Zealand we are known for our ‘number 8 wire’ mentality. We are great at survival. “She’ll be right, I can do that”.
What we tend to be is poor at thriving. Knowledge as we all know is a powerful thing. Unfortunately, a little knowledge can leave us vulnerable especially to competitors who use their smart thinking to engage people with exceptional knowledge to do tasks that are not “core business”.
The investment return of this approach is simple. Having smart people to call on in areas you are not exceptional is the entrepreneurial skill used by business owners to ensure their business thrives rather than just survives.
Yes, gain knowledge so at least you have the baseline to understand great from good.
However, invest in knowledge and skills from specialists and significantly increase your businesses chances of thriving.
Spend your time learning your craft, and learning how to manage these assets, that is how ensure you have the essential skills that builds your personal brand and respect from your customers and staff. Forget about the ‘number 8 wire’ attitude and get great at what you do. hire resources that add to your skills and practice the same approach as you i.e. they focus on being great at what they do.
By adopting this tactic anyone who really wants to thrive will.
I hope you found this helpful.
Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital w. tonycuttingdigital.com
As business owners we tend to want to tell the world all about our business. Every little detail. So, we create websites, advertising and marketing that explains everything we do, how we do it and maybe if they are lucky how what we do benefits our client.
Unfortunately, the result can often be a confusing mess that people have to wade through to find out whether you offer what they are looking for. The reality is many of them will not hang around for long.
So, what do we need to do instead?
Forget about confusing detail that often is too technical for people outside your industry to understand. Clarify a message directed solely at your customer. The art of great marketing is to simplify your message, so it cuts through the noise being made by your competitors.
Its about your customer not you.
If a client can see what you are offering and how it benefits them, followed by what they need to do to buy your product/s or service/s then you have a winning formula.
So, when you get a moment have a look at your website, go through your marketing material and ask the question “who is this message for?”
If you think you need some help feel free to call me on 021 911 722.
I sincerely hope you found this information helpful.
Kind regards
Tony C
Tony Cutting Digital
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
Photo by William Iven on Unsplash
Engagement is the key ingredient for success with any Facebook page. In terms of business pages if you are not consistently thinking about how to improve your engagement then you are missing the boat in terms of what your followers are looking for.
The ultimate engagement is to have your posts shared organically. So how do you create posts that are likely to be shared?
Here are my top 12 tips to help you create more engagement and more shares.
1. Posts about your business will quickly run out of steam and to be frank possibly will struggle to get the engagement you need to succeed. So, focus your posts on content that provides useful information for the reader - it’s about them not you.
2. Encouraging followers/audience to ask you questions is a great way to attract engagement and responses. Be thoughtful about what you are asking and make sure you give a timeframe and explain when you will have the answers to the questions.
3. Share a genuine offer. Personally, I think people are getting wary of the American style of ‘A FREE giveaway’ instead give a really good discount on a product or service for a short period of time (not repeated until next year) and build on this sale to capture clients who will become great testimonials and help to promote your business. Of course, this only applies if you are offering a great product or service. In my book if you are not, then maybe running a business is not for you.
4. Share your passion for what you do. Genuine passion is super attractive to a large percentage of your audience. Do not be afraid to let people know who you are and why you are doing what you do.
5. Share you values - This is a tactic which follows on from sharing your passion. Let people know what you and your company value. If you are genuine, and you have strong positive values then this will get results.
6. Ask for feedback. People love to be included and feel like their opinion matters. Asking your audience for feedback or help with making specific choices in your business? This should provide you with immediate engagement.
7. Know your audience. Running surveys and engaging with your clients and followers creates engagement. The better you know and understand the people you want to attract and interact with, the easier it is to share information they value.
8. Sharing relevant posts with your audience. Sharing what’s happening in ‘your followers’ world is a great way to encourage responses. This lets you join in the conversations that are already happening, cementing your place as a concerned, thoughtful friend rather than just a business.
9. Promote community causes, so you stand for more than just your business - People love people and businesses that stand for more than just making money. On your Facebook page, share updates about local community events, non-profits you support, fundraising activities etc. Whether you are involved in them or not.
10. Share heart-warming posts. Be careful to be discerning. However, sharing posts that you know will hit the heart. Be genuine and ensure your comments paint a true picture of who you are and why this post was important for you to share.
11. Share humorous posts. As above be careful and genuine ensure your comments paint a true picture of who you are and why this post was funny for you. Be tasteful!
12. POST NATIVE VIDEO. It’s simple - loading native videos that contain compelling content that is not too long (1-3 minutes) will get great engagement. This tactic will get more engagement than all of the above.
Hope you found this blog helpful. Please feel free to leave a message on my Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/tonycuttingdigital/ and let me know how this worked for you. Always happy to share success stories with my audience.
Everyone wants to be on the first page of Google, right?
By a conservative estimate, studies suggest that the first page of the search results receives 75% of web traffic. You need to be on that first page to be visible to new customers. The only problem? Ranking isn’t easy.
Google uses a complex algorithm of 200 ranking factors – and perhaps even more that we don’t know about – to sort through everything that the internet has to offer. Some of these ranking factors are out of your control; you can’t make your domain age faster, after all. Those sorts of things can make it difficult to compete for visibility with larger, more established companies.
You can compete with the big boys, however, if you can develop better content than them. Google even lists content as the first thing for a webmaster to focus on when creating a Google-friendly site: to provide “high-quality content on your pages.”
Audiences Want Video Content - Mobiles are dictating rankings.
In 2016, Search Engine Land reported that over 60 percent of all internet searches come from mobile devices. That number has continued to increase since. Google and other search engines are aware of this and have adjusted their algorithms accordingly.
So what exactly does this mean? It means search results are tilting to favor content that’s easily consumable on mobile devices. Do you know what outperforms all other forms of content on mobile?
Video.
If you want to rank in the search results, your content must be easily digestible on a mobile platform and fit the needs of a mobile user. If someone’s sitting at a desktop computer, they are generally more willing to read long-form articles or watch a long video. On mobile? Information needs to be quick, concise and cut to the point.
Videos are a perfect solution. And get this – videos can also increase your conversions on landing pages by up to 80%. Why not increase your sales while you’re at it?
The massive advantage.
Companies are quick to get into content marketing or SEO, but slow to create videos. And that’s precisely why creating video footage makes it easy to out-value the competition.
Tony Cutting Digital has been exploring different types of video solutions for the past three years. We can produce video directly ourselves or use a partner if the ideal solution requires something a little different to what we normally work with.
Either way once your video is ready we are the experts in New Zealand for getting your video out there.
Great Images
If video sounds too hard then make sure you include a great image. A gallery of great images will likely perform better then just one. However, remember your content needs to tell a story and the images need to add something to that story. Social media is about engagement, building relationships with your followers and converting these relationships with meaningful content that shows you are a trustworthy provider of whatever good and services you sell.
- Tony Cutting
M 021 911 722
E. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
Message Me. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
