Fitness calendar
Fitness calendar template
Consistency is key for many important and useful things in our lives, and every tool that helps us stick to it is worth attention and trying. The fitness calendar will help you keep track of your workouts and meals – two things that are tightly bound and determine your physical shape.
A workout template allows you to easily create a well-thought-out and balanced training program depending on your preferable sports activities and favorite meals. An excellent view of your workouts throughout the week may motivate and inspire you to move forward.
The xTiles Fitness Calendar Template will become a useful tool for all kinds of workouts and athletes, whether you’re a novice or a gym frequenter.
What is a Workout Calendar
The first thing every fitness enthusiast learns is that consistency and repetition are the guarantees of success, in our case – the body of their dreams. How can one ensure they do the same exercise for the same amount of time, etc? Using a workout calendar or workout plan.
After some time of doing the same stuff over and over again, our brain gets tired. You probably spotted that when standing in a plank position. After 20 seconds, your eyes try to find something interesting in a room. That’s why you might think that you do your usual routine, while in reality, it changes every time you work out.
A fitness calendar stops people from going astray from your path. It outlines the days, times, and types of exercises a person intends to perform over a given period to help them stay committed to their goals.
A workout calendar helps you plan your fitness sessions according to your other activities. Using it with your Weekly Planner lets you clearly see your week. A tough day in the office with many meetings? It might be better to schedule a stretching session to release tension and relax after a hard day.
Workout calendar apps and pre-made workout templates ease the planning process, providing you with many organizing and customizing options, so you can make your own fitness calendar that will be perfectly tailored to your needs and inclinations and look highly appealing and inspiring.
Who will benefit from using a workout calendar template?
A workout calendar may come in handy for many people involved in sports activities. Here are some of the most popular cases when people seriously benefit from creating a fitness plan according to their needs and preferences.
People who regularly work out in the gym on their own
When you have a trainer, your exercises and technique are not entirely your hassle. You know that someone will take care of everything to help you reach your goals, so you can give yourself fully to working out.
However, when there’s no one to keep an eye on you, you need to do it yourself, and a ready-to-use fitness calendar template is a great way to plan your training sessions together with your meals, as none of them works without the other.
People who regularly exercise at home
Home fitness has become super popular during the Pandemic. Today, many people keep exercising at home regularly. And many people keep choosing their living room and mat over gyms.
Well-balanced training sessions can’t be created on the run. Improvising may be great, but not for your muscles. A pre-made workout calendar template will help you plan everything quickly and easily to reach desired results.
Personal trainers
Being a trainer also means teaching people to think about their fitness routines. Many people quit using trainers when they become more confident. That’s why you can provide your clients with a comprehensive fitness schedule to help them become more independent without harm to their health.
Fitness beginners
When you only start, and there’s no one to guide you, you might get lost easily in a current of new information. A calendar will provide a fitness novice with structure and guidance on which exercises to perform and which menu to create to build a solid foundation and make them love fitness.
People who are constantly busy
If your schedule is super busy, and you struggle to find time for any additional activity yet still would like to exercise at least a bit, a fitness calendar template may help you. Use it to plan your training in advance to prioritize your exercise and ensure there’s time for them.
To establish a healthy relationship with food and sport
When used too much and incorrectly without control, fitness might become destructive and harm our bodies and minds. If you exercise relying only on your feelings and sweat stains, you may not clearly understand how much you are working out.
A ready-to-use fitness calendar will help you determine whether your working-out routine and menu are healthy. If not, it will help you build a new one, this time with the idea of taking care of yourself as the base of the whole concept.
How to create a well-balanced fitness program using the xTiles Fitness Calendar template?
When creating your personal fitness calendar, you will need to consider various factors such as your fitness goals, current fitness level, and personal preferences. Each of these factors is important to outline training sessions that will be enjoyable for you.
Let’s start from the very beginning and plan a workout calendar for a fitness beginner using the xTiles Fitness Calendar template.
Set your fitness goals
The most popular fitness goal is losing weight. However, fitness shouldn’t become a part of your life only occasionally if you want to keep a healthy body mass.
Being patient with others is what we learn in early childhood. However, we aren’t always patient with ourselves, demanding fast results where they are unrealistic and unnecessary. Goals like “to lose 10 lbs in 5 days” usually lead to unhealthy relationships with sports and food.
That’s why general goals like upgrading your overall fitness level are much better than goals with strict numbers. Also, it’s advisable not to set goals according to clothes you can’t fit in anymore. It’s clothes that are supposed to fit, not you.
Determine your workout frequency
Decide how many days per week you want to exercise or how many days are available. Working 9 to 5 may not leave enough time for regular sports activity in the gym, especially if you need to commute there. In this case, home fitness is preferable.
Before you decide upon days, please remember that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity for adults aged 18-64 spread throughout the week.
If you’re new to fitness, it may be better not to exceed these WHO guidelines.
Choose your workout types
Today, anyone can find a workout they will like. Standing workouts for your abs, running or cycling for cardiovascular health, weight lifting or bodyweight exercises for building muscle and increasing overall strength, yoga or pilates for relaxation and increasing flexibility, etc.
You may mix aerobic and strength training exercises to ensure a well-rounded session.
Also, it may take time until you find something you will like, so be patient and try different workouts to learn yourself and your body.
Plan your workouts
Determine each exercise you will perform on each day of your week. You may devote some days to aerobic exercises and some solely to strength training. Or you may mix these two during one training day.
It’s important to remember that you can stop whenever you don’t feel like finishing your planned workout. For these cases, you may plan a separate relaxing workout to reestablish the connection between your body and mind.
The xTiles Fitness Calendar offers you the structure of a traditional planner with two sections for every day – one for your sports activities and one for your menu. Write down your exercise plans and menus, and take a look at the whole picture. Do you like it? Do you think you can handle it? Or will it be a challenge?
Consider recovery
Rest days play the same role in your progress as training days play. Ensure you have at least one (better if more than one) rest day during the week. Your body needs these days to recover after all the hard exercises you were doing previously.
Walking is a great way to spend time and burn calories if you still feel like doing something.
Also, you may take more than one rest day in a row if you don’t feel well, or again, you may return to your relaxing workout just to keep yourself motivated.
Be flexible
We plan, but life makes corrections. That rule applies to all spheres of life, especially those we’re willing to sacrifice more easily. You put your leggings on and take your mat, and someone suddenly rings your door. Now, you spend your evening with friends who decide to pop in.
Also, your fitness calendar may need adjustment for many reasons. You learned your body, and now you can tell that some exercises don’t work for you, you’re ready to try something new/more complicated, etc.
It’s super important to listen to your body and make changes to your plan as necessary if you’re intended to make fitness a part of your life for years to come.
Take care of your menu
All the previous steps are rather useless without a healthy and nutritious diet. Starving doesn’t lead to weight loss. Your menu should be built according to your activity level, the food you like, and your dietary restrictions, if there are some.
If it’s created wisely and covers your energy needs, it will help you continue to perform exercises, and if not, you’re likely to quit quickly. Please consult your doctor or a professional nutritionist before starting sports activities regularly.
Feature Canvas
Feature Canvas Template
A feature canvas template is a helpful tool to consider, reconsider, understand, and accept (or, sometimes, refuse) new features and why they are requested in the first place. Your and your team’s time is valuable, and you can’t waste it on something that might turn out to be useless.
Filling in a feature canvas will help you understand whether it is worth it or not. Maybe there’s something more important you may work on to meet your customers’ and business needs without sacrificing your team’s resources.
A feature canvas is a next step of a product canvas. It helps you to see every detail of one big picture. It allows you to dive as deep as possible to determine all of your product’s main points. And it might be successfully used at any stage of your current project.
What is a feature canvas template?
New ideas or proposals might be a powerful motivation to start immediately. You might be bored with your current tasks, so jumping to something new will be tempting. However, sometimes they are only the tip of the iceberg. You see what is on the surface while the most dangerous part is hidden.
When you start working on your new idea, you might abruptly see that it had no point from the beginning, but you or the whole team has already wasted your time. A feature canvas helps you avoid such a mistake.
A feature canvas template will save you time and prevent you from going in the wrong direction. Sometimes, teams skip this step because they think it’s too much of a bother. Some, in the best case, talk it through with their teammates. However, this feature canvas in the form of conversation might not always be useful.
When do I need a feature canvas?
Many teams devote more time to building a solution than defining the problem. At the end of the day, they have a solution that doesn’t work for a current issue. Or even worse, they have a solution that is useless, but the time was invested, a valuable resource was wasted. How to avoid such a destiny? Use a feature canvas template because…
- Usually, defining the problem is 95% of the solution. And a feature canvas is a tool that allows you to research and consider your issue from all angles.
- Feature canvas is useful because it can be a separate tool for learning your current resources and tasks and can become a part of your brainstorming sessions.
- It helps your team consider new features while being concentrated on your customers’ needs.
- It will assist you with finding (if there are some) blind spots and unresolved issues concerning your customers.
- Give up on useless ideas straight away.
- Keep all your teammates on the same page regarding what you’re working on.
How to use a feature canvas with your team?
Making your own feature canvas is easier with the xTiles feature canvas template. You may use a big screen to fill it in with your team during your brainstorming sessions. You also may send it to your teammates before the session so everyone comes with the answers you discuss together. However, we suggest you all fill it in together. That’s how you learn to think and create together.
We offer you a ready-to-go feature canvas template where half of the task is already done. You just need to fill in the necessary information. To make it even easier, we have a little guide on how to fill your feature canvas.
- Define and describe your idea. We don’t need pages of explanations. A few sentences will be enough.
- Why do I/we need to implement this feature? Again, explain in a couple of sentences how this new feature will help your customers, your product, or your company.
- Context is king. When do people need this exact feature? What factors affect their interaction with the feature?
- What problems will this feature resolve? Answering this question, think not only about your customers but also about your business.
- What is the value of your new feature? What will your customers get after you present them with your new feature?
- Can your team manage this task right now? Revisit your capabilities wisely.
- What obstacles might arise? Analyze what restrictions there might be.
Now that you know what exactly needs to be in your feature canvas, let’s see how a team can work together to fill it.
- Provide your team with context. Tell them the whole story about how the idea was developed, by whom, and what thoughts already were announced. Maybe there were some requests from customers. Or maybe someone from your team got this idea. Share all you have.
- Fill in all of your thoughts answering questions. It’s okay if some of your teammates have controversial or contradictional thoughts. You still need to add them to your canvas. Sometimes truth is born in controversy.
- Talk through all that you’ve got. This step may take place the next day, so everyone can “digest” everything that was said. Please, be tolerant of others’ thoughts while you’re discussing the subject. In case you’re still far from understanding whether a feature is worth trying or not, you may go another round with the data you just filtered.
Feature canvas template is only one of many tools teams use to build their work process. However, it saves you time and energy when used correctly and regularly. A feature canvas template is also a great training tool. After some time, it becomes easier to see whether some proposed feature has potential and is worth your energy.
Executive Summary
Essay Outline
Outline Essay Template
What is your style of writing? Do you like organizing your thoughts and ideas before you start? Or do you prefer writing down everything that comes to your mind and postponing organizing the stuff later or not at all? The second approach is way more suitable for many people’s romanticized concept of writing. However, it’s much harder to control and get a great result. It might work out with big texts, where you have enough space to explain your ideas. While small texts, like essays, limit you.
Outlining your essay or any other writing piece is the best way to complete the assignment, create a cohesive text, and develop and deliver your idea to whoever will read your essay. You think about its structure and main points, so the moment you start writing, you have a plan and know where to move.
While essay outlining is supposed to ease your work, templates for essay outlines go even further and turn writing into an easy and enjoyable process. You may try the xTiles Outline Essay Template to prepare everything you need to write a great essay.
What is the outline format, and when is it beneficial?
Generally speaking, an outline is your guide for getting an assignment done, but at the same time, it’s something much greater. It’s a plan to help you stick to your main topic without going astray. It’s your instruction to write a text that will be cohesive. Additionally, a good outline is also your helper in coming up with new ideas and developing them.
If you have written something at least once in your life, you know that that’s not an easy business. Words don’t magically pour from your brain, turning into sophisticated, polished, and amusing sentences. Writing requires a lot of effort, a lot of preparation, a lot of thinking, sometimes struggling with finding the right words, collocations, comparisons, metaphors, etc., and a lot of rewriting.
However, how rewarding it is to read something beautifully argumentative after such hard work. An essay outline template is what will minimize the negative parts of writing.
If you’re new to writing, an outline template for essay writing will help you visualize and organize your ideas. However, even if you’re a tough writer, an outline will come in handy too. It will allow you to relax while writing. You won’t have to control every detail and check whether they are not contradicting each other because you have already worked that out.
Naturally, the first step of any essay is research. You need to find what other people have written/said on your topic, what is known, what is particularly interesting, etc. Outline templates for essays will help you get everything written down and organized according to your goals.
Usually, no one but you has access to your outlines, which is another advantage of using them. You can go as crazy and inventive as you want to develop needed ideas and present your reader with impressive results. You’re free to argue with yourself, change your mind ten times in a row, or add any other stuff that will inspire you.
However, if you work on an academic essay, you might be asked to provide your advisor with an outline before you start working on your essay. That is needed to avoid mistakes in the beginning stages. A ready-to-go template for an essay outline will help you do it effortlessly and prove you’re a diligent student.
How to write an outline that will help you to accomplish your assignment?
When you start your outline, your ideas might be pretty raw and far from being clearly formed. If everything goes smoothly, you will have a developed idea that is easy to express and explain after you finish your outline. And then your essay is almost half done.
There are different outline approaches to writing different types of essays. However, the main point is that there’s no 100% pure argumentative essay, as there won’t be any 100% pure reflective essay. A good essay plays for all teams – it delivers ideas, explains new information, shows your opinion, etc. That’s why we created a flexible outline essay template. It doesn’t matter what you have to work on. It will suit your needs just perfectly. Besides, you won’t need to search for different templates each time you get a task from your teachers. You already have it.
When working on your outline, remember that it’s mostly for you. Even though someone might see or even check it, don’t worry about what they will think. After all, it’s not the finished essay yet. If whoever sees it finds something wrong or incorrect, it will help you.
Let’s start.
1 Topic
It may sound silly, but your topic is your starting point. How you formulate it will affect the whole process and the whole piece. Sometimes, even one article is crucial. That’s why you need to be especially careful and attentive when coming up with your topic.
When you get your essay topic from your academic advisor, you still need to be attentive. Scrutinize what you got. How well does it suit your previous academic assignments? Maybe there’s something you can add or delete to be more specific?
Important to remember that long topics often don’t help. They might confuse you and especially people who will read them. Conciseness is your best helper.
Aside from coming up with the topic, you also need to decide who you’re writing to. Your target audience defines many aspects of your future essay. What lexicon, analogies, comparisons, etc., can you use, what questions need to be asked, etc.? It defines how deep you will dive into your topic and what of its aspects you will explain.
2 Introduction
Your essay introduction is where you convince the reader to continue reading. At this part, you need to show how interesting and innovative your text is, that this single piece of writing will divide their lives into before and after. So, for the introduction, you need to gather the most important and intriguing information on your topic.
You may ask questions, whether rhetorical or not, and promise them the answer somewhere below. However, the introduction isn’t the most important part of your essay, so don’t put all the information and ideas in this part. Also, don’t start to explain your point. It will be too late and will make your essay body useless.
3 Thesis
Many people experience trouble distinguishing between an essay thesis and the essay topic. These two are indeed pretty similar and closely related. However, your thesis statement is more about your relationship with the topic than the topic itself.
When filling this part of your essay outline template, add what you think and your experience, don’t be scared to add judgments and opinions. Your essay can be critical too.
You may add something while researching the topic. You may change your mind completely after you’ve conducted your research. That evolution of your opinion might also be a good point to add to your essay thesis.
4 Body
Imagine your essay is a sandwich. The beginning and conclusion are pieces of bread, and the body is the stuffing – the point you’re making a sandwich in the first place.
To make your sandwich easier to digest, you may divide this part into three or as many parts as you want. Each is devoted to a new point of view or argument.
When working on this part of your essay template outline, the main rule is to be specific and not let them mix with each other. It might look like if everything is united into one big piece, the text will be more cohesive and explain the subject fully. Yes, it might be so, but it will also be more chaotic and hard to understand.
The order of your points is important too. You may go from general to more specific facts, which is probably the most workable approach because you prepare your reader, giving them the information they need to understand the next idea.
5 Conclusion
The final part is as important as all the previous ones. It will be a misfortune to give up in the end and, after an intriguing introduction and well-reasoned and explained body, deliver a weak conclusion. That’s why we recommend you keep something interesting for the last part too.
Your conclusions should be based on what you delivered/explained in the body. Put the main ideas and concepts you grasp. Maybe, while writing the essay, you will change your initial conclusion or extend them with new opinions or judgments. In this case, add them. You may even write a few sentences about popular misconceptions regarding the topic, given your experience and new knowledge.
eBook Template
eBooks have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their convenience and the fact that you can release a book without printing houses and agencies.
Annually more than 190 million eBooks are sold in the USA, and the number is growing faster than the number of printed book sales (while print book sales increased only 13%, eBook sales grew by 22% in 2021).
eBook templates empower you to bring any book you imagine to life, no matter your writing, designing, and publishing skill level. It can also greatly assist marketers in constructing a well-rounded content marketing strategy.
We live in a crazy yet beautiful world full of possibilities where a free eBook template may help you create a book that changes your and your readers’ lives.
The xTiles eBook template offers a simple yet sophisticated pre-designed structure for organizing your future eBook. We also provide an example of an eBook to help you grasp the concept and a detailed guide on writing your own.
Why release an eBook?
Publishing an eBook has numerous advantages in comparison to traditional printing books. While the world of printed literature stays almost closed to non-literature people, without mentioning a couple of loopholes, eBooks open a wide range of opportunities.
Tirelessly pestering for years and waiting for a publisher is a part of the biography of many famous authors. If only they knew that the path a book has to overcome from a manuscript to a reader is much shorter today.
Here are some of the significant benefits associated with eBook publication:
- Cost-effective publishing
Creating an eBook typically involves lower costs compared to print publishing. No printing house will delay copies of the book. There will be no problem with storage or physical distribution. Additionally, if you’re acknowledged with designing and promotion, you can release your book on your own.
- It’s easier to reach a global audience with eBooks
While a physical book has overcome a long path to land in other countries, an eBook needs less than e second to be downloaded somewhere in the other hemisphere. Digital platforms and online marketplaces allow authors to reach a global audience without limitations of physical distribution.
- It’s an accessible way to share your unique insights and perspectives
An eBook allows you to share your knowledge, skills, thoughts, ideas, and expertise on a specific subject with a wide audience.
- An eBook helps to establish authority and credibility
Releasing an eBook can help you establish yourself as an authority in your field. It positions you as an expert and enhances your credibility among readers, potential clients, or industry peers.
- You can generate income with eBooks
eBooks can serve as a potential source of income when sharing your knowledge, skills, thoughts, ideas, etc. You can sell your eBook directly to readers or distribute it through various platforms, earning royalties from each sale.
- eBooks provide flexible publishing options
Self-publishing guarantees great control over the process. You set your timeline, choose designs, set pricing, etc. An author gets the freedom to experiment at each stage of the publishing process with different ideas and concepts.
- You don’t have to be a writer to release your eBook
eBooks may become a part of your content marketing strategy, education course, manuals for students, etc. Getting in touch with a publishing house may be too much for a one-time action. That’s why a self-publishing eBook is a solution to many issues, especially when it comes to filling gaps in your field of expertise.
- eBooks help save the planet and environment
And last but not least, eBooks significantly reduce deforestation. Additionally, since they don’t need physical transportation, they also reduce carbon footprint and pollution.
Is it possible to make money writing eBooks?
Being an accessible way to publish content, eBooks may bring significant income to their authors. Everything will depend on your field of expertise, the topic, your target audience, and the current demand for the information you provide.
Also, your country of residence and its eBook market condition will have an impact on how much you can earn from your books. For example, the eBook industry in the United States alone generated $1.1 billion in revenue in 2020.
However, some countries have weak or no regulations for torrenting copywriter materials. So, if you live in one like that and publish content in your native language (so foreigners can have no advantage of it), your potential earnings from writing an eBook are, unfortunately, lower.
Here are some ways in which you can make money from writing eBooks:
- Direct sales
You can sell your eBooks directly to readers through various platforms or your own website. An effective marketing strategy and well-balanced price can generate revenue from each sale.
- Royalties from publishing platforms
If you’re not ready to manage the publishing and selling process from A to Z, you can release your book through different platforms that offer a relevant service, such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). In this case, you can earn royalties based on the sales or downloads of your eBook.
Please notice that the royalty rates will vary depending on the platform and pricing model. And unlike the first method, you won’t be the one who controls everything.
- Subscription services
Some eBook platforms offer subscription services where readers pay a monthly fee to access a library of eBooks. Participating in such programs can provide a consistent income stream based on the number of times your eBook is borrowed or read.
- Licensing and rights
Depending on the content of your eBook, you may have opportunities to license its rights for various purposes. This can include translations, adaptations for other media formats, or licensing for educational or corporate use. These licensing deals can generate additional income.
As you can see, some of these ways to gain income by writing eBooks can be mixed.
- Content marketing and lead generation
Sometimes, eBooks are only a tool of a content marketing strategy to attract potential customers and generate leads. In this case, they generate income or other kinds of profit indirectly.
For example, you may offer a valuable eBook in exchange for contact information. You can build a subscriber list and potentially convert those leads into paying customers for other products or services.
What is an eBook template?
An eBook template is a pre-designed framework or layout that helps to create an eBook with less effort and in a shorter time. Many authors use it as a starting point for designing and formatting their books.
Normally, except for a predefined structure, a template offers a range of customization options, such as styles, page layouts, typography choices, and others, to fit the specific content of the book or author’s intent.
eBook templates help to ensure the consistency of all elements throughout the book, making it visually appealing and professional, which shows the author’s credibility and proves that someone spent much of their time to provide readers with something special.
Additionally, taking care of formatting, layout, and design, an eBook template helps authors focus on content creation rather than spending excessive time on formatting and design aspects.
Ready-to-use templates also help to make book covers to give people something to judge the book on. An eBook cover template helps avoid involving a professional designer in creating your book cover with minimum effort and minimum knowledge about design and polygraphy.
There are many options to choose from when deciding on a template for your future book. For example, Microsoft Word offers various pre-designed templates specifically for creating eBooks.
These eBook Word templates often include different layout options, font styles, and chapter headings that you can customize according to your content. Yet they often lack flexibility, and if you plan on adding some illustrations to your book, it may become even harder to structure pages in a visually appealing way. eBook templates for PowerPoint have the same disadvantages.
Another popular option is an eBook template for Google Docs. However, since the tool duplicates only a part of Office Word functionality, you will face even more inconveniences when structuring your book and aligning text.
eBook InDesign templates offer many well-designed page layouts, typography styles, and other design elements, yet the software requires some onboarding since it was created for professional use.
Also, you can find eBook templates designed for your specific book intent. For example, a recipe eBook template to share your best dishes with the world or a fitness eBook template to share your fitness journey to motivate others is pretty popular.
How to write an eBook using the xTiles eBook Template?
Suppose you want to share your knowledge with the world or anyone ready to read creating an eBook. What’s next? You have the template that will serve you faithfully during your path, yet there are some aspects to remember before you start, while you are working on, and once the book is finished.
Let’s delve deeper into the magnificence of eBook creation.
Who is the target audience of your eBook?
Think about the people you’re writing your eBook for. How old are they? What is their gender? What do they do for a living? What hobbies do they have? What do they dream about? Imagine someone who combines all the needed characteristics to like your book.
Knowing your target audience is also helpful for defining what platforms or methods you will use for marketing and distributing your book.
If you struggle to imagine your perfect reader, try to answer the following questions:
- What problems do I try to address in my book?
- For whom my book may be helpful?
- What methods do I intend (or can) use to promote my book?
- What about my book will be of interest to my potential readers?
It’s advisable to decide for whom you will be writing your book. Otherwise, you might get overwhelmed with uncertainty and ambiguity during the writing process, or your book might contain everything at once, so no particular group of readers will find it interesting or worthy.
Select a topic for your eBook
It will be hard to start without a clear topic for your future book. It establishes the whole writing process. However, choosing one might be hard because it means that other topics you consider interesting or important stay uncovered, at least so far.
Here are some criteria to pay attention to when selecting a topic for your book:
- Significance and relevance
Consider the significance of the topic in relation to the goal you want to reach by releasing the book and to the target audience. How do they align? Remember that the topic should be relevant and valuable to your audience, helping them address challenges or achieve their goals.
- Uniqueness and fresh perspective
Will your book bring a fresh and unique perspective to the subject matter? Start with researching whether the topic has been extensively covered in existing resources.
In case you googled, and there are dozens of books on a similar topic, don’t get upset. It may be helpful to explore your topic from different angles and perspectives or specific niche areas within the broader topic to offer a distinctive take that sets your eBook apart from others.
Sometimes, by going deeper and offering a more narrow topic, you satisfy someone’s very particular needs that weren’t satisfied by all these books available.
- Potential readers benefit
Will your book provide valuable insights, practical tips, expert guidance, or actionable strategies to your target audience?
Understanding the specific needs and interests of your audience is key to a successful book. When it genuinely resonates with your readers, it becomes a valuable resource people want to share, discuss, and compare with their own experience.
- Market demand
Even though art is behind commerce, you can’t create a valuable book that resonates with readers without taking into account what they want.
If you want to make money with your eBook, you may go even deeper and apply methods SEO specialists use to create websites ranking high in search results.
Research keywords, search trends, and popular discussions to gauge the interest and engagement surrounding the subject. Identifying a topic with high demand and limited competition can increase the likelihood of your eBook gaining traction and attracting a larger audience.
Select a title for your eBook
The name of your eBook plays a crucial role in capturing the attention of your target audience. When choosing/creating the title, you need to ensure its relevance, uniqueness, and potential to resonate with your audience.
If you’ve decided on an eBook instead of publishing it, then you’re pretty much alone in this. There will be no witty and skilled editor who knows readers’ expectations to help you. However, there’s no need to despair. There are still plenty of options on how to come up with an eloquent name for your book.
You may learn from other authors’ experiences. For example, the famous “To Kill a Mockingbird” was initially titled “Atticus.” However, Lee Harper’s editor suggested the new title, which was taken from a passage in the book, and it became the enduring name of the novel. When your book is done, you may check whether there’s no great passage to use as the name that will create some kind of a circle within the book, matching the name and the text.
If you have a community of followers, you may ask their opinion. You may create a poll providing them with the annotation of the book, so they can choose what is the best.
Research
When preparing to write an eBook, researching your chosen topic is crucial for determining market viability and crafting a compelling narrative. Keep the following tips in mind while researching potential eBook topics.
For this stage, you may use the methods you applied when choosing the book title and topic. Exploring the relevant keywords and search trends may help you to gauge the level of interest and demand for the subject matter you plan to cover.
Another great source to investigate is online communities, forums, and social media groups related to your eBook’s topic.
You may even get yourself an account to engage with members and participate in discussions to get answers to your questions. That will help you discover the authentic demand for the content you plan to create and publish.
If there are books, whether printed or eBooks, that delve into a similar topic as you intended for your eBook, study them. Evaluate their market presence, reader reviews, and sales performance to assess if there is a viable market to target.
Pay special attention to people’s reviews since they are likely to be your target audience. What did they like about those books? What did they dislike about them?
It’s especially important to emerge into the topic you’re about to write about to gain a comprehensive understanding.
Conduct in-depth research using the resources available in public access or consult reputable sources. Explore various perspectives to become well-versed in the intricacies of the topic you aim to write about.
If you plan to write a non-fiction eBook, support your claims, insights, and arguments with credible sources, statistics, and relevant links. You will need that later for writing each chapter of your book.
Conduct in-depth research to gather supporting evidence that strengthens your points and adds credibility to your work. Remember to accurately cite your sources to maintain integrity.
Outline chapters of your future eBook
Starting a new book without a well-defined chapter outline can often lead to feelings of being stuck or lost, particularly if you’re uncertain about where to commence.
Once you have conceived a basic idea for your eBook, outlining its chapters becomes a pivotal step in providing structure and direction.
Start with outlining the logical progression of ideas and topics that will be covered in each chapter. Ensure that there is a smooth and coherent flow from one chapter to the next, allowing readers to navigate through your eBook effortlessly.
Break down each chapter into key subtopics or sections that expand upon the main themes. These subtopics will form the building blocks of your chapters, providing a clear framework for organizing your content effectively.
For each chapter, establish clear objectives and desired takeaways for your readers. Consider what you want your audience to learn, understand, or reflect upon after reading each section. This will ensure that your eBook delivers value and resonates with your target audience.
When writing a fictional story, you may create unique titles for each chapter that will give a hint to readers about what to expect. However, if there are too many of them, and creating the book title was hard enough, you may go with numbers.
However, when working on a non-fiction piece, it’s better to create unique titles for each chapter. They don’t have to be super intriguing. Just let them catch the essence of what you will describe in the relevant chapter.
Remain open to revising and adjusting your chapter outline as you delve deeper into the writing process. New insights and ideas may emerge, requiring modifications to the original plan. Embrace flexibility while staying true to your overall vision for the eBook.
When writing your eBook using the xTiles template, you may create content with links to each chapter using a separate page or putting everything into one tile. Having all the chapters with links handy allows you to quickly switch between needed chapters for reviewing, editing, or adding new content.
Write each chapter
Now that you have a solid outline for your eBook, it’s time to dive into the writing process and begin shaping each chapter. Many believe that is the hardest part. However, the path you’ve already overcome with research, outlining chapters, and creating titles wasn’t easy either. So, there’s nothing to be scared of.
Whether you’re working on a non-fiction eBook that requires supporting evidence, statistics, and links or a fictional work that requires creative storytelling, this stage is an opportunity to share a wealth of information and ideas without getting caught up in flow or proofreading.
Your chapter outline is a guiding framework for each chapter. However, remember that you’re free to change it if you see that you can do much better this time.
Start with creating a captivating introduction that hooks your readers and establishes the purpose of the chapter. However, don’t get too focused on it. You need it to be engaging, but there are other parts of your book that need your attention, talent, and effort.
Use storytelling techniques, anecdotes, or thought-provoking questions to draw them in. Throughout the chapter, maintain an engaging writing style, keeping your audience’s attention and sparking their curiosity.
During the initial writing phase, focus on getting your ideas onto the page without worrying about perfection. You will read and reread it later. Now, everything is about creating.
Review and edit your eBook
We’re here faster than it seemed in the previous chapter. That actually is the hardest part of creating a book, any book. You will need to be very picky about yourself and what you have written.
Some authors prefer to distribute reviewing and editing to others. If you’re not ready to spend days reading your own book, or you’re afraid you might hate it, you can engage a professional editor.
Design your eBook
The content of your book will only benefit from powerful visual elements, and appealing design may attract more people from your target audience and beyond it.
When creating an eBook using the xTiles template, you’re free to add rich content, embeds, and links. Drag & Drop will help you easily move it within the document. Also, you can structure your text using various customization options, such as highlighting, fonts, lists, etc.
Disney Creative Strategy
Designer portfolio
A graphic designer portfolio is a necessary tool for standing out and being in demand. Your work is the best representation of your design skills. And it may be the best argument for someone to hire you.
Proving its owner’s expertise, skills, and experience and showcasing its owner’s creativity and unique vision, a designer portfolio helps gain new interesting projects, new clients, get a dream job, etc. In other words, your portfolio is your pass to further development and growth in your field.
Being a designer, whether we speak about a freelance artist or someone looking for a job in an agency or company, you need to take your portfolio seriously. What does it mean? Keeping it up to date releases you from hastily last-minute preparation.
A free graphic design portfolio template saves time when you regularly update your portfolio and also saves you when you need to show your previous works, but there’s nothing ready and structured.
xTiles offers you a ready-to-use portfolio template for graphic designers to ease the process of looking for new projects or job positions, structuring your previous work, and showcasing your talent, unique and unorthodox approach to work, creativity, and ability to find the best design solutions for complicated questions.
When may you need a graphic designer portfolio template?
If you’re a graphic designer, you can live without a portfolio. However, your success and new projects will be less likely.
Before anyone hires you to work for them, you need to prove you can manage the task the way they want. Otherwise, you both will be quite frustrated because of constant misunderstandings and false expectations, neither of which can be met.
However, finding just a client or employer isn’t the only purpose of your portfolio. It helps you find a person who can feel your vibe and style, the person who is unlikely to force you to create designs that don’t suit your vision.
Your portfolio is a part of the contract where both are assured that your goals match.
Also, when you see a great yet specific job ad, you can use a portfolio template to show your potential employers examples of similar or related projects if you have them.
When you work for an agency or company, you can relax a bit, at least until you’re not looking for a new position. Freelance designers need to update their portfolios regularly.
If you’re a freelance graphic or UI/UX designer, whether you have or not a portfolio of your previous work might have an effect on how many new projects you get.
Being a designer may play a cruel joke on a person. Creating exciting designs for others, a person might not have time to create their own portfolio that would be convincing and impressive.
Thankfully, ready-to-use design portfolio templates save time and ease the process for all design cases.
- A graphic designer portfolio template is the best and shortest way to showcase your previous work, creativity, unique vision, and style. Using one, you can build a strong portfolio to share with any prospective client or employer when needed.
- A UX designer portfolio template will help you present your previous work, witty solutions, and how you mix them with creativity to create products that provide potential users with a healthy and meaningful experience.
- A UI designer portfolio template will help you showcase how the interfaces you created meet the target audience’s needs.
- A product designer portfolio template will help you share your previous success in designing the physical form and function of products, including electronics, appliances, and other consumer goods.
- A web designer portfolio template will help you present your previous visual design and layout of websites, including typography, color schemes, and graphic design in the best light possible.
- A visual designer portfolio template will demonstrate how well you designed the visual styles of your previous projects.
- A motion designer portfolio template will become a base for a compilation of animated graphics and visual effects you created for different films, videos, and other digital media.
Designers from other fields like fashion or interior design can use the benefits of ready-to-go pre-designed templates for showcasing their previous achievements as well. They can expect the same benefits as designers in the IT sphere.
However, suppose you can’t find a specific template like a fashion designer portfolio or interior designer portfolio. In that case, you can always use basic editable templates and adjust them to your specific needs and your field.
How to build a graphic design portfolio that will work
There are many things to consider before you start building your portfolio, even if you’ve decided to go with a ready-to-use template. These first steps may have a dominant effect on the outcome and whether you will meet your goals with your portfolio or not, so we recommend paying attention and being careful.
The beginning might be the hardest part because there’s a lot to decide. Many people, even experienced and tough design artists, might get stuck in this phase. That’s why we offer you a detailed guide you can apply to our ready-to-use free graphic design portfolio to get the maximum.
Decide on goals you want to reach creating this portfolio
What, in your opinion, will be the natural continuation of your portfolio? A job offer? Many new clients stand in a line waiting till you can start their project? A freelance graphic designer’s portfolio differs from one a person who works in a company should have. Being involved in the marketing process, you should understand that any product (in this case, your portfolio) has to strike straight into the target audience’s minds and hearts.
If you’re creating a portfolio to get a job in an agency or company, showcase work that was created within the context of a team or organization. In case you have been an independent contractor during all of your career but now you want to join a team, demonstrate larger projects or campaigns that had involved cooperation with other marketing specialists.
If you’re creating a portfolio as a freelancer, showcase work that describes you as a highly versatile and flexible artist. Show many contexts and how you managed them in your designs.
If you’re not sure about your intent, you may get two different portfolios and use them according to the situation.
And suppose there are no old projects to put into your portfolio because you’ve only started your graphic design career. In this case, create something that will be representative of your skills and style.
Choose your style
Your portfolio can correspond to your designs. However, if there are many different examples to showcase you as a multifaceted artist, it might be challenging.
Also, we don’t recommend distracting people from your work. That’s why a flamboyant or too expressive design of the portfolio document might play a bad trick to its main subject – your works.
The structure and design we offer you in our template is simple to grasp yet not boring. It helps to keep the reader’s attention on what is important – your work. However, it’s also highly editable and easy to customize, so that you’re free to come up with your own solutions to present your work in the best possible way.
Don’t be afraid of innovations and brave moves
Many people still consider portfolios to be a folder with printed examples of previous projects. Thankfully, today it’s not true most of the time. No tree has to die to help you find a job.
The best way to make your portfolio accessible for as many prospect clients as possible is to have it available online. For example, the xTiles graphic template allows sharing with anyone on the internet and the ability to edit. In other words, you don’t have to upload a new file each time you add a new project or concept art.
Don’t put everything at once
Yes, you need to prove your professionalism and wide experience but you don’t need to scare your potential client with a pile of everything everywhere all at once.
First of all, you will need to structure all that you’re about to show and chronological order might not be the best one as your first work might not have enough potential to convince someone to hire you. Besides, structuring everything might take a lot of time, and we’re here to save it.
Then, even if you manage to compile all of your examples in a nice and attractive way, a person might not have enough time to go through all of them. So, we recommend remembering one of the fundamental rules of design – white space will do good. Don’t consider every empty zone of your portfolio a disadvantage as it makes it lighter and more elegant.
Quality is more important than quantity
As we already mentioned above, throwing all that you have into your potential client is not the best way to at least keep their attention. Resist the temptation to add as many pieces of your previous work as possible. Instead, concentrate on quality.
Choose only your best work. It might be really hard because all of them seem special. However, a few great examples may be enough to convince someone that you are the perfect choice.
Besides, you can present them with other projects during the interview.
Also, it’s important to remember that quality is also about your pieces. Let the digital content you choose for your portfolio will be of high quality, so that people can make out all the details. xTiles allows you to upload files up to 500 Mb in free tier.
Update your portfolio regularly
When your portfolio has played its role and you got what you wanted, don’t put it off until you need it again. Keep it up to date regularly. Add your new projects. Maybe you don’t consider the old examples to be representative anymore, so replace them with newer ones.
Also, it’s important to update your contact information too. It might seem like you’re invisible to clients when in reality there are a lot of people who would want to work with you, but they can’t reach out to you.
Mistakes to avoid when building a graphic designer portfolio
A graphic designer portfolio is supposed to sum up your experience and show why you’re the best suitable candidate for the job. It’s not the same as the resume, yet for many it plays a double role. That’s why it’s important to treat your portfolio with care.
Details are very important. They can ruin everything or spoil your portfolio making you an unattractive candidate. So, we made a list of things for a graphic designer to avoid when building a portfolio.
Too much text will kill you
You don’t need to distract your potential client from your work examples. When providing them with context for each project, try to be laconic. Give only the main points, the rest can be discussed during an interview.
Unnecessary details won’t show that you’re willing to talk about your projects. On the contrary, it might represent your lack of self-confidence. Let your work speak for itself and leave people room for their own interpretation.
Also, don’t forget to check your text on typos and grammatical errors. Even though you’re not trying to get a job as a copywriter or a proofreader, mistakes might represent you as a person with a lack of attention to detail.
Neglecting contact information
Even if you have a resume and usually send them both, add your contact information to your portfolio too. Documents might get lost, but a small section for your phone number and email in your portfolio may be an immediate response to someone’s impulse to choose you.
Being humble
If you’re a person who can’t praise themselves but waits for others to recognize your work worthy, it would be better to not follow this line in your portfolio. That’s the exact place where you must show off. Otherwise, how else can your clients learn what a great graphic designer you are?
No photo
Don’t forget about your photo. Let them see what person stands behind these designs. It will help to break the ice, and the moment you meet for the first time, whether in real life or in Zoom, your face won’t be the face of a stranger to your interviewers.
Additionally, you can add a photo in the style of your designs, creating the red line that leads from your work to you as a personality.
You may go further and include to your designer portfolio a short video about your work and why you love it. Don’t be shy or afraid to tell people why you’re passionate about your work. Clients and employers are more likely to work with artists who are willing to speak about their job.
Monotony
When choosing your best work, don’t choose only those that are dedicated to a similar subject or were created for one project. Try to show different examples, proving that you’re flexible and can handle tasks of different kinds.
It won’t ruin the consistency of your portfolio. On the contrary, it will prove that you have a unique style that is easy to detect in all of your projects.
Not showing the process
Seeing how you work and how you approach design problems may be a serious argument for hiring you. Your sketches, ideation process, and prototypes you create are important to understand what kind of a worker you are.
You may add a link to your personal blog on Instagram or Behance where you show how you work, your results, your failures and how you solve them.
Also, don’t neglect to add your self-initiated art to your portfolio if you consider it’s a great example of your professional skills and style. That is especially important for novice designers who don’t have a lot of experience and projects under their belt.
Important to remember that junior designers’ portfolios sometimes 100% consists of self-initiated art, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get offers. That’s why don’t be afraid to start!
Brief Motion Design
Daily Planner
Daily planner template
Whether your day will be productive and great depends on many factors, and not all of them depend on you. However, there are many ways to ensure you will use these 24 hours to your advantage fully.
A daily planner is a tool to organize and plan out tasks, appointments, and activities for a given day. It helps ensure that you remember important tasks or appointments. It can also help you prioritize your activities and make sure that you’re spending your time on the most important things.
Daily task planners can be of two types – physical or digital. The first one slowly but steadily gives up on digital planners due to a lack of customization and editing futures.
A daily planner template is the next step of planner evolution. It provides users with pre-designed calendars that often include sections for different categories, such as work tasks, personal errands, exercise, and meals. Some daily planners also have space for notes, goals, and priorities, which can help you stay focused and productive throughout the day.
The xTiles Daily Planner is the perfect tool for arranging your day easily. However, to make your plan feasible, we also offer a guide on how to make your daily planner and an example of a daily planner.
Let’s create your best daily planner!
Which daily planner is the best: digital or printed?
The choice between a digital or printed daily planner ultimately comes down to personal preference and the time and patience they have to write down every daily goal and task.
Digital daily planners offer several benefits:
- They are easily accessed and synced across multiple devices, making it easy to keep schedules and tasks up-to-date.
- They often have built-in features such as reminders, alerts, and the ability to set recurring tasks.
- Digital planners are often more environmentally friendly than printed planners and notebooks since they don’t require paper.
- They can be easily edited and customized without harming the overall appeal if plans change.
- Daily planner apps help people stay connected with their tasks while on the run. It might be quite uncomfortable to carry a notebook or a shit of paper everywhere you go, especially if your job requires a lot of movement.
A daily task planner may be printable, which has some benefits too. For example, daily planners in pdf are quite popular for their designs. Writing things down by hand has been shown to improve memory and cognitive function. Some people claim that printed planners also offer a greater sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when they physically cross off completed tasks.
A digital daily planner may be a more beneficial option for people who value accessibility, convenience, efficiency, and customization options over the special vibe a notebook planner may bring. However, it ultimately comes down to personal preference, and some individuals may still prefer a printed planner for their planning needs.
When can a person benefit from using a daily planner template?
A person can benefit from using a daily planner template in many situations. Overall, everyone will find something useful in regular planning. The more tasks a person needs to manage during a day, the more they need a planner to keep everything in their mind. The more tasks a person needs to manage during a day, the more they need a planner to distribute their tasks evenly.
It may be especially helpful for those who rely on their memory and improvisation and those looking to improve their time management skills, increase productivity, and reduce stress.
One of the main benefits of using a daily planner template is that it helps people manage their time more effectively with less effort. By allowing one to schedule a day and prioritize tasks, an online daily task planner ensures that the time is used in the most efficient way possible. Those with busy schedules or many responsibilities to manage during the day may find it helpful.
A daily planner template also helps people to increase productivity while protecting them from burnout. One can accomplish more in less time if staying focused and organized and not wasting time finding out what to do next.
People who have a lot of tasks to complete, or especially those who are working on important projects that require a high level of concentration, may find a planner to be a huge support.
A daily planner template can be an effective tool for people who prefer to set their tasks and goals in one place and track them easily.
Many people believe that daily planners are worth nothing in the long run. However, making and using them can be particularly helpful for those working towards long-term goals, such as starting a business, learning a new skill, or completing a degree program. They become a very detailed documentation of progress and help to analyze actions for further planning.
A planner allows breaking down big goals into smaller, actionable steps so that you can stay motivated and on track during the day.
Using a daily planner template can also help reduce stress and anxiety people may experience without a strict plan or when they don’t know how to plan effectively.
If a person knows exactly what they need to do and when, they are more likely to avoid the stress of forgetting important appointments or deadlines. That can be especially beneficial for those who struggle with anxiety or have many responsibilities to manage.
Finally, daily planner templates are useful for managers or those in leadership roles in their ever-lasting struggle to delegate tasks and ensure everyone is on the same page.
In conclusion, a daily planner template may come in handy to anyone who wants to improve their time management skills, increase productivity, and reduce the stress they usually face because of a lack of planning or a lack of knowledge on how to plan effectively. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply looking to stay organized, a daily planner template can help you achieve your goals and stay on track.
Additionally, it’s important to know that people don’t have to be a CEO of a huge corporation to consider themselves a busy person who needs a planner. Starting from school students and finishing with a part-time job of any kind, a daily planner is a tool to help you manage your tasks and appointments, whether there are only three or fifteen of them, more efficiently.
What may I include in my daily planner?
A daily planner helps keep track of schedules, tasks, meetings, appointments, deadlines, goals, etc. Since daily planners are hugely personal, there’s no one-fits-all list that everyone can put into their planner.
What a person includes in their daily planner will depend on their personal needs and preferences, but some common items can be useful to include.
First and foremost, you may create a to-do list. That should include all the tasks you need to complete that day, prioritized based on their importance or urgency. That may help you stay focused and ensure you use your time efficiently.
Next, you may note any appointments or meetings scheduled for the day. It may be helpful to include the time and location to arrive on time and prepare.
If you have any important reminders or deadlines that you need to remember, write them down as well.
You may also want to set specific goals for the day. That could be a particular task that you want to complete or a goal related to your personal or professional development. Writing down your goals can help you stay motivated and focused throughout the day.
If you plan to prepare meals or snacks for the day, you may write down what you plan to eat and when. That section may become essential for people who must follow some dietary restrictions or try to stay on track with their nutrition and avoid last-minute decisions that may not be the healthiest.
You may also add your planned exercise or physical activity. That may help you prioritize your health and well-being and ensure you’re making time for movement.
Finally, include space for notes or ideas that come up throughout the day. They may be ideas for the next day’s planning and be a helpful way to jot down important information or inspiration that you may want to revisit later.
Remember, your daily planner should be a tool to help you and only you stay organized and on track. No one will see it unless you decide to share it. So, let peer pressure not define what you put in your daily planner. Do you want to schedule your leisure time? You’re welcome!
Additionally, your daily planner must not become a source of stress. If you feel overwhelmed from checking it, then you need to review your approach to planning.
Keep your planner manageable and realistic, and adjust it as needed throughout the day.
How to create an effective daily planner using the xTiles Daily Planner Template?
Creating an effective daily planner involves several steps. However, your planner will depend on what sections you want to include. The xTiles Daily Planner Template can be customized according to your planning needs.
Also, not all the days are the same. If yesterday you were exceptionally busy and productive, today you may feel less energetic. A planner will help to organize your day depending on your current potential.
There are two main approaches to creating a plan for the day. Some people prefer to end their days by planning the next ones. Some people start their days by planning what they want to manage today.
If you have never used planners, you may try both of these approaches to find which one suits you best.
Start with defining your goals. That will help you to focus on the most important tasks and avoid wasting time on less critical activities.
You may prioritize a task or two and put them into the “Don’t forget” section. It’s important to remember that not all of your tasks or goals deserve to end in that section. Some of them are meant for the “Daily tasks” part.
When scheduling your tasks and routine, you may divide your day into AM and PM to better understand what you need to accomplish. Daily hourly planners help people keep their focus throughout the day.
If you have a large project or task to complete, break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. That may turn an overwhelming task into an easier-to-accomplish one.
It’s essential to take breaks throughout the day to rest and recharge. Otherwise, you may not finish everything you planned simply because you lack energy. Schedule breaks into your planner, and take them when needed during the day.
Add details regarding your tasks into the “Notes” section of your planner. That may be something you need to take to your meeting, something you want to ask someone or check later. Write down all of your ideas to have them handy.
Another important part of a planner is daily affirmation. It may sound like something unnecessary for successfully accomplishing your daily tasks, yet it may inspire you to move and tune in to the process.
Your daily planner doesn’t work on its own. It’s a part of something much greater – your week or month. That’s why we offer you to add your monthly priorities to your daily planner to have in front of you what you’re striving to accomplish or what you can’t forget at any cost.
The last sections are exactly what makes digital planners and daily planner apps more beneficial than printable ones.
You may add links to websites or files you will need during the day or something interesting you come across. And you may add pictures to adjust your daily planner to your mood or to create the atmosphere you want.
Review your planner at the end of each day and assess how well you accomplished your tasks. At this point, your planner becomes the greatest tool to learn more about yourself and your inclinations.
It will help you better understand yourself and your potential, when you’re more productive, what brings you energy and what steals it from you, etc. Make adjustments as necessary to improve your productivity and efficiency in the future.
