Episode 121: Adventure, Experience and Storytelling With Mia Voss

In this episode, Bella sits down with Mia Voss — marketing strategist, Digital Summit speaker, and host of Adventures in Visibility (miavoss.live) — to talk about how pet business owners can use storytelling and personal branding to attract better clients. Mia has produced, hosted, and guested on more than 300 online show episodes and interviewed over 500 guests, and she specializes in helping business owners build a visible, trusted brand online. Her business model combines adventure, experience, and storytelling — showing her audience who they need to know, where they need to be, and which brands are for them. Biggest Takeaway You Don't Want To Miss Consistency is what you define it as. So often as business owners we have fantastic ideas, but for one reason or another, we just stop implementing them. Or we get busy with other things and forget. Consistency builds your business as well as your brand and helps your clients trust you. If you commit to going live once a week, stick with it! Results will follow as long as you keep persevering. Show Highlights Who Is Mia Voss? [2:00] In what ways did you use storytelling on your recent trip to Italy? [4:00] How did you overcome self-doubt to go after what you want? [5:30] What does consistency do for you in your business and your brand? [7:00] Tell us about how cars play a role in your business and how that intertwines with overcoming self-doubt? [11:00] How often have you been told "no" in your life and what does it make you feel? [16:00] Final Thoughts? [18:00] Links: Jump & Scale: jumpconsulting.net/scale Mia's Website: http://miaonthego.com Share The Show: Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 121 of Bella in Your Business. Before we get started with today's episode, I want to know, are you burnt out trying to hire employees? Or maybe you want to hire employees, but you're just terrified of that boogeyman that does not exist in the closet. Well, this episode is sponsored by my free three-part webinar series, Jump and Scale Your Business. I would love to see you there. It's a must-attend if you want staff, you want to grow, you feel like you're held hostage, or you have high turnover. Signing up is as easy as going to jumpconsulting.net/scale. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella's got your chute. Let's jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and today I've got a very exciting guest for you. Her name is Mia Voss, and she is an experience junkie who wants to take us along with her—and boy, does she. She's been building an online audience for years, enticing them with engaging interviews on every topic imaginable. Honestly, this is truly a person that you can't stump. There's no topic that's off the table. She’s been a producer, a host, and a guest of more than 300 online episodes and has interviewed over 500 people. Good Lord, woman. Mia combines a business model of adventure, experience, and storytelling, and with each day, she brings out the best in each experience, showing her audience who they need to know, where they need to be, and what brands are for them. Bella: I know you as a person—we met in Lima, Ohio, as we shared a stage, and I just love you. But to be truthful, I just know you’re incredible online, and I don’t really exactly know what you do. So break it down for us. Mia: That’s a tall order, and thanks for having me on. I like it when you’re up in my business. Bella: And I know you’re a gal that can take it—and you’re joining us in two weeks here in Arizona on our girls’ retreat. Yes, we’re calling it the Seven Queens Retreat, which—speaking of working with brands—I’m going to be driving a shiny new Toyota Sequoia and seeing how many of these queens I can fit into that car with or without our tiaras. Mia: That might be for the luggage compartment; I’ll have to take a few of those off. Segueing into that, that’s exactly what I do. I actually represent women over 40. I’m 50-plus, but I represent women over 40. Women make 85% of buying decisions, whether it’s their money or not, and that’s overall buying decisions. That’s something a lot of brands aren’t paying attention to—they’re literally leaving money on the table and leaving a huge amount of the population feeling alienated about their voice. As a travel writer, I work with different brands. I just came back from a three-week trip with Colette Travel. They do guided travel, and they knew I’d be able to represent their target audience and take people along with me. It’s all about storytelling. Every business has a pain point or a story behind what they do, and I help bring those to life while traveling. It’s a balance I made up as I went along—working with brands, representing people, and telling stories. Bella: I love how you designed what you wanted to do and went after it. That statistic about women’s buying power is powerful. Now, this trip you just went on to Italy—people always stop themselves saying, “I’m not a storyteller; I’m a dog walker or a pet sitter.” They don’t realize that storytelling helps avoid being that sleazy salesperson. When you’re telling stories, people are attracted to you. Give us an example of how you use storytelling when you were in Italy. Mia: I stayed in a lot of different locations—we traveled from Rome all the way up to Lake Como and Milan. The first rule of thumb I made up is to never request what I want to eat; I eat and drink exactly what’s local. Italy practically invented “farm to table.” The grapes, cattle, and cheese—all part of a perfect ecosystem. That’s a story in itself. One of my favorite parts was visiting an agricultural high school in Parma where a couple, Giuseppe and Juliette, had been making Parmesan cheese for 40 years. We couldn’t understand a word—they needed a translator—but their story was magical. Sharing why they still teach and get up every day, we saw their process and their passion. That’s the kind of storytelling I love. Bella: That’s so cool. Where else has travel taken you, and how did you overcome the doubts in your head—like, “I can’t do this”? Mia: I’m big on manifesting. You can’t go wrong combining business acumen with trusting your inner voice. For me, it was a slow burn. I hosted shows on Google Plus years ago, interviewing tons of people, and I got inspired to go to Italy for my 50th birthday. I thought instead of figuring out how to make more money to go, how could I use what I already do to showcase them? So I called hotels and resorts, said, “Hey, I want to do a story on you.” I made it up as I went. I ended up spending three weeks in Italy in 2015, interviewing people and sharing their stories. It was a leap of faith, but it worked. Bella: Let’s talk about consistency—you’ve got your wine show with your iguana on Fridays. Tell us about that. Mia: It’s called Drinking with the Dragon. Because I love live streaming and storytelling, I decided to make it fun. I rescued a bearded dragon two years ago from my friends Brian and Courtney Kramer. Their kid went to college, and I said, “If you get me a case, I’ll fly her back to Denver.” Back then, we thought she was a she—but I later got a call in Rome saying she’s actually a he. Pets can’t tell their stories, so it’s fun to do it through social media. I also have a Frenchie named Gidget—follow her at Gidget the Frenchie on Instagram. So Drinking with the Dragon is literally me on Facebook Live opening a bottle of bubbles with my lizard on my shoulder, talking about the week or businesses I love. People stop scrolling when they see it—it’s goofy, but it builds trust and consistency. Bella: I love that. And the consistency builds confidence in your audience. Plus, it gives you practice—just showing up, talking, and flowing helps you articulate your message. Mia: Exactly. I even did “Drinking Without the Dragon” while in Italy. Sometimes my cat joins too—it’s chaos but fun. The key is to drop perfection. Perfection kills creativity. Consistency matters—whether weekly, monthly, or daily. Define what consistency means to you and stick with it. Bella: Let’s switch gears. I want to talk about the cars you mentioned and how that fits your business—and then about self-doubt as a woman. Mia: I can loop those together. The car thing started four years ago. Car companies have fleets they lend to PR agencies and media. They give you a car for a week, and you talk about your experience. I wanted to make it more than horsepower stats. I talk about how it feels, how it works, safety, and practicality. Over time, I found my female voice in that space. My audience is 50/50 male and female, so I balanced that. Now, I tie it into storytelling. When I visit you ladies, I reached out to say, “Hey, I’ll be with amazing women influencers—I want them to experience the car.” It’s a marketing line item that fits naturally. Women are so underserved in this area. I met a man recently who said his wife’s upset that her car no longer has grocery hooks in the trunk—small details that matter. Bella: We should film a video of us all in the Sequoia—each of us stepping out bachelorette-style introducing ourselves. Mia: Yes! You’ll see it soon. We all represent something different—different ages, backgrounds, families. It’s like a Care Bear Stare—we all bring our own powers. But honestly, some brands still don’t get it. I’ve struggled with getting their attention. They’ll host events and only invite older men. I’m like, “Come on, do you think women stop having fun after a certain age?” I drive a motorcycle, I drive stick.