What Works

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Tyme founder Jacynda Smith manages 100-200 individual consultations with new customers each week* Why these personalized consultations help Tyme delight 90% of frustrated customers* How virtual styling sessions create a feedback loop that helps Tyme get better & better* What Tyme is doing to leverage the success they’ve had with personalized virtual styling sessions “Do things that don’t scale.” That’s the advice that Paul Graham, co-founder at startup accelerator Y Combinator, commonly gives to founders. “Do things that don’t scale” just happens to sound like the opposite of what many digital small business owners fret about when they exclaim, “but that doesn’t scale!” Here’s the thing: if we spend all our time worrying about what does and doesn’t scale, we don’t take the very necessary steps to get to the place where scaling is even an option. Today, we’re examining customer service that might not scale but has helped the company create massive growth. Before we get there, let’s take a closer look at this idea of doing things that don’t scale. In Graham’s article on the concept, he outlines how a number of today’s huge companies did things that didn’t scale to build their footprint. First, companies like Stripe, Airbnb, and even Facebook recruited new customers by hand. The Stripe founders personally set up new users and installed the software on their websites. The Airbnb founders literally went door to door. Facebook famously went from campus to campus signing up new users. Second, founders make deliberate choices to take small actions that build the foundation for their ability to scale up. Graham writes, “the right things often seem both laborious and inconsequential at the time.” The “right things” were actions like the Airbnb founders taking professional photographs of early home listings or Steve Jobs prioritizing the quality of execution of his product from fonts to packaging. Finally, Graham talks about how many successful companies have been built by “over-engaging” with a small group of core users in the beginning. The founders reach out, have one-on-one conversations, and find out how the product is meeting (or not meeting) the user’s needs. It creates a feedback loop that helps the product get better and the company better understand the customer. And that leads us to today’s conversation with Jacynda Smith, the creator of the Tyme Iron. The Tyme Iron is a unique hairstyling tool that’s meant to replace both your flat iron and your curling iron so you can create a variety of styles for medium-length to long hair. When you look at it, you get it. But when you use it? Well, that can be a different story. Faced with questions and even some frustration from new users, Jacynda made an interesting choice. She decided to FaceTime her customers, one at a time, and walk them through the process of creating the style they wanted to create with their new Tyme Iron. In other words, Jacynda made the choice to do something that doesn’t scale. But instead of abandoning that choice as the company grew, she doubled down. As you’ll hear, the company now employs 5 full-time virtual stylist... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Obedient Agency co-founder Allie LeFevere believes so strongly in the power of humor to build a brand and market a product* How the agency incorporates humor into every touchpoint of their client experiences* The brainstorming techniques they use to find surprising & delightful marketing ideas* Why humor has even made its way into their hiring process The first time I heard the phrase, “Surprise & delight…” …I was being trained on Starbucks & Seattle’s Best Coffee company culture. Our trainer—who was excellent—told us that we were empowered to look for little ways to surprise and delight our guests. Whether that was delivered a freshly brewed cup of coffee to the table they were sitting at or simply taking the time to learn our regulars’ names, the expectation was set that we would go above & beyond. The “surprise & delight” mantra has stuck with me over years of running my own company. I’m not as good with stylish gifts or personal notes the way some business owners are. But I am very good at surprising & delighting our clients by taking extra time to answer questions, providing extra resources, or just paying for coffee when we meet up. It doesn’t take much for an experience to be memorable. And building a brand around memorable, surprising, and delightful experiences? Well, that’s a recipe for success. This week, we’re taking a look at a very particular way to surprise and delight your customers—with humor. Allie LeFevere is the co-founder of Obedient Agency—a full-service humor marketing agency. Truly, the first time I landed on their website, I can describe my experience as nothing less than surprised and delighted. It’s not funny for funny’s sake—it’s humorous for clarity’s sake. Every piece of it serves to define who they are, what they do, and who they do it for in the most unique ways possible. I had to know how this brilliant branding & positioning functioned on the inside. Had they designed equally surprising & delighting client experiences? Yes, of course they have. Allie and I talk about how that website got built—which is a great look at the brainstorming process they use throughout the agency. We also chat about how they infuse humor into every touchpoint they have with a client, how they manage each client touchpoint, and why client fit is such an important piece of the puzzle. Now, let’s find out what works for Allie LeFevere! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Project Army founder Viktor Nagornyy discovered his opportunity in the website support & hosting market* The reason he decided to do the opposite of industry standards when it comes to key customer policies* How he landed on competitive pricing without having to slash expenses or sacrifice customer experience* Why prioritizing exceptional customer experiences has led to significant business growth I’ve been building websites with WordPress for almost 11 years now. In the beginning, I used the cheap web hosts you’re probably already familiar with—I won’t name names, though. I relied on the support those web hosts offered to teach me just about everything I know about name servers, MX records, cPanel, and common errors you get when screwing around in the backend of WordPress. I asked, they answered. Then, something changed. Over time, the support got less and less reliable. It got less and less helpful. It was less and less personable. And somewhere along the line, the support started to suck. At the same time, I started to notice I just wasn’t getting same level of service from these companies that I had in the past. My website was down frequently. They started to tell me I needed to upgrade and then upgrade again. That’s when I jumped ship. Today’s guest noticed the same crap happening in the web support & hosting industry. Instead of pursuing a marginally better solution, he decided to take advantage of the situation and use exceptional customer experiences as a way to stand out in a very crowded market. Viktor Nagorynyy is the founder of Project Army. What started as an SEO and digital marketing consultancy has blossomed into a full-service website support & hosting company that prioritizes customer service and experience. Viktor shares how doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing has led to big results, why customer service is so important to him, how prioritizing customer service has helped the company grow, and how he utilizes social media to offer help to anyone—even if they’re not a customer. Now, let’s find out what works for Viktor Nagorynyy! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * What business therapist & mindset coach Nicole Lewis-Keeber does to help her clients identify boundary issues in their businesses* Why clear communication is key to have a great relationship with your business and your customers* How to renegotiate a relationship that’s run afoul of your personal boundaries* What habits and routines you can develop to ensure you’re upholding your own boundaries on a regular basis Underpromise and overdeliver. It’s a sound strategy for wowing your customers… …but it can also be a recipe for burning out. Unfortunately, plenty of well-meaning small business owners take the “underpromise & overdeliver” mantra to extremes—especially women. They bend over backwards to make sure their customers are happy—even if their boundaries and values are being trampled. I’ve seen this phenomenon up close & personal many times. I’ve also seen how taking the uncomfortable step to establish clear boundaries, charge prices that are appropriate for the level fo service being delivered, and realign scheduling can catapult a business into new, exciting territory. Since we’re focusing on customer experience right now… …I wanted to spend an episode focused on what creating customer experiences is not. And creating exceptional customer experiences is not necessarily about underpromising and overdelivering. It’s not about bending over backwards to fulfill an unreasonable request. It’s not about spending every waking moment going above and beyond for your clients. And while those examples might be an extreme interpretation of what ends up happening in many businesses, they’re also what drive many business owners out of service delivery and into business models where they think they can keep customers at a distance—only to find out they bring the same problems with them. The problem is that exceptional customer experiences—and exceptional customer relationships—start with clear boundaries and expectations. And that’s just not a social or professional skill that many of us learn. We’re often rewarded by teachers, romantic partners, bosses, and friends when we compromise our boundaries. We learn to underpromise and overdeliver at a young age—and we keep it up until we just can’t keep it up any longer. It’s all part of a cycle that I learned about from my friend Nicole Lewis-Keeber. Nicole is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker turned business therapist & mindset coach who helps entrepreneurs identify the patterns that cause friction and dysfunction in their businesses. She helps them identify trauma of all kinds, rework habits, and redefine relationships—with themselves, their team members, and their businesses. I wanted to ask Nicole how she helps her clients establish strong & clear boundaries while maintaining exceptional customer experiences in their businesses. We talked about how to know when you have a boundary problem, why unclear communication is unkind, how to renegotiate boundaries when there’s a problem, and what kind of routines we can put in place to keep boundary issues from happening in the first place. Now, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Ashley Gartland works with her business coaching clients to help them streamline their own work and reduce their sense of overwhelm* What goes in her welcome email to keep new clients from feeling overwhelmed as they’re getting started with coaching* How a customized Trello board helps her (and her clients) manage the engagement efficiently* Why she reduced her business model to just 2 packages and how that’s helping her create better client experiences All told, I spent about 12 years of my life in retail and customer service. I was a pharmacy technician dealing with sick, scared, and overwhelmed pharmacy customers at the ripe old age of 16. I was cashier at Kohl’s, often stepping in for the cashier supervisor and hawking credit card applications without understanding the damage those credit cards were going to do to the people applying. I worked in a tiny jewelry shop in the upscale Hotel Hershey. And I worked my way up for barista to manager at a Borders Books & Music in Reading, PA. #restinpeace Customer service is in my blood. I’ve probably dealt with every conceivable customer service experience you can think of—some fun, others quite uncomfortable, and still others that left me questioning my own ability to form rational thoughts. And while customer service wasn’t always the most enjoyable part of my job, it was something I took pride in. Then, I become a business owner. I thought I was leaving customer service behind. Now, of course, I know how silly that seems. Despite being “founder & CEO,” customer service is woven into everything I do. Every decision I make directly impacts the experience we’re creating for the people who pay good money to do business with us. What’s more, any misstep I make with customer service or experience feels like a judgement on me and my greatest work. It threatens to derail my schedule and ruins my day. What I have learned as a business owner, though, is that customer service is as much—if not more—what happens far in advance of actually talking to a customer or putting a product in their hands. It’s the planning, the communication, the policies, the expectation-setting, and the procedures. This month, we’ll be exploring how small businesses create exceptional customer and client experiences… …through the way they plan, communicate, create procedures, and set expectations & policies. You’ll hear from Viktor Nagornyy who has grown his website support & hosting company by prioritizing exceptional customer service—something unheard of in his industry. You’ll also hear from Jacynda Smith, who has developed a system for providing one-on-one help to everyone who buys the hair tool she invented. You’ll hear why Linda Lopeke developed her rigorous client on-boarding process and how Allie LeFevere incorporates humor into her client experiences. And in our next episode, you’ll hear what’s working to create firm client boundaries while you prioritize exceptional experiences with Nicole Lewis-Keeber. But first, I want to share my conversation with Ashley Gartland with you. Ashley is a business coach who specializes in helping overwhelmed, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Potentia Therapy founder Rebecca Ching learned from key mistakes she made bringing her vision to life* What she does differently today when she’s finding the right people for her team* Why learning to lead has made her less lonely as a business owner* The process of self-reflection that allowed her to stop debating her own worthiness despite her setbacks If there’s one constant in business and entrepreneurship, it’s that stuff happens. Things go wrong. We make bad choices. The market shifts. An employee leaves. The big client gives notice that they’re terminating your contract. We can’t always prepare for what’s going to go wrong—but we can work on becoming more resilient when bad things do inevitably happen. This month, we’ve been sharing conversations all around the topic of resilience. We’ve looked at why we don’t push through to our goals and finish the projects we start. We’ve explored the natural and not-so-natural pivots that happen over time. We’ve examined how expectations can get out of hand and what it looks like to coach yourself through 2 decades of business ownership. Today, as we close things out, we’re going to take a good, long look at actually learning from our mistakes. I spoke with one of my oldest business friends, Rebecca Ching, about some of the mistakes she made when she took a huge leap forward in her therapy business and opened a multidisciplinary brick & mortar practice. Today, Rebecca is both the founder of Potentia Therapy and an Integrated Leadership Coach helping entrepreneurs and leaders navigate the complexities of leadership today. Rebecca shares both the errors in her execution and the errors in her thinking that led to some difficult years. She also gets into some deep reflection around her personal identity and sense of worthiness that really resonated with me. For many of us self-described “achievers,” making a mistake or failing at a venture isn’t just a set back—it rocks us to our core. If that’s you too, I think you’ll especially appreciate this conversation. And if you’ve appreciated this deep dive we’ve spent on resilience this month, I’d love for you to leave What Works a rating & review on Apple Podcasts. Your kind words mean the world to me. Now, let’s find out what works for Rebecca Ching! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while ... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach & author Cynthia Morris has coached herself through 20 years of growth as an entrepreneur* How she battles the “octopus of lots of different offers & ideas” that sneaks up on you when you’ve been in business that long* Why a trip to France helped open a new chapter in her business—and ultimately created its own challenges* How she wound up with the business model she has today I am really willing to do that? I pulled myself out of bed this morning at 5:30 and went downstairs, anxiously awaiting my first cup of coffee. I put the water in the kettle, fired up the burner, and prepped my Aeropress. At this point, I realized the dishwasher needed to be emptied. Now, I am not the kind of woman who does household chores unprovoked. In fact, some serious provoking is usually what it takes for me to do things like fold the laundry, sweep the floor, or return the accumulation of water glasses on my desk to the kitchen. I’m not proud of this. It’s just the truth. But I’ve been working on it. Because I value my marriage. So, I told myself I was willing to empty the dishwasher and I did it. Thank you… thank you… Hold the applause to the end, please. “I am willing…” that’s a personal mantra I’ve been working on over the last 6 months or so. I learned it from a book with a questionable title by a coach named Gary John Bishop. Truthfully, I haven’t gotten past the first chapter of that book because “I am willing” was enough of a mind-bender to work on for awhile! Reminding myself that I’m willing has had a dramatic impact on my business, too. During a sales campaign that I wish was over already, I remind myself that I’m willing to show up, answer questions, and find every last person who is ready to buy. During a conference that has my social anxiety peaking, I remind myself that I’m willing to meet new people and nurture old relationships. While emptying out my inbox, I remind myself that I’m willing to take a few extra minutes and reply to emails that have been waiting for me. It’s these small activities—and often the moments of small “c” courage that Charlie Gilkey talked about in Episode 241—that really add up at the end of the day. Just like proactively emptying the dishwasher or folding my laundry really adds up in my marriage! When you’re looking at something like your business—or your marriage—that ideally is going to last 10 year, 20 years, 30 years or longer, it’s easy to think about the big moments and forget about all the small things you were willing to do along the way. But my guest today hasn’t forgotten about the small things that have made her business stand the test of time. Cynthia Morris is the founder of Original Impulse. She coaches writers, artists and entrepreneurs to get out of their own way so they can finish projects that matter. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach and business strategist Jo Casey manages her anxiety as an entrepreneur* The situation that revealed just how big an impact anxiety had on how she ran her business* How setting clearer boundaries and doubling her rates helped to get back on track* Why she’s simplified her business as a way of managing her anxiety* The positive results she’s seen by making her anxiety conscious and working to manage it productively Wait, my anxiety isn’t normal? We were driving along Interstate 90 somewhere between Chicago and Minneapolis on the hottest day of the summer. Sean asked me, “Can you remember a time when you didn’t feel anxious?” I paused. I thought. I looked back over the key periods of my life. “Well, no. I can’t remember a time I didn’t feel anxious,” I finally responded. Honestly, I was surprised. You see, I’ve spent my whole adolescent and adult life being hyper-aware of my history of depression. Even when I’m feeling good, I’m on the look out for the warning signs. I realize that might sound a bit anxious all on its own—but looking for the warning signs has allowed me to get help before things got really bad a numbers of times. I’ve spent the last 7 years or so fairly free of depressive episodes and generally considered my mental health to be strong. So this realization that anxiety—that tight feeling in my chest, the lump at the pit of my stomach, the prickly skin, the whirling mind, the foreboding sense that at any moment things could all fall apart… That realization that anxiety has always been with me and—get this—that it isn’t normal? **It was a shock. As I started to examine the impact anxiety has had on me, I couldn’t help but see its presence all over my business. Now, here’s the thing. You might be surprised to learn just how big an impact anxiety has had on me and my business over the years. You probably don’t think of me as someone who struggles to make decisions or take action. You don’t think of me as someone nervous about stepping out of the shadows or making big moves. But there is a whole category of anxiety that often presents in high-performers—the achievers, the doers, the make stuff happen people. It’s called High Functioning Anxiety. Simply put, High Functioning Anxiety is the constant sense that everything will fall apart around you if you’re not performing at your highest capacity all the time. It’s mix of overdoing, overthinking, and over-achieving. And listener? I would not be surprised if that sounds familiar to you. I learned about High Functioning Anxiety from one of Yellow House Media’s podcasting clients, Nancy Jane Smith, and her show The Happier Approach. Ever since I heard the concept, I can recognize my anxiety everywhere. I feel it when the hotel shuttle bus is making me late for my flight. I feel it when I receive an invitation to a party I’m expected to attend but don’t have the right outfit for. I feel it every time I hit send on an email or realize I’ve made a typo in a sales page. I feel it when I’m obsessing on a client situation or setting big goals for the business. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Tommy Griffith left a job he loved at AirBnB to pursue growing his side hustle, a digital marketing education company called ClickMinded* How his expectations of life as an entrepreneur collided with the reality of executing his plans* The mindset that allowed him to persevere through some pretty gnarly circumstances* Why Tommy decided to bring on a partner at ClickMinded late in the game—and how that decision helped him take the company to the next level Let’s talk about your fantasies. Most ads that grace your Facebook or Instagram feed are selling every business owner’s fantasy: more money with a heckuva lot less work… get paid to be you… use this 3-step formula to finally find true freedom. Most of those ads look pretty much the same because they’re selling an end result—an outcome that inspires you to buy. There are photos of beautiful destinations. There are videos with soft, natural lighting. There are charts that only point upward. What most ads leave out is how it’s all going to come to fruition. Sure, there are blog posts, email courses, and webinars that will tell you more about what happens in between now and full fantasy realization. But the details are in the product they’re selling or the service they’re offering. And rightfully so! If you have a product that has the potential to create the ultimate fantasy, you should absolutely get paid for that. Of course, what comes between the “now” and full fantasy realization—that’s where our brains start to play tricks on us. This doesn’t just happen with business training or services, either. It happens any time someone is selling wellness, weight loss, retirement planning, relationship coaching, fitness, personal styling… in fact, most consumer industries are all about fantasy fulfillment. We know that it will take time and work to create our dream outcome. We know there will be detours to follow and mistakes made. We know it’s never quite as easy and straightforward as it seems. And yet… We forget. We fixate on the fantasy and forget reality. Now while we’re fixating on the fantasy, we get careless. We assume that our dream of working from the beach, traveling full-time, putting the kids through college, or—say— building a custom tiny house in the Flathead Valley of Montana is just right around the corner and we act like our success is a foregone conclusion. This is where the story starts with today’s guest, Tommy Griffith. Tommy is the founder of ClickMinded, a comprehensive digital marketing training company that started as a simple, in-person SEO workshop. I’ll let Tommy tell you the whole story—but suffice to say that it includes leaving a great job at AirBnB, living abroad, fantasies of working from the beach, food poisoning, ruining $50,000 worth of work, and being robbed. Through it all, Tommy persevered. And the story—a happy one—ends with a pretty unexpected move to bring the company into its next stage. Tommy and I chat about why he made the decisions he did, how he kept going when things were nowhere near awesome, and how his expectations routinely got in the way of his execution. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Co-Creating Inclusion founder Alethea Fitzpatrick took a long & winding road to creating her new company* Why embracing uncertainty has helped her stay flexible while building her business* The many pivots she’s made from architecture to photography to operations management to diversity consulting* Why respecting her Zone Of Genius has kept her from getting caught up in expectations Starting a business is a risk. Running a business is a risk. Growing a business is a risk. Ostensibly, we’ve all signed on for this risky life as an entrepreneur. But, we often find ourselves searching for certainty and hunting for the “sure thing.” We do it every time we think another $2000 course is going to answer all our questions about building a successful business. We do it every time we wait a few more months to launch a new offer into the world. We do it every time we avoid reinforcing a boundary because it might upset a client. In our last episode, Episode 241 with Charlie Gilkey, we talked about how striving for certainty keeps us stuck. When we aim to choose the “sure thing,” we hesitate, procrastinate, and avoid. Charlie advocated for building our courage by finding all the moments in the day when we can choose the option that has room for growth, for vulnerability, for risk… and yes, for uncertainty. I was reminded of that idea during my conversation with today’s guest, Alethea Fitzpatrick. Alethea is the founder of Co-Creating Inclusion, a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm with a mission to shift culture and drive equity through workshop facilitation, leadership development, and business integration. But Alethea has also been the founder of a host of other ventures! To continue our focus on resilience and entrepreneurship, I wanted to talk with Alethea about the long and winding journey she’s taken to get to where she is now. Because where she is now is authentic, organic growth and a whole new level of success doing work that is incredibly important to her (and to the world). We’ll get to how she’s achieved that in a minute—but first… …let’s take another look at how having the courage to tolerate uncertainty, to even embrace uncertainty, can work in a business. Later in the conversation, Alethea shares that she’s chosen clarity of her Why and her What but she’s remaining open to how it’ll all come together. She’s choosing to be strategic about designing a container that’s flexible enough to hold different outcomes. I think this is a beautiful example of what Charlie was talking about in our last episode—but it also seems to be the secret sauce for how Alethea has gotten where she is right now. She has always followed clarity while allowing for openness and uncertainty so that she could grow into the direction of her goals. Keep that in mind as Alethea and I talk about the journey she’s taken to get to where she is now. Alethea and I also talk about the businesses and jobs that predate Co-Creating Inclusion, the moment she realized there was a new opportunity presenting itself, how the transition into consulting felt, and how her Zone of Genius keeps her from getting caug... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Start Finishing author Charlie Gilkey explains the relationship between resilience and finishing the projects and plans we start* Why tensions like mastery versus growth, structure versus novelty, and serving ourselves versus serving others make it harder to reach our goals* How vulnerability and little “c” courage can help us achieve bigger, more meaningful results* What Charlie coaches his clients through when they fail to reach an important outcome We all procrastinate, avoid, and hesitate from time to time. If you’ve ever stared at an empty email trying to figure out the exact right thing to say… If you’ve ever avoided a networking event because you weren’t sure how everyone else was going to be dressed or whether you’d feel like you belonged there… If you’ve ever hesitated to share your thoughts in a comment because you didn’t know how you’d be received… Well, you and I have a lot in common. Maybe your list isn’t the same as mine. Maybe there are other variables or scenarios that send your mind swirling. Regardless, life is full of those moments when we procrastinate, avoid, and hesitate because we’re not exactly sure what will come next. Business is full of those moments, too. Today, I invited my dear friend Charlie Gilkey back on the show to talk about the subject of his new book, Start Finishing: How To Go From Idea To Done. It’s perfect for this month we’re spending on resilience. You see, Start Finishing, sounds like a book on productivity—and it is. But it’s the kind of productivity book that only a philosopher could write. And this is the kind of interview on productivity, decision-making, planning, and doing your best work that only a philosopher could give. If you don’t know Charlie already, let me give you a bit of background. Charlie is a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Nebraska. He was a logistics officer in the Army National Guard and was deployed in Iraq. He’s now the co-founder & CEO of Productive Flourishing, which helps people build better businesses through strategic planning, system development, self-mastery, and personal effectiveness. I wanted to find out what resilience has to do with the way we do—or do not—complete the projects that we start and the goals we half-heartedly commit to. My conversation with Charlie certainly provided some answers to that question—and a whole lot more. One of my biggest takeaways from talking to Charlie was the divide between certainty and uncertainty… …and how our quest for certainty keeps us stuck. I’ve been paying much closer attention to the moments when I can make a choice where the outcome is uncertain but the upside is big. It’s helped me lean into vulnerability, find my true commitments, and achieve some pretty amazing results in a very short period of time. Charlie and I also talk about the tension between mastery and growth, why we love structure but still crave novelty, how we let conflicting patterns mess with our ability to create results, and why achieving success isn’t just a matter of intelligence or information. Now, let’s find out what works for Charlie Gilkey. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How What Works founder Tara McMullin realized that business had gone off track* Why she chose to pivot to a building community-oriented business support network instead of offering coaching or online courses* What mistakes she made along the way and how she changed course to correct them* Why “steadfast commitment” is her barometer right now I turned 37 last month. I certainly don’t get worked up about getting older nor am I one for big birthday celebrations or rituals. But this year, it really hit me just how much growing up I’d done in the last 12 months. I’ve done a lot of work on myself. And that’s led to a lot of very practical work being done to the business, too. I’ve examined old stories that were still controlling my thoughts and actions. I’ve looked at the shadow side of my strengths. I’ve questioned myself, my motivations, and my goals to make sure I’m blazing my own trail and not chasing someone else’s idea of success. And, like I said, this wasn’t just personal work—if there’s any “just” about that. All of the personal work I’ve done has led to some very real changes in how I run my business and how I operate as a leader. Over the last year, I’ve worked to slow down and loop my team into ideas I have or changes I want to make. I’ve integrated my work into the systems that our team uses. I’ve gone deep into the way our core product is built and delivered to question why we do what we do and how our product could serve our customers better. I’ve worked to make this podcast best in class. Looking back on all the work I’ve done over the last year, I have to admit… I am pretty damn proud of myself. So I asked myself what exactly I learned through all that work—and how I could leverage it to keep the momentum going. I looked at all the ways the work I did over the last year left me feeling more fulfilled, more fully realized—and I realized that it all had one thing in common. When I committed—truly, fully committed—I not only got satisfying results, I felt freaking great about the process of getting those results. When I did something just because I could—or I thought I should—I might succeed but it didn’t make me feel awesome. I ended up feeling more anxious, self-conscious, or just plain bored. Okay, commitment. I can do that. And yes, again—this applies to both my personal life and my business life. It applies to my mindset and to the practical, hands-on work I do on a daily basis. So on my birthday, I decided that the question that would shape this next year in my life would be: “What am I willing to make a steadfast commitment to?” And to answer that question, I would ask myself what does steadfast commitment actually look like? What does steadfast commitment to a race look like? What does steadfast commitment to an offer look like? What does steadfast commitment to this podcast look like? What does steadfast commitment to my relationship look like? Truthfully, these questions didn’t appear out of thin air. It’s actually something that’s been percolating for quite some time. So much of my life and business to this point has been guided by impulse... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Debra Giunta’s vision for Design Dance led her to make specific hiring decisions as the company grew in scale* Why she waited 6 years to hire herself on full-time* How her dance program and curriculum adapts depending on the school she’s partnering with* What she looks for in the people she hires—and how that’s evolved over time I’m pretty sure I took myself to Starbucks for an iced latte with the first 10 bucks I made with my business. From there, everything I earned went into the family kitty. I started my business with a vision of paying myself… and not much else. Many years later, this is the #1 thing I regret from those early business years. Had I spent more time considering where I was going and how I could reinvest in my business to get there faster, I think I’d be in a very different place right now. That said, I don’t beat myself up about it. I did the best I could with the information I had at the time. Today, I do things very differently. I invest in my team. I invest in professional tools. I invest in our growth. And, as I’m starting a second company, I’m reexamining how I do those things with a fresh mind. By the way, if you missed the 411 on my new company, Yellow House Media, you can catch up by listening to Episode 232. A huge part of what we do here at What Works—and inside The What Works Network—is purposefully expose you to business owners who have taken a different path. I want to equip you with more information, options, and experiences than I had all those years ago. That’s what this whole Scaling Up series has been about. Today’s conversation is the last in our series on Scaling Up. We’ve covered a lot of territory —everything from starting with scale in mind, to intentionally not scaling, to leveraging your special sauce, to building certification programs, and more. But today’s conversation gives us a crash course in how all these things can fit together and it tackles another common dilemma business owners with scale on the brain face. Is your first priority paying yourself? Or is your top priority paying someone else? My guest is Debra Giunta, the founder of Design Dance, a community dance education company that’s reaching over 1500 K-12 students with arts education and social-emotional learning every year. I talk with Debra about her vision for Design Dance and how it led her to making important choices about when she started hiring help. We also talk about how Design Dance has expanded from its original school partner into 50 different sites, how she hires teachers to manage all those programs, and the nitty-gritty of how the business runs on the inside. We’ll find out What Works for Debra Giunta in just a minute—but first, I have a favor to ask you. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why The Ops Authority founder Natalie Gingrich opted for scale using a certification program instead of building out an agency* What she created first on the way to developing her certification program* How she determined what the certification program would include and how it would be structured* What she’s tackling next to continue to create value and build capacity for her company What you do doesn’t have to be magic. One of my all-time favorite quotes is Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I love this idea because not only does it apply to the iPhone in my pocket or the car that plays music from that phone as soon as I turn the key. But it also applies to the work we do on a daily basis. I’ve heard from so many small business owners over the years that what they do for their clients can feel like magic. Maybe you feel that way too. You don’t know exactly how it happens… but you get on Zoom with a client and magic happens. You start writing sales copy for a client… and magic happens. You get on a stage… and magic happens.You start painting or designing… and magic happens. Now, I don’t—in any way—want to discount the feeling that comes along with making that kind of magic happen. But… what I do want to do is point you to the underlying technology that makes it happen. “Technology” in this case isn’t code or wires or processing units. It’s a system. We all have them. And, even when something feels like magic, there is a technology—a system—that is making it all happen. So let me remind you of Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The reason your work feels like magic is because it’s really advanced technology! And, listener, do you know what else that means? It’s super valuable. This month, we’re talking about scale and, as you might have already guessed, the advanced technology behind the magic you make on a daily basis could be the key to scaling your business. So far, we’ve explored this in the form of your “special sauce.” But really, special sauce is just another way of talking about advanced technology! In Episode 236, Carol Cox shared how she’s using her advanced technology to train other speech coaches to work for her. In Episode 237, Katey Schultz shared how focusing on her advanced technology allowed her to expand the capacity of her monthly mentorship program. Today, we’re going to look at another way of scaling up based on your advanced technology—certification programs. My guest is Natalie Gingrich, the founder of The Ops Authority. After spending 15 years in corporate at a Fortune 150 company, she dove into entrepreneurship leveraging her project management and HR experience to assist high-level influencers in the online and small business worlds. What she discovered along the way was that there was a ton of super capable women whose skill sets were not leveraged and whose natural tendency toward leadership wasn’... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty * How writing mentor Katey Schultz knew she wanted to scale up her Monthly Mentorship program* What she did first to scale… and why it wasn’t enough to meet her goals or her personal needs* Why some big mindset shifts were key to seeing the real opportunity—and how a moment of deep fatigue opened the door to an important aha moment* How Katey settled on a format for serving many more writers in much less time Scaling up often requires zoning in. What I mean is that, most of the time, a business doesn’t actually scale up the whole of what can do. It scales up one small piece of the puzzle. The result might be focusing on a particular outcome you can create for clients. It might be focusing on a particular aspect of your methodology. It might be creating leverage from a particular component of the brand. It might even be a particular feature or component of your value proposition. And, quite often, businesses choose the wrong thing to focus on. A business that’s not operating at scale can be good at many things. But which one of those many good things will be the key to scaling up? It’s easy to see how the wrong choice gets made. My guest today had a business that resembles so many: one that required her constant input, expertise, and care just to stay afloat. While she felt like it was already a success in many ways, Katey Schultz (get Katey’s free guide to using flash storytelling to power your content marketing) realized that her business wasn’t really meeting her needs. She wanted more of a challenge. She wanted more time. She wanted more money. So Katey started to look at how to scale her offer, a monthly mentorship for writers. This conversation is the story of her journey to do that. We talk through the mindset shifts she needed to make, the experiments she ran, and the aha! moment that made her realize she’d scaled the wrong thing. Now, let’s find out what works for Katey Schultz! A good story, in about one page or less, is a powerful and genuine way to sell things. Katey is offering What Works listeners a guide on how to do just that. Get the free PDf here! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Speaking Your Brand founder Carol Cox realized she was at capacity and hungry for more* Why she chose to hire & train another speech coach instead of moving into online courses* The mindset work she needed to do to prepare herself for the transition into scale* How she found her first hire and got her started with clients When it comes to small business, there are plenty of special snowflakes out there. And before I inadvertently offend you, let me explain what I mean. A special snowflake business is one that’s focused on the unique talents of the owner. It’s the “only you can do what you do” mantra so many fluffy business classes preach. When you have a special snowflake business, customers buy to get a piece of you. They want what you can do for them. Look, some people genuinely like it that way. Cool. But special snowflake businesses don’t scale. Oprah is truly special—but she didn’t create a culture-shifting television show, her own entertainment network, and O Magazine by being a special snowflake. Oprah figured out her special sauce and channeled that into all sorts of ventures that grew the capacity of her work & impact beyond her own personal capacity. Working out the recipe to your own special sauce is a key to crafting a company that scales. When many small business owners start thinking about growth, they think about all the tasks they don’t like to do and outsource them. The dream is to be left with only the task of making the product or delivering the service that you love. Regardless of whether you ever reach the point of living that dream, eventually, you’re at capacity and stuck at a ceiling—again. If you want to really scale, you have to be willing to train other people to create value for you (and for your customers). You need to get others in on the game of making the product or delivering the service. That’s the plan Carol Cox devised. Carol is the founder of Speaking Your Brand, a speech coaching agency that helps women entrepreneurs and executives craft their signature talks. I wanted to ask Carol how she worked out the recipe to her own special sauce so she could start training the first speech coach she brought on board. Carol and I talk about the time and energy she put into working with clients 1:1, paying attention to exactly how she worked her magic. We also chat about how she knew it was time to hire, what have been her biggest fears throughout the process, and how her mindset about the business she’s building has shifted. Now, let’s find out what works for Carol Cox! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How ScaleSpark founder Susan Boles uses software to solve capacity problems for her clients and help them scale up* Why she starts with a software audit before making any changes—and how you can too* What she looks for when considering what software options to go with* The first step to getting started with new software (it’s not what you’d expect!) When I first got serious about building a team and documenting our business systems… …I signed up for Asana. If you’re not familiar, Asana is a project management system that tons of people were raving about at the time. They claimed how organized it made them. they said how wonderful it was to have a checklist of everything that needed done in front of them. They loved being able to assign deadlines and delegate tasks. That all sounded marvelous. But my experience of Asana was… not so great. No matter how hard I tried to “be good”—check off all the boxes, stick to my deadlines, and process my tasks, I’d end up falling behind and ignoring the whole system. My team could use Asana. But I couldn’t. And I felt like a bad business owner. I felt like I wasn’t good enough, that I wasn’t disciplined enough, like I just couldn’t hack it. Dramatic? Maybe but it seemed like Asana was what worked for everyone I respected and I just couldn’t seem to get on board. Late last year, Marie Poulin—who you just heard from in Episode 234—shared that she’d switched her project management (and practically everything else) over to an app called Notion. It turned out that Notion (why yes, that’s our referral link) allowed for way more than checking things off a list and organizing tasks by project. It was purposefully non-linear, adaptable, and infinitely customizable. I was intrigued. We took a look… and we were hooked. Now, it’s no surprise that my team can use Notion. They’re a bunch of a project management badasses. But the fact that I can use it? Well, that was a surprise. What Notion has made me realize is that software doesn’t just work on its own. It works with you—or it doesn’t work. Asana is great. But it’s not great for me. It doesn’t help me scale my capacity. It doesn’t help me do my job. Notion works with me. It let’s me think the way I want to think. It helps me do my job and increase my capacity for doing my best work. Notion reminded me that I am organized, disciplined, and committed to growing my company. And no piece of software can take that away from me again. Now, my guest today is no stranger to the way software can either help or hurt a business. Susan Boles is the founder of ScaleSpark, a consulting firm that helps companies break through growth ceilings by fixing back-end processes and creating systems designed to scale. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why a cocktail party conversation prompted Marie Poulin to confront the assumption that scaling your business is the ultimate goal* How Oki Doki’s hybrid business model works—and why it’s the perfect approach for Marie and her partner, Ben* How Marie’s personal priorities and ideal lifestyle are helping to shape her business decisions* Why she’s looking for a sense of equilibrium between the energy she puts into the business and the energy she receives from it To scale or not to scale—that’s really not the question. At least, it’s not the first question you need to ask about the direction you want to take your business. As we mentioned in Episode 232, Sean and I are choosing to prepare our new company for scale is because it will help us live the lifestyle we want to live and do the kinds of work we want to do. Callie Willows mentioned in our last episode that one of the reasons the Member Site Academy works so well for The Membership Guys is that it supports the lifestyle her and her partner want. Coaching and consulting just wouldn’t. She also talked about how building a membership site has allowed her to thrive as an introvert. So maybe the real questions are: What kind of life do you want to lead? What kind of work lights you up, allows you to thrive? Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the hype or anti-hype around scaling and miss those questions. Today, my guest is Marie Poulin—our first 3 time guest here on the pod! Marie is not someone to miss the important questions. Her and her husband Ben are building Oki Doki with the life and work they want to lead top of mind. That choice has brought them face to face with some scrutiny from people with a scale-or-die mindset. Marie recently wrote a lengthy article about her choice not to scale—or, not to scale in any conventional way—so, of course, I wanted to bring her on the show while we’re covering scale to talk about it! Marie and I chat about the hybrid business model Oki Doki has developed, the cocktail party conversation that shook her up, how she approaches finding a equilibrium with her energy, and how her focus on profitability has paid off. Now, let’s find out what works for Marie Poulin! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Callie Willows and her partner decided to go “all in” on a membership site as their only offer* How she stays on up to date with the content and conversation inside the community* Why member experience is their top priority and retention is their top metric* What makes a membership site perfect for her own unique kind of introversion Okay, who wouldn’t want to be paid month after month for the same product? That’s the promise of a membership site. You set it up, convince people to join you, and they pay—and pay again, and again, and again, and again. You tend to the group and the money just keeps coming. Now, if you’ve already guessed that this is—in fact—not the reality of building and running a membership site, you would be correct. Creating any kind of subscription-based product has the potential for a huge payoff with healthy profit margins. But actually building the business that allows that to happen is a different story. Building a subscription-based product is one key way small businesses can scale up. But they can require a significant trade-off in at the beginning. It takes time, energy, infrastructure, and savvy marketing to get to a point where the business is healthy and profitable. I know this from personal experience. So does Callie Willows, the co-founder of The Membership Guys. Callie runs Member Site Academy, a leading training resource and community for membership site owners. Callie and I talk about why The Membership Guys chose to focus on just one offer, the mindset shifts she’s had to make running a membership site, the operations that go into keeping members happy, and how running a membership site is a great fit for her as an introvert. Now, let’s find out What Works for Callie Willows! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Sean & Tara McMullin are starting a second company, Yellow House Media, and keeping scale in mind from the get-go* How they’ve prioritized doing every task like they’ll have to do it again tomorrow* Why they’re keeping future hires in mind while they document processes* The importance of considering an exit strategy earlier than you’d ever expect Big businesses start small, too. Today, we’re kicking off a month focused on scaling up. We’re examining the misconceptions, the assumptions, the biases, and—of course—the many ways that small business owners today are scaling up. And no—it’s not all online courses or apps. If you’ve been thinking about how your business can have a bigger impact, serve more customers, and make you more money… …but you’re at a loss of how to do that without running yourself into the ground or sacrificing your values… …this month is dedicated to you. To start this month, I have a confession to make. I started a new company. A second company. And I started it with someone you know: my husband and the producer of What Works, Sean McMullin. We’re approaching the first moves in this company completely differently than when I started my own business almost 11 years ago. To sum it up: we’re starting with scale in mind from the get-go. To be honest, the idea of “scaling up” snuck up on me the first time around. By the time I was well on my way to scaling up in theory, I realized that my company wasn’t ready to scale up in practice. My finances were a mess. My team was disorganized. There was little—if any—documentation. Important stuff fell through the cracks all the time. Getting that stuff handled? It took years. I do not want to repeat those mistakes. And since Sean was around for that clean-up job, he doesn’t want to repeat them either. So Sean and I are doing things very differently this time around. In just a bit, we’ll have a conversation about what scaling up means to us, why we’ve started this company, and how I finally convinced Sean to start a business. We’re also going to talk about the nitty-gritty details of how we’re starting with scale in mind. Things like process documentation, planning for future hires, pricing with labor in mind, creating scripts, anticipating training, and considering our exit strategy. But this is just the tip of the iceberg for what we’re covering on the podcast this month. You’ll hear from Callie Willows who scaled up with a membership site, Marie Poulin who is intentionally choosing a path that doesn’t necessarily scale, and Carol Cox who is hiring and training coaches to help her scaling her speech coaching company. You’ll also hear from Katey Schultz who challenged some personal assumptions to scale up her writer mentorship program, Debra Giunta who has scaled her company providing

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Victoria Klein questioned her choices and assumptions to try some decidedly unexpected things in her business and life* Why she decided to go back to school to study Japanese and how the decision gave her a fresh perspective on her business* What’s happened to her level of confidence as she’s experimented and questioned her assumptions* Why her business is better off today than before she took these unconventional risks Assumptions, defaults, stories—I’ve had a number of conversations recently about the role unconscious choices play in how we run our businesses. Maybe your inbox is out of control and your calendar is jam-packed, so you go with the flow and assume you need to hire help. Maybe you tell yourself a story about keeping prices low so that more people will buy and sales will be easier. Maybe you default to following someone else’s business plan instead of getting creative with your own. Every single day—every hour, even—we’re presented with choices. But most of them never really look like choices to us because we’re so used to falling back on the default or playing to the story that’s already in our heads about what we’re supposed to do in that scenario. The option of doing something different doesn’t even cross our minds. We’re wrapping up our month on confidence with today’s episode and I think it’s worth taking a look back on what we’ve covered. Not in a “previously on What Works…” kind of way. But, instead, looking at the threads that have tied these stories together. One thing I’ve noticed is how all of our guests made the decision to disrupt the stories about what life or business was supposed to look like… …and embraced something personal, maybe even unconventional. Jamie Varon picked up her life and moved to the south of France—and discovered a new a approach to life. Hillary Rea realized that success doesn’t have to mean conventional growth and that her body of work is much more than the number of butts in seats. Michael Karsh didn’t wait until he felt ready or experienced enough to sign big deals with Google or Facebook. Victoria Clark chose to prioritize building her career in a way that meant she was getting paid for the hard work and long hours she was putting into practicing law. Disrupting long-held stories, beliefs, and assumptions is really uncomfortable. It’s unnerving. While you’re there, being a leader, questioning something important… you end up questioning everything else too. So maybe that’s another way to look at confidence. Confidence is the skill, the practice of questioning everything. It’s the power to be uncomfortable while you forge your own path and make your own decisions. It’s the habit of never assuming that the next step is REALLY the next step. Today, for our final Candid Confidence Project conversation, my guest is Victoria Klein. Victoria is an author, entrepreneur, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Jodi Brandon took nearly 2 years away from full-time work on her small business to care for her dying mother* When and how she made the decision to step back from her business and step up for her mom* How she kept things going behind-the-scenes while she wasn’t working normal hours* Why her confidence took a hit when she returned to full-time work* What she learned about running her business through the process of returning & rebuilding her confidence Small business owners—especially women—take time away from work for all sorts of reasons. I’ve already spoken with Catherine Orr and her business partner Elena Rue, who took simultaneous maternity leaves. I spoke with Rebecca Tracy who takes extended time away for rock climbing and hiking. Others take sabbaticals or take time away to write books. On a regular basis, though—and much more frequently than I would have ever guessed as a clueless 26-year-old just getting started—small business owners take time away from their businesses to care for sick or dying family members. It makes a lot of sense in many ways. Small business owners work flexible schedules. We often have more passive revenue streams that might keep money trickling in even if we’re not actively working. We can work from anywhere. But small business owners also have a lot to lose. We could lose clients, the audience we’ve built over years of hard work, the brand reputation we’ve worked so hard for, the team we’ve trained… Of course, when it comes to family, it’s worth the risk. So what happens when it’s time to come back to your business? What happens when you sit down to your desk for the first time in weeks or months? What do you do first? How do you feel? What do you set your sights on? These are daunting questions. And they get to the heart of the crisis of confidence that comes from stepping away from a business for an extended period of time—often unexpectedly and without a real plan. Today, my guest is someone who has lived this scenario. Jodi Brandon has more than 20 years’ experience in book publishing. Today, her passion is working as a book coach and editor for creative entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to serve their business with a book. Jodi took 2 full years away from her business full-time to care for her mother. We talk about how she made the decision, the challenge of trying to keep up, how she felt when she started back in her business, and how she’s adjusted both her work and her mindset. This conversation with Jodi is part of a month-long series on confidence and entrepreneurship called The Candid Confidence Project. To get the full series delivered to your inbox—and check out what we’ve already released—click here. Now, let’s find out what works for Jodi Brandon! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And cha... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why attorney Victoria R. Clark decided to leap into her own solo law practice just 5 years out from law school* How she’s focused on working through her weaknesses and supporting her business with each new challenge* What happened when she realized that her prices were keeping her stuck and overworking* Why she believes increased confidence is the key to overcoming every obstacle she’s faced with her business Starting a business takes a real leap of faith. I don’t think anyone starts a business expecting to feel fully confident in what they’re doing. So we end up being fairly prepared to feel unsure and a bit anxious at the beginning. As the saying goes, you feel the fear and you do it anyway. Throughout this series on confidence, I’ve wanted to look beyond getting started and look at what happens when our confidence falters long after that predictable startup period. What happens when a new opportunity, a new goal, or a new idea causes our insecurity to come flooding back? How do we deal with it, find new confidence, and move forward? My guest today is Victoria R. Clark, the founder and managing attorney of Clark Law in Washington, DC. When Victoria got in touch with me, she told me that it wasn’t just getting started that required a new level of confidence. She had to find a new level of confidence every time she wanted to show up and level up. She told me that anything from introducing herself at a networking event to pricing her services to adding new areas of her practice required her to dig deep. And here’s the thing, talking to Victoria, you’d never know her confidence wavers. She’s self-assured. She’s present. She’s willing to put herself out there and show up for herself in intimidating spaces. Like Katie Linder and I talked about, though, there’s always that tricky balance between the confident public persona and lingering, hidden self-doubt. So I wanted to hear how Victoria has dealt with it—and is dealing with it. I think Victoria’s story might just sound pretty familiar to your own. Victoria and I talk about why she decided to start her own law practice in the first place, how she became more confident talking about herself, and how she took a new approach to what she can control on a daily basis. We also chat about how aspects of the business have evolved as she’s gotten more confident in what she’s doing. This candid conversation with Victoria is part of a whole series we’re doing here at What Works on confidence. We want to shed light on how small business owners continue to find confidence, long after they’ve taken the leap to get started. You’ve already heard stories about raising your prices, landing huge clients, and changing up your habits—and there are more coming. When we’re not posting new conversations here on the podcast, we’re sharing personal essays and reflections from What Works Network members on how they find the confidence to take the next step. To get the full series delivered to your inbox—and check out what we’ve already released—click here. Now, let’s find out What Works for Victoria Clark! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How podcaster & coach Katie Linder uses her Radical Self-Trust framework to ensure her life and goals support her confidence* Why she finds confidence in sharing the work she’s most passionate about as she’s creating it* The 6 foundational pieces of the Radical Self-Trust framework* How she uses “cross walking” to match her to-do list with her values Showing up and being seen can be a real mind-bender. Every post we make on Instagram, every video we record for YouTube, every blog post we write, every email we send, every client consultation we do… They can all feel like an invitation to have others judge whether we have our shit together or not. So we work really hard to present as polished, professional, and confident. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Looking polished, professional, and confident—whatever that means to you—is great. But it becomes a problem when the image you’re trying to portray becomes disconnected from what you actually feel. What happens when I show up looking like a powerhouse but feeling like an impostor? I can tell you exactly what happens to me when I show up looking like a powerhouse and feel like an impostor: I end up hiding. Sometimes I literally hide: in my hotel room, away from social media, ghosting on relationships. Sometimes I hide more metaphorically: not setting clear goals, not saying what I really mean. It’s at these times when finding my confidence, trusting myself, and showing up to be seen is most important. My guest today is facing challenges like these head-on. Her name is Dr. Katie Linder and she’s the creator of the Radical Self-Trust Podcast Channel. Katie developed the Radical Self-Trust framework as a way of helping herself and her clients source a new level of trust and confidence in themselves so they can overcome any obstacle. I wanted to find out the personal and professional challenges that led Katie to document this process… …and, of course, I wanted to hear more about the process itself. Katie and I talk about the self-doubt she struggled with initially while launching her business, how she balances the public persona of confidence with lingering self-doubt, and how showing up & sharing actually gives her confidence. We also discuss the Radical Self-Trust framework and how it can be used to discover a new path forward. This candid conversation with Katie is part of a whole series we’re doing here at What Works on confidence. We want to shed light on how small business owners continue to find confidence, long after they’ve taken the leap to get started. Throughout this month, you’ll hear about finding the confidence to come back after a major loss, experiment & iterate, stick with the plan, and regularly level up. When we’re not posting new conversations here on the podcast, we’re sharing personal essays and reflections from What Works Network members on how they find the confidence to take the next step. To get the full series delivered to your inbox—and check out what we’ve already released—click here. Now, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Abby Herman, founder of Write Solutions, set her prices so low to begin with* How she realized she needed to raise her prices and how long it took to make it happen* What happened when she realized that her prices were only part of the problem and how her services have evolved since* Why Abby feels more motivated than ever to find a new level of satisfaction in all areas of her life and work Nothing can spook an entrepreneur’s confidence like setting a price. As soon as you come up with a number, your inner critic goes into overdrive: “It’s too high! They’ll laugh at us!” “It’s too low! It’ll bankrupt us!” “Is it really worth that much?” “Who do you think you are asking for money at all?” “What if they can’t pay?” “What if I lose sales?” “What if I’m wildly successful and can’t keep up?” As my grandmother would say: Good grief! If putting a price on your products or services—let alone raising your prices—makes you want to run and hide, all that mental chatter is a good excuse. My guest today is no stranger to this incessant mental chatter around pricing. Abby Herman is the founder of Write Solutions, a content marketing agency for service-based business owners who want to gain visibility for their businesses with personalized content strategies and implementation. When Abby started out, she priced her work so she could guarantee she’d get paid—even if it was next to nothing. She had bills to pay and a child to take care of. As time went on, though, Abby discovered that pricing her work the way she was just wasn’t working. Abby and I talk about how she ended up working for so little and what she needed to do to raise her prices. We dive into all the feelings that came up around raising her prices and discovering the real value of what she was offering. And the best part? Abby shares how upleveling her prices and services has inspired her to uplevel every other aspect of her life, too. This candid conversation with Abby is part of a whole series we’re doing here at What Works on confidence. We want to shed light on how small business owners continue to find confidence, long after they’ve taken the leap to get started. Throughout this month, you’ll hear about finding the confidence to come back after a major loss, experiment & iterate, stick with the plan, and land giant clients. When we’re not posting new conversations here on the podcast, we’re sharing personal essays and reflections from What Works Network members on how they find the confidence to take the next step. To get the full series delivered to your inbox—and check out what we’ve already released—click here. Now, let’s find out What Works for Abby Herman! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Hillary Rea, founder of Tell Me A Story, discovered her love of rich and nuanced storytelling* What she does to help new storytellers find more confidence in themselves and their ability to perform* What triggered a recent crisis of confidence and how its helping her move forward with growing her company* Why she’s channeling the confidence she feels in other aspects of life to provide the support she needs I shared my own crisis of confidence a few months back on Instagram. I wrote about how I felt at a loss with how to share our product with the people who needed it most. I’d spent 2 years trying to figure it out and I didn’t feel any closer to a solution. I was feeling stuck and inadequate. My friend Lou Blaser commented, “I had thought this was going to be a different post. Because Tara McMullin & ‘crisis of confidence’ didn’t compute in my brain!” Just last week, someone else told me that they loved my interview with Claire Pelletreau from Get Paid because it can seem like people like me have it all figured out. And I share in that interview how much I do not have figured out yet. The truth is that any entrepreneur can suffer from a crisis of confidence. Any small business owner can find themselves riding high one minute and feeling lost the next. Any smart and ambitious founder can have all the right answers… until the next question gets asked. This month, we’re examining confidence. Specifically, we’re looking at how small business owners find the confidence to take a big step forward. So let me say it again: any entrepreneur can suffer from a crisis of confidence… …even an entrepreneur who is totally comfortable hopping on a stage in front of hundreds or thousands of people and sharing intimate personal stories. My guest today is just one such entrepreneur. Her name is Hillary Rea and she’s the founder of Tell Me A Story, a company that trains entrepreneurs, start-up leaders, and those looking to leave a bigger footprint on the world, how to find their voice and share their unique story with honesty and passion. She’s also the creator of a long-standing live storytelling show by the same name. Right before we recorded this conversation, Hillary posted a vulnerable reflection on her blog looking back at her time producing this live show and how it’s matured. In it, she shares her inner monologue about the doubt and even embarrassment she felt preparing for a big anniversary show. She wondered why the show hadn’t grown more. She wondered whether people took her seriously. She wondered if it was time to throw in the towel. So while Hillary originally came on the show to talk about how she sources her confidence from showing up and being visible, we also talk about this very real crisis of confidence and how it’s impacting her business moving forward. This candid conversation with Hillary is part of a whole series we’re doing here at What Works on confidence. We want to shed light on how small business owners continue to find confidence, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Edios Media‘s target clients have evolved over their 3 years in business* What happened with co-founder Michael Karsh and Elizabeth Madariaga got the chance to pitch a project for Google* Where Michael sources his confidence while working with giant corporations* What Michael and Elizabeth have focused on operationally to continue leveling up their service and their confidence Even in today’s digital world, when we think small business, we often think the mom & pop shop on main street. Or, maybe you think about the lawyer who drew up your will or the accountant who prepares your taxes. Even online, you probably think about coaches, designers, artists, educators, copywriters, and project managers. One thing all of these businesses have in common is that they’re person to person kind of businesses. Whether the person is walking through the door of a coffee shop or the person represents a business they founded, each transaction feels really personal. It’s a business ecosystem we can all be really comfortable with. But there’s a different business ecosystem that many small business owners and self-employed people deal in. That ecosystem? Big business. Did you know that 54 percent of Google’s workforce is temporary workers, contractors, and vendors? I sure didn’t. Did you know that Facebook has tens of thousands of contract workers? Nope, I didn’t know that either. Some of these workers are people who choose flexible or temporary work at home over long-term permanent employment. But plenty are small business owners who are doing business with the big dogs—or… should I say unicorns? Today, my guest is Michael Karsh. And Michael is the co-founder of a company that does business with the unicorns. When I first met Michael, he wasn’t a business owner. He was my content producer at CreativeLive. Together, we developed 9 classes and reached tens of thousands of people with high-quality video education. Later, he helped work on this very podcast. A couple of years ago, Michael and another of my producers, Elizabeth Madariaga, started their own video production company, Edios Media. You can hear more about their first year in business in Episode 101. I wanted to bring Michael back on the show to take a look at how his and Elizabeth’s mindset and confidence level has evolved as they’ve worked with giant clients like Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and The Sundance Institute. Michael and I talk about the first big deal they signed, how the clients they serve today are different from what they initially expected, and how the business itself has evolved to serve those clients. *** This candid conversation with Michael is part of a whole series we’re doing here at What Works on confidence. We want to shed light on how small business owners continue to find confidence, long after they’ve taken the leap to get started. Over the next month, you’ll hear about finding the confidence to raise your prices, come back after a major loss, experiment & iterate, and stick with the plan. When we’re not posting new conversations here on the podcast,... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Jamie Varon decided to embrace an “effortful” attitude and put more intention into her work* Why living and working from France reset her satisfaction meter and helped her find a new level of confidence* Her weekly writing practice and how that habit has impacted her ability to show up and do the work* The results she’s experiencing—personal and professional—from embracing a new working style I used to find confidence in the fact that lots of things come easily to me. I taught myself how to play the piano as a small child. I could pitch a softball at 60mph without much practice. I got excellent grades without studying. I was given extra responsibilities at my first jobs. My default mode was to expect to good at whatever I tried. I expected things to be easy and effortless. Most of the time, this was good. It meant that I had the confidence to try new things or step up to a new level. But operating like this also had a serious downside. The downside of finding confidence in things being easy is that, when I tried something that didn’t feel easy, I ran the other way. Anything that took effort or practice tore down my confidence and left me feeling like a sad sack. This month, we’re examining confidence. Specifically, we’re looking at how small business owners find the confidence to take a big step forward. As you might imagine, lacking confidence in anything that required me to actually work at a thing didn’t serve me well as a business owner. For years and years, I ran my business in a way that allowed me to avoid hard things. I hired contractors instead of making a home for employees. I relied on more passive marketing instead of picking up the proverbial phone and closing the deal. I avoided examining my own mindset instead of confronting my biggest fears and weaknesses. I set goals that felt safe instead of taking a long hard look at what I really wanted from my business. A couple of years ago, I started to get real with myself. I realized I had been coasting. And, while coasting felt good, it wasn’t really what I wanted to be doing. This was around the same time I started bouldering. Imagine a 15ft wall—or, quite literally—a 15ft boulder. Your job is to start at the very bottom and use your hands and feet to work your way to the top. Unlike big wall climbing, bouldering doesn’t use ropes. You fall on pads. And, you will fall. I was terrible at bouldering at first. Like, truly terrible. Looking back, I’m not sure what even possessed me to sign up for the class. And I’m less sure what made me decide it was a good idea to go back for the second class! Getting on the wall the first 5, 10, or 15 times, I felt weak. I felt inept. I felt truly terrible at the task set before me. But I kept getting on the wall. I practiced—and I hadn’t truly practiced anything in my previous 35 years of life. Eventually, I got better. Now, I teach bouldering at my gym and other climbers come to me for tips on a regular basis. Bouldering taught me how to work hard at somethin... ★ Support this podcast ★

I opened my email and saw the message that brightens the spirit of any cross-country traveler: my upgrade was confirmed. Even better, this upgrade included my daughter. Lola has always loved flying but this was her first First Class flight. Of course, she had no idea what to expect when we boarded the plane. She was 6 at the time and small enough to sit quite comfortably in economy so she was dwarfed by the faux leather lounger she buckled into. She was thrilled. An hour later, the captain announced we’d be waiting at least another hour before we could take off. We were going to miss our connection to Portland. I was stressed and anxious. Lola had already fallen asleep while watching a movie on my iPad. I grabbed my phone and called the special hotline for United MileagePlus premium status holders. A cheery man answered the phone almost immediately. He already had my flight info and agreed that there was no way I was going to make my connection. He said, “I can see you’re sitting in first class right now. Why don’t I go ahead and confirm your upgrade to the first flight up to Portland tomorrow morning?” I thanked him profusely. When I hung up, the flight attendants were coming around to get beverages. I asked for a gin and tonic. The flight attendant replied, “I make them strong. That okay?” Of course, it was okay. I was stressed and, while my conversation with the agent had made me less anxious, a little self-medicating wouldn’t hurt. Self-medication is one of the perks of First Class travel. Eventually, we did arrive in San Francisco. We proceeded to the customer service desk. We bypassed the long line of people waiting for help rescheduling their flights and entered the area designated for premium status holders. There was no wait. They gave us a hotel room to sleep in for a few hours and a stack of meal vouchers—and sent us on our way. We made it to Portland the next morning, tired but care-free. This kind of service is why I value frequent flyer status. The upgrades, the shorter lines, the extra perks. But it’s not the only reason I crave it. Receiving that kind of service, achieving that kind of status… it makes me feel special. Like I belong to a not-so-secret club full of those who have been deemed worthy by the powers that be. It gives me a little boost of confidence every time I enter an airport. But not just there. My status as a woman who uses a barbell gives me confidence at the gym. My premium status as a speaker gives me a confidence boost at conferences. My status as an employer or a multi-6-figure business owner gives me a confidence boost when I’m interviewing or facilitating. Feeling special is often a feeling I confuse with confidence. This month, we’re looking at confidence. Not so much the confidence to start a business but the confidence to grow one, to deal with unforeseen challenges, to level up yourself and your goals and pursue something bigger than you ever imagined. Throughout the month, I’ll be sharing conversations with small business owners about how they navigate insecurit... ★ Support this podcast ★

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business… Any entrepreneur can suffer a crisis of confidence. Late last year, I felt woefully unprepared and underskilled for the task I had in front of me. I felt like I had been faced with setback after setback, with defeat after defeat. I’d spent 2 years trying to build what I saw as the answer to a huge, painful problem for small business owners. And I just couldn’t seem to get traction. I believed in the idea, the people, the systems, and the plan more than ever but I lost confidence in my ability to execute it. I was able to keep up a brave face for a long time… …but in early November, I collapsed in tears. My faith was gone and, without it, I didn’t know how to solve the problems in front of me. It was finally at that point that I reached out to my crew. I came clean. I got really honest. And I laid it all out for them. For me, getting honest was the path forward. Yes, my supporters comforted me, gave me new ideas, and asked tough questions. But I had to get really, really honest first. Without getting honest about how low I was, I couldn’t have accepted their support. I couldn’t have taken different actions. I couldn’t have made the big decisions I needed to make. As you know, honesty, transparency, and candor are very important to me. It’s our goal here at What Works to create a safe space to get real about the ups and downs, ins and outs of small business ownership. Honesty creates a space for us to examine what’s really going on and what we can do about. Honesty helps us identify the real challenges beneath the logistical obstacles we wrestle with on a daily basis. Honesty levels the playing field. Honesty helps you see that your challenges and my challenges aren’t so different after all—even if they present in different ways. It’s time for us all to get open and honest about confidence. We decided that this August, we want to tackle a candid conversation about confidence in a big way. And so, we created The Candid Confidence Project. We know you have big goals for the rest of this year. There are numbers you want to hit, things you want to create, and relationships you want to nurture. And, we know those goals can often make you question your ability and readiness. The Candid Confidence Project is designed to guide you through examining your own stories about confidence, how you handle insecurity, and how you find the drive to level up. Here’s what’s coming: * Here on the podcast, we’ll be sharing a new candid conversation about confidence every Tuesday and Thursday in August, kicking off on August 1st with my own reflections on confusing status with confidence.* We’ll also be sharing written stories from successful small business owners every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.* Plus, we’ll be hosting a public conversation about confidence each weekday in August on our Instagram account, @explorewhatworks. The Candid Confidence Project is not about the leap to get started… …it’s about finding the confidence to continue, to change your plan, and to do hard things. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Brazenist founder Brooke Roberts left rural Kansas for a life and business in global travel* What Brooke learned about planning and hosting events from her career and businesses* The exact process she uses to plan events for her business—whether they’re simple meet-ups or retreats in exotic locations* What mistakes she’s learned along the way and how they’ve changed her planning process The What Works team has a standing item on our weekly meeting agenda to discuss… events. Events have been part of my business road map for years but they never quite seem to take priority. We do run one annual event—our retreat to Whitefish, Montana with ambitious small business owners—but we’d love to run more regional meet-ups, live podcast recordings, and even a conference some day. I find the logistics of planning these events quite overwhelming. And, at the same time, I look at the brilliant people planning great events for their businesses—people like previous guests Lauren Caselli, Nailah Blades, Racheal Cook, and Shannon Siriano Greenwood—and I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on something! (And, no, it’s not just FOMO, it’s very real.) So this week, as we wrap up “On The Road” month, I wanted to look at what it takes to take your customers on the road with you. This week, my guest is Brooke Roberts, the founder & host of Brazenist, an online education and offline experience company helping goal-getters to future-proof, redefine success, and live a brazen life. Brazenist is Brooke’s latest venture in a line of successful businesses and a traditional career in taking people to faraway places. You’ll hear how a high school trip to Europe helped her embrace the wide world beyond her rural Kansas hometown. You’ll also hear how an accidental career in the study abroad space helped her launch not just 1 business but 2! Brooke and I talk about her process for planning events—whether their simple meet-ups or retreats in foreign countries. Plus, we talk about her non-negotiables and past mistakes. Now, let’s find out what works for Brooke Roberts! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Amy Scott, founder of Nomad Editorial and Nomadtopia, quit her office job and started traveling full-time back in 2004* How she ramped up from freelancing to running her own businesses* How the technology she uses has changed over the years—and made her location independent businesses easier to run* What an average week looks like for Amy (hint: there’s really no such thing as average…) This week, we’re indulging a personal fantasy of mine. Maybe it’s one of yours, too. We’re talking about packing up and leaving town—for good. We’re talking about hitting the road and never looking back. This week, it’s all about becoming a digital nomad. If you’re like me, every shiny Airstream trailer you pass feels like it’s taunting you. Every Ford Transit van that whizzes by brings about fantasies of custom build outs and months spent in remote campgrounds. Every adorable AirBnb listing that pops up on social media or in a magazine brings on thoughts of “Yeah, I could live there for a month.” Maybe it’s my mercurial nature… Maybe it’s a deep desire to “quit” suburban culture and blaze my own trail… Maybe it’s a pull start over, start fresh… The life of a full-time digital nomad isn’t in the cards for me right now. That’s okay. Instead, I’m trying to bring as much of it into the life I have now as possible. Whether you too want a little more digital nomadism in your life, you’re ready to sell all your earthly possessions and hit the road, or you’re simply curious, this conversation is for you. Today, I’m joined by Amy Scott. Amy is the founder of both Nomad Editorial and Nomadtopia, a hub for inspiration and resources for location independence. Amy opted out of her office job and traditional lifestyle back in 2004 and never looked back. She now keeps a home base in Buenos Aires while she travels the world with her Argentine husband. Her podcast, Nomadtopia Radio, features interviews with people living their version of Nomadtopia. Amy and I talk about the steps she took to create a location independent lifestyle, the initial challenges she overcame, and how her life has evolved since becoming a digital nomad. We also talk about the nitty-gritty of tech, tools, and techniques it takes to live life on the road and run a business at the same time. Now, let’s find out what works for Amy Scott! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Kate Leese and her husband decided to travel full-time in an Airstream while building Kinetics Consulting* How the logistics of running a business from the road have impacted their approach and operations* The tools and method she uses for managing their team—all full-time travelers themselves!* How Kate’s leadership style has evolved since starting the business and adapting to a new way of working A few months ago, I got a little idea. It seemed a bit absurd at first. But finally, I was able to give it a voice. I said to Sean, “What if we spent a month in Montana this summer?” I think his response was something like, “Wouldn’t that be nice?” A response like that is all I need to start the actual process of scheming something into reality. “Yes, it would be nice, and here is my 9-part plan for making it happen!” In order to spend a month on the road, I knew we’d need to keep working. I’d have some masterminds to facilitate, emails to write, and podcast episodes to share. Once I determined the things I’d have to keep doing throughout the summer, I could look at what I could get done well in advance. Little by little, I worked my way through the check list so that I could work a maximum of 3-4 hours, 4 days per week and stay on track while we were gone. We leave July 18. It’ll take 6 days to drive out so that we can stop at a bunch of National Parks and get Junior Ranger badges with my daughter. We’ll be in the Flathead Valley for just over 2 weeks. And then we’ll take our time coming home. It’s not exactly a month in Montana—but it is a month outside the comfort of my home office. My guest today hasn’t just figured out how to run her company from the road for a week or a month at a time. She and her husband travel permanently. But here’s the kicker—they only work with people who do the same. Kate Leese is the co-founder of Kinetics Consulting, which helps electric and gas utilities create a culture of safety and preparedness. Kate and I talk about how she made the move to full-time travel and how it impacted the way she approaches her life and work. We also discuss the logistics of working from the road, how she finds team members, the systems they use to manage projects, and how the way their team is built helps them stand out. Now, let’s find out what works for Kate Leese! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * The day Kelly Higdon realized she couldn’t keep working at the pace she was working at* How she plans her year to prioritize her life—and then fits her business in the space left over* What she’s changed to allow for taking 3 months off from her business per year* How her business is different today thanks to her new working style We recently asked What Works Network members how many vacations they take per year. One vacation was a pretty common answer—always quickly followed up by the fact that work travel is often fun, too. Some said 2 was their minimum—plus plenty of long weekends. A few people admitted that they don’t regularly take vacations—and I’m sure plenty of other folks were silently nodding along with that side of the conversation. And a few others totaled up their vacations as accounting for at least 4-8 weeks out of the year! Sean and I normally take one vacation, one trip with light work—like the trip we’re leaving for in a couple of weeks—and plenty of weekend outings. I’ve cut back on the work travel in recent years but it looks like that’s gearing up more this fall and in 2020. Today on the show, we’re not measuring time off from work in terms of long weekends or weeks. No, today, we’re talking months. Kelly Higdon is a business and lifestyle coach who prioritizes her time off so much… …that’s she’s worked up to taking a full 3 months off from her business every year. Unfortunately, Kelly’s inspiration wasn’t a well-timed shower idea or download from the universe—it was a trip to the hospital. You see, Kelly wasn’t always so good about making space in her business for her life. At one point, she was working full-time as private practice therapist, growing a business on the side, and growing a baby. She was working all the time—and it caught up with her. Kelly shares that story and her process for planning that much time off. She walks me through how she plans for life first and then makes her business fit in the space that’s left, as opposed to the other way around. She also shares how her business is different—and how it’s growing differently—than when she was working all hours of the day & night. Now, let’s find out what works for Kelly Higdon! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

As you’re listening to this, I’m somewhere between the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Acadia National Park in Maine. Sean and I are celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary in the only way we how: in a National Park! That’s right, I’m on vacation—but that doesn’t mean the business comes to a standstill. We’ve worked hard to improve the operational efficiency and predictability of our business over the last few years and that means that I get to enjoy both my time off and the flexibility of my schedule on a daily basis. Plus, it means that my team gets to do the same. You’re listening to What Works, the show that gets candid about what’s really working to run and grow a small business today as told by small business owners themselves. I’m your host, Tara McMullin. We’re spending the month of July exploring the theme “On The Road.” Our goal is to look at how small business owners plan for time off, work from anywhere, and manage teams that are remote, too. I’ll tell you more about what you’ll hear this month soon. But first, I wanted to share what’s worked for me as I’ve endeavored to build a more flexible business that allows me and my team the time off we need, as well as the ability to work on our own terms. First, I’ll mention that most of the team works a pretty typical schedule. I start work by 9am most days and wind it down by 4:30pm. That gives me time for my workout in the morning and my interests in the evening. I work in my home office Monday through Thursday. On Friday, we have a team meeting with our local employee, Shannon. You can find us at a picnic table inside Whole Foods in Lancaster most Friday mornings! The rest of that day is a buffer. If I don’t need the work time or I’m craving some “me time,” I’ll be done for the week. If I’m inspired to start something new or I’m on a deadline, I’ll do that. Regardless, I’m done by about 3pm so that I can either pick up my daughter or head to the climbing gym. What I’ve found is that consistency, routine, and structure actually allow me the flexibility I crave from my business. I don’t just do what I feel like when I feel like it. That’s not real flexibility because it means something is always getting left behind and I’m not mastering my own workload. And that really is the string that ties the 4 ways I’ve built flexibility into my business together. First up… Embracing predictable cycles Within the first few years I was designing websites and consulting on business strategy, I started to notice that clients would disappear during the summers. Their projects would stall out. Deadlines would come and go. I can remember thinking that there was just no point in working during the summer. And then it hit me: I didn’t have to. Summer often feels like a time when we’re just punching the clock. Sure, we’ve got some passion project underway or maybe we’ve got a client or two who really wants to get moving during the summer. But lots of people want to travel, take it easy, and enjoy the weather. So that’s what I did. I decided I would wrap up any projects I could, put my calendar on hold, and just enjoy the flexibility of summer. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * What inspired Thien-Kim Lam to develop a subscription box and virtual book club for a niche audience* How she channeled her love of romance books and her experience selling adult toys into the subscription she would have loved to buy herself* How she’s connecting with the right people using a Facebook group, author partnerships, and savvy content marketing* Where she’s run into trouble with her niche The first business idea I ran with was a blog for makers and artists in Pennsylvania. I was smitten with the new maker movement and I figured that highlighting “made in PA” goods would be an easy way to engage with the community. I was right. “Made in PA” wasn’t just the perfect constraint on who to feature. It also served as a constraint for who the audience for the site was too. I was writing about Pennsylvanians for Pennsylvanians. I had no idea at the time just how savvy this business decision was. I immediately connected with incredible people. And they were immediately into what I was doing because they loved that it was just for them. Soon, the site caught the eye of people from the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, one of the largest non-profit craft associations in the country. Within a few months of launching my site, I was teaching social media workshops with the Guild’s artisans. I was invited to attend one of the largest tradeshows for handmade goods in the United States on a media pass. I spoke at Etsy headquarters. I hosted meet-ups. The site never got huge, of course. But that didn’t matter because people were connecting with it and with me because they knew I made it for them. Today, we’re talking about building a niche audience—just like I did with my very first website. There has never been a better time to have a niche business. In fact, I would list not specializing in a niche as one of the top 3 business mistakes I’ve personally made over the last 8 or so years. Thien-Kim Lam knows the power of an engaged niche audience. But her niche is a little different than mine was. In fact, consider this your parental advisory warning. Thien-Kim Lam is the founder of Bawdy Bookworms, a subscription box company and virtual book club for women who prioritize pleasure. She took her love for romance books and experience selling adult toys and turned it into the subscription service she would love to buy, knowing there was a niche audience out there who would think the same thing. Thien-Kim and I talk about her initial challenges bringing the subscription box to market and what’s working now to connect with her niche audience. We talk optin incentives, author partnerships, content marketing, and Facebook groups. Now, let’s find out what works for Thien-Kim Lam! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in ... ★ Support this podcast ★

All this month, we’ve been talking about building an audience here on the podcast—and we’ve been asking members of The What Works Network, well, what’s working for them when it comes to audience-building and marketing their businesses. Some people have told us that keeping it simple and focusing on just one technique has paid a lot more dividends than trying to be everywhere and do everything. Others have told us that video, like showing up on Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, or YouTube, has helped them reach new people. Plenty of folks told us that the most important thing they do to build their audiences is reaching out to new contacts one at a time. Still others told us Facebook groups, guest teaching, virtual coffee dates, in-person events, or asking for referrals and recommendations are their sweet spot. Clearly, there is no right way to build an audience today. That can be comforting for sure. Those of us who are naturally questioners, rebels, and skeptics don’t have to mold ourselves into something we’re not or fit our businesses into someone else’s formula to get ahead. And… at the same time, all of that open-ended possibility can be daunting. As much as we want to do things our own way, it would be nice if there was a clear, well-maintained trail for our hike to the top of the audience-building mountain. Make no mistake: I’m not suggesting that we all need to blaze our own trails when it comes to marketing our businesses. Far from it. But we do need to decide on a plan and stick to it. “How?” you ask. Earlier this month, friend of the pod Bonnie Gillespie shared 5 things that have worked for her over the last 20 years of building her Self-Management For Actors audience with What Works Network members. I want to focus on the first three for the sake of brevity: Time. Trust in the long-haul. Consistency. Never stop showing up. Treating everything I do as if it’s the only thing they’ll ever see. And being sure my links roll deep for those who’d like to follow ’em to other things I’ve created from there. I can’t agree more with these points. Plus, I think they’re useful constraints for finding the audience-building plan that’s going to work for you. Consider each of these points as questions: * What can you stick with for the long haul? What could you do week in and week out for the next 10, 15, or 20 years?* What can you deliver on consistently so that your traction grows and grows?* What can you work towards mastery of? What are you willing to get better at every single day? The answers to these questions might not be as sexy as a technique promising to be the secret to finding 10,000 true fans in 10 days. But, in my experience, these answers will serve you much better. Like the small business owners you’ll hear from today, my own audience-building strategy has evolved over time. And like Bonnie, it’s required trust in the long haul, leaning towards mastery, and—as Dr. Michelle Mazur calls it—radical consistency. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Eli Trier embarked on her first community project—and the results she experienced from that first project* How facilitating community projects help her reach important business goals and build her audience* The exact process Eli uses to put together each project* How community projects differ from less effective marketing tactics like telesummits When I first heard about this idea of a “community project,” I was dubious. It sounded an awful lot like an telesummit—which I’m on the record for calling bad marketing. My beef with the vast majority of telesummits or online summits is that they’ve evolved to serve the needs of the organizer—and nearly no one else. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s when someone organizes an online event, solicits a bunch of speakers with good-sized email lists, and then has those speakers promote the event so that the organizer’s list grows by leaps and bounds. The pitch emails I still receive for telesummits—even after writing a 3000 word screed against these marketing events—are egregious. Full of jargon, double-speak, and quid pro quo. So you can imagine that when I heard about someone organizing a bunch of people creating content around a theme and using it to grow an audience, I wasn’t impressed. And then, I talked to Eli Trier. Eli Trier organizes community projects for introverts and quiet revolutionaries. Her goal is to raise the level of discourse around a topic, bringing people together and growing audiences in the process. I was so impressed with Eli’s approach and how it tied into our values and philosophy at What Works… that I hired her to help us with our first community project—coming out in August. Eli and I talk about why it’s important to her to deep-dive on important questions and involve a diverse set of voices in the discussion. We also get into the nitty-gritty of how Eli’s community projects work, how she plans for them, and how they help her reach both her audience-building and sales goals. Now, let’s find out what works for Eli Trier! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Rachael Kay Albers got the idea to create a “business comedy show“* Why Awkward Marketing really stands out—even when plenty of other marketers are using video to promote their businesses* How the show supports her web design & digital marketing studio, RKA ink* The start-to-finish process she uses to produce each season of the show* How she finds new videos and measure the success of the show Lots of people want to know how to stand out online. Few people put in the time and effort to actually stand out. What I’ve discovered over the years is that standing out is never the product of following whatever trend is lighting up social media or taking the blogosphere by storm. Standing out is incredibly personal. Anytime I’ve tried to play the game, I lose. Anytime I make up my own rules, I win. This podcast is no exception. I could have chosen to play the game of getting the online business world’s biggest stars to talk about their own pet projects and programs. I could have crossed my fingers and hoped they’d promote the show to their massive audiences. But I didn’t. Instead, I looked around the podcast marketplace and found a hole to fill—the very show that I wanted to listen to: small business owners talking about what they were really doing. I wanted it to feel more like a mastermind than a masterclass. I wanted it to challenge assumptions and debunk myths about “the right way” to do things. And I really wanted to highlight the small business owners who so often don’t get much press but are making things work every single day, without buying into the hype or gurus. This show is different and that’s a big reason why it stands out. The other reason it stands out is because we put a lot of time and intention into those very aspects of this show. We work hard to get better out our craft. I work hard at becoming a better interviewer, Sean works hard at becoming a better producer, Marty works hard at becoming a better editor. We want to be different and excellent. And it results in stand out content. My guest today also has a knack for creating stand out content. Rachael Kay Albers is a marketer who hates marketing. As the founder and creative director of RKA ink, a branding, web design, and digital marketing studio, Rachael has helped hundreds of small business owners all over the world stand out online without selling their soul or playing the manipulation game. When not crafting epic, unforgettable brands for her clients, Rachael hosts Awkward Marketing, a business comedy show blending fun-size small business advice with storytelling and sketch comedy, for entrepreneurs who want to create epic, unforgettable brands online. Now, if you did a double take when I said “business comedy show,” I get it. But that’s a prime reason why Rachael’s content stands out. It’s unexpected and far from ordinary. The other reason it stands out is the painstaking effort that Rachael puts into each episode. She’s working to become masterful at making you laugh while learning the ins & o... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Kim Herrington believes start content creation is the key to building your audience and getting off the social media treadmill* How she used 20 targeted articles to boost a website’s traffic by 1000%* The tools she uses to discover what to create content about and the technique she uses to maximize their potency for search* How she bridges the gap between social media and SEO to get the best results Social media success isn’t the same as business I spend about an hour every morning looking through news and culture websites. I hit CNN, Slate, and Vox, and then I open up Apple News to see what I might be missing from more unusual sources. The other day, an article on Buzzfeed caught my eye. First off, yes, I love me some Buzzfeed. Sometimes you just need cute dog pics and funny parenting tweets to bring a smile to your face. This article was neither about cute dogs nor parenting tweets. It was about an Instagram influencer with over 2 million followers who wasn’t able to sell 36 shirts to her audience. That’s a conversion rate of fewer than 2 thousandths of a percent. Now, I gotta hand it to Buzzfeed. Their angle was to curate a bunch of tweets that contained genuinely helpful marketing lessons in response to this debacle. Most of those tweets were along the lines of knowing your customer and what they want to buy. Fair enough. Unfortunately, that’s not how a lot of people go about “winning” at the game of social media. It’s all about churning out content that will get the likes. Churn and churn and churn. And to what end? Hopefully, sales, of course. But so often, the sales just don’t come. My guest today wants to offer a remedy for the churn and burn that is audience-building on social media… …a remedy that is much more likely to lead to sales and time saved. Kim Herrington helps online entrepreneurs and influencers conquer the content creation treadmill with SEO and marketing strategies to build traffic and empower them to achieve their goals. She’s worked with people like Sarah Von Bargen, Paul Jarvis, and many more to increase organic traffic as much as 1,000%. Kim is also the founder and Creative Director at Orsanna, a digital marketing agency that focuses on day-to-day marketing. Her agency’s client list includes brick-and-mortar stores, product designers, doctors, dentists, law firms, manufacturers, and other small businesses. I asked Kim what’s working when it comes to SEO today—not just from a technical standpoint, but from the perspective of building audiences hungry for the products or services we offer. As part of our “what’s working” series, Kim shares her own experience working with clients and how SEO has helped them build much bigger audiences. We talk about what SEO actually is and how creating the right content can bring leads who are ready to buy straight to your website. Kim also shares some straightforward ways to organize your content so you get as much “juice” from it as possible. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why social media marketing agency founder Andréa Jones doesn’t try to game the social media algorithms to build her audience and, instead, spends a lot more time behind the scenes* How she finds people to connect with, how she starts the conversation, and how she follows up* The process and tool she uses to track her time spent on her behind-the-scenes audience-building* Why creating social media content is still an important part of how she’s building her audience Back in 2010, I was spending a lot of time on Twitter. And, I can remember realizing one day, while working from my dining room table back before I had an office to call my own, that a lot had to be happening behind the scenes. In other words, there was everything I could see happening on Twitter, in emails, on websites, and in teleseminars. And then there were all of the conversations that had to have happened to make that possible. I could see people promoting each other’s programs and services. I could see joint ventures. I could see genuine friendships and deep collaborations. I could see these same people start to rise to the top, see their audiences explode, their authority grow exponentially. And I knew—for certain—that it wasn’t just happening, it was being nurtured and engineered behind the scenes. All of a sudden, I felt like I was on the outside looking in. Except, I didn’t feel like an outsider. I just felt like I needed to find the door. My hypothesis was that much of this relationship-building that turned into serious audience-building was happening in-person at events and coffee dates. I didn’t have access to that. But I did have Twitter and it felt like the next best thing. So I started to put together a list of the movers and shakers that I wanted to form relationships with. I made that list the main Twitter feed that I saw. I spent a good hour or two every day (okay, probably more than that) pouring over that feed and interacting with what people tweeted. It was strategic and genuine at the same time. The results came fast and furious. In no time, I had all sorts of new friends and opportunities. And, even though I was forming these relationships one at a time, I started to see my audience grow exponentially from the shares and comments I was receiving from the people who I was interacting with. I was getting interviewed, hosting panel discussions, and being invited to events. Those individual relationships led to massive growth. Over time, I started to rely on these relationships and stopped putting such an emphasis on meeting new people. In fact, meeting new colleagues and influencers became a pretty low priority. That was a mistake. When I realized that my audience-building had stalled out last year, I started thinking about what I could do to jumpstart growth again. So I asked myself: what’s worked in the past? The answer was easy, networking behind the scenes, connecting with people one at a time, trusting that real relationship-building leads to real audience-building. And yep, I can say the results have been typical in the best possible way. Here’s what I know: ★ Support this podcast ★

A year ago this week, I deleted about 12,000 people off my email list. That meant that my audience shrank by about 80% with the push of a button. GDPR was going into effect and, while I wasn’t caught up in the mass hysteria happening in the digital marketing world around compliance, I did look at the regulations as an opportunity to take a new approach to building an audience for my brand. Quick aside—pro tip: never get caught up in any mass hysteria, especially when it’s about digital marketing. The me of 2018 felt pretty calm and collected about the whole thing—but the me of 2016 or 2017 would have lost my marbles. That email list—and the number attached to it—represented all of the work that I had put into writing, speaking, teaching, and positioning my business over nearly 10 years. But there was a problem… I had become more attached to the number than the people on that list. And that number was holding me back. I viewed every marketing, branding, sales, or product development decision through the lens of that number. I would experiment with messages, angles, and stories to see what would happen to that number—and all of the smaller numbers it would spit out, like click thru rate, open rate, or unsubscribes. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about the people reading—I cared about them deeply. It’s just so easy to forget that numbers are people… and that sometimes the people I care about most just aren’t represented by the big number but by one that’s much smaller and harder to discern. When I made the decision to all but start over with my email list, it was a decision to do the work to find that number, rediscover the right people, and rebuild my audience from there. This month, we’re tackling a topic that tends to be top of mind for most small business owners: building your audience. Whether your business is the kind that thrives with an audience of 10 or whether you’re aiming to reach millions, we’ll be exploring what works for a variety of entrepreneurs as they work to attract the right people and earn attention for their brands. Now, I’ve been building an audience online for over 10 years but my perspective has recently made a big shift. To kick off this month’s theme, I decided to share what’s working for me as we build an audience around honesty and transparency in small business—including my own. The first thing that’s changed is who I show up as. When my company made a big shift 2.5 years ago to focus on The What Works Network, I declared that I was no longer the teacher or coach. My products weren’t going to revolve around how much I knew and how much of that I could teach you. I simply recognized that I didn’t have all the answers—and I wanted to turn my focus to gathering a group of people to build collective knowledge. This represented a huge change in our business model—and I knew that. What I didn’t realize at the time was how much that was going to change the way I approach audience-building, too. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Kate Northrup started doing less by accident—and why she decided to move forward doing less on purpose* The exercise Kate used to determine the 2 activities that have led to her biggest business wins* How the way Kate asks for and receives help has evolved since she became a mom* The process Kate uses to know what she needs help with so she always has an answer to the question, “What can I help you with?” All this month, we’ve been exploring running our businesses by the numbers. We’ve heard from a bunch of small business owners about how tracking metrics and financials have led to better decision-making and results. But the one number we haven’t tackled yet is… TIME. They say that we all have the same 24 hours as Beyonce to make things happen. But what “they” don’t account for is all the help she has or the way she structures her time to focus on what’s vitally important for her. And the result? We feel shamed into adding more & more to our to-do lists. Today’s guest, Kate Northrup, has a different approach. Simply put, Kate is an advocate of doing less. I’ve known Kate for many years now and I’ve loved watching both her business and her personal life bloom in new ways. It would be easy for her to be an overwhelmed, overworked entrepreneur, wife, and mother. But Kate has made it her business to figure out how to do less and achieve her goals in life and business. As an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and mother, Kate Northrup has built a multimedia digital empire that reaches hundreds of thousands globally. She’s committed to supporting ambitious women to light up the world without burning themselves out in the process. Kate teaches data-driven and soul-driven time and energy management practices that result in saving time, making more money, and experiencing less stress. Kate’s work has been featured by The Today Show, Yahoo! Finance, Women’s Health, Glamour, The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Wanderlust, The Huffington Post, and more. Find Kate on her podcast, on Instagram, and on her website. If you’re hungry for more real talk about growing & running your small business—without the hype or gimmicks, join us inside The What Works Network. Next month, we’re turning our attention to building an audience and cultivating the relationships that can move our businesses forward. We’re even hosting an all-day virtual conference on the topic on Thursday, June 13th, featuring Amy Walsh, Dr. Michelle Mazur, Alethea Fitzpatrick, and Dana Kaye. We’ll deep dive into topics like representing your brand visually, creating a rallying cry for your business, building an inclusive audience, and nurturing a magnetic brand. We’ll be opening membership to The What Works Network soon: click here to get all the details and signup to be notified when you can join us! ★ Support this podcast ★

Imagine the open rate on the last email you sent to your subscribers. Think about the net profit your business has generated already this year. Consider how many people viewed your last video, clicked on your blog post, or listened to your last podcast episode. Those numbers aren’t just numbers for a lot of us. At best, they can be subtle points of validation that we’re headed in the right direction. At worst, they can be emotional landmines. All this month, we’ve been exploring how metrics, traffic, and financial impact the decisions we make as business owners. These are important conversations because we’re often missing key pieces of information that make decision-making easier. But let’s not pretend that knowing your numbers will make all of your decisions objective or black & white. Every time I peer into my profit & loss statement or check on the click thru rate of an email, I’m confronted with my own expectations and mindset. If I’m not careful about checking those expectations before I start digging into the numbers, I could (and have) end up berating myself for old mistakes or less-than-stellar performance. The flip side of this is that, not only can getting clear on our metrics or financials help us make more objective decisions about our business, it can present a huge opportunity for cleaning up our mindset and setting clear expectations for ourselves. We can address the emotional weight that comes along with tracking sales, leads, or our time. We asked 7 members of the What Works Network to share a time when getting clear on the numbers told them a surprising story about what was really going on under the hood. As you listen to these stories, consider the emotional or mindset transformation that had to happen alongside each new decision made based on something as seemingly objective as numbers. Put yourself in these small business owners’ shoes and think about what it took to start operating in a new way, regardless of the evidence. In this episode you will hear from Susan Boles from Scale Spark, Kirsty Starmer from Build@Beach, Natasha Vorompiova from Systems Rock, business strategist Michelle Warner, Parker Stevenson from Evolved Finance, photographer Trish Mennell, and Julie Treanor from Just Lead. Do you have a story about learning something surprising about your business based on metrics or financials? Have you made a big decision because you finally got clear on the numbers? I’d love to hear about it! Share your story on Instagram and tag me, @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks. Ready to join the conversation? If you’re ready to get real about your small business and talk about what’s really working without the hype or gimmicks, you’ll want to join us inside The What Works Network. We’re opening the doors to new members soon! Click here & sign up to be notified when we start accepting new members. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Jordan Gill used data and experience to set competitive prices for her business operations firm* Why she focused on serving seasonal service-based businesses and how that impacts the way she delivers her service* The stat she used to figure out a new way to offer her services* What expenses Jordan accounts for in pricing her unusual offer Sometimes the numbers top you in your tracks. It was the summer of 2017. I was on a bonus day of vacation with Sean and Lola because our original flight had gotten canceled. We were on the way to Sean’s grandmother’s lake house and I thought I’d check in on my email quick since I’d be coming back to work a day later than planned. Staring at me from the top of a stack of unopened emails was an email informing me that, soon, 30% of our membership revenue was going to flow toward Apple instead of our bank account. My stomach sank. The still-new community wasn’t even breaking even yet and now we were going to have to give up 30% of our revenue to the world’s richest company? I panicked. Luckily, even in my panic, I read through the email a few more times to check the—unbelievable—details. It turned out that Apple was going to take 30%—but only for memberships that originated in our app. Okay, crisis averted. But in the time between my panic and realizing what was really going on, I had already started to concoct a plan. My plan was simple: we needed a serious influx of new members to offset the potential hit to our revenue. So… get this… I decided to drastically reduce the price of membership from $60 per month to just $15. Yes, that’s right, when faced with the potential loss of 30% of our revenue, I made a decision to lower our prices. Hear me out: I thought that by lowering the price to something more akin to a piece of software you subscribe to, I could build our customer base by hundreds—if not thousands—while maintaining our current expenses. This did not happen. Instead, new members joined at about the same rate but with 75% less revenue coming our way. It didn’t take long to realize that this was not working. The numbers just didn’t add up. Without an onslaught of new members at this lower rate, we were never going to be able to cover costs. I’d made a big pricing mistake and something had to change. Of course, it wasn’t just a matter of covering expenses. That’s an important part of pricing—and one we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of in this episode. But price tells a story. While I was trying to tell a story about our community being as invaluable as one of the software tools you run your business with, the story we were really telling was just, “This is cheap.” By raising the price, we could better reflect what we actually offer. That’s another piece of the story we’re covering in today’s episode. Meet Jordan Gill. Jordan runs a business operations firm and is the founder of Systems Saved Me, a hub for templates and online training designed to improve your business systems. Jordan is adamant about running her business by the numbers. ★ Support this podcast ★

I know plenty of small business owners who struggle with how to price their products or how much to invest in advertising. I see people question whether they can hire someone to help or whether that conference is in their budget. And at the heart of all of these questions, are the nitty-gritty financial numbers behind all of our businesses. Unfortunately, we often get caught up in the sexier questions and forget to dive into the reports… if we have the reports at all. My business had been making well over $100,000 per year before I finally hired a great bookkeeper who could help me understand what was really going on with our finances. There is absolutely no shame in not having your bookkeeping and financial reporting figured out right now. But today is the day you need to start moving in the right direction if you want to experience more clarity and growth for your business. In this episode, we’re continuing our “what’s working” series. This series features consultants, service providers, and software companies that help make small businesses work. They offer a bird’s eye view across industries and business models to help us parse the trends and systems that are actually working for lots of businesses. I’m joined by Kaitlyn Louvier from Bench, a hybrid bookkeeping software and service provider for small business owners. Bench’s goal is to help entrepreneurs master their financial lives with highly personalized bookkeeping services. Kaitlyn and I talk about the difference between bookkeeping and accounting, what solid bookkeeping helps you avoid, and the top 5 numbers you should be tracking in your business finances. We also chat about the pros and cons of the options small business owners have to keeping their books managed. This conversation is a valuable look at what’s working to track your numbers no matter what kind of bookkeeping system you have. But if you’re ready to level up how you manage your business finances, you can support the work we do here at the What Works podcast by giving Bench a try. Go to explorewhatworks.com/bench to start your free trial and get 20% off your first 6 months of bookkeeping. That’s explorewhatworks.com/bench or mention What Works when you start your trial! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Madison Wetherill found herself the owner of two small businesses—and how she knew something had to change about the way she was managing them* How Madison came to think of herself as a “busy person” and why that impacted the way she structured her time* What she noticed about the way she was spending her time and how it related to the results she was creating* The way she restructured her priorities and found a new—more productive—set of responsibilities that help her drive revenue I just got home from talking with the new manager of my climbing gym. Wait: don’t fast forward… this isn’t yet another story about how fitness is like business. I was there to talk to him about a job. As in, a job that I am considering taking… Of course, I don’t need this job. It would simply be a way for me to continue learning and sharing my passion for climbing. They’ll pay me; but it literally isn’t about the money. Because, as you can imagine, the numbers don’t add up. This month, we’re talking about running our businesses by the numbers, looking at the way we spend our time, make decisions, and plan. I’ve already been working at my climbing gym—just an hour per week teaching beginners how to boulder. I haven’t been paid this little per hour since 2004. Taking on some additional responsibility and exploring a new skill set won’t get me any big pay raise. Actually, it won’t get me any pay raise. My priorities are clear. My life & business come first. This job—no matter how much I might enjoy it—comes second. If I take it, I’m confident I’ll do great and show serious commitment. I’ll be an asset to the gym. And I’ll learn some new things along the way. Unfortunately, our priorities aren’t always that cut and dry. It can be tough to know whether the thing you’re spending time on is paying the dividends you need it to—whether those are financial or otherwise. Madison Wetherill—a food blogger and the founder of Grace & Vine, a web design studio—found this to be the case late last year when she realized that her food blog was taking up most of her time but her web design studio was producing serious financial results. It was time to make a decision and get her priorities straight. Madison and I chat about how she ended up with 2 businesses in the first place, how she knew something needed to change, and how her workdays have changed now that she’s reprioritized her businesses. We also discuss how she’s becoming aware of her identity as a busy person—and the challenges that creates. Have you made an important decision in your business because you got real with the numbers? Have you discovered a new opportunity right under your nose when you examined your traffic, profit margin, or conversion rate? We want to hear about it! Share your story on Instagram and tag me, @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks. Now, let’s find out what works for Madison Wetherill! What Works Is Brought To You By ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Rita Barry chose to focus on helping clients understand the numbers when it comes to their website traffic* The mistakes small business owners make that prevent them from taking advantage of the information they have* The first step Rita takes with every new client* Why Rita maps the customer journey and how it helps her make recommendations to clients* What Rita looks for when she opens up her clients’ Google Analytics dashboards Let’s cut to the chase: how confident are you in your ability to understand what’s going on with your website traffic? When was the last time you even logged into Google Analytics or your stats dashboard? Do you know where your traffic is coming from and what traffic sources produce the most email subscribers or sales? Do you know what blog posts bring in the most revenue? Do you know what social media platforms actually drive traffic to your website (or just which ones you think drive traffic)? Do you know the process a new customer goes through from the moment they hit your website to the moment they make a purchase? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, dear listener, you’re not alone. The truth is that I don’t know the answers to most of these questions, either. I have a good idea of where our traffic comes from and how new subscribers get on our email list. But I could be doing a lot more to equip myself with the knowledge I need to make better decisions and smarter investments. Today, I’ve got a special interview with Rita Barry. Rita is the founder of a marketing agency that specializes in helping their clients understand the metrics and analytics behind their businesses so they can make the most of the information they have. As with the rest of our “What’s Working” series, instead of asking Rita what works for her, I ask what’s working as she helps her clients navigate the world of conversion rates, website traffic, sales funnels, and buyer journeys. Rita and I talk about how to approach Google Analytics (hint: it’s not a Magic 8 ball), how she chooses what metrics to track for her clients, and why she focuses on mapping the customer journey in every client engagement. Plus, we also unpack a lot of the shame and overwhelm can come along for a ride when you dig into your numbers. Have you made an important decision in your business because you got real with the numbers? Have you discovered a new opportunity right under your nose when you examined your traffic, profit margin, or conversion rate? We want to hear about it! Share your story on Instagram and tag me, @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks. Now, let’s find out what’s working in traffic and analytics! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty * How Jennifer Johansson started promoting her art on Pinterest* What happened when one of her pins was repinned over 50,000 times—and why it created a spike in traffic but not in sales* How she regrouped and made a decision to create a online course inspired by her viral pin* The process Jennifer used to create her online course and how her course has impacted her art business as a whole Going viral doesn’t always go the way we planned. My dear friend Brigitte Lyons is a media strategist and PR specialist. But back in 2013, she wrote a blog post about… an unrelated topic. This was back before blogging always had to be strategic content marketing. And so, when Brigitte had something to get off her chest, she wrote it down and published it. This blog post started to make the rounds. It even ended up on Reddit and drove crazy amounts of traffic to her website. For more than 2 years, Brigitte’s website traffic was dominated by people coming to read this off-topic blog post. In Google Analytics, this looked good. But for Brigitte’s business? Well, it really had no bearing whatsoever. Brigitte might have seen this spike in traffic as an opportunity to go rogue and develop a whole new line of business. After all, the numbers don’t like, right? Thousands of people were clamoring to read this post. But not every viral sensation is a business opportunity waiting to happen. Luckily, Brigitte stayed the course and has an incredibly successful PR firm today. Of course, sometimes traffic tells a different story. Sometimes an unexpected viral hit can turn into an unexpected product strategy. This month, we’re exploring the ways we engage with numbers as small business owners. Often, when we get clear about the numbers, our next steps are much easier to figure out. Traffic can be a tricky number to parse… …but when paired with other information and matched with curiosity, we can make better decisions and follow the best opportunities. My guest today is Jennifer Johansson, a mixed media artist, living and working in Carbondale, Illinois. Jennifer studied art and education in college, going on to teach high school art and art history for 15 years. About 9 years ago, she was able scale back her teaching to focus more on her art. In an effort to spool up her art business, Jen started sharing her work on Pinterest. And one day, she noticed a particular pin was sending an outsize amount of traffic to her website. Not only that, it was generating comments and emails from interested people. But they weren’t so much interested in buying her artwork as they were in learning how to create the art they saw on Pinterest. Jennifer spotted the opportunity—which was distinctly different than Brigitte’s!—and started to take action. In this conversation, Jennifer and I talk about the pin that went viral, the decision to build an online course about her unique style of art, and the nitty-gritty of how she created the course. We also chat about how her business has evolved as a result of pursuing this line of business. Have you changed course in your business because you got real with the numbers? ★ Support this podcast ★

When I signed off on my taxes last month, it was the first time in 10 years that I didn’t owe any money to the IRS. In fact, I got a refund. Now, I’d love to tell you that’s because I was much more diligent with my financial planning. And, that is partially true. But the main reason I’m getting a refund is that I personally made a lot less money last year. Not gonna lie: making less money was a big hit to my ego. Worse, I realized how much my personal identity as a provider, a businesswoman, and a leader was tied up in the dollar dollar bills. Let me clarify: I don’t define myself by how much money I make. I don’t think I’m worthless if I’m not rich… What happened is that I had been using money as validation. I equated my ability to do my job with my ability to continue to grow the revenue my company generates. So it wasn’t so much the money itself—but continuing to push the needle on that money that felt tied to my value as an entrepreneur. Taking a deliberate step back to pivot, as well as develop a new product and marketing strategy, as I have over the last 2 years, just didn’t allow me to grow at the same rate. But, instead of seeing that objectively, I responded emotionally. I’ve recently learned something fairly obvious but nevertheless profound about myself: I define myself by my accomplishments. Not just because my accomplishments tell others something about who I am but because I worry, deep down, that I don’t have much to offer. The more I accomplish, the more value I can believe I have. Accomplishing that year-after-year revenue growth was a sign that I had created something valuable… that I was valuable. In that way, money has been an easy metric for me to use to measure my worth and to calculate the exact value I’m creating in the world. That means that when my paycheck took a hit, it felt like my credibility took a hit. Of course, revenue is just one very small way to measure success or value. Thankfully, I can use it to pay my mortgage but otherwise it’s about as useful as a Facebook like or an Instagram follow when it comes to measuring my personal value. While I’m personally working on not defining my identity or credibility solely by what I’ve accomplished, it has been helpful for me to look at what we’ve accomplished as a company outside of my self-imposed numbers game. I’m choosing to take pride in the process and enjoy the journey of refining my approach. Today, my company produces this exceptional podcast that gives you behind-the-scenes access to how businesses actually run (no gurus, hype, or magic formulas). My company hosts an exceptional network of small business owners having candid conversations about what’s working and not working in their businesses. We’ve dialed in operations, honed our approach, and nurtured a community culture of constructive optimism. My company facilitates small group masterminds that bring business owners together around a common goal. I’ve personally had the chance to level up my facilitation skills and learn how much I love this role. Today, my company operates better than it ever has. ★ Support this podcast ★