All Episodes

I want to talk about when an investment seems like a pretty straightforward payoff—but taking advantage of that opportunity might conflict with your values. How do you balance the financial health of your business against your values? Today, I’m talking with two guests, Nancy Jane Smith and Bonnie Gillespie, about their thought processes behind making some big business decisions. - What if the ROI could be great, but it conflicts with your values? - Why Nancy decided to fully pull her business activities out of Facebook and Instagram—and why they were at odds with her personal values - What Nancy’s noticed in her business since leaving social media and how she’s grown her email list without the help of Instagram - How Bonnie uses her Facebook account strictly for business (and how she’s set it up that way) - The strategy behind Bonnie’s Facebook ads and why she prefers Instagram and Facebook to other social media or professional platforms

We all have a process we go through when we're thinking through new investments in our business. Whether you're conscious of your process or not... it's there. Today we are talking with Beryl Young about how she goes about investing and how she arrived at her process. - How Beryl decides what to invest in—or not—for her business - The opportunity cost of the investments Beryl’s made over the years - The 3 main buckets where Beryl invested her resources and the outcome of each

Michelle Mazur helps business owners shake things up (but having trouble talking about it) through their messaging. In this episode, Michelle shares some of the significant investments she's made in her business that had a long payoff, her approach for evaluating investments in her business, and her view on the intangible, long-term benefits of those investments. - The framework for making investment decisions - What categories of things to consider and evaluate against - How to consider the intangible benefits that are often hard to measure - When big investments don't always pay off

No stranger to making hard decisions and priming herself for growth, Emily Thompson talks about how hiring the right people for the right positions with the right mix of skills has made her business more efficient, more effective, and more profitable. - How Emily uses key members of her team to run both Being Boss and Almanac Supply Co. - What her hiring (and firing) process looks like—and how she preps herself for those hard conversations - How she hired the right person in the perfect role for their skillset and it resulted in tripling their revenue

Today, Mel Richards shares with us how her choice of software has helped her scale her company, increase profits, and deliver better results for her clients. Key takeaways: - How the right choice of software has helped Mel scale her company, increase profits, and deliver better results for her clients - How the right software tools make your team more effective and how ClickUp helps Mel’s team know what to do next - All the tools that have been essential for Mel’s business - Lower costs, less complication, more opportunities for automation

Tamara Kemper and I talk about how a rock-solid process allows you to deliver better service to your clients, onboard team members with ease, deliver projects and services more profitably, free up time for you and your team, and use software to automate tasks. Key takeaways: - How having solid processes make your business more profitable and effective - Why your processes inform your software and team choices - Why it’s so important to document your process - And the giant return you get out of investing in your process

Your business is an ecosystem. Every part of your business is interconnected with other areas of your business. The decisions you make about the kind of business model you have affects how you market your business. I’m excited to have Ashley Gartland back on the show to talk about how these decisions impact the size and roles of the team you need to have (if you have a team at all!) and the software you need to use. That, in turn, results in how profitable your company ultimately is. Key takeaways: - How your default decisions impact your business model - How these decisions can determine your approach to marketing and what software to use - How to view your finances as a symptom and not a cause - And why your finances are a trailing indicator

Katie Hunt, founder of Proof to Product, helps product-based businesses create product lines, sell wholesale, and build stronger businesses. She has a podcast, courses, masterminds, coaching, conferences, and yes, a community. Katie’s helped thousands of brands get their products on the shelves of retail stores like Target, Anthropologie, Nordstrom, and independent boutiques around the world. Key takeaways: - An alternative look at what launching a community/membership model with a team looks like - How having a membership improved resilience in Katie's business—financially AND with the rest of her product suite - What evaluation process Katie went through before adding community as part of her business model - How Katie’s boundaries have been impacted through the launch of her program and the pandemic—and how she’s proactively reinstating those boundaries now

Margy looked at her business and realized that 1:1 services was no longer the best delivery option for her clients and it wasn’t the business she wanted to be running. Creating the ScholarShape community was the natural evolution. Key Takeaways: - What was going on in Margy’s business that drove her decision to create ScholarShape and shift her business model - How Margy executed the transition and what her business looks like now - Instead of a fast pivot, community can be a natural evolution of your existing work - What the decision process LOOKS like for someone thinking about making shifts in their business model

Harnessing your IP isn't the ONLY way you could add additional revenue or build resilience into your business. Sophie Bujold has another option: building a community product around your business. Key takeaways: - Using community/membership model as a means to diversify revenue streams - Who should build communities & where should it live in your business - Where your community should live inside your business model—and how to create a great one

We're talking about how to build some more resilience into your business model by using work you've already done—your intellectual property—and turning it into another source of revenue for your business. Key Takeaways: - Using your intellectual property to pivot & build resilience - Taking advantage of your IP to diversify your revenue streams - Identifying different types of IP and how to protect what you’ve created with your business

I’m excited to discuss the importance of accounting, bookkeeping, and understanding your taxes with Luke Frye, cofounder and CPA at Timber Tax Accounting. Luke was the first accountant at Bench.co and has been helping entrepreneurs with their accounting and taxes for nearly a decade. He knows what it's like on both sides of the table as he had his own business as a teenager where he learned how to manage his quarterly taxes. Key Takeaways: - Tax issues that service business owners should be thinking about - What type of account Luke recommends that self-employed people use to save for retirement - LLC vs S-Corp from a tax perspective - Why not saving for taxes is a huge risk

I'm talking with “The Rebel of Wall Street”, Priya Malani, whose goal is to change the way young professionals think about money by empowering them to get their financial sh*t together. Key Takeaways: - Money management mistakes that business owners are making - How to balance your personal and business cash needs - Strategies for making sure there's always enough cash on hand in your business - How much of a cash reserve you REALLY need to have to be safe

Jacquette and I talk about financial risks, resilience, and the relationship between the two. Key takeaways: - How assessing your risk is actually a move towards building resilience - What the relationship between risk, uncertainty, safety, and resilience is - Why your personal risk versus taking risks in business are different—and how they can influence each other

Charlie and I tackle not just getting out of your own way but ALSO how to get out of your team's way and how the stage your business is in affects the roadblocks you'll run up against. Key Takeaways: - Founder mojo and how to use it to your business’ advantage - How we use procrastination to avoid doing work that matters - How the business stage you’re in impacts the roadblocks you have to overcome - How your issues as a founder affect your TEAM

Today, we're talking about patience and purposeful experimentation with Jason Van Orden. He's a consultant, trainer, and strategist who helps thought leaders reach larger audiences. He's created multiple successful brands, launched over 60 online courses, taught more than 10,000 entrepreneurs, and has over 8 million podcast downloads. Key Takeaways: - Strategies and tools to use to give your projects every chance to succeed - How to test and iterate an idea (and what data to look for) - Why speed of implementation is everything when trying something new - Setting your experiment up for success - How LONG to test something before you decide if it’s “working” or not

Nicole Lewis-Keeber is a business therapist and mindset coach who works with entrepreneurs to create and nurture healthy relationships with their businesses. She's a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Masters in Social Work and she writes and speaks about the impact of small-t trauma on businesses. Her biggest, more important work is in combining therapeutic processes with business coaching to help entrepreneurs build emotionally sustainable, and financially stable businesses. Key Take-aways: - How your past experiences might be showing up in your business and creating limitations to growth - How perfectionism and the need for control in your business are rooted in the need to feel safe - How if you're one of those people who just can't seem to find the right system for your business... it might not be the systems. - How all your weaknesses and issues become ingrained in your business -- because YOU are the one who created it

Agnes has a lot to say about our relationship with money and the way that our money mindsets can hold us back. She went from having a poverty mindset that was limiting her to $40,000 per year, to consistently bringing in a 6 figure income as a money mindset coach. She shows entrepreneurs and service providers how to improve their relationship to money so they can increase their income and personal power. Key Takeaways: - How our money beliefs, stories, and limitations affect our businesses - What are some of the most common money mindset issues that trip up business owners - What impacts these stories are having on their businesses - How can people start identifying their money stories and money mindset issues - And what tools entrepreneurs can use to help deal with their money mindset

Today, we're talking with Tonya Dalton about the key to tackling this overwhelming and never-ending to-do list so you can get crystal clear on your priorities. Tonya's North Star method lets you figure out what DOES matter to you -- both for your life and for your business – allowing you to align your day and your tasks with your goals so that you can make conscious choices about what you DON'T want to do. Key Takeaways: - How to prioritize when EVERYTHING is important - How both your team and your business suffer when you get in your own way by not communicating a clear direction - How getting clear on your priorities will create momentum in your business and space in your life - And how to avoid the latest “hack” or software tool that promises to solve all your problems

Most of the problems I fix in business, with systems or technology or new team members usually directly stem from the owner. Their weaknesses have become the businesses weaknesses. And by identifying those weaknesses, we can put systems in place to specifically counteract their unique issues. Key Takeaways: - Using your process to be more competitive and make our services more efficient to deliver - Solid processes to make sure we're doing what's important. - Building your process from day one – creating a repeatable process - Overcome your own shortcomings and start getting in your own way