This news has been some time in the making and while it certainly is bittersweet and definitely not the easiest to share it’s important to remember that sometimes the things that aren’t the easiest are actually the most necessary. 

The purpose of having Shauna on the show is that she will actually be interviewing me and pulling some things out of me, as opposed to me being on the other side of the mic, so to speak. 

I hope that this episode gives you permission to pivot, or potentially close a chapter that no longer feels aligned with you, no matter how challenging the transition may be. Especially when you know, in your gut, that it's time for a change.

As always, my beautiful friends, keep doing it your way. 
 

Insights:

• “Oh, she’s gonna do this.”
• “Go inward. Stay out of your head. Stay in your heart and your gut.”

Resources:

• Check out how you can use Podia in your business
• Get more info about working with Shauna VanBogart

Emily describes herself as an illustrator - a big umbrella term covering all of the amazing things she does. Alongside her husband in their business, Emily does animation, whiteboard explainer videos, live event illustration and is the founder of Sketchnote Academy. Inside Sketchnote Academy Emily is a coach and teacher, teaching others how to do something called ‘sketchnoting’. 

Sketchnoting is basically writing and drawing at the same time. It helps with memory retention and it’s creative, fun, and overall really fun to look at. 

“I never planned on niching down like that. But it turned out that it was a really good melding or marriage of all of my personal passions and skills.” 

Her Story

Early on in her journey, Emily found herself working at a church as a graphic designer. It was her second job out of college and she was already feeling the internal struggle of changing jobs and relocating every few years because of the recession. At one point she joined a Facebook group with an author who wrote books about starting your own business and believing in yourself. At first, her goal was to pay off debt and she achieved this through freelancing her graphic design services, because working at a church doesn’t pay much. Through her freelance work she was able to pay off her car as well as her credit cards and realized that she could just keep going and see what happens. 

Eventually Emily relocated again to Nashville for a different job, and again, was disillusioned with just how the corporate world is.

“I knew that it wasn't a great fit for me and my personality and my goals and my values.”

Emily found herself double-dipping, so to speak. Her day job offered flex time so she would work 7am-3pm (no lunch break) then head to a co-working space and work on her freelance business until roughly 9pm. In a new city this was a great opportunity to meet people and grow her side hustle at the same time. 

She eventually got to the point where she was using her vacation time from her day job to go do freelance client work and when she was almost out of vacation days she decided it was time to make a big decision. After praying over it and fate stepping in, Emily was forced out of her day job and she took it as a sign to make her ultimate leap. As soon as she made that leap she landed her highest paying gig and it continued to snowball and grow from there.

Emily believes in rolling with what falls into your lap. While she loves planning, she has learned that if she simply follows the things that fall into her lap she will have a lot more success and be able to live in the moment. 

“I'm just going to do it. It's going to be scary, but everything's going to be okay.”

Emily has achieved some incredible things but one of the things she is most proud of and excited about is Sketchnote Academy.
 

What does 2022 look like for Emily?

“My biggest goal [for 2022] is kind of shifting the balance needle on client work versus sketchnote Academy. I'm really excited about the things that are happening with sketchnote Academy, it grew a ton this year, more than any other year, and I'm just really excited about maintaining that growth and excitement and reaching more people. So I'm excited to do new courses, I'm excited to keep the community going and maybe even break into coaching and do more small groups or one on one teaching. There's just so much opportunity out in the world and when you start seeing those doors open, it's just really exciting.”
 

Emily’s Final Note

“I believe everybody has the potential to make the leap and create their own business and I'm excited for all the great things that the world is going to have because you're in it.”

You can connect with Emily on Instagram (@emily_a_mills) and find out more about Sketchnote Academy on her website.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!



 

Insights:

• “I never planned on niching down like that. But it turned out that it was a really good melding or marriage of all of my personal passions and skills.”
• “She eventually got to the point where she was using her vacation time from her day job to go do freelance client work and when she was almost out of vacation days she decided it was time to make a big decision.”
• “I believe everybody has the potential to make the leap and create their own business and I'm excited for all the great things that the world is going to have because you're in it.”

Resources:

• Connect with Emily on Instagram
• Learn how to Sketchnote with Emily
• Grab your copy of The Art of Visual Notetaking by Emily Mills
• Find out more about how you can use Podia in your business

What is it? 

Tapping into your intuition can also be known as listening to your inner voice. It is knowing. Rather than looking outside of ourselves for answers, we instead go inward. It isn’t necessarily what we hear, rather what we feel. It’s that gut feeling. Scientists have said that your intuition can make a decision so quickly that it doesn’t register at the conscious level. Sometimes it feels like knowing that logically, it may not make sense but intuitively it makes all the sense.

Learning to tap into and listen to your intuition is something that everyone is capable of. I believe it to be just like exercising a muscle. Over time, we can expand our capacity to trust our intuition by increasing the exercises and ability to listen and trust. Sometimes you may be nudged to do something and you don’t know why but rather than resisting the nudge because it doesn’t make logical sense, you follow it. You say yes to it. 

Tapping into your intuition is something that most people struggle with at first because as humans we can be extremely logical in wanting to know everything and understand why. It requires us to let go of logic, going within ourselves, and trusting. 

Why and Benefit? 

Following those nudges can help us align ourselves with our passions, life goals, outcomes, the way we live our lives, and so much more. Imagine if you kept getting the feeling or nudge that something was off about your career. But you keep pushing because that’s what you think you should do, until one day you’re overworked, exhausted, burnt out, and finally have a breakdown. It is possible that your intuition nudged you but you didn’t hear it or didn’t want to hear it. Oftentimes we get these nudges but choose to ignore them because listening to them can be scary. It can be where we come face to face with our reality.

The benefit of listening to our intuition can help us align ourselves with the present in order to align us with our future self of tomorrow. Sometimes we don’t know exactly what our life may look like in 6 months or a year but if we can make decisions today that are intuitively led then we can trust that where we are right now is where we should be.  

How to Start?

1. Create space. Part of the challenge of listening to our intuition is that there is so much noise that exists around us that it often makes it difficult to even hear. Sometimes it is about tuning out, to tune in. Limit input; whether that be a social media detox, news detox, reduce time on your cell phone, or creating constraints for less interruptions. 
2. Listen. Listen and wait for those nudges. They can be as simple as deciding what to eat. If you’re not sure what to eat, ask yourself what feels right for you in that moment. 
3. Feel, trust and follow your gut. When you listen, trust, and follow your gut you start to build up capacity and strengthen that muscle.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Scientists have said that your intuition can make a decision so quickly that it doesn’t register at the conscious level.“
• “Tapping into your intuition is something that most people struggle with at first because as humans we can be extremely logical in wanting to know everything and understand why.”
• “Following those nudges can help us align ourselves with our passions, life goals, outcomes, the way we live our lives, and so much more.”

In this podcast episode I’m sharing all things about why creating consistent content is important and I’m sharing my 5 step process on how to exactly do it without the overwhelm!

In this episode, you will...

• Learn how to break down weekly content
• Follow a process in producing content that will not overwhelm you
• Know about my step by step process when creating content
• Discover the importance of SEO
• Be more efficient when delivering your content and more!
  
  
   

Insights:

• "The sooner you get ready to be ready, the more you're going to get the process into your world, into your life, and into your business."
• "Timer is your best friend."
   

Resources:

• She Did It Her Way Training Vault

Regardless of where you're at in your online business journey or in your life, the goal of this episode is to teach you how you can get out of your own way and really find that quick win in that moment to help move you forward to that long term goal. 

I define a quick win as something that gets you closer to your final destination or your goal. And while it’s typically very simple, it's not necessarily the immediate default action step. Really what stops us from finding our quick win, or achieving our goals, is that our primitive brain loves to overcomplicate some of the things that are very simple. Also, we've been conditioned that success ‘should’ be difficult.

Our primitive brain is designed to protect us and to overthink. Stalling out is one of the things that it can do in the event that it wants to protect us and really what I know to be true is that our primitive brain really wants to know all of the steps in order for you to even get started. 

This is something that I've had to personally work through and coach myself on, and took time for me to build, knowing that it's totally okay to not know every single step. Actually, not knowing every single step is an indication that I can take one step forward because I know that if I am taking one step forward, then steps two, three, four, and five will unveil themselves because I took that first step. 

I want you to find one thing you can do to move that needle forward. Whether it’s something as simple as signing up for a free webinar and actually attending live or using your network to reach out to an ‘expert’ in the field you’re interested in. Then, let the next steps unveil themselves.

Taking these small steps allows you to feel light about your movement, rather than heavy and constricted.

“Think about your quick win and get into action. Release the ‘how’ by not trying to overthink your way through it.”

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “I define a quick win as something that gets you closer to your final destination or your goal.“
• “Stalling out is one of the things that it can do in the event that it wants to protect us and really what I know to be true is that our primitive brain really wants to know all of the steps in order for you to even get started.”
• “Think about your quick win and get into action. Release the ‘how’ by not trying to overthink your way through it.”

Resources:

• Listen to Episode 470: How to Create Urgency with Your Offers with Jack from Deadline Funnel

After starting on her own path with her coaching business and working with dream clients, Reese knew there was something missing. It was getting difficult to maintain 10k and 20k months and she wanted to go so much deeper with her clients to make lasting and deeply impactful shifts on a spiritual, emotional and energetic level, and create more abundance. But she didn't know how. She discovered the power of the subconscious mind - our doorway to the infinite with coaching techniques like neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy, emotional freedom techniques, tapping and energy work she found her answer. Reese now coaches her students in the Yes Supply Method to create six figures as a coach and broke through her income ceiling, now creating six figure months in her global coaching biz. 

Reese is a mother, a wife, and a mindset and abundance coach. Growing up she always felt very different from everyone around her. She grew up and went to school in a town where there were very few people of color and was bullied for that. Her mother got into an abusive relationship when she was 10 years old and Reese recalls going to school and acting like everything was just fine, but going home to a home full of violence, verbal and emotional abuse - all because of a toxic person in their life. It severely impacted her self-esteem and how she saw herself, and her ability to love herself. 

She finally broke through this, saying;

I remember just having a realization that what other people think of me or what other people say to me doesn't have to be my truth.

While climbing out of her hole of low self-confidence and feeling like she would not achieve anything, she worked at a string of restaurant and retail jobs. She found herself surrounded by people with dreams such as being an entrepreneur, or an artist, but she heard them say over and over, ‘but I could never do that’.

And then one day she found herself wondering…’but what if they could, and are just saying ‘no’ to themselves?’ This thought was quickly followed by the thought of…’what if I’m just saying ‘no’ to myself?’ 

At the time, Reese was not familiar with the world of online business and really didn’t see what was possible for her. Reese then created a platform with the kind of mentorship she wished she would have had. Beginning with a blog and interviewing people, she shared her own perspective on the world around her. Reese’s business has now grown into so much more as a thriving coaching business. Reese created something out of nothing and just kept saying; ‘I hope this works’, and kept moving forward, never relying on things being perfect. 

Reese kept moving, getting out of her comfort zone and despite things not being perfect and the mistakes she made along the way - it has been a massive success. 

Reese stands firm that if you are putting your energy into something it should always align with your purpose - because your customers will also feel it if it doesn’t.

“If it's not in the right energy, your ideal customer, your ideal client is going to say something's missing, I don't feel 100% confident, I feel like I should do more research, they feel like they should be more logical rather than having that instinctual trust.” 

Something else Reese reminds herself (and her clients) is that money is simply an exchange of value. Before money existed there was bartering: 

“I have five tomatoes and you have five potatoes. Let's switch because I don't know how to make potatoes, and you know how to grow tomatoes.

When we stop worrying about the external and we just say, ‘who am I’, ‘what is my body of work that I can put into the world’, and ‘how can I add value in my unique way’; that's how you actually become valuable in that sense. We tend to put so much focus on money, but at the core of it, it's really the exchange of value.”

Want to know more about Yes Supply and how saying ‘yes’ can empower and change you for the better? Visit the Yes Supply website or connect with their team on Instagram.

Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “I remember just having a realization that what other people think of me or what other people say to me doesn't have to be my truth.”
• “And then one day she found herself wondering…’but what if they could, and are just saying ‘no’ to themselves?’ This thought was quickly followed by the thought of…’what if I’m just saying ‘no’ to myself?’”
• “When we stop worrying about the external and we just say, ‘who am I’, ‘what is my body of work that I can put into the world’, and ‘how can I add value in my unique way’; that's how you actually become valuable in that sense.”

Resources:

• Find Yes Supply on Instagram
• Visit the Yes Supply Website
• Subscribe to Reese’s YouTube Channel
• Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

Like so many others, Jack got his start working in corporate America and after several years of working in a few different jobs and positions, he finally came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t for him. After quitting his job on a whim, he quickly realized he needed to figure out his next move, fast. 

“It’s the entrepreneurial version of jumping out of the top of the penthouse window and trying to build a plane on the way down before you hit pavement.”

He had an idea for a platform that he wanted to build with something he had experience with which was helping to bring together travel nurses and healthcare workers. With his previous experience in recruiting health care workers this was a familiar space for him, and a need he knew existed. He created this virtual job board, while learning how to build his own website (this was circa 2002). He built what he now calls “the ugliest website you’ve ever seen” and it was off and running. When he was one year in, his wife came to him and told him it was time to decide whether it was worth continuously working various side jobs to keep the business going, or if it was time to go all-in on the business. 

He decided it was time to go all-in and gave himself a deadline. He made an announcement, launching, without really fully knowing what his ‘plan’ was going to look like. After sending out email after email, he turned the volume all the way up on the final day, reminding people of the value and the deadline. It took off. 

“People can be leaning into your message, they can love your product, or your service; and they're eventually going to buy or they're thinking about buying, but they're just procrastinating. They're on the fence, they're dragging their feet, and the power of a deadline gets people to take action.”

He did this for a while before deciding to learn from someone who he admired, author Perry Marshall, joining his team for nearly six years. But of course, he began to get that entrepreneurial itch again, so we started back in software on the side. Perry knew that he was hiring an entrepreneur and that Jack’s focus started to get pulled away as the software became more and more successful.

Jumping ahead, Jack developed and sold another business before he started building Deadline Funnel. He realized that he wanted to be able to use one of the most powerful and consistent triggers for helping someone make a decision, which is having a deadline using urgency to close a sale. But he wanted to do it in a way that did not sacrifice his own integrity. He started really digging into the specifics of what he was envisioning for this ‘tool’ and discovered that no one else had created anything like it. Enter: Deadline Funnel. 

Deadline Funnel, at its core, helps creators (course creators, coaches, consultants, etc. - anyone who is selling something) to be able to maximize their sales by automating them. This traditionally is a very labor intensive process but Deadline Funnel takes out all of those ‘middle steps’ taking care of it for you. It helps creators to scale and grow their reach so they can focus on the end-product. 

With a sales page, anyone can show up and make a purchase and it works. However, the typical conversion rate of even the most well written sales letter, depending on the origin of the traffic, is going to be on average around 1%. This typically is not enough for you to be able to buy advertising and to really scale your business. What Deadline Funnel offers is the mechanism to give people a timed deadline, and visually see when their specific offer is expiring. 

“It gives you the ability to give someone a special offer with a deadline and keep it accurate across devices and make all of the tough technical stuff just happen automatically.”

When you do a launch, or holiday promotion, typically the biggest sales days are when you first open the cart, and the last day before the sale ends or closes. There's a whole bunch of people who have been paying attention to your Instagram or Facebook lives, your webinars, your emails, your replays, etc.; whatever messaging you're using, people are watching and leaning in, but they just haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's right at the deadline that it's either you're in or you're out and that's when people take action. 

One thing Jack is passionate about in his own life is mindfulness. Being present and aware so that he can really focus with perspective on what’s most important. He also says that for his team, having integrity is non-negotiable.

“One thing I that communicate to my team is that no one woke up this morning saying ‘I hope someone has yet another software that I can sign up for monthly or annually’. But the reason why we have 1000s of really happy clients is because we understand that what we do is we help people reach a bigger audience and to automate their business so they can do the things they love with the people they love on a time schedule that works for them.”

Want to see how Deadline Funnel can help you with your next launch? Visit their website, or reach out to a member of Jack’s team for a free screen-share or onboarding call. Their customer service is unparalleled and I can honestly say this first hand that you will not be disappointed with their high-level of service.

To all of my listeners out there, until next week, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “He decided it was time to go all-in and gave himself a deadline. He made an announcement, launching, without really fully knowing what his ‘plan’ was going to look like.“
• “He realized that he wanted to be able to use one of the most powerful and consistent triggers for helping someone make a decision, which is having a deadline using urgency to close a sale. But he wanted to do it in a way that did not sacrifice his own integrity.”
• “With a sales page, anyone can show up and make a purchase and it works. However, the typical conversion rate of even the most well written sales letter, depending on the origin of the traffic, is going to be on average around 1%.”
• “It's right at the deadline that it's either you're in or you're out and that's when people take action.”

Resources:

• Check out Deadline Funnel
• 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall
• The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

This episode will only scratch the surface of everything you can possibly do with affiliate marketing, but I want this to serve as a starting point for anyone who wants to start using affiliate marketing in their business or wants to better utilize it. For the purpose of this episode, we’re discussing how affiliate marketing works when you are an affiliate of someone else's product, course, or software tool.

Webster’s online dictionary defines ‘Affiliate Marketing’ as: 

“A marketing arrangement by which an online retailer pays a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from its referrals.”

So rather than a company paying for ads to market their product or service, you, as an individual become the marketing ‘arm’ and because you market their product, you are compensated. 

When I first started using affiliate marketing it felt ‘icky’. But once I realized that the company may not have made that sale without my recommendation, it became a lot more natural for me to utilize affiliate marketing for my benefit and as long as it is a tool, program, software, etc., that I use and personally believe in. I eventually realized it doesn’t need to feel ‘icky’ at all.

Something thing to keep in mind about affiliate marketing is that it can really be a passive form of income. You don’t need to create the product, you just need to believe in it and recommend it to those you feel would benefit from it, especially when it can fill a gap for your audience. Products or services that you know, like and trust, and you feel aligns with your audience; these are the ones you want to market.

One of the biggest recommendations I have when it comes to affiliate marketing is that you always want to make sure you are aligned with the offer or product and that you’re excited about sharing it and authentic when doing so. Another recommendation I have is to always disclose that you are using affiliate links. It is a good thing to be upfront about them, and in some cases/ locations you’re legally required to do so.

Tips for Getting Organized

• Create a Google Sheet (easy!) for all of the affiliate programs you are already signed up for or a part of
• Make columns for the name of the company, product/ service name, your login information, the unique URL that you’re given that is specific to you, and any redirect you’ve created for this URL for your own website. (For example, I am an affiliate of Podia. My affiliate URL for Podia includes a long line of numbers and letters that is impossible to remember. So I created a redirect on my Squarespace website to make it easier for my audience to find what they are looking for, and easier for me to remember. So if you go to www.shediditherway.com/podia it will redirect you to my affiliate link.)

There are so many ways to keep your affiliate links and information organized and this is just the tip of the iceberg. I also recommend creating a resource page on your website, keeping all of your recommended resources, with affiliate links, in one place on your website making it easy to find. Additionally you can create individual blog posts, highlighting each of them, digging deeper into why you recommend them. If you really want to exercise affiliate marketing and get into it, you need to make sure you're driving leads or eyeballs to those pages so that people are clicking on those links and purchasing as well. 

Another thing to consider is not to piggyback too many affiliate offers (unless that is your sole business) one after another. If you tend to recommend products or services back to back too frequently it becomes too much for your audience. I would rather recommend my top three programs that are really strategic and intentional, that I can focus my time and energy on when it comes to launching and marketing those programs rather than trying to do a bunch of different ones.

I don't think there's a right or wrong way to go about this. This is just more of my personal experience with affiliate marketing. When it comes to affiliate programs that I've been part of it takes work. It's more than just throwing up a landing page and telling people about it once. You have to market the program or product. 

Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “So rather than a company paying for ads to market their product or service, you, as an individual become the marketing ‘arm’ and because you market their product, you are compensated.”
• “Something thing to keep in mind about affiliate marketing is that it can really be a passive form of income.”
• “I would rather recommend my top three programs that are really strategic and intentional, that I can focus my time and energy on when it comes to launching and marketing those programs rather than trying to do a bunch of different ones.”

Resources:

• Visit Pat Flynn’s Website
• Check out one of Pat Flynn’s Podcasts

Sales is something that I think can be scary at times, but is absolutely necessary especially if you're a business owner. Learning how to sell with confidence is highly important, whether it’s through customer conversations, sales calls, or learning how to sell in an online digital space using sales pages, landing pages, and through copy and content. But for the purposes of this episode, I want to focus on the piece of a sales conversation specifically if you are a coach, or if you have an offer that has some sort of sales call component to your sales process.

When you get to the end of the sales call, or invite someone to sign up and actually pay you, this is the point when you typically meet resistance. Sometimes the objection is price. It could also be a timing issue, or that they simply don’t have the bandwidth. There are a lot of objections and sometimes the default thinking is to think that each objection is different. 

One of the things that I have learned by leading training and experienced myself through sales conversations is that objections tend to be pretty universal. It's how we move through that objection and handle that objection in the moment, that will dictate the outcome of that sales call.

What I have found most commonly happens with the sales conversation when an objection comes up is that we freeze up, get nervous or we start to ‘feature-dump’, listing all of the features, bells, and whistles to our buyer. 

One of the top reasons that I have found is that they don't fully understand the value of the offer that you're presenting. They don't quite understand what your program or service does for them. Always make sure you touch on these:

• What is the benefit of your coaching program? 
• Whether it's in a group, or whether it's one on one? 
• What is the transformation that it will provide? 
• What is the value that it offers?

The second objection type is really a smokescreen over the actual objection/ problem and it is up to us to uncover and understand the true objection. For one reason or another, they aren’t comfortable being fully honest with you about what is holding them back. 

The first thing I want you to learn to do instead is to take a moment and acknowledge. Empathize how they might feel and why they might feel the way that they feel. I recommend acknowledging how they feel, not by saying ‘I can understand’, because that phrase can be very off putting in some situations.

Instead try: “I see how you feel that way”. You’ll experience a very different reaction because you are validating their feelings and letting them know that you’re listening, rather than trying to sell them something. When we try to sell to them when they're not in a position of actually listening, we create more resistance.

The second thing I want you to try when an objection comes up is to get curious. Get into discovery mode and start asking questions. 

• Tell me a little bit more of what is the most important thing to you right now? 
• What do you want to achieve in the next six to 12 months?
• Since timing is a problem now, what would make it the best time for you? 
• What would need to be true in order for you to make it the best time, just so I understand?

We want to clarify what is going on and when we can summarize back. This allows us to check our understanding of what they said to make sure that we are on the same page. When their resistance is lower and they aren’t objecting, they're more likely to be open to listening. When their resistance is high, we don’t want to keep pushing because our words will fall on deaf ears.

As we empathize and get curious, we understand, restate, and summarize back to them what we heard. That lets us know that we're on the same page. Then we can proceed forward in how we want to respond. Maybe we bring up a few different points that we haven't discussed, or maybe we reiterate some of the benefits of the program and how it's going to help them overcome some of their objections. 

The last piece I want to offer you are the things that we can do to reduce the number of objections that we get. 

Think about your sales intake form. When someone signs up for a discovery or sales call with you, what are the questions that you are asking on that form? Do they provide you with significant information that will put you in a stronger position when you go into the sales meeting? Or are they vague questions such as ‘tell me about yourself’? Or , can you qualify people before hopping on a sales call? When we can qualify sooner at the top of the funnel, it makes it more efficient overall saving you time and energy.

If you find that you are hearing the same objecting over and over - identify that and bring it up sooner during the call, rather than waiting until the end to address it.
 

You can also optimize your FAQ’s on your website. Put those objections in there along with your response. 

Lastly, figure out your mindset going into sales calls. Are you nervous, excited, steady/ grounded/ confident in your offer? Do you believe in your offer? If not, let's go back and look at your mindset. 

Remember, friends:

Repetition builds confidence.

We're not going to win them all, but if we can win one more out of 10, we can increase our conversion rate, thus increasing our revenue. Learning how to effectively sell with confidence takes time. It’s not something we are born doing and we have to learn each step to get better and to keep moving that needle forward.

Until next week, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “One of the things that I have learned by leading training and experienced myself through sales conversations is that objections tend to be pretty universal.“
• “As we empathize and get curious, we understand, restate, and summarize back to them what we heard. That lets us know that we're on the same page.”
• “Instead try: “I see how you feel that way”. You’ll experience a very different reaction because you are validating their feelings and letting them know that you’re listening, rather than trying to sell them something.”
• “Repetition builds confidence.”

This podcast episode is all about how to create self-discipline and drive within yourself. Self-discipline is a byproduct of knowing your why and knowing what needs to happen in order to accomplish your goals whether they are business or personal.

Know your three:

1. What does your compelling future look like? What are your goals (This is your WHAT)
2. Know your WHY. (This is where your drive and inspiration come from)
3. Reinforce with self-discipline (This is your HOW)

In this episode you will:

• Learn why you must have a compelling future that relates to your goals
• Know your WHY behind your compelling future and goals
• How to reinforce your goals with self-discipline
• Learn how and why your thoughts create the reality you are living today
• Understand the importance of not setting goals because you believe they will make you happy
• Learn what a growth mindset vs fixed mindset is

And more!

 

Insights:

• “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer
• “If you leave your growth to randomness you’ll always live in the land of mediocrity.” - Brendon Burchard

Resources:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• Brooke Castillo - The Life Coach School

• Launch a group coaching program
• Ultimately launch a course and is going to use group coaching to understand what their audience wants and needs so they can package it as a standalone course

The Quick List:

1. Understand what people want
2. Create your opt-in
3. Define your offer
4. Prepare for lift-off
5. Launch, serve & scale

I'm so excited for you to dig into each of these phases so you can tackle launching that group coaching program of your own. I hope you have an amazing week and until next time, keep doing it your way, my friends!

Resources:

• Check out Convertkit
• Listen to Megan Harrison’s Guest Interview
• SDH 426: Email List Building with Amanda Boleyn
• SDH 427: Create Your 1st Freebie in 5 Steps with Amanda Boleyn
• SDH 428: Create Your Opt-in Page & Email Sequence + 10 Places to Share Your Freebie with Amanda Boleyn

During this call we dive into how to map out and successfully launch your podcast. Here’s a glimpse of what Lacrecia and I discuss during this coaching call:

• How to choose a podcast name/ best naming practices for naming your podcast
• Choosing the theme of your podcast
• Defining content buckets
• Mapping out your content and future offers

I hope this helps you take a look at some of the pieces of your own podcast puzzle to keep moving that needle forward!

Until next time friends, keep doing it your way.

Tiffany began with no capital but sheer hard work and determination. Today, she helps people create the income, influence, and impact they dream of. She's the CEO of Do The Damn Thing Nation; a group which offers business training and support to idea driven entrepreneurs. She speaks around the world on sales strategies, entrepreneurship and profit building and she has dedicated her life to end small-thinking, worldwide. 
 

A Backwards Glance

Looking back at where she once stood, Tiffany remembers being stuck in a negative space, mentally and physically. Despite being told by her friends and family all of the things she ‘should’ do, and where she would be ‘enough’. Where they felt she would be valuable. But for Tiffany, that just wasn’t working. She needed to do her own thing; her own way. Knowing full well she did not need a college degree, certificate, or even a husband, Tiffany decided to make a decision to live by her own value, and not the value anyone else placed on her.

“I wasn't able to own my value, because I was placing my value and the value that they saw. A lot of times women specifically [look] in the mirror and the value that we see for ourselves is not actually us.”

Tiffany owned her story and decided to live by her own truth and live only for herself (and of course, her babies). 

“Forget being truthful, other people, you just have to be true to prove truthful to yourself.”

Working through the shame and embarrassment of her past Tiffany cut out all of the pieces (and people) out of her life, for good, and has never looked back..

Owning It

Tiffany lives her life owning her value and has built a massive worldwide following and grown her team tremendously. She has created some incredible things, all despite not having a college degree and without a fancy certification. People engage with Tiffany because of her heart, and what she puts out into the universe. 

“It's because my human card, my heart is connected to their heart. My human journey is a human journey.” 

At a point in her journey, Tiffany decided it was time to go back to the basics and began generating leads the old fashioned way - simply going door to door and introducing herself to her new community. Her sales were cycling upwards of $1 million dollars and when she found herself expecting her next little bundle she once again started over and began doing things like adding team members to her growing company. She saw it as a great opportunity to open the door and bring someone in to do the things she didn’t enjoy or excel at. 

If there is one thing Tiffany’s journey tells us, is that there really will never be a ‘right’ time and that her best option was to always just do what she needed to do and felt right.

“I just made a decision to do everything my own way.”

I also highly recommend checking out Crushing It With Your Story, which details the nine must-haves inside of your story.

Tiffany’s signature course, Night School, is a highly unique opportunity (only opens quarterly so check the website for the next time it will be opening!) for those who cannot attend Tiffany’s incredible live events to get their hands on what Tiffany offers. It is a virtual room where Tiffany teaches her content live over the course of a week.

You can also connect with Tiffany personally on Instagram (@tiffanylargie). 

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Knowing full well she did not need a college degree, certificate, or even a husband, Tiffany decided to make a decision to live by her own value, and not the value anyone else placed on her.”
• “People engage with Tiffany because of her heart, and what she puts out into the universe.“
• “I just made a decision to do everything my own way.”

Resources:

• Visit Tiffany’s website
• Connect with Tiffany on Instagram
• Get the Deets on Night School (use CODE for a special offer)
• Follow Do The Damn Thing Nation on Instagram
• Find out more about how to Crush It With Your Story
• Listen to the Do The Damn Thing podcast
• Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan

When Megan first started her journey roughly eight years ago she specialized in marketing, automation, and a little bit of website design. It continued to morph over the next few years and eventually made the switch to online courses, membership sites, and digital products.

Megan lives by the ‘riches were in the niches’ and believes it reigns true for her and her business. She became a specialist and expert in her niche and is continuously striving to dig deeper into that.
 

Looking Back

Megan’s first job was actually in hospital administration where she worked after college. She loved it and having studied pre-med in college, it was a great fit for her business minded-self. After about 5 years it had started to become more monotonous than what she really wanted with her life and decided it was time to start something on her own. After attending a Tony Robbins event (her story really does come full circle) she gave herself six months to start a business. 

Megan actually found one of her old journals and reflected on those early ‘plans’ and also her backup plans. Things like babysitting, dog sitting, resume writing, and other odd jobs. Almost exactly six months later she put in her resignation. 

“I think when you declare something and you make a decision early, like on a deep level, it goes into your subconscious. The universe starts to align to help you get there and to reach whatever that decision was that you made.”

Her original business was much more social media-focused than it is now, running contests, etc. But it wasn’t what she was passionate about. When she signed up for a $2,000 Marie Forleo course she realized that not only had she just paid Marie Forleo $2,000 for a course but 1000’s of others did as well. It signaled in her that it could be a very lucrative business and saw a huge opportunity for growth.

Creating the Black Card Experience

It wasn’t until a few years later that Megan got ‘the call’ from Tony Robbins' team to work with them on creating a course (she still has those Zoom calls saved!). They had seen the work Megan had done with others, such as Ryan Levesque with The Ask Method Masterclass and they explained that they wanted to be able to provide their clients with a ‘black card experience’. This included aesthetics and an overall WOW factor to each piece. With so many people in the online course space, very few offer what Megan does, which is taking courses off of traditional platforms like Thinkific and building premium-level course design development. These individuals usually have already had several successful courses across traditional platforms (think Thinkific, Teachable, or Kajabi) and are now ready to take it to the next level, building it on WordPress with a high focus on user experience. 

What does the Black Card Experience look like? Think of even the smallest details. The user experience, not just navigating through content but engaging with each piece of the course experience. Megan teaches course creators how to integrate different systems and platforms into the membership site and brings everything together, without using a cookie-cutter course template.

“The world is your oyster, when you're creating it [on] WordPress, with the design system.”

Another thing Megan’s company does differently, and extremely well, is they continuously overdeliver, reserving the most bespoke experiences and websites for her highest level clients. 

Megan is extremely passionate about her business and her clients. She loves coaching, teaching, and having courses, but she also loves public speaking. On the agency side, she is passionate about actually working hands-on with clients. This also makes Megan highly unique and much more valuable since she is excellent at getting her hands dirty, working in the trenches with her clients. 

Something else that keeps Megan motivated is to always have multiple things in motion. She is very multifaceted in that it really helps her stay motivated. 

“It can be really easy to be told that you should do only the one thing that's the scalable thing, because you're going to make more money. Whereas sometimes it's not about some of those factors. It's more about, what do I want holistically for what I do on a daily basis.”

Two of the most common pitfalls Megan sees when building their course are:

1. People wanting to know exactly what each piece of the puzzle looks like before they even start
2. Creating the course content before the outline (pro-tip: create your outline first, content second)
    

Megan’s Results Centered Training Formula:

1. Where are your customers right now
2. What are you promising to deliver/solve for them
3. What do your customers need to do to get to that end result
4. What do your customers need to know to get to that end result
5. Use action igniters (worksheets/ templates/ swipe files/ etc.), engagement amplifiers (social learning, building communities)

Want to connect with Megan and learn more about what her business offers? Check out her website, subscribe to her YouTube channel, or connect with her on Facebook or Instagram (@megankharrison).

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Megan lives by the ‘riches were in the niches’ and believes it reigns true for her and her business.”
• “With so many people in the online course space, very few offer what Megan does, which is taking courses off of traditional platforms like Thinkific and building premium-level course design development.”
• “Another thing Megan’s company does differently, and extremely well, is they continuously overdeliver, reserving the most bespoke experiences and websites for her highest level clients.”

Resources:

• Visit Megan’s Website
• Subscribe to Megan’s YouTube Channel
• Follow Megan on Facebook
• Connect with Megan on Instagram
• The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield

Tori got her first taste of being an entrepreneur when she was only 9 and had her own candy vending machine company. By the time she graduated high school she owned 15 of these machines and eventually sold her company to another young (10 years old) entrepreneur, ironically also named Tori.

Growing up, Tori knew owning a business at such a young age was rare but from a young age, her parents financially educated her telling her to never rely on credit cards and instilled lessons in her on learning how to budget, invest, and negotiate. 

By the time Tori graduated college in May of 2016, all of her female friends were coming to her for financial advice and guidance. As she moved into adulthood she realized she was entering into a very different environment than expected and knew that having a financial foundation was imperative for every woman in America and truly the best form of protest against inequitable unjust systems and companies. She wanted to teach other women to be able to use money as a tool to make choices about their life.

Tori launched Her First $100K as a blog in December 2016, while working her 9-5 job in social media marketing. After building up momentum launching her business Tori was featured on Good Morning America and soon after quit her job to work her own business full-time. 

In her first full year in business as an entrepreneur (2020) she had roughly 30,000 followers, and has now grown her audience to over 2 million followers. She also is the founder and host of the number one business podcast called Financial Feminist with over 1.4 million downloads in only 3 months. 

Tori‘s goal (one of many) is to help women achieve financial equality and to make change through a larger lens.

If you would have told her five years ago, a college graduate who went to school for organizations, communication, and theater, that she would be a financial educator full-time, she would have laughed in your face. Her plan was to take the corporate world by storm reaching the position of VP of Marketing by 30. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans… 

Two weeks in, Tori found herself working for someone she just couldn’t respect and had already determined that the corporate world was just not for her. She had no desire to help make someone else rich while being told that she could only take a certain number of days off per year. It was time to look outside the corporate box. She set her sights on being able to leave behind the corporate world by the time she turned 30. To do this she needed her side-hustle to make as much, or more than, her corporate salary brought in. At the age of 25, it had already happened, and after months of talking herself out of it, it was time to make her leap.

Despite growing up with financially minded parents, they were resistant to her quitting her job because it was the ‘stable’ choice. Leaving behind her corporate salary and benefits meant she was taking a risk and they weren’t fully on board with that yet. Despite it all, she took the risk.

Tori is a huge fan of not only taking risks but also setting and going for BIG goals. She also likes to remind people, notably women, that the subject of money is NOT taboo and that the narrative society has placed around talking about money is simply not accurate.

“The patriarchy tells us don't talk about money. Talking about money is bad. Talking about money is impolite. [It] keeps them in power, they profit off of our silence, right? If they tell us don't talk about money, they're talking about money, they get to maintain social order, they get to maintain their power.”

Wanting money and wanting power is not bad and these beliefs should not be perpetuated.

“I want the ability to donate to causes I believe in, or take my best friend out for dinner, or have kids, or not have kids, or get married out of love, and not out of financial dependency.”

Tori also reminds women that just because they are female, does not automatically make them ‘bad at math’. If she, as a theater major, can do it you can rock your finances, too. 

Tori’s Top Personal Financial Tips:

Automate your savings

Make (and keep!) a monthly money-date with yourself

Get clear on what you want to spend discretionary income on

Tori’s Top Business Financial Tips:

Know and track every number you have (the BS big spreadsheet)

Figure out your ‘ramen noodle’ number

Set aside money for taxes before spending

Want to hang out with Tori and see what Her First $100K is all about? Reach out to her on Instagram (@herfirst100k), check her out on Tiktok, or visit the website.

Until next time, friends, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “As she moved into adulthood she realized she was entering into a very different environment than expected and knew that having a financial foundation was imperative for every woman in America and truly the best form of protest against inequitable unjust systems and companies.“
• “Tori‘s goal is to help women achieve financial equality and to make change through a larger lens.
• “She also likes to remind people, notably women, that the subject of money is NOT taboo and that the narrative society has placed around talking about money is simply not accurate.”

Resources:

• Visit Her First $100K
• Grab a copy of Tori’s book
• Connect with Tori on Instagram
• Find Tori on TikTok
• Listen to the Financial Feminist podcast
• Ways to work with Tori
• Create on Canva
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle
• Get the deets on Get Your Sheet Together by Mallory Rowan

A Recap

The Product Boss helps physical product based business owners level up their businesses via marketing and sales strategies and they truly believe and understand that there's a different path to profit for every business owner. The Product Boss allows that space for their business owners to decide what works for them and helps them lift the glass ceiling they’ve set for themselves and to realize they can make any amount of money that they want to get the lifestyle they hope for.

They remind business owners that their business is simply the vehicle to their dream life. Whatever they're building, how they're living, what they're working so hard for, etc., is in an effort towards their dream life. 

Being moms themselves, they know that dreams come in all shapes and sizes, each one being unique and different from the other. They help these business owners by bringing them into their community, showcasing to each that you can make as much money as you want, and live your dream life. Whatever that looks like to you.

They also often emphasize the importance of remembering that you should never rely on anyone who is an ‘overnight success’. Things happen, growing pains are inevitable and it is important to be able and willing to pivot as needed along the way. Just make it work for you.

Shop 1 In 5 + 2020

At the end of last year, The Product Boss launched the Small Business Shopping Directory and the Shop 1 in 5 pledge. The intention was to commit to making 1 out of every 5 purchases during the holiday season from a small business, even providing a directory to help shoppers find exactly what they were looking for. It was only intended to be a 3-month project, but here we are nearly a year later and with such an amazing response from it, they’ve nurtured it and allowed it to grow. 

They have now hired a whole team dedicated to this project as well as building the platform from scratch. They have also spent around $100,000 relaunching the Small Business Shopping Directory. When they first came up with the idea, they weren’t entirely sure it would take off, but their passion was so great that they were willing to take the risk and to say that it has paid off would be a massive understatement. 

The Product Boss has also grown from the inside, leaning into one another, relying on their team and building this incredible community of business owners and teaching them to lean into their community and tribe as well. 

The tipping point for their business would certainly be when the pandemic hit. They saw so many people who were stuck and knew that was their time, more than ever before, to show up for their clients, community, students and audience, and that’s exactly what they did. They showed their own struggles, opening the doors to their own homes and lives, more so than ever before, and reminded them they were in it together, bonding with their community. 

In the beginning of 2020 (pre-pandemic), they set a goal to reach $1,000,000 for the year and when they reached their goal in October of 2020, they celebrated in Minna’s Iowa garage (thank you social distancing) with a bottle of bubbly. When the pandemic happened, they weren’t sure they would reach their goal. But they kept showing up, and not just for the numbers, but for their community. 

One of the biggest things they have learned is they are capable of things bigger than they have ever imagined. 

Big Things To Close Out 2021

The Product Boss has a few exciting things happening to close out 2021. First, they will be speaking at the annual She Did It Her Way Summit (yay!) in October and second, they are hosting a holiday promotional challenge called Rock Your Holiday Promotions. 

As we know, the most profitable time of the year for product based businesses is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The Rock Your Holiday Promotions challenge is designed to help product based business owners kickstart the holiday season by helping them figure out what their promotions are, what they’re going to sell, what their discounts are going to be and actually help them build those promotions so that they're ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Having all of this worked out ahead of time will allow business owners to go into the holiday season fully prepared and confident in their promotions, and will also allow them to enjoy the holidays with loved ones. This free 5-day challenge is happening in September and you can get all of the details and register right here. 

Lastly, if you follow The Product Boss or listened to episode 332, you’ll know all about The Product Boss’s signature course, Multi-Stream Machine. This game-changing course will be opening its doors one more time in 2021 so make sure you get your name on the list to be the first to know when registration opens.

Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “Things happen, growing pains are inevitable and it is important to be able and willing to pivot as needed along the way.“
• “Just make it work for you.”
• “The Product Boss has also grown from the inside, leaning into one another, relying on their team and building this incredible community of business owners and teaching them to lean into their community and tribe as well.”
• “One of the biggest things they have learned is they are capable of things bigger than they have ever imagined.”

Resources:

• Check out The Product Boss website
• Connect with The Product Boss on Instagram
• Listen to the Podcast
• Get the scoop on the Rock Your Holiday Challenge
• Take the pledge to Shop 1 in 5
• Enroll in Multi-Stream Machine
• Hear episode 332
• Be the first to know when registration opens for the She Did It Her Way Summit

When Steph first started on her entrepreneurial journey she was riddled with self-doubt. She was terrified to fail and scared of being judged, especially by those closest to her. She just needed someone to believe in her, more than she believed in herself and she came close to giving up many times. So when she began coaching, she wanted to be able to give others that amazing gift of believing in them, the way she needed someone to do for her. 

With so many online resources, what stands in the way of most people taking action on their dreams is their own mindset and the fear of whether or not what they want to actually do will work. This is what Steph helps her clients achieve. 

Steph’s Corporate Journey

It didn’t start out that way however. Like the majority of us, Steph started out in a corporate job  and spent six months studying journalism in college before deciding that it was just not the best fit for her and that college wasn’t the right path for her. After some traveling and soul searching Steph found herself working for Aldi’s and helping them bring their stores to Perth. Then, after working for them for five years and helping them build their way across Perth she found herself enjoying her job and making six-figures, and figured she had really ‘made it’. 

But at only 25, how could she be at the pinnacle of her entire career? Is this as good as it would get or is there more? She began to grow bored at the thought of doing the same thing forever and wanted to start ‘moving’. Without a degree she found it difficult to find something that would allow her to continuously grow her salary and her experience because a degree seemed to be at the top of every list of job requirements. With this realization, Steph knew she needed to start something of her own and launched her first small business. Once she had that taste of being an entrepreneur, nothing was going to hold her back.

Being in this transitional state and also experiencing a traumatic breakup Steph found herself looking forward, not back.

“I think that a lot of good things come out of the depths of the dark.”

Making Her Leap

Her first startup was focused on helping women find connections through new hobbies and interests. It was a workshopping business created around hobbies such as pottery painting, macrame, resin work, etc. and all of the workshops were hosted in a fun and unique environment where they could help women cultivate the confidence in spending time alone. What made this even more pivotal was the fact that there was nothing like this in her area. Steph saw a need and fulfilled it. It was a massive success and took off very quickly allowing her to quit her job after only nine months.

While it was a massive success, it wasn’t an overnight success. No one bought tickets to her first workshop, but she picked herself up and just kept going. Empowering herself to keep moving the needle forward is what drives her in her current business, helping to teach women how to believe in themselves.

Steph also eventually came into the realization that she should create something to bring in continuous revenue, so she launched a mini course. When COVID hit, Steph took another massive step forward and decided to start showing up even more for her fellow business owners. She wanted to show them she was there for them and support them. To do this she ran a low-cost 4-week challenge for female business owners and at the end of the challenge offered a program they could join in one of the biggest times of need. Again, it was a huge success.

She taught them how to pivot and transition. How to get past the mindset blocks, how to overcome, become more confident, and show up for your audience in their times of need. Once she began coaching, she could see movement.

“Once I was put into a business coaching role, I could see that it had legs. I then started to resent my other business.”

Evolution Into Coaching

She eventually made the heartbreaking decision to sell her business and keep moving forward. She still loves watching the business thrive and is amazed with what the new owners have done. It was very satisfying to hand over the reins to someone and watch it keep growing; it gives her a sense of bittersweet relief.

After selling her business she had some time where self-doubt crept in and feared that without that business she would become nothing and it took a lot of self reflection to overcome those fears.

Steph has now built her coaching business from the ground up, evolving it into a full team. She has learned that having a great team around her can allow her to do even more than when she tried to go it alone and knows that the investment of a good team in her business is a wise one. Her biggest piece of advice to new business owners is this:

“It really comes down to [the fact that] you have to be able to get people results. You've got to create systems to help people elicit their areas of genius, help [them] to find what they're really good at and what they do really well, and stop forcing them to do all the stuff they hate. Because it just takes us away from wanting to grow the businesses.”

She also firmly believes that most business owners choose to stop because they just feel like there's too much to do and to figure out. If they’re not even enjoying it anymore, because they’re not even doing the thing that they love to do. 

You can connect with Steph via Instagram (@stephgorton__) and also check out her website. 

Until next time friends, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “She was terrified to fail and scared of being judged, especially by those closest to her.”
• “I think that a lot of good things come out of the depths of the dark.”
• “After selling her business she had some time where self-doubt crept in and feared that without that business she would become nothing and it took a lot of self reflection to overcome those fears.”

Resources:

• Visit Steph’s website
• Connect with Steph on Instagram
• Winging It: Stop Thinking, Start Doing: Why Action Beats Planning Every Time by Emma Isaacs

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Houston, LaToya originally intended to go into the music business and while that may not have worked out as planned, what did happen was even better. She went into marketing and advertising and from there planned to move into radio sales. While in school, LaToya heard the director speak and was excited to make her move. She reached out to him and asked about applying for a position – the stop was that she was still a few months out from graduation and the position required the candidate be a graduate. Transitioning again, she began working as an intern and when graduation finally rolled around and it came time to start finding a job she landed at an agency doing media buying for McDonalds. This was new for LaToya. She didn’t know anything about the world of advertising from that perspective. Her experience began on the agency side of the marketing world and from there skyrocketed. 

LaToya now knew she didn’t want to follow the traditional path of TV or radio advertising. She knew she wanted to be in the digital space. She shifted gears to pharmaceuticals and learned about being meticulous in media planning, especially in the realm of product launches.

Eventually, LaToya received a call to work at Spike Lee’s agency, DBB, and after dabbling there she decided it still was not far enough into the digital space for her. Once again, it was time for a pivot. She then landed at Complex and after 7 years and working in 3 departments she had helped to build a lot of the processes and protocols across the functional departments. She knew she was working in the direction of her goals and was finally seeing what the digital world looked like, just didn’t know yet the full scope. 

As an entrepreneur at heart, LaToya had dabbled in starting businesses here and there but still didn’t really understand or realize her full purpose yet. She knew she wanted to be in the business of advertising, but she also knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. But what did that actually look like? Complex was an eye opener and she decided that this was what she wanted it to look like. But does she just stop there, or should she keep going? 

After a series of unexpected events, LaToya realized she was still standing for a reason and it was time for her to start operating within that reason and discover her true purpose. 

“I know what my purpose is; I'm going to create an agency just like this.”

One thing I absolutely love about LaToya’s journey is that she is so unapologetic when she realizes its just time to move on. She doesn’t let her thoughts keep her from moving closer to her dreams. She also doesn’t allow herself to get mentally stuck and does allow herself to explore different roles and avenues. The vulnerability and transparency LaToya shared about her journey, and all of the obstacles she pushed through, is absolutely inspiring and beautiful. She learned how to navigate through problems and not let them stop her from achieving her goals. Her journey is such a beautiful reminder that we can't change our circumstances, but we can change how we react to what life gives us.

To learn how you can work with Black Girl Digital, find them on Instagram (@BlackGirlDigital) or connect with LaToya personally (@LaToyaShambo).

Until next time friends, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “She knew she was working in the direction of her goals and was finally seeing what the digital world looked like, just didn’t know yet the full scope.“
• “She knew she wanted to be in the business of advertising, but she also knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. But what did that actually look like?“
• “I know what my purpose is; I'm going to create an agency just like this.”

Resources:

• Get the deets on Black Girl Digital on Instagram
• Connect with LaToya on Instagram
• Visit the Black Girl Digital website
• Google Workspace
• Milanote
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Natalie is a law school graduate, a CFP, and a graduate of The Life Coach School. She started her journey as a blogger, selling her online courses, and eventually pivoted her business into a life coaching program called Grow You. As a member of Grow You I can tell you first hand, her program is truly transformational. 

The pivot for Natalie to start offering a membership program versus individual courses was a natural one. She had already grown her business to six-figures and from the beginning knew she was interested in personal development. She pivoted from offering six individual courses to a membership program where she could host all of the courses in one place. This also made it a super easy decision because the price point is so accessible because as long as you’re a member of Grow You, you’ll receive access to all of the courses Natalie offers. 

Now, we’re into summer of 2021 and Natalie’s life has changed immeasurably. She recently got married, moved to Charleston (another commonality in our friendship), and is expecting a baby boy this winter. Her income has also grown from the 100K she made in 2018 to now 625K for the past 12 months. 

Natalie has also taken a more holistic approach in her business where she is working under 40-hours per week (from home!), and is still able to grow her business and continually help women with mindset. She also is living in a space that she calls,

Living in the end.

In this space she has learned how to produce twice as much, but in half the time. After spending years living in ‘production mode’ this is a beautiful internal balancing act that allows her to really feel relaxed in the present moment. This has been the greatest measure of her growth, even though less quantifiable than say, revenue.

This month, Natalie is hosting a 5-day Mindset Reset. From August 23-27, this one-time workshop is something that she has never before offered and I’m so excited to share all of the details with you! 

Natalie has created this incredible 5-day workshop, where women (men are welcome too, but the content is geared towards women) can get access to coaching tools that they have never experienced before. She teaches how to uncover your thought errors, which is another incredible tool to reconnect the mind with the body. You’ll learn how to choose new thoughts and live from those, creating for yourself a new future, rather than creating your future from your past.

This 5-day course is packed with so much value and you will not want to miss it. This is an amazing investment of your time and energy and bonus, it is only $19 for full access! 

If you’ve ever wanted a peek into what working with a life coach is all about, you will not want to miss this one-time workshop, so make sure you register now to save your seat.

Until next week, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “As a member of Grow You I can tell you first hand, her program is truly transformational.”
• “After spending years living in ‘production mode’ this is a beautiful internal balancing act that allows her to really feel relaxed in the present moment.”
• “If you’ve ever wanted a peek into what working with a life coach is all about, you will not want to miss this one-time workshop, so make sure you register now to save your seat.”

Resources:

• Join Natalie’s 5-Day Mindset Reset
• Listen to Natalie’s first SDIHW Episode
• Find out more about Grow You
• Connect with Natalie on Instagram
• The Power of Bad by John Tierney

During Jahaan’s 18-year career working in sports, including working with 3 major league teams (Red Sox, Dodgers, & Cubs), her favorite part of her job was always helping others see their full potential. She loved it so much that she finally made the leap and made a business out of it. Whether her clients want to break into the sports industry, take their performance to the next level, or own a place at the executive table, Jahaan provides incredible coaching programs to help them accelerate their career.

Jahaan also is the host of her own podcast, but this time she is sitting on the other side of the mic getting to answer the questions herself, which is always so fun to do!

Throughout her years in the industry Jahaan has learned that when working within your industry you can actually gain a very unique perspective, knowledge and experience - much different than what you would learn in a college classroom setting. She learned valuable life skills and lessons that she still uses to this day like how to navigate the internal politics of an organization, how to advocate for yourself, and how to lead a meeting. These are the things that no one likes to talk about, but things you need to know.

“You can either learn just by trial by fire, and some people just want to accelerate their career and get support on those core things and help them to have that dream career and get exactly what they want.”

When Jahaan started down her career path working for the Boston Red Sox, she was making $6 an hour (what?!) as an ambassador at Fenway Park. At that time she was also working on getting her masters degree so she was focused on working part time, getting her feet wet in the industry. She quickly decided that she wanted to transition into a full-time role with the organization and advocated for herself to do exactly that. She took her part-time position and created a new role for the organization as a coordinator, a much needed position that they were lacking. She learned how to manage a team of her peers, where she led them to consistently deliver positive fan experiences at the park.

Eventually, it was time for her to move on, and Jahaan’s boss moved to LA to work for the Dodgers. After convincing him it was a good move for him, she decided it could also be an excellent move for her. She took her own advice, moved to LA and began working for the Dodgers as well. She also made her biggest salary jump and took a huge promotion in her new role. 

When a divorce struck the owners of the team, things quickly turned ugly. This allowed Jahaan to pivot once again, setting her sights on Chicago to work for the Cubs. This position didn’t come quite as easily as the others, but she was so passionate about what she had to offer that she reached out directly to the new team owners to apply for their open position as a Chief Hospitality Officer. This was her job, and she was doing what it took to get it. In fact, she was so passionate about it that she not only emailed the Cubs to get it, but she also FedEX’ed them a letter. This struck a chord and a week later she had an interview scheduled and two weeks later an official job offer was made.

In the back of her mind, Jahaan had always thought about starting her own business. After all, it ran in her blood with her father also being an entrepreneur, but she was always just afraid to make that big leap. Every time she had thoughts about it she talked herself out of it saying ‘I need more experience’. After someone reminded her how great she was at consulting, and she saw all of the invoices teams were paying people for services like what she could offer, she decided it was time to start working on her own, gaining experience by building her business while still working her full-time job. 

Unfortunately, the company she was working with on the side just wasn’t a good fit and when she jokingly asked a friend/ colleague if they wanted to hire someone as a consultant she received a shocking response - YES. Her friend talked her up to her boss about the position and within hours Jahaan had only 30 seconds to accept an offer that could change the trajectory of her entire future. She said yes.

With no safety net, LLC, or real plan formulated, Jahaan had made her leap. After spending so many years in corporate, feeling like something was missing, she decided that she was just going to figure things out, do what makes her happy and feel fulfilled, while putting money into her pocket.

Jahaan began to pivot into coaching because so many friends and colleagues came to her for advice (they still do!). She realized how much she enjoyed helping women deal with things she too had gone through, and teaching them how to advocate for themselves. She started by interviewing a handful of women, and the trade off was her giving them the opportunity to ask her any questions they had and offer up advice. 

Friends, the very first person she talked to asked about her coaching packages. 

She quickly put together a proposal and consulting contract, offering three levels of services. Now Jahaan offers paid services, alongside her podcast, a tremendous value (for free!). Jahaan is super passionate about her clients and the services she offers and while she doesn’t love the feeling of selling herself, she has adopted the mindset of:

“I’m helping you. If you need help, I’m here”.

This helps to keep her mindset balanced when selling her services. 

When organizations approach her, she reminds herself (and them) how she can help their staff perform better and gain better results for the company by consistently offering up value.

You can connect with Jahaan on Instagram and LinkedIn, get more information on her services on her website, and gain tremendous value through her podcast.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “You can either learn just by trial by fire, and some people just want to accelerate their career and get support on those core things and help them to have that dream career and get exactly what they want.”
• “This was her job, and she was doing what it took to get it.“
• “Every time she had thoughts about it she talked herself out of it saying ‘I need more experience’.”
• “After spending so many years in corporate, feeling like something was missing, she decided that she was just going to figure things out, do what makes her happy and feel fulfilled, while putting money into her pocket.”

Resources:

• Find Jahaan on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jahaan on Instagram
• Check out Jahaan’s website
• Listen to A Game of Her Own with Jahaan Blake
• Get more information on Jahaan’s Group Coaching program
• Work 1:1 with Jahaan in her Private Coaching program
• Trello
• Dave to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown

While the podcast may be on summer break, my team and I will still be working behind the scenes, serving our clients and planning for the second half of 2021. That being said, we have and will continue to add new trainings and downloads to our website to support you on your journey of building your online business while working a full-time job. 

You can head to www.shediditherway.com and click “Free Trainings.” I hope you have an amazing July and will talk to you in August! 

When it comes to goal setting, there is the process (tactical) side and then the emotional side. The tactical side is reviewing results, planning your goals, creating massive action lists, putting your activities on your calendar and executing. The emotional side of goal setting is...our thoughts, the feelings that drive our actions in how we set goals, and how we think about our goals and the results we create. 

Tactical (Actionable) Steps

1. Reflect on the results you have created thus far in 2021. These results will be facts. For example, the amount of money you made, the size of your email list, the number of clients you have or have worked with.
2. Decide the one main goal you want to achieve by the end of 2021. If you’re already in business, I recommend making it a financial goal. 
3. Then break your one main goal into 6 mini goals, one for each month that will help you achieve your main goal. 
4. Create a massive action list.
5. Schedule and plan your results on your calendar.
6. Execute.

Emotional Steps

1. When you reflect on your goals, do it from a clean and neutral place. Maybe you hit the goals you set out for yourself at the beginning of 2021 - amazing. Maybe you didn’t - that’s okay. You want to avoid judgment, shame, frustration on the results you achieved or didn’t achieve. For example, let’s say you set a financial goal that you didn’t hit, rather than shaming or judging yourself for not hitting your goal (which will cause you to think negative, non-supportive thoughts), we want to remain as neutral as possible during this step. It is important to set your future goals from a clean place and not carry emotions that don’t benefit you. 
2. Decide the one main goal you want to achieve by the end of 2021. If you’ve already launched your business, I recommend making it a financial goal. I recommend setting one that inspires you and stretches you. One that gets you excited about the next 6 months but doesn’t overwhelm you at the same time. 
3. Then break your one main goal into 6 mini goals, one for each month that will help you achieve your main goal. Here you might use a tool that I call “timeline tool.” When you’re starting out building your business, you don’t have as much evidence or track record to plan the future with. When this happens, attempting to plan in detail the next 6 months or 12 months can be overwhelming and leave you feeling uncertain. Anytime you experience that, I recommend bringing the timeline in closer to you. Here, you know what your goal is at the end of 2021 but rather than trying to plan a mini goal for each month, start with the next 30 days and trust that at the end of the 30 days, you’ll know how to plan the next 30 days. For some of you, you’ll know the focus for the next 6 months and some of you won’t. That is okay, nothing has gone wrong. Meet yourself where you are. 
4. Create a massive action list. Let’s say you’ve decided on your mini-goal for the month ahead. Create a massive action list of everything you need to do in order to achieve the goal you set out for yourself. 
5. Schedule and plan your results on your calendar. When you do this, focus on what you’re going to produce, not just do. 
6. Execute. You can do all the other steps in the planning process but if you don’t take action, you will not produce the results you desire nor achieve your goals. If you have activities scheduled on your calendar but not taking action there could be a few different things at play:

• Is what is on your calendar specific enough for your brain to easily take action?
• Time of day
• Need to create a track record of success
• Identify supporting thoughts which I’m going to dive into in just a moment
   

Now that you know the results you’ve created thus far, let’s shift and focus on who you want to be, who is your future self? Take space and time to vision who your future self is (what does her life look like, how does she feel, what is she thinking?). If you’re not used to doing this exercise it may feel a little uncomfortable at first and your brain may resist the idea of you creating any life that you want but I promise you that the more you practice invision and getting to know your future self the more it will come naturally. For this step you want to really tap into the emotions of what she feels on a regular basis. If at any point you do feel heavy resistance, zoom out, get less specific. 

The last step is to create a list of thoughts to think on purpose. Decide your top 3 feelings you want to feel on purpose that allows you to take action so that you produce your results. Next, create a list of thoughts to think that generate that feeling. 

If you want to feel confident, you could think:

“I know what I’m doing.” “I can handle anything.” “I can do hard things.”

The more supportive thoughts you have listed out the more you can pull from when you need them.

For example, going back to the execution step, maybe you’re not taking action because you’re thinking about how tired you are after working a full day at your corporate job. How can you replace that thought with a supporting thought that inspires you to get motivated? What thoughts do you want to think on purpose when you run into a roadblock as you build your business (whether it be tech not working, no one signing up for your offers)? 

 

A Final Note

Anticipate and expect challenges and problems along the way. Plan ahead of time how you want to think about the problems and challenges. Will you make them mean that you’re not cut out to do what you’re doing OR will you accept them as part of the process and press on? Remember that problems are forever and you’ll learn how to navigate them.

The future only exists in your mind and you can either create your future from your future or from your past. Your brain loves to create from your past because of what it already knows.

Finally, Have fun. If you wait to have fun until you reach a certain milestone you will always be waiting. Don’t wait for a condition to be fulfilled in order to be a certain way. Behave a certain way regardless of the external circumstance and that is how you become your future self.

Until next time, friends, keep doing it your way!

This is a rule that I’ve used for years in my own life and I coach my students to use this rule. 

Here’s why this works…because when it comes to doing something (let’s say ‘work on your business’) and you find that you only have 20 minutes, your brain defaults to simply thinking, “that’s not enough time to make a difference.” It automatically discounts the impact it could make in just 20 minutes. 

But the truth is, absolutely, yes it is. 20 minutes is more than enough to make headway. 

We tend to discount the time it takes to do something because we think inherently it may take longer to complete than it actually does. Partly the reason why we think it takes longer to complete something than it actually does is because it is too vague and not specific enough. 

Take for example, tax season. For years I would think that if I didn’t have a 4-hour chunk of time there is no way I could get anything worthwhile done as it related to taxes and that was simply not the case. The goal is to break down your overall intention into bite-sized, action steps with a very clear result at the end of the 20 minutes.

Rather than “working on your business,” how can you get more specific?

For example, instead of saying work on…

Business website, you’d say….write first draft for “about me page”

Email sequence for X product, you’d say….write outline for the email sequence or write the drafts of the first 2 emails

Launch sequence, you’d say...write outline for launch sequence or decide dates for launch sequence

Podcast episode, you’d say...write first draft of next week’s episode

Opt-in, you’d say...write outline, or pick Creative Template.

We focus on this inside Her Way to $75K because the majority of the members are building their online business while working their full-time job, so it is even more important to take advantage of those 20 minute opportunities than to dismiss them as simply not useful. 

I also recommend that if you are building your online business while working full-time and find it challenging to get into a routine when it comes to working on your business, start with 20 or 25 minutes a day for just 2 days a week. 

It is kind of like working out. If you haven’t worked out in months and try to go from zero days or minutes of working out to working out 60 minutes a day 5 days a week, it is going to be hard to maintain that routine for long and you may find yourself giving up and not sticking with it. If you’re not used to working your business in addition to your full-time job, I would not recommend setting a goal to work on your business for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. That is a lot for your brain to take on. 

Instead, start small and build the routine and track record of success for your brain. 

Start with 20 minutes a day for 2 days. 

Be very clear and specific what you want the outcome to be at the end of those 20 minutes.

By doing this you are building your capacity which will then allow you to increase it in a more sustainable way because you’ll be able to stay consistent and follow through. 

If you’re not sure what to work on, where, or how to get started, join us inside Her Way to $75K where I coach you on all things online business. 

You could also apply the 20 minute rule to your personal life...whether that is cleaning, taking the garbage out, you name it. Think about all the things you may potentially be procrastinating on because your brain thinks it needs more time than it actually does to make an impact. 

Consistent action overtime is what makes the biggest difference. 

So next time your brain thinks, “Ahhh that isn’t enough time to get X done…” challenge yourself to see what you CAN get done in that time you have...even if it is 20 minutes, 15, 10, 5 minutes. 

The action you take today, even if it is only for 20 minutes, will put you further ahead tomorrow. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s episode, until next week, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “We tend to discount the time it takes to do something because we think inherently it may take longer to complete than it actually does.”
• “Consistent action overtime is what makes the biggest difference.”
• “Instead, start small and build the routine and track record of success for your brain.”
• “The action you take today, even if it is only for 20 minutes, will put you further ahead tomorrow.”

Resources:

• Join me inside Her Way to $75K

They began doing small projects on the side like logo and website design. They decided to pitch their business to a few people who had approached them to do marketing work for them in-house. Despite not having officially launched their business, they decided to take the chance. They pitched them both, and both gave them a resounding ‘YES’.

They hadn’t officially even put together a scope of work, rates, etc., and made decisions as they went along, but the companies both recognized them as people they wanted on their team.

Aisha and Destinee have learned many lessons along the way in their business journey, including difficult lessons (like needing to open a business banking account before depositing a business check), but that is what I love about their journey, that they didn’t let these small things set them back from taking huge steps forward. Building a business is anything but perfect and their story demonstrates exactly how much we can do without having all of the logistical administrative tasks finished before we take that first step. 

After almost 5 years in business, their team has grown to include several key team members including assistants, accountants, attorneys, and more. They have learned as they went along and are still learning and pivoting as needed every single day. Their business continues to thrive and are consistently being referred to new potential clients. 

Looking back, they remember times in the first few years where they were resistant to hop on calls with new potential clients. While those uncomfortable conversations are so much easier via email, they have learned that they are essential. Sales calls aren’t comfortable to most people - how do you just ‘ask’ people for money? This was something Destinee and Aisha navigated through, along with so many other high-level elements of building a business.

During their second and third years in business, they navigated through things like boundaries. Setting, maintaining, and respecting them. In years three and four they learned how to manage their team in a more effective and efficient way (including firing employees) and also learned the legal ropes of owning a business.

When they first launched their business they recognized that they were very much ‘green’. They went in with no business plan, no financial goals, etc. They just started doing it because it was something they genuinely loved (and bonus, were amazing at!). They were willing to figure it out as they went along in the process. That made it really easy to just continuously go with the flow each step of the way, propelling their business forward. 

In hindsight, they realized they needed a business plan but at the same time it gave them the freedom of owning their mindset. They went full force from their passion and just enjoyed the process.

“We had no expectations, so we weren't being let down.”

Since then, Creative Label has grown from a small scale Etsy shop selling Snapchat Geofilters to a full service agency, specializing in branding, marketing, and public relations, helping their clients to execute their vision in the digital space.

They have also learned how to divide and conquer - trusting each other fully along the way. Additionally, they allow one another the autonomy to make executive decisions for the good of the company to ensure their boundaries are maintained while still providing a high-level service. They step away when needed and respect one another by keeping their friend time and business time separate and always maintain a united front for the team.

Want to hear more from Destinee & Aisha? Check out The Label Podcast. You can also connect with them individually (Aisha + Destinee). You can also text POD to 310-982-2662 to get high-level tips right from these incredible ladies! Lastly, you can head over to their website to learn how you can work with them.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Despite not having officially launched their business, they decided to take the chance.”
• “We had no expectations, so we weren't being let down.”
• “They just started doing it because it was something they genuinely loved (and bonus, were amazing at!).”
• “They have also learned how to divide and conquer - trusting each other fully along the way.”

Resources:

• Find Creative Label on Instagram
• Visit their website
• Reach out to Aisha
• Connect with Des
• Listen to The Label Podcast
• To get free high-value tips and more (no spam here!), text POD to 310-982-2662
• Traction by Gino Wickman
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• Slack
• ClickUp

This led her down the path of eventually appearing on Oprah, and ultimately leading her to her dream life working with fellow female entrepreneurs. Long story short, Kristi was asked to participate in what has become her dream project hosting a docu series, Millionaire Within Her, about women and money. 

Kristi’s journey is very colorful in that it is anything but linear and she truly followed what felt good to her and what she truly enjoyed doing, rather than following what was expected of her. She wants to teach her son that whatever he puts his energy and time into should also be something fun, that he is passionate about and an adventure. 

Another thing Kristi leans into is knowing that our feelings are there for a reason. They are always trying to tell us something and in Kristi’s journey those two things are fear and fun. If it is something that makes her ‘spidey-senses’ tingle, it's something she should definitely be diving into. She has realized over the years that you should be waking up every day with passion and excitement doing something you absolutely love. 

‘That is where your gifts truly shine. That's where you can really explore yourself, because you're just in your bliss.’

One gift Kristi’s acting journey has given her is learning that rejection is the norm. She was turned down many times and this essentially gave her a thicker skin to keep pushing forward, gently reminding herself, ‘you will be fine’.

Kristi knows exactly what it means to fill her own cup and demonstrate that making a commitment to yourself can bring so much self-awareness.

Kristi has also found herself dealing with imposter syndrome (sound familiar?) on occasion. She has learned that there are so many incredible people out there but to stop comparing herself and continue connecting with our own valuable gifts. 

She often finds herself reminding herself;

 ‘It's not going to be perfect. It's going to be messy, but it’s me. It's going to be who I am.’

But over everything, Kristi prioritizes her authenticity and is simply focused on just showing up.

Through her entrepreneurial circle, Kristi met a man who asked if she would host a series about women and money. The catch was that he was having trouble finding the women. Kristi knew exactly where to start.

I said, ‘Jeff, it's not about women and money. It's it's whole conversation about women stepping into who they are, and their worth, and their passion and their purpose.’

Kristi is the host of an incredible docu series, the Millionaire Within Her. In this series you will meet 45 incredible women who teach and inspire you through their unique stories and journeys. They range from best selling authors to high-powered business women. You’ll meet relationship experts, health experts, and more. But it doesn’t matter who it was - simply listening to each of these powerful stories truly changed Kristi, for the better.

It was truly humbling and an honor to be able to participate in this series with Kristi, alongside so many inspiring women. I’m so excited to binge watch every single episode myself and ‘meet’ these other incredible women. 

The Millionaire Within Her docu series is totally free to watch but it’s only available to watch for a short time and I highly recommend taking the time to check out each unique story.

One final thought from Kristi...

‘We are all on a journey. Nobody starts at the top, we all started somewhere.’

Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “Another thing Kristi leans into is knowing that our feelings are there for a reason.”
• “You will be fine.”
• “She has learned that there are so many incredible people out there but to stop comparing herself and continue connecting with our own valuable gifts.”
• “[It's] not about women and money. It's it's whole conversation about women stepping into who they are, and their worth, and their passion and their purpose.”

Resources:

• Check out Millionaire Within Her
• Connect with Kristi Frank on Instagram

Over the past six years I have invested thousands of dollars to grow my business and myself. I have learned so much about myself and why I made certain investment decisions along the way and I hope this podcast episode will serve as a bit of a roadmap to help you assess which program or course is a good fit for you. I also want this to serve as a tool for a healthy mindset to approach that program, course, or investment that you have made and help you discover how to set up a routine and structure for the programs and courses you enroll in so that it doesn’t become a product that collects digital dust.

If you have listened to (any) previous episodes you already know how much I love my routines. Laying the foundation and having the proper systems in place is what allows us to be successful.

In this episode I’m diving into how to get the most out of your coaching programs and courses that you have or are considering investing in and for the sake of this episode, I’d like to call them ‘investments’. 

Over the past six years I have enrolled in over $60,000 worth of coaching and trainings and when I began to write the outline for this episode I really considered my approach, my mindset, the results, why I did or did not achieve results, and the answers all fell into three specific buckets.
 

The 3 Buckets

• How to cultivate a healthy and inspiring mindset towards courses and programs
• How to decide which program or course is actually the best fit at that time
• How to get the most out of any coaching program

Additionally, I want to acknowledge that you may be listening to this podcast and have yet to make a financial investment in yourself and in your future and that alone can be scary, exciting, and overwhelming, all at the same time and I hope that this podcast episode can serve as inspiration and guidance for you in that capacity. 

You could be listening to this podcast and have enrolled in a previous course or program, gotten mediocre results or results that you didn’t expect or hope for. Maybe that was in part because you had the best of intentions but life got busy and so you never fully followed through. I have certainly been there. Maybe the next time you considered making a similar investment you questioned yourself because the voice in the back of your head reminded you that last time you paid money for a program you didn’t actually finish it. So why would this time be different? The self-doubt sets in and you’re already failing to take action because you've created that negative thought loop. Or maybe you decided to enroll in a course or program, and you look for evidence of what happened in the past, finding holes are gaps, and then you create the same mediocre results versus the results that you want to achieve.

What I have learned is that if we can create a routine and structure around these programs and courses we are more likely to keep ourselves accountable to it.

Mindset:

Own your results

Pay attention to the thoughts that you have when considering the course or program you want to enroll in and make sure you are approaching it thinking that this is going to be THE ONE. 

Avoid assuming that the course or coaching program is going to fix your problems or challenges. For example, it can be easy to enroll in an email marketing course and think that you’ll soon wake up with an email list of 1,000 subscribers. The course and coach provides the vehicle and assistance towards achieving your goals but they can’t create the result for you. 

Expect challenges along with highs and lows; not to attract them but to not be thrown off when they happen, because they will. Stay committed to the result and your why for signing up for the course or program in the first place. 

Learn one, implement one. 

I highly recommend sticking to one course or coaching program at a time unless they are complimentary of one another. If you enroll in an email marketing course, I would make email marketing your focus for the next 30-60-90 days, depending upon your schedule. 

Avoid enrolling in a new course every single month without fully implementing the course work from the previous investment you made. It can get overwhelming and this can leave you with opening a loop but never actually finishing or closing that loop leaving you feeling depleted and overwhelmed. I think this is what happens a lot when you’re starting out trying to do all the things and start so many things that actually leads to burnout because you’re starting something but not finishing it. 

Where this may be different is if you’re in two programs that are not competing with each other. Example: Grow You vs a Facebook Ads program. Sometimes we think we’re producing a lot or being productive because we’re in a lot of programs but what matters is not just the consumption of content but the implementation of it. 

In Her Way to $75K members use the membership to the fullest extent taking advantage of the courses, coaching and community. For some, they’re enrolled in Her Way to $75K to help keep them accountable with what they’re working on and to get access to coaching and community, but they’re not actively going through all the content. Think of it like someone with a gym membership but also works with a nutritional coach in conjunction on their fitness journey.

Don’t just show up to show up. Show up to learn. Lean into group coaching calls, listen to the replay if you couldn’t make it live, if you can make it live, think of a question you want to have, avoid being passive if possible, submit questions.

How to decide which course or program is the best fit:

First, I think this varies based on which stage of business you’re in. 

When you’re first starting out, if you’re overwhelmed and not sure which direction you want to go, the key is to just start and create SOME sort of track record. For example, even if you don't know exactly who you want to help or how, creating content is a great way to produce work and practice being consistent and diligent and in turn build up an audience. If you commit to creating content for 6 months consistently and showing up, you’ll be further along in building an audience than if you never started. So while it might not be the exact place (or maybe it is) that you want to end up, the whole point is to get started.

What do you need to do in this moment to take you to the next level? Always be asking yourself this as you continue on your growth plan. In some seasons it may be to simply learn to be consistent and just start. For others, it may be focusing on your email marketing for a quarter, and others may decide you want to start a podcast and so you focus on that for 3 months, or maybe it is Facebook ads.

A few quick notes on getting the most out of a program or course:

• Decide how long you want to make that course or program a focus. Some coaching programs might be a predetermined length of time; 6, 8, 9 weeks, etc. If that is the case, make that your sole focus for that period of time. 
• Always have a goal or an outcome that you’re working towards in mind. What would success look like at the end of the program? Always own your results. 
• If you’ve enrolled in a course that is one where you can go at your own pace…give yourself a 30/60/90 day window to focus only on that one thing. In Her Way to $75K we help our members create focus and accountability on their one monthly thing and area of focus.

Laying Your Foundation For Success:

• Put any coaching calls with Zoom links on your calendar right away
• Carve out specific time blocks on your calendar for when you’re going to focus on that program's content. Maybe it is every Monday from 6-8 PM or every Tuesday from 5-7 AM, whenever it is put it on your calendar. As you start the program you’ll begin to figure out exactly what you’re going to do and what you can produce during those time blocks.
• Create a folder inside your email inbox. In our onboarding emails anytime a student signs up or enrolls in Podcast Your Way or Her Way to $75K we make this part of their onboarding checklist. This way any emails that come through from the program can be neatly organized and easy to be found from weekly recaps, username/password, you name it. 
• Create a bookmark on your browser making it easy to locate course/program content. 
• Don’t rely on the program to motivate, inspire or produce your results - those are all up to YOU! 

A Final Note:

Make sure you create constraints to not get distracted by other offers that are out there. Trust me, it can be really easy to think you NEED something that someone is marketing to you because they’re marketing is just that GOOD and while it may be beneficial and THAT good. The question is, 

“Does this aid in my focus or create split focus?”

I think sometimes we think we need something because we are subconsciously thinking “What if I don’t get it now? What will happen” and there becomes this scarcity thinking that surrounds our decision. There will always be offers, there will always be opportunities, you just need to decide which one you are going to focus on in this moment. 

Lastly, be careful of what you make the investment mean. If you expect it to solve everything for you, you could find yourself disappointed. Instead, focus on finding ONE thing. Sometimes it was the smallest shifts that actually made the biggest change later on that I didn't see right away.

Recap:

1. Own your results from the beginning, no matter what program you decide to invest in.
2. Make sure that you decide which program is the best fit for you based on where you're at in your journey and asking ‘what do I need in this moment in order to get to that next stage?’.
3. Ensure that you set up systems and structures in place so that you can set yourself up for success when it comes to that coaching course or program.

As always, if you enjoyed this episode, I'd love for you to tag us on Instagram (@shediditherway) and share what you loved most or what you’re implementing into your own life!

If you are someone who is starting early stages of building your business while working full time and you need help (maybe it's getting clear, maybe you need structure or even accountability) I invite you to check out Her Way to $75k. Her Way to $75k is our monthly membership program with over 50 trainings already inside, includes weekly coaching calls and a private Facebook Community, and every quarter you’ll get new templates for Instagram and Pinterest. I would love to work with you! To learn more just head to our website to learn more!

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “If we can create a routine and structure around these programs and courses we are more likely to keep ourselves accountable to it.”
• “Don’t just show up to show up. Show up to learn. Lean into group coaching calls, listen to the replay if you couldn’t make it live, if you can make it live, think of a question you want to have, avoid being passive if possible, submit questions.”
• “It can be really easy to think you NEED something that someone is marketing to you because they’re marketing is just that GOOD and while it may be beneficial and THAT good.”
• “Sometimes it was the smallest shifts that actually made the biggest change later on that I didn't see right away.”

Resources:

• Join Her Way to $75K
• Find out about Podcast Your Way
• Connect with me on Instagram

After being consistently asked how her company landed such deals, she launched the Speak Your Way To Cash brand, with the book launching at the end of this year! Speak Your Way To Cash is one of the most unique and successful speaker training programs on the planet. Inside, Ashley teaches speakers how to start at the top of their speaking market with a five or six-figure corporate speaking offer.

Ashley is extremely passionate about her business and truly loves her life’s work and what it has afforded her. She loves impacting listeners both internally with her employees and team members as well as externally.
 

The Short Story…

Ashley has always thrived on certainty. She liked knowing that if she did A, B, and C, she would get D. She likes progression and felt that corporate was the way to go. However, she wanted to figure out how to make more money in the corporate world. Once she learned the art of salary negotiation it became easy for her to make more money as a corporate professional. 

Around the age of 25-26, Ashley’s salary was already at $200K and with her savvy skills she negotiated a $100K raise, bringing her salary to $300K per year. She began working for someone who had been recruiting her for years, but after starting to work together, it just didn’t align; ‘It was like straight out of Horrible Bosses’. It was just not the best dynamic.

Knowing that it wasn’t a good fit, Ashley began to hype herself up, knowing what her worth was and trying to get her brain to realize that no matter what they were already paying her, she was worth more. They were just paying her to keep her there.

While working in the corporate world Ashley began putting herself up for awards and national publications and also had her own YouTube show. On her production level quality YouTube show, Passion, Purpose & Paychecks, she interviewed entrepreneurs who had left their jobs to do something they were passionate about - but they also dove into their financial journey and how much they were making.

Ashley put a lot into her YouTube channel working with producers from the Steve Harvey Show and NBC Universal as well as having a professional videographer, cue cards, call times, and a full hair and makeup team. 

“One of my goals was to be Oprah. I want to have my own talk show.”

Despite already working in corporate, Ashley knew there was something else she wanted to do, but just couldn’t determine how to monetize it or what it actually looked like. Realizing that she was becoming stagnant, she decided to make a change, put her money where her mouth is and go all in. 

However, people still saw her as a lawyer and didn’t know they could actually do business with her because she wasn’t selling anything, just connecting to and meeting people. 
 

The Tipping Point

Feeling tired of being unheard and disrespected at work Ashley began to really look outside her corporate bubble to see where she could go, how she could build and grow a business, and do what she was passionate about. She had seen so many of her mentors, peers and people whom she admired take the disrespect because they were trapped by the money. When she had become consistently unheard and brushed off when bringing up concerns Ashley decided she did not want that life, or the life of those at the top either.

Ashley had written a book in college called The Law School Hustle, all about her journey becoming an attorney. At some point in her time in college she nearly gave up but pushed her way through and wound up graduating at the top of her class from Northwestern Law School. She took her speaking experience as a trial lawyer, her experience from writing her book, and started speaking while building her own law firm.

It took roughly six months for her law firm to start generating any revenue, but in the last six months of her first year in business her gamble had paid off and she had generated over $100,000 in revenue. The following year her business grew 400%, and again the year after that. She continued on with her momentum building her law firm and landing speaking contracts. Ashley took what she knew she was good at and her transferable skills to create something she truly was passionate about.

Ashley and her team are hosting their 6th Speak Your Way To Cash (virtual) event this year and offers a high-level six-month coaching program called The Academy, where she builds out five and six figure offers with her clients. They continue to evolve the business by listening to exactly what their clients want and need and never resting on their laurels.

One thing Ashley does admit to wishing she would have done sooner was offer people a way to work with her after speaking engagements. At the time she would offer paid speaking engagements where she would give people the tools they needed but in many cases they still felt stuck on where to start after that. Looking back, Ashley wishes she would have offered some kind of coaching to those people because they were walking away with all of this high-level information and super excited about their journey, but felt stuck and needed that push and validation to get started. 
 

The PAID Method (Ashley’s Proprietary Coaching Method)

P = Press
It's great to have a brand, all corporate clients will Google you and they're not going to just look at what you send them. They're going to go to Google and Google something. So it's great if you have a press strategy and a way to showcase what other people are saying about how great you are. 

A = Assemble
Then you want to assemble your offer. It should be a package - the ultimate package. Don't just sell someone on one speech. They may need two or three speeches to get their end result, or they may need a couple of consulting sessions to get their end result. Assemble that offer together and have it ready to go for your clients. They know that you can't just do one thing, you can do a lot of different things and continue to serve them for a long time. 

I = Invite
Have a strategy for inviting people to work with you. Know your sales plan, how you plan to sell your service, and what you want to make money on. 

D = Deliver
Deliver amazing service and a really good product that is memorable and impactful. Have a way to deliver that information that you've thought out and formulate in a way you’re confident in.
 

Ashley now lives a modest lifestyle, but the one thing she and her family love to splurge on is travel (especially to Thailand!). Having a business that has afforded her the ability to mold her lifestyle so it fits how she and her family want to live has been something that makes her never look back. It motivates her to keep moving forward and helps her business continue to thrive. 

Want to hear more about Ashley’s upcoming book launch or connect with her one-on-one? Check out her website or email her directly (she still loves to handle her own emails!).

Until next time, friends, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “She began working for someone who had been recruiting her for years, but after starting to work together, it just didn’t align; ‘It was like straight out of Horrible Bosses’.”
• “Cultivate that confidence.”
• “One thing Ashley does admit to wishing she would have done sooner was offer people a way to work with her after speaking engagements.”
• “Your price is always talking. I didn't like what my prices were saying to my clients, when my prices were lower. I wanted them to know they're getting the best of the best. We are world class. We have trained all over the world. I have spoken in other countries, like they needed to know that and not from just what I said, but from the price they were paying me to do business with them.”

Resources:

• Check out Speak Your Way To Cash
• Join the Speak Your Way To Cash Facebook group
• Grab Your Copy of The Law School Hustle by Ashley Nicole Kirkwood
• Contact Ashley via Email

For years I have spent time always being in a rushed state. Being in this rushed state controlled how I ran my business and my life. It wasn’t until I shifted who I was being and how I showed up that ultimately shifted the results I could create in my business. That is, I went from being this person who was always in a state of rushing, to slowing down. Now, just because I started to slow down and I stopped rushing, it didn't mean that my results and outcomes started to slow down as well. Actually, it did the opposite; because when we take massive action, we get massive results.

However, if the place in which we are taking action from, is rushing, then it's going to change the type of results we get. I know that when starting a business, there can be the sense of ‘I need to hurry up, I need to get over there’, and it creates a rushing energy because we so badly want to quit our job.

In the beginning stage of building your business there are a lot of emotions, the feeling of imposter syndrome, fear, self-doubt, highs, and lows. You question whether or not you have what it takes and want to rush to get somewhere different. Whereas consistent, steady, massive, and intentional action can actually allow us to get to a good place and do it in a way that feels good. 

In today's episode, I want to talk about why we rush into action, what happens when we rush into action, and also some of our fears around slowing down. What happens when you shift from taking action from a place of being rushed to a place of confidence and steadiness is that it will positively impact your results. It allows you to show up differently and be more constructive and intentional with how you are spending your time.
 

Why Do We Rush Into Action?

Typically, I have found that when I think about why I was rushing is because I thought I would get somewhere faster. Maybe if I rushed, I would achieve something faster. It could be from a sense of time scarcity, or feeling like I don’t have enough time, so I have to hurry up and produce and take action. If we don't think that we have enough time, we're rushing around the desire to be anywhere other than where we are right now. This is really common in the beginning stages of building your business we think that if we take action faster and we hurry up and rush, that we are going to be able to leave our corporate job sooner. So it's this desire to be anywhere except where we are at that point. Alternatively, sometimes we want to avoid being uncomfortable and we think that ‘over there’ is better, so we try to action our way ‘over there’.

You might also find that you have a belief that rushing equals hustle, which equals the result you want, and that slowing down is equated to believing that you will not achieve the outcome you want in a timely manner. 

These are all different reasons why we rush into action and all of them stemming from the thoughts we think.
 

What Actually Happens When We Rush Into Action?

When we operate from a place of rushing, we can potentially go down a path that we don't actually even want to be on, not realizing that it is not the right path until we get to the end. At that point, we’ve invested so much time and energy into rushing down path A that you don’t even realize you should have taken path B. 

This ultimately puts us into a state of overwhelm and puts us into self-sabotaging thought loops (‘I did this wrong’, ‘I should have known better’, etc.).

We also need to learn to evaluate what is working and what isn’t working along the way and if you are rushing through, you won’t give yourself space to stop and do this because we think that we just need to keep taking action. Mistakes are often made when we go down a path of rushing and what happens is that we’re moving down the path so quickly that we don’t stop to acknowledge those mistakes and learn from them, or worse yet, correct them before moving on. 

Food For Thought

Here are some thoughts you can borrow to get your brain out of the habit of rushing and retrain it to start slowing down:

• I have plenty of time. I am not in a rush.
• Everything is happening at the exact time it is supposed to happen.
• I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
• I am making progress. I am trusting the process.
• I learn so much more when I slow down.
• It's okay to grow slow.

These are thoughts that I personally use and want to share with you to help teach you to slow down and operate from a place of taking consistent and steady action. I encourage you to see where those areas are in your business and in your life that can benefit from slowing down and just take inventory of them. Take note of what your beliefs are around slowing down as well. 

I have two quotes I want to leave you with this week (both came up as author unknown or anonymous) but I really like them and want to share them with you:

“I've learned to stop rushing things that need time to grow.”

Remember, your business needs time and space to grow. 

The second one is:

“Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.”

Yes, it can be a really crazy period in your life of building your business, but it's also such an amazing and fun time of building your business. Approach it from a place of curiosity and what am I going to learn? How much impact can I serve? What transformation can I offer to my clients? This will really allow us to operate from a place of consistent, steady action. 

I’d love for you to come hang out with me on Instagram and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week. 

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “When we operate from a place of rushing, we can potentially go down a path that we don't actually even want to be on, not realizing that it is not the right path until we get to the end.“
• “Typically, I have found that when I think about why I was rushing is because I thought I would get somewhere faster. Maybe if I rushed, I would achieve something faster. It could be from a sense of time scarcity, or feeling like I don’t have enough time, so I have to hurry up and produce and take action.“
• “I've learned to stop rushing things that need time to grow.“
• “Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed how much more life she had time for.”

Jenny’s business is multi-pronged and offers her clients a ‘done for you services’ side of the business as well as running full funnel, Facebook and Instagram ads, and in addition, offering courses and other digital products. Over the past 18 months, Jenny and her team have spent time launching courses, masterminds and new digital products to really have something for everyone. They identified gaps and knew their services could fill them and really became hyper focused on serving entrepreneurs helping them get started using ads. 

Starting her journey by going to college for advertising, Jenny literally saw herself making Gatorade commercials one day, eventually making her way into a big agency. That was her plan. She graduated college on a Friday and started working at her first agency job that following Monday. From the time she graduated college through the first few years in corporate, she continued to shift or pivot to something a bit different. After a few years she began to wonder why she felt this pull to transition every 18 months she needed to change up her path. She started to reflect on how she could really do things her own way and what route she should take.

Jenny is the type of person who responds well to what she refers to as the ‘parachute’ method (which she doesn’t necessarily to everyone). As stressful as it sounds, she literally shows up and takes action with no afterthought to the possibility of failure, thriving under pressure. She woke up one day and told her fiance that it was finally her time, put in her two-weeks notice and made her leap. She knew that to make massive change she needed to simply rip off the bandaid and go all in. 

For 3-6 months prior to making her leap, however, Jenny had started working with her own clients (smart, right?). This helped her brain to know that she could do this and felt safer when making this transition. Her side hustling helped her to grow as a person and she was able to  learn to serve her own clients even better. During this time, Jenny also learned that she enjoyed working on making sales, while doing it in her own way, and still learning how to grow. 

The day after Jenny made her leap, she wrote herself a letter. She dated it and has kept it with her ever since as a reminder of why she started. She still takes it out maybe once a year and lets it fuel her to keep moving forward on her dreams while keeping her grounded as well. 

“As an entrepreneur I feel like the farther you get away from day one, you kind of have days that are just not like you're in your zone. And in alignment, you can kind of get away from like, here's why we're doing the thing. Keep coming back to it.”

This year, Jenny has been in business for right around 5 years. But right around year 3 she experienced a phase where you’ve been in it for long enough that you’re learning what is working and what isn’t and could pivot her business accordingly. 

Now, Jenny works with a team of amazing people who are all very process oriented (a weaker spot for Jenny). She knows she is not going to go all-in on the processes so she has brought in team members who can fill that void. She also learned who her niche was, who she enjoyed working with the most and “wading through buckets of humans within a larger realm”. 

“The closer you get to yourself and getting really good at your craft, typically, the smaller your niche gets in general.”

Jenny is now in the mindspace where she (and her team) are hyper-focused on traction, or in her words, they’re “locked and loaded”. They know who they can help and they know they’re good at it. They believe so deeply that the transformations they can provide are immeasurable. She has learned how to reset people's mindsets so they aren’t intimidated by running Facebook or Instagram ads but has taught them how to approach them confidently and successfully and looks at every opportunity as an opportunity to help someone. 

“There's a high that comes with seeing someone get results.”

Jenny attributes much of her success to slow growth. Her business evolved over time to really grow into the six-figure business it is today. 

Jenny also thrives on and highly values her freedom, from so many viewpoints. Freedom of time, freedom of money, freedom of location, etc. The way Jenny has built her business has afforded her to live all of these freedoms, maintaining her passion for what she does. 

Three actionable things Jenny recommends to new entrepreneurs are:

Get to know yourself and be okay with that person

Pay attention to how you perform at your best

Crack open a business book or a book from an ‘expert’ and start reading!

If you want to learn more about Jenny and her amazing business check out her website, visit her at Have Them At Hello, or hang out with her on Instagram!

Until next time friends, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• After a few years she began to wonder why she felt this pull to transition every 18 months she needed to change up her path.“
• “As stressful as it sounds, she literally shows up and takes action with no afterthought to the possibility of failure, thriving under pressure.”
• “There's a high that comes with seeing someone get results.”

Resources:

• Visit Jenny’s Website
• Have Them At Hello
• Connect with Jenny on Instagram @jennysingh
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss & Tahl Raz

Trena has a background in business and she began to see exactly how powerful the YouTube platform was while watching videos. She also saw all of the limiting beliefs a lot of people had surrounding YouTube and decided to make her mark by helping business owners learn to use the platform in a very simple way, by making it easy to understand and helping them to create the right videos to get their content to show up in Google searches and last longer.  

One thing Trena also recognizes is the rat race that is social media and while on other platforms content has a shorter shelf-life YouTube videos can last much, much longer. Being able to help business owners realize that if they put the time into creating a quality video it will absolutely live a much longer life than other social media platform content. While an Instagram caption takes only seconds or minutes to write, YouTube media takes significantly longer. The difference is that the YouTube video’s shelf-life is significantly longer. Here is what Trena found:

Shelf-Life of Social Media Posts:

• Instagram grid post: 48-hours
• Facebook post: 6-hours
• YouTube video: 20+ DAYS

In fact, Trena has a video on YouTube that she posted in 2018 and still drives traffic to her email list now, 3 years later. 

Before Trena took the YouTube world by storm, she worked for the federal government (one of the largest employers in her town). While she did that she was still on the ‘hunt’ to find a way to create her own future the way she wanted it. The problem was that the path she was on was the ‘safe’ route. It came with a 401k, a retirement plan, and medical benefits. It was what she should be doing, according to everyone around her. Except it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Eventually her job began sucking her soul and she became more and more detached from her day-to-day role. 

After her daughter was born she decided to teach her daughter how to forge her own path and live life doing something she loved. She no longer wanted her job to affect her mental health and using her daughter as one point of inspiration, she decided it was time to create something of her own. 

Trena had watched webinars about creating courses and convinced her husband that she could do it too. She was determined to replace her income and two weeks before Christmas, Trena gave her two-weeks notice and left her job on New Year’s Eve.

While being a stay at home mom is an amazing responsibility Trena knew it wasn’t her calling. She needed something else to call her own and it to be something she actually enjoyed doing. Trena had dabbled in some client work and taken a few courses but wasn’t ready to put all of her eggs in one basket. She launched a course and had only 3 sales, one of which was a friend who wanted to support her. 

Backing up to when Trena was still pregnant, she had spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos researching items and other products she would need for her newborn. In 2016, not many businesses used YouTube yet and Trena realized she was really investing her time into what these people on the platform had to say and really bought into it. There was something here and saw how YouTube could be used as a marketing tool. 

With Trena’s first launch not doing as well as she had hoped, she feared she had made the wrong choice in leaving her 9-5. Her saving grace was that one of the clients she had been working with remembered her and she became known as the ‘YouTube video girl’. People began to reach out to her to help them with their own videos and through several of life's twists and turns here we are. No matter what, Trena just kept going. She eliminated what didn’t work and tweaked what did. She put on her blinders to keep herself from focusing on those around her and what they were doing so she could focus on what she needed to do.

During that time the hustle mentality was in full swing. Trena’s challenge was that she was competing with those around her who didn’t have to balance launching an empire and raising two kids. She knew the hustle mentality wasn’t going to work for her so she needed to find something that did. Finally in 2019 she felt like things just started to click and she became even more pumped for 2020 (we all know how that turned out).

2020 totally changed how Trena operated as a business owner and she learned how to transform her business to operate in the way she needed it to so she could balance her passion for what she did with her family’s needs. She learned what she needed to focus on each day to accomplish tasks and reach goals and how to really dedicate her time in a new and efficient way. Thus, 2020 was a banner year for Trena and her team and she was able to hire her first full-time employee.

One of the biggest lessons Trena has learned along the way is that mistakes are inevitable. She says:

“I think one of the biggest lessons is [that] you're going to make mistakes all the time. But you have to be able to recover from them. If I would have let myself sulk over hundreds of mistakes that I've made, or hundreds of failed pages that went up or didn't redirect, I literally would have been out of business years ago. So I think the biggest lesson is mistakes are always going to happen. Just learn from it and figure out how you can correct it moving forward.“

Trena is also highly focused on showing up in the most authentic way possible, even ditching the use of Instagram filters (big props here!). She wants others to see her show up as herself so that her clients (and everyone else) learns they too can show up as themselves, whether it’s on YouTube or otherwise. 

Another message Trena shares is that whether we like it or not, video is here to stay so start showing up there. 

“The only way people are going to buy from you or work with you is if they like you. And the only way they can figure out is if they like you is if they see you on video.”

Trena also wants to share a few key steps someone can take to get started using YouTube:

1. Use ‘greenlight’ videos 
2. Prepare a video game-plan
3. Create a video thumbnail and title

Unsurprisingly, Trena draws her inspiration from YouTube. She enjoys seeing what others are doing, seeing their successes and journeys and gaining inspiration from their stories and seeing where they started and where they are now.

Finally, Trena also dished with us her YouTube vs her Instagram strategy when it comes to posting content:

“One thing that I have been doing on Instagram is taking our YouTube video on the day it goes live. We have a carousel post and then the next day we do a reel from that video. We just chop it up and use the reel then the next day we do an IGTV. Then the following day we do a quote. We have about five pieces or five posts on Instagram and every Tuesday I've been trying to post like a selfie photo or taking a more personal picture and sharing more of a story. So it's not all informative but it's a way for people to connect with me. That's the only way I've really been using Instagram right now because I'd rather put the time that I have, again, like onions, add the layers that you can right now we just have the time to repurpose the YouTube video and create one special Instagram post a week.”

To connect with or learn more about Trena check out her YouTube channel or reach out to her on Instagram.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!
 

Insights:

• “Trena’s YouTube videos are her sales team and they do the heavy lifting for free working 24 hours a day and seven days a week.”
• “One thing Trena also recognizes is the rat race that is social media and while on other platforms content has a shorter shelf-life YouTube videos can last much, much longer.“
• “Trena knew the hustle mentality wasn’t going to work for her so she needed to find something that did.”
• “Trena wants others to see her show up as herself so that her clients (and everyone else) learns they too can show up as themselves, whether it’s on YouTube or otherwise.”

Resources:

• Check Out Trena’s YouTube Channel
• Visit Trena’s Website
• Connect with Trena on Instagram @trena_little
• Built To Sell by John Warrillow

Nikki considers herself a content creator and marketing mentor. She knows what it feels like to be in an unfulfilling job and wants to help others make a huge impact in the world. If you find yourself asking: “How the heck do I get my name out there?”, “How do I reach more people?”, or “How do I sign more clients and customers”, Nikki is your girl. Many people feel like they have already tried ev)erything and feel like they have exhausted all of their options and aren’t sure where (or how to best spend their time and they come to her asking for help. 

Nikki found that she could do what she loves and make money doing it and started her membership community called the Genius Profit Society (GPS). Inside, Nikki helps her members navigate their journey from where they are now to where they want to go, whether it’s writing books, speaking, coaching, consulting, freelancing - whatever that looks like for them, she helps them grow their ideal business. 

In 2014, after many years of working in corporate, Nikki decided it was time to branch out and start her own business. She knew that she was helping someone else build their dream and while she loved what she did, she wanted to build something of her own. She began to put away money and that fall she left behind her 6-figure career.

Nikki quit her job and headed on her annual family vacation to Mexico where she spent the first week enjoying fun in the sun with her loved ones, until her brain intercepted her fun in week two and got in her way. She began ‘thinking’ of all of the ‘what if’s’ that could possibly happen, started to panic and began to look for other jobs. Despite not wanting to go back to corporate, that is what her brain was telling her to do from its rational perspective. 

She decided to look for a job at a tech startup because she could learn how to build a business from the early stages. She had already worked for the big brands and this would give her an opportunity to learn how to market something smaller. She found a job as head of marketing, took a few months off, and started her new job that summer. 

After about a year and a half Nikki realized her job had once again consumed her life and she had become a walking zombie, simply going through the motions of life. It was time to start feeling fulfilled and just go for it. Nikki made her final leap, finally leaving behind her corporate career and launching her own business and heading right back to Mexico for their annual family vacation, but this time she enjoyed every moment of the trip celebrating her mom’s birthday.

Nikki was living in downtown Boston at the time and while she had some savings she also knew she was living in one of the most expensive places in the city. She got herself into a positive mindset reminding herself,

“I’ve got this.”

 Nikki’s passion and strength for networking pushed her to meet some of her biggest advocates and new clients. In her first year of business, she admittedly made some mistakes, but she didn’t let them hold her back from moving forward. She reminded herself,

“You're gonna continue making mistakes. It's okay, just learn and be kind to yourself through.”

Her business continued to evolve and she learned so many lessons along the way, many of which revolved around ensuring that her finances and income remained steady. She also continued to make sure that the clients she was working with were people she not only enjoyed working with, but were her target audience. Working with mostly startup companies in the beginning, Nikki has since made the pivot to working solely with female entrepreneurs who are looking to monetize their message. 

The biggest difference that she sees between her business now and when she first started out is how she has accomplished things to afford the opportunities, flexible schedule, and life that she always dreamed of. 

Nikki’s business has grown immeasurably, and her team has expanded as well, allowing her to make decisions that puts her priorities first. 

While Nike has coined the phrase ‘Just Do It, Nikki lives her life through that mantra saying, 

“Embrace failure. It's going to happen so you might as well. If you embrace it, it's going to hurt less than if you resist it.”

To learn more about Nikki, check out her podcast or connect with her on Instagram.

Insights:

• “You're gonna continue making mistakes. It's okay, just learn and be kind to yourself through.”
• “She knew that she was helping someone else build their dream and while she loved what she did, she wanted to build something of her own.”
• “Embrace failure. It's going to happen so you might as well. If you embrace it, it's going to hurt less than if you resist it.”

Resources:

• Listen to The Market Your Genius Podcast
• Connect with Nikki on Instagram @marketyourgenius
• Visit Nikki’s Website
• Join the Genius Profit Society
• The Game of Life And How To Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

I wanted to bring Stephanie onto the podcast because I think there are so many things that we can unpack about the power of our mindset. Being an entrepreneur is 80% mindset and if you’re in the right mindset we can be in the right state to get into action and create the results we want. So much of being an entrepreneur is 80% mindset; if we're in the right mindset, we can be in the right state, we take the right action, and we get into action to create the results.

Stephanie’s Process

Most of Stephanie’s clients first come to her with the thought that they want to increase their monthly revenue in their businesses. However, what comes along with that is all about mindset. The reason they aren’t bringing in the revenue they want is because they are usually caught up in self-sabotage, comparison, and even self-doubt. They must first create their feelings, which will trigger their actions and eventually gets them the results they want. She starts at the beginning and helps them to rewire their brains for success. They then move into ‘modeling’ where they follow successful people and model what they do to help them achieve results they personally value. 
 

How It All Started

Going back about ten years, Stephanie was teaching 5th grade making roughly $20,000 a year. She ‘thought’ that is what she was supposed to be doing and her whole life was really based around following the rules. She was barely making ends meat and just thought that was they way it was ‘supposed’ to be because someone else was giving her a paycheck and paying for her benefits package. What more could she want? 

Looking back, however, Stephanie can see how genuinely unhappy she was. She was struggling with stress dreams and while she was only contracted to work 30-35 hours per week she generally found herself working closer to 50 or even 60 hours per week.

Around the same time Stephanie married her husband, whom was in the process of starting his own photography business. During the wedding planning process he would occasionally slip in a logo he wanted her opinion on and because she was deep in ‘decision-making-mode’ she would quickly answer, not thinking much about it. It hasn’t occurred to her that he was hoping she would join his business. Eventually she realized she could provide some value in this business and began assisting in the process. 

In 2015, Stephanie lost her teaching job and financially they were stable and she had replaced her income, had landed them amazing opportunities to photograph all over the world, and secured them space in top publications and magazines. But at the same time something was holding her back. She suddenly couldn’t seem to secure new bookings and didn’t know why. The reality was, she was only doing things that she knew she could do. Anything that could result in a possible rejection, she wouldn’t follow through with. 

This was what self-sabotage looked like through her lens. It looks different for each of us but for Stephanie, she believed that if she overfilled her schedule and then started with the easy stuff she would eventually build up momentum to tackle reach the hard stuff. It wasn’t working and she never actually followed through. Those tasks just got moved to the next day. So every day there would be 4-5 things that never got done and would again be moved to the following day. All of these tasks revolved around sales and marketing activities. She had become so focused on what her peers might think of her that she forgot about the bigger picture, realizing they weren’t her ideal clients in the first place. The good thing is Stephanie learned how to turn that around in the future.

Stephanie’s mental health began to struggle during this time more as well and she began having daily panic attacks, until finally it all came to a head. One day she was so anxious about a conversation with her husband that she passed out on the stairs. At that point, she realized she had a problem.  

Now, Stephanie uses her personal experience to help others achieve their breakthroughs. She firmly believes that breakthroughs are a foundational element in each of our personal growth and that sometimes part of breaking through is breaking down. What she learned was if you're going to have a breakdown, you might as well make it into a breakthrough.

Stephanie has also become a firm believer in the power of journaling. She started by simply pouring her heart out and getting all of her emotions onto the page. She eventually started having ‘ideas’. She could see hope, began setting goals, and began writing about what she wanted in her future, rather than about the pain in her past. She began creating results for herself relatively quickly and rebuilt their business to over six figures in only four months. 

It wasn’t until someone reached out to her asking if they could pick her brain over coffee did she really begin to see her future coming together. It was her dream job, and despite not knowing what she was doing or where it would take her, she was all in. Stephanie truly loves working with clients and cares about the art form of coaching. 

From here, she began to build her business, and began getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Stephanie learned that changing her thoughts and changing her feelings it would change everything. She has built a life they absolutely love, and don’t need a vacation from. 

 Stephanie leaves us with this thought:

“Know that you can have the results. You don't have to follow conventional wisdom necessarily to get the life or the results you want in your business. You can get it the way that you show up best that is possible for you. You can have whatever income level you desire, and have a lifestyle that you personally thoroughly love and value.”

Thank you for joining me again this week beautiful friends! Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “Being an entrepreneur is 80% mindset and if you’re in the right mindset we can be in the right state to get into action and create the results we want.“
• “She firmly believes that breakthroughs are a foundational element in each of our personal growth and that sometimes part of breaking through is breaking down.“
• “If you're going to have a breakdown, you might as well make it into a breakthrough.”
• “Know that you can have the results. You don't have to follow conventional wisdom necessarily to get the life or the results you want in your business. You can get it the way that you show up best that is possible for you. You can have whatever income level you desire, and have a lifestyle that you personally thoroughly love and value.”

Resources:

• Connect with Stephanie on Instagram @thestephaniebooth
• Visit Stephanie’s Website
• Canva Pro
• Mindset by Carol Dweck
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

Kelly is an interior stylist, coach, and the passionate founder of Gratify Home where she teaches women to sustainably style homes they love while leaving a positive impact in this world. She does this through virtual one-on-one interior style coaching, designing directly with her clients, and virtual room design that is designed and done for you.

Kelly helps women overcome their sense of overwhelm in their own homes. They are generally curious about how they can also leave a positive legacy, about the food they eat, and where things are sourced from. They want to translate those values into their homes but feel stuck in knowing how to do this. 

That’s where Kelly comes in. She teaches them how to invest in themselves to be their own sustainable interior stylist and create a space they can be proud of. 

It all started when Kelly was still working in her corporate 9-5. Walking through her office one day she heard a voice call out to her in a loud whisper saying:

“You're not supposed to be here.”

She realized that her heart was not in her job and she was meant to do something completely different. She had a lot of pent up creativity that wanted nothing more than to be fulfilled. She began journaling to see where her journey would take her. She knew change could be scary, but she made her decision and was ready to face it. 

The year prior, Kelly had applied to participate in a program sponsored by her company. She hadn’t heard anything about it and had almost forgotten about the opportunity when one phone call changed the direction of her life. She was offered the opportunity to travel to India for 30 days doing pro bono work for her company. She accepted and traveled to Mumbai where she worked in what would be considered the poorest slums and worked with an education nonprofit and local mothers learning to be advocates for their children's education. 

The entire experience was incredibly transformational, very uncomfortable, and very emotional. She became obsessed with sustainable business models, how to use commerce and business as a way to alleviate poverty in a way that went beyond giving or volunteering, but rather in a way that is sustainable for artisans that preserves cultural craft.

The Creation of Gratify Home

She allowed her intuition to take over and filled her journal with things on her mind - ultimately questioning how she could funnel her passion and discomfort into something productive. 

She decided that the first step was to open an online boutique, selling goods for women and home. The items were fair trade and artisan made and really uplifted the makers from across the world. She wanted to introduce these beautiful goods to women and into their homes. She began hosting parties with her products in friend's homes all while still working her corporate 9-5. 

Kelly was admittedly a ‘corporate perfectionist’ and was trained to believe that the final product should always be perfect. That meant pushing back deadlines if need be. She knew this was something that she would need to retrain her brain to no longer believe. She needed to get comfortable with imperfection.   

Kelly finally realized that she was filling a much-needed industry void and decided it was her turn to really take that and run with it. She combined her industry experience and her passion to develop her own business model. She had also learned the part of business she didn’t like and how she could pivot her business from that. 

In early 2020, Kelly decided she no longer wanted to ship physical inventory and had planned to host a closing sale to clean out her inventory. She was going to cut the cord and transition into a fully virtual and digital business model. However, in March of 2020, Kelly’s health threw her a curveball. She initially assumed it was probably COVID and would be sick for a few weeks. A few weeks turned into much longer and she noticed that while she was recovering in some aspects, she was actually getting worse in others. It got to the point where one day she could no longer stand on her own, chew her meals, and even had trouble speaking. Kelly was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome. 

Because of COVID, Kelly was completely alone in the hospital. During her time in the hospital and during her months of recovery Kelly decided that this disorder would not define or defeat her. She decided that it was ultimately up to her to choose how to see what was happening to her and how she would deal with it. Leaning into losing her freedom during this time really set her on fire to move herself forward, even with baby steps. She began working even for just 15 minutes at a time. 

During our interview, Kelly said:

“It's not always easy. It's different for every person. But I just hope that sharing all that I've been through to make that leap reinforces the commitment, the drive, the fire, the choice that I felt. And I just hope that it will inspire you listening to know that you can also do it no matter what comes your way if it's in your heart, if it's the burning desire that you feel it as possible.“

Kelly’s Leap

Earlier this year (now into 2021), Kelly finally made the decision to not return to corporate America and to make it work, no matter what that looked like. It was a sense of relief mixed with fear, but Kelly has learned that fear is not necessarily a bad thing if you work through it. 

Kelly began pitching herself and despite her fear has made some incredible connections along her journey. She collaborates with other business owners doing Facebook or Instagram  Lives and through collaborative blog posts, like this one with Elizabeth Joy (whom she met at a SDIHW Summit!). She takes every opportunity to expand the scope, scale and exposure of her own audience. She has learned to focus on the ‘no’s’ and use them as learning experiences. 

Something Kelly and I have in common is that we both firmly believe in the Wayne Dyer quote,

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Kelly says,

“I always have a choice. And I am not the victim of life circumstances.”

Kelly looks at the world around her and is filled with gratitude by this world of possibilities she has opened herself up to. She has finally learned to overcome her fear and found her drive and determination. 

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “You're not supposed to be here.”
• “She needed to get comfortable with imperfection.“
• “Kelly finally realized that she was filling a much-needed industry void and decided it was her turn to really take that and run with it.”
• “It was a sense of relief mixed with fear, but Kelly has learned that fear is not necessarily a bad thing if you work through it.”

Resources:

• Connect with Kelly on Instagram @gratify_home
• Shop Kelly’s Website
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Google Drive

When Allie first launched her business there were definitely a lot of ups and downs, getting to where she is today. As of right now, her business is generating about $3 million a year in digital products and coaching programs. 

Allie’s Journey:

Allie went to school for graphic design and marketing and while she initially started as a service provider, it took seven years to hit six figures. But when she was not in school, she was out socializing. She was studying people and would be the one like having conversations just to see what people would say and feeding off of that energy.

After graduation, the recession hit. She took a job selling cell phones in northern Minnesota and eventually married her husband whom she had dated through college. She finally landed her (then) dream job working at an agency doing SEO, which she discovered to be not a very fun topic. After suffering through nearly 3 years of corporate drama she had her first child and realized that the agency was charging the clients $95 an hour and only paying her $17 per hour. She knew there was something to be done on her own. 

A few months later her strong-willed son was kicked out of daycare and she was expecting baby #2. She knew this was the time to leap and make it work. For Allie, having her back against the wall propels her into action. Within two months she had more than replaced her corporate income. She spent time getting her feet wet and networking and she finally found her community.

Allie worked with clients offering various online business services, mostly social media and helping online business owners with their launches. At one point, one of Allie’s clients made a charge-back to her credit card (yikes!). After receiving a notification that $6,000 was going to be debited from her account Allie had to make a massive pivot, quickly. Through quick thinking, Allie realized that she needed to convert her cold traffic into buyers, with a low price point. She knew how to run ads and build funnels and combined those to create her original Tiny Offer - a live stream calendar. It was 365 ideas of live streams people could offer their audience. She made her money back quickly and kept reinvesting what she was making into more and more ads. 

Along the way Allie dealt with imposter syndrome feeling that she was not worthy of making this passive income, or growing and scaling her business. It became a very emotional and mental journey, as well as a professional one. She realized she was going to screw up. It was part of the process. Ad’s would be rejected, she would get nervous, not everyone would love the program...all things that were just part of the process. 

Allie has taken her natural talent of learning and really listening to what people want and giving them exactly what they are asking for. She has learned what gets their brains ticking, all about the dopamine rush and why buying products creates serotonin in our brains. 
 

Allie’s Relationship With Money

Allie decided she needed to give her money a job. She created a spreadsheet and spent time being intentional and deciding what she wanted to use the money for. She broke it down into sections: 

• how long until she wanted to achieve this/ make this purchase
• how many people did she need to join her 6k program
• how many people need to purchase her Tiny Offer

Allie has now turned her relationship with money into a positive one where she finds fulfillment and gratitude with each purchase someone makes. It helps her to stay focused and realize that it is more about the overall picture, not just about the money she is bringing in. 

If you want to learn more about Allie, head on over to her website or connect with her on Instagram (@alliebjerk).

 As always, until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “She was studying people and would be the one like having conversations just to see what people would say and feeding off of that energy.”
• “She knew this was the time to leap and make it work.”
• “She realized she was going to screw up. It was part of the process. Ad’s would be rejected, she would get nervous, not everyone would love the program...all things that were just part of the process.”
• “Allie decided she needed to give her money a job.”

Resources:

• Find Allie on Instagram @alliebjerk
• Check Out Allie’s Tiny Offers
• Tiny Offer Lab
• Zapier
• Peak by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool
• Millionaires Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
• Books by Denise Duffield Thomas

I wanted to have Christine on the podcast again because I have spent a few episodes talking about how to start a podcast to leverage and grow your business, inviting guests on, solocasts, etc. Christine teaches people the strategies and tactics behind being an exceptional podcast guest and does podcast guesting so incredibly well. Christine is going to walk through some of the things that she teaches her students about how to get on podcast shows to grow your business and why it is important to create a game plan to get on other podcast episodes.

Christine is a business coach and her company is called Life With Passion. She helps impact driven entrepreneurs to go from best kept secret to making six figures and beyond doing what they love. She leveraged doing all of this in just 10 hours a week. She works with  service providers like coaches, consultants, VA’s, and OBM’s. They know that they're good at what they do, but they don't have all the clients that they want. She comes alongside them and helps them have more impact and income and it is truly her life's work.
 

Christine’s Podcasting Journey

Christine first considered going on podcasts back in 2015 as a way of growing her reach. After a friend sent her a pitch as an example she realized she was super intimidated and quickly put it on the back burner. It was new. It was scary. About a year later someone reached out to her again while she was guest posting on other blogs (Today Show, Huffington Post, etc.) inviting her to come onto their podcast. 

At the time she was eight months pregnant with her rainbow baby and she had been sent to labor and delivery triage for additional monitoring since everyone was a bit anxious. They sent her to the hospital and she realized that she was going to miss the podcast interview she was scheduled to be a guest on before she would be discharged. While laying in her hospital bed she realized that she was fine, and convinced the nurses to turn down the noise from the monitors so she could honor the commitment for her interview. And that’s exactly what she did. She had the conversation with the host from her hospital bed and loved it. She realized that if she could have a super fun conversation in that environment from her hospital bed, while dealing with anxiety, PTSD, and all these things, then after her baby was born this could be a whole lot more fun. She decided to start proactively pitching, because now she knew what was on the other side.

She started to pitch the people who were in her world that she was connected to, maybe someone whose podcast she enjoyed or maybe one her friends loved. To her, it became a really fun game. Along the way she developed her own method of pitching, making the host her friend, and what she found was that this came naturally to her.

What she learned was that she was not the norm. Podcast hosts loved how she approached them and handled herself and all she could think was “Really? It’s really easy to be a good human!” She first realized this could be something when podcaster Jeff Brown had her on his show when her book launched in 2018. While visiting her parents in Nashville, she asked if she could take him out to lunch. Reluctantly he agreed and while chatting over sushi he said: “I was just at one of the big podcast conferences and I was asked to give a presentation on what it is to be a great guest. I basically just took your process and I shared it from the stage.” He continued saying, “I have done hundreds of interviews and I can count on one hand, the number of times that people have done what you've done.” At this point Christine really began to lean in to this process. She knew it was something good. 

Christine has made over $100,000 directly from being on podcasts from clients coming to her. But moreover, she has made amazing friends and met people all over the world because of this incredible medium.

How To Take Meaningful Action

In her experience, podcast guesting is the fastest strategy to go from cold to sold faster than any other strategy. The reason is, think about what you're doing when you're listening to podcasts. She asked me what I do when I listen to podcasts, myself. I replied:

• Going for a walk
• Cleaning up my space
• Working out

When you consider that you are listening while taking a 30-minute walk, you are using your brain to hear or learn something new. You are in it listening only to that one (maybe two) people. You aren’t consuming information from anywhere else. There are no competing ads like when you are scrolling through Facebook. There are no popup messages. No content to create. No money to spend. No new tech to learn. No DM’s. You just enjoy the conversation. Christine realized how this is actually such a strategic way to build her business, build her network, connect with influencers, etc. You'll never run out of places to pitch. 

5 Best Tips

1. Do your research; tap into who your audience is listening to
2. Craft your pitch and make it genuine; tailor it to the host
3. Promote the hosts products/ services/ events and tie it into what you have to offer
4. Connect with smaller and newer podcasts who don’t get as many pitches
5. Show up and be as you as you can be. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

A few things that make a great guest before the interview:

• Have a prep-chat with the host to find out what they are promoting right now. Do they have a launch coming up? Do they have a membership you can promote?
• Confirm who their exact audience is. Ask about the pain points, the problems, the objections that their audience has, so you can determine how you can best help solve their problem.
• Even if you don’t have an opt-in, website, etc., don’t let that stop you. Let the audience engage with you on Instagram or via email.

How to be a great guest after the interview:

• Leave a review on iTunes
• Send the host/ hostess a gift (NOT swag from your own company!)

Thank you again for your time and energy my friends. Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Christine teaches people the strategies and tactics behind being an exceptional podcast guest and does podcast guesting so incredibly well.“
• “When you consider that you are listening while taking a 30-minute walk, you are using your brain to hear or learn something new.“
• “You'll never run out of places to pitch.”

Resources:

• 90 Minutes to Book 100 Interviews in 90 Days Masterclass
• Organic Online Growth + Sales Secrets For Entrepreneurs: Leverage Up! Private Facebook Community
• Life With Passion
• @lifewithpassion
• The Body: A Guide For Occupants by Bill Bryson
• Elevate University
• Google Sheets

Today's episode is going to be short, sweet, strong, and impactful. I think it's a message that a lot of you may need to hear and a message in order to feel like you have that permission to not have it all figured out. 

When you make your first step towards building your business, what I see often is this ‘undercurrent of control’. When we do something that is completely outside of the norm our brain wants to jump in and protect us. What it does when it senses fear, is it will try to control everything, it will try to predict everything, it will want to know steps one through ten. Even though in the beginning you realistically can only see steps one and two. When you can't see steps one through ten or two through ten your brain freaks out. What typically happens is that it then causes a problem at step eleven when you haven't even taken that first step. Now because you've created a problem in your brain you don't even take that first step. 

This is one of the common themes and things that I see happen most often, with new business owners trying to get started. They are trying to get their business off the ground and it begins with this sense of this undercurrent of control, then wanting to know what their business will look like in a year, wanting to know all the problems so that they can control it, wanting to have something be so perfect and a certain way and the thought that it's if it's not going to be exactly the way that they want it, then what's the point of even getting started in the first place. 

It's the fear of not getting it right, the fear of getting it wrong, the fear of what if it doesn't succeed, the fear of this problem is going to arrive at step X, Y and Z. The feel of ‘It's overwhelming and I don't know how to solve it. So why even start in the first place?’. That fear keeps a lot of people stuck. 

Your brain doesn't have that past experience to know what unfolds. Instead, it freaks out. It's just like learning to ride a bike or learning to drive a stick shift. Any said ‘failure’ you experience is magnified in the beginning because it is so new. But it's learning to fail, learning to put yourself out there, learning to push past and move through the fear is exactly the same thing as riding a bicycle or learning to drive a stick shift. When you start building your own business, thinking that there is a right way and a wrong way to do something can also keep you stuck. Because what happens is if you put yourself out there and it ends in a ‘failure’ our brain thinks, ‘Well, that was wrong, there must be a right way to do it’. The challenge with the right way and the wrong way of thinking is that it can oftentimes paralyze you from taking any action in the beginning. 

If you're a high performer, you don't want to be wrong. You're not used to being wrong. You are used to doing your due diligence, you are used to doing your research. So for you being wrong or getting it wrong is not something that probably happens often. But in this world of building your business, I want you to practice and try on the thought of ‘what if there is no right or wrong?’. What if there is only experience, learnings, and outcomes? The thought of thinking that there's a right or wrong way is going to keep you stuck, and is going to keep you from taking action. 

I can tell you after being in the online business space for years, there are so many different ways that you can get to your first 100k. You will find coaches that will teach you so many different strategies in so many different ways on how to get to 100k, that there is no right or wrong way to get to 100k. There is just a way. The one thing that is common between all of these multiple ways, is that they just started and they figured it out along the way. It was a messy, massive action.

If you're focused on doing it right you're going to overanalyze in your head thinking there's a right way, when there are so many ways to do one thing. Just pick one way of doing it, do it that way, and execute. Remember there's a difference between asking questions because you're curious and because you want to understand, but there's also asking questions from a place of trying to control because you don't want to get it wrong. 

If you are coming from this place of wanting to control things because you don't want to be wrong, I want to offer you a few different thoughts. One is thinking that there is no right or wrong way of doing something. The thought of failure simply just means data. That's it. The sooner that I get started, the sooner I take action, the sooner I can understand what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes we get so laser focused on how something needs to be, we create that narrowness and if you focus on something so intensely you ignore everything else that's happening around you. Sometimes that can be the magic piece. 

The second is to trust that what unfolds is meant to be. So it's really practicing this letting go of control, and letting go of this need for it to be right or wrong.

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Come hang out with me on Instagram and until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “The thought of thinking that there's a right or wrong way is going to keep you stuck, and is going to keep you from taking action.“
• “The one thing that is common between all of these multiple ways, is that they just started and they figured it out along the way. It was a messy, massive action.”
• “If you're focused on doing it right you're going to overanalyze in your head thinking there's a right way, when there are so many ways to do one thing.”
• “The thought of failure simply just means data."

Today's topic is all about scarcity versus abundance. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because I have worked with so many women and I have experienced the shift from scarcity to abundance myself, whether that be in money or time and relationships and love. Today I want to dive into this topic from the lens of being a new entrepreneur. As you embark on building your business and putting yourself out there and doing things that you've never done before your brain can have a little bit of a freakout, and that's okay because it's there to protect us. 

We want to be equipped with tools that can help us navigate the freakout so that we don't make it mean that we should quit or that we should pack up and go home. Scarcity is living and operating out of this mindset that there's not enough whereas abundance is operating from a place of more than enough. You can tell you're in scarcity mode by just how you feel if you're tense if you're in a fight or flight. If your focus narrows, if you might find yourself on edge, that can easily be an indication that you're in a scarcity mindset. An abundant mindset can feel light; it's joyful, you're inspired, you're at ease, you're open, you are looking forward to all of these opportunities. 

Being in a scarcity versus abundance state is really determined by our level of awareness when it comes to our thinking. As it relates to money specifically, this is something that is really key.

The biggest pitfall that I see in the beginning stages of building a business is getting into a state of scarcity and not being able to get out because it's a closed loop of scarcity. As a new business owner, putting yourself out there, doing your first launch thinking you're going to enroll 10 people into your program, and instead you get maybe one, or even zero...so your brain freaks out. It thinks, ‘Oh my gosh, like, Are you kidding me? I spent all this time energy I put myself out there. No one wants my offer. No one wants to work with me.’ 

We end up attaching a meaning to that result, which doesn't serve us and we start to close up, tense up, freak out, and get emotional. We make it mean that maybe we're not cut out to do this, maybe I need to make a different offer. Maybe someone else should be doing this not me. It puts us in this state of scarcity so that every time we go to take action beyond that launch we take action from a place of doubt and a place from uncertainty and trepidation. We spiral out in a closed thought loop of scarcity as to why things are not working. What's dangerous about this is that if we do this enough, over time we start to really create this habit within ourselves of operating from scarcity. 

What I want to offer up today is 1) how we change our thoughts so that we don’t go into that scarcity closed loop, and 2) if you do find yourself in this scarcity closed loop, a way to think about it so that you can start to shift out of scarcity and into abundance. 

I can speak to this because I spent the first two years of my online business in a state of trying everything in anything. Every time something didn't work I would make it mean that I wasn't supposed to be doing it. So I wasted so much time and energy, thinking about how I wasn't supposed to be doing that, that nobody wanted my offers, where if I just changed the way that I looked at it. If I would have changed the way I thought about it, I would have been able to be in a position today, potentially further along, because I would have taken massive action from a place of being inspired, rather than defeated or frustrated. 

First let’s talk a little bit about Brooke Castillo's the model, so she's the founder of The Life Coach School. It's very similar to Think & Grow Rich, the book by Napoleon Hill, where our thoughts create our feelings that produce an action and or that create an action that produces a result. What Brooke Brooke has done with her model is that she's actually added on top of the circumstance. We all have circumstances in our life, whether it’s how much we make, our family, where we live, circumstances are facts. 

It's one thing to say, ‘I'm unhealthy’. You think that thought to yourself, making it subjective, because healthy to you has a different definition than healthy to another person. But if you say ‘I weigh XYZ’, what you weigh is a circumstance. It is a fact. So now I want to bring this into a real life example of being a new business owner. Take for example going into a launch and having these expectations that you are going to do your launch, and you're going to enroll 10 students and you're going to make $10,000. When you go through your launch and you end up enrolling one student. 

The fact is that you set a goal for 10 and you enrolled 1. You can choose to think an abundant thought, or a scarcity thought. If you choose to think a scarcity thought, it might sound something like this, ‘why isn't this working? Only one person enrolled, I spent so much time and now only one person liked this is not worth my time’. That's the scarcity thought. 

The abundant thought might think, ‘Oh, my gosh, I got one student enrolled. This is amazing. I'm going to deliver so much value and help them achieve the results they're looking for’. Now because you’re thinking that abundant thought, you feel excited and motivated, versus if you are thinking in lag, you feel frustrated and annoyed. If you're frustrated and annoyed, you're probably going to take action from a place of lack and frustration, which again feels heavy. You're going to question everything, you're not going to show up for your one student who did enroll. The result is that you may have asked to deliver the content and now your student doesn't get the results that they had expected. You don't get a great testimonial, again, putting you in this loop. With abundance thinking, you feel excited, motivated and you cannot wait to deliver this. You cannot wait to help them get the results that they're looking for. The action you take is light, it's massive, you show up, you move faster, and your student has massive success in your program, that then he/ she provides you a testimonial, which then goes on your sales page, which then is used in your next launch. It becomes this snowball effect.

Another book I recommend is by Dr. Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. He talks about how we get into this closed loop state of mind breaking that habit of being ourselves. It takes conscientious work and deliberate practice. It takes showing up every single day even though we don't think that things are happening or changing in which they really, truly are. I resonate with that so much because there was a period of time where I was in the scarcity mindset, where I look at my bank account, and I thought, ‘why isn't there more money in it? Oh, my gosh, how am I still here? Oh my gosh, I should be further along’. If you're thinking the ‘shoulds’, or you're looking at your bank account thinking ‘why is there not more money?’ Another tool to shift out of scarcity and lack and into abundance is being grateful for what is. What really changed for me was not looking at my bank account and looking at the debt and freaking out and saying, ‘Why isn't there more money’ or ‘I shouldn't be in debt’. It was deciding ahead of time, who I want it to be in the future and the person who I was in the future wasn't focused on debt, she was focused on growth. She was also very grateful for what she had in the present moment. That changed everything. 

Simply just being grateful is one of the things my coach talks about. If you aren’t happy with where you're at, rather than trying to go from a thought of, ‘I don't like my body’ to ‘I love my body’, you go from the thought of ‘I don't like my body’ to ‘I have a body’. If you can't find yourself going from ‘oh my gosh, I'm so frustrated by the amount of money in my account, there should be more’ to the ‘oh my gosh, I love my money’. It's simply finding that intermediate transition thought that allows you to get to that abundant place.

If you take only one or two things away from today's episode, how can I practice more gratitude and be thankful for what I have, and what is, in order to attract more abundance into my world. That's one. The second piece is there is a difference between human value and economic value. As you're starting your business and you're shifting out of being an employee for a corporate company and becoming your own boss, things can get crossed. Human value is that you are already worthy and valuable, because you're a human being you don't need to make more money, you don't need to look a certain way, you don't need to weigh a certain amount, you don't need to do anything, you're already worthy, that's your human value. 

The economic value is ‘I'm going to go out and produce something and be of service to the world and in return, I'm going to make money’. The danger is that it can be so easy to wrap the human and the economic value into one so that when we have a failed launch, or when no one signs up for our services, we attach the lack to our value as human beings. If you are out there and you're hustling and you are focused on creating in your business, you're putting yourself out there to be really keenly aware, to not confuse your value as a human, and the economic value of your business and what it is that you offer. 

The third thing that I'm going to leave you with is that when we put our first offer out there (I'm certainly guilty of this), go through a launch, have that one person sign up when we expected 10, the habit and the default is ‘oh my gosh, I need to fix this, I need to relaunch the program, I need to change the offer, I need to change the product. Instead, I encourage you to realize that it's probably not the product that needs to be changed. It's probably the marketing that needs to be changed. So before you spend time, energy and thinking that your product is terrible, or that no one wants it, I encourage you to stick with that product. Just change the marketing.

That’s all for this week my friends!

Until next time, keep doing it your way.

Insights:

• “Being in a scarcity versus abundance state is really determined by our level of awareness when it comes to our thinking.”
• “The biggest pitfall that I see in the beginning stages of building a business is getting into a state of scarcity and not being able to get out because it's a closed loop of scarcity.”
• “If I would have changed the way I thought about it, I would have been able to be in a position today, potentially further along, because I would have taken massive action from a place of being inspired, rather than defeated or frustrated.“
• “It's simply finding that intermediate transition thought that allows you to get to that abundant place.”

Resources:

• Brooke Castillo’s The Life Coach School
• Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
• Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, by Dr. Joe Dispenza

A few of the questions I hear most often are:

How do I make money? 

How do I work with sponsors? 

How many downloads do I need?

What I'm going to share with you today is my personal opinion after running and producing a podcast since 2015. There are three key ways (buckets) to make money from your podcast. They are:

Marketing Your Own Products & Services

Affiliate Marketing

Sponsorships

Marketing Your Own Products & Services

Do you sell courses or digital services such as group coaching or copywriting? Market these. Promote them to your listeners and allow them to gain traction with your audience. Spend time building out your own offerings rather than spending hours looking for sponsors. 

If you don't have a business yet, no worries. If you simply have an idea of the type of business you want to start it doesn't necessarily commit you to figuring out the product right away. If you're clear on the direction you want to go with your business you could set up the content of your podcast to provide value and solutions for the pain points of your audience. What you would do is invite your audience to engage with you beyond the podcast. This could be in the form of a free guide/ download, an offer for a free training, the offer to join a free Facebook group, etc., so that you can really begin to nurture and build that stronger relationship with them before you even try to sell them anything. When you are ready to start selling to them, you’ve already built that ‘Know, Like & Trust’ factor with them.

Affiliate Marketing

Maybe you don’t have a product or service yet, but you know about a software that would benefit your audience. By sharing a software/ product/ service of someone else's using a unique URL code, you get a piece of that revenue by sharing. This is affiliate marketing. 

When I first got into online business, I remember learning about affiliate marketing and I thought, ‘oh my god, this is so gross’; and the truth is, you're going to find whatever you look for in life and I think I was looking for that.

Now, I look at affiliate marketing and think, ‘okay, this totally makes sense’. The thing I love about affiliate marketing is when you share a product or service with your audience, it's simply the business's way of compensating you. So rather than the company paying for their own marketing, by you sharing their product or service with your audience, they're essentially redirecting that money to you.

A great example of this is a few years ago my friend Natalie Bacon had a blogging course. She started her online business blogging about finance and she created a course. I had people in my audience asking me if I could talk about blogging and essentially, I was like, ‘No, I actually can't because I can talk about podcasting’, just not about blogging. So Natalie and I partnered together to do a webinar training for anyone who wanted to learn how to blog. For me it was truly an aligned fit because she taught people how to start a blog, and she was successful at it, and with the podcast I was able to then share with my audience about the free training. Once the training was over Natalie then promoted her (paid) course to all of the attendees and anyone who enrolled in her course using my link, I then received an affiliate commission.

An example of a software service that I'm an affiliate of is Podia. If you go to the She Did It Her Way website and look under ‘Start A Business’ you'll see Podia listed. If you click that link, it is an affiliate link. There are two reasons why I promote Podia:

I use it personally

I love it 

These are excellent examples of aligned affiliate marketing and having integrity behind who you partner up with. Affiliate marketing, when you do it right and you do it intentionally, can be lucrative. Lastly, you can certainly be able to create revenue in your business from using affiliate marketing.

Sponsorships

Sponsorships are a wonderful way to generate revenue and we have generated 1,000s of dollars in sponsorship revenue with the podcast. I am so grateful to be able to have so many of you to tune in and listen to the show, which then allows for brands to reach out to us to say, ‘hey, your audience and what we offer is in line, can we do a partnership?’.

There are highs and lows with sponsorships. 95% of the time sponsors and brands have reached out to us, so I wasn't investing my time or energy trying to seek out sponsorships. I think that's something that's really key is that in the beginning, your time is so limited. You should always be assessing our time in terms of ‘if I say yes to one thing, then what am I indirectly saying no to?’. 

I recommend that the time that you're going to spend reaching out to sponsorships and cultivating that relationship and finding those that are going to sponsor your podcast and instead use those hours and really invest in marketing your own products or services. So the way that I like to look at sponsorship is it's great when it's there and it comes in a supplemental, but it's not the backbone of how I make money. 

Do we still work with sponsors when it's a good fit and it's aligned? Yes, absolutely. I always want to make sure 1) I am protecting your ears. I'm not just going to serve up a ton of ads on my show. 2) It has to make sense and feel really good. Sponsorship is a great supplement, but I would not consider it the end-all-be-all.
 

Upcoming Training

Inside my upcoming training, How to Launch Your Podcast In 5 Easy Steps, I'm covering my exact plug-and-play content planning framework. I'm going through the specific tech setup that you need and also some of the specifics I teach to my students inside Podcast Your Way. This way you can actually start recording the day after you leave the training, and have specific tangible next steps laid out for you. Grab your seat here.

I am so grateful that you tuned into it another podcast episode and until next time, keep doing it your way,

Insights:

• “Spend time building out your own offerings rather than spending hours looking for sponsors.”
• “The thing I love about affiliate marketing is when you share a product or service with your audience, it's simply the business's way of compensating you.”
• “Affiliate marketing, when you do it right and you do it intentionally, can be lucrative.”
• “So the way that I like to look at sponsorship is it's great when it's there and it comes in a supplemental, but it's not the backbone of how I make money.”

Resources:

• Podcast Your Way
• Podia
• Launch Your Podcast in 5 Easy Steps!

Today I'm sharing the 4 lies you may be telling yourself that are holding you back from launching your podcast! 

Tune in to hear them!

After interviewing hundreds of women, and along with my own personal journey to building an online business, there are 6 core steps and success principles that I have identified. Time and time again, guests have brought up these themes throughout their interview and have stated that these themes have played a role in their success so make sure you are paying attention and be ready to take notes!

1.Master Your Mindset

This is key. We talk a lot about mastering your mindset on She Did It Her Way podcast because it is crucial in getting the results you want in your life and business. A common hurdle I see with new business owners is getting themselves comfortable with taking massive action. Maybe you’re tuning in today and you have an idea of the business you want to launch or you’ve taken some action but have found yourself more in the space of dabbling. Meaning, when you take action, it isn’t an “all in” mentality...it is taken from a place of hesitation and trepidation. 

Here’s the thing, if you’ve found that maybe you’ve stalled out in the past, dabbled, or haven’t created the results you’ve wanted, that is okay. The default is to shame yourself, get frustrated and upset and think “I’m not cut out for this”. You haven’t taken action yet, what makes you think this is going to be different this time around? You’ve wasted so much time.” and so on. Those thoughts that lead to frustration, shaming, irritation do not serve you. You want to create your present and future reality from your future, not your past. What you did or didn’t do in your past doesn’t matter and it does not serve you to hold on to it.

You have permission to let it go.

You may find yourself holding onto the shame and frustration because it’s what is comfortable. Instead, practice having your own back. Mastering your mindset isn’t something where you sign up for a 6 week course and then you’re done. It is constant work. The more you increase your mental capacity and use tools to sharpen it, the greater capacity you have for things to flow into your work. 

Your results are in a direct relationship with your thoughts. The thoughts you think today create your future for tomorrow. If you’re not taking action and can’t motivate yourself, then I invite you to join Elevate University. It is an accountability membership that helps you get out of your own way and into action. We unpack these mental constructs so you can start taking massive action and achieve the results you want. Maybe you’ve signed up for courses and programs in the past and had the best of intentions of going through them but they’re collecting virtual dust...then my friend...head to shediditherway.com/elevate and sign up for Elevate University it will change your life. Promise. 

Takeaway: If you have a goal or a result that you want to achieve not achieving, unpack that thought that is driving the feeling you feel that causes you to take action or not.

2. Invest In Yourself

The quickest path to success is finding someone who is already doing what you want to do and going directly to the source. For example, if you want to learn how to build a virtual assistant business, then find someone who has a successful VA business and enroll in their program and course. If you want to launch a profitable podcast from the start enroll in my podcast course, Podcast Your Way where I walk you through step-by-step how to launch your podcast in 30 days.

The time and energy you save by having someone tell you exactly how to do something you want to do is worth the investment. Investing in yourself doesn’t have to mean spending thousands of dollars either. There are low-cost, high value programs. Elevate University at the time of this recording is $67/month but the value there is 10X from the live coaching, monthly trainings and core content.

3. Validate Your Business Before You Leap

Once you know the business you want to create, always validate before you leap. The tendency might be to think, “I’ll figure it out once I quit and have more time.” The pitfall that people make is thinking that time is their problem. Time is not the problem, it is how you think about the time you have and what you do with the time you have. If you don’t have strong time management tools now, then when you do get more time, you’ll still run into the challenge of not having enough time. You also may find yourself in a bit of shock because you have so much time that you don’t know what to do with it.

Getting yourself to validate your business prior to leap does a couple of things;

1. It helps build your confidence in your ability to get clients because once you get one, there is always more where that came from
2. It helps you understand HOW to get more clients and
3. It feeds into getting more clarity on your pricing. 

I’ve shared in previous podcast episodes the importance of understanding your leap number - how much do you need to make in your business that signals it is time to leap. You want to make sure you are doing math on how much money you need to make in order to make that leap and validating your business will help keep you accountable in doing so. I have seen many entrepreneurs make their leap and the most successful ‘leapers’ (if you will) are the ones that built their business on the side of their full-time job; with kids, 60-hour week jobs, you name it. Their ability to build their business alongside their full-time job set them up for success when they finally made their leap. 

Takeaway: Find your leap number and make the goal to validate your business before leaping.

4. Get Your Money and Legal House in Order

***DISCLAIMER I AM NOT AN ACCOUNTANT, NOR AM I A LAWYER. WHAT I SHARE IS FROM MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.***

Keep your business and personal money separate. Whether that is through completely separate banking accounts or different checking accounts within your personal banking. Incorporate your business to protect your personal assets.

Create a Google spreadsheet and keep track of what you spend on business expenses and money that comes in. This is the quickest and easiest way to get started without overcomplicating it. 

Part of your Elevate University membership gives you access to last year’s She Did It Her Way Summit content, which includes a Google sheet template from one of the speakers, Tess Wicks and a course regarding all things legal.

5. Play the Long Game

Building a business takes time. We recommend mentally committing to your business for 5 years. Any time frame shorter than that can create frustration when your business isn’t where you believe it should be. Playing the long-game also allows you to make long-term decisions vs decisions based on outcomes when things don’t go the way you planned. Another reason to build and validate your business while you’re working full-time.

6.Detach From the Outcome

When you’re starting out as a business owner, everything matters so much and everything is magnified. When you have a discovery call with a potential client that doesn’t result in a paid client, you’re crushed. When you do your first “failed” launch and no one signs up, it is heartbreaking. But over time you learn that those “failed” launches are a) not truly failures, they are learning experiences and b) part of the process, everyone goes through them. The sooner you detach from the outcome, the sooner you stop making decisions based on the outcomes and start making decisions based on your vision and your future self. 

 Takeaway: When you make decisions from your future self, you begin to act as if you already are where you want to be and you accelerate the process of bringing what you want into your life.

Thank you so much for joining me again this week.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “The quickest path to success is finding someone who is already doing what you want to do and going directly to the source.“
• “The time and energy you save by having someone tell you exactly how to do something you want to do is worth the investment.”
• “Your results are in a direct relationship with your thoughts.”
• “You want to make sure you are doing math on how much money you need to make in order to make that leap and validating your business will help keep you accountable in doing so.”

Resources:

• Elevate University
• Podcast Your Way

Meridith was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa (yes, another Iowan!) and after many moves for her husband Alex's career, she currently is residing outside of Baltimore, Maryland. After their third move in four years, she decided to create the lifestyle she desired and used all of her experience that she had gained in the corporate world to begin her own virtual assistant company, thus McCarty Virtual Services was born. 

I originally met Meridith at the She Did It Her Way Summit a few years back. She reached out to me, connecting as fellow Iowans and over our mutual work we do with coaches.

Her husband's career had them moving every 1.5-2 years. This meant figuring out a new 9-5 with every move, which was less than ideal for growing her career because every time she got started, she had to stop again. She realized that she couldn’t keep doing what she was doing and knowing she was never meant to be in a 9-5, Meridith began looking into remote jobs she could do from home when they landed in Newport, RI in 2018. She discovered the world of virtual assistance and she dove all-in deciding that is what she was going to do. She committed to it and never looked back.

What makes Meridith’s journey so amazing is that she never gave herself a ‘plan B’, she was simply determined to make this work. She put all her eggs and this one basket and decided she was going to whatever it took. With this mindset, Meridith set herself up for massive success, though she didn’t know it quite yet. 

One of the first things Meridith did was take Abbey Ashley’s (a past She Did It Her Way Summit speaker!) course, and with this course along with her own experience and knowledge she was able to dive right in, get uncomfortable, and start her business.

She assumed her business would slowly, but steadily grow, but what happened was the exact opposite. She experienced growth almost immediately and had to quickly hire a VA to help her out on the back end of her own business. She was not prepared at all for this, despite being a VA herself and knowing what should be done.

As a result, Meridith decided to pivot her business, consulting business owners on how to outsource work to VA’s. She shows them how to determine what to outsource, how to set themselves and their VA’s up for success, and grow their business with a VA in a positive way. 

Here are few of Meridith’s key recommendations for before you start looking to outsource:

Download Loom

Record yourself doing routine tasks, step by step

Create a place (whether in Drive or a project management tool) as a training library to store these instructional videos

In this space, also put all of the information a VA would need to be successful (your headshot, bio, SOP’s, your working schedule, etc.)

Her business continued to grow, much quicker than she had anticipated thanks to a referral program she had put into place, and she decided it was time to continue to grow her team.

Her big initiative in 2021 is to get out of actually doing any client fulfillment herself. She has set herself up to be so close to achieving this and now they just need to make that final pivot, as a team. 

Meridith lives by the saying,

“Do what you love, and the money will follow.”

Are you a VA looking to go the extra mile on your applications? 

Meridith likes to use video submissions in her job opp’s. It shows that the applicant is willing to go the extra mile. This also raises your chances of you being remembered because it dramatically cuts down on the number of applicants for a position, in her experience. 
 

There are definitely moments where as business owners we think that the virtual assistants and people that work for us can read our mind. Obviously, this is just not the case and it really trains you to be super explicit, crystal clear, and over communicate what it is that you want done. 

“It also really requires you to recognize that hiring someone is like it is an investment, you spend more time and energy upfront.”

We all have those times that we have failed, we have all been there and hired wrong. You learn by your failures and how you are going to ‘do it next time’. Massive action produces massive results. That's how the business grows and that's how we grow.

As she has grown, so has her family. Meridith now has a beautiful baby who she loves to spend time engaging with. This makes it especially important for her to be able to focus her time when her baby is awake on her baby and when the baby is asleep, on her business. Learning to balance and keep doing the things she loves in her business is what keeps her fueled and fully present for both her family and her business.

Want to connect with Meridith? You can connect with her on Instagram and also find her hanging out on Clubhouse (McCartyVA). You can find out more about her agency  via her website as well.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “It's important to recognize and understand that your leap journey and transition is going to be different from one person to the next.”
• “If you can learn from someone and go straight to the source, it's going to save you so much time and energy, and it's going to allow you to accelerate your growth.”
• “The key is to take care of the people who are already there because by doing so that will attract and bring more people in.”
• “The better that you lay the expectation, the more stringent you are about the qualifying and hiring process, like the less work you're going to do on the back end, and they're going to make your life easier when it comes to that.”

Resources:

• Meredith McCarty
• Private VA Outsourcing Facebook Community
• Follow Meridith on Instagram
• On Clubhouse as ‘McCartyVA’
• Girl Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis
• SDH 240: How To Determine Which Social Media Outlet That’s Right For Your Business with Rachel Hollis
• You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
• SDH 188: Following Your Fears and Feeling All The Feels with Jen Sincero
• Abbey Ashley
• Asana
• Teamwork
• Google Drive
• Dubsado
• Loom

I met Rose two years ago at the 2019 She Did It Her Way Summit and it's just been such a joy and an honor to be able to see her journey unfold. She is a true social media strategy ‘Queen’, and I thought, let's bring her on and talk about social media planning and all that good stuff. But before we do that, Rose shares her journey of going from corporate to going out on her own.

Rose remembers the day that she made the decision to really start investigating how she could go from corporate career to entrepreneur, it was something that she had been wanting to do, but just wasn't really at that point ready to make the leap quite yet. On an early morning flight to San Francisco she found herself in a window seat in the clouds, looking out and realizing that it was her wedding anniversary that day! She realized she was actually missing her wedding anniversary since she was traveling again for work. She sat there recounting how she had sacrificed so much time with her family for her corporate travels and finally thought to herself:

“I don't want to do this anymore.”

She wanted to be home celebrating family events with her loved ones and not feel like she needed to sacrifice her family time for her career. With that, she began to pray. She prayed to be shown the path of what she could possibly do. She was looking for guidance and began to see signs that all pointed in the direction of ‘strategy’ - one of my strengths and something she was already successfully doing with corporate clients. She helped very large brands create strong and strategic brand partnerships, along with digital strategies and social media. 

It clicked. If she could do that for a very large client, why couldn’t she do it out on her own? 

She determined that small, female business owners likely felt these same struggles that she was experiencing, and her niche was born. Rose decided to leverage her strategy with her love of social media, and turn that into a business in helping female entrepreneurs, leverage the organic nature of social media to grow their businesses to elevate their brands and and support their businesses.

In April 2019 Rose attended the She Did It Her Way Summit and she considers this one of her big ‘A-Ha’ moments. She could do this. Make the leap. Do it on her own. Successfully.

With so many people claiming to be social media experts, Rose took a different approach. She took her experience, love and personal success on social media and leveraged that to build her business and set herself apart.

That feeling of ‘not feeling worthy’, Rose had those exact feelings. She had to really step back and think about what it was that she is good at, and what other people were saying that she was good at as well. To do this, Rose had a lot of discussions with her current clients and accountant, asking them what they thought her strengths were.

Their response was overwhelming and always this;

“Rose, you have helped us so much with our corporate strategy. Why would you not think this isn't something that you could do on your own?”

Her first client was one of those classic ‘right place, right time’ coincidences… She and her husband are members of the Chicago Yacht Club and they were looking for engagement strategies. She gave a short presentation on social media and someone at that meeting approached her after the meeting. They had a sit down and talked about his goals for social media, thus he became her first client.

Despite social media being a crowded space Rose has truly left her mark on the industry while allowing it to bring her so much fulfillment and joy personally and professionally. 

While Rose was rocking at social media, she decided to make another major pivot to continue doing something that brought her a lot of joy: coaching. After helping dozens of women gain their own clarity on their social media strategy and brand presence, she realized that is what made her truly happy.

To honor her late father, Rose lives by the rule, ‘Always do the right thing’.

You can connect with Rose (personally) on Instagram. There she shares all of her best tips, tools, and strategies on social media. You'll always walk away with a good strategy for social media that you can implement for your business, but you'll also walk away knowing her personally.

Until next week, keep doing it your way!
 

Insights:

• “Always have your 15-second pitch ready.”
• “People can open doors, but it's always up to the individual to walk through that door.” 
• “There's no cheating involved, there's no tricks, no hacks; it's always about doing the right thing, never taking the easy way out no matter what.”
• “If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.”

Resources:

• Connect with Rose on Instagram
• Rose Mills Website
• Coaching & Workshops
• Girl Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis
• SDH 240: How To Determine Which Social Media Outlet That’s Right For Your Business with Rachel Hollis

My love language is organization; I’m very much a Capricorn in that sense. I’ve been known to help friends clean out and organize their closets. In fact, when I was in junior high, I had a friend who was pretty messy and every time I’d go over to her place, I’d want to clean and organize her bedroom and closet...because I get that much enjoyment out of it. 

My husband and I will find ourselves on a weekend cleaning out our place and organizing our personal life including making sure all our accounts are up to date and going through our insurances to make sure they’re on autodraft. My physical space is extremely important to me. If it is a mess, it is harder for me to focus. So it is really important for me to make sure that it is easy to keep a clean space. I very much live by the rule, everything has its place. Whether it is a set of car keys, digital photos, important documents, you name it. Because when everything has its place, it becomes easier to find. Inside the membership program, Elevate University we’re focusing on how to be scalable from the start, including organizing our digital life, from email, Google drive, Asana, and more. 

Insights:

• “My physical space is extremely important to me. If it is a mess, it is harder for me to focus.”
• “I very much live by the rule, everything has its place.”
• “We both needed a little bit more accountability, and visibility, into our own spending.”
• “To establish our monthly allowance amount we first needed to build a budget that would allow us to exactly see what was coming in, what was going out, as well as seeing our savings goals and previous spending habits.”

Resources:

• Google Drive/ Sheets/ Calendar
• Asana
• Less Is Now
• Splitwise
• Monarch
• Stressed Out to Streamlined Training

We’re going to dive into...

• The power of questions. 
• How to ask high-quality questions.
• Answers to avoid with almost any and every question.
• Be a good listener.
• How to use questions as a tool in your life and business use the Socratic Method.

Head to www.shediditherway.com to find other podcast episodes, access free trainings and learn more about Elevate University.

This month on the podcast and inside of Elevate University we’re focusing on unstoppable goals. Part of creating and achieving any goal that you desire is heavily influenced by not only the activities you do on a daily basis to achieve those goals but it is about the systems and habits you have in place so that it makes it easier and more automatic for you to achieve them.

In today’s episode, I want to talk to you about:

• Habit Stacking
• Forgetting About Motivation and Instead Focus on Your Environment
• Eliminating Bad Habits

Many people think they lack motivation when it comes to taking action because they don’t feel motivated but what they really lack is clarity. Because when you think to yourself “I want to be more productive today,” your brain can’t actually understand or see what “being productive actually means,” and because it can see it, it is hard to feel motivated.

Rather than making a cue obvious, make it invisible. Spend less time in tempting situations. Reduce exposure to a bad habit. 

You can also use what is called temptation bundling to incorporate things that you may not want to do. For example, while your coffee is brewing you can unload the dishwasher...so you associate something that you gain benefit from with something that you don’t entirely desire to do. 

Create systems and structures that reduce the number of options and distractions so that you can focus on the habits that help you achieve your goals.

As we wrap up today’s episode, I encourage you to grab a piece of paper and write down, cue, routine, reward. Start to identify your own habits and routines so that you can consciously decide which ones to keep, which ones to eliminate, and which ones to stack. I’d love to hear about your habits on Instagram. Tag us (@SheDidItHerWay) and share your habits and routines with us. 

Next week we’re talking all things elimination to create physical and mental space in your world to make way for your high-yield habits, who you’re becoming and more so stay tuned.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Many people think they lack motivation when it comes to taking action because they don’t feel motivated but what they really lack is clarity.”
• “The human body has about 11 million sensory receptors. About ten million of those are dedicated to sight.”
• “If you find yourself wanting to reduce the amount of reality tv you watch, make it so that every time you go to watch it, you have to reinstall the app on the phone, making it laborious and annoying so you can create a different emotional meaning to it.”
• “Create systems and structures that reduce the number of options and distractions so that you can focus on the habits that help you achieve your goals.”

Resources:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Today, I want to talk about your being list. Rather than looking at your goals and first deciding what you must do, instead first decide who are you being? Who do you need to be?

Identify Who Your Goals Need You to Be…

Example:

Let’s say one of your goals this year is to become a full-time business owner. Rather than writing down all the things you’re going to do (which is important and we’ll get there), I want you to first ask yourself, “Who am I being as a full-time business owner?” An option is to take yourself out of the experience and become the observer at this point. Let’s imagine that you’re watching someone else write down the goal of “becoming a full-time business owner.” Tell yourself about that person, who is she or he being? How are they behaving? 

Who are they being?

• Present
• Disciplined
• Centered
• Focused
• Diligent

You can do this with any goal. 

Think about the different areas of your life in which you can set goals for; family, career, social, financial, intellectual, health.

Let’s say that you want to be more financially savvy so you decide to save 6 months of expenses and pay off credit card debt. The question I would ask you is for you to “tell me about this person? Who is she being, how does she operate as someone who saves 6 months of expenses and pays off credit card debt?” Maybe it is that she is being abundant, disciplined, more than enough, intentional. 

Let’s say that you decided on a specific health goal. Take a moment and become the observer and ask, “Tell me about this person who has this specific health goal, who is she being?” Maybe you come up with the following list; she is being active, she is being intentional, she is being mindful, she is being energetic. 

The purpose of your being list is to identify who you need to BE in order to operate and make decisions from that place. The business owner who is a 7 figure earner operates from a different place than that of a 6 figure earner.

Close the gap…

When you identify who you need to be, your goal is to make decisions, to operate, and to show up as that person. This is key because even though the decisions you may make today may not show a direct physical result tomorrow as reinforcement of who you are becoming, it is important to a) trust the process, and b) be patient because overtime you’ll notice, see, and feel the change. 

You are collapsing timelines where you are bringing the future into the present and that in itself is what catapults you to become the person you desire to be. 

I’ve shared on the podcast before that most people operate from a have-do-be mindset, meaning that in order to BE someone or something, you must first do that activity and have something to initiate it. 

For example, I’m reading a book called, “Psychology of Money” and in it the author points out that he experienced people who would purchase luxury cars from a place of needing to be someone different than they were. In this example, the individual thought that by having the luxury car, they could then drive it (do) and become this rich, satisfied person. However, actually operating from that place creates this “never enough” mentality because you’ll constantly be on a search for the next thing to enable you to BE someone. The car does not make the person, the person makes the car. The Chanel handbag does not make the person, the person makes the Chanel handbag.

Another example is one that I am closely familiar with because it was part of my story. I used to tell myself that “when I hit six-figures, I’ll have made it.” I had put a condition on myself that I could not have “made it” until I hit six-figures. 

What this does is it creates a closed loop that never puts us in a position of winning or succeeding. 

If you need something in order to BE happy or BE grateful or BE successful, then you will be stuck in that closed loop. 

Instead the key is to BE that person before ever doing anything or having anything because when you can be happy and grateful in the midst of chaos, in the midst of looking at your bank account and it isn’t where you want it to be, and in the midst of your life right now when it isn’t how you expected it to be, THAT unlocks you limitless potential. 

Someone who I have always admired that does this really well is my husband. Regardless of what is happening around him he always finds a way to BE happy, joyful, and grateful. 

I on the other hand struggled with this skill. Notice how I said SKILL. And because learning to be unconditionally happy, joyful, grateful, disciplined, you name it, is a skill; you can too cultivate it.

Yes, it takes practice. Yes, there may be times where you find yourself getting frustrated because it may “not be working.” Yes, there will be times when your body will want to revert back to its old ways of being because that is how it has been physically trained over many years. Your body may be trained to love the pain so much that it feels so good. If you haven’t read Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, you must. 

Here’s the thing, I know you can do hard things. In Elevate University, my annual coaching program where every month we dive into a new topic and I coach students on it, this is what we get into because this inside work is what transforms the outside. 

If you find yourself struggling with knowing how to BE, a tool you can use is trying on someone else’s brain. I remember as a kid seeing the WWJD bracelets in gift stores and never quite understood the power of them. 

Today, I can fully understand and appreciate the question. Now, I’m not saying to ask WWJD (that is of course unless it aligned with you) but in this case you can always find someone that you look up to you don’t have to know them personally but think from their brain. 

For example, you could ask yourself:

“What would Brooke Castillo of the Life Coach School do?”

“What would Tony Robbins do?”

Ultimately start with you though. I ask myself:

“What would 7-figure Amanda do?” 

This is also a great tool not only for understanding how to BE but making decisions. If you’re troubled by a decision to make, ask your future self how she’d make that decision. 

The only thing you need in order to initiate anything is from within you, not outside you. 
 

Thoughts

Who you are being is driven by the thoughts you think. 

In order for you to be disciplined, what are thoughts you need to think on purpose?

Maybe in the midst of trial and error, tough times, it’d normally be easy for you to “give up” but instead you think thoughts, “I can do hard things. People need my work.” 

Deciding ahead of time of the thoughts you need to think also helps to direct your focus. 

When you have a vision and when you know where you’re heading, it creates focus, which in turn creates results. 
 

Quick Recap…

Identify who you need to be for your goals

What does that person think in order to become that person

This is the stuff I coach my students on in Elevate University and if you are on the path to building your business and want help getting out of your own way, building a business you love, then come hang out with us. Head to www.shedidithrway.com/elevate. 

Until next week, keep doing it your way!

 

Insights:

• “The purpose of your being list is to identify who you need to BE in order to operate and make decisions from that place.”
• “The business owner who is a 7 figure earner operates from a different place than that of a 6 figure earner.”
• “If you need something in order to BE happy or BE grateful or BE successful, then you will be stuck in that closed loop.”
• “Because learning to be unconditionally happy, joyful, grateful, disciplined, you name it, is a skill; you can too cultivate it.”
• “Who you are being is driven by the thoughts you think.”
• “When you have a vision and when you know where you’re heading, it creates focus, which in turn creates results.”

Resources:

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
• Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza

This third, and final, training is learning to throw your to-do list away. Yes, you heard me right. Get rid of that to-do list. It is only dragging you down my friend. In the third training, I’m going to teach you my calendering method that will change your life and well being forever. I promise. This method will help you increase your productivity by 10 fold. So get ready!

You can access the tutorials and download the workbook by heading to www.shediditherway.com/SOS.

This second training is about how to declutter your calendar. Chances are your calendar is full but full of things that don’t really matter when it comes to the growth of your business. It is filled with activities that actually drain you but ones that you feel like you should say yes to. In the next training, I’m going to teach you how to set up separate calendars to help organize your days and batch your work for optimal efficiency and output.

See you tomorrow for Stressed Out To Streamlined Training Day 3, where we’re wrapping up by learning how to throw away the to-do list!

You can access the tutorials and download the workbook by heading to www.shediditherway.com/SOS.

My goal with this training is to provide you with the top 3-systems and tools I use in my business that allows it to run like clockwork. These systems are simple and easy to use and can drastically change your business and the way you operate in little to no time. I’ve shared these systems with clients who then told me they don’t know how they operated as they did before without these systems. 

This first training is about time management mistakes most people make and how to avoid them. Plus, I’m going to teach you how to set up Asana and make that your centralized place for all things in your business. This will be a game-changer. If you’re currently feeling like your stuff (as in content, graphics, launch notes, you name it) is all over the place, this will give you immediate relief. 

See you tomorrow for Stressed Out To Streamlined Training Day 2, all about decluttering your calendar!

You can access the tutorials and download the workbook by heading to www.shediditherway.com/SOS.

Next month on the podcast I’m going to be talking about goals from my 5 step process, your goal support system, and more, but today I want to unpack how to set goals as a new entrepreneur.

Let’s say you’re someone who is planning on starting your business in the next year, or maybe you’re embarking on your second year in business, setting a goal that feels good and inspires you can be tricky because you don’t have as much data to work off of. It is much easier to work off of experience and results than setting a goal for the first time in business.

The further along you are in business, the easier it becomes to set goals and have more clarity because you have more years of results under your belt to assess and therefore more clarity on setting goals for yourself and your business in the next year. 

First, decide what you want the outcome, or result, to be at the end of next year. Do you want to go full-time in your business, do you want to fully replace your income, do you want to start your business and make 50% of your income? If you want to go full-time then you’ll have to answer the question of, “How much do I need to make in order to go full-time?”.

This will help you be purposeful in setting your revenue goal rather than being tempted to pick something, simply to pick it. If we pick an arbitrary goal, our brain won’t be able to connect with it.

Start with understanding your personal finances. How much do you need to make every month in order to support yourself and continue living the way you want to live? Maybe you decide you’re willing to cut some things out of your budget in order to live more simply so that you can quit your job or go full-time sooner. 

Achieving your revenue goal is all about doing the math, and numbers supporting the systems that allow you to take action to produce the results you want. 

I’m so excited for what is ahead in 2021. I can’t wait to talk to you in the new year. 

Insights:

“If your goal in the new year is to quit your Corporate job, then your goal must allow you to do that.”

“If your goal is to start your business and generate 50% of your Corporate income, then your goal must reflect that.“

“If we pick an arbitrary goal, our brain won’t be able to connect with it.”

“Achieving your revenue goal is all about doing the math, and numbers supporting the systems that allow you to take action to produce the results you want."

Part of my ritual every year is to reflect on the 5 most important things I have learned from the previous year. They are typically themes or lessons that have been inspired by specific experiences. 

I know it can be tempting to want to rush into setting new goals, trust me I’ve been there. But it is important to take in the lessons learned in order to become aware of them so that you don’t repeat them. 
 

Lesson #1: Letting Go of Needing to Plan so Far in Advance

When I first started She Did It Her Way, and in the first two years of it being a business, I was so focused on planning everything for the entire year. At the beginning of this year I realized I was doing it from a place of wanting control. As I’ve grown as a business owner what I’ve found, especially this year, is that it is extremely helpful is to set goals and vision for the year but really focus from a detail standpoint on the quarter that is ahead, rather than trying to get into the details for the entire year. 

Know your metrics for the year and then focus on how you can achieve those for the quarter. I’m going to be diving into this next month on the podcast.

The downside of trying to plan everything in detail from the start of the year is…

Things shift and change. If you spend so much time planning the whole year right at the start of it, things will most likely shift and change, and all that time you spent planning, has now become and inefficient use of your time. 

No room for magic. If we decide that “This is how it must be,” there may be no room for magic to come through. 

When planning for the next year it is important to know the following:

Your ONE goal for the year broken down into quarter (typically financial)

The person who you need to be and operate from in order to achieve that one goal

The daily habits and behaviors that will impact that goal

By knowing your quarterly goal, you then can plan accordingly. Often times what happens when trying to plan the entire year is overwhelm sets in. Bringing the timeline closer makes it easier for you to know what you need to do and what goals to achieve.

Lesson #2: Saying “No” is a Good Thing

This year I really exercised my right to use the word, “No,” or “No thank you,” rather. And if you’re new to the podcast for so much of my life I was a “Yes” person because I never wanted to miss out, let people down, I wanted to be all the things to all people and everywhere. 

Learning to practice saying the word, “No,” is a skill. At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 I found myself over leveraged and trying to balance all the commitments that I had said ‘yes’ to. 

I realized that it was difficult for me to focus on the things that matter because I was saying YES to everything. 

Every time we say YES to one thing, we’re indirectly saying NO to another thing. 

It is important to know ahead of time what we want to say YES to so we’re prepared to say NO to the other thing. There will always be opportunities to say YES to something but it is important to say YES to the things that matter to you. Not just in business but also in personal life. 

I honored my desire to not overcommit or fill my schedule with all the things. I turned down 90% of invites to participate in a digital online summits. I turned down podcast interviews. I turned down affiliate opportunities. I turned down sponsorship opportunities. This year it became more clear the difference between what is stuff and noise vs what has a direct impact on the business and moving the needle forward.

Saying “No” is also about protecting your time and energy. Keep the main thing, the main thing. 
 

Lesson #3: Tune Out to Tune In

Continuing with saying, “No” it also allows you space to tune out so you can tune in. There is so much noise from podcasts, content, videos, social media, courses that we can consume. When we over consume we run the risk of being overwhelmed and that is when our brain spins our because it isn’t sure what to think and then we start operating form a place of reaction rather than an intentional action. You no longer think for yourself because all the inputs are from other people.

Finding time this year to disconnect and create a quieter space was super helpful to get clear on what mattered most to me in my business and personal life, rather than thinking I needed to be doing something because someone else was doing said thing. I put limits on how much screen time I was allotting for myself (including Instagram). I condensed work days from 8 hours to 6 hours on average. This constraint helped me stay focused and made it so that I didn’t have time to consume other content.

I encourage to take time off of social media and consuming because it gives you space to pause and think rather than rushing from one thing to the next. It is a great exercise to gain perspective and helps keep the main thing the main thing.
 

Lesson #4: Do It Your Way

Continuing from saying, “No” and “tuning out to tune in,” stay focused on what feels good and right for you rather than thinking you need to do something because someone else is doing it and you think you should be doing it. Doing it your way requires you to go inward and listen to your intuition and practice that muscle.

What does doing it your way mean? It means that regardless of how you’re supposed to do something you tune into yourself, you stay in your lane because by doing what feels good and inspiring to you will lead to greater abundance than trying to follow a templated approach from someone else. And sometimes you need to follow someone else’s approach to learn what does doing it your way look like? But when you get swopped up in it all.

It is hard to see the forrest from the trees because you’re in it.

It is like trying to reach the label of a bottle when you’re inside of it. You can’t. This year I learned that I can, will and have acquired more abundance not just financially but health, relationships and more by doing it my way than someone else’s way. Always check in with yourself every step of the way and listen. If something feels off, it is probably off. Go with what lights you up. Follow that.
 

Lesson #5: My Business Will Only Grow to the Extent I Grow

There is something called the “law of the lid” and that is that as a leader in an organization, your team can only rise up to the level in which you are at. So if on a scale of 1-10 you are operating at a 7, your team will not rise above the lid. This goes for personal growth. Deeply, truly recognizing that my business will only grow to the extent I grow.

The way to achieve a half a million dollar business, or 7 figures, is to continue growing who I am. This year I learned what happens when you truly invest in yourself so that you can expand and operate from the place you need to in order to become the person you need to be to achieve your goals. I used to think that meant doing all the things and it was actually the opposite. It meant become an even better keeper of my time, focus, yes’s and continuing to take massive action. 

I’m excited over the next handful of podcast episodes to take you through my planning process from reflecting on the past year, identifying goals and who you need to be in order to achieve those goals. 

I’m so excited for you and the next year ahead. 

I’ll talk to you next week.  Until then, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

• “Know your metrics for the year and then focus on how you can achieve those for the quarter.“
• “It is important to know ahead of time what we want to say YES to so we’re prepared to say NO to the other thing.”
• Saying “No” is also about protecting your time and energy. Keep the main thing, the main thing.”
• “Finding time this year to disconnect and create a quieter space was super helpful to get clear on what mattered most to me in my business and personal life rather than thinking I needed to be doing something because someone else was doing said thing.”
• “Stay in your lane because by doing what feels good and inspiring to you will lead to greater abundance than trying to follow a templated approach from someone else.”
• “invest in yourself so that you can expand and operate from the place you need to in order to become the person you need to be to achieve your goals.”

Lindsay is a self made business and success coach who specializes in teaching women how to start and scale their dream coaching business with simplicity and confidence. She believes that you should always choose to use your intuition to guide you as you grow your business with step-by-step teachings and creative guidance. You'll feel inspired to take her tips into action to push your business forward and work with your dream clients. Lindsay works with women who want to get unstuck and structure their brilliance into a coaching business that's sustainable and financially exhilarating. She is also the creator of Standout Coaching Academy and the host of Book Your Dream Clients Podcast. 

Lindsay started her business 10 years ago and currently coaches women all over the world. Whether it's just a dream in their head, or they have a specific goal in mind, because they have been doing this for a while, she helps them start to scale, specializing in the coaching business. 

Additionally, she works a regular 9 to 5, not because she has to but because she genuinely enjoys it. She has worked from home for about 14 years, since she was around 21 years old. With three kids at home with me too she homeschools so her plate is quite full. Lindsay is the kind of person that likes to be busy, constantly doing something.

Lindsay also shares the importance of her rituals involving prayer and her daily devotional. It is so important to have a tool you can utilize when challenges happen. One big recommendation Lindsay shares for new business owners is to cut the clutter and stop listening to everything. Decide what you want to focus on and stop allowing yourself to be sidetracked. Trust yourself to do what is best for you and for your business, but at the same time look back and help those who are still on their journey as well. 

In 2021, in addition to her next launch, Lindsay is excited to change up her podcast a bit, featuring more solocasts, and also dabbling with a new webinar style. 

Lindsay still works her beloved 9-5 because it is so satisfying for her. She truly enjoys it and it meets her emotional needs allowing her to use her talents differently. She also has her coaching business where teaches women how to start and scale their coaching businesses with one-on-one coaching packages. Id addition to the academy, she also runs the Confident Coach Club. 

In this episode, you will…

• Learn to clear away the clutter and decide what to focus your time on
• Discover new ways to deal with life when things get tough
• Figure out what the best planning method for you is
• Hear Lindsay’s story about how she juggles her 9-5 and still finds time to fuel her passion for coaching

Insights:

• “We don't need to just be sponges. You need to move. You need to do something.”
• “Your path needs to be really clear in order for people to be able to trust you to ask you to bring them where you are now.”
• “Stop being a control freak over your business and just let it grow and blossom the way it's supposed to.”
• “Meditation or prayer is so important to keep in perspective what's most important.”
• “I got a roof over my head. I have water. There's a toilet. I got a bed. It's all good.”

Resources:

• Lindsay Maloney
• Book Your Dream Clients Podcast
• Lindsay’s Freebie Vault
• Dream Client Community
• Find Lindsay on Instagram
• Law of Divine Compensation
• Lara Casey’s Power Sheets
• 90X Goal Planner
• Bando Planners

You can showcase your product and upcoming projects by building a custom landing page in minutes, saving time to help you focus on your business. ConvertKit’s email designer helps you create beautiful, simple emails that help turn your casual audience into true fans. Writing professional and personalized emails about your business and products helps connect you with your audience. ConvertKit helps entrepreneurs earn a living by evolving their side hustle, with tools to help sell products and grow their business.

Go to convertkit.com/shedidit to sign up for a free account and find your audience faster.

After you create your freebie and it is ready to be shared with the world there are few things you’ll need to do. In this episode I’m going to dive in to what needs to be done before you share it with the world and 10 places you can share your freebie.

At this point, you’ve decided which software program you’re going to use. Many of the software solutions have what is called an opt-in page option or a way to embed a signup box on your website. 

You can also decide to create a separate opt-in page on your website whether you Squarespace or Wordpress. When you create an opt-in page on your website you’ll most likely need to embed the signup box on your website. 

Based on my experience, I recommend the easiest way is to create a landing page with whatever email marketing software tool you decide to use and create a redirect for your opt-in. 

For example let’s say you create a checklist. Your Squarespace website URL redirect may be “www.thenameofyourwebsite.com/checklist”. When someone goes to your website URL they are then redirected to the opt-in page you created through your email marketing software. 

Now, within your email marketing software, you’ll want to create what is called an “automation”, meaning that when someone goes to the opt-in page you created and enters in their name and email address, they’ll automatically (hence the word automation) receive your download via email.

To create the automation, you’ll first need to write the email that then sends your opt-in to them. 

Let’s recap:

You have your website

Your email marketing software

Your freebie

Still to create:

Your opt-in page via your email marketing software

Your automated email that delivers your opt-in + a nurture sequence

Still to do:

Create your URL redirect

Create your automation

When you create your opt-in page make sure it is short, simple, and straight to the point as to what it is someone can expect to receive when they sign up. What is the benefit to them? Why should they subscribe? Keep the ability to opt-in and subscribe above the fold and don’t clutter your opt-in page. Be sure to include a photo of you at the bottom along with a blurb about your journey. This can also be referred to as a “credibility statement.”

When you write your email sequence, there are many ways to go about this. The purpose of a “nurture email sequence” is to nurture those that download or opt-in. The guide that someone just downloaded may be their first real interaction with you. Your nurture sequence consists of a series of emails to build the relationship with your subscriber and take them from a cold, to warm, to hot lead for the purpose that they convert to a client. 

An example might look like a series of 4 emails over the span of 7 days. 

Email 1 - Day 0: The first email is sent immediately once someone signs up for your opt-in. This email is short and simple. “Here’s your download! I’m so excited for you to dive in. I’ll be in touch tomorrow to share a little bit about myself and my relationship with BLANK. Sign off.”

Email 2 - Day 1: Share your story and ask them a question. Ask them to reply. Create that engagement from the start. 

Email 3 - Day 3: Check-in about the guide, share a pain point and solution.

Email 4 - Day 5: Invite them to a discovery call

Again, every sequence will look different depending upon your goal but in the beginning keep it super simple and don’t overwhelm yourself with trying to do all the things.

10 Places to Share Your Opt-in Page:

Website homepage via a banner

Website pop-up feature

Instagram bio CTA

Email signature

Your Facebook group

Facebook business page

Blog posts

Youtube channel

Podcast episodes

IG stories (drive traffic to the opt-in page)

Remember: Your first freebie will not be your last. The sooner you get started, the sooner you start. It isn’t about getting it perfect, it is about getting started and taking action. Be kind to yourself as your navigating the learning process. Take advantage of tutorials that email marketing software companies offer. Lastly, sign up for an email marketing course. I love Amy Porterfield’s List Builders Society. 

This concludes our 3-part training series about list building. I would love for you to connect with us on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening to the episode and tag us!

Until next time, keep doing it your way. 

Insights:

“Based on my experience, I recommend the easiest way is to create a landing page with whatever email marketing software tool you decide to use and create a redirect for your opt-in. “

“To create the automation, you’ll first need to write the email that then sends your opt-in to them.”

“Your first freebie will not be your last.”

“The sooner you get started, the sooner you start.”

Resources:

Convertkit

Squarespace

Amy Porterfield’s List Builders Society

You can showcase your product and upcoming projects by building a custom landing page in minutes, saving time to help you focus on your business. ConvertKit’s email designer helps you create beautiful, simple emails that help turn your casual audience into true fans. Writing professional and personalized emails about your business and products helps connect you with your audience. ConvertKit helps entrepreneurs earn a living by evolving their side hustle, with tools to help sell products and grow their business.

Go to convertkit.com/shedidit to sign up for a free account and find your audience faster.

Today's episode is part two of a three-part series. In the first episode, I dive into high-level strategy on the importance of list building. I also share with you my journey of list building and what it's been like. Because when you start to build your email list and you start working with the tech, it can be overwhelming. Part of list building is making sure that you are creating something of value in exchange for an email and that's what we're going to get into today's episode.

I have seen time and time again that so many people stall out from building their email list because they can't get past the actual building of the opt-in. Not knowing what type of opt-in to create, not knowing what the content part of the opt-in is, let alone even just physically, or digitally, in this case, building the opt-in. 

So in today's episode, I'm going to walk through brainstorming how to decide what type of freebie you should create and how to outline the content for your freebie. We will also go over how to build your freebie in Canva, or if you should consider buying a template. 

In the next episode, I'm going to share with you some things that you'll want to make sure you do after you have your freebie when it comes to your email automation along with places where you can share your opt-in to drive what is called traffic so that you can nurture them through email and grow your list. 

Insights:

“We want to make sure that we create something that is of value, that isn't overwhelming, and that isn't going to take too long for them to complete.”

“I always think that it's important that as you're growing your business and building it, to identify the areas and things that are not in your zone of genius or is not something that you don't particularly love doing or aren’t necessarily great at.”

“The most important thing is to take messy and perfect action that is aligned with the results that you want to create.”

“Think about how you can help your audience what are some of the questions that you receive currently, from your current clients and from your past clients, and really brainstorm and outline how can I put this into a downloadable guide that allows people to take quick action and get good not just results, but value from your opt-in as well.”

Resources:

Canva

Creative Template Shop by Abagail and Emylee of Boss Project

Evernote

Convertkit

Creative Market

You can showcase your product and upcoming projects by building a custom landing page in minutes, saving time to help you focus on your business. ConvertKit’s email designer helps you create beautiful, simple emails that help turn your casual audience into true fans. Writing professional and personalized emails about your business and products helps connect you with your audience. ConvertKit helps entrepreneurs earn a living by evolving their side hustle, with tools to help sell products and grow their business.

Go to convertkit.com/shedidit to sign up for a free account and find your audience faster.

Welcome, welcome friend. Today I want to talk to you about email list building; specifically the importance of it and how it impacts your business growth. Now, if you’re anything like I was in the beginning stages of when the She Did It Her Way podcast first launched in 2015, I heard of list building but didn’t quite fully buy into it. I actually thought, “I can build a business without an email list” and honestly, that was me trying to opt-out of trying to figure out “how do I even get started?”

So if you don’t have an email list yet or you’re just starting out, this episode (and the next two episodes to come) will be super helpful on your journey of list building. 

First, let’s talk about what is an email list and why is it important to your business…

Your email list is your direct contact with your audience. It is how you can interact, engage, serve up value to them. This is how you intentionally nurture them. You nurture your email list the exact way you may nurture a child, you take care of them and continue to provide them with resources and value. 

Building an email list is crucial because it is the best way to build a relationship with your audience so you can build the ‘know, like and trust’ factor, which is important when you go to offer them something, whether it is your offer or an affiliate partnership. 

The more subscribers, the more people on your list, specifically the right people on your list, the more your business can grow. The reason why I say “the right people” is because you can have a list of 300 subscribers that are your ideal client and those that you can help, it could essentially perform better than someone who has a list of 1,000 subscribers but aren’t your ideal customer or someone that you want to work with. This is key because it can be easy to assume that just because you have a larger list, it is better but what matters most is having the right people on your list. 

Email List Building Strategy

There are many ways to build your email list. Ultimately the purpose of building your email list is that you can offer something. For example, if you have a paid blogging course you’ll want to create an opt-in that is related to your paid blogging course. So maybe your opt-in is a free downloadable guide, a webinar, a cheat sheet, a checklist, or a course. Something that correlates with your paid offer.

If you don’t have an offer yet, don’t let that stop you from creating opt-ins and building your email list. You can use that time to nurture them, to serve value, and educate them. 

Expect to create multiple opt-ins to see which one your audience resonates with the most. We’ll talk about the process of creating your freebie in the next episode. 

How to Get Started

I recommend building your freebie first, before signing up for your email provider. 

Why? Because building your first freebie doesn’t cost you anything except your time and energy. You can use a free Canva account to create it.

Decide an email provider to house your subscribers and communicate with them. There are many service providers out there like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and Podia. Spend time researching each one before making the decision.

When it comes to the tech side of things, carve out 30 minutes every day to spend learning about the platform and using it. This was a major shift for me when I started to build my email list. For so long I procrastinated building my list because in my mind I thought it was this massive undertaking. However, once I started to get familiar with the tech and began spending 30 minutes a day or even a few times a week working inside the platform, I focused more on the time I was spending just being in the tech rather than specific about what I wanted to get out of my time. That to say, once I started to get the hang of it, I was able to be more specific on how I wanted to spend my time. 

A Final Note!

Next week I’m going to walk you through my process of creating a freebie and after that, I’m going to share where and how to share your freebie so that you can start to build your email list.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Insights:

If you don’t have an email list yet or you’re just starting out, this episode (and the next two episodes to come) will be super helpful on your journey of list building.”

“What matters most is having the right people on your list.”

“If you don’t have an offer yet, don’t let that stop you from creating opt-ins and building your email list.”

“Ultimately the purpose of building your email list is that you can offer something.”

Resources:

Convertkit

Canva

MailChimp

Podia

I want to tell you a little story...5 years ago I battled with myself to be grateful. My brain was focused on lack, what wasn’t in my life, and also focused on what was wrong. 

What I want to offer up to you, not just this week, but as a tool for life is…

The practice of gratitude. 

Abundance and scarcity are two completely different energetic vibrations. You cannot criticize your current life and business all while expecting something greater to manifest. It doesn’t work like that. It took me years to understand this. I used to look at my bank account and get mad and frustrated that there wasn’t more in the account. For years it was stagnant. It wasn’t until I decided to look at the number in my account and express gratitude for what was there that it then started to grow. 

The quickest way to shift from scarcity thinking to abundant thinking is to bring into awareness what you are grateful for. It changes your energetic vibration. Whenever you’re overwhelmed by life and business, take a pause and acknowledge three things that you’re grateful for. This creates awareness and perspective. 

With that, I’m so grateful for each and every single of one of you who are showing up and tuning into this podcast every single week. It is because of you that I get to do something that I love and I don’t take that for granted. I’m so grateful for you as my listeners, my clients, my family, spouse and home, and what is yet to come.

I hope you have an amazing week and holiday. I’ll talk to you next week. Keep doing it your way!
 

Insights:

“You cannot criticize your current life and business all while expecting something greater to manifest.”

“The quickest way to shift from scarcity thinking to abundant thinking is to bring into awareness what you are grateful for.”

“Whenever you’re overwhelmed by life and business, take a pause and acknowledge three things you’re grateful for.”

Maybe you want to start a business but can’t seem to get yourself to take that first step.

Maybe you’ve started your business but working on going full-time.

Maybe you’ve made your ultimate leap and you’re full-time.

No matter where you’re at in building your business there will be times when there’s something you want to achieve but can't quite get yourself into action and you’re holding yourself back. This isn’t a YOU thing, this is a mindset shift thing.

First, you have a primitive brain and it likes to keep you safe. Because it likes to keep you safe, it likes to repeat the past because that is what it knows best. If you’ve ever tried to change a habit, good or bad, you probably find it challenging. The reason is that your brain loves safety and comfort. That’s why it is important to create a culture in your life and business that is centered around getting comfortable with discomfort. Once you know this, it will be easier to navigate your thoughts and actions to move through the discomfort because you will realize that it is your brain and not you. The brain is wired for survival so anything that your brain senses as ‘danger’, or in this case ‘new’, it freaks out.

The reason why we hold ourselves back is usually stemmed from fear and that fear could be driven by multiple things such as fear of what others will think of us, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of the unknown, fear of making a mistake, etc.

Here I want you to name what you’re afraid of. Resist the urge to say “I don’t know why I’m holding myself back.” I’ve shared in previous episodes that when your brain hears “I don’t know why…” it won’t come up with an answer. So instead, ask yourself, “But if I did know, why am I holding myself back?” Next is to unpack your fear and get as specific as possible about what is causing your fear. Naming, whether it is your fear or emotions, is extremely important in bringing the awareness you need in order to unpack what is happening in your brain so you can think different thoughts and take intentional action to produce the result you want. 

Insights:

“If you’ve ever tried to change a habit, good or bad, you probably find it challenging. The reason is that your brain loves safety and comfort.”

“So many dreams and goals are not realized because we hold ourselves back.“

“Naming, whether it is your fear or emotions is extremely important in bringing the awareness you need in order to unpack what is happening in your brain so you can think different thoughts so that you take intentional action to produce the result you want.”

“Our thoughts create an emotion, that leads to an action (or inaction) and produces a result.”

“I can do hard things.”

Resources:

The Life Coach School podcast by Brooke Castillo

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The goal isn’t to say your decision is right or wrong, the goal is to bring awareness to the decision so that you can make an intentional decision knowing what the trade-offs are.

In this episode, you'll hear...

• Reasons why we don't say no
• What happens when we don't say no
• Where to start and what to expect
• Final notes

Insights:

• “The most important thing for you in the beginning stages is to keep the main thing, the main thing and you do that by saying, “no.” Because when you say “YES” to one thing you’re indirectly saying “NO” to another.”
• “The goal isn’t to say your decision is right or wrong, the goal is to bring awareness to the decision so that you can make an intentional decision knowing what the trade-offs are.“
• “No one else will protect or defend our calendars or goals for us, we must do that.”
• “Do your best to make decisions ahead of time and not in the moment.”
• “Make decisions based on what you truly want and your goals.”

In this episode I’m going to share:

• What all my software and system clean up entails
• Why I’m doing a systems and software clean up now
• My overall approach to the cleanup
• The dashboard I built
• What’s still left to do
• Best practices on how to stay organized from the start

My software and systems clean up consists of the following:

• Site mapping and url redirects within my Squarespace site
• Clean up of all opt-ins from the opt-in page, email sequences, and actual opt-in
• Move any Leadpages to Podia to help consolidate software systems
• Clean up and delete any unused or outdated ConvertKit opt-in forms 
• Clean up and delete any used Podia forms, courses, or downloads
• Clean up our show notes and podcast episodes

Why a systems and software clean up now?

1. I know a lot more about websites and SEO now than I did when I first built our website. I knew I had left too many “dead bodies” lying around. Meaning, I knew that there were pages that either went to a 404, ones that were live and you could find but weren’t relevant anymore, call-to-actions for trainings that are no longer offered...it just was a bit of a hot mess.
2. We also went through a rebrand on our site and moved from www.shediditherwaypodcast.com to www.shediditherway.com so what a perfect time to make some intentional updates!

My approach to the clean up:

1. First, I recommend making a plan for how and when you’re going to do this clean up. Be as detailed as possible when planning. Also, ignore everything else in your life and business during that time. My inbox has been on ‘pause’ and all my notifications have been turned off. 
2. I took an inventory of all my current systems. In Leadpages I think I had over 50 different Leadpages created; I put them all into a Google Doc on their own respective tabs. In Squarespace, I took note of both the URL mappings and all pages that have been created. Finally, Convertkit and Podia opt-ins, podcast episodes, and show notes.
3. Next, I created a “desired” url mapping list. For example, there were lots of pages around trainings/ challenges that we’ve done and work with me pages. Instead of having 10 random pages that have traffic going to them, I created one “work with me” page and went into my Squarespace account, and redirected all the random pages to that one “work with me” page. The main pages starting out that you’ll most likely have are your homepage, work with me page (offer/sales), and any CTA’s that you’ve created. 
4. I went through the “Current URL Redirects” and made sure that all traffic was going where I wanted it to go and if not, noted where I wanted to point it instead. Once I finished that, I actually made the changes in Squarespace. 
5. Once I identified the live call-to-actions that were out there, I then created a separate tab to track them. I was able to go into Canva and update the downloads. 
6. Then I migrated everything from Leadpages to Podia. Instead of creating individual landing pages and call-to-actions, I put all my freebies and trainings into a vault and made one opt-in page on Podia with one email onboarding sequence. Because I did this, I went back to my URL redirects and made sure that all traffic was pointing to www.shediditherway.com/thevault. If you previously downloaded our Ultimate Leap Checklist and Starter Kit you would have gone to www.shediditherway.com/leap and you still can but now it forwards to www.shediditherway.com/thevault so I’m able to strategically capture that traffic, plus when you create an account on Podia you get access to ALL of the freebies, instead of just one. 
7. At this point, I didn’t need any of my Leadpage anymore so I was able to deactivate my account - yah! One less software system - woot woot! Leadpages is great if you want to get fancy with your marketing automations, but based on where we’re heading with She Did It Her Way, my goal is to keep things as simple as possible. 

I also made a copy of my dashboard that you can access by heading to www.shediditherway.com/thevault. 

What’s still left at the time of this recording? 

• I still need to go back and clean up ConvertKit. Some of the landing pages and sequences I made are no longer relevant. I’m still keeping ConvertKit for now because migrating email marketing to Podia a) will take significant time and b) I want to properly assess if we’re ready. I love Podia but ConvertKit is a little more robust with email marketing. To be continued…
• We’re doing a complete overhaul with our podcast episodes. We have over 400 of them and we’ll be going through each of them one by one; listening for time-sensitive information that is no longer relevant, updating call-to-actions, intros, and outros. I will be leaning on my team to help with this process because it would take a long time for me to do solo. Not only will we be updating the audio, but we’ll also be going into Simplecast and make sure we’re optimized from a searchability standpoint. 
• With that, we’ll also be combing through all our shownotes to make sure they are optimized and have the right call-to-action insert in the show notes as well. My goal is to complete all of this by the end of the year.

Best Practices:

• Make an effort to track as much as you can from the beginning of your business journey. Download my dashboard and start tracking today. It will save you a ton of time along the way. Plus you’ll also know where traffic is being directed to and what people are clicking on.
• If you’re starting out and want to keep things simple, I recommend using Podia. If you want to layer in email marketing tactics, sign up for ConvertKit as well, as their ystems can talk to one another.
• While you’re doing the “clean up”, focus only on one part of it at a time. Don’t try to do two different types of tasks at the same time. For example, start with the download; take inventory of everything and get it in your dashboard before you start to make changes or clean up.
• Make the clean up a part of your routine whether it is once a year, twice a year, or quarterly.

Again, if you want to snag my dashboard, you can sign up for our entire vault of resources by heading to www.shediditherway.com/thevault. 

Insights:

• “There were so many times earlier this year that I wanted to streamline my systems, clean up redirects, and opt-ins but it wasn’t a priority because of other stuff that was taking place in the business.”
• “I know a lot more about websites and SEO now than I did when I first built our website.“
• “Keep things as simple as possible.”
• “Make an effort to track as much as you can from the beginning of your business journey.”
• “Make the clean up a part of your routine whether it is once a year, twice a year, or quarterly.”

Resources:

• Podia
• Leadpages
• ConvertKit

Time management. What does it actually mean to manage your time? Managing your time is you decide ahead of time how you’re going to spend your time and exactly what you’re going to do with it. 

The problem with time management for most people is that they’re reactive to their schedule and work from a never-ending to-do list. 

When you work off a never-ending to-do list, it is, therefore, never-ending. Right from the start, you set yourself up for failure in the sense that you’ll always be “behind”.

And when you feel behind, you put yourself in a closed loop of being behind.

Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich” shares that our thoughts create our feelings, which creates an emotion, inspires an action, which produces a result. If your thought is “I’ve got so much to do” (because it is triggered by your never-ending to-do list), you’re going to feel overwhelmed. Most often this results in either not taking or initiating action but also not following through. Ultimately, this becomes your story and what you identify with.

Today, I want to offer you a tool I use that actually allows me to throw my to-do list away and feels so freeing. It is a tool called “Calendering,” meaning everything that needs to get done, goes on the calendar. No longer are you trying to track down your multiple sticky notes, rather you have ONE central location that you work from. This method definitely works better with a digital calendar rather than a traditional paper calendar because you may find yourself needing to switch things around, and doing this digitally is much easier than on a paper calendar. 

The idea is that anything and everything that needs to get done has a place on your calendar. The benefit of this is that you no longer have a to-do list and you become more proactive with your time; you know exactly how you’re spending your time and what you’re producing during that time, plus, you save energy by having a system in place.

In this episode, you will:

Learn how to effectively block time on your calendar for business and personal use

Find out how I break down tasks to maximize my working hours

Hear how to make the switch from using a paper calendar to a digital one

Discover the importance of planning out the usage of your time

Insights:

“The idea is that anything and everything that needs to get done, has a place on your calendar.”

“Our thoughts create our feelings, which creates an emotion, inspires an action, which produces a result.“ - Napoleon Hill

“The Six-P Formula states that ‘Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.’”

“You want to make sure that you pick a time every week where you sit down and plan your schedule.”

“One of the worst uses of time is to use it to do something very well, that need not to be done at all.”

Resources:

Google Cal

Six-P Formula

Additionally, she mentors virtual support pros, VA’s, and OBM’s who are passionate and ready to grow their business, while living life on their terms. Tasha also is the host of the How She Did That podcast, a podcast where virtual assistants, online business managers, and project managers learn business and tech tips. 

Tasha is an Air Force wife to her husband Scott and step-mom to Grace and Meredith, and a work from home dog mom to Stanley and Boomer. In her spare time, Tasha watches true crime tv, sings karaoke, and tends to her organic vegetable garden. 

Tasha considers her businesses to have two sides. The agency side does full-service launch support for established coaches and course creators. It includes podcast launches, course launches, membership launches, and more. On the other side, there are three different programs where they support VA’s, OBM’s, and project managers on starting, growing, and scaling their businesses. 

In this episode, you will…

• Learn why you must decide on your ‘why’, right away
• Feel inspired to get through hard times
• Hear the importance of creating great systems right from the beginning
• Find out how to not feel so isolated and grow your tribe, when working alone, from home
• Discover the importance of setting goals, as a family, for your business

Insights:

“I was making more in my side hustle than I was in my full-time job.”

“You can have a vision for the future. But you also just need to be grateful for where you are right now and be okay with the fact that like, maybe right now, it means you take on two clients, at max, so that you can still live life and like, enjoy time with your family and enjoy downtime and everything so that you don't burn out.”

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” Marianne Williamson

“Who are you behind? Who are you not ahead of? We're the only ones that put self-imposed deadlines and certain restrictions on where we believe and think that we should be.”

“We live in a hustle culture in the online space and that can work for some people, but it's not usually sustainable long term.“

Resources:

The Launch Guild

The Launch Guild (Instagram)

Tasha’s Website

Tasha’s Instagram

To learn more and access free trainings, head to www.shediditherway.com.

In today's episode I'm sharing some of my most important morning and evening rituals to help me stay focused and energized throughout the entire day. 

We will dive into:

• Why it is important to really set yourself up for success with an evening ritual so that your mornings go well
• Why you should make as many decisions ahead of time in the evening to help avoid decision fatigue in the morning
• How to avoid the heaviness in the mornings and always feeling like you're "behind"
• Practical steps to get started with your new morning and evening rituals. 

To learn more and access free trainings, head to www.shediditherway.com. 

Rachael Bozsik is an international keynote speaker and thought leadership coach for female entrepreneurs. It's her mission to empower entrepreneurial women to position themselves as World Class thought leaders and public figures in their niche via press, paid speaking and partnerships. Rachael has been applauded for her work in numerous international publications as a top tier expert in elite branding positioning including Forbes, Glamour, Business Insider, and more.

Through her work as a professional speaker, she has empowered 60,000 plus women on stages including Harvard Business School, Spanx Headquarters, Wharton Business School, Cornell, Brown, NYU Stern School of Business, Professional Business Women of California National Conference, American Society of interior designers, Nylon Magazines, Influencer Conference, just to name a few. She has also had the opportunity to partner with incredible brands, including Oprah's Leadership Academy, L'Oreal, Sephora, and others.

She's sitting with us today to share her story, what she's doing now, and how she started her journey. At an early age, Rachael was exposed to professional development. Her first female mentor was a luxury real estate agent. She asked Rachael to come with her on weekends to open houses and taught her early on this idea of personal branding networking, and mentorship.

In this episode, you will…

• Hear about Rachael's interesting start
• Discover your "aha" moment
• Figure out and focus on your niche
• Understand the importance of personal branding
• Get the value of reviews and stamp approval
• Learn about stamp approval and association with press and brands
• Why you need a coach especially in the early stage
• Learn how to take it light and if it doesn't work, move on

Insights:

"I think that it's kind of almost a rite of passage to be in hustle mode."

"I wish I became more an expert of one thing, rather than a master or not even a master right. Like a jack of all trades, like a master of one rather than a jack of all trades. And like that's what I do now.”

"Personal branding, it's everything to your business."

Resources:

Rachael’s Website

Favorite Books: What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love, When Breath Becomes Air, The Light Between Us: Stories from Heaven. Lessons for the Living

Preparation:

If you’re in the beginning stages of building your online presence here are a few things you can do to in the prep phase:

1. Secure your domain - Even though you won’t be building out your website right away, we still recommend securing your domain, that way when you’re ready to build your website, you’ve already got your domain. You can search and secure your domain online using Hover.com. You can head to hover.com/SheDidIt for 10% off your first domain.
2. Secure your social media handles:

• Twitter
• Facebook Business Page
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn

Try to make it so that all of your handles are as consistent with one another as possible, including your website domain. Again, not the worst thing in the world if you can’t but bonus if you can. Also, even though you might not be producing re

Building your online presence requires you to get visible. Here are a few ways to gain visibility. 

Consistency. Be consistent as you can with your marketing and pace in which you produce content. If you host a podcast, whether you publish an episode once a week or bi-weekly, make it as consistent as possible on the same days. If your audience is on Instagram, how often do you want to consistently publish content on Instagram. The reason why you want to be consistent is because of a couple of things:

• You train your audience to show up on certain days and they see your content more consistently which helps build that know like and trust factor.
• The more your audience sees you, the more you position yourself as an authority or a thought leader on that topic.
• Depending on the platform that you’re producing content on, typically the more content you produce, the better. Social media platforms love when you post content regularly and consistently because it keeps people coming back for more. They also like it when you use new features they come out with. Instagram came out with a “Reels” and those who use Reels are being served up as “suggested content” in your feed, thus exposing them even more. Don’t let that stress you out when you’re just starting!

Partnerships. Partnerships are a great way to gain visibility with other audiences. These are great at any stage of building your business. Partnerships allow you to get in front of other audiences and exposure yourself to them. Plus they’re fun! 

• Partnerships could be in the form of…
• Guest blogging
• Guest podcasting

Swapping interviews inside your Facebook group

Bonus! It gives you more practice at speaking and/or writing. With partnerships, you want to make sure you’re strategic with which ones you do because ultimately it is about you generating more leads for your business. 

Action Steps:

1. Secure your domain
2. Secure your social media handles
3. Build out your social media handles (Even if you’re not going to focus a ton of energy or time on them. At least set up the profile).
4. Pick the platform where your target audience shows up the most; LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook.
5. Build out a content calendar. Decide how often you want to post each week, brainstorm a list of content ideas, start writing or recording.
6. Schedule your content. You can use software tools like Meet Edgar for general social media, Planoly for Instagram, and Tailwind for Pinterest. Some of the platforms like Facebook allows you to schedule content directly inside your Facebook group.
7. Remember to engage; comment back, like, follow them, ask your audience questions. Build the relationship!

When she was a little girl, freedom was what she always saw when she pictured her future. Freedom to be able to work while traveling the world and not tied-up to 9-5 jobs.

With her laptop and $800 savings, she hopped on the plane and flew with a one-way ticket to Bali. That's when her journey began and where she started her online business!

In this episode, you will…

• Hear about Sabrina's interesting journey to entrepreneurship
• Learn about online business coaching
• Realize that you can start your business whenever and wherever
• Discover the benefit of using social media
• The importance of having a website or a brand

Insights:

"The trick is that when you empower a woman through entrepreneurship and really help her find her footing financially, oftentimes every other area of her life opens up and transforms in a really beautiful way."

"Your life isn't necessarily built around for business, but your business is built around your life, and it supports you and getting more of what you want. It is something that is fulfilling and empowering, and it's a part of your soul's mission on this planet."

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.” Rumi.

Resources:

The Intentional Entrepreneur with Sabrina Philipp

Sabrina | Business Coach

What is it like during your first year and what to expect?

What to avoid doing during the first year (especially)

What to actually focus on during the first year in business.

Letting go of comparing yourself by how many years you’ve been in business and how “far along” you think you should be.

I remember years ago when I first started out someone said to me, “Amanda, building a business is the long game. If you’re not going to commit to the next 5 years building your business, you may want to do something different now.” I remember being so naive about this statement thinking that, “Yeah. There’s no way it will take me that long. I’m going to easily knock this out in a year and it is going to be exactly the way I want it to be.”

Today’s episode is all about where to put your focus in the 1st year of business because if your attitude and mindset about what it takes to build a sustainable and successful business aren’t on the right track from the start, it could potentially derail you and lead you down a very hard and difficult path. And potentially land you back in Corporate America...and friend, no one wants that.

Two things I really want you to take away from today’s episode are:

1. Where your focus goes, energy flows, results will show.

2. What you persist, resists. What you resist, persists.

We’re diving into where to put your energy the first year in business and what to focus on.

Every day we get to decide where we put our focus and energy. The first year of business is a roller coaster of emotions, outcomes, expectations, and more. Because the first year is such a rollercoaster, I recommend focusing on the journey along the way and what you learn, rather than putting so much energy towards the outcomes.

You might be thinking or asking yourself, “Okay Amanda but aren’t I supposed to focus on making money, that’s an outcome right?” And to that, I say, “Yes! And…”

Based on many conversations with entrepreneurs, clients, and personal experience, I always recommend building and validating your business as much as you can while working a full-time job. Because I’ve seen many many times before where you may be in a job you don’t love, you’re emotionally drained and so overwhelmed.

You might be thinking, “If I just had more time. That would fix my problem and I’d be able to build my business.” And while you’re not wrong that yes, in order to build a business you do need time but time alone isn’t going to build your business. It is the constant persistence of not giving up, not pivoting, not retreating that builds a business.

When you quit your job without validating your business and making zero income, your focus then becomes about making money to support yourself, to contribute to your family and when you’re not doing that, your thoughts can spiral.

If you do quit your job but aren’t making money in your business, I highly recommend finding contract work to bring in some sort of income even if it has nothing to do with the business you are building.

For example, let’s say you went through a life coach certification program and you’re ready to enter the world of life coaching. You open up doors and invite people in to work with you and then there are crickets. Clients aren’t knocking down your door but you’re thinking, wait a second, “I’ve got this certification why isn’t anyone signing up?”

Because you’re not making money in your coaching business (just yet because you still need to create content, build an audience, sales funnel, opt-in...all that stuff), your focus starts to look for the lack...lack of clients, lack of money...so your energy starts to feel needy and desperate because you find yourself thinking, “Oh my gosh. I haven’t made any money yet, no one is signing up for a consultation call, how am I going to pay rent, this is terrible….” and you kind of spiral out. Because you’re constantly persisting on getting new clients, you’re also repelling them because they can sense your desperation. But because of this, you’re resisting feeling lack but that also keeps persisting. What you persist resists and what you resist persists.

When you have money come in whether that is contract work that has nothing to do with the business you’re building, your brain no longer needs to focus on the lack of money or pressure on where you’re going to get your next client. Your energy completely shifts towards abundance because you’re no longer focusing on the lack.

In the first year of business, it is important to focus on the journey, not the outcomes. The first year of business is full of a lot of firsts and it can be a rollercoaster. You may have all these goals starting out but you’ll quickly realize that business while it may be simple, isn’t always easy. Achieving your goals isn’t always easy because when something goes wrong it is easier to want to pivot rather than staying the course. That’s why it is extremely important to approach the first year of business with the lens of experiment and release expectations regarding the outcomes.

Put your focus and energy into the present moment and take your time, avoid this energy and emotion of “rushing.” And let me say, I did this for so long in the beginning and once I realized that I don’t need to be in a hurry, everything changed. You know you’re rushing because you can feel it. The place in which you take action is from this place of “I got to hurry up and get this done.” Your brain will start to rattle off a list of 10 things you need to get done and you start to feel like you don’t have enough time. At that moment, I want you to catch yourself, breathe, and take action from a place of having enough time, you’re not in a rush, there is no reason to rush. Building a business is a long-term play.

Be aware of where your focus is right now because where your focus goes, energy flows, results will show.

For your first year in business, focus on the journey and what you’re learning along the way. And focus on being present rather than feeling like you’re rushing.

Until next time, keep doing it your way!

Her mission is to cause a ripple effect and inspire change for generations to come; making a massive impact and leaving a lasting legacy beyond her singular actions.

In this episode, you will…

Find out why Jess left teaching

Hear how she turned her side hustle into a million-dollar business

Learn that quitting also means you are figuring things out

Discover how to incorporate your passion into your business

Why it's okay being not okay

Be brave enough to quit if what you do no longer makes you happy

Get an insight about bridge job

Uncover the importance of having a coach

Insights:

"You cannot put a price tag on having someone on your team on your side to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of who is a couple of steps ahead of you. Because what I see my clients do now in six months or a year took me three years."

"First of all in order to succeed you must start. Just start. There is no such thing as perfect, you’re always going to want to make it better, change it, or do it again. If you wait for it to be perfect, you’re going to miss your chance."

"Just do something like 80% done is better than 100% you waiting around for it to be perfect. Just take messy action, just do it."

Resources:

Jess Glazer Instagram

The Reading Vault

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

I hope you enjoy the interview and conversation as much as I did with my dear friend, Julie Ciardi.

In this episode, you will...

• Hear about Amanda's entrepreneurial journey
• Learn how She Did It Her Way came about
• Find your internal motivation
• Discover how to know when you are in alignment
• Get insights on what to do when you are starting up
• Hear about Amanda's Upcoming Summit

Insights:

"In a world, especially in online space where there are templated approaches on how to do everything you have to first and foremost, make sure that you are doing what it is that is in alignment with you and lights you up."

"You have to get light to take flight."

"There's never a perfect time. The stars will never align to fit perfectly like life. The world is not waiting for you to be perfect. Like you have to show up, make that decision and course-correct along the way."

Resources:

She Did It Her Way Summit 2020

She's sitting with us today to unpack about her story, when she graduated from college, why she quit law-school, and how she started her own business! Many of you are in this space of either thinking you want to start a business or knowing what business you want to start but doesn't dare to take that leap yet, then Jasmine is here to share how her leap journey was and where she's at today in her business.

In this episode, you will…

Be confident and chase your passion

Do what you love and not what you are forced to do

Realize that in business not being where you want to be, is the norm

Discover the importance of social conversation

Find out how to use online media to your business advantage

Learn that there's no perfect business

Don't be afraid to put up your content even if it's not that perfect

Find out how to get your audience tell you what they want

Insights:

"And so until you can actually understand that not being where you want to be, is the norm. And not being where you want to be is like a boom, this is forever as long as you have a business. Until you accept that, you're always going to feel down. When you say, Oh, just another day of not being where I want to be. Let me go out and hustle again, totally has a transformative effect."

"'Im just gonna give it to you straight. Because we've empowered with 21,000 entrepreneurs. And this is what I see again and again, is the reason they're not talking back to you is because you haven't put enough content out to contextualize what they want from you."

"Jump and the ney will appear."

Resources:

www.jasminestar.com

Maybe you know what you want to do, what you’re passionate about but for some reason, you can’t seem to get yourself into action. You can’t seem to get motivated.

Maybe you’re already running your business full-time and you still find yourself getting stuck, focusing on all the things that don’t really matter.

In today’s episode, I’m going to unpack all three of those scenarios with you and provide some actionable things you can do to get unstuck and take that very next best step.

Maybe you’re in the first camp where you know you want to work for yourself but not exactly sure what type of business you want to start or how to channel your creative energy productively. If you’re in this camp it is most likely you have so many creative ideas, passions and you may spend a lot of time during the day scheming of what your business could look like and all the different options yet, when you get home from working or you turn off your work laptop, you’re depleted and have very little to no energy left to do anything. Don’t worry, I’ve been there too.

Maybe you think you want to create graphics, build a website, write copy,

The challenge when you’re in this camp is that you have so many ideas, you’re just not sure which one to focus on and invest your time and energy into.

If you’re in this stage I recommend listing out all things you could do or ideas that you have. Go through each idea and identify and rate them on the following:

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, how excited do I feel about this idea?

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, how economical is this idea? Can I make money from this? Are other people making money teaching/doing/coaching this? (you can do a quick internet search or visit a site call Upwork to browse and see what and if people are getting paid to do what you want to do)

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, how competent am I in this skill? The majority of people want to make money fast to replace their income and in this case, you want to stick with something that you already have developed a skillset in, vs, having to go out and get extensive training.

After you’ve gone through all your ideas and tested them against these three questions, rate them and add up the numbers to see which idea is the most viable in terms of your zone of genius and sweet spot. Start at the top of the list and work your way down. Now that you’ve gotten clarity on which idea to start taking action on, let’s move to the next stage in this journey...

When you know WHAT you want to do but don’t know HOW to get started, I recommend the following…

Step 1:

Find someone who is doing what you already want to be doing. Want to start a VA business, find someone who is doing what you want to be doing and learn from them. If you want to start a VA business, I recommend you check out my friend Abbey Ashley’s course, Savvy System. Abbey spent years being a VA, built a successful business and now she teaches women all across the world how to do the same. We’ve included her free training “Become a Booked out VA” in our training library on Shediditherway.com. (for show notes - LINK directly to the training library).

This is the quickest path to success.

Step 2:

Be willing to invest in yourself. I spent years trying to piece together what I thought would work when I could have invested my dollars (not time) in learning from someone who has already done what I want to do.

If you want to start a blog, learn from someone who has launched a successful blog. If you’re in Corporate America and you find that you don’t have a ton of time outside of your job, then you don’t have the time to NOT invest in yourself and pay for a course or coaching. It is worth it and will help accelerate the process of you being where you and where you want to go.

Not only does investing in a coach or a course demonstrate your willingness to take the next step, but it also more importantly gives you a plan for what to do with your time that you DO have.

The reason why it is so easy to come home from work and procrastinate is that you don’t have a clear plan with how you’re going to spend your time. If you know how you’re going to spend every minute when you get home from work, and you know exactly what you’re going to do in every 30-minute time block, you’re more likely to get work done and not just any work, important work. Work that will help you accelerate the process of getting out of Corporate America and making your ultimate leap.

Step 3 (and the most important step):

Is to commit. Commitment looks like not questioning what you’re doing when things don’t go the way you planned because they won’t go the way you planned, that I promised. Keep your goals the same but be flexible with the way you reach your goal and destination. Commit more than 3 months or 6 months. Commit for the next 12 months. Let’s say you enroll in a course that is standalone and you take on your time, make a plan for that course, and commit to the plan. What I mean by creating a plan is to decide what time and date you’re going to go through the lessons and what you’re going to do and by when. Start with what you’re going to accomplish and commit to doing in the next two weeks. Maybe that looks like in the next two weeks I want to have watched all of Module 1 training lessons and have done the homework. Great, schedule this on your calendar in 30-minute increments so you know exactly what you’re going to do with the time that you have.

Now, if you’re a full-time business owner and you’ve recently made your leap, it can be easy to get distracted by ALL the things that you’re being told you need to do to have a successful business, you can easily get overwhelmed. When you’re constantly consuming content it can be easy to lose your way and get overwhelmed.

I recommend limiting social media intake, unsubscribing from any emails that distract you, find a coach or a program and focus on only the things you’re enrolled in at that time. Focus on one strategy at a time. First, make sure you’re taking care of your existing clients. How can you offer up an even better experience for them? Referral marketing is one of the best, fastest and cheapest ways to grow your business. When you do great work, people talk. Then look at your business and identify where does your audience hangs out most of the time, where do you love to show up, where are you generating the most leads and revenue and focus on what is already working.

One reason why you might feel like you’re all over the place and can’t see what next step to take is because you’re overloaded with being told so many things you must do right now. The key is to remember that everyone is sharing what worked for them. Which means it could work for you as well. The success is picking the method that most aligns with you, your personality, business and then sticking with that one thing for a period of time.

So if you’re in the stage where you have so many ideas and not sure what to do or where to start, list them out and rank them.

Then move to the next stage. If you’re already there and you know what you want to do but not sure how to get started, find someone who is doing what you want to do and is successful and learn from them.

Lastly, the early stages of building your business can be some of the noisiest and overwhelming. Continue to serve your current clients, learn from a limited number of people and commit.

Don’t forget early bird tickets are on sale for this year’s She Did It Her Way Summit until Friday, October 16th. Head on over to www.shediditherwaysummit.com to get yours today to this epic event!

Meet the undisputed authority in mentoring entrepreneurs and business strategist, Kelly Roach! She transforms overworked entrepreneurs into seven-figure CEOs by teaching them how to leverage timeless business principles, employed by billion-dollar corporations, with the most powerful online marketing speed and agility strategies of today.

Kelly is also the creator of the Live Launch Method; a simplicity meets strategy approach to making millions online through launches that consistently generate six-figure results.

Kelly spent years in corporate America before she started her own business. During her time in corporate, Kelly led a team of over 100 to record-breaking sales, rising through the ranks of a Fortune 500 to become the youngest VP in the company.

In this episode, you will…

Learn why you should take action, and get started now!

Get insights on things to consider before taking the ultimate leap

Have a mindset shift that you don't need to leave your job to make your business successful

Be ready to grow first before you can grow your business

Discover the importance of being consistent

Build a brand reputation and stick to your offer and become known for what you do

Find out about Kelly's Live Launch™

Insights:

"I built my business to where I was making more in the business than I was in my corporate job. And so again, mindset shift for everyone that thinks that they have to, like walk away from their job, and then go build the business or that the business won't be successful unless you quit the job. That's completely a mindset."

"I think that's a huge mistake that entrepreneurs make is that they're like stretching and reaching."

"Who were you before you know what you know, now, find those people go teach them what you now know, go help them get the results that you're getting now"

Resources:

kellyroachcoaching.com

What is a circumstance? A circumstance is a fact or condition connected with or relevant to an event or action. 

An example of a circumstance maybe that...it is a fact that you have a full-time Corporate job. You having a corporate job is a fact, it is a circumstance in your life. 

If you make $60,000 a year, that is a fact. What isn’t a fact is “I only make $60,000 and it isn’t a lot of money.” 

The “It isn’t a lot of money” is a thought you have about the circumstance, the fact itself. 

Another example of a circumstance is that you have 24 hours in a day. Another one is that you may have five hours a week dedicated to working on your business - that is a fact. Your brain may want to have a thought and say, “I don’t have that much time, I only have 5 hours a week to work on my business.”

Another example is you may have a to-do list with 15 things-to-do on it. The 15 things become your circumstance in this example. Your thought maybe, “I’m so stressed out right now, I have no time, I have so many things to do.” Your to-do list doesn’t stress you out, it is the thoughts you have around your to-do list. 

You don’t want to confuse a circumstance for a thought and vice versa. 

You might also think that your job stresses you out and assume that if you change your job, you’ll no longer be stressed. That by changing your circumstance, you’ll all of a sudden get rid of the stress. But here’s the thing, if you don’t work on your thoughts, you may always be stressed regardless of which job you take. 

Be careful of assuming that by quitting your Corporate job and having your own business your challenges and stress will go away. Is it possible though that a job change could reduce the stress that maybe isn’t caused by thoughts? Yes. 

For example, I worked at Target in stores right out of college. It was a super stressful job. Part of it being stressful was the job itself and part was caused by the thoughts I had during that time. After 13 months of working at Target, I found my bridge job. I started working at Wells Fargo through a third-party agency as a recruiter. My circumstance changed and yes, the majority of stress did go away, but I still had to work on my thoughts. 

An example of where when you change the circumstance but realize it is actually about the thoughts you think can be from having a to-do list that never ends. You cross the last thing off but then one more thing gets put on there so you’re in a constant stress loop. Completing the list, oh my gosh another thing I need to do, crossing it off, then one more thing. Let me say, I actually don’t keep a to-do list anymore, I calendar. Meaning I put everything I need to do on the calendar vs a “never-ending to-do list,” more on that in another episode. 

When you start and run your business there will be multiple priorities vying for your attention at once and it can get extremely overwhelming if you let it. You may find yourself rushing to get past the stage of business you’re in because you may think that once I get to X in my business, I can relax and think that “over there” is better. But once you get over there, you start thinking that another over there is better so you’re in a constant state of rushing and avoiding where you’re at. This would be an opportunity to change your thoughts vs thinking you need to change your circumstance. 

The danger of ignoring the circumstance for truth and only focusing on changing your thoughts could cause you to find yourself out of alignment and flow. There is a difference between grinding and feeling hard vs being in flow and experiencing challenging work that supports your path. 

This is why there isn’t a one size fits all strategy for every situation, kind of like financial planning. Meaning, it isn’t always about changing your circumstances or changing your thoughts...it could be both. Everyone has a different situation and requires a different strategy. But regardless of the strategy though, there usually is an underlying approach or process to it. 

1. Separate the circumstance (the fact) from the thought.
2. Assess and be honest with yourself on what you can own from a thinking standpoint. 
3. Own what feels good and what your intuition is telling you. 

Tess share's about our friendship, how she started her business, and how she's now in Switzerland with her husband. It's an incredible story that demonstrates what's possible when you have a location independent business! 

Tess left her job without a real plan, which she doesn't recommend to anyone, but she needed to leave. With her savings and money from renting her spare bedroom, she was able to buy some time since it helped cut down her cost of living. Tess was a part of the early stage of She Did It Her Way which she considered to have helped her with her content creation and copywriting skills.

In this episode, you will…

Learn how Tess started her own business

How she decided which niche to focus and prioritize

Take time to validate your niche

Discover the benefits of doing market research

Find out how you can transition within your business

Utilize opportunities to help others and grow your business

Get to know your purpose-driven revenue goals

Tess now runs her business from Switzerland, where she spends her free time learning Italian, searching for the best margarita in Europe, and face-timing with her nieces and nephews back in Iowa.

Insights:

"I like to follow profit first. There is a way that you can actually reverse engineer profit first, to create some amazing goals for yourself when it comes to your revenue."

"I number one is absolutely taking the time to validate your niche market, I would say, you know, try to sit down and get on 10 interviews with people who you want to you think are potentially your ideal clients and the people, you want to be working with our ideal customers, and identifying what's getting in their way, what their goals are, what their biggest frustration points are, and then seeing if you know, they'd be willing to pay for something to solve that and what they'd be willing to pay and all of that good stuff."

"Every failure has taught me one of two things:

1. What doesn't work, so I can remove that from the equation.

2. What I need to work on within myself."

Resources:

wanderwealthy.com

wanderwealthy.com/roadmap

wanderwealthy.com/workbook

Related Episodes:

Thinking you need these things is what is keeping you stuck and in procrastination mode…

• An expensive logo. 
• A flashy website.
• Complicated contracts.
• Years of experience doing said thing.
• Thousands of followers.
• Overwhelming tech. 
• An email list with thousands of subscribers.

An expensive logo. 

When you’re first getting started and offering services and still figuring out what you want to do, your logo (I believe matters but not as much as you think). Logos can sometimes cost you anywhere from $250-$300, plus the time it takes you to find a designer, get your logo produced is time you could be spending marketing your business and landing clients. Potential clients are more focused on your ability to deliver results. Now, if you are a graphic designer, then yes, your logo needs to represent your skill level. If you’re starting a VA business, copywriting editing business, coaching business your logo may not matter as much as you think it does. I’ve hired contractors who did not have a logo because their actions and how they communicated in an email were more important. Here’s what to do instead. Spend 30 minutes researching logos by visiting websites and identify what it is that you like about them. Then create a free Canva account and click “create a design,” select “Instagram post,” and start putting some things together. Don’t spend too much time trying to make it perfect. In this case, done, is better than perfect. Click here to sign up for a free Canva account. 

A flashy website.

You do not need a flashy website to start taking action on your business (that is of course unless you are a website designer, then you’ll want a website). But the truth is, there are lots of things you can do to get your business started and landing clients without having a website. I’ve seen time and time again so many women delay taking action because they think in order to get started they need a website. That thinking causes overwhelm and procrastination. Here are a few other things you can do instead: 1) Create a Facebook business page. This can serve as your storefront. It is much easier and quicker to get up and running. 2) Start an Instagram account and begin to share meaningful content that attracts your ideal customer. 3) In addition to doing one of the previous two mentioned and depending upon your business, launch a free Facebook group that helps nurture your ideal clients. Bonus! You can set up 3 different questions to ask them as they request to join your group and one of them can be their email address so you can nurture them when you get your email list set up. The whole point is not having to delay taking action. 

Complicated contracts. 

Let me first start by saying, I am not a lawyer and any information regarding legal that I’m about to share is based on my own experience. First, to incorporate your business, there are plenty of websites that will do this entire process for you in any state. Second, when it comes to contracts in your business there are plenty of affordable resources out there to help get you started to like The Contract Vault. You can find all of these resources on the She Did It Her Way website by clicking “Resources” and selecting “Start a Business.” 

Years of experience. 

Depending upon what it is that you want to do, it most likely doesn’t require you to have done years of experience doing it. If you’re great at designing websites and you’ve been doing it for 3 months, there is no said amount of time or years of experience you need in order to teach others how to do it or offer that as a service. The other day I was playing tennis and next to the court I was playing on were very experienced tennis players. In my mind I thought, I wonder if I asked one of them if I could pay them to give me lessons what would his response be? Then I thought about how he might say “Oh I’m not a coach” and think to himself, “I’m not experienced enough to be a coach.” When in reality it wouldn’t have mattered to me because he is one step ahead of where I am. If you’re ahead or more advanced, either by one step or multiple steps, then you can help someone.

Thousands of followers. 

You don’t need thousands of followers in order to have a financially stable business that replaces your corporate income and then some. If you have 500 people in your Facebook group or followers on Instagram and they’re the right people and they’re engaged, that is all you need. Sometimes we focus on getting ALL the followers and folks on your email list and into our Facebook group that we lose sight of them as individuals, and that is what matters.

Overwhelming tech. 

K.I.S.S. It. Keep it super simple. When you’re just starting out, keep it as simple as humanly possible as you can. If you want to coach people on a certain topic, I recommend starting with a Facebook group and expanding to Instagram. If you want to offer services, I recommend starting with Instagram.

An email list with thousands of subscribers

While having a massive email list does help the growth of your business long-term, when you’re first getting started and finding clients, again, you don’t need a massive list, you need to get in front of the right people. Once you make contact, you can nurture those relationships.

A few things you do need:

• An idea of who you want to work with
• The services you want to offer
• The result your clients receive by working with you
• A place where you’re going to create content. Depending upon your business this may vary but I’ve found Instagram to be a great place to get started when creating content and your brand. 

The key takeaway from today’s episode is to always find the path of least resistance when starting a business. If building a website creates roadblocks, slows you down, and gets in the way of you taking the next step you need to in order start your business, ask yourself, “How can I find an easier way to take the place of my website? Do I need a website in order to land clients?”

To learn more and get a full list of resources, head to www.shediditherway.com, and click the “tools to start a business” or “free training” to learn more.

Her journey as a freelancer started when her mom gave her a camera, prior to that point in her life, she envisioned her career taking place likely in corporate America, moving to New York and working in the big city of Philadelphia. When her mom gave her first camera, everything that she thought she knew about what she wanted to do with her life came and just unraveled in front of her. She fell in love with the ability to capture images, emotion and being creative. So from senior year of high school all through the senior year of college, she started photographing portraits and when she graduated she was photographing almost 30 weddings per year.

In 2014 about two years out of college, Natalie had hit a lot of the goals that she had set for herself and her business. She was financially stable as a business owner, bringing in well over six figures, and she had a really loyal clientele but found herself incredibly isolated and incredibly lonely. And so right around 2015 she started to think about how to build communities for the very first time. It was just a thought of, "Hey, can I start, you know, cultivating a community in my hometown of Annapolis, Maryland?, Can I start getting these small business owners together? Can we sit down around a table side by side?" 

Natalie, her husband, and their friends, Davey and Krista co-founded, at the time, a small coffee meet-up in their hometown. So that's where it started it rapidly expanded and grew because the pain was not just experienced by her and not just experienced by business owners in Annapolis, but the community members all across the world. And so Rising Tide went from one meetup to 12, to a hundred to now over 400 meetups that happen around the world, both in-person and online. And they have grown this community alongside HoneyBook for the past four years.

In this episode you will...

• Learn about stepping outside the box
• Discover that being successful is not about following a linear path
• Find your passion and the things that you really want to do
• Forget about the pressure from other people
• Focus on the things that you love to do 
• Hear about the benefit of being in the right community
• Learn that the online community is powerful, it's one of the most accessible formats for community 

Insights:

"It's been a dream to just be a part of a brand that understands the impact of the community over the last four years. So it's been a journey. It has been a real journey."

"I alluded this process of breaking the rules and stepping outside of the box, but I think the world tries to tell us that our paths must be linear, that we must, you know, go to high school, go to college, get a safe job, climb that corporate ladder. When I really, really kind of in those college years, especially as my business started to grow, realize that I didn't want to climb a corporate ladder so much as I wanted to build my own."

"Even your heroes feel like imposters too, you know, no one feels like they have made it. No one. Nope. Not even her. Like no one has no one ever feels like they have made it. We all think of that one person. She thinks she's made it. She knows every day is just roses and daisies. Yeah. No, it's not. I think, you know, everyone feels like an imposter and you have to tackle that head-on and stop entertaining the lies that you will never measure up."