What Works

Do you ever get the feeling you’re white-knuckling it through business ownership? Like if you just squeeze the wheel hard enough and focus on what’s in front of you, you can keep your business from ending up in a serious fender bender (or worse)? I’ve certainly felt that way. All throughout 2020, I felt like my extreme vigilance was the only thing between my business and an 8-car pileup. And we didn’t get hit nearly as hard as many businesses. It’s a burden, being able to control situations with my hyper-vigilance, but it’s my lot in life. — Tina Fey, Bossypants That hyper-vigilance can look like needing to have my fingers in every project or having to touch base with every customer. It can look like working 10 hours a day or checking in on the weekends. It can look like not going on vacation for fear of things crumbling without me or always leaving my inbox open throughout the day. This last year involved every one of those habits at one point or another. Sometimes all at once. Truthfully, I’m still burnt out from The Year Of White-Knuckling. And I need a break. That’s why, if you’re reading this at the time it’s published, I’m unplugged and on vacation. Note from writing self to vacation self: seriously, let go—don’t work this week. Of course, “taking a break” isn’t just about taking a vacation. It might mean making space for a creative project. Or making time to work on your business. Or taking Fridays off. Or putting your podcast on hiatus. There are so many ways to take a break from things that drain us (even if we love them) but hyper-vigilance is not the way you do it. Last year notwithstanding, I’ve led my business to a pretty peaceful equilibrium. We have strong systems, predictable cycles of work, and a dreamy community of customers who cheer when we take some time off. But I also catch a glimpse of my former hyper-vigilant self every time I see Sean worry about our clients on the weekends or try to make vacation plans around reliable access to the internet every morning. While it would be wonderful to work in a world where taking a break meant just shutting down the computer on a Friday with no preparation and not giving work a second thought for 10 days, taking a break takes some work. There is work to be done on the business—I’ll get to the specifics in just a moment—and there is also mental work. Now, if you’re not the anxious, hyper-vigilant business owner that I am, maybe mentally preparing for a break isn’t so hard. I have no idea what that’s like. Feel free to skip ahead, though. For all the worriers out there, probably the most helpful mental shift I’ve made over the years is learning that: There is no amount of worry or hyper-vigilance that will stop something bad from happening. I can’t not take a break because I believe checking email every day averts all potential problems. Ish happens. Even the best systems, happiest customers, and most independent team members won’t stop the random problem from breaking through. But just because I can’t stop a problem from happening doesn’t mean that a problem will happen. I can take a few days or a few weeks off without there being a problem that... ★ Support this podcast ★

I did not like group work as a student. I much preferred to take on a project myself. I wanted complete control over the vision for that project, its execution, and all of the details along the way. And when I say I “preferred,” what I really mean is that I still prefer to do things on my own. However, building a business has taught me that I’m not going to build what I want to build without group work. All this month, we’ve been exploring the possibilities for teaming up as we run our businesses. We explored hiring & managing with Podge Thomas, and I shared how I cope as an anxious, introverted, and autistic boss with Annie Schuessler. We explored how we can expand the visions of our businesses to ask how they can help us take better care of each other–and not just meet individual goals for success–with Kate Strathmann. And we explored how to guide ourselves through the process of asking for and receiving support from others with Shulamit Ber Levtov. This week, we’re going to wrap things up by exploring 5 things that are only really possible when we team up. As I mentioned, group work is not my thing. And, I’ve realized that the things I’m most passionate about pursuing and creating are things that can only be done as part of a group. I need a team to build community. I nurture community to transform small business ownership. I need a team to help people express themselves & their ideas with podcasts. Heck, I need a team to produce this podcast! A lot has been written about the promise of “solo entrepreneurship” over the years. And 8 years ago, I wrote about how I believed that solo entrepreneurship is a myth. Businesses aren’t built in a bubble, I wrote. The only reason it feels like we can build a business on our own is because we have so many ways of working together. Only we take those ways of working together for granted. The reason social media can work for marketing? It’s because we’re all collaborating on the content we put there–intentionally or not. The reason so many of us can sell to individual consumers or entrepreneurs with no middle man? We’ve all agreed that supporting each other is a key part of creating the world we want to live in. The reason the technology we use to run our businesses gets better and better? We’re all a part of the feedback loop driving innovation. The more we can draw out how we’re all a part of an implicit collaboration, a quiet team of supporters, the more we can ease into the power of making those collaborations explicit. Entrepreneurship isn’t actually group work. It’s a huge opportunity to take better care of each other. An opportunity to make our little corner of the world a better place through the vehicle of business. And we just won’t do that alone. Today, I have 5 ways we can team up to do bigger and better things. SEO consultant Meg Casebolt shares a story about teaming up to create a truly unique experience. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * How mindset & resilience consultant Shulamit Ber Levtov became interested in the mental health challenges women face in entrepreneurship* Why she took a month off from work to prevent experiencing a full burnout last year* The methods she uses to identify what she needs and how she’s feeling* Why she always starts with getting her emotional support needs met first* How she crafts clear boundaries and direct communication about what she really needs When was the last time you asked for help? The last time you tried to solve a problem by asking for guidance instead of throwing yourself into Google? The last time you told someone about something that was really weighing on you, not looking for answers but just reaching out for empathy and understanding? I can’t remember the last time I did. So if you’re having a hard time picturing it, I’m right there with you. I’ve been my identity around being the one with the answers, the one who has it all together. Of course, much of that has been a mask for how utterly out of place and clueless I feel most of the time. The more I can present myself as a smart, successful, and altogether resourceful leader the less likely I am to consciously worry about being rejected. Today, we’re talking about cultivating emotional resilience and accessing support as a small business owner. In their book, Burnout, Drs Emily and Amelia Nagoski term the collection of symptoms we face as the ones who have to have it all together as Human Giver Syndrome. The “human giver” idea comes from philosopher Kate Manne who uses it to make a distinction between the expectations put on women, along with people of color, queer people, immigrants, and other marginalized groups, and the expectations put on white men. Human givers are the people who human beings rely on for moral support, emotional labor, admiration, attention, and care. The Nagoskis suggest that human givers who give and give without the ability to take time to receive support for their own labor and stress are on a fast track to burning out. I think this same dynamic can play out with business owners—no matter their gender. Under-resourced business owners are often relied on for moral support, strategic direction, project management, post mortem analysis, and planning with little ability to receive support on those tasks—or many others. What’s more, our culture valorizes entrepreneurs who do this work day in and day out, for long hours, with no breaks. Of course, none of that valor translates into a better safety net and more abundant collective resources for business-building. Now, I’m in way trying to make entrepreneurs the subject of sympathy. The upside to building a business, even as an under-resourced business owner, can be immense. But that doesn’t lessen the strain of making that upside reality. It’s hard. And it’s lonely. And it often goes unrecognized. Even though I am one of the many business owners who has a hard time setting aside my I’ve-got-it-all-together identity to ask for & receive support, I have created a container where people to do this on a daily basis. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * Wanderwell founder Kate Strathmann and I unpack how our personal values often don’t line up with economic forces—and how that impacts our business* Why rethinking the purpose of your business might help you rethink your goals to be more aligned with your personal values* How expanding your vision to include taking care of others as well as yourself can create a paradigm shift in your business Marketers love to tell you: do this and you’ll make more money. Or, do this and you’ll have more freedom. Or, do this and you’ll get to be more you. If you do what I tell you to do, your life will significantly improve. The reason for this is simple: capitalism turns life improvement into a task of consumption. We’re convinced we can buy our way to an easier, more satisfying life. And that means many of us are convinced we can work our way to the money we need to do that. Further, the more we improve ourselves and enhance our lives, the more we can use our selves as a form of capital to reinvest in the market. As Jia Tolentino writes, selfhood is capitalism’s last natural resource. Now, I’m not meaning to pick on marketers here. Because the way we (and yes, I’ll include myself here) market our products and services is only one very small part of a systemic problem. The larger, systemic issue is how most of us are conditioned to focus our effort on the individual pursuit of success. We focus on our individual challenges, our individual needs, and our individual opportunities. And that’s great because businesses can sell us answers to the questions of individual success and the solutions to individual challenges. When their solutions don’t bring about the results we’re looking for? Well, it’s likely because we’re just not as capable as we need to be, right? Ugh. Individualism is insidious. Of course, just because individualism is insidious doesn’t mean we don’t have individual needs, goals, and desires that are absolutely worth pursuing. It’s just that individualism as a system, along with the personal responsibility doctrine and the false promise of meritocracy create a series of assumptions that ultimately pit my success against your success, my needs against your needs, my desires against your desires. We can talk about wanting business to be a win-win all we want but, as long as we’re working in these systems, it’s incredibly difficult to make it happen. So what that does is put our personal values in conflict with economic forces. It puts the way we want to see the world in conflict with the way the world works. Over the last 5 years, I’ve been trying to imagine and build ways of doing business that meet & exceed my individual needs while also broadening my focus beyond only my individual success. I still have many more questions that I have answers—and I’ve peeled back many layers of privilege and conditioning to see things in new ways. Last spring, a new layer to peel back started to emerge. My friend and our resident business radical, Kate Strathmann, made it clear that many of the ways we were responding to the pandemic and resulting economic shock were an attempt at “individual solutions to ... ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * How I decide what roles to hire for (and why understanding our team structure is key)* When it’s time increase capacity by hiring versus fixing messy operations* Why you don’t want to clone yourself to get more done* How product and operations can overlap to creating some really exciting opportunities When I say I’m an introvert, I mean I’m a hardcore introvert. People don’t believe me when I say that because I’m loud and enthusiastic—but being loud and enthusiastic is not the same thing as being extroverted. If you spend more than an hour with me in a social situation, you’ll see the life drain from my eyes as my internal batteries release their last burst of energy. I wish I was kidding—but I am not. I also happen to be an introvert surrounded by extroverts. I’m an internal processor surrounded by external processors. I’m an avoider of small talk surrounded by people who love small talk. It’s a tricky situation. Who are these people? They’re my team members—and among them, my husband. Sean and I often joke about how unfortunate it is that I’ve ended up with so many extroverts in my life. Not because there’s anything wrong with extroverts but because it can be exhausting! My friend Annie Schuessler asked if I’d be willing to talk about managing a team as an introvert and I jumped at the chance. I’ve learned so much about team-building in general over the last 5 years but I’ve also learned a bunch about how to put guardrails in place around my own energy and bandwidth as I work with my teams. Since recording this interview, I’ve also started to talk publicly about how the way I work and relate to others is filtered through the lens of autism. So many of the things I’ve always thought of as a result of introversion and social anxiety are present because of my autism. I am introverted, I do have social anxiety, and I’m autistic. That’s a pretty thick soup to be wading through as a manager. The main reason I wanted to share that before you hear this interview is because my experiences as an introverted boss may be quite different from your experiences if you’re also an introverted boss. The other reason reason I wanted to share that is because, before I had the framework of autism to make sense of my life, I was constantly working against myself in an effort to fix things I perceived as problems & deficiencies. While I’m still working to become a better manager and leader, I’m also looking much more objectively at how I can build structures that don’t require me to work against my nature quite so often. In so many ways, my autism is a strength for business-building, writing & podcasting, and team-building. But it takes work to embrace those strengths when they’re so different from what other people expect! Alright, here’s what you’re going to hear in this interview—Annie and I talk about how I find team members, why you need to know what you’re really hiring for before you start looking, how I’m onboarding new hires now, and why you don’t want to clone yourself. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * Why management specialist Podge Thomas believes your team should be your biggest asset* How to prepare to hire—and how to take better care of your team member through careful onboarding* How our previous experiences with management shape the way we approach the prospect of hiring today Managing has gotten a bad rap. In fact, if I had to guess, I’d say that “not wanting to manage people” is the biggest reason people cite for not hiring. Sure, there might be financial issues. There might be issues with finding the right person. There might issues about knowing what to hand off. But almost everyone I talk to has either a fear or an unwillingness to manage people. So why do so many of us have such an aversion to management? Why have so many people sworn off hiring help? Why has solopreneurship become such an enticing thing for people wanting to build a business? Here’s my take: we grossly overestimate the risks & liabilities of hiring people and managing them. And we grossly underestimate the benefits of doing so. Typically cognitive bias, especially for entrepreneurs, works the other way. We fixate on the upsides and ignore potential risk. That’s entrepreneurial optimism in a nutshell. So maybe this is managerial pessimism? I don’t know—but what I do know is that hiring might be the best thing you ever do for yourself and for your business. That’s not to say that I think it’s the right decision for everyone—but I do believe it’s a good decision for more business owners. This episode is going to be perfect for you whether you’ve avoided hiring to this point, whether you’re considering making the leap, or whether you’ve already got a team and looking to become a better boss and really receive the benefits of building a team. But before we get into the meat of it, I want to paint a picture of the upside of hiring for you. Because there’s a very good chance that, even if you’re already paying people, you haven’t experienced this yet. Upside #1: People have your back Team members—especially employees—aren’t just there to get things done for you. They’re part of the fundamental support of the business. And sometimes, that looks like making sure you’re in a position to the do work that only you can do. They might keep you from getting derailed by an unhappy customer. They might watch out for you when they know you’re under the weather. They might pick up an off-hand remark as an idea for a game-changing project. I simply cannot oversell the benefit of having a team that has your back. Of course, building this kind of team takes work—management work—but it is so, so, so worth it. Upside #2: Other people can create or deliver value for you Most micro business owners—solo or not—operate as if they’re the only ones who can create value for the business. But team members can create value, too! They can turn ideas into reality. They can work with your clients or lead conversations in your course. They can build systems that dramatically increase efficiency and effectiveness. They can even build offers for you! Maybe that seems incredibly far-fetched at this point. Maybe you never even considered that as a possibility. But it’s all true. Of course, you’ve got to hire the right people and guide them... ★ Support this podcast ★

How do you know what content should be free? And, what should be paid for? This month, we’ve been talking all about building an audience and/or finding customers—as well as how those two things are different. And one of the things a conversation about audience-building always comes back to is content. What kind of content do you create? Where do you share it? Who do you create it for? And on & on… The big question I get repeatedly, though is: How do I know what content should be paid for and what content should be free? And I get it! There’s a whole industry out there that appears to be helping you sell content–whether as ebooks, online courses, membership sites, Patreon incentives, or paid newsletters. But what I’ve learned is that we are never really selling content. Or information. Or even ideas. We’re always selling an experience. We craft an experience of content that facilitates transformation–and that’s really what people buy. Because the info is out there, right? Even if your product is quote-unquote only an online course with no feedback, no live calls, no engagement from you, it’s still an experience. Because you’ve crafted each module and what order they appear in, you’ve chosen the course platform, you’ve designed the way you’re delivering the information–all to facilitate change. That’s an experience. I want to share a clip of The What Works Network Insider Hour from this month where I share how I approach this question specifically in my own business and, specifically, how my thinking has changed over the years. I get into my overall strategy for content as it relates to our product and I talk about how that approach ties into our sales process, too. ★ Support this podcast ★

This month, we’ve explored finding customers and building an audience—which are not the same things. Every business needs to find customers. But not every business—not even most businesses—needs to build an audience. Yet, so many small business owners get hung up on building their following counts or email lists instead of doing the things that actually lead to sales. The drive to build an audience partially comes from the false belief that “scale” is the universal goal for all businesses. Many successful businesses never scale—or they don’t scale in terms of serving thousands of people instead of tens of people. They might scale in terms of efficiency or price or team—but scaling up one or all of those things does not require you to build an audience. But everywhere you look on social media, someone is telling you that you have to scale. As Maggie Patterson put it, they’re serving you poison and then selling you the cure. Now look, if you’re excited about scaling up or you’ve found success with scaling up, wonderful!! I personally love the idea of serving at scale and enjoy speaking to an audience. But I also recognize that this is the best way to build a business for only a teeny tiny segment of the business owner community. A stronger, more sustainable, more effective way to build a highly profitable business is to… wait for it… Stay small and do things that don’t scale. Today, I have 3 more stories of people who are serving and building in a really impactful ways without building an audience in the way you might have been taught. You’ll hear from messaging consultant Dr. Michelle Mazur, branding expert Amy Walsh, and leadership consultant Nancy Hess. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * Why storytelling is good for business and how it can help you build your audience* Why you don’t have to squeeze your story into the hero’s journey* How finding a related emotional touchpoint can lead to telling a powerful story even if it isn’t directly related to the information you’re sharing* How to start your own story bank so you’re never at a loss for a good story to tell Nothing fosters human connection faster than a story. Stories are the most direct way to tell someone else—or a whole audience of people—an important truth about you. Stories give us shared experiences and emotions to build relationships from. Stories make even the biggest concepts or most technical information feel real. Practicing storytelling has been a game changer for me in the way I communicate, market, and teach. And I believe it can do the same for you. Today’s episode is a sort of conversation-meets-workshop excerpted from a special joint event for The What Works Network and Standout Podcast Club. I talk with Tell Me A Story founder Hillary Rea about how we can more effectively use stories in the content we create and why stories have such a positive impact on our results as business owners. This conversation is chock full of ideas, explainers, and ways to experiment with story so you can forge a deeper connection with your audience. So settle in for this conversation on connecting with story with Hillary Rea! Check out Hillary’s 30 story prompts. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * Why brand strategist Felicia Sullivan doesn’t bother with using social media to find clients* How she uses coffee dates to make long-lasting relationships* Why she prioritizes consuming remarkable content and how it helps her meet the people she wants to meet* How she uses Medium to deliver remarkable content on the platform her clients are most likely to be engaging with “Do things that don’t scale.” That’s venture capitalist Paul Graham’s advice to new entrepreneurs. What he means is that instead of trying to appeal to the masses or market an idea with a million-dollar advertising budget, start by wooing 1 person at a time. I’ve always loved this advice and found it to be unfailingly effective. But… it’s possible to take this idea too far. When I say it’s possible to take the idea of doing things that don’t scale too far, I’m talking about the tendency to assume that you do things that don’t scale until you can do the things that scale. For Graham’s audience, that is totally the right idea. But for small business owners, more often than not, the idea is: do things that don’t scale—and then do them some more. And this absolutely applies to how we build audiences or find customers. The activities that have brought me the biggest leaps forward in terms of the size of my audience were things that came from 1:1 interactions. The things that have brought in incredible clients? They certainly didn’t scale. It’s not that scale isn’t possible—it’s just that scale is a potential result not a method. The best path forward for most small business owners is a marketing strategy that doesn’t scale: referrals, word of mouth, networking, interacting with people online. Even creating highly valuable podcast episodes or newsletters! Today, I’m talking with Felicia Sullivan, a brand strategist who has built a thriving business on marketing activities that don’t scale. Felicia works with startup founders and small businesses doing $10-20m in annual revenue—folks who aren’t looking for business help on Instagram. So Felicia spends her business development time on 3 things: coffee dates, writing long-form articles geared directly to her prospective clients, and referrals. This episode answers some of the questions I’m most frequently asked about when it comes to marketing businesses that aren’t built on online courses (which, you know, is most of them). Get ready to take some notes. Let’s find out What Works for Felicia Sullivan! ★ Support this podcast ★