What Works

The market is constantly changing. New technology, new trends, new players. We can either treat the constant changing and uncertainty as a threat… …or we can treat it as an invitation to see everything we do as a work in progress. All this month, we’ve been looking at the process of value creation–how we wind up building the products and services we sell. We heard from Alisha Robertson about how she turned her book into the idea for a membership community. India Jackson shared how she she went from modeling to photography to running a brand visibility agency. And we heard from Michelle Markwart Deveaux about how she took a tried-and-maybe-not-so-true model for offering voice teaching services and turned it on its head to improve how she delivered value AND to make more money. Along the way, I also shared stories from my own companies about how things have evolved and what I’ve learned as things have changed about the ways I create and deliver value–from business support to podcast production to leadership development. So back to change and uncertainty… …like I said, change and uncertainty is a given. There is absolutely no point in fighting it–trying to get things exactly right or anticipate what’s going to happen next. And you know what? That’s great! Because at this point, it should be clear that creating value is always a work in progress. As the market changes, our offers can evolve. As we learn more, we can try new things. The challenge in this is actually treating your business as a work-in-progress. So often, I see business owners work in fits & starts–trying to solve one piece of the puzzle once and for all… only to get frustrated, take a break, and then find something else to fixate on for a while. Whether it’s creating value, making your systems more efficient, or growing your audience… the trick to treating your business as a work in progress is consistent action. Business-building has to be a habit, not a one-off project you have to get right. To make business-building a habit, you need a solid system to focus on what matters, a structure of getting the work done, and the support of peers and mentors who can inspire you to keep going. That’s exactly what we do at The What Works Network. When you join The What Works Network, you commit to making business-building a habit. Each month, we give you the focus, structure, and support you need to take your work in progress and make it a little stronger. Together, we take consistent, strategic action to build a more effective, efficient, and sustainable business. The What Works Network is accepting new members right now through the end of August. ★ Support this podcast ★

Hey, it’s Tara McMullin, and this is a special bonus episode of What Works, the show that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how small business owners take decisive action to build a stronger business. This is the third and final episode in a series on how I’ve approached creating and delivering value through the products and services I’ve offered over the years. In the first episode of the series, I shared how my most recent offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint, started as a personal life change, grew into a free webinar, and then transformed twice into a paid product. In the second episode, I gave you a closer look at my other company, YellowHouse.Media, and shared how and why we’ve taken on the productized service model. And now, as I close out the series, I want to share how The What Works Network has grown out of a long line of products and services that package small business support in different ways. Earlier this week, I spoke with Michelle Markwart Deveaux about how she refined her voice coaching offer from a pay-for-service model into a value-pricing model, and what that did for how she packaged, sold, and delivered the value she was creating. Just repackaging the same offer in a new way made her business more enjoyable to run and more profitable too. It also gave her students a whole new perspective on what she was offering and how it benefited them. Refining, repackaging and re-messaging the way I offer support for small business owners over the last 10 years has given me the chance to build a stronger business model and find more valuable, more aligned, and more customer-centric ways of creating value. Now, to be clear, it would be easy to say the different offers I’ve made over the years are truly different products or services, but I see them as one long lineage of refining and repackaging, and that’s the key take-away I want you to have from what I’m about to share. Building a stronger business doesn’t mean throwing in the towel on what you’ve already built. It’s a process of building on what’s working, making guesses about what could work better, and finding ways to experiment your way to a more sustainable, profitable and effective model for everyone involved. Let’s, as they say, start at the very beginning. So first, did you know I used to design websites? It’s true. I used to run my blog during the day in between taking care of my new baby, and then I would build websites either really late at night or very early in the morning. And building websites was a really easy concrete way to create and exchange value. In other words, it was an easy way to make money when that was something that was super important, just figuring out how can I make money. But what I found was that what people really got out of the work that we did together was a better idea of how to structure their business. In the process of building a website, writing an about page, figuring out what needs to go where on that site, we’d have a lot of conversations about their business, ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode * Why voice teacher Michelle Markwart Deveaux refined her offer from a pay-for-service model to a value pricing model* How that shift changed how she packaged her services and what outcomes she focused on for her students* What she did to double her rates while deliver 3 times the value* How she started sharing her methods and business structure with other voice teachers and professionals Product development isn’t always about building something new. Often, it’s about taking what you’ve already built and making it stronger. You refine the packaging, the value proposition, the customer experience, the delivery mechanisms, and the price. Little by little, you create value simply through the process of excavating the most useful or transformative pieces of your offer and making sure they are as polished & refined as they can be. Refining the product or service you already offer can be as good—or even better—for giving your business a shot of energy as offering something new. When you refine or repackage your offer, new people might notice it who passed it by before. New methods of delivery might give you back some serious time. A new price point might unlock a new level of profitability for your business. A new message or angle on what you really offer could open your eyes to a whole new way to market what you do. In other words, refining your offer could lead to a new, bold vision for your whole business! This is exactly what I talked about with today’s guest, Michelle Markwart Deveaux, founder of FaithCultureKiss voice studio and the SpeakEasy Cooperative. Michelle is a voice teacher… as well as champion for voice teachers who want to empower students, performers, podcasters, and voice talent of all kinds to use their voices in powerful ways. Michelle started out teaching voice with the same kind of offer you’d expect any voice, piano, or instrument teacher to use. Students paid her for each lesson and they called it a day. But as she started to hate how transactional that method was and how guilty it made her feel for doing work outside of her lessons, she started to refine her offer—and ended up creating a whole new model for teaching voice. We get into all of that and more, including how she doubled her rates and delivered 3x the value, how she structures her packages, and how she got started teaching voice online. Plus, we talk about how she took what she learned refining her original voice teaching offer and created a new offer to help other voice teachers, too. Now, let’s find out What Works for Michelle Markwart Deveaux! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * Why Sean and Tara McMullin chose to “productize” their full-service podcast production offer at YellowHouse.Media… and what productized services actually are* What’s included in the package they offer–and why they don’t often custom or a la carte services* How the productized service model allowed them to quickly create a small group coaching program to increase their capacity and serve more clients Hey! It’s Tara McMullin and this is a special BONUS episode of What Works—the show that takes you behind the scenes of how small business owners take decisive action on building a stronger business. This is the second episode of a bonus series on how I’ve approached creating and delivering value through the products and services I’ve offered over the years. In the first bonus episode, I shared how my most recent offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint, started as a personal life change, grew into a free webinar, and then transformed—TWICE—into a paid product. In this episode, I’m going to give you a closer look at my other company, YellowHouse.Media, and share how and why we’ve taken on the productized service model—including what that means for how we serve our clients, run our operations, and build for the future. Plus, I’ll share how the same principles that apply to YellowHouse also apply to What Works and how we continue to develop The What Works Network to support small business owners as they build stronger businesses. Now, in the last regular episode I spoke with India Jackson, the founder of brand visibility agency Flaunt Your Fire. India described what clients come to Flaunt Your Fire looking to achieve and how the agency helps them achieve those results. She also shared that she tailors each client engagement to the goals of that client using both master services list and a really strong idea of what the agency’s yes, no, and maybe projects are. This bespoke service model is typically how people approach building a service-based business. The client tells you want they need, you figure out how to make that happen and put a price on it. Each engagement looks different and might include a different mix of services. And this model works. But it’s not the only way to build a service-based business. A few years ago, I started to notice that the most successful people I was working with in our community and mastermind groups were running a different kind of service-based business. They were running productized service businesses. (And in case you’re wondering, yes, most of the time these productized service businesses were out-earning the digital product businesses. So don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make money in client services.) I was intrigued by the model and operations behind these successful productized service businesses… but, more than that, I was intrigued by how happy these business owners were! They were focused. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * How Flaunt Your Fire founder India Jackson takes a strategic approach to offering custom service packages without getting overwhelmed or burnt out* Why getting to know her potential clients really, really well helps her put together the right packages for their needs* How her “master list” of services helps her build bespoke engagements easily & efficiently* How she’s gotten her team involved with client-facing work and slowly let go of control Somewhere in the craze for online courses and making money in your sleep, service-based businesses got a bad rap. Of course, most of the bad rap really just came from marketers who convinced would-be business owners that passive income and infinitely scalable models were the only way to ensure they wouldn’t be overworked and overwhelmed by client work. The other reason, I think, that service-based businesses got a bad rap was that so many service providers weren’t very thoughtful or strategic in how they offered their services. And understandably so! You want to make clients happy. You want to say yes. You want to close the deal. And so you agree to switching things up, doing things that you’re only kind of good at, and going along with what the client wants instead of what you know to be best. That’s all a recipe for taking on too much uninspired work for yourself—and even for your team. But offering a service doesn’t have to be that way. Offer development is an incredibly important part of running a service-based business. Without a careful strategy and thoughtful process behind how you create value, you are likely to get stuck in the trap of trading time for money or wind up overwork & overwhelmed. That’s why I wanted to make sure we included a bespoke service-based business in this series on creating value. I invited India Jackson, the founder of Flaunt Your Fire, a full-service brand visibility agency, to share her approach to how she creates value and constructs the services she offers clients. India is clear on what her agency does and what it does not do. She’s clear on why her agency offers the types engagements it does and why some projects just aren’t right for them. And, she’s clear on how her team adds value to the services the agency provides—so India isn’t stuck doing everything herself. Even if you don’t run a service-based business, this conversation has a lot to offer. Listen in and consider how you might be trying to do too much with your product-based business or how you’ve succumb to making offers that aren’t aligned with your values or best work. We’ll get to this conversation with India in just a minute—but first, don’t forget to check out our special bonus series this month for a behind-the-scenes look at how I’ve developed some of my favorite offers over the years. In the first episode, I shared how we took The Commitment Blueprint from idea to free offer to paid template to paid live program. In the second episode—out Thursday—I’m sharing how Sean and I developed the service package we offer at YellowHouse.Media. It’s the perfect follow-up to this conversation with India. Now, let’s find out What Works for India Jackson! What Works Is Brought To You By

In This Episode: * How a significant life change for What Works founder Tara McMullin turned into an idea and then several iterations of offers* The process Tara used to turn The Commitment Blueprint process into a free webinar, then a paid template, and finally a live paid program* How a similar process is helping Tara and the What Works team continue to evolve how The What Works Network is structured* And why asking “What’s next?” doesn’t have to mean creating a brand-new offer but, instead, iterating on what you’re already selling This is a special bonus episode of What Works–the show that takes you behind the scenes of how small business owners take decisive action to build a stronger business. This is the first episode in a three-part series taking a closer look at what’s worked for me as I’ve developed a new ways to create and deliver value over the years, both here at What Works and now at YellowHouse.Media. Today I’m sharing how our latest What Works offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint came to be—tracing it from its humble beginnings as the seed of a major life and business shift for me to a successful webinar, to a paid template, and finally to the live program version. Now I’m going to be breaking it down iteration by iteration, from idea to offer and really to the next offer from there and the next offer after that. So let’s start at the beginning—the idea. Like so many offers out there, the idea for The Commitment Blueprint really came as a result of solving my own problem. Now I had always been a planner and a goal setter, but I started to notice that my planning and goal setting was maybe causing me more problems than they were solving. I started to get really caught up in other people’s goals and trying to prove myself based on reaching them. And I realized that I needed to make a change or I was going to be constantly chasing after other people’s ideas of what I should be achieving or accomplishing instead of building the life and business that I really wanted. So at the beginning, little by little, I started to focus more on process. In other words, I was thinking about. What could I commit to doing consistently to change my current experience and my future outcomes. Now, this led to all sorts of personal growth for me, I got back to being an athlete again after 20 years, I prioritized execution and systems in my work for like the first time ever. I learned to see how other people were functioning in the world and that helped me temper my righteous indignation, at least most of the time. This whole process was just the experience of major personal growth. And I realized looking back over that time, especially as people started to ask me more and more, “Hey, Tara, something’s different with you. What did you change? What happened here? What, what are you doing?” I realized that there was method to the madness. I had made certain commitments to myself. And I developed a process for upholding those commitments. And then from there I was able to make adjustments over time. So once I realized that there was a method to the madness, I realized that I could share it with other people. And that led to the very first offer. In other words, the very first way that I could create value for other people using this same system. Turning the method into a free webinar So from there, ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode * How Alisha Robertson got the idea for The LOE Collective, a membership community supporting women business owners* The process she used to figure out how the community would take shape and what features she would include* How her course library & Intentional Success Path help members feel at home and in control* Why the pricing for the community has evolved over time “What’s next?” The first few dozen or so times I heard this question from a customer I was perplexed—even a bit concerned. Whether it was after a course wrapped up or a coaching engagement came to a close or a small group came to a close… …when a customer would ask me “What’s next?”, I worried that I hadn’t done my job. I thought maybe they wanted to know what was next because they hadn’t quite gotten what they came for. They hadn’t seen a real change or improved their situation. It took me much longer than I’d like to admit to realize what they were really saying was, “That was great. What else can we do together?” I realized that “What’s next?” was an invitation to create more value for the people who I was already helping—and, in turn, make a very, very easy sale. This month, we’re focusing on how small businesses create & deliver value. How do we develop new offers? Put together new packages? Build new products? We’ll be deep diving into 3 businesses and how they create & deliver value. I’ll also be sharing a series of short bonus episodes looking back at how I’ve created & delivered value over the years—and how that process continues to evolve both at What Works and at YellowHouse.Media. Plus, we’ll close out the series by hearing from a few more business owners who have found creative ways to create and deliver value through the offers they make. As I mentioned earlier, “What’s next?” is often a question that helps you figure out how to create and deliver value beyond what you’re already doing. A product or service that solves a particular problem might shine some light on the next problem that needs to be a solved. A product or service that creates a delightful experience might simply leave the customer asking for more. Or “What’s next?” might simply be a request to go deeper, keep working together longer, or investigate new possibilities. Alisha Robertson found herself with a whole bunch of customers asking her “What’s next?” after she released a book called Living Over Existing. After a lot of thought, some customer research, some soul-searching, Alisha came up with her next move. Alisha and talk about how the LOE Collective came to be, how she’s set up her community to meet those “What’s next” needs, and how she created the Intentional Success Path to guide her members through more “What’s next” questions. Plus, Alisha shares why she also created a physical welcome kit to send to her new members. Now, let’s find out What Works for Alisha Robertson. What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours... ★ Support this podcast ★

I had a Magic 8 ball when I was a kid. I wouldn’t say that I relied on it in any serious way… but, when my kid brain was trying to process some big emotions or sort through a sticky situation, I often pulled it out and asked it questions. Most of the time, the mysterious blue text that would emerge from the dark depths of the ball would give you some sort of definitive answer. Without a doubt. Signs point to yes. Don’t count on it. My reply is no. But there was another set of answers that just really left you hanging. The one that sticks out in my mind is “Reply hazy. Try again.” All things considered, “Reply hazy. Try again,” was probably the most accurate of Magic 8 Ball answers. You can ask the ball a question. You can shake it vigorously and beg for the answer you’re hoping for. But, in truth, the reply is ALWAYS hazy. The future is hazy. It’s unknowable. And that makes taking decisive action to build a stronger business much more challenging. But we have a choice. We can either fight it–and metaphorically try to shake that damn ball until we have a complete picture of what the future is going to be. Or we can make decisions based on the information we have, a solid understanding of our goals, and an acceptance of the uncertainty of it all. Waiting until you have all the answers you need or want is a great way to keep spinning your wheels. While embracing uncertainty might be risky and it’s can definitely be scary, but it’s the only way we move forward. This month, we looked at 3 different stories of embracing uncertainty. Lou Blaser told us how a big life change allowed her to look at her business in a new way and see how she could finally build the business she’d been dreaming about for years. Sarah Avenir shared how she leads herself and her team through uncertainty. And Cher Hale told us about getting clearer and clearer on her vision for life and business–and the big moves it required of her. We’re rounding out this conversation about embracing uncertainty today by hearing from 4 more small business owners: Podge Thomas, Melissa Dinwiddie, Kat Lu, and Amy Feierman. Each entrepreneur embraced uncertainty in a way that allowed them to move forward despite not having all the answers or a guarantee of what the future would hold. My guess is that you’ll hear a version of situation or question you’re wrestling with right now in at least one of these stories. What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * What led Ginkgo Public Relations founder Cher Hale to move from Las Vegas to Portland, Oregon* How she took her business full-time in a new-to-her city* How her mom’s romance novels inspired her to discover a bold new Why for her business* What action that new Why led her to take and how she’s showing up in new ways because of it What do you want? It’s a simple enough question. What do you want from your life? From your business? From the work you do on a daily basis? What do you want from your home? Your relationships? Your community? It’s a simple question—but it’s not easy. Answering this question—even imperfectly—can give you more confidence in managing and even embracing uncertainty. What do you want is not an easy question for me to answer. What I want is often influenced by what others have, what they do, and what they’re going after. What I want is often an effort to prove that I’m good enough, smart enough, and goshdarnit, you should like me. I’ve been working hard on making sure that I’m really honest when I answer that question. It takes some soul-searching and a willingness to admit that I’ve been on the wrong path. But it’s been oh-so worth it. Because when I know what I want, I can make much stronger plans for my life and business. I can pursue more decisive action. And I don’t have to wait around for the approval or praise of someone else. Today, we’re talking about how knowing what you want—and discovering a clear vision for your life and business—can help you navigate uncertainty and even embrace it. My guest is Cher Hale, the founder of Ginkgo Public Relations. Cher is full of incredible stories of figuring out what she wants and taking action to make it happen—from making a big personal moving, to going full-time with her business, to embracing a bold new “why” for her business. We talk about why she made the move from working on the Vegas Strip to getting weird in Portland, how she used retainer clients to take her business full-time, and how she rewrote some of the harmful mindsets she held. We also talk about her mother’s erotic romance novels and how Cher was inspired to make a big shift in who she serves with her business and why. Don’t worry—this interview is completely PG. Now, let’s find out What Works for Cher Hale! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. Visit mightynetworks.com to see more examples of brands bringing people together and taking their businesses to the next level. ★ Support this podcast ★

In This Episode: * How Sarah Avenir took on the role of CEO for digital development & strategy agency, &yet* Why Sarah considers herself a naturally fearful person—and how she pushes herself to face that fear* Why refining the positioning & messaging at &yet helped her to discover how her strengths could be of highest value* How she structures her work and responsibilities to maintain her capacity for leadership* Why she focuses on being “anti-overfunctioning” We’re looking for leadership. We’re living through this time of deep uncertainty: uncertainty about our health, uncertainty about our culture, uncertainty about our businesses… uncertainty about our communities, our families, and—I think—even uncertainty about our relationships with ourselves. We’re looking for leadership because there’s a lot to be wary of and, at the same time, there is a lot of opportunity too. We’re looking for leadership because where there is a leader there are other followers we can gather with. We’re looking for leadership because we’re called on—every day—to lead more and more ourselves. If you’re a leader—and I know you are—you’re being called to lead in a new way right now. And that leadership can be humbling, scary, and exhausting. Your leadership is also an opportunity to figure out what your best role is—how you contribute the highest value, how you work best with others, what your vision of the future is. The call to leadership in this moment is a call to growth and clarity—which shouldn’t be confused with a call to certainty. I wanted to dig into what leading a team or community through a crisis can look like… …and I could think of no one better to talk to about this than my friend Sarah Avenir. Sarah Avenir—who you might know better as Sarah J. Bray—recently took the helm as the CEO of &yet, a digital development and strategy agency. Sarah is an incredibly thoughtful leader and I knew her approach on leading both herself and her team through this time would be an insightful look at embracing uncertainty. Sarah and I chat about how she became CEO of &yet, how she considers herself a naturally fearful person, and why a key part of her leadership is knowing others have her back. We also talk about how she structures her time, team, and approach to her work so she can focus on her own role and let other people do their job. Now, let’s find out what works for Sarah Avenir! Grab Sarah’s book, now in its second edition, Gather The People. And keep your eye on this Instagram account for a free Gather The People course! What Works Is Brought To You By Mighty Networks powers brands and businesses – like yours! – that bring people together.With a Mighty Network, online business owners just like you can bring together in one place: * Your website* Your content* Your courses* Your community* Your events online and in real life* And charge for them…all while building YOUR brand. ★ Support this podcast ★