What Works

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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