What Works

Imagine you want to get stronger. What do you do? If you’re like me, you’d head to the gym, grab some dumbbells, and start squatting, pressing, and curling as many times as you could until your legs and arms felt like they wanted to fall off. It turns out… more isn’t always more when it comes to the gym. And more isn’t always more when it comes to your business, either. Now, repping it out at the gym isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s a time and place for focusing on lifting a weight more times. But it’s not the most efficient way to get stronger. It absolutely blew my mind when I learned that, if I want to get stronger, I should focus on lifting heavier weights just 1-5 times per set. Yes, just 1-5 times. For instance, in 2018, I set a goal of doing 10 unassisted, uninterrupted pull-ups in a row. Before I knew better, I would try to get as many pull-ups as I could every time I was near a bar. Then, I started doing some research. You see, the best way to hit this kind of strength goal isn’t—shocking enough as it is—to wear yourself out in one or two sets. It’s to pull way back and instead, try for 5 sets of 3 or 4 sets of 4. Then, slowly over time, increasing your sets and reps until you can manage the goal. By focusing on low numbers, you’re actually able to increase your results. And even better? You don’t feel nearly as spent at the end of your workout. The reason I bring all this up is that some of the most profitable businesses that I’ve had the privilege to examine operate in this sort of fewer reps for more results kind of pattern. They focus on efficiency. They concentrate on a few key actions. They value rest and space. As you might know, we have a community-based business model that invites small business owners into a private network where they can have candid conversations about making their businesses better, just like we do here on the podcast. In the beginning, we really wanted to overdeliver on the value of joining The Network, so we created all sorts of events and exclusive content. At one point, we were hosting 2-3 events and posting 3-4 article-length pieces of content per week. What we knew is that events and content gave our members something to connect with. It gave them a common language they could use to talk to one another. But what we didn’t take into account was just how much we were flooding them with points of connection and common languages! It wasn’t that it wasn’t valuable. It wasn’t even that it was overwhelming… It was just that it was all so diluted. It was burning out our team, our members weren’t showing up, and it wasn’t enticing new people to join. Last fall, we decided to pull way back on how many events we planned and how much content we created. In December, we decided to pull back even more. Now, we host 1 weekly event and we focus on conversation starters around a monthly theme instead of article-length content. The result? People plan for our events and show up. They anticipate our conversation starters and chime in. They’re more engaged, they’re more motivated, and they’re talking about The Network more with their colleagues. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Nicole Antoinette pivoted her business to focus solely on her podcast, Real Talk Radio* The question she asked herself to ensure the longevity of the podcast once she started it* Why she chose a community-funded business model through Patreon* How she structures her Patreon tiers, pricing, and rewards* What’s working to grow the number of patrons supporting the show Fill in the blank: I wish I could just get paid to __________. Maybe you said “make art,” “have great conversations,” or “write books.” Maybe you dream of being able to focus on world peace, doing sketch comedy, or telling stories about the world’s great philosophers. Plenty of creative, passionate business owners have the work they wish they could focus on and the work that pays the bills. The result tends to be a business model that is a bit fractured and unwieldy. You end up doing a bunch of little things to make it all add up at the end of the month. What if you could clean it all up and just focus on the thing you love the most? Today’s guest, Nicole Antoinette, faced a similar dilemma. Nicole is the host of Real Talk Radio, a podcast that digs deep into the lives of athletes, writers, entrepreneurs, parents, coaches, and activists. Four years into finding an opportunity to coach people who wanted a similar lifestyle to hers, she decided to make a big change. Nicole decided to do away with coaching and digital products and just get paid to having fascinating, honest conversations with people living fulfilling lives. To do it, she used Patreon. Patreon is a platform that allows creators like Nicole to create a community-funded business model. Nicole and I talk about how she arrived at the idea for the podcast, what she did to ensure the longevity of the project once it took off, and why she chose a community-funded business model. We also talk about how she structures the pricing, rewards, and growth of her Patron community. Have you discovered a way to get paid to just create? I’d love to hear from you. Find me on Instagram—I’m @tara_mcmullin—and let me know how you did it! Now, let’s find out what works for Nicole Antoinette! 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: * Tara shares why it’s important to clean things up–but not get caught up in making things perfect* Why the mess exists–and how that’s a feature, not a bug* How to use hypotheses instead of discrete goals to learn more about what works for you* How to create adaptable plans based on your particular mess and your goals Businesses get messy—old products, defunct systems, cluttered inboxes. And we’re talking about how to clean up your business all this month. You’ve already heard from Jereshia Hawk who took mess of offers and streamlined her business to just one product. You just heard from Mindy Totten who figured out how to clean up her schedule and work just 3 days per week. You even heard from me about 3 ways I’ve been cleaning up my business over the last 2 years. But, I think it’s also important to say that… Your business will always be a mess. The mess is a feature, not a bug. Sure, we want to make sure there isn’t excess clutter or wasted money—but we also shouldn’t focus so much on making things perfect that we forget the beauty in the imperfection. Today, instead of cleaning things up, I want to highlight the mess. You see, your business is a series of interwoven systems, mechanisms, and information that impact and influence each other so that no one component can be singled out as a problem or a solution. Every time you clean something up or organize a mess… …you end up uncovering something else that needs to be addressed. Russell Ackoff, a pioneer in both management science and systems thinking, said: Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are extracted from messes by analysis. Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes. If you feel like you solve one problem only to discover another, this is why. If you feel like every time you make an incredible discovery about your business it changes everything, this is why. If you feel like everything you learn about growing your business seems to influence everything you’ve experienced running your business, this is why. It’s a mess. And that’s okay. Your job is to manage this mess. That means being willing to adapt, try new things, experiment, and — most importantly — accept that the work is never done. Every change you make to your website has the potential to ripple through the rest of your business. Every adjustment you make to your pricing can set off a chain reaction. Every revision you make to your plan could create a counteraction later on down the line. The more aware you are of the messy nature of your business, the more you can use the mess to your advantage. The real problem is that… You’re not planning for the mess. When you plan for your business — whether it’s setting goals... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why bodywork practitioner Mindy Totten decided to take her 6.5-day per week business and turn it into a 3-day per week business* How specializing on a single modality helped her earn more while working less* The internal shift Mindy needed to go through to make the 3-day work week possible* The process she used to put her clients on her schedule—instead of theirs I started my business when I was a stay-at-home mom. I had to fit my work in during naps, evening writing escapes, and breastfeeding sessions (luckily, there were plenty of those). When I decided to take the business full-time, I was convinced I would get so much more work done. I’d be able to do all the things I used to dream of but couldn’t fit in. Well, I was wrong. You see, when I started working full-time hours, I had a lot more breathing room. And while that sounds great, what it really meant was that I didn’t have to be so focused or productive anymore. I could approach my work with a much more laissez faire attitude. I went from working 15 hours per week to working 40 hours per week and I really didn’t have much more to show for it. What I realized is that, when my time was constrained, my focus was heightened. Now, luckily that was 9 years ago, and I’ve learned how to reproduce the level of focus I had achieved as a part-time business owner working full-time hours. I really can get much more done now than I used to. But I know lots of people who still struggle with fitting it all in. That’s why I wanted to talk with today’s guest about how she’s streamlined her business workload to just 3 days per week. Mindy Totten is the founder of the Oasis Center for Craniosacral Therapy in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the creator of The Bodywork Project, a program helping bodyworkers learn the business skills they need to succeed. Mindy and I chat about how she streamlined her schedule from working 6 1/2 days per week to working just 3 days per week. We also talk about the internal shift that made that move possible, how her prices have adapted to the new schedule, and how her business operations have evolved. You’ll even hear the story what happened when she broke the news to a client who had been seeing her on the same day every week for a decade! Have you made a dramatic change to the hours you work on your small business? Have you streamlined and focused your business in a different way? I’d love to hear from you. Share the story on Instagram and tag me @tara_mcmullin and the hashtag #explorewhatworks—or shoot me a message. Now, let’s find out what’s working for Mindy Totten! 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... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty * What makes for a vibrant and engaged online community or group* The workflows that Audra Lindsey has used to save time and streamline how she manages large communities* The importance of getting members to talk to each other* How doing less to manage a community or group can create a more valuable experience* Why Audra focuses on building a culture around sharing experience—not sharing advice Don’t let the term “community building” fool you. This episode is all about how we bring people together as small business owners. Whether you’re building community in a small group, on a membership site, through in-person events, or even on social media, the act of gathering people together is often a core activity today’s small businesses. Unfortunately, there’s been so much hype about automation, scale, and getting hands-off with your business over the last 5 years that many small business owners have made a mess of their people. They’ve kept them at arm’s length. They’ve developed products and offers that put huge, unhelpful boundaries between them and the people they serve. They’ve automated all the spontaneous interactions out of their communication. And… it shows. It shows in brand authority. It shows in customer satisfaction. And, it shows in the bottom line. I’ve made this mistake and experienced this myself. Well, we’re in middle of a market correction. One that, I believe, is going to be around for a very, very long time. Business owners are cleaning up all the crap that’s kept them away from the people they serve. They’re putting the focus back on those very important people. You see it in small group programs, mastermind groups, hands-on support, community-based business models and more. So while you’ll hear the words “community” and “community building” a lot in today’s episode, what we’re really talking about is how to focus on people in a way that adds to your bottom line and makes your life easier as a small business owner. And, I know no one better to talk about this than Mighty Networks’ Audra Lindsey. Audra is the Senior Community Strategist at Mighty Networks, where her focus is on designing and implementing best practices in community strategy and community building. She has launched successful apps and online communities for customers including Gretchen Rubin, the NRDC, The Representation Project, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Intuit, McGraw Hill, Lean In, and American Express. Her role also includes leading content strategy, providing support and guidance for all Mighty Network Hosts, and helping deliver product improvements and features. Before Mighty, Audra spent several years working with arts organizations and non-profits in the Bay Area to expand their online presence, design innovative marketing campaigns, and launch new fundraising initiatives. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty Gritty On Streamlining Your Business Model: * Why Jereshia Hawk quit trying to build a suite of products and streamlined her business model to just one offer* The mindset challenge she had to overcome to make the decision to retire her old offers* The exact process she used to retire her offers and pivot her business* How Jereshia markets and sells her only offer to insure she has a steady stream of sales More is more when it comes to building products and making money, right? Well, that’s what I thought at the beginning of 2016. I can distinctly remember creating a spreadsheet of everything my company was going to offer throughout the year. There was a course on selling, a coaching program on course design, a high-end mastermind program, our signature business coaching program, a retreat, and more. I was planning a sales campaign every 6 weeks for 12 months straight. My goal? To cross a huge revenue threshold that I’d been working toward for years. Maybe it goes without saying, but my plan did not come to fruition. By the second sales campaign… …what had been a carefully engineered business model turned into a muddy and overwhelming mess. More is not more when it comes to building products and making money. Of course, it’s easy to make that mistake. Within 10 months of setting out on this plan to offer #allthethings, I had come to my senses and streamlined our business model to focus again on one core offer—with one or two complementary offers to provide a deeper level of service. My business started to feel cleaner. Our mission became clearer. Our value proposition felt locked in. It was a painful—but important—lesson in the art of decluttering a business. Over our next 7 episodes, we’re going to explore how small business owners do more with less. Think of it as a little business spring cleaning. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Jereshia Hawk who got real with me about a similar experience to mine… thinking that more offers would mean more money. When she realized that just wasn’t happening, she went back to what she knew best, focused on one single offer, and… made bank. Keep listening to hear how Jereshia approached her business before her own decluttering, what prompted the shift to a single offer, the role her “minimum viable audience” played in her decision-making, and how she retired her old offers to make the space for what was working. Do you have a story about decluttering or tidying up your business? Have you eliminated things that weren’t working to focus on what was? I’d love to hear from you. Hit me up on Instagram and share what’s working for you. Tag me @tara_mcmullin and use the hashtag #explorewhatworks. Now, let’s find out what works for Jereshia Hawk! 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: ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty Gritty: * Why taking the time to tidy up your business is so important * The 3 ways Tara has cleaned up her business over the last few years* Information on The What Works Network Spring Cleaning Virtual Conference* Plus, a sneak peek of interviews coming out in March Does your business spark joy? Or are you overwhelmed by the piles of business clutter that have grown up around you over the years? Maybe you have dusty products in one corner of your business, crusty old marketing assets in another, and a mess of outdated prospects in another. If you’re like me, that kind of business clutter can weigh heavy on your mind. Six months after I started my very first website, I had the opportunity to purchase a website from a friend who wanted to get out of the blogging scene. She had a much bigger audience and a global platform. I seized the opportunity and used it to catapult my ambitions into the big time. But a few years after that initial purchase, I had moved on to other things. I was coaching and teaching business to a different audience and using my own name as my brand. Yet, that website persisted. I had a team member manage the editorial calendar and guest contributions. We’d stopped selling ads—so the site wasn’t generating any revenue directly—but we occasional used it to promote other offers. On paper, the website didn’t take up any of my time or energy. But mentally? That was a different story. Of course, I only discovered the mental load of that website when I decided to sell it. When I finally handed off the keys to the domain name, email list, and web host, I realized just how much the upkeep of that website contributed to my baseline stress level. What a relief! I wish I could say that was the only time an old opportunity took up space in my brain… but it certainly was not. Is not. * I don’t use Twitter at all anymore but I still have it on my phone. My account is still active. People occasionally still tweet at me with questions or thanks.* I don’t—and won’t—promote my old books anymore but they’re still available on Amazon. People still buy them.* I don’t use plenty of old Facebook groups that I belong to. I still get notifications from them. The clutter piles up. I might not be tripping over it but it would be silly to think that it doesn’t impact my day-to-day life and my ability to create results for my business. Today, I want to share 3 ways I’ve been cleaning up my own business—with ideas for how you can do the same. But first, I want to let you know that March is Spring Cleaning month at The What Works Network and we’re hosting our next virtual conference on March 21st with 4 different ways you can tidy up your own business. What’s a virtual conference? Well, we host these events ever quarter at The What Works Network. They’re community-wide collaborative learning experiences that you can attend from anywhere and, yes, they’re recorded if you can’t make it live. Let me run it down for you: our members gather in our virtual conference space on Crowdcast starting at 11am Eastern/8am Pacific. Our first session sets that stage for the day and I guide you through some reflect... ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty on Finding Clients on LinkedIn: * How career coach Kerri Twigg is using LinkedIn to find clients and generate more than 30 requests for services per day* The process she uses to vet new connections and establish a relationship with the people she connects with* How she creates content that immediately communicates who she is and what makes her different* How she manages a waitlist of prospective clients who want to work with her What if there was a social media platform that’s main mission was to help you connect with other professionals? What if that social media platform also helped you build a digital representation of your best work? What if it helped you see the incredible people you’re just one introduction away from? Would you use it? Of course you would! It probably sounds like the holy grail of social media. Now you might have already guessed… that social media platform is LinkedIn—an often forgotten option in the digital marketing world. Well, despite the headlines that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have captured over the years… LinkedIn has been a central hub for networking, marketing, and sales all along. Finding clients on LinkedIn is totally possible. Business owners find stellar new employees there. Deals with big corporate clients get started there. And life-changing introductions get made there. When I started hearing more and more buzz about what was happening on LinkedIn, I decided to check it out for myself. I’ve been experimenting with posting articles, duplicating content from other platforms, and promoting the podcast there. I’ve been expanding my network and checking in with people I haven’t talked to in years! I can’t say I’ve had any huge successes yet—but the response has been good enough to keep me coming back on a daily basis, something I haven’t been able to say about Twitter for a long time. But, of course, I wasn’t satisfied to just play around with LinkedIn. I wanted to talk to someone who was really crushing it on the platform. I asked around and was reintroduced to Kerri Twigg—someone who cracked the LinkedIn code enough for the company itself to name her a LinkedIn Top Voice. In this conversation, you’re going to hear why Kerri decided to focus on LinkedIn as her core client acquisition channel, the process she uses to vet connections, how new connections become clients, and how she manages the sizable waitlist that’s formed from her outreach. Are you using LinkedIn as your main method of finding new clients? Or maybe you’ve really honed your process for turning new connections on any social media platform into new clients or customers? I’d love to hear from you. Hit me up on my main platform of choice—Instagram. I’m @tara_mcmullin. You can send me a message or share your story in a post and tag me! And now, let’s find out what works for Kerri Twigg! 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 o... ★ Support this podcast ★

You might think of me as a fairly gregarious entrepreneur who delights in inviting strangers on to this very podcast for conversations about life and business. But… In many ways, I’m a walking, talking introvert meme. I’m a bit of a loner. I would much rather do things on my own than rely on others for help. Parties, conferences, and even coffee dates make me anxious and sweaty. And yet… the relationships I’ve developed as a small business owner are some of the deepest and most valuable I’ve experienced in my whole life. Moreover, those relationships have been key to any and all success I’ve experienced over the last 10 years. Despite knowing this, I still find networking and relationship-building to be difficult. But I work at it. I work at it and work at it and work at it. This month, the members of The What Works Network have been talking about how they meet new people, expand their professional networks, and nurture their existing relationships. I am constantly in awe of the people who dedicate time each week for virtual coffee dates. I am blown away by the members who are always on the lookout to create new work with friends and colleagues. These are incredibly effective networking strategies. But it doesn’t mean they’re the networking strategies that will work for me. For me, there are few instances when the ethos of what we do here at What Works is more apparent than when it comes to networking. You see, it would be easy for me–and other loner types–to say that traditional forms of networking don’t work for me. The challenge is in discovering what does work for me. The value is in sharing it. What works for me is showing up with work I believe in–even if it’s a simple post on social media–and inviting conversation. It’s asking you, as I have been in every episode, to connect with me on Instagram, and tell me your story. It’s being willing to jump into the middle of a conversation on social media because I know I can shine. I’m at my best when I am sharing my work outloud and in public, inviting conversation on that work. I am doing my own version of networking when I turn comments on blog posts, Instagram pics, and podcast episodes into deep friendships that support me and my business. And in the process of doing it, I build relationships, meet new people, and connect more deeply with people I care about. These things still aren’t easy for me. But I can do it and it works. Of course, this strategy might not work for you. It’s a bit weird and totally me. That’s okay. I hope what we can agree on though is how utterly essential expanding your professional network and maintaining your relationships is to the success of your business. Because it’s true. If my approach doesn’t work for you, what does? Well, we asked 4 members of The What Works Network to share what works for them when it comes to expanding their networks and nurturing relationships with colleagues. Each has a her own spin on the type of relationships she values, how she puts herself in the best position to take advantage of her relationships, and what puts her at ease when talking business with others. I’d love to know what works for you when it comes to expanding your network and nurturing your relationships. Shoot me a message or tag me in a post on Instagram and let me know! You can find me @tara_mcmullin. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * The moment Lauren Caselli knew her event planning business (and her life) needed a fresh approach* Why she chose “seen” as her word for 2018 and how that philosophy helped her make significant changes to the way she does business* Why taking her business seriously has allowed her to rest more, take on fewer events, and receive more support* How her mindset has changed now that she’s taking her small business seriously There’s what you think your business will be when you start it… …and then, there’s what you know your business can be once you’re in it. Very few small business owners start out with a clear vision of the potential for their business. I know I didn’t! I didn’t even realize I was starting a business. I thought I was starting a blog. Well, part-time blogging grew into full-time blogging. Full-time blogging turned into offering web design services. Web design grew into business coaching, strategy, and training. It’s really only been in the last few years that I’ve had a clear picture of what the real opportunities are for my company. My guest this week also started with a pretty different picture of what her business was going to look like… but a coffee date with her boyfriend put her on a very different trajectory. Lauren Caselli is an event planner and the founder of Lauren Caselli Events. In 2017, she had a wake up call about what wasn’t working with her business and made a plan to change it in 2018. Now that she’s planning for even more growth in 2019, I wanted to talk with her about making big changes in her business. Lauren and I talk about what wasn’t working for her before, how her relationship to her business has changed, what mindset shifts she experienced to create growth, and how the business itself has changed. Has your business undergone a big shift from kind of working to really working? Did you reach a breaking point and decide to shake things up for the better? I’d love to hear from you. Hit me up on Instagram—I’m @tara_mcmullin. Tag me or DM me and let me know what led up to the change! Now, let’s find out what works for Lauren Caselli! 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 ★