What Works

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 ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Shannon Siriano Greenwood decided to explore lifestyle design by bringing people together at Rebelle Con* How she is currently expanding her professional network and meeting new people to support her* The #1 mistake Shannon sees people make while networking for their small businesses* What surprised her about the way attendees network and build relationships at Rebelle events* How Rebelle Con is expanding this year to help even more small business owners near Richmond, VA build their personal networks Behind every major or minor success in my business is a relationship with someone who inspired me, challenged me, or hooked me up. So despite the fact that professional networking excites me as much as a root canal, I wouldn’t be here without the relationships I’ve built. What I’ve learned over the last 10 years is that I can make business networking work for me. I don’t have to attend cocktail mixers or even meet up with strangers at conferences. What’s worked for me is using the communication tools that light me up to expand my network, meet new people, and form the seed of new relationships. Today, I’m using Instagram Stories & direct messages to connect with new people. I’m also exploring LinkedIn and, of course, I regularly develop stronger relationships with people in The What Works Network. Once I’ve established a new relationship using one of those tools, I can go deep on a Zoom call, at a coffee date, or between sessions at a conference. Or, even here in an interview! Case in point, my guest today is someone who I got connected to through a quick exchange on Instagram, an introduction via email, and then a deep dive interview. That chance connection I mentioned was with Shannon Siriano Greenwood, the founder of Rebelle Con and the Rebelle Community, in Richmond, VA. I thought Shannon would be the perfect person to answer the question: What’s working in professional networking today? After all, Shannon is the mastermind behind how hundreds of entrepreneurs and professionals have met, bonded, and become friends since the conference was started in 2017. Shannon and I talk about her personal networking style, the mistakes she sees small business owners making when it comes to expanding their networks, and how she purposefully structures events to make meeting new people easier. Do you have an unconventional way of expanding your personal network? Do you make networking a priority in your weekly schedule? I’d love to hear from you. Find me on Instagram—I’m @tara_mcmullin—tag me in post or shoot me a message! Now, let’s find out what’s working in professional networking! ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Maria Rodriguez started Fear Her Fight Athletics–and the surprising results of her initial product launch* How Maria centers her mission to empower people of all shapes, sizes, and identities in the gym* The key question Maria asks of herself and her community before designing new products* How Maria is doubling-down on her mission and exploring new territory with her 2019 business goals Many businesses get started because someone asks what they want from a business. Plenty of other businesses get started because someone asks what customers want from a business. Far fewer businesses are the result of asking both questions. But at the intersection of these two questions is fertile ground for starting a business that is both personally fulfilling and in high-demand. This week, my guest is Maria Rodriguez, the founder of Fear Her Fight Athletics. I was introduced to Maria and Fear Her Fight by digital strategist Evan Leah Quinn because she thought I would appreciate the trifecta of Maria’s badass powerlifting coaching, her intersectional feminist fitness brand, and her mission to make people of all shapes and sizes feel more empowered in the gym. Well, Evan was right! Now, I thought I was bringing Maria on the show to talk about the mission and message of Fear Her Fight—and yes, we definitely talked about that quite a bit. But I didn’t realize I was also going to get a masterclass on seeing things from the customer’s perspective and designing products that people would clamor to buy. Fear Her Fight Athletics is a perfect example of how a business can blossom when it’s personally fulfilling, mission-driven, and creating products people can’t wait to get their hands on. Maria and I talk about how Fear Her Fight got started, how centering her mission has helped to energize her customers, how she thinks about the products she’s developing, and her goals for the coming year. Have a brand that’s both personally fulfilling and mission-driven? I’d love to hear about how you’re bringing your message to the center of your products and promotion. Hit me up on Instagram—I’m @tara_mcmullin and let me know what you’re up to! Now, let’s find out what works for Maria Rodriguez! 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 * The many ways Tara McMullin’s business and brand has changed over the years* Why she finally feels able to be 100% honest with her brand and content* How to nurture community culture that affirms the contribution of every member* Why CoCommercial has become The What Works Network At the end of 2016, I decided I wanted to do business differently. I wanted more for our customers, our followers, and our listeners than talking heads and internet business celebrities. I wanted to honor the unusual, unconventional, and diverse ways that small business owners like you make things work. I wanted to affirm your resourcefulness and problem-solving skills. I wanted to leave plenty of room for “it depends” and “this might sound weird, but here’s what works for me.” Most of all, I wanted to make sure that more small business owners had access to the kind of insider information that gave me the info I needed to make important decisions about how I did business myself. In other words: I wanted to put you in the driver’s seat when it came to gathering information and ideas for your business. I didn’t want you to be at the mercy of someone’s sales funnel or course catalog. That’s why we built our small business owner community. I envisioned our community growing into a hub where small business owners from all different industries came together to talk shop, get real, and support each other. And… I knew I couldn’t do it under the brands that I’d been known for up until that point: Tara Gentile & Quiet Power Strategy. This community was more than me. It was more than a particular framework or methodology. It stood for a bigger mission. So I dusted off a dream that I had started working on a few years prior to this pivot: a coworking space that brought freelancers and small business owners together in community. And I called our community the name of that coworking space… CoCommercial. To me, the name had meaning. It had an origin story. But, in all honesty, we’ve been fighting this name since Day 1. Please hold your “I told you so’s” for later! For every person who got excited about what we were creating together, 3 other people just got confused about the name! Now, fast forward a bit to another naming opportunity. Back in April 2018, we ended our podcasting partnership with CreativeLive, who had helped us produce and edit this podcast since 2015. They graciously allowed us to take full control of the existing show. With this big opportunity, we had the chance to make a statement. We wanted to imbue the podcast with the mission of our company and community. We wanted to have a public version of the private conversations we were having inside of CoCommercial. Above all, we wanted to produce something that would give you an inside look on the nitty-gritty details of how others run their businesses–just like we do inside our community. We had a show all about what was really working for small business owners–regardless of the current hype–and we wanted the name to reflect that. And then it hit us: the show should be called “What Works.” ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty Gritty: * What Jennifer Louden has learned about hosting & selling retreats in the 20 years she’s been running them* How far in advance Jen starts planning for a retreat–and how far in advance she starts marketing a retreat* The core role retreats play in Jen’s business model* How Jen structures each retreat to create the best experience for herself and her guests Every time I go to Glacier National Park, I can feel myself expand. I take up more space, I dream bigger, I breathe more deeply. I’ve had breakthrough ideas about who I am, what I do, and how I want to run my business winding up and down the Going To The Sun Road. I’ve seen glimpses of my full potential hiking through the woods or above the tree line. So when I saw a new hotel go up in my favorite town outside the park, it was an easy decision to bring a group of small business owners there for a retreat. What wasn’t so easy… was figuring out exactly how to do that. Luckily, I had hired a fabulous event planner—Lauren Caselli—who you’ll hear an interview with soon. But I wish I had had today’s conversation first! Today, my guest is Jennifer Louden. She’s been running retreats for about 20 years now—so she’s figured out a thing or two about how they work both logistically and business-wise! Jen hosts multiple writing retreats every year, in addition to supporting writers through her community, The Writer’s Oasis. Plus, she’s the author of 6 books—with over 1 million copies in print. Jen and I chat about the role of retreats in her business, how far in advance she starts planning, what’s working for her right now to sell her retreats, and how she structures each event for both her participants and herself. Now, let’s find out what works for Jennifer Louden! 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. I pay the CoCommercial team—and myself—with Gusto. Now, you might be thinking… “I’m not ready for a payroll provider.” I was in the same boat when I started with Gusto. Gusto gave me the confidence to hire—both contractors and employees—and they’ve made it easy to stay compliant, offer great benefits, and keep me in control of our money. Gusto automatically files and pays your taxes, guides you and educates you along the way, and takes the guesswork out of taking care of your team. We love Gusto and we think you might too. Test it out—and get 3 months free–at gusto.com/whatworks. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty-Gritty on Kyla’s Coaching Business Model: * How business strategist Kyla Roma created a new coaching business model that combines both her needs and her clients’ needs* Why Kyla decided to change things up and what constraints inspired her to innovate on what was working* The unique coaching program structure and technology Kyla uses to respect her clients’ lives as “rich tapestries”* How much time delivering personalized coaching services takes in her new model (it’s less than you’d think!)* Why Kyla decided to narrow the scope of her program to just a couple of key outcomes It’s easy to think that, as a life, business, or health coach, there’s a specific business model that you’re supposed to follow. In fact, I’ve been hearing exactly that from business owners for years. First, they work on getting 1:1 services dialed in, then they jump into group coaching, then they start building out their programs into online courses or workshops. Eventually, they plan to retire 1:1 coaching and group coaching… and enjoy their carefree new lives of selling online courses and snapping selfies from Cabo. Here’s the thing: there is no such thing as “the coaching business model.” Plenty of successful life, business, and health coaches—along with money, mindset, and productivity coaches—run their businesses in all sorts of creative ways. But, if you’re not paying attention, you could easily miss what they’re up to and how their businesses work. Today, I’m going to take you behind-the-scenes of one such creative coaching model.  My guest today is Kyla Roma. I’ve known Kyla for years and I’ve always respected the way she balances the creative and the analytical.  Kyla’s approach to business coaching and strategy is no exception. About a year ago, Kyla started pioneering a new model for the way she’d deliver business coaching. In our interview, we go behind-the-scenes of how that model evolved and how it works today. Kyla and I chat about what prompted the idea, how she structures the coaching program, the unique way she incorporates technology to make the program more human, and how she markets the offer. If you have an innovative coaching model—or your business defies the conventions of your industry—I’d love to hear from you, too! Hit me up on Instagram where I’m @tara_mcmullin. Shoot me a message and tell me what works for you! Plus, you can grab Kyla’s guide to 3 profit mistakes that service-based and teaching businesses make by clicking here. Now, let’s find out what works for Kyla Roma! 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 bus... ★ Support this podcast ★

Well, we’ve nearly made it to the end of another January. As of today, I’m 24 days into my first Whole30. I’m 4 weeks into a new training program. I’m 14 posts into committing to writing and sharing more often on Instagram and LinkedIn. I’m 4 weeks into bullet journaling. As you might guess, I love January. I love the potential, the possibility, and the opportunity of the new year. I love setting new intentions and goals. Of course, not everyone feels this way. “February is the new January” memes are popping up everywhere. There’s a January backlash that’s been gaining steam over the last few years. If you don’t mind, I’d like to share my take on why this is… but I need to do it, as per usual, with a fitness metaphor. When I was a young athlete, I loved the fast burn. I was always itching to steal second base, to sprint across the finish line, or to take a fast break for a lay-up. When I started training as an adult, I approached things the same way. Even if it hurt or ruined me for the rest of the day, I’d hit the high intensity intervals hard. Endurance was like a dirty word. I figured if I kept training at that high intensity, I would eventually be able to endure. But I was wrong. Luckily, I learned a lot more about pacing and the benefits of low-intensity exercise. Instead of asking myself how fast I could run for 15 seconds, I started asking myself if I could hold this pace for a mile, 3 miles, or even 10 miles. Instead of always working myself into a sweaty mess, I learned to take plenty of rest and enjoy a workout that was hard work–but felt easy. I started to embrace the slow burn. The results spoke for themselves. Yes, I could run for miles upon miles without stopping. I could move heavy weights. I could climb for hours. And the crazy thing is: when I did decide to up the intensity, I could go faster and harder. I toed the line at which working hard turned into overworking. I trained myself to stay on just this side of comfortable so that when I did really want to push myself, I was ready. The way we’ve been trained to approach January–whether in life, fitness, or business–is the fast burn. Set all the resolutions. Change all the things. It’s exhausting. And no wonder people are ready to move away from that all or nothing approach to the new year! But that’s not how I’ve approached the last few Januarys. January is, instead, an opportunity to set the pace that I can keep for the next 52 weeks. It’s a chance to ignite my slow burn and reclaim my routine. The way I do that is by identifying the habits I want to nurture throughout the month. My habits are the things that either stoke my fire or slow my flow. They’re either propelling me forward with grace or making a mess of my best intentions. Whether it’s in life or business, the health of my habits is the biggest contributing factor to the success of my goals. That’s why I choose to use January as a time to reexamine my habits, choose 1 or 2 things that I want to actively cultivate as habits, and eliminate something that’s not serving me. It’s not a frenetic race to some external goal. It’s a refinement of what’s working and an elimination of what’s not. I want to celebrate the most effective habits of small business owners in our network. So, we’ve asked 4 members to share what’s working for them as they reexamine and refine their own rou... ★ Support this podcast ★

Meagan Francis, founder of Life, Listened, discovered a whole new entrepreneurial mindset as she made the transition from the owner of a content marketing business to the employee of a marketing & communications firm to the head of her own podcasting business. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty Gritty * Margy Thomas, Ph.D. and founder of ScholarShape, supports academics and researchers in telling their stories through what she calls the Story-Argument concept. This tool or strategy, applied to her clients’ work, turns their text into “both a functional machine and a pleasing work of art.”* Why Margy’s so passionate about academic writing, plus the reason Margy works with clients across different specialties instead of niching down* How Margy turned the “magic” of the way she works into a repeatable process — and how that changed the way she works with her 1:1 clients* Why she uses tarot cards to better understand what she already knows and look at things with a new perspective It’s tempting to think that to do your best work, you have to hunker down in your creative cave, scratch out your brilliant thoughts by the fire, and only emerge once you’ve had your eureka moment. In fact, I know plenty of thinkers and entrepreneurs who have tried to do exactly that.  Sometimes it’s a fear of criticism. Other times, it’s a fear of someone stealing the work when it’s not yet complete.  Often it’s a reaction to the Impostor Complex… feeling like your work isn’t enough—and might never be. Regardless of the reason why, retreating to the creative cave has killed at least as many good ideas as it has birthed. Today, we’re going to examine a different way of getting to your eureka moment and developing your body of work. Margy Thomas is the founder of ScholarShape and has worked with hundreds of scholars around the world in their journey of telling their stories as a developmental editor and writing consultant. Recently, Margy has been working to systematize her coaching and create a framework she can share with more academics crafting books and papers. I wanted to have Margy on the show to share what she calls the co-construction of knowledge and meaning. Margy has been sharing the bones of her coaching framework—the Story-Argument Model—with her audience little by little as she develops it. Together with her audience, she’s defining the work and improving on it. Instead of waiting for her eureka moment, she’s utilizing her creative process in dialogue with the people who need her work most. Margy and I chat about the personal growth process that comes along with sharing your work publicly, how her work is evolving because of the way people interact with it, and the way she came to terms with the idea of an MVP—or minimum viable product. And if you’re interested in the Story-Argument strategy and how you might be able to apply that to your writing, be sure to check out Margy’s free 7-day writing course for knowledge builders. We release new episodes of What Works every week. Subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode. From magic to process “When I’m working with scholars one-on-one, I’m not giving them information or ideas or advice. I’m holding space for them to help them to develop their ideas and their thoughts. I’m providing scaffolding and structure to that process.” — Margy Thomas Margy’s clients often told her that she was magic. After hearing this over and over again from her clients, ★ Support this podcast ★

The Nitty Gritty: * Why Facebook ad costs have risen so dramatically and what we’ve been doing that contributes to the problem* The metric that Amanda Bond encourages her clients and students to prioritize instead of Cost Per Lead* How skewed expectations for conversion rates have led to declining ad performance* The 3-part customer journey that Bond advises for excellent customer experience and profitability Have you heard? The sky is falling!  Okay, the sky isn’t actually falling. What is being talked about by every Chicken Little out there is how much Facebook ad costs are rising.  Recode, Business Insider, Adweek, Adespresso, and more have been talking about declining inventory and rising costs for the last year. Small business owners are catching on too. Inside our network, we’ve been watching as members scratch their heads about the cost of clicks and leads. We’ve been promised clicks and leads for less than a dollar by every Jeff, Ryan, and Frank out there with a Porsche and an online marketing course—but what we’re really seeing is lead costs balloon to $5, $10, or even $25 or more, with little to no profit on the backend. So what’s going on with Facebook ads today? That’s what this episode is all about.  In mid-December, Amanda Bond, founder of The Ad Strategist, pulled down her regular website and put up a sprawling multi-part article on everything that’s not working with Facebook ads today. She explained how many of us have been sold a bill of goods when it comes to how we market our products and services—and backed it up with case studies and data. She also presented a case for what is working—based on her extensive work running clients’ ad campaigns and teaching small business owners to do it themselves. I wanted to have her on the show to explain and dive deeper into some of the things she discussed on the site. This episode is part of a special series we’re doing talking to the people with a bird’s eye view on what’s really working. In November, we talked to Isa Adney from ConvertKit about what’s working in email marketing. And, in December, we talked to Sai Hossain, the founder of Crowdcast, to find out what’s working in live video broadcasting. This month, we’re looking at Facebook advertising to find out what’s working—and what’s not—with Amanda Bond. Bond and I chat about bro marketing, why ad costs have been rising, why she has people focus on earnings per lead instead of costs per lead, and how she thinks about planning an ad campaign to maximize both the customer experience and profit. To find out what’s working in Facebook ads today–and what’s not–listen to the interview here or wherever you listen to podcasts! ★ Support this podcast ★