What Works

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 ★

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 ★