This is a fun episode! I’m talking with Phyllis Nichols the head of the podcast team who help me get my show out every week. We are talking about using your podcast as pillar content. We know that podcasting has grown a lot in recent years. Why is podcasting a great way to create pillar content? ·      Ease of creation. Most of us find talking about topics familiar easy, it’s a form of communication we’re used to. ·      Evergreen and lasting. New people can quickly review past content that’s still relevant. ·      We are hard-wired to connect with the voices of others and we pick up on the energy and tone of the content as well. ·      People feel connected to the content and the podcast host/s. ·      Repurposing and reach are automated and powerful. Multiple platforms allow for reach internationally as well as in-home devices like Alexa.  How can you leverage your content? ·      Use free content to serve your audience and add additional value in a paid format. ·      Package content into a mini course. Add context or a resource like a checklist to enhance the experience. ·      Put some shows behind a paywall after being free. Great idea for popular content that gets repeated listens. ·      Highlight members on your podcast. This is an easy way to add value and promote the people in your community doing cool things.  ·      Create how-to audio content for your course so that learners who like to listen can easily consume the information.  We also talk about learning styles and really knowing your audience. What is their lifestyle? Do they commute or work from home? Are they visual learners? Do they like to re-listen or re-watch your training? That’s where audio can really help.As a content creator, you can keep your audience up to date with quick add on content. Keep your course and/or membership up relevant by adding up to date info quickly and easily. Hear all the repurpose ideas for using your audio content beyond transcripts. How can you find out WHAT to post? Hear the “ice-cream” story. What’s your version of ice-cream in your business? That’s your pillar content foundation! Phyllis also shares her vision for the SoundAdvice.FM network. It’s a place for women-hosted podcasters. The goal is to elevate and amplify women’s voices. I’m a member of the network and looking forward to connecting and collaborating with others. I am happy to be here in the beginning! We wrap up talking about vision. Dreaming big is for all of us! Phyllis asked me about what’s new with me and I outlined what’s coming up in the beginning of 2022 and there’s so much happening. It’s exciting.Get inspired to dream big with us!  Connect with Phyllis:WebsiteSoundAdvice.FMInstagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the second annual holiday gift guide. We’ve been hearing since October that this year we must shop early. Supply chain issues were predicted to cause delays and empty shelves. I followed the advice and now there are gifts in the basement and they’ve been there for a couple of months! The holidays are a great time for entrepreneurs who have digital products. What’s better than a great experience? How about a gift that someone can use all year long? That’s what digital can do. Here are my digital gift suggestions for holiday 2021. ·      Membership to WFUV radio – Music discovery starts here! Hear how you can get a free gift. ·      Netflix – Great for anyone, especially those who don’t have space or interest in more stuff. ·      The Real Deal Weight Loss program. This is good for yourself and for anyone who wants to incorporate new habits with support.  ·      Create Your Business subscription box. This has a digital and physical product. It is perfect for a business bestie.  ·      Parent to Pro is a great gift for people who want to get support helping their child.  ·      Online cooking classes with Chef Rama! Who wouldn’t like this? Do it with your children to promote a fun family night.  ·      Alchemy and You – a membership to help you align your internal power. Find out the best time is to launch, or when Mercury is going into retrograde. Find out how to get your natal birth chart too!  Shop local. Support small businesses in your area (or online) if you can. Make sure to listen for the gift that I predict will be the most popular at my house. Bonus it also takes care of Christmas morning breakfast! Get those photos off your phone. You can download prints online (I use Walgreens) and have them printed. Share a stack with family. No shipping required. I wrap up with a gift that costs no money but will make someone’s day. Don’t miss this one!I hope this gave you some new gift ideas. No worries about shipping or delays when you go digital. Happy shopping!      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Have you ever wanted to scrap it all? Completely overhaul your website? Change your offer? Redo your entire course funnel? Yep. It’s common among entrepreneurs and I’m no different.  This has been a dramatic year for me and my business. I’ve focused on my core values, and it’s changed everything. So, this weekend I realized that I need to make some dramatic shifts in how I’m doing things.  I’m here to break it down for you, and to share some behind-the-scenes info on what moves I’m making.  I had a plan. You’ve heard me talk about it. I’m committed to getting things done and seeing things through. And still. Things just weren’t sitting well with me.  Tip: When you’re making a sudden change, resist the urge to jump to the shiny new thing. Give yourself time to look past step one.  I have my course completely created. I know some people say build it as you go, but I am so glad that my course is complete.  I was in the midst of creating my launch funnel and a few things in the strategy that I was following just didn’t sit right with me.  When you get the urge to scrap it all, here’s my advice:   Take a step back.   Get clear on what’s causing the doubts.  Remember it’s okay to do things in a way that aligns with you.   Learn from others but apply it your way.  Recognize if your desire to delay is coming from fear.  Be thoughtful instead of reactionary.   Hear exactly what I did when I felt like “scrapping everything” and the thought process behind it. I hope what has worked for me is helpful to you too.  You are not alone on this journey!    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are talking about end of year systems. Yep, we’re going to look back so we can make things better moving forward. Know your numbers.  First, let’s talk about numbers. For many of us, this is something that we gloss over or completely avoid.  Look back and take an honest evaluation. Is there a pattern? When you know your numbers, it’s much easier to adjust so your business serves you and your life.  I use Bench, an online accounting service. It’s made a huge impact. I hired them to go back through the previous year when I first hired them. You can see at a glace the state of all of your accounts and you can get reports.  Let’s talk revenue planning.  This is about more than what we made in a year. It’s about making your revenue goals AND the path to get there. They work in tandem. Hear how I do this in my business, and how you can use the same process.  It’s so much easier to achieve the small goals as you go instead of focusing on an overwhelming annual goal.  Plan your promotional calendar. Yes, for the year! For many of us this feels overwhelming. Like lots of big projects, the way to do it is to break it up into small sections. Remember, next year you will be able to use this as a gameplan. It’s a cadence that you build with launches and promotions and other events.  Processes make a huge difference. Hear the top 3 things you must include when you layout the calendar for 2022.  Content planning for visibility.  Consistency is everything. Planning will help. Think about how you will draw in your audience. Here are the steps to follow, so you can begin your plan.  Here’s my quick and dirty method.   Invest in making pillar content. If you need help, go back and listen to episode 23, and episode 24 when I talk about this in detail.   Create a process for repurposing your content. Episode 13 breaks this down for you.    Write out the main themes that relate to your business. These become your content pillars.    Write down 20 ideas that you can talk about related to your pillar themes.    Choose a topic for the week.   You have a content plan! Now all you need to do is execute. Allow your people to find you by sharing great info on a regular basis.  Final thoughts: Find the ONE place that works for you. Better to rock one avenue instead of dabbling in a few.  Think systems instead of tasks.  What one new system will you put in place at the end of this year? Let me know!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently the internet made a big stink about Sarah Jessica Parker lunching with her friend Andy Cohen with *gasp* gray hair. Funny though, no mention of Andy’s silver locks!Most of my clients are in their 40’s and 50’s. Same with my brand partners. The people I work with are also in this age group. They know their value and they are confident about their work.Historically women have been criticized for aging, as if we could stop the clock! I’m all about bringing my A game all the time and aging isn’t going to stop me.Women in their 50’s living their life, wrinkles and all! Imagine.If feels like we are being told, we are not okay as we are. Nothing new about this. Men become distinguished and women are expected to disappear as they age. Not anymore!I’ve had my own experience with this issue, and because of that I’ve made intentional choices about the work I do and the women I work with. I am down with supporting every woman’s dream of growing a business and being visible.From a young age we’ve been programmed to stay young, fresh, baby-like. Advertising around this prevalent when I was growing up. Aging is a natural part of the human experience. Getting older can feel good and it can be the time where we become our best self. The media may not see it that way, but some people with access to the media are finally speaking out.Did you know that women entrepreneurs in their 50’s are twice as likely to be successful than those in their 20s? The Forbes article shares data about why and how they came to this conclusion.We have the power! Hear how you can create connections and use the options for visibility that we all have now.Tell me who you are! Tell me your story. It’s all about the magic you bring!  Resources: 50 Plus Women AreThe New Entrepreneurial Superpower Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve been having conversations with digital course creators and membership site owners. They’ve shared what’s going on for them and what’s next. Digital courses are business streams, not just revenue streams. It can be the foundation of your business.  That’s what today’s episode covers. How to understand what’s working now and the mindset around all of it.  Here’s what I’m hearing:   People want to make sales in their sleep. Nothing new here, except the people who are doing well with digital courses are not sitting back and doing nothing. They are engaged with their audience. There is nothing passive about passive income.   Too many choices overload the consumer. We have all experienced this when we’ve been the consumer. Too many options, choices and price points make us click away. Hear how the jam experiment worked and the significant difference in sales. Don’t overcomplicate things. Create a journey for your client.   Do what feels right for you. Many course creators try emulating the strategies and tactics from courses they’ve taken. There may be some good insights there, but it’s only helpful if it’s 100% you. Be like Bill Murray! You will love hearing how he’s done things his own way for years.     Do you see yourself in any of these examples? We often want to make things more difficult or get stuck when we think there is only one right way.  My advice: slow down. Take a step back and map out your customer journey the way you WANT it to be.  Need help? Book a call and get outside perspective. We can all benefit from that now and then!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can try hard to ignore it, but I have to tell you, Black Friday is coming. Before the turkey is cooked, big brands and small businesses will be going head to head flooding inboxes with sales and deals no one can refuse (but anyone can delete). Is your business ready for a Black Friday promotion? Do you have a game plan and strategy in place ready to execute? If you do, you may want to take a moment to listen to the knowledge big brand strategist Maureen Mwangi is sharing in this episode.Today we’re talking about: Benefits of being a small business and brand What businesses are Black Friday sales best for?  How can service-based businesses use Black Friday promotions? How to strategically setup of a Black Friday promotion Measuring and evaluating the success of your Black Friday promotion Having worked with large brands we all know such as Loreal, Dove, Pepsi, and Chobani, Maureen easily sees one of the biggest perks of being a small business is the flexibility and ease with which you can move and test new strategies without obstacles and politics that tie up bigger brands.“Just because you're small, doesn't mean you're not potent”Planning and strategizing are key to successfully running a Black Friday promotion for any business, but are Black Friday promos great for every business? Maureen shares great insights on how to determine if this is right for your business. Keeping your existing customers in mind can help you decipher if offering deep discounts for new business may leave your loyal customers with a less than favorable perception of the high-end value they’ve been using.TIP #1: Maureen suggests knowing where Black Friday fits into your strategy. Make sure to use it skillfully to either eliminate inventory or boost an introduction to your brand.Service providers have to be careful to not jeopardize customer retention for new customer acquisition. Exposing your loyal customers to an early access deal or a sneak peak is a great way to consider navigating this terrain. Whether you are a service-based business or product-based business, knowing how to set up for your Black Friday promotion takes lots of planning, but is so much easier with these reminders that Maureen shared: Know the timing of your sale; 1-Day versus full weekend Which products (or services) you will promote and why! Plan for your prelaunch campaign  TIP #2: Maureen advises that you don't get comfortable. Get really smart at knowing what your customers want and know where they are.You cannot copy and paste another person's strategy because you don't know what they're trying to fix on the back end.You have to know your marketing, have a plan, track your metrics, and have everything thought out. Your business and your brand are unique to you. When you have to audit the health of your promotion and evaluate if it was successful, Maureen lays out nice details on how to look at your data and make these important determinations.The ultimate goal is not having to reinvent the wheel for your Black Friday promotion next year. The goal is to know how you perform this year so you can tweak your strategy and execute better next time. I want you guys to know this..... Black Friday and Christmas is not your time to test [...] Black Friday and Christmas, you're executing on your best promotions.Maureen is the queen of turning data into revenue and growth. She’s done it effectively for brands we probably use everyday, and you can book a call with her or follow her on her socials below.Links to connect with Maureen:WebsiteInstagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know what you have mastered. The work you do better than anyone. Now you’re ready to teach it to the world! With so many things to do and focus on t can be overwhelming. Today I am sharing the main thing you can focus on that will help your best course yet! Let’s talk about the ultimate course and membership experience: ● The Student or Member Experience ● The Business Owner / Team Experience More . . . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Making sure that your business serves the life you want to live is not a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity for you to feel abundant and be able to thrive and love what you do every day. Coming from corporate jobs and years of 9 to 5 training is not an easy habit, just because you work for yourself now.  Alexandra Taketa joined me back in January to talk about our money mindset on The Money Amplifier Effect episode. She’s a business strategist, coach, and founder of the Money Mastery Academy.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’m sharing my visibility report. If you’ve been listening, you know that this is something that’s been on my radar the last few weeks. I’ve been focusing on the journey, staying in the moment. I’m focused on the consistent actions instead of the result. Hear how the people at my college reunion helped me realize that we must re-tell our story. We think people know who we are and what we do. But they don’t. I found out that people I’ve known for 20+ years wanted to hear a Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices