29: 5 Things Your Website Needs

29: 5 Things Your Website Needs

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 29.

This episode airs on Tuesday, November 10th… exactly 1 week after the 2020 US election. If you’re anything like me…. You may have spent the last 7 days glued to CNN, unable to get much of anything done except breathe and hope hope hope.

In the past, I would probably have beat myself up about wasting my time and not getting stuff done. But I think I am finally realizing the stress that the state of the world and country can create for us, I am (trying to) give myself permission to get behind sometimes. And so here we are!

Today’s episode is about X things your website needs. Many of us know we need a website, and so we just put something together as quickly as possible and move on.

But your website is important and full of opportunities for your business. This episode is about making sure you take advantage of them.

This one is short & sweet, and can serve as a kind of checklist for you, so you can immediately go start making the tweaks needed.

Let’s get into it!

1: Immediate Clarity

15 seconds is the average amount of time spent on a website. That’s… not a lot of time.

If you only have 15 seconds, you need to clearly and immediately convey what you have to offer.

If you have a shop with a physical location, you know that -- fortunately or unfortunately -- people judge a book by its cover. Meaning… the way your store looks from the outside matters, whether people realize it consciously or not. The more obvious it is from the outside that you have something valuable to offer -- the more likely people will be to come in.

At Station 7, I see people walk by on the street and crane their heads to look at the shop, trying to decide if they want to come in.

Think of your website as your Digital Storefront. When people stumble upon it, it’s like they’re walking by, craning their heads to look inside your shop and see if it’s worth having a browse.

Your job is to show them that you have something valuable to offer -- that there’s a reason they should slow down and spend some time with you.

And because studies show you only have 15 seconds to capture someone’s attention (or they’ll most likely leave), you need to communicate what you have to offer RIGHT AWAY so they can decide if it’s for them, and not leave before they give you a chance.

So how do we do this?

The most important thing to think about here is your homepage. The first page that people get to when they land on your website. When they first land on your webpage, without much scrolling, they should be able to figure out what you have to offer.

I would really suggest that you be as direct as possible.

Ask yourself this question:

What do you sell?

How can you make it immediately obvious what I sell? You can show it with a visual and you can explain it with words.

In your visual, make sure that your product or service is obvious. For example, if your photo is a flat lay with a bunch of products in it, it should be obvious without explanation which of those are your product. The simpler, the better.

And in your text, this is not a place to get fancy. If you have a tagline that concretely describes your product, feel free to use it, but don’t be afraid to spell it out plainly. Clarity is super important here.

For my Good Sheila paper goods, here’s how I do it: 

My visual is a photo of a bunch of different greeting cards.

The first text you read (aside from my logo) is: PAPER GOODS AND GIFTS INSPIRED BY NATURE

Here’s another example.

If you’re a jewelry company, here might be your answers.

• What do you sell? Jewelry

• How can I make it immediately obvious what you sell?

  • Visual: Pick a great image (or a carousel of images) of your product. K

  • Words: Say something like: “Colorful, handmade clay jewelry” instead of “Wearable art that expresses your unique personality”. The first is clear. The second, while clever, is not.

If you sell a service and not a physical product, the visual component of  this will be a little more difficult, but still doable.

Think about either a visual of you doing the work, or the outcome you create. If you are a makeup artist, you could have an image of you in action putting makeup on someone… or you could have a photo of a bride on her wedding day with beautiful makeup.

If you’re a graphic designer, you could have a mood board of different concepts like you might create for a client, or you could have something from your portfolio that shows what you can do.

If you REALLY don’t want to use a direct visual, you need to make sure that it’s super obvious IMMEDIATELY, without scrolling, what you offer. For example, for Making Good, this podcast -- I didn’t have an image of me podcasting or my podcast gear, and I didn’t want to use a generic stock image. So, I decided to focus on making it clear through my text. My web address is makinggoodpodcast.com which explains that this is a podcast, and then in the first bit of text on my website it explains exactly what this podcast is about.

Overall, you want to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and try to look at your website from an outside perspective. Is it immediately obvious what you have to offer? Remember, we’re not trying to convince anyone to buy something they don’t need -- we are just making it as clear as possible for them to understand what we have so they can make that decision for ourselves. And ifthey leave the website without even having a chance to see what we sell… well, that’s everyone’s loss.

So, we talked about having a great visual and clear wording right up front.

But for extra credit, let’s just talk about one more thing.

As a baseline, your website needs to be aesthetically pleasing. Most of us don’t have a designer helping us create our websites, so the best rule of thumb I can offer you is to keep it as simple as possible.

Some ways to do this:

• If you don’t have a website (or are just starting), I’d recommend starting with Squarespace. They have tons of (free or cheap) templates that have great design to get you started.

• Don’t use more than one or two fonts

• White space is your friend. Don’t feel like you have to pack things in

• Try to keep to a color palette of a few colors

• Anytime you’re writing something more than a sentence or two, it should be dark text on a white or very light background

2. Make it easy to buy from you

This is pretty self-explanatory and probably sounds very obvious, but you’d be surprised how often I find this to be an issue.

For Station 7, the retail shop, I buy from small businesses all the time. So I’m often looking at their websites, trying to figure out if they sell wholesale. SO OFTEN, I spend way too long on their website trying to figure this out, and ultimately have to send them an email to ask if they wholesale their products.

But even if you don’t wholesale, and you sell a service or product, it needs to be extremely obvious for your customer to know how to purchase what you sell.

With product-based businesses, this usually takes the form of an online ecommerce shop or something like Etsy. These tools have made it pretty easy for us, but the only extra comment I have here is to err on the side of making it easier. Don’t ask for information you don’t need to collect… every extra thing you ask your customer to do increases the likelihood that they’ll just stop trying.

For service-based businesses where often it’s not as simple as adding a product to your cart and then paying immediately, what you need to do is be extremely clear on what your audience’s next step is, and make that clear to them.

If you’re an aesthetician, maybe the next step is to book an appointment. That should be extremely prominent on your website in multiple locations. I would even spell it out:

“Ready for your refreshing, plant-based facial? Your next step is to book your appointment here.”

If you’re a copywriter, maybe the next step is to set up a 20-minute free phone call to talk about working together. You could write something like:

“Interested in having me write your next month of Instagram posts? Book a (free!) chat with me to see if we’d be a good fit!”

3: A (compelling) way to collect email addresses

If you’ve listened to this podcast more than a couple of times you’ve probably heard me professing my love for email marketing.

But I’ll do it again here:

Email is the most powerful tool you have in your marketing toolbox. 

You OWN your email list. Facebook and Instagram and other social media platforms can do whatever they want to their platforms, the way they work, and how hard it is for you to reach your audience….

Your audience is yours.

Perhaps more importantly, email just performs better than social media. This will probably be a surprise given that social media tends to take A LOT more of our time…. But email marketing has much much higher ROI than social media does. Translation: Sending 1 email is much more likely to generate sales or any other kind of action you are asking people to take than posting on social media.

Why am I talking about this? 

Because the second thing your website needs to have is a COMPELLING way to collect email addresses.

I want you to think about it this way. If the #1 best outcome of a visitor to your website is for them to purchase immediately, the #2 best outcome is for them to give you their email address. It’s *THAT* important.

No, I am not talking about a little form at the bottom of your website that says JOIN MY NEWSLETTER. Does that sound fun? No one wants to join a newsletter.

You need to give people a good reason why they should give you their precious email address. Something valuable.

For product based businesses, an easy way to do this is to give a discount code in exchange for an email signup, or a code for free shipping. 

For service based businesses, think about what would be valuable to your audience? A short ebook? A workbook? A checklist? A cheat sheet? Think about what you could give your audience for free that a) is valuable enough for them to give you their email address, and b) makes them think WOW, she gave this to me for free? How amazing is her paid content?

You can play around with different ways of collecting email addresses -- pop-ups and embedded forms are most common. However, what I use with Station 7 (the retail shop) is a little chat bot that pops up in the bottom right and offers them a discount code, and the amount of people that take me up on that is pretty amazing.

One caveat I will say here is -- we are not collecting people’s email addresses to spam them. We want to always come at it with the approach of providing value MOST of the time, and asking for the sale occasionally.

It’s a big deal for someone to give you their email address - make sure that you are respectful of that.

4. Tell who you are and what you stand for  - 

People love getting to know people. And so, we need an about page. Yes, so you can tell your audience about your company, but even more importantly, so you can tell your audience about YOU and any story that is relevant to how you got your start with your business.

When we read about and look at other people, we are actively looking for ways to make connections with them.

Think about how often you’ve met someone for the first time and tried to find a person in common that you both know.

Knowing this can help you write an About page that helps your audience connect with you. How?

SPECIFIC DETAILS. Get specific about the things that you like, your hobbies, your background. What do you care about? Where do you love to travel? What kind of books do you like? What’s your favorite cocktail? Into personality tests -- share your type. Have a pet, tell us about them -- or at least mention.

I’m definitely not suggesting you write a novel. But including some super specific and concrete details about you and your life will give your audience an opportunity to connect with you and your brand.

I would also recommend that, whether it’s on your About Page or somewhere else prominent, that you have a section where you tell your audience what you stand for. 

For example, on my Good Sheila website, I have a page called “what we care about” which explains the business values that I have.

They are:

• Share what we have

• Speak up

• Spread kindness

• Spend intentionally

• Reduce impact on the earth

This helps people understand where I’m coming from, and helps them understand where there money is going when they spend with me. 

If you’re interested in figuring out what your business values are, I have a great workbook you can download, at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness.

5. Hold attention 

I’m sorry to tell you that I saved the most difficult thing to do for last. But I want to encourage you to approach your website with the philosophy that the longer your audience spends on your website, the better.

The longer they spend on your website, the more they’ll come to trust you, the better they’ll know you and your products. Also, google knows how long people spend on our websites, and if people stick around for a while, it tells Google that your content is good and they should show it to more people.

So, how do we get people to stick around? 

The first thing will come as no surprise to anyone who’s listened to me talk about this on and on and on. But you  need to write like a human.

Write like you talk. It’s really that simple. Don’t write anything for your business in a way that you wouldn’t actually speak out loud. 

If you can make your reader feel like they’re reading a text message or an email you wrote just to them, you have done your job.

If you sell a product, do everything you can to make the experience of browsing through your catalog interesting. Great photos are a good place to start. You can have “recommended products”, starter collections, or gift guides. You can have “if you liked this product, you’ll love these products” on your product pages.

Any way that you can make the shopping and browsing experience EASIER for your audience will be a good thing. When Station 7 introduced what we call Care Packages, I COULDN’T BELIEVE how well they sold. All we did was group a few products together that we knew would complement each other well as a gift, and just this act of simplifying for our customers made them so much more likely to buy those products in the bundle.

Aside from products, if you have content, like a blog or podcast, this is a great asset to you when it comes to your website, and I’d encourage you to make it super easy for people to find ways they can dig into more of your content.

There are so many ways we can think about encouraging people to spend more time on our website, and it’s something you could spend all day working on - every day. It’s definitely not something I do perfectly. But the important thing here is to have this philosophy top of mind when you work on your website -- how can I get my audience to ENJOY spending time here?

And that is my list of 5 Things Your Website Needs.

To review:

1: Immediate Clarity

2. Make it easy to buy from you

3: A (compelling) way to collect email addresses

4. Tell who you are and what you stand for  -

5. Hold attention

That is the episode for the day.

 You can find the show notes for this episode makinggoodpodcast.com/29. 

If you’re interested in the free workbook that will help you get clear on your business values and write about them clearly, head to makinggoopdocast.com/goodbusiness.

I have a favor to ask! If you enjoyed this episode, will you take a screenshot of it in your favorite podcast player, and tag me at @makinggoodpodcast. Tell me one thing you are going to take action on!

Also, it would totally make my day if you’d leave a rating and review on iTunes or Stitcher. Just saying :).

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time!

33: Marketing Ideas for Better Holiday Sales

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 33.

If you’re wondering why there’s a second full episode coming out this week, go listen to the quick bonus episode that came out today alongside this episode for more details.

But the short version is: HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I am so grateful that you’re here, and as my holiday gift to you, I’m doubling up on episodes for the entire month of December. I gave a sneak peek of the different topics we’ll be covering this month in the bonus episode (title starts with SURPRISE!).

And what better topic to kick off this month of holiday gifts, than an episode about holiday marketing.

This is a very very important season for most small businesses, but especially product-based small businesses. At Station 7, we do about 25% to 30% of our annual sales in the single month of December. 

Add to the fact that many of us have had a tough year with COVID19 and its impacts on all businesses, but particularly ones with a retail component.

So, if you’re anything like me, doing well this holiday season feels important.

In this episode, I’m going to give a bunch of ideas on things you might want to consider doing to “up” your holiday sales.

Okay, let’s get into it!

One thing I want to say up front is very important:

This is not a checklist. 

I’m not suggesting you do every single thing on this list, I’m certainly not going to. It’s more of a menu to pick and choose from depending on what best fits your business, bandwidth and skillset.

The backbone of all of these marketing ideas is basic. We always want to do our best to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes, and imagine their life right now. What are they dealing with? What would be helpful to them? What would help them relax or decompress in an inevitably stressful time. What do they need to hear?

Here are the holiday marketing ideas we’re going to talk about today:

1. Free shipping

2. Clear shipping deadlines

3. Put together gift guides or gift suggestions.

4. EXTRA good customer service

5. Infuse the holiday spirit

6. Give your audience a gift

7. Help your customers relax

8. Do a giveaway

9. Bundle discounts

10. Send a holiday card

• Free shipping

This one’s for people who sell products. When it comes to the holiday season and gifting, buyers these days have so many options. They can go to a store on Christmas Eve to pick something out. They can go online and buy from a big retailer and get it delivered for free in a couple of hours.

As small businesses, we can’t always compete, but one thing we can do to level the playing field is to offer free shipping. As online shoppers, many of 

As we know, offering free shipping has a real cost to us… because if we’re not charging for shipping that means we are paying for it.

My suggestion is that you offer free shipping on purchases over a certain dollar amount. For example, free shipping on purchases over $50. Or, if you have certain products that are very expensive to ship, you could exclude those products from your promotion.

But frequent online shoppers know that free shipping is a compelling incentive, so if you can find a way to offer it, I think that is only a good thing!

• Get super clear on your holiday shipping deadlines and be conservative on them.

Related to the first suggestion of free shipping, my second suggestion for people who sell products is to get very clear about your holiday shipping deadlines and communicate them widely.

This is a bit tough this year as there have been disruptions in mail service and delivery, so I would recommend that you set a conservative date for shipping.

But communicating (a real) sense of urgency around ordering, will remind people to make their order from you or other small businesses before it’s too late to ship and they have to scramble last minute.

If you have a deadline, communicate it early and often! Via social media, email marketing, and have it prominently displayed on your website. 

• Round up gift suggestions or gift guides.

I find picking out gifts super difficult. Anyone else relate? Even though I know my nearest and dearest well, figuring out what to gift them that they’ll LOVE can be difficult.

You can help your customers with this indecision, because you know your products best. For example, if you have a stationery brand like I do, you know which of your art prints are most popular and therefore might be the best bet for someone looking to gift one.

I would suggest that you round up a list of gift suggestions, or gift guides. For example:

• 5 gifts for the urban gardener

• Gift Guide for Your Favorite Homebody

• A year’s worth of stationery for the card writer in your life

Your customer knows the person they’re giving a gift to, but you know your product. Meet them halfway.

• Extra good customer service.

On the same vein as gift guides or suggestions, what if you have an online chat concierge live and ready to help with gift suggestions? It could be you, or a member of your team, who is available on your website’s chat service to talk through it with people.

Station 7 is a physical retail shop, and due to restrictions and safety, there’s a whole lot less in-person shopping right now. So, we’re looking for ways to bring the in-person shopping experience online.

One thing we are doing virtual private shopping, where we will get on a video call with you and show you around the shop to help pick items out, and I’ve also been thinking about introducing some “office hours” where we’ll be on chat to help customers pick out gifts - the same way we would if they were actually in the shop.

• Infuse the holiday spirit.

So much of marketing is creating a feeling, and many of us have years of memories and feelings associated with the winter holidays. Get festive!

My preferred way to do this is to not speak specifically about any one holiday to be inclusive, so when I think about this it’s more about cozy sweaters and sipping cocoa by the fire.

Infusing some winter/holiday spirit into your marketing (things like your website, email marketing, and social media), is just one more way to connect with your customers, who likely have the holidays on their mind.

• Give a gift.

Giving gifts is a way of showing someone that we care about them. So why not give a gift to your customers or audience?

There are so many ways you can show your audience how much you appreciate them. Some ideas:

• A special discount just for your email subscribers

• A free gift with all purchases

• A guide or workbook

• A free consultation

In my case, my gift to my Making Good community for the holidays is a bunch of bonus episodes to help you make the most of the holidays and start 2021 strong. (This episode is one of them!)

Again, to my point in the beginning of this episode: this all comes down to what your customer wants.

What is something they would benefit from right now that you could easily provide them?

Spend 10 minutes brainstorming answers to that question and I can all but guarantee you’ll come up with something great.

• Help them relax.

Here’s the truth: The holidays are stressful. I probably don’t need to convince you of that. I feel it, and I’m guessing you do too.

And you know who else feels it? Our customers.

One way you can help them relax is by making their holiday shopping easier! We talked about gift guides earlier; this is a great place to start.

You might also consider round-ups of “favorite products under $25” and “favorite products under $50” for example, for people looking to stick to a certain price point.

Another way you might do this is to go a bit more literal and really think about what would be relaxing when it comes to your marketing and messaging. Is it beautiful calming photos? Is it inspiring and grounding quotes?

This is a time of year when many of us are running around, trying to get as much done in as little time as possible, trying to make everyone around us happy.

What can you do to interrupt that pattern of frenzy and help someone stop and take a breath?

That’s worth something.

• Do a giveaway

Imagine that you have a lot of holiday shopping to do, and you see the opportunity to get something that would be a perfect gift -- for FREE! 

The holidays are a great time to do a giveaway, which is less a way of making sales and more a way of growing your audience.

If you’re a jewelry business, for example, you could run a giveaway on social media to give away 2 bracelets: one for the winner of the giveaway to keep, and one for them to gift a friend.

In order to enter the giveaway, you’d have to follow your account and tag a friend in the comments.

Simple and effective way to grow your audience.

• Bundle discounts.

The fact is that this time of year, we buy more. Whether it’s stuff, gift cards, experiences, services -- our spending goes up at the end of the year.

So, this means that people shopping with us may be buying more at a time than normal. One thing you may want to offer to encourage them to do their holiday shopping with you is bundle discounts. 

A couple examples of what I mean here:

• Buy 3 candles and get 1 free.

• Get 20% off your order if you buy 4 or more greeting cards.

• Put together a gift basket of several items and discount it from the retail price

• Send a holiday card.

I know. I saved the wildest one for last! Why not send a handwritten holiday card to your customers?

The stationery designer in me has to put this caveat in here: I would recommend that you don’t send a greeting card that is just your logo on the front or something that is clearly advertising.

You could buy greeting cards and include your business card inside (or better yet a really good coupon!). Or if you make your own, make it something that’s enjoyable to look at. Something people would be happy to tack up on their wall of holiday cards, rather than immediately recycle it because it looks like an advertisement.

If you’re a product-based business with A LOT of customers in your base, you could pull out your customers who are most loyal to your business, or just your wholesale accounts. If you’re a service provider, you probably don’t have SO many clients that you couldn’t send one to each and every person.

Okay! That is my roundup of holiday gift ideas. I hope that you got an idea or two from this episode. If you did, I’d love to hear what you’re going to do!

Send me a message on Instagram @makinggoodpodcast.

 You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/33.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

35: How to Identify Your Values

35: How to Identify Your Values

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 35.

If you’ve been listening for a bit, you know that December on Making Good means twice as many episodes! Yay.

Today’s episode is about identifying your values.

I want to open up this conversation by quoting the anthropologist and primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall:

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.

What I hope to convince you in this episode is that your business makes an impact, and getting thoughtful about what that impact is and will be gives you so much power.

We’re going to talk about:

• What values are

• Why values matter

• How to identify your values

Let’s start by getting on the same page. 

What are values? 

For the purposes of this conversation, values are what’s important to you in the way you live and work.

When you see businesses list your values, you’ll tend to see a lot of jargon and vague words like “excellence” and “integrity”. 

I have a little bit of a different approach… I think that getting REALLY REALLY specific with our values will make them so much more useful to us.

For example, business values might be some of the following:

• Honesty

• Anti-racism

• Protecting the environment

• Kindness

• Family

• Giving back

• Speaking up

• Being authentic online

• Continuous growth

• Rest

And before anyone goes down the rabbit hole of “but I don’t have values”... let me just stop you and say that you do. You just may not know what they are.

One useful way to confirm this is through your emotions -- through how you feel.

How we feel is directly affected by whether or not we’re behaving in a way consistent with our values.

When things feel “off” and out of alignment, that may be a sign that we’re not acting in accordance with our values.

If you’re not sure what your values are, this episode is for you.

Okay, so we know what values are. But why do they matter in business?

Because they help us make decisions.

As a small business owner, you know that there are constantly so many decisions we need to make. Big decisions, tiny decisions - our days are filled with decisions.

I bet you’d agree that anything that makes decision making easier would be a good thing… and even BETTER if something can help us make the RIGHT decisions.

This is where values come in.

And before anyone goes down the rabbit hole of “but I don’t have values”... let me just stop you and say that you do. You just may not know what they are.

One useful way to confirm this is through your emotions -- through how you feel.

How we feel is directly affected by whether or not we’re behaving in a way consistent with our values.

When things feel “off” and out of alignment, that may be a sign that we’re not acting in accordance with our values.

If you’re not sure what your values are, this episode is for you.

I want to give some examples of how values might guide your decision-making in business.

If your value is to speak up, and the decision you need to make is “what should I do when a controversial topic comes up?”

Your value of SPEAK UP makes your course of action clear: You would say something publicly about it, even if it cost me some followers or customers. This has been a big topic in the US recently, with the state of our politics and COVID19 and police killings.

If your VALUE is anti-racism, and the DECISION you need to make is which company to hire to print your business cards. The ACTION you might take in consistency with that value would be to look for businesses owned by people of color.

If your VALUE is body positivity, and the DECISION you need to make is who to feature in your product or brand photos, the ACTION you might take is to deliberately seek out a variety of body types to be included -- something other than a thin white woman.

If your VALUE is to protect the environment, and the DECISION you need to make is where to purchase shipping materials for your products. The ACTION you might take is to research eco-friendly shipping materials and methods - even if it costs more.

If your VALUE is supporting local manufacturing, and the DECISION is where to manufacture enamel pins and there are no local manufacturers, your ACTION might be that you do not produce enamel pins.

So, hopefully you’re getting convinced that getting clear on your values is a good idea.

But how do you figure out what they are?

I like to think of your values as the answers to this question:

What do you care about? 

When you think about what you care most about, what comes to mind? Don’t limit yourself to generic words like “quality” or “service”.  What core causes or issues do you care most about?

The process I used to figure this out for myself is to set a timer for 10 minutes, open my journal, and fill out the following sentence as many times as possible:

I care about __________

I care about __________

I care about __________

I care about racial justice, I care about protecting the environment, I care about spreading kindness

Keep going until the timer ends, don’t censor or edit  yourself, we’ll edit later.

When your first timer is finished, set a second timer and do the same exercise, this time with the phrase:

I believe in ________

I believe in ________

I believe in ________

I believe in speaking up for what matters to me, I believe in convincing people that they are good enough, I believe in giving a portion of my income 

After you’ve completed this brainstorming process, the next step is to organize your thoughts. Look for ways to group these ideas -- you’ll start to see patterns emerge.

For example, I might combine “be real online” with “share the truth about my experiences with mental illness” for an overall topic around cultivating a sense ofr belonging.

Spend some time on this, and narrow it down to 3 to 5 that you want to focus on for your business.

When you’ve selected your values, we then want to think about how we’re going to use our business to address these topics.

For each value or cause you selected, brainstorm different ideas for how your business could contribute to change.

Ask yourself the following question:

How could I use my business to ____________?

How could I use my business to help people feel good about themselves?

How could I use my business to fight racial injustice?

How could I use my business to spread kindness?

How could I use my business to help remove the stigma around mental illness?

Don’t edit yourself, and don’t feel constrained to actions you’ve seen other companies do. One of the beautiful parts about running a small business is that we are flexible enough to get really creative and think outside the box.

If you’re looking for some ideas about actions you can take, I have some favorites to get you started that I talk about in detail in episode 2 of this podcast, which you can get at makinggoodpodcast.com/2.

When you’ve brainstormed actions to take for each value, we need to make some decisions. Of all of the possible actions that you could take, select the ones that are most attainable and impactful. Choose one (or two) action to correspond with each of your business values.

Now that we have identified our values and mapped some actions to go with them, I find it to be super helpful to articulate them cohesively. 

I’ve written what I call a Good Business Statement, and it is immensely helpful to me in my business decision making and overall direction.

What is a Good Business Statement? 

A Good Business Statement defines what we believe in, and what we’re going to use our business to do about it.

You can find that at goodsheila.com/goodbusiness, but I”ll read it to you here in a second.

Before I went into small business, my background is in marketing, so I can’t resist offering some tips around writing this:

1. Write it as simply as possibly

2. Make it human

3. Say specifically what you mean

4. Start with a short headline

5. Where possible, lead with a verb

6. Don’t mention what you sell

It’s worth spending time on this. You’re probably listening to this podcast because you know that small businesses have power; that every decision we make has the opportunity to make an impact on the world.

Our Good Business Statement is our declaration of how we will be intentional about creating the world we want to live in.

If you want even more details on this process, I have a workbook that walks you through how to do it, and includes some more tips on writing it effectively. You can download that at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness.

When you have your statement written, some next steps might be to publish it on your website, incorporate it into your marketing, set up a time to revisit your Good Business Statement and your actions in a few months, and in general - view every business decision as an opportunity to make a difference.

I promised I would read my Good Business Statement for Good Sheila that I created using this process. Here it is.

WE KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE.

Business is about more than making money.

We’ve written what we call a Good Business Statement, which you can read below. It sums up what we care about and what we’re doing about it.

SHARE WHAT WE HAVE

We want our business wins to be wins for the world. Through our 5% for Good program, we donate 5% of our profits to a cause we love, rotating on a quarterly basis. This money goes to organizations supporting racial justice, protecting the earth, mental health awareness, animal welfare and LGBTQIA+ causes.  

SPEAK UP

We won’t be silent about the things that matter. We stand for building an anti-racist world, for LGBTQIA+ equality, for women’s rights, and for the empowerment of all marginalized communities. We welcome people of all races, genders and abilities here.  

SPREAD KINDNESS

We know that small acts of kindness add up, and create ripple effects of good in the world. In our customer service, people- managing, community engagement and other business operations, we will be kind.  

SPEND INTENTIONALLY

We believe that every dollar we spend is a vote for the world we want. So, we do our best to spend our money with businesses who have responsible environmental practices and have values aligned with ours. Where possible, we aim to spend with small businesses, local businesses, and businesses owned by marginalized communities.  

REDUCE IMPACT ON EARTH

As a paper company, there is an environmental impact of producing our goods. We are in the process of evaluating each step of our production, packaging and shipping practices to minimize environmental impact and make eco-friendly decisions. 

I started with a quote, so I want to wrap up with one I love, too:

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. That is from the fable The Lion and the Mouse.

WHEW! So, what do you say… are you interested in writing your own statement? If you do, I would LOVE to hear from you (and cheer you on!) - send me a message on Instagram @makinggoodpodcast.

But whether or not you write a Good Business Statement… I would so strongly encourage you to go through the process of identifying your values. Getting clarity on what is most important to you in your business makes making decisions in our business so much easier.

 You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/35.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

66: Mindful Marketing with Amie Finlayson

66: Mindful Marketing with Amie Finlayson

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 66. Today's episode is about something super, super important. And I think a bit overdue for this podcast, mindful marketing. I am so thrilled to have business strategist Amie Finlayson join me for this chat. 

But before we jump into the episode, I have a few things I wanted to share first, number one, a big topic you'll hear in this conversation is values, and specifically getting clear on your values so you can make sure your marketing and business practices are aligned with them. If you know you have values and your business and your life, but you're not exactly sure what they are, I have a free workbook to help you walk through the process of getting clear on them and writing them into a strong statement that you can share. If you're interested head to makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness. 

Second, I wanted to invite you to join other values driven small business owners for accountability and lots of business and marketing inspiration. This all takes place in the free Facebook community for the podcast, The Good Business community. The link will be in the show notes or you can head to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected. 

Finally, if you love this podcast, there are a few ways you can help spread the love. First, I would love for you to leave a review on Apple podcasts or Stitcher to help others find the podcast and to let me know what you love. And second, take a screenshot while you're listening and tag me on Instagram at @LaurenTilden. I would so love to connect with you and cheer you on. 

Okay, so let's talk about today's episode. Mindful marketing is all about creating a marketing approach that is in line with your values and the impact you want to make in the world. While my background is in more traditional corporate ish marketing over the last couple of years, I've definitely felt myself being pulled in the direction of mindful marketing, which is why I'm so excited to share this conversation with you. My guest on this episode is Amie Finlayson. 

Amie is an online business strategist for service providers, marketers and course creators. She teaches small business owners how to structure their businesses and feel good way and to do ethical, effortless and effective marketing. She also hosts The Good Authority podcast, which she shares about more during the conversation and you should definitely go give it a listen. In this conversation, we talked about what is mindful marketing, the opposite of mindful marketing, which is sometimes called bro marketing, some examples of marketing and business tactics that we might consider unethical. The role of ethics and pricing specifically when it comes to payment plans and charm pricing, how to create your own mindful marketing plan, the role of transparency and mindful marketing and mindful business, the role of systems and moving you toward the life you want and the impact you want to make and much more. This topic is so so important. And I would love your help spreading the word. Take a screenshot from your podcast player and then post it on Instagram for your other small business friends to check out. Tag me at @LaurenTilden and Amie at @amiefinlayson for extra credit. Okay, let's get into the episode. Amie, welcome to the podcast.

Amie Finlayson  

Thanks for having me. I'm so excited.

Lauren Tilden  

I'm so excited to have you. And I'm so excited to talk about ethical marketing. This is something that it feels very close to my heart, although I'm not sure I've figured it out exactly how I feel about everything. So I'm excited to have you here like holding my hand as we go through this topic. I would love just for some context, if you could tell the listeners, who you are and what you do in your business and maybe just a brief intro to where ethical marketing is relevant to you. 

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, of course. So for me, I call myself an online business strategist. And I work with entrepreneurs, but mainly people who are service providers, or course creators to kind of break the rules of marketing, and get you set up with strategy and workflows to make a lasting impact on your audience without the overwhelm and the burnout and the information overload. And it's really tied to my mission, which is to help impact driven marketers and online entrepreneurs to lead with integrity and prioritize their own vision, income and energy as they build, grow and scale a sustainable business. 

So essentially, I am quite focused on the mindful marketing side of things. And I really do that or it kind of manifests as the way that I help marketers and online business owners feel really good about the way that they're marketing themselves online and the personal brand that they're creating in the community that they're cultivating. And I guess for me coming to kind of I haven't always been what I would call an ethical marketer, and I don't think anyone is when they start off in online business. But I'm in my fifth year of this. So I've, I've seen a lot of the bush than I have participated in. And I've just been marketing in some capacity for almost eight years now. I think it's over eight years now. And I have just come to a point in my business where, and I mean, it's been kind of a year or two years where I've felt more of a pull towards an ethical or a more mindful way of doing things, because that just isn't the status quo of online business.

Lauren Tilden  

Hmm. Okay, so God, I'm so excited. I'm just getting about this conversation. So for anyone listening, who's hearing you say, like, you weren't always someone who tended toward, like really thinking through the ethics of your marketing? Could you define what ethical marketing is? And maybe give some examples of marketing tactics that you would consider? unethical?

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, for sure.  I think what I mean by I haven't always been ethical is that when I started my online business, I started with the hope that I would be able to leave my nine to five job and I wanted to make more money on the side, I wanted to have the freedom to not start work at night, and I'm finished at five. And that was just the way that my life would be. So starting, the ethics behind things weren't top of mind. But ethical marketing or mindful marketing is what I like to call it, I think it just sounds less judgy, I guess. But it's, it's basically having a set of ethics or standards that you live by on your online business, to reduce harm, to cultivate community to make an income and build something that will be here for years to come. And I find that the alternative for a lot of people is that your business won't last. And it's using what a lot of people call and I did not coined this term, but a lot of people call it bro marketing, which is kind of the masculine and the patriarchal way of doing business and marketing yourself, because this is just the structures of online business, that it's just the way the industry has been built. 

And it's really to advance what bro marketing is, it's to advance your business motivations in a way that uses fear and coercion and manipulation. And it's done in really subtle ways as well, like you've probably done it, or you're doing it in some kind of way or your business bestie is doing it. And a lot of the time, it's up to you as an individual to exercise your own set of values and guidelines. Because a lot of what I do is just or a lot of what we do rather, as online business owners is just the accepted status quo. Things were just okay with. And it's because it's the way it's always been, even when it hurts other people and in a lot of ways, it's because it makes a lot of money for the individuals and the businesses that are involved.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, so good. I feel like something that you're calling attention to is like, a lot of us like so I come from corporate marketing, which is mostly in this in definitely like a bro marketing energy where the what you're considering is how do I use my marketing to make sales. And the only thing I care about is making sales. I don't care about any other impacts that my activities have. Right. So I'm, I'm feeling nerdy right now. But this is taking me back to my econ degree economics degree. And there's something called externalities, which are like the unintended consequences of anything you do in the economy. And what I'm hearing you say is mindful or ethical marketing is really about thinking through like the impact of your marketing tactics, and actually evaluating like, is this good for everyone else? And maybe everyone else on the planet and not just me?

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, exactly. I think, I mean, you're spot on with that. Because I think as business owners, we do want to make money and grow our income. And that's super important. That's not, It's not disregarding that, but it's thinking about the why behind the reasons that we do things and the way that we make people feel in our messaging, and how we bring people into our programs and our courses and our the way that we treat our clients and have a client experience and all of the content we create. I mean, it's in everything that we do. And thinking about the why. And the impact is just as important as making money, if not more important, right?

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. And I just, the reason I think I love this topic so much is, my whole angle with this podcast is really, yes, build a really strong business, market it effectively, but beyond that, like find a way to make a positive impact on the world using your business. So a really big, like, sort of through line of the conversations we have here are around incorporating your value, like getting really clear on what your values are, and incorporating them into your business practices. And I've, I guess, I've touched on like how that kind of touches marketing, but really thinking through kind of the the really specific details about your marketing and how those, how those come into play, when it comes to your values, I think is a conversation I definitely haven't had yet. And I'm really excited to be having. So yeah, definitely. You touched on this a little bit already. And that is like the idea of basically preying on people's emotions. One of the sort of classic strategies, I guess, when it comes to marketing that we're taught is to really get clear on your ideal customers pain points, and then agitate the pain points. Like to make them feel something. What do you say?

Amie Finlayson  

I said that you're taught to just poke and prod at those pain points, like you're pushing on someone's hurt.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? And we like, I feel like this is taught, like, pretty shamelessly. Like, I don't think I question that at all for a long time. No. So let's talk about some examples of that. What are some examples of using fear and prodding and maybe false urgency in marketing? And what might be some alternatives to that?

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah. So I mean, emotional manipulation in online business is kind of one of those status quos that was talking about, it's really accepted. And as marketers, pain point seems to be a phrase that no one really questions, but it's the main word is pain, like, why would you want people to feel pain in order to help them make a decision, and I use the word help in inverted commas, because I find that just fear comes up as one of the main drivers for a lot of marketers, because they want people to take action. 

And you'll find that a lot of the fear is tied to decision making, or the their intended ideal client or customers decision making. And it's made or used as an accepted to make you as the potential client or customer feel like a hot mess with a bad mindset. And you have no clue how to use your money. But if you buy this program, you'll be completely fine. But I find it's not always tied to money. But it's also the way that we use fear based messaging, and it's really prominent in this industry. And it's used, our the way that it has kind of manifested is it's used as a way to kind of beat the competition or position yourself in a way that makes you look like you're the best, or you're the only option. So it's kind of this false hierarchy that has been created. And a lot of marketers say that their program is better than another. And they make wild claims around what people need and what they don't need, which is just my personal pet peeve. I just really feel like it's extremely damaging to tell people what they don't need and what they do need just to sell something that you have put in the kind of the side of what people need. I think it's just also creating an illusion that there's only one person that you can trust, only one program that can get you that result. And it's really just tied to shame, shame around investments and decision making and telling you'll say this just so much on Instagram people telling their audience that I mean as a pain point saying that they have shiny object syndrome, and I don't know why people always seem to focus on this, but it obviously sells programs because it makes people feel like they're, they're not good enough. 

Like they can't make decisions on their own. And it's not that it isn't a like your programs aren't amazing. It's just the way that you make people feel to kind of coerce them into a decision and it all so happens a lot behind closed doors like I don't think that's something we can just forget about as marketers that everything that we do front facing is something that we need to just be aware of. It's also the things like on Instagram, that we don't see, it's the sales calls that people will lead on to that intentionally make people feel bad. And it's to coerce them into an often uninformed decision.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I like the point about sales calls, like the person, the salesperson will often try to convince you that you need to make a decision before the end of a call, or else you miss out on whatever offer it is, or whatever. And it's like, you must have like, not that much faith in your product, if you don't believe that the person does sit and think about it and still decide they want it. 

Amie Finlayson  

it's really getting people in vulnerable positions that simply just benefit the market. I like it doesn't actually benefit the people you are trying or intending to help. And I think because a lot of these sales calls use human connection in a really twisted way. And they lace it with a lot of shame and urgency, which makes people make decisions that not not always right for them.

Lauren Tilden  

Right. So I want to touch back to this idea, a little bit of pain points, because I think they're so I'm trying to figure out how I feel about this. I definitely know, I feel that we should not intentionally agitate pain points or create pain. But there are sometimes we do have offers that actually solve problems that people have. Right. And so we talk about that, without agitating it like, how do we acknowledge the problem? in like a more uplifting and hopeful and I guess full of possibility way.

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of answered it in the question like giving people possibility is different to intentionally harming them, or not intentionally, I don't think a lot of people in online business are out there to get other people. I don't think that at all. But I do think people are trying to force people into quicker decision making. And I think that there's kind of a fine line between that and slowing down the sales process. And really getting to the root of how your programs can really help people. And I think you can only really figure that out with experience, you're not always going to get it right. And I think driving people towards action, because obviously we have programs that we want to fill is really about making sure that you can deliver on the promises that you're making, and not shifting people into your programs that aren't going to give them the desired results. 

So for me, my messaging, it's really hard to not just say you need this, because of this reason, because that's the way we've been taught to market. But I think it's more about digging into not just their fears, because pressing on pain points isn't really going to help you in the long run either all them, I think it's really figuring out what their needs are, and why they haven't achieved that the end result that they have desired. And really thinking about what that desire is as well, I think you're really able to motivate people when they can actually see the path to how you can get them there. And I know a lot of marketers are just like, just talk about the transformation, then they will be able to see but then they don't just talk about the transformation. They also talk about what will happen if they don't achieve this. 

But I really think if you are able to show them actually, this is what this looks like in practice. This is how I have created this so that it fits into your life. It's not something that is going to just be a burden on you. And that's the way that I like to sell my programs in a way that feels good to me, maybe it doesn't feel good to other people. But I think it feels really good to me when I know I have created something that I am really proud of that I have given results to people before with and I'm able to in my messaging actually say how it fits into your life. And not just this pain point is hurting. So let me fix it for you.

Lauren Tilden  

Let's talk about pricing, which is another place that I think we can make mindful or ethical decisions. So a couple things that came to mind for me and that I've heard you talk about are payment plans, I think payment plans but definitely charm pricing. Yeah. Could you talk about those topics and maybe anything else you have to say about the topic of pricing when it comes to, we're just really thinking through, like how to do it in a kind and I guess the right way?

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's necessarily a right way, because we're all different. And we all have kind of different things that are going to make the most sense in our business. But I do really think in online business, there are so many accepted standards that actually just don't make sense. Like fair enough, if you have reasons for the way you do things, even though they are the status quo, I think that is fine. But I think when it's, you're making options in your business available, that are actually just predatory, that's where the problem is. And payment plans is one of those things, because there's the option, obviously, to have flexible payment options is amazing. But then there's the other side of it, which just kind of discriminates against people who can't afford to pay in full. So this looks a lot like paying more for the same program. 

So the industry standard at the moment, and you will see this go into the big names, sales pages go in, go to any one sales page, really that hasn't thought about this, because they don't know, they're not bad people for not thinking about this. But they're generally going to be following what the big names do. So the industry standard is to charge either 15, between 15 to 30%, more kind of attacks on payment plans. And a lot of people don't even realize this, because we see the smaller number and we think, Oh, I can afford that smaller number now. So it actually just doesn't matter down, I'll figure out that other payments down the line, which is another thing to coerce people into buying programs they don't want or need. But it is something that is so prevalent, like why should someone pay like a tax for not being able to afford the payments, and a lot of people use the excuse that they need to charge more because of lapse payments, like they're protecting themselves. But they don't even identify if this is actually an issue, just the first thing they do is charge people this massive tax before actually considering if that is something that is going to benefit their business in the long run. And I guess people talk about cash flow, because obviously, if people pay in full upfront, that can be a good thing for your cash flow. But are you hurting people that can't pay in full in the process? I think that's the real question here. And then, if we talk about charm pricing...

Lauren Tilden  

Can I ask you a quick just a question on payment? So I, I totally agree that we should not be charging more for the same product to people who have less resources. That's how the whole world works. And that's not right. Like so I guess I'm just curious, what do you choose to do in your business? Like, do you offer the payment plan but just not at a markup? Or do you think it's better to just only have one flat fee that everyone pays? Like, how do you handle that?

Amie Finlayson  

Yes, so I have payment plans with no markup. And that's what works for me. And I know that in a lot of cases, that won't work for everyone. But I think getting to the root of why that is like for me, I'm fine with paying, if people choose a payment plan, and I don't make it up and I pay a few extra dollars on a conversion fee or on a PayPal fee. That is fine to me, knowing that people aren't paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than someone else in a program in one of my programs, because they couldn't afford to pay the full price. And obviously, I mean, there is like benefit to people paying in full. And it is important to actually get cash flow in your business. But I think there are other ways that you can reward people for that or not even reward, but think about who you're impacting by charging a lot more like some of these massive programs that a lot of people are in, they will charge an whole extra payment to join their programs like that. 

To me, that's just unfair. Because they're obviously going to make a lot of money in the process anyway. And I think when you're a smaller business, that's possibly when you've got to be thinking about these numbers a lot more.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Yeah, such an interesting topic. Let's talk about charm pricing, which I think will be even more I know that some of my listeners are service based businesses, but I would say probably like two thirds ish, at least are product based businesses. So I think charm pricing is probably going to be even more relevant to them. So I would love it. Could you explain what that is and provide some guidance there?

Amie Finlayson  

Yes. So a bit about what it is, it's a psychological pricing tactic. That's, I guess, to put it more simply, it's when you see a seven or a nine, or even a five at the end of a price instead of a round number. So say, the price is actually $100, it would be 97, 98, 90, 95, whatever that may be, the seven is meant to be the one that is more like a psychological, I guess, tactic that actually influences people. But the left digit is the one below the real price. And it's discounted by a few dollars to really make the price appear cheaper than it is. And it's seen as something that manipulates because it makes the offer or the product appear less expensive. But I just think this conversation is so nuanced. 

Like, my advice isn't to just change your or your pricing to round numbers. I think that is just crazy that would be like a blanket statement of an entire industry and even other industries. But it is something to think about the why of using it. And if it is something that aligns with your business, like for me, I do use it in my business. And it's not something that I think is the most unethical, but I also think people should really think about it as well, like, for a lot of people, there are reasons to use it, because it's common in your industry. And it does help influence decision in a way that is potentially not that harmful. But I think that it is something that if it makes sense to you go for it. And it's just a conversation that needs to be had like why why do people use it, I think is the question that we need to be asking.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I think that's such a good point. The important part is that you actually make a thoughtful decision about this and don't just say, Okay, I'm gonna price this macros at 197 instead of 200. So that I can trick people like, just actually going through the process of thinking through, why are you making these pricing decisions like is that what's kind and fair to everyone? Much just we're not really taught to do so. I think really just putting that intention into it is, is really all we're asking or suggesting.

Amie Finlayson  

And I don't think it's like anyone's using it to get people like to trick people into something being cheaper. I just think it's something like knowing that it is a tactic that is used to convince people or not convince people, but kind of make a price appear less expensive, that's when you kind of got to consider how that actually works in your business.

Lauren Tilden  

So then, okay, so I feel like we have had such a great conversation so far around some of the different tactics that might be that people just might want to think through a little more carefully than we have been taught to think through. So if someone is here listening and feeling like okay, like, I'm inspired, I really want to make sure that I'm doing marketing that is a gonna lead to sales, but be like respectful and kind to all parties. Yeah. So how do we make a plan that is ethical and mindful? 

Amie Finlayson  

I think the, I mean, the key word here is just like being mindful, like even thinking about it is kind of the first step to acknowledging things that you're possibly doing that could be harmful, or just don't align with your values. I think if you first approach it from your own set of values, having brand values, like a brand strategy is so important to actually everything in your business being, I guess, ethical and sustainable and profitable, like really understanding your brand, and who the people you're you are trying to serve ah, before you actually go and think about these tactics. 

So I think you really need to get strategic about what matters to you and the long term vision of what you're creating, because that will influence your day to day, or your month to month or your quarters or, or the year and everything that you want to do in terms of a marketing plan. And whether you do that as a campaign, or launch based or it's the content that you're creating every single day and the way you're speaking to your clients and your customers, or your Instagram community. 

And I think you just, there's four things that I always look at in terms of my own marketing and when I'm talking to other people about making them marketing more mindful. And it's really thinking about first your community and who If the people are that you're trying to serve, or you're trying to reach or you want to impact with your products or your services or your programs, and then it's the sales process, I think is one of the most important ways that I mean, it's how we make money. And if your sales process is something that doesn't feel good to you or to the customer, or you're continually getting people into your business, that are potentially causing you problems, or don't make you feel good, or they don't feel good, then it's something that is not aligned. And that's something that you need to really fix in your marketing plan and your sales process. 

And then storytelling is really important, the stories that you're telling and the way that you're influencing people through the kind of the illusion or the guise of how you put information or stories out into the world, it's going to influence people to make decisions. And you want to do that in a way that is transparent and authentic. And isn't just a rags to riches story. It's something where you're actually able to make a connection, and one that is, I guess, really authentic. And then again, the last one, your pricing, which we've touched on in this like thinking about your payment plans, charm pricing, just thinking about the way that you position and package, your products and your services, that's going to be really important to your overall ethical marketing plan as well.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing, I love this, I will be taking great notes on this for the show notes. So definitely check out the show notes for that summary. We're gonna start to transition into some of the wrap up questions. But first, I would love to just know a little bit more about your business. I hear you talk a lot about Airtable and like systems. But yeah, what is kind of the bulk of the work that you do for your clients? And are there any kind of like, key themes there that you want, that would be helpful to share? 

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, so as I mentioned earlier, I'm mainly and I think it's pretty obvious and all the things I talk about, but I mainly work with service providers, and course creators and other marketers. And everything is mainly around marketing automation, and setting up your offers. And it's all tied to my vision and my mission. Because even though I talk about ethical marketing a lot, the way that I'm actually able to do that is by helping people with their strategy and their workflows, and helping them to really create and build a sustainable online business. And I do that through coaching through consulting. And I obviously am very obsessed with marketing tools that help people and not just marketing tools, business operations, and project management tools that actually help people to avoid burnout and reduce overwhelm and not have that information overload that we all have as service providers and entrepreneurs in general, and get people to a point in their business where they've structured it in a way that feels really good. I'm really big on structure, from structuring your own knowledge and your own offers, and thinking about your pricing. And then really putting that into a marketing plan or a strategic plan that or a business plan where you're able to actually implement that and see real lasting change in your online business.

Lauren Tilden  

Love, love, love. I'm always like just so inspired by all the really organized systems people, like I watch your Instagram, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, so organized systems.

Amie Finlayson  

I swear it wasn't always like this. I just think it really allows you to work less and focus more and actually have a vision and a plan for your business that you can see. From years to come. I think that's so motivating rather than just like being stuck on the daily tasks.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, well, I'd actually love to just ask you about that a little bit. I know you work, not like the normal 40 Hour Workweek. What is your work schedule? And how does how do systems make that possible?

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, so I always say it's unconventional, but I think with online business, everyone kind of works in different ways. Well, that's kind of my hope. Because I think, for me, especially like, with the way that I work and the way my motivation and my energy levels, like I can't work a nine to 5, 40 hour week because for me that just I know I won't be productive. I'll be wasting my time. And it just doesn't sound fun to me. But then when I tell people I kind of work seven days they're like, that sounds horrible. And I'm like fine, but I I don't normally work a seven or eight hour day. I'll work a few hours here and there, mainly, I will take the middle of the day off, like I love going on a walk or a hike or having a really long lunch. That stuff that brings me joy. 

But I'm also able to do it because I don't have kids. And I'm pretty flexible in the way that I'm able to do things, I don't have a lot of commitments that require me not to work during set hours. So it's possible for me. And the way that I'm able to do it is via how I plan everything out and how it ties into my long term vision. Like everything that I do in my business, day to day that I do week to week that I do every month, every quarter is moving me closer towards my vision, like a vision is obviously something that you create that might never come to life, but your mission every day leads you closer towards that. And having that all mapped out in terms of the things that you do, I think is just really powerful. And I think it's what a lot of online business owners don't have, because they just get bogged down in kind of getting up and feeling guilty. Like, I've got to start work at 9am, I got to get all of these tests done in this specific timeframe. And I just think it's a really interesting conversation to see all the different ways that we can work and that the 40 hour workweek doesn't actually work for a lot of people.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love that point. I know, for me, like coming from a corporate background. I just like feel like I should be working from nine to five. And I don't like I don't most of the time have any like, I don't know, sometimes I have meetings, I have Clubhouse rooms, I have things. But a lot of times I'm just sitting there maybe not being that productive, because I feel like I should be like sitting at my computer. I love the just the encouragement to kind of reevaluate that and like, Okay, this is the stuff that has to get done for me to achieve my goal. Like how can I fit this into my life as a whole, not like the hours between nine to five, five days a week. So such a great reminder for everyone. What is one business you admire and why?

Amie Finlayson  

So, I mean, I admire so many people in marketing and online business. And I really admire women who are advancing a mission that guides them in everything that they do, because I want to do that as well. And I guess I, I really, really love Rachael Rogers, and her podcast Hello Seven is one I listen to, all the time, I go back to episodes I've listened to before, she's just so badass and inspiring. And it's yeah, I just really love her work. And then I guess, in terms of a whole, like, I'm really inspired by a lot of my own clients and people in my community, not even people that have purchased from me, but people who are inspired to do things differently, and to do things so that they can impact more people in really positive ways.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that. I'm glad you brought up Rachael Rogers, she has not come up yet on this podcast. So I'm really excited that she has now and I can I can link to her in the notes. And everyone's gonna love her too. So my recommendation, what is a book that you would recommend?

Amie Finlayson  

So I found this really hard, because I always either listen to podcasts, or I am someone who reads a lot of fiction books. I don't always sit down with a business book anymore. But I have been reading the Infinite Game by Simon Sinek, who he's behind, like, Start with Why and all of those type of books. But reading this book is just like, my philosophy on business really, like I use the word infinite in one of my programs, because I just see online business as there being so much possibility to do good in your own life. And to really like, respect your own energy and the way that you feel, and the way that you want to make money. 

But then there's so much good you can do in the world with your business. And I feel like in this book, he really is talking about how having this infinite mindset and really thinking about your business is something that helps people and does so in even beyond you is really exciting to me, and it's kind of everything that I feel and I've haven't finished the whole book, but I dive into it a few pages every few days, and it's just so inspiring. I definitely recommend.

Lauren Tilden  

Cool. I haven't even heard of that one. I know Simon Sinek. But I did not know this book. 

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, it's a it's a new one.

Lauren Tilden  

Cool. You mentioned you've talked a few times about sort of make doing good in the world and making a positive impact. How do you like what does that look like for you in your business? How do you approach making the world a better place? through your work.

Amie Finlayson  

I think for me, like the impact that I make day to day is going to be in the online business industry. And it's going to be around the people that I serve and the people that consume my content. And I guess everything that I do, I want to advance my mission, like helping people with their vision, that obviously is a knock on effect and does good, helping people with their energy and sustaining that energy via strategy and processes and things that they may not have set up in their business things that they can automate. And then obviously, like growing their income, that's something that is important to me, especially like, I mainly serve women in my community. And having that kind of possibility to really do more and do more with your money is something that, I think and I definitely hope that it is something that I do in terms of impacting my own clients and community.

Lauren Tilden  

For sure. Amazing. Thank you so much. Where can people find you and connect with you and learn more about your work?

Amie Finlayson  

I am on Instagram. So at @AmieFinlayson, and my DMs are open, definitely anyone who's listening. I would love to hear from you. And then Amiefinlayson.com. Otherwise, the first season of my podcast, Good Authority is also there for you to listen, there's going to be a second season, but we're working on. But yeah, that's where you can find me. I'm definitely active on Instagram, if anyone wants to hit me up.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. Well, you tell people a little bit about your podcast before we wrap up.

Amie Finlayson  

Yeah, of course. So, Good Authority is a kind of something that I created so that I was able to express my own thoughts and start having conversations that are critical in terms of marketing, like, for a really long time being a marketer and being on Instagram for so long. Like I've been a business on Instagram for like, this is my fifth year, I felt like we weren't, especially like in communities where there's mainly women, we weren't having the conversations that were critical. Like they're not personal, they're critical. And were able to all be better as a result. So my podcast has an edge of like mindful marketing, and then helping you to actually make your online business something that is sustainable and profitable, and something that you feel really good about and impacts people in a positive way.

Lauren Tilden  

Love, love, love. Thank you so much, Amie, for coming on here and for kind of being here while I process all of this all of these topics around mindful marketing and ethical marketing. And yeah, I think I my big takeaway is really just like, the important thing is to be thinking through the intention behind everything you do in your business in your marketing, and you know, questioning things if they kind of rubbed you the wrong way a little bit. 

Yeah, just because someone is telling you this is how to do marketing does not mean that that's what's right for you. So, so good. Thank you so much. 

Amie Finlayson  

Thank you. 

Lauren Tilden  

Okay, such a great episode. I am so so grateful to Amie for joining me for this important conversation. One of my key takeaways from this chat is one of my key takeaways from this episode is a theme that has come up in so many episodes already. And that is the role of intentionality. For the most part, all we need to do to make sure that our marketing is mindful and aligned with us is to get intentional. Get intentional about our values get intentional about how our marketing messaging might impact others. Get intentional about how we want to make people feel and get intentional about how our marketing feels to us. 

Amie emphasizes that there's no one size fits all answer to the question of what is ethical marketing. It's really a matter of getting clear on what matters most to you and making sure that your marketing practices are in alignment with that without harming others. If this topic is up your alley, I would definitely suggest you go check out Amie's podcast Good Authority, it will be linked in the show notes. I know Amie and I would both love to connect with you on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening to this episode and tag us both. Amy is at @AmieFinlayson, I'm at @LaurenTilden. Everything mentioned in this episode can be found on the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/66 

If this is your first time tuning in and you're interested in learning more about what I do, check out The Good Business free Facebook community for this podcast at makinggoodpodcast.com/community Check out how I can help you with your small business marketing at Laurentilden.co.  My plant inspired greeting cards vinyl stickers and art prints at goodsheila.com and Seattle retail shop station seven at station7seattle.com. One final thing we talked a lot about values in this episode. If you need help getting clear on your business values, I have an awesome free workbook that can walk you through the process. Download it at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness. Thank you for being here and for focusing on making a difference of your small business. Talk to you next time.

62: The Magic of Pinterest for Small Business with Renee Dick

62: The Magic of Pinterest for Small Business with Renee Dick

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 62. 

Today's episode is all about your new marketing secret weapon Pinterest. Pinterest is a platform that I have recently discovered is very underrated by marketers and small business owners. And I'm super excited to bring you this conversation with a Pinterest expert Renee Dick of My girlfriend, Renee. But before we jump into the goodness of Pinterest, here are three quick updates. 

First is if you've noticed that I've been a little quiet on Instagram and other places on the internet that I normally hang out, it is because as of April 20, I am a parent, I am loving getting to know our little guy, Casey James and slowly jumping back into taking care of my other baby work. If you're interested in details on Casey's arrival and how I'm now approaching business as a parent, check out episode 61. 

Second, I have a new resource for you that I think you're going to love. I put together a content creation guide that walks you through a process to help you figure out what to talk about in your marketing, and it will help you generate a lot of really good content ideas on demand. You can find this guide for free at makinggoodpodcast.com/content .

And finally, I really want to invite you to the Facebook community for this podcast. It is called The Good Business community and it has been such a fun spot to hang out. For community, accountability, inspiration and good conversation. You can join at makinggoodpodcasts.com/community 

Okay with that, let's talk about today's episode with Renee. Renee Dick is the creator and founder of Fresh Perspective Community which provides tools, support and resources to serve female small business owners. Renee also has a Pinterest course for small business owners to learn how to explode their traffic using the power of Pinterest, and she is the co host of The Dreams to Plans podcast. If you're anything like me, maybe you thought that Pinterest was something you can use to find interior design inspiration or to plan your wedding. But you may not have thought too much about how Pinterest can generate sales for your business. Well, I am now convinced on the power of Pinterest and I'm so excited to share this interview with a serious Pro. 

In our conversation we talked about why small businesses should be using Pinterest. Why you should think of Pinterest more as a search engine than a social media network. Where to start with your business Pinterest account. What parts of your Pinterest profile to optimize and how, why keywords matter and how to find the best ones for your business. Rene's weekly Pinterest routine, how to repurpose your content across platforms, the mindset to approach Pinterest with and so much more. There is seriously gold in this episode, feel free to take notes or just check out the show notes at makinggoodpodcast.com/62. I just want to make a quick note also that for some reason, my audio is not awesome in this conversation. But Renee is great. So I apologize for that in advance. But I know you're going to enjoy it anyway. Without further ado, here is our conversation. Renee, welcome to the podcasts.

Renee Dick  

Hi, I'm so excited to be here.

Lauren Tilden  

Thank you, I'm so excited that you're here, we are going to be diving into a topic that is kind of a new one. For me. It is Pinterest. So I use Pinterest as a consumer, I use it for haircuts and for like home decor stuff. But I have really not been very thoughtful about how I use it for my business, which I know there's so much opportunity, particularly as a product based business. So this is gonna be a great conversation. I know everyone's gonna get so much out of it. But before we kind of dig into the weeds, I would love if you could introduce yourself and your business and maybe a little bit of backstory about how you got to where you are now.

Renee Dick  

Yeah, so I'm your girlfriend, Renee, the girlfriend you never thought you needed in your small business. I swear that is like my tagline because once people meet me, they're like, hey, where have you been in the rest of like my whole life. I was a hairstylist and then I was a spray tan technician and ended up being a stay at home mom after I had my son, did not like it. So it was really hard for me. I started getting anxiety. I was like such a people person. And I ended up losing that. 

So a couple years later, my husband was like you need to start a blog to do something for yourself. And I was like homeboy, I'm not that cool. Like, I don't know how to do that. I don't even own a computer. I don't even know anything. And I ended up going to a women and business conference where that day my life completely changed and I ended up buying my domain, started my blog all that night. And slowly but surely in the process. I met with so many other business owners that were asking me how the heck are you doing this? All of these moms were like How are you doing this so fast? How are you building website? I know you, you went from hairstylist, stay at home mom to this. And my content followed, my business grew. And now I have a, I have a business called The Fresh Perspective community. It's an online community for small business owners where we focus on support tools, education, and knowledge to grow your business. And my main focus is Pinterest. Because like I said, I started my blog, and I thought everybody was going to come and read it, and nobody did. So that's where I found Pinterest. And that's where the love of Pinterest started.

Lauren Tilden  

Love that. Yeah, there's the adage, like, build it, and they will come. And that is just so not true. As anyone was like 100% new figures out. I think we kind of went I mean, at least I speak for myself, when I started the business, I really felt like the hard part was, I mean, in some ways, it was like the decision to do it. And like the setting up the products and you know, all the logistics, but marketing is actually not easy. And I have a background in marketing. And I still something that I mean, everyone has to kind of constantly be upping their game. 

Renee Dick  

Ever changing. So it's like by the time you nail something down, there's something else to learn.

Lauren Tilden  

Totally, totally. Yeah. So Pinterest. So let's just start off really kind of top level. Why should people be considering using Pinterest for their business?

Renee Dick  

So like I said, I started my blog. And I was like, I built this, I spent all this time, my content's amazing. Come and read it. And nobody came. And I was like, Okay, what am I missing here. So you think about it. When you're on Instagram, it's like stumble upon content. When people are on Instagram, they're bored. They're in line at Target, it's commercial, it's, you know, people are just scrolling to get some sort of entertainment. So if you're trying to promote a blog post or a product, you're essentially trying to get them to click off of the platform to go to your platform, if that makes sense. And with Pinterest, people are there to search for something. 

So by going to Pinterest, you have a problem in mind, like you said, you were using Pinterest for short haircut ideas, or home decor or baby shower ideas or recipes, you're going to actually find an answer to your problem. So as small business owners, we tend to put all of our content on social media like Instagram. And it's lessening the chances of getting found where if you just put it on Pinterest take one more extra step, you can reach an entirely new, warm, targeted audience for free.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. And one thing that you are saying, which I would love for you to go into a little bit more, more deeply is this idea that although Pinterest kind of gets put in the category of like a social media platform, it's actually more of a search engine. Could you explain thata little bit so that people can kind of get their mind around thinking about it a little bit differently than they would something like Instagram or Facebook.

Renee Dick  

Yeah. And it's super common. People always think like, oh, it's just another social media platform. But if you really think about it, it's not, it's a visual search engine. I call it like the women's search engines because every single girl you know is on Pinterest. 

It's a visual search engine, we go to get inspiration, we go to get ideas, we go to search for things. Think about when you go to Pinterest, you open the app, what do you do, you go to the search bar, and you type in some sort of question or key word, kinda like you do on Google and YouTube, then Pinterest goes to work sending you more ideas along those lines. So it's your job as a small business owner, to be the person that is the answer to their problems that your pins come up so they can get introduced to you. And then all of a sudden you build a relationship with them.

Lauren Tilden  

So smart, so smart. Okay, so let's say that we have in our our first five months of this conversation convinced people that they want to kind of take Pinterest seriously. Where should someone start? Who has no Pinterest business account? Or has really done nothing with Pinterest for their business? Where would you suggest that they start?

Renee Dick  

So, I like to say whatever you can manage to do that. So my, the easiest thing that I can do, because I'm running, you know, you have like Instagram and Facebook and YouTube and all of these accounts. My advice is just to switch over your personal, your personal Pinterest account over to a business account. It's super easy, you just flip it over. And then you can claim your websites. And you can still use it for personal reasons, because you can create secret boards. So people will say like, I want to still have my private life on Pinterest, and then I also want to have a business, but I'm like, Hey, business goes first. We're in here to make money right? So I always think about I'm like, I don't go to Instagram for personal reasons. I don't go to anything anymore for personal reasons. I'm in there to work and grow my business. 

So when I create a Pinterest account, I want it to be a business account so that I use it with a purpose instead of just like for personal reasons. So my advice is switch over to a business account. And keep your Pinterest boards that you like or your home decor, your hair cut ideas, keep those separate so you still have them but go with a strategy in mind. And another bonus of having a Pinterest business account is you can see your Analytics, you can see what pins are performing, what your content is doing, and how you can improve and what to double down on. And it's free. So I would say 100%, do a business account, and just keep your board secret versus having two separate accounts.

Lauren Tilden  

Okay, cool. So we have our business account, let's kind of go at this from a couple of different angles, because I would say the majority of listeners are product based businesses, but I do also have some service based business. So photographers or graphic designers. For me, I think, when I'm thinking they're like, how to use Pinterest for business, I have an easier time thinking about how I would use it as a service based business because I'd write a blog about like, you know, here's how to do Instagram marketing. And then I don't know, it's a little more obvious to me how that would directly lead to like, people following me and trusting me and building authority. Can you talk through a little bit how your approach might differ depending on what kind of business you have?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, for sure. And I always say this, like, I think we've all kind of learned this, especially with Instagram getting so popular, is value always wins, right? No matter if you're a service based business or a product based business, it's not enough to just show your products where I always tell people that I'm like, you can't just put all your products on Instagram, and expect people to purchase same with Pinterest, you have to give something else the world is just too competitive. So I always tell people, whether you're a service based business, whether you're a product based business, find a way to provide value, whether that is showing how to use your product, what problem your product serves, or solves. And behind the scenes, whatever you can do. And I always say I always encourage product based businesses as well as service based businesses to have a blog, because it's free to have if you just go through like Wix, or if it isn't, like I use Squarespace, you can get it for like 20 bucks a month. And you take that content because people are so you know, ingrained to put everything on social media that you don't own. So by putting it on your blog, you can just house your stuff. And then it also provides value to a completely different audience and you build that know, like and trust factor that we all need.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. So we have our Pinterest business account. And then we've started to think about creating different blog posts of topics that would be interesting that we can pin on Pinterest. I know that keywords are a really big deal. When it comes to Pinterest, can you talk a little bit about why keywords matter and maybe how to find the keywords that would be best suited for being found and being discovered by potential customers?

Renee Dick  

Yes, keywords are mandatory. So first, let's park on where they need to be. So we already talked about setting up your business account, there's a couple places that you need to have optimized on your business profile. So you need to have your title. So your name, my name is My girlfriend's Renee on Pinterest and then next to it kind of like Instagram, you have that little extra little piece that you can put what it is you do. So if you're a business coach, you would write my girlfriend, Renee business coach, or if you're a product based business, it'd be my girlfriend, Renee stationery company, or whatever it is. So use that spot to type in what you do or what your product is or what your services or whatever keyword you are known for, because people can actually search people on Pinterest. So you want to make sure your profile is coming up. 

Next you have your profile description, which is like your bio. And it's the same as Instagram, you want to tell them in five minutes or less, or five seconds, sorry, five minutes was like a really long time, five seconds or less of what they can expect from your content using keywords. And then the same thing goes with your boards, your board titles, and then your pins, right, those are where all the keywords are going to go. So you can tell these are really important things to know. 

So with keywords, there's a couple of ways that you can find them, you can go to the Pinterest search bar. And if you type in any type of word that relates to your business, or your content or your product, Pinterest will go in and they will they will suggest other sentences that people are searching. So say you type in a 2021 planner, they're going to tie it they're going to show you what other people are searching as far as terms. So what I do is I take note it usually take a picture or a write a Google doc of all of those sentences. So it'd be like 21 or 2021, daily planner, 2021 planner aesthetic, or how to get organized with a planner, paper planner, all these things. And I'm taking note, then you can go one step further. Pinterest just released this a couple months back. It's called Pinterest trends. You can find it@trends.pinterest.com and it's actually just a service provided by Pinterest or you can go to your analytics board and click trends. And what this does is you type in a word and then Pinterest will go and show you the past searches and how popular it is throughout the year. So say it's like a perfect example would be workout ideas or goal setting is really huge in the month of January. So Pinterest will show you on a graph, the traction that gets in January. 

So now you know, Pinterest prefers that in January, because that's what people are searching, then underneath, it also gives you extra words that people are searching as well. So if people type in goal setting, on the little on Pinterest trends underneath, it'll give you suggested words like goal setting for businesses or goal setting for, you know, new body or whatever they want to say. And then that way you can use that data. And you can create new pins and content for that as far as like blogs or your pins, or whatever it is. So it just gets you aware of what people are searching a perfect example. For a product based business, my friend has a fitness accessory company. And so she would say, you know, booty workout or leg workout and lower body workout. And we were like, Okay, let's figure out which one's going to rank the highest. So lower body workout and leg workout, pretty similar. But when we went to trends, leg workout performed better. So now we know when we connect or create our content, we know to put in leg workout versus lower body workout. Does that make sense?

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, totally. And you're, you're identifying which one performs better through Pinterest trends

Renee Dick  

Correct, because Pinterest will tell you, in some stuff isn't going to come up because it's still collecting data. Like I said, it's pretty new. So some stuff will not come up. And that just means that they just don't have enough data to show you. So what you can do is just go to the Pinterest search bar, and then type in if people are searching it, and look at the content. So you know how when you go to Pinterest, you type in something, and then auto populates all of these pins. So you can see what type of pins are coming up. And if that's in your content in your wheelhouse. And you're like, hey, this is where I want my pin to show up, then use that keyword. But if you type in something, and then all of this content comes up, and it doesn't really relate to your content. Now, you know, don't really use that word. Let's find something that works better.

Lauren Tilden  

So are there other places that we should be looking at identifying keywords? Or would you suggest Pinterest is really where people should go for that?

Renee Dick  

Pinterest is just where I start. You can do Google Analytics, another one that I just started using, it's called answerthepublic.com. And that one, you can type in any search term or keyword or anything that you want to search. And it will give you a whole selection chart of who, what, when, where, why can all using those search terms. So say you would type in workout, It would say who, what, when, where, why. And it's all the questions people are searching in that term. And that's a really good one to have, you can download that and use that when you're creating content.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. So let's say we've taken your advice, we have set up our blog. And we have a new blog post about let's say like behind the scenes of how I create a greeting card. What would you do next? So I have this blog post, obviously, we want to create some pins for it. But what are the steps that you would take for that.

Renee Dick  

So I try to make images on my blog. A lot of people do this. It's not mandatory, but you create pins on your blog. So pinnable images, and then you have that little Pinterest Share button embedded into your blog or your website so that people can pin directly from your website. It's not mandatory, but like I said, it's like it's free, why not. So you can have that. And what I do is I like to create five pins per blog post. So if I have a new blog post that's just published, I go in and I create five pins for that blog post, they could be completely different, or they can be completely the same just switched out with images. 

And then you can also type in like, if you have you know, usually if you're doing a full on blog post, you have paragraphs in your blog post, right, like you have an intro and then you have like a couple of different tips or meat and potatoes that you want to do. So you can also create five pins from those paragraphs using the content of each paragraph. So if you have a pin that saying you know behind the scenes of going to the stationery card, or you want to type in something different, like if you're using what could be an example, I don't do stationery. So it would be like if you want to do the behind the scenes of the tools you need or something like that, or where do you get them printed, you can create pins with that type of tagline or text overlay to see what's going to perform better. And you can kind of split tests on an AB so you can do a pin that has just text that says behind the scenes of me creating a stationary card and then you have a video of you actually doing it. And then you also have a picture of the actual finished product. And you can compare those all leading back to that same blog post and compare them next to each other and see what your what contents are resonating with your customer.

Lauren Tilden  

So it's so strategic. It's like oh, it's funny because I can really we all use Pinterest. Well, not all but many of us use Pinterest just kind of like for fun and to think that

Renee Dick  

Now you you can't go back. It's like when that first hit me like that realization that you just said right now is like when I saw that I was like, what?! This whole time like this is what  Pinterest is like, you just think it's just pins right? You don't put the connection together. You're just like this is what Pinterest does. It's just images, you know, you don't realize these are all little people inside of it like putting their content for you to find, it's mind blowing.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. Yeah, the stuff that you're landing on, it's because someone really, like put some effort into it. So yes, exactly. That's funny.  Do you have any tips on like pin design? So I know for me, like when I'm using Pinterest, obviously what it looks like that is making an impact on whether or not I click more and like even more, so whether I click through outside of Pinterest to go to the link. Do you have any advice on that?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, so go, go in it with the mind of at first, like when you're first starting out, go with the mind of what appeals to you, right. So when you go to Pinterest, take note of what pins are popping out on the screen to you. It could be, you know, calm, cool modern design. Or if you're like me, it's very pink and loud and vibrant. I'm more inclined to pick that. And then what's cool with Pinterest is you can do video, and you can do animated pins. And you can do so many different styles. So take advantage of the tools that Canva provides. Everybody uses canva.com to create your pins, take advantage of the tools that they're providing, and test everything like I used to do pinch pictures of me back when I was like just started. And then I started doing stock photos, and my stock photo pins crushed it compared to the photos of me in there. 

Now that I have like professional images, I have an actual photographer, now I can use pictures of me and they perform very well. But using stock photos usually will give you a better return on clicks and saves than your regular images unless you have really good like professional clear images. But I would say always split test, do two different things. Do swirly font fun font, I would do a very minimal and very serious and then bright colors, some like mellow colors. It's all a test and what works for my audience isn't going to work for your audience. So make sure you're testing consistently and figuring out what is getting the best results.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. So we know that we're going to add a new pin or her many new pins with each new blog post or piece of content that we're putting out there. What else should we be doing? Like, let's say I'm releasing only one blog post a week. Is there more that we should have going in terms of like our Pinterest activity?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, you can do so a lot of things that you can do is you can grow your email list with Pinterest. So say you have a product based business and you share a lot of your tools and resources that you use to run your business, you can put that into a pin or a blog post. And you can go ahead and grow your email list. A perfect example is I have this pin or this blog post that I created forever ago. And it was a cute packaging ideas. And it kept going crazy. I don't know why this pin just took off. So I kept recreating more pins, just with different images, different wording, different stuff like that. And it lead back to my packaging supply lists like where I get my poly mailers, my tissue, all of that. And one of my friends this was about four months ago, one of my friends said hey, you should probably make this like a PDF. So I took the the list the packaging list and I created a PDF and you have to put your email in to get the download. Then I put that on my blog. So then after three or four months, I kid you not I think now that we're in this month, it's four, it has over 1000 people on that list, just that list alone, I have an exclusive list on my website for that. And it is grown to 1000 people just off that one blog post. So it's taking it and strategically thinking how can you make it better? How can you make this work for your business, but still provide value. And you can also link to your Instagram, you can link to a YouTube, you can link to literally anything on Pinterest. 

So if you even have product based businesses, you can link to, you know your brand new products, you can link to your website, you can link to anything you want. So don't just think you have to link back to a blog and come up with all this crazy content. Get creative. If you want to grow your Instagram, go ahead and link a Instagram post that you did that's valuable or a video or something interesting your reel or your Tik Tok or whatever you want, and link back to your Instagram so they can click there if you want to diversify your content.

Lauren Tilden  

Love that. This is amazing. So what in terms of like on a weekly basis? What is your routine when it comes to Pinterest? Like are you doing any engaging like pinning other people's things? Or is it mostly like making sure to add new stuff of your own? Do you ever add the same pins that you've already added? How do you kind of approach maintenance? 

Renee Dick  

Okay, so Pinterest is kind of like Instagram where they're constantly changing, right? They're constantly evolving. What worked like two months ago doesn't work anymore. So Pinterest used to be a group board Tailwind tribes, the group or platform. 

Now Pinterest is showing that they prefer fresh content. They want fresh pins for their users to find. So if you were to create and repin it to multiple boards, it doesn't get as much traction as if you were to just do one fresh pin, it'll go farther. So what I do is I go in with five pins a day, Monday through Friday. So that's 25 pins of my content every single week. So what I do is I take a Tuesday night, usually Tuesdays, like my pin day, and I create my 25 graphics. And then I schedule them all in Pinterest scheduling so I don't even use Tailwind anymore. And I do that, it's free. And I scheduled them for the week, and then I'm done with Pinterest for the week. 

Pinterest, you don't have to continually, you know, engage with other people. It's more of a search engine, right? It's not a social media platform. So the only reason that you're pinning other people's content is if you find it valuable. But remember, we're using Pinterest to grow our business, our brand and our traffic. So if you are pinning other people's content that doesn't really serve you in the end, if you find it valuable, sure, nothing wrong with that, I usually say pin 80 to 90% your content and about 10 to 20% other people's. And like you said, if you were only starting out and you have like maybe five blog posts, then yeah, I would pin other people's content just to get your, you know, your traction built up, get your get in the routine of actually utilizing Pinterest. But it's not necessary to pin other people's content, it helps with vanity metrics. But it doesn't help you in the end. So your monthly views is what's going to go up when you start pinning other people's content. But it doesn't increase your link clicks or your email address. So I'd like to steer people away from that.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, that's such a good point about kind of having a really strong intention behind why you're using it like I think I've heard other people say about Pinterest that how many followers you have, like really doesn't matter on Pinterest. Not about that at all. And we say that about Instagram too. But like it matters a little bit more for like credibility and authority on other platforms on Pinterest, it seems like it's totally irrelevant. If you're being smart, and you're creating good content that people want, and they're gonna click through. That's really what matters.

Renee Dick  

Having followers I mean, they're more if people follow you, and they follow your boards, obviously, when you upload something new, they're going to be the first ones to see it. And then if they're getting a lot of traction on it, it's gonna get pushed farther in the algorithm, right? Same with Instagram, but it's not your end all be all, your end all be all is results. Same with Instagram, if you have 1000 people that are just creeping in the bushes, that doesn't translate to money in your wallet, right? I go deep, not wide, I'd rather have 5000 people that I love and know me and engage on a daily basis that have 10,000 that are just casually scrolling. So I always say, focus on what is moving the needle forward, if followers are there, and that's right for you. And you need that for credibility, cool. Focus on that. But I always say focus on what's moving the needle forward, you want to have your, your pin clicks, and your links are in your saves is going to be your end all be all, don't let the vanity metrics fool you.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. Great point. So you said every week you do about 25 pins, correct? What are these pins? are they like past blog posts that you're like, obviously, you're not releasing 25 New pieces of content every five minutes.

Renee Dick  

So I have a routine of I double down on this is where consistency and long term and paying attention to your analytics comes into play. So like I said, that packaging pin does very well. So I continue to create pins promoting back to that blog post right so that I can increase that email list. I also have a podcast that I release every single Tuesday. So I always post my graphics and then I post pins leading back to that podcast episode. And then I also have a live every single week that I do on Instagram. And then I post my video there. So it's constantly repurposing the content that I'm creating for other platforms and turning them into Pinterest. But it's not necessarily coming up with all this content, right? So like, I go live on Instagram, I download the video. And then I upload it into my blog and I create pins for that blog post. Even though I'm not really creating all new content, like I didn't do an Instagram story, and then I did a blog video and then I did a YouTube video. It's just taking one piece of content and then sprinkling it everywhere and playing by that platform's rules. Does that make sense?

Lauren Tilden  

Totally. So good. Is there anything more you want to say sort of like logistically about how to use Pinterest before I talk about some of the mindset stuff I know you're really big on?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, I think people just, it's a common mistake that people think that it's like Instagram, right? They're like it's social media. And then they do it for a week and they give up. And with Pinterest. It is long game strategy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it takes a while it can take anywhere from three to six months for you to get traction. I've been at this for over a year consistently over a year, and I'm barely starting to get some traction on some of my pins. So don't beat yourself up. And this is where it leads into mindset. 

But people think like, Oh, I've been doing this for a month, I'm not getting anywhere. And it's like, if you just wait a little bit longer, I guarantee you're gonna get some traction, like trust the process. I know, it's hard, like, I manage multiple Pinterest accounts for my customers. And it's hard, it is hard and right when they think it's not going to work. That's usually when we start to see the needle move. So it's constantly testing, it's constantly working. And it's the same kind of like Facebook ads, you have at least three months to figure out what works, you got to find your groove. So don't beat yourself up. If you know you're doing this for a month, and you're like, Oh, my God, I'm getting nowhere. Just trust the process and keep going. Because guess what, it's free. It's free marketing, like, you don't have to pay for this. So why not take advantage?

Lauren Tilden  

Right? We're just having this conversation on my Facebook group actually about how like, really, I feel like the business owners who succeed quote, unquote, succeed, whatever that looks like for them, are the ones who like really grit it out and like, are willing to sit through these slow periods. And the times where doesn't feel like your efforts are working? Like you really, like pretty much no matter what you're doing, there's gonna be some of that, and it's so easy to just feel discouraged. And oh, well, my effort isn't doing anything anyway, I'm just gonna stop. 

Renee Dick  

You always think somebody else has it easier than you or it's working better for somebody else. And we're all on a different course. We're all on a different path. And it looks different for everybody. There isn't like a book that anybody can follow because everybody's journey is different. Right?

Lauren Tilden  

Totally. So I know that one thing that we've talked a little bit about is repurposing. And so you've said like repurposing your content from other platforms to use for Pinterest? Is that a strategy to apply? Like beyond just Pinterest? And do you have any tips for people to be more efficient and using the content content that they do have?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, I I'm a big believer in repurposing because as a small business owner that has like I literally wear 40 hats, I don't have time to constantly create new content. So what I do is, every time I create content, I go with the mindset of being able to repurpose it. So perfect example, I go live every single Friday on Instagram, I go to Canva, I create my presentation with my little graphics. And I answer small business owner questions. So it could be anything like the live from this week with Clubhouse. Another one was how to engage on Instagram. And then another was, how to invest in story pins, which we need to talk about that, Don't let me forget. And so I create my little graphics. And then what I do is I download the video from Instagram instead of posting it directly to my GTV. I download it and then I cut up the clips into each section. And then what I do is I create blog posts with that one video, say it's a 17 minute live, I go in and I create five different blog posts from all the sections from that. And then I create, I put that on YouTube. And then I put that same video on my blog. And then I create five blogs from that. And then I created on Pinterest and then I turned it into a newsletter because 90% of the people on Instagram aren't seeing it anyways. And then after all of that is said and done. I go in the next week, and I posted on IG TV. So now it's that one video, I used Instagram to host it. And then I platformed it, I put it everywhere. For one. All it did was take a couple of steps with a little bit of strategy. And it didn't cost me anything.

Lauren Tilden  

That is amazing. That is a content machine.

Renee Dick  

That's how my brain works. It's funny because I've I think people think like that. But I guess I just that's just the way my brain works. And a lot of people that I know don't think like that, right? They think they just go up on Instagram. And they're like, Okay, I know I need to take that and make another video and they think they have to have like a film, a videographer, they have to have a video editor, they have to have a fancy camera I do all of this with my iPhone, and Canva. You know what I mean? Like, that's just how my brain works. Same with my podcast, like people think like, and you know this growing a podcast is so hard. And so when you're kind of posting on social media, think about it. You're asking people to get off of social media to go listen to your podcast, right? You can ask them to subscribe, or you can ask them to do things. But realistically, asking people to take action is very hard. So if you can go in and take that podcast graphic that you're putting on Instagram, and go put it on Pinterest, and you have that wav file on that teaser clip that plays automatically in the feed. So I am on a mission right now to grow our podcast. So I take all of these graphics, and I do those wav files that I'm putting on Instagram. And then I put them on Pinterest and we put them on our blog. We have a website for the podcast. So it's like just taking that content and thinking of how many ways can I repurpose this?

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, yeah, I'm inspired I feel like my podcast content is, it's a really good I have to say, and so I'm like, I have grown pretty well so far, but I have not even thought about really SEO which is something I know a little bit about, and Pinterest which I know pretty much nothing about until right now.

Renee Dick  

I mean, its own beast, you know what I mean? It really is, and it's just trying to, you know, figure out the best way to, you know, move the needle forward and what to invest in. And you know what it's okay to admit that it's not your strong suit. I mean, you can't be good at frickin everything, it's really hard to be. So if you don't know how to do SEO, then it's better, you're better off hiring that out, you know what I mean? Don't beat yourself up for that, you know, you're not thinking like that. That's just the way my brain works. Do I have people that helped me? Yes, of course, I have because I have a co host. So it's like, we have, when we also record our podcasts on video as well. And it just makes it so much easier to have content, it's like you're already in the routine of doing. So just take that and think of it a little bit bigger, take a little bit more extra steps. And I guarantee you, your life will be so much easier when it comes to content.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love this. And I really like just want to draw attention to sort of the attitude that you are describing toward content, which is that you don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you don't need to feel like every single piece of content has to be like this huge revelation that you've never said anything like it before. When we talk about branding, one of the core principles of branding is repetition. So actually, you do want to be seen repeating the same kinds of things over and over again. So people are, you know, knowing like Lauren is the person who always talks about using business for the good in the world. So actually, repetition in your social media and your content is really a good thing. And you want to like focus on creating that repetition rather than avoiding it.

Renee Dick  

Oh, I love that you said that. And that's what happened with Pinterest is I started using it for my blog, and it was working. And so when something works, you share it. And that's exactly what I did. Like, it just started to evolve to where I was sharing subconsciously talking about it all the time that I became the authority and every single person if they had a Pinterest question, they're like, that is it. And I did a poll on my Instagram Stories of like, if you were to introduce me to somebody at a party that I wasn't there, what would you say about me? And every single one of them was like small business Pinterest Tips, like every single one. Oh my gosh, and that's when you know.

Lauren Tilden  

Yes, that is so brilliant. Like, I just want to I'm gonna go to this after we hang up. Everyone listening should go do this on your Instagram, put a poll or a question sticker and say, as Renee said, if you were to introduce me at a dinner party, what would you say about me?.

Renee Dick  

I think I heard that on like, I think it was either YouTube or a podcast or book. And somebody had said that, and I was like, Oh, this is genius. Like, how does people see you? Because then you know, if you're all over the damn place, and people are like, they don't really know, then you got to work on being, you know, establishing yourself as authority. And really, you know, deep dive your content. But if you're known, like people saying small business tips, like anybody has a small business, I tell them go see, you got to see my girlfriend, Renee. I know I'm on the right track. That means my brand pillars are solid.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? So good. I just want to make sure we circle back you mentioned Pinterest stories. This is something I've been around, but I know absolutely nothing about tell us about Pinterest stories.

Renee Dick  

Pinterest recently, let this go. And it's still access only you have to ask for access from it. So older accounts, and new accounts are probably gonna have a harder time, but they are rolling it out pretty quick. It's the same as Instagram stories. So when you log into Pinterest on your app, it's going to be the first thing you see at the top, you can click through it. And so what I really love about this is that everybody is in the habit of uploading stories. Now put that in your system to make sure that you're uploading it to Pinterest. So it's not as fun because people aren't engaging on it's not like people can send you a DM I mean, they can but it's not as easy. And you know, social media easy as Instagram is, but it's free. And it's just taking those graphics that you're already creating for your Instagram and putting them on Pinterest stories.

Lauren Tilden  

And can you click, Do they work the same as like a pin where you just click through if you're interested all the way to the link?

Renee Dick  

Yeah, it does it at the end, it takes you to their your actual Pinterest profile. So that's something that I do not like about Pinterest stories is that you can't click the actual like, pin and lead to a link. It's going to take you to a board and then you can click on it that way. So it's not as easy. I'm sure that will be coming in the future. But I think it's more to keep you on the platform.

Lauren Tilden  

Well, is there anything else we want to say about Pinterest before we start to change gears a little bit?

Renee Dick  

No, I think we covered it all. I mean, there's so many resources to I mean, I have literally tons and tons of content on Pinterest. So if you are I have content, like literally Pinterest for beginners all the way to more strategies. So it's just the contents out there, you'll be able to find it pretty easy.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. And if people want to go see your content, specifically, is your blog, the best place? 

Renee Dick  

It's literally like I said, I take that thing and I put it everywhere. So chances are on my blog, it's on Pinterest, It's on YouTube, and it's on my Instagram. And I'm at @mygirlfriendrenee on everything I make it easy for y'all.

Lauren Tilden  

Perfect, perfect. Awesome. Well, I feel like I have a primer on Pinterest like, I just want to go like make some pins.  And I mean, it sounds like kind of the ethos to the way that you approach this is all about just taking action, like, take action now. Evaluate, look at your analytics, but like, you just have to keep taking action. That's how you end up seeing results. And you have to be willing to play the long game. So I really liked that kind of just, I don't know, like not instant results approach.

Renee Dick  

Well, that's just I mean, everybody knows it's not, that's not the case with anything. I wish it was.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about the kind of the topic of this podcast, which is using small business to make a positive impact in the world. When you hear that, what does that mean to you?

Renee Dick  

My whole focus is community and its community over competition, and it's giving back because like I said, we're all on a different journey, right? Your journey isn't going to be my journey. But I have something that I can share with you, that might, you know, change the trajectory of your business. And I think by us creating that sense of community and small business sticking together versus like, you know, not sharing anything, and there's, there's not enough for all of us, there really is. And I think when you choose to give back and you know, take your time to help somebody else, it's going to come back tenfold. 

So I think going into the mindset of always sharing what you know, and I mean, there's balance, we all know that. But sharing what you know, if you can really cut a couple years off somebody's journey and make their life a little bit easier, take advantage and do it. Because that's what that's what grows this small business community. And I think small businesses, especially in 2020, we're like, we got to stick together, you know what I mean? So it was way bigger impact this year. And I think the more you show that you're supporting other small businesses, I think that kind of grows your traction as well.

Lauren Tilden  

Speaking of small businesses, what is one small business that you admire?

Renee Dick  

Oh my gosh, there's so many. Like I'm such like a junkie on like product, because my entire business is my community is small business owners. I have everything from Etsy to product base to CEOs. I have like literally everything but somebody that I really resonate with is Jasmine Star. She has a it's called Social Curators, and she just, she thinks how I think, and I've literally been following her since I started my journey. And the way that she projects herself and just gives back is somebody who I truly admire and somebody who I truly, you know, try to live my life after is like, she just gives so much and it's all with a kind heart. And I always try to remember like, what would Jasmine Starr do, you know what I mean? And I just love the way she carries herself and just gives to so many and empower so many business owners.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, she's awesome, great recommendation. What is one business book recommendation that you have?

Renee Dick  

Oh my gosh, okay, so I have three that I'm obsessed with. And they're all for different points in your journey, okay. So if you are looking to build a community of like your following and turning followers and people into an engaged community, it's called Super Fans by Pat Flynn. It is like the best book on building community and engaging your followers. He is like, the king at this and that book totally breaks it down. It's an easy read. If you are looking to hire somebody, or if you are looking to scale your business, the E Myth is a really good one because it breaks it down into you know, the separation of working on your business versus working in your business. And then The Law of Attraction is good for mindset. So that one I use to, you know, really make sure that my mindset is in the right place that I need to be to tax the day every day.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, anyone who's listened to the show before and knows how big I am on mindset. I feel like you can't put enough energy into getting your mindset right. Okay, so I know you have tons of resources, tons of stuff going on, where can people find you and connect with you online? Maybe tell us a little bit about your podcast, I know you have community like let's just hear all the things.

Renee Dick  

Okay, so I'm at my girlfriend Renee on literally everything I bought all the domains to make it easy. And then we have a podcast called The Dreams to Plans podcast where it's for the creative small business owner where we talk about mindset and branding and you know, customer service and it's really funny because you have like two completely opposite perspectives on business and it's the best thing ever. And then I also have a small business community called The Fresh Perspective where it's usually anywhere from chapter one to chapter you know five, business owner where we can all connect and share our stories. We do monthly zoom calls with topic focus that will educate you on things that you need to know we just had accounting Clubhouse, branding, we had our lawyer come in and make sure you're doing guidelines, right and advertising. So it just all of these, you know, questions that business owners have that we can go ahead and shorten the path between, you know, where you need to go and where you are now. So that's kind of what we do. And then it's also a monthly short subscription. So when you join The Fresh Perspective, you get a monthly shirt delivered to your door every month that I designed, and they're all motivational boss babe theme tees.

Lauren Tilden  

Oh, my gosh, fun. 

Renee Dick  

It's so fun to see. That's kind of how it started was I had the shirts and people were tagging each other on the shirts because they'd be like wearing them in their content. So that's how the community was born. It's so fun. It's so so fun.

Lauren Tilden  

And I love that I love when people kind of mix the digital and physical product worlds. Like I feel like, often they live really separately, but when people are able to kind of mix them effectively. That's really fun. Yep.

Renee Dick  

That's where the magic happens. It's the hardest, but it's definitely it's so fun.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. Well, Rene, thank you so much for this one, like actionable tips, strategy packed episode. This is gonna be, I'm super excited to share this with people. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for your generosity of knowledge and not holding things back. I think you're really practicing what you preach in terms of community over competition. So, so grateful.

Renee Dick  

Yes, my hope is to always just inspire people just to get out of their own way. You know, I mean, we're in this together. So I'm so glad you found value. I'm so happy if anybody has any questions reach out, there's no question that's a dumb question. I mean, it's hard for everybody out here so just reach out. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Lauren Tilden  

Well, it would have been hard to pack much more valuable take action right now content into one episode. Wow, thank you so much, Renee for so freely sharing your Pinterest and small business expertise with us. This is an awesome episode. 

Everything mentioned in the episode can be found at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/62 I know that Renee and I would both love to connect with you on Instagram. Take a screenshot while you're listening to this episode and tag Renee and I both you can find Renee at @mygirlfriendrenee on Instagram, and you can find me at @LaurenTilden. Thank you so much for being here and for focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time.

38: How to Do a ‘Year in Review’

38: How to Do a ‘Year in Review’

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 38.

I know a lot of us are eager to close the book on 2020 and are really hoping 2021 looks different. But BEFORE you do, I would encourage you to do a Year in Review of your business?

A Year in Review is exactly what it sounds like: an exercise of really looking at your last year in business and reviewing how it went -- the good, the not-so-good, and most importantly -- what you learned.

Those of  you with a background of 9 to 5s may be getting flashbacks to performance evaluations, and let me just say here that this is not that. It’s an important opportunity to really step back from business and look at it objectively. It’s a chance to celebrate how much has changed in a year, and find places where things could be EVEN BETTER in the next year. Even the “not so good” parts of a year can be full of important information that can put us on the right track moving forward.

In this super super short and sweet episode, I’m going to walk you through the process I am using this year to do a year in review. It’s a simple list of questions, but sitting down to actually DO this is powerful. Ya gotta take action.

If you would like to download a PDF version of this to walk you through it, head to makinggoodpodcast.com/yearinreview.

Okay, let’s get into it my process for doing a Year in Review.

Make a quick timeline of the year

If you asked me, How was 2020 for your business?

I’d have a hard time answering it without making some notes for myself first. A lot can happen in a year! Which is why, before you go into the questions that I use for the Year in Review, I would suggest that you make a quick outline of events in your business (and the world) to create an overview of the year. 

Don’t overthink it, just jot down some notes, looking at your calendar if it helps.

For example, here are some things I’d write in my outline.

started strong with S7, ramping up workshops and in person events

COVID hit, closed Station 7 in March

launched online shopping in March

launched in May

released new collection in September

discontinued the Good Sheila Weekly 

picked up new stockists in new states for Good Sheila

did VIP with Mindful Social

bought Digital Course Academy

When you’ve refreshed your memory and you have a bit of an “at a glance” look at your year jotted down, it’s time to spend some time journaling on the Year in Review questions.

• What went well?

• What didn’t go well?

• What do I want more of next year?

• What do I want less of next year?

• What am I proud of?

• What did I learn?

As you’re answering these questions, try to think as comprehensively as possible. Yes, think about your business revenue and other quantitative measure of your business’s performance. 

But if I were to guess, I’d say that you probably started a business for reasons aside from just making money. Let’s evaluate those things too. 

Think about things like your work/life balance. How much time you were able to spend with your family? How was your mental health? What did it feel like working in your business? How fulfilling did you find it? When did you have FUN? And, most importantly, what was the overall IMPACT you made?

Okay, to recap them, here are the questions to ask:

• What went well?

• What didn’t go well?

• What do I want more of next year?

• What do I want less of next year?

• What am I proud of?

• What did I learn?

I think you will find going through this process to be super powerful. If you’re like me, you’ll come out of it feeling genuinely proud of myself. Sure, there are always things I could have done better. But a lot can happen in a business in a year. It can seem slow while you’re in it, but when you look back at what happens in a year, it feels pretty good.

If you’ve finished them, and you’re ready to officially finish the chapter of 2020 and start 2021, I have good news for you! In the next episode, episode 39, I’ll be joined by a planning EXPERT and with her guidance we’ll walk through creating a Rock Solid Plan for 2021. Full disclosure -- I have already recorded this episode and it is GREAT. If you like the idea of entering 2021 with a plan that fires you up and will actually get done… don’t miss this one.

Friends. Did you do a Year in Review? LET ME KNOW! I’d love to hear any big takeaways from you.

Check out my Instagram (@makinggoodpodcast) my Year in Review!

 You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/38, and if you’d like the worksheet version of the Year in Review, head to makinggoodpodcast.com/yearinreview.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

40: 6 Principles for Doing Good With Your Small Business

40: 6 Principles for Doing Good With Your Small Business

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 40.

For most of my life, somehow I had the idea that you could either when it came to careers, you basically had two main choices.

1. You could do something good for the world.

2. You could be a business person.

I don’t mean to say that I thought business people were universally bad and wrong. But I really hadn’t thought about the potential for businesses to be instruments of positive change.

In fact, I believe that businesses  -- and specifically small businesses -- are uniquely positioned to make a positive impact on the world. 

When business owners and leaders are thoughtful and make decisions that are good for the world, for their communities, for their people -- and not just good for their revenue numbers, huge change can happen.

Because in business, as long as we’re following the law, we can play by our own rules. We can spend our money and resources on what matters to us. We can make the decisions that are best for the environment. 

I started this podcast to explore this idea of using business as a tool for good. I knew that businesses could make change in the world and I knew that they needed to have a strong foundation in order to do that… but I didn’t have a philosophy around it beyond that.

But the last (nearly 40!) episodes of this podcast have taught me so much. About myself, about small business, about creatives, about community, and I wanted to share some of the key themes and truths that have come up as a result of the work we’ve been doing together on this podcast.

Intention is power.

It’s easy to go through life just following along with what other people are doing, or with what someone tells you to do.

It’s harder to stop, get quiet, and ask yourself the big and sometimes questions about life. What do I care about? What do I want my impact on this world to be? What will my legacy be?

I know this. I spent the first nearly 10 years of my career just trying to climb a ladder but not really thinking too hard about what that ladder was.

But getting intentional about how you’re going to spend your life and about what matters most to you is POWERFUL. I believe that the day you get clear and intentional design your life and business around that is the day that your most important work begins.

Where we spend our money matters

If I could sum up business in a few words, it would be this:

Businesses exist when people buy from them.

This means: where we spend our money MATTERS. If you want more good businesses that do the right thing and genuinely make the world a better place -- you have REAL POWER to make that happen simply by where you spend your money.

To run a business, we buy things. So we have the opportunity to create the world we want to live in simply by where we invest our money.

And, we also have the opportunity to be one of those companies that does the right thing -- that when you spend your money with them, you can feel confident about where that money is going and how it is going to impact the world.

Doing good doesn’t have to cost money

Yes, where we spend our money is super powerful.

But there are so many ways to make an impact that don’t cost money. We can raise awareness for causes we care about. We can be a good boss. We can work hard to make our customers’ days through our customer service. We can create inclusive spaces -- physically and online that make EVERYONE feel welcome and seen and heard. When you’re clear about what you care about, you can infuse this intention into every seemingly small decision your business makes, right down to the stock photo you choose to put on your website or the language you use in your Instagram caption.

Small actions matter.

If you’ve been around here a while, you’ve heard me quote the Aesop from the Lion and the Mouse.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

Don’t fall into the trap of all-or-nothing thinking that I have so often fallen into myself. That if I can’t donate huge sums of money, what’s the point? If I can’t make a huge action, what’s the point in a small one?

But smalls actions matter. Yes because they add up, but also because small actions matter!

For example, I read recently that the cost of building a well in Mozambique is around $8,000, and each well serves 2,000 people. That means that every $4 you donate helps provide access to clean water for one person. $4.

Life is a series of Ripple Effects - you can’t do just one thing.

There is a concept in ecology that my partner told me about once:

“You can’t do just one thing.” It reminds me of the Jane Goodall quote that I share all the time: 

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Everything we do makes an impact, and we can either be thoughtful about what that impact will be, or we can put our heads in the sand and try not to think about it.

I have come to view this fact of life as a responsibility. We all have an impact on the world around us. Our businesses have an impact on the world around us. That much is inevitable. It’s up to us to decide what that impact will be.

I’ve come to view every business decision as an opportunity to create change of some kind with my business, when I make the decision that is in alignment with my values.

The right time is now.

This is the big one, and this has been the hardest one for me personally to implement.

My instinct to feel like I’m super super prepared, overly qualified, and the best I’ll ever be before I start something new.

But when you want everything to be perfect before you do anything… you tend to just not take action.

This is where being clear on the impact you want to make gets super important. Because you can tell yourself… for every day I’m stuck in perfectionism and indecision, that’s another day I’m NOT taking any action toward creating the change I want to create. 

So, to wrap up, here are the 6 principles of doing good through your small business.

1. Intention is power

2. Where we spend our money matters

3. Doing good doesn’t have to cost money

4. Small actions matter

5. Life is a series of Ripple Effects - you can’t do just one thing.

6. The right time is now.

If you’re as fired up as I am about the prospect of making a REAL IMPACT on the world, I have two next steps for you:

1. Download your GOOD BUSINESS WORKBOOK. This is a 17-page free PDF that will help you get clear on what you care about and how your business is going to do something about it.
   You can get it at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness.

2. Join a community of small business people who are on a mission to make a difference. This Facebook group was created specifically for people who want to make change in the world, and build a strong small business to do it.
   To be redirected to the Facebook group, go to makinggoodpodcast.com/community (or just search Good Business Community in Facebook).

Finally, let’s spread the word about how we can use our businesses to make a positive impact! Take a screenshot while you’re listening to this and post it to your Instagram stories or message it directly to a friend who you think would be interested.

You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/40.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

78: How to Approach Content Creation with Taryn Rachelle

78: How to Approach Content Creation with Taryn Rachelle

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden. And this is episode 78. In today's episode, I am joined by my friend Taryn Rachelle, who let me totally pick her brain and dig into the behind the scenes details of how she approaches her content creation. 

This episode is good, and I loved getting this peek behind the curtains of her business. But a couple of quick things before we jump into the episode. 

First, if you struggle with figuring out what to say in your marketing, I have an awesome free resource for you. This free workbook will help you come up with a lot of content ideas, your audience will love to download it again for free head to Laurentilden.co/content. Second, I invite you to join other values driven small business owners for inspiration, accountability and lots of business and marketing strategy. We're currently hosting what I call procrastination sessions every other Friday, where you can join a Zoom co working session with other small business owners to get stuff done. Everything takes place on my free Facebook community for the podcast. It's called The Good Business Community and the link will be in the show notes or you can head to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected. 

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, there are a few ways that you can help to spread the love. First, I would be so honored if you would leave a review on Apple podcasts or Stitcher to help others find the podcast. And second, take a screenshot while you're listening and tag me on Instagram at @LaurenTilden. I would so love to connect with you and cheer you on. 

Okay, so let's talk about today's episode. As I mentioned, my guest today is Taryn Rachelle. Taryn is the CEO and founder of the Social Lifestyle Co. She's a social media mentor and coach for ambitious female entrepreneurs. She helps them step into their social CEO zone by creating intentional content strategies that are aligned with their business goals, ideal audience and daily lives. 

Like I said, Taryn, really let me peek behind the curtain and see how she approaches creating content in her business. And I'm so excited to share that with you. In this episode, we discuss what content strategy is and why you need one. What a cohesive intentional content plan looks like, how Taryn approaches content creation for her business, how to choose which social media platforms to be, and a couple of Instagram features like the power of the direct message and how Taryn is using close friends, social audio, and who should consider using it and much more. If you love this episode, as much as I loved recording it, I wanted to let you know that Taryn and I and a few of our other small business friends have a super fun collaboration in the works. We're still ironing out the details, but make sure you're following along with both of us and on our email list to be safe so that we can keep you updated on the launch. Okay, let's get into the conversation. Okay, Taryn, welcome to Making good.

Taryn Rachelle  

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Lauren Tilden  

I am so excited to have you. Before I dig into my huge list of things to pick your brain about Taryn, I would love for you to introduce yourself and your business and maybe share a little bit about your path to come to doing what you do now.

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely. I'm super excited to be here and glad that we connected on Clubhouse. So it's only fitting that we're now doing a podcast together. So I'm super excited. So yeah, my name is Taryn Rochelle. I am the CEO and founder of the Social Lifestyle CO and I am a social media mentor and coach and I work with ambitious female entrepreneurs to help you just amplify your visions on social media. But by creating very intentional content strategies that are truly aligned to you, your business goals, your audience, and most importantly, your daily life. I am a wife and Mama of two and I can't show up, nor do I want to show up 24/7 on social media. But yet my business is still scaling and growing. And so are my clients, even though you know, there's so many like gurus and experts out there telling us to show up a certain way that just sometimes feels kind of like ick to us. But we feel like we have to in order to be successful. And that's the kind of community that I'm cultivating to kind of counter that and be like no, like we can show up the way that's true to us and still be successful in our businesses, especially so I have a lot of Mama's in my community, and that is obviously you know, the focus of our lives and we want to center our businesses around that and not the other way around. So I'm super excited to be here and chat with you today, Lauren.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, amazing. Let's dig into kind of, I guess, what will be the baseline of this conversation? Which is the idea of Content Strategy? To anyone listening who maybe is like, what do they even mean by content strategy? Can you explain kind of what is the basis of this conversation? What is content strategy?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, a lot of times people feel like, having a plan to batch content is a content strategy. And just sitting down and just creating a bunch of things. And that's it, that's your strategy. When it's really not, you really need to take into consideration everything you have going on in your business, and most importantly, where your audience is at and meeting them at their seasons and their struggles and pain points that you can help them with in your content to build that like, know and trust factor. And also making sure that you're planning your content around your schedule, because a lot of social media platforms favor consistency. 

And we also want to make sure that the quality of content is there. So I would rather have you, you know, show up consistently and efficiently, you know, three times a week, if you can only really do that for now, until you can add on more days, then really focus on just posting to post every single day, just to do it when it's not really efficient content, that's intentional. So really focusing in on those aspects is what is really like the foundation of a content strategy, there's obviously so much more that goes into it. But when we don't have that foundation and the bones of what a content strategy is, that's when it falls apart. And that's when social media burnout happens. So that's what I would say is like the foundation of a content strategy.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that, and you use the word intentional, which is something I've heard you talk about many times when it comes to marketing. And I really love your take on this. So can you just share a little bit more about how the idea of intention comes into play when it comes to particularly creating content, um, kind of the debate of quality and quantity and intention, like how those all interact.

Taryn Rachelle  

When you are intentional means you're showing up on social media for a reason. And what you're doing on these platforms has a reason behind it. And I don't want that to be mistaken for like a hidden agenda or anything like that. Yes, we all are business owners, and we are showing up for a reason. But it's also, you know, we should always be thinking of our audience in our community, like have that at the front of your mind, when you're deciding to create these content strategies, when you're deciding to show up and do a room on Clubhouse or post something on Instagram, it needs to be very intentional for your audience in your community and really thinking about them. 

So everything that I do in my content strategy is for my audience and for my community to move the needle forward for them. There are some people that you know, may never work with me, but just binge my content. And that's okay. And there's people that, you know, go through my membership or go into one of my programs. And that's awesome, too. Like, it is all about just like the nurturing and the reasoning behind what you're doing. I just want to see my audience and community just thrive in their business, and whichever way that I can help them do that, even if it's just having that community and that support around them. So that is my intention for showing up on social media still really cultivate that community. But you have to do whatever is true to you and show up that way intentionally. So that's what I mean by that and how I really put that into play when it comes to my content strategies and what I teach to my clients and my community to do for theirs as well.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love how you kind of almost are framing them as almost like a boundary. Like if my intention is to show up for my audience and provide value. I can run everything I plan on doing past that intention and say, okay, is this in line with my intention? If not, maybe I maybe this is the kind of posts I'm posting just for the sake of posting and maybe I should rethink it?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, it's really kind of like checking yourself or like checking your content. I told this little trick to my clients to have like, put a little sticky note or something like whatever your intention is, behind what you're doing, what is your why, and like, have that up on your computer or wherever you create content when you're about to start creating something or you're about to say yes to you know, guest speaking or doing something really look at that and be like okay, Is this a line to with what I really want to be doing. And if it's not, it's okay not to do it. At the end of the day, these are our businesses. And you know, what we're putting out there is really defining our brand and our presence. So we want to make sure that whatever we're putting out in the world really is aligned with our why. And when it's not, it's okay to say no, or it's okay to pivot a different way.

Lauren Tilden  

Love, love, love. Let's talk about creating a cohesive content strategy. What does that mean to you?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, I love a good cohesive content strategy. And to me, this is just no matter where someone sees you, or find you at on any social media platform, or wherever you're marketing at that it's true to you  and it's true to your brand, and that everything is cohesive and aligned to that. And so you never want to design or put things out there in the world that's going to confuse your audience. I always say a confused mind rarely converts. 

And so if there's ever any confusion going on, you'll probably lose that potential client. And so when everything is very cohesive, then the opportunities for that to happen are very small, because you're always leading them on the journey, I teach my audience and my client, a breadcrumb method. And when you are leaving a little trail of breadcrumbs around, and all leading to that final destination of you, or your offer, or your community, that is a way to make sure that your audience doesn't get lost. So when I teach cohesive content, I teach it in a way of like leaving little breadcrumb trails around so that when your audience finds them, they're always going to the same destination. And they're not getting lost along the way. So when I teach cohesive content, that's what I mean by it, is to not to design to confuse or put things out there, that would really confuse your audience to make them go somewhere else, or leave your community.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love listening to you explain that, particularly just after we talked about intention, because I feel like they totally go hand in hand, it's kind of like, you always have an intention of where your next leading your ideal customer or reader or audience member, like on their journey. So you know, if they're bumping up into you on Instagram, like they're seeing your posts, you have applied a lot of intention to that post and where you're directing people to go next. So I love, I love just how married those two concepts are.

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely, like, that's why having a strategy in place is so important. Because when you don't sit down to plan things out, it's really hard to be intentional, it's really hard to have cohesion in your content. Because there is no plan, you know, there's no like structure behind it, you can still have fun with your content. I feel like there's this misconception that when you have a strategy, it's so rigid, and you can't just, you know, have fun with it. But that's not the case it just for me and for my community, it makes it more fun, because they can really start to enjoy social media again, it can feel social again, because they're not so stressed out about what's going to happen, like they have a plan for it. And it's just easy to implement. And that's also easy to outsource whenever you get to a point of maybe bringing on someone onto your team. So I think there's a big misconception in that, of that it makes it so rigid when you start having a plan but I think it's really hard to be intentional without one.

Lauren Tilden  

I would love to dig into the specifics a little bit. So you mentioned you're a parent, your life is really busy. You're also a business owner. How do you keep all of this going? Like how do you stay organized, whether it's tools or just mindset stuff? Like what keeps you consistently moving forward and showing up constantly in the way that you want to on social media and maybe across any other marketing?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely. Well, when it comes to tools, my favorite tool is Trello. I am a very visual person. And so I love how much I can customize Trello and make it like very like on brand to me. It's just like the way my brain works. And like everything that has to do with my business is very on brand kind of at all times like downtime and like my office and like notebooks I buy and like the most Enneagram three you will ever meet. And so I just love using Trello for that reason. I can also bring people onto there and communicate with them. Like if I'm doing anything for clients or collaborations. So I really love using that to stay organised with my scheduling, my content and everything I do pretty much everything inside of there when it comes to that. 

But also the biggest thing I can say when it comes to like, how do I juggle everything is I'm really big on looking at my schedule, not just this week, not just this month, but like really long term, I map out my months, my quarters, my years, as much as I can, obviously I'm a mom, things come up. But, you know, I still know that there are going to be seasons of life that are going to be busier than others. I learned that especially at this past year, I learned that you know, the month of June, there are three birthdays and my family, I'm a June birthday, my husband and my daughter. And so we are back to back birthdays, and it is very hard for me to, you know, be as present as I need and want to be with my family when I am so busy during that month. So now I have adjusted to where you know, I don't do certain things. I don't take clients during those months and stuff like that. So really figuring out a schedule that works for me that way. 

But I wouldn't know to do that if I wasn't looking at my schedule long term. So that is something that I teach and preach is to look at things like in the future of what's going on, especially if you're a parent, you know, like back to school is happening, or whatever you're doing with that, like, I know that next week, my daughter's gonna start being in school full time. And so my schedule is gonna open up a little bit, I saw my son here about, you know, he still naps and things like that. So I can adjust my schedule accordingly. But if I didn't figure that out and map that out, it's really hard to stay consistent in what I do in my content and my business, if I didn't have that planned out ahead of time, because then you know, busy things happen. And you're like, oh my gosh, well I was gonna do a launch during this time and now I have all these birthday parties I need to do and I can't show up a certain way I want to, and then you feel defeated. But if you plan accordingly, you feel empowered, you don't feel defeated. So that's something that I've really had to learn over the last couple of years and really implement into my business is to really schedule ahead of time, especially for those different seasons of life that are busier than others.

Lauren Tilden  

I love this. And I would love to just dig into some more specifics if that's okay with you.

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, of course.

Lauren Tilden  

So how far like let's say specifically email and social media content, How far in advance are you.. A, well, I mean, maybe just walk us through your process? Do you sort of like, okay, generally, I'm gonna do three posts this week one will be about this, and this and this? Or do you literally write everything out? Like start to finish in advance? And how far in advance? Do you do all of this?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, that's a great question. So I plan out quarterly. I know that like sounds crazy to people. But I plan out things quarterly, when it comes to my themes. So I teach this way of content creation, and just marketing in general, is having monthly themes for what you're doing. And so by doing that, and like knowing, okay, like, what are the themes going on this month? Then I can plan accordingly too for my content and for emails, and then also for collaborations or Clubhouse rooms, like what falls in under that and what do I need to maybe push to the next month or something, or maybe it's just not aligned at all with what I'm doing in my business, and need to not implement right now. 

So that's how far I like to plan out things is quarterly. And so I map out things. I'm a pen to paper kind of person when I'm brainstorming. So I like to do pen to paper, or if you like whiteboards to that, I think when we stare at a blank screen, it could sometimes feel like I don't have anything to say or like, just like a blank screen like it is. But when it's pen to paper, I feel like you just naturally start writing. And so that's what I like to do is I do pen to paper, I can like brainstorm and everything. And then once I have it solidified, I put it into whatever tool I use, like Trello to have it more organized and systemize I don't have a team right now, I am a one woman show. But eventually in the near future, I do want to bring on someone and I want them to see a system that I have so that they can help me implement it. And it's not like oh my gosh, I have all these notebooks and paper everywhere and well we're virtually helping each other so you can't get all my papers.

So I like to you know, get everything into a software like Trello so that it's organized and easy for me to see. And because I know in the back of my head that I am going to be bringing on a team member that it'll be easy to implement with them. So that's kind of my process for that, and how far out I plan things. I do plan out like big things in my business farther than that. But when it comes to my actual content, I try and do it quarterly. So then that way, it's not too far in advance of you know, things change or anything like that, or, you know, certain things come up where I'm like, Oh, my gosh, well, I have my whole two years of content planned out. And now this change on social media, and I have to adjust everything. So I like to, you know, leave some wiggle room for things like that. But I need to have some kind of plan in place for me to be as intentional as I want to be with my content.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Okay, I'm just so interested by this. So you have you write out like the full content is created, probably months in advance a lot of the time? How long does that take you to like, sit down at one time and get everything cranked out?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, so it kind of depends on what I'm doing. So when it comes to like, fully done, like, I don't necessarily have absolutely everything done with for that quarter, when I first plan things out. For me, at first, I do just like a rough, like a very rough draft of the like pen to paper aspect of like, okay, these are my monthly themes. These are the topics I'm gonna talk about during the week, and map all that out, I do a lot of integrated content, like taking a long form piece of content, like a blog post, or something like that, or a big thing I'm doing in my membership, and then like breaking it down into smaller pieces of content on Instagram, or on Clubhouse and things like that.

So I make sure to map all that out, especially because I do have my membership. I want to make sure I'm planning those things out so that everything is really aligned and make sense. But I obviously have things that are more advanced for someone that's paying me for the knowledge as opposed to like my free content. So that's something to take into consideration too is like, you know, what are you putting out there that is free and what are you putting out there that's paid. 

And so when I go through and do this, to have everything, like completely mapped out just pen to paper, that usually takes me like a couple hours, just to have that done. And then I go in and input it into Trello. And once I have a pen to paper, honestly putting into Trello takes me like, I don't know, like 45 minutes to an hour just because I'm, I'm so used to it that I can do it pretty quickly. But to actually create the graphics and everything like that, I like to have like a day where I just really focus in and do that, when it comes to my reels I have like batching days that I do for video content, because mom life, I don't get ready all the time. So the days I get ready, I just like to batch record reels. So I'll record like, I don't know, five to 10 reels during one one day of being ready. 

So then that way I have those. But because I did that scheduling plan, I know what reels to create. I know my topics that I'm talking about, I just have to create the content. So it's usually not the content creation that sometimes takes a long time. It's more of the strategy beforehand. And when you have that in place, the actual creation doesn't take that long, and it's not stressful. It's like more fun, because I already have a plan. And I'm not going into a blind like I have my phone on my tripod like what what am I going to do? What am I going to point at? You know, like, I have a plan in place, I can just do it. So the process hopefully that made sense.

Lauren Tilden  

No, yeah, thank you for letting me like really get into the weeds there. I always love learning about other people's content creation process. And I think what you're describing is probably makes a lot of sense for most people. There are the people who like, you know, they've written their posts for six months from now and it's like all scheduled. Most of us that's not how we work. And so I like your, what you're describing, I'm like, really take the time upfront to think through the strategy, get intentional about what you want to be posting in the future, create like a general plan of what's happening. And then you know, as you go create content, but like you say, like you've already decided what it's gonna be so you don't have that blank page syndrome of just what do I write? like you've done the sort of hard mental part and then it's just creating content. So thank you for letting me really dig into that. 

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, of course anytime.

Lauren Tilden  

You know, there are so many social media platforms out there that we are all told we need to be using or we should be using. Instagram is a big one for people who listen to this podcast but we also talked about Facebook and Tik Tok and LinkedIn sometimes, like there's, even and there's more. So what is your approach to balancing all of these different platforms that we could be on? How do we pick? You know, how many to be on? How do we choose the specific ones? How do you approach all of that?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, so I always tell my community to, obviously, always think about your audience first. So where's your audience spending their time at your ideal audience, your ideal clients, customers where they hang out at, because we can create all the content in the world for a platform, and if our audience isn't on there, you're just gonna hear crickets, and then you're gonna be like, well, I guess social media isn't for me, like, I guess my audience isn't on here. But they just may not be on that platform. So it's really important to know which platforms your audience is spending their time at. 

And once you have figured that out, then to really focus in I say, when you first start out, one to two platforms that are your top tier, this is where your audience is, you know, they're there, you just have to cultivate that community now. So I say, to focus on one to two platforms to start. And then as you become very comfortable with those, you have a strategy in place, then if you are, you know, creating cohesive content and figure out a way to have it be very integrated between those two, it makes it so much easier to add a third or a fourth, I say don't overwhelm yourself. 

If you are spending your time at you know, the one to two platforms where your audience really is, those should be very lead producing income producing customer producing platforms for you, as long as you're just showing up where they're at. So once you can do that, and have a solid foundation, then you can add in those other ones. So for me, my top platforms are Instagram and Clubhouse, I am adding in Pinterest. Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media platform. But it is a place for my audience, it does search a lot for things that I can help them with. And so I have now added that into my content or my marketing strategy. 

But since I already have a strong strategy in place for the other platforms, I can easily repurpose and integrate my content through Pinterest. And it's just effortless for me now, because I had a solid foundation in the other platforms. And it's just okay, now I need to learn this one and kind of see, how things are done. But then I still make sure that my content is me. Honestly, when I first started looking at Pinterest, I thought I need to like do it a certain way. So I'm like, Well, this is like the Pinterest way. And so I was making my posts look not like me. But when I was doing that I just realized like it wasn't converting. And now that I have just done what I do on other platforms, I do see those conversions. Because my content is cohesive across all platforms, no matter where they're going, they're still getting me. And they aren't confused when they're going to a different platform. So that's what I say when it comes to figuring out which platform is right for you. One, where is your audience at then pick the one to two platforms. And then once you have, you can always integrate more. And then make sure that you are showing up as you and your content is cohesive across wherever you're showing up at. 

Lauren Tilden  

So good. You mentioned a little bit about like the aesthetics of the, you're creating the Pinterest posts that you're creating and learning how to create content, like graphics and specific that really feel like you. This is something I think you do a really beautiful job at, your feed is always like so on brand and just like you know, it's in your colors and the graphics are beautiful. Do you have any tips for listeners who may not be you know, experts and design or they're not working with a designer? Like how can others create beautiful content like this as well?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, well thank you for the compliment. I love creating graphics and everything like my, it just like flows out of me, I really enjoy doing it that I get that some people it's just harder to do or they don't have that like you know, when they look at a tool like Canva they can't just like go in and just like create something like easily and I totally get that. But I do always recommend a platform like Canva though because it makes it so easy, especially if you know design and everything like that isn't necessarily your forte and maybe you're just not at a place where you can outsource to someone yet. 

But there are great features inside of there. A lot of them are through the pro account that they're are some really great features still in the free version of Canva. But in the pro version, you can add in a brand kit. So this is something that I think is like one of the best features on Canva is you can go in, add your logo, add your fonts, you can upload new fonts that you have purchased, you can put in all your colors and everything like that. I didn't do all my branding, I worked with someone that helps me with my brand colors and everything. Because when I first started my business, I just, it was like literally just like pink and like just different shades of pink because I didn't really understand branding. And so I had someone helped me with it. And now it's just so much easier to create, because I have that brand kit in Canva. 

And you can just go in, your colors are already there, your fonts are already there. And it's just so easy to change things around. It's very user friendly. So that's a tool that I really like to use. But I will always say like Canva, especially the templates, they're exactly what they're called a template. And it's not there to just like plug in, like you know, put your name in, and then just like post it, I can spot a Canva templates a mile away. And you shouldn't be able to do that it should still look very customized to you, which is how you tie in your colors and your fonts and your photos and your messaging to make it really true and branded to you. I still use templates. But the way that I do it, I don't see them. Other places, I'm not scrolling down the feed and being like, oh, like there's my template I use today, because we probably all are on Canva. But that doesn't mean that all of our feeds should look the same way it should be true to you, your brand and really resonating with who your ideal audience is. So that's what I love to use for my graphics. I don't use anything else. I am not, I don't know how to use Adobe or anything, my husband's a graphic designer. And like when I see him working on stuff for his work, I'm like, Oh my gosh, like gives me anxiety. I'm like, I'm gonna stick to my Canva over here. And I love it and what I recommend to everyone.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, such a great tip and great advice to make sure that you're customizing the templates. You can put your brand fonts in there and your colors or take out graphic elements, use your own photos like you can really, like you said, make it your own pretty easily. And so just love the reminder to do that. So that it just doesn't look like a you know, Canva template to spit straight out with like different text. 

You are an expert in Instagram, I have a couple specific Instagram questions for you. And then I want to talk a little bit about social audio. So you know that you said these are your two main platforms, Instagram and Clubhouse. I love both of these platforms too. So I want to dig a little bit into each of them. One is you talk a lot about the power of DM's on Instagram. So the messaging feature you even have a freebie that's like a free audio training that definitely everyone should go download called It goes down in the DM. So what is it that goes down in the DM's Exactly? Like what is the power of direct messaging on Instagram and if you want to share a little bit about that freebie and where people can find it. But I'd love for you to do that as well.

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely. Um, so I love direct messaging. So um, if you guys don't know what DM stands for, yes, it's the direct messaging on Instagram. And then a lot of other platforms have incorporated this as well. But, you know, direct messaging is honestly just a place to cultivate those relationships and to build that community. I don't see it as you know, a selling tactic and things like that. Yes, in my resource I talked about, you know, you are, you can utilize them to generate clients. But it's because you're building those relationships. I have never sent a cold message, which is just like, hey, like you don't know me, but you know, you should work with me. I have never sent a message like that. 

But I actually rarely get on, I honestly don't even remember the last time I got on a discovery call for my business, or anything like that. Pretty much everything happens for me in direct messaging, which is why I made that resource, It goes down in the DM's. But again, it is about building and nurturing those relationships. I'm building that like, know and trust factor with my community and I'm seeing them as people. I don't see people in my community as dollar signs. I see them as actual people. And when we look at our audience as dollar signs or even as just followers, I always say like I have so many people in my community I usually never say I have this many followers because I do truly see everyone as members of my community and I want to treat them as such. 

So I'm not going to go in there and be spammy or salesy or anything like that. And I also never recommend my services or my products unless I genuinely think that they will help them. Because I want to see you know, the needle move forward in their business. And if I'm not the right person to do that, that's also why I've surrounded myself with a lot of other entrepreneurs, who I can refer them to if I need to. And so when it comes to those relationships inside of direct messages, it really is just cultivating those relationships and getting to know your audience in your community. 

On a deeper level, I especially love sending voice memos, which is something I teach in the free resource. And I just think when we are talking with our voice, and we are hearing people, we are hearing their passion, we're hearing just who they truly are through audio, which is why I love Clubhouse, because we're really hearing each other. And it's so much different than like reading a message. I mean, how many times a week gotten a text from someone, and we think they're mad at us, but they're not. And we just think so because there's a period at the end of their message. And we're like, oh, they must be mad, like, shoot, but they're not. It's just like how we are taking what they're saying on a text. 

But in audio, it's really hard to like mistake, what someone's saying. And so that's why I love direct messages, because you can have those conversations, honestly, with more people than you can with getting on a million discovery calls or talking to all of your customers or you know what I mean? Like you can do it in direct messages. So it just makes it so much better to build that relationship and cultivate that community. And I love that feature. I think there are ways that people don't use it correctly. I mean, I don't know how many cold messages I get weekly trying to sell me on something. And it's like this, I always think like, does that work? Like, I mean, you're still doing it. So like this, that like actually work for you. Because it doesn't for me, I don't know, you, I know, I value my money. And I'm not just gonna give it to someone I don't even know, or buy a program like I really need to, like, know who you are, and really know the company, even when I'm shopping. Like I just want to know, you know, what's this brand, like, what's the quality, like, you know, and it's not like, I can just return a program I buy, you know, like, I could return something on Amazon. And so I really just have to build those relationships. And so utilizing the Instagram DMS to do that has been really crucial for my business, and has helped me honestly not get on as many discovery calls, which really helps me with my time, especially being a busy mom.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that and I went through the resource, there's just a bunch in there of things you didn't think about, or at least I didn't even think about. One example is just the way that you use the different folders in DMS, they say like, General, primary, there's requests, something like that. And Terran has a way of like organizing that to like kind of help filter almost like an inbox. So highly recommend that everyone checks out that resource. Will you tell us what the link is for that?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, so um, you can get it and honestly might be easier if anyone in here just wants to like DM me the phrase DM and send it because it's kind of a long like URL. But you can just send me a message on Instagram and I can shoot it over to you. That's actually a little thing I share about in the resource is to make sure you utilize saved replies. 

So I have a saved reply setup that I can just send to you guys very easily. My Instagram is the @sociallifestyleco. And then I can send over that resource to you. But it is called It goes down in the DMS and it is a five days of audio straight from my brain to your air pods so you can listen to it while you are running around with the kids or doing the dishes or working. I tried to say I love saying this is not something that's going to collect virtual dust in your inbox. Like a lot of freebies that you download. They just sit in your inbox. I am, you know, guilty of doing this. And so I wanted to create something that's easy for you to consume that you can listen to. And you can really hear why it's so important to utilize this feature on Instagram and how to use it effectively in your business.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, amazing. And I will have Taryn's Instagram and also maybe the link to that resource in the show notes too. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, we'll make sure you get to it, if you want it. You also have, you just shared with me that you're starting to do some exclusive content using the close friends feature on Instagram? I would love to hear a little bit more about your thought process with using that, what you're using it for what kind of like, what content is different there versus just like all of your followers?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yes, so I love this section of Instagram, which is the close friends section. And if you don't know what this is, or like, how to find it, um, you go into your settings on your Instagram, and you will see a section that says close friends, there, you can add people to it that will get stories that you send only to your close friends. So when you go to make a story, you'll see, you know, it says like, share to, and it's shared to your story. And then I'll have you know, people that you talk to, or that you follow, and then it'll say close friends. So you can send things just to your close friends. And I utilize this to kind of like, section out my community a little bit. Because there are people in my community that are ready to like, you know, dive into more of a deeper strategy, or kind of go farther from like a one on one strategy to like a 201 strategy. And that is how I utilize close friends. I am very intentional with my my content and my stories. But sometimes I do want to go a little bit deeper. But I want to go deeper with the people that are actually going to implement what I'm teaching.

 And so I have like ask people to you know, if they're ready to do this, too, send me a message. And I will add them to my close friends. I'm not just adding everyone that kind of defeats the purpose. I'm not adding people without them like asking me to add them to it. And I'm kind of building this like curiosity of like, well, what's behind that curtain, like I want to get behind there. And I'm kind of funneling people into this. And I will also be utilizing the feature to also share resources or when I have launches, they will get first access to know about it. And especially a lot of behind the scenes, I have a lot of great things that are coming out in the next six months. And so people inside my close friends will get early access to that. And first dibs honestly on applying to things or joining things. So it's kind of like a little mini email list. But obviously, it's on social media and not your email list. You definitely need one of those too. But it's just a great place to nurture people that for me, how I use it to nurture people who really want to take that next step and get to a more advanced strategy than maybe what I share on my regular stories. Because I don't want to overwhelm people but some people are ready and that's what I use close friends for.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that, my wheels are spinning. Okay, let's dig into social audio, which is the other kind of category of platforms that you use. You're a big Clubhouse person. We've got a really big following over there. What would you say to the listener of this podcast? Who is not on Clubhouse? Like who is Clubhouse a good fit for? a lot of listeners are product based businesses and makers. So is there a place for them on there to like grow their business to learn how do you, how would you advise someone when they're trying to think through if Clubhouse or another social audio platform is right for them? 

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely. So first, I mean going back to you know, figuring out which platform is right for you, and figuring out if your audience your ideal customers are on that platform to begin with. And if they are, then the next step is like okay, do you like audio, you know, it's an audio platform so for me, it is amazing because like I said, I am not ready all the time. You know, I want to, you know, I always say you never know what I actually look like behind my pretty little bubble because my bubble on Clubhouse is you know, a perfect branded photo of me but that is not what I usually look like behind my bubble. And I like that, I like that I can be on there and talk and listen, and you know, not feel like I have to be on 24/7 are ready 24/7. 

So if you love audio format of learning or teaching that is a really great place for you. When it comes to product based businesses that best way I have seen and if you don't already have a pen and paper out, then get one out right now. But the best way that I've seen product based businesses use platforms like Clubhouse, or even on any social media platform, is what you're doing is not just sell, saying you're building a community around the lifestyle of what your product falls into. So you know, I'm gonna take like, you know, a skincare company or something, the lifestyle is more of that, like you can be that like healthy lifestyle, say it's like all natural products, you know, it's not just just skincare, it's not like all natural, that healthy lifestyle and things like that, I've seen product based businesses do a really great job of cultivating this community around that healthy lifestyle, and they are more selling that than just their products. 

And then you know, when they are selling their products, obviously, it makes sense for their community to buy them, because they're building that like, know, trust factor with them, they want that lifestyle, they want to feel that they want to feel that way. And so that is a really great way that I've seen product based businesses use Clubhouse and use, you know, honestly, any social media platform is to more cultivate that kind of community than just selling, selling, selling 24/7. Because, you know, I have a lot of product based businesses that will, you know, come into Clubhouse rooms, like, gosh, like I just, you know, I'm running out of things to say I'm running out of things to pose, I'm just posting pictures on my products, you know, and when you're doing that you can become very burnt out, or you can feel like you're running out of content. 

But when you're more building that lifestyle and community around your page, that's when you know, your engagement will boost, that's when you know, you're really building that community, and your revenue will increase because people are building that, like, know and trust factor with you. And they're gonna be like, of course, I'm gonna buy from her because, you know, I'm gonna buy from someone that I've already built that relationship with, I know what they stand for, I know what their values are. So obviously, their products are going to resonate with that, um, it's going to make sense for me to buy from them as opposed to someone else. So I would say yes, it can be for you, you just really have to really figure out if your audience is on there, and then dig deep and plan a strategy around how you're going to really show up on these platforms that makes sense for your community. And also, obviously, make sales because we're all businesses and we want to make income. So I'm not gonna say that that's not, you know, a focus too. But it's just a way to do it right? In a way that really resonates with your audience. 

Lauren Tilden  

That is an awesome answer. And I just also want to throw out there that I know a lot of makers who, who listened to social audio and Clubhouse the same way that they listened to podcast. So while they're making their jewelry, or sitting at the pottery wheel, or whatever it is, and you want something to kind of entertain you, if you like listening to business stuff while you're doing that. There's just constant content around different marketing and business topics on Clubhouse. So Taryn is a great resource for things like that she has a pretty big club on Clubhouse also. So I will make sure to link all of her clubhouse links in the show notes as well, if you do want to give it a shot. You know, like she says, feel it out to see if and where your people are. But if it's not a marketing tool for you, it's definitely something somewhere where you can learn a lot. So yeah, big fan of Clubhouse, I just think it's, like you say there's something about the voice, it's a more, I don't know, it's a more personal connection that you can make.

Taryn Rachelle  

More personal. I mean, think about like all of us that have like, you know, became such great friends because honestly, because of the platform. And I think it's because we're able to build those relationships, sometimes deeper, then it's easier to on Instagram, you know, because you know, unless we're having those conversations already. And I think that because of Clubhouse, everyone has become way more comfortable with voice memos, with audio, with things like that. Because that's all you can do on a Clubhouse. And it's just so much easier to build those relationships. And you know, you get connected with people honestly, that like you probably wouldn't have before. Like, I was able to host a room with Amy Porterfield. And that was like an incredible experience where I probably wouldn't have connected with her as early on as I did in my business if it wasn't for Clubhouse, and you know, it makes it kind of get put on like even playing field kind of on Clubhouse, because we're all speaking, we're all talking. A lot of times you can get up on stage and talk to people. And so I think it's just a really great resource to either utilize if you're doing the teaching and then also like you said, Lauren, if you're just listening, I think that is a really great thing to do too. I mean, I, I still listen to a lot of podcast, but I definitely listen to Clubhouse a lot while I'm doing things as well.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, so great. Um, I, first of all, just want to say thank you for letting me like, literally dig into all the details on how you use these different tools, it's really fun to get inside of your head. And that way, I could just keep going picking your brain, but I think we're gonna have to start to wrap up. So let me start by asking you, how you approach doing good through your small business?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think the biggest thing for me is, I'm very anti hustle culture, which you will hear me say often on social media. And what I mean by this is that there is just this, like false belief that we've been taught that we have to hustle and grind 24/7 In order to be successful. And I just kind of call BS on that. And I don't think that's true. I think that's very limiting for people that just can't hustle and grind. I mean, I always say I'm like, I'm hustling too, like, chase my toddler around. So he's not taking his diaper off like, I have certain things that I guess I do have to hustle to do. But I don't think that I need to hustle and grind 24/7 in every season of my life, in order to be successful in my business, and especially when it comes to social media. 

So I'm really trying to make good by cultivating a community that can see that they don't have to do that. And that they can be successful by showing up in a way that's truly aligned to them and aligned to their business and their daily lives. But still see that success and not feel like you know, I'm not gonna get there unless I do what these gurus and experts are telling me to do that just really aren't at the season of life that I'm in. So I think that, that is a way that I'm really trying to make good, especially in the social media world, is to really show that you can be true to you and show up in a way that's authentic to you and your daily life and your business and your goals and your audience. But still be successful and see that success in your business and achieve the goals that you want to do. But not feeling like you have to hustle and really take that hustle culture pill that I feel like we're being taught to swallow. So that's how I'm trying to make good especially in the social media world.

Lauren Tilden  

Love, love, love, love. What is one small business that you admire? 

Taryn Rachelle  

Oh, okay, I'm gonna plug one of my previous clients because I just think she's incredible. But it is a baby boutique. Um, it's called For love and cuddles. And she is just incredible. The owner, her name is Rochelle. Um, and she has battled with fertility very, very hard during her life. And she's very open with this. And so I feel comfortable talking about it. But she's lost her twins. She's had multiple other miscarriages, and she is now pregnant again, and hopefully out of that, like, full like danger zone and everything and but it's just been a really hard journey for her. And during that time of losing her twins, she also lost her dad. And she wanted to build her business called for love and littles. And it's a baby boutique, which you know, we think would be hard for someone battling fertility, but she has turned it into a platform to really have that community around others that are going through the same or have gone through the same and are on the other side of things and having their rainbow babies. 

And so it's just an amazing boutique. I was her social media manager back when I did social media management, and we became very good friends. And she's just incredible. Part of her proceeds go to help women battling with infertility, which is a really great and amazing part of her business and her mission behind what she's doing. So if you are a mama or a new mom or pregnant or know someone definitely check out For Love and Littles. It's a really amazing boutique, a small business that she runs, and I just can't wait to continue to see what she does and her journey of motherhood and her business.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. I just pulled it up and beautiful stuff. So great recommendation totally gonna go geek out. What is one book that you would recommend? 

Taryn Rachelle  

I would say, there's a book by Carrie Green. It's called She Means Business. So I know a lot of you on here are probably entrepreneurs and everything like that. And she's just incredible. She's someone that I really looked up to in the business world. And she's someone that's like really helped me figure out a way to structure my membership. 

She has a really incredible membership. And she has a book, that's how I found her, called, She Means Business. And you can get like the actual book, or I just got the audible version of it because I like all things audio. And it's a really great book and resource, I still go back and listen to things when I need just some, some encouragement or guidance on something, um, because she just really breaks it down in an easy to understand way, but comes from a place of like, you know, like she was there, you know, like, she gets it. And I think that's what has made her very successful as she doesn't just talk from a place of where she's at now, like she gets down to like, where we are, you know why we're reading this book. And that's how she speaks in it. And it's a really great resource. So if you haven't already read it, definitely check it out.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. Awesome. Where can listeners connect with you online?

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, so on Instagram, I am the @sociallifestyleco. On Clubhouse I am Taryn Rochelle, I know Lauren will put the links below so it's a little confusing, you'll be able to find them. But you guys can connect with me over on either of those platforms, I always say my DMs are always open. So feel free to reach out to me if you ever have any questions or anything like that. And if you want those 201 strategies on Instagram, you can DM me close friends, and I can add you to my close friends list for those more in depth trainings.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. Amazing. I'm gonna go get myself added to the close friends list right after.

Taryn Rachelle  

We'd love to have you.

Lauren Tilden  

Taryn, thank you so much for having this conversation with me. I'm just letting me take it wherever the urge called. So letting me really dig into the details of how you approach creating your content and different platforms. I so appreciate your approach to social and just the role that intention plays and everything that's super aligned with me, as you know. So I have loved this conversation. I can't wait to share it. Thank you so much.

Taryn Rachelle  

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. And I have loved all the questions and everything. I love talking about this. I could talk about it all day long. So it's been a really great conversation. And I just can't wait to see what all of you guys do in this community, do with social media and for your businesses and how you start to show up more intentionally or really implement any of these strategies. I would love to hear about what you've done in your social media content strategy after listening to this podcast episode. So thanks so much for having me, Lauren.

Lauren Tilden  

Thank you so so much for letting me get into such detail of how you approach your social media content creation, and then business in general. I love this conversation so much. 

Listener. I know that Taryn and I would both love to connect with you on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening to this episode and tag us both. Taryn is @thesociallifestyleco and I'm at @LaurenTilden. Everything mentioned in this podcast episode can be found on the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/78 If this is your first time tuning in, and you're interested in learning more about what I do check out the Good Business free Facebook community for this podcast has accountability exclusive content and great community at makinggoodpodcast.com/community how I can help with your small business marketing at Laurentilden.co My plant inspired greeting cards, vinyl stickers and art prints at goodsheila.com and Seattle retail shop Station Seven, that's station7seattle.com Thank you for being here and for focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time.

76: Efficient Content Creation with Katie Guenther

76: Efficient Content Creation with Katie Guenther

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 76. In today's episode, I'm joined by my friend and Seattle neighbor, email marketing expert Katie Guenther. In this episode, we talked about repurposing, content efficiency and how to make your content work for you. This is a really good one that I cannot wait to share with you. But a couple of things upfront before we jump in. 

First, if you struggle with figuring out what to say in your marketing, I have an awesome free resource for you. This free workbook will help you come up with a lot of content ideas your audience will love. Download this resource for free at Laurentilden.co/content. Second, I invite you to join with other values driven small business owners for inspiration, accountability, and lots of business and marketing strategy. We're currently hosting what I call procrastination sessions every other Friday, where you can jump on a zoom co working session with other small business owners and get stuff done. This all takes place in the free Facebook community for this podcast, the Good Business community. The link will be in the show notes or you can head to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected. 

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, there are a few ways that you can help to spread the love. First, I would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple podcasts or Stitcher to help others find the podcast. And second, take a screenshot while you're listening and tag me on Instagram at @LaurenTilden. I would so love to connect with you and cheer you on. Okay, so let's talk about today's episode. 

As I mentioned, my guest today is Katie Guenther. Katie is a no fuss email marketing strategist. She partners with heart centered entrepreneurs to simplify email marketing so they can take their successful businesses to the next level. In this episode, we talked about how to be efficient with your content creation, why it's important to repurpose your content, Katie shares her repurposing workflow and provide some tips and tricks to repurposing. 

We talked about approaching content creation between email and other platforms, the power of email marketing and why it's so important for relationship building, and much more. If you love this episode, as much as I loved recording it, I wanted to also tell you about a collaborative one day event that Katie, myself and three of our other small business marketing friends are hosting on September 24. This event called The Content Collab is designed to help you figure out how to approach your content creation. We're covering everything from bighearted marketing, to the customer journey to repurposing content, email marketing, cohesive content and more to get on the waitlist and save your seat, head to the content collab.co Or check out the link in the show notes. Okay, let's get into the conversation with Katie. Katie, welcome to the podcast. 

Katie Guenther  

Hey, Lauren. Thanks for having me.

Lauren Tilden  

I am so excited to have you. We have a lot to talk about. And just for a little bit of context for listeners, Katie and I met over Clubhouse, although we do both live in Seattle. And I have just heard Katie talk so much about so many different small business topics. And we're going to try to dig into quite a few of them today. But this I promise was going to be a very good episode. So stay tuned. Before we kind of dig in and you let me start picking your brain, Katie, I would love for you to introduce yourself, your business and a little bit of your story, like how you came to do what you do now?

Katie Guenther  

Sure. Yeah. So I have an email marketing strategy business. It started out as sort of a virtual assistant business. My background is in video production and project management. I love working in the background to help make things work efficiently and make other people's lives easier. So I work with entrepreneurs to help simplify and automate their email marketing so that they can grow their business. 

And email marketing is just a key part of your overall marketing strategy. And for me, it's really just like another version of project management. And I love working with small business owners, entrepreneurs, people who want to run a business and also want to have a life. So that's sort of where like the automation and the simplification comes in. So yeah, that's me and my business in a nutshell. Yes.

Lauren Tilden  

Okay. So those who have listened to a few episodes of this podcast, at least know that I'm a huge proponent for email marketing, you just mentioned like, it's critical to include email marketing in your overall marketing strategy. Can you talk a little bit about why that is so important? And why? Anyone who may have started their business, and maybe they've set up social media, and you know, they might have some other marketing activities going, but like they're putting off the email side of things. Why should they be prioritizing email?

Katie Guenther  

Well, the first reason is, an email list is the only list that you own. You don't own your list of followers on Facebook, on Instagram, if your Instagram or your Facebook account were to get shut down, or I've had clients where they get in Facebook, jail, or Instagram jail, where they can't post, they can't DM anybody, that can't do anything on the app for whatever reason. You don't have any way of reaching out to your customers or clients, and your email list you own. So even if you change platforms, you take that list with you. 

The other reason is that statistically, for social media, your followers, only about 2 to 3%, are seeing what you post in their feed, as compared to email marketing, where the average open rate on your email list is a round 20%. It can vary, it can be like 50, 20, 25, I have clients who have like a 50%, open rate. But even at the lowest percentage, it's still astronomically higher than people seeing you on social. So as much as we like social, is more fun, right? It's more you get like that instant gratification of somebody liking and commenting on a post. So it's a little more fun, and you feel like you're getting that instant gratification. Email is more of like a slow burn. But over time, the payoff is much, much bigger. And again, you own it. That's the only one you own.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, such a good point. And I really liked that you emphasized, just the reach factor. Also, I think, you know, just because you have let's say, let's say you have 1000 followers on Instagram, that doesn't mean that 1000 People are getting all of your content. So if you had even just 100 people on your email list, if a lot of them opened it, that you might actually get more traction with that content than you would have on Instagram anyway. So you actually don't need as big of a list as you might be looking to get in terms of following on a social media platform. So such a good and important point. How would you suggest that people get started with email, I know you have an awesome resource to kind of help people take that first step of figuring out what tool to use. Can you share a little bit about that? And any other kind of let's get started with email ideas that you have?

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, definitely. And really, it might seem obvious, but focusing on just picking your platform first is where you want to start. Don't get overwhelmed and like what your strategy is going to be or how often you're going to email or what you're going to say, just start by picking out your platform you're going to work with.

There are a lot of options. So I've created a comparison chart that you can download. And then you'll also be added to my email list. And I think Lauren, are you going to put the link in the show notes? Yeah. It's Bellablue.com/email-platform. And it kind of breaks down some of the most popular email marketing platforms that entrepreneurs solopreneurs, and, you know, small businesses that are just starting that I recommend, because there's a lot that have tons of bells and whistles. But you probably don't need all that. If you have like a retail business, and you're trying to tie all that in. I mentioned the platform that I recommend for that. But most of the platforms that are on that chart, keep things super, super simple, and it's easy to ramp up and learn how to use it. But that's really where you want to start and don't overthink it. Don't spend a ton of time on it. It's one of those things where there's so many options. You just kind of have to go with your gut and pick the one that kind of works with the way your brain works and looks appealing like you. When you look at it. You're like oh yeah, I can do this. If it feels overwhelming, it probably will be so just keep it simple and that I think that chart will really help you.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, that's a really good point to keep it simple but also just like Don't let this decision stop you, you know, make a decision and move forward. And if you want to switch down the line, you always can, like you have control all the time of your email list, you can add it to whatever platform you switch to. So don't feel like you have to be locked in forever. Most of these tools, or at least the ones I've used are month to month. So you're not necessarily signing up for like a year long contract, if you're paying at all, a lot of them  have free plans. So yeah, such great advice there. Let's say we have looked at your handy comparison chart and picked the platform that we want to go with, we've set up an account. What next? I know a lot of people just kind of have this, like kind of blank sense around. How do I even do email marketing? So I have heard you say a lot of really awesome things about this, Katie, so let's tackle it from two places. One is like how do you get people to sign up to your email list? And two, what do you say to them? What kinds of things do you put in your emails?

Katie Guenther  

Right? Okay. So again, we're gonna keep this as simple as possible, because this is so easy to get stuck in this place. Like, I don't like, let's say you have some emails, right? People have given you your emails, as soon as you have one person on your email list, you should be sending out emails on a regular basis, whether that's every week, every two weeks, once a month, whatever it is, don't wait. 

You want to as soon as somebody has given you their email address, they're already a quote unquote, warm leads, there's someone who's interested in what you have to offer. So make sure you're staying top of mind. If you're starting from zero, which a lot of people are, you want to create some sort of simple incentive for people to want to give you their email address. Nobody wants to just sign quote, sign up for a newsletter. We don't really know what that means. But if you have an incentive, or a lead magnet that you can give someone in exchange for their email that's going to really, really help build that list quickly. 

With the subscribers that you want to see. I don't always recommend having like a discount, but sometimes that's the simplest way to start. So if you have a retail website, you can say, you know, you've probably seen them where there's like a pop up, it's like, you know, 10% off your first order, you enter in your email address, that's a really simple and easy way. I usually recommend coming up with some sort of freebie or lead magnet that offers a different kind of value. So maybe something that a list of resources or something that really speaks to your target audience and your ideal client, maybe it's, you know, top 10 swim suit styles for every body shape, or whatever it is, but come up with something that speaks to your people. So you're going to attract the customers and clients that you want. 

What that looks like, technically, is once you've signed up for your email marketing platform, you can build a signup form, where it shows up on your website,  the platform will give you a link that you can share on social media, in your Instagram link in your captions in your email signature wherever to get people to sign up. And then once they enter in their email address, then you've got them on your list. 

The next step, and that is, and most email platforms will have simple templates for you to get started with this is set up an automation so that as soon as somebody enters in their email, hit submit, they get something from you in their inbox, delivering that coupon that freebie that lead magnet and also a warm welcome message. So that as soon as they give you their email they're hearing from you. And then I usually recommend following up with a few emails after that which can also be automated, so that you're building that relationship and building up that know, like and trust factor right off the bat. It sounds complicated, but once you pick the platform and look at the templates and things that they offer for doing those automations it's actually not as intimidating as it sounds. You really just have to take it one step at a time. Does that help Lauren? I feel like it was like a lot of words to make it simple and sounded simple.

Lauren Tilden  

So yes, I love how you break it down in terms of like creating content. So what to talk about. We've talked about automations, we've talked about creating, like a reason for people to sign up for the list. But in terms of whatever content we're sending out on a regular basis, so like you say, weekly or bi weekly, I think a lot of people get stuck on, what do I actually put in there?

 You know, like, for some reason, to be easier for a lot of people to think about, what do I put on my Instagram post, or in my Facebook posts, or reels, or Tik Toks? Or whatever that kind of marketing, I think comes more intuitively to many people. But the email marketing, I think a lot of people just are like, kind of blank page syndrome with what do I say here? So, what do you have any tips or just things to think about when it comes to, what do you say in your email marketing? Is it all that different from social media? I have my stance on this, I know you do, too. What would you just say to someone who just is feeling a little bit of stuck around what to say in email?

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, I think and even I get stuck in this a little bit like I send out a weekly newsletter. And by newsletter, I just mean like it, is it just an email newsletter is just the the term that marketers use, right? It's not like what you picture like, you know, and you get the school newsletter in your backpack when you were a kid, it doesn't have to be like that at all. Yeah, it can be a lot of different things, it can just be a quick note of catching your audience up on something that's happening in your business. It can be, I found this article that I wanted to share that I thought, you know, you would get some value out of, it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be a big, formatted beautiful, with lots of pictures. It doesn't have, don't overthink it, I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep it really simple I, what I tend to do is I have some content buckets or content pillars that I stick with. 

So when I don't know what to write, I go back to those. So I talked about time management, I talked about growing your email list, I talked about mental health, I talked about taking time away from work, you know, like outsourcing, things like that. So I'll go back to those buckets. And think, okay, what can I say about taking time off? What can I say about mental health in your business this week. And sometimes it's just like writing a note, it's just reading a letter to a friend, because you also aren't broadcasting your email message. It's something you're sending, if you think of it as you're sending it to your ideal client, you're sending it or writing it to one person, because on the other end, one person is receiving it. 

And another thing you can do is if you're already creating content in your business, whether you have a blog, or you have videos, if you can break those up into smaller pieces. So sometimes I'll take one paragraph or one thought, from a blog post, and sort of rework it into an email and send that out. So it doesn't have to be something that you're spending a lot of time on, it doesn't have to be something that you're creating from scratch. It can really just be like I said, like a note or a letter to a friend, who's your ideal client?

Lauren Tilden  

Yes, I'm so glad you made that point around. Talk to one person, talk to someone who you feel comfortable talking to don't like, don't default to what you think business communications should sound like with jargon and fancy words like, really be yourself. That is what connects most with people. So I love that you made that point. And I'm so glad that you kind of brought up organically. 

The next topic that I really wanted to get into in our conversation, which is repurposing. I know something you talk a lot about is time management. Like you just mentioned. It's one of your content, pillars, and part of time management is being efficient with the content that we create. And I think, when I think about efficiency and content creation, repurposing is the first thing that comes to mind. So for anyone listening who may hear us using the word repurposing content and doesn't know what that means, could you just define that and maybe give an example of how you do that in your business?

Katie Guenther  

Oh my gosh, repurposing content is my favorite. And really, what does repurposing mean? It just stopped creating content from scratch everywhere. So when you're creating posts for social media, don't just sit there and write from scratch and then go create a graphic, it's a waste of your time, I prefer to start with a piece of long form content that solidly aligns with my brand, my messaging, my values, my, those content pillars, like we talked about. And then I break that piece of long form content into a bunch of pieces over and over again. And sometimes I even reuse those pieces, you know, six months later, I might just repost a post, I may not even tweak it like, that's not really repurposing, this is more like recycling. But it's, it's taking content you've already made the work you've already done, and figuring out how you can use it again, and that in a little bit different way. Why expend so much energy creating, when you've already done all the hard work, and it saves you energy, it saves you time, and really bigger picture, like we're marketers, so we talk about marketing a lot, but like marketing and content creation are only part of your business. We don't want to spend all of our time there. So repurposing content is so important. It's so important.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, it totally is. And I love that you mentioned you start with long form content, kind of create one big, really well developed piece of content, and then split that up into a bunch of other places as well. So for anyone listening, what are some examples of long form content? Maybe what is that in your case? What are some other pieces of long form content that people could think about creating? And maybe let's just get really granular? Like, what is one piece of long form content? And what are the actual little things that you would break that up into?

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, so for the long form content, I'll usually ask clients like, where do they feel like they shine? Like, where? Where are they the most comfortable? What are they what do they enjoy creating the most? For me, it used to be video, like I could record a video and cover a topic. And maybe I would edit it, maybe I wouldn't, I throw it up on YouTube. And that would be my piece of long form content. 

And so from there, I might have it transcribed, turn it into two or three blog posts, so it's broken up once already, then taking those other pieces and taking small video clips of maybe like a really strong point you've made in your video. Or if your podcast is your long form content, breaking that down into things like audio snippets, quotes that can be made into a graphic and creating though like a folder of broken down pieces of content that you can go back to again and again. So six months from now, maybe Lauren, you're having a conversation with somebody else about email marketing, and you go into your folder from content, you create it from this podcast, like a graphic or something and you can share that out without re doing the work. 

I think of it a little bit as like mosaics you know how like you have this like china plate that's like the piece you're starting with and you break it up into a million pieces. And then you can kind of use it to make 10 different things in different ways. And some pieces are smaller and some pieces are bigger, but you're not recreating the plate every time you sit down to plan your content for the month. So it really depends where you're most comfortable. Now I'm most comfortable with blog posts, I have somebody that helps me write them so I kind of outline the ideas and flesh out the cons the the ideas and the information that I want people to have and then she helps me make it more blog SEO searchable and all that kind of stuff because I'm not great at that. But that's where I start because then I have written words I can copy and paste and go back to that way.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Yeah, I love that nonstick analogy. That's That's so clever. Another thing you said I just wanted to reiterate to make sure people caught is don't be afraid to reuse content actually. Something I did recently was like just scroll through a bunch of my old posts. And there were some in there that I did not even remember posting or writing or creating the graphic for like, it felt new to me. So if me as the person who created that content forgot about it, even if your audience member didn't see it, the likelihood that they remember it, that they read every word that they would recognize it. Like that's already a very low likelihood, as we talked about earlier in this conversation, we get such a low reach on social as it is. And not everyone is following us in all places. 

So if I do a podcast episode today about email, I can post like Katie said, I can post little snippets of this conversation across all my other platforms, Instagram, Pinterest, I can talk about it on Clubhouse, like this content can really work hard for me in a lot of different ways. And that almost like broadens my audience because it's, it's sharing this content a lot wider than if I just recorded this episode, I published it. And then that was it. Like, only the people who listened to my podcast religiously, would be sure to get the content, whereas when I split it up and kind of disseminated across a lot of different platforms, I reach a lot more people with it. So such a good point there. Do you have any like specific tricks or hacks that you use when it comes to repurposing content that you could share with people?

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, and you made me just think of one, when you were talking about like, you went back and looked at old posts. Sometimes I'll go back. And actually not sometimes I do this a lot. I'll go back into old Instagram posts, because the insights are really easy to see. And I'll look at what posts got a lot of engagement interaction. And sometimes it's the weirdest posts, and so I'll repurpose, I'll just repost those, I might change the caption, or edit the photo if I feel like it. The one that I have, I have to look and see what's different now. But for the longest time, the most popular Instagram post I had was a picture of my slippers. Like that was really all it was. And I was like, Okay, I guess we're gonna reuse this lens. But I think that, don't be afraid, like you said to recycle those posts over because the people who are following you now, maybe weren't following you, the first time you posted it. And even if they were, they probably didn't see it. Even if they saw it, they probably won't remember. And if anything, it might feel familiar, which isn't bad. It's like watching your favorite movie or a rerun of a show you've seen you might get something from it, you didn't get the first time. So don't worry about it. No one is going to be like, Oh my god, Lauren posted that six months ago, what does she do? No one cares. No one cares. And no one notices. Most people are probably like in the bathroom scrolling through Instagram, they're not thinking a lot about whether or not you've done this before. Revisit it, maybe refine that a little bit, and don't be afraid to recycle it for sure.

Lauren Tilden  

So good, yeah, I think this just what came to mind for me is like, really the concept of branding. And building a brand is all about repetition. So people should hear you talking about the same things over and over again, that's not boring. That's like helping to establish you as an expert or a credible authority in these three categories. So yeah, don't be afraid. And in fact, I encourage everyone to really lean into have a few things that you talk about a lot like of course, take a different angle to it most of the time, then don't like just copy paste the same post every day. Of course, we're not suggesting you do that. But just the concept of creating some unknown pattern and consistency with the types of things you talk about. 

That is a good thing that is not about things. So you talk about time management a lot. Are there any other time management strategies that you would share with listeners as small business owners who, like you say like marketing is one thing that we have to do, but most of us have a lot more than just marketing on our plate. So how do we balance all the different responsibilities that most of us have in our business? Do you have favorite ways to approach that?

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, I feel like I am not great at doing it consistently all the time. But I have little tricks that I use to sort of get myself back in line like create those better habits. 

So time blocking is something that I'm doing right now because there's literally no structure or routine in my house and it's driving me crazy. So every morning I write, you know, I write on a pad of paper, like the hours in the day that I'm going to be functioning, and what I want to get done or what needs to get done. And then I cross it off as I go, I might add things. But it gives me a sense of accomplishment instead of just feeling busy. But also it gives me a realistic picture of how long things actually take or whether or not I'm spending too much time on something. I will say that over the past quarter, probably, I went, the pendulum swung in one direction a little too far with how much marketing I was doing, I was spending a ton of time on Clubhouse and social media, and I was tired. And I, I just wasn't feeling it. 

And I started tracking my time using an app called Toggle. And you can use it for tracking time to like submit to clients or whatever, but I just use it for my own purposes. So then I started tracking like how much time I'm spending on networking. I can I can use words, networking, marketing, actual client work, follow up, like mental health and self care like, is important. And what I realized is it was completely out of whack. And I needed to like spend less time on marketing and more time on following up with previous clients and things like that. So I think just looking at how you're spending your time, literally, and then adjusting it from there. And kind of checking in with yourself is really the best time management tool, things like timers and stuff work too, but that doesn't really work for me, I get too stressed out about a timer going. So yeah, Toggle and then just time blocking work from you really well.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, that's such a good point that, you know, looking at where you're spending your time isn't necessarily just like, sit down and think about it. I don't think any of us have a great sense of like, exactly where every hour is going, or every minute, even. So I love the suggestion to like, you know, spend a couple of weeks tracking everything you do in your business, like, Okay, for this hour and 15 minutes, I worked on podcasting, then I spent two hours on social media, like maybe that wasn't the best use of my time.

So we can't really, you know, evaluate how efficient we're being without having like a clear and accurate awareness of where our time actually is going. So, such a great suggestion and something I should be doing. I completely relate to you and like, I love marketing, I'm sure you do too, which is why you do what you do, it can be so easy to spend all your time doing it. And yeah, we have, all of us have other sides of our business as well. So are you someone who talks about batching regularly?

Katie Guenther  

Um, I in theory, in theory, again, like all of these tips, I am not super consistent all the time with them. Batching is a tool I use, but I'm not one of those people who like every first of the month, I sit down and I batch all my content. Because sometimes I like to be spontaneous and create content on the fly, as I'm thinking of it so, but when I know I've got stuff coming down the line, or you know, before the holidays, I know I'm not gonna work very much I might you know, batch content. Sometimes I'll batch my email, like I'll do all the emails for the month ahead of time, so I don't have to think about it, but I highly recommend it, I just don't always do.

Lauren Tilden  

Well, I like that you're admitting that because I think you don't have to do some, like you don't have to do these tactics every single day of your life for them to help you. You know, doing them when you need it is still helpful and it's like,  I personally can fall into the trap of like all or nothing thinking like, either I have this like extremely detailed batching framework that I do consistently every single day, or I don't do batching at all. Like that's kind of how my brain wants to work. 

So I've been trying to give my permission myself permission to do exactly what you're saying like when you need the kind of supercharge productivity then yes, do batching and I've done that when I'm taking a break from work or over the holidays I did double episode. So I have a lot more work to do with the podcast. And yeah, I batched all of that,  I went to a hotel for a weekend and just did podcasting for the whole weekend. But do I have a rigorous batching habit? No. So thank you for that permission to just use these tips when when we really need them, but don't feel like you have to do just, I don't know, just don't feel like you have to do it all the time. Do it when it's, it's helpful to you.

Katie Guenther  

Right? I don't think many of us have time to be that rigorous, like, you know, we're, we own our own businesses and things kind of ebb and flow. And so it wouldn't really, if you think about it, it doesn't make sense for us to be rigid in how we do things. When everything around us ebbs and flows. It's like, you kind of have to, like, what fun is that? That sounds awful.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Yeah. I mean, there's only so much we can control. So yeah, just gotta go with it. Sometimes. Especially I know you're a parent, I am a brand new parent. A lot of your time is out of your control anyway. So yeah, just give ourselves a break. I vote for that for sure. 

Katie Guenther  

Exactly. 

Lauren Tilden  

How do you approach doing good through your small business?

Katie Guenther  

I think we've like, we've sort of talked about it a little bit in the sense that, like, I seek out and also find myself aligned with other business owners that have parts of their lives, that they have to juggle with their business, like raising kids or caring for parents, chronic illness, mental illness, whatever it is. And so, I tried to create a business that helps support that reality. And helping clients or even just people that are in my network, help them work in a way where they can juggle those things be realistic about what is possible, and what is sometimes not possible. And I tried to be supportive. And I also tried to talk honestly about my own struggles, because I think we've passed the point of like, trying to prove that we've got everything down and that we're perfect is that's just not real life. 

And I think that it's still new to talk about that it's still sort of uncomfortable for a lot of business owners, especially in like the age demographic that I tend to work with. It's like, when I can relate and say, Oh, no, I didn't work last week at all, because you know, I have this emergency thing pop up. And that took priority. It's like people are relieved to hear that other people struggle to have a life and run a business. And so I think just being open and honest about that with clients, with people I network with and just in life, help other people I know it helps me when other people are like, Oh my God, I am struggling. Like oh my god we are, I've been there I get and then other than that, we do donate like a percentage of my businesses under my husband's corporation. So we have a two entrepreneur family. So we donate a percentage of money to causes that you know, means something to us. And then we also, we do a lot of like Amazon stuff for our business and so we use like Amazon smile and I think right now our Amazon smile account donations, go to camp 10 trees and which is an organization that's really important to us. And so yeah, just trying to be like real so other people feel comfortable being real. And then you know, giving back in ways that feel important to us, too.

Yeah. Yeah. So good. Um, what is one small business you admire?

I had the hardest time coming up with an answer for this. Like, I had so many in my head. I was like, oh, but then there's that other business down the street and then another. So God I have the hardest time, I think just any I know. I think just any business that is willing to evolve and change and, like, admit, when they mess up, or admit when they're pivoting or admit when Hey, we thought this cool thing we're gonna do it was gonna work and you're gonna love it. Okay, for example, there's a company called rubies, and it's a dad and daughter, and the dad design In underwear and bathing suits for trans girls, and adults now, I think. And so we joined their, I don't know, their crowdfunding, I forget what they did. And it was so exciting. And they were going to release this line of underwear. And we gave money to that cause. And then they couldn't release it. And they wrote an email to everybody on their list. And they were like, we thought this was gonna be awesome. We were solid with our design, we really believe in it. But no, like, the demos that would come back to them, none of them were good enough. And so they scrapped the whole project. 

And they're like, we'll get back to it, but we're just going to scrap it. Nothing has been up to our standards or satisfaction, and we're so sorry. And we hope that you will consider, you know, we, I think they offered to give people their money back. And I wrote back and I was like, No way, are you kidding me? Like just the fact that they weren't wrong, they just were open and shared what was happening and like I can relate to that struggle, they're trying to do so many good things, and it just didn't work out. And hopefully they'll use that $100 we gave them and other people gave them to like, do something else. Awesome. Yeah, that was a really long answer. But I think just like, businesses that are honest, and are just trying to help other people, I think is so important. We all have to do that in small ways, in big ways.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. Yeah. And I just you've made this point a couple times. But I like the point that kind of pulling back the curtain sometimes and showing what's hard, or what you've struggled with, of course, share things that are safe for you to share. But, you know, it's that doesn't make you less of a business that people should hire from. In fact, it makes you more human to write. Because you can, I can relate to someone who struggles like everyone struggles, right? So I like, I really like that you're highlighting that. Like, it's okay. 

In fact, Katie is suggesting that it's something to admire when you see a small business, who's like, you know, yeah, willing to be honest and own up to mistakes, and, you know, be transparent about how things are going. I think there's this narrative, like a kind of like a put your best foot forward narrative with small business or small business really, somehow that like, you can only show the good side. And, you know, that's what your marketing should be. And I totally disagree with that. Um, I hear that you do also. So, yeah, such a good point that, yeah, opening up and being honest and transparent, like that. Probably Katie gave you more respect. And, you know, you're sharing about this company now on a podcast, like you were so impressed with how they handled that. So yeah, great point. 

Katie Guenther  

Well, and I want to spend my money with human beings, right, like, any time, I can give my money to a human being, instead of like, just the giant building, then I am all for it. So I mean, of course, there's such thing as oversharing. Like, I don't want to see you on a Zoom call in your underwear. But like, if you're having a hard day, like that's okay, share it, you know?

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. Yeah, totally. What is one book that you would recommend to the listeners?

Katie Guenther  

I am reading Atomic Habits right now, I think the author's name is James Clear. And I, I'm in the middle of it. So I don't know all of the messages that are in there. But the reason I am sticking with it and kind of taking my time with it is, and we sort of talked about this a minute ago of like, it's not about having these rigid habits, these like, it's to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to get up at 5am and blah, blah, blah, blah, it's not about that at all. 

It's really, he kind of has this great perspective of coming from a place of you, find out the habits that work best for you. And when you fall off track, go back to those habits, like habits are tools in your toolbox. And we can't do all the things all the time and we slip and we fall off the wagon and just go back to those habits when you know that they work. And the more you practice them, the easier it gets to go back to them. But I love that idea of creating healthy habits, but not feeling like you have to live by them either.

Lauren Tilden  

So good. That's the book. I've heard that book recommended before and I have not read it. So I'm gonna push that forward to the top of my list. Okay, Where can listeners connect with you online, and if you want to share, I know you had another resource that I think would probably be really helpful for people about lead magnets. If you want to share a little bit about that, that would be great too.

Katie Guenther  

Yeah, so you can join my email list by downloading any of my freebies. My website is Belablue.com And I've got the email platform comparison chart that we mentioned earlier. And then I also have a lead magnet guide. And that's at Belablue.com/leadmagnet, I think. But I think the actual link will be in the show notes. But that is a two page guide that tells you what qualifies as like a good, efficient, effective lead magnet. So if you're trying to grow your email list, then you're kind of stuck on what to offer besides maybe a discount. And then the second page is 30 plus ideas of lead magnets that you can use. And a lot of times people telling me that they already have something in their content box or whatever  that they could use as a lead magnet that they hadn't even thought of. So definitely check those out. I think they're really helpful. And if you do create a lead magnet and a signup form you totally share with me I love to see what people come up with.

Yeah.  Amazing. Katie, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. We did not share this yet. But I had a disaster of a time with my internet and a coffee spill and all kinds of things this morning. So thank you for being so patient with me. Thanks for everything you've shared about email and repurposing and just like giving permission to be yourself and your marketing and in your business. I think so much magic in this episodes. I'm really excited to share it. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. I loved having this conversation. This is so great.

Lauren Tilden  

Oh my gosh, I always love a good content conversation. And this one, Katie did not disappoint. I mentioned this at the top of the episode but do not forget to get on the waitlist for the content collab a one day event on September 24. With Katie, myself and some of our other small business marketing trends are covering everything from big heart and marketing. That's my session to the customer journey repurposing content, email marketing, cohesive content, and more. Head to the content collab.co for more info, or you can check out the link in the show notes of this podcast. 

I know that Katie and I would both love to connect with you on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening to the episode and tag us both. You can find Katie at @emailkatie, and I'm at @LaurenTilden. Everything mentioned in this podcast episode can be found at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/76 If this is your first time tuning in, and you're interested in learning more about what I do, check out the Good Business free Facebook community for this podcast with accountability exclusive content and great community at makinggoodpodcast.com/community how I can help with their small business marketing at Laurentilden.co. My plant inspired greeting cards, vinyl stickers, and art prints Good Sheila at goodsheila.com And the Seattle retail shop Station Seven at station7seattle.com. Thank you for being here and for focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time.

72: How to Use Instagram (Mindfully) to Grow Your Biz in Less Time with Chris Emmer

72: How to Use Instagram (Mindfully) to Grow Your Biz in Less Time with Chris Emmer

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host Lauren Tilden and this is episode 72. Just like last week, if my audio quality isn't quite up to what you're used to hearing, I apologize. I've had a couple of unexpected family things come up, which led to quite a bit of travel and I'm heading straight into a family trip away and wasn't able to get my planned episodes out. But today I have a treat for you. This episode is all about Instagram. It is actually a replay of the second interview I did with the amazing Chris Emmer, founder of mindful social. But before we get into the episode, I have a couple of important things to say. 

First, let's talk about content. One thing I hear over and over again, is I can't figure out what to say in my marketing. If that sounds like you, I have an awesome workbook that will walk you through a process for generating a lot of great content ideas, your audience will love to download it for free head to makinggoodpodcast.com/content. 

Second, I invite you to join other values driven small business owners for great content, countability, and lots of business and marketing inspiration. It all takes place in the free Facebook community for this podcast, the Good Business community. The link will be in the show notes or you can go to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected. 

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, there are a few ways that you can help to spread the love. First, I would still love for you to leave a review on Apple podcasts or Stitcher to help others find the podcast. And second, take a screenshot while you're listening and tag me on Instagram at Lauren Tilden. That's @laurentilden I would still love to connect with you and cheer you on. 

Okay, so let's talk about my conversation with Chris. In this episode, we talked about how we can set healthy boundaries with social media get super strategic, and see more results in less time. Chris is the founder of Mindful Social CO and the Mindful Social Club, a group program that helps business owners connect with the right audience on Instagram without being online 24/7. I love Chris's approach to social media. It is about providing value, being strategic and getting more results with less mindless scrolling, hopefully something that we are all about. 

In this episode, we talk about the magic question how we can increase our results and spend less time on social media. We talked about how social media can be harmful, how Chris's life has changed since she set some boundaries with social media, how to actually change your behavior on social media. She has a five step process. Why content buckets or content pillars are important. Where to find your ideal customer on Instagram. And Chris walks us through a quick exercise to set up a posting schedule and themed days for Instagram stories. There's so much more here. I think you're gonna really enjoy this episode. Chris is an amazing human. Here's our conversation. Chris, welcome back to the podcast.

Chris Emmer  

Thanks for having me back. Lauren.

Lauren Tilden  

So excited. Your first episode is one of the most downloaded episodes of the entire podcast of all what are we at now? 30 Something episodes. So I feel like the people have spoken, they want to hear more of what you have to say. We're gonna have a slightly different angle to our conversation last time. But before we do get into kind of the bulk of the episode for anyone who hasn't listened to the first episode or may not be familiar with you. Can you give a quick intro to yourself? And while you're at it well, you mention the name change of your business what it was before what it is now? Why?

Chris Emmer  

Oh my god. Yes, absolutely. I was just wondering if the last time I was on here, my business had a different name. So come for me. Yes, yes, it did. For anyone who I haven't met, my name is Chris and I run a business called Mindful Social Co where I work with business owners to help them figure out how to show up on Instagram to connect with their perfect audience to have organic engagement, effortless connections that lead to conversions without having to show up every single day or without having to sell their soul to the algorithm or feel like crap the whole time that they're doing it. 

So I love finding kind of the middle path between the people who are of the hustle show up everyday mentality and the people who live in a world with no social media. So I love to find the balance where we find a way to make Instagram work for you not just for your business but holistically in your life, which leads me directly to the reason for the name change. My previous business name was Sweaty Wisdom. And Sweaty Wisdom really became my business name on accident. Because this was the name of a blog that I started almost a decade ago, when I was making the decision to leave my corporate ad agency job and start my entrepreneurial career. 

At the time, I was scared out of my mind, and I had almost nobody who supported my decision. But there was something in me, this voice deep down, that knew I had to make a change that I couldn't keep going down the path that I was on. And I just felt this calling the deepest and I got the clarity and the confidence to make this not so popular decision when I was sweating my butt off in hot yoga class. So the blog name was Sweaty Wisdom. And it was a blog that I started without telling anybody in my life I was doing it. I just wanted a creative outlet. And it sort of grew organically into a business and the name stuck. And years later, honestly, almost a decade later, I still had this name, Sweaty Wisdom. And a great business name is something that's clear, it tells people what you do and what you're all about. So it was dumb, was cute, but it wasn't clear. So it was time for the change. Even though that too was scary, Mindful Social, sums up what I do a little bit better. So I'm super proud of myself this year for having made that switch.

Lauren Tilden  

I love your name change, I feel like it's so just I've known you both before and after the name change. I actually love the original business name, but I feel like it's so aligned with kind of your philosophy and the work that you do. Let's dig into this a little bit. I feel like you're a bit of a kind of conundrum an oxymoron in that you are an Instagram marketing coach and yet you are focusing on kind of helping people set boundaries and using social media less even. Can you explain how this works? Like how can we both increase our results in marketing, and also spend less time on social media? 

Chris Emmer  

This is the golden question. I, deep in my soul have a belief that if you are adhering to a strategy that doesn't feel good for you, either one, you are not going to stick to it, and you won't stay with it for the long game to see results. Or two, you're going to burn out and feel like crap in the process. And if you feel like crap on the way to your goal, when you hit the goal, you're not, that's not going to be the magic pill that cures it. 

So what I have seen and found from working very closely with entrepreneurs for the past, you know, five to 10 years is that no one is talking about what's happening on the inside when we're showing up on social media every single day. And there is some really hard hitting data, there are tons of studies that show the negative impact that social media has on us. 

Luckily, within the past year, a lot of awareness has been shown on this through documentaries like the social dilemma. And it's just becoming a larger part of our dialogue, which I think is so important and was shocked that no one was talking about it until now. But I truly believe that for your business, to have longevity, for your marketing strategies to have longevity, you have to feel good about them, they have to work for you or else it's going to fizzle out. I had a long period of my life before I had a kid when I was a yoga teacher at night. And during the day, I worked on marketing and social media and advertising strategy. And I really felt like I led this double life where everyone in the ad and marketing world was fast paced, go go go. Here's another red bullet stay up all night. And then I would go into the yoga studio, fly through the door hot off the heels of a super long day at work. And I would tell everyone to breathe deeply and to connect with themselves and chant ohm. And it was such a disconnect. And it felt so strange to be in those two worlds at once that I found myself really craving that center point. 

And now I can look back and see that what I was craving is the viewpoint that I'm able to express now which was the middle path where you can kind of have the best of both worlds. You can have all the good things, all the great opportunities that can come from social media, but you can really minimize the negative impacts that it can have on your life.

Lauren Tilden  

So personally, like since you talked about kind of your before picture, which is the hustle and bustle of the marketing world and even into your business. I feel like what I've heard you say before is you didn't always have the best social media habits. How has your life changed since you started implementing some boundaries and kind of a more mindful and thoughtful approach to social media?

Chris Emmer  

Hmm. In the beginning of my business, I had no balance and zero boundaries, it was just full hustle all the time. It looks good on the outside, but on the inside, I was frying. Now, I still didn't think that there was another way I just thought, you know, quote, unquote, this is how it has to be. 

Then I became a mother and the world flipped upside down. So this decision, I always felt the need for it. I don't know if I would have implemented these boundaries without being forced to by having a small child that was totally dependent on me. When I became a mom, I was forced to slow down, I was forced to sit with myself, to not tie my productivity or my amount of hustle with my worth. It was really hard. And it was the best lesson of my life, a lesson that I'm still learning every single day. During this time, I had to get really serious about the way that I was using social media for both my business and at the time, I had over a handful of social media management clients. 

So I wasn't just online growing my own business, but like six or seven clients, businesses as well. So I came to a point where I had been showing up just simply wasn't gonna fly anymore. Honestly, it felt like a fork in the road where my choices were to find a different way to show up or find a different career path. And luckily, I've decided to find a different way that I could show up for my business for my clients business, that was a more doable middle path and didn't feel so depleting. They got results in the honored rest and wellness and time offline, and all the things that make life so great. So now, I love to help people find this way as well. I really think life's too short to spend it all online. And I think that more and more of us are becoming aware of this and realizing that we want to be efficient. We want to show up online. But we don't want it to suck our brains out of our heads every time we scroll our phones. Hmm.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. What are some of the like, the negatives of sort of, let's say people imagine someone who doesn't have any of these like important boundaries, they just kind of, like find themselves stuck in the scroll. Or if you're, you know, waking up every day and like, what am I going to post today? And it just takes away too much of their life? And then, you know, what are some of these, like real negative impacts that people listening might relate to?

Chris Emmer  

Oh, okay. Let me pull up a few studies here. Okay, here are some of my favorite ones. The first one is a study from the Royal Society of public health showed that social media is more addictive than both cigarettes and alcohol. I don't know about you, but part of I don't know a lot of people who consider smoking cigarettes to be part of their job. I know. Probably like 90% of the people I'm friends with have social media as part of their job. So I think that's a really slippery slope. And something to be super aware of. I also think there's like this lag going on, where we have a cultural awareness of the negative effects of cigarettes or alcohol. But we don't have those same negative connotations yet of social media, I think they're starting to develop and they'll get stronger. 

But there's this cultural lag, where if you're sitting down at the Thanksgiving dinner table, and you whip out your phone and check Instagram, no one's gonna think that's very weird. Your mom might look at you like, Where are your manners, but it's not gonna cause a huge to do like pulling out a Marlboro and lighting up a cigarette at the table. And so I think there's an interesting thing happening there. 

Another stat, I mean, there are just studies upon studies upon studies showing the declines in mental health. Occasional users of social media, so people, this middle path that we're talking about are almost three times less likely to be pressed to be depressed than heavy users. A recent study showed that people who limited their social media use to a half hour a day had significantly lower depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to a control group which is really interesting. 

Other negative effects not just on our physical not just on our mental health, but also on our physical health is poor sleep in both quality and quantity is really strongly associated with nighttime specific social media use. So we know sleep is super important. We know we feel like crap without it. But sleep gives the brain and the body a chance for rest and renewal. So disturbed sleep has been consistently associated with poor mental health. Moreover, heavy social media usage can contribute to headaches, migraines and vision problems. So it's not just our mental health, but also our physical health. 

Lauren Tilden  

I feel like there are two conversations I want to kind of focus on as we kind of take this conversation forward. 

One is, how do we do it such that we see more results from our social media strategy and planning and execution with less time and less of the negative impacts? That's Part A, and then Part B is maybe, how do you actually start spending less time? You know, like, I think, as you mentioned, there's like this very addictive component to social media where you might know that maybe you shouldn't be up at like 11:45pm scrolling while you're laying in bed, instead of trying to go to sleep or read or something else. But it doesn't mean you're necessarily going to make that change. So why don't we start with that second part of the conversation? Like if you're kind of sold on this idea that social media is not, maybe something you should be spending as much time as you currently are? Every day? how do we go about making a change?

Chris Emmer  

Hmm, good question. So if you are feeling like, oh, I don't have the best habits, but I also don't know how to actively stop my habits, or transform them. There are five steps you can take. 

The first step is awareness, just figure out what the heck it is that you're actually doing, how much time you're actually spending, iPhones have a screen time features. So you could if you have an iPhone, just go to set. Actually, if you're listening to this right now, and you're not driving and you have your phone in your hand, go to settings and then screen time. In there, you're going to find a lot of really juicy nuggets, like your daily phone time, and a lot of other scary stats. 

Once you're there, you can hit see all activity there, you can go more in depth and see specifics for individual apps. So you can head down to Instagram from that list, and see details on your Instagram usage specifically. So check out your statistics for today. And also check out your weekly average for Instagram usage. When you see these numbers, chances are they're going to be higher than what you expected. Those little check ins really add up in a way that we don't realize. So it can be kind of eye opening and shocking to see this number. So just be prepared that is probably going to be higher than you expect. But fine, having that light of awareness on it and thinking like oh my gosh, am I really dropping three hours a day into this app can be the motivation that gets you to make a change. 

The next thing to do is to set some intention to it, how much time do you actually want to be spending? So if you are in a dream world, how much time per day? Would you want to be on the app? And then it's time to test it? Is it realistic? Or is it not realistic. So if you are currently at, say three hours a day on Instagram, and you wish you spent just a half hour per day on there, it's probably not a great idea to switch your goal from three hours to 30 minutes overnight, you're really kind of setting yourself up for failure in that circumstance. If you want to build confidence and forward motivation, it's small steps. 

So you can begin by maybe 15 minutes each week, decreasing your app usage. And really celebrating those wins as you begin to go knowing that it's a process that certain times you're going to slip up, but being patient with yourself as you start to retrain your brain, but making those smaller, more incremental steps rather than I wanted to go cold turkey and I couldn't do it. I'm a failure, I give up, you can slowly build confidence that way. 

Another thing you can do, the third step would be strategy, what's taken up all the time? What the heck are you doing while you're on there, so you can start to break it down. Maybe 50% of the time you're, you're scrolling and calling your research, maybe 25% of the time you are commenting and engaging. And then the other part of the time you're just cruising through hashtags, trying to think of content ideas, try to break down the amount of time that you're actually in the app and then think, Is this necessary? Where can I trim the fat? Where can I plan ahead and sort of reduce the time that I'm actually in here. 

Once you got those steps in place, the fourth step is to get efficient through batching content creation, having a system to get it done to drop into your zone of genius single task and just write your posts all at once. Lauren, you know that I love this more than anything. And then the fifth step is boundaries, setting up app limits and the days that you are on or off so you can in your iPhone. Again, if you're an iPhone user, you can set this up right inside your phone by going to you can set up downtime. So that's the time in the evening that you log off and in the morning that you log on. 

So I recommend being off your phone at least an hour if you can two hours before bed, and then giving yourself at least like a half 30 minutes to an hour in the morning to just sit with your genius brain and your beautiful thoughts before you let social media come bouncing in your brain. Weekends off can be really tough. But I think it's good to start with small steps with us. So maybe you just choose one day per week to delete the phone off your app. If you're uncomfortable deleting Instagram off your phone, you can start a folder that just says no. Drop your social media apps in it. And then I would drag that folder all the way to the farthest right screen. So you really have to work for it.

Lauren Tilden  

Love. And there are things like this  for non iPhone users too.

Chris Emmer  

Yes, there's an app called Break Free. That's really good for non iPhone users.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. So good. I think something interesting that you said there that kind of gave me a little bit of an aha moment is, I think sometimes we do consider like the time that we're scrolling as engagement. But you have a really different approach to engagement that I really like that doesn't involve just like opening up the app, scrolling through your main feed and like occasionally liking or commenting on something can you share about engagement spreads and how this might be like a more conscious probably also will definitely more effective way to engage?

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, definitely. So the problem with scrolling your feed and just double tapping a post here and there is that you are only seeing the posts of people who are, who you're already connected to in some way. Which is great. It's awesome and important to live up on the people in your existing audience and in your existing community. But if what you're looking for is to grow your audience, and you're not seeing that number go up, that might be the disconnect. So in order to grow, you have to interact with people who you don't usually interact with. 

So for an engagement sprint, I recommend, and again, I love a good timer, because you know, not because I am a weird timer lady. But because Instagram is specifically designed to get you sucked into it, right? There's notifications, there's red dots, there's all these new features. And so I find that, at least for me, if I don't set up a timer, 25 minutes can go by and I think it's been five minutes. 

So for an engagement sprint what I do is set a stopwatch, a timer on my phone, or if you have like little kitchen timer, you can do that for five minutes and do three five minutes segments. So for each of the five minute segments, you are going to search for one hashtag in your target demo. The people who you want to be reaching with your content, the people who are perfect for your offer spent five minutes in one hashtag, you would be going through the most recent posts right now most reason is disabled, but hopefully it will be back by the time this podcast comes out. From the election. Yeah, it's still disabled. Oh, wow. Okay. Oh. So you had searched for your first hashtag, go into the most recent posts. And then for your designated five minutes, start commenting. Begin at the top with the most recent posts, you want to read the entire caption and comment in a genuine way, by replying to either something directly from the caption, if they have a call to action question, you can reply to that. Or if there's not a specific question, replying to something specifically from the caption or something specific from the photo, something that shows that you are a real human, and that you paid attention to it. If you think about how good it feels when someone answers your CTA, remember that feeling. So that's exactly what you're putting out there. 

The idea with your five minutes is not quantity of comments and engagement is quality. So if it takes you, you know, double the time to leave a high quality comment, that's worth it. When your timer goes off, after five minutes, you're going to switch to another hashtag shift gears do the same for the next one. And then you're going to repeat that once more. So this takes 15 minutes overall, which is not a ton of time, chances are you're probably spending more than 15 minutes right now per week, quote unquote, engagement. And so you know, once a week is great, twice a week fine, too, I would say start small. See how it feels, and see how your account starts to change how your relationship with your audience starts to change doing this.

Lauren Tilden  

So good. And I just can attest to these. Like it's a little bit for me at least counterintuitive that spending more time and talking to less people would actually be a way you can grow your like platform and your network on social media, but it actually does work. And if you kind of think about being on the other end of it like if I'm scrolling around on social media and I'm reading the comments on someone's post, If someone just says like five emojis, I'm like, not that interested. But if they say something really thoughtful and interesting, I'm like, oh, like, that's, that's interesting. Let me go see what that is, you know. So I feel like a lot of this stuff with social media, If you just try to put yourself in the shoes of like, What would someone else want? You know, what would I want someone to comment on my posts or respond to my story? And you kind of act that way? It's, it makes things a lot easier, like, how do I actually do this?

Chris Emmer  

Exactly. And it's really easy to feel overwhelmed every time a new update comes out, or there's a new trend or you know, whatever new shiny object is out in the app that week. But just like you said, Lauren, if you just put yourself in the shoes of a being someone on Instagram, what would you like, on your account? How would that engagement feel to you? And then use that as your compass? 

Lauren Tilden  

So good. Okay, so let's get on to the juicy part where we talk about getting more results in less time, which I think you use the word efficiency before, which is exactly what that is. So how do we get more efficient with the time we do spend on social media?

Chris Emmer  

Mm hmm. I feel like Lauren, you're kind of the queen of this. You've gotten so efficient, and you have so many accounts, it's amazing.

Lauren Tilden  

I wouldn't recommend it. By the way, if anyone's thinking about having four accounts, like not a fan, it's it just kind of had to be that way for me but.

Chris Emmer  

Forced you to get hyper efficient.

Lauren Tilden  

Well, I learned from you and so I'm asking you this question.

Chris Emmer  

All efficiencies starts with the non glamorous, non sexy stuff, which is strategy. It's doing the foundational work. So you've got to figure out and get crystal clear on who you're trying to talk to, and what you're talking to them about. And what are the topics that you repeat yourself on and your brand personality, how it is that you communicate all of the like base layer stuff that everyone wants to skip over. 

That's the stuff that actually speeds up your process later on. So trying to like skip over the initial strategy, I think is a mistake that will keep users at a slower pace and make it more painstaking to create new content than it needs to be. So I would just emphasize the importance of strategy of knowing your what, your why, your how all that stuff that seems so beginner and even if you think you know that, like the back of your hand for your account, but you haven't revisited in a while, it might be a good time to just do a check in and think okay, what am I talking about here and use that as your LaunchPad from there. 

Once you're clear on who you're talking to, what you're talking to them about, how you're saying all those fun things, it can be really helpful and a huge time saver to set some sort of loose schedule for yourself. How buttoned up your schedule is, is going to depend on your personality type 100%, some people love to get all their posts done two months ahead of time, like Anna, who's in the membership community. In our last co working session, she finished all her posts for 2020. She was like I'm done. I'm good until January. So for her that feels liberating. For me, I kind of like to be a little bit more loosey goosey and like open to inspiration and a little bit more fluid. So for me, that would make me feel crazy. But a loose structure can be set up so that you have the benefits of planning. And you also have the benefits of allowing a little bit of creativity. 

So for a loose structure for Instagram, I would recommend figuring out first of all, how frequently you want to post on your feed, decide it, keep those days the same each week, unless it's a weird week where you've got a launch in the middle of the week or Christmas is on Thursday, something like that. You can basically use this as a template to know what's going on every single week. So let's say every week I want to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'd like to post two times per week. And I know that on in the beginning of the week, my audience reacts really well to inspirational posts, or more emotionally driven, inspiring content. And then on Thursdays, I find that carousel posts or educational posts perform really well with my audience. Then I can say okay, I can look at a calendar, Mark Tuesday and Thursday. These are the days that I'm posting to my feed. More importantly, I can look at the calendar and say, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I don't have to worry about posting I can close out that tab. 

Furthermore, you can start to think about Stories. So stories, I think are something that a lot of us waste so much mental energy on. And they're tons of fun and a great place to connect, but they don't need to kill us in the process. So if we're looking at how often we're showing up on the feed, let's use this example again. So we're showing up on the feed Tuesday and Thursday. That means that we're probably going to be in the Instagram app on Tuesday and Thursday. For this example, let's say we want to show up on stories four times a week, which is totally fine. By the way, you don't need to be on stories every single day. So if we're already going to be on the app on Tuesdays and Thursdays, those are natural fits for story days. And let's say that Wednesday is the day of the week that I book, all my live sessions where I do live teaching where I meet one to one with clients. That day is my busy work day. So from there, I can say, Monday will be a story day, and Friday will be a story day. So now I know, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, I do not have to think for one single second about posting to Instagram stories. 

And again, I find that freedom comes from knowing more so the days that you aren't on, than the days that you are on. Because if you never designate these are the days that I'm offline, it's no wonder that you feel like you're on the content treadmill, and like you can never catch up. So from there, we've got our days planned out for stories, you can give it even more of a loose structure. So Lauren, we kind of did this the last time we talked. 

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, let's definitely walk people through this. This was a very illuminating exercise that I feel like really like this. We did it last time we talked, which was last week. And then this week, I started doing it. And I was like, okay, Monday, I know what I'm doing, took me like, literally 15 minutes, and then I was like check. And then I just like didn't have to feel, you know, the pressure of trying to create something until the next day when I already knew what I was doing. So I would love if you could walk us through that process of kind of setting themes for your stories per day.

Chris Emmer  

Yes. So I find that most people are feeling busy and overwhelmed on Mondays. At least I do. On Monday, I don't have a lot of energy to dump into Instagram stories, I want to kind of get my week figured out, get my bearings. And I'm not ready to show up in a super valuable way for my audience. So rather than stressing out trying to force something, that's not going to be great content anyways, I like to designate Monday as a, quote unquote, community day. So on this day, from here on out, you can think of Monday as the day that you don't have to worry about creating new content whatsoever. Instead, you can take this day, and it doesn't have to be Monday, whatever day you feel stressed, make it that day. 

From here on out, you can use that day as a day to leverage other people's voices. So what you can do is to go into your saved posts on that day and select maybe three to five posts that match either in their theme, what sort of content they're about, or visually, and then you can share each one of these in your stories back to back. When you share them, you want to be sure to tag out the creators handle so that they can see them so that they get tagged in it. And you could even add some text describing what you love about the post or the account. But that's not necessary. 

So on Monday, you're just going to go in, head to your saved posts and share three of other people's posts, tag them in it. When you're doing this, you, A, don't have to create anything new, it's so fast and easy to do. And B, you are again sending out some good karma, you're helping other people get more eyeballs on their accounts, and you are able to leverage other people's voices. Another thing that can happen that's a great side effect is that if you tagged them in the story, they can then share it to their stories, which would give your account potentially more eyeballs. So this can be an awesome way to take some work off your plate and also build community, which is such a win win.

Lauren Tilden  

So good.

Chris Emmer  

For Tuesday, so we just planned out on Monday, that's our community day. So for Tuesday, we are already posting to our feed that day. So we can plan on Tuesday sharing our feed posts to stories, since we're already going to be on there anyways. And then Tuesday can be a great day for doing something a little more dense, maybe an educational story sequence like a mini training or some sort of series that is helpful to your audience or teaches them something. 

So that day could be a really value packed day where you are focused on giving to your audience. For this you could go back into old posts, look at any educational posts you've created in the past year and just repurpose that content into stories. You totally do not have to reinvent the wheel here for Thursday, A, you could do something interactive. Again, I'm just spitballing it off the top of my head, yours can be whatever you want them to be. 

So for Thursday, that could be a day where you're focused on connecting with your audience to listening and having a two way dialogue. So you could do on Thursday may be an Ask Me Anything more in the morning, you put up a question sticker and say, what's your number one frustration about Instagram marketing right now, or asked me anything about building a business online setting some sort of parameters around the Ask me anything. And then in the evening, you could go back in, go through and respond to each of the question stickers. This is again, great for building rapport with your audience, and letting them know that you aren't just there to broadcast a message. You're also listening, which is so important. This will also get your audience in the habit of being heard and having a two way dialogue with you so that the next time you post and you have a question or a CTA in there, people won't feel so awkward about replying to it because they've already started a conversation with you. 

Then what else do we have? We got one more day for stories. Friday can just be a fun day. On Friday, you could post lifestyle contents, let's say you're throwing your ball with your dog in the park, you want to post a cute dog boomerang go for it. This is just kind of like the fun relaxed day. Other ideas for a Friday could be sharing your clients wins for the week. So just something sort of positive. That also is social proof for your business. Or I always love to incorporate at least one day of the week to share your agenda or your to do list. The reason for this is two things. Number one is that you already know what it is. You don't have to write anything new. And you're talking about what it is that you do for work without being promotional. So it reminds your audience Oh, she does one to one strategy sessions. I want to learn more about that without having to say link in bio, swipe up every single time. 

The other thing that is sharing your to do list or your agenda does is it kind of holds you accountable as well. So to recap, Monday, you could do a community share of other people's posts Tuesday, you could do a valuable share, which is like some sort of educational story sequence repurposing old content. Thursday's is connecting with your audience, whether that's doing a live q&a or posting a question sticker and responding to it. And then Friday, letting that be a lifestyle day having some fun with it.

Lauren Tilden  

It's so funny that we're just talking about this right now. Because earlier today, we posted on our Station Seven account like a gift box that we had wrapped up and it had a bunch of different products from different makers in it. And we tagged them and it just like was this pretty image of like a box that was going to be shipped as a gift to someone. And as we've been on this conversation, I've gotten like three or four of those makers, like repost it and be like, Oh, so pretty. Someone asked me about where we got our like eco friendly wrapping. I think it's so easy actually, to engage with people, if you're just thoughtful about it. 

What we did is we, you know, we're promoting that we carry other people's products, when they go to our story, when someone looks at our story, they can go tag, go visit the makers that we've tagged, but then by tagging those makers, they can also choose to like, for them, it's like, Oh, I get to show off that my products are carried in the store. So it's, and then they're promoting us. So it's such a win win. And obviously we didn't do that consciously, really, we just wanted to post that photo. But making sure that you're engaging with people is just, it's surprisingly effective. If you're thoughtful about it.

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, and it doesn't have to take your whole life up. Like it doesn't have to be hours and hours, you can be mindful about it and still be able to build community show up and engage, make people feel loved up and get the job done without having to dump all your time into it.

Lauren Tilden  

So part of using our time wisely is making sure that we're talking to the right people. How do we find these ideal customers? It feels like something a lot of people struggle with.

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, this is like the number one hot ticket question. So really, there are three places that you can find people on Instagram. I mean, if we're just being super zoomed out about it, you can find people through hashtags. 

The hashtags that they're using are a way that they are putting their content into folders and cataloging themselves. So hashtags are a great way to find people. Another way that you can find people is through geo tags. So people are checking in somewhere, whether that's an event or at a physical location. That's the way to find them that may or may not apply to your business. That doesn't apply to a lot of us right now because most of us aren't leaving the couch And then the third way to find people is through other people's accounts. 

So to see where your audience is hanging out, what sort of other pages do they like? who's commenting? What sort of content are they commenting on, you can start to look at parallel accounts, accounts that have the same target audience, but a slightly different offering, and start to use that as a way to look for your ideal audience. And from there really, once you've found a few people who fit the profile of the person that you are trying to connect with, you can sort of put your detective hat on and look at their behavior, what sort of hashtags are they using? What are they posting about? And you can start to go a little bit deeper from there. 

Lauren Tilden  

Okay, I'm gonna pick your brain on one more sort of Instagram strategy question before we transition into kind of the wrap up questions. 

This question is about knowing what to post. So earlier, you mentioned, finally, coming up with this, like when you're strategizing, coming up with a different kind of topics of posts that you're going to do. And I know, at least when I think of the way that you teach this, I think of it in two ways. One, you have the different kinds of posts, so like humanize, educate, inspire. And then the other is like what specific content categories do you share? So for me, like let's say for Station Seven, we share about the makers that we carry, we share about, like what we believe when it comes to small business. So the different kind of topic, angles, can you share your approach to that for anyone who's kind of thinking, okay, like, I'm really bought into this, the boundaries, I'm really bought into sort of batching my content and working on things in advance, but I just don't know what to write. 

Chris Emmer  

So the two ways that you can think about it, and I'm a very visual person. So in my head, I kind of visualized a chart where one axis is your content buckets. And the other axis is your different post types. So different post types would be those that you just listed, educate, entertain, inspire, and humanize. So we've got those. And then on the other axis, we've got your Buckets. Buckets are just a way of saying topics. So what are the three to four topics that you talk about consistently on your account, when you're all over the place, people don't remember you for anything, right? It can be hard to refer someone who talks about a different thing every single day, that accounts that are memorable are the ones that repeat themselves, they're not actually the ones that have the most creative brand new way of saying something over and over. They're the people who touch on the same topics repeatedly. So that you know, this is where I go to learn more about breath work and soothing the nervous system. This is the page that I go to, to learn about Gluten Free Recipes, and low FODMAP foods, things like this. 

So think about the three to four topics that you find yourself talking about over and over, you can know them off the top of your head, most people do. And if you're not sure what they are, you can just brain dump a list of your highest performing posts, and start to see where they group together that can sort of serve as your guide as well. So I know what you're talking about. Those are your buckets. And you know how you're saying it, which is your entertain, inspire, educate, whatever the purpose is, then when you have those two components together, all you got to do is flush out the middle part, which can be so much easier to do with a little bit of structure surrounding it.

Lauren Tilden  

For me, one thing that's been kind of a game changer with social media is just making sure that I have some kind of prompt when I sit down to write, and then I can actually get something out. But if it's like write a post, that's really vague, and I just I need to, I know that the way I work, and I think a lot of other people work this way is giving direction is gonna make you a lot more efficient. So I feel like this matrix you just described as saying, Okay, this is going to be a post about breath work, and it's going to be an inspiring post. And like, that gives me something to go on a lot more than just an Instagram post for this account. 

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, it's totally the blank page is like pouring water on the fire of creativity. I think that when you just have a little bit of structure, it can help your ideas run wild. It's like, yeah, yeah, it can just help your ideas come to life so much easier, where you don't have to sit down and feel like oh, my god, what am I going to do today? And just sort of push pixels around for an hour before you even type anything out.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. And I feel like a lot of what I've learned from you is just like you said, the strategy stuff isn't always like the sexiest part of the process where you have to sit down and like, actually really use your brain and think and brainstorm and, you know, make some decisions about the direction you're gonna go in But that stuff is so important. And once you've sort of laid that foundation down it just like for me now social media now that I have a bit of an approach to it, and I know kind of the things that I talk about on each account and the different types of posts, not that it's easy, I feel like social media is not easy. But I know what I'm doing when I sit down to work on it. And that is, like, that's just a gift. When I think about the years that I've spent just every day sitting down and being like, I should really post something, I have no idea what I would say, just getting really thoughtful about it, whatever that looks like for you will totally change your relationship with social media.

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, I completely agree.

Lauren Tilden  

Let's start to transition a little bit. Since I've already had you on the podcast, we've gotten one recommendation for a book and one business you admire already, but I'm going to make you do it again. So let's start with the business you admire. What is one more business that you admire?

Chris Emmer  

I wonder to what I said last time.

Lauren Tilden  

You said Breathwork 

Chris Emmer  

Oh my gosh, damn, I'm too predictable. I was gonna say another breathwork one. Okay. Well, here we are. Let me think of another business that I admire. Okay. I know, a business that I admire is the Leverage Practice, which is a business run by my really good friend, Stephanie Claremont. And what she does is she helps health practitioners put together online programs, which I feel right now more than ever is so helpful. And she does it in such a crystal clear way that it's just so cool to see the way that she transforms lives. And I'm so I'm so friend proud of her. She also has been like just such a good business friend for me that I have kind of instituted a rule where anything that Steph says I just do it the first time, because they've given me so much advice in the past that, you know, six months to a year later, I said, Oh, I should have listened to Stephanie. Now I just know when she gives you advice. Just take it the first time.

Lauren Tilden  

Love I will definitely definitely link her in the show notes. What is a book that you would recommend?

Chris Emmer  

My book that I'm reading right now and that I'll probably be reading for a while because it is a doozy it's a big one is Women Who Run With Wolves. Have you ever read that, Lauren?

Lauren Tilden  

No. It's actually been on like my radar for a while but I have not. I have not taken the plunge yet. Tell us about it.

Chris Emmer  

Oh, so good. I also I bought this book probably at least 10 years ago, and it's just been on my bookshelf. Like I've been low key avoiding eye contact with it. Everyone says how much their lives but I just like couldn't get myself to crack the cover because it seemed like such a big commitment. And big buck. Oh, it's a big one. Yeah, it's kind of textbook style. Okay. It's by a woman called Clarissa Pinkola Estes. She's a PhD. And it is myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. So what she does is each chapter is a myth or story from a different culture about the wild woman archetype. So the actual story or myth is like, two, three pages long, very short. And then there's probably 30 pages of her analyzing it, which for me, I truly was living my best life and like seventh grade lit class. So I'm really, miss talking to people about books. This is just like, it's everything. It's so good. And you don't have to read it all at once. I do just a little tiny bit each morning with my daughter sitting on my lap. And it's just been so fun to read. So for anyone avoiding eye contact with this book, because it looks too long. Go ahead and dive in.

Lauren Tilden  

Okay, yeah, I actually I didn't really even know. I thought it was about sort of like connecting to your like, inner. Wild, I guess. I don't think I really knew what it was about. So that sounds even better than I thought. And I'm definitely gonna hit it up. Thank you for that recommendation. Now, can you just share like what's new with you? Where can people find you? Where can they learn from you? What kind of what do you have to offer people who might be interested in learning more about your work and maybe going a step further?

Chris Emmer  

Yeah, I am not surprisingly, easiest to contact on Instagram. So if you're listening to this right now, I guess I don't have to say if you're listening because you do shoot me a DM. My handle is @mindfulsocialco and I do have a free workshop coming up. That's going to be super action packed and awesome. So it If you're listening to this and you would like to attend that workshop, just shoot me a DM and tell me that you came from Making Good say, Lauren is awesome and all caps. We gonna get you hooked up to join. And other than that I'm just getting ready to take this membership into the next year and so excited about all that 2021 will hold.

Lauren Tilden  

I know, it's time for a new year.

Chris Emmer  

Let's turn that page. 

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, Chris, thank you so much for coming back on and for giving the people what they want. I think this is such a great sort of addition to our catalogue of episodes that we're building together. And I really hope people take your advice and kind of start to form a better relationship with social media.

Chris Emmer  

Me too. We all deserve it.

Lauren Tilden  

Okay, I love this woman. I know Chris and I both love to hear from you. You can find Chris at @mindfulsocialco, tell her you came from Making Good and me at @LaurenTilden. If you're interested in learning more about mindful social clubs, something that I am a part of probably feel free to DM me and I can send you more info. A couple other things before I wrap up. 

First, I have an awesome guide to creating great marketing content and coming up with new ideas. You can download it free at makinggoodpodcast.com/content. Second, there's a Facebook community of other amazing small business owners and great content just for the group. I would love for you to join at makinggoodpodcast.com/community And finally, if you found this podcast was that helpful or valuable, I'd love to hear from you. Take a screenshot of the episode in your podcast player and tag me on Instagram at @LaurenTilden. You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/72 

If this is your first time tuning in and you're interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out how I can help you with a small business marketing at Laurentilden.co . My plant inspired greeting cards vinyl stickers and art prints goods at Good Sheila at goodsheila.com . My Seattle retail shop Station Seven at station7seattle.com And of course the podcast website makinggoodpodcast.com Thank you for being here and for focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time

74: Elevating Your Voice (+ Breaking Rules) with Kami Guildner

74: Elevating Your Voice (+ Breaking Rules) with Kami Guildner

Lauren Tilden  

Well, Kami Welcome to Making Good.

Kami Guildner  

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.

Lauren Tilden  

I am really excited for this conversation. Let's start with an introduction. I introduced you a bit in an intro to the episode, but we'd love for you to talk a little bit about yourself. What do you do? What's your business? And if you want to share anything about your path getting there, I'd love to hear the story. I know I'm sure audience what as well.

Kami Guildner  

Sure I'm so I am a connector. I'm a storyteller, and I'm a business coach for women, changemakers entrepreneurs, women who are putting their word out into the world and, and really ready to make an impact on the world. I mean, that's a big piece. But I like to. That's who I like to play with. This is influencers and people who are making a difference in the world. So that's who I work with. I've been doing this for over a decade, I run a mastermind program. And I have a podcast called Extraordinary Women radio communities called Extraordinary Women Connect. So I'm very much about bringing women together, having them all share their voices, helping them raise up each other's voice, their visibility and grow their businesses. And I'm doing it with a lot of fun with a lot of other really cool women. Like yourself.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love that I, community is such a big thing for me and my business journey. I think in the beginning, I totally underestimated how powerful and important it is to have a strong community around you. So I'd love for you to just riff on that a little bit. Like what I heard you even use the word community several times in your intro. So obviously, that's a really core thing to you and your business. What is the power of community? Why has that been such a big focus for you?

Kami Guildner  

know, it's been a huge focus for me. I mean, it's when I think about what's made my business work, it's been the communities that I've been, in communities that I've built. And when you start to bring together great women together with great women, it's like it's a one plus one equals five, right? It's, it's it just changes the dynamics of how we can create together. And that's been a core value for me from the very beginning of my business. And it's at one point in my business, in fact, that was introducing women together, like, oh, you need to know this. Well, my love to introduce great women to great women. And I kept doing that over and over again. And that's really where extraordinary women connect came about was because I was always making those kinds of introductions. I'm like, Well, what if I brought all these women together in a room? And what could that what could happen there? And you know, that's where everything really started just grow like crazy.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, it's, it is so powerful. And I think it's easy to underestimate. So I love that that's going to be part of this conversation. Let's talk about building a brand around your clients aspirations and desires and not their pains and fears. And is huge for me, because I feel like sort of this traditional marketing advice is figure out what your client's pain point is. And then like, they actually use the word agitate the pain point. Stir up the pain and like really dig, pour salt in the wound and make them really know how much they hurt in this way, and then sell them something. And this has been sort of in any conventional marketing, I guess, strategy that is so often how it's described. And that just feels kind of icky to me, and I'm sure a lot of listeners, like this podcast is all about doing things, maybe a little bit more ethically, and really, with intention. 

So I when I saw that, that was kind of one of your talking points, I was so excited to get into that. Because just even that sentence, like build your brand around your clients aspirations and desires, not their pains and fears. Like that just makes me so excited. So love to hear your stance on this, like, why is that important? And practically speaking, what does it look like to build your brand around aspirations and desires instead of pains and fears?

Kami Guildner  

Now, I'm glad you wanted to start with this because this is one of my favorite topics. And I'm a classically trained marketer. I was 30 plus years in the corporate world, really, you know, doing branding and marketing and all that sort of thing. And that's what is taught and especially in the world of entrepreneurs, it's really taught to, you know, like you said, just really rub that salt in the wound, whether it's in a sales conversation, whether it's in a marketing and to me when I think about what that does, is it tears people down and it makes them feel less than it makes them doubt themselves even more and We all have enough of our own self doubt, messaging that goes on in our head, and it pulls people down. 

And if we start to shift this and really start to speak to what our client's desires are, instead of their pains, we are raising up and to new possibilities, we're helping them see new possibilities. And when I got really clear about this was, I went, you know, I was following, you know, some of the gurus and the messaging strategies and started reshift in all my marketing language several years back. And I didn't like my marketing message. And it was low vibe, it was low energy. And frankly, I didn't do my business any good. And when I started to realize, well, wait a minute, this is not even how I buy when I invest in my business. I I'm investing into what's possible in my business, what are the things that you know, that I'm not even seeing? And so starting to play with that from a different perspective and change that conversation was really a powerful thing for me to do to go through in my business alone. 

And then when I started teaching it to my clients, I was like, Okay, this is, this is a much better way to raise the elevation, or rate or elevate the vibration, of my clients elevate the vibration of my own marketing, elevate the vibration of our world, because when we, when we see things from aspirational perspectives, we're vibrating on a different energy, right? It's a higher energy approach to marketing. And so when I, when I found that I was like, Okay, this to me feels like much. And when I, when I made that shift in my own business, my business grew exponentially. My clients, businesses did the same. And so, you know, it's just a much better way to do marketing.

Lauren Tilden  

I love your point. But like, you know, when you described your maybe previous marketing strategy, and just felt kind of off and low vibe, I think is the word you use. But I, I feel you're giving permission to kind of like, do what feels good in a sense, like for me, and my marketing, I know that when when I'm really lit up by my marketing strategy, or really anything in my business, I'm excited and like, it just feels like good in your bones to do it. Hopefully, that actually, like, that's real information that, like you're probably on the right track, I think it's easy to, I don't know, try to be really rational about all of these things, marketing, specifically, but you can feel when you're on the right track. Absolutely. point that out.

Kami Guildner  

I love that. And it's you know, and I think when we can tune in to the wisdom that's within us, I mean, that's what you're talking about, right? This feels good, this feels right. That is where you get that high vibration coming in. And the way I teach clients to do this is there's I have a tool called Speak your clients love language. And there's three columns. So if you can imagine a spreadsheet with three columns in it, and or a big white sheet of paper, that you're just handwriting, you know, whatever works for you. And in that first column, you do have the pains and what keeps him awake, because you have to understand what you know, is really underneath everything, you have to understand that you can't ignore it. 

So you understand the pains. The second column is the emotions associated with that. But the third column is where it's golden. And the third column is what is it that your clients are really desiring? What do they aspire to. And when you start to capture this information from them, from the perspective of having conversations with them, doing surveys and gathering their words that they use in all three of those columns, you start to develop a really beautiful toolkit for yourself, to be able to write marketing, and I can promise you, you will feel better, your clients will feel better, they will be stretching into bigger spaces if you're using that third column of what it is they aspire to and desire. So that's how I teach them to get to that space. And once you've built that template, every time you're writing, any kind of marketing, you can come to that and you might leverage a pain point with, you know, an opening question or something, but you're really spending the majority of your time on the aspirations and the desires.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. Yeah, that's an important point. I think. It is important to know your clients pain points, but there is a difference between like we say like pouring salt and hearing something really difficult. There's a difference between doing that and additionally, I've like a tactic, and really knowing your ideal customer so well that you know their pain points, you know, what emotions are associated with that, and you don't agitate them, but you, maybe you acknowledge them and certain times, but not in a way that's like, you know, your problem will never be solved and your life will be terrible unless you buy.

Kami Guildner  

We've all seen that right? And it feels icky to be in that space.

Lauren Tilden  

100% I'm thinking like, what's the examples that are coming to mind? Just listening to your talk is, I was thinking about the Dove like real beauty campaign. But yeah, I feel like for anyone who hasn't seen it, it's really just like, kind of a body positive skin positive approach to beauty and cosmetics. Whereas like most of us, our entire lives, like, every beauty and cosmetic ad or piece of messaging we see is like, you need to be thin, and, you know, clear wrinkles. Wrinkles, like, we were just told all these things that like are designed really to make you feel not good enough so that you buy whatever is being sold to you. And real. The real beauty campaign with Dove is like, I guess one of the only kind of big name campaigns that I can think of, but really is doing in my mind, what you're describing is build a brand around the aspirations and desires for like community and belonging and feeling good enough. And not their pains and fears of like, you know, preying on people's self consciousness, consciousness and body image and all of that kind of thing. So true. Do you have any other kind of examples of a campaign that you think has done a really good job?

Kami Guildner  

You know what comes to mind is Nike, right? I mean, I think Nike always does beautiful power, empowering ads, especially when they when they hit women focused ads, I think they do a really good job with that.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, you're right, even when they have campaigns that are, you know, professional athletes, it's like, they do it in a way that makes you feel this sense of possibility. And not like, yes, not, oh, this person is amazing. I'll never be that. But it's like, Oh, wow. Like, I'm gonna put on this, like intense music, and I can run a marathon too. So yeah,

Kami Guildner  

Or whatever your marathon is. And I think that's what I always take away from. Because I'm, you know, I'm never going to be a marathon runner. But you see somebody that is stretching in moving towards something that they truly are wanting in their life, and, you know, stretching bigger and better than they ever have in the past. I mean, that's inspiring.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Great example. I know, a big topic for you is storytelling, and really excited about this, because I think storytelling has been kind of a buzzword for actually a long time in the marketing world. But I think in kind of, like, I don't know, a really vague way, at least to me, I would love to hear from you a little bit. Like, why is storytelling important when it comes to marketing. And I'd love to dig into just how to tell better stories and how we can kind of harness the power of storytelling as small business owners. So let's start with why is storytelling important? Important.

Kami Guildner  

I always start on this with people fall in love with our souls and not our faces. So if we are thinking of, you know, why people connect with us, they're, they're connecting with our soul. And I believe stories are the window to our soul. They're a piece of us that people can feel and connect with us, they can relate to us, it makes us much more relatable when we can tell a story that they're like, oh, my gosh, she's been through that as well. And I think the power of story is that people see us through a different lens, right, that different window, and they will remember the stories, you know, we can we can tell people something all day long, but unless, you know, if we have a story in the midst of it, then people will remember and connect and relate to us in a different way. So I think that's why it's so important.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. 100% I feel like and maybe I'll get into this, but for me, I think like detail and story is one of the most powerful things like right when I hear someone telling a story and they really paint the picture. Like I can see it in my head, or I you know, they're describing how they take their coffee. Exactly. And they have it with a piece of like Dave's killer bread toast with warm butter melting on it like

Kami Guildner  

You can taste it, you can smell it, all of those things, it brings them into the scene.

Lauren Tilden  

100 percent. And it's like, if you share something in common with something that's been described in such detail, like you just feel so connected to that. Let's talk about just tips for telling stories in our marketing. How do you have maybe like, broadly answer the question, how do we incorporate storytelling into our marketing? And then I'm also interested in specifically understanding how do we kind of figure out what stories we have that would be useful to share even a lot of us feel we feel like our lives are unremarkable. Or, you know, we haven't climbed Mount Everest. So like, what could we possibly have to share that would be relevant and useful, but doesn't have to be those huge things that are that really can be compelling to people? So how do we incorporate storytelling into our marketing effectively? And do you have any tips on finding like maybe making a bit of a bank of stories that we can use? 

Kami Guildner  

Absolutely. So I'm going to start with the second question with the bank of stories. Because this is often where I'll start my clients. It's like, we all have stories, right? We've all got stories of something that has happened in our life. So I might have a story. And I do have stories around. When the breath of a horse helped me move into becoming an entrepreneur, there was this epiphany moment for me, I have another story where I was in the corporate world, and I took the stage and in front of 200 women and totally crashed and burned. And, you know, didn't want to be a speaker for the longest time because of that moment. And I had to break through to it right, I have another story of, of, of going up in a hot air balloon, and the pilot fell out as we were landing in the balloon back up in the air, and I had to land the balloon by myself. 

So we all have like this whole bank of lifetime of stories. And what I encourage my clients to do is I give some examples like this, like, Okay, start to just give titles, to the stories in your life that were pivotal moments for you. So, you know, and it actually keep it a journal of that keep a journal of stories that, that you can, that were really memorable for you. And you know, the beauty of add one thing in here is the beauty of story. You know, we talk about it being a window into our soul, it's also a way for us to not have to remember what any, you know what it is we're going to talk about on a podcast interview on a stage or whatever, because we know our stories, we know our personal stories, and we can really embody those personal stories. 

So that's the beauty of story is it becomes a really natural way for us to just be ourselves. And let the stories come, you know, come together on that. So as you build this whole big list of titles, and just, you know, an ongoing list that you can add to at any given point, you can start to say, and I take my clients through a whole thing on building content strategy. And you know, so you have your core messages that you want to be communicating and that you will leverage on podcasts that you leverage on the stage, you'll leverage in your, your client, programmed, all those sorts of things. I mean, it's the same content and just served in different ways. And each time you're looking at those elements that you're teaching that you're sharing that you're talking about. 

There's, you're gonna, you look at that list, and it's like, oh my gosh, this would be a great story, to share, to help support this teaching. And so you start to look for those, the synchronicity in stories and other things that you might think about is if it's a story that you're being vulnerable in, and it makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, it might be a great story for you. Because those are the stories that help you see, it makes, people will understand and say, oh my gosh, they're just like me, so if there's something vulnerable, they will connect with you. So a vulnerable story is really good stories that have a challenge up front. So there's three components to a good story. There's some sort of a situation a challenge that somebody's in. So if you take me, you know, the pilot falling out of the hot air balloon, there's the challenge, right? The pilots fallen out. Then there's something that happens that helps kind of save the day. Well, luckily, there was a radio in the balloon and they told me how to land the balloon. And then the third element of a good story is the results on the end. Well, I was able to land the balloon and everybody was safe and all that sort of thing. 

So those are, that's an example of the three components of a good story. It's that challenge, it's that, you know that moment that everything changes that saved the day. And then there's the the end result. So when you're looking at your stories, you're looking for those three components, to be able to connect to your work. So right, if you're looking at the lesson that you learned, you'd want that middle. What saved the day to be related to your products to be related to the message that you're getting across? And here's my result because of that.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. Yeah, I like that framework, people can kind of look at the stories that they've listed, but make sure that you have A, B and C, all three parts to articulate it most effectively. 

Kami Guildner  

And you've probably have heard people, you know, just get up onto a stage and just talk about how wonderful they are. And, you know, they put themselves onto a pedestal, and people don't connect with that. People want to know that you're a real person that you have life experiences that they can read that you know that you would understand their life experiences.

Lauren Tilden  

Right, right. And is there, are there stories that are too small to share? You know what I mean? Or..

Kami Guildner  

Oh, in fact, that's the really beautiful thing about it is like, just, the more you get into the habit of telling stories, it's like, can you pull a message out of it.  Is there a linkage for you, it can be really short and simple and easy. It doesn't have to be, you know, big life transformational, it can be something that is, you know, that just allows people to connect with you. Mm hmm. You know, and I love humor too, right? I mean, and I'm not the funniest person by any means. And when I love though, when somebody just has that moment, and they have a bit of humor that they're able to drop into a story.

Lauren Tilden  

Mm hmm. Humor is a gift, if you have it. Absolutely. Always wanted to be like, really funny. But I found a habit like not on purpose, at least.

Kami Guildner  

And I bet you do. I mean, so I mean, I'll add that I mean, I call myself out on that. And at the same time, it's like, when it does come from me, it's really very organic. It's not a well thought out kind of thing. And I'm guessing it's the same for you.

Lauren Tilden  

Thank you. I also have a background in corporate America. And I've been to a lot of conferences and some of the best conference presentations that I attended, though, they start with a story. And a lot of times a story that they start with is something that happened like this, like that very morning at Rackspace, or, you know, on their flight over a conversation they had with someone next to them. And I don't know why this is coming to mind, but it just kind of shows you like, if you look at your life in a way, that's like, I don't know, like, yeah, stories can be found pretty much everywhere.

Kami Guildner  

And that's such a good point. It's we are experiencing stories, you know, all day, every day.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, totally. 

Kami Guildner  

And people love that organic feel and nature of that, you know, this is what happened to me on the way here. And it's such, it's so in the moment, and people people will feel that.

Lauren Tilden  

I totally do. I don't know why that came up for me. But just like I can think of so many examples of, yeah, just people able to really draw parallels from just the most mundane things that are happening in their life and their travel and, you know, their hotel breakfast, or whatever it is, and being able to make a relevant point to whatever the topic is that they're presenting about. Like, I don't know why that's so powerful. But it really is. So I'm just having this moment of like, I don't know, trying to remind myself to be more, I guess, looking for a story and every day and not just thinking of like, huge moments in my life.

Kami Guildner  

Exactly. And I think that once you start to practice just being in the moment of acknowledging, oh my gosh, this was amazing today, this is what you know, this is what happened as I was driving here today. And then that gift of being able to connect it to whatever it is you're teaching, that just means you've gotten really good, number one at capturing that, that connection, and two, just being comfortable being with an audience, in whatever story is there to tell. And the beautiful thing is when you do that you're just you're just being, so you're embodied in that story, you're embodied in the moment and you're very present, you're not, you know, just doing some memorize saying that you practiced over and over and over again, it's a whole different way to connect with a room.

Lauren Tilden  

Right? Yeah. Another topic that I wanted to pick your brain about is really elevating your voice and raising your voice to make the biggest impact you possibly can. A lot of listeners of this podcast are small business owners who have product based businesses, and they also want to use their business to somehow do good in the world, whether that's, you know, some kind of philanthropy or they donate their services or their product, or they have really eco friendly business practices. 

So I feel like most listeners are going to relate to the idea of, yes, they're selling their product or their service, but they're also kind of selling a message in some way. Sure. So how can these like really values and mission based small business owners, what advice do you have for them to, I guess, just kind of broadcast that message on that mission or values or whatever it is as high and wide as possible. 

Kami Guildner  

A couple things, first of all, but start with being really clear, you know, if the whole world could hear one message from you, what is it, and this is a message that is, you putting a stake in the ground making, having an opinion about whatever your causes, your mission is, and it's not a it's not a marketing statement, or a positioning statement, but it's actually something that gets people to stop and think and do differently. So, I mine is, mine is women's wisdom is a medicine our Earth needs, I believe, you know, with my heart and soul, that that is something so important. And I like to help my clients come up with whatever that core message is that you will own, you will speak about, it will be part of how you are making a thought leadership level statement, not just a marketing statement. 

So you have to really elevate how the the messaging that you're bringing out so that it's meaningful, and it's thought provoking, and it gets people to think differently. So that's one aspect of that. And then as you have clarity around, you know,  the message that you want to get out to the world, there's so many different ways that you can put your message out to the world, whether it's on a stage, whether it's on a podcast, whether it's doing video, live streams, and you know, it is with so many of your guests being people who have products, you know, they can really be talking about the product, but also the social mission alongside of that product. And video, I would think would be great for a lot of your people because they can be showing the product the same time be delivering messaging, that's really, that really matters. 

So that to me feels like a great space for your audience, I am big on podcasting, obviously, I think that, you know, I've done over 200 episodes on my own podcast and probably guessed it on close to 50 podcast, and it's, that has made so much difference in my business to be consistently out and visible with my message. It's, you know, it's really grown my business exponentially. And I have a platform that is that, you know, a community of people that is you know, that's a powerful part of my space is the community that has been built from that.

Lauren Tilden  

100% I know that I actually want to make sure that we talk about this community a little bit. So can we just take a quick aside to talk about your extraordinary Women Connect group and who that might be a good fit for. 

Kami Guildner  

Sure, it's for women changemakers so I think it sounds very aligned to your community. So it's, and it's all about connecting great women to great women, it's, you know, it's not a space to do a lot of hard selling or anything along those lines. It's very much about making connection between great women and letting that happen organically. So that's that's what that space was created for. 

I do bring trainings into it. That's about raising up your voice, your visibility and growing your business. And it's, I do it in such a way that it's about, you know, this group of people coming together. It's a Facebook community so you can find it there. I do host a series have events associated with it as well, I do three, evening galahs over the course of a year, we're going to be back live in September, I'm so excited. And then we do our big three day conference extraordinary women ignite in November 11, through 17, or 11th, through 13th, excuse me, in Golden Colorado, and it's definitely worth traveling to, I've got people traveling from all over the place to come attend this event. And we go into, you know, building your brand of who you are at your very essence, building the building your marketing from the inside out, getting into increasing your visibility, and building a business that that really makes an impact in the world.

Lauren Tilden  

Love, love, I love every I feel like every answer you've had, like, it's the word that's coming to mind is like intention. So just like really taking the time upfront to think things through and like really see what feels right for you, and what aligns. I think in our sort of, like hustle culture age of hustle, that can be really easy to feel like, I just have to, like, I have to, like, wake up first thing in the morning and like post things and do this and do that. And like, just jump into it without really thinking and strategizing. And I don't know, like connecting with your mission, and you know, what's closest to you, and what's most meaningful to you. So I just love that really every answer you've had has been, like first, like, get that clarity and do like, apply that intention to it before you just jump in and kind of like, try to be on as many platforms as possible, or do things just for the sake of it or cause some marketing guru told you to? Like, really, each business is like a, it's the custom job, right? .

Kami Guildner  

And it's asked why it starts from the inside out, right? It starts with who you are, and aligning to that what lights you up, but what's your passion, what's your why, what's your purpose, all that kind of good work. And, you know, and I feel like, we've really come through a big port on this past, you know, 18 months, or whatever it's been. And we are coming to the other side of us. And when we talk about making a difference. This is the time right now for all of us to be really stepping up into that strength of who we are and creating an impact with the gifts of who we are. That's why we were given them at this time in this, you know, point in the universe. And that's why I'm so excited. I mean, Ignite has always been the Space Force. This is my seventh annual Ignite event. And that conference is all about taking the time out and getting really intentional about what you're going to do in that next year. And I have people come back over a year on year on it, because they are making space and time to just truly listen to that inner wisdom inside of each of you. That is meant to, you know, how you're meant to grow and expand in that next year in alignment with your purpose and the mission that you're called to serve. 

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, just such an important reminder that we all have a lot of the answers that we're all looking for when we're frantically Googling and whatever else it is, like, a lot of those answers we actually already have. 

Kami Guildner  

They're inside.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, totally. Okay, we have come to my favorite question on my list of questions for you, because I'm all about breaking a good rule. What are some marketing rules that you tell people to break?

Kami Guildner  

Okay, I'm gonna go through them quick, we've hit several of them. One is it's not about marketing from the outside and it's about inside out. So this is building your brand from the inside out. It is about you know, starting with who you are at your very essence. It's about that light in you and building your brand, building your marketing from that perspective. 

Number two, is when you do that, there's no such thing as competition because guess what, you're unique and you are the one you know, you're the only one that can be your brand when you're building it from the inside out. The third one is stop the pain based scarcity marketing. We talked about that one, right. I mean, it's like just throw that out the door and do better. 

The fourth one is throw out the formulas. You know if you see the formulas, there's five steps to do this or follow this formula for your copy. You sound just like everyone else. So it's not going to serve you and you hit on this earlier, it's like, you know, follow the marketing and the approach, approaches and the language that lights you up. People will feel that. They'll say, oh my gosh, I'm connected with her because I feel that. And the fifth one, you've also said is say no to the hustle. If you're building your business in this way, you're really building it, building it in a way that you're in the flow, and not in the hustle. 

Lauren Tilden  

Taking notes on these, those are all amazing. Thank you so much Cami. I'm going to get to our closing questions. The first is what is one small business that you admire?

Kami Guildner  

Oh, gosh, I admire so many. I'm going to pick one of my clients right now. She has some. It's the meth toxins awareness Alliance. And she had her home was contaminated with meth toxins. And literally, the home was not repairable because it was a log cabin. And then that toxin, somebody cooked meth in her home. She had rented her home out for a year. And they've cooked meth in her home and the walls, that meth toxin seeped into the wood walls, and was not in and they weren't able to fix it. So she is an advocate for getting the message out there. She's helping drive change around the laws and you know, so that people have better rights. And she had through that process, she's doing educational things all across the country, up into Canada even. And, you know, so it's super exciting to see what she's doing based on that moment. And so to me, that's a small business, and I'm super excited about the impact she's making, you know, making lemonade from the lemons she had and growing your business that way while not just growing her business, but you know, reaching a lot of people and making an impact so that people think about it if they're buying a house to get it tested, you know, having the knowledge base of people to lean into for this. So it's a great business.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love that example that I feel like so many of the so many of the best businesses are born out of like a, like a pain or a tough thing that people have gone through. So that's a great example. What is a book that you would recommend?

Kami Guildner  

A book, one of my favorites, anything Gabby Bernstein. I love Gabby Bernstein. Because she's got The Universe Has Your Back and Super Attractor. Both of those books are so incredibly powerful for entrepreneurs. And they keep us in that high vibration. You know, this is what she talks about, keeping us into the high vibration mode, so that we're attracting people into our businesses. We're resonating on a high vibration level.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. I will link those in the show notes. Finally, where can listeners connect with you online? I know we talked a little bit about your extraordinary women connect group which I will link as well as your event but any other platforms or websites you want to direct people to would love to hear those?

Kami Guildner  

Sure. So it's kamiguildner.com is my website. My extraordinary women Connect is on Facebook. So that's the Facebook group that you can find my Ignite event is kamiguildner.com/Ignite. And you can find all of that on kamiguildner.com.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing Kami.

Kami Guildner  

One other place is my podcast. I always forget to say that my podcast is Extraordinary Women Radio.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. Cami thank you so much for everything in this conversation. I am just, I feel like I want to go read listen to it right now and take a bunch of notes and just kind of sit with it. And I don't know lots to think about. So thank you so much for everything you shared. I'm super happy to have had this conversation with you.

Kami Guildner  

Thank you for having me. It's really been an honor and it's a pleasure to get to know you and all the good work you're doing it really out in the world helping women raise up their businesses. So thank you

70: 3 Simple Steps to Managing Your Business Finances (+ Doing More Good) with Stephanie Skryzowski

70: 3 Simple Steps to Managing Your Business Finances (+ Doing More Good) with Stephanie Skryzowski

Lauren Tilden  

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact. I'm your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 70. In today's episode I'm joined by Stephanie Skryzowski, founder and CEO of 100 Degrees Consulting. In this episode, we talk about managing your business finances and having some fun in the process, and how having a strong financial foundation is tied with your ability to make the biggest impact possible. This is a really good episode I know you're going to love. But before we get into the episode, I do have a couple of quick announcements for you. 

First, if you're struggling to figure out what to say in your marketing, I have an awesome free resource for you. This workbook will help you come up with a lot of content ideas, your audience will love to download it for free head to Laurentilden.co/content. And that will be linked in the show notes. Second, I invite you to join other values driven small business owners for inspiration, accountability and lots of business and marketing inspiration. This is in a Facebook group where I'm currently hosting what I call procrastination sessions every other Friday, you can join a Zoom co-working session with other small business owners to get stuff done. This Facebook group is called the Good Business community and it's for listeners of this podcast. The link will be in the show notes or you can head to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected. 

Finally, if you love this podcast, there are a few ways that you can help spread the love. First, I would love for you to leave a review on Apple podcasts or Stitcher to help others find the podcast. And second, take a screenshot while you're listening and tag me on Instagram at @LaurenTilden. I would so love to connect with you and cheer you on. 

Okay, so let's talk about today's episode. As I mentioned, my guest today is Stephanie's Skryzowski. Stephanie serves as a CFO for purpose driven entrepreneurs, helping them gain clarity and confidence in their numbers to make smarter decisions grow their bottom line and create a greater impact on the world. Her business 100 Degrees Consulting provides CFO strategy and bookkeeping services to businesses and nonprofits around the globe. 

In this episode, we discussed three simple steps to manage your business finances, what financial roles you might consider outsourcing, things like bookkeeping, tax accountants, a CFO and a financial advisor. Why many creative entrepreneurs shy away from the money side of their business, how to make working with the numbers in your business fun, how to create a roadmap to profit, a monthly finance or team, the connection between knowing your numbers and doing good in the world and much more. 

Stephanie said something in our conversation that really stopped me in my tracks. And that was this: Nothing is too big or too small when it comes to making an impact. No matter where you're starting from, you can make an impact through your small business. In fact, you already are getting clear on your business finances as an important next step. Again, I would love your help spreading the word about this episode, take a screenshot from your podcast player and post it on Instagram for your other small business friends to check out. You can tag me at @LaurenTilden  and Stephanie at @stephanie.skry. Okay, let's get into the episode. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast.

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Thanks so much for having me. I'm super excited to chat with you.

Lauren Tilden 

This is gonna be so good. I'm super excited about our conversation. We're gonna be talking about the connection between a strong financial foundation in your business and your ability to make a big impact, which I think is such a great point. Because I think many of us think of like the numbers and the revenue and all of that kind of thing as related to what we're taking home, but less so as related to our ability to really make the impact on the world that we want, which is a huge motivator to a lot of the listeners of this podcast. So super, super excited. I would love for you to introduce yourself and your business and maybe a little bit about how you got to do what you do.

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Sure, sure. So my name is Stephanie's Skryzowski and my business is called 100 Degrees Consulting and we provide a CFO strategy and bookkeeping services to purpose driven business owners and nonprofits around the globe. And my journey I feel like, like so many entrepreneurs is quite winding. I did not start out thinking that this is what I wanted to do with my life as I'm sure you know many of your listeners Interest can probably relate to, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer actually. 

And so I got a job at a huge law firm in New York City after college and very quickly realized that the clients that I was working for, and the company that I was working for was really not aligned with my personal values and goals. And so after lots of you know, soul searching, and again, I'll make it short. But I ended up working at a nonprofit. And it was there that I really found that connection between, like managing the numbers and impact because if I could help this  organization really manage their numbers really well, they would be able to really have a life changing impact on, you know, children and families and communities around the globe. 

And so, about six years ago, at this point, I started the business, really to provide that financial leadership and strategy to organizations out there that were trying really hard to have an impact, but really needed some help when it came to managing their money. And so, um, so that, you know, the business has really grown over the last six years. And now we work with, you know, a wide variety of small businesses from service businesses and online businesses like digital course creators, and E-commerce, businesses and other creatives, as well as nonprofits to really help them get clear on their numbers to make smart decisions and grow not only their impact, but also their income. 

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. Let's start really simple. I think a lot of listeners have their head around  things like bookkeeping and their numbers. Some listeners, though, are kind of more brand new, like they have an expertise they make, let's say, they're a jewelry maker, they've sold them at craft fairs, but they really haven't dug into maybe the business or the numbers side of managing money and keep getting their head around the numbers in their business. I would love if you could provide sort of like a baseline introduction to what does it look like to manage your business finances?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, I think that's a great question. Because I think that a lot of business owners, whether you're brand new, or you've been doing this for a while, we get in our own head about what does it mean to manage your business finances, and we get in our own head and tell ourselves that it's like way harder or more complicated or scarier than it really is. 

But I really like to look at it as just three things, there are three things you need to do to manage your business finances. And the first thing is sort of establishing your foundation. So making sure that you are operating like a legit business owner, that your business is registered with the IRS and with your state, and that you have a separate business bank account. So like you have to be legit, to really be able to grow and treat your business like a business. 

So the second thing is really looking at your, at your historical numbers. And so by that, I just mean looking every month at how much you made last month, and how much you spent last month. So it doesn't have to be complicated. It's really just looking at how much you made and how much you spent every single month looking at it for the previous month. And then the third piece is, is forecasting. And I know like some people might be like, Oh, forecasting, that sounds like a scary financial term. Really, it's just creating a plan for the future of your business, a revenue plan and expense plan. And then again, looking at that every single month. So there's really, I really like to simplify it into those three pieces, like making sure you've got that strong foundation, looking back at your numbers from last month, and then looking forward at your plan for the rest of the year. And you know, there's a lot more we could dig into in each of those, of course, but like those are the three elements that you really need to manage your business money. So it doesn't does not have to be complicated or scary.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that that's such a clear way of breaking it down. When we talk about business finances, we'll hear a lot of people talk about bookkeeping, I know that's something your company offers tax accounting, financial advising, like there's a lot of different specialists that people who may have heard of when it comes to managing business finances. Let's talk to someone who's like brand new to the game. What do they need? Should they be? Like definitely be consulting an expert? Is there stuff we should start by doing ourselves? How do you advise people to start out?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, that's a great question because I feel like there are several different finance roles for your business. And those roles are all very different. But often we kind of get them all mixed up. And so we hire a bookkeeper thinking that they're going to provide like strategy and help you know and helping us grow and analyzing our reports, but that's not really the job of a bookkeeper. Or we hire a tax accountant, a CPA, and we think that they're going to be managing QuickBooks every month. But that's not really their job either. So I think that first, like, understanding the different finance roles that you might have in your business is a great start. And so that would be your bookkeeper, your tax accountant or your CPA, your CFO, and then like a financial advisor. And so those four are all very different. 

Your bookkeeper is the person that's keeping track of all the money coming in and going out, likely they are using QuickBooks or another accounting system, and they're really good at it. They're kind of like in the in the details. And that for the most part is where the bookkeepers job sort of ends, then your tax accountant or your CPA, that's the person that is filing your taxes for you like they're actually doing your tax return, sending it to the IRS, they are the ones that maybe are looking at your projections and telling you how much estimated tax to pay. So they are like the tax expert. The third one is your CFO. And that's the person that is really giving you like strategy around the numbers. So we take the reports that the bookkeeper gives us from QuickBooks, and we then analyze those and help you think about ways that you can grow in different, you know, different pieces of your business where, you know, maybe you want to generate a bigger ROI. And we help sort of make sense of all the numbers. And then the last one is your financial advisor. And that person is really like your sort of wealth management person looking at investments and, you know, insurance and you know, all of the sort of like risk management things you might have in your personal or business life. 

And so, like I said, all four of these roles are very different. And what I think that somebody needs in the very beginning, I would say the number one thing is probably the tax accountant/CPA. And that's because on the bookkeeping side of things, if you don't have a whole lot coming in or going out, you can probably track it on your own. And you don't necessarily need a bookkeeper for that. But a tax accountant is going to help you make sure that you are really maximizing all of the possible tax deductions that you can possibly take and make sure that you're you know, paying as little in taxes as is, you know, legal and legit. But that even for me was my first hire. 

You know, when it comes to the finances of my business was the tax accountant and the CPA, then I feel like everybody sort of wants to outsource the bookkeeping piece, I think the bookkeeping piece comes next, because it really is something that you can kind of handle, at least to a degree on your own. And then when things start getting a little bit more complicated, or you're getting a lot more money coming in a lot more going out. There's just a greater volume, that's a great time to hire a bookkeeper.

Lauren Tilden  

I love that breakdown of the four different roles, I think, yeah, it's so easy to sort of combine them in our heads and be like, oh, I need help with this. Like, I need a bookkeeper/accountant/CFO, but they are distinct. And I think that breakdown you just provided as really provides a lot of clarity. I also started with an accountant, so I cosign that I feel like to add to what you just said, I mean, yes, like make sure you're paying the right amount of taxes. But for me, that was just sort of like a comfort blanket of like, I'm not missing any critical payments. Like I'm doing the right thing by the government like I, I just like as a brand new business owner wasn't quite sure how everything works. So having that tax accountant, just kind of helped me feel like I was definitely doing everything I was supposed to be doing. And like, you know, I was on the right side of the IRS. 

Yeah, the bookkeeper was also the second thing I did, and honestly, I did that much later. I actually, so people who listen who might know my story, I had a greeting card business first. And then I took over my mom's retail store. A couple years later, I did all of the bookkeeping, for the greetings card business myself, it wasn't until the retail store that I really like kind of desperately needed help just because like you said, like the volume of transactions was just way higher. So I think that's a great recommendation to start with a tax CPA and then and then expand from there. And yeah, I have not moved past those two. So I think listener don't feel like you need all four of these roles right away, if ever, definitely kind of ease into it. And I think yes, definitely provided a great structure to when to add each one to your business. What about the last two, like a financial advisor and the CFO, do you have recommendations on when would be a good point to think about hiring on those roles?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, so I think for a financial advisor specifically, I mean, honestly, I've been in business for almost six years, and it's just within the like, last, less than a year that I hired a financial advisor. And for me, that was more like, it was a sort of a combination of personal and business. I was like, Okay, I've got two kids now. And so I feel like I need an updated will and like, are our insurance policies? You know, are they, are they enough? And what should I be doing for like, kids saving for education? And so it was a bit of a combination between like, okay, the business is in a good place and profitable. So now, what do I do with some of this money that I have? I have lots of savings goals for retirement and education and, and things like that. 

So how do, like what do I do first? And so for me, it was definitely a combination of like, the personal personal goals and a profitable, profitable business. And so how do I, you know, what do I prioritize to make sure that achieving those goals? So I would say that is really going to be dependent on lots of different things for everybody that is listening. But that's certainly not something that you need to do right away by any means. 

The CFO, I would say, so that's what we do in our business as well. And CFO is Chief Financial Officer, I've gotten that question a lot. So it's not like a given that, you know, and a CFO is, and it's totally okay, if you don't, but as CFO, I would say, you know, most businesses that we are working with, are, you know, approaching that six figure mark, if not, you know, far beyond it, and they're getting to the point where they are ready for growth. And I would say that's one of the biggest values that a CFO brings, is helping you sort of see around the corner, and helping you create a roadmap to get from where you are now to where you want to be. 

And whether that's, you know, hitting your first six figures in revenue or beyond, we can really help with that sort of vision casting and forecasting, to help you create a plan to get there. And so a lot of it is like, understanding, you know, the profitability of your different revenue streams. So if you know, if you are making candles, and you're selling them at craft fairs, and you're also selling them on Etsy, like being able to kind of understand which is more profitable. And so helping you make decisions to like, Okay, well, selling on Etsy is actually less profitable. So I want to double down on something else that I'm doing, that's actually more profitable. So I would say it's those, it's the sort of growth minded business owners that really, really benefit from a CFO because we're helping you sort of see around the corner.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, love. This topic has been, the topic of money management and business has been really highly kind of demanded by my audience, because I feel like of all the topics that we talk about on this podcast about business marketing strategy, doing good numbers, is the one that my listeners at least seem to have, like the least comfort with. So it's kind of like something they shy away from is is looking really getting digging into the numbers. And, you know, getting really comfortable with their financial side of their business. Why do you think, I know this is kind of common among creative small business owners, Why do so many creative small business owners shy away from the money side of their business?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Oh, my gosh, I think there's so many reasons for this. I think there's, you know, often we have a real scarcity mindset around money. That probably comes from, you know, childhood that, you know, money doesn't grow on trees. And so we have this fear that you know, the last dollar that came in is going to be our last dollar that ever comes in. And so we get really, sort of nervous and fearful around it. I've seen a lot of business owners sort of hoard their money for that same reason. That's like, I don't want to spend a dime on my business on myself, I don't want to pay myself because I'm afraid that not another dollar is going to come in the door after this. And maybe they don't sort of verbalize it like that. But that's like the root fear is the scarcity mindset. 

And I also think we often tell ourselves a story, especially as creatives, that I'm not a numbers person, I don't like math. I'm not good with money. I'm not good with numbers. And so we're telling ourselves this story, which is like causing us to sort of shy away from the numbers even more. And we often think that well, you know, because I am a creative, like, I'm just naturally not good at numbers. And I really believe that that is simply a story that we're telling ourselves. Because at the end of the day, there's like not really that much math. And like accounting involved with managing your business finances, it's really just shaping a vision and talking about that vision in like, numbers format, but I think that there's just a lot of fear and a lot of scarcity around money. 

And so that's why people really shy away from it. But I really believe that what you focus on expands, and I say this all the time. And so that's why I talk about having a monthly finance routine, and really giving some attention to your money because we want it to expand but it certainly if you're one of those people that's like I hate checking my bank balance. I'm like, scared to look at my reports like you are not alone, I promise you that you are not alone. This very, very common, like you said.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love the point that it's not really about math, like don't let I'm not a math person be a reason to shy away from your numbers. Because it's, you know, we're not doing calculus searches, looking at numbers, and comparing them and is this higher than last quarter or this is higher than what I spend. So I love that point like this, that's not really that good of an excuse. So don't let that talk you out of it. And I also like the point that, you know, money is not always like a super 100% rational topic. Like we all have stories around it and experiences with it, and a way that we approach money. So I think just the permission to give yourself a little bit of a break, if you know, if you have some complicated behavior or thoughts around money, that's really, really common. And, you know, I think it's just something we all struggle with, in some way. So I appreciate that point as well. I am excited about this question. Your superpower is making numbers fun, which, as we discussed, I know a lot of listeners are gonna wonder how you could possibly do that? How can numbers how can the numbers in our business be fun?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Well, I really attach numbers to what we can do with that money. So I'm not thinking about it. And like, I don't mean, yeah, calculating your profit margin. And like, that's fun. That's not what I need the math side of it. I mean, okay, it's fun for me, because I like that kind of thing. But it's not fun for everybody. And I get that, and I'm not trying to make that piece of it fun. The fun piece is being able to use your numbers to cast a bigger vision for your business. And instead of just saying something like, Okay, I want to hit six figures this year, I want to make six figures this year, that's great. But if we don't have a very clear black and white plan, to get us from where we are right now to that point, then that goal is probably not going to happen. And so making numbers fun to me is about creating a vision for your business to actually achieve your goals. And the way we do it, we have like a month by month, you know, forecast basically a month by month roadmap to show you okay, if I'm here, I'm where I am right now, in 12 months, this is where I'm going to be. So to me that is super inspiring and fun, because I can see how how you know, the path to actually achieving what I want to do in my business.

Lauren Tilden  

That sounds really fun. I am wondering, is that something that you know, creating that kind of roadmap to the results that would like really excite us and our business? Is that something that people could create themselves? Or do you recommend they hire a professional to do that? 

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, that's absolutely something that people can create themselves for sure, we have a template that's like a freebie that you can download and it basically just you know gives you, the template gives you the the document that you kind of just fill in each of your revenue streams and you fill in your you know, your estimates for your revenue, you fill in all of your expenses so that you can see that and you know, we definitely do that with all of our clients. We do that for them in sort of, you know, in coordination with them but that's certainly something that if you're not at the point where you are ready to hire a CFO or any other finance people in your business, that is certainly something that you can do yourself. Yeah. 

Lauren Tilden  

Love that and I'm definitely going to link to that freebie. Do you want to just for anyone who is at their computer, do you know the handy link for it?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yes, it's 100degreesconsulting.com/profit.

Lauren Tilden  

Beautiful. Okay, so taking it back a little bit. So At the start of our conversation, you gave three different things that you suggested everyone focus on, when it comes to just getting their head around their business finances. So kind of like the legal/administrative foundation. Looking at what we're earning and spending each month and then forecasting deep, can we dig into each of these a little bit further? I mean, I know maybe for number one, you're not a, like lawyer. So we'll leave it to everyone to figure out with their own state or country or whatever, like, what does it take to like establish your business? Like officially and legally as whatever kind of like business foundation you need? But do you want to go into those a little bit more like, of these three topics that you suggest people really stay on top of? What is like the practice around that? Like, you mentioned something about a monthly money check in? I mean, how, how exactly do you suggest that people stay on top of these things?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, so right. So starting, I mentioned the three, like you said, sort of establishing your foundation, looking back at your numbers from last month, and then looking forward at your forecast or your roadmap. So these are all sort of part of your monthly finance routine. And so when it comes to what you actually do every single month, so that is, I would say, establishing the routine is part of like the foundational piece, that first thing that I mentioned. So what that means is simply put, just setting aside an hour a month to hang out with your numbers, just an hour, once a month to hang out with your numbers. And what you actually do during that time is a couple of things. So I always like to incorporate looking at your bank balance, like literally logging into your account, looking at your bank balance, if you want to scroll through the transactions and just kind of eyeball what is going on in there. That's great. But definitely looking at that bank balance. 

And I feel like, honestly, that is such a hurdle for so many business owners that really avoid looking at their at their bank balance, avoid looking at that money in the bank. So that is that's the first piece. And then during this hour of your monthly finance routine, you're also looking at your revenue and your expenses from last month. So if you have QuickBooks or another accounting software, and you're tracking things in there, that's great. Let's look at a profit and loss statement from last month, that's going to show you everything that came in, everything went out that went out the door, and then anything you had leftover, so making sure that you know making sure that everything looks okay there and you know, in a lot of our programs, and of course, what we do with our clients is we go a little bit deeper than that. And we look at metrics, like your profit margin, we look at ROI on different you know, activities or revenue streams in your business. So we go a little bit deeper there. 

But for the person that like maybe doesn't have a bookkeeper or CFO yet, really just looking at looking at those numbers, looking at your profit margin, making sure that you are paying yourself that you're setting aside money for taxes, and kind of spending a little bit of time doing that. And you can use that time during your monthly finance routine to actually do those things, right transfer money from your business account to your personal account to pay yourself, transfer money into a savings account to save for taxes. So that's the other piece of the monthly, you know, finance check in. 

And then the last piece of it is looking at that forecast again. So I say a lot that honestly, a forecast is essentially a budget, right? Like it's a plan of your revenue and your expenses for the year. But it's not a cut your lattes kind of budget, this is not a budget where we're trying to like scrimp and save as much as possible. This is simply a plan. And so it's also not something that you like set in January, and then don't think about for the rest of the year, your forecast is really meant to be like a living, breathing tool that you use in your business every single month because things change, right? Like, you might want to update things if you were thinking, Oh, okay, I'm going to do a big product launch in September. Well, now it's July, and you're like, actually, you know, I'm going to launch this on Black Friday in November instead. Okay, well, then let's update our forecast to reflect that. So we have like the most up to date picture of our numbers, even looking into the future for the whole year. And so that's the other piece of what we do during that monthly finance routine. So we're looking at our bank balance, we are looking at our numbers from last month, and we are making sure that we're paying ourselves and you know, setting aside money for taxes and things like that, and then we're looking forward into the future of our business and updating our forecast. And that should take you about an hour. So if you you know kind of think about everything I just said there's not really any math there, right Like there's no a lot of like actual number crunching. It's like looking at the numbers, ask yourself some questions. And you know, updating that plan for your future.

Lauren Tilden  

I love the permission to like, let the budget be a living, breathing thing that evolves. I think a lot of times in business like, yeah, related to maybe budgeting, but so many other parts of business will set a plan and then feel like if it goes off course, we have to throw in the towel altogether. But things change. Things come up. Obviously, anyone who is in business over the last year and a half knows that really well. I mean, COVID really was tough for a lot of small business owners. So I love that you made a point, I'm just emphasizing that yeah, this is not a set it and forget it type of thing. This is a living, breathing, evolving, document and plan and plans can change. So I love that. Exactly. I would love to talk about your concept that we've touched on a little bit, but maybe in more detail, roadmap to profit. So what does this look like? And do you have any basic, maybe steps that that people could go through to build one for themselves?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, so this is, this is a place where I see often actually a lot of entrepreneurs kind of getting hung up, because essentially, what we're doing is making our best guesses to what's gonna happen in the future. Right. And so I know that there's a lot of people out there that are thinking like, Yeah, I'd love to create a forecast. But I don't know how much money I'm going to make in September, I don't know how much money is going to come in and December. Like, I totally get that and we don't write your forecast is essentially like a series of best guesses. And so a lot of people sort of get hung up on this, like perfectionism, like, well, I don't know, it's probably not going to be right, it's, you're right, it's probably not going to be perfectly correct. If you were to forecast and you were to get it exactly right, like to the dollar, you would win a prize like that, you know, it's going to be your best guess. 

But what I would say, is to put your best guesses on paper on an Excel spreadsheet and move on. Because your best guesses on paper are better than like not thinking about it at all, or maybe just having some like random idea in your head of what your revenue number, what you want it to be next year, right? So like, this is better than that. And practically speaking, I would say I really like thinking about breaking down your revenue by like, units, sort of. So instead of saying, Okay, I want to make $100,000 this year. Alright, let's break that down a little bit. $100,000 is about $8,300 a month. Okay, so now I want to make about $8,300 a month. So what am I selling? Is it a product? Is it as the service offering? What am I selling? And how much does that cost?  How much does it cost? how much do I make from each one? So if you, if we want to make $8300, and we have a product that costs $100, we need to sell 83 of them, right? 

So I like to really break it down into like a unit sort of revenue like that, because that sort of turns it from a big scary numbers problem, like how in the world am I going to make $100,000 this year, it turns it really more into a sales and marketing problem. Okay, well, how am I gonna sell 83 of these this month, like that doesn't really seem so tough, especially because you already know how to sell you have already sold, you have already figured out what works to sell for your business. And then you just have to do more of that. So I like to start there. And I do that for every single revenue stream. 

So if you've got like, maybe you have different different product lines or different products that you sell, or maybe you like to look at it by different channels that you sell in, maybe like we've said before, maybe you're selling on Etsy, and maybe you're also doing craft fairs. So looking at different channels, or if you are service business, maybe you've got like different service offerings or different packages. So instead of just lumping it all together, the best way to make sure that you're actually going to like achieve this is to break it down, because the sort of act of breaking it down and that is going to give you a very clear concrete plan in how you're actually going to get there. So that's my favorite place to start in terms of building that roadmap is breaking that down because I think that that also informs other areas of your business like okay, what am I going to do for sales and marketing this month, now I know what my goal is so you know how many I have to sell. What am I going to do to make that happen?

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. I would like to talk a little bit about How getting clear on your numbers can help us make a bigger impact. So a lot of listeners of this podcast, are really committed to having a small business that yes is strong and like, makes them money and supports their lifestyle, but also does something good and impactful. And that changes the world in some ways. So I want to help draw this line a little bit stronger between our financial situation and our ability to make a positive impact. What do you I know, this is a big part of your business is working with purpose driven, small business owners and mission driven small business owners? What what do you have to say about the connection between a strong financial, like backbone of your business and your ability to impact the world?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yes, I love this question. And it was something that like I said, In the beginning, I sort of personally realized for myself and mine was in the context of working for a nonprofit, but I was literally standing like in a field in Afghanistan with a family that this nonprofit that I was working for, had supported with their, you know, with their activities, and this family now was able to sell their fruits and vegetables in the market, through the support that this organization had given them. And then they were able to send their children to school and, you know, provide for their family, it was like this sort of ripple effect. 

And what it boiled down to, for me in that like light bulb moment was that if this organization did not have a strong financial foundation, if they didn't have a pipeline for revenue, and a plan for continuing to raise more money, if they weren't managing their money, well, and you know, not spending it wastefully and being resourceful like if they were not doing all those things, this impact that I was witnessing firsthand with my own two eyes, like literally eating a cucumber out of the ground that this woman had grown, and that you know, she could sell to others in the market and make money for her family. That impact would not be able to happen if the money wasn't solid, right. 

And so when I think about that, with small business owners, first of all, most of our clients have some sort of like, purpose driven or like mission focus to their business to begin with. And so they're going into business to help someone or something like theirs, it's more than just a sort of transactional type business. And for them, then, you know, we're able to do so much more if we have more money. And that looks different for a lot of people. I mean, for some people, it's donating money. So obviously, if you're making more money, and you're managing that you're managing that money well and keeping more money, you're able to donate, right. 

For some people, that means, you know, creating more space in their lives to volunteer and to support others in a, you know, in a sort of more tangible like time spent type of sense. And for others, it means really just being able to build their businesses even bigger to support more people that they're supporting in their business. So I think the you know, the sort of end result looks different for everyone. But the bottom line is that if your financial foundation is not solid, if you're not, basically, if you're not keeping some of the money that you're making, if you're not a profitable business, you won't be able to make that that impact that you want to have.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah, I love that you use the word ripple effect to that's something that comes up a lot on this podcast. And I think it's such, it's an interesting idea to apply it to this idea of your financial backbone, because like you say, it may not be about directly donating, which I know a lot of listeners do. I love that. There are so many other ways that having a strong, financially strong business can help, like through ripple effects have a positive impact on the world, whether it's like you say, donating or volunteering, or it could be like, for me, I know, something I'm really proud of is higher, like I have a team of people, and I'm able to pay them well and like, you know, be a good employer to them, I hope. 

So, you know, the more the bigger you grow in some ways, like the more people you're able to support. So there's so many different ways you can think about how your financial, I guess, status or your business's financial, like condition has an impact on the world and not just like, you know, the money that you take home, which I feel like for many of my listeners, like that's actually not the biggest motivator to them, what's more motivating as the impact that they're able to have and so I just I really like this that you and your business tie this line between the impact that you make and the finances because I think sometimes we think of them as like two separate parts of our business.

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, and I think that people can often get caught up in like, but I don't want to make a lot of money because making, people that make a lot of money are like not good people, you know, we kind of get this, we have almost like a negative association with money and that really keeps us small, really and playing small. 

But you know, there is so much that you can do with money and be an even better version of the good person that you already are when you do have more money. And even if that impact is like on your family, and you know, maybe you don't do a lot in terms of donating or volunteering, but if you're able to, you know, provide for your family or support your family in a bigger way, because again, you have a really solid, you know, financial foundation in your business like that. Is that is game changing as well, like there's no, you know, nothing is too big or too small when it comes to making an impact. Mm hmm.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's important, like no one is saying, when you're managing your money that, you know, the only priority you should have is profit, like, cut all costs, buy the cheapest products, like buy stuff made irresponsibly, like no one is saying that. It's, it's not. It's not about like, make the most money at all costs. And like, that's how you make a big impact. I think what I'm taking away from what you're saying is really just having this awareness and strategy and intention around how you spend your money and how you manage it. Like that is so critical, and like so directly correlated with the impact that you have.

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yes, love it.

Lauren Tilden  

Yeah. I love this conversation so much. I'm really excited for everyone to listen, I am going to start transitioning into the questions that I ask all the guests I have on the podcast. The first is what is one small business that you admire?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Oh, my gosh, I feel like there are so many. And I would love to list like every single client of ours that we work with, you know, the one that comes to the one that comes to mind recently, and you know, I don't know if I would necessarily even consider them small because it is definitely like a multimillion dollar business., but I follow along really closely with Hello Seven. And this is Rachael Rogers business. And it's, you know, again, not necessarily small. But what I love is, in addition to like the commitment to social justice, I really love the fact that she and the company are just unapologetic about building wealth, because of exactly what we're talking about the impact that you can have, and the change that you can have in the world when, when women in particular have more money. So I just love that she's, she and the business is just completely unapologetic about building wealth and sharing about the impact that you can have when you have more money.

Lauren Tilden  

Yes, such a great recommendation. What is one book you would recommend that relates to this conversation?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Um, well, so Rachael Rogers actually just wrote a book called, We Should All Be Millionaires. And I read and it's, it's great. But the book that I was initially thinking of, was Profit First. And I think this is a great sort of like entry level book for business owners who want to be better about managing their their money and managing their numbers. But it's really not their strong suit. Like, again, you don't have to be good at math, but it's maybe not your strong suit, not something you're super excited about. So Profit First is written in a very, like, easy to understand way. And it gives a really good framework for understanding how to basically keep more of the money that you make. And again, it's not about like scrimping and saving and doing like the cheapest thing possible and, you know, buying not sustainably sourced materials and things. It's not about that at all. It's just about a different way of looking at your money. So I don't subscribe to everything, like just as it's written out in there, but I think it's a great framework for every business owner to read.

Lauren Tilden  

Awesome. Um, okay, so I know our listeners are going to be excited to learn more about you and your business. I know you have a ton of resources as well. Even for people who aren't yet your clients. You mentioned one already. Do you want to share anything else about where people can learn more from you connect with you find you online? Kind of get to know you a little better?

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Yeah, so like I mentioned before, I think the profit playbook which is our, our free forecasting template, I think that is a great place to start. 100degreesconsulting.com/profit And obviously there you'll be on our website so you can find out all about it there. And then on social media, I would say I spend most of my time over on Instagram at @stephanie.skry and I also have a podcast which is 100 Degrees of Entrepreneurship, where we talk about all things, all things money and entrepreneurship and business and impact. And I've got great guests on there as well as solo shows, too.

Lauren Tilden  

Amazing. Thank you so much, Stephanie. I'm like I said, I'm super excited about this topic. I think this just really clear connection between our money and our impact is is aligned like a point. I don't know that I have made that well on my own on this podcast so far. So thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of your expertise. I learned a lot and I know everyone listening well to 

Stephanie Skryzowski  

Awesome, thank you so much. Thanks for having me. 

Lauren Tilden  

So, so, so good, Stephanie. I love your approach to business finances and making an impact. And I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to chat with you on Making Good. 

Listener, as a first step. I would love to challenge you to download Stephanie's free profit resource. It's at 100degreesconsulting.com/profit Or I linked it in the show notes. I know Stephanie and I would both love to hear from you on Instagram. Take a screenshot of you listening to this episode and tag us both. Stephanie is that @stephanie.skry and I'm at @laurentilden. 

Everything mentioned in this podcast can be found at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/70 If this is your first time tuning in, and you're interested in learning more about what I do, check out the Good Business free Facebook community for this podcast with accountability, exclusive content and great community. You can get there at makinggoodpodcast.com/community learn how I can help you with your small business marketing at LaurenTilden.co,  my plant inspired greeting cards vinyl stickers and art prints, that's my business Good Sheila at goodsheila.com. And the Seattle retail shop Station Seven at station7seattle.com. Thank you for being here and for focusing on making a difference with your small business. Talk to you next time.

43: Behind the Scenes: What I Learned in 2020 + Plans for 2021

43: Behind the Scenes: What I Learned in 2020 + Plans for 2021

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 43.

Today I am going to give you a bit of a behind the scenes tour of my business -- a quick review of 2020 and how I’m approaching 2021.

This is NOT the episode I had planned for today. That episode will still be coming, but as I sat down to put together my thoughts for this episode, I realized that I wanted to start this year by opening up a little more than I have in most episodes.

One of the things that has always been a priority for me in business and in this podcast is to be real. 

Yes, I want to be helpful to you by sharing what I know, and bringing on guests and experts to share what THEY know, but I think there’s another way to be helpful…

... which is just to pull back the curtain on my business and life so you can see what’s there. What my 2020 looked like. What worked, what didn’t work, what I struggled with, what I learned. 

And so, I want to do more of that this year. 

And today, I invite you into my business and my life, and I’ll show you around. 

I’m going to start by giving you a quick overview of what 2020 looked like for me personally and in business. Then, I’ll talk about what I learned in hopes that you can take that with you as well as we head into 2021. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some quick thoughts about what’s next for me in business and for this podcast.

So. 2020.

Beyond the tragedy and devastation that this year brought to the world with COVID19, which - I don’t need to tell you were heartbreaking and unprecedented. 

And, as you probably all know, this year was tough on small businesses too.

When I think about 2020, the first word that comes to mind is exhausting. 

For anyone who is new here, I run two businesses. The first is a plant inspired stationery brand — we sell greeting cards and stickers and prints based on my watercolor designs. The second is a retail store in Seattle that my mom started and that I now own. 

The year started strong for both, but when March hit and COVID started to require businesses to close... both businesses were hit hard. 

The retail shop had to close fully for a couple months — and at the time that we closed, we didn’t even have online shopping set up. So we went from our normal monthly revenue to 0, overnight.  And most Good Sheila revenue comes from retail stores like Station 7 — most of which had to cut back dramatically on ordering. 

Station 7 has employees and generates more revenue than Good Sheila, so when things started getting intense, I had to prioritize that. 

I kept Good Sheila running, obviously, but I really had to put it on the back burner. I fulfilled orders that came in, and I managed to release one new collection of designs; but for the most part I wasn’t able to focus on Good Sheila.

And for Station 7, focus we did.

We scrambled and were somehow able to launch online shopping within about 10 days of closing our doors in March. We learned how to package and ship orders. We learned how to do curbside pickup. And we made just about every mistake you can make along the way... from website typos, to selling things that were actually out of stock. But we kept going. 

Eventually we were able to re-open our doors, but with important safety measures that affected how we could do business. 

We hung in there throughout the summer, and then in the fall started gearing up for the holidays.

The holidays are a critical time for Station 7. Typically we do something like 30% of our annual sales in December alone. 

So we put a ton of energy into those. We brought in new lines. I expanded our lineup of Black owned businesses. We launched a new website. Because we have a very limited in store capacity still, We started offering private shopping appointments. 

Ultimately, we had a good holiday season. Not as good as last year. But good enough. 

In early summer, when George FLoyd was killed and followed by the global conversation around racial injustice, we made some decisions around what part we could take in it, including expanding our lineup of Black makers at Station 7, making intentional spending easier through our website, and for Good Sheila, selecting the Loveland Foundation (an organization focused on showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls).

Personally, we have also had a lot going on. In October my partner Kate and I moved out of our house in West Seattle so that we can remodel it.

So, we had to pack up our whole house — every single room — and store most of it and bring the rest with us to our temporary digs.  I brought all Good Sheila inventory with us here. 

We have been living in Tacoma in the meantime, because we decided to take the opportunity to explore a new city since Kate is still working from home. And so that’s where we are now, hoping to get back to West Seattle within a few months.

There were a couple of other big personal life things, including one more pretty big personal life update which I will share in a couple weeks. 

Here’s something else I haven’t really shared here… my mental health was not so awesome for the last couple of months in December. 

In early December, I hit a point of complete overwhelm with everything I had on my plate (things I had put there myself). This level of stress was not only uncomfortable to experience, but it also took a toll on my mental health.

As I’ve said before on this podcast, I have OCD, and for me the biggest way that it comes up is around the idea of cleanliness and contamination -- which means a LOT of using my brain space to think about these ideas of cleanliness and contamination, and a lot of time and energy spent washing my hands. And side note: hi, right now washing your hands is super, super important. But this is way beyond what is healthy or helpful.  To the point where my hands get so dry that at times they bleed.

If you don’t have OCD it can be hard to explain sometimes how absolutely consuming obsessive compulsive disorder can be to someone who experiences it. But it can really take over your life.

Let me also say here, that I am doing totally fine. Right now my OCD is pretty well-managed! I am super functional, and I actually take medication that helps lessen the anxiety around it as well. But when things get stressful for me in my life, that takes a toll on my mental health, and that’s why it’s so important for me to pay attention to what I’m piling on my plate.

In early December, I realized that I needed to take a time out, and I actually ended up going to a hotel (contact-free) to just completely re-set and sleep and try to get myself back together. And it helped, a lot.

And then, of course! We haven’t even talked about launching this podcast.

This might sound like an exaggeration, but hosting this podcast has been life-changing for me.

Running a podcast has been the biggest adventure in personal growth ever. Any self-doubt, any mindset issues, and negative self-talk I’ve ever had has come up in the last few months… as tends to happen when you push yourself to do bigger and bigger things.

But there have been so many MORE positive outcomes of starting this podcast. I’ve heard from so many of you who have learned something or gotten something valuable out of listening. I have even connected with many of you in the Facebook group, “Good Business Community”. 

I have gotten so much clarity around what I know, what I care about, and the direction I want to take my life and my business.

It has been such a gift.

So. That’s a big freeform description of most of the last year of my business and a bit from my life, too.

Let’s make it more concrete and hopefully give you some takeaways that will be helpful to you as we look to the new year.

So what have I learned:

• Small businesses are INCREDIBLE, and we can make big things happen FAST.
  The way that small businesses have adapted to the realities of COVID19 blows my mind. This has been such a hard year for so many small businesses - particularly any businesses with an in-person component like weddings, retail, restaurants.
  And yet. The innovation that we’ve seen happen pretty much overnight in response to the closures and regulations have been amazing.
  I’ve even been amazed by how fast we were able to make changes at Station 7. Within about 10 days, we went from having NO online shopping, to having almost our entire inventory shoppable from our website. We launched curbside pickup. We launched private shopping. And we did all of this INCREDIBLY fast.
  This has been such a learning process for me personally to see that BIG THINGS can happen in business relatively quickly.
  This is something I hope to take forward, even though I so hope that things won’t be how they are for too much longer. I hope to remember that I can do big things! I can do them quickly! And they don’t need to be done perfectly right away.

• Delegating is more than just transferring your work
  One thing I’ve been forced to do this year is delegate. Between two businesses and a podcast, there’s just no way that I would have been able to hold on to everything.
  And so, I’ve fully let go of control of several things - in fact more and more each month. I don’t manage Station 7’s shipping anymore. I don’t manage customer communications for the most part, in the last month I’ve even delegated operations for Good Sheila.
  And yes, this takes work of f my plate. And that is amazing. But even more than that, it has freed up SO MUCH SPACE in my mind.
  Yes, I don’t need to actually DO these tasks that I’ve delegated. But I also don’t need to worry about them. So my mental space has more time to be creative. To think about the things that ARE still on my plate, like increasing sales and continuing to explore how I can make nan impact. And that is such a gift.

• Having a full plate is good for productivity. But there’s a limit. Having an overflowing plate is not a kind thing to do to yourself.
  I’ve realized that I actually like to have a lot of work on my plate -- as long as that work is exciting to me. I like to feel like things are happening, and that there are important things for me to work on. I spend my time better and I’m more efficient.
  But sometime this year, I realized that there is a limit to this. I piled my plate so full that I was completely and totally overwhelmed. That didn’t feel good and it affected my mental health. And it was completely my doing. I care about the people who work for me, and I wouldn’t want them to feel that way about their work. So why do I do it to myself?
  I don’t, and it has been a great experience for me to see more clearly where that line is, between excitedly busy and overdoing it.

• There are always creative solutions.
  This year, when things got hectic, I felt like I was going to need to give something up. That i wouldn’t be able to run Staiton 7, Good Sheila and Making Good all at the same time. I agonized over this for a lot of this year, because I really love all 3 and have no idea where I’d start when it comes to letting one go.
  But. Toward the end of the year, I realized that maybe I needed to think creatively about how I could continue running all three businesses and have enough time and energy to do justice to each of them.
  And I realized: I could. But I would need to give up the OPERATIONS of Station 7 and Good Sheila. The fulfilling and shipping orders. Scheduling staff at the store. Placing vendor orders. Keeping supplies stocked. Answering questions from customers and staff during our open hours.
  So. I’m super proud that Mary, who has worked with me for about a year, agreed to step up to the role of Operations Manager, and oversee all the “running smoothly” aspects of both Station 7 and Good Sheila.
  This frees me up to do what I love the most.. And what will help us ultimately grow these businesses: CREATE. Whether that’s marketing campaigns, podcast episodes, Instagram posts, emails, or painting new Good Sheila products, or who knows what else in the future. It has been an ENORMOUS weight off my shoulders to have this opportunity to focus on what excites me most.
  But this way of splitting up operations across a couple of businesses is not the obvious solution to having 3 businesses/big projects and not having time to do all of them. And so I am glad that I kept looking for another way.

• To level up, you will have to feel uncomfortable.
  This year I finally realized that if I never feel uncomfortable with what I’m doing, I’m probably not pushing myself enough. That if I always feel READY for everything I do, I probably have waited too long.
  Launching this podcast has shown me more clearly than anything else that just because something makes you really nervous, doesn’t mean it’s not a VERY good idea.
  I’m so glad that I was willing to start this podcast, despite the discomfort and self-doubt, because it has illustrated so clearly that if we are always listening to the doubt or the voice in our heads that wants to protect us from taking any risks… we are probably holding ourselves back.

• Focusing on what you care about, what your why is -- is the best way to motivate yourself.
  This is what I love SO much about the work we’re doing on this podcast. We are exploring how we can both do something we care about AND run a business we love. How we can make an impact THROUGH.
  When things get stressful and tough, there is nothing more motivating than being able to go back and remind yourself of your values and say. THIS is why I’m doing this. THIS is why I show up every day. THIS is why I put in the work. Because I have a vision of the world I want to live in, and I know that everything I do is in service of that goal.

So, to sum those up into actionable tips:

1. Big changes can happen FAST when you commit.

2. Delegating frees up your time AND mental space

3. Having a full plate is a good thing… to a point

4. Look for creative solutions

5. Be willing to be uncomfortable

6. To motivate yourself, focus on what you care about -- what change you’re working toward

Okay! And before I wrap this episode up, let’s talk about some of my thoughts on 2021.

First of all, I have set a word for the year to be a theme for the action I take this year. And that word is BOLD.

That means, go for it. Do the dang thing. Step up. Be willing to put yourself out there.

I have not, however set any resolutions or annual goals. Instead, I’m focusing on setting goals by quarter.

Over break I read The 12 Week Year byBrian P. Moran and Michael Lennington and I’ve been super motivated to try this method of planning out.

So I have a couple of business goals for my first 12 week year -- which is quarter 1 of 2021.

My first is a revenue goal for Station 7 in the first 3 months. This will be a challenge and require some new projects and initiatives.

My second is a number of new wholesale accounts for Good Sheila.

Using the 12 Week Year methodology, I’ve broken these down into specific actions I need to take each week, and I have it all organized in NOTION. Which is what I’m using for project management currently. It’s kind of a mix between something like Trello or Asana and Evernote and I LOVE IT. (Hey, DM me on Instagram @laurentilden if you’d be interested in an episode on Notion?)

So those are my two concrete goals for the next few months.

But what else is on my horizon?

Continuing to give back. I will continue 5% for Good through Good Sheila, as I have been doing since 2018.

I also haven’t mentioned this before, but I’m super excited to be applying this 5% for Good to Station 7. Station 7 will be donating 5% of profits as of Q4 2020 (just waiting on final numbers here).

How do I calculate this? 

For Station 7, I will be calculating this as NET profit. Meaning, revenue minus the cost of inventory and expenses. 5% of that number. So that is AFTER I’ve taken out payroll, but before I’ve paid myself.

More painting. My most recent Good Sheila collection is the most ME collection I’ve ever done. It’s watercolor painting of flowers, and then the message on the card is what that flower represents.  For example, the zinnia flower represents “thinking of you”, so the card with that flower painted on it also says “ Thinking of You” in text on the front. The money tree plant represents prosperity, so there’s a card with the money tree on it, and the message is “Good Luck”.

For Station 7, more focus on ecommerce. We want to increase our sales -- because a) we’re a business, but also because b) the more sales we have, the more we can support the small businesses that we buy from. 

COVID19 has changed the way that a brick-and-mortar store experiences foot traffic. We have less people in the store now, and who knows when things will return to our pre-COVID foot traffic. So, how do we increase sales without the same amount of people in the store or more? One way that we are going to be focusing on is to increase our focus on online sales.

Well, I want to put more and more of my time and energy into Making Good and helping people build strong small businesses, market them effectively, and make a positive impact with them. 

I will be launching a digital COURSE later this year about building your values into your business, and I’m super excited about that.

I also spent some time looking at the podcast analytics over this past year, and one thing I learned is that you all love the marketing episodes! So I’ve been exploring other ways to help you with your marketing aside from the podcast episodes, whether that’s a mini-course, templates, copywriting tutorials, or something else, I’m still playing with what exactly this looks like… but stay tuned!

So that’s a bit of a wrap up of 2020 and some thoughts for the future. I hope you enjoyed this deeper look at the ins and outs of my business and life, and how I’m approaching the year to come

So. A couple of next steps for you if things in this episode resonated.

1. Download your GOOD BUSINESS WORKBOOK. This is a 17-page free PDF that will help you get clear on what you care about and how your business is going to do something about it.
   You can get it at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness.

2. Join a community of small business people who are on a mission to make a difference. This Facebook group was created specifically for people who want to make change in the world, and build a strong small business to do it.
   To be redirected to the Facebook group, go to makinggoodpodcast.com/community (or just search Good Business Community in Facebook).

 If you’ve enjoyed listening to this podcast, can I ask you a huge favor? Will you leave a review of this podcast? It helps other people browsing through the podcasts app know that this podcast is worth listening to.

ALSO! Two of my Instagram accounts have been combined. I combined my Making Good account with my personal account. So, from now on for all things Making Good, connect with me at @laurentilden on Instagram -- would love to hear from you.

You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/43.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

45: The One Thing You NEED to Get Stuff Done (+ 8 other tips)

45: The One Thing You NEED to Get Stuff Done (+ 8 other tips)

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 45.

For me, there aren’t very many things that feel as good as getting things done. I keep a paper “to do” list -- just to experience one of life’s simple but wonderful treasures -- the joy of crossing something off my ‘to do’ list.

Now, let me say upfront: I’m not a productivity expert. But I am someone who, when I put my mind to it, can get a lot of things done relatively quickly. So I wanted to share, from my own experience, what helps me get things done.

I have quite a few tips below, but really view it as one thing that is so critical if you want to get lots of stuff done… and then some other tips to consider as well.

So what is this one, super critical thing?

It is this:

You have to get to know yourself.

I feel like I can hear a collective groan from here, just saying that.

And truthfully, if I were listening to a podcast and got that piece of advice, I’d probably roll my eyes a little bit, too.

But hear me out.

I am a little bit obsessed with productivity. I’ve read Getting Things Done by David Allen. I’ve tried Basecamp, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, and just about every project management tool there is. I’ve read productivity blogs upon blogs and articles upon articles. I’ve adjusted my working schedule. I’ve tried “themed” days. I’ve had accountability check-ins.

If there was someone out there who said, TRY MY SYSTEM TO GET STUFF DONE EFFICIENTLY, I’ve probably tried their method.

And most of these methods logically make a lot of sense. And different as they are, each one of these methods also works for a lot of people. 

But they didn’t all work for me, which brings us back to this number one most important factor when it comes to getting stuff done -- knowing yourself.

So what do I mean?

Well, for me personally, here are some things that I know about myself that come into play when it comes to productivity:

• I know that I am more motivated when other people are involved. When other people know my dates and deadlines, that makes me MUCH more likely to meet those deadlines. For example, you know that this podcast comes out every Tuesday. So, come hell or high water, I make sure there’s an episode waiting for you every Tuesday.
  Yes, it’s good marketing practice to be consistent and to release your content on a reliable basis.
  But more than that for me is that I feel accountable to you, and that slight (important!) pressure, helps me get stuff done.

• I know that I do not do good work after late afternoon. I do spend a little bit too much time working, and often I’ll be curled up on the couch with my laptop after dinner.
  But if I’m honest with myself -- and with you -- I can say that I really don’t get much useful done after about 4pm or 5pm. Keeping up with email or social media -- those things I can definitely do at night. But anything that requires any level of mental energy needs to be done earlier in the day.

• I know that my surroundings affect me. I have a really hard time being productive when there’s a mess around me. If my desk or office are messy, or if I’m in the living room and my dog has shred a paper bag and left the scraps all over the floor… I have a really hard time focusing.

• I know that I’m easily distracted. Noises and interruptions really throw me off. So for that reason, I very consciously use a tool that has productivity-proven music and sounds on my headphones all day so that I can’t be distracted. I’ve also turned the notifications fully off most of my phone apps, and definitely Instagram, and that helps a lot.

• I know I need to let “good enough” be enough. I tend toward perfectionism, but when I give into perfectionism I tend to never put anything out into the world. In the interest of continuing to get a lot of things done, I live by the mantra that DONE is better than PERFECT (or I’ve often heard the quote, “Perfect is the enemy of the good”).

• I know that I respond to small joys throughout the day. For example, I love to have a warm beverage by my side while I work. So, most of the day, I have a coffee or a decaf, or occasionally a tea on my desk. I love great office supplies, so I always make sure I have nice notepads and pens to doodle or write my ‘to do’ lists. Or right now, it’s winter, and I usually have cozy slippers and sometimes even a robe with me juuust to get as comfortable as possible.

These factors actually all make a HUGE impact on me and my ability to cross things off my list, but I know that for some people, a lot of these things are completely irrelevant to their ability to get stuff done.

So, I encourage you to do a bit of an inventory with yourself on how you work. Here’s how I’d go about starting to get to know yourself and the way you work.

Think about some times that you’ve been able to work very productively and get things done efficiently. And let’s think of a time that you weren’t working on something you love to do so much that you’d do it for fun. Think of a routine task in your business that you do because you have to do it. 

And then, I’d try to analyze why you were able to be so productive.

• Where were you? In public? At home?

• What were the conditions around you? Tidy, either?

• What kind of noise were you hearing? Did you listen to anything on headphones?

• Did you have a deadline? How far away is that deadline? Does anyone know about the deadline except you?

• Did you have any materials, beverages, or things to look forward to that helped motivate you?

You get the idea.

I’ve spent SO MUCH of the last few years just getting to know myself, and making small tweaks to my life and then later my business to make them work better for me. To make them more aligned with who I am and how I operate.

And, as I am constantly understanding myself better and making small changes to the way I work, I’m also starting to get more and more done. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence.

So. Knowing yourself is really the big one, as I said, when it comes to productivity and actually getting stuff done. 

But I’ve got a bunch of other ideas and tips and things you could consider trying that I wanted to share here with you.

So, the first and by far most important tip, was to know yourself.

Second tip is to consider what you LIKE doing.

Early on in our businesses, usually we’re the only ones in there, and we’re doing everything from bookkeeping to shipping to graphic design. 

But as time goes on and we start making a little bit of money, we are able to hire out certain things.

One way I’ve made this choice is to think about what I LOVE DOING… and I make sure that that stays on my plate. And then I think about the things I HATE DOING, that I put off and resist…. And those are the things that, if I can, I delegate.

My third tip is to get super clear on your why…. And also the WHY behind every task on your list.

Knowing why you’re doing the work you’re doing is so critical when it comes to finding the motivation to get through what often feels like an endless to do list.

There are a bunch of ways to get clear on your Why, and one resource that is always recommended for this is Start with Why by Simon Sinek (which I have to say, I’ve never fully finished reading for some reason, but it does come highly recommended by others). 

If you want to get clear on your values, this may also help create clarity around why you do what you do, and I have a great resource for that. Download the Good Business Workbook at makinggoodpodcast.com/goodbusiness.

This gets even more powerful when we can tie each task on our list to our WHY. 

An example for me might be this. Let’s say an item on my ‘to do’ list is to reach out to new stores who might be interested in carrying Good Sheila greeting cards.

Reaching out to people -- most of whom won’t ever contact you back -- isn’t always the most fun thing to do.

But when I tie it back to the impact I know my business makes -- the more accounts we make, the more sales we make, the more we are able to give back -- that helps re-motivate me.

My tip #4 is to do a braindump.

I’ve talked about this before, but braindumps are the closest thing to a secret weapon that I think I have. Whenever I feel just paralyzed or stuck, whether it’s with too much work, or I don’t know where to go next, I spend some time just writing anything that is on my mind. I don’t organize it as it’s coming out -- I’ll end up writing things on my personal ‘to do” list right alongside work tasks. But the act of taking something from your brain and putting it on paper really helps to help you start making sense of what you have on your plate and make some decisions about how to proceed

Tip #5 is to break things up into the smallest possible steps.

This is a weirdly effective way to make things that seem overwhelming much more approachable. If you have something huge on your list, like, create a course. That just seems so daunting that often we tend to ignore those things.

But breaking it up into small steps can help us to actually start taking action.

For example, if the task really is “create a course”, I would start by listing everything I can think of that would need to be done.

It could be things like:

• Find some experts on course creation and read their content.

• Poll my audience to see what the best course topic would be and what questions they might have

• Write down the different subtopics that will be covered in the course

• Etc.

Tip #6 Use the pomodoro technique.

The pomodoro technique is when you work in 25-minute spurts, followed by a 5-minute break. It got its name from whoever invented it using a pomodoro tomato kitchen timer.

It’s really as simple as: Set an alarm for 25-minutes and do WORK, knowing that when the 25 minutes are up, you can take a 5-minute break to check your phone, social media, play Tetris (just me?).

Fun fact: My partner and I actually use the pomodoro technique when we need to clean our house. When it gets a little messy, at a certain point one of us will say, “wanna do a pomodoro?” and we’ll set a 25 minute timer, put on some music, and get cleaning. It’s actually amazing how much can get done in 25 minutes.

Tip #7 is to batch your work.

I have to admit that this is something I don’t always do a great job with, but when I have put it into practice, it totally helps me get stuff DONE.

You can think of batching like turning your work tasks into an assembly line. Let’s talk about creating podcast episodes, for example.

Here’s a brief summary of the process I use to create each of these episodes.

First, I brainstorm the topic.

Then I write out what I want to say in the episode.

Then I record the episode.

Then I edit the episode.

Then I upload it to my hosting service.

Then I write the show notes.

Then I schedule both of them to go live at the same time.

Then I promote it by email and social media.

The instinct that most of us have is to just do this process episode by episode, going from start to finish. But it’s actually so much more efficient if we break it up into different individual tasks, and do a LOT of that task at once before before moving on to the next task.

For podcasting, that means, let’s say doing each of these tasks for 6 episodes at a time.

SO first, brainstorming and deciding on 6 topics. 

Then, spending time writing the content for each individual episode.

Then I’d record all the episodes.

Then I’d edit all of the episodes. Etcetera

When we do this, we stop ourselves from switching back and forth between tasks all day and allow ourselves to stay really focused.

A couple ways to apply this is: check your email twice per day and do all your email work then. Schedule a full week or even month’s worth of social media posts in one sitting. Write a month worth of email marketing emails at one time. If you work with clients, you might decide to set aside 1-2 days per week and do client calls on those days. If you make products, maybe you divide the process of creating your products up into different stages for efficiency.

There are so many ways to apply the concept of batching. Like I said, I’m not a wizard at this by any means, but I do know that every time I apply it I’m amazed by what I can get done.

Tip #8 is to prioritize connection! 

One thing that really surprised me for some reason when I started my business was how isolated I felt pretty quickly. I’m an introvert and love me some alone time, so I felt like small business was something I could do completely on my own.

But finding people to check in with and connect with has made such a huge impact on me. Yes, finding and making other small business friends to chat with is amazing. But even before you get to that point, it could be just making a point to text your friends during the day, or call your mom or sister or whoever it is when you take a break mid-day. I find that making sure I’m not completely going at it alone helps me stay motivated and feeling positive.

It can also be helpful to run whatever challenges you’re facing by other people and get their reaction. When we work for and by ourselves, sometimes we can get in our head about things and make things into a bigger deal than they really need to be (anyone else? Just me?). But getting  a second set of eyes can provide a needed reality check that sometimes is just what you need to take the next step.

Tip #9, and this is my final tip, is to take breaks.

Friends, this tip is hard earned. And it’s a lesson I’m still learning. But motivation is really the magic ingredient to getting stuff done, and it’s hard to have much motivation when we’re burned out.

Or even just vaguely overworked.

I’m not always awesome at balance, I know this. But I can tell you that I never feel more excited and energized than after I’ve taken a step away or at least slowed down for a while.

For me, this even works on a micro-level. I love to intersperse long breaks into my workdays -- breaks like grocery shopping or a long walk with my dog -- as a complete reset.

And then of course on a longer term basis, take days off! Take weekends off! Take vacation and holidays!

I’m guilty of getting so wrapped up in what I’m working on that I just want to work all the time. But I am working on trying to step away more than I’m inclined to.

Because the only way to hold onto that feeling of excitement and enthusiasm, is to not overdo it and push myself to burnout (which I have done as recently as December).

So this one might be a “do as I say, not as I do” kind of tip. But, I stand by it.

Okay, and I know I said that was the last step but SURPRISE.

BONUS TIP: My favorite productivity tool is called Focus At Will, and it’s music and sounds that are scientifically optimized to keep your head in the zone. I have been using it for years and am constantly amazed by how well it works. I’m not an affiliate or anything -- I actually have a lifetime membership, but if this sounds interesting I would suggest you try it out for free! Focusatwill.com, or link in show notes

Alright. Turns out I had a lot to say about getting things done! I hope this was useful to you and that you were able to pick out a tip or two that you can put into practice.

I also want to re-emphasize taking the time to really get to know yourself, what motivates you, and how you work best. Because nothing will make you more productive than organizing your life and your work around what is best for YOU.

Podcasting can sometimes feel like you’re talking into the void, so I would love to hear from you! Take a screenshot of you listening to this episode, and tag me on Instagram at @laurentilden (new IG account!). I’d love to say hello to you!

You can find links to the resources I mentioned at makinggoodpodcast.com/45.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

47: The Magic of a Call to Action (How to Do CTAs Right)

47: The Magic of a Call to Action (How to Do CTAs Right)

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 47.

Today’s episode is one I’m really, really excited about, because it’s something that is actually fairly easy to get right… and yet so few people do.

In this episode, we are talking about how to use Calls to Action, or CTA. A Call to Action is a way of activating your reader or your audience.  In this short & sweet episode, we will define Call to Action and provide some examples, and we’ll go over some simple rules for writing effective Calls to Action.

First, let’s define “call to action”.

So. A Call to Action is exactly what it sounds like -- it’s a marketing term for every time you ask your audience to take an action. It’s asking your audience to *DO* something.

You see MANY Calls to Action every day, even if you don’t always recognize them as such.

The most obvious “Call to Action” is “BUY NOW”.

Here are some Calls to Action that might sound familiar:

• Go to the link in my profile

• Save this post

• Register for my workshop

• Click this link to set up a free consultation

• Reply to this email and let me know your thoughts

• Subscribe to this podcast

• Sign up for my newsletter

• Email me for a consultation

• Sign up here for a free sample

Another word you’ll hear a lot is conversion, and I want to define that word for you too, since it’s very much related to the “Call to Action”.

A conversion is the word we use to describe when someone has taken an action as a result of our marketing. In other words, when they have converted from one stage to the next … from prospect to customer, for example.

And so what is the relationship between a Call to Action and Conversion.

When someone responds to your Call to Action by taking the action you requested, that is a conversion.

Conversions can be big -- like, someone receives your marketing email advertising a product, and they go buy it. Or they can be small, like they received your marketing email, and they clicked the link you told them to click.

You may hear the term “conversion rate” when people talk about assessing their marketing efforts. A conversion rate is the percentage of people exposed to the Call to Action who actually respond to the call to action.

As an example, let’s say we have a signup form on our website that offers a discount code in return for submitting your email address through the form.

On a given day, let’s say 100 people visit your webpage, and 5 people enter their email address. That would be a conversion of 5 out of 100, or 5%.

Any time you have the data on how many people were exposed to your call to action and how many people took the action you requested, you can calculate this conversion rate.

So. Those are some definitions.

Now, why are Calls to Action important?

Well, it’s actually pretty simple. Calls to Action are important because they invite people to take action with our business. To sign up for our email list. To comment on an Instagram post, to buy our product. 

In order for us to have a business, people have to take action. Calls to Action are the invitations to do something. To take the actions, large and small, that help our customers get to know us, to develop a relationship with us, to learn what we’re about, and eventually - to buy from us.

One more thing before we get into the “HOW TO” part of this episode. And that is to answer this question:

When should you use a Call to Action?

And my answer is: As often as you can.

It wouldn’t be too often to have a Call to Action in every single thing you write. Of course, you don’t want the call to action to be “BUY THIS NOW” every single time. 

But asking your reader to do something (and being very clear on what you want them to do) is a great way of creating more engagement with your brand.

It most certainly should not always be promotional or to ask for a sale or something that serves you and your business. Bu

The Call to action could often be as simple as “reply to this email and let me know what you think!” or “tag a business you admire below”. 

You can put a Call to Action pretty much anywhere: In an Instagram caption or story, on your website (buttons are great for this!), in your email newsletter, at an in-person event, etc.

Create opportunities to do Calls to Action as often as you can.

Okay, now that we've got the basics covered, let’s talk about how to write a good Call to Action.

The most important ingredient of a good Call to Action is INTENTION.

And one of my favorite ways to get intentional when I’m doing my marketing writing is through an exercise called KNOW / FEEL / DO. I talk about this exercise pretty extensively in episode 21, the episode about effective business writing, so go listen to that if you want more details. But the cliff notes version is this.

Whenever you write something for your business-- a marketing email, a social media post, a page on your website -- I would suggest that you get super, super clear on 3 important things: your KNOW, FEEL, and DO.

After your reader reads this, what do you want them to KNOW? What do you want them to FEEL? And what do you want them to DO?

Getting clear on what you want your reader to KNOW and FEEL will help you write direct, thoughtful and effective marketing copy. 

Getting clear on what you want your reader to DO is where the Call to Action comes in. 

Try to make your Call to Action the natural, flowing extension of whatever you’ve written. 

When you’re thinking about what to choose as a Call to Action, you usually want to choose something that is (or that you can position as) a logical next step after reading your message.

If your marketing email is about a sale you are running, you might choose for your Call to Action to go browse the items on sale by clicking a link.

If your Instagram post is an inspiring quote, you might choose for your Call to Action to be “save this post”. 

The Call to Action should not feel like it’s coming out of left field -- it should flow naturally from the rest of the message. 

When you ask yourself what you want your reader to DO after reading your Instagram post, for example, you might have a whole laundry list of things that it would be nice if they would do.

And you might be tempted to give your reader all of these different options of ways to engage with you!

Sign up for my email list!

Buy this product!

Download my free PDF!

Send me a DM!

Tag a friend below!

It would be great if the reader of this Instagram post would do ALL of those things. But they almost certainly will not.

So if you *actually* want someone to respond to your call to action by doing what you ask, you need to exercise some serious self-control and limit yourself to ONE action.

This is hard, and this is something that I struggle with myself, because I always want to provide ALL THE INFORMATION ALL THE TIME.

But while that might make ME feel like WOW look at all of that stuff I wrote, it’s not about how I feel, it’s about how the person READING it feels.

And when a reader is faced with a laundry list of tasks you’re asking them to do, they are most likely going to feel overwhelmed and move on.

So, again, you’re going to choose ONE thing to ask your reader to do as a Call to Action.

Now, there’s another very important thing that comes into play when it comes to a Call to Action.

 This is actually one of the best pieces of business advice I could ever offer you, and that is: MAKE IT EASY.

The easier you make it for your customer, the more likely they are to take the action you want.

Make it EASY to sign up for your email list (don’t ask them to fill out more than their name and email).

Make it EASY to purchase your product -- make sure the checkout process is as seamless as possible.

Make it EASY for them to get their questions answered -- maybe a FAQ section if that’s relevant to your product.

This might sound obvious, but I would encourage you to ask yourself every time you’re writing a Call to Action: How can I make it as EASY as possible for my customer or reader to take the action?

Here’s an example of something I do sometimes to make things easy that is SO EFFECTIVE.

If I have a link I want to direct people to, I put it in my IG bio… but I know that not that many people will click it.

Instead, I’ll post a story with a POLL. Instead of YES / NO, I make the options of the poll two different emojis. 

Then, I’ll explain whatever resource or link I want to direct them to, and say, “if you want me to DM you the link, pick your favorite emoji below”.

And then, ANYONE who selects either option on the poll, I’ll send them a direct message with a nice note and a link (you can copy/pasted this).

Yes, this is more work for me. But if my goal is that people actually go to the link, then this is a good way to increase my chances, because I’m making it SO, SO easy.

Okay!

If you’ve been multitasking, now is the time to come back and take some notes! I’m rounding up the cliff notes of this episode for you:

• A Call to Action is anytime you ask your reader to DO something

• A conversion is what happens when your reader responds to your Call to Action by taking the action you requested

• Calls to Action are important because they make people interact and engage with your business.. things that ultimately lead to purchasing

• I encourage you to use a Call to Action as often as you can

• The most important ingredient of a Call to Action is INTENTION — I suggest the KNOW / FEEL / DO exercise. The DO is your Call to Action.

• Your Call to Action should be the natural extension of your marketing message

• Each marketing message should only have ONE Call to Action

• The easier you make your Call to Action, the more likely people will be to take action

Alright. I hope this provides you with some clarity on the topic of the Call to Action.

The main takeaway that I hope you have from this episode is that business is a two way street. For our business to be a business, we need people to take action. 

And a really great way to generate more of this kind of action is to very simply ask people to take a specific, very easy action.

That’s what I have for you today!

I would LOVE to hear from you. How are you using Calls to Action in your business? Connect with me on Instagram @laurentilden.

Links and notes from this episode can be found at makinggoodpodcast.com/47.

And this IS a Call to Action episode…. So of course I’m not signing off without a call to action!

Here it is:

If you love learning about small business marketing, mindset, and ways to do good through your business, you will really love the Facebook group for this podcast.  We’d love to have you. To join, go to makinggoodpodcast.com/community and you’ll be redirected to the Facebook page.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

51: Top Recommended Books for Biz Building (by past guests!)

51: Top Recommended Books for Biz Building (by past guests!)

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 51.

I’m playing around with a new idea today, and that is this:

Effort =/= Value

And by that I mean… the amount of effort you put into something is not what determines how valuable it is to your audience.

How about some real talk.

I’m recording this episode on Tuesday, March 2 -- which is also the day that it will be released. Today I need to record this episode, edit it, upload it, release it and ideally do some marketing.

This is not ideal. I much prefer to schedule my podcast episodes out in advance and have everything all set to go -- I schedule uploads for the middle of the night Pacific time so they are usually all bright and bushy tailed, waiting in your podcast app for you each and every Tuesday morning. 

Today I had an episode planned that would take me QUITE a bit of time to prepare content for and lay out. It’s going to be an awesome episode and will be out within a few weeks. But I don’t have time for it today.

So how does this relate to effort & value?

Just because I am not going to be able to put the same amount of EFFORT into this episode (the one you’re listening to), doesn’t mean I can’t provide as much value.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I believe that your ultimate approach to marketing (and largely to business in general), should be to PROVIDE VALUE for your audience.

So, today, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to put together the episode I initially planned on, but I know that I still want to provide you with as much value as I possibly can.

And because I’ve gotten to know you, my listener, pretty well over these last many months of running this podcast, I have a pretty good idea of what you will find valuable.

Which brings us to today’s episode.

I know that people who listen to this podcast LOVE a good resource or recommendation. A book recommendation, a tool that will make their lives easier, a podcast that might support them in their work.

In fact, I ask each and every guest I have had on this podcast for a book recommendation so that we can share those with you.

But, (until now), I have never collected all of the recommendations in one place so you have one handy list to choose from.

So, for this episode today, I’ve put together ALL of the book recommendations -- some of them recommended multiple times, and I’m sharing them with you here. 

Some are business-specific, some are self-improvement, some are more spirituality or advocacy related -- but they are all books that the incredible guests of this podcast believe will make you a better business person.

In this episode, I’ll share every book that has been recommended thus far by a guest on this podcast, let you know who recommended it, and tell you a little bit about the book.

If you’re not interested in hearing a description of each book, I would recommend heading over to the show notes where you can see the full list of books and they will all be linked!

Of course, all of the books will be linked in the show notes for this episode at makinggoodpodcast.com/51.

Alright, without further ado! Let’s get into the books. 

Untamed by Glennon Doyle (Chris Emmer + Nancy Shadlock + Jess Gupta)

In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us. (publisher Penguin Random House)

Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (Jenna Starkey and Keltie Maguire)

In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise. (book’s website)

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön (Jenna Starkey)

How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect. Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy. (publisher Penguin Random House)

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer (Jenna Starkey)

What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity? The Untethered Soul offers simple yet profound answers to these questions. (Untethered Soul website)

Find Your F*ckyeah by Alexis Rockley (Chris Emmer)

A bold guide to finding your unique purpose and uncensored self, Find Your F*ckyeah disrupts today's warm, fuzzy brand of #selfcare and “Just be you!” personal growth trends, translating the hard science of happiness for a generation that speaks emoji. (website)

The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy (Nesha Frazier)’No gimmicks. No Hyperbole. No Magic Bullet. The Compound Effect is based on the principle that decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default. Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, presents The Compound Effect, a distillation of the fundamental principles that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships, and beyond. This easy-to-use, step-by-step operating system allows you to multiply your success, chart your progress, and achieve any desire. If you’re serious about living an extraordinary life, use the power of The Compound Effect to create the success you want. (Vanguard Press Books)

Brand Brilliance by Fiona Humberstone (Illiah Manger)

As a modern entrepreneur, you need an incisive vision; for what your brand stands for and where it’s headed. You need to communicate in a way that consistently enchants your audience and retain your focus in an increasingly noisy world.

In Brand Brilliance, bestselling author and branding expert Fiona Humberstone takes you on a comprehensive journey to help you identify your dream clients, refine your message and up your marketing game.

With her trademark inspirational, practical and easy-to-implement style, Fiona shows you how to add substance and clarity to your brand, pull into focus the things that really matter and enable you to communicate with purpose and flair. Expect to feel empowered, inspired and energised! (author’s website)

How to Style Your Brand by Fiona Humberstone (Illiah Manger)

You're on the cusp of something big. You know that the right brand identity has the power to attract, engage and compel people to do business with you. How do you make sure it'll be an accurate reflection of your aspirations? How do you pick the right designer, brief them effectively and create a brand that really does your business justice? Whether you’re a startup on a lemonade-budget or a seasoned entrepreneur working with a professional, an understanding of how brand styling works is essential.

 Atomic Habits by James Clear (Mariah Tomkinson)

Atomic Habits is the most comprehensive and practical guide on how to create good habits, break bad ones, and get 1 percent better every day. I do not believe you will find a more actionable book on the subject of habits and improvement.

If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system.

Bad habits repeat themselves not because you don’t want to change but because you have the wrong system for change. This is one of the core philosophies of Atomic Habits: You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. In this book, you’ll get a proven plan that can take you to new heights.

James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible.

Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories about Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits—whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, and achieve success that lasts.

 (author’s website)

 You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero (Mariah Tomkinson)

You Are a Badass® at Making Money will launch you past the fears and stumbling blocks that have kept financial success beyond your reach. Drawing on her own transformation—over just a few years—from a woman living in a converted garage with tumbleweeds blowing through her bank account to a woman who travels the world in style, Jen Sincero channels the inimitable sass and practicality that made You Are a Badass® an indomitable bestseller. She combines hilarious personal essays with bite-size, aha concepts that unlock earning potential and get real results. (author’s website)

Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (Reina Pomeroy)

“True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.” Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging. (Penguin RH website)

Frindle by Andrew Clements (Megan Dowd)

Children’s book: Trying to aggravate a tough language-arts teacher, a fifth-grade boy invents a new word for pen: "frindle." Soon, the whole country is using it. "Dictionary lovers will cotton to this mild classroom fantasy," said PW (Publisher’s weekly)

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero (Nancy Shadlock)

With over 2 million copies in print, Jen Sincero's You Are a Badass® has inspired even the snarkiest of skeptics—encouraging them to embrace their awesomeness, give fear the heave-ho, and start kicking some serious ass. Now it's dressed up in a deluxe hardcover edition, with a new foreword by the author. But it's the same "classic" book that helps you create a life you love via hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. (author’s website)

The Gene Keys by Richard Rudd (Nancy Shadlock)

This book is an invitation to begin a new journey in your life. The beating heart of the Gene Keys Synthesis, this is the codebook describing all human states of consciousness, from the deepest fear-based patterns to the most awe-inspiring possibilities in our DNA. A vast work of vision and depth, this is a book to contemplate over a lifetime. It can be used in many different ways – as a companion to explain the Gene Keys in your Profile, as an oracle and daily inspiration or as a spiritual path in its own right. Many people have testified that simply reading this book brings them a profound understanding of their life, relationships and higher purpose. Written in a poetic yet practical style, the Gene Keys book points you towards the beauty that already lies inside you and invites you into a world where anything is possible. 

(book website)

Start with Why by Simon Sinek (Laura Clise)

Start With Why shows that the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate the same way — and it’s the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY. (authors website)

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Laura Clise)

In this New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a hard-hitting but user-friendly examination of race in America

Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy — from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans — has put a media spotlight on racism in our society. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair — and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

(hachete)

 More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are No Matter What They Say by Elaine Welteroth ((Jen Hatzung)

Part-manifesto, part-memoir, from the revolutionary editor who infused social consciousness into the pages of Teen Vogue, an exploration of what it means to come into your own—on your own terms (Penguin RH)

 More Myself by Alicia Keys (audiobook recommended - she narrates herself!) (Jen Hatzung)

In More Myself, Alicia shares her quest for truth—about herself, her past, and her shift from sacrificing her spirit to celebrating her worth. With the raw honesty that epitomizes Alicia’s artistry, More Myself is at once a riveting account and a clarion call to readers: to define themselves in a world that rarely encourages a true and unique identity. (Macmillian publishers website)

 Getting (More of) What You Want by Margaret Neale and Thomas Lys (Alex Dickinson)

Almost every interaction involves negotiation, yet we often miss the cues that would allow us to make the most of these exchanges. In Getting (More of) What You Want, Margaret Neale and Thomas Lys draw on the latest advances in psychology and economics to provide new strategies for anyone shopping for a car, lobbying for a raise, or simply haggling over who takes out the trash. Getting (More of) What You Want shows how inexperienced negotiators regularly leave significant value on the table—and reveals how you can claim it.

(book’s website)

Emotional Sobriety: From Relationship Trauma to Resilience and Balance by Tian Dayton, Ph.D. (Amy Deland)

Do you use substances or engage in compulsive activities to regulate your mood? Do you reach for something sweet, a couple of drinks, or a pack of cigarettes after a difficult day because you can’t unwind without them? Do you race to the stores to spend away the day’s frustrations or run around in circles taking more time to get less done? If these self-defeating habits sound familiar, Emotional Sobriety will shed light on why and how these coping mechanisms threaten your health and impact resilience. 

(author’s website) 

The  War of Art by Steven Pressfield (Natalie Wong)

Think of The War of Art as tough love... for yourself.

Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "Resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us.Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.Though it was written for writers, it has been embraced by business entrepreneurs, actors, dancers, painters, photographers, filmmakers, military service members and thousands of others around the world.

(Amazon)

 Do the Work by Steven Pressfield (Natalie Wong)

(authors’ website)

"There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us. Step one is to recognize this. This recognition alone is enormously powerful. It saved my life, and it will save yours." -- Steven Pressfield Could you be getting in your way of producing great work? Have you started a project but never finished? Would you like to do work that matters, but don't know where to start?The answer is Do the Work, a manifesto by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, that will show you that it's not about better ideas, it's about actually doing the work. Do the Work is a weapon against Resistance - a tool that will help you take action and successfully ship projects out the door. Picking up where The War of Art and Turning Pro left off, Do The Work takes the reader from the start to the finish of any long-form project—novel, screenplay, album, software piece, you name it. Do The Work identifies the predictable Resistance Points along the way and walks you through each of them. No, you are not crazy. No, you are not alone. No, you are not the first person to "hit the wall" in Act Two. Do The Work charts the territory. It's the stage-by-stage road map for taking your project from Page One to THE END. (Amazon)

 Ask for More by Alexandra Carter (Natalie Wong)

Negotiation is not a zero-sum game. It’s an essential skill for your career that can also improve your closest relationships and your everyday life, but often people shy away from it, feeling defeated before they’ve even started. In this groundbreaking new book on negotiation, Ask for More, Alexandra Carter—Columbia law professor and mediation expert who has helped students, business professionals, the United Nations, and more—offers a straightforward, accessible approach anyone can use to ask for and get more.

We’ve been taught incorrectly that the loudest and most assertive voice prevails in any negotiation, or otherwise both sides compromise, ending up with less. Instead Carter shows that you get far more value by asking the right questions of the person you’re negotiating with than you do from arguing with them. She offers a simple yet powerful ten-question framework for successful negotiation where both sides emerge victorious. Carter’s proven method extends far beyond one “yes” and instead creates value that lasts a lifetime.

Ask for More gives you the tools to bring clarity and perspective to any important discussion, no matter the topic.(publisher Simon Schuster)

 Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz (natalie wong)

Never started a company before? Struggling with little or no cash? Have no experience, no baseline to judge your progress against? Thank God! You've got a shot at making this work. The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur will show you exactly how. (authors’ website)

 Profit First by Mike MIcahlowicz (Natalie Wong)

(Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales - Expenses = Profit. The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logical. Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz has developed a behavioral approach to accounting to flip the formula: Sales - Profit = Expenses. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows.  (Richland Library)  

 Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz (Natalie Wong)

The biggest problem entrepreneurs have is that they don’t know what their biggest problem is. If you find yourself trapped between stagnating sales, staff turnover, and unhappy customers, what do you fix first? Every issue seems urgent — but there’s no way to address all of them at once. The result? A business that continues to go in endless circles putting out urgent fires and prioritizing the wrong things.

 Fortunately, Mike Michalowicz has a simple system to help you eradicate these frustrations and get your business moving forward, fast. Mike himself has lived through the struggles and countless distractions of entrepreneurship, and devoted years to finding a simple way to pinpoint exactly where to direct attention for rapid growth. He figured out that every business has a hierarchy of needs, and if you can understand where you are in that hierarchy, you can identify what needs immediate attention. Simply fix that one thing next, and your business will naturally and effortlessly level-up.

Over the past decade, Mike has developed an ardent following for his funny, honest, and actionable insights told through the stories of real entrepreneurs. Now, Fix This Next offers a simple, unique, and wildly powerful business compass that has already helped hundreds of companies get to the next level, and will do the same for you. Immediately.

(Penguin RH)

 Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA. (Nikki Innocent)

This groundbreaking book explains why women experience burnout differently than men—and provides a simple, science-based plan to help women minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life. (Penguin RH)

 Women Who Run with Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Chris Emmer)

Within every woman there lives a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. She is the Wild Woman, who represents the instinctual nature of women. But she is an endangered species. In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Dr. Estés unfolds rich intercultural myths, fairy tales, and stories, many from her own family, in order to help women reconnect with the fierce, healthy, visionary attributes of this instinctual nature. Through the stories and commentaries in this remarkable book, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand the Wild Woman and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Dr. Estés has created a new lexicon for describing the female psyche. Fertile and life-giving, it is a psychology of women in the truest sense, a knowing of the soul.

(authors)

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (Micah Larsen)

Gloria Steinem—writer, activist, organizer, and inspiring leader—now tells a story she has never told before, a candid account of her life as a traveler, a listener, and a catalyst for change.  (Penguin RH)

 Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Micah Larsen)

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). (publisher MIklweekd)

 Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin (Mariah Tomkinson)

Gretchen Rubin, author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, has helped millions of readers to get happier. Now she tackles the critical question: How can we make good habits and break bad ones?

With her signature mix of rigorous research, easy humor, and personal experimentation, she investigates how we can change our habits—really. In a book that’s bursting with big, provocative ideas, Rubin shows readers how to create the habits that will transform their lives, even if they’ve failed before.

 (author’s website)

 Essentialism by Greg McKeown (Keltie Maguire)

The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us.

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown draws on experience and insight from working with the leaders of the most innovative companies in the world to show how to achieve the disciplined pursuit of less.

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz (Wendy O’Beirne)

In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. (author’s website)

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (Jess Gupta)

From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world -- where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).

(GoodReads)

Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz (Michele Caruana)

Do you worry that your business will collapse without your constant presence? Are you sacrificing your family, friendships, and freedom to keep your business alive? What if instead your business could run itself, freeing you to do what you love when you want, while it continues to grow and turn a profit?

It’s possible. And it’s easier than you think.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you started your business so you could be your own boss, make the money you deserve, and live life on your own terms. In reality, you’re bogged down in the daily grind, constantly putting out fires, answering an endless stream of questions, and continually hunting for cash.

Now, Mike Michalowicz, the author of Profit First and other small-business bestsellers, offers a straightforward step-by-step path out of this dilemma. In Clockwork, he draws on more than six years of research and real life examples to explain his simple approach to making your business ultra-efficient.

Among other powerful strategies, you will discover how to:

  •  Make your employees act like owners: Free yourself from micromanaging by using a simple technique to empower your people to make smart decisions without you. 
  •  Pinpoint your business’s most important function: Unleash incredible efficiency by identifying and focusing everyone on the one function that is most crucial to your business.
  •  Know what to fix next: Most entrepreneurs try to fix every inefficiency at once and end up fixing nothing. Use the “weakest link in the chain” method to find the one fix that will add the most value now.

Whether you have a staff of one, one hundred, or somewhere in between, whether you’re a new entrepreneur or have been overworked and overstressed for years, Clockwork is your path to finally making your business work for you.

 (Penguin RH)

Superfans by Pat Flynn (Michele Caruana)

Followers, subscribers, customers..

It’s easy to just look at the numbers. How many likes? How many email subscribers? How many purchases?

But as entrepreneurs, we have to remember that there are people behind all that data. People who are looking to us to be a leader, to give advice, and to care. They are looking for trustworthy tools and resources, and for someone to help them to achieve their goals. In this dog-eat-dog world, these are the people who are looking for someone who they can trust, and who they know have their best interests in mind.

These are the people, if you connect with them in the right way, who will become Superfans.

 (author’s website)

Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (Cachet Prescott)

Each year Americans start one million new businesses, nearly 80 percent of which fail within the first five years. Under such pressure to stay alive—let alone grow—it’s easy for entrepreneurs to get caught up in a never-ending cycle of “sell it—do it, sell it—do it” that leaves them exhausted, frustrated, and unable to get ahead no matter how hard they try.

This is the exact situation Mike Michalowicz found himself in when he was trying to grow his first company. Although it was making steady money, there was never very much left over and he was chasing customers left and right, putting in twenty-eight-hour days, eight days a week. The punishing grind never let up. His company was alive but stunted, and he was barely breathing. That’s when he discovered an unlikely source of inspiration—pumpkin farmers.

After reading an article about a local farmer who had dedicated his life to growing giant pump­kins, Michalowicz realized the same process could apply to growing a business. He tested the Pumpkin Plan on his own company and transformed it into a remarkable, multimillion-dollar industry leader. First he did it for himself. Then for others. And now you. So what is the Pumpkin Plan?

• Plant the right seeds: Don’t waste time doing a bunch of different things just to please your customers. Instead, identify the thing you do better than anyone else and focus all of your attention, money, and time on figuring out how to grow your company doing it.

• Weed out the losers: In a pumpkin patch small, rotten pumpkins stunt the growth of the robust, healthy ones. The same is true of customers. Figure out which customers add the most value and provide the best opportunities for sustained growth. Then ditch the worst of the worst.

• Nurture the winners: Once you figure out who your best customers are, blow their minds with care. Discover their unfulfilled needs, innovate to make their wishes come true, and overdeliver on every single promise.

Full of stories of other successful entrepreneurs, The Pumpkin Plan guides you through unconven­tional strategies to help you build a truly profitable blue-ribbon company that is the best in its field.

(Penguin RH)

In sum

Oh my gosh! What a list! I loved this roundup and I can’t wait to dig into some of the books I’ve not read here.

You all KNOW I love a good quote, so here’s my favorite quote about books.

Stephen King said:

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

I completely agree. The words in many of these books have the power to completely change your business and life if you read them, absorb them, and (most importantly) put what you’ve learned into practice.

I hope you will.

That’s what I have for you today!

I would LOVE to hear from you. What book is missing from this list? DM me and let me know on Instagram @laurentilden.

If this episode resonated with you, I’d *LOVE* for you to share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot from your podcast player, and tag me so I can say hello!

The full list of books from this episode can be found at makinggoodpodcast.com/51.

If you love hanging out as much as I do, here are two ways I’d love to connect with you further:

1. If you’re on Clubhouse: I would *LOVE* to connect with you on Clubhouse. I’m hosting several conversations every week about the topics that we chat about here on the podcast. I’d *LOVE* to have you join for conversation! Find me @laurentilden, and check out the schedule of rooms I’m hosting at laurentilden.co/clubhouse.

2. There’s a community for listeners of this podcast that I’d love for you to join! This is an amazing community of small biz owners who believe in running a business and putting their values first. It’s pretty great. You can listen at makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

55: 3 Essential Questions to Answer for Better Marketing

55: 3 Essential Questions to Answer for Better Marketing

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 55.

Today we are going to be talking about 3 questions you should answer to make your marketing as strong as possible. This is a super important conversation and I can’t wait to get into it!

Before we dig in, though, I have an invitation for you. 

I invite you to join other values-driven small business owners for inspiration, accountability and lots of business and marketing inspiration. That all takes place in the free Facebook community for this podcast, the Good Business Community. The link will be in the show notes, or you can go to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected.

I also thought I’d give a bit of a personal update before we dig into the content. This episode releases on Tuesday, March 30, which is 26 days before the due date of our baby! That’s right, my partner Kate is pregnant with our first kid.

Things aren’t totally going to plan…. We’re in the middle of a remodel of our house that is seriously delayed and so we won’t be back in our house when the baby arrives. I have a LOT to do still before the baby comes and I’m hoping to be able to take a little bit of time off. And of course, COVID is still very much a thing.

But it’s a fun time. Our house is filling up with gear that I have no idea how to use and the cutest little baby outfits. We’re cluelessly watching a lot of Youtube videos. We are telling our wolfy sidekick, Puff, that she needs to be a very nice big sister. 

So, big changes are coming, and I promise to keep you in the loop! But as far as it relates to this podcast, my PLAN is to get content recorded and all set up in advance so that I don’t need to take any weeks off of releasing episodes. No promises, but that’s the plan! More coming in the next few weeks on that.

Okay, all that said -- let’s get into this week’s episode, which is about the 3 questions you need to answer in order to do clear, strong marketing.

The first question is:

Who is your ideal customer?

When our ideal customer comes across our brand, we want them to say to themselves, “wow… you really understand me.”

Your ideal customer is the person you create your products and goods for. It’s important to get REALLY REALLY clear on who this person is before you spend too much time marketing.

Look at who i s most attracted to your product, and who you like working with. A great way to do this is if you have a customer you’ve worked with in the past that just LOVES what you create, and you wish you could clone her… maybe she is your ideal customer. Or maybe this is a fictional set of traits.

After we’ve identified generally who this person is, it’s time to really dig in and get to know them.

What are their values? What do they care about? How old are they? Do they have kids? Are they married? What magazines or blogs do they read? Who do they follow on social media? What’s the first app they open when they grab their phone in the morning? Where do they want to go on vacation? What stresses them out? What makes them feel good about themselves? What do they struggle with? What books are they reading? What are their hobbies? What does a good Friday night sound like to them?

So *HOW* do you get the answers to these questions? Well, you  find them, ask them, and listen to what they have to say.

For example, find where they are hanging out online and observe. What questions are they asking? What do they need help with? What do they have in common? Good places for this are online forums, Facebook groups, Clubhouse.

Or, consider asking them directly: Ask specific questions on your Instagram stories and use engagement tools. Or create a survey and find ways to get it in front of your ideal customer. You could even conduct some ideal customer interviews (phone or zoom calls) -- a quick Google search will bring up some ideas on how to do this.

The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to getting to know your ideal customer, is that it’s critical that you get really really specific here. Someone who comes across your product and marketing should know IMMEDIATELY whether they are the right fit.

Spending the time to get clear on who your ideal customer is just plain efficient. If we don’t get this right, we’ll be creating products and marketing that aren’t designed for the person we are hoping buys them… and we’ll spend a lot of time spinning our wheels.

The better we know our target customer, the better we will be able to communicate in a way that resonates with them and, more importantly, the better we will be able to create products that are designed to solve their pain points.

Speaking of pain points. This is a bit of an aside, but you will sometimes hear marketing experts suggest that you “agitate your customers pain points” as a way of convincing them how much they need your product. Please don’t do this. There will be more content around ethical marketing coming soon on this podcast, but just know that you can still help someone solve their problems without stirring up painful emotions in them. 

I would also encourage you to listen to episode 52 of this podcast, How to Build Your Business Around Your Customer with Nataley Shepherd, which has some great information about how to really deeply get to know your ideal customer.

Okay, the second question to get super clear on in order to do better marketing is:

Why should someone buy from you? 

What do you have to offer? This may seem obvious, but it’s really important to get it right.

When someone comes across your marketing and your products, they should easily be able to figure out what’s in it for them -- WHY they should buy from you.

In Marketing Land, we call this a value proposition, which is defined on Wikipedia as: A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered, communicated, and acknowledged. 

Steve Blank, a former Google employee who runs the Lean Startup Circle, has created a simple formula you can use to work this out for your business:

I help _____X____ do _____Y______ by doing ____Z_______.

Where X is your ideal customer, Y is what benefit you offer your customer, and Z is how you do it.

If it’s helpful, and particularly if you’re a product-based business, you could think about a slightly different formula, something like this:

I make ____A____ for _____B____ so they can ____C____.

Where A is what is unique about your product, B is your ideal customer, and C is the benefit your product brings to your customers’ lives.

For example, I’ve written a value proposition for this podcast, Making Good, in each of these formats.

Option A: 

I help values-driven small business owners do better marketing and more good in the world by offering weekly educational podcast episodes and a supportive online community.

Option B:

I create weekly educational podcasts and a supportive community for values-driven small business owners so they can do better marketing and more good in the world.

Note that a value proposition isn’t necessarily meant to be communicated directly to your ideal customer -- they are more meant to be a one-sentence, foundational statement that guides all of your marketing efforts.

It’s something you need to be crystal clear on, and use as a starting point for the marketing you write.

Finally, let’s move on to the third question.

And that is:

What makes you different?

Ready for some more nerdy marketing jargon? In Marketing Land, we call this a USP, which stands for your Unique Selling Proposition.

Your USP is what makes you different from the competition.

You all know that I LOVE marketing, and one of my favorite things about it is this:  In marketing, our JOB is to explain how we’re different from everyone else.

This inspires me. We live in a world where many of us spend a lot of our lives just trying to fit in. But marketing has really shown me the power of being YOU. Of not trying to be like anyone else. In fact, of working hard to show how we’re different from others.

There are some formulas you can look up around USPs. Usually they are 1 to 2 sentences, and explain what your product is, who it’s for, and how it’s different from your competition.

Let me illustrate this with my paper goods business, Good Sheila. For some details up front, Good Sheila was my first small business, and I make greeting cards, art prints, and vinyl stickers.

My key differentiator for Good Sheila is that my greeting cards are meant to be both a card and a piece of art. Many of them are sized 5” x 7” intentionally so that they can be mailed, framed, or ideally both!

Here’s a USP for Good Sheila:

Good Sheila offers plant-inspired greeting cards, vinyl stickers and art prints for nature lovers so they can bring the color and vibrance of the outdoors into their homes. Unlike other greeting card companies, our cards are designed to live a second life as art, minimizing waste and maximizing beauty in your home!

Again, this statement isn’t necessarily meant to be the writing on the front of my website or Instagram bio, but it should be a clear, guiding force behind what I say in my marketing.

Okay, so! To review, these are the three questions you need to answer on for strong marketing:

1. Who is your ideal customer?

2. Why should someone buy from you?

3. What makes you different from everyone else? (USP)

Now, what do you do with these afterward?

You make sure to remember them and keep them top of mind when you write content for your business. Maybe you could print them out and put them next to your computer. Maybe you use Canva to make them into a graphic that is the background on your computer. Maybe you set a reminder for once a week to review. Whatever it is, make sure that you have a way to keep your answers to these questions top of mind and fresh when you are preparing marketing material.

 PEP TALK

ALSO! I also want to give you a bit of a pep talk.

The first thing I want to say is this:

As small business owners, there is SO MUCH TO DO, that often we find ourselves doing the urgent, time-sensitive tasks first... and never really getting the chance to sit down and do the more strategic work… like really thinking through the answers to the questions we talked about today.

But think about this strategic work as the foundation of your marketing. If you’re building your house on a weak, crumbling foundation, it doesn’t matter how beautiful of a house you build… it’s still not going to get you very far.

It is worth spending the time upfront to answer these questions. When you have thoughtful, clear answers to them, your marketing will be SO. MUCH. STRONGER.

The second piece of my pep talk is to get specific. Don’t be afraid to be super, super specific in your answers to these questions about who you serve, what you offer, and what sets you apart. My friend and fellow marketing expert Micah Larsen introduced me to the idea of “concreteness” in marketing, which is essentially: Make it so clear that we can visualize it in our heads.

But you won’t be able to do concrete, specific marketing for your ideal customer if you haven’t gotten clear on what you sell and who you serve first.

Finally, give yourself permission for your answers to these questions to evolve. You may not get it “exactly right” the first time… in fact you most certainly won’t.

I would encourage you to make asking these questions a routine in your business. Our businesses change, and as time goes on, we’ll get to know our industry and customers better. In turn, we’ll have better, more specific answers to these questions, which will make our marketing better and better.

Alright, that is the episode for today, friends! 

To sum up the episode very quickly, I would strongly encourage you to spend some time answering these 3 questions about your business:

1. Who is your ideal customer?

2. Why should someone buy from you?

3. What makes you different from everyone else? (USP)

If you got value out of this episode, I’d *LOVE* for you to share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot from your podcast player, and tag me @laurentilden so I can say hello!

You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/55.

One of my favorite places to hang out lately has been the private (free!) Facebook group for this community. I’d love to have you join us, over at: facebook.com/groups/goodbusinesspeople (or head to makinggoodpodcast.com/community to be redirected)

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

57: The Golden Rule in Small Business

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 57.

Ummm, OK this is kind of wild but this is most likely the last podcast episode that will come out before I become a parent! 

I promise to keep you posted on Instagram (@laurentilden) as things develop. But I’m feeling a little bit stunned by this reality. And excited, of course.

Today’s episode, which will be intentionally short and sweet, is one that has been in the making for a LONG time, and I don’t know how it has taken me until now to get around to it.

Because it’s something that I think about ALL THE TIME and in many ways, is the underpinnings to how I run my business.

And that is THE GOLDEN RULE. And specifically, how the Golden Rule relates to business and marketing.

BUT! Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this episode, first, I have two things for you:

FIRST, I have a brand new free resource for you. Do you ever feel like the hardest part about marketing is coming up with what to say in the first place?

I can totally relate to this, and I know a lot of you can as well, because it’s something I hear a LOT.

So, I put together this guide that will walk you through a process that will help you generate a great strategy around what to say in your marketing… and specific ideas of what exactly to say.

You can find this guide at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

AND SECOND, I really want you to join the Facebook community for this podcast. It’s called the Good Business Community, and it’s been such a great spot lately.  

I’ve started hosting what I call Procrastination Sessions, which are basically just 90 minute long Zoom calls where a bunch of us make ourselves accountable to get the things done we’re procrastinating on by hopping on a call and getting it done TOGETHER.

There’s also community, inspiration, and good conversations. You can join at makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

Okay! Time to get into today’s episode, and that’s all about the Golden Rule.

WHAT IS IT?

And yes, I’m talking about THAT Golden Rule… the one that says:

Treat other people the way you would like to be treated.

The Golden Rule is something that is present in just about every major world religion, and is something I bet you’ve heard over and over again throughout your life.

And if you’re hearing me say this and thinking that this sounds like a lot of fluff, hear me out! 

If you get really intentional about using the Golden Rule in your business and your marketing, it can be a seriously powerful tool.

In this short and sweet episode, my goal is to convince you that the Golden Rule should be an underlying philosophy to the way that you run your business -- and also give you some very practical guidance on applying this concept to your business.

HOW IT APPLIES

Today we’re going to cover 5 areas of business that I think the Golden Rule really, really applies to… although there’s really no limit to where and how you can apply the Golden Rule.

Community

When I think about The Golden Rule and business, this is the main way that it comes up for me. Building a community of other small business friends.

The key to building relationships is serving. Whenever you meet someone new, think, “how can I help this person? If I were her, what would I want?” 

Maybe it’s to refer people to her business without her asking for it. Maybe it’s to promote her business on social media. Maybe it’s to show up at an event and support her. Maybe it’s connect her with someone you think would be a good business contact. Or maybe it’s simply to reply to her marketing emails  or comment on her social media posts to tell her how valuable you found them.

Simply asking yourself, what do I want more of in my business? More referrals? More engagement on my marketing? More visibility?

Whatever it is, create some of that for someone else. I PROMISE it will come back to you.

Social Media

The Golden Rule is your new social media secret weapon. Seriously.

Really embracing the Golden Rule in your social media can completely change your business. 

So, that is this. Whatever you want more of in your social media… you need to start doing those things right now.

Here are a couple of examples.

• If you want more comments and engagement on your posts -- go out there and engage on people’s posts. Leave thoughtful comments on other people’s accounts… ideally either accounts run by your ideal customer or on accounts that your ideal customer follows.
  
  MANY of these people will come back and check out your profile, follow along and engage with you on your account. A great way to do this is using the tool dollareighty, which I will link in the show notes.
  
  A quick note here on “thoughtful comment”. A thoughtful comment is not 3 heart emojis in a row, or “LOVE THIS” and that’s it. A thoughtful comment shows that you paid attention to the photo and the caption, and is a response to something specific about that photo. This really makes a difference.
  

• If you want more people to share about your business in their Instagram stories, you need to go tag a lot of people in your stories! Tag your clients, tag your business friends, tag your favorite restaurants… just tag other people EVERY DAY. We love to be celebrated and acknowledged, and many of these people will share your stuff right back.
  

• If you’re on Clubhouse and want to be invited to co-moderate in other people’s rooms, try hosting your own rooms, and invite those people to join your stage! Just about every time I’ve invited someone to participate on stage in one of my Clubhouse rooms, I’ve gotten an invitation in return.

Customer Service

I’m a big fan of using the Golden Rule in customer service - and by this I mean specifically -- how we treat people after they buy from us.

A lot of marketing and business advice is really geared toward getting people to make a purchase… and then we drop the ball after the transaction is made and stop making much of an effort for our customer.

But I would encourage you to really keep trying to serve and WOW your customer even AFTER they buy. Be easy to reach if they have a question. Deliver your product or service with care. Send a thank you note. Show your gratitude however you can. And if you’re able to, be flexible on things like returns, shipping damage, etc. It goes a long way.

I believe that doing things this way is just RIGHT, but it’s also good business, for two main reasons.

One, REFERRALS! Referrals are one of the most powerful and underestimated marketing tools. Happy customers tell their friends.

And what could be better than someone else doing our marketing for us?

The second reason is that it’s much easier to get repeat business -- meaning multiple sales from the same person -- than it is to find new customers.

Sales

Have you ever been sold to in a way that just makes you feel gross? Even if you ended up buying the product, there are some buying experiences that just don’t feel good.

There is a way to sell that follows the Golden Rule… and that way is about providing value, solving problems, and treating your customer like a human, not just a money supply.

To illustrate on this one, I’d like to provide some examples of sales practices that I do NOT think are following the Golden Rule:

• When you receive incessant spammy marketing emails thgat just do not relent

• Marketing messaging that tries to tell you that if you don’t buy this product your problems will never be solved

• When you advertise something in a misleading way, and when you actually get the product it’s not what you were promised

• When someone DMs you on Instagram and is clearly trying to sell you something without building a relationship first

When you’re designing your sales process, I would encourage you to think through every step of it with your customer in mind.

What do they need? What value can you provide them with? How can you serve them before you ask for their money?

For every piece of marketing or sales copy you write, put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer and ask yourself how it would feel to receive this? 

Good sales tactics recognize that there’s a human on the other side of the transaction. They are honest, transparent, respectful and kind.

Managing People

Whether you have a team of people who work for you or work with contractors from time to time, managing people is another area where the Golden Rule comes into play.

I bet you will agree that it feels really good to get recognized for the work you’re doing. As a manager, it can be easy to get swept up by your “to do” list, and only have something to say to your team when something is going wrong… which, it will. But I think it’s even more important to prioritize giving positive feedback to make your employees feel appreciated and seen.

And more than just being the right thing to do, in my opinion, showing appreciation for your employees is good for business.

Studies show that employees who feel appreciated have much higher job satisfaction, and -- importantly -- actually are more productive and perform tasks better.

I am not suggesting that we accept mediocre performance or become doormats and let our teams take advantage of us. We should all have clearly communicated expectations for roles we hire.

But, I would encourage you to spend some time thinking through the experience of working for you, and asking yourself what you could do to make it a more positive experience, and what you could do to make people feel appreciated and cared for.

So! As a recap, the 5 places I’d really look at incorporating The Golden Rule are:

• Community

• Social media

• Customer Service

• Sales

• Managing people

When it comes down to it, the Golden Rule is about relationships. About treating people with respect and kindness.

We talked about 5 different ways you can apply the Golden Rule to your business and marketing, but as I said earlier in the episode, there’s really no limit to how the Golden Rule can be applied. 

So I’d just encourage you to keep it top of mind as you enter any business transaction or communication. 

Okay, that is the episode for today, friends! 

Remember, I told you about two things at the start of this episode that I’d love for you to take action on:

First, download my new (FREE) guide to creating great content. That’s at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

Second, join the Facebook community for listeners of this podcast! makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

If you got value out of this episode, I’d *LOVE* for you to share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot from your podcast player, and tag me @laurentilden so I can say hello!

You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/57.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

59: How to Get Started with Email Marketing

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 59.

Here’s something that I actually said out loud recently:

Email marketing is the love of my life.

Sorry, Kate, but it’s true.

At least when it comes to marketing, NOTHING beats email. In this episode, I’m going to do my best to CONVINCE you of the power of email marketing… and then give you some simple instructions for getting your email marketing set up RIGHT.

BUT! We have a few things to talk about first.

First of all, by the time you hear this episode, I will be a parent!! This episode comes out on April 27th, but it was recorded before the baby arrives. I am sure I will share on the podcast about this in the future, but in the meantime, check out my Instagram for updates on that at @laurentilden.

Now, I wanted to tell you about a couple of things I have to share with you:

FIRST, I have a brand new free resource for you. Do you ever feel like the hardest part about marketing is coming up with what to say in the first place?

If so, I can totally relate to this, and I know a lot of other small biz owners do as well. 

So, I put together this guide that will walk you through a process that will help you figure out what to talk about in your marketing… and help you generate A LOT of really good content ideas on demand.

You can find this guide at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

AND SECOND, I really want you to join the Facebook community for this podcast. It’s called the Good Business Community, and it’s been such a great spot lately.  

A couple fun things we’ve been doing in the Facebook group recently:

FIRST - I’ve started hosting what I call Procrastination Sessions, which are basically just 90 minute long Zoom calls where a bunch of us make ourselves accountable to get the things done we’re procrastinating on by hopping on a call and getting it done TOGETHER.

SECOND - I’ve invited social media expert Chris Emmer of Mindful Social to do Instagram audits where she’s going through content on everyone’s IG account and providing tips and feedback.

There’s also community, inspiration, and good conversations. You can join at makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

Okay, with that -- let’s get into our conversation about EMAIL MARKETING!

INTRO TO EMAIL MARKETING.

For some reason, email marketing is something a lot of small business owners resist when they’re just starting out. Social media is flashier, and a lot of us are tired of receiving emails from brands, so we completely underestimate how powerful it can be.

However. When it comes to driving REAL business results, email marketing is one of the most important tools in your marketing toolbox (if not THE most important tool).

There are TONS of studies showing the effectiveness of email marketing -- I’ll link to a great compilation from HubSpot in the show notes. A study recently shows that for every $1 spent on email marketing, $38 were generated by email marketing. Statistics also show that your reach is four times better on email than social media -- meaning if you have the same size audience in both places, you’ll reach 4 times more people with your email.

BUT. I’d be willing to bet that you spend A LOT more time on social media than you do on your email marketing.

I’m definitely not suggesting that you do away with social media marketing -- they both have their place. 

But, I KNOW the power of email marketing and I really hope you’ll consider investing some time in your email marketing.

So. In this episode, we’re going to talk about:

• How email marketing works in general

• How email marketing should fit into your marketing plan as a whole

• The importance of permission in email marketing

• How to get people to sign up for your email list

• Creating an approach to email marketing

• What to say in your emails

My email marketing philosophy

If you’ve been around here for a while, my philosophy to email marketing will come as no surprise to you. 

Email marketing is a powerful way to build relationships with your audience. It’s a little bit more personal than a platform like social media or your website because you’ve been given permission to show up in your reader’s email inbox.

That is a gift, and we shouldn’t take it for granted. We want to send emails that feel personalized, and add something to their life.

When I write my emails, I like to imagine there is one person on the other side of it… because there is. I try to write to one person. I try to write using words that I would use in real life, and share little snippets from my life the way I would with a friend.

Most importantly, I make sure that I’m providing value… that when my ideal customer receives this email, that the contents are helpful to them in some way. Sometimes that means a bit of education, sometimes that means offering resources, sometimes that means inspiration, and occasionally it means entertainment.

Of course, we occasionally ask for a sale. But for most businesses, we should aim to be GIVING 80% of the time, and ASKING 20% of the time.

You might have preconceived notions of what email marketing SHOULD look like because of the emails you receive from big brands. But I would encourage you to throw that out the door.  
One big reason that people buy from small businesses is that we’re small businesses! The human behind the business is much more present, and it should feel like that in your marketing.

How email marketing works in general

So. Let’s talk about how email marketing works.

When we talk about email marketing, we are not talking about logging into your email, typing in a bunch of email addresses, and sending it out to a lot of people at once through your regular email service.

With email marketing, we are referring to emails sent by businesses or organizations out to a lot of people at one time, but not through CC or BCC. 

These emails are sent through what is commonly called an ESP -- an Email Service Provider. 

You have a LOT of options when it comes to email marketing service providers, but when you start out I’d select a free or low-cost option.

MailChimp and Mailerlite both have free plans.

Flodesk has a relatively low cost, and has nice design options.

Klaviyo is a great option for product-based businesses -- particular those on Shopify.

ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are also used fairly often, mostly for service based businesses.

In this episode, we’re not going to go into the weeds of how to select an ESP, but the big thing I’d say here is: Don’t overthink it. Do a little bit of research, see what fits into your budget, and pick something. You can change anytime you want (I would not suggest you commit to an annual subscription if you’re paying).

So here’s generally how email marketing works. To create an email, you would log into your Email Service Provider, design the email, add whatever links you want, and then schedule it to be sent out to your audience. After it is sent out, you’ll be able to see statistics around which subscribers opened the email, who clicked the link, etc.

The importance of permission in email marketing

Here’s something very, very important to keep in mind.

There are rules and laws that come into play when it comes to email marketing, and it’s really important to follow those laws.

This is not my area of expertise and I don’t offer legal guidance on this, so look up the email marketing regulations for your country, but in general:

The only people who you should email in your email marketing should be people who have given you their email address expecting to receive email marketing from us.

It’s not okay to add someone to your email list without their consent.

It’s also very important to make it super clear how they can unsubscribe from your email list if they want to stop receiving your emails.

How to get people to sign up for your email list

So, we just talked about how important it is for people to give us their permission to send marketing emails to them.

Which brings us to a very important question: HOW do we encourage people to sign up for our email list? 

Before we get into this, I like to ask the following question:

How often have you been on a website and seen a little sign up form at the bottom that says “Sign up for our newsletter!”

I’m guessing the answer is YES. 

And another question. How many times have you filled out that form because you want to receive someone’s newsletter?

I’m going to guess the answer is - not very often.

We all have email addresses, and most of us guard our inboxes very carefully. I do not want to give out my email address to just anyone.

If I’m subscribing to receive emails, I need to be pretty sure that it’s going to be worth it -- that i’m actually going to WANT TO RECEIVE the emails in my inbox.

So, what’s usually most effective is to give someone something in exchange for their email address.

In marketing terms, we call this a lead magnet -- something valuable that we trade someone in exchange for their email address and permission to add them to our list. There are a lot of other words you might hear used for lead magnet… maybe a freebie or opt-in. 

For product-based businesses, one of the most common lead magnets is a discount or coupon code. If someone is visiting your website, we know they might be interested in what you sell. So why not set up a pop up that says, Hey! I’ll give you a 15% off discount code if you pop your email below! And of course make it clear that they’re signing up to hear from you more.  Some product-based businesses also choose to offer free shipping.

But, you don’t have to discount this ways.

There are lots of other types of lead magnets that you can design to incentivize email subscribes. Here are some ideas:

• An eBook

• A style guide

• An audio file (private podcast or guided meditation?)

• A video training

• A free event

• A tutorial

• A workbook

• A cheat sheet

• A worksheet or checklist
  

I encourage you to view this as a process of experimentation. Try something, see how it goes, and then update/tweak/adjust as needed.

When you’ve chosen a lead magnet, you’ll set up a form on your website or on a standalone website. Most Email Service Providers have something called a “landing page” that you can set up. 

A landing page is a super simple website that simply asks for someone’s name and email address in exchange for the lead magnet. When they enter their details, your ESP will automatically send them an email with the resource or discount promised.

Creating an email marketing approach

When you hear people talk about email marketing, there are really two types of emails that are sent: 

• Scheduled

• Automated

Scheduled emails are the emails that many of us think about first. A scheduled email is sometimes called a newsletter, and it’s a regularly scheduled email that goes out to our list. This email is usually sent consistently -- maybe every week, or every two weeks, ideally on the same day. 

The other kind of email is an automated email, often called a drip email or a flow. An automated email is when emails are triggered based on the behavior of the email subscriber.

For example, an email is automatically sent 24 hours after a purchase to check in on buyer satisfaction. Or, a sequence of automated emails is triggered when someone signs up to be on your email list -- they get the first email immediately and then another email every day or so for a while.

In your business, you’re going to want to have both kinds of emails.  

If you’re wondering, “how often should I send an email?” That’s really referring to scheduled emails. I recommend that you commit to a regularly scheduled emails -- probably once a week or once every two weeks.

What you DON’T want to happen is for someone to sign up to your email list, get a welcome email, and then not hear anything  for months until we have something to sell to them.  We need to CONSISTENTLY provide valuable content to your email list, whatever that schedule looks like for you.

And then, you’re going to want to set up some automated emails/sequences. We will go into more detail about automations that you can think about adding in a different episode, but I do recommend that you have an automated welcome sequence at the very least.

This can be 3-4 emails that are sent out in the week or so after someone subscribes to your list. Each email is different.. Maybe you introduce yourself in the first one, teach your audience something in the second one, provide your favorite resources in the third one, and tell a personal story with a lesson in the fourth. 

You can approach this however you want, but this is an important opportunity to start building your relationship and demonstrate your value.

What to say in your emails

Okay, we’re getting to the most exciting part, or possibly the part that is most intimidating to you.. And that is this. Figuring out what to SAY in your emails.

As we started to talk about a little bit earlier, I believe the best strategy is to provide value almost all of the time, and occasionally ask for a sale.

So again, what does this mean? It means that 80% or more of your emails should be interesting and useful, and not centered on asking your audience to buy something. They should help them get to know you, give them tips or ideas or inspiration, or generally make their lives better, easier, more entertaining.

Then, the other 20%, when you’ve proven that you aren’t only there to ask for their money, you can tell them more about your product and invite them to purchase.

I shared these examples in episode 15 of this podcast, but I thought I’d share them again to illustrate what I mean by providing value. 

Let’s start with service-based businesses:

• If you sell graphic design services, you could provide an email telling people how to combine fonts effectively

• If you’re a life coach, you could provide your tips for having difficult conversations

• If you’re a home organization expert, you could put together a list of your favorite products that help keep a home organized
  

I think this is harder for product-based businesses, but here are some ways you could be adding value:

• If you sell greeting cards (like me!), you could have an email that helps people create a schedule for writing letters to their friends

• If you sell facial products, you could write an email or a series of emails that explains how to build a skincare regimen

• If you sell candles, you could put together an email explaining how to prolong your candles’ burn time

• If you sell art, you could include in your email a Pinterest board with some of your favorite ways to display art

Note that ALL of these topics are related to our product and what we sell, but they are something that is valuable to our audience, even if they don’t buy.

So, what precisely do we talk about? 

When it comes to WHAT to say, I want to start by telling you something that will hopefully relieve some of the anxiety around this: You can apply the same content strategy you use in other platforms to email. If you post on social media, write a blog, create videos, you’re already creating content. You can write about the same things in your emails. 

I have a process for content creation that I think would be a great tool for you to go to use to come up with email ideas… as well as ideas for your other content.

That process is laid out in detail in my free workbook at makinggoodpodcast.com/content, but here is a quick overview:

First, you want to collect insights about your ideal customer and what’s already resonating with your audience.

• Who is your ideal customer? Think demographics and state of mind.

• What are your ideal customer’s pain points and problems?

• What are their hopes and dreams?

• What does your ideal customer need to learn to get to what they aspire to be?

• In your Instagram insights, what posts have been most SHARED and SAVED.

• Check analytics on other platforms to see what topics resonate most with your audience.

• What are your business values?

• What questions do you get repeatedly asked?

Second, you look at all the information we collected and identify our main content topics -- content pillars.

I suggest that you narrow this down to between 5-6 overarching topics. NOte that these are not product categories, but should generally relate in some way to your business.

For my stationery business, Good Sheila, my content pillars are:

• Art behind the scenes

• Plants, natures and flowers

• Small business life and tips

• Values in business and kindness

• Personal growth

Finally, we’ll do a deep dive into each of our content pillars to come up with tons of content ideas.

For each pillar, here are some exercises to go through: 

• Get questions straight from your ideal customer. Use the IG story sticker feature and say, “What questions do you have about <content pillar>”? Browse other forums online to collect information.

• Get clear on your customer’s pain points related to this pillar and find ways to give them small solutions

• What does your ideal customer need to learn about this content pillar? Create mini-lessons and tutorials.

• What kind of content or messages would be inspiring or entertaining on this content pillar? Think about using quotes, bold statements or memes/humor.

• What stories from your own life do you have to share as it relates to this topic? Remember, they don’t have to be huge and dramatic… just a small, everyday moment connects.

• Do some keyword research on this topic to see what people are searching about.

Again, there’s a workbook you can download that goes into much more detail -- you can find it at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

In this episode, we’re not going into detail about HOW to write the emails, but I have a LOOOT of tips on that too. 

For more details there, go listen to episode 15, where are share a lot of tips on copywriting, putting intention into your writing, writing a strong subject line, and much more.

Finishing and sending

One important step to go through before you finish up your email, is to TEST it. Every email service provider has a test capacity, and it is so important that you don’t skip this step!

When you think you’re all set, send yourself a test email, and then go through it very carefully.

Make sure to check:

• That it reads properly and there aren’t typos

• That any links included work and goes where it’s supposed to go

• Check dates and names for accuracy

• Break up any big paragraphs for easier reading.

After you’ve proofed your email, you can schedule it to be sent! You can do some research on the best time to send emails -- most people aim for weekday mornings, but there’s no real rule of thumb here.

If it’s an automated email, there’s no scheduling of course -- you would just “publish” the automation or flow so that it is active and ready to be sent out when it is triggered.

Finally, it’s important to keep an eye on how everything performs! Email Marketing PRoviders have very powerful statistics that you can access to see how the email performed, and we can learn a lot from these stats. 

Some things you can learn:

• What percentage of your audience opened your email?

• What percentage of your audience clicked a link?

• Which links did they click?

• How many people unsubscribed?

• Did you get any responses to your email? What were they?

• Anything else you notice?

Looking closely at these numbers can help you learn things about your audience.

For example, if your open rate is higher than usual, that might indicate that you had an especially good subject line.

If you got a higher number of link clicks than usual, what link was it? This might suggest this is something your audience is especially interested in.

Email marketing is an art AND a science, so it’s important to pay attention to your stats to see what you can learn so you can get better and better at it. 

And there you have it! Your email marketing strategy, all laid out for you.

The big takeaway that I hope you have is to view your email marketing as an opportunity to serve your audience with something you want. As long as you’re giving them what they want in their email most of the time, they will be unlikely to unsubscribe.

That’s what I have for you today! I REALLY hope I have convinced you of the power of email marketing… it is a gamechanger. 

Remember, I told you about two things at the start of this episode that I’d love for you to take action on:

First, download my new (FREE) guide to creating great content. That’s at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

Second, join the Facebook community for listeners of this podcast! makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

As you’ve probably If you got value out of this episode, I’d *LOVE* for you to share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot from your podcast player, and tag me @laurentilden so I can say hello!

You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/59.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.

61: I'm a MOM! How I'm Approaching My Business 3 Weeks into Parenthood

Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.

I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 61.

I’m here with a bit of a different episode today, and that is in recognition of the huge way my life has changed since I last sat down to record. If you’ve listened to the last few episodes of this podcast -- or looked at the title of this episode -- you know what’s coming…

I’m a MOM!

In this episode, I thought I’d talk a little bit about the arrival of our little guy, and how it’s going 3 weeks into parenthood. Then, I’ll share a little bit about how I’m approaching running my businesses and parenthood. 

I share all of this very much from the perspective of -- I’ve been a parent for 3 weeks. I am decidedly NOT an expert -- far from it. But in case it’s helpful for anyone to hear from someone in the trenches, I’m sharing where I’m at.

I want to say one thing before we get started. I know (from experience!) that for so many people, the topics of fertility, pregnancy and parenthood are really tough. If you resonate with that, I want to say, speaking as someone who did not have an easy time of it, that my heart is with you. If you feel like hearing someone talk about becoming a parent might be too painful for you, feel free to skip this episode! Small business strategy, marketing, and doing good tips are coming back next week :0).

But, if you’re interested in hearing about our baby’s arrival, and how our first 3 weeks have gone, let’s get into the episode.

___

Baby Casey’s arrival

Let me start with the fun part:

Baby Casey James Tilden was born on April 20th, 2021 at 4:33am. He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20.87 inches long. Currently, both Casey and my partner Kate who gave birth are doing well.

There were some curveballs when it came to his birth. We had a scheduled induction on April 19th, but after hours of labor, we ended up having to have an unplanned C-section early in the morning on April 20th.

We got to meet the baby only briefly after delivery, as he was having some trouble “transitioning” -- meaning he needed some help breathing. So he was taken to the NICU where he stayed for over 2 days. 

We were originally told to expect him to stay 7-10 days in the NICU, but he made an unexpectedly fast recovery, and we got to bring him to our hospital room on April 22nd, and we were discharged from the hospital on April 23rd.

We stayed for about a week with my parents, and my mom helped us readjust to the world while figuring out how to be parents, by taking great care of us, cooking, and taking great care of Casey (she’s something of a Baby Whisperer). 

And now we’re home! The day this podcast releases, May 11th, Casey is exactly 3 weeks old. He has had his first pediatrician appointment, he has a more fashionable wardrobe than I do thanks to gifts from our amazing friends and family, and he got his first piece of mail (his social security card!)

He loves holding hands, cuddles, soft clothes and blankets, eating, and using his hands as claws. He’s noisy and talkative, and makes a lot of sounds that we have described as a “baby dinosaur hatching from his shell”. He hates diaper changes, getting his tiny fingernails clipped, and sleeping during the night. He doesn’t mind walks in the stroller or car rides, as long as we keep moving (he seems to hate traffic as much as we do). And, I know I’m biased, but he is a really, really, really good looking baby.

How it’s going

So let’s talk a little bit about how it’s going.

This is the part of the episode where I’m really struggling to summarize everything into a coherent single point of view. So let me just give you a list of things that describe how it’s going:

• I am learning SO MUCH. I can’t remember a time where I learned more, faster. He is changing every day and there’s something new to figure out every day. For example, yesterday we gave him his first bath. I didn’t even realize that I needed to learn how to give an infant a bath, until we opened the box that his baby bath was in and I realized I had no idea where to start. Every day, all day, we’re learning.

• Babies change so quickly! Casey is learning even faster than we are! Every day he is making more eye contact, using his hands more, finding new ways to communicate, eating more, interacting in different ways. I didn’t realize how many tiny milestones there are to celebrate along the way.

• I’ve been practicing setting aside my expectations. We’re still mid-remodel, so we’re living in a temporary place that just isn’t home. It doesn’t have a decorated nursery. Our kitchen is small and constantly full of baby bottles to wash, and we’ve been eating too much take out. Any perfectionistic visions I had of what it would be like to bring a baby home have been swiftly set aside.

• However, I feel like this experience has helped me reset my priorities a little bit. The cute nursery and clean kitchen just don’t seem as important when compared to the time we are spending cuddling with Casey, reading books as a family, taking slow, sunny walks with the stroller and Puff through our neighborhood.

• I appreciate sleep SO much. I’m so, so tired. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more tired -- and I’m getting more sleep than Kate is.

• Community has never been more important to me. Being a parent is SO MUCH WORK and I’ve felt more connected to the people around me more in the last 3 weeks than I can remember before. As they say, it takes a village to raise a child, and I’ve been pretty blown away by how people have been there for us.

• I am just amazed by all parents. I can’t believe how hard it is to be a parent. How much work it is. How all-consuming it is. Kate and I are both home full time with him right now, and we still feel like we need a third adult in the household to keep things running!

• But all in all, things are good. I am so excitd that i get to be a parent to sweet Casey

Small biz

So, how does this all relate to business?

I’ve been a parent for exactly 3 weeks, so I am OBVIOUSLY no expert in parenting, work/life balance, or managing a business as a parent. If you’re looking for someone with real expertise on that, I had a GREAT episode that I took a lot away from with Jess Gupta, that is episode 46, Parenting and Running a Small Business -  makinggoodpodcast.com/46.

But, like I mentioned, sometimes I think it’s helpful to hear from someone who is IN IT, rather than an expert, so here’s how I’ve been approaching work and baby so far.

Before the baby arrived, I had NO IDEA how to approach setting up a new work schedule or maternity leave because I had no idea what it’s ACTUALLY LIKE to be a parent. So I didn’t force myself to create a detailed time off plan, but I did do my best to make sure that the most important parts of my my businesses could run without me while I was out.

The most important thing I did before Casey was born was to make sure that almost everything that absolutely had to get done in order for our revenue to keep coming in could be done without me. In that case, that means that starting a few months ago, I transitioned most of the operational work that I do, especially with Station 7, the retail store, to Mary, our operations manager.

Things like staffing schedules, daily interaction with the team, ordering most merchandise, keeping the store in order, customer service, shipping orders, etc. -- all of that is managed by Mary. 

I’ve held on to a couple of operational things, like payroll, but for the most part, Station 7 the store, which is where most of my revenue comes from, can run without me.

I still oversee the marketing and overall strategy, and I made the decision to allow that stuff to be paused while I was out adjusting to motherhood.

With Good Sheila, my stationery brand, and Making Good, for the most part, I put things on pause while I was gone. There were still podcast episodes that I had pre-recorded that were released weekly because I’m really proud that I’ve consistently published each week for ALMOST A YEAR, but I put my marketing on pause.

And before my last “work day” prior to taking time off, I put up an email autoresponder directing anyone who reached out to me to get in touch with Mary if they needed to hear back immediately.

And then, I pretty much logged off… and I’ve been surprised by how easy it has been to just focus on Casey, Kate, and our new little family.

I also didn’t schedule a finite “end date” of my time off. I originally said that I expected to be responding to emails in “early May”, and then yesterday I changed my autoresponder to say that I’m working limited hours for the foreseeable future.

So, now Casey is 3 weeks old and I finally feel like I’m starting to get my feet under me when it comes to being a parent. I’m starting to dip my toes back into the world of work.

What it ultimately has looked like is that I took 3 weeks pretty much fully off, and then starting the last few work days, I’m easing back into my businesses, a couple of hours per day on average.

Having just a couple of hours to work each day has forced me to ruthlessly prioritize what really needs to get done in my business.

When I was working 8-10 hours per day, it was easy to set huge, lofty goals about what I would get done each day, but when I KNOW I only have a couple of hours, it’s a lot easier to just get down to working on what matters most each day. 

I’m finding myself cranking through tasks that have been on my “To Do” list FOREVER, simply because I just don’t have TIME to procrastinate anymore.

Noticing this happening has reminded me of a quote I’ve heard a lot, but never really understood until now.

“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.”

When you REALLY need to be efficient with your time, you will be.

My takeaway from this is something that can apply to you whether you’re a parent or not, and that is that constraints and boundaries are helpful!

Give yourself limits to the amount of time that you spend working -- either on your business in general, or on specific tasks.

For example, I know that I only have around 3 hours each day to work, so there’s really no time to do anything besides get focused and start getting stuff done.

I also know that right now, I have about 30 minutes until I need to be finished recording this podcast, so I need to start wrapping up NOW.

I’m excited to apply this idea of time constraints leading to enhanced productivity to as many places in my life as possible.

So what is my plan for work and business and parenting moving forward?

To be honest, I’m not totally sure. 

What I know is that I love my businesses and my podcast, and the current plan is to keep it all going forward. 

In the short term, I expect to be ramping up to working 20 or so hours per week. 

We are fortunate that Kate has 6 months of parental leave, so when she goes back to work, we’ll have childcare to sort out, and I honestly don’t know what that will look like for me, but I am committed to sharing it as I go!

As for this podcast, I don’t think you should expect any major differences. I’m still planning to do both interviews and solo episodes, and to release podcast episodes weekly. It’s possible that there will be some more parenting+business content coming -- let me know if that’s interesting to you -- but for the most part, the focus of this podcast remains the same--- helping you build a strong small business, market it effectively, and do good in the world.

As always, I love hearing your feedback about the podcast, so if there is anything in particular you would like to see, please get in touch with me on Instagram and let me know! I’m all ears :).

Okay! Today’s episode has been a little bit different… I’m excited to have had the chance to update you on such big news, and I’m equally excited to get back to the marketing and biz goodness that you and I both love.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, but haven’t taken the next step.. I want to invite you to go a bit further!

First, I have an awesome guide to creating great content and coming up with new ideas. Download it (FREE) at: makinggoodpodcast.com/content.

Second, there’s a Facebook community of amazing other small business owners and great content just for the group that I would love for you to join. makinggoodpodcast.com/community.

Are you a parent and a business owner? I want your tips! DM me @laurentilden on Instagram.

You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/61.

If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out:

My small biz marketing offerings, laurentilden.co

Plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com
Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.

Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!

Talk to you next time.