This ONE Priceless Business Resource Tripled My Income and it cost me NOTHING
When I first left my job to go full time for myself about a year and a half ago, I did so with the full support of my husband and family. Six months later, when I launched my shop which would come to help me replace and grow my income beyond what I had been making in corporate America, I did so with the support of my growing band of followers who were eager to enjoy the designs and products I was creating. But it was months later, only a short while ago really, that I realized there is one single level of support that keeps me moving forward in my business, creating products I never expected to develop, and helping me solve problems I faced in my business in creative ways. It was a type of support that I didn’t have when I left my job, nor had I acquired it by the launch of my shop. This support was something that came to me after months of searching and has honestly become my secret weapon of my business resources. Can you guess what it is?
The One Priceless Business Resource that helped me triple my income this year was the amazing community of like minded female entrepreneurs that I have been lucky enough to call friends.
Yes, it’s true! If it weren’t for the support, advice and encouragement of the awesome friends I have made on this entrepreneurial journey of mine, I don’t know where my business would be right now. At the end of 2014 I made some projections for my business income for 2015 and I have already surpassed those income projections. At the beginning of 2015, I laid out a rough plan for the projects I wanted to accomplish throughout this year and so far I have been able to fully develop each of the ideas and bring them to fruition. Yes, I have myself to thank for all my success, but I also recognize that I have had the support of some amazing women who were able to help me solve problems and overcome barriers I had put up for myself and my business. As the end of 2015 quickly approaches and I begin to tackle the enormous task of brainstorming my plan for 2016, although I have no idea what my business will look like a year from now, I am confident that I am going to continue to grow leaps and bounds thanks to my awesome business besties who have been by my side, testing my products, troubleshooting my concepts and promoting my brand and business along side me. There is seriously no better feeling in the world then when you find your tribe, and I’m so glad to say that I’ve not only found my tribe, but I am actively growing my tribe day by day!
Now, if you are a new or aspiring business owner and you have not found your tribe yet, I am here to tell you, I know what you are going through. Before I found my tribe, I felt like I was all alone. It was me and my business against the whole the internet, and no amount of support from friends and family can ever bring you the comfort you desperately need.
So I want to personally invite you to join me and my tribe in my new Facebook community, the #CHARMEDBIZ Collective! We are a tribe of female entrepreneurs, bloggers and small business owners gathering together to share information, resources, inspiration and support so that we can all become the best versions of ourselves and our businesses. As they say, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and that is exactly what this community is about. No #GIRLBOSS will be left behind! Join me today in the private group and also get access to my new Digital Resource Library, a collection of FREE business building resources created by me and updated regularly to help you build your business and brand online as seamlessly as possible! I know together we can do great things and I look forward to meeting you in the group!
Yesterday I got a message from a friend telling me to check out a recent scope from Lewis Howes. It was called “The #1 Thing That Separates You Online from Your Competitors,” and it was all about how the best brands online have the best photography, a topic I had just posted about with the launch of my #CharmedDSLR Photography Challenge and Mini Course. As soon as she told me, I joked “I’m a trailblazer!” Then I proceeded to insinuate that perhaps Lewis Howes was one of my blog readers. Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t (hi Lewis, if you’re reading this!) but this was certainly not the first time that I had covered a topic on my blog or in a YouTube video and then began to notice other creators discussing the same topic. It’s synchronicity and it’s a concept that I believe every creator needs to be fully aware of and comfortable with as they learn to navigate the online space.
If you have never heard of this concept before, synchronicity is that sometimes eerie occurrence when things happen simultaneously, and although they may appear to be related, they really have no connection. Personally, I find that this happens to me all the time, I’m sure it has happened to you, or will happen to you, and I think it’s something you need to be mentally prepared for. Too often, I see online creators tear themselves apart with grief or anger over an innocent instance of synchronicity. You write a blog post on a topic and then another blogger you are familiar with covers the same topic. You make a YouTube video about a subject and another YouTuber you follow makes the same video at nearly the same time. Is this coincidence or are they copying you might ask yourself? More times than not, I find that this is a simple case of synchronicity and I’ll explain to you in very simple terms why I believe this happens and why you should use synchronicity to empower your brand instead of allow it to destroy you.
In my opinion, synchronicity happens because ideas are cyclical. Like fashion trends they rotate through the seasons and during certain periods of time, it’s natural that more than one person would have the same idea or concept. This is especially true if people have the same interests to begin with. Take the planner community for instance. I find that ideas rotate through the planner community constantly. A few years ago when I made my first planner video, I showed a Martha Stewart disc bound planner that I had purchased. At that time, I didn’t notice very many people using this notebook, and as time progressed I naturally began to rotate into new styles of planners. Now, a few years later, I am right back where I started using a disc bound planner yet again. Why? Because the planner world is small and there are only so many directions you can go before you end up right back where you started. Now, I see people talking about disc bound planners pretty often and its all part of that same cycle! Do I think people are copying me? Absolutely not! I would like to think that I have influenced people in the community, but I certainly can’t claim credit over their choice of planner because planners are a small world. And I think the same thing happens in other communities online as well. In the beauty community I will notice that a certain brand or product is getting a lot of attention from beauty bloggers or within the business community I will notice that everyone is launching a course on branding. Ideas come and go and there is bound to be overlap!
Now, personally, I love synchronicity and I think you should learn to love it as well. To me its validating to know that the topic I am currently passionate about is getting notoriety via other figures online. While some people might think of these other figures as competition, I take a more reasonable approach! The way I look at it, the more people that are talking about a certain topic, the better! More people talking about it means that more viewers are noticing the topic and searching for the topic because there is a buzz in the air. Now, this is my opportunity as a creator to really step my game up and make sure that when people are searching for this buzz worthy topic, they find me and that I put my best foot forward to get their attention so they engaged with my content, join my community and hopefully purchase one of my products! Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what someone else is doing, the only thing I have control over is how I manage my brand. That is how I am going to stand out and overcome any perceived competition.
What you really need to watch out for when it comes to synchronicity is that concept of competition and getting into a victim mentality. I have watched as other creators have torn themselves apart with anger and grief because they took a simple instance of synchronicity out of context and accused someone of copying them. This is such a dangerous mental state to be in. I can understand how frustrating it can be when you believe someone is copying your content, I have definitely been there, but it’s so important that you keep a calm head and a clear mind and really see the innocence in a situation of synchronicity. Not understanding synchronicity and allowing that victim mentality to overtake your mind will only cause you mental destruction and will put a serious block on your ability to create in the future.
So, I hope this has helped you to understand the concept of synchronicity a little better and that this helps you avoid any unnecessary anguish if you find yourself a party to content sync up! Let me know down below if you have ever found yourself in a situation like this and how you handled it. Did you take the synchronicity as a sign from the universe that you were on the right path, or did you have a negative experience that you had to learn from? I’d love to know your thoughts!
It dawned on me the other day that I have never told you the story of how I left my job, started my online business and replaced my income all in the span of six months, so that’s what I want to share today. I also want to take some time, as I recount my tale, to highlight some important details that may help in the event that you follow a similar path as I.
Let’s go way back…
… To sometime in the spring of 2008. I had just graduated college, didn’t have a job, and I was looking for ways to entertain myself online while searching for employment. I had been reading a few blogs and watching some interesting people on YouTube, and I thought to myself “I can do that!” So I did. I started my first blog in the spring and my YouTube channel launched a little less than a year later in January 2009. At the time I used my blog to talk about lifestyle things I was enjoying, basically using it the way many blogs were used back then, as a digital scrapbook of things I liked, my opinions and the occasional recipe. My YouTube channel, however, was the place I shared my love for all things technology. You may not be able to tell so much today by looking at my site, but I was obsessed with Apple technology, gadgets, and the whole online/virtual space.
At about the same time that I started on YouTube, I also found full time work at a fortune 50 company as a lowly administrator. At the time I thought that this job would be a temporary thing until I found better work, some career that truly fulfilled my love for writing, creating, and hopefully, technology! Of course, I had no clue at the time that by the time I did finally leave the company five and a half years later, I would have risen quite substantially to a management level position complete with bonuses, a company car and an expense account. What can I say? I’m a smart cookie!
So while I worked my way up the corporate ladder, I continued to work on my online presence. I kept up with blogging, although it was not anywhere near the scope of how I blog today, went through a few iterations of blogs as I decided on what it was that I really wanted to write about, and of course, made YouTube videos in my spare time! Being tech obsessed, I also stayed up to date with social media and used those platforms in an attempt to promote and connect my content to other like-minded women.
Now, this is the thing you need to take away from this part of the story. My success, although I agree, seems to have happened overnight, was really the product of years of effort setting up systems and communication methods that would support my eventual leap into working for myself full time. I learned a lot about the online world in the years before I officially started my business, made a lot of mistakes, but also stumbled upon some great information and practices that would eventually bring me success once the moment was right!
The Months Leading up to my Launch
In the months leading up to my launch, a lot of things started to happen very quickly. In early 2014, I got intimately involved with the planner community, fan girled on planners, and made some videos about it. This was the tipping point for me and my business. I knew that this community I had stumbled upon was going to be my salvation and would enable me to go full time for myself.
You might be wondering how I knew this? Let me explain. First and foremost, my subscriber count jumped significantly. I was already making a steady income from YouTube before this shift, but after it, my income grew substantially. Second, I had a few things going on in my personal life that were leading me to be unhappy at my job. That isn’t necessarily a unique situation to be in, however I began to notice a weird pattern. I would have a very bad day at work, and then I would have a great day on YouTube. I’d start a day feeling terrible because of a conversation with my boss, but by the end of the day, my community on YouTube had me feeling like it was the best day ever. For lack of a better explanation, I felt like the Universe was telling me that it was time to leave my job and do YouTube full time. I also began to get opportunities I had never been offered before that ended up supplementing my side income even more! Once things reached a certain point, I knew it was time to make the leap!
What I want you to take away from this is that often times, things happen for a reason. I do believe that God or the Universe (however you prefer to think of it) does guide us and we need to be vigilantly watching for the patterns that can show us exactly when we need to make our move. I personally feel like I get signs from a greater power all the time that help me to decide which path I should take or which opportunity to explore, and as this story illustrates, following the signs can lead to major success!
Setting Goals and Preparing for Launch
It would be convenient for me to say, follow the signs and leave your job and the Universe will catch you, but we all know that’s not how it works! Once I decided that 2014 was going to be my year to launch my own business, I made specific preparations and set important goals to measure my progress. First and foremost, my husband and I began putting away as much money as possible. We have always been savers, but we wanted to make sure that we had enough money in the bank so that we could live comfortably if we both were out of work for six months to a year! Let’s be honest, in this economy, it was a real risk for me to leave my secure Fortune 50 job, and although I was confident that I could find another job if things didn’t work out with my business, we wanted to have the money in the bank to ensure our solvency.
The next goal I had to hit involved the income I was making outside of my job. My husband and I set a specific amount of money that we wanted to see my side business make before I was able to leave my job. It was like a challenge and an exercise in law of attraction all at once. If the Universe wanted me to go full time, the Universe would need to bring me x amount of income per month through my #sidehustle! As soon as I hit the number, I gave my notice!
For those of you who are looking to start you own business and go full time for yourself, you really need to make sure you follow my lead on this one. Make sure you have money in the bank just in case things don’t work out of or if you have to supplement your income as you get off the ground! Also, set those financial goals if you have a side hustle that you want to turn into your full time gig. It’s a great way to measure your progress and it gives you a concrete number to work up to instead of a vague concept.
How I Replaced my Income in 6 Months
Once I left my job I made a plan to focus on YouTube as it was a significant portion of my income when I launched my business. My plan was to make YouTube videos five days a week, and continue supplementing that content with my blog and social media channels. This strategy didn’t end up panning out for me, and after a few months of this crazy filming schedule, I decided to change course. So for a few solid months I continued to research and concept out ideas for where my business would go, and then I decided to turn to my community.
My community on YouTube had asked me time and time again to sell my printable planner inserts because they were unlike anything available on the market. I decided that if YouTube wasn’t working for me, I should go ahead and set up a shop and make a bit of money from the inserts I had already designed. So, I tested the waters a bit, offered my inserts for sale in my shop and something wonderful began to happen. People were buying my inserts! So, I started making more inserts and designing other printable planner accessories like stickers and journaling cards and by the end of the year I was officially bringing in the same income I had been making at my Fortune 50 company. It was a pretty awesome end to my year, that’s for sure!
What you really need to take away from this portion of my story is that you need to be flexible and persistent in your business if you want to find success. My original plan to do YouTube full time didn’t yield me the results I was looking for, and because I was willing to try new things, I found a business model that worked for me. Likewise, persistence is also key in business. I didn’t let the fact that my first plan failed stop me from finding a new path. I wanted my business to work, was open to what that business would look like, and eventually found my solution. Sometimes the path to success isn’t linear, so you need to be ready to take detours and turn to plan B, C, or D if you truly want to run your own business!
So what does this whole story mean for you?
I really hope that hearing my story helps you to understand the nature of online business, and that you see parallels to your own situation. I am here as a resource for anyone who wants to find success as a business owner online, because for me and my story, that was the one thing I didn’t have. I had my own passion and intelligence, but I didn’t have a mentor. Yes, I made it on my own and I can be proud of that, but I often wonder how much easier it would have been for me had I known someone who had done this before and could help me through it.
This is exactly why I developed Empire Building, my online business program that teaches you all the information and lessons that it took me over 6 years to learn!
So I want to ask you. How important is starting an online business to you?
How much would you pay for the tools and lessons to get you from idea, to launch, to building a successful brand? Too many of us pay tens of thousands of dollars for traditional four year educations that unfortunately don’t yield us, not just our dream job, but even a job that pays a living wage upon graduation. There are many online business programs out there that offer the same caliber of content and information as Empire Building, but will cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars for access to notable figureheads that end up being MIA when you need them most. Empire Building isn’t here to put a premium price tag on information and education. Remember, the secret to building a successful business online isn’t secret, it’s based on tried and true methods, tips and lessons that I myself learned through years of trial and error. I’ve just packaged up all my knowledge of the online sphere, my methods for growing a brand presence, and my best tips for earning income online to save you years of effort and error so that you make a strong start when you enter the competitive business world online!
Like I said before, I am here to help you, to mentor you and to make this process of building a business easier for YOU! Let me know in the comments what business issues or questions I can help you with and if you’d like to join Empire Building, I’d love to have you!
My latest social media obsession: Periscope! Hopefully, at some point in the last few weeks and months, you’ve become familiar with this new social platform. Periscope allows users to live stream directly to the world, either to the general public or to a private group of friends. Like other social media platforms, users can follow each other and become notified when someone they are following holds a live broadcast or can gain access to any recent missed events as well. As the app integrates with Twitter, it’s easy for users to promote their live event instantly and for their follows to share the event! How cool is that?
It’s no secret that visual platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube are growing out of control. Images, after all are the future of social media. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Why write or read a blog post if you can just instantly stream your thoughts to your followers or watch your favorite guru or internet personality in real time! Although Youtube is one of my favorite platforms, it requires much time and energy to produce a high quality video. That’s not the case with Periscope. A short live-streamed event means very little prep but instant and direct communication with your community. A scope may not get as many viewers as a YouTube video might, but the direct interaction is the gold. No matter how many comments I reply to on a YouTube video, nothing will replace that direct interaction that Periscope provides where you have the ability to reply to a question or comment directly on live video. I am always looking for better ways to add value to my community and directly interact with as many followers as possibly so that they learn, they aren’t just my followers, they are my friends too! Bringing your community through that transition from follower to friend is the magic of social media and any platform that gives your community that level of access and connection is going to be a magic bullet. Whether you are trying to grow a following through social media or build a business online, connection and interaction will propel your efforts forward at warp speed!
After hearing so much buzz about the app, I decided to download it the other week onto my iPhone. The app for Periscope is only available on mobile devices via the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Shop, and it’s a completely mobile based broadcasting system! I’ve been following all my favorite business and lifestyle gurus, watching and interacting with them as they do a quick “scope” and share some tips or hold a Q&A. “Scope,” if you haven’t already guessed is the official term people use to refer to one of these live streamed sessions. Now, Periscope is only a one way video output, so you can watch, but the event host can’t see you. Interaction happens one of three ways via the app. First, through hearts! When you tap on the screen of your smartphone during a “scope” you send virtual love to your host which helps their video rankings. The second way to interact with your host, as well as the rest of the community watching the event, is through comments. Like I said, Periscope integrates with Twitter so you can see the comments of others which pop up with their profile picture and account name from Twitter, which is pretty cool! Like Twitter, you can reply to comments made by others by tapping on the comment, which gives you an @reply option. The third and final way you can interact with the host and the event is by sharing the event on Twitter or with specific friends within the app by tapping on the user icon on the bottom right hand of the screen during a broadcast.
As you can probably tell, I am really fired up about this new platform and I can’t wait to get started using it myself! Obviously, with my move this past weekend, it was hard for me to figure out a time to jump on and host a scope, but I am very excited to announce that this Friday, July 24th @ 3pm eastern, I plan to broadcast live on Periscope! For my first event, I want to cover YOU, my community, on the topic of social media and forging that direct connection. So please, download the FREE app Periscope onto your iOS or Android smartphone, follow me @MissTrenchcoat, and mark your planners for Friday at 3pm!
I can’t wait to see you and please, let me know if you plan on attending my first scope by sending me a tweet and using the hashtag #charmedscope which I plan to use to announce my future events as well! So excited for Friday!
As a small business owner, one of the single most frequent questions I am asked relates to the tools a small business owner needs to get started. Truthfully, the tools or items you need to run your small business vary from person to person and business to business. It depends on what core functions your business performs, so it’s not a one size fits all scenario. Last month I shared the software tools that keep my small business running, so this month I will share the hardware part of the equation. Keep in mind that these are the tools that I choose to use, they are by no means the best or only options, although I do highly recommend them. My small business starter tool kit includes:
1. Macbook Air 11”:Since December 2013, I have been working exclusively from my Macbook Air. I am often asked if it can handle processor intense software like Adobe Creative Suite and Final Cut Pro, or if it’s sluggish. The answer should be obvious. Yes, the Macbook Air can handle a variety of software- if it couldn’t, I wouldn’t be able to run my business! I run professional grade design and creative software like Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and Final Cut all day long as part of my business and often times, I am running multiple programs at the same time without issue. The Macbook Air is small, super slim and portable, which I love! It did take me a short adjustment period to get used to the 11” screen moving down from a 13”, but I don’t even notice the small size anymore. I really do love this machine and it was certainly an excellent investment for my business!
2. iPhone 6 Plus: You may think that as a small business owner, your main contact with your customers or clients will be via your computer, however, I do far more interaction with mine through my iPhone. Earlier this year I upgraded to the iPhone 6 Plus from the iPhone 5, a big transition for me, size-wise that took me quite some time to get used too. However, I do love my iPhone 6 Plus and because of it’s larger size, I am able to conduct business in a whole new way. I do a majority of my email, photo editing and social media directly from my phone. It lives in my hand and while some would say that isn’t good for your health and wellness, I have never felt more free! I don’t see my iPhone as a burden, but as a tool that gives me ultimate flexibility with my work. Perhaps that’s because I’m the boss and don’t fear the tether to my work the way some with more traditional jobs do, but I love my iPhone because of the increasing role that social media plays in next to all segments of business, I couldn’t recommend it more!
3. Canon EOS Rebel T5i (700D): I’ve waxed poetic time and time again about my love for my T5i. My DSLR plays a key role in my business as I use it each and every day. Photography and videography make up a significant portion of my business, from a creative standpoint and a marketing standpoint. When it comes to online business, visual media plays a crucial role, so it was important to me to have a DSLR with some great lenses. For my day to day shooting needs, I use the 50mm 1.8 lens, and for my videography, I use the 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 lens, both from Canon. If you are looking for more information on how I shoot, watch this video, and if you would like some of my best photography tips, try these!
4. Toshiba Flash Air: Normally, I would never include my SD card in a list like this, but the SD card I use isn’t your standard issue. The Toshiba Flash Air is a major tool in my business process because it’s actually wifi enabled! Essentially, my little SD card pops into my camera, stores my pictures and video as per the usual SD card functions, but it also includes special software that pairs with my iPhone so I can wirelessly transfer the media from my SD card to my iPhone for instant use without needing a computer! If you use a camera that already has wireless capabilities, this SD card won’t sound that amazing to you, but if your camera doesn’t have wifi built in, you can use this card to get instant access to photos and video on the fly, move them to your iPhone and then edit and upload direct from your phone. Think about being out and about shooting and capturing a great shot that you’d love to post on Instagram, but you don’t have your laptop with you, so you need to wait until you get home to download the photos. The Flash Air bypasses this step, and even though I do most of my photography at home, I can’t tell you how much of a time saver it is to use an wireless SD card to quickly move photos for upload online!
5. WD My Passport External Hard Drive: I’ve trusted my computer backup and external storage needs to Western Digital for years and they have never let me down. As a small business owner, especially one that works with photography, video and custom designs on the daily, backing up my files is a non-negotiable. Now, you could use a cloud based service for your backup, which works extremely well, however, I prefer external hard drives because they are inexpensive compared to equivalent storage sizes in cloud service, and it feels like a more secure experience since I see and hold my backup in my hands as opposed to the invisible cloud. If you don’t have a hard drive for back up, check mine out because I love it and it could save your business!
6. HP Office Jet Printer: Now printers are a topic I am often asked about due to the fact that I exclusively sell printable inserts and designs in my shop! I use an HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 series all-in-one printer that I happen to love. It’s a great daily business printer with capabilities for faxing, scanning and copying and I think it does a solid job of printing my inserts, stickers and wall art designs! Is it the best printer for artwork? Definitely not, but it works for me and my needs, which is all that matters. Having access to a printer like this does help when running a business with all the contracts, bills, invoices and other paperwork that can cross your desk, so I would recommend some sort of all-in-one printer for a small business even if you don’t deal with graphics and design as I do.
7. Wacom Bamboo Capture Tablet:The final tool I use for my business is a Wacom tablet. If you have never seen one of these before, this is a pen tablet that essentially replaces the mouse of my computer while I work on designs in Illustrator or Photoshop so that I have more accuracy and control while using creative software. The Bamboo Capture isn’t a drawing tablet, although Wacom does make those, but it’s just another tool I use to help me work quickly and efficiently. Some designers love these tablets and rely on them, others do not. It’s a personal preference that does come with a learning curve, but if you spend a lot of time designing in Adobe Creative Suite or art programs like Corel and you get the chance to give one of these a try, I’d suggest it!
Those are the tools I used to start my small, creative online business. I hope this gave you some insight and good information to help you find the tools that are right for your business! If you would like some additional resources, I’ve recently written about some Free Design Tools for Bloggers & Business Owners, and Apps for the Creative Business Owner that may also help you get your business going! Let me know what other business issues or questions you may have so that I can create some more dedicated content to help!
Podcasts are definitely one of the not-so-secret weapons in my entrepreneurship arsenal. Since I work from home and have no coworkers, I find podcasts are a great way to keep me motivated through my day of little to no human interaction, while also staying entertained and informed. Podcasts are also a means of continuing education for me, like audiobooks, so I like to listen to business podcasts as regularly as possible. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about marketing, strategy and business management just from listening to podcasts, they really are a great way to keep your mind engaged in your business and to pick up new tips and tricks from successful business owners. Here are 8 great choices if you are looking for a new business podcast to add to your life!
Anne Samoilov happens to be a personal friend of mine- how lucky am I? She’s an awesome business coach, a knowledgeable launch manager and an intelligent entrepreneur. Anne happens to be one of the few female podcasters out there talking about business strategy as well as keeping your busy life organized as a mompreneur, so give her a listen and if you want, you can even start with her episode interviewing me!
Pat Flynn is hands down my #1 business inspiration. So much of my business is modeled off of his lead of creating a “Smart Passive Income”. You may think that sounds too good to be true, but I am living proof that passive incomes are real and any online entrepreneur can make use of these effortless streams of income. Check out Pat for inspiration and insight into his business, as well as interviews with notable guests!
Notable blogging business owner, Elise Blaha Cripe started her online empire from her love of scrapbooking and much in the vein of my own business, was able to turn her passions into a full time career. Although my business isn’t crafting related like hers, I personally connect to Elise because we are online business owners of about the same age who seem to be adding value to their communities in similar ways. In her podcast, Elise shares a lot of insight and almost insider type information into the realm of creative and crafting businesses, and is very willing to share what she knows and what she’s learned, which is something I too am very passionate about!
The School of Greatness podcast focuses less on business and more so on success, which is what we all want for our businesses. Former Pro Athlete Lewis Howes is one part life-coach and one-part entrepreneur mentor in his podcast, so if you are looking for information sprinkled with a heavy dose of inspiration, this may be just the choice for you!
If you are familiar with Marie Forleo, you may already be acquainted with Amy Porterfield, a B-School Alum with online marketing superpowers. I enjoy Amy because she is truly an original thinker, and constantly breaks the molds of traditional marketing strategies. If you like marketing or want to learn how to leverage marketing insights for your own business, this is required listening!
If you are reading the titles of these podcasts and thinking business podcasts may be a snoozefest, the Fizzle Show is going to knock some sense into you with their entertaining and intelligent style. This isn’t your average business podcast, it’s more of a super informative radio show that you are sure to love if you avoid bland or heavy business podcasts.
As the title suggests, She Podcasts is another great selection created by a pair of savvy female entrepreneurs. If you haven’t noticed, women are a bit underrepresented in the online business podcasting community and these ladies aren’t shy about hitting the issues and making up for some of that gap! I love that these ladies also enjoy sharing their insights into podcasting, so if you are a savvy female entrepreneur or want to get started with podcasting, this one is for you!
Well the name says it all, doesn’t it? In case you missed it, last week was the #GLAMPIRECHAT that focused on Marketing, which I think is something of a hot topic right about now. Marketing is always a hot business topic and for good reason, so if you are starting a small business and really want to get a grasp on the concept of marketing, make sure you check this one out as well. The hosts are uber smart and it’s like you’re sitting through a riveting business school lesson in each episode!
I hope these podcasts give you some inspiration for how you can be spending your time productively during work and also help to bring some key insight and inspiration into your business. I’d love to know if you check out any of these podcasts, so please send me a picture via Instagram of you enjoying these podcasts while you work!
As a small, creative online business owner, I am often asked about the tools I use to run my business. Since I am a company of one, it’s crucial that I use the most powerful and reliable tools to ensure my products are well designed and that my business runs smoothly on the back end so I can spend more of my time creating and less of it managing administrative or technical matters. Today I am sharing with you the software tools specifically that I use to design, promote and manage my small business.
As a creative business owner, I choose to use the industry standard for digital content creation, which is why I use Adobe Creative Suite 6. Within the suite, I use three main applications primarily. InDesign to create my shop printables, Photoshop to edit my images, and Illustrator to create unique design elements and vectors that are used across my business.
For my website, including my shop, I rely on WordPress as my content management system. WordPress offers a wide variety of functionality and customization for my site, and since I designed and built it on my own, it was important that these features be easy to use and open source so that I retained complete control over the look and feel of my site.
When it came time for me to develop and integrate my shop into my website, I was relieved to learn about WooCommerce, a free plugin that integrates seamlessly into WordPress to deliver enterprise-level eCommerce functionality. WooCommerce manages the back end of my shop automatically with very little input or time from me. Since I sell predominantly digital products, the automated system managed by WooCommerce makes the income I generate from my shop completely passive!
Although I don’t rely on an email list as a primary means of communication between my business and customers, I recently began dabbling with MailChimp to create some one-off mailing lists and so far, it’s working very well. I like that I can create individual lists for products or services I am working on and use it to capture information for the members of my community that want more information. That way, once my new item is ready, I can send a quick email to my list sharing the news and hopefully capture some quick sales!
For me, so much of what I love about running a small online business is convenience, so when it comes to collecting payments for my products and services, I rely on Paypal. I know it may not be perfect, but it’s a great solution for a solopreneur who needs a low cost, automated method for collecting payments. Paypal integrates seamlessly into my WooCommerce enabled WordPress shop and keeps my income flowing in without my time or attention! I literally make money, even while I’m sleeping and there is no greater feeling than that!
Since my shop acts as the primary source of income for my business, I like to keep a close eye on my site’s analytics. Although I try not to get caught up in numbers, I do believe that knowing about your site traffic can really help you as a business owner to understand the direction of your business and how to grow. Google Analytics supplies all the key information I need to know about my site traffic and shop conversions, and I highly recommend it.
As a small business owner, I am always looking for new ways to improve the level of quality in my products and promotional content. Since I rely on YouTube as a primary form of communication between my business and my customers, I recently decided to make the jump from iMovie to Final Cut Pro for my video editing software. Although I firmly believe that iMovie provides a number of powerful video editing tools, I had previously always hit a wall when editing in iMovie that I was never able to break through until I upgraded to Final Cut Pro. Now, I can create all the stunning video effects that I need to help add polish to my brand and the experience I create through my YouTube channel. The change may be slight, but I believe the long term effects are going to be very positive for my business.
Finally, it should come as no surprise that since I create a great deal of content for my platforms on a regular basis, I would need a very powerful word processing tool to manage my thoughts, scripts and blog posts. For that large task, I rely on Scrivener. In a week I have three blog posts to write, two YouTube videos to concept and outline, and numerous other messages that my business sends out on social media. Scrivener manages and organizes all my written content and backs up to the cloud so I never have to worry about loosing my work. If you would like to read more about how I use Scrivener to organize my writing, click here.
So those are the top software tools that I use to run my small, creative online business. I hope you gained some insight from this information and perhaps discovered a new tool that you can use for your own business. If you have other software favorites that you use for your business, or just to keep your digital life organized and efficient, I’d love to hear about them, so please leave me a comment below!
Last night I hosted another live installment of the #GLAMPIRECHAT, a monthly series where I share my tips, tricks and strategies for approaching online business! Last night the topic was marketing and I gave some really great information to really help clear the air around a topic that sometimes carries a negative connotation.
Marketing “becomes a dirty word” in the minds of many people who see advertising and marketing campaigns left and right and think of it as spam! However, the reality remains that promotion of your product, service or brand plays a crucial role in spreading awareness of it in the marketplace. You can have the greatest product or service in the market that people desperately need but unless you’re promoting it, no one will ever buy it!
It’s important that we first have an understanding of what marketing is and how it’s defined, so of course, I went to good old Google which tells us “Marketing is the way companies interact with consumers to create relationships that are beneficial to both parties. Businesses use marketing to identify their audience before advertising to them. Today, this is most visible through social media interactions and contests” (Mashable.com). Really marketing allows businesses to interact with their consumers on a very personal level and really build a sense of community around their brand! So, I tend to use marketing strategies that allow me to engage and build a community through my platforms and social media authentically.
So, how do I promote my products and services without feeling like stereotypical used car salesman on the internet? I use a strategy that authentically spreads awareness of my business, promotes my products like a friend who gives a recommendation to another friend, and is seamlessly integrated into all that I do.
My #1 Marketing Secret is Good Content!
Good content in my opinion is the best form of marketing you can possibly do for your business. Good content adds value to your community, it answers questions, it provides information and it gives you and your business fun, shareable media to put out into the world that your community will be able to promote for you! During the live chat last night we took a great question about how our content differs from our products, and I think that the fact that someone asked that question at all means that this strategy truly works! My products and services are completely separate from the content I create. As you may know from following me for some time, my primary business is my shop where I sell digital productivity products like planner inserts, journaling cards, wall art designs and also my Empire Building online business program. That is where my income comes from and as you may know I do make a full-time salary from my shop, which is wonderful. My content on the other hand can be found over on my blog, where I write three posts per week, over on YouTube where I make two videos a week, and on Instagram where I like to take pictures and share them at least once a day. All that content represents a significant amount of work I do, but it doesn’t make me any money directly, with the exception of YouTube which does pay out small amounts for ad revenue. Although I don’t make money directly from those efforts, my content represents a very important part of my business because it’s how I draw in and attract my audience who then in turn may purchase products from my shop. My content allows me to market my products without ever having to make a sales pitch or feel sleezy for trying to hard to promote my products because when you provide great content that people enjoy, it’s only natural that they will then be curious about the items you sell and feel confident making a purchase from you because they know you exhibit consistent quality.
Now, if you want to apply my methods to your own content creation, I have some great tips for you to help guide the creation of your own great content. These are the three things that good content must do. They don’t have to do all three at once, but good content must do at least one of these.
Inspire
When I aim to inspire, I let my photographs do the talking by taking beautiful desk shots that motivate my audience into productivity! My Instagram account really acts as my method for sharing my inspiration with my followers!
Educate
When I create educational content, it normally comes in the form of long form blog posts and even YouTube videos that give solid and researched thoughts and information to my audience to help them learn, or gain perspective or knowledge on a specific topic.
Entertain
When I create content to entertain, it normally comes in the form of videos for my YouTube channel. I like to use my YouTube to mix it up and give inspirational and educational content that aims to entertain.
It’s up to you how to apply these qualities to your own content and trust me, there are a variety of ways you can manipulate each of these into unique content, but hopefully seeing my examples will inspire you to find your own ways to create your great content! Now, have I primed your appetite for more marketing tips and tricks? If I did, you are in luck because if you missed the live show of the #GLAMPIRECHAT last night, you can watch the replay over on my YouTube channel right now! This was just one piece of the great content and information that I created for you all last night, so definitely check out the full video for more. Just a warning, I did chat for something like an hour and forty-five minutes, so you may want to get comfortable, get yourself something to drink and grab a pen and paper to take notes! Feel free to leave me a comment either here or on the video if you have additional questions. Although we did take live questions, I am sure we didn’t cover everything so let me know what I can help you with marketing wise! Also, if you love the #GLAMPIRECHAT but want to join us live, mark your calendar for Wednesday July 1st at 9pm eastern because that is when the next chat is slated. Of course, make sure you are following me on social media because I always give notice of these videos especially on Instagram! Enjoy!
This week I celebrated my first official year in business! One year ago, I left the safety and security of my Fortune 50 sales and marketing job to go full time for myself creating a business and income via social media! I had no clue at the time that one year later I would have completely replaced my income and grown my community online to over 50k regular viewers, subscribers and followers. If you had asked me last year what my business would look like in a year, I most certainly couldn’t have predicted that my online shop where I sell digital products and services would become my dominate area of income, that I would eventually take on a select number of consulting clients and that I would be shifting my focus to develop educational programs aimed at helping small businesses replicate my success. But despite all the success I have found in the last year, I know that I also made plenty of mistakes. No business or person is perfect and I think I feel into some very common traps my first year that brought me a great amount of insight into the way I run my business and the direction I want to take it in the future. So, for your edification and perhaps amusement, here are the 5 mistakes I made in my first year of business and the lessons I learned from each of them!
I think there is a major misconception that if you work really hard you can make a business a success, as though sheer force of will and effort will make it so, but unfortunately that’s not the case. When I left my job to go full time for myself, I took on a major amount of work, committing to producing five videos a week for my YouTube channel, thinking that this great effort would bring me success. Although I wouldn’t say this was a futile effort, it certainly wasn’t as effective because I was doing a lot of work but it was all over the place. The main problem was that I didn’t have a plan. I just thought I would make a bunch of videos and that would bring me a greater audience. Once I stopped this nonsense and made a plan for what I wanted my YouTube channel to become, I suddenly found that I was able to make fewer videos a week, but because they were focused against my plans for my channel, a cohesive vision quickly came together and my subscriber count grew astronomically!
Lesson Learned: Hard work is useless until you have a clear plan
Mistake #2: Make sure your products and services are perfect before launching them
When I started my business last May, one of my major goals was to get a shop up and running where I could sell my printable inserts. I had been asked by numerous members of my community to sell the printable inserts that I had created for my own planner and I thought that the printables would be a nice (albeit small) passive income. I did a lot of research figuring out how to set up a shop on my existing website, and spent way too much time anguishing over whether or not my inserts to high quality enough to sell. It took me until October to finally launch my shop, and once I did, my inserts were met with overwhelming praise and support. I immediately regretted taking so long to get the shop up and running. That small income I had originally expected surpassed my expectations the first month of my launch and then that small income became larger and larger as months progressed and more products were added to my shop. What started off as an idea for a small side income turned into the majority of my monthly income which eventually lead me to replace my former salary in just a few months!
Within the last year, I have experienced an extraordinary amount of growth. I know for some, my numbers may seem small, but I have been able to exceed every goal I have set for myself in terms of my community growth. When I first started off with my business, I told myself that it was of the utmost importance that I gave each and every member of my community my time if they reached out for my help, and in the beginning, this was not a problem for me. As months progressed, however, and I began to get more and more questions and emails from members of my community asking me for help, I began to realize that I wouldn’t be able to personally help everyone. There was just not enough time in the day for me to respond to each lengthy email from a subscriber with an equally lengthy email. I can’t reply to every comment, and I can’t answer every question, I’m just one person trying to do my best for my business. This was probably the most difficult lesson for me to learn, but over time, I began to train myself to give short and succinct answers to emails, to use links to my videos and blog posts to help me save time answering questions and to rely on the help of my more informed community members to pick up the slack with frequently asked questions. Although I’d love to have long email chats with my community members, I know that my time is precious and that I can help more people in less time with my new strategy, which means I can give more of myself in other areas.
I don’t know if this mistake was something I inherited from my years in the corporate world at a Fortune 50 company, but early on in my business, I became keenly aware that I needed to make sure my community thought I was very busy because busy equals working hard! As a blogger and YouTuber I knew that I was something of an (extremely) minor public figure and that people would begin to notice and comment on how I spent my time. If I didn’t look like I had a lot of work to do I thought no one would respect me. The problem is, I have always been the type of person who likes to get their work done quickly so I have more time to do what I want instead of what I have to do! I have an arsenal of systems and hacks in place that I utilize everyday to make sure I’m getting my work done in less time and that’s the way I like it. To me, it’s not about keeping up the appearance of busy. Busy is bullshit! Way too many people like to consider themselves busy as though it’s some sort of measure of self-importance. Everyone has things to do, some people have more than others, but everyone makes choices for how they fill the 24 hours that they get in a day, so don’t let the concept of being busy create some sort of excuse for you not to achieve certain goals, and don’t let the busy peer pressure make you feel inadequate if you happen to have a simpler life. Personally, I love the fact that I have a good amount of free time during my day because it gives me the opportunity to be creative in a way I could never be if I was always busy!
Lesson Learned: Busy is bullshit! Strive for productivity & efficiency
Mistake #5: You need to discover the secret to success in order to achieve it.
I’m the kind of person who likes to research things ad nauseam! When I first started my business, I was sure that the secret to success was hidden out there somewhere and that it was my job to read and research and learn as much as I could about business until I discovered the secret for myself. Problem is, there is no secret. Literally, there is no secret to success in business. There is no reason why you can’t start a successful business from scratch right now with little to no business knowledge. I didn’t go to school for business, and for some time, I thought this put me at a disadvantage, but the truth is the unique knowledge and skills that I do have, the ones I was busy building while I wasn’t attending business school, are just a marketable and important to the success of my business as any business degree. Don’t let the fear that you are lacking some nonexistent business secret sauce keep you from starting your business and kicking butt at it! You can seriously make your own rules, create your own secrets, and build yourself an empire!
Yes, you can do this! The truth is that when you start a business, you will make mistakes, you will learn and you will grow, but the most important part of the process is to continue to move forward and learn from your mistakes until you find the success you are looking for. I wasn’t the first person to make the mistakes that I made, and I certainly won’t be the last, but you don’t have to be one of them! That’s the wonderful part of having the online business community and all the resources available to small business owners today. So many people, including myself, are more than willing to share their mistakes and lessons they have learned in so many facets of their businesses. It’s so important for you to find a community of like minded small business owners who are doing the things you want to do and achieving the success you want to achieve because there is so much power in information and community. If you would like to work with me personally, I’d love to chat with you so feel free to check out my Empire Building program and shoot me an email if you have any questions! I look forward to talking with you!
When it comes to your online presence, whether you are a business owner, blogger or simply a social media fanatic, nothing is more important to your overall success than having a professional website. In many ways, your website is like your first impression on the web and so it’s crucial that your website be a reflection of yourself as well as a unique and well thought out experience. While many people spend thousands upon thousands of dollars creating a unique yet professional website with the help of professional design firms and web coding experts, I have managed to create a website that received hundreds of thousands of views per month spending a fraction of that! In all, my website cost me under $250 dollars to build myself using free resources and tutorials online, plus a few little web hacks that I would like to pass on to you today! So here are my tips for creating a professional website that looks like it costs thousands of dollars!
Go Self Hosted
Although there are plenty of free website options online, using a free service doesn’t hold a candle to a true self hosted website. Although you can certainly create a very decent user experience on a Blogspot.com account, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to your site’s SEO or search engine optimization, a website that is ran from blogspot will never pull in the rankings the way a self hosted site will. This is because your site will always be a subdomain of a larger site, even if you purchase your own custom URL. In order to get the highest rankings for your site and the best SEO, you want to have your website self hosted. Yes, this option costs money, but usually not more than about $100-$150 a year for your domain URL and hosting fees. I use a hosting service called Bluehost, but there are many others out there and I suggest doing a little research for which service and price point works for you!
Use Trusted Website Building Software
I personally use WordPress on my website and I love how reliable, easy to use, and versatile the platform is for my needs! It gives me professional results without actually needing to be a professional web designer! I don’t need to know how to code or even understand HTML because WordPress allows for you to download special plugins to your site that help you create nearly anything you could imagine. Because it’s used by so many professionals, there are so many (free!) resources available to help you build the site of your dreams, and WordPress is constantly updating and adding new functionality!
Buy a Professional and Responsive Theme
Your website’s theme is basically the design that is seen by the end user and although you can get many free themes online for your site, I highly suggesting spending a little money and buying a theme that is perfectly designed, responsive and full featured! I personally purchased my theme from BluChic.com which specializes in responsive WordPress themes for female-centric businesses. Although my theme cost slightly more than your average WordPress theme, I love that it is responsive (which means that the layout of my site optimizes depending on the screen or device that is viewing it), with a clean-cut editorial design that I was easily able to tweak to fit with my own branding. My theme is also backed by a customer service team so that if I ever run into issues or have any questions, I have a professional on call to help me!
Now, I’m not a web design professional by any means, but I am one smart cookie and was able to build my website for a very reasonable price by myself in less than a day and I know you can too! Yes, I was nervous to do it at first, but after Googling some quick how-to’s and watching a few YouTube videos on website building, I was quickly able to learn the basics for setting up my site and follow step-by-step instructions that helped me to create it. It may have seemed overwhelming at first, but in reality, all the information I needed to create my own professional website was available to me for free online, so if you want to create an inexpensive website that looks like it cost thousands of dollars to code and design, I suggest using these tips and doing some research and Googling of your own so that you can get to work!
