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Business

8 Smart Business Podcasts Your Ears are Missing!

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!

Fearless Launching with Anne Samoilov

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!

Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

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!

Elise Gets Crafty

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 with Lewis Howes

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!

Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

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!

The Fizzle Show: Blogging, Entrepreneurship & Self Employment

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.

She 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!

I Love Marketing

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!

xoxo,

Business

The Software Tools That Keep My Small Business Running

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.

Adobe Creative Suite

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.

WordPress

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.

WooCommerce

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!

MailChimp

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!

Paypal

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!

Google Analytics

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.

Final Cut Pro

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.

Scrivener

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!

xoxo,

Business

My #1 Marketing Secret

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 1^st 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!

xoxo

Business

5 Mistakes I Made In My First Year of Business & The Lessons I Learned From Them

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!

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Mistake #1: Work Extremely Hard

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

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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!

Lesson Learned: Done is better than perfect

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Mistake #3: Try to help everyone

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.

Lesson Learned: It’s not personal, it’s business

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Mistake #4: Make sure you look busy!

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

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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!

Lesson Learned: You can do this!

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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!

xoxo,

Online Business

How to Build an Inexpensive Professional Website That Looks Like it Cost Thousands

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!

xoxo,

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to check out my Blogging Resource Guide or How to Build an Online Business without an Email List!

Business

Get More Views & Make More Sales with these 3 Tips Plus 1 Awesome Resource

When it comes to online business, everyone wants to know the secret of finding success online. For some people, that success means more views on their site and social media platforms, for others it means making more money for their business, and of course, some people really want both! The key to success online isn’t some secret, it’s truly just a simple combination of a few key actions that do require a lot of time, work and dedication. I know when it comes to online businesses it seems like a lot of people are finding a lot of success with very little effort, but the truth is, you just don’t see the effort because the online space blurs those lines. So, if you are really ready to get more eyes on your work, and make more money for your business and you are ready and willing to do the work, here are the three tips you need to know!

1. Get Clear on Your Message

The online business marketplace is so saturated that it can seem overwhelming to try to communicate what makes your business different from all the others. People, including business owners, often get distracted online by the latest and greatest trends, products and niche markets, and because of this, often times, this muddies up the water and can lead even the most seasoned online entrepreneur down multiple wrong paths. To help you keep your messaging crystal clear, I suggest formally writing out a Manifesto or Mission Statement for your business. Include in this message, the specifics of your business and try to focus on what makes you unique even in a saturated marketplace. Then, when it comes to making decisions for the direction you want to take your business or opportunities that you want to get involved with, you have something of a roadmap to help you make critical business decisions. If opportunities and developments are in line with your manifesto, jump on them! If not, this document makes it super easy for you to pass, and feel a sense of confidence that you made the right decision for your business.

2. Create Dynamic Content

A picture here and a quote there does not equal dynamic regular content. Think about the types of content that you yourself enjoy online from your favorite online business or brand, I bet it looks polished, well thought out and really adds value to your experience with that brand. Yep, a lot of work went into that content, and nope, their is no way around it, you will need to get to work too if you want your content to be on par with the best of the best! Now, if this seems overwhelming to you, don’t worry, I’m not saying you need to create this awesome dynamic content every single day. Start small with one solid piece of content per week and work up at a comfortable pace. You don’t need to become a superstar overnight, although, I will say, the more high quality content you create on a regular basis, the quicker your rise will be, but pace yourself. As long as what you put out is on point, you can set goals for yourself and your business to grow into creating more regular content.

3. Interact with Your Community

The fastest way to get more views and sales for your business is to start making friends online! Interacting regularly with the audience you have will go a long way to get you repeat customers and regular audience members. Always keep your community at the forefront of your mind, because without them, you are seriously nothing. As you grow, find ways to engage and reward your followers, giving them incentives to be active members of your community, because the more active your followers are, the more growth you will experience. Your followers aren’t just there on your site cheering you on, they are most likely talking about you all around town, so be kind, available and supportive of them and it will go a long way!

Try this helpful resource!

So, that’s simple right? Like I said, no secret’s here, just good old fashioned hard work and these 3 key tips you need to know! As promised, I also have 1 really great resource for you if you want to learn more about these tips and so much more to help your business grow through active engagement of your audience. This week the third workbook in my Empire Building Program launched on the topic of Community Building and in it, I discuss these three tips plus even more strategies for finding, growing and retaining an audience of dedicated fans and customers. So, if you want to learn more about this topic and help give your business an edge online, I would highly recommend this resource! Of course, if you want even more help and guidance from me on creating a successful online business using my strategies and techniques, feel free to check out my Empire Building Path’s as well, where you can get either one-on-one or group coaching with me, plus access to all the workbooks in the series!

I’d love to hear what you think about these tips and how you make use of them in your own business or blog! Feel free to leave me a comment or drop me a line on Twitter or Instagram! I’d love to know how your business is doing, and how I could help you achieve more of your goals!

xoxo,

Online Business

How to Build an Online Business without an Email List

I guess somewhere in Online Business Marketing 101 it must say that in order to have a successful online business you need to establish an email list and focus a good amount of time, effort and money into growing that list by any and all means possible. Of course, I skipped Online Business Marketing 101 and figured out a long time ago that much of the traditional marketing practices constantly touted as business essentials online are nothing more than mere suggestions. If you have started a business online or want to start one but get intimidated by the jargon and fancy lingo that the usual online marketers use, or get confused when you hear about SEO, Leadpages, Hooks and Facebook Ads, well, guess what? I am here today to tell you that you don’t need any of it to find success for your business online!

Why? Well, because building a successful business online doesn’t have to be about marketing, endlessly selling yourself and your products online. or even knowing some secret formula for generating leads through advertising. You can make the intentional choice to focus your business strategy on growing a community and finding that audience of like minded individuals who really need that product or service that you have. Let me ask you a question. Would you rather do business with a company online that spammed you with emails, constant product updates and click-bait sales methods or would you rather do business business with a company that took the time to get to know you, was there to answer your questions and support you first before they ever asked for a single penny? I know which I would choose! No one wants to feel like they are being sold to, and for many online entrepreneurs, it feels icky when we have to resort to basic sales tactics. Although I run a business online, I don’t consider myself a sales person, I consider myself a creator and I don’t want to waste my creative energy focusing on business principles that don’t align with my values and interests. I don’t run my business based on antiquated marketing principles, developed at the start of the dotcom era, and I’ve found more success than I could have imagined just by being myself, truly trying to connect with my customers and providing a source of helpful information for my community everyday!

So, you are probably asking yourself, “Alexis, how did you learn how to grow a community online? Where did you learn from? Which program did you take?” The truth is, I learned all this information the hard way, through trial and error. I’ve been at this for over six years at this point and it’s only been through testing and trying new things that I have slowly but surely uncovered the knowledge and information that I now know and which has led me to grow my blog, YouTube and Social Media feeds to numbers far beyond what I could have expected! In just the last year alone, I have grown my blog from just over 10k page views per month to nearly 150k, and my YouTube from 1k subscribers to over 20k! Oh and did I mention, all that and I never spent a single dollar on advertising, nor did I have an email list to communicate with my followers. Instead, I harnessed the power of social media and my own creativity to naturally attract an audience and community for my work who then turned into my customers!

Now, if you are interested in replicating my success, I will tell you, it’s completely do-able! I don’t believe that I was some one-off success story, I know that my success is repeatable for those who know and use the lessons and information that it took me years to figure out on my own. The best news is, that I am not just keeping this information to myself. Like all other great things I learn about and experience in my life, I want to share this with my community! That is why I developed the Empire Building Program, my personal e-course designed to help other creative business owners build a community of customers online using creative methods of communication instead of old-school online marketing tactics! If you want to build an online business, but you’re not interested in learning all the ins and outs of business strategy, this is the course for you!

The great thing about Empire Building is that I created a few different levels for the program to help people learn at the rate and style that works for them. You can sign up for my Empire Building Architect Path to get one-on-one coaching sessions with me as well as a Custom Content Development Action Plan that I create for your business, and of course access to the full Empire Building Program of 5 digital workbooks and a private Facebook group for members. Or, if you want to join the program, but don’t have the time for one-on-one coaching, you can join the Empire Building Blueprint Path and get group coaching through the private Facebook group as well as full access to the 5 digital workbooks so you can work at your own pace and check in with me for additional resources and guidance as needed. Finally, if you prefer to go it alone and select the digital workbooks and topics that you need specific help with, you can purchase my Empire Building Workbooks* individually! Each digital workbook is filled with all the information you need to know on the subject, as well as numerous worksheets that you can print out and use to build a custom plan for your business!

If you want to start your online business but aren’t sure where to begin, let me guide you! If you have an existing business but are having trouble gaining traction online, use my knowledge to your advantage! You don’t have to spend years testing every trick in the book just to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I’ve done all the heavy lifting for you in Empire Building! I can’t wait to work with you!

If you have any questions about Empire Building please do not hesitate to send me an email so I can help you decide which path of the program is right for you!

xoxo,

*Currently, the first two of the five workbooks have been released and the remaining workbooks will be published once a month through July.

Business

3 Times You Need to Invest in Your Business!

Next week is Tax Day in the U.S., and although I finished my 2014 taxes back in February, I have been giving a lot of thought lately to how I intend to strategically grow my business over the next few years by reinvesting a certain percentage of my profits back into the business. As a business owner, turning a profit is obviously something of a big deal, but almost equally as important is finding legitimate tax deductions, especially within the first three years up and running. I’m certainly not someone who spends money on their business for no reason other than to get a tax deduction, I tend to be very conservative with my income, however, their is much to be said for reinvesting in your business. After all “you’ve got to spend money to make money,” as they say, and it’s certainly true! So, what exactly are the situations where you should be reinvesting your profits into your business? There are 3 times I believe you should be investing in your business if you have the money to do so, so let’s review each!

#1. When you need new tools: Running any type of business usually requires many different tools, from computers and programs, to paper and pencils! Depending on your specific business, you may have certain tools that would help you to be more productive or more successful overall. I believe it’s important to make sure your systems, hardware and software are all up to date so that you are staying current with the latest technologies, so reinvesting business profits into these areas of your business are never a bad idea. Likewise, making sure you have all the basic office supplies you need to keep your business running smoothly is a great investment into the future success of your company. You may not have started off with a high quality printer/scanner/copier, but once you have some money streaming in, it’s definitely a good idea to invest in items like this that will help your business come together professionally.

# 2. When you need additional support: As businesses grow and begin to turn a profit, it’s often a key time to think about brining on additional support for in terms of employees or contractors. Depending on the work you do, you may find that hiring an assistant to do some part time work can help you free up valuable time for you to strategize and focus on growing your business. Or, perhaps you would like to hire a professional to work on your business website and upgrade some key features you have been lacking. Investing in people resources is definitely a key step that successful businesses will find themselves contemplating and if you have the money coming in to cover the expense, it’s often a good idea to get help for your business in one form or another.

#3. When you need guidance and information: When you are starting off with a new business, no one expects you to know everything their is to know that would make your business a success. For many business owners and entrepreneurs, it’s a trial and error process to figure out which business strategies work and which don’t. Lessons like this can take years to learn, so if your business is turning a profit or you want to make a strategic investment to help your business grow without spending the time and energy getting first hand knowledge yourself, investing in courses and coaching programs can really help you get a leg up. Many business coaching courses, programs and consultants exist out in the market specifically to help small businesses learn key information and strategies for success that have been well researched and tested. Take my Empire Building Program for example, I have spent years online figuring out the best ways to market a business and grow a community of customers online, and this is information that other small business owners really need to become successful. While you could theoretically spend years learning the lessons and testing different strategies for creating your own successful business, it makes better business sense for a small business owner to purchase my program and have me deliver the information in a nicely packaged, easy to understand format. After all, I’ve not only been there and done that, but other small business owners can see how well I am doing, and although I don’t believe their is any “secret” to success, people definitely need to know the information, tips and tricks I used to take my business from a part time hobby to a full time income source that is making me more money than I ever made working in sales and marketing for a Fortune 50 company. Will my program guarantee you success in your business? Not necessarily, but learning what I know can save you so much time, effort and money in the long run that it’s worth the investment to work with me. So, if you feel like their is more you need to learn in order to build your business to a certain level of success, investing in a business coaching program or course can be a real game changer!

With many things in business, there is no magic bullet or secret formula to success. Business owners need to do what they can with what they have and if you find that you are in a situation where you can afford to invest money into your business strategically, these are the three times where that choice is a no-brainer! Your business is an investment in your future, so make sure you are regularly reinvesting in it so that it grows strong and successful! If you would like more insight from me on how I run my business, make sure to check out my Plan Like an Entrepreneur Series over on my YouTube Channel. And of course, if you are interested in working with me directly to build your online business, check out my Empire Building Program today!

xoxo,

Business

5 Apps for the Creative Business Owner

As a creative business owner, I have to wear multiple hats throughout the day. It’s not uncommon for me to work on new designs, marketing plans, spend time on photography and images, and then end the day working on expense sheets. I feel like most days I am using all of my brain power to manage details of my business from the creative side to the practical business side, but luckily for me, my one woman show is made easier through the use of some powerful tools in the form of smartphone applications that allow me to manage my workload from home or the coffee shop without missing a single beat. So here are the apps I recommend for the creative business owner.

DocScan: I have written before about my love for this workhorse of an app that basically turns your phone into a scanner. For a few years, this was the only scanner I actually used because it was easy enough for me to use the app to take a picture of a document if I needed to email it to a customer, sign it for a client or just store it for my record keeping. As a creative business owner, I use this handy app to save images of business related receipts, and to open and annotate PDF documents regularly, in order to keep my business working wherever I am.

Followers +: There is no doubt in my mind that my number one favorite social media platform is Instagram, and I consider my community on IG to be a major priority of mine. It’s not just about creating excellent images to keep my followers inspired and informed, but I also get great insights into the way my business in performing by watching in real time my communities response to my images. Followers + is a great app that helps you track your IG photos so that you can see how your customers are interacting with you on Instagram, which photos they are liking and to help you pin point gaps in your community.

Analytics: Analytics is another app that I have written about before because it is a great way for me to manage my website’s statistics on my smartphone. If you use Google Analytics to track your website or blog, you should definitely have this companion app on your phone for those moments when you want to see how well specific content is performing. And if you aren’t yet signed up for Google Analytics to track your site, you need to make that happen asap!

Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a very handy little app that really helps me to batch my work and stay on top of my social media marketing campaigns by scheduling tweets and Facebook posts. Although, admittedly, I am more involved with my Instagram account, I still find Twitter and Facebook to be valuable marketing and community building resources at my disposal and for me, I do best when I am executing in those platforms through marketing campaigns that I can pre plan and preschedule through the use of Hootsuite.

Dropbox: Cloud based storage systems are a godsend for the creative entrepreneur who may need to have any number of media files, documents or images in their hands at a moments notice. Dropbox really helps me to organize important or frequently accessed business and marketing tools from not just my smartphone but also from my iPad or any other computer I have access to. It’s like having a filing system that just floats around in your system where you can refer to items or share them with clients or contacts at a moments notice without having to waste precious storage on your device.

If you are a creative entrepreneur, I highly suggest checking out these apps to help you with your workload so that you are spending less time on the business and marketing of your creative business and more time creating, which if you are anything like me, is your favorite part! Let me know down in the comments if you have ever used any of these apps or if you have any others that you consider a lifesaver for your creative business. If you are looking for more tips for creative business owners and entrepreneurs, make sure to check out my new series, Plan Like an Entrepreneur on YouTube for some behind the scenes action and insight into how I plan for my business! If you are not a creative business owner, feel free to check out this article I wrote called my Must Have Apps for Working Professionals!

xoxo,

Business

{APPTASTIC} Google Analytics

As a blogger, I use Google Analytics religiously to help me keep track of my site’s metrics. Google Analytics is pretty much the industry standard for website statistics and it’s a free web application that you can set up for your own site via google. Now, as much as I love learning about my site’s traffic, my readers and their behavior on my site via the web app, I really wanted an iPhone app that would help me to keep an eye on my metrics as well. Enter the Google Analytics app! This application was made by Google and works in real-time giving you up to date information about your site, your visitors and all other key data and metrics for your site! The best part is that the app is currently available for free on the iTunes App Store. I have researched a few different analytic tracking apps that work with your Google account, however, many are not free and are obviously not made my Google, and I prefer to go to the source to ensure my information is accurate! I know an analytics tracking app may seem like a weird app to be obsessed with, and if you’re not a blogger or website owner I know this may seem a little nutty, but here are three big reasons why I love my Google Analytics app and why you should too if you are a blogger or online business owner!

1. I can get real-time visitor information: Throughout my day I love to check my Google Analytics app to see how many live visitors are on my site. I know it many not seem like an important piece of information to have, but it’s a way for me to keep an eye on how different forms of advertising and/or how my interaction with my community reflects in real-time to conversions on my site.

2. I always have up to date analytics data: Since my business as an online entrepreneur means I am on call 24/7, It’s great to have mobile access to my site stats no matter where I am. The Google Analytics app gives me access to all the important information I may need to share with important advertisers or sponsors, even when I am on the go.

3. It helps me with forward planning at all hours of the day (or night): Again, as an online entrepreneur, my schedule can sometimes be a little erratic. I often find myself waking up in the middle of the night with ideas and thoughts for my site and shop, and use my iPhone to do some light note taking so that I don’t wake up my husband (or my puppy)! Having my analytics in an app helps my late night brainstorming sessions without having to fumble around with my laptop in bed!

So, like I said, if you don’t run your own website, this application clearly doesn’t apply to you and my love for it may seem a little strange! However, if you are a blogger or do run your own shop or website, I highly recommend this app to help you get a handle on your own site and traffic! Analytics can tell you so much if you know what you are looking for, and I could probably write an entire post on that subject alone (let me know in the comments if that’s something you would like me to do)! In the meantime, definitely get yourself set up with Google Analytics for your site if you aren’t already, and make sure to download this companion app for your iPhone to get you started on the road to success with your site!