Business Archives - Page 9 of 18

ENTREPRENEURIAL: Executing My CEO Strategy

Welcome to April 2020 my Charmed Ones!

What a month we had in March?

I do hope that all of you are doing well, staying safe and healthy inside as we continue to collectively fight the global pandemic that has hit the world. My thoughts and prayers are with you and yours during this challenging time.

With that said, I hope it’s not insensitive for me to proclaim what a great month March really was for me. Yes, March is my birthday month, so there was that (although my birthday festivities were canceled due to social distancing guidelines) but I also really stayed focus on executing my CEO strategic business plans to revive my business and things really paid off for me.

Never under estimate the affect that some solid planning and dedicated effort can make in your life. A month after writing that last installment of Entrepreneurial and I feel like my business is now in a completely different place.

Let’s quickly recap some of what I think went very well for me in March- hopefully you can learn from my experience and take away some great tips for yourself.

1. I created a ton of great content: From experience I know that creating great content isn’t just great for your business and community building, but on a personal level as a creative entrepreneur, creating is motivation for my spirit. There is no better feeling to me than having an idea and turning it into reality. For me, writing blog posts, creating videos and designing new fun things for you to enjoy is how I create best. It gives me purpose, confidence in my abilities and a bit of catharsis that can only come from bringing an idea to fruition.

2. I launched a bunch of new products: Last month I believe I had a total of three new items hit The Charmed Shop. The High Vibe Bible Digital Planner Inserts, the updated Master Meal Planner Insert Bundle and the CEO Strategy Planner. All three of these inserts are right now bound in my own personal planner and having them for myself has been such a great way for me to stay organized across all the areas of my life. Yes, of course, launching new things is great for my business and revenue, but really for me just having those new tools created for just myself to use is a game changer for my planning. If you haven’t noticed, ever since I went back to a discbound system with my new Chanel Agenda cover, my planning and productivity has hit a new peak and these inserts have everything to do with that!

3: I hosted a super successful business planning workshop: If you’re following along with my content, you know at the end of March I hosted a Live Planning Class where I taught my complete business planning process. A lot of preparation and work went into that live workshop, of course part of it was tied into my launch of the CEO Strategy Planner which was incredibly well received during the event, but part of the class was just an opportunity to bring my community together and I was so blown away that over 200 of you were present with me for the workshop. I know 200 might not seem like a big number in comparison to my overall following but I know for a while there attendance at my live classes and views on my video content had been shrinking. So to have an event go so well and be so well received was really a high point of my month. The success of that live class has really given me the motivation to continue with these live workshops and bring some awesome topics to you that I have been holding off on for some time.

So, what’s the plan for April?

Continue with the content creation.
Continue spreading the good news of all my latest products that have seriously helped me transform my productivity, life and business in March alone.
MORE LIVE WORKSHOPS! Specifically geared towards business topics as I think I have a lot to add to the conversation of online business, especially with all that is going on in the world I think online business owners are struggling in a way that I may actually be able to provide some little relief and strategy to help them through! Plus I just love interacting with you all live and seeing each of you interact together during a workshop as well. Presenting is my strong suit and if it’s what I can do to serve my community during this time, I’m committed to it!

So, with that being said, I’d like to make a few quick announcements while I have your attention!

→ Saturday, April 4th, 2020 I am hosting another LIVE Workshop I’m calling KNOW THYSELF. This is a workshop I have been eager to create for you for some time now, because it is about a topic that is near and dear to my heart- learning and understanding more about yourself! In this workshop I am going to walk you through a few of my favorite personality typing systems like Enneagram, Myers Briggs Type Indicator, and Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendencies. As a business owner and someone who is obsessed with personal development, I love using personality typing systems to get to know myself on a deeper level. Self-awareness is a crucial part of success in life, but according to psychological research, it’s a trait only about 5% of the population have. So, join me live on Saturday at 2pm EDT over on my YouTube channel to learn more about what makes you, you, and how we can use that knowledge to maximize our strengths and become more aware of opportunities for personal growth! If you would like email reminders and a direct link to the workshop emailed to you, make sure you are on my list by clicking here!

→ I wanted to make sure each of you knew that today, April 2nd is the final day for the introductory pricing deal on the CEO Strategy Planner. Right now the planner bundle is priced at $49 but tonight at midnight eastern time the price goes back up to the full retail of $75! So, if you are interested in the strategic business planner, now is the time to buy before the price goes up! So far, feedback on the CEO Strategy Planner has been phenomenal, so click here to act now before the deal ends!

Okay, well with that here’s to another great month ahead! I hope this post has been insightful for you and I’d love to hear more about what you are working on this month in the comments below!

xoxo,

#ICYMI March 2020

We’ve now come to the end of March and I have to say- despite all the setbacks happening in the world right now, I’m feeling so positive and expansive as we move into April. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about how my new intention was to create more content on my platforms? I am so proud of how much I have been creating and the flow I have found myself in again. Honestly, I haven’t felt this good about my creation process and this hopeful about where I am headed with my business in several years. I am seriously in the midsts of reviving my stagnant business as per the plan I had laid out at the start of March.

I could not be happier about how this month has progressed, and so I want this to be a reminder for any of you out there who may be feeling down about the issues on the world stage, or maybe before all this you were questioning you purpose or direction. It’s okay to have those feelings and I think you should sit with them for a while and express them. You can’t get them out of your system unless you express them. But, once you have, you need to pull yourself out of your own funk. You need to start taking some action. You need to set intentions, you need to work on a simple routine to manage your energy, and you need to start planning and executing on objectives. I have never seen the power of intention, planning and execution work so well in my life as it has the last month. I’ll definitely been looking for new ways to share this process with you into next month as well, but for now- let’s take a look at all the wonderful content I created for you in March-in case you missed it- so you can catch up!

ICYMI: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

• ENTREPRENEURIAL: HOW I’M REVIVING MY STAGNANT BUSINESS
• High Vibe Bible Inserts Are Here
• A Daily Manifestation Journaling Practice that Works!
• 7 Task Lists to Add to Your Planner
• Master Meal Planner Inserts are HERE!
• The #1 Time & Money Saver Everyone Should Keep in their Planner!
• 10 Productive Time Management Tips that Will Change Your Life
• How to Have the Most Productive Day Ever!
• Planning in Uncertain Times (Video)
• Tips for Working from Home Productively- Especially if you’ve never done it before! (Video)
• How to Use the Moon Phases to Manifest
• VIDEO CONFERENCING FROM HOME (Video)
• How to Create a Functional Plan
• FREE LIVE PLANNING WORKSHOP!
• April Free Planner Insert*
• BUSINESS PLANNING FOR CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS (Video)
• The ULTIMATE Strategic Business Planner for the Modern Creative Entrepreneur

*Indicates an associated download

I hope this roundup helps you locate any content of mine you may have missed this month. I’d love to hear which content was your favorite from the month and what you’d like to see more of from me in the future. Please leave me a comment below and share your thoughts!

xoxo,

Business Functional Planning Online Business

The ULTIMATE Strategic Business Planner for the Modern Creative Entrepreneur

Are you a Creative Entrepreneur in need of a strategic business planner? The CEO Strategy Planner is an undated, print on demand business planner with 60+ elegant and functionally designed inserts to help you organize, plan and execute on your business vision! Get your ideas out of your head and onto paper, and get down to business with the CEO Strategy Planner!

The CEO Strategy Planner is the ultimate bundle of business planning inserts designed for the modern creative entrepreneur or business owner. The planner is divided into multiple sections that follow the essential parts of any good business plan. This strategic planner seamlessly integrates with the calendar or agenda system of your choice. Whether you use a physical planner, a digital calendar and planning tools, or, if like me, you use a mixture of both- the CEO Strategy Planner can be used in conjunction with any calendar and planning system to create your custom business, marketing and financial plans.

I designed this planner first and foremost, for myself, out of a need for structure to keep myself focused on my business goals and objectives. As a lover of paper planners, who works via the power of digital media, I needed dedicated inserts with enough structure to allow me to outline all my essential business objectives, marketing activities, and financial tracking into one streamlined business plan on paper before I then executed on the work on my computer.

As a paper planner lover and a creative, I know the power that taking pen to paper can be for your ideas, inspiration and clarity. There is nothing like getting ideas out of your head and onto paper and then getting down to business organizing and creating your vision.

The CEO Strategy Planner contains all of the essential planning tools you need to organize your business, tackle your to do list efficiently, manage your marketing efforts and keep track of all your key financial targets. With the help of this strategic business planner, you will create a vision for your business and have all the tools and strategies at hand to execute!

The CEO Strategy Planner Will Help You…

Create a vision for your business and break that vision down into manageable steps
Set clear objectives and outline plans that help you work more efficiently
Maximize your marketing efforts by organizing and outlining content, campaigns and messages
Keep a close eye on all your financial targets to grow your income, shrink expenses and get direct visibility to your profitability

This strategic business planner contains over 60 professionally designed undated printable inserts, covering all the essential areas of business planning without any fluff or filler. These designs were created using professional, industry standard design applications, and with elegance and simplicity in mind. You will notice that these inserts are easy to print at their original half letter dimensions, or can be easily adjusted to A5, US Letter or A4 as well.

With your purchase you will receive a set of easy to follow print instructions to help you achieve your desired print size.

And of course, because the CEO Strategy Planner is print on demand and undated, you can use and reuse these inserts year after year, as much as you need to get the job done!

WHAT OTHER CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS ARE SAYING

“When it comes to creative entrepreneurship and planning tools, Alexis is the real MVP and boy, the CEO Strategy Planner doesn’t disappoint! If you need a roadmap to stop dreaming and start doing when it comes to your creative strategy, this is the product for you. Each of the beautifully designed pages are packed with goodness that will give you the nudge you need to make that creative business of yours an empire.”

Kelsey Chapman | Author and Podcaster

“The CEO Strategy Planner gives me everything I need to map out my business objectives and marketing for the year, while integrating seamlessly with my paper planning system of the moment. I like to try new systems and I also require simplicity and flexibility in every area of my life. As much as I love my physical planner, as a business owner, I also need to be practical and use digital planning tools as well to manage my team. I love that the CEO Strategy Planner gives me the ability to take pen to paper, get creative with business (and launch) planning for myself with all the different business planning inserts included and then just transfer those final ideas and concepts to my digital editorial and marketing calendars. It’s the best of both worlds!”

Anne Samoilov | Launch Strategist and Author of “The White Space Solution”

WHO IS THIS PLANNER FOR?

The CEO Strategy Planner is ideal for any online or creative business owner. Whether you are a solopreneur like me, or you manage a small team, these strategic planning inserts will help you set your goals, manage your expectations, and distribute the workload efficiently.

But, the CEO Strategy Planner is not just for business owners and entrepreneurs. Bloggers, YouTubers, Podcasters, and other online or social media influencers will find the tools within this planner infinitely helpful in helping them create better content, grow their audience and organize more effective campaigns.

Perfect for experienced content creators and beginners alike, if you have been eager to start creating content and building community on digital or social media platforms, these inserts will give you the clarity and organization to finally get started! Then of course, you have everything you need at your fingertips as your endeavor begins to blossom into bigger and better opportunities!

VIDEO WALK THRU

LIST OF PAGES

(not the order of pages in the PDF file)

• Cover

• Business Plan Divider

{CREATIVE BUSINESS PLAN}

• Executive Summary

• Target Market

• Brand Vision

{YEARLY BUSINESS PLAN}

• Yearly Objectives

• Yearly Overview

{QUARTERLY BUSINESS PLAN}

• Q1 Income

• Q1 Overview

• Q2 Income

• Q2 Overview

• Q3 Income

• Q3 Overview

• Q4 Income

• Q4 Overview

{MONTHLY BUSINESS PLAN}

(inserts reflect months but not dates)

• Monthly Objectives Overview

• January Overview

• January Key Tasks

• February Overview

• February Key Tasks

• March Overview

• March Key Tasks

• April Overview

• April Key Tasks

• May Overview

• May Key Tasks

• June Overview

• June Key Tasks

• July Overview

• July Key Tasks

• August Overview

• August Key Tasks

• September Overview

• September Key Tasks

• October Overview

• October Key Tasks

• November Overview

• November Key Tasks

• December Overview

• December Key Tasks

{BUSINESS OBJECTIVES}

• Objectives Divider

• Workflow

• Project Plan

• Project Budget

• Project Tracker

{BUSINESS MARKETING PLAN}

• Marketing Plan Divider

• Content Brainstorm

• Content Planner

• Content Outline

• Content Tracker

• Campaign Builder

• Broadcast Tracker

{FINANCIAL PLANNING}

• Finances Divider

• Profit & Loss Overview

• Yearly Overview

• Monthly Bill Tracker

• Yearly Bill Tracker

• Income & Expense Tracker

• Savings Tracker

• Donation Tracker

BONUS DOWNLOADS

The CEO Strategy Planner comes with multiple exclusive free bonus downloads at no additional cost

• CEO Planner Cover/Dashboard

• Additional section and monthly dividers

• Printable Tab Set

• Smartphone Wallpaper

• Desktop Wallpaper

FILE LIST

Upon checkout you will receive the following 6 files associated with this product listing.

CEO Strategy Planner PDF
CEO Strategy Planner Print Instructions PDF
BONUS CEO Divider/Dashboard Set
BONUS CEO Printable Tabs
BONUS CEO Desktop Wallpaper
BONUS CEO Smartphone Wallpaper

Important Additional Information

Printing: Although this is a digital PDF file, sized to half letter dimensions 5.5″ x 8.5″ with your purchase you will receive a set of printing instructions for A5, US Letter and A4 printing as well.

Refund Policy: Due to the nature of this item as a digital PDF, no refunds will be accepted, so please make sure to read through all details of this listing and contact Alexis with any questions before making your purchase!

Copyright information: The copyright to all digital download pdf files remains with the designer, Alexis Giostra. Files are intended for personal use by the single purchaser, and may not be copied, shared, distributed or resold.

Customer satisfaction is of the utmost important to me, and although I do not issue refunds on digital downloads, if you are experiencing any unforeseen issues with your purchase, please notify me immediately via email and I will work with you directly to resolve your issue!

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Click the button below to purchase your copy of the CEO Strategy Planner and get your creative ideas out of your head and onto paper so you can get down to business!

xoxo,

Online Business

ENTREPRENEURIAL: HOW I’M REVIVING MY STAGNANT BUSINESS

Welcome to March 2020 my Charmed Ones!

Today I am bringing back a series that used to be part of my monthly editorial calendar: Entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial is my monthly entrepreneurship journal entry that I make public to give insight to my community, and lead by example for fellow entrepreneurs to see the highs and lows of running an online business. Each month, I generally have a topic that I want to share on that relates to the state of my business or my current priorities. This month we are going to talk about how I plan to revive my stagnant business.

Over the last few years my business has felt like it hit a ceiling. Now I fully understand that this ceiling has been the manifestation of my own limiting beliefs around my business and truly has nothing to do with my business itself and it’s scalability. Although I make a great income from my business, and a mostly passive one at that, I’ve been wanting to take my business to the next level financially for some time, but I’ve made a bunch of mistakes along the way to find what my next level version of business success looks like. Hence, feeling like I’ve hit a ceiling.

I think its normal for people to hit a ceiling like this in their business and perhaps to, like me, feel trapped or boxed in to certain achievements and expectations. If you’re not careful though, hitting this imaginary ceiling can cause you to actually start declining if you aren’t careful, and I feel like my business has been declining in some sense but I know it doesn’t have to. I know that the decline I am feeling has come from a rut I allowed myself to get into.

I spent so much time thinking and researching on how to get myself past the ceiling I felt like I hit to make it to my next level that a few negative side affects started popping up. First, I was doing way too much researching and thinking and not enough executing on what I had learned. Ugh! I know some of you can relate to this. Not taking action because you feel like you don’t know enough to make the best choice yet, or starting down a new path based on information you learned but then finding conflicting information that leads you to continually change course. Double ugh! I definitely spent the last few years in this cycle. Knowing I needed to make a plan for the next level, doing the research, coming up with that plan, and then either chickening out or changing the plan so many times that I started things but left them incomplete. This was disastrous for me and it definitely lead me to make some poor decisions with my business that ended up hurting my revenue, not growing it like intended.

The second negative side affect I experienced was massive burnout. What is interesting about this side affect for me was that I had been working and creating content at a feverish pace for a long time before the burnout hit. And when I think about it, it wasn’t the pace or amount of work that ended up causing the burnout, but truly I think it was a symptom of the overall problem that I wasn’t growing. Anyone who creates any sort of content online can probably relate that when you are creating a lot but getting a lot of great feedback or activity on your content, it fuels you to want to create more. But when you are creating and not seeing the feedback you expect, it can be disheartening and draining. That’s where my burnout came from. For a while there I was creating content but not seeing the response I wanted over and over and over again. Because of that I burned out and became disillusioned by certain platforms.

Despite all this however, I have to remind myself how freaking grateful I am to even be in this position and that I still have a functioning business that earns me a full time income from home. The fact that despite these issues my business is still working and new customers and community members are still finding me is such a testament to the power that great passive income foundations can have in a business. My top performing content and existing funnels have been shouldering the marketing load for my sales and keeping my income consistent as I research, plan and experiment with ideas, even bad ones!

So, it’s with that gratitude and perspective in mind that I consciously decide to keep moving forward and turn to a fresh page with my business. Here are some things I’ve been doing recently to revive my stagnant business:

Back to Branding Basics: I’ve been asking myself a series of foundational brand questions to get super clear on my direction moving forward.

What do I want to be known for?
How can I be of service to others?
Who are my people?
Why do they come to me?
What do I do?
What do I NOT do?

That last one is very important because it’s easy for someone like me to feel like I need to be and do everything for my audience, but that will spread me thin and it already did!

Auditing my Business: I’ve been reviewing different aspects of my business processes over the past few years to understand my strengths and weaknesses, and where investing my effort has or hasn’t paid off. As you may know, I’m a solopreneur and although I’ve worked with a virtual assistant in the past, I’m now considering how or where I might actually need more support in different areas.

What worked for me in the past, what didn’t?
What was I doing very well?
What was I avoiding that I may need help with?
What was I doing poorly out of expectation that I may just need to let go of?

Reviewing my Funnels: Finally, I’ve been reviewing my funnels to see what content, calls to actions and products have been most successful.

What content was I producing at the height of my growth?
What content had the best reception, which did not?
Which products have been most successful?
Where are my sales coming from?

So, those are some steps I’ve been taking to revive my stagnant business and create some solid plans to help me push through that imaginary ceiling blocking me from my next level of success. Realistically, I know I also need to do some mindset work to bring down the blocks alongside doing the work of identifying and executing on my next set of business plans. For now, I would just like to cultivate the vision for where my business is going in 2020 as a first step and get those essential plans laid out. I’m also committing to thinking and researching less, and sticking to the plans I make moving forward. Hopefully, I have some positive updates for you in next months installment of this series!

*Looking for more great resources for your Online Business? Click the image above to get the Female Entrepreneur Online Business Toolkit today!*

I hope you’ve enjoyed this first new installment of Entrepreneurial and that it gave you some food for thought if you too are a business woman like me! I’d love to hear more about the things you have been working on or struggling with in your business so that I can create some content geared towards providing you solutions based on my experience.

xoxo,

Business Functional Planning Personal Development Productivity

#ICYMI February 2020

We’ve come now to the end of February 2020 and I have to say, looking back at this month, I am so proud that I was able to get myself back into the swing of creating regular content for you all in the form of blog posts, youtube videos and even some great free resources and inserts for you! So, I thought it might be a good idea to put together a link roundup of all the different content I created this month so you have a quick reference guide to ensure you didn’t miss anything you might be interested in.

I’m going to call this monthly installment series ICYMI- which stands for In Case You Missed It! For those of you who have been with me for a while, you might remember that years ago I used to include a section in my email newsletters called ICYMI which was a roundup of all my content created since the previous newsletter has been sent, and it was a great way to ensure my regular community members didn’t miss anything I created. I put a lot of work into the content I produce for you, and so often my content answers questions I regularly receive my community- so I absolutely want to make sure you see everything and learn as much as you can from what I’m sharing! So, without further ado, let’s jump into the content you may have missed this month!

ICYMI: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

• 2020 Planner Dashboard*
• How I Plan on Reigniting My Creative Passion
• Recent Self-Care Favorites*
• Why I Track the Moon Cycle in My Planner (video)
• How to Make This Year Your Best Year Yet
• The Scientific Reason Why Habits are Hard to Change (video)
• Tax Tips for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners
• 13 Items to Schedule in Your Planner
• 5 Habits that Predict Success
• 7 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life
• March Free Planner Insert*

*Indicates an associated download

I hope this roundup helps you locate any content of mine you may have missed this month. I’d love to hear which content was your favorite from the month and what you’d like to see more of from me in the future. Please leave me a comment below and share your thoughts!

xoxo,

Business

Tax Tips for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners

It’s officially tax season. While the average person might find filing taxes a bit stressful, those of us running businesses can easily become overwhelmed with the task that often requires a lot of organization and paperwork. If you are a super organized business owner (lucky you- this isn’t necessarily me) you may have been keeping excellent records all year that will make tax season a breeze. But if you are not, and you are like me and you end up doing a bulk of your tax paperwork prep right before you get to filing, then I have some practical tips for helping you stay cool, calm and collected during the process. These tips aren’t related to tax code knowledge itself. For that, you will want to consult a professional or the IRS or tax bureau in your locality. Instead, I am going to focus on practical organization tips that have helped me overcome the overwhelm that tax season can bring and help you make the process easier for yourself in the future as well. From my personal experience, most of the stress of the tax process isn’t necessarily related to the work itself, it’s related to what we believe is a complicated process that carries dire consequences if executed on incorrectly. This is not accurate, so let me share some personal insight and tips with you.

My 5 Best Tax Tips for entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

Get Started ASAP: In the U.S. we have a window of several months in which to file our taxes for the previous year and it can be so temping to put off working on your taxes until the deadline approaches. However, unless you have a significant reason for deferring the task (or know you need an extension) aim to get the work done sooner, rather than later. This isn’t just a practical tip, but its a psychological hack to help you feel more confident. Delaying the inevitable only increases stress, and stress leads to pressure that could cause you to delay too long or make mistakes once the time comes to execute. By started earlier in the season, it will give you more time and confidence to relax and take your time to get the job done right.

Document the process: No, I don’t mean take photos of you doing tax prep to share for Instagram, although I guess you could do that. I mean as you go through the process of working on your taxes keep notes on what you are doing, why, the questions that arise, the documents you refer to and the solutions you find. This can help you in a few ways. First, you will have a written record and system for your tax prep next year which will make it much easier for you in the future. Second, in the off chance you end up being audited, at least you have a record of your process to understand what you did and why- so you can verify your work or find the errors and correct them.

Familiarize yourself with last years tax return: If you have filed taxes for your business in the past, I recommend reviewing your tax documents from the previous year (or even years) to help familiarize yourself with the process. I happen to use turbo tax software myself to file, and it actually keeps my previous years records in line as I am entering the data for my current year. This helps me when I get to a line I might not remember, to understand what I did before so I can remain consistent.

Use separate accounts for your business: This tip may not help you when you are filing your taxes this year, but if you aren’t yet using separate accounts for your business, you will want to start doing this asap. I know it seems like such a little thing, especially if you are a solopreneur like me, but having separate checking, savings and credit accounts for business use will actually make it much easier for you to prepare your taxes because you don’t need to search through personal accounts for business expenses. When everything for your business is kept on it’s own, even if you weren’t particularly organized throughout the year, you have everything in one place that is easier to organize when the time comes.

Don’t stress, seriously: I remember my first time filing taxes for my business. Stressing and pouring over numbers on spreadsheets to ensure I didn’t make even a single tiny mistake, for fear that I would go to jail for tax evasion if my filing wasn’t perfect. Then, after it was all done and I saw how how simple the process was, I began to relax. Over time, and through talking to different business owners and tax professionals, I’ve learned that the process of tax preparation doesn’t require a degree for a reason. Taxes might seem intimidating, but truthfully, the process isn’t difficult to understand (this could be different in other countries/situations). The government just wants you to pay them, so doing your taxes might seem scary, but it’s actually pretty easy. If you wanted people to give you money, wouldn’t you make the process as easy as you could? As long as you follow directions and don’t lie, nothing bad can happen to you. Honest mistakes happen, and I’ve definitely made them, but if you find a major error you can submit an adjusted tax return to correct it. And if you do something major that doesn’t make sense to the government, that’s what audits are for, to check your work. I can say this having been audited as well, that as long as you know what you did and had what you believed to be a solid reason why you did it, you’ll be fine. In fact, the one time I was audited, they ended up giving me back more money which I totally didn’t understand, but thanks for being honest on your end too, government!

*Looking for more great online business resources? Click the image above to get your Online Business Toolkit today!*

So those are my 5 best tax tips for entrepreneurs and small business owners. I do hope these tips help you to remain calm and relaxed during the somewhat uncomfortable process of tax preparation. Remember, although paying taxes isn’t the most exciting thing, if you are doing so on behalf of your own business or entrepreneurial endeavors, it means that you are living your dream and producing something of value to society. So, all negative connotations of paying taxes aside, I consider it a privilege and responsibility I have that is par for the course of living the life I choose to live.

In case this wasn’t clear from the start of the article, I just want to say that although I am an entrepreneur/small business owner, I am not a tax professional, and I am not affiliated with any tax bureau’s or services, so this is purely anecdotal information meant to ease your mind. If you have questions about tax preparation or tax laws, definitely seek the advice of a professional or the government. I hope you found this article enlightening and I would love to hear your feedback in the comments.

xoxo,

Online Business

The Marketing Secrets Behind the SOLD OUT Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Conspiracy Collection

The Marketing Secrets Behind the SOLD OUT Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Conspiracy Collection

This live class replay is a Business Case Study of one of the most successful beauty collaborations in the history of YouTube, the Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Cosmetics Conspiracy Collection. In this class lecture and open Q&A I will share the seven marketing secrets behind the success of this iconic launch!

Enjoy!

→ MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO

✔︎ WORK WITH ME IN EMPIRE BUILDING

✔︎ Shane Dawson series link

✔︎ Sign Up for Future workshops & additional online business information

xoxo,

Online Business

The Marketing Secrets Behind the Sold Out Launch of Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Cosmetics

For those of you who missed last week’s video, I shared an exciting update; the title and topic of the online business class I planned for Friday, November 22nd @ 1pm Eastern!

THE MARKETING SECRETS BEHIND THE SOLD OUT LAUNCH OF SHANE DAWSON X JEFFREE STAR COSMETICS!

I’m SUPER PUMPED about this class!

For those of you who follow YouTube news, you likely already know a thing or two about this most talked about launch and event in YouTube’s history. But, one thing I don’t see anyone else talking about in terms of the success of both the video series and the cosmetics collab is the marketing process that went into making the launch a complete success.

Since I am well versed in online marketing strategy, one of the things I love to do is dissect a marketing campaign or launch to understand what went right (so I can learn from the experience and apply to my own business) and what went wrong (so I too can avoid those mistakes). And since this was such a visible and highly anticipated launch, I thought it would make the perfect business case study to break down for those within my community who are also interested in learning and advancing for their own business.

So, I wanted to make sure you were aware of the upcoming live class and had it scheduled into your planner so you could join me and we could chat about the marketing secrets that made that launch a success!

The class will be streamed live on my youtube channel on Friday November 22nd @ 1pm EST (New York City, NY, USA Time Zone) and I will be sending out another email the morning of the event with the direct link, so if you want to join me and would like the reminder, as well as some additional information and Q&A, click here to make sure you are signed up for the interest list! If you’ve signed up already, no need to sign up again- this email is just a friendly reminder!

In the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Shane Dawson x Jeffree Star Cosmetics collab and series, so send me your questions or feedback and I’ll consider including or integrating it into our discussion outline!

Can’t wait to see you on Friday!

xoxo,

Business

How to Create an Easy Holiday Promotion for Your Business!

3 Steps to Creating a Stress Free and Profitable Holiday Promotion

With the holiday season quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to quickly arrange for a holiday promotion for your business. The Thanksgiving to Christmas time period tends to be an extremely profitable season for online shops and businesses, with many retailers seeing exponential sales and traffic in this time with the aid of some well planned and executed holiday sales. Now, if you have never planned out a holiday promotion, or have yet to do so this season, I’m here to tell you that the process is much easier than you think and doesn’t have to involve complicated marketing planning or lots of time and effort. You do still have plenty of time to pull off a successful holiday promotion without stress or extra long work days, but you do need to act fast to get your plan in place to maximize sales before Black Friday kicks off in a few weeks! In order to help make this process even more streamlined for you, I have also created a free DIY Holiday Promotion Planning Guide that you can use to plan and keep track of your promotion. CLICK HERE to get the FREE Guide and get started today!

Step # 1: Decide the logistics of your promotion

There are many types of promotions and sales specials you can run during the holiday season to drum up excitement for your business and increase traffic and check totals in your shop. You can do something as simple as create a special coupon code for a percentage off items in your shop, you can put together bundles of popular products that coordinate, or simply discount your best sellers. You can make your sale as simple or complicated as you’d like and do one or more of these things, but decide what works for you and your business and of course, plan out how long you want these promotions to last. I’d highly suggest running a sale on Black Friday at the very least. Personally, this year I plan to create some limited time only bundles, provide a coupon code to VIPs on my email list and social media followers, and I also plan to host a giveaway to entice sales during my promotion which will last 3 days from Black Friday to Sunday. If you don’t want to discount your products due to product constraints, you can also create non-sale promotions that include either a giveaway wherein customers during the time frame are opted in to win a prize. You can offer a digital freebie to drive traffic to your shop or even give a free gift with purchase. Think about what will work for your sales goals and business and outline the details of your promotion asap!

Step #2: Shoot your promotional images

If you run an online business, you know how important great product and styled shots are to driving sales. Once you know the parameters of your promotion, you can arrange for a quick photoshoot and get all your images ready for your shop, social media and any ads you may run. If you don’t feel confident in your photography skills or need help understanding how to take great photos that sell, definitely check out my Charmed Digital Styling Lightroom Photography Course. It’s a video module based course with 3.5 hours of content that you can watch while taking notes and arranging your own photos. In the course I teach you everything you need to know to quickly get your styled photography under control and streamlined to make shooting promotional images a breeze! I’d highly recommend taking the course if you need great photos for your holiday promotions, it will save you time and money in the short term if you are someone who pays for stock photos, and the course even includes photoshop tutorials that will teach you how to create promotional sales graphics and advertisements as well!

Step #3: Start spreading the news

Once you have your promotion planned and your images are ready to go, you can start sharing the news of your promotion through your various communication methods and continue to do so through the duration of your sale. I’d suggest starting to actively promote your holiday sale anywhere from 2-4 days before it begins using any and all methods you use to communicate with your customers. If you have an email list, you will want to send a list to your email a few days before the sale starts and give some previews of the sales to come, and if you use social media or YouTube, make sure you tell your audience in these locations as well. If you use any methods of advertising, you also want to get those set to go for about three days out from the sale to drum up excitement and provide a call to action to get new potential customers onto your list. Finally, if you have an affiliate program or even a network of friends who can help you spread the word, make sure you coordinate with them on promotional messages and details that they can share with their audience as well. It’s the holiday’s after all, so the more the merrier when it comes to cross promoting sales and specials!

That’s it! Three easy steps to a stress free and profitable holiday promotion. You still have time to get your promo planned and off the ground and I’d highly suggest planning something rather than nothing because failing to promote during the holidays means you are leaving a lot of money on the table. Make sure to grab my free DIY Promotion Planning Guide to help keep you on track!

Wishing you a productive and successful week and holiday season ahead!

xoxo,

Online Business

CEO Strategy Day

Earlier today on Instagram (make sure you are following me @MissTrenchcoat!) I shared that on Friday I dedicate the day to what I like to call my C.E.O. Strategy Day. It stands for Creative Entrepreneur Optimization- and it’s a day where I perform tasks that align me to my highest self.

Although I consider this specific concept of my own design, it was inspired by the concept of the Artist’s Date from Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. Essentially an Artist’s Date is when a creative takes themselves out for a date with their own creativity. They spend the day indulging their passions and refilling their creative energy and drive.

Now, although I absolutely consider myself a creative and something of an artist, I had a hard time executing the Artist’s Date the way Cameron described. I liked the idea of having a date with myself where I filled my own creative cup, but the activities she described just didn’t do it for me because they were very much focused on the outside world and I’m much more focused on cultivating my inner world. I’m definitely someone who believes that to expand, we must go inside ourselves and cultivate a specific mindset and energy for manifesting creativity and our dream life- so I adjusted her concept to align with my own priorities.

For me, a C.E.O Strategy Day can be spent on any activities I feel need dedicated time, but aren’t always prioritized during the week. I have three categories of activities I focus on- all of which are intended to help me manifest into the physical world my thoughts, desires and goals. The categories are physical, mental, and daily life, but because I have to give everything a really fun, high vibe name, we’re gonna call these categories Self Care, Gold Mind, and Life Style!

I think Self Care is probably the easiest category for everyone to understand. Tasks related to self care would literally be anything that helps me bring my physical body into alignment with my highest concept of myself. So tasks include essential hygiene, skincare, massage, exercise, and even daily fashion and beauty. Yes, even on my day off I wake up and do some level of hair, makeup and outfit because my highest self shows up for my life every single day!

Next, let’s talk about Gold Mind, I just love that phrase, don’t you? So this category is all about tasks that help me to expand my mind and consciousness so that I can increase my capacity and influence my neural net. If you want to change your life you literally need to change your mind through mental alchemy. I want my mind to transmute my thoughts and ideas into pure gold. So, I regularly attend to my mind by consistently feeding it new ideas and experiences. I may meditate, astral travel, practice remote viewing, read a book, chant a mantra, learn a skill, perform necessary research for my business, or even just listen to music to adjust my vibration. Anything that I know changes my mind will change what I manifest in my life.

Finally, we come to Life Style! Now, you might think that this category doesn’t seem to fit in the vibe of the C.E.O. Strategy Day but it is soo necessary. Life gets busy, little daily life tasks fall through the cracks all week long, and part of me embodying my best life is making sure all the details of my life are attended too. On top of that, I know there are little things we can do to organize our lives, homes, businesses, etc, to help things move smoothly in the future. So I make sure to constantly upgrade areas of my life that are falling behind and make sure every detail of my world is in line with my dream life. So, tasks that fall into this category might be shopping, returns, reviewing financials, sending cards or gifts, touching base with important contacts, cleaning and organizing. Whatever details of life that aren’t attended to during the course of a week, I take time to make sure nothing important in my life slips through the cracks.

Okay, so now that I’ve explained my C.E.O. Strategy Day concept, I have a little gift for you to use if you want to execute on this concept as well! Because the tasks of my C.E.O. Strategy Day always vary, I do like to make a plan of attack for what I’ll be tackling that day. I always list the tasks out in my planner, but to simplify this process for you, I’ve designed a little smartphone enabled graphic that you can keep and refer to when you are planning for your C.E.O Strategy Day! Each category of tasks are listed out and you have a space to write down up to 3 tasks to complete for each. Don’t overwhelm yourself with the list- make sure you are tackling things that you can complete and that you know will help you align to your best life and highest self. This concept is all about helping you raise your vibration by seeing and feeling the results in your physical life! This isn’t just another task list- for me, this is like the greatest thing I plan for all week because it’s focused on me becoming the best version of me and making my dreams a reality!

I hope this concept helps you to bring your goal and dreams to fruition as well! Make sure to let me know how it goes!

xoxo,