Tue, 30 December 2014
No matter how many talented authors we interview, I'm always surprised at the new ways each of them chooses to market their books and make them a success. Ruth Soukup, best-selling author of How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul, and just today, Living Well, Spending Less, 12 Secrets of the Good Life, shares 7 great tips on marketing your book and turning it into a best-seller. She discusses timelines for traditional publishing versus self-publishing, strategies she's used for growing her blog, what's working for her with Pinterest right now, and the development of her course, Elite Blog Academy. Most of all, I love Ruth's story of setting a huge goal for herself: earning a full-time income blogging and bringing her husband home from his job. 3 years into her blogging journey, Ruth accomplished her goal, and her blog and business continue to grow on a daily basis. Ruth is so kind, down-to-earth, and of course, chock full of great advice! If you're struggling to figure out what having the good life means for you right now, we highly recommend that you check out Ruth's latest book. It's chock full of great advice and encouragement. As Ruth says, "You can do it! You can do it!" I hope you leave this podcast feeling pumped up and encouraged to keep working towards your biggest dreams and goals. We believe you can do it too! On the Podcast01:41 - From Shopping Habit to Blog Success From Shopping Habit to Blog SuccessIn 2010, Ruth and her family had recently moved to Florida from Washington State. She was missing her friends and family and felt lonely as a mom with 1 and 4 year-old girls. She spent a lot of time wandering Target or the mall and going shopping. She was spending more than she should have, so fighting about money became a common occurrence for Ruth and her husband. Finally, they took drastic measures, and Ruth was on a really strict budget. Not knowing what else to do with her time, and needing an outlet to hold herself accountable, Ruth decided to start a blog. She hadn't read many blogs before, so as she began, it was as if a whole new world was opened up to her. Ruth realized that there were people who made a full-time income from blogging, so pretty early on, she set that goal for herself. She told her husband she was going to be a blogger so that someday he could quit his job. He told her multiple times that her idea was dumb - you can't make money with a blog. No You're Not StupidRuth knows from experience how easy it is to get discouraged in the early stages of blogging when everyone else tells you that it's just plain dumb and doesn't make any sense. Ruth's pick-me-up when she felt discouraged was Darren Rowse's book: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income. She read it at least 50 times in her first 6 months of blogging. "Darren says I can do it, so I'm gonna do it!" Ruth would tell herself. The best part? Ruth got to meet Darren in person last summer. Even though she was a complete spaz and star-struck for the first time in her life, Ruth says that Darren was so nice. It was great for her to tell him in person how much his book meant to her. As a successful ProBlogger herself, Ruth says, "I love now that I have that opportunity to be the voice for other people saying you can do this! you can do this! even when everybody else is telling them to quit." Ruth's Favorite BooksEat that Frog by Brian Tracy - The book is all about avoiding procrastination and tackling your biggest and hardest task first thing in the morning. You'll get more done by tackling the hard, more long-term projects first and keep your momentum going. (Sarah lives by Brian Tracy's advice too!) 12 Secrets of the Good LifeRuth's Newest Book, Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life is all about discovering what it means to create the life we've always wanted. Ruth used to think that the good life was about the celebrity lifestyle - big houses, private jets, fancy clothes, and more. Many of us have a similar idea that the good life is about all the stuff we can acquire. That's what marketers, retailers, and everyone who's selling to us wants us to think. Ruth's own realization, in praying for change, is that "the good life has nothing to do with those things. it's not so much about what we have as who we are as people." Each chapter discusses a different secret of the good life. Everything from goal-setting to saving money on groceries, setting a budget, learning contentment, and de-cluttering are covered. Every chapter revolves around the theme of what the good life really means and how we can get it for ourselves. Traditional Versus Self-PublishingThe main drawback for traditional publishing is the very slow timeline attached to the process. Ruth shares her own timeline for Living Well, Spending Less versus Blogging for Profit:
As you can see, self-publishing runs on a much faster timeline. The only limits are really your own writing, editing, and formatting power! A book about blogging or any other topic that changes quickly, would be silly to publish in a traditional format. Self-publishing allows Ruth to make updates and changes to her book at any time. She's already added a 2nd edition for How to Blog for Profit because things in the blogging world change quickly. The Birth of Elite Blogging AcademyAfter writing her book, How to Blog for Profit, Ruth did consulting with other bloggers, and discovered that most of them had questions about the same things. They wanted someone to walk them through the process of growing a blog, step-by-step. She created a course to solve that problem. Elite Blog Academy Covers these Questions in Detail:
7 Tips for an Amazon Best-SellerRuth talked with publicist, Ashley Buffa, who specializes in e-books, and she gave her great advice on launching How to Blog for Profit successfully. The 7 Factors that Led to a Best-Seller:
All of this happened on Launch Day - September 25, 2013, so that led to a huge blitz of sales and views for her book on Amazon. How to Blog for Profit hit #14 on Amazon's main list and it was #1 in the Blogging category for a year. Ruth shared that they sold 1,400 copies of her book on the first day. Making a best-seller list most likely depends on the day and which other books you're competing against, but 1400 sales and at least 25 reviews before launching is a great reference point! How to Blog for Profit consistently stays in the top 10 for blogging books. We can also attest to the fact that people are STILL talking about it! Many of the guests on our show have recommended Ruth's book as their go-to resource for blogging. FYI: Ruth got plenty of reviews by reaching out to her email list of bloggers who participate in her Thrifty Thursday Link Party. At that time, she had about 500 bloggers on the list. She wrote to them hoping that 40 people would volunteer to read her book for free and write a review for her on Amazon. After sending the email, Ruth had 200 responses within minutes. She knew at that point that there was probably a good market for her book! What is Bookbub?Bookbub.com is a site that features books that are on sale for the day. They have over 1 million people on their email list, and they send out a book list to their subscribers every day. You can customize which email is sent to you based on the book genres you're interested in, so as an author, it's a great way to get in front of book buyers who are interested in your niche. The Making of an Online CourseRuth shares that it took twice as long to develop the curriculum for her course, Elite Blog Academy, than it did to write her book, How to Blog for Profit. There are 12 units in the course, and every single unit goes way more in-depth than the book. Each unit has multiple assignments and is very hands-on. After the curriculum, Ruth wrote scripts for the videos that accompanied each of the 12 units. Then they filmed the videos, set up the website, email system, shopping cart, and tackled all of the technical stuff. (Ruth outsources these tasks!) The course took 9 months of development. It was the biggest investment she's made into her business so far in terms of both time and money. The first session of Elite Blog Academy was launched in September 2014. Ruth expected to enroll maybe 100 students. Instead, they enrolled 700 students, which was the max capacity for their first run! The feedback has been incredible for the first group. They have a forum where they can connect, and they're sharing amazing success stories. In just 2 months they're seeing double and triple numbers in traffic and income growth. FYI: Ruth will open the course again in the Spring, and you can sign up to be notified when it opens. 4 Strategies for Blog GrowthRuth has used multiple strategies through the years to grow her blog. She shares 4 things that have worked well for her at different times.
"Part of blogging," Ruth says, "is being aware of all these different areas for potential growth. Ride the waves as they come, and never put all your eggs in one basket." The Perfect Pin - Ruth Explains All!With Pinterest's Smart Feed, having fantastic content is even more important. Pinterest is selecting certain pins over others and weighing some things more heavily depending on the strength of the Pin. It's imperative to have the perfect pin for every post. The Perfect Pin has 3 Main Elements:
(Grab more Pinterest Strategies from Melissa Will + Crystal Paine) A Day in the Life of a ProBloggerRuth's typical day starts around 4 AM. She has a cup of coffee, writes her list of what she needs to accomplish for the day, has devotional time, sometimes goes for a run, and then dives into her work. Ruth uses that early morning time as Eat That Frog time. She works on big projects, such as books or other content to write. Her husband wakes up at 7 and gets the girls up. From 7-8 she helps her husband Chuck get the girls ready for school. Chuck is a stay-at-home dad and keeps everything running at home for them. Ruth knows that having a stay-at-home parent is a luxury. She's so blessed to have him to focus on all the details that she would forget. When Chuck takes the girls to school, Ruth goes back to work from 8:30 - 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon. Evenings and weekends are reserved for family time. The Big LeapRuth's husband wasn't always a stay-at-home dad. He was an aerospace engineer for 30 years, but he hated his job. In April 2013, the Soukups made the leap as Chuck left his job to be a stay-at-home dad while Ruth's blogging career would support the family. At the time, Ruth's blog was growing, she was homeschooling her girls, and they all knew something had to give. Still, it was a risky move. The blog was making money, but not at the level that it is today. Being completely debt-free (including their house!) along with owning a rental property and some other investments gave them the freedom to take the plunge. Once Chuck came home, Ruth was able to focus 100% of her energy on the blog and business, and it grew so much more than it ever had before. Ruth went from a solo show to hiring 2 full-time assistants who work in-office with her, and she has many contract employees as well. A Funny, Messy Mom Moment!You'll have to tune in to hear Ruth's funny story of getting the house ready for Thanksgiving....and the catastrophe that can happen when kids and dogs are involved! Stay in Touch with Ruth!LivingWellSpendingLess.com What were your takeaways from the podcast? Most of all, I was encouraged that Ruth was once a newbie just struggling to grow her blog too. With tons of hard work, constant learning, and persistence, she's become a huge success! And of course, Sarah and I learned some great strategies for marketing a book. Did we mention that our first book is coming out in February?! If you're on our email list you'll be the first to know :) ~ Beth Anne
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Tue, 16 December 2014
Have you had a blog for years? Is it something you do for fun, or are you secretly hoping that one day things will take off and it will turn into something more? Sarah Mackenzie is proof that blogging for fun can absolutely turn into something more with intentional work, focus, and the creation of a fabulous product. Just one year ago, Sarah decided to take her blog of 4 years a bit more seriously. She began writing with more intention, and she surveyed the readers she had to make sure the topics she wrote on were making a big impact. As Sarah continued to write on a topic close to her heart – homeschooling -- she started digging deeper into the concept of teaching from a place of rest. What started as a blog series quickly turned into a book. What started as a book quickly turned into a group of products – the book, audio interviews with experts, and a printable journal. What started as another blog series quickly turned into a podcast on reading aloud to your children. 3,000 sales and 100,000 downloads later, Sarah has a successful book and podcast to add to her name. Hear her story to learn excellent advice on marketing your book, developing an affiliate program, and many other great tips and tricks you might not have considered. It's obvious from all the laughing in this interview that we had a great time interviewing Sarah! On the Podcast01:34 – Blogging for Fun Blogging for FunSarah started her blog, Amongst Lovely Things in 2009 to document what she was doing in her homeschool. It was a casual, chatty blog for her, family, and friends. Sarah quickly realized how much she loved blogging, and for five years, she’s never taken more than 5 days off from writing. On Thanksgiving of 2013, Sarah decided to be more intentional in growing her blog. Making the Most ImpactJust after Sarah had her set of twins. (Did we mention she’s a Mama to six children, ages 12, 11, 9, 2, and 1 year-old twins?!) she realized she didn’t have time to blog endlessly, so she needed to make sure she was writing about the things her readers loved reading about. After surveying her readers, Sarah discovered that their favorite topics were the same ones she most enjoyed writing about. She let gluten-free living and photography posts fall by the wayside, and was able to focus on the blog posts that made the most impact. (I think this is a great lesson for all of us. None of us should really spend endless amounts of time blogging. How can we focus and truly make the most impact?) Writing a BookSarah admits that she never set out to write a book. She was moved by this idea of teaching from a place of rest and being at peace with the kind of homeschooling mom that God had called her to be. She didn’t want to be anxious, frenetic, and constantly running at 100 miles per hour. As Sarah set out on a journey to discover what it meant to teach from rest, she began to write about it. She launched her blog series in February of 2014, which is classic burnout season for most homeschooling parents! Her audience responded well to her series, so Sarah just kept writing. At that point, she realized that she might have more than just a blog series on her hands. She might have a book! 3,000 SalesSarah sells her book in two places: On her website as a PDF, where she also sells 2 companion products, and on Amazon as a Kindle book. Sarah believes that her 3,000 sales came from the help and promotion of many bloggers she admires along with loyal readers. Here’s how she got them involved in her book launch. Sarah sent her book to about 40-50 bloggers whose readers might be interested in the message of her book. She simply sent them an email letting them know, “I have this book. I thought it might bless you.” No strings attached. Only if the bloggers responded back saying they enjoyed the book or wanted to share it with their readers did Sarah write back and tell them about her affiliate program, send them a link to sign up, and offer for them to give a copy of her book away for free on their blogs. In addition, Sarah sent her book to 150 of her most loyal readers. These are the people who always leave comments on her blog or that she chats with via email. Sarah really wanted her long-time readers to just have her book for free. Again, these same wonderful, loyal readers would probably be the group who would go out of their way to leave Sarah a review on Amazon or spread the word about the book. Sarah sent this emails out to both groups about 1 month before the book launched. By the time she officially launched, she had about 10-15 reviews on Amazon. Many people in the homeschooling sphere were already talking about the book and creating buzz. Sarah says the launch strategy became much bigger than herself: Reaching BloggersYou won't leave a great impression when your first interaction with someone is you asking them to promote your stuff. Sarah recommends engaging other bloggers in conversation on their blogs and on social media. When you finally reach out and say, “Hey I have this thing,” they might actually take a look at it. Sarah’s pretty convinced that many of the bloggers she emailed didn’t even look at her book, but that’s ok. It only takes a few influencers to start the conversation before it generates some buzz. Affiliate Program ToolsWP Affiliate – a plug-in to create affiliate links and track sales. The program tells Sarah how much she owes each affiliate at the end of the month, and she can pay them through Paypal. A Unique Way to Say “Thanks”Sarah did interviews with four experts in the field of homeschooling, and those interviews made up the audio companion to her book. All of these individuals took the time to do interviews with Sarah out of the kindness of their hearts. As a way to say thanks, Sarah offered these four individuals a 75% commission on their affiliate sales of her book. This turned out to be much larger compensation for each of them than Sarah could have ever offered up front. It’s been a really fabulous way to show them how much she appreciates them. For reference, Sarah’s other affiliates receive a 30% commission for each sale they refer. A Tip for Amazon Success“Reviews really have a huge impact,” Sarah says. “You don’t need a ton of them. People just need to see that others have purchased your book and enjoyed it.” Amazon recommends books more often when those books have higher ratings and more reviews. Book Sales: The StatsSarah’s book sales come primarily through her own website. When the book first launched, she sold 5x as many on her site when compared to the Kindle store. However, as things progress, those numbers are evening out. Sarah has sold 3,000 copies in just 6 months since her book launch. Tiered Pricing – Does it Work?80% of Sarah’s sales on her site have been for her combined package: the e-book, journal, and audio companion. The rest of her sales are often for the journal and audio companion, and Sarah believes those sales come from people who bought her book first via the Kindle store. It’s encouraging to see that customers are not opting for the most affordable option, but rather the option that provides the most help and value. Sarah says of her journal that she wanted her book to not just be an inspiring for a day and then be put down and forgotten about. She wanted to make a difference in readers’ lives. The journal helps readers translate her writing into a different way of looking at their day, a different way of looking at their kids, and a different way of looking at their homeschooling calling. How She Does ItAlthough never a self-described morning person, after Sarah had her twins, she realized that if she wanted to write or be creative, she’d have to get up early to do it. Sarah gets up at 5 AM to write each day. On the weekends, her husband gives her a couple of 3-hour time blocks to work. Sarah tries not to fit too much work into the edges of each day, because it’s hard for her to focus on homeschooling the kids or homemaking when she has a million ideas in her brain! The Art of Idea-TamingSarah confesses to having a million ideas swirling around in her brain at all times. (I can relate!) To keep the ideas in check, Sarah keeps a blackbound journal close to where she is at all times. When she has an idea, she writes it down. If she tries to hold the idea in her head, she’ll either completely ignore everyone around her so she doesn’t lose it, or the idea will be gone forever. Sarah’s journal is bursting with all sorts of ideas, and every once in a while she’ll look back through it to remind herself of both the great ideas and… the not-so-great ones. Sarah read about Ryan Holiday’s Notecard System. (Looks pretty great, actually! I might give it a try!) but this wasn’t a great solution for her. She’s got too many little ones around who might actually eat those note cards, or the note cards became a tool for trapping spiders instead of ideas. When she’s on the computer, Sarah uses Scapple. It’s brainstorming software for those who are into mind-mapping. It’s made by the people who created Scrivener. How to Find Help + What to DelegateSarah is currently at the early stages of bringing on extra help in her business. She’s relying on the community of podcasters and bloggers she already knows to recommend great people who can edit her podcasts or provide other support. In terms of delegating, Sarah puts tasks into 3 categories:
The last two categories can likely be delegated! A Great Tool for PodcastersThe SmartCast Player is a $30 plug-in that will automatically play your most recent podcast episode. You can style the widget to match your blog’s colors and fonts, and it’s mobile responsive. This simple little sidebar widget lets people know immediately that you have a podcast, and they can try a sample right away. 100,000 DownloadsAt the time of our interview with Sarah, she was just putting out her 14th episode of her podcast, and she was closing in on 100,000 downloads! That’s astronomical considering the number of episodes! Once again, Sarah never intended to start a podcast, but she was trying to find a way to get her readers more excited about reading aloud to their children. Her Read-Aloud Revival Series on the blog wasn’t taking off as she’d hoped, so she started a podcast to bring the revival to life. Sarah had no idea she’d love podcasting as much as she does. (It shows! Sarah has a natural talent for it!) Sarah’s Favorite Biz ToolSarah’s favorite tool for growing her business is listening to podcasts! (We’re big fans of podcasts too ;) She loves that she can gain a skill while she’s doing other things throughout her day like going for a walk or folding laundry. There’s so much that can be learned, even as a busy mom who can’t devote 100% of their attention to something. A Funny Mom MomentWe interviewed Sarah a few months ago, so you get to hear about her 2 year-old’s take on a trip to the pumpkin patch. It’s super cute! Stay in Touch with Sarah Mackenzie!
Direct download: Episode206120Sarah20Mackenzi_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:40am EDT |
Tue, 9 December 2014
Does the thought of working with your sister make your eyelid twitch a little? Over and over, Sarah and I hear from other Mompreneurs about how impressed they are that we work together. "My sister would drive me crazy!" they say. The truth is, sometimes Sarah and I do drive each other crazy, but when we interviewed Jess Piestrup and Whitney Acheson of Moody Sisters Skincare, we discovered we weren't alone. Despite the craziness, working with your sister can be a wonderful way to grow a business. Chances are, you each bring different strengths to the table, and there's no one who will love you, quirks and all, quite like a sister will. Whether you have a sister or not, there's so much to learn from Jess and Whitney's story. They've figured out how to cater to their target audience with a strategy that we think is pure genius! Beyond that, they routinely find MORE members of their target audience by partnering with bloggers. Hear all the details about how they achieve success, plus some funny sister antics too! On the Podcast01:59 - How Solving Skin Problems Became a Business How Solving Skin Problems Became a BusinessWhitney has struggled with allergies and skin sensitivities for many years. It was difficult to find any skin-care or hygiene products that she could use. Even simple things like washing her face were a struggle! Whitney’s sister Jess chimed in with advice on using essential oils and making products at home. The sisters met on weekends to create new products and test them out. As they worked and created, they thought to themselves, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have a business where we could create different bath salts or skincare products?” As they honed their skills, they realized that their products were pretty great! Whitney set to work designing and printing little labels on her InkJet printer, and soon the sisters took things from a crazy idea to an Etsy shop. The Moody Sisters received orders their very first day on Etsy. At that point they knew they could turn their skin-care hobby into a business. From Hobby to Full-time GigFrom October of 2010 until May of 2013, The Moody Sisters continued to treat their Etsy shop like a fun hobby. They spent those years putting their feelers out there to see what people liked, what they could make well, and what their identity would be as a business. As their sales started growing, getting together once a month to make products wasn’t cutting it anymore. Both Jess and Whitney were spending a lot of time on the shop while balancing other jobs. Jess was working full-time in the corporate world, and Whitney was working for another company from home. Life was getting too chaotic to do both jobs well. At the same time, Jess’ family was considering a move across the country. She wasn’t happy with her current job, so that along with the growth of the business made both Moody Sisters decide to go all in and make their skincare biz their full-time gig. How a Test-Panel can Skyrocket your SuccessWhen you run a business online, it’s often much more difficult to figure out who your target market is and find a way to get in front of them. You don’t have the luxury of seeing each customer walk into your store and give you immediate feedback on your products. Jess and Whitney came up with a killer solution to this problem: They created a test panel! Picking from some of their most loyal customers, they asked these ladies if they’d be willing to answer questions about the business and test new products. This test panel of fabulous women helped the Moody Sisters determine what new items their customers wanted and in what directions the business should go next. They’ve been a tremendous help to Jess and Whitney, and in exchange, they receive credits for products from the Moody Sisters that they already love. Blogger Outreach: Where to Go + What to DoConnecting with bloggers has been huge for Jess and Whitney’s business. They share several tips on how to find the right blogs and what to do once you’re there. Where to Go
What to Do Whitney says, “The most valuable content we can have is having someone get a product of ours, try it, absolutely fall in love with it, and want to tell the whole world, because you can sense their enthusiasm and their honesty in the review.” When a reader already trusts that blogger, she’s more likely to give the products a try too. Getting Great PhotosOnce the Moody Sisters decided what colors, look, and feel were part of their brand, they knew they wanted a professional photographer to take their photos. They asked a friend who typically does family photography if she might attempt product photos for them. Samantha Witt gave it a try and continues to do an amazing job taking all of The Moody Sisters product photos. Jess and Whitney send Samantha boxes of their products, backgrounds, props, and huge lists of what they’d like, and Samantha does the rest! (We recommend this technique as well. Beth Anne’s friend Ariel has taken all of the outdoor, lifestyle photos in The Amateur Naturalist shop.) Psssst! A Photography SecretHow do the Moody Sisters achieve the fun, but natural feel of their Skincare Products through photos? They have a secret source! They buy vinyl photography backdrops from the SwankyPrints Shop on Etsy. There are thousands of options to choose from! Recently, Whitney purchased some 12 by 12 squares to tie in the feel of their brand with their Instagram account. How smart is that?! The Best Source for Sourcing things!Jess and Whitney are part of the Indie Beauty Network. They obtain their business insurance from the network, but the group provides support in so many other ways too. There’s a private Facebook group that’s full of other men and women with independent beauty businesses. There are soapmakers, candle makers…. you name it! There’s always someone who’s willing to help them to find suppliers for new ingredients they want to try, or find the same supplies at a better price. It seems that no matter what venture you’re part of online, developing relationships in your niche is so very important. (Anne + Abby both speak to the integral role blogging buddies have played in their success!) A Moody Sisters SetbackWhen Jess, her husband, and their daughter decided to move across the country, The Moody Sisters thought they had developed the perfect plan to move forward with their business. Jess was supposed to take over product production and shipping from her new home in Florida. Whitney was going to handle online listings and customer service. Once Jess arrived in Florida, the sisters quickly determined that product production would not be an option there. Cosmetics are highly-regulated in Florida, and you cannot make anything out of your home that has to do with beauty or skincare. The sisters scrambled to find a way to move forward. All of the supplies were shipped back to Cashmere, Washington where Whitney lives, and they had to re-structure all of their job duties. Tips on TeamworkSo how did Jess and Whitney move forward and decide who would work on which tasks? After listing out every single task that had to be done each week or each month, delegation was based on 2 Factors
The Moody Sisters have broken down tasks like this: (Sounds like a great way to figure out how to delegate. This might apply to your blog or business and the team you’ve assembled too!) How to Work with Your SisAlways full of crazy, big ideas, Whitney says, “Jess having to reign me in on a daily basis is probably mind-maddening.” Yet Jess admits that without Whitney, they wouldn’t have a business at all. “She comes up with the awesome business ideas, and then I just try my best to make them work.” (Jess and Whitney’s relationship sounds so similar to Sarah and mine that we were cracking up! I have to say, it’s wonderful to work with someone whose strengths are so different from my own, and someone I can be incredibly honest and open with. We might not have a business without me, but our business would have no direction or focus without Sarah!) A High-Powered Business ToolJess and Whitney use ShipStation to fulfill and ship all of their orders. The program can pull orders from both their Etsy shop and their Squarespace site. Product information can be entered and saved so that every time a given product is ordered, the program automatically assigns it a shipping weight. ShipStation also sends out email notifications with the attached tracking number. The whole process is automated, which makes the Moody Sisters’ job so much more enjoyable. Adorable, Fun, and Crazy Mom MomentsWith Jess having a fourteen year-old and Whitney having an 18 month and a 6 year-old, there’s always something crazy going on with the Moody Sisters’ kids! Tune in to hear the latest. Find the Moody Sisters’ Great ProductsPin this post so you can reference the Moody Sisters' Great Business Advice later!
Direct download: Episode206020Moody20Sisters_mixdow20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 2 December 2014
Have you ever considered being a vendor with a deal site as a way to expand your business? If we're being perfectly honest, Sarah and I had never considered the idea! We wrongly assumed that deal sites were only for larger companies or manufactured items. After talking with Amy Gabriel of Gabriel’s Good Tidings, we discovered that many small, handmade businesses sell on deal sites as well. For Amy, they’ve made the difference between supporting her husband through grad school versus struggling to get by. They’ve put food on the table for her family, and helped her husband to accomplish his goals. After listening today, maybe you’ll discover that deal sites would be a great fit for your business too. Psssst! Amy was not only generous with her time and great advice, she's sharing a generous deal with all of our Brilliant Business Moms listeners! Grab 50% off in Amy's shop by using the coupon code BrilliantBizMom. Now through December 31, 2014. How sweet is that?! Thanks, Amy! On the Podcast01:54 – How Amy Got her Start How Amy Got her StartAmy has had a sewing machine for as long as she can remember. Her mother and grandmother worked with her as a teenager to teach her the basics. She helped her grandmother sew her prom dress, and in college she sewed curtains and pillows. Sewing is something Amy has enjoyed as a hobby for years. In 2012, Amy’s husband, Mallory, wanted to go back to school for a master’s degree. He and Amy both knew that for this to be possible, Amy would have to provide most of the family’s income. Amy and Mallory have two children, ages 5 and 7 years old. For quite a while, Amy worked outside the home and had her Etsy shop on the side. After experiencing the 2012 Holiday Season on Etsy, and then learning about deal sites through a friend, Amy’s business really took off. Daily deal sites became the bread and butter for her business, because she was able to get her products in front of a much larger audience, and sell large quantities at one time. Now, Amy’s business provides at least 75% of their family’s income. Daily Deal Sites: 2 Factors to ConsiderAmy notes two important factors to consider before signing up with a particular deal site. 1. How streamlined is their process for working with vendors? 2. How much traffic does the site get? Developing RelationshipsSarah and I were curious about the process of “getting in” with a deal site. Is it difficult? What’s involved? Amy confessed that for her, getting in was easy and she believes this is because her product, lip balm holders, had not been featured on any deal sites before, and deal sites weren’t quite as big when she started 18 months ago. Amy offers these points for getting started:
Quantity: How Much is Too MuchJane.com is always open to higher quantities from their vendors, so that’s the good news. However, Amy recommends starting small at first. Get your feet wet, figure out shipping and tracking first, and then book a larger deal when you sell out. FYI, Amy’s biggest sale was 630 lip balm holders in November of 2013. (Wow! That’s a lot of sewing and shipping to do!) Making a ProfitWith a smaller ticket item such as a lip balm holder, Sarah and I were curious about making a profit. Amy accomplishes this by buying her supplies at wholesale cost since she sells hundreds of items at a time. She can purchase supplies by the thousands and maintain a healthy profit margin. On ProductivityHow does Amy manage to sew 600 lip balm holders at a time?! She offers several tips and tricks.
Her Other HalfAmy knows one thing for sure: her business wouldn’t be nearly as successful without the help of her husband. Although he hasn’t learned to sew (and since he’s graduating in December, it probably won’t happen!) but he knows how to cut materials, pin things together, finish the lip balm holders with hooks, and ship items. Amy says that Mallory blesses her so much, because he’ll be gone all day working at an unpaid internship and then classes at night, then he sits down with her while they talk, watch TV, and finish each lip balm holder together. (They sound like an amazing pair! We love husband and wife teams!) Jane.com Insider InfoJane.com takes 25% of the total sales price as their commission. This is much higher than Etsy, but in exchange, your products are seen by thousands more people. Typically a deal runs for 72 hours at a time, and Jane encourages more sales by playing on the urgency factor. Amy loves the torrential downpour of selling with Jane.com versus Etsy, which feels more like a slow drip and a continual to-do list. Details on InventoryAmy used to pre-make everything before a deal would go live on Jane.com or before listing it in her Etsy shop. As her volume and business grew, that wasn’t possible anymore. Jane’s policy is that you must have the item in your possession before the deal goes live. Amy always has all of the materials for each item on hand, but usually she’s sewn only 10% of the items, and the rest of her inventory is at different stages of the creation process. Making Friends & Growing a BusinessEarly on, Amy reached out to several other sellers on Jane.com and became friends with them. Her circle has become invaluable as a source of advice and new business leads. They give each other tips on which shipping systems to use, what label printers are best, and so much more. They tell each other about new subscription box companies and offer new contacts. When it comes to boxes, some will pay you a wholesale price for your items, whereas others will want the item for free in exchange for advertising. Both can be effective, but in the past Amy’s family needed the income more than the advertising, so she’s only agreed to subscription boxes who pay her for each item. Through 2 subscription box companies, Amy has gotten two large wholesale orders. Making friends in your industry is not only a great source of encouragement, but it can help your business to grow as well. Using a Giveaway to Gain SubscribersAmy hosted a giveaway on MoneySavingMom in August. She offered a coupon code that was good for 7 days and gave her new customers 50% off in her Etsy shop. However, Amy used a genius strategy to not just encourage immediate sales, but retain longer-term customers. She offered a coupon code for $5 off a $10 purchase for anyone who signed up for her email list. She gained many new subscribers this way, because people wanted a coupon they could hold onto for later. Amy uses MailChimp for her email service provider (we do too!) and she loves it (same here!). Her coupon code gets sent to each new subscriber in her Welcome email. What to Include in Your NewsletterAmy sends a monthly newsletter and generally includes 3 things:
Business Advice + BooksAmy loves Purple Cow by Seth Godin. She takes his advice when it comes to offering exceptional customer service and appreciating each customer. She wants people to know how much she appreciates each Etsy and Jane sale. Those sales are how her family has survived grad school. “When you appreciate your customers, they will come back," Amy says. Her favorite quote comes from Rebecca Smith of Better Life Bags.
How She Does ItAmy always works at least 10 hours per week, but sometimes, it’s closer to 40. Her work hours fluctuate based on the volume of sales. Although she doesn’t prefer to sit at her sewing machine on a Saturday while her kids are out playing with their dad, but she views those sales as a huge blessing for her family. She loves that she’s home all week with her kids, and she gets to be there after school and do many things that she didn’t get to do when she worked at a traditional job. Amy’s Funny Mom MomentAmy’s mom moment will crack you up, especially as we all get ready for Christmas! Stay in Touch with Amy!GabrielsGoodTidings.Etsy.com |
Fri, 28 November 2014
As I sat at home, my little boy playing on the floor close by, preparing to record this podcast episode, so many reasons came to mind for why small businesses matter. There are a million reasons - like the little girl who gets to take music lessons or the parents who are able to put food on the table. There's the teenager who goes to college because his parents took a risk. They got out of their dead-end jobs, worked their buns off, and created something from scratch. There's the mom who teaches her kids every single day that you can create the world you want to live in. There are a million personal stories for why small business matters. Then, there's the bigger picture that shows what all of these small businesses mean as a whole. Tune into the podcast to hear my take on why small business matters, plus a special announcement! When You Support Small Business You Support:
Discover some great small businesses that you can support this Christmas. Pin this graphic so you can spread the word and encourage others to SHOP SMALL this year. |
Tue, 25 November 2014
Have you ever watched in amazement as a Facebook post, Tweet, or Pin goes viral? If you’re anything like me, you immediately think about the factors that led to its virality. Was the content incredibly moving? Did it solve a huge problem? What made this post stand out among all others? How can you harness some of that virality for your own business? Melissa Will of EmpressofDirt.net is one of those lucky (and skilled!) creators of a viral post. She was literally telling her blog readers goodbye with a round-up of her best content, when to her amazement, her post went viral on Pinterest. As Melissa shares, “I thought my website was under a robot attack!” Since that time, Melissa has learned all she can about harnessing the power of Pinterest to grow her blog. Hold on to your seat, because this episode has enough tips on Pinterest to make you dizzy! Don’t let that overwhelm you, though. Take things one step at a time, and maybe you’ll have a story to share just like Melissa’s a year from now! On the Podcast01:54 – From Online Business to Blogger From Online Business to BloggerNo, that title isn’t a typo. Melissa actually started an online shop in the year 2000 – when online shops were few and far between. It was only after many years with a shop that she decided to grow her blog into a full-time profession. Melissa’s entrepreneurial journey began when she was pregnant with her youngest daughter. She was very ill during the pregnancy and had serious complications during childbirth. She hadn’t recovered enough during maternity leave to return to work, so Melissa resigned from her job. Melissa took up quilt-making and start hand-dying her own fabrics for her quilts. She loved fabric-dyeing so much that she needed a reason to justify all the fabric she was creating. Her husband showed her how to use html, and they set up an online fabric shop for her. Social media didn’t exist at the time, but people found her via search engines. Melissa received her first order just a few days after opening her online shop. She received letters from potential customers saying that they wanted to purchase from her, but they didn’t quite trust the whole process of ordering items online. Melissa solved this problem by creating a front page for her shop that featured a journal of her life as a stay-at-home mom running an online business. Essentially, Melissa created a blog before anyone had even given the thing a name! Melissa’s business quickly grew into wholesale orders, craft shows, and teaching fabric-dying. She was a mom by day, and a fabric-dyer and entrepreneur by night. Melissa offers this insight: Melissa eventually became burned out from all the demands of her fabric business, and eventually she put her shop on hiatus. She continued as a hobby blogger and would read success stories about people earning their living through blogging, but she couldn’t figure out how to make it happen for herself. Taking Advice from OthersAfter years of blogging with very little results, Melissa knew she had to stop doing the same old thing and let other people advise her. She took a blogging course from Corbett Barr. (He’s one of our favorite guys over at Fizzle!) Then she got her own domain, hosting, and found an email service provider. (Our pointers on where to grab these) The Turning PointIn July of 2012, after taking Corbett’s course, things did pick up for Melissa’s blog. She had several hundred visitors per day, but that wasn’t enough to earn an income. At Christmas-time in 2012, Melissa decided to say goodbye to her blog and move on to something that would provide a steady income. She bid farewell to her readers with a summary of her best projects from the year. Melissa made her very first collage pin showing each project and put it on Pinterest. (At this point, Melissa hardly ever used the platform!) She emailed all of her subscribers and linked to her Farewell post. Within 12 hours Melissa says she was getting message in her inbox from people she didn’t know, along with new subscriptions to her newsletter. When she looked at her site stats, she thought that it might be under a robot attack because of the drastic increase in visitors! Melissa said it was like her site suddenly came to life! They’re Coming…..Now What?Instead of saying goodbye, Melissa spent 2013 trying to make the best use of her new-found traffic. In addition to focusing on Pinterest (which we’ll cover in great detail next!) there are five other things Melissa did to grow her blog.
Pinterest Tips and Best PracticesThere are 3 Basic Goals for Pinterest
Once someone clicks through to your site, you’d like them to take off their coats and stay a while. Again, this relates back to great content and an easy-to-navigate site. Melissa tells us that keeping up with the changes on Pinterest is a must, because their algorithm will always favor those pins and Pinners that follow the current best practices. Current Best Practices for Pinterest
How to Show Up in the Smart Feed
Pinterest SEOThere are 3 places where your keywords for each pin should be found.
All 3 of these places to include the correct keywords will stack up together to make your pin more visible. Another huge factor for relevancy? Higher engagement via more re-pins, hearts, and comments make your pin more visible in Pinterest’s new SmartFeed How to Ensure Excellent Pins Every TimeSo, you’ve figured out how to craft excellent pins, but what happens when others pin content directly from your site? I mean, it’s great, right?! But how can you take full advantage of this opportunity?
Hashtags are Over
The Best Sources for Pinterest AdviceThe Pinterest Blog How to Craft Your Pinterest RoutineMelissa admits to spending only 10 minutes per day on Pinterest despite benefiting from hundreds of thousands of visitors via the site each month. How is this possible? Melissa crafts each blog post with Pinterest in mind, and by optimizing the post and images, Pinterest does the rest of the work for her, in a way. When she develops a new blog post idea, she creates it with sharing in mind. She writes out a storyboard of all the images she’d like to have in the post – including ones that would do well on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter Melissa has worked to build up her image library. She always has a camera with her. Whenever she finds something beautiful, that tells a story, would make a great background, she just snaps a picture. She snaps a close-up, far-away, and small video clips. Over time, Melissa has a huge library to pull from and can blog about any topic at any time with all of her original images. As Melissa says, “At some point if you get a book offer or want to write an e-book, you’ve got a huge amount of new content that you can share.” The Power of a Round-Up PostMelissa tells us that every single one of her most popular pins has been a collage. Over the course of a year, Melissa will write many posts that each have a uniting theme to them. Then she takes the individual posts and writes a round-up post with a collage. “They always do well,” Melissa admits. In addition to using collages on her round-up posts, Melissa makes a collage for various menu pages on her site. For example, if you check out her Garden Ideas Section, there’s not just a list of all her posts on the topic, but a Pinnable collage with images from some of the posts. These Menu Page Collages bring lots of traffic to her site, and from those menu pages, her new visitors explore lots of content. Melissa shares this valuable stat: Visitors stay 4-5 minutes when they arrive at her site via a menu page versus just 1-2 minutes when arriving from a typical blog post pin. (Wow! Clearly Menu Page Collages are powerful stuff!) Income Breakdown Plus Adsense AdviceAdsense – this is Melissa’s largest source of income Adsense AdviceHave you heard that Adsense is only for Amateurs? Melissa is living proof that Adsense can pay off for experienced bloggers in a big way.
Melissa’s Hilarious Mom MomentThis one had Sarah and I both cracking up! It reminded us so much of the harried, distracted mompreneur stage that we’re in at the moment. Can you relate? Stay in Touch with Melissa!EmpressofDirt.Net
Direct download: Episode205720Melissa20Will_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:58pm EDT |
Tue, 18 November 2014
Have you ever looked at someone else's success and wondered, "How did they do that? What's their secret?" On this episode, Laura shares some of the best advice I've heard on how to be successful. It's both much easier and much more difficult than you'd think. Success involves clear goals, planning, and unshakeable focus. Tackle those 3 things, and you're well on your way. Listen to Laura's best advice. Seriously, it could be a game-changer for you. P.S. Learn how to get great product photos too! Seriously, Laura spills some secrets we've never heard before! P.S.S. Did we mention that Laura is a fellow Pittsburgher? That alone, is reason enough to tune in :) On the Podcast01:17 - From Electrical Engineer to Entrepreneur From Electrical Engineer to EntrepreneurLaura has a degree in electrical engineering and worked as an engineer for six years. What made her quit such a stable job to start life as an entrepreneur? For years she read blogs on how to start a business online. She didn’t have the confidence or courage to try it, but she enjoyed learning all she could about the process. In 2012, she decided it was time to stop letting “fear for no reason” hold her back. One year later, she quit her engineering job to grow her business full-time. Thankfully, with her husband’s income, Laura was able to quit her job before her business was earning its own full-time salary. She was blessed to be able to focus on growing the business before they had children. The Importance of Being FocusedLaura has always loved planners, but she didn’t have the confidence early on to recognize that she could build a business around them. A few months into blogging, Laura realized that her passion was organizing, and people were relating to those posts on her site. She re-branded her site from SuperSweetLife to IHeartPlanners and has narrowed her business focus around this one topic. “If you try to pursue too many things, it’s just really hard to become very good at any of them and really turn it into something profitable.” Great Product Photos (4 Tips)As Laura says, “Photos are absolutely key and very difficult!” Her strategy:
Laura found a product photographer in a Facebook group, and she ships her Sweet Life Planner to the photographer internationally each year. The photographer then creates the perfect set-up and takes far better photos than Laura could do on her own. This plan wouldn’t work if Laura hired a photographer for all of her product photos, but since she does this just once a year, the time delay and expense is worth the end result. How to Use Stock PhotosLaura employs another unique product photo strategy: She uses stock photos! Here’s how it works:
3 Ways to Get More Done
2 Ways to GrowLaura feels for those of you who are still in the early stages of growing a business! She remembers when her site had only 5 pageviews a day. (1 from her husband, 1 from her mom, 1 from her best friend, and only 2 new visitors!) The momentum is really slow in the beginning, but be persistent and eventually you’ll see positive results from your effort. Laura focuses on 2 Key Strategies for Growth
Using an E-Course to Add SubscribersLaura has a killer email opt-in for her subscribers: Get Organized Once and for All E-Course. Here’s how it works:
Email Newsletters – What to Include
“Focus on connecting with people and helping them and the rest really does come naturally if that’s the focus of your newsletter.” Revenue BreakdownSurprisingly enough, Laura’s smallest revenue stream in terms of true profit comes from her Etsy shop. Once she adds in the cost of materials and shipping, the Etsy shop brings in much less revenue than the digital product she sells on her own site: The Sweet Life Planner. Laura earns some income from ads on her blog or affiliate sales. Physical products, like those in her Etsy shop are more time-consuming and difficult to keep in stock or handle logistics. However, Laura enjoys the creative process of making a physical process. The blog, digital sales on the blog, and her Etsy shop all complement each other well, and Laura likes having her eggs in a couple of different baskets. Business + Baby: How Life Looks DifferentMany things have changed since Laura’s sweet baby girl Savannah has arrived. Here’s how Laura has adapted to life as a mom entrepreneur:
The Key to Getting Things Done as a New MomPrioritize like CRAZY! There are things that absolutely have to get done, Laura says, and that’s what she focuses on each day. “The worst thing to do is to work on something that’s less important just because it’s there and seems fun rather than work on the things that really need to get done.” (We couldn’t agree more. First things need to come first.) 3 Tools that Keep Laura Organized
One Simple Step You can Take Today to Get More DoneGo on a Media Fast so you can really FOCUS. Laura took the Life is Messy BootCamp by Mayi Carles, and realized how much time she spent reading blogs and consuming new information. Although learning new things can be good, it can also paralyze you from making any progress on your own. Take a break from learning new things until you’ve implemented some of what you’ve learned. We often use learning as a tool for procrastination. It’s easier to read about a strategy versus doing the hard work to put something into place for yourself. Focus on taking action for a while. (We couldn’t agree more! Learning is great, but it’s more important to set goals, make a plan, and stick to the plan. The content will still be there waiting for you when you’re ready for the next step.) Stay in Touch with Laura!IHeartPlanners.com What did you take away from Laura's episode? Will you try a new method to get great product photos? Will you focus on the important tasks first and eliminate distractions? Let's chat in the comments :) ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode205620Laura20Smith_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Thu, 13 November 2014
In Episode 49 we talked about defining your target market. Today we are taking the next step and determining where your target market hangs out. Where are your people? It's great if you know who your target market is, but it doesn't do you any good if you can't find each other. You need to know where your people are, so that you can be there and get found. By being where your people are, you are able to get to know them. The more you know about your people, the more you can deliver what they want, and meet their needs. In Episode 54 Caroline Starr Rose talked about how she reads many current books to get a feel for her target market, and to help her discover what they wanted. When you hang out where your people hang out you will find opportunities to talk about your "thing", to trade advice, and be helpful. Maybe you could guest post where your people hang out or comment on articles. The point is, unless you go to your people, they will never get to know you or find you. So how can you discover where your people are? John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire sends out an email to everyone who signs up for his email list. In the email he asks, "How did you find me?". Chances are more of your people are hanging out in the same place where this person found you. This gives you an opportunity to be more active and present in that place. What about trade magazines and journals? Does every knitter read a certain magazine? You need to immerse yourself in those publications. What about conferences? Are your people more the Influence Conference type or the Comic Con type? Go to those conferences. Be where they are. Don't neglect in person opportunities to get to know your target market in real life. Does your target market hang out at the gym? Maybe you need a gym membership. Do your people go to MOPS? Don't miss a meeting. Which social networks do your people use the most? If your target market is made up of photographers, chances are they are on Instagram more than Twitter. Does your target market love to cook? Chances are they are constantly on Pinterest searching for recipes. Determine which social media platform your target market most often turns to, and then focus the majority of your social marketing efforts in that direction. A fabulous tool for learning where your people hang out is through a specific Facebook search. On BrittanysBest.com she has a great article, "The Foolproof Formula of Successful Sellers", that walks you through a Facebook Graph search to learn more about your people. Here's how it works. In the Facebook search bar type in "Pages liked by people who like YOUR BUSINESS". The results that come up represent the overlap -- the pages liked by people who also like your page. These pages are the other pages where your people are hanging out. The search results seem to list them in order of the most overlapping fans. Our top result was Amy Porterfield, so many of people who like us on Facebook also like Amy Porterfield. That tells me that I need to get involved on Amy's site a bit more. If my people are also hanging out with Amy, then chances are good that more of my people (the people who haven't found me yet) are also hanging out there. I need to be reading Amy's articles and making great comments. I need to interact with her and her fans on social media. I need to be familiar with Amy and her work. Maybe she accepts guest posts, I need to find out. Now, when you find out where your people are hanging out, don't hang out there in an annoying way. Don't just leave your links everywhere without adding something of value. Don't comment without reading the article first. (This should be a given, right?) Get involved in the community and be helpful. So go out there and find out where your people are. Let us know how it goes! -Sarah
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Tue, 11 November 2014
What if you had a great big dream? What if you pursued that dream -- working faithfully to hone your craft for years? What if during those years, you faced hundreds of rejections? Would you continue? Caroline Starr Rose answers that question with a resounding yes. Even as those around her wondered how she could keep going, she pressed forward. She refused to give up. Most importantly, she accomplished her dream. Caroline can now add published author to her list of accomplishments, and today on the podcast, she'll share her beautiful story, along with excellent advice and resource for aspiring authors who are in the trenches. We hope you'll decide to continue on too. As Caroline says, "you only need one yes." Press forward towards that yes!
On the Podcast01:15 - Roald Dahl, the Oregon Trail, and Caroline's Journey Roald Dahl, the Oregon Trail, and Caroline’s JourneyAlthough she has wanted to write for as long as she can remember, Caroline’s journey began in earnest as she was teaching the 6th grade. A few weeks before the end of the school year, her class watched a video about Roald Dahl, and he shared his daily writing tips
So in the summer of 1998, Caroline spent two weeks researching the Oregon Trail, earned her Ph.D. in Oregon Trailology (totally kidding!) and set out to write historical fiction. Caroline confesses that her first novel was awful. It was a really hard process, but a great learning experience. After that point, every summer Caroline would write, and during the school year she’d revise her work and send it off to publishers. The Most Honest ThingAfter sending off 10 manuscripts to hundreds of publishers, and 12 years of working, Caroline was finally offered a book deal for her novel, May B. Caroline was frustrated with the distance she felt between the ideas in her head and what she was putting on the page. She read a book called, Read this Only to Yourself: The Private Writings of Midwestern Women, 1880-1910 She was struck by the patterns that frontier women used to communicate with each other. Their language was spare and careful. Whether they were talking about something awful, mundane, or celebratory, the language was all very controlled and contained. Lightening struck: “If I could capture this aspect of communication...if I could really mirror the voices of these women, I could tell the story most truthfully. I could access May Betterley’s life really directly, and this would be the best way to tell the story.” For this reason, May B. is a novel written in verse. As Caroline spoke with her mother about the project early on, she shared, “I don’t really know what to call it, but it feels like the most honest thing I’ve ever written.” What About Mr. Chapman?You’ll have to listen to hear Caroline’s interpretation of this new character, along with her take on May B’s coming to terms with who she is and how she sees herself. The Apprentice StageCaroline wishes she had this understanding of her process 10-15 years ago, but she now realizes that for many years, she was in the apprentice stage of becoming a writer. She was still finding her way. For many jobs, there’s a clear timeline for obtaining education, training, and finally getting hired for your first position. As an author, this just isn’t so. Many are self-taught. Who is to say how long the apprentice stage should last before a professional career results? As Caroline worked through the apprentice stage with 2 young boys at home, she read books on the craft of writing, read writing magazines, spent time reading re-reading her childhood favorites, and time getting to know the new titles on the shelves. As Caroline wrote picture books as well, she would lug home the 50-book library limit. After she read the stories with her boys, she would write notes in her notebook. The book had different pages for different publishers and imprints. (Imprints are little individual publishers within the larger publishing house. They each have their own style, flavor, and flair.) She became familiar with which imprints published which kinds of books. Maniacal OptimismWhen asked how she kept going through years of rejection, Caroline points to her maniacal optimism. She confessed that you don’t quite know if you’re pursuing something that’s a dead end, or if in the pursuit of this dream, you’re feeling so strongly that it’s something you want, and your work will only get better as you continue to try. The years of rejection were not quite as easy for her husband to handle. She would run to the mail truck like a little girl on her birthday…every day for 12 years. He often wondered how she kept going, pressing to make sure this was what she really wanted to do. Caroline’s attitude: “If the worse you can tell me is no? My gosh, I’ve found that “no” is not that bad.”
(We are so glad Caroline did not give up! Let’s all muster up some maniacal optimism to keep going!) Why a Traditional Publisher?We were curious to hear why Caroline continued to pursue traditional publishing through years of rejection versus self-publishing her books. She confessed that she hopes this doesn’t sound snobby, but she always hung her hat on a traditionally published book. That was her goal. Caroline points to the benefits of a traditionally-published book, such as the team of talented individuals who surround you to ensure that the project is a success. Editors serve as professors, she said. They see your weaknesses – the pattern of things that you don’t do well. They find ways to work on those. They point out the things you do, in fact, do well and figure out how to develop those strengths more fully. If it was up to Caroline to create a beautiful, cohesive novel all on her own, she doesn’t believe she could produce anything that was worth a reader’s time. How to Get Published
Finding an Agent
“You only need one yes. The no’s aren’t fun, but you really only do need one yes.” Advice for Apprentice Authors
What About a Web Presence?When you’re ready to submit work, Caroline attests that it is important to have a web presence. Editors and agents will look you up. From her experience, her own blog hasn’t helped her to get published, but it can in some cases for non-fiction writers who have a large following online. Another reason to blog? The immediate feedback on your work that comes from blogging is wonderful, particularly after years of waiting to hear from editors and publishers! A Day in the LifeThere are no typical days for Caroline, but she shares some of the the ways she might spend her time as an author.
How Much Does an Author Make?Despite one boy asking Caroline if she was “as famous as Justin Bieber”, Caroline confesses that most authors are not making a killing. For comparison purposes, she let us know that her first book sold for less than her teaching salary in New Mexico in the mid-90’s! (New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the country.)
For Caroline, she considers herself successful if she can keep her boys in glasses and braces, and re-cover the couch. She’s done all of that plus paid for a back yard and a new bathroom. Thankfully Caroline doesn’t have to put food on the table, and that’s hugely liberating for her. She can pursue the ideas that speak to her heart. Resources for Aspiring Authors
Funny Mom MomentCaroline’s two boys have plenty to say about her writing and what they think of having an author for a Mom. Tune in to hear her son’s criticism of her latest book! Stay in Touch with Caroline!CarolineStarrRose.com (check out the Writing Life section for more great advice!) I know Sarah and I learned a ton from Caroline. I've never seen myself as an aspiring author, but Caroline sure provides enough resources and wisdom to make me believe it's possible. The maniacal optimism? That's something I'm resolving to pack with me along every journey towards an impossible dream. ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode205420Caroline20Starr20Rose_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:52am EDT |
Tue, 4 November 2014
Does Twitter strike you as a place for business men and celebrities with no room for the average mom? Do you feel like the geeky girl standing in the corner while everyone else enjoys the party around you? We’d be lying if we said we didn’t have those feelings about Twitter sometimes! Today on the podcast, Kelli Miller gives us a Twitter Makeover so we’re ready to sparkle and work the room. She shares her best tools for using the platform and inspires us to use this powerful social network to connect with others and grow our audience. Kelli has been blogging since 2006. With years of experience under her belt, last year she and a blogging partner, Crystal, started the #LearntoBlog weekly Google Hangouts. They discuss anything and everything related to growing your blog such as getting more click-throughs on Pinterest, how to read Google Analytics, among many other topics. They’ve done over 70 Hangouts to date, and you can find them all at LearntoBlogHangouts.com In addition to sharing her extensive blogging knowledge, Kelli write about products she loves, kid-friendly recipes, and all things related to life as a stay-at-home mom at 3BoysAndaDog.com Kelli lives on the Gulf Coast with her 3 boys, her husband, and now, 3 dogs! On the Podcast:02:24 – Kelli’s Big Secret
Kelli’s Big SecretWith 3 kids, two blogs, and turning out tons of new content every week, we asked Kelli how she gets it all done. Her answer: “I don’t get it all done! Shhh! Don’t tell anybody!” (We were cracking up because we completely agree. Sometimes on a busy week, something just has to go. You do the best you can with each day you have.) Kelli also has two assistants and several regular writers for her blog. The most important guys in Kelli's life! A Big Change for the MillersKelli admits to putting much of her income back into her business with blog re-designs and items for her home office. She does do well with income from affiliate networks, ad networks, sponsored posts, and Twitter parties. Related to her blog work, the Millers recently bought a new house, and they’re showing all of their remodeling projects on the blog. You can check out Miller Manor here. Asking for HelpKelli put out a post on her site saying that she was looking for writers. At this point, her writers are not paid, but benefit from the added exposure of being on Kelli’s blog, along with free products as they often write product reviews. (What a great way to find guest contributors since they already read your blog and understand your style and focus!) Kelli also uses a Facebook group called VA’s for Hire. If she has extra projects that are outside of the scope of her current assistants, this group is full of individuals with a wide range of skill sets. Finally, in the newly launched, #LearntoBlog Forums, there’s an area for bloggers to post that they’re looking for help or to post that they’re looking to get hired. 29,000 Followers? Kelly Explains HowWith more followers than Kmart or Dairy Queen, Kelli has certainly learned how to use Twitter to its full potential. Here’s her advice:
Hashtag University
Kelli’s Twitter Routine
Twitter PartiesKelli says that Twitter parties are the easiest way to get people talking about your business. Here’s how they work:
(One year, Kelli and Crystal scheduled a Twitter party for a baby food right in the middle of a presidential debate. They STILL had over 3.5 million impressions on their party, and their topic was trending higher than the debate was!) How to Get Started with Twitter Parties
Kelli’s Favorite Hashtag Tool
#LearntoBlogEvery Tuesday at 10AM Central, Kelli and Crystal Host #LearntoBlog Google Hangouts. They chat for an hour and cover a topic on blogging. Often, the topics are related to what’s in the news at the time or what their followers are asking for. If you leave Kelli a message on Google+ and let her know you want to be notified of their #LearntoBlog Hangouts, she’ll add you to her circle and you’ll be the first to know! They’ve recently launched a paid VIP forum where they go into more depth with what they teach along with challenges to help you grow. Kelli’s Unconventional Tip for Taking your Blog to the Next LevelAt one point, Kelli’s blog required help and expertise that she didn’t have, but it wasn’t making enough money to support hiring extra staff. Kelli came up with an unconventional solution: She went to work. Kelli worked 4 hours per week as a VA for someone else making about $15/hour. She then hired somebody to work on her blog for 5 hours per week at $10/hour. Kelli used this system for 6 months, and the VA she hired was able to increase her presence on other social media platforms. Her blog grew from 5,000 pageviews/month to 30,000/month. (This was several years ago, and Kelli’s numbers have grown tremendously since.) Kelli believes this worked for a couple of reasons.
Kelli’s Favorite Book on BloggingProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income Kelli calls Darren Rowse “the man” (we agree!) and says that whenever she feels stuck, she opens up this book, reads a few chapters, and it gets her going again. Thousands of Emails a Day?!5 Tips on Cutting through the Noise
(As mentioned on the podcast, I found a really detailed blog post on filtering your Gmail through Outlook. Full disclosure: I don't feel ready to tackle this task at the moment, but if you're up for the challenge, knock yourself out!)
Funny Mom MomentKelli’s youngest had a hilarious mix-up moment. He thought his class was going to visit the Crematorium instead of the Exploreum (Science Center). (I’m glad for his sake that he was wrong!) Where to Find Kelli3BoysAndaDog.com |
Tue, 28 October 2014
Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I could just learn the strategies that the most successful women are using, I’d follow those exactly and finally get some results.” Today we’re giving you the opportunity to put that theory to the test. Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com shares the Facebook and Pinterest strategies she’s using right now to increase her traffic and engagement. She also shares the top 3 ways she’s grown her blog. Crystal lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, and three children. Despite a wildly successful blog and best-selling book, Crystal still loves bargain shopping, freezer cooking, and putting her faith and family first. She is truly a Brilliant Business Mom who has found a way to make it all work. On the Podcast01:38 - Turning a Debt-Free Focus into a Popular Blog Turning a Debt-Free Focus into a Popular BlogCrystal and her husband Jesse made an audacious goal of staying out of debt while Jesse went through law school. At the same time, Crystal became very sick with her first pregnancy and had to quit working. Knowing that they couldn’t pay the bills with Jesse’s part-time job, Crystal had to find a way to keep making money from home. Crystal learned everything she could about making money online and discovered the world of blogging. She started a mommy blog where she wrote on many different topics. Her readers were most interested in saving money, and her Frugal Friday blog posts became very popular. How the Teen Years Shaped CrystalWhile other teens were busy avoiding chores and responsibilities, Crystal was learning real-life skills that ultimately shaped her blog and career. She grew up in a family of nine, and her Home-Ec experience as a home-schooled teen involved recipe planning, grocery shopping, and cooking for her large family. How to Know When to Move OnCrystal urges other women not to do what she did! At one point, she had 3 blogs that she was trying to run all at once. This was too much stress for a mom with 3 young children. Her advice for starting anything new is to make sure you have the capacity in your schedule to add in that new project, and if you don’t, you’ll have to find something that you can subtract first. (Great advice from Crystal! How many times do we assume that we’ll magically find extra time for something new that we’re pursuing?) Crystal also encourages other moms to realize that “There’s nothing wrong with changing course.” She advocates for jumping out and trying new things, and in this way, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. "Go with those things that you really love and that are working really well for you." The Top 3 Ways MoneySavingMom has Grown(plus advice for you on growing too!)
Why Planning can be MisleadingDespite being Type A, very organized and driven, Crystal says one of the best things she’s realized is that there is no “typical day”. You can make elaborate plans, but they don’t always work out. Just the other day MoneySavingMom was under attacks from Nigeria, and Crystal couldn’t access her site. She had to drop everything and just focus on that problem. (Wow, what a great reminder that no matter how successful you are, no one is immune to stress and difficult circumstances!) Despite being prepared for nearly anything to happen, Crystal does have a general schedule for each day:
The Early Days of Blog-BuildingIn the early days of blogging, Crystal admits to not having good compartmentalization because she didn’t have any help with her online work. She had taken on way too much for herself. She’d wake up extremely exhausted because she hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before, put out fires all day, and then repeat again for the next day. “It was not a healthy place” Crystal admits. 6 Facebook Strategies Crystal is Using Right NowCrystal's blog traffic from Facebook took a huge hit recently. So she began experimenting with ways to get those traffic numbers up again. Here is what is working for her:
6 Ways to Use Pinterest to Drive Traffic to your Site
Crystal’s Adorable Mom MomentListen to the podcast to hear how Crystal sets an example for her children by finding ways to stay creative, refresh and refuel. The Best Book on BloggingCrystal highly recommends How to Blog for Profit without Selling Your Soul by Ruth Soukup. Ruth shares loads of Pinterest advice and strategy, and Crystal says that everything she learned about Pinterest, she learned from Ruth. (With more than 265,000 Pinterest followers between them ....'nough said!) (I couldn't help but share this adorable note that Crystal received from her daughter when her book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode was released. How sweet is this?!) Of course, you can find Crystal at MoneySavingMom.com Why not send her a tweet to thank her for such a great podcast?! What will you change as a result of hearing Crystal's advice? I'm trying the multi-picture Facebook post and posting at night first. One step at a time! ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode205220Crystal20Paine_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:11am EDT |
Thu, 23 October 2014
Guest posting is consistently touted as one of the best ways to grow your blog. Yet so many of us put the whole thing off. Building off of Amy Lynn's killer advice in episode 50, I'll share a few more best practices so there are no more excuses. You'll have to press play to hear the tip that will save you loads of time. Pin this post so you don't forget to keep guest posting as a top priority. We can't wait to hear about the new doors it opens for you! ~ Beth Anne Resources Mentioned: How to Use Open Site Explorer to Find Great Places to Guest Post Tips on Reaching out to a New Audience Kate Erickson from Entrepreneur on Fire on How to Request to Guest Post and Get Accepted Kissmetrics Guide to Guest Blogging Jeff Goins: How Guest Posting can Help Grow your Blog
Hey Brilliant Business Mom! Are you tired of spinning your wheels and leaving so many items on that to-do list unchecked each day? Check out the 8 Apps Work-at-Home Moms are using to get more done!
Direct download: Episode205120guest20posting_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 21 October 2014
How do you become a successful blogger, and even more than that, a well-known expert in your field? By being insanely helpful and putting yourself in your reader’s shoes! Amy Lynn Andrews does just that on her website: AmyLynnAndrews.com Amy started blogging in 2004. At the time, she was a struggling pastor’s wife with two small children. Her blog was a much-needed outlet for coping. In 2010, she started the site that is now AmyLynnAndrews.com where she shares blogging tips and tutorials. (Boy, does she! Amy’s blog is just about as comprehensive a resource on blogging as we’ve ever seen! She does it with no hype, no fluff, and in a down-to-earth manner.) Amy is married with four kids, and she and her husband both work part-time online while tag-teaming their kids’ education. This is my favorite part about Amy (ok, maybe second favorite part after all of her awesome blogging advice!): She’s a couponing dropout, and is terrible at crafting, cooking, and all domestic tasks that start with “c”. (I’m right there with you, Amy! Give me a blog post to write or a math problem any day!) Press Play to hear Amy’s best advice on growing her blog, finding content for the Useletter, selling e-books on Amazon and via affiliates, and making the most of guest posts. This episode is chock full of great content! Consider it a free coaching call with Amy –-we certainly did! On the Podcast
Making the Switch from Consumer to ProducerAmy was an avid consumer of online content by the early 2000’s. She’s a learner at heart, so she loved being able to find information quickly and stow it away easily. She assumed (as many of us did!) that you had to be a computer guru to start your own website. One day, she got an email from her cousin telling her to check out the new website he had created for his newly formed non-profit. Amy was amazed at what she saw, and knowing that her cousin was not a guru, she realized, “If he can do it, then surely I can too.” This was the turning point for Amy’s online career. She switched from seeing herself as a consumer of the internet to a potential producer of content online. The Top 3 Ways Amy has Grown an Audience
Why You Can’t Hang your Hat on TrafficThere used to be a much higher emphasis placed on traffic. The old blogging formula was simple: Get tons of people to your website and serve up ads that will make you money. With Google algorithm changes, Facebook changes, and so many other factors outside of our control, it no longer makes sense to rely on traffic-dependent sources of income. Amy realized that she needed to own as much of her online presence as possible and not depend on other sites to send people her way. She took some of her eggs out of the traffic basket and began building her email list. Amy cites Seth Godin’s principle of permission-based marketing. Email means that others are giving you permission to decide when you want to pop into their inbox. How to be a Curation QueenAmy knew that in order to stay front-and-center in her subscribers’ inboxes, she’d have to deliver super helpful tips and trustworthy content. The concept of bite-sized, use-able tips became “The Useletter” Anyone who’s on Amy’s list knows how valuable the Useletter is. Amy clearly spends a lot of time curating the best content and tips to share with her subscribers. How did she become such a well-known curation queen? Amy breaks it down for us. Amy naturally reads a lot, and the Useletter gives her a great excuse to feed her reading addiction! She uses Feedly to keep track of the blogs she follows. She organizes each blog according to the main topics she usually shares about in her emails. She tries to hit about 4 of those main topics each week, alternating week by week so that her subscribers grab tips in different “flavors” each week. As Amy scours the web and her favorite blogs for the best content, she’ll highlight the tip, write a quick comment, and send it to Evernote. Within Evernote, she tags all the tips that fall under the same Useletter category. This way, when she’s building her Useletter for the week, she can grab from the topics she wants to cover that week and she already has a stack of great tips ready to go. Watch Amy's video on how she uses her editorial calendar. The Stat the Matters MostAmy is so honest and upfront, we just love it! She shared with us that her email list is approaching 11,000 subscribers, but there’s a stat she cares about far more than that one. Which stat is it? The open rate. Amy aims for an open rate of 35-40% (This is so far above average industry open rates, it’s ridiculous!) For this reason, she frequently deletes unengaged subscribers. This not only saves money by not paying for people who aren’t opening your emails, but it also increases your open rate. There’s no reason to pay for unengaged subscribers. Amy’s tip for those wanting to increase their open rates? Provide consistently good content and make sure that the people on your list know what to expect and look forward to what you’re sending out each week. One E-book’s True StoryOftentimes, a successful product doesn’t spring from a burst of creativity, but from those around us seeing its potential and encouraging us to move forward. This was the case with Amy’s book: Tell Your Time. At the time, Amy was working as a VA for Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com. Crystal encouraged her to turn her valuable time-saving strategy into an e-book. Although writing isn’t Amy’s first love, she realized that putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!) would not only get her information out to others, but allow her to experience the e-book process from start to finish. She’d learn more about writing, marketing, and selling, and then share all of that information with her readers. Sales Strategy: 3 Tips from Amy
Amazon versus your Own Website: Where to SellAmy shared some invaluable tips on the ins and outs of selling on Amazon versus your own site. It is possible to sell on both your own site and Amazon at the same time, but you must be careful. Below is a breakdown of the rules and requirements.
8 Tips on Guest PostingWhen Amy worked as a VA for Crystal Paine, one of her jobs was to filter through all the guest post requests and select those that would be a great fit for Crystal’s audience. With that experience and her own blogging knowledge in mind, Amy shares 8 fabulous tips for successfully navigating the geography of guest-posting.
Get more tips from Amy on Guest Posting! How to Make the Most of Your Guest PostWe all understand that guest posting is not just about doing random acts of kindness for other bloggers. Our goal is to reach a new audience and build new relationships. Hopefully, we’ll land on a few new loyal readers and grow our own website in the process. With that being said, there are right and wrong ways to make the most of a guest posting opportunity. Amy shares excellent advice on guest posting so that your relationship with the other blogger as well as your new readers is strengthened and off to a great start.
Wow, Sarah and I are still in awe of all the incredible tips Amy shared with us on the call! Did you feel like you were listening in on a coaching call with an online business expert? We sure did! Stay in Touch with Amy!AmyLynnAndrews.com |
Thu, 16 October 2014
Most of us have heard the term "target market", but how many of us have taken the time to actually sit down, with pen in hand, and define our target market? Lets change that today. A target market is a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. They are the target market because they are most likely to respond to your product, service, or information. By "respond", we mean that they are most likely to buy, consume, sign up, read, or otherwise be engaged with what you disseminate. Your target market is most likely to be a sneezer for you. And because what you have to offer resonates with them, your marketing efforts will be most effective with this group. You will get the highest ROI (return on investment) with this group, in terms of your time and money, than with other groups. So this target market sounds pretty great! How do I define who they are?In the marketing world, there are different segments that are used to define a target market (adapted from smallbusinessnotes.com):
Not all of these factors will be applicable to your target market. For instance, here at Brilliant Business Moms, a main element of our target market is that they are female (and most likely, moms!), however geography is not really a factor. In his book The $100 Start Up (affiliate link) Chris Guillebeau helps us to understand our target market by asking, "Who are your people?" Chris found that his target market didn't fit into a traditional demographic segment. Instead, they were people of all types, with the common thread of wanting to live their life unconventionally. They were big dreamers who wanted to make a difference. So what about you? How can you define your target market? Lets brainstorm and come up with a nice long list of possibilities. Start out by just thinking about what makes sense to you. What type of person would want what you have to offer? It might even help to write out a persona about who this person is, and what they might be like. Dig in deeper and actually think of a person you know that you think would be part of your target market, and ask them questions about themselves. Write down anything that you learn or anything that comes to mind. If you are already in business, you may not realize that you already have some data on your target market. If you are an Etsy shop owner, take a look at your past customers, your convos, and your reviews. Is there a demographic or geographic trend among your customers? In your reviews, do people mention how they used your product, what event it was for, or if they gave it as a gift to someone? Comb through past communications with customers, and jot down things they mention. You may begin to see a pattern you hadn't realized was there. If you are a blogger, you can do something similar. Take a look at comments that people have left on your website or on social media. Begin to jot down things you glean from their comments and communications, and look for patterns there. Use all of this information to define your target market. If you already have an audience, conducting a short survey to learn more about them can be extremely helpful. Take that opportunity to learn who they are as people, what their values are, what their struggles are. Are you a member of your own target market? Chances are you might be! Write down your own values, demographics, lifestyle choices, and more. Now that you have quite a long list of thoughts and data, begin to look for patterns and trends. Circle the items on your list that keep popping up. These items define your target market. There's one other point to consider. Your product may be for a certain target market, but it may be purchased by another set of people entirely. For instance, if you sell something for children, it's almost as though you have two target markets to consider: the children who will use your product and the parents and grandparents who will buy it. The same holds true for an item that is most often purchased as a gift. In these instances, keep both target markets in mind during the product creation phase and the marketing phase. Defining your target market is not a static process, it may take refining as you learn more along the way. For instance, in Episode 48, Melissa Kaiserman initially thought that her target market would be other very thrifty people like herself. She advertised on frugal-living blogs, but that didn't pan out very well. When she advertised on organizing blogs and began to see results, she knew she was onto something. Her target market was a little different than she initially thought, and so she tweaked her vision. If you have multiple products, your target market may be slightly different for each product. Fizzle.co put out a great resource for defining your target market but also for determining new product ideas based off of your target market. This is a free resource you'll receive by signing up for their blog newsletter. Use those little gray cells of yours, pay attention, and define your target market. Describe this person in writing and use it to help guide your marketing and product development decisions. When you do, we want to hear about it! Let's chat in the comments!
-Sarah
Direct download: Episode204920target20market_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 14 October 2014
Melissa Kaiserman has a business that makes perfect cents (quite literally!) An avid believer in the cash envelope system of budgeting, she created something more durable than her paper envelopes. Her solution was not only practical, but beautiful too! In solving her own problem, Melissa quickly discovered that there were many moms out there looking for the same thing. They practically begged Melissa to create a solution for them, and after some time, she finally agreed! In case you’ve never heard of this system, it works like this: take out cash for all of your daily expenses such as food, clothing, entertainment, or fun money. Many people pay their mortgage and utilities online, but for everything else, they use cash. Separate your cash into different envelopes to represent each category. When your money is gone, you can no longer spend on entertainment, or whatever the case may be, for that month. The system is a way to stay disciplined and ensure that you stick to your budget. Listen to hear how Melissa turned a cute little cash envelope system into a thriving business that supports her family. On the Podcast:How a 10-Hour Blog Project Turned into a Business How a 10-Hour Blog Project Turned into a BusinessAfter starting a blog soon after her third child was born, Melissa later decided to dig out the old sewing machine her mom gave her and work on some simple sewing projects. Her old sewing machine had traveled with her through college and marriage, and she finally decided to quit being afraid of it. In 2010, she found a tutorial for an oilcloth wallet meant to be used with the cash envelope system. She decided to attempt the project, although it seemed a bit outside of her skill level. Her first cash envelope wallet took about 10 hours to make! Melissa shared the project on a her blog with a link to the tutorial. After being deluged with comments, emails, and real-life friends begging her to make them one, she finally gave in and took orders for about a dozen envelopes. It didn’t take long for her to feel completely burnt out making them. Those first twelve envelopes took her a really long time to make. 3 months passed, and Melissa quickly forgot how painful the first batch of envelopes had been to create (just like childbirth!). She was ready to start again. She added pages to her blog and sold a simple design. It wasn’t until she attended a craft retreat, made several wallets all at once, and had extra inventory that Melissa finally decided to try Etsy. Factors that Led to Early Etsy SuccessOn October 14th, 2011 (If you’re reading this on the podcast air date, today is Melissa’s 3rd Etsy-versary!) Melissa listed her first item. She had a sale within 24 hours! Melissa attributes 3 factors to her early success on Etsy.
The Lightbulb MomentMelissa’s husband, Dave, had a really stressful job. They both felt that he should resign, so they began putting Melissa’s Etsy earnings into savings to build up 3-6 months of living expenses. After Dave resigned at the end of summer, 2012, he was applying to several jobs, and made it to the final round of interviews for 3 different positions for which he was well-qualified. In all 3 cases, he didn’t get the job. In the meantime, Melissa received an $1800 order for a credit union who needed door prizes. She had to close her shop for a week just to get the large order done, and she never could have finished it without her husband’s help. Finally, the lightbulb went off for both of them: they should be doing the business together. If Dave had gone back to work, Melissa would have had to scale back the business and not accept as many orders. Instead, they were working well as a team, and everyone in the family loved having their husband and dad home. Frugal to the core, Melissa shares that she and Dave have no debt except for their mortgage. If they had more expenses, they wouldn’t be making enough from the Etsy shop to do it full-time. When Setting a Low Pricepoint is a Good IdeaMelissa keeps an $18 envelope design in her shop at all times. She’s never raised the price of that item, because she wants to have an affordable option that even the strictest of budgets could accommodate with a few months’ of fun money. (We love this idea! Melissa truly understands her audience, and although she can branch out to higher-priced products, she acknowledges that she has a core customer who is often on a tight budget!) Finding Your Ideal AudienceMelissa had to think outside the box to find out where her ideal audience hung out. It took some experimenting too! In the beginning of her business, she assumed that most of her customers would be those who followed frugal living websites. What she discovered instead was that those who are extremely frugal have the mindset, “Why would I pay for something to help me get out of debt?” Instead, she discovered that organizing blogs tend to have her ideal customer as followers. People who like to organize usually like pretty things, and they’re often moms on a budget. Hosting giveaways on organizing blogs has proven to be an excellent way for Melissa to attract her ideal customer and grow her business. She admits that the only two giveaways that didn’t have a great return were on frugal living blogs. The one exception? A giveaway on MoneysavingMom was her most successful ever, but this is because her readership is so large. So even though the focus is on frugal living, there is a lot of overlap with other topics as well. Growing Through AuthenticityMelissa is someone who lives the business she’s created. She’s not just a crafter who makes wallets because she can, she’s been an avid user of her own product for years. She’s passionate about helping others to get out of debt and live on a budget. She’s earned the trust of her customers because they know she doesn’t have a secret stash of credit cards on the side. Melissa shared this story with us to illustrate: In March, a potential customer just starting her Financial Peace journey wanted to place an order and asked if I would allow her to pay half up front and half when it was finished since she didn't have the full amount available right then. At the risk of losing the sale altogether, I had to say no. I explained that I am so passionate about people living debt-free and within their means that I could never in good conscience put myself in the place of a lender. I encouraged her to save up for it and that the freedom she would experience from following a budget and making those little decisions along the way to becoming debt-free would be worth it. Yesterday I received an order from that very same gal with this note: "Hi Melissa!! I FINALLY was able to save up enough money to make this purchase...thank you, Jesus!! I appreciate your not being willing to let me make payments on it a few months back {I just realized now that I never responded to your response; I totally forgot - I'm sorry!!}. The purchase is going to be even more special, now that I've had to work for it! " I was reminded of two things: Melissa shared a favorite quote that sums up her philosophy: “Activity follows identity.” - Jeff Goins How to Migrate from Blogger to WordpressMelissa took the 5 best How-to posts on the topic, compared them all side-by-side, and went through the process systematically, step-by-step. She then developed her site on a test URL so she could do things one at a time, and no one saw your site as she was working. Finally, she pointed servers to her domain, put her site in maintenance mode, and then took 24 hours or less to make sure everything was working fine before going public. For someone who’s not interested in learning the step-by-step process, Melissa recommends hiring from GretchenLouise.com Gretchen also has a new 31 day series on becoming savvy with Wordpress! Shop PluginsEtsy 360 – provides a shop link in the navigation menu that brings up a visual form of your Etsy shop on your own website, while payment transactions still occur on Etsy itself. A Time For Everything’s New FocusEver since she began selling her own products, keeping up with her blog became difficult to manage. Melissa misses that connection with her readers, so she’s starting her new website with a new focus. She admits that when she starts a new project she’s often overly optimistic, not able to keep up, and then gets discouraged and gives up altogether. This time, Melissa says she will, “Do it Afraid.” Lucky for us, she’s kicking off her blog’s new focus with 31 Days to Managing Your Time Talent, and Treasure. Her blog’s new tagline is Managing Time, Talent, and Treasure for His Glory. How did she come up with this? She asked her readers to figure out what they wanted to see most! Reader SurveyMelissa used a Form in GoogleDocs with multiple choice questions as well as "Rate from 1-10 based on interest." She linked to the form in her email newsletter and on Facebook. She received about 100 responses, which was not as many as she had hoped for. Melissa chose not to offer an incentive or giveaway, but she’s encouraged that those who did take the time to complete the survey are her ideal readers – the most committed and interested. An SEO Tip You Can’t Afford to IgnoreFocus on the titles of each product. Put relevant information at the very beginning of the product listing. Ex. Cash Envelope System versus Cute Blue Wallet. Use words people actually search for when they’re ready to buy, and use Etsy’s search bar for related suggestions. We’ve got more info on Etsy SEO and finding the right Keywords right here! Etsy Christmas Tips
Shop Workflow and Staying OrganizedUse the Print Edit Function in Firefox. It’s right in her toolbar. Melissa goes to the sole order, hovers over a sale, clicks and it will isolate just the orders she wants to print. Melissa prints orders according to the day they’re scheduled to be shipped. She staples together all the orders for each day, cuts fabric for that shipping day, and then has a system to keep all the orders together that ship on a given day. At one point, Melissa was so overwhelmed with orders from a blog mention on IHeartOrganizing that she had to shut down her shop for a weekend. She realized that she was catering to her customers by relisting orders that had sold out and spending 2 hours a day just on convos and making listings. Now, Melissa has a listing called the Divide-It Wallet in Your Choice of Fabric that includes longer turn-around times. This allows customers to purchase a custom item that’s not pre-made, but it saves Melissa hours on convos and custom listings. Now when Melissa hosts a hugely successful giveaway, she doesn’t have to shut down her shop to keep up. (Genius idea – Melissa!) Stay in Touch with Melissa!ATimeForEverything.net What are your takeaways from Melissa's interview? Is there a problem of yours you can solve that would help others too? (Like Jocelyn?) Do you have a passion you live out daily that could also be a business? (Kristen and Amanda do!) Maybe you're just feeling more equipped to tackle that tech issue on your blog. (I know I am!) Let's chat in the comments!
Direct download: Episode2048_mixdown20final20220Melissa.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 7 October 2014
When you add up all of her accolades, you might feel a bit inadequate in comparison. Kat Lee is a blogger, podcaster, speaker, and writer. Yet, despite all of this, she’s insanely humble and fun! The last thing Kat would ever want to do is make someone else feel “less than”. She’s an encourager by nature, and after learning some of her productivity tips, you may find that you can get more done too! Interviewing Kat was incredibly refreshing, because she never focuses on the numbers or the bottom line, but rather, how she can help and encourage others. Kat has traveled with and is an advocate for Compassion International. Her e-book, Maximize Your Mornings has been downloaded over 15,000 times. The book launched a movement called HelloMornings. It’s a thriving community centered on keeping one another encouraged and accountable to waking up early, exercising, spending time with God, and being intentional about their days. Kat and her husband live in Texas with their three children. Besides writing, podcasting, and encouraging others, Kat loves running, God, and Tex Mex food. On the Podcast05:59 – How an E-book became a Movement How an E-book became a MovementWhen Kat wrote Maximize your mornings, she never expected that an e-book on waking up early would become so popular! Women were resonating with the idea of starting their days with intention. Fellow blogger, Katie Orr, approached Kat about turning the blog post series, HelloMornings into a group challenge. Women signed up and were placed in groups to hold each other accountable to waking up early, spending time with God, exercising, and planning their days. The first time around, a couple hundred people joined the challenge. The movement has now grown into several thousand women who are connecting and encouraging one another. Over 40 countries are represented in the HelloMornings community! Accepting Help and Acknowledging your StrengthsKat quickly realized as she was trying to match women to the right accountability groups that she is not a details person. As she put it, her brain was exploding! Kat took a step back from HelloMornings and allowed Katie Orr to take it over and get things in order. Now she’s come back in, but with a renewed vision for what her role should be. Inspiring people, casting vision, encouraging others, and leading well are among Kat’s strengths. Stepping away from the details is a smart move for her. (What a great lesson for all of us: If we’re not gifted at something there’s no need to struggle through it; just surround yourself with others who can shine in that role.) How Kat Does it All (Plus 3 Apps that help!)Kat wakes up at 5:30 each morning. Right now with her children starting school early, this only gives her about 30 minutes to spend time with God, order her to-do list, do a tiny bit of exercise, and then she’s off to get the kids up and out the door to school. Kat heads back to the office around 8 AM to start her work day. She has about 5 hours to work until her kids get home from school. After those 5 hours, she tries not to do anything work-related. She spends time with her kids, has dinner with her family, and relaxes with a book before bed. 3 Apps to Stay ProductiveToDoist.com – The app allows Kat to organize all of the items on her to-do list, break them into smaller tasks, and keep track of them no matter where she is. 30/30 App – Kat can list tasks, allot time to each one, then press play to start the timer and race against the clock. Coffitivity – The app provides coffee shop background noise. Kat also likes to play classical music on Pandora. Kat says her 3 favorite apps + Pandora combine her love for people, classical music to make her feel smart, and her love of sports and competition in racing against the clock! How to Blog Like a NinjaKat asserts that we can eat up far too much time just trying to decide what to do or what topic to write about. Instead, she recommends a 3-Hat system.
Fake it Til You Make ItAs a beginning podcaster, Kat decided to just fake it til she made it. One of the first interviews she did was with Andy Andrews. The more she researched him, the more she realized he was kind of a big deal. He’s given talks for NATO, met with presidents, and written best-selling books. “Here I am sitting in my little closet office, a stay-at-home mom interviewing him,” Kat says. Before they got on the line she just thought to herself, “He doesn’t know any different. For all he knows I’m a highly professional podcaster who has done this for years.” Kat planned everything out and let Andy know what her goals were for the interview, how they would help the listener, and how she was going to do things. (It went great!) Masterminds: Tips for Forming Them and a Helpful AppKat recommends that you put together a wishlist of the people who really inspire you and who you connect with. She notes that you shouldn’t feel timid about asking people who appear “much bigger than you” online. “You really never know how much of a community they may have online.” Maybe you’ll be just the support and encouragement they need. “The more no’s you get the more likely you are to get some great yes’s” Kat loves using Voxer for her mastermind groups. (We looked it up because we've never heard of it! It's a walkie-talkie like system with live voice, texts, and photos. I think if I got this app, Sarah would murder her phone with all the live voice messages she'd get of all my crazy ideas!) Kat’s Life-Changing TripKat is part of the Compassion Blogger program. Compassion is a child sponsorship organization that provides food, clothing, and education for children around the world in need. A few years ago, Kat had the privilege of going on a Compassion Blogger trip to the Philippines. Kat is half-Filipino, but never had the chance to know her mom. She grew up with her All-American Dad with no connection to her mom's side of her family. She was able to connect with a cousin via Facebook, and on the same day that she met the child her own family was sponsoring, she arrived back at the hotel to see 18 members of her family there waiting to meet her for the first time. Wow! There are just no words to express this life-changing trip. It impacted Kat’s life forever, but through her blog, she’s been able to impact so many other people as well. Kat is pictured below with Maricor, the child she and her family sponsor through Compassion
The Foothills of Success (and other thoughts on low points)Kat’s lowest point in blogging came just before one of her highest points. As she was preparing for the Compassion Blogger trip to the Philippines, she was utterly overwhelmed. She was about to fly around the world, barely knowing a single soul on the trip, and getting ready to meet her family for the first time. Just before the trip, she was insanely busy matching women with accountability groups for HelloMornings. Finally, her last straw was broken in two as she was told during church small group that it was her turn to watch the kids. Meltdown. It was too much in that moment! Yet just a week later, she’d have the most amazing experience of her life. (Kat also learned through this experience the importance of delegating and playing to her strengths. There’s a purpose for every struggle!) What Matters MostKat isn’t particularly motivated by money or traditional standards of success.
(Wow, we’re so inspired by Kat’s passion to encourage others and make a difference! I hope that all of us can get back to that singular focus of helping others.) Why Kat Doesn’t Rely on Her Blogging IncomeKat doesn’t want her family to ever feel like her blogging income is something they need to depend on. Her priority is ultimately her kids and family, so she wants to be able to step down at any time if her family needs more of her attention. Right now, the money is just being saved in an account, and they’re not sure what they’ll do with it. Kat also shares a funny story about how committed she and her husband were to paying off debt in the early years of their marriage. Tune in to hear it! Favorite Business BooksAnything by John Maxwell Kat confesses that she reads his business books just as much to learn about being a good mother as to learn about growing her blog and podcast. Leadership is so applicable to our roles as moms! Uncommon Focus
The playing field is wide open with this quote. Anybody can be successful if they narrow in, and don’t let the distractions take over. Stay in Touch with Kat!InspiredtoAction.com Another Pinnable Quote for you below. Kat had so many words of wisdom to share!
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Thu, 2 October 2014
The IRS and Small Business |
Tue, 30 September 2014
Today’s podcast is a special treat (pun somewhat intended!) Beth Walburger is the owner of Little Delights Cakes – a small business where she creates cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops. She does it with tons of artistic flair too! Sarah and I were so excited to welcome our first “foodie” mom to the show. There are certainly some unique challenges to running a food-based business, and Beth guides us through many of those. Beth’s business started when she began spending more time at home due to her youngest two sons’ disabilities. Knowing that she wanted to be around to care for them but also wanting something just for her, Little Delights grew from a hobby to a small business that helps their family. (One important note: Beth’s business is still considered a hobby with income. Listen to the podcast to discover the important distinction and how it helps Beth to keep doing what she loves!) Listen to Discover:01:30 – How Beth Crafted a Business that Works Around Her Family’s Needs Crafting a Business with Family FirstBeth’s fourth son was born with special needs. With a tracheotomy and a feeding tube, their family’s life was drastically changed. Beth was home more often taking care of her son. 18 months later, their youngest son was also born with some of the same special needs. What started as a hobby (making more elaborate birthday cakes for her own kids, creating the perfect frosting recipe, and emailing her friends to offer her services) became a small business as word of mouth spread throughout their California town and her own friends shared her talents with their connections on social media. Too Much Growth – How Beth Staves off OverwhelmAs word of her talent at creating the perfect cake spread, Beth started to feel completely overwhelmed. She avoids this by simply setting a firm cut-off date for more elaborate cakes. She’s completely honest with customers who may want something fancy on short notice. She simply can’t do it. Beth says that most customers understand that if they want something very elaborate and specific, they need to get in touch with her many weeks in advance. If not, she can offer simple cupcakes or something else. Simply saying “no” when she can’t handle any more orders has been a huge help to Beth. (Sometimes it’s hard for us to say “no” when we feel like we’re turning business away, but when you have talent like Beth, the business will continue to roll in! Beth prioritizes her family and sanity by saying “no” when the time calls for it.) Product Planning and ProductionInventory is a completely different beast with a food-based business. Beth’s secret is to make the cakes ahead, wrap them really, really well, and freeze them for up to two weeks. She decorates her cakes the day before the event. Fondant can be created off of the cake in advance as well. (Check out this adorable Frozen Cake Beth made! Wow, she's got talent!) 60,000 Pinterest Followers – How She Did it!
In 2 years, Beth has built a following of over 61,000 (as of the podcast airdate, 9/30/2014) (This is pretty incredible since many bloggers like Abby consider Pinterest to be their highest traffic-referrer. Way to go, Beth!) Guidance for Her BusinessAt each step in her business, Beth re-evaluates things, prays about them, and asks herself, “do I feel good about this? Should I move forward?" So far, the answer has always been yes. Beth says her first goal is to be a mom, and the other stuff is (no pun intended!) icing on the cake. Hobby with Income + Happy IRSBeth is able to work out of her home kitchen, because she is technically a “Hobby with Income.” If she wanted to get a business license, she’d have to re-do her kitchen in order to adhere to some very strict health codes. Some moms in the food industry choose to rent out a kitchen so that they can be an official business. Beth says, there’s a certain amount of money you can make before you have to be a business. It’s a pretty high level of income, so she’s not worried about it at this point. As she says, being a hobby with income is a good way to go when you’re getting started. (Seriously, what a great idea! For moms out there considering a food business, there might not be as many barriers to entry as you think!) Best Business Advice(Our takeaway: Passion + Value = Business Growth) Beth's Website & Social MediaFacebook: LittleDelightsCupcakes Wasn't it fun getting to know Beth and her story? What do you think: Will you give Pinterest some more thought and serious strategy? What about taxes and business details? Is there anything you'll change? Let's chat in the comments! ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode204520Beth20Walburger_mixdown20final202.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:27am EDT |
Fri, 26 September 2014
If you're a creative entrepreneur or blogger, you may not have given much thought to creating an email list. "Isn't that for big retailers and marketers with product launches?" you might ask. While email is certainly for those people, it's FOR YOU too. Email is one of the most effective ways for any brand, Etsy shop owner, or blogger to connect with their readers, fans, and customers. Today on the podcast, I hope I can bring that point home! The purpose here isn't just to convince you that having an email list is important, but to hold your hand and show you how easy it can be to set up that list and start growing it. You can SO do this! On second thought, holding hands feels a little weird. Why don't we just chat in the kitchen while our kids wreak havoc around us? That's a more realistic picture. (P.S. I fully expect some hugs and high-fives a year from now when everyone reading this has a thriving email list. Nope, it doesn't matter how much you complain or drag your feet, we're doing this, and as I love to tell Holden: the sooner you start the sooner you'll be done and you can go play!) On the podcast:
Stats on Email Marketing (convinced, yet?)
4 Places Where Your Email Opt-in Box Belongs
5 Ideas for a Compelling Opt-in Offer
Resources mentioned:SPI 78: Rapid List-Building with Clay Collins of LeadPages The Nathan Barry Show Episode 2: Email Marketing with James Clear, Brennan Dunn, and Corbett Barr Derek Halpern Twitter versus Email Experiment (you have to watch the video to hear about it) What do you think? Are you convinced that your email list is important? If you have questions on getting started, putting your opt-in box on your site, or creating a great offer, don't worry! We'll be tackling email marketing for the next two weeks of 52 Weeks to a Better Business. Join us, we'd love to have you! ~ Beth Anne |
Tue, 23 September 2014
We all have expertise on certain topics that could be of help to others. You may not realize that your current job or hobbies could be leveraged into a successful online business. Jocelyn Sams is proof that this is the case. In fact, she and her husband Shane have had a 6-figure month in their online business. Talking with Jocelyn has taught us that if you focus, work hard, and keep going, six figures can absolutely be achieved. Jocelyn and her husband have transitioned from being teachers to working full-time in the online business space. Jocelyn is a certified library media specialist for grades K-12, and her website is ElementaryLibrarian.com. She has a blog, podcast, and frequently does webinars where she shares great advice for elementary school librarians. This expertise has paid off in the form of lesson plans for elementary school librarians that Jocelyn sells on her site. Listen to hear her incredible story, along with her best tips for growing your audience and becoming a pro at sales without being “salesy” about it! On the Podcast02:17 – From 11 Cents to a Successful Business From 11 Cents to a Successful BusinessJocelyn’s husband Shane started listening to podcasts about growing an online business while he was mowing the lawn one day. He was so excited about everything that he was learning, that he stopped the mower, ran inside and told Jocelyn all about it. Knowing that Shane is a “shiny objects” kind of guy, she smiled and nodded and assumed that he’d be onto his next big thing soon. This time, things were different. Shane created some websites, and he kept researching and learning all he could about making money online. He was convinced that he could prove to Jocelyn that this would work. Despite a lack of early success, Shane stuck with it and kept going. One night, as he and Jocelyn were relaxing with their computers, he started screaming excitedly that they had made 11 cents!!! Someone had clicked on one of the Google Adsense Ads he had on a site. Jocelyn said that this was a lightbulb moment for her in thinking, “woah, people will actually give you money online.” She thought to herself, “If he can make some money, then maybe I can too.” Turning a Problem into a Solution that Others Will Pay ForJocelyn was an elementary school librarian, and her principal had been asking her to create some very specific lesson plans that met national standards. She didn’t have time to work on these plans during the school day. She wondered if there was a way for her to purchase lesson plans, edit them a bit to make them her own, and save herself a lot of time and effort. She started searching and couldn’t find what she was looking for, but she knew that if she had this problem, chances were there were other librarians with the same pain point. Over the summer, she created ElementaryLibrarian.com to test the idea that she could sell library lesson plans online. She knew in the back of her mind that if the project completely failed, at least she’d have the lesson plans ready for herself when she returned to school in the fall. When Jocelyn set up her website, an email opt-in box was one of the first things she added. She had learned from Shane that collecting emails was very important for an online business. For her email opt-in offer, Jocelyn gave away an entire MONTH of lesson plans for free! Essentially, she wanted to see if people were interested in the lesson plans and get them onto her email list. After she gauged interest and had quite a few people who wanted her lesson plans, she went to market selling the second month of plans. When Jocelyn first started selling, she only had two months of lesson plans completed. She continued creating more lesson plans throughout the school year. Jocelyn essentially worked two jobs that year. One, as an elementary school librarian, the second as an online business owner, and let’s be honest, the third and fourth jobs as a mom to two young children! (We think Jocelyn’s strategy of just creating one small product at a time was so smart! She didn’t kill herself creating a year of lesson plans before she proved that the market for her product existed. She created each month of plans only after she knew that there were customers ready to buy.) Growing Your AudienceJocelyn shared 4 Killer Strategies for growing your audience online. The best news? They’re all free!
The Power of WebinarsJocelyn shares that she and Shane are still new to webinars, but hosting them has been wildly successful for their business. Her tips and best practices for Webinars:
A Six Figure MonthJocelyn and Shane had a huge product launch in the summer of 2014. Their goal was to have a six figure summer of sales between June, July, and August. Instead, they accomplished their goal in July alone! Jocelyn confesses that sometimes their business and life still doesn’t seem real! They see themselves as just “regular people” who work really hard and don’t give up. The Tipping PointAfter Shane and Jocelyn had been doing business online for about a year, they had their first five-figure month in July of 2013. In August, they almost tripled their July sales! The year before, they essentially had two full-time jobs with teaching and running their online business. They both knew that they were forfeiting their quality of life to grow their business. In August of 2013, Shane and Jocelyn gave their notice and quit their jobs as teachers. Jocelyn confesses that she left a job that she really liked, but at the same time, she knew that if she wanted to have more time with her family, it was the right move for them. What Does Life Look Like Now?Shane and Jocelyn get to work when they want to (and play when they want to!) They travel more frequently and do a lot of work on the road. They use childcare during the week, but they take every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off to have 3 solid days as a family. Jocelyn’s advice for those who are trying to grow an online business?
Jocelyn and Shane’s “Flipped Lifestyle”With their recent success, Shane and Jocelyn have been fielding many requests from others wanting to know how to start and grow their own businesses. Since there are only so many hours in the day, they started their own podcast and website dedicated to helping others achieve what they’ve achieved online. You can find it at FlippedLifestyle.com Hiring and Training Virtual AssistantsShane and Jocelyn use O-desk to find virtual assistants. They list job descriptions and wait for people to respond. After that, they do a basic Skype interview with their top contenders to see who will be a good fit for the job. To train their VA’s and save themselves a lot of headaches, they create screen capture videos to explain exactly what they want done. Then, when the VA has questions, they can refer back to the video. Jocelyn also tries to give her VA’s repetitive tasks that don’t involve a lot of independent decision-making to make the process run more smoothly. She recommends Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker * to help you get started in hiring help online. For website design, Shane and Jocelyn use Jocelyn’s sister Andrea Whitmer at Nuts and Bolts Media Jocelyn’s Favorite Online ToolCanva is a graphic design website that has so many templates to help you create cover pages, facebook ads, or just about anything you might need. Jocelyn says that it’s super fast to use and create something great. Jocelyn’s Advice on Growing a BusinessFocus on one thing at a time. Jocelyn believes that simply getting things done is the most important thing. There are a lot of people who want to work on one project for a little while, then float to another project, then come back to something later. When you work like that, it’s difficult to fully complete a project or to really do it well. She and Shane set long-term, short-term and immediate goals for their business. Based on those goals, they decide what they’re going to work on next. Should You Walk Away?Although Shane and Jocelyn have experienced great success online, she shares 3 factors to consider if you’re on the verge of giving up.
Jocelyn thinks that paid strategies will likely tell you more than free ones. If you’re paying for people to see your product and they’re still not buying it, that may indicate that the market is not there. A Business Book to Help You Define your CustomerJocelyn recommends Start with Why by Simon Sinek * The premise of the book is that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. She says that the book will help you to define your ideal customer and solidify what you should focus on moving forward. You’ll have to listen to the end to hear Jocelyn’s Funny Mom Moment, courtesy of her five year-old Isaac! Where Can You Find Jocelyn?Jocelyn and Shane’s new website and Podcast: FlippedLifestyle (*asterisk denotes affiliate link. We use affiliate links for products that we have personally used and loved or products that come highly recommended from business moms we trust) I love Jocelyn's advice on just focusing on one thing. What's the one thing you need to do to grow your business right now. See how we're focusing on one thing right now. P.S. Another husband and wife duo and a brilliant mom who loves books!
Direct download: Episode204320Jocelyn20Sams_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Thu, 18 September 2014
If you are a handmade crafter, selling your products at craft shows can be a great way to earn money and get instant feedback. Customer feedback is a vital part of running a successful handmade business, and there is honestly not a better way to get feedback than by talking to customers in person. For those of you who don't know, Beth Anne and I got started in business initially by selling handmade jewelry with other family members. After several years we decided to go in a different direction, but ultimately the experiences we gained running that handmade business have been invaluable for us in our other endeavors. With the handmade jewelry business we attended several craft shows each year, so these tips are derived from my personal experience. Picking the perfect craft show to sell your goods is important because craft shows cost money, and they take a lot of time. And time and money are obviously things you don't want to waste. So follow my tips to picking the perfect craft fair for selling your handmade artisan wares! #1 Start Visiting Craft Shows Now!The best way to discover if a craft show is a good fit for you, is to visit it before you apply. Scope out the fair for attendance, type of customer, type of vendors, table setups, and more. Vendors are a friendly bunch, so talk with them about their success at this particular event, and other venues they regularly sell at. Also keep in mind that applications for fall craft shows are often due in the spring, so get your name on the application mailing list early. #2 Consider the Audience of the Craft ShowDoes the demographic of the craft show attendees fit well with your product? If you have a hip product geared for 20 somethings and the average age of attendees is 75, take that into consideration. In addition, are the other vendors selling outdated crafts, or would your product fit in nicely with the selection offered? Also consider the neighborhood in which the craft show is located. A craft show in an area with more disposable income will probably result in attendees willing to spend more money, which is always a good thing! #3 CostIt may help you to think in terms of what you will need to sell to break even. If a show costs $80 per table, and your product costs $8 each, you will need to sell 10 items to break even. Also keep in mind that the cost of a show is more than just the booth fee. There will be costs involved in making a pleasing display as well as cost of goods sold. #4 Bigger is not Always BetterWe once participated in a show (without attending first!) where the tables were so close together, the aisles were cramped, there were two buildings to get through, all of which did not make for a pleasant shopping environment for patrons. In addition, if you saw something early in the day, it would have been next to impossible to get back to their booth later in the day to make a purchase. Although this event was well attended, our sales did not reflect that. In this particular case, the big show was not better. On the other hand, we sold at a very large outdoor show each year that had a very pleasant shopping environment with wide aisles and easy access. This show was consistently our best each year. #5 Consider Outdoor vs. IndoorThere is something about an outdoor craft event which is just so nice and makes for pleasant shopping. The outdoor event we sold at each year was consistently our best show, except for the one year we had bad weather. Weather can be a major draw back for outdoor shows, in addition, the cost to set up an outdoor booth is often greater than an indoor booth. An outdoor booth requires a tent, tables, chairs, and extra provisions, while at an indoor event the tables and chairs are often provided, and tent is not needed. It certainly takes more effort to set up an outdoor booth, but the atmosphere for an outdoor show can be really nice. #6 Consider AmenitiesThe main amenity to consider here is electricity. If you rely on electricity for your display or product, be sure to look into availability early. Many venues have limited electricity or they charge extra for electricity. #7 Only Handmade?A craft and "vendor" show is going to have more than just handmade crafts. A wide variety of businesses will be present. Most likely you will have the most success at a show that only features handcrafted items. #8 Is it Juried?A juried show requires you to submit photos with your application. High quality craft shows are most often juried. If a craft show is willing to accept anyone, the quality of combined crafters will be lower. #9 Is it Online?I mention this one with a caveat, most of the shows we attended were well established local events that did not necessarily have an online presence, and we did very well at these shoes. But obviously everything being online is the way of the world, so especially if your item is geared to a young crowd, then I think a craft show with an online presence would be important. #10 Mix it upEven after finding the perfect craft show to sell your products, you may still need to mix it up a bit. We found that year after year the same people attend the same craft shows. So if they bought from you last year, they may not need to buy more, even if they loved their purchase. Market saturation can occur with your products, and therefore sales will decrease a little each year. Attending different craft shows in different areas will help. Hopefully by following these 10 tips, you will find a fantastic craft show to sell your handmade items and make a killing! Craft shows are a time-intensive endeavor, so you want to choose carefully. Do you have any more tips for selecting a craft show? -Sarah |
Tue, 16 September 2014
Talking to go-getter business moms is always a great time! What I love most about Sandy’s story is that she saw a gaping hole in the marketplace, and rather than throw up her hands, she got to work creating the perfect product to meet her need. By creating SpenceBaby, Sandy solved not only her own problem of finding fashionable, organic baby clothing, but she solved the problem that many other moms were facing as well. Did we mention that Sandy and her husband have created and grown SpenceBaby while both of them continue to work full-time day jobs? As Sandy says, “Sometimes you have to make some sacrifices in order to make things happen.” Sandy and her husband Paul are definitely making things happen. They recently returned from the ABC Expo in Las Vegas - the largest baby and child expo in the world! Scroll down to see pictures of their booth – it looked AMAZING! If you’ve ever considering launching your own clothing line, this episode is packed with some insider info on how you might be able to get started. For any other moms out there with a brilliant business idea that seems too big to achieve, listen on! On the Podcast:01:06 – Turning a Problem into a Business Learn even more on the podcast, such as what a GOTS certification is all about, why it’s so important to Sandy, who designs the clothes for Spencebaby, and what customers have to say about the quality of their product. Turning a Problem into a BusinessWhen Sandy discovered that her sister-in-law was pregnant and expecting a girl, she began the hunt for adorable, organic baby clothing. Although she was able to find some organic options, there wasn’t much style involved! The same uninspired onesie and romper styles kept turning up. Not long after this, Sandy discovered that she was pregnant too. Creating fashionable, organic baby clothing became a passion. Her husband, Paul, has always been entrepreneurial, so together they started SpenceBaby, named in honor of their daughter, Spencer. Finding a Supplier & ManufacturerFinding the right manufacturer for their clothing line, as well as the right suppliers to source their fabrics proved to be a long process. Sandy and Paul knew that they wanted to use GOTS-certified suppliers and manufacturers. For fashion newbies like us, Sandy explained that a GOTS certification covers so much more than just being “organic”. Organic fabrics are created without the use of pesticides, but a GOTS certification means that every step of the manufacturing process must be free of harmful or toxic chemicals. This regulates the dyes that can be used in the fabrics, the materials that can be used in the buttons and zippers on a clothing item, and so much more. To find a GOTS-certified manufacturer that was reputable and trustworthy, Sandy did lots of searching online. She found Alibaba to be an excellent source as it’s user-friendly and provided tons of options for her to explore. Once she found some different options, she was able to get samples made and sent to her and then decide which suppliers and manufacturer to use. The Beauty of BootstrappingSarah and I were so surprised to learn that Sandy and Paul started SpenceBaby using only their own capital. They are bootstrapping it all the way! Sandy says that they thought long and hard about this venture. They really believe in their product, so they decided to jump in and do it! Guess what?! Sandy designs all the clothes for SpenceBaby too. She has 20 years’ experience as a visual merchandise manager, and she considers everything from the cut, sizing, colors, style, and all the little details in each piece. 1 Day, 8 Babies, & a Beautiful Photo ShootWe’ve included a link to SpenceBaby’s Fall Lookbook (isn’t it gorgeous?!) and we just had to pick Sandy’s brain on how she pulled this one off! (If it had been up to me to handle a photo shoot with 8 babies, we all would have wound up in a crying, spit-up-filled heap!) Tips for a Great Photo Shoot
(This cutie certainly looks happy to be photographed! Sandy gave us so many adorable, gorgeous photos that we just had to share as many as we could with you throughout this blog post! Hope you enjoy them!) How She Does ItSandy still works a full-time job, so she’s up at 6, gets Spencer up at 7, then it’s off to daycare and work. At the end of the day, she and Spencer take the dogs out, then her husband arrives home. Then it’s cooking dinner, watching Spencer, bath-time, bedtime for baby, and then finally at that point, Sandy can begin work on SpenceBaby. "Everything happens when Spencer is sleeping,” says Sandy. She also mentions that her husband, Paul does the website work, and he does most of that on the weekends while Sandy is watching Spencer. As Sandy puts it, “we’re looking at it as a small sacrifice now for a big win later.” Marketing – what works & what doesn’tWhat works: What doesn’t: Not sure: Thinking about partnering with bloggers for your business? Grab more info here. Order Fulfillment, Inventory, & Staying OrganizedSandy and Paul fulfill all the orders from the website themselves. Some of their products are selling on Amazon, so fortunately those items are fulfilled there. SpenceBaby has an excellent inventory system built into their website, and beyond that Sandy uses OfficeOnline and OneDrive so she has access to her excel and word docs whenever she needs them. She uses Trello to make lists and organize her workflow. Even Go-getters have Low PointsSandy confesses that her lowest points are when she allows the fear of failure to take over. When she starts to wonder, “what if this doesn’t work?” she knows she’s keeping herself from simply doing the work that needs to be done. Her husband Paul sometimes believes in her more than she believes in herself, and he pushes her to be better, work harder, and helps her when she’s feeling overwhelmed. (Many of the other mom entrepreneurs we’ve interviewed talk about the importance of having their husband as a business partner and/or huge supporter of them. Having that extra support can make a huge difference!) Making this Muddled World a Better Place…Sandy’s favorite quote:
The ABC ExpoThe ABC Expo (All Baby and Child) is the largest trade show for kids and baby in the world, and Sandy and Paul almost didn’t get in! After first learning about the Expo, they realized that they had already missed the application deadline. Not easily deterred, they reached out to the expo and just asked, “Is it too late? We’re a new company and we’d love to be a part of this.” Someone from the expo responded back and let them in! Sandy reported back to us that the expo resulted in some great orders and lots of potential new clients. Congrats to you two! Below are some photos of their booth at the expo. Isn’t it incredible?
Stay in touch with Sandy and SpenceBaby!Spencebaby.com |
Thu, 11 September 2014
#1 Consistency There are a number of ways to be a consistent blogger. The first is to blog on a consistent schedule. You want your readers to look forward to the next post that they know will come out on schedule. The second way to be consistent is to be consistently you. Write as if you were having a conversation with a friend. If you are trying to write like you're someone else, the façade will be difficult to keep up. By being genuinely and consistently you, a level of trust is developed between you and your readers. The third way to be consistent is to reliably produce good quality material. Followers will keep coming back to quality work, but will quickly lose interest if the quality is not there. Increase comments by being consistent; consistently blogging, consistently you, and consistent quality. #2 Honor your Reader Your readers are your most important asset and they should be treated that way. Kristen of The Frugal Girl does a great job at this. She takes down ads if they are too annoying to her readers, and she is very careful to only recommend products she truly loves. In this way she is developing a deep level of trust between her and her readers. A follower who feels like they can trust the blogger is much more likely to comment. Another way to honor your reader and build trust is to reply and respond to as many comments and emails as possible. Readers will be ecstatic that you took the time to reply to their comment or respond to their email, which will only encourage them to comment and engage even more. #3 Ask for Feedback or Help Anne of Modern Mrs. Darcy does a great job of asking her readers for feedback at the end of each post. She says things like "What do you think about this? How do you handle that situation? Have you ever done this?" By just asking for feedback, you are much more likely to get that feedback from your readers. Asking readers for help and advice can also really get the ball rolling. In one particular post, Kristen asked for some help to find a good recipe for extra cabbage she had. Cabbage! And the response was huge. People love to provide help when they can. Ask for help and you will get floods of comments. Related to this, Kristen was getting inundated with reader questions emailed to her. She wanted her answers to benefit more than just one reader, so she turned reader questions into Q&A posts. Genius! After she answers the question, she asks other readers to weigh in on their answers too. By showcasing reader questions, she is showing that she truly values the questions and input of her readers. #4 Be Interesting and Brave The fact of the matter is, if you're not interesting, no one will read, and no one will comment. People want to hear about the part of you that makes you different from everyone else. Discuss things that truly matter to you. And if you're willing, be brave and share your opinion on a controversial or sensitive topic. Controversy always generates a lot of comments! Share your opinion in a conversational way, not like a lecture. Set a tone for kind discussion, and your readers will follow suit in their comments. Be prepared to listen to what your readers have to say on the topic too. Sensitive subjects don't have to be taboo, they can result in a lot of great discussion. #5 Make a Spelling Mistake This tip, that I got from a ProBlogger article, I think is hysterical! People love to correct your spelling mistakes! Can you spot the spelling mistake on this blog post? I'm sure I made a boar load of grammar errors too! Find them if you can! So how about you? How do you think that Anne and Kristen get such great reader comments? What are things you do to increase comments on your site? We would love to hear from you! -Sarah |
Tue, 9 September 2014
Kristen of thefrugalgirl.com is a perfect example of blogging your passion. She was just the kindest, friendliest lady to chat with. (Do we say this about all the moms we interview?! Probably because it’s true.) Every mom just amazes us with her talents, resourcefulness, and motivation to keep going. Kristen is no exception. She’s been blogging about food waste, frugal living, and being content with less since 2008. Did we mention that she does all this while homeschooling her four children? |
Thu, 4 September 2014
You work hard for your money... in the wee hours of the morning when your house is finally quiet and you can hear your own thoughts...in stolen moments during naptime or playtime... you've worked hard to grow your business or blog. You're ready to take it to the next level, but to do that, you might need to spend some of that hard-earned money. A conference could be a great way to learn tons of new skills, come up with new ideas to market or grow your audience, or give you the opportunity to meet and connect with other influencers in your niche. How do you know which conference is right for you? It seems like there are about a million to choose from. (We haven't counted, but we're pretty sure there ARE a million!) Although we wish we could push a magic button and out would pop the perfect conference for you, that's just not possible. (Or is it.... someone get on this business idea STAT!) Instead, we'll walk you through 10 factors that we think are really important to consider as you decide on which conference may be right for you. After all, your money and time are worth SO much! Before you click "buy now", we'll help you find the perfect fit. The 10 Factors to Consider in Choosing the Right Conference as a Busy Mom Entrepreneur
So I promised you a comparison chart with at least 8 conferences on it. I'll be honest, it doesn't look very pretty! The goal was to be really helpful, though, and if you open up the PDF of the conference chart below, you'll find that it's much easier to read and copy and paste the info that you need. What do you think; is it helpful to have a comparison table like this one? I'd love to break it down further into just handmade conferences, blogging conferences, social media, etc. There are just SO many, and each one has unique offerings. How to Choose a Conference that's right for you as a Busy Mom Entrepreneur: A Comparison Table (PDF) And a Pinnable Image so you won't forget to reference this list when you're ready to pick the perfect conference. Will you be attending any conferences in the next year? If so, which ones? We'd love to hear from you and how you made your decision! Stay in touch! ~ Beth Anne P.S. The only conference on our agenda at the moment is Social Media Success Summit. In the podcast, I talk a bit about our decision-making process. We hope to add more conferences to our schedule in 2015, and we'll keep you posted on where we'll be. It'd be so fun to meet some of you in person! We already think you're the best! |
Tue, 2 September 2014
Jessica Rhodes is the founder of Entrepreneur Support Services, Inc. - the parent company to InterviewConnections.com. Interview Connections helps podcasters to find incredibly interesting, engaging podcast guests that match the focus of their show. Jessica has built a business around connecting others, and she has an incredible knack for it! Interviewing Jessica was like catching up with an old friend. Maybe it’s our similar ages or the fact that despite having a successful business, she’s so laid-back and approachable. Grab some coffee, kick your feet up, and follow Jessica’s journey from her colossal jump off of a cliff to a successful business as a young mom. We have a feeling you’ll be thinking of Jessica as an old friend too….(an old friend who has TONS of great advice on growing and running a business!) What You’ll Learn on the Podcast:01:49 - Jessica’s Huge Jump (and how she built the parachute on the way down!) Jessica’s Huge JumpWhen Jessica found out she was expecting, she knew she wanted to be a stay-at-home Mom. She told her boss that she would be leaving her position in 6 months when the baby came along. She had no “Plan B”, and her husband’s job wasn’t enough to support the family. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are like that. We just jump off a cliff and build the parachute on the way down. (We love Jessica’s bold move! She knew the life she wanted, and she went for it!) How Connecting Others Became a BusinessJessica first starting working as a VA (virtual assistant) for her dad, Jim Palmer. One of the first things he asked her to do was to book him for interviews on podcasts. She and her father quickly realized how time-consuming this process can be, and she realized that there were probably other busy entrepreneurs out there who needed help booking interviews for their podcasts or being featured as guests on other shows. Life as a Work-at-Home MomJessica admits that life with a busy toddler looks much different than it did when Nathan was an infant. He used to sleep much more, and she would work on her laptop with him sleeping next to her. Now that Nathan is a busy little guy (who sleeps much less!) Jessica needs more time to grow her business. She uses a stay-at-home Mom as her in-home nanny, which allows her to work from 9-3 on most days. How Jessica Prevents Her Business From Taking Over Her LifeJessica recently made the resolution to not look at email or facebook until she’s in her home office. This means that Nathan gets her undivided attention in the mornings and the late afternoons/evenings. (She admits that this change happened recently, so we should check in on her to see how it’s going!) Firing Clients (and other challenges)Jessica has had clients who made decisions that she didn’t agree with, and so she had to let them go. She admits that it was really discouraging to hand over a refunded payment, but ultimately, she has to do what’s right for her business. (Way to stick to your guns, Jessica!) Other challenges that Jessica has faced included hiring the wrong people to outsource her work. “It’s better to pay more to someone who does better work than to just spend a couple of bucks and annoy your clients.” Where She Finds the Best Virtual AssistantsJessica uses Elance to find her graphic designers. She found one of her VA’s in a facebook group for VA’s. She now has a new VA to help her book interviews for her clients, and this VA happens to be a podcaster herself. (a win-win!) Insider Advice: Jessica does not recommend using Fiverr to outsource your work. Individuals on Fiverr will publicly display their work to others, so your clients might be a little annoyed if they see their designs on the site! Writing the Perfect Job Description for Freelance Work• Be as specific as possible (spell out every task and detail of the job). The Power of RelationshipsJessica has leveraged live conferences, mastermind groups, and business coaching to grow her business. At conferences, she has the chance to solidify past relationships made online, meet new people and clients, and get new referrals for her business. Through masterminds and coaching, Jessica gets really high-level advice from successful business people. She highly recommends investing in yourself and your business in these ways. Jessica’s Killer Conference StrategyThis one is too good to spell out in writing! Skip to 19:24 to hear her story. Choosing the Right ConferencesJessica learns tons of marketing advice by attending the Glazer-Kennedy-Insider Conferences. New Media Expo and Podcast Movement are two of her other favorites. Essentially, Jessica says, her clients are podcasters, so wherever they get together, she’s going to make sure she’s there too. In addition, her dad, Jim Palmer, hosts the Dream Business Academy which she always attends. Jessica’s Key to Project ManagementJessica uses this cloud-based project management software to keep track of all the projects she and her VA’s are working on. She can set a task, give a due date, upload files, and avoid emails and spreadsheets. Each of her clients at Interview Connections have access to their own projects so they can log in and check the status of things. (What a great idea!) Why She Pays Herself Very Little Despite a Six-figure BusinessA few months ago Jessica incorporated her business and started paying herself a salary from her business account. She confesses that despite having a six-figure business, what she chooses to pay herself is very, very little so that she can keep re-investing in the business. (There is an advantage to owning her own business; if the budget gets a little tight, Jessica can give herself a raise for the month!) Jessica’s Plans for GrowthJessica plans to take many of the day-to-day working in the business tasks off of her plate so that she can do everything she can to market her business. She plans to put out another e-book and start doing tele-seminars. (Her first e-book is Podcast Interviews, and you can grab it in the Kindle store! yep, we're endorsing it with an affiliate link!) As Jessica puts it, a business is something that you can leave, and things are still getting done.
The Best Business AdviceJessica’s mastermind group has offered her great business advice as she grows. The very best advice? Focus on marketing and growing the business you already have instead of coming up with new ideas and services to offer. (There may be a member of our team here at Brilliant Business Moms who REALLY needs to take this advice! Who me?! Naaaah.) Why Moms Get Made Fun of the Most!Jessica’s funny mommy moment had us all laughing. It’s totally true that as soon as you become a mom, your cool factor just disappears. (Who cares, right?! We’ve got bigger concerns.) Where to Find Jessica:Twitter: @jessrhodesess
Direct download: Episode203720jessica20rhoades20final_mixdown202.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Thu, 28 August 2014
So many of the women we have interviewed have shown us how they pursue integrity in their small business. In talking with Hayley and Katie, I was especially struck by the fact that ethical business practices were so important to them. This got me thinking about ways each of us can pursue integrity in our own businesses. As small business owners, our personal integrity is inexorably linked to the integrity of our business; the two are almost synonymous. So as we strive for integrity in our personal lives or business, it will naturally fall into the other area as well. Integrity is something that is a constant pursuit, we can never say we have arrived, but let us always strive toward integrity in everything we do. "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." -Alan K. Simpson "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out." Proverbs 10:9 Honestly, if you do this one thing, you'll stand out in a crowd! People are so rude anymore, and in the episode I get on a little soapbox about this and start harkening back to the difference in years gone by! I really feel very passionately that people need to be more kind, more gracious, more forgiving, and just generally nicer to each other! Related to this, when you are wrong, admit it. And if you're not wrong, admit you might have misunderstood and might be wrong! This position can lead to a conversation with the unhappy party instead of just the mutual pointing of fingers. #2 Be Honest and Trustworthy Make sure that your product is as you described and does what you say it will do. Do the advertisements on your blog go against something you believe in? Above all else, make sure you are genuine. Don't pretend to be something you are not just to get more readers. Everyone loves an honest blogger who will give full disclosure on her life and her projects. Conversely, don't be self deprecating just to fit in. Be proud of your accomplishments and strengths, and don't pretend you stink at something just to fit in. You have a unique set of talents and strengths. Be yourself, because you are great! #3 Meet Obligations and Be Reliable This one goes beyond more than just saying you'll do what you say you'll do. Are you doing 10 things and all of them poorly? Maybe it's time to trim down your commitment load and focus on only doing a few things well. How are you on answering emails? Even if you need to tell someone no, the courteous thing to do is to honor everyone with a reply. Being disorganized is not an excuse. If you are letting people down and letting emails go answered, then you have three choices: Get more organized and find better systems, say no to some commitments, or get help. #4 Be Passionate and Engaged If you are passionate about your business, you will produce a better quality product for your customer or client. Maybe you can take this one a step further and only hire people who are passionate about the business too. This will lead to happy customers, a happy business owner, and happy employees. #5 Be Consumed with the Needs of Others Wow! This was a point mentioned by Dave Ramsey on his Entreleadership site. This one can be tricky. It is so hard to put others before ourselves and worry about our customers more than our bottom line. You will have to listen to the episode though to find out what company I called out as being more interested in sales than me as a customer.
"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively." -Bob Marley "Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you." H Jackson Brown Jr.
A life of integrity is an ongoing pursuit. Let's encourage each other to live our lives and conduct our businesses with integrity. -Sarah |
Tue, 26 August 2014
With a thriving blog, conference, and membership site under her belt, there isn't much Hayley Morgan hasn't done. Not so fast... add designer and creator of an ethically-made clothing line for kids to the list! (Did we mention she has 4 young boys too?!) Hayley blogs at TheTinyTwig.com where she focuses on helping women to create lives with more passion and less fuss. Hayley is author of the e-book, The No-Brainer Wardrobe and Co-founder of the Influence Conference and Influence Network. Her newest venture is Wildly Co. – a collection of ethically manufactured kids clothing that Hayley designs herself. Just this month, her husband Mike quit his corporate gig to join Hayley on the business full-time. We love the faith and spirit of this entrepreneurial pair! Today on the podcast:03:13 - What Tipped the Scale for Hayley and her Husband Mike What Tipped the Scale for Hayley and her Husband MikeHayley’s husband Mike was doing small business development for a major corporation. He’s really gifted when it comes to working with small businesses and helping them to grow. Mike has been helping Hayley with her blog and other business ventures for quite a while, but the scale tipped when it became way to hard for him to balance his full-time job and their new company, Wildly Co. Hayley simply couldn’t grow the business anymore with just what she was able to put into it. She needed both Mike’s talent and time to take the business to the next level. Raise Money for your Business without Giving Away EquityCrowdfunding is a great way to raise money for your business without taking on investors and losing equity. With crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, a lot of people give small amounts of money. Instead of equity, the small business gives its funders something else of value such as a good or service. Wildly Co. launched a Kickstarter campaign on August 5th to raise $20,000 in 30 days in order to produce their fall capsule of clothing. With Kickstarter, the full goal must be met in order for the campaign to be funded and move forward. Wildly Co. is offering rewards from Hayley’s e-book, The No Brainer Wardrobe and a hand-written thank you note on a vintage postcard for a $10 contribution all the way up to a paid trip to design clothing with Hayley, see where Wildly clothing is made, and pick her brain on blogging and business for a $1000 contribution. (Sounds amazing!) Between these levels of funding, there are a wide range of receiving different pieces of apparel from the Wildly Co. collection. The clothing choices that backers make also helps Hayley and Mike to gauge interest in different colors, styles, and designs to help them make the right decisions moving forward. (a win-win!) How an Item we Use Every Day Became the Inspiration for an Ethical BusinessAs a mom to four boys, Hayley knows firsthand what a central role clothing plays in the life of a family. As she pulls each pair of clothing back out for the next little boy, she’s reminded of all the memories that have been made. As Hayley learned more about standard practices within the textile industry around the world, she realized that she couldn’t in good conscience, support her boys wearing clothing made by another mother’s children. Hayley and Mike created Wildly Co. to provide an ethically-made alternative for children’s clothing. While they fully support eco-friendly practices, for Hayley and Mike, the people have to come first. Their most important focus is on supporting the lives of the people who make their clothing and ensuring that they are paid a fair wage and work in a safe environment. See their story below: From Kindred Friendship to an Event and a Community of Like-Minded WomenHayley Morgan and Jessi Connolly feel that they were put into each other’s lives for a reason. They both connected over having children who were very sick for a time. Hayley says that she watched Jessi walk through that journey respectfully, joyfully, and faithfully. God was watching out for her by putting Jessi on her radar to prepare her for her own difficult journey. Finally, Hayley and Jessi were able to meet in person in a loud diner with many little kids between them. They walked away with a kindred friendship. A week later they began planning for the Influence Conference. Their vision was to bring like-minded blogging and business women together to pair a message of faith with a message of strategy. Hayley and Jessi committed to a conference contract with a hotel that cost as much as a new car, and they both found out that they were pregnant with child #4! (You two are rock stars!) As both Hayley and Jessi hobbled around the conference (each of them approaching 30 weeks!), they realized that the fun, creative, vibrant group of women who came together for the conference would want to connect for much longer than that weekend in September. The Influence Network, a membership site, was born and it is a much larger network than just the people who attend the physical conference each year. Futon Marketing and a Resounding YES!While sitting on a futon in Jessi’s office, she and Hayley made a list of their dream speakers for the conference. Every single one of them said YES! These two women “went to town marketing” as Hayley says. They rallied the women they saw, called out what they saw in them, and hoped they would be leaders within the Influence community. As they did this, these leaders brought their “people” with them, and a successful conference was born. The Women of InfluenceHayley confesses that setting up the membership site for the Influence Network was technical, which she didn’t know when she first started. She’s not sure if she would undertake the project again –knowing what she knows now—but that’s true of most of her projects.
Hayley was building the website for the Influence Network right up until she had her fourth baby! Now, the Influence Conference and Network are run by Hayley, Jessi, and four other women. Ashley runs the conference. Lindsey is the content manager and lines up interviews and photo shoots for marketing and member resources. Mariah is the customer care person before the point of sale. Rachel is head of member care. She runs the forums and coordinates the care and prayer team for any member who is going through a hard time. Each woman was hired in January of 2013, and they’ve had zero turnover. All but one are women who attended the conference and were already invested in the community. Hayley and Jessi knew their strengths ahead of time, and they are still doing great today! Hayley says it’s been a big shift from doing everything herself to delegating and learning people management skills. Hayley’s White Knuckle Period of Life (and what life looks like now!)When Hayley was starting the conference, she had one boy in kindergarten, one in preschool, one always with her, and was pregnant. It was one of those times of life where you kind of white knuckle and hold on and you wouldn’t want to do it for an extended period of time, but you get through it. Hayley says that she was still good at being a mom for the parts that were important to her, but she let things go like being a great school mom and doing field trips and snacks. Life with Two Full-time Entrepreneur Parents:Hayley says now that Mike’s home, life is super fun. They have a lot more man hours to work with. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays they have a nanny who comes to the house from 8AM – 1 PM and stays with their two youngest boys while she and Mike go to the library to work. Then, they come home, put the little guys down for a nap, do quick little chores, and wrap up work around 3. Once the kids go to bed, Hayley and Mike wrap up a few more things and try to be completely done with work (computers and cell phones shut down) by 9 PM. (Sounds like a great system to us! Now if only Sarah and I could get our husbands into this entrepreneur thing!) What to Do when You Can’t Eek Out Any MoreHayley tries to look for help when she reaches that pain point –the point where you can’t grow to where you want to be with the resources and hours that you have to give. For Hayley and Mike, this happened when they decided that they needed to hire a nanny, and again when Mike quit his corporate job to do the entrepreneurship thing full time. Sarah and I were kind of hoping for an easy answer that, of course, the income your business is generating makes it easy to hire on help or quit your day job. Hayley let us know that this wasn’t necessarily the case. She said that sometimes you have to take the risk before you have the extra income to support it. It helps you to work smarter and better when you take that jump “I’ve never had a situation where it hasn’t reached that difference in the income gap” Things Successful People Don’t Say
Hayley said they wanted to build up Wildly to match her husband Mike’s income before he made the leap and quit his corporate gig. Yet, that just wasn’t going to happen. There was no amount of her doing that was going to grow it. They needed two people to do both family and work. (We love Hayley’s entrepreneurial spirit, and we’re so excited to see Hayley and Mike grow it into a huge success! Kudos to you two for not playing it safe!) Hayley’s Tips on Crafting a Great Video for Your BrandAlthough Hayley is multi-talented and so smart she could learn just about anything she wanted to (our words, of course – she’s way too humble to say that!) she realized that creating a video for Wildly Co. herself would not be the best use of her time or talents. As Hayley put it, the return on investment was way bigger to hire someone else to do it. Here’s how: The end result is pretty amazing, don’t you think? Her Business Anthem
The One Word with a Million Meanings (Hayley’s Funny Mom Moment!)Tune in to hear about this one. It’s really cute! Stay in Touch with Hayley!TheTinyTwig.com What are your thoughts? Were you inspired after hearing from Hayley? (I know I was!) While most of us probably won't start an ethical clothing line tomorrow or even start a new conference, what leap are you ready to take after hearing Hayley's story? For one thing, I know I'd love to have a video made for our business as soon as possible - what a powerful message the video for Wildly Co. conveyed! Thanks for listening! We think you're all brilliant! ~ Beth Anne |
Thu, 21 August 2014
You've opened your etsy shop (woohoo!). Sales are beginning to trickle in at a steady pace, and you're getting great feedback from your customers. Things are going well. Why should you spend your precious time and resources on creating new listings? What you have is working. Why complicate things? There are a few reasons why you should complicate things.
When you're in a creative slump, Pin this List for some quick ideas on adding new listings. P.S. What do you think? Is this list eye-catching or just crazy? I couldn't decide ;) So what will you add to your shop today? I can't wait to see all of your new creations and the new traffic and sales it brings you as a result. Happy creating, Brilliant Business Moms, we love you! Another P.S. - Is saying we love you weird? Seriously, I have such warmth in my heart for you guys and I don't care who knows it! ~ Beth Anne
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Tue, 19 August 2014
Katie’s story began as she was learning to fly airplanes. As with most entrepreneurs, when she should have been studying for something sensible, she was instead innovating and thinking about her life in new ways. To be fair, it’s not quite accurate to state that her story began just then. Katie had plenty of stories worthy of documenting and sharing before she learned to fly in rural Montana. The difference was simply the realization that she had important stories to tell, and the realization that so many of us are missing opportunities to tell our stories too. Katie is now a self-proclaimed storycatcher and journal crafter who is devoted to helping her customers find their voice, document memories, and embrace their lives. Katie and her team make journals in a repurposed airplane hangar that serves as her family’s home and her workshop. Today on the podcast:03:30 - How Learning to Fly Airplanes Led to a Journal-Making Business How Does Learning to Fly Lead to a Journal-Making Business?Katie’s husband Martin has his private pilot’s license, and when they moved back to rural Montana, he began teaching her how to fly. Learning to fly is one of those things that men dream of and not very many women do. For a while, Katie sort of took the whole process for granted. Flying was just ok. She was supposed to be studying for her private pilot’s license but got the idea to create writing prompts for herself so that she could tell this really cool story about learning how to fly. This got her thinking about all the other rare and awesome things that other women are doing. Many of these women may not even realize that their stories are worth telling. Why Katie Moved her Shop to Her Own Website from EtsyKatie wanted to add certain features to her shop to create an experience for her customers. There are many limitations to what a seller can do or customize on Etsy. At Gadanke.com/share, Katie’s customers can share bits of their own journals and stories and the ways that they are documenting their lives. How Katie Gets Loads Done, Even with Just 10 MinutesKatie uses Excel to have a running list of projects she’s working on and actions needed for each one. If she has just 10 minutes, she can pull up her spreadsheet and quickly assess what she needs to do in that moment. “You could easily spend that entire 10 minutes thinking about what work you should be doing, and then the 10 minutes is over,” says Katie. On Writing Things Down Just to Cross Them OffKatie doesn’t like to spend time writing things down just to cross them off or put a check by them. “I want the feel-good awesome things to be sitting down and laughing with my son or looking at the same peek-a-boo book over and over and seeing how much he lights up.” Her Proudest AccomplishmentKatie gave a TEDx Talk on Storytelling last September. She also shares what TED is all about. (It sounds pretty incredible to me, but Sarah has banned me from attending!) How the Weather Affects her Sales and Other Thoughts on being BusyKatie shares that no matter how much you prepare for Christmas, you’re still going to be slammed. It continues to be true for her because the business just keeps growing. During the slow season of summer, Katie and her husband Martin still make it busy by re-vamping journals and creating their new affiliate program. They try their best to create systems and train employees during the slow months so that when Christmas (and January too!) roll around, everyone is ready. Katie shares that January is just as busy for her business as December, because journaling tends to be a cold-weather activity. (We had no idea!) Why Thank You is Something Katie Says Every DayKatie has two part-time employees. One is an artist and the other, a student. She loves that the jobs she provides them helps to support their personal goals and not just financial goals. Her employees are passionate about what they’re doing.
(Katie sounds like the perfect boss! What do you think, Sarah, ready to move to Montana?) Airplanes Contributed to the Start of Her Business, but also to its Lowest PointKatie describes the slowest time in her business as being self-induced. She was trying to juggle running Gadanke and building a home out of an airplane hangar. She and her husband Martin sat down and said, “do we want to make Gadanke into something awesome, or do we want it to just be on the side….?”
Katie and Martin could be doing a dozen other things, but they have decided to make Gadanke their career right now. (We’re so glad they did!) Katie’s Powerful Words
Favorite App or ToolKatie surprised us by confessing that she doesn’t own a smart phone. She confessed to using Instagram on her iPad, but finds that most apps and online tools can take away from the energy that she could be putting into her business. The Single Best Way Katie Grew Her BusinessKatie was a blogger before she opened her shop. She already had a community of women and men that she could relate to and could relate to her. She wasn’t going online to push a product on them; she was going online to connect with them. Those relationships ultimately helped her to build a meaningful business. Katie’s Way of Saying Thank You to Bloggers and CustomersKatie and her husband Martin just launched an affiliate program. Anyone with a blog or even just a social media account can join. She realized that by creating the program themselves, they could cut out the percentage that goes to an affiliate network and pass along the extra percentages to the customers and bloggers who love them. Her Best Business Advice“Believe in yourself. It’s so easy when things are hard – when you don’t have the sales that you want – you don’t have the pageviews that you want – whatever it is you’re wishing you could do - just keep going.” Katie also keeps a spreadsheet of customer feedback. When one negative review or the stress of the day has her discouraged, she is reminded of all the incredible stories and lives she’s had the chance to impact. Adorable Mom MomentKatie’s baby boy Niklas has just figured out how to pull himself up to stand. Katie says that she’ll turn around for 5 seconds, look back and realize that he’s pulled himself up. “There he is holding himself up with a big smile.” We love those sweet moments when our little ones are so proud of their accomplishments! So precious! Stay in Touch with KatieHer shop: Gadanke.com What do you think? Will you start writing down more of your stories? Will you tell those who help you the most “thank you” a little more often? Or will you dive head-first into your business, believing without a doubt that it matters a great deal. We’d love to hear about it in the comments! ~ Beth Anne |
Thu, 14 August 2014
Hello from Vermont! I'm on vacation this week with my husband and our 3 fun kids! We're visiting a college friend and her beautiful family. I just had to pop in and say hello and leave you with some words to think on today. “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.” D.L. Moody Click to Tweet! What do you think? Are you struggling more with the fear of failure or the fear that what you're doing may not matter? I've definitely struggled with both! Have a wonderful week, Brilliant Business Moms, I'll be sure to share some pictures of our trip next week! ~ Sarah |
Wed, 13 August 2014
Many bloggers and website owners forget that their About Me Page is one of the most visited pages on their website. It's vitally important to make a meaningful first impression. Read the Compelling Narrative on One Mom Entrepreneur’s Website that Led us to Take this Page More SeriouslyWhy does Elizabeth’s About Me Page work so well?She includes all 9 Keys to a Compelling About Me Page. Can you find them all? On the podcast:
These Nine Keys Won’t Write Your About Me Page For You, But They Will Give You a Great Start1.) Grab your reader’s attention with your first sentence. This is often called “the hook” Catch your audience off guard right away, if possible. Surprise them, be unusual, or ask questions (see Derek Halpern’s page). Derek does a great job of letting people know that they are in the right place. Keep in mind, your about me page is not actually about YOU – it’s about your readers. They need to know how you’re going to help them, what you’re going to provide, or why you’re different from every other blogger on the block. Stumbling over that perfect first sentence? You can use a video for your hook! 2.) Share the benefits of what you and your site have to offer. Again, it’s all about your readers or customers and how you can help them or solve their most pressing problems. (Even if you sell hand-knit baby shoes - you can still accomplish this. You may be solving the problem of someone finding a unique heart-felt gift for their friend who just had a baby. Perhaps you solve the problem of being a comfortable, eco-friendly, ethically-made baby shoe that moms can feel good about putting on their baby's feet.) An example for Sarah and I would be a focus on the community of moms we are creating. Starting a small business or blog on the side can be really stressful and overwhelming. We’re here to help and come alongside moms who are ready to grow. We’re not claiming to be experts or gurus, we’re moms just like you who are learning and implementing as we go. Lots of people online are sharing facts about how to be successful, but implementing all of those facts and growing your business is really, really hard. We believe that moms need support and encouragement to make it happen and keep going when things are tough. We’re lucky enough to have each other as business partners, and we don’t believe that any mom should have to “go it alone” 3.) Social Proof Natalie Lesnefsy of TheBusyBudgetingMama.com shares some of the positive feedback that she’s gotten from her readers. If you have happy customers or readers, have them share a bit about how your site or business has helped them. Social proof could also mean that you share your credentials or that fact that you've spoken at conferences or were featured in magazines. 4.) Emotions Your About Me Page should convey some feeling. How do you want your readers to feel when they’re on your site? Should they feel at home, a sense of peace or calm? Do they feel joy or excitement? What about motivation? Sarah and I want you to feel a sigh of relief – that you’re not alone in this crazy world of blogging, business, and being a mom. (Feel free to let us know if we’ve accomplished this or majorly missed the mark!) 5.) Fun Facts or Tidbits About You! Your readers want to get to know you. Avoid generics like “I love the outdoors and sipping coffee in the morning.” Be unique. Ask your family and friends what makes you the fabulous person you are. It’s ok to be vulnerable here. Abby of JustaGirlandHerBlog.com strikes a great balance by sharing about being a BRCA1 breast cancer gene carrier but also sharing lighter things like the fact that everyone says she looks like someone they know. 6.) Photos As Neil says, no matter what you look like, you have to share a photo of yourself. If you’re providing value and helping others, no one cares what you look like – they just want to put a face with a name and get to know you. Mom bloggers seem to be ahead of the game on this one. Many are creating a virtual scrapbook of multiple photos with fun tidbits about each one. Again, Abby does a great job! 7.) Link to your popular posts Which posts get tons of comments or personal emails describing the difference that you’ve made? If you’re brand new to blogging or starting your own shop/website, then pick the ones you think showcase both your best work, and also let the reader get to know you a bit more. P.S. Very sorry for the jet noise during point 7 of the podcast! I’m around it so often that I usually don’t even notice it. 8.) Make it easy for others to find you and connect with you. There are a variety of options here. You can include an email address, social media links, a contact form, or all of these. When your readers and customers are ready to keep the conversation going, don’t keep them hanging. 9.) Include an Email Opt-in Box on your About Me Page Pat Flynn gets all the credit for this brilliant recommendation.
Resources Mentioned in the PodcastAsk Pat Episode 1 - How Do You Craft the Perfect About Page? Amy Lynn Andrews - How to Write an About Page In Spaces Between - How to Write your About Me Page QuickSprout - The 4 Essential Elements of an About Me Page Search Engine Journal - 25 Creative and Engaging About Us Pages
Seven of Our Favorite About PagesNot all of these About Me Pages Include every single point, but many do! What catches your eye about these pages? Do you plan to change anything on your own page as a result? Let's chat in the comments :) Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode203120About20Me20Page_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 12 August 2014
Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is a lawyer, writer, and explorer. As a small business attorney, she helps entrepreneurs, artists, coaches, and consultants to find simplicity in the law, so they can get back to spending their time helping their clients and changing the world. Not only is Elizabeth a successful entrepreneur, she is also a single mom. She and her nine year-old daughter live in an apartment in the Silicon Valley with one cat, nine+ Apple products, twenty-one containers of craft supplies, and hundreds of books. What you’ll learn on the podcast:03:59 - Elizabeth's Revelation that Led to her Current Career Crafting the Ideal BusinessElizabeth got rid of the things she didn’t like about the law to create her dream job. • No billing by the hour
Finding Your Ideal Client is Like Dating1. Elizabeth states what and who she is NOT. She’s not an attack-dog lawyerShe doesn’t have a fancy office or wear fancy clothesYou won’t find her awards on her wall or a focus on prestige. 2. She uses the exact words and phrases that her ideal customer would use. 3. No insider lingo 4. The break-up
Why Relationships are Vitally Important to Any BusinessYou may not be handing out business cards at your local chamber of commerce (Elizabeth is pretty sure she doesn’t have business cards anymore!) but connecting with others is still vitally important. Oftentimes, someone who knows Elizabeth will see a legal question in a Facebook group. This person will tag Elizabeth and let them know that she may have the answer. Elizabeth is always paying attention to what people need and meeting those needs within her business. Her Advice?“Even if you don’t know what kind of business you want to do yet, you can still have a list, and you can bring those people with you wherever you end up going.” Business is still all about personal contact but in different ways. Legal Tips for Mom Entrepreneurs1. Start as a Sole Proprietor until you really start earning money. 2. Your business should have its own bank account. 3. Use a separate credit card for your business. 4. Make sure you have a written agreement if you hire someone to help with your business in any way. Designing Both Sides of Her LifeElizabeth says there is a huge list of stuff she doesn’t do because she owns her own business. They ask, “Can you have it all?”
“It really comes down to being picky and designing how you want both sides of that life to be.” Products and Services at Different Tiers to Meet Different NeedsElizabeth has 3 tiers of services within her business so that she can meet a variety of legal needs that entrepreneurs might have. 1. If a small business owner just needs to pick Elizabeth’s brain on a few questions, they can pay by the minute to call her via Clarity. Elizabeth also follows the principle of giving away tons of value for free. There are plenty of checklists and excellent free materials on her website. Elizabethpw.com will take you there Organizational ToolsGoogle Calendar - for scheduling appointments with her clients (Rachel, Mimika, and Anne love this one too!) Elizabeth also has a paper calendar on the fridge so that her daughter can go and read it. Her daughter then understands what her life will look like for the next week which is important to her. Elizabeth is also trying a new trick that’s very low-tech but will hopefully save a lot of time: cooking all her meals in one day for the whole month. Get in Touch with ElizabethElizabethPottsWeinstein.com Did you learn some new legal tips for your business? How about tips for designing your dream job so that you can have more time for the things that matter most? Let's chat in the comments :) ~ Beth Anne
Direct download: Episode203020Elizabeth20Potts20Weinstein_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Sun, 10 August 2014
A meaningful quote has the power to change your perspective or motivation.This one from Zig Ziglar is no different.
Sarah and I realize that oftentimes, getting handed multiple points and steps of business advice can be helpful, but other times it can be overwhelming. Today, we're keeping it simple.In light of this very simple advice to be specific --to stand out, the whole focus of your business or life could take a radical change. Perhaps you have a blog that addresses all the aspects of being a stay-at-home mom. You share recipes, cute stories about your children, DIY projects, homeschooling advice, and thoughts about current events. With a broad brush-stroke focus, how can you stand out?The truth is, you probably won't. What if instead, you let more of yourself and your passions show through?Perhaps you are passionate about not wasting food and living a frugal, eco-conscious lifestyle like Kristen at The Frugal Girl. No, it's not exactly sexy to talk about food waste, but it sure does set Kristen apart, and she has a loyal following because of it. Do you have an Etsy Shop, and in it you sell paintings, handmade clothing, and craft supplies? What sets you apart from the other shops out there? It's hard to become a true master at a skill if your focus is torn between multiple projects. Try focusing on one skill or product, and make it as extraordinary and unique as you can. Others will begin to know you as the talented artist with a unique take on multi-media creations. The struggle to stay focused and be uniqueSarah and I have certainly struggled to stay focused in our own business as well. I'm an "ideas girl", and so my mind is always spinning with new business ideas. What I've learned, though, is that unless the idea has a direct contribution to the projects we are already doing, it's probably not worth my time. None of us can be good at everything. We simply can't. Put another way by an incredibly successful entrepreneur, John Lee Dumas
Do you make things happen or let them happen to you?As Sarah states in the podcast, it can be really hard to stand out. It's a tough road. Is it tougher, though, than looking back on things wishing you had stuck to your guns more... wishing you'd taken that passion of yours and ran with it or wishing you hadn't worried quite so much about what others would think? I've seen many eyes glaze over when I talk about our podcast. Who cares?I'm so passionate about helping other moms to grow their businesses that nothing is going to stop me from giving as much of my blood, sweat, and tears as possible to make this dream a reality. Be unique and amazing at that one thing you're called to do.Then tell us all about your unique, amazing talents and vision in the comments! ~ Beth Anne
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Wed, 6 August 2014
Crafting a great blog post involves a whole lot more than just solid writing and an interesting topic. Many bloggers are lucky enough to have those skills, yet their posts are routinely ignored. What's at play here? Let's explore what goes on after a post is published. I finally did it! I hit the publish button on a post that I spent hours on. Before I began the writing process, I spent days debating the nuances of each thought and idea contained within. At the end of the day the post goes live, I check the blog's stats. This one doesn't seem to be making a dent. No one is commenting. No one is sharing. No one seems to care at all. Let's start at the very beginning.Research shows that many readers do not make it past the title of your post. Was your title too long or confusing? Did you hook your reader by making them curious or evoking emotion? The research says that the first 3 words and last 3 words of your title are all that your readers will see. Did you pack the most important words towards the beginning and end of your title? The beginning of your title is also more weighted for SEO, so fit your key words into the title quickly. (Hint - 9 Keys might be great because people are interested in numbers, but if I really wanted to rank, I would have started off with Blogging: 9 Keys to Crafting a Killer Post.) Yesterday on the podcast we interviewed Anne Bogel of ModernMrsDarcy.com Since Anne does such a brilliant job at crafting her blog posts, I'll be using her as an example here. Take a Look at some of Anne's Killer Blog Post TitlesBlowing my Mind Lately She uses numbers, evokes emotions and curiosity, and utilizes 6 words or less to make sure the entire title is read by her readers. Are Your Paragraphs Putting People Off?Let's talk about that killer blog post you just finished writing. Did you write it as though it were a novel? Bad idea. In the online space, ease of reading and the ability to scan a post are KEY. Use paragraphs that are 1 to 4 sentences long. Yes, I know this seems ridiculous. No, it's not actually ridiculous. Your readers may just make it all the way through your post if you use this technique. Photos Belong on Your Blog even if You Stink at Taking ThemPhotos are necessary. If you're awful at photography, I recommend you find a great service like Dollar Photo Club * so you can still populate your blog with eye-catching photos related to the discussion topics. At a minimum, your blog post must have a header photo or featured image at the top. On Anne's fashion posts, she routinely includes 4 photos or more to keep her readers' attention and communicate the message of the post effectively. Interlinking is Your Best FriendThis is one of those blogging talents that Anne does amazingly well. Every one of her posts is skillfully linked to multiple other posts. You hardly notice that the links are there because they mesh so seamlessly with the message. At the same time, you can't help but to click them and read more. Linking to Valuable Resources is Another Vote for Your CredibilityYou may worry that linking to other blogs or websites will just direct the traffic away from your site. This may be true in some instances, but the truth is, Google loves relevant links. Most of all, your readers will love the fact that you curate helpful content for them and aren't afraid to share it. Share the love. Share resources that are helpful, and your readers will come back, promise! Check out Anne's What I'm Into post for an example of doing this well. Long is the New ShortWhen I first started blogging, I heard over and over again that keeping things short was an important key to success. "Your readers don't have time for anything too long. You'll lose their attention," the powers-at-be would say. Recently, though, some studies have proven just the opposite. Google loves helpful, detailed posts that are excellent resources for the reader. Incidentally, readers love sharing posts that are helpful with others! 1500 words seems to be the sweet spot for getting more attention from Google and more shares. This is the one principle of crafting killer blog posts that Anne does not use. Anne calls herself a maximizer by nature. Her goal is to communicate as much as possible with as few words as possible. She is a master at this! There is something to be said for using the talents that you have. Anne's readers also expect short, witty posts from her. In our case, as new bloggers, we're trying to use every possible method to improve SEO. We're also trying to use every possible method to be as helpful to our readers and listeners as possible. So we continue to type out many, many words. Make Your Content Really Easy to ShareEven if a reader loves your post, if it's not easy to share it, they won't. Add sharing buttons in every place that seems relevant. Make it easy for others to share your hard work! If Your Blog Post Doesn't Compel Action, then What are You Writing for?End each post with a call to action. This could be as simple as asking for your readers' thoughts on the post and asking if they would share them in the comments. Maybe you'd like them to sign up for your email list to grab a great resource that pairs perfectly with what they just read. Whatever the action, give your readers some step they can take next after reading your killer post. Use Headers and Sub-headers to Make Your Post Easier to ReadThese are important so that it's easier for the eye to scan down the page. This means using the <h2> and <h3> tags when you write. The larger titles you see on this post are done with the <h2> tag. Bullets and numbers are also an easy way to make your post feel more organized and easy on the eyes. The 9 Keys to Crafting a Killer Blog Post
Resources Cited: The Anatomy of a Perfect Blog Post - Buffer Blog The Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post - Michael Hyatt Anatomy of a Good Blog Post - Amy Lynn Andrews 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts - Social Media Examiner The Content Pyramid - Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income Is there something your killer blog posts are missing when you hit publish? What will you change today as a result?
Direct download: Episode202820Anatomy20of20a20great20blog20post_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:44am EDT |
Tue, 5 August 2014
Anne Bogel blogs at ModernMrsDarcy.com and is the author of How She Does It: An everywoman's guide to breaking old rules, getting creative, and making time for work in your actual, everyday life. Anne writes about the best in the world of books as well as what it looks like to be an accomplished woman in our modern world. Her readers are a smart, kind, compassionate, and loyal bunch! Learn why she believes she was able to grow such a meaningful following, along with the process of getting her book into the Kindle store. Of course, Anne recommends a slew of great business books for you! On the podcast:
The beginning of Modern Mrs. DarcyAnne and her husband were having a New Year’s conversation to discuss the big picture for their next year. They were talking about a post her husband had done for someone else’s blog. Anne's husband said, "You know who should have a blog?!" Anne replied with, "No who?!" "You!!" She shrugged it off at first, but a few minutes later she was convinced. The blog didn’t go live for a couple of months but she started the planning and prep that very night. This was 3.5 years ago.
Anne's Encouraging Words"Everybody starts at zero; there's nowhere to go but up."
The Blog Posts that Make an Impact
How She Does ItWork-life balance is not Anne's favorite phrase. (Ours either!) How about working towards doing the things you love the most in life? Anne says that there aren't really typical days at her house, but there are seasons that follow a pattern such as the school year versus summer. They use a nanny a couple of time a week, and she helps with some of the homeschooling. The kids are also out of the house one day per week so Anne can do things like chat with us for a Podcast. (Hooray for an empty house!) The kids have rest-time every day, and Anne is very deliberate about how she uses that time. Sometimes the schedule goes out the window, for example, when they moved this Spring. Anne relates to the moms who are struggling with the decision to bring on help for their day to day.
Coming to Terms...Anne has had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she’s a blogger. She takes her writing seriously and treats it like a job. When she’s among a literary crowd and mingling with people who are writing a memoir or the next Great American Novel, she can feel so low-brow. She may come home from what should have been a really inspiring gathering and think, "I have a blog." She’s had to work through that a little bit.
The Unique Ability of Bloggers
Plans for another book?Good ideas tend to come fast from unexpected places, so maybe inspiration will strike. Unfortunately there are no plans for a second book at the moment. (I know. We were grieving too. Although if Anne needs some ideas... I've got about 100 per day! Let's chat, Anne!) Her first book sprung from a conversation with a friend who was struggling to make everything work within her marriage and as a mom with all of the hats she was juggling. Anne told her husband, “I think I’m going to write a blog post about that” He said, “Forget that, you could write 20,000 words on that!”
Authentic Blogging = Authentic CommunityAnne is really proud of the community that she’s created at Modern Mrs. Darcy. It’s not just her, but she got the ball rolling on it.
Thoughts on growing a loyal followingAnne thinks she got a little bit lucky. In addition to that, she read early on that as the blogger you’re the host in your living room, and you need to set the tone She tries to be very warm, welcoming, and open. She writes about possibility, exploring new things, other options, and looking at life from a different angle. That general tone tends to facilitate respect and openness to other people and their ideas
She feels like she’s in some sort of virtuous cycle, and she’s really grateful for it.
Are the lack of giveaways, link parties, and sponsored posts intentional?Anne doesn’t do a lot of link parties or sponsored posts. She’s a maximizer by nature, so she doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time. If she doesn’t want to read it on her site or elsewhere, then she doesn’t want to put it on her blog. If it’s not worth reading, she’s not going to post it. Revenue Streams for Modern Mrs. Darcy
Favorite Online Tool or AppGoogle Calendar: helps her to keep track of which blog posts are coming down the line. Anne usually has 100 post ideas and about 10 in her short-term horizon, so she’ll put them into Google calendar and move them around so that she doesn’t have too many book posts in a row or fashion posts in a row, etc.
How Anne Avoids the Facebook Rabbit HoleCoschedule for Social Media. You can schedule out your social from Wordpress itself. It’s faster because you don’t have to wait for pages to load to do tweets or facebook. It also keeps you off those social media platforms so you don't get sucked down the rabbit hole of social media!
Best way to Grow her BlogMaking friends
Anne's Blogging Philosophy
Quite literally, Content Marketing ItselfAnne has been lucky in that the posts she’s gotten a lot of buzz about are also the same things that people who l would want to stick around for a while would like. Readers may be drawn in by the summer reading guide but then find very similar content and related content that makes them stay. Her summer reading guides are shared widely all over Pinterest and other forms of social media. They also get a lot of buzz from other bloggers. "If you like the summer reading guide, then you’ll probably feel like you’ve found a happy place with ModernMrsDarcy so it works really well in terms of not just great content but great advertising for the blog." The summer reading guide was her husband’s idea – no surprise there!
There are just so many (books), Anne. How do you do it?Anne is a slow runner but a fast reader. Maybe it all balances out this way? She has made it her job, in a way, but never want reading to feel like something she has to do, but rather something she gets to do and chooses to do. She is very conscious of that. Anne is a natural introvert, so reading is a good way for her to recharge or wind down at the end of the night. She tries to sit down with a book for 20 minutes during rest time with a coffee cup and just “be” so that she can take on the rest of the day. Reading is built into the rhythm of her day which helps her to get through more books.
How did you get your Book in the Kindle Store for Amazon?Anne's husband did it for her. He’s since told numerous people that it’s very easy to do. Amazon has directions for how to format your book for Kindle. He said that it was very tedious to make the changes in the file, but it wasn’t difficult. Once he made all of the required changes he just uploaded the book file to the store, and then Amazon notifies you when it’s ready. The process usually takes a couple of days. Favorite Business BooksThere is no way the Lady of Pemberley could have picked just one - so Anne lists several for us! Listen to the podcast starting at 21:21 to get Anne's take on all of these thoughtful recommendations. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg Drive and A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (The Confidence Code is on her stack right now.)
So who is this new, up and coming blogger?You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out, but this is what Anne has to say about her:
Connect with Anne BogelHer blog: ModernMrsDarcy.com Facebook: ModernMrsDarcy Twitter: @annebogel Instagram: @annebogel Pinterest: ModernMrsDarcy |
Fri, 1 August 2014
Did you listen to Episode 22, work on your detailed pricing model, and discover that no one can afford you or your product? Is your labor intensive product not a good fit for a business model? Does that mean you have to start from square one with a whole new business idea? Not necessarily. Don't automatically assume you need to reinvent the wheel. |
Wed, 30 July 2014
If you build it, no one will come, because there are 1 billion other people who are also building “its”. Their “its” are really unique and fabulous. Their "its" come with bonuses and amazing customer service. If you are building "its" without a marketing or SEO plan, please stop building. No, seriously. Put that hammer down. You may just end up with a pile of dusty "its" in your garage that your grandkids will inspect and wonder about. For your sanity, stop your building and start your marketing. If you build it, your mom might come, but then again, there are a lot of "its" in the world, and she's a busy lady. How does SEO Help my Marketing? This intro on Off-page SEO could also be called an Intro to Marketing your Etsy shop, because the beautiful thing is, these two concepts go hand-in-hand. The more you get the word out about your shop, the more Google acknowledges all of those beautiful links and clicks back to your site. The more you share about your shop and brand on social media, the more Yahoo stands up and takes notice. So what are we waiting for? With hammers safely stowed for the moment, let's get started. 5 ways to dominate Off-page SEO for your Etsy shop or Website 1. Blogs - Partner with blogs to do giveaways or product round-ups and reviews - Be sure the blog has plenty of traffic so you won't waste your time and money (I suggest 20,000 visitors/month minimum) - Ensure that the blog's audience will be a good fit for your products. Do their interests/passions/problems line up with what you're selling? Websites to get you Started on Finding the Right Blogs Search within the relevant categories, and you can find the most popular blogs within that category (such as DIY & Crafts or Art). Once you click over to a blog, it will suggest other similar blogs to follow. Within the blog's page, you can get a really quick, thumbnail glimpse of all of their most recent blog posts. Figure out if they do giveaways or talk about products they love. Get a sense for what they blog about. What’s the focus of their blog? Feedly makes it easy to search for popular websites that discuss a given topic, such as "nature crafts". Unlike bloglovin, feedly's search engine is more targeted. Quick Pointers for Reaching out to Bloggers
Using the same blogs you found above, hunt for that blog’s media kit. Many blogs require you to email to request a PDF of their media kit, but they will generally get back to you quickly and let you know what the sizes, locations, and pricing of their ads or sponsored posts will be.
Start with at least one form of social media, get familiar with it, then build additional social media channels from there. Social Media Channels that Seem to Generate the Most Views and Sales for Etsy Shops Wanelo
You can add your shop to these etsy shop directories within the appropriate categories. Only other Etsy Shop Owners are on these Directory Sites, why should I care? Google views relevant, non-spammy links as a vote for your shop. So a valid crafting site with high traffic would be a vote for your shop. (And many times, adding your shop is free.)
Even if you have no intention of starting a blog or becoming a blogger, there is still so much you can do as an Etsy Shop owner to get the word out about your shop. You can submit a great DIY project with step by step photos or a video. Share photos of your workspace or inside info on life as an Etsy seller. Write about secrets of the trade, ex. take one of your more simple items to make and turn that into a step-by-step tutorial with photos on another blog The benefits of guest posting These posts written by you let others get to know you, position you as an expert within your field, and, let's face it, DIY projects make for amazing, pinnable, viral-able, content! There are also Crafter DIY sites where you can upload your projects, ex. Craftster.org So what are you going to do once you've set that hammer down? Ready? Count ‘em!
Bonus SEO Tip Ubersuggest simplifies the process of finding suggestions for keyword phrases that you may want to target. Google's keyword planner does the same thing, but you have to toggle through multiple categories and see many repeat suggestions. Ubersuggest shows everything on one page and lists the most popularly searched terms. So what are you going to do this week while your hammer goes on vacation? I'd love to hear about it in the comments! ~ Beth Anne |
Tue, 29 July 2014
It was so fun (and a little intimidating!) to inteview Amanda Archer. She's a wedding dress designer who hails from Chicago, and she's clearly way too cool and creative for Sarah and I! It was fun getting some of the inside scoop on the design business. Plus there are tons of brilliant business moms out there dreaming of starting or growing their own clothing lines. So listen on, friends! The Archer Collection is about the modern woman; classic and easy to wear with a twist of retro and a bit of vintage romance. Fabrics in the collection are always made from natural or eco-friendly fabrics. Amanda searches far and wide to find the best quality of new, organic and vintage fabric and trims. Most dresses are available made-to-order, customized or standard sized. Amanda’s dresses can be found on Etsy, or customers can come to her office studio located in Chicago's West Loop. Her wedding gowns are also available at Mignonette Bridal on Belmont Street in Chicago. Taking the Leap Amanda graduated from the fashion institute in San Francisco with a degree in Fashion Design. She worked for 5 years for other design companies, then started her own business in 2008. “Etsy is what really helped me launch my business,” Amanda says. Amanda was working full-time and doing dresses on the side for customers. Her business was essentially a weekend job. She also designed and made clothes at home for practice after learning something new at work. Amanda worked hard to hone her craft and gain as much expertise as possible. Amanda continued in this way for a few years. Once her side dress design company became fairly busy, she took the leap and became a full-time entrepreneur. We love the way Amanda hustled on the side to get her business going! Business was slow at first, but 9 months after she started, Amanda says things got really busy. She saw a big increase in volume of sales and she had to figure out how to handle that influx in business. Solopreneur or Outsource? When the orders starting pouring in, Amanda chose to push back her timelines rather than hire on help. She works with a lot of bridal groups who have many orders within one wedding. Brides understand that there’s a longer timeline for multiple dresses and orders, so remaining a one-woman show hasn’t been a problem. Amanda's timeline is 3-6 months for bridal party orders.. What does a Typical Day Look Like for a Wedding Dress Designer? Amanda goes to work in the morning for about 6 hours. Her husband works night shifts, so her daughter is home with her husband while she’s at work. In the afternoons she takes her lunch break with her daughter and puts her down for a nap. After nap-time, they head back to the office for an hour or two so she can wrap things up. Then she takes her daughter to the park on the way home when the weather's nice (which we understand is a bit of a rarity in Chicago!) Amanda is able to work 8 hours a day and also have 8 hours a day with her daughter. Low point in her business Amanda really cares about her customers and how people receive the dresses that she makes. So if she has an unhappy customer, that’s a low point for her. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, she works really hard to resolve the problem and keep her customers happy.
It’s a learning experience. In the wedding industry, it’s inevitable to run across issues, but you have to learn from those issues, do your best, and move forward. How her dress design business helps to support her family Amanda and her husband support the family 50/50. Amanda points out the added benefit of having her own business -- she can work around her husband’s schedule. She can be flexible and make family a priority. Accomplishment She’s Most Proud of Being able to open up a studio space was a big deal for Amanda. (Sarah and I are drooling as we think about it! A place all our own to work and create?) Amanda still has many more goals, hopes, and dreams, but she’s very happy with what she’s done with her business so far. Her biggest goal is to open a bridal boutique. She’d like to work with other artists and designers and have a space where she can produce items in the back. Her boutique space may also host wedding and baby showers. Amanda has decided that her boutique will open within the next five years. We love that she's setting a timeline to make her dreams happen. Amanda is picking herself, and we can't wait to see what happens as a result! Finding a Studio Space It took a few years for Amanda to find the right space. She’s moved twice so far. When she found the space she wanted, there was a tenant already working there. She found out when they were moving and then took over. Patience and persistence paid off! Favorite Online Tool -Etsy for Shipping with Ship n Click functionality - Instagram to post photos of what she’s working on and pics of her baby Inventory Tracking Amanda uses a hands-on system that she learned from another designer. Once or twice a month she goes through and makes sure she has the threads, zippers, and fabrics that she needs for that month’s workload. She doesn’t type things into her computer but instead has all of her orders in front of her along with a checklist. Single Biggest Factor that Helped to Grow her Business Etsy! It’s a great community. It reaches people all over the world. Without Etsy it would have been a lot more challenging to grow her business. Success Happiness is success. Being able to support herself and time with her family rank high on Amanda's list. Before her daughter was born, her life wasn’t as balanced. Sixteen-hour days and very little vacation time were not all that uncommon for Amanda. "Having a child has forced me to balance my life. I feel a lot happier, and to me that feels like success."
Favorite Quote
Right now is Amanda's busy season and she can often feel underwater. Even though it's very stressful, she keeps perspective by having a checklist for each day. As long as she gets through that list each day, she is doing ok. Amanda keeps perspective during her slow season as well. She's thankful that she still has business. Photo Shoots Photography is one of Amanda's hobbies, so for the past couple of years she has taken the pictures for her own photo shoots. She does her own photo shoot of her new designs at least once per year. Wow, we are so impressed! Amanda hires models, make-up and hair artists. Working with Models Amanda often finds her models through contacts in the industry. She’s worked on large photo shoots with multiple photographers and many models as well as participated in fashion shows. These opportunities generate many leads. Amanda also uses a site called Model Mayhem. The site allows users to search for a variety of parameters such as hair color or height. From there, Amanda contacts the models to see who will be the best fit. As a dress designer and photographer, Amanda clearly has a vision for how she wants her shoots to go. Amanda tells her models to pretend like they’re getting married. They're happy. It’s a positive thing. Sometimes models can glare at the camera. Telling them how to feel helps to give them direction. "They don’t have to smile the whole time," Amanda says, "but they should try not to look angry." (Sarah has her own theory for why models look so sullen all of the time!) Funny Mom Moment Amanda’s daughter is a CEO-in-training! They were walking down a busy Chicago sidewalk, and she was shouting into her play phone for several blocks. Business people on their phones were walking by just laughing at the baby yelling into her phone. (Clearly, she had important business to discuss!) See Amanda's gorgeous designs for yourself! Etsy: AmandaArcher Do you have a 5-year plan for your business? Is there a big dream that you absolutely know you'll achieve? We want to hear about it in the comments. ~ Beth Anne |
Fri, 25 July 2014
How to Win Friends and Influence People: When I first heard about this book I was a bit taken aback. The whole idea of a book written about this topic seemed a little skeezy and manipulative. "Is the book going to teach me weird mind games?" I wondered. After you read How the World Sees You by Sally Hogshead, grab this one next so you can learn how to take the best of you and create genuine, meaningful relationships with others. To see this book in action, let's take a look at the scenario below. There she goes again. You're left staring at the back of your employee's head as she walks away. You've become all too familiar with the wave of her hair, the casual way it's tossed back, her lack of attention or care regarding anything you say. How can you get through to her? It's not that she's done anything worthy of letting her go, but at the same time, does she ever care about anything either? You can't seem to get through to her. She nods blankly when you talk with her -- her mind clearly somewhere else. She does her tasks half-heartedly, and they are often incomplete unless she is given multiple reminders and firm deadlines. This is not what you were hoping for when you hired your first employee. You thought your passion and excitement for your business would immediately transfer to her too. All you need to do is tell her what to do, be excited about it, and she'll handle the rest, right? Isn't this how things work between a boss and employee? Not exactly. There is a whole lot more involved in being a great leader or influencer. How to Win Friends and Influence People is an incredibly rich resource that shares the basics of human psychology (without feeling like a psych 101 class!) that will change the way you see others and approach the world. Rather than leave the pages feeling like a Jedi mind-master, you'll leave them feeling more equipped to treat others the way they should be treated. There are no power plays here - no dramatic special effects - just plain old solid advice on how to put others first and be less demanding and selfish. The coolest thing? When you give more than you receive, you end up receiving more in the end. As I listened to this book, I found myself agreeing with all of the principles mentioned, but realized how often I miss the mark in my own life. It's easy to know what the right to do is, but it's another thing to apply it. The best part about the book are all the case studies and real-life examples. When I find myself slipping back into selfish jerk mode, (Yep, that's right, I have a selfish jerk mode and it switches on far more often than I'd like to admit!) I'll return to the pages of this book to stay on track. As a Christian, I found this book even more refreshing because I realized that being successful doesn't mean abandoning any of the principles that I hold dear. Let's dive into the main points discussed in How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Six Ways to Make People Like You
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” “Why talk about what we want? That is childish. Absurd. Of course, you are interested in what you want. You are eternally interested in it. But no one else is. The rest of us are just like you: we are interested in what we want.” “Emerson said: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.” Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
“Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving." "The chronic kicker, even the most violent critic, will frequently soften and be subdued in the presence of a patient, sympathetic listener— a listener who will be silent while the irate fault-finder dilates like a king cobra and spews the poison out of his system.” “By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.” Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
“I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people,” said Schwab, “the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. “There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a person as criticisms from superiors.” Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses resentment.” “The secret of his success? “I will speak ill of no man,” he said, “. . and speak all the good I know of everybody.”
In the podcast, I dive into some of the details of the points above and give some examples. You'll also hear about my first-hand experience as a nurse dealing with some difficult people (did someone say surgeons? who me?! naaaah! They're all teddy bears.) and contrast that with others who approached their interactions with more intention and care. If you're debating whether this book will be useful for you, let me give a few examples. You're a brand new photographer in town. You know that networking with others and getting the word out about your business is vitally important. Do you simply need to shout the loudest to accomplish this? Nope! This book will teach you how to form those important relationships to get your business off the ground. You're an Etsy shop owner, and last year's busy Christmas season has convinced you to hire some help. You wouldn't describe yourself as a people-person. You prefer the solitary artist's life - working quietly in your studio. Is it possible for you to form a successful working relationship with an employee? Absolutely! How to Win Friends and Influence People will point you in the right direction. You're a blogger, and although your site gets some decent traffic one year after starting it, you're finding it tough to create a genuine community amongst your readers. You know that community is important to keep people coming back and to create loyal customers who will be the first to buy your information products. How can you accomplish this? How to Win Friends and Influence People will spark some ideas for you on this front and help you get back to the basics of connecting with your audience. I hope you will give this book a try. I personally listened to the audiobook format while folding laundry and cleaning the house. Grab your free Audible Trial here. * How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie *
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Wed, 23 July 2014
Beth Anne had a great episode on pricing that talked a lot about the psychology involved in pricing and the ways in which you can potentially increase sales. My spreadsheet-loving accountant personality just had to follow up with an episode on the nuts and bolts of pricing your products. So get out your excel spreadsheet, and lets get started! There are 4 components to determine a price for your product: Direct Costs, Indirect Costs, Time Value, and Profit. Direct Costs Direct costs are anything directly attributable to the creation of your product. All the materials that go into your masterpiece are direct costs. Direct costs also include special packaging you might use, a business card you include in each box, or an Etsy Listing Fee. These are just a few ideas of the direct costs you may have. Write down all the direct costs that go into each product you sell, and determine the cost of each of these elements. Be as accurate as you can and make sure you do not leave anything out. Indirect Costs Indirect costs cannot be directly assigned to any one item. These are the costs of running your business that are not part of production. An example of these costs are accounting software, rent, utilities, web hosting, or training. Make a list of all of these costs by month. Then divide that number by the average number of products your expect to sell that month. The result is the indirect cost that should be assigned to each product. If your indirect costs change over time, or if your average number of products changes, come back and re-evaluate your numbers. Time Value The value of your time to create your product is the third component. What is your time worth as an artist, designer, or crafter? What is your skill level worth? Once you have an idea of what you believe your hourly rate should be, you need to determine how much time it takes to make each item. If you make each item one at a time, this is easy--just time yourself! The most efficient way to make items is in an assembly-line fashion, if possible. Here is an example: lets say it takes 3 steps to make your product. You can do Step 1 to 10 of your items in 1 hour, for Step 2, you can process 20 of your items in 1 hour, and in Step 3 you can only get through 5 items in an hour. If we break everything down into 10 unit increments than Step 1 is 1 hour, Step 2 is .5 hour, and Step 3 is 2 hours. So a total of 3.5 hours to get 10 of your items completed. If you want to get paid $20 per hour, then 3.5 x $20= $70 divided by the 10 products you made in that time means that for each item your time should be valued at $7. The point is, time yourself, what is the best way to get through your work? Determine exactly how long it takes to make one item, and how much you think your hourly rate should be. Profit The profit you want to make on each item can either be a percentage, or a dollar amount you add right in to the formula. Make sure you have room in your pricing for profit, otherwise your business will never be able to grow and expand. Without profits you will not have the cash flow to experiment with new products, buy in bulk, etc.
Here is an example of two formulas that might work for you: (Time Value + Direct Costs + Indirect Costs)x1.1 = Wholesale x 2 = Retail Time Value + Direct Costs + Indirect Costs + Profit = Wholesale x 2= Retail
Use these formulas to determine a fair price for your products, but also to determine how viable your business model is. When you add up all your costs, is the price you should charge according to the formulas astronomical? If so, maybe you should look into some cost cutting measures. You might want to rethink how you create your products. Or you may reevaluate your hourly rate. Although these formulas are extremely helpful, they don't have to be followed to a T. Compare your suggested pricing to your competition and evaluate in light of what you bring to the table. Play around with your pricing a little, but watch and see how your changes affect sales. Maybe reducing a product from $41 to $39 will result in a much higher rate of sales and therefore, the $2 cut makes sense. Treat your pricing like an experiment by making small changes and then observing the results of your price tweaking. Please leave me a comment and let me know if this made sense or if you have further questions! -Sarah
Direct download: Episode202220The20details20of20pricing20products20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 22 July 2014
Ariel Holcomb is a newborn, infant, and family photographer who has also added military homecomings and weddings to her repertoire. Her focus in each photo is on using natural light to create beautiful effects. As a military spouse, it became difficult for Ariel to have a successful teaching career with multiple re-locations, and thus her photography business was born. Her husband Matt bought her a camera as a gift, and she taught herself everything she possibly could about photography. Ariel began doing photography sessions for fun and practice, but then people started asking her to take their photos. She grew from charging a small amount per session to being a professional photographer. Ariel shares some great tips for those of us who may be amateur photographers on how to get great pictures. She also dishes on starting a business from scratch after a move. (The secret's out! Ariel is the talented photographer behind all of the beautiful outdoor photos in our Etsy shop, The Amateur Naturalist.) Tips for the novice photographer:
Tips on how to grow your business after a move:
How she manages her business and motherhood:
How her income helps her family:
Funny and Adorable Mom moments:
Advice on Pricing:
Business Tools and Resources:
Contact Ariel:
Did you learn any new tips and tricks to improve your photography? We'd love to hear about it in the comments! ~ Sarah and Beth Anne |
Thu, 17 July 2014
Pricing Your Products can be one of the most difficult task any mom entrepreneur faces. We may often undervalue our work and our time. Whether you are an etsy shop owner, photographer, legal consultant, or solopreneur, you must determine how to price your products. Beth Anne Schwamberger, with resources such as Quicksprout, Influence, and Kissmetrics gives 5 Tips to change your mindset around pricing and increase sales and revenue. Beth Anne covers tips such as focusing on Time in your sales pitch instead of money because it invokes more positive feelings about a product. Make your appeal personal because customers respond and connect much more to individuals, artisans, and bloggers than they do to brands. Context matters for your pricing. Increasing the price leads to a perceived increase in value of the product. In addition, you can use a higher-priced anchor to make a lesser-priced product seem like a better deal. The fourth pricing tip is that you should choose to add value rather than reduce your price. Think about what you as a photographer, artist, designer, etsy seller, or blogger could offer that is unique for your customer. How can you provide them with incredible service and an experience that they will be talking about with all of their friends? Do not discount yourself. The last tip is to avoid option overload or the analysis paralysis phenomenon. Try to package your products into three to five groups or packages. This example is seen most clearly with photographers, but the same principle can apply to products offered in an etsy shop, graphic design prints grouped by category, or information products. Overall the advice is to use psychology to stop undervaluing and underselling. Instead sell more, make more money and in turn provide even better products and services to your customers. |
Wed, 16 July 2014
Sarah Korhnak went from over 1600 emails to Inbox Zero in just 90 minutes! How did she do it? She'll share her best tips and advice for staying at Inbox Zero in this episode. For starters, search for your highest frequency senders, add emails that require a response to your real To-Do List rather than leave them unread and unmanaged in your inbox. Do not skimp on folders or labels. Be as specific and organized as you can. Check your email only 3 times per day, and only at times when you actually have the ability to respond to and deal with each item. You can get to inbox zero and maintain this state of bliss too!
Direct download: Inbox20Zero20Episode2019_mixdown20final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Tue, 15 July 2014
018: Dana Kalatsky of AppleWhite Handmade Talks Consistency on Social Media and Partnering with Bloggers
Etsy shop owner Dana Kalatsky sells handmade pillows, purses, and other items for women and kids in her shop, AppleWhite Handmade. Dana's pillow was recently featured in Country Living Magazine! Dana shares her simple routines on social media to make sure her new products reach as many eyes as possible. She also talks pricing formulas, partnering with bloggers to do giveaways, and connecting on Etsy teams. Dana shares insider info by revealing the top 5 traffic sources for her Etsy shop. These are sites that every mompreneur should be paying attention to! Stay tuned, this episode is filled with practical business advice for moms in the online business space. |
Thu, 10 July 2014
How the World Sees You by Sally Hogshead is a unique take on the traditional personality test. Rather than focus on how you see the world, Sally teaches you how you can fascinate others. She discusses the seven advantages and how they can combine to form forty-nine archetypes. Sally teaches entrepreneurs how to create teams where individuals complement each other rather than work against one another. Sally helps you to create your own anthem so that you can put your best foot forward and be fully YOU in every situation. |
Wed, 9 July 2014
Sarah will teach you how to use Open Site Explorer, a search engine for links, to spy on your competition and improve your own game. Open Site Explorer will generate a report with the places your competitor comments, contributes, guest posts, and niche forums they participate on. You can also discover which websites are linking to you and form valuable relationships with those sites. Overall, Open Site Explorer is an Invaluable tool to improve your Off-Site SEO and Spy on the Competition too! |
Tue, 8 July 2014
Mimika Cooney is an award-winning photographer who focuses on fashion photography and newborn portraiture. She has started her business over several times as her family has moved around the globe. Mimika is open and honest about the struggles she has faced as a mom entrepreneur, but she also shares excellent advice and tips for pushing past the hard times. You won't want to miss all her great app recommendations and books she's reading. Recently, Mimika launched an internet show called MimikaTV where she interviews photographers who are successful in varied facets of photography. She is launching Capture School, and online business school for photographers, Fall 2014. |
Thu, 3 July 2014
In this episode of "What I'm Learning this Week", Sarah reviews Purple Cow by Seth Godin. In it he describes how you can stand out in a crowded marketplace not by being weird, but by being remarkable. He teaches that mass-marketing is no longer effective. Instead, you must find that small number of people who will be your "sneezers" -- your brand ambassadors who will share your message with everyone they know. Tune in to hear Sarah's take on the book and get ideas for how you can become a purple cow. |
Wed, 2 July 2014
In this episode of "What I'm Learning this Week" Beth Anne shares tips for reaching out to brands to monetize your website. Ad space, partnering witih etsy shops, and working with larger brands to create sponsored posts are discussed. By the end of the episode, you will feel equipped to begin reaching out to brands, both big and small, to create lucrative and mutually beneficial partnerships. |
Tue, 1 July 2014
Mary Larsen and her husband created ParentCast - a podcast for new parents, new babies, and their new lives together. Mary also has a blog for moms and is a Rhode Island TV personality. Listen to learn her best tips for scoring sponsored posts and ad spots on her blog. She also shares great advice on becoming a better public speaker and communicator.
Direct download: 01220Podcaster20Blogger20Mary20Larsen20Final.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Thu, 26 June 2014
Sarah reviews and highly recommends Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. It's a great audiobook that will teach you how to be more organized, focused, and productive. Stay tuned for a special offer from Audible! |
Wed, 25 June 2014
Learn how to utilize SEO for your Etsy shop. Beth Anne covers why SEO is important and what it means, how to determine what key word phrases to use and the 7 areas of your Etsy shop that you need to focus on. Hold on to your seats - this is an action-packed episode! |
Tue, 24 June 2014
Etsy seller Keri Bass shares tips on connecting with others in the etsy community and using SEO to get found. She talks about how her business has played a positive role in all 3 of her kids' lives and has shown them that they can achieve whatever they set out to do. Keri is truly a fun and talented lady! |
Thu, 19 June 2014
Learning from the Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzner, we'll share with you the 5 types of visual social media you should be using to get more shares. The five types include Tips, How-To, Checklists, Quotes, and Infographics. |
Wed, 18 June 2014
Do you know that you want to be an entrepreneur, but you're stuck? Are you stuck on the all-important business idea? This week we're learning from a start-up pro who uses everyday situations to develop lucrative businesses. Tune in to get a jump-start on brainstorming your brilliant business idea! |
Tue, 17 June 2014
Photographer and lawyer Rachel Brenke shares her best tips for creating a successful business with multiple revenue streams. Rachel's accomplishments include writing a book, teaching an online business course, creating a shared space for photographers, and being one of the most sought-after legal consultants for photographers. |
Fri, 13 June 2014
In this episode of "What I'm Learning this Week" Beth Anne talks Facebook strategy. Pulling from the expertise of Social Media Social Hour, the Founder of Post Planner, and Horsefeathers Gifts, she shares 4 easy-to-implement strategies that will improve your connection to your fans on facebook today.
Direct download: 00520Facebook20Strategies20that20You20Can20Implement20Today.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Thu, 12 June 2014
Learn how Cody is growing her business as a busy Mom of three. Cody uses Facebook and Instagram to market her business. She is proof that the products work and believes that if she is able to help others achieve their goals, then all her hard work is worth it.
Direct download: 00420Beach20Body20Coach20Cody20Hickton20is20Helping20People20and20Making20a20Killing20Doing20It.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:45am EDT |
Wed, 11 June 2014
In "What I'm Learning This Week" we'll share the business concepts and tips we're learning from around the web. Sarah asserts that it is possible to be successful as equal collaborators and business partners. She shares our tips and tricks for maintaining a healthy, equal partnership. Included: an online tool for organization! |
Fri, 6 June 2014
002: Blogger Abby Lawson Shares Tips on Increasing Traffic with Pinterest, Growing her List, and Monetization in Less than a Year
Abby Lawson is a mother of two who writes about life, organization, DIY projects and home decor at justagirlandherblog.com Her new e-book Building a Framework: Everything I Learned My First Year of Blogging is available at justagirlandherblog.com/book
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Fri, 6 June 2014
Sarah Korhnak & Beth Anne Schwamberger discuss their journey as Etsy shop owners, bloggers, and their motivation for starting a podcast just for mom entrepreneurs. If you're looking for practical business advice from honest women who won't leave you in the dark, then you've come to the right place! |