Today in our 10-part Ringing in 2024 series, we take a look at lessons learned from the past year. This part of the reflection process can feel a little hard but in this episode, I want to offer some perspective that might help turn those tough realizations into learning moments.

This week on the podcast is a special 10-part podcast series that I’m airing on the private podcast that’s part of Making Good Happen, but! As my holiday slash New Year’s gift to you, I’m sharing it with you, too!

This series will be released every weekday, Monday through Friday, from December 25th through January 5th. Each short and sweet episode will include some guidance as well as a short exercise to go through. By the end of this series you’ll have reviewed 2023, dream up your ideal 2024, and create a plan to get there.

And, BONUS! I’ve also created a free workbook you can use to work through these exercises. Head to makinggoodpodcast.com/2024 to get your copy and get going!

This week on the podcast is a special 10-part podcast series that I’m airing on the private podcast that’s part of Making Good Happen, but! As my holiday/New Year’s gift to you, I’m sharing it with you, too!

This series will be released every weekday, Monday through Friday, from December 25th through January 5th. Each short and sweet episode will include some guidance as well as a short exercise to go through. By the end of this series you’ll have reviewed 2023, dream up your ideal 2024, and create a plan to get there.

The very first thing on our agenda? We need to celebrate 2023! You have worked SO HARD this year, so before diving into 2024 planning, let’s take a moment to appreciate how far you've come in the past year.

And, BONUS! I’ve also created a free workbook you can use to work through these exercises. Head to makinggoodpodcast.com/2024 to get your copy and get going!

Nadine Nethery is an audience-driven copywriter and brand messaging strategist for female founders who want to intentionally attract, delight and retain their dream customers. I’ve danced around the topic of audience research on the podcast before, but up until now haven’t dived in. In my former life in the corporate sphere, my background is in market research, so I’ve been around the block when it comes to getting to know your customers.

Nadine, however, completely amazed me in this episode. Her smart, original strategies for gaining insights into an audience are so inspiring, and the ways she uses AI as a tool to that end are also super thoughtful.

Seth Godin is a thinker in the marketing space that I have admired for a very long time, and I am so excited to share some of his work with you all.

While he may not use the words “ethical marketer” specifically to describe his work, but he’s definitely a non-bro marketer. He was one of the first to popularize the idea of “permission marketing,” not pushing a product or idea onto anyone, but selling to your ideal customer by adding value and being invited in by our customers.

Regardless of where you’re at in your marketing journey, I definitely recommend giving this one a read.

So this one is kind of a big deal for me.

I was a little bit nervous to record this episode, and honestly even more nervous to release it into the world. But I’m also excited!

My guest today is a rare repeat guest, Nell Wulfhart, the decision coach.

In our most recent conversation, recorded this past October, we turned the tables in a totally new format for the show. Nell took the interviewer seat to help me make a huge decision about my businesses. We treated it like a live coaching session, with Nell taking me though the process just like she would with any of her clients. As you’ll hear in the episode, I was pretty amazed by the end. Let’s just say Nell is very good at what she does.

When I tell you to think about marketing your business, what comes to mind?

Social media? Reels? Paying for ads? Complicated strategies? Stuff you don’t know how to do but everyone’s telling you that you “should” be doing? Spending money you don’t currently have available to spend? Overall… just a heavy sense of overwhelm?

If that’s you I have 3 things to tell you, all of which I hope you will find to be good news.

It’s not often that I get to sit down with a fellow retail store owner on this podcast, and it was so much fun to talk shop with Jessie Williams. Jessie is BUSY. Not only does she own three retail locations in North Carolina, two Edge of Urge locations, and one Unlikely Professionals, but she also owns and manages Cute House, a vacation rental home also in North Carolina. All of her businesses and side projects, (too many to list in this intro!), are focused on supporting up-and-coming makers and small businesses, as well as giving back to her community.

This episode comes out at the end of November, and I know from members in my community that the energy is high and also! A little chaotic. The end of the year is a super important time for many small businesses – certainly MOST small businesses in my community. So we want our marketing to really deliver for us.

But creatively… you might be feeling just tapped out.

SO

If you need some support planning your end-of-year marketing, today’s episode is for you. My goal is to give you some good ideas on WHAT TO ACTUALLY SAY in your marketing… in order to get those big results.

I love Fascinate by Sally Hogshead because of the permission it gives to explore and figure out your unique approach marketing, rather than pigeonholing yourself into pre-existing models. At the same time it offers an absolute bounty of guide rails and suggestions for a plethora of brand personalities. Fascinate does an amazing job of helping you figure out first and foremost what makes your brand stand out, then apply some of Hogshead’s suggested pillars or strategies to your marketing.

Figuring out the right way into a networking situation can feel daunting. My guest today found a lot of success in growing her business through networking, and I love her strategic and thoughtful approach to figuring out which rooms she wants to be in, and how she can get the most impact from her limited time.

I record these episodes WAYYYY before they come out, and since we recorded, Dani has actually shifted directions and no longer runs that business. However, that doesn’t change how valuable this conversation is so I wanted to be sure to bring it to you anyway! Dani Sticka is a former professional home organizer who believes in letting go of perfection and embracing a simpler life through home organization. During her own personal health journey and finding peace with less, Dani created Imperfectly Tidy to help others let go too.

HOOOOOOLY MOLY do I have a treat for you. Like, the biggest treat ever.

This week, I decided to share with you ALL FIVE of the private podcast episodes coming out this week in Making Good Happen!

Making Good Happen is my membership program, and every day Monday - Friday, there’s a private podcast that comes out for members to listen to.

This week, I thought I’d share with you all 5 of the episodes that are coming out this week in the membership, just for fun.

Today, we’re gonna talk about something truly scary for small business owners: MARKETING.

It’s not a coincidence that this episode comes out on Halloween, October 31 – the day for all things spooky and scary. But the fear of marketing isn’t only present on Halloween –for a lot of us, it’s here all year long. So no matter when you’re listening, this episode is probably for you.

To help us think through how to center doing good in our businesses, (hint: there are so, so many ways), Stephanie Malon-Rufi joined me for a fantastic conversation. Stephanie is the owner of Spark Good, where she consults with and coaches socially conscious entrepreneurs. She helps to distill their vision into a focused strategy and action plan, helps solve key challenges with mindset blocks, and helps them have a greater positive social impact with their business.

Stories That Stick by Kindra Hall is chock full of examples, questions, and prompts to get your wheels spinning. If you are someone who feels you don’t have anything to say, or that your story isn’t worth telling, by the time you finish Stories That Stick you will have stories in spades. Even though I’m someone who has always been interested in narrative and has found a lot of success in sharing stories with my audience, reading these prompts sent little sparks of inspiration shooting through my mind. Luckily, author Kindra Hall walks you through how to sift through your newfound pile of stories and choose which to tell and how.

HOLY MOLY. TWO HUNDRED EPISODES!

This podcast has required a lot of me – time, energy, effort – even when I sometimes didn’t feel like I had it. But its given me so much more.

And probably the most powerful thing that this podcast has given me is WISDOM! I’ve learned so, so, so much from hosting this podcast.

So, today… we’re rounding up 10 things that I’ve learned from 200 episodes of Making Good. Truly – I probably could have come up with 200, but hey – I'd rather skip to the biggest and best.

Today is an important episode, because it’s about one of the most important topics we could ever cover here.

Getting stuff done.

After all, we can have all the big bright ideas in the world, but if we’re not executing on them, it doesn’t really matter. Our ideas can’t change our lives and change the world if we don’t take action to make them a reality.

But. How do we ACTUALLY get stuff done?

In today’s episode, I share some tips and strategies that I’ve picked up in my own journey with productivity. These are techniques that are really working for me lately, and I hope you find them useful too.

For many of us, the “sales” aspect of running our businesses is quite uncomfortable. But it doesn’t have to be, and that’s where today’s episode comes in. My guest today is Megan Smyth. Megan is a sales copywriter and consultant for mission-driven entrepreneurs. Through her in-depth research process, personality-filled copy, and pull-no-punches consulting, she helps purpose-driven founders drive revenue and make a positive impact–without unethical business practices or sleazy sales tactics. 

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk all about that marketing superpower: what it is, why it’s so powerful, and I’m going to give you some concrete strategies for putting it into action.

One of the reasons I was excited to dig into this book with Charelle is because since she read it many years ago, she has baked it’s methods into so many aspects of her own life and business. She also uses it in her work with her clients, supporting their goals and growth using The 12 Week Year as a general framework. Needless to say, I had a blast picking Charelle’s brain.

The 12 Week year is all about planning, taking action, and ultimately getting more out of our time, and I mean, who can argue with that?