What does it take to TRULY connect with your ideal customers?

To show them who we are, to demonstrate what we have to offer them, and to get them excited about becoming a customer with us?

Anyone who has tried marketing their business knows that this isn’t an easy thing to do at all.

But, it’s not something that gets a lot of airtime in marketing conversations.

It’s a lot sexier to talk about growing your audience or making sales, but this space between someone discovering your business and the point where they decide to make a purchase?

What you do in this time really matters. And that’s what we’re talking about today.

Today’s episode is a very exciting one because in it, my guest, Antonia Bowring and I, chat about a topic that I have not yet covered on this podcast. And that is coaching!

We all have moments in our lives where we could really use some guidance, or at least an exterior influence to keep us moving toward our goals. I think as small business owners, this is sometimes especially true. Working with a coach, developing relationships with mentors, honing skills to coach yourself- these are all great options that Antonia Bowring endorses and was kind enough to talk me through.

Antonia Bowring is a highly credentialed executive coach, consultant, and strategic facilitator with comprehensive experience in early-stage, nonprofit, and corporate settings. For Antonia, the essence of coaching is partnering with clients to help them flourish and thrive. Her approach emphasizes goal-setting, pragmatism, action-oriented business solutions, and accountability.

I learned so much from this conversation, which was full of great recs and ideas. I can’t wait for you to give this one a listen.

 In this episode, I’m going to give you an overview of 10 ways you can get discovered by more of your ideal customers. Then, I’m going to walk you through how to choose which of these makes the most sense for you.

There are times when the “shoulds” we are either taught or have convinced ourselves of pile so high it can be overwhelming. It is in this state of overwhelm that we lose track of ourselves, our passions, and our “why.” The balm, according to my guest today, is to re-root in our identities and uncover our purpose based on a true understanding of who we are. It’s in creating from a sense of self that we find contentment and success.

Jessica Huie is a visibility mentor who helps people bring their purpose-driven projects to life and share their unique gifts with the world through a process she calls Transformational Visibility. She has twenty years of experience working in the media as a publicist, speaker, entrepreneur, and author. Jessica believes in a universal truth: “When we go beyond intellect and create from our soul, an incredible congruency occurs. It’s an almost alchemic combination of inspiration and strategy that creates momentum and magic.”

I could definitely feel the magic during our conversation, and I know you will too.

This book was an absolute joy to read. As always, Charelle and I resonated with different parts and pieces, and maybe more so than past books the sections we pulled out clearly illustrated the ways our brains work so differently, which is always fun to see.

I have been following the author, Elise Blaha Cripe, for a long time, and when she came out with her book I immediately jumped on getting a copy. I really admire Elise for her creativity and dedication to making space for joy, whether it’s a craft project or a baking experiment or a business venture. She’s currently on a break from social media, but you can still find plenty of inspiration by scrolling her Instagram page, @elisejoy.

Big Dreams Daily Joys is an intuitive, approachable and honestly visually fun book for anyone who could use some fresh ideas for making progress, setting goals, and making time for the things that matter most. There were so many jewels in this book we couldn’t cover them all, So if you enjoy this discussion and you learn something, you will definitely want to pick up a copy for yourself. Plus it's really, really beautiful.

Raise your hand if you’ve had any of the following thoughts recently.

“Marketing is overwhelming.”

“I have no idea where to start.”

“I am just an inconsistent person.”

“I’m just not good at this.”

“I hate social media.”

“Sharing marketing content is just annoying.”

“Email marketing is just spam”

“Nothing is working.”

“I don’t have anything interesting to say.”

Now, while I don’t have the magical ability to see you through this podcast transmission, I DO know my listeners pretty well, and my guess is that you’re raising your hand – physically or metaphorically – to AT LEAST a couple of those statements.

Suffice it to say: We tend to have a lot of mindset junk about marketing! After all, it is inherently kind of scary to market your business. To ask people to take a look at what you have to offer, to react to it, to engage with you. To buy. This is no small thing, and it is scary for a LOT of us to do.

However. I want us all to market our businesses. Because marketing is one of the best ways of making a bigger impact on the world, and I want that for you! And for the world!

Here’s the truth: Our businesses need to reach the right people and make sales. And that is EXACTLY what great marketing helps us do: reach people and make sales.

But this isn’t a “necessary evil”. The truth that I am 1000% convinced of is this: Marketing can be totally do-able, and even fun.

But we have to intentionally design it that way. And in this episode, I’m going to give you 7 principles to help you do just that: create an approach to marketing that feels good, and that works.

This conversation and guest were a long time coming! One of my favorite things that I get to do in my membership program, Making Good Happen, is host monthly Guest Expert Sessions where a guest speaker presents a live video presentation for our members. Some really great conversations have come out of the Q+A’s at the end of these sessions, and they’re always so much fun.

This past December, Jumer Adalin joined us to talk about viral reels, how to create them, and how to harness their power using a chatbot tool called Many Chat. Our members and I learned so much from Jumer, I was frantically taking notes during his whole talk. As soon as Jumer’s Guest Expert Session ended, I just knew I had to have him on this podcast, it was just a matter of when.

Well listeners, I’m so so pleased to introduce you to Jumer Adalin now! Jumer is a full-time nurse, as well as a consultant for other nurse entrepreneurs looking to build a profitable online presence through organic Instagram content. As if that weren’t impressive enough, Jumer grew his Instagram following to over 50k in just 6 months. Unreal. As much as it’s possible, Jumer seems to have cracked the Instagram code.

In addition to his fantastic practical advice and tips for increasing your visibility online, Jumer is lovely to talk to about mindset and overcoming imposter syndrome. Our conversation was the perfect mix of practical and insightful, and I cannot wait for you to give it a listen.

Okay folks. This episode is all about NUMBERS and specifically, MANAGING YOUR BOOKS. If this makes you quake in your boots, you are not alone. The great news is that my guest today, Alicia Thomas has the very useful superpower of making money, finances, and bookkeeping feel a lot more approachable. She loves teaching creative small business owners that they actually can manage and understand their finances.

Alisha is the founder of Wait, What? Consulting, where she specializes in working with creative small business owners who need help managing their books.

I was excited to chat with Alisha for a number of reasons, but one of the main ones is her truly fascinating journey to bookkeeping. You guys. She is an ARTIST who studied ART in school, and through various twists and turns, became a bookkeeper for small business owners who share her exact same passions. I could not invent a more perfect person to talk to this particular community of listeners about one of the most intimidating parts of running a small business. Alisha’s message? Your finances do not need to be scary!

I have stayed VERY VERY far away from the word “HACK” when it comes to this podcast, because for the most part – I don’t believe there are hacks. I *CERTAINLY* don’t believe in business marketing hacks that will make all of our dreams come true if only we find the sneaky short cut to growth and success.

And it’s not that I don’t WANT to believe in hacks… of course I do! How great would it be if there was a magic easy short cut solution to success.

But, as professor Randy Pausch (and author of The Last Lecture) said:

“A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”

So. Let it be known, none of what I’m sharing today is a shortcut.

BUT, when it comes to productivity, and specifically those of us who have really struggled to ACTUALLY DO THE THING WE KNOW WE WANT TO BE DOING. The really wonderful news I have for you today is that actually… there are some hacks! There are some tools and strategies you can try that really do make a difference when it comes to our ability to get stuff done.

The subtitle of this book I think perfectly explains what the book is all about: “Making and marketing work that lasts”. There are the one-hit-wonders of the world. And then there  are the books, art, music, and businesses that stand the test of time. How do the so-called perennial seller keep reaching people and earning money decades or even centuries later? That’s what this book is all about. Creating something that really matters to people and will live on.

I actually hadn’t heard of this book until it was recommended to us recently, and I’m so glad we gave it a read. As always, Charelle and I picked up on different parts of the book, but over all we both took a lot away from it. I would say this book is most geared toward creatives who are passionate about what they do and really want to build something that lasts, vs. folks who are mainly looking to support a certain lifestyle with their business. No matter where you stand, there is so much food for thought in this episode, and I’m really excited for you to give it a listen. I had truly so much fun digging through this book and highlighted so many things!

I was so excited to have today’s guest on the show. There is so much to say about him that I honestly wasn’t sure how to fit it all into an intro, so here are the highlights.

Calan Breckon helps business owners get clear on their SEO (search engine optimization) strategy for their websites and businesses. He helps develop a content strategy growth plan, keyword planning, email list building, podcast development, and more to boost searchability on Google and search engines and drive more traffic to websites, products, or services.

He also does amazing work uplifting and highlighting the voices of the gay community via his podcast, The Business Gay, a weekly show all about business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. I was so excited to discover this podcast because queer voices are drastically underrepresented in business and marketing, and I love to see a platform curated for the community Calan and I are a part of.

My dears! I have such a treat for you today. One that I am *literally* giddy with anticipation, smiling as I record this to share with you.

This episode comes out on June 4th – and it’s our first episode of PRIDE MONTH! As you probably know, I am a proud member of the queer community and to celebrate Pride, I’ve got a bit of a bonanza on the podcast today.

And that is, of course, with CONTENT! Content is kind of my love language. And so today, I’ve decided to share something with you that until now has only been available to members of Making Good Happen. As you know – in Making Good Happen, we have a private podcast where there’s a new podcast released every single weekday.

SO. Today, I’ve taken not 1, not 2, 3 or 4, BUT FIVE episodes that came out somewhere in the last few weeks, and I’m sharing them here with you today. And you’re gonna want to listen to all of them, because I’m spilling the beans about some big changes in my life and business in a pretty big way in one of these episodes.

We’re covering a few of my favorite topics, everything from content packaging to email to burning it down to aimlessness. It’s gonna be good.

At the beginning of my conversation with today’s guest, I said something like, “This is one of those conversations that is 100% outside of my comfort zone.” I was truly not expecting that my zone of comfort would expand in a whole new way by the end of today’s episode thanks to my guest, Meenadchi.

Meenadchi is a somatic healing practitioner, with a focus on clearing ancestral money trauma for first-time entrepreneurs. The modality she uses for this work is family constellation therapy. In trying to explain family constellation therapy, Meenadchi realized it would be easier to demonstrate how it works by doing a short session during the interview. This was completely unexpected and un planned, but I’m so glad we took the time because there is no substitute for experiencing a session first hand. 

This is maybe the most intimate and personal conversation I’ve ever aired on this show, and I was a little on the fence about how much of it I would share. In the end it felt right to just put the whole thing out there, because I think sharing the experience as well as the insights I gained from it could be super beneficial to listeners of this show. There were some long pauses as I stopped to think about a question or prompt Meenadchi gave me, so those are shortened for your benefit, but otherwise it’s all in there.

Eek!

I’m just gonna come out and say it: Today’s episode is A TREAT. My guest today and I have been mutually following each other for a while and HOLY MOLY am I glad that we finally got to connect. She is as fun to talk to as she is knowledgeable about business and branding.

AND FUN FACT! I’m guest hosting over on her podcast, the exact day that this episode came out! So head over to the Brand Your Passion podcast (in the show notes) to listen to that one.

Hollie Arnett is a graphic designer turned brand strategist. Her mission is to help creatives build their brands, grow their audiences, and share their work with the world so that they can see their vision come true.

Hollie and I are kindred spirits in a few ways, but the most obvious was right smack on her website’s bio. She says, “more creativity, colour, and joy in the world? Yes please.” For those of you who have been around for a while, you know I relate to this on so many different levels. And in fact, Hollie’s relatability is one of the things I like so much about her. She explains branding in an accessible way without the annoying jargon and buzzwords. She is also passionate about what she does, and throughout our conversation offered a goldmine of actionable tips and takeaways.

Whatever stage your branding is in, I know you will find some nugget of wisdom to take away from this interview and keep in your back pocket. Or better yet, put into play right away!

To be honest, I avoided reading this book for quite a while. This is just my opinion, but the title is boring and misleading, and the cover art is pretty bad. I know, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” and all that, but it’s actually really bad in my opinion. What finally got me to cave was multiple guests on this podcast kept recommending it to me, people I really respect and enjoyed talking to. So Charelle and I decided to crack it open!

Now, while I don’t agree with everything in E-Myth, it turned out there were more valuable takeaways than I think either Charelle or I were expecting, which was such a lovely surprise. As per usual, Charelle and I flagged at different sections and had some really different takeaways. I cannot wait for you to listen to our conversation and see what you think.

I’m not usually a big new years resolution gal, but this year I did set the goal of spending more quality time with people in my small business community, not only online but in person. But lets face it, getting the ball rolling can feel a little awkward. That’s why I was so excited to chat with today’s guest, Danielle Bayard Jackson.

A certified friendship coach, Danielle teaches women how to make and maintain better friendships through research-based methodology. Since studying the ins and outs of female friendships, her teachings include how to solve common female friendship conflicts, creating connections with depth and closeness, and the impact of friendship on our physical, mental, and emotional health.

Books are a huge part of my life… and my business.

You might have noticed a hint of that from the fact that Making Good has a book club! In addition to the every Tuesday episodes that come out here on the podcast, on the fifteenth of every month we also have a Making Good Book Club episode, where we discuss a book we think can make an impact on your business, share our key takeaways, and then let you know what book we’re covering NEXT MONTH.

I’ve read a lot of books in the last couple of years. Not all of them changed things for me. But the ones that did? BOY am I glad I got to read them.

Stephen King said, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

And I want to share some of that magic with you.

Here’s the deal in today’s episode. We’re going to talk about 10 books that have changed my life and business… and might just do the same for you.

I am so, so thankful to today’s guest for completely letting me go off the rails and run wild with our conversation. Something you may not know about many interview-style podcasts is as hosts, we try to prep our guests with a list of questions they can expect during the interview. For whatever reason, I threw many of the pre-determined questions for this episode right out the window, and Julie Sellers was totally game. Often times, following your intuition and excitement yields the best results, and my conversation with Julie was no exception! 

Julie is the CEO of a small business advisory firm called Ellevated Outcomes, where she and her team teach and develop customized business strategy for creative entrepreneurs. They offer two paths to clarity & confidence for creative entrepreneurs who have found success in their unique skills, passion, and intuition, and who now seek a sustainable business and a balanced life.

Julie was so genuine and thoughtful in her responses to my questions, (and follow up questions). If she could shout one message from the rooftops, I think it would be this: “CEO” isn’t a big scary commitment, it’s a mindset that can help you reach your goals, however you define them! I cannot wait for you to give our fascinating conversation a listen.