The book tackles the challenges and insights of self-promotion, especially for those who don’t feel comfortable “bragging.” Brag Better promises a guide to promoting yourself in a way that’s true to who you are—and though we felt some parts missed the mark for us as small business owners, as the book is in some ways geared more towards people with more traditional employment, we were able to translate her more corporate-employee-centered advice into useful tips for small business owners. It turned out there was actually a lot of value in the book for our community! Together, we explore Fineman’s advice on what she calls “qualified quiet,” share our key takeaways on the value of self-promotion and reflect on how to apply these lessons in an authentic way for you.

15-Minute Marketing: The Summit is officially LIVE! 🎉

I’m hosting a free, totally virtual week-long event, and  you’re invited.  Here from 40+ marketing experts who can help you do better marketing... in just 15 minutes.

Here's what’s in store each day:

• After Day 1, you’ll know how to create a magnetic, memorable brand.

• After Day 2, you'll have new strategies to get your brand SEEN.

• After Day 3, you’ll be able to plan, create, and repurpose content better and faster.

• After Day 4, you’ll learn powerful, simple ways to boost sales and conversions.

• After Day 5, you'll be equipped to manage marketing with confidence and ease.

Each day’s sessions are free for 24 hours, so don’t wait—grab your ticket now and dive into today’s content before it’s gone. You can get all the details at makinggoodpodcast.com/summit

Marketing really can be easy, clear, and effective. This event will show you how.

Again, it’s happening right now at makinggoodpodcast.com/summit. Get your free ticket now.

Mentioned in this episode:

• 🎟️ Get your free ticket here and listen before today's sessions expire.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that today’s guest and I were set up on a friend date, and you get to hear it in this episode! My takeaway? When mutual business friends tell you you NEED to connect with someone, give it a try because at least in this case, my community was dead on.

In this episode, I interview Kristina Bartold, social media marketing coach and founder of The Social Snippet. We talk about the power of building community on social media, working smarter (not harder), and how to focus on platforms that truly matter for your business. Kristina also shares her tips on finding your ideal client and why authenticity is key to social media success.

Happy Halloween everyone! In celebration of my absolute favorite holiday, we’re airing a special bonus episode. I sat down with my friend, Jumer Adalin, to chat about a very spooky thing that happened to his business recently…

Jumer is a social media marketing expert, who recently had his Instagram account hacked. Yikes!

With 45,000 followers lost overnight, Jumer shares how he’s bouncing back, rebuilding his presence, and shifting his focus to help a broader range of online entrepreneurs. We dive into the importance of security for your social accounts, the power of owning your email list, and the mindset needed to turn a catastrophe into a growth opportunity.

I’m popping in here with something so special today. I've been keeping a secret from you and I am so, so, so excited to finally spell the beans.

So for the last couple of months behind the scenes in secret, I have been putting in a ton of work on something that I think will make a real difference in how you approach your marketing. Let me introduce you to 15 Minute Marketing the Summit. This summit is for anyone who's ever felt like marketing is overwhelming or impossible to keep up with.

If you're tired of feeling like you're constantly behind on marketing, this is for you.

Each session is just 15 minutes. No fluff, no hour long lectures, no long sales pitches. Every speaker delivers one simple impactful action step you can go put into practice right away.

And guess what? This event is totally free. The summit runs from November 11th to 15th.

If you'd like to read more about each session and see all of our amazing speakers, go to makinggoodpodcast.com/summit, (also linked below) and you can see everything.

Caitlin of Caitie Means Business joins me to talk about OCD, mental health, and how these experiences shape her work as a website designer for service-based businesses. We explore our personal journeys with OCD and discuss its impact on life and business, offering insight into navigating entrepreneurship with a neurodivergent brain.

In this episode, Caitlin from Caitie Means Business explains the importance of digital accessibility and how small business owners can make their websites more inclusive. She shares practical tips to ensure your online content serves a wider audience and discusses the business payoff of investing in accessibility.

Though this book wasn’t exactly what we expected, Charelle and I had so much fun picking it apart and finding applications for small business owners, including ourselves! Slow Productivity is all about challenging the hustle culture mindset and redefining what it means to be productive. While the book offers an intriguing framework, it’s really not a “how-to” guide—it’s more about understanding the history and philosophy of productivity, and then finding ways to apply those principles in your own life.

We discuss Newport’s core principles, such as focusing on fewer tasks, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality. The conversation also explores issues like "pseudo productivity"—working for the sake of visibility rather than meaningful outcomes—and how to navigate the slow productivity movement as a business owner.

Marketing doesn't have to be complicated or overwhelming. In this episode, I share 10 ways to make marketing easier for your small business. From getting clear on your marketing foundations to leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT, I break down practical tips to help you streamline your efforts and reduce overwhelm. Ready to make marketing fun again? Tune in for actionable insights that will change the way you approach your marketing.

In this episode, Sharon Lipovsky of Point Road Studios shares the importance of vision in life and business. We discuss how to connect everyday tasks to a bigger purpose and practical tips for staying aligned with your vision. This episode is a must-listen for creatives and business owners ready to bring their vision to life.

In this special solo episode, I share some personal reflections and life updates that have been on my mind lately. From navigating a new season of motherhood, to letting go of my beloved retail store and making big changes like rebranding my stationery business, I’m diving into how life, business, and mindset all intertwine. I also talk about the power of leaning into your excitement, embracing "good enough," and how your feelings impact productivity. Plus, I share a few thoughts on how AI is making my life easier and how you can design your next few months for success.

This episode is a bit different from the usual format, but I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and empowered to make intentional changes in your life and business.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to

This was not a book Charelle and I were planning on covering for the podcast, and I think we both kind of surprised ourselves by choosing it. But after last month’s read of Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, which while fantastic was definitely not strictly a business book, we wanted to try swinging in the opposite way for this month’s read.

And you know what? While we definitely both had some reservations and don't agree with 100% everything in the book, I think we were both pleasantly surprised!

The subtitle of $100M Offers, is: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No, both encapsulates why this book was so far from our minds as an option for this podcast, and why we were interested in giving it a try. Obviously, Charelle and I are not interested in tactics that make anyone feel stupid. BUT we were also interested in what the author, Alex Hormozi, had to say about creating an offer and setting prices, something we haven’t really covered yet on the podcast.

Outwardly, Alex Hormozi might appear to you, as he does to me, as typical bro marketer. A strong proponent of hustle at all costs. I disagree with some of what he teaches, but Charelle and I wanted to challenge ourselves. Turned out, this was the perfect book to do it with. We learned a BIG lesson from this read, or at least I did, about taking what serves you without tossing out the baby with the bath water, what a terrible expression. But you get what I mean. I genuinely feel like I learned a lot from this book, and Charelle and I were able to pull out some really useful takeaways.

This episode comes out on Tuesday, September 10th, which means we are just weeks away from Q4, The final quarter of the year. That's October, November, and December.

For many small businesses, these are some of the biggest, most important sales months of the year, not to mention a busy time personally for a lot of us. So I want to help you get prepped for this.

I mentioned that this episode is going to be a little bit different and here's why. Consider this a mini workshop. I just recorded our September big workshop in Making Good Happen, my membership, where I go through my quarter magic method of planning out the months ahead in detail in a way that will spare you the overwhelm and chaos that the end of the year can bring.

So while my session today in the membership was nearly 90 minutes long, came with exercises, a workbook, templates, and resources to make this process easy. I thought today on the podcast, I would simplify the main points and steps in this process so that whether you're a member of making good happen or not, you can get to work planning your best Q4 ever.

It was so so fun to have a fellow crafty person on the podcast! I know that many, many of you center your businesses around a craft, and my guest today literally wrote the book about hers before shifting her focus to supporting and uplifting crafting professionals.  

Abby Glassenberg is  the Co-Founder and President of Craft Industry Alliance, the premier trade association for the crafts industry. Abby and her team provide in-depth news coverage, top-notch professional development opportunities, and networking opportunities to connect and collaborate. She is also the host of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, which I had the privilege of joining as a guest in an episode from early May! I’ll link to it in the shownotes.

Whether you’re a craft professional or not, there is so much applicable advice for anyone trying to start a small business, including some mindset tips. I found Abby’s journey to co-founding Craft Industry Alliance fascinating, I can’t wait for you to give this one a listen.

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.

She’s back! I loved talking with Tanessa so much in our last episode of the podcast, episode 254, that I had to have her back on a second time. In our second conversation, we deviated from Tanessa’s expertise in health and wellness to talk about another passion she has: financial independence.

In case you need a refresher or missed the last episode (go check it out because it is SO good), Tanessa is a health and wellness coach who specializes in working with entrepreneurs to eliminate brain fog and wake up well-rested so they can maintain consistent, stable energy throughout the day. She is also the host of the Becoming Limitless podcast, which I highly recommend.

However, as we learn in this episode, Tanessa’s business is no longer her primary source of income. A few years ago, Tanessa and her husband learned about an investment strategy based on the idea of financial independence, essentially, earning a living through passive income. I was so intrigued by this idea, and wanted to have Tanessa on the show to share her experience taking this route, and what it has meant for her and her family.

Just a note before we dive in. I loved talking with Tanessa about her journey to financial independence and am so grateful to her for her openness and willingness to share during our conversation. ​​It really shows me what is possible if we're willing to think about our lives and just a slightly different way from what might be considered conventional.

But of course, neither Tanessa, nor I are financial professionals, so this is just sharing about Tanessa's experience. Please consult with a trusted expert before you make any big changes in how you approach and invest your own money.

For a podcast that centers well-being in how we run and market our small businesses, today’s topic is overdue! I am so thankful to have had such a grounded, enthusiastic pro at my side while thinking through how we keep our bodies healthy. Because when we do, our minds (and ultimately our businesses), really reap the benefits.

I have been a fan of Brené Brown for about a decade, and so it is truly mind-blowing to me that we haven’t discussed one of her books for Book Club until now.

Brené Brown is a researcher and self-identified storyteller who has spent the last two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. I first learned about Brené from two incredible TED talks she gave in 2010 and 2012, which I’ll link in the shownotes. From there, I deep-dived into her books, which are also linked.

While Charelle and I both LOVE Daring Greatly and Brené Brown this is one of the least specifically business-focused books we’ve done on the podcast, so we had to get creative in order to connect the themes in Daring Greatly to small business and marketing. BUT, this book was absolutely worth covering on the podcast, as there is so much to pull from, especially some powerful ideas around mindset and mental health that would be life-changing for any small business owner.

If you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, I hope this conversation inspires you to dig deeper!

Let’s be real:

A business does not exist without sales.

It just doesn’t.

As much as I know that you, dear listener, are a big-hearted small business owner who wants to make a difference through your small business. (I LOVE THIS ABOUT YOU).

You do have to make sales.

And making sales opens up huge opportunities. Not only for your business, for yourself and your life, but for the impact you’re able to make.

But I think you’ll agree: Build it and they will come is not a thing. And even when you get people there – to your website, to your social media, to your email list – being there also doesn’t mean that they’re going to buy.

So. How do you actually make the sale? Well my friend, that is what today’s episode is all about: the elusive art of sales.