Content Creators Rejoice! Here's how to make your content go the extra mile for you.   My guest is Abby Herman, CEO and Founder of The Content Experiment and host of The Content Experiment Podcast. Abby helps small business owners develop and implement content strategies that work for them.   Abby is a kindred spirit, in that she doesn't believe that business owners should have to spend every waking hour creating content in order to make a living. Her motto, like mine, is more strategy, less busywork. The work you do up-front to gain clarity, get organized, and put some systems in place will pay off big when it comes to both your time and energy and your results using content.   In Episode 94, I made a pretty bold recommendation to take a Summer break from creating new content. Since Abby's an expert, and I really wanted to know what she thought about that, and if she had any recommendations for how to do it strategically.   Spoiler... she does! So let's jump in and talk with Abby Herman. (Or scroll down to read this interview below).   Ps, make sure you are subscribed to the show, and I’d love to hear what you think of this episode! Take a screenshot in your player and tag @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram.   Episode Links 

1. Book your Summer Game Plan with Linsi.
2. Gain access to radical business tools like 30 Day Done and Idea Catching inside The Maverick HQ.
3. Connect with Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram.
4. Connect with Be Brilliant Podcast @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram.
5. Tune in to The Content Experiment Podcast with Abby Herman.
6. Download the free Content Batching Guide from Abby.
7. Connect with Abby @thecontentexperiment on Instagram and at The Content Experiment website
8. Join The Content Mastery Lab for $1 for your first month with the code PODCAST.
9. Get the transcript for this episode.
10. Love this show? I would really appreciate your review in iTunes, Audible, or Spotify!

The sun is shining and summer is calling. You don't really want to spend the season inside at your computer, do you?

This episode will help you put 5 things in place for your business now, so you can enjoy the Summer all season long.

 

Episode Links:

Schedule your Summer Game Plan Session.

Gain free access to dozens of courses, worksheets and support inside The Maverick HQ

Connect with Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram

Connect with Be Brilliant Podcast @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram

Read the blog post for this episode.

Love this show? I would really appreciate your review in iTunes, Audible, or Spotify!

My guest today is Caitlin Shannon, owner of Ember & Co., a website design-build for purpose-driven businesses.     Caitlin is an incredible example of a small business owner who has created a successful life by choosing to focus on providing excellent service rather than chasing growth tactics.     We talk about "the rules" and why to break them, tips and tools to create boundaries with your clients, and how to maximize your creative output without burning yourself out.     Ps, we are now releasing new episodes bi-weekly! Receive New Episode updates via email.   Click here to read a quick breakdown of the 5 Key Takeaways from this episode, plus read or download the transcript.     Episode Links 

• Get free access to dozens of courses, worksheets, business tools and coaching inside The Maverick HQ
• Connect with Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram
• Connect with Be Brilliant Podcast @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram
• Connect with Caitlin @emberand.co on Instagram
• Check out Ember & Co Website Services

• Caitlin mentioned Dubsado (my fave tool for client management) and Zapier (can help you automate almost anything).

• Looking for a great podcast editor? Erik at hearnoevilmedia.com is my go-to guy.
• Schedule a Free Coaching Consultation
• Schedule a Coaching Session with Linsi
• Love this show? I would really appreciate your review in iTunes!

As a creative business owner, we must learn to bridge the gap between two very different (and sometimes conflicting) parts of ourselves - passion and productivity.

So what do you do with your creative ideas to make sure they get the attention they deserve without derailing your plans? In this episode, I am breaking down my 3-part process called Idea Catching: How to Collect, Curate, and Nurture Your Brilliant Ideas.

 

Episode Highlights

• Inspiration is inconvenient! We get inspired by all kinds of things, so we need a way to gather and organize our ideas so that they don’t get lost or turn creativity into overwhelm.

• What is “information hoarding” and why is it a problem?

• The tools and process I use to collect my ideas.

• How and when I organize my ideas so that they don’t pile up or disappear.

• When to work on an idea versus letting it gel.

 

Episode Links

• Download the Idea Catching Toolkit inside the Maverick HQ Resource Library

• Subscribe to receive bi-weekly New Episode updates via email.

• Book a single coaching session or schedule a free consultation with me.

• Looking for a great podcast editor? Erik at hearnoevilmedia.com is my go-to guy.

• Love this show? I would really appreciate your review in iTunes!

In this unconventional, honest conversation about what's been going on in my personal life these last few months - and why I've been on hiatus from the podcast and social media - I'm talking about what it means to live a purpose-driven life, and how to continually care for our creative selves while going through hard times.

Episode Highlights

• How creativity and joy work alongside exhaustion, grief, and fear.

• The podcast is officially back! We have a new schedule (scroll down to get the updates on new episodes).

• Ways that I am currently working with small business owners.

• The backstory on the chain of events that led to my hiatus from the podcast and social media.

• Resources that have helped and inspired me these last few months.

Episode Links

• Join the Maverick HQ Resource Library

• Subscribe to receive bi-weekly New Episode updates via email.

• Book a single coaching session or schedule a free consultation with me.

• INSPIRATION ALERT: Creative Pep Talk Podcast episode 307 - Feeling Unhappy With How Your Work is Performing? Do These 3 Things Now!

• INSPIRATION ALERT: Unlocking Us Podcast Episode: Brené with Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman on Love, Life, and the Pursuit of Creative Space.

• INSPIRATION ALERT: Listen to (or read) Colin Jost’s memoir A Very Punchable Face.

• INSPIRATION ALERT: Schitt’s Creek on Netflix.

• Download 30 Day Done - my step by step guide to finishing what you’ve been putting off.

• Looking for a great podcast editor? Erik at hearnoevilmedia.com is my go-to guy.

Most of us are pretty familiar with setting goals. We do it informally all the time, and formally sometimes. 

And we all achieve some of our goals. But I’ve found with a lot of entrepreneurs, that there is a bit of a disconnect between the starting point of setting a goal and the finish line.

There’s a whole process that we go through that we rarely pay much attention to. And that is where the entirety of our success and our struggle takes place.

I want to bring your attention to the actual process. To understanding and intentionally following the process so that you have more control, less frustration, and can move through it faster and easier.

Links:

Download my free workbook 30 Day Done where I take you step by step through achieving a 30 day goal. This is the process I use with my clients and my own business, it works! It's free inside the Maverick HQ.

See full show notes here.

Episode Highlights:

• The first reason to hire a coach: Learning vs. Applying. When you listen to things you learn them.  When you apply them, you grow. 
• It doesn’t matter how much great information we get or how many ah-ha moments we have if we don’t apply the things we learn in our lives. The vast majority of the content we consume we don’t do anything with.  
• Check out the Maverick HQ to get tools to work on your business or yourself.
• The most effective way to learn and apply tools is by working with the coach that created them.  
• When you work with a coach the two of you come together to determine this process of which tools and resources are going to be the most relevant and useful for you right now specific for what you need.  
• The second reason to hire a coach: You will accelerate your results with a coach. When you have some available that can help you bypass an obstacle your results can be accelerated.  Start with what you do have and then fill in the gaps instead of trying to find all the answers you need. 
• When you are keeping the path clean and quieting the noise you can go so much faster.  
• The third reason to hire a coach: You have breakthrough creativity. 
• What is most important in a coaching relationship is that the coach is helping you build the skills and empower you to continue creating more on your own. 
• The fourth reason to hire a coach: Micro Adjustments. Being able to bring to light the little tiny things that are impacting our business. 
• The tiny habits and beliefs are what we really have to work on.  
• The fifth reason to hire a coach: It feels great! The simple act of being seen and heard for who you really are with no judgment is one of the most fundamental human needs. 
• We just don’t have people in our lives like a coach who is going to listen and help us work through our ideas but has no agenda for us.  We get to decide our own agenda.
• Coaching is about what you want to be creating and working through the process of actually creating and implementing that.
• If these reasons or any of your own reasons have you in the place that you are ready and want to work with a coach, I would love to work with you.  Check out the coaching options here. If you are not ready to hire a coach, check out the free Maverick HQ.

Get full show notes and transcript at:

www.linsibrownson.com/podcast/89

Episode Links:

• Join the Maverick HQ for free business tools, coaching, and apply to be a podcast guest.
• Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram
• The show @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram
• Schedule a Free Coaching Consultation

Episode Highlights:

• Come join me for free in the Maverick HQ and you can ask me any questions you want to know. 
• How do I know if I am doing busy work or actually moving my business forward?
• This is a big challenge I see come up for my clients in two ways.  The first way is making time for new things that we don’t already have the time for but we want to create the time for.  It also comes up when people have been doing something for a while, but it doesn’t seem to be working.  
• We carry this fear around wasting our time.  You want to make sure you are using your time and energy for things that really do matter to you. 
• We should waste our time on purpose.  We can focus on getting meaningful work done while I am working and then have that time to do whatever I want with it. 
• This fear of doing busy work or working harder than you need to is something that squashes so many business owners before they even get started or it causes them to burn out and then they quit. 
• Tip #1: Know what done means. Anything that is important for your growth or happiness in your business or your life is going to have a measurable outcome.  If you can’t come up with a tangible result then it is probably busywork. 
• Taking a course and learning are passive actions.  They aren’t producing a result or moving your business forward.  It doesn’t produce a result until you implement it. You need a definitive goal for yourself for taking the course.
• Tip #2: Make sure that each action is a puzzle piece that fits in the bigger picture.  Think about all the things you do as pieces of a bigger puzzle.  
• Make sure the pieces (tasks) that you’re picking up are the right pieces to fit into that bigger picture.  
• Tip #3: Remembering that a yes to this is a no to something else.  Anytime we say yes to something we are saying no to everything except that thing.  This is true minute by minute, day by day, and year by year. 
• Think about what task trips you up the most. Is it really worth it or is it busy work?

Get full show notes and transcript at:

www.linsibrownson.com/podcast/88

Episode Links:

• Join the Maverick HQ for free business tools, coaching, and apply to be a podcast guest.
• Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram
• The show @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram
• Schedule a Free Coaching Consultation
• 75: What are you saying no to?
• 85: Lessons Learned and Unlearned In 2020.

Episode Highlights:

• Most of the time personal growth happens gradually.  It is a very organic growth process.  
• Focus on your intrinsic motivators.  Get centered and find your motivation within yourself.  These creative ways are all about going inward and sparking your own inspiration.
• The first way to motivate yourself is to put on your creative hat literally.  Having objects that we give meaning for specific activities signals our brain that it is time for that activity to occur. 
• Tip #2: Pay yourself a compliment.  Ideally, the compliment has something to do with the work you are stepping into. It puts you in the mindset to create more value by showing up today.  
• If it feels disingenuous to give yourself a compliment at the moment, let your clients do it for you.  Go to your website and look at the testimonials you have gotten or reflect back on recent conversations with your clients. 
• Generating empowering thoughts will create an emotional vibration in your body that has positive energy behind it coming from a positive self-image.  
• Tip #3: Gamifying your to-dos. Playing games stimulates your creative brain and it also makes work more fun. Set a 15-minute timer and make it a game.  There is no losing in this game!
• Tip #4: Give yourself the “Honey I am home” speech.  Ask your future self to share the best of today’s moments with you. 
• Tip #5: Give yourself a moving pep talk.  A talk that will get your blood pumping and fill you with this “I got this” energy. Moving your body can break up the stagnant energy.
• Make sure your mindset is focused on thinking the thoughts that you want to be thinking while your body is moving in a way that feels good.

Get full show notes and transcript at: www.linsibrownson.com/podcast/87

Episode Links:

• Join the Maverick HQ for free business tools, coaching, and apply to be a podcast guest.
• Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram
• The show @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram
• Schedule a Free Coaching Consultation 

Episode Highlights:  

• Announcing the Maverick HQ Listener Hub - a library of business tools and resources to help you manage your time and energy, create clarity and cultivate joy in your life! Join for free at linsibrownson.com/maverick
• Overthinking, busyness, people-pleasing and undercharging are habits too! The good news is that we can break these patterns in the same way we'd break habits like overeating, shopping or drinking.
• Our behavior comes from our identity. Habits are actions that reinforce our identity.
• In order to change a habit permanently, we need shift our identity in relation to the behavior.
• When you try to change your behavior through willpower and force, it requires a lot of energy and repetition to change. As soon as you "take your eye off the ball" the behavior stops.
• If you focus on the identity shift first, the change in behavior feels natural instead of forced. You remove the resistance and can adopt the actions faster (sometimes instantaneously).
• I give examples of an email habit, yoga habit and drinking habit.

Get full show notes and transcript at linsibrownson.com/podcast/86  

• Join the Maverick HQ for free business tools, coaching, and apply to be a podcast guest.

• Linsi @linsibrownson on Instagram

• The show @bebrilliantpodcast on Instagram

• Schedule a Free Coaching Consultation