Bella In Your Business: Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Podcast

Let's face it, 2020 was not a good year for most businesses. A lot of pet sitting and dog walking companies shut down - but did they ever think they would come back stronger than ever? This week's guest Stephanie is going to share with you her secret weapon on how she came back with a vengeance. How her has people in line to be hired and how her systems help run her business without her.

Many of you have been exactly where Stephanie was. Or maybe you still are? Secretly thinking of throwing in the towel because the reality you chose to see is dismal and gray. Listen in to today's episode to hear straight from Stephanie from Chicago Urban Pets on how just exactly she went from her business as a dead standstill to thriving more than ever.

On this episode, we meet Stephanie Surjan, owner of Chicago Urban Pets. She was facing the struggles of running a business alone and fighting for survival, desperate for support and a way out, Stephanie turned to Bella's Mastermind program, finding it to be a game changer for her business. With the structure and support provided, Stephanie was able to improve her sales and marketing efforts, hire and retain top talent, and streamline her business, ultimately leading to significant growth and a bright future for Chicago Urban Pets.

Biggest Takeaways:

10:55 Showing up during uncertainty

13:17 Setting goals

14:33 Setting up systems

17:45 Jazz Hr

25:27 What kind of mindset do you need?

Recommendations:

Joining the Mastermind group has been a life-changing decision for many business owners like Stephanie. It is a group of like-minded members scaling and growing their pet-sitting or a dog-walking business, leaning on one another for advice and support. With Monthly HR calls, group coaching with Bella, a plethora of questions documented and answered, the Mastermind Group allows business owners the peace of mind they need to truly achieve the success they are dreaming of.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript:

Welcome, everybody to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella vasta. And today I've got a really special guest for you. Her name is Stephanie. And we have known each other I don't even know, a year or two, maybe. But she has come in like a wrecking ball. Just like Becky we had on the episode last week. And and I really wanted you guys to hear straight from Stephanie's mouth, how the impact of having a community around her has helped change her mindset and her business. So without further ado, Stephanie, welcome to the show.

Hi, thank you for having me.

Why don't you tell our guests a little bit about your background and where you're from? What about your businesses and how they can stalk you on socials? And just give them a flavor of who you

are. Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Stephanie surgeon. I own a dog walking and pet-sitting business in Chicago, the downtown area of Chicago, Illinois, and it's called Chicago urban pets. You can find us we're mainly active on Instagram, some Facebook to just Chicago urban pets. So pretty simple to find. And next year, we're celebrating 10 years in business. Whoo, that is amazing. Yeah, it's very exciting.

That's absolutely amazing. And so being in Chicago, I'm sure you have your own set of highs and lows with the weather and things, things being snowy, and you also operate in the city. Something interesting about you is that, at least as of now, a lot of your staff they don't even have cars, right?

Yeah, so we don't use they're actually part of our interview process. That has been really improved. Thanks to Bella and her mastermind content, we actually sort of red flag people who think they're gonna do this driving, because we are in such a dense residential area. Downtown, there's very little parking, so everything is by foot or public transportation. Yeah, so

unique. I love it. And that's something else. I think that a lot of our listeners, sometimes all of us honestly, me too, is sometimes we get into that mindset of Oh, no, it's my area. That's the problem. It's my area. But the mindset to get you through that is figuring out solutions to things sure every business not going to be the same. But everything has to adapt. So why don't you bring us back to before he joined the mastermind? You had made a post I think last week you had said you were like almost ready to give up on your business or you're just so down and out about it. Can you bring us back to about that point? What challenges and woes and feelings were you having? About? I have this dog walking company.

Yeah, absolutely. So as I mentioned, we're going 10 years so when COVID hit, we were probably you know already seven years in and I was pretty comfortable. I, I was you know, happy with what we were making. In terms of income, I sort of set it up to be a little bit going on its little bit of autopilot because I just had a baby. And when COVID hit I made was about two years old. And I had basically for two years now been involved but like marginally. And so when COVID hit, it took me for a ride because I wasn't so involved anymore. And it's sort of thrust me back in. And I wasn't in the best place because I hadn't slept for two years. Because of the baby. There's no toddler but anyway, so I was not in a good place mentally and I was sort of forced to take back the reins, and basically, We think the whole business. And I think the hardest part of that is that I was alone. And I do wish that I had known about the mastermind before COVID. had, I think that would have greatly reduced the amount of stress. And fear, honestly, I'm coming into it because I had so long like, this was the major part of our family's revenue. And we went from like, you know, what we were making to nothing. And I had to figure out by myself how to survive in many ways, in terms of the business side. And so yeah, I was in a very difficult place, we ended up closing temporarily over the 2020 winter months because there was no vaccine yet. You know, I had employees, and it was very hard to manage the ins and out of quarantining, and all those things. So it was just too much we weren't making any money anyway. And so we close it for a while. And honestly, I sort of advertised that we're just going to close for a few months over the winter season. But in my mind, I'm like, I don't know for sure I'm open again because I was just about, we did one thing led to another, we did end up opening again, and this is a year before I even met Bella, and your mastermind, that we were struggling and things were different, really different bundles, you end up opening up again. Okay, both like six months, like November 1 through April 1, and it's sort of lined up with getting the second round of PPP funding, a big incentive to try and push forward. Long story short, things are very different. My success initially was based on time, but also, there was no underlying structure that was strong enough to be able to take on this new big change. And I needed more support to make significant changes in the business. And the first red flag was hiring super hard to hire I came across the free week web, like the Facebook Live group that you did on hiring, and it just blew my mind. And I felt like maybe this is my, this is my safety. This is what's called my safety net, right? Like, this is my way out. Like, here's somebody who is looking at things differently. And I want and I want to, I want more of that.

Basically, that is so good. I didn't even remember how we came about because there was just I feel like I've known you for a long time because you've been such an active member of the community. But during those six months, you were closed. I just I'm curious what did you find yourself doing? Were you trying to work on the business? Were you just like a sitting duck? Were you paralyzed in fear? What was going through your mind? And what was your life like for those six months that related to your business?

Um, I tried to start a new business or an online business.

I think a lot of people did. They thought they had just started.

Products. Yeah, no, I started a mom blog and digital products. Oh, cool. Yeah. And the only reason I paused on that is that when I did reopen the business that needed a lot more of my attention, and I couldn't do both things. So I on that, but mama questions.com blog on dental parenting and do like digital products on affirmations, and stuff like that, because that's where we were my head was that you know, having a child closing the business, I was so burnt out from the business, I really didn't want to do anything pet related, during that, you know, that time of hibernation. And so I tried this other thing, and it taught me so much in regards to online, like content making and online marketing, like I learned, even though I'm not doing that blog specifically, I didn't even know what a blog was when I found out about blogging like I had something on my website, but I didn't understand why we had a blog on the website. And I learned a lot from that that I've been able to bring back into the business. But that's what I was doing basically trying to survive in a different way.

But you know what? Yeah, survival mode definitely. But I want our listeners to hear this and think like, this is the kind of mindset like she was okay, I'm gonna pivot I'm gonna figure something out and she was still learning and growing. And I'm not just a sitting duck. She Of course, was terrified. She said that most of her family's income was from her business. And that's terrifying. But she didn't take it standing like sitting down, you know, and I think you guys, you guys, listeners, I would encourage you to think about, you know, how do you show up in the scariest moments of your life? And how do you show up when things are uncertain? And I think it sounded like this mama questions.com.

Yeah. Podcast with,...

Have you been struggling with creating an effective hiring system where you aren't ghosted and quality people show up to interviews? Or maybe you have been working hard to level up your social media to attract the right clients and employees? In this episode you will be inspired to listen to the story of Becky Lee, the owner of a dog walking and pet sitting business, Paws Around Motown.

She first got involved in the pet industry in early 2020 or 2021 and quickly made a name for herself by working hard and soaking up as much information as possible. In the summer of 2021, she traveled to Chicago for an intensive session with a better marketing professional to work on improving her hiring process and building a community on social media. During the session, they created a 10 step hiring process and worked on setting up timelines to help Becky find the best candidates for her business. After implementing the strategies she learned during the intensive, Becky was able to improve her hiring process and build a strong community on social media. As a result, her business has seen significant growth and success.

Biggest Takeaways:

3:50 Intensive in Chicago

7:06 How did it change your business

10:35 Best advice

13:10 Goals with hiring and marketing

17:04 Trial and error

21:16 How Better Marketing With Bella helped you

26:14 How the Mastermind helped your business

Recommendations:

This week as we showcase the inspiring success story of Becky Lea, a member of our Mastermind community. Through hard work and determination, Becky was able to overcome common struggles and find success in both hiring and marketing. Her journey exemplifies the power of taking a leap of faith and investing in oneself through joining a supportive community like our Mastermind group.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript:

Well, welcome everyone in the mastermind. This is completely on scheduled for you guys. It's been scheduled for Becky and I. And we are actually going to be recording a episode of the podcast, it's hopefully going to be around 20 minutes or so. But you know, Becky, and I can get going. And we thought that we would do it in here so that you actually got you understand what is possible as you're looking forward to 2023. And this isn't going to come out until the middle of January, I think it is. So just, you know, grab a cuppa or put your earbuds in while you're walking down, then there we go. Becky Lee, thank you so much for being on this episode of Bella in your business. I am so happy to have you here today. And I really wanted to just explain to our audience or what is actually possible, because you have been lovingly coined my sparkly unicorn who just like, I'm not even surprised anymore. Like I'm like, Of course you did. You know. And it's been so delightful to work with you and CO create with you that I just rather than me tell your story, I wanted you to tell your story. So first, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Yeah. And for our listeners who are just getting to meet you for the first time. First of all, guys, this is gonna be a huge treat for you. But why don't you just introduce yourself where you're from what your business is, and give them a little bit of a background and maybe even how they can stalk you on social,

sir. My name is Becky Lee, but it spelled like T Lea and I am a dog walking pet sitting dog training business in Oakland County, Michigan. We serve all of Oakland County, which is pretty large and we're kind of right outside of Detroit. A lot of people can kind of get it from there. And so on Instagram, I am at PAWS around Motown on Facebook, I am paws around Motown. That's the name of my company because Detroit Motown music that's me.

And that's gonna be really important because you guys are gonna want to go check out her socials after hearing what we're going to talk about today. So Becky, you first got in the jump, like orbit I like to call it like back in like January of 2021 or 2020 to 2020 21 I remember all of a sudden, like a like a firework all of a sudden I started seeing your name all over everything that we do like you signed up for a better marketing fella you were in the mastermind and you were working hard and you were absorbing everything and I was like huh this girl's work in pretty good like she she's putting her nose to the ground there but it wasn't until I really got to meet you for the first time and that was I went to Chicago to do an intensive in the summer and you don't live in Chicago so how did you get to Chicago for an intensive with me so I

I saw this post because I'm in the mastermind group as well as better marketing with Bala and I saw this post Hey, I'm gonna be in Chicago doing these intensives and I have one more opening than I thought I can Chicago is not that far from me and that's like a five hour drive I can do that I'm and I'm gonna make like little mini vacay out of it so I drove down to Chicago stopped at Warren dunes on the way shutdown scenery visited my cousin met up with another mastermind member while I was there and Bella had this Airbnb all hooked up where I came to her and but that's how I got there. I just saw this post and I'm like you know what, I haven't physically met her in person. I know what she can do for me online. I'm just gonna like jump and go for it.

Yeah, yeah. And I I remember in our like, pre intensive because we always like talk you know, and make an itinerary before you calm so we're all on the same page. You were like, I don't really understand this Instagram thing. And how do you even post a story and so I brought like my selfie thing and like all these two was to like, kind of like show you and I, I wonder if I can find the video in my insights but we have a video of literally I'm like, Hi, this is Bella and I'm teaching I'm teaching Becky how to do Instagram which is funny guys because if you stay tuned and you hear what she's been able to do, it's like what, which is why I'm titling this thing what's possible. So Becky, what, um, what takeaways or what kind of things did you accomplish during that the that intensive session so I went well, we talked ahead of time and I had sent you know, my goals and whatnot. But there were two things that I was super struggling with. One was my hiring process and getting quality candidates to stay and the other was wanting to have a community on social media and knowing nothing about it. Like if you go back to before I kind of got into you can almost see the progression like if you look at the beginning of my Instagram because that's where I'm I'm kind of bigger on but I started and it's just like your post there a post everywhere post post like horrible quality. And then you can see where I kind of joined better marketing with Bella and I'm like scheduling the content that comes from better marketing with Bala but I didn't know what a story was what the purpose of a story is. I didn't know what was good content for reels I barely knew about reels video was kind of I don't want to say new but really starting to explode at that time. And I just was at a loss I didn't know how to make I didn't know what direction to go in. And I kind of told you that going into the intensive and we like worked out like those processes from start to finish it was amazing you can do in it tons of with Bala doing and tons of with Bella she's well give, give the listeners like an understanding. So we were together for eight hours. And like what did you What did you accomplish by the end of that, that you wouldn't be able to do like on a zoom call? Like what was? What did you walk away with? And how did it change the trajectory of your business? Because it definitely did. Because all of a sudden you just went you went from like I hate hiring to everyone we hire stays with us for a long time. And I get the last interview. And it's like the seventh stage. It was like it was it was so beautiful to watch Becky, it was beautiful to watch you like hate parts of your business, and then have them solved so that you can move on to the parts of your business that you loved. Can you explain a little bit more of that to the audience?

Yeah, so when I went into the intensive the processes, Bella puts these huge post it note like these huge blank post, it's all over the wall. And then these little colorful, many posters, and basically what we did for hire for my hiring system, which was badly broken, I was kind of getting junk. I don't wanna say junk candidates, but I was getting people who ghosted me and two people who would start and they'd work for two weeks, and they leave or they work for a month and they leave. So we basically first started by asking, Well, what's important to you? You know, what are you looking for in a candidate? What is most important to you? So I thought, well, empathy, you know, communication, I want them to be able to be present on my social media. So we actually developed from start to finish this, like 10 Step, hiring process. So don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work on the front end of it. It took some time to get it set up. But and there were things I was completely terrified of, like one of the things that we talked about, during the intensive was doing like a video component, and above a video question for a video interview. And I was like, Well, nobody's gonna do that. Oh, my God, I'm wrong. I'm so wrong. So we developed this 10 step process. And then I came into it with knowing exactly how to set it up in jazz HR, which is the hiring platform that I use also recommended by Bala that actually allows you to set up a workflow and quickly advance people through the stages. And when you and I worked on it, we worked on setting up timelines, you know, everything has a deadline, because then you can look at things like their time management,...

Hey there! Are you ready to learn the secret to making it rain with testimonials? Look no further, because on this episode, we'll be sharing all of our best tips and tricks for collecting and using client feedback to boost your business. We also have a freebie download for you as well! In this episode, we'll be discussing how to make it rain testimonials and how they can help build trust and credibility with clients. Asking for testimonials can also serve as social proof, showing others that your services are reliable and effective. Additionally, sharing testimonials can help foster a sense of community and connection with clients, which can improve customer loyalty and retention. It's important to highlight the most important parts of a testimonial, rather than posting long paragraphs that may not get read. Testimonials can be used in various ways, such as on social media, on your website, or in email marketing campaigns. When asking for testimonials, be sure to make it easy for clients to leave a review and to thank them for their feedback. Remember to also follow up with clients who have had a negative experience and see if there's anything you can do to improve their satisfaction. By following these tips, you can effectively use testimonials to market your business and build strong relationships with clients.

Biggest Takeaways:

8:10 Steps for asking for testimonials

8:16 Send a message or email to your client

10:45 Ask for testimony once feedback is received

12:50 Post testimonials to social media

14:50 Ask if they will share on their socials

Grab Your Freebie!

Recommendations:

Testimonials are the proof behind the work. It shows potential clients how satisfied current and past clients are with you and your company. A freebie like I am giving to you today is like the freebies and challenges our members regularly see in our Mastermind group. This group is not only filled with like-minded business owners who are making huge strides in their businesses. But it is filled with HR advice, group coaching, freebies, challenges and so much more that helps push them to the next level. If you haven't checked it out yet, this is your sign to see what we are all about.

Transcript:

Welcome back to another episode of Bella in your business Happy New Year. It is now 2023. My goodness, I'm so excited to be here with you, we have so much in store for you this year that you, you're gonna be blown away, I have kind of personally sat down, and I'm going to be going in pretty heavy on hiring and hiring methods. I've learned a lot over the past two years working with all of you guys. And I've really understood how proper phases and hiring, interviewing, onboarding, and training how that entire process is so sorely neglected. And it is the root cause for a lot of the reasons why people are not having success in hiring. And not just in the pet industry. So I'm letting the cat out of the bag here a little bit.

Before we get into today's topic about getting testimonies from your clients, and I have something free for you. But this year, I'm going to be focusing a lot on that. And you are going to be getting the fruits of that labor over and over again, I have so much written I have like over 10,000 words, written so far, all broken up into tiny sections and details and nitty gritty. And I'm going to be showing you a lot of that starting in February here on the podcast. So you're definitely not going to want to miss that.

This month, we also have a really cool interview coming up with two of them, we're going to change the cadence of me sitting here talking with you. And we're going to be bringing on Becky Lee, and Stephanie Sargent from that they're in the mastermind and better marketing, but you're gonna hear their unique individual stories, and how they've gone about the kind of coming through COVID and dominating their markets, it's definitely going to be inspirational, and really motivating. I got motivated, just by talking to them and recording the interviews. So those are also coming up this month. So the best thing that you could do for me right now would be to like, subscribe, and share.

And if you're really daring, I love for you to drop a review. Anywhere that you listen to this podcast, that would really help us we're really focused on growing our listeners, our weekly listener numbers. Because you know, this is really the intimate spot. This is where I get to talk to you guys every single week. And it's just you and me. Kind of, and I just really enjoy this time with you. So I hope that I'm asking for your help if you could go ahead and do that.

Now something that has happened time and time again, as I've been talking to people, they're all but Bella, they care so much about price. But Bella, I can't charge that much. And there's a tool that I don't think is used enough. And I'm not just talking about in the singular way in which people do it. And that is testimonials. Now, when you think about testimonies, you pretty much probably think of like Google reviews, Facebook reviews, maybe some emails, that kind of thing.

Well, I'm gonna, in true form and fashion, try to expand your brain a little bit more about that. First of all, I'm gonna help show you how to make it rain testimonials today. And I'm also going to give you the script for it. But you have to stay tuned to the end of the show, to get the special URL so that you can download it. But I've literally written out scripts for you. So when I'm teaching you this stuff, and I'm saying oh, just send a text message or send an email, I'm gonna give you the script for it because life's too short, right? You got other things to do. And so that's also something that I hope to do maybe once a month be able to give you a free download, just to say thank you for spending some time here with me on the podcast.

So let's get into it. Asking for testimonials from clients. It's super important because it provides valuable feedback on your services. And it helps build trust and credibility with potential clients. Now, guys, this also works for employees. So if potential employees see testimonies about how much your staff loves working for you, you know, they're like on your IG stories. They're on your grid. They're doing videos for you that just like also add to all of this. So anytime we talk about any kind of marketing, it's not just for clients, it's also to help build your team.

So the other thing is, is that whether or not we're in a recession right now, or we're headed to a recession, the fact of the matter is, is that it is your number one job as a marketer, to break down the wall of fear. People are going to be fearful and more fearful this year to spend money. And so what you need to do is you need to expect and deliver their objections, their concerns, you need to build a rapport and have an experience and that's more company culture, then it, you'll blow the competition out of the water, it is the difference between us spending extra money on something when you could have spent a lesser dollar on something, but you were happy to spend more money because you knew that you were gonna get great customer service, you're gonna be well taken care of you are going to be heard, and the product was going to be full of a quality product. Okay? Now I know every single one of you out there is thinking I'm the best pet sitter dog walker out there, we have the best business we care the most about our clients.

Well, nobody gives a damn about that right now until they know like and trust you. And so one of the best and most beautiful ways of doing this is going to be getting testimonies, but then using them in such a way that it's lethal. All right, I'm totally going off-script already. One thing I see people do is get a paragraph of a testimony. And then they put it on a graphic, and it's so much to read and no one's going to read it. What you got to do is you got to cut out and use the dot, dot, dot and show and highlight the most important part. And I would bold, the words like I can trust would be in bold that company or they give me so much bold peace of mind unbolt right, are you with me. Alright, let's get back to the show notes because I just get too excited with you guys. So testimonials from satisfied clients can serve also as social proof, showing others that your services are reliable and effective.

Additionally, asking for and sharing testimonies can help foster a sense of community and connection with your clients. Because now they feel like they're helping you. The people that know like and trust and love your services are falling over themselves because most of them probably would do anything to help you because you have filled such a beautiful need in their life. So allow them that opportunity to foster that sense of community. And it's only going to improve your customer loyalty and retention. Because what happens when we actually do a testimony of someone, or we actually like pledge our love for a company like online, your kindness, like sealing that bond. So the testimony isn't just important for you to be able to use. But it's also important that actual action that's happening, you're bonding with them.

So how do you get more testimonies?

Well, you ask, and I'm gonna give you a couple of steps here. Four to be exact. And here's how we're going to do it, the very first thing that you're going to do is, step one is going to be you're going to send an email or text message to your clients, asking them if they're satisfied with their experience working for you. Now, you can send this to all your, active clients right now. Or you can put it in your customer experience process, where they come home, from maybe from a trip if it's petsitting. And maybe three days later, because it's always like crazy, like the day off, right? And usually, you're getting hit from the hotel companies from the car rental companies and for whatever else

Have you found yourself in a rut lately? Like a place where you just feel stuck. There are many reasons why business owners find themselves stuck in a rut, but not many know what to do next.

The good news is you are not alone, we have all been there before. In this week's episode, we are breaking through that business rut and discussing ways to overcome the feeling of being stuck! I am diving deep into the strategies and tactics that you can use to break free from a this rut and get back on track toward success and growth.

Follow along to find the common causes, tips to overcome feeling stuck, and how to maintain your momentum.

Biggest Takeaways:

5:33 Common reason why business owners feel like their stuck in a rut

6:57 identifying the root cause of business rut

8:26 Strategies for breaking free from rut

10:21 Maintaining momentum

Recommendations:

A business rut can leave any business owner feeling stuck, depressed and on the verge of wanting to give up. Sometimes it takes a different perspective or a different voice of reason you can lean on to help you through these painful ruts. The Mastermind group is a community of like-mined business owners who have all been in the business rut before! This community learns on each other and grows together with monthly HR questions answered live, 1:1 coaching with Bella, and a plethora of support. This is a community unlike any other in the industry and knows the pains of being stuck. But they also know the success of getting out!

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

 

Transcript

This is episode 320 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome everybody to episode 320 of Bella in Your Business. It is December 15th. We are almost at Christmas, the end of 2022. I'm not going to say where the year go. The year was 12 months long, just like it always is. And it's been a really awesome year. I don't know about you, but I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for listening. And our podcast keeps growing and growing and growing.

I just want to make sure that you have hit that subscribe button. Make sure that wherever you're listening to this podcast, whatever podcast player, that you hit that subscribe button. That would help us tremendously and would be a really great and easy way for you to say thank you if you are listening and find value in this. We are also going to be taking a break from the show for the next two weeks. We do this every single year. It’s a chance to kind of take one thing off the plate for our entire amazing team.

Chris has been with me for, my gosh, like years. I don't even know how many years. Always doing podcast production, which basically means anytime I cough, sneeze, or my child comes bursting in here and I have to stop the podcast, he takes care of that. He also makes sure that the sound levels are good and adds the intro and outro onto it. So Chris is amazing. And then we get Jillian on the show notes, making sure that that all also happens. So anytime you read, “what’s this podcast about?” that is definitely Jillian. So we’re going to give them a nice little break for two weeks—they don’t have to do this anymore.

But guys, today we’re going to talk about feeling in a rut. Have you ever felt that way with your business? Feeling stuck? I really want to talk to you about that today because I think there’s a lot of pressure that’s put on knowing what you’re going to be doing in 2023. And this is when we should be planning. I’ll tell you the truth—in 2021, I actually did my whole staycation thing and tried to plan, and I couldn’t plan. You know what happened? I wasn’t meant to plan because this year was a lot of growth for me personally and in business and my organizational structure and adding to the team and all of this stuff. It was more of a structural year for me, not a growth year.

Sometimes when that happens and when you feel like you should be doing more and getting bigger or making all these goals and plans and you don’t, then you kind of feel like you’re in a rut and you can’t get out of it. Then you start getting down on yourself. I mean, come on, have you ever been there? But today’s podcast, I want to show you that there’s always a way. I’m also going to talk about common reasons why we feel stuck in our business, tips for identifying the root causes, and strategies for breaking free from the business rut—including setting goals, networking, and seeking support. We’re going to talk about the importance of taking action and what that looks like, and then how to keep up the momentum because it’s not just enough to take the action, right?

Before we get into that, I know the ones that you may be feeling there’s no way out of might be like hiring. “I hate hiring. There’s no one out there to hire.” Man, have I got plans for you in 2023. I am going to blow the lid. It’s my focus for 2023—my God, there, I said it. Any of you who follow me on Facebook or Instagram know that I just had my own planning session and came up with a really big thing, and I’ll be unveiling it, but I just let the cat out of the bag—it has a lot to do with hiring systems.

The second thing is just happiness in your business. You know, guys, we go through all different kinds of ebbs and flows in our life. I am always going to go back to when I was in NICU with my daughter. When my daughter was born back in 2014, she was only 12 ounces—one of the smallest surviving female babies on the planet. I was running a pet sitting company with 10 employees and I was coaching, but I was also in NICU (baby ICU) for eight to ten hours a day. So when I tell you I felt like I was stuck in a rut and couldn’t do much, thank God for systems and employees, I can’t tell you. I thought it was bad then—coming out of it, coming out of the trauma, coming out of the depression of it, and getting healing from it. And then when I thought I was getting better, toppling right into a divorce—not an easy divorce either—and then ergo more learning and growing, okay?

There are a lot of things in our lives that we end up feeling like we’re in a rut. Some ruts are deeper or longer than others and some aren’t. But I’m here to tell you that there is always a way out. There’s always a way out. Nothing is ever written in stone. There is not a period on anything. There’s an ellipsis—the dot dot dot. There’s an “and.” There’s never a “it’s done, last chapter.” There’s always more. And I want you to remember that.

So today, as I told you, if you’re feeling stuck in your business and looking for ways to break free, then this episode is definitely for you. I’m going to talk about ways to overcome this rut and get back on the track toward success.

There are a lot of different reasons why we can feel stuck in our business. We could feel like we have a lack of direction or clear goals. Many business owners can feel stuck when they don’t have a clear sense of direction or goals in their business. Without a clear roadmap or plan, it can be difficult to know what to do next, and you can feel lost and unsure of how to move forward. There’s also a lack of significant resources or support—lack of funding, staff, or expertise—that can make it difficult to take the next step. Another reason is lack of motivation or enthusiasm. Over time, it’s easy to lose sight of your passion or your drive and become disheartened with your business.

Burnout and exhaustion are also common reasons why business owners can feel stuck. Running a business can be demanding and exhausting, and it’s important to take care of yourself to avoid burnout. Another one is stagnation or growth. When your business isn’t moving forward and you just feel like you plateaued, it can be really frustrating and disheartening.

So what causes this? Well, there are a couple of things. First, you really need to reflect on your business and goals. Take some time to reflect on your priorities. What is it exactly that you want to achieve with your business? The way that I say this on my calls is, “If I gave you a magic wand and you could fix anything, what would it be?” By understanding your goals and priorities, you can get a better sense of whether you’re on track or falling short.

Another factor to consider in identifying the root cause of a business rut is your resources and support. Do you have the funding or staff expertise that you need to achieve your goals? That could be holding you back. You also want to seek feedback from others—your staff, your customers, your mentors. These people might have valuable insights into why you’re feeling stuck, and their feedback can help you figure out the root cause.

If you don’t feel passionate about your business, think about why. Do you feel energized and excited about it, or do you feel bored and burnt out? Understanding what motivates you is important because if you can’t identify it, you can’t solve it. One of my favorite things right now is: you got to feel it to heal it. You can’t just keep burying things.

Some strategies to break free include setting achievable goals. I recommend SMART goals—we do this all the time in the mastermind. Even if it’s a tiny goal, you need to do it. Something a lot of people don’t do is celebrate. Coming up in January, I’m going to introduce you to Becky Lee, and she’s going to tell you about her celebration—it’s going to blow your mind.

You also want to network and connect with other business owners. By networking, you can learn from others who have overcome similar challenges a

Have you had time lately to be intentional about your self-development? As a leader, because that is what you are, you need to continue to grow and develop. And when we are not intentional about it, influences come in and alter our ways of thinking.

Today I want you to think about the things that influence your life. What are you reading, who are you spending time with, and how are you developing in a way that will benefit you and your business?

If you knew it was as simple as doing this during brushing your teeth or getting ready in the morning, would it be something you prioritize? Because today I am telling you it is not about having enough time, but prioritizing self-development to help you and your business grow.

Biggest Takeaways:

2:37 Understand how you are feeling/ why you feel the way you feel

8:49 Don’t react, respond

9:12 Does misery love company?

10:15 What type of support are you surrounding yourself with?

12:51 What can you do about this? Are you intentional about self-development

Recommendations:

Self-development begins by being intentional about what we are doing and who we are surrounding ourselves with. As a business owner, it is imperative to be surrounded by people who are helping you grow, develop and accomplish your biggest goals. In the Mastermind Group, you will find a community of like-minded owners who are ready to grow and scale their businesses. They prioritize self-development and lean on one another for support and encouragement. With years of HR questions answered, 1:1 support with Bella, guest speakers, and a plethora of support, the Mastermind group focuses on self-development and growth.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Episode 139: The Scientific Way You Can Increase Your Productivity 39%

Brain.fm

Transcript

This is episode 319 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. Today, I'm here to talk about more profits. You have heard me say time and time again, the ship can only sail as good as the captain of the ship. Am I right? You can't see the iceberg ahead if you're down on the deck mopping the floors or better yet taking a nap because you're so exhausted.

So guys, do you want to have more profits? I'm going to tell you exactly what you need to do right now. Because so many of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off or with blinders on, or we're just focusing on the tiny little pictures and we're not really soaring high above the clouds like an eagle at 30,000 feet. Actually, do eagles soar at 30,000 feet? Anyone know? Let me know. You know what I mean. And I want you to ask yourself, what are you doing with your time? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you watching?

I want you to understand that you do not need to have all the time in the world to do things. It starts so simply. It starts so little. It starts with listening to an audiobook while you're brushing your teeth, washing your face, and maybe you're, maybe not, putting on makeup or moisturizer. It starts as little as that.

These are all aspects that are huge influences of your own personal self-development. And as a business leader—because you are a leader—you need to be developing and growing. If you're not intentional about it, then what's going to happen is the nightly news or the morning news or the different radio stations or the different Facebook groups that just happen to come across your feed or on your TV are influencing you.

You are either directly controlling your influences—where you spend your time, what you're reading, what you're listening to, what you're watching—or you're passively letting it happen. Which are you right now? Are you living intentionally?

So the first thing I want to talk to you about is, do you understand how you're feeling? Do you understand why you feel the way you feel or why you're triggered by something? Are you someone who gets angry easily? Or something sets you off and you just get flustered? Because usually, anger is behind some sort of undealt pain. I got a message—God, I'm going to go here—I got a message this Sunday over Thanksgiving. I posted a graphic and it said, “Gratefulness cannot exist while you're depressed.” And I got that message because I've read that multiple times in many different places.

And I agree with it. But something happened. One, I had a spelling error in it. And gosh darn it, this is why I don't do my own graphics. But I did my own graphic this time. And you know what? That's me. I'm always going to be a C student. I'm not perfect. I'm not. And I understand that while I run a marketing agency, Better Marketing with Bella, that's why we have an editor and that's why we have three eyeballs that things go through. But this was just something that was on my heart and I wanted to share it. And I put it on this graphic of me holding my daughter's hand, walking away from the camera. I put her and me in regular color and blurred out the background. And I just felt bad because I know that holidays aren't easy for everybody. I didn't want to just be like, “Happy Thanksgiving!” like an Instagram best selfie. I really truly meant to just remind people that it's basically impossible to be sad if you're there counting your blessings.

And again, through my own self-development, through the things I read and people I listen to, it's true. It's like, you can change your brain. Those people that think like, “I'm always this way,” or “This is who I am,” or “This is just the way life is,”—I don't subscribe to that. And I don't think you do either. That's why you're listening.

But anyway, so I'm sitting there, it's eight o'clock at night and my daughter, before she goes to bed, she always likes to cuddle with me on the couch. She has Spotify Kids and she puts on Christian lullabies. I'm sitting there and just kind of scrolling through TikTok quietly on the other hand. And I got a ping—ping!—and it was a message from this person I hadn’t corresponded with since 2018. It was a person from one of the episodes I told you guys about trolls. And it kind of knocked me off my socks. Here's what it said. She said, and I quote, “Ignore the horrible grammar and spelling. We're used to that from you, but you legit are saying if you're grateful, you can't be depressed. So if I'm depressed, I'm not grateful. Is that what it says?” I said, “No. What it means is if you're feeling depressed, count your blessings. It reprograms your thoughts for the moment that you can control your thoughts.” And she said, “It's a horrible post, especially this time of year and very triggering.” And I was like, “Thanks for sharing. Obviously, I didn’t mean to trigger. I meant to empathize with all who hate the holidays or it's not a good time. It's advice I learned from the gurus that was incredibly helpful to me and something I do on the regular. Start feeling depressed? Count my blessings. I'm sorry if it triggered you. I obviously wouldn't intentionally do that.” And then she goes, “I'm not triggered, but your post is viral and not in a good way. People are sharing the post and saying how heartless it is. I don't follow you and I'm not on any of your pages, yet I've seen it three times.” And I was like, “Well, so what was your intention of telling me this?” And she said, because she thinks I have good things to offer, but then I'm alienating a larger group and she's not sure if that was my intention.

There's so much to unpack there. And I debated on whether or not I was going to actually tell you guys about this, but you know, you guys are all like my audio besties, right? And here's the thing—it kind of goes into what I'm talking about today because it's like, why was she or someone else triggered? I definitely know that I'm not for everyone, but at the end of the day, my heart is in the right place. And if I trigger people to the point that they want to call me names or talk bad about me online, then that's completely their prerogative. They can do that. But to all of my audio besties right now, you guys know my heart. And while the old me would go on a tirade of trying to explain myself to other people, if these people want to go talk in the dark corners of the internet about me and not ever actually bring it to me like this person actually did, then I guess I can't really do much about that, right?

And I know that there are people in your businesses that have said things about your business that you don't believe to be true. But for whatever reason, they think it's true. What happened is they were triggered. That’s the word—triggered. And so when I talk about understanding how you're feeling, do you understand why you feel the way you feel when you're triggered by something? Is it a reaction? Is it, “My gosh, I do have depression, and I do struggle with it, and I hate Bella because Bella thinks I could just count my blessings and not be depressed”? No, that's not what I'm talking about. But where is that anger coming from? Where is that resentment? Where is the defensiveness coming from? What about it fires you up so much that you can't actually respond on a thread and have a healthy adult dialogue with me on it if you didn’t understand it? Why would you have to go and take those kinds of actions? It's because you're triggered. It's because it pisses you off. But it's where you're deciding to spend your time. It's where you're deciding to amplify and what you're deciding to amplify the ener

How does it feel when you cannot trust someone? But I think the better question we should ask is, what if you do not trust yourself? You might be thinking, how am I not trusting myself? Plain and simple, it is when your yes doesn't mean yes or your no doesn't mean no.

We have all met that person in our life (or maybe we have been that person) that will give you a yes, but in reality, they mean no. How does this translate to your business? How can you be the affirmative leader and make sure your staff trusts your word?

Today I get a little personal with you, sharing stories that helped me realize the depth meaning behind someone's yes and no. And how this will translate to your life, your staff, and your business. How you can ensure your staff trusts you.

If you haven't already, subscribe to Bella In Your Business on your favorite podcast streaming site today!

Biggest Takeaways:

1:27 Bed Bugs Story!

5:20 Actions don’t match the words

7:45 Does your staff trust you?

Recommendations:

If you have ever had to ask yourself if you need to trust someone in your business you know how difficult that feels. Trust is a two-way street, and when running a business you need to know you are trusted by your staff as well. Learning how to build this trust comes with a lot of business, HR and everyday types of questions. The Mastermind Group is a community of like-minded business members going through similar situations, learning and growing together. With years of HR questions answered by an expert, a plethora of guest speakers and 1:1 guidance from Bella herself, the Mastermind group is an investment business owners cannot afford to to miss out on.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

This is episode 318 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. I hope your Thanksgiving was great. I am back with another kind of like heartfelt podcast episode for you today, and it basically comes down to how do you know if your staff really trusts you? When we're talking about this, this is way bigger than just your staff. This is going to be a very introspective podcast where I want you to really consider like, hey, there’s a point here. This also, of course, comes from my own very personal experiences.

I've learned so much in my life this year. It's probably been one of the biggest growth years for me personally. And from it, it really makes me happy and excited, and I want to share it with you. So I'm going to do my best because everything that happens in our personal life also relates to our business, right? So I'm talking today really about trusting yourself and others—and others trusting you.

I want you to really think about this, and I'm going to start off with a couple of stories. There was this person that came into my life a couple of years ago, and we were supposed to meet up and just hang out and grab lunch. It was literally like a half hour before I was supposed to go out, and he’s like, “I found out that the hotel I was staying at had bed bugs. I have to get all of my stuff into bags, fumigate, and buy all new things.” That’s really random, right? But the interesting thing about this is that prior to him actually saying that to me, I did not want to meet up. I was not feeling well emotionally—not necessarily physically, but emotionally. I was just feeling down and out. A series of events had happened and I kind of just wanted to stay at home and not talk to anybody. And I was actually happy when he told me that he had bed bugs and had to take care of it.

It developed into this conversation because he told me about the bed bugs, he felt really bad, and I was like, “You know what, John, I actually don’t mind because I have some stuff going on and it actually works out well for me.” And he said, “Well, Bella, if I didn’t cancel on you, would you have canceled with me?” And I said, “No, John, I gave you my word that I would show up. My word is my bond. It’s what I grew up around.” And he goes, “But Bella, why aren’t you honoring yourself? Your yes needs to mean yes and your no needs to mean no. Because if we had showed up, I know you wouldn’t have brought your Bella, and I would’ve known something was off. And then I wouldn’t know if it was me or if there was something wrong with you—it just would’ve been off, you know? You wouldn’t have shown up as your best self because honestly, you wouldn’t have wanted to be there.”

And it was kind of profound. And I really hope I’m conveying that message to you right now. But he was like, “If you can’t trust yourself, how can you expect other people to trust you?” And I was like, whoa. Mic drop. You are so right. And I was like, “But, but, but, I told you I was going to be there today.” And he’s like, “Yeah, but why would you want to come and show up as not your most authentic self? Why wouldn’t you want to take care of yourself and be like, you know what? I just need a mental health day?” Now obviously, if you do that to someone multiple times again and again, that’s not a good thing either. But I’m talking to all of you overachievers, time blockers, and over-schedulers, right? Where you are constantly go, go, go, go, go, and you’re like, “I really don’t want to do this.” Are you honoring yourself? Because I think after a while, people actually start realizing it.

I’m going to flip this to a different scenario. I know this other person who I’ll call Sally. Sally would be like, to your face and admittedly to herself, “Yes, let’s go! Let’s take this interaction up to five, ten, fifteen, twenty speed!”—making all these future plans and all of this amazingness. And the minute that this interaction ended, quietly to herself, she would be like, “My gosh, is this really happening? Did I go too far? Actually, I don’t really want to do this anymore.” And all this anxiety and double guessing would come in. And then what I would get on the end of my line would be this mismatch. It’d be like, “Wow, when I was with her, it was so gung ho and making future plans and let’s do all this stuff,” but then Sally’s actions wouldn’t really match her words. So then what happens from the outside? You don’t really trust Sally, right? There’s no follow-through on it. There’s not that same kind of excitement and the actions don’t match the words.

Sally didn’t think about things thoroughly before she committed to them, therefore giving other people mixed messages. I’m trying to keep it really simple, you guys, and I hope this is making sense. But whether it’s you honoring yourself or someone in your life—again, romantic, platonic, or business—where you can’t trust what they say, it becomes a pretty wishy-washy relationship. They might say something to you, and I know you guys are thinking of someone right now, and you’re like, “Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Or, “They say they will, but we’ll see if it actually happens.” This could be a parent, a sibling, a loved one. It could be a friend, could be a lover, it could be anybody in your life. But I want you to really think about it. What can we learn from these people? How does that feel when you can’t trust somebody? Because quite honestly, they don’t trust themselves. Do you want to be that person to other people?

This isn’t the extreme of when I was talking with John about “My word is my bond. If I said I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it.” Because that’s basically negating yourself and not giving yourself self-preservation. Does your yes mean yes and your no mean no?

On the other hand, there’s another person in my life that I also know that I literally could set my watch to them. They don’t ever overcommit, right? But when they do commit, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I can trust their word and they’re going to do it. And they’re going to do it from a place of joy—not from a people-pleaser overcommitment. But if they say they’re going to call me at 4:30 in the morning, they’re going to call me at 4:30 in the morning. And that’s a pretty extreme example, but I’m saying that to get my point across. They’re not going to commit to something because they’ve already checked in with themselves and established that that’s what’s going to happen.

Now, how does this pertain to your business? Do your employees, your office manager, your social media manager, your HR person—whoever you have on your team—do they know that they can trust what you say? Or are you going to go back on your word? Think about it. Do they trust you? The types of leaders out there who have followers that will follow them over coals and fire into battle happily—it’s because they trust their leaders.

Do you have people that you hire, and maybe you’re such a hot mess because we’re all a work in progress, honestly, right? But you’re such a hot mess that they don’t know if they can actually trust you because you’re not consistent, you’re not showing up authentically, and your yes doesn’t mean yes or your no doesn’t mean no. The other thing to this is something that’s really powerful—if you don’t take anything else from this episode, listen up. This is the one thing I want you to listen to.

Even all you kids out there listening right now—this is a really good lesson for life. When someone asks you something and you want to answer back in the affirmative that you’re going to do it or you agree, there is a major difference inside your brain, in your neural pathways. I’ve read this so many places and it’s so true because I’ve done this in my life....

We have all been there, toxic relationships. The kind that leaves us feeling defeated and knocked down when it is all done and said. The toxic cycles that repeat over and over again, ultimately making us lose trust. Whether you have been affected by someone toxic or been the toxic person yourself, this is something we have all experienced.

But how does it affect our lives when we allow this toxicity? What are the effects it has on your business life? Can your business really thrive and grow with this toxicity looming over it? Or maybe the effect on you is so heavy your focus can't even begin to help your business flourish.

This is deep. Thankfully, there are approaches to take to fix toxic cycles in your business relationship but it requires reevaluating these toxic relationships and taking these necessary steps. This week I am getting real with you, challenging you to take a deep look into those toxic relationships and giving you insights on what you can do to fix these toxic cycles.

Subscribe to Bella In Your Business on your favorite podcast streaming site today!

Biggest Takeaways:

1:00 Mind Explained on Netflix

4:13 What happens if we allow it?

6:09 How it affects your work business

9:12 How do we fix it?

Recommendations:

Toxic cycles in relationships, both business and personal, can leave us feeling untrusting. That is why having a support system behind you and your business is so important. Who you surround yourself with makes a huge difference. As business owners, we want a group of supportive people we can rely on, lean on in times of need and grow with. The Mastermind Group is a community of like-minded business owners looking to grow and scale their businesses. With years of HR questions answered, business guidance, community calls, and 1:1 mentoring, the Mastermind is where business owners grow. Toxic cycles can attribute to the downfall of your business, you owe it to yourself to invest in a place where you can flourish.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

This is episode 317 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump.

So my eight-year-old got me sick. She had a fever for like a day, and then I was knocked out for three days. Hi, Bella Vasta here again. While I was sitting there on the couch, Netflix and chilling, I saw this series and it kind of inspired this podcast episode: Are the toxic relationships in your life ruining your business?

Yeah, stay with me. Ooh boy, we’re gonna get into it today. But first, the show that really sparked this for me—it was called The Mind, Explained. There are two seasons on it, and just to give you an idea of what they talk about, they're like about 20-ish-minute episodes, so good bite sizes: how to focus, teenage brain, personality, creativity, brainwashing, memory, dreams, anxiety, mindfulness, and psychedelics. Like I said, there are two seasons, and it was really interesting because I watched maybe four or five of them, and I just kind of really started thinking about how our brain is affected by our environment.

I also started thinking about toxic relationships because we have all either been the toxic person in a relationship—let’s be honest—or we have experienced a toxic relationship. And then depending on, of course, how we were brought up or how healed we are, it depends on how we’ve tolerated them. And unfortunately, in being a nurturer and empathetic pet lover, a lot of people that I come across are people pleasers and don’t have strong boundaries, kind of like we alluded to and talked about on the last episode. So I thought this was really important to kind of explore together.

And so today we’re going to be talking about just that because I think it’s really important for you to just start thinking about, are the toxic cycles ruining your business relationships?

So first, if you’re looking for something to Netflix and chill on, I highly recommend it—they have so many great documentaries on there. There’s also Money, Explained. It’s a whole series of a series, all different types of things. But it got me thinking, and I told you a little bit about a coaching call I had last episode. But I wanted to go into that and bring it up a little bit because I think every single one of us can relate to that situation.

It’s the reason why I tell you guys not to be held hostage in your business. And it’s why I want you to always be the boss in charge. I want you to always be hiring. I want you to always be able to remove someone off your team and replace someone. I don’t ever want the excuse of “I don’t have anyone to replace them” to prevent you from making healthy decisions.

That right there—Jillian, can we make that a graphic? That quote: I don’t ever want your lack of opportunity or ability to hire to limit your healthy decisions. Because that will not only be miserable for you, but it will be miserable for everyone else that works for you or that’s in your life. Because these are relationships—whether they’re romantic, platonic, or business-wise—they affect you.

They basically strap you onto a roller coaster and make you go up and down and all the way around and upside down. You get sick and dizzy, and it affects every single other thing in your life. It’s like a poison, and I want you to think about it. Think about where you’re spending your time and who you’re spending it with—again, whether it’s romantic, platonic, or business.

What happens if we allow it? In our life, it can lead to anxiety and depression. It could be anyone from one of the tightest relationships we have in our life, like our spouse, all the way down to the new person that we just hired. It could mean bad business—keeping someone on our team that is just like a cancer, that has a negative effect on people. Or maybe they’re constantly testing your boundaries, and maybe you’re working on getting better boundaries like I am.

Maybe other people that work for you see them walking all over you and see how you deal with it, and they actually start having less respect for you. “Well, if she’s going to let that person do it, then I don’t really have to do my best job.” That’s what’s going through their mind. Or maybe even customers: “Well, they don’t really care. I could just go to another company.”

This kind of stuff affects us. And I know it’s not always easy—God forbid you’re in an emotional or physically abusive relationship. I understand the depth and dynamics of how hard that is. It’s not an overnight decision. It’s not just a switch you can turn off. The change starts inside of you. And I hope that no one listening is affected by that, but I know the statistics show that many of you are in those types of relationships. One would even argue that emotional is more damaging than physical, right?

But not to get too deep into that, because this is like me talking to a lot of you—and it’s very hard because I don’t have that feedback from you—I want you to consider: are the relationships in my life healthy or toxic?

So in your business, your clients or your staff will stop trusting you if they see these relationships. It will bleed over there. People might not believe you when you say something. They’ll know that you’re a pushover or a walkover because they see other people taking advantage of you. Or maybe one day it’s happy-go-lucky and awesome, and the next day it’s like—smack—you were just hit by a Mack truck. But then the person is remorseful and they’re sorry, and you know that deep down they want to be good, and they’re not intending to be bad. And so you allow it again. And here we go around the merry-go-round—you’re back on the toxic cycle.

When is enough enough? Why did you start this business? Why did you get in a relationship—again, romantic or platonic—with these people? How is it truly affecting your life? Because it’s kind of like a slow death. It might not feel like it’s that heavy or that hard, but that stuff pulls your vibration down. It pulls your spirit down. It puts clouds in what would have been a sunny day. You carry that with you and it affects others.

I want to encourage you to think about the relationships in your life. Are they filling you up or are they dragging you down? If it’s in the business realm, you have the opportunity to fire them. You have the opportunity to mold a culture that is so happy that people love working for you and they’re a team and everything’s great. You know who I’m talking about right now—there’s someone in your head.

If there’s a staff member that you’re just like, “Oh, I just don’t know what to do,” reach out to me. Let’s talk about it. Especially if you’re in the mastermind—post about it. Let’s get you through this because it is going to lead to so many more sunny days.

How do we fix this? I want you to be aware of it. I want you to be aware of people who breadcrumb you. That means they just give you tiny little good things and that’s what you hold on to. They could be a pill to you and then something good happens and you’re like, “See, they’re not all bad.” You have a glimmer of hope. “I’m just going to hold on to this little breadcrumb even though I’m starving.”

Or gaslighting—when they literally tell you the sky is red and you’re looking up there like, “No, it’s blue.” And they’re like, “No, it’s red. Why don’t you understand that it’s red?” Or you go and paint the house blue and they’re like, “I hate that you painted the house purple.” And you’re like, “Okay, I understand that you hate purple, but the house is actually blue.”

...

What if there was a way to prioritize self-care during the holidays but not jeopardize business? Would you be willing to make small (but important) changes that would allow you to ensure self-care is a priority but kept business booming?

Many business owners today sacrifice their own self-care for the name of their business. Saying "yes" to everyone else except the most important person, you. You are the glue of your life, holding together family and business aspects, balancing everything else thrown your way.

If you have heard the statement, "you can't pour from an empty cup" it is completely valid. Today I am going over 4 things you can do to make sure you prioritize self-care (read: boundaries) and make the holidays a time for family and friends. Most importantly, I want you to remember why you got into this in the first place and how important YOU are to your business.

Subscribe to Bella In Your Business on your favorite streaming platform today!

Biggest Takeaways:

5:25 Big rocks first

8:10 Don't overbook yourself. Consider supply and demand

13:20 Hire extra now. Including calling back college kids

15:50 Make time to celebrate for you and your loved ones

Recommendations:

When it comes to prioritizing self-care, being apart of a community that supports you is an important aspect. The Mastermind Group, is a group of like-minded business owners who lift up, support and network with one another. This is a place of growth and learning, getting all your HR questions answered and having full 24/7 support from experts and business owners alike. If self-care is a priority for you in your business, the Mastermind is worth checking out.

Links:

Episode 139: The Scientific Way You Can Increase Your Productivity 39% (Brain.FM)

A Valuable Lesson For A Happier Life

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

This is episode 316 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump!

It is that time, you guys. I hope it is okay. And I guess I will find out if it's okay that I use some copyrighted material really quickly on the beginning of the podcast. But what better way to get you into the mindset that I'm going to be talking about today than to just start off with my good old friend, Mariah Carey. No, she's not really my friend, but you know, I'd like to think that sometimes around the holidays. Whose favorite song is that not? Even my almost 60 year old

wait, no, 70 year old father loves that song. You guys welcome back to another episode of Bella in your business. I am Bella Vasta and we're going to be easing on into the end of the year here. I've got some interesting episodes coming for you and it's literally from my heart. I was feeling the feels a couple of weeks ago and I got out my notebook as those of you who work closely with me know that I'm a big proponent of getting out pen and paper and actually writing things down.

because I feel like you get more creative. Today, our topic is different than most. We are going out on a limb in a way, and we're gonna be talking a little bit about how to make it easy to practice self-care during the holiday rush. Now, don't let that buzzword of self-care turn you off, okay? Because I've got some things that I really wanna talk to all my people pleasers, my people who are bad with boundaries, myself included.

side note, if you have any good book suggestions on boundaries, I would love your suggestions because I'm out there looking for my own books on boundaries because I believe in self-development as you know and always learning and actually, no, I'm not going to go off that tempted, but I've been reading a lot or rather should I say listening a lot because I am an audible girl. Fun fact.

side fact for you guys, if you ever do find your mind wandering, maybe you have ADHD or ADD, or you're just completely distracted all the time, or maybe reading a book, your brain wanders or you fall asleep. Something I found that really works for me is I listen to Audible at 1.5 or 2.0 speed. And when I do that, I find that my brain has to stay really engaged because it's talking so fast. And maybe you guys listen to the podcast.

on a faster speed too. Almost every single player you do allows you to talk on a faster speed. Now, I already talk fast, but you could up it a little bit. It saves you time, but you still get the content. But yeah, I've been listening to books on 2.0 and I've done a back. I used to do two books a month and I'm back to two books a month. And it feels great because it just gets me out of my own head and I learned a lot. But this episode, really, it says it's about self care, but it's really about boundaries.

So buckle up because we're going to be talking about it. This is the episode for all those people that want to say yes to everybody else, except for the one person that matters. And that's you. That's you. You are the glue. You are the nucleus, most likely, who holds together your entire life, your family, the pets, the kids, the loved ones. You have to be great so that you can keep

Being a people pleaser and please everybody else, you have to be good to yourself first. Think about that, you guys. And anyone who is listening to this, who is not the business owner and maybe you're in the car right now, yeah, yeah, we'll listen to Bella. Thank you. And I want you to listen to this because this is equally important for you, but also to encourage

that person who is this busy business owner trying to live out their dreams and explode their business and have all of their dreams come true. You guys, I have a couple of tips for you today and I really want you to consider these four things. So the first one, and if you're on our email list every Friday, you might've seen this come out last week, I think it was. One of my very favorite time management, which also I believe goes into self-help is called the mayonnaise jar.

but I call putting it in the big rocks. And there's this professor with all these students and he has this mayonnaise jar. And am I saying that right? Sounds funny. And he talks about, you know, putting in like golf balls into this jar first. And then he starts putting in smaller balls and smaller balls. And then at the end, like, you know, he's putting in grains of sand. And then he's like, okay, guys, do think we could fit anything else into this? And they're like, no. And then he's like, well.

watch this and he gets out liquid and he pours liquid into this jar. And so obviously, if you didn't put in the big balls first, you wouldn't have been able to get everything else in. It's your priorities, your priorities, you guys. I remember quite a few times in my life where I would make things or people or events a priority and I would realize and I would sit back and watch to see if I also

was a priority for those people or things or events. And I just really want to encourage you to adopt that mentality, not just for the holidays when there's extra stuff going on, but think about it in general in your life. I'll have Jillian link the video in the show notes if you missed the email. But guys, this scenario changed my life. It was like maybe three years ago when I saw it, and it just completely changes your entire perspective. And it can be added and added.

to a lot of things. For example, right now it is 427 AM, November 1st, and I am recording this podcast. Why? Because every couple of weeks my body wakes me up at like 330 and I literally feel like I'm done sleeping. And I lay in bed a little bit and admittedly I scroll on social media and I have my neuro waves stuff going on.

Listen to Brain.fm. I've done a podcast episode on that too. Highly recommend you check that out. It's not just for sleep, it's for work, it's for meditation, all kinds of things. And it's scientifically proven to help. But I also have really started this year to listen to my body. And so this is me putting my big rocks in first. I'm like, okay, well, I love quote unquote working. I feel like that's such a derogatory word because what I do with you guys is not work.

It is like my life's purpose. Like I could not fake this if I tried. So at 4 28 now, a.m. on Tuesday, November 1st, I am recording this podcast for you that's going to come out on November 10th. And this is a priority. I want to get it done. So I want to get this done. And I'm going to see how many more episodes I could just record. I've got my Starbucks iced coffee here with me. And I'm doing this because you guys are a priority.

AKA the podcast. And so I'm putting my big rocks in first. I'm not going to leave it to chance to later. I'm excited to sit here and talk with you. All right. So aside from that, the second thing is, and this might sound pretty simple, but stay with me. Don't overbook yourself and consider supply and demand as a solution. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, we want to be everything to everyone. I know there's a lot of you guys out there.

And I know you hate saying no, especially if it's like one of your top 10 clients that spend thousands of dollars with you a year. You don't want to say no to them. And that's another whole episode. Why? Because you're fearful. Why? Because you don't have boundaries. Why? Because you don't want to lose out on the money. You know, there's a lot of different reasons there, but I want you to consider supply and demand. I was just on a coaching call yesterday with one of my long-term clients.

And she goes, my God, there were so many companies in our area who closed this

If you are a business owner, I am pretty sure you already know your social media is the biggest flex you have to market your business. And before you dismiss this topic, "yea Bella, I know, I use my social media every day" just hear me out. Because, while you might feel like you are constantly using your social media, are you utilizing it to its' fullest potential?

You may be up with all the social media trends, prepared as they come, and know what to expect out of your social media platforms. But, I can almost guarantee you might be missing these hidden tools that will help market your business. I have a plethora of client success stories out of my Mastermind group and Better Marking With Bella that can attest, these tools can and will help market your business if you are willing to give it a try,

This week I am bringing your five social media tools, that will help up your social media game. I want to hear from you this week, have you tried these tools to market your business? Or are you willing to give it a try now?

Subscribe to Bella In Your Business on your favorite streaming platform today!

Biggest Takeaways:

2:10 Meta Business Suite

4:02 Video replies

5:40 Agorapulse

7:27 Jazz HR

10:12 GIPHY

Recommendations:

Tomorrow, the doors for Better Marketing With Bella are closing! This is your opportunity to grow and market your business like the professional you are. With six months of content created for you, bonuses and guidance, it is no wonder there are so many success stories from this program. There are two different options to fit your budget and lifestyle centered around what works for you. Mention you are a podcast listener and I may have a special deal for you!

Links:

Episode 277: Making Money Off The Podcast: Real Life Stories Of Clients Increasing Their Bank Accounts

Jazz Hr

Agorapulse- 2 Months Free

Better Marketing With Bella <

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

This is episode 315 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasto, and today I know our last episode, it was a little bit longer, and at least my stats show that you guys like it when they're at like 10, 15 minutes. And the last one was 25. I got a little excited. What can I say? This one, we're going to keep it a little bit more shorter, succinct, and direct.

And it's going to be good food for thought. So if you are driving from one visit to another, this is going to be a good podcast for you. Let's get into it. Today, we're going to talk more about Book More, Work Less—how to use these little-known social media tools to market your business. Now, I don't want you to discredit this. If I say something and you're like, yeah, I already know about that one, hear me out. Because chances are you might not be using it to the capability that I'm intending to tell you about today.

So let's get straight into it. I mean, there's no secret that social media is the biggest flex a business can have today. I mean, I could name so many of my clients that are killing it because they started in with Better Marketing with Bella—jumpconsulting.net/marketing, by the way, the doors are closing like tomorrow—and they have come in and they took their social media from, “I don't even know how to do a story,” to they are now getting people applying to work for them because their social media looks so amazing and because the stories that they're telling on it are so amazing.

So it truly is the biggest flex and it's like the most underused tool that we have. But sometimes business owners don't know every aspect that they can be utilizing to fully leverage these platforms in the easiest way. And so I'm going to explain some hidden tools that I think you should be using to help your business.

The first one, and I don't want you to roll your eyes because I would if I was listening to you—hear me out—it's Meta Business Suite. It's a free tool that centralizes Facebook and Instagram and the messaging tools all in one place so you can save time, create connections with more people, and get better business results. It allows business owners to schedule their content in less time while growing and managing their social media platforms.

Now, this is something that is completely free. And it is annoying because they often change it. Facebook has created so many jobs for Facebook ads and analysts because it just keeps getting more and more confusing and hard to understand. But on a very basic posting level, this is something any business owner can do. And your best friend, YouTube, is all there to show you how to do it.

So if you have no budget or you do not want to do a third-party social tool like Agorapulse that I know and love, and I can give you two free months if you go to jumpconsulting.net/AP (A like Apple, P like Paul), then you could absolutely use Meta Business Suite. They also have a lot of analytics, and it tells you how things are performing so you can easily double down on the stuff that's working and stop doing the stuff that's not working. So use it. It's there, it's free, and it's a great way to just start out on your social media if you have it.

And also, a way to avoid having to go to Instagram and upload and go to Facebook and upload because, you know, you know by now because you're a jumper—you should never be posting on Instagram and then having it automatically post to Facebook. Just don't do that. That's like talking in Russian and expecting Chinese to understand you. It doesn't work that way.

All right, the second thing, because we're going to move this along, is video replies. I did some episodes about this in the past, and I actually had told you a success story about Connie—and Connie had landed a client who previously did not choose her, by the way. So that was like mega awesome. But we all know it's important to reply to keep engagement up on social media when someone comments, but taking the reply a step further and making it personal with a video reply is a game changer and something every business owner should be doing.

Maybe you can make it a goal that just once a week, you're going to do a video reply. That could be in the DMs on Facebook, that could just be as a response to someone on your page. How cool would that be? All of a sudden they get to see you. Or the 2.0 version of this is like Becky with Paws Around Motown, where she took our How to Do a Giphy that we gave her in the Better Marketing with Bella program. And now she has a gazillion Giphys of herself doing just about everything she ever needs to say—“You're welcome,” “Thank you,” “Want a treat?” “Pick me”—like all of it.

Because we gave her a list and then she took that list and she did it and then she made a bigger list. It's freaking amazing. So you guys, don't be bashful. I know, I know you don't like being on camera. A lot of people don't. But it's not about that. It's about showing somebody what you're actually doing right then and there and that you're being authentic and you're in the moment. So don't shy away from it.

The other thing is Agorapulse. I kind of just mentioned it. So if you just absolutely hate Meta Business Suite or you hate the fact that they keep changing—and once you learn it, then you have to relearn it—I got you. And I understand. I mentioned it a second ago, and that was Agorapulse.

Agorapulse is an all-in-one social media management platform. They have over 11,000 customers around the entire world. Their culture is so fun. They've got their own podcast where you can find out, “Is it better?” Like, they spend tens of thousands of dollars a month doing this research. Like, is it better to put hashtags in the comments on Instagram or hashtags in the original post—which will get you more reach? They've done all this research. It's beautiful.

And their community is also very helpful. You can ask them just about anything inside their Facebook group. They're really, really great. But their software is used to create and schedule social media content. You can import your stuff from Canva, you can engage with audiences, you can listen for key terms. So maybe like something on Facebook and you want to see if anyone says like, you know, “dogs in Scottsdale.” It will tell you everywhere on the internet that's public that says “dogs in Scottsdale” for Facebook and Instagram. It'll analyze the social media performance and it centralizes all these functions across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

And again, if you guys are interested in checking it out, it's the backbone of our social media. Just go to jumpconsulting.net/AP for Agorapulse. And you can sign up and you'll see it'll come up with my partnership with them. Of course I'm an affiliate and they'll give you two months for free. So it's pretty cool. Go check it out.

The next one, little-known social media tools for your business, is JazzHR. No, stay with me for a second. So what is it? If you've been living under a rock and you don't know, or you're not like one of the 300 businesses that already use them in the pet industry, they help you find and hire the right talent with applicant tracking software.

You can effortlessly streamline the entire recruiting process and set it to reoccur as often as you need to let applicants know you're actively hiring. This keeps your funnel full. Now, why is this a social media tool? I'm glad you asked. Because the reason why is—it is so organized where you have like this recruitment pag

What would it mean for your business if you could wake up tomorrow morning not having to worry about what you are going to post on social media? Or maybe never having to worry about if you forgot a national holiday and get to post your own content rather than sharing others. What would it mean to your business if you were batching content?

If you are spending days on end living in Canva trying to keep up with your social media needs, it sounds like batching content is exactly what you need to be doing.

I know, the idea of batching content may be intimidating and sound pretty hard. But with direction and discipline, you will see the results you are hoping for. Today I am sharing with you tips on how to batch content for the next 4 weeks, in just 60 minutes. Holidays are among us, and your time is special. Learn how to put marketing on autopilot so you can focus on your business rather than being in it.

Biggest Takeaways:

5:20 Be disciplined

11:55 Figure out consistency

15:25 Interact

23:30 BMWB

Recommendations:

Batching content is the key to lowering stress within your business and leveraging what you already have in front of you, using it to its best capacity. Allowing you to spend your time growing your relationships instead of living in Canva creating. Doors are open for 2023 Better Marketing With Bella, and I am here batching content so you don't have to. You will learn what to post, up-to-date tips of social media platforms, and professional custom graphics, with group and personal coaching. Now is the time to invest in your business, yourself and your time. Batching content will relieve the stress of "what to post" and make room for growth within your business.

Links:

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

This is episode 314 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.

So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and I want you to imagine something with me today. Imagine waking up never having to worry about what you need to post that day. Or if you remembered an important national holiday, imagine never having that stress because you scheduled your content a few weeks ago.

I know so many of you because I've heard it. Leia, before she was in the Better Marketing with Bella program, used to literally spend an hour a day creating Canva stuff. And it was the creativity that was just getting sucked out of her, eliminating creativity for other areas of her life, like playing with her kids or what's for dinner or whatever. You have to understand that social media is creative. You have to be creative with it. And that takes a certain amount of energy — and that energy you only have so much of.

But not just that, it's your mental health, you guys. It's your mental health, the feeling, the addition of, "I'm not good enough," or "I don't know what I should be doing," or "my gosh, it was National Hug Your Dog Day and I didn't put anything out. I really should be putting something out. I'm a pet business." All of these feelings — we have this in every other area of our business at some point or another, because we're all human. The “I'm not good enough” or “I'm not doing enough,” right? I know that you're listening right now and this is resonating with you because no one's immune to it.

But there's something that you can do when it comes to social media marketing — not advertising, social media marketing — that you can put it on autopilot for the next four weeks in just 60 minutes.

The only thing that would be left for social media when I'm done with you in this podcast is that you'd have to do a simple “share to story” click and maybe some engagement or maybe some outreach, which we've talked about in other episodes. Imagine what it would mean for your business if you just spent an hour a month and then really figured out your content and scheduled it. What would that look like for you?

Batching content is the key to lowering stress within the social media aspect of your business and leveraging what you've already got in front of you and using it to its best capacity. You have to kind of think like a journalist. And when you know what your stories are, a.k.a. your buckets that we've also talked about, it makes things a lot easier.

If you're struggling over your buckets, then your buckets aren't good. Your buckets need a little bit of a realignment. But how can you put your marketing on autopilot for the next four weeks just by spending one hour a month?

You guys, it is at the time of this recording, it's October 24th. Before I continue, this just came into my head. I really want to give a big shout-out to Randa Clark from Tail Chasers and Nikki and Steph from Dog Dogs, both of them — and I'm sure there are many of you others out there. But this week in the Mastermind, because they're both Mastermind members, they both mentioned that they have listened to every single podcast.

And I love when I get the feedback because it helps me know what direction to go with you guys. But they loved the Joey Coleman episodes, and they also love it when I just start preaching. And someone also told me — and I'm going to keep their anonymity, but it might've been one of these ladies, might not have been — but one of them has been working in their business and also for someone else for quite some time. And they've been wanting to quit their day job, so to speak, so they can go full time with their pet company, even though it's already six figures.

She says that listening to these podcasts helps give her that motivation to do that and gives her the excitement to go ahead and do it. Not to mention Leia, who I just also talked about — Wonder Pups in Florida, what's up! She listens with her boys. You guys might've heard me talk about this before. I love it because every single time the podcast comes out, she's always posting on Instagram stories and I get to repost it. But it's super cute. I guess they were doing ninja kicks for the Bella Butt Kicking.

So I'm calling all of you kids that are listening — let's see those ninja kicks if you're doing your Bella Butt Kickings while mom and dad listen to the podcast! Thanks for giving them the couple of minutes to sit here and be here with me. And thank you for being here too.

All right, so not to mention, if you are a kid listening to this, you're definitely getting a whole social media education. I'm just going to tell you that now.

All right, so we're going to move on to the actual action topics. The very first thing that you're going to need to do is be disciplined. That's hard and you're going to fail and you're going to be horrible at it at the beginning because anything new that you start, you're going to be miserable at. It is very seldom times when you're going to start something new and it's going to be so easy. So expect to stink at it, all right?

But this kind of discipline is going to be able to teach you about other areas of your life if you let it. What do I mean? Well, guys, we're on episode 314. And I've been doing this since I was in the hospital in NICU. That's when I started. We have definitely come a long way since then, and we've stayed consistent every single Thursday, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year's.

And look at what it's done. It's created a relationship between you and I. And it's created a place where I can just rant and rave, which I love because I have a lot to say to you guys. But being disciplined is something that when you're disciplined, it means that your consistency will show, which means that the chances that you're going to be successful in what you're doing is going to increase.

Because let's say if it's weekly, like the podcast, you get a weekly opportunity to get better at things. But you have to be disciplined in order to have that consistency. So when I say discipline, batching might seem hard or tough work, and it might be just at first. But just as with working out, you'll be sore at the beginning and it will be tough on you, but you'll get stronger and stronger and it becomes easier.

And sometimes, I don't know, I've been on this workout kick lately — and you know that if you've been following my Instagram — you know, I am a person who likes to work out right now. It's not, dare I say, something that I am. I go through stages of my life where I like to do it. And trust you me, I know that it takes discipline. It takes showing up and doing things when you don't want to do it. And it hurts sometimes.

But the hurt is literally that saying, the pain leaving the body. That means I'm getting stronger. And when you're batching content, you're sitting there and you're doing it, in the beginning you might struggle over it. You're like, "Why am I doing this?" It's going to get easier and easier for you because you're going to make those adjustments as if you were working out.

You might adjust your feet. You might adjust your hips or your back or your knees or spread out your legs a little bit more. When you're doing a squat, it won't hurt as bad. You'll protect your knees. When you're doing batching and you start adjusting your topics and then you go about your day and you start seeing your topics in your everyday life, it gets easier and easier. But you have to be disciplined to show up each time.

And so being disciplined enough to do it now, you will see the results and you will see how much easier it becomes.

We’ve got about 70 to 90 companies that every single month—and you probably don't even know th