We spoke with a dozen of our previous podcasts guests to ask, 'What new strategy, tool, process or idea are you looking forward to implementing for your business in 2021?'

This episode is dedicated to all those entrepreneurs getting crystal clear on what their businesses will accomplish in the new year - how far they will grow, how they will impact their community. 

There are so many ways these businesses are planning to grow in 2021 - take a listen and let them inspire you to do the same.

Big thanks to the companies that participated in this episode:

• Jamie Trull - Financial Literacy Coach and Profit Strategist
• Harry Shaw - Lakeway Elite Fitness
• Wade Lombard - Square Cow Movers
• Jodi Hume - Strategy & Decision Support
• Mo Pittle - JewBoy Burgers
• Salome Schillack - Shine and Succeed
• Alex Cook - It's Not Complicated Recipes
• Claire Davis - Traction Resume
• Crystalyn Aucoin - Crystalyn Aucoin Jewelry
• Laney Lyons - One People's Kitchen
• Melanie Wright - Melanie Wright Photography
• Mindy Henderson - Mindy Henderson Speaks

We are mere weeks away from the new year - we made it! With 2021 around the corner, we know many people are getting their goals in order. For some, finally starting their own online business (or shifting to a new focus) is toward the top of the list. 

We put together a list of online business ideas to consider. These span a variety of backgrounds and skill levels, so we bet there's a few that may spark some inspiration.  For your convenience, we've included a download where you can grab a checklist of all these ideas.  After listening, review the list and check off the ones that get you pumped! 

Get on the waitlist to be notified when enrollment opens for our Online Business On-Ramp digital course. It's the only all-in-one logistics toolkit laid out in a simple to adopt system - saving the business owner time, money, and cutting out the overwhelm, so that they can focus on the core aspects of the business - the service or product offered.

From figuring out what formation you should choose (stay at sole proprietorship? form as an LLC?) to tips on getting your EIN and setting up your business account to guidelines to consider when choosing your website platform, email marketing platform, and project management platforms...AND insight into how to grow a business alongside life (virtual school, COVID restrictions, full-time jobs), this course covers the critical components of building a strong online business foundation.

Get on the list here: https://www.musclecreative.com/waitlist

Links to previous podcast episodes mentioned:

Becoming an Author
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep39

Becoming an Affiliate Marketer
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep22

Starting and Monetizing a Blog
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep21

Being a Realtor in the Time of COVID
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep9

Starting a Meal Delivery Service
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep17

Creating Digital Courses
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep25

Leveraging Etsy to Sell Your Handmade Items
https://www.musclecreative.com/podcast-ep32

This week we have Dr. Andrea Luise, owner of Lakeway Spine Center and author. Andrea has been a practicing chiropractor for 17 years and for the past 8 years has been the sole owner of her practice and a single mom. An insightful question from her daughter two years ago sent her down the path of becoming a published author.

The Start

• School focused on the science of chiropractic even though they were told 60% of chiropractors fail in business…there was no business aspect of their education
• Practiced for 2 years in Virginia before moving to Texas
• Fell into entrepreneurship after she and her then husband (also a chiropractor) weren't happy with jobs or prospects

The Shift

• Single mom and sole business owner was never on her radar
• All her eggs are in one basket, pandemic has made it nerve-wracking
• A lot of pivoting during the pandemic, changed protocols completely
• A major part of the business, massage therapy, was shut down for 2 months, chiropractic was limited (just acute patients)
• Down about 80% for 2 1/2 months
• Two years ago, daughter asked her, 'Mom, what would you be if you could be anything?' and 'Author' flew out of her mouth, surprising them both
• Concept for book evolved over the pandemic with all the extra time

The Strategy

• Narrative driven non-fiction style book - inter weaving personal experiences/life with life in her practice and themes that keep coming up with the patients that she treats
• Started by getting used to writing, sitting down and writing to strengthen that muscle
• Took a class called Author School, led by literary agent Rachele Gardner (Jen Hatmaker's literary agent) 8-week course taught you to go from typing on your laptop by yourself to being on the shelves at a book store. 
• Learned how important building your platform is, learning how to connect, meet other writers, find her people.

The Action

• At first, hiring was on craigslist to find a massage therapist, front desk help, office coordinators but now it's Indeed and local Facebook pages
• To get chiropractic clients: 
  • Mostly word of mouth 
  • Weekly post on social media for local Facebook sites, and Instagram post on Small Business Tuesday 
  • Some print work (hit or miss, people not reading as much mail as they used to) 
  • Local neighborhood newsletters 
  • Great group of doctors that refer patients to her regularly 
• To build audience and community around her upcoming book, having a strong following if trying to publish traditionally is expected. 
  • Focused on building that following 
  • Huge underground community of bookstagrammers that support each other 

The Mindset

• Up at 5 or 5:30am to work out
• Lunch break to decompress, reading and breathing 
• Compartmentalize loose ends at work so the can be present at home
• Prayers and gratitude at bedtime
• Goals and Vision 
  • For the practice - maintain a good team, keep the practice moving forward 
  • For writing - start the query process, become represented and published 

The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? U2

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram - Chiropractic
• Facebook - Chiropractic
• Instagram - Author

This week features an excerpt from a Facebook Live training we did a little while back. It's a quick training on finding the right niche for your business, and therefore your content.

We cover:

• The intersection of what your audience needs and the direction of the market
• What your audience wants and what you can anticipate they'll need
• Focusing on one ICA even though you may serve several
• Choosing the most effective and needed niche
• Niching up - it's not a perfect science!
• Absorbing your niche
• Giving the niche your own unique flavor
• What to do when you're still not sure what your niche is

In one week we will enter the last month of 2020. In a few days millions in America will celebrate Thanksgiving, perhaps in ways they never thought they would, but celebrate and give thanks nonetheless.

As such, we thought it fitting to take this time to reflect on a positive that this year has brought to small businesses. We reached out to previous guests on this podcast and asked them to share what they are grateful they have learned that has impacted their business this year.

We are grateful for them, and the time they took out of their busy schedules to share with you. We hope this is helpful as you wrap up a strong 2020 and start 2021 with a newfound passion for serving your audience and getting crystal clear on the goals you will be accomplishing.

Entrepreneurs featured on this episode (not necessarily in this order):

• Alex Cook - It's Not Complicated Recipes
• Claire Davis - Traction Resume
• Crystalyn Aucoin - Crystalyn Aucoin Jewelry
• Krystal Proffitt - Proffitt Media
• Laney Lyons - One People's Kitchen
• Lauren Kilgore - Beautiful Wreaths and Etsy Expertise
• Melanie Wright - Melanie Wright Photography
• Mindy Henderson - Mindy Henderson Speaks
• Mo Pittle - JewBoy Burgers
• Paul Totaro - Bargsley, Totaro, Andrews & Steinbach
• Salome Schillack - Shine and Succeed

Many of you may already have your content strategy in place to handle the holiday season the best way possible - showcasing how your product or service can serve your target audience.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, though, we thought we’d go over some best practices and key insights, especially for those that are still putting their plan in place. No shade thrown or judgement cast - this is a crazy time and 2020 has been topsy turvy at best.

Discussion Highlights:

• How 2020 has impacted consumer needs and perceptions
• The five key insights of consumer behavior around this time
• The top five factors shoppers care about when making holiday shopping decisions
• Questions to ask your audience to create better holiday content
• Connecting with your audience through various platforms
• Creating and organizing your holiday content calendar

Mel Afflerbach is a self-described 'health nut, yoga teacher and mama who drinks green juice with a dash of Tequila'. A serial entrepreneur at heart, Mel has created and built multiple businesses in the health and wellness arena, from yoga instructor to women's retreat creator, to prepared meals chef and podcast host…Mel is not afraid to blur the lines of entrepreneurship.

We dove right in, discussing what made her jump in to her small business journey and how COVID-19 put a wrench into things but also sparked innovation. As she pivoted to grow her wellness brand online, we look at tactics she leveraged to grow her audience online, and her vision for the future.

The Start

• Health and wellness career began 15 years ago 
• Discovered that yoga helped her anxiety so began teaching
• Explored yoga in Utah, Austin, and Colorado
• Expanded to nutrition with her prepared meals business 'Natural Kitchen'
• Dove into health/holistic coaching with Ayurveda

The Shift

• Maximized yoga to lucrative business - Women's Yoga Retreats 
• COVID shut downs and partial closures had a heavy impact
• Had to pivot and publish content on a virtual platform 
• Still needed to give students that intimate studio connection 
• Time to slow down a little bit and to pivot
• Realized anxiety was suppressed with staying busy

The Strategy

• Identify avenues to connect with people: social media, email, texting, messages
• Be personable and connect as you would in person
• Expanded website with a blog, newsletters and email captures
• Be real and authentic: leverage FB or IG Live

The Action

• Follow people that you are authentically connected to
• Take their trainings, see what's working for them.
• Capture contacts to build your email list to have that physical connection
• Pick four categories for your social media content
• Avoid over-curation, don't want to trigger people
• Ask why am I doing this, what's my goal in it? All content must hit those points

The Mindset

• Mornings: meditate, gratitude journal, coffee, time outside
• Has a lot of amazing women as an entrepreneurial support system
• Focused on the next 30 days at a time
• Goals and Vision 
  • Women's Yoga Retreat in May 2021 
  • Continuing with Green Juice and Tequila podcast 
  • Launching the Green Juice and Tequila cookbook 

The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Gorillaz

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram

We met Mo Pittle at his Austin brick and mortar restaurant, JewBoy Burgers. While born in Cleveland, Mo grew up in El Paso, Texas and meandered his way to Austin. From pre-med to advertising to now owning one of the most sought after and talked about diners in the Austin area, Mo has a wide breadth of knowledge in business - both starting and scaling. Let's dive in.

The Start

• Started pre-med in university
• Left school a few years in, worked at Club Med in Cancun
• Back to El Paso, played in the band AYB
• Back to school, graduated with a degree in Advertising
• Owned an ad agency from 2002-2012
• Started to consult after that, not his thing

The Shift

• At a crossroads: go back to corporate America with a steady job or be a serial entrepreneur
• Owned a food truck for 3.5 years
• Steady growth, toward end of 2019 saw increased media exposure - bloggers, influencers
• January of 2020 started to see real exponential growth
• By June, doubling income almost every month
• In July approached by a property owner to create a brick and mortar restaurant
• Decided to give it a try, lots of outside seating so perfect for the pandemic
• August 22nd last day on truck, Sept 1 first day in restaurant
• Now has 21 on staff

The Strategy

• Saw exponential growth through patience
• New business owners get jumpy and are always in reactive mode - avoided that
• 80% food is critical but 20% is the experience, you have to do more
• On the food truck he could connect with each customer
• Work on the repeat business
• Take the pretention out, be yourself

The Action

• Research is critical - know who you are and who your customer is
• You can't have a good review without a good customer
• Have a strategy and then intel and then tactics
• A word of caution re: discounting and delivery services
• Identify which media makes the most sense - for food, it's Instagram

The Mindset

• Always over-deliver
• Value the 2 C's: content and culture
• Marketing is effort and commitment - it's a process, not a product
• Goals and vision 
  • possible local expansion 
  • potential ideas other than JewBoy 

The Wrap-Up

If you could only listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Eagles

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Our guest this week, Claire Davis, started out as a corporate warrior. After multiple lay-off situations (we joked that this episode was more like a cautionary tale) she turned to entrepreneurship. Claire founded Traction Resumes and began focusing on being a career coach and resume writer for professionals. She shows them how to expand their network strategically, what to include in a compelling resume, and how to interview for success. We discuss how all of this translates for small business owners, including how to frame your LinkedIn personal and business profile to attract the clients you want.

The Start

• Grew up in CA with entrepreneurial parents Saw budding candidates coming in, some needed more guidance than others
• Graduated from Ohio University with a Journalism degree
• Impacted by several layoffs, reevaluated her career path

The Shift

• Founded her own career coaching and resume writing business
• COVID-19 has rocked the job market, causing an increase in her business
• Teaches professionals a viable way to continue to grow their career despite obstacles

The Strategy

• Industries such as Hospitality, Oil and Gas may be changed forever due to COVID
• Reviews her client's work experience - focusing on how it translates as value in their career
• Leveraging expertise, translating it to other industries

The Action

• LinkedIn profile should focus on the value you bring
• A clear title and value statement by your name as well as testimonials are powerful tools on LI
• what problem do we uniquely solve for our customer
• LinkedIn features to check out - voice memos and stories
• Post value-laden content frequently on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn is a largely untapped networking platform for entrepreneurs when compared to FB and IG
• Consistent, intentional, genuine, messages each day on LI is a solid way to increase your network and client-base

The Mindset

• Start before you're ready!
• Having an online business uniquely positions entrepreneurs to have expansive reach and a supportive community
• Works with a fitness and nutrition coach, time blocks her calendar each morning
• Goals and Vision 
  • Scale through creating a course to teach others these skills so they can use her strategies for the rest of their career 
  •  Our first digital courses: List Builder's Society, Hilary Rushford and Rick Mulready's Facebook + Instagram Ads Foundations  

The Wrap-Up

If you could only listen to one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Steely Dan

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Lauren Kilgore has found a perfect intersection of two online businesses - selling a product and teaching others how to sell products…on one of the most popular platforms out there. Lauren founded Beautiful Wreaths and Etsy Expertise after fielding many questions around the Etsy platform via her successful wreath making business.

The Start

• Accountant by trade, made wreaths for fun on the side
• Started as a wreath maker in 2014 after encouragement from family and friends
• Started an Etsy shop and Facebook page on the same day
•  Joined wreath making groups to connect and learn

The Shift

• Many in the Facebook groups were asking how to use Etsy to increase their sales
•  Found herself in there a lot answering questions about the Etsy platform
• Realized there was a hole in the market 
• Due to the pandemic, businesses were moving online and needed help 
• Discovered online sales far outweighed those of craft shows (and COVID shut those down)

 The Strategy

• Developed 2 digital courses: one for Esty beginners, and another one for those already online but not hitting their sales goals
• First three things to do for those just starting out (hint: SEO, SEO, SEO)
• Two main keyword tools for Etsy: eRank and Marmalead 
• Top marketing tactics for those growing their Etsy shop
• Social media strategy for handmade sellers (Pinterest - the forgotten tool for many)

 The Action

• The 80/20 rule for content posting on social media 
• Brand awareness, consistency and cross-platform visibility
• Leveraging video
• Tools for email list building

 The Mindset

• Breaking out of your niche, while still connecting to your niche
• Fave part of having an online business - not working to build someone else's dream
• Goes for a walk/run for a clear head, strives to have a clear workspace, outsourced house cleaning
• Goals and Vision 
  • Met her big goal of replacing her full time income, so now has to set a new revenue and dream goal. 
  • Help others to have the success she has had with their own businesses, have the same feeling of pride and joy that she has 

 The Wrap-Up

If you could listen to only one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Michael Jackson

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Beautiful Mesh on Esty
• Pinterest
• Facebook
• Handmade Sellers University Facebook Group
• Instagram