Clover: Conversations with Women in Leadership on Visibility, Authority & Owning the Room

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

If you haven't heard the name Krystal Proffitt yet, you will. She is fast becoming one of the most sought after educators in podcasting. Her digital course, Proffitt Podcasting, is a step-by-step plan for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start, launch, and market their podcasts with confidence. The Poddy People monthly membership brings together a community of podcasters to collaborate and innovate, taking their podcasts to the next level. Krystal shares with us how this career came to be, as well as specific steps would-be podcasters should take when first starting out.

The Start

• Left corporate to be a stay at home mom
• After being a Pinterest-perfect mom didn't work out, she realized had to find something for herself
• Started writing, journaling and unsuccessfully blogging
• A blogger she followed started a podcast inspiring her to do the same
• Launched her first podcast, The Rookie Life, correlated with her previous blog

The Shift

• People started asking her questions about how podcasting worked
• Started podcast coaching in 2019, jumped in with her new podcast, 'The Proffitt Podcast'
• Launched her daily podcast, The Poddy Report, in March, focused on being transparent on what it takes to have a podcast
• Didn't feel right promoting her course during COVID, launched a membership, 'The Poddy People' at a lower price point to support the community

 The Strategy

• Focused on the value-add to listeners 
• Was strategic about launching - timing and content
• Evolved her format by listening to her audience
• Included more success stories and insight from other podcasters
• Conducts a half solo and half interview format

 The Action

• Keep it simple!
• Pick launch date, stick to it, and talk about it everywhere
• Set a budget for yourself and reverse engineer necessary equipment
• Manage expectations - use it as the marketing arm of your business
• Practice recording yourself speak on your voice memos app on your phone
• Before you launch, try to get on 4-5 podcasts to talk about your topic
• Get over it and ask for people to subscribe or leave a rating or a review
• Tools we talked about: 
  •  Audacity 
  • GarageBand 
  • Hindenburg 
  • Calendly 
  • Acuity 
  • Buzzsprout 
  • Buzzsprout Magic Mastering 
  • Buzzsprout Affiliate Marketplace 

 The Mindset

• Her first book, 'Start a Bingeworthy Podcast' comes out October 20, 2020
• Journals 30 minutes every morning, gets up at 5AM
• Goals and Vision 
  • Simplifying a lot! 
  • Her membership is open for the rest of 2020 but in 2021 it will only be available to those in her digital course 

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Pinterest

Our guest this week, Jodi Hume; who focuses on decision support for entrepreneurs growing their businesses, grew up in a family of entrepreneurs dating back to her grandparents. How cool to have such a background that you can ask your grandma what it was like to run a business in the 1940s? 

After college, Jodi found herself employed at an architecture firm where she stayed for 17 years moving up the ranks from Marketing Director to COO.  Anything that wasn't architecture at the firm, Jodi ran it. Through those leadership meetings and facilitating conversations of decision-making as well as fixing previous decisions, Jodi had an extraordinary learning experience that brought her to where she is today - a personal strategist and facilitator for busy leaders and their teams. 

The Start

• Surrounded by an entrepreneurial family
• Business conversations with the dinner table conversation du jour
• After college, grew from Marketing Director to COO of a growing architecture firm 

The Shift

• Due to COVID-19, in-person facilitations and workshops were out
• Adopted online facilitator tools to adapt
• Continued roundtables via Zoom
• Every client from past and present came out of the woodwork at the beginning of COVID
• Personality profiles were either of those comfortable in uncertainty and thriving or those paralyzed because of it 

The Strategy

• Saw a need to support business leaders who didn't have an unbiased resource to help decision making
• Sought to help entrepreneurs avoid wheel spinning, a toxic and draining aspect of business
• A entrepreneurs make progress in their business, new problems arise
• Learning to celebrate new problems as a sign of progress

 The Action

• Roundtable framework used - speaker tees up the issue, others only ask questions
• Best thing you can do for an entrepreneur - be curious, ask lots of questions to get at the real problem
• Focus on the problem, not the symptoms
• Avoid comparing solutions rather than honing in on the actual problem

 The Mindset

• To keep her mind and body fueled: sings in a band, performs vigorous strength training exercise 
• Monitors her energetic and emotional capital, listens to her  body - plays strategic hooky when necessary
• Goals and Vision 
  •  Launching a service at a scaled level - supplying business owners with someone to talk to on the business side, talk an element through that is holding them back so they can move on 

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Our guest this week, Nadine Fonseca, is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Mighty Kind. This beautiful publication, available in both print and digital versions, is a 'kid's magazine that focuses on developing kindness and empathy as a foundation for anti-bias education, global citizenship, and service.' Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nadine was surrounded by a thriving atmosphere of diversity and colorful culture. Having moved out of state with her husband and kiddos to the suburbs lacking this, she began to create experiences for her kids to learn about various cultures, diversity, and inclusion. She figured other parents would want this as well, so she surveyed over 500 parents from 22 different countries. The results from that survey sealed the deal and Mighty Kind was born.

The Start

• Team of moms across 5 time zones
• Launched the first issue September 2019 
• Solidified internal messaging of what they stood for before anything else
• Created their structure from four pillars
• Identified a printer and fulfillment center
• Leverage key apps and platforms to manage such a complex process of magazine production

The Shift

• Due to COVID, partnerships with independent book stores has diminished
• Challenge of ecommerce as people cannot touch and flip through their pages to feel and validate the price point as an educational resource

 The Strategy

• Participating in online publicity opportunities such as IG story takeovers
• Sales keeps them afloat but the work is the most important, the message, the mission
• Partnering with charitable organizations and foundations to deliver their message

 The Action

• Creatives can send submissions or collaboration interest via www.mightykindkids.com 
• Tips for pitching to your content - run with the ideas they mention and make it your own
• Focus on the thought and purpose behind your pitch
• Craft your pitch in a way that is unique to you and your experiences

The Mindset

• Lesson learned: Embrace a compassionate mindset and the fact that some loved ones will support you in different ways
•  Lesson learned: stop apologizing for trying to do something good and making yourself small in the process.
• Give yourself grace. Map something out and allow the day to happen as it's going to happen. 
• Goals and Vision 
  • Become a nonprofit organization with a team that spans countries, cultures, and voices. 
  • Create a foundation that funds great works focusing on social-emotional skills, antibias, antiracism, diversity and inclusion, mental health 
  • Fund service projects that are organically derived by young kids 

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

** They are grant recipients from the iFund Women Foundation for Latinx and Hispanic-owned businesses. There is currently a live crowdfunding campaign here:  https://ifundwomen.com/projects/mighty-kind

This week's topic is one that every small business owner needs to listen to, and learn more about: pitching to media. Ashley M. Biggers, founder of 'How to Pitch Media' started her company when she realized that so many great stories were not being told because small business owners didn't have the means or the know-how to get themselves covered in the press. A journalist by trade, entrepreneurs hold a special place in Ashley's heart, so she decided to become an educator and help others on the other side of the pitch to grow their businesses and increase their credibility through press coverage.

Discussion Highlights:

The Start

• Caught the writing bug from a young age
• Drawn to Communications field
• Senior year of college still figuring it out, joined AmeriCorps Vista 
  • Domestic peace corp program, fighting the systemic cause of poverty. Helps women and people of color start and grow their businesses 
• Figured out she wanted to do journalism but support small business owners, entrepreneurs and creatives

The Shift

• Turned toward educating small business owners how to do press outreach
• COVID-19 impacted freelancing due to a changed media industry landscape
• Many publications closed, budgets decreased, causing a decrease in content and less opportunities to be featured in the press
• Planned to launch a digital course teaching these skills to small business owners the very week U.S. shutdown, so shifted into a service mindset since covid was so devastating to many small businesses, to share her info

The Strategy

• Leverage press as a vehicle to get the word out and increase your credibility
• Read, listen and watch the media outlets you want to be featured in
• Reach media outlets that your audience accesses
• Media outlets work off of social proof 
• How to leverage social media

 The Action

• How to Pitch 
  1. Identify journalists that consistently report on certain topics 
  2. Send a short and sweet email, 3 sentences long 
     • First sentence - establish the relevancy of your story to that journalist. 
     • Second sentence - Establish the newsworthiness or point of differentiation, what's timely, interesting, about your business 
     • Third sentence - wrap up asking if they would like further information. Leverage one media outlet for another
• Biggest Mistakes 
  • Achieving media coverage with a publication one time and then going radio silent. 
  • Not approaching the right publication or journalist with their message 
  • Stopping after one attempt and never pitching that journalist again 
• When to Pitch
• Follow Up!
• Social Media Etiquette

The Mindset

• Daily Routines - Morning jogs, daily gratitude practice, top 3 biggest tasks that day
• Goals and Vision 
  • As a journalist - always to tell great stories but also to have people feel that they have truly been seen. That is the most fundamental gift to give to another human. 
  • As an educator - teach hundreds of entrepreneurs to do this for themselves so they can grow their businesses via press coverage 

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online? 

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Paul Totaro may be a CPA by trade, but he's a small business owner devotee at heart. Before getting his CPA license, he was a business broker because he specifically wanted to work with business owners.  He went on to purchase his own firm, now Bargsley, Totaro, Andrews & Steinbach, CPAs, LLC, and while they support individuals with their tax preparation and planning, they also focus on entrepreneurs.

We had a lively conversation that included top actions entrepreneurs should take when setting up as well as scaling their businesses, how the topsy turvy programs and less than stellar guidance the government rolled out during COVID impacted their firm and clients, and…one of my favorite parts of the episode…his BIG struggle with answering our very last question. 

Discussion highlights:

The Start

• Business broker turned CPA
• Bought his own firm
• Supports individuals and entrepreneurs, soft spot for business owners

The Shift

• Industry had gone high tech so easier COVID transition
• Everything went remote
• Tracking of tax returns and projects from card stock to digital 
• Moving toward technology solution for team communication
• Auditing all processes for better solutions

The Strategy

• Shutdown right after Business returns were due (March 15) 
• Other returns postponed to June/July
• New info with little guidance caused a few shaky months
• Inundated with calls and emails from clients asking about new government programs
• Like running a marathon and then tacking on 20 more miles at the end

The Action

• First thing for starting a business - identifying the right business entity
• Keep it simple! Plenty of time for your business to get complicated
• Hire a bookkeeper when you can
• Read the market & validate your business idea
• Easiest way to manage your business finances and expenses is…
• Learning the income flow and when you are taxed in that flow

The Mindset

• Take breaks and move around
• Can only sit at your desk for so long, give yourself a mental 5 minute break every now and then

The Future

• Keep working remote for the next several years
• Find a client portal to manage their growth and their adoption of technology
• Potentially buy another firm and form a merger

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Website

For many, working a 9-5 job or one with inflexible hours is just reality. Once something disrupts our flow, such as having children, we realize…hey, wait a minute. There are other, higher priority things I want to be doing with my time. 

This was the predicament of today's guest Salome Schillack, CEO/Founder of Shine and Succeed. Working as a pharmaceutical rep, Salome was tired of choosing between her income and her family. After attempting a coaching business, Salome dove into online course creation. (which by the way, she quit after her first course launch was not what she anticipated - more on that in this episode).  Salome now has a multiple six-figure Facebook ads agency, a membership, and online courses…all which serve the online course creator niche.

Discussion Highlights:

The Start

• The rise and fall of an online coaching business
• Launching her first online course for $2,000 in revenue after only spending $400 on Facebook ads…and quit
• From Facebook ads side hustle to the start of a full Facebook ads agency

The Education

• B-School
• Amy Porterfield's suite of courses
• Any digital marketer and Facebook ads trainings she could get her hands on
• Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts

The Growth

• Free clients from Facebook group networking
• Started charging $500 a month, then $750, then $1500, then more to manage ads
• Now has an full scale agency with employees and amazing clients
• Niched down to serve digital course creators to build and scale their entire business with ads
• Word of mouth referrals, course launch ads

 The Strategy 

• Mission to help people get out of their jobs and not have to choose between a 9-5 job or being home with the kids 
• Adjust their model to not run as an agency, has online courses and memberships too
• Created the original Shine Show with female entrepreneurs and broadcasted from her phone
• First course was Facebook Live Superstar 
• Worked with online course creators as ads managers, saw the backend of people 20 steps ahead of her

 The Shift

• Launched a course, A-Lister, during COVID-19
• From key learnings, pivoted to a membership
• Help students start earlier at a lower dollar value, so that over the course of a few months they get sustainable long term results

 The Action

• Create your ad account, setup your pixel, set up your custom audiences
• Run engagement ads consistently in the background, all the time
• Build engagement, then build email list, and then build your launches
• Create lead magnets that solve a problem that your ideal customer wants solved

The Mindset

• Grateful for lessons learned and to learn; know you have learned enough now to keep going
• The pros talk about the same thing for years, gaining mastery
• Daily routine: Meditation, journaling, exercise 
• Save social media and email for later - get to the meat of your day first thing

 The Future

• Teach women to create more autonomy by creating more income, have more freedom
• Grow the membership of students learning and using ads to make an impact
• Teach students to be ads managers for online course creators

The Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

You know when you meet someone and in the first five minutes you're like, 'oh yeah, we're gonna be friends'? That's Jamie Trull. (by the way, her name is not pronounced 'troll' and I know that…but listening to this in playback I totally pronounced it like that! Why?!) Anyway. Jamie is a corporate CFO and CPA-turned entrepreneur. 

After working for years for corporations with 90 hour work weeks during multi-billion dollar mergers, she had an epiphany - time is the most valuable commodity. She started her own company, Balance CFO, picking up multiple clients along the way. When she found that going out on her own resulted in multiple bosses instead of just the one at a corporate job, she started looking more seriously at digital courses. Jamie's heart is with small business owners, and her passion is to educate them on financial literacy and maximizing their profits to pay themselves more.

Discussion highlights:

The Male-Female Finance Divide

• The huge difference between how genders approach business
• The financial knowledge gap of women small business owners
• The staggering '40% and 4%' statistic every small business owner should know…and change

Relatable Financial Literacy

• The market for fun, relatable finance education
• Leaving client work behind for profitable digital courses
• Letting go of the money shame spiral

 1 to 1 vs. 1 to Many

• The power of scalability and impact
• Serving a larger audience through digital courses
• How she landed a spot on Amy Porterfield's top business podcast, 'Online Marketing Made Easy'
• The complete transformation of business and life in one year

Niche Down or Niche Up?

• Starting with a very niche course idea
• Niching up to a service your audience needs
• Listening to clients, group members
• Identifying a process that could become a course

 Exponential Growth Amidst COVID-19

• Grew her Facebook group from 5,000 to over 28,000 members in 4 months
• Shifting content to serve finance needs due to the pandemic
• Identifying a need to educate small business owners through PPP, SBA loans and more

The Art of Supplying Value and the Sale

• Showed up for her group consistently, educating via Facebook Lives
• Realized new members needed a back to basics business finance course
• Launched a $179 course, sold over 860, earned six-figures
• Sold the course before building it to gauge interest

Cornerstones of a Six-Figure Digital Course Launch

• The critical piece of content marketing
• Tap into what members of your Facebook group need
• Show up consistently and give value for free
• Leverage Facebook group for list building
• Growing an email list from 0 to over 24,000 within a year
• The sales mindset shift

Moving Forward - Goals and Visions

• Focus on automation to continue creating her ideal lifestyle
• Maintain flexibility, especially through COVID-induced virtual learning

Muscle Creative Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Financial Literacy for Women Business Owners Facebook Group
• Balance CFO Facebook Business Page
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Website

I first heard of Genia Stephen when she had landed a 5-figure contract with an organization that wanted to not only purchase her digital course, but roll it out across their org. When I dug further to see what she was up to, I learned that her business 'Good Things in Life' was completely centered on supporting parents with kids that have disabilities. Some of you may be aware, but this tugged on my heartstrings as my parents (after having 8 of us biologically) adopted 12 children from varying backgrounds and hardships.

Genia is a prime example of someone that had knowledge in a certain area, saw a hole that needed to be filled, and figured out a way to build a service that filled that need. Growing up, Genia was surrounded with leaders in the disability world as her mom became a powerful advocate alongside her younger sister's diagnosis. Cut to 14 years ago, Genia's own son was born with disabilities and medical complexities. 

Conversation Highlights:

 Identifying a Business Need

• Midwife background highlighted a gaping hole
• Parents with kids of disabilities start their journey online
• Created ongoing instruction and support for this community
• Launched Good Things in Life: podcast, free monthly webinars, digital courses and a membership

 The Power of Digital Courses

• Started from scratch with no entrepreneurial experience
• Began with Marie Forleo's B-School online course
• Then took Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy

 Leveraging Collaborations & Personal Knowledge

• Co-created the course, 'Belonging in School: The What, Why, and How of Inclusive Education'
• Moved on to launch 'Inclusion Academy' as a membership for parents with ongoing support and community
• Accelerates progress by making high quality information, resources, ideas, and support more available to parents across the board

 Top Tools & Processes for Success

• Digital Course Academy - created by Amy Porterfield as a comprehensive program to create, launch, and sell digital courses
• Tribe - created by Stu McLaren as a course that teaches how to launch a successful and profitable membership site
• Full Focus Planner - created by Michael Hyatt, this planner helps to cut down on overwhelm by helping you focus on what matters and ditching the never-ending-to-do-list
• Digital courses speed up your progress by delivering the info you need in an accelerated pace 

Selling Your Digital Course to Other Organizations

• Building relationships, credibility, and authority
• The power of the 'ask'
• Getting over the money mindset of making money = burning yourself out
• Re-using one digital course for multiple income streams

Moving Forward - Goals and Visions

• Improving her membership, growing that audience
• Continuing to build her email list
• Build and scale her podcast
• Reassess late 2020/early 2021 - re-evaluate, tweak, set goals, move forward

Muscle Creative Wrap-Up

If you could listen to only one music artist for the rest of your life, who would it be? Bob Marley, The Dixie Chicks depending upon her mood

Where can people find you online?

• Good Things in Life
• The What, Why, and How of Inclusive Education
• Facebook Group
• Instagram

When chatting with our guest this week, you would haze zero idea that she has overcome such adversity in her life. Or maybe you would, maybe her sunny yet determined outlook on life is one that would only come after such obstacles. We are overjoyed to welcome Mindy Henderson of Mindy Henderson Speaks to the show - professional speaker, coach, and writer focused on overcoming adversity.  

At 15 months old, she was diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition called spinal muscular atrophy. Her parents were told she would lose all of her abilities to stand or walk, she would lose all of her cognitive functions, and probably wouldn't live to be 3 years old. Between parents that would not take her diagnosis lying down, and a self-described personality of a natural born project manager with a sprinkling of bossiness, Mindy has defied all odds and our world is better for it.

Discussion highlights:

Hope, Gratitude, Independence

• Implementing a plan in the face of devastation
• Impact of being the Texas State Poster Child for the Muscular Dystrophy Association
• The start of catching the public speaking bug

From Tech Career to Speaker Entrepreneur

• Working in high tech for two decades
• Overcoming fear of risk to become an entrepreneur
• What pushed her into following her dream of becoming a published author
• Adding coach to her repertoire

Life's Curve Balls as Messenger

• Skipping the pity party and jumping into productivity
• Ignoring your life's plan for your life's purpose

Becoming a Public Speaker

• How to identify your topic
• Engaging with your audience with stories and tools
• Getting clear on your values, priorities for audience connection
• Speaking for groups, organizations, nonprofits, UT Austin

 The Impact of COVID-19

• Battling through event cancellations
• Creating workshops that align with the current state of the world

Key Success Principles

• The importance of having multiple arms to your business
• Getting comfortable with risk taking
• Being intentional with honesty and vulnerability
• Networking through social media and 1:1 

Moving Forward - Goals and Visions

• Expanding coaching clients
• Land a publishing contract
• Increase speaking engagement
• Do a Ted Talk or Tedx Talk

Muscle Creative Wrap-Up

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

Where can people find you online?

• Mindy Henderson Speaks
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Women's Thrive & Shine Network Facebook Group