Love At First Search (formerly Social Slowdown)

Last week I launched my new book, Social Slowdown: Market Your Business Without Sacrificing Your Mental Health.

So for this week's podcast episode, I figured I'd give you a sneak peek into the book with an audiobook version of the introduction.

If you want to read the whole book, you can get it for just $3.99 for the Kindle, or for $9.99 for a paperback copy - OR you can get a signed paperback for $20.

About this book:

In a digital world dominated by social media, Meg Casebolt made a bold decision that would challenge the status quo. Seeking respite from the incessant noise and distractions, she embarked on a 100-day social media break, uncertain of the consequences it might have on her business.

To her surprise, Meg discovered that her hiatus had no detrimental impact on her thriving SEO marketing agency. Curiosity piqued, she delved deeper into the experiences of fellow entrepreneurs and small business owners who shared their secret desires to break free from the clutches of social media's grip.

Driven by a desire to understand the dangers lurking beneath the surface, Meg embarked on a profound exploration of the hidden perils of social media. With meticulous research and personal anecdotes, she unraveled the insidious links between addiction, depression, anxiety, and patriarchal oppression that often go unnoticed in the digital landscape.

Meg, in her wisdom, realized that boundaries were the key to reclaiming control and finding balance in the digital realm. Drawing from her own transformative journey, she shares five invaluable strategies to establish healthier relationships with social media—ways to protect your mental well-being, safeguard personal privacy, and nurture genuine connections in an era of superficiality.

But Meg doesn't stop there. She extends a lifeline to those yearning for liberation from the clutches of social media's alluring yet detrimental embrace. With passion and expertise, she unveils a comprehensive array of 20 marketing alternatives—innovative, impactful strategies that can catapult businesses to success while enabling them to ditch social media for good.

Join Meg on an eye-opening odyssey as she dismantles the myths and illuminates the shadows surrounding social media. Through her empowering words, she invites entrepreneurs and small business owners to embrace a new paradigm, one that champions mindful engagement, authentic connections, and unparalleled growth beyond the constraints of the digital universe.

This book is an invitation to reimagine the future—a future where you can thrive without surrendering your sanity to the endless scroll. Are you ready to embark on this transformative journey and discover the untapped potential that lies beyond the confines of social media?

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com

Ohhhh gosh y'all...

You're probably wondering why I'm releasing a podcast episode today instead of Tuesday, and if you pre-ordered the Social Slowdown book, then you already know that we ran into some ~technical~ issues.

Well, I'm here to be fully transparent about what went awry.

If you're listening to this episode on July 27th, 2023, - then today is the day that my book's pre-orders were SUPPOSED to go live. But as we all know too well, being a business owner comes with its own obstacles.

In this episode, I talk about the pre-publishing errors I encountered with the Social Slowdown book, what I learned from this experience, and the reality of making mistakes as a business owner.

• Get a signed paperback copy for $20
• Download the Kindle version for $3.99

Support the Show.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com

I hired Lacy Boggs to help me write the first draft of the Social Slowdown book, and today she's here with me to talk all about the writing process.

We also talk about:

• Book launch strategy
• How it felt to work with a ghost writer
• The difference between a ghost writer and a co-author
• The book publication process
• Thought leadership

Lacy Boggs is a content strategist, author of the bestselling Kindle ebook, Make a Killing With Content, and the mastermind behind the podcast, "Ace Stone, Marketing Detective.” As director of The Content Direction Agency, she helps small business owners create and implement content marketing strategy that feels like a playground for ideas and results in deceptively powerful nurture content to create massive growth.

• The Social Slowdown book is available for pre-order for only $3.99 on Amazon!
• Learn more about Lacy Boggs

Support the Show.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com

Did you hear?! The Social Slowdown book is coming out on July 27th, 2023!

If you didn't already know, I wrote a book, taking all of the best bits and pieces from this podcast and putting them together into an easily digestible format.

In this episode, I explain WHY I wrote this book and what you can expect from it.

You can pre-order the e-book for $3.99 or the paperback for $8.99 on Amazon.

For the full show notes, transcript, and more info, visit https://www.socialslowdown.com/social-slowdown-book-coming-soon/

Support the Show.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit loveatfirstsearch.substack.com

How do you build an accessible and inclusive social media and website? Alexa Heinrich is here with us to give us insight into the world of online accessibility.
What you can expect from this episode:

• Website design and accessibility
• Best practices for accessibility on different platforms
• Myths about website and social media accessibility
• Tips on how to use emojis to be accessible in your comments
• How diverse disability actually is
• More of Alexa's thoughts on creating inclusive content

For the full show notes, visit socialslowdown.com

• Accessible Social
• The Accessible Social Checklist
• Emojipedia

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Dusti Arab figured out what she was the best at and what was working for her business, and was able to pivot completely from agency work to fractional CMO work.

In this episode, Dusti gives us the scoop on how she niched down to offer more specific services, and how pulling back and getting really specific helped her workload and her mental health. She explains HOW her business model has changed within the past year, and how she's been able to avoid burnout.

If you're experiencing burnout or you're in a rut, trying to figure out where to go next with your business, give this episode a listen.

*Dusti runs a marketing consultancy, helping women who have small businesses to transform their marketing to be more strengths-based and sustainable versus tactics based.*

Relevant Links:

• The Reinvention Co
• Connect with Dusti on Instagram
• Connect with Dusti on Twitter
• Connect with Dusti on Facebook

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Self-doubt, burnout, rejection sensitive dysphoria. Maybe you've experienced one of these as an entrepreneur, maybe you've experienced them all. In this episode, I talk with Jamie Jensen about managing a healthy relationship with social media, looking after your mental health, and unlearning what marketing has told us we need to do as entrepreneurs.

About Jamie Jensen:

Jamie Jensen is an award-winning writer, brand storyteller, and intuitive business coach who's helped her clients up to 9x their sales simply by refining the stories they tell with their branding and marketing.

Relevant Links:

• Follow Jamie on Instagram
• Follow Scribe & Spirit on Instagram
• Learn more about Jamie Jensen
• Scribe & Spirit

For the full show notes/episode page, visit https://www.socialslowdown.com/questioning-your-relationship-with-social-media-with-jamie-jensen/

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Relationships are fundamental to building a lasting business. And today I'm here to talk with Michelle Warner about her relationship approach to marketing - versus a traffic approach.

In this episode, we talk about traffic funnels vs. relationship funnels, scaled relationship marketing, and how to get over the fear of cold outreach/how to ask something of someone who is a weak tie.

We discuss how you CAN be more profitable as a 1:1 business versus a big business doing mass marketing.

Relevant Resources:

• Get Michelle's free training: 5 Minutes A Day To A Network That Pays
• The 5 Stages of Business Growth
• Connect with Michelle on Instagram

About Michelle Warner:

Michelle Warner designs tiny companies that are built to last.

With an MBA from one of the world’s top business schools and 15+ years growing small businesses, Michelle knows what it takes to build a business - and she knows that authentic relationships are at the heart of it. It's why she created Networking That Pays and why she's thrilled to see over 200 entrepreneurs implementing the system in just the first few months its been publicly available.

The Networking That Pays system was first created by Michelle over 10 years ago when she started her first business. It's what she used to grow that business to 7+ figures while also landing herself a spot on an official White House Task Force - despite starting the business with exactly zero relevant connections. 

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I'm sure you can think of a time when something was happening in our social/cultural climate and you wanted to address it in your brand's messaging, but you held back because you didn't want to say the wrong thing or upset anyone.

Well, today I'm here with Peta O'Brien to talk about how you can bring politics and the cultural context into your brand messaging, without pissing people off!

We also talk about:

• How we can have better conversations on social media
• Rainbow Washing
• Making the decision of when to bring politics into your messaging
• How to choose the platform where you want to delve into these topics

Peta is a copywriter and messaging strategist who taps into empathy and her previous career as a youth worker to help her clients connect with their audience. She works with health and wellness startups and coaches who want to weave values through their messaging. She's a politics geek with 2 children who loves escaping into a cheesy action film, or experimenting with her pile of cookbooks.** 

**And she's launched a membership, The Soap Box - a supportive community for business owners with a social conscience, designed to help you share your political and social values in your business messaging. Without pissing off all your potential clients!**

Relevant Links/Resources:

• Learn more about Peta
• Join The Soap Box 
• Americast Podcast
• Article about the fake Twitter profiles that Peta mentioned 
• WSJ experiment about TikTok
• The Rest Is Politics Podcast

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Megan Flatt's book, Focused: Reclaim Your Time, Ditch Overwhelm, and Do Less Better, comes out today, and she's here to give us the inside scoop on it!

If you've listened to any of our podcast episodes with Megan Flatt, you know that one of her main goals in her work is to help entrepreneurs do less, BETTER.

Megan (she/her) is on a mission to make entrepreneurship easier. She’s the founder of Focus Sessions and the author of Focused: Reclaim your time, ditch overwhelm and do less, better. Outside of work,she is obsessed with lattes, Post-it notes and romance novels. Catch up with her at focus-sessions.com or letscollective.co or @focussessions

In this week's podcast episode, we talk about how you can be more intentional about the way you use your time and the things you're putting on your calendar. Her book is all about not needing more time, but needing more FOCUS. Megan goes through various topics you'll be able to read about in her book, and she also delves into her book-writing process.

Give this episode a listen if you're struggling with productivity and want to learn how to be more impactful with your work.

Relevant Links/Resources:

• Learn more about Focus Sessions
• Get her book, Focused: Reclaim Your Time, Ditch Overwhelm, and Do Less Better 
• Let's Collective

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