Today I’m talking with Cher Hale and we are talking about pitching yourself. We cover topics like why it’s important for entrepreneurs to pitch themselves, what types of opportunities are available for you, and how you can create a pitching process of your own. Cher also talks about what makes a good pitch and how she does research ahead of time to make sure that whatever outlet you are pitching is a good fit and then we talk about following up. I give some examples of pitches I’ve received and follow-ups so that you can hear from a podcast host what that feels like.

We also talk about what happens if you get a no or a yes after you pitch and how you can continue that relationship in a positive way.

Cher Hale is a publicist who helps authors, activists, and artists tug at more heartstrings + get more eyeballs on their work. She specializes in writing cold (but heartfelt!) pitches and has landed interviews on outlets like The Unmistakable Creative, goop, and NBC. When she’s not writing emails, you can find her re-watching Remember the Titans, playing with her cat Totoro, or hiking somewhere in the PNW.

Topics Discussed:

• Why small business owners need to learn to pitch themselves
• The types of opportunities that are available for entrepreneurs to share their expertise
• Cher’s pitching process and how you can create your own
• What makes a good pitch
• Following up without going overboard
• What happens if you hear a no after a pitch
• The process if you get a yes

Resources Discussed:

• Natalie Sisson, The Suitcase Entrepreneur
• Asana
• Amanda Berlin’s The Empowered Publicity Podcast
• Michelle Mazur
• Crosby Noricks with PR Couture

Action Steps:

1. Set a goal for pitching
2. Make a wish list of podcasts
3. Write a heartfelt pitch and follow up

Connect with Cher:

• Website
• Instagram

Your about page isn’t really about you, it’s about your dream client. People are going to check you out before they decide to invest time or money into your business. They want to know what you can do for them right now. If you have an online business, whether you’re supporting it through a blog or not, your need a solid About Page that’s easy to find and targeted to your ideal client.

Topics Discussed:

• Designing an about page that focuses on your dream clients
• The basic layout of a successful about page
• Examples of fun about pages you can use for inspiration

Resources Discussed:

• Episode 28 | Writing an About Page that Connects with Maria Carras
• Jenna Kutcher
• Lemon and the Sea
• Buzzing Creatives
• The Honeymoon Concierge
• Being Boss

Action Steps:

1. Make sure your about page includes at least one image of you
2. Update your copy to focus on the benefits clients get from working with you
3. Add 1-2 testimonials from dream clients

Today I’m talking about creating conversions with a quiz. One of the biggest things that I have seen people struggling with when they design a website is getting people from landing on their website to actually converting. I’m excited to talk about one way that you can increase conversions on your website by creating a quiz that can then run automatically.

Topics Discussed:

• How quizzes can increase conversions on your website
• The results I’ve seen from using a quiz
• Brainstorming a topic for your quiz
• Creating questions and results that fit your dream client and support what you’re already doing in business
• Connecting your quiz with the content you already have
• How to share your quiz

Resources Discussed:

• Interact
• ConvertKit

Action Steps:

1. Explore Interact
2. Brainstorm a topic for your quiz
3. Share your quiz on your home page

This is the second episode in the Designing a Strategic Website Series and today we’re talking about designing a strategic home page.  I’m sharing how design home pages that get visitors to take the next step on your website.

Topics Discussed:

• The purpose of your home page
• What visitors need to see on your website to keep coming back
• Strategically directing potential clients to the next step

Action Steps:

1. Add a headshot of you to your home page if you don’t have one
2. Check your copy to make sure it’s clear what services or products you offer
3. Make sure you have a call-to-action supporting your big goal

Today I’m talking with Amanda Dennelly about designing a morning routine you can stick to. Amanda and I have a great discussion about why having a morning routine is so important for business owners and how it can affect your day and your life. She also talks about the importance of mindset work and how that’s going to look different for everyone. We talk about how your morning routine isn’t going to look just like everyone else’s and you don’t have to follow a prescribed formula because it’s more about finding things that fit you and making small tweaks so that you really feel the way you want to as you start your day. We then talk about adjusting our morning routine to fit our lives as entrepreneurs when our family or friends are home and need more flexibility.

Amanda Dennelly helps creatives and entrepreneurs that are feeling stressed and overwhelmed stop overcomplicating their day-to-day so they can grow their business and create more time to do what they love. She helps clients shift their mindset around their mile-long to-do list and create room in their schedule to finally breathe, all because of rather than in spite of their growing business. This supports them to rapidly scale their businesses, create more fulfillment, and feel happier and healthier in their everyday lives. Amanda started her career working with some of the biggest brand names in New York City before moving out west and starting her own design studio. She spent years honing her process and found the same principles of intentional simplicity and refinement that she used in her branding work can also help creatives design a beautiful, balanced life and a successful, thriving business. Today, she operates her coaching practice in the mountains outside Denver, Colorado. When she’s not supporting clients, she’s going for early morning trail runs, mid-day walks with her puppy, and Friday sushi dates with her man.

Topics Discussed:

• Why a morning routine is important for business owners
• How your morning routine affects your day and your life
• The importance of mindset work
• Designing a routine that fits you
• Making adjustments in your routine as life happens

Resources Discussed:

• ClickList

Action Steps:

1. Pay attention to your current morning routine and how it makes you feel
2. Choose one thing to change and try it for a week
3. Experiment with exercise to find something you love

Connect with Amanda:

• Website
• Instagram
• Connection Call
• Morning Routine Guide

Today you’re listening to the very first bonus episode in the Designing a Strategic Website series. Today we’re talking about designing a strategic navigation. I discuss choosing the right links for your main navigation, strategically leading visitors through your website, designing a footer that keeps people on your website longer, and use for a sidebar and what you should include and leave out.

Tune in for the next six weeks to learn more about designing a strategic website – we’re going to cover a different component or page of your website each week.

Topics Discussed:

• Choosing the right links for your main navigation
• Strategically leading visitors through your website
• Designing a footer that keeps people on your website
• Uses for a sidebar and what to include

Action Steps

1. Update your main navigation with standard link names
2. Remove any links that you don’t need in your main navigation
3. Take advantage of your footer by adding other important links

Today I’m going to be talking about what pages you need on your website. The reason I wanted to talk about this today is because every Tuesday for the next few weeks, I’m going to release a bonus episode specifically about some of the most important pages on your website. I’m going to talk about trends, what’s working and what isn’t, and what you can do to create a strategic design for each of those pages.

We’re going to start today talking about which pages you might need depending on your type of business. I’m going over why choosing the right pages for your website is important, the goal of your website and how it affects those pages and creating a journey to get people to take action.

Topics Discussed:

• Why choosing the right pages for your website is important
• The goal of your website and how it affects the pages you need
• Creating a journey for your website visitors
• How to decide which pages your website needs
• Pages you need, but may have forgotten about

Resources Discussed:

• Setting Goals and Planning Your Website
• The Contract Shop Website Policies Template

Action Steps

1. If you haven’t already, choose the three goals you have for your website
2. Write down the journey a visitor takes from first landing on your website to taking action on your goal
3. List any pages you are missing and need to add to your website

Today I’m talking with Kendra and Kleneice of Humble & Whole and we are discussing using Instagram to build connection and grow your business. Kendra and Kleneice talk about the ways that we can use Instagram to build engagement and really get to know our community. We also talk about the types of images you should be sharing, how you can find the best hashtags, and what your options are for sharing and how you should use those. They also give a couple of the common mistakes that they see entrepreneurs making and the tools they recommend using to help you grow your Instagram following.

Kendra and Kleneice are the founders of Humble & Whole, a digital marketing agency that helps female entrepreneurs build online communities that are both meaningful and profitable. They are on a mission to empower female entrepreneurs to share their voice and offerings confidently so that they can make a greater impact and create more income.

Topics Discussed:

• How using Instagram can benefit your business and your audience
• Connecting with your community in a genuine way
• Asking simple questions to increase engagement and learn about your audience
• Growing your following with people who are your dream clients
• The types of images you should be sharing
• Choosing hashtags for your posts
• Where you should be sharing – IGTV, Stories, Lives, and regular posts
• The common mistakes that business owners make on Instagram
• Tools you can use to help you use Instagram more effectively

Resources Discussed:

• Planoly
• Asana
• The Art of Selling on Instagram email course

Action Steps:

1. Brainstorm some simple questions to ask in your captions
2. Find a few hashtags for your business
3. Update your bio to include what you do and who you serve

Connect with Humble and Whole:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest

Today I am talking about my top three strategies for designing a website that fits your brand. If you’ve tuned into the last two solo episodes, I’ve talked about getting to the heart of your brand and how design strategic websites and I wanted to make that really actionable for you today by sharing the top three strategies that I use when designing a website that fits your brand and giving you some action steps that you can use on your own website.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a strong foundation for your website by digging into your brand’s mission, vision, and values
• Knowing your dream clients inside and out
• How your foundation can help you create content and write copy for your website
• Setting goals for your website
• Why goals help you focus and make decisions as you design
• Pushing the limits of what is standard
• Ways to find inspiration that makes you think differently

Resources Discussed:

• Getting to the Heart of Your Brand
• Setting Goals and Planning Your Website

Action Steps:

1. Create a dream client profile including demographics and psychographics
2. Write down the 3 biggest goals you have for your website
3. Start a Pinterest board with inspiration from websites and other sources

Today I’m with Ashley Gartland about simplifying and delegating in your business. We talk a little bit about how you can simplify your business and the five steps she has to help you get to what you want to be spending time in your business and how you can make space for the things you want in your life.

We talk about the best place to start simplifying if you’ve been running your business for a while and then we dive into the topic of delegation. We talk about using delegating to make your workload easier and save time, how you think about delegating whether you’ve done it before or not. Ashley gives us the assignment to help us figure out which tasks we want to hold onto and which we can delegate to tools, systems, or contractors. She also talks about how simplifying in your business can really benefit you and why it’s so important.

Ashley Gartland works with women entrepreneurs whose business is doing well but who feel like a hot mess behind the scenes - and they know it's holding them back from reaching the next level. She helps them simplify their business and build a stronger foundation so they can experience more growth and fulfillment in their work and more freedom in their life. Ashley has been an entrepreneur since the age of 22 when she got her start as a freelance food writer. After working in editing, event planning, public relations and digital publishing, Ashley launched her coaching practice to help overwhelmed entrepreneurs grow their business by doing less better. Ashley's work has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post and Being Boss and she's appeared on The Startup Sessions, Courage & Clarity and The Feel Good Effect podcasts. She lives for rainy days, is an avid runner (and wannabe yogi) and prefers kombucha over coffee to fuel her day. To connect with Ashley and learn more about how you can simplify your business, you can join Ashley's free community, The Simplified Entrepreneur.

Topics Discussed:

• Why it’s so important for business owners to simplify
• The best place to start simplifying if you’ve been running your business for a while
• Steps you can take to start simplifying
• How you can use delegation to make your workload easier and save time
• Where to start when considering delegating
• Why delegating doesn’t have to cost a lot of money
• Evaluating what benefits you’ve gotten from delegating

Resources Discussed:

• Trello
• Acuity
• Calendly
• Zoom
• Loom

Connect with Ashley:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook group
• 5 Steps to Simplify Your Business Guide