Say it Online

We've heard so many stories about businesses struggling through the pandemic. But what about the success stories? How have certain businesses managed to thrive through the chaos and uncertainty? 

Jeremy Miller is here to share how he and his team have been able to scale during COVID-19. The secret? He had already recession-proofed his business.

Jeremy is a globally recognized branding expert, and the bestselling author of Sticky Branding and Brand New Name.

Jeremy can tell you in vivid detail what every recession, starting with the 1989 market crash, is like. He has learned through real, boots-on-the-ground experience. During the 2008 recession, LEAPJob (Jeremy's family business) did not have any slippage in sales. They actually grew, even while the rest of the industry was cratering.

Since the start of the crisis, Jeremy and the Sticky Branding team have been working with companies to recover the customers and revenue taken by COVID-19, and helping them to slingshot out of the crisis.

Tune in to learn how to:

• How to adapt your marketing and strategies to serve your clients' changing needs.
• Shift your mindset to put structures and habits into place that will push you forward.
• Be a leader that nurtures a safe space for new ideas to come, rather than shutting down every idea that isn't your own. 

Most of you probably thought that working from home would be easy. The good news is that it can be (we'll get to that!), but for a lot of workers, COVID-19 making businesses go remote has presented a whole new set of challenges and stresses. 

As our screen time has increased, human interaction has decreased. At the same time, the lines between work and home lives are blurred more than ever. So I chatted with Taylor Cashdan about how to make working from home work for you. 

Taylor is a North Carolina-based multidisciplinary creative and community builder that's passionate about people, design, and all the intersections in between. He has a burning desire to collaborate with others to create exceptional work for people who give a shit.

With nearly a decade's worth of experience, Taylor currently spends his workdays as part of Fidelity Investments' design system and digital standards teams, his nights freelancing for a variety of clients, and any time in between building his local design community. Previous roles include a variety of in-house positions within the management consulting realm, ad-tech, and HBO all focusing on brand and marketing maturation. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Take control of your space for work and play, so your worlds aren't melting together.
• Control your schedule (Just because your devices are always on, it doesn't mean you should always be working!).
• Take a practical approach to your well-being and de-escalate stress.

It's time to get uncomfortable!

In this installment of Digital Agency Real Talk, we're not just getting uncomfortable – we're getting real. 

I chat with Anansi Content Strategist Jazzmine Multanti about the realities of racism (even when it's subtle, it's always around), how living in India has affected Jazzmine's racial identity, and so much more.

Jazz doesn't leave the house without a notebook and pen, knowing very well at any moment inspiration can strike.

Storytelling, discovering new social innovations and critically analysing marketing campaigns are what makes her jump out of bed in excitement every morning. Along with her passions for travel writing and community development.

When not behind her laptop, Jazz is either on her aerial silks or seeking her next great adventure in India, where she leads backpacking tours and runs north India's first zero waste guesthouse.

In this episode, Jazz and I dive into our lived experiences as people of color, discussing why it's so important that we build and provide platforms for BIPOC to thrive. We talk about how living in India has impacted Jazzmine's racial identity, and the need to stop the cycle of black issues being put on the back burner.

Tune in to learn how to:

• Identify where you can make small changes, even in your language, based on casual experiences with your community.
• Align your personal values into your agency's values, so you can connect with and support diverse communities.
• Choose what you want to support and how to put actions into place to achieve a goal.

Looking for more information on how to support BIPOC-owned agencies and entrepreneurs? Check out our blog post with 7 ways to support BIPOC businesses.

If you self-identify as a woman and are looking for a diverse community of women to connect with in the digital space, join our Women of the Web Facebook group by clicking here.

Delegating can be a major challenge when you're running a business – especially when you know that you can do certain tasks better yourself. 

But that's the cynical way of looking at things!Delegating gives you the opportunity to put 100% of your time and effort into the most important tasks, rather than running the risk of spreading yourself too thin (we've all been there!). 

It also allows you to find new superpowers among your staff that you may have never known existed if you hadn't given them a shot. 

In this episode, Celene and I dive into what to delegate, who to delegate to, when to start delegating, and how much you can delegate to one person. 

I share my theory of delegation, and we chat about the importance of investing in your staff upfront, so you can feel comfortable delegating tasks when needed. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Start delegating work even when you don't want to
• Create effective processes that make delegation easier 
• Decide when you should be delegating based on why you need to delegate

Is radical wellness high on your list of priorities for your agency? 

We're here to tell you why it needs to be. 

In this episode of Digital Agency Real Talk, Celene and I dive into the importance of encouraging your team to create habits centered on wellness. 

We chat about the fact that working hours don't always equal productivity. And if your team isn't trained to recognize signs of burnout, you could end up with a disaster on your hands. That's why we're providing tips to cultivate a healthy culture in your agency, placing wellness on the same level of importance as productivity and quality of work. 

 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Keep your team accountable to their wellness needs
• Build an agency culture that normalizes discussing mental health and burnout 
• Create habits that of wellness 

For books referenced in this episode, check out:

1. When the Body Says No - Gabor Maté
2. Clockwork: Design Your Business To Run Itself - Mike Michalowicz

On the path to finding our superpowers, we're usually our own greatest obstacle. 

Imposter syndrome, that nagging voice inside our head that says we're not good enough, holds too many of us back. 

When you're overcome with anxieties that you don't fit in, aren't up to the job, or can't live up to expectations, it's impossible to do your best work.

In this episode of Say it Online, I chat with Anansi Content Strategist Michaela Kemp about how she's overcome imposter syndrome and learned to stop fearing failure. 

 

Michaela is a queer Canadian writer with a passion for all things pop culture. She has a Bachelor of Arts focusing on creative writing and gender studies, as well as a certification in Holistic nutrition. She found her way to the copywriting world after a life-changing gender theory class. Once you see how marketing has shaped the way you construct your world, you work to be a better marketer.

Away from writing, Michaela spends her time wandering the forests of Canada's most Western edge, working with a local hospice as a grief and end-of-life volunteer, and making sure her cat is spoiled. 

In this episode, Michaela dives into identifying impostering syndrome and how to overcome it. We chat about how Michaela learned to stop being afraid of failure and start focusing on positive learning opportunities. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Build trust with clients so that they see you as the expert
• Set important early expectations with partners and clients
• Turn your perceived weaknesses into strengths 

Connect with Michaela at www.anansicontent.com 

Unsure of what to delegate, who to delegate to, or how much is too much to hand off?

On this week’s episode of Digital Agency Real Talk, Say and Celene talk about the importance of investing in your staff upfront, so you can feel comfortable delegating when necessary.

Plus, Say shares her theory of delegation (hint: you need to have your crap together!) and how to focus your value when you’re delegating important work.

Are you still listening to the little voice inside your head that says you’re not good enough?

In this episode of the podcast, Say chats with Anansi Content Strategist Michaela Kemp about identifying and overcoming imposter syndrome. Michaela talks about how she turned her perceived weaknesses into her greatest assets when leading projects with clients and partners.

Tune in to learn how to stop letting fear of failure hold you back from embracing your superpowers.

Are you using the right metrics to track and plan for growth? 

With so much data at your fingertips these days, it can be difficult to know what you should be tracking, what to do with the numbers you find, and how to leverage that data for growth.

Understanding KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and how to utilize them is a powerful tool for any business strategy, and in this episode we're breaking it down for you.

Keith Perhac is the founder of SegMetrics, software that helps you get 100% clarity on where your leads come from, how they act, and how much your marketing is REALLY worth. 

Keith is also the author of "The 90-Minute Guide to Building Marketing Funnels That Convert," a top-down guide that walks you through every step of setting up and optimizing your automated marketing funnels.  

In this episode, Keith dives into how to choose the right KPIs for your business, and how to utilize those metrics to set and achieve new goals.

Tune in to learn:

• How to start tracking KPIs for your business
• Ways to identify and align the right KPIs with your unique business needs and goals
• How to set expectations with your team to track their KPIs

Connect with Keith at segmetrics.io/hi/say-it-online for 30% off, and on Twitter @harisenbon79. 

For the budgeting tool Keith and I go crazy over, check out YNAB.

Change is something we've all been forced to think about a lot lately. 

Around the globe, businesses are finding new ways to adapt, connect, and remain productive while COVID-19 keeps us all on our toes. 

In this episode of the podcast, we're giving you a peek behind the curtains at how Anansi has managed to thrive during turbulent times. 

In the latest installment of Digital Agency Real Talk, I chat with our Chief of Operations Celene Hoag about how our team has adapted to a new normal in the face of a pandemic. 

It has been a long and complicated process, but Celene has found ways to turn chaos into a catalyst for positive change and continued growth for our business and partners.

In this episode, Celen and I dive into how to get ahead of the unexpected by planning for everything. 

Tune in to learn how to:

• Take unexpected change and turn it into something positive for your business
• Seek help when change is overwhelming
• Learn our three steps to handling and adapting to change