She Did It Her Way

In a need of a cloud accounting software that isn't overwhelming, simple and easy to use? have you tried Freshbooks? Because if not, you're missing out. Freshbooks is an accounting software with the freelance and service based business in mind. Because of its friendly user design you're able to customize invoices, draft, send, follow up, accept payment, track express and work contracts all right in the portal.

Try Freshbooks today by visiting www.Freshbooks.com/She and enter She Did It Her Way in the "How did you hear about us?" box.

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How do you develop a dream if no one ever told you to have one? Where did your drive originate? When did your calling come to you?

We dive into Candy Nelson’s answers to those questions in today's episode! Candy is the founder of Volunteer CEO, a life coaching business, and a nonprofit organization, Animal Friends Sanctuary, along with several other businesses. Her non-profit rescues abandoned animals and give them a home, it also provides a safe place for kids who have been sexually and physically abused, and kids in the foster care system. At Animal Friends Sanctuary, at-risk youth get to hear the stories of the animals in their shelter and play with them. Through that connection Candy wants to give the kids hope and a sense of relief from their own hardships in life.

Candy came from humble beginnings herself and grew up in a trailer home with two teen parents. With her father working as a mechanic, and her mother as a maid, they grinded to give Candy a better life than they had, and eventually was able to send her to private school. But at private school, Candy felt that her creativity, aspirations, and education on the world was being stifled. There were no counselors in the school, and she felt like she had no one to talk to. She knew in her gut that the environment was wrong for her, but she wasn’t sure in what way and how to even remedy her internal conflict. 

It wasn’t until she was 15 years old that she began to dream bigger, and began to aspire to goals outside of what her environment presented her with. The big motivator behind her epiphany was a none other than Tony Robbins. While watching T.V at 3 am on her couch, she came across his Personal Power infomercial. She said because she never had any structured beliefs, she was more receptive to his messages about empowering people to change their lives, and not allowing themselves to be products of their surroundings.  She was determined to soak up as much of his guidance as she could. After failing to get her dad to pay for his cassette tapes, she managed to get a credit card, and got the entire set. 

While listening to the tapes, she started to brainstorm and write down her personal goals that she wanted to complete by 30, which she ended up accomplishing by 23. A couple of her goals were to graduate high school and go to college. She got a scholarship to Ohio State University and studied Criminology because she thought she could make a difference in the world. However, being trapped in a classroom all day made her feel like she was wasting her potential. 
She had gumption and drive, but no idea where to channel it. After talking with her dad about her crossroads, he suggested she start a business and took out a second mortgage on their house. In 1999, when she was only 19, she built her Platinum Salon & Spa and was determined to make her business a success since so much was at stake. Thanks to the love and support from her community, her first business was a hit!

Since her spa and salon was such a success, she didn’t want to lose her momentum. So at 23, she decided to get into real-estate. She began buying some commercial and residential buildings around her shop to flip and hold in order to gain some extra income and expertise. One building she bought sat around for a year because she didn’t know what to do with it. As she drove past it one night, she heard a strong inner voice tell her to put her animal shelter there. She had no experience with non-profits or a clue about the legal hoops she’d need to jump through. What she did know was that she had a deep love and passion for helping animals. After reaching out to her network, help began flooding in, and they were able to take an abandoned building into a facility that has saved the lives of over 3,000 animals!

Get comfy and listen to more about Candy’s businesses, life story, and how she continues to expand her business ventures!
  
In this episode you will…

• Learn to find the motivation to aspire to bigger goals and take action
• Find ways to channel your drive
• Be able to utilize leverage in your life and turn it into motivation
• Turn negative criticism into determination
• See how to venture into other industries after you successfully start your first business
• Become more attentive to the guiding voice in your head 

INSIGHTS

“We have all of the answers inside of us. Everything that you want to accomplish, your purpose, your mission, your passion in life is inside of us. But we are so bombarded with the noise of…who we are supposed to be…that sometimes, just in those moments when it’s just you and those thoughts, and your soul, that you’re actually able to hear exactly what it is you’re supposed to do.”-Candy Nelson

“When you have enough leverage in life to do something spectacular, no matter what it is, you will perform…failure'snot an option.” -Candy Nelson

“The mindset to me is so immensely important. If you rip away every other talent or skill that somebody has, and you give them the right mindset…to me that will accomplish more in your lifetime than any other degree, talent or skill you can possibly develop because you will always find a way, and you will always make a way.” -Candy Nelson

“When someone says  you can’t, that becomes fuel to say I will.” -Candy Nelson

“Always have a set of something that you’re working on. It doesn’t have to be financial, it could be contribution, generosity, becoming the best mom or daughter…[have] something you’re always working for, because what I have found is that when you’re foot is on the gas, and when you finally get there…you start to coast." -Candy Nelson

“When you are so decisive and clear on what you want to accomplish, the universe conspires to make it happen. And I know that’s a corny quote but my life is literally a proof of that.” -Candy Nelson
 
RESOURCES
Candy Nelson LinkedIn

Animal Friends Sanctuary

Volunteer CEO

Platinum Salon & Spa

Candy Nelson Instagram

Brendon Burchard

High Performance Habit by Brendon Burchard

In a need of a cloud accounting software that isn't overwhelming, simple and easy to use? have you tried Freshbooks? Because if not, you're missing out. Freshbooks is an accounting software with the freelance and service based business in mind. Because of its friendly user design you're able to customize invoices, draft, send, follow up, accept payment, track express and work contracts all right in the portal.

Try Freshbooks today by visiting www.Freshbooks.com/She and enter She Did It Her Way in the "How did you hear about us?" box.

Happy tracking!

How do you come up with new content for your business? What steps will you have to take to get it off the ground?

She Did it Her Way listeners, let’s welcome back Farissa Knox, the second guest on SDIHW two years ago! She is the founder of two businesses, RLM Media and WhatRUWearing. RLM Media is an advertising agency that does media planning and buying for clients across the country, while WhatRUWearing exemplifies her love for all things fashion and style. WRUW is a digital publishing house that features daily editorials, videos, and their podcast, Fast Fashion. Recently WRUW has also launched a new reality web series, PR Girl, which follows the life of Chicago entertainment publicist, Alexandra Moresco.

The idea for PR Girl came to her after studying the habits of her audience to find a new way for WRUW to further capture their interest. She knew whatever she did would have to be video-based, since she said that 18-34 year-old women that love fashion, beauty, and style primarily gravitated towards that medium. She then thought about what professions or industries that demographic aspired to the most, and which of those could be documented in a stimulating video. She felt that the PR industry fit the bill, and wanted the web series to center on a 20-something female, that lived a similar dream life as the girls of the pop culture influences Sex and the City and The Hills. She wanted that life to be tangible for her audience, and show them the reality of what that life can bring; good or bad. She wanted the show to be about female empowerment, and less about the negative drama that typical reality shows promoted. The goal was to highlight positive, young, talent and show women that a fabulous career is possible and educate them on the field of PR.

She started by reaching out to the producer behind RLM’s home page video, Joe Knee, to see if there were any holes in her idea, and if it was even a good idea because he had experience pitching reality shows in LA. He loved the idea immediately and wanted to be a part of the production process.

After that, it was all about finding the girl. She knew she wanted the girl to be Chicago-based, in order to make the filming and connecting process easier, and dived into her network. Out of the handful of girls she contacted, her communication and connection with Alexandra were the most genuine and never-ending. Alexandra jumped at the opportunity to work with Farissa, and once Farissa got production and the star in place, PR Girl was almost ready for takeoff.

The last step was promotion and marketing. She wanted to partner with another organization to help with the press outreach and expand their platform. Already a fan and follower of PR Couture, started by Crosby Noricks, she reached out to them first via email. Later that day Crosby responded, and after learning about each other as women and brands through a week-long email thread, Farissa hopped on a plane to San Diego to meet Crosby to talk about their partnership. Over lunch, they discussed their roles in the show, with Farissa being the creator, and Crosby being the marketing and brand developing partner.

From there PR Girl was a go and launched in the early part of October! Listen in for more of the story, how Farissa started RLM nine years ago, and her growth as an entrepreneur and CEO!

In this episode you will...

• See how to conduct market research and brainstorm on new content for your business
• Learn how you may grow throughout the years as an entrepreneur
• Know what it takes to transform from an entrepreneur to a CEO
• Figure out a possible end goal or retirement plan for your business and yourself
• Find different ways to measure the success of your business
• See how to balance your personal and work life

INSIGHTS

“In the first three years, you’re making decisions on things that will be the foundation of your company… And you don’t know that yet...you just think I’m trying to make it towards tomorrow or next week…and get clients…but it’s more than just getting clients and getting money. You’re laying the foundation of your future success and reputation.” –Farissa Knox

“We’ve been doing this long enough where no one questions whether we’re good at it anymore. When you say nine years…the reputation is there, the value is there, the length of time is there…now I’m getting clients and partners sent my way…I’m really proud of that” –Farissa Knox

“Now approaching year nine, my fears and my concerns have completely shifted. I’m no longer concerned about how are we going to make payroll because the money is coming, the clients are there. It’s more about managing the money and growing the company. And now I can start thinking like the owner of a company.” –Farissa Knox

RESOURCES

PR Girl Series

WhatRUWearing

RLM Media

PR Couture

Farissa Knox LinkedIn

Farissa Knox Facebook

Farissa Knox Instagram

Farissa Knox Twitter

A Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

In a need of a cloud accounting software that isn't overwhelming, simple and easy to use? have you tried Freshbooks? Because if not, you're missing out. Freshbooks is an accounting software with the freelance and service based business in mind. Because of its friendly user design you're able to customize invoices, draft, send, follow up, accept payment, track express and work contracts all right in the portal.

Try Freshbooks today by visiting www.Freshbooks.com/She and enter She Did It Her Way in the "How did you hear about us?" box.

Happy tracking!

If you’re starting podcast what equipment do you need? How do you set up your systems? How soon will you have to monetize it and how? Where and how do you start to build your audience?

Today’s episode is set up a little different, and we get to listen in on Brandon T. Adams’ podcast with Amanda Boleyn as the guest! On Brandon’s podcast, Amanda shares her entrepreneurial story with four aspiring entrepreneurs: Christina, Rob, Mandy, and Nicole. For the most part, they have all recently quit their jobs and have begun pursuing various projects. Mandy has begun the process of launching her own podcast in about four weeks, and Nicole and Rob are working on filming a documentary and turning it into a podcast as well. Mandy plans to interview young thought leaders and non-profits on how they incorporate generosity into their businesses and lives, and Nicole and Rob want to interview people in foster care across America. Christina aims to help entrepreneurs build physical products, and sell them through brick and mortar stores, as well as Amazon and other direct consumer services. She’s also working on launching a book, and two product courses. Through their conversation, Amanda arms them with all the tips and tricks they need, plus advice on saving money, keeping themselves organized, and staying strong while pushing through the rough patches as they embark on their transitional period.

Amanda’s story began once she left her comfy job at Target and started working for Wells Fargo through a third party agency. Wells Fargo offered very little stability, PTO, benefits, or retirement plan at the time, so the jump was a huge risk for her. She was ready to shake things up, though, and branch out on her own. It was at the company that she met a guy named Chad, who owned a business centered on sales training, leadership development, and employee engagement within other companies. He soon offered her a job doing sales training at AT&T, and from there she started working on behavior change projects with independent contractors like JP Morgan, and Weight Watchers. From there she began working for a staffing company that does high-level technical staffing for large tech companies, such as Intel. It was here that she began doing tech shows about marketing, branding, and messaging technologies.

She and another employee started out staging highly interactive 3-day training seminars that got people reflecting on their attitudes and thoughts at work and got them connecting with each other in order to break down the barriers of miscommunication. She would also help them work on methods of self-improvement. Now she works with Intel to learn their technologies, shares that message at tradeshows, like the Consumer Electronics Show and GSMA Mobile World Congress, where she spoke about Intel’s autonomous driving. Through this job, she has been able to travel across America, and other countries like Asia, and Spain.

The opportunity to travel and network with people like Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, is Amanda’s career dream, but she felt needed to share her wisdom and experience with others so she could help them avoid the obstacles that she did. Always loving podcasts, she set out on the mission to create one herself but found that there wasn’t any that explained a female’s perspective down the bumpy entrepreneurial road. Deciding that would be her niche, she turned to her friend who had a successful podcast of his own, and he helped her get She Did it Her Way (SDIHW) off the ground. The podcast started with two other girls, but after nine months Amanda was the last one standing.

Now that SDIHW has been up and running for a while, she has been able to hire on two other contractors to outsource certain aspects of the company. This is an important step for entrepreneurs because it allows them to clear their mind and save them time on processes that may be repetitive, time-consuming, and take away from aspects of the company that needs their personalized attention.

Once an entrepreneur has gotten to the point of having a small team, or even if it’s just them, Amanda recommends developing a highly organized system and schedule, and shares how using Asana has revolutionized her project management. It has saved hours of her time, as well as her virtual assistant and producer’s time, and has helped increase their productivity through reminders, and letting everyone know where they are at with the tasks and episodes assigned to them.

For recording episodes, she suggests batch recording, especially for entrepreneurs starting out. She told Mandy that recording 6-8 episodes before she launches will help her work out any technical or interview-style kinks, and also let her know if her target interviewees will be responsive and reliable.

When reaching out to interviewees, she tells all of them to be persistence and to not be intimidated by potential interviewees. Sometimes all they will have to do is ask, and find that people are more than willing to help them and their podcast. She also tells them to set up a strong referral system via networking, and how that can be stronger than the status of their business and themselves. The biggest tip is not to get discouraged. People are busy, and sometimes following-up is a good reminder for them. If that doesn’t work, it’s okay to move on.

For Amanda, the connections and the networks she’s built through SDIHW has been the most rewarding and meaningful outcome for her. The women that she’s inspired keeps her striving for more and expanding SDIHW’s brand. Her end goal is to have SDIHW be a seven-figure business that offers monthly content like webinars and podcasts. 

Hear more of Amanda’s advice and story in today’s episode!
 
In this episode, you will… 

• Learn the financial and personal investments needed to start and grow a successful podcast 
• Know what programs to invest in to record your podcast 
• Hear different ways to set up your interview schedule 
• See how to obtain guests on your podcast 
• Figure out ways to monetize your podcast 
• Find ways to streamline your system

“In order for us to move and to get to where we want to go, we have to break down the behaviors, and [see] what is the behavior that I’m doing that’s going to lead me to where I want to go.”-Amanda Boleyn

 “It’s the whole outsourcing process of entrepreneurship. Figuring out what are the things that you’re doing on a daily basis that is repetitive, and can, therefore, be outsourced to other people, and what are the things that you need to be doing that you can’t necessarily outsource, and then also generating revenue at the same time so that you can outsource by moving it forward.” –Amanda Boleyn

 “Whatever you do, things take time to really hit that point where they start building. It’s [about] being patient and persistent at the same time because it’s so easy to jump ship on whatever we want to do [when] we’re not seeing results…the waves when you look at an ocean may not be doing a whole lot, but the underlying current [is] what most people don’t see…there’s a current moving in the direction of what you wanted to do because you’re doing the activities to get you somewhere.” –Amanda Boleyn

 “If you’re disengaged and you want to be engaged, how do you become inspired, and how do you change the story to get it to a place where you can start taking action to get it done.” –Amanda Boleyn

 “As an entrepreneur…if you want to excel, you cannot excel having the mindset of a victim. I played the victim a fair amount…[and then] you start uncovering and unpacking and realizing that whatever thing you feel bad for doesn’t matter if you want to grow and you want to kick ass in life…You need to let go of that and work through it.” –Amanda Boleyn

RESOURCES

Brandon T. Adams Website

Brandon T. Adams Facebook

Brandon T. Adams Instagram

Brandon T. Adams Twitter

Asana 

Slack 

Acuity Scheduling

SELF Journal

In a need of a cloud accounting software that isn't overwhelming, simple and easy to use? have you tried Freshbooks? Because if not, you're missing out. Freshbooks is an accounting software with the freelance and service based business in mind. Because of its friendly user design you're able to customize invoices, draft, send, follow up, accept payment, track express and work contracts all right in the portal.

Try Freshbooks today by visiting www.Freshbooks.com/She and enter She Did It Her Way in the "How did you hear about us?" box.

Happy tracking!

How are you expanding your brand’s experience? How are you introducing your followers to exciting new worlds and adventures?

Well, Resolute Boutique and Lifestyle gives you all of that along with unique, stylish, and cozy clothing! If you’ve been a She Did It Her Way listener for a while, that name may ring a bell.  That’s because Resolute was the passion project of Cordova Pleasants, the star of our six-episode series earlier this year! The series gave us a behind-the-scenes look at her road to opening her first e-commerce boutique, which features apparel and jewelry from tradeshows and vendors across the country. However, the grand goal for Resolute is to able to send loyal customers, aka Resolute Babes, on group trips around her home-state of Alaska. During these girl’s trips, she wants her customers to be able to be pampered while being engulfed in the beauty that Alaska has to offer and give back to communities and the environment as well.  

So far, Cordova has taken her Resolute Babes out only for a one-week long trip, which was to Cape Decision Lighthouse; the last lighthouse built in Alaska since the 1920s. Their goal was to restore the lighthouse, which was beaten up by the harsh weather of Alaska. There are no lighthouse keepers so most of the lighthouses in Alaska are adopted by nonprofit organizations, like the United States Lighthouse Society. So she and five other travelers from across America boarded a beaver float plane to a cabin in Port Alexander, where they cooked dinner and got to know each other better. From there they chartered a boat to the lighthouse where they spent the next four days painting the inside of the hallways, tearing down old lumber from the 90’s, and building platforms within the lighthouse.

On the last day, they had a full-on glamour photoshoot, with pieces from a vendor in Florida, and were dolled up head-to-toe. She was also able to get sponsored by Amalga Distillery, and they were able to enjoy free gin and tonics the entire trip. In Cordova’s words, the trip was magical and set the bar high for Resolute trips in the future. For the next one, she is planning on renting a house in Palm Springs between late February and early March. Currently, she’s deciding between working with an animal shelter there, the Joshua Tree National Park, or working to improve the Salton Sea’s air pollution and biodiversity.

She has also been exploring new marketing and advertising techniques with Resolute via social media. She took an online course called Instagram Intention through Dean Street Society, which was about doubling your followers. Following the course, she was able to do just that and brought her 500 followers for Resolute to close to 1,000! For Facebook, she follows an 80/20 Rule where 80% of her posts are about travel, style, and food. The remaining 20% is about Resolute product. This tactic yields her highest conversion, and even though she only has 600 followers, she is able to turn the most profit by nurturing that platform.

One channel she’s seen the most progress in is Pinterest, where she has grown Resolute’s page to over 100,000 impressions a month! In addition, she has landed in the top 12% of the most visited stores on Shopify, out of the stores that launched the same week she did in December of 2016.

Another way she has continued to promote Resolute is with pop-up shops and trunk shows in her hometown of Juneau, Alaska. Her last one proved to be the biggest success because it took place during tourist season, and she held it in a location where it would attract the attention of close to a million cruise ship passengers. With this prime location and timing, she beat her previous trunk show’s sales by 30%! But what made it the most memorable was her interaction with a tourist from Florida. When the customer entered, she recognized Cordova and said she had shopped on Resolute before. To Cordova, this showed the power of having an e-commerce site, and the reach of social media marketing. This encounter also pushed her to want to put Resolute out there more, and continue to build the brand’s future. Resolute’s customer base also spans seven other states in the US, and a few in Canada, with her furthest Resolute Babe in Bangkok, Thailand.

In Resolute’s future, she sees herself possibly opening a seasonal shop, after seeing how well her pop-ups went during the summer. While the financial burden would be around $50,000 due to a full year’s lease, not to mention the cost of staff, she said the payoff would be worth it. She could continue to get invaluable face-to-face time with clientele, and she said with her pop-up she made $3,000 in one day so the monetary gain could be significant.

Hear more about Cordova’s progress in the last nine months since we spoke, and how she continues to build her brand and the adventures she hopes to offer her Resolute Babes!

In this episode you will… 

• Learn how to benefit from different social media platforms
• Figure out how to grow your brand and expand the customer experience
• Be able to improve and create new avenues for business
• Find out the best schedule for your social media postings
• See how to create quality content for blogs and social media
• Learn how to push and tailor your product online

 “My goal is the bigger picture…find people [who] you want to be in your tribe that you don’t know, because that’s the most exciting part for me, and that’s why I also love travel because…you get to build these relationships across the globe.”- Cordova Pleasants

 “Spend the time to research the hell out of whatever you are going to do… I took almost a full year to research social media marketing and I really spent the time creating a business plan…create a solid plan of what you really want to be doing in 10 years, 5 years… then set goals to accomplish what is on that timeline.” –Cordova Pleasants

 “If you’re going to enter the online world, just dive in head first and see who is out there, who the players are, and see what kind of audience they’re attracting, and how you can get in on it…”-Cordova Pleasants

 “If you love what you do just do it, and like at this point…you will have to fight me to the death before I give up the Resolute. I am so deep into it and so in love with it, and all these different challenges and the freedom that it brings. I don’t mind hard work, and I love it, and it’s no way you cannot make me do [this] anymore.” –Cordova Pleasants

 “For me, my sights are so much on the long-term, [and] I’ve finally found my groove, and I’m gonna stick with it. To give it up after a full year, I feel like you’re shooting yourself in the foot and you’re giving up too early…you have to be patient, and that’s the hard part. You have to find a way to stick it out.” –Cordova Pleasants

Resolute Boutique and Lifestyle Website

Resolute Boutique She Did it Her Way Landing Page

Resolute Boutique and Lifestyle Facebook

Resolute Boutique and Lifestyle Instagram

Resolute Boutique and Lifestyle Pinterest

Cordova Pleasants Linked In

SDH128: Cordova's Journey: How To Write a Business Plan

SDH130: Learn to Love Your Problems With Cordova Pleasants

SDH132: 30 Day Business Report Card, Pt3 With Cordova Pleasant

SDH133: How to Write a Marketing Plan That Works, Pt4 With Cordova Pleasants

SDH134: Q&A - the Ups and Downs of Building a Business Pt5 With Cordova Pleasants

SDH137: Creating Community and Overcoming Fear