She Did It Her Way

Have you always been someone who promoted unity? Has being able to help others grow by sharing your wisdom and resources something that brings you joy?

During her years in fashion PR, Sarah Boyd's real passion was empowering other women, and helping connect newcomers with mentors or professionals who can help them maneuver through the industry. So she launched her brand Simply Stylist that features conferences and workshops that provide a platform, and space for women interested in the fashion and beauty field to come together. Through her brand, they are able to learn the nuts and bolts of the industry, and create and strengthen their networks. Simply Stylist also features Simply Digital Network, that acts as a management agency for celebrity bloggers.

Have you always been someone who promoted unity? Has being able to help others grow by sharing your wisdom and resources something that brings you joy?

During her years in fashion PR, Sarah Boyd's real passion was empowering other women, and helping connect newcomers with mentors or professionals who can help them maneuver through the industry. So she launched her brand Simply Stylist that features conferences and workshops that provide a platform, and space for women interested in the fashion and beauty field to come together. Through her brand, they are able to learn the nuts and bolts of the industry, and create and strengthen their networks. Simply Stylist also features Simply Digital Network, that acts as a management agency for celebrity bloggers.

The first leg of her brand began with the Simply Stylist conference in LA five years ago, when she quit her job at her sister's company. All she had was a concept, and absolutely no idea if it would actually work. However, she knew she that her time in PR had come to an end, and wanted to tackle her dream conference head on to see where it would take her.

She gave herself three months to get it off the ground, and worked her PR connections to get speakers and sponsors to participate and promote it. With panels full of established fashion editors, stylists, and up and coming bloggers, the conference was a hit with 750 attendees. The conference also showcased under-represented jobs in the fashion industry, in order to show newcomers that there were multiple opportunities and areas to explore.

After it's success, Sarah expanded the conference to Chicago,  New York City, and Dubai; but attendees were still hungry for more of the valuable information and tools the conference provided. To meet this demand, she began launching monthly workshops in LA. The 3-hour sessions feature experts in the beauty and fashion world educating entrepreneurs on topics like utilizing social media for branding and advertising purposes, Photoshop skills, and monetizing their blogs.

Simply Digital Network takes monetization of blogs a step further by diving deeper into the concept with bloggers. The management agency provides one-on-one assistance in helping celebrity and new bloggers create a web team, digital strategy, content, and provides consulting tips to get them up and running.

Take a minute to learn more about the various ways Sarah helps build careers and give newcomers the savviness they need to become successful!

In this episode you will...

Know how to remain productive and on task with growing your business

Be able to locate your state's Small Business Association so you have guidance in beginning your start-up

Learn how to build a business worthy of acquisition in the long-run

Begin to develop a tangible takeaway and ROI from your business to promise to sponsors

Understand the benefits of having a business card when you're first starting out

Know how to effectively brand and market your business with an event

INSIGHTS

"I'm naturally that PR girl that's always trying to help other people and empower other women...I wanted to create a platform where I could do that on a larger scale. And also have all these amazing women I was connecting teach everyone their path to success and all of these different tactics that they've learned along the way...and I think it's helpful for them to use their voice and share with the influencers of tomorrow." -Sarah Boyd

"It's pretty surreal to see the growth and the support I've gotten in this industry, it's very humbling. One thing is that I've always been [is] kind and that's what we really pride ourselves in at our conferences...you can sit with us and let's empower each other...that's why I think I've found success." -Sarah Boyd

"...we've just got acquired two months ago by Nylon. The beautiful thing is I run it as I ran it before and I just have their support. They love my vision, my ideas, they're fully supportive of everything that I'm doing. I just have a 65 person team behind me now that's selling us and helping us with creative....and it' amazing, I'm so happy I did it." -Sarah Boyd

RESOURCES

Simply Stylist Website

Simply Digital Network

Sarah Boyd LinkedIn

Simply Stylist Facebook

Simply Stylist Instagram

Simply Stylist Twitter

Simply Stylist Pinterest

Simply Stylist YouTube

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**** by Mark Manson

How does your business evolve with you? Have you outgrown it? Is it time to start another one with a different direction, so it aligns with who you are today?

These were the tough questions Jessica Zweig, founder of the SimplyBe Agency, was faced with when she decided to end her first business, Cheeky Chicago, that had been running for 7 years. Launching in 2008, Cheeky Chicago was an online lifestyle magazine for women, and was of Chicago's first online destinations for the hottest socialite venues. It soon evolved to include content about dating, fashion, restaurants, buying your first home, and more.

How does your business evolve with you? Have you outgrown it? Is it time to start another one with a different direction, so it aligns with who you are today?

These were the tough questions Jessica Zweig, founder of the SimplyBe Agency, was faced with when she decided to end her first business, Cheeky Chicago, that had been running for 7 years. Launching in 2008, Cheeky Chicago was an online lifestyle magazine for women, and was of Chicago's first online destinations for the hottest socialite venues. It soon evolved to include content about dating, fashion, restaurants, buying your first home, and more.

 

At Cheeky's peak, they had 100,000 readers, and had sponsorships and partnerships with brands like Nike, BMW, and Bloomingdale's to name a few. Jessica gained a lot of these high-profile brand connections through Cheeky events, which she used to promote other female entrepreneurs and create strong networks among them. Cheeky events became the most buzzed about events in town and were a lucrative revenue for her brand.

With this soar in popularity, Jessica also became one of Chicago's first social media socialites. This was due to Cheeky's loud prescence online, and her extensive use of social media advertising and marketing in the early social media era.

She fully basked in the limelight of being Chicago's 'It' Girl, and loved the accolades that Cheeky was racking up. But her fast lifestyle and constant work schedule began to catch up with her, and she became physically and mentally exhausted.

In 2013, she began to get chronic sinus infections, and had nine of them within the span of six months. After visiting multiple allergists, acupuncturists, and EMTs, it was determined that she needed to have surgery. She was immobilized during the month of her recovery, and with her seperation from work, she entered into a deep emotional breakdown.

When she had enough of her dormant life, she went to a park by her house to meditate. However, she was overtaken by emotion and found herself crying because she had lost herself in her business and couldn't find her purpose without it. It was then when she glanced down at her wrist and saw the tattoo she had gotten years before. It read: 'Simply Be, Girls Can See it'. At that moment, the meaning struck her in a whole new light, and she whispered, 'I don't want to do this anymore.'

Cheeky Girl was no longer her source of happpines, and as she had gotten older, it was no longer who she was. On that grassy knoll, she knew she needed to walk away, and start fresh. She didn't know what her next venture would be, but she knew it was going to be titled: Simply Be.

It took Jessica a year and a half, and increased visits to her therapist, to shut down Cheeky Chicago for good; and in October 2014, the SimplyBe Agency was launched. SimplyBe Agency helps clients establish a powerful prescence online by defining their personal brand, and setting them up on multiple and effecive platforms to get their message out to the world.

Jessica firmly believesthat in order to build a successful business and empire, you first have to build your personal brand. As she said, "People fall in love with people," and SimplyBe aims to tell their client's story in a way that touches audiences on an emotional and moral level. This creates valuable equity behind their client's name that will have a lasting effect on their audiences and business partners, and will guarantee the growth and profitability of any business venture they have down the line.

Listen in to hear more about Jessica's career evolution!

In this episode you will...

Find out how to use innovative resources to promote your business

Learn how to cultivate audiences with a 360 branding approach

Prioritize your mental and physical health over your job

Figure out how to develop a strong personal brand along with your product

Begin to follow your own agenda

Put a price point to your value and worth

INSIGHTS

"I'm going to move on eventually...I don't know what it's going to be...but it will be called Simply Be, because it is a metaphor for being authentic and for being in alignment with who you really are today, and what you really want, and what makes you feel like yourself." -Jessica Zweig

"My biggest accomplishment was following my heart, and reinventing myself, and starting from scratch...my intuitution was screaming at me...I heard a voice say...'You need to be still and stop, and listen to what makes you happy." -Jessica Zweig

"I just love the hustle. I love being my own boss and running my own business. When you put [everything into it], you get it out. You see your own results, and there's no better feeling than that." -Jessica Zweig

"The world needs more humanity and more people stepping into their power, and telling their stories, and being thought leaders on what they know to better service the world." -Jessica Zweig

"I strive to be vulnerable in my content...in life...The world will be set free by people who are free...When you get honest and open, you give other people the permission to do the same for themselves...If we talk about it, that to me is the secret sauce." -Jessica Zweig

RESOURCES

Jessica Zweig LinkedIn

The SimplyBe Agency Website

The SimplyBe Agency Blog

The SimplyBe Agency Facebook

The SimplyBe Agency Instagram

The SimplyBe Agency Twitter

RoadJess Traveled Blog

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

What does success truly look like in your eyes without comparing it to others? In what ways does your business enrich the lives of your clientele? Can you allow your business to act as an extension of yourself and the entiriety of your being?

Amongst the flow of wine, She Did it Her Way dives into these questions at the Boss Dinner with a variety of successful female entrepreneurs. The event is a celebration of powerful women with a goal of creating strong networks aimed at promoting and uplifting one another.

What does success truly look like in your eyes without comparing it to others? In what ways does your business enrich the lives of your clientele? Can you allow your business to act as an extension of yourself and the entiriety of your being?

Amongst the flow of wine, She Did it Her Way dives into these questions at the Boss Dinner with a variety of successful female entrepreneurs. The event is a celebration of powerful women with a goal of creating strong networks aimed at promoting and uplifting one another.

Today, we meet Debra Giunta, Kim Bosse, Stacie Brown, Jessica Zweig, and Liz Traines. Debra is the founder and director of Design Dance, a community-based educational dance organization. Design Dance's classes are taught by well trained dancers who teach routines that have an elevated performance aspect to them. However, Debra wanted her classes to be available to students of all income levels, in order to provide easy access to a high quality dance education. Today they serve 1,500 students annually with over 120 classes a week.

Along her entrepreneurial road, her greatest epiphany and daily practice is learning to find and be happy with her own version of success. An exercise that keeps her in this mindset is 90-Day projects and goals geared towards growing her business and herself. By having these short term goals, she increases her productivity and it allows her feel accomplished on her own terms.

Another boss lady learning to thrive on her own terms is Jessica Zweig, founder of Cheeky Chicago and The SimplyBe Agency. Jessica began her self discovery after she started her first business, Cheeky Chicago; an online lifestyle magazine for women. After having to take a month off of work to recover from a sinus surgery, she entered into a deep depression. She had invested so much of herself into her business that when she had to stop, she felt as though she had lost herself and her purpose. It was after an emotional breakdown on a park bench that she bounced back and regained clarity.

She had looked down at a tattoo on her wrist from years ago that said, 'Simply Be, Girls can See it'. It reminded her to be okay with wherever and whoever she was in her life, and to live authentically. From there she was able to rebuild herself seperately from her business, so it wouldn't define her. It also led to the creation of her second business, The SimplyBe Agency, which helps turn budding entrepreneurs into creative leaders by helping them create digital content to cultivate audiences and make an impact.

Stacie Brown, Managing Director of Carver Peterson Consulting, helps new entrepreneurs as well by giving new entrepreneurs direction, how to drive revenue, building a staff, along with other business counseling.

One thing she prides herself on with her business is creating a healthy work environment built off of trust and transparency. By building a business culture with these pillars at its core, it creates a working environment where everyone feels comfortable engaging and communicating with one another in a professional and constructive way; whether it be about the good, the bad, or the ugly. With this open communication, she is also able to make better decisions as a leader, and effectively solve problems to benenfit the company and associates.

Kim Bosse, owner and co-founder of Birch Road Cellar, is learning the same thing and in different capacities. Birch Road Cellar is an event space for members of their club to throw gatherings. The intimate space is homey enough to host small get-togethers between friends or larger events such as the Boss Dinner.

For Kim, one of her best business decisions, but also achallenge, is delegating and tailoring areas of her business to fit her strengths and weaknesses. While as an owner this tactic is best for certain tasks, it can keep her complacent and too comfortable. She keeps herself evolving by taking control of sales or pitching to potential members. Admitting that sales isn't her strong suit, at some point there has to be growth, and she likes interacting with potential members, and evaluating if they are a right fit herself.

By getting comfortable with the uncomfortable in her business, Kim has taken this approach with her personal life, too. She actively tries to say 'yes' to things that may not make sense or is responsible, but wants to take that chance in order to learn and have that experience.

Liz Traines, founder of Liz Traines Coaching, went on a similar journey as she transitioned from the monotony of the corporate world to the freedom of entrepreneurship. Now a career and lifestyle coach, she focuses on helping other women find a career that they love.

A veteran to the She Did it Her Way Podcast, we previously heard how Liz spent years living the life she was told, growing in the finance world, and becoming what other people deemed 'successful'. But that path was not her truth, and when a stranger at a New Year's Eve party pointed it out, she was shaken from her trance.

She then spent a year living outside her comfort zone, traveling, and practicing self care. It still took her a while to finally leave her corporate job, but when she did became confident, and felt in control of her life.

Soak up this jam-packed episode as you hear more about these amazing women!

In this episode you will...

Learn how to create a platform and business that motivates others towards success

Find joy in achieving short term goals and how to rebuild your life and career around that

Start to be your own problem-solver in your business

Know how to build a productive, trusting, and open work culture

Begin to find fulfillment in your own version of success

Figure out how to establish yourself as a boss while keeping a positive relationship with her team

INSIGHTS

"If you want to be profitable, you really need to talk to your client...Take the leap, go meet with a client...go work with someone so you can have an experience that teaches you what people actually need and want and what they'll actually pay for..." -Debra Giunta

"When you don't have a boss, you're constantly defining your own success. And I think we are bombarded with versions of success that look like something we might want. And sometimes even when I think I have reached a point of success that I have defined for myself, I see someone else's point of success and I'll compare myself to them. So I think it's really about taking those moments throughout the day to re-center yourself and refocus on where you're at." - Debra Giunta

"When you set short term goals, what you force yourself to do is to really focus...and you're like, this is where I'm at...and I'm on this ride, and it's a sprint, and in 90 days I'm going to make a new goal." -Debra Giunta

"There's something to be said about having corporate structure that provides you with resources but it's pretty fun when you think through the problem, solve [it], and execute on the problem yourself." -Stacie Brown

"There's skillsets as an owner that are different than an employee; [you can't be] afraid to be humble, to ask for help, and seek out the support system that can really make you better. And frankly, that's just letting your guard down and being vulnerable with the things you don't know." -Stacie Brown

"I'm [my staff's] boss first, and their friend second, and that's been a shift in mindset...and I think I'm finding the balance between really loving my team and knowing that they love me too, but at the end of the day they respect me. It is an intentional practice everyday, and that was a very, very hard lesson for me to learn." -Jessica Zweig

RESOURCES

Design Dance Instagram

Design Dance Facebook

The SimplyBe Agency Instagram

The SimplyBe Agency Facebook

Carver Peter Consulting Instagram

Carver Peterson Consulting Twitter

Liz Traines Coaching Instagram

Liz Traines Coaching Facebook

Birch Road Cellar Twitter

Birch Road Cellar Facebook

The Man in the Arena by John Bogle

The Vanishing Neighbor by Marc J. Dunkelman

Start with Why Simon Sinek

Calendley

HootSuite

As you go through the work day do you find yourself falling victim to those cupcakes in the break room? The lure of the overpriced vending machine? And the ease and quickness of popping a few power bars in your bag in the morning as nourishment for the rest of the day?

Rachel Drori is here to change that with her deliverable and organic soups and smoothies from Daily Harvest. Made for people who want to eat healthy but live a busy life on the go, her products come frozen and pre-packaged in single serve cups and bowls with whole ingredients like avocados, dates, and kale, among others. All consumers have to do is add a liquid or broth of their choice and get to cooking or blending! With recipes cooked up by herself, a nutritionist, and a Michellin star chef, she aims to build a transparent brand that consumers know they can trust, and deliver products that truly provide them with the nutrients that they need to perform their best.

As you go through the work day do you find yourself falling victim to those cupcakes in the break room? The lure of the overpriced vending machine? And the ease and quickness of popping a few power bars in your bag in the morning as nourishment for the rest of the day?

Rachel Drori is here to change that with her deliverable and organic soups and smoothies from Daily Harvest. Made for people who want to eat healthy but live a busy life on the go, her products come frozen and pre-packaged in single serve cups and bowls with whole ingredients like avocados, dates, and kale, among others. All consumers have to do is add a liquid or broth of their choice and get to cooking or blending! With recipes cooked up by herself, a nutritionist, and a Michellin star chef, she aims to build a transparent brand that consumers know they can trust, and deliver products that truly provide them with the nutrients that they need to perform their best.

The concept for Daily Harvest started when she worked at Guilt Group, and juggled multiple roles between customer acquistion, loyalty, and branding. With hardley anytime for herself, she fell into the trap of grabbing junk food for a quick energy source. Starting to feel fatigued and constantly undernourished, she started pre-packing her own smoothies. She began seeing how having nutritionally-rounded and filling smoothies helped her function better throughout her day, and how preparing her smoothie packs cost her very little time in the morning. Then once her husband started stealing her packs, she saw they were not only convienient and helping her, but others as well.

So she started to test the market with her smoothie packs and set a consumer metric for herself. Once she was able to get 5x more customers outside of the people she knew, she would seriously invest in her business idea and quit her job.

After she hit that mark, she gained faith and confidence that her business had legs and she launched Daily Harvest's beta website, and got a commercial kitchen in NYC's Long Island City. For eight months, she funded herself and was the company's only employee. She hatched the recipes herself, bought them, packaged them, and drove around NYC delivering orders to consumers. Not to mention she was pregnant at the time!

On her delivery runs, she used that one-on-one time with customers to conduct more market and product research. She gained valuable information and feedback, and was able to solve a merchandising issue with one of her smoothies, Carrot Chia. Originally called, Wake-n-Cake, the smoothie wasn't selling despite it's great flavor and health benefits. Puzzled as to why, she talked to customers and conducted a blind taste test, and found that customers loved it. Taking what she learned, she was able to know that it was simply the name and how the smoothie was portrayed.

As her business continued to grow and her money started dwindling, she started looking towards external funding. She was met with a lot of no's because venture capitalists couldn't grasp the weight of the smoothie market, and the benefits of organic smoothies. But, as luck would have it, she was able to land one institutional investor, as well as some angel investors from her target audience, and Daily Harvest was able to enter into a new chapter.

Take a breather, and have a listen to how she developed a tough skin and fought for her dream in today's episode!

In this episode you will...

Gain confidence in your business idea to withstand the critics

Learn to take the negative feedback you get from venture capitalists in a constructive manner

Understand the best way to alter or preserve your products to match the likes and dislikes of your market

Find out how to develop a core mission and concept for your business

Distinguish between methods of developing customer acquisition and loyalty

Become relentless in starting and managing your business

INSIGHTS

"It's hard to have people poking holes in what your passion is...when you believe in it...So you've gotta have some mental fortitude, but also really believe in what you're trying to build." -Rachel Drori

"The way that I built Daily Harvest and my true belief is that ...I would like to be this hugely customer centric business with its roots in hospitality...if I keep that at the core of what we're trying to build, it allows me to keep the customer first." -Rachel Drori

"As a start-up, things happen and you don't have the resources to be able to flex your guns...and make this right. Sometimes the customer suffers and I believe it's all about transparency and having a relationship with the customer where they know that you're being genuine." -Rachel Drori

"Where I've grown the most is being relentless. It's not my natural personality, but when you have something that you're trying to build...there's no....hierarchy holding you back from it, you really do have to be relentless in everything, and knowing that what you're creating is worthwhile and being able to motivate and entire team behind what that is." -Rachel Drori

RESOURCES

Daily Harvest Website

Rachel Drori LinkedIn

Daily Harvest Facebook

Daily Harvest Instagram

Daily Harvest Twitter

Getting to Yes by Bruce Patton, Roger Fisher, William Ury

Is your career one that you were told would pay the bills? Was it the career path that you were told you should want? Are you living a life that you were told was a 'successful' one? Does it make you truly happy?

Currently a career and lifestyle coach, Liz Traines, founder of Liz Traines Coaching, helps women get out of this rut and create careers that they love. Her target audience are women in the corporate field who have given all they can to their jobs, and are left drained. She wants to help them build a career that fulfills them at the end of the day, and doesn't cause them to neglect themselves and their mental health in the process.

Is your career one that you were told would pay the bills? Was it the career path that you were told you should want? Are you living a life that you were told was a 'successful' one? Does it make you truly happy?

Currently a career and lifestyle coach, Liz Traines, founder of Liz Traines Coaching, helps women get out of this rut and create careers that they love. Her target audience are women in the corporate field who have given all they can to their jobs, and are left drained. She wants to help them build a career that fulfills them at the end of the day, and doesn't cause them to neglect themselves and their mental health in the process.

Liz's drive to be a support system for these women came fromher experience in their shoes. For six years, Liz worked in the corporate finance world because it was a stable career that would make her money; but something about that field never sat well with her.

She ignored this feeling and continued to grow at her company, and live a life full of traveling and became a well-respected leader amongst her peers. Yet she was miserable, and it took a stranger at a New Year's Eve party to call her on the bluff that she was living. To him, it was evident that she wasn't happy or fulfilled with where she was in her life, and his observation was the jolt that she needed to make a change.

Now that she had broken free from the mindset of what she should do, she had to go on a journey to find out what she actually wanted to do. She began to take time off of work to travel for herself, practice self care, and spent about a year doing things that scared her and were outside of her comfort zone.

However, she still hadn't gathered the courage to quit her finance job, but it did help her figure out where she wanted to go in the new chapter of her career. Her job had sent her to India to teach and train new hires about their corporation. The connections she made with them made her realize that she loved teaching, getting to know people on a deeper level, and helping them flourish. But, after giving a presentation to get them excited about their company, she felt like an imposter because her passion for the company was no longer there.

Her decision to leave was soldified when she returned home, and after two days, she had to fly out to New York City during the holidays. As she was surrounded by the smiles and electricity of Times Square, she knew she could no longer lie to herself and the company, and finally talked to her boss.

After taking some time to re-energize, and watch some Netflix, she continued to learn how to really pamper herself without guilt. Coming from years of putting the needs of her job and others before herself, the concept and practice of self care without feeling selfish took some time for her to grasp. But through the process, she was able to empower herself, become more confident, and gain clarity about her next step.

Settle in and listen to how Liz teaches her clients to talk through their fears in order to progress, and more about how she found herself and rebuildt her life on her own terms!

In this episode you will...

Begin to prioritize your mental health over your career

Learn to do some things that scare you in your personal and professional life

Know how to emotionally unblock yourself

Figure out ways to re-center yourself or leave the corporate world

Become acclimated to pampering yourself and practicing self care

Discover the fears that you may have that are holding you back

INSIGHTS

"We get so buried in the day-to-day of the thingsthat we have to do, that we don't think that much about the things that we want to do." -Liz Traines

"I felt I had built up this persona of who I wanted to be, but it wasn't truly me. It's like I had this shaky foundation of...what feels authentic to me. It was like there was this disconnect with the person I was externally...and there was this internal part that was just like, 'who am I?'" -Liz Traines

"If I don't put myself first, I don't operate at my best level...I have to shift my mindset and focus more on me...that kind of empowered me to [practice] self care; some people are built with it...but it wasn't modeled for me and there was so much guilt with that. So I think one of the big things from day one until now is I see the benefits...of doing things for myself." -Liz Traines

"I've completely created my schedule around how I want it to be, not what I think an entrepreneur should have as a schedule or what I think society...designates as a schedule...You really get to do it your way if you're willing to dig deeper and unlearn what may not be working for you...and build a vision about what it could be and make it happen." -Liz Traines

"What are those stories in your head that's telling you that you're not good enough...the moment we connect with why that story is there and that it is just a fear...and we have the control to make the future different than our past, it's liberating." -Liz Traines

RESOURCES

Liz Traines Website

Liz Traines LinkedIn

Liz Traines Facebook

Liz Traines Instagram

Liz Traines Twitter

Liz Traines Pinterest

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Self Compassion by Kristin Neff, PH.D.