Our Friday Coffee Talk episodes are a time for Danielle and I chat about anything and everything. We are so happy this community enjoys hearing us talk about things that often get discussed at a coffee shop, the things you tell your girlfriends. Today we are sipping coffee and talking about birthdays! Both Danielle and I are celebrating our birthday's in the next week! Danielle's is April 11th and mine is April 15th.  In this episode we chat about barbie cakes, 10 speed bikes, sticking your foot in your birthday cake, sweet 16 parties, wonderbras, and themed parties.  Lots of funny stories shared!

p.s If you would be so kind as to leave us a review on iTunes, we would be forever appreciative. If you are unsure about how leave us a review you can watch this quick tutorial that Danielle put together!

Hannah Tillman is 31 and lives downtown Birmingham, Alabama with her adorable dachshund, Sally. She has a huge family who you can find on her instagram and twitter on a pretty regular basis, along with a few of her other favorite things - baseball and anything Auburn. After she graduated from Samford University with a bachelors degree in Sociology she married a military man and moved around a bit to Auburn and San Diego. Her world was turned upside down when she got a divorced in 2013. She came back to her hometown to start over. The past two years have been full of ups and downs and do-overs for Hannah. She only just recently started her dream job at the United Way of Central Alabama, where she wear many hats - from project management to communications to marketing to admin.

In today's episode Hannah opens up about the dark period she had during and after her divorce. She shares with us how the failure of her marriage made her doubt herself and what she could do.  She really had to accept that her divorce was ok because she learned from it.
"It's okay that I made a mistake. It's okay that I got a divorce."

Hannah shares with us how she work hard towards her goal of working for the United Way of Central Alabama. It wasn't something that happened overnight.
"Right now it's all about me and I'm gunna pour myself into investing in my own happiness my own career and I don't care what people think."

Our Friday Coffee Talk episodes are a time for Danielle and I chat about anything and everything. We are so happy this community enjoys hearing us talk about things that often get discussed at a coffee shop, the things you tell your girlfriends. Today we are sipping coffee and talking about style, fashion and shopping. I interviewed Jen on these topics because she is a style icon, and I am working on being a better dressed person. Jen talks about when she got interested in fashion and some of the pearls of wisdom she has learned along the way.

What five things do you think every woman should have in her closet?

How can someone add color or interest to a bland wardrobe?

What are you thoughts on accessorizing? Any tips?

Jen mentions how much she loves scarves by fashionABLE.

What should a woman wear to a job interview?

What are some tips for shopping on a budget?

Kara is the owner and creator of Kara's Vineyard Wedding, a handmade boutique that focuses on one-of-a-kind wedding decor such as custom place card holders and Premium DIY supplies. After graduating with degree in Mass Communications and English, Kara worked in financial planning, and saw success through the corporate lens of earning promotions & making money. She recognized her passion for entrepreneurship in 2011, & built her handmade business while "on-the-clock". Two years later, the birth of her daughter was the push she needed to make the leap to self employment, and she hasn't looked back! Kara treasures the ability to work for herself while providing a second income for her family, AND raising her 2 children full-time. She also loves spending time with family and friends, drinking wine, & reading US Weekly.

In today's episode Kara shares a definition of success we think so many of our listeners will appreciate and understand.

Kara goes into detail about what gave her the nudge to leave her full-time corporate job and take her online shop from a side business to her families second income while staying at home with her young children.  She shares the steps she took to feel comfortable and confident about leaving her full-time job. She set some pretty big financial goals to check off their list before she walked away from her corporate job!

"Success isn't about material things. It is about being happy at the end of the day."

Kara also talks about how she had a major shift in her way of thinking.  She was constantly comparing herself to people who were still in the corporate world, or other WAHMs who had a different schedule/situation. She realized she need to stop comparing herself to others and focus on what she was doing.

Our Friday Coffee Talk episodes are a time for Danielle and I chat about anything and everything. We are so happy this community enjoys hearing us talk about things that often get discussed at a coffee shop, the things you tell your girlfriends. Today we are sipping coffee and talking all about that handmade hustle! I interview Danielle about her handmade business, The Merriweather Council, which she started almost 5 years ago. Danielle talks a bit about how her shop/business started and then she answers a few questions from our community.  We couldn't answer every question and we had so much more to share so we think there is a part 2 in the future!

For the people who don't know tell us how your shop started and where you sell?

Why you shouldn't jump ship from Etsy, but why you  MUST think of Etsy as a tool.

How do you manage time for new creativity?

How do you say no when someone asks you to create something that isn't you.

How to transition from corporate world to the handmade world.  For this we recommend you listen to our interview with Amanda of Scoutie Girl + Amanda Day Rose or our interview with Kim of Daisy Faye Designs.

How do you decide what info to share with other sellers/shop owners?  Things like tips for you shop, supplies.

How to you share victories and shop/biz accomplishments without sounding braggy?

For more about Danielle and the history of Merriweather council listen to her bonus episode!

For more about Jen and to hear her talk about her failed Etsy shop listen to her bonus episode!

Meredith Crawford is the founder and editor of the blog One Sheepish Girl. She loves knitting, crochet, photography, travel and so much more. She recently published her first crochet pattern book, Crochet with One Sheepish Girl. It is available for purchase on Amazon.com! In addition to her work with One Sheepish Girl, Meredith is also the communications director at a non-profit in Dallas, TX.

In today's episode Meredith opens up about how she struggles with self esteem, how she started a blog her junior year of college as a creative outlet for knitting, crocheting, and all things yarn. She shares how she used her blog as a way to document her journey to work on her confidence with a series called "blogging for confidence." She describes the series as "silly challenges" to push her out of her comfort zone -things like wearing red lipstick and going to see a movie alone.

We dive right in and talk about what success means/is for Meredith.

Meredith goes into detail about her journey after graduating college. She was in search of a full-time job but instead found herself with a book deal. While she fully admits the book deal is and was an amazing thing, she didn't feel successful. She desperately wanted to find a job that would allow her to move out of her parents' house.  She wanted to feel like she was doing what she was supposed to do, find that job after college and show she had made it and show that she was successful. She did find a job and quickly realized it wasn't going to bring her to where she wanted to be.

Our Friday Coffee Talk episodes are a time for Danielle and I chat about anything and everything. We are so happy this community enjoys hearing us talk about things that often get discussed at a coffee shop, the things you tell your girlfriends. Today we are sipping coffee and talking all about working from home. The good, the bad and the ugly. Ok, maybe there isn't really any ugly. But both Danielle and I share when we started working for home, how try and keep work and life separate. Spoiler alert, we aren't very good at it but we make a conscious effort to step away from work and we both share how to try to do that.

We also go into detail about emails and Danielle shares how she gave herself permission to take the weekends off. It's a great episode. Even if you don't work from home you'll get a bit of sneak peek into how Danielle and I plan our days and what working from home is like.  Also a major spoiler alert, we do not have kids so we have to give a major shout out to the WAHMs and the SAHMs because you both are our heroes!

p.s. If you haven't yet listened to our guest episodes, you are missing out! Taylor of Dear Olympia, Erika of Rouge + Whimsy, Amanda of Scoutie Girl & Amanda Day Rose, Kim of Daisy Faye Designs and Heather Crabtree, Business Strategist.

p.p.s If you would be so kind as to leave us a review on iTunes, we would be forever appreciative. If you are unsure about how leave us a review you can watch this quick tutorial that Danielle put together!

Heather Crabtree is a business strategist with a passion for coaching creative entrepreneurs. Heather has embraced her journey.  Her journey lead her from the career she envisioned herself having since high school, an attorney, to owning a very large and successful wedding planning company, selling it and finally landing exactly where she wants to be, helping coach creative entrepreneurial women.

Heather talks in detail about how her definition of success shifted the moment she got a heart wrenching call saying her father had passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack.

"When tragedies like that happen it changes everything. It changed my whole being."

In today's episode we chat with Heather about embracing her journey, dealing with the loss of her father, how she lost herself and a good long chat with her sister gave her her perspective back. We chat about this idea of needing to validate one's career with their title. Heather left the world of lawyer-ing but felt she  wasn't worthy because she walked away from the career she went to school for.  She shares with us how she had to find her confidence to not care what others thought.

We chat about what success means now, and how her first definition was shaped early on by her father.  "His version of success was either you were going to be a doctor or a lawyer."

Heather's go-to business books: E-Myth and Start with Why.

Heather mentions Amber Housley's Conference, Inspired 2015.

You they can pay a $250 deposit and then the balance is due the first week of May. The course begins at the end of May. If you signup with the Earlybird rate, you get fun goodies mailed to your doorstep, to be a part of the pre-course group coaching call and you get early access to the private FB group for the course.

Our Friday Coffee Talk episodes are a time for Danielle and I chat about anything and everything. We are so happy this community enjoys hearing us talk about things that often get discussed at a coffee shop, the things you tell your girlfriends. Today we're chatting about friendship. We chat about how for both of us our life long friends were not made in college like many people say.  We chat about how finding just one friend to connect with can make all the difference when you move to a new place.  We even dive into a discussion about cliques.  Lots of friendship stories shared today!

We also chat about our podcast being live for the world to hear for 1 month, and we thank our first 4 AH-MAZ-ING guests!

On Wednesday 3/11 our podcast celebrated being live on itunes and for the world to hear for 1 month! We are so grateful for our first for guest who really took a chance on us.  If you haven't yet listened to them you are missing out! Taylor of Dear Olympia, Erika of Rouge + Whimsy, Amanda of Scoutie Girl & Amanda Day Rose, and Kim of Daisy Faye Designs.

Kim is the creator and designer behind Daisy Faye Designs. Kim has always had a passion for fashion and anything creative and DFD allows her to bring together those two loves.  Kim loves coming up with original ideas and combining unexpected fabrics and colors to create something beautiful.  Kim graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Marketing and worked in retail management and merchandising after college.

In today's episode we chat with Kim about being a mom, wife, and small business owner.  How she felt like she was working for nothing in her merchandising job because thanks to the military she was living in a smaller town that didn't have the growth she needed. She tells us how her current definition of success is doing the best she can with everything in her life. She knows that in the future, when her son goes to school full time she will be able to spend more time focused on her shop, but until then she is happy to focus on being a mom, wife, and then business owner {in that order}.