She Talks Business

So how do Tim Ferriss and James Clear do it? How do they get millions of people on their email lists and, most importantly, how do they keep people subscribed? I believe a small email list of engaged subscribers and active buyers outweighs a large email list any day, but we have a lot to learn from these two men's strategies. Listen to this episode to hear which of their tactics I'm going to be using to grow my own email list this year.

A $40M Business Owner Reverts to a $5/hour Strategy for His Success

The truth is, you don't need large numbers of subscribers like Ferriss and Clear to succeed. The lists cultivated with high-touch strategies may be "small" in comparison to millions, but the engagement of the subscribers produces incomparable results. Learn the exact direct sales flywheel strategy of Nathan Barry and how his manual efforts produced undeniable success even in this automated AI world.

Let's Talk Tactics

Building your email list will not happen overnight, and it certainly does not end with putting a subscribe button on your website. In this episode, I share my plan for growing my email list this year and how I plan to keep my subscribers engaged. You'd be surprised to learn the value you need in order to grow could be something you've already created. Stay to the end for some great ideas for freebies to offer, as well as my favorite way to impact engagement with my top readers.

Don't let your email list stay stagnant for another year! Create your lead magnet and make your content so valuable for your subscribers that they never want to leave your list.

• Mailing list maintenance and engagement
• The $5 an hour strategy inspired by Nathan Barry
• Personal touch in content creation for stronger relationships
• Ensuring consistency and reliability in communication
• List-building strategies

What To Do Next

Visit lisalarter.com/e177 for all resources from this episode.

Class is in session - are you ready for your marketing efforts to be graded? This episode is all about creating a thorough marketing strategy with the 2025 landscape in mind.

Tune in as I walk you through my 10-question assessment to help you determine where your marketing efforts currently fall and provide clear steps on how to improve them throughout the year.

It's Not Getting Any Easier in 2025. . . But Here's How To Keep Up & Excel

The more opportunities we have to market our business (posting daily on social platforms, regular newsletters, automated systems for lead generation, quizzes to collect zero-party data, etc.), the more marketing becomes a complex ecosystem of efforts working together to generate sales. Marketing continues to get more complicated as time goes on, but creating a plan now will allow you to not only keep up, but excel in this ever-evolving marketing world.

AI Is Both The Problem And The Solution

We've reached a point in marketing where people are craving authenticity while consuming content more than ever. How do you remain authentic while keeping up with the volume of content necessary to stand out? AI is a great tool to add to your marketing efforts and multiply your efforts, but it is not the answer to creating content for you. Join me as I discuss real-life examples of how I use AI to create content faster while still maintaining my thought leadership and authenticity.

Listen all the way to the end of this episode for an assessment you can actually use to make a plan with the right steps for your business to really grow this year.

If you'd like some guidance on creating your marketing plan, I mention two resources for you to take advantage of: The Ultimate Guide To Planning Your Future, a free download, and the Action Accelerator, where we can sit down one-on-one to make a plan together.

Let's make 2025 the year your business skyrockets with leads, sales, and unstoppable growth!

What's In This Episode

• Marketing Changes and Required Skills in 2025

• Self-Assessment for Marketing Strategies

• Cohesive marketing ecosystem

• Content Engagement vs. Business Success

• Leveraging AI in Marketing

• Importance of Zero Party Data

What To Do Next

Visit lisalarter.com/e176 for all resources from this episode.

In the final episode of our Strategic Marketing For Your Business series, we're sharing our best advice on creating one of the most powerful types of content today—video.

First things first: You need a content plan

If you want to get the reps in and strengthen your video-making muscle, start by creating a content plan. The only way creating video content is going to get easier is if you continue to do the work of showing up, hitting record, and pushing past the discomfort, so make it easier for yourself to do that by creating a clear direction.

This week, Cass and I are walking you through how we recommend creating a list of video content ideas so you never feel lost about what to record.

From how to hold the camera to how long your videos should be

So many people get caught up in the technical aspects of video creation. Should they be long-form or short-form? Should you hold the camera portrait or landscape?

We answer these questions and more by starting with the purpose of your video (is it meant to entertain or educate?) and identifying which social platform your audience will respond to best.

Creating video content can be an intimidating process, but don't let that stop you. With the guidance in this episode and our helpful cheat codes at the end, you'll be comfortable and confident in your ability to create great video content in no time!

Plan Your 2025 With Me

On December 6th, join me for a full-day virtual workshop where we will dive into money, time, marketing, and mindset with tactical advice, strategies, and resources. Learn more at lisalarter.com/plan-or-perish.

• Emphasis on authenticity over perfection in video creation
• Informal content with basic quality standards
• Matching content type and video orientation to platform use for engagement
• How to repurpose video content
• Determining when professional vs. informal filming is needed
• Building camera confidence with smartphone videos

Visit lisalarter.com/e175 for all resources from this episode.

One of the telling signs someone is an expert in their field is if they are able to confidently chat about their topic of genius with little to no preparation. That's why I love to help my clients create podcast strategies to distribute their expertise through this powerful type of media.

This week, Cass and I are back with the fourth episode of our Strategic Marketing For Your Business series. We identify the five reasons podcasts fail and how to overcome them. You're going to hear some great tactical tips for how to start and sustain your own podcast for the long-term goal of establishing credibility and growing your business.

5 Key Factors Contributing to Pod Fade

We identify the five reasons podcasts rarely extend beyond 5 episodes and how to avoid them. The most common misstep is not having a content strategy. Listen in for guiding questions on how to create a content roadmap for planning your episodes. For a real look behind the scenes at what it's like to have a podcast, listen in to hear our own process for producing She Talks Business and the many hands and skills it takes to create a quality episode.

Harness The Power Of Audio & Video

In this episode, we also give our best advice and tips for creating a podcast meant to be consumed via video or audio, how to capitalize on each distribution type, and which one your audience will enjoy and consume the most.

Are you interested in starting a podcast, or have you tried podcasting in the past? This is a must-listen episode to help you consider the commitment and strategy for a successful podcast. Be part of the 5 percent who make it to episode 100 with our podcasting tips!

• Starting and sustaining a podcast
• 5 reasons podcasts fail and how to overcome them
• Content roadmap strategy for podcast longevity
• Importance of unscripted dialogue to appear as an expert
• Podcast production process

Visit lisalarter.com/e174 for all resources from this episode.

Let's answer all of your questions about thought leadership! This week, we are diving into what it is, where it should go for your audience to find it, how to keep it safe, and how to repurpose it for your preferred social media channels. We even address a common misconception: the difference between thought leadership and content marketing.

Importance of Thought Leadership

Establishing, growing, and maintaining your business requires a content marketing strategy, but the true strength of your credibility lies in your thought leadership. From picking your topics to establishing a sustainable cadence, this episode will give you the information you need to be confident in establishing your expertise with your audience.

Staying Inspired

This week, we also share our favorite thought leader role models who inspire with fresh, impactful content. You'll hear how they keep ideas flowing and manage to incorporate lessons from real-life experiences, which they then use for content on socials or in books. Plus, we'll cover a variety of content formats to bring your ideas to life, from visuals and writing to audio and video.

This episode really is jam-packed with useful tips and insights on how to create content and thought leadership. Your business and authority will never be stronger than when you continue to create.

• Definition and importance of thought leadership
• Need for consistency and focus
• Various formats for thought leadership and content
• Building recognition and trust through frequent content publication
• Strategies to overcome these challenges with time management and content prompts

Visit lisalarter.com/e173 for all resources from this episode.

Welcome back to the second episode of our "Strategic Marketing For Your Business" series where this week, Cass Bald, my Senior Team Manager, and I are talking you through our top 10 recommendations to start having your website work for you. Our discussion ranges from simple, quick fixes to more complex website maintenance, and we even dive into SEO tactics to help your business rank on Google.

Create A 5-Star User Experience

When building a website, your customer should always be the lens through which you view your site. Is it easy to navigate? Can I browse my site for 60 seconds and come away answering the questions, what do I do, and what do I offer? We address how to create a site that guides and informs the user in a way that converts them to customers. In fact, we reveal one simple misstep many businesses make, and you'd be shocked by how obvious it is!

Technical Tricks & Savvy SEO Tips

Whether you manage your site yourself or have a team to do it for you, you don't want to miss hearing the horror story of a website disappearing and how to avoid it from ever happening to you. Plus, while you may know SEO is important and links to your Google ranking, we go over how to create an SEO strategy to keep yourself relevant in Google's eyes with regular recurring content.

I hope you enjoy this episode and that it gives you some smart ideas for improving your website. If this was valuable to you, be sure to tune into next week's episode, where we'll talk about thought leadership and content marketing!

• 10 strategies to audit the efficacy of your website
• Clear communication of business offerings
• Calls to action should be in clear places on relevant pages
• Benefits of regular recurring content
• Clear and minimal navigation tactics
• Create a contact page utopia for inbound leads
• SEO guidance for keywords and keyword phrases for the pages and posts of your website

Visit lisalarter.com/e172 for all resources from this episode.

Take a peek behind the curtain of what it's like to work with us as your marketing team! I'm here with my Senior Team Manager, Cass Bald. We're starting a new series where we walk you through five of the key elements of creating a marketing strategy for your business using the same strategy we would use. It's called the Strategic Marketing Roadmap, or SMR for short.

In our first episode of this series, we focus on branding, positioning, and messaging. We address misconceptions about brands and dive into what a brand truly is. We discuss how what your brand makes people feel is the real impact you're looking for and the importance of tapping into what people remember most about you and your business.

One key point we make, and you don't want to miss hearing what we have to say, is about alignment. Aligning your brand with your personality builds more trust with clients than any impressive marketing strategy. We even share our own stories of misalignment between brand and business owner to explain why.

Lastly, we differentiate between messaging and positioning. Differentiate and leverage these two elements to appeal to your ideal customer. The words you use on your website, in your content, and the way you position yourself within the market set the tone for their expectations.

After listening to this episode, you'll be equipped with tips to assess and adjust your brand to make the best impression.

We hope you use these episodes to assess how strong your marketing strategy is as we make our way to the end of the year and prepare for new goals in 2025.

• Common misconceptions about branding
• Importance of brand alignment and consistency
• Distinguishing positioning and messaging
• Aligning messaging with customer expectations

What To Do Next

Visit lisalarter.com/e171 for all resources from this episode.

We are back with one of my favorite types of episodes - an Ask Me Anything! This week, Kathleen Mundy is taking over the microphone to guest-host and ask me all the questions she can about how I've approached the many pivots in my business, selling a business, and how to do it all with confidence.

Kathleen, a longtime friend and fellow dachshund mom, transitioned from a successful career as a multi-million dollar entrepreneur to looking for her new passion in life after retiring in 2022 and moving to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Realizing her retirement wasn't as fulfilling as expected, she founded the Retirement Innovation Lab to help others navigate retirement with joy and purpose. Partnering with Yasmin Nguyen, 22 years her junior, they created a platform offering innovative solutions for retirees.

Kathleen's journey from business success to finding her new passion serves as an inspiring example of resilience and optimism.

To Pivot Or Not To Pivot? How I decide.

Listen in to hear my thought process about how I decide if a pivot makes sense for my business and my brand and if it aligns with my values. I also touch on how I manage to feel confident when making some pretty big shifts and how I prepare for them.

Check Before You Invest

As an entrepreneur and a quick-start, I'm constantly thinking of new ideas, but I realize not all of them will be viable. Kathleen and I discuss my method of testing ideas before I invest extensive time and money into creating or marketing a project or opportunity. You won't want to miss hearing about my invitation marketing technique, which I've used for years to determine if my new ideas have the potential to be a success. The best part? I'm not risking a large investment or missing out on ideas my clients love.

It's always a pleasure to have my friends on my podcast, and Kathleen came prepared. This episode is beneficial for anyone of any age, so I hope you listen in and get some great advice on how to apply your unique gifts as an entrepreneur.

• The challenges of entrepreneurship, including addressing self-doubt, resilience, and difficult decision-making
• The importance of personality, service delivery, and thought leadership
• Transitioning to Entrepreneurship in Retirement
• The importance of hiring mentors and investing in your business when transitioning to entrepreneurship
• Minimizing risk with financial preparedness, risk assessment, and trusting your own capabilities

Visit lisalarter.com/e170 for all resources from this episode.

Welcome back Michelle Weger with our second podcast in a row with her! In the previous episode, we celebrated the release of her new book, Don't Snooze Your Dreams: Lessons from Life with Narcolepsy. Now, we're going to talk about how Michelle was able to write her book so quickly and even managed to get it published ahead of schedule.

Michelle is an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and now #1 International Best Selling author of Don't Snooze Your Dreams. As the founder of Venture Creative Collective, home of the innovative 'Website in a Day' service, Michelle helps small businesses thrive with innovative automation and web development solutions.

Living with narcolepsy, Michelle has transformed personal challenges into powerful lessons, inspiring countless individuals to pursue their dreams despite obstacles. Her engaging keynotes draw from real-life experiences, offering practical strategies and inspiring stories. Michelle is accompanied by her medical alert service dog, Quinn.

Keep Moving Forward

Michelle managed to finish her book in record time of under a year of writing, and it was published five days ahead of schedule. She achieved this feat by disregarding habits we've grown to expect from authors. Instead of continuously sitting at a desk day after day, hoping she'd be inspired until the last word was written, she took a completely different approach. Listen in for the various ways she turned traditional writing on its head and created a book that is so conversational and comfortable that one reader described it as talking with a friend over a latte.

One Book Written With A Much Bigger Picture In Mind

Michelle's reasons for writing this book are incredible and inspiring. She wants to help others achieve their dreams with her DREAM method, but she also wants to help others like her be diagnosed as quickly as possible by spreading awareness of her journey from not knowing what was wrong to her diagnosis. You won't believe how big she is thinking when it comes to how she'd like her book distributed and who she would love to help her realize her dream.

I've loved having Michelle on the show for these two episodes! If you're currently stuck writing your book or have always wanted to write a book, then this episode is your inspiration. Maybe something we say will be the tactic that works best for you to finally move forward and finish your book!

• Unconventional methods for writing a book
• Natural ways to start collecting stories and advice without spending hours writing at a desk
• Set word count goals
• Focus on quality over a self-imposed deadline
• How to test if your content resonates with your audience

Visit lisalarter.com/e169 for all resources from this episode.

Welcome back for a very special episode! We're celebrating the release of Michelle Weger's book, Don't Snooze Your Dreams. Michelle and I have been working together for 7 years now, and I've seen her do some really hard things. I'm so proud of her for writing this book and sharing how she reframes fear to accomplish her dreams and helping you all do the same.

Michelle Weger is an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and now #1 International Best Selling author. As the founder of Venture Creative Collective, Michelle helps small businesses thrive with innovative automation and web development solutions. Living with narcolepsy, Michelle has transformed personal challenges into powerful lessons, inspiring countless individuals to pursue their dreams despite obstacles.

Consequences of Advocacy

As someone with an invisible disability, Michelle discusses how she's grown in her advocacy. She's faced a lot of tough pushback and consequences because her service dog is "too big," or people don't believe she's a service dog and don't believe Michelle even has a disability. After seeing how her mother, friends, and colleagues stood up for her, Michelle realized if she stood up for herself now, she would also be helping others.

Only Two Types of Fear

In her book, Michelle identifies only two types of fear we all suffer from. We have a social fear, which, boiled down, is the fear of embarrassment, and physical fear, which is fear of something that could actually kill or harm us. The metaphors she uses in the book are brilliant in reframing how you feel about fear. Keep your ears open for when we talk about the paper dinosaur and the terrorist in our heads.

Fear and adversity are ever present throughout our lives and our careers. Whether we're facing a promotion at work or an autoimmune disease diagnosis, we will always be battling our paper dinosaurs and terrorists in our heads. Listen in to hear about Michelle's DREAM method, which anyone can use to overcome whatever obstacles they're facing in life and achieve their dreams.

• Facing adversity for a non-apparent disability like narcolepsy
• Role models help bolster advocacy for yourself and, eventually others
• Metaphors for fears holding us back from our dreams
• Tactics for doing hard things
• DREAM method for overcoming fears and achieving dreams

Visit lisalarter.com/e168 for all resources from this episode.