Small Business, Big Mindset

This week on the show we have the one, the only, soon-to-be New York Times Bestselling author, Laura F*ing Belgray!

When I thought of who I would want to help ring in my 100th episode, my mentor, my friend, Laura Belgray catapulted to mind first.

She has a long list of accolades which you can learn more about on her Talking Shrimp website...as well as learn why her company is named after a chatty crustacean to begin with.

A bonafide celebrity and icon in the copywriting world, she's about to launch her first book, aptly named, "Tough Titties: On Living Your Best Life When You're the F-ing Worst".  The book comes out June 13th, but you can pre-order it here.  I read it cover-to-cover in under four days...a joyous respite between the job, the kids, and the MBA program that currently (happily) rule my life.  😍

In this episode, Laura tells us how she went from wandering through life to earning $1,000,000+ annually (I could have just typed 7-figures but damn, $1,000,000 is more fun) by chucking the standard rules of copywriting out the window and letting her personality shine through. We unwrap what exactly goes into the traditional publishing process, even when what you're publishing isn't traditional - why would a copywriting expert write a book about her life's trials and tribulations instead of how to write emails that sell your product but not your soul? Because. She's Laura F*ing Belgray.

Connect with Laura on her website (linked above), Instagram, and LinkedIn (although she spends most of her time on IG).

Episode #99!  Wow. When I first started this podcast I just wanted to connect entrepreneurs so we could inspire and learn from each other. What a journey it's been.  

As we catapult to episode #100, I thought I'd highlight the top 5 episodes so far (by downloads), introduce what's next with the podcast...and let you know who the special guest for episode #100 is (hint - she's a celeb in the copywriting world and about to launch her first book...sure to be a NY Times Best Seller).

Top 5 episodes so far:

• The 4 Critical Steps to Starting a Business
• 10 Free Resources for Copywriting
• Six Ways to Set Boundaries for Business Growth
• Here's My Exact Email Writing Process
• How to Create Super Clickable CTA

What's next for the podcast? CLOVER. I'm beyond excited for this series.

Who's my special guest for episode #100? I'll give you a hint. She met one of her business partners at Crunch Fitness in NY...back in the Crunch Fitness heyday.

I'll be honest - the mere thought of artificial anything, when it comes to creating the written word makes me cringe. It goes against every fiber of my being because for me, the point of writing is to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to create something genuine. 

Even if it's fiction, it's supposed to come from a place of organic creativity. So when I heard artificial intelligence, I was like, oh here we go. But I'm not one to blindly shut something down. So I did take a deeper look. And AI is here to stay. We'd be silly to ignore it and hope it goes away. And actually, it's been pretty cool. 

So, as such, how do we as writers leverage it to our liking? Ultimately, when it comes to writing, is AI a friend or a foe? So turns out, it can be both.  I'm committed to using the technology for good. And I'm seeing AI as a friend.  I like to joke, maybe it's more like you keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. ;)

Listen in on how to leverage AI for good!

Maura Kelpy, founder of Veggies & Vodka and Maura K Creative, joins the show this week! Maura runs her own successful graphic design business (in addition to her wellness community under the Veggies & Vodka umbrella) and shares with us specific actions to take when crafting your own visual brand. You know, the look and feel of your business where customers can recognize you in an instant.

Here's an excerpt:

"So when I take on a branding project for a client, I often start with a  Google questionnaire. I ask a lot of questions about the person themselves if it's a personal brand or more about their company as a whole and their values. I do a deep dive into what they're trying to express through their logo first, and who their audiences are that we're trying to attract. Your visual brand really encompasses so much more than just a logo, right? It's also your colors, your typography, and even your imagery - how you use your photos, or how you take photos of yourself. You really want this whole consistent look between all of these elements, because it creates this reliable and solid experience for your customers as they start to know and understand what to expect from you. That way, when they see your brand everywhere they will start to recognize you, and that builds trust."

Connect with Maura on her website for Maura K Creative or her wellness community, Veggies & Vodka.

Hiring. A critical piece to scale your business. But how do you know it's time to grow your team? What role do you hire for first...or next? How do you make sure you don't hire a jerk that will torpedo your business to the ground? (dramatic? maybe...but maybe not!) What are the pros and cons of hiring a full-time employee vs. a subcontractor? If you hire someone that's not working out, how do you let them go?

Sandra Booker, the founder of Any Old Task, joins the show this week. She answers these questions and more to help you hire the right person for the right role at the right time. Having helped multiple entrepreneurs grow their businesses to multi-six figures and beyond, you're gonna want to write down all the insight she shares during this episode.

For starters, so many business owners assume they need help in a certain area (I need someone to help with social media! I have no time!) but when they analyze where their time is actually going, are shocked. Rather than needing help with social media, they may discover that their personal life (Kids! Aging parents!) is what is monopolizing their time...and they need a personal assistant instead.

Listen in and improve your hiring strategy with these proven tactics.

Connect with Sandra on her website, Instagram, and YouTube.

Frederike Harms, founder of Katalyst Ventures, joins the show this week to dive into how to design a truly scalable offer. Growing up with entrepreneur parents, Frederike remembers that her family went on vacation once and only once. Her parents simply could not step back from their business to enjoy extra time with their family.

Having a front-row seat to that type of schedule and lifestyle, she decided she wanted to work with entrepreneurs, founders, and business owners to create scalable businesses that didn't solely depend upon their daily direction to thrive.

At the core of a scalable business is a scalable service or product. Listen in to learn tactics behind this strategy to leverage a scalable offer and grow a business beyond your own expertise, one that allows you to live a full life not chained to your phone or laptop.

Connect with Frederike on Instagram.

Dan Mott joins the show this week! You might remember that Dan and I, along with Claire Davis and Matt Zaun hosted a weekly live show for entrepreneurs and business leaders called Power Hour. It ran for just about a year or so and we had a blast! So cool to reunite with Dan here.

In this episode, Dan runs us through the 5 principles he's developed for LinkedIn social selling. Here's a quick excerpt:

"You are organically finding them through content and conversation. And now we're no longer strangers on the internet. I like to use the metaphor of LinkedIn as an in-person event. You just came out of a session and you're walking up to the bar to grab a drink, and you see a person next to you ordering the same beer, and you make a comment on that. And then 10 minutes later, you're down to a discussion about how you two are in the same industry and how you could potentially work together. So it's all about this certain aspect of serendipity."

Listen in as Dan gives specifics on how to reach out to potential connections and prospects via LinkedIn tools and tactics.

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn!

This week on the show I welcome launch strategist and copywriter, Brenna McGowan. We discuss the aspect of an offer that many entrepreneurs skip over: pre-launch.

It seems so much easier to skip right to the promotion of the sale, rather than warming an audience up, doing our due diligence, and testing the market... Alas, those who skip the pre-launch are leaving money (and a loyal audience) on the table.

Putting the right offer in front of the right audience with the right messaging is key. Obvious? You'd be surprised as to how many business owners place a lot of incorrect assumptions within this step.

The market research component is huge. Brenna is actually teaching a workshop where she goes through and validates the offers of her students. From there, they have a true understanding of who their customer is.

Per Brenna, pre-launch is about selling your process, and not your program.  For six weeks during a pre-launch, she suggests thinking through what is the buy-in your ideal customer has to have before they decide to buy your solution.

Listen in as we dive deep into these topics and more.

Connect with Brenna at her website and grab her free Pre-Launch Plan Cheat Sheet.

"And I discovered that as a journalist if you don't have a pitch or a story to share with the big boss on Monday morning, you didn't have a job. What's important for entrepreneurs to realize is that journalists aren't just helping you with your business, you are helping them keep their job. Because if you don't pitch your story, they don't have anything to tell their boss on a Monday morning." - Adela Hussain

That's one of my favorite pieces of insight from my discussion with Adela, founder of Startups & Co and my guest this week on the show. The first thing that Adela teaches her students in her course, Pitch to Press, is that you as an entrepreneur are keeping journalists/podcasters, etc in their jobs - they need your stories and expertise!

The second thing she teaches her students is that when they're pitching to anyone, they have to lead with the story and not their ego. Mention what you've noticed or learned from their work and why your specific topic would be of interest to their readers/listeners.

Tune in for the full scoop of how to pitch your business to press!  Connect with Adela on her website and Instagram.

Sami Miles, founder of Catchiest Copy and creator of Automatically Funny AF in Four Weeks, talks all things funny in copywriting.

When working with clients, she found that the funnest time was when they were joking around, when she could bring that humor out of them and onto paper. 

A former stand-up comic who has opened for some of the biggest names in the biz, Sami knows exactly how to inject humor into copy in just the right way.

Whether it's punching up copywriting assets,  speeches, or presentations, Sami tells us how to bridge the gap for our audience through humor. One of the tips she shares is she has her clients watch the opening jokes of their favorite comics. From there, they workshop everything from signature talks, guest teaching, webinars - even podcasts. All messaging is curated as well - launch emails, welcome sequences...they all go through her process to increase connection through laughter.

Head over here to grab Sami's '10 tips to Grab Your Audience by the Funny Bone'.