Start-Up Speakeasy

Why is it that every time you start to make headway in your business, you suddenly feel like you have to change everything?

How does pricing our products and services stump us every single time?

What is holding you back from hiring much needed help in your biz?

These are just a few instances are insanely common ways that entrepreneurs (and especially creative types) sabotage business and your ability to make money.

Can you relate? Listen in. Denise shares a great perspective on why this conundrum sneaks up and what you can do to put money blocks back in their place.

Show Notes: http://kristyoustalet.com/53

When you're a solopreneur or even when you have a small team, business mistakes that you make can feel devastating. I'm sure you've beaten yourself up over what now seems to be a minor hiccup in the scheme of things… we've all been there.

Matthew Turner has a new spin on making mistakes, he believes that by making mistakes you're able to uncover your best work and greatest ideas. In fact, its not only his perspective, he interviewed 163 entrepreneurs (including me) to get their two cents on turning mistakes into success stories.

Tune into this episode to hear what he learned + the book he's currently crowd publishing on his findings… this is so interesting, y'all.

Show Notes: http://kristyoustalet.com/51

If you’ve ever buried your nose in a few business books, you know that you’re ‘supposed’ to pinpoint your target market and narrow in on who is a perfect fit for your work. But, its WAY more common to go through the motions and really only scratch the surface while the point is to dig deep.

So, if you’re like me, and vaguely consider your true target market while rushing between projects and posts- I think Sarah has some info that will make you reconsider...

In this episode, we dive into the steps she took to uncover the subtle correlations between her all-time favorite clients, and how you can too. She also lays out some killer insight on her next steps which she credits as the difference between falling flat in narrowing things down and blowing it out the water.

SPOILER ALERT: by taking the leap into truly serving her target market she experienced:

Her projects are based around exactly what she wants to be working on, which makes her career way more fulfilling because she’s happier and doing her best work, her clients are excited about her work

she raised her prices + booked more clients + and is making more money

Just when you think you're going to implode because your spreading yourself too thin and on the verge of a business overwhelm meltdown... in walks Maya Gaddie and suddenly things seem a bit more simple and sanity washes over your stressed out brain.

Maya somehow always has the perfect solution to take you from overwhelm to business automation. Phew!

In this episode, Maya dives into:- the five tech must-haves you need to get a solid biz foundation- automation hacks to get take your business to the next level- software suggestions to bring instant solutions for common biz headaches

http://kristyoustalet.com/50

We all have time restraints on our business. Maybe for you its your kids, or your 9-5, or even client one-on-one work gets in the way. No matter what it is that trips you up, it’s important to use time wisely and not to get caught up in excuses.

We all know that launching and growing a business takes a huge investment of time and energy, so here are 4 time saving tricks that I use everyday to carve out time for worthwhile projects.

Something happened when I started getting busier… it suddenly felt like everything got really noisy and dings, chimes, unwanted emails and notifications were always interrupting what I was working on.

By eliminating these nagging distractions, it enabled me to keep focus on the projects that really matter to me and my business. To keep up with my favorite blogs, I moved most of them out of email and into Flipboard. This is an app that lets you keep up with blogs and media by creating your own electronic newspaper. I also subscribed to podcasts that I regularly listen to on Stitcher and youtube channels that I watch so that the latest show is ready when I am.

According to Parkinsons’s Law, “work expands to fill the time available for its completion” so sometimes creating an artificial deadline can produce the same quality of work in a shorter amount of time.

I love artificial deadlines, especially when it comes to tasks and projects that can drag on. Try this: limit yourself to 30 minute bursts to make things happen distraction-free. Close down Facebook, don't check emails and set a timer for 100% focus on one task.

When I first started working independently, I struggled with always feeling busy and strangely not having much accomplished to show for it. I heard about this simple concept of batching tasks and this concept is so simple yet completely turned around my workflow.

Batching similar tasks together in chunks will decrease the amount time you waste transitioning between projects and increase your productivity. Let’s face it, multitasking is a waste of time and can exhaust and sneaks away time that should be spent on doing more productive things.

If there is something you find valuable to work on but you just can’t find the time to work on it, maybe its time to reevaluate and tweak your idea into a more simplified version. I challenge you to find something that you can simplify, focus and rethink your approach.

Show notes found at: http://kristyoustalet.com/48

Wordpress has been known as the one and only platform to build a professional website to build your business, but Squarespace has made a ton of improvements and have positioned themselves as true competitor in the space.

Everyone has their opinion on which is best, but the real question is which is best for you and your growing business. Let’s dive into the pros + cons in each to help you make the best decision.

Customer Support:

Squarespace: is a paid platform that will answer questions and troubleshoot via email or live chat 24/7. A Squarespace site generally costs $10/mo.

Wordpress: because the platform is free, it does not include support. For this reason, its important to choose themes that have good support forums and some even have how-to videos. Googling for answers can also be helpful.

Nat Note: Headway + Genesis themes have great support forums for WP.

Learning Curve/Dashboard:

Squarespace: has a drag and drop builder which is easier for beginners to jump into quickly, but with less options. Website updates are done automatically.

Wordpress: has a little bit more of a learning curve because it is more robust and has much more possibilities and more flexible. Updates are done manually.

ECommerce:

Squarespace: Creating an online shop in SS is possible, but the store can only process cards via Stripe. This creates a huge limitation on international sellers as Stripe only processes payments within the US. Also, you cannot customize the check-out process.

Wordpress: can use multiple payment gateways to sell unlimited items virtually and internationally.

Bells & Whistles:

Squarespace: doesn’t let beginners get caught up in all the bells and whistles and can create a clean streamlined site. You have 19 responsive semi-customizable themes.

Wordpress: you have the ability to use plug-ins which are essentially website apps to end endless functionality. The look depends a lot of the theme to choose from. You have thousands of themes to choose from

Nat’s WP Theme Choosing Tips:

• pick one that you like the look of out of the box if you’re a beginner

• read the reviews from other users

• see how responsive the support forum is

• look for a theme that has been updated recently

• Three premium themes for complete customization: Headway, Thesis, and Genesis

• Theme Forest has thousands of WP themes to choose from

Which one works best for you? Let me know what aspects of a site works best for you in the comments below.

Did you like this episode? I would love for you to share it with your friends + subscribe to the show on itunes. You can easily do that by clicking here.

All show notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/48

Show notes found at http://kristyoustalet.com/47

This week’s guest is Jackie Johnstone, a social media specialist who helps passionate entrepreneurs connect with their clients and share their message. But, in this episode we’re not focusing entirely on social media. Long time listeners of the show may remember Jackie as one of my very first guests of the show and she’s here to help me celebrate the show anniversary.

Yep, a full year. Woohoo + Holy crap!

I can’t believe I made it this far… I’ve gotten to pick the brains of so many amazingly ambitious business owners. How lucky am I?

Honestly, before launching the show, I was jumping around from idea to idea without committing to a game plan. I flaked on my own business all the time because my next idea always seemed better than the one before.

It was time for a change.

I double doggie dared myself to stick with the show every week for a solid year, and here we are celebrating its first birthday. Thanks so much for sharing it with me.

Cheers!

Okay, not onto the show…

Jackie has been working crazy hard on her business to make this her breakthrough year. Looking back, she has some key insight and tips to share:

Things take so much longer than you think.

Everything from writing a blog post, to get your website up, writing a course and launching a course.

Set a date to launch it, especially if you’re deadline driven.

No one ever feels ready and yet almost everyone wishes they would have launched much sooner than when they actually pulled the trigger.

Pre-sell your class + develop the course as you go.

Real-time feedback is valuable for the long term success and of the course. Most people have a tendency to include way too much info, and feedback is a great way to determine where to edit.

Promote your offers + webinars in relevant Facebook groups.

Graph Search to find groups. We touch on this in this episode, but we didn’t dive into this topic. Learn more from Jackie’s blog here.

Your first offer should be a one session taste of what you do.

To choose your first offer, make a list of 10 ways to get your idea out in a single session. Trust your gut, and tweak your offering until it works for you and your clients. Rule of thumb: Follow what feels fun + what’s working.

Make connections with other entrepreneurs and seek support.

Celebrate your mini business wins with other people who understand and have a likeminded support system ready for when you need a reality check.

All show notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/47

I would love feedback on the show as we take a break from the traditional format while we re-brand and restructure. Email me directly: [email protected]

Show notes found at http://kristyoustalet.com/46

Years ago, our guest, Shenee Howard felt frustrated on where her business was and lost about what direction she should take her business.

Today, Shenee is sharing with us the one thing she did to turn the ship around to create killer copy + Hell Yes! offers. In this episode, Shenee will tell us about the 100 people project, why she did it and how you can do it too.

Let’s start here: There’s no substitute for talking to real people. What does that mean?

With all of the Ideal Client Avatar hype, you run into a little problem… they’re not real + its all about the subtleties that you can only pick up on when your actually talking to a potential client. So, Shenee challenged herself to talk to 100 people to turn her frustrating business around and get back on track she appropriately called it the: 100 People Project.

What’s the point of spending all that time talking to people… for free?

It gives you a chance to stop and get clarity on what you want to do, what you like to do and figure out how that matches up with your customers wants + needs.

Based off those conversations she created her first sold out class.

BAM! That sounds like a turning point if you ask me...

Interested in starting your own 100 People Project? Here are a few tips:

How to find the people for the project:

• Make sure you are in Facebook Groups with your clients (not only people in your industry).

• Find other people based off of momentum. When you start talking to one person in a mastermind group, offer a freebie call to speak to each one. Ask for referrals.

• When you reach out (post on social media or email directly) make them feel like they its so good they should have been charged. In other words – give value.

• Don’t make your offer too general, otherwise people won’t ‘get it’ and see the value.

• The intention is literally to talk to you for research, so be clear that this isn’t a sales pitch.

• Create regular content so that people want to talk to you and know what to talk to you about.

• Be sure to ask these two questions:

1. What do you need?2. What are you looking for?

Free consults to pick your potential customer’s brain is technically like working for free, but so is not having any clients for your latest program…Which do you prefer?

All show notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/46

Show notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/45/

Kimra Luna is a Business Coach who practices what she preaches especially when it comes to Social Media Branding. In this episode, we’re talking about breaking traditional business rules, being yourself and being your own brand.

In today’s boom of solopreneurship and online micro-businesses, our mindset around business has shifted quite a bit. The focus now revolves around defining who you want to work with and why, but don’t forget it’s necessary to create a business model and solve a problem.

Every business, no matter what business model you choose, is designed to help other people.

When you think of it that way, it’s always good to resort to the answers to these 3 questions:

1. Who we want to help… who do you genuinely care about and want to work with?

2. Why we want to help them?

3. Why we want to build a business in the first place?

With all of the focus on lifestyle design, its uber necessary to keep these tried and true business points in-check (Tweet this!):

* You need to understand and clearly communicate what you’re providing customers (think: results and/or solutions). Your business can/should be fulfilling to you, it must intersect with a need and provide value to others. (Tweet that!)

* Make sure that customers not only want what you’re offering, but are willing to pay for your solution.

Kimra’s Tips to tweak your idea to fit current market and trends: (*ahem* make sure potential clients are willing to buy what you offer)

• Survey groups and audiences (facebook groups of ideal clients can be a goldmine)

• Ask questions and test out ideas on social media.

• Even if you have a small list, ask them for insight. One or two responses can provide you with a new perspective.

• Feedback works well for not only defining products and services but also for creating content and ideas.

• In short… ask them before you spend time and resources on assumptions.

All show notes can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/45/