Start-Up Speakeasy

A.C.E. Adventures in Creative Entrepreneurship Episode #23

Guest: Elyse SkansiHost: Kristy OustaletShow Notes + Links can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/23

Elyse Skansi is a top-notch wedding coordinator that truly sets herself apart by specializing in design and transforming a venue to into an event that tells the couple’s unique story.

Not only does she actualize dreamy jaw dropping settings for her customers’ weddings, but I adore her approach to working with clients + we can all take note from how creates an outstanding experiences from beginning to end for her clients.

Her business, Tying the Knot Wedding Coordination, sprouted from a clicking away on a laptop on a twin bed in her sorority house. Elyse’s first few jobs were working for other event coordinators where she gained experience and was exposed to the crazy wedding industry. After 3 years, she knew this was what she was 'meant to do' and decided to take the leap and start her own small biz.

We dive into how Elyse organically grew her business:

• Focused on giving her clients and delivering an experience for not only the wedding day, but throughout the whole planning and day-of process.
• Started with a mission statement with what she wanted to biz to look like + how she wanted her customers to feel
• Put the word out and started gaining experience from people show knew
• She was transparent and honest with her clients that she was starting out + let her motivation for her business win-over her first clients
• Networked at every opportunity she could find and went into these meet-ups ready to talk about her mission and 'sell it' to set herself apart.
• She dreamed up creative and resourceful marketing campaigns from scratch (such as ‘style shoots’), which got her featured in notable places.Tip: if you want to get featured, you need to submit pitches, photos & content

A.C.E. Episode #022

Guest: Jenny Shih

Earlier in her career, Jenny Shih was a project manager working on multi-million dollar engineer based projects, and later realized that helping online service based business owners grow their businesses was her sweet spot.

Using her trained eye from working with a Fortune 500 company, she spotted the need for small business owners to implement systems to avoid overwhelm and leave room to work on big picture business development.

Let’s get one thing straight… A system isn’t: software you use to keep track of things like bookkeeping or email.

Then what is it? A system in your business is a set of steps that you take repeatedly that has been streamlined into a process to save time and be more consistent.

The result is not spending countless hours keeping up with your day-to-day tasks, and leaving you with more mental space to grow your business and time to be creative.

… That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

I’m in.

As you can imagine, there are many areas in our businesses that can benefit from having a system in place. Today, Jenny walks us through exactly what we need to streamline our client management process.

Let’s do this:

Jenny Shih’s Client System Checklist

5 Steps to manage your clients and prospects effectively:

1. Track your prospects and clients… in your head or your email doesn’t cut it!

Capturing their name, email, date, and package they purchased in a simple spreadsheet works just fine.

Bonus points if you add specific session notes, you can learn a lot from the trends that are revealed in these logs.

2. Use an online scheduler & stop emailing back in forth with clients once and for all. There are plenty of options for $5-10/mo. a few popular options are Acuity and TimeTrade.

3. Have a few questions ready that you’d like to ask someone before they get on the phone for a consult. Do: create a mini questionnaire you email to them prior to your appointment to get a little background on their business and get to know them.

Do: Prepare for your consult by reading questions and determining which package would be ideal for them to continue working together.

Don’t: require an application process unless you have a waiting list. This typically acts as a barrier to working with you.

4. Make it really easy for prospects to commit, hire and pay you by including a PayPal link in the follow up email.

5. Send a welcome email. This is a pre-written note from you with all the info and materials they need for their session.

SHOW NOTES can be found at http://kristyoustalet.com/22

Jenny has also shared with us an amazing free training called “How to Make Money Doing What You Love”

A.C.E. Adventures of Creative Entrepreneurship Episode #021

Host: Kristy OustaletGuest: Katrina Bress - Mardi Gras ProductionShow notes & links can be found at: http://kristyoustalet.com/21

Mardi Gras in New Orleans is known as 'The Greatest Free Show on Earth' but this week's guest, Katrina Brees gives us a taste of the big bucks that goes into pulling it off and the immense amount of time and energy it takes to orchestrate this two week extravaganza.

Don't let the 'free show' fool you, the Mardi Gras industry means big business. One single float starts at $80k and can easily reach a half million dollar price tag. Yes, just one.

Katrina is an ambitious entrepreneur that handles all things Mardi Gras. Her small business, I Heart Louisiana, never has a dull moment between: parade production, krewe management, krewe branding, booking entertainment and more. All of the services her company provides, stays true to her ultimate mission to have the industry support local artists, creative solutions to cut waste and preserving the culture and tradition.

Shocking Mardi Gras Facts:

- Mardi Gras festivities results in 50-100 tons of trash per day- Krewes spend an average of $56k per block in throws and most ends up in the trash- When the ports of China opened up in the mid 1990's nearly all of the throws are made cheaply and imported covered in pesticides.

Gross.

The good news is that I Heart Louisiana works year-round to find creative ways to transition us into a more sustainable carnival. Putting artists first and elevating creativity and design are at the core of her business. Here's a sampling of her solutions:

- Reconstructing previously worn krewe costumes

- Sourcing handcrafted keepsake throws, costumes and props by local artists

- Partnerships with local food manufacturing- broker for the factories (who doesn't love an edible throw on the parade route?)

- An advocate for quality over quantity + putting local artists and economy over importing

- Dreaming up new fundraising techniques for krewes rather than the standard mark-up on beads.

#ACE

A.C.E. Episode #020Guest: Leah Kalamakis - Web Designer & Developer

Leah Kalamakis is a Web Designer and Developer who builds websites for women entrepreneurs that understand the value of a great website and are ready to GO PRO in their business. In fact, she taught herself the ins and outs of the website world just so that she could make a clean break from her repetitive corporate job.

Leah got the education she needed, found a handful of test clients and learned along the way. Overtime, she created her own little freelancing empire that allows her to continue living in France, frequently travel back to her hometown of Seattle and have a steady flow of income and clients to live the life that she wants.

In addition to her website work, she jumpstarted the Freelance to Freedom Project- to inspire other freelancers to create a profitable and fun career.

Leah's tips to get you from Freelance to Freedom:

Tip #1: Set a firm quit date. You'll probably never feel 'ready' to let your security income go, but by setting a quit date you're able to create a game plan and 'make it work' when the time comes. Most of us need a little push to take the leap.

Tip #2: Stop planning and do the work. Its amazing what you learn from working with actual clients. How can you get you first few clients (even if its a freebie for family + friends)?

Tip #3: Seek out collaboration projects and connections that can extend your reach to a new base of clients. Bundle your services or partnering up and producing a new project with an expert with a similar type of audience makes it an exposure win-win.

Mallory started her artsy career creating reconstructed clothing and selling her custom items at craft fairs and markets.

She quickly realized how difficult it was to scale her business by selling items that were so one-of-a-kind, and restructured as she began to think bigger about her small biz.

Mallory’s revamp emerged as MissMalaprop.com in 2006 as a blog and online shop to promote her work and other artists and designers here in New Orleans. Alongside her new online home base, she doubled up on exposure by selling other people’s art in local markets and her handmade jewelry at trunk shows, pop-up boutiques, and art markets.

She’s been working both sides of the coin for nearly 10 years and it’s her strategy for getting her products and brand in front of a larger audience. Mallory seeks out the art markets with audiences that are a perfect match for her products, all while plugging her blog and online shop in addition to web shoppers.

Pretty smart, right?

With so many makers participating in art markets, I asked Mallory some of her favorite tips from her ebook “How to Make Money at Craft Shows”

• Miss Malaprop says:
• Know who your ultimate customer is + ask yourself: would she be at the art market you’re applying to?
• Having trouble nailing down your target market? Hint: It’s most likely a version of you.
• A good profit margin generally falls between 6- 10 times your booth fee. But, find your sweet spot of what makes it beneficial to you.
• She keeps up with her numbers and has created a system to take killer notes and keep track of sales and costs.
• Always think about your business goals and if your current model is able to scale.
• Generally speaking, multiple streams of income alleviates pressure from any specific one.

Lagniappe Takeaways for any blogger or online storePaying attention to the numbers can be very revealing about your clients:

• Where people are coming from and into the site
• The keywords that direct them to the site… use them more!

• Knowing your most popular blog posts can guide what your audience is really digging and you can easily write more about that subject. Double bonus points if you add backlinks beween articles.

My guest today is Michelle Ward- a certified coach that works with creative women through career transition. She's a whiz at helping others see the 'light at the end of the tunnel' when you either: 1.) can't stand your job one more second or, 2.) you're ready to tackle you're dream career but need a solid game plan to see it through.

We're not talking: "Leap and the net will appear" kind of mindset… this interview is dripping with real-life tips on how to turn your career around for 'real people' who don't have gobbs of money or investors waiting in the wings.

What to do when you feel like you can’t take your job one more minute…

• Take 20mins every morning to do something for yourself
• Get back to doing what you love + making your life doing things that you enjoy
• Take the lunch hour or whatever time you can for yourself while you're at your day job

What is the perfect day job while your building a biz?:

• Don’t go looking for the Holy Grail of a day job, look for something that Leaves you with energy at the end of the day and gives you the bottom line necessities that you need.

Michelle's tips on how to have 'An Effective Escape':

1. It’s not about taking giant leaps off a cliff. What will make you comfortable and confident to leave your job? Start you 'own thing' in phases.

2. Finances- going into your financing and spending and prioritize and figuring out the reality of the situation, you may be closer than you think.

3. Talk to you partner/parents/support (because it affects them too). Instead of dropping a bomb, come up with a gameplan the both of you can be comfortable with. For instance, Michelle stuck with her day job until show saved up a 5 month severance for herself.

4. Stop waiting for a lighting bolt with the angles singing moment to figure out what ‘that’ thing is.

Laura Simms #017

Create As Folk.com

Creative Career Coach

Laura Simms is a career coach specifically for those who want to have a meaningful and a career with purpose. Often times this situation leads down an entrepreneurial track, but it can be really confusing and downright intimating to figure all that out.

In this interview, she walks us through her signature “Your Career Homecoming” process that she uses to guide her one-on-one coaching clients.

She breaks it down into 3 main steps:1. You’ve gotta believe that’s possible to do what you love + be able to bring home the beacon.2. Digging deep and defining what gives is purposeful to you.3. Playing around with combinations of your strengths and talents + what you like to do + what people will pay you for… the intersection of these three things are key to finding your sweet spot.

A.C.E. Adventures in Creative EntrepreneurshipEpisode #016Guest: Gary HirschImproviser + Artist

I was first introduced to this week’s guest, Gary Hirsch, on his biggest improv collaborative performance with the 3,000 member audience at Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit in Portland this past summer.

Whoa. Improv with 3,001 people… pretty impressive + he pulled it off seamlessly.

As a lead member in the international improv company: On Your Feet, Gary uses ‘applied improv’ with small business and even large corporations to positively affect all sorts of blocks such as:

• Stepping outside your comfort zone
• Communicating + Collaborating
• Keeping an audience engaged
• Idea generators for growth and even products
• And even building confidence in the face of uncertainty

Geeze… that’s quite a list of things I can relate to. Right?

So, I began to keep tabs on what he was working on… and stumbled upon his collaborative art project called Bot Joy.

A bot is a little robot drawing on the back of domino that take on little personas to bring things like joy, love, and inspiration to the carrier. It all stemmed out of the simple need for Gary to doodle, but this mini army of bots really gets around.

Its caught on so much that the bots have found their way into some serious swag bags such as the Golden Globes and MTV movie awards, brave bots are at bedsides of children in hospitals, and joy bots are currently being tracked traveling around the world.

I find it hugely inspiring that such a small piece of artwork on a domino has grabbed so much attention from a notably wide audience.

For you all you creatives out there looking to tackle a big project in 2014- I hope it will inspire you to start small + take action.

Gary’s improv inspired presenting + public speaking tips (unscripted):

• Its not all about you- focus on the audience
• be as optimistic as an improviser + assume something awesome is about to happen
• don’t be oblivious to what’s in the room by being over-prepared + lose the script
• let go + be present + connect with your audience

Today’s guest, Rob Hohne started down the path of Law school and decided to follow his curiosity into the world of urban gardening. ((record scratch)) What makes a law student dream of having chickens, harvesting crops, and plowing land? Well, I’ll let him tell you about that…

What I will say, is that he designed a successful kickstarter campaign to make it happen and has since expanded his project to his newest venture to a retail local and online store named Homestead.

In this interview we dive into Bitcoin. Rob accepts this alternative currency in the store and we take a look at how it all works from a retail perspective.

P.S.- If bitcoin hasn’t hit your radar yet, be sure to take a look. It’s changing the perception of credit card & payment processing around the globe, it’s kind of a big deal.

He also gives us kick-ass strategies for a killer kickstarter campaign (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun).

April Bowles-Olin from blacksburgebelle.com she started out as jewelry maker and Etsy was her platform of choice to dive into the biz world.

As April learned the business ropes, she picked up marketing skills for handmade products and selling strategies. After realizing that business side of things intrigued her a bit more than becoming a mini jewelry factory, she switched gears and began helping other artist design a business and lifestyle they truly want and enjoy.

These days, she translates the latest marketing tips and strategies into tailored guides and advice for creative entrepreneurs.

In this interview we talk about the 3 Sure-Fire Ways to grow your creative business (no marketing budget required).

1. Gut Check: Are you undervaluing your work? April’s pricing tips:

If you think you’re not charging enough. You’re not charging enough.

What are your competitors are charging + what makes yours different? Make sure to communicate to your audience what sets you apart in your product descriptions.

2. Do more of what’s working.

You need to do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.

Do you know what’s working for your biz? Look for feedback and monitor your analytics to pinpoint what you’re customers want.

3. Really know your target market. If you know your target market better than your competitors, you’re going to sell more.

Target what you’re doing to your ideal customer. Just take an afternoon to do the work and your results will reflect.