The Design Business Show

Andrea Jenson is the Founder of The Cash Flow CFO - the 7-Figure Entrepreneur's Solution to Scaling a PROFITABLE business, and the creator of the Predictable Profits Accelerator - a five (5) step holistic approach to creating predictable business profits.

The Cash Flow CFO team provides fractional CFO Services, Fully Outsourced Accounting Teams and Financial Training Programs. Andrea's modern, boutique approach provides well thought-out, practical solutions, designed to help entrepreneurs run and scale their business faster & easier.

As an investor and entrepreneur, Andrea understands first-hand what business owners need most to grow & scale. Prior to opening her firm, Andrea ran Corporate Accounting Departments for both Public and Private Organizations. Her work experience includes Starwood Hotels, Venture Capital and Multi-Million dollar Online & Offline Businesses.

Today Andrea's goal is simple: to empower business owners to confidently OWN their finances and their future and use their business as a vehicle to create personal, legacy wealth. In addition to sitting on the Board for several Non-Profits in her community, Andrea is a wife, mother, soccer player, and passionate volunteer who spends her free time helping kids with cancer thrive, and shelter dogs find their forever homes.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Andrea is a fourth generation entrepreneur and while she was in college on a soccer scholarship, she had to choose a major and chose accounting
• As Warren Buffet says, accounting is the center of business, and she kept learning how business models play out and then she graduated with a business degree
• After graduating, she got a job at a venture capital firm and there she was able to compare what she did there with what she knew in the restaurant industry
• She noticed the big disconnect between the industries, what small businesses do compared to the big businesses and that's how her business was born
• While Andrea understood accounting, she didn't have a ton of background in business tasks like sales and marketing
• When she first started out, it was a lot of trial and error for the first couple of years, tried to do it on her own, and now has a team of 30 people working for her

• Andrea's company offers fractional CFO services and by focusing on implementing systems, she was able to grow the business and hire more people
• Andrea explains the role of a CFO and benefits for businesses using the metaphor of driving a car to explain the difference between a CFO and other financial professionals
• A CFO is described as the person looking out of the front windshield, providing future forecasts and strategic planning
• Every month, they look at budget and actuals; so by having a monthly look at that they're able to prevent money leaks in the business and increase finances
• Why a forward looking process can better help you use your resources
• They help business owners make more money by using historical data to forecast the future and strategically deploy cash
• Strategic financial planning includes decisions like investing in hiring more staff, purchasing equipment, or expanding office space
• Right now, Andea's company offers done-for-you services, and they plan to offer workshops + courses to be able to serve more people
• Why her company focuses on using financial anchors such as budgets, forecasts, and job costing help businesses stay on track and adapt when needed
• These anchors provide a big game plan while allowing for adaptation and adjustment
• How Andrea's team meets for a "Workshop Wednesday" to close gaps in their current processes as they work with teams

• Andrea highlights the constant stress and juggling that business owners experience, and how having a CFO can alleviate this stress by allowing the business owner to focus on sales, marketing, and fulfillment
• Working with a CFO can fine-tune the business model and make it more profitable through incremental adjustments
• Not all business owners have the financial skills to make these adjustments, which is where a CFO can provide a return on investment
• Having a CFO not only benefits the business owner by reducing stress but also makes the business more profitable and efficient

• Andrea's brand aims to create a comfortable and safe space for business owners unsure about financial matters
• How a lot of her clients made her clients feel bad about their past moves; and her brand uses the approach of understanding that it's okay, we just move on from here
• Their logos, company values, colors and marketing they share the same message
• They want businesses to feel comfortable working with them; and the approach of not making people feel bad about their situation
• They are exploring areas such as benefits, insurance, and staffing to serve their clients in different capacities
• How there's currently a shortage of accountants drives the need for strategic partnerships to attract quality accountants
• Their primary focus is on providing excellent customer service and continuously improving their offerings
• Timing is crucial in business, and some factors can be controlled while others cannot
• COVID made it difficult to find good team members, emphasizing the need for strategic hiring and planning
• A staff utilization schedule helps determine revenue generation based on the existing team
• Budgeting should consider the time period before new hires can generate revenue and align with sales activity
• Andrea's company aims to serve their clients as it grows and evolves, exploring various avenues such as partnerships and joint ventures
• How you can connect with Andrea on her website and you can also check out her YouTube channel

Links mentioned: The Cashflow CEO Website

Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn

Andrea's YouTube Channel

Andrea's FB Page

Connect with Andrea on Instagram

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Keyaira Miller, Lead Business Partner at Target, brings a broad set of Retail experiences and expertise spanning over 16 years within the areas of Buying, Sourcing, Product Development and Brand Management. Keyaira is a Lead Business Partner on the Merchandising Vendor Development Team at Target Headquarters. In her current role, she is responsible for sourcing, connecting, growing and amplifying emerging diverse and/or women owned brands to support Target's merchandising strategies and drive inclusive assortment for Target's diverse guests. Her notable and most recent work includes helping curate Target's Black History Month Assortments, Tabitha Brown's Limited Time Apparel and Food launches and Target's Activation booths and programming at Essence Fest in New Orleans. Keyaira has a passion for retaining and growing brands, allowing them to reach their fullest potential by empowering them with the right foundational tools, partners and resources in hopes that it creates a space to fuel generational wealth and drive economic vitality and equity. Prior to Target, Keyaira was at Amazon Fashion, leading the Women's Product Development team within Private Brands. Much of what Keyaira loves is involved with collaboration and connection. Assembling a team with gifts different than mine, who shine in ways I don't have, has been both inspiring and crucial to my success. Keyaira is a 2002 Graduate of West High school in Waterloo, IA and has degrees from The University of Northern Iowa and The Academy of Arts University. Keyaira currently resides in Waterloo with her loving husband and 10-year-old old son.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How I met Keyaira when she was speaking at a panel at The Black and Brown Summit, a local event I attended in earlier this year, and I wondered how a girl from Iowa got to work with brands at Target

• Keyaira shares that at an early age she was always was interested in fashion, and was fascinated by how fashion worked

• She knew that the University of UNI had a great fashion and textiles program and the program showed her the familiarity she needed to know to get the opportunities she wanted

• Initially, she was interested in the buying part of fashion and she got her first opportunities by networking and cold calling, as this was before the opportunity

• By building up her network, working in retail in high school, she got her first opportunity in the field at Target in Minneapolis

• Melissa and Keyaira shared the same experience of not having an awareness of big fashion brands like Louis Vuitton or Manolo Blahnik growing up in Iowa until we saw Sex and the City

• Keyaira used her experience working at Victoria's Secret when she was younger and worked as an intern for Von Maur

• How she got laid off from Target after a few months during the recession, but they called her back shortly after

• Why it's important for Keyaira to equip the brand she works with to be successful at any retailer that they chose, showing them how to know themselves, know their wealth and know the shelf

• Know yourself: do you know yourself and do you have the capacity + capability to really scale in retail?

• Being "retail ready" means you must be ready to get a retailer a shipment of 20,000 units in less than 2 weeks when they're ready to give you a PO, your answer should be yes

• Know your wealth: You really have to be truthful and honest with yourself that you're in the right place to be in retail, as it could put you out of business if you're not ready

• Know the shelf: you must understand your competition and understand the retailer where you want to be. Where do you want your product to be placed? Go there and take a picture to see if it fits there.

• Melissa shared how she learned through her own desire to start a mascara line, but she decided to put that on hold

• Keyaira shares that she currently works within food and beverage, but may crossover in apparel, beauty and more

• Why Melissa is excited to learn more about what Keyaira does because it helps her and her audience learn how the retail sourcing process works

• How Keyaira's team works with retail-ready brands, and learns more about them, like what their costs are, what retailers they're already in, and making sure that they're aligning brands that match the merchant strategies

• Each merchant or buyer has a strategy they want to follow, for example, bringing in more diverse brands for rice and beans

• Keyaira shares how she finds out about up and coming brands events, online and has a collaborative conversation with her merchant and buyer, who have the final say on who makes the final decision

• If they're interested in a brand, then Keyaira helps them get ready for a line review, and making a great impression and staying in touch with your buyer to continue the conversation

• Why Keyaira recommends brands have patience in the retail process; buyers change hands all the time, timing is everything and next year it could fit right into the new strategy

• How over the years of talking to vendors and understanding why it's so important to know yourself before you start a business, even though in this day and age anyone can start a business

• Keyaira shares an example of a luxury brand who was already on the shelf at Saks, and how they were adamant about being on the shelf at Target, but it wasn't really a fit for the brand

• Why having the awareness that as your business scales, your team must scale as well, or knowing when you need to bring in a distributor, and being able to re-evaluate your business on a consistent basis

• Keyaira shares an example of a how they did a small activation with Coca-Cola and to amplify black-owned brands like Ghetto Gastro with food demos, and created a moment with guests to have a connection and wanted to have a Coke

• The goal now is to drive guest discoverability with classic, iconic brands to drive awareness to brands like Ghetto Gastro

• How Target works with organizations like WBENC, and why those partnerships are crucial to the success because it's another layer that helps creates success and inclusivity

• Melissa shares that her experience at Dress for Success Worldwide opened her eyes to different brand activations and partnerships that were out there and happening in the real world

• How a lot of what Keyaira does is organic and fluid; but how her role and the area of business and the human centric approach matters, and why that's missing from a lot of brands

• Why Keyaira loves meeting new brands and learning more about them

• How inclusive design has been around for a long time, but now it's getting recognition it deserves

• Why there's power in leaning into inclusive design, and why it's a huge misconception, for example, that all black-owned brands are only designed for black people

• A lot of times, the brand is only serving products for everyone

• Why Keyaira recommends that brands celebrate heritage, and how data shows that buyers wanna support brands that have that messaging that celebrate heritage

• Why brands are now putting the logos of the causes they support and the certifications you have on your packaging

• Buyers are looking to bring cultures together; and how Target is seeing data that backs it up

• Why it's important for brand to have inclusive brands, inclusive products and as it relates to design and branding, it's not going away

• Why more retailers are going to lean into it more, and why brands should lean to it, be authentic to it, showcase it and not hide it

• Sometimes when brands get ready to be inside of a retailer, they want to change their mission statement but there's beauty in who you are, and stay authentic to your brand and yourself

• How you can connect with Keyaira on Instagram or send her a message at [email protected]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Keyaira on Instagram Learn more about Keyaira's role at Target

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Steph Tuss is the CEO of multimillion-dollar global consulting company Life Is Now, Inc., and frequent stand-in cohost of Business Daily News' top-ranked podcast - The Successful Mind.

Steph discovered her love for teaching at a young age, beginning her career as an educator. It was during this time that her firstborn child was facing health difficulties, and she decided to completely overhaul their diets to figure out the root cause. She went back to school to pursue a Master's Degree in Holistic Nutrition and went on to open a practice to help families who faced similar challenges.

Fast forward a few years, Steph hired David Neagle and his team at Life Is Now, Inc., as her health practice's business coach. As she continued to scale her business, her love for entrepreneurship and growing businesses shined through. She sold her business at the age of 33 and joined Life Is Now, Inc. as the Director of Sales in 2009 before taking on the CEO role less than a decade later in 2016.

In her six years at the helm of the company, Steph has become the primary driver behind all of Life Is Now's marketing, business development and brilliant team culture. As a recent empty-nester, she lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband and cattle dog, Jack. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling the country in her Airstream.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• As a child, Steph was always told to quit being bossy, which caused her to fly under the radar in grade school, but when she went to college, she became a teacher because it was an acceptable way to be a leader

• In 2001, Steph had her first child, who had a lot of health issues - after extensive research, Steph discovered she was suffering from food sensitivities and wanted to teach and share what she discovered with other people

• Steph went back to school and got her master's degree in holistic nutrition, and began to build her business which grew very quickly

• The business started to plateau, so Steph hired David as a business coach, who is now her business partner - though his coaching Steph fell more in love with business building and mindset work than with nutrition

• After 3 years, Steph sold her business to work with David at Life is Now, where she started in sales and is now the CEO

• Steph talks about what led her to seek out a business coach to help her see what she needed to change to grow her business

• How Steph said yes to every opportunity within Life is Now so she could learn all parts of the business and become a part of the leadership

• After the current CEO left, Steph took on the responsibilities of the CEO without her role changing - one day, she walked into David's office and told him he needed to make her the CEO, and he did

• Now, Steph isn't just the CEO; she is also a partner in Life is Now

• One of the first big changes Steph made as CEO was establishing psychological safety because of the previous CEO, people were scared to share their opinions

• As a CEO, you have to model what you want to see other people do; that means being transparent about what you're learning, telling them when you don't feel confident, sharing when you make mistakes, and celebrating the good

• Steph would host workshops on how to give to receive feedback to get people comfortable with conflict because businesses are here to solve problems, and you need people to share their ideas to come up with solutions

• If you want to know more about psychological safety, which is the most important when it comes to developing culture, Steph recommends the book, The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson

• Next, Steph shares that they established a clear vision by taking the team through a vision process that's outlined in Cameron Herold's book, Vivid Vision

• When you follow this vision process, Steph says you'll usually hit your vision goals within one or two years because it creates focus synergy for your team

• Big lessons Steph has learned are that mistakes are required and to not take results personally

• By creating a visionary leadership assessment, Steph was able to see that there are 4 different types of leaders: Catalyst, Charismatic, Limitless, and Legacy Leaders

• Go to lifeisnowinc.com, and you can find their visionary leadership assessment

• Steph talks about the rebrand they recently went through that switched the company from being about a person to being about their ideal client

• How a lot of business owners get stuck doing tasks that shouldn't be on their plate because they aren't good at delegating

• Check out the Life is Now Website and connect with Steph on Instagram for lots of free industry and business resources

Links mentioned:

Life Is Now Inc. Website

The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson

Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold

Visionary Leadership Assessment

Connect with Steph on Instagram

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Olivia Dreizen Howell is the co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, the first and only platform for everything you need to begin again, including divorce or breakup, moving, career changes, stepping into your truth, or starting again after grief. Her background is in social media marketing, and she is also the founder and CEO of March Lion Media. She's a single mom of two amazing boys on Long Island (born and bred!), and in her spare time, she loves to watercolor, make handmade cards, read about generational trauma, listen to 90s music, and collect crystals I know nothing about, but love the way they feel.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How I came across Olivia on Twitter when she was doing a challenge involving reaching out to people in business that you normally wouldn't shoot your shot with

• Olivia says that everything she's done in life, she hasn't had a background in - if you want to do something, go for it

• The story of how Olivia got into teaching and then left after 8 years to run local businesses' Facebook pages which grew into a global agency that her sister eventually joined

• Olivia's marriage ended in 2019, and after her husband moved out of their house, she wondered why there wasn't a registry for divorce, breakups, job loss, moving - any of the hard moments in life

• How Olivia and her sister created Fresh Starts Registry, which is the first and only platform for everything you need to start again

• Olivia explains how to use the registry builder on their site and shares that they have over 60 experts in all different categories to use as resources

• When you become an expert, you get all these amazing resources and benefits like workshops, seminars, and public relations

• Usually, Olivia charges $100 - $200 an hour to work with them one-on-one, but when you're an expert, you pay $37 a month and can come in to get help as many times as you want

• How Olivia got 5 clients before she had a website when she was starting, all because she talked to people

• If you're starting a business; you need to be able to vocalize what you do, be confident, and network within your industry

• The reason why Olivia didn't want to niche down to just divorces was in order to celebrate all brave life decisions

• It was important when Olivia and her sister started building Fresh Starts that it was a safe place for people on the internet, which is why they don't collect user data of the people going through life changes

• One challenge they had at the start was keeping experts, but once they started supporting them, giving them resources, and teaching them all the marketing tools they knew to help them grow their businesses, the experts were multiplying

• Olivia explains that Fresh Starts is in start-up mode and that revenue comes from the expert memberships

• How female founders make up 40% of founders but get less than 2% of the capital deployed by venture capitalists a year - Olivia shares this because it can be a very sexist world to be in, and there needs to be a change

• Fresh Starts is very picky about who they work with because they aren't in it for the money; they're in it to change the narrative around brave life changes

• One thing Olivia realized early on in life is that she has a passion for connecting people with jobs and connecting people with people, which is why she has her personal brand, Digital Yenta, and one thing she does is update a job board (Yenta List) each day with jobs in the marketing world

• This year Fresh Starts wants to add vendors like copywriters, designers, SEO specialists, etc., to come into the community as well

• Olivia shares how it is working with her sister when they have different personalities but says it makes for a beautiful partnership where they can grow together

• Connect with Olivia on Twitter, Instagram and check out Fresh Starts Registry

Links mentioned:

Fresh Starts Registry

March Lion Media

Yenta List

Fresh Starts Registry on Instagram

Fresh Starts Registry on Facebook

Fresh Starts Registry on Twitter

Fresh Starts on LinkedIn

Connect with Olivia on Twitter

Connect with Olivia on Instagram

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Daniel Adoff is the Principal and Chief Strategist at Dyno Creative. He is a creative problem solver focused on building and evolving brands. He leads teams on a broad range of projects that include illustration, web design, and brand development. Some of his clients include Netflix, Discovery+, Sambazon, Taco Bell, and Hyperice. As a lifelong learner, Daniel is passionate about mentoring emerging talent in the practice of design and illustration. In his personal life, Daniel is a coach of Muay Thai Kickboxing. He holds a BFA in Illustration from LCAD and teaches courses within the Graphic Design and Illustration departments, including Professional Practices and Adobe Illustrator. Daniel is an active member of AIGA.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Daniel shares a childhood story of how his friend showed him that experimenting is what art is all about, which made him rethink his creative process

• How Daniel's father owned a screen printing shop where he learned how to make t-shirts at a young age

• Daniel graduated from college with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration, but as he started working, he got more graphic design work

• In 2008, during the economic crash, Daniel had all his clients disappear, but at the time coached water polo and decided to make it the best-looking team as a case study

• The first extensive branding project Daniel did was for his water polo team, which helped them expand from 10 to 175 athletes

• The story of how Daniel helped one of his past water polo athletes build his brand from the ground up

• Helping people is part of Daniel's core values, and he says that Dyno Creative shares that - they're here to solve problems, build partnerships and help people grow into their greatest self

• Daniel likes to start building relationships by asking people how he can help them; In the business, that equates to asking someone what their biggest pain point is

• Instead of trying to sell yourself and your services, Daniel says it's more valuable to ask people what they are struggling with and what's challenging them

• If you make friends, Daniel says, then there is bound to be someone who wants to help and support you in the same way you want to help and support them

• Why it's important to get connected with people who are outside of your circle and industry to find out how they got where they are

• As creatives, we struggle to apply our skills to ourselves

• Daniel and I both talk about what we want to achieve in our businesses moving forward

• Daniel and his team created a bunch of mock projects that they have on their website to show off the type of work they want to be doing

• At Dyno Creative, they do a lot of cold outreach, and Daniel shares how it works for them

• Daniel explains it's important that if they aren't the expert in what a client is asking for, they connect them with someone they know who is an expert

• How Daniel and his team can send 1,000 cold emails each month through PersistIQ that helps with generating an email list of people who might need their services

• Social media is like a billboard; Daniel asks how many times you have driven past a billboard and called the number on it - it's great for awareness, which is how Daniel uses it, but he likes other strategies like email and building genuine relationships best

• In emails, Daniel likes to include results they've had for other clients and a clear CTA (call to action) so people can see how they could help them solve their problems too

• Daniel shares the details of working on the artwork for the Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive film

• On streaming platforms, you might notice different key art pieces for different shows because they are testing which ones get the most clicks - this is how Daniel's illustration ended up being used for Tracy Morgan: Staying Alive

• No matter what you're trying to improve in your business, it won't work unless you have a clear core message - the easiest way to find this, Daniel says, is to take away your product and see what your brand would be

• Check out the Dyno Creative website and connect with them on Instagram, Dribble, or Pinterest

Links mentioned:

Dyno Creative Website

Dyno Creative on Instagram

Dyno Creative on Dribble

Dyno Creative on Pinterest

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Anastasia Lipske knows what it takes to book speakers and podcast guests. As the founder of Access Speakers, a full-service speaker, and podcast booking agency, she has booked more than 1,500 engagements for her clients.

Anastasia speaks the language of speaker chairs, event planners, and podcast hosts who seek great speakers and podcast guests for their meetings and shows. Additionally, her unique skills help business owners brand themselves as speakers, spread their message, and attract clients.

As a co-author of the book, Business Success with Ease, Anastasia emphasizes how to use speaker branding to generate influence, awareness, and clients! Her readers learn strategies of public speaking and podcast guesting as effective marketing tools.

Anastasia motivates audiences with her energetic personality and passion for the speaking and podcast guesting industry. She inspires business owners to use one of the most powerful tools in existence...the voice!

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Anastasia's speaker agency, Access Speakers, focuses on platform and marketing speakers - people who speak for free to grow their business

• Before getting into the speaker world, Anastasia worked in luxury tourism, which involved event planning, PR marketing, and sales that gave her a lot of the tools she needed when deciding to become a speaker agent

• In 2008, when the economy took a turn, tourism was down, and Anastasia dabbled in social media, which led her to get connected with a sustainable farmer whose business coach said she should be speaking to grow her business and asked Anastasia to help

• Anastasia shares the different speaking engagements she booked for the sustainable farmer that helped her get clients - speaking became her number one marketing tool

• In 2020, everything Anastasia had booked for clients went away due to covid-19, which is when she decided to pivot and dive into podcast bookings for her speakers

• Anastasia explains how traditional speaker agents will usually not represent a speaker who is not commanding fees of at least 5k per talk

• The difference for Anastasia is her people aren't speaking because they want to get paid; they're using it as a marketing tool to grow their business

• What's nice about podcasting is its digital footprint, which is much deeper and evergreen

• When starting podcasting, Anastasia says it's important to have clarity of who you want to get in front of - find out what podcasts they're listening to, and put it out there to everyone that you are looking to be a guest

• Anastasia explains why it's important to review the podcast before you propose to be on the show

• Every single proposal is handled individually at Anastasia's agency so they can be certain that they are offering the host something of value that is aligned with them and their show

• Anastasia walks us through the process of booking a podcast at her agency

• When it comes to finding podcasts, the agency has a book of past podcasts they've worked with; some clients have their own list of podcasts, and they use Listen Notes as a podcast directory

• If you are looking for a different representation than what Anastasia offers, she suggests checking out Tom Schwab and Interview Valet

• Apple is not putting weight into ratings and reviews as it used to because there are so many bots leaving fake ratings and reviews

• Anastasia explains how Listen Notes works and says if you are just starting, you want to stick to shows that have a 5-10% rating in their industry because that's where you will have the most likelihood of success

• When you start getting on more and more podcasts, people will recognize your name, and it will give you more credibility

• It's important to think about how you can add value for the host of the podcast - one thing you can do is be visible and share the episode in multiple ways

• One thing Anastasia suggests all podcast guests do is to have one place for people to go to connect with you

• Visit accessspeakers.biz/thankyou to connect with Anastasia, register for her ebook, and get a 15-20 min consultation

Links mentioned:

Access Speakers Website

Listen Notes

Interview Valet

Connect with Anastasia

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Renee Hughes serves the clinical aromatherapy community. She partners with them to advance in their businesses. She does this by helping them to create authentic captivating messages, and speaking skills. Renee herself is a Certified Professional Aromatherapist and a Natural Health Consultant. She understands the clinical and emotional factors involved in being a clinical holistic practitioner.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Renee started in marketing and VA support but always craved the holistic world and shares she wanted to be a clinical practitioner but thought she was too old to go back to school

• How Renee ended up going back to school to get her certification to be a natural health consultant and went on to specialize in aromatherapy and psycho aromatherapy

• After going back to school, Renee created a program where she helps other practitioners boost their mood - this has molded into the speaker training they do now

• Renee's health problems from a young age contributed to her curiosity about holistic health, and she shares that a mentor of hers taught her a lot, and once she started making small changes, it completely shifted her health

• How Renee tested her program on women with chronic illness and used aromatherapy to reduce pain and inflammation, which went well, but she discovered the emotional piece was so much more impactful, which is why she got into psycho aromatherapy

• While running her practice, Renee realized there were a lot of creatives in her world who wanted to do what she was doing, so she decided she wanted to have a business that trains people like her to be successful at it

• Deciding to focus on messaging is what sets Renee apart from others because people can connect with their audience through what they say and how they say it

• Incorporating psycho aromatherapy was an easy decision because so much of being successful in the creative and holistic space involves getting rid of fears, being confident, learning your zone of genius, and getting comfortable in it

Creating Strong Relationships + Getting Clear on Messaging

• What has worked for Renee when it comes to getting clients has been learning to create real connections with the audience she has

• Everyone needs a clear, powerful message as to what they do, why they do it, and how they do it - Renee says one way you'll know if you have great messaging is based on how many referrals you get because people know exactly what you do and will refer you

• If your clients are constantly asking you for things you don't offer, that's a good indicator that your messaging is not clear

• When you're pivoting your business, you want to make sure you're clear and honest with your audience and make sure there is a need for it

• If Renee is thinking about changing or adding something to her business, she likes to ask her audience what they think because it's powerful to bring them into the creative process

• I talk about the new Be Nice to My Brand workshops I'm doing to help people discover if they're nice to their brand, if they are nice in the way they talk to themselves as the founder, if their team is on board with the brand, and vision, are how you're creating ways to get people excited about your brand

• People don't crave working with you until you have hit their emotions, connected with them in some way, and understood the transformation you can provide

• Renee says there are a lot of different systems that can work for your business, but none of it works if your messaging isn't clear or if you're talking to the wrong people

• The approach Renee likes to use when creating relationships is similar to one that you would use to create a genuine friendship

• Don't be afraid to get to know yourself, find what you're looking for, and continue to ask yourself if you are clear on what you do

• When I was doing sales page design, I would also help with people's brands but only charge for the sales page design, so now I want to help people build their brand from start to finish

• How I'm giving myself a couple of years to be a consultant so I can get into the space I want, which is the beauty industry

• Renee invites everyone to come to their next event, Bold and Booked, where you'll learn about their company and what they do, plus there will be a live training on speaking

Links mentioned:

The Aroma Specialist Website

Bold and Booked

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Susan Hamilton Meier is a branding expert and career coach who helps women find the through-line of their work history, write a focused, memorable elevator pitch, and design a vision and action plan for the next phase of their journey.

An alum of Harvard Business School, the Boston Consulting Group, and 20 years as a Fortune 500 brand strategist, Susan is now on a mission to empower other women to own their stories and unlock their promise.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• In college, Susan was an art major but shared the story of how she took a leap of faith to join a management consulting firm

• Susan left management consulting to run a nonprofit theater for a couple of years, then went back to business school and worked for Boston Consulting Group when she discovered branding, which she found fascinating

• 12 years ago, Susan started her own company, and about 3 years ago, she started coaching to help people share their brand's story

• When Susan was working for different agencies, she typically worked in strategy roles, which she liked but missed the visual communication component

• Strategy is really about vision - being able to close your eyes and envision where you are today, look at yourself honestly, and think about where you would like to be

• We talk about how important it is to integrate strategy and design, which is one of the reasons Susan wanted to start her own company

• In Susan's coaching work, she has a wide variety of clients because her coaching is focused on personal brands

• On the corporate side of Susan's business, she went from working with consumer goods to healthcare technology

• The zig-zag path Susan describes is the ever-winding road life leads you down and how more people in the working world are discovering that you can have multiple interests instead of sticking to one specialization and moving in a straight line

• The benefit of the zig-zag path is that you meet more people, you have more ideas, and you encounter more things, which will make you more innovative

• When it comes to making better decisions for what you want to do in the future, Susan's process starts with self-reflection about who you are and what your values are, then they dive into who your audience is, next you write your story, and then you can decide what's next

• Susan likes to ask her clients what they got out of working with her, and a lot of them say confidence, which you need to make decisions and get rid of your fears

• Deciding what goes into your story when you've done a lot of different things is based on a little science and a little art - Susan shares that she has a template people start with and how they then ask different questions to dive deeper and get their story

• You don't want to tell your whole story in your elevator pitch, but you want to share just enough and hint at what makes you interesting and unique so people ask you questions - Susan says it's also important to be super clear with what you're doing and asking for

• There is scientific research that shows that humans take in information first through their eyes

• Susan built the tools of her course to be very visual to help people use that side of their brain and says that it has been fun to watch people discover things about themselves through visuals

• If people are ready to dive deeper into designing their website or other deliverables, Susan helps them with a style guide

• You can work with Susan one on one or in a group, but the 5-week course is where everyone starts

• Susan says that she became a Fortune 500 brand strategist by working at big consulting companies and building her network

• Check out Susan's website to learn more and get some free resources and connect with her on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Susan Meier Studio Website

Susan's Free Resources

Connect with Susan on Instagram

Connect with Susan on LinkedIn

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Abagail and Emylee are the business fairy godmothers behind Boss Project and the hosts of the chart-topping podcast, The Strategy Hour. They're internet-famous for their program, Trello for Business, which breaks down boring and complicated systems into bite-size chunks. They have helped over 10k creative small business owners create simplicity and ease in reaching their goals. After getting their start in 2015 serving clients in the marketing and branding space, they now help other service based business owners reignite their offer, create systems for client experience, and get more of their time back inside their program, The Incubator. The team at Boss Project is truly revitalizing the service based industry through strategies that don't require flashy marketing, a huge audience or full-time hours.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Abagail shares that their brand was originally Think Creative Collective and rebranded to Boss Project about 5 years ago

• You can join their Boss Project Facebook Community that has over 30k entrepreneurs - it's a great spot to find jobs and get support

• The Boss Project started in 2015 when Abagail was recently laid off and started her own branding and marketing company - she was able to replace her salary in the first 30 days

• Shortly after starting her business, Abagail met Emylee, her business partner, who at the time was running her own photography business

• How Abagail and Emylee's partnership started as them working on projects together - soon they began marketing themselves as a package and started the Think Creative Collective

• On top of running the agency, Abagail and Emylee were teaching everything they were learning, from how to get clients to sales strategy and more, on their blog

• When it was just the two of them, they leaned more into the education side of their business, but now that they have a team, they can offer a wide variety of services

• Abagail believes the reason they grew was because of the community they offered and says it wouldn't have been possible without the community of women interested in learning and growing together

• One of Abagail's favorite offers is website design because of their unique approach to design, messaging, and strategy to create an SEO-rich website that speaks to prospects for their clients

• Abagail and Emylee have 7 core full-time employees, but several additional contractors come in for specialized areas

• One of the first things Abagail and Emylee do with clients is dig into the numbers because the only way to scale is to truly understand where you are at - they like to see what has served you well so you can do more of it and see if you are pricing yourself correctly

• Abagail shares a client story of a social media strategist who needed to realign her pricing and contracts with clients

• Instead of sending an email that outlined the new pricing for this social media strategist, Abagail, and Emylee coached her on how to have individual conversations with her clients based on her relationship with each client, and it was extremely successful

• In 6 weeks, the social media strategist had 6 new contracts and an additional 60k in revenue, and by continuing to ensure her pricing was in alignment, in 3 months, she doubled her business with fewer clients than when she started with

• So many people put themselves out of business because they are not appropriately getting paid enough for it to be worth all the effort they're putting in

• Abagail says that most people assume trends are marketing because it's what's working at the moment for the loudest people in the room, but marketing, in the most basic sense, is sharing what you do with the world

• What business owners need to be focused on is relationships - marketing is only as good as who you know and how much they know about what you can do for them

• Abagail focuses so much on relationships because she has seen people be one connection away from being booked out for years to come - when you and your client are in alignment, they'll want to recommend you

• When Abagail first started her branding and marketing company, she had a referral partnership with another designer and shared that you would be shocked by what one solid relationship can do for a business

• Reawaken a relationship, even if it's been years between talking is as easy as sending a message and setting up a meeting

• Abagail says that you should go into interactions with an open mind about trying to understand the person and their needs and not be so focused on selling your services because not every interaction is going to produce a sale or client, and that's okay

• In 2016, Abagail was in a car accident that left her with a brain injury, and at the time, she was running her business full-time - luckily, they had some systems in place, but they weren't expecting such a random event as a car accident

• After the car accident, Abagail and Emylee started running their business with the focus that their lives will always be far more important than the work they do at their job

• Abagail shares that it takes time to prioritize your life first, and it takes the proper systems and support behind the scenes to make it work when life throws you curve balls that you aren't sure how to handle

• Having solid boundaries are important, and Abagail shares some of theirs

• Building a business can be isolating, and Boss Project is a safe community for you to get the support you need because it's okay not to know everything as a business owner

• If you want to talk about your business numbers, send Abagail a message, or if you're interested in working with the Boss Project, book a consult to talk with Abagail personally

• Connect with Abagail on Instagram

Links mentioned:

Boss Project Website

The Strategy Hour Podcast

The Incubator Program

Boss Project Facebook Community

Boss Project Consult

Connect with Abagail on Instagram

Boss Project YouTube Channel

Boss Project on Pinterest

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Jaye is a creative professional with a passion for creative design, AI, and driving positive change. When she is not immersed in the world of technology, you can find her outside in the garden, cultivating nourishment from the earth, and spending quality time with her children. She believes in the power of technology to make a difference and is dedicated to using her knowledge of AI, web and graphic design, and Salesforce administration to help businesses and individuals thrive while making technology more accessible to all. She believes in the power of AI to help level the playing field. Jaye actively seeks to serve marginalized, and under-recognized communities by bridging the digital divide and creating equal opportunities for all.

As an experienced public speaker, Jaye shares her insights on the transformative impact of AI and design while advocating for accessibility, inclusivity, and diversity in the tech industry. Jaye is driven by her heart for serving others and making a meaningful difference in the world.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How we are going to talk about AI (artificial intelligence) on today's episode

• Jaye explains how she got a full-ride scholarship playing field hockey while studying broadcast journalism

• After graduating college, Jaye worked for a nonprofit where she did leadership training, graphic design, web design, videography, and more, which helped her develop her toolbox

• When the pandemic hit, Jaye decided to homeschool her kids for a year and a half and then transitioned into tech after they enrolled back in school

• How I started the show almost 5 years ago because I felt that I wasn't good enough in this field, I didn't know the opportunities were available to me, and because I wanted to learn from others

• Jaye shares that she has an agricultural business that will be relaunching sometime that teaches people how to garden and grow their own food and herbal medicine on any budget and in any space

• I know a little about AI, and I understand that AI is becoming a driving force in my field and can be an asset in business

• Jaye says once people find practical uses for AI, their opinion on it usually shifts

• We talk about some of the trends in AI, and Jaye explains how the content from AI is originated

• AI software takes all of the prompts you give it and turns them into a number first, and then it spits out words and images for us

• Jaye says she has been able to recognize the patterns in AI; for example, AI used a lot of passive words in its writing

• Learning to prompt well is the key to getting what you want from AI - Jay starts by giving it a role, then telling it its task by specifying dos and don'ts, and lastly, giving it a format to respond

• Personally, Jaye doesn't believe that AI will take everyone's jobs; some roles may be phased out as it evolves, and companies may believe they can get rid of positions because of it, but she believes they will be at a loss

• In a few years, Jaye thinks companies that still offer a human touch will be the niche market, and that will differentiate them from other companies

• As designers, we are inspired by others all the time, so we should look at AI as a shortcut and not fear it - you want to be the person who understands how to use the technology

• Jaye shares how she had been looking for Salesforce administrative jobs but found generative art at the end of January, which led her to AI

• How Jaye created her own tech consulting company, which merges visual strategy and design with AI

• Jaye's goal is to teach people how to use AI to enhance their lives

• If you want to learn more about AI or how to work with Jaye, visit her website Jayecreates.com

• Connect with Jaye on LinkedIn or Twitter

• Jaye is creating a blog to go along with her website so people can learn more about their AI services

• The Melanated AI Network is for people of color and allies who want to learn about the tech and discuss it in a safe place

• With AI, there is a different trend every week, and Jaye shares her current favorites in the space

• Although AI technology is amazing, Jaye thinks the ethical issues need to be addressed

Links mentioned:

Jaye Creates Website

Connect with Jaye on LinkedIn

Connect with Jaye on Twitter

The Melanated AI Network

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