The Design Business Show

Hey friends! Melissa here. If you're new here or if you've been listening for a while, as always, I'm grateful you're here.

It's been a minute since I've done a solo episode and this time of year a lot of people are taking time off, getting ready for the new year, and may not even know what day it is, so I thought it would be fun to do something different. Speaking of different - I'm curious…. What could we do better / differently with this show? We're in the almost-final stages of our rebrand and I want to know…

Do you want me to interview someone you admire? Talk more about a specific topic? Do more solo shows? Talk more about sales pages? Talk more about my business? I'm open to any and all feedback. You can email it directly to me at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram @Melissaburkheimer. When it comes to business, my dreams and goals look much different today than they did even a year ago. Can you relate?

One thing I've learned after 10 years in business is that my approach to branding is different. I've even said on the show that I didn't think I was good at branding, and I'm going to say for the record, that I was wrong.

I've spent the last 7 years really mastering the art of sales page design, and what that really meant was using design to brand my clients' offers.

Sometimes the design is similar to their business brand. Or we go totally off brand.

I remember the time I designed a sales page for a client who was hosting an event in the same room as the Golden Globe awards. It had a very Kendall Jenner's 2021 Met Gala dress vibe. Silver and sparkly. Elegant. It was really fun to design that page. :)

It's probably why I designed sales pages for so long. It's fun. Different. Most designers I know don't like doing them. Early in the new year I'll be retiring my sales page design offer, and I've been thinking a lot about my own brand and what I want to do next.

I've launched + sold dozens of different offers since I've been in business, and the way I've built my brand goes against normal branding advice.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with normal branding advice. It's just that my approach is different, and I think it works well if you have a freelance business, sell digital offers, and/or are building your own brand online. If you're selling a physical product, I don't think it would work as well.

I like to test my offers first to see if I like them, and then invest the time and money in the sales page + branding for them.

Here's why: Deciding what your offers are going to be BEFORE you've tested them could be a mistake. Because what if you have an idea for something you want to do, and then you do it, and don't like it?

It's soooo important to really love and be excited about your offers and really understand the difference you're making in your industry, BEFORE you build a brand around them.

Ideas for new offers are great. But you won't know if you love them, until you try & test things.

And this is what I'll be doing now that I've decided to retire my sales page design service. Testing new offers in new industries to get new experience. And then decide if I want to keep doing it.

Here's a couple examples of what this looks like:

Example #1:

One of my clients and friends, Edie, is a talented designer. She wanted to update her website with new offers, and had an idea for people to hire her in a new way.

What did she do? She went out and sold her "beta" offer to 5 new clients without a working sales page or fancy funnel within a few weeks.

Again, there's no magic formula here. It was her idea to work with clients in a new way. She told people who expressed interest in working with her about her offer. And then followed through to get the sale.

And guess what? She loves it! And she got paid to test out her new service before adding it to her suite of design offers.

Example #2:

One of my friends is a lawyer who works full-time and is building her business on the side (with 3 small kids at home!). She runs a 6-week branding bootcamp, and wanted to launch a membership.

She wanted to launch a membership, to create a follow up offer for the graduates of her 6-week program.

A membership is great. But it's a long commitment, and when you're limited on time (3 kids, a FT job, and a business!) it may not be the best long-term option.

My recommendation? Instead of launching a membership, offer a 3-month beta accelerator or mastermind for her bootcamp members.

She loved this idea for a ton of reasons. The main one: she can test it out to see if she likes it.

When I started designing sales pages in 2013, my clients didn't have fancy websites or brands. They were following this exact process of testing their offers through launching. And when they refined their offers, that's when they rebranded.

So clearly, it works!

When you don't want to do something anymore, it's okay to quit. Or pause. Or pivot.

Most of this year I spent pressing pause on a lot of things I'd normally do to decide where I want to press play.

While I was pressing pause I spent time doing another thing I love: decluttering.

I find it ridiculously satisfying to clear out + organize a space in my house.

I repeatedly walk by the newly organized space to admire my work. Again and again. Seriously so satisfying. I know. I'm weird.

My digital space, um, well, still needs a lot of work.

So far, I've deleted 3000+ emails, 3500 photos, and a bazillion files off my old computer. And I'm not done yet.

In a closet, decluttering creates space for a new summer dress or new pair of boots.

In a business, decluttering creates space for new design + launch strategy offers for new clients. <---- A peak at what I'm working on for the new and improved version of Melissa Burkheimer Studio. :)

Typically in this part of a podcast the we've been taught is to give you a 3-step process to test + brand your new offer. Or a how-to guide for decluttering your business.

Decluttering might help you. Or it might not.

I will share this: Decluttering is one of my favorite business strategies because it MAKES me to create space and energy for the things I want. I know for me, if I don't declutter, I probably won't get the guts to go after my bigger dreams.

I apply this strategy to my business, my closet, and even in my designs. Seriously. How annoying is it to navigate a website that's messy and cluttered?

The Melissa Burkheimer Studio as you know it (if you've been here a while!) is getting a major re-invention. I'll be sharing more soon, of course, after I test my new ideas.

If you have questions - you can totally ask them. Just DM me on Instagram.

For today - I don't have a business or design tip. Just sharing my branding advice that goes against the norm. And confessing about my obsession with decluttering.

Thanks for reading / listening!

Links mentioned:

Sales Page Superstar

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Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

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Craig Cannings is the co-founder of Freelance University with his wife, Kelly. Craig has had the privilege of helping over 20,000 students in 75 countries realize their dreams of launching a portable, freelance business (and lifestyle). He has enjoyed the great freedom of working from home and traveling abroad while raising 5 wonderful daughters.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Craig's background is in psychology and he was a counselor for a few years before making a pivot and joining his brother in-law who started a software company in 2003
• In 24 months the business onboarded 40 people - Craig shares that his job was to train every new freelancer and person working with their remote software company
• How craig realized his talent and enjoyment for training/teaching people which led him and his wife, Kelly to launch Freelance University in 2008
• Freelance University was launched to train freelancers in multiple different skill areas so they could start their own portable, flexible business
• The story of how Craig and Kelly were able to onboard their first 7 students into their course by running a small Google Ad and hosting a free teleseminar
• When they first launched Freelance University, they had 1 course, now they offer 80 courses and have multiple tracks and instructors
• Craig explains how slow the onboarding process was back in 2003 while working remotely
• When Craig was freelancing his niche was called web based marketing (now digital marketing) and was doing affiliate marketing, paid advertising, SEO and business development
• As Craig moved into the University, he got more involved and was freelancing in course design and curation for clients in addition to creating his own
• Craig says, because there are so many different opportunities in freelancing, where you start is not necessarily going to be where you end up

• Running a business from home while raising kids and homeschooling them requires a lot of thought and strategy, Craig says but explains that he and Kelly were very disciplined with the free time they had and built effective systems over time
• At the University, they do a lot of the business startup training such as setting up your virtual office, figuring out what your website will look like, your niche, what service you'll offer, etc.
• Once people finish up the startup training at the University, they go into 1 of their 8 core tracks like, social media management, digital marketing, copywriting, web design, etc. where the University then gives them the technical skills they need to provide these services
• Once someone has been certified, the next step is joining the job directory at the University to get plugged in with potential clients
• On their website, you can find people by searching for what service you need, for example if you need someone to help you with social media management, or you can send a job posting to the board
• When the University first started, they were offering a la carte courses but about 5 years ago they made the decision to put everything under one hood and turn it into an education based membership, where people can buy annually or monthly and get access to all 80 courses, all 8 tracks, mentorship, the job board and community
• How Freelance University created, Eight Ways to Thrive While Working at Home as a Freelancer because they saw an increase of remote working after the Covid-19 pandemic - Craig says working from home is skill that can be learned if you want to make it work

• Freelancing can make it seem like you're free from a boss, dress codes, and a work commute but Craig says you still need to have some form of structure
• Craig explains the importance of building a work schedule to keep yourself on track, having rituals in your day so your work and personal lives don't become too mixed, and guarding your technology so you're not constantly on it during your personal time
• One important tool Craig suggests using when working remotely is a PM app (Project Management App) he shares different PM apps like, Trello, Asana, and ClickUp and says they are great for laying out your schedule
• If you're in the freelance space, Craig highly encourages you to get a client management app to create a seamless onboarding process and touches on all the built-in tools they offer for your convenience
• You might also want to consider using a time management app to help you track your time, or a password management tool that allow you to never forget a password

• When picking a niche, Craig says to look at what's going on in the marketplace because you never want to train in an area that no one is hiring in
• Some popular niches in freelancing are currently, digital marketing, social media management, ad management, copywriting, virtual and digital media space management, virtual assistants, or any technical skill like graphic design.
• On the Freelance University website they have a free guide, Discover 21 In-Demand Freelance Services to Offer in 2021 to help you find a niche that might be a good fit for you
• Craig explains that it's important to understand that you're not going to build a thriving, full-time business overnight, you will probably have a full-time or part-time job while you're side hustling, then through babysteps your side hustle will eventually become your full-time business
• When things aren't working out in your business, like not hitting your expenses for example, Craig says it's important to evaluate your business and see if you can reduce your expenses temporarily or see if there's a free app you can use instead of the paid app you might be subscribing to
• Craig shares that it's important to block off time for marketing each week, whether that's reaching out to potential clients or networking because it's going to make you more visible which will lead to more potential clients
• At Freelance University, they have an area called The Client Training Center which includes 9 courses that teach students how to network, make digital cold calls, set up a client-friendly website, etc.
• If you are someone who is interested in working for yourself, Craig encourages you to pursue freelancing because the industry is blowing up - don't miss the opportunity
• Go to the Freelance University website to learn more and check out the FreeU Blog or Freelance Podclass

Links mentioned

Freelance University

Eight Ways to Thrive While Working at Home as a Freelancer

Discover 21 In-Demand Freelance Services to Offer in 2021

FreeU Blog

Freelance Podclass

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Amisha Shrimanker is a conversion copywriter and founder of The Copy Crew - a boutique copywriting agency. She specializes in writing launch copy for digital course creators, coaches, experts, and membership site launchers.

Amisha is also known as the person who *gives a damn* about her clients' digital launches. Sometimes even more than they do.

She's the creator of The ROI Sales Page, The CEO Essential Email Scripts and soon to be launched The Audit Superstar.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How Amisha was introduced to my work at The Copywriter Underground where I did a guest training on design and how we met again at group coaching program and how we've been able to stay connected through the online space
• Amisha shares that she was copywriting well before she ever called herself a copywriter and in 2018 decided to start her copywriting business which has been full of many experiences over the last 3 years
• Through a Facebook group, Amisha was able to get her first client who needed a lead generation funnel - Amisha shares that it was a 5k project
• Before starting her copywriting business, Amisha was working on building passive income through digital products and shares that it was not going well
• Amisha heard a business coach say, the best way to make money if you want to get started in the online space is to offer a service because once you get really good at offering that service it's easier to transition into coaching
• After hearing that great piece of advice, Amisha decided to start offering copywriting as a service and would then think about coaching/mentoring as a next step in her career

• How Amisha took time to think about what else she could do to create assets in her business and says she launched her digital shop this year
• Amisha released The CEO Essential Email Scripts, which are 50 email scripts that help service providers frame their ask and help them with communication in different scenarios
• Another offer Amisha has in business is her sales page copywriting mini course called, The ROI Sales Page, which is her take on how to write sales copy
• Amisha is excited to share that she launched a group coaching offer, a 4-week bootcamp called, The Audit Superstar that teaches copywriters and digital marketers how to perform sales page audits
• Amisha explains how taxing launches can be and says she realized the need for a better work-life balance so she looked at her services and thought about what she could teach to her clients that she was currently offering as a service - the first thing she thought of was teaching other copywriters how to perform sales page audits
• Amisha's take on VIP days and how audits are different
• The pivot in Amisha's business wasn't really a big one she explains, it was more about thinking through what she had already been doing as a service provider and how she could teach that to other people and create other assets out of existing services
• When most people hear about copywriters they think that they get paid to write and Amisha's bold take on it is that she gets paid to think first, then she gets paid to write

• Amisha explains that your professional emails don't need to be boring and dry - you should be adding your values and personality because that's what will make you memorable, she gives us an example of this by reading the first 3 sentences of one of her emails
• With the power of technology and social media, your customers will look you up and they want to see that you carry the same personality across each platform, whether that's on Instagram or through your emails
• Amisha's favorite emails to write are to her email list - she has 2 types of emails that go out to them, of course the normal tips + case studies and then she also has a series called, My Copy Couch, which goes out 1-2 times a month and is a behind the scenes look at her business
• A look into Amisha's boutique agency and her team which includes, Amisha as the chief strategist and writer, another copywriter who conducts all the market research, a professional copy editor and a tech VA who helps with funnel design and the tech setup
• How Amisha isn't ready to hire a junior copywriter yet because she's not ready to give up that role in her business but has started identifying the parts of copy she might want to outsource when she's ready
• Amisha shares that she wants to explore the coaching side of the business more
• Check out Amisha's website to learn more about her and her business

Links mentioned:

The Copy Crew Website

The ROI Sales Page

The CEO Essential Email Scripts

The Audit Superstar

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Nora Zimerman is a Designer and Creative Director offering Soul Branding and Website Design.

She creates branded website experiences that capture the true essence of a business whilst honouring their Soul's Mission. She has a talent for fully reflecting the Soul of a business onto the online space.

Her clients are Teachers, Leadership coaches, Multidimensional Healers, Lightworkers and organisations delivering and supporting deep transformation and consciousness for the benefit of all.

Her unique Soul Brand Alignment Method supports clients in birthing a truly aligned branded look and feel for their websites.

Her extensive experience in corporations and Design agencies combined with her spiritual path and embodied feminine practices provides a potent combination of Design, Strategy and Spirituality to the Branding and Website process.

She is an avid swimmer, loves singing, dancing and walking in the Surrey hills. She is also a Women's Temple facilitator and from time to time creates awesome party playlists. She is originally from Argentina and has lived in the UK for over 30 years. She lives in Surrey, UK and is a mum to two adult children.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How Nora and I were introduced by Lacy Boggs who was on Episode 92 of The Design Business Show
• From a young age Nora knew she wanted to be a graphic designer, but there was no graphic design degree in Argentina so she settled for architecture because it was the closest thing and she had grown up around that field because her father was an architect
• Nora completed three years of architecture school and then began to look for other opportunities and says she did some advertising work
• One summer Nora's mom told her they were planning to offer a graphic design degree at The University of Buenos Aires and suggested Nora to come back to pursue it, and she did
• Nora talks about being part of the new graphic design program at the university and what her experience was like
• One day Nora caught a ride with 2 other men on campus and they decided to create their own studio together
• Their studio was called The Reform, and Nora shares that they did a lot of well-known work for different brands and touches on the government changes Argentina was going through at the time which opened up many opportunities for them
• Nora shares that the dad of one of her partners acted as their account manager and would bringing clients to them; through word of mouth people heard about their studio and started commissioning them to do work
• At the studio, Nora was a designer and says they were doing point of sale, packaging, logo design, really anything they could really since they were just starting out
• Nora shares that she had a job designing a rock and roll magazine and talks about how fun it was seeing all the musicians come for photoshoots and watching them play live
• The studio came to an end when Nora and her partners were finishing up university
• While traveling, Nora met her ex-husband who was british and ended up coming to the UK knowing very little english
• To learn english, Nora enrolled in a master's degree at Chelsea College of Arts because she thought it would be more beneficial to learn and talk to people about what she loves versus taking english lessons at night
• Nora applied for an in-house design studio job at Procter & Gamble in the UK and worked for them nearly 15 years
• One benefit to working at Procter & Gamble Nora says is that she was able to see all the marketing being done for big brands and saw how they were operating instead of just being isolated to design
• Nora tells us what kind of work she did at Procter & Gamble and shares that she would write guidelines for use for many different brands which she loved doing
• Towards the end of her time at Procter & Gamble, Nora felt misaligned with the products they were selling

• What moved Nora to start freelancing was her busy, unsustainable lifestyle as a single mom of 2 kids who was out working and commuting each day
• About 6 years ago, Nora decided to take her design work a little more seriously and now runs her own business
• Nora shares that marketing her own business was challenging at first because she explains that design work is very behind the scenes and it wasn't really in her nature to promote it
• Something Nora tells her clients is, no one else is going to be offering what you offer in the same exact way you do, so don't listen to all of the self doubt you may be having - remember to have a clear voice and make sure you're aligned with what you are saying
• Nora realized she wanted to really collaborate with clients instead of just being an implementer of their ideas or her ideas only
• When collaborating with clients, Nora really likes to fully understand the brand, understand why people are attracted to them and allow the clients to drop in and connect to the essence of their offer
• Because Nora trained in women's temple facilities and ran women's circles, she began to use some of her practices for women to drop inside and really feel what if felt like to be with clients
• Nora explains that what they're doing is translating the in-person experience to the online space
• What women's temple training is — Nora explains that it is focused on becoming very present and attuned to what's aligned in the moment so people can become attuned to their gifts, their service and what they are here to do

• How Nora's process for her program starts with 4-6 weeks of a discovery and inquiry phase where her clients go through some video meditation and answer questionnaires — Nora shares that she got the method she uses from her mentor Michelle
• Nora explains that she uses a combination of the practices she's learned to create her own in-depth process for working with clients and designing websites
• How Nora works with established businesses who are upgrading, it may be through their website or through a new vision they've had or because they had a spiritual awakening and want a change
• After Nora's clients go through the discovery and inquiry phase, they then prepare for the photoshoot and dive deep into what they want to communicate with the photos
• Once Nora has all the material, she designs the website — Nora explains that some people want to know how to use their website so she creates tutorials for them and some people don't want to know, so she sets them up with a developer who will be supporting them and their business
• Nora shares that her website design process takes a minimum of 3 months but her group program takes only 10 weeks and says her group program uses the same methodology

• As the year comes to an end, Nora shares that she's excited to launch some of her group program client websites and she's also excited for the launch of her own website
• When you're thinking about your website, Nora says to remember that it's there to create a connection, it needs to be easy to navigate, understand and the person landing on your website needs to understand why they would be a good customer or not
• Nora shares three things she thinks a website needs to have for it to be successful: connection, clarity and alignment with the business
• Another offer Nora has is one on one strategy sessions to help people get through the blocks they may be experiencing
• If you are on any social media platform, Nora urges you to treat that platform like a website and says if you're looking to create your own website, pick existing websites you like and think about why you feel connected to them
• Nora says don't be too worried about using your own words or your tone of voice because your website must be aligned with who you are
• Check out Nora's website, where she offers a free masterclass which is all about aligning your soul's brand to your mission or service

Links mentioned

The Design Business Show 092 with Lacy Boggs

Nora's Website

Nora's Free Masterclass

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Anne is a product leader, a startup advisor, and subject matter expert in AI, blockchain, tech ethics and inclusivity. She is the owner of Griffin Product & Growth, a product consulting and advising firm. Her workshop Human First, Product Second teaches organizations and professionals how to think about building more human, inclusive, and ethical tech products. She has lectured at prestigious universities across North America such as Columbia University, West Point, the University of Montreal, and Morgan State University, spoken at major events such as SXSW, and created courses for O'Reilly Media. You can also listen to her takes on AI, blockchain, and other technologies on the YouTube Original series, RetroTech, with Marquees Brownlee, and podcasts such as Blockchain Won't Save the World, Dream Nation Love, and Let's Chat Ethics.

She has built her career in tech over the last decade working with organizations such as Priceline, Microsoft, Comcast, Mercedes-Benz, and ConsenSys, the premiere blockchain software technology company on the Ethereum blockchain. Anne continues to work with and research the practical human aspects of technology and building products with emerging and disruptive technologies. Outside of her work, Anne is a voracious learner, frequent traveler, beach enthusiast, and seriously committed to self-care, workouts, and barbecuing.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How Anne and I met through our friend Shontavia Johnson and how Anne is here to talk about job search tips in the tech and online space
• Anne tells us that she is a product manager for a travel e-commerce company and has been in technology for 12+ years
• Through 12 years in tech, Anne has looked for jobs multiple times and has gotten good at getting companies to come to her - she has a long list of companies, like Twitter, Google, Amazon, etc. who have reach out to her within the last year when she didn't even apply
• Why Anne started her small group coaching program and how it's all about getting jobs to come to you, how to increase your chance of hearing back from them, interview prep and negotiating
• What product management and design have in common is that they both care a lot about the customer and about what the company is trying to drive their customer to do
• Anne shares how she worked at a blockchain startup before the travel e-commerce company and shares what she loves about her current job is she gets to help people find good deals on travel

The Importance of LinkedIn

• One of the most important things when you're job searching or trying to get jobs to reach out to you is having an updated LinkedIn profile Anne says
• Anne suggests finding 10 jobs that you would love to have, whether you're qualified or not and write down all the words that repeat in those job listings and says as long as those words apply to you, you should then rewrite your LinkedIn and resume to include those important words
• It's important to include keywords, like those that repeat in job listings on your LinkedIn because of LinkedIn's algorithm and for when recruiters are searching keywords to find potential candidates
• Another important tip Anne shares is to be active on LinkedIn, she says you don't need to write silly posts but even sharing an article you read with 2 sentences about it boosts your relevance
• The story of how was contacted by a company when she had no experience because her LinkedIn was the second profile to pop up when they searched the keywords, Product Manager + Machine Learning + New York - she didn't lie about her experience but expressed her interest on her profile and used keywords that ranked her high in their search
• How it's important to include keywords but Anne also says it's important to include things you're passionate about towards the bottom of your bio even if they aren't directly related to your work

• When it comes to getting your dream job, Anne also stresses the importance of networking, whether that's in-person or through online groups and shares how she got her current job through networking in online groups
• One of the biggest things Anne's students have to overcome is the fear of reaching out to people because many people are scared to say they're looking for a job or are looking for help when in reality, most people will want to help you
• Anne shares that some places don't care if you have a cover letter or not but she's also had recruiters admit that they don't have time to go through all the resumes that are sent so they will filter out the ones that didn't include a cover letter and not even read them
• If you're applying to a large company who probably receives a lot of resumes, Anne suggests including a cover letter
• The typical formula Anne has people follow for cover letters is to introduce yourself, then talk about why you're specifically interested in the company/role, next go into why they should be interested in you, aka your experience/accomplishments, and lastly wrap it up and keep it relevant
• When it comes to your resume, Anne says you'll want to use keywords just like on your LinkedIn and says if you have extensive years of experience your resume can be 2 pages long, but if you just graduated college you should keep it to 1 page

• Anne says one of the biggest killers of LinkedIn and resumes is imposter syndrome, where people undersell their accomplishments and gives an example of a student who was underselling the things she had done
• Don't decide for the company that your experience is not relevant, Anne says to make sure you tie your experience back to the company even if it may not be the traditional experience they're looking for
• When you are looking for jobs, connect with people at the company - Anne says make sure you introduce yourself and explain very specifically why you're connecting with them
• Some advice Anne has for imposter syndrome is to write down all your accomplishments and read through it regularly because you might be surprised by the things you forgot or by the things you don't give yourself credit for
• Imposter syndrome also stems from failure so Anne touches on how no one is perfect at anything which more people need to realize and says if you're at a place of work that demands perfection, it might be a toxic work environment
• How Sara Blakely's (Spanx founder) dad used to tell her, if you're not failing, you're not trying - Anne agrees with that because if you're not making mistakes in some way, you're not living and says we tend to put people on pedestals without realizing that everyone makes mistakes

• When preparing for interview, do your research and make sure you know what they do - Anne also suggests clicking the news tab on Google when you search the company because that gives you a lot of good information too
• Make sure you prepare yourself for common interview questions like, when was a time you had to convince someone of something, or when was a time you had to work with someone difficult
• If you are a naturally nervous person, Anne suggests doing mock interviews or recording your interview questions, that way you can get a lot of your nerves out before your actual interview
• Anne says you should think about what you want to get paid and then go up a little from there when employers ask about the range you want to be paid
• If you're in an interview and they ask you about your pay range, Anne says she always flips it back on them and asks, "what is your range for this role?"
• To find salaries for tech and design jobs, Anne mentions using Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, or Blind
• The biggest mistake people make when negotiating is not taking non-salary things into consideration and Anne gives examples of this concerning relocation costs and health insurance
• Any time Anne changes jobs, she has a spreadsheet that compares each aspect of the job side by side so she can fully understand how much each item is actually worth
• Anne says be gentle with yourself because job searches are hard even when you have a lot of experience, there will be rejection but you need to go easy on yourself because the company may have liked you but it might have been one tiny thing that put another candidate ahead of you
• Take care of your mental health first because Anne says you cannot show up confidently in interviews or combat your imposter syndrome if you are beating yourself up all the time
• Connect with Anne on her Pivot Grow Hustle Website or on Twitter
• Remember to be yourself so the right people can find you

Links mentioned

Levels.fyi

Glassdoor

Blind

Pivot Grow Hustle Website

Connect with Anne on Twitter

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Lauren Schwartz from California is a thought leader in creating profitable creative strategies for e-commerce brands. Design professional with over 15 years of experience. Over the last 8 years working in digital marketing.

Lauren's passions lie in creating top-performing ad creatives. She has personally led the creative strategy for top brands such as Love Wellness, APL, Colourpop, Our Place, and Leaf Shave.

She is obsessed with design and creative strategy, and in her downtime, she enjoys teaching others her profitable creative methodology and focusing on DTC Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Pinterest.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• Lauren says she's always loved art and the digital side of things, more specifically figuring out shopping behaviors - as paid media became bigger she fell in love with that as well which is how she got into e-commerce space
• One of Lauren's first digital jobs was working at a company where they made point of sale (POS) systems for restaurants
• When Lauren first started in the e-commerce space, it was all about figuring out the design of websites and email marketing, and now she says it has changed drastically into a social media digital space where everything is very focus on e-commerce and being on your phone
• How the design landscape changed from a desktop computer to a tiny little phone screen that you hold all day, so Lauren says how she used to design is way different than how she designs digital advertisements today
• Lauren explains that she doesn't manage the digital ads, she does the design, creative strategy, and works with paid media buyers to deliver the ads for clients
• Lauren shares that she doesn't have a specific niche, she works with e-commerce in general who are product based
• How Lauren has to stay up to date on all the trends happening on each social media platform, which is hard to do and she explains how she has to test a lot of things, and sometimes they don't always work out
• Lauren has set packages she offers and works off retainers because it's important to her that the works with her clients for a long time so she can really understand their brand and help them grow, while giving them the full support they need
• Within the last year, Lauren has been able to grow and bring some more people onto her team — she has 3 designers she was able to bring on, as well as her project manager
• Through the pandemic, a lot of businesses realized they couldn't rely on retail and that they needed to invest in their online space — Lauren says e-commerce is just as important as retail
• With all the iOS and privacy updates, Lauren explains that people in e-commerce realized that they need to focus their creative because it's really important when you're on the social media platforms

• Lauren suggests that her clients give their creators a script because 9/10 times when you give them some talking points, you're going to get back better user-generated content
• Another important thing to think about Lauren says is getting testimonials because people tend to gravitate towards authentic testimonials vs influencers who are "selling your product"
• Lauren explains that to her, user-generated content is real people showcasing your product in an authentic way and explains when people are scrolling through their feed they don't want to be served ads so you have to use user-generated content in a way that looks very native to each specific platform
• How Lauren creates custom thumbnails for user-generated content because that converts better than a random image — she also explains that they give a lot of guidance to their creators when it comes to talking about and shooting the product so it looks native
• Some brands that Lauren thinks are doing a great job when it comes to being in the online space is Ritual, a vitamin company and Magic Spoon, which is a keto cereal company
• Connect with Lauren on her website, the loft 325.com or on Instagram and shoot her a DM, she is always willing to answer questions

Links mentioned

The Loft 325

Connect with Lauren on Instagram

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Quiana is the founder of The Write Choice, a launch copywriting agency where they help coaches & service providers who sell high ticket offers launch and rebrand with authentic conversion copy.

When she initially launched her writing business, she simply wanted to quit her teaching job and work from home while homeschooling her daughter. But, she quickly discovered that she didn't just enjoy writing, she'd actually found her zone of genius.

Her amazing clients have been featured in Entrepreneur, Essence, TIME, Business Insider and even included on the NYT Best Selling Author's list.

When she's not leading her team at The Write Choice, she loves talking all things copy, homeschooling her daughter, going on date nights with her boyfriend and spending time with family.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• In 2017, Quiana knew she wanted to get out of her teaching job because her daughter was approaching kindergarten and she wanted to homeschool her, so Quiana started testing multiple jobs so see what would allow her to stay home while making enough money
• Quiana started as a general virtual assistant in 2018 and realized early on that she loved all of the writing projects, so she then became a content marketing writer and wrote for many different clients
• Through content writing, clients would ask Quiana if she could write sales page copy or webpage copy, which she was a little unsure about but she would take on the projects and the clients would love them so Quiana kept study copy more and more
• How it took Quiana until 2021 to primarily focus on copywriting and how she specifically focuses on launch copy
• How the fast pace life of being a teacher has helped Quiana as a business owner because she is used to doing a lot of different things and switching back and forth between projects

• One tip Quiana gives on writing copy that converts is to share the transformation you are providing to your audience
• Another element of copywriting is speaking to the audience's emotions Quiana says because their desire to invest is linked to an emotional desire
• Quiana explains why speaking to the benefits of your offer and not just the features is so important
• Quiana recommends her clients do market research before they work with her so they can come in with their market pain points, know why people are coming to them, and know what makes them unique so their copy can be the most valuable to their audience
• How incorporating storytelling also helps elevate your copy because people respond well to copy that is more personal and feels like it's sharing something
• Quiana says your copy should remind your audience what the problem is and what the solution is because they might not understand what their pain point is or know they're struggling and that you're the answer
• Why addressing objections in your copy is important because Quiana says when people are looking to invest, they're also going to come up with reasons why they shouldn't
• Quiana talks about when you should write your own copy and when you should outsource your copy
• When it comes to creating your offer or copy first, Quiana recommends creating your offer first and then doing a dive deep into every part and detail of your offer so you can create the most valuable copy
• When creating a sales page, Quiana says should you introduce the offer after you introduce the problem and paint a picture of how their life could be different

• One offer they have at the agency is their Launch Copy VIP Day, where you buy the time of one of their writers — they can personalize your day based on your copywriting needs
• At the agency they also offer a Complete Launch Copy Package where you get the salespage, the email sequence and the landing page for your launch and Quiana says the clients can then add on things like social media copy as well
• They have another offer for people who need website copy, they offer a 5 page website with SEO and optimized copy
• Quiana shares that she gets a lot of clients for referrals, facebook groups, and Instagram
• A lesson Quiana had to learn was asking all of the detailed questions upfront because she realized in the process she originally created, they were having to ask a lot of follow up questions with clients
• Quiana stresses the value of copy and explains that you can have a great website design for example, but if you're copy isn't creating value, telling a story, highlighting the benefits or speaking to your audience, that website will fall flat
• How copy is not going to solve all your problems if you have other business problems and how you should look at your business as a big picture and realize copy is just one part of it
• Connect with Quiana over on Instagram

Links mentioned

The Write Choice

Launch Copy VIP Day

Complete Launch Copy Package

Connect with Quiana on Instagram

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Let's connect on Instagram!

Erika showed early entrepreneurial skills when she let her brother throw a pie in her face for $5, she wheeled and dealed her way through high-school, earned degrees in Apparel Design and Women Studies (with an emphasis on China Studies), spent 9 years swinging around a dancer pole, went on to co-create a multi-eight-figure dollar commercial real estate investment company (of which she's still a partner), wrote a best-selling book, Think A Stripper: Business Lessons To Up Your Confidence, Attract More Clients & Rule Your Market. And in 2009 launched The Daily Whip where she's helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow their businesses through BOLD marketing & sales.

For over 15 years, Nicole has helped artists and entrepreneurs build their audiences through PR, creative direction, marketing campaigns and paid media. She's also coached over 800 entrepreneurs on how to do their own paid advertising and build their sales funnels. From opt-in to sales page to launch, she's helped build multiple 6 and 7-figure businesses from the ground up, as well as help scale sales for NY Times Best-Selling Authors, well-known influencers, course creators, and creative entrepreneurs from all over the world. Her clients call her the Swiss Army Knife of marketing. Her friends call her addictive.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• We first met Nicole on episode 78 and Erika on episode 47 of The Design Business Show
• How I have known Erika and Nicole for the last few years, have worked closely with them and how in the last year they have created a partnership together which they'll talk about today along with some bold marketing trends they think people should know about
• Erika tells the story of how she and Nicole met through me and how they formed their partnership
• Nicole took Erika's TripleXpert Program, her Mastermind and then became a private client – the more Erika got to know Nicole, the more she realized she wanted to work with her
• How Erika hired Nicole to do Facebook ads for her triple expert program that she launched last year and says Nicole was the first person that made Facebook ads fun and exciting
• Erika approached Nicole about doing Marketing Crush and she said absolutely, so they launched Marketing Crush in March to a super small list
• When they first started Marketing Crush it was about creating content and creating a content plan, but as they developed it more, they realized people were not set up for success in their sales funnel, so they changed the business to focus on that and Erika says Nicole is very skilled when it comes to anything involving sales funnels
• When people sign up for Marketing Crush, they get Erika as their content coach, marketing strategist, creative director, and says on Tuesdays she works with clients on their content plans, and on Thursdays, Nicole is helping people with everything sales funnel related
• Erika talks about how the online space has changed throughout the years and how it can be really hard to keep up which is why marketing is so important
• One of the things they always tell their clients is, when you're creating content that is beautifully aligned with what you do, what you're doing is creating a marketing asset that you can reuse again and again
• Nicole talks about how she took my Conversion Design School program which is where a lot of her ideas and inspiration comes from
• The biggest challenge Erika and Nicole have had with Marketing Crush is creating an Instagram page for it and Erika explains why that is, so they've decided that this point in their venture, they are not going to create a Marketing Crush Instagram page but instead use it as a billboard space

• A lot of Nicole's inspiration comes from social justice and politics, while Erika's inspiration comes from the Kardashians, and we talk about how the Kardashians have established their businesses, marketing, social media, and brands
• Nicole shares something she's always thought was important, but even more so now is creating an experience with your brand and thinking about how it makes your audience feel
• For Nicole, the biggest trend she thinks is coming and has already slowly started is creating a user experience that is interactive and engaging and says this can be done through mindful design, scrollytelling, using narrative visualization, animations, typography, illustrations, 3D, etc.
• Nicole gives examples of a few brands that are already creating a unique interactive experience for their audiences
• How Erika personally uses Instagram as a search engine when looking for people, as do many people and says Instagram will be doing more of that when moving forward, so it will become more like a mini Google within Instagram
• One thing Erika has seen changing on Instagram is there's no longer a need to have these super glossy photos like you used to need, and she says a lot of brands don't have highly produced photoshoots anymore
• A big challenge most people have is creating high-quality, well-designed content and being consistent with it, which is why it's important to produce different content for different platforms
• Nicole talks about native visuals like, text message reminders, alerts, the things you see pop up daily on your phone and says she doesn't think they'll be going away in the future because they feel very organic and relevant to people
• Erika talks about text accounts on Instagram where your content is just text images only and says you can be successful by doing typography, but you want to make sure that they are visually and beautifully aligned to catch attention
• If you're posting to feed on Instagram, Erika says people should immediately get that you're an expert at what you do and that you truly live your message and believe in it
• How vulnerability is important, but it shouldn't look like dumping everything out for your audience to see, it should look like taking scary actions and risks
• Erika says she struggles with posting "normal life things" because she is an idea machine she says and that excites her more than posting a family picture
• Erika explains how a viewpoint is different than an opinion because it comes from your areas of expertise and experiences and talks about how to share what you stand behind in a way that truly reflects your business
• Why everyone has to have a sales funnel, no matter what you're selling and how the customer experience needs to be seamless
• Based on Nicole's experiences, email is where most sales take place so there needs to be an intimacy of the inbox that you want to capture, that's why opt-ins that create value are still important
• Erika and Nicole talk about removing content clutter, which is throwaway content that doesn't reflect your level of expertise or add to the experience
• Nicole explains what bro marketing is and says it creates a false sense of urgency, it's overpromising and underdelivering, and can also be non-inclusive
• Connect with Erika on her website at dailywhip.com, or shoot her a DM on Instagram and connect with Nicole on Instagram – make sure you also check them out on the Marketing Crush Website

Links mentioned:

Episode 78 of The Design Business Show

Episode 47 of The Design Business Show

Erika's TripleXpert Program

Marketing Crush

Conversion Design School

The Daily Whip Website

Connect with Erika on Instagram

Connect with Nicole on Instagram

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Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!

Sonaya Williams (pronounced: so-ni-yah), founder of The CEO Partner®, a systems-driven, profits-obsessed, Digital Implementation agency that helps smart CEOs grow their business and meet their goals.

Sonaya started her Digital Implementation Agency in November of 2011 while still working full-time as a Senior Financial Systems Analyst at TD Ameritrade. Since then, she has built a multi six-figure consulting agency and learned a ton of good and bad lessons along the way.

The CEO Partner solves the problems she knew so many business owners faced. Her message is clear - When we create systems + gather support, we build incredible, successful businesses AND happy Lives – for ourselves and the people we love.

Sonaya lives to help CEOs create an operational master plan for themselves and their teams, teaching efficient and effective systems and tools during the process.

She was featured in Forbes, Foundr and on the EonFire podcast.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How Sonaya and I met through a mutual friend and how she's here to talk about creating a process to reach your goals without losing yourself in the process
• Sonaya shares that her background is in IT and before starting her business, she fell into her dream job of business process management in the banking industry, where she got to take the banks old spreadsheet processes and create new logical, efficient processes to help save the teams time
• When Sonaya decided she wanted to have kids and stay home with them, she used her childhood as a driving force to create something different for herself and fell into entrepreneurship where she didn't have to work a traditional 9-5 job
• How Sonaya didn't know where to start with her business, so she went to networking events and ended up doing the same thing she did at work, helping people get the processes that are in their heads onto paper
• The story of Sonaya's first client who sold office supplies to schools in Manhattan and whose biggest frustration was his salespeople having to make multiple trips to close a deal, but once Sonaya helped them with the process of documenting things, they were able to close deals in 1, maybe 2 visits which resulted in efficiency and more money
• Sonaya worked full-time and did her business part-time until she replace her salary with her business income in 9 months, then she did her business full-time and worked part-time until she was able to get her systems in place to know she could run her business consistently

• A year after starting her business, Sonaya left her job and hired her first virtual assistant and says she got her first 10 clients from finding 2 people who had really big lists of clients she wanted to work with — Sonaya started working with those 2 people, so they could promote a webinar she did to their list
• Sonaya shares that her first webinar only had 2 people, but says the more webinars she did, the better she got, and soon she was able to generate leads and close them, which really helped her business grow
• How Sonaya's business has grown off referrals and how she started doing quarterly client success panels which is how she continuously got clients every quarter and explains she now has a magazine she sends out each quarter
• At the start of her business, Sonaya didn't take the design of everything as seriously but says now after having the magazine and her brand, she realizes how important design is, especially when it comes to having a higher-end brand
• Sonaya explains the thought behind sending out a magazine and says she wanted a way to get in front of her agency clients who weren't on her newsletter and didn't listen to her podcast
• Sonaya says her magazine is a playbook that has a different theme each quarter and offers her audience case studies, articles, tips, and plenty of resources — the theme for this quarter is how you can to still reach your year-end goals
• How boundaries have been the most important thing for Sonaya in terms of being able to grow her business and still be sane for her kids and family

• Sonaya shares her team is made up of 5 women, some who are in the US and some who are in the UK, and shares that 60% of their clients are from the US, and the other 40% are from across Europe
• On the agency side, Sonaya and her team work with a lot of service-based entrepreneurs who are trying to figure out out how to make new revenue online — Sonaya gives us an example of a current client
• Sonaya's membership called Work Smarter Lab works with solopreneurs to put systems and strategies in place to create new revenue online
• Because the agency has systems in place, creates consistent income, and delivers a solid service, it allows Sonaya to mostly lead and do sales on that side while the team is managing all of it
• Sonaya says this is their second time launching the membership, and says that they provide members with two calls a week, new content in the lab every month, and team support and explains the team roles involved within the membership
• As the end of the year comes, Sonaya is looking forward to taking 3 weeks off in December and says their goals include planning for a solid 2022 and looking to hire another project manager
• The system Sonaya and her team follow called, Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS) helps them plan goals weekly and quarterly and she shares they have an annual retreat for goal setting as well
• While running a business at home with kids can be challenging at times, it gives Sonaya the flexibility she has always dreamt of
• How the launch of the membership came about accidentally when Sonaya spoke at an event where she had to change her talk to accommodate the audience and create a lower-end offer, which ended up being the membership lab
• Sonaya tells us about the event where she had to pivot her offer quickly and says she's learned that you have to go with the flow, otherwise opportunities might pass you by
• Sonaya congratulates anyone who is in entrepreneurship because she knows it's hard work and says to just create your systems and boundaries and keep going
• Go to becomeanonlineceo.com to get what Sonaya calls a get paid guide, which is a resource that will allow you to start generating leads online

Links mentioned

The CEO Partner®

Become an Online CEO

Connect with Sonaya on Instagram

Connect with Sonaya on Facebook

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Angela Henderson is an international award winning business coach for women, international keynote speaker and podcaster who helps women in business get all the pieces in place to have consistent 5 figure months and then onto 6/7 figure years without burning out in the process.

Here's what we covered on the episode:

• How Angela and I connected and have collaborated on many things together, I've been on her podcast and even helped her with a sales page for her new program called Every day Payday™
• Angela explains her background as a mental health clinician and says that her background, along with her 9-month-old son at the time helped inspire her first business, Finley & Me, which was all about creating childhood memories through play, love, and travel
• When Angela started Finley & Me, they had zero products, zero followers, and no website but when they finished, they had 1,400 different educational products that helped with fine and gross motor skills and imaginary play
• How Angela saw a disconnect in mothers and started blogging about the loneliness and depression in motherhood, which is how she became one of Australia's leading parenting influencers and worked with many big brands
• Having a business and adding her blog was when Angela realized the importance of multiple streams of revenue
• Angela explains that she would go on coffee dates where people would pick her brain and says after the 14th one she realized she could start a consulting business, which is how Angela Henderson Consulting came about
• How Angela works with amazing women all around the world because she's passionate about getting wealth into the hands of women because they are more likely than men to give that back to society

• Angela works one on one with women in her Mastermind, and her group coaching program, Every day Payday™
• Angela tells the story of how she started working with Netflix, Hilton, and other brands through connections and says she would also reach out to brands and companies when she would travel
• Your network equals your net worth, which is why Angela cannot stress building connections enough and says never be afraid to ask because the worst thing they can do is say no, but that doesn't mean it's a no forever
• There are 3 main ways that Angela says you can become visible: organically, partnerships, or paid and she explains the unique ways she was able to grow her email list and audience
• One thing that's really important to Angela is building her own real estate on her own land because so often she sees businesses come to her saying how great they're doing on social media platforms but her question to them is what if something changes with those platforms, because if you're relying on someone else's real estate what happens to you
• Angela always suggests people build a really strong foundation for their business and says it might take longer and cost more, but when you do this, it doesn't matter what happens, you'll be able to bounce back without it destroying your business completely

• Angela works one on one with clients, has a Mastermind, called Action Takers Mastermind, a 12-month accelerator program called, Profit Pillars and her 4-week accelerator, Every Day Payday, and says she has grown these all pretty much organically
• How Facebook ads aren't working in Angela's favor and how she sees multiple people in the same boat who are freaking out because they've built their business on someone else's land
• Angela shares some of her strategy which was figuring out how to build connections with people and how to add value to people's lives
• How a lot of people will tell you not to run your free Facebook group and spend your time and money elsewhere, but Angela says her free Facebook community, Women in Business Collaborative is one of her number one generating income streams and explains it's because they nurture relationships and provide value every single day to their audience
• Angela says her organic growth is directly tied to her mission and shares that her mission over the next 5 years is to ensure she works with an additional 2,500 women to get the tools, community, and resources they need
• How it's important for Angela to show up and give back, she does this through her Facebook community, through her podcast, The Business & Life Conversations Podcast, or through other peoples summits and says there are so many ways to give back, lead with value, and in addition make money
• Angela talks about Bob Burg's book, The Go-Giver where he talks about the 5 laws of stratospheric success and says those laws have played a role in her leading with value from an organic place
• We talk about trying to sell without building relationships first, which doesn't work and Angela says we need to treat people like humans and nurture the connections we make
• Angela is big on building strong foundations in your business but says you also need to build your audience, nurture your audience and sell to your audience

• Angela goes in-depth about the first part of her 3S framework which has to do with where and how are you showing up in your business and says you need to use data in order to see where your audience is and how they're interacting with you
• The second thing Angela likes to look at in her 3S framework is the strategy because people can be on the right platform but not be using the right strategy, so she says you need to look at your content pillars to make sure you're posting relevant and valuable content
• Another thing to look at with strategy is something Angela calls your promotional rhythm, which is all about weaving promotional strategy into your value-driven content and gives an example of how to do this
• The last part, which is crucial to Angela's 3S framework is to ask for the sale - so often women are scared to ask for the sale when in reality it is your job to sell every single day and when you do that, you're going to make every day a payday
• What showing up to sell every single day looks like for Angela and how if you infuse your promotional rhythm and ask for the sale, you will be more likely to turn every day into a payday
• No one, in Angela's 11 years in business has ever told her that she sells too much, and it's because she's strategically asking for the sale while leading with value
• By not serving your audience every single day, aka selling every single day, Angela says you're doing a disservice to those people who need you in their world to make their life better
• Angela reminds us that our business is our responsibility and we can choose to sell or not sell, to be profitable, or go back to our 9-5 job
• Angela's 2-hour on-demand Strategy & Goal Planning Workshop where she helps you create strategic goals for your business
• Check out Angela's website and from there you can choose how to consume content from her, whether that's Instagram, her Podcast, or her services
• Keep an eye out for Angela's 4-week accelerator, Every Day Payday that will be launching again later this year if you want to get more leads and more sales

Links mentioned:

Every day Payday™

Angela Henderson Consulting

Action Takers Mastermind

Profit Pillars

Women in Business Collaborative

The Business & Life Conversations Podcast

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

Strategy & Goal Planning Workshop

Connect with Angela on Instagram

Like what you heard?

Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes.

Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board

Let's connect on Instagram!