The attraction of online businesses is often the low barrier to entry, but this can also be a downside. This episode explores the mindset around “free” or close to free and how that applies to future business decisions.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* The average online entrepreneur’s startup costs versus small business starting 30 years ago

* Why today’s entrepreneurs aren’t set up for success in our schooling system

* How today’s entrepreneur generation was set up to have a job and also told they could do anything they wanted

* A quick rundown on competence

* How the barrier to entry has shifted in today’s online world

* The added benefits of paying the price with time

QUOTABLES:

“You were raised to be an employee and you were simultaneously told you can be anything you want to be. At some point you realized these two don’t go together.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“The barrier to entry isn’t there anymore but the barrier to sustaining your business is.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“Twenty years ago the barrier was money and you still had to invest a lot of time. Today the barrier is time and you still have to invest a lot of money.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

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TO BUILD YOUR BRAND:

Britney has a variety of ways to work with her, from recorded workshops guiding you through DIY brand building skills all the way to complete brand crafting with

 

Carmen Hunter did all the things the experts said to do, had all the needed tools in place and still wasn’t seeing results. She wasn’t getting traffic and it wasn’t the algorithm’s fault: it was hers. Learn how she rebranded to her true authentic self and the results followed. We talk about niching, letting go, and your best client.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Carmen talks about how it’s so easy to get wrapped up in all the things you need to do as a business and forget authenticity

* Why losing connection with your purpose will lead to an inauthentic brand and ultimately financial pitfalls

* If you’ve branded “backward” as Carmen did, there’s still a chance it will all work for you.

* When you’re not getting the traffic you desire, don’t blame it on the algorithm. Look into whether you’re aligned.

* Carmen talks about the struggles she faced with self-reflection and realizing who she and her brand really were.

* We talk about the big moment when Carmen moved more into a space of authenticity.

* Why letting go and opening up constriction is the key to abundant flow.

* Carmen’s message to those in the “things aren’t working and they should be” space

* Why a “what to expect from working with me” is a great client filter

* We talk about the fallacy of the ideal client avatar

* How flaws and problems you’re facing can make you relatable to the people who most need your help

* Carmen talks about her solution to the lack of connection in today’s world

* We talk about the words heart-centered and heartfelt and making decisions from the heart or the ego

 

QUOTABLES:

“Rebranding to me, even though all of my colors and all of those beautiful things I paid for stayed the same, really came from inside of me. The rebranding part was me showing up as authentically and open-hearted and heart-centered…Click To Tweet

“I think branding is a lot of self-reflection and getting honest with yourself.” – @mindfulnutClick To Tweet

“When we hang on too tightly and get focused on tiny, little details, we forget about how we want to show up in the world and that stops the flow of abundance every single time.” – @mindfulnutClick To Tweet

“Let’s build a business that works for you and not one that you have to work so hard for.” – @mindfulnut

 

Melva Robertson, experienced publicist, writer and public relations professional, and I discuss how to tighten your niche and move beyond generic services. We talk about figuring out your target audience and then moving into how to communicate with them effectively.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Melva and I discuss target audiences and subgroups of your target audience

* Why it’s worth taking the time to figure out your target audience before you try to package up your service in a pretty bow

* How to figure out where your target audience is hanging out so you can communicate with them

* Branding yourself to your target audience while remaining authentic to yourself

* The definition of branding–it’s your reputation, not what you put out there (read: not your logo and colors)

* How to live out your brand and also be a real person living life

* Melva tells us about her book and how it helps emerging entrepreneurs

* How to turn your dreams into attainable strategies

QUOTABLES:

“Your target audience is usually going to be the group of people who don’t need convincing that they need you.” – @WriteMediaPRClick To Tweet

“When you’re thinking about being authentic it’s not necessarily changing your brand to fit your audience, it’s aligning your brand to your audience based on the strengths that will distinguish you.” – @WriteMediaPRClick To Tweet

“Branding is your reputation. It’s what you want people to feel when they experience you.” – @WriteMediaPRClick To Tweet

MORE ON MELVA:

Website | Instagram | Twitter

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

* Congratulations! it’s a Brand: The entrepreneur’s guide to birthing the brand, identifying the target audience, and increasing visibility

* Branding Black Holes

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New Year’s is a time of reflection. A time to reevaluate. And if you’ve closed out this year feeling a bit of FOMO, Britney talks through the solution of branding your way out of FOMO disease.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* What FOMO means and how it affects you as a business owner

* How FOMO can lead to a downward spiral

* How keeping up with your competition has a time and place

* Britney introduces the idea of BRANDING UP

* Why taking shortcuts will lead to FOMO and what to do about it

* What branding up really means in terms of business scaling

* How giving your business wings is like parenting

QUOTABLES:

“It often comes down to me acknowledging a truth many will try so very hard to overlook. That truth? There’s something I know I could have done better.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“Let me say something about opportunities. They do not multiply because they are seen. Many people see opportunities. Opportunities multiply because they are seized.” – @johncmaxwellClick To Tweet

“The best way to overcome FOMO? It’s to double down.It’s to master whatever the thing is.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“Brand up: start acting like the person who has already mastered it and then become that person.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“Our children are only as brilliant as we allow them to be.” – @EricMLeventhalClick To Tweet

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

* Intentional Living

* Branding Black Holes

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In this week’s show, we talk about making a big decision even if you don’t feel you’re ready. This came about from me hearing how someone in my own niche did this a few years ago and has emerged as a leader, simply because she decided she would be.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* How this idea started as a rant and then turned into more after reflecting on it for a while

* How to skip over the imposter syndrome stage

* How the story I tell applies to every industry, modality, job, etc – and we all have moments of jealousy when we realize it

* Why when you’re the first to claim a stake in the ground, you’re the de facto leader

* When you’re the first, you have to figure it out on your own

* Action steps for how you can apply this idea of staking a claim in your business niche

* Using your platform to get free PR

* Why being the first allows you the grace to make mistakes

QUOTABLES:

“All you have to do to become the leader, to become well-known in your field for what you do, is claim it and then show up everywhere with the message.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“This is how you stake a claim: here’s an opening. I am going to fill it.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“If you deliver on the promise [of your battle cry], people will tell your story FOR you.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

“Anybody doing things bigger than you won’t judge you for getting your feet wet on that first try.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

* How to Craft an Authority Opinion #063

* Building Confidence with Tasha Marie #060

* Branding Black Holes

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In this week’s episode, I’m speaking with Kaylan Thompson of Joy to Lead, covering topics from your first hire to using your brand as the most loyal teammate you can have.

Kaylan is a Team Building Consultant & Leadership Coach for entrepreneurs ready to give themselves a promotion and make their first strategic hire. In 2018, she found herself frozen by imposter syndrome when accidentally accepting a promotion that pushed her into an executive leadership role in her company. She spent 9 months stressed out, burnt out and totally sucking as boss – until she decided to make a change, choose joy and live unapologetically in her strengths. Since then, she coached her team to do the same, helped the CEO she served re-engage with her vision for her company, and developed and executed a 4-part hiring framework she used to make strategic hires that added value and purpose to the team. Now, she’s leading entrepreneurs to do the same for themselves!

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* I admit I wanted to talk to Kaylan to get her opinion as a leadership expert on my claim that your brand is your best and most loyal teammate

* How Kaylan moved into leadership coaching and why her learning process doesn’t have to be yours

* Transitions from leading a team in corporate to leading only yourself as a solopreneur

* Kaylan’s take on weaknesses versus strengths

* How your brand works for you, whether you ask it to or not.

* What it means to take steps as a CEO

* Kaylan’s advice on journaling out the role of a hire

* Using your values as a filter

* Have weekly check-ins with all employees, including your brand: a brand performance review

* Kaylan tells us about how you can set yourself up now to hire the right way in the future

QUOTABLES:

“When it comes to leading yourself, you have to know and be confident in your strengths and core values, what actually makes your heart beat.” – @joytoleadClick To Tweet

“Besides yourself, your brand is your first team member, whether you intentionally hire this team member or not. Whether you intentionally create your brand or not, it is there.” – @joytoleadClick To Tweet

“Is your brand making you money or is it being lazy?” – @joytoleadClick To Tweet

MORE ON KAYLAN:

Website | Instagram |

My guest on this week’s show is Bob Burg, the author of the “know, like and trust” phrase!

Bob Burg is a sought-after speaker at company leadership and sales conferences sharing the platform with everyone from today’s business leaders and broadcast personalities to even a former U.S. President.

Bob is the author of a number of books on sales, marketing and influence, with total book sales of well over a million copies. His book, The Go-Giver, coauthored with John David Mann, itself has sold over 925,000 copies and it has been translated into 28 languages.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Bob dives into the origins of the full quote mentioning the phrase “know, like and trust.”

* What all things being equal means to an entrepreneur

* Things that trip up entrepreneurs when they’re providing value

* We talk about how value and influence are tied together

* How push and pull marketing differ and how influencers’ essence is an attraction

* Mentorship and collaboration

* How to seek a mentor in today’s world

* We each discuss the questions we wish more people asked us.

QUOTABLES:

“Value, by definition, is the relative worth or desirability of a thing… in the eyes of the beholder.” – @BobBurgClick To Tweet

“Great influencers attract people to themselves and their ideas.” – @BobBurgClick To Tweet

“Compliance will never take you where commitment can go.” – @dondiscumaciClick To Tweet

“That person who develops those “Know, Like & Trust” relationships with people, those are the people you’ll be able to collaborate with.” – @BobBurgClick To Tweet

“There’s no faster more, powerful or effective way to elicit those feelings toward you than by genuinely and authentically moving from that I or me focus to that other focus.” – @BobBurg

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* The self-care and morning routine trends and bandwagon every has jumped on over the last few years

* How relaunching my business is my self-care

* The three reasons branding is self-love

* Why defining how you’re going to show up in this world, choosing the ways to apply it, and making that the foundation of your business is the best way to begin and the best way to relaunch when you’re stagnant

* The four questions you need to be able to answer to know you have a well-defined brand

* Who are you and what do you stand for?

* Who can you best serve that no one else can serve as well?

* How do you serve them–what problem can you best solve for them?

* What are the three things you want to be known for?

* How to reach out for help if you don’t know how to answer these questions

* The easiest way to do business

QUOTABLES:“Branding is self-love for your business.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet“When you have a defined brand, everything else in business gets so much easier.” – @britneygardnerClick To Tweet

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

* How to Craft An Authority Opinion

 

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TO BUILD YOUR BRAND:

Britney has a variety of ways to work with her, from recorded workshops guiding you through DIY brand building skills all the way to complete brand crafting with Instant Badass Brand and brand photography. Music by Michael De La Torre. Thanks, Mikey!

Morgan Gist MacDonald is the Founder and CEO of Paper Raven Books, an independent publishing company that helps people write, edit, and publish books that grow the author’s platform and create massive impact in the world. We talk about a range of topics affect mothers as entrepreneurs all the way to how the publishing industry disruption occurring today can be a huge boon for the entrepreneurial world.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Morgan talks about how each of her children shaped an area or time of her business

* The active decision she made between a business name and personal name and why she moved away from the personal name brand

* A mamahood life hack regarding vacations

* Morgan’s urge for a personal brand and discovery process around whether it’s a personal brand outside of her business

* Morgan talks about when it’s the right time to expand from 1:1 or 1:small into 1:many

* Why straight memoirs rarely work and you need both a story and a framework or process

* Why writing a book often changes an author’s core messaging and transforms them

* Decisions you need to make around writing a book and your commitment to the message

* Why making a bold prediction is a win-win situation

* We talk about how the publishing industry disruption affects the smaller, newer authors

* Morgan reminds of the need for the author to show up as themselves and continue the conversation

QUOTABLES:

“The more babies I’ve had the more I’ve had to remove myself from the business, and yet I still feel an urge to have a personal brand.” – @morgangmacClick To Tweet

“We think when someone reads our story they’re going to automatically get the inspiration, the lessons learned… but we want to be told.” – @morgangmacClick To Tweet

“What’s in it for the reader? How’s this going to impact the reader’s life in a really direct way?” – @morgangmacClick To Tweet

“There’s this thing that’s been inside you and you haven’t actually had the words to wrap around it and push it out there until someone else points it out.” – @britneygardner

Dov Gordon helps consultant and experts get ideal clients. Consistently.

There are millions and millions of consultant/coaches who are really good at what they do.  But they’re not charismatic guru types. And they never want to be.

They LOVE their work.  And all they want is a consistent flow of great clients.  Clients who value their expertise, AND who value who they are as people.  And pay them well for it.

Dov and his small team take a tactic-agnostic approach.  They help you build a strong strategic foundation and to apply to it to build a simple, client-getting system that is best for YOU.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

* Dov’s beginning of winging it as someone who’s not a natural marketer or salesperson, but had something valuable to sell* The two ways to thrive as a professional or expert: the path of the charismatic guru and the path of mastery* Dov talks about figuring out why tactics work and why tactics fail, and once you figure it out you can use any platform successfully* The three questions that pop up in every client’s mind as they’re decided whether to purchase from you* We dive deeper into the messaging issues the first question bring up and how to apply them to a few business models.* When your ideal clients aren’t making the connection you can help them, it’s because you didn’t make that connection for them.* Dov answers the age-old question of what to do about the people who don’t fit your ideal client profile.* How to bridge the gap between messaging, trust, and next steps with ideal clients.* Why picking one result you can deliver is the foundation of any marketing effort.

QUOTABLES:

“I get excited about liberating people who have spent years mastering a valuable skillset and then [wonder] why can’t I get clients.” – @DovGordonClick To Tweet

“When you sound like everybody else your ideal client assumes you are like everybody else and you too cannot help them.” – @DovGordonClick To Tweet

“A lot of things get attention. Only two things get interest.” – @DovGordonClick To Tweet

“In order to effectively open someone to your point of view you must first be able to understand their point of view. That doesn’t mean you agree with it but you understand it. That’s where the communication process begins.” – @BobBurg