Do you struggle with knowing where to begin to start and grow a business? If yes, you are not alone. With all of the chaos online, it’s easy to get distracted, confused, and discouraged.

If you don’t know where to begin to start and grow a business follow these strategies.

The number one mistake people make when they attempt to start and grow a successful business – is they don’t build the foundation first and the result is doubt and confusion. Both result in a lack of confidence and a lack of trust. Build the foundation first

Building the foundation doesn’t mean starting with social media.  Start with creating your personal brand, and then move to the critical strategies provided below. 

It means starting with the foundational elements, which are: 

1. Faith – ask the Lord to be the foundation of everything you do.
   • What feels impossible is possible with him! 
   • Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.
2. Don’t wait to begin mindset work.
   • It is important to address negative thoughts of doubt and fear from the beginning. In addition, it’s important to avoid distractions because they will induce doubt which leads to confusion, and fear.
   • Here’s an example of how your brain will distract you. I had a conversation with a 1:1 client yesterday and she said she was questioning her pricing – she thinks she’s charging too much – there is zero proof of this thought. In fact, when we set her packages and pricing she felt confident in them. But one thought drug her into the basement of despair and doubt over her entire business model. 
   • You have to trust yourself or you people won’t trust you.
3. Start with systems and processes, SOPs, create your package, and set your pricing.
   • This is key if you want to start and grow your business for long-term success. Without systems and processes in place, you will not be able to serve your clients effectively and may lose referral opportunities.
   • This step includes defining your soul mate client.
   • What values and characteristics do you want and need them to have? What do you need them to believe about you and themselves? For example, they are ready to invest time, energy, resources, and money, they believe in your offer, they trust you, and they trust themselves to make decisions.
   • These are all important for creating copy for your website and building trust with your audience.
4. You NEED a website – you do not need social media – start with SEO-ready pages and blog posts – at least three with CTAs.
   • Think about credibility. If someone is using social media to build their business and does not have a website, are you going to trust their credibility?
   • A website is your introduction to the world and it is your opportunity to connect emotionally and build trust.
5. Build your email list.
   • Start with your community – they know you and trust you and are willing to share you with their community.
   • Give them an opportunity to follow you on your new journey or to unsubscribe.
   • Stay front of mind.

1.  

If you want to start and grow a successful business the key is my success equation, mindset + strategy + action = results. This is the basis of my Purpose to Results™ Method. 

Download the free eBook: How to build a solid foundation for long-term success.

Pinterest marketing is an incredible tool that every online business should be using as part of their brand and business growth strategy. It isn't only a DIY resource, it is a powerful tool for search engine optimization for your online business.

Pinterest marketing is search engine optimization at its best. Using a Pinterest marketing strategy helps to drive traffic to your website so that you can attract more clients.

Where does Pinterest fit into your overarching brand marketing strategy?

Kate describes Pinterest as similar to Google and YouTube. It is a content element. People use Pinterest as a place to seek answers to their problems. They do not care about you, they care about the benefit they can find by solving their problem. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are platforms where people go to get to know you.

Think of Pinterest as a bicycle wheel with the spokes going out. You are identifying with cold users who aren't interested in your brand yet, they are interested in what you have to offer. You have to approach Pinterest differently than how you approach Instagram or other social platforms.

Pinterest is a long-game approach to brand marketing, like Google and YouTube. You must make the decision to invest in Pinterest for one to two years and the momentum will build like snowballs.

Read the full show notes and access all links.

Register for the Purpose to Results™ Masterclass, on January 16th at 1 pm EST. 

Join our email list so that you don't miss details and reminders for the Purpose to Results™ Academy. 

Download the free eBook: How to build a solid foundation for long-term brand and business success. 

You do not have to be on social media to start and grow a successful business. If Instagram has you scrolling mindlessly, feeling doubt, comparison, and imposter syndrome, there are better ways to grow your business.

You can grow your business without social media.

Strategies I am using to grow my business without social media and how you can use them to grow your business without social media too!

1. Website

2. Blogging

3. Email Marketing 

4. Pinterest Marketing 

5. Podcasting

6. Speaking

7. PR

8. YouTube

9. Alignment with values and mindset work

10. Scripture 

Read the full show notes and access all links.

Learn more about the Purpose to Results™ Method

How to build a solid foundation for long-term brand and business success - a free eBook.

Goal setting is a personal journey and one that should be attached to your personal values if you want to set achievable goals.

Goal setting is less overwhelming when you are aligned with your values and know what you desire in your life and business.

If you don't wake up every morning excited about the work you are doing, take a step back. Dive into your values, visions, and passions for yourself. Reset.

Where do people go wrong when goal setting?

Goal setting can be confusing. It's important to look at what you want and desire when setting goals and not fall into the trap of what others are doing or recommending. Below is a list of ways people go wrong when setting goals.

1. Setting too many goals
   • If you are ambitious, you may want to improve every aspect of your life. People often refer to the wheel of life when attempting to set goals for every aspect of their life. When you assume that every aspect of your life needs improvement, everything is a priority. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. You are human. There is only so much you can do.
   • The biggest mistake when setting goals is trying to do it all instead of focusing on what is truly most important to you.
2. Does the "Smart goals" format work for achievable goal setting
   • Realistic goals - the realism of a goal is defined by someone that isn't you. When people question how realistic we are about our goal, for example, "are you really going to be able to write a book or launch a program?". If you aren't wildly excited about your goals you won't be able to sustain the energy and effort required to put in the work to achieve the goal. Goal-setting should be based on what you believe is possible for you.
   • The more in tune you are with what you want, the more smoothly the goal-setting process will go for you.
3. Attaching goals to an arbitrary timeline
   • Time-bound goals - you do need to map out the path to achieving your goals, or at least the starting point so that you can work your way towards the goal. Time blocking is a great way to set aside time to achieve your goal. However, a lot of the time, entrepreneurs will say they want to hit six figures by December 31st, and as that gets closer, the motivation starts to go up from a place of urgency, or motivation decreases.
   • No one cares when you achieve your goal. But if the goal is truly important to you, and you really want to achieve it, it doesn't matter when you achieve it.
   • The path so success isn't linear. There may be a plateau where you are putting in the effort and then it takes off.
   • Robyn emphasized that there are a lot of contributing factors. You may set a financial goal but then you raise your prices. That may mean you'll make more money, or it could mean that you will have more time freedom because you will take fewer clients.
   • If something is important to you work towards it, the timeline doesn't matter.

What is the best way to get goal-setting right?

The only way to get goal-setting right is to set goals that are aligned with your values. Your values are what is important to you in the way you live and work. When you align your goals with your values you eliminate comparison.

Read the full show notes and access all links. 

Download the free eBook: How to build a solid foundation for long-term business success. 

Trust is tricky. There are multiple levels of it and many different ways it influences our lives. As a personal brand, it's a necessity for people to buy from you.

Trust is like a multi-lane highway, not a silo.

There are different scenarios of trust

1. Yourself - you trust yourself - a must if you want others to trust you too
2. Others - you trust others and others trust you
3. God - you trust God - God gave you free will, which means he trusts you to discern and make decisions - but wants you to lean on the Holy Spirit as your counselor and guide.

Why it's important for you to trust yourself as an entrepreneur.

When you trust yourself you will be more confident. When others see that you trust yourself and are confident, they will be more likely to trust you and feel confident that you can help them. On the contrary, if you don't trust yourself, others will be much less likely to trust you. Since trust determines buying practices, it's a necessity for a brand and business to be successful financially.

Without it, you risk playing small, and you...

• don't believe you are worthy of signing clients
• believe your ideal clients are less than willing to pay for your services
• don't price based on the immense value you provide
• lose sight of your passions
• become frustrated and burnt out
• lose sight of your visions and desires for your future
• don't show up for your audience consistently
• make excuses
• lose sight of your values
• do a disservice to your clients
• don't engage to build relationships and a community

Ways to learn how to alleviate doubt and disbelief

1. Mindset work
2. Journal
3. Prayer
4. Testimonials
5. Read

Read the full show notes and access all links.

Download this free eBook: 37 Scriptures Every Entrepreneur Needs to Reflect on and Live By.

Have you thought about the legacy you'll someday leave? You are currently living your legacy. How you live your life becomes your legacy. 

How you live your life will be your legacy.

As Merle Saferstein was preparing for retirement from her role at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, she posed a list of 25 questions to herself. She used the list to evaluate what would provide supplemental income, what would fuel her passions, and what would help her make a difference in the world. Doing this exercise to determine who she was going to be in retirement led her to confidently know what the next chapter was going to be. Her goal was to write a book, teach, speak, and volunteer.

One day while journaling, the word legacy came to mind. And that is how Merle merged her experience working with Holocaust survivors and journaling to create the Living and Leaving Your Legacy Program which she teaches and speaks about.

Living and leaving your legacy

How you live your life becomes your legacy. Even if you never do anything like write a book, or document your life, you will be remembered for how you lived your life. It is important to note that it is not what you say but what you do that is important. People watch you and learn from you all the time. 

Merle recommends that as soon as someone you love dies, write down as many memories as you can think of so that you always have those memories. Creating videos is also a great way to preserve someone's legacy. Ask questions in an interview format or simply let them speak. But do it now.

There is power in writing down memories. Merle emphasized that there is also power in writing a dialogue between you and another person if you aren't ready to talk about things. You can also write a letter in your journal.

Robyn emphasized that when you write, you change the neuropathways in your brain. Therefore, if you can get your thoughts out of your head onto paper, you will be more likely to change the negative thoughts and feelings to positive ones. Changing your thoughts and emotions will also change your behaviors and actions.

Merle shared that if you are afraid to write certain thoughts and feelings in your journal, write them on a piece of paper to at least get them out of your mind. Then, you can have a little ceremony of tearing the paper, burning it, or something to get rid of it.

Read the full show notes and access all links.

Subscribe to our email list for weekly journaling prompts. 

Want to take your business to the next level? Then hiring a virtual assistant is the next step. Hiring a virtual assistant can save you from frustration and burnout as you grow your business.

Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) is the next step to achieving better results, making more money, and having a bigger impact. The key to hiring a virtual assistant is trust. Trusting that you can hand responsibilities off to someone else and that the tasks will be accomplished.

Note that when you are stuck in the minutia of your business, you lose time to focus on activities that allow you to make money and have an impact.

When is it time to hire a VA?

There are a couple of ways you can recognize the need to hire a VA.

1. Ask yourself if you have time in your day that you can go out for coffee, go for a walk, etc. Look at your time day to day. If you have no time to step away or have downtime, it is time to hire help.
2. The financial aspect. Making six figures is very achievable, but can you go to the next income level? If your income has plateaued, then something is missing and it's time to hire help.

Tasks that you may be doing that you should consider hiring a virtual assistant to do

1. Ask yourself what you love to do versus what you do not love to do. For example, do you like to do social media?
2. What are you spending time on that you don't enjoy?
3. Do you love writing copy for your blog posts? If yes, continue to do it, but if not, hire it out.
4. Be completely honest with what you do on a daily and weekly basis and categorize the items and hire out the items you don't like to do.

When you do the things you love, they will take you less time. However, if you don't like to do them, it is better to hire them out so that you can save time. In addition, if you don't enjoy doing something, you may procrastinate and hold yourself and your business back.

Virtual assistants have many talents and expertise. Some can even help with strategies in your business. Two minds are better than one.

Read the full show notes and access all links. 

Download the free eBook - How to build a solid foundation for long-term success. 

Emotional isolation affects everyone, young and old alike. It goes behind loneliness and influences mental health.

Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States. An immensely significant number. Suicide crosses age groups from youth to the elderly. We are in need of tools and resources to prevent suicide.

In 2020 there were almost 46,000 deaths by suicide and almost 1.2 million suicide attempts reported. The risk of suicide increases with a diagnosis of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, drug addiction, schizophrenia, and others. Emotional isolation is also a risk factor.

Anxiety and depression often cause emotional isolation, and the breakdown of relationships, and result in suicide attempts. In the US 40 million adults, 19.1% of the population have generalized anxiety disorder. In addition, 8.4%, or 21 million people have depression. Many times anxiety and depression go hand in hand.

Reference for statistics.

How can we improve quality of life and reduce the incidence of emotional isolation? Steve Cunningham has created a solution, WeTree.

The survey that initiated the search for a solution to end emotional isolation

As the founder of Read It For Me, Steve conducted a survey of his users and how they were using the tool to learn and grow. He discovered that every person that took the survey mentioned dealing with fear and anxiety or disclosed that they'd been dealing with depression for a very long time. As the prevalence of anxiety and depression increased throughout the pandemic, Steve decided he needed to do something to help people be comfortable about sharing emotional and mental health struggles.

As Steve did research on mental health, he discovered that everything came back to emotional isolation, also known as loneliness. Interestingly, most people don't consider themselves lonely. However, when you ask them if they have someone to discuss personal and important subjects with, they say no. Most people do not have anyone to talk to when they are dealing with challenges, or when they have something good to share.

Ultimately, emotional isolation is the cause of drug addiction, the lack of people to talk to.

Read the full blog post and access all links.

Many people need to become more confident, do you? Low self-esteem and a lack of confidence result in overthinking, poor decision-making, and a lack of positive action which produces minimal results.

According to statistics, most people need help to become more confident.

Statistics related to confidence

Eighty-five percent of people lack self-esteem, men and women. If you lack self-esteem, you will likely have lower self-worth and less confidence.

Some additional statistics related to confidence are:

• 85% of women do not believe they are attractive.
• 62% of women do not believe they are intelligent.
• 50% of women do not think they are liked by others.
• 2/3 of women aren't confident in their ability to do their job.

These stats aren't exclusive to women, men struggle with confidence too. In fact, 55% don't think they are liked and 60% don't believe they can do their job.

Lucy added the stats about when people apply for jobs. When men are 60% ready, they will go apply for jobs. But women won't apply for a job unless they are 100% sure they meet every requirement the job description specifies. This also applies to entrepreneurship. Lucy emphasized that being ready is a decision.

3 Steps to Become More Confident

Decisions

Know and visualize next steps

Take action

Read the full show notes and access all links here. 

Want more resources for becoming more confident? Develop a journaling practice with my 5 C's Journaling Method. Download the free eBook here. 

When you start a podcast, you open the door for more opportunities to serve your audience and attract more soulmate clients.

Start a podcast to alleviate distractions, grow your audience, and convert more people to paying clients for an increase in earning potential and success.

Should you start a podcast? Is podcasting for you?

Time is more important than money and it should produce ROI. If you are on social media, is it giving you an ROI? Is it converting into dollar bills?

Podcasting is how Stefanie grew an audience. Think of an upside-down triangle, it's the reverse funnel. The podcast increases the size of your following. If you really love social media and can have boundaries with social media, stick with it, but follow along with this philosophy.

Podcasting has SEO power. It works for you when you have keywords and key phrases. And creating a podcast reaches so many more people than a social media post.

Stefanie has a 1 to 2 percent conversion rate in recurring listeners. Pinterest marketing is 1-to-many marketing for your podcast.

If you want to start a podcast, take Stef's 1-hour free course or join her Podcast Pro University.

Read the full show notes and access all links.

Download the free eBook How to build a solid foundation for long-term business success.