The Think Piece Podcast

As the founder of a business, it’s only a matter of time before a customer does something that crosses the line for your product, or you fall into the trap of working when you promised that you wouldn’t, or that you start to resent your entire enterprise because its eroding any sense of a self outside of its confines.

My friend, you need some boundaries.

I have been very vocal about my challenges with time management and customer boundaries over the years thanks to that deadly combo of being a former gifted kid and a people pleaser. You have your own origin story and experiences that inform how you’re able to support your own needs in your business, and if you’re like most of my clients, you could use some help.

In this episode I walk through the five steps that I take when creating boundaries in my business. Whether you’re trying to take more time off, get away from your computer, or clarify the scope of your client relationships, you must make a strong effort to define and communicate those needs and decide how you will support them.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

It’s no secret that online education is at an inflection point. Sales are down from their lockdown-era highs. Completion rates remain challenging, and as more people prioritize in-person experiences, even the best programs are suffering from low engagement.

In this episode, I take you along as I try to workout some ideas and feelings that I’ve been having about online courses, memberships, and other digital education. I start with a basic idea: that online education has a deep disrespect for the capabilities of adult learners, and defaults to a dopamine hacking banking model of instruction in order to create measurable return-on-investment rather than fostering agency, accountability, and creativity.

Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, John Dewey, and Byung-Chul Han, I try to wrestle with the radical and critical pedagogy that I believe in and the challenges of relational and dialectical education in dematerialized space.

This episode is a question, and the answers are still brewing. But ultimately, it’s a challenge for all of us who teach online: what would it look like to respect our students, help them develop their ability to learn as adults, and move from a prescriptive to expansive education model?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Social media is a mess, ad conversions are down and costs are up, and SEO is collapsing under the weight of AI content. The tools that have reliably grown online businesses for the past decades are no longer effective, but we still need to reach new customers and get those sales. Behind the scenes, successful online business owners are scrambling to pivot and figure out what’s next.

So what is the future of online marketing? What is actually working in 2023?

In this episode, I analyze the current state of online marketing, share what’s working now, and examine the impacts of reduced reach on online business models that require scale to succeed. I offer five effective marketing strategies for 2023, share my new favorite lead generation tool, and encourage us to question our ongoing reliance on social media even as, yes, I say we should still use it.

The big takeaway? We have to actually talk to people, leverage real relationships, and look to the pre-data mining way of finding customers: referrals.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Last October, I unceremoniously stopped podcasting and started the process of closing my most successful online product, the Holistic Business Academy membership. Despite consistent revenue and a proven offer, I was bored and unable to hire myself out of the work that I could no longer tolerate.

Did I feel ungrateful? Yes. Did I feel like a failure? A bit.

But closing my membership was the best way for me to act with integrity in my business, and hopefully find some way forward with my work.

This episode marks the first of the new podcast iteration, The Think Piece Podcast. My experiences with alienation, burnout, and boredom have made me evermore curious about the nature of online, knowledge-driven work, and I have shifted my business to focus on what most excites me.

In this episode, I trace the process of realizing that HBA was done, coming to terms with the mistakes I had made, and the steps I’m taking now to build a new product that delights both me and my customers. Along the way I discuss ambition, post-Covid symptoms, and bouldering.

Tune in to learn what happened, what’s next, and why knowledge-driven business in particular is challenging to maintain longterm.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Are you afraid of change?

Did your first iteration of an offer sell so well that you haven’t had a reason to fix it?

Are there shifts you’d like to make to the offer, but you’re worried if you do it will rock that boat of success you’ve built?

When an offer is successful, making changes to it can be scary.

But not making changes can be even scarier.

Online business trends are constantly changing. As an online business owner, being aware of these shifts is critical. You don’t have to jump on every trend train, but if you want to maintain your share of the market, you also shouldn’t ignore them.

As Team HBA celebrates the third anniversary of the Holistic Business Academy, we’re considering the changes we have and haven’t made. The past three years have been a challenging and rewarding experience for HBA founder and business coach Sarah M. Chappell, and she’s learned a lot. In this episode, she’s sharing her top three business lessons so you can learn from her mistakes.

Save yourself some frustration and tune in so you can learn from these lessons and make the changes that will create the opportunity for momentum in your business.

TIME STAMPS

00:30—Three years of HBA2:20—If it ain’t broke, you can still fix it4:50—Coaching isn’t therapy7:50—Your pricing is a communication

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Vibes alone won’t create a successful business.

Many online tarot readers, astrologers, and coaches saw a massive revenue increase in 2020 but steady declines since. Even more started new businesses during the boom as the pandemic pushed people online, but are now confused as to why their offers aren’t selling.

Liz Worth is a tarot reader and author who supports professional readers in developing their skills through her online tarot school. Liz joins holistic business coach Sarah M. Chappell on the podcast this week to share how as economic and consumer trends shift, tarot readers and other online service providers must take a close look at their numbers, their online presence, and the “business” side of their business if they want to get clients.

Spirituality and wellness business owners often shy away from marketing and selling. Whether this is due to a fear of being salesy, or a belief that the universe will bring you the people you are meant to work with, your future customers may not even know you exist. And what worked when a large portion of the population was home during shutdown and glued to their phones is not going to work now.

This episode is a state of the union for online spiritual service providers. Tune in to learn what’s working, what’s changed, and what it really takes to run an online business so you can dust off your online presence and get those sales.

TIME STAMPS

1:30—Who is Liz Worth3:30—Managing a business and a life in 202220:00—What it really takes to run a full time tarot business32:00—Investing in and marketing your business

CONNECT WITH LIZ

WebsiteInstagramTikTokTwitterFree Tarot Resources

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Why do you want to grow your business?

Is it because you have a specific revenue goal? A family to support, or dreams to fulfill? Something you’re saving towards, like a house, or debt you’re paying off?

Or is it because you think you have to?

Growth as a loose, undefined concept is everywhere. We’re taught that it’s an economic imperative, and that as business owners, if we’re not growing, we’re dying.

But what happens when growth is causing the problems we’re facing, either collectively in the form of climate change, or personally in the form of health issues and burnout?

What if what we actually need is degrowth?

After finding herself pursuing growth for the sake of growth, holistic business coach Sarah M. Chappell ran right into a nasty surprise: deep burnout. Tune in to hear what Sarah learned about the burnout of scaling, why she’s excited by the idea of economic degrowth, and how it might apply to small business success.

TIME STAMPS

00:30—What is degrowth?3:40—What kind of business models are valued?7:10—Scalability and alienation11:48—The functions of work14:56—How to apply degrowth to small business

SOURCES

Ren Zatopek“Reversing the Freight Train” by Geoff Mann“The Precariat” by Guy Standing“The Precariat and Class Struggle” by Guy StandingAja Barber

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

How do you choose the best day to launch?

Maybe you look at your personal and business calendars, take into consideration the number of days you’ll need to promote, and schedule a launch date that works best for you.

Perhaps you pull a few tarot cards to see the energies headed your way and when you can launch to best harness any lucrative vibes.

This week’s podcast guest, ZamboniFunk, is letting us in on a great launch planning tool: electional astrology, or using astrology to choose auspicious timing.

ZamboniFunk is a professional weirdo. When he isn’t playing bootylicious funk music on the bass, he tells stories about the ongoing dramas of the heavens, with the basic understanding that whatever happens up there happens down here too; as above, so below. Timing is his specialty.

Drawing on his electional astrology practice, Zamboni shares the importance of the “green light” days, that are ideal for launching, and the “red light” days, that may be best used for a long nap. And while the stars and moon have a lot to say about divine timing, Zamboni is also a big believer in personal sovereignty, and wants us to balance both. 

If you use electional astrology to select the best time for your launch, what happens when your gut tells you otherwise? How do you listen to the stars and use divination while also tapping into your personal sovereignty? What if everything in the stars is saying no, but your heart is saying yes?

Tune in to this week’s podcast episode so you can plan your next perfectly timed launch while listening to the stars and maintaining your personal agency. 

CONNECT WITH ZAMBONI

Instagram

Website

Patreon

YouTube

TIME STAMPS

8:50 — Timing Your Launches and Rest Periods

23:15 — The Tension Between Agency and Divination

33:30 — Personal Sovereignty

43:40 — How Can We Reclaim Personal Agency?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Confused about which online education model is actually going to lead to good results for both you and your client?

Maybe you’ve set up a self-study course that you’re excited about, but few of your students are actually completing it. Or maybe you sold a traditional live online course in the past, with lifetime access to material for the customers, but that’s now proving to be a lot of unanticipated and unpaid work to maintain and update for former students.

If you’re struggling with problems like these, it’s likely that you’re using the wrong online education model for the offer that you’re making. The right model makes a huge difference for effective client results, and the wrong model can lead to low sales and unsuccessful outcomes—ouch.

But both of these can be remedied with careful thought about what transformation your offer is providing, and choosing the best educational model to deliver that transformation.

In the latest episode of The Holistic Business Podcast, business coach and strategist Sarah M. Chappell guides you through key questions that will help you choose the right online education model for your business.

Should you have a time-bound program like a live cohort course or group coaching program? An ongoing, subscription-based membership? Or maybe a self-study course with a digital e-book? Listen to the episode to find out, so you can finally sell your offer, teach effectively, and help your customers achieve their goals.

TIME STAMPS

4:26—Why the outcome of your offer is so critical4:54—The first question to ask yourself about your offer5:45—What you need to know before making a digital download6:37—The biggest sign that you should have a membership model9:35—The problem with self-study courses16:15—Breaking out of assumptions about what a membership is

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com

Is your membership business making you feel trapped, overwhelmed, and burnt out?

Your membership was supposed to make life easier for you, not harder. But now you’re stuck doing more work than ever, you’re losing customers faster than you can replace them, and your membership is turning out to be unsustainable, unprofitable, and just not what you’d hoped it would be.

Don’t give up yet. If you run a membership that’s running you into the ground, chances are that you’ve fallen into some common traps. And the great news is, you can overcome these traps with some solid planning and restructuring.

In this episode, holistic business coach Sarah M. Chappell outlines the four major reasons why memberships fail. She draws from her extensive experience running memberships and coaching other business owners to membership success to put together a comprehensive roadmap of pitfalls to avoid.

Once you’ve learned how to navigate through these common challenges, you’ll be well on your way to building a membership that provides immense value for your customers AND supports your well-being.

When properly implemented and integrated, your membership has the potential to highlight the best aspects of your expertise while providing consistent recurring revenue that allows you to feel energized about your work, minimize unnecessary labor, and help more customers than ever before.

So before you throw your membership in the trash, listen to this episode to find out why your membership isn’t working, and what you can do to make sure that it helps both you and your customers thrive.

TIME STAMPS

3:33—The primary challenges in the membership market4:59—The biggest issue when people create memberships14:25—Why you need a sustainable sales system20:14—How to create a customer retention plan27:36—Why integration into the rest of your business is key

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sarahmchappell.substack.com