It takes money to start a business. Money can come in the form of a loan, a credit card, a savings account, or even pre-orders. Or, time and sweat equity become a proxy for money until there’s enough cold hard cash to invest in growth. It also takes money to grow a...
I typically don’t do a big “year in review” routine—only because review and reflection are a big part of my work in practice. But last week, when Sean and I sat down to record a “quick” rundown of our favorite things from the year for the podcast, he preempted me with...
American culture is hustle culture. We place extraordinary value on productivity, efficiency, and the willingness to suck it up and squeeze more in. Our heroes are entrepreneurs and artists who put in the work. We are educated in hustle culture from the time we start...
You might have noticed that building an audience on social media doesn't seem as easy as it was promised to be. The truth is that things have changed. And that business influencer who is promoting their top tips for growing your follower count on Instagram? Well,...
Pundits, journalists, and your Uncle Joe all wring their hands about the state of discourse online. Too siloed. Too promotional. Too empty. Too rage-inducing. The list could go on and on. I truly don't want to add to that particular conversation. But I will admit that...
“If you don’t see results, you didn’t want it bad enough.” That’s become the prevailing narrative of the online business refund policy. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee results. And there are reasons to remind customers and clients that, no matter what...
When was the last time you felt like an outsider in a group? For all I know, it could have been today. Or maybe it was last week. Or last month. Being an outsider doesn’t have to be a bad experience. Sometimes, it can be quite fun! But other times, you start to get...
How do you really know what’s working for your small business? Over the last 12 years, I’ve heard all sorts of “this is what works for me” stories. Heck, I’ve told a whole bunch of them myself. Some of them are true. And some of them? Well, we'd like them to be true....
Doing business in a capitalist economy has a way of turning people into users, clicks, page views, and targets. As business owners with more data at our fingertips than we know what to do with, we reduce relational questions to math problems and automations. What’s...
“I need to create some systems for my business.” It’s one of the key needs we hear from small business owners. Recognizing that they have something that works on some level, they’re looking to make it work better. Systems seem to be the way to do it. But then a...
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