What impact with the global coronavirus pandemic have on small business owners? Some are already feeling the crunch. Others are planning for the long-term fallout. Tara McMullin talks with financial behaviorist Jacquette Timmons, event organizer Lauren Caselli, and lawyer Autumn Witt Boyd about how they’re experiencing the impact of COVID-19.
Mindset & Identity
EP 268: Creating A Focused & Intentional Brand With Alyssa Catalano from Studebaker Metals
This week, my guest is Alyssa Catalano, the co-founder of Studebaker Metals—a metalsmithing and accessories brand that epitomizes focused and intentional choices.
Alyssa and the Studebaker Metals team have made careful brand choices about everything from how they style their products to how their products are categorized to the tools they use to craft their products to the messaging behind the products.
Alyssa and I talk about the unconventional choice to produce unisex accessories, why slow is fast and what that has to do with their brand positioning, and how their brand plays out in advertising, plus the roles of timelessness and place in how their brand is built.
EP 267: Leveling Up With Customer Feedback with Mighty Networks Gina Bianchini
Today, we’re talking to Gina Bianchini from Mighty Networks.
Now, as you probably already know, Mighty Networks is a sponsor of What Works. Plus, we’re proud users of their community-building and course delivery software.
And, as such, I’ve seen the Mighty Networks team go through a careful brand evolution over the last 3 years.
In fact, Mighty Networks brand evolution is a perfect case study in co-creating a brand with the people who engage with it and that’s exactly what I wanted to talk with Gina about.
Gina and I chat about what’s stayed the same and what’s changed over the last few years as Mighty Networks has grown and grown. You’ll hear about Gina’s light bulb moment, how building a community for Mighty Networks users helped her see how people were really using the software, and why she decided to build an online course. Plus, you’ll hear how all of this learning helped Mighty Networks create a stunning new visual brand, in-house, in less than 1 week.
EP 263: Turning Your Values Into Action With Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coach Erica Courdae
But today, my guest is Erica Courdae, the founder of Silver Immersion, a Baltimore-area hair and makeup business, as well as a diversity, equity, and inclusion coach.
She’s also the host of Pause On The Play, a podcast where she shares insight and expertise on fulfilling your values for diversity and inclusion in your business.
I met Erica at She Podcasts Live! in Atlanta last October and I knew she’d be a perfect fit to kick off this month on leadership.
Erica and I talk about the frustrating origin story of her first business and whether she’s always been someone willing to speak up and share her truth.
We also talk about how she models her values for her team members and the clients they service—and why that’s a key part of how she leads. Plus, we talk about why she ventured into the world of coaching and how she settled on diversity, equity, and inclusion as her specialty.
This is a great episode to listen to if you’ve felt the call to bring your own values into your business more concretely but don’t know where to start or how to lead the change.
EP 259: Managing The Creative Process With Brooklyn Book Doctor Founder Joelle Hann
Joelle is the founder of Brooklyn Book Doctor. She works with authors to help them complete their book projects—whether it’s crafting the proposal or completing the manuscript.
Her job is to be as much creative partner as it is project manager.
After Joelle and I wrapped up our conversation, she told me: “the human element is a huge piece of the puzzle.”
And, honestly, if you listen for this idea throughout this interview, I think you’ll see what she means.
Joelle has become a master of managing for the human element in the creative process. And while Joelle has to manage the human element with her clients, we have to do this for ourselves every day.
Joelle and I talk about the tools she uses to manage different types of writing projects, what she’s learned about managing projects for creative people, and how her project management system blossomed into its own offer for working clients through the book proposal process.
EP 256: Discovering What You Need From Your Business With BrainSpace Optimized Founder Hailey Thomas
Today’s guest mentioned early on in our conversation that she found herself taking the work that came to her, growing her capacity to be able to bring in *more* work, and never really stopping to ask herself how she was designing her business.
Her name is Hailey Thomas and she’s the founder of BrainSpace Optimized, where she helps entrepreneurs plan, execute, and complete projects in 90 days or less.
Unfortunately, Hailey suffered a big, personal loss that made her rethink the way she’d been doing business to that point.
We talk about how her tunnel vision led her to skipping her initial grief, why she let go of her clients and contractors, and how she started to process what she truly needed from her life and business.
EP 253: Discovering The Joy of Missing Out With Inkwell Press Founder Tonya Dalton
Our self-talk keeps us on the edge, always wondering if we’re good enough, smart enough, or tough enough.
Tonya Dalton would like us to know there’s another way. In fact, Tonya has worked hard to rewrite her own stories, clean up her own self-talk, and embrace the joy of missing out.
Tonya Dalton is the author of The Joy of Missing Out and the founder of Inkwell Press. She’s also the host of the hit podcast, The Productivity Paradox.
I wanted to talk with Tonya about how embracing the joy of missing out has transformed her own self-talk as an entrepreneur. We chat about the glorification of busy in today’s culture, the litmus tests we subject ourselves to, how we can rewrite stories that aren’t serving us, and how Tonya actively chooses what she wants to miss out on so she can embrace more of what she really wants out of life and business.
EP 250: Creating Wildly Fun Client Experiences With Allie LeFevere
Allie LeFevere is the co-founder of Obedient Agency—a full-service humor marketing agency.
Truly, the first time I landed on their website, I can describe my experience as nothing less than surprised and delighted. It’s not funny for funny’s sake—it’s humorous for clarity’s sake. Every piece of it serves to define who they are, what they do, and who they do it for in the most unique ways possible.
I had to know how this brilliant branding & positioning functioned on the inside. Had they designed equally surprising & delighting client experiences?
Yes, of course they have.
Allie and I talk about how that website got built—which is a great look at the brainstorming process they use throughout the agency. We also chat about how they infuse humor into every touchpoint they have with a client, how they manage each client touchpoint, and why client fit is such an important piece of the puzzle.
EP 246: Learning From Your Mistakes With Leadership Developer & LMFT Rebecca Ching
I spoke with one of my oldest business friends, Rebecca Ching, about some of the mistakes she made when she took a huge leap forward in her therapy business and opened a multidisciplinary brick & mortar practice. Today, Rebecca is both the founder of Potentia Therapy and an Integrated Leadership Coach helping entrepreneurs and leaders navigate the complexities of leadership today.
Rebecca shares both the errors in her execution and the errors in her thinking that led to some difficult years.
She also gets into some deep reflection around her personal identity and sense of worthiness that really resonated with me. For many of us self-described “achievers,” making a mistake or failing at a venture isn’t just a set back—it rocks us to our core.
If that’s you too, I think you’ll especially appreciate this conversation.
EP 245: Coaching Yourself To Stick With It With Original Impulse Founder Cynthia Morris
Cynthia Morris is the founder of Original Impulse. She coaches writers, artists and entrepreneurs to get out of their own way so they can finish projects that matter. She’s also the author of The Busy Woman’s Guide To Writing A World-Changing Book.
Cynthia and I talk about her 20 year journey of business ownership, creative exploration, and coaching. I ask her about the lessons she’s learned along the way and how she’s kept the business going for over 2 decades.
Pay close attention to the commitment she made to taking risks and the willingness to do the hard creative work she asks her clients to do.
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