Understand the Difference Between Marketing and Sales to Understand Where You're Stuck Marketing a business is everything that doesn't involve actually taking money. The money transaction is the sales part and that is where so many entrepreneurs fall down. For one reason or another, they get to the money part and simply stop. Small business coach, Stephen Krausse, talks about when you get stuck in your sales process it's not during your qualification stage it's actually in the conversation with ...
Jul 19, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Amanda Mundo, the founder of Social Hero Brands, calls herself a former "corporate cyborg" turned soulful entrepreneur. Over the span of 15+ years, she climbed the corporate ladder crushing tasks, projects, and assignments. In return, she was given even more work, more deadlines, and less purpose. She found that her family would only receive the leftovers of her energy and spirit after spending 14 hours days in the office. So, in 2016, she and her husband decided she should become a stay-at-home...
Jul 15, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Meet Alison Proffit. Alison Proffit, founder of Proffit Coach is a business coach & consultant who takes a holistic approach in helping purpose-driven small business owners feel more heart-centered and soul-aligned in the sales, marketing, and operations aspects of their business. Her work is informed through a background in Human Resources, Operations, Sales & Marketing, and she is also a certified Energy Leadership coach through the Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching. Aft...
Jul 15, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Mary Gaul is a Business Strategy & FOCUS Guide who has helped over 500 businesses find practical solutions and new ideas for growth and success. As the owner of Success Magnified, she facilitates conversations with business owners individually or in groups, asking questions, being a thought partner, and providing resources to help them gain clarity. Using her gifts to help clients see the big picture, prioritize goals and strategies, and hold them accountable – all while having some fun! Wit...
Jul 14, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Meet LeAndra Foster LeAndra Foster is an expert speaker on the topic of scale-up finances for women who run coaching or alternative wellness businesses. With almost 20 years of experience as a former pension actuary, hedge fund operations manager, and university finance instructor, she knows what it takes to make small businesses profitable. LeAndra helps her clients increase profits, feel confident in their pricing, and keep more of what they make, so they can afford their ideal lifestyle. She ...
Jul 13, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Meet Stephen Krausse In His Own Words: My vision? A world where successful small businesses are the rule, not the exception. I know success looks different to every entrepreneur because we're all different. 30 years of experience starting, buying, operating, and selling small businesses has taught me two things. Businesses are bought and sold on the perception of future value. Business owners are oftentimes experts in fields outside of business. I built Beyond 50 Percent to help owners stay in t...
Jul 12, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Just be you, it's going to work! Sales conversations can be scary for both people. Our soulful sales expert, Alison Proffit, shares that being bold enough to say you know the fear can really open up a prospect. In fact she says, "...it's showing that person that you are aware of the energy of the conversation, and that you're not just trying to push through to get your point through..." If you find yourself being unsure about yourself in the conversation, maybe you can look into that and find ne...
Jul 08, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Offer Clarity Not Confusion When it comes to deciding what to offer your clients, the sky is the limit. This is not necessarily a good thing because limitless offers may be hurting business. Alison Proffit, our sales strategy expert, hits the nail on the head this week. She shares with us that it's easy to think your offerings should be vast, but really simple is the better way to go. Alison muses, "we want to make sure that we're giving the client opportunities to work with us in a way that wor...
Jul 08, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Are you asking your happy clients to share their happiness? When you get it right with a client their testimony is a powerful tool to promote your business to others. There is a tiny trick to getting testimonies to happen as Amanda Mundo shares, "Honestly, the hardest part about it is just asking, if you know that this person enjoyed what they really gained value from your service or your product, then they will be happy to give you a testimonial. " If you are looking for an easy way to boost yo...
Jul 08, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Details Matter, So Write Them Down Planning. Whew, just reading that feels big. Our productivity expert, Mary Gaul, says it doesn't have to feel big if you help yourself out. Her tip, "...don't just put a time block on your calendar that says planning time, or marketing time, right? That's step one, step two is going into that calendar, block or invitation or whatever, you know, in the notes section, putting down what you're going to work on." Get more from your work-time because you know what y...
Jul 07, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Pricing is More Than Replacing 9-5 Income When you started your business it was most likely to fulfill a desire to serve others or bring a product into the world, and making money might have been a casual outcome. Yet you need to make the money to keep doing what you love. Our cash flow expert LeAndra Foster shares with us that paying yourself is the reason you started your business. She shares, "yes, you have to have a personal budget personal spending plan, you have to have a business spending...
Jul 06, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Get Your Social Media Audience Moving Having an online presence is a must for all small businesses these days. So, what's the next step once you created an online audience? According to Amand Mundo, our social media strategist, the next step is to throw a party, kind of. She suggests hosting live challenges or events for your audience. Amanda shares, "Events and challenges are so amazing because they actually bring your audience into your world. And they get to actually see how you work and how ...
Jul 01, 2021•5 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Mix In Some Play Time and Bring More Joy Into Your Business You probably didn't start your business so you can work so much that you never have a moment to yourself. Mary Gaul, our productivity expert, shares how she took an experience she had with her daughters and turned it into a business networking opportunity. She shares, "And it was so much fun taking that time in the middle of the week. To just splurge, I feel so decadent sometimes, but I was more productive on those afternoons or the day...
Jun 30, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 38
It Better Include Your Personal Lifestyle Starting a business is a thrill of a lifetime, and scary too. For many, it's the first time you are responsible for making enough money to keep the lights on. Our budgeting expert, LeAndra Foster, suggests starting with a firm understanding of your personal spending. She muses, "If you don't have enough money, if you don't make enough money from your business, to keep your lights on and a roof over your head and food in your belly, it doesn't matter what...
Jun 29, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Visualize How Your Customer Sees Your Company Now, more than ever, even the tiniest of companies are online. That means customers are using visual cues and context to make decisions. Our branding expert, Sabene Georges, shares some really great tips on what to consider when setting up, or redoing your brand. She warns that a brand is more than a logo, "people think well, oh, I need a logo. Okay, well, certainly a logo is a good starting point to start fleshing out some of those ideas. But really...
Jun 28, 2021•13 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Stop Doing Tasks that Drain You Business owners are notorious for working themselves to the bone and rarely getting help. Our operations expert, Stephen Krausse, shares that type of thinking may be causing more harm than good. "if you work 60 hours, and that's your, your, your lever to convince you, you need help, and then you hire someone and you're working 60 hours so that you can pay them, you haven't solved the problem. Okay? So, you know, you really need to look at your own character, and w...
Jun 28, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Create Raving Fans from Existing Interest Once again our social media expert Amanda Mundo brings wonderful words of wisdom for how to get more out of your existing audience. She shares, "So right now [your audience are] sitting in the audience, but then we want them to really become a raving fan, understand our brand, understand what we offer, and really get to know us in a more intimate level. And the way for that to happen is to make sure that we are transitioning them from just our audience, ...
Jun 24, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Free Yourself From Admin Time As business owners, definitely, those who sell services, it's easy to be overly nice. To give too much away for free or always be bending over to make things easier for potential clients. Our productivity expert, Mary Gaul, advises that you create better boundaries for your time and energy. When musing about protecting time she shares, "it's a reminder that as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, we get to create the schedule that we want to have, which we're not u...
Jun 23, 2021•11 min•Season 1Ep. 33
You May Be Turning Away Customers Our wonderful digital strategies expert, Sabene Georges, shares her wisdom about using a website as a strategic tool. She tells us that, "Our websites need to serve the bottom line of our business in some way. And so what is it that you want people to do once they hit your website? That's part of your digital strategy. It's huge. And so you know, do you want them to click on something, fill out a form, download a publication sign up for something? What is the go...
Jun 21, 2021•12 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Running a small business is exhilarating and challenging! There are always times when you feel you are well and truly stuck but are you? After 30 years of running small businesses, Stephen Krausse shares some tips on how to push yourself through the tough times. He shares,"I came up with kind of three scenarios where business owners get stuck. One is we get stuck on revenue generation, we get stuck on cash, and we get stuck on people. Right. And so I thought we'd go through each one of those thi...
Jun 21, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 31
A Vision is Carried All the Way Down The Company Line Crafting a vision statement can sometimes feel a bit odd when you are starting out. Mike Woeckener continues his discussion of writing for the future of your business. This week he shares how and why vision statements are so important. Mike shares that, "the objective behind a vision statement is supposed to be a short paragraph and it guides you through the obstacles and tough places,...And it is actually what is your target? What is, you kn...
Jun 18, 2021•9 min
Writing Out What You Do, Helps You Sell What You Do No matter where you are in your business development journey, it's always a good idea to take a moment to write out exactly what and how you are planning on selling your services. In this episode I chat with Mike Woeckener about the ins and outs of writing a value proposition so it's effective for you and your clients. Mike explains that it can take time to get everything down on paper and gives a few tips on how to kick start your writing. He ...
Jun 18, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Power Up Your Social Media Strategy, Get A Scheduling Software! Let's face it running a business by yourself is like being pulled in a thousand directions at once. This week Amanda Mundo, our social media expert, shares her thoughts on adding third-party scheduling software to your own strategy. Here's what she shares about the benefits, "[use] schedulers for your social media so that you can schedule out posts ahead of time, instead of trying to scramble and figure out what you're posting on th...
Jun 17, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 29
No Matter How Many Chats Are Needed High-pressure sales tactics are really not what potential clients are looking for, they want connection and authenticity. People want to do business with other humans, and most importantly they want to feel they know and trust you. While giving us her wisdom on the topic, our sales expert Alison Proffit shares, " a sales cycle doesn't have to be a one-call close it can be. But depending upon where that person is, where they were coming into that conversation, ...
Jun 17, 2021•11 min•Season 1Ep. 27
More Distractions Doesn't Mean Less Work Summer brings fun and distraction to workdays. As a business owner, it's important to find a way to maximize your work time so you can get more out of your playtime. Mary Gaul, our productivity guru, shares her method for keeping focused even when stress is high. " if you find your brain just kind of spinning out of control, you're trying to work on a project and you just keep spinning and, and you know, you are having a hard time focusing. So the first t...
Jun 16, 2021•9 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Set-it Then Forget-it Instead Does this sound familiar? Each time you get the money you want to save, but the money is not there to save. In this week's Budget Like a Boss session, our expert LeAndra Foster chats on the importance of including savings in your budget. She shares that the best part about this is, "setting a budget up, it's front end work, and then it sort of runs itself. So this isn't something that you're doing every month, we're looking at this maybe once a year." When you set u...
Jun 15, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Big or Small All Businesses Have One Starting out in business is a challenge even if you have $1,000,000 to start. Steve Krausse, our operations expert, shares how the money you start with is just that, a place to start. In fact, he muses that if you say, " I've got a million dollars to build my company, or I've got $12 to build my company, it doesn't. Neither of those things means you're going to have success or failure. They mean you have a different set of constraints." Understanding your sta...
Jun 14, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Writing Out What You Do, Helps You Sell What You Do No matter where you are in your business development journey, it's always a good idea to take a moment to write out exactly what and how you are planning on selling your services. In this episode I chat with Mike Woeckener about the ins and outs of writing a value proposition so it's effective for you and your clients. Mike explains that it can take time to get everything down on paper and gives a few tips on how to kick start your writing. He ...
Jun 11, 2021•11 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Peel Back the Curtain Alison Proffit, our sales expert, shares a little secret with us during a recent session. What's her secret? Sales happen naturally when they come from an authentic place. She shares that being authentic is easy, " it's just showing up. Showing up fully, not hiding the truth, peeling back the curtain, and sharing about your own challenges because often in your business, you're solving problems for people that are similar to you." How easy is that? Just be yourself and allow...
Jun 10, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Don't Be Scared, It's Just Video! If Content is King, Video Queen As a small business owner, any marketing that helps you stand out will draw a larger audience. One way to get in front of your potential clients is through videos. Our social media expert, Amanda Mundo, shares her thoughts on how to use video to enhance your strategies. She shares it can be scary to start, "Because, to be honest, and frank video can kind of be a pain point for all of us at some point, you know, it's like, oh, my g...
Jun 10, 2021•10 min•Season 1Ep. 22
