As expertise-based service-providing entrepreneurs, we might mistakenly believe that our business doesn’t require paid media advertising. If we plan to scale – to move from hourly to exit- we need to think about expanding our marketing reach beyond word-of-mouth or organic SEO. I am on this journey with my listeners, and I was so grateful to have Mary-Ann Pruitt, a 25-year advertising veteran, join me for some essential tips, including: Why advertising matters for businesses from solos to Fortun...
Aug 01, 2023•34 min•Season 5Ep. 54
I encourage my listeners to think about the intellectual property assets they are accumulating in their expertise-based services businesses so that they can scale their business to the next level. In this episode of Hourly to Exit, I encourage you to treat your assets like any other inventory through accumulation, tracking, and protection. While the legal definition of inventory envisions tangible objects, in an increasingly digital world, it’s important to expand your understanding of what IP y...
Jul 25, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 53
I was so excited to welcome back my very first guest, Jaclyn Mellone, for a conversation about some simple, easy ways we can help ourselves to grow and succeed in our journey as women business owners and entrepreneurs. Jaclyn has moved from being a coach to running a media company, which also reminded us about a significant value we should look for in our business. In this episode, we learned that There’s a great technique to distinguish between the struggles in our mindset and the real world As...
Jul 18, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 52
In this episode, recorded as a LinkedIn Live, Erin explores the importance of copyrights and trademarks. Each plays a distinct role in an expertise-based business, but they are valued equally by your corporate clients. This episode helps you understand your IP from the perspective of your corporate clients so you can prioritize your resources to maximize value. Topics covered include: The key differences between copyrights and trademarks The purpose that copyrights and trademarks play in your bu...
Jul 11, 2023•16 min•Season 5Ep. 51
Feel overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a traditional business plan? Laura Posey distilled this strenuous process into a one-page business plan. Laura helps business consultants, owners, and coaches focus on what’s most important. “You've got all the pieces and parts that you need. There's probably nothing else that you need to learn. You just need to put it in the right order.” In this week’s episode, we talk about: The Success Circle framework, which guides business owners to set prioriti...
Jun 27, 2023•36 min•Season 5Ep. 50
When it comes to copyright, there are a few rules that can make all the difference between scaling your business and getting tripped up by the counterintuitive rules of intellectual property law. You need to know who owns what, who has what usage rights, and what the consequences of misappropriation might be. This episode was recorded as a LinkedIn Live, which I hold the last Wednesday of every month at Noon ET (check out my YouTube channel if you want the full version with slides) and covers ho...
Jun 20, 2023•20 min•Season 5Ep. 49
I had the pleasure of speaking with a coaches’ coach, Gill Moakes, who helps purpose-driven women get to the next level of their business. From the journey that got her to her current work to the insights and encouragement she offers her clients, Gill has a unique approach to entrepreneurship that starts with deliberately setting aside imposter syndrome and realizing your financial potential through a money mindset. In this episode, you will learn: What a full-fat version of your business can lo...
Jun 13, 2023•33 min•Season 4Ep. 48
Do you know my nickname for “non-competes”? “Niche killers.” A non-compete is a provision that restricts your ability to seek and work with similar clients. And what is a group of similar clients? A niche! Non-competes are the enemy of strong positioning. Being the go-to person for a niche increases profitability and authority. In this episode, I discuss how to identify and negotiate these controversial provisions. A few topics we will be talking about are: Improving your profitability by focusi...
Jun 06, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 47
Many of my listeners have decided to leave their job in corporate America and go out on their own. In this episode of the Hourly to Exit Podcast, I interview Betsy Jordyn, a brilliant consultant who works with people moving from employee to entrepreneur, and she had some great advice to offer during our conversation. Some of the highlights of the episode include: How to rethink money by going from drawing a salary to generating income and profit Investments vs. Expenses: a perspective that is cr...
May 30, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 46
In this episode, I talk about the role that contracts and processes play in meeting your KPI objectives. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are those metrics that are most critical to your business. KPIs are used to help you measure your progress toward achieving your strategic goals. KPIs apply throughout your business from four perspectives: financial, customer, process, and people. Today I cover contracts and their impact on KPIs in the following areas: • Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) • Cus...
May 23, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 45
According to statistics, 90% of women’s income is invested back into their families for nutrition, education, and healthcare. As the mother of a high school junior, I can definitely attest to this. We women are naturally caregivers. Unfortunately, this generosity can strain our well-being and financial future. This episode’s guest is Cathy Sikorski, an Elder Law attorney, blogger, and video influencer, who makes complex legal and financial issues digestible and helps you to avert a crisis in car...
May 16, 2023•40 min•Season 4Ep. 44
It’s a busy day. You’ve ticked items off your to-do list but you still have plenty of things to do. And so you’re thinking, why do I only have 24 hours a day? Can I just clone myself so I can do two things at a time? Now you can! Not literally though. There are several systems you can develop that integrate artificial intelligence and other modern technology to replicate yourself. Having a replicable process is a sign of a healthy and efficient business, but it comes with repercussions—of course...
May 09, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 43
If you are a business owner, do you fall into one of these categories: a) Earning too little; b) working too much; or c) struggling to exit? Yes? Greg Alexander is your guy. He is the founder of Collective 54, a company and a community that creates a great impact on brilliant founders who may need a piece of advice. Greg is not just doing the talking. He actually proved his expertise and knowledge on exiting a business big time when he sold his first company for $162 million. In this episode, yo...
May 02, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 42
AI is everywhere now. You might now be fully aware of it, but you carry it in your pockets—our phones are built to understand users through data usage and the apps that we download make use of AI technology. In the workplace, the competition shifts not only in making sure employees are equipped, efficient, and accurate but that they are also fast and productive—and that’s where AI takes the center stage. Imagine: A report which takes an employee to write in one to two hours can be generated by A...
Apr 25, 2023•26 min•Season 4Ep. 41
In this episode, our repeat guest, Patty Block, shares another brilliant concept to help women grow their businesses. 62% of women rely on their businesses for their primary income, yet 88% of these businesses generate less than $100,000 in annual revenue. Having seen the same struggles time and again, Patty teaches women how to shift their mindset and build their confidence to generate more revenue with less stress. Listen while she details her framework, SNAP, and discusses the following: The ...
Apr 18, 2023•32 min•Season 4Ep. 40
The first time I saw Kylie Hodges’ website, one of the things that stuck with me was how she described her work: she helps clients grow their businesses “while working with their ADHD, anxiety, or depression.” No—she isn’t speaking from the perspective of a medical doctor. She coaches from the perspective of someone diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and acknowledging this had been pivotal to allowing her to do something revolutionary that serves others. Kylie also emphasizes the impo...
Apr 11, 2023•43 min•Season 4Ep. 39
Making sure we identify, track, and protect the many IP assets that flow through our businesses is a common source of anxiety. That’s why I created the Asset Tracker (also known as IP Tracker). You can download your free copy [here] . In this episode, recorded as a LinkedIn Live demonstration (I encourage you to watch the YouTube video for the most benefit), I introduce this new solution to help make sure you aren’t losing valuable IP assets because they are gathering dust in your business attic...
Apr 04, 2023•30 min•Season 4Ep. 38
Women’s intuition is a superpower. As Shoshanna French puts it, intuition is “a direct way of knowing or understanding something without any prior experience or knowledge.” So, rather than doubting these thoughts in our heads, we should start using them as a guide to practical business decisions and self-healing journeys. It is a long process to be able to recognize intuition in the midst of our clouded headspaces. So, in this episode, Shoshanna and I discussed how listening to our instincts can...
Mar 28, 2023•52 min•Season 4Ep. 37
To replicate successful work with clients, it's neither efficient nor necessary to recreate the wheel. - Erin Austin An astounding 70% of the US domestic product is intellectual property. As expertise-based service providers, we are creating intellectual property (IP) every day. Yet some of you (I’m not naming names) still challenge the importance of creating and protecting IP. Remember: we don't create IP for vanity's sake. It’s a crucial business aspect that allows us the leverage to make our ...
Mar 21, 2023•20 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a term used to represent an organization's corporate financial interests that focus mainly on sustainable and ethical impacts. Despite the war on “Woke”, ESG is here to stay and not just for large public companies. Christy Cook, an expert who focuses on ESG for small to medium size businesses, joined the podcast to talk about the subject and shed some light. Christy is an amazing resource, as is her business – InvestHER Strategies. We talked about th...
Mar 14, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 35
In this episode, I put a new spin on journaling to achieve your personal and business goals—keeping an IP journal. The goal of an IP journal is to document the who, when, what, and how of all your content and ideas at the time you create them. The benefit—confidence in your legal foundation as you create IP-based revenue streams, like products and licensing, and knowing that you are building a business that will be ready to sell when you are ready to exit. In this episode, you will learn: · How ...
Mar 07, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Non-Disclosure Agreements have become ubiquitous in US business these days because so much of our economy runs on Intellectual Property. In one of my LinkedIn Live broadcasts, I focus on some critical provisions that appear in most NDAs. I call them the Hot Spots because the person receiving the information (usually called the Recipient) needs to pay close attention to these provisions. In this episode, I review Why discretion beats an NDA in the preliminary conversation phase of a deal The 5 Ho...
Feb 28, 2023•20 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Imagine if there was a way to get back a whole day of your busy week. That’s the goal of Sarah Greener, a specialist in helping women business owners find ways to focus on their high-creative tasks instead of getting bogged down with the minutia of running a business. She joined me in a fruitful conversation that covered a range of issues related to time management, including: SOPs – standard operating procedures and how they can transform your work and home life Starting from your goals and map...
Feb 21, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 32
I confess that I’m a nerd who loves other nerds, and Staci Hauschild is a self-confessed nerd about strategic plans. In this episode of Hourly to Exit, she and I talked about how essential it is for expertise-based service providers to figure out what to do, when to do it, and who should do it. We covered some important topics like The nuts and bolts of a good strategic plan Why the key to growth is not a “second you” The importance of predictability to create a sustainable business How Staci is...
Feb 14, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 31
I know most people hate legalese, and contracts seem full of that kind of language. But services agreements and NDAs are inevitable in today’s business world. They are the lifeblood that can make or break your business; in this episode, I talk about why. You will learn: How contracts are necessary to avoid assumptions; Seven reasons to learn to love your contracts; and To build a sustainable, scalable, and salable business, you have to know the basics about contracts I’m going deeper into specif...
Feb 07, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 30
The key to scaling your expertise-based service business is transforming your assets into something you can replicate, and an online course (an e-course) is one way to do that. I had a conversation with Molly Kaiser, who has a decade of experience building, selling, and teaching others the secrets to a good ecourse. In this episode, you will Learn the ingredients to a good, profitable ecourse Understand the difference between a $19.95 and a $997 course, and how to price your own Hear about a qui...
Jan 31, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 29
I’ve always said that this podcast is meta in that I am on the Hourly to Exit journey with my listeners, my guests, my clients, and the many folks I encounter on LinkedIn, webinars, and in other forums. I’ve collected their wisdom in some super-charged market research, and as we enter 2023, I am drinking some of my own Kool-Aid. In this episode of the podcast, you’ll learn Why the expert-to-client 1-1 service model is not scalable The critical difference between income earning and wealth product...
Jan 24, 2023•12 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Shining Some Light on Trade Secrets In Episode 27 of the Hourly to Exit Podcast, we hear a recording of a recent LinkedIn Live session by Erin, in which she breaks down the major elements of a confusing but critical area of Intellectual Property (IP) law: Trade Secrets. Unlike the other three major areas of IP law – copyright, trademark, and patent- Trade Secrets aren’t registered to be protected. Quite the opposite. In this episode, you will learn: The difference between Trade Secrets and Confi...
Jan 10, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Sometimes a single post can inspire transformative insights. Imagine if that post were about insights. In Episode 26 of the podcast, I welcomed Michelle Calcagni to the show to reflect on her career and her valuable LinkedIn post about insights. We dug deep about professional women at the top of their game and preserving our unique, acquired knowledge to pass along to a buyer, a mentee, or the next generation. In this episode, you’ll learn: Insights are often A Rembrandt in the Attic … learn wha...
Jan 02, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 26
When it comes to money – especially feelings of insufficiency or inadequacy – there’s often a lot more going on than the numbers. I was so lucky to host the incredibly inspiring Joan Sotkin in an intense conversation about our relationship with money and prosperity. She shared her unique philosophy and approach to helping people with their finances, and we learned a lot about things like · It’s not about the money; it’s our habitual emotions that are the issue · We have learned attitudes about o...
Dec 19, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 25
