The Nitty-Gritty: * The frustrating situation that led Erica Courdae to go on her own and create Silver Immersion , an inclusive hair and beauty company* How Erica has developed her voice and ability to stand up for what she believes in* Why modeling is a key way she leads her team—and her clients* How she made the transition into coaching and decided to specialize in diversity, equity, and inclusion for business owners* Why Erica takes a stand for imperfect allyship and how that plays out in he...
Feb 04, 2020•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Kickass Conferences founder Isaac Watson manages massive projects like organizing a conference* The 5 phases that each event plan goes through and how project management works at each stage* What tools Isaac and his teams use to ensure every detail is accounted for and every guest has a fabulous experience* How he manages the experience on the ground during a live event I used to balk at project management. It felt like the systems I was supposed to follow were imposing r...
Jan 28, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * 5 small business owners share the project management tools they can’t live without* Why each tool is the right fit for the way each business owner works* How they incorporate the tools into their workflows* Plus, what tools haven’t worked for them Project management is so much more than software. But if you think about tools like Asana , Trello , Clickup , or Notion (referral link that helps to support What Works) when you hear project management, you’re certainly not alone. ...
Jan 23, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why clear client communication helps on-demand CFO & cash flow analyst Christina Sjahli manage her complex financial projects* The system she uses to keep track of documents and change history* How she uses deadlines for herself and her clients to manage the progress of her projects* What Christina learned from her corporate finance experience that’s transferred to her own business—and what she left behind Can I really learn project management as an entrepreneur? A few of...
Jan 21, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Brooklyn Book Doctor founder Joelle Hann manages the process of book writing for her clients* What her book coaching experience taught her about creating and managing a group book proposal writing program* The tools Joelle uses to track her clients’ progress and coach them along to completion* Why it’s key for Joelle to consider the human element at every stage of managing a book writing project What happens when project management and the creative process collide? I thin...
Jan 14, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Kaye Publicity founder Dana Kaye plans and manages multi-layer book publicity projects* The tools she uses to track progress, run reports, and organize the information that goes into every project* How her team members take ownership of different areas of each project* Why she’s learning to take a more top-level role in each project they manage One of my most important personal commitments from last year was to “work the system.” In other words, I wanted to stop constantl...
Jan 07, 2020•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve had a helluva year here at What Works. We’ve talked to over 100 small business owners, published more than 80 episodes, and tackled 12 different themes this year. What Works is special because we focus on the people who are making their businesses work every single day. We believe we all have a lot to learn from each other—and the more honest & transparent we are about how our marketing, operations, tools, product development, or sales processes work, the better chance we all have for ...
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast ★ Support this podcast ★
Dec 17, 2019•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why podcast advocate Elsie Escobar created a personal process for looking back over the year and setting her intentions for the year to come* How setting clear boundaries helps her to stay on top of her commitments and execution* The tools she uses to look back over the past year and how they give her a fresh perspective on what she’s experienced Do you know what you did this year? Do you know how many blog posts you published? How many emails you sent out? How many customers...
Dec 12, 2019•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Toi Smith made the shift from virtual assistant to online business manager to growth & impact strategist * How she reassessed the true value behind what she was offering her clients so she could rework her business model* What eliminating exploitative business practices from her own model has taught her about creating value* How her rates, working hours, and client load is different now that she’s built a business that helps her take care of herself Business is an exp...
Dec 10, 2019•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How The Joy Of Missing Out author Tonya Dalton discovered the stories and self-talk that were keeping her from really enjoying life and celebrating her success* Why identifying the litmus tests she put herself through helped her determine what she really wanted out of life and business* How she reflects on the good, the bad, and the ugly to keep her stories and self-talk in check* How Tonya rewrites her stories so her self-talk supports her and the life she wants to lead Let’...
Dec 03, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why SmartStart founder Linda Lopeke has every potential client complete a rigorous application* How she sets expectations clearly from the get-go so that every client has the best chance of getting results* What inspired her approach to business systems and client experience* How she makes brand-new clients feel at ease, step-by-step Starting my working life as a retail worker, I always associated “customer service” with what you do when there’s a problem. A customer needs to...
Nov 26, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Tyme founder Jacynda Smith manages 100-200 individual consultations with new customers each week* Why these personalized consultations help Tyme delight 90% of frustrated customers* How virtual styling sessions create a feedback loop that helps Tyme get better & better* What Tyme is doing to leverage the success they’ve had with personalized virtual styling sessions “Do things that don’t scale.” That’s the advice that Paul Graham, co-founder at startup accelerator Y C...
Nov 21, 2019•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Obedient Agency co-founder Allie LeFevere believes so strongly in the power of humor to build a brand and market a product* How the agency incorporates humor into every touchpoint of their client experiences* The brainstorming techniques they use to find surprising & delightful marketing ideas* Why humor has even made its way into their hiring process The first time I heard the phrase, “Surprise & delight…” …I was being trained on Starbucks & Seattle’s Best Co...
Nov 19, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Project Army founder Viktor Nagornyy discovered his opportunity in the website support & hosting market* The reason he decided to do the opposite of industry standards when it comes to key customer policies* How he landed on competitive pricing without having to slash expenses or sacrifice customer experience* Why prioritizing exceptional customer experiences has led to significant business growth I’ve been building websites with WordPress for almost 11 years now. In ...
Nov 12, 2019•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * What business therapist & mindset coach Nicole Lewis-Keeber does to help her clients identify boundary issues in their businesses* Why clear communication is key to have a great relationship with your business and your customers* How to renegotiate a relationship that’s run afoul of your personal boundaries* What habits and routines you can develop to ensure you’re upholding your own boundaries on a regular basis Underpromise and overdeliver. It’s a sound strategy for wow...
Nov 07, 2019•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Ashley Gartland works with her business coaching clients to help them streamline their own work and reduce their sense of overwhelm* What goes in her welcome email to keep new clients from feeling overwhelmed as they’re getting started with coaching* How a customized Trello board helps her (and her clients) manage the engagement efficiently* Why she reduced her business model to just 2 packages and how that’s helping her create better client experiences All told, I spent ...
Nov 05, 2019•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Potentia Therapy founder Rebecca Ching learned from key mistakes she made bringing her vision to life* What she does differently today when she’s finding the right people for her team* Why learning to lead has made her less lonely as a business owner* The process of self-reflection that allowed her to stop debating her own worthiness despite her setbacks If there’s one constant in business and entrepreneurship, it’s that stuff happens. Things go wrong. We make bad choices...
Oct 29, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach & author Cynthia Morris has coached herself through 20 years of growth as an entrepreneur* How she battles the “octopus of lots of different offers & ideas” that sneaks up on you when you’ve been in business that long* Why a trip to France helped open a new chapter in her business—and ultimately created its own challenges* How she wound up with the business model she has today I am really willing to do that? I pulled myself out of bed this morning at 5:30 an...
Oct 22, 2019•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach and business strategist Jo Casey manages her anxiety as an entrepreneur* The situation that revealed just how big an impact anxiety had on how she ran her business* How setting clearer boundaries and doubling her rates helped to get back on track* Why she’s simplified her business as a way of managing her anxiety* The positive results she’s seen by making her anxiety conscious and working to manage it productively Wait, my anxiety isn’t normal? We were driving along...
Oct 17, 2019•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Tommy Griffith left a job he loved at AirBnB to pursue growing his side hustle, a digital marketing education company called ClickMinded * How his expectations of life as an entrepreneur collided with the reality of executing his plans* The mindset that allowed him to persevere through some pretty gnarly circumstances* Why Tommy decided to bring on a partner at ClickMinded late in the game—and how that decision helped him take the company to the next level Let’s talk abou...
Oct 15, 2019•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Co-Creating Inclusion founder Alethea Fitzpatrick took a long & winding road to creating her new company* Why embracing uncertainty has helped her stay flexible while building her business* The many pivots she’s made from architecture to photography to operations management to diversity consulting* Why respecting her Zone Of Genius has kept her from getting caught up in expectations Starting a business is a risk. Running a business is a risk. Growing a business is a r...
Oct 08, 2019•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Start Finishing author Charlie Gilkey explains the relationship between resilience and finishing the projects and plans we start* Why tensions like mastery versus growth, structure versus novelty, and serving ourselves versus serving others make it harder to reach our goals* How vulnerability and little “c” courage can help us achieve bigger, more meaningful results* What Charlie coaches his clients through when they fail to reach an important outcome We all procrastinate, av...
Oct 03, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How What Works founder Tara McMullin realized that business had gone off track* Why she chose to pivot to a building community-oriented business support network instead of offering coaching or online courses* What mistakes she made along the way and how she changed course to correct them* Why “steadfast commitment” is her barometer right now I turned 37 last month. I certainly don’t get worked up about getting older nor am I one for big birthday celebrations or rituals. But t...
Oct 01, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Debra Giunta’s vision for Design Dance led her to make specific hiring decisions as the company grew in scale* Why she waited 6 years to hire herself on full-time* How her dance program and curriculum adapts depending on the school she’s partnering with* What she looks for in the people she hires—and how that’s evolved over time I’m pretty sure I took myself to Starbucks for an iced latte with the first 10 bucks I made with my business. From there, everything I earned wen...
Sep 26, 2019•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why The Ops Authority founder Natalie Gingrich opted for scale using a certification program instead of building out an agency* What she created first on the way to developing her certification program* How she determined what the certification program would include and how it would be structured* What she’s tackling next to continue to create value and build capacity for her company What you do doesn’t have to be magic. One of my all-time favorite quotes is Arthur C. Clarke’...
Sep 24, 2019•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty * How writing mentor Katey Schultz knew she wanted to scale up her Monthly Mentorship program* What she did first to scale… and why it wasn’t enough to meet her goals or her personal needs* Why some big mindset shifts were key to seeing the real opportunity—and how a moment of deep fatigue opened the door to an important aha moment* How Katey settled on a format for serving many more writers in much less time Scaling up often requires zoning in. What I mean is that, most of the ...
Sep 19, 2019•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How Speaking Your Brand founder Carol Cox realized she was at capacity and hungry for more* Why she chose to hire & train another speech coach instead of moving into online courses* The mindset work she needed to do to prepare herself for the transition into scale* How she found her first hire and got her started with clients When it comes to small business, there are plenty of special snowflakes out there. And before I inadvertently offend you, let me explain what I mean...
Sep 17, 2019•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * How ScaleSpark founder Susan Boles uses software to solve capacity problems for her clients and help them scale up* Why she starts with a software audit before making any changes— and how you can too * What she looks for when considering what software options to go with* The first step to getting started with new software (it’s not what you’d expect!) When I first got serious about building a team and documenting our business systems… …I signed up for Asana. If you’re not fam...
Sep 12, 2019•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Nitty-Gritty: * Why a cocktail party conversation prompted Marie Poulin to confront the assumption that scaling your business is the ultimate goal* How Oki Doki’s hybrid business model works—and why it’s the perfect approach for Marie and her partner, Ben* How Marie’s personal priorities and ideal lifestyle are helping to shape her business decisions* Why she’s looking for a sense of equilibrium between the energy she puts into the business and the energy she receives from it To scale or not...
Sep 10, 2019•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
