How comfortable are you with your own voice? How likely are you to say what's on your mind? Samara Bay, the author of the brand-new book Permission to Speak , is on a mission to change what power sounds like. I found Samara because one of my favorite podcasters was on Samara's show. I then binged her back catalog and started recommending her show to everyone I worked with. One of those folks then turned around and told Samara I had shouted her out! We've been fangirling together ever since. I fi...
Feb 09, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Attention is a scarce (and precious) resource. A gargantuan number of media outlets, advertisers, influencers, and brands vie for our attention every day. In turn, many of us (including me) are out there trying to attract attention, too. At the same time, the changing nature of the attention market (as well as larger macroeconomic shifts) creates some real weirdness. This is the first episode of a two-part deep dive into the economics of paying attention, getting attention, and audiences as a co...
Feb 07, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Toward the end of last week's episode, Kate Strathmann talked about the importance of understanding the "tiny economy" of your business. Digging into cashflow is a perfect way to do just that. When we start thinking about how money flows 3 dimensionally, we start to see new opportunities for investment, growth, and exercising our values. This episode originally aired in September 2021. Turns out, I needed an extra week to put together the economics of attention, and this piece followed up my con...
Jan 31, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sure, you can build a business or independent career made for one. But once you start thinking about making a bigger impact or scaling up to serve more customers, you start thinking about hiring help. And that makes a lot of people nervous! The idea that we might unintentionally create a toxic work environment or exploit the people we hire is enough to keep many from hiring help at all. While you might expect this subject to get more of a psychological or sociological treatment, economics has a ...
Jan 24, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The first time I heard you could charge $47 for a PDF less than 50 pages long, I was shocked. When I first encountered an online course selling for $2000, I about fell out of my chair. Of course, it wasn’t long until I, too, was selling information products for more than my first car cost. Of course, I’m also an autodidact who benefits greatly from the proliferation of “free” information. And I’m a writer and podcaster who chooses to make 99% of what I make free to consume and use. I’ve benefite...
Jan 17, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to “The Economics of…”—a new series from What Works. In this series, I’ll be exploring how economic concepts and frameworks can help us run our businesses or manage our careers. Each episode will have some fundamental economics education and a case study to make each concept tangible. Today, we’re tackling a pretty fundamental economic concept: opportunity cost. Opportunity cost helps us understand what we have to give up in order to get what we want. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, i...
Jan 10, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Well, it’s the first week of January. And whether you’re back to work or eking out a few more hours of unstructured liminal time, the arrival of New Year energy is imminent. You know what I mean by New Year energy—it’s that annual infusion of urgency, striving, and discipline that comes crashing down on our post-holiday mellowness. And if we’re not paying attention, that New Year energy will sweep us out to sea. What if this year, we embraced patience? In this piece, I share how baking has helpe...
Jan 03, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast If 2020 was the year people asked, “Can we really work from home?” and 2021 was the year people asked, “How might we return to the office?”, then 2022 was the year people started asking, “Why do we put up with this crap?” If like me, you’ve been working from home for many years, maybe this shift in discourse felt irrelevant. You’ve got your own gig; you make your own rules; you create your own working conditions. But I believe this larger shift transcends the divisions created by our tax codes—c...
Dec 20, 2022•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode is decidedly different from what you've heard on What Works this year! If this happens to be your first foray into the show, maybe start with an earlier episode. But if you're into hearing my dear husband (and executive producer) chat about the ups and downs of this year, as well as some of our favorite things of the past 12 months, listen on! All of the books we mention in this episode are linked in my Bookshop store . Thanks for listening this year! Look for new episodes in 2023. ...
Dec 13, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Everyone experiences work stress from time to time. But some of us experience persistent work stress—even though we have more "tools" for reducing stress than ever before. If you've experienced work stress this year, there's a good chance you're thinking about how you can create the conditions for less stress in the new year. So today, I'm exploring how psychologists understand what kinds of work create more stress, what conditions reduce stress, and how we might intentionally design our work to...
Dec 06, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, you’re going to hear from four small business owners who have learned to see things in a new way–to shift their perspective–and as a result show up differently for themselves and their businesses. I’ve got stories from writing coach Beth Barany, Work Brighter founder Brittany Berger, business finance coach Lauren Caselli, and speech language pathologist and life coach Melissa Page Deutsch. Each one has a very different story of how they learned something new and it shifted their perspecti...
Nov 19, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * Why Dana Kaye and Felton Kizer came together to build a stock photography business –and the important mission behind the company* How the process of making things official helped them learn how to work with each other* The skills they’ve learned as they have developed the new business, as well as how they’ve leveraged their existing business-building skills to give it a jumpstart* Why they’re each playing the roles they are in the new business and how that’s guided the develop...
Nov 17, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * Why Christianne Squires created The Light House, a community for contemplative leaders, and how it differs from her first business, Bookwifery* How she uses discernment to explore potential decisions and choose what action to take* How the way she creates value has changed in her new community-based business model* What she’s done to hone her skills for community building and how she sees her role in the business now Different kinds of businesses require different skills. Okay...
Nov 10, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How writer Kris Windley learned illustration skills to level up the way she communicates* The process she uses to figure out what she’s going to draw and how it’s going to enhance her writing* The 3 ways she coaches herself through the hard parts in learning a new skill* Where she draws motivation from to continue to learn new things and level up her skills The very first online course I ever created taught students how to build a WordPress website. I created the course about ...
Nov 03, 2020•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast I have a confession to make. This month, I committed to speaking up on Instagram Stories every day. I pledged to share something–not necessarily profound, not necessarily useful or valuable–just something. I didn’t follow through. In fact, as of the time of this recording, I’ve been hiding out for more than a week–not really publicly posting anything anywhere. What had been a consistent effort to creatively share my ideas, reflections, and stories has ground to a halt. Today, we’re talking about...
Oct 29, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How Rebel Therapist podcast host Annie Schuessler found her voice as a podcaster—and how her show has evolved over time* How she plans her content for her podcast and selects the guests she’ll have on the show* Why she decided to start pitching other podcasts to have her on—and the process she uses to do it* The techniques Annie uses to break through the fear of asking to be on other podcasts The number one way I’ve built my audience might surprise you. It’s NOT through especi...
Oct 27, 2020•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * Why Jessica Williams created #jesspicks, the curated weekly newsletter for sidehustlers who love their day job* How each edition of the newsletter is structured* Why going “all in” has been the key to growing her subscriber list* What her weekly workflow looks like to put the newsletter together* How curating the newsletter has helped her to find her confidence as a writer When you think about someone sharing their message, you think about the writers, the speakers, the artist...
Oct 20, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast I started my very first blog back on Xanga in 2003. I might be your internet grandma. I used my Xanga blog to share what I was thinking about my senior year of college and process a lot of the reading that I was doing about my field of study, contemporary and postmodern Christian theology. It was also full of personal updates and the musings of a 21-year-old young woman. Through my Xanga blog, I got to connect with people online. Some were old friends from high school. Others were strangers from...
Oct 13, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How Tell Me A Story founder Hillary Rea realized that she’d let her message get watered down* Why trying to please people who weren’t really her ideal clients contributed to losing track of her voice* The concrete steps she took to take a stand and show up more completely* What she’s still wrestling with as she deliberately speaks up in more potent and powerful ways To quote the great Lin-Manuel Miranda: If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? Whether you’re a Hamilf...
Oct 06, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is our 300th episode of What Works! To celebrate, What Works host Tara McMullin and top podcasters, Emily Thompson (Being Boss), Elsie Escobar (The Feed, She Podcasts), and Jessica Kupferman (She Podcasts) came together for a live podcast recording. We looked back at 2020 and shared what we’ve learned about ourselves, our shows, and our businesses. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us over the last 5 years! *** Emily Thompson , host of Being Boss, is a long-time business coach...
Sep 29, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Very few small business owners start out as confident sales people. In fact, selling is quite often a new business owner’s #1 fear. Many avoid selling. Some stumble through it. And still others look to leaders and sales trainers to learn their methods and duplicate their models. In that process, they learn what works … but they often also learn that “what works” doesn’t necessarily work for them. All this month, we’ve been examining sales and selling–asking “what works?” when it comes to asking ...
Sep 22, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast This show is called What Works for a reason. Sometimes it’s a declaration: this is what worked for this small business. And often, it’s a question, “What works?” Today’s episode is very much a question, many questions, really: * What works when it comes to selling when you want to avoid manipulative or exploitative practices?* What works when your values conflict with many of the best practices of selling online but you still want people to buy your stuff?* What works when it comes to sales in a...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How Katie Hunt adapted her largely events-based business in the wake of Covid-19* Why a product she’d been working on since December 2019 was the key to serving her people in the most valuable way* How Katie adjusted the messaging and marketing campaign to reflect the current state of affairs* A complete breakdown of the social media posts and email messages that made her sales campaign a smash when it was time to launch There are a lot of misconceptions about what it takes to...
Sep 08, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How attorney Autumn Witt Boyd discovered that she’d over-automated the sales process for her law firm* The adjustments that she made to get her sales process back on track—and why she chose to put a human touch on it* What steps a potential new clients goes through in Autumn’s hybrid sales system* How her values are reflected in the way her business does sales now We all have a story about a bad salesperson. Ask my husband about buying a car and he’ll tell you about the time h...
Sep 01, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast The market is constantly changing. New technology, new trends, new players. We can either treat the constant changing and uncertainty as a threat… …or we can treat it as an invitation to see everything we do as a work in progress. All this month, we’ve been looking at the process of value creation–how we wind up building the products and services we sell. We heard from Alisha Robertson about how she turned her book into the idea for a membership community. India Jackson shared how she she went f...
Aug 25, 2020•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey, it’s Tara McMullin, and this is a special bonus episode of What Works, the show that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how small business owners take decisive action to build a stronger business. This is the third and final episode in a series on how I’ve approached creating and delivering value through the products and services I’ve offered over the years. In the first episode of the series , I shared how my most recent offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint , started as...
Aug 20, 2020•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode * Why voice teacher Michelle Markwart Deveaux refined her offer from a pay-for-service model to a value pricing model* How that shift changed how she packaged her services and what outcomes she focused on for her students* What she did to double her rates while deliver 3 times the value* How she started sharing her methods and business structure with other voice teachers and professionals Product development isn’t always about building something new. Often, it’s about taking what...
Aug 18, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * Why Sean and Tara McMullin chose to “productize” their full-service podcast production offer at YellowHouse.Media … and what productized services actually are* What’s included in the package they offer–and why they don’t often custom or a la carte services* How the productized service model allowed them to quickly create a small group coaching program to increase their capacity and serve more clients Hey! It’s Tara McMullin and this is a special BONUS episode of What Works—the...
Aug 13, 2020•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How Flaunt Your Fire founder India Jackson takes a strategic approach to offering custom service packages without getting overwhelmed or burnt out* Why getting to know her potential clients really, really well helps her put together the right packages for their needs* How her “master list” of services helps her build bespoke engagements easily & efficiently* How she’s gotten her team involved with client-facing work and slowly let go of control Somewhere in the craze for o...
Aug 11, 2020•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast In This Episode: * How a significant life change for What Works founder Tara McMullin turned into an idea and then several iterations of offers* The process Tara used to turn The Commitment Blueprint process into a free webinar, then a paid template, and finally a live paid program* How a similar process is helping Tara and the What Works team continue to evolve how The What Works Network is structured* And why asking “What’s next?” doesn’t have to mean creating a brand-new offer but, instead, i...
Aug 06, 2020•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
