It’s been over three years (really, close to four) since we launched The Strategy Hour Podcast. Since then, we’ve made the ranks of Apple’s Top 30 Business Management Podcasts, have been featured in multiple blog posts about business-related podcasts, have had X total downloads on Apple Podcasts alone, and we’re coming up hot on the heels our 500th episode (that’s a lot of freakin’ recording time!).

And while we’re so grateful that our podcast took off the way it did and has influenced thousands of lives and launching it was a blast, in no way has it always been easy. So, today, we’re going to be pulling back the curtain on how we launched our podcast, the challenges we faced, all of the hustle we put in to launch, how we plan and upload new episodes, the whole 9.

If the idea of launching a podcast has been tossing and turning in your brain, our totally candid and honest experience will hopefully help you determine whether this is the right next move in your business journey!

The Instagram algorithm, A.K.A. this seemingly mythical being that’s confusing the heck out of tons of people. You may see it talked about a lot either by Instagram gurus or in Facebook groups, but one piece of information that seems to get left out is what it is and how it even works.

We’re all aware that a few years ago, Instagram stopped showing posts in users’ home feed by chronological order, so now it almost feels more like a popularity contest. (We miss those simpler times!)

Everyone is scrambling around searching for information on how to beat this beast, so we pulled together a list of our top tips for making Instagram’s algorithm your very best friend.

There’s no worse feeling than pouring your heart and soul into a graphic you’ve made in Canva that you’re so proud of, only to see that it ends up blurry and overall just crappy quality when you upload it to your website or social media channels.

You try again to no avail. Still blurry. Still suck-y.

So, why are your Canva images blurry, and what can you do to fix it?

We’re here to walk you through how to make sure your creations look clean and crisp every time (and don’t worry, we tried to limit the language to normal-person speak).

Conversion rates. Analytics. Measuring growth. Lifetime value. There are so many business buzzwords that get thrown around that can feel really intimidating to the average creative business owner.

However, knowing this information is super crucial to your profits, your growth and the decisions you make every single day in your business.

Keeping track of your business’ numbers allows you to make strategic decisions instead of just saying, “Well, I feel like this is going well, so I’m going to keep doing it” or “I feel like this new thing could really help, so I’m going to try it.”

Honestly? We’d rather make business decisions rooted in facts and data instead of basing everything soley of feelings. We love us a good “gut instinct” and we like to back it up with cold hard facts.

Knowing how much weight a product or service is pulling for you or if it’s time to let it go, the rate of growth across all of your channels, and your overall progress is so important in order to plan and set goals realistically in your business, both short and long term.

So how do you find this information (or sexy math as we like to call it)? Where do you begin?

It all starts with your analytics.

What do we actually do with information overload? When it comes to making plans for your small business you’ve got ideas and game plans out the wahzoo.

You see a shiny new course from this A-list business strategist and you just have to buy it, or maybe your favorite influencer has just released another free resource, so you rush to download it. Perhaps you’ve spent hours scrolling through Pinterest and saving tons of Pins that look interesting. Or you’ve just finished watching yet another webinar about a new thing you think could help, and you’ve filled a page or two with notes.

Can we get real with you for a second?

All of those countless courses, freebies, saved Pins, and webinar notes don’t mean a darn thing if you aren’t going to actually start doing something with them.

Sure, “knowledge is power”, but we’d like to think you don’t have much power if that knowledge isn’t being applied or even retained because you forget about it the next day when a new shiny squirrel catches your attention.

So, what do you do with a strategy once you’ve learned it besides just letting it sit in your virtual cupboard to collect dust?
These actionable steps will help you to figure out your own actionable steps when wanting to implement a new strategy. And if you have no idea what you even want to implement, stick around for a surprise at the end!

We’ve seen firsthand how crucial working with brands and partners can be for our business. Heck, relationships we formed led to actual dollar bills and made up nearly 20% of our total revenue in 2019! And chances are there’s a brand or 12 that you’ve had your eye on to work with for a while. But you freeze and get stuck because...how the heck do you communicate why you’re so amazing?

We see you, babe.

You’re advertising the shit out of your products or services, talking them up on every social media platform that you can be found on, going live on Facebook and Instagram, spreading your business through word of mouth, and every other thing you can think of.

Still, you just aren’t getting the results you’d like to be, and you’re tired of repeatedly seeing the straight line creeping across your sales chart or– God forbid– a slow decline.

The last thing you need to do is give up. You may think you’re showing up everywhere you possibly can be. You may think you’re directly targeting your audience.

Many small businesses are basically “doomed” from the start.

Although done unknowingly, many entrepreneurs design their business in a way that keeps them stuck in the Merry-Go-Round trap.

They’ve designed their business in a circle. Doing the same things over and over again. Answering the same questions. Dealing with the same problems. And they aren’t growing.

I bet you know the feeling: you’re working and working and working, but you just aren’t seeing any progress. And where the heck are all those clients you desperately want to be working with?