Today on the podcast, we are super excited to have Elise Cripe of Get to Work Book. For those of you who do not know, Elise lives with her husband and her two young daughters in San Diego, California, and not only has she launched the Get to Work Book daily planner, but she has been online since 2005 and she has done a lot! Elise has been a blogger, she has shared DIY projects, and she is quite the artist.

In this episode, we dive into more on the Get to Work Book, an actual, physical book that she created from an Instagram challenge. She is going to tell you exactly how she made that happen and cover some cool Instagram strategies, where she finds a lot of her audience for Get to Work Book. We’re finding out how she built her product-based business from Instagram, why she stopped blogging, and ideas on y’all getting creative again. We go over finding your creative identity and how important that is for us to stay inspired and motivated every day. We can’t wait for you to dive in and get re-inspired today, so go ahead and give this one a listen.

Inside today’s episode, we are talking all about launching and specifically a launch we just had where we made $37,000 in a matter of a week. We’re going to talk to you all about what changed, what we did differently, some systems we added on to try our new take on Facebook ads, and exactly how we got the results we did. We’re even going to dive into some data and what worked and what didn’t.

We have been waiting to do this episode because we wanted to come back with all the final results and it would be helpful for you guys to know perhaps how we launched before so you can really see the value of the changes that we have made and how we approached it differently this time around. Really, it comes down to two things that we changed, so stay tuned as we dive into the details in this episode.

Blogging may be one of the things at the top of the list in our business. The blog was part of the early stages of our business, and existed pre-TCC. We first started blogging before we were even in business together, when it was still just a passion project of Abby’s to educate small business owners on growth strategies. She was blogging five days a week, and literally never skipped a beat. After we met, we then decided to see if we wanted to work together on a longer-term basis. We decided that Emylee would guest blog for what is now the TCC blog, to essentially share the platform, and continued to put out content five days a week.

Together we would brainstorm ideas for the blog, browse Pinterest, ask our audience what they needed help with, and write about exactly what we had just learned the week before. It definitely was not any of this big picture concept stuff yet because we just weren’t in that place in our business at the time. We kept blogging five days a week for almost a full year, at which point we had significantly grown our website traffic, but we were feeling burnt out. In this episode, we walk through exactly how our blog has transitioned into what it is today, and the strategies we used along the way to get there. So tune in to hear all about our ever evolving blogging journey!

Today, we are super excited to bring our friend Danielle Liss to the show. She is a partner over at Hashtag-Legal and she focuses on legal issues for online business owners. Danielle has extensive experience negotiating contracts and interpreting FTC guidelines, and her experience has given her intimate knowledge of the challenges facing influencer networks and social media professionals today.

In this episode we talk all about business formation, contracts, website policies, intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, and she may even give us the straight talk about some of the things we have not yet done inside our own business. So, regardless of where you are in your business; whether you’re  just getting started or already have your own multiple six figure business, get ready, because we promise you that you are going to learn something today!

Today, we are addressing something that we get asked about on the regular. We are answering the question about dealing with business overwhelm, especially for those of you who are just starting out, trying to figure out what to focus on first. We are giving you the foundation and showing you where we think you should put your focus first and why, so perhaps you won’t be so overwhelmed. Now, this does not mean we are going to give you a copy-paste, one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, we will give you the building blocks to figure out exactly what you need for your unique situation to build your own successful business.

We know how easy it is to fall into those holes of massive overwhelm when you are wanting to add more and grow your business. So if that is you, then listen up! And honestly, it does not matter if you are just starting a business or if you have started one already. The information shared in this episode will truly help you lay those solid business foundations and push through the overwhelm regardless of where you are in your journey.

Today on the podcast, we have Parker Stevenson of Evolved finance. We are like super pumped for you to hear from him because he’s actually one of our few male team members. Parker and his business partner, Corey, not only do the books for other online entrepreneurs, but they also coach businesses along the way. We were super excited to start working together in the new year — we had lots of things going on at the time, so it was the perfect moment to get them on board.

In this episode, you are going to learn a lot! Parker shares his opinion on small businesses DIY’ing their books, if you should do that, how you should do that, and what in the French toast “your books” even means. We go over trends that he has seen in the online business entrepreneurial world, his best tips for getting your finances organized, and he even goes through and talks to us about what the heck a profit and loss statement is and how that might be the next best thing since sliced bread when it comes to your business. We know you guys are going to love this episode, so we can’t wait for you to give this one a listen.

In today’s episode, we’re probably going to get a little personal and a little emotional, but we think it’s important that we tell you a little bit about what happened earlier this year and how we have been able to manage all the changes. In the beginning of 2017, Emylee adopted a baby, which completely changed her whole world.  Things were going so well as a new mom, but suddenly she totally hit a wall with work. It wasn’t like she did not want to work anymore or did not want to be a mom; she just struggled to figure out a balanced way to do both at the same time.

Around the same time, Abby was in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. So it is safe to say we had a bit of a rocky start to 2017 and we spent a good chunk of the beginning of the year mourning and grieving our former selves. So in today’s episode, we are jumping into all the details on what happened, how we handled the changing situations, and exactly how we got out on the other side.

We are going to mix it up a little bit today on the podcast, by doing a Q&A session with yours truly. For this Q&A, it will be kind of like you are here because we are going to say some of your names, answer your questions, and give you our best tips and advice. Now, these questions do not necessarily make sense together, and they are in no particular order. We are simply taking them as they come, and knocking them out of the park for you guys.

Some of the questions were submitted on Instagram, some of them are common questions we see over in the Facebook group, and some of them are just because we decided to throw them in because either someone has asked them at some point or because we just thought y’all needed all the answer to them. To add to that, maybe we will just make up some questions as we go along just to keep it super spicy. Tune in to find out. There is no rhyme or reason to today’s episode, so let’s just have fun with it!

Today we are going to tell you all about how to get your readers. We’re talking about how to get people just surfing the internet, surfing the airwaves, surfing Google; people who are just hanging out online, to find you, and how you can turn them into loyal customers. The “free, free, free, marry me” sales model walks people through awareness, consideration, preference, and purchase, to being super loyal, to then shouting your name from the rooftops. We are going to walk you through all of those steps today and give you some tips and tricks on how you can implement them in your own business.

Basically, our model is the same as the try before you buy model, or the test drive the car model. That’s what this does for your audience and for your people — it establishes you as an expert and as someone to keep coming back to for that thing. No matter what it is, you don’t necessarily have to be teaching for them to come back for your thing. It could be your humor, it could be the stories that you share on Instagram, it could be your beautiful images or the way you talk to people when you talk about your business or your life or your products. It could be the charities that your business supports. Whatever it is, that thing that they come back for is what’s reeling them in time and time again.

Guys, you better get ready and put your thinking caps on because today we are hanging out with our good friend Meg Clarke from Clapping Dog Media. She is an SEO expert who works with creative entrepreneurs to help them get their businesses found by Google. We know sometimes SEO can be a bit confusing and make you want to run for your life. But don’t let it scare you, and don’t let it intimidate you, because Meg is breaking everything down super simply today and she is going to give you some awesome tips on how to move forward.

In today’s episode we are talking about what the heck SEO even is, how you can do it yourself, and diving into some of Meg’s favorite links to get reporting tools and data back on your own website to see your ranking. Then, we talk through when it makes sense to hire an SEO expert, the kind of SEO expert you should be looking for, and when you should run for the hills. So stay tuned, bust out your notebooks, and get ready for an epic show.

Today, we are super excited to talk about some stuff that might surprise you guys. We are telling you all the reasons why we say no to “opportunities”. Most opportunities, honestly. Plus, we get into the thought process behind our no’s and how you can begin to ask yourself different questions when you get thrown various opportunities in your own business. We’re chatting about how to figure out whether an opportunity is the right fit for you or not, if it’s going to pay off, and whether or not it is going to be beneficial for both parties and all of that fun stuff.

Now, the things we are saying no to may be either big or small — we don’t agree to anything that might not be right for our audience and our business. But perhaps you are on the other side of this fence, and you are using other businesses, companies, or brands to promote your own product. We are going to give you some tips on how you can make your process even better by sharing the types of pitches we’ve loved and said yes to. So you are going to get some inside scoop today and we are pretty pumped about it, and if you want us to say “yes”, then you should definitely listen to this episode!

Today on the podcast, we have Terry Dean of Mymarketingcoach.com. Terry considers himself one of the grandfathers of internet marketing, and he even referred to himself as a dinosaur! But one thing is for sure, this guy knows his stuff! Terry started out as a pizza delivery driver for Little Caesar’s making $8 an hour and transitioned into online marketing in 1996. This guy generated over $96,000 from one email in front of a live studio audience. Talk about crazy!

In today’s episode Terry shares some great tips on how to get emails opened more frequently, how to sell to your email list even if it is teeny tiny, and how to get people on your list quickly. He has some really cool tricks for turning those subscribers into buyers within 24 hours and two really awesome formulas to help you grow your sales pages, your landing pages, and even the format of your emails. Terry also goes over what he calls “the superhero method”. For all you nerds out there, you are really going to get a kick out of this one. We can’t wait for you to dive into this episode, so get comfy and let’s get started.

Today, we are going to talk about some dream weeks, some not so not so dream weeks, and how we have transitioned in our business. We chat about our journey, and how our lives and work days evolve as our business grows and changes and as our lives grow and change. We also discuss the kind of questions we begin to ask ourselves when we want to strive towards a different or better ideal week. We go over how to start working through some of these challenges yourself.

In this episode we are going to walk you through the process of what it looked like when we were scaling a multiple six figure business, and how we kind of hit a brick wall at the beginning of 2017 and had to learn a whole new world of how to run a business through health struggles and being a new mom. We dive into how managing life and business was completely different and why always keeping in mind what we wanted along the way was super important to us. Instead of letting the world just slip away from us, we kept our hopes and dreams actively in front of us and that’s what we want for you as well.

Guys, we are super excited to have on our friend, Josey Stafford from Sixpence Events on the show today. She is a wedding planner and we know there are a lot of you in the wedding industry listening in today. We know nothing about the industry other than the fact that we both have gotten married. So, we are super excited to have someone on who actually knows what she’s talking about with regards to service based industries and wedding industries, and we are kind of getting into some meat and potatoes on all things referrals.

On today’s episode you are going to learn how to ask for a referral without sounding super creepy, and you are going to figure out the best and most organic ways to get clients and vendors to refer you. We are jumping into incentives, giveaways, and prizes and whether or not they work. If you are brand new to the business, we get into exactly how you go about finding these people, and the right and the wrong ways to network. We also talk about how things work for you in your business and even if you are not in the wedding industry, I want you to stay tuned because all of this has super specific takeaways that are applicable to every single one of you.