Today we are recording a live version of us going through our monthly review sheet. What we’re really going to talk about is the process and we are going through the entire thing step by step, just as we normally do, so you guys can see it all - how long it takes, what we talk about, what we ask ourselves, what are we looking at, what numbers are we pulling and we’re doing it in real time. We’ve pulled up the websites that we usually gather data from but we haven't crunched the numbers yet. We are doing it on air so you guys can see realistically how all this works.

It’s August review and we use our worksheets that we’ve created for some awesome students of ours and our community which are available in both The Follow Through Method and Rock Your Biz. We are going through our typical review of what we would do at the end of a month and then planning for the following month. This episode might be a bit different to listen to. We are testing it so do let us know if you love it or hate it at the end of it. So keep listening to hear how all this works!

Today on the podcast, we welcome personal branding and publicity strategist, Hope Brookins. After having her family’s personal story of building a house using YouTube tutorials completely go viral, Hope was able to leverage that opportunity into her own business success. Using this experience, Hope helps small business owners do the same thing. She helps them build their own brand story, take their media and use these opportunities so that they are perfectly positioned, polished, and prepared to present themselves to the world.

On today’s episode Hope gives actionable steps to help you craft your own brand story and integrate it into your website and business. She also identifies the key features of a viral post and what you can do to every piece of content to give it the opportunity to go viral, organically. Many people think “going viral” happens overnight but this is not always the case. It took Hope and her family two years of preparation for their story to go viral and Hope is all about having a carefully planned strategy to get you there. If you are looking for some great tips and actionable steps on how you can tweak your brand story to be more viral-worthy, then this episode is definitely for you. We can’t wait for you to hear her story!

Today we welcome Renée Dalo of Moxie Bright Events. Renée is a Southern California wedding planner and she is also the leader of the Los Angeles chapter of the Rising Tide Society. Today’s episode is all about that icky word, “networking.” Renée has really used this practice to build her business from the ground up. To this day, over a decade later, almost 99% of her clients have come from customer or friend referrals. Networking has been vital to the growth of her business and Renée is extremely knowledgeable in this realm that many of us don’t really know how to effectively tackle.

In today’s episode, Renée gives us actionable steps that we can take away for avoiding awkward conversations and cultivating better networking practices. We talk about ghosts, being authentic, and why business is ultimately all about people. Whether you are in event planning or not, Renée has a lot of great tips for your business and personal life. So either way, or if you just need a good belly-laugh, this episode will be right up your alley. Take a listen!

Today we have our friend and ultimate boss babe, or should we say, legal babe, Christina Scalera on the show. We are super excited to get into this episode with you guys because today we are going to be chatting about something us creatives (honestly) don’t always think about. Now you’re wondering what that is, right?

Well, Christina helps creative entrepreneurs and wedding professionals make lots of money doing what they love. She is also out to cause a Ruckus™ in the legal world with legal marketing that doesn't suck. Today she is here to help us, creatives, make sure that we are protected and making smart and safe decisions online, especially in the world of collaboration.

Today on the podcast we have Amanda Boleyn of the She Did It Her Way podcast. Have you heard of her? Well, if you haven’t, she is a rockstar. She Did It Her Way has been named one of the "12 Best Podcasts for Entrepreneurs" and "Top 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs" by Forbes. Her podcast is dedicated to featuring savvy female business entrepreneurs from across the globe. These women share their insights and journeys so that others can do it their way too.

In this episode, Amanda is sharing about something other than her podcast. We’re diving into how she’s been able to take her podcast journey and leverage it to further grow her business. In fact, she’s opening up her first ever in-person summit — the doors are open and we’re talking all about the amazing experience that you can get in on this October at the She Did It Her Way Summit. We’re also talking about pivoting and the challenges of growing a business and everything that comes with that.

Holy moly guacamole! It’s episode 100! On today’s milestone episode, we have one of the most integral behind-the-scenes members on The Strategy Hour: Nicholette von Reiche. You might not hear her (or see her), but Nicholette is always buzzing around in the background as our business manager, graphics guru and tech ninja. Today, we’re talking all about growing a team, the state of TCC, what’s coming up for the podcast and all about the future of the biz.

We want to break down the TCC journey and let you know who has a role in the business. We can lift the curtain a bit to show you that it isn’t just us in here – but that it was just us for a long time! We have laid a lot of foundations over the course of our first business year and if you are currently laying the foundations in your own business, hopefully this will give you a glimpse into your future. We’re so excited about our first 100 episodes and we can’t wait to do a hundred more! Send the champagne, people! And let’s get into some strategy.

Today we are here with the lovely Ashley Gartland. Ashley helps passionate creatives and driven entrepreneurs like you, who feel like they’re drowning in to-dos and just want someone to tell them where to focus to make their business work. She teaches them how to stop overcomplicating things and simplify their approach so they can make more money in their business and experience more freedom in their life.

If you haven’t listened to our episode with Rachel Hofstetter, way back in episode 003, do yourself a favor and listen to it BUT listen to this one first. They are interlinked in that they both talk about your approach to press but Ashley breaks down the first steps you need to go through. She gets into all the befores and afters of getting press for your business and she’s helping you get ready to get your business featured.

We are super excited for today’s episode with Becky Mollenkamp. Not only is Becky our friend, but she is a business mentor for women entrepreneurs. She helps them write down all those words that are stuck in their head so they can make some big changes and push forward in their businesses. Becky is also an absolute rock star at landing corporate clients and today we’re lucky enough to be getting the inside scoop from her.

Ever wonder, “How the heck do I, as a creative, get into the inboxes of corporate businesses and land those bigger projects?” Well, today Becky is sharing her tips and tricks with us. She’s also telling us how we can utilize programs like LinkedIn to up our connections, up our chances of getting in front of those people and so much more. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, keep listening to the show.

Lately, we have gotten some questions from our students, audience members and community about how we have evolved in our course creation journey, and so we decided to take you back. Not all the way back, not necessarily to our client days, but at least from the beginning stages of creating our first course all the way through to today. We’ll tell you what has changed and how we have been able to grow and better serve our community.

The purpose behind doing this is to really showcase to you all that you can start small (we did).  Nothing has to be perfect, just run with something and run the heck out of it until you add on something else. Dive into this episode if courses are something you’re interested in trying and learn from our mistakes. Keep listening so you can take some of our advice and see some bomb-ass results a year into it applying it.

Today on the podcast we have Ashlyn Carter of Ashlyn Writes. Are you multi-passionate? Well, this boss babe is and she has grown her business as both a copywriter and a calligrapher. She took her background as a corporate agent working with corporate clients and transitioned that into her current business, working with big name clients. We are so excited for you to hear how she’s been able to keep both her knowledge from her corporate days and add that onto her creative passion with calligraphy.

Do you want to have a business that serves two different people? Today we’re going through how to navigate your homepage, how to set up your services, products and offerings, and how to manage your social media and your email list if you’re talking to two different people. If that’s you, keep listening to find out more!

You all know by now that we have built Think Creative Collective on the “free-free-free marry me” model. We talk about it all the time. It is basically built on a foundation of giving a whole bunch of content, knowledge and strategy away for free so we can build a community of addicted and raving fans. People often think that if they give too much away it is going to decrease the number of sales they are ultimately going to get, but we have seen literally the opposite effect. It has only helped us grow our audience and our sales. It has also enabled us to create a community where our audience can be sure to find the answers they need instead of a dead-end, and people really value that.  

So what we want to talk about today is why we decided to use that model and how you can structure your own business to do the same. We also want to go over why it is very important to bust the myths behind giving away content for free. Inside this episode, we will focus on answering all of y’all’s questions surrounding the topic. We’ll give you the inside scoop about the actual effects to our business that this model has created for us so you can be more confident in what you are providing your audience, for free.

We are here for a hot topic today. Today on the podcast, we are talking about why we did NOT decide to close our private Facebook group, which has roughly 12k+ people in it. This is one smokin’ topic, as there are a lot of Facebook groups run by business owners who are similar to us and in our circle that have been closing down left, right, and center.

Today, we want to highlight the fact that we are not going to speak for the people who have decided to close their groups; we are literally just here to talk about why we decided to keep our group open and go over some of the adjustments that we’ve made since that “change” in the Facebook group world. If you want to hear more about how we run our Facebook group and why it works for us, keep listening.

Today on the podcast we are doing Q&A style episode, but can you guess what the theme is? Yeah, that’s right — Facebook! We asked in the group for y’all to send us your questions about Facebook strategy and being successful on the platform. Now that we kinda know a thing or two, we feel that we can answer your questions and make sure you guys are on a good solid foundation and that your Facebook game is strong. We are jumping right in, so keep listening if you would like to know more about Facebook and how to use it as a tool in your business.

In Part I of Our Journey to Facebook Ads, we talked about video, text, and graphic ads. Today, we are talking about all the nitty-gritty’s and diving into the different types of Facebook ads you’ll find inside the Power Editor. We will also be looking at the differences between conversion ads, engagement ads, and click-through ads. Next, we will be investigating the value of the Power Editor and helping you to become a smarter booster.

If you are wanting to start running your own video Facebook ads, we are also going to be sharing the behind the scenes of our $37,000 and $97,000 launch videos, giving you some action strategy tips for getting professional video ads on a small budget, and simply using what you’ve got. Still feeling overwhelmed? We’ve got you covered. Stay tuned to find out more about the free online FB Everything course that is sure to make you kickass at doing these Facebook ads! Take a listen for this, and so much more.

For part one of ‘Our Journey to Facebook Ads’, we are diving into all the creative nooks and crannies of Facebook ads. Here, we look at the specific ads that we’ve run and how they performed to ultimately answer the fundamental question you’re all wondering about: Are Facebook ads worth it? Today, we’re looking at what worked for our campaigns, what types of Facebook ads performed better for us (video or graphic), targeting cold audiences versus establishing warm audiences and tons of tricks and tips to maximize your Facebook ad spend.

We went from knowing zilch about Facebook ads to knowing so much that we had to break this episode into two parts. If you are someone who is easily freaked out by Facebook ads, don’t be, because after this episode, you’ll realize it’s way easier than it seems and it’s worth every darn penny! But before you even start running your ads, let’s take a look at a few of the things you need to establish first.