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 we are excited to tell you about a workshop coming up next Tuesday, September 12th. We are going to help you create a foolproof plan so you can literally conquer anything. Inside this workshop we are going from step zero to done (and everything in-between). We are going to show you the steps you need to take before you even think about being more productive. On this episode we go through some of the actual steps inside the challenge so you can start to see results right away and know that the stuff that we share and talk about is legit.

We are also taking it a step back in the workshop so we can help you create a good framework going forward. Finally, we will also be sharing a couple of saucy hacks that you can implement to make running your business on the go faster, easier, and more polished. Then, we are moving to “to-do list, done” - crossing them off because they are done. So we are going to talk about how other successful business owners look at their goals and their strategies and how they can work specifically for creatives. So how do you get there? Let’s jump in and take a look.

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.

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.

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 Dr. Beth Brombosz. Beth is an author, copywriter, content creator, and the host of the Blogger to Author Podcast. In 2015, she turned some of her own blog posts into a book titled Yoga for Runners, which is now available on Amazon. Beth’s book has helped her build a platform as an expert in her field. She is passionate about helping fellow bloggers turn their content into books so they can build authority in their niche, share their passion with the world, and earn passive income.

In this episode, you’re going to hear all about that process. From repurposing your content to creating a book, to self-publishing, pricing, layout and sales, Beth really breaks it down into an easy step-by-step process. She self-published her book in just 30 days! She proves that it’s totally doable, with no publishing experience needed. If you’ve never written a book in your life, but are thinking about it, then today’s podcast is for you.

When people think of hiring, they often think that it is a complicated, convoluted, crazy process. But the truth is, it really doesn’t have to be. On today’s show, we break down the logistics of hiring into five basic action steps. First, by recognizing the gap in your business. Second, by putting your feelers out into the hiring marker. Then third, once you’ve got your list, narrowing it down to a promising employee selection. Next, negotiating pricing and then finally, locking it down with a contract. See, not too complicated, right?

Today we’re going to give you the inside scoop into how we do this in our own business as well as give you the resources to enable you to free up some time, protect yourself and your employees and get everyone on the same page and #winning! Whether you’re an employer looking to hire or an employee looking to be hired, take a listen for some tips for a more empowering experience.

Well, ya’ll know by now that we are pretty much transparent about everything we learn in our business. We immediately take it and we turn around and teach it because we don’t like to hold back. We are over-sharers by nature. You get the good, bad, and the ugly with us and that’s what we are doing today; over-sharing again. Today, we wanted to dive in deeper about the business roadblocks that we have faced.

At the beginning, we consumed a lot of content from people who we knew and who we trusted, and who we saw were doing big things. One of the important pieces that not everyone talks about are the mistakes that they have made in their business and what held them back and prevented them from making more money, faster. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. We are just human and we make mistakes like everybody else and the thing is, if we could do anything, we want to help you avoid them or at least make them less bumpy, less crazy, less long and drawn out, and help you find the solution quickly. So let’s jump in and get started!

Today, we are chatting about the good old pivot; the pivoting to your passion, the figuring out what the heck you can work on right now to start getting your feet wet. It is all about testing the waters of this whole creative biz ownership thing, making some actual money, and then transitioning to whatever keeps the fire in your soul burning. We want you to dive in to where you are getting paid to do something that you are good at, even if that thing is not what your business is going to be in the next year or two.

So in this episode we are going to dive into starting with your MVP and what that means, and then explain to you kind of how we kept that top of mind in our own creative business journeys. Now, we are not talking about the most valuable player on your baseball team. No, it is your most viable product. What is the thing that you can sell today without having to learn a new skill, without having to go to school or take a class? What can you bring to market right away that you can sell and make money off of? This is exactly the thing that people need to be focusing on instead of other fluff.

Today on the podcast, we have Amy Northard CPA, accountant for creatives. Amy has been a friend of ours for what feels like centuries at this point, and we have known her longer than we have known each other. She is awesome and makes everything sound so simple that you think maybe you could do it yourself, even though you can’t. Amy is so knowledgeable about all things taxes, bookkeeping, making things stress free, and making things easy to understand.

You are going to learn a lot in today’s episode, like what type of business you should be and how to even form it. She also shares her favorite apps, tools, and softwares to keep track of all your numbers. We go over the questions you should ask before you are ready to hire a CPA, things that you guys are forgetting to deduct, and stuff that you actually cannot deduct, that you might have thought you could. We also talk about the icky quarterly taxes and how to make that process super simple for you moving forward so that you are not scared and stressed out come tax season. So just relax, settle in, and give this one a listen.

Today on the podcast, we have our good friend Steph Crowder from Courage and Clarity
Podcast and Fizzle. If you have not yet seen Fizzle and its amazing membership platform full of
incredible courses for small business owners, you guys should definitely check it out. Steph is
one of our podcasting buddy friends. We meet with Steph and a couple of other ladies, twice a
month and chat all things podcasting, growth tactics, marketing, guest ideas, and all that good
stuff in our podcasting mastermind. She is an incredible human being, and we love her to
pieces. Steph is super knowledgeable, super kind, and we can’t wait for you to learn from her
today.
 

Inside this episode, Steph is giving you a step by step of all the things you need to do to
interview potential customers in order to validate your kick ass business idea. We are also
getting a behind the scenes look of a thriving membership site, and Steph is talking all about
creating amazing customer service in your business and the step-by-step creation process of
creating courses inside of Fizzle. It’s a great episode, we get really in depth especially on that
membership piece and the business idea piece, so we are really excited for you to dive in and
take away some awesome knowledge bombs from Steph.

For today’s episode, we are going to have some therapy. We are going to get real today. So kick up your feet, lay down, get a glass of wine, get some coffee, sit on the sofa, whatever it is that you want to do, because today we are talking about that feeling of intense overwhelm. You know, that anxious feeling of looking at what you have to do and avoiding it with all your might. We dive into the different ways that we like to avoid things, like being afraid of the big fat failure, or being afraid of success. Often this kind of overwhelm and avoidance leads to a whole lot of planning, but a little less doing. You can even go as far as saying that planning is more fun than actually doing.

We have been hearing from a lot of you lately that this is a really big piece of why you sometimes just cannot seem to move forward in your business. So we thought we would give our two cents on the matter and let you know how we used to think about these exact same things in our business, plus some of the ways that we avoid these feelings and what we do differently today. Perhaps you just like to get organized as a way of covering up the fact that you are not getting any work done. Oftentimes we tend to love the process of getting everything in a row more than actually doing the work itself. If that sounds like you, then this episode is a must-listen. So sit back, and find out exactly how to get back on the productive track.

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.

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 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.