Today on the show we welcome Brooke Genn. Brooke is a writer, a photographer, podcast host and one part of a power couple together with her husband, Wilhelm. Brooke has had a really interesting and eclectic past and today works full-time with her spouse, building a business together as well as building a tiny home on wheels. In this episode, we are talking about what it takes to be a power couple. We get into the steps Brooke and her husband took to get her husband to come home and work with her full-time and how they are able to travel the world together and do exactly what they’ve always wanted.

We find out what Brooke has learned from working with her husband and how they have navigated this transition, having their own independence what it takes to run a business when you and your partner are so emotionally tied. A lot of us have thought on and off about working with our spouses but Brooke and her husband are successfully doing it! There is a lot to be learned from this episode about business and about relationships… even if you aren’t working together.

Today we are welcoming you to a brand new series that we are kicking off right here, right now! The monthly series is called Boss Talk and it’s an unscripted, uncensored, roundtable, brainstorming session between Abbie, Emylee and our lovely visiting guests. We’ll be diving into hot topics in the industry right now and will kick off every episode by posing a question to each of us in the discussion, which we’ll flesh out throughout the show. Today’s question is, “What are your thoughts on the phrase "community over competition?" And here to help us answer it, is the delightful boss babe, Steph Crowder of Courage & Clarity.

Here in this series, there is no holding back, no sugar-coating, no censoring. It’s just us, cracking open beers and navigating important questions that you’re probably wondering about too… So, are you someone who is all for community, or all for competition? Or is it about striking a healthy balance between the two? But how do we do that and are authentic communities really possible? This is an important and topical debate across all industries right now and one that we’re not sure people are speaking about as honestly as openly as we’d like. This series is all about real, off-the-cuff, honest opinions and if that’s your jam, then come and join us!

Today on the show we are doing our monthly review for April 2018. Our monthly review is a popular episode that we do every month. In the past, we have gone into a lot of depth with all of our numbers and our tracking. However, we have decided to narrow it down a little bit to be a more of an overview. If you want all the nitty-gritty’s, you can find them inside The Goal Crusher Club. In the episode, we are a little goofy because well, April was crazy! We just got back from a week-long trip to Chicago for the She Did It Her Way Summit. We did some strategizing in our hotel room (which we covered in post-it notes and crazy-lady handwriting) and will be reporting back on our plans and goals for the future. We’ll also be discussing our experience switching email providers (again) from Infusionsoft to ActiveCampaign, as well as how we got 100 members into the Goal Crusher Club through some darn fine teamwork.

In addition to that, we get into some deeper identity crises we’ve been experiencing in our business and the “Aha” moment in Chicago that reminded us that the destination is the journey. Our biggest glory moment this month has been the positive shifts we have seen in our team and how we have come to learn that teamwork takes, well, so much work. Work that is so worth it! We end off this episode with some good ol’ fashion funnel talk and our improvements to work toward for next month. We hope this episode will inspire you to keep going, even if you don’t have it all figured out yet. We sure don’t, but hey, we’re enjoying the ride. Bring it on May!

Today on the podcast we welcome Justine Nelson. Justine is a friend and previous co-worker who embarked on a personal journey to get rid of debt… and then decided to teach other people how to do it too. Justine is the founder of Debt Free Millennials, an online resource blog and coaching center helping thousands of millennials ditch debt and live like a boss. Today we are speaking about all the fun things – like student loans, debt culture and budgeting. We are also going to be discussing how to navigate conversations around debt with your partner and family and how having a budget and goals in your personal life leads to amazing things in your business life.

We hear how this Midwest millennial got into debt in the first place, how she broke out of debt's chains and was able to start a business from the ground up and do things in her life that she never even imagined. Since Justine has been in the dark pits of debt herself, she is a really great person to get some tips and advice from on how to cope with these financial practicalities, as well as the emotional strain that debt can place on your relationships. If you are feeling overwhelmed by your own debt, Justine is going to show you just how doable (and surprisingly fun) paying off your debt can be. If you want to live that debt free life and grow the business you have always dreamed of growing, then this inspirational episode is a great place to start!

Welcome to Part 4 of the Goal Crusher Club Series! Today we are talking about one of Abbie’s favorite things on the planet – creating Key Performance Indicators in your business, otherwise known as KPI’s. We will be walking you through some of the things you need to be tracking on a month to month basis that will genuinely help you realize the health and wellness of your business and exactly what you need to be paying attention to. KPI’s are going to give you all the knowledge you need about where you should be spending your time; what needs more babying and perhaps what needs to be cut. If you aren’t tracking these things you may never be able to recognize what might be an issue in your business, or which aspect of your business you need to grow. This leaves you guessing over and over again and this is not where you want to be!

Ultimately, it comes down to performance and numbers and this is where identifying your KPI’s come in! In this episode, we are going to get you tracking like you’re on safari. We’re going to be explain exactly how to track your data over a launch period and show you exactly how to calculate your earnings per lead, your cost per lead and the additional numbers you should be paying attention to. We are also going to be showing you how to analyze your monthly data; including your most popular posts and your most engaged customer and how you can use them to propel your business forward with confidence.

Today on the podcast we welcome husband and wife business duo, Ben and Laura Harrison, of Jonas Paul Eyewear. This episode is for anyone who has ever been afraid to go after that seemingly unattainable business or their passion project. A lot of us let those things sit on the shelf gathering dust because they seem, well, really hard and really scary! Ben and Laura are two people who are really living what a lot of people only dream of creating. In 2013, Ben and Laura gave birth to their son, Jonas Paul. Jonas was born with a rare disorder, Peter’s Anomaly. As Ben and Laura searched for fashionable eyeglasses for their visually impaired son, they grew increasingly frustrated at the limited (and very un-trendy) options for children.

They were so inspired by their son, that they decided to leave their careers to launch Jonas Paul Eyewear with the mission of helping children feel beautiful in their glasses and providing sight to children in need with every purchase. Laura and Ben saw a gap in the market, combined their skills and followed their passions and their need to make a difference in the world to create a unique and impactful business. In this episode, we’ll be diving deeper into how their business came about, the challenges they faced along the way and how they transitioned from a service based business in wedding photography to a product based business in eye care! Ben and Laura have a truly inspiring story and if you have an idea you’ve been wanting to get off the ground – trust us, you’ll have all the motivation you need after this episode.

Welcome to Part Three of the Goal Crusher Club Series! Today on the podcast, we are talking about the fun side of business – getting paid! Woohoo! Getting paid should be an exciting and rewarding part of business; but who knew that it could be the cause of so much anxiety and confusion, right? We want to give you a little break here today and share with you what we have used in the past to help us define what to pay ourselves as business owners and how that works for us today since our business has grown. If you have severe anxiety around money, we totally understand the fear of not wanting to pay yourself.

A lot of the time people are either afraid money is going to disappear or it is supposed to be allocated toward something else or are just simply feeling that they don’t deserve that money. This is something to be aware of going into this episode but for the most part, we are going to be diving into the different formulas you can use in order to figure out what to pay yourself. We will also be discussing helpful tools to help you with payroll, saving for taxes, saving for retirement, how to separate your income into different bank accounts and what determines a “reasonable” salary.

Today’s Goal Crusher Club episode is all about aligning your projects with your goals. The entire purpose of this episode is to get you achieving the things on your dreamy to-do list faster. We know that so many of you sit there twiddling your thumbs, hoping to get more stuff done, but are not getting more stuff done! We know it’s not because you’re not willing to get stuff done; the issue is that coming up with an end goal just feels very definite and restricting, right? Often, if we don’t have a clue what our end goal should be, then we don’t know where to start, we don’t know what goals and tasks to prioritize and we don’t know which opportunities to follow. We feel you, and we’re here to help you really hone in, define and focus on what it is you’re working towards.

In this episode, we are going to be giving you great tips to help you set your goals and break them down into small projects and even tinier daily tasks. We are also going to help you prioritize your tasks throughout the day and give you some helpful tips on how to say no to the often distracting opportunities that arise. We know you are a creative, but we also want to see your creativity turn into a sustainable and profitable business – so if we’re mean, it’s only because we care. It’s time to knuckle down and get your booty in check, so start crushing your goals today and take a listen.

Today on the podcast we are bringing you another monthly review session. This time around we will be taking a look at March 2018: everything that happened, everything that didn’t happen, why things happened and ultimately, what this all means! More specifically, we’ll be walking you through the nerve-wracking spending freeze that we had to place on the company this month, as well as the goal that changed course, how we quickly adapted and implemented the new goal which led to our exciting new course you see today – The Goal Crusher Club.

We’ll also be sharing with you how we shifted to a new email service provider and the benefits of getting your systems in order, even when it draws you away from those money-making activities. We take a dig at the areas we want to improve on, like our personal internal leadership capabilities, our upcoming hotel spa strategy and why we need to have weekly check-ins with one another regarding our individual decision-making progress. In addition, we have some sexy new numbers to dazzle you with and will be sharing why our April affirmation is to realign. By the end of this episode, you will certainly have seen our flaws and be reminded that we, of course, are only human too. We know that you are coming up against these challenges in your own business and we are here to tell you that sometimes, you’ve just got to live and let be!

Today on the show, we are bringing you a two-in-one monthly review session. We know we are always telling you to check your data, but the truth is, we forgot. January slipped away and then February slipped away and before we knew it we had the monthly reviews way off of our minds! Even we made mistakes, the upside is that you guys get to learn from them! Yay! So, even if it is March and you also haven’t done last month’s report yet, that’s okay. You can give yourself some grace and do yours with us here today.

In this episode, we are diving straight in to our monthly business review sheets which you can find within the Follow Through Method. We’ll be going through our goals and whether we accomplished them or not, as well as our numbers for our various social media pages, our email list and our website. We’ll also be taking a look at increases and decreases in sales and talking about the importance of allowing your goals to pivot and be tweaked. So, grab a pen and paper, dig out the calculator and let’s start collecting some data.

For those of you who don’t already know Emylee – welcome to her anxious life. She is the type of person who can tell you where every exit in a building is, how to stop drop and roll in case of a fire, and where to hide in case a tornado suddenly appears on route to the mall. In business, Emylee is the kind of person that likes to go through every single worst case scenario. She always has a back up plan… and a backup plan for the backup plan. Emylee is truly the queen of the backup plan, and it turns out that this can be a super helpful attribute to have in a business partnership.

This episode is about planning for the things that you can never plan for. It’s about answering those difficult “what if” questions. It’s about securing your business for the future and the reassurance that this brings to your life. For those of you who are single business owners, we’re not sure you’ve thought of planning for worst case scenarios and exactly how to do that. So in today’s episode, we’re going to be sharing our experiences and the reasons we have made planning for worst case scenarios an integral part of our overall business strategy. We discuss buy-sell agreements, the various insurance options you have, the tough questions you need to ask yourself today and how you can effectively plan for the worst, in the best kind of way. Take a listen!

Today on the podcast we welcome Kelly Roach. Kelly is a national bestselling author, the host of the podcast Unstoppable Success Radio and the CEO of her own coaching company, Kelly Roach Coaching. Kelly has NFL cheerleading experience, Fortune 500 executive status and today is “bringing it” with strategy, mindset, wellness and everything in between that will help you build the legacy you want to leave behind. In this episode, we talk about how to create a legacy, what a legacy looks like for you and the impact tiny everyday decisions have on the future of your business. Our episodes usually center around getting a business off the ground, but the question we’re asking today is, what do you do after you’ve launched?

Often when we think of legacy, we think of something grand, something awe-inspiring, something world-renowned. But the truth is, no matter how small your business is, you can leave a legacy and according to Kelly, this is the calling and responsibility of all entrepreneurs. Kelly really unpacks what leaving a legacy means, and for creative entrepreneurs especially, this is super helpful to hear. Kelly gives us some great ideas on how we can create a more sellable business and stresses the importance of wellness and self-care in legacy building. If you are wanting to make an impact in the world with your business after you sell it, move on, or retire, then this is definitely an episode for the you of today and for the you of tomorrow!

Today on the show we are sharing all the things that we are digging right now. Things that we love, things that bring us happiness, things that make our lives easier, things that are guilty pleasures and everything in between. From handmade clogs from Sweden, to crime thrillers, to kombucha and shipping hacks – this is just a fun little break between all the hardcore business bootcamping and emotional trail runs that we have just about almost every other episode!

Today we are diving into the most marvelously random list: some are products, some are services, some are just things that we like to do – minus the sponsors or affiliates! These are things we are recommending because we genuinely enjoy them. We are sharing ten things each, so a total of twenty, epic random things we are just digging! We hope you’ll find them interesting or inspiring, entertaining or insightful. We hope that you try some of them and hopefully dig them too. Take a listen and let us know if you do!

Today on the show we welcome Lauren Taylor. Lauren is the founder of The Letter; an annual mag that inspires women to live their best lives. She is also a content creator, brand ambassador, has partnered with empowering brands like Aerie and Abercrombie and has done amazing things in both her writing, photography and now filming for her YouTube channel. When we think about a social media influencer, we tend to think of someone who has five million followers! But this is not necessarily true and this is one of the reasons we are excited to welcome Lauren back on the show.

Lauren was last here over a year ago, way back in episode 23, where we talked about how to collaborate with big brands and being a social media influencer with a small following and why that model works, as proven by Lauren. Today, we catch up with Lauren and dive into some of the results from the strategies she has been implementing into her social media over the last year. We also discuss how to find your purpose and stay true to yourself when big brands come a-knocking and ultimately, how to find joy in what you are doing every single day. We hope you enjoy listening to Lauren as much as we do!

Today on the show, we’ll be telling you a story about a $15k mistake we just made. We are finally at a place where we are no longer blaming others for this mistake, and we are able to reflect on it and share it with you. So, we are going to talk to you about a concept we had hoped to implement in our business, the mistake we made, the giant role we played in allowing the bad crap to continue happening – and most importantly, how you guys can avoid making the same mistake in your own business!

Our excitement to create a successful, automated funnel in our business last year led us to hire an outside marketing team. After numerous red flags and no deliverables, we eventually had to cut ties with the team and call it a day. But at that point, it was already too late and we were at a $15k loss! In this episode, we explain how we got ourselves into this situation in the first place, exactly what the red flags were, what we should have done differently and how we are going to bounce back from this ever so slight hiccup. In addition, we walk you through the nitty-gritty of contract negotiation, KPI’s and managing the social dynamics of a new team. We hope that you will learn some lessons from our own sad story and takes this as a friendly reminder to always be the BOSS