Hey everybody and welcome back to the The Strategy Hour! We hope you’re as excited for today’s episode as we are because we have something special for your earbuds that we know you are going to love. Today we will be talking about email welcome sequences and how to do them right. It took us some time and few missteps to get our’s where they are today, and we are happy to share all the blunders we made for you and your business’ benefit! We want to help you get your welcome sequence just right for your needs and most importantly to make it profitable, so buckle up!

During this discussion we’ll be guiding you through our history with email tools and ideas and showing you just what worked...and what didn’t. At the end of the chat we will be sharing something extra special that can take you one step further in your marketing so make sure to listen out for that. We cover the purpose and reasons for having a bomb welcome sequence and do a deep dive into why our first welcome sequence was so bad! (Imagine that!) From there we share some of the reasons why it can be so difficult to get this right, especially in the beginning, and we finish off by emphasizing what you should be focusing on when you are putting your sequence together. Let’s do it!

Today’s show is an extra special one. In fact it was so special that we had to re-release it to all of our listeners because it was too good for just one run! This was a chat we had a little while ago with our friend, fellow unicorn and amazing red headed beauty, Courtney Foster-Donahue. Courtney Foster-Donahue is an Atlanta-based four-time entrepreneur, business strategist who specializes in video content creation and Facebook marketing and advertising. Courtney helps entrepreneurs to win using Facebook through her new program called FB Framework. The program was previously, and in some portions of this conversation, called FB Everything, just so you do not need to be confused between the two.

With over 1.96 billion people around the world on Facebook today, why are so many businesses claiming Facebook is dead, turning away from Facebook Ads, or not seeing any benefits in them? From Facebook page optimization, your business Facebook page, Facebook ads, to all the tiny tips to get you maximizing your reach and growing your business, we are covering everything. This re-run busts the Facebook myths that will help you turn your business around!

Today on the show we’re talking The Kinda Crunchy Movement. You must be thinking, “What the french toast does this have to do with business?” Well, half jumping on a movement or half doing anything is freakin’ common and we think it only makes you human. But how can we identify those things and either make a decision that, it’s okay that you’re not going all the way or just decide that you want to make changes? Are you beating yourself up about some of the decisions you’re making or not making? Don’t worry, you’re not alone; We half-ass a lot of stuff!

Now you’re thinking, “How does this relate to other parts of my life?” Today we’re identifying it and recognizing where we’re doing it and where we want to make changes for the better. The common highlighter we’re talking about is our own flaws and our own ways, because we aren’t quite full anything just yet. Also, there is power in calling stuff out on what it is, so let us call out all the bullsh*t that we still do and don’t do so maybe you can feel a bit more normal.

On today’s episode we welcome wonder woman, super biz lady and all round badass Kit Cronk! Kit is part of our Think Creative Collective family and we love her entrepreneurial spirit as well. She is here today to tell us all about how she uses Redbubble and drop shipping for her business and how you might be able to do the same. Some of you may have heard of drop shipping but if you haven’t do not fear, all will be explained and become clear shortly! Kit has managed to come up with a great model for her particular artistic business and we cannot wait to have her share her expertise with you!

During our discussion we cover what the current creative entrepreneur’s landscape looks like and touch on the not too distant fantasy of the business that can be run from the road. We also thoroughly break down Redbubble, the platform with which Kit has had such success, comparing it to other similar ones and looking at its benefits. Kit is kind enough to really unpack the strengths and weakness of the these platforms before laying out the technical details of how she makes them work for her. From there we traverse the world of Instagram and we all know important this can be to your success. Kit offers some great advice for growing a following, increasing the quality of your feed and giving your business the boost it deserves. So for an inspiring and purposeful masterclass in utilizing available technologies, platforms and networks be sure to tune in as we talk strategy!

We have been working our booties off behind the scenes trying to set up something pretty epic in our business – the evergreen machine. So, in this episode, we’re finally ready to tell you about the pros and cons of this soul-destroying process and why it is so worth it! We all talk about financial freedom, we all want it, but you don’t always hear about the nitty-gritty testing, the waiting, the endless funnels inside the funnels and the insurmountable self-doubt it takes pushing through to get there.

Despite the many cons of evergreening, we managed to maintain our sanity, not kill each other, stick it out and evergreen a $2000 course online. The benefits of this has been more than we ever dreamed, and we want to tell you all about it, and how you can do it too. If you are a six figure business owner and are interested in evergreening one of your courses, then we want you to pay attention to this episode – it could just change your life.

Today’s Boss Talk question is: How do you think email marketing is changing due to new regulations? We all know the importance of email marketing, but the truth is that the state of email has changed a lot over the past few years and with the new data protection regulations, it is changing even more. Where is it headed and how are we going to have to adapt? Tackling this question here with us today, is our favorite regular, Steph Crowder of Courage & Clarity.

In this episode, we discuss the trending question, “Is email marketing dead?” and how you can make your emails stand out in a way that doesn’t make people kick you to their spam folder. We also discuss the power of in-person marketing, why talking to people like they’re human is the best tactic and how Abbie has been able to have a successful side business with no email marketing at all.

Today on the show we welcome Brit Kolo of Jam Marketing Group. Brit is a feel good marketing coach, accountability partner, abundance junkie and hugger of all things plants. Brit coaches boxed-in business owners to become independent, profitable leaders through self-awareness and #MarketingThatFeelsGood. In this episode, we’re diving into all things personality type and this corresponds to marketing plans. Brit believes that you shouldn’t have to feel fake and sales-y in order to grow your business.

By knowing your personality type and using that as a home base for your marketing strategy, she believes that you can truly create marketing that feels good for you. Here we break down what types of things feel good for certain personalities and what things might make us feel icky and uncomfortable, so that you can lean into the thing that is going to help you market faster, better and stronger. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a good sense of how you can make selling feel so right for you in your business.

Today on the podcast, we welcome Lauren Golden. Lauren loves helping mamas free themselves from the nine to five grind. Lauren launched The Free Mama Movement to show working moms that they don’t have to choose between family and financial stability. We’ve all said it and we’ve all heard it: “I don’t have time.” This is the easiest excuse that people love to pull out of their pockets when they’re not seeing business growth or success. But is it really true?

For every single person out there who has ever said, “But I don’t have any time to grow my business” – this episode is for you. Here, Lauren is busting myths, knocking excuses out the window and giving you action steps on how to better utilize the time that you do have in your day – regardless of kids, dogs, full-time jobs, health, hobbies and life. All this so you can make amazing things happen in your business. No more excuses – grab your notebook and give this one a listen!

Hey ya’ll! It’s our May review / June planning session coming to you live from Emylee’s very dirty office. In this episode, we go over some of the things we accomplished and didn’t accomplish in May, some of our daring plans for June and let you in on a little big secret… This June we will be bringing you the biggest launch you have ever witnessed at TCC and share some of our exciting new sponsorship prospects on the horizon.

We also share some successful news from our grueling switch over to Active Campaign and reveal why we deleted 21k subscribers from our list and are as cool as cucumbers about it. We also share the changes we have made to the business with GDPR compliance and why vanity numbers really don’t mean a thing. By the end of this episode, you will have a few great resources to help you take the steps you need to take in your business in order to reach success and sustainability.

Today on the show we welcome back Steph Crowder. Steph is so awesome, that we decided she needed to become a regular! So here she is, to talk about keeping your to-do list alive once you’ve lost momentum in your business. After the hype of a launch has died down, losing momentum is common. Trust us, we know! There is a certain amount of adrenaline that keeps you going during a launch, that keeps you alert, that keeps you firing when you’re in that challenge mode. But what do you do after this frenzy subsides? A lot of us go back to the same old habits and the same old routines and this is where a lot of us get super unproductive.

Steph has found that there are 7 major reasons why your to-do list is not getting done. If you are one of those people who are like, “What the hell? It’s Friday and I’ve crossed off barely anything on my to-do list!” Then girl, this episode is for you. Here, Steph talks about the big commonalities she has seen for why people aren’t getting their shit done. Better yet, she gives us actionable steps we can take toward more productivity and sustainable momentum. After this episode, you will be able to take a deep breath, re-evaluate your time, kick that self-doubt to the curb and be the boss lady you’ve always dreamed of being.

#5DaystoLaunch Challenge is BACK, babe! Word on the street is, you have some pretty bomb ideas but for whatever reason, you just keep them in your pocket, you sit on them, you hold onto them, and you don’t launch them. What the heck? What are you waiting for, lady? There is a valuable opportunity there that can earn you some real cash dollar bills for your business. So many of you come to us saying that you have this amazing dreamy idea, but you are frozen, you are stuck, and you are on the fence. A lot of you live in Sitting-on-the-fence-ville, right? But the reality of it all is, it is not comfortable or really beneficial for anyone.

We want to help you to get into the launch mindset and this is why we created the 5 Days to Launch Challenge to arm you with the strategies and the steps you need to get there. We have determined that launching something and launching it well really just comes down to five steps. That’s it. Five steps. And we’re here to remind you what those steps are with a repeat one of most valuable episode to-date. You can do one step a day and at the end of five days, you will have launched a product and made actual money. So, get ready to jump into your very own launch by signing up for the challenge today! No excuses.

Today on the Strategy Hour Podcast we welcome the wonderful, the magnificent, the powerhouse, Erin Kelly! Erin is here to talk to us about MemberVault, something we are more than excited about. We’ll be hearing about how MemberVault uses gamification as way to boost your business and increase your revenue. Erin will be starting from the very beginning and explaining exactly what MemberVault does and what gamification actually means, so if any of this sounds new and a little daunting, don’t worry because we have you covered!

During our discussion you’ll get everything you need to know about the great service that MemberVault provides and how you might be able to incorporate it into your strategy. By incentivizing, tracking and tagging, MemberVault enables businesses to tailor and curate their communications and offers to their audiences which are proven to increase results. Sound good? We thought so! The most exciting part of it all is how the service actually cuts down on your workload and allows many automated actions to occur.  You will be getting more interaction for less time spent, and if that isn’t the ticket, we do not know what is. So stay tuned as Erin helps us break it all down for your listening pleasure.

Today on the podcast, we welcome our latest internet crush, Chris Davis. Chris is the Director of Education at ActiveCampaign and is an email marketing genius. With everything going on in your business, the truth is, you need to take your email marketing seriously. Chris has helped us so much with kicking our email marketing strategy into high gear. He is an incredible resource, and in this episode, we get deep into discovering information about your customers, as well as some of the basic mindsets you need to be in when you’re starting your email marketing game.

Chris uses a ton of analogies to break this information down in a way that is easily digestible for newcomers and old-timers alike. We discuss how to personalize your emails, the benefit of multiple marketing platforms and get a few key tips for using the ActiveCampaign platform. If you are about to tackle your own email strategy, this episode will really help you to dive in with the right mindset. And if you already have an email marketing strategy set up and sailing, there is information in this episode that will get you to reconsider, adapt and improve it. If you are just stuck or overwhelmed, in any shape or form, about your strategies – this episode is here to help you reset that mentality, help you move forward and get your audience through the door.

Today on the show we welcome Josh Stanton. Josh is the co-founder of Screw The Nine To Five, which is his and his wife, Jill’s, slice of the internet where they help entrepreneurs bring  more attention to their brands, make more money in their business and get more out of their life through simple strategies, how to’s and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the realities of building a business online. In this episode, we tackle the topic of how to create a highly engaged Facebook group. We’re here today to let you in on a little secret and that Facebook member numbers is kind of a load of BS if you don’t have engagement! But how do you cultivate engagement, and better yet sustain it, from the get-go?

Josh lets us in on their tips, tricks and processes that have helped him and Jill create a successful, highly engaged and empowered Facebook group that actually drives members to sales. All done in as little as thirty minutes a week! We discuss how to show up for your people personally, how to drive them to your products or services, how to set group rules and expectations and how to keep your page alive and buzzing with content, questions and resources that impact the community you are serving. If you are looking to step up your Facebook game and create a thriving community – then this is the episode to fill up your notepad up with!

All right, it’s the episode you’ve all been waiting for. We are finally ready to talk about the biggest change we’ve made in TCC in a long time. We’ve moved email service providers… TWICE and we spoke about this is in our monthly review for April but promised we would break it all down into an episode all of its own. So here it is. Today we are running through the reason why we switched from MailChimp to ConvertKit, and then switched again from ConvertKit to Infusionsoft and then again from Infusionsoft to ActiveCampaign. Complexities aside, what we really want this episode to do is serve as an educational resource for you if you are needing help deciding between two platforms.

So in this episode we will be diving into why certain platforms just didn’t work, as well as the key reasons that made us sway to ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign. We walk you through various system features of the platforms, like ConvertKit’s tagging-based system versus ActiveCampaign’s automation-based system and how these worked for us. We also get into the nitty-gritty’s of how integrations, deep integrations and visual automation work in ConvertKit as well as in ActiveCampaign and how we were able to find out so much more about our customers using certain features. No matter what service provider you choose, at the end of the day you should always pick what feels right for you and your business. We hope that this episode will help you to make a more informed choice and get you a step closer to being a turbo-boss babe!