Welcome back to the Strategy Hour Podcast everyone! Today we have a very special and meaningful episode with a wonderful guest that we cannot wait to share with you. Her name is Aimee Beltran and she started her own business and podcast called Irresistible Icing. We are huge fans and cannot wait for you to hear what Aimee has to say! Our guest has struggled with weight and body issues since she can remember and she has turned this difficulty into a source of support and care though her company. She always felt she needed to get to this idea of the perfect body but after years of bad experiences and self destruction she realized there were other ways to live the life she was dreaming of.

Aimee gives us the scoop on her five guiding principles that have helped her to start living an irresistible life. She takes us through these and gives us many other great insights and personal experiences. This episode is quite a deep one and we would like anyone with any history of body issues to be kind and caring to themselves while listening as we know these kinds of conversations can be very triggering. Nonetheless there are some tears and lots of laughter during our chat and the overwhelming message that we and Aimee really want to bring to our listeners is one of body positivity and acceptance. And remember things do not always have to be perfect!

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 on the podcast we welcome Amber Rae. Amber is an author, artist and speaker and has been called the “Millennial Motivator” by Fortune and "The Brené Brown of Wonder” by Mind Body Green. Amber’s work invites the truth that lives within us and helps you befriend your emotions and express your gifts.

In this episode, we uncover powerful techniques for how to deal with anxiety, worry, perfectionism and everything in between. Amber is here to help us let all that self-sabotaging sh*t go to live a better life – possibly our best life! If you want some action steps on how to make that happen, then this, right here, is the episode for you.

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.

There tends to be this thing that happens. This thing that has been happening for a while now. This thing where everybody tries to implement the exact same strategy, at the same time. What  ends up happening is everybody starts to look, sound and feel pretty much the same. Have you noticed it? This is where things start to get icky and this icky-ness is what we’re going to be bringing to the surface today.

In this episode, we’ll be highlighting some of the common mistakes we see businesses making. We’re here to help you cut the crap, stop following fickle trends and really get back to laying the foundations of basic business practice. Here we’ll be walking you through our PANCAKES Method to help you identify where you are at in your business and how you can reach those upper-level results. If you need a reality check, a kick in the booty and an actionable gameplan to ground your business for the long haul – then you’re going to love this episode.

Today on the show we welcome Abbey Ashley, founder of The Virtual Savvy. Abbey is a virtual assistant startup coach who is helping women all over the world start their online businesses and launch and grow their VA businesses to $5,000 per month and beyond! Ashley has been featured on Boss Mom, Smart Passive Income and NBC News – so you can image, this girl knows her sh*t! If you’re someone who can’t stand the 9-5 life, being a VA is a great place to start for anyone who is wanting to get their feet wet in the online world.

For anyone who is stuck, not knowing where or how to even begin tapping into the online VA space, this is literally the episode for you. In this episode, Abbey provides so many fantastic ideas for you to get something off the ground as well as how to pivot, niche and scale your VA business so that you can totally crush it. After listening to this episode, you will be able to start making money this very week! So, take some notes and let’s get started.

June was the most slap in the face lesson that Emylee has ever had in business. Abbie, on the other hand, felt like we had it coming. But no matter which way you see it, we’re going to talk about it – and many other delicious things – today in our June Review episode. This June, we launched The Strategy Academy live for the first time since November 2017. We have evergreened the program for the past six months and this launch was to give us a big public push. We did have a successful live launch but it did not reach the goals that we had set.

In this episode, we reflect on the process and the results of our Strategy Academy relaunch and highlight some of the latest changes and additions to TCC. We have some exciting things coming up for July, which we’ll share with you too, and round things off with some strategy, pancakes and spaghetti. By end of this episode, you’ll be reminded that sometimes you don’t need to burn your projects but rather, speak about them in a different way.

Today on the show we welcome Michelle Knight – mother, wife, world traveler and storyteller. Michelle is also a branding coach and the founder of Brand Merry, where she works with female entrepreneurs to create an authentic, captivating and money-making brands through the power of stories. Today we are breaking down the different types of stories that Michelle sees as most effective in the online space, as well as how you can literally integrate yourself, your background, your purpose and all the little stories that make you an amazing human being – into your brand.

Michelle shares some tricks, tips and tactics on how you can outline really big stories, break them down, share them authentically and how to truly draw a connection between your audience so that you can build trust – which in turn, builds sales and a money-making business! This episode is really actionable and is going to spark a ton of ideas for you and your business. Everyone has a story to tell, right? So grab a notebook and start brainstorming yours here with us today.

On today’s episode of The Strategy Hour we are tackling a very important subject and a problem that is very close to home for most business owners, including ourselves here at TCC. We are going to be looking at the two schools of thought that might be holding up your business’ progress. With the rise in entrepreneurship and self-made business owners there has been a natural growth in literature and thought on the subject. So much of this has been helpful and inspiring in many different ways but there are also ways in which it can be stunting you and your work.

The first popular school of thought we look at is the “hustle ‘till you die” attitude, which has been popularized by many successful entrepreneurs and has so much influence over the way go-getters portray themselves at events and online. We at Think Creative Collective know the value of hard work and persistence but attaching someone else’s or a collectively held image of blood sweat and tears to your own life can have devastating effects on your health, family life and of course your work. The second thing we look at is the idea that hiring and outsourcing is the direct line to success and credibility. After unpacking just how damaging these two ideas can be to you and those around you we look at ways in which you can avoid these problems, taking only the necessary pearls of wisdom from the philosophies and finding your own, healthy pathway to success!

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’s podcast is really special retrospective as we are looking back on our meetaversary! We met three years ago and those of you who have been with use for a while, know just how special the journey we have made together has been! So we thought we would take this opportunity to look back on the last three years and really just pay tribute to each other and what we have achieved. Although it has not all been smooth sailing and easy terrain the good times have made the challenges that much more manageable. Through all the ups and downs that life has thrown at us, this business we have built together is a blessing and we are both so grateful for it!

We remember exactly how we first met and the first conversations we in the Savvy Community and the phone calls and sleepovers that followed. Once we spent time together we knew it was something special and the honesty we were able to exercise so quickly really showed us how rare our connection was. Very soon after meeting we started to see how we balanced each other out and complemented each other’s strengths and weakness. We hope everyone out there gets to feel this great feeling! We look back at some of the best and worst memories from this period and look forward to what the future might hold. This episode is a bit gushy and is all about us - but we know you care, otherwise you wouldn’t be here! And who doesn’t need a little bit more inspirations and gratefulness in their lives?

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.