Top Business Podcast • over 4 million downloads • 900+ episodes

The Strategy Hour Podcast

with abagail pumphrey

Recognized by INC and Forbes as one of the best podcasts for entrepreneurs, join our twice-weekly show as we share business strategies, interviews, and actionable advice for building an online business your way.

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Our Episodes

Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

How to 2x Your Income With Affiliate Marketing with Jill Stanton

Today on the show we welcome Jill Stanton who is the co-founder of Screw the Nine to Five and certified affiliate marketing badass! She and her husband, Josh, have built a massively successful business helping other businesses partner with yet more businesses! Everyone wins and everyone earns! Their mission is to transform unsatisfied employees into dangerously successful entrepreneurs and build skills and resources to help them with their growth, so they can work as much as they want to, wherever they want to!

This is such a hilarious and insightful episode, we know you are going to love every minute of it. We sure did, and by the end of it you will be at least one step closer to doubling your income through affiliate marketing. Jill’s brand of affiliation is not slimy and gross and is so simple to start today, no matter the size of your biz. We all know the bad reputation that these kinds of partnerships can have but this is not that, trust us! Jill is here to help you better serve your audience, stay inclusive and engaging, and make more money doing it!

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Podcast, Leadership Guest User Podcast, Leadership Guest User

The 20+ People It Takes to Run Our Growing Company

Welcome back to another episode of your favorite podcast! Today we are answering your requests to break down the various roles we currently have at our company. So, just for all of you, we will be unpacking the size and impact of each of these in our beautiful little biz! We have been taking on new people and restructuring lately so what better time than now to do this exploration. We finally have a solid group and each role is pretty clear, which is more than we used to be able to say! We have to admit that for quite a long time certain jobs and departments remained quite a mystery to us, what they were really for and how much we could ask. Building a business is always going to include bringing people on and letting people go and it can sometimes prove quite hard to find the right fit. But we are much more confident right now than we have ever been!

So at the moment we have a nice mix of new faces and old hands and we have to shout out once again to Traction, the book we have drawn so much inspiration from, for helping us figure out our company structure. We have had to change our mindset from small business owners to the CEOs and founders of a company, which is harder than it sounds! It has taken three years of trial and error and in the beginning we did not even have plans to build a team at all! We are still figuring out how big we want to be; right now we stand at about 20 people working on things. Quite a lot, we know! Some of these are contracted out, some are employees, some are part time, but it is quite crazy to us that there are so many heads together on our little biz! So stay tuned as we dive into our business together.

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Podcast, Scaling Guest User Podcast, Scaling Guest User

From Garage Startup to On Track to $100 Million with Jane Lu Founder of Showpo

Hey everybody and welcome back to the Strategy Hour Podcast! Today we are very, very excited to have Jane Lu as our guest. Jane is the founder of Showpo and has been in Forbes, Cosmopolitan and won numerous awards for her business! What started as a small clothing store in her parents garage in 2010 has grown and grown to the huge online store that is today. Their goal is to reach $100 million in revenue by 2020 and boy do we think they will achieve it! Jane is so inspiring and we love the way her brain works, she makes fast decisions and is such a visionary; qualities that have taken her company to amazing heights.

In our conversation Jane breaks down the milestones, learning curves, mistake, strategies and almost every important step in the process, so get ready to take some notes! This episode is a great insight into the turning points that any business faces and how to ride them out to success. Jane admits that some of the strategy she now espouses she has only seen in hindsight, quite an achievement for a business that now has 150 staff members and started with two racks of clothing less than nine years ago! Now, let’s get into the show.

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Podcast, Branding & Design Guest User Podcast, Branding & Design Guest User

How to Run an Effective Photo Shoot For Your Brand

Hey all of you strategists and biz queens! If you haven’t heard yet, we have been going through a big rebrand! All of of our work will now fall under the Boss Project banner. That’s right, TCC is now a thing of the past and we are onto even bigger and better things! Since we have started this process we have been getting so many questions about the new photos we have been taking and sharing sporadically. We have to admit they look amazing and we are so proud of how they have come out. We look pretty good in the them, if we don’t say so ourselves!

So today we wanted to share some tips and tricks for organizing a great shoot! After this experience we have loads of opinions and ideas to give you. In the past we mostly went pretty DIY with the process with varying degrees of success and have learned many lessons, and this time we applied a bunch of that knowledge! This was the first occasion that we went full professional and the experience was so fluid and we were so prepared! In our discussion we get into these preparations, budgeting, roles, and things to to remember. So let’s get to it!

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

Growing a movement from a blog with Nikki Porcher, founder of Buy from a Black Woman

Hey everybody we are super excited to have our friend Nikki Porcher on the show today! Nikki is the owner and founder of Buy From a Black Woman, which is an online non-profit organization that is bringing awareness and funding to businesses owned by black women! Nikki has had an amazing journey since starting this initiative and she now showcases a large number of black women business owners in her directory, Instagram, and in her shop. A fearless and natural creative, Nikki is so much fun to talk to and we know you are going to love this conversation too! During the episode we hear about this incredible journey that she has been on, starting with a blog, which became a hot Instagram account, then a directory and now a non-profit organization.

She currently gives out grants to black women to start their business and get off the ground, providing a network of support and knowledge to aid them in their pursuits. We have to admit we learned a lot in this conversation and Nikki is so open in sharing with us and we ended this chat just wanting to know more, support more and spread the love! There are so many great businesses in her directory and we should all be buying from them! It is so easy to do a little research, branch out a little further and diversify your world! Nikki is such a great example of turning your passion into something amazing and impactful and to be honest her story really reiterates a lot of what we always say!

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

Think Creative Collective is No Longer

Hi guys! Today’s episode is a really big deal. We are busting with excitement to share with you our motivation behind changing a key aspect of our business—the name! When you start a new company, the last thing you think about is changing it. Even though change can be terrifying, we hope that you will be equally as enthusiastic about the new direction we are moving into as we are. We assure you that we will do everything possible to continue serving you to the best of our abilities, and we can almost guarantee that you will love this change as much as we do.

Part of the name changing process involves making our brand more inclusive by collaborating with online entrepreneurs who will be educating you on a wide range of topics. You will not be hearing from only us in future but will be enriched by the knowledge of a plethora of experts in various fields of business. Be sure to tune in today to join in our celebrations and to find out all the cool new things we are going to be offering you.

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

Building an Audience that Sticks & Working with Micro-Influencers with Erin Abernathy & Steph Pulido of Out of Office Media

Today we welcome Erin Abernathy & Steph Pulido from Out of Office Media. We are so excited to have them here on the Strategy Hour Podcast to talk about working with micro-influencers and how brands can create strong content and build a really engaged audience. Our guests are best friends, the co-founders of their company, and they have recently been recognized by Forbes! Their goal is to serve and interact with female millennials and they are now based in New York City. In their business they work with micro-influencers, or those that have less than about 10k followers on social media, to grow their following and in turn aid a brand’s goals. This is really about building a small yet strong tribe whether you are a solopreneur, budding influencer or big brand.

So if you are what may be called a micro-influencer and would like to dabble in working with brands and companies, creating another revenue stream, this episode might be just the thing you have been looking for. Erin and Steph offer a bunch of great strategies to get started, boost engagement, and niche down your market. So no matter what business or field you are in this can help you get to where you need to be. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

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Podcast, Mindset Guest User Podcast, Mindset Guest User

Abbie Is Not An Enneagram 3, There I Said It

Hi everybody! On today’s show we are talking about one of our favorite things — personality tests! If you know us at all you know we can’t get enough of these kind of exercises and understanding where we fit into each and every system. Today we will be discussing Enneagrams, our types, and Emylee’s controversial opinion that Abagail was mistyped in her first assessment. Enneagrams are relatively new to us, with Abagail doing hers first, just under a year ago. However, Emylee still feels she has enough expertise to assert some claims over Abbie’s type and what it really is, contrary to the results.

We are doing this episode in the lead up to the Enneagram and Coffee Summit that is happening very soon, which we will be speaking at! So to get you excited for that, we will be spilling the beans on everything we know about the subject and how we relate to it. Remember to go get your tickets for the summit while you still have time! And if you haven’t already done the test, go take it immediately. You know you want another way to understand yourself! In the meantime, tune in to today’s episode for an in-depth look at how it all works.

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Podcast, Leadership Guest User Podcast, Leadership Guest User

Using Your Dollars to Make a Difference with Bethany Tran of The Root Collective

Welcome back to the podcast all of you wonderful listeners! Today we have a great show in store for you, one that is less about how you make money and more about how you spend it. We know that most of us quite like doing that! Bethany Tran of The Root Collective is here to tell us all about how to spend your money in more positive ways to create a better world around you. She is a problem solver and entrepreneur who started the company to help serve struggling communities through job creation. She actually left a stable job to pursue this work and we applaud her for that. She explains The Root Collective’s business model as well as gives some general ideas and information on wiser ways to spend your bucks!

Essentially, this episode is all about how we as women can spend our money in better ways and make a conscious impact on the economy and communities. Bethany has lots of ideas for how to implement these ideas and changes at a reasonable speed and we are pretty sure that after this episode you are going to want to buy some boots from her shop. You have been warned! She talks branding, community, sustainability, and we ask her why she has the best hair in the world! Here at TCC we really believe women rule the world and we need to step into the role as much as we can!

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Podcast, Scaling Guest User Podcast, Scaling Guest User

Making Our First Million $$

Can you believe we have made it to Episode 300 of the podcast? How is this possible? We are so grateful to have had all of you along for the ride and cannot wait to do the next 300! As we go into our third full year here at TCC, we wanted to celebrate another milestone besides that one. Some time during the last six months or so, without us even really being aware, we made our first million! We know, this sounds crazy but it’s true!

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Podcast, Services Guest User Podcast, Services Guest User

Going All In With One Client with Kimberly Crossland

Hey everybody and welcome back to The Strategy Hour Podcast! Today we are joined by Kimberly Crossland who is the former founder, owner, and operator of Savvy Copywriters, a communication and digital marketing agency based in Tucson, Arizona. However, she has now transitioned into a role as Content and Marketing Manager at Rocket Source and she is going to be talking to us all about this transition and how she went from a business owner to working directly and solely for one client. You might recall that this is the second conversation we are having of this type but today we are offering a slightly different perspective on the idea. We will be talking work-life balance, mental time and space, motherhood and creativity.

This episode will hopefully show you a way that you can trim the fat off your work, if that is something you have been considering, and this roadmap might be just the inspiration you need to keep moving forward. This conversation is applicable to both service and product based businesses and from Kimberly’s specific journey, many applicable lessons can be extrapolated. These types of ideas definitely seem to be popping up more and more since we did our first episode on the subject and the online biz community is increasingly interested in scaling back and working more directly and with more focus. We hope you enjoy!

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Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User Podcast, Systems & Automation Guest User

How to Ease Back into 2019

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode! Today we talking about getting back into the swing of things in the new year. We will mostly be talking about our own experiences getting into work-mode after the nice holiday break we had over December. It is quite a personal episode, but we are pretty sure a lot of you out there will be able to relate! It feels quite weird to be back at work after the time off but you know we are excited and pumped up as usual. As you may know, we pretty much took the whole month of December off, which was only possible due to the serious preparation we did throughout the year.

In December we did a total of two interviews, two meetings, and our usual monthly coaching sessions. We did not work on any day to day things and for the most part were able to be lazy, relaxed, and bored as much as we wanted. The one exception was Emylee moving into her new house at the end of the month, which was its own kettle of fish! But all in all, December was the much needed break we both needed after such a busy year. So in this episode we talk about how we prepared for the whole month off, how we are getting into gear now in January, and our intentions and hopes for the year moving forward. Let’s get into it!

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Podcast, Marketing Guest User Podcast, Marketing Guest User

What a Marketing Director Could Do For Your Small Business with Suzi Istvan

Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of The Strategy Hour Podcast! Today our guest is Suzi Istvan from Splendidly Curious. Suzi is a brand strategist, marketing expert and has many years of experience working with a wide variety of different types of companies and organizations. She lives in upstate New York with her beautiful big family and we cannot wait to share this amazing conversation with y’all! Suzi is here to tell us about the roles of marketing director and integrator and how they can take your business from lighting up to burning hot! If your biz is currently small and just starting out or you are making a step up to the next level, trust us, this episode is going to help a ton!

The chat was amazing and enlightening for us and we gained so much just talking to Suzi, so we are sure there will be a treasure trove of stuff for you to mine in here! During the conversation, Suzi even interviews us a little bit, which was fun! We cover how to build and coordinate your team cleverly and finding that all important person who is as invested in your business as you are. This role, which Suzi and others have dubbed the integrator, can take a lot off of your hands and free up more time for you to explore and double down on your areas of genius. In the end, you are looking for someone who thinks of your business as their business and who can free up your mental load, so you can pursue all your dreams with more energy and vigor!

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Podcast, Leadership Guest User Podcast, Leadership Guest User

Hiring a Full Time Employee - Part 2

Welcome back to the show, everyone! As promised we are doing the second part of our segment on hiring a full-time employee. So if you haven’t listened to part one yet, we recommend you go catch up on that, ASAP! In that episode, we covered the application process, defining the role, finding and vetting candidates. Today we are diving straight on into the interview and onboarding process. We will be doing a follow up part three in a few months to report back on the outcomes of this whole process, so stay alert for that in the not too distant future!

Now, we have to be clear, we were looking for a unicorn. We needed someone who was creative and motivated but did not feel compelled to do these things in a business of their own. We have found that this configuration is quite rare and quickly found out that we would be lucky to nab someone who fits the bill. Having part time or freelancers work for you can be great and you may love these people but there is a limit to how much they can actually do for you if they are running their own thing as well and you are only part of that bigger picture. This was one of the main reasons we were looking to fill this particular role, so we could get a little more out of a full-time employee and have someone who is as dedicated to our biz as we are!

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Podcast, Scaling Guest User Podcast, Scaling Guest User

How to Replace Your Salary by Selling Services Online with Jereshia Hawk

Welcome back to the show, all you biz badasses and money queens! Today we have a great episode in store for you that you are most definitely not going to want to miss! Our guest is Jereshia Hawk and she is here to tell us about how she switched from a big corporate job to selling her services online and increasing her salary in the process! Jereshia was working on huge, high profile engineering projects when she left her job and during this first year of going solo she managed to double her salary! Sound amazing? We think so! She has subsequently taught her strategies to hundreds of people online and helped them get going on their own road to success.

A lot of what Jereshia teaches is a little different than the majority of information that is available online. She has a focus on grassroots growth that we just love! It was such a pleasure to have her on the show and the conversation is motivating and really informative for anyone looking to get out of their day job and start their own little thing. This topic is really near and dear to our hearts as Abagail started out on her own, selling services when she quit her corporate job and so much of what Jereshia says rings true for us. For a great conversation with a massively inspiring person, be sure to get it all on the The Strategy Hour!

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Woman leaning on back of chair and smiling at camera

meet your host

I don’t believe there’s one right way to build a business.

I’m your host, Abagail Pumphrey. And I’m dedicated to supporting online businesses.

I’m here to help you build business your way: one that supports not only the life you have but the life you want. I’m on a personal mission to help you become financially free.

I’m talking about all the lessons learned as I turned a layoff into a 7-figure online business. I’m here to help you prioritize your life every step of the way, whether you’re creating your first digital product, growing an email list, or scaling an already profitable business.

I want to hear your hot takes, your biggest takeaways, or the genius ideas that pop in your head as you’re listening to the show.

My DMs are always open on Instagram, so head over and introduce yourself so I can get to know you!

DM Me on Instagram

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