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
Keeping Your Business Smaller on Purpose without Sacrificing Profit
A couple of episodes ago, we teased at the end that we were already going into what could be a whole other conversation. This is that conversation. We are going to be sharing some tidbits we have learned and have deliberately decided to do or not to do in Boss Project, and within our side businesses, to seek growth and to keep our business and our companies in the range we want them to be. This is based on what we do and don’t want to do in that job. We know this sounds confusing but stick with us, and we will break it all down. We really want you to go and listen to episode 512 because at the end we start this conversation, so it might make a little more sense to listen to that one first.
Scaling Your Service-Based Business to 6-Figures Using Dubsado with Elizabeth McCravy
In today’s episode, we are talking with Elizabeth McCravy. She is a Nashville-based website designer and business strategist. She designs strategic and fun website templates for female entrepreneurs. Today we are focusing on her journey utilizing Dubsado to grow her business to six figures plus. We are going to be looking behind the scenes at what features she loves most about Dubsado, what order of importance she recommends for you to set up using Dubsado’s features, to get stuff off your plate so you can focus on clients and actually scale.
Elizabeth says she was only able to scale to six figures because of Dubsado, so if scaling and clients are in your future, Dubsado is going to be for you. We also do a little sneak peek on how Elizabeth has set up Dubsado to use for her podcast guest’ inquiries. She also answers the question of what feature Dubsado should have if it could only have one! We hope this one is an eye-opener for you as far as different strategies to implement in Dubsado in your client-based business, podcast, guest blogs, or anything related to getting people interested in working with you. Let’s get those workflows set up!
From Crickets to Customers with Steph Crowder
In this episode, we’re talking to our good friend Steph Crowder, a business strategist, sales expert, and host of the Courage & Clarity podcast. In her past life, Steph was a director of sales training over at Groupon but now helps entrepreneurs get more customers easily by working with those they already know. Today she is spilling all the beans from her extensive experience in sales, talking about how you can go from crickets to customers by following a three-step formula all about the problem, platform, and people, and we just share hacks from what we have learned here at Boss Project and in our side businesses. Switch on your strategic thinking, and tune in!
Expand, Engage and Convert: Three Ways to See Growth with Josh Coats
Today’s guest is Josh Coats, #1 best-selling author of F*** Leadership, a leaders’ guide for every network marketer so that they can get out of their heads and lead better. With a background in life coaching, Josh teaches masterminds and coaching programs. While today’s conversation is centered around network marketing, the message is much broader than that. Josh is into marketing made simple — Easy, fun, simple marketing that works. So, we go over the three categories that he walks through within his business when sales might be slow or he reaches a plateau or there’s something that’s just not driving. These three areas are his go-tos to see what could be done better. Josh gives us some strategy examples in these three categories, so you can simply copy and paste them into your business.
Along with this, we also dive into freemiums and how to convert without feeling like you’re selling all the time, while also still feeling like you’re engaging in a way that doesn’t take all your time, but creates really good results. This episode is packed to the brim with ideas, so you might need to stop and pause and back up. We get down to such a granular level, that, at times, this feels like a one-on-one coaching session. Be sure to tune in today!
April 2020 Profit Report – The Month We Surpassed Our Profit Goal by 15% and What We’re Focusing on Now
In this episode, we’re excited to do the profit report for April because we don’t know about y’all, but for us, April felt much better than March. When the pandemic first escalated in the US mid-March, everyone was freaking out and didn’t know what to expect. But when April swung by, people got more accustomed to the changes and things started coming into a rhythm again. Businesses were pivoting and finding ways to keep at least a portion of their income steady. We decided to lean into what was already working—to focus on what was performing well naturally. We could easily have tried new things but instead, we stayed focused on growing the shop rather than pushing our $2,000 signature program—which would have been a hard sell in the context of an uncertain economy.
In contrast, the Creative Template Shop is a $47 commitment that helps people with their marketing, which they desperately need now to stay afloat. But for us to approach the crisis with the focus and energy that we are, we needed to make some good choices early on. We avoided mindlessly consuming media and thought carefully about how we were spending our time and who we were surrounding ourselves with. Negativity was the order of the day but we just decided we weren’t going to get sucked into it. This shift in headspace had a huge impact on our business because we spent less time worrying and poured more time into what was already working. In this episode, we once again tell it all—and we are thrilled with the results!
February Profit Report: We Nearly Reached Our Goal Profit!
It feels like it’s been 87 months since February, both in business and life, but we are going back in time to revisit that month and stay consistent with our profit reports. We’ve heard that these episodes are super helpful to you. For those who are unfamiliar with profit reports, we started them in August of 2019, sharing not income reports but profit reports, including the exact percentages of gains, losses, and so on. Our goal is to chase higher profit margins and we share what that looks like for us and the processes we go through to get there. These episodes give you a peek into our business, which will hopefully encourage and help you in setting up your strategies without any comparisons.
Today we talk about how we used the Five Days to Launch challenge to feed Strategy Academy, why we’re okay with Trello for Business breaking even, how The Creative Template Shop blew our socks off, and why we are permitting you to pivot a little right now! Intending to double down on this learning experience, we will also be hosting a live workshop to practically guide you to implement the same things in your business. Stay tuned till the end to hear where to go to learn more about crunching the numbers!
That Awkward Teenager (Business) Growth Phase: It's Time to Get Unstuck
A relevant question recently popped up in our Facebook community, one we felt warranted some unpacking. The question came from someone who wanted to hear from others whose businesses were also past the early stage and now in the season of awkward adolescence. You have made some sales and lined up loyal clients, but you still have higher goals and are eager to learn the next steps. Frankly, you need reliable strategies to get you past this almost-entrepreneur phase ASAP!
We’re in the unique position to offer our advice not only because Boss Project has mastered that stage but because our side hustles are now entering the teenage realm, so we are having to go through all of that again – at this exact moment. But rather than bumming us out, we’re excited about this challenge because it feels familiar now; we’ve been here before and therefore we have a good idea about how to navigate it. Tune in for advice about growing through the awkward teenage phase and running your business like a boss!
How to Scale to 6-Figures and Leave Your 9-5 in Under 12 months with Taylor Slango
Welcome back to the show all you lovely listeners! Today we have a great guest who we cannot wait to share with you. Taylor Slango is an online business coach who helps women looking to grow their empire without compromising the things that are important to them! Her focus is on helping clients align their energy and strategy, in order to have more fun, make more money and ultimately make more sales! She started her business just one year ago and has since scaled to six figures and managed to leave her 9 to 5 in under 12 months. Impressive, right? This path is exactly what we will be talking about today!
We are sure you all have a million questions around this transition. What it looks like, what to watch out for, how to know you're ready, the mindset to aim for and so on. Do not fear, we cover it all! We think the fact that Taylor is so fresh into this journey herself makes this an amazing opportunity to get her perspective! Taylor will also be at our upcoming summit, which we hope all of you have your free tickets for and if you do not yet, go get them! Her presentation is titled, 'How to Plan Your Next Sold Out Launch Without Stress, Overwhelm or Burnout'. This fits perfectly into today's conversation and we think you all need to hear it, so join us as we dive in!
The Side Hustle Epidemic
We did a survey to find out where you guys are currently at in your businesses, the areas you are struggling in, what kind of profits you are making and where we could come in and offer some guidance. What we’ve noticed from the feedback and about the industry in general is that there is an epidemic going on – one that involves the side hustle! So, we thought we better address this topic, not to pigeonhole you, but rather to give you the facts we’ve gathered.
The survey is technically still live, and the report is automatically updated, so you can keep checking in to see how the data shifts. In our email correspondence to you, we will link the survey and the results page for you to access easily. What do other similar surveys say? Where are most of you in your businesses? What kind of money are you making or hoping to make? We get into all of these questions, revealing some super surprising results! Join us to find out what your sisters said about their side hustles!
Becoming a Full-Time Creative Entrepreneur
Today we are talking about what it means to become a full-time creative entrepreneur. Scary thought? Maybe, but we’re here to tell you that starting your own business does not have to be the insurmountable project it is often believed to be. Yes, it can be riskier and less stable in many ways, but what we are going to tell you today is really going to surprise you, and hopefully encourage you to take the leap of faith toward becoming a full-time creative entrepreneur.
Ultimately, our goal is for you to create for yourself not only a job but a sustainable income so that you can provide for your family while also enjoying the lifestyle you want. We share with you a bit of background about our early lives and how it shaped our desire to work for ourselves and talk about the different pressures and circumstances that influence your perspective on entrepreneurship. We also talk about getting to your success point ASAP, what you can expect in terms of free time as an entrepreneur and why this is all 100% within your reach. So, get ready for some encouraging insight!
8 Steps for Growing Your New Business
On today’s show, we will be answering our most frequently asked question: “How did you get from point A to point B?” We will be sharing what to do, when to do it and how to do it all in your first two years of business. These steps got us from zero dollars to nearly half a million dollars and we want to give you a step-by-step breakdown of everything we did along the way. Even if your goal is not to make half a million dollars, the strategies we implemented and the lessons we have learned can definitely be applied to any business goal. Whatever your ultimate goal, the strategies and order we did them in are the same.
Inside this episode, we give you a business roadmap and the eight main steps we took to reach our goal. The order of these steps is key and that is exactly why we will be sharing them in detail with you! To give you a little taste, here is how we are going to break it all down. 1) Build Your Foundation, 2) Craft Your Message, 3) Nurture Your Dreamies, 4) Streamline With Systems, 5) See The Big Picture, 6) Create Sustainability, 7) Formulate A Passive Business, 8) Reach Those #Squad Goals. Okay, are you ready? Let’s get started!
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.
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!
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!
Scaling Your Service Based Business with Parker Stevenson of Evolved Finance
Today on the podcast we have our work husband, Parker Stevenson. Parker is our bookkeeper, our CFO, business adviser, our friend, our friend-enemy and everything in between. You have probably heard us mention Parker throughout this podcast series. He is like the Where’s Waldo? of TCC and an absolute hoot. Today, we are revealing the mystery of Parker Stevenson and are going to be talking all about scaling a service-based business. Instead of teaching you sexy bookkeeping things, Parker is actually going to talk about his own business and give you a peek into some of his own business strategies.
Parker went down the same rabbit hole many entrepreneurs do, where he thought creating a passive online course program was going to be the solution for his business growth and scalability. But you’ll learn in the episode, how they decided it wasn’t going to work for them and why they decided to scale the service side of their business instead. Parker has a wealth of experience and is here to share with you why service-based businesses are severely underrated. If you are a new business owner or in the process of re-thinking your current online business model – this is definitely an episode you won’t want to miss!
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!
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