Blogging may be one of the things at the top of the list in our business. The blog was part of the early stages of our business, and existed pre-TCC. We first started blogging before we were even in business together, when it was still just a passion project of Abby’s to educate small business owners on growth strategies. She was blogging five days a week, and literally never skipped a beat. After we met, we then decided to see if we wanted to work together on a longer-term basis. We decided that Emylee would guest blog for what is now the TCC blog, to essentially share the platform, and continued to put out content five days a week.

Together we would brainstorm ideas for the blog, browse Pinterest, ask our audience what they needed help with, and write about exactly what we had just learned the week before. It definitely was not any of this big picture concept stuff yet because we just weren’t in that place in our business at the time. We kept blogging five days a week for almost a full year, at which point we had significantly grown our website traffic, but we were feeling burnt out. In this episode, we walk through exactly how our blog has transitioned into what it is today, and the strategies we used along the way to get there. So tune in to hear all about our ever evolving blogging journey!

Today, we are super excited to bring our friend Danielle Liss to the show. She is a partner over at Hashtag-Legal and she focuses on legal issues for online business owners. Danielle has extensive experience negotiating contracts and interpreting FTC guidelines, and her experience has given her intimate knowledge of the challenges facing influencer networks and social media professionals today.

In this episode we talk all about business formation, contracts, website policies, intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, and she may even give us the straight talk about some of the things we have not yet done inside our own business. So, regardless of where you are in your business; whether you’re  just getting started or already have your own multiple six figure business, get ready, because we promise you that you are going to learn something today!

Today, we are addressing something that we get asked about on the regular. We are answering the question about dealing with business overwhelm, especially for those of you who are just starting out, trying to figure out what to focus on first. We are giving you the foundation and showing you where we think you should put your focus first and why, so perhaps you won’t be so overwhelmed. Now, this does not mean we are going to give you a copy-paste, one-size-fits-all formula. Instead, we will give you the building blocks to figure out exactly what you need for your unique situation to build your own successful business.

We know how easy it is to fall into those holes of massive overwhelm when you are wanting to add more and grow your business. So if that is you, then listen up! And honestly, it does not matter if you are just starting a business or if you have started one already. The information shared in this episode will truly help you lay those solid business foundations and push through the overwhelm regardless of where you are in your journey.

Today on the podcast, we have Parker Stevenson of Evolved finance. We are like super pumped for you to hear from him because he’s actually one of our few male team members. Parker and his business partner, Corey, not only do the books for other online entrepreneurs, but they also coach businesses along the way. We were super excited to start working together in the new year — we had lots of things going on at the time, so it was the perfect moment to get them on board.

In this episode, you are going to learn a lot! Parker shares his opinion on small businesses DIY’ing their books, if you should do that, how you should do that, and what in the French toast “your books” even means. We go over trends that he has seen in the online business entrepreneurial world, his best tips for getting your finances organized, and he even goes through and talks to us about what the heck a profit and loss statement is and how that might be the next best thing since sliced bread when it comes to your business. We know you guys are going to love this episode, so we can’t wait for you to give this one a listen.

In today’s episode, we’re probably going to get a little personal and a little emotional, but we think it’s important that we tell you a little bit about what happened earlier this year and how we have been able to manage all the changes. In the beginning of 2017, Emylee adopted a baby, which completely changed her whole world.  Things were going so well as a new mom, but suddenly she totally hit a wall with work. It wasn’t like she did not want to work anymore or did not want to be a mom; she just struggled to figure out a balanced way to do both at the same time.

Around the same time, Abby was in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury. So it is safe to say we had a bit of a rocky start to 2017 and we spent a good chunk of the beginning of the year mourning and grieving our former selves. So in today’s episode, we are jumping into all the details on what happened, how we handled the changing situations, and exactly how we got out on the other side.

We are super excited to bring you our friend, Christy Laurence, who is the founder of Plann, a visual planner and scheduler app for Instagram. Plann is designed to help you create a follow worthy feed in advance as a great strategy for Instagram growth. A bunch of you probably already use this app and know and love it, so we are really excited today for her to share some of the ins and outs of her business.

Inside this episode, we are talking about what it is like to build an app, what did it cost, what are the startup expectations of working with a developer, and what kind of person it takes to actually do it. Christy also shares what you need to know before hiring someone, and where you should be putting your app — iOS, android, or both? We dive into how to get traction, how to create a marketing strategy, and the whole nine yards. Plus, we even get a little behind-the-scenes story of why Christy started Plann in the first place. You’re going to learn a lot inside this episode, so get excited to dive right in.

We are going to mix it up a little bit today on the podcast, by doing a Q&A session with yours truly. For this Q&A, it will be kind of like you are here because we are going to say some of your names, answer your questions, and give you our best tips and advice. Now, these questions do not necessarily make sense together, and they are in no particular order. We are simply taking them as they come, and knocking them out of the park for you guys.

Some of the questions were submitted on Instagram, some of them are common questions we see over in the Facebook group, and some of them are just because we decided to throw them in because either someone has asked them at some point or because we just thought y’all needed all the answer to them. To add to that, maybe we will just make up some questions as we go along just to keep it super spicy. Tune in to find out. There is no rhyme or reason to today’s episode, so let’s just have fun with it!

We are so excited today to have Johnny and Joanna on from Letterfolk Co on the show. They are amazing givers of knowledge and awesome business owners who make adorable felt and wood letter boards that you can put little quotes on and uniquely capture monthly milestones with. Bonus: they’re handmade in the United States! We reached out to them on a whim because they have such a beautiful Instagram and such an amazing business that we wanted to pick their brains, especially for you guys because they actually sell physical products. Not surprisingly, they have a ton of amazing nuggets of wisdom to share with you guys.

Over the last year and a half, Johnny and Joanna’s business has grown like gangbusters and in this episode we dive into the specifics about when they invested in branding, when they do stock versus custom packaging, what platforms they use, what software they’ve invested in, how they hired their first employee, and more. Plus, we get into all the decisions that went into the making of the company, specifically the mindset piece, which is probably the most important part! They are both so kind, so smart, and you are going to learn so much in this episode.

Today we are going to tell you all about how to get your readers. We’re talking about how to get people just surfing the internet, surfing the airwaves, surfing Google; people who are just hanging out online, to find you, and how you can turn them into loyal customers. The “free, free, free, marry me” sales model walks people through awareness, consideration, preference, and purchase, to being super loyal, to then shouting your name from the rooftops. We are going to walk you through all of those steps today and give you some tips and tricks on how you can implement them in your own business.

Basically, our model is the same as the try before you buy model, or the test drive the car model. That’s what this does for your audience and for your people — it establishes you as an expert and as someone to keep coming back to for that thing. No matter what it is, you don’t necessarily have to be teaching for them to come back for your thing. It could be your humor, it could be the stories that you share on Instagram, it could be your beautiful images or the way you talk to people when you talk about your business or your life or your products. It could be the charities that your business supports. Whatever it is, that thing that they come back for is what’s reeling them in time and time again.