Today on the podcast we welcome Amber Budd. Amber is a self-described skincare nerd and the founder and creator of her own skincare line, Amber Budd Skincare. Starting out with just a $500 loan, Amber left her job at one of the best spa’s in the country and founded her own. She has since managed to scale her clients from only ten to hundreds by growing her business one small step at a time. In Amber’s industry, the client return rate is 20%, but Amber, on the other hand, knocks that figure out the park, seeing an 80% return rate with her clients! Amber’s customer care philosophy is “take the time to nurture every client relationship”.

Today, we find out how Amber found a manufacturer, got her products approved by the FDA and grew her skincare line from just an idea. We will also find out how she bootstrapped a brick and mortar business and the strategies she has recently implemented to grow her business even further! Amber reiterates the importance of taking one small step at a time and the value of consistent, steady growth in your business and client relationships. So get your notebooks out, put your feet up and let’s get ready to hear some strategy!

Today we are going to be talking about the 23 launch mistakes that your business can’t afford to make. But before we get started, first and foremost, we want to encourage you to get into the mindset of treating every single thing in your business like a launch. Whether that’s an Instagram post, a blog post, creating a course, new brand colors – treat it like a launch. Because if you don’t treat it like a launch, it becomes one of those things that sits on your to-do list and doesn’t actually get done! As soon as you treat it like a launch, you will take the steps you need to in order to make it happen.

We have gone through the process of launching an obscene amount of times, and we have helped so many others do the same. Through these experiences we have noticed a pattern of common mistakes made throughout the launch process and today we want to share the top 23 mistakes we see happening in a launch. From aiming for perfection, to poor planning and promotion, or just not reaching out for support. There are small (and big) things we can do to maximize any launch and keep our sanity in the process! We believe in you and if you’re thinking about launching, you are in the process of launching, or you are just wondering how you can improve on your next launch – this episode is an absolute must!

Today on the podcast we have Kris Wittenberg of Be Good to People. We fell in love with her brand and the impact it was making on people around the world. The idea for Be Good to People was inspired by a rude experience that Wittenberg had back in the spring of 2008 while running errands at lunch. Kris has long forgotten the exact bad experience but the idea that people need to be better to one another has stuck with her ever since. We have loved hearing her message and getting to the root of how she got started.

Inside this episode, you are going to hear a pretty crazy story all about how a failed business helped Kris follow her passions and her dreams and then how she landed in front of Oprah and Gayle. Like actually hugging and seeing Gayle in-person. That exposure had huge impacts on her business, her confidence and everything Be Good to People stood for. There are a lot of lessons learned here from an entrepreneur who has been in business for a while, so we hope you take away some good nuggets today!

The #5DaysToLaunch Challenge is back and we are beyond pumped! The #5DaysToLaunch Challenge is a free and designed to help you go from figuring out what your product should be to selling it by the end of the week. You might be thinking, “What!? That’s impossible!” But the truth is, it’s absolutely possible! We have had hundreds of students accomplish this, and much more, in this five-day challenge. We created this course because so many of you are just sitting on your laurels.

“It’s not good enough.” “It’s not ready.” “This thing is not perfect.” Sound familiar? Well, we are tired of it because we believe in you guys more than you believe in yourselves. We know you have some brilliant ideas and your audience deserves to see your good stuff! So the #5DaysToLaunch Challenge is a way for us to get your booty into gear push you, ever so kindly, every step of the way. If you’ve been on the fence about launching a product or just putting yourself out there, now is the time to do it and we’re going to show you how.

Today on the show we have Carrie McQuaid. If we could describe her in any way, Carrie is truly a kindness spreader. She loves pink, Taylor Swift, confetti, having fun and traveling the world to speak to companies and colleges about the power of kindness and generosity. She is head over heals in love with mason jars, sweet tea and rocking chairs on a front porch. A classic Southern belle at heart. Picture fresh flowers, polka dots and stripes, a day filled with love, laughter and spreading joy to others around — that’s Carrie!

In this episode, Carrie comes with some pretty fantastic ideas for business owners, entrepreneurs and just human beings in general and how we can be nicer people, helping fellow strangers (even in the Target parking lot). She also shares her story of viral kindness success. You might have heard of her on the little Southwest Airlines birthday party that she threw? This is a really upbeat episode and if you have ever wanted to start implementing small acts of kindness in your every day or in your business, Carrie comes full with ideas for you to take away and start implementing right now. So let’s jump in and spread some kindness around like confetti!

Today on the podcast, we’re doing things a little differently. We are going to have an actual conversation about how our business is going to evolve after we were hit with some crazy new perspectives. Spoiler alert! We have an agent now, which is super weird! We brought her on to help us deal with sponsor requests for the podcast and land us some opportunities that really fit and say no to opportunities that don’t. It takes an entirely different set of skills that we simply do not possess, and so we brought her on to give it a try.

So there you have it; we have an agent now! We were having a conversation with her to figure out who to say yes to and who to turn down as sponsors. We were kind of struggling with it because as a business focused on strategies we were thinking more along the lines of software and tools. But turns out, without even knowing it, according to our agent we are actually a lifestyle brand! What?! We had to take a step back and have a serious conversation because a B2B “business” brand is a whole different thing from being a B2B “lifestyle” brand. So stay tuned as we unpack what it means to embrace the lifestyle brand and truly focus on evolving our business to be who we are at the core.

Today on the podcast, we have our friend and our mentor, the lovely Mamma Heather Crabtree from The Savvy Community. If you are not familiar with this woman, what rock have you been hiding under? Her Facebook community and her community in general that she has built over the last few years is phenomenal and literally the online space where we first met. Sparkles and all the confetti for that! We talk a bit about the legendary Savvy Community where we met online, and how it’s transitioned over the years.

In this episode, Heather shares with us how she has grown just a couple hundred members to over 13,000 and how that evolved into her bringing on a membership community where she hosts female entrepreneurs from all over the world and helps train and coach them. We also go into the programs she has brought along with her and even how she has been able to walk with her daughter as she has gone through stage four cancer, what it’s like balancing a business and a chronic illness like cancer and how that has affected her as a person and really made her stronger for the better. This is a little bit of a rollercoaster episode, but know that it comes from a good place and we are so excited to have her on.

Surprise! We also have another business that’s not TCC! If you haven’t already heard, the truth is, we are actually oily, hippie weirdos. The cat’s out the bag and this is what we are going to be talking about today; our discovery, love and business venture into Young Living Oils and how it blends into our full-time job at TCC. Young Living Oils has been life-changing for both of us. We started using them to help with our migraines, insomnia and recurrent illnesses. They helped us feel amazing, be healthier and make clearer decisions in all aspects of our lives. Then, we realized, “Hey, wait. There could be a business opportunity in this.”

So today, we are going to be sharing our unique strategies for our side business in oils, how it has become a creative outlet for us and changed the way we live. If you are wanting to improve your approach to brands and products as well as your side-hustle, then this is an episode for you. Get those notebooks out and start writing, babes!

On today’s episode, we are so excited to welcome on Erin Shebish. Erin is a certified mindset coach for solo entrepreneurs and she helps women find their version of success by gaining clarity, direction and confidence. Today, we are talking about Erin’s personal journey where she went from a little bit of a hot mess to setting boundaries and creating systems within her business. We will also hear more about her journey throughout The Strategy Academy and how she was able to handle all of that with some major health crises.

There are very few business programs that also offer an emotional component and this is something Erin has managed to balance beautifully with her business. In this episode, we find out how she was able to re-discover her real passion, pivot her business and implement it without any real hiccups. Erin gives us actionable steps we can start implementing today for our own emotional well-being and business processes. We hope you will take her experience and learn how to apply it to your own life and business today.

Today, we are tackling a concept and question that we get asked ALL THE TIME. Specifically, we are going to answer it around the framework of The Strategy Academy because in case you haven’t been paying attention, the doors are opening again soon and we are pretty freaking pumped about it. But, regardless of whether you are considering The Strategy Academy or any other program, or you’ve asked this question from us in the past, maybe this kind of walkthrough, mindset or framework will help you answer this question next time it pops up for you. The question we get asked all the time is, “Ok, but who is this program perfect for? What type of person is this program for; someone who is just starting out or someone who has been in business and needs to up a level?”

It’s one of those questions we have always had a hard time answering. We have always felt like we need to box ourselves in but it turns out that we kinda gave the middle finger to that rule and did what we wanted to anyways. This program isn’t just for someone brand new in business. It isn’t just for someone who is ready to move up a level and take things seriously. It isn’t just for someone who is not profitable yet. It isn’t just for someone who is profitable. It’s for all of those people — for different reasons. Today, we are diving into the why, the how and the benefit of why opening it up to so many different people has created a community in which all these different types of people thrive. So, keep listening to hear more!

Megan Auman is a designer, metalsmith, educator and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for art, commerce and visual content creation. AKA, she rocks Instagram and Pinterest! In addition to running her eponymous jewelry line, you’ll find her on Designing an MBA talking and teaching about the intersection of art and business.

In this episode, we will be looking at how to use Instagram and Pinterest to see a return on investment and grow your email list. We will even be getting some tips on what to do with New York Now, how to plan a holiday marketing strategy and why keeping it simple is key. So hold onto your panties! As a trained and practicing metalsmith, Megan is a great person to help those entrepreneurs who are specifically hand-makers trying to grow a handmade business. So jump in and take a listen!

We get asked so many questions all the time about our launches and how on earth we manage to do so many while keeping it all organized, keeping communication going with our community and just how we get it all done!? There are so many tiny steps that go into launching just about anything. You end up feeling so anxious about it all. Well, babes, we are here to tell you there’s an easier way to launch! We can tell you how to schedule it all and keep on top of what, when and how you are doing the launch.

On today’s episode, we are here to give you an overview of every single step starting at the very beginning. Specifically, we will be talking about what we do before we launch a program so you can adjust this for your own business to make it work for you. We are going to walk you through how we do it and of course, we can’t do it without our little magic tool, our favorite platform - Trello. So make sure you are listening intently to this one as we are about to help you help your business!

We are so excited for today! On the show, we welcome Amira Rahim, also known as Amira The Abstract. If your eyeballs want some glorious material, you need to check her out. She is a contemporary abstract expressionist painter and she’s legit. Amira has been featured in numerous magazines and basically, in addition to being a painting bad-ass, she is also an educator. She has a program that helps other fine artists learn how to master Instagram.

Inside this episode, we take a really raw behind-the-scenes look of how Amira went from starving artist to Instagram all-star. We are talking about the real and raw emotions people have and go through, connecting with people and creating a community. We also find out how that has evolved into teaching and helping others create beautiful and strategic feeds that allow them to succeed in their own businesses. This is definitely more raw than normal, in all the best ways, so keep listening to hear more!

Today, we are bringing you something new, unique and kind of awesome. In this episode, you are going to get to hear from alumni of our program, The Strategy Academy, answer questions about their businesses, growth, mindsets and all the amazing things that have happened in their lives and businesses from taking our program earlier this year.

They are all pretty awesome peeps. You are hearing from, not only a service-based person, but a product-based person, a blogger and a podcaster. We are giving you the full enchilada of what’s going on inside their businesses, where they were before and how The Strategy Academy has helped them ramp up. We have formatted it a bit differently today, so each guest’s story is summarized for you to get the most out of their experience with The Strategy Academy. Keep listening to hear more!

Today on the podcast we have Reina Pomeroy. Reina is the founder of Reina and Co. She is a life and business success coach and helps right-brained, heart-centered women be their best selves. We have loved Reina for a long time and have been able to watch Reina’s business grow and prosper. We definitely have a personal connection with her and are excited for you to hear the amazing things we jumped into in this podcast.

We are talking about something that might make some of you cringe, but we really want you to stick around for this one. The unique perspective Reina brings to sales funnels is actually REALLY good. She works with a lot of creatives. She knows how our brains work and created a new method for thinking about bringing our clients, our audience, and our customer on a journey with us. She knows how to set it up in a way that makes sense; where you are profitable and giving away content. We are asking her what she thinks when people say they are worried about giving away too much for free, what comes first, the free content or the paid content, and how to fill the spaces in between. Believe us when we say this episode is jam-packed and you are going to love it.