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

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When You Realize You Don't Love Your Biz and How to Sell It with Haley Williams

Welcome back to the The Strategy Hour everybody. We hope you are excited about today’s episode because we sure are! Today we are chatting with Haley Williams about selling a business when you realize that you might not love what you are doing. This is an experience Haley had with a project she had been running for the last seven years only a few months ago! This can obviously be quite a difficult process and that is what this chat is all about. Making tough choices that are the best for you. It took some time but Haley found the clarity she needed to feel good about her decision and has not looked back since.

There are a number of choices that are available to us as business owners when these feelings arise. One of the options is to just shut down the business completely, which is quite drastic but is sometimes necessary. The second option is to think about changing the way you work and how the business runs and the last is to let go of it and have someone else buy and take care of it. The last of these is what Haley did and she found it was a lot more about letting go of the identity she had come to correlate to her business and realizing that she was more than that part of herself. Even at TCC, we are also slowly finding our way through this dynamic and learning to value ourselves beyond the work we put into our jobs. So come along for this important journey and hopefully you can come out the side inspired and ready for any necessary changes.

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What Do We Actually Do Every Day?

Welcome back to The Strategy Hour Podcast everybody! We are so happy to have you and can’t wait to share another batch of super useful biz info with our beautiful tribe. We thought it would be a good idea to let all of you know what our day-to-day work looks like and how we actually spend our time while working. To do this we are going to look back a bit and see how things started. Then we’re going to reflect on what we did in the beginning and then run through the developments over the last few years and discuss how our processes have evolved. Sound good? We thought so!

A lot of what a successful business is, is the day to day dealings, the schedule, as well as how you spend your time. If you can figure out effective planning and calendar solutions, you are halfway to realizing your dreams. At least that’s what we’ve experienced. This podcast has been a great way of measuring our progress and we have plenty of old episodes with related content, so make sure you are all up to date on those! Today, we’ll be delving into our individual schedules before we joined forces in 2015. Then we’ll show how our relationship and partnership has continued to mould the way we work. So without further ado, let’s get right into it!

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Spreading Kindness with Carrie McQuaid

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!

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Embracing the Lifestyle Brand We've Become

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.

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Balancing a Membership and Being a Momma with Heather Crabtree of The Savvy Community

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.

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P.S. We Also Run an MLM Business

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!

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Overcoming Crisis and Pivoting Your Business with Erin Shebish

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.

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This Episode Is For You If....

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!

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The Maker's Growth Strategy with Megan Auman of Designing an MBA

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!

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Launching a Product Using Trello

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!

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Starving Artist to Instagram All-Star With Amira Rahim

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!

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What a Blogger, a Podcaster and a Consultant Have in Common

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!

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The Verticals Method With Reina Pomeroy

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.

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Our September Monthly Breakdown (AKA That Time We had a 6-Figure Month)

Six-figure September! Yep, last month was the biggest month in TTC history. So today we are going to be breaking down our successful launch by taking an in-depth look at our actual numbers, our growth and our stumbling blocks. We both celebrate our birthdays in September and so did TCC. TCC turned two in September! Reaching a six-figures this month is a very sweet gift from the universe. By that, we mean the cash came in and landed in our bank account. This blew our minds and is more money than we have ever made!

Want to hear another cool thing? Not only did we reach six figures, but we reached it by September 19th. That’s a little less than three weeks. Want to hear another cool thing? We reached $110,000 – that’s an additional $10,000, just for fun! And this number happened without us even reaching the projected numbers during our September launch. If you want to hear more about that launch, definitely go back a couple of episodes and check that out. Because today, we are going to be reviewing the process step by step and finding out how the heck we got to a six-figure month? An exciting milestone for us. Take a listen, you know we’ve got tips to share!

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How This Boss Bootstrapped a $4 Mil Company with Laura Roeder of Meet Edgar

Today on the podcast we welcome Meet Edgar Founder and CEO, Laura Roeder. Meet Edgar is a social media automation tool that makes sure your social media content gets posted to all the appropriate places. Often we are so afraid to repurpose or repost content more than once. But if you knew that your reach per post is often sitting around 5%, you might start to think a little differently! Meet Edgar helps small businesses and entrepreneurs reuse their best content to bring in a ton of views.

But we are not only talking about social media today; we are talking about how Laura bootstrapped her company, how she has developed a 100% remote team of 30 employees across the US, generated over seven thousand subscribers, is bringing in $4 million in annual revenue and how she has survived all of this with zero sales team. Oh, and all of this was in just three years. Today, we will be diving into all her juicy secrets, discussing the future of social media networks, and why we should be utilizing them while they are still free.

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

Listener Love

paigeamberbacani
Abagail, thank you SO MUCH for this fresh passion! I can hear the genuine excitement in your voice over what is working well for you right now and what you have overcome in the past! Your resilience is truly contagious and I am so grateful for the knowledge that you freely share!
GoodGood Investing
An amazing podcast! From business strategy and systemization, to motivation and inspiration, The Strategy Hour really does cover it all! We love this podcast to bits!
Genevieve0721
I wanted to reach out and let you know how much I’m enjoying your podcast. It’s truly amazing and I’ve learned so many valuable tips and insights on how to scale a business without burning out. Your content is truly awesome and I appreciate you sharing it with us listeners!
Mezar C
Your podcasts are fantastic! The latest episodes highlighing your journey from graphic design to various marketing roles is truly motivating for aspiring entrepreneuers unsure of their career paths. Awesome content!
Fabi Paolini
Love your podcast, you bring so much value to your listeners. Thank you!
Josuediazv
I really enjoyed the episode that covered the importance of building a highly engaged and motivated team to help company scale and grow. I would highly recommend this podcast to everyone interested in learning practical business strategies to start, scale, and grow a business.
Ashao FreeSky
Super valuable. Abagail provides simple and actionable advice for growing your business. Her episodes are super practical. I love how grounded and down-to-earth she is. You can tell she genuinely cares about helping. I definitely recommend giving the podcast a listen!

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Software & Services We Swear By

Meet Our Partners

The links below are affiliate links. We receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) when you purchase through these links.

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Digital Product Jumpstart

Build your list and grow your revenue at the same time!

I’ve kept these details to myself for far too long. I’m ready to spill everything and give you the exact steps that’ve helped me generate tens of thousands of qualified leads and MILLIONS in low-ticket digital product sales. I won’t just show you what I did, I’ll teach you how you can do it too.

Learn More