Today on the show we welcome Melissa Megginson! She is the Community Manager and resident Cat Lady at Tailwind, a company that is dedicated to helping brands with their visual and Pinterest aspirations. Tailwind can really help you and your biz conquer Pinterest in a way you might never have thought was possible. We really love Melissa and the work she does as Tailwind has helped us out a lot over the years! They offer organic and free ways for you to get more engagement, traffic and customers on the platform and that is exactly what we are going to be talking to Melissa about today! She will also be filling us in on what is new and exciting on Pinterest and what we might expect for the future.

We have pretty much loved Pinterest since the beginning and were definitely part of the 'Pinterest wedding' generation! You know what we mean! Over time we have watched it evolve and change, thankfully not as much as some other social platforms out there but there has been some definite development and growth since we started using it. We began using Pinterest for business pretty early on in our company history and definitely found that Tailwind helped tremendously with our efforts, so let's hear what Melissa has to say!

We did this kind of crazy thing and started up yet another Facebook group, while everyone else is shutting them down left and right! What we’re talking about today is the thought process behind it, who the group is for and how you can get your booty inside. This group is specifically designed for service-based entrepreneurs who deliver a creative tangible product, so designers, photographers – listen up! You would have to apply first, but don’t be put off, this is just to make sure that only the most relevant peeps have access, so simply head over to bossproject.com/booked.

In this episode we let you in on where we got this idea from and tell you exactly what we are aiming to achieve with this new platform. It is about our business, but it is just as much about helping you and other creative entrepreneurs grow and get the most relevant, helpful input you can get. Be sure to join us for this episode of Strategy Hour to get all the details!

Today on The Strategy Hour we are joined by the amazing, the wonderful, the gifted, Melissa McGraw! Melissa is the founder of The Creative Potential, an agency dedicated to helping online business owners increase their traffic and revenue through improved SEO. She and the company have aided countless brands grow their audience by millions and applying her strategies can multiply your organic search results tenfold in just a few months! With Melissa's help we are going to be breaking down SEO in the simplest of ways, not getting too nerdy but also not skimping on great, actionable plans and ideas. We want to get you ranked on Google ASAP! Get your notebook ready so we can start getting more traffic and customers and have that reflect in your bank account!

It's been a while since we have talked about SEO and just as a reminder it is very important for all, and we mean all, businesses! If we are honest, SEO is still a foreign language for some of us, while others of us have kind of got the hang of it. Our goal today is to get your site search engine friendly and high up in the rankings! We will be going from the simplest questions about what SEO is and how it functions, how to utilize it for your biz and even touching on some of the higher end stuff that will get you to the top of the first page! These strategies are super accomplishable but it is also worth noting that you are able to hire someone like Melissa to help you out with this task, get an expert to do the work for you, so there is that option too! Now, let's get you found online!

We have yet another awesome duo on the show today! Jessica Rhodes and Margy Feldhuhn are equal co-owners of the company Interview Connections, the first and leading podcast booking agency. Jessica founded the business is 2013 and Margy joined just a couple of years later, and now they have a booming business, booking podcasts left, right and center. They are totally on fire, and today they’re sharing with us how we can DIY getting on podcasts, what sort of return on investment we can expect and how we can measure what we’re actually getting out of it.

You’re going to walk away from today with tips on how to approach the conversation and build the relationships, show up for the interview prepared and how to make the most of it. So even though you guys are going to have many voices in your earholes today, it’s going to be so worth it! Many of you have asked the questions they are answering today, such as how effective podcasts really are for building brand awareness and how to go about doing it. We’re revealing all of this and more, so don’t miss out!

We remember our first good sales experiences so well! It can be one of the best feelings in the world and it does not have to have that slimy and sleazy feeling to it at all. Today we are talking about what we are actually doing and the process for having more efficient, successful sales meetings, that just feel better. No one one wants to feel icky and coercive when they are pitching and the truth is you really do not have to! What you really need to learn how to do is to let people fall in love with your offer, so it is less about selling and more about showcasing your process. If you follow these simple pointers the actual sales pitch will be a home run, we promise!

We have spoken at length recently on the podcast about locating your ideal and appropriate clients and this episode is essentially what to do once you have found them. Bad experiences in this department can make you feel terrible so we are trying to steer as far clear from these as possible. You do not want to be word-vomiting your way through nervous, un-researched meetings. These can leave you feeling like a wreck and with no more money to your name! Let's rather get strategic and get selling!

So we have been propagating some pretty scandalous ideas lately and they have got some of you thinking and moving! Today we are dropping the full knowledge bomb on all of you about the myth of online businesses. A lot of you seem to still be convinced that your next client or even all of your clients will be found online and to be honest this is just not true. If you run a service based business you need to rethink your model! Just to be clear this does not mean that your clients do not use the internet or are not on Facebook and Instagram, it just means that people find services and make connections in real life and through referrals, people! We need levels of trust and real life relationships will always trump online advertising and presence.

This is the know, like, and trust principle. So think about human connection, your personality and those tactics that can work in these arenas. It's like as a community we have become confused. A lot of us have started small businesses trying to mimic huge online businesses rather than think about what will get us going in our own stream. This line should have been drawn more clearly a long time ago! These are growth strategies for people with already established client bases, not tactics to find new clients when you are starting out. If you follow this popular online strategy and social media presence rulebook, you will end up with no clients! This is true all over the world, so get your head straight and let's find you some clients!