Something that we repeatedly get asked about is content, specifically around what should be free and what should come at a cost, which platforms should be used to deliver the content in the best way. This is especially relevant for those of you who want to transition from services to digital offerings where you teach what you know. Truth is, there are so many different ways to approach this and this gets us overwhelmed very quickly. First of all, we’re going to give you permission to do less! So if you feel like you are doing too much and overcomplicating it, you probably are. 

If you’re running a strictly service-based business and you do not have a consistent income in that $5000 to $8000 range yet, then creating content is a massive distraction that is taking your time away from getting more clients. But if you have reached that six-figure goal, there’s really two main ways you can progress from here. One, you create an agency model, take yourself out of the work and hire people to do the work and scale from there by adding more people. Or two, you start doing less of what you’re doing now by transitioning to teaching other people how to do what you do. And this is what we’re talking about today: dos and don’ts when pivoting from services to courses, so stay tuned!   

Today we are talking about a real hot topic and something we should all be talking about more often! We will be unpacking inclusivity and diversity and our own experiences and the lessons we have learned in this area. We will be drawing mostly from our recent summit and what we took away from the event that we will carry forward. This episode will have actionable strategies and tips about how to invite everyone to your table. We have spoken on this topic in various ways on the podcast before but it definitely deserves a dedicated episode, so we will be discussing community over competition, inclusion in our own company, the speakers we invited to the summit and what to do when something rubs you the wrong way. 

We all have a responsibility to open up these conversations if we are going to make any progress as a society. Do not worry, you are not alone if the discomfort itself makes you feel uncomfortable! There is a lot of work to do and processing all of this is not always easy but you learn best by doing and mistakes are okay! It is a big misconception that we will all get it right every time, so do not put too much pressure on yourself in that regard, rather commit to learning, listening and trying your best to contribute to important change!

Welcome back to the Strategy Hour Podcast! Today’s episode is mostly for the listeners out there whose businesses are under the $500k a year earning mark but who have this possibility on the horizon. We want to talk to you about the growth that happens around this point and for you to ask yourself whether you really need to keep growing. The reason this is an important question is because as you scale past $500k you actually may not increase your profits.

This law of diminishing returns is something we have experienced at Boss Projects as we grew. What does it really mean to have a seven figure business? The answer might not be quite what you expect. In order to get you ready for these possibilities we will be talking accounting and the different ways that making money works in your business. So if you are ready to start making your revenue work for you and to keep your profits up, listen in, we cover it all!

Many times people come to us and ask where they should start with their business. They’re overwhelmed and feel like they’re having to do so many different things when really they want to focus on doing only the things that actually get results. You can also get totally snowed under by the ideas and opinions of others. The biggest detriment can be wanting to have all the bells and whistles of a thriving business and wanting all of them straight away. We argue for the opposite: first get the foundational things in order and get really good at it before worrying too much about the fluff.

Here is a construction analogy: In the Midwest, houses often have basements because their foundations have to be built below the snow line, otherwise it will crack. The same applies to our businesses: they require really solid foundations. Some of you have to take a few steps back and dig out a basement so that the structure of your business can be healthy and sturdy. A foundation allows you to have stability, and frankly, without a foundation, you don’t have a sustainable business. Today we’re talking about what’s involved in those initial stages that many people are skipping or putting off, so get ready to join us for another fun episode of the Strategy Hour Podcast!  

Welcome back to the Strategy Hour y’all! A couple of weeks ago we had a workshop and we got a few comments that caught us totally off guard. This came after we spoke about using referrals and tapping into the resources of your inner circle to jumpstart your business. We know what we are talking about when it comes to network marketing, but there is the icky side of this that involves random messages from people you haven’t been in contact with for ages and then they suddenly need something from you. That is not what we are advising you to do!

These “Hey Girl” messages are simply not the way to go! You don’t even need social media to have the conversations we are urging you to have. But if you are using social, here is our ten cents about it: respond to others in the way that you want to be responded to. Building our business came down to personal relationships and conversations and today we’re sharing more of our personal experiences and successes on this front. So be sure to tune in for this episode of Strategy Hour, and find out how to create those meaningful business relationships!  

Today on the show we are so happy to welcome the combined force behind the The Product Boss Podcast, Jacqueline and Minna! Through their show, they teach business owners how to grow product-based businesses with strategies and a strong community. Each of them have their own business as well and have taken their personal work into their joint venture, offering their expertise as a great service to other creatives out there!

Today's talk is all about taking your products further and the idea of going deeper instead of wider. Although Jacqueline and Minna mainly focus on product-based business, these strategies can be applied to whatever you are working on with the basic idea being to make more of the customers you already have rather than going to find new customers from scratch. So let's dive in and hear what they have to say!

Today on The Strategy Hour we’re diving deeper into what exactly we mean when we say that is should be easy and fun to make $100k from your service based business, within a year. There’s a misconception that money cannot be earned without really hard work, and to an extent this is true, especially for certain types of businesses. But you also have to be smart about it! Just to reiterate, when we say it’s easy to make six figures, we are talking about offering services like copywriting, designing and photography. And this is by doing the basic work only, aside from all the other side offerings like podcasts and training courses.

In fact, you should keep it as simple as possible, focusing on doing one thing really well instead of doing a bunch of different things. These other ideas are not bad, but until you’ve done the one thing properly, you won’t enjoy its full benefits. We’re also guilty of this and we’ve seen many of our mentees battling with the same thing. Today we’re breaking this down in a way that we hope will help you not to fall into the trap of believing that diversifying will necessarily expand your business and make you more money. Whether you’re thinking of adding on products or offering more services, you think that the single solid service you’re offering will not get you to your financial goals. Today we’re busting that myth, and we’re going to show you have it is totally possible to achieve your goals by sticking to the basics.   

Hey, everyone! Welcome to another episode of the Strategy Hour Podcast. Today's show is dedicated to chatting about all the latest things we are addicted to, the things we are digging and what we are into right now! Sound exciting? We hope so! Luckily for all of you, most of these things are all things you can buy, so you can use this as a fantasy shopping list if you so please, no one is stopping you!

So basically, in this episode we are going to chat about stuff today; stuff that helps you get one step closer to your own personal success. Take your cues from us! We have scoured our lives to find what is making them better and are bringing them to you. We are talking the last six or so months in gadgets, ideas, aids and plans. And believe us, there is no shortage of it! So without further ado, let's get to the list!

We’re pumped to do another Boss Talk episode today! Our question for today is, “Did you have any fears when you first started your business?” Before we jump into this though, it’s worth mentioning that Emylee has a habit of conveniently forgetting all the negative memories of an experience, looking back at them with rose-colored spectacles! Nonetheless, we’re talking about fears and what it was that drove our decisions in those early days of starting our own businesses.

Many factors played a role in those decisions, including long-distance relationships and being desperate to move closer to our families. In this episode we share some of our fresh-out-of-college experiences trying to navigate new phases in life and trying to figure out what our next steps would be. We also chat about confidence and what motivated us to start our own businesses and the many considerations involved, so join us to find out more about our early days as startup entrepreneurs!

Here at Boss Project we remember being young in the game; it was not that long ago! It is easy to look around and feel frustrated at everyone else's success, the success you are so badly lusting after. We usually try and figure out what our heroes are doing and how we can mimic it to get to where they are. Something that flipped this whole dynamic for us was the idea that you should never be comparing your beginnings to someone else's middle. This sentence stuck with us for a long time and helped us to take down our guard and look backwards to where other people started instead of where they are now.

Try this with us; think about a popular business or business person that you admire, one that makes you think, 'Damn! I want a piece of that!' If you want a business like theirs or something similar, the chances are you keep them in mind pretty often. Now believe us when we tell you that almost all of them started with services! That's why we have launched our new program this week! It is called Start with Services and it is the bomb! We know that for most of you, the biggest hurdle is not that you have nothing to sell or no great ideas, but rather that you need more leads and buyers. We teach the exact methods for these things. We want you to be able to go to your inbox and find new and interesting leads there every morning! Wouldn't that be great? So we made this program just for you to get there. Let's start this journey together!

Hey everybody and welcome to a really, really epic episode! We are so excited to share some amazing stuff with all of you today, we can barely control ourselves! Okay, so we have a brand new program that we are launching and it is probably the best thing that has ever existed, anywhere, at any time. It is called the Start with Services Program and we are going to be digging into all its great benefits and telling you exactly why you should be signing up yesterday. We do not say this lightly, you could just go straight over the website and sign up immediately, it's that good! So if you are interested in getting booked out in your business, which you obviously are, look no further!

The thing that we have noticed is that most of you have amazing services, that is definitely not the problem. You have skills, ideas and all the rest in bucket loads. You know your craft and we would never claim to be able to teach you that side of things any better. We just want you to have more opportunities to share these gifts with more people and more clients. That's where the program comes in, it will guarantee and we mean guarantee, you more leads. In fact you will most probably have more leads than you will know what to do with, so what are you waiting for?

Last time we shared a lot about our personal journey and the mishaps we had. Everybody makes mistakes, but we hope to learn as we go. So today we’re talking about the things that you might be getting wrong in trying to scale your service based business. Regardless of where you are in the process, these mistakes can be made at any and every level. So the episode today is going to involve a conversation that no one else is talking about. You might have incorporated some of the most popular strategies with the hope of landing more clients but have discovered that they are ineffective.

Trust us when we say we’ve tried and tested every trick in the book! Sometimes the problem is that we are aligning the wrong goal with the strategy. Other times, we try something just because everyone else is doing it and it seems to be appropriate for the service we offer. We are bombarded with information about how we should run our businesses, and sometimes this just clouds our judgment and overcomplicates everything. Get ready to find out how to fix these bugs with some practical examples from our own experience, so be sure to tune in for this episode!

Welcome back to the show everyone, today we are giving you the scoop on the lessons we have learned from our failed businesses from the past and talking about how much you should lean into your dreams. We start businesses for a number of reasons, maybe you were laid off, want your own identity back, can't find another job, hate your current job, whatever it is, it is valid! So when we start something we usually tell ourselves a story of why we are starting it, we might want to be our own boss, make more money or any other of a plethora of reasons. The problem is that our strategies often do not match this initial motivations and we can find ourselves in our 'dream job', but also in a nightmare arrangement!

In our experience, this is the number one cause of burnout and panic attacks. If you do not allow yourself the space and grace to live the life you wanted when you set out on this journey, you might find yourself hating your biz more than any other thing you have done. Why would you want that? Some of us make big sacrifices in the beginning, telling ourselves that we will get to where we need to be one day and that this discomfort is only temporary. This usually lasts a long time and the hole only gets deeper, so do not dig yourself into it in the beginning! Why not guarantee your business and lifestyle of your dreams from the start? Take control and make the life you want, you do not need anyone's permission for that!

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!