new episodes tuesdays + thursdays
If you run a business online, then this is the show for you. Listen in as your host, Abagail Pumphrey delivers semi-ranty business strategies touching on everything from building a profitable offer to scaling sustainably to growing an ethical culture and everything in between.
top 10 business podcast | 4 Million+ downloads | 750+ episodes
Meet Your Host
Semi-ranty business strategies for successful small business owners.
Hey, it’s your host, Abagail Pumphrey. And I’m on a personal mission to help more small business owners become financially free.
I like to nerd out on all things business, marketing, and most definitely the numbers. I’m talking all the lessons learned as I turned a layoff into a 7-figure online business.
I like to share it all and no conversation is off the table. We talk actionable strategies, biz challenges, and all the things life throws your way - grief, anxiety, loss, and resilience are all topics you’ll find here.
Our Best Hits
Our Favorite Tools
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The Creative Template Shop is loaded with every template your business needs to succeed. Get started by downloading your next Client Proposal, our member-favorite Services and Pricing Guide, social media templates, or Dubsado forms—just to name a few! You can purchase templates one-off, or get the best deal on all the templates by becoming a shop member!
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This is the #1 tool that we recommend to all our service provider clients. Dubsado is a business management solution designed to cut out the busywork. Build relationships, schedule appointments, and create workflows to streamline your projects from start to finish. Onboard clients, set up automations, send contracts, accept payments and more with this robust system.
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If you’d rather not be spending hours on end learning design skills and new programs just to make some graphics for your biz - definitely check out Canva. Even as professionally trained designers, we made the switch years ago simply with how easy Canva is to use. Save your brand kit, unlock magic resize, get unlimited storage, download designs with transparent backgrounds and more with Pro!
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If you’re looking for an email service provider made with creatives in mind that is simple and intuitive, look no further than Flodesk. We got tired of email formatting being a coding how-to and let’s not talk about the monthly cost. Flodesk’s drag and drop features make formatting emails a breeze, plus it’s one set price no matter if your list is 1,000 subscribers or 100,000. Try it out today!
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No website? No problem. If simplicity is key for your business, we suggest utilizing Leadpages as your landing page, sales page, opt-in page and more. It’s drag-and-drop design makes it easy for beginners to design something on brand + quick so you can get your business out there ASAP.
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A visual-first planning tool for social media. Use it for Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Plan, Schedule and Post with this all-in-one software. Stay up to date with hashtags and trends so you can analyze and optimize your strategy. Manage a linkin.bio within Later to direct your audience to the places that really matter —your website or checkout links.
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Communication is the secret sauce to successful high-touch client experiences. Simple Texting allows you to fire one-off messages, a series of messages in an automation, tag clients and more. Back up your regular email communication with text messages to create a wholistic experience.
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Host digital products, courses, coaching, memberships, and more on Teachable’s all-in-one platform. Their no-code platform is perfect for businesses who want to create real impact. We've used Teachable to sell millions of dollars in digital products & courses. It has allowed us to work with more than 30,607+ students, ensuring a quality experience and better results for our clients.
We may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our reviews or comparisons.
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Listener Love
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My Favorite Podcast!
Not only is their show super entertaining, it is packed FULL of amazing content and learnings that I have tried with success. PLUS their authentic and real interactions in instagram DMs really proved to me that they truly care and are here to help and support in this noisy world of people hustling to get your attention. I can’t recommend this show enough!
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Great Insights
Invaluable information on starting a business, building a brand, etc. They are relatable and easy to listen too. There’s no useless fluff or bragging, just full to the brim with good info. Listen to be inspired!
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Thank you for your realness!
As a perfectionist who always “shoulds” on myself, I want to THANK YOU for the practical business advice and for keeping it real! After listening to an episode, I feel ready to tackle the next step... instead of feeling completely overwhelmed. Thank you both for your honesty. It helps me set better goals, reflect more truthfully, and actually get stuff done!
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Real guidance and conversations
Abagail and Emylee keep it real. I love their focus on helping creative entrepreneurs to build a soul-fulfilling and profitable business. We don’t get that kind of guidance in university or from our parents (at least, I didn’t!) and it’s invaluable. The conversations these two hosting about empowering women and shifting the conversation in the entrepreneur community are so important.
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Entertaining, insightful, and actionable! 🔥
Whether you’re well established as an entrepreneur, or just getting started carving out a profitable niche that’s ready to grow—this is a must-listen podcast for you! Abagail and Emylee do an incredible job leading conversations that cover a huge breath of topics related to the ins and outs of building a thriving business - and life you can be proud of - with leaders who’ve actually experienced success themselves.
Free Challenge: 4-Day Batch Blitz
Today we are talking about batching your shiz! Yeah, girl! We know it’s a sexy topic going into the holiday season, but even in general, people want to get as much done in as small a window as possible so they can focus on the thing that they started their business to do. A lot of people find marketing monotonous, which we get, and we have been making it not only easier for you but also more fun with the Creative Template Shop.
Another great way you can wrap up the end of the year is by batching a bunch of content so you can serve your clients, finish projects, ship out orders, get things listed, have fun in the holidays with your family, and renovate the new house you just bought too! So, to do this and to make it fun, we decided to bring back the challenge concept, and today’s show is all about our newest one – The 4-Day Batch Blitz!
Preparing Your for Black Friday Promotions with Abbey Ashley
Our guest on the show today is Abbey Ashley, the founder of The Virtual Savvy! After running her own successful VA business for a few years, she has gone on to help other aspiring virtual assistants launch and grow their own at-home businesses from scratch. We get to pick her brain today, and the reason we’re so excited is that she has an amazing business philosophy which involves keeping things simple while still making a major impact! She has perfected the art of doubling down on the areas that work and remaining laser-focused on those rather than getting distracted.
In this episode, you’ll learn about her launch game plans as well as how she deals with Black Friday, teaching us how to set ourselves up for a booming year ahead.
Crafting Your Perfect Sales Pitch (without being icky)
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 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!
Creating A Community for Your Members Using Circle with Ward Sandler of MemberSpace
Joining us on the show today is returning guest Ward Sandler, the co-founder and CEO of MemberSpace. Ward runs a SaaS company that enables entrepreneurs and organizations to turn any part of their website into members only with just a few clicks. But we are not talking only about MemberSpace in this conversation but a new way to integrate an amazing community to your membership or products using a tool called Circle. While Circle isn’t affiliated with MemberSpace, they work together perfectly — which we love! Ward breaks down the features of Circle and how you can add-on a community to make a great experience for your members and customers.
We did an episode on Patreon and Mighty Networks a while ago (Episode 468), and this is yet another option for those who want to move their community away from social media platforms such as Facebook groups. Ward gives his take on Patreon and Mighty Networks, explaining how the pricing and features differ from MemberSpace and Circle and why he is a huge fan of picking the best tools for every need and then making them fit together seamlessly. Listeners will also get plenty of advice for setting up MemberSpace and Circle and learn how it can transform their membership engagement. Be sure to try it and check it out at bossproject.com/memberspace!
September 2020 Profit: Five Years in Biz Reflection; Our Thoughts on FB Ad Costs and Botox
We’re excited to talk about business in September and the fact we’ve been in business for five whole years! Honestly, it now feels like we were babies when we started this whole thing because looking back at old blog posts and videos we created in the early days – you can tell that a lot has changed. We have really aged – but we think in the way that fine wine does. Abagail used to have a perfectly smooth forehead when she got botox to alleviate her migraines, but now she embraces her age and is happy to have a few extra lines. It comes with the territory! Emylee, on the other hand, loves her potions and creams and whatever it takes to bring out her youthful side.
But in this episode, we talk about how our business has aged (along with us) and how we have found our groove, shifting from a do-er to a be-er mentality and enjoying much more calm than chaos. We share what we got up to in September, focusing on the live launch we did for Strategy Academy and how we have adjusted our approach to ads for the better. Tuning in, you will also hear us talk about the appropriate amount of planning, the strategy we implemented to make the next few months easy, and all our profit and expense numbers for September.
Building Company Culture and Wowing Clients with Your Customer Service with Jake & Becca Berg of Dubsado
Prepare yourselves for one of the best episodes! Why? Because we are interviewing two of our favorite people, Jake and Becca Berg, the founders of Dubsado. Not only have they done amazing things for us in our business but they have helped many other service-based babes get a grip on things. We have loved watching them continue to grow over the last five years and admire them for building a software service while also leading one of the best customer service teams out there, making a huge impact on small business owners. They are now five years in and have expanded to 45 employees!
In today’s episode, we are touching on some of those unique aspects that make Dubsado tick and pick their brains about what they are doing that we can all apply to our businesses. Jake and Becca share the lessons they have learned as a SaaS company, how their business has evolved and changed in 2020, and how they have kept customer service a priority throughout. Be sure to tune in for a super fun interview!
Boss Talk - How to Deal with Stress and Remain Productive in 2020
In today’s episode, we are going to bring back an oldie but a goodie — We are going to do a Boss Talk episode, where we just ask a question, riff on it, and see where it leads us. That's totally our style anyway; we love to riff on things. No one is surprised that we go on tangents and talk about whatever we want, whenever we want. The question for today is, how do you cope with stress and still remain productive when you have got all this stuff going on? We both run two businesses, so there is a lot on our plates! Also, we are in the middle of a pandemic, heading into a new season, Emylee has a kid who is bouncing off the walls, and Abagail just bought a house that needs renovations!
So, as you can hear, there is hardly anything going on at all (sarcasm much?). The question around productivity is one we hear super often, and Emylee finds she always gets it in her DMs when she has shared an especially productive day. People want to know how she manages to sleep, much less do it all. So, just to clear the air, she wants to let everyone know that she is not a workaholic, and it’s actually something she actively puts effort into not being. It's so easy in today’s world to just work all the time, especially for her personality type. So, she wants to share some of the expectations she has for herself, and how she and Abagail have stayed productive in the midst of it all.
Selling High Four-Figure Packages Utilizing Dubsado with Tiffany Tolliver
Today on the show we have Tiffany Tolliver, the owner of the Emma Rose Agency. Tiffany is a rebrand and relaunch strategist who specializes in income-generating web design for service-based womenpreneurs. While she stays in her lane with graphic and web design, her mission is rooted in creating income-generating services, helping her clients get $300,000-launches. We talk about how she is able to create this high-end experience using our favorite software,Dubsado, and get into the features of Dubsado she relies on to land high-paying clients. Tuning in for this episode, listeners will learn more about the frustration that led up to Tiffany getting Dubsado, what has changed in her business, and how she incorporates the platform in every step of her client onboarding process.
Tiffany also talks about what optimizing your systems can mean for your stress levels and business, why you shouldn’t shy away from making such investments, and about being realistic in your expectations of an ROI. Tiffany walks us through her approach to sales calls, why she believes face-to-face engagements are crucial for landing high-paying clients, and wraps up the interview by giving other strategies for taking a client from interested to sold out!
How to Create Tangible Transformations - Three Core Components Every Group Program Needs
We know our listeners are super smart, and there are tons of cool things you do every day, so maybe the best thing you can do today is to outline your group course! We have been in the teaching space for a while now, and Boss Project has recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Go us! Interestingly, even though we have taught tons of people over the years, we haven’t shared that much about what we put out into the world. We teach a lot about business and marketing, but we have not really gone into course development that much. This is mostly because this is not everyone’s primary job.
We have, however, noticed an influx of coaches, and actually, the majority of the people in the Creative Template Shop are coaches. While this is surprising, it is also really incredible because people are looking for connection and transformation, and they want someone to guide them in that process. Before we get started, we want to invite you to a party. All you need to do is open the Strategy Hour Podcast up in your favorite podcast app, give us five-star reviews only, and then share these screenshots on Instagram. You can win one of two great prizes, either a free copy of Trello for Business or a whole month free of the Creative Template Shop.
Tips to Get Your Website on the 1st Page of Google with Melissa McGraw
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 most simple 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 some 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!
4 Sales Techniques We Are Using in Our Businesses
Do you want to increase your sales? Of course, you do, we all do! There are so many strategies out there on how to do this and today we are picking out four that we use and that have been highly effective for us! We hope that sharing this with you will help you to decide which strategies are best for you and your hustle. When we speak about our work we are referring to Boss Project, our main thing and then each of our own side gigs. Some of the strategies have worked better in different places but we will be unpacking all of that, do not worry!
The cool thing is that you get to try these out for yourself and see which suits you. We want you to think about which fits with your goals and lifestyle, as well as its conversion efficacy. These are the most important metrics for you to keep an eye on while testing things out. Don't forget to keep the conversation going over on Instagram, you know we love to hear from you, so hit us up with any thoughts or questions!
Reduce Risk and Cover Your Legal Shizz with Braden Drake
Most of us can use a little help with the tax and accounting side of our businesses and we have just the person to talk us through the important parts of this process! Back on the show is our friend Braden Drake, who runs Braden Drake Law, where he works with a handful of one on one clients to sort out their tax and legal issues. His mission is to help as many people get as much of their business on the right track and running smoothly! He believes strongly in treating yourself like the CEO you need to be and in this episode, he covers exactly what this looks like. Spoiler alert! Braden has just finished writing a book that is about to be published! It is called Unf*ck Your Biz and details the service that Braden provides for his clients.
Braden does an amazing job of unpacking the framework of the book for us and shares the initial steps in tackling the biggest and most common mistakes he comes across. He talks about the 'oh shit cycle' that business owners get into with their taxes, how to know you are in this, and how to go about getting out! Braden shares many of our biz philosophies, striving to help you become profitable, paying yourself, and paying your taxes. We know tax can sound a bit boring but Braden is amazing at making it fun and lighthearted, so make sure to stay tuned as we get into some strategy!
August 2020 Profit Report: We ALREADY Hit Our 2020 Revenue Goal
Can you believe it’s already time for another profit report? Literally, before we hopped on to record this show we were like what happened last month, what month was even last month? We couldn’t have told you! There has been a lot going on, and it’s not so much business – it’s like, life is crazy right now and we are keeping it together but hanging on by a thread. It’s a lot!
But August went so well despite what typically happens, which is sometimes a hot mess. And we definitely want to get into all the data around that, but one thing we did, as most of you would have, was throw out our 2020 plan. We didn’t even have one and just have been taking every month at a time. We expected we would have a dip in August, and then when we got on here, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh.’
Why Now is the Best Time to Start a Business with Rachel L. Proctor
Today on the show we have Rachel Proctor, an author, speaker, and second-generation entrepreneur who helps people turn ideas into successful online businesses. She is a self-proclaimed market research junkie, she’s hit seven figures, and she knows what she’s doing, having built a versatile and trusted learning resource hub for aspiring and successful business owners. In this episode, we get into Rachel’s belief and strategy that there is no better time to start a business than right now, even in a crazy 2020, even with less time – now is still the opportune moment! She explains why she believes that and dishes out tangible steps to figure out what to offer, how to find out what you’re good at, how to find people to pay you, perfect your process, grow, and everything in between. So, for those of you who had an idea and dropped it once the pandemic hit or are just ready to take the leap but don’t know where to start, tune in to learn more!
Creating a Holiday Master Marketing Game Plan
Are y’all ready to start hearing Jingle Bells? Well, you need to prepare yourself cause the holiday season is fast approaching even though it felt like we all lived in a time warp this year. Usually, we are not great with planning far in advance, but this year, while the weather is still warm, we thought we would jump ahead and create a holiday master marketing game plan. Q4 has this weird way of flying by in the blink of an eye, so we want to share with you some of our top strategies to make the most of the festive season. Because, while the world is in recovery mode and things are uncertain, we know that people are still spending their dollar bills, and the predictions suggest that people will spend more money online this year than they ever have. Whether you are in products, services, coaching, or something else, people are spending their cash on the internet, so let’s capitalize on that and see how we can leverage this fact this coming season. While we do not know what exactly you will be offering these holidays, we can help you work backward (from the end of December to where we are currently) to give you a pretty clear idea of what you need to work on and when. So, fill up your cup and be ready to take down notes, cause this is going to be a goodie!
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Our DMs are always open over on Instagram so head on over and introduce yourself so we can get to know you!
I’ve been creating digital products for more than eight years now and I’ve learned so much along the way that I’m eager to share with the world. I want to help more people and cheer you on as you find success too. Your digital product should be a tool that magnetizes strangers who are your ideal customers. And you want to actually get paid to bring in qualified leads for your offers. In this episode, I’m diving into the digital products I’d avoid if I were starting fresh—and trust me, it’s not what you’d expect.